Join us for an exciting episode as Craig Collins fills in for The Dana Show. We delve deep into the political sphere, examining the curious case of Kash Patel and Tulsi Gabbard as they meet resistance from establishment figures. Discover why their potential roles stir controversy and what this means for the political landscape. Are qualifications genuinely the issue, or is it something more? We also explore Kamala Harris's recent claims of celebrating Kwanzaa since childhood, providing an intriguing lens into cultural narratives and their political implications. With humorous asides about Trump's famous Diet Coke button and some laughs along the way, this episode promises to entertain and inform. Don't miss out as we tackle misconceptions head-on, dissect the potential pitfalls of political traditions, and ponder the impact of leadership on our day-to-day lives. Tune in to gain insight into today's most pressing topics in governance and find out why this discussion is more relevant than ever.
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SPEAKER 28 :
This is The Dana Show. My name is Craig Collins filling in. Thrilled to be with you. A bunch of stuff out there to talk about. D-Lash or Dana Lash Radio are great ways to stay connected to her, to see everything going on. For a very talented human being who has a few deserved days off, she will be back toward the tail end of next week. week. Let's do this first. I think this is pretty amazing. There are two hit pieces or two discussions about Kash Patel specifically that seem to be designed to try to prevent him from having a role in the FBI. There is also at least one reference to Tulsi Gabbard and how she'd be a terrible person to be in charge of an intelligence community, the intelligence community as well. This is awesome. What this obviously means is that Trump is very much over the target, or these individuals are very much over the target, because the establishment is coming out to reject it. Specifically, William Webster. William Webster is 100 years old. He ran both the FBI and the CIA at one point in his life. He actually ran the FBI and CIA for Reagan to a degree. He was in charge of one when Reagan was in office, and then Ronald Reagan appointed him to be in charge of the other one before leaving office. So as the only individual alive who's run both organizations, he says that he has differing issues with Patel and Gabbard. He says Gabbard is simply not experienced enough to be the national intelligence lead. And then Kash Patel is too tied to Trump. So that's why he can't be the director of the FBI. However, and this is what I would say in response to any of this, beyond even just these two nominations, but anyone that they're saying experience is the issue, it's the lack of qualifications here is going to cause a problem. One, you've obviously never been to Washington. The amount of people who are put in positions of power that have no relevant experience to the world in which they're asked to lead. A great example is Buttigieg and the Transportation Department. But so many of these things happen. And somehow, if it's the other side of the aisle, they claim things are just fine. You can also fire people if they fail, which is something that seems to be forgotten in D.C. These aren't supposed to be lifelong appointments. They're not even supposed to be terribly long appointments at all, typically lasting the course of a presidency or so, maybe longer than that. But honestly, if you fail within a few months, fired. Trump knows all about that. I think he had a TV show that you might remember in which he fired people prolifically, and he could do it that way too. But all of this establishment rejection means there's something they're afraid of. Sure, you can make the argument, as William Webster tries to do, that you need people that are independent of politics to be in charge of our systems that desire a lack of any sort of bias But those systems are already incredibly biased. They're incredibly flawed. Lifelong employees of our government are overwhelmingly democratic in their beliefs, their positions. Somewhat logically, if that's the side that wants more government and more money funneled toward government, and you work in it, and then there's people who want less government and more money funneled away from it, and you don't want to see that happen. But for a lot of reasons, the partisanship of our bureaucracy is well studied, well understood and insanely to the left. And so to say that these outsiders might acquire these positions of power and the need for them to not have years of experience within a system that hopefully they're going to be questioning from the ground up and maybe changing from the ground up is important. You can't hire someone. who has a 30-year career in a broken FBI if you want the FBI to behave differently. The New Yorker also did a hit piece saying how ridiculous it was that these are people that are being nominated for certain positions and that they assume that they're the kind of people who would immediately weaponize the departments that they're a part of in order to go after the everyday American. I also laugh at that. And I probably laugh harder at that than anything else that people say, because even if they did weaponize and I'm not saying they will, I don't think they will. But even if they did, they're not doing it to go after the everyday American. They're doing it to go after other politicians that probably are guilty of terrible stuff, no matter who they are. And they want to pretend they being mainstream media or the politicians themselves, that you're the target. Because everything's all about how you're at risk. You're screwed. Trump becoming president is going to hurt your life, even though it's probably not, even if you hate him and didn't vote for him, going to have much of an impact in your day-to-day life. Hopefully some. Hopefully some prices get cheaper for you. But by and large, you're probably not going to feel all that different with Trump in the White House than you did when Biden was in the White House as far as your day-to-day experience goes. Again, outside of hopefully the cost of a whole bunch of stuff being cheaper and maybe some crazy discussions being less common. in the world of politics and actual policy. But I digress. You're going to wake up. You're going to go to sleep. You're going to go to your job. You're going to do certain things, and that's unlikely to change all that significantly immediately, if at all, during the next four years. But politicians talk all the time and a lot of talking heads do about how, you know, you are the true victim. You are the true person hurt in this way and in that way. And 99 out of 100 times, it's them as the only target of the problem. And so even so, even more so, it makes that just very amusing to me that that's the narrative that's out there for us to deal with. There's another thing out there in the world of just crap that politicians say that I should have talked about earlier. But I can't get over how ridiculous it is, to be honest. Kamala Harris put this out on Christmas Eve. And to be honest, part of me just doesn't care about the vice president anymore. That's probably part of the reason it took me this long to get to it. But also just the ridiculousness of this when you dive into any of the history of Kwanzaa. And I'm going to admit to you, I'm no expert. I'm not someone who knew a whole lot going in. And I imagine a lot of people fall in the same boat I'm in. We actually kind of have to look it up to understand much of anything about it. Something I've done relatively recently. One of the most significant things that you might not know about Kwanzaa, the guy who created it's still alive. He created it in 1966. And he's someone that believed among other things that Jesus was insane and That's something he said before. And that Christianity is a white religion that black people should shun. That's where Kwanzaa came from for him as something that he was giving to a specific community so that they could remove themselves from another community that he sounds a whole lot like he hated. But nonetheless, people celebrate it today for all kinds of reasons. It's existed for 60 years. I'm not telling you what to do or not do about this. Holiday or made up holiday or whatever you want to call it. I was invented in 66, though. Again, that's important because Kamala Harris, who was born in 64, claims that she grew up celebrating it. It would be tremendously difficult for that to be true unless she comes from incredibly radical family, because the only people who really knew about this were black nationalists or radicals. as some people call them, people who believe in very, very significant versions of separation, segregation, whatever you call it, between individuals based on race. And this didn't become a more widespread thing until about 1980, which means at that point, Kamala Harris would have been much, much older than she's describing herself as being in this video.
SPEAKER 30 :
You know, my sister and I, we grew up celebrating Kwanzaa. Every year our family and our extended family, we would gather around across multiple generations and we'd tell stories. The kids would sit on the carpet and the elders would sit in chairs and we would light the candles and of course afterwards have a beautiful meal. And of course, there was always the discussion of the seven principles.
SPEAKER 28 :
All right. That makes me need a drink. No, I'm kidding. This is actually an energy drink, not an alcoholic beverage. But I wanted to pop it open after I listened to that because that's insane. Because, again, the only way that she's telling the truth that as a small child, she sat around on the floor as generations of her family came together to celebrate Kwanzaa. is if she is directly connected, which is something some people said about her and her family, to more radical individuals in certain spaces, because otherwise she wouldn't have known about it until she was definitely not a kid anymore, as most people didn't. It wasn't something that was even acknowledged by Bill Clinton until the 90s, and something that's got widespread levels of familiarity with the American people until even after that. So questions abound. as to how exactly Kamala Harris's early childhood went, the things that she and her family were involved in, et cetera, et cetera. And I also just love the fact that she says generations and the elders, because they would be learning what it is for the first time too, along with Harris, if this is something they celebrated quickly after it was created in order for her story to make any sense at all. All right. Another thing out there that I thought was interesting and just silly and also kind of awesome. Trump is going to restore the Diet Coke button at the White House. If you don't know what this is, when Trump was in the office last, he had a red button on his desk in the Oval Office that he could push that would have a butler deliver him a Diet Coke. That's all it did. It's the red Diet Coke button. It went away for Biden. And now it's going to come back for Trump before he's in the White House again after his inauguration day. And that's freaking awesome. I would think if I were president, I actually have a buddy in media who would do this as a question every so often. If you were king for a day, is what he would ask me. And you'd answer that question and listeners would answer that question. And this is probably one of the littler things you might do if you had a unique position of authority and power in the world. You get a button that just delivers you something you like. I might have mine be a steak button instead of a Diet Coke button. Granted, I'd use it less often than I assume the president's going to use his Diet Coke button. But it would still be amazing. Every time I press it, a medium rare steak delivered to me would be incredible. What would you do if you were king for a day or president, et cetera, et cetera? I don't know why I keep using that phrase. But what would you do? I think I would do steak for a day and I'd be absolutely thrilled with that. I guess another way to say it is what would you do with $1.15 billion? Because if you win the mega millions that's going to have a drawing tonight, you can probably also afford to hire a butler and install a red button on your desk, wherever it is you work, wherever you would definitely stop working the day after you cast your check for $1.15 billion. All right, quick break. A lot coming up. Craig Collins filling in on the Dana Show.
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the dana show podcast your fast funny and informative news companion for those always on the move subscribe on youtube apple or wherever you get your podcasts this is the dana show my name is craig collins filling in let's do a quick five and now all of the news you would probably miss it's time for dana's quick five
SPEAKER 28 :
I saw that Netflix released its numbers for its Christmas games and they were about five million viewers shy. At least the people who watched more than a few seconds of these games than the numbers from last year's broadcast TV numbers. That's a big deal. That's a big win for Netflix to be within five million of the broadcast television stats. One year after it switched over to be a mostly Netflix thing. And also the amount of exposure that these sports are getting on an international stage is way up comparatively because of Netflix use in all these other countries. Although there were still streaming issues and buffering issues and challenges. But I know that this is being somewhat used as a as a negative because the numbers were lower than television. But come on, it's on Netflix and it's crushing it. For some reason, Netflix wants to be TV, though. We're slowly turning it into what television used to be, and eventually people are not going to realize that we're paying more for the same thing once it has more live stuff and then more commercials and all that other crap. But all right, that's a big story out there as far as a quick five goes. Another quick five that I thought was interesting. Florida is going to start using radioactive material for its roadways. I don't know how big of a deal this is actually going to be. I know that it's a heck of a headline a lot of places, but there is some byproduct of phosphorus mining that might be used as roadway material that apparently, as it starts to evaporate and break apart, actually does go radioactive. But hey, it's Florida. which is a place that I actually live. And also, we'll talk about Florida Man in a little over an hour or so. So, darn it, this feels like it fits right in there. And it's only going to be in a small area for now, and we'll see how it works out and how many people start glowing before we roll it out to more places, I assume. Also, this story, which I thought was pretty interesting, scientists have discovered a pill that they think will enhance the lifespan of a dog. Maybe a year, maybe more. They're not exactly sure. In the press conference for the product, I love that the people said, we're not making dogs immortal. Not that people were asking for that or who knows, maybe they are, but we are extending their life. The most exciting part of this, at least for some, is the pill might eventually be relevant to humans to give us a longer lifespan, too. However, you might doubt any efficacy there, and I wouldn't blame you for it. But for now, it is a beef-flavored daily pill designed for dogs. that slows down their metabolism and some other signs of aging that allows them to have longer periods of time where they're healthy and in their prime before they start to get older. So we'll see how that works. We'll see what good that does. It feels like it could be the beginning of a terrible set of stories that involve some horrible things. And actually, speaking of that... Just quickly as another top five topic, bird flu is the latest version of be afraid of this during the end of the holiday season and into next year because we might use it to shut everything down. There are multiple stories about bird flu outbreaks, about mutations in the world of bird flu, pretty much everything trying to fear, you know, scare, fear monger, whatever us back into some version of, well, we might have to hide inside for a few months. We'll see if they go that far. I imagine they won't, but this feels like the beginning stages of that as far as a lot of the reporting from Yahoo, CNN, pretty much everybody on this topic. I am 0% afraid of bird flu right now, and I assume you are too, and good for us. to not be afraid of that. We'll see how the next year goes. One last thing, too, just quickly. Bill Clinton was discharged from the hospital after being treated for the flu. I think it was just regular and not of the bird flu variety. And some things I love about the fact that the Diet Coke button and Bill Clinton are in the news together has made people wonder what the red button was that Bill Clinton might have had installed when he was in the White House and what it summoned for. I don't want to answer that question. You don't want the answer to that question. I have no idea what it is. I think... Maybe I do. Anyway, quick break. A lot more coming up. Greg Collins filling in on The Dana Show.
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Recently, a new client called me and started by saying, Mr. Morgan, I really need your help, but I'm just a nobody. Those words stunned me, and I immediately called him back, and we're now helping him and his family after a terrible accident. I'm John Morgan of Morgan & Morgan. Everybody who comes to our firm at their time of need is a somebody. I grew up poor, but my grandmother was like a queen to us. At Morgan & Morgan, our goal is to level the playing field for you and your family at your time of need. The insurance company has unlimited money and resources. You need a firm who can fight them toe-to-toe. For right at 30 years, we have fought them in courtrooms throughout America. Our results speak for themselves. And always remember this, everybody is a somebody and nobody is a nobody. Visit ForThePeople.com to learn about our firm. Morgan & Morgan, For The People.
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This is The Dana Show. My name is Craig Collins, filling in danaradio.com. Great way to stay connected to her and everything she's got going on. Dean Lash or Dana Lash Radio as well. There are two relationships that mainstream media, well, maybe three. I don't know if you want to call them two, but there are a few relationships. Let's go with that one. That mainstream media and a whole lot of politicians, a whole lot of people throughout the world would like to see obliterated. One of the first ones is Elon Musk and Donald Trump. They'd like that to go away in any platform, any scenario that it currently exists. They do not want the world's richest man, a guy who on paper should be wildly popular with Democrats, but is not mostly because he's vocally opposed to them. That's a good reason not to be. And the most powerful man in the world from a position of president of the United States. That alone is a recipe that scares a lot of people because of how much can be done, how much influence or how many things could be exposed via those two working hand in hand. And of course, ownership of X or Twitter is a big part of that too. I say three because I guess Vivek Ramaswamy and his relationship with either Elon or Trump is sort of its own thing, too. I don't think anyone is as threatened by Vivek's involvement in this stuff, but he's certainly the next most high-profile person. And then finally, the last relationship that mainstream media... legacy media left-leaning media whatever you want to call it and a whole lot of politicians would like to go away is our relationship with those people specifically with Elon and his social media platform they want you to hate him they want you to hate him because they don't want his influence to wind up causing things like what happened with that spending bill that spending bill was eye-opening to a lot of the people in places of power because elon musk and trump single-handedly destroyed it pulled a lot of money out of a lot of hands and funded the government for a few months with a much leaner cleaner bill so in response to that the machine is at work or whatever you want to call it a tinfoil hat um you know if you want to call me that for saying this the latest version which might seem like a self-inflicted wound Vivek and Elon went on social media, Vivek more so than Elon at first, and complained about a thing that they think needs to happen. That would be specific visas that allow tech companies to attract talent beyond the United States, something that already exists, and maybe even expand it, because there's just not enough talent here for those type of high-end jobs. This caused an explosion on social media with a lot of people and a lot of media telling you that MAGA is turning. on Elon and on Vivek Ramaswamy because of their interest in not being America first or whatever it is. So a few things matter about this topic. First and foremost, it's simply true. It might make you mad to say it out loud. You might refuse to believe it. But the amount of talent for these types of jobs is less and less coming from our country because less and less people educated in our country, born and raised here, are the best of the best in that world. That's not a good thing. That's a thing we can fix. We can fix it in a few different ways. One of them is probably dismantling the Department of Education and rebuilding something that has a better focus on educating our, you know, young people in ways that matter and not brainwashing them in ways that don't. But the truth is that that system is broken in math alone. If you look at us compared to other well-developed countries, we're toward the bottom. in test results and in achievement results. And that's just one caveat of what it would create, the recipe needed to create a really, really good engineer or a tech sector employee. So this is simply a true thing. And I believe, actually... The intention of a Vivek Ramaswamy or Elon Musk in having this discussion via social media with the American people was to get to that point, to get to the point of how you can reshape it and change it and make it different and make it better so that more Americans are getting these jobs and they're not being sent other places. It's also completely devoid of any discussion about illegal immigration. Illegal immigration is not bringing in the best of the best, as Trump famously said. It's bringing a whole lot of people that we have no idea who they are or what their intention is. Well, they're here. You can't pretend you know who they are because the whole thing about being illegal is we don't. Even more so than that, this discussion about people who have high-end skills that we don't have here makes us a more innovative country. It makes us more capable if the best people, the cream of the crop, are being skimmed off the top of other places because they want to live in our country. They want to succeed in our country because it's the best place for them to be. But beyond that, too, the other thing I keep thinking is this is just the beginning. The amount of discussions that are going to exist that will try to convince everyday Americans that you need to hate Elon and of a vague, which was already existing for a while and already convinced anyone that's on blue sky, which by the way, that social media platform. Recently was found to be incredibly toxic and hateful. Some deep dive into the amount of things that are allowed on there. Granted, they're all heavily one sided, but like death threats and stuff. It all exists on blue sky. It's just all the things that liberals want to do to hurt Republicans. So that's allowed. And the other stuff isn't. I find that funny in just a very different way. But nonetheless, all these ways to try to vilify and change and destroy this relationship are all an intention that comes from the desire of the elite to keep doing their own thing in their own world and not have to deal with us. Even though because we're the voters who put them in positions of power, we actually have power. I'll say one other thing about this. I don't mean to rant about this topic on a holiday show, but I can't help it. You probably know people in your life. You might even be someone who believes a version of this. I'm a gun owner. I believe in the Second Amendment. I do believe the reason the Second Amendment exists is partially because the founding fathers envisioned a world where the government turned on the people and the people would have to fight it. And that makes sense because they were currently fighting a group of people that were claiming to be in charge of them that they thought didn't have their best interest at heart. So, of course, they built that into the system of the country they were creating. But the reason I'm saying all this is because a lot of people will say, as you complain about the system, the political world we live in, D.C., whatever it might be, people immediately stand up somewhere in the conversation and And go, well, you're not talking about a revolution, right? You're not begging for people to take up arms and go attack, you know, D.C. or attack anywhere. How dare you say that? That's horrible and terrible. And you'll start an uprising and we'll all be screwed. And I'm not saying that. I don't think we should do that. And I don't want to be confused to saying that. But this version of our voices being able to matter via a social media platform that's not overly censored and has a direct connection to the current guy in charge is the president of the United States. That feels like a valuable way to, quote unquote, revolt without any danger, without without any violence happening in the streets. And so you'd think more people would advocate that. More people will be supporters of the idea that there's this platform and this leader of said platform or just richest guy in the world who's connected to a power structure and willing to change it. I mean, it's amazing that more people aren't thrilled that our spending bill went from 1,500 pages to way less pages and way less money just simply because it's a good thing. And if there is unique funding that's missing within there, as I said the other day, and I'll say again, that does things like, you know, benefit research that's tied to cancer and kids and trying to prevent it or trying to fight it, then fund that. And the American people will be OK with that. But fund that on its own. Don't fund that in a lump sum bill where you're hiding a lot of the stuff that we're not supposed to know about. But I just think this is fascinating. I don't know how you feel about the statement that the tech sector itself needs people to work in it that don't get educated or aren't from the United States. And I don't care, actually, how you feel, because it's simply a fact right now and a fact we can change. And that's the point to me. The point is not to bash the United States for the sake of bashing it like so many liberal idiots do. but to demonstrate that we have a unique power structure that allows us to make some awesome, awesome adjustments and look toward the future in a valuable way. All right, that was a long rant on that. I want to play one other thing. This is not serious. Let's call this a palate cleanser because I definitely found it silly. A woman went viral for pretending to be a dude on a dating app. She asked her friend, she's like, hey, can I use your photo? Can I pretend to be you? Because you complain all the time that dating apps are hard for guys and you can't meet women and no one has interest in you. And she is an attractive woman, thinks dating apps are really easy. You must be doing something wrong. I'll play the audio, she'll say all that.
SPEAKER 01 :
But I love it.
SPEAKER 28 :
She's probably an 8, a 9 out of 10 as far as physical attractiveness goes in a young woman. So I imagine dating apps for her, not much of a challenge at all. But she says that she's surprised her friend, who she gave a 6 out of 10, that's got to hurt, would struggle a lot just based on her three-day experience. Here we go.
SPEAKER 29 :
Some of my guy friends gave me permission to make a hinge account for him. Because I was telling him how easy dating is with dating apps. And he was telling me that it's incredibly difficult. And I was like, Pete, you must be doing something wrong.
SPEAKER 25 :
Silly Pete.
SPEAKER 29 :
And he gave me permission to create an account for him and just run the account. I've been a virtual boy for three days and I've never felt this bad about myself. I feel like a freaking loser trying to get these girls to like me and I'm starting to hate women because I'm like, when I say I, I mean Pete, because that's the account I'm using. Pete's about a six. but I'm so desperate, I'm liking the twos and the threes, and even they won't like me back, Pete, which is a six. So what level of delusion has entered women's head?
SPEAKER 28 :
Oh, that's a harsh critique. That's from a woman toward women. Don't send the hate letters to me if you want to send them in. I love that, that she says she took two shots at Pete, calling him a six twice. Didn't need to happen. But she said she's liking the twos and the threes, and they're not giving him time a day. If there's ever a conversation or the potential for one, And I don't know how valuable this actually is compared to everybody's experience. But I do think it's important to at least enter into the psyche of what could be going on. But if there's ever a discussion about how challenging some things have gotten in our society because of social media, because of technology for both men and women, it's this. A lot of women feel pressure. to look a certain way, to have a certain level of popularity online. And it says it's causing a lot of depression in young women. The need to, I don't know what it would be, get a lot of likes and follows and things based on being physically attractive. And then for a lot of dudes who can't get time of day with most people who are now dating on apps, it seems like it's also a pretty significant problem that's causing a whole lot of depression and other issues. So for whatever reason, The society we live in and the technology of it is doing a lot more harm than good to a whole lot of us. And this lady went viral for admitting how challenging it was for her to get anybody to like her. Although if she turns on the app again and gets to be herself, not that hard at all. All right, quick break. A lot more Craig Collins filling in on the Dana show.
SPEAKER 03 :
and our partners for the program, new to the show, they're Preborn. It's a great organization that works with women as they determine how to handle an unexpected, unplanned pregnancy. And Preborn gives women the opportunity to meet their babies, to have an ultrasound, to hear their heartbeat. And when that happens, a child's chance at life doubles. And it's a pretty amazing thing. And when you consider that abortions are actually increasing, especially with the abortion pill. It's more usually with the abortion pill than even going into these clinics. And so that's what makes pre-borns work all the more important. And they have matching grants. So when you donate, because all of this is possible because you donate and you can start... I mean, you can save a life just $28. They have a matching grant. So your donation goes twice as far in saving lives. And in addition to the ultrasound, you're also helping pre-born partner with these women to make sure that their babies get the best start all the way up until two years of life. So it's pretty amazing what they do. Your donations are what power it. And it's very simple. Dial pound 250, say the keyword baby, and that's how you do it. Pound 250. Keyword baby. You can also visit preborn.com slash Dana and donate online. Every contribution counts. Preborn.com slash Dana. Pound 250. Say the keyword baby.
SPEAKER 08 :
Recently, a new client called me and started by saying, Mr. Morgan, I really need your help, but I'm just a nobody. Those words stunned me, and I immediately called him back, and we're now helping him and his family after a terrible accident. I'm John Morgan of Morgan & Morgan. Everybody who comes to our firm at their time of need is a somebody. I grew up poor, but my grandmother was like a queen to us. At Morgan & Morgan, our goal is to level the playing field for you and your family at your time of need. The insurance company has unlimited money and resources. You need a firm who can fight them toe-to-toe. For right at 30 years, we have fought them in courtrooms throughout America. Our results speak for themselves. And always remember this, everybody is a somebody and nobody is a nobody. Visit ForThePeople.com to learn about our firm. Morgan & Morgan, For The People.
SPEAKER 09 :
Injured? Visit ForThePeople.com for an office near you.
SPEAKER 16 :
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 28 :
This is the Dana Show. My name is Craig Collins filling in. Thrilled to be with you. A bunch of stuff out there to talk about. I do love the story of the Peruvian cop who was dressed up as a Grinch and actually led a drug bust. I love a couple things about it. The first thing I love about it is that the cop said he had to do it, had to be undercover. There was a festival going on. I got to dress like the Grinch so I can make my way through the festival and then get to the area where we're doing the drug bust. He then is given a sledgehammer. So there's a video of a Grinch guy sledgehammering his way through a door and then arresting people, putting people in handcuffs while navigating the giant paws he has for hands. All of it amazing. And two things I'll say about it. First, the criminals will never forget the day they were arrested by the Grinch. And this police officer will probably never forget the day that he got to be the Grinch and arrest a bunch of people and how much fun he had doing that. And I imagine he's going to ask to have that assignment again in the future at some point. Who knows? But I'm just assuming that's going to be a thing because it seems awesome. Other stuff out there that I thought was kind of interesting. Of course, the mega millions jackpot is at $1.15 billion. I'm probably even going to creep up a little bit higher than that. So a whole lot of people are buying tickets and hoping that you're going to win a whole lot of money. And what would you do with that money is typically the question that people ask. The only thing I'll say in response to it, my favorite idea is that a whole bunch of people think they could remain anonymous. And not just because whatever state you're in might allow you to be anonymous, and a whole lot don't, and only a few do. But what world are we living in where you and most of the people you know wouldn't spend some of that money and obviously be someone who won a whole bunch recently if you were given a billion dollars? Or, well, 400, 500 million, whatever the lump sum payment is. I don't know anyone who wouldn't start to make some life decisions that would make me aware relatively quickly that they just want a whole lot of money, especially if like the anonymous winner was in my state or even in my hometown area. But I love that everyone assumes you could just walk through life and be a guy who all of a sudden has a billion in the bank and nobody knows about it. The only people that can do that have a tremendous amount of money in the bank already. If you're someone that doesn't have a lot and you win a whole lot all at once, here's my little piece of information. People are going to know you won. They're going to know and no one's going to care. Well, a lot of people are going to care, actually. I should take that back. But they're not going to act as though the thing you did was somehow something that they couldn't figure out because why would you want them to? Why would you not buy some stuff? I would buy a lot of things. And actually, I had one friend tell me this, and I love this too. He said that he heard an expert talk about If you win a whole lot of money that you should get buying out of your system, like set aside a few million dollars, whatever amount it is, buy some crazy stuff, and then you'll probably not need to do that again. I don't know what kind of world that person lives in either. Because if you let that cage or animal out of the cage, if you let that situation go loose, I feel like you're going back to the well over and over again. And you're only telling yourself just one more million. Luckily, in the world of a billion dollars or half a billion if you do the lump sum, not a lot of ways to spend all that all at once. You're not going to be poor as quickly as some people who win the lottery sadly wind up being because it's just too much money for most of us to spend. No matter how many people come out of the woodwork asking for a little bit of a cash benefit of their own. But anyway, what I would do just to further this discussion, I'd buy at least one fancy vehicle, at least one fancy home, and maybe some other things. But that would happen relatively quickly. And all of a sudden, you'd come over to visit me, and I'd be in a much nicer place and not really all that worried about paying those bills. And you'd think to yourself, you definitely have more money than you used to. It would be that obvious that quickly. I also wouldn't do regular chores. I'd have people doing some chores for me. You know, like the lawn would no longer be mowed by me ever again. And that's something that might be a bit of a hint. Not a whole lot of one, but a little bit of one, especially when my lawn tripled in size overnight. But all right. On that note, we can take a break. We can talk about some serious stuff and some silly stuff coming up. There's a really crazy story about a body found in the wheel well of a flight from Chicago to Miami. We still don't have a lot of information about who or why that happened. I will discuss as much as we know about that and quite a bit in the world of politics in just a bit. Craig Collins filling in on the Dana show.
SPEAKER 03 :
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SPEAKER 08 :
Recently, a new client called me and started by saying, Mr. Morgan, I really need your help, but I'm just a nobody. Those words stunned me, and I immediately called him back, and we're now helping him and his family after a terrible accident. I'm John Morgan of Morgan & Morgan. Everybody who comes to our firm at their time of need is a somebody. I grew up poor, but my grandmother was like a queen to us. At Morgan & Morgan, our goal is to level the playing field for you and your family at your time of need. The insurance company has unlimited money and resources. You need a firm who can fight them toe-to-toe. For right at 30 years, we have fought them in courtrooms throughout America. Our results speak for themselves. And always remember this, everybody is a somebody and nobody is a nobody. Visit ForThePeople.com to learn about our firm. Morgan & Morgan, For The People.
SPEAKER 09 :
Injured? Visit ForThePeople.com for an office near you.
SPEAKER 28 :
This is The Dana Show. My name is Craig Collins filling in during the holidays. Dana will be back toward the tail end of next week. Thrilled to be with you for a couple more days. Dana is found on DLash or DanaLashRadio on X on Twitter. Great ways to stay connected to her are DanaRadio.com. Byron Donalds went viral for something he said on TV that a lot of us probably agree makes sense, because when you commute the sentence of 37 out of 40 people who are on death row, only three people in your mind are people who didn't deserve that, which it's still life without the possibility of parole, but it's not the same punishment. Part of you might wonder if the person actually signing that piece of paper understands what they're doing. And Byron Donald said there's probably a real good chance that he didn't. And it was just the latest thing that they forced Biden to do since they basically control this man. Oh, and now he's also on vacation up until the end of his presidency, basically, because why not take one more vacation on the taxpayer dollars? He spent more time on vacation than working. Well, who knows if he was working on the days he wasn't on vacation. I think he might have been shoved in a closet somewhere. But anyway, he supposedly spent more days on vacation than working, according to a recent analysis. But here's what Byron said.
SPEAKER 07 :
Look, I think what's happening with Joe Biden, nobody thinks he even knows about these clemencies or these pardons. This is the radical left staff that has been running this administration for the last four years. And so I agree with President Trump and what he said about these 37 individuals who've been granted clemency. This is outrageous. They should not have a Merry Christmas, to be perfectly blunt with you.
SPEAKER 28 :
And they can go to hell. It's something else that Trump said, by the way.
SPEAKER 07 :
But this is because we have the radical left doing all the things they've been wanting to do for a very long time on their way out the door while Joe Biden's at the beach or taking a nap or whatever it is he's doing.
SPEAKER 28 :
Yeah, and he might even just be signing some pieces of paper that are being put on his desk and then getting to go back outside, which apparently is the case. There was also the story about how Jill Biden had a big plan. Dr. Jill, Dr. Biden, I think is I'm contractually I have to call her that the doctor. It is not in any sort of medical field. Also important to mention. But nonetheless, she had her own like revenge tour that she had planned that she wanted Biden to go about completing before he was done with his time in office. And she's probably chit chatting it with about with him about that as they're sitting at a beach somewhere. Another story out there that's terrifying for a couple reasons, and I'm going to play some audio from WGN-TV in Chicago where they interview someone that talks about just how uniquely hard it would be to get into the wheel well of a plane, planes that are typically supposed to be inspected every time they land at any kind of airport, a wheel well that you only have access to from outside. meaning that essentially someone would have to approach this plane before it took off, climb into this area of the plane, maybe unaware that it's not connected to the rest of the plane, which means you can't get in to any of the other parts of the plane. And after the wheel gets pulled up, you freeze to death. This is the type of story we've sadly seen before in places where people are desperate to flee from some sort of other country and make it to places like here. But it's something that happened. A plane flew from Chicago to Maui. I think this was right around Christmas Day. And a body was found when the plane landed in Maui. Here is some of that coverage from WGN News at Chicago and them talking to an expert about how difficult this would be, someone who works with the airline.
SPEAKER 12 :
at all the flight services, and especially in the gear well, we make sure there's no personnel or anybody in there. Every aircraft has to be inspected right before flight after all the ground equipment is clear of it and after all the ground personnel are clear of it.
SPEAKER 13 :
A tragic discovery on Christmas Eve, a body found inside of a wheel well of a United Airlines flight.
SPEAKER 28 :
Yeah, we have very little information right now as to who the person is or anything about it. Maui police have told me that, or have told, not me, have told the world they're going to investigate this. So we'll see what result that is. It is hard to not guess. that this is a situation involving someone who's in Chicago that might not be there legally, since there's a whole lot of people living there right now that are not there legally, that would have been desperate to go somewhere else, somewhere warmer than it is in Chicago right now. And Maui would have sounded like a good destination for, Unfortunately, climbing into the wheel well of a plane does not give you the opportunity to land safely somewhere. You die, and you usually die of freezing to death if you actually successfully make it up into that area safely somehow, which again is tremendously difficult to do and probably happen, but they'll do more. more research into that. We'll eventually, probably, who knows, know more. But it won't, I assume, inspire conversations about one of the many reasons, however rare, that it's bad that we have so many people here without the right to be here and they shouldn't be here for a variety of reasons. All right. One other thing I want to play. Scott Jennings has been going viral a lot recently. while on CNN. He talked about the Panama Canal and Trump's reference to maybe taking it back from Panama, Trump's concern about Chinese influence in that area or throughout a lot of places that might impact the United States. And Jennings was definitely okay with how Trump is making this a topic in a lot of people's brains. And CNN seemed very much upset with Scott being fine with this. Here's a little bit of that back and forth.
SPEAKER 23 :
over the Panama Canal.
SPEAKER 27 :
Well, I tell you what is very serious, and that is pushing back on the encroachment of Chinese influence in the Western Hemisphere. Yes, I do.
SPEAKER 23 :
Yeah, it does.
SPEAKER 27 :
I think Donald Trump is trying to send a message to the Chinese, and he's also trying to send a message to everyone else in the hemisphere that I'm not going to put up with this encroachment. Now, what is true is that China is having encroachment in this hemisphere, in Africa, all over the world. They are trying to act like the world's leading superpower they're trying to exert their values and their way of life all over the world they used to be our job and i think what uh... donald trump is saying here is i don't want this in my backyard america is the world superpower more america is better and uh... i'm sending a message that i'm not going to put up with this sort of creeping a chinese influence and by the way sometimes the the uh... you know steps to do that
SPEAKER 28 :
involve telling the people who are cooperating with China that it will harm you if you keep cooperating with China in some way that feels like what's happening with the Panama Canal. If Panama keeps doing things that seem to benefit people that are not us, we might take our gift back of the Panama Canal that we gave you a while ago, or at least threaten to do it so fees get lowered and so relationships change. That essentially is a good move. I love how CNN, though, seemed to really hate, as I said a second ago, this kind of answer, because they pushed back even harder, being like, well, what about Panama? That relationship is tremendously important, right?
SPEAKER 23 :
It's in my own backyard. Help me with this thinking, though, really quick. And Karen, I'll bring you in a second. But if it angers Panama, if it hurts relations with Panama, the calculation is it won't and it doesn't matter?
SPEAKER 27 :
Do I care if Panama is angry? What, is Van Halen going to come and be upset about it?
SPEAKER 28 :
Okay, I've got to stop that. Panama, not exactly a country we need to fear, but definitely a great reference to Van Halen. I love this. There you go. Van Halen pops up to have a say in the Panama discussion. I'm all for it. By the way, that song's about a car, not about the country or the Panama Canal. But nonetheless, just a great, honestly, a drop I should have just set up for shows that I do in general. Really good stuff. But anyway, yes, to Scott Jennings' point, we don't really care what Panama thinks of us and if they get all mad at us because we're powerful enough to not care about that. And they'll probably do what we want if we just exert a little bit of authority or even the threat of authority, which is something that is tremendously scary on the left. I love that about a lot of these discussions. You don't empower allies by treating them like they're more intimidating than us. And that's something that we do a lot when the certain side of the aisle is in charge and running things in our country. We act as though we're equivalent to all of our allies when we're simply not. And it doesn't make them appreciate the relationship they have with us as much as it should. It doesn't make them fearful of us, you know, deciding that, wait a minute, there are certain lines you can't cross. Ukraine is a great example right now. Ukraine is a country that was attacked, that was invaded, that had every right to defend itself. And we had a lot of reasons to want to help prevent Russia from taking more territory in that area and even fight a quote unquote proxy war with Russia through Ukraine. There was a lot of value in doing that. writing blank checks to that country, telling them they can wage that fight whatever way they want, to whatever degree they want, and that if a solution could be found that involves giving up contested territory that we never would have helped them defend, a territory that they've been fighting to defend for years after the annexing of Crimea, but we're allowing them now to try to fight and even say out loud that they're going to try to take Crimea back. with our weapons and our money and acting as though they're allowed to make those decisions and we'll just keep signing the checks. That's terrible. That doesn't allow us to be equivalent partners or any version of actual partners the way the power dynamic exists. Instead, it allows them to call the shots. And that has gone poorly for Ukraine. It's gone poorly for the world. And I think that if there is inevitably a peace agreement, and even Zelensky has said this recently, it will involve surrendering some of that contested area in the Donbass region or wherever to Russia. Something that could have happened, say, a year ago and didn't because of who was in charge and how we were writing those checks then. And the things that we were allowing Ukraine to say with our might and our money being the thing they'd wield to back up those words. That does matter no matter what you think. And I'm not pro Russia taking any of Ukraine. It's just a byproduct of a way to get a peace agreement that is going to exist forever because Ukraine can't fight endless war with Russia and win. They just can't do that. But anyway, as you talk about these topics, as you see these things play out, you just wish that we had more powerful people in positions that matter, stronger-willed individuals. And this is one of those examples of someone who's at least exerting the potential to be strong-willed if someone doesn't listen and play ball the minute we start throwing out the threats. All right, quick break. A lot more. Craig Collins filling in on The Dana Show.
SPEAKER 08 :
Recently, a new client called me and started by saying, Mr. Morgan, I really need your help, but I'm just a nobody. Those words stunned me, and I immediately called him back, and we're now helping him and his family after a terrible accident. I'm John Morgan of Morgan & Morgan. Everybody who comes to our firm at their time of need is a somebody. I grew up poor, but my grandmother was like a queen to us. At Morgan & Morgan, our goal is to level the playing field for you and your family at your time of need. The insurance company has unlimited money and resources. You need a firm who can fight them toe-to-toe. For right at 30 years, we have fought them in courtrooms throughout America. Our results speak for themselves. And always remember this, everybody is a somebody and nobody is a nobody. Visit ForThePeople.com to learn about our firm. Morgan & Morgan, For The People.
SPEAKER 09 :
Injured? Visit ForThePeople.com for an office near you.
SPEAKER 16 :
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 podcasts.
SPEAKER 28 :
This is The Dana Show. My name is Craig Collins filling in. Let's fire off a quick five.
SPEAKER 10 :
And now, all of the news you would probably miss. It's time for Dana's Quick Five.
SPEAKER 28 :
Not one to ever miss an opportunity. This politician, a New Hampshire Democrat, Annie Custer, said that she's leaving Congress. And the reason she's doing it is because Trump tried to kill her in 2021 on January 6th. Of course, it took a while to actually get over that and decide to leave. But she's doing it now. She also had said several times she didn't want to make a life out of being a politician. But that's not why she's doing it because of Trump. That was one story out there that I found uniquely dumb. Applebee's in Times Square in New York is charging a crazy amount of money per person to have Applebee's for four hours while you watch the ball drop from about a block away. You can actually also get escorted to be a little bit closer to the ball drop if you don't want to stay in this fancy Applebee's up until midnight. $729 per person. If you bring a party of eight, if you go all the way down to a party of just two, it's about a thousand bucks per person. And if you want the super exclusive private table experience that two people can get there, I have no idea what additional benefits Applebee's throws at you. It's $2,299. which is insane. And honestly, out of all the places you could go in Times Square to be a part of the ball drop, dropping a grand on an Applebee's experience just seems wrong. You could do better, and you can do better for about the same amount of money, I'd imagine. Probably part of the reason Applebee's is still not sold out yet when most of the other surrounding places are. So maybe that's the problem. Just plan ahead and go next year, not now. A person went viral for trying to bite through a jawbreaker or an everlasting gobstopper, as it's also called, and actually broke their jaw in two places. The person wound up in the hospital. It's a teenager. She said, do not try this. Do not do this. It's not a good move. Feel like you just got to read that box. And when it says Jawbreaker, you can take them seriously. And even if you didn't take them seriously, I don't know why anyone would try to chew through that heart of a candy without at least enjoying some of the delicious flavor of said Gobstopper by just having it in your mouth for a day and a half, however long it takes for it to soften up. I would not go that road at all. I'm just putting it out there. One other thing, and this is another story. I do like it too. Apparently a woman bought herself a ton of Chipotle forks for Christmas and then bragged about it online. And when I say a ton, I mean like 1500 forks from Chipotle. And a lot of people online actually genuinely seem jealous. of her decision to buy herself plastic forks. Some people seem to believe that the Chipotle fork is better than other plastic forks out there, and it even makes food specifically from Chipotle taste better. But she said the hack is just walk up to Chipotle and seem like a crazy person who wants to buy a box of their forks. But you can do that. Anybody can do it. 1,500 Chipotle forks for Christmas. Seems like a very boring gift to me, but to about half a million people who viewed her video and reacted to it, it seems like it's a good gift for some. If you know anyone out there that wants a bunch of plastic Chipotle forks, you can make their holiday so much better, even after Christmas, by just swinging in and purchasing it. And then one last one I saw. One last quick five topic. Children in Poland are being taught how to assemble and disassemble guns, including assault rifles, and even taught how to use them age 13 and up. This is because of their fear of being attacked by Russia, that children of that age or just slightly older would be more than capable in the world of guns. I think that's actually cool. And I wish I had grown up there at that time to have been taught this. when I was 13, as someone who just got into gun owning over the last couple years and is still probably not as good of a shot as some of these kids are going to be in just a short amount of training. Ridiculous videos, though, online. A lot of reactions to it. Nonetheless, probably also an intelligent move in order to protect yourself in a unique way at a unique time. And again, something I'm jealous and wish had happened to me. Quick break. A lot more. Craig Collins filling in on The Dana Show.
SPEAKER 08 :
Recently, a new client called me and started by saying, Mr. Morgan, I really need your help, but I'm just a nobody. Those words stunned me, and I immediately called him back, and we're now helping him and his family after a terrible accident. I'm John Morgan of Morgan & Morgan. Everybody who comes to our firm at their time of need is a somebody. I grew up poor, but my grandmother was like a queen to us. At Morgan & Morgan, our goal is to level the playing field for you and your family at your time of need. The insurance company has unlimited money and resources. You need a firm who can fight them toe-to-toe. For right at 30 years, we have fought them in courtrooms throughout America. Our results speak for themselves. And always remember this, everybody is a somebody and nobody is a nobody. Visit ForThePeople.com to learn about our firm. Morgan & Morgan, For The People.
SPEAKER 09 :
Injured? Visit ForThePeople.com for an office near you.
SPEAKER 16 :
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 28 :
This is the Dana Show. My name is Craig Collins filling in. Thrilled to be with you. You can find Dana all over the place. DanaRadio.com, DLash or DanaLashRadio on X on Twitter. Great ways to stay connected. Kevin O'Leary, Shark Tank guy, a Canadian, actually, by the way, expressed his support for the idea of turning Canada into the 51st state on television. I thought this was pretty funny, some of the stuff he said and how many Canadians he thinks... actually would love this idea, too. They would love to be welcomed into the open arms of the U.S., something that Trump has joked about and actually also kind of threatened. If Canada doesn't understand how much they need to value us and how much value we bring to them, we can show them in a very different way. Here's O'Leary.
SPEAKER 24 :
There's 41 million Canadians, basically the population of California, sitting on the world's largest amounts of all resources, including the most important, energy and water. Canadians over the holidays, the last two days, have been talking about this. they want to hear more. And so, you know, there's obviously a lot of issues, more details, but what this could be is the beginning of an economic union. Think about the power of combining the two economies, erasing the border between Canada and the United States, and putting all that resource up to the northern borders where China and Russia are knocking on the door. So secure that, give a common currency, figure out taxes across the board, get everything trading both ways, create a new almost EU-like passport, I like this idea and at least half of Canadians are interested. The problem is the government's collapsing in Canada right now. Nobody wants Trudeau to negotiate this deal. I don't want him doing it for me. So I'm going to go to Mar-a-Lago. I'll start the narrative. The 41 million Canadians, I think most of them would trust me on this deal.
SPEAKER 28 :
I love that, that he's like, I'll do it. I only trust myself to go ahead and sit in a room and negotiate with Trump about the purchasing and or acquiring of Canada to turn it into our 51st state. That's hilarious. I love how many people have been on board. If you actually ask people in certain sectors about the desire to acquire Greenland, the desire to take back the Panama Canal, any of these things are All of them, people resoundingly say, who look at it as just a business move, like, oh, good call. Good decision there. Wonderful idea. You're seeing a lot of that. I thought this was interesting, too. This went viral. This is a few different people on a stage in Canada debating what they think the biggest business successes of 2024 were. And actually everybody seemed to be of a similar opinion that the biggest business winner of this year is Elon Musk. And the biggest success is X or Twitter. So much so that this is the way these guys answer the question. What is your biggest business win in 2024?
SPEAKER 25 :
I think the biggest business winner of 2024 is the business of speech. And what I mean by that is I think that we have made freedom of speech a very successful business model. Yes.
SPEAKER 28 :
It seems to have worked. Who's your biggest business winner, Sax?
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, I want it to be original, but I really couldn't.
SPEAKER 28 :
I thought it was so obvious this year it has to be Elon Musk. Yes, he's worth even more money. Elon Musk, that's always a safe choice. Anybody else? Who do you have? It's SpaceX, Starlink. Elon, everybody involved over there. They're the business winners. Free speech and acts on Twitter, whatever it might be. Just winner after winner all over the place. For Elon, unless you live here in this country and pay attention to our mainstream news media that somehow says that things are terrible for him or terrible across the board when they're obviously not. All right. That's one big thing out there. There are some other giant topics of discussion and something I'm going to get to a little bit later on. But I love a lot. And I'll just recommend you check it out now. uh, because I'm going to try to pare it down a little bit. Uh, but Tom Elliott, a gravy and put up a great, um, the biggest media misses are the most embarrassing media moments of 2024. It's like 10 minutes long. I, it goes through a lot of things that definitely are exactly on target for what he's talking about there. And like I said, I'll play it in a little bit, but he's, he's right again. And that's a guy you should be following a guy you should be paying attention to on social media, uh, because of all the, uh, expert things he does to mash these videos. All right. One other thing that I do like that's out there. And this is Byron Donald's Byron Donald's talked a bit and I played some of this audio before about President Biden, maybe not being aware of what he was doing, the stuff he was signing and the people that he was commuting the sentences of Byron Donald's also had a pretty strong opinion that. as to what's gone wrong over the last few years as far as the Democrats being in power and why it became so obviously important to put someone else in as far as the power dynamic in this country. And I got to say, I can't argue with anything he said. Here's a little bit of what he said on Fox News.
SPEAKER 07 :
I mean, no, we're not heard much from the Democrats. They're too busy licking their wounds and trying to figure out which way they need to conduct their party. But look, are they happy about the fact that Kamala Harris was blown out? No, they're not. But is anybody thinking that they're going to do anything about it? No, they're not. Donald Trump's going to be the president of the United States. He's going to get these elections certified on January 6th. He's going to get inaugurated on January 20th. The Democrats aren't going to like it, but those are the breaks because they had an opportunity to run this country, and what they did was they ran it into the ground. Massively open borders, foreign policy that's a mess, massive inflation, censoring the American people. The list goes on and on. Yeah, the list is bad.
SPEAKER 28 :
The list is not good. And I agree with him wholeheartedly that for that reason, more than anything else, things have happened the way they have. You know, I've said this before and I had a friend ask me this recently. What do you think the big change was this year compared to four years ago that caused Trump to win so so candidly? or so handedly, not necessarily the cheating stuff. But what else might have changed? Do you think a lot of votes went from one side to the other? And there's proof of that, especially younger voters. But I think a lot of Democratic voters are just disenfranchised with their own party. And I think there's a chance that a whole lot of people just didn't vote because they didn't care enough to vote this year on the Democratic side of the aisle. And that benefited Republicans fairly significantly in winning the popular vote, winning everything that they did. Granted, I can just as easily be convinced that it was simply a surge of people switching their vote from one side to the other. But if you actually believe the turnout of 2020 and how remarkably unique it was, and how much bigger it was than any other election we've ever had or probably ever will have, then part of the issue, too, is a whole lot less people cared enough to vote. And that is because of how crushing it must have been to have voted for Biden and watch him screw up so badly on so many issues. I'm just assuming that. I luckily didn't vote for him. But nonetheless, something that I think would probably make you, at the very least, just not show up. If not, go ahead and punch the other ticket. One last thing that I wanted to discuss kind of quickly here. Kash Patel and Tulsi Gabbard feel as though they're two of the most important people that Trump has put forward as names to run unique parts of our bureaucracy. Kash Patel, of course, would be nominated to run the FBI, and then the top spy would be Tulsi Gabbard. The top spook or national intelligence would be run by her. So much so, these two names being important, not just in the way in which they have a critical eye toward the departments they'd be in charge of, but also enough outsider detachment from any of that corrupt crap that might exist there that they're not going to owe anybody favors. There's not going to be anybody that they know well, any friends of theirs that they'd feel bad getting in trouble for something, at least I hope not, so that they'd be better at this than someone who's, say, a career-long FBI agent who's risen the ranks, maybe somehow been like the, and I think I've said this before, the James Gordon of the industry, where he's the only person who's not corrupt around a lot of corrupt people, and yet he's still going to try to rise to the top and even out that playing field while owing a lot of people at least something, I'd assume. That won't be the case for either of these individuals, so much so that a former FBI and CIA head who's 100 years old, stepped forward to say that he thinks this is a terrible idea. He gave different reasons for both, and he's the only living person to have run both the FBI and the CIA. His name is William Webster. He actually ran one for Ronald Reagan and then was put in charge of the other one right before Reagan left office. So interesting that he would have unique experience with specific politicians. But he says that Kash Patel is too close to Trump and too likely to do favors for Trump. And that Tulsi Gabbard is just too inexperienced to be in a leadership position in her role because it would weaken our CIA. I think that's insane. And I think it's insane for a lot of reasons. But I'll keep saying the most obvious one out loud first. We could fire people. If people are put in positions of power, if they don't work out in those positions, if all of these shortcomings wind up being true, you would think we'd know this relatively quickly, and we can remove people from these positions if they're failing at their jobs. It's not that hard. The president can do it. I don't know why we pretend like you can't do that at all. But more importantly than that, if these individuals are put in a place of power to upend some of the system, then of course the system is coming for them. It feels like you're the most over the target you've ever been when you find someone who's 100 years old who hasn't put out a lot of political positions in recent years that's willing to sign a letter that says neither of these people deserve these jobs. You also have the New Yorker out there saying that Kash Patel is definitely going to weaponize the FBI to hurt everyday Americans. And I always laugh that off for a variety of reasons. But the biggest one being that if government is infighting, if Trump is putting people in positions of power to go after corruption in government, or even if the other side is doing something to corrupt some more things or harm some more people or whoever is doing whatever on both sides, it's usually only themselves who are the target. It's actually kind of weird to equate this to what I'm about to compare it to, but I can't help it. If you were ever to live in Chicago, and I lived there for many years, you know that the south side is essentially a very dangerous part of the city where a lot of bad things happen and where people get the impression that all of Chicago is wasteland. And if you live on the north side, you feel like you're as safe as in any other big city in the world that's not necessarily any more rampant with crime than you feel like you are because it's a very different place. So essentially, sometimes the problem exists in just smaller cones of society and not in society at large. And so in the world of infighting and corruption and, you know, people being held accountable to stuff they did or accused of stuff they didn't do for political reasons, the targets are just going to be other politicians. They're never going to be us everyday Americans. I'm not going to be hauled into a courtroom somewhere because of something I'm accused of doing. Well, maybe for what I say on this show, but not in general for some of my other actions in life, because I'm not the target on either side. And right now it feels like Trump is very much circling the things that matter, or at least the people he's recommending to be in charge would be circling the things that matter because of the way the system is trying to knee jerk reaction and kick them out of their position of power. And one last thing, too, and I'll just say this and maybe dive into it a little bit more later on in the show, but all of the discussion about Elon Musk, Donald Trump, Vivek Ramaswamy, Doge, all of that stuff, whether it's trying to convince you that you need to be anti-Elon and Vivek or that MAGA is turning on them or that Trump and Elon are fighting or whatever it might be, I don't care. All of those things are designed to break apart a system that is scary as heck, scary as hell, I should say, to politicians and to all the people that like to do things behind closed doors. Because having a connection... between everyday Americans and a social media platform that's not going to censor them and the person in charge of the country as cleanly as it exists to change things like a spending bill is something that terrifies the elite and terrifies the establishment and they want to destroy any way they can. So most of the news you're going to hear in one way, shape or form is designed to do just that. And so a lot of it deserves to be ignored. But I'll talk about some of those things maybe a little later on in the show. This is Craig Collins filling in on The Dana Show.
SPEAKER 08 :
Recently, a new client called me and started by saying, Mr. Morgan, I really need your help, but I'm just a nobody. Those words stunned me, and I immediately called him back, and we're now helping him and his family after a terrible accident. I'm John Morgan of Morgan & Morgan. Everybody who comes to our firm at their time of need is a somebody. I grew up poor, but my grandmother was like a queen to us. At Morgan & Morgan, our goal is to level the playing field for you and your family at your time of need. The insurance company has unlimited money and resources. You need a firm who can fight them toe-to-toe. For right at 30 years, we have fought them in courtrooms throughout America. Our results speak for themselves. And always remember this, everybody is a somebody and nobody is a nobody. Visit ForThePeople.com to learn about our firm. Morgan & Morgan, For The People.
SPEAKER 09 :
Injured? Visit ForThePeople.com for an office near you.
SPEAKER 10 :
It's his life mission to make bad decisions. It's time for Florida Man.
SPEAKER 28 :
That's right. It's time for Florida Man on the Dana Show. I decided I'm going to do something special for today and Monday. I'm going to do some of the best Florida Man stories of 2024. Not maybe the newest ones, but the best ones in honor of the end of the year. A few for today. Not my fault. That truck don't surf was the answer a Florida man gave after getting arrested for driving his car into the ocean. This happened back in February of this year. The guy obviously seemed to think that, hey, maybe it does float. Maybe it doesn't. We'll all find out together. The answer being no. That's one of the best Florida man stories of the year. Another one that made my top 10 list, if that's what we're doing here, and maybe again on Monday. Florida man impersonated a security guard to get into a Taylor Swift concert. He was arrested for trying that road. Apparently the 44-year-old guy who described himself as an absolute Swiftie This happened in October of this year, by the way. Didn't do enough to convince people that he actually was, in fact, a security guard. Many people noticed him as someone that didn't seem to belong, eventually turning him over to authorities. Another Florida man that made news in 2024. had an hours-long junk food feast inside a closed Walgreens. According to cops, this happened back in July. The Florida man was arrested as he indulged in all kinds of things after being accidentally locked into the Walgreens. Seemed he thought that that was what was allowed then. You know, you're in the bathroom for five hours. You get locked in because people do not still know you're in there. And then once you open the door and you're alone, now everything's free, at least until they open the door and arrest me. That would be a problem. Dr. Pepper, Newport cigarettes apparently were smoked today. Reese's candy, a spinach dip, all kinds of things used to your deli chocolate consumed in mass quantities. The guy thought I'm making the most out of my time, a locked inside a Walgreens, another of the legendary Florida men of 2024. And then one last one for right now, a Florida woman, stormed into an area after going into a gas station and buying a mask, then trying to rob a bank across the street from the gas station. All of that caught on video because darn it, how stupid do you have to be to be like, they're not going to see me over here. I'm going to do this and then go over there. Easily cracked case. Not something that you should try yourself if it's something you're thinking about doing. Maybe just bring the mask from home. I don't know. It's probably not going to make it better, but it might make it better. But that story happened back in June of this year. Those are some of my favorite Florida men and women of 2024. We'll do more of those on Monday as part of the end of the year Florida men's stories. There's a few other great ones out there involving chicken and and all kinds of serious plans, and actually alligators as well. That's all coming up again in about a couple days. A quick break, a lot more. Craig Collins filling in on the Dana Show.
SPEAKER 08 :
Recently, a new client called me and started by saying, Mr. Morgan, I really need your help, but I'm just a nobody. Those words stunned me, and I immediately called him back, and we're now helping him and his family after a terrible accident. I'm John Morgan of Morgan & Morgan. Everybody who comes to our firm at their time of need is a somebody. I grew up poor, but my grandmother was like a queen to us. At Morgan & Morgan, our goal is to level the playing field for you and your family at your time of need. The insurance company has unlimited money and resources. You need a firm who can fight them toe-to-toe. For right at 30 years, we have fought them in courtrooms throughout America. Our results speak for themselves. And always remember this, everybody is a somebody and nobody is a nobody. Visit ForThePeople.com to learn about our firm. Morgan & Morgan, For The People.
SPEAKER 09 :
Injured? Visit ForThePeople.com for an office near you.
SPEAKER 28 :
This is The Dana Show. My name is Craig Collins filling in. I do want to touch on the latest controversy, or at least we're supposed to think it's the latest controversy, between Elon Musk, Donald Trump, Vivek Ramaswamy, and us, especially people who use X or Twitter, and especially people who voted for Donald Trump. But I'll get to that in a bit. I do want to talk about this other thing first. It was an op-ed in The Hill a couple days ago. Now some very left-leaning lawyers are begging Congress to actually do this. It is the nuclear option. It is the option that begs them to prevent Trump from actually being made the next president of the United States. The argument from a far-left individual says that he has disqualified from office because of the 14th Amendment and his, quote, "...engaging in insurrection." Not that he was ever found guilty of insurrection, by the way. And actually, the Supreme Court overturned a decision to try to remove him from a ballot for exactly this reason. But darn it, now liberal lawyers want the Congress to do whatever they can to try to prevent the confirming of the votes and essentially a plain God and not allowing the American people to decide who the next president should be in at least that one regard. This is insane. And it's the exact kind of thing Trump said they would try to do, or at least the kind of thing that was talked about a few years ago that caused the amount of problems that people still try to bring up today and the fear that the government would do whatever it wants, regardless of what the American people want. They gave a definitive answer to the question of who they'd like to be the next president of the United States. When they elected, they, we, whoever voted, decided that Trump was going to wind up being the next president of the country. To make any move whatsoever to prevent that is full-on insane, and yet it is actually being talked about. So much so that I even saw Fox & Friends debate a topic as to whether or not— and this is different to a degree— This is talking about the Speaker of the House and if he could be replaced sometime in the near future, Mike Johnson. And the biggest problem with that potential scenario, trying to replace him, is how long of a process it might take if they do it soon or if they take a while to actually get that done. And would it delay any sort of process in making Trump the next president of the country, delaying inauguration, delaying any sort of certification, whatever those questions might be. And I would definitively say, as Fox and Friends actually also landed on this answer to that question, I don't do that. You have a whole lot of time, especially once you have people in all the positions of power and Trump in the office of president. I don't give Democrats any version of what they're already contemplating or already say they want by, you know, delaying a process that should not be delayed. It is amazing that Trump is already behaving like the president. And there's two reasons I think that's happening. The first one being the guy actually in charge hasn't been in charge the whole time. So now that Trump's actually in charge, a whole bunch of people have disappeared that were probably pulling the strings for Biden and left him to just do nothing and left Trump to have more of a voice before he even gets into that office. And the second reason why you definitely don't want to do this and this is crazy is, again, you're opening Pandora's box when you don't have to, when you have a whole lot of time in the very near future to do whatever you want. I want you to have everybody in a position of power, but we'll see if that even occurs. All right, the big thing that I want to talk about And I know that I'm seeing voices on the right, voices on the left, kind of an agreement, which is probably a problem, which is usually an issue on this topic, about Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy and what they said about the tech sector specifically. Vivek actually put out a long post on social media yesterday. Elon seemed to agree with it and say his own version of it. But both saying that tech struggles to find talent. The reason tech struggles to find talent within the United States is it simply doesn't exist. There is more talented coders, people, high profile, high value individuals for this exact part of our society that come from other countries. Vivek went a step further by saying our culture is mediocre. And that it actually salutes people who are not the valedictorians, excuse me, and not the mathematicians, but the athlete and the cheerleader. He actually even praised Corey from Boy Meets World, which is a swing and a miss. It's Sean from Boy Meets World as a millennial who grew up remembering that show. Zach and Slater from Saved by the Bell as people that are an example of people we highlight and praise that we shouldn't over Screech. And then Stefan over Steve Urkel. which was another weird reference that was made, but darn it, at least an accurate one in what he was trying to say. Here's the part that matters about this discussion. It's true. You can get mad at the idea of it. You can desire for the government to do something to prevent us from acquiring talent from other parts of the world, or the better option, I think the more consistent solution, is find a new system that educates, excuse me, that's bad to fumble on that word, Are people well enough to actually be the most valuable employees in this sector? Because that's the problem. When you look at just our math scores on an international level, we're toward the bottom of developed countries. We're something like 28 out of 36 of the countries that get ranked on these sort of things by some independent organizations that do it. And that sounds about right. And our education system seems to be failing people in a lot of ways. And certainly there are other countries in the world where, say, some kids are raised being told your best opportunity is to be absolutely at the top of your game in this field or that field and go get a job in the United States. And, you know, how much of a challenge is it us? Is it for us to compete against the rest of the world in that regard when they want to come here and they want to benefit from being a part of the best country on Earth? And part of what actually makes us a great country is attracting that type of talent to want to be here. But I understand the desire to do more that benefits Americans and doesn't necessarily benefit people coming from other places in the world. But we have to change systems to get that goal done. But it is interesting that so many people are coming for Vivek and Elon, at least Elon, at least according to the Internet or according to mainstream media. I don't necessarily believe it's as true as they're saying it is, simply because that message is not being received well. That's the point, or that's the intention of it, and that we'd like to see more done to prevent certain visas from being expanded and more American talent winning out. I would just say that I think the most American response to this And I felt this in every part of my life, being born and raised here, is I want to win by being the best. I don't want to win for any sort of technicality. We talk about that in a lot of other spaces in our society. I'm a millennial. At times, I was raised as someone, not by my parents necessarily, but by the society I lived in at the time, to be given a participation trophy when I didn't deserve one. And those things are crap. You don't want to win. When you lose, you want to lose. So then you can motivate yourself to win in the future. You want to push yourself to actually deserve any and every thing you get in this life, a meritocracy, which is exactly what we live in, which is what we want to keep living in. So I don't understand and I don't believe for that same reason that as many people are upset about this as media is telling me they are, but there's a whole lot of people out there saying that this was the big misstep. And the other thing I will say is that this won't be the last time that they'll tell us that the connection between Trump and Elon, Elon and Vivek, Vivek and Trump, or, you know, any of those individuals and us everyday Americans is broken or tarnished or needs to be severed because they desperately want that to happen. I can't tell you. how excited I've been, I guess I'm going to try, to watch some things happen right now and the system that's going to exist for the next few years already play itself out in preventing the spending bill from being a ridiculous omnibus bill. That was an incredible win across the board win win for Trump win for Elon win for X and Twitter or just Americans in general granted it was a punt because they're going to have to revisit that in a few months and they're going to have to figure something else out and all of the narrative crap that's come from it of like you know conservatives don't want to fund research into prevention of childhood cancer is insane and something that can be done on its own and I've said this before and I'll say it again but nonetheless that scared the system That's the same version of terror that I think you're hearing in some of the nominations that Trump has put forward and some of the ways they're trying to tear those nominations apart, because predominantly they're outsiders who would upend the power structure of a system that is broken. And we would also be able to help upend the power structure of a system that's broken. And we do it entirely online and entirely with our voices, which, by the way, seems much better online. than us doing it with any sort of physical version of that same upset being manifested. To say this very bluntly, and I think it's the kind of thing a lot of people talk about, and right now, oddly thought about on the left, When you look at the case of the person who killed the United Health Care CEO and the praise for it and the jokes about doing that, this is real. The jokes about doing that to other people in positions of power because of how mad people are at what is candidly a broken health care system or other things. That version of society is one that terrifies a lot of people. where the way in which you gain power back is through force or through fighting or through something that gets tremendously messy and is also weird because I would never praise a murderer myself. And I think that's sort of insane that they are praising someone who shot someone else in the back on a street in Manhattan. But if instead of upending that system that way, you upend the system by enhancing the voices within our society through a platform like X and a person in charge of it like Elon Musk, I think we have a much better version of change potentially happening in the world. And I do think that everyone's not just going to be sheep and listen to whatever Elon or Trump or anyone else has to say. If it's something they disagree with, they'll voice that opinion. And maybe that is happening as far as this visa is concerned in the world of the tech sector. I just don't think enough people are that passionate about that topic to be that mad about this. And if there's something else they say that's wrong, I will stand up and say that that's not how we feel. And we'll see how that winds up getting reflected in any sort of policy decisions and whatnot. But we're in a unique time in the world where I think we have a unique amount of power as just a society. based on social media platforms that don't overly censor us, all of that seems good. And the people in charge, just to repeat myself one more time, hate it. And we're seeing them hate it every way they can hate it. All right, quick break. A lot more coming up. Craig Collins filling in on The Dana Show.
SPEAKER 08 :
Recently, a new client called me and started by saying, Mr. Morgan, I really need your help, but I'm just a nobody. Those words stunned me, and I immediately called him back, and we're now helping him and his family after a terrible accident. I'm John Morgan of Morgan & Morgan. Everybody who comes to our firm at their time of need is a somebody. I grew up poor, but my grandmother was like a queen to us. At Morgan & Morgan, our goal is to level the playing field for you and your family at your time of need. The insurance company has unlimited money and resources. You need a firm who can fight them toe-to-toe. For right at 30 years, we have fought them in courtrooms throughout America. Our results speak for themselves. And always remember this, everybody is a somebody and nobody is a nobody. Visit ForThePeople.com to learn about our firm. Morgan & Morgan, For The People.
SPEAKER 09 :
Injured? Visit ForThePeople.com for an office near you.
SPEAKER 16 :
keep your finger on the pulse with a dana show podcast delivering timely news with insightful analysis whenever you want straight to you on youtube apple or wherever you get your podcasts this is the dana show my name is craig collins filling in let's do a quick five and now all of the news you would probably miss it's time for dana's quick five
SPEAKER 28 :
This is hilarious to me. Young people think they've developed a brand new hack to make their love life better in the new year. You eat 12 grapes at midnight, one for each stroke of the clock, and at the end of that process, you are guaranteed to have a much better year romantically in the following year. It's actually a centuries-old tradition out of Spain where people did this, one grape for each stroke of midnight. Uvas de la suerte. I don't know if I've said that correctly. I know that someone in my life, in my family, my wife, will be able to correct me on that. She's from Mexico. But this is something that a lot of people in a lot of countries do. But TikTok apparently thinks that it created recently. And young people are doing in order to guarantee themselves a boyfriend or girlfriend in the new year. Several people put up a video of themselves doing this last year, along with a successful relationship that apparently they found during 2024. Another story out there that I liked a lot. A woman went on a Dear Abby page and asked if her boyfriend is a terrible person or if she's maybe asking for just a tad too much. She said she's been unhappy with the way that he's celebrated her birthday in the past. And he knew it. She had told him about it. So he decided to splurge on a vacation this year for her in honor of her birthday. They went on a trip. Here's the problem, according to the woman in this scenario. He didn't plan anything when they got there, darn it. He paid for the vacation. They went to the new place. And then he didn't have any idea of what they should do and was willing to, you know, make up decisions along with her instead of having it all planned out. That made her mad again. She sounds like someone that's very difficult to please. Then they got back from this trip that he paid for and didn't have planned correctly by her own standard. And she said he upset her because her actual birthday was the day they returned. And he didn't do anything for that day, darn it. It sounds like a couple that might need to break up and a woman that, I don't know, needs Prince Charming in order to be happy in this world. But nonetheless, the Internet was divided on whether or not he did anything wrong or right, depending on who you ask. And also a lot of people wanted to know how he had failed on birthdays before. But that information not out there. I say good luck to this dude if he's going to keep, you know, staying in that relationship. He did say in response to her demands that everybody doesn't get a birthday week. You get a birthday day. And he took her on a flight. And darn it, that should be enough. And I agree with him, by the way. I have no idea if that'll turn the Internet against me. And I don't care. Two other quick things. I thought this was interesting. Research has revealed that women are much more likely to quit a workplace than men because of being treated poorly. And it's not necessarily just by, say, employees or employers, but also customers. More and more young women are saying that they're having issues in some way, shape or form mentally at work. They're more likely to call off for mental health days and they're more likely to just leave and look in search of a new job. They would actually treat them better for employees or employers or, you know, customers that would treat them better. This is something that people are saying they should look into deeper to see what that issue is that's causing women to do that and men not to. And I'm not sure exactly what that is, other than maybe the way men are treated on dating apps being the beginning of them being able to tolerate being treated like crap other places. I'm just guessing. I don't know for sure as a married guy, but I've heard some things. One last one. And this is just kind of an interesting one to me because most people don't even know what this is. But apparently natural wine is all the trend for the holidays this year. That's wine with the least amount of preservatives and additives in it. And a whole lot of wine companies claim to make natural wine that may or may not do it. But here's the thing. I don't care. I think we're all missing the point of drinking wine during the holidays or alcohol during the holidays, and it's not about making sure it's as healthy as possible. That's never been my goal. It'll never be my goal. Bah humbug to anybody that wants that to be their goal. A quick break. A little bit more coming up. Craig Collins filling in on the Dana Show.
SPEAKER 08 :
Recently, a new client called me and started by saying, Mr. Morgan, I really need your help, but I'm just a nobody. Those words stunned me, and I immediately called him back, and we're now helping him and his family after a terrible accident. I'm John Morgan of Morgan & Morgan. Everybody who comes to our firm at their time of need is a somebody. I grew up poor, but my grandmother was like a queen to us. At Morgan & Morgan, our goal is to level the playing field for you and your family at your time of need. The insurance company has unlimited money and resources. You need a firm who can fight them toe-to-toe. For right at 30 years, we have fought them in courtrooms throughout America. Our results speak for themselves. And always remember this, everybody is a somebody and nobody is a nobody. Visit ForThePeople.com to learn about our firm. Morgan & Morgan, For The People.
SPEAKER 09 :
Injured? Visit ForThePeople.com for an office near you.
SPEAKER 16 :
Not able to catch The Full Dana Show? Follow Dana's Absurd Truth Podcast and get news and laughs delivered in short, easy-to-digest episodes. Ideal for your busy lifestyle, on Apple or wherever you get your podcasts.
SPEAKER 28 :
This is The Dana Show. My name is Craig Collins filling in. Thrilled to be with you. A bunch of stuff to talk about. One of my favorite people to follow on social media is Tom Elliott. He works at Grabian. I think he's actually in charge of Grabian. They put together a whole bunch of viral videos. other stuff. They have a bunch of services that you can use to access all kinds of media. But these are incredible. He has put together his top 10 lies, media embarrassing moments of 2024. I've tried my best to pare this down to something I can play a lot of on the show. The full tweet is 10 minutes long or post on X. So you should go check it out. Follow him. This is incredible. I've left in most of the voiceover too, as they count down the numbers 10 through 1. But let's play part of this. We'll react to it as we go. The 10 biggest lies that media told us or the biggest embarrassing moments for media in 2024, according to Grabian and the great Tom Elliott.
SPEAKER 1 :
Ignore your eyes.
SPEAKER 14 :
Those are cheap fakes.
SPEAKER 05 :
There's a growing and insidious trend in right wing media, broadcast, print and social media. It is to take highly misleading and selectively edited videos of President Biden.
SPEAKER 28 :
They're doing terrible things. They're making Biden look like a moron because he's not one. And we promise he's not one. There's several other clips that prove that. That was number 10 on their list. CNN thinks America is a democracy. That's number nine on their list that CNN thinks America is America's democracy. You have a guy on the street asking questions and people correcting him and then him going back behind the scenes at CNN and saying this.
SPEAKER 26 :
I've heard a lot of conspiracy theories. I hear a lot of things out on the road. But to hear Americans...
SPEAKER 28 :
people who would describe themselves as patriots say that america is not a democracy that stopped me in my tracks it stopped me in my tracks even though america is a republic and not a democracy and that's an accurate statement that you can say uh that's number eight number seven number eight beyonce oh excuse me this is number eight number eight beyonce is performing at the dnc there are rumors there are rumors i love this one beyonce might make an appearance i personally think that that's true
SPEAKER 27 :
Is the United Center going to be turning into the Beehive tonight? I don't care.
SPEAKER 28 :
I really don't care. That was number eight on his list. Number ten, number nine, number eight. All excellent so far. Beyonce did not make an appearance. She was bumped or something. I can't remember what happened there. She did speak, but she didn't perform anything at the DNC.
SPEAKER 14 :
Number seven. The media tries to scare people about Project 2025. Oh, this happened.
SPEAKER 28 :
The media tries to hype up the amount of missing... Hold on, actually, you know what? I don't even care about that one. I skipped most of it because of how insane it was. But everything about Project 2025 was telling us how awful and horrible and definitely Donald Trump's plan this was, even though it wasn't his... And he actually also condemned portions of it, saying there's things that he definitely didn't agree with in it. But there are things that didn't seem like all that bad of ideas, too. But again, not his plan at all. That was number seven on their list. Absolutely happened like crazy. Number six.
SPEAKER 01 :
Media tries to hype up the amount of misinformation on X. After Elon Musk took over in 2022, most of its fact checkers were fired. Now the site is rife with trash.
SPEAKER 28 :
Yeah, rife with trash talk and all kinds of other things. Number six on the list. They're still trashing Elon. They're still trashing Twitter. They're still trying to convince you that you should not like him at all or be on that platform or be anywhere near the people who are on that platform because, darn it, it has a unique amount of influence on our society right now. That's an exceptional first half. of the list of top 10 things that media embarrassed themselves or lied about. This is again from Tom Elliott and Gravian, a long post, 10-minute video you can watch in its entirety on social media, showing you just how many people repeated these same ridiculous lies. Let's keep going. Number five, Tim Walz is the best.
SPEAKER 14 :
J.D. Vance is the worst.
SPEAKER 20 :
midwestern dad like super so great vibe normal likes right oh so clean spoken and relatable pretty moderate democrat very moderate record a new moderate is right down the middle he's not just an old white man tim walsh beats america you know and jd vance is weird extreme the worst utter humorlessness it's hard to believe that jd vance could be any more extreme
SPEAKER 28 :
I can't take it. Tim Walls was a weird dude, is a weird dude, is a very forgettable dude, but a dude who definitely didn't embody masculinity or new masculinity, whatever they told us that he was embodying. And J.D. Vance has been incredibly articulate in the time in which he's been on television. I'm not trying to say that he's perfect or everything about him is great, but honestly, that debate between them crushed this narrative, but this narrative was being used quite a few times. That's just number five. So many left to go. So many good demonstrations of just crap being told to us. Let's continue.
SPEAKER 04 :
All of our access to health care goes away.
SPEAKER 28 :
Oh, wait. Oh, sorry. This one is Trump apparently being a dictator and doing horrible things in our society. And a few of these clips are amazing, too. Number four on his list.
SPEAKER 05 :
All of our access to health care goes away next Tuesday. The stakes literally are life and death for every woman in America. It's not hyperbole. It's not an exaggeration. It is an exaggeration.
SPEAKER 20 :
Trump will fulfill his promise to be a dictator on day one. That's up a network of camps.
SPEAKER 15 :
Extraordinarily erratic foreign policy in the Middle East. Doing profound and possibly permanent damage to American democracy.
SPEAKER 28 :
Yeah, there's no camps. I haven't seen any camps yet, and I don't think we'll see any camps even when Trump actually gets into office. This stuff is also just so insane. And Trump even saying himself if he was at all a dictator on day one, which originally came from an interview with Sean Hannity in which he only talked about the border being something he'd fix. Hannity told him, you don't have to be a dictator as the president to do that. He said, whatever, that's fine. A Trump in response. And then they moved on because he's absolutely not going to try or going to in any way, shape, or form be an actual dictator. But media didn't care. That was number four. Let's continue.
SPEAKER 11 :
If historians in the future are allowed to write books... And by the way, that question is open this morning.
SPEAKER 14 :
Ridiculous. Number three, Joe Biden would never pardon his son because he is such a great guy. So good.
SPEAKER 04 :
The president will promise to put the law before a family.
SPEAKER 13 :
The president has ruled out pardoning his son. Definitely not happening. Keep making this argument. I don't know if he believes it. He would respect the outcome of this case.
SPEAKER 18 :
This was a good day for the system, a good day for sort of America as an example of how the rule of law should work.
SPEAKER 21 :
We're coming on the air this hour with breaking news. President Biden has just pardoned his son Hunter.
SPEAKER 28 :
You know, to be honest, I really thought that that should have been number one because of how hilarious it was and how long-lasting it was. I'm not trying to rethink the genius of Grabian and Tom Elliott, but that was a lie told to us pretty much all year long that wound up being absolutely inaccurate and relatively quickly. And I just love that edit there where you go right to the breaking news announcement that, yeah, okay, he did the thing that he told us all he wasn't going to do.
SPEAKER 14 :
Number two. Media gets caught editing interviews to help Kamala Harris.
SPEAKER 17 :
When you talk about bringing down prices and making life more affordable for people, what are one or two specific things you have in mind for that?
SPEAKER 30 :
Well, I'll start with this. I grew up a middle-class kid. Oh, no. My mother raised my sister and me. She worked very hard. She was able to finally save up enough money to buy our first house when I was a teenager.
SPEAKER 28 :
Yeah, yeah, okay.
SPEAKER 30 :
I grew up in a community of hardworking people. You're getting nervous now. Construction workers and nurses and teachers. And I try to explain to some people who may not have had the same experience, you know, but a lot of people will relate to this. You know, I grew up in a neighborhood of folks who are very proud of their lawn. You know?
SPEAKER 17 :
What? Talk about bringing down prices and making... i love that edit too they're very proud of their lawn you know and then let's see the other version talk about bringing down prices and making life more affordable for people what are one or two specific things you have in mind for that
SPEAKER 28 :
So when I talk about building an opportunity economy, it is very much with the mind of investing in the ambitions and aspirations and the incredible... Yeah, that was an answer to a different question, as you probably remember and as I remember, and they just added that answer in and acted like it was actually the thing she said in response to the question she was asked and not the stuff about people being proud of their lawns. That was number two for Grabian and Tom Elliott for Ridiculous Media Embarrassing Moments of the Year.
SPEAKER 14 :
Number one, there's no cognitive decline. In fact, Biden has never been better.
SPEAKER 19 :
Start your tape right now because I'm about to tell you the truth. This version of Biden is the best Biden ever. So good. So good. She knows so well. In fact.
SPEAKER 20 :
i think he's better than he's ever been he is sharp intensely probing and detail oriented and focused president biden has a photographic memory but he's totally focused he's very sharp they say he's sharp in meetings and so on very lucid very well informed he's older that doesn't mean that he is unfit he can clear a dementia bar and that's probably a win more wild speculation from a book
SPEAKER 28 :
I love that idiot, too. It's probably a win that he can clear a dementia bar. That'd be great. But those were the top 10 most embarrassing moments in media, according to Tom Elliott and Graby, and just excellently done. And as I said, there's a much longer version you can check out on social media, on X, on Twitter. He's great. at those mashups and those highlight things. And that probably does deserve, I'll admit it now, I thought number three, not pardoning my son, deserved to be number one just because of how egregious that lie was and how long-lasting it was. But this lie was worse. That Biden's doing fine. Everything's okay. Nothing to see here. And then he tanks a debate and they finally admit he's not okay because they know they're not going to win with him. And for some reason, they thought they were going to win with Harris. But that didn't go well. And so I think if that actually hadn't occurred, they never would have admitted how broken Biden was if they actually thought he could have beat Trump. But when they finally admit it, then a bunch of other stories come out, Wall Street Journal and whatnot, about just how broken he's been and just how significantly that has impacted his time in the White House and how little decision-making he actually did. But anyway, one more time, I'm not trying to overly promote it. I know I just took a whole segment to play it, but it was that good and that worth it. Go check out Tom Elliott and Gravian online to see the whole thing for yourself. A quick break, a little bit more coming up. Craig Collins filling in on The Dana Show.
SPEAKER 08 :
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SPEAKER 09 :
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SPEAKER 16 :
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 podcasts.
SPEAKER 28 :
This is The Dana Show. My name is Craig Collins filling in. Thrilled to be with you over the holidays. Dana will be back just after the new year. I'll be with you one more time next week, and then you'll hear from her on a few best ofs. You can find her everywhere, though. DLash, DanaLashRadio, on X, on Twitter, DanaRadio.com. Another great way to stay connected to her. A couple quick last topics that I like. First, an influencer went viral in Alaska for demonstrating just how expensive stuff is in his very remote town. Things like a loaf of bread costs over nine bucks. a carton of orange juice, 10, a box of cereal, 11, a butter is on sale for $7 or $8. The big takeaway, other than people being shocked how much more expensive things are in remote parts of Alaska than they are in the rest of the country, even though stuff is still ridiculously expensive, is that it can always be worse, which I guess people love. It'd be a weird campaign slogan for the Biden administration to say, hey, you could be living in Alaska in a remote part of that state where things are even worse, so be grateful that butter's only $6 or $5 and you're paying way cheaper prices. than the most remote parts of some of the remote states in our country. That's wonderful. And actually, if Trump gets what he wants and eventually turns Canada into the 51st state, I imagine some stuff is expensive in some remote parts of that country as well. And that person can go viral and say that, hey, it's worse for me than you feel bad for me. Another topic I thought was interesting. A woman seemed to be bragging about being a expert catfisher. This is someone who makes herself look differently or in some cases just totally pretends to be someone else until they meet you. She gave a tutorial for how you can also catfish dudes into first dates involving a lot of tape. She tapes the back parts of her face to make it look better and then takes pictures of herself with all this tape applied so that you can't tell. But essentially, I guess she doesn't need to use any sort of app to perfect her face. She does it mostly with tape. I will say it is shocking. The transition from the before and after photos of her totally looks like a different person. She claims it's still actually her and that Photoshop isn't used as much as just tape on your face. But there's something about being proud of this that seems terrible to me. And even more so, not just being proud of it, but I don't know what the goal is. I assume the goal is to get a bunch of first dates with dudes who are too nice to get up and say, you look nothing like your photo. I think I've been lied to. I'm going to go ahead and leave. Which I think you have every right to do, by the way. If you're someone that gets catfished into a first date with somebody that looks totally different than what they look like online, I don't think it's rude to say... I don't want to start off a brand new relationship or whatever this is supposed to be with a pretty significant lie. And you've already lied to me once since you know you don't look like your photos. So I'm going to go. And I wish you well, but don't talk to me anymore. I know people are going to say that's rude, but you got to have the whatever, the stones. Let's go with that word for them to say that in person if someone does this to you because they're a crap person. that understands that part of the reason you went out with them is you were attracted to the photo, and that's not actually them in real life, and that matters. But anyway... I just thought it was funny that she was so proud of herself for being so good at this, because if she's really that great at concealing all the tape on her face, maybe she should go out and live in the regular world with a face of tape, or maybe just go ahead and get those surgeries to do whatever the tape is doing to the face. Cause again, the transformation is significant. It is kind of surprising. She does all that. And I may be not, she's already lying about some stuff. Maybe she is using Photoshop and lying about that too. One last thing that I saw out there that I thought was interesting. I don't know how many people remember and remember the show fondly or well, but The Nanny was a TV show that was on for a while. Fran Drescher, of course, was the star of it. Fran Drescher is uniquely known for having a Terribly annoying voice, but much more than that. I guess she was also known on the show for having an interesting sense of fashion. Apparently, Gen Z, specifically in New York, loves it. They are doing all of the Fran Drescher outfits as part of their outfits for the holiday season and apparently bragging to other people about how many great looks Fran Drescher had on that show, so much so that the actress herself has even reacted and thanked people for rediscovering her television show now and rediscovering what she said she had a lot of fun making, which is all the wardrobe decisions now. The only thing I remember about that, and I haven't seen The Nanny since I was a little kid, and I don't even remember why, who in my family would watch that show, but I remember thinking that her outfits were always ridiculous. That's all I thought whenever I saw them is like, wow, that seems insane. I don't think anyone would wear that in public. And now apparently young people are so smitten with the show and with the fashion decisions that they are copying a lot of the looks and trying to find other ways to buy more or create more of these things. And that's amazing to me. At least they're giving credit to it, though. Oftentimes on social media, when people figure out things that are very old, they think they've created them the first time. One of my favorite examples of that is when people were so excited that Post Malone had given a platform to some guy named Ozzy Osbourne that they thought was a has-been or an unknown, and that it was really cool that this old dude was getting a chance to be in a song with Post Malone, which was uniquely sad to see a lot of people not know who Ozzy is which actually also seemed remarkably incapable of being true. But this, at least, they're giving credit to Fran Drescher, credit to the show, and telling people to watch The Nanny for wardrobe suggestions and selections, something I would never tell anyone I care about to do. But darn it, young people, at least in New York, are doing it. See you later. Happy holidays. Greg Collins filling in on The Dana Show.
Join us for a compelling episode of Washington Watch as we delve into the highlights of the 2024 PrayVoteStand Summit. Hosted by Jody Heiss, this special edition showcases powerful addresses from Erin Hawley of Alliance Defending Freedom and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. Hawley provides insights on the historic Dobbs decision, the ongoing battle for life, and a call to Christians to act counter-culturally. Huckabee offers a stirring perspective on America's current climate, emphasizing the spiritual battles underpinning political challenges.
SPEAKER 07 :
from the heart of our nation's capital in Washington, D.C., bringing compelling interviews, insightful analysis, taking you beyond the headlines and soundbites into conversations with our nation's leaders and newsmakers, all from a biblical worldview. Sitting in for Tony is today's host, Jody Heiss.
SPEAKER 06 :
Good afternoon and welcome to this special edition of Washington Watch. I'm Jody Heiss, the Senior Vice President here at the Family Research Council and President of FRC Actions. So glad to have you with us. Well, with Congress out right now, we want to bring you some special content from our most recent PrayVoteStand Summit. For those of you who may not be aware, the Pray, Vote, Stand Summit is our annual event that draws Christian voters from all across America to our nation's capital. And the summit addressed some very important issues like religious freedom and gender ideology, election integrity, the military, protection of the unborn, the importance of the nuclear family, indoctrination of our nation's schools, and so, so much more. Absolutely a phenomenal event it was. Well, today we're going to share with you the addresses that were delivered by a couple of the speakers at the summit, Aaron Hawley from Elias Defending Freedom and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, who, of course, as you know, has been tapped by President-elect Trump to be his nominee for U.S. ambassador to Israel. Well, together, they delivered powerful messages and drove home the three main action words that define our summit, which is to pray, to vote, and to stand. So we've got a great show for you today. And if you missed any part of it, of course, our website is TonyPerkins.com. where you can find not only this edition of Washington Watch, but many past editions as well. So we've got a lot of resources there for you. You don't want to miss. Please be sure to bookmark TonyPerkins.com. And before we jump into this first segment, I want to encourage you to join us for Operation Prayer Shield. As we prepare for the transition of leadership in Washington, we here at FRC believe that this season calls for a heightened spiritual vigilance and unity. So during this pivotal time, from now to January 20th, 2025, we invite you to join us in this collective prayer effort in which we'll seek God's divine protection and guidance And we encourage you to text the word SHIELD, S-H-I-E-L-D, SHIELD to 67742. And to do so, you'll receive weekly alerts, daily prayer points, and a whole lot more. Again, text the word SHIELD to 67742. and as i mentioned this past october family research council and frc action held our fourth annual pray vote stand summit drawing christian voters from all across the country to our nation's capital amazing amazing event that it was and again if you missed it We encourage you to download our Stand Firm app and go back and watch the PrayVote Stand Summit. Incredible, and you get that app if you don't already have it by texting the word APP to 67742. But among the speakers at the summit was Erin Hawley. She's the Senior Counsel and Vice President of the Center for Life and Regulatory Practice at Alliance Defending Freedom. Erin, of course, is also the wife of U.S. Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri. And in her address, she shared the story behind the Dobbs decision that overturned the infamous Roe v. Wade decision of 1973. And she talked about where we are today in the battle for life. We'll start from her look back at the environment when Roe was first decided.
SPEAKER 14 :
So I wanted to start this morning with just a little bit about what brought us to this day and this time, this moment in American history, and to this fight for life and for the family. So we have to start with Roe. Roe was an egregiously wrong decision that overturned the pro-life law of almost every single state. It's largely conceded that it was wrong. Professor at Yale and Harvard, John Hardy Lee, talked about it being not constitutional law and barely giving any sense of trying to be constitutional law. Lawrence Tribe from Harvard says its reasoning was a, quote, verbal smokescreen. Even the late Justice Ginsburg criticized it for disrupting the democratic process. The seven male justices who authored and joined Roe said that it, quote, forced upon women a distressful life. and future. This was the vision of motherhood that gave us Roe. And yet no one thought Roe would be reversed. If we think back to just months before the Dobbs oral argument, I was at a debate with a professor from Columbia, and he had actually worked for the Reagan administration. So I was making all these points that Roe's wrong, there's nothing in the Constitution that talks about the right to abortion, that the factors all justify that the Supreme Court overruled that wrong decision rather than sticking to it. And the professor sort of threw up his hands and said, look, I agree with you. I actually wrote a brief in the Reagan administration asking the Supreme Court to overrule Roe. He said, but it didn't happen then, and it won't ever happen. We have Dobbs now, and it's nothing short of miraculous. So many of you marched and prayed, volunteered at pregnancy care centers, supported pregnancy care centers, supported moms for years. And I just wanted to share a few of the background details of the Dobbs story that you may not know. One of the key players was a single mom turned nurse turned legislator named Becky Curry in Mississippi. So one of the most amazing parts of the Dobbs story to me is that while she was a nurse, Becky Curry helped deliver a 15 week old child. The child was too young to live and Becky describes holding the child, that child, as it struggled to live. Then Mississippi enacts its 15 week law and Becky sponsors it. We have a third petition that languished for months at the United States Supreme Court until that court changed, until Justice Amy Coney Barrett replaced Justice Ginsburg. We had Mississippi elect a new attorney general who was staunchly pro-life, Lynn Fitch. And she hired Scott Stewart, an accomplished appellate litigator who insisted that the right thing to do was ask the Supreme Court to overrule Roe and not take any moderate steps. Now that may seem, you know, hindsight's always 20-20. That may seem like the obvious thing, but even staunchly pro-life lawyers at the time were saying, we need to take it easy. The Supreme Court's not going to overrule Roe. We need to ask for something moderate. Thank heavens the Attorney General and her team asked for the right results. one of the great things about the dobbs decision is that it took place in what we could think of as the year of jubilee roe governed for nearly 50 years and of course we know that the year of jubilee is sort of a super sabbath it's a time to rest and be restored to set the captives free it's a year that is holy to the lord so there's no question that dobbs was a monumental victory for life it returned to the people the power to protect life But as we sit here today, the pro-abortion forces have responded in kind. Today we're seeing an all-out assault on the family, on children. We're seeing an administration that pushes abortion drugs across state lines without even necessary safeguards for women's health. Far from the now passe mantra that abortion be safe, legal, and rare, the left now says that women should shout their abortion. We're seeing medical information peddling false information, terrifying women, when the reality is that every state law, every one, allows doctors to do whatever is necessary to save the life of a mother, and no state prevents treatment for miscarriages or ectopic pregnancies. So we see four key areas of assault. I just want to talk about them briefly, and then about where we can go from here. So first, abortion drugs. We know that the Biden administration allows them to be mailed. They can be mailed to women, to their dorm rooms, to their home, without women ever seeing a doctor. In 2001, the FDA took away that last remaining doctor's visit. It's the only opportunity for a woman to check for things like an ectopic pregnancy or to accurately assess gestational age. But women's health was sacrificed to free or more access, I should say, to abortion drugs. And make no mistake, these drugs are dangerous. They have a black box warning. They send roughly one in 25 women to the emergency room. And that was before the FDA took away that last remaining doctor's visit. Second, we have a media by and large that peddles the pro-abortion story. You all have probably all heard about the tragic death of Ms. Amber Nicole Thurman. She died from an infection caused by abortion drugs. And a media outlet, ProPublica, tried to pin her death on George's pro-life law. Many members of the media and even politicians, even one running for president, jumped on the bandwagon and blamed George's law. There's just one problem with this narrative. It is absolutely false. Georgia's law in no way prevented the treatment of Amber Thurmond. In fact, that law didn't apply for at least two reasons. First, Amber's twins were already passed. The law didn't apply because any procedure would not have taken their life. And second, as mentioned, Georgia's law, like every law in the country, allows treatment, whatever treatment is necessary to save the life of a mother. I'm not sure why Amber didn't get that treatment, but I know it wasn't because of Georgia's pro-life law. In fact, the doctors involved in her case have never even suggested that their hands were bound by the law. Third, we see pro-abortion forces sort of changing their tune. They've long called themselves the pro-choice movement or the pro-choice party, but their recent actions suggest it's not really about choice at all, but about being pro-abortion. I'd like to introduce you to a young woman named McKenna. McKenna is a young, new mom in Colorado. She was unexpectedly pregnant, and as she tells it, absolutely terrified. At five weeks, she ordered the abortion drugs and took the first one. She immediately regretted her decision and was distraught. She went online, googled, you know, is there any way to reverse this, and contacted the abortion pill reversal network. They set her up with a nurse practitioner who was able to provide progesterone. Progesterone, of course, is something that has been safely used to maintain pregnancies for 50-some years. So Chelsea, or excuse me, this woman, McKenna, took progesterone and recently delivered a healthy, beautiful baby girl that she says she could not imagine life without. There's a wonderful video, and McKenna just describes how she couldn't imagine life without her wonderful daughter. But there's just one catch. McKenna lives in a state where abortion pill reversal, just as provision of progesterone, is outlawed. You can take the abortion drug, but you can't try to save your baby. And in fact, the attorney generals of New York, as well as states like California, have sued pregnancy care centers just for sharing information about abortion pill reversal, because they don't want women to change their mind. They don't want to give them the option of saving their baby's life. Fourth, the elephant in the room. We all know that we've seen tens of millions of dollars being dumped into pro-abortion ballot initiatives across the country. They say, the proponents, that they just want to go back to Roe and Casey. But the reality is much different. If you look at the language of those amendments, many of them go far beyond Roe and Casey. They impose something called strict scrutiny that would take away even modest things like a waiting period or informed consent or the requirement that a doctor be involved in a chemical abortion. They might also open up the door, under the guise of reproductive care, to the taxpayer funding of things like gender transition drugs or surgeries. It's not just going back to Roe. So with Roe gone, today at this moment, we're confronted with a reality, one we always knew, that its demise is not enough. What we need, what we've always needed, is a culture of life.
SPEAKER 06 :
that was alliance defending freedoms aaron hawley during the 2024 pray vote stand summit and you're tuned in to washington watch today we're broadcasting some special content from the summit that was held in washington dc and after the break we'll continue with aaron's address and hear her exhortation for christians today to act counter-culturally as jesus and the early church did so stay tuned
SPEAKER 08 :
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 with a 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. In May, 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 Government. 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 13 :
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 06 :
I'm your Friday host, Jody Heiss. The website is TonyPerkins.com. Today, we're broadcasting special content from the 2024 PrayVote Stand Summit that was held in Washington, D.C. And before the break, we brought you part of the address. It was delivered by Aaron Hawley, Senior Counsel and Vice President of the Center for Life and Regulatory Practice at Alliance Defending Freedom. Erin, of course, is also the wife of U.S. Senator Josh Hawley from Missouri. Well, in this next part, Erin shares some lessons that we all can learn from the early church. And they acted counter-culturally, just as Jesus did. And they did so during a time when infanticide, abortion, child sex abuse, and other awful practices were commonplace. So here's Erin.
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Jesus had so much to say about the dignity and worth of children. Jesus delighted in them, and he radically reformed culture. He called the little children to him, and he flummoxed the religious leaders of the day when he said that the kingdom of heaven would be made up of such of these. In addition to those that the world regarded as outcasts, he said, be wary if you cause these little ones to stumble. We know that Jesus showed the Father's heart. And that just makes me think of our daughter, Abigail, who I've mentioned. We have two gorgeous boys, almost 12 and almost 10, that are the delight of our eyes. But I have to say, Abigail's name means the father's delight. And Abby knows that she is her father's delight. She bats his little three-year-old eyes, and her daddy is like totally slayed. So he's been traveling a lot, as you might expect. And so every time before he leaves, she says, daddy. Bring me something. And Daddy obliges. Recently, we were at the grocery store, and she wanted some stuffed animal. I was like, no, Abigail, we're not going to get anything today. We're just here for groceries. And you could tell she was debating between throwing a full-scale tantrum or acquiescing. So she thought about it for a second, and she goes, that's OK. I asked daddy. And I just, I love this picture that Abigail shows of just the full confidence in her dad's love. She knows that she is her father's delight. And the truth of that is that's true for all of us. It's true for women who have unplanned pregnancies and it's true for those unborn children. So I think today we take inspiration from two things, two lessons from the early church. First, they boldly spoke countercultural truth that women and children matter. And second, they created this culture of life that we've been talking about it. They did this sacrificially. Theologian Rodney Snark attributes the rapid growth of Christianity in the first century to the fact that its adherence improved people's lives. Rome entered two devastating plagues in the first couple of centuries, and Christians acted counter-culturally. In his Easter letter, Dionysius writes about the heroic nursing efforts of early Christians, so much so that it irritated the emperor Julian He instructed pagan priests to keep pace with Christians, and he wrote to the high priest in Galatia in 362, demanding that the pagan worshipers needed to equal the virtues of Christians. He said that the growth in Christianity was caused by their, quote, moral character, however pretended, specifically their benevolence towards strangers. They support not only their poor, but ours as well, and everyone can see that we lack aid to them. This culture of life that the Christian community committed to and encapsulated in the first century extended dignity and worth to every member of society. This was a stark contrast to ancient Rome, where the father determined whether a pregnant woman would have an abortion. Even today, we know that fathers are often the most influential person in a woman's decision. Yet at a recent White Dudes for Harris event, Pete Buttigieg pushed Kamala Harris for president because, quote, men are more free when abortion is easily accessible. He said the quiet part out loud, acknowledging that maybe, just maybe, abortion isn't all about a woman's choice. In fact, evidence shows that most women who have an abortion don't do so from a position of empowerment. One survey performed by Human Coalition says that the vast majority of women who've had an abortion said they would have chosen to parent if their circumstances were different. Nearly a quarter in another survey said that their abortions were either coerced or unwanted. And an astounding 60% of women said they would have preferred to have a child if they'd had either greater emotional or financial security. These statistics are heartbreaking because they suggest that many women don't think they have a real option. Yet in the tradition of the early church, Christians can act counter-culturally. We can come alongside these moms, telling them that they are the beloved daughters of the King Most High, that they matter more than any mistake that they might have made. Through pro-family policies, through supporting pregnant moms, through Pregnancy and Beyond, through pregnancy care centers that are under such assault from the left, through economic policies that make it possible to support a family and have children, we must transform culture. The threats facing our children, facing women, facing our families, it turns out, are far from new, but thankfully, we as believers can return to one of our earliest missions that is supporting women and children. We can recover the legacy of the first century believers and radically transform culture. This may not be an easy task, but we are living in a moment of challenge, but also of great opportunity. It's a moment that matters to the direction of our country. is a moment when it matters to be a conservative, to be pro-life, to be pro-woman, and to be pro-family, when your voice, the voice of all of the people in this room, is all the more important. And we know, always, that we are not alone, that his spirit empowers us and protects us, and that he can do the unimaginable. Dobbs, after all, was never supposed to happen.
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That was Elias Defending Freedom's Erin Hawley during the 2024 PrayVote Stand Summit. And you're tuned in today to a special edition of Washington Watch as we're broadcasting some of the highlights from that summit that was held in Washington, DC. And let me just say this, if you missed that summit, I assure you, you wanna go back and see it. And we encourage you to do so by downloading our StandFirm app. You can get that app just by going to your app store, Google Play, wherever you get your apps, and you can simply text the word app, APP, to 6742.
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67742.
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And you will be able to watch this. All right, after the break, we're going to highlight some more addresses from the summit. Mike Huckabee is coming your way right after the break.
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So if you like to think and you like to pray, FRC is the place for you.
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I think it is the best program out there.
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Yeah, I've absolutely loved my experience interning at FRC.
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They really are making waves out in the political world and doing it from the light of the Lord.
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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're looking for what they can pour into you instead of what they can get out of you.
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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.
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The throne of Jesus Christ is unchallenged. His name was never on the ballot to begin with, and it's never gonna be on the ballot. He's the King of Kings, and He's the Lord of Lords, and nothing's gonna 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.
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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.
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Welcome back to Washington Watch. I am your Friday host, Jody Heiss. So glad to have you joining us today. And of course, our website, TonyPerkins.com. Well, today we're broadcasting content from the 2024 PrayVoteStand Summit. And in this particular segment, we'll turn to the address that was delivered by Mike Huckabee, former governor of Arkansas, and now president-elect Trump's nominee for U.S. ambassador to Israel. And we'll start with his take on the times in which we're living. Here's Governor Huckabee.
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I've been in politics for a little over 30 years. I've run for office. I've won offices. I've held office. I've served. But I can also tell you that what we're facing today is not the traditional historical political spectrum that is horizontal. Left versus the right. Liberal versus the conservative. Democrat versus the Republican. That's the horizontal spectrum that we have mostly lived under. We're no longer living in a horizontal world with horizontal issues. Folks, our issues today are vertical. They are up and down, heaven and hell, righteous and unrighteous, good and evil. And we have to understand that the battle is spiritual. The consequences will be political, but the underpinning of it, never kid ourselves, is spiritual. There's no other explanation for the hatred that is being leveled against the Jewish people and specifically the state of Israel. It's irrational. Who would have ever believed in our lifetime we would see on the major college campuses of America where college students would believe that it was perfectly okay to shut down the voices and even the ability of a Jewish student to walk across the campus? Look, I grew up in the 60s. My gosh, we had people taking over the president's office at college campuses arguing for free speech. Today, they're taking over the campuses to argue against free speech. This is a radical difference. We have people who don't see the world like we grew up seeing it. And the result is that we're living in a day where people think that it's perfectly okay for folks to burn down a city and trash a police car and burn down a police station. And the news media will say, it's a mostly peaceful protest as the fire rages behind them. That's not a difference of opinion. Folks, this is insanity. We're living in a upside-down world. And when the theme of this conference, pray, vote, stand, I pray that you will embrace this as more than a slogan, that you will see it as a command. I was recently in the film, God's Not Dead, In God We Trust. I don't know if you've seen it yet. If you haven't, you need to see it. It's a wonderful film. I appreciate both of you for watching it. But if you haven't seen it, I sincerely urge you to. First, it's I think the best of the five part series. And secondly, I was in it and I really think you should see it. I just want to tell you this, there is a lot of talk around the country. You know, again, I'm in the film and people are saying there's Oscar talk going on here. Now not about me or the film, there's just Oscar talk going on. But not because I'm in it, but here's an underlying message is this. By the way, General, how are you? God bless you. I love this man down here. One of the greatest Americans in our country. God bless you. But this film is a reminder that there are 40 million self-described evangelical Christians who do not vote in a presidential election. And let me explain what that means. If half of those people who sit in church on their blessed assurance would pray, stand and vote, we would change every election in this country from the school board all the way to the White House. I do not understand why Christians would ever say, oh, I don't want to vote. It's dirty business. Why is it dirty business? Because the Christians have kept their hands out of it. And the reason that it has gotten as dirty, filthy as it is, and it is, I'll be the first to acknowledge it. I've lived in the belly of the beast now for over 30 years. Let me assure you, it is nasty business. But it doesn't get better when the people who claim to be there for the cleanliness of it don't show up for the fight. It doesn't get it better. Look, everybody wants to eat from a clean plate, right? Go to the restaurant, you sit down. When they bring your food, you don't want lunch on your dinner plate. It's pretty simple. But if you want to eat from a clean plate, don't you think somebody's got to be willing to do the dishes? And don't you think that maybe God is calling every one of us to engage in the civic responsibility. It's not just our right. It is our responsibility to be engaged in the process. I don't understand why a pastor, look, I would never ask a pastor, expect or want a pastor to endorse candidates from the pulpit. Even when I was a candidate, pastor would say, I'm going to endorse you. I said, don't. Outside the pulpit, fine. Put my bumper strip on your car. That'd be great. You can tell everybody how you're going to vote, but don't do it from the pulpit. I said, because the sacred desk needs to be reserved and preserved for the one message of the Lord Jesus Christ dying on the cross for our sins. There is no other message that should come from that pulpit. So don't endorse me. I may fail miserably. Jesus will never fail. So preach him. But part of preaching him is to encourage people. to do something that is a privilege in this country, and that is the privilege of voting and helping to select the government that is going to oversee our lives.
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That was former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee speaking at the 2024 PrayVote Stand Summit back in October. You're tuned in to Washington Watch. Again, let me just tell you, if you miss the summit or you want to revisit any part of it, you can download the Stand Firm app. Go to your favorite place wherever you get apps and text the word APP to 67742. We'll be back right in a moment.
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Hello, I'm Tony Perkins, President of the 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? 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
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Let's not be discouraged. Don't lose heart. Don't lose the faith. Stand now strong because the Lord has given us the great privilege of living in a time when our choices matter, when our lives matter, when our courage matters. So let's stand together and save this great country. God bless the United States of America.
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The American Republic has a freedom like no other. It has roots in the scriptures far more than any other heritage. And if we as followers of Jesus and conservatives don't defend it, who will?
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Neutrality is not an option. There are many Christians who believe that if we just keep our heads down, if we just don't say the wrong thing, that somehow we will come out of this unscathed. You're naive if you think that, because what they want from us is not our silence. What they want from us is our submission.
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Part of the dilemma of Christianity in our generation is that we've relied a little too much on human wisdom and human reasoning, human strength, human resource. And we've relied too little on the power of God and God's ability to open doors that we can't open and do things that we can't even hope to begin to do.
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This may not be an easy task. But we are living in a moment of challenge, but also a great opportunity. And we know always that we are not alone, that his spirit empowers us and protects us, and that he can do the unimaginable. Dobbs, after all, was never supposed to have it.
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Father, we thank you. You have entrusted us with this moment in history, and I pray that we would be found faithful, and that as a result of our faithfulness to you, that thousands, millions would come into the kingdom as they would experience the forgiveness of sin and the new life that is found only in Jesus Christ. Amen.
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And welcome back to Washington Watch. I am your Friday host, Jody Heist. Thanks so much for tuning in to today's special program. We've been playing some of the highlights from the 2024 Pray Vote Stand Summit that was held in Washington, D.C., and I hope you've been enjoying them. Well, to close out today's special edition, we're going to finish up with the address delivered by former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. We'll start with his encouragement to vote when it's time to vote. and what happens when we don't.
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It's not just our right. It is our responsibility to be engaged in the process. I don't understand why a pastor, look, I would never ask a pastor, expect or want a pastor to endorse candidates from the pulpit. Even when I was a candidate, pastors say, I'm going to endorse you. I said, don't. Outside the pulpit, fine. Put my bumper strip on your car. That'd be great. You can tell everybody how you're going to vote, but don't do it from the pulpit. I said, because the sacred desk needs to be reserved and preserved for the one message of the Lord Jesus Christ dying on the cross for our sins. There is no other message that should come from that pulpit. So don't endorse me. I may fail miserably. Jesus will never fail. So preach him. But part of preaching him is to encourage people. to do something that is a privilege in this country and that is the privilege of voting and helping to select the government that is going to oversee our lives. And if we don't like the government we have and don't vote, we end up getting the government we deserve and not the one we wanted. And then when our 12-year-old granddaughter is forced into some hideous situation where she loses her privacy, her modesty, and her dignity, And we really can't complain and say, oh, I wish those people would make different decisions. You were the one who didn't make the decision. You didn't even vote. And I would suggest that any pastor that does not encourage his people to be a part of civic engagement and voting is being derelict in the duty of being a shepherd to the sheep. I'm not trying to be mean, I'm not trying to castigate anybody, but folks, this country is on the brink of collapse. Jesus said that we are the salt and the light. Most people have no idea what that means as it related to the first century church. Jesus said you're the salt. What did he mean? Did he mean that we, oh, a little sprinkle of us here and there seasons the food? No. First century, he's speaking Sea of Galilee. Fishermen are bringing their fish in. They didn't bring them out of the boat and put them in ice chest or refrigerated trucks or Yeti coolers. They didn't have those things. They had one thing, salt. It was a preservative. Salt was the preservative, so they would bring the fish out and immediately start packing the fish in salt because it was the only thing that would keep the fish from putrefying and spoiling. Somebody has said it's like Baptists. They come out of the water and they immediately start spoiling and putrefying. The Baptists weren't laughing right then, so I totally understand. It was funny to everybody else though, so it's okay. When Jesus said, you're the salt of the earth, he said, look, if something is rotting, you're the ones who are responsible for keeping it from rotting. You're the salt. But if you're not going to be the salt, you're going to be more like sand, then we'll trample them under the feet. It's worthless. If we're not going to be the salt, then we're going to see a culture like the one we have. And if you look at our culture and you say, this culture is messed up. Why, we've got people saying crazy stuff. We have people that don't know what a woman is. We appoint them to the Supreme Court. That makes sense, doesn't it? I'm for women's rights. I don't know what a woman is, but I'm for women's rights. This is crazy town business, people. So if we want to combat that, we better be salt. Otherwise, it gets worse and worse, and the putrefaction of our culture degenerates into something that is unrecognizable and unlivable. Wherever there was a lack of salt, there is rot. If you look at our culture and society today and say it's rotting, it's because there's not any salt. And who's the salt? Are we expecting the politicians to deliver that? You shouldn't. God is expecting his children, the people in our pews. He's expecting us. to be the salt. And he said, not you could be, you should be, you might be. He said, you are the salt of the earth. But are we acting like it? No, we enjoy going to church and that's our huddle. But if you have huddles and you never run the play, you never can win the game. And folks, we have a lot of people that get gathered up for the huddle and they leave the field. Several years ago, I... for a long time, had a bass boat. I love fishing. And you know, the only problem with a bass boat, those things are expensive, right? Some of you have one. Some of your wives saying, yeah, they're expensive. And when I had a bass boat, I realized that if I took it down the Arkansas River, I might bump into a stump and knock the lower unit off. I could hit it so hard, it'd put a hole in it, have to get it repaired. And it'd get nasty and dirty in the river. So I ended up doing something that a lot of us boat owners did. I quit going into the water and I joined a boat club and we put our boats in a warehouse. And every weekend we would go to the warehouse and sit up in our boats and wave at each other. We'd polish our boats. We'd turn on the boat stereo. We would even get together and we would sing boat songs. We would invite people to come in and talk to us about boating and how much fun it was. And we even would take up money and we would send people out to actually get on the water and see what it was like to be in a boat. They would come back and show slides and tell us about being on a boat. When the weekend was over, we'd all turn out the lights, polish our boats, and we'd say goodbye to each other, sing a little boat song and go on our merry way. You say, that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Let me tell you, there's nothing dumber than people who go to church and they hide out every Sunday and they turn the lights off and they go and they never think again the rest of the week about what they heard on Sunday and they never put their boat in the water. Folks, let me be honest. If a boat gets filled with the water, it ain't much of a boat. But if a boat never gets in the water, it ain't much of a boat. And we have too many believers who are the boats that never see water. Yes, you're going to hit a stump. Yes, you're going to get hurt. Yes, there are things that are going to get nasty. I can tell you from the experience of being not just a candidate, but an office holder, it's a bad business out there. I tell people all the time, they say, I'm thinking about running for office. What do you think? My response is always the same. If you can't stand the sight of your own blood, don't do it. This is a game played, full contact sport played without pads. And there'll be times you'll come off the field in a gurney. It's not always pleasant and fun. And a lot of people won't like you. So if you have to be loved and have to be appreciated when everything you do, well, okay. Go to the warehouse. Never put your boat in the water. but our country is sinking because we don't have enough sailors and we have too many sitters. We need some people who will pray, vote and stand. And that's why we're here. I love what Michelle Bachmann was sharing a few moments ago and especially the powerful prayer. We sometimes really do act like that it, It's so much about us. And we even sometimes even pray as if now, God, we know you're not really going to answer this prayer, but it's in the program. So here we go. I mean, isn't that embarrassing that we. I want to tell a little story. During my tenure as governor, if you came to see me at the state capitol, the governor's office was on the second floor of the state capitol. And if somebody had an appointment with me or wanted to see somebody from the staff of the governor's office, they came to the second floor and there was an outer office. It had to be unlocked electronically by the receptionist. And if you got through that first electronically locked door, she would find out who you were and who you had an appointment with. Was it with me or was it with a staff member? And once we determined that there was, in fact, an appointment, then... If it was with a staff member, they would be summoned, they would meet you in the outer office, they would take you to their offices and you would have your appointment. If the appointment was with me, the next step was that another electronically locked door would open and two state troopers would escort a person in where they would ask for photo ID. Yeah, photo ID, gee, what a novel idea. Maybe one day we'll even do that to vote or whatever. And then they would make sure that this person didn't have an arrest warrant out for them. They really were who they said they were. And they would get checked out by a couple of state troopers. Then they would go through another electronically locked door where a staff member who was assigned to staff the meeting would greet that person and just remind them of kind of how long they had in the meeting. And please don't take cell phone calls while we're in the middle of it because that counted against your clock and simple things like that. They then would go to my assistant, who sat right outside my office door, and she would electronically unlock that door. And as she stepped in, she would knock and announce, governor, Mr. Tony Perkins is here to see you. And I would say, I don't want to see him. Good grief. No, she would announce, and that would be the signal that I was supposed to know that my two o'clock appointment was there. Now, the way my office was located, if I were sitting at my desk, I looked forward at the door in which she would come in. But I had a big credenza behind my desk on which my computer sat, and I did a lot of my work at the credenza part, because it was big and I had a lot of room. And the other reason was I had a great view right down Capitol Avenue from my office window. And then if I turned to my left, I had a beautiful view of the Arkansas River. It was a real nice spot. Corner office, great view. So I liked working that way because the view was better. While I was sitting at my credenza, I was looking down Capitol Avenue, Arkansas River over to my left, back over my right shoulder would have been the entrance door. Nobody knocked. Nobody announced anyone. I just had this feeling. You ever had those? Where you feel like somebody's in the room with me. You just felt it. So I slowly Turned and looked up and much to my astonishment, there was this rather shabbily dressed young lady standing right over me. You're probably thinking what anyone would think. How on earth did she get through that many electronically locked doors, that many staff members and troopers? How in the world could she have gotten through and you not even be told? And what's worse, as she stood over me, she started demanding money. I thought, are you a legislator? That's what they do. But no. And again, she was not dressed for business at the Capitol. You know what I did? I gave her money. You bet I did. You know the reason? Because that young lady standing over me was a college student who happened to be my daughter. And if she asked me for something, usually she got it. Truth is, she's still getting it pretty much any time. And she wasn't dressed up for the occasion. She knew she didn't have to be. She was a college student. She was dressed like one. And she didn't have any hesitation whatsoever to say, dad, I need some money. Can you fork over some? Which I dutifully did. You see, she didn't have to go through all those people to come see me. Standing rule in my office was always that any member of my immediate family had instant access. They called, they were put right through. If they came, they came right in. Now, my assistant might say, look, he's in a meeting with whoever, and then it would be up to them to decide if it was important enough to interrupt me, and usually they thought it was. I wanted it that way because I never wanted them to think that they took a backseat to anybody. Not the biggest donor, not the most important person in business. Nobody was more important than they were. So here she stands, she's asking for money. She didn't have to go through the state troopers, my assistant, the receptionist, the staff members, nobody. And there's a simple reason why she didn't have to ask anybody's permission to stand right there and boldly ask me for money. Because she had something that nobody else that day who came to see me had. She had my name. She had my name. I don't know how many times I see believers and they act like that we're just so, we're so powerless. We're overwhelmed. We're going to lose this thing. How can we possibly survive? And I want to just sometimes say, have you not read the book? God has given us his name. He has told us. that we don't have to ask anyone's permission to come boldly before his throne and we can ask him anything he wants. He may tell us no, but he loves to tell us yes. And if we were to pray and sincerely repent of our sins and come with a sense of humility about what we've done to this world and the country, and if we were to come without apology, and ask him to bring healing to this land and to raise up a generation of godly leaders, even if they weren't aware of the fact that they were being godly leaders, but that he would use them, because God can hit a straight lick with a crooked stick. And we would ask him. He might just turn this nation around. You have his name. Pray, vote, stand. God bless you.
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I'm Jody Heist. Thank you so much for tuning into this special edition of Washington Watch. What you just heard was former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee at the 2024 Pray, Vote, Stand Summit. And friends, I tell you, it was one of the most powerful meetings that I've ever been a part of. Many of you were there. Many of you watched it. Many of you didn't. And for those who missed it, one more time, I'd like to give you a way that you can access the content for yourself. You can download our Stand Firm app. Download the word app, APP, to 67742 and get a taste of that summit. Thank you for joining us today. We'll see you next week on Washington Watch.
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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.
As the new administration prepares to take charge, pressing concerns loom large, including President Trump's planned policies regarding Mexico's drug cartels. In this episode, we delve into the potential military actions contemplated against the cartels and the implications for U.S.-Mexico relations. Meanwhile, as Trump is positioned to transition from President-elect to President, ACLJ emphasizes the importance of utilizing these pivotal moments to push forward impactful legislative changes and secure the nation’s borders.
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Today on Sekulow, as the world prepares for President Trump, Mexico worries he will take military action against cartels.
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Keeping you informed and engaged, now more than ever, this is Sekulow. We want to hear from you. Share and post your comments or call 1-800-684-3110. And now your host, Jordan Sekulow.
SPEAKER 04 :
All right, folks, welcome to Sekulow. We are taking your calls to 1-800-684-3110. If you're just joining us since the holidays, welcome back to What's Going On in the World. We were back yesterday, some of us. Some technical problems for me. So I'm back in the studio here, though, today. And we are taking your phone calls at 1-800-684-3110. And you've already got... Really I mean because of this where President Biden is and some of the reports that have come out about President Biden that came out right before and right during the holidays about you know who is actually running things at the White House I think that you could write an entire book and do an entire investigation about that but you also really have to let's move forward too to getting things done and I want to spend most of our time in the next four years especially these next two years with the Republican House and a Republican Senate and Trump in the White House of getting as much done legislatively, the tough stuff done, where you've got to take the votes, where executive order just won't cut it, because you never know what's going to happen in midterm elections. Usually you lose one of the houses. Maybe you don't, but let's try and get as much done as we can in the first hundred days and not be just looking back. At the same time, though, because of this situation, it's like, President Trump is a president-elect, but it's almost like the world is treating him like the president and is already starting to maneuver, even though he has no presidential power at this moment. Technically, he has a lot of power by who he appoints. and what he decides to weigh in on and not weigh in on before he actually takes the oath of office on the 20th of January in Washington, D.C. And so now we've got our neighbor to the south, Mexico, putting out concerns that we may launch air campaigns and airstrikes against drug cartels. I would ask two questions, I guess, to our friends to the south. One is... If we could coordinate with your government, why would you be against the United States helping you take out the terrorists who are terrorizing your country? Because remember, they're not only killing Americans with the drugs and the violence, the extreme violence is hurting Mexico's tourism and business community. It makes it a place you have to think twice about going to, even in some of the more popular vacation spots. because the cartels have overrun some of those areas, some of those towns have been taken off the list, why not welcome the use of America's military force from the air, probably likely, and some on-the-ground intelligence to do as much damage to these cartels as possible? Or is it because these politicians there are working with different cartels? They're always, you know, and that's why there's cartel wars going on. So it makes you, again, think twice like, wow, what country's leader wouldn't want help in rooting out these dangerous cartels from their country that also gives them a bad look all around the world? Not just here, not just in this region of the world, but all around the world. And so again, by the way, there's been nothing to confirm that any of this is going to be done. This is all based off the fact that... President Trump has said, you know, we've got to get rid of these cartels. We've got to do what we can to stop killing because of the violence they're bringing to America's streets and the amount of Americans they're killing with fentanyl. But that we also at the same time have to look to our southern neighbor and of course the border and realize this is part of securing the border is securing the border because these cartels are utilizing the border as the poorest border as a way to make money. So when people pay those coyotes, those coyotes, guess who they work for? Those coyotes work for the cartels. They're running all of that. So when people take their life savings to try and get their family across into the U.S. illegally with these coyotes, it's cartels running them. Why do you think they'll toss a baby across and over a 10-foot fence? fence or wall or 20-foot wall well it's because they're drug cartels and a lot of times those people don't know it but they're carrying drugs in their bags they're told hey by the way you got to carry this in too with you and some guy will take it from you when you cross over or call this person when you get there one and if you don't we'll kill you So, we'll take your calls on that. 1-800-684-3110. All the things that we've got to get done. Support the work of the ACLJ. We are really busy. We come back. We'll go through with all the work that we're doing right now. Donate today. Triple match. ACLJ.org. Donate today. All right, welcome back to Seculo. Remember, we are taking your calls, too. We are live 1-800-684-3110. Whether you're watching or listening to this broadcast, if you are where we are, I'll tell you, if we're live, we're live noon to 1 p.m. Eastern time. So if you're listening right now or watching right now, you can be on this show, 1-800-684-3110. You know, folks, At the ACLJ, we are up against some really big numbers today when it comes to fundraising, when it comes to these final four days of the year being so important. As you know, this month, as we've said it the entire month of December, it's still December for a few more days until we get to the new year. It's the most important month for the ACLJ financially. of 2025 because it is not only for the work that we are doing right now, which is very busy still. Our work doesn't really stop because of Christmas. These courts are right open again. And yesterday, filings come in and attorneys are back to work and legislation, government, all of this starts right up again. And then, of course, you prepare for the transfer of government, which is also very busy. But it is the most important time, not just for now, but it's how we kind of budget for the first half of this coming year. So it's the most important month financially to the ACLJ. During this right now, we have decided to open up a triple match today at ACLJ.org. So if you donate $20, it's not like $40 to the ACLJ. It's like $60 to the ACLJ. So we've got a group of donors that said, let's do it. Let's make these days some of the biggest days for the ACLJ so we're ready to go and don't have to turn down any case that we want to take, any issue we need to work on. ever because it's going to cost too much that's always my goal is that we always have the resources to say yes when we want to take on an issue or we need to take on a case whether it's from you whether it's from a governor whether it's a federal issue a state issue I always want and we always want to be in that position at the aclj to say yes we can take that case we don't have to be concerned about the cost because we have donors who understand and are ready to go who have provided us resources that are already in the bank so we can start immediately and that's why today think about that hundred dollars a hundred dollar donation today at aclj.org is like three hundred dollars to the organization and this is just what we've done in 2024 okay so when 152 briefs and demand letters defending, that's just the state of Israel. When it comes to the U.S., 126 legal actions battling the deep state. Those are going to continue, by the way, with the Trump administration. You think Kash Patel and Pam Bondi are going to be walking into a friendly Department of Justice and FBI? No. They have to drain the swamp, right? We have to reform these institutions. That's not easy. And we saw what happens when you fight those institutions. They are the swamp. They're full of alligators. They bite back, and they try to bite back and distract you so that you can't get the rest of your agenda done while you're focused on them. We're not going to let that happen, and we're going to, of course, fight to continue all of that work. 175 pro-life legal matters. You may think, well, Jordan, we won Roe versus Wade. Is there much to do? Yes. Launching a huge campaign in Massachusetts because the new target is now pro-life activists who are on the front line of helping women with pregnancies that have questions and are scared and are concerned about economics and resources. Pro-life pregnancy resource centers, which have come under attack since the days of Attorney General Kamala Harris in California, but they're really coming under a media assault. campaign like a defamation campaign really is what's being launched saying how horrible they are in blue states like the commonwealth of Massachusetts we want to launch there and once we launch in Massachusetts we want to take it to other states as well because we know the most effective way to fight abortion is making sure But women in difficult situations know there are other options and people can help you, whether that's adoption, whether you're worried that you don't have enough resources for diapers or the doctor or the economic issues. They're there to help you. And the abortion industry, well, that hurts their bottom line because they make money off of how many abortions they get to do or how many abortion pills they get to sell. So get to those pro-life legal matters. We did 175. So if you think overturning Roe versus Wade stopped the work on the pro-life issue, it actually took the pro-life issue from the federal government, so kind of one place, to 50 places. All 50 states. Now, when it comes to free speech matters, we know that's a huge topic of concern, whether it's school board meetings, parents who are being harassed. That, by the way, continues. We'll talk about some of those cases today. Also, just your free speech, where does that line draw on? At the workplace, at your place of business. Again, ACLJ, just last year, 197 free speech cases and controversies handled. When it comes to religious liberty, 142 cases. And again, people think, how is that in the United States these days? Well, if you listen to the broadcast regularly, you know, there's so many of these institutions and organizations, states, governments, and companies that want to deny people because they think it's safer, their religious liberty rights, rather than protect the constitutional rights of those who work for them or live in their properties. And the list goes on. So What can you do? Well, we know we're going to have work at the United States Supreme Court, and we had a lot of work. We had hundreds of other cases, too. Think about the cases involving the election. Those really go in their own category. Keeping President Trump on the ballot went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court in our case, and we won 9-0. That case started out of Colorado. So all the way there. The left, the deep state, they are going to try and engage in as many battles as they can next year to try and derail the Republican House, Senate, and White House. Because they know that's the time you can get the most real legislative work done. You can get people appointed who are great into the cabinet. And so they want to make as much controversy as they possibly can. Remember when it all started with Jim Comey was like day two at the White House. So we know they've got a plan that they're going to try again to derail Republicans, to try to throw us off course, throw us off focusing on the issues that matter to us and the American people and why President Trump and J.D. Vance were elected. And again, we've got to be ready to fight not on day one. We have to be ready to fight now. And we've all learned from that eight years ago. So I think we've got a much better opportunity here to fight back aggressively. And the left knows that as well. So whether it's our $500,000 ad campaign to stop the mass deception that we talked about in Massachusetts and help mothers and babies, whether it's the preparations we're in right now to file a case at the U.S. Supreme Court that was just granted that could defund Planned Parenthood, this would finally allow states across the country to say, you know what? We are not going to send our state tax dollars to Planned Parenthood to kill babies. That, again, is back at the U.S. Supreme Court. It's been there before. And we have not won, but that was all before Dobbs. So we live in a different time. And the way it's analyzed is very differently. So huge opportunities. If you can donate today financially to the ACLJ, this is the time to do it at ACLJ.org, and it will be tripled. We have not pulled a triple match out in a very long time. And folks, so if you're saying, is that for real? Yes. We're not one of these groups that does those crazy texts where it's 100 times match. No. For us, this is very real. But think about that. $50 is $150. $100 is $300. $200 is $600. You get $500, which is a big donation. That's $1,500 today, CLJ. So make that donation today. Be part of the triple match. If you want to talk to us on the air, 1-800-684-3110. And, Will, there's a lot of ongoing work. There's plenty of work coming up, too, in 2025.
SPEAKER 02 :
That's right, and we will get into more of that in the segments ahead, as well as a big victory we secured yesterday, the day after Christmas, for a client out of Kentucky. We'll tell you about that in the next segment. But also, as we talked about at the beginning of the show, the world that is preparing for a President Trump – We at the ACLJ prepare for what is ahead in America and abroad as we do that work to defend Israel. As we talked about yesterday on the broadcast that Poland has said that if Bibi Netanyahu went to the Auschwitz memorial, they would have to arrest him because of their ties to the ICC in the Rome statute. We have to keep that fight ahead in 2025. We also think about the things here at home. We talk about that southern border that President Trump has throughout the campaign talked about taking direct action against the cartels. He even considered it, according to Mark Esper, but was talked out of it by Mark Esper, of bombing drug facilities in Mexico during his first term. But he was talked out of it. I have a feeling that a lot of those people that could talk him out of the things that would actually do very good impact on Americans, like taking out drug facilities in Mexico, he won't be talked out of so easily this time around.
SPEAKER 04 :
You're always going to have people who are going to say, OK, these are the positives. This is the potential negative. So this is what happens if we do it. This is what happens if we don't do it. So consider the options, Mr. President. Make sure you know there could be fallout here and fallout there. Is that fallout, though? Enough to where protecting those Americans so that you take out that many drug facilities so that many Americans won't be killed by overdosing on Fentanyl. Some kid who thinks they're taking some other, you know, it was drug. one time that they buy from a friend or a friend gives them and it's fake and it's laced with fentanyl and doesn't wake up and their parents find them the next morning. How many of those stories of these kids who, again, make one bad decision and end up dead because we're not doing enough to keep these drug cartels, illegal drugs, off the streets and out of the hands of the American people So, again, I think when you see the numbers and the statistics, it's going to be a lot harder to talk a president out of taking action if these countries, who are supposed to be our allies, are unwilling to do it themselves. Donate today. We're ready to fight. ACLJ.org, triple match. Donate now. All right, welcome back to Secular. We are taking your calls to 1-800-684-3110. We're live again. I know there's a lot to take in right now, kind of getting caught up from the holidays with the world that continues going on. And especially as we prepare for a new White House, working with the Republican House and Senate and a president who is. on his way out, who is really, I think, letting President Trump, in many ways, dictate kind of the conversations, the stories, and we're learning more and more about how uninvolved he was as a president these last four years. At least that's what is being reported a lot in the news. But I think right now we want to be forward-looking, and we also want to tell you about ACLJ victories. I mean, we actually, just yesterday, so this is the day after Christmas, you might think, yeah, people are kind of hazy, But the ACLJ, remember, has been working with this hospital with these nurses. It started with one and more additional medical staff there added on. And we sent a demand letter. It was a hospital that got bought by a bigger company. And one of the first things they did was send out a notice that the conscious protections on you being able to decide not to participate in an abortion procedure was as a nurse or a medical professional, were done away with. They were no longer going to allow you to have that choice to make. And we wrote a very serious demand letter to the new ownership of the hospital on behalf of those nurses and other medical professionals we represented. And the day after Christmas will, victory for life and victory for conscience protections, which are important at every level, whether it's in a private business or or and also how the federal government really can set the stage for that which we know is going to be a change yet again with the Trump administration.
SPEAKER 02 :
That's right now this is a thing that you would have thought was no longer an issue because we've won these many times.
SPEAKER 04 :
I always have to remind people right you wonder why do we have to keep fighting well there's new companies who come in and they think well We're a private company. We can do away with these policies we don't like. Well, not always the case because these are protected rights that we have as Americans. Go ahead, Will.
SPEAKER 02 :
That's right. And we have these cases actually ongoing currently for multiple health care providers around the country. This specific one is out of a place you would think may be unlikely, but out of Kentucky. this nurse when she received the policies outlining the the conscience protections and things it had new language that was subjective and vague such as that they were given accommodations like they didn't have to perform these abortions unless there was quote staffing challenges or emergent situations so the conscience protection was only granted so far where if there was an emergency abortion or if there were what they deemed to be staffing challenges about maybe pulling a nurse from another area They would not accommodate your conscience protection. But we sent the letter. And many times the letter doesn't resolve this. We have to go through and use federal law to fight in court when the hospital or the health care provider doesn't listen as they should to what the law is. But we got a great victory for this client that our demand letter was sent. And since then, our client was granted full accommodation, no exceptions. This decision ensures her ability to continue her nursing career while staying true to her moral convictions. But there's a ripple effect here too. The hospital didn't just say, okay, we'll make this nurse go away. We'll give the accommodations, but just no one else is raising concern maybe. But there were other hospital nurses that had also requested accommodations. And the hospital has since informed us that all of those that requested accommodations were granted automatically. full conscience protections to work their career in nursing, an honorable, noble career. and that their conscience won't be violated. And there are no exceptions, like we're having staffing challenges to those nurses' conscience protections. So this is a big victory. But as I said, we have another case like this out in New Mexico that we're fighting for multiple staffers at a hospital as well. So this doesn't just go away with this one out of Kentucky. It's a big victory, but the fight remains ahead. And that's one of the reasons why we started our campaign to support and give education about and fight back against the government censorship and targeting of pro-life pregnancy resource centers in Massachusetts. And we want to take this across the nation if we can. But I think we should play for people to add that we'll be running in early 2025. And this is the first ad of many. We got one done so we could show you, the ACLJ audience, what kind of work we'll be going forward, what kind of voice you will have to showcase the work of these pro-life pregnancy resource centers. And this is just the first ad of many as we go forward. It's a big campaign. Half a million dollars, $500,000 is what we are planning on putting into this effort. And so let's go ahead and show the ad of what you can be a part of if you have your donation tripled today by going to aclj.org and donating. But let's run this ad, the first of many, that we will be exposing the truth of what joy and wonderful resources these pregnancy resource centers are.
SPEAKER 08 :
I'll never forget that day. scariest moment of my life. I had just started my business and then this. Pregnant? Really? I just thought about all of my dreams falling apart. I needed help, I needed answers. Places I heard of, they seemed to only offer one option. Then I found a pregnancy resource center and they talked to me about my options. She listened, she actually cared about me. No shame, no judgment. I'll never forget that day either. The day that I realized, maybe this wasn't the end of my dreams, but just the start of one I hadn't even imagined. To find a pregnancy resource center near you, go to choicebeginshere.org.
SPEAKER 04 :
Again, folks, that is just one of the ads that we've already prepared that will be set to run in 2025. And we will be able to expand that campaign based on your financial support. We want to launch what to really kind of blanket the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and respond to the $8 million campaign being run by the state. The Commonwealth using taxpayer dollars. And they have partnered with a pro-abortion organization who I think threw in a million dollars. But we, again, we are a little bit better with our resources. And because we've got our own studios and things like that, we can do better with less. So for about $500,000, we figured out that we can blanket the state with all different kinds of ads and information campaigns. It's not all going to be TV. Some is web. Some is traditional. Some are billboards, as you've seen images of this, to fight back. And if, again, if we can do it successfully in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, we look to the other first blue states, where these pregnancy resource centers are on the front lines. They've tried to be closed down before. We fought back to make sure that didn't happen in places like California. When Harris was AG there, she tried to basically have them shut down. The law they wanted to pass said that they either have to advertise where people can get a free abortion from the state, where the state will pay for it, or they can no longer operate their pregnancy resource center. Now, we won that, of course, but we had to fight it. So there's more than Massachusetts, but this was the state that we wanted to launch first because they launched first this attack on pro-life pregnancy resource centers. That's just a bit of what we can do with your financial support. So by supporting the ACLJ and being part of the triple match today, it will also go to running that campaign. So donate to ACLJ right now at ACLJ.org to make sure we can run this in all the states that need it. ACLJ.org. Donate.
SPEAKER 03 :
keeping you informed and engaged, now more than ever. This is Seculo. And now your host, Jordan Seculo.
SPEAKER 04 :
All right, folks, welcome back to Sekulow. If you want to talk to us on the air, 1-800-684-3110. That's 1-800-684-3110. And I do think we want to make clear, too, there's a lot going on as we prepare for a new administration. An administration, of course, has a lot of figures that we have worked with before, including President Trump, of course, and these people that are going to go through confirmation hearings, whether it's Tulsi Gabbard, Pam Bondi, Kash Patel. I mean, the list goes on and on as we can go through. So there's going to be a lot of work to do, of course, initially on making sure all those people are in place and you make sure that they can get their teams in place. There's really two important issues there that I want to spend a second on because you do have to spend resources on this. So you go through the inauguration. Everyone's excited. Then you've got to get people in these agencies. Because while they're not there, they're being run by the bureaucracy as kind of placeholders. And by the way, placeholders can still make a lot of decisions that don't make it easy for when the actual nominee to be the head of those, whether it's departments or cabinet member, come in. So we have to get them quickly confirmed so that we can get things back on track in Washington, D.C. and these agencies back on track. But we often forget their teams, right? And they're deputies. And I recall it was Ben Carson, Dr. Carson, who said he went into HUD, but his five deputies... took four to five additional months to get confirmed. Okay, so who was he working with? A bunch of people who didn't like his policies, who wanted to try and undermine. Remember how they went after him when he was HUD secretary? Right off the bat. This is someone famous for being this amazing doctor and not even a partisan issue there. Just his work had been known around the world for what he could do as a pediatric neurosurgeon. and right when he of course takes that position at hud and his people aren't there and they know your people aren't there you're having to rely on the advice and advice of people that may not like you at all and are trying to undermine you and in his case they were so it's not acceptable to have to wait as a cabinet secretary four and five months to have your deputies in place the deputies that you've chosen that are presidentially appointed that can actually, one, advise you, but also protect you from these massive bureaucracies trying to stop you and get rid of you before you've been able to even get any work done. And let me tell you, folks, they've got their targets this time. It's easy to see, and you'll see it very quickly when those hearings begin. But never forget, It doesn't stop at the first person. If they don't get their teams in place, it's very tough for them to become effective. And that's DOJ. You look at all those different department heads, the criminal division, the civil division, the civil rights division. You could go through the list. That is all work that the ACLJ government affairs team is going to be working on. And we don't just do it at the, again, top level where you know the person's name because that's going to be the secretary, that's going to be the attorney general or the top person there. We understand the importance of those deputies. and even the deputies' deputies who are presidentially appointed, if you're actually going to get control, which you have to do first of these agencies to then make changes.
SPEAKER 02 :
That's right. And I think these bureaucrats, unfortunately, have forgotten who they work for. You know, you've seen the images in movies where they're inside an executive branch agency, maybe it's the IRS, maybe it's the FBI, and they always have the picture of the director and the current president. It's supposed to be there to remind them who they work for, But the problem is, is that they've forgotten. They forgot they work ultimately for the president that was elected by the people because they are an executive branch. But then they also have forgotten that ultimately they work for the American people. But these bureaucrats, they're experts at the bureaucratic red tape. So even if they don't undermine you directly, they know how to stall out the agenda. through their own systems of bureaucratic red tape to try and make sure that reforms and the agenda of the mandated president by the American people don't go through. We can't let that happen. That's why we need, as you said, the top tier and the deputies to get in there and get to work right away.
SPEAKER 04 :
expand and we're working on expanding our government affairs team in washington dc because there's so many good things we can get done it's not just having to push back against the bad this is when we can actually get the positive change done legislatively bureaucratically through these agencies as well but we've got to get the people in place first and that takes resources aclj.org donate today triple match aclj.org All right, welcome back to Seculo. We are, again, just excited to be back and, again, preparing for a lot of positive work that's going to be able to get done. So, you know, it's an awesome time because you want to have those resources ready to do all the good work and take advantage of these time periods, especially, you know, our Washington team. And when they know that you've got friends in charge at the House level, the Senate level, and the White House, that this is when you've got to work. Now, again, the margins are slim. So the first order of business, of course, is getting the cabinet in. then getting their deputies in, those first 100-day priorities, what can be done by executive order. There's a lot of those that are important. We've talked about putting these conscience protections back in federally that RFK Jr. said he will get done, and he made that promise to Senator Hawley. And so that's important to, again, what can be done at the cabinet level. But of course, you got to get them there to be able to put those policies in and you got to get their staff in really so that those policies get executed correctly. The second part of this, of course, though, is the legislative battles. This is when you can get the legislation done at the federal level. And this is a time when, again, is it always easy? No, it's slim. Slim margins. But there are margins that we are in charge. So it's the time to get it done. And so whether it's our legal team, Our government affairs team, this is a very important time, especially for the American Center for Law and Justice, based all across the country here in the United States.
SPEAKER 02 :
That's right. And we talked yesterday as well about the fact that many times when you have an administration... that shares conservative values, shares the desire to protect the constitutional protections that we have, which it almost seems ridiculous that we should have to say we have to protect our protections, but that's the world we live in. But many times you start to see the local level, the state level, get more aggressive against the values that we hold. And we are going to show something. This is from the film project for the love of God, save our country. That was kind of Logan's vision. And we put together at a breakneck speed to put out by Halloween this year, but it showcases some of the heroes, some of the people that have courage enough to stand up for what's right. And many times they don't know what to do or where to go, but they look to the ACLJ and we're able to go alongside them and stand up with them to defend these heroes. They have the courage to take that step to say, I know what is right. I know what my rights are and I need help defending them. But without the courage to stand up, these cases never happen. And we know that the next case could come in today from someone that is having their rights violated, but no, they want to stand up for what's right. And the ACLJ is there to stand up with them at no cost. No cost to the client. Now, these cases are very expensive. Sometimes they take years to complete. Thousands of hours of legal teams flying around the country, doing depositions, filing briefs, writing briefs, staying up all night many times to make sure they make that deadline to stand up for the rights of our clients here at the ACLJ. So I want to showcase, this is just a snippet from the film. You can watch the full thing at acljfilms.com. at no cost, beautiful production by the video and film production team here at ACLJ, put it together and showcases some of these heroes that we are privileged to fight with every day at the ACLJ. But take a look at just one story. And my fear is that you will see many more stories like this where we have to step up as the local entities and the state entities in a reactionary way, try to take on the values that we hold dear. But we'll play this two minute clip and then we'll be right back after that.
SPEAKER 05 :
One of the things we learned from sports is that it teaches you to deal with perseverance just for the glory of God, not for others to see you, to applaud you, but more in a sense of just others seeing you work hard, but it's all for God's glory. So if you don't get the applause, you're still okay because you know who it's for.
SPEAKER 07 :
Last season track, we usually warm up a little bit before the actual events start. All of us, including distance, sprinters, throwers, we all came together. This girl asked us, she was like, hey, you want to pray?
SPEAKER 06 :
Everyone, they gathered in a big circle. We held hands. And then the other seniors, she started praying. And then as soon as we finished praying, we looked up and then we saw our coach. He was looking really angry at us.
SPEAKER 09 :
And immediately the response was, he yelled at us. He wouldn't let us pray. He yelled at us for praying. They've always felt the peace that prayer brings, the comfort that prayer brings. So for them to be faced with this, you want to make your coach happy because they're the key to you running the events that you want to run, being in the relays, all those things. They get to dictate everything.
SPEAKER 06 :
I did have some fear that he might take me out of races.
SPEAKER 05 :
And so we're trying to explain to them about their rights, understanding your constitutional rights. He can't stop you from praying. So we're going through all those things.
SPEAKER 09 :
God did put it on my heart to call the ACLJ. We sat down with the girls and said, hey, we want to make this call. How do you feel about it? And they were like, okay, sounds good. Sounds like this is the help that we need. The school did put something on their website saying that they would not restrict prayer for any of the students at the school on any team. Once that came out, then everybody felt more comfortable coming together again, knowing that they had the backing of the school, that the school would support them praying.
SPEAKER 04 :
So there you go, folks. I mean, that is, again, just one of the stories and just a little bit of the stories. And you see how it takes the parents, the students, talking to their young people, say, you know, listen, I think we can write this wrong. We could contact the ACLJ and get this done. And that, again... There are hundreds of those every year, those stories. And we want to, with the technology that's available now, be able to show you more of those stories in real time with those who are willing to come on, talk about it, let people hear about it. But you see, it takes going there and saying, you know what, they're willing to fight, which means hopefully we can get this done without a long court case. But like I said, When we take one of those issues on, we have to imagine, okay, if we're going to take this on, we know we can win it. Is the school always going to do the right thing right off the bat, though, and respond to the letter to kind of negotiate it out? No. Sometimes. you're going to have to take the school to court. And so you have to be ready to commit those resources the moment that you take those individuals on and the parents and their students on as clients. You have to be ready to go all the way through the court system and have the resources available. to go all the way. It's great when you don't have to. It's great when you can win and get it done more quickly. That's not always the case. We know we can win, but you have to be ready to go all the way, which can be state Supreme Courts. It can be the US Supreme Court to make sure that people's rights are vindicated. And that's why your financial support to the ACLJ is so important. One, they have to know who to call. So the broadcast like this, whether you watch it, on various places online, television, whether you listen to it on terrestrial radio or Sirius or XM and satellite radio, however you know about us. Remember, that's important because we have to make sure that those individuals know I can contact the ACLJ at no cost. You can always go to ACLJ.org slash help. It does not cost a thing. If you think that there's something that you're dealing with that the ACLJ can assist you on, there's no bad questions. If it's happening to you or it was happening to one of your kids, Contact us. And if we can help, we will. And if we can't, if it's not the right case for us, that's okay too. We'll let you know. So don't always go on the side of we want more information than less. And again, maybe you come to us three or four times and the third time is when you notice that this is the case actually the ACLJ can handle directly for you. So that's important that people have to know who we are. so that they can come to us. And then we have to have the resources ready so that when they come to us, I don't have to think very long and our teams don't have to think very long about whether or not we can take their case will. We have to have those resources already in the bank. It can't be, okay, now today I need to raise it because I've got to be ready to go to war with that school district if we have to legally from day one that I say yes to taking that client.
SPEAKER 02 :
And Jordan, one of the other things to point out about this as we go into a new year is that some of the cases we've talked about today, the nurse in Kentucky, the high school students that were on a track team, that was in Indiana. These are traditionally red states. It's not always California and Washington State or New York where people are having their rights violated. It's sometimes in the places you least expect. And so many times it gets overlooked. It doesn't get seen. But we're here to make a noise about it. And we're going to make sure that no matter where you are in the United States, that your constitutional rights are protected. And that's why you can go, no matter where you live, to ACLJ.org slash help, and you will be put in touch with an attorney. It's not just an automated system. An attorney will review the contact. So that's an important way if you feel like your rights are being violated to reach out. But if you want to support more people that are having their rights violated and we stand up to fight, ACLJ.org. It's no cost to them, but your donation makes it happen. ACLJ.org. Donate today.
SPEAKER 04 :
I think this is important to point out, and Will, I'll thank you for going through these dates just to remind people where we were last year. December 19th, so right before, again, you kind of got the holidays are totally in swing and people are still engaged, of course, and courts are still engaged. We had the Colorado Supreme Court rule against the Colorado Republican Party and President Trump and say that the Secretary of State could keep him off the ballot. That was on December 19th, just a year ago. And then this day last year, December 27th of 2023, the ACLJ filed our cert petition to the U.S. Supreme Court appealing that decision out of the Colorado Supreme Court because once you've worked through the state court system and the state Supreme Court, you have a direct appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. And we filed that today, a year ago. Now that was, again, just one year ago. Think about the fact that, again, it was granted on January 5th, the Supreme Court said they would take the case. A year later, President Trump is about to take the oath of office. Last year, we were fighting a multi-state national campaign by mega-group, mega-liberal groups to keep him off the ballot so that he could not even be nominated as the Republican Party's nominee. So he couldn't even win primaries. And because we fought, we had all those resources all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. At one time, we were representing I think 14 different states and state parties and because it was just like legal maneuvers we had to stick with Colorado and we let some others take on those cases so remember all those different states we were representing because they also had the interest in the fact that wait our people are going to vote and you're going to then say that in this other state that the person that they choose can't even be on the ballot though they've done everything that they have to do to be on the ballot And, of course, we won at the U.S. Supreme Court, which gave the opportunity for President Trump to win the nomination, which he did. And then ultimately, he'll be taking the oath of office as President of the United States. Think about how, again, a year ago. A year ago we were asking the US Supreme Court to take the case and just a few days after the new year it was January 5th that they decided and said yes we will hear this case and we won nine to zero at the US Supreme Court to make sure that every state Donald Trump was on the ballot and of course he won the Republican nomination easily and will now be taking the oath of office to become president of the United States and will again you think about all of that in just one year and you can imagine all of the other things that we could put in there about all the other cases fights battles legal issues that President Trump was facing all of these issues and we went from a president they were trying to a former president they were trying to literally put behind bars and take away his business to a former president who is about to become the current president and take the oath of office a second time in just a few weeks.
SPEAKER 02 :
And in this show today, I hope people have seen really how broad the scope of the ACLJ can be. Whether it be for an individual nurse wanting her conscience protections that are protected by law to be recognized by her employer and so that she's not punished or loses her job or given demerits so that she can't grow in that career. We will fight for that individual and they get the same lawyers, the same attorneys work on that case that were, this time last year, from December 19th until December 27th, so just eight days, over the Christmas holiday, furiously writing a brief for a cert petition to the United States Supreme Court representing a state Republican party on a case that had tremendous impact, not just on the election, but American history. That's the scope of what, because of those of you, the ACLJ champions and the individual gifts that come in, especially at a time like this when it's triple matched. That's how much of an impact you make. We are able to do both. We are able to fight for individual nurses who, other than us bringing up the case, people would never even hear about. This isn't even something that would make the local news many times, but it's just as important as the historic cases at the Supreme Court that the ACLJ takes on as well. We have upcoming cases that are ongoing that we are already looking at how to strategize, to plan. The Supreme Court just granted a case that would allow states to defund Planned Parenthood. We'll be filing in that very soon. We have a sidewalk counselor case that's pending at the Supreme Court. That's the Turco case you've heard us talk about. We're working on a second major amicus brief to the International Criminal Court to defend Israel after the arrest warrants were issued for Bibi Netanyahu and the former defense minister. The case of a teacher who was banned from praying anywhere students could see in Texas. That goes to trial next year. and a public prayer band case in Ocala, Florida. We are fighting at the 11th Circuit. Just a few of the things we already have that we're fighting in 2025, just a few days away. But Jordan, I think we should take a call here from Annabelle in California on line one. You're on Seculo.
SPEAKER 01 :
Being an ACLJ champion encompasses the essential and dual criteria as to where my financial resources will be placed through the new year. I desire always to do God's work and also protect human rights through the legal realm. The ACLJ has had a throbbing heart for the unborn for decades and, of course, a fervent commitment to employ their experience for the protection of all whose liberty is in peril. Especially this time of year, we are continually tempted with purchases that are frankly disposable. Instead, please become an ACLJ champion. Give generously and redirect your dollars to an organization that timelessly works to lift up humanity in myriad ways, often one individual at a time, as you just said, Will. They are the ultimate BOGO. God bless them.
SPEAKER 04 :
Thank you, Annabelle. And listen, I think... It's a great time. If you've got, again, if you've got the financial ability to do it, when you have a triple match, which we rarely do at the ACLJ, and we're not one of those organizations where you get texted 10 times, 100 times match. This is real for us. We've got to make sure we have the resources pledged, ready to go, where we can make good on the triple match. And this is one of those days we can do it. So literally, if you've got $10 that you can donate, That becomes $30 to the ACLJ. That's it. An organization, as you know, we're very grassroots. So we're an organization where the average donation is between $30 and $50. That's where the average... So, I mean, a $10 donation becomes the lower side of an average donation. You donate $20, you're right, that becomes $60 during the triple match. Even I'm not used to doing that math in my head because it's not normal for us to do it. So, ACLJ.org. These final four days, it's the most important four days, it's the most important month for us of the year financially at the ACLJ. So again, I just encourage you, if you've got the ability and you've got the financial resources, Go to ACLJ.org right now. You'll see where you can donate. You can see the QR code if you see it on your screen now. And you can do it quickly. It's safe. It's secure. And as Will said, we've already got places to go with your resources. We know what we can do if we have the resources available. So go to ACLJ.org right now. Taking part in that triple match is so key. The next four days. Again, the work doesn't stop. But we also want to prepare for what can we do in 2025 that's even bigger. How can we get more done? ACLJ.org. Donate today. Be part of the triple match. Four days left.
In this insightful episode of the Best Stocks Now show, professional money manager Bill Gundersen and chartered financial analyst Barry Kite explore the dynamic world of stock markets amid global economic shifts. As the NASDAQ experiences a sell-off, the discussion delves into possible causes, including poor economic reports from China and geopolitical tensions in South Korea. This episode offers a comprehensive analysis of current market conditions, focusing on interest rates, gold, crude oil, and Bitcoin. Stay tuned for valuable insights into how international events might be influencing the market today.
SPEAKER 02 :
He's been seen on CNBC, the Fox News Channel, and the Fox Business Channel. His articles can be found on MarketWatch, Seeking Alpha, TheStreet.com, and many other places. He's the author of the weekly Best Stocks Now newsletter and the inventor of the Best Stocks Now app. He's president of Gundersen Capital Management. Here is professional money manager Bill Gundersen.
SPEAKER 03 :
And welcome to the Friday. It is the Friday, December 27th edition of the Best Stocks Now show with professional money manager Bill Gunnarsson, president of Gunnarsson Capital Management. I'm here with Barry Kite, our chartered financial analyst. It looks like maybe some of the buyers of stocks on the day before Christmas are returning those stocks today. We've got a little bit of a sell-off taking place in the NASDAQ especially. The NASDAQ is down 1.8% right now, which puts it at 19,667. The only thing I can put my finger on is another weak report out of China. Maybe there's something else out there, but I haven't found it yet. The S&P is down 1.1% today. That's a pretty big correction there. It's at 5,972. The Dow 30 down 0.5% to 43,094 right now. Small caps also down about a third of a percent. Not seeing much action in interest rates. I thought maybe that was the culprit. Although we are back up to 4.59. We're up a few basis points there today. Gold's flat. Crude oil's up just a little bit to $70.49. And Bitcoin is up $20 right now. Usually it moves by thousands. It's only up $20 today.
SPEAKER 1 :
$95,234.
SPEAKER 03 :
So welcome to today's Best Stocks Now show. with professional money manager Bill Gunderson, president of Gunderson Capital Management, a fee-based only nationwide money management firm, and with a worldwide audience, really, with the podcast and the daily radio show. And I'm happy to have those folks that like to listen to the podcast, the show every day. I have a good time doing it. I think I learn more than anybody doing the research for the show each day. I found a few new ones here today. There's always something happening in the market, and that's why I can't wait to get up each day to begin my day of work.
SPEAKER 04 :
We just got a note from Ottawa a couple of days ago from Ottawa, Canada, talking about international all over the place.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes, Estonia, Hungary, Israel, all over the world really. The market was pretty flat yesterday. There's not enough volume really to move these big stocks. You get a little bit of selling pressure today, and it's going to be amped up a little bit because most people, I would imagine the trading pits or the trading departments are pretty lightly staffed right now. Of course, the investors are really what's behind. the movement in the market on a daily basis. And, you know, most of them are with family, bobsledding, skiing, whatever, on this day, two days after Christmas. We're not throwing snowballs here in Charleston, but it is a little bit on the chilly side. So anyways, kind of a dull day in the market. There were a few new highs. Astera Labs, ALAB has been real good for us. It's in the ultra-growth portfolio and the emerging growth portfolio. And some of the small momentum names, the quantum computing stocks, a lot of the nuclear stocks had a fairly good day yesterday. But you get into the big mainline tech, your Netflixes, your NVIDIAs, that's what's underwater here today, Amazon, et cetera. So I think you can say goodbye to the Santa Claus rally. It looked pretty promising on Christmas Eve. There was cookies and milk consumed by Santa, and we had a really good day in the market on Christmas Eve on light volume, which can also push things up. Maybe all the grumpy sellers had already gotten to the airport and headed home on Thursday, but they're back today, and the buyers are out on the ski slopes, I guess, or in the bobsleds, whatever. The 10-year top's 4.60%. That's one of the dampers on the market right now. And I'm a little bit surprised by how high interest rates have remained, but I guess there's a good reason for that. The high amount of debt, it seems like buyers of U.S. debt are demanding a higher interest rate because they're not as comfortable as they used to be given the massive amount of debt that the U.S. has, $36 trillion. Will we put a dent into that? Not really. I mean, look, Barry, right now we're taking in $4 trillion and we're spending $6 trillion. Okay, we get the doge boys in here, right? Okay, let's say they find $1 trillion. which is not going to be easy, because don't forget, of that $6 trillion that goes out, how much of that is mandatory? I mean, how much of that is Social Security, Medicare, you know, et cetera? It's set in stone. You can't cut that part of the pie.
SPEAKER 04 :
That's all you can do. And it helps juice the economy. I mean, that's the other problem. You take a trillion dollars' worth of, you know, basically we think of the Fed as providing liquidity. Well, you take a trillion dollars... out of the global economy, wherever it ends up, whether that trillion ends up here or ends up in Ukraine or ends up somewhere else around the world, it's still fueling growth. And so when you take that away, you will have some short-term pain that we've talked about some.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, so let's say they take a trillion. Let's say they find a trillion. Well, you're still a trillion in the hole every year. You're still going to add a trillion to the deficit. The only other way to offset that is to increase your revenues. Bring revenues up to $5 trillion. There's only two ways to do that. One, raise taxes. Trump's not going to do that. And raising taxes also takes a big chunk, big hit to your economy, takes a big hit. Or you increase growth. You grease the skids for companies to increase growth, thereby bringing in more profits, more sales, and more taxes. That's it. It's a pretty simple equation, really. But the devil is obviously in the details. And, of course, you've got another problem here with a trillion going towards the interest that you're paying on that debt. That's one trillion a year. Yeah.
SPEAKER 04 :
And that's that short term. You've got to remember, the Fed controls the short end of that curve, so very, very, very short-term debt. Of course, the market controls what the rate's going to be for a 10-year Treasury note or The old 30-year long-dated debt, the market controls that number. The Fed, at least for January, doesn't look like it's going to be helping out much because right now we've got about an 89% chance of no change. at the next Fed meeting. And a month ago, that number was 59%, by the way.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah. Well, I'd be happy just getting a lot of the wasteful spending. Identifying the wasteful spending, the pork, identifying the people that are behind it, where it's going, who wrote the bill, vote them out or primary them, okay? If we could just get the waste and the fat And the pork under control, that would at least make me happy. But balancing the budget, not going to be easy at all.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, and even if the spending was more like an investment, right? Think of it like a business, right? Just them spending it is not necessarily the worst thing in the world. The problem is what they spend it on. Exactly. If they were making an investment in America, right?
SPEAKER 03 :
That would give you a return. Sure, that would give you a return, right? Okay, we've got a couple of hot spots in the world here today, and this could have something to do with the sell-off in the market. South Korea is a big technology hub. South Korea, I want to say, is the fifth or sixth biggest economy in the world. Now they've impeached their president after they impeached the other guy. I don't know what his position was. I guess they're both presidents. They impeached acting president, so he stepped in for the other guy. Han Duk-soo, after Yoon Suk-yeo, was impeached. So they have a lot of turmoil right now. It's the first time in Korea's constitutional history that an impeachment motion against an acting president has been bought to vote in the National Assembly. So as per their constitution, now the finance minister, Choi Sang-mak, is next in line to assume the active presidency. The South Korean won, which is their currency, plunged further. hovering at its lowest level in nearly 16 years. So, you know, hey, that's a big economy. It's a tech economy. There's a lot of people, and there's turmoil right now in South Korea, along with other areas of the world. And a lot to talk about here today on this Friday, December 27th. We'll be right back. And welcome back here to the second quarter of today's Best Docs Now show. Well, I was just checking to see if things have gotten any better. No, in fact, they've gotten a little bit worse. Barry, the NASDAQ is down 418 points right now. During the next break... See if you can find it.
SPEAKER 04 :
It's got to be on some volume. It's got to be on light volume. I mean, I've been kind of picking through the news here. There's really not much in terms of a market moving. I mean, South Korea is probably the biggest in terms of geopolitical story that I've heard. Yeah, today. But, you know, that's a pretty significant move. I mean, 2% in the NASDAQ at the moment.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, and I'm looking like at the volume in Amazon. It's next to nothing, right? The volume. Right. I'm looking at the volume in Apple. It's minuscule today. So that could be the problem. Very light volume, which always accentuates moves. And just like it accentuated it to the upside on Christmas Eve, it is accentuating it big time on the downside today. Now, I would expect on Monday things to get back to a little bit normal. You may have some tax selling here today. I think the volume in the market will be a little bit better on Monday. And then Tuesday's a half day, and then ring the bell, turn the page. You know, the market year is over when the bell rings on Tuesday, and we come back Wednesday, and we're off to the races once again with the new year. So anyways, that's where we sit. The NASDAQ down 421 points right now. You know, days like this just come along and that's all you can do. If you think back going to 2009, how many times could you have been scared out of the market? And guess what? It came on to hit the new all-time highs once again. All right. You know, it's a toss-up. Wacky governors. You know, I think of, obviously, California's Newsom. Pretty hard to beat Newsom. Of course, Minnesota's Tim Walz, he put in a big showing as being wackiest governor in the country with the spotlight on him there for a while. And, of course, Whitmer in Michigan. But New York Kathy Hochul, she's up there. She's a nut. I mean, she just seems like a nut. On Thursday, she approved the legislature's bill requiring major polluters that contributed to global warming. Now, I don't know how you quantify this to pay $75 billion. Write a check. for repairs from major storms. Okay, they've got to pay for storm damage. That's pretty hard to trace that. Okay, and other remediation resulting from climate change. It's one of those things. I mean, do we all owe monies from our vehicles, right?
SPEAKER 04 :
Emissions over the years?
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, she's going to order the top polluters. Okay, so you've got to quantify that somehow. to pay over 25 years to help New York's infrastructure better withstand flooding and other climate-related events.
SPEAKER 05 :
Sounds like a tax.
SPEAKER 03 :
For too long, New Yorkers have borne the cost of the climate crisis, which is impacting every part of this state, Hochul said in prepared remarks. With the money from this Climate Change Adaptation Fund, we will be able to pay for critical climate adaptation and resiliency projects across the state. Well, I see more companies leaving New York. There's a second state to do something like this. Vermont's the other one. So anyway, she's determining who the biggest polluters are and send them a big bill for paying for the damage from snowstorms and rainstorms. A state fund will manage the payments and disperse the monies equitably. Equitably. Okay, Netflix did pretty well with their record-setting ratings. I did not watch any of it on Christmas Day. I saw a lot of hoopla about the Beyonce halftime show. I don't know how much they had to pay Beyonce for that. I know Beyonce got a million dollars for speaking at Kamala Harris' one of her events. I'm sure she charges a lot more for a halftime show, Barry.
SPEAKER 04 :
I was going to say, the speaking part, that sounds like easy money right there.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, it took a lot more to be lifted in the air and everything. But she was promoting her new album, so I suppose... That's a pretty good commercial for her new album. But Netflix dazzles with record-setting ratings for Christmas NFL games. And so, you know, it's the first time that Netflix is treading into Disney, ESPN territory, CBS, NBC, broadcasting football, live streaming. The big thing is they didn't have any glitches. like they had with the mike tyson fight and some pretty they put up some pretty good numbers so netflix is off today it's in one of those number three kind of consolidation patterns right now it was one of the hottest stocks out there it went from about 700 right on up to 950 Really took off after Election Day. Now it's back in the 900 area. It's down 2.9% on very anemic volume in the market today. I guess it's all sellers. Only the sellers came to work today.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, yeah, I remember my dad, you know, years ago, I'd be like, you know, dad, why did the market go down, right? And, you know, sometimes, right, the answer was some days there's just more sellers than buyers.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, there's no better, there's no other answer. I mean, you look for a reason and there's really nothing out there. Wed Bush, I'm sure they'll come out with a big bullish note on Monday. They have one out today. Who's going to lead the charge in monetizing AI in 2025, according to Wed Bush? Palantir and Salesforce, which I don't have any problem with that. I think those two companies are going to monetize. I think we own both of them. Palantir continues to be one of my top picks for next year. Even though it's gone on a scorching run, probably needs to cool off a little bit. And then, of course, Salesforce is a member of the Dow. It's not a 25%, 30% grower anymore, but it pays a dividend. So we own it in our dividend portfolio. Salesforce is down 1.2% today on just anemic volume right now. Okay, you know, Elon Musk is weighing in on everything these days. Have you noticed this? He's even weighing in on the weight loss drugs, which he did yesterday, saying that he prefers that bound to a coffee. So obviously he could stand to lose a few. And, of course, he's got a basic argument with RFK who's not. Look, RFK is all in favor of going to the gym and eating healthy. Well, I am too, all right? But I just look at the vast majority of people. They've done that. They've been there. They've done that. And I see this. You know, I've seen people that never, ever could lose weight, and they're losing weight on these drugs. Now he's commenting on another stock because the new CEO understands rocket ships and space and other things, which is probably a good thing if you're going to lead an aerospace company. He claims the old CEO didn't understand that. What company is it? We'll be right back. Now, back to the second half of the show.
SPEAKER 06 :
Now the instigator Because there's something in the air We've got to get together sooner or later.
SPEAKER 03 :
And welcome back here to the second half of today's Best Stocks Now show. Things have not gotten any better. The Dow is down 412 now. Of course, that's only 1%. You know, the Nasdaq's down about the same in points, 423, but it's down 2%. Obviously you're dividing that number into a lower number. The NASDAQ is about one half of the S&P 500 as far as price goes. The S&P 500 is down 1.4%. VIX is way up today. It's up to 18.45%. The VIX is up 25% today. That's the volatility index. Volume goes down, volatility goes up, right? You get these wacky moves in the market, which is how I'm going to explain what's going on today. I did notice that some of the quantum stocks, I don't know if they're holding on to their gains. I found a new ETF this morning. In fact, I found three or four that I added to the app. There is a quantum ETF. So if you want exposure to some of these names in the quantum space, prepare for volatility. They are extremely, extremely volatile. Why? They don't have any earnings. The earnings are way out there in the future somewhere, maybe, which makes them long-term, like a long-term bond. A long-term bond is much more volatile than a short-term bond. You know, a three-month T-bill doesn't move very much. I look at our bond fund every week. I almost hate to spend the time updating it because it just does not move that much. A few cents here and a few cents there. Bonds also are not very volatile corporate bonds unless there's a massive change in interest rates.
SPEAKER 04 :
And that's also because our bonds are three to five years versus, you know, people think of U.S. Treasury, right, as being, you know, the safest investment out there, if you will. But you get a 20-year Treasury bond, right, is going to be more volatile and can be, you frankly, can be more risky than an individual stock. Yeah. Depending on the duration of 20 years.
SPEAKER 03 :
It was long-term U.S. bonds that put Silicon Valley Bank under. It wasn't stocks. Exactly. Yeah. It wasn't stock trading. Okay, Elon is commenting on just about everything. He's got a lot to say, and he's got a big platform, obviously, with X. He says Boeing is on a much better track with the new CEO because the aviation giant's previous leader lacked knowledge about how airplanes or rockets worked. Well, okay, that's not good to be the leader of Boeing and not know how airplanes or rockets worked. That's at least according to Elon Musk. He says the new guy is much better suited for the job because he used to work at Rockwell Collins, and he understands how airplanes and rockets work. And Elon obviously understands how rockets work, and I'm sure he understands. He's a pretty smart guy, and I see those SpaceX missiles flying over our heads there. on a fairly regular basis, launching another satellite into outer space. Okay, so quant ETFs. Seeking Alpha has their own quant system. I have my own quant system. My quant system is very unique because it has valuations involved in it as half of the equation. Every other quant system is basically based on momentum only. But I do find new ideas looking at these lists of ETFs. So here's their quant system, what it's picking right now. Two times long Tesla. We've talked about that. There's actually now three ETF families that have single stocks that are doubled. Granite Shares has a two-time long Tesla. It scores a very high quant rating. Why? Because it has a very strong relative strength. It has nothing to do with valuation at all. T-Rex. I don't know this fund family. I remember the band T-Rex back in the 60s. T-Rex has a two-time long Tesla. And Direction Shares has a two-time long Tesla. Of course, it goes both ways. Tesla is a pretty volatile stock. Now, we all know that it went flying after the Trump election. It's been on a tear, and it wouldn't surprise me to see it cool down a little bit, which it already is doing. Tesla today is down $21 per share. Let's check the volume on Tesla. And now this is on a very light. I mean, the volume is just really, wow, really low today. But anyways, you can also buy two times short Tesla. Guess where that might, I think it's maybe one time short Tesla, in an ETF. So you can use that inside an IRA. You cannot short stocks inside IRAs because it involves margin to short an individual stock. But now you have these single stock ETFs. Now Barry, another way these come in handy is to hedge, let's say you have a big position in Tesla. and you want to protect your profits. Well, there's times when you can deploy instead of selling Tesla and incurring a taxable event, you can deploy a hedge against a large Tesla position with an inverse Tesla ETF. Okay, other high quant ratings. I added this one to my app today, Roundhill, which is a pretty good fund or family of funds. I know they have an AI, they have an AI, a couple of AI funds. Related ETFs. They have the Roundhill Magnificent 7, which is mags. Got some mag wheels on it, Barry. You don't probably remember mag wheels, but the Magnificent 7, very high quant rating. I had them on a bike. Now, here's a FANG two times direction, owning the FANG stocks. Now, the definition of FANG has changed over the years, but two times FANG has a very high quant rating. Now, here's the one I want to zero in on. How about the Defiance Quantum ETF? It has a quant rating of 4.9. I guess 5 is their highest number. Now, another thing that I like when I find new ETFs and whatnot, I like to go into them and check out their holdings. Will I create a quantum sector? Maybe. One of my followers out there emailed me and said, Bill, you need to create a sector. I have the market divided up into 66 sectors. And I'm going to separate, isolate out, and create a crypto sector, which, hey, has become big enough to have its own sector. Quantum, I would say right now, is a subsector. in technology. I don't think it's big enough to have its own sector. But I used to have the tech sector. You at least should divide it up. Software, semiconductors, hardware. I mean, I need to subdivide my tech sector. It's way too big in the app, okay? But you can go into QTUM. QTUM. This is the Defiance Quantum... E-T-F. Now guess what? This thing has $683 million in it. You say, well, how is that compared to other ETFs? That's a big ETF. I mean, considering that it has been around, it looks like, since 2018. Now let's just take a look at the names in it. I would imagine the biggest quantum stock right now really is Google. But if you look at the holdings, okay, so I use Yahoo, okay, and I'm going to go to the holdings. IONQ, number one, 6%. Rigetti, number two. These have all been added to the app recently, 4.3%. D-Wave, which is QBTS, 4.2%. MicroStrategy, I don't know if that's a quantum stock. I guess they're bringing in the crypto. It belongs in the crypto sector. And then there's some big names that, you know, this kind of waters down for me. I don't see IBM. I guess it is a quantum stock, but that's a tiny little bit of what they do. uh accenture they've got in there they've got marvell uh coherent uh those are some of the uh now you can go even further you can go to the the funds uh website and you can probably get most of their holdings okay So anyways, there's a new ETF that goes into the app, QTUM, which gives you a larger exposure to a broad swath of quantum-related stocks. We'll be right back.
SPEAKER 05 :
Hey, you gotta go the way you wanna go. Do what you wanna do with whoever you wanna be.
SPEAKER 03 :
And welcome back to the final segment of today's Best Docs Now show. I think I'll go bobsledding, Barry. Is there anywhere around here I can bobsled? There's not even a hill around here, let alone a mountain. We live in the low country, but it's a pretty boring day.
SPEAKER 04 :
Maybe down your stairs.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, down the stairs. You know, my dog at low tide. I have a walkway that goes down to the lower dock so I can get in and out of my boat when it's in the water. That low tide, that one's pretty steep. You know, I could get on an ice block, go right into the river. That'd be kind of fun. Like the Marcus going.
SPEAKER 04 :
And that bluff mud will keep you, you know, be a nice landing spot as long as you don't have any oyster, you know, no oyster beds or anything in there.
SPEAKER 03 :
Grab a couple blue crabs while I'm down there. Well, anyways, I was just looking at the AI ETF, CHAT, C-H-A-T, which I guess they took CHAT, G-P-T. Round Hill, who are the major AI players? Well, you know, NVIDIA, obviously, number one. Microsoft, number two, because of the chat GPT. Google, number three, because they've got their own, what, Gemini AI. Meta has their own, number one, two, three, four. And then you've got Taiwan Semiconductor, obviously, in that AI sector. Palantir. You know, Palantir's got their foot in a lot of things. Cyber security, crypto, government, AI, probably a little quantum too. And then Marvell and Broadcom and Dell. SMCI, I suppose, would also be one of the top AI stocks out there also. obviously i mean uh you can get a lot of exposure to a sector through an etf personally uh if i were to just looking at the the holdings in this round hill i would take out hewlett packard enterprises because it's such a bad stock i would take out dell and i would cherry pick In other words, I prefer to cherry pick and break it down and find the best of the best and create an all-star team as opposed to just a broad swath of coverage to have coverage to the supposed AI sector. Okay, do we want to look inside the market today? I guess we have to. We're kind of in that business. Let's take a look here at the Dow today. What is driving? It's mostly the big tech stocks that are down today. NVIDIA, the biggest loser percentage-wise, down 2.8%. It's one of the biggest winners, however, in 2024. What will 2025 bring? I'm just going to say that NVIDIA is finishing up the year without much momentum. Amazon still has quite a bit of momentum, and I think you can throw that into the AI sector also because they have their own AI chip. Amazon's down 2.3 today, however. Microsoft's down 2. Apple's down 1.5. I think you're getting the idea. It's big tech. Somebody, why would you choose today? I don't know. Somebody is making a big sell out of tech today.
SPEAKER 04 :
uh repositioning i don't know what it is uh china selling who knows somebody's behind you mentioned that you mentioned the south korea i mean the south korea issue and and you know more and more potential influence um you know from uh you know from from communist influence whether it's from North Korea, China, both. It's a pretty interesting situation, the underlying. I can't speak on it enough, not huge on my South Korean politics, but it's an important economy, an important component piece of the world. Definitely.
SPEAKER 03 :
Okay, I look at the S&P 500, SMCI, biggest loser, down 4.5%. Tesla, which is also an AI player as it relates to your vehicles. And then let's not forget the biotechs. There's a lot of biotechs that are players in AI. Tesla's down 3.7%. Palantir down 3.5%. It just seems like the biggest winners. of this year. Maybe somebody's got a program written somewhere to sell the biggest winners of 2024 and buy the biggest losers. I don't know. But that's basically kind of what we're seeing in the market today. Google's down 2%. Arista Network's one of the biggest winners. Nothing has changed for these stocks from where I sit. I mean, they're all still sitting pretty as we enter into a new year. The oil stocks are having a bit of a good day here today. That's probably the best-performing sector, even though it's been the worst-performing sector over the last 12 months. So you've got Occidental Petroleum up 1.6%, APA, which is natural gas. I did see that there was a big bounce in natural gas prices today, I think 5% because of something Putin said. about not being able to work out a pipeline through Ukraine. He's got to go through Ukraine, you know, to get a pipeline into Europe, or he's got to go around it. And that is hurting natural gas prices. Devin's up 1.5. Those are the winners. Okay, now if we look at the NASDAQ, I'm sure we're going to see the same pattern. China not doing well, the Chinese stocks. On the upside in the NASDAQ, Starbucks up 1.1%. So now let's just take one other little slice of the pie here and let's look at the inverse funds. The best performing inverse fund today as a hedge. Now of course they've been slaughtered this year, don't forget. being inverse the market, unless you were inverse bonds. But right now, the best performing inverse fund is Cathie Wood short two times. That's up $2.20. And China short three times. And how about the Nasdaq short three times on a day when the Nasdaq's down over 400 points? All right, well, we're out of time.
SPEAKER 04 :
Essentially, all the names that are down right now are the names that were up on when.
SPEAKER 03 :
Easy come, easy go. That's the way that goes, okay? Down the chimney and back up the chimney and smoke is the way I see it. Okay, I'm ready for the new year. I'm adding stocks. I'm always doing things this time of year to add stocks to the database. We're almost at 5,000 right now. I've got a lot of followers that we're going to have a fun day today. We'll try to make the best of it, even though it's a very unusual, extraordinary day when you have very light volume. It's a Friday during the Christmas week. That's accentuating the downward moves here today. To get four free weeks to trade along with Bill or learn along with Bill on a daily basis, go to GundersenCapital.com. GundersenCapital.com. to set up an appointment with us and take a look at your retirement plans, your financial plans, your portfolios, your investments, etc. Give us a call at 855-611-BEST, 855-611-BEST, or GundersenCapital.com. Have a great day and have a great weekend. The newsletter will be out tomorrow afternoon. Take care.
SPEAKER 01 :
This show is not a solicitation to buy or sell any securities. Bill Gunderson or clients of Gunderson Capital Management may have long or short positions in stocks mentioned during the show. Past performance is not indicative of future performance. Gunderson Capital Management is a fee-based registered investment advisory firm. All accounts are held at Charles Schwab. Schwab is a member of SIBC and FINRA.
Join host John Rush alongside Dr. Kelly Victory and Steve House as they delve into pressing political issues affecting today's healthcare landscape. This episode uncovers unrealistic expectations placed on new political administrations and the systemic inertia that hinders effective policy implementations. The candid discussion touches on the myths propagated by big pharma and the struggles faced by frontline medical professionals advocating for alternative COVID treatments.
SPEAKER 15 :
This is Rush to Reason.
SPEAKER 13 :
You are going to shut your damn yapper and listen for a change because I got you pegged, sweetheart. You want to take the easy way out because you're scared. And you're scared because if you try and fail, there's only you to blame. Let me break this down for you. Life is scary. Get used to it. There are no magical fixes. With your host, John Rush. My advice to you is to do what your parents did. Get a job, sir. You haven't made everybody equal. You've made them the same, and there's a big difference.
SPEAKER 10 :
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 13 :
Are you crazy? Am I? Or am I so sane that you just blew your mind?
SPEAKER 15 :
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 05 :
All right, happy Thursday. Rush to Reason, Denver's Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560. Dr. Kelly Victory joining me now. We're doing our best to get a hold of Steve House as well, but Dr. Kelly, how are you?
SPEAKER 16 :
I'm doing great. Thanks for having me, and I can't believe it's less than a week until Christmas.
SPEAKER 05 :
I was just going to say, are you all ready?
SPEAKER 16 :
As ready as I'm going to be.
SPEAKER 05 :
Steve House with us as well. Steve, you ready for Christmas?
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, you know, I just haven't gotten the two of you, your president, but everybody else I got.
SPEAKER 05 :
Do both of you have all of your boosters ready so that you're all dialed in for the family gatherings?
SPEAKER 16 :
Oh, my goodness, yes. We're doubling down on the crazy last week before the families get together.
SPEAKER 05 :
Unbelievable. And for those of you listening, Dr. Kelly Victory has been with us all the way through COVID and beyond. And you can go back and listen to previous episodes if you would like. Some of you I know do because I get comments from some episodes of the past episodes. From time to time, you can find all those at RushToReason.com. And then Steve House, of course, was the one that really put all this together. Steve, you and I have known each other for a very long time, and you were very instrumental in making all of this happen. And we've got a lot to talk about today. So, Steve, I appreciate it very much, and thank you for putting this together long ago.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, we do have a lot to talk about. It's getting worse. I can't believe it, but it is.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, so, Steve, I'll let you start. Since you are kind of segwaying into that, let's just get into it. And you would think by now that we would be long past some of these things, but we are not, unfortunately.
SPEAKER 04 :
No, and you know what's so funny? I mean, there's a lot of symptoms of the problem. It goes far and wide, but it certainly hits health care hard. You know, the omnibus thing that, you know, Mike Johnson said it wasn't an omnibus. And, you know, you've got the regulatory environment in health care, Pfizer getting praised by people, the PBM issue, you know, the spending issue. It's just. I it just doesn't seem I mean, Donald Trump got elected and I'm looking forward to his cabinet being in play and doing things. But my fear is they aren't going to take big and bold enough steps. They're just not.
SPEAKER 05 :
Dr. Kelly. No, Dr. Kelly, you've got some insight on some of that as well. What do you think?
SPEAKER 16 :
Well, I agree. I think, unfortunately, there's been a buildup and people have an unrealistic expectation that when this new administration gets into office, that all of a sudden on day one, all of these things are going to happen. And part of that has been fostered by things that Donald Trump has said or Bobby Kennedy Jr. Every day they say, you know, on day one in office, I'm going to do blank. On day one in office, we're going to get rid of fluoride. On day one in office, I'm going to... You know, deport all the illegals on day one. We're going to do X, Y and Z. And the reality is that unfortunately, isn't the way Washington works, as Steve knows. Well, the wheels turn, but they turn very slowly. So I think they would be better off to say, here are our top five initiatives. This is what we're going to tackle first. This is our goal to do in the first quarter of year one. And to really lay it out in a way that's more reasonable and measured, I think managing expectations at this point is critically important. Otherwise, it's going to appear to be a big fail. When you add on top of that the crazy making that's going on, and I'm sure we'll talk about that during the hour, whether it's Disease X or the drones or bird flu, you know, that is going to be very distracting in a new administration. And they're doing everything they can, they being the Democrats, to set this new administration up to fail right out of the box.
SPEAKER 05 :
Absolutely. And Steve, one of the things in this continuing resolution that I was reading, the second one, by the way, for those of you listening, there was one that really got shot down. Elon Musk, Vivek, others, Donald Trump even said, listen, this is not the direction that we want to head. We've got to put our money where our mouth is. And This isn't going to work, and yet we get the second one today. Yes, it's better than the one that was prior, Steve, but at the end of the day, we still have the middleman that we talked about last week in regards to how insurance works and the pharmacy end of things and the costs associated and all of that, and we talked about how we could cap some of those things, and they had a chance even in this continued resolution to do so, and yet Steve didn't.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, yeah, I mean, quite frankly, John, it's one of those scenarios where I almost believe they can't help themselves. You know, when you talk about putting together a bunch of pork in a bill like this, and then, you know, there's this theory that, you know, we can't get it done in time, we can't do what we need to do because of one reason or the other. Well, the problem is they don't work very hard from my point of view. I mean, they work 164 days a year, so that's a problem. And then on top of that, they do not believe they have the ability to take a look at one subject bill have a debate about it, and they don't have to do a lot of reading when it's one subject. So Omnibus Bill, 1,500 and some pages, is pretty damn daunting. But until somebody steps up, as far as I'm concerned, Mike Johnson needs to go. Whoever comes next, if they don't get the fact that this stuff can't be slammed through in big, giant chunks of crap, then they need to go, too. They need to keep doing that until we find a speaker who gets what needs to be done.
SPEAKER 05 :
Kelly, what are your thoughts on that?
SPEAKER 16 :
A hundred percent. They need to pass individual things. Every time you try to wrap it all together, it becomes everything. But the kitchen, you know, the kitchen sink sort of thing, nothing gets done. And part of it's because of the corruption and graft that happened in Washington that people say, oh, I'll support your project if you support mine. And everybody adds on and adds on and adds on. That's what pork is. People just keep adding their pet issue into it. And so when you look at something like Obamacare, the amount of stuff that was baked in, that was wrapped into a supposed health care bill, there's stuff in there that had nothing to do with anything having to do with health care. It had to do with the tree canopy and underserved populations. It was insanity. It's because they can't just say, yes, I will review this particular bill on its own merits and decide whether or not I can support it, and then we'll move on to the next one. We would actually get things done if they didn't try to shove it through as a big hairball.
SPEAKER 05 :
Right. Steve, one thing I was thinking of as I was watching Vivecki put out a little video on TikTok about the previous bill, not this one, and all the things that were in it and so on. And what I noticed, and I want to get your opinion on this, Dr. Kelly, as well, but he said, listen, most people won't read the 1,500 pages, but I did. And here's all of the things that are in it. He starts spilling those things out. And the first thought I had, Steve, was, number one, and I'm trying to be as nice as I can here, And yes, there are some smart people on Capitol Hill. I'm not saying this universally. But my fear, Steve, is that there's a lot of those folks elected that I'll be straight up honest. I'm not sure can read 1,500 pages. And I'm trying to say that as kindly as I can. So now we've got aides and others that are actually doing it and feeding that information to the folks that are actually voting on it. Because I'll be real honest with you, Steve. And you said it a moment ago. They don't work super hard. And frankly, I don't think they're efficient in anything they do. They just happen to get elected.
SPEAKER 04 :
They don't want to work that hard, to be honest. I mean, they want to, you know, it's like, okay, I'm not the speaker, so I don't have that much to do other than go along, go to committees, ask a few questions, and then run for re-election over and over again. They're not being held to any standards. There's no KPIs, right? There's no key performance indicators for any of them. No, I agree. If there's no report cards for them, there's no nothing.
SPEAKER 05 :
I agree. Dr. Kelly, I mean, I hope I'm not being too hard on some of these folks, but I've interviewed some of these people over the years, and And I'll just say it, Dr. Kelly, some of these folks are just not that bright. They've gotten elected. They figured out that part of it in their particular end of the world, and they've maybe done OK there. And some of them, by the way, have never held a real job. They just figured out a way to get into politics. And at the end of the day, I'm not to Steve's point, Dr. Kelly, I don't think they know how to work.
SPEAKER 16 :
No, I think you're being kind. The reality is, with few exceptions. to say that they're not that bright is an understatement. Here's the reality. We better get our arms around it. The best and the brightest do not go into politics. And there's a reason, because they've got other things to do. They either have jobs in the private sector where they either make more money or they have more influence, and they aren't willing to give that up to go and move to Washington, D.C., and play that game. So the people who do run for office and ultimately get elected, are people who, frankly, wouldn't make it in the private sector. They don't have the work ethic to make it in the private sector. They don't have the intelligence to make it in the private sector. They really don't. Do you think AOC would ever make it? What would she have done other than be a bartender?
SPEAKER 05 :
AOC would have a hard time. I'm not exaggerating here, guys. You would probably agree with me on this one. She would have a hard time following me around as an assistant, nonetheless doing the things I do every day.
SPEAKER 16 :
Correct. And so, you know, granted, there are people like a Rand Paul, who I think is very bright, or a Jim Jordan. There are exceptions to this. But the reality is that in general, you don't get the best and the brightest. And I will tell you, I actually was approached some years ago to run for a congressional seat. in California, and Kevin McCarthy told me flat out, you need to have a quarter of a million dollars of your own money to put up. We are not supporting you until we're pretty clear that you can win. We really want you to do this. Well, why in the world would I stop doing what I'm doing in order to play that game? I have a good job. I've got a platform. Why in the world would I do that? So the way our government works is it actually sort of – reels in some of the lowest functioners out there who just have enough money to play the game.
SPEAKER 05 :
Steve, you know, you've been chair before along these lines, and you know as well as what Dr. Kelly just said a moment ago, it's designed to really keep folks that are very productive, they've done well in their lives. To Kelly's point a moment ago, they've got other things going on, and frankly, to stop doing what they're doing and go into politics, There's absolutely no incentive. We're very lucky to have somebody like a Donald Trump doing what he's doing because, really, Steve, there's no incentive to go do it.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, having run myself and been a donor, I mean, I went through this court case recently on campaign finance laws, and in court I had it disclosed or it was disclosed that I had donated $281,000 to candidates in 10 years and that I had spent $500,000 of my own money on campaigns, my own campaign. So was I fortunate enough to be able to do that? Yes. When I look back, do I wish I had that money back? Yes. But it's become this scenario where You know, if you don't have that kind of money that Kelly's talking about, if you're not willing to disrupt your life and give your life to it, you have to give your life to it. Because once you're in there, you're not making enough money to keep going on the money. You have to do something else.
SPEAKER 05 :
Right. That's absolutely right. Perfect segue. Guys, hang tight. We'll come right back. I've got a couple of questions that have come in from listeners, plus some of my own. Affordable interest mortgage is coming up next. And Kurt Rogers is going to be with us at 5 o'clock. But in the meantime, his direct line, 720-895-0500.
SPEAKER 01 :
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SPEAKER 05 :
All right, Dr. Scott, who is a lot like us, Dr. Kelly and Steve House, and the things that we have been talking about. He is in our camp. He is not beholden to big pharma or big insurance. So find him today by calling 303-663-6990.
SPEAKER 07 :
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SPEAKER 05 :
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SPEAKER 02 :
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SPEAKER 14 :
No liberal media bias here. This is Rush to Reason.
SPEAKER 05 :
All right, we are back. Dr. Kelly Victory and Steve House. And there is an entire page dedicated to Dr. Kelly on our website, RushToReason.com. You can go check that out. And again, you guys can go back and listen to some of the previous episodes that we have on file where we've done this now for guys going on five years. All right, something I wanted to throw in really quick. Several different things we wanted to chat about. But one of the first things, and I sent you guys... A little article on this this morning, I wanted to get Dr. Kelly, your opinion on this first, and that is the infamous paper that popularized, and this is coming out of science.com or science.org, of course, the unproven COVID-19 treatment that is finally retracted, and they're talking about hydroxychloroquine and I didn't read this thing, you know, word for word all the way through. But basically what I see this as is a hit piece against a lot of us that realized there was lots of other things that could have been done for COVID all the way through COVID. And we proved a lot of those things even during that time, Dr. Kelly. And yet now we've got science.org coming out conveniently right now, basically saying that was all hooey.
SPEAKER 16 :
Right. They keep desperately trying to say that the things like hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin and steroids and vitamin D were not effective treatments against COVID when, in fact, those of us who actually were treating COVID patients know that they were. There's we have now I think we're up to the thousands of papers, not just hundreds, but thousands of papers that that have proven it. The problem is that those papers don't get published because our journals are bought and paid for by Big Pharma. So unless a study comes to the conclusion that Big Pharma wants it to come to, it won't have a chance in hell of getting published. So trust me, you know, these these papers that come out now and say, oh, hydroxychloroquine doesn't work when, in fact, the doctors who actually were treating patients know that it does. And we've got many, many studies that, you know, I'm personally tired of trying to defend it. As far as I'm concerned, if you get covid and you don't want hydroxychloroquine or ivermectin or steroids. and you instead want remdesivir, God bless you.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yep, more power to you.
SPEAKER 16 :
No, that's right. Whatever.
SPEAKER 05 :
No, and I was talking about Dr. Scott, our great sponsor, who, by the way, Dr. Kelly, and you guys maybe not knowing his full story, but he actually lost his job at one of our major hospitals because off-hospital time prescribed hydroxychloroquine to some patients because he knew as well as we did that that was a good help when it came to COVID, and he got canned over that, Dr. Kelly.
SPEAKER 16 :
Yeah, he's amongst many, many people who did. I had my medical license threatened over and over again, not even for things that I prescribed, but for daring to say it, to say what I'm saying right now on the radio or on television. And so I had to defend myself over and over again in Colorado and in Ohio and in North Carolina, where I have medical licenses, again, because there was such a strong effort to suppress any information getting out there. And this is always driven by big pharma because they had a lot of money to be made, not only in their vaccines. but in their brand new medications like remdesivir, which ended up by itself, by the way, resulting in the deaths of many, many, many people. It caused kidney damage and people died as a result of the remdesivir.
SPEAKER 05 :
Run, death is near. Steve House, your feelings on some of this as well. Again, you're on more of the admin sides of these things. And isn't it interesting that we're now seeing a lot of this stuff come out some, I don't know, what are we, about 30 days out from Donald Trump taking over?
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, I think it goes a little bit to what I had texted to you guys earlier, and I think you guys get it as well, which is, Think about what we're doing here. So you take hydroxychloroquine, ivermectin, any number of things like that, all antivirals, because you have a virus, so why the hell wouldn't an antiviral be a good thing to try? But secondly, you have people out there saying in the scientific community that they don't work. They say that the vaccine does work. And the other side of the coin, they say, for all of you who are on medications, you should be adherent to your medication because your doctor prescribed them for you and you need to trust your doctor. So we're getting to this point where they're going, don't trust your doctor if they tell you to use an antiviral for a virus, but we want you to trust your doctor to take your drugs because we prescribed those drugs for you and those drugs are the best thing that you can take. It's gotten to the point where historically, John, tell you that When the people who run significant institutions in a country no longer have the trust of the people who are customers of those institutions, things fail. This is classic failure in action because we don't trust the government. I don't know about you. I certainly don't. I don't even trust it. I don't trust Johnson, the Speaker. I don't trust very many of the Republicans who are in Congress. I have a great deal of trust for Donald Trump, but I know what he's going to run into. And I don't trust the medical establishment, even though I know lots of great doctors like Kelly, because the system is pushing back on the people who know something. I don't know how this is ever going to survive.
SPEAKER 05 :
Dr. Kelly, I think, Steve, I agree with everything you said, and I would go one step further with that, Kelly, and say that it's the system even. Granted, the system is there. The people are in the system, so they're all guilty. But really, it's the system as much as anything that's corrupt. Am I correct?
SPEAKER 16 :
Oh, 100%. Let's look at the example of the ivermectin during COVID. We had hundreds of people, thousands around the country who were dying of COVID, okay? People who are elderly or had underlying health conditions who are in the hospital, in the ICU, dying of COVID, okay? There was nothing they could do. Their families were told, there's nothing else we can do. Your family member's going to die. Family members said, let's try ivermectin. And the hospitals refused. Now, you're telling me you've said there's nothing you can do. You've said this person's going to die. What is the problem then with trying ivermectin? What do you have to lose, right? What do you have to lose? And there were court case after court case after court case where even the courts would say to the hospital, if the family wants ivermectin, you must do it. And the hospitals pushed back. Why in the world? Would a hospital push back or defy? And they did many, many times defied a court order. You want to know why? Because they got paid if that patient died. They got money, $40,000 per patient through the CARES Act. You want to talk about did the system participate? Absolutely. And it was based on money. They fought back and defied court orders that said this patient should be allowed, must be allowed to try ivermectin. Their family doctor can come in and give it to them if the hospitalist doesn't want to. And the hospitals refused to comply because they made money if that person died and COVID could be put on the death certificate. People need to go to prison for this.
SPEAKER 05 :
Amen. Dr. Kelly, thank you for that, Steve. It's good that we're recapping this, Steve. I think a lot of people forgot some of the things Dr. Kelly just mentioned.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, I know. And frankly, in the latter days, not so much in the very early days, They don't want you on ivermectin or that type of an antiviral in the hospital because they want you on remdesivir, which is a very expensive drug. Paxlovid, remdesivir are very expensive drugs. If you take an antiviral and you start to recover, because most people recover from COVID now, they're not going to give you remdesivir. They're not going to bill for remdesivir. And quite frankly, a lot of them have inventory of it. There's just no way around the financial equation. Hospitals are in big financial trouble as it is. So And 60% of them have a negative operating income. Sometimes it's huge numbers. So they're trying to make money, but they're making money at the expense of the risk they're providing to the patient who shouldn't have these drugs.
SPEAKER 05 :
Dr. Kelly, the next thing, and I didn't send you guys this because I figured you would have just seen it on your own, but Governor Newsom declaring a state of emergency in California due to bird flu. So it's like, okay, are we going back to this again? You guys didn't learn your lesson the last time?
SPEAKER 16 :
Well, I'm sitting in California today and it's absolutely preposterous. Yes, Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency, quote, proactively, whatever that means. So we're proactively declaring an emergency because of the increased number of cases of bird flu in the state of California. Now, let me clarify. These are not cases in people. These are cases in cattle, okay? There has yet to be a human-to-human transmission of a case of bird flu in the entire state. We've had a total, I believe, of 38 cases of bird flu in humans, all people who are in direct contact with infected cattle or infected poultry animals, and not one of them has had a symptom more serious than a sniffle or some pinkeye, conjunctivitis. There is a single case in the country, in the state of Louisiana, of somebody who has, quote, serious bird flu symptoms, something other than just sniffles and conjunctivitis. One case in Louisiana. And on the basis of these findings, Gavin Newsom has decided that we need to proactively go into a state of emergency. This is nothing more than, again, trying to garner control, trying to be able to manipulate people's behavior. And I believe they're going to create as much chaos as possible. Add in drones, add in, you know, whatever next disease X. I can go down the list. They're going to create as much havoc as possible going into January. And unfortunately, this bird flu issue is a problem because they will use it to unnecessarily kill off, cull millions of poultry birds and thousands and thousands of cattle. And as a result, wait for it. What do you think is going to happen to the price of eggs and beef going into February? And they could say, look, Donald Trump's in office. and groceries are higher than ever.
SPEAKER 05 :
That's right. Steve, I can't disagree with anything Dr. Kelly is saying. I believe that is spot on exactly what they're trying to do. Question I have for you, and you know more of the inside politics of all of this, does Donald Trump have the wherewithal and the folks around him to defeat this nonsense?
SPEAKER 04 :
Certainly some of it. I mean, it's amazing how many people ask me the question about Like the omnibus bill, can't he just come into office and say no and write an executive order? Well, he can do rescission. Rescission does exist for certain aspects of a bill like that. He has a high level of power. He can also write executive orders, but he's up against court judgment and decision-making, those type of things. So can he solve all these problems that are being created for him? Probably not. But he sure can make people look stupid. Because, you know, when he takes actions and things work versus what Gavin Newsom – I mean, Gavin Newsom might be doing it because once you call it a crisis, then you're eligible for federal funds, no doubt. Right.
SPEAKER 05 :
And so – And other control that the governor has he wouldn't have otherwise, right?
SPEAKER 04 :
Right. So, you know, there's that play going. I think the other thing that's happening here is that they're watching him be received by global leadership. And they're freaking out because – everyone on the global stage is making Trump look like he's the king of the world.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, basically, he's running the country right now, even though he hasn't been inaugurated. That's what's happening as we speak.
SPEAKER 04 :
but it's more than just running the country they know that he has not only did he have perceived power not only did he have position power because he was elected but this guy got real power so people will absolutely compromise because they know that he will go down a path and he and they will get what he told them they're going to get and i think that that's going to scare the elite so much because they don't want to deal with them and frankly you can't hide stuff around the guy he's pretty good and then you get to two pit bulls in the vacant Elon, who are not going to let anybody hide anything either. They will be as outgoing as Donald Trump is on waste and fraud and abuse. It's going to be an interesting time. Hopefully everyone will survive it.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, that's where I'm not as concerned with this second bill that's going through. There's some pork in it, but you get him elected and you start that train, if you would, moving forward down the track. And these guys start getting in and analyzing all sorts of things. You could easily have additional bills come through and say, all right, guys, number one, we're going to have a budget. Number two, we're going to go back and fix some of these things that you guys passed in that CR bill. And we're going to get some things taken care of. And frankly, I think that's exactly how these two are looking at it. They didn't like what was there prior because it was way too much, way too much pork when it was all said and done. This next one has some, but not near as much as the one that was there just a day or two ago.
SPEAKER 04 :
The question is, why does it have any?
SPEAKER 05 :
I know. Don't get me started.
SPEAKER 04 :
There's no excuse. I mean, you're not going to get to where we need to go if it's got any.
SPEAKER 05 :
I agree. I agree. Dr. Kelly, a question came in, and this coincides with some of what we can even talk about when it comes to Trump, because he has talked about going to one – You know, time standard across the country moving forward, whether that be standard time or whether that be daylight saving time. And he hasn't taken a position one way or the other. I, frankly, am all for going to one or the other. I'm sick of the different changes that we do. I like daylight saving time, of course, because of my schedule and other things. And I had somebody ask that there's some studies out there talking about, because one thing you always hear is if you stay on daylight saving time and it's really dark a little bit later in the mornings in the winter, that that really affects kids at the bus stop and so on. On the same token, there's studies out there talking about kids should be starting school later anyways. And somebody asked if you knew anything about that study.
SPEAKER 16 :
I don't know anything about that study, but number one, I am a huge proponent of going to one time zone. This is absolute insanity. It was done initially for that reason, saying that because it's dark in the morning and kids shouldn't be standing alone in the dark waiting for the school bus. The reality is that that is not happening with most kids anyway. It simply is an outdated issue. You do far more damage to people's circadian rhythms by messing around with the time clocks and doing this twice a year, and it messes up everybody who actually has a job and is trying to keep track of their work schedule when the time changes. Then you add into the fact that other places, certain places in Hawaii, for example, don't change the time, and it's just way too confusing. I think if it ends up being a problem, the answer is, as you said, is to start the school day at 830 instead of 730, you know, push it back by an hour and go later in the day. There are lots of ways to fix it. But changing the clock back and forth based on where the sun is on the horizon makes absolutely zero sense.
SPEAKER 05 :
Steve, on the expense side, I think the other thing that Donald Trump is looking at is for a lot of different industries, the expense of changing twice a year is quite expensive as well. And even lost productivity and other things that you can throw in that probably aren't tracked as great as it is actual factual costs that you can actually track. And I don't know what that magic number is, Steve, but I've got to believe that there's a cost savings for the country and going to one as well.
SPEAKER 04 :
Oh, I'm sure that it's a big number, John. I mean, everything costs millions or billions. I wonder sometimes about when you think about the total U.S. economy and the trillions of dollars of GDP, you take out one three hundred and sixty fifth of that or one hour of one three hundred and sixty fifth of that. It's going to have a big effect because when you lose an hour, when you go forward and lose an hour, you know, an hour loss is an hour loss. I mean, it's part of the financial thing. And I don't I don't particularly care for it either. I actually think we should eliminate time zones. as well.
SPEAKER 05 :
And just go to, everybody figures out where they're at on the GMT scale and call it good.
SPEAKER 04 :
Bring the East back an hour and a half, the West forward an hour and a half, and in the middle, everybody's on that same number. I mean, there have been people who wanted to do that long ago. Because that way, you know, the country's all operating at the same time, which means people who work the East Coast aren't waiting until, you know, 8 or 9 o'clock at night to finish their business on the West Coast.
SPEAKER 05 :
Oh, as a radio show, trust me, I would be all for that, Steve. Because the other thing that's a real problem that most people don't think about, and those of you that live in it don't think about it, but the mountain time zone for most people in the country is unknown. They think in three time zones. They think we have Western time, you know, out in California. They think we have the middle of the country, Central time, and then Eastern time. Everybody forgets. I know.
SPEAKER 03 :
I mean, frankly, I lost my circadian rhythm at my senior prom when I tried to dance.
SPEAKER 04 :
And I've never recovered it. All right.
SPEAKER 05 :
Good segue. Guys, we'll be right back. You got questions for us? Please send me a text message. I got a few more for Dr. Kelly and Steve that came in on the text line. You're free to do more of those as well. 307-200-8222. We'll be right back. Hi-Fi Plumbing and Electrical, of course, is next. 877-WE-HIGH-5.
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SPEAKER 06 :
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SPEAKER 15 :
Now, back to Rush to Reason, presented by High Five Plumbing, Heating and Cooling, where every call ends with a high five.
SPEAKER 05 :
All right, we are back. Rush to Reason, Denver's Afternoon Rush. Myself, Dr. Kelly Victory, and Steve House, which for those of you listening, because of the holidays and everything else going on, this will be our last episode, our last show with them for 2024. We'll be back in 2025, of course. We've had a lot of fun, and we'll keep this going. Dr. Kelly, in your state, and this one I just – I don't – I shouldn't say that I'm surprised because I'm not, but we now have San Francisco's health department hiring a fat positivity expert to weigh in on things to make sure that people are not labeled incorrectly and that we're doing things right when it comes to people that are extremely overweight, obese, and so on.
SPEAKER 16 :
Yes, because God forbid we should actually be honest with people about their lousy lifestyle choices or the things that they are doing that are undermining their their overall health and wellness because everyone has to feel good about their decisions rather than take personal responsibility. This is absolute insanity. The reality is I'm not making fun of people who have weight issues. I'm not making fun of people who have drug addiction issues or any other problem. that is causing them to have ill health. But the reality is we know darn well that obesity leads to a multitude of medical problems, not the least of which is certainly hypertension, renal disease, diabetes, arthritis, Lots of problems. And the idea that you are going to make people feel OK about that is ridiculous. We should say to people, you should feel good enough about yourself to know that you can change and fix this problem, but identify that it is a problem. We cannot allow people to believe that it is healthy to remain obese.
SPEAKER 05 :
I also will say this as somebody that for a lot of years was overweight, and trust me, I knew I was, and what I'm going to go with here, Dr. Kelly, is that I would highly, highly doubt that there is anybody out there that's overweight that, number one, knows that they need to take some weight off. They know, and I know, they struggle with that because certain types of people and DNA and so on, you struggle differently with different things, and I understand that as well. My point, Dr. Kelly, is... I don't think that these people want excuses made for them either. They want somebody to come along and really help them with how do I live a more healthy lifestyle? What do I need to do to make that happen? I highly, highly doubt that there's anybody out there that's overweight that A, knows that they need, they all know they need to lose weight is my point. And I think that when these sorts of things come along, they just look at that and think, I'm just being lied to again and again and again, and I'm being played.
SPEAKER 16 :
Absolutely. The same way that there's nobody out there who's poor, you know, who actually wants to be poor. They may ridicule the ultra-rich, but they would love to be that. I don't think there's anybody out there who's overweight who wouldn't like to be normal weight. Look, for example, at what happened with Lizzo. She came out and said how it was exactly how she wanted to be. She loved being fat. It was healthy. It was beautiful. And Social media came down on her. And lo and behold, interestingly, she has now lost over 100 pounds. Wow. She has totally changed her appearance. Good for her is right. She has just saved her own life. Her health, her wellness, her quality of life will be so improved by what it is. I don't know how she did it. I haven't seen any. I don't know if she did it with the help of Ozempic or whatever. or just diet and exercise, but for however she did it... It doesn't matter.
SPEAKER 05 :
That's right. She needed to do that. That's right.
SPEAKER 16 :
It doesn't matter. And I'm not suggesting that fat shaming is what we want to do. That's what happened with her, and it ended up having this... Well, Dr. Kelly, you know, we...
SPEAKER 05 :
Steve, I'll throw this off to you as well, but Dr. Kelly, really quick. You know, when somebody is an alcoholic and we know they are, you know, A, we don't shame them for being one. In fact, we do everything we possibly can to help them not be one. In fact, most families that have an alcoholic family member will do everything they possibly can, including not drinking around them and all sorts of other things to try to help that particular person get over that particular problem in their life. Yet we don't do that with people that are heavy.
SPEAKER 16 :
Correct. We certainly don't. Go ahead, Steve. I'm sorry.
SPEAKER 04 :
Go ahead. I was going to say, if you think about it, I mean, you're 100% right, right? We try not to drink around somebody who's an alcoholic. We certainly wouldn't take drugs around somebody who's a drug addict. But the one thing that we don't do on Thanksgiving and Christmas is we don't put away cake and ice cream.
SPEAKER 06 :
Right.
SPEAKER 04 :
Right? If someone needs to be healthier, we're not changing our diet. It's just as addictive. It is. In many cases. You're right. It's just as addictive. It may be more damaging. I think you can survive long-term alcoholism probably better than you can severe obesity. So I don't know why it is that way, why the stigma is that way. We basically are giving ourselves a break by saying, hey, you know what? I'm 25, 30 pounds overweight. It's okay. You know, you're getting older. It's fine. It happens to people. Gravity happens. You know, metabolism slows down. The reality of it is. Look at Kelly Victory. If you haven't seen a picture of her, take a look. I mean, she's not my age, but she's getting to the point where she should be having as much trouble with gravity as I do, and for some reason, she doesn't.
SPEAKER 05 :
Dr. Kelly, I would be happy even if it was only the 20 or 25 pounds. The problem is, as Americans, that is, let's just say that that is on the very low end of how people are overweight. Am I correct in saying that?
SPEAKER 16 :
A hundred percent. And, you know, we know that now we have I think it's 23 states where more than 50 percent of adults are overweight. I mean, think about that. Half of our country, you know, we have a massive issue with with obesity. And the problem is this is that, yes, metabolisms changes. You get older. You have to eat less. You have to eat less and move more, and it isn't fun. Being hungry or not being able to indulge in the foods we like isn't fun. But the reality is everybody wants a quick fix, and wealthy societies suffer from this not uncommonly because we have access to everything. You have access to food 24-7. It's good food. There's stuff around us all the time. We have made it such that it is very rare to have a social interaction of any sort that does not involve food true we would do ourselves a lot of good to say rather than you hey you want to meet me for a drink or hey you want to meet me for lunch to say hey do you want to meet me and go for a walk right right you want to meet me at the park right well and or the alternative and you know steve you know because i was very heavy at one time and fortunately got on the stick in 2010 and
SPEAKER 05 :
took a ton of weight off, about 110 pounds or so. And Dr. Kelly, what I did, when normally somebody would want to go have some sort of a lunch meeting or something along those lines, I did exactly what you said, or I said something to the effect of, you know, everything we're going to meet about, we can do over the phone. I really don't need to be going out to eat. I'm really doing my best to try to be healthy and take some weight off and so on. If you want to get a cup of coffee or something along those lines, I'm game. But at the end of the day, Really, everything we're doing, we can do over the phone. So how about we do that? And you know what, Dr. Kelly? The majority of people, hardly an exception, didn't say, sure, John, we can do that.
SPEAKER 16 :
Absolutely, and when I was running a big healthcare company, I would say to people, if what we are going to do is have a meeting where we talk, and we have this meeting scheduled for 45 minutes, and we're just going to talk. In other words, we don't need a whiteboard, and we don't need a slide deck or anything. Great, let's walk and talk.
SPEAKER 05 :
Absolutely.
SPEAKER 16 :
And we're walking. And it doesn't have to be walking with weights or speed walking or going to a track. You're just saying, I'm not going to sit. and have a donut and a cup of coffee while we have this meeting. We've got to get back to that.
SPEAKER 05 :
Steve, you're somebody, too. Most people don't know your history, but you've done very well in this area as well and can really relate to what we're talking about also.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, and movement is such a big deal, right? I mean, some of it is I have a little saying that I say in my head all the time, and that is nothing tastes as good as thin feels. So, you know, that's one thing. Number two is I've got an aging doc that I have in Chicago that I go see periodically, and every single time I go, it's a four-hour appointment. You go over all the stuff, but the first hour we walk. We walk and we talk about the latest medical advancements and what's going on. I mean, if you look at the numbers, you know, 6,000 steps, 8,000 steps a day, you fix 40% of all-cause mortality is gone because you do that. You save yourself a 40% chance that all causes of mortality will be reduced because you do 8,000 steps a day. It's not easy to do 8,000 steps, but it's so much harder. And here's the other thing, the stat on the fact that men – In the last 10 years, from 65 to 75, men suffer greatly as an average. The average American man suffers. I mean, pain in your joints, pain in all kinds of areas, not to mention cancers and other things. I don't really want to give up that 10 years and have a lousy 10 years, so I walk. I do a lot of things like that.
SPEAKER 05 :
Good for you, and that's the way it ought to be done. My whole point with this whole article was we've now got a city, and by the way, it'll grow. If San Francisco's done it, Dr. Kelly and Steve, other cities will follow suit. This will not be the only one that ends up doing this. So we now have a city that's basically hiring somebody that is their fat positivity person so they can run around the city and basically tell people that, I guess you can live an unhealthy lifestyle, and that's not a problem at all. And, Dr. Kelly, it kind of goes back to what my whole thought process was what we've talked about really all the way through COVID, and I'm sorry, I don't see this as being any different. We have a section of the political front, the Marxist, I don't know how else to say it, that are anti-people, and they will get behind anything possible to reduce the population on this earth. Am I wrong, Dr. Kelly?
SPEAKER 16 :
No, I think fundamentally that is correct. They don't care. The value of human life actually isn't important, and frankly, they'd just as soon see it go down. They'd like to see it go down precipitously, the population. But we have this culture now where you somehow have to validate anything that somebody does. It's never okay to say what you are doing is unwise or it's stupid or it's selfish or whatever else. You have to validate every choice somebody makes. If you decide you want to change your gender, oh, that's a great idea. If you decide you want to ride your motorcycle without a helmet, oh, that's fine. If you decide you want to whatever it is, be obese. use drugs, whatever it is, we have to somehow validate that rather than saying, you know what, that's a really bad idea because we know that it isn't healthy for you. It's not good for you. It's not good for our culture. It's not good for society, whatever it is. And so, you know, this is just the latest example, this, you know, fat, whatever you want to call it, I don't know what her title is.
SPEAKER 04 :
She's the fat positivity expert. You know what it is, John? There's one other thing to think about here, and I know Kelly believes this too, and that is the reason why they do that is they want to make people feel better that don't feel good about themselves.
SPEAKER 05 :
Correct.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, the reality of it is metabolic syndrome... creates a problem for you with dopamine, endorphins, for feeling good, feeling better. So basically, you're trying to tell someone who feels crappy because they've got a problem with their metabolic syndrome that they should feel better or that it's okay. That's not helpful. The harder message is, look, you've got metabolic syndrome. You've put on weight. You're having a hard time. The future will be better for you. You will literally feel better, think better. It'll all work better for you if you lose the weight. And there is no other answer.
SPEAKER 05 :
Absolutely. None. Absolutely. Guys, that's it for this hour. It always rolls by really fast. I wanted to give enough time to wish both of you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We are indebted to both of you. And I just can't say enough, A, how much I've learned from the two of you, how I consider you both as close friends, and I know a lot of our listeners do as well. And I just want to say just how grateful I am to have had this experience the last five years, and I look forward to hopefully five more, Steve and Kelly. So, Steve, I'll let you go first.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, no, I mean, I get so much, learn so much from you guys. The one thing I wish for, and I know it's not going to happen, is I wish – you know, 10,000 listeners would have a chance to sit in a room with the three of us and have a conversation because I gain every time we do. And I know that it's helpful not only to my own education, but I pass along so many things. I quote Kelly Victory more than anyone on this planet, no doubt.
SPEAKER 05 :
Absolutely.
SPEAKER 04 :
And it's because she's smart and, you know, she does the right things and she helps me. So I appreciate both of you. And, John, you lost weight because Mrs. Rush beat you to death. Ah, there we go. There we go. Just get out there. There we go. She wants you to live, and she made it happen, so I appreciate her, too.
SPEAKER 05 :
I'll let you go, Steve. Thank you. Dr. Kelly, I meant what I said a moment ago, and I wish you a very Merry Christmas.
SPEAKER 16 :
Well, thank you very much, and I appreciate both of you so much. Maybe in 2025 we can have a John Rush Town Hall in Denver. That would be fun. I'll come down to Denver, and we can all sit in a room maybe and do a program with some people live. It would be really fun.
SPEAKER 05 :
I would enjoy that.
SPEAKER 16 :
Maybe we can find a way to do the program live together.
SPEAKER 05 :
We can do that.
SPEAKER 16 :
So let's make that happen.
SPEAKER 05 :
Okay, we'll work on that. Dr. Kelly, thank you. Merry Christmas.
SPEAKER 16 :
I will talk to you in the new year.
SPEAKER 05 :
All right, sounds great. After the new year, appreciate you very much. Veteran Windows and Doors, 40% off. Free labor to install. Find them at klzradio.com.
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SPEAKER 05 :
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SPEAKER 11 :
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SPEAKER 05 :
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SPEAKER 05 :
Adventures of Jimmy and Andrew. It's a great way to teach your young kids how to read.
SPEAKER 09 :
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SPEAKER 05 :
All right, we are back. That's it for this first hour. We've got more coming your way, so don't go anywhere. Rush to Reason, Denver's Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 1 :
Thank you. I'm a rich guy.
In this episode of Rush to Reason, host John Rush is joined by Dr. Kelly Victory and Steve House for an engaging discussion on healthcare reforms, pharmaceutical industry practices, and the intricate role of Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs). The guests delve into recent political developments including President Biden's decision to extend liability protection to mRNA vaccine manufacturers. The conversation sheds light on the underlying issues with PBMs and their impact on drug pricing, calling attention to legislative roadblocks and advocacy for reform. Listeners will gain new insights into how healthcare policies are shaped, the financial implications of PBMs' involvement in medicine pricing, and the broader political landscape's influence on healthcare decisions. With upcoming administrative changes, the episode also speculates on potential shifts in healthcare policy and what that means for the stakeholders involved.
SPEAKER 13 :
This is Rush to Reason. You are gonna shut your damn yapper and listen for a change because I got you pegged, sweetheart. You want to take the easy way out because you're scared. And you're scared because if you try and fail, there's only you to blame. Let me break this down for you. Life is scary. Get used to it. There are no magical fixes. With your host, John Rush. My advice to you is to do what your parents did. Get a job first. You haven't made everybody equal. You've made them the same, and there's a big difference.
SPEAKER 10 :
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 13 :
Are you crazy? Am I? Or am I so sane that you just blew your mind?
SPEAKER 15 :
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 03 :
All right. Happy Thursday, everybody. Welcome Rush to Reason, Denver's Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560. Hope you guys have all had a great week up to this point. Dr. Kelly Victory joining us now. Let me bring her up as well as Steve House. But Dr. Kelly, how are you to start off with?
SPEAKER 14 :
I'm doing great. Had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and I'm skating right into the big holiday season.
SPEAKER 03 :
Oh, man, it is coming fast. Steve House as well. Welcome, sir.
SPEAKER 16 :
I'm doing well, too, except for I kind of threw up on my mouth a little bit a little bit ago when Biden gave the mRNA vaccine manufacturers liability protection until 2029 today. Yeah. Some of my Thanksgiving dinner came back. Otherwise, it was pretty good.
SPEAKER 03 :
Until 2029. In other words, I guess what he's planning on is somebody else besides a Republican winning in 2028, therefore never having any issues there. Is that what his thought process is?
SPEAKER 16 :
Yeah, when you really think about this, I don't know if this was on our agenda, but we saw two things this week. That happened, and then the PBM legislation to try to, you know, de-link it from drug pricing, which would have done so much for the American people. And that bill basically is dead at the moment, even though it has bipartisan support. It's never going to make it through the process, and that's... Because the pharma industry is so damn strong and, you know, $29 million of the lobbying effort, and they've slowed it to the point where it's just not going to make it. And that's insane based on what it does for us.
SPEAKER 03 :
And for those that maybe are tuning in for the first time, Dr. Kelly Victory, she's been with us for a very, very long time over. I guess we're going on five years now since COVID. Steve House has been with us for much longer than I've been talking to Steve on air for 10 years plus. And Steve was instrumental in having Dr. Kelly join us on a weekly basis long ago. Dr. Kelly, really quick, though, for folks that maybe don't understand all of the acronyms and things that Steve just mentioned to go explain that.
SPEAKER 14 :
Well, with regard to giving liability protection to the mRNA vaccines, I think that that is absolute insanity. First of all, you're giving a pardon or giving liability protection to something. That hasn't been charged yet. We've been seeing a lot of that lately. I'm hopeful that we will sidestep around that particular, quote, liability protection by eliminating mRNA technology entirely or taking it off the market until it's ready for primetime, which it's not at this point. And I think that that's my biggest takeaway from all of this. I think we are seeing a doubling down of the Biden administration trying to hand out passes to everybody and their brother. And it's happening certainly very much with those people who are involved in the COVID debacle. It remains to be seen whether or not any of this actually holds up or is deemed to be even constitutional.
SPEAKER 03 :
Makes total sense. No, go ahead, Steve. Go ahead.
SPEAKER 14 :
Jump in. I'm sorry. You were also asking about the PBM issue. Yes. Yes. The PBM, a pharmacy benefit manager, is what we refer to colloquially as, quote, the middleman. They are the people who sort of broker the deals, if you will, between the pharmaceutical companies and those agencies that actually sell or provide the drugs, whether it's a doctor's office or a hospital or the government. Right. They are a middleman. They are a broker. It would be known in any other industry as racketeering. The middlemen essentially take a piece of the action. It's a pay-to-play scheme. They say to the pharmaceutical companies, if you give us a kickback, we'll get you the big juicy contract at UnitedHealthcare or at Hospital ABC or for the Department of Defense. It is racketeering by any other name, and it's something that I'm hoping that Bobby Kennedy Jr. will absolutely eradicate, ultimately, because, as Steve said, it is the single biggest cost driver for pharmaceuticals.
SPEAKER 03 :
Okay, let's talk about that for just one moment. Sorry, John.
SPEAKER 16 :
Go ahead. Just one comment, and that is, I really believe that Biden did this pardon because, you know, the pharma industry is a huge donor. But I think the other reason why he did it is they're afraid that Kennedy is going to release all of the information from the trials. And you know what? They can't stop him from doing this just by this. What they can do, though, is they're going to be dealing with an American public that's going to hear more and more and more about how bad this was and how much they cheated. And yet they're going to want to sue, but they're just going to stop their ability to sue. So that's why they're doing this. And then lastly, I was at the American Society of Healthcare Pharmacists meeting this week in New Orleans. And the one thing I will say, Kelly, is almost all of them struggle with PBMs themselves. And they're sitting there looking at this and high-cost drugs, and they're saying to themselves, how could we possibly be allowing this to happen? And then what you get is a hospital system signs with Mark Cuban to get 100 drugs from Mark Cuban that is going to reduce their cost which would theoretically be passed on to the patient, but then they send out a note publicly in a news release saying it won't necessarily impact the patient's payment amount because that is really dependent upon the agreement they have with their health insurance company. So what's going to happen is they're going to take the profit at the hospital level rather than the PBM level, and they're not going to give it to the patient, and that has to be stopped by Bobby Kennedy Jr. as well. Wow.
SPEAKER 14 :
Correct. These things that have been called for years, John, rebates, The rebates should be going to the patient, but the rebates end up getting scooped up by the hospital system or the doctor's office or whoever else takes it back and puts it in their coffers. So the patient is constantly on the losing end of this. It's really a complete racket. And we've got to get this exposed. It's part of the fraud, corruption, deception and graft that's gone on for decades. It's perhaps come to light more recently during everything we saw because of COVID. But this has been going on for decades.
SPEAKER 03 :
So a question, I'll start with you, Dr. Kelly. With the changes in the administration, granted we're not quite a little under 40 days out roughly. We're counting down. We keep getting closer and closer to the time where the Trump administration will come in. We'll then have to, of course, go through some confirmations and things along those lines. But once everything is in place, I mean – I'm very hopeful, I hope that I'm hopeful in the right way, that the team, not just RFK Jr., but a lot of others that will be involved with different things that will be happening there, DOJ, etc., do you feel like this new team can tackle some of the things you and Steve just got done talking about?
SPEAKER 14 :
I certainly think that they can. That said, I am... realistic with regard to how Washington works. It would never fly in the private sector. They are so slow to act. And I guarantee you that although you and I would like to believe that this stuff is going to get addressed day one, it won't. It takes months and months and months to even get up to speed. So everybody's going to be new. Everybody's going to be feeling their way around. Everybody's Everybody's jockeying for position.
SPEAKER 06 :
Right.
SPEAKER 14 :
And the wheels turn so slowly in Washington that I think we will be lucky if they get a fraction of the things done that they've talked about. The most I think we can hope for is that Bobby Kennedy and the rest of his team at each of the independent agencies, whether it's the FDA, NIH, CDC, whatever it is, HHS, in general, that they will address and expose some of these conflicts of interest and start right now eradicating those things, teasing them out. And I think rather than focusing on any one initiative, like decreasing the amount of fluoride or regulating the amount of fluoride in water or making ivermectin over the counter, We need to really expose the rampant fraud and corruption. So, yes, I do think they'll be able to do it. But I have been reminded very recently in some communications I've had with people in Washington just how slowly and frankly how disorganized the whole thing is. You have to remember, you know, most of these people who are going to be stepping into new roles come January, you know, moving to Bethesda or moving to D.C. or moving to Atlanta to work at the CDC. This is, you know, not only are they moving themselves and their families, but it's a brand-new job, a brand-new day, and it takes, you know, when you start a new job, you don't just hit the ground running. It takes months to learn all the players and to figure out what it is you're supposed to be doing. So I think, you know, people should just sort of prepare themselves that it's not going to happen overnight.
SPEAKER 03 :
Okay. Steve, I'm going to ask you a question as soon as we come back, which is, you know, what can executively Donald Trump and his team do in some of these areas or not? I'm going to ask you that as soon as we come back. Affordable interest mortgages next, folks. Kurt Rogers, remember to call him any mortgage question. And as we go through this holiday season, there may be some things that you want to avoid debt-wise when it comes to a mortgage in 2025. 720-895-0500.
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SPEAKER 09 :
No liberal media bias here.
SPEAKER 03 :
This is Rush to Reason. And we are back, Rush to Reason, Denver's Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560. Dr. Kelly Victory with us today, as well as Steve House. And Steve, I asked you before we went to break, what can Donald Trump, the executive committee, and I get it, there's, as Dr. Kelly said, lots of facets to this, and yes, things move slowly. Is there anything, though, that Donald Trump himself could fast-track?
SPEAKER 16 :
You know, John, if it were me and I had the ability, and I have to talk to a constitutional lawyer about this, but I would write an executive order on day one that would drop a small grenade into health care by ordering the delinking of pricing for PBMs so that PBMs could not link their cost or their price, their rebate structure to the price of the drug. They would have to become a service-oriented scenario where what they did was what they got paid for, not just, you know, if a drug cost, if it was an oncology drug and cost $30,000, what they get for that versus metformin at $80, it's not fair to pay them on the price of the drug because the work involved, the process involved is fundamentally not any different. So I would do that right off the bat, and that would drive people crazy, but it would sure break up the industry a bit.
SPEAKER 14 :
Yeah, so an analogy that people might understand better, because I think you're exactly right, Steve. The analogy might be if you tip, there's a reason why you don't tip, for example, at a restaurant on a bottle of wine, because it doesn't take the waiter. It's no more difficult to open a $100 bottle of wine than a $20 bottle of wine. And why should they make five times more in terms of the tip? And that's what the PBMs are doing. They charge a percentage. Now, the other thing that people don't know, and Steve and I are well aware of this, is that the way the law was written, PBMs are allowed to charge a fee for the work that they do, for being that middleman, for brokering the deal, if you will, the same way that a realtor would.
SPEAKER 03 :
I got to start for just one second, Dr. Kelly. Why do we need them at all? Can you tell me why? Is there a justification? Is there a real, solid reason we should have them? I mean, does it benefit anybody at the end of the day, or is it just, frankly, there's a middleman there and there always has been?
SPEAKER 14 :
Well, they do provide a service in the way, for example, that a realtor does. They do the paperwork. They do a lot of the stuff that you and I don't know the intricacies of the legalities of the paperwork, so they provide a service. But they were supposed to do that for a determined fee, and it was 2.3% that they were allowed to charge. by law, but nobody in Congress has ever paid any attention to it, and many of them now are charging 100%. So it would be as if your realtor, rather than making a 5% or 6% commission on the sale of the house, instead was making an 80% commission on the sale of the house. Can you imagine what the house would cost?
SPEAKER 03 :
And really quick, make sure that I'm also explaining this correctly. The difference between what we're talking about in a house is the house is your money that you're spending and paying the realtor and so on. In the case of what, Stephen, you were talking about, in a lot of cases, it's in a lot of cases, it's tax dollars that are paying for that or your health insurance dollars that you're paying for this paying for that. Am I correct?
SPEAKER 14 :
Exactly, and you end up paying more for the house because the person selling the house is saying, well, I'm not going to take it on the chin that the realtor is charging 80%. I'll just jack the price of my house up. Well, when you're buying a house, you have the choice not to buy the house if it's too expensive. If it's a drug that your child needs for his or her cancer or a medication that you need to treat your diabetes, you don't have the choice. To not buy that drug necessarily. And so you are being fundamentally squeezed by the people who are trying to pass the cost on. So, yes, the PBMs did provide a service, but the service was number one was to be capped in what they could charge for it. And number two, as Steve rightly points out, the percentage should not be directly linked to the cost of the medication because some medications are wildly more expensive than others and there's no more work for the PBM to broker the deal.
SPEAKER 03 :
Steve, as a moment ago, I just gave a commercial little ad for affordable interest mortgage. And I know in the mortgage brokerage end of things, there were some rules that came out, laws that came out not long ago to where they could no longer charge percentages. They make flat fees, I believe, in most cases, and they are limited to what that fee can be. So if we're doing that, Steve, for mortgage brokers, why can't we do the same here?
SPEAKER 16 :
We should do it here. In fact, if you see a couple of things, I'll add it to Kelly's comment. Sometimes the fee from the PBM is 3000 percent. So it's not always under 100 percent. And then on top of that, you're right. It should be a flat fee of some nature. However, most of the PBMs now are stock market listed there. You know, they've got investors in Wall Street and, you know, they've purchased the health insurance.
SPEAKER 03 :
All the more reason why we know it's wrong.
SPEAKER 16 :
Right. So here's an example that was kind of a turning point beyond. By the way, all American diabetics should gather together in a class action lawsuit, sue the Health and Human Services and the federal government against the safe harbor law that set a 2.3 percent fee and that was never enforced. That means diabetics have been paying 1%. boatloads more money than they should have for all these years because the federal government failed to enforce their own laws. But here's the deal. Gleevec, and I know that Kelly knows this drug really well, in theory was the first $100,000 drug to come to the market. And people thought they were crazy, right? So PBMs come in and they thump their chest. They say, we're going to get discounts of, you know, 80% off the drug. But they took the $80,000 discount and they gave it to your health insurance company who never lowered your premium ever. So it became racketeering. She described it perfectly right. So I'm going to say, well, all right, insurance car pharma, why don't you make a drug that costs $80,000 like Harvoni? I'm going to buy it from you, put it on formulary by you giving it to me for a 55% or 60% discount, but I'm going to take a portion of that money and keep it for myself, make my investors happy. I'm going to give the rest back to the insurance companies because they're asking me to allow it. And by the way, the only person who loses is the patient.
SPEAKER 03 :
Right.
SPEAKER 16 :
The patient loses big every time.
SPEAKER 03 :
Right. Okay. I want to shift gears for just one second because you guys have some inside knowledge. And feel free to share as much or as little as you feel you can. But we've got cabinet picks that have come out. Of course, RFK Jr., we've talked about that. And there's been many others as well. But then we also have Surgeon General, which right now the pick that Donald Trump has thrown out at least, I am not a huge fan of. I don't think either one of you are as well. Why are we headed in a direction that I don't feel we should be, Dr. Kelly?
SPEAKER 14 :
Well, I will refrain from saying too much about any individual candidates prior to their upcoming election. confirmation hearings, I agree with you. There are some choices that have been, let's use the word, perplexing to me in terms of what their histories are when there are a few of us. And, you know, here Steve and I are just bantering around. I would guarantee you that Steve and I know more about the issues related to PDMs and the impact that they have had on drug pricing that any of the current cabinet nominees have.
SPEAKER 03 :
I'm not so sure that after listening to you guys as long as I have, I don't have that much experience. I have more than they do, Dr. Kelly.
SPEAKER 14 :
Yeah, and so I think that as all things in politics, they're political. So many of these nominations are political nominations. And I think that President Trump would do well to stop making purely political nominations and appointees because there are people who have been deep in the trenches and certainly those of us who got it right during COVID, rather than people who clearly got it wrong. And he has nominated quite a few of those people to high positions. when they were people who were on the wrong side of history for the better part of the pandemic. So much of many of these appointees are political and are paybacks for things that they've done to support the president. And I don't think that that puts us necessarily in the best position. All that said, I think that Bobby Kennedy Jr., who is going to be clearly the leader and setting the leadership on HHS and on the health care side in general, I think that he is an excellent pick, and although I don't agree with every single one of his policies or initiatives, I think that directionally he is correct, and he will drive the bus, I think, in the right direction.
SPEAKER 03 :
Okay. Steve, you want to comment on that as well?
SPEAKER 16 :
Yeah. And I just add one more piece to it. You know, Kelly's right. But the other piece I would add to it is, you know, you stand up in a campaign and I think Donald Trump is a unique and amazing individual with a lot of opportunity to do things. But he stands up in a campaign and talks a lot about the deep state. Well, part of the deep state has always existed because political graft, you know, someone gets elected, I helped you get elected, and I put you in a position to give you back the favor of you helping me. That's part of why the deep state exists. And I really wish, as Kelly said, he would look at people for their skill set and see what they're talking about. I mean, quite frankly, I want the Surgeon General to be somebody who understands, you know, COVID-like events. major catastrophes and things that are happening because in Australia somehow we've lost 383 viruses over a hundred of them in the hantavirus and other categories this week I mean I don't I don't want to I mean well don't do respect to primary care I just don't want I want somebody who understands catastrophes and somebody who understands health well enough to teach I don't want a surgeon general that looks like our last one that's for sure because they're not a good example in any respect
SPEAKER 14 :
Yeah. And I, so I would say the current, just so that in case people who are listening, don't know the current nominee and she has not been confirmed is Dr. Jeanette Nashwa. She's a family practitioner. She went to a foreign medical school. She went to medical school in the Caribbean. Um, she, uh, worked at an urgent care center in New York city, uh, and was very much on the record for the duration of the pandemic. praising not only the vaccines and recommending that people continue to get the boosters, but praising censorship. She said that she applauded Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook for censoring people like me who spread, quote, disinformation. And she, quote, prayed to God that other social media platforms would do the same. She supported not only wearing one mask, but thought the two was better, agreed with the lockdown and the closure of schools. and strongly promoted things like social distancing. She now has done a 180 very, very late, just very recently, on a number of these issues. And I understand that she says that she was bamboozled, quote unquote, her word, not mine, that she was bamboozled and bought into it, and now she sees the light. I would like To say that that's fine, I'm glad that she sees the light now, but I think we should be rewarding the people who got it right the first time.
SPEAKER 03 :
Absolutely.
SPEAKER 14 :
Who got it right at the beginning.
SPEAKER 03 :
Absolutely. Yeah, because that shows discernment on the front side, not the back side. Okay, really quick, because I know we're going to have to take another break here shortly. Somebody texted again, and I know we've already explained this, but listeners are asking, would you please, Steve, again, explain what a PBM is?
SPEAKER 16 :
I think essentially what Kelly said was right. It's like a real estate broker. So you have drug manufacturers who come out with new drugs constantly. It was 12 new Alzheimer's drugs last month, for example. So the hospitals and pharmacies themselves do not have time. to figure out and negotiate directly with pharma companies like Pfizer and J&J. They don't have the time to negotiate with them on pricing and distribution of the drug. So they hire a middleman, in this case called a pharmacy benefit manager. They literally manage how pharmacy benefits are playing out. And they set up a price structure. They are the ones who provide the rebates back. to the health insurance companies on the negotiated discounts. They get paid that way, but they also do a lot of the paperwork to bill for that drug. So they'll help hospitals get the billing right so that they bill the insurance company who has agreed to pay for it. Quite frankly, if you have a high deductible, the insurance company is getting the rebate back. You're paying for the cost of the drug anyway because your deductible is too high, and they're not paying anything for it anyway. But that's a side note. That's basically how they do it, yeah.
SPEAKER 14 :
Another thing that they do, and people may be familiar with this, hearing that a particular drug, quote, isn't on the formulary. It either is or isn't on the hospital's formulary. So hospitals set up a formulary, meaning what are the things that they stock in their pharmacy at the hospital? No hospital, no doctor's office, no pharmacy stocks that. 100% of drugs that are available. They make a decision. So if a hospital needs to have a drug, for example, to treat influenza or a drug to treat whatever it is, the pharmacy, the PBM, is the one who goes and says, well, we're going to stock this drug and this drug and this drug and not these other three. And a big part of the way they make those decisions is they say to drug company A, how much are you going to give me? I'll put your antibiotic on the formulary, depending on how much you pay me.
SPEAKER 03 :
So in a lot of ways, Dr. Kelly, really quick, in a lot of ways, this isn't much different than Kroger wanting to stock certain things, and even the shelf position of is a lot of times dictated by who's kicking in the most for that shelf space and so on. As far as inventory control goes, it's not much different is what you're telling me.
SPEAKER 14 :
Correct. And if you go back to the time of the big racketeering scandals in New York City, it was because they were, quote, contrary to the people working for the city, you know, and said, well, I'll give you the contract to do the roofing or the plumbing or the electricity city buildings. it depending on how much you pay me under the is a back alley deal you know how much you're going to give me in the back alley because this other electrician company they're going to give me you know 10 and you're going you give me 12 great when you go back and see if i can get 13 they're negotiating a kickback it's called racketeering and that's exactly what the pbms do they get kickbacks and that's how they decide what drug they're going to contract for a particular hospital or for a particular pharmacy.
SPEAKER 03 :
Okay. Makes total sense. And, again, whoever texted that, thank you. I hope I explained or we explained that well enough. I think we have. I mean, I've got a really good understanding of what happens here as far as that goes. And mainly, I guess, guys, because of my background even in the automotive side, there's a lot of things that happen even internally with – different, you know, parts, distributors, and so on and so forth. And it's really, I hate to say this, Dr. Kelly, it's not a lot different in a lot of other worlds, although I will tell you that the markups and the money side of it is far different.
SPEAKER 14 :
Yeah. But and you're right, though, it happens in many, many industries that how something gets priced. But generally what happens is when one side has to pay more, when that when the you know, the hospital has to pay more because the PBM, the middleman is taking a cut. And so all of a sudden that The prices on that drug are more because God knows a big pharmaceutical company is going to pass it on. They're not going to take it on the chin. They're going to say, fine, I'll jack the cost of the drug up so that I can cover what I need to pay this extortionist called a middleman. I'll jack up the price of my drug to cover that. And then it gets passed on to the hospital. The hospital says, well, I'm not taking it on the chin either. It's going to roll downhill. I'll pass it on to the patient. So the patient's the one who's always stuck holding the bag.
SPEAKER 03 :
Steve, it sounds like your idea, number one, of executive orders to get the process started, which I'm not in opposition of. I think that's a great idea. Although to keep this moving forward in that direction, in other words, if he gets that done, let's say, still we need some congressional support and a law, I guess you could say, that becomes permanent that would then have to be changed on down the road if another administration came in. Because as you know, the next president, if they don't like what Donald Trump did in this particular area with a stroke of a pen, all of that could be reversed and we're right back to square one. So I see this as, you know, to part one, get the problem immediately fixed if you can through executive action. And then after that, we need Congress to go to work and get this set in stone for good. Am I right, Steve?
SPEAKER 16 :
Yeah. And, you know, the whole set in stone for good thing is kind of mushy these days. Right. Because you can wipe something out with an executive order. I mean, I think what happens is, I mean, truly, if you do this right, if you de-link it, if you peel it back to that two point three percent number or something rational like that, what happens is the industry is going to change. And it's more than just Congress being lobbied to change it back. I mean, people are going to start to see the real value of this change in what's going on because literally drug pricing should go down if you do it right. I mean, it has a huge impact on drug pricing. I think, you know, A, it starts out with a change because structurally you'll make a change, and B, I think the industry will get used to it being done a new way, and then it'll probably fight it itself. If you're a hospital or if you're, you know, a patient advocate, you'll fight changing back yourself. So I'm not as worried about Congress. I just want to have enough time for people to see what happens when you do it.
SPEAKER 03 :
So in other words, once they start seeing the results, that will become permanent in and of itself.
SPEAKER 16 :
I think because it'll become industry standard. I mean, it's industry standard now at 100%, and people expect it. I don't want them to expect it anymore.
SPEAKER 03 :
All right. Great segue. We'll stop there. We'll come back, guys. I've got more questions. If you have a question, by the way, specifically, please let me know. 307-200-8222. Hi-Fi Plumbing is next. And again, if you've got electrical needs or plumbing needs, Hi-Fi Plumbing will take care of you. 877-WE-HI-5.
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SPEAKER 15 :
Now, back to Rush to Reason, presented by High Five Plumbing, Heating, and Cooling, where every call ends with a high five.
SPEAKER 03 :
And we are back, Rush to Reason, Denver's Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560. Dr. Kelly Victory and Steve House with us. And Steve, we've got a question that came in. I'll direct this to you first, and Dr. Kelly, you can chime in afterwards. want to help or want to have a voice, want to chime in on some of the cabinet picks, for example. In this case, let's talk, you know, Surgeon General. Is there any kind of a platform or a way for people to, you know, tastefully either oppose and or, you know, give kudos to somebody that's been recommended already? Stephen, do we have anything in place like that at all?
SPEAKER 16 :
Well, I mean, the simple answer is yes. And there's two things I would do. One is I would write a letter to my congressman. I mean, or to all four of the, you know, GOP congressmen in Colorado would take a letter from any of the listeners there. And you could send them a letter, tell them what their concern is and send it on to them. Now, do congressmen read every letter? They don't. But it would be worthy. of the process. And the second thing is, if you know somebody on the Trump transition team, send them a note and tell them what their concerns are. Now, by doing so, you're ultimately opposing Donald Trump. So I would rather than sending him a letter saying this person is not not capable or whatever, talk to them about what you're looking for and what you might what you believe the skill set of someone is who would be a better choice rather than tearing down the other person.
SPEAKER 14 :
I agree with both those things. I would absolutely, however, put out, if you have specific people in mind, give those names. Don't just say, I would like somebody who has these qualities. State the person's name. The other thing is, do not overlook the power of social media. People like Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy and God knows Bobby Kennedy Jr. and Donald Trump spend a lot of their day and their teams spend a lot of their days scouring social media correct so put those names out there tag you know somebody that you think is worthy and say this person please you know donald trump bobby kennedy jr whoever it is you know elon musk please consider this person as you know a uh a pick for your team this person would be an excellent choice for x y and z reasons i think social media i would never have said this obviously 10 years ago but in today's world It's far more important than you might realize.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, no, thank you, Dr. Kelly, for saying that. For all of you listening, your voice and some of the things that you put out there, and, you know, we see this all the time, Dr. Kelly and Steve, when somebody has a problem, for example, with an airline, and they'll go to X and they'll post something about it. In a lot of cases, you'll get a faster response in doing that than by actually calling their 1-800 number. So, yes, it's very powerful.
SPEAKER 14 :
Yeah, we have teams that look at these.
SPEAKER 16 :
I would add something else to this equation, which is now is not the time for incremental change. And the Surgeon General is one example. I think the Department of Transportation is another. But let's just focus on Surgeon General for a minute. We have wasted Surgeon General's power for several decades, right? Because this is a person that should be saying what Bobby Kennedy himself is saying about health care. right so bobby's talking about health not health care i mean he's talking about processed foods fluoride all this other stuff right so we've had this bully pulpit with a person who has a title that could get into any room anywhere in the country and talk to credible people who are in the ag business in the food business in health care etc and we're wasting the opportunity the same is true right if i made you department of transportation secretary john You would approach it from the point of view of someone who's in a car, who deals with cars, who deals with congestion and traffic. Most of the time, Secretary of Transportation is being driven in a black SUV somewhere. They don't know what it's like. So we don't need incremental change. I want a pit bull. And that job who can call people out and say, you know what? I work for the American people. I don't work for the system. I don't work for the absolutely hearted people who are working there who don't want to hear the criticism. I want a pit bull. Absolutely. No.
SPEAKER 14 :
And that is exactly what I told the team. You know, I've been discussing this. With them for some time, I was disappointed with the choice that was made, but I would absolutely revolutionize and completely reform that wasted position because the average American cannot tell you who the Surgeon General was after C. Everett Koop. I believe that it's a position that could be very meaningful if you had someone whose skill set was in communication and teaching and had the ability to take complex subjects and to break them down into lay terms, to have the ability to walk the walk and talk the talk and live the lifestyle that we want all Americans to do with regard to health and wellness. Somebody who's not afraid to push back on big pharma, not afraid to push back on big ag to say we have got to do things differently and be willing to shake it up and risk the things that it takes to actually be a mover and a shaker. And I think that taking making a safe choice. is not the way to go. As Steve said, this is not the time for incremental change. We need somebody who's going to go in there and be a heat-seeking missile.
SPEAKER 03 :
Absolutely. And really quick in the past, Dr. Kelly, I mean, you're right. In fact, I had to even go look up our current Surgeon General, because you just don't hear much from Mr. Vivek. And it's not Vivek Ramaswamy, by the way. It's Murthy. I mean, honestly, Dr. Kelly, I couldn't have named that person. I had to go look it up because you're exactly right. We don't hear much from them.
SPEAKER 14 :
So think about this. The Americans just survived four-plus years ago. of the worst health care crisis, largely because of the way it was managed. Absolutely. But the reality is we just lived through a pandemic, and you can't tell me the name of the surgeon general?
SPEAKER 03 :
And I'm on radio watching this stuff daily, by the way, so I'm even different than the average American, Dr. Kelly.
SPEAKER 14 :
what the heck was the guy doing for the last four and a half years?
SPEAKER 03 :
Exactly. Exactly. No, Steve, I mean, I can't disagree with Dr. Kelly at all. I mean, it is a position that, again, I mean, I watch this stuff, you know, politically speaking and so on, on a routine basis, and I couldn't tell you who it was before now.
SPEAKER 16 :
Yeah, and think about this. If you got the bully pulpit and you're the Surgeon General, you should be the one telling me that American women, 40% of American women are on antidepressants, 79% of Young people, the cancer rate is increased by 79%. You know, yada, yada, yada. There's five or six major statistics that are an indication that our health is degrading very rapidly right now. The Surgeon General should be standing in the pulpit every single week somewhere calling out, why do we have this metabolic problem that's causing all these issues, and no one's addressing it whatsoever.
SPEAKER 03 :
No, you guys are spot on. I mean, this is a very important position.
SPEAKER 14 :
I can give you Donald Trump's number.
SPEAKER 03 :
If I thought he would listen to me, I would call him. Trust me. Trust me. And there's been several text messages that have come in that have agreed, Steve, with you and Dr. Kelly on, yes, contact your local representative, your senator. Senators do the confirmations, of course. And by the way, in this particular case with Surgeon General on the pick, there is a ton of... of conservative, not just regular media, but conservative media, I'll just say backlash. I don't know any other way to say it, guys. There's a ton of backlash with conservative media. So trust me, this particular pick is getting a lot of heat on it because of not only, Dr. Kelly, some of the things that you have stated, but there's even some stories going around right now to where this particular nominee had some issues with guns going off in the past and, and, and. I mean, it's not looking very good. Let's just say that.
SPEAKER 14 :
Yeah. Go ahead, Steve.
SPEAKER 16 :
Go ahead, Steve. unfortunately I think we've treated the Surgeon General's job that way as well yeah and it's just like give it to somebody for because they're connected to a friend of yours which indeed which really is demeaning to the job and it delegitimizes the job agree it's and we have the worst health status metabolic health status in we've ever had, probably worse than any nation in the world, we cannot delegitimize this job.
SPEAKER 03 :
All right, before I let you guys go, Steve, I'll start with you. Dr. Kelly, I want you to chime in on this as well. Doge, we've got Vivek, we've got Elon, they're going to do their best to go in and cut supposedly $2 trillion out of what we've got going on in Washington. Steve, when it comes to this topic, we talk a lot about health care between the three of us. What can they do in that area to actually save the country money? It costs us
SPEAKER 16 :
20 percent, 19, 20 percent to do billing and collection in health care. So 20 cents of every dollar for billing and collection. And in a restaurant, it's three percent, four percent. Those guys need to go in and completely restructure how billing and collection works because it's a trillion dollars. Imagine what you could do with a trillion dollars if you gave it to, you know, people who are focused on health like Bobby Kennedy, the surgeon general and others, instead of spending it just on moving money around and fighting payments.
SPEAKER 03 :
It's ridiculous. So in other words, let's get some more efficiencies in the way that we do billing, the computerization, the way things talk to one another and so on. I assume that's what you're talking about in and of itself, Steve.
SPEAKER 16 :
Yeah. So here's what I mean. I had a CT scan. You guys all had a CT scan, which didn't get billed to my insurance company for six weeks after I had it done. But they gave prior approval for me to have the CT scan after it was done and the bill was sent. They denied payment. That should be against the damn law. Because doctors spend 45 minutes getting prior approval, and then they get denied payment for it. It's ridiculous.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, I agree. And that's some of the stuff that could be cleaned up. Dr. Kelly got a couple of minutes, and you're in that world very much as a doctor. What else could they do to clean things up and make things more efficient?
SPEAKER 14 :
Well, I think one of the things that the statistics that came out just this past week about the number, it's only 6% of total federal employees actually work on site. 94% are working remotely. 12% total of federal buildings are currently occupied. OK, 88 percent of the buildings, we're spending 15 billion dollars on real estate, air conditioning, heating, janitorial services for buildings that are not inhabited where people aren't working. That is insane. Every single congressperson should be held to account for this, Republican or Democrat. The idea that they are spending our tax dollars. To allow this to happen? You have got to be kidding me.
SPEAKER 05 :
Absolutely.
SPEAKER 14 :
I mean, this is absolutely.
SPEAKER 05 :
No, I agree.
SPEAKER 14 :
So that alone is just so, it is so egregious. And if I could walk into Congress, I would let them all have it with both barrels. Because I'm telling you, that is such a slap in the face for the American taxpayer.
SPEAKER 03 :
I agree. All right, guys, an hour goes by so fast. We'll do part two next week because we've got a lot more to cover as well. Dr. Kelly, thank you so much. I appreciate it.
SPEAKER 14 :
Thank you, as always. See you next week.
SPEAKER 03 :
You're very welcome. And Steve House, you as well. Thanks for setting all this up years ago.
SPEAKER 16 :
Yeah, everybody write to Jim Jordan and tell him he spent $50 million investigating Biden and nothing happened. He should probably pay that back.
SPEAKER 03 :
Oh, amen. Great to be with you. Amen. Steve, I appreciate you very much. Have a great rest of your day. Veteran Windows and Doors is next. 40% off entry doors with free labor. Call Dave today. Find him at klzradio.com.
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SPEAKER 12 :
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SPEAKER 13 :
It's time to leave your safe space.
SPEAKER 03 :
This is Rush to Reason on KLZ 560. And that is it for this first hour. We've got more hours coming your way, so please don't turn the dial. Stay tuned, and we'll be back here in just a moment. Rush to Reason, Denver's Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 04 :
And may you grow to be proud Dignified and true And do unto others as you have done to you Be courageous and be brave And in my heart you'll always stay Forever young Forever young Forever young Forever young May good fortune be with you May your guiding light
HR1 Rush To Reason December 25, 2024 by John Rush
SPEAKER 23 :
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SPEAKER 20 :
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SPEAKER 1 :
Thank you. Thank you. Amen.
SPEAKER 17 :
Bye.
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SPEAKER 03 :
Don, we now are ugly sweaters. This is Rush to Reason on KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 17 :
Who's got a beard that's long and white? Santa's got a beard that's long and white! Who comes around on a special night? Santa comes around on a special night! Special night! Beard that's white! Must be Santa! Must be Santa! Must be Santa! Santa Claus! Who wears boots and a suit of red? Santa wears boots and a suit of red. Who wears a long cap on his head? Santa wears a long cap on his head. Cap on head, suit that's red, special night, beard that's white. Must be Santa, must be Santa, must be Santa, Santa Claus. Who's got a big red cherry nose? Santa's got a big red cherry nose. Who laughs this way, ho, ho, ho? Santa laughs this way, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho. Cherry nose, cap on head, suit that's red, special night, beard that's white. Must be Santa, must be Santa, must be Santa, Santa. Santa Claus Who very soon will come our way Santa very soon will come our way A little reindeer pulled his sleigh Santa's little reindeer pulled his sleigh Reindeer sleigh, come our way Ho, ho, ho, cherry nose Cap on head, suit that's red Special night, gear that's white Must be Santa Must be Santa Must be Santa Santa Claus Dice shirt dancer, Prancer Vixen, Comet, Jupiter, and Lexan. Dice shirt dancer, Prancer Vixen, Comet, Jupiter, and Lexan. When you slay, come away, ho, ho, ho. Cherry nose, cap on head, suit that's red, special night, ear that's white. Must be Santa, must be Santa, must be Santa, Santa.
SPEAKER 12 :
Now, baby doll, sweetie pie, sugar plumber, honey bun, angel face, you know you better be good. And act like a true fine love you should. Be careful what you say and do.
SPEAKER 10 :
Because Santa Claus is watching.
SPEAKER 12 :
He's everywhere. He's everywhere. You better kiss and hold me tight. Give me good loving every night.
SPEAKER 10 :
Cause Santa Claus is watching.
SPEAKER 12 :
He's everywhere. He's everywhere. Well, you may think you can sneak around and get away with something, but there ain't no way. Because Santa's no fool. He's really super cool. He's the secret head of the CIA. Crime don't pay. You can't do nothing because you're never alone. He's got a white tap on your phone. So, baby, if you ever do too wrong, break my heart and leave me alone.
SPEAKER 10 :
When Christmas comes, you'll be crying too. Because Santa Claus is watching you.
SPEAKER 11 :
He's everywhere. He's everywhere. Believe in us.
SPEAKER 12 :
And then they say, oh, Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blessing, Bruce, and Marvin, Leon, Cletus, and George, and Bill, and Slick, and Do-Right, and Clyde, and Ace, and Blackie, and Queenie, and Prince, and Spot, and Rover. Well, Rudolph stays on a stakeout at your house. You can run, you can hide, but you can't get away. Got monocular focus on you every day. So, baby, if you ever do wrong, break my heart and leave me alone. When Christmas comes, you'll be crying too.
SPEAKER 10 :
Because Santa Claus is watching. He's everywhere. He's everywhere. Yes, Santa Claus is watching.
SPEAKER 11 :
He's everywhere.
SPEAKER 17 :
Oh, Lord have mercy.
SPEAKER 10 :
Santa Claus got his eyes all over you, baby. You better watch out. Oh, look out there's Santa Claus. Now, people around the corner, achoo, you're in deep trouble, you know that? I don't think you understand the situation. I got a call into the North Pole right now. Them little elves gonna come down and whoop up on you. I mean, you got to be true blue through and through or Santa gonna get you.
SPEAKER 18 :
Did you know that Santa Claus is a Texas cowboy? And he sings a song as he goes along his way Did you know that Santa Claus is a Texas cowboy? And he sings along with a ho-ho-ho-dee-ay Did you know that Santa Claus is a Texas cowboy? And he sings along with a ho-ho-ho-dee-ay He's got a group of reindeer that he sings to every day With tiny feet they dance and prance and pull him on his way Did you know that Santa Claus is a Texas cowboy? And he shines a tiny lone star on his sleigh Did you know that Santa Claus is a country singer? He is! Did you know he picks his guitar every day? Did you know that Santa Claus is a Texas cowboy? And he sings along with a ho-ho-ho-dee-ay. Tinkerbell, Tinkerbell, Tinkerbell, Tinkerbell, ho-ho-ho-dee-ay.
SPEAKER 17 :
Tinkerbell, Tinkerbell, Tinkerbell, Tinkerbell, ho-ho-ho-dee-ay.
SPEAKER 18 :
Did you know that Santa Claus is a Texas cowboy? He is. And he sings along with a ho-ho-ho-dee-ay. He brings the children presents all across the land. East to the west, north to the south, but he starts from the Rio Grande. Did you know that Santa Claus is a Texas cowboy? And he sings along with a ho-ho-ho-dee-ay.
SPEAKER 17 :
Merry Christmas everybody! Every time the holidays come along, I want to be close to someone. Someone who cares. Someone. In my arms I need a man to keep me warm. Oh, it's getting late, so send him here. I don't think I can make it through another year. Come on, Santa. Keeping me home A gentle place A strong embrace A pillow and a blanket As a fireplace Turn the lights down low Reach out. Reach out. It's just not fair Another cold night, I just can't bear Come on Santa, won't you please Look at me, I want my knees Oh, bring me a man Bring me a man Bring me a man Pick me a man Dear Santa I need a man Bring me a man I need a man He'd make me want
SPEAKER 24 :
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SPEAKER 21 :
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SPEAKER 25 :
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SPEAKER 13 :
Reading is fundamental to understanding the world, and that's why author Mike Goldstein wrote American Stonehenge. This breathtakingly beautiful book was written in order to bring parents and grandparents together with their children to enjoy stories while they learn to read. The book follows a boy and his immortal telepathic dog, with whom he communicates as they travel through time to learn about the dog's experiences through history. The book is historically accurate, including the illustrations, so you and your little one will learn something about the history of God's beloved Earth. The time that you spend with your children laughing and enjoying this beautifully written book will be something you treasure for a lifetime. Learn more about American Stonehenge and the adventures of Jimmy and Andrew by going to klzradio.com slash read and flip through a free preview of the beautiful prose and illustrations. That's klzradio.com slash read to learn more.
SPEAKER 03 :
a little more sparkle, a little less stress. This year at Christmas, we wish you the best. Happy holidays from Rush to Reason on KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 07 :
Have a Ramahana Kwanzmas It's the PC time of year Every holiday displayed Because of morbid fear Happy Ramahana Kwanzmas Yeah, we know the name is queer Oh, good golly, can't offend nobody on this year Oh no, the Eskimos need a holiday. We'll get right back to you when we think of one for gay. Happy Ramah on the Kwanzaas, what a time for winter cheer. But if you see a Christmas tree, you'll hear Christmas jeers. Screw you, ACLU, for winning the twelve million in your lawsuit versus Santa and his elves. Have a rhum upon the quansmus, and everyone must now adhere. So by golly, don't hang up that Holly on this year.
SPEAKER 16 :
Yeah, and no more sleigh bells either.
SPEAKER 05 :
Okay, good day. This is our Christmas part of the album, and you can play this at your Christmas parties or to yourself on Christmas Eve if there's nothing else to do. Good day, eh? Yeah. In case you thought, like, I wasn't on this part. Oh, I guarantee you, you'd be on. Okay, now, this is our Christmas song in case you don't know what to get somebody for Christmas. There's lots of ideas in here, so listen and don't get stuck. Okay. By the way, that's me on the organ. You start. Okay. On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me a beer. On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me two turtlenecks and a beer. Okay, good. On the third day of Christmas, my true love gave to me three French toasts, two turtlenecks, and a beer. Okay, there should be more there, right? Fourth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me four pounds of back bacon, three French toasts, two turtlenecks, and a beer in a tree. See, you get more. The fifth day of Christmas my true love gave to me five golden toques, four pounds of back bacon, three french toast, two turtlenecks, and a beer in a tree. Okay, on the sixth day of Christmas my true love gave to me six packs of two-four, five golden toques. Four pounds a bag. Three French toasts. Two turtlenecks. And a beer in a tree. On the seventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me seven packs of smokes. Five golden toques. Four pounds of bagpipes. Three French toasts. Two turtlenecks. And a beer in a tree. I keep forgetting. This should just be the two days of Christmas. It's too hard for us. Um, Go Holzer. Oh, hey, Dave. Look at me. Eight comic books. Seven packs of smokes. Six packs of two for five.
SPEAKER 17 :
Five golden tubes, four pounds of baguette, three French toasts, two turtlenecks, and a beer in a tree.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, that beer is empty. Okay, day 12. Good day, and welcome to day 12. Five golden tubes, four pounds of baguette, three French toasts, two turtlenecks, and a beer in a tree.
SPEAKER 01 :
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SPEAKER 24 :
Cub Creek is ready to help make sure your family is toasty warm with a holiday special just for KLZ listeners. For a limited time, Cub Creek is offering $50 off any repair call to show their appreciation. The first time you kick your heater on for the season is the most likely time that it will fail. So if you are just turning it on, or it's been a year or more since it was serviced, now is the right time to call the experts at Cub Creek to come check and clean your furnace. Cub Creek cleans the furnace, checks the wires and connections, and tracks down root causes for issues. This is their busiest time of the year for calls. Cub Creek has openings that are booking fast, so give them a call before your holidays take off and make sure you're not left in the cold. Find Cub Creek on the klzradio.com advertisers page to book your service now.
SPEAKER 26 :
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SPEAKER 03 :
One sure sign that you're getting older is how Santa seems to look better each year. Merry Christmas from Rush to Reason on KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 17 :
On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me green polka dot pajamas and a Japanese transistor radio.
SPEAKER 06 :
It's a Nakashima.
SPEAKER 17 :
On the third day of Christmas, my true love gave to me a calendar book with the name of my insurance man. Green polka dot pajamas and a Japanese transistor radio.
SPEAKER 06 :
It's the Mark IV model. That's the one that's discontinued.
SPEAKER 17 :
On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me... A simulated alligator wallet. A calendar book with the name of my insurance man. We'd hook it up at Jabba's. And a Japanese transistor radio.
SPEAKER 06 :
And it comes in a leatherette case with holes in it, so you could listen right through the case. And it has a wire with a thing on one end that you can stick in your ear and a thing on the other end that you can't stick anywhere because it's bent.
SPEAKER 17 :
On the sixth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me a hammered aluminum nutcracker and all that other stuff and a Japanese transistor radio.
SPEAKER 06 :
On the seventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me a pink satin pillow that says San Diego with fringe all around it and all that other stuff.
SPEAKER 17 :
and a Japanese transistor radio. On the eighth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me an indoor plastic birdbath.
SPEAKER 06 :
and a Japanese transistor radio.
SPEAKER 17 :
On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me a pair of teakwood shower clocks and a Japanese transistor radio. On the tenth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me a chromium combination manicure scissors and cigarette lighter. And a Japanese transistor radio On the eleventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me An automatic vegetable slicer that works when you see it on television But not when you get it home And a Japanese transistor radio
SPEAKER 06 :
On the twelfth day of Christmas, although it may seem strange On the twelfth day of Christmas, I'm going to exchange An automatic vegetable slicer that works when you see it on television, but not when you get it home.
SPEAKER 17 :
Tronium combination manager, scissors, and cigarette lighter.
SPEAKER 06 :
Pair of teakwood shower clocks. Indoor plastic bird's head. Pink satin pillow that says San Diego with fringe all around it. Hammered aluminum neck cracker. Statue of a naked lady with a clock where her stomach ought to be.
SPEAKER 17 :
Simulated alligator wallet.
SPEAKER 06 :
Calendar book with a My insurance man.
SPEAKER 17 :
Rain, pocket of pajamas, and a Japanese transistor.
SPEAKER 1 :
Rain.
SPEAKER 09 :
Boys, let me tell you about the best Christmas I ever had. On the first day of Christmas, an old lady, old oldie. And I was glad to get it. On the second day of Christmas, the riders gave to me two manly strums and an old lady, old oldie. I must have been a good boy. On the third day of Christmas, the riders gave to me Three bass thumps, two manly strums, and a yodel-a-dee-yodel-a-dee. Started to sound like music. On the fourth day of Christmas, the riders gave to me four fiddling kings.
SPEAKER 08 :
Three bass thumps, two manly strums, and a yodel-a-dee-yodel-a-dee.
SPEAKER 09 :
Sure beats a lump of coal. On the fifth day of Christmas, the riders gave to me
SPEAKER 26 :
Four fiddling kings.
SPEAKER 08 :
Three bass thumps. Two manly strums. And a old lady, old lady.
SPEAKER 09 :
Man, it was great. On the sixth day of Christmas, the writers gave to me six sidekicks singing. Five golden notes.
SPEAKER 08 :
Four fiddling kings. Three bass thumps. Two manly strums. And a old lady.
SPEAKER 09 :
Getting fancy, are we? On the seventh day of Christmas, the riders gave to me. Seven joeys squeezing. Six sidekicks singing. Five golden oars.
SPEAKER 08 :
Four fiddling kings. Three bass thunks. Two manly strums. And a... Oh, lady.
SPEAKER 09 :
I laughed when I heard it in spite of myself. On the eighth day of Christmas, the riders gave to me eight spurs of jingling, seven joeys squeezing, six sidekicks singing, five golden bells.
SPEAKER 08 :
Four fiddling kings. Three bass thumbs. Two manly strums. And a... It's a wonderful life.
SPEAKER 09 :
On the ninth day of Christmas, the writers gave to me... Nine weeds a-tumbling. Eight spurs a-jingling. Seven joeys squeezing. Six sidekicks singing. Five golden notes.
SPEAKER 08 :
You try saying all that.
SPEAKER 09 :
Four fiddling kings, three bass thumps, two manly strums, and a totally... On the tenth day of Christmas, the riders gave to me ten coyotes howling, nine weeds a-tumbling, eight spurs a-jingling, seven joeys squeezing, six sidekicks singing, five golden oars. Four fiddling kings.
SPEAKER 08 :
Three bass thumps. Two manly strums.
SPEAKER 09 :
And a... Four eggnog ranger duck. On eleventh day of Christmas, the riders gave to me... Eleven doggies low and ten coyotes howling. Nine weeds a-tumbling. Eight spurs a-jingling. Seven joeys squeezing. Six sidekicks singing.
SPEAKER 17 :
Five golden oaks.
SPEAKER 09 :
So pretty.
SPEAKER 08 :
Four fiddling kings. Three bass thumps. Two manly scrums. Hand out.
SPEAKER 09 :
But they saved the best for last. On the twelfth day of Christmas, the riders gave to me. No drummers drumming. Eleven doggies lowin' Ten coyotes howlin' Nine weeds a-tumblin' Eight spurs a-jinglin' Seven joeys squeevin' Six sidekicks singin' Five golden doves Yes!
SPEAKER 08 :
Four fiddlin' kings Three bass thumps Two manly strums And I'm...
SPEAKER 17 :
I'll do the psychic jig.
SPEAKER 09 :
And I'll... God bless us everyone. I'll add a harmony part. Oh, it's pretty. Look at the dog. Well, that... We have a limited amount of time here.
SPEAKER 15 :
First day after Christmas My true love and I had a fight And so I chopped the pear tree down And burned it just for spite Then with a single cartridge I shot that blasted partridge My true love, my true love My true love gave to me The second day after Christmas, I pulled on the old rubber gloves and very gently wrung the necks of both the turtle dogs that my true love, my true love, my true love gave to me. The third day after Christmas, my mother called the croup. I had to use the three French hens to make some chicken soup. The four calling birds were a big mistake, for their language was obscene. The five gold rings were completely fake, and they turned my feet. The sixth day after Christmas Those six-laying geese wouldn't lay I gave the whole big gaggle to the ASPCA On the seventh day, what a mess I found All seven of those swimming swans had drowned The eighth day after Christmas, before they could suspect, I bundled up the eight maids in milky night, pipers piping, ten ladies dancing, eleven lords a-leaping, twelve drummers drumming. Well, actually, I kept one of the drummers. and sent them back home late. I wrote my true love. We are through love. And I said in so many words, furthermore, your Christmas gifts were for the birds. Four calling birds, three French hens, two turtle doves, and a partridge in
SPEAKER 23 :
Al Smith of Golden Eagle Financial is your key to ending the year on track. You need to take your required minimum distributions from your IRA investments before the end of the year. And if you have more than one, Al will help you figure out the smartest way to do that. Also, if you plan to convert all or part to Roth, it must be done by December 31st. Al can work with you to determine the ideal amount to convert tax wise. We'll be right back. Investment advisory services offered through Brookstone Capital Management LLC, a registered investment advisor. BCM and Golden Eagle Financial Limited are independent of each other. Insurance products and services are not offered through BCM, but are offered and sold through individually licensed and appointed agents.
SPEAKER 03 :
Christmas, it's the only time of year in which one can sit in front of a dead tree and eat candy out of socks. Happy holidays from Rush to Reason on KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 19 :
Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree, how lovely are thy branches. Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree, how lovely are thy branches.
SPEAKER 17 :
Your vows so green in summertime. Stay bravely green in wintertime. Oh, Panama. Oh, Christmas tree. How lovely are thy branches.
SPEAKER 19 :
Let us all remember in our gift-giving and our merriment with our family and friends and loved ones the real and true meaning of Christmas, the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Oh, turn and bow Oh,
SPEAKER 17 :
how lovely are thy branches how lovely are thy branches thou bid us all please faithfully our trust in God Unchangingly. Oh, Jennifer. Oh, Jennifer. How lovely I.
SPEAKER 19 :
On Comet. On Cupid. On Danden Blitzen.
SPEAKER 17 :
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.
SPEAKER 14 :
Christmas time is here Happiness and cheer Fun for all That children call Their favorite time of year Snowflakes in the air, carols everywhere. Olden times and ancient rhymes of love and dreams to share. Sleigh bells in the air. Beauty everywhere. You'll tie by the fireside. And joyful memories there. Christmas time is here. Families growing new Oh, that we could always see Such spirit through the years Sleigh bells in the air everywhere you tied by the fireside and joyful memories there Christmas time is here families growing new Oh that we could always see such spirit through the years Oh that we could always see such spirit through the years
This episode is not just about festive songs and carols, but also delves into practical advice for managing finance and estate planning during the holiday rush. The juxtaposition of traditional holiday charm with modern financial strategies promises to keep you engaged and informed throughout. Join us as we sing along with timeless classics and prepare for a secure and joyous new year.
SPEAKER 27 :
The holidays are full of issues that can negatively affect your nest egg and Al Smith of Golden Eagle Financial will help you stay secure. This time of year, you have demands all around you. Even if you're retired, there's shopping to do, dinner parties or office functions. You just need a few minutes to make sure your required minimum distributions are taken. Let Al Smith take the pressure off of you this holiday season. You can meet with him for free and he'll work with you on a strategy to identify the best way he can help you. And when you hire him to manage your retirement, you won't be fending those demands off this year because he's got you covered. Al communicates with you and minimizes the time you would spend strategizing because you can lean on his decades of experience helping folks just like you retire with confidence. Find Al Smith and Golden Eagle Financial on the klzradio.com advertisers page and get started with your free meeting. Investment advisory services offered through Brookstone Capital Management, LLC, registered investment advisor, BCM, and Golden Eagle Financial Limited are independent of each other. Insurance products and services are not offered through BCM, but are offered and sold through individually licensed and appointed agents.
SPEAKER 02 :
Download the KLZ 560 app free at Google Play and the App Store.
SPEAKER 16 :
Chestnuts roasting on an open fire Jack Frost nipping at your nose Yuletide carols being sung by a choir And folks dressed up like Eskimos A turkey and some mistletoe help to make the season bright. Tiny tots with their eyes all aglow will find it hard to sleep tonight. We know that Santa is on his way He's loaded lots of toys and goodies on his sleigh And every mother's child is gonna spy to see And so I'm offering this simple phrase To kids from one to ninety-two Although it's been said many times, many ways I'm offering this simple phrase to kids from 1 to 92. Although it's been said many times, Miles.
SPEAKER 24 :
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SPEAKER 27 :
The holidays are full of issues that can negatively affect your nest egg and Al Smith of Golden Eagle Financial will help you stay secure. This time of year, you have demands all around you. Even if you're retired, there's shopping to do, dinner parties or office functions. You just need a few minutes to make sure your required minimum distributions are taken. Let Al Smith take the pressure off of you this holiday season. You can meet with him for free and he'll work with you on a strategy to identify the best way he can help you. And when you hire him to manage your retirement, you won't be fending those demands off this year because he's got you covered. Al communicates with you and minimizes the time you would spend strategizing because you can lean on his decades of experience helping folks just like you retire with confidence. Find Al Smith and Golden Eagle Financial on the klzradio.com advertisers page and get started with your free meeting. Investment advisory services offered through Brookstone Capital Management, LLC, registered investment advisor, BCM, and Golden Eagle Financial Limited are independent of each other. Insurance products and services are not offered through BCM, but are offered and sold through individually licensed and appointed agents.
SPEAKER 26 :
Your ghost of Christmas past is... You haven't gotten that estate plan done. And with KLZ's mobile estate planner, Michael Bailey, here to help you, it's going to be okay. Some of us also worry about what will happen in the future. You can deal with that ghost of Christmas future too. Get started on your estate plan now with Michael Bailey so you don't have to worry about the past or the future. Ebenezer Scrooge learned how to change his ways in the present, and you can decide to make changes too. Taking care of a will or estate plan in the present means you don't have to worry. It frees up the future to be whatever you want it to be. You can have happiness, peace, joy, love, although probably not from your estate plan, but at least you will have peace of mind knowing it's done. Let your, I should have already done this, fears and worries go. No judgment here. Just call our mobile estate planner, Michael Bailey at 720-730-7274 or go to the klzradio.com advertisers page.
SPEAKER 23 :
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SPEAKER 29 :
You know what, Pop? What's that, son?
SPEAKER 12 :
Christmas just isn't going to be the theme this year.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, why is that?
SPEAKER 11 :
Because Santa's got a brand new bag! Suck it to me Santa, you know what I like Suck it to me Santa, just bring me a bag Christmas just won't be a drag Santa's got a brand new bag Let those chimneys bring you down. You got to spread those toys all over town. My sockin's all hung so you can see. Don't hang me up, Santa. Lay some toys on me. Sock it to me, Santa. You know where it's at. Sock it to me, Santa. I want a baseball bat. This won't be a drag. Santa's got a brand new bag. and a white mustache. He's got lots of toys, but no time for trash. Oh, this dress will melt from his head to his toe. He's lost a little weight, but his jellies still roll. You heard what I said. Come on, bring me the sled. Christmas just won't be a drag, because Santa's got a brand new band. We'll be right back.
SPEAKER 17 :
He's too fat for the chimney. Too fat for the chimney.
SPEAKER 18 :
So open the door and let poor Santa Claus in. There's no room for his tummy. Please do something, Mommy. Without Santa Claus, oh, how can Christmas begin? I don't see how I'll get the presents I've been looking for. I knew while sitting on his lap in that department store that he'd have troubles by jimmy. He's too fat for the chimney, so open the door and let poor Santa claw. So open the door and let poor Santa Claus in. Without Santa Claus, how can this Christmas begin?
SPEAKER 15 :
Wake up, wake up, Mommy dear. Someone's in distress.
SPEAKER 18 :
No, it's not the wind I hear. It's Santa Claus, and he's in an awful mess.
SPEAKER 17 :
Mess, mess, mess, mess, mess.
SPEAKER 18 :
He's too fat for the chimney. Too fat for the chimney. So open the door and let for Santa Claus in. There's no room for his tummy. Please do something, Mommy. Without Santa Claus, oh, how can Christmas begin? One day I saw him on the street, and I could quickly tell. That with his roly-poly, tum-tum shakin' just like jelly, just won't make it by jimny. He's too fat for the chimney. So open the door and let poor Santa Claus in. He's not really too fat.
SPEAKER 15 :
Santa Claus got stuck in the chimney.
SPEAKER 20 :
For me.
SPEAKER 08 :
Santa Claus got stuck in my chimney Stuck in my chimney Stuck in my chimney Santa Claus got stuck in my chimney When he came last year Santa Claus got stuck in my chimney Stuck in my chimney Stuck in my chimney Santa Claus got stuck in my chimney He won't come back I fear There he was in the middle of the chimney, roly-poly, fat and round. There he was in the middle of the chimney, not quite up and not quite down. Santa, please come back to my chimney, back to my chimney, back to my chimney. Santa, please come back to my chimney. You can come back here. Please do. Cause Daddy made a brand new chimney just for you. A little girl who's trying to be good Yet I find that things don't always turn out as they should Why just last Christmas Eve she waited up for Santa to drop by But I nearly missed him and here's the reason why Santa Claus got stuck in my chimney Stuck in my chimney, stuck in my chimney Santa Claus got stuck in my chimney When he came last year Santa Claus got stuck in my chimney Stuck in my chimney, stuck in my chimney Santa Claus got stuck in my chimney He won't come back, I fear There he was in the middle of the chimney, roly poly, fat and round. There he was in the middle of the chimney, not quite up and not quite down. Santa, please come back to my chimney. Back to my chimney, back to my chimney. Santa, please come back to my chimney. You can come back here. Because Daddy made a brand new chimney just for you this year.
SPEAKER 15 :
Santa Claus, come on down the chimney. Please come back this year.
SPEAKER 26 :
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SPEAKER 28 :
Here's why you need personal injury attorney Kevin Flesch on your side. He understands the way the jury thinks. In the context of a personal injury case, you've been hurt by someone else's negligence. The idea is that you're going to try to recover so that you can get back to where you were just prior to that incident occurring. What that really means from a jurist's perspective is that you're going to be asking them to award you money. So when we talk about fairness, we're talking about six people that you don't know. Those six people view the evidence and make a unanimous decision that will decide what the fair value is. When you're the one who's hurt, you have a good idea of what you think it's worth. The question is, can you persuade those other individuals whom you don't know and were witnesses to believe that's what the case is worth? Kevin Flesch understands the way the jury thinks. Call now for a free consultation. 303-806-8886
SPEAKER 25 :
American Stonehenge by Mike Goldstein is more than just a children's book. It's a way to connect with the children in your life and encourage them to read to you and for themselves. When Mike Goldstein started writing American Stonehenge, he went after a specific problem. Children today don't think for themselves, and test scores nationwide show that. American Stonehenge is gorgeously put together, so it'll draw their attention. It's filled with action, the prose flows as smooth as sand through an hourglass, and it's historically accurate from the stories and the illustrations. But it's also a portal to quality time with children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews. It's a way to connect with them while tacitly teaching them the importance of critical thought and giving them a break from scrolling in their free time. Find American Stonehenge on klzradio.com slash read and bring your family together this holiday season.
SPEAKER 13 :
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SPEAKER 29 :
Thank you for welcoming us into your home. This is Rush to Reason on KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 09 :
Oh, I dreamed I saw the strangest sight, a peppermint stick parade. Around the Christmas tree on Christmas night, a peppermint stick parade. Ta-da-da, ta-da-da, the little toy trumpet played. And that was how the toys began, the peppermint stick parade. I could hear the sound of silvery bells as the Jack and the Bops popped out. And I thought I heard him laugh as he waved his arms about. ta-da-da ta-da-da what a happy sound they made that christmas night when the toys began the peppermint stick parade first came the roly-poly teddy bear riding the rocking horse so what a job Then came the dolly with a smiling face. She looked so pretty in her dress all trimmed with yellow lace. And up jumped the monkey in his coat of red. He jumped so high he hit the ceiling with his head. Then everybody had some pink lemonade at the pep, pep, peppermint stick parade. Ta-da-da, ta-da-da, the little toy trumpet played. And that was how the toys began to pep, pep, Peppermint Stick Parade.
SPEAKER 12 :
Rudolph's nose was frosty and it didn't give much light. Santa had his little elves to shine it up so bright. Prancer and the others are dancing to and fro. They know Christmas time is near, going to shine up Rudolph's nose. Christmas time's coming through Winter Wonderland. Everyone is happy, down to Frosty the old snowman. Rudolph's nose is shining bright, it looks just like a star. It'll help Santa find you, no matter where you are. Sister's eyes are glowing, brother jumps with glee. Mama's kissing daddy beside the Christmas tree. All the other boys and girls are dancing to and fro. Let it go, Christmas time is near, cause it shines up Rudolph's nose. Christmas time's a-coming through Winter Wonderland. Everyone is happy, down to Frosty the old snowman. Rudolph's nose is shining bright, it looks just like a star. It'll help Santa find you, no matter where you are. Oh, Christmas times are coming through in her wonderland. Everyone is happy. Down to Frosty the old snowman. Rudolph's nose is shining bright. He looks just like a star. It'll help Santa find you no matter where you are.
SPEAKER 22 :
Here is a news bulletin. Santa Claus has been kidnapped by spacemen from a flying saucer, which landed at the North Pole.
SPEAKER 31 :
Be on the lookout for Santa Claus, last seen wearing... We take you now to the White House for an interview with the President.
SPEAKER 22 :
Mr. President, Mr. President. Mr. President, have you a word on the Santa Claus kidnapping? We have just received a report from the FBI. Santa has been taken to a satellite circling the Earth. We take you now to the satellite.
SPEAKER 31 :
This is John Cameron Cameron, downtown Sputnik. We're here in the Sputnik jail with Santa Claus. Wait, what's that sound? The satellite men are coming this way. I think the king of Sputnik is about to speak. Santa, have you anything to say to the satellite men? Santa? Santa! Santa! I know how you can escape. disguised as Elvis Presley. Uh-oh, looks like we've been spotted. We return you now to Earth.
SPEAKER 22 :
We are now at the North Pole, where a rocket is being launched to catch the satellite and rescue Santa.
SPEAKER 31 :
Control tower to rocket. Prepare to blast off.
SPEAKER 22 :
Oh, let's go! Will the rocket be successful? Will Santa be rescued? Turn the record over and find out. The rocket sent to rescue Santa Claus has failed. With sadness, the president speaks. The Secretary of State has this statement. In London, at a meeting of Parliament.
SPEAKER 31 :
Your Majesty, have you a statement to make on this terrible tragedy?
SPEAKER 22 :
We take you now to Moscow.
SPEAKER 31 :
We're here with the Premier of Russia. Comrade, the rocket has failed.
SPEAKER 22 :
What do we do now? Here is a report from Tokyo.
SPEAKER 31 :
This is Radio Tokyo. The imperial government has this message. Ooh la la. Meanwhile, back on the satellite. This is John Cameron Cameron, downtown Sputnik. The satellite men are closing in. We can hear them outside saying, Santa has just escaped through the chimney, disguised as Elvis. We return you now to Earth.
SPEAKER 22 :
If you should look up at the sky this Christmas Eve and see a flying saucer pulling eight reindeer, chances are it's Santa Claus.
SPEAKER 31 :
Merry Christmas, Earth people.
SPEAKER 30 :
Oh, the weather outside is frightful But the fire is so delightful And since we've no place to go Make it so, make it so, make it so Man, it doesn't show signs of stopping And I brought me some Teal Grey hot The lights turned way down low Make it so, make it so, make it so When we finally kiss. Good night. How I hate going out in the storm. But if you... Really? Shut up, Wesley! All the way home, I'll be warm.
SPEAKER 07 :
Oh, the fire is slowly dying.
SPEAKER 30 :
And my dear... We're still good-bye-ing. But as long as you love me so... Make it so. Make it so. Make it so.
SPEAKER 01 :
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SPEAKER 27 :
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SPEAKER 28 :
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SPEAKER 29 :
Wishing you holidays filled with fun and laughter. Thanks for listening to Rush to Reason on KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 03 :
We'd load Mr. Bradley's truck with hay Seven-thirty on the dot on the church parking lot We'd pile in that old truck and ride away Just a bunch of kids singing Christmas carols To the hospital and the old folks' home Sometimes we'd go in and sing them all again to a shut-in who was living all alone. Singing joy to the world, the Lord is come, let earth receive her King. And at Christmas each year I still love to hear the carols those kids used to sing. Then one year all of us decided Everyone would bring some food on Christmas Eve Bought a turkey and some toys for some underprivileged boys Who lived with their grandma on relief She had told them there wouldn't be a Christmas And the look on their faces I still see I'm glad for what we did, cause we made some happy kids Dance around where there might have been a tree Singing joy to the world, the Lord is come Let earth receive her King And at Christmas each year, I still love to hear The carols those kids used to sing Singin' joy to the world the Lord is come Let earth receive her King And at Christmas each year I still love to hear The carols those kids used to sing. Singing joy to the world, the Lord is come. Let earth receive her King. And at Christmas each year, I still love to hear the King.
SPEAKER 20 :
Sing now a song of joy, every Christmas is a birthday of that baby born in Bethlehem far, far away. Ring out, oh bells of joy, every Christmas is a birthday. Celebrate it for that baby boy born Christmas Day. Celebrate it for that baby boy born Christmas Day. Sweet little stranger there in the manger, sent to be king of us that day of days. Angels above Him told us to love Him, Claim to Him, bring to Him glory and praise.
SPEAKER 1 :
Ring out, O bells of joy, every Christmas is a birthday.
SPEAKER 15 :
Celebrate it for the baby boy, born Christmas Day.
SPEAKER 20 :
Sweet little stranger there in the manger, said to be king of us that day of days. Angels above him told us to love him, cling to him, bring to him glory and praise. Ring out, oh bells of joy, every Christmas is a birthday. Celebrate it for that baby boy, born Christmas Day.
SPEAKER 19 :
Hark how the bells, sweet silver bells, all seem to say, throw cares away, Christmas is here, bringing good cheer to young and old, meek and the bold. Ding dong, ding dong. Ding-dong, ding-dong, that is their song With joyful ring all caroling One seems to hear words of good cheer From everywhere filling the air Oh, how they pound, raising the sound Oh, ill and tell, telling their tale Gaily they ring while people sing songs of good cheer Christmas is here, merry, merry, merry, merry Christmas Merry, merry, merry, merry Christmas On, on they send, on without end, their joyful tone to every home. Hark how the bells, sweet silver bells, all seem to sing, throw cares away. Ding, dong, ding, dong, that is their song, with joyful ring, all caroling. One seems to hear words of good cheer from everywhere, filling. the air oh how they come raising the sound oh him and dell telling their tale gaily they ring while people sing songs of good cheer christmas is here merry merry merry christmas merry merry merry merry christmas merry merry merry merry christmas merry merry merry merry christmas
SPEAKER 06 :
Mary, did you know that your baby boy will one day walk on water? Mary, did you know that your baby boy will save our sons and daughters?
SPEAKER 04 :
Oh, you know that Jesus gives us salvation. Shabbat shalom.
SPEAKER 06 :
Shabbat shalom.
SPEAKER 04 :
Surah Al-Fatihah
SPEAKER 06 :
Mary, did you know that your baby boy is Lord of all creation? Mary, did you know that your baby boy is the grace
SPEAKER 29 :
Remember the reason for the season. Merry Christmas from Rush to Reason on KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 02 :
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SPEAKER 29 :
Let's keep Christmas fun and festive. This is Rush to Reason on KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 07 :
everybody have a happy holiday may i help you with those packages you meet the nicest people everywhere around christmas time you meet the nicest people just like everyone here But I can't understand how the very same people who laugh so freely and sing so gaily can be so gloomy the other days of the year. Hey, ladies, off my foot. You feel the nicest feeling in the air around Christmas time. You get the warmest greetings full of holiday cheer.
SPEAKER 21 :
Merry Christmas!
SPEAKER 07 :
Wouldn't the world be a great place to live in if everybody would be? The nicest, warmest, friendliest, Christmassy sort of people every day of the year. The warmest people.
SPEAKER 21 :
The friendliest people.
SPEAKER 07 :
You meet the nicest people everywhere around Christmas time. You meet the nicest people just like everyone here. Wouldn't the world be a great place to live in if everybody would be the nicest, warmest, friendliest, Christmassy sort of people every day of the year? Merry Christmas, everyone!
SPEAKER 14 :
Looking out the window of this Hollywood hotel You'd never know that it was Christmas Eve The billboards and the neon took the place of silver bells And the temperature is 84 degrees I can hear the traffic on the crowded strip below As the palm trees poke their heads above the scene But there's not a single reindeer and it hardly ever snows And Santa drives a Rolls Royce limousine But all along the Rockies you can feel it in the air Until you ride to Boulder down below The closest thing to heaven on this planet anywhere Is a quiet Christmas morning in the Colorado snow I remember Christmas is when I was just a boy In the morning I would run to see the tree And the cowlers on the hillside sang their songs of Christmas joy Well I always thought they sang them just for me Now the sun is setting in the California sky And I can't find the spirit anywhere So I think it's time for me to tell Los Angeles goodbye I'm going back home to look for Christmas there But all along the Rockies you can feel it in the air From Telluride to Boulder down below The closest thing to heaven on this planet anywhere Is a quiet Christmas morning in the Colorado snow It's a quiet Christmas morning in the Colorado snow.
SPEAKER 29 :
Thank you for welcoming us into your home. This is Rush to Reason.
God the Holy Spirit lives in us. We are now ambassadors, personal reps of Jesus Christ while we are alive on this earth. The Bible says, “let this mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus.” Emotions can enslave you if you’re not careful. Enslave you to the details of life. The objective of the Christian life is you being willing to serve your Lord and your Master, Jesus Christ. We’re to use the spiritual gift He’s given us to serve Him. Our standards to live by are found in the royal family honor code. The code is found in the Word of God—the Bible. This code is the privacy of the priesthood meaning that every Christian has privacy. No one has the right to stick their nose into someone else’s business. As you grow spiritually you will glorify Christ. You will start replicating His life, re-presenting Him to this lost and dying world. This is our challenge. This is what makes the Christian life so unique.
Click for Full Transcript: https://rhem.pub/unique-life-dd352c
Our Unique Life – Part 6
Transcript of FLOT Line Episode 621 aired on July 23, 2017
Good morning and welcome to the FLOT Line. I'm your host Rick Hughes and for the next few
minutes I'd like to invite you to stay tuned. It's going to be about thirty minutes of motivation,
some inspiration, some education always done without any type of manipulation which means
we don't try to con people, we’re not trying to hustle you for any money, we’re not going to ask
you to join anything. We’re simply trying to give you accurate information. Information that I
pray will help you verify as well as identify God's plan for your life and if I can do that and you
can do that, then you can orient and adjust to the plan if you want to, that's up to you. You have
your own life, you live your own decision-making process. God gave you a soul. And inside that
soul you have something called volition and that means that you are not an automaton, you can
choose. You can choose to make any decision you want to make. I do know that bad decisions
limit future options and if we make enough bad decisions, we don't have much options left. But
as you go through life you make choices every day. The most important choice you could ever
make, the single most significant decision you could ever make in your life is to do what the
Bible says,
“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.”
Why is that essential?
Because you don't live here forever. You’re lucky if you make it 50, 60, 70 years through here.
But hey, there's something on the other side of this veil. It's called eternal life and your soul is
never going to die. Your body, yep, you're going to die physically. Your body's going to go back
to dust but your soul and hopefully your spirit, if you're born again and have an active human
spirit, it’s going to live in the presence of the Father in a resurrection body - a new body. That's
why this is so important. It's not just about living here now, although that's normally what we
focus on, the things that are seen, but the Bible tells us to focus on the things that are unseen. So
that's what this study has been about. I've been in a study for five different Sundays now with
you and it's about the unique Christian life. How unique is this life? I recently taught this study at
a church in Houston, Texas and it is available on a DVD series. If you'd like to watch it all you
have to do is contact us and we’ll send it to you free of charge if you'd like to watch it. But this
unique Christian life is awesome. We, first of all, have many unique assets that we taught you.
We went over that. And we live in a most unique time. That's what we're talking about now. The
unique period that we live in is called the church. We live in the Church Age. And in this unique
time that we live in called the church, this most unique time in the history of the world, it was
also hidden because no one really knew about it. It was called a mystery doctrine in the Bible. It
wasn't revealed. These unique times, the church, means that we are adopted. You and I, we’re
adopted into God's royal family and we are now a new spiritual aristocracy. That means you and
me, we are nobility - spiritual nobility. Why?
Because God's Holy Spirit lives within us and
we are now ambassadors or personal representatives of Jesus Christ while we are still here.
And I told you last week, we have to assume His mindset, the Bible says,
“Let this mind be in
you that was also in Christ Jesus.”
And we also assume His personality profile where the Bible
says,
“He humbled Himself and made Himself of no reputation and took upon Himself the form
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621-Our-Unique-Life-p6-transcript.pdf
of a slave.”
Paul admitted that he was a slave to Jesus Christ. He said that personally in the
Bible. He said in Romans 1:1,
“Paul, a slave of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated
unto the gospel of God.”
Yes, when Christ freed us from the slave market of sin, and that's what's
so unique about the cross, He purchased our freedom.
He freed us from the slave market of
sin. He bought us, He paid for us with His own life which was the redeeming ransom that
God required. So we have been set free in Christ.
“If any man's in Christ,”
the Bible says,
“he's a new creation. Old things are passed away and all things become new.”
But even though
we’re free, even though we've been set free, we can come back and voluntarily surrender to the
ownership of Jesus Christ and serve Him if we want to do that. In Galatians 5:1 the Bible says,
“it is for freedom that Christ set you free. So keep standing fast and don't become entangled
again in the yoke of slavery.”
The yoke of slavery is what the cosmic system offers you. In the
cosmos diabolicus, Satan’s world that’s what it is, there’s slavery. Slavery to the details of life.
There’s slavery to the lust patterns of life. And people get enslaved to alcoholism, get enslaved to
sexual addictions, they get enslaved to financial addiction - slavery. Slavery to the details of life.
What the world offers is a big lie. That if you have money, if you have success, if you have a
beautiful spouse, a beautiful home, beautiful children, you'll be happy. That's a lie. I mean,
they’re all things that will make you happy for sure but that's not the source of happiness. Christ
said,
“Happiness belongs to those who hear My Father's Word and keep it”
in Luke 11:28. And
He said,
"I’m going to leave My joy for you,”
to the disciples. There is a way to be happy and the
most wonderful way to be happy is not to be enslaved to the lust patterns of life and not to be
enslaved to the cosmic system of life, not to be fueled by satanic temptations that appeal to your
particular area of weakness. So negative volition, not positive volition, negative volition results
in people being enslaved to circumstances in life. As a Christian you can be a slave to the details
in life. And so circumstances and people are not the key to happiness. If you think like that,
under that sort of thinking, then any prosperity you might have is going to lead to some self-
righteous arrogance. And any adversity you may have it's going to lead to some self-pity, feeling
sorry for self.
Emotions can enslave you if you're not careful, enslave you to the details of
life.
So we don't really live our life for the recognition or for praise.
The objective of the
Christian life is you being willing to serve your Lord and your Master, Jesus Christ the
anointed Son of God.
Only His will, desiring to give Him all the recognition and all the praise,
not you. When we do a funeral sometimes people want to remember the loved one, and that's
fine. But funerals are about the faithfulness of Jesus Christ not the faithfulness of the person who
passed away. So we’re not there to eulogize that person, we’re there to glorify Jesus Christ and
His faithfulness and what He said in His Word. I mean, I've seen wonderful pastors, men of God
that were such slaves to the will of God that they gave all of their time to study and teach the
Bible. They sacrificed a lot of things they could have done, a lot of travels they could have done
so they could teach God's Word. It's not easy to teach God's Word. When I'm filling in for certain
pastors (sometimes they may ask me to come and fill in for a while) if I'm going to teach like
four hours in the local church it may require me to study 400 hours. I mean, you just don't get up
2
621-Our-Unique-Life-p6-transcript.pdf
there and ad lib it. You must know what you're talking about. That's why the Bible says you,
“study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that need not be ashamed, but rightly
dividing the Word of truth.”
I can think of nothing worse than to stand in the pulpit and
misrepresent God because I didn't study, because I took something that I didn't understand and
tried to talk about it. Therefore, it's imperative that any pastor willingly forfeit his freedom in life
to serve his Master, the Lord Jesus Christ. If he's going to shepherd his flock, he's been called by
God to be an overseer and that means there are a lot of things that he might like to do but he's not
going to have time to do them if he gives attention to the details of studying and teaching God's
Word. For example, you know some churches may have a January Bible study and sometimes
they go through say the book of Romans in maybe a week or maybe ten days but you can't do
that. If you study the book of Romans, line upon line, word upon word, verse upon verse, you
might be in the book of Romans for two or three years. You can't hustle all the stuff out of there
in a week or two. And so all of us are slaves, slaves to Jesus Christ.
Our objective is to use our
spiritual gift to serve Him and to serve His desire.
You have a spiritual gift. You have a
spiritual gift that God gave you. And that gift, whatever that gift is, whether it's the gift of giving,
the gift of administration, the gift of helps, the gift of mercy. Maybe it's a communication gift
like the gift of pastor-teacher. Maybe I'm talking to someone that should be a pastor-teacher.
Maybe it's the gift of evangelism. Whatever that gift is, your objective is to use that gift in His
service to glorify Him. For example, don't get confused, don't get mixed up, evangelists don't
need to play pastors and pastors don't need to play evangelists and pastors don't need to play
missionaries. We have to have a single mindset of feeding and protecting the flock of God, not
running all over the country. You know, that's what happens to a lot of pastors, they run all over
the country wanting to do everything and they forget their own flock. So we live in some pretty
unique times that demand a fairly unique lifestyle which is in the Bible. It's a code. There is a
code in the Bible for us to follow while we are still here in this time continuum. The code that
I'm about to teach you is called the royal family honor code. The royal family honor code. If
you’ve never heard that before, it's a study you really need to understand. And I don't know that
I'm going to be able to do it all now but if you'd like to know more about it, just contact me. I’ll
tell you where you can get a complete study on the royal family honor code. But what it is, is a
system of spiritual integrity mandated by God and revealed in the New Testament, in the Church
Age. So in order for us to function as aristocracy, which is what we are, spiritual aristocracy, we
must have an aristocratic lifestyle. A lifestyle of class and the mindset of virtue. And aristocracy
has standards. We must have standards, you must have standards.
Standards that believers are
called to live by are found in the royal family honor code.
In this code we have the lifestyle of
aristocracy. You know, in America today is almost like we've become a nation of peasants in the
way we think. My pastor once said that. Aristocratic thinking seems to have disappeared. And as
a nation we kind of think stupidly sometimes, if we think at all. If you want to find out what a
man's thinking let him talk because words are an extension of what he thinks. So if he has a
vocabulary of about twenty words then you know he doesn't think very much. Your vocabulary is
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indicative of what's in your soul or what you think. And, you know, we get addicted to these
handheld entertainment devices. We’ve eliminated much thought. And people seldom read
anymore and so they're entertained by the cell phone or the tablet device and this dumbs down
American children. I mean American children spend hours glued to video games. If you’ve got
grandchildren, like I do, you know what I'm talking about. They no longer think for themselves
and they lose a skill set they should have learned growing up called problem solving ability. God
has given us a new way to think and a new way of living to function in a unique period of history
called the Church Age. And that new way of thinking is the mentality of aristocracy found in
Romans chapter thirteen. Take your Bible and read through it, I don't have time to go through it
right now, all of it. Maybe I should teach a series on the royal family honor code but I will leave
that to the well-qualified pastors that can do it much better than me. And as I said, if you want to
know about it, contact me and I'll tell you where you can listen to a pastor teach it.
In this
particular honor code we are mandated to live by recognizing first of all, the privacy of the
priesthood, that every believer has privacy. No one has the right to stick their nose into
someone else's business.
Matthew 7 says,
“don’t judge lest you be judged because with the
measure you measure it will be measured to you again.”
And I remember learning about the
proboscis monkey many years ago. He's a monkey that has a nose about two feet long - a weird
looking thing. And some Christians are like that. They have a nose about two feet long and they
want to stick it in everybody's business. That is a sin. God says stay out of other people's
business.
Don't judge people, don't malign people, don't criticize people.
You let God do the
judging. The Supreme Court of Heaven is open twenty-four hours a day and if there's a problem
He can handle it. He doesn't need your help. This is where a lot of people don't live by the honor
code. They invade the privacy of other people. Even asking silly questions like, ‘Where were you
last Sunday brother? We missed you.’ It's none of your business where they were last Sunday. So
keep your nose out of their business. Give people privacy. And you should have the
understanding that spiritual advance, growing spiritually, moving from being a spiritual baby to a
spiritual adolescent to a spiritually mature individual, that comes from learning God's Word not
from doing something. Doing something is not growing. We need more learning and less doing.
And a lot of folks would be a lot better off because they get all wrapped up in the doing and not
the learning and here's what happens, they do the right thing but they do it in the wrong way and
it winds up glorifying self and it's not divine good production and it’s going to wind up being
wood, hay and stubble at the Judgment Seat of Christ. So an honor code like that, for an
aristocratic lifestyle like we must live, demands that we think and we grow. Not that we hustle
around, hustle people and do things.
That honor code demands you have extremely good
manners and extreme thoughtfulness to other people.
It's only lived under the virtue love
concept which is problem-solving device number eight, loving others. You know,
“we love God
because He first loved us.”
He loved you with impersonal love. He loved you based on His
character not your character. And when we’re talking about virtue love, you using impersonal
love for other people, other Christians that may be obnoxious to you and you deplore them, you
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are not relaxed around them, you vibrate every time they come in your periphery, your hair
stands up on end because you think to yourself, ‘Oh no, here comes that nosy so-and-so again,’ -
you have to use impersonal love. This is a grace asset. Learning to grace people out.
Learning to
treat people in grace even though they don't treat you in grace. Gracing people out. Loving
them based on your character not their character.
Therefore, you stay relaxed, you are
thoughtful, you show good manners. The worst thing in the honor code is to gossip or to malign
or to slander other believers. We are warned about that in Ephesians 4:25. It says,
“Therefore,
having laid aside the lie, each one of you speak truth with his fellow believers since we are
members one of another.”
There's nothing worse than lying. Lying to another believer or lying to
a pastor can get you in serious trouble. Just ask Ananias and Sapphira about it when you get to
heaven, when they lied to Peter about their contributions. You can read about that in the book of
Acts as well. So, if you are a believer, then you are a priest - only in the Church Age. And here's
something unique about our lifestyle, we don't have to confess our sins to any other people. You
don't have to go to the priest to confess your sin.
You are a priest, you are a believer priest and
1 John 1:9 says you can confess your own sin. It says you can go directly to God's throne
room and name your own sins.
And don't tell somebody else your sins. This whole concept
about having a Christian partner, I think they call it an accountability partner that when you mess
up you're suppose to go tell them what you did is wrong. Do not do that. That leads to problems,
complications and it's not the way God designed it. There’s nothing in the Bible about you
having an accountability partner. Your accountability partner is God the Holy Spirit and He is
certainly capable of convicting you when you do wrong and convincing you that you need to
rebound your sin and get back in fellowship. And if you don't, then God the Father will discipline
you as any father disciplines his children. But stay away from going to someone else and telling
them what you did. Because, first of all, they don't need to carry that burden, they don't need to
hear it. And secondly, they're probably going to tell somebody else and then there goes your
privacy. So you can go to God's throne room. You can confess your own sin in private. You
function under your own priesthood and that's important to remember.
You are a priest and you
are an ambassador. In privacy you function under your priesthood, in the public you
function under your ambassadorship.
That's how you serve God. So the honor code of
Romans 13 demands that you live first of all, under establishment principles. And that's the
establishment code of freedom of choice, marriage, family and nationalism. These are called the
divine establishment principles. Freedom to choose, God ordained you to have the freedom to
choose, that’s why He gave you volition. And marriage is for all members of the human race.
And the family is for the human race to raise children and teach children and inculcate Biblical
standards and norms and standards to children. And nationalism, this is what God did at the
Tower of Babel when He separated the nations by language and by land - separated people. And
so, you know, when I go fishing I don't see brim swimming with catfish and I don't see catfish
swimming with bass and I don't see bass swimming with something else. Even bass have
species: striped bass, spotted bass, smallmouth bass and they all stay together. But we don't seem
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to want to do that. We want to merge. That’s exactly what Satan wants you to do. That way he
can control you. So the honor code, we live under that establishment principle of nationalism.
You are an American. This is your country and you are to pray for your leaders, pray for your
country and stay out of any type of internationalism. That's the way the past administration
wanted to take the direction of this country into a progressive international viewpoint. No, that's
not what we do. We are Americans and we stay proud of our American heritage. You raise your
family. You teach your children. You get married. The lawful honorable correct thing to do. And
you have the freedom and the right to choose your destiny in life. So the honor code demands all
those things. And it’s much greater than morality. It's past morality. I mean an unbeliever can be
moral but a Christian, the spiritual life is so much greater than morality it’s hard to explain it.
The honor code demands that you be patriotic, that you respect your government authorities, that
you serve in the military if it's possible, that you respect law and order. And as far as a Christian
relationship in government goes, just take your Bible, read Romans 13:1-7 and you'll see all of
this. The honor code would condemn any mental attitude sins that motivate gossiping or judging
or maligning other people. This is what distinguishes you from the unbeliever. Not simply the
fact that you are more moral, that you don't fornicate, you don't lie, you don't cheat, you don't
steal - I'm glad, but the honor code is much more than that. And that's what will make you
magnetic and the unbeliever will see it in you. They will see that you are different because you
live by a different code than they do. They live by do unto others before others do unto them.
That's not the code you live by. So we are believers. We live in the Church Age. We live in the
client nation of USA. And we are expected to form the basis of the pivot that holds back God's
discipline on this nation. God's looking for people to stand in the gap, to make up the hedge
between Him. And if you can be a part of that pivot, it means that you are part of the group of
mature believers that has an impact in history, an invisible impact as it may be, but God the
Father is watching and God the Father knows. You remember when Lot got in trouble in Sodom
and Gomorrah and Abraham convinced Him and said, ‘Will you spare the city if I could just find
ten righteous people?’ And the Father said, ‘Sure, find Me ten and I'll spare it.’ God is always
searching the hearts and minds of people. How many righteous people are there in America? Are
you one of them? If you are, if you're growing spiritually, if you're staying filled with the Holy
Spirit, if you're learning God's Word on a daily basis then you need a medal - you’re part of that
pivot. You are part of the invisible group of believers that make up the pivot that helps sustain
this nation and keep us away from the discipline of God. So you live a very unique lifestyle and
your positive volition, your hunger for Truth, your hunger to serve God is buying time for
America - for America to be evangelized and for Americans to take heed of God's Word. You are
the one that must stand in the gap according to Ezekiel 22:30 where God said He was looking for
somebody to stand in the gap. But He said He couldn’t find anybody. Well, it's imperative that
you be the person. That you are the one who's willing to stand up. That doesn't mean you become
a crusader and get involved in crusader arrogance. It means that you are consistently filled with
the Holy Spirit, when you sin you admit it immediately, you consistently take in God's Word
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every day under a well-qualified pastor. If it's in your local church or if it's at home around your
dinner table with a tape player, a DVD player, get your Bible, get a notebook and learn God's
Word every day and then apply what you learn. As you do,
you will grow, you will glorify Jesus
Christ, you will start replicating His life, re-presenting Him to this lost and dying
generation. That is your challenge. That's what makes this Christian life so unique.
And
there's a lot more to go here. I mean, I'm just scratching the surface. I’m not through with this.
We’re going to go for another show or so on this. I hope you're listening. I hope you're learning.
And, as I said, I did a presentation at a local church in Houston on this. If you'd like to get the
DVD of the series, let me know. We’ll send it to you free of charge. I hope you’re listening and
learning. And until next week, this is your host Rick Hughes saying thank you for listening to the
FLOT Line
In this intriguing episode of Dana Lash's Absurd Truth Podcast, stand-in host Craig Collins delves into the wacky world of Florida Man stories, starting with a viral tale from Reddit about young employees at a Florida frozen yogurt stand mistakenly marking legitimate currency as counterfeit. This discussion segues into a startling yet amusing narrative of a gym teacher whose reaction to a dodgeball incident lands him in legal trouble. Not one to be outdone, a third Florida man makes headlines for an ill-advised attempt at cigarette smuggling during an arrest.
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It's his life mission to make bad decisions. It's time for Florida Man.
SPEAKER 11 :
That's right. It's time for Florida Man on the Dana Show. My name is Craig Collins filling in. Dana is back after the holidays. First, this is, I guess, a Florida people, more than just one Florida man. But a guy named Sam, who's 22 years old, went viral on the Internet. He went to Reddit specifically to complain. He's actually the manager. at a frozen yogurt stand in Florida, where he said multiple employees who were Gen Z, much younger, say 15, 16 years old, had marked bills fake that were not fake. $10, $5 bills, things that were older than, say, the late 90s. So they look different than the bills of today, but were definitely real, actual currency. They even wrote things on them in black Sharpie, like fake, do not accept, fake, reject, etc., etc. And the guy is really upset. He's like, why do they not know that these are regular bills? I know this is a Florida story, but this probably happens other places, too. Not a great look. Figure out what a bill looks like from... pre-1999, before you reject it and write all over it because people were trying to pay with actual money and had it confiscated, which probably made people go nuts. But then eventually the guy steps in and fixes it. That's one Florida story. Another one involves a gym teacher in Florida, in Scheffner. This guy was arrested after he shoved a student to the ground. The reason the gym teacher did it, and he shoved a 12-year-old, he said was that he had a dodgeball thrown at him Apparently, the kid did it by mistake, or even if the guy did it on purpose, the 12-year-old child, it's a ball. You'll be fine as a teacher, and I can't believe this would be the first time this has ever happened. But the guy got mad, and in response to that, shoved the kid. That is child abuse, and you go to jail for that. Now, granted, pushing a kid down, if it's the only time you've ever done anything remotely bad as a gym teacher, it does feel like the kind of thing that maybe some leniency could be found in the court system itself. If you're the parents of the kid, I don't know if you feel that way, because he got shoved to the ground, could have gotten hurt, didn't. But all of this being over a thrown ball is one of the more hilarious and dumb things I've heard. in the world. The teacher's name is John Steele. He lost his cool and obviously probably shouldn't be a gym teacher if you can't be hit with stuff during gym class. That feels like a prerequisite of the situation. And then one last Florida guy story. This one out of Indian River County in Florida. First, a guy got arrested for being just a piece of crap. He got arrested on a domestic violence phone call in which it seemed that the woman actually was injured. So the guy's just a piece of crap. That part's not funny or amusing. It's just a reality. But as they're hauling this 42-year-old dude off to jail... They have to do a search of his body at some point to see if he's got anything he shouldn't have before he gets checked into the night or hopefully a while into prison. And apparently, and this is a quote, he had cigarettes hidden between his genitalia. I can't clean that up for radio. That's the way I got to say it. I don't know what that means, and I don't want to know what that means. I know what I think between could mean, but the fact that they were less specific about the other part makes me curious as to where it was going or what was being hidden. When asked why he took that, something that was not allowed in the jail, with him on his person the way he did, he said he wanted to smoke him when he got to jail because he wanted to think about what he'd done, which does not make it any more allowed. If you're trying to say that these are cigarettes I'm going to smoke to reflect on the decision making I've made in life. So that's why I hid them there, officer. It doesn't wind up being less illegal. This is still very illegal. He added another charge to the crimes against him for trying to smuggle contraband into a facility. But that is that is something. And the fact that the cops said they just got a sense that something was off with this guy. I don't know if it was the way he was like walking, depending again on where things were hidden or the decision making beyond it. And the guy is uniquely a piece of crap for hitting a woman. But nonetheless, or at least accused of hitting a woman, I should say, although they found the woman with visible reasons to think that this was going on. But nonetheless, beyond that, too, it's just the fact that you thought you were going to get away with this. I don't know. I don't know why you thought this was something that they wouldn't be able to figure out at some point down the road. And luckily they did. And it just adds to the issues for this Florida man. And also, I do wonder about one thing. Like, when? You hid this, the place that it was hidden, because it sounds like the cops were there for a decent amount of time and you were being talked to and then arrested. So it had to be hidden before they showed up, which adds a whole bunch of layers of questions to this conversation that I don't want answers to. I don't want to know why somebody would just assume, hey, I'm probably going to jail later today. Might as well hide these things in this spot just in case, because I would like to have them if I am in prison later. A unique piece of crap there for a variety of reasons. Also thinks he's part of a mafia that doesn't exist. But I'll get to that some other day.
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SPEAKER 11 :
This is The Dana Show. My name is Craig Collins. Filling in. Thrilled to be with you. Dana back just after the holidays. D-Lash or Dana Lash Radio. Great ways to stay connected to her. Someone, actually, this is The Daily Caller, did a deep dive into the biggest lies that Corinne Jean-Pierre told During her time as the White House press secretary, lots and lots of fibs and incorrect information shared by this White House press secretary, even though she told the press that she would tell them the truth. That was the big thing that was going to change between her and people who had that role when Donald Trump was last in office. A terrible, horrible person that is Donald Trump, according to a whole lot of people on the left. Several lies are pretty interesting. Of course, saying that Joe Biden was the candidate and not going to drop out of the race is one of many that wound up being untrue. One of my favorite ones that was listed here was when a neurologist had visited the White House and Corinne Jean-Pierre tried to say with a straight face to the American press that it had nothing to do with any concerns about mental health. for biden or dementia claims or any of that stuff it was just it's you know uh normal is the kind of thing that happens all the time it was pre-planned wasn't we didn't even really need to do it we just kind of did it that was amazing that was not true um but then the best one and the one that most people are citing as the most egregious lie although to be honest She was told this so many times by the president who would say it as well out loud that she was just kind of echoing a message that she was somewhat convinced would actually wind up being true. However dumb that was to believe this. But she said several times that Biden would not pardon Hunter. But from a presidential perspective, is there any possibility that the president would end up pardoning his son?
SPEAKER 04 :
No. I just said no. I just answered.
SPEAKER 10 :
The president would not pardon or commute the census for his son, Hunter. I just want to make sure that that is not going to change over the next six months. The president's saying he would not.
SPEAKER 04 :
It's still a no. It's still a no. It's still a no. It will be a no. It is a no. And I don't have anything else to add.
SPEAKER 11 :
Except it's a yes. Except that's what you want to add later on after this happened. That goes on. There's like a two-minute video viral online right now resurfacing of all the times she said no to that one. but just one of several lies that was told by this White House press secretary and not even done well. The real knock on Corinne Jean-Pierre, and I know people get mad if you call her a DEI hire, even though the Biden administration, for anyone they put in any position that was a minority or anything else, the Biden administration told us about it. They said, look at this person who's breaking this barrier. And one of the reasons we put them into this position is You can't ask for credit for doing something a certain way and then claim that's not the reason you did it. You can't say, no, she fully deserves the job, but also we gave her the job because of this, because that kind of shoots the first statement in the face. More than anything, what Corinne Jean-Pierre was really bad at, that even Jen Psaki was better at, was lying convincingly. or lying in a way that made some amount of sense, or dodging questions in a cyclical statement of word-vomity stuff that at least you thought might have answered the question. It was too transparent too often when Corinne Jean-Pierre was lying, or when Corinne Jean-Pierre was struggling to answer a question. And her favorite thing to say in most press conferences was, I've got nothing for you on that. I'll have to get back to you. You have to check with somebody else about that sort of thing, which really doesn't give you any sort of confidence that any of the information you're being given is, well, valuable, important or even accurate. That was a constant complaint as well of this White House press secretary who stayed in the position. far longer than people thought she should have stayed in that position. But the biggest reason why she was there was probably the other thing that we're not supposed to talk about, the DEI hire part, which also made her harder to fire, I imagine. If you want the political win for your side of the aisle, however weak or strong it is, of putting someone in a position that you're happy to be there for reasons other than their job performance, it's also hard to fire them when the job performance is not living up to whatever expectation you had. All right. There's something else I want to play. I kind of contemplated not playing this audio today, but I do want to rip it apart as just a tremendously dumb. And so for that reason, I guess we're going to play it. A joy read of the failing MSNBC. Its ratings are in the tank, as most reporting is saying. And Elon Musk is at least jokingly contemplating buying it, which would be hilarious. If that happened, I can't help but laugh when I say that. But Joy Reid is throwing out a new theory. First, people on the left were trying to get under Trump's skin by claiming that Elon Musk is really the president and that he's not calling him President Musk and whatnot. So much so that Trump did respond to it in a statement over the holiday, saying out loud that Elon can't be the president because he wasn't born in this country. So maybe that ends part of that discussion. Maybe not. Elon also tweeted out that anyone trying to bridge a gap between him and the president or the president elect will fail because that's the whole reason for that rhetoric is just to try to create some sort of distance between the world's richest man and the owner of one of the most influential social media platforms in society. And the guy who will be the world's most powerful man, or at least if you're not Joe Biden, you wind up being powerful because you lead the United States of America. So there will be a lot of interesting intersection between those individuals. But Joy Reid wants to go a step further and accuse Trump and Elon of listening to somebody else, somebody who's definitely not a person that we would want in charge of our country. Here's her conspiracy theory.
SPEAKER 08 :
An interesting development that may have changed the calculation a little bit today, that we found out that Trump, our would-be strongman, is in a sense answerable to a bigger strongman, not Vladimir Putin, Elon Musk, who also allegedly, at least according to reports, has lots of conversations with Putin. What does that do to the calculation on how Americans should deal with Trump?
SPEAKER 11 :
First, I want to answer the question myself. Nothing. She goes on to say that she thinks Elon Musk secretly is having, you know, conversations with Vladimir Putin that shapes what Elon Musk thinks about stuff, meaning Putin is pulling Elon strings and then Elon is pulling Trump strings. It's so stupid. It's so dumb. The biggest reason why it's dumb is no one who's even remotely familiar with Donald Trump, the person, thinks he can be manipulated by anyone. A case in point, and Joy Reid would be thrilled to talk about this, which makes me not all that thrilled to bring it up, but is the 2020 election. The biggest defense Trump was going to use in any courtroom anywhere in the world to why he did any of the things he did, if they were going to claim they were illegal, is that he believes the 2020 election was stolen. He still believes that right now. And even if people told him it wasn't, he didn't care because he thought that what he was seeing was different than what they're seeing. Now, I'm not trying to relitigate that discussion with you. I don't care to anymore. Trump's back in office in 2024. And if there's proof of certain things that we haven't seen before, I very much hope that Trump demonstrates that proof and releases that proof. But nonetheless, what I think is amazing, and Elon Musk is the same way, by the way. He feels like a fairly confident person now. So it's amazing to think that anyone, Vladimir Putin or anyone else, could just willingly control these guys to the degree that they do or just trick them into following their advice all the time. There is one caveat I'll say to this. I'm sure it's backing up Joy Reid's statement, or at least what she thinks is true. Trump has made jokes about wanting to buy Greenland, and apparently media in Russia, state media, said it was a great idea. They threw their support behind Trump owning Greenland or the United States owning Greenland through a deal with Trump. Now, what's interesting about that, too, is that there would be another president at some point to come along that you would assume Putin would get along with way less than he gets along with Trump. And we would still own Greenland if we got to purchase it while Trump was in office. So it is interesting, for whatever reason, Russia would support that and believe that maybe they can make better deals with us than with anyone else as far as the resources that exist there. But it's just fascinating to me because anything like that might back its way into being president. Well, this means that this is what Putin wants all along, even though a whole bunch of people would say it would benefit the United States for us to own Greenland or to own other places. Not that I think it's going to happen. Greenland is not for sale. But nonetheless, it's just it's just amusing and sort of amazing to me that these kind of conversations happen and that people like Joy Reid can float insane conspiracy theories and not be called out for them. And then the minute that a conspiracy theory exists on the other side can attack it as though it's the most insane thing they've ever heard, as if that actually makes sense. The whole like, you know, you can't scream a fire in a movie theater, even though you actually can. That's a misunderstanding of how that actually works. And she seems to be screaming it on the daily, but then also yelling at anyone else that she accuses of screaming a fire in a movie theater.
SPEAKER 01 :
Lights are going up. Snow is falling down. There's a feeling of goodwill around town. It could only mean one thing. McRib is here. People throwing parties, ugly sweaters everywhere. Stockings hung up by the chimney with care. It could only mean one thing.
SPEAKER 07 :
McRib is here. At participating McDonald's for a limited time.
SPEAKER 02 :
Welcome to Pro Tips for the Pros, brought to you by Floor & Decor Parsippany. In this series, we'll explore essential advice for professional contractors to deliver outstanding renovation results. Let's dive in. Prioritize quality craftsmanship and materials to deliver results that exceed the customer's expectations. Attention to detail and superior workmanship will leave a lasting impression and ensure customer satisfaction. Thank you for joining us for this pro tip on planning thorough renovations. Stay tuned for more expert advice brought to you by Florin Decor Parsippany.
SPEAKER 05 :
A lot of people tolerate ordinary. Ordinary bathrooms, kitchens, entryways. Well, not on your watch. If you're a pro, you've got a new partner in town. Floor & Decor. From tile to wood to stone, Floor & Decor has more styles and job lock quantities of Schluter, Mapei, Ladecrete, and other brands pros trust. Come see a whole new way to wow with Floor & Decor. Now open in Parsippany.
SPEAKER 03 :
And now, all of the news you would probably miss. It's time for Dana's Quick Five.
SPEAKER 11 :
That's right. Let's do these rapid fire. The first one, very weird. First, it was just women in China that were doing this. Now, women throughout the world are doing this. Apparently, they're going to social media and taking photos of themselves with fake baby bumps. The reason that they're doing this in China was to celebrate a anniversary of the no more one child policy and also to look good. for when they, in the future, both have a relationship and get pregnant. They want the fake version of the baby bump photo to be better than the real version because they're younger. This is something that other women now throughout the world are doing on social media. It's a viral trend. Terrifying boyfriends everywhere, I imagine, as far as the thing goes. If they even have a boyfriend at the time that they're taking the photo, apparently some do not. Another story out there. that I thought was interesting. It's called the Christmas gas prank. Mostly it's women pulling this on men. They call their husband or whoever and they say, hey, I was, you know, running out of gas and I stopped by the gas station and I got the Christmas gas because it was cheaper. And then the husband usually goes, what are you talking about? What's the Christmas gas? And the woman will say the one with the green handle, which would be diesel. And then the woman usually says something to the effect of, and now the car's running weird and seems like it's about to stall. Do you know what's going on? If you believe them, they just ruined the vehicle. They just destroyed that engine. There's a lot of problems that you're going to have. The Christmas gas prank, making the Internet laugh and your loved one terrified for a short amount of time, is something out there that I guess people are doing and then putting up the reaction on social media. Because you can be a jerk as long as you do it virally. Out of the people you care about to the amusement of total strangers. That's the world we live in now. But the Christmas gas prank is out there. It's real. Some find it humorous. I'm going to be honest. I find it a little funny, too. I'm glad that I wouldn't think of anyone in my life as dumb enough to actually do this. So I wouldn't be that afraid that it actually occurred. Another story that I love out there as far as a viral quick five moment. A guy who drives a Cybertruck decided to take it with his wife to go see his in-laws in rural West Virginia at a farm. When he got there, he found out that the farm had no way to charge the Cybertruck. There was some discussion about maybe some things that got done. The parents didn't exactly get it figured out, so the guy had to plug it into a regular outlet. And if you don't know, a Cybertruck will charge one to two miles of distance per hour when plugged into a regular plug. So it took six days to recharge the vehicle. The guy said it was an awful six days to spend with the in-laws because he was stuck there. Couldn't do anything. I imagine they had a bunch of vehicles on the farm they could have used to tow the Cybertruck to some sort of supercharger and get them out of there. But the in-laws obviously didn't want to do that. They also probably complained for days about the extension cord going outside of their house into a car outside. And who knows if it even was turning off like the lights on the Christmas tree. I kind of hope it was because the amount of fighting I now picture being a thing that happens would just be all over the place. Fighting with the in-laws is never fun. The simmering tension of this one sounds Hallmark movie worthy to me. And then one last one, as far as quick stories go. Thirty two thousand dollars per person was the amount of money spent for a recent bachelor party trip to the North Pole. Over a thousand people were surveyed asking, like, what's a very expensive thing you did for someone? This was the number one answer. A very stupid use of $32,000 to me. They had thermal equipment to protect them from negative 31 degree weather. They got to experience a few different helicopter rides and polar guides and whatnot. But just think, $32,000 per person, if you spend that somewhere like Vegas, how much fun that's going to be and how uncomfortable you're not going to be having to deal with negative 32 degree weather. But that was another big story out there that went viral, and a lot of people made fun of it as just a total waste of time. Joe Manchin is on his way out. He's done with politics, or at least being someone in the Senate. He has long been a person that people would point to and say, well, he was a Democrat. He's actually been a Democrat for a long time before becoming an independent, and he's willing to say the thing out loud that most of his party is not willing to say. John Fetterman might be taking the baton from him. I'm not sure, but it seems that way sometimes. But Manchin did a sit down, you know, over a beer discussion with CNN. I don't know why they had to do this in a bar. It's stupid. But as they're talking, Manchin gave the strongest indictment yet of the Democratic Party that anyone who's been a part of it has ever given. And so I want to play part of that audio of just how bad things have gotten. Here we go.
SPEAKER 12 :
I am not a Democrat in the form of what what the Democratic Party has turned itself into the national brand. Absolutely not. And they know that they're all good people on both sides.
SPEAKER 10 :
But what do you think is the reason for you said you're not a Democrat? What caused Joe Manchin to divorce himself?
SPEAKER 12 :
Here's what I told them. I said, you ought to figure out how you lost somebody like me.
SPEAKER 11 :
I was born... By the way, I could stop it right there. You also should figure out how you lost someone like Elon Musk, someone like Joe Rogan. There's a bunch of people that said they were long-term Democrats who just don't understand the party anymore and see themselves as still the same level of down-the-middle independent person who is more captured by the discussions on the right than by the discussions on the left as far as their beliefs and who they align with.
SPEAKER 12 :
...as a Democrat because of my grandfather's love of FDR... I was a very strong Democrat because of my family's love of John Fitzgerald Kennedy. I came through the whole iteration. And I was a Democrat in West Virginia, and it's always been a 75, 80% plurality of Democrat. Not anymore. But there was a split. I was never in the liberal side of it. I was never in the establishment side.
SPEAKER 10 :
So I always had to fight my way through.
SPEAKER 11 :
I love the fact that you're this far into this discussion and the person doing the interview is still not sure he's gotten the right answer. But what is it that makes you not want to be a Democrat? Not the fact that you feel utterly unwelcome and that your entire life what you've thought of a Democrat as being is not what it currently is. Give me one more. Give me the thing that we can play as the short clip. Is it a shift on social issues?
SPEAKER 12 :
Yeah. The brand got so bad. The D brand has been so maligned from the standpoint of it's toxic.
SPEAKER 11 :
And the brand, the brand, the Democratic brand, the Democratic brand, excuse me, itself is toxic. You know, what's really interesting about this, as I dive a little deeper into the thought of all of that, you have a lot of rhetoric on both sides that people call extreme. They claim that this is extreme things that people say. And when you look at the stuff on the right that's extreme, it's almost often always tied to Trump and a whole lot of it. Stuff like I want to take back the Panama Canal. A lot of people know isn't actually going to happen or if it does happen. Like, honestly, I don't know that it would be all that bad for the United States if it did. Again, I doubt it would. But, you know, taking Greenland, another example of stuff recently out there. It would actually benefit us if we owned it and we bought it somehow. But I digress. That rhetoric is not usually what shapes the actual policy. And when you're actually trying to get extreme rhetoric to shape policy, for the most part, what conservatives are trying to do is limit the amount of money spent in D.C. and Washington, limit government itself, a long running, very simplistic conservative stance that a whole lot of Americans agree with. They think that Washington is wasting our money overspending and causing things like inflation. Now, when you look at the left, yes, there's extreme rhetoric, but that also seems to work out as extreme policy decisions. Oftentimes, the craziest thing said by the conservative is not the thing that inevitably gets passed. The craziest thing said by the Democrat is the thing that they try to pass, and they try to shame people into believing that it's the only way to move forward. It's actually usually why I think rhetoric on the left is more emotionally charged than it is on the right. If you want to try to validate a wide open border to the entirety of our country, the Democrats have to tell the story of a mother with two kids who crosses the border because she can't afford to live and support her family somewhere else. And the Democrats choose to leave out the story of the people who are coming across the border and hurting people. And there's a lot of people who are doing that. That's left out. The emotional narrative is all that matters. The same holds true with abortion, for example, one that I use a lot to talk about some of the more extreme ways that stuff gets argued. The Democratic position on this is that women's health is at risk and women could die because they're not going to be given a certain, you know, a treatment in scenarios where their life is in jeopardy. And you had an OBGYN in Texas go viral for saying that that was crap. saying that I work here, I work in this place, I've worked in this place for a long time, and I know the narrative that's emotional and not true, and how often you see it in all these other places. But that's essentially the place we're in right now, where if the most extreme stuff on the right, you can simply smile and ignore it if you're someone that's not in agreement with that sort of thing, because you believe that the policies at the end of the day won't reflect it. Or if you're someone that's extreme on the left and you are upset because the policies don't always reflect what you want to see done in the world, that's the big issue with some younger voters on the left is they didn't think that they went far enough in the degree they wanted to go. Then, yeah, the Democratic brand becomes toxic. And a lot of people who think they're in the middle, like Elon Musk and Joe Rogan, now think that they're part of the, you know, Venn diagram or whatever it is that Kamala Harris would love to talk about in relationship to this, that fall on the Republican side and not the Democratic side. And actually, something else I mentioned that I thought was really interesting, and you've probably said this before or thought this before yourself if you've had a conversation like this with a loved one, Some of the marquee Democrats in history would be conservatives by today's standard. People like Kennedy who Manchin mentions. Those are individuals that if you look at the policies, at the speeches, at the discussion points, so much of it is echoed by people on the conservative side of the aisle now. And that was a vastly popular Democrat. So what has changed there? It doesn't seem that if you look at the history of both parties, that what you see is extreme rhetoric getting more extreme on the right based on who falls into that bucket now compared to the left. The left feels like it's moving off into a corner and the right feels like it's absorbing some of that middle sort of by happenstance. Because you just don't believe that the next policy decision by a Democrat involving your school is something that would be good for your kids. And you think whatever's happening on the right, at least it'll get government out of the way and you can decide for yourself what you want to do. So it's just very interesting to hear and see him say and, you know, crap all over Democrats one last time on the way out on CNN. Well, for some reason, being at a bar and having a beer. Again, Manchin looks more normal than most and not quite as uncomfortable as people like, you know, Pocahontas, as Trump would call her. But so many people out there that seem to need to do this like human part will do in the political part. Just just tell me the political stuff. You don't need to pretend to have a beer or to pretend to be having fun while you're talking about this. I don't need that.
SPEAKER 09 :
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.
SPEAKER 01 :
McRib is here. People throwing parties, ugly sweaters everywhere. Stockings hung up by the chimney with care. It could only mean one thing.
SPEAKER 07 :
McRib is here. And participate at McDonald's for a limited time.
SPEAKER 02 :
Welcome to Pro Tips for the Pros, brought to you by Floor & Decor East Brunswick. In this series, we'll explore essential advice for professional contractors to deliver outstanding renovation results. Let's dive in. Keep the work area clean and organized throughout the renovation process to create a positive impression and minimize stress for the customer. Regularly clean up debris and dust to maintain a safe and comfortable living environment. Thank you for joining us for this pro tip on planning thorough renovations. Stay tuned for more expert advice brought to you by Floor & Decor East Brunswick.
SPEAKER 05 :
A lot of people tolerate ordinary. Ordinary bathrooms, kitchens, entryways. Well, not on your watch. If you're a pro, you've got a new partner in town. Floor & Decor. From tile to wood to stone, Floor & Decor has more styles and job lock quantities of Schluter, Mapei, Ladecrete, and other brands pros trust. Come see a whole new way to wow with Floor & Decor. Now open in East Brunswick.