On this episode of Sekulow, we delve into President Biden's controversial last-minute commutation of death row inmates' sentences, a move that has sparked debate across the nation. With only a few days left in his presidency, Biden's decision to commute the sentences of 37 federal death row inmates has been scrutinized for its potential political motivations and timing. Join us as we examine the implications of this decision and its impact on his legacy, with insights from legal experts and guest contributors.
SPEAKER 07 :
Today on Sekulow, Biden disregards crime during his last days in office.
SPEAKER 05 :
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.
SPEAKER 07 :
Welcome to Seculo and we hope you all had a Merry Christmas, a time to celebrate the birth of Christ with your family and your church and those that you love. And we are talking about today on this day after Christmas, something that may have happened, uh, under the radar for you as you celebrate the holidays. I know many of us don't like to get too bogged down in the news over the Christmas holiday, but President Biden issued a commutation as he's been building up these numbers of commutations and pardons across the last few weeks, which is normal at the end of a presidency when the president exercises the pardon power and commutation power that he has. But this one was a little bit of a head scratcher for many. And this was a statement from President Joe Biden on federal death row commutations. This came on December 23rd, a time when many people are traveling, already spending time with family, getting ready for Christmas Eve services, wrapping presents and the like. And what President Biden did here was he commuted the sentences of 37 of the 40 individuals on federal death row. Now, he's not releasing them from prison. They're not being pardoned. But it's a commutation from a death penalty conviction down to life sentences without the possibility of parole. And at this time, as his legacy is being cemented, as his time in office is coming to an end, it still seems like the president is playing politics with his pardon power and with his executive powers. The 37 of these 40 individuals, three which will remain on death row, are notably Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who was one of the Boston bombers, the perpetrator of the Emmanuel Baptist Church shooting, and the Tree of Life synagogue shooter. I don't even want to say their names because they are horrible criminals that are on death row. And now there is a very lively debate around the use of the death penalty around the world and the federal level. But it is a curious timing that President Biden, decides to commute these sentences of these convicted mass murderers in many cases down to the life in prison without the possibility of parole, with the exception of three, which he gives the explanation of these. These commutations are consistent with my moratorium. My administration is posed on federal executions in cases other than terrorism and hate motivated mass murder. So he has exceptions about something that he is convinced the federal government must stop the use of. We're going to talk about it with Harry Hutchison in the next segment, and we've got a lot more ahead. But it just seems inconsistent and more of a political game to mess with the incoming Trump administration. More than anything. And he does it right during the Christmas holiday. So we'll get into that. And we have a lot more ahead on the show today. If you're watching, go ahead and hit like and subscribe. Leave a comment. Tell us where you're watching from. Or if you have a comment about this, you can also call in at 1-800-684-3110. We've got Rick Grinnell coming up ahead. But I also want to remind you that we are... as this year is almost over, if you can believe it, in the final days of our Faith and Freedom year-end drive. This is the most important month of the year at the ACLJ. It enables us to do all the work you see forward-facing, like this broadcast, like the big victories in court you hear about, but also all of the legal work and analysis and education that we provide here at the ACLJ at no cost to our clients because of those of you that give faithfully to the ACLJ. If you donate today, your gifts are doubled. Go to faithandfreedomdrive, year and drive at aclj.org. You can scan that QR code if you're watching on one of our many video platforms. But donate today, have your gifts doubled, aclj.org. Welcome back to Sekulow. I'm joined by Harry Hutchison here in the studio, and we'll get to that. More analysis of this commutation by President Biden just days before Christmas in just a moment. But I do want to remind you, if you are watching right now, we are in the final days of our Faith and Freedom year in drive. And actually, today begins a triple match. So we have had gifts doubled throughout this match, but because of ACLJ champions and those that provide that matching fund, we are with just five days left Unlocking a triple match. So it's no longer just your gift doubled. A $25 gift now becomes $75. A $100 gift becomes $300. It is your tax deductible gift is triple matched at ACLJ.org. And this provides the funding as we budget into the next year to fight many cases. We'll talk about some of those cases here today. But these cases are fought at no cost to the client. When a track team is told you can't pray by their coach at a public school before your meet. And the courage that it takes for a high school student to say, I know this is wrong. I need to fight it, but I don't know how. That's where the ACLJ comes in. And we're victorious. When we fight those cases, we know we have the law on our side and we know we can take it on. And we know that it's not going to cost those courageous teenagers or in many other cases. And we'll talk about those, too. The individual doesn't have to worry about, how am I going to pay a lawyer to fight for me? They come to the ACLJ and they get those services at no cost to them because of you, the donor who stands up. We had 175 pro-life legal matters this year of 2024, 197 free speech matters that we fought this year. 142 religious liberty matters and 126 legal actions battling the deep state and hundreds more that don't necessarily fit into that clean category of just free speech or religious liberty. But we fight these at no cost to the clients. And that is such a profound impact on our nation, on ensuring that our Constitution is followed, and that these individuals' rights are protected. And it's been a rough time for individual rights and religious liberty in fighting the deep state over these past four years. But just because there's a change in administration doesn't mean that that everything goes away that we have to fight. Many times we have to fight it harder because then it's the individuals at these bureaucracies or these states that don't believe in protecting the freedoms that we have in our constitution that start to go on the offense. And that's why the ACLJ is here. The federal government can do a lot, the new administration, to protect rights and to reestablish the guidepost for how this nation should behave. But that doesn't mean it goes away. That means the bad actors sometimes come out in more force. And that's why it's so important to give today in our Faith and Freedom Year in Drive. Go to ACLJ.org. Have your gift tripled today. and make sure that we are prepared at any challenge that is thrown our way in 2025. But I want to get back to this comment and this commutation by President Biden, because Professor Hutchison, I know there's a very robust debate around the world, in the United States, about even the use of the death penalty. And that's not what this is about in this issue here for me. But what it is about is the Biden administration trying to hamstring the next administration. It's also about the ability of the president to show consistency, which he currently is not, I believe. And it also brings up the issue of where have you been on this issue for four years? Why now, as you try to cement your legacy in what you hope will be a positive one, with just a few days left in the administration? What were your thoughts when you saw this come out over the Christmas holiday?
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, number one, I think it's crystal clear that President Biden's enduring legacy is his ongoing mental decline. And so consistent with his ongoing mental decline, he offers arguably an inconsistent explanation for commuting the death penalty for death row inmates. And you are quite right, Will, to point out there is this huge question out there. Where was Joe Biden two years ago, three years ago, four years ago? He had the opportunity to commute these sentences much earlier. It's important to keep in mind, as you correctly point out, that there is an open debate surrounding the death penalty. One of the arguments against the death penalty has always been the possibility that one of the defendants is in fact innocent. But there's no evidence, at least that I've seen on the record, that any of the commutations that he issued recently fall into that category. In other words, none of these prisoners were innocent, and there's no evidence of innocence which could potentially justify a commutation. But it's also imperative to look at the background. Joe Biden has basically offered a commutation clemency festival. Keep in mind, on December the 12th, he offered clemency to 1,500 inmates. He recently pardoned his son, Hunter, And now he's offering a commutation for 37 death row inmates, notwithstanding the fact that the victim's families have gone through a trial and sentencing phase. And he basically says to the victims' families, I don't care about your sense of justice. So at a minimum, he should have demonstrated that he was willing to talk to those victims before offering a commutation. But I would also quickly add that would be asking too much of President Biden given his mental decline.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, and there was that – big report out of the Wall Street Journal last Friday, where it appears that the decline of President Biden happened even during the campaign in 2020. And that for four years, he hasn't fully been operating as president. He held far fewer all cabinet meetings than his predecessors. He stopped meeting with the Secretary of Defense regularly, which was happening earlier in the presidency. but people were alarmed at how infrequent it became, especially when there were two global conflicts that America, at least by proxy, was involved in, the war in Gaza as well as the war in Ukraine, and his meetings became less frequent with his Secretary of Defense. And you look at these issues, and it does bring concern, and all of this is hindsight. There is a future ahead with the new administration. But One, it makes you question who is making these decisions, who is calling the shots. But also, if this were something that were a deeply rooted moral issue for the president, as he brings up, that he believes that I'm more convinced than ever that we must stop the use of the death penalty at the federal level. Well, they did put them on hold. There was a moratorium on carrying out the executions during this presidency, so that is why no one was executed. But then he took the step of granting the commutation of the sentence from a death by execution down to life without the possibility of parole. But once again, if it's that moral issue, and I do believe there are – many, many people, even conservatives, liberal across the spectrum that don't believe, especially as you brought up, because of the issues that can happen in jury trials across this country, that necessarily the death penalty is the right thing for the state to have the power. However, Why, if this moral issue is so necessary at this time, were three left off? We're not going to talk about the crimes that were committed by those that got their sentence commuted, but I read some of them, and they are horrific. But yet, the three... equally as horrific crimes were left their penalty and the others were not. We're going to continue on with this discussion and much more, and you can call in at 1-800-684-3110 to join the conversation. But remember, we are in that triple match. If you donate to the ACLJ today in our Faith and Freedom year-end drive, your gift is effectively tripled. A $25 gift becomes $75. A $100 gift becomes $300. It's important now more than ever. that you join us in this fight as we look forward to 2025, a year with so much opportunity, but also with many, many fights ahead. Donate today at ACLJ.org slash faith and freedom to have your donation tripled. Welcome back to Seculo. We hope you had a wonderful time celebrating Christmas with your family. But we at the ACLJ are back at work. We are wrapping up 2024, which has been a very eventful year. But we also look forward to the fights ahead in 2025. I'm joined now by ACLJ Chief Counsel Jay Sekulow. We are looking at the fights we have ahead. And you know more than anyone that just because there's a friendly administration in the White House sometimes means that the fights become harder as you fight harder. more localized fights with states, with cities that are almost lashing out at the change in the administration and the way that the country is run. How great of a threat do you see both the deep state as well as just governments on a smaller scale or bureaucrats that want to push back and fight against the freedoms that we celebrate and fight to protect here at the ACLJ?
SPEAKER 06 :
so sometimes and this has been true over many years you'll see that even with an administration that would be more friendly uh obviously in this situation um with president trump incoming president trump but the fact is that the bureaucrats are entrenched and if you look at some of our biggest fights We were in the middle of them. I remember when it went from President Obama to President Trump, we had the IRS targeting cases. And ultimately, it took a while for the new administration, you know, for everybody to catch up to speed. But we were able to get that case resolved successfully for our client because we utilized the benefit. of having lawyers that were taking a fresh look at this now within the government who acknowledged the wrongdoing of the Internal Revenue Service. Well, I think about the, right now, I think about the whistleblowers that we have. And we've been very aggressive in court and fighting back very aggressively. But the fact is now, we can now use other processes internally within the FBI, now that we're going to have a new FBI director and a new attorney general in Pam Bondi, to get justice for clients that have been wrong. I think of Garrett Elboy, I think of a whole group of them. So there's going to be those, but rest assured also, there will be new cases and new issues. I think you're going to see a lot of congressional fights. Our government affairs office is going to be very, very busy, but we also have a great opportunity to reshape the law in a positive direction that literally brings equal justice under the law to everyone. I want to take a moment here on behalf of the Sekulow family, but also on behalf of the American Center for Law and Justice and all of our teams on radio, on government affairs, our lawyers, people that work in the social media to say a huge thank you to our donors who are supporting our ongoing work at the ACLJ. Your donations right now mean a lot because this is literally it. The last five days here are the biggest five days of our year for the ACLJ. So I would encourage you, if you've donated, thank you. If you haven't yet, I encourage you to do so at ACLJ.org because the impact will be great. We're expanding. We have a lot of new opportunities ahead. And I'm excited about what's coming, but we've got to be realistic that these are going to be a lot of fights. And you're right, Will, a lot of these will end up on the local level.
SPEAKER 07 :
And you look at where we were at this point last year when we were preparing to fight at the Supreme Court over the 14th Amendment. And it's just a vast difference of where we were just 12 months ago to where we are today. But that it took that fight of the ACLJ standing with the Colorado Republican Party and also the Trump team fighting for ballot access there as well to even get where we are today. And that's happened this year.
SPEAKER 06 :
I mean, the 14th Amendment case was huge on a whole host of levels. And that was, of course, the idea that you would remove a duly qualified candidate from running for president, which is what the Colorado Secretary of State was trying to do, to win it at the Supreme Court and then ultimately win it overwhelmingly. Everyone recognizing that you can't do what Colorado tried to do. Then you had the immunity case, which we were heavily involved in because as someone who is represented in uh the president while he served as president i know what the demands are like and the idea that um you lose immunity would be ridiculous no president would be free to make a decision that they need to make in protecting the country because everybody there's already enough lawyers involved let me just put it that way you don't need a dozen more but that's the truth uh so those are listen we had a great run at the supreme court this year there's no doubt about it but as i said without the support of ACLJ donors and members around the country. None of this happens. No daily radio broadcasts, no broadcasts on YouTube and Rumble and Facebook and X. None of that happens without the support of the people that are listening to this broadcast or watching this broadcast right now. And we encourage you to support the work of the ACLJ. Look, I mean, we're at a strategic time and you want to take it... In the last administration, obviously, we were fighting the administration a lot. That doesn't necessarily change in the sense of some of the ongoing cases may continue, and certainly in the beginning until the new Justice Department's in place. But we do have great opportunities to get justice, and that's what we're going to focus on.
SPEAKER 07 :
That's right, and that's why we are here broadcasting December 26th to let you know what the fight ahead looks like and also how you can join the ACLJ and take part in this triple match here, these final days of our Faith and Freedom year-end drive. but we also have had many cases that aren't the headline gripping cases that you see like the 14th amendment and things of that nature. But even the ACLJ work continues down where we protect individuals, individuals that, Can't pray at a track meet before a track meet because their coach violates their rights or the student that we finally after years of fighting in Nevada was forced to read that monologue. And we got victory against that school district for that family as well. These victories are very important as well.
SPEAKER 06 :
Oh, listen, that's how we started as an organization was representing individuals. And we still, that's mostly what we do. People that could not afford lawyers that represent a president, but they, because of the generosity of our donors, they can be lawyers that have that kind of skill set let me take it a step further will on you you mentioned the school case and that was a tough case and you know we had a really fight uh to get justice in that case for the student and her mother let me tell you there are other ones we've got a case coming that's out of florida on a prayer meeting that was held a prayer vigil actually for a community that was challenged by an atheist group And we're fighting that out now with the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals and at the district court and ultimately go to the Supreme Court of the United States. We have a case that's at the Supreme Court right now on pro-life sidewalk counselors. So there is, whether it's at the school board level or the Supreme Court of the United States or the International Criminal Court, which is now officially indicted, The sitting president, Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, the ACLJ, heavily involved in that defense as well. So that's our global offices. Logan has been over in our office overseas and has been visiting there and talked to our executive director, the head of the programming there, and they're doing great work. So there's a lot of activity that goes on, like you said, Will, that you can't report every day because there's so much of it. But that's what we do every single day at the ACLJ.
SPEAKER 07 :
That's right. And we've just got a minute here, but Jay will be staying with us in the next segment as well. So don't tune out and go ahead and give a thumbs up and like and subscribe wherever you're watching. And make sure you go to aclj.org slash faith and freedom to have your donation tripled. here through the end of the year donations will be tripled you're hearing about the important fights that we fight every day at the aclj and as we try to navigate and predict what those fights ahead will be that's where you come in when you donate it helps us budget out for the year it helps us know what areas we can go how aggressively we can fight and we fight aggressively at the aclj So go to aclj.org slash faith and freedom. Have your donation tripled today. We'll be right back with more on Sekulow.
SPEAKER 05 :
Keeping you informed and engaged now more than ever. This is Sekulow.
SPEAKER 07 :
Welcome back to Sekulow for our second half hour of the broadcast. We hope you all had a Merry Christmas with your family and friends. And now we talk about the fight ahead. And we have ACLJ Chief Counsel Jay Sekulow joining us on the phone. And we've been talking about kind of that fight here domestically but we know the issues whether it be israel you mentioned the arrest warrants by the icc against prime minister netanyahu and even poland recently announced that if he were to go to the memorial at auschwitz they would they would actually have to carry out that arrest warrant because they are signatures to the icc how big of an impact and fight ahead is that for the aclj
SPEAKER 06 :
It's going to be gigantic. And let me just say something. You talk about disgusting. Think about this for a moment. The sitting prime minister of Israel has been indicted on bogus charges. It's nonsense. OK, this was in reference to Israel's response on October 7th. So they're going after the prime minister, who's now told that if he goes to and I've been to the March of the Living, I've been to those memorials. that if he goes to Auschwitz, where relatives of mine and many Jewish people around the world lost relatives, the Jewish prime minister of the Jewish state can't go to the Holocaust memorial because the International Criminal Court in The Hague has indicted him. Meanwhile, every dictator around the globe gets away with impunity. And here, Netanyahu did nothing. So what's the fight going to be like? It's going to be long. It's going to be hard fought. But you've got to understand something. Look, I'm one of the few lawyers that have argued in front of the International Criminal Court in The Hague a couple of times. And it's like nothing else you've ever experienced. We've showed that video before. But we're committed to standing with the Jewish state. We're committed to standing with Israel. And we're going to fight. And I think we will ultimately prevail. But it's going to take time and resources and a big international effort to do it.
SPEAKER 07 :
That's right. And I was even seeing reports, and this goes back to the importance of even this broadcast in the media that we put out. The AFP, the Agents Free French Press, they put out a whole article yesterday about Christmas in Bethlehem because of the war in Gaza. And the entire article just referenced that Bethlehem is occupied by the Israelis and also said that Gaza and the West Bank, the Palestinian territories, are separated by Israeli-occupied land.
SPEAKER 06 :
You know what, Will? It's interesting that the AFP said it, but let's get it a lot closer to home, which is a case we have right now. How about the FBI in the United States saying it? That is real. They recognized the state of Palestine officially as a diploma was handed out to a Palestinian security officer, okay? And it is handed out and they announce it as the state of Palestine, which neither the United States or the rest of the world legally recognizes as a state. So this shows you the level of that hostility. And that's why we're fighting back on the domestic front, because that we send in that Freedom of Information Act request. I am sure they will not respond. And I'm sure we will be in court and we will prevail.
SPEAKER 07 :
We will prevail. And we also know where to direct a new FBI director and administration to be looking.
SPEAKER 06 :
That's exactly right. Look, we have relations with these people. I mean, Pam Bondi was on our impeachment team. Of course, Tulsi Gabbard is a team member of the ACLJ. Rick Grinnell is now the special envoy and is a team member. I mean, think about that for a moment. of the people with the ACLJ that have heavy involvement in the next administration. It's very impressive. It's impressive because God opened doors and our supporters have supported the work of the ACLJ. Let me say this really clearly to everybody. Your support is now more critical than ever. And, you know, we had that Now More Than Ever campaign, which was very successful for the ACLJ. And the truth of that is, this is, folks, we got a moment here where we can see some really great things. We have to seize the moment. And that's where your support comes in.
SPEAKER 07 :
And you can do that today at aclj.org slash faithandfreedom or just aclj.org and have your donation tripled. The impact is tripled. These final days of the year, go to aclj.org slash faithandfreedom. We talked about these matters. We had 175 pro-life legal matters in 2024, 197 free speech matters, 142 religious liberty matters, and 126 legal actions against the deep state. And that's just scratching the surface, folks. We fight every day here at the ACLJ. Join us, ACLJ.org. Welcome back to Sekulow. If you want to have your question or comment on air, go ahead and call us at 1-800-684-3110. I'll be taking phone calls in the next segment of the broadcast. But right now, I'm joined by Rick Grinnell. who has been on this broadcast many times, and we are always happy to have Rick's insight into these many complex issues that we face. But I saw this in The Hill. It seems like the left just doesn't know how to lose, so they have to keep digging up old arguments in trying to stop the Trump presidency. But this headline... Congress has the power to block Trump from taking office, but lawmakers must act now. Rick, I thought this time last year when the ACLJ was preparing to file at the Supreme Court on the 14th Amendment cases and then we had a resounding victory at the Supreme Court, That issue was going to be dead, and we didn't have to deal with that. But it seems like the short-term memory of the left is ever pervasive, and we're seeing now history repeat itself as they try to get Congress to not certify an election, which I thought also was an insurrection. What are your thoughts on this, Rick?
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, first of all, the one thing that we always know that will always happen, death taxes and the hypocrisy of Washington. Politicians will always be hypocrites, and we see this now. If we play by the same rules that they played against us, these lawyers who are filing cases to undermine democracy, this is their words, they should be disbarred. They should be canceled. They should be debanked. That's what they did to us. And while I'm not advocating for that, because I think that it is a reckless trap for America, the reality is that this is what they did to us. And I'm not sure what it's going to take to get them to stop. They started this whole thing, remember, in 2016, which most people forget. 75 Democratic congressmen and senators refused to go to Donald Trump's inauguration. They said it was stolen, it was illegitimate. So they didn't even go. They didn't show up. They boycotted the peaceful transition of power. And it was just a very short time later that they were then screaming about undermining democracy while they were selecting rather than electing their candidate. And so the hypocrisy is just huge. Here is the problem, Will. In Washington... It is called a Tuesday. It is not unique. No one is surprised. It won't be called out by the press rooms because they love the power of Washington and making sure that they protect that power. For the rest of us, you know, we ignored the media in the 2024 election. They piled on Donald Trump. They said, you know, terrible things. And the American people just came out and voted for him anyway. They know the truth. And I think the big news here is that the power of the media is really waning.
SPEAKER 07 :
And as you look at also the things that are coming out of the media now, after they participated in the cover-up of the state of our president for the last four years, they're now feeling free to tell the full story. You saw that Wall Street Journal report that came out just before Christmas, so congratulations Timed perfectly to not get a ton of press, but still to be in the national record that really the decline of President Biden happened before he even took office when he was running for office. And they were trying to downplay how much Jill Biden was campaigning because it looked bad because President Biden wasn't able to. And then you think about how much has been done under this presidency with a president not fully in charge. How much more was the deep state empowered by having the bureaucrats run the entire show with no real check from the president? And now we have to go in. We thought the swamp was swampy in 2016. How much worse is it now after four years of unchecked bureaucratic power, Rick?
SPEAKER 03 :
Look, I think that every single person that was around Joe Biden and stayed silent, the entire cabinet, the entire staff of the White House, they need to be held to account. They lied to the American people. They knew that he was declining. They said he was fine all the way through the summer. And we all know that that wasn't true. And you have people like Barack Obama and Hollywood types that were saying, oh, I was with him. He's as sharp as a tack. General Milley, for instance. How dangerous is it for General Milley to act so political that he overlooks a failing and declining president who can't make decisions in order to keep his job? That is really scary in America that that has happened. But that's exactly what happened. People were afraid to stand up. And yet what do they do? They always say that, you know, the other side is afraid to stand up. And and we see it very, very clearly. And I think they should be held to account. I'll add this. I don't think that the pardons that all just came out, the outrageous pardoning of murderers is something that Joe Biden did. I think his staff set him up, maybe even auto penned what happened. But Biden is in no position cognitively to make these decisions. And somebody should have stopped it.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, and Rick, we talked about that earlier in the broadcast, the commutation of 37 out of the 40 death row prisoners down to life imprisonment. But even that... was so loaded with a political game because they, in their statement that was purportedly from President Biden, that he believes this is not a practice that the federal government should be doing, but he still left three on there because whoever was writing this policy and deciding this would go forward knew how untenable it would be for the American people. If you pardoned the Boston Marathon bomber and the Tree of Life synagogue shooter and the Emmanuel Baptist Church shooter. that there would be outrage across this country that you lessened the sentence for those violent, terroristic criminals. But the stories that people don't know, they knew they could get away with this to help, I guess, cement a little bit better legacy with the left. It really just boggles the mind.
SPEAKER 03 :
Look, it's politics that permeates everything. And this kind of far left, We're against the death penalty, uh, is exactly what the staffers did. They looked for every case of someone on death row and they just swept all these cases together and they asked Joe Biden to sign them, or they just got them to, uh, shake his head and they auto-pended. This is, this is outrageous that it's happening in America. Uh, these people need to be held to account. Every single person who works in the white house, the chief of staff, Jake Sullivan, All of these individuals, including the cabinet, Pete Buttigieg is going to try to run for office in the future. Jennifer Granholm, all of these people sat by and watched the president lie to America and they participated in it. This is something that they should be run out of town for, not try to get elected to come back to Washington to do some sort of job.
SPEAKER 07 :
And Rick, we are in the last few days of our faith and freedom year in drive. And one of the things I've been telling our audience is that there's a big job ahead for those filling positions in this new administration. And because of how recklessly the bureaucrats have acted over the past four years, Many times they need even the expertise of the ACLJ through our FOIA process, through pointing out to these administrative branches that here's where the issues are. It's so much mess to try to clean up when you just are thrown in there, but that's why we will stand alongside these administrative departments, these agencies of the federal government, and point out, here's where the problems were. We've been watching it for four years. Go look here to clean up this mess.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, look, the institutional knowledge of all the corruption is exactly what ACLJ does. The government is going to need help showing how to reform these agencies. We're about to launch the most incredible reform effort in Washington. Outside groups like ACLJ that have enormous clout, great resources of lawyers, offices around the world. We need to support ACLJ. I hope people will recognize here at the end of the year that they should support an organization like ACLJ, which is doing the good work.
SPEAKER 07 :
Thank you, Rick, for joining us today. I hope you had a Merry Christmas, and we'll be talking with you soon. But as Rick said, now is the time to support the ACLJ. Go to aclj.org slash faithandfreedom. You can scan the QR code that's on your screen if you're watching on one of our many video platforms. We encourage you to do that if you only get the audio version. We have a beautiful studio, robust broadcast. that you can watch five days a week. Go to aclj.org, support the work of the ACLJ and the work ahead, more importantly. The Faith and Freedom Year-End Drive. It goes to help us budget for the next year. to know where we can fight, where we can direct our resources in the year ahead. And we need your help to do that. Go to aclj.org slash faith and freedom. From now until the end of the year, your gift is tripled. Your gift is tax deductible and your impact is tripled. aclj.org slash faith and freedom. We'll be right back. Welcome back to Seculo. Executive producer Will Haines sitting in today. And if you want to be on air, I'm about to take phone calls. Go to 1-800-684-3110. 1-800-684-3110. You can call and we've got a few lines open and I'll get to those calls as they come in. So I'm going to do that right now. I'm going to go to Robert calling from Maryland on line one. Robert, I hope you had a Merry Christmas. You're on Seculo.
SPEAKER 04 :
I did. Thank you, Will. It was a wonderful Christmas and still enjoying it. And I wanted to ask you, and I think you probably partially answered the question, what may be the primary motivation for President Biden to commute the sentences of three individuals, one that committed an act of terrorism and two committed some hate crimes? He committed some terrible crimes. It's not like it sounds like any of these men of the sentences that he commuted worked with the government to break up other criminal organizations or to bring some other criminals off the street. That's why I was asking that.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, from his statement, if you take it at face value, is that he is convinced more than ever that we must stop the use of the death penalty at the federal level and that this is carrying that out. President Biden talks proudly about his Catholic faith. The death penalty is mostly not held as something that the government should be involved with within the Catholic Church. The Pope speaks out about the uh the evils of the death penalty and that government should do away with that um so i assume that the rationale and this is this is from an outsider's perspective would be something tied to that and that doesn't believe the federal government needs to be involved with it but that's where it does seem to be the disconnect if if it is something like your faith driving you to to say that the federal government needs to be out of the business of the death penalty. then why is the commutation not for all 40, just for the 37? Now, the heinousness of what happened, this Boston Marathon bombing, an act of terrorism that gripped the nation for days as that manhunt took place, or the horrific tragedies of the targeted shootings of the Tree of Life Synagogue, a horrible act of anti-Semitism and hatred, or the racially motivated Emmanuel Baptist Church shooting in South Carolina. Those things are all heinous crimes. The other crimes that these others committed where they took the life of children in many cases, equally as heinous. These are horrific things that these people did to get themselves convicted of these crimes and put on death row. So I don't personally understand the distinction between someone who is committing acts of violence and killing children. to commute that sentence, but the mass shooters not commuting theirs, it doesn't seem to have an ideological square to it, where if you believe that it should be gone and all of them should just be in life in prison without parole, then I think that that would have been the ideologically honest approach here. But as Rick said, it seems that Potentially, someone else was involved in this decision-making process, and it wasn't just President Biden who came up with the idea to commute the sentence of 37 out of 40 federal death row inmates. Somewhere along the line, someone got political and said, there is no way that your legacy can be commuting the sentence of either mass shooters or that committed religious and or racially motivated killings, or a terrorist, the Boston Marathon bomber, that put the entire Northeast in a state of fear, and America was gripped by watching that story play out live on our TV screens. So I think that there was politics mixed in with that motivation, not just pure ideological honesty, if you want to put it that way. Let's go to Courtless calling from Florida on line two. Courtless, you're on Sekulow.
SPEAKER 01 :
Yes, hi. The world saw Biden's last debates I wanted to know, why isn't anybody legally challenging all of his bad decisions up until the end of his presidency, claiming that he is incapacitated?
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, courtless, the method for challenging the president in office, whether he has the ability to serve, would be using the 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. There is a process laid out, and it would take members of the cabinet and the vice president it would take them to really start that process. And that is not something that we have seen any will to do. And whether or not it matters at this point with under 30 days left in his presidency, I think is one thing. But I also, I think many of the decisions, because the ideology of those cabinet members and the vice president And anyone who would start that process is in line with President Biden, or maybe they are the ones. making a lot of the decisions. So why would they want to pull the rug out from under what is an easy time to make big policy changes and big policy shifts here at the end? I mean, even the fact that we mentioned earlier, the FBI at that ceremony announcing someone from Ramallah, the state of Palestine, that is a the FBI appears to be changing U.S. foreign policy against U.S. law. about what Palestine is recognized as here in the final days of the administration. And should that be challenged even from within the Biden White House? Because the FBI is under the executive branch. Yes, it should be. That should be an issue. But it's not because they're coasting their way out, changing policy as they go. Planting landmines, so to speak, for the incoming administration to have to deal with so that they can't be as effective as they need to be on day one of cleaning up the mess. But that's why the ACLJ immediately filed a FOIA request to the Federal Bureau of Investigation about who made this policy. Who okayed this script? Who said that a table could be put up at a reception that says State of Palestine with a Palestinian flag covering the entire state of Israel so that there was no Israel on the map at Quantico? That's what we're going to find out. And then with an easier route forward with a more friendly administration, we can fight to get those results quicker than the Biden administration like to give them to us. It took years to get certain things, but we don't give up. We keep fighting. Those FOIA fights, especially under a hostile administration, take years because we have to go to court. We have to fight. in court to get a judge to tell the administration, give them the documents they're required to be given to the ACLJ under law, the Freedom of Information Act. And then we have to dig through the tens of thousands of pages they dump and we find that nugget and we find out where the corruption was and we find out who made the policy change, who deleted the video, who lied to the American public. We do that every day here at the ACLJ, just like we fight for students' rights to pray before a track meet, or parents' rights to protect their children from content being forced upon them in the schools that is inappropriate, or whether we're fighting for the state of Israel at the International Criminal Court, or whether it is fighting for your rights to free speech and religious liberty. Donate today, ACLJ.org. Your gift is tripled.
In this episode of the Mike Gallagher Show, Joey Hudson steps in to deliver insights on the day after Christmas, engaging listeners with discussions on the upcoming Trump administration's aggressive plans regarding immigration. With analysis on how Mexico is preparing for an influx and the possible strife on U.S. soil, Hudson provides a rundown of policies set to be enacted swiftly after inauguration.
SPEAKER 18 :
He's the happy conservative warrior. From the Relief Factor studios, sitting in for Mike today, here's Joey Hudson.
SPEAKER 15 :
Welcome in on this day after Christmas. Hope you had a wonderful Christmas. with your family, with your friends, and just had some time off just to relax. Probably did a lot of cooking, a lot of eating. Just hope it was a blessed day for all of you. We've got a lot to cover today. And, of course, you'll be a big part of that. Love to hear from you. 800-655-MIKE, 1-800-655-6453 is how you join today's conversation. You can call. And Teresa will put you in queue. We'll talk as time permits. You can text your comments on the MyPillow text line. We'll read as many of those as we can. And emails are welcome, joey at joeyhudson.com, of course. In anticipation of the inauguration of Donald Trump coming up on January the 20th, of course, one of the key... issues that he has talked about is deporting illegals who are in our country illegally. This is a major part of what Donald Trump ran on this year. And the American people are ready for this. It's going to be quite interesting to watch because just logistically it's going to be tough to literally gather millions of people and then get them back to the country that they came from. Evidently, though, the Mexican government realizes that Trump is serious about this as they have started planning on their own of how to deal with this mass influx of people coming back home. The Mexican government, over Christmas, announced that they are opening 25 new shelters to accommodate the anticipated surge. And they're anticipating it to start day one, January 20th. As soon as Trump is signed in and starts signing executive orders, Tom Holman says that he and his team are ready to start. And evidently, Mexico is anticipating that influx that day. They're saying that, and this was from Bajaj, California, Governor Marino Avila-Almato confirming the initiative. She says that there will be five shelters in Tijuana with two more in Mexicala. They did not disclose where the other shelters. would be located, but she said this is a strategic plan to accommodate exclusively people who get deported after January 20th. She emphasized that the shelters will be exclusively for Mexican nationals returned from the U.S., saying that Mexicans will be welcomed back to their country and their human rights will be respected. The shelters each have a capacity of 500 people each. They'll be there temporarily until they can be returned to their hometowns. Specific shelters will be set up to cater to men, women, families, and unaccompanied minors. The shelters are also set to open January 20th, coinciding with the inauguration, reflecting Mexico's anticipation of a much stricter U.S. immigration policy. Incoming White House Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt confirmed that Trump would take immediate executive action on the border on day one. Measures could include revisiting Title 42, a pandemic-era policy that allowed officials to turn away migrants at the border. Additionally, Trump plans to empower federal and local law enforcement officers to coordinate efforts to identify, detain, and deport undocumented immigrants. Trump has appointed South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem as Homeland Security Secretary and, of course, Tom Holman as the border czar. And Tom Holman is just like a dog with a bone. He is ready to go. It's going to be very interesting to watch how this guy gets this job done. And I have no doubt that he will get the job done. It's going to be – again, it's going to be interesting to watch because you've got a lot of the sanctuary states, sanctuary cities who are preparing – to not cooperate with the Trump administration. And that's what's going to be fun to watch because Tom Holman says he's just going to work around them. He doesn't care if they try to obstruct what he's doing. One way or the other, he is going to make sure that the illegals in this country are sent back home. So we'll see. 800-655-6453. is how you join the conversation on the MyPillow text line, 800-655-6453. Your texts are welcome. Be sure and always use promo code MikeG when you go to MyPillow.com and get the very best price that you can. Joe Biden, you may recall, spared the lives of 37 federal death row inmates just prior to Christmas. Has not shown the same compassion for others. And one example that came up that was reported on over Christmas is a story of Jonathan Darnell. Darnell is a pro-life activist. Darnell frequently protests in front of abortion clinics. Darnell found himself on the wrong side of the law, or the Biden law, after one of these protests. When he was arrested... Prosecuted, found guilty. They used the FACE Act, the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances, to prosecute him. This was in 2020. Darnell was part of a group of 10 protesters who chained themselves to an abortion clinic entrance. All were convicted under the FACE Act. which is a 30-year-old law that prohibits obstructing access to both abortion clinics and to pro-life pregnancy centers. So Darnell, of course, is critical of Joe Biden offering clemency and offering grace. giving these killers, and these were some bad people that Joe Biden gave a second chance to, or at least is going to let them live the rest of their natural life. They're some bad people. Darnell was sitting in a federal prison because he was protesting outside of an abortion clinic. He criticized the Biden administration for what he sees as selective enforcement of the FACE Act. He says that 32 of 34 people convicted under the law since Joe Biden took office have been pro-life activists. Meanwhile, nearly 100 attacks on pro-life pregnancy centers following the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022 went unprosecuted. So typical Biden administration DOJ, They choose who they want to as far as prosecution. So you've got pro-lifers who are sitting in jail because they were protesting in front of an abortion clinic, but yet you can have people who are objecting to some of the pro-life pregnancy centers where they work with these young women to encourage them to have the baby, maybe put the baby up for adoption, but to have that baby, not to abort the baby. These folks, when they disrupt those centers, and in some cases they damage the centers, they're not prosecuted. That is very evident of Joe Biden's two-tier justice system, right? 800-655-6453. I'm Joey Hudson. In for Mike Gallagher today.
SPEAKER 18 :
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SPEAKER 16 :
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SPEAKER 12 :
The Mike Gallagher Show. Let me ask you, Time Magazine. You have someone who inspired an insurrection. You have someone who, without a doubt, the evidence is there, tried to overturn a free and fair election. You had someone who had multiple criminal counts and found guilty on multiple criminal counts. And you named them person of the year? Is this a joke? Did we get something wrong? Did someone scam us?
SPEAKER 18 :
In the relieffactor.com studios, here's Mike.
SPEAKER 15 :
And Joey Hudson in for Mike again today. We'll be today, tomorrow, as we get through to the new year. Glad to have you. Lots of ways for you to join the conversation today. Hope you will. You can email me directly, joey, at joeyhudson.com. You can call 800-655-MIKE, 800-655-6453. You can talk with us. Tracy will put you in queue. We'll talk. It's time for minutes. Or you can just leave me a quick message on the MyPillow text line. Always use promo code MikeG when you go to MyPillow.com and place those orders. Hey, let me quickly remind you of a great if you'd like to see Alaska next year. This will be a trip of a lifetime. Peg and I did it this past year, this past July. Never had been to Alaska, and boy, I tell you, the beauty is just amazing. This is the Patriots Alaska Cruise. It's coming up August 16th through the 23rd. of 2025, so now's the time to go ahead and book and plan ahead. This isn't just any cruise. It's a Patriot Alaska cruise where you're going to get a chance to spend some time not only with Mike Gallagher, who will be one of your hosts, but Larry Elder, Joe Piscopo. Jennifer Horn. It's a great time. You see the beauty of God's nature throughout Alaska, but then you have some great programs with your host on the ship. Lots of good food, lots of good activity. So if you're interested in seeing Alaska, but better yet, just spending some time with several hundred of like-minded people along with some of your favorite radio hosts, This is a trip for you. Go to TravelWithSalem.com. TravelWithSalem.com. You can get all the details there. Go ahead and book or call 855-565-5519. 855-565-5519. Go ahead and book so that you get first shot at the stateroom that you would like to have. I'm sure that you got a lot of Christmas gifts prepared. From Santa and from your friends and family, according to a study, one in six gifts will be returned. a significant portion of what some of the retailers are doing right now, they're getting ready for that onslaught of returns that you and I will be making. Which kind of leads me to the question, you know, as you're sitting there receiving gifts, and you get one and you don't have any idea what it is. Or you know it's just something you're never going to use and you're thinking, okay, I'm going to return this. What do you say to the person giving you the gift? Did you spend any time over the holidays when you're opening gifts, looking around the room, and you know someone got something and you know they don't have a clue what it is? Love to hear from you how you respond. I mean, do you just take it, thank them, say nothing with the idea that you know you're going to return it? Or do you give it to someone else? You re-gift it. A lot of re-gifting going on. You have to be careful, though. Make sure you don't give it back to the person who gave it to you. But retailers say that they're processing and managing returns. That'll be a big thing starting today. averaging $27 for every $100 online order due to some of the expenses of shipping, sorting, and repackaging these returns. Many items are not resold, they say, with only 30% making it back to the shelves. The rest are sold at auctions, donated, or discarded. So this is where you get some of those big deals on sites like MacBid and some of the other auction sites. So 800-655-6453. Text me on the MyPillow text line. Give me a quick call. Tell me about your experience and how you handle those gifts that you know you're not going to use. The gifts, in some cases, you don't even know what they are. Again, do you just graciously accept them? Or do you say, look, I don't know what this is. Tell me what this is. 800-655-6453. Let's go to the phones. William is waiting patiently in Flint, Michigan. Welcome, William.
SPEAKER 08 :
Good morning. I shouldn't have said that. The issue is simple. Our gift related to Donald Trump... is three-quarters of the spindle-top oil fortune of 1901. We would like to see the Republican Party revamp the public education system in America so that at the end of a three-decade period, Donald Trump's legacy would be mega on steroids. He made America great again by educating our children about two years college and a 12K through 12. But the key issue, sir, forgive me, I have asthma, is to put the Pledge of Allegiance back in the schools, teaching our class for each grade that this is a republic for which it stands. And if you're born in America, you are an American. If you're born in a republic, guess what? We're all republicans. Type A, type B, and some Zs in there. But Donald Trump could dissolve, there's the Trump order, dissolve the Republican Party over a 30-year period by educating our children with the Pledge of Allegiance. That we're all Republicans.
SPEAKER 15 :
Well, William, I appreciate your phone call. I'll take it one step further. Yes, we need to put the Pledge of Allegiance back in the schools. We also need to put prayer back in the schools. When I was growing up, I remember my fifth grade teacher, Miss Scipio, we would do the Pledge of Allegiance. She would play the Lord's Prayer. uh every morning too before we started our class so i would add that to the list uh kim is in uh corydon indian uh india indiana i guess kim how are you no not india you're in indiana
SPEAKER 10 :
That was a good slip-up. What am I going to call South Carolina? Anyway, I graduated high school in North Carolina. Oh, yes. Here's what I say about Christmas gifts. Be thankful that somebody remembered you. You might not like it, but deal with it. And say thank you. And if you don't like it or you're not sure, just deal with it. That's my philosophy.
SPEAKER 15 :
That's a good point, Kim, because regardless of what it is, that person took their time and their money to get that for you, in most cases wrapped it up and brought it to you, so that should mean something.
SPEAKER 10 :
Yes, and if you want Christmas for yourself, then be selfish and go buy it.
SPEAKER 15 :
Yeah, yeah, good point, good point.
SPEAKER 10 :
Yes, thank you very much.
SPEAKER 15 :
Thank you, Kim in Indiana. Have a blessed day. 800-655-6453, one line open for you. Lori is in Beaverton, Oregon. Welcome, Lori.
SPEAKER 09 :
Hi. Oh, that was a surprise. I was just wondering if I should be going to the inauguration ceremony.
SPEAKER 15 :
Well, if you can, I would highly recommend it. It's going to be a great time. I'm planning to be there. My wife, Peg, and I will be there. It's going to be a busy time, but, yes, I mean, it's going to be a historic event. Is there a reason why you're hesitating?
SPEAKER 09 :
I don't really know. I'm just afraid about all the crime or if – The crime is going to be there or not.
SPEAKER 15 :
Yeah. Well, it'll be very well protected. I mean, you know, the Secret Service, of course, will be there. The National Guard will be out. The local police in the Washington, D.C. area. I mean, it's going to be the protection is going to be there. There's risk in anything, any public event like this. I mean, we saw stories of Christmas yesterday, of a taxi cab, you know, running into a group of people in Manhattan. We saw the same thing happen in London. So if you go outside of the doors of your home, there's always risk. But, you know, I'm willing to take that risk because I want to see Donald Trump inaugurated.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah, yeah, that would be a good thing.
SPEAKER 15 :
It would be. So, Lori, I hope I see you there.
SPEAKER 09 :
Okay, well, thank you very much.
SPEAKER 15 :
Sure thing. Have a blessed day. 800-655-6453. Yeah, you know, I've had several people talking about, are you afraid to go to the inauguration? And particularly with all the activity of the drones, I have a buddy who's just convinced that there's going to be a drone attack on Inauguration Day. But if you live in fear of these things, you won't do anything. You won't ever go anywhere. So I'm going to be standing there in front of the Capitol watching Donald Trump take the oath of the office. We're going to be headed to the South Carolina Ball. That's going to be a lot of fun as well. So, yes, I will be there. Quickly to the phones. Tom is in Houston, Texas. Welcome. You're on the Mike Gallagher Show.
SPEAKER 04 :
How do you do, Tom? I want to talk about gifts and receiving and sending gifts.
SPEAKER 15 :
Yeah, how do you handle that?
SPEAKER 04 :
Well. I just turned 60. And years ago, my family got together for presents, and I bought and wrapped and everything for my nephews.
SPEAKER 15 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 04 :
And two of them, right there in front of the Christmas tree, threw a tantrum. This ain't what I wanted. Blah, blah, blah. And at that time, I was a single man, no kids. You know, I thought I was being good uncle and everything.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 04 :
It really drew me down. And what really hurt me was my sister didn't say nothing to them children. And, you know, I've been watching this thing on the, I don't know if you know Larry's Country Diner on the music channel. Yeah. He did a Christmas series, and I guess it's the same one that's been running for about 10 years. But all those older people... Yeah. Yeah. Right. Yeah.
SPEAKER 15 :
Yeah, some people get nothing for Christmas. So be thankful for what you get. Hey, Tom, good story. I'm sure there's a lot of other stories just like that. Appreciate your phone call. Hope you had a merry, merry Christmas. Some of these kids, they're unappreciative, and they don't know how to react like that. We'll see. Love to hear your story. You can text me as well on the MyPillow text line. I always use promo code MikeG when you go to MyPillow.com and place your order for some of the great after-Christmas sale items that Mike Lindell has. I'm Joey Hudson, in for Mike today.
SPEAKER 05 :
The glories of Christmas as long, long ago.
SPEAKER 10 :
It's the most wonderful time of the year.
SPEAKER 16 :
Christmas means giving, and for my money, Christmas means MyPillow. Make it a MyPillow Christmas for somebody on your list because the Christmas extravaganza is well underway. Because a big box retailer canceled an order, Mike Lindell has thousands of MyPillows to move. Well, he wants to pass the savings on to you, so check out this offer. You can order a standard classic MyPillow, and it's normally $49.98 for just $45. $14.88 with promo code MikeG. Limit of 10. This is the pillow that started it all, the pillow that never goes flat, stays nice and cool all through the night. You can throw it in the washer and the dryer as often as you want. You can get a classic standard MyPillow for $14.88 with promo code MikeG. A queen size, normally $69.98. You'll get it for just $18.88 with promo code MikeG. Or a king size, Normally $79.98. You can order it for $19.88 apiece. Limit $10, please, during Mike's incredible Christmas extravaganza from MyPillow.com. Look, if you haven't been to the site in a while, you can get all your Christmas shopping done by going to MyPillow.com. Look for the Mike Gallagher Specials Square. Click on that box, and then with any order you place, enter the promo code MikeG, and you'll save big. MyPillow.com. Promo code MikeG. MyPillow.com, promo code MikeG, or call 800-928-6034, 800-928-6034. It's the Christmas extravaganza sale going on right now at MyPillow.
SPEAKER 15 :
Mike Gallagher. Joey Hudson in for Mike today. Portions of today's show brought to you by Equity Protect. Your home's equity is often the most valuable thing that you own. Next generation criminal technology is more advanced than ever. And these newest schemes are set up to steal your most prized possession, something you've worked hard on. And that's your home. That's the equity you've built in there. You don't need just any deed monitoring. You need a partner with a process that eliminates a threat. And that's Equity Protect. Equity Protect has a patented ID verification process to stop title transfer without you physically approving. So if you own your home mortgage-free or if you have a lot of equity in your home, you need Equity Protect so that scammers won't steal your equity, your title, or your property. For a limited time, Equity Protect is offering an amazing deal for new customers, 30% off your first year, giving you one year of protection for... less than $12 per month. Go to equityprotect.com, equityprotect.com. Use the discount code Mike30. That's equityprotect.com, and use the discount code Mike30. You don't even have to check. Just trust the team at Equity Protect. Here's another instance of President Joe Biden's soft on crime policies and how it affects innocent families. As we discussed earlier in the week, just days before Christmas, Joe Biden decided he was going to commute the sentences of 37 of 40 federal death row inmates, including a man who mercilessly gunned down two innocent women in my home state of South Carolina in 2017. This was done during a bank robbery. The victim's families, what kind of compassion did Has Joe Biden shown the victim's families? They weren't even given the courtesy of a meaningful conversation before the decision was made. Let me introduce you to Donna Major, 59-year-old bank teller and Catherine Skeen, just 36 years old. These women were brutally executed by Brandon Council. He was a career criminal, and while they were simply doing their job at a Crescom bank in Conway, South Carolina, surveillance footage showed how Council walked into the bank, He spoke briefly to Donna Major, pulled the gun out, shooting her multiple times. She didn't have a chance to respond. He then jumped over the counter and shot Catherine, who also had no chance to defend herself. Now, imagine being a member of Donna Major's family or Catherine Sheen's family during this holiday season. Imagine reliving the horror of what happened to your loved one only to find out that the man who killed your mom, the man who killed your wife, was being shown grace by Joe Biden. Imagine that the jury who put this killer behind bars with the intent of taking his life because of the lives that he took, and then along comes Joe Biden, and says, no, I'm going to show some compassion here. We're going to let him live the rest of his natural life in prison because we know that Donald Trump's going to start executions as soon as he takes office. We don't want that. Donna's daughter, Heather Turner, described her reaction in cut number one as angry, hurt, and frustrated.
SPEAKER 14 :
Heather, what was your reaction when you heard the news?
SPEAKER 13 :
Anger. Absolute anger. We were told from our prosecution team on Sunday afternoon. I was actually gathered with my in-laws for our family Christmas. My sister was gathered with her in-laws and we got the call and I was angry. I'm still angry. I am upset that... This is even happening that one man can make this decision without even talking to the victims, without any regard for what we've been through, what we're going through. I'm completely hurt, frustrated and angry.
SPEAKER 15 :
So, Heather, nobody gave you an answer. That's what the family is feeling because Joe Biden didn't bother to check with them. He was too busy commuting the sentences of the bad guy. More on this coming up. I'm Joey Hudson in for Mike.
SPEAKER 11 :
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What's your policy on paying employees to attend protests? I demand eight weeks of vacation. I need at least 12 weeks of paid vacation. I'm going to need a lot of mental health days. Do you have a game room? My pronouns are Zs and Zs.
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SPEAKER 02 :
The Mike Gallagher Show. You read the Hallie Biden transcript, and that's Bo's widow. And essentially, he turned her into a crack addict. And this was all happening in 2017, 2018. And Joe and Jill Biden were so concerned about their family that they decided to run for president. So when you talk about the word selfish, their decision to run for president put the entire Democratic Party and the United States of America in the position that it's in now.
SPEAKER 18 :
In the ReliefFactor.com studios, here's Mike.
SPEAKER 15 :
Continuing this day after Christmas show, I'm Joey Hudson in for Mike. We're talking about these 37 people that Joe Biden commuted their sentences. 37 killers. 37 bad guys. And he wanted to show grace. A lot of the families and the victims are speaking up now, asking the question, the valid question, what about grace for us? One of those is a family from South Carolina. Donna Major was a 59-year-old bank teller when Brandon Council walked into the bank that she was working in in Conway, South Carolina, and shot her and a co-worker to death. Never had a chance. Her family is wanting to know where is the compassion for them. A very tough trial took place. A jury of this man's peers. He was a career criminal. It wasn't the first time he had committed a crime. And the people on the jury deliberated. It was a long, drawn-out trial. And they decided the appropriate sentence was death. And Joe Biden, without any consultation with the families, decided, well, they got it wrong. We need to show some compassion. Danny Major, Donna was his wife, spoke out on Fox News yesterday. over the Christmas holidays, saying that Joe Biden had not consulted with them and that he doesn't feel like that the Biden administration had shown any compassion for them whatsoever. And cut number two, this is Donna Major's husband, Danny.
SPEAKER 14 :
Danny, Joe Biden or whoever made this decision, because it is entirely unclear whether this came from him directly or his people. He's showing mercy to your wife's killer. Was your wife shown any mercy?
SPEAKER 17 :
She was shown no mercy at all. This man walked into the bank, never said two words to her, shot her three times in total, went and shot her co-worker, Katie Skeen, as well. He was totally defenseless and unaware that anything was happening. It's just beyond me that I can't even believe that this has actually happened, a commuting of sentences like this of 37 victims, all but three, which was certainly a political scheme. Undoubtedly, Joe Biden was also told by the Pope that he should stop these executions. Now, what the Pope has to do with anything in this country, I don't know. But Joe Biden certainly has no convictions. He's a senile old man. He couldn't tie his shoes, I wouldn't think, if you could see him in person. It's absolutely disgusting.
SPEAKER 15 :
Danny Major talking about the slaughter of his wife, Donna, in this bank robbery. And there's been a lot of mention of the idea that people are speculating that the reason Joe Biden did this was after his conversation with the pope. But I wonder why Joe Biden bowed to the pope on this issue, but yet when the pope has talked to him about abortion, he ignores the pope. How do you reconcile that? And how do you reconcile the fact that these are Americans who were killed, slaughtered, and in some of the cases, kids involved? One of the 37 had killed two 12-year-olds. Just some horrific crimes, and Joe Biden wipes it clean. Now, they'll spend the rest of their time in prison. One texter on the MyPillow text line says, Joey, will these guys be set free, or will they remain in prison but not executed? They will remain in prison. It's life without parole. But still, if you're a victim, if your mom, your spouse, your sister, was murdered and a jury of his peers declared that the murderer should be executed, are you okay with Joe Biden saying, ah, let's show him some grace, some compassion? Let's let him live the rest of his natural life in prison. I don't know. 800-655-6453. Your comments are welcome on the MyPillow text line. I always use promo code MikeG when you go to MyPillow.com. And you'll get the very best price. There's some great prices on there. The MyPillow slippers are just a fraction of the cost. Towels, 50% off. The six-piece towel sets. The bathrobes. I ordered some new slippers myself right before Christmas. Mike Lindell very rarely puts the slippers on sale. And right now, they're usually $119.98. With promo code MikeG, you can get them for $59.98. So go to MyPillow.com, use promo code MikeG to get the very best deal that you're going to get. Let's go to the phones. Don is in New York. Welcome, Don. You're on the Mike Gallagher Show.
SPEAKER 07 :
Thank you. My point is that this commutation of sentences is playing right into the Democrat playbook. There is a A couple of economists by the name of Cloward and Pivens that theorized the best way to take the country down without firing a shot is to overload it with debt, which the Biden administration has nearly doubled the debt they've added all their life. I think around $10 trillion of the national debt. They're trying to destroy this country. And Biden, I don't think he could even name one of the people he's pardoned. It was his handlers playing into the Cloward and Pivens playbook.
SPEAKER 15 :
Yeah, yeah, I think you're right, Don. I doubt that, and that's kind of what Danny Major said. He doubts that Joe Biden even knew who he was offering these commutations to. Dennis is in St. John's, Florida. Welcome, Dennis.
SPEAKER 19 :
Hey, good morning. Hey, the reason I'm calling is I have an angle on why, to answer your question, how do you reconcile this. I don't think he's been calling the shots for years. And I don't know who it is here, but I think his wife has been dealing with some of the more personal things. And I think they are the most self-serving people. And if you think about it as self-serving sociopaths, I think that they did this to soften the blow when they pardoned their own son. Yeah. You know, they're not self-serving, but they're compassionate people with everyone, not just your son. And they could care less about the country and those people that have been killed and the families. They couldn't care less.
SPEAKER 15 :
Yeah, I think you're right. And look, if they're really compassionate and they're worried about people being in prison, he should pardon some of the protests. First off, the Jay Sixers, but some of the protesters who have been prosecuted by his Department of Justice who were simply protesting outside of an abortion clinic. There's evidence that the Biden administration, the DOJ under Joe Biden, has purposely prosecuted people in front of abortion clinics, yet they haven't applied the same law. It's called the FAIR Act. They haven't applied the same law to those who have literally burned down pro-life organizations. Those who are trying to counsel young women to have their child, to have the child, put it up for adoption or whatever, there have literally been some of those that have been burned down, and no one was prosecuted for it. There's clearly a two-tier system in the Biden administration. I don't know who's calling the shots either. I agree that it's probably not Joe Biden. Bill is in Scottsdale, Arizona. Welcome to the Mike Gallagher Show, Bill.
SPEAKER 05 :
Hello. Say, I'm wondering what Biden has done with those 37 prisoners and how senile he's gotten. Is it possible that he could be giving... illegal people uh citizenship is there any i mean what what is his authority to uh be doing what he's doing uh well i mean he has the authority to offer these pardons and commutations as far as citizenship uh i don't i don't know i'd have to research that well that would be just uh overwhelming if he uh if he did something like that with uh
SPEAKER 15 :
So many millions of people in the country now that you're here. Bill, let's just not talk about it. Let's not give them any ideas, okay?
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah. Good thought. I never thought of that.
SPEAKER 15 :
Yeah, let's just keep that between us, Bill, okay?
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, okay. You bet.
SPEAKER 15 :
All right. Appreciate your call. Happy New Year to you. 800-655-6453. Renato, is it Renato? Is that right? Minneapolis?
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes, Renato.
SPEAKER 15 :
Renato. How are you, sir?
SPEAKER 03 :
Very good. Thank you. Just wanted to bring, I don't know if you guys have seen the movie of Jack Reiter, where it starts the movie with a killing of five supposedly random people, but then the plot was that one of them, a victim, was the purpose of the crime, and then they tried to hide with the others, making it appear like a random thing. I really, really would like to ensure that these kind of commutations is not some sort of plot just to help somebody that has bought those pardons. Because among those that have been commuted, there are powerful people that are still giving order from prison.
SPEAKER 15 :
Yeah. Well, look, there's nothing... Nothing fair about any of this, and I agree with the caller earlier. I dare say that Joe Biden has even read the names of all the people that he has either pardoned or commuted their sentences. I mean, how many are we up to now, about 1,600? And that many, there's no way you can do the background on them. And I think the DOJ has even surprised themselves when you get pushback. Like, for example, the police officer in Columbus, Ohio, the Fraternal Order of Police are literally standing on their head because this police officer, this cop killer, was granted some grace by Joe Biden. Just no regard whatsoever. And I probably agree that Biden probably had very little say in this. Somebody in his office, somebody who's just an extreme leftist who believes no one should even be in prison is making these decisions. We don't know and probably will never know. Your phone calls and comments on the MyPillow text line are welcome. 800-655-6453. I'm Joey Hudson, in for Mike today.
SPEAKER 18 :
Salem Media is giving you a chance to win a once-in-a-lifetime inauguration VIP experience, a trip for two to Washington, D.C., tickets to the Trump inauguration, and tickets to an inaugural ball. To enter, text TRUMP to 94878. That's TRUMP to 94878.
SPEAKER 06 :
Thank you.
Join Joey Hudson as he takes over the mic this Christmas week, diving into the latest political developments. The United States managed to avoid a government shutdown, and we'll detail the swift actions taken by Joe Biden and Congress to keep things running. President-elect Donald Trump promises operational readiness by January 20th, but where does that leave the Panama Canal? Listen in as the new political shifts are on the horizon.
SPEAKER 14 :
He's the happy conservative warrior. From the Relief Factor studios, sitting in for Mike today, here's Joey Hudson.
SPEAKER 10 :
Welcome in on this beginning of Christmas week. Glad to have you. There's lots of ways you can join the conversation. 800-655-MIKE, 1-800-655-6453. I'm Joey Hudson. And for Mike, we're going to have a great time together today as we... kick off this Christmas week. We're going to talk a little about our Christmas traditions, things that you and your family enjoy, and of course there's lots of news. We managed to escape the government shutdown that we talked so much about over last week as the U.S. Senate in the wee mornings of Saturday voted to pass on the bill that the U.S. House Managed to pass late Friday evening, and Joe Biden did sign it. We'll get into some of the details of that during today's show. Also, Joe Biden is commuting the sentence of 37 of 48. people who are on the federal death row inmate. You know, he commuted, what, 1,500 or so just a couple of weeks ago. We know that Joe Biden does not support the death sentence. There are 40 people currently on death row because they committed a federal crime. Don't mistake this with state death row inmates. These are federal death row inmates, which, by the way, this is part of why the U.S. attorney in New York is now taking over part of the case in New York City with the suspected killer of the UnitedHealthcare CEO, because if he's convicted on federal crimes, then he could be subject to the death sentence on a federal basis, whereas New York, of course, does not have a death sentence. But 37 of 40. And these are some bad people. We're going to dig into that in just a minute. A GOP member of the U.S. House of Representatives has not voted since July the 24th. She has been AWOL. until some people started asking questions, and it turns out that she is living in an assisted living retirement facility in her home state of Texas. We'll give you the details on that, too. And a horrible crime in New York City over the weekend as a migrant from Guatemala literally set a lady on fire and burned her to death and stood there and watched. Now, so far, New York officials have not confirmed whether or not this migrant was here legally or illegally. But we're going to dig into some of the details on that as well. Also, a congressman from my home state of South Carolina, Jim Clyburn, says he's not concerned about Elon Musk. spending potentially millions of dollars to finance the more moderate Democrat campaigns against some of the extremists in his party. Clyburn says they'll just work harder. They're not concerned about Elon Musk's money, although they constantly complain that Elon Musk is doing too much. He's becoming too involved. Some have accused him as being a shadow speaker of the House. Some have even said he's a shadow president. We'll see, but we'll dig into that. President-elect Donald Trump wasted no time in Arizona over the weekend. What a great group. He was at the keynote speaker at Turning Point USA's America Fest. He took the stage yesterday in front of some 21,000 young, enthusiastic conservatives. Now, that in itself is amazing to me. that you'd have 21,000 young people go to Phoenix, Arizona, for a conservative conference the weekend before Christmas. Charlie Kirk's Turning Point USA, it's just an amazing organization. If you ever have the opportunity to attend one of these, you should. I was able to back in the summer when he had one in Detroit. Of course, America Fest is the big one at the end of the year. But Trump, when talking about how soon he would be able to get things going in his new administration, told this group of youngsters that, By 2 p.m. on January the 20th, he'll be up and operational.
SPEAKER 16 :
And we're going to change it because your border is a disaster. Your border is a disaster. What's going on? And you just have a few days to wait. We're going to be fully operational, I would say, by about 2 o'clock on the 20th. 20th of January.
SPEAKER 10 :
2 o'clock on the 20th. You know, it's going to be fun to watch on exactly what does happen on January the 20th. Of course, a lot going on with the inauguration, but that will be over mid-afternoon, and the president will be back in the Oval Office, and I suspect he will have a stack of executive orders ready for his signature, ready to spring into action. The Democrats, it's just going to drive them insane. Another surprising thing, sort of a bombshell, if you will, he talked about taking the Panama Canal back. He's demanding it be returned to the United States. He said that the canal is crucial for U.S. commerce and military readiness. He said, we build it, we use it, and they gave it away. Of course, he's talking about Jimmy Carter. President Jimmy Carter in the 70s gave the Panama Canal to Panama. In cut number four, the president talked about how he wants it back.
SPEAKER 16 :
It's a disgrace. Our Navy and commerce have been treated in a very unfair and injudicious way. The fees being charged by Panama are ridiculous, highly unfair, especially knowing the extraordinary generosity that has been bestowed to Panama, I say very foolishly, by the United States. This complete ripoff of our country will immediately stop. It's going to stop. The United States has a big invested interest in the secure, efficient and reliable operation of the Panama Canal. And that was always understood when they gave it to Panama. Can you believe that? We would never have done it if we thought what's happening now can happen. And we would never and we will never, ever stop. Let it fall into the wrong hands, but it's falling into the wrong hands. It was not given for the benefit of others by a token of cooperation, but it was given to Panama and to the people of Panama, but it has provisions. You've got to treat us fairly, and they haven't treated us fairly. If the principles, both moral and legal, of this magnanimous gesture of giving are not followed, then we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to the United States of America.
SPEAKER 10 :
I'm not quite sure how that works, how we take something back, but still, this is the new president. This is the new sheriff in town, and the world needs to be on notice. Of course, the government from Panama pushed back on that. They had a few things to say about that, but we'll see how that plays out. 800-655-MIKE, 1-800-655-6453. Your comments are welcome on the MyPillow text line. Always use promo code MikeG when you go to MyPillow.com to get the very best deal on all the Christmas extravaganza products that Mike Lindell has for you. Of course, your phone calls are welcome as well. Tracy will put you in queue. We'll talk as time permits. You can email me, joey, at joeyhudson.com directly. I love to get your emails. I'm Joey Hudson, in for Mike.
SPEAKER 13 :
Yes, I'm in the stocking. I can hear knocking. Is that you?
SPEAKER 11 :
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SPEAKER 14 :
He's the happy conservative warrior. From the Relief Factor studios, sitting in for Mike today, here's Joey Hudson.
SPEAKER 10 :
Welcome in to this Christmas week on the Mike Gallagher Show. Glad to have you. There's lots of ways for you to join the conversation. 800-655-MIKE. 1-800-655-6453 is how you can join today's conversation. I'm Joey Hudson. And for Mike, glad to have you. Lots to cover today. Joe Biden has announced that he will commute the sentence of 37 of 40 days. people who are on the federal death row list. 37 of 40 death row inmates are having their sentences commuted. I'll tell you the three who did not and what they did. And the other 37, these are some bad people. Just another example of Joe Biden trying to sabotage the Trump administration, because as you know, President Trump has said that he will support the federal death sentence and that he will allow the execution of those on the federal death row when he takes office. We'll dive into that. Also, a GOP member of the U.S. House of Representatives, and I did say a GOP member, has been AWOL since July the 24th, has not voted since then, but has maintained her seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. How does this happen? And this is an example of what's wrong with our federal government. We'll talk about that as well. A horrible crime in New York City yesterday. where a, and we're now confirming, officials are, that this was an illegal from Guatemala, literally set a subway passenger on fire and watched her burn to death. Now, this was just a couple of hours before New York Governor Kathy Hochul, announced how safe the subways were. Evidently, Governor Hochul didn't read the news that day and wasn't aware that just a couple hours earlier, someone in New York City had their life taken by an illegal from Guatemala. And she's praising some of her policies that's made New York City a safer place. Wow. 800-655-6453. Hope you'll join the conversation. We're also talking about Christmas, of course. Your family's Christmas traditions and things that you do, memories that you have as we are in this special time of the year. It's my favorite time of the year. I love Christmas. And, of course, a lot of great memories there. Sadly, too many of my family are gone, but we still have those memories, don't we? And I was talking earlier about how with my grandmother Hudson, we'd always go to her home on Christmas Eve night and have oyster stew. And many of you have chimed in and said that was something that you did as well. I've never understood why we had oyster stew on Christmas. To me, that's sort of a seafood type thing. Living in upstate South Carolina, we're not near the coast. Seafood's not a big thing. But I wish I had asked my grandmother before we lost her, why? Why oyster stew? But it was great. It was great fun. We had the family on Christmas Eve night. I remember traveling back home, driving back home, and that's when we started watching for Santa, listening to the radio to see where he had been located, looking for Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. And, you know, it's just so exciting when you're a kid at Christmas. Hey, it's still exciting, and I'm not a kid anymore. I'd love to get your Christmas traditions. You can text them to me on the MyPillow text line, 800-655-6453. Of course, your phone calls are welcome. Tracy will queue you up. We'll take as many phone calls as we have time for. You can email me directly, joey at joeyhudson.com. By the way, while you're at my website, joeyhudson.com, be sure and subscribe to my podcast, Just the Truth. Love for you to join my daily podcast, Just the Truth. We dig into issues. Hey, if there's something you'd like to talk about, you can also join that conversation as well. Just email me, joeyhudson.com. We spent a lot of time last week talking about the potential government shutdown. Of course, it didn't happen. Same thing like they always do. They come down to the wire. Actually, I guess technically the government did shut down momentarily as the House passed their version late Friday or early Friday evening, I guess it was. Sent it over to the Senate, and the Senate was in session past midnight, and they were able to pass what the House had sent over to them immediately. I guess someone had to wake President Joe Biden up. He signed it in the middle of the night or early morning Saturday to avoid a prolonged shutdown. So I guess technically there was a shutdown for a few hours until the president signed the bill. But as we all know, it wasn't really a big deal. President Joe Biden signed it into law. So let's rewind and talk about that for a minute. The original bill early last week was 1,547 pages. It was a monster. That's when Elon Musk stepped in and with a simple post on X kind of stirred things up. Democrats, they hated it. Democrats are calling him a shadow speaker. They're calling him a shadow president. They don't understand what business it is of his to interrupt, to create the chaos that he did. They forget that, hey, he's a taxpayer. He's an American taxpaying citizen. He has that right, doesn't he? Just like any of us does. But they're frightened of what he's capable of because he has the money to back it up. He also was singled out by Representative Jim Clyburn over the weekend, the only Democrat congressman from my home state of South Carolina, where Representative Clyburn said on CNN, he's not concerned about Elon Musk because Musk has said that he's going to put some money up and he's going to be targeting some of the extreme Democrats in the midterms by supporting Democrats more moderate candidates. Jim Clyburn was asked about this. Clyburn says, no problem, we'll outwork him. They're scared to death of what Elon Musk is capable of. They're terrified because they see what happened on November the 5th, and they see a repeat of that in the midterms and potentially wiping out some additional members of their extreme Democrat party. We'll see. I don't want to count our chickens before they hatch. That's it. A southern tale. But 800-655-6453. This story out of New York is kind of crazy. So Governor Kathy Hochul, she's facing massive backlash on social media. Because she tweeted this. Since deploying the National Guard to support NYPD and MTA safety efforts, crime is going down and ridership is going up. Now, she's talking about the safety of being on the subway in New York City. The pushback was crazy. Evidently, the governor had not read the day's news because a couple hours before, a person from Guatemala, and now this morning they're reporting that he was here illegally, set a woman on fire and watched her burn to death on the subway. This is how far out of touch Democrats are. Governor Hochul talking about how safe things are and how ridership is up, and a woman burned to death? on the F train in New York City. Wow. 800-655-6453. Hope you'll join the conversation on this, what is it, Christmas Eve Eve? Glad to have you on the Mike Gallagher Show.
SPEAKER 12 :
Christmas means giving, and for my money, Christmas means MyPillow. Make it a MyPillow Christmas for somebody on your list because the Christmas extravaganza is well underway. Because a big box retailer canceled an order, Mike Lindell has thousands of MyPillows to move. Well, he wants to pass the savings on to you, so check out this offer. You can order a standard classic MyPillow, and it's normally $49.98 for just $14.88. with promo code MikeG. Limit of 10. This is the pillow that started it all, the pillow that never goes flat, stays nice and cool all through the night. You can throw it in the washer and the dryer as often as you want. You can get a classic standard MyPillow for $14.88 with promo code MikeG. A queen size, normally $69.98. You'll get it for just $18.88 with promo code MikeG. Or a king size. Normally $79.98. You can order it for $19.88 apiece. Limit $10, please, during Mike's incredible Christmas extravaganza from MyPillow.com. Look, if you haven't been to the site in a while, you can get all your Christmas shopping done by going to MyPillow.com. Look for the Mike Gallagher Specials Square. Click on that box, and then with any order you place, enter the promo code MikeG, and you'll save big. MyPillow.com. Promo code MikeG. MyPillow.com. Promo code MikeG. Or call 800-928-6034. 800-928-6034. It's the Christmas extravaganza sale going on right now at MyPillow.
SPEAKER 14 :
The Mike Gallagher Show.
SPEAKER 15 :
The resistance is going to have trouble raising money. These fundraisers are burnt. They're really pissed now. And the damage that the 2024 campaign has done, the damage that this decade has done to the Democratic brand is almost unfathomable. Almost unfathomable.
SPEAKER 14 :
In the relieffactor.com studios, here's Mike.
SPEAKER 10 :
Joey Hudson in for Mike. I'm getting a lot of text messages on the MyPillow text line. Yours is welcome, 800-655-6453. Always use promo code MikeG when you go to MyPillow.com to get the very best deal on any of the Christmas extravaganza items that Mike Lindell has for you. Texture says, good day, Brianna here from Arizona. Our family tradition is seven different types of fish on Christmas Eve at my grandma's home and always lasagna on Christmas Day. Ah, wow. Ah, Texter says, I guess maybe that explains it. I don't know. My family was not Catholic, but I was saying earlier that we had oyster stew at my Grandma Hudson's on Christmas Eve and never really understood why. Another texter says, Joey, back in the day Catholics and I guess other Christian religions did not eat meat on Christmas Eve. In our family, we made all seafood dinners. The meal consisted of eel, blackish, a fish of some kind, a shellfish, and tons of vegetables. Cool. Your comments are welcome. What were your Christmas traditions? What are the things that you have fond memories of, either going to your grandmother's or maybe Christmas traditions with your extended family? I know my mother's side of the family, we always had all the cousins. We did this the Sunday before Christmas. And my uncle... was the director of our local work for the city in the recreation department. So we had our family Christmas at our community rec hall, which had a skating rink, a Bowling alleys. I mean, we would slide up and down the bowling alleys. We wouldn't use the balls. We would just run and slide into the pens ourselves. But just a lot of great memories of spending time with the cousins and the extended family. Speaking of Christmas and family, you know, we have been in the middle of our Angel Tree campaign. And we have great memories of Christmas, but yet there's some young boys and girls out there today who are not going to see their mom or their dad, or in some cases even both, because they're incarcerated. Will you help us? We have just a few days before Christmas, just a few days in this campaign before Christmas. Will you help us help some of these young kids in this special time of the year? If you join my Angel Tree campaign, You'll bless a boy or a girl whose mom or dad are incarcerated. They'll receive a gift. They'll receive a personalized note from their mom or dad and a brand-new Bible, a copy of God's Word. Angel Tree is a wonderful project of prison fellowship for many, many years whose CEO, James Ackerman, has a great description of just how special this program is. Here's James Ackerman.
SPEAKER 06 :
Angel Tree is such a special ministry because it doesn't happen without you. The moms and dads all over the country who say, I'm going to think beyond just my own family and I'm going to bless another family because no child should wake up on Christmas morning and not have a gift to open from their mom and dad. And Angel Tree enables that to happen. And the gift is actually from the mom and dad. They're just not there to deliver it. They're not there to hand it to their child. But you are.
SPEAKER 10 :
With just three days before Christmas, I'm asking you to go to MikeOnline.com. It's easy to find the Angel Tree campaign banner right across the top of the page. Click on that and give as generously as possible. $30 is all it takes to get a child a special gift, a note from their mom or dad, and a Bible, a copy of God's Word. Will you help me out? Five kids, $150. Do the math. Whatever you can comfortably afford today, please go to MikeOnline.com, click on the Angel Tree banner, and let's make Christmas special for one of these young children. Again, MikeOnline.com, click on the Angel Tree banner, and I thank you. Merry Christmas to you for blessing some of these boys and girls. Back to the phones. Let's go to Louisville, Kentucky, where James is patiently waiting. James, you're on the Mike Gallagher Show.
SPEAKER 05 :
Hello, Joey. I'd like to give you a tradition and a new food I'm going to be serving up to my brother. Okay. The tradition comes from my Meemaw. She had this broom, and she would bring it to the table at Christmas dinner time. And she would have it wrapped with tin foil. And she would call it the airing of grievances. Okay. And so we would pass that around. And if you were holding the aluminum pole. You got to tell what you had grievances for about anything or anybody at the table. It always made for such good family fun.
SPEAKER 10 :
Yep. It's great fun, James, to remember these special times that you had with family. Merry Christmas to you. Thanks for the phone call. 800-655-MIKE. 800-655-6453. One line open. Let's go to Kavahi in Hawaii. Is that right? Did I say it right? Kavehi. Kavehi. How are you? Yes. Merry Christmas to you.
SPEAKER 03 :
How are you doing?
SPEAKER 10 :
Merry Christmas to you. What's on your mind today?
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, no, I just wanted to comment on, like, how they always end up shutting down the government because they say they don't have money or whatever the situation is. But I was wondering, how come... They can't just take, like, a Ukraine package of that billions and use that. Like, yeah.
SPEAKER 10 :
Because that's just too simple. That's common sense. They don't want to use common sense.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah. The delusional Democrat is just ruining everything, especially in my state of beautiful Hawaii.
SPEAKER 10 :
Look, you know, the whole government shutdown thing, we see this about every year, the theatrics of it, and they take it down to the wire. We talked about it a lot last week, but I knew the government was going to shut down. I mean, there have been a few occasions where it did for, you know, a week, two weeks, three weeks. But in reality, the government really never shuts down. you know, the essential workers continue. So it's all just a political theater, and it's just their way to get attention, I guess. I don't know.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, they somehow magically have it, and then they don't have it. And, yeah, they just use it for their options, I guess. I'm not sure.
SPEAKER 10 :
Yeah. Merry Christmas to you. Appreciate your phone call. 800-655-6453 in Montana. Chris, welcome, Chris.
SPEAKER 04 :
Hey, I just want to make a comment about this transition period. I think it's a joke. Three months is way too long. These people should have about two or three weeks. That would reduce the amount of mischief that the outgoing, in this case, the outgoing regime can do to the incoming administration. I wish they'd change the law. Yeah, make that about three weeks instead of three months.
SPEAKER 10 :
Well, you make a good point, Chris, because I suspect Joe Biden's probably worked more hours and harder these past few weeks. And he has the entire his entire administration to do things that are just designed to interrupt and to create chaos before Donald Trump resumes office.
SPEAKER 04 :
I agree. I wish there would be a law. I wish they could make a law that reduces to about three weeks. Yeah, they can make enough trouble in three weeks. But we've seen this going going to continue. We're going to be surprised, you know, for the next month or so. We're going to have some more surprises.
SPEAKER 10 :
Yeah. Or at the very least, Chris, maybe – and I'm not sure logistically if they're – how long it takes to pull together an inauguration. But at the least, maybe they could put some – change the law to where an outgoing president has limits on what he or she can do. so that they can't do some of the things that Joe Biden has done, like commuting the sentences on all these murderers, these killers. And he's given them a pass.
SPEAKER 04 :
Exactly right. I couldn't agree more.
SPEAKER 10 :
Yep. Hey, Chris, appreciate your phone call. Merry Christmas to you. 800-655-6453. Your comments are welcome on the MyPillow text line. By the way, if you haven't finished your Christmas shopping, go to MyPillow.com and take advantage of some of these last-minute deals that Mike Lindell has for you in the Christmas extravaganza. My favorite, of course, is the MySlippers. I ordered a new pair for myself. Because the slippers, they're so comfortable. You can wear them indoors, outdoors, and they're my favorite pair. And they're on sale. That's the good news. That's why I ordered another pair. My cocker spaniel, Jesse, loves to hide his ball in my bedroom slippers. And the pair that I have now... they have little tears and teeth marks all around them because Jesse puts his ball in there and he can't get it out. So he's fighting with my slipper trying to get his ball out. So I thought, well, since Mike Lindell has put these on sale, they're usually $119.98. When you use promo code MikeG, they're $59.98 right now. I thought now's the time for a new pair. Other great deals, a six-piece towel set, $29.98 with promo code MikeG. They have bathrobes, duvets, quilts, down comforters, and, of course, pillows that will give you the best night's sleep you've ever had. Go to MyPillow.com, or you can call 800-928-6034, have your credit card ready. Tell them that you are using promo code MikeG to get the very best deal. The flannel sheets for as low as $59.98. Again, the towels. The towels, I can't say enough about the MyPillow towels. They're soft. yet they're absorbent. How many times have you had a nice, soft towel, but it just doesn't absorb? These are both, and they're only $29.98 for the six-piece set right now when you use promo code MikeG. MyPillow.com or call 800-928-6034. Let them know that you're using promo code MikeG and get the very best deal that you possibly can. We'll take more of your phone calls and your comments on the MyPillow text line. What's your Christmas traditions? Let's talk a little more about that and this horrific crime in New York City over the weekend when Governor Kathy Hochul, just a couple hours after the crime, claimed that things were safer, things were good, the National Guard was there, ridership is up on the subway. Evidently, someone didn't tell the governor that just a couple hours earlier, An illegal from Guatemala had set a lady on fire, burned her to death. Details of that coming up next.
SPEAKER 13 :
And children listen to your sleigh bells in the snow. I am dreaming of wine.
SPEAKER 14 :
He's the happy conservative warrior. From the Relief Factor studio, sitting in for Mike today, here's Joey Hudson.
SPEAKER 10 :
Joey Hudson in for Mike Gallagher on this Christmas Eve Eve. Welcome in. Merry Christmas to you as we are in Christmas week. A lot to cover today. A lot of breaking news. You know, the Democrats are trying their best to defend what they have been doing these last few years. But some of it's just indefensible. One of their former Democrat senators, who is independent now, of course, retiring Senator Joe Manchin, didn't mince words yesterday in what he said that his party is becoming a brand of toxicity, working to mainstream the extreme in recent years. In cut number 12, Senator Joe Manchin just really let the Democrats have it.
SPEAKER 16 :
What is the shift on social issues?
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah, the brand got so bad. The D brand has been so maligned from the standpoint of it's toxic. And the D brand is basically this. I've told him, I said, first of all, as an American and as someone in Senate, and I'm going to take the Constitution, oath of the Constitution that I take very, very, very, very seriously. I'm going to help every human being pursue the happiness in their life. Pursue the happiness. I don't care who they are. I don't care what color. I don't care any of the things. Do it, and that's you. I'm going to make sure you have the opportunity and right to live your life. Just don't make your life, if it might be on the extremes or in the minority, make me believe that's the norm. or make me and my family believe, or my children believe, or this or that. No. I will protect you. Just don't try to mainstream it. And the Democratic Party, the Washington Democrats, have tried to mainstream the extreme.
SPEAKER 10 :
Bingo. And that's exactly why the American people turned on the Democrats in such a big way on November the 5th. It's okay if you want to live your life the way you want to live your life. It's okay if your beliefs are extreme, or what I would consider extreme. But Joe Manchin is right, isn't he? Don't try to force it on everybody else. Don't make me want to believe that it's normal for a man to be in a girl's locker room. Don't try to force me to think it's normal for a man to be playing girl sports. It's not. It never will be. But that's what happened to the Democrats. Somewhere along the way, and Kamala Harris was right out in front, whether she believed it or not, or maybe she thought she had to do it in order to get the support of the Democrat Party. But Joe Manchin's right. They forced this toxicity, tried to make the mainstream believe their extreme beliefs. It didn't work. And I don't think it's going to work. A congressman from my home state of South Carolina over the weekend, Representative Jim Clyburn, yeah, the same Jim Clyburn who is given the credit for giving us Joe Biden. You'll recall Joe Biden's campaign for president in the Democrat primary was dead in the water until he came to South Carolina and Jim Clyburn flexed his muscle. Jim Clyburn is the only Democrat president who serves in Congress from South Carolina. But he's very powerful. He has a lot of influence. He kind of brushed off comments over the weekend about Elon Musk. You know, Elon Musk has the Democrats just in a panic for several reasons. One, he's smart. Primarily, he has the money to back up what he wants to do. He doesn't make threats because he has the ability to carry them out. And he's talking already about the midterms and challenging some of these extreme Democrats. Elon Musk is talking about putting up millions of dollars to help fund more moderate Democrats in order to build on a majority of common-sense legislators in the U.S. Congress. So Jim Clyburn was on CNN, and Victor Blackwell was CNN, asked Clyburn about Musk's involvement. Because for some reason, Democrats think that Elon Musk shouldn't be involved, that because he's never been elected to office, he should not be allowed to have this type of influence. But who would you rather have making some of these decisions? Who would you rather have looking under the hood of the federal government? Someone like Elon Musk, who has a track record of success, who's made billions of dollars? Or somebody who's been in the Congress for 20, 30 years who loves to spend our money and has an addiction to spending our money? Who would you rather have looking under the hood, looking at our checkbook, reconciling our national checkbook? Jim Clyburn, though, told Victor Blackwell he's not quite sure about Musk's involvement, and he's not too worried about what Musk may be able to do in the next elections. Here's Jim Clyburn on CNN.
SPEAKER 08 :
How do Democrats navigate someone who says, I'll just throw money at races to get you out?
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, you outwork them. That's what you do. You outwork them. Look, I'm a child of the 60s. I grew up here in South Carolina. I missed the vote yesterday because I was a part of eulogizing the gentleman from very modest backgrounds who brought... that flag down off the Statehouse Dome and started an effort all over the South to get rid of all of these Confederate emblems. We did that with a lot of money against us. When I worked with John Lewis back in the 60s, a lot of money and power was against us. We did what we had to do, and I don't know of a single Democrat who is afraid of Elon Musk's money.
SPEAKER 10 :
Well, Mr. Clyburn, that may be your big mistake. Certainly was Joe Biden's mistake. If you're not concerned about Elon Musk and what he stands for, then you're going to be in trouble in a couple of years as well. I mean, what Musk is saying, in a nutshell, is enough with the radicals. Let's get some common sense thinkers back in leadership positions. That's what Elon Musk is talking about. They're calling Musk a shadow president, a shadow speaker. They're just standing on their heads that Elon Musk is being allowed to have some input. Why shouldn't he have input? Why shouldn't any of us have input? It's our country. It's his country. But boy... Elon Musk, he has their attention. And for Jim Clyburn to say, oh, I'm not worried about him, we'll outwork him, I don't think Jim Clyburn really believes that. I think Jim Clyburn and other Democrats are struggling right now to try to decide where do we go next. What do we do in the midterms? How do we stop the bleeding? The American people spoke loudly on November the 5th. Jim Clyburn, I would argue, is very afraid of Elon Musk. And he should be. 800-655-6453, 800-655-MIKE. Glad to have you in. Your comments are welcome on the MyPillow text line. Phone calls are welcome. Tracy will put you in queue as we have time. We'll take as many phone calls as we can. Love to get your comments on whether or not Elon Musk, is he stepping over bounds? Does he have too much influence? Is he a threat to democracy, like some are saying? Also on this Christmas Eve Eve, we're talking about our Christmas traditions. What did you and your family do? Maybe as a child, do you have those memories of things that you did at your grandmother's, maybe with your cousins, maybe the special food that you had? Let's talk a little, too, about Christmas traditions and what you have planned for this Christmas season. I'm Joey Hudson, in for Mike today.
SPEAKER 13 :
The church bell chimes. And there's joy everywhere. So precious.
SPEAKER 01 :
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Bill Gunderson delves into current economic indicators and their implications for the stock market in this insightful episode. From the nuances of the January effect to sector rotations, Bill shares his strategies for managing portfolios during this time. He also addresses the significance of the ongoing strength in the labor market, holiday retail performance, and examines the latest updates from international markets, including China and its economic forecasts.
SPEAKER 04 :
He's been seen on CNBC, the Fox News Channel, and the Fox Business Channel. His articles can be found on MarketWatch, Seeking Alpha, thestreet.com, and many other places. He's the author of the weekly Best Stocks Now newsletter and the inventor of the Best Stocks Now app. He's president of Gundersen Capital Management. Here is professional money manager Bill Gundersen.
SPEAKER 06 :
and welcome to the uh thursday the day after christmas the day uh when will the trash man get here and haul all of this trash away it looks like we got a little bit of returns on some of the gifts that were given on christmas eve markets giving a little bit back this is bill gunderson President of Gundersen Capital Management. The best stocks now show. The Dow is down 78 points right now. It's at 43,218 with just five days left in 2024. The Nasdaq is down 63 right now. It's mostly Tesla. A few others that have been quite elevated here lately. The NASDAQ is at 19,962. The S&P 500 is down 15, so that's about a quarter of a percent. We had a really good day on Tuesday, however, on Christmas Eve, which we'll go over a little bit here. The Russell 2000 down 45 basis points, and I'm going to point to the yield on the 10-year. We are up again there on that 10-year and closing in on a 52-week high on interest rates. We're at 4.63% today. We're up three basis points. That is hurting equities. And 4.70 is the high for the year, which we're closing in on. And last but not least, Bitcoin right now is down 3,300 to 95,214. So welcome to today's Best Stocks Now show with professional money manager Bill Gunderson, president of Gunderson Capital Management. Barry has the day off with family this time of year, and I will be flying solo here today, but we certainly have plenty to talk about on this day after Christmas. We've got a full day in the market today. And we have a full day in the market tomorrow. And then, of course, we'll deal with New Year's Eve when we get there. I don't even know what day New Year's Eve is right now. I'm thinking maybe Tuesday, something like that, next Tuesday. And that will be a half day. And, of course, New Year's Day, the market will be closed. close we have a little bit of a sell-off going on in the market today i'm sure it's very light volume how many people are actually putting in a full day uh in in my business today we are we're i'm putting in a full day here uh looking at a bunch of charts i don't have as many to look at as i did For a while after that big move after the election results, I had about $1,300 to look at today. That's been cut on a daily basis. That's been cut in half. I'm down around to about $600, which is much more normal when you add up the A-plus momentum stocks, the B-plus stocks, which meet the momentum and the valuation criteria. the stocks that we own here at Gundersen Capital Management, and then some of the bellwether stocks that I check on a daily basis. So we're at about 600 right now, which is a much more manageable number, easier on the eyes than the 1300. But I'll tell you what, I mean, during that time, a lot of good stocks were exposed. uh sometimes uh when the tide comes in it brings some goodies with it and it did we found a lot of new stocks a lot of new players lining up some of the leadership stocks for 2025 as we get ready to turn the page i have found my history in the market is that no two years are really alike And sometimes you can get dramatic changes in the first few weeks of January and kind of set the tone for the rest of the year. A lot of times, too, you'll get a false rally in those first few weeks of January. A lot of times you'll see the small caps. The small caps, they always have one false start right after another. You know how the guys line up for the 100-meter dash, and before the gun sounds, one guy jumps the gun. Well, you have a lot of false starts. With small caps, they never follow through. Maybe this year will be different with a looser regulatory environment and a little more grease skids for small cap companies. We'll see if it has any impact. But this continues to be pretty much a large cap market, Amazon, Microsoft, Tesla, Nvidia, etc., etc., etc. But it's not, even in the large caps, you still have to be selective because there's a lot of bad large caps. What was the worst performer in the NASDAQ this year? Intel, large cap stock. Okay, we had a good day the day before we took Christmas off. The Dow was up 390 actually on Tuesday. The NASDAQ had a really good day on Tuesday. I'm really surprised by that. Usually people are gone or off on vacation, but that does set the stage for what they do call a Santa Claus rally. Christmas Eve is included in that calculation. And with that 266-point rise on the NASDAQ, you could officially say... that were in a Santa Claus rally, but obviously it has to follow through. Bitcoin had a big day on Tuesday. It was up 5,087 points. And Tesla on Tuesday was up 6.9%. Huge winner. Tesla has probably been one of the biggest winners since the election of Donald Trump. So the NASDAQ was up 1% on Christmas Eve, marking the first step in a Santa Claus rally. I don't know. I don't give too much credence. Like I say, every year seems to be unique and different. And we shall see. A lot of times, I will say this, though, more often than not, we see some pretty radical changes in the first few weeks of January. They call that the January effect. Yale Hirsch had his theory that proves to be true more often than not, where those first few weeks of January kind of set the tone for the year. And a lot of times, I see some pretty vicious sector rotation out of some of the big winners, well, okay, put it this way. If you've got a big gain in one of these big tech stocks or several of them, and you want to make a move and diversify a little bit, maybe a position has gotten too big in your portfolio, you want to trim it a little bit. Well, you're going to wait until after the first of the year because you don't want to incur that taxable event. You want to put it off. You can't get around the taxable event, but you can delay the taxable event. as far as you can. It would be silly to sell a big gain stock this week or next week and incur that big capital gain. So that's another thing that's in play this time of year. How did the holiday sales go? Well, somebody adds this all up. This comes from MasterCard. The late burst helps holiday retail sales rise 3.8% versus last year. Notably, the last five days of the holiday season accounted for 10% of all holiday spending. It's called the mad rush. I've been a part of it. You've been a part of it. That mad rush, that line just to get something wrapped up under the Christmas tree or whatever the holiday you celebrate is. The last five days, 10%. Look how important those last five days are. Consumer demand for experiences like dining out strengthened in the holiday season with restaurant spending growth. Up 6.3% compared to last year. I find it getting harder and harder to get into some of the popular restaurants. I was in the middle of reserving some place for tonight as we've got some company in town. And by the time I verified it with the other parties, if they could go or not, the reservations were gone. So, so much for that. Apparel was up 3.6%. Jewelry up 4%. Electronics 3.7%. the holiday shopping season revealed the customer who was willing and able to spend but driven by a search for value as can be seen by concentrated e-commerce spending during the biggest promotional periods But solid spending during this holiday season underscores the strength we observe from the consumer all year. And obviously, as we enter into a new year, there's always going to be a recession watch. Always. There's always a recession watch. We have not had a recession since 2008, 2009, when we had one of the worst recessions of all time caused by the housing market, caused by the loan market, caused by the mortgage market. We've had rising earnings every year since 2009. It's obviously the longest run I've seen as far as earnings growth, bull market. expansion in the U.S. economy, but it will come to an end at some point in time. And one of the things we watch is the consumer very closely, because that's your economy right there, or most of it. And the other thing we watch very closely, we'll talk about when we come back. The numbers are in, and we'll go over those. This is Bill Gunnarsson. It's the Best Stocks Now show. And welcome back here to the second quarter of today's Best Docs Now show. Well, that weekly report every Thursday is also going to be critical because the consumer can't really make reservations at restaurants and spend at the local mall and online without a job. Well, some people can, I guess. But for the most part, the jobs market is also very, very important to watch. Every Thursday we get clues, at least initial clues, called initial jobless claims. How many people went in and filed for unemployment? The jobless claims came in at 223,000 today, slightly up, but that is still a very low number. If I were to draw a baseline, anything under $300,000 is pretty darn good on those initial jobless claims. So we continue to see a strong labor market. If the person wants a job, there pretty much is a job out there. It may not be the job you want, but there pretty much is a job out there. And that remains a bullish indicator for the market. What's the third big indicator? Well, I'll add just two more right now. GDP, obviously, gross domestic product. Obviously, the market has priced in increasing gross domestic product with the new administration coming in. We'll see. Because there's a lot of things that could also hurt that gross domestic product, like the tariffs, obviously, and DOGE. Cutting government spending is also, you know, the government spends a lot of money, obviously, more than it has, year after year after year after year, month after month after month after month. That's also an important indicator. gdp the fourth one obviously the one that i really key off of because what does it all lead to what does the funnel all come down to you can take this funnel and at the top you can put in all these things gdp uh you know interest rates uh the job picture uh and all the other things and out comes earnings that's what comes out of that is how much do corporate america companies make bottom line earnings and I use the S&P 500 as my proxy. That's what pretty much everybody else uses. And we look at those earnings, which are looking to be about $275 or so for next year. That's $275 per share. That would be a record. We've only had, I think, since 2009, obviously, the COVID year, which was an anomaly. There might have been one other year where earnings were flat or just a few cents lower. But if you look at the trajectory of earnings, If you draw a line from 2009, March of 2009, that's when earnings bottomed to where we are today. We've gone from $60 to about $250 this year, and we're looking for $270 next year. That's also very critical. You start to see those earnings estimates decline. Now, you want to get even more granular. That's why I watch the individual companies that report earnings and the trends. And we have consistently had for several months, several years, 70% of the companies beating their earnings estimates, very few guiding lower, usually 10% or so. That's also a very important indicator. How many companies are guiding lower, starting to guide lower? All of a sudden you'll see a trend start to take place and it could start to happen at any point in time. Interest rates also key. Because once we have those earnings, then it's a matter of applying a multiple to those earnings. The market is trying, or the big analysts, the big Wall Street firms are trying to justify, were trying to justify a couple weeks ago, the 22.5 times forward earnings for the S&P 500. It's hard to justify that number. What's keeping it high? Momentum, demand for stocks, exuberance, I guess, optimism, et cetera, hopes for higher growth going forward with the new administration. But 22.5 is really not sustainable. And in fact, over the last week or so, we've dropped down a full point somewhere in there. to 21.5 times forward earnings. And, of course, we went back up a little on Wednesday. But that's another thing we have to watch. And interest rates have a big effect on that number, and we're at 4.63 right now on the 10-year. That's not good. I mean, that shrinks that multiple. That's more than likely why we saw, seeing this sell-off in the Dow, you had nine straight days where the Dow was down. As the interest rates went up, the multiple did some shrinking along the way. Okay, other factors. Obviously, other countries that we trade with are trade partners. How's China doing? Not very good. That's a problem that we have to keep continuing to monitor and watch. The World Bank recently updated its economic forecast for China, raising GDP growth for 2024 and 2025. They now expect 4.9% in 2024. China used to consistently put out 7.5% growth. Not anymore. They've come down to earth. 4.9% 2024, 4.8% in 2025. Beijing's target is 5%. So we'll see how that goes. But China is a huge trading partner of the U.S., mostly selling things to us. not buying a lot of things from us. But that definitely is something that we're going to be watching going forward in 2025. You can never take your eye off the ball in the market. I call it vigilance, being vigilant. One of the issues that China has, probably their biggest issue, is their real estate market. Their average housing rent, which we're having, that's one of the biggest parts of our inflation is lodging. And rent these days is a big part of that inflation. We have a tight rental market. They have a four-year low. They have a rent slump going on. Why? They have too many units. They have a supply glut. And that has hurt the Chinese economy, and it continues to hurt. It's all about supply and demand, right? Speaking of which, Bitcoin. Sanctions. Russia is now using Bitcoin for international trade, okay? And that's not traceable. It's kind of that dark, murky kind of underneath the surface market. And that probably has something to do with the big uptick in Bitcoin, where it recently hit $107,000. Now, it's down about, what, $12,000, $13,000 from that all-time high, which is pretty volatile. You know, recently you had Microsoft say no. to carrying Bitcoin on their balance sheet instead of cash. Why? Well, cash is a lot more stable. You look at the movement of the U.S. dollar versus Bitcoin, which has lost $13,000 over the last couple of weeks. That's why Microsoft said no to carrying Bitcoin. We'll be right back with some more world news and some individual stocks in the news today. This is Bill Gunderson. Thank you for tuning in to today's Best Stocks Now, Best Inverse Funds Now show. I put several hours of research in during the wee hours of the morning each day to bring you the very best cutting-edge stories that I can. To get two free weeks of my newsletter, go to GundersonCapital.com. To talk to us about our fee-based only money management services, call us at 855-611-BEST. Now, back to the second half of the show.
SPEAKER 03 :
Thank you.
SPEAKER 06 :
And welcome back here to the second half of today's Best Stocks Now show with professional money manager Bill Gunderson, president of Gunderson Capital Management. Boy, I've got a lot of people to have some fun with today. As soon as the show's over, I get going on my charts. i've sent out two messages so far on the market not a lot happening obviously kind of a slow day so far but you know you never know when you look at five i've got 600 charts to look at today a lot of times you find stuff underneath the surface if you're willing to look it's out there and if i If I see something, I say something. I try to keep everybody posted throughout the day of what's going on in the market, things I'm finding, things I'm buying, things I'm selling. I've made a few quick trades here over the last couple of weeks in the incubator portfolio, the incubator trading portfolio, which is for people that want a little more action and you know a little faster the vast majority obviously of the stocks that I own I'm an investor in for my clients in the fee based portion of my business but I also have the do it yourself portion of my business we have a lot of fun I try to educate I'm in the market anyways I may as well be texting what I'm seeing as I go through the market on a daily basis I continue to offer four free weeks as of now. This is December the 26th. We've got five days left in the year, and then I'll decide whether I'm going to renew that offer, continue it into January. We'll see. But I'm having a lot of fun. I really am, and I hope I haven't read. We sent out a survey. I'm always afraid to read a survey. I think Gunnarsson is nuts. I hate this. I don't know what it's going to say. You have to be willing to accept. I have not seen it. I have not had time to look at it, but I have had lots of good conversations or people emailing me from all over the world, frankly. All over the world. And if you'd like to do four weeks, learn something about technical patterns, get in the full newsletter every Saturday, Seeing my activity during the day, every day for four weeks, the five different portfolios, etc. Go to GundersenCapital.com. And if you like it, you can subscribe after four weeks. Now, big change is about to happen in the world on January the 20th. That is just 24 days away now when you get the Trump inauguration and out with the old and in with the new or in with the old, however you look at it. You've had a dozen companies donate a million dollars each to President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration. In other words, they want to be on Trump's good side. So far, we've got Ford kicking in a million dollars. General Motors, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, AT&T, Toyota, Stanley Black & Decker, Intuit, Coinbase. And I want to say Elon Musk himself and I know Jeff Bezos, Amazon, all contributing a million dollars towards the inauguration, hoping that they'll be found on Trump's good side after January the 20th. How about your home? Remember the meteoric 10% a year rise? I can't even believe how much home prices have gone up. I look at my home that I left in Carlsbad and how much it's gone up. I would never pay that for that home today. But luckily over here in Charleston, it's been about equal on the home that we traded for once we got to Charleston. Well, this past year, what do you think you earned on your home? Of course, it depends on where you live. U.S. home prices advanced 5.7%. Okay, that's way more in the average. It's still above average, but it's come down. That's the smallest annual increase since October 2023. So things have definitely moderated. But they're still going up faster than inflation, all right? 5%, 6% is still faster than inflation. But it's not that 8%, 10% area. Well, it's a lot harder. There's not as many people. There's not as much demand for homes because a lot of people have been taken out of that area. demand equation because they can't afford a 7% interest rate for a 30-year loan. 13 of the 50 most populous U.S. metro areas recorded a seasonally adjusted month drop in home prices in November. The biggest decliner was Fort Lauderdale, Florida, down 1.1%. Tampa, down 1.1%. San Diego, California, down 1%. The highest, Charlotte, North Carolina, plus 1.4. Minneapolis, 1.3. The highest month-over-month gains. That's just month-over-month now. So anyways, the home appreciation has definitely slowed down. uh considerably as and that's what higher interest rates are kind of meant to do right to cool off some of these overheated markets tesla rallies into the christmas break q4 deliveries report looms uh when will they report their deliveries let's see analysts blah blah blah it's coming up i know real quickly uh report late next week okay Let's just look at Tesla stock today. Tesla is basically flat, but at or near a new all-time high, $460 per share. Market cap of $1.48 trillion. $1.48 trillion is where Tesla is at these days. And, of course, if you want to double your fund, Granite Shares has a, well, they have a Tesla at one and a quarter. So you get 25% more than what it does on the upside. And on the downside, you get 25% more drop. And they have a 2 to 1 Tesla upside. And they have an inverse Tesla, which that has not been a good investment here. But at some point in time, I suppose there will be a big correction in Tesla. Uber gets the snub in Taiwan. Okay, Uber has been a disappointing stock. That would be one of the disappointers here in 2024. It's cheap, in my opinion, with 237 estimated earnings next year. And that's about a 25 forward PE multiple. And it's still growing. I look at the last four quarters, 20%, 16%, 15%. I think it's still a 15% to 20% grower. But they did get the snub in Taiwan. Uber tried buying a company over there, Delivery Hero, a food panda business for delivering meals and whatnot. Taiwan stepped in and blocked it. The Fair Trade Commission, Uber is down 19 cents today, so no big deal. Lyft, the main competitor to Uber, sues San Francisco for allegedly overcharging 100 million in taxes. Well, the city of San Francisco was charging on the price of the entire ride without subtracting out the cost that the driver paid. The cost of the driver. You should be paying on the gross, not on the net. And, of course, San Francisco sees it differently. Lyft is going after California for overcharging them by $100 million in taxes. OpenAI ponders a humanoid robot. Was there one under your Christmas tree yesterday? I don't know. Will everybody have to have a humanoid robot at some point in time to vacuum, do the laundry, make the beds? Be nice. In a quest to take AI to a new level. Well, OpenAI, which is Microsoft, backed by Microsoft, has considered the possibility of building humanoid robots capable of a wide range of tasks. And, of course, Tesla's working on the same thing. Humanoid robots, two legs, two arms, can do a whole lot. We'll see where that goes and a lot of people said that's one of the most lucrative irons in the fire that Tesla has along with their robotaxi and of course microsoft has some exposure there too so does nvidia uh... which would uh... be part of the uh... artificial intelligence that uh... runs these humanoid robots can you claim them as dependents on your tax return i don't know about that uh... toyota rips a nine percent gain after a report of a lush ROE Yeah, I just don't know about the car, the auto builders, other than Tesla, obviously. And when we come back, guess who is endorsing Eli Lilly's weight loss drug? And we'll take a look underneath the market when we come back. This is the Best Docs Now show.
SPEAKER 02 :
The way you wanna go, do what you wanna do with whoever you wanna be. The way you wanna go, do what you wanna do with whoever you wanna be.
SPEAKER 06 :
And welcome back here to the final segment of today's Best Docs Now show. Well, Elon says he likes Terzepatide better than... than semaglutide. In other words, he likes Lilly's drug. Now, whether he's on it or not, I don't know. But he must, to form that opinion, he must be doing something with those drugs. And he is endorsing Lily's drug now that has also been a disappointment in 2024 I'm just gonna look real fast and see what Lily stock it did a lot better than most drug stocks that's for sure especially the large pharmaceuticals Eli is coming Eli was up 37.4% this year that's not bad okay that's a lot better than the S&P 500 we continue to own Lily Over the last year, it's up 40%. Over the last three years, it has averaged 44% per year. Not bad for big pharma. And over the last five years, it's delivered 45% per year. This is one of the best performing large pharma by far. Nothing even comes close. It just lacks momentum right now. That's what it lacks. It lacks a catalyst to really get it going. It's had a couple things go its way recently. It's no longer a shortage. It got its designation for sleep apnea. The competitor's drug, the studies show that it's much, much more effective. It got an endorsement from the UK today, which is good. And now Elon Musk says he prefers Lily's Mongero over Novo's Ozempic for weight loss therapy, which would really be Zep-bound over Wagovi. So anyways, we'll take that into account. And we'll also worry a little bit about RFK. who has long advocated for dietary control over drugs to fight America's obesity epidemic. You know, I'm not with RFK on that. I think a lot of people have tried and tried dietary control, and it's not easy. Just look around at the results and this seems to make that whole quest a lot easier. And anyways, that's where Lily is. Now let's take a look underneath the surface of the market on this day after Christmas, which has got to be some pretty light trading. Out there most people eating holiday leftovers, cleaning up the garbage, taking things to the trash, picking up, blah blah blah, doing things with the family. Let's take a look at the S&P 500 right now. It doesn't look like there's much on the upside, much on the downside. Macy's is up 5.1%. That's a pretty good chart on Macy's. I wouldn't be a buyer of Macy's, but that's a pretty good chart. The retail stocks are doing best today by far. Kohl's up 3.9%. Gap Store is up 3.7%. Advanced Auto Parts, maybe you got an oil change kit. under the tree over the week. Just don't do it. Don't make a mess. 3.4% on advanced auto parts. Walgreens is up 2.8%. Target's up 2.5%. FedEx up 2.4%. Guess what? It was a good holiday season. They're the leaders in the market today. Not a lot on the downside. I don't see anything other than Netflix down 1.4%. I don't know how their football, I heard it was a roaring success, but it is down 1.4% today. Now, let's look at the NASDAQ, the home of the disruptors. I visited the NASDAQ last week, had a good time, saw a lot of those disruptors, pictures on the wall the day they went public. A lot of history there at the NASDAQ. And again, it looks to be the only tech stock I see on the upside to any extent, and it's one of the better performers over the last quarter of the year is Broadcom. Broadcom has been on a tear. Broadcom is at an all-time high. It's now over a trillion. It's $1.1 trillion and definitely a part of that AI race. And then I see a lot of retail stocks. Raw stores up 1%. Dollar Tree up 1.3%. That's where I do all my Christmas shopping, over at the Dollar Tree. Henry Schein up 1.4%. Ulta up 1.7. Starbucks up 1.9. Good day for retail. What do we have on the downside over at the NASDAQ? You know, not much. Like I say, Netflix and Tesla. Tesla down 1%. Meta down three quarters of a percent. NVIDIA, which had a really good Christmas Eve. NVIDIA is down 7 tenths of 1%. And one last thing we'll take a look at is the Dow. Not much on the downside on the Dow. On the upside, Boeing, which has been on a nice little run here recently. Not a bad chart on Boeing as they're back doing, I think the assembly line is going at 100% again finally. So that's good news for Boeing. Okay, well, this is, don't forget, I mean, take a look at your tax planning. You've only got a few trading days left. Tomorrow's the 27th, 28th, 29th, market close. You've got Monday. You've got basically today, Friday, and Monday, and a half day on Tuesday. To take advantage, get rid of those big losers. At least get a little bit of a tax write-off loss to offset gains. If you've got some big losers to write off, now's the time. Otherwise, you've got to wait until next year. So tax planning is very important here. I've got a few hanging around that are a little bit underwater. I'm open for a little rally between now and the end of the year on Tuesday when the bell rings. And if I don't get it, I will sell and take advantage of some losses to offset a lot of gains from this year. Set up an appointment with us. Get on the right track. Get on the right track in 2025. I think there's going to be a little bit different leadership in the market next year than what we saw this year. Give us a call to set up an appointment at 855-611-BEST. 855-611-BEST. And to take advantage of the best offer, just like the guy on my pillow, you know, comes out of your medicine cabinet. No, instead it's my live trading. Go to Gunderson.com. GunnarssonCapital.com, GunnarssonCapital.com. Sign up for four free weeks, and we'll have some fun together, all right? And happy holidays, and I'll be talking to you throughout the day if you're one of my subscribers here. Have a great day, everybody.
SPEAKER 05 :
This show is not a solicitation to buy or sell any securities. Bill Gunderson or clients of Gunderson Capital Management may have long or short positions in stocks mentioned during the show. Past performance is not indicative of future performance. Gunderson Capital Management is a fee-based registered investment advisory firm. All accounts are held at Charles Schwab. Schwab is a member of SIPC and FINRA.
In this episode, we reflect on the powerful story of the Advent wreath's third candle, symbolizing joy and illumination brought to a darkened world. We recount the angelic visits that heralded the arrival of the Messiah, and examine the reactions of those who first heard the joyous news. From the courage of Mary and Joseph to the awe of the shepherds, this engaging narrative invites listeners to reconnect with the spiritual meaning of Christmas. Emphasizing the eternal message of goodwill and divine grace, this episode offers a heartfelt reminder of what it truly means to celebrate this sacred season.
SPEAKER 01 :
The Crawford Stand, as the president of Crawford Media Group, Don Crawford, brings the third of three Advent messages. This week, the greatest love story ever told. The story of how God's miraculous power brought light to a dark world.
SPEAKER 03 :
With God, all things are possible. All things. Even an event like the virgin birth. Some 2,000 years ago, an angel was sent by God to the tiny town of Nazareth in the Galilee area of Israel. The area was small, the inhabitants few, and a popular saying of the day was, Can any good thing come out of Nazareth? Perhaps not. Perhaps not before, but after the visit by the angel Gabriel to an unknown Mary, from Nazareth would come the Savior, the Savior God. of the world Mary the Virgin was pledged to be married to a man named Joseph a descendant of David the angel Gabriel said to her greetings greetings Mary you who are highly favored the Lord the Lord is with you and don't be afraid Mary you have found favor with God you will be with child and give birth to a son and you are to give him the name Jesus Jesus. He will be great, he will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever. His kingdom will never end. Wow! Can you believe that kind of message? Isn't that incredible? Can you imagine the reaction of Mary? Mary was troubled, and she said to the angel, How will this come about, since I am a virgin? I'm a virgin. To which the angel responded, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the Holy One to be born would be called the Son of God. Well, I'll tell you what, it takes a whole lot of faith to believe in that, but to believe it is probably the most wonderful commitment any human being can make.
SPEAKER 02 :
And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior, for he hath regarded the lowest state of his handmaiden. For behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.
SPEAKER 03 :
The natural man scoffs at angels, but the spiritual man knows that with God, with God, all things are possible, all things, including angels. So Mary, now with child, the Holy Ghost having come upon her, went to the home of Zechariah and Elizabeth. relatives of hers. And when she arrived, Elizabeth knew of this immaculate conception, and Elizabeth said to Mary, wonderful, wonderful words, Blessed are you, Mary, blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb through the Holy Spirit, Jesus. Elizabeth knew that Mary would be the mother of her Lord and ours as well. So the world was about to change because of that event in Nazareth. Jesus of Nazareth would soon be born in Bethlehem of Judea, and this Nazarene, this Son of the Most High, would soon be known as the Savior, the Savior of the world, the Prince of Peace, the Christ of Glory. And when Elizabeth had finished, Mary began her very own song of praise, the Magnificat. Mary's Magnificat.
SPEAKER 02 :
Listen to these words. And Mary said, He that is mighty hath done to me great things, and holy is his name. And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation.
SPEAKER 03 :
Ah, such powerful, powerful praise and adoration this Magnificat of Mary was! Mary the Virgin, so humble in spirit, thought of herself as the handmaiden of the Lord, perhaps still puzzled as to why she was chosen to bear the King of Kings, but willing and obedient to do the will of God. and the babe of Bethlehem grew within her. Fiancé Joseph, of the lineage of David, sought to put her away, but again an angelic message explained to him what had happened, foretold the birth of this son, and the instructions to him that his name would be Jesus. Thereafter, Mary would be wife and mother for Joseph, but only thereafter. It really is incredibly difficult to imagine how this man 2,000 years ago would react. How would you as a man react to that news? Nothing like this in human history had ever happened before, ever. He, Joseph, was chosen to supervise and support the birth of the Savior of the world. That would be impossible for any man to comprehend. But Joseph, obedient like Mary, accepted the angelic explanation, and this divine drama proceeded. Surely Joseph could see the remarkable changes in Mary. For those precious months, Mary's soul glorified the Lord. She told all that her spirit rejoices in God, in God my Savior. Surely that glorifying and rejoicing was well noticed, even participated in by Joseph. I hope so. Mary, the humble servant of the Lord, knew what great things God had done for her, and she was perhaps the first to live in a brand new revolutionary state of praise and worship. And soon, soon, my fellow Americans, soon that would be available to all mankind. to you and me. And then came the decree from Caesar Augustus that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. Joseph, who belonged to the house and lineage of David, therefore went to Bethlehem of Judea to register with Mary, since Bethlehem was the city of David. But the town was full, full, and there was no room in the inn, no room in the inn, so that Mary and Joseph slept in a manger." And there, there, in that manger, Mary gave birth to a son, and as a proud and loving mother, she wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and she laid Jesus of Nazareth, born in Bethlehem, in a manger. Such were the humble circumstances of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, the Babe of Bethlehem, the Prince of Peace, and the Savior of the world. And that, That is the real meaning of Christmas. That birth of the Savior of the world is what we celebrate at Christmas, or we should. This rabidly secular world of ours wishes to de-spiritualize this event and take Christ out of Christmas. And boy, are they doing a good job of that. We who believe, we who believe in this miracle, for again, all things with God are possible, we who believe must never let that happen, but rather band together in glorious praise and worship to the babe, and especially to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let not, my fellow Christians, let not the secularists abandon the Christ of Christmas. Don't let it happen. So, Christ was born. And there began the spreading of this marvelous message.
SPEAKER 02 :
And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them, and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people." For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you. You shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men.
SPEAKER 03 :
I find it so interesting that shepherds were chosen as the first to hear this angelic enunciation. Shepherds were watchmen, observant, especially at night, as they made certain to protect their sheep. and they knew the heavens and the stars and their movements. They were familiar with the night, and they could, like wise men and kings, identify and follow the star of wonder, the star so bright, the star with royal beauty bright, the star which shone brightly that night over the city of David, the blessed Bethlehem of Judea, where the Prince of Peace was born, our Lord. And those shepherds left immediately, and they found Mary and Joseph and the babe lying in the manger. And when they had seen him, when they had seen him, they were the very first evangelists. They spread the word of this miraculous and marvelous birth, the message they had been told by the angel about this babe. And that, that was the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ. From then on, the shepherds glorified and praised God for all the things they had heard and seen, even as we who believe do so today. And we do so today, never having seen him like the shepherds did. And we will say today as the shepherds and angels did then. Glory to God in the highest. Glory, glory to God in the highest. And on earth, peace and goodwill toward all mankind. Men and women search for truth, even as the shepherds did. They do that today. We all do. The search is everywhere. But the truth, the ultimate truth, was revealed to mankind in a manger in Bethlehem 2,000 years ago. Wise men and wise women who truly seek him will find him there and here and now. Those who scoff, mock at a virgin birth, the concept of angels, and the creation of a God-man will never ever know that nothing, but nothing, is impossible with God. nothing but to find him as a most joyous, wondrous discovery. It is an epiphany like no other. The finding of the babe is the finding of the world's greatest treasure. The power, the love, the understanding which results from finding him is life-changing then and forevermore. That finding allows us to become, as a little child, open and transparent, filled with love and compassion, fully understanding the grace of God and that gracious gift which changed the world 2,000 years ago. That faith in the babe of Bethlehem is the key, the key, to entering the kingdom of God, humbly trusting and believing even as Mary did of old. Women become handmaidens of the Lord like Mary did. Men, believers, become servants of the Lord as the shepherds did. So that on Christmas Day, on Christmas Day, on such a wonderful day, we discover the greatest present, the greatest gift one could ever find, the babe, the babe of Bethlehem, the Savior of the world. The gifts we give to others at Christmastime can never begin to equal the gift of God to us. We should celebrate that gift first, and wherever possible, give the love of that gift to others. That is what Christmas is all about. And that, that must never change. it must never change. And we, like the shepherds of old, should spread the good news of the gospel, of the birth of Jesus Christ, the good news that is true evangelism. And we who believe must never let that message die, not only at Christmas, but every day of the year. The wise men of old found him, and the wise men and women of today they do the same. The truly wise who search will find him. For in him it is all that God is. And that, as the angels well said, is indeed the glad tidings and the great joy for all mankind. Have you found that? Have you experienced the joy, the love, the forgiveness, the salvation offered by the babe of Bethlehem? I hope and pray you have. For God so loved the world, He so loved the world, that He gave His only Son to all mankind, so that those who believe could have life abundant here and life eternal there. For those who received this gift of God, there comes the power of God, making them sons and daughters of God. Life all brand new. Do you have it? Women praise the Lord like Mary of old. Men glorify the Lord as the shepherds of old. And that, and only that, can bring peace to the world. The message of that babe is the only message which can spread the goodwill of God and transform the lives of all mankind. Oh, I hope and pray at this wonderful season that this gift may be yours. We, the Crawford Broadcasting Company, all of us, wish you a very happy, merry, blessed Christmas centered around the Babe of Bethlehem. And may the love of God in Jesus Christ be your very special gift this Christmas season. And I say, glory to God, glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace and goodwill for all, like the angels of old. Christ, Christ is born.
SPEAKER 01 :
Let him know you appreciate his daily visits here on the Crawford Stand. His email address again is stand at CrawfordMediaGroup.net. When you want to review what you hear, go to our website, CrawfordMediaGroup.net. The Crawford Stand is a public affairs presentation of Crawford Media Group and this station, serving God and country. I'm Bill McCormick.
God's 10 problem-solving devices: Rebound. Filling of the Holy Spirit. Faith Rest Drill. Biblical Orientation. Grace Orientation. Personal Sense of Destiny. Personal Love for God. Impersonal Love for Others. Sharing the Happiness of God. Occupation with Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ lives in you! This is the mystery doctrine of the church. “To whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery which is Christ in you” (Col 1:27). The real you is what you think. The Bible says, “As a man thinks so he is.” We are members of the body of Christ. In the family of God. We have a new purpose, a new responsibility, a new source of authority and we have a life that is planned specifically for us. A life of purpose, meaning, and definition.
Click for Full Transcript: https://rhem.pub/unique-life-8120a9
Our Unique Life – Part 5
Transcript of FLOT Line Episode 620 aired on July 16, 2017
Good morning and welcome to the FLOT Line. I'm your host Rick Hughes and for the next few
minutes I invite you to listen up. It's going to be a time of motivation, some inspiration, a whole
lot of education, done with absolutely no manipulation. No gimmicks, no games, no requesting
money. We’re only here for one reason, that’s to give you accurate information. And that
information I pray will help you verify as well as identify the plan of God for your life. And if
you wish to orient and adjust to the plan, then you have the freedom and the liberty to do so. But
my job is to be accurate, not to give you some human speculation, but to give you Biblical
revelation and to be accurate from the Bible, the canon of Scripture. That’s right this is a show
about the Bible so don't turn it off yet. It's not like anything you've heard before I promise you.
No jumping up and down, no yelling, no screaming, just some logical presentation of the Word
of God. If you're new to the show, FLOT stands for Forward Line Of Troops. And what we're
using here is a military analogy of how a believer in Jesus Christ can establish a main line of
resistance in his life using a forward line of troops. And that F.L.O.T. stands for Forward Line Of
Troops and that is made up of ten unique problem-solving devices. When you learn these and use
these, then you will be able to stop the outside sources of adversity before they ever become the
inside source of stress. That's why we always say adversity is inevitable and yet stress is
optional. Because adversity is what circumstances do to you and stress, well that's what you do
to yourself. So learn these ten problem-solving devices. We have a book about it. It's free if you
want it, I'll send it right to you. No charge.
It lists rebound as problem-solving device number
one. It lists the filling of the Holy Spirit as problem-solving device number two. It lists the
faith rest drill as problem-solving device number three. And it lists Biblical orientation,
grace orientation, a personal sense of destiny, personal love for God, impersonal love for
others, +H or sharing the happiness of God and occupation with Jesus Christ. Those are
your ten unique problem-solving devices.
Somebody says prayer is not in there. Well, prayer is
not designed to solve your problems. Prayer is instantaneous communication with the Father, but
as Paul said in 2 Corinthians 12:8 I prayed three times for my problem to be removed and it was
not removed and that's when God told him that My grace is sufficient. Grace orientation is a
problem-solving device. Four weeks ago I started a special study on the uniqueness of the
Christian life. And since that time I've been to Texas and spoken in Texas, presented this study,
added some notes, so I’m going to review a little bit before we press on to where we left off last
time. I have already taught you our unique assets as believers in Jesus Christ. What God the
Father has given to us and what He’s provided for us, our unique assets. One of the most unique
things the world has ever known, ever seen, ever heard of, I mean shock and awe,
is called the
mystery doctrine of the church, it is Christ living in you.
No one ever heard of that before.
Christ living in you. In the Old Testament, in the tabernacle, the Shekinah Glory indwelled the
tabernacle but it never indwelled any individual. But now, according to the Bible in Colossians
1:27,
“To whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among
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the Gentiles, which is Christ in you.”
So the Gentiles were brought into the royal family of God
to begin the unique dispensation called the Church Age. Christ living in you. The Holy of Holies
of the tabernacle has now taken up residence in you. And so Paul tells us in Romans 13:14 to
“put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh.”
When I say put on the Lord
Jesus Christ, what I'm saying is that
as a believer in Christ, a Christian, you need to have a
different identity and a different personality profile.
A different identity and a different
personality profile. You were an unbeliever, you’re now a believer. Now you have to assume the
profile of Jesus Christ which is humility.
“He humbled Himself,”
the Bible says in Philippians
2:5,
“and made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Himself the form of a man and was
obedient all the way to the cross.”
So we take on His mentality. We take on His personality. He
lives in us. And then guess what happens? Ephesians 3:20,
“Now to Him who is able to do
exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think”
not only in eternity but in time as well
because we have divine operating assets. That's what makes us stand apart from the unbelievers
in the devil’s world. I call them the disadvantaged ones. They don't have the advantages that we
have. But the sad thing is, I think it's very possible that a lot of believers never really tap into
their unique assets. We’re under orders, we’re under orders from God, we must present ourselves
for His service. Romans 6:13,
“Do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as
instruments of unrighteousness but
[here’s the mandate]
present yourself to God as those alive
from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.”
Present yourself to
God is the Greek word
paristemi
and it's an imperative mood in the Greek New Testament that
says when you don't do this you are sinning. If you disobey the commander’s orders you are
sinning.
Presenting yourself to God means
that you take your flesh, your sin nature, remember
the Bible says
“The flesh wars against the Spirit, the Spirit wars against the flesh, they’re
contrary one to the other,”
so you put your flesh aside,
you deny self, you say no to self and
you begin to grow in God's grace plan.
Learning the protocol plan of God, utilizing the grace
provisions that God has for you because your body is now the temple of God. There is no longer
a tabernacle. You are the tabernacle. 1 Corinthians 3:16,
“Know you not that you are the temple
of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
[and goes on to say]
if any man defile the temple
of God, him shall God destroy for the temple of God is holy and so should you be.”
Divine
discipline is real for the believer in Jesus Christ. When we reject the plan of God, we go through
warning discipline (Hebrews 12:6), we go through intense discipline (that’s when God takes us
out behind the woodshed), and we can also go through dying discipline. So you cannot afford to
turn your back on the Word of God or to defile your body, which is the temple of the Holy Spirit.
How do you do that? By getting sin in your life and not confessing the sin, letting the sin
hibernate, letting the sin saturate your life. It could be any sin. But you defile the temple of God.
If that sin nature controls your body, then you're going to scar your body up.
And if you do
enough sin, enough times, the damage is inconceivable. Because Ephesians 4:19 says,
“Those
being passed feelings
[that means they’re calloused and they’re insensitive, they’re apathetic,
they have no conviction, they've destroyed all of their norms and standards]
those that are passed
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feelings have betrayed their own self to lasciviousness and produce uncleanliness with greed.”
This is a pattern in the latter days of the church, the Bible says. In 1 Timothy 4:1,
“Now the
Spirit expressly says in the latter times some will depart from the faith
[in other words they walk
away from the Word of God]
and they will listen to deceiving spirits
[doctrine of demons]
and
they will be having their conscience seared with a hot iron.”
Conscience seared with a hot iron.
What does that mean? That's the Greek word, seared is the Greek word
kauteriazo,
and we get an
English word from that, cauterize, and this means, you know, to cauterize something, to burn it
so it doesn't keep bleeding, you cauterize a bleeder. Those who spread false doctrine, those who
walk away from the faith are branded in their mentality like a cow is branded with a branding
iron. That cauterizing of their soul, no conviction, no consciousness, all norms and standards
destroyed. So you must not let that happen to you. You can't afford to dabble in sin and fail to use
problem-solving device number one which is rebound. It's a volitional decision you must make.
You have to make this decision. Ephesians 4:22 says,
“You must put off that old manner of life,
those old habits and those old actions which are corrupt, that lead to deceitful lust and be
renewed in the spirit of your mind.”
In other words,
learn to think differently, acquire divine
viewpoint, take on the mentality of Jesus Christ.
So what are the mechanics? Again, use your
volition to advance spiritually, change the way you think, start thinking some divine viewpoint
(learn God's Word), change the way you live (grace orientation, God graced you out, you grace
other people out), change your goals (you have a new sense of destiny, a new identity, you are a
believer in Jesus Christ) and all of this is done by means of the filling of the Holy Spirit. So we
have incredible assets. We have the Bible, we have different spiritual gifts. We have a well-
qualified pastor teacher who's designed to teach us God's Word. We have all of these things
available to us if we take advantage of them. And here's the thing that God's going to do with
you. He's going to inspect your heart. Revelation 2:23,
"I am the One who searches the minds
and hearts and I will give to each of you according to your production.”
So we have amazing
promises here. I want you to hear this one promise. This is the most amazing promise of all.
“I
will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee because he trusts in Thee.” “
Thou
wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee because he trusts in Thee.”
This
is an amazing lifestyle.
There's a possibility that you can live a life free of anxiety, free of stress,
free of fear, free of worry. That you can have perfect peace. Psalm 119:165,
“Those who love
Your Law have great peace and nothing causes them to stumble.”
That's to be discouraged or to
be defeated. And this is not the peace that comes from getting saved. I mean, Billy Graham wrote
a little article called “Peace with God,” and that's what happens when you get saved for sure.
“Having been justified by faith we have peace with God,”
Romans 5:1-2,
“through our Lord
Jesus Christ.”
That’s salvation peace. But what I'm talking about is a peace after you’re saved, a
peace as you live your Christian life. A way to live with a relaxed mental attitude. It's incredible.
It's a life free of worry, a life free of anxiety, a life free of fear. That's why Paul wrote in
Philippians 4:6-7,
“Be anxious for nothing...”
Listen, capacity for life, the capacity to live your
life, is related to you being content with what God gives you. And the instructions from the Word
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620-Our-Unique-Life-p5-transcript.pdf
of God are designed to develop integrity in your life. And this is the attitude of stability and it's
the capacity for really true happiness - having this integrity. Arrogance will destroy any chance
of integrity. No integrity, no contentment. So the details of life, those things that are out there,
that's not the source of true happiness. I mean, I enjoy having fun, doing certain things, I love to
fish, bass fishing is a hobby for me, but it’s not the source of true happiness. Even Paul said it
this way and in Philippians 4:11,
“Not that I speak in respect of want for I've learned to be
content in whatever circumstances I have.”
This is a question I have to ask you, are you content
today or do you think that something else could make you happy? Look at your life. Look at
your circumstances. Are you content? Now I’m not talking about your spiritual life. I hope you're
not content with where you are spiritually. But physically the assets you have, you know, the
details of life, are you content or do you think if you could win the lottery or do you think if you
could just meet the right person or do you think if I just lived in a different place that I could get
a different job then I could be happy? See, unhappy people are going to take their unhappiness
with them wherever they go. So to have tranquility of soul, to have stability of mental attitude,
it’s an amazing thing, not letting your emotions control you, and living under this peace that God
supplies you. This kind of true contentment, that’s peace. That's the peace of happiness. And it is
possible through the power of God to come to the place in our lives where we have this
happiness. It’s called +H, it's problem-solving device number nine. This tranquility and this
contentment and at the same time to have a fantastic love and appreciation for our Father. Now,
last time I was talking to you about this. I also want to let you know that
there is great comfort
and relief in prayer.
Listen to the verse I’m fixing to read to you. Philippians 4:6-7, as I started
it,
“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer
[by prayer]
and supplication
[prayer]
with thanksgiving
[prayer]
let your requests be made known to God.
[prayer, prayer, prayer,
prayer, and what does it say after that?]
And the peace of God, which surpasses all
understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
There's comfort and
relief in prayer. When you express your helplessness, when you express your dependence on
God, that’s you recognizing and orienting to His grace provisions. And thus we can relax, we can
enjoy the peace of God with a relaxed mental attitude because Satan is going to attack your
thinking. That's where he works. He's attacking your mind. That's where you live your spiritual
life - in your mind and your soul. You're not what you look like, you’re what you think.
The
Bible says, “As a man thinks in his heart so he is.” The real you is what you think.
And this
is where the battle goes on. It’s the battle for your thoughts. So you live your Christian life in the
mentality of your soul and that's where he will focus his attack. He wants you to doubt, he wants
you to be deceived, he wants you to be discouraged. These are all weapons that Satan uses. And
the Bible says if you’ll make those requests known to God, the peace of God which passes
understanding will guard, the future active indicative of
phroureo,
it will guard you. It will
protect you. It will protect your mind and your heart. Your mind, your
nous
(n.o.u.s.), that's the
Greek word mind and your heart
kardia
(k.a.r.d.i.a.),
they’re two different compartments in the
soul. The mind is where you assimilate information and the heart is where you apply the
4
620-Our-Unique-Life-p5-transcript.pdf
information. So one is intake and one is outtake. One is take it in and one is put it out. So you
take it in with the mind and use it in the heart. When you use it in the heart it’s called wisdom in
the Bible. It’s an amazing thing. And so there's never any need for you to worry yourself sick.
Never a need for any of this sort of stuff because the peace of God will guard you. Amazing.
Amazing. I told you last time that Satan will try to neutralize you by recapturing your thoughts.
He will try to get your thought life. He will try to get the way you think. And this is why Paul
wrote it this way, he said,
“Cast down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against
the knowledge of God and bring into captivity
[listen now]
every thought to the obedience of
Christ.”
Casting down imaginations and every high thing. High thing,
hupsoma
, it's a Greek
word meaning barrier or antagonism. Paul describes his mental attitude to us, it’s him talking
about his self there. He speaks of the way he handled things, his resources. That's what that is.
And he said we destroy human speculations. That's casting down imaginations. Let me give you
a little modified expanded translation of 2 Corinthians 10:5,
“We destroy human speculations
that are antagonistic to God as well as every barrier in our soul that stands against the
knowledge of God and by doing this we capture every thought and bring them into obedience.”
Now remember, Satan is going to play mind games with you. The victory in your life begins with
what you think. So he will try to change the way you think. Recapture your thoughts. He will try
to reclaim your affections, that’s why the Bible says,
“love not the world.”
And he will seek to
redirect your focus, that’s why the Bible says,
“don't look at things that are seen but things that
are unseen.”
And he will seek to redefine your values and that's why the Bible says,
“don't lay
up for yourselves treasures on this earth but seek first the kingdom of God and His
righteousness.”
So you as a believer you have all these assets.
You’re a royal priest, you’re a
member of the royal family of God, you have the power of intercessory prayer, you have the
filling of the Holy Spirit.
All of these things so that you can have a tranquil and a quiet life. The
Bible clearly says this. Paul encourages prayer on behalf of 1 Timothy 2:1-2, he says to Timothy,
“I urge that entreaties, prayers, petitions and thanksgiving be made known on behalf of all men
[and look at verse two]
for kings and all who are in authority
[like the president]
so that we may
live a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and all dignity.”
In other words, what Paul is saying
is he wants Timothy to pray for the government so they will be undisturbed by government
authorities and they can have a tranquil calm life and learn and serve and worship God, not have
a stormy life. And Paul knew the deteriorating political atmosphere of Rome. He knew what was
going on and essentially in 64 A.D. Rome burned down and Nero accused Christians of doing it
and I mean he persecuted them unmercifully. So if there's one thing we don't have in America
today, it's tranquility or quiet lives because we are assaulted every day by media bullies seeking
to impose their agenda on the masses. The only way to debate that or defeat that is through
prayer. Now, let’s talk about your unique times that you live in, okay? The most unique thing is
we live in the Church Age and when we became believers in Jesus Christ, we are automatically
adopted into the family of God, made heir with God and Christ. We’re heirs to the family of God.
Listen, Galatians 3:26,
“For you are all the sons of God by faith in Jesus Christ. Having
5
620-Our-Unique-Life-p5-transcript.pdf
predestined us to the adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good
pleasure of His will.”
That means, here's what it means, you and I, we are spiritual aristocracy.
That's the highest class in society. We are spiritual nobility. We might not be presidential. We
might not be kings. But we are nobility in Christ and this is superior to any other dispensation in
the history of the church, even from the beginning of time until the end of time. No one has the
spiritual nobility of the royal family of God except the church members. You, me,
we are
members of the body of Christ, adopted into the family of God. We have a new purpose, a
new responsibility, a new source of authority and we have a life that is planned specifically
for us
and us alone. So, as we learn that purpose, we learn our unique assets, we use our assets
and we know that we are now (you, me) we are now the personal representatives of Jesus Christ
during our time here in the arena of contention called earth. We are ambassadors from heaven.
The Bible says we’re royal ambassadors. That means we’ve been left here for a purpose and for a
certain time. And so if we're going to do that, we’ve got to have a certain mindset. That mindset
requires us to have humility and to commit ourselves to the life that God has for us. Paul said it
this way, he said,
"I’ve been crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, and yet it's not me, but it's
Christ living in me. And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who
loved me and gave Himself for me.”
What Paul is saying is, he put to death the flesh. He’s not
living for the flesh anymore and he's not living by sight anymore.
The only way to live is to live
by faith and you must trust God.
In other words, Christ died for you experientially, thus you
die for Him in your position. You say, ‘No, I’m not going to obey the lust of the flesh. Yes, I'm
going to let the Holy Spirit control my life. Yes, I'm going to take God's Word and learn and use
it. Yes, I’m going to change the way I think. Yes, I'm going to change my personality. Yes, I'm
going to represent Jesus Christ to a lost and dying world.’ I mean, the Son obeyed the Father and
you have to as well. You have to obey the Son. Jesus said to the disciples,
“If anybody wants to
come after Me, let him deny himself.”
That means put your life aside. You’re going to have to
live for Me. And this act of sacrifice is simply you denying what you may have the right to do in
order to serve Him. In other words, your existence, your life must forever be a channel for the
flow of the gospel demonstrated by virtue love to all that you meet. Whether it's impersonal love
for the lost man, whether it's personal love for the believer, having personal love for God the
Father. Because Paul said,
“For me, to live is Christ,”
Philippians 1:21. That must be you. For
you, to live is Christ.
That's why you're here - to re-present Him.
Not only represent Him by
means of your local church but to re-present Him in your personal life. That's why Paul said,
anything that I had in the past I count that all as dung. I have a new life, a new mission, a new
purpose. All that other stuff is just rubbish. If He is my Lord, I have a new ownership. I'm His
servant now, Paul said. He called himself a slave of Jesus Christ and we are also. Think about it.
Your destiny, your history depends on your attitude about this. I hope you're learning. I hope
you're putting this together. It's an awesome time to grow in the grace and the knowledge of your
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Thank you for listening. Until next week, same time, same place.
Thank you for being with us
Join us in this festive episode as we dive into the warm-hearted world of Christmas. With cheerful songs that will light up your spirit and discussions on financial planning to ease your holiday worries, this episode has everything you need to make merry. From fun holiday traditions to crucial financial advice, celebrate the joyous season while planning wisely for the future.
SPEAKER 04 :
We wish you the merriest, the merriest, the merriest, the merriest New Year!
SPEAKER 05 :
We wish you the merriest, the merriest, the merriest, yes, the merriest. We wish you the merriest, the merriest, the merriest, you cheer! We wish you the happiest, the happiest, the happiest, yes, the happiest. We wish you the happiest, the happiest, the happiest New Year! May your tree be filled with happiness, happiness and friendliness for all. May your heart be filled with cheerfulness, happiness and cheerfulness for all. We wish you the happiest, the happiest, the happiest, happiest, yes, the happiest. We wish you the merriest, the merriest, the merriest. You'll cheer and the happiest. We wish you the happiest, the happiest, the happiest, yes, the happiest. We wish you the happiest, the happiest, the happiest New Year. May your dream be filled with happiness, happiness and friendliness for all. With happiness and cheerfulness and friendliness for all. We wish you the happiest, the happiest, the happiest. Yes, the happiest. We wish you the merriest, the merriest, the merriest future.
SPEAKER 1 :
We'll be right back.
SPEAKER 11 :
old mr kringle is soon gonna jingle the bells that'll tingle all your troubles away everybody's waiting for the man with the bag cause christmas is coming again he's got a sleigh full it's not gonna stay full he's got stuff to drop at every stop of the way everybody's waiting for the man with the bag cause christmas is coming again he'll be With the answer to the prayers that you've made through the year, you'll get yours. If you've done everything you should, extra special good he'll make this December. The one you'll remember, the best and the merriest you ever did have. Everybody's waiting for the man with the bag. Christmas is here. Oh, Mr. Kringle is soon gonna jingle All the bells that are tingled All your troubles away Everybody's waiting for the man with the bag Christmas is here again He's got a staple and it's not gonna staple. Got stuff that he's dropping every stop of the way. Everybody's waiting for the man with the bag. Christmas is here again. the prayers that you've made through the year you'll get your if you've done everything you should special good he'll make this december the one you'll remember the best and the merriest you ever did have everybody's way Better watch out now.
SPEAKER 13 :
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SPEAKER 19 :
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SPEAKER 18 :
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 16 :
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SPEAKER 21 :
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 07 :
Twas the night before Christmas and I'd gone to bed late. Lord only knows how much fruitcake I ate.
SPEAKER 08 :
Christmas Eve I dreamed that Santa was arrested. Yeah, they handcuffed him and they hauled him off to jail. Christmas Eve I dreamed that Santa was arrested. A crime so bad they held him without bail. Cruelty to reindeer was the first charge that they read. We got there just in time, your honor. He had nine of them hitched to a heavy sled. And abuse is indicated. One's got a nose that's awfully red.
SPEAKER 07 :
And the prosecution had only just begun.
SPEAKER 08 :
OSHA closed his workshop down for safety violations. And there are product liability claims for every toy built since creation. We found out he hires only elves, and of course that's discrimination. He'll be put away for life before we're done. That sled is not airworthy. The FAA won't certify. He's over 60 with corrected vision, therefore he should not fly. Why, this could be the trial of the century. There's over 10 billion instances of unlawful entry. Christmas Eve, I dreamed that Santa was arrested. And not only for the things they claim he did Christmas Eve I dreamed that Santa was arrested For being a poor role model for kids Why, just look at him, Mary, Your Honor. He doesn't shave or cut his hair, and he's grossly overweight, and he only works one day a year. Now, we all know he smokes tobacco, and that he's fur on that suit he wears. We must protect our kids from men like this. Order in the court, said the judge. I've heard enough about his crimes. And clearly, this is a man who's out of step with modern times. But one of those houses he so often entered unlawfully was mine. And therefore, all charges are dismissed. Oh, I woke up to the sound of ho-ho-ho-ing. It must have been the maraschino cherries.
SPEAKER 06 :
Woo! Somebody done been to the Walmart. Man, that's just the stuff I got for Christmas. Well, you cleaned up. What'd you get? Five flannel shirts. Four big mud tires, three shotgun shells, two hunting dogs, and some parts to a Mustang GT. You foe, you got Jeff. There's 12 days to Christmas.
SPEAKER 01 :
I know that.
SPEAKER 06 :
I got it covered. Look over in the corner. That's yours too? Yeah, 12 pack of bud, 11 wrestling tickets, 10 of Copenhagen, 9 years probation, 8 table dancers, 7 packs of Redman, 6 cans of Spam, 4 big mutt tires, 3 shotgun shells, 2 hunting dogs, and some parts to a Mustang GT. Man, these ain't normal Christmas presents. No, they're redneck gifts. Redneck gifts? Yeah, you know, like if you buy your wife earrings that double as fishing lures, or if you can burp the entire chorus of Jingle Bells. Perhaps if you think the nutcracker is something you did off the high dive. Or if you've ever misspelled anything in Christmas lights. Or if you leave cold beer and pickled eggs for Santa Claus. What's wrong with that? I didn't say anything wrong with it. It's hard to beat. Twelve pack of Bud, eleven wrestling tickets, ten of Copenhagen, nine years probation, eight table dancers, seven packs of Redman, six Kansas Pass.
SPEAKER 04 :
Five final shots.
SPEAKER 06 :
Four big mud tires, three shotgun shells, two hunting dogs, and some parts to a Mustang G2. Well, you know, you can't really consider it a Christmas unless you go down to the penitentiary and visit your mama. You're not listening to me. Get the car key out of your ear. That's where the nine years probation comes in. I'm going to do it for you again. Now listen. 12-pack of Bud, 11 wrestling tickets, 10 of Copenhagen, 9 years probation, 8 table dancers, 7 packs of Redman, 6 cans of Spam, 5 little she-hards, 4 big maters, 3 shotgun shells, 2 hunting dogs, and some cars to a Mustang GT. Are you crying? No, just my allergies. Happy holidays, everybody.
SPEAKER 21 :
Let's keep Christmas fun and festive. This is Rush to Reason on KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 18 :
The holidays are the busiest season for plumbers. And High Five Plumbing, Electrical, Heating, and Cooling wants you to be ready now. There are several things you can do to prevent freezing, busted pipes, and other plumbing issues just as guests arrive. If you have plumbing inside cabinets, leave the doors open to warm them. especially if they are on an exterior wall. Hi-5 can better insulate pipes if this is a constant issue. And if you're going away for a vacation, don't forget to turn the water off to prevent those really bad emergency pipe breaks. When the cold dips lower than normal, leaving your faucets dripping will keep water flowing and prevent it from freezing. Plumbing inside your home is constantly degrading. So even if you haven't had an issue in previous years, Hi-5 can help you make sure it's still working. Have them out for a pre-holiday inspection and receive a waived inspection fee just for being a KLZ listener. Schedule your inspection today at klzradio.com slash plumbing.
SPEAKER 20 :
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 02 :
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 17 :
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SPEAKER 21 :
Remember the reason for the season. Merry Christmas from Rush to Reason on KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 14 :
It happened one day near December's Inn, two neighbors called on an old friend. And they found his shop so meager and lean, made gay with a thousand bows of green. And Conrad was sitting with faces shining When he suddenly stopped as he stitched a twine And he said, old friends at dawn today When the cock was crowing the night away The Lord appeared in a dream to me And said, I'm coming your guest to be So I've been busy with feet astir And strewing my shop with branches of fir The table is spread and the kettle is shined And over the rafters the holly is twined Now I'll wait for my Lord to appear and listen closely so I will hear his step as he nears my humble place. And I open the door and look on his face. So his friends went home and left Conrad alone for this was the happiest day he had known. For long since his family had passed away and Conrad had spent many a sad Christmas day. But he knew with the Lord as his Christmas guest, this Christmas would be the dearest and best. So he listened with only joy in his heart, and with every sound he would rise with a start and look for the Lord to be at his door, like the vision he had had a few hours before. So he ran to the window after hearing a sound, but all he could see on the snow-covered ground was a shabby beggar whose shoes were torn and all of his clothes were ragged and worn. But Conrad was touched and he went to the door and he said, you know, your feet must be frozen and sore. I have some shoes in my shop for you and a coat that'll keep you warmer too. So with grateful heart the man went away But Conrad noticed the time of day And wondered what made the Lord so late And how much longer he'd have to wait When he heard a knock he ran to the door But it was only a stranger once more A bent old lady with a shawl of black With a bundle of kindling piled on her back She asked for only a place to rest That was reserved for Conrad's great guest. But her voice seemed to plead, don't send me away. Let me rest for a while on Christmas Day. So old Conrad brewed her a steaming cup and told her to sit at the table and sup. But after she left, he was filled with dismay. For he saw that the hours were slipping away. And the Lord hadn't come as he said he would. and Conrad felt sure he had misunderstood. When out of the stillness he heard a cry, Please help me and tell me where am I? So again he opened his friendly door and stood disappointed as twice before. It was only a child who had wandered away and was lost from her family on Christmas Day. Again Conrad's heart was heavy and sad, but he knew he should make the little girl glad So he called her in and he wiped her tears and quieted all her childish fears. Then he led her back to her home once more. But as he entered his own darkened door, he knew the Lord was not coming today, for the hours of Christmas had passed away. So he went to his room and knelt down to pray, and he said, Dear Lord, Why did you delay? What kept you from coming to call on me? For I wanted so much your face to see. When soft in the silence a voice he heard, Lift up your head, for I kept my word. Three times my shadow crossed your floor, And three times I came to your lonely door. I was the beggar with bruised cold feet, and I was the woman who gave something to eat. I was the child on the homeless street. Three times I knocked, and three times I came in, and each time I found the warmth of a friend. Of all the gifts, love is the best, and I was honored to be your Christmas guest.
SPEAKER 10 :
No Christmas gift could I bestow That could ever quite impart the fondest wish The dearest dream that I feel within my heart. May God above send down his love and bless the world with cheer. May all the joy of Christmas time live on throughout May peace on earth, goodwill toward men, be the dream for which we live. All the good of brotherhood be the Christmas gift we give. May God protect us one and all and keep his goodness near. May all the joy of Christmas time live on throughout the year. Oh, little star of Bethlehem, may your bright and shining light forever guide all you Through the darkness of the night May God in heaven bless us all With peace we hold so dear May all the joy of Christmas time live on throughout the year. May heaven bless with happiness all people everywhere. And fill the world with love and joy That's my fervent Christmas prayer
SPEAKER 01 :
You work hard to keep a roof over the heads of you and your loved ones. The last thing you need is to be worrying about the condition of that roof. That's where we come in. At Roof Savers Colorado, we pride ourselves in helping homeowners like you get a new roof without all the worry. Deductibles are skyrocketing, and since it's illegal to waive those fees, the financial burden of upgrading your damaged roof can seem overwhelming. But here at Roof Savers, we offer both financing options and referral fees to offset some of those upfront costs. Already filed a claim with your insurance? We are happy to utilize those insurance proceeds to get your roof the replacement it needs and your home stronger protection from hail. With over 23 years of roofing experience, Dave and his team are ready to help. Call us today at 303-710-6916 or go to RoofSaverCO.com to set up your free inspection. That's 303-710-6916, or go to RoofSaverCEO.com and stop worrying about your roof today.
SPEAKER 19 :
Your parents still have a mortgage payment weighing on them every month, and our reverse mortgage expert, Bruce Simmons, might be able to help. In many cases, our parents keep paying their mortgage and waiting for the house to finally be paid off, when Bruce could potentially get them set up with a reverse mortgage. That would eliminate their principal and interest payment. That can even be true if your parents live in other states where Bruce's company works, including Florida, Texas, Arizona, and more. A lot of the parents that Bruce works with like to fully involve their families for checks and balances. Bruce will gladly do that, too. And Bruce can also set up a line of credit for your parents for emergencies and unexpected expenses. This is a great way to preserve your parents' independence and keep them in their own home. while reducing the monthly financial burden on their budget and keeping everyone informed. Give your parents their freedom by contacting Bruce Simmons at klzradio.com.
SPEAKER 20 :
You need an affordable, trustworthy company to help you heat your home this holiday season. You need Cub Creek Heating and A.C. Imagine you click on your thermostat, you hear the air flowing, and check the vent only to find freezing cold air. You wonder what you'll do to fix it, and you can't afford a brand new heater right now before the holidays. Rheem Certified ProPartners Cub Creek Heating AC are HVAC technicians that you can trust in an emergency. They come right out to diagnose the issue, and if it turns out you need a new unit, they can help you finance the expense so your holidays aren't ruined. Cub Creek will work with you on a solution and let you know all the options you have available. So when you're in a chilly situation, remember to find Cub Creek on klzradio.com's advertiser page and let them help you get warm again.
SPEAKER 21 :
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 09 :
Once again Choirs will be singing Silent night Christmas carols Back in the light Please come home for Christmas Please come home for Christmas If not for Christmas And salutation Sure as the stars shine above This is Christmas Yes, Christmas, my dear It's the time of year to be So won't you tell me You'll never more roam Christmas and New Year We'll find you warm There'll be no more sorrow No grief and pain And I'll be happy Happy Once again
SPEAKER 03 :
I'll be happy Christmas once again I'm very very worried Mr. Santa Claus I've got a very big problem and it's all because When you get to my house We haven't got a chimney. Well, my behavior, Santa Claus, has been the best. I know you have my name and with it my address. But what good will it do me, don't you see? Because, Santa, we don't have a chimney. On Christmas morning Santa, I sure want to be surprised. But sir, without a chimney, how could you get inside? I think I have a plan of what I'm going to do. I'll leave the key beneath the front door mat for you. Cause when you get to our house, you will see We haven't got a chimney On Christmas, Warner, Santa, I want to be surprised But sir, without a chimney, how could you get inside? I think I have a plan of what I'm gonna do I'll leave the key beneath the front door mat for you And if there are no presents underneath the tree, we're going to have to get a chimney.
SPEAKER 15 :
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SPEAKER 21 :
Remember the reason for the season. Merry Christmas from Rush to Reason on KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 12 :
Merry Christmas from the Harveys and from Amway. And from all of the 75,000 and more independent Amway distributors throughout the United States and Canada. We're all one family all the time, but especially somehow today. My, what a news story I'd have been broadcasting less than 2,000 years ago. Now how I would like to be here to broadcast two more. The second coming. And a cure for cancer. I guess the real miracle of Christmas is that any religious significance remains, what with the tendency to commercialization. Despite the gaudy tinsel wrapping, the meaning of the Christ mass remains somehow intact. Though our eager eyes now search the skies for man-made stars, we yet remember best the one which once upon a time stood still over a stable. This is the miracle of Christmas. Not that so many profane the day with self-indulgence, but that so many still trudge through snow to an early service or a midnight mass. I saw a drunken street-corner Santa with booze on his breath and his beard in his hand hauled off to jail this Christmas tide But I saw the whole selfless Salvation Army standing by its cattle in the cold, giving meaning to his birth and purpose to his life. I saw a woman with shoes twice resold leave a dollar there. No, Virginia, the unbelievers are the greatest proof of what they profess to disbelieve. For two centuries they have sought to destroy Christmas. They coined ribald greeting cards to divert the devout. They sought with finite science to deny the infinite. They negotiated with union contracts for Christmas gifts. They crowned the day with imitation gold and hung it on an artificial tree, and said, See, but when they'd done their worst, Christmas was still there, haunting them, shaming them, calling out to them, Believe. If, after generations of effort to disparage the day, what do you suppose would happen if we instead renewed it? There are no more lengths to which we can go to dilute its significance. Perhaps we should revert to reverence. For if this magical day, despite the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, has somehow survived and thrived, with proper care intending, the love it represents might heal all our hurts. The faith we could not starve to death, properly fed just once each year, might overwhelm the world. Anyway, we've tried everything else. The revitalization of Christmas will be as tedious as its erosion was gradual, but there is no better time than now, for it's later than it's ever been. Where to begin? With prayerful thankfulness, I think. Merry Christmas, we traditionally say, yet that is not the larger meaning of the day. You know, it's his birthday, not yours. Christmas means something very special to every man and woman and child, yet no two families will celebrate it in exactly the same way. Many will attend special services, and others will gather with friends and family... But all of us who observe Christmas are finding an extra measure of peace and reassurance now, a momentary respite from the cares and worries of routine workaday lives. And yet Christmas brings with it many thoughts which are not quite adequately expressed in the timeless greeting. May the peace and joy of Christmas be with you throughout the year. Unable to trace its proper parentage, designated this as my Christmas story of the man and the birds. You know, the Christmas story, the God born a man in a manger and all that escapes some moderns, mostly, I think, because they seek complex answers to their questions. And this one's so utterly simple. So for the cynics and the skeptics and the unconvinced, I submit a modern parable. Now, the man to whom I'm going to introduce you was not a Scrooge. He was a kind, decent, mostly good man, generous to his family, upright in his dealings with other men, but he just didn't believe all that incarnation stuff which the churches proclaim at Christmastime. It just didn't make sense, and he was too honest to pretend otherwise. He just couldn't swallow the Jesus story. about God coming to earth as a man. I'm truly sorry to distress you, he told his wife, but I'm not going with you to church this Christmas Eve. He said he'd feel like a hypocrite, that he'd much rather just stay at home, but that he would wait up for them. And so he stayed, and they went to the midnight service. Shortly after the family drove away in the car, snow began to fall. He went to the window to watch the flurries getting heavier and heavier and then went back to his fireside chair and began to read his newspaper. Minutes later, he was startled by a thudding sound. Then another. And then another, sort of a thump or a thud. At first he thought someone must be throwing snowballs against his living room window, but when he went to the front door to investigate... He found a flock of birds huddled miserably in the snow. They'd been caught in the storm and in a desperate search for shelter had tried to fly through his large landscape window. Well, he couldn't let the poor creatures lie there and freeze, so he remembered the barn where his children stabled their pony. That would provide a warm shelter if he could direct the birds to it. Quickly, he put on a coat, galoshes, tramped through the deepening snow to the barn. He opened the doors wide and turned on a light, but the birds did not come in. He figured food would entice them in. So he hurried back to the house, fetched breadcrumbs, sprinkled them on the snow, making a trail to the yellow-lighted, wide-open doorway of the stable. But to his dismay, the birds ignored the breadcrumbs and continued to flop around helplessly in the snow. He tried catching them. He tried shooing them into the barn by walking around them, waving his arms. Instead, they scattered in every direction except into the warm-lighted barn. And then he realized that they were afraid of him. To them, he reasoned, I am a strange and terrifying creature. If only I could think of some way to let them know that they can trust me, that I'm not trying to hurt them but to help them. But how? Because any move he made tended to frighten them, confuse them. They just would not follow. They would not be led or shooed because they feared him. If only I could be a bird, he thought to himself, and mingle with them and speak their language. Then I could tell them not to be afraid. Then I could show them the way to the safe, warm... to the safe, warm barn, but I would have to be one of them so they could see and hear and understand. At that moment, the church bells began to ring. The sound reached his ears above the sounds of the wind, and he stood there listening to the bells, the deste fidelis. listening to the bells pealing the glad tidings of Christmas, and he sank to his knees in the snow.
SPEAKER 1 :
BELLS CHIMING BELLS CHIMING
SPEAKER 05 :
i heard the bells on christmas day their old familiar carols play and wild and sweet The words repeat of peace on earth, goodwill to men. I thought as now this day had come, the belfries of all Christendom. had rung so long the unbroken song of peace on earth, goodwill to men.
SPEAKER 04 :
Peace on earth, goodwill to men.
SPEAKER 05 :
And in despair I bowed my head. There is no peace on earth, I said For hate is strong and mocks the song Of peace on earth, good will to men Then pealed the bells more loud and deep god is not dead nor does he sleep the wrong shall fail the right prevail with peace on earth
SPEAKER 21 :
remember the reason for the season Merry Christmas from Rush to Reason on KLZ 560
Join us in this heartwarming episode as we explore the many dimensions of the festive season. From joyful holiday tunes and nostalgic Christmas stories to the humorous side of holiday indulgences, there's something in store for everyone. We also share the timeless Christmas story, inviting listeners to reflect on its enduring message of love and joy.
SPEAKER 15 :
It's the most wonderful time of the year With the kids jingle belling and everyone telling you be of good cheer It's the most wonderful time of the year It's the hap-happiest season of all With those holiday greetings and gay happy meetings When friends come to call It's the hap-happiest season of all There'll be parties for hosting, marshmallows for toasting and caroling out in the snow There'll be scary ghost stories and tales of the glories of Christmases long, long ago It's the most wonderful time of the year There'll be much mistletoeing and hearts will be glowing when loved ones are near. It's the most wonderful time of the year. There'll be scary ghost stories and tales of the glories of Christmases long, long ago It's the most wonderful time of the year there'll be much mistletoeing and hearts will be glowing when loved ones are near it's the most wonderful time yes the most wonderful time oh the most wonderful time
SPEAKER 09 :
Put on your seat belts, everybody. Put on your food belts. Oh, no, it's not that time of year again. No, it can't be. It can't be. Tell me, pinch me. Tell me it's not here.
SPEAKER 14 :
It's the most fattening time of the year. With that pumpkin pie filling and everyone swilling down eggnog and beer. It's the most fattening time of the year. It's the lip-smackingest season of all. While you're shopping, you're cheating, impulsively eating that junk at the mall. It's the heaviest season of all. There'll be turkeys for basting and stuffing for tasting and giblets and gravy will flow. There'll be cookies that mom baked and a leftover fruitcake from a Christmas a long time ago. It's the scale-flattening time of the year. While your diet you're blowing, there's calories going straight down to your rear. It's a scale-flattening time of the year.
SPEAKER 09 :
Hey, wait a minute, wait a minute. I know there's food everywhere, eggnog flowing out of fountains. It's like one big bar mitzvah. But listen, you don't have to do that. You could have small portions and make ribbons instead of fudge. You can do it. Please try.
SPEAKER 14 :
After meal dosing And arteries closing Cholesterol levels will grow It's too cold to go jogging Too brisk for to bargaining So pass me a hot buttered roll Don't you dare touch that roll I'm watching It's the most fattening time of the year All those gingerbread shingles and chocolate Kris Kringles will tremble in fear. It's the most fattening time. It's a belt-loosening time. It's the most fattening time of the year.
SPEAKER 28 :
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SPEAKER 02 :
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SPEAKER 21 :
Remember the reason for the season. Merry Christmas from Rush to Reason on KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 19 :
It's comfy. This is the Christmas Story. At the start of the story, Mary is working on her computer.
SPEAKER 20 :
An angel just popped up out of nowhere.
SPEAKER 19 :
I'm seeing an angel! And then an angel says, you will be pregnant someday, and you have to name that baby Jesus. Like, he will be the Lord. and she went to Joseph the next morning. She said, I'm pregnant. Did you know that? That night, he had a dream of the same exact angel coming to him, and that angel said, You will be pregnant to Mary. Do you know who Mary is? Yes, I do. Then marry her. But that was a weird dream. The angel left, and Mary got married to Joseph. Whoa, Mary, you look so cool. Mary, you are the best Mary ever. Could you marry me? Mary. Yes.
SPEAKER 20 :
But they went back to his homeland, which was Bethlehem.
SPEAKER 19 :
Hopped on a donkey and went do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do. Can you get off my back? It really hurts. I really want to stop. And then... They looked at an inn. But all the hotel rooms were full. Hey, can I stay here? Um, sorry. We have a lot of people staying here, so we can't do that. Are you sure?
SPEAKER 20 :
Um, yes, I'm sure. The innkeeper kept saying it was full and he said that they could use their stable.
SPEAKER 19 :
Meanwhile, there were shepherds watching their flock. I'm glad they didn't run away. You know what I mean? And then angels came down. We are the angels and Jesus will be born. Follow the song to discover he is in Bethlehem. And then a bunch of angels start singing. I'm not the singing type. I just sang a whole concert last night. And they said, wow. Whoa, that's cold. Wake up, sheepy sheep. The Messiah is going to be born. I'm a sheep. We're going to tap our sheep, and they're going to walk fast. There were three wise men. And it's not just an ordinary baby. It's a baby Jesus. They saw a star. Can you please bring me to Jesus? Because I'm going to give Jesus a present. And then the star says the Messiah is being born at the barn. And then they reached the stable. They were so rejoiced and happy that the Savior had come. They gave gifts. I'll give him a crown. Diamonds, gold, and a crown, and a baby bottle, and diapers. This is the best. Well, it is. It does have a bit of a smell, Joseph. I smell donkey poop. How did the poop get there? Well, no one cleaned it out, so. Oh, he's so cute. Is he going to be able to save you? Yes, he is. I love you, God. You are my Lord. I love you so much. I'm so happy you were born. Thank you, God, for giving us a baby Jesus. I love you. I love you.
SPEAKER 15 :
Some children see him lily white The baby Jesus born this night Some children see him lily white With dresses soft and fair Some children see Him bronzed and brown The Lord of heaven to earth come down Some children see Him bronzed and brown With dark and heavy hands Some children see him almond-eyed, this Savior whom we kneel beside. Some children see him almond-eyed with skin of yellow hue. Some children see him dark as they And they love him too The children in each different place will see the baby Jesus face like theirs, but bright with heavenly grace and filled with holy light. I'll sign each earthly thing And with thy heart as offering Come worship now the infant King Tis love that's born tonight
SPEAKER 16 :
And ransom captive Israel That mourns in lonely exile here Until the Son of God appear Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee. O come, thou Dayspring, come and cheer our spirits by thy hand. Disperse the gloomy clouds of night And death's dark shadows pull to find Rejoice Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel shall come to thee.
SPEAKER 07 :
Thank you.
SPEAKER 21 :
Remember the reason for the season. Merry Christmas from Rush to Reason on KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 26 :
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SPEAKER 23 :
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SPEAKER 22 :
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SPEAKER 13 :
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SPEAKER 21 :
Wishing you holidays filled with fun and laughter. Thanks for listening to Rush to Reason on KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 29 :
Now for something rather rare and something rather enchanting. It's one of the oldest tapes I have. Christmas Eve, 1964. ABC fed a live broadcast from the North Pole with Paul Harvey, who you will see turned out to be quite an actor in this. Not too many people have a tape of it. Once I called ABC Radio to ask if they had a better quality copy so I could use it on the air. They said, you have a copy of it? I said, yes. They had just redone it and had to fake the script because they couldn't find the original of the show. So here we go. It's Christmas Eve afternoon, December 24th, 1965, as the ABC Radio Network goes...
SPEAKER 06 :
live to the north pole and paul harvey here at santa's polar headquarters it is at this moment just past 11 p.m greenwich meantime christmas eve it is dark it has been dark since september it is cold that is to me it's cold to 64 degrees below zero outside our broadcast shack this i understand is comparatively mild but it's snowing tonight it does not snow here often Though there's always adequate ice on the polar cap, I understand from the Kringles that they have less snow here than we customarily have back in Chicago. Moments from now, I'm going to step outside this enclosure. The windows are so steamy and iced up so that you and I will have a better look at the takeoff of Santa's sleigh, which is presently in the final loading process, in the interim, and in behalf of the Hastings Manufacturing Company, which is making this remote origination possible. Let me wish for you and for those you love everything that's good for you. And you filling station men back in the United States, take tomorrow off. Don't eat too much and have fun. But before you lock up for tonight, be sure your regular customers have a can of K-Side tuned up in the crankcase so they'll be sure of a quick start tomorrow.
SPEAKER 1 :
You'll be interested to know our K-Side is good for the little engines, too.
SPEAKER 06 :
The generator which is making possible this broadcast from the North Pole is one of a battery of generators which powers Santa's workshop. And I am assured that the lubrication of these engine parts at temperatures as low as 100 degrees The low zero is insured with K-site additives. How about that? In the faint light of this arctic night, I'm having some difficulty inside this radio shack, this glass window visibility again, so though my remarks may be less intelligible in the 45-knot wind that's swirling through the Santa Land tonight, I'm going to step outside presently for a better view. The workshops opposite resemble a beehive when I arrived late this afternoon your time, but one by one, the lights in those long buildings have been going out. Ladies and gentlemen, I just received word from the good St. Nicholas himself that his ETA over the USA will be 1.53 a.m. That's just a little more than four hours from now.
SPEAKER 1 :
That means tailwinds are anticipated. We'd better get out on the loading apron beside the runway.
SPEAKER 06 :
If you can give me a little more mic cord, Dave Cole. Dave is another of the crew to whom we're indebted for upsetting themselves from their stateside families this Christmas Eve to make this... Bye, George! Can you still hear me? Can you hear me? I can see you, fellas, through this early snow. I'm going to assume that we're on the air. Santa's sleigh is still alongside the loading dock. Helpers are fussing with the eight reindeer harness. Dunder and Blitzen and Dancer, as previously announced in the States, Rudolph is not going to lead the hitch this year. For the first time in ten Christmases, Rudolph, whose red nose was a prime navigational aid for several of those years, is laying with a slightly injured fetlock. We'll stay behind. The newer navigational gear is under the front seat of the Great Sleigh. Radio contact will be maintained with remote control weather stations on the floating ice islands. These automatic devices have been made available by the United States Air Force. Actually, the Sleigh will be in voice communication with Point Barrow shortly after gaining cruising altitude, but that's almost 1,000 miles away. I passed Point Barrow just as... Oh, here comes St. Nicholas! In the yellow-lighted doorway of the Crickle Residence, He's kissing Mrs. Kringle. He's kissing Mrs. Kringle, and she's smiling. She always worries until he's home safe, she says, but she's smiling. Look at the workshop, the elves.
SPEAKER 1 :
There must be a hundred's eye erroneously indicated moments ago that there was no activity around here when the lights were going out. But the elves are all around the loading platform, Santa's waving and moving toward his sleigh on the steel net runway. It's still snowing slightly. Certainly those of us away from our families must be excused for saying this is a most momentous experience.
SPEAKER 06 :
I'm being motioned closer to the microphone. I can't get any closer. You take this thing up so the cold metal will not stick to my lips. Is this better? I'll hold it out of my parka up here so that I'm cutting the wind a little bit.
SPEAKER 1 :
The mooring houses have been relaxed and tossed aboard now as Santa's sleigh draws up this way.
SPEAKER 06 :
We can see the load of oh my goodness, we've been assured it's a record smashing capacity this Christmas, but the sleigh has piled approximately 40, maybe 45 feet high with packages. There's a tarp drawn tight. The elves here. Santa's waiting. So long, Santa. Excellent snow landing conditions have been promised down through My goodness, she's waving. Santa's waving and saying something. Did you get it? I got it. I got it. Santa, who is now headed your way, had this to say. Merry Christmas to all and to all. Good night from the North Pole. We return you now to your regularly scheduled programs.
SPEAKER 24 :
Merry Christmas from the ABC Radio Network.
SPEAKER 10 :
Santa looked a lot like Daddy. Daddy looked a lot like him. It's not the way I had him pictured. Santa wasn't much too thin. He didn't come down the chimney. So Mama must have let him in. Santa looked a lot like Daddy. Daddy looked a lot like him Well, they thought I was fast asleep and They thought I was tucked in bed They never thought that I'd come a-peepin' Or that I'd hear what was said Santa put his arm around Mama Mama put her arm around him So if Santa Claus ain't daddy Then I'm gonna tell on them Well, Santa looked a lot like daddy Daddy looked a lot like him That's not the way I had him pictured Santa was so much too thin He didn't come down the chimney So Mama must have let him in Santa looked a lot like daddy I never saw a dancer or prancer I never heard the sleigh bells ring I never saw the red nosed reindeer Like the show on the TV screen But it sure brought a lot of presents So Santa Claus he must have been Well he sure looked a lot like daddy And daddy looked a lot like him Well Santa looked a lot like daddy And daddy looked a lot like him It's not the way I had him pictured. Santa wasn't much too thin. He didn't come down the chimney, so Mama must have let him in. Santa looked a lot like Daddy, and Daddy looked a lot like him. I saw Mommy twisting with Santa Claus. Twisting with Santa!
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, I saw Mommy in her nightgown. She was jumping all around, twisting with old Santa Claus. The record kept a-playing and Mommy kept a-saying, old Santa was a-built for the cause. His tummy kept a-shaking and Mommy kept a-making jokes about the look in his eye. I'll make a little bet I'll never forget Mommy twisting the sign of that night Well, it was Christmas night And all was quiet And I was in my bed asleep Then something woke me from the other room So I thought I'd better take a little peep I sneaked up to the old keyhole and took a little look inside. In the sight I saw how it shocked me so, I like to jump out of my hide. There was my mommy in her nightgown. She was jumping all around, twisting with old Santa Claus. The record kept a-playin' and Mommy kept a-sayin' Old Santa wasn't built for the cause His tummy kept a-shakin' and Mommy kept a-makin' Jokes about the look in his eye I'll make a little bet, I'll never forget Mommy twistin' with Santa that night Well, then I cracked the door, stuck my head inside to try to get a better view. And then I stomped my toe and I fell inside. But I got another look or two. There was my mommy in her nightgown. She was yomping all around, twisting with old sanny claws. The record kept on playing and Mommy kept on saying, Oh, Santa wasn't built for the cause. His tummy kept on shaking and Mommy kept on making jokes about the look in his eye. I'll make a little bet, I'll never forget, Mommy twisting with Santa that night. Mommy kept on twisting, Santa kept on twisting, Mommy kept on twisting, Santa kept on twisting.
SPEAKER 01 :
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SPEAKER 26 :
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SPEAKER 28 :
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SPEAKER 21 :
Thank you for welcoming us into your home. This is Rush to Reason on KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 27 :
Tonight the whole house smells like cakes and pies. And downstairs I hear the kids decorating the Christmas tree. Somewhere in the house a radio is playing, Old Little Town of Bethlehem. I've been sitting here staring through the falling snow at a gaslight in our front yard. I keep thinking about a Christmas Eve when I was a boy. It was snowing then, too, and my mother was downstairs baking the same stuff my wife's baking now. My grandmother was tucking me into bed and talking to me, and my dad was standing in the door waiting to turn off the light by my bed. He was ashamed of me being scared of the dark. Before he came upstairs, I'd been telling my grandmother how sad I was because I wasn't getting what I really wanted for Christmas, which was a puppy. My dad wouldn't let me have a dog. At that time, he was building up his business, and he never had time to play with me. When he did get home, he was tired and irritated. I was an only child, and I hadn't started school yet. I was lonely a lot of the time. When I stopped talking, my grandmother studied my face for about a half a minute and then she said, Sonny boy, you're worried about what you want for yourself. And I can understand that. But Christmas is about giving. Christmas time is when you think about making other people happy. She picked up my hand off the quilt and held it in both her hands. That's when our Heavenly Father gave us the greatest gift of all. He gave us his own son so that he could grow up and teach us about his father, our father, and about love, about giving, and being a help to one another. From the time he was a little boy, he was unselfish and good, and he cared about people, whoever they were, and whatever shape they were in. And he always tried to be a help. I wasn't seeing my grandmother sitting on the edge of the bed or my dad leaning on the door frame and looking down at the floor. I was seeing the little boy growing up and learning and playing around his neighborhood. Suddenly I had a thought. Grandma, did the little boy have a dog? She smiled down at me. I don't know if he did or not, sonny. She reached up and combed back my hair from my forehead with her fingers. But I know he went around doing good all the time he was here. You might say his whole life was a gift to all of us. He taught us to be unselfish like our father is. She stood up then and said, now you go right to sleep. In the morning, there'll be presents under the tree for everybody. When she went out, my dad leaned around her to turn the light off. As I drifted down into sleep, I was thinking how that was the first time I'd ever seen tears in my dad's eyes. I wondered what was wrong. A little later, I woke up for a few seconds when I heard my dad's car start up and drive down the driveway, crunching the snow. A strange sound woke me up the next morning. At first, I couldn't figure out what it was. I heard something kind of like a baby crying, only different. And then I heard a little bitty bark. By then I was going down the stairs full speed. I'll never forget the scenes I experienced that morning. That little brown and black puppy, who I'd already named Bo, running across the floor with a long wrapping ribbon in his mouth, growling and barking, pretending he was a big, mean, grown-up dog. And my dad and me playing with a set of cars and trucks and a little green tractor I still have somewhere. For the first time, my dad was having fun at Christmas. It seemed like his eyes were rounder and his face wasn't so tight anymore. Later, we built a snowman and Bo got all wet. Mom gave me a towel to wrap him up in. He went to sleep in my lap. I didn't know at the time what had really happened to my dad. I just knew it was a wonderful Christmas and I loved everybody and everything.
SPEAKER 16 :
Do you remember me? I sat upon your knee I wrote to you with childhood fantasy And still need help somehow I'm not a child But my heart still can dream So here's my lifelong wish My grown-up Christmas list Not for myself But for a world in need That wars would never stop. And time would heal our hearts. And everyone would have a friend. And right will always win. And love would never. As children we believed the grandest sights to see Were something lovely wrapped beneath a tree Heaven only knows that packages and bones can never heal a hurting human soul. No more lies torn apart. There was what never sought, and time would heal all. And right would always win. And love would never end. This is my grown up Christmas list. What is this illusion called? The essence of you. Maybe only you. No more lies torn apart There was, will never start And time would heal our hearts Oh, and death And everyone would have a friend And right will always win This is my grown-up Christmas list This is my only life I wish This is my grown-up Christmas list
SPEAKER 24 :
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SPEAKER 21 :
Don, we now are ugly sweaters. This is Rush to Reason on KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 16 :
Isn't there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?
SPEAKER 05 :
And everything was going along very smoothly, and all of a sudden Sparky said, we're going to have to have Linus read for the Bible.
SPEAKER 04 :
It's arguable. The greatest 47 seconds in Christmas television history aired on CBS, December 9, 1965. Sparky, Peanuts creator Charles Schultz, he was a Christian man. CBS, however, wanted nothing to do with any reference to Christianity in A Charlie Brown Christmas. They wanted the scene featuring Linus quoting from the Bible to be cut. Can you imagine? But Schultz took a stand for Christ.
SPEAKER 18 :
You're Charlie Brown. I can tell you what Christmas is all about.
SPEAKER 05 :
And Bill and I looked at each other and he said, oh, gee, we don't know if you can animate from the Bible. You know, it's never been done before. And he said, well, if we don't do it, who will?
SPEAKER 25 :
Sparky was a little bit offended by people who said you should not put something as sacred as a Bible verse in such a crass thing as a comic strip. And that offended him. He didn't think a comic strip was crass, obviously. He was putting his whole heart and soul into it. But I also think that he probably felt that The Bible verses aren't just for church. No, they're not for the priesthood. They're for everyone.
SPEAKER 03 :
Linus' speech was from the book of Luke, chapter 2, verses 8 to 14 of the King James Version of the Bible.
SPEAKER 25 :
So Linus is the philosophical one, and it's true. He is the only one who could have said, who would have had the innate wisdom to, first of all, know the verse, but also to know that that was the true meaning.
SPEAKER 03 :
It evokes the best qualities of the religious experience of Christmas.
SPEAKER 18 :
Lights, please. And there were in the same country shepherds, abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them. And they were sore afraid, and the angel said unto them, Fear not, for behold, I bring you tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you, He shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace and goodwill toward men.
SPEAKER 16 :
Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown! Hark the herald angels sing, glory to the newborn King. Peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled. Joyful all ye nations rise, join the triumph of the skies. With angelic hosts proclaim, Christ is born in Bethlehem. Hark the herald angels sing, glory to the newborn King.
SPEAKER 04 :
Merry Christmas from all of us here at the Crawford Broadcasting Company.
SPEAKER 08 :
Angels from the realms of glory Wing your flight o'er all the earth Who sang creation's story Now proclaim Messiah's birth
SPEAKER 12 :
In excelsis Deo Gloria
SPEAKER 1 :
Thank you. Thank you.
SPEAKER 12 :
He shall fill his Father's throne Gather all the nations to him
SPEAKER 17 :
CHILDREN SINGING
SPEAKER 21 :
Remember the reason for the season. Merry Christmas from Rush to Reason on KLZ 560.
Join Andy Pate and his guests as they explore the intricacies of modern political strategies. This episode kicks off with lively discussions on Donald Trump's strategic changes, bringing in insights from media and identity politics. Andy talks with Todd Watkins and Jersey Joe to unravel how Trump's new team approach is sending ripples across political spheres and why media narratives are more polarized than ever. As the episode progresses, the focus shifts to the economics of immigration, taking a closer look at proposed policies and their potential impacts. This dialogue provides listeners with a well-rounded understanding of today's political landscape, peppered with humor and compelling stories that you won't hear anywhere else. This episode is a must-listen for anyone looking to unpack the complexities of America's political and economic environment.
SPEAKER 04 :
This is Rush to Reason.
SPEAKER 15 :
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 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 15 :
Are you crazy? Am I? Or am I so sane that you just blew your mind?
SPEAKER 04 :
It's Rush to Reason with your host, John Rush. Presented by High Five Plumbing, Heating, and Cooling, where every call ends with a high five.
SPEAKER 01 :
Filling in is Andy Pate, party of choice.
SPEAKER 08 :
And welcome to hour number three here on Rushed Reason. I am Andy Pate filling in for John Rush, who is taking some very well-deserved time off. Along with me, we have Todd Watkins. Todd, how are you holding up? This is a long show.
SPEAKER 07 :
No, this is great, Andy. We keep going. All right, let's keep going.
SPEAKER 08 :
On the line right now, we got Jersey Joe. Joe, how you doing? Andy, I'm doing good. How's my Goomba doing? Doing all right. Doing all right, yeah. I do the worst accent in the world, and I'm proud of it.
SPEAKER 16 :
And Todd, how are you doing? How's my Pazan doing?
SPEAKER 07 :
I'm doing great, Joe. I'm not even going to try.
SPEAKER 08 :
Joe, before we get into it, I know you've got a whole load of stuff. I just want to get your feel, because we were talking about this at the end of our number two. On the big four, or you could say the big five, because here's what I mean. Donald Trump has a whole different strategy this time around. Last time he put in place people who were careerists who, you know, like Mike Pence, who were there because they made him look more rational as if he wasn't. I mean, you know what I mean? But they were people who were not totally loyal to him. And quite honestly, they were not very effective debaters. Now he's got J.D. Vance. He's got Elon Musk. He's got Vivek Ramaswamy. He's got Tom Holman. He's got people who he is dispersing everywhere. And they are just wrecking these interviews. Everywhere they go. And I mean that in a good way. They are just, you know, they go in with these left wing, you know, ABC, CNN and so forth, these moderators, and they are just cutting them to ribbons and he is dispersing them everywhere. And so what is the media saying? Well, you know, Elon is our it's like Elon is president. No, it's like this and that. Now, suddenly the dictator, they're acting like he's helpless behind the scenes. I I think the left is in a tizzy. What do you think, Joe?
SPEAKER 16 :
Couldn't agree more. And I've been a CEO of two different companies. And one of my goals was to always try and hire people who were at least as smart, if not smarter than I was, maybe didn't have my experience. But, you know, if they were out representing me and I could, you know, I was able to see or hear what they did. If I saw them saying something that was even brighter and smarter than something, I would have said my reaction was yes. you know, that's exactly why I hired these guys to do that.
SPEAKER 08 :
What do you think of this? What do you think of this new strategy? I mean, really, because let's face it, it's a totally new strategy before it was Trump. Now it's team Trump and team Trump. We, you know, as I was saying in the last hour, Trump's only real big weakness is debate. He's not good at it. Okay. So he's got a bunch of people who are, and this time around they are front and center.
SPEAKER 16 :
I think it's a, it's a magnificent winning strategy. And also, uh, As a guy who doesn't have to worry about reelection, I think Trump can even be bolder than he was last time because he doesn't have to worry about getting reelected. So I just think it's a super strategy, brilliant strategy actually, and it's probably the smartest thing he's done. in 12 years.
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, they look panicked. I mean, when you come out and tell all of America that the guy you've said is a dictator for the last year, you suddenly say somebody else is president. It's President Elon Musk. I mean, that just tells me that you've run out of answers.
SPEAKER 16 :
You know, there's an old saying that has been frequently attributed to Socrates. Nobody can verify it, but it says, when the debate is lost, slander becomes the tool of the loser. So what you're seeing now is people resorting to slander, uh, to try and defame Trump because they've got nothing else to say.
SPEAKER 08 :
Do you think they're afraid? I mean, do you think they have literal fear at this new strategy of Trump's?
SPEAKER 16 :
Absolutely. And if, if you spend as much time on some of these liberal websites as I do, uh, they're, they're in an absolute panic. I mean, panic, panic. It, uh, You know, if you people want to say just go to something like being liberal or move on dot org or whatever, and you're going to see fear and loathing and, you know, these insane proposals. And it's just they're they're absolutely petrified.
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, let me throw this one to Joe. Before we go any further, really quick, how can people reach you?
SPEAKER 16 :
Oh, if you want to see my website, just go to Jersey, Joe, Jersey. Excuse me. Jersey Joe dot com. And you spell Jersey.
SPEAKER 08 :
Do you have to cough and clear your throat when you go there?
SPEAKER 16 :
J.E.R. Z.E.E. J.E.R. as in Robert Z as in Zebra E. Jersey Joe dot com. And if you want to send me an email with a question or a show topic or you want to be put on my distribution list, just send me an email to Joe at Jersey Joe dot com. Just remember to spell Jersey J.E.R. Z.E.E. And that's how you can reach me.
SPEAKER 08 :
But you're a conservative white man. I mean, are you going to be mean? Are you going to try to oppress them?
SPEAKER 16 :
I will try and give them what they want, and if what they want is not what they need, I'll give them what they need.
SPEAKER 08 :
Okay. Let me turn to Todd really quick here. Todd, okay, this strategy, Trump is not even in the White House yet, and this strategy is working, and here's one example how. The House had a 1,500-page bill, which was a pile of garbage, okay? And Trump... Barely saying a word, simply echoing what his team Trump is doing, you know, led by Eli and Vivek at the time, but it could have been somebody else. His team is incredible. They cut over 1,300 pages out of that. It's 116 in the end, wasn't it?
SPEAKER 07 :
Yes, thereabouts.
SPEAKER 08 :
And here you had, who's the head of the, Joe, who's the head of the Democrats in Congress?
SPEAKER 07 :
Hakeem Jeffries. Hakeem Jeffries.
SPEAKER 08 :
Hakeem Jeffries comes out and touts it as a victory for the Democrats. They just lost about 1,350-ish pages off the bill that they wanted, and he's acting like it's a success. Todd, let me just ask you this.
SPEAKER 16 :
Including the funding for their new football stadium for the Washington Command.
SPEAKER 07 :
The RFK Stadium there in D.C., right?
SPEAKER 08 :
Oh, they lost so much stuff. They lost so much power they had in this thing. Todd, what does it say that Team Trump is already cutting over 1,300 pages off a bad bill and he's not even in office yet? What does this portend for the future?
SPEAKER 07 :
In literature, it's called foreshadowing. Yes! And I do like this omen. I think so, too. What do you think, Joe?
SPEAKER 16 :
No, I think Todd's got it exactly right. They are petrified. They're trying to spin everything like this was a huge win for the Democrats, that he didn't get his debt ceiling, you know, debt ceiling provision. No, that was my it was. Hey, he tried to get it, but. the big win was cutting over 1300 pages out of a 1600 page bill.
SPEAKER 08 :
But Joe, do you think that Mike Johnson's really the problem or that it, no, don't get me wrong. He shouldn't have agreed to anything like that, but he has virtually no majority that he's dealing with. And he was just trying to clear the slate to let Trump in. And the moment team Trump came in and said, Oh hell no. Johnson worked with them immediately and put out something better. Is he really a problem?
SPEAKER 16 :
I don't think so, and I think he was trying to appease everybody, and I think everybody has learned a lesson that appeasement is not going to work, so stop asking for it or stop fighting for it because you're not going to get your appeasement.
SPEAKER 08 :
Maybe it's just hard for somebody, and I can kind of relate to this, okay? It's just kind of hard for somebody who only has a couple-seat advantage to get into kick-ass mode.
SPEAKER 16 :
It is. I mean, you get three people turn against you and you're dead in the water. So he does still have to be the diplomat and still has to do a little give and take here and there. But there has to be limits on that. And I think, you know, Trump's got the big hammer and hopefully he'll he'll wield it to help Johnson along because we can't go through another. throw Johnson out and not have a Speaker of the House for three months. We can't go through that again.
SPEAKER 08 :
No, I don't like that idea either. I know they've got a vote coming up, and I'm sure there will be others running, but let me ask you this one last thing, and then we'll go to break. We'll come back with all your stuff here, Joe. Do you see anybody else in the House who could just magically have everybody suddenly voting on the same page, whether they're in purple districts, red districts, or whatever?
SPEAKER 16 :
Unless Jesus is going to come back from the dead, I don't see that happening.
SPEAKER 08 :
I don't see it either. Let's take a break. We'll be right back. Up next is Affordable Interest Mortgage with Kurt Rogers, who, by the way, sent in a message that says, just want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and that it's full of family and friends. Kurt is a wonderful guy. Hey, guys, no one finds the best rates and packages like Kurt Rogers. If you need a loan, call Kurt at 720-895-0500 or go to amortgage.net.
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SPEAKER 09 :
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SPEAKER 06 :
Let's keep Christmas fun and festive. This is Rush to Reason on KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 08 :
And welcome back to Rush Trees and Denver's Afternoon Rush. KLC 560, Andy Pate filling in for John Rush. On the line right now, we've got Jersey Joe. Joe, are you ready for Christmas?
SPEAKER 16 :
Oh, in fact, I'm so ready. I went to my first Christmas party the other night, and, you know, basically cocktails. But it was strange because there was not a single vegan at the party. You know how I knew that? How? I was there for five minutes, and nobody told me they were vegan.
SPEAKER 08 :
I know, because they've got to tell you immediately. By the way, I just want to thank you. Unlike the other shows you come on, thank you for sobering up before you come on the show. That's really good. It's going to be a much better show, I can tell. Okay.
SPEAKER 16 :
And, Todd, by the way, you may not know, the title of my podcast, it's a weekly podcast, 30 Minutes, and I call it The Situation, News in Perspective You Won't Hear on TV. And tonight I've got a ton of stuff. either stories you didn't hear on TV that you should have heard, or it's, as Paul Harvey used to say, the rest of the story. And I got a ton of stuff. But before I get into that, Andy, as a theology major, I got one question for you. You know, Noah spent all that time and effort building the ark. Why didn't he just pay more taxes to end climate change?
SPEAKER 08 :
Oh, he did that. It's in the Hebrew. In the Hebrew. Yes, it's deep, deep, deep, deep in the Hebrew. Noah actually advanced the agenda.
SPEAKER 16 :
paying more taxes to prevent climate change?
SPEAKER 08 :
Yes, he did. And that didn't go through. And then, you know, when all else failed, he built the ark, Joe.
SPEAKER 07 :
Built the ark, all right. I thought it was the Septuagint that had that part, but okay.
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, it was one of them. Come on, you know, I don't want to get too technical with people. All right. It's in there.
SPEAKER 16 :
Well, I want to start off with the media and identity politics. And it's not just the media. It's people like Elizabeth Warren and Robert Reich and Biden, you know, this identity that... The rich are evil. Here's a quote by Thomas Sowell, the economist. And he said, there has now been created a world in which the success of others is now a grievance instead of an example to be emulated. How sad is that?
SPEAKER 08 :
It's very sad. You know, Joe, really quick here. Every time somebody says the rich have to pay their fair share, I immediately shoot back. No problem. Let's have a flat tax. OK, if you believe they are, if you really believe, because you can always isolate a year when Elon didn't pay or Trump didn't pay or whoever didn't pay. Everybody has years when they don't draw an income and then they have the next year Elon pays 12 billion or whatever. Look, you can always do that. But if you really believe that rich aren't paying their fair share, then you should want a flat tax. No write offs.
SPEAKER 16 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 08 :
And every single time that every leftist runs from that every single time.
SPEAKER 16 :
And let me give you another twist on that. When I hear they need to pay their fair share, here's a statistic. And this is under the Trump tax plan. And you can find this data on the IRS website, irs.gov, taxpayer statistics. Today, under the Trump tax plan, the top 1% of taxpayers alone are paying more in income taxes than the bottom 90% combined. And so the question I ask, if that is not already true, their fair share, and remember, a share is a percentage of the whole. If that is not already their fair share of all income taxes being paid, then what percentage would be?
SPEAKER 08 :
Andy, I've asked that question easily 100 times, not once has anybody... Okay, but really quick here, let's say I'm a leftist, okay, devil's advocate here. If I'm a leftist, I shoot back, and I shoot back, well, yeah, but what if they're making 90% of the income? And they are. The top 1%. They're making 26.3%.
SPEAKER 16 :
There you go.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, I know that. I just wanted to make sure that people understand because there might be a leftist out there listening in and just saying, oh, yeah, well, that's because they're making all the money.
SPEAKER 16 :
No, they aren't. And they don't have all the wealth either. So the ignorance, by the way, you know, is astounding. And it's hilarious when these people voluntarily publish their own ignorance. But there is so much ignorance on the left. It's astounding. It'll bother your mind how much ignorance there is. And I think they get it from these websites they follow. These websites never tell them the entire thing. By the way, you tell people that currently under the Trump tax plan, even though it was a tax rate cut, it is continuing to generate new all-time record high tax revenues. And the percentage of those revenues being paid by the top 1% is also at a new all-time record high. You tell people that, they accuse you of lying, they call you being a troll, they call you making stuff up. No. Tax revenues are now 35% higher than they were in 2017, which was the last year of the Obama tax plan. When, by the way, tax revenues were growing at a pathetic rate of less than 3.2% per year. So people think that tax rate cuts mean tax revenue cuts. And has been proven time and time again. But when Reagan cut tax rates by almost 60%, tax revenues exploded because what happened is that there were 16 million formerly unemployed people who had been net tax receivers wound up becoming employed net taxpayers, even though he made a dramatic cut in rates. tax revenues skyrocketed, even though he cut the rates by more than 40%.
SPEAKER 08 :
Joe, what do you think is going to happen as a result of deporting a lot of illegal aliens? And I'm talking economically. I'm not talking about the fact that, well, gee, a lot of them are criminals and doing bad things. I'm just talking economically speaking. Because you have Americans right now, when you look at job growth over the Biden years, it's all gone pretty much to foreign-born people.
SPEAKER 16 :
And I think the solution, Andy, is, and I know this has been discussed, is a work visa program. You want to come in for six months of the year to pick vegetables, whatever, we'll give you a six-month work visa. Sure. And, you know, so it's a very simple fix. But, you know, you start, and first of all, you can't deport 13 million illegal immigrants in a year or even two years. But you need to start with the bad guys. And we're going to talk about the guy who set the woman on fire on the subway. Right. And how the press covered that. But you start with them. You start with the people in Aurora that are currently, you know, pulling out people's fingernails. You start with those and then you work your way down the list.
SPEAKER 08 :
And by the way, Joe, you're also going to get a very large amount of applause from the public early on by going after the low-hanging fruit, like you're saying, by going after these people who are violent offenders. I mean, Americans are going to be like, yes, get rid of them.
SPEAKER 16 :
Yeah, like Trending Rug, I think we talked about this a month ago, they already put out a notice to their members that it's okay to kill cops. So, you know, we need to start with them. And we'll talk a little bit more about how the press has been covering this. Okay. You want to go right into this? Yeah. Let's start with New York City. And here's the press bias. Now, at 2.30 yesterday afternoon, 2.30 Eastern yesterday afternoon, New York Post, which is one of the few conservative papers, published, you know, who this guy was and that they identified him as a An immigrant from Guatemala in the New York Post. Clearly, 2.30 p.m. 6 o'clock news. ABC, NBC, CBS.
SPEAKER 08 :
Joe, Joe, Joe, Joe, Joe, Joe. Take a step back and explain who this guy is and what he did for those who don't know.
SPEAKER 16 :
He was on a New York City subway train. There was a woman sleeping on the train. He walked over to her with a lighter, set her clothes on fire, and then stood there and watched her burn to death. An immigrant from Guatemala just for no reason walked up to a sleeping woman and set fire to her clothes and she burned to death. And he... He didn't run. He stood around to watch her burn.
SPEAKER 08 :
And were they the only ones in there?
SPEAKER 16 :
No, there were other people, and some of them took videos.
SPEAKER 08 :
They took videos rather than trying to put her out?
SPEAKER 16 :
Yep, yep.
SPEAKER 07 :
Where's Daniel Penny when you need him?
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, where's Daniel Penny when you need him?
SPEAKER 16 :
Where's Daniel Penny when you need him? But on the 6 o'clock news, the network news shows, instead of identifying as an immigrant from Guatemala, they said the police have arrested a, quote, Person of interest. I didn't know Guatemala was spelled person of interest. That's how they identified him on the signal.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, that's in the Hebrew, too. OK, but go ahead.
SPEAKER 16 :
That's one of the again. You didn't you didn't hear that. Nobody told you that. But that's how the network they I think it was more than an oversight that none of them chose to use the word immigrant words immigrant from Guatemala.
SPEAKER 07 :
Now, was he illegal?
SPEAKER 16 :
Yes. That's been undetermined.
SPEAKER 07 :
I believe I saw that he's actually a prior deport.
SPEAKER 08 :
Todd says he believes he saw that he was actually a prior deport.
SPEAKER 16 :
Could very well be.
SPEAKER 08 :
Okay, go ahead.
SPEAKER 16 :
Been here since the first time he was in the country was 2018. So, again, he may have been deported. But, again, I don't know. You have to ask yourself, why did the press clearly, when the 6 o'clock news came on, this information about his background had been widely available for at least four hours. Why didn't they intend to? Why didn't they choose to use it?
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, obviously, because they're trying to hide the prevalence of crime committed by dangerous crime committed by immigrants and especially illegal immigrants. And my question to you, Joe, is, is this really still working, trying to hide that stuff?
SPEAKER 16 :
No, I think because the outrage, you know, is so great on the right. And there are papers out there, you know, like the like the New York Post. And you've got a conservative paper in Denver right now. And by the way, there is a plethora of conservative talk shows. I can't find a liberal talk show on the AM stations anymore.
SPEAKER 08 :
No, they don't sell. They can't get ads.
SPEAKER 16 :
Right. So I think shows like, you know, Rush to Region and others, you know, are getting the word out. So I think they're maybe getting ready to give up. But Let me tell you about some more perception in the other direction. Sure. So the school shooting we had up in Madison, Wisconsin, a week ago Monday. Right. That night, the first thing I see after they report on the shooting, this marks the 323rd school shootings in this country so far this year. And I almost spit out my drink. 323 school shootings. And I go, are you effing me? Because I track these things. And then I hear another one, they call it, it was 112th one. And I'm going, what happens, let me explain. There's this anti-gun group called the Gun Violence Archive. And they created a database of what they refer to as a school shooting. Now what they call a school shooting, in a rural district, if a stray hunter's bullet hits a parked car in the parking lot during deer season, They call that bullet strike of a parked car, they refer to that as a school shooting. If some kid shoots out a window of a school during Thanksgiving recess and that BB breaks a window, they refer to that as a school shooting.
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, Joe, just so you know, the original figure of over 330, Elon made a call, threatened them, and immediately they dropped it to 112.
SPEAKER 1 :
112.
SPEAKER 16 :
Yeah, if a drug deal goes bad in a school parking lot at 10 o'clock on a Saturday night, that's a school shooting. Anyway. The only one, you know what the real number was? Because Lester Holtz and NBC got right. You know what the actual number was? What? This is where somebody walked into a school with a gun and intentionally shot it, trying to injure a student and or teacher. The number was four. Four. Not 323, not 112, four. Okay, so why do you put out the big number? Well, here's what happens. This anti-gun group that tracks these and keeps these ridiculous, they have this mailing list, an email blast. They have every editor of every network news station, every Dallas, Denver, New York, St. Louis. And when they have a school shooting, they send out an email blast. Now, my question is, so these reporters and editors get these, quote, press releases from these anti-gun groups. Now, are they just too lazy that they don't bother to fact-check And they just believe it? Are they that stupid that they believe it? Or do they know it's a lie, and do they choose to report it anyway, knowing that's a lie?
SPEAKER 08 :
That one.
SPEAKER 16 :
Which is it?
SPEAKER 08 :
That one. They know it's a lie, and they choose to report it because it benefits their agenda. Go ahead, Tom.
SPEAKER 07 :
It's the Joseph Goebbels propaganda. If you say a lie enough times, if you repeat it enough, it becomes true.
SPEAKER 08 :
Right. So they're in on repeating it enough.
SPEAKER 16 :
Right. And here's another one, by the way, and this was— So let's move on to unarmed black men killed by police. And this was a study done, I forget which group did this, but this is a very credible study. So they asked a bunch of people.
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, I hear it happens every 20 seconds.
SPEAKER 16 :
Right. So they asked people, what is your best guess of approximately how many unarmed black men were killed by police in 2022? Well, the results varied widely. They had very conservative, conservative, moderate, liberal, very liberal people. 75% of the liberal people thought it was either about 100 or about 1,000. Todd, do you want to guess how many unarmed black men were killed by police that year?
SPEAKER 07 :
What's the year? 2022. FY20. It's in the dozens. It's a very small number.
SPEAKER 1 :
11.
SPEAKER 07 :
It's nowhere near.
SPEAKER 1 :
11.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 1 :
11.
SPEAKER 07 :
Then you have to define what constitutes an armed person because that varies too.
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, and also you've got to go into the reason. What, were they just being hunted because they were unarmed and black or did they actually do something?
SPEAKER 16 :
In one case, it was a 200-pound black man on top of a female cop choking her. She was on her back on the ground, and he was choking her, so she pulled out her gun and shot him.
SPEAKER 08 :
And so that's treated as an unarmed black person shot by a cop. Okay, go ahead.
SPEAKER 16 :
In two other cases, the person, the suspect, tried to run the police officer over with his car. So a 3,000-pound car apparently makes him unarmed.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, I don't understand that. Wouldn't the car be armed?
SPEAKER 16 :
Generally, yes.
SPEAKER 08 :
I mean, I think the people right now in Germany would say a car means you're armed after what just happened.
SPEAKER 07 :
And be probably charged with assault with a deadly weapon, too.
SPEAKER 08 :
Vehicular homicide.
SPEAKER 16 :
Go ahead. But here's what gets me. Where do 75% of liberals get the idea that the number of black people, unarmed black people killed by police officers in any given year is between 100 and 1,000. Where are they getting this belief from?
SPEAKER 07 :
All their media. Yeah, mainstream media.
SPEAKER 16 :
Right. MSNBC, The View. Right. By the way, conversely, almost 50% of conservatives knew it was around 10. And only 28% thought it was close to 100.
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, Joe, and before we go to break here... We have to keep in mind they are creating danger for cops because what are they doing? By putting this lie out, and as Todd says, saying it over and over and over until it becomes a truth, what they're doing is teaching young black people all across the country with these lying numbers, white cops are hunting you.
SPEAKER 16 :
You might as well fight back because if you don't fight back, you're going to be dead anyway.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, if you don't fight back, you're going to be dead anyway. And so what they're basically saying is you're being hunted. Well, if you are being hunted, if you are being hunted as a group, then aren't you justified in fighting back in advance? Aren't you justified in protecting yourself? Aren't you justified in having a higher level of aggression toward authority? And they do have a higher level of aggression toward authority. Look, we all know the black population, on average... has much, much, much higher level of aggression toward the cops than others. Well, wouldn't part of the reason for that obvious? I mean, there's really two reasons for that. Number one, you're committing more crimes on average, and therefore you have more reason to be aggressive toward authority, toward anyone who would stop you. And number two, you're being told these people are hunting you.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah. It has a chilling effect on law enforcement for the cop on the street, too. That's really important to point out. Go ahead. Is that when this narrative, it... It has this impact on, again, the cop on the street. I mean, what kind of protection, legal protection, do these cops have? And it's precious little, especially in a state like Colorado that took away qualified immunity. So if you're the white cop that shot the black guy, that could be a career ender. So it causes hesitation.
SPEAKER 08 :
So you're going to enforce the law less, don't you?
SPEAKER 07 :
Differently. Very differently. You're not going to pull over the car with black people in it because it's profiling. And if something happens, if you have to get physical, if there is an escalation or use of force, you're going to be under the microscope and you're going to be roasted in the media for it.
SPEAKER 08 :
Okay, Joe, go.
SPEAKER 16 :
Well, not just protection. It's financial ruin because qualified immunity protected them from civil lawsuits for any legal action they took in the performance of their job. So now they can be sued by anybody they arrest. I mean, if somebody says, well, he mishandled me, he was too rough with me, or he killed my son, or the mother says, he killed my son, let's say a cop is found not guilty by a jury in the death of a suspect, but then the parents sue for the death of their son, the standard of what's the word I'm looking for in a civil trial is far lower than in a criminal trial. All they have to do is get You don't need a unanimous verdict. You just need to get a majority of six jurors to say, yeah, he used too much force.
SPEAKER 08 :
And, Joe, it's a majority of six jurors in a liberal district, in a liberal inner city urban district. My gosh, if I were a cop working in Baltimore or downtown Denver or Philly, I'd quit. I would run for the hills.
SPEAKER 16 :
They would bankrupt you. I mean, they would take your house. I mean, if you lose that verdict, they're going to take your house. They're going to garnish your wages for the rest of your life. I would not serve as a cop in a state or town where I didn't have qualified immunity from civil lawsuits. Now, again, qualified immunity does not protect you from criminal acts. I mean, if you committed a criminal act your qualified immunity disappears.
SPEAKER 08 :
Rightfully so. Yeah, rightfully so. You can't go out and start hunting black people. Because guess what? If you do that, you're a savage and a monster, and I want your butt in jail. Actually, and if you kill them, I want your butt worse than in jail. Yeah, absolutely. Qualified immunity doesn't mean that, hey, man,
SPEAKER 07 :
Let's start lynching. And quite honestly, the statute that was passed that removed qualified immunity here in Colorado, that was vilified. That term was so brazenly and incorrectly vilified as giving the cops a blank check to go out and beat and maim and shoot anybody that they wanted. Yes, totally misrepresented.
SPEAKER 08 :
Okay, Joe, when we come back, go ahead. Sorry.
SPEAKER 16 :
And I just want to say, the press spun that As it was qualified immunity from criminal prosecution, it had nothing to do with immunity from criminal prosecution. Nothing.
SPEAKER 08 :
I totally agree. Okay, Joe, we'll be right back with Jersey Joe on Rush to Reason here in just a moment. Up next is Geno's Auto. After that big blizzard, you might need an alignment. And Geno's has a $64.95 alignment special for Rush to Reason listeners. Call Geno's. That's Geno's with a J at 303-794-6700.
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SPEAKER 06 :
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 08 :
Boy, I really do sparkle, don't I? When you look at me, I mean, it's just kind of, it's sort of an aura.
SPEAKER 07 :
It's a glow.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, it's a glow. Welcome back to Rush to Reason, Denver's Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560 online. Right now we've got Jersey JoJo. One thing really quick. I think it's not just terrible for cops, how we put them in that position in the inner cities. I think it's terrible for people who live in the inner cities. Right now, if you look at downtown Chicago, you see a lot of people wearing MAGA hats. And here's why. The worst thing in the world for the people in downtown Chicago or Baltimore or Denver or anywhere are having cops who are hesitant in defending them.
SPEAKER 16 :
Yeah, and it's particularly sad in neighborhoods like Chicago because And this comes right from, you know, every once a year the FBI puts out their annual nationwide crimes from all the police departments fill out this standard report that goes to the FBI. Do you know what percentage of homicide victims in this country are African-Americans? Do you want to take a guess, Todd?
SPEAKER 07 :
It's per capita, it's much greater than the white population. But I would also add that the vast majority of those homicides are committed by other black people.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, but they're only about 13% of the country, 12%, 13%. And I'll bet over half the victims are black.
SPEAKER 16 :
56% of the homicides, and you're absolutely correct. African Americans represent 12.5% of the population of this country. 56% of the homicide victims in this country were African Americans. And over 90%, and remember, not every homicide is solved. They can't identify who the assailant was. But in those cases... where the assailant was identified, more than 95% of those identified assailants were other African Americans. So the biggest threat to the life of a young black man in this country today is another black man, not a police officer.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, and these are precious young people with spectacular potential for their entire lives, and they have moms weeping over their graves. I just think it's an absolute tragedy.
SPEAKER 07 :
Go ahead. And so many of these liberal policies, not to beat a dead horse, to continue with the qualified immunity issues, is there are no-go zones. Cops won't go into a lot of these areas in Baltimore, in Chicago. And you can't blame them. No, because it's, again, so Joe knows, I did 24 years as a Border Patrol agent. My dad was a cop. My son's a cop. Cops aren't afraid of getting shot or stabbed. They're afraid of that life-altering legal issue that you could get into where it ruins your way of life, your mechanism of income.
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, because you're not just thinking of yourself. You're thinking of your family.
SPEAKER 16 :
You're ruined for life. Right, Joe? Absolutely. By the way, I have two police officers in my family, too. In fact, I was at a Christmas party with one of them the other night. Those are some of the things we talked about. His hesitancy... to take action that he normally would take if it was a white suspect. So we talked about that.
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, Joe, I just want you to know I have no cops in my family. It's all teachers, and they disagree with you.
SPEAKER 16 :
Of course they do.
SPEAKER 08 :
But they are wonderful people, and they don't hurt anybody. So go ahead, Joe.
SPEAKER 16 :
I want to go back to the question about journalists when they get these ridiculous press releases. Are they too stupid to not know it's a liar, or are they— or do they know it's a lie and do it anyway? There was an interesting study that was conducted about a year ago. And every industry has its industry association, whether it's the concrete manufacturers or the HVAC guys. They all have their get-togethers. And so there was a gathering annual of journalists, and they got 80 of them to volunteer to participate in a psychological test. And it was a two-part test. One, it was the typical... Multi-choice answer where you took the number two pencil and you filled it, you picked your answer. And then they gave them some actual tasks where it was like a role play thing. They had him start doing something, then they interrupted him and had him do something else. And it was very interesting. What came out of that, I'm trying to find the, what they found is there's something called executive functioning, which is the ability to multitask, to control your emotions. What was the other one? Anyway, what they found is that on average, this group of journalists, their ability to function at what's called executive level was far, far below that of an executive in terms of controlling their emotion, report on things without bias.
SPEAKER 08 :
So they were more biased and less in control of their emotions than somebody who is not in that position.
SPEAKER 16 :
I found it right here. Here's a quote from the study. This is from the study. switch between tasks and show creative and flexible thinking.
SPEAKER 08 :
Joe, those are all the things that bring us objectivity. So what you're saying is this group that is supposed to, above all things, be objective is less objective.
SPEAKER 16 :
Right. And it went on, by the way, and it said the results also showed that journalist brains were operating at a lower level than at the average population, particularly because of dehydration and the tendency of journalists to self-medicate with alcohol, caffeine and high sugar foods. That is from the study.
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, during the holidays, the high sugar foods is kind of an issue for me, too. So I sympathize with them. I really do. Joe, can we take a break, come back? Yes, and then we can go international reporting. Ooh, let's do that. We're going to go international with Jersey Joe after the break. Up next is Flesh Law. Kevin Flesh, that's F-L-E-S-H. He's writing for court, so your opponent knows you're not bluffing. Call Flesh Law at 303-806-8886 or go to FleshLawFirm.com.
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SPEAKER 06 :
Remember the reason for the season. Merry Christmas from Rush to Reason on KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 08 :
And welcome back to Rush to Reason, Denver's Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560, Andy Pate filling in for John Rush, along with Todd Watkins. And on the line right now, we've got Jersey Joe. Joe, what you got for us?
SPEAKER 16 :
A couple more, and then we've only got a few minutes. Remember in the U.S., how it's become, the press always wants to demonize the object, like where 26 people were killed by an AR-15. Never by a crazy man, never by an evil, no. They were killed by an AR-15. Well, In Germany last Friday, during a Christmas street festival, a Saudi national drove a car into a crowd of people on the street, killing five, seriously wounding 200, some of whom may also die. The AP reported, this is how the AP reported, not that he was a Saudi national, drove his car. The opening lead, a car drove into a crowd of people. A car drove into a crowd of people, killing five. Must have been one of Elon Musk's self-driving cars.
SPEAKER 08 :
It must have. So is Musk being brought up on charges?
SPEAKER 16 :
I'm just shaking my head when I read this. You had to go way down the story before you found out that the driver was a Saudi national.
SPEAKER 08 :
That's awful. You know, Joe, sometimes I wonder how we ever win an election the way the media protects anybody who doesn't go according to the narrative of the left.
SPEAKER 16 :
Right. Well, and that's why I do, you know, that's one of the reasons I do my podcast. Again, I call it news in perspective you won't hear on TV because you either won't hear this at all or you won't get the perspective that, you know, because the media, unless you're watching, and I try not to watch Fox News because they can be as bad as some of the other mainstream. But, you know, I try to get a good balance. I've got multiple sources.
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, once again, how do people reach you?
SPEAKER 16 :
The website is jerseyjoe.com, J-E-R-Z-E-E. JerseyJoe.com. If you want to send me an email and get on my mailing list or ask me a question or suggest a topic, just send me an email to Joe at JerseyJoe.com. Just remember to spell Jersey, J-E-R-Z-E-E, and I'll respond to you.
SPEAKER 08 :
And call Joe at 2 a.m. He loves that.
SPEAKER 16 :
Actually, I'm awake at about 4.30 a.m. every morning, Eastern Time. So 2 a.m. Colorado time would work just fine.
SPEAKER 08 :
Okay. Go ahead. Got a couple minutes. Go ahead.
SPEAKER 16 :
Now, last week we had people getting Luigi tattoos on their arms and necks. This weekend, check your e-mail. They now have circulating Luigi portraits of him dressed like Jesus. Did you see the portrait of him dressed like Jesus?
SPEAKER 08 :
No, I missed that one. I've kind of tuned out the Luigi mania.
SPEAKER 16 :
Well, they're going up all over Baltimore, which is his hometown. It's a picture of him in the white robes and the sacred heart in his chest with a halo around his head.
SPEAKER 08 :
He's a murderer.
SPEAKER 16 :
He's a murderer. So this idolization of Luigi is just sick, absolutely sick. So that was another thing. China, by the way, there's a chart.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, but, you know, really quick here, Joe, America doesn't care what you do. They only care who you do it to. And if you do it to the right people, then you're justified. Go ahead.
SPEAKER 16 :
Right. And by the way, the same people who are praising and idolizing him, are the same people who are vehemently opposed to the death penalty in capital murder cases. So how do you reconcile that what he did was good and justified?
SPEAKER 08 :
Right, because he carried out a death penalty against somebody who runs an industry they're bitter against.
SPEAKER 16 :
Right. But I guarantee you, now, by the way, New York State doesn't have a death penalty, but the federal government does, and the federal government has brought terrorism charge against him. Yep. I bet you these same people who are praising him for executing a father and husband... who didn't commit any crime, if the federal government, if he gets sentenced to death, I bet you these are the same people are going to protest that the death penalty is cruel and inhumane and should be abolished.
SPEAKER 07 :
Right.
SPEAKER 16 :
Absolutely. I guarantee that'll happen.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, Biden's still got a few weeks to pardon him. Jeez.
SPEAKER 16 :
Oh, my gosh. Well, he could pardon him for federal charges, but not for state charges.
SPEAKER 08 :
Okay, you got about 30 seconds.
SPEAKER 16 :
Go. Congress. Congress. In 1980, only 4% of the people in Congress, I'm coming to the House and Senate, were over 70 years of age. You know what percentage of our current Congress is over age 70? How much? Almost 20, 24%. Almost a quarter of the people in Congress today are 70 years of age or older.
SPEAKER 08 :
You know, Joe, that's not necessarily bad, but it has become bad in some cases.
SPEAKER 16 :
Particularly like the woman in, our Congresswoman in Texas who has been in a Alzheimer facility for six months. That's sad. That's sad.
SPEAKER 08 :
That's absolutely sad. Jersey Joe, once again, thank you so much, sir, for joining us. Next week, right? Next Monday? Next Monday. We'll see you again. Talk to you then, guys. Take care. Talk to you then. Okay, that's it for the show here on Rush to Reason KLZ 560. Todd Watkins, thanks for joining us, sir.
SPEAKER 07 :
Thanks, Andy. Anytime, man. Anytime.
SPEAKER 08 :
You were awesome. It was a lot of fun. Folks, we will be back. I will be back this Friday. We're going to have movies, and we're also going to be having your favorite male recording artist. That's going to be our number two. We're going to have a lot of fun. Until then... Thanks for joining us here at Rush to Reason, and God bless.
In this episode of Sportsman of Colorado, Scott Watley talks with Steve Osterhauser about the inspiring work Of Mountains and Men does in nurturing young men into responsible adulthood through outdoor adventures. Learn how they provide thrilling yet educational experiences like hunting and canoeing, all aligned with instilling Christian values. Hear firsthand stories of transformation, and find out how you can support or get involved with this incredible initiative that brings hope and strength to those from challenging backgrounds.
SPEAKER 02 :
Welcome to Sportsman of Colorado, Colorado's premier outdoor radio show heard every Saturday afternoon on KLZ 560 with insights on hunting, fishing, archery, guns and ammo from Colorado's top outfitters featuring the industry's leading experts on how to enhance your experience in the great outdoors. Now, here's your host, Scott Watley.
SPEAKER 13 :
Welcome back to the show. Thank you so much for being with us. Well, you've heard of our next guest of Mountains and Men for several months now, and it's great to have the founder and president of that group, Steve Osterhauser, back with us. So, Steve, good to have you back in studio. How are you?
SPEAKER 04 :
I'm doing awesome. Thank you for having me back. It's been a good year for you guys. It has been a very exciting, very dynamic year for Mountains and Men. Yes, indeed.
SPEAKER 13 :
Well, good. Before we recap that, you know, I'm sure some folks have maybe not heard you before on the show. So maybe just give a recap for our listeners of who you guys are and what you're all about.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, great. Thanks. So of Mountains of Men, who are we? What do we do? So we are a 501c3 Christian ministry whose mission statement is to guide teens in the Christian manhood. I mean, it's no surprise today in that youth are being challenged, particularly for those who don't have a father in their life. Masculinity is under attack. And so what we want to try to do is help these young men on the road to manhood. How do we do that? We do that in two ways. First are adventure trips. We're doing big game hunting here in Colorado. Wilderness canoeing along the Minnesota-Canadian border. We're doing winter adventure in New Mexico, up in the mountains. We're building snow caves and spend the night inside them and snowmobiling and ice fishing. And these adventures are important because they instill the kid with skills that result in the confidence. Confidence that is so critical in developing into a man. Second way that we help guide teens in Accretion Manhood are our campfire talks. While we're on these adventures, we're doing nightly discussions about Christian masculinity based upon the book Wild at Heart by John Eldredge. And they're designed to help the young man begin to answer four questions that every young man wrestles with. What's it mean to be a man? How do I become one? What's this beautiful creature called a woman all about? And how do I become really alive? And we know the young man's not going to answer all four questions in a four-day elk hunt or a nine-day canoeing trip, but we can plant the seeds. We can get them to start thinking about these critical questions.
SPEAKER 13 :
Right. And, you know, like you say, this is kids from all over. And I think I remember ages 12 to like 17? Yep, 12 to 17.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yep. Okay. Yep. And you mentioned kids coming from all over. So we've had kids from Florida, Maine, Texas, Oregon. People come from all over the country to be part of these adventures.
SPEAKER 13 :
Wow. Very, very cool. Now, we were talking before we came on air about elk hunt coming up next month. Tell us about that.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, I'm super excited about that. So big game hunting. We in October, we did a pronghorn hunt and we had five kids and all five kids had tagged out on their very first pronghorn the very first day. We're very blessed, very fortunate to be able to hunt 80,000 acres of privately leased land here in Colorado. And what I'm really excited about is next month. Next month, we are doing four elk hunts, 28 young men. We have 28 cow elk tags in which 28 young men from all over the country are going to elk hunt for the very first time. We did our first elk hunts last year. They're extremely successful. We had 20 young men hunt and 18 of the 20 harvested their first elk. So it's really going to be a very dynamic, very fast paced, very, very exciting experience for these young men.
SPEAKER 13 :
Wow. So are there pretty much every month you're doing something or just during hunting season, so to speak?
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, it seems like we're growing so much that we're on the horizon. It feels like we're doing trips every month. But basically the way it's structured is we're doing our big game hunts in the fall. We're doing our winter adventure. We're doing those trips in March. We're running three wilderness canoe trips, nine-day trips in the Boundary Waters wilderness canoe area. We're running those in June and July. And this coming August, we're doing our first ever gator hunt. in Florida, which that ought to be a riot. That should be great.
SPEAKER 13 :
Man, what will they use for calibers of guns for those?
SPEAKER 04 :
To be honest, we're still working with the outfitter on the hunting technique, but basically we're going to have four young men and four mentors because every young man coming on our trip has a mentor. They can either bring a mentor with them, be it their father, uncle, family friend, or Or in the cases in which we have some single moms every time who are said, I don't have anybody in that category, we provide a background check mentor for them. Yeah, so we're going to be going down in the Orlando area and spend the weekend down there. We have an outfitter. very generously donated these hunts and uh so we're gonna be in the lodge and doing our campfire talks and the meals and gator hunts they're gonna provide the guns the guides and uh sunday we're gonna be doing hog hunting down there so it ought to be it ought to be really really a lot of fun sure you can check out the website of mountains and men.org and um learn more about them and um you know this is something where in this time of year a lot of people are um
SPEAKER 13 :
thinking about donations and you know there's a lot of different charities out there and there's some well-deserving folks out there but none more than mountains of men so if people want to do something to maybe help you guys and we'll talk into some of your needs here in just a moment but how would people help you out the most
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, great question. Well, first of all, I think what's very important for people to know is, hey, we're doing all these incredible adventures all over the country. These are absolutely free, 100% free for both the youth and the mentor. We're not charging a dime. Right. And obviously these hunts are very expensive. I mean, many thousands of dollars on equipment and permits and gas and travel for the guides and everything else. So we do rely on generous donors to go ahead and invest in these young men. You know, some people think we have a million dollar, you know, a millionaire, you know, donors just writing us checks. It's not. It's people who are giving small amounts, $20, $50, $100, who really want to invest in these young men who say, all right, I recognize there's a great need out there. Some of these young men come from very desperate home lives. We're talking physical abuse, fathers who are in jail, moms who are strung out on meth, the stories that I could tell you about the hard backgrounds that these kids come from. And so when they come on these trips, they are being able to have Christian masculinity modeled for them. For some of these young men, being around the guides, being around the mentors, for the first time in their entire lives, they're being able to be shown, this is what a strong Christian man is. So back to the finances, right, is we rely on people who are willing to invest in these young men, believe in what we're doing. So the simplest way if people want to invest in these young men is through our website. Website's very secure. We've got a donation page on there. People can make a one-time donation, a monthly donation. They can even buy particular pieces of gear. that we need, or they can sponsor a young man. So you just go to our web page. We've got the donate on there. We are a 501c3, so it is tax deductible.
SPEAKER 13 :
All right. Good deal. Any couple of stories that stand out when I say stories? I mean, if you think of a couple of young men that you've had this year, any couple of stories that really stand out about those young men?
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, two stories really stand out here. The first is on our Boundary Waters Wilderness Canoe Trips. And I may have shared this with your listeners last time, but to be honest, I can't remember. I talked to so many people about this. But we had four brothers who are in the foster care system. Father is facing many years in jail for being a drug dealer. And the young man just got taken away from their mom because she's strung out on meth and not able to take care of him. And so when the foster dad showed up with the four young men, I said, okay, tell me a little bit about each of these young men, right? And he turned to one, or he looked at one, and he said, well, that's Alex. Alex has severe anger issues. In fact, the day that we brought him home, he's so mad at men, he threatened to kill me and my entire family, and he actually tried to attack my wife with a chair, right? I was like, okay, well, that's good to know. That's good information. Watching his transformation from the very first day, being just this angry young man, by day nine, he was the most enthusiastic, confident, kind, helpful young man. And you see this transformation happen. And we had one of his brother, his brother, before we head out into the wilderness, we spend two days at base camp at a bunkhouse where we're teaching young men the skills they're going to need on the water. We're teaching them how to canoe, how to fish, how to start a fire. We're equipping them with skills. And we had one young man who was just, he picked up a t-ball bat that we had, a wiffle ball bat, and he just started tapping rocks. Not maliciously or anything. Well, the darn kid put a rock right through the window of the outfitter's van. And he came to us just instantly, just sobbing, saying, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry. And Ben was one of my assistant guides. He's like, hey, it's okay. You manned up, you took responsibility. Steve will talk to the outfitter. It'll be okay. So Ben went back inside and he was thinking, that was a little over the top. out of proportion for his reaction. So I go talk to the outfitter and Ben comes out five minutes later from the bunkhouse and he finds a young man behind the bunkhouse with a shovel trying to dig out these enormous boulders. And Ben's like, what are you doing? And the kid was just really upset and said, well, he says, my dad always told me that whenever I broke something, I had to repay the debt in hard labor at a rate of $1 an hour. So I figure it's going to cost $250 to replace that window. I owe the outfitter 250 hours of hard labor. So I thought I'd start by removing these boulders, right? and you're like wow that just gives you an idea of the the background that some of these kids have um the second story we're trying to make it real quick is on our last hunt on our pronghorn hunt we had a young man 13 years old in which his mentor a family friend got with me beforehand said hey just to let you know we'll we'll call the young man scott okay He said, Scott is really angry at God. His dad abandoned him when he was one years old. And so he doesn't believe in God. If he's there, he's really, really angry. I was like, okay, well, we'll see what happens, right? So the first campfire talk on Friday night, he's sitting there with his arms crossed, not saying a word. Saturday night's campfire talk, his hands are on his knees, leaning forward, answering some questions. By Sunday night, this kid was just input left and right, had his hand in the air the whole time. And Monday morning, when we're doing our man hugs and taking off and everything, his mentor came to me, and actually his guide came to me and said, young man came to me and said, you know, I think I'm ready to give my heart to Christ. And it's like, bam, drop the mic. That's why we do what we do.
SPEAKER 13 :
Sure. Wow. Again, if you're just joining us, Steve Osterhauser is with us. It's ofmountainsandmen.org. Again, check out their site. And once again, whenever we have groups like this, I want you to know we've done our due diligence. And I promise you this is a well-deserving organization for your donations, your prayers. And maybe you're thinking, wow, I wish I could get – This young man, maybe it's your son, maybe it's a family member, or maybe it's a friend of a friend. So what's the application process?
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, that's a perfect question, perfect timing to be able to do this. Starting January 1st, we're going to be taking applications for next year's trips. The application windows can be from January 1st to March 15th. People find out about information about the types of trips and apply through our website, right there on our homepage, beginning January 1st. We're very excited about this next year's trips. So we are, in addition to doing winter adventure in New Mexico, we're going to specifically take applications for our Boundary Waters Wilderness Canoe trips in June and July. We're going to be taking applications for next year's big game hunts. Again, we're going to be doing a pronghorn hunt and four elk hunts with about 30 young men. We're going to be doing that next January. So we'll take applications during that time period, along with that gator hunt that we mentioned. think there's gonna be a lot of people wanting to apply for that one that one's gonna be it be in august again all these hunts are for are for free and uh that's how you find out more information and apply is through our website all right good deal and we'll try to get some young men on we've done this in the past where we've had malachi yeah come on and uh talk about their source we'll try to do out that do that as well throughout 2025 but uh
SPEAKER 13 :
Well, Steve, thanks for having your burden and answering that and helping out these young men. You know, we probably never reap all the rewards till that one day we're all in heaven. But, you know, hey, it's awesome, man.
SPEAKER 04 :
It's just absolutely amazing. I mean, just, you know, like last year on the elk hunt, we had one young man from Florida, never seen snow, never seen an elk before. And that weekend, that's when it was 15 below zero, the wind chill at 25 below zero. So his first day ever elk hunting, he's trudging through a foot and a half of snow, doing a stalk on 400 elk when it's 15 below zero. You can imagine what that 12-year-old's mind was. He got his first elk, and you just watch the confidence just bloom in these young men. It's truly transformational. We're just so blessed in so many ways with the doors that God is opening for Mountains of Men, and we'd love people to be a part of that. If people want to volunteer, they're like, hey, I could be a guide for that. Go to our webpage. We've got a volunteer button on there. Find out how people can get involved with the Mountains of Men.
SPEAKER 13 :
All right. Sounds good. Thank you so much.
SPEAKER 04 :
All right. Thank you so much, Scott.
SPEAKER 13 :
Hey, check out that website. Go learn more about them. And, hey, give some money. Help them out and help a young man out. We'll be right back after this break.
SPEAKER 01 :
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SPEAKER 13 :
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SPEAKER 08 :
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SPEAKER 13 :
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SPEAKER 09 :
Scott, I appreciate it. It's definitely been a couple fun four years with the CBA and getting to know Henry and getting to know everybody else on the team and the things that we've been able to accomplish in the short time that I've been part of the board. And it should be a fun future as we kind of focus on some of our outdoor youth education and outreach and really what we want to do and how we want to showcase hunting here in the state. It'll be a fun time. I'm definitely looking forward to it with the team.
SPEAKER 13 :
Yeah, absolutely. And so kind of walk us through when you first came on board and maybe some of the roles you've kind of gone through to work up to this point now of being the new chairman.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah, it was actually a good old Henry Ferguson. It approached me when I can't remember if we were at a, at one of the outdoor expos or if we were at an archery shoot, I just kind of got to know Henry a little bit. And he's a, he's one of those people that if you've gotten to known him over any of the time with the CBA, he's just always like that good guy on your shoulder. And he kept kind of etching me to get into it, trying to get me involved and trying to get me to come to a couple of meetings. And once I finally had an opportunity to show up in person and get to know some of the organization and really, what they were trying to do. It was a no brainer for me at that point, it was time to dive in full force and both feet and just help out any way I could. Yeah. I'm, I'm extremely big into youth outreach and I really want to focus on growth of huge, uh, youth and kids in the outdoor industry. And as we approached that in the 2025, 2026 sector, Henry's really allowed me to take it on. And, uh, the program that we've put together called spark. is hopefully going to be one of the most influential youth outreach programs that you're ever going to be a part of. Other than that, I've helped out with the magazine. I do a lot of writing, not just for the CBA, but for a couple other national publications. And it's been a fun ride, though.
SPEAKER 13 :
I tell you, the magazine, man, has really been a really, really good publication, man. I mean, it's been sharp.
SPEAKER 09 :
It's been a fun process on the magazine. I don't know how long a lot of folks have known the CBA, but we went from a black and white paste, copy, print, photo-looking newsletter, turning it into probably one of the best publications out there right now that I'd compare with a lot of the top-notch ones, and it's been a fun process. I help out the editorial staff, Matt Jackson and Joe Bradley. We bring in all of the articles. We do all the editing. And then we send it off to our design creator, Dustin. And Dustin does a phenomenal job of bringing it to life and making it look pretty because none of us have that skill set.
SPEAKER 13 :
Yeah. Well, I tell you, even writing, man, I mean, you know... Because that is certainly not my skill. Talking isn't really much my skill. But writing, man, and bringing things to like where you picture yourself on the stalk with someone or in the blind or whatever the case may be. You're on the mountain. You can almost feel the wind blowing. We were describing maybe a cold wind. I mean, man, there is definitely an art to that. I mean, it really is.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah, you're definitely preaching to the choir on that. If you can bring a reader and literally get them to the point where they're reading nothing but a magazine and they feel like they're there in the moment with you, it's a style of writing. It's a type of writing that's really hard to envelop. And when you get to that point as a writer, it's the next level of engagement. And that passion is really what's driven me for the CBA in general. I've got a passion for writing and a passion for hunting. I've been doing it since I was 12 years old. Archery, rifle, muzzleloader, it doesn't really matter to me. I just like hunting and being in the outdoors. And being able to bring that to people, it's a huge thing for me. And being able to showcase that's an incredible feeling. We take guys who've never been able to tell a story before and we'll do Zoom meetings with them. And then I get to take their entire article and turn it into like a campfire story. It's a lot of fun.
SPEAKER 13 :
Right, absolutely. Again, Caleb Bell is with us. He is the newly elected chairman for the Colorado Bowhunter Association. You can check out their website, coloradabowhunting.org. And hey, if you're not a member, we're going to bring up some things here in just a minute about all of those groups we need. came together here for this prop 127 and i want to get on that here in a minute but if you're not a member and you say hey i'm not a bow hunter hey still they fight a lot of battles for us just in the outdoors as a whole so if you're not a member please become a member hey it's only 40 bucks to become a member you can get a three-year membership for 105 dollars As Caleb mentioned, hey, they're really focusing on youth. The youth can become a member for $20. They can get a three-year membership, I think, for $50. So it is a great organization to become a member of and just to support them. And, you know, that is a big part of this because, man, you see, Caleb, the – The youth of today, and you see what, you know, CPW is doing with youth tags, different things like that, which is great. But, man, we have got to keep this out in front of our youth to keep this hunting going, don't we?
SPEAKER 09 :
You're definitely right, Scott. I mean, you hit the nail on the head. The CBA isn't just about bow hunting. And I think our youth outreach program is really going to showcase that to everybody. Because to me, hunting isn't just about being an archery guy or a rifle guy or a houndsman. It's about being an outdoor enthusiast, a sportsman or a woman, right? It's about being an outdoorsman. And if we can take the next generation and educate them in everything that we take for granted, you know, teach a kid how to survive in the woods if they get lost, teaching a kid the different biology of animals, teaching a kid how to fish, teaching a kid how just to go hike and enjoy the outdoors. At the end of the day, if we can collectively come together as sportsmen and women and show the next generation the battles that we're fighting, like Prop 127, aren't going to go away, but they're definitely not going to be as prevalent as they are in today's society. And that's my whole goal.
SPEAKER 13 :
Yeah, no doubt, no doubt. And, you know, it was cool. I wouldn't mention this now with the Prop 127. It was cool to see all the different folks that came together from all across other states, but, of course, here in Colorado. And I'd be lying if I didn't say I was surprised. Not that we won, but that it was a convincing win. I kind of was surprised by the margin of the win. So what were your thoughts on there when you saw that?
SPEAKER 09 :
Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER 13 :
And the ground game, I think, that we had, and Dan Gates said this a lot, you know, because the other side, I mean, hey, money came in from all over, but the boots on the ground, so to speak, and whether it be those that got their tailgates on their pickups wrap or window signs in their vehicles or yard signs, and just getting out and trying to talk with non-hunters and letting them get a true picture of what this was all about. I think all of that culminated to get that message across of just what you said. Hey, this is what we do. There's a reason behind what we do. And the number of mountain lions in the state is certainly grown for many, many years now with the pros, so to speak, you know, putting the science and putting all that behind our conservation efforts.
SPEAKER 09 :
I couldn't agree more. And again, right, it's the education aspect. Information is the most powerful weapon in the world. And when we can put the information in front of the public and we can do it respectively as outdoorsmen and women, we change and set ourselves aside from the opposition. We're not going out there and browbeating individuals. We're not going out there and trashing other people's names or reputations. We're just giving honest facts based on proven science and biology. and educating everybody around us so they have the facts when they go to the poll. And that right there is what sets us aside. Right. Absolutely.
SPEAKER 13 :
All right. Now, March the 8th just came out recently. I got a post and already bought my two tickets. So March the 8th will be our CBA banquet. Tell us what you can about that evening.
SPEAKER 09 :
It's probably one of the most fun nights of the year. You know, I go to just about every banquet out there in Colorado just to help support everybody because, like we said, we're all united. But that big banquet that we do on March 8th is kind of unique. We bring probably 150 to 250 different elk, deer, mountain lion, goose. It doesn't matter. Any sort of mountain that we can, we build this elaborate wall with Joe Bradley to show on display all night long. We bring in a bunch of vendors that are going to do seminars all day. They'll talk to you about DIY caribou hunting. They'll talk to you about picking the right boots for the type of hunt you want to do. Or Trevins DeFolstice might show up and talk to you about how to hunt mule deer in western Colorado. We bring in a group of people, and we all unite for one night, all under one premise to raise money for the CBA, fund our youth outreach, and then fund our efforts that we put at the legislative level. It's a big deal for us. We open the doors usually about 10 a.m. We'll bring in 500 to 600 people. And my favorite part is the live auction. I bring in 10 to 15 different hunts from all around the world. I bring in a bunch of great gear, bows, firearms, backpacks, tents. It doesn't really matter to me. What I care about is all of us getting together and having a fun night, talking about the CBA, talking about conservation, and talking about the next steps. And it's a great time to catch up with everybody and look at a phenomenal amount of wild game species that we put on display.
SPEAKER 13 :
Right. And, you know, you talk about a family event. This is it. This is a great deal for the family just to buy a table, isn't it?
SPEAKER 09 :
It is. I personally have four girls. My entire family, we pick a table. We have way too much fun all night. Even though I'm running around like a chicken with my head cut off, the girls will laugh at me. But we get the kids involved. They draw raffle tickets. They have some fun. Slinging arrows at different little props that we have. It's an all-around family event night and it's done right there at the Loveland Ranch and just outside of Loveland right there in Fort Collins, Colorado. It's a good night. It's a fun time. This will be our third year doing it at the Ranch Complex. And every year it just kind of evolves and gets a little bit bigger and a little bit better and a little bit more fun.
SPEAKER 13 :
Yeah. You know, the big part I hate is it's kind of the banquet time, you know. And so, man, sometimes there are some other events that conflict with that. And I wish because, like you say, I like to go to a lot of them, too. So but folks, you're going to pick one. I'm telling you. And there's other things happening on March 8th. I highly recommend. This banquet. It is a great, great banquet. Everything Caleb said is 100 percent true. You'll be around a lot of great folks. Hey, make some new friends. And that never hurts as well. You know, you mentioned the legislation side. Let's talk about that just a minute. And I know Wes has done a really good job there. But maybe talk about some of the things you guys got accomplished this year for us.
SPEAKER 09 :
There's definitely been quite a few things on the back side of that, the West and Lane and Ty, and everybody's kind of put a full force effort in and really shown up for, especially when it's on the archery side, primarily focusing around the OTC change that was proposed. Those guys did a phenomenal effort, boots on the ground, raising awareness, getting everybody on the same page to understand the impact. of the otc tag change in allocations for archery hunting in the state of colorado we uh we honestly owe the majority of our success on that one to wes and the guys that were hanging down there at the legislative level in the capitol um again boots on the ground effort through true education and facts they were able to prove and show really who we are as bow hunters And just as outdoorsmen and sportsmen around in general to focus on primarily the preservation of wildlife in the state of Colorado.
SPEAKER 13 :
Yep, absolutely. Now, when you become a member, let's talk about some benefits of membership real quick. They will get the issues of the magazine, correct?
SPEAKER 09 :
Yep. A membership brings you the full issues of the magazine. We're moving over to a quarterly publication. A little bit bigger magazine with more depth and media articles. Obviously, you're always going to be entered into our member drawings when we do different raffles and things like that for the local membership level. You're also going to be entered into some unique things throughout the year. You're going to be able to stay up to date on any of the outdoor events that we've got planned, like our Jamboree, which is coming up in July. obviously the banquet in March and anything that we keep going on like that. And then also on the backside of that, we've got a lot of great partnerships with not just local companies, but national level organizations as well that are exclusively set up for CBA members. Okay, great.
SPEAKER 13 :
Well, Caleb, hey, man, I appreciate you taking a few minutes, and I'm sure this will not be our last conversation, so we'll look forward to working with you in 2025. And the CBA, anything we can ever do for you, we're here. And, folks, once again, if you're not a member, please go to the website, check it out. It's coloradabowhunting.org. Become a member. Hey, $40, all right? Get the three-year one for $105. And, like I say, the magazine that you get... And just the information that you'll get from the website and just getting to stay in touch with them of what all is going on in the archery world. But also, as we said, as they fight for a lot of these other things on the legislative side that helps us all in the outdoors. So, Caleb, once again, congrats, man. And hope you and your family have a wonderful, wonderful Christmas. And we'll look forward to 2025 with you, sir.
SPEAKER 09 :
Awesome. I appreciate it, Scott. Take care. Have a great holiday season. Look forward to meeting all the new members and seeing everybody at the banquet. Other than that, hope everybody has a great, safe end of the year and gets out there soon for some more hunting trips.
SPEAKER 13 :
Absolutely. We appreciate it, sir. Thanks so much. Thanks, Scott. That's Caleb Bell, once again, the newly elected chairman for the Colorado Bowhunter Association. Once again, the website, coloradobowhunting.org. And get your tickets now for the March 8th banquet. It will be a great, great couple of days there and a great meal and a great time. You're listening to Sportsman of Colorado. We've got to take a quick break. We'll be back with more right after this.
SPEAKER 03 :
Are you in the market for a new firearm? Or maybe looking to purchase your very first firearm? Well, wouldn't it be great to have an experience worth telling your friends and family about while making such an important purchase? At Big Horn Firearms, we know how important that is, and it's our mission to provide this experience to every customer that walks through our front door. Hi, I'm Ryan, owner of Bighorn Firearms, located in southeast Denver, and my team and I are customers too. We know what it's like to experience the typical specialty store attitude, and we believe everyone deserves a first-class experience when purchasing a firearm. If you're searching for friendly service, a knowledgeable and passionate staff, and a great selection of firearms, we'd like to invite you to Denver's best independent gun store, Bighorn Firearms, one mile east of Evans and I-25. Whether it's your first gun or you've been collecting for years, our friendly and knowledgeable staff are passionate about answering all of your questions. Service and selection is our commitment to you. That's Bighorn Firearms, located at 2175 South Jasmine Street, Suite 105, Denver. Call us now, 303-758-9423, or shop online, bighornusa.com.
SPEAKER 13 :
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SPEAKER 11 :
Hey, Dan. You know, our jobs are pretty different. I'm a baseball announcer. You're an attorney and a talk show host. Yeah, but we do have something in common. Really?
SPEAKER 12 :
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SPEAKER 11 :
Yeah, definitely not your typical dealership. That's so true, Jack. No high-pressure sales tactics. They respect your time. And when you have two jobs, that's important. You know, I'd recommend Len Lyle Chevrolet to anyone. And with their low overhead, that means... Lower prices.
SPEAKER 12 :
Yeah, we really do have something in common.
SPEAKER 11 :
Len Lyle Chevrolet. Go east and pay the least. Chevy. Find new roads.
SPEAKER 06 :
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SPEAKER 13 :
Welcome back to Sportsman of Colorado. Again, thank you so much for joining us. Quick reminder now. If you're listening on Saturday from 1 to 2, that is our live show. And then on Sundays at 8 in the morning, 8 at night, you'll hear a replay of that previous Saturday show. Then on Thursdays, 9 to 10 a.m., we'll also do a replay there of Sportsman of Colorado. So, hey, you can catch us four times now. And if you miss all that, of course, you can get our podcast wherever you get yours and also at sportsmanofcolorado.com. All right. Hey, always good to have our good buddy Ryan Resch with us. It is Bighorn Firearms. They are located at 2175 South Jasmine Street. Ryan, good to see you, sir.
SPEAKER 03 :
Good to see you, too, Scott.
SPEAKER 13 :
And you brought a guest in today.
SPEAKER 03 :
I did. One of our amazing staff members, Houston. He's been with us. We're working towards a year now. He's been a great asset, and he helps us out in a lot of different areas. Real versatile guy who can kind of just do whatever needs to get done. You know, everything from listing guns online to shipping to working with customers at the counter. And he's got a really high-level knowledge in shotguns and hunting and all those things. aspects.
SPEAKER 13 :
All right, good. Well, Houston, welcome to the show. Thank you so much. Happy to be here. All right. We'll get to you in just a second. Don't go to sleep on me now. Ryan told me I had to start with him, so anyway. That's not true. No, that's not true. I shouldn't say that. Well, Ryan, when you think about it, good night. It seems like two months ago we were at a summer event with you, and then the first year, you know, we're all hitting show seasons, different things like that, and wow, and then wrapping up another year. So this is wrapping up year number... What were you? Two? Is this two now? I mean, with Bighorn Fireworks. Oh. Yeah, Bighorn Fireworks.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, yeah, our anniversary is in the summertime, but we're moving into year 13 right now. Yeah, 12 years in this past July, so we're 12 and a half or so now.
SPEAKER 13 :
What's changed the most kind of just besides the craziness of the laws, I mean, and all that? What's kind of changed the most in just –
SPEAKER 03 :
Oh, that's a good question. Um, well, I've, I'm not standing behind the counter by myself anymore. And, uh, you know, even in the last, um, three years, you know, the staff has grown, um, from three to six. So, um, I think that's probably one of the biggest changes for me is like, uh, just continuing to try to, uh, lead this thing in a right direction. And, um, You know, find new ways for us to grow as a company and for all of us to grow as individuals and be able to better serve the local community and figure out, you know, how to stay relevant, especially with all the the changing with the changing political landscape. And, you know, hopefully we're we're looking at a little bit of a shift in a more pleasant direction for us. But. We won't really know until we're halfway through the year, I think next year, but I'm optimistic, and I'm really happy with how far we've come. We've got a really awesome crew, great team members right now. Everybody gets along well. We do good work, and I'm excited to see what we can put together for 2025.
SPEAKER 13 :
When you look at what online stuff has done for every industry, I was just this morning earlier, I was over at LandLaw Chevrolet and I was talking with Dan Johnson. And I said, when I asked him the same question, because he's been in the car business a long time, I said, what's changed so much? And he goes, well, we used to do all the ads in the Denver Post, you know, used to have the car ad page after page. And now online stuff has changed so much in so many businesses. Do you wish it wasn't there kind of for online stuff, or are you glad it's there?
SPEAKER 03 :
You know, competition's always good. So, you know, I do think that... Good consumers, whether they're buying online or in person, do the research. But I definitely feel like we have to undo a lot of bad decisions for people in the store because they just go online and they just buy things because they're cheap. or inexpensive or they think it's a good deal or something like that and you know what what a local business can provide to those people is a level of knowledge that you know It takes them from being uninformed to being a well-informed consumer and making a good decision. I mean, it's an expensive purchase. Even if you're getting a great deal or you're buying something, you know, quote-unquote cheap, you know, it's important to know what you're buying because even a cheap gun's a few hundred dollars, you know, and that's – it's a significant amount of money. I don't, it doesn't really matter who you are, you know, do your research, come in, find some local guys that you can trust, like the guys that we have at Bighorn and come in, ask some questions, talk to them, listen, you know, that's, that's a big thing too. You know, um, a lot of people like to come in and, ask a lot of questions, but they just overlap questions with questions and they don't hear what we're saying. So, you know, slow down and take your time and really hear what the experts have to say. And, and, and if you need to take some time and digest that and then come back and make a decision when you're really ready, because, you know, guns are, you know, an expensive item. And when you take them, When you actually transfer them to an individual and they leave the store, you know, there's a lot of paperwork that goes on. If you decide that you want to, you know, return said item or exchange it or trade it in, you know, it's not like a pair of pants at Macy's.
SPEAKER 13 :
Used gun when your door closes and their car door opens, right? I mean, really.
SPEAKER 03 :
Correct. And I mean, the other thing is, too, it's just there's a lot more to it than people, I think, really understand with the paperwork that's involved with a gun purchase. You know, there's another background check that needs to happen. That gun has to be brought back into the books and written into the books with a... uh, transferee information, you know, there's just, there's a lot of liability there. Compliance is a really big issue with that. The more guns that come in and off of our books, the more, um, uh, exposure we have to, uh, errors that could cause us to be out of compliance. And it's a big deal. And it's, uh, it requires a lot of time and, uh, and knowledge to make sure that we can continue to do what we do, um, for people here in the Denver Metro area. Um, So, you know, returning a gun is not always the most cost effective option. Going and renting a gun. You know, some people look at that as like an expense like that. They don't want to spend 60 bucks to go rent some guns at the local range. But you can spend 60 bucks, you know, have a new level of confidence and a new level of understanding coming into a gun store to purchase a firearm rather than. Purchasing the firearm, taking it home, taking it to the range one time, deciding you hate it, and then bringing it back. And it ends up costing you maybe $150 or $200, depending on what those guns are looking like. That was an expensive rental, wasn't it? Yeah, exactly. And a lot of these local ranges, like Shootin' Doors over here in Buckley, you go in there and you pay a flat fee to rent guns. all the guns in the fleet. So you have access to 20 different guns or however many, let's just say nine millimeters they have. You can rent all, try all those guns for the same price. You buy a couple of boxes of ammunition, you know, maybe worst case scenario, a hundred bucks at the range, but you leave there with, you know, confidence and a new level of knowledge when you walk into the gun store that, and you can make a really good, smart, um, decision on which firearm it is that you ultimately want to have, you know, that's going to serve the purposes you need it to serve. So, you know, and we do that all the time when people, we can just tell people just don't know. We say, go over to shoot indoors, you know, rent some guns and come back and tell us about your experience. And then that'll give us More information to try to continue to guide you towards making the right purchase the first time. And you're not going to get that shopping online. That is an in-person thing that you're going to get from a local store where you can talk to people that you trust.
SPEAKER 13 :
Yeah, absolutely. Ryan Resch is with us. Once again, it's Big Horn Firearms. Also, Houston West is with us. And one more question for Ryan, then we'll get to Houston here for a few minutes. So what's happening as you're winding down the end of the year here? What's what our listeners need to know what's happening at the store? Maybe some deals you got going?
SPEAKER 03 :
Oh, yeah. We're running all of our holiday specials through the end of the year. Holiday hours are closed Christmas Eve, closed Christmas Day. Just something I like to do for the guys to make it a nice holiday break. So we will be closed Tuesday and Wednesday next week. Um, then we will be back to normal business hours, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. We'll have a pretty full staff. We've got a great deals going on, uh, 10, 15, and 20% off throughout the store up to 15% off on in stock firearms. Um, and, uh, and we'll also have discounts on special orders and things of that nature. So we're all stocked up on, um, all of our our hunting stuff all of our tactical stuff and uh that's part of the reason we brought houston down today to talk about some hunting stuff and uh some some uh duck hunting waterfowl and all that we got some great shotguns in stock everything's discounted right now okay and we'll be running that through the end of the year so um great time to come in the christmas shopping's done you know how much money you got left over you know Come get a great deal, save a couple hundred bucks on that shotgun you've been wanting for the last six months but didn't feel comfortable spending the money with Christmas right around the corner. So we will also be closing early on New Year's Eve, and we'll be closed New Year's Day. So if you're not sure if we're going to be open or not, just give us a call ahead of time. If we don't answer the phone, that's because we're closed. Yeah. So we're pretty confident in that. We make sure that we've got enough phones floating around the shop to take all the calls that come through. So, yeah, just come on down and hang out. It's pretty casual. We've got Christmas movies playing. You know, Christmas carols, Christmas music, kind of like hit or miss with that. But we've got the Christmas movies on the TV. So come hang out. It's a nice time to just –
SPEAKER 13 :
chill it's a it's a good vibe in the shop and uh we'd love to have you come down and get a good deal on on a new gun yeah hey nothing like buying your own christmas gift you know you'll love it so absolutely go see them it's 2175 south jasmine street all right hey and i can already tell we're gonna have to bring houston back uh next week to cover some things we wanted to cover here but um um first of all give us a little your your background and from hunting to guns whatever uh tell us a
SPEAKER 10 :
grew up hunting uh pretty much all my life started probably when I was three or four years old uh grew up in Alabama so it's a little different than it is down here that's for sure um didn't really get into the duck stuff until I was later in life probably in college um but really really took a liking to that I don't know what did it for me I think it's just those birds um Do a lot of deer hunting, sitting in a blind, gets old, at least duck hunting, you get to shoot a lot and have some fun. Worked in Birmingham for a while, sold guns there, gotten to sell guns in a couple different areas across the country. So it's very interesting to see what people are into in different areas, you know. It's very intriguing, speaking of online, of what sells in different areas. Stuff that sells out here, people don't really like as much back south, but the stuff out south, people don't like it as much out here. I know. I'm from Texas.
SPEAKER 03 :
We got it. We do send a lot of guns down towards Texas. Absolutely. Big online buyers there for our collectibles and auction site and unique. We do a lot of hunting, like vintage hunting rifles and things like that online on GunBroker.com. And we see a lot of stuff headed towards Texas. Right. Big gun buyers down there.
SPEAKER 13 :
Yeah, for sure. So what do you see? We're going to have to get the hunting stuff next week on the show, but I have to get you back. But what do you see, you know, as you deal with customers in the store and things like that, what are you kind of seeing happening? from knowledge from customers a little bit? I mean, I'm sure you see many things across the board where you get some that know a lot or think they know a lot, and then you get some, maybe it's their first gun purchase or whatever. What are you seeing coming in the store for customers?
SPEAKER 10 :
You know, a lot of it is, kind of what y'all were touching on earlier is come talk to somebody a lot of people think they can just go read an article of their favorite gun writer and buy everything that they've got and it's going to work perfect for them everybody is so different everybody has different needs and wants and being able to specialize and have exactly what you need for the outing that you're going on it's very important just because your buddy told you this is what you need It might work great for what he does, where he is, but what you're going to do might be different. So come in, talk to somebody that, for the most part, goes out there and does it too and has experienced, you know, what breaks, what goes wrong, where you run into issues, because that's where you learn the most is when things don't go right.
SPEAKER 13 :
And we were kind of talking before we came on air, and I think this fits with anything you're doing, but, man, having a gun that fits you. I mean, your buddy could shoot a .300 Weatherby Mag. Yep. maybe that's a little more recoil than you want so maybe you need a 270 you know and maybe they shoot a you know a 45 or maybe your hand's a little smaller maybe you need a nine mil i mean in shotguns we talked about that man there's so much to talk about there are shotguns fitting you so you gotta have a gun that fits you which goes back to ryan's point hey you know You've got a lot of guns there, but if they actually want to shoot them, which would be good. I can't do all the shotguns over shooting doors buckling, but you know what I mean. It is a purchase everybody's got to take serious.
SPEAKER 10 :
Yeah. And speaking on shotgun fitting, we could probably talk about that for three or four hours alone. Sure. But when we kind of touched on it earlier, how important it is, and you might not notice the difference until you get something that fits you correctly, of how much of an improvement it can make in your shooting and just ability to feel more confident in your setup and what you're taking out into the field. Right, right.
SPEAKER 13 :
And so, hey, this is kind of what you find. And, again, join us next week as well. We're going to bring Houston back and kind of touch on some of the hunting things at the store. And, Ryan, this is something you've talked about before. While everybody likes guns, some have different areas they enjoy talking about more or know more about, let's just be honest. So, I mean, somebody there in the store is going to know something about the guns you got, right?
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah. We've all got kind of a – a lane that we enjoy the most. And, you know, it was really nice because we were lacking in the hunting and the shotgun lane quite a bit. I mean, we have some good general knowledge, but somebody who's out there who's, you know, actively pursuing duck hunting... And it's one of their passions, having somebody like that on the team. I mean, it is huge. And not just for us, but for everybody walking through the door. I mean, we've got, you know, some really fantastic product lines from Benelli and Franke. And then, you know, their entry level Stoger. And then we have access to Browning, Beretta, and who knows what we got coming in the front door used. So, you know, it's a good opportunity to start a relationship with a local guy who's actually out there doing it. Get a different perspective. You know, here's something different than what you've been told, you know, growing up or wherever you were hunting previously. And, you know, and just come in and make a friend that can really point you in the right direction and make sure you're getting the right gear. So, you know. We were just talking about one of our employees just bought a shotgun, and he didn't even know that Benelli shipped them with the full shim kits where, you know, you can actually fit the gun yourself. I mean, knowing what to do is maybe not so straightforward, but there is information in the manual, and there's always, you know, Houston is, you know, that living person here who can just, like, tell you about what these shims are good for and what they're not good for and what you may do. you know shooting a gun right-handed versus left-handed and and how these shims make a huge difference on how the gun's going to perform i mean uh the shooter can shoot great but you know having equipment that that enhances that is i mean is totally invaluable yeah absolutely well guys our time's gone too quickly but um ryan thank you for a great year look forward to 2025 with you guys and uh houston i'll drag you back next week but sounds good all right man
SPEAKER 13 :
Hey, thanks for being with us today for Sportsman of Colorado. Merry Christmas to everyone. Please be safe and travels. And we are looking forward to wrapping up this year and enjoying a great 2025 with Bighorn Firearms. 2175 South Jasmine Street. When you go in, let them know you heard about them here. And we'd appreciate that as well. Have a great rest of your day.
SPEAKER 07 :
The views and opinions expressed on KLZ 560 are those of the speaker, commentators, hosts, their guests, and callers. They are not necessarily the views and opinions of Crawford Broadcasting or KLZ management, employees, associates, or advertisers. KLZ 560 is a Crawford Broadcasting God and country station.
