On today's episode of Breaking Battlegrounds, hosts Sam Stone and guest co-host Sean Noble welcome Dr. William Walters, a retired soldier with three combat tours in Iraq and former Senior State Department Official, to discuss Kamala Harris's role in the Afghanistan withdrawal and the Haitian migrant crisis impacting Springfield, Ohio. Later in the show, David Harsanyi, senior writer at The Washington Examiner and author of the new book "The Rise of BlueAnon" (now available for presale), joins to talk about the Trump/Harris debate and Kamala Harris's policy flip-flopping. As always, the show wraps up on a happy note with Jenna's sunshine moment.www.breakingbattlegrounds.voteTwitter: www.twitter.com/Breaking_BattleFacebook: www.facebook.com/breakingbattlegroundsInstagram: www.instagram.com/breakingbattlegroundsLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/breakingbattlegrounds-Show sponsors:Invest YrefyYrefy offers a secure, collateralized portfolio with a strong, fixed rate of return - up to a 10.25%. There is no attack on your principal if you ever need your money back. You can let your investment compound daily, or take your income whenever you choose. Make sure you tell them Sam and Chuck sent you!Learn more at investyrefy.com4Freedom MobileExperience true freedom with 4Freedom Mobile, the exclusive provider offering nationwide coverage on all three major US networks (Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile) with just one SIM card. Our service not only connects you but also shields you from data collection by network operators, social media platforms, government agencies, and more.Use code ‘Battleground’ to get your first month for $9 and save $10 a month every month after.Learn more at: 4FreedomMobile.comDot VoteWith a .VOTE website, you ensure your political campaign stands out among the competition while simplifying how you reach voters.Learn more at: dotvote.vote-About our guests:Dr. William Walters is a retired soldier with three combat tours in Iraq, former Senior State Department Official, and the Founder and Executive Director of the Salus Development Fund, a not-for-profit organization focused on improving the lives of people in the aftermath of war through the development of commercial aviation and health infrastructure.-David Harsanyi is a senior writer at The Washington Examiner, a nationally syndicated columnist, and author of six books—the most recent, The Rise of BlueAnon: How the Democrats Became a Party of Conspiracy Theorists. Follow him on Twitter, @davidharsanyi. Get full access to Breaking Battlegrounds at breakingbattlegrounds.substack.com/subscribe

On this episode of Breaking Battlegrounds, Chuck and Sam sit down with bestselling author and investigative journalist Ashley Rindsberg to explore how Wikipedia launders regime propaganda and the implications of Kamala Harris’s stance on censorship, including the potential for banning Elon Musk's X platform. Later, former Congressman Doug Collins joins the show to discuss the fallout from the Afghanistan withdrawal, anti-Israel protests, and the urgent need for Congress to focus on hitting singles—passing simple, effective bills—rather than swinging for grand slams. And stay tuned for Kiley's Corner, where she dives into the shocking trial out of France involving a husband who did the unthinkable to his wife. But, as always, we end the show on a high note with Jenna's Sunshine Moment!www.breakingbattlegrounds.voteTwitter: www.twitter.com/Breaking_BattleFacebook: www.facebook.com/breakingbattlegroundsInstagram: www.instagram.com/breakingbattlegroundsLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/breakingbattlegrounds-Show sponsors:Invest YrefyYrefy offers a secure, collateralized portfolio with a strong, fixed rate of return - up to a 10.25%. There is no attack on your principal if you ever need your money back. You can let your investment compound daily, or take your income whenever you choose. Make sure you tell them Sam and Chuck sent you!Learn more at investyrefy.com4Freedom MobileExperience true freedom with 4Freedom Mobile, the exclusive provider offering nationwide coverage on all three major US networks (Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile) with just one SIM card. Our service not only connects you but also shields you from data collection by network operators, social media platforms, government agencies, and more.Use code ‘Battleground’ to get your first month for $9 and save $10 a month every month after.Learn more at: 4FreedomMobile.comDot VoteWith a .VOTE website, you ensure your political campaign stands out among the competition while simplifying how you reach voters.Learn more at: dotvote.vote-About our guests:Ashley Rindsberg is an investigative journalist and author of The Gray Lady Winked, a bestselling book that exposes how The New York Times' misreporting has shaped history. -Former Rep. Doug Collins (GA-09) and current America First Works Senior Advisor modeled public service after his father, a Georgia State Trooper, as he served his district for nearly a decade, becoming the Ranking Member of the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary. In this role, Doug led his Republican colleagues on a wide breadth of issues, including fighting for our police officers, safeguarding the Second Amendment, protecting the lives of unborn children, defending religious liberty, and overseeing our law enforcement agencies. As a U.S. Air Force Reserve chaplain, Doug has ministered to our country's military since 2002. He completed a 2008-2009 deployment to Iraq while stationed at Balad Air Force Base. Get full access to Breaking Battlegrounds at breakingbattlegrounds.substack.com/subscribe

On this episode of Breaking Battlegrounds, hosts Chuck and Sam are joined by Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen, who has filed 56 lawsuits against the Harris-Biden administration, challenging policies such as an unlawful voter registration scheme and calling for the removal of Biden’s education secretary. Later, investigative reporter Matthew Foldi from The Spectator examines the Afghanistan disaster, highlighting the U.S.'s ongoing lack of a policy to evacuate its citizens overseas and the administration's failure to provide accountability. Plus, stay tuned for Kiley’s Corner, covering the FBI indictment of Matthew Farrwell for the killing of Sandra Birchmore and her unborn child, and Jenna’s Sunshine Moment, bringing a bit of positivity to your day.www.breakingbattlegrounds.voteTwitter: www.twitter.com/Breaking_BattleFacebook: www.facebook.com/breakingbattlegroundsInstagram: www.instagram.com/breakingbattlegroundsLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/breakingbattlegrounds-Show sponsors:Invest YrefyYrefy offers a secure, collateralized portfolio with a strong, fixed rate of return - up to a 10.25%. There is no attack on your principal if you ever need your money back. You can let your investment compound daily, or take your income whenever you choose. Make sure you tell them Sam and Chuck sent you!Learn more at investyrefy.com4Freedom MobileExperience true freedom with 4Freedom Mobile, the exclusive provider offering nationwide coverage on all three major US networks (Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile) with just one SIM card. Our service not only connects you but also shields you from data collection by network operators, social media platforms, government agencies, and more.Use code ‘Battleground’ to get your first month for $9 and save $10 a month every month after.Learn more at: 4FreedomMobile.comDot VoteWith a .VOTE website, you ensure your political campaign stands out among the competition while simplifying how you reach voters.Learn more at: dotvote.vote-About our guests:Matthew Foldi is an investigative reporter at the Spectator and is joining us today to discuss his series of articles on the withdrawal in Afghanistan. You can follow him on X @MatthewFoldi-Attorney General Austin Knudsen grew up just outside of Culbertson, in the northeast corner of Montana, where his family has farmed and ranched for five generations. Austin grew up participating in 4-H, raising steers to show at the fair, and Future Farmers of America (FFA) throughout high school. In fact, Austin met his wife, Christie, while they both served as FFA State Officers during their freshman year at Montana State University-Bozeman.Austin put himself through college in Bozeman working jobs at the local butcher shop and a hardware store, and returning each summer to work on the family farm and ranch, growing wheat and sugar beets, and raising angus cattle. Austin and Christie were married shortly after graduation and moved to Missoula where Austin earned his law degree from the University of Montana.After law school, Austin and Christie moved their young family back to the farm and ranch where Austin worked at a law firm in Plentywood before opening his own practice in Culbertson. As a private attorney, Austin represented just about every kind of legal case imaginable, including estate planning, probate, civil litigation, land use, oil and gas, and real estate transactions.In 2010, Austin defeated a two-term incumbent and was elected to serve as the Representative for House District 34. While serving in Helena, Austin quickly noticed the extent of the disconnect between Helena bureaucrats and the political insiders and the rest of the people across Montana, so he pursued leadership roles in his caucus and was elected Speaker Pro Tempore during his second session. During his third and fourth sessions in 2015 and 2017, Austin was elected by all 100 members of the House of Representatives to lead them as Speaker of the House. Austin was one of the youngest people to serve as Speaker in Montana history — and in the nation. Austin was also the only two-term Speaker since term limits were imposed.The Knudsen family lived just about as far from Helena as any other legislator, so during the sessions Austin and Christie and their three kids — Leah, Connor, and Reagan — would move as a family to Helena. As a Legislator and Speaker, Austin worked to ensure his constituents had a voice, and that taxpayers were getting the most out of the hard-earned money they send to the state. In addition to his maximum four legislative sessions, Austin presided over a 2017 Special Session in which he led a united Republican caucus to defeat multiple tax increase attempts by the Governor.Back in Culbertson as a private attorney, Austin was astounded by the lack of prosecutions coming out of the County Attorney’s office, and the illegal drugs and related crime that was devastating his community. Following a drive-by shooting outside of their kids’ school, Austin and Christie knew they had to do more to make their community safe, and in 2018 Austin was elected Roosevelt County Attorney.As a county prosecutor, Austin worked hand-in-hand with the full range of law enforcement personnel, including on the Fort Peck Reservation, to ramp up prosecutions and put violent offenders behind bars. In 2020, Austin ran for Montana Attorney General because the illegal drug pandemic and resulting violence are a statewide problem. In fact, violent crime has increased more than 30% in just over a decade.As Attorney General, Austin has made combating the drug pandemic and supporting law enforcement a main focus — ensuring that Montana is a safe place to live and raise a family. Get full access to Breaking Battlegrounds at breakingbattlegrounds.substack.com/subscribe

On this week's episode of Breaking Battlegrounds, Chuck Warren is joined by Jason Willick, a columnist for the Washington Post, Henry Olsen, a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, and Noah Rothman, senior writer at National Review, to tackle the critical question: What questions should the legacy media be asking Kamala Harris that the public deserves to know? The press has been acting as a PR machine for Harris, but what crucial issues are they allowing her to dodge? These opinion leaders address these questions and delve into the controversies surrounding Biden's removal as the nominee, which U.S. House races to watch, and the lack of policy discussion from Harris and Democrat leaders at the DNC. Tune in to the discussion now!www.breakingbattlegrounds.voteTwitter: www.twitter.com/Breaking_BattleFacebook: www.facebook.com/breakingbattlegroundsInstagram: www.instagram.com/breakingbattlegroundsLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/breakingbattlegrounds-Show sponsors:Invest YrefyYrefy offers a secure, collateralized portfolio with a strong, fixed rate of return - up to a 10.25%. There is no attack on your principal if you ever need your money back. You can let your investment compound daily, or take your income whenever you choose. Make sure you tell them Sam and Chuck sent you!Learn more at investyrefy.com4Freedom MobileExperience true freedom with 4Freedom Mobile, the exclusive provider offering nationwide coverage on all three major US networks (Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile) with just one SIM card. Our service not only connects you but also shields you from data collection by network operators, social media platforms, government agencies, and more.Use code ‘Battleground’ to get your first month for $9 and save $10 a month every month after.Learn more at: 4FreedomMobile.comDot VoteWith a .VOTE website, you ensure your political campaign stands out among the competition while simplifying how you reach voters.Learn more at: dotvote.vote-About our guests:Jason Willick is a friend of the show and columnist for the Washington Post. He writes about the law, politics and foreign policy for Post Opinions. You can follow him on X @jawillick. -Noah Rothman is a friend of the show and senior writer at National Review. He is the author of The Rise of the New Puritans: Fighting Back against Progressives’ War on Fun and Unjust: Social Justice and the Unmaking of America.-Henry Olsen is a friend of the show,Henry Olsen, a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, studies and provides commentary on American politics. Get full access to Breaking Battlegrounds at breakingbattlegrounds.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode of Breaking Battlegrounds, hosts Sam Stone and guest host Sean Noble are joined by Susan Crabtree, political correspondent for RealClearPolitics, who returns to provide an update on her investigation into the Secret Service. Then, Dr. Jessica Spencer, Director of Advocacy for the Florida Vote No on Amendment 3 Campaign, explains why a coalition of parents, teachers, law enforcement, and first responders opposes the legalization of marijuana under Amendment 3 in Florida. Finally, Reina Patocs, a candidate for Arizona State House District 5, shares her modern take on conservative issues. Stay tuned for Kiley’s Corner as the trial begins for Robert Telles, the Democratic Clark County public administrator accused of stabbing Las Vegas reporter Jeff German to death over a negative news story. And as always, we end the show with Jenna’s Sunshine Moment. Tune in for a comprehensive discussion on the critical issues shaping our political landscape.www.breakingbattlegrounds.voteTwitter: www.twitter.com/Breaking_BattleFacebook: www.facebook.com/breakingbattlegroundsInstagram: www.instagram.com/breakingbattlegroundsLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/breakingbattlegrounds-Show sponsors:Invest YrefyYrefy offers a secure, collateralized portfolio with a strong, fixed rate of return - up to a 10.25%. There is no attack on your principal if you ever need your money back. You can let your investment compound daily, or take your income whenever you choose. Make sure you tell them Sam and Chuck sent you!Learn more at investyrefy.com4Freedom MobileExperience true freedom with 4Freedom Mobile, the exclusive provider offering nationwide coverage on all three major US networks (Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile) with just one SIM card. Our service not only connects you but also shields you from data collection by network operators, social media platforms, government agencies, and more.Use code ‘Battleground’ to get your first month for $9 and save $10 a month every month after.Learn more at: 4FreedomMobile.comDot VoteWith a .VOTE website, you ensure your political campaign stands out among the competition while simplifying how you reach voters.Learn more at: dotvote.vote-About our guest:Susan Crabtree is a political correspondent for RealClearPolitics. She previously served as a senior writer for the WashingtonFree Beacon, and spent five years as White House Correspondent for theWashington Examiner. You can follow her on X @susancrabtree.-Dr. Jessica Spencer is the Director of Advocacy for the Florida Vote No on Amendment 3 Campaign—a coalition of parents, teachers, law enforcement, and first responders dedicated to preserving Florida's public safety by opposing the legalization of marijuana.-Reina Patocs is a candidate for Arizona State House District 5. You can follow her on X @Reinapatocs. Get full access to Breaking Battlegrounds at breakingbattlegrounds.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode of Breaking Battlegrounds, host Chuck Warren sits down with Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt before he takes the stage at Erick Erickson’s 2024 Gathering, an event that unites conservatives from across the nation to discuss the future of America. In this exclusive interview, Governor Stitt dives into the challenges and opportunities facing the nation, from economic and energy policies to education reform. He shares his insights on the current political climate and offers a behind-the-scenes look at his strategies for leading Oklahoma. Join this conversation as we provide you with a unique perspective on the issues that will shape the 2024 election and beyond.www.breakingbattlegrounds.voteTwitter: www.twitter.com/Breaking_BattleFacebook: www.facebook.com/breakingbattlegroundsInstagram: www.instagram.com/breakingbattlegroundsLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/breakingbattlegrounds-Show sponsors:Invest YrefyYrefy offers a secure, collateralized portfolio with a strong, fixed rate of return - up to a 10.25%. There is no attack on your principal if you ever need your money back. You can let your investment compound daily, or take your income whenever you choose. Make sure you tell them Sam and Chuck sent you!Learn more at investyrefy.com4Freedom MobileExperience true freedom with 4Freedom Mobile, the exclusive provider offering nationwide coverage on all three major US networks (Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile) with just one SIM card. Our service not only connects you but also shields you from data collection by network operators, social media platforms, government agencies, and more.Use code ‘Battleground’ to get your first month for $9 and save $10 a month every month after.Learn more at: 4FreedomMobile.comDot VoteWith a .VOTE website, you ensure your political campaign stands out among the competition while simplifying how you reach voters.Learn more at: dotvote.vote-About our guest:Governor Kevin Stitt is leading Oklahoma with a vision to become Top Ten in job growth, infrastructure, education and more.He is an entrepreneur who founded Gateway in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 2000. Starting with only $1,000 and a computer, he grew Gateway into a nationwide mortgage company operating in 42 states and servicing more than $20 billion in residential mortgages. In 2018, he led Gateway through a merger and established Gateway First Bank, which today is one of Oklahoma’s 10 largest banks by assets with over $2 billion in assets, 166 mortgage centers across the U.S., and more than 1,600 employees.Oklahomans spoke in record numbers that they wanted Stitt to use his business acumen to transform the state. In 2018, he received more votes than any gubernatorial candidate in state history in his first bid for elected office of any kind.Governor Stitt has taken a groundbreaking approach to his administration by appointing the most female cabinet secretaries in state history and tapping expert advisors from the private sector, including the first chief operating officer in state history.He is committed to delivering taxpayers more for their money, and his fiscally conservative leadership helped the state build its largest savings account in history, which proved to be prophetic in the face of an oil and gas downturn.Stitt is a fourth-generation Oklahoman and a graduate of Oklahoma State University. He and his wife, Sarah, have been married for 25 years and they have six children. Get full access to Breaking Battlegrounds at breakingbattlegrounds.substack.com/subscribe

This week on Breaking Battlegrounds, host Sam Stone and guest host Sean Noble tackle critical issues with Washington Post columnist Jason Willick. They’ll explore Chuck Schumer’s legislation that could trigger a constitutional crisis and examine Kamala Harris' record. Later, America First Works Executive Director Ashley Hayek will fact-check CNN’s “fact-check” on Walz’s military service. Don’t miss the Sunshine Moment featuring a heartwarming story about a father and son’s road trip through Arkansas.www.breakingbattlegrounds.voteTwitter: www.twitter.com/Breaking_BattleFacebook: www.facebook.com/breakingbattlegroundsInstagram: www.instagram.com/breakingbattlegroundsLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/breakingbattlegrounds-Show sponsors:Invest YrefyYrefy offers a secure, collateralized portfolio with a strong, fixed rate of return - up to a 10.25%. There is no attack on your principal if you ever need your money back. You can let your investment compound daily, or take your income whenever you choose. Make sure you tell them Sam and Chuck sent you!Learn more at investyrefy.com4Freedom MobileExperience true freedom with 4Freedom Mobile, the exclusive provider offering nationwide coverage on all three major US networks (Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile) with just one SIM card. Our service not only connects you but also shields you from data collection by network operators, social media platforms, government agencies, and more.Use code ‘Battleground’ to get your first month for $9 and save $10 a month every month after.Learn more at: 4FreedomMobile.comDot VoteWith a .VOTE website, you ensure your political campaign stands out among the competition while simplifying how you reach voters.Learn more at: dotvote.vote-About our guests:Jason Willick is a columnist for the Washington Post. He writes about the law, politics and foreign policy for Post Opinions.-America First Works Executive Director Ashley Hayek is originally from the small agricultural town of Clovis, California. Hayek is a political strategist with over 15 years of experience in political, non-profit, and organization strategy, most recently serving on the Trump-Pence 2020 presidential campaign as the National Coalitions Director. At the age of 22, she started her first company in the loft of her townhouse in San Diego and within five years became the premier political and non-profit fundraising firm in Southern California. Hayek attended the University of California, San Diego, where she received a degree in Political Science. She is the proud wife of a United States Marine and mom of five. Get full access to Breaking Battlegrounds at breakingbattlegrounds.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode of Breaking Battlegrounds, we kick it off with Congressman Juan Ciscomani of Arizona’s 6th Congressional District, who gives us the latest developments regarding the Trump assassination task force, the most recent job reports released, and his bipartisan affordable housing bill in Congress. Following this, Joe Bishop-Henchman from the National Taxpayers Union Foundation will discuss the impact of tariffs on the economy, the recent Chevron decision on businesses, and Biden's outrageous White House payroll. Finally, Alexander Raiken from the Ethics and Public Policy Center presents his analysis on how Donald Trump does not pose a threat to democracy. Tune in for an in-depth exploration of these pivotal issues shaping the political landscape.-www.breakingbattlegrounds.voteTwitter: www.twitter.com/Breaking_BattleFacebook: www.facebook.com/breakingbattlegroundsInstagram: www.instagram.com/breakingbattlegroundsLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/breakingbattlegrounds-Show sponsors:Invest YrefyYrefy offers a secure, collateralized portfolio with a strong, fixed rate of return - up to a 10.25%. There is no attack on your principal if you ever need your money back. You can let your investment compound daily, or take your income whenever you choose. Make sure you tell them Sam and Chuck sent you!Learn more at investyrefy.com4Freedom MobileExperience true freedom with 4Freedom Mobile, the exclusive provider offering nationwide coverage on all three major US networks (Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile) with just one SIM card. Our service not only connects you but also shields you from data collection by network operators, social media platforms, government agencies, and more.Use code ‘Battleground’ to get your first month for $9 and save $10 a month every month after.Learn more at: 4FreedomMobile.comDot VoteWith a .VOTE website, you ensure your political campaign stands out among the competition while simplifying how you reach voters.Learn more at: dotvote.vote-About our guests:Congressman Juan Ciscomani represents Arizona’s 6th Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives. Juan and his family immigrated to the United States when he was a young boy. They established roots in Tucson, Arizona, where his father worked as a bus driver to give his children a shot at the American Dream. Growing up in a working class family taught Juan the value of hard work and the importance of a can-do attitude.Juan attended public schools in Tucson, Pima Community College and the University of Arizona. He worked his way through school with maintenance and service jobs until becoming the first in his family to graduate from college. After college, Juan worked for the University of Arizona and the Tucson Hispanic Chamber of Commerce before joining Arizona Governor Doug Ducey’s administration as Senior Advisor and Vice-Chair of the Arizona-Mexico Commission. Juan focused on the issues of international trade and diplomacy, border security, and economic development.In 2022, Juan was elected to represent Arizona’s new 6th congressional district, becoming the first naturalized American citizen from Mexico elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in Arizona history.In 2024, Juan was named the most bipartisan member from Arizona in the U.S. House of Representatives by the Lugar Center and McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University Bipartisan Index.Juan often shares a conversation with his dad where his dad asked him:“Where else could we have our story? We come to the US, learn English, immerse in the culture, become US citizens, I drive a bus most of my life, and now my son is a United States Congressman. Where else in the world? Nowhere else, that’s the American Dream.”Juan is determined to fight to keep that dream alive for others. Juan resides in Tucson with his wife, Laura, and their 6 kids — Zoe, Juan David, Kenny, Lily, Lucas, and Gloria.-Joe Bishop‐Henchman is Executive Vice President at the National Taxpayers Union Foundation, leading our work to protect taxpayer rights through research, litigation, and outreach. He has worked with elected officials and stakeholders to achieve major state‐level tax changes, advised on the interplay between federal and state policy changes, and authored over 100 studies on tax policy and tax law. Bishop‐Henchman is a class plaintiff in a major lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service seeking refund of $300 million of illegally collected fees, was lead counsel in NTUF’s Halstead Bead litigation that successfully prompted reform of Louisiana’s complex local sales tax practices, and his brief in South Dakota v. Wayfair was cited twice by the U.S. Supreme Court majority opinion.Bishop-Henchman joined NTUF from the McDermott Will & Emery law firm, where he counseled clients on tax policy and compliance, and prior to that, 14 years at the Tax Foundation, where he co-authored 8 books on tax policy. He has testified to Congress seven times, in 36 state houses around the country, and on anti-corruption tax reform efforts in-person in Kyiv, Ukraine in 2023. He was educated at the University of California, Berkeley and received his J.D. from the George Washington University Law School and a certificate in International Legal Studies from the University of the Pacific, McGeorge and the University of Salzburg. He is admitted to practice law in New York, Maryland, the District of Columbia, and before the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Tax Court, and the 4th, 5th, 6th, 9th, and D.C. Circuits.-Alexander Raikin is a friend on the show. He is a Visiting Fellow in Bioethics and American Democracy Program at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. His research focuses on the dignity of human life and end-of-life issues, especially on its impact on the field of medicine and broader ethical questions of social belonging. His writing has been widely cited in major publications such as The Atlantic and the New York Times and in academic journals in the United States, Canada, UK, and France. He wrote cover stories for National Review and The New Atlantis, while his other bylines include City Journal, Plough, and the Washington Free Beacon. Raikin frequently speaks on national radio and on major podcasts.Last year, Raikin was an inaugural Richard John Neuhaus Fellow at the Public Interest Fellowship and EPPC. He was a Tikvah Summer Fellow and a Killam scholar with Fulbright at American University. He graduated from Carleton University with a bachelor’s degree in public policy. Raikin is a proud member of Kesher Israel synagogue and lives with his wife in Washington, D.C. Get full access to Breaking Battlegrounds at breakingbattlegrounds.substack.com/subscribe

This week on Breaking Battlegrounds, we're bringing you a powerhouse lineup of guests. First, we welcome Congresswoman Nancy Mace from South Carolina's 1st Congressional District, who will discuss current hot-button issues like women's rights, the global IT outage, and the recent resignation of US Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle. Next, Elizabeth Nolan Brown, senior editor at Reason, joins us to delve into topics ranging from Kamala Harris's performance to the media covering for Biden. Finally, independent journalist Peter Bernegger, President of Election Watch, Inc., reveals insights into ActBlue’s ghost donors and 'smurfing.' During Kiley's Corner, she dissects what we know about the Trump almost-assassin, and as always, we end on a positive note with the Sunshine Moment. Don’t miss this compelling discussion as we unpack critical issues impacting our political landscape.Connect with us:www.breakingbattlegrounds.voteTwitter: www.twitter.com/Breaking_BattleFacebook: www.facebook.com/breakingbattlegroundsInstagram: www.instagram.com/breakingbattlegroundsLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/breakingbattlegrounds-Show sponsors:Invest YrefyYrefy offers a secure, collateralized portfolio with a strong, fixed rate of return - up to a 10.25%. There is no attack on your principal if you ever need your money back. You can let your investment compound daily, or take your income whenever you choose. Make sure you tell them Sam and Chuck sent you!Learn more at investyrefy.com4Freedom MobileExperience true freedom with 4Freedom Mobile, the exclusive provider offering nationwide coverage on all three major US networks (Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile) with just one SIM card. Our service not only connects you but also shields you from data collection by network operators, social media platforms, government agencies, and more.Use code ‘Battleground’ to get your first month for $9 and save $10 a month every month after.Learn more at: 4FreedomMobile.comDot VoteWith a .VOTE website, you ensure your political campaign stands out among the competition while simplifying how you reach voters.Learn more at: dotvote.vote-About our guests:Congresswoman Nancy Mace, raised in the Lowcountry, hails from Goose Creek, South Carolina. Raised by a retired Army General and a retired school teacher, Mace learned the value of hard work early on. After leaving high school at 17, she began her journey in the workforce, starting as a waitress at the Waffle House on College Park Road in Ladson.Despite early setbacks, Mace’s determination led her to achieve academic excellence. She earned her high school diploma by taking college classes at Trident Technical College in North Charleston. She then graduated magna cum laude from The Citadel, the military college of South Carolina, making history as the first female graduate from its Corps of Cadets in 1999. Continuing her education, she earned a master’s degree from The University of Georgia in 2004.Mace transitioned into public service, gaining recognition as one of the most fiscally conservative members of the South Carolina General Assembly while also championing conservation efforts. An accomplished author, she penned “In The Company of Men: A Woman at The Citadel,” published by Simon & Schuster in 2001.In 2008, Mace founded her own company, specializing in technology and marketing, and commercial real estate. Her leadership embodies integrity, compassion, and a tireless pursuit of delivering results for the South Carolina. She has worked with colleagues on a nonpartisan basis, successfully getting several bills signed into law by the President, including the Quantum Computing Cybersecurity Preparedness Act and the Human Trafficking Prevention Act of 2022.Mace has been recognized with esteemed awards such as the 2021 Club for Growth Defender of Economic Freedom Award and the 2019 Taxpayer Hero Award from the South Carolina Club for Growth for her consistent efforts to lower taxes. She is also the recipient of the Champion Award from Palmetto Goodwill for her dedication to education and job training for the underprivileged, and she holds a 97% rating with Conservation Voters of South Carolina.A devoted single mother to two teenagers, a sweet little Havanese named Liberty, and a cat named Tyler, Mace continues to serve the Lowcountry with unwavering dedication and resilience.-Elizabeth Nolan Brown is a senior editor at Reason and the author of Reason's biweekly Sex & Tech newsletter, which covers issues surrounding sex, technology, bodily autonomy, law, and online culture. She is also co-founder of the libertarian feminist group Feminists for Liberty, and a professional affiliate of the journalism program at the University of Cincinnati.Brown has covered a broad range of political and cultural topics since starting at Reason in 2014, with special emphasis on the politics, policy, and legal issues surrounding sex, speech, tech, justice, reproductive freedom, and women's rights. She can be found frequently reporting and opining on topics such as sex work, social media, antitrust law, abortion, feminism, the First Amendment, policing, and Section 230. A few of her more memorable Reason features include a trio of cover stories on the federal government's war on sex ("The War on Sex Trafficking Is the New War on Drugs," "American Sex Police," and "Massage Parlor Panic"), a political profile of Kamala Harris ("Kamala Harris Is a Cop Who Wants to Be President"), a deep dive into the prosecution of the founders of Backpage.com, and a look at "The Bipartisan Antitrust Crusade Against Big Tech."Brown's work has also been published by The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Buzzfeed, The Daily Beast, Politico, Playboy, Persuasion, Fox News, Newsweek, TIME, The Dish, The Week, Spectator World, Libertarianism.org (where she wrote the Encyclopedia of Libertarianism entry on sex work), and numerous other outlets.She is the winner of the Western Publishing Association's 2016 award for best feature article and has been a finalist for seven awards from the Los Angeles Press Club, taking one second place and three third place awards for articles including Hot Girls Wanted: Exploiting Sex Workers in the Name of Exposing Porn Exploitation?" and "The Truth About the Biggest U.S. Sex Trafficking Story of the Year".Brown is a frequent commenter on panels, podcasts, radio, and television. She has debated sex work decriminalization at New York University and the Soho Forum; spoken before audiences at SXSW, the First Amendment Lawyer's Association meeting, the Sexual Freedom Summit, the Knight Foundation, the Mont Pelerin Society, George Mason University's Law & Economics Center, the 2022 Libertarian Party convention, FreedomFest, and numerous other places; and appeared on programs on NPR, C-SPAN, the BBC, Fox News, ESPN, and North Carolina Public Radio, among others.Prior to coming to Reason, Brown covered legal issues for the Daily Reporter in Columbus, Ohio; wrote about health and nutrition for Bustle and other women's websites; and served as an editor for AARP publications. She is a graduate of American University, where she earned a master's degree in public communication, and Ohio University, where she studied playwriting, English, and film. She lives in Cincinnati, Ohio, with her husband, sons, and two cats.-Peter Bernegger is an independent journalist and President of Election Watch, Inc. You can follow him on X @PeterBernegger. Get full access to Breaking Battlegrounds at breakingbattlegrounds.substack.com/subscribe

Join Chuck and Sam for a deep dive into this week's pivotal topics: Trump's attempted assassination and his VP pick. First up, Ryan James Girdusky, author, podcast host, and political consultant known for his incisive commentary on national populism, discusses the true nature of JD Vance on a personal level. Following Ryan, Susan Crabtree, political correspondent for RealClearPolitics, joins us to uncover what went wrong with the Secret Service during the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump, amidst mounting pressure for Kimberly Cheatle to resign. Stay tuned for Kiley's Corner as she shares the story of Steven Craig Johnson, an inmate who escaped prison 30 years ago and was captured on Tuesday. As always, we end the show on a positive note with the Sunshine Moment.Connect with us:www.breakingbattlegrounds.voteTwitter: www.twitter.com/Breaking_BattleFacebook: www.facebook.com/breakingbattlegroundsInstagram: www.instagram.com/breakingbattlegroundsLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/breakingbattlegrounds-Show sponsors:Invest YrefyYrefy offers a secure, collateralized portfolio with a strong, fixed rate of return - up to a 10.25%. There is no attack on your principal if you ever need your money back. You can let your investment compound daily, or take your income whenever you choose. Make sure you tell them Sam and Chuck sent you!Learn more at investyrefy.com4Freedom MobileExperience true freedom with 4Freedom Mobile, the exclusive provider offering nationwide coverage on all three major US networks (Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile) with just one SIM card. Our service not only connects you but also shields you from data collection by network operators, social media platforms, government agencies, and more.Use code ‘Battleground’ to get your first month for $9 and save $10 a month every month after.Learn more at: 4FreedomMobile.comDot VoteWith a .VOTE website, you ensure your political campaign stands out among the competition while simplifying how you reach voters.Learn more at: dotvote.vote-About our guests:Ryan Girdusky is an author, podcast host, political consultant, and journalist. You can read his work on Substack @natpop and you can follow him on X @RyanGirdusky.-Susan Crabtree is a political correspondent for RealClearPolitics. She previously served as a senior writer for the WashingtonFree Beacon, and spent five years as White House Correspondent for theWashington Examiner. You can follow her on X @susancrabtree. Get full access to Breaking Battlegrounds at breakingbattlegrounds.substack.com/subscribe

This week on Breaking Battlegrounds, we have an action-packed lineup. We start with Congressman David Schweikert, representing Arizona's 1st Congressional district and renowned for his pivotal roles in economic policy and healthcare innovation. As Vice Chairman of the Joint Economic Committee and Chairman of the Oversight Subcommittee, Congressman Schweikert joins us to discuss the integration of AI in medical technology, recent economic developments, and the impact of Biden's border policies on the low-income working class. Following him is Maureen Castle Tusty, co-director of Sky Films Inc., sharing her latest project 'She Rises Up,' a documentary highlighting women entrepreneurs battling poverty worldwide. Then, we welcome back Dr. Everett Piper, former university president and columnist for The Washington Times, who delves into his piece 'Biden’s moral deflections: Projections of a liar in chief.' Stay tuned for Kiley’s Corner as they discuss the Alec Baldwin trial, and as always, we end the show with Jenna’s Sunshine Moment.Connect with us:www.breakingbattlegrounds.voteTwitter: www.twitter.com/Breaking_BattleFacebook: www.facebook.com/breakingbattlegroundsInstagram: www.instagram.com/breakingbattlegroundsLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/breakingbattlegrounds-Show sponsors:Invest YrefyYrefy offers a secure, collateralized portfolio with a strong, fixed rate of return - up to a 10.25%. There is no attack on your principal if you ever need your money back. You can let your investment compound daily, or take your income whenever you choose. Make sure you tell them Sam and Chuck sent you!Learn more at investyrefy.com4Freedom MobileExperience true freedom with 4Freedom Mobile, the exclusive provider offering nationwide coverage on all three major US networks (Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile) with just one SIM card. Our service not only connects you but also shields you from data collection by network operators, social media platforms, government agencies, and more.Use code ‘Battleground’ to get your first month for $9 and save $10 a month every month after.Learn more at: 4FreedomMobile.comDot VoteWith a .VOTE website, you ensure your political campaign stands out among the competition while simplifying how you reach voters.Learn more at: dotvote.vote-About our guests:Congressman David Schweikert is a friend of the show and represents Arizona's 1st Congressional district. He holds a seat on the Ways and Means Committee, and is the current Chairman of the Oversight Subcommittee. He is also the Vice Chairman of the bicameral Joint Economic Committee, Chairman the Valley Fever Task force, is the Republican Co-Chair of the Blockchain Caucus, Co-Chair of the Tunisia Caucus, and Co-Chair of the Telehealth Caucus.https://davidschweikert.com/-Maureen (Mo) Castle Tusty is co-owner and the primary creative director and film director for Sky Films Inc., producing documentary films that inform, uplift and inspire. Her most recent project is She Rises Up, a feature documentary that follows the remarkable journeys of three women who are working to lift their communities out of poverty through the local businesses they are fighting to maintain.-Dr. Everett Piper is a columnist for The Washington Times, former university president and radio host. He is the author of “Not a Daycare: The Devastating Consequences of Abandoning Truth." You can follow him on X @dreverettpiper. Get full access to Breaking Battlegrounds at breakingbattlegrounds.substack.com/subscribe

Join Chuck and Sam today as they first welcome political analyst Henry Olsen, who weighs in on the recent U.K. and French elections and their implications for America. Then, White House Correspondent for Reuters, Jeff Mason, discusses the Democrats' post-debate panic and the process to potentially replace Biden. Finally, Abe Hamadeh, former U.S. Army Reserve Captain, Intelligence Officer, Maricopa County prosecutor, and congressional candidate for Arizona's 8th District, sheds light on how Biden's economy is impacting the voters in his district and his proposal to classify drug cartels as terrorist organizations. Stay tuned for Kiley's Corner, where we delve into the mistrial of the Karen Read case and the controversy surrounding a new case in the same town. Plus, Jenna closes the show on a lighthearted note, sharing the latest on the new hot dog eating champion in the Sunshine Moment.Connect with us:www.breakingbattlegrounds.voteTwitter: www.twitter.com/Breaking_BattleFacebook: www.facebook.com/breakingbattlegroundsInstagram: www.instagram.com/breakingbattlegroundsLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/breakingbattlegrounds-Show sponsors:Invest YrefyYrefy offers a secure, collateralized portfolio with a strong, fixed rate of return - up to a 10.25%. There is no attack on your principal if you ever need your money back. You can let your investment compound daily, or take your income whenever you choose. Make sure you tell them Sam and Chuck sent you!Learn more at investyrefy.com4Freedom MobileExperience true freedom with 4Freedom Mobile, the exclusive provider offering nationwide coverage on all three major US networks (Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile) with just one SIM card. Our service not only connects you but also shields you from data collection by network operators, social media platforms, government agencies, and more.Use code ‘Battleground’ to get your first month for $9 and save $10 a month every month after.Learn more at: 4FreedomMobile.comDot VoteWith a .VOTE website, you ensure your political campaign stands out among the competition while simplifying how you reach voters.Learn more at: dotvote.vote-About our guests:Henry Olsen is a friend of the show, Political analyst and opinion columnist. He is also host of the Beyond the Polls podcast and author of The Working-Class Republican. Henry Olsen's work has appeared in The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Telegraph, The Guardian, and a host of other publications. He is a Senior Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, and has served as a top executive with the American Enterprise Institute, the Manhattan Institute, and the Commonwealth Foundation. Henry also teaches at Catholic University and Hillsdale College, and has taught at Arizona State University and Villanova University.-Jeff Mason is a White House Correspondent for Reuters. He has covered the presidencies of Barack Obama, Donald Trump and Joe Biden and the presidential campaigns of Biden, Trump, Obama, Hillary Clinton and John McCain. He served as president of the White House Correspondents’ Association in 2016-2017, leading the press corps in advocating for press freedom in the early days of the Trump administration. His and the WHCA's work was recognized with Deutsche Welle's "Freedom of Speech Award." Jeff has asked pointed questions of domestic and foreign leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korea's Kim Jong Un. He is a winner of the WHCA's “Excellence in Presidential News Coverage Under Deadline Pressure" award and co-winner of the Association for Business Journalists' "Breaking News" award. Jeff began his career in Frankfurt, Germany as a business reporter before being posted to Brussels, Belgium, where he covered the European Union. Jeff appears regularly on television and radio and teaches political journalism at Georgetown University. He is a graduate of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism and a former Fulbright scholar.-Abe Hamadeh is a former U.S. Army Reserve Captain & Intelligence Officer, Maricopa county prosecutor, and current candidate for Congress in Arizona's 8th Congressional District.  Get full access to Breaking Battlegrounds at breakingbattlegrounds.substack.com/subscribe

Join Chuck and Sam for our Independence Day episode, where we reflect on America's foundational history and the sacrifices of our founders. We begin with award-winning broadcaster Ken LaCorte, host of ‘Elephants in Rooms’, as he analyzes the Presidential debate and its implications for today's America. Later, Martin Di Caro, host of 'History As It Happens,' provides insights into today's societal divisions and the lasting impact of the American Revolution. Finally, Jon Riches, Vice President for Litigation at the Goldwater Institute’s Scharf-Norton Center for Constitutional Litigation and General Counsel for the Institute, joins us to discuss two recent Supreme Court rulings. Don't miss this compelling discussion that connects history with current events, airing this week on Breaking Battlegrounds.Connect with us:www.breakingbattlegrounds.voteTwitter: www.twitter.com/Breaking_BattleFacebook: www.facebook.com/breakingbattlegroundsInstagram: www.instagram.com/breakingbattlegroundsLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/breakingbattlegrounds-Show sponsors:Invest YrefyYrefy offers a secure, collateralized portfolio with a strong, fixed rate of return - up to a 10.25%. There is no attack on your principal if you ever need your money back. You can let your investment compound daily, or take your income whenever you choose. Make sure you tell them Sam and Chuck sent you!Learn more at investyrefy.com4Freedom MobileExperience true freedom with 4Freedom Mobile, the exclusive provider offering nationwide coverage on all three major US networks (Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile) with just one SIM card. Our service not only connects you but also shields you from data collection by network operators, social media platforms, government agencies, and more.Use code ‘Battleground’ to get your first month for $9 and save $10 a month every month after.Learn more at: 4FreedomMobile.comDot VoteWith a .VOTE website, you ensure your political campaign stands out among the competition while simplifying how you reach voters.Learn more at: dotvote.vote-About our guests:Ken LaCorte is a friend of the show and Host of the podcast ‘Elephants in Rooms.’ He writes about censorship, media malfeasance, uncomfortable questions, and honest insight for people curious how the world really works. Follow him on X @KenLaCorte.-Martin Di Caro is an award-winning broadcaster and host of 'History As It Happens,' a podcast that delves into current events through a historical perspective. Follow him on X @MartinDiCaro. -Jon Riches is the Vice President for Litigation for the Goldwater Institute’s Scharf-Norton Center for Constitutional Litigation and General Counsel for the Institute. He litigates in federal and state trial and appellate courts in the areas of economic liberty, regulatory reform, free speech, taxpayer protections, public labor issues, government transparency, and school choice, among others. Get full access to Breaking Battlegrounds at breakingbattlegrounds.substack.com/subscribe

Tune in to Breaking Battlegrounds this week where we are first joined by Congressman John Curtis, representing Utah’s 3rd Congressional District and a candidate for U.S. Senate. He discusses critical national security issues concerning China and the border, along with President Biden’s high-speed internet plan and Utah’s upcoming primary election. In the second half of the show, Jon Levine from the Sunday New York Post joins us, covering the dropped charges against Columbia protestors, 2024 presidential election polling, Trump’s VP predictions, and the latest on Hunter Biden. Before we wrap up, Kiley returns with Kiley’s Corner to update us on the Karen Read trial and discuss the case of James Arthur McDonald, the former CNBC pundit turned fugitive. We end on a positive note with the Sunshine Moment, where Jenna shares an inspiring story of a 5th grader’s heroic act saving a 3rd grader’s life.Connect with us:www.breakingbattlegrounds.voteTwitter: www.twitter.com/Breaking_BattleFacebook: www.facebook.com/breakingbattlegroundsInstagram: www.instagram.com/breakingbattlegroundsLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/breakingbattlegrounds-Show sponsors:Invest YrefyYrefy offers a secure, collateralized portfolio with a strong, fixed rate of return - up to a 10.25%. There is no attack on your principal if you ever need your money back. You can let your investment compound daily, or take your income whenever you choose. Make sure you tell them Sam and Chuck sent you!Learn more at investyrefy.com4Freedom MobileExperience true freedom with 4Freedom Mobile, the exclusive provider offering nationwide coverage on all three major US networks (Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile) with just one SIM card. Our service not only connects you but also shields you from data collection by network operators, social media platforms, government agencies, and more.Use code ‘Battleground’ to get your first month for $9 and save $10 a month every month after.Learn more at: 4FreedomMobile.comDot VoteWith a .VOTE website, you ensure your political campaign stands out among the competition while simplifying how you reach voters.Learn more at: dotvote.vote-About our guests:John R. Curtis proudly represents Utah’s 3rd Congressional District where he is known for his reputation as someone who gets things done. Since being elected to Congress in 2017, John has passed 15 pieces of legislation into law, ranging in diverse topics such as better managing public lands, combatting human trafficking, reducing burdensome regulations on small businesses, and more. He has been ranked by the nonpartisan Center for Effective Lawmaking as the 9th most effective Republican member of Congress. John serves on the Energy and Commerce Committee including as Vice-Chair of the Energy, Climate and Grid Security Subcommittee and a member of the Communications & Technology Subcommittee. On the Natural Resources Committee, he serves as Vice Chair of the Federal Lands Subcommittee and member of the Energy & Mineral Resources Subcommittee.Jon Levine is a political reporter for the Sunday New York Post. His work covers city, state and national politics. He has worked on significant continuing stories and investigations, including Hunter Biden and the 2020 presidential election. A native New Yorker, he previously worked as a media reporter for TheWrap and Mediaite. His work has been featured on CNN.com, The Atlantic, and the Chronicle of Higher Education. When he’s not working, he’s thinking about work. Get full access to Breaking Battlegrounds at breakingbattlegrounds.substack.com/subscribe

This week on our Father's Day special, we delve into the heart of family and fatherhood. To start, we have Blake Masters, a friend of the show and candidate for Congressional District 8 in Arizona. Blake shares his insights on the pressing concerns of voters in his district, his plans for the military and the border. Then, we're joined by Brad Wilcox, Professor of Sociology and Director of the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia. Brad explores the profound impact of fathers on their children's lives and delves into the importance of strong, stable marriages for societal well-being. Our final guest, Ben Leuschner, President of the Phoenix Police Sergeants and Lieutenants Association, joins to discuss the DOJ targeting local police. To end the show, we have an update on the Karen Read Trial during Kiley’s Corner, where she explains what is going on in the Yung Thug case. And finally, we end the show on a positive note with our Sunshine Moment, where Jenna discusses the good in the world.Connect with us:www.breakingbattlegrounds.voteTwitter: www.twitter.com/Breaking_BattleFacebook: www.facebook.com/breakingbattlegroundsInstagram: www.instagram.com/breakingbattlegroundsLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/breakingbattlegrounds-Show Sponsors:Invest YrefyYrefy offers a secure, collateralized portfolio with a strong, fixed rate of return - up to a 10.25%. There is no attack on your principal if you ever need your money back. You can let your investment compound daily, or take your income whenever you choose. Make sure you tell them Sam and Chuck sent you!Learn more at investyrefy.com4Freedom MobileExperience true freedom with 4Freedom Mobile, the exclusive provider offering nationwide coverage on all three major US networks (Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile) with just one SIM card. Our service not only connects you but also shields you from data collection by network operators, social media platforms, government agencies, and more.Use code ‘Battleground’ to get your first month for $9 and save $10 a month every month after.Learn more at: 4FreedomMobile.comDot VoteWith a .VOTE website, you ensure your political campaign stands out among the competition while simplifying how you reach voters.Learn more at: dotvote.vote-About our guests:Blake Masters is a Conservative, America First Republican running to represent Arizona’s 8th Congressional District. A father, husband, entrepreneur and bestselling author, Blake was endorsed by President Donald Trump in his 2022 race for U.S. Senate. Blake grew up and attended high school in Arizona before graduating from Stanford University and Stanford Law School. He and his wife, Catherine, have four sons.-Brad Wilcox is Professor of Sociology and Director of the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia, the Future of Freedom Fellow at the Institute for Family Studies, and a nonresident senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. The author of Get Married: Why Americans Should Defy the Elites, Forge Strong Families and Save Civilization (HarperCollins, 2024), Wilcox studies marital quality, marital stability, and the impact of strong and stable marriages upon men, women, and children. The author and editor of six books, Wilcox has written for scientific journals such as The American Sociological Review and The Journal of Marriage and Family, as well as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, and National Review. A Connecticut native, he now lives in Charlottesville, Virginia with his wife and family.-Ben Leuschner has been with the Phoenix Police Department for almost 28 years, over 20 of those as a supervisor.  He worked in nearly every precinct, as well as in investigations.  He has been a member of the Phoenix Police Sergeants and Lieutenants Association Executive Board since 2013 and in that time he has seen the damage that can be caused by an ineffective union and a lack of competent representation.  He has been a PPSLA representative for almost 9 years and, now that he has been elected President, he is committed to providing outstanding representation to PPSLA members and ensuring that PPSLA is transparent, accountable, and responsive to the needs to its members. Get full access to Breaking Battlegrounds at breakingbattlegrounds.substack.com/subscribe

This week on Breaking Battlegrounds, Chuck and Sam are joined by Arizona Speaker of the House Ben Toma, candidate for Congress in Arizona's 8th Congressional District, as he shares his vision for Congress and addresses the abuse of power by Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes. In the second half of the show, Mark Krikorian, Executive Director of the Center for Immigration Studies, joins the conversation with the Speaker to delve into Mexico’s elections, border policies under the Biden administration, and Arizona’s recent proposal (Secure Border Act) referred to the ballot. And stay tuned for Kiley’s corner as she provides an update on the Karen Read trail, and as always, we end the show with the Sunshine Moment.Connect with us:www.breakingbattlegrounds.voteTwitter: www.twitter.com/Breaking_BattleFacebook: www.facebook.com/breakingbattlegroundsInstagram: www.instagram.com/breakingbattlegroundsLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/breakingbattlegrounds-Show Sponsors:Invest YrefyYrefy offers a secure, collateralized portfolio with a strong, fixed rate of return - up to a 10.25%. There is no attack on your principal if you ever need your money back. You can let your investment compound daily, or take your income whenever you choose. Make sure you tell them Sam and Chuck sent you!Learn more at investyrefy.com4Freedom MobileExperience true freedom with 4Freedom Mobile, the exclusive provider offering nationwide coverage on all three major US networks (Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile) with just one SIM card. Our service not only connects you but also shields you from data collection by network operators, social media platforms, government agencies, and moreUse code ‘Battleground’ to get your first month for $9 and save $10 a month every month after.Learn more at: 4FreedomMobile.comDot VoteWith a .VOTE website, you ensure your political campaign stands out among the competition while simplifying how you reach voters.Learn more at: dotvote.vote-About our guests:Arizona Speaker of the House Ben Toma is a candidate for Congress in congressional district 8. His family immigrated to the United States through the legal immigration process when he was just a small boy. Originally from Romania, his parents fled the dangers of communism and after overcoming difficult obstacles found freedom and the opportunity to build a new life in the United States of America.Ben is a small business owner and real estate broker who served on the Peoria City Council and was appointed to the Arizona State House of Representatives in 2017. In 2018, Ben was elected to the Arizona State House of Representatives and was quickly elevated to leadership roles by his peers. In the legislature, Ben authored and passed two landmark pieces of conservative legislation that were previously thought “impossible” by both supporters and opponents.Ben’s first remarkable accomplishment was the historic “flat tax” law which brought much needed economic relief to working families and small businesses; to date, this is the single largest tax cut in Arizona’s history.His second achievement was passing the universal Empowerment Scholarship Accounts. Named the “biggest school choice victory in U.S. history,” this legislation allows and supports parents in making the best decisions for their children’s education.In 2023, Ben Toma was elected as Speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives.-Mark Krikorian, a nationally recognized expert on immigration issues, has served as Executive Director of the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) since 1995. The Center, an independent, non-partisan research organization in Washington, D.C., examines and critiques the impact of immigration on the United States.Mr. Krikorian’s knowledge and expertise in the immigration field are sought by Congress, as well as the mainstream and new media. He frequently testifies before Congress and has published articles in numerous outlets including The Washington Post, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Commentary. He is a contributor at National Review Online, and has appeared on 60 Minutes, Nightline, NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, CNN, and NPR, among other television and radio programs. He is on Twitter at @MarkSKrikorian. Get full access to Breaking Battlegrounds at breakingbattlegrounds.substack.com/subscribe

Tune in today as Sam Stone is accompanied by guest cohost, Seth Leibsohn. They are joined by Ohio State Representative Josh Williams, a driving force behind legislation to strengthen penalties for firearm misuse in violent crimes, prioritizing community safety while safeguarding the rights of law-abiding gun owners. Later, catch up with Dan McLaughlin, a senior writer at National Review Online, and Conn Carroll, commentary editor for the Washington Examiner, as they delve into the intricacies of the Trump Trial, the guilty verdict, and its implications for the country moving forward. While the Karen Read Trial takes a break this week, Kiley's Corner returns with two intriguing new cases currently unfolding. And don't miss the Sunshine Moment, where we end the show on a positive note.Connect with us:www.breakingbattlegrounds.voteTwitter: www.twitter.com/Breaking_BattleFacebook: www.facebook.com/breakingbattlegroundsInstagram: www.instagram.com/breakingbattlegroundsLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/breakingbattlegrounds-Show Sponsors:Invest YrefyYrefy offers a secure, collateralized portfolio with a strong, fixed rate of return - up to a 10.25%. There is no attack on your principal if you ever need your money back. You can let your investment compound daily, or take your income whenever you choose. Make sure you tell them Sam and Chuck sent you! Learn more at investyrefy.com4Freedom MobileExperience true freedom with 4Freedom Mobile, the exclusive provider offering nationwide coverage on all three major US networks (Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile) with just one SIM card. Our service not only connects you but also shields you from data collection by network operators, social media platforms, government agencies, and moreUse code ‘Battleground’ to get your first month for $9 and save $10 a month every month after. Learn more at: 4FreedomMobile.comDot VoteWith a .VOTE website, you ensure your political campaign stands out among the competition while simplifying how you reach voters.Learn more at: dotvote.vote-About our guests:Ohio State Representative Josh Williams, represents Ohio's 41st district. State Representative Josh Williams is an incredible example of the power of persistence, hope, and determination. He went from a homeless high school dropout to an attorney, but there were a lot of challenges and obstacles along the way. After dropping out of high school, he went to work to support his young son. He was hurt on the job after falling 30 feet and was disabled for six years because of a serious back injury. Josh credited a change in his mindset as motivation to overcome his injury. He dedicated to stop looking at himself as a victim of his circumstances. Josh says his mindset went from "Why Me?" to "Why Not Me?"After getting his GED, Josh started college at the age of 30. By the time he was 35, he was graduating from law school. Josh is a shining example of hard work and determination paying off. Josh's journey from high school drop out to attorney at law has shaped his view of society and has inspired him to overcome any challenge he faces. After graduating from the University of Toledo College of Law with his juris doctorate (J.D.) Josh decided to give back and help shape our youth by teaching at Adrian College. He currently teaches constitutional law, criminal law, and criminal procedure in the undergraduate criminal justice programs.Enjoying a career as a successful attorney and professor, Josh still felt a pull to do more for his local community in Lucas County. With a unique perspective on the problems facing Toledo, Josh decided to run for the Ohio House of Representatives to make the voice of his community heard in the capital. As a State Representative, Josh is pursuing reform in all the areas that affect Lucas County residents most: workforce development, education and criminal justice.-Dan McLaughlin is a senior writer at National Review Online and a fellow at National Review Institute.Follow him on X @baseballcrank. -Conn Carroll is the commentary editor for the Washington Examiner. He served as a communications director in the U.S. Senate for seven years before returning to journalism. He is a graduate of the Antonin Scalia Law School and lives in northern Virginia with his wife and three children. You can follow him on X @conncarroll. Get full access to Breaking Battlegrounds at breakingbattlegrounds.substack.com/subscribe

Join us this week on Breaking Battlegrounds as we explore the intricate realms of warfare, propaganda, and global politics with our esteemed guests. In our first segment, renowned historian and Scholar of Russian war propaganda Ian Garner provides invaluable insights into the Ukraine/Russian war, his book Z Generation: Into the Heart of Russia’s Fascist Youth and Russia’s information war. In the second half of the show, we are joined by Jack Melton, author of Failure of Leadership - Lies, Betrayal, and Treason. This tell-all details untold stories of the Afghanistan withdrawal, what the Biden Administration handed over to the world’s largest terrorist networks, the benefits it has given China, and how those 15 days reshaped the entire world. Joining Jack is Russ Walker, friend of the show and a key contributor to the book. Tune in as we navigate the turbulent waters of geopolitics, covering more foreign policy in this episode than mainstream media has all week. Purchase Z Generation: Into the Heart of Russia’s Fascist Youth here. Purchase Failure of Leadership - Lies, Betrayal, and Treason here. Connect with us:www.breakingbattlegrounds.voteTwitter: www.twitter.com/Breaking_BattleFacebook: www.facebook.com/breakingbattlegroundsInstagram: www.instagram.com/breakingbattlegroundsLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/breakingbattlegrounds-Ian Garner is a historian and analyst of Russian culture and war propaganda. He is the author of Z Generation: Into the Heart of Russia’s Fascist Youth and Stalingrad Lives: Stories of Combat & Survival. Follow him on X @IRGarner. You can purchase his books on his website igarner.net or on Amazon. -Jack Melton is the author, and Russ Walker is a contributing author of Failure of Leadership. Feeling compelled to share their story and become a bearer of truth, Jack Melton found his social and political contacts were more encouraging than not. Risking everything, even his life, Jack set out to details his experience from first-hand knowledge of the events that occurred over fifteen days of horror and disbelief. You can purchase Failure of Leadership on failureofleadership.org or on Amazon.  Get full access to Breaking Battlegrounds at breakingbattlegrounds.substack.com/subscribe

Join us this week as we welcome Jeff Mordock, White House reporter for The Washington Times, to delve into the latest from the Biden administration and hot-button issues such as the presidential debates, China tariffs, and Biden adopting Trump's policies. Then, stay tuned for an insightful conversation with Bernie Moreno, a U.S. Senate candidate from Ohio, as he shares his vision for protecting the American dream. But before we wrap up, don't miss Kiley's Corner where she gives an update on week 3 of the Karen Read trial and shares the story of a pod of Orcas attacking yachts off the coast of Morocco. As always, we end on a positive note with the sunshine moment from Jenna! Don't miss out on these engaging discussions that shed light on key issues shaping our nation's future.Connect with us:www.breakingbattlegrounds.voteTwitter: www.twitter.com/Breaking_BattleFacebook: www.facebook.com/breakingbattlegroundsInstagram: www.instagram.com/breakingbattlegroundsLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/breakingbattlegrounds-About our guestsJeff Mordock is the White House reporter for The Washington Times. A native of Newtown, Pennsylvania, he previously worked for Gannett and has won awards from both the Delaware Press Association and the Maryland Delaware D.C. Press Association. He is a graduate of George Washington University and you can follow him on X @JeffMordock.-Bernie Moreno fights for the American dream because he’s lived it. Bernie was born in Bogota, Colombia. At age five, his American dream began when he moved to the United States with his family. Bernie became an American citizen at age 18.Bernie purchased his first car dealership in 2005 by investing every cent he had, and then some, and never looked back. Through his relentless work ethic and untamable entrepreneurial spirit, he turned that one dealership into one of the largest dealership groups in America.More recently, in 2016, Bernie recognized the value and transformational potential of blockchain technology, before it received mainstream attention, and moved much of his volunteer time and investment dollars into the space. In 2018 he co-founded ChampTitles, which eliminates the need for States to issue paper titles. The company has grown to be quite successful as Bernie served as Chairman of the Board.  He recently sold his entire stake in the company and is no longer Board Chair.After a long, successful career, Bernie sold most of his business to begin focusing on his calling: protecting the American dream for another generation. He saw the government calling some people essential and other hardworking Ohioans “unessential.” He saw schools shut down and China go unpunished for unleashing a virus on the world. He saw politicians afraid to take on the CCP for stealing our jobs and technology; buying our farmland; and influencing young minds via TikTok and Confucius Institutes.Solving our country’s problems requires common sense. In Washington, Bernie will fight to shrink government, protect our freedoms, stop the Chinese communist party from taking our data and land, and always put America First.Ohioans are done with politicians who talk a big game and do nothing. Bernie wants to go to D.C. to get work done – just like he always has.Bernie lives in Westlake, Ohio, with his wife, Bridget, and has four adult children. Get full access to Breaking Battlegrounds at breakingbattlegrounds.substack.com/subscribe

This week on Breaking Battlegrounds, we're joined by special guests Congressman Drew Ferguson from Georgia's 3rd District and Josh Hammer, Senior Editor-at-Large of Newsweek. Congressman Ferguson shares his experiences in Congress and his future plans after announcing he will not be running for re-election, while Josh delves into Fani Willis' failing case against Trump and the Gaza/Israel conflict. Stay tuned for Kiley's Corner as she provides an update on week 2 of the Karen Reed murder trial and we end the show with the Sunshine Moment, where we highlight the positive news from around the world. Subscribe to never miss an episode!Connect with us:www.breakingbattlegrounds.voteTwitter: www.twitter.com/Breaking_BattleFacebook: www.facebook.com/breakingbattlegroundsInstagram: www.instagram.com/breakingbattlegroundsLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/breakingbattlegrounds-About our guestsCongressman Drew Ferguson represents Georgia's 3rd District. Congressman Drew Ferguson is a proud native of West Point whose family roots in the West Georgia area are several generations deep. He attended the University of Georgia and gained early acceptance to the Medical College of Georgia. After graduating with a degree in dental medicine, he moved back to his hometown and established a successful family dental practice.In 2008, Congressman Ferguson was elected mayor of West Point and was at the forefront of attracting and keeping jobs in his community. By lowering taxes, eliminating government barriers and reforming education, he led a community in economic ruin back to life. Today, a wide range of new businesses and industries call West Point and the surrounding area home. Led by KIA Motors, automotive suppliers and related businesses, 16,000 new jobs have been created in the community. Congressman Ferguson came to Washington to apply the lessons he learned revitalizing West Point to creating policies that once again make America the most competitive place in the world to do business.Just as important as the creation of jobs, Congressman Ferguson wants to remove barriers to prosperity that prevent those in poverty from being able to move into the middle class. Congressman Ferguson believes these problems cannot simply be regulated away, but Congress should look for solutions that get government out of the way of American opportunity for innovation and growth. This is as much a moral issue as it is a practical matter.Congressman Ferguson currently serves on the Committee on Ways and Means and the House Budget Committee. On the House Ways and Means Committee, he serves as the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Social Security, and is a member of the Subcommittee on Select Revenue Measures – also referred to as the Subcommittee on Tax. He previously served as the Chief Deputy Whip for House Republicans from 2018 – 2022. You can follow him on X @RepDrewFerguson_Josh Hammer is the Senior Editor-at-Large of Newsweek, where he also hosts "The Josh Hammer Show" podcast and syndicated radio show and writes a weekly newsletter, "The Josh Hammer Report."Josh Hammer joined Newsweek in May 2020 and previously oversaw the expansion of Newsweek's opinion section, which helps fulfill Newsweek's mission statement by platforming the full diversity of political viewpoints on a daily basis.Josh is also a syndicated columnist through Creators Syndicate, host of the "America on Trial" podcast for The First, a fellow at the Edmund Burke Foundation and the Palm Beach Freedom Institute, and a popular campus speaker.Prior to Newsweek, Josh previously worked as an editor and writer at a different publication, and before that he practiced law as an attorney and clerked for a federal appellate judge. He is a graduate of Duke University and the University of Chicago Law School. In addition to Newsweek, Josh has been published by dozens of other leading outlets, both lay and academic. You can follow him on X @josh_hammer. Get full access to Breaking Battlegrounds at breakingbattlegrounds.substack.com/subscribe

Join Breaking Battlegrounds this week as we welcome Jeff Reynolds, Senior Investigative Researcher at Restoration of America, delving into the depths of political machinations revealed in his work 'Behind the Curtain.' Then, Ken LaCorte, host of the podcast 'Elephant in the Room,' delivers fearless commentary on the unsettling truth about banks and college campus protests in his segment. Finally, Abigail Anthony, a rising star in investigative journalism, brings insights to campus protests occurring specifically at Princeton. Stay tuned for Kiley’s Corner as Kiley gives an update on the Karen Read trial, and for the Sunshine Moment with Jenna! Don't miss the discussions shaping our world today.Connect with us:www.breakingbattlegrounds.voteTwitter: www.twitter.com/Breaking_BattleFacebook: www.facebook.com/breakingbattlegroundsInstagram: www.instagram.com/breakingbattlegroundsLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/breakingbattlegrounds-About our guestsJeffery Reynolds is a Senior Investigative Researcher at Restoration of America, and author of Behind the Curtain. Behind the Curtain can be found at www.whoownsthedems.net You can follow him on X @ChargerJeff.-Ken LaCorte is a friend of the show, host of the podcast Elephant in the room and writes about censorship, media malfeasance, uncomfortable questions, and honest insight for people curious how the world really works. You can follow him on X @KenLaCorte and read his work on Substack at Ken LaCorte. -Abigail Anthony is the current Collegiate Network Fellow. She graduated from Princeton University in 2023 and is a Barry Scholar studying Linguistics at Oxford University.You can find her writing in National Review, USA Today,Free Beacon, The Free Press and Compact. You can follow her on X @AbigailAndWords. Get full access to Breaking Battlegrounds at breakingbattlegrounds.substack.com/subscribe

This week on Breaking Battlegrounds, we have an exciting lineup featuring Noah Rothman, senior writer at National Review and author of "The Rise of the New Puritans" and "Unjust: Social Justice and the Unmaking of America." Rothman will delve into his recent article, "Iran’s Attack on Israel Was a Political Sea Change," exploring the implications of Iran's aggression towards Israel. Additionally, we'll discuss Rothman's insights on the pro-Palestine protests on campuses, USC's decision to cancel graduation ceremonies for the same students who did not get a high school graduation due to COVID, and whether we have reached peak wokism. Later in the show, Congressman Darrell Issa will join us to discuss Republican veterans preparing for the 80th anniversary of D-Day, showcasing their dedication with daring parachute jumps from original World War II transport planes. We'll also examine the recent shift in migrant arrivals along the southern border, with San Diego emerging as the top region for the first time in decades, providing a comprehensive analysis of this evolving situation. Tune in for thought-provoking discussions and insightful analysis on Breaking Battlegrounds every week.Connect with us:www.breakingbattlegrounds.voteTwitter: www.twitter.com/Breaking_BattleFacebook: www.facebook.com/breakingbattlegroundsInstagram: www.instagram.com/breakingbattlegroundsLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/breakingbattlegrounds-About our guestsNoah Rothman is a senior writer at National Review. He is the author of The Rise of the New Puritans: Fighting Back against Progressives’ War on Fun and Unjust: Social Justice and the Unmaking of America. Follow Noah on X at @NoahCRothman. -Congressman Darrell Issa represents the people of California's 48th Congressional District. Congressman Issa sits on the House Judiciary Committee, House Foreign Affairs Committee, and House Science, Space and Technology Committee. Originally from Ohio, Issa enlisted in the U.S. Army when he was a senior in high school. Through his military service, he received an ROTC scholarship and graduated with a degree in business from Siena Heights University in Adrian, Michigan. Upon graduation, Issa was commissioned as an Army officer, and ultimately obtained the rank of captain. He completed his active-duty military service in 1980 and turned his interests to the private sector.At the height of his career in business, Issa served as CEO of a California-based electronics company that he founded and built in the mid-1990s, which became the nation’s largest manufacturer of vehicle anti-theft and auto security devices. In 1994, Issa was named Entrepreneur of the Year. Issa also served as chairman of the Consumer Electronics Association, an organization of 2000 companies within the consumer technology industry.Issa is a senior member of the House Judiciary Committee and the House Foreign Affairs Committee.  From 2011-2015, he was the Chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and  previously served on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, the Energy & Commerce Committee, and the Small Business Committee.As a congressman and leader at California’s grassroots level, Issa has championed smart, limited government and advanced legislation to balance the federal budget and promote transparency to hold government accountable to the people.A holder of 37 patents, Issa has been vigilant about protecting intellectual property rights. His successful efforts to fight human trafficking along the U.S. border have resulted in tougher laws, stiffer penalties, and more consistent enforcement. His watchful concern to guarantee that U.S. taxpayers receive the royalties they are owed from mineral interests on federal lands exposed fraud and mismanagement at the Mineral Management Service (MMS) in 2006. In 2008, when Congress was asked to pass the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) in the wake of that year’s financial crisis, Issa stood by his experience starting and growing successful businesses, opposed giving a blank-check bailout to Wall Street, and voted against all government bailouts. Follow Congressman Issa on X at @repdarrellissa. Get full access to Breaking Battlegrounds at breakingbattlegrounds.substack.com/subscribe

Join host Sam Stone and guest host Sean Noble on this week's episode of Breaking Battlegrounds as they welcome Congressman John Curtis of Utah’s 3rd District to dissect the pressing issues gripping Washington. Delving into his staunch support for Donald Trump and addressing his voting record, the discussion offers insights into politics, from the Biden administration's aggressive rule-making on public land management to the intricacies of foreign aid and military procurement. Later, Conn Carroll of The Washington Examiner joins the fray to unravel media bias, scrutinizing NPR's new CEO and delving into Ukraine funding while exploring the potential movement to vacate the speaker's position. Stay tuned for Kiley's Corner, where she provides updates on the Bryan Kohberger Idaho 4 case, recent arrests in the murders of the missing Kansas mothers, and a mysterious Florida case involving the murder of Katherine Altagracia Guerrero De Aguasvivas, which began with a carjacking caught on tape. And, the Sunshine Moment is back, leaving you on a positive note, reminding us that amidst the chaos, there's still good in the world. Don't miss this in-depth coverage of the nation's latest developments.Connect with us:www.breakingbattlegrounds.voteTwitter: www.twitter.com/Breaking_BattleFacebook: www.facebook.com/breakingbattlegroundsInstagram: www.instagram.com/breakingbattlegroundsLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/breakingbattlegrounds-About out guestsCongressman John R. Curtis proudly represents Utah’s 3rd Congressional District where he is known for his reputation as someone who gets things done. Since being elected to Congress in 2017, John has passed 15 pieces of legislation into law, ranging in diverse topics such as better managing public lands, combatting human trafficking, reducing burdensome regulations on small businesses, and more. He has been ranked by the nonpartisan Center for Effective Lawmaking as the 9th most effective Republican member of Congress. John serves on the Energy and Commerce Committee including as Vice-Chair of the Energy, Climate and Grid Security Subcommittee and a member of the Communications & Technology Subcommittee. On the Natural Resources Committee, he serves as Vice Chair of the Federal Lands Subcommittee and member of the Energy & Mineral Resources Subcommittee. -Conn Carroll is the commentary editor for the Washington Examiner. He served as a communications director in the U.S. Senate for seven years before returning to journalism. He is a graduate of the Antonin Scalia Law School and lives in northern Virginia with his wife and three children. You can follow him on X @conncarroll. Get full access to Breaking Battlegrounds at breakingbattlegrounds.substack.com/subscribe

Join Chuck and Sam on this week's Breaking Battleground episode as they welcome Marc Goldwein, Senior Vice President and Senior Policy Director for the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, and David Harsanyi, senior editor at The Federalist. With expertise in inflation, interest rates, and the national debt, Marc dives deep into the economic challenges facing the nation. Later, David Harsanyi, joins the show, offering bold insights on the Middle East crisis, CBS letting Catherine Herridge go for digging into government corruption, and more. From discussing the looming threat against Israel to the implications of rising inflation, each guest brings a dynamic discussion, challenging perceptions and enhancing understanding of the issues that shape our world. Stay tuned for Kiley’s Corner, where she was in a positive mood today and discussed two feel-good stories: one about a rubber duck who traveled 423 miles, and another about five sorority sisters from the University of Georgia who rescued a family from their sinking car.Connect with us:www.breakingbattlegrounds.voteTwitter: www.twitter.com/Breaking_BattleFacebook: www.facebook.com/breakingbattlegroundsInstagram: www.instagram.com/breakingbattlegroundsLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/breakingbattlegrounds-About out guestsMarc Goldwein is the Senior Vice President and Senior Policy Director for the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, where he guides and conducts research on a wide array of topics related to fiscal policy and the federal budget. He is frequently quoted in a number of major media outlets and works regularly with Members of Congress and their staffs on budget-related issues. Previously, Marc served as Associate Director of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform (The Fiscal Commission) and senior budget analyst on the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction (The Super Committee).  He also conducted research for the Government Accountability Office, the World Bank, the Historian's Office at the Social Security Administration, and the Institute of Governmental Studies at UC Berkeley.  In addition to his work at the Committee, Marc serves on Martha's Tables' Business Advisory Council and teaches economics at Johns Hopkins University and the University of California DC. Marc is the recipient of the Johns Hopkins University Excellence in Teaching award and was featured in the Forbes "30 Under 30" list for Law & Policy. He holds a BA and MA from Johns Hopkins University.  Find him on Twitter at @MarcGoldwein. Learn more about Center for Responsible Budget at www.crfb.org. -David Harsanyi is a senior editor at The Federalist, a nationally syndicated columnist, a Happy Warrior columnist at National Review, and author of five books—the most recent, Eurotrash: Why America Must Reject the Failed Ideas of a Dying Continent. Get full access to Breaking Battlegrounds at breakingbattlegrounds.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome back to Breaking Battlegrounds! This week, Chuck Warren is first joined by John Ziegler, host of the Death of Journalism podcast and a renowned political commentator, who fearlessly navigates the murky waters of media integrity. From dissecting headlines to challenging popular narratives, John delves into topics ranging from the pitfalls of crappy journalism to the implications of California's minimum wage hike and Governor Newsom's policies furthering the state's downfall. Next, we're honored to welcome Diana Furchtgott-Roth, Director of the Center for Energy, Climate, and Environment at The Heritage Foundation, who offers invaluable insights into the intersection of policy and economics. Diana discusses a wide range of topics including luxury belief systems, New York's controversial $15 congestion charge, and Biden’s focus on electrification to cut emissions, despite its limited impact on reducing fossil fuel use due to our reliance on fossil fuels for electricity. And stay tuned for Kiley’s Corner as she discusses the largest cash money heist in LA history on Easter Sunday. Connect with us:www.breakingbattlegrounds.voteTwitter: www.twitter.com/Breaking_BattleFacebook: www.facebook.com/breakingbattlegroundsInstagram: www.instagram.com/breakingbattlegroundsLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/breakingbattlegrounds-About out guestsJohn Ziegler is an award winning journalist and truth crusader. He is host of "The Death Of Journalism" where he examines the loss of integrity in the news media and rips apart the popularized narratives of the biggest headline making stories. You can follow him on X @Zigmanfreud. -Diana Furchtgott-Roth is Director of the Center for Energy, Climate, and Environment and the Herbert and Joyce Morgan Fellow in Energy and Environmental Policy at The Heritage Foundation. She is an Oxford-educated economist, a frequent guest on TV and radio shows, and a columnist for Forbes.Diana worked in senior roles in the White House under Presidents Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush. She has served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology at the U.S. Department of Transportation; Acting Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy at the U.S. Department of Treasury; Chief Economist at the U.S. Department of Labor; Chief of Staff of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers; and Deputy Executive Secretary of the White House Domestic Policy Council.Diana is the author or coauthor of six books and hundreds of articles on economic policy, including Regulating to Disaster: How Green Jobs Policies are Destroying America's Economy (Encounter Books, 2012). Her most recent book is United States Income, Wealth, Consumption, and Inequality (Oxford University Press, 2021). She received degrees in Economics from Swarthmore College and Oxford University. Get full access to Breaking Battlegrounds at breakingbattlegrounds.substack.com/subscribe

Tune in to this week's episode of Breaking Battlegrounds with hosts Sam Stone and Michelle Ugenti-Rita, filling in for Chuck Warren. Our first guest is Drew Holden, a freelance commentary writer whose work has been featured in prominent publications like the Free Beacon, New York Times, National Review, Washington Post, Fox News, and The Federalist. We delve into the worst lockdown media coverage from the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, examining the media's portrayal and political responses. Following that, we're joined by Kim George, retired FBI Special Agent and Congressional candidate for Arizona's 1st district. With over two decades of experience in law enforcement, Kim discusses her time in the FBI, focusing on investigations related to crimes against children, public corruption, organized crime, and elections fraud. We also delve into her candidacy for Congress, exploring themes of transparency, election security, and her vision for our future. Connect with us:www.breakingbattlegrounds.voteTwitter: www.twitter.com/Breaking_BattleFacebook: www.facebook.com/breakingbattlegroundsInstagram: www.instagram.com/breakingbattlegroundsLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/breakingbattlegrounds-About our guestsDrew Holden is a freelance commentary writer. You may find his work in the Free Beacon, New York Times, National Review, Washington Post, Fox News and The Federalist. Follow him on X at @DrewHolden360. -Kim George is a retired FBI Special Agent with over two decades of experience in law enforcement and investigations. Kim is running for Congressional District 1 in Arizona. During her time with the FBI, Kim served in field offices in San Diego, New York, Washington, D.C., and Phoenix. Kim’s career with the FBI included extensive experience in both sensitive operations and investigatory work in areas including Crimes Against Children, Public Corruption and Elections Fraud, Organized Crime, and Counterintelligence.After retiring from a 23-year career in the FBI, Kim has worked as a Senior Insider Risk and Global Security Operations Investigator for two Fortune 500 companies, seeking to prevent the theft of intellectual property by hostile actors, and those engaged in economic espionage.Kim currently resides in Scottsdale, Arizona with her husband of 16 years, Mark George. Mark and Kim are active in their church, where Kim serves on the Troop Care Ministry. Get full access to Breaking Battlegrounds at breakingbattlegrounds.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode of Breaking Battlegrounds, Congressman Dave Joyce from Ohio's 14th congressional district provides invaluable insights into federal spending and legislative processes as a key member of the House Committee on Appropriations and Chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security. Congressman Joyce dives into dissecting the Homeland Security Bill, navigating appropriations negotiations, and addressing budget concerns. Following Congressman Joyce, Evan Power, Chairman of the Florida Republican Party, joins the discussion to examine the Florida primary results, providing a comprehensive recap of the political dynamics in the Sunshine State. Finally, Politico reporter Kimberly Leonard offers analysis on Florida's political landscape, including updates on Haiti and Governor Ron DeSantis’ response to Haiti. Stay tuned for Kiley’s Corner where she joins to provide an update on the missing Riley Strain, discuss squatter's rights, and explore the future of subscriptions amidst news of Walmart's self-checkout lanes potentially requiring subscriptions.Connect with us:www.breakingbattlegrounds.voteTwitter: www.twitter.com/Breaking_BattleFacebook: www.facebook.com/breakingbattlegroundsInstagram: www.instagram.com/breakingbattlegroundsLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/breakingbattlegrounds-About our guestsCongressman Dave Joyce has dedicated his life to family and public service. After graduating with his Juris Doctorate from the University of Dayton, Dave worked as a public defender before being elected as Geauga County Prosecutor in 1988 – a position in which he served his community for nearly 25 years. In November of 2012, Dave was elected to represent the 14th Congressional District of Ohio in the U.S. House of Representatives and is currently in his sixth term. He considers it a great honor to represent the people of Northeast Ohio and serve the communities where he was born and raised.As a former prosecutor, the safety and wellbeing of Ohio’s communities remain one of Dave’s top priorities. He co-founded the Bipartisan Task Force to End Sexual Violence in the 115th Congress and is the Vice Chair of the Addiction, Treatment and Recovery Caucus. With Ohio being one of the states hit hardest by the opioid epidemic, Dave fights to ensure that the federal funding Congress provides to combat addiction effectively supports the lifesaving work local communities carry out on the front lines of this crisis.Dave serves on the influential House Committee on Appropriations, which is responsible for scrutinizing federal spending and determining how your tax dollars are spent. In this role, he works to restore fiscal responsibility, which he believes is needed to create a stronger, more prosperous nation for the next generation. In keeping with a tradition he established while serving as Geauga County Prosecutor, Dave has returned more than $1.5 million from his personal Congressional budget to the U.S. Treasury since 2013.In 2022, Dave was elected Chairman of the Republican Governance Group, a group of Republican lawmakers from across the country comprised of pragmatic members who are committed to productive and effective governance. Members carefully consider policy stances and aim to make a difference rather than pushing partisan noise.In the first session of the 117th Congress, Dave was once again recognized as one of the most effective and bipartisan lawmakers in Washington by the Lugar Center and Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy.-Evan Power is Chairman of the Republican Party of Florida. He is a native of Chattanooga, TN where he graduated from the McCallie School. Mr. Power moved to Florida where he attended Florida State University. He received a Bachelor of Science in Finance and a Master of Science in Political Science. Evan started his career working for the now-Senator Marco Rubio in the Florida House of Representatives, serving both in the Majority Office and the Procedures and Policy Office where he left after serving as the Legislative Analyst. In 2010 Mr. Power was elected Vice Chairman of the Leon County Republican Party and in 2014, he was elected Chairman.Evan served as a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 2016 and 2020, where he was elected to the convention rules committee. In 2017, he was elected Assistant Treasurer of the Republican Party of Florida. Mr. Power served as Chair of Chairs of the Republican Party from 2019 to 2023.-Kimberly Leonard is a politics reporter and author of Florida Playbook, based in Miami. Her coverage focuses on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former President Donald Trump and the future of the conservative movement in the state. She has extensive experience covering financial disclosures, spending projections, and health care policy.Kimberly previously worked as a senior Florida politics correspondent for Insider. Before that, she spent a decade covering health care policy in D.C. and has worked for the Washington Examiner, U.S. News & World Report, the Center for Public Integrity and the Huffington Post Investigative Fund. Get full access to Breaking Battlegrounds at breakingbattlegrounds.substack.com/subscribe

Join us this week on Breaking Battlegrounds for an action-packed lineup featuring esteemed guests tackling pressing global issues. Mark Krikorian, Executive Director of the Center for Immigration Studies and contributor at National Review Online, offers insights on fixing the border. Caroline Downey, an education reporter for National Review, discusses the case of female swimmers suing the NCAA. Award-winning journalist Jacqueline Charles delves into the crisis facing Haiti amidst escalating gang-related turmoil. Finally, Sean Noble, host of Light Beer, Dark Money, joins Chuck and Sam to dissect media hypocrisies. Plus, stay tuned for Kiley's Corner, where she covers the recent disappearances of two college men and provides updates on the Gilbert Goons arrests.Connect with us:www.breakingbattlegrounds.voteTwitter: www.twitter.com/Breaking_BattleFacebook: www.facebook.com/breakingbattlegroundsInstagram: www.instagram.com/breakingbattlegroundsLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/breakingbattlegrounds-About our guestsMark Krikorian is the Executive Director of the Center for Immigration Studies. Mark Krikorian, a nationally recognized expert on immigration issues, has served as Executive Director of the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) since 1995. The Center, an independent, non-partisan research organization in Washington, D.C., examines and critiques the impact of immigration on the United States. Mr. Krikorian’s knowledge and expertise in the immigration field are sought by Congress, as well as the mainstream and new media. He frequently testifies before Congress and has published articles in numerous outlets including The Washington Post, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Commentary. He is a contributor at National Review Online, and has appeared on 60 Minutes, Nightline, NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, CNN, and NPR, among other television and radio programs. He is on Twitter at @MarkSKrikorian .-Caroline Downey is an education reporter for National Review.-Jacqueline Charles has reported on Haiti and the English-speaking Caribbean for the Miami Herald for over a decade. A Pulitzer Prize finalist for her coverage of the 2010 Haiti earthquake, she was awarded a 2018 Maria Moors Cabot Prize — the most prestigious award for coverage of the Americas.-Sean Noble is host of Light Beer, Dark Money Podcast and a founding partner of DC London, Inc., which provides political, public relations, and public affairs consulting services. Get full access to Breaking Battlegrounds at breakingbattlegrounds.substack.com/subscribe

Join us on Breaking Battlegrounds as we welcome Congressman Buddy Carter from Georgia's 1st congressional district and Congressman Warren Davidson from Ohio's 8th congressional district. In this episode, we dissect President Biden's State of the Union address, delve into the Laken Riley Act, which aims to detain an illegal immigrant who commits a crime in the US, analyze Putin's motives in the Ukraine/Russian war, and discuss the implications of the escalating tensions with China and in the Middle East. With expert insights, this episode offers a comprehensive exploration of pressing political issues shaping our future.Connect with us:www.breakingbattlegrounds.voteTwitter: www.twitter.com/Breaking_BattleFacebook: www.facebook.com/breakingbattlegroundsInstagram: www.instagram.com/breakingbattlegroundsLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/breakingbattlegrounds-About our guests Congressman Earl L. “Buddy” Carter is an experienced businessman, health care professional and faithful public servant. For over 32 years Buddy owned Carter’s Pharmacy, Inc. where South Georgians trusted him with their most valuable assets: their health, lives and families. While running his business, he learned how to balance a budget and create jobs. He also saw firsthand the devastating impacts of government overregulation which drives his commitment to ensuring that the federal government creates policies to empower business instead of increasing burdens on America’s job creators.A committed public servant, Buddy previously served as the Mayor of Pooler, Georgia and in the Georgia General Assembly where he used his business experience to make government more efficient and responsive to the people. Buddy is serving his fifth term in the United States House of Representatives and is a member of the House Energy and Commerce (E&C) Committee and the House Budget Committee. He proudly serves as Chairman of the E&C Subcommittee on Environment, Manufacturing, and Critical Materials, where he prioritizes beating China, reducing emissions, unleashing American energy, and creating a pro-growth business environment. As a pharmacist serving in Congress, Buddy is dedicated to working towards a health care system that provides more choices, less costs and better services.A lifelong resident of the First District, Buddy was born and raised in Port Wentworth, Georgia and is a proud graduate of Young Harris College and the University of Georgia where he earned his Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy. Buddy married his college sweetheart, Amy. Buddy and Amy have three sons, three daughters-in-law and six grandchildren.-Congressman Warren Davidson represents Ohio’s 8th Congressional District. He is a member of the House Financial Services Committee, where he is focused on policies that help grow our economy, instill fiscal discipline, advance innovation, and limit runaway government expansion that threatens to bankrupt America.After high school, Congressman Davidson enlisted in the Army as an infantryman. As part of the 3rd Infantry Division, he was stationed in Germany and witnessed the fall of the Berlin Wall. Warren’s commanding officers recognized his potential and helped him earn an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point. He graduated near the top of his class as a student of American history and mechanical engineering. As an officer, he led in The Old Guard, the 75th Ranger Regiment, and the 101st Airborne Division.After the Army, Congressman Davidson returned home, worked with his father, earned an MBA from the University of Notre Dame, and spent fifteen years owning and operating manufacturing companies in Ohio. In 2016, he again responded to the call of service, and came to work in the U.S. House of Representatives.Warren and his wife Lisa have been married for 25 years and have two adult children. Get full access to Breaking Battlegrounds at breakingbattlegrounds.substack.com/subscribe

Tune in to Breaking Battlegrounds for a power-packed lineup! Congressman Rich McCormick discusses peace through strength and its implications for national security, covering our southern border, the Middle East, and concerns from China and Russia. Following that, Joe Setyon from the Goldwater Institute sheds light on Phoenix officials' unconventional trip to Portland to “learn” how to address the homelessness crisis. Then, Arizona State Senator Anthony Kern highlights the significance of the Ten Commandments bill, addressing objections from the left. Wrapping up the show, Dan McLaughlin from National Review delves into presidential primaries, third-party candidates, and recent political developments. Don't miss these insightful discussions on Breaking Battlegrounds!Connect with us:www.breakingbattlegrounds.voteTwitter: www.twitter.com/Breaking_BattleFacebook: www.facebook.com/breakingbattlegroundsInstagram: www.instagram.com/breakingbattlegroundsLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/breakingbattlegrounds-About our guestsDr. Rich McCormick is a decorated veteran and Emergency Room physician who proudly serves Georgia’s 6th Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives.Raised by a single mother, Rich was a paperboy in middle school and eventually worked his way through college, earning a degree from Oregon State University. A firm believer in service before self, McCormick joined the Marine Corps and became a helicopter pilot.During his two decades of service, Rich deployed to combat zones in Africa, the Persian Gulf, and Afghanistan. As a Marine, he flew helicopters, was Airborne and attached to Army and foreign forces, and taught at Georgia Tech and Morehouse College as the Marine Officer Instructor. In the Navy, Rich earned the rank of Commander and served as Department Head for the Emergency Medicine Department in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Between deployments, Rich earned his Master of Business Administration from National University and medical degree from Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, where he was honored to serve as student body president. He completed residency in Emergency Medicine through Emory while training at Grady Hospital in Atlanta. Most recently, Dr. McCormick served as an Emergency Room physician at Northside Hospital.In Congress, Rich serves on the House Armed Services, Foreign Affairs, and Science, Space, and Technology Committees, as well as the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic. Rich lives in Suwanee, Georgia with his wife Debra, who is an oncologist, keeping busy as parents to seven amazing children. The McCormicks are members of Cross Pointe Church.-Joe Setyon is Senior Communications Manager at the Goldwater Institute. -Senator Anthony Kern was first elected to the State House of Representatives in November of 2014. Anthony is active within the Republican Party as a conservative precinct committeeman and state committeeman and he has worked on local, state, and national Republican campaigns for several years. When Anthony came of voting age, his very first vote was cast for President Ronald Reagan. Years later he made the trip to attend President Reagan's funeral in Washington D.C. in 2004. Anthony is passionate about job creation, limiting the size of government at all levels, government transparency, protecting Second Amendment rights, and tax reduction. He is pro-family, works diligently to promote individual liberty and freedom, and firmly believes in the United States Constitution. He enjoys meeting with people and looks for ways to serve and help them.-Dan McLaughlin is a senior writer at National Review Online and a fellow at National Review Institute. Get full access to Breaking Battlegrounds at breakingbattlegrounds.substack.com/subscribe

Tune in to Breaking Battlegrounds this week for an eye-opening discussion with Sheriff (Ret) Currie Myers, PhD, MBA, a seasoned law enforcement officer and criminologist. Dr. Myers sheds light on the surge in crime amid anti-police rhetoric, delving into the hypocrisy of politicians who advocate for defunding the police while prioritizing their own safety through private security. Later, hear from Stacy Skankey, Staff Attorney at the Goldwater Institute, as she unravels the mystery behind the Biden Administration's staggering $40 million fine against Grand Canyon University. Discover the implications of this fine and the government's refusal to provide transparent explanations, as Stacy shares insights from the Goldwater Institute's lawsuit against the Department of Education.Connect with us:www.breakingbattlegrounds.voteTwitter: www.twitter.com/Breaking_BattleFacebook: www.facebook.com/breakingbattlegroundsInstagram: www.instagram.com/breakingbattlegroundsLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/breakingbattlegrounds-About our guestsSheriff (Ret) Currie Myers, PhD, MBA has a combined 35 years of professional experience as a law enforcement officer at the local, state, and federal level, and as a criminologist, professor, and executive. Dr. Myers ended his law enforcement career as the sheriff of Johnson County, Kansas which serves a population of more than 600,000 citizens in the Kansas City Metropolitan area and is one of the largest sheriff’s offices in the Midwest. Prior to being sheriff, Dr. Myers was a Kansas State Trooper and a KBI special agent. He is a nationally recognized expert in criminal justice public policy as well as organizational management and leadership and has spoken at more than 1,000 local, state, and national conferences.Dr. Myers possesses a PhD and an MS in Criminal Justice as well as an MBA and is the president of Sheriff Myers & Associates, a consultancy firm that focuses on business practices, organizational culture, security, and public policy.  In 2019, he started Green Canopy Consulting which is dedicated to security and compliance of businesses. Dr. Myers is on faculty in the Criminology Department as the Professional-in-Residence at Benedictine College, located in Atchison, KS. His work can be viewed on Substack at Dr Currie Myers.- Stacy Skankey is a Staff Attorney at the Goldwater Institute. Get full access to Breaking Battlegrounds at breakingbattlegrounds.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode of Breaking Battlegrounds, we're joined by Congressman William Timmons, a committed advocate for reform in Washington. With his background as a prosecutor, small business owner, and state senator, Congressman Timmons delves into his journey representing South Carolina and his service in the South Carolina Air National Guard. Additionally, we're joined by Alexander Raikin, a freelance journalist with a focus on medical ethics. Together, we explore the complexities of medical assisted deaths and euthanasia policies, probing the ethical implications and societal impacts. Stay tuned for Kiley’s Corner where she discusses the possibility of shark-rays. Don't miss this enlightening discussion on Breaking Battlegrounds!Connect with us:www.breakingbattlegrounds.voteTwitter: www.twitter.com/Breaking_BattleFacebook: www.facebook.com/breakingbattlegroundsInstagram: www.instagram.com/breakingbattlegroundsLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/breakingbattlegrounds-About our guestsCongressman William Timmons entered Congress in 2019 with a commitment to bring real reform to Washington. His experience as a prosecutor and small business owner inspired him to run for public office. As a state senator, he fought for accountability and transparency in Columbia. In Congress, William is a voice for Upstate residents as a member of the Financial Services Committee and the House Oversight and Accountability Committee. William is a lifelong member of Christ Church in Greenville and also serves as a JAG Officer and Captain in the South Carolina Air National Guard.-Alexander Raikin is a freelance journalist and a writer interested in medical ethics and bad statistics. His writings have been published in City Journal and The New Atlantis. Alexander is also a research fellow with Do No Harm. He can be found on X at @AlexanderRaikin  Get full access to Breaking Battlegrounds at breakingbattlegrounds.substack.com/subscribe

Join us this week on Breaking Battlegrounds as we delve into the latest political developments with House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, a seasoned leader in Congress. He shares insights on the recent report by Special Counsel Robert Hur regarding President Biden's miss handling of classified documents and the implications for the Democratic Party. From the intricacies of being a Whip to pressing issues like budget and border security, we uncover the critical aspects of governance. Additionally, Jewish Insider Capitol Hill reporter Marc Rod provides an in-depth analysis of congressional proceedings, focusing on the Middle East. Tune in for a comprehensive update on the nation's political landscape and the decisions shaping our future.Connect with us:www.breakingbattlegrounds.voteTwitter: www.twitter.com/Breaking_BattleFacebook: www.facebook.com/breakingbattlegroundsInstagram: www.instagram.com/breakingbattlegroundsLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/breakingbattlegrounds-About our guestsHouse Majority Whip Tom Emmer, was sworn in for his first term in the U.S. House of Representatives on January 6, 2015. He is currently serving his fifth term. After serving as the Chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee for the 116th Congress and again for the 117th Congress, Tom was elected by his fellow Republican colleagues to be the House Majority Whip. Currently, he sits on the House Financial Services Committee. Born in 1961, Tom grew up in Minnesota and attended St. Thomas Academy. He received his BA in Political Science from the University of Alaska-Fairbanks and his JD from William Mitchell College of Law.After practicing law for several years, he opened his own law firm. The next 20 years were spent balancing family, business, coaching hockey, and serving on the city councils in Independence and Delano.Before coming to Congress, he served in the Minnesota House of Representatives from 2004-2008.He and his wife Jacquie have been married for over 30 years and have seven children. They reside in Delano.-Marc Rod is Capitol Hill reporter at Jewish Insider. He has previously reported on politics for CNN and politics and business for CNBC. He graduated from Pomona College with a major in international relations and minors in politics and media studies. Get full access to Breaking Battlegrounds at breakingbattlegrounds.substack.com/subscribe

This week on Breaking Battlegrounds, we dive into the world of media and politics with a lineup of incredible guests. First up, we have Ken LaCorte, the host of "Elephants in the Room," as we explore the intriguing question of why majority of reporters are liberal. Our second guest is Andrew Langer, President of the Institute for Liberty and host of multiple podcasts, including "The Lunch Hour Podcast" and "Swamp Secrets." Andrew delves into the alarming regulatory overreach of the Biden administration and its implications for American businesses and individuals. Finally, Seth Cropsey, President of Yorktown Institute, joins us to shed light on the pressing need for a stronger U.S. Navy and the challenges posed by China's rapid naval expansion in East Asia. Tune in for a captivating discussion that delves into the heart of today's pressing issues.Connect with us:www.breakingbattlegrounds.voteTwitter: www.twitter.com/Breaking_BattleFacebook: www.facebook.com/breakingbattlegroundsInstagram: www.instagram.com/breakingbattlegroundsLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/breakingbattlegrounds-About our guestKen LaCorte is host of Elephants in Rooms. He writes about censorship, media malfeasance, uncomfortable questions, and honest insight for people curious how the world really works.Andrew Langer is a long-time activist for free-market and limited-government principles, and a well-recognized analyst of politics and public policy. He currently serves as the President of the Institute for Liberty, and hosts several podcasts: The Lunch Hour Podcast; Swamp Secrets; and Andrew & Jerry Save The World. A long time fighter for small business, Andrew came to IFL from NFIB, where he headed that organization’s regulatory practice for six years. Andrew Langer is also a senior fellow at the American Conservative Union.Seth Cropsey began his career as assistant to the Secretary of Defense and was later commissioned as a naval officer. He served as deputy Undersecretary of the Navy in the Reagan administration and acting assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict in the George H. W. Bush administration. Confirmed by the U.S. Senate, he became director of the U.S. International Broadcasting Bureau in the George W. Bush administration. Following 15 years as a senior fellow at Hudson Institute, Mr. Cropsey founded Yorktown Institute in 2022 and is the Institute’s president. Get full access to Breaking Battlegrounds at breakingbattlegrounds.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome to a bonus episode of Breaking Battlegrounds with your host, Chuck Warren, joined by Congressman Dusty Johnson of South Dakota. They discuss a wide range of topics, from the challenges of reaching bipartisan agreements in a polarized political climate to the urgent need for fiscal responsibility and addressing issues like the border crisis and Chinese investment in the United States. They also touch on the impact of inflation on everyday Americans and the importance of finding common-sense solutions for the country's problems. Join them for a thoughtful and informative conversation about the pressing issues facing the nation.Connect with us:www.breakingbattlegrounds.voteTwitter: www.twitter.com/Breaking_BattleFacebook: www.facebook.com/breakingbattlegroundsInstagram: www.instagram.com/breakingbattlegroundsLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/breakingbattlegrounds-About our guestIn Congress, Dusty Johnson brings an energetic and optimistic leadership style to Washington as South Dakota’s lone voice in the U.S. House of Representatives. As a “policy guy,” he works hard to be a knowledgeable and value-added member on issues related to his committee assignments: Agriculture, Transportation & Infrastructure, and the Select Committee on China. Get full access to Breaking Battlegrounds at breakingbattlegrounds.substack.com/subscribe

Join Chuck and Sam as they welcome our first guest, Senator Rand Paul, who dissects Anthony Fauci's handling of COVID. Next, we welcome Congressman Andy Harris, a friend of the show, who sheds light on the Johns Hopkins diversity fiasco, calling for the firing of the Chief Diversity Officer who labeled certain groups as "privileged." Our final guest, we have Rich Lowry, the editor in chief of National Review, discussing journalism ethics, biased reporting, presidential election and more. Wrapping up, Kiley’s Corner delivers updates on the mysterious deaths of three individuals discovered in a Kansas City Chiefs fan's backyard and the Karen Reed case, concluding with the exploration of the significance of the number 34 for Jack, John, and Jim Harbaugh. Connect with us:www.breakingbattlegrounds.voteTwitter: www.twitter.com/Breaking_BattleFacebook: www.facebook.com/breakingbattlegroundsInstagram: www.instagram.com/breakingbattlegroundsLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/breakingbattlegrounds-About our guestsSenator Rand Paul of Kentucky was elected to the United States Senate in 2010 and is an outspoken champion for constitutional liberties and fiscal responsibility. He is a graduate of Duke Medical School and founded the Southern Kentucky Lions Eye Clinic, an organization that provides eye exams and surgery to needy families and individuals. He is also the former president and 17-year member of Lions Clubs International, which is dedicated to preserving sight by providing eyeglasses and surgery to the less fortunate around the world.-Congressman Andy Harris, represents Maryland's 1st congressional district. He is the son of immigrants who fled communist Eastern Europe immediately after World War II, a medical officer in the Naval Reserve and a physician at the Johns Hopkins Hospital.-Rich Lowry is the editor in chief of National Review. He writes for Politico, and often appears on such public-affairs programs as Meet the Press. He is a regular panelist on the KCRW program Left, Right & Center. He is the author of Lincoln Unbound, The Case for Nationalism: How It Made Us Powerful, United, and Free, and Legacy: Paying the Price for the Clinton Years — a New York Times bestseller. Lowry began his career as a research assistant for Charles Krauthammer. In 1997 he was selected by William F. Buckley to lead National Review. Get full access to Breaking Battlegrounds at breakingbattlegrounds.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome back to another episode of Breaking Battlegrounds! This week, Chuck and Sam first extend a warm welcome to Congressman Tim Burchett, diving straight into a discussion about national security and foreign affairs. We are then joined by Shay Khatiri, a Senior Fellow at Yorktown Institute and Iranian political asylee, for an insightful discussion on the strategic complexities of the Houthis’ blockade of the Red Sea. To cap off our episode, we have the pleasure of hearing from Jeff Stein, a veteran Iowa broadcaster, who brings his in-depth analysis of the Iowa election results and the intricacies of the presidential primary. Subscribe to receive Breaking Battlegrounds in your inbox every week! Connect with us:www.breakingbattlegrounds.voteTwitter: www.twitter.com/Breaking_BattleFacebook: www.facebook.com/breakingbattlegroundsInstagram: www.instagram.com/breakingbattlegroundsLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/breakingbattlegrounds-About our guestsU.S. Representative Tim Burchett is an East Tennessee native who grew up in Knoxville. He lives in the Gibbs Community of Knox County with his wife, Kelly, and their daughter, Isabel. Rep. Burchett took office in January 2019, after serving eight years as mayor of Knox County. Thanks to natural growth and good stewardship of taxpayer dollars, his administration was able to build new schools, launch infrastructure projects, and pay down debt—all without raising taxes. Prior to his tenure as Knox County Mayor, he started a successful small business before serving 16 years in the state legislature, four years in the State House followed by 12 years in the State Senate. Rep. Burchett currently serves on the House Committees on Oversight and Accountability; Foreign Affairs; and Transportation and Infrastructure. During the 117th Congress, Rep. Burchett sponsored 23 bills and cosponsored 201 pieces of legislation in the House of Representatives, three of which were signed into law by President Biden.Shay Khatiri is the VP of development and a senior fellow at Yorktown Institute. An immigrant from Iran, he is an alumnus of Arizona State University and the Strategic Studies Department at Johns Hopkins University, School of Advanced International Studies. He publishes the Substack newsletter, The Russia–Iran File.Jeff Stein is a lifelong Iowan with 40+ years of experience in Iowa broadcasting. It’s the only interview program in Eastern Iowa…that’s actually in Eastern Iowa! From Iowa’s elected officials to national newsmakers…it’s all here for you weekday mornings. Get full access to Breaking Battlegrounds at breakingbattlegrounds.substack.com/subscribe

Join Chuck Warren and Sam Stone on this episode of Breaking Battlegrounds as they dive deep into the dynamics of the upcoming political battles with David Catanese, host of the "Too Close to Call" podcast. With David's expert analysis and unique perspectives, the episode provides an in-depth analysis of how the Iowa caucus could significantly influence the trajectories of major political contenders. Don't miss this deep dive into the key aspects and potential outcomes of the Iowa caucus. And be sure to stay tuned for Kiley’s Corner as we explore two chilling cases: the discovery of three bodies on Tuesday night in a Kansas City backyard and the shocking unearthing of over 215 bodies found buried behind a jail in Jackson, Mississippi.Connect with us:www.breakingbattlegrounds.voteTwitter: www.twitter.com/Breaking_BattleFacebook: www.facebook.com/breakingbattlegroundsInstagram: www.instagram.com/breakingbattlegroundsLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/breakingbattlegrounds-About our guestDavid Catanese is the host of Too Close Too Call podcast. He is a Washington-based political writer ready to feed your political appetite but also challenge you on some of life's larger quandaries. He has written for McClatchy, The Atlantic, U.S. News & World Report & Politico. Get full access to Breaking Battlegrounds at breakingbattlegrounds.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome back to another episode of Breaking Battlegrounds with Chuck Warren and Sam Stone, where this week we're joined by two tenacious truth-seekers. First up, Steve Milloy, the founder and publisher of JunkScience.com, brings his wealth of experience from over three decades of challenging environmental science. As an author, environmental and public health consultant, and influential member of various think tanks, Steve will share his insights into navigating and discrediting misleading environmental scientific claims. In the latter half of the show, Aaron Sibarium, a staff writer at the Washington Free Beacon and a Yale University graduate, takes us through his extensive reporting on Harvard President Claudine Gay.Connect with us:www.breakingbattlegrounds.voteTwitter: www.twitter.com/Breaking_BattleFacebook: www.facebook.com/breakingbattlegroundsInstagram: www.instagram.com/breakingbattlegroundsLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/breakingbattlegrounds-About our guestsSteve Milloy is the founder and publisher of JunkScience.com, and an environmental and public health consultant. Steve is a recognized leader in the fight against junk science with more than 33 years of experience, and is credited with popularizing the term “junk science.” Steve is a biostatistician and securities lawyer who has also been a registered securities principal, investment fund manager, non-profit executive, coal company executive, and a print/web columnist on science and business issues. Mr. Milloy served on the EPA transition team for the Trump administration and serves on the board of several not-for-profit organizations including the Heartland Institute and the American Energy Institute.Aaron Sibarium is a staff writer at the Washington Free Beacon. He graduated from Yale University, where he was the opinion editor of the Yale Daily News. Before joining the Free Beacon, he was an editor at The American Interest. His twitter handle is @aaronsibarium. Get full access to Breaking Battlegrounds at breakingbattlegrounds.substack.com/subscribe

As we wave goodbye to the old year and ring in the new year, Breaking Battlegrounds brings you a special New Year's episode that's all about setting the stage for success and positive change. Our first guest, Dean Lindsay, author and CEO of Progress Agents, dives into the art of achieving "Big Phat Goals" and shares his insights on transforming aspirations into action. Next, we pivot to the world of career transformation with Ashley Stahl, a counterterrorism professional turned career coach, whose expertise lies in navigating career crossroads with clarity and confidence. This week, join Chuck Warren and Sam Stone for a conversation that promises to ignite your motivation and help you chart a course toward your dreams in the coming year.Connect with us:www.breakingbattlegrounds.voteTwitter: www.twitter.com/Breaking_BattleFacebook: www.facebook.com/breakingbattlegroundsInstagram: www.instagram.com/breakingbattlegroundsLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/breakingbattlegrounds-About our guestsAward-winning business author, Dean Lindsay – CEO of The Progress Agents LLC – is a successful business culture strategist, a skilled workshop facilitator and a powerful business keynote speaker with a humorous and engaging approach (watch latest demo below).  Dean is ranked as one of World's Top 30 Sales Speakers by Global Gurus and hailed as ‘America’s Progress Agent’ by The Strategic HR Forum.  Each of Dean’s keynote presentations and fully customized sales, customer service and leadership coaching programs – in person & virtual – are designed to help reach each client’s desired outcomes.  Here are some of his most requested topics:* Achieving BIG PHAT (Sales &Team) GOALS : Goal Commitment is Key for Accountability, Resilience and True Mental Health* LEADING PROGRESS in a World of Change (featuring insights from Dean's award-winning book PROGRESS LEADESHIP: Say No to Change Management)* OPTIMISM IS AN ASSET! : Master the #1 Most Underdeveloped Skill needed for Happiness, Innovation & Resilience by Harnessing the power of Optimizing our Optimism* ROCKING the CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE to Strengthen Loyalty & Cultivate Referrals – in person, on the phone & on line-Ashley Stahl is a counterterrorism professional turned career coach, spokesperson, and author of the bestselling book, You Turn: Get Unstuck, Discover Your Direction, Design Your Dream Career.Through her two viral TEDx speeches, her online courses, her email list, and her show, the You Turn Podcast, she’s been able to support clients in 31 countries in discovering their best career path, upgrading their confidence, and landing more job offers. She maintains a monthly career column in Forbes, and her work has been also featured in outlets such as The Wall Street Journal, CBS, SELF, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, and more. Get full access to Breaking Battlegrounds at breakingbattlegrounds.substack.com/subscribe

Join us for a heartwarming holiday episode of Breaking Battlegrounds with Chuck Warren and Sam Stone where the spirit of the season shines through stories of resilience, joy, and transformation. Our first guests are the hosts of the beloved "Deck the Hallmark" podcast – Brandon Gray and Daniel Thompson are known for their diverse takes on Hallmark films. Listen as Brandon shares his passion for Hallmark's Christmas cheer, while "Grumpy Dan" gives us the scoop on why he's the outlier of the group. They'll reveal behind-the-scenes facts about Hallmark movies, discuss their favorite holiday films, and answer why they think Hallmark movies are loved by so many.In the second half of the show, we're joined by the inspiring Celeste Edmunds, Executive Director of The Christmas Box International, along with renowned author Richard Paul Evans. Celeste's story of overcoming a harrowing childhood as detailed in her bestselling book, "Garbage Bag Girl," co-written with Richard Paul Evans, offers a message of hope and courage. They will discuss the transformative work being done at The Christmas Box International, and how Celeste's experiences fuel her dedication to improving the lives of children in the foster care system. This episode is a blend of light-hearted holiday banter and profound stories of resilience, celebrating the season's ability to inspire hope and transformation.-Connect with us:www.breakingbattlegrounds.voteTwitter: www.twitter.com/Breaking_BattleFacebook: www.facebook.com/breakingbattlegroundsInstagram: www.instagram.com/breakingbattlegroundsLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/breakingbattlegrounds-About our guestsBrandon Gray is the heart of the Hallmark Christmas movie fandom within the group. His love for the channel's festive rom-coms sparked the idea for the podcast as a way to bond with friends over the ever-growing lineup of holiday films. Daniel Thompson, affectionately known as "Grumpy Dan" by fans, brings a critical eye to the Hallmark movie empire. A self-proclaimed anti-establishment figure in the world of Hallmark critiques, Dan's unique perspective adds spice to the podcast. Stepping down from his principal role at Shannon Forest after the 2018-19 school year, he now dedicates his time fully to the podcast.Together, the "Deck the Hallmark" hosts, who began their journey as educators at Shannon Forest Christian School, have carved out a niche in the podcasting world. They've watched every Hallmark movie, providing them a wealth of content to discuss, and eagerly share their holiday film insights at www.deckthehallmark.com and across podcast platforms. -The Christmas Box International Executive Director Celeste L. Edmunds understands what the children she serves at The Christmas Box House emergency shelters are going through. She went through it herself. Her biological parents were addicts, and her childhood was an ongoing cycle of police calls, fighting, and physical, sexual, and mental abuse. At age 7, Celeste was taken from her home and placed into a child welfare system, where moving every few months to a new environment became normal. By age sixteen, she had lived in more than 30 cities ultimately finding home in an unlikely place. Her book “Garbage Bag Girl” is her incredible story of hope and love.Richard Paul Evans, an award-winning author, has sold nearly 39 million copies of his books worldwide, written 46 consecutive New York Times bestsellers and has had seven of his books produced as television movies (CBS, TNT and Hallmark.) Last November, Evans’ first feature film, The Noel Diary starring Justin Hartley (This is Us) and directed by Charles Shyer (Father of the Bride, Private Benjamin) was the #1 Netflix movie in the world the week after Thanksgiving and spent five weeks among the top Netflix movies in the world.Evans hopes Garbage Bag Girl will save children’s lives and help the half million children in the foster care system today. Get full access to Breaking Battlegrounds at breakingbattlegrounds.substack.com/subscribe

In this week's episode of Breaking Battlegrounds, we kick off with an insightful segment featuring Aaron Steed, the CEO of Meathead Movers. Despite the numerous accolades, including being recognized by the Obama Administration, Meathead Movers recently faced a federal lawsuit alleging age discrimination. It's important to note that no individual filed a complaint against Meathead Movers; this action came directly from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. We delve into the details of the lawsuit, exploring the implications and challenges ahead. Following this, Ashley Hayek, Executive Director of America First Works, engages in two segments, shedding light on her new book, "Beat the Elites," the fentanyl crisis, and her early entrepreneurial endeavors of selling Mistletoe’s during the holidays. Lastly, we are joined by Patrick Byrne, founder of Overstock.com, discusses whistleblower complaints aimed at Jack Smith. Kiley is back this week for Kiley's Corner, where she takes us on a delightful exploration of the history of ugly Christmas sweaters. Don't miss these thought-provoking conversations shaping our current landscape!-Connect with us:www.breakingbattlegrounds.voteTwitter: www.twitter.com/Breaking_BattleFacebook: www.facebook.com/breakingbattlegroundsInstagram: www.instagram.com/breakingbattlegroundsLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/breakingbattlegrounds-About our guestsAaron Steed started Meathead Movers in 1997 as a way to make money while going to school and to support himself while being a competitive wrestler. Always wanting to be the best on and off the mat, he strived to create the best moving company by utilizing clean-cut, drug-free, student athlete movers who are professionally-trained. Meathead has grown to become the largest independent moving company in California with over 700+ employees and 120+ trucks. Currently, Meathead has six operation centers in Central and Southern CA and three storage facilities with plans to expand in the future.Aaron has led his team to land on the Inc. 5000 “Fastest growing companies in the US” list for eight years in a row, making them the top 2% of fastest growing companies in the country. Aaron has also been recognized as Small Business Administration’s “Young Entrepreneur of the Year,” and the White House’s “Top 100 Entrepreneurs” under the age of 35 who are making a difference. His passion for serving the community is reflected in his company, as well as in his work on the board of NCADV, and for the French Hospital. He is also the Founder of the MoveToEndDV, which has inspired hundreds of businesses all over the world to give back to domestic violence programs.-Ashley Hayek is Executive Director of America First Works, Chief Engagement Officer America First Policy Institute and Author of her new book Beat the Elites. Ashley is originally from the small agricultural town of Clovis, California, and serves as AFPI’s Chief Engagement Officer. Hayek is a political strategist with over 15 years of experience in political, non-profit, and organization consulting, most recently serving on the Trump-Pence 2020 presidential campaign as the National Coalitions Director. At the age of 22, she started her first company in the loft of her townhouse in San Diego and within five years became the premier political and non-profit fundraising firm in Southern California. Hayek attended the University of California, San Diego, where she received a degree in Political Science, and is the proud wife of a United States Marine and mom of five. Despite her relentless commitment to work, she is devoted to her family, juggling it all in her best stilettos.-Patrick Byrne received a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and Asian studies from Dartmouth College, a master’s in philosophy (ethics) from Cambridge University as a Marshall Scholar, and a doctorate in philosophy (focusing on political theory, jurisprudence, and economics) from Stanford University. He has taught at the university level and frequently guest-lectures on business, the Internet, leadership and ethics.Patrick served as chairman, president and CEO of Centricut, LLC, a manufacturer of industrial torch consumables, then held the same three positions at Fechheimer Brothers, Inc., a Berkshire Hathaway company that manufactures police, firefighter and military uniforms. Patrick Michael Byrne is the former CEO of Overstock.com, Inc., a Utah-based internet retailer that has been publicly traded since 2002.In 2001, Patrick began Worldstock.com, Overstock.com’s socially responsible store for products handcrafted by artisans from developing nations and rural areas of the USA.  To date, more than $30 million has been returned to Worldstock’s artisan suppliers.A classical liberal, Patrick believes that our nation’s future depends primarily on a sound educational system and a healthy capital market. Towards those ends, Patrick serves with Rose Friedman as co-chair of the Milton & Rose Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice, supporting legislative reform to bring educational choice to parents.  Patrick has also founded 19 schools internationally that currently educate more than 6,000 combined students.In 2005, Patrick began a vigorous campaign against corruption in our capital markets through securities manipulation. His stance quickly caught the attention of Wall Street analysts and reporters and remains a point of high controversy today. The Deep Capture website grew out of this campaign. Get full access to Breaking Battlegrounds at breakingbattlegrounds.substack.com/subscribe

Join us this week on Breaking Battlegrounds as we welcome two distinguished guests. Bill Gertz, the esteemed national security correspondent for The Washington Times, sheds light on critical global challenges. From illegal claims in the South China Sea to China's cognitive warfare tactics, Gertz unveils crucial insights. Then, legendary journalist John Stossel takes the stage. With a career spanning 50 years, Stossel challenges prevailing myths about food insecurity, scrutinizes emergency spending, and dissects misconceptions about capitalism. Learn more at Stossel TV. Tune in for a captivating exploration of pressing global issues with our insightful guests.-Connect with us:www.breakingbattlegrounds.voteTwitter: www.twitter.com/Breaking_BattleFacebook: www.facebook.com/breakingbattlegroundsInstagram: www.instagram.com/breakingbattlegroundsLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/breakingbattlegrounds-About our guestsBill Gertz is a national security correspondent for The Washington Times. He has been with The Times since 1985.He is the author of eight books, four of them national best-sellers. His latest book, "Deceiving the Sky: Inside Communist China's Drive for Global Supremacy," reveals details about the growing threat posed by the People's Republic of China. He is also the author of the ebook "How China's Communist Party Made the World Sick."Mr. Gertz also writes Inside the Ring, a weekly column that chronicles the U.S. national security bureaucracy.Mr. Gertz has been a guest lecturer at the FBI National Academy in Quantico, Va.; the Central Intelligence Agency in Virginia; the National Defense University at Fort McNair in Washington; and the Brookings Institution in Washington. He has participated in the National Security Studies Program at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies and Syracuse University Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs.-With 50 years as a reporter, John Stossel, a pioneer in TV consumer reporting, left mainstream media to spread liberty and free market ideas to the younger generation. After exposing con men and thieves, winning 19 Emmys, and challenging government overreach, Stossel's shift in focus led to his skepticism of big government's role, emphasizing the power of free markets. Departing ABC News due to differences in airing segments on free markets, Stossel launched Stossel TV, producing weekly videos reaching over two million views each. Alongside this, he founded a non-profit, Stossel in the Classroom, engaging 10 million students annually in discussions on liberty and free markets, aiming to educate through videos, teacher guides, quizzes, contests, and more. Support for these initiatives is welcome through tax-deductible donations to the Center For Independent Thought. Get full access to Breaking Battlegrounds at breakingbattlegrounds.substack.com/subscribe

This week on Breaking Battlegrounds, we're excited to welcome Henry Olsen, Washington Post columnist, senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center and host of Beyond the Polls. Alongside Olsen, we're welcoming Noah Smith, a journalist with a unique focus on the business, political, and cultural implications of video games, bringing a fresh perspective on the intersections of gaming, culture, and society. Plus, don't miss Kiley's Corner, where Kiley dives into the gripping case of Oklahoma City Attorney and Her Client-Turned-Lover Charged with Triple Murder. -Connect with us:www.breakingbattlegrounds.voteTwitter: www.twitter.com/Breaking_BattleFacebook: www.facebook.com/breakingbattlegroundsInstagram: www.instagram.com/breakingbattlegroundsLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/breakingbattlegrounds-About our guestsHenry Olsen Henry Olsen is a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. He was the Thomas W. Smith distinguished scholar in residence at Arizona State University for the winter/spring 2023 semester. Olsen began his career as a political consultant at the California firm of Hoffenblum-Mollrich. After three years working for the California Assembly Republican Caucus, he returned to school to become a lawyer. Following law school he clerked for the Honorable Danny J. Boggs on the United States Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals and as an associate in the Philadelphia office of Dechert, Price & Rhoads. He then joined the think tank world where he spent the next eighteen years as an executive at a variety of institutions, serving as the President of the Commonwealth Foundation, a Vice President at the Manhattan Institute, and as Vice President and Director, National Research Initiative, at the American Enterprise Institute. He left AEI in 2013 to pursue a career in political analysis and writing at EPPC. During that time his work has appeared in variety of leading publications in America and the United Kingdom. He is the author or co-author of two books, “The Working Class Republican: Ronald Reagan and the Return of Blue-Collar Conservatism” and (with Dante J. Scala) “The Four Faces of the Republican Party”. His biennial election predictions have been widely praised for the uncanny accuracy, and he is a frequent guest on television and radio programs. Olsen regularly speaks about American political trends and global populism in the United State, Europe, and Australia.Noah Smith - Washington PostNoah Smith is a journalist focused on the business, political and cultural implications of video games. His reporting for The Post has also included national, political, business, sports and culture news. Noah's writing, photos and videos have previously appeared in NBC News, the New York Times, the Guardian, Fortune Magazine, and dozens of outlets across the U.S. He was based in Israel from 2012-2013, where he reported for Digital First Media outlets in the U.S. Midwest. Get full access to Breaking Battlegrounds at breakingbattlegrounds.substack.com/subscribe

In this week's episode of Breaking Battlegrounds, we're honored to feature Aaron Murphy, a social media sensation whose journey in South America ignited a powerful mission against poverty. Overcoming personal struggles, Aaron's act of selflessness during lockdowns sparked a movement, inspiring donations to aid impoverished families. Explore the impact of MurphsLife Foundation in creating food farms, toy factories, shelters, and schools in El Salvador. Following Aaron's inspiring narrative, join Judge John Kralik, renowned for '365 Thank Yous' and 'A Simple Act of Gratitude.' His journey, born from a New Year's resolution to express daily gratitude, unfolded through transformative books. Later in the episode, Pastor Carl Wimmer delves into the biblical perspective on gratitude, offering spiritual insights. It's a power-packed show delving into personal missions, transformative gratitude, and insightful perspectives. Don't miss this episode of Breaking Battlegrounds—it's one you won't want to miss!-Connect with us:www.breakingbattlegrounds.voteTwitter: www.twitter.com/Breaking_BattleFacebook: www.facebook.com/breakingbattlegroundsInstagram: www.instagram.com/breakingbattlegroundsLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/breakingbattlegrounds-About our guestsAaron Murphy is a social media sensation who transformed his journey in South America into a mission to combat poverty. Overcoming personal struggles, he immersed himself in the region, learning languages and understanding the socio-economic landscape. His act of selflessness during the lockdowns sparked a movement, inspiring donations to aid impoverished families.After a particularly bad 2007, lawyer and Judge John Kralik decided to start 2008 with a serious New Year's resolution: to be thankful for the good things and people in his life. So he spent the next year writing one thank you note for each day -- to family, friends, co-workers, even the barista at his local Starbucks. Those notes make up his new book, 365 Thank Yous: The Year A Simple Act of Daily Gratitude Changed My Life. Get full access to Breaking Battlegrounds at breakingbattlegrounds.substack.com/subscribe

In the latest episode of Breaking Battlegrounds, we're joined by Noah Rothman, a seasoned senior writer at National Review. He sets the stage with his incisive take on the complexities of the Israel-Hamas conflict and the intricate web of American foreign policy dynamics. Brace yourself for thought-provoking discussions that kickstart the show's exploration of today's most critical global issues. Following Noah, Corinne Murdock takes the spotlight, diving deep into her investigative reporting. She delves into the case of Arizona State University College of Law Professor Khaled Beydoun, who deleted a viral tweet detailing a racially-motivated verbal attack against Muslims after it was publicly exposed as fake. We have a power-packed episode for you—this is one you won't want to miss!-Connect with us:www.breakingbattlegrounds.voteTwitter: www.twitter.com/Breaking_BattleFacebook: www.facebook.com/breakingbattlegroundsInstagram: www.instagram.com/breakingbattlegroundsLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/breakingbattlegrounds-About out guestsNoah Rothman is a senior writer at National Review. He is the author of The Rise of the New Puritans: Fighting Back against Progressives’ War on Fun and Unjust: Social Justice and the Unmaking of America.-Corinne Murdock is a reporter who prioritizes truth and rejects those partisan takes that spare a favored narrative. In addition to AZ Free News, her reporting appears in The Daily Wire and Be the People News. She got her start reporting with The Star News Network. Her proudest reporting accomplishment to date: when The Rush Limbaugh Show cited her investigative reporting prior to his passing. Get full access to Breaking Battlegrounds at breakingbattlegrounds.substack.com/subscribe

In this week's episode of Breaking Battlegrounds, we're honored to host Carla Sands, former U.S. Ambassador to the Kingdom of Denmark and current Vice Chair at the America First Policy Institute. She brings unparalleled insights into pressing global issues, including ambassadors' advocacy for Israel and the dynamic role of ambassadors in conflicts similar to those in Israel and Ukraine. Join us for a comprehensive discussion on the risks associated with Biden's energy plan, featuring facts and figures that shed light on it all. Later in the show, we welcome back Attorney General Austin Knudsen, addressing his recent reelection bid for Attorney General, the constitutional implications of Hawaii's gun ban, and the support for a mother suing a school district for hiding her child's gender transition. Visit AustinForMontana.com to learn more. Wrapping up, we have a special podcast feature with labor law and policy expert Vinnie Vernuccio, exploring deceptive salting loopholes in unions and their impact on the workforce. Plus, don't miss Kiley's Corner, where Kiley provides updates on the Idaho 4 murder case and reports on the suspicions surrounding the suicides of four Los Angeles Sheriff Department deputies within a 24-hour span on Monday. It's a power-packed episode you won't want to miss!-Connect with us:www.breakingbattlegrounds.voteTwitter: www.twitter.com/Breaking_BattleFacebook: www.facebook.com/breakingbattlegroundsInstagram: www.instagram.com/breakingbattlegroundsLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/breakingbattlegrounds-About our guestsAmbassador Carla Sands is currently the Vice Chair, the Center for Energy & Environment, America First Policy Institute, and also leads AFPI’s Pennsylvania Chapter. She previously served as U.S. Ambassador to the Kingdom of Denmark which includes Greenland, and the Faroe Islands from 2017-2021.During her tenure, she and her team increased U.S. exports to Denmark by 45% according to MIT’s Observatory of Economic Complexity.  Her number one goal as ambassador was to increase U.S. national security by establishing a consulate in Greenland. By working with the inter-agency and Congress, her goal was realized in 2020.Additionally, she successfully executed trade and cooperation agreements with Greenland and the Faroe Islands to counter Russian and Chinese malign influence. In 2021 she was awarded the Department of Defense’s highest civilian honor, the Medal for Distinguished Public Service.In 2015-2017 Carla served as Chairman of Vintage Capital Group and its subsidiary company Vintage Real Estate which specialized in the acquisition and development of regional malls and shopping centers across the country.Before an orderly wind-down of the company starting in 2018, Vintage Real Estate had a portfolio that included 13 properties with 4.3 million square feet invested in underperforming assets. The team was vertically integrated with in-house leasing, development, and property management.Early brief careers included film acting and practice as a 3rd generation Doctor of Chiropractic. Carla pursued her undergraduate education at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and Elizabethtown College where she studied pre-med and earned her Doctor of Chiropractic from Life Chiropractic College.Carla is currently a board member of the Parliamentary Intelligence-Security Forum and serves on the advisory boards of Krach Institute for Tech Diplomacy at Purdue, and the International Women’s Forum. She has served on many charitable and philanthropic boards.-Attorney General Austin Knudsen grew up on his family farm and ranch just outside of Bainville (in the far northeast corner of Montana) where they grew wheat, sugar beets and raised angus cattle. Austin was a 4-H kid, raising steers to show at the fair, and volunteering at community events. He participated in Future Farmers of America (FFA) throughout high school. In fact, Austin met his wife, Christie, while they both served as FFA State Officers during their freshman year of college at Montana State University-Bozeman.Austin put himself through college in Bozeman working jobs at the local butcher shop and a hardware store, and each summer he returned to work on the farm and ranch. Austin and Christie were married shortly after graduation and moved to Missoula where Austin earned his law degree from the University of Montana. Their oldest daughter Leah was born in between Austin’s first and second years of law school and they were later blessed with a son, Connor, and their youngest daughter, Reagan.After law school, Austin and Christie moved their family back to the farm and ranch where they knew they could instill in their children strong Montana values. Austin worked at a law firm in Plentywood before opening his own practice in Culbertson.In 2010, Austin was elected to serve as the Representative for House District 34, defeating a two-term incumbent Democrat in what was one of the most expensive State House races in Montana history. Having quickly noticed the extent of the disconnect between Helena bureaucrats and political insiders and the rest of the people across Montana, Austin took on leadership roles within his caucus and was elected Speaker Pro Tempore (deputy Speaker) in just his second session of service.AustinForMontana.com-F. Vincent Vernuccio, president and co-founder of Institute for the American Worker, brings over 15 years of expertise in labor law and policy. Vernuccio holds advisory positions with several organizations, including senior fellow with the Mackinac Center. Vernuccio served on the U.S. Department of Labor transition team for the Trump Administration and as a member of the Federal Service Impasses Panel. Under former President George W. Bush, he served as special assistant secretary for administration and management in the Department of Labor. He has advised state and federal lawmakers and their staff on a multitude of labor-related issues, and testified before the United States House of Representatives Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, Postal Service and Labor Policy.TRANSCRIPTION Sam Stone: Welcome to another episode of Breaking Battlegrounds with your host, Chuck Warren. I'm Sam Stone. Our first guest up today. Carla Sands served as US ambassador to the Kingdom of Denmark, which includes Greenland and the Faroe Islands, from 2017 to 2021. Currently, the vice chair at the center for Energy and Environment and America First Policy Institute. Ambassador, thank you for joining us. Welcome to the program.Carla Sands: Thanks. It's great to be with you guys.Chuck Warren: Well, ambassador, I was listening to an interview that you had recently that said you always wanted to be an ambassador. You've always been involved in politics, very engaged. You always wanted to be one. Then one day, you get a call from the Trump administration and said, we're going to appoint you here. What? Did it meet your expectations, I guess is my question.Carla Sands: Wow. So it was a dream as a high school girl to be an ambassador, but I didn't know about the Foreign Service.Chuck Warren: Matter of fact, matter of fact. Ambassador, I wonder how many girls in junior high have the dream of being an ambassador.Sam Stone: It's. It's brilliant. I love that.Chuck Warren: I love it, too, I continue. Sorry. That's amazing.Carla Sands: No, no, not at all. So I just harbored that dream in my heart and went off and became a businesswoman. And so when I got the call, I mean, I was thrilled because we know, like when you can fulfill a dream, it's a very, very good thing. So I went off and served and it did exceed my expectations. It was extraordinary. What an honor to work for the all the people of the United States. And the power of our federal government is so immense that that, you know, the respect that you receive has nothing to do with you as a person. The the other country's leaders respect our country so much.Sam Stone: Ambassador, I have to jump in. I know we're going to get to talking about the letter that you helped organize to Congress about Israel, but from the outside, and maybe this isn't entirely fair, but it seems like there are, in essence, two types of ambassadors, those that go in a more ceremonial role and those that roll up their sleeves and dig in. And the ones that, like you did, roll up their sleeves and dig in, can get really extraordinary things done. And I think a lot of times under the radar, people don't even realize that it's true.Carla Sands: And political ambassadors, some of them do go to it seems like have have a vacation and some go to really work hard. But but the career foreign service officers, because some people make a career out of being an American diplomat, you just take the test, the Foreign Service test, and then you enter the Foreign Service and the, the, the capstone for their careers would be to become an ambassador. Those people also get a lot done, but they don't have most of them don't have that private sector experience that, for instance, the Trump ambassadors brought that where we know how to get things done. And they're also fearful of doing the wrong thing, because then it's very easy to derail a fellow Foreign Service officer's career.Chuck Warren: Oh, interesting. Interesting.Sam Stone: That makes they live in fear a lot of sense.Chuck Warren: What surprised you about the what surprised you about the job?Carla Sands: Um, what surprised me was how much some European countries dislike, like the United States and do not wish us well. Who are they? How unfair. Most of our European allies. Actually, our trade isn't fair. They do things. Their tariff barriers, non-tariff barriers. They they do. They do a lot of unfair things to our trade, to suppress our trade where we don't do that to others in the same way we're we're pretty much a fair minded country. We've cut a lot of bad trade deals. I think President Trump tried to right those bad deals and did have a lot of success. He got that phase one China deal, he got the NAFTA, became Usmca. So he was looking after the American working people and American companies and saying, you got to treat us fairly. That was a big surprise to me.Sam Stone: And that's a that was a big shift in his administration, because historically, there really hadn't been much pushback against any of those barriers or trade deals.Carla Sands: Yeah. No.Sam Stone: No.Chuck Warren: Let's get to the nitty gritty. So on October 7th, a major terrorist attack happened upon Israel. Yeah, a group of ambassadors, including you, sent a letter to Congress urging support for our closest ally in the Middle East, which is Israel. My question to you. There's two questions here. One, did you have anybody saying no to you when you try to round up this letter? And two, we have two main hot points in the world right now Israel, Ukraine. And of course, there's a bunch of other things. There are very long term but immediate focus. What is the role for an ambassador, a US ambassador in those crises?Carla Sands: Yeah, it's a really good question. So first of all, the ambassadors really did want to support this letter on behalf of. So on behalf of all of us urging bipartisan urging Congress and the Senate to support Israel and to make sure that that support stuck. And because we all saw that ISIS kind of behavior in Israel. My worry is we're going to get that in the US on our soil, because the Biden administration has a wide open border and they're not catching all of the terrorists. They already caught less than 300 like in the last recent time, but we only catch 60%. So some are getting through. And a lot of Chinese aged and foreign countries we're not friends with aged military men are getting through to tens of thousands. But the role of an ambassador. So during a conflict like this, it really depends where they're serving. Are they serving in a NATO ally country? Are they serving in an adversarial country, a muslim majority country? Right. So you got to know, like the audience and how you can get support. And then if you look at how all of these different countries around the world are voting at the UN, for instance, not to censure Russia after the Ukraine invasion, if you see how the Chinese Communist Party is having an outsized influence on a lot of these countries in the world, and then you see how if we all think about the United States Congress and the president, we have been in a bipartisan way supporting Israel, the state of Israel and the Israeli people. It's been very strong. But now you see how the left and the Muslim supporting elected officials and citizens have really, it looks like abandoned Israel in a public way. And they're supporting the terrorist group Hamas.Chuck Warren: Right.Sam Stone: Ambassador, do you think this is adjacent? But one of the things that we've seen is that these these radicalized Islamic factions have done a really good job of infiltrating US universities and education and really spreading their message there. Does Israel need to be more proactive in trying to counter that messaging at that level?Carla Sands: Well.Sam Stone: Can they? I mean, I don't know.Carla Sands: I think it's tough because there's so much anti-Semitism around the world. It's very strong. So it's a big challenge. But it's not just in academia. Iran is at the highest. Iran has people in the highest levels at the DoD, at our Pentagon. So and yes, they do in the white House and at State Department. So they have influence over our government. And you can see that in some of the softer support of Israel, how we saw Obama, very big Iran sympathizer. And we can see how, for instance, the the students for Justice in Palestine is on a lot of college campuses. That's a muslim Brotherhood offshoot, right, funded by the Muslim Brotherhood. Okay. Like ISIS kind of people, all funded through Iran. So this is all the spawn of Iran. And I think we really are are doing a disservice to the kids on our campuses to allow such an entity have such a big influence, but also Muslim countries. And they're funding things at the universities are having an influence in what our kids are learning too.Chuck Warren: Well, it seems like all these university professors do is out, raise money all the time, and they don't really care what it comes from. But, you know, like Covid, while while Covid was a tragedy, what it did do is open a lot of middle class parents eyes, upper middle class parents eyes to how bad the public schools are. And you're seeing those changes in education and the only the only spark of light in this tragedy in Israel right now is it's a waking up a lot of donors to how bad these universities are, and that they've been giving money and they're not going to do this any longer. So hopefully this has some long term effects. Have you? Being a Pennsylvania girl, are you surprised by Fetterman's absolute support for Israel? I mean, I've been impressed. I mean, he is not taken. He is giving it back. I'm really impressed by it.Carla Sands: Well, before I pivot to Fetterman, I just wanted to say that China has given $400 billion to Iran in military training and military equipment. So China is behind a lot of what is happening. There's now become an alliance which is economic and military with China, Russia, Iran. And of course, we know North Korea, but it seems like it's strengthening and becoming more bold. John Fetterman I mean, please, how it's embarrassing to Pennsylvania. It's embarrassing that he's representing us. He doesn't share my values. But yeah, I'm glad that he's supporting Israel. That's the right thing to do. Everything else he's ever said and fought for, I'm against. But in this one place, I will stand with him because you find your friends where you find them.Sam Stone: It takes a lot of courage on the left. Right. Well, I.Chuck Warren: Think I think here's the thing about him as well. And I agree with you 100% on your opinion on him. I think it's important if we want to start seeing some resolve and getting things done in DC again, that when our political opponents do something that's worthwhile, that we do say thank you. Though you agree, you give credit. I don't think you can get anything done. If we say everything they do is bad. Because you know, what makes you ever going to build any goodwill to get things done? And so I think in the case of Fetterman, I agree with you. I wish he wasn't in the Senate. I think he's going to vote the wrong way 98% of the time. But when they go and do something like this, I think you say kudos. Thank you.Carla Sands: Yeah.Chuck Warren: Quickly. We're going to take a break here in about two minutes. But I quickly want to ask you, how did you increase trade US exports to Denmark by 45%. Who did you beat up to get this done really quickly?Carla Sands: What I did is we made goals at the embassy. Number one, security number two, trade to make to create American jobs. And so I and my team would go and talk to pension funds to insurance companies saying, please invest in America by our by by our companies or invest in them, invest in our stock market. Please buy our real estate. And we would ask them to invest in the US. And then I would work to get them to be open to more trade to from the US. And you have to understand the EU trade really is done in Brussels. We went to Brussels, but there's other stuff we did as well.Sam Stone: That is brilliant and real quick we have about 30s left. What are our number one export? What are our top exports to Denmark?Carla Sands: Well, they buy our pharmaceuticals, we buy theirs, they buy a lot of software and they use our Zoom and Microsoft platforms. So there's a lot of service exports as well. But they also buy wood pellets and burn them and call it green.Sam Stone: Of course. Of course folks, we're going to be coming back with more from Ambassador Carla Sands in just a moment, so please stay tuned. And if you're not already, make sure you're subscribed to download our podcast, Breaking Battlegrounds Dot vote. We'll be back in just a moment.Advertisement: At Overstock. We know home is a pretty important place, and that's why we believe everyone deserves a home that makes them happy. Whether you're furnishing a new house or apartment or simply looking to update and refresh a few rooms. Overstock has every day free shipping and amazing deals on the beautiful, high quality furniture and decor you need to transform any home into the home of your dreams. Overstock. Making dream homes come true.Sam Stone: Welcome back to Breaking Battlegrounds with your host, Chuck Warren. I'm Sam Stone. We're continuing on with Ambassador Carlos Sands in just a moment. But first, folks, how's your portfolio doing? The market's been going up and down. Biden. The Biden economy is just tearing people apart. That's why we recommend highly recommend that you check out our friends and invest y Refy.com. So go to their website, invest the letter Y then refy.com learn how you can earn up to a 10.25% fixed rate of return on your money. You can compound it. You can take the money monthly as income. No attack on principal if you have to withdraw your money ahead of time, it's a fantastic opportunity. So again check them out. Invest y.com or give them a call at 888 yrefy 24 and tell them Chuck and Sam sent you.Chuck Warren: We're with Ambassador Carla Sands. Sands? She's from Pennsylvania. She's a former US ambassador to the Kingdom of Denmark. You can find more about her and her writings at Carla. Sanskar com. She is also the vice chair for the center for Energy and Environment for the American First Policy. Which brings me to the question. I'm still laughing. They import the Kingdom of Denmark wood pellets in Burnham and count them as clean energy. How is the clean energy policies affecting Europe? I know when the war started in Ukraine with Russia's aggressive actions. Yes. You know, oil, the Nordic pipeline, I mean everything.Sam Stone: Germany, Poland, they're buying coal to burn in their houses.Chuck Warren: New York Times basically said when the war started, Europe's going black that winter. Right. Okay. So how was the green energy crusade of Europe affecting businesses and employees and their households and things of that nature? Yeah.Carla Sands: Well, thousands of people died in London last year because of the high price of heating. Thousands.Sam Stone: You don't hear that from anywhere?Chuck Warren: No. Wow.Carla Sands: Yeah. Germany and Denmark pay the highest energy costs in all of Europe. And they really did believe in Germany that they were going to have everything was going to be windmills and solar panels and Kumbaya. But the dirty secret was they were doing that deal with Nord Stream two, the Russian gas pipeline, as their base load power. But they never talk about that. They were turning their back on clean nuclear. They wouldn't turn their nuclear plants on. So there's there is a kind of climate delusion, a climate religion that a lot of Europeans have bought into. And you can hear their doxology as they speak. But but it's crazy. It doesn't work. You need baseload power. Maybe tiny countries can make that work, but not countries that make big things. You need a lot of power to do manufacturing like we do in the US. And so on. A cold day in my state of Pennsylvania, a third of the power comes from gas, a third from nuclear, and a third from coal, with maybe 2%, 2.5% from renewables. And and that's pretty much what it's going to be. I think we'll increase the natural gas over the years. The renewables haven't kicked up a whole lot, even with the billions and hundreds of billions and trillions that we're dumping into it as taxpayers.Chuck Warren: Well, I just looked up your comment about how many people died in England. This is from The Economist in May 10th, 2023. Expensive energy may have killed more Europeans than Covid 19. They're estimating high energy costs. I'm sorry for laughing. High rising energy prices cost 68,000 deaths in Europe. Yeah, that is that's true. I mean, no one's talking about kudos to the kudos to the economists for printing it. I haven't heard anybody else talk about it.Sam Stone: I had not heard it.Chuck Warren: I'm actually stunned by this.Carla Sands: Yes. It's real. It's killing people. Cold kills a lot more people than heat does. And people thrive when it's a little warmer.Sam Stone: Yeah, it cracks us up here in Arizona because they keep telling us if the temperature goes up one degree, we're all going to die.Chuck Warren: And soon, soon, soon.Sam Stone: Yeah. We've all been through summer before. What's one degree?Carla Sands: Yeah, well, Joe Biden says it's more frightening than nuclear war if it goes up.Chuck Warren: Exactly. I remember when Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is very green, was trying to put solar panels in Death Valley and all the environmentalists started complaining and suing that, you know, you can't do this. You're going to kill X, Y, or Z, right? Some rodent, some insect, and I'm Arnold Schwarzenegger, I'm paraphrasing, basically said, if you're not going to put these in Death Valley, where in the hell are you going to put them?Carla Sands: But it does kill birds and it kills animals, just like the windmills kill a lot of eagles and other protected birds and bats too, right?Sam Stone: Well, Whales also.Chuck Warren: So yeah, it's it's incredible. So let's talk here. So what do you think America's energy policy needs to be going forward?Carla Sands: Well I would like to see a policy where. Every kind of energy is treated on a level playing field. So and I trust American innovation to figure out how we're going to do it. But we're never going to run out of our oil and gas. We have enough gas to run the whole world for hundreds of years. And with innovation, we're going to figure out incredible ways to power our lives going forward. If you think about how fast the world's changed, I can remember a time before cell phones. So it American innovation is extraordinary.Chuck Warren: But.Sam Stone: Ambassador, for instance, if we were putting a significant portion of this money that they're spending on this green fantasy, if we were putting that money into the development of advanced nuclear and reactor technologies, how much further ahead would we be on that road right now to developing things that are truly sustainable?Carla Sands: Well, we're pretty far ahead in nuclear. We do have those small modular reactors and they are successful, and I'd love to see them roll out more. I actually don't like a lot of taxpayer money in the private sector a little bit to incubate and get it going, but then I like to see the free market work because consumers are the best judges of what they want. And when you do top down planning Chinese Communist Party style, you don't get to a good outcome. And that's what the Biden administration is trying to do, for instance, with our combustion engine cars. They're trying to say you will drive an EV by 2030. I think it's 2035. No, it's nine years. So 2032 and you will and it will be 60 or 70% of you will drive an EV. So they're shoveling hundreds of billions of dollars at the car companies right now. So they retool and make EVs. But the fact is people don't want them and it enriches China. They make most of the parts.Chuck Warren: Well, it also you have to have the car 15 years to see an environmental benefit from it.Sam Stone: And we don't have the grid.Carla Sands: Most people don't know that. That's a terrific.Chuck Warren: Fact. So George Will had a great op ed today. I suggest everybody post it. But he makes a point here. In 1914, the Bureau of Mines said the US oil reserves would be exhausted by 1924. In 1939, the Interior Department said world oil supply done in 13 years. It goes on and on and on. In 1970, it was estimated there were 612 barrels of proven reserves. In 2006 it was 767 billion. Now it's 1.2 trillion. His whole article is climate warriors are idiots. I mean, it's just like they don't know what they're talking about. And the problem is, Sam has this theory that this is all about just government power and ruling has nothing really to do with the environment.Carla Sands: Yeah, I totally agree. And Harold Hamm, who's one of the original founders of the horizontal drilling to get at that oil from one clean little pad of drilling, wrote a book recently called Game Changer. I highly recommend it to your audience if they like to read about Great American Story. Yeah. Great book.Sam Stone: Absolutely. We have just about one minute left. Ambassador, how do people follow you and your work? Because especially at the America First Policy Institute, you guys are doing amazing work, and we'd like to get more people tuned in to to help support those missions.Carla Sands: Thank you so much. So you can go to American America First policy.com. And we have 22 centers. And we're working to make policies that benefit every American. I also am on Twitter at Carla H. Sands. I'm on Instagram and Facebook a little bit, and I have a website, Carla sands.com, and I'd be delighted to. They can read what I'm posting. A lot of it is pro American energy to bring us back to American energy independence. Well, come.Chuck Warren: Back and join us any time. We'd love to having you ambassador.Carla Sands: Talk to you guys.Chuck Warren: Bye bye. This is breaking battlegrounds. Breaking battlegrounds vote. We'll be right back.Sam Stone: All right. Welcome back to Breaking Battlegrounds with your host, Sam Stone and Chuck Warren. Up next, we have a friend of the program, returning guest, Austin Knudsen. He is the 25th attorney general of Montana. We had a great conversation with him. It was about a year ago, wasn't it? It was. Yeah, yeah. And actually it's Knudsen. Knudsen. I am so sorry. I'm the.Chuck Warren: Boat. And he was so excited about the interview. He flew down to be here with us.Sam Stone: See, I happen.Austin Knudsen: To be in town. This worked out really, really well. So glad you're here.Sam Stone: Yeah, it's great golf season for any guests who want to come into town and knock a ball around. How many.Chuck Warren: How many whip wimpy Montanans come down here for the winter? I mean, I'm sure you look at them very poorly, but how many wimpy Montanans.Austin Knudsen: Well, you're wrong. So my my parents are actually among that group. There. Look, it gets cold. Oh, it does this time of year.Chuck Warren: And my one of my better friends is up there, and it's. He.Sam Stone: I lived in Montana through exactly one winter, and I'm from upstate New York. Yeah. And one winter of that. And I was like, okay, no.Austin Knudsen: There's a ton of people from Montana that come down here and actually, believe it or not, my little my little rural hometown, I bet half the town spends the winter in Wickenburg. Oh, do they really well? And they rope. Yeah, they're all rodeo people and they all rope. And Wickenburg is a huge roping community.Sam Stone: They have a fantastic facility.Chuck Warren: And you have a lot of Arizonans go up there for the summer.Austin Knudsen: I don't know about that. I think the whole thing's probably still better here. But it gets hot, though. Yeah.Chuck Warren: It does. Well, thank you for coming in. You've announced a re-election.Austin Knudsen: I have, yeah.Chuck Warren: Was that a tough decision?Austin Knudsen: No it wasn't. I had people asking me to do some other stuff. There was, you know, people wanted me to run for the Congress and run against Jon Tester. And I like what I'm doing. I mean, I, I've put together a really, really good team. We're doing really fun, aggressive things with the attorney general's office. We're taking Montana in directions. It's never gone. I think it just makes a ton of sense to stay, stay the course and keep doing what I'm doing. So that's that's why it was this was a no brainer.Chuck Warren: Well, let's talk about one case you've signed on. It's states are supporting a mom suing a school in Chico, California that hid her daughter's gender transition. And this seems to be popping up here and there everywhere, more frequently than we would ever thought ten years ago. Right. Are you amazed by the rapid process of this now, this just this trajectory, just like they're hiding what these kids are doing from parents.Austin Knudsen: It seems like we say that about everything. I mean, we just can't believe how fast this stuff is moving. We can't believe how fast, you know, just just in three years of Joe Biden, how much the world has changed. Really? Yeah.Chuck Warren: I mean, it's it's sort of like I had a friend who was an attorney when the gay marriage issue was coming, and he said, I'm not concerned about gay marriage, but I don't think the people understand the floodgates on other issues is going to come about. That's my concern about it. I really don't care if Bob marries Mark, right. But it's the other issues.Sam Stone: And then I think Covid broke the norms when they were able to get so outside of the norms of governmental operations, suddenly it seems from the left, like anything is possible.Austin Knudsen: I think that's exactly right. I mean, there was a huge power grab with Covid and I mean, if if that's constitutional, I mean, what isn't constitutional, right? And that's that's why you saw so many AGS like me push back on that. But yeah, the case you're talking about, I had to look up the lady's name. It's Regina versus the Chico Unified School District. And so yeah, what you had in this case was you had a girl who was going through a rough time at home.Chuck Warren: Dad died.Austin Knudsen: Yeah, dad, I think that's right. I think dad died or left the home and divorce and mom got cancer, and she was she was going through a really, really tough time. And unbeknownst to her, to her mother, the school district started transitioning her and using male pronouns and helping this girl transition, which she now has backed away from and has detransitioned and said, no, I was. I was mixed up, I was emotional, I was going through a very difficult time and but but look what the school district did to her. And we've seen this in a couple other jurisdictions as well. And this, this people ask me, well, why does Montana care? I mean, this is. You have a fundamental right to raise your children. I mean, there's nothing more fundamental in our country than you as a parent are the one responsible for those kids. My kids can't get an aspirin at their school without my say so.Chuck Warren: Nor should they.Austin Knudsen: But we're going to live in a world where you can transition my children without me knowing. I mean, my God, what are we doing?Chuck Warren: But that's that's what's amazing about it. They don't even understand the illogical nature of the argument. I'm going to hide the gender transition. But you can't get an aspirin. I don't want you to drink. I don't want you to do these things. But I'm going to hide your gender. I mean, a fairly lifelong decision, a.Austin Knudsen: Lifelong decision, and one that certainly should involve the parents and probably faith leaders, whatever that might be. But it's probably not the job for the school guidance counselor.Chuck Warren: Like, ever.Austin Knudsen: Like ever.Chuck Warren: So what? So what happens when you go when you guys go and join, you have 16. Well we have one minute left. We'll go over from that. But when we come back I want to ask what is. So what does it mean when you have I think it was 16 or 17 Republican attorney generals join in on this case. To our listeners, what does that mean for the residents of voters of Montana? What does that mean when you have all of these people and you're a leader in this group? Yeah. What does that mean long term on these issues? Well, I.Austin Knudsen: Mean, first of all, I think it sends a message to the people of our respective states. But number two, I mean, this is us literally trying to help. I mean, we file amicus briefs. This is front of the court briefs. We're we're not an actual party to the case, but this is where we come in and say, look, court Ninth Circuit in this case, which, you know, we sit in right here, this is important enough that we as state attorneys general, believe that we should tell you our opinion on this and you should listen to it.Sam Stone: Precedents are being set in California that will affect the people of Montana, Florida, Arizona and every other state.Austin Knudsen: Unfortunately, we're all in the Ninth Circuit.Sam Stone: Breaking battlegrounds back in just a moment.Advertisement: At Overstock. We know home is a pretty important place, and that's why we believe everyone deserves a home that makes them happy. Whether you're furnishing a new house or apartment or simply looking to update and refresh a few rooms. Overstock has every day free shipping and amazing deals on the beautiful, high quality furniture and decor you need to transform any home into the home of your dreams. Overstock. Making dream homes come true.Sam Stone: Welcome back to Breaking Battlegrounds with your host Chuck and Sam. We're going to be continuing on with Attorney General Austin Knudsen of Montana here in just a moment, folks. But first, you've been hearing us talk about why refy for a while now? They've been getting a ton of calls from people listening to this program. We thank you for your support in an investment that actually helps people. First off, it's true you can earn up to a 10.25% fixed rate of return that's not correlated to the stock market. You can turn your income on or off, compound it. Whatever you choose. There are absolutely no fees and no attack on principal. If you ever need your money back, you'll get your monthly statement each month with no surprises. If you're not sure you trust this economy, this secure collateralized portfolio may be a good option for you. Go to invest. Com that's invest the letter Y then refy.com or give them a call at 888 refy 24 and tell them Chuck and Sam sent you. All right. Continuing on Attorney General Knutson Hawaii. Hawaii has been trending to the farthest left. But they're not alone right now. They recently did something in relation to the Second Amendment that I have a hard time imagining would stand in front of the Supreme Court, but it's part of a trend. Now, we've seen the same similar type thing in our nearby state of New Mexico, where the governor there tried to essentially ban guns in public for an indefinite period and got slapped down by her, even members of her own party there. Yeah. So tell us what's going on in Hawaii and what they've done, because this story, I don't think has really gone far and wide enough. Yeah.Austin Knudsen: Well, I mean, I'm a big Second Amendment guy. I mean, just as a Montanan, shooting, collecting, hunting, competitive shooting, reloading. It's my hobby. So I mean, I'm, I'm really, really passionate about about the Second Amendment, but this one's really dangerous. And unfortunately, this isn't just Hawaii, but what Hawaii did is it started with the Bruen decision, right? This this is the US Supreme Court decision where it affirmed, yep, there is an individual right to carry a firearm and not just in the home. You have the right to bear arms outside of the home. Right? Okay. And what the Bruen decision also said is, well, okay, but there are some restrictions. This isn't wide open. You there are some historical precedents where we have restricted firearms carrying, for instance, and the Supreme Court in Bruen said specifically polling places, government buildings. Okay, those those were the two examples that they could historically say, all.Sam Stone: Right, airports. And.Austin Knudsen: Yeah, well, I mean, even that there's probably a historical question about. But I mean, I think just from a I think that one probably stands. But what has happened with Hawaii, they created they crafted new legislation that said, well, yeah, polling places, government places, but also also sensitive places. Well, what is a sensitive place? And this is where this gets real nebulous. The Hawaii said, well, you know, parks, maybe some restaurants, maybe beaches. Yeah. Well sorry. No, that's not in the Constitution. And that certainly does not comport with with the Bruen decision. I mean, the Bruen court was very clear. There has to be some sort of historical precedent, a historical analog for whatever restriction you're trying to place on the Second Amendment. So, I mean, that's why we jumped in this one, because Hawaii, I think when they when their legislature passed this, they probably knew this was going to get slapped down.Sam Stone: Well, in their really good Chuck and and AG Knudsen, they're really good at nebulous language that they then work to expand on over years. Oh for sure. They chip away at every legal decision and they're very patient about it.Austin Knudsen: Well, and we had a very similar case to this coming, coming out of Maryland. And I forget which circuit we filed a very similar brief because they tried to do this in a in a county in Maryland. I mean, almost exactly the same thing. And people said, well, why does Montana care about Maryland? Well, as these circuits go, so do the rest of the circuits. I mean, we're going to create a situation here where if this is done in one circuit, another circuit will try it, and pretty soon this is the law of the land. I mean, this is this is why we're having to be so, so aggressive on the Second Amendment stuff in front of the Ninth Circuit. I hope we don't have to go to the US Supreme Court, but based on Bruen, we might.Chuck Warren: You probably.Sam Stone: Will. How much is the Ninth Circuit moved back towards the center after Trump's appointees or has it.Austin Knudsen: Well, I mean, some of those appointees are fantastic. I mean, I happen to know one of them. He's a he's a former solicitor general from from Montana, Justice Van Dyke. The problem is there's they're just so outnumbered. I mean, the ninth is still just so crazy to the left. Yeah. There are a handful of of better justices on the panels for sure. But what what inevitably happens is whenever you draw one of those good panels. The ninth will suddenly find a reason to come in on bonk. And and we'll just review what those conservatives did and and yeah, we don't like that and we'll flip that over. I mean, that happens a lot.Chuck Warren: Former Senator McCain wanted to break up the ninth. Yeah, he.Sam Stone: Did, and he was right about that.Austin Knudsen: He's totally right. Absolutely. I mean, I look at my state, I look at your state. I don't think we belong in that that crazy circuit.Chuck Warren: No. Let me ask you a question. So we have this Maine tragedy, this this evil act done by this guy. And there was just like, gobs of warnings from the Army Reserve. They did two welfare checks on him. How do we prevent people like that from happening? I mean, he just should not have had a gun for law abiding citizens. We all agree this evil act could have been prevented. They had plenty of warning on this family. The Army Reserves. A former soldier said he could break the sheriff's office. Yeah, I mean, they all did it. Yeah. How do we prevent this? I mean, that's that's going to help a lot. How do we prevent this?Austin Knudsen: Well, I mean, we have to enforce laws that are already on the books. I mean, this guy was clearly a prohibited person. This this is a person with a history of mental disease or defect diagnosed. The warning signs were all there. I mean, they were multiple, multiple reports. I mean, he literally kicked one of his friends out of a moving vehicle because the guy tried to talk him out of shooting up the military base that he was a member of. This was reported to the sheriff's office. The sheriff's office showed up, knocked on the door. He didn't answer. Oh, well, case closed. I mean, this this was a case of the law enforcement system failing. I mean, there needed to be follow up here. And this guy, I mean.Chuck Warren: But it seems that but that seems that failure seems to happen a lot when you ever you go look at these mass shootings, has there been one. There's not been there's been no warnings.Sam Stone: No. I mean, for instance, the Nashville, the three pages of the Nashville Shooter Manifesto that just came out. Yeah. How about that stuff? Wow. I mean, she she references that there was some sort of contact, probably in 2021 with law enforcement or the FBI or something. We don't know exactly all the details, but she references that she could have been caught at that time. Right.Chuck Warren: I think Republicans, those who support the Second Amendment, are going to have to allow law enforcement to say if there are these triggers, we're bringing them in, period, and we're going to understand that.Sam Stone: But as the AG says, it's really just a matter of enforcing laws we already have.Austin Knudsen: That's exactly right. It's already illegal to be a mentally defective person and have a firearm. The question is, how do we get that diagnosis done and how do we make sure that's enforced? And I mean, I've had cases of this just in my own private practice where someone that clearly has a mental disease or defect is still able to walk in and purchase a firearm, like there's there's obviously a gap here, I think, in law enforcement, but whether it's from law enforcement to the ATF and the NICs system or, you know, however that gets communicated. And I'm here to tell you, sometimes the communication between the administrations from a state level to the federal level does not work really well. That that's a real, real problem. And I think you're right. As Republicans, we have to be in favor of enforcing that.Chuck Warren: Well, and I think we need to be leaders on this and be very proactive and tell people what's in the books and what's being missed. I don't think people understand. I just think they think we keep adding x, y, z. It's going to solve the problem. All these problems would have been solved. Nine out of ten of these would have been solved if law enforcement had done their job. These people have come in and I don't care if they had had a psychological check or whatever, you would not have had these tragedies. A lot of.Sam Stone: This tracks back to the FBI, which maintains the database. Is it time for Congress to hold hearings on where did you guys miss all these signals?Chuck Warren: It is it is time. And matter of fact, maybe what you do is skip Congress. Maybe the AG's do a tour around the country and say, here are these ten shootings. Nine could have been prevented. How are these missed?Austin Knudsen: Atf has got a lot of problems. I mean.Chuck Warren: They've always had a lot of.Austin Knudsen: Problems. The NICs system with an FBI has got a lot of problems. I mean, the problem right now we've got is that those agencies aren't talking to me. I mean, they they especially the federal DOJ, I mean, they they detest me. They do not like me. Now, I've had some communication with ATF that the regional director on the western side of the US, we've we've we've had some things happen in Montana and he's actually traveled up and sat down to his credit, knowing he was coming into probably an unfriendly situation. He came into my office and sat down to talk with me. But they don't communicate with us. The states, especially the red states, they don't talk to us. So, I mean, there is a huge breakdown here.Chuck Warren: You were. Uh. Let's see. Well, you were in Trump's. You were elected in 2018.Austin Knudsen: In.Chuck Warren: 2020. Okay. So you missed the Trump years. I'm interested if there have been the if it's just them being just obstinate or that's an administration thing. Well, I mean.Austin Knudsen: I certainly saw it in my time in the state legislature. But before this, several years back, I was the state speaker of the House. And I can tell you, I mean, I started that serving while Barack Obama was was the president. Zero communication out of Washington, DC to our state legislature? Zero. And I just assumed that was normal because I was a freshman legislator, I didn't know why would you know? And then I transitioned in my last term, we had President Trump, and all of a sudden I'm getting phone calls from the white House, from from the Office of of Intergovernmental Relations. I didn't know there was such a thing. I didn't know that we could have intergovernmental relations from from the federal government to the state legislature. And it was great. You know, we were able to discuss policy and talk about things that we had mutually could work on together. That did not happen at all before. It's not happening now.Chuck Warren: That's just unacceptable.Austin Knudsen: It makes no sense. I mean, it was such a it was such an aha moment for me to get a phone call from, from the president's office. And it was, hi, I'm so-and-so. This is my job outreach to state legislatures. What do you need? How can we help you? What are you working on?Chuck Warren: Well, especially since not every issue you're working on is adversarial to the administration. Right?Sam Stone: Right. Well, and Democrats like to talk.Austin Knudsen: It seems like it is anymore.Chuck Warren: Yeah.Austin Knudsen: Especially in Montana.Sam Stone: Democrats like to talk in the press all the time about finding common ground. They want to present themselves in that light. But what you're saying totally refutes that. I mean, just totally refutes it.Austin Knudsen: The only communication I have with the federal government is I do have a relationship with our US attorney in Montana, and that's just because I went to law school with the guy. You know, he's a he's a Biden appointee. He's he's a John Tester. Confirm me. But we're like, we're we get along, you know. Yeah I mean just it's a small state. We know each other.Chuck Warren: Are you a better student to him? You can be honest here. You know, he.Austin Knudsen: Was a couple years ahead of me. I really couldn't tell you. We're both in the legislature. I'll say that.Chuck Warren: So that brings up a point. So what do you think we need to do? That we can work better together. Look, we have our differences, but there are things that we can do to work together. We. We had a former ambassador, Carla Sands, on before you and we were discussing John Fetterman, who none of us in this room agrees with on anything probably disagree with him 95% of the things. But he has been a stalwart on this Israel. He has.Austin Knudsen: He's been really good.Chuck Warren: And we just Sam and I were talking to her and she agreed. Like, look, when our opponents do something, well, they need to be praised and given an attaboy. I don't think it happens enough because there are things we can work on together like, and they're probably not a lot of I mean, I think you're I think you're in the one field that there's not much give and take in a lot of things. But, you know, if you're talking about budget or infrastructure, look, there's some give and take here to get things done, right? I mean.Austin Knudsen: Border security, public safety, fentanyl. I mean, there are some things that we should be aligned that affect everybody and we're just not.Chuck Warren: So you focusing on the southern border, is there a problem in the northern border? Are we having things? Are drugs and fentanyl coming through the northern border because Canada has a loosey goosey immigration system?Austin Knudsen: I'm not saying it doesn't happen, but it is such a small percentage that for for the sake of our conversation and for the sake of what's going on in our country, no.Chuck Warren: Because that's because they're afraid of the Dutton family. Yeah.Austin Knudsen: It's just so cold up there. I mean, it's it's something that we do track. I mean, we've got almost 700 miles of, of northern border in Montana, and we we track that very carefully. I've got good relations with the sector chief up there with Customs and Border Patrol. I'm not saying it doesn't happen.Chuck Warren: But it's a tough but.Austin Knudsen: It's a it's such a small number. When you start talking about the human trafficking and especially the drugs. The drugs are all coming from the southern border because it's so easy to get across.Chuck Warren: I'm sure you've talked to a AG who's a Democrat. What do they not understand about the southern border problem? Well, I mean, what is their view on this? Why can't they see this as a problem? We have one minute.Austin Knudsen: I really can't tell you because, I mean, this is just one of those blind spots they have. I think it's so ingrained into their base and into it's such a hot issue for them that they don't want to publicly have an intelligent conversation about it. I mean, every law enforcement officer in this country knows where all the fentanyl is coming from, and it's all coming from that southern border because it's wide open.Chuck Warren: It's like every mom who says their oldest son is just brilliant.Sam Stone: What if, you know offhand, what is the price of a fentanyl pill in Montana? Well.Austin Knudsen: So in Montana, it depends. So down here. A fentanyl pill is probably worth $1.25. Okay, well, you know better than me, but up in Montana, depending on where you are, 50 to 100 per pill.Sam Stone: And you wonder why the trafficking. Absolutely. A strong incentive and why we have to cut it at the source.Austin Knudsen: They want to be in Montana, that's why.Sam Stone: Yeah, absolutely. Attorney General Austin Knudsen of Montana, thank you so much for joining us today. We really appreciate having you back and love having you in the studio. Happy to do.Austin Knudsen: It. Yeah. This worked out.Sam Stone: Great. And any time in the future if there's some issue, please let us know, because we want to be able to inform our listeners about what's going on all around this country.Austin Knudsen: Great. Thanks a lot, guys.Chuck Warren: Thank you.Sam Stone: Breaking battlegrounds will be back on the air next week, but make sure you tune in for the podcast segment. You can go to Breaking Battlegrounds dot vote all your favorite podcast channels. We're on there. Make sure you download, subscribe, tune in again next week. We'll see you then.Advertisement: The 2022 political field was intense. So don't get left behind in 2024. If you're running for political office, the first thing on your to do list needs to be securing your name on the web with a your name web domain from GoDaddy.com. Get yours now.Sam Stone: All right. Welcome to the podcast segment of Breaking Battlegrounds with your host, Chuck Warren I'm Sam Stone. Up next for us today, Vincent Vernuccio, president and co-founder of the Institute for the American Worker, has over 15 years of expertise in labor and law policy. And we asked him on today, specifically, Chuck, to talk about an article he recently published in the New York Post called Unions Deceptive Salting Loophole Leaves a Bad taste. Vinnie, welcome to the program. And let's start out by telling what is salting.Vincent Vernuccio: Hey, Chuck, it's great to be on again with you. And thanks again for having me on. So salting, is this really kind of deceptive tactic? You have union organizers, many of which are getting paid by the union. Go get a job. Don't tell the employer. The sole reason they're taking the job is to organize the company. Then they get the job. They rabble rouse on the worksite. They instigate their fellow employees. They try to organize the employer, sowing discord at the workplace. And, you know, the whole reason is to try to bring a union in. And like I said, that union that they're getting paid by, but not telling anybody that they're getting paid by.Sam Stone: And also so these people show up, let's say you have a a nice happy work environment. All your employees are doing well. These people show up part of their their opening mission is to try to create rancor and discord in your employee base. Like that's step one, right?Vincent Vernuccio: That's step one. You know, there's even we've even heard examples from when they're doing trainings on this of how to win over the employer. You know, they do thankless task scrub toilets volunteer. So the whole point is to put the employer at ease, weasel their way in and then, yeah, get employees. And you know, we've all had know we've all known fellow employees that, you know, the whole toxic employee that creates rancor in the work environment. That's what they're trying to do. In many cases, they're not telling their fellow employees that they're actually working for the union and saying, hey, now that I've gotten you all angry at the employer, here's the solution. It just so happens it's the union that are working for.Chuck Warren: That's like false advertising. Is there some law that should be passed in various states to prevent this? Well, it.Vincent Vernuccio: Would probably be at a federal level. Representative Allen Rick Allen has the Truth in Employment Act, which would allow employers to at least ask, hey, by the way, are you taking this job for any other reason besides, you want to work for me? So that's one option. You know, the NLRB or. Excuse me, the Department of Labor could probably look into it. Obviously, under this administration, they're not going to do that. But here's the rub. If you have a employer going out, hiring a consultant, having that consultant talk to their own employees and say, hey, you know, a union may not be the best thing to come in, and it might not be the best thing for our workplace, that those consultants actually have to be reported to the Department of Labor. However, if you flip that and you have a union paying someone to talk to their to talk to employees, to try to get those employees to unionize, they don't. So there's a loophole. What's good for the goose should be good for the gander. And if employer consultants have to file these forms with the Department of Labor, so should unions. Salts.Chuck Warren: Don't you think we should have some states? Try to pass this, though, and let the administration just challenge it and take it to court.Vincent Vernuccio: You know, I you know, it would be really interesting. Unfortunately, there may be some preemption issues because, you know, the law on unionization for the private sector, for the most part, you know, with the exception of right to work and a couple other things is pretty clear that, you know, all that runs under the purview.Chuck Warren: But they're lying, but they're lying on their application, but they're there for I mean, most jobs, you would be fired for lying about something on your resume or not disclosing it.Vincent Vernuccio: That's right. Right now, that is the heart of what Representative Allens bill is trying to do is simply say, hey, you could ask this question and it is, you know, it is an offence if the worker lies or the union organiser lies about why they're really taking the job.Sam Stone: This really to me, this whole idea of salting sort of degrades the principle of unionization, which which is based on the workers in a particular industry or for a particular company coming together of their own self interest, which is essentially a free market force at that point versus having it imposed where someone comes in to agitate this from the outside. It sort of seems like it really throws out the, the principles, the, the, the moral principles behind unionizing.Vincent Vernuccio: That's right. I mean, this really is, you know, a key example of astroturfing. And you're seeing that with most of the union organizing drives these days. You know, gone are the days of, you know, it's organic from the employees of the worksites saying, hey, we're being mistreated. We need help. We need to band together. What you're seeing with salting and, you know, with a lot of these organizing efforts around the country, is that it's actually unions going, oh, wait, there's money there. Let's organize these employees so we can get dues. So, you know, fully supportive of, hey, if employees want to band together and they want to organize to negotiate with their employer, you know, that is very clear. That's, you know, why labor law was created. But unfortunately, what we're seeing today is it's not starting at the employee level. It's starting at the union level. And you're seeing it with this salting where the unions are targeting employees and saying, okay, you know, who can we organize? Well, in the.Chuck Warren: American public against the salting, I mean, you put some polling number in your New York Post piece. It found that 75% of Americans agree that if employers need to disclose their labor consultants union should disclose all of their organizers, including salts. Some 59% want union unionization elections with hidden salts to be thrown out as unfair. And you have 62% want workplaces to be able to ask applicants if they're union organizers, something that's banned under federal law. So clearly the public is on the side of this. But this is this is one of those small items that it seems like those who support free enterprise should really be pushing through.Vincent Vernuccio: That's right. You know. You know, the salting practice. It's disingenuous. We went out. We did that polling over the summer. And you see the incredible results there of Americans simply saying, yeah, this is this is not right. There should be other options. If employers have to file their consultants, Union should have to file their salts. Right. If those salts lie, then employees should be entitled to a fresh election. And then like the, you know, allenville that we were just talking about. Employers should have that right to ask, hey, are you really coming to work just for me?Sam Stone: Vinny, how much of this? So there's been a long term decline in unionization in this country. This is one of the tactics they're using to try to turn that around. But I would argue that the biggest reason for that long term decline is that they take union dues. They use them for entirely political purposes on one side of the aisle. They're really not used to benefit the members that directly. In other words, it's not that great a deal to be a union member. And so it seems like they're having to turn to these sort of backhanded tactics to prop up their membership.Vincent Vernuccio: Yeah. You know, it's funny that you you bring up some of the history there. That is something where, you know, we were talking to, you know, a lot of Americans. And it's something that kept coming up with salt. And, you know, let's put the politics aside for a second, is that it's an antiquated tactic. It's not something that's new. It's something that, you know, is is decades old that the unions are doubling down on now. But most people that I've talked to on this like, well, wait a minute. But, you know, it's not like the union needs to lie to get access to employees, right? Or it's going to have trouble getting access to those employees anymore. You know, now you have social media, you know, they can advertise on Facebook, they can geo locate, they can do a lot of ways of communicating with employees. They don't need this salting tactic. But now going back to your point about union membership declining, this is exactly why. It's because unions aren't innovating. They aren't modernizing. They're doubling down on these decades old tactics. Their business model is mired in the Industrial revolution, one size fits all collective bargaining mentality. And the modern worker is just saying, you know, I don't think that's for me.Chuck Warren: Isn't this the same tactic that The New York Times and the Washington Post moan and groan about James O'Keefe and Project Veritas does that. They put people inside as a job, unsuspecting, and they tape people. I mean, if you did this, a Republican operative went and placed somebody on a Democrat campaign and did this. Can you imagine the howling and screaming for weeks on Broadcast News, New York Times, LA times? Et cetera. It's the same. It's the same concept. Am I wrong here?Vincent Vernuccio: I mean, the bottom line is they should be transparent, you know. If a union wants to organize workers and once again emphasize the union coming in and organizing those workers, they should be transparent of who they are. And with salting, that's just not happening. In fact, the unions are even doing classes on this is how you can win over employers and gain their trust so you can infiltrate and try to organize the worksite.Sam Stone: Unbelievable. Vinnie Vernuccio, thank you so much for joining us today. How do folks stay in touch with you and your work before we wrap up here?Vincent Vernuccio: Sure, you can find this article. You can find the polling that we use to back up the article. It's all on our website, Institute for the American Worker. It's I the number 4.org i4 org and it's all there.Sam Stone: Fantastic Vinnie thank you so much for joining us. We look forward to having you back in the future.Chuck Warren: Hey. Thanks, Chuck. All right. Well, interesting guest today. Yeah.Sam Stone: Really interesting.Chuck Warren: We covered a gamut of things. We did cover a.Sam Stone: Gamut of things. You know, I really love these interviews. When we have someone like the ambassador on who can talk about stuff that nobody's paying attention to and nobody's heard about.Chuck Warren: And wood pellets or green energy.Sam Stone: And we get this with Vinnie Vernuccio. This isn't, you know, I mean, he has the piece in the post, but this isn't been turned into a big thing. Right? And then you hear from AG Knudsen, who is involved in some lawsuits you're not going to hear much about from the mainstream media what's going on with those lawsuits.Chuck Warren: And we learned today 64,000 people in Europe died because of high energy prices. I'm stunned. I'm stunned at that number.Sam Stone: My my jaw is on the floor.Chuck Warren: It's incredible. Kiley's corner.Kiley Kipper: Yeah. We got some interesting things today. Well, the first one we have is an update on the Brian Kohberger case, because I know you love that case so much.Chuck Warren: I do love the case. That's the Idaho.Sam Stone: Case. Oh yeah, we do love that.Kiley Kipper: We do. Yeah. Yeah. For those that don't know, the Brian Kohberger case is the gentleman who's being accused of can I call him a gentleman? I shouldn't call him that individual.Chuck Warren: Call him a.Kiley Kipper: Dude. Yeah. The dude who is accused of suspect. That's the best word. That's what he is.Chuck Warren: That's a legal word.Kiley Kipper: Of murdering the four Idaho students. The four students at the University of Idaho. Anyways, so he filed a motion to get the entire case removed on the grounds that there was an error in grand jury instructions because they used a grand jury to indict him. Right. And so his defense is saying that there they were he was convicted on probable cause, putting this in air quotes instead of beyond a reasonable doubt.Sam Stone: But but but a grand jury does not convict the grand jury. Correct.Kiley Kipper: So like the Idaho state law says, the grand jury has to just find and indict them based on the evidence that they're shown. It doesn't. There's no argument to it. It doesn't.Sam Stone: It's usually a preponderance of evidence standard in front of the grand jury, not beyond a reasonable doubt.Chuck Warren: Right? Right.Kiley Kipper: Yeah. And so the prosecutor said, well, the language is vague. The Idaho Supreme Court has already ruled that this is good enough to stand up for it. And the judge who is on this case denied the motion, obviously saying this is an issue you're going to bring to a higher court, aka the Supreme Court, which they've already done, ruled on it. And he said, I appreciate the journey back in history and I appreciate this argument. I think it's creative. He kept going on and it goes, but I'm going to deny the argument.Chuck Warren: Is there been anything in this case that you've seen that has made you change your opinion that maybe Brian didn't do it? No.Kiley Kipper: And I've seen people's comments on it. Like, I think he's innocent and all this. I just think he's really because he also his team filed two other motions, one to dismiss the case on a a biased jury and then dismiss the case on lack of sufficient evidence, slash withholding evidence. And I think they're really just trying to because they denied the speedy trial. So they're just trying to push it off, trying to find anything to just drop the case. Because I do think that he is guilty.Chuck Warren: And they are seeking the death penalty, right?Kiley Kipper: Yes. Yeah. They come out in July and said that their God bless Idaho seeking the. Yeah. All right. What else do.Chuck Warren: We what else have we got on Kylie's corner.Kiley Kipper: Here. You know this one is not much of a story because we're not getting much out of it. However, I find a suspicious. So I want to bring it up and hear your guys's thoughts on it.Chuck Warren: You've gone down some rabbit holes on it.Kiley Kipper: There's just. I've tried, I've tried. I'm really trying to find more information for you guys, but tell me, tell me. On Monday of this week for LA Sheriff's Department, deputies died by suicide in a 24 hour span. For for wait. What I know.Chuck Warren: For LA sheriff.Sam Stone: La sheriff's.Chuck Warren: Deputies by suicide in a week.Kiley Kipper: In 24 hours in the same day. So the first one was found at 9:30 a.m. Monday and the last, the fourth one was found at 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday.Sam Stone: So what case did they have in common?Chuck Warren: So did they have one in common?Kiley Kipper: That's like I think what people are trying to figure out. But one was retired, three were current officers. And so it's just that's all they've said is we're treating these as individual cases. And end of story. We haven't. Like, there's nothing out there that's more trying to figure out who these people are because they haven't released two of the names either. So we only know two names and two are not really.Sam Stone: I mean, look, it is a profession that has an unfortunately high rate of suicide.Chuck Warren: The stress, the stress is huge. Four in 24 hours. Is that that's unheard of. Matter of fact, I'm sure that's even happened before.Kiley Kipper: So in 2020, there was 116 suicides across law enforcement across the country. In 2021, they increased 23% to 150 in 20 20 to 170. 172 officers die by suicide. And then this year alone, so far, 83 law enforcement officers die by suicide, nine coming from this department alone. Being the LA Sheriff's Department.Chuck Warren: Okay. That's strange.Kiley Kipper: So I find those numbers like that's a lot of officers that have died by suicide. However, the number that have come out of the same department seems.Sam Stone: I think something's happening there. That does not sound like that is a a that's a major statistical anomaly. I mean, you're way outside of any probability field.Chuck Warren: Keep on this. I'm not.Kiley Kipper: I was like, I need more.Chuck Warren: I don't trust this at all. Yeah.Sam Stone: Also, I think we probably need to assign you to track the six journalists who were apparently embedded with Hamas on the morning of the seventh, because Israel announced today that they're going to be executed. They're they're they're not going to be here.Kiley Kipper: I saw the videos on Twitter this morning. I think your.Chuck Warren: Guy had the grenade in his hand. Yeah. So did you know there's been 46 attacks on US bases the last three weeks? I did know.Sam Stone: Yeah.Chuck Warren: Incredible.Sam Stone: And our response was to bomb an empty warehouse in Syria. That's the Biden response. It's literally an empty warehouse.Chuck Warren: So let's talk about this for a minute. So a poll came out today that nearly half of Democrats disapprove of Biden's response to the Israel-hamas war, which is amazing. Poll found 50% of Democrats approve of Biden has navigated the conflict, while 46 disapprove.Sam Stone: That 46% is rooting for Hamas, 100%.Chuck Warren: It's it's crazy. Nearly seven of ten Democrats approve of Biden's management of the conflict, but think the US provides the right amount of support of those who disapprove. 65% say the US is too supportive of Israel. We are really discovering the anti-Semitic nature of the progressive left, which has been there forever. It's been there forever. The fact that the because the press is.Sam Stone: Has hit it and blamed it on white supremacy. But we all know the truth that the vast majority of anti. I said the other day.Chuck Warren: 65% of Democrats younger than 45 disapprove of Biden's handling the.Sam Stone: You know what the difference between the left and the right on anti Semitism is on the right. We have a couple of fringe anti-semitics. They're nuts and nobody gives them any credence.Chuck Warren: We all we know what they are.Sam Stone: Yeah we call them out. We ostracize them.Chuck Warren: On the left are university professors and reporters at the New York Times.Sam Stone: Yes, that's the difference.Chuck Warren: Didn't you have experience where you posted this? Did you? Were you the one telling me that they had that they got scolded for being pro-Israel?Kiley Kipper: Yeah, yeah, I have, I have the text. Let me see if I can find them really quick. Put me on the spot there. It wasn't me. It was a friend who sent it.Chuck Warren: No, but your friend sent you. Yeah. I remember you telling me that story. It's. Uh, they really look, these progressives are in universities. They are teaching this bigoted, racist ideology of theirs. It's it is really frightening what's happening in our universities right now. There was a really interesting piece this week. Um. And then in the London. I think it's the Telegraph, to be exact, the Telegraph. And they were talking about the reports about just how Jewish students do not feel safe in England now going to universities.Sam Stone: Well, and how can they? I mean, as bad as the vitriol has been here, the vitriol in many European countries against Jews has been far worse.Chuck Warren: Oh, it's so bad. It's so bad.Sam Stone: I mean, if you were a Jewish citizen of the UK or mainland Europe right now, and you are not trying to figure out how to relocate to Israel or frankly, the US, still, I think you're crazy. I think you're leaving yourself in a very, very vulnerable position.Chuck Warren: Let's talk about the debate.Kiley Kipper: Around the text. Read it to us, please. So this person messaged my friend and said, delete it now. And she goes, no, he goes, you seriously feel that way? And I remember vaguely the image it must have. I think it was just the flat the Israel flag with like I support Israel or. Yeah, just the very basic image. There was no fax or anything on it. Like just nothing like that. Just said I stand with them and he goes, you seriously feel that way? And she goes, feel what way? And he goes, you stand with Israel. Are you an effing terrorist? You support crimes against humanity. You support Jewish question mark. I'm just like a bunch of texts, like all in order. Did she.Chuck Warren: Say yes?Kiley Kipper: She just didn't. She was like, I'm over it. I'm done responding. And then she did say he texted her like 3 or 4 more times, and she's just like, I'm done.Chuck Warren: You balk them, I hope.Kiley Kipper: Hopefully I'm just that's you know.Sam Stone: This is a result of the deliberate miseducation of multiple generations now is what's I mean. Well, it goes it.Chuck Warren: Goes back to this TikTok thing we were talking about last week. This is very much because they get their education from TikTok. Everything.Sam Stone: Well, but if the if the k 12 education they were getting, if the college education was honest and and and reasonable and factual, there would be a balance to that. What they're learning on TikTok. But they're not getting that. They're getting reinforcement and the.Chuck Warren: Press is not help. Let's talk about one other thing the press is stupid about this week. So, you know, Vivek went after Nikki Haley's kid. And you know, Nikki. Nikki's a tough old bird, right? I mean, she's she's a tough gal. So they asked Ron DeSantis about it on NBC and he just said, I think kids are out of bounds. I don't think that was an appropriate thing to do. So then NBC goes and tries to make a big deal of DeSantis going after Biden. So folks, for you out there who are really disinclined intellectually. Nikki Haley's daughter is in her 20s. She's not a public figure. Hunter Biden's a degenerate at 53 years old who has stole money tax, evaded well, sold his soul.Sam Stone: Also, by all accounts, I mean white House accounts and appearances. He is one of his father's closest advisors.Chuck Warren: He goes with them presidential trips. So, folks, there are two different paths here. One, you have a 20 something year old who's living her life. That's her decision, right? Well, it's Hunter Biden is embarrassing. And the fact that the NBC news tries to lump them together makes them a failed institution.Sam Stone: And this is why I never complained when the press did pieces on Eric Trump or on Jared Kushner and Ivanka, because they were directly involved in the activities, which is the Trump kid that isn't involved with any of this stuff. I forget. Right? But but that's the dividing line. Tiffany, Tiffany, Tiffany's not yeah, if you're not involved, if you're not part of this world, then you're off limits.Chuck Warren: Yeah I agree, I agree. Well great show this week. Thanks for setting it up Kylie. Absolutely follow up on both these cases. But I want to know more about the sheriffs. That is a that is a strange one. There are coincidences but usually not.Sam Stone: Not at that level. That is a lot of coincidence, folks.Chuck Warren: Thanks for joining us. Please share our program with your family and friends. You can find us at Breaking Battlegrounds Dot vote or wherever you download your podcasts. Have a great weekend and week! Get full access to Breaking Battlegrounds at breakingbattlegrounds.substack.com/subscribe

Join us this week on Breaking Battlegrounds as our hosts Chuck Warren and Sam Stone present a captivating radio show featuring two remarkable guests. First up, we have the esteemed #1 New York Times bestselling author, Richard Paul Evans, who will share insights into his latest children's book, "My Son Lives in a Tree." Discover the inspiration behind this heartwarming story and why he's generously donating all his royalties to charity. You can purchase the book at RichardPaulEvans.com or on Amazon. Then, U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn, a dynamic leader from Tennessee, will delve into critical issues such as the Middle East, housing affordability, and her work on the Kids Online Safety Act. And in Kiley’s Corner, Kiley Kipper joins us to discuss the mysterious case of a California woman who went missing in Arizona while driving from California to Connecticut for a wedding. Don't miss out on these engaging discussions, and visit our website for more information: www.breakingbattlegrounds.vote. -Connect with us:www.breakingbattlegrounds.voteTwitter: www.twitter.com/Breaking_BattleFacebook: www.facebook.com/breakingbattlegroundsInstagram: www.instagram.com/breakingbattlegroundsLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/breakingbattlegrounds-About our guestsRichard Paul Evans is the #1 bestselling author of The Christmas Box. He has since written 41 consecutive New York Times bestsellers and is one of the few authors in history to have hit both the fiction and non-fiction bestseller lists. There are more than thirty-five million copies of his books in print worldwide, translated into more than 22 languages. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the American Mothers Book Award, the Romantic Times Best Women’s Novel of the Year Award, the German Audience Gold Award for Romance, five Religion Communicators Council Wilbur Awards, The Washington Times Humanitarian of the Century Award, and the Volunteers of America National Empathy Award. Evans lives in Salt Lake City, Utah, with his wife, Keri, and their five children and two grandchildren.-U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn was sworn in to the Senate in January 2019. Marsha Blackburn was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2018, and is currently serving her first term representing the state of Tennessee. Before her election to the Senate, Marsha represented Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District.Marsha’s public service is dedicated to promoting opportunities for women and making America a more prosperous place to live. Marsha’s leadership philosophy is based on her experiences in the private sector as a small business woman and author, as well as being a mother and grandmother.Marsha went to college on a 4-H scholarship and worked her way through school selling books for the Southwestern Company as one of their first female sales associates, and later as one of their first female sales managers.She then became Director of Retail Fashion and Special Events for the Castner Knott Company, which was a Nashville-based regional department store. Later, Marsha founded her own business, Marketing Strategies, which focused on the retail marketplace, as well as electronic and print media.Marsha began her career in public service in 1995 when she was named executive director of the Tennessee Film, Entertainment, and Music Commission. In 1998, she was elected to the Tennessee State Senate. In the state legislature, she earned a reputation for fiscal responsibility and government accountability by identifying waste and offering realistic solutions to Tennessee’s budget challenges.While serving in the Tennessee Senate, Marsha led a statewide grassroots campaign to defeat a proposed state income tax. The tax was defeated, and Marsha’s leadership earned her a reputation as an anti-tax champion. In 2014, the people of Tennessee passed an amendment to the state constitution to expressly prohibit a state income tax – a fitting cap to a 14-year battle.In 2002, Marsha was elected to represent the people of Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District based on her record in the state legislature. She brought her Tennessee values to Washington, DC, and became a leader in the fight for small, efficient federal government that is accountable to its citizens. As a Congressman, Marsha was often selected by her colleagues to lead the charge for principled conservativism. Her congressional career was also noted for her Chairmanship of the Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, as well as bipartisan expertise in defending songwriters’ and performers’ rights.Marsha is a member of numerous charitable organizations and is an active member of her church, Christ Presbyterian. Marsha and her husband Chuck live in Williamson County, Tennessee. They have two children, Mary Morgan (Paul) Ketchel and Chad (Hillary) Blackburn, three grandsons, and a granddaughter. Originally from Laurel, Mississippi, Marsha is a graduate of Mississippi State University.-TRANSCRIPTION Get full access to Breaking Battlegrounds at breakingbattlegrounds.substack.com/subscribe

This week on Breaking Battlegrounds, we have guest host Michelle Ugenti-Rita filling in for Chuck Warren, along with co-host Sam Stone. Join us as we welcome our first guest, Abe Hamadeh, who's running to represent Arizona's 8th Congressional District. A former U.S. Army Reserve Captain and Intelligence Officer, Abe is a staunch America-first fighter, and he'll share his vision for securing the southern border and holding the government accountable. Our second guest, Mike Coté, founder of Rational Policy and a writer at the National Review, offers a historical perspective on policy, international affairs, and politics. Tune in for engaging discussions and expert insights into the political landscape.-Connect with us:www.breakingbattlegrounds.voteTwitter: www.twitter.com/Breaking_BattleFacebook: www.facebook.com/breakingbattlegroundsInstagram: www.instagram.com/breakingbattlegroundsLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/breakingbattlegrounds-About our guestsAbe Hamadeh is a former U.S. Army Reserve Captain & Intelligence Officer, Maricopa county prosecutor and an America first fighter. Abe is the son of immigrants; his family fled places like Syria and Venezuela. He knows all too well that if America falls, the flame of freedom may be extinguished forever. Abe is running to represent Arizona’s 8th Congressional District where he grew up, having gone to Happy Valley School, Stetson Hills, and Terramar. He is honored to be the voice of the district back in Washington.Mike Coté is a writer for the National Review and historian focusing on great-power rivalry and geopolitics. He blogs at rationalpolicy.com and hosts the Rational Policy podcast.-Transcription Sam Stone: Welcome to another episode of Breaking Battlegrounds. I'm your host, Sam Stone. The international man of mystery. Chuck Warren is out of the studio again this week, but we are graced by the lovely presence Michelle Ugenti-Rita, former state senator here. She's running for office herself. Yeah, yeah.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: Glutton for punishment.Sam Stone: Yeah. No, seriously. Having done that once now and having no interest, I have all these people keep coming up to me and they're like, hey, Sam, you should run again. I'm like.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: Why are you kidding you? You value your yourself too much to do that again.Sam Stone: It's painful.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: It's tough. It's tough. I like it though. I mean, I don't know how many races have I done. 6 or 7. And you know, the vast majority of one lost one, one six. I like it. You have to like it to do it.Sam Stone: See, I like working on campaigns. Yeah.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: So you like it? Just a different component, a.Sam Stone: Different component of it. I actually I just found out that when I was doing it, I found out I don't like being the candidate.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: Right. That's a that's a different kind of person, the person who likes to be a candidate. But there can be a lot of people that like to be in the political sphere, working behind the scenes, working on policy, working on campaign strategy. But the candidate, it's it takes a lot.Sam Stone: It's different. I mean, for one thing, the thing that that frankly got me and folks, we have some very good guests coming up today on our second segment, we're going to have Abraham Hamadeh. He was the candidate for attorney general, general election candidate in Arizona, lost by I think by the end it was like 270 votes. I think it was down to like 123 by the time it was all okay, whatever. And as we discussed briefly or will discuss briefly with Abe there, there's really no doubt in anyone's mind here that he got hosed out of that election by Maricopa County. And what happened on Election day and uncounted ballots.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: Their incompetency.Sam Stone: Their incompetency and all this kind of thing. I have not met one serious person who doesn't think that he should be the AG right now in a fairly run election. Yeah, and that's even a lot of those people are people who disagree with Kari Lake and disagree with Donald Trump and don't take that position, but they look at what happened here on Election Day with malfunctioning machines and 63% of the precincts, all this stuff and they say, look, 100 and something votes that absolutely cost that. So he's announcing a run for Congressional District eight here in Arizona.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: So that's going to be that's going to be a really interesting congressional race. You mentioned we we talked to Abe about this.Sam Stone: But folks, in all fairness, before we stumble over this anymore, we actually already did our interview with Abe. We pre-recorded it before we began the show here. I'm just going to be honest about this. Like, folks, you know, we're not live. We pre-record this on Friday. You're going to you're going to hear this on Saturday. So it is what it is. Instead of assembling it over to Michelle, we'll just tease this interview that's coming up and then folks make sure yeah, make sure you stay tuned afterwards because we're going to do a nice podcast segment following on this as well. And then for segments three and four today we have Mike Cote, writer for National Review and historian, focusing on great power, rivalry and geopolitics, which obviously isn't relevant at all to the moment in time we're in. Yeah, yeah. Um, but so we were teasing the lead in with Abe in that race from last time when Debbie Lesko became the congresswoman. I think if I remember, I mean, it was a huge field, like 15 to 18 people in that field.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: I think so too. I mean, everyone and their mom comes out and puts their hat or puts their name in the hat to run. And but that is honestly the nature of an open seat. You see that quite frequently in an open seat. It is exasperated by fact that it's a congressional open seat. And on our side, the Republican side.Sam Stone: Whoever wins the primary.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: Yeah, it will. The general.Sam Stone: The general. I mean, I think when Debbie ran, her Democrat opponent in the general was.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: Tipirneni.Sam Stone: Was it Hiram Tipirneni or was it? I think it was Brian nee. Brianna Westbrook. I don't know. Either way. It was terrible.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: Candidates or something. Yeah. It's terrible.Sam Stone: Well, yeah. No. So the Democrats here in Arizona don't have a great bench.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: No, no, they don't have a good bench at all. It's not deep. Just the fact that we have Katie Hobbs as our governor I think is evident of that. But it does tell you, though, that if we aren't smart about how we're campaigning, if we don't have strategy, if we don't stick to our talking points, if we veer off of, you know, issues that matter to people, it's not a given. We're going to win. I mean, right, you know, just because the other side is that bad does not mean you're going to win. You know, you really have to make sure that you get your message out and you, frankly, stay on message. Stay. On message. I hope that's what happens in in CD eight is they stay on message. There's so much going on. Abe talked about that. And people want results. Yes. You know, deliver something for the good people of that district, please.Sam Stone: Well, you know one thing, and I know Debbie Lesko a little bit. You probably know her a lot better than I.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: Served with her.Sam Stone: Um, but one of the things I was a little disappointed with her over the few years she's been in office versus Paul Gosar, for instance, is that Paul ran around and turned out voters in his bright red district in general elections. Yeah. And Debbie did not do that in hers. And folks, that makes a big difference. You need a candidate. Yeah. They've won the thing in the primary. It's over basically. But you need them to go out and turn out those votes.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: You do have to energize the base, right? This is a numbers game. The person with the most numbers, you know, the highest number, excuse me, wins. And it's about keeping majorities or getting majorities if we don't have them. And that doesn't happen unless let's get out to vote. Like your point.Sam Stone: Let's take a Debbie Lesko and let's call it five of our brightest red state legislative districts. Right. What what how much of a change is there if each one of if Debbie turns out an extra 1000 votes and all of those turn out an extra hundred.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: And especially since races are becoming more and more competitive, they're closer and closer. So, you know, a lot of people have this mindset of like, oh, it doesn't matter or I'm just one. But when when, you know, the race we had the superintendent race, there was another legislative district race. This was just last general election, right. They they triggered recount my recount bill, by the way, that the counties opposed vehemently because they don't like to recount.Sam Stone: That's one of the things most people don't maybe don't know, because people don't follow the legislature in any state.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: They should, but they should.Sam Stone: I always laugh because, like the Florida legislature has done so much right, and everyone, all everyone talks about is governor DeSantis. Now, I love governor DeSantis too, but let's be honest, 80% of what he gets credit for.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: They they served up to for him.Sam Stone: They're teeing him up. And, you know, we we haven't always done a good enough job here. But had we turned out those extra 1500 Republicans, we're not talking about Abraham Hamadeh running for CD eight. We're talking about AG Abraham Hamadeh right I mean that's a big difference. And this is nationwide folks. Think about all these the presidential election, everything how close that was.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: And it's only going to be I think that you're going to see more and more competitive races. And what I mean by that, the differential between the top two candidates become narrower, more narrow and narrow. So they're going to be razor close. So every vote actually does count. And I think in 2016 it was Congressman Andy Biggs that won his race by I want to say 27 votes.Sam Stone: Yeah it was really tight really really tight tight. Yeah. And so these things make a big difference.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: So if you're extended family's not voting and you lose that race I mean you can't go to any family function ever again.Sam Stone: Well no you can. You just you stand at the door and you're like, you're allowed in. Let's see. Did you vote? Pull up the voter rolls. Did you cast a ballot? Oh no no, no potato salad for you today.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: Exactly.Sam Stone: Um, there's a lot going on in the world, and obviously we're going to be focusing on a lot of the the great power situation and all of this with Mike Cote. When Cote, I'm hoping I'm probably mispronouncing this two different ways. That's what I do, folks. Um, but I want to touch on something else that came up today. It's kind of icky, but I'm throwing I'm throwing this into this thing. It's Friday. There's the news out today that about a week ago you had a reporter in Philadelphia, 39 year old reporter who was murdered in his home. And everyone was like, you know, what's going on, blah, blah, blah. Well, today they arrested a 19 year old homeless kid that he was having a air quote, I'm putting up the air quotes here, folks. Relationship with. This comes about two weeks after we saw a activist stabbed on the streets of New York.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: That was horrific.Sam Stone: Video for basically the same underlying reason that he had been in a relationship with this crazy young homeless person who then stabbed him to death. Democrats have a pedophile problem.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: You are going bold.Sam Stone: I am going bold there. But you know what they do. Look at the thing. So there was a little bit of controversy here about Turning Point USA. One of their activists chasing and asking questions of an ASU professor, who then shoved the cameraman and physically made a poor decision of who to assault because he just got tossed to the ground by a much stronger person as a result. Now that that was the result of his actions, this this act, this activist professor. But I looked into why they were asking him these questions. This guy is a professor at our university and he's basically promoting pedophilia. I mean. What are we? What do we have to do?Michelle Ugenti- Rita: Why isn't why isn't there an outcry about that?Sam Stone: You know, I saw a little clip from Joe Rogan this morning, and I actually, I like Rogan. I think he's a great interviewer. It's not his insights I actually find the most interesting. UsuallyMichelle Ugenti- Rita:  He's good at teasing it out of his guests.Sam Stone: Yeah, he's a great interviewer. He asks brilliant questions, but this was a kind of a clip of him talking with one of his guests, guest hosts or co co producers or whatever, and he was saying, you know, you have this thing where it's just Ghislaine Maxwell has been jailed, convicted, right, of selling kids for sex. And yet there's no one anywhere in any documentation who bought. That sex. Now obviously that happened. I'm not saying it didn't write. But why aren't they being charged? All of those people who were flying to Epstein Island.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: Who are they and.Sam Stone: Who are they? Where's the list?Michelle Ugenti- Rita: Where's right? It happened. Where's the list? Who are they? Why can't we identify them?Sam Stone: Yeah.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: And bring them to justice.Sam Stone: And forget trying to hold them accountable? We're not even being told who we.Michelle Ugenti- Rita:  You don't even. Know who it is.Sam Stone: Who should be held accountable.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: Very powerful.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: Forces.Sam Stone: And this is this is something totally different. Like I always was. You know, you grew up in a country where it's like, hey, one side wants lower tax rates and the other one side wants to spend more money. And like, okay, that's a discussion we can all have.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: And be on.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: Either side of the issue on. Right. But why, why are why why is this one divided. Right. Or at least feels like it? Shouldn't we all be on the same side on this one?Sam Stone: I'm sorry.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: You have a different perspective when it comes to pedophilia.Sam Stone: Or. Yeah.Sam Stone: I mean, like they go so far as to call it minor attracted persons. Now they're trying to do this name swap thing again.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: Hopefully Huckabee has banned that term.Sam Stone: Everyone should ban that term. If your governor hasn't banned that term you need to talk to your governor. I don't care which side of the aisle they're on. Okay, folks, we're going to break. We're going to be coming back for more. Make sure you tune in for our podcast segment, because I want to follow up on some of this. It's, you know, there's some weird stuff going on these days, folks. We'll catch you on the next episode here. We're going to be talking to Abe Hamadeh and then moving on with my coat or coat writer for the National Review in just a moment.Advertisement: At Overstock. We know home is a pretty important place, and that's why we believe everyone deserves a home that makes them happy. Whether you're furnishing a new house or apartment or simply looking to update and refresh a few rooms. Overstock has every day free shipping and amazing deals on the beautiful, high quality furniture and decor you need to transform any home into the home of your dreams. Overstock. Making dream homes come true.Sam Stone: All right. Welcome back to Breaking Battlegrounds with your host, Michelle Ugenti-rita. And I'm Sam Stone. Coming up next, a guest who just announced a run for Congressional District eight here in Arizona. He is also the man. I really believe that you can if you're a Democrat or you're an independent, you want to quibble about what happened to Kari Lake? You can, but I don't believe you can quibble about what happened to this guy in Maricopa County in this last election, where he theoretically lost by a couple hundred votes when they had huge problems with the machine problems. I have not talked to anybody in Arizona, anybody who's reasonable, who doesn't think the election was stolen from Abe Hamadeh. So, Abe, thank you for taking the time this morning. I know you've got a busy schedule because you just launched this run for Congress. Tell us how you're doing and what's going on.Abe Hamadeh: Thank you. Sam, good to be with you, Michel. It's been, you know, it was Groundhog Day for a whole year, just about since last November. Right. Focusing on our election lawsuit, which, you know, as you said, I think everybody recognizes what happened. And, you know, with the government withholding all of the evidence, all these 9000 uncounted ballots. But when this opportunity arose, you know, I decided, hey, you know, I don't trust I don't trust the court system right now. Sam, you know, it's really unfortunate that we've been met with roadblocks. So I plan to serve in in Washington alongside Kari Lake and alongside Donald Trump. And I think that's where the focus is now. But we're still fighting the election lawsuit, of course, because we need to expose what happened. But, you know, right out the gate, we had so many endorsements, Sam, and we got endorsed by Kash Patel, who's a huge fighter. We have Ric Grenell and director of National intelligence. We had Robert O'Brien, the national security adviser. We even had Adam Laxalt, who ran for Senate in Nevada, the former AG up there. So I think we built this really broad coalition and a type of unity to kind of ticket right now, because I'm just trying to I want the grassroots, the grassroots right now need a victory.Abe Hamadeh: You know, they need a fighter who's willing to say the things that need to be said and do the things that need to be done. And when I go to Washington, DC, everybody knows my fighting spirit, right? I mean, the establishment wanted me to go cower and hide and, you know, beg for forgiveness. And instead I stood tall to them. I stood tall to them, the the media and the political class. And I think I've come out stronger than ever. And the polling suggests that certainly right now. So we're in a very good spot. And I'd be honored to go back to my eighth congressional district, where I actually grew up from. I lived in North Peoria. I went to school at three different schools out there. So it feels it feels really nice and especially that area for so long. You know, it's really MAGA country, very supportive of President Trump. And who can't be, especially with the world on fire right now. Sam. So I think my skill set, you know, being the an Army captain serving overseas, being a former prosecutor, I think it's going to be it's going to be really good transition in Congress.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: Yeah. So I think the audience we kind of need to set up this race. This is this is we had an incumbent who is not running for re-election, Debbie Lesko. So we have an open seat in a.Sam Stone: Very red district.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: A very.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: Red district. So this is going to stay Republican. It's just what flavor Republican are we going to get. And we need to get a conservative. The race is shaping up. Talk to us about what that looks like right now. How many candidates are in the race. How do you see it ultimately kind of solidifying as as people look at.Sam Stone: As I told someone the other day, I think Abe has a pretty good chance of winning a 19 way primary.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: Well, you know what?Michelle Ugenti- Rita: These open seats, right? I mean, that's around how many candidates enter the races.Sam Stone: I think last time it was like 18 or 19 for this seat when it kicked off.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: So it's really going to be about your base. And in that niche what do we what does it look like right now.Abe Hamadeh: So I think you guys are exactly right. And, you know, I entered the race as the clear underdog with 0% name ID and, you know, that was probably the most contentious primaries in terms of how many legitimate candidates there were. And, you know, we defeated all of them because, you know, the voters are smart. They really sense authenticity. They know who's genuine. They know who's a fighter. Right now, I know my one of my opponents, Blake Masters, just entered the race. He's coming in all the way from Tucson, no ties to the district. And, you know, actually did the worst out of any of the Trump endorsed candidates. He he only won that district by 7%, which is kind of scary. I won the district by 12%. So but, you know, I'm focused on my race. I don't really need to focus on anybody else. But people know they're the electorate nowadays is a lot smarter than people give them credit for. They know they're really in tune with so much of what's happening. So, you know, the more the merrier that come in and, you know, we'll, we'll we'll just run our race just like we ran the ag race. And I have no problem running against people who are older than me, who are more established than me, but I.Abe Hamadeh: People at this at this time. They know our country is collapsing. I mean, we have to be very honest about the assessment of our country. It's in a dire state. And it's the same reason why I ran for AG and the same fighting spirit I'm going to take to Congress with me is I know what's at stake. My family left Syria, know I was born in the United States, but my family immigrated from Syria and my family from Venezuela. And I've seen what Marxist revolutions do to countries. And once they activate them, it happens very quickly. And as I were seeing all of our institutions under attack right now, but I look forward to a spirited primary and, you know, we're going to we're going to go off to the races. But I feel very confident we're going to have a lot of support. I'm honored that Kari Lake endorsed me right off the bat, too. She was actually on the phone with me telling me to get in the race. So I feel really good about the way of the race. Right now.Sam Stone: We have just about two three minutes left before we get to the end of this segment here, and I want to give some time for you at the end to be able to share your website and all your information so people can help support you. But one of the things I noted from the campaign last time for Attorney general and for folks outside of Arizona, you wouldn't have seen any of this. Obviously, no one's paying attention outside of the state. It was, like you said, a big primary. One of the things I thought differentiated you from the other campaigns was you were focused on campaigning, on things you were going to do in office. A lot of them spent a lot of time attacking you. I didn't see that from your camp. You really ran a issue based. YeahMichelle Ugenti- Rita: Right.Abe Hamadeh: Yeah, that's exactly right. I mean, there are so many, so many people want to get into politics because they want to be a politician. I'm getting into it because I'm desperately worried about our country. And I've seen it firsthand. Right. When when you had everybody coming after me, you know, with this election that happened last November, you know, one of the things I want to go into Congress is get election integrity at the federal level. And so I think just that type of fighting spirit the voters recognize, they know that I'm so focused on terrorism. You know, I've served overseas in Saudi Arabia vetting, you know, trying to prevent terrorists from coming into the United States. And, you know, you see our wide open border, which I think, unfortunately, we've had 167 encounters with people on the terror watch list. I mean, there's so much, so many things that are happening in our country where it's a multi-dimensional war and we have to fight it on all fronts. And having somebody with that conviction and who can withstand the pressure is so important right now at this dire time, and especially with and look at this time last year, Sam, Michelle, we didn't president Trump wasn't under indictment. Now he's had to withstand four indictments. And I think people need to be really concerned about the direction of our country right now, where we're starting to jail political opponents. I mean, this is not something that we've seen in the United States of America before. This is more reminiscent of banana republics, third world countries. And I think I can speak to it most better than most people right now.Sam Stone: We have just a minute left. Oh, real quick, give us your top three issues and then tell folks how they can support your campaign.Abe Hamadeh: My top three issues are, of course, the border. I mean, the border is completely open because of the disaster of the Biden administration, which I do believe is intentional. And I think we need to impeach Secretary Mayorkas as soon as possible. Election integrity is my other focus, and I've been tried and tested in that battlefront, and we're going to do some good things at the at the federal level with that. And thirdly, you know, national security and military, you know, somebody who served, you know, I know what veterans go through. And I also know that a foreign policy that doesn't put America first is a is a disaster. But I feel really blessed to be to represent this district. And if anybody wants to learn more about the campaign, I'm honored to have their support. They can go to my website at for Azcom. Abe. Perfect.Sam Stone: Thank you so much, Abe. We're coming back in just a moment. All right. Welcome back to Breaking Battlegrounds with your host, Michelle Ugenti-rita. I'm Sam Stone. We're going to be continuing on with our interviews here in just a moment. But folks, you've been hearing me talk about why Refy for a year now? It's actually been a year since they started sponsoring this program. And, you know, after a few months, I went and did some research on my own and really got to know the folks in that company. And I got to tell you, you are missing a fantastic opportunity. If you don't go to their website and see about the incredible rates of return, you can get there. It's not linked to the stock market. You can earn up to a 10.25% fixed rate of return. That is just an incredible opportunity in today's market. So check them out. Invest y refy.com that's invest the letter Y then refy.com. Or give them a call at 888 y refy 24 and tell them Chuck and Sam sent you. All right. Continuing on today, folks, we have Mike Coté. He is a writer for the National Review and historian, focusing on great power, rivalry and geopolitics, blogs at Rational policy.com and host the Rational Rational Policy podcast. Mike, thank you so much for joining us. And welcome to the program.Mike Coté: Great. Thanks so much for having me.Sam Stone: So nothing to talk about at all these days in the areas of great power, rivalry and geopolitics. Um, you know, one of the one of your recent articles is that titled the Sky Isn't Falling for those who decry Western support for Ukraine, everything a precursor to World War three? This couldn't be further from the truth. Tell us a little bit about that, because I thought that was an interesting take and kind of an important one to inject into the discussion at this moment.Mike Coté: Yeah, great. Thanks so much. So the piece basically I'm trying to talk about we have people online, especially even going up to people in Congress as well as the president of the United States that are basically thinking that any sort of change in our posture in Ukraine, whether that's giving them more weapons, assisting them with intelligence, things like that, pretty much are forcing us into a third world war. You'll see people talking about World War Three, things like that all the time online. And that was something that really bothered me. As someone who studied both world wars, they're basically mistaking the way that escalation dynamics worked, both in the current war as well as in both the First and Second World War. So unfortunately.Sam Stone: What are what are some of the primary differences in that?Mike Coté: Sure. So with World War One, that's something I study a lot, and I feel like it's unfortunately not really well understood as much here in the US, but people usually think about it as, you know, war that happened for nothing. A lot of people died for really no reason. It kind of burst out of nowhere with the assassination of Franz Ferdinand in summer of 1914, but this was something that was brewing for a very, very long time beforehand. The big geopolitical rivalries between Britain and Germany and France and Russia with Germany as well, were really simmering for decades, if not longer. And this was something that really kind of ramped up over time. And I see the Ukraine war right now as much more as one of those smaller wars that were kind of earlier, a couple of decades earlier, as a precursor to the First World War. It's a proxy war essentially. Right now, the US is not directly involved, neither is any other NATO country. And you have Russia basically trying to take over their smaller neighbor. So there are various conflicts that were like this before World War One.Mike Coté: None of them blew up into the big one. Obviously that eventually happened, but there was a lot more build up to it than there is right now with Ukraine and with respect to World War II specifically, I think the lesson that people are taking away from that is kind of the opposite. We saw those smaller conflicts happening before World War II as well. Hitler was trying to gobble up different parts of Europe. Japan was trying to take over China since 1937, and essentially us in the West. We did very little about that. You famously have Neville Chamberlain with the peace in our time, getting a piece of paper at Munich, basically saying, oh, Hitler is not going to do any more besides take this part of Czechoslovakia. And we all know how well that worked out. So I think the lesson coming from World War II is that if we meet with force, these sorts of revanchist aims by a country like Russia and Ukraine, then we may be able to avoid a much bigger conflagration later on.Sam Stone: And, you know, I think that makes sense. It's a view that you don't hear expressed that clearly very often. And I think one of the issues that I see with the public on this is that coverage of the war tends to be either rah rah or no, no, the war in Ukraine, there isn't much room for nuance, it seems, in the national discussion right now.Mike Coté: Yeah, yeah. And I think that's a big problem with it. I mean, I wish the president would go out and make a speech that really kind of explained the stakes, why it matters to the US to aid Ukraine in this war against Moscow and kind of help them protect their own territory. You know, one of the things that I think people don't talk nearly enough about is the world system. We live in now that the US is really the hegemon of. That's something that's very fragile. And these things that are chopping away at the edges of it, like the war in Ukraine, really do undermine our security here at home.Sam Stone: Yeah, absolutely. We're going to be going to break here in a moment, but we're coming back with more from Mike Kott, writer from National Review and historian focusing on great power, rivalry and geopolitics, blogs at Rational policy.com. And he's the host of the Rational Policy podcast. We also want to get into, obviously, what's going on with the Israel-hamas conflict and how history can help us understand that conflict a little bit better. And in general, I think it's valuable just to hear from people who aren't looking at these things as black and white and very straightforward. They are complex issues that will affect this world for decades to come. So stay tuned, folks. We're coming back with more in just a moment.Advertisement: At Overstock. We know home is a pretty important place, and that's why we believe everyone deserves a home that makes them happy. Whether you're furnishing a new house or apartment or simply looking to update and refresh a few rooms, Overstock has every day free shipping and amazing deals on the beautiful, high quality furniture and decor you need to transform any home into the home of your dreams. Overstock. Making dream homes come true.Sam Stone: Welcome back to Breaking Battlegrounds with your host, Michelle Ugenti-rita. I'm Sam Stone on the line with us. Mike Cote, writer for the National Review. Mike, when we went to the break, we were talking obviously a little bit about the Ukraine conflict with Russia. I do want to touch one thing real quick on that, and then I want to get on to what's going on in Israel and Hamas. And another piece you've written that I think is very interesting. But talking about containing Vladimir Putin. How much do leaders around the world and intelligence agencies see Ukraine as a line where if we allow that, that domino to fall, that it's almost certain Russia will take additional steps, and perhaps China and other potential aggressors will see that as the green light to go in, you know, expand their territorial ambitions.Mike Coté: Yeah. And I think that's that's very true. I think one thing with Ukraine specifically is we've kind of seen this happening over the past decade or so. In 2008, you had the invasion of Georgia by Russia, which we didn't really do much about, that. Georgia was not in NATO is not in NATO at this point. Basically, Russia carved off a significant portion of Georgia and has kind of kept that country on the sidelines in terms of an American or a NATO alliance. We saw that as well in Ukraine in 2014, when Russia invaded, took Crimea and started a long, prolonged conflict in the eastern part of the country. Obviously, this year they've expanded that, trying to take out pretty much all of Ukraine. Their initial advance was really on Kiev, which was the capital. And obviously trying to do that is not something you do if you're just trying to take small, different parts of the territory. I think one thing that Vladimir Putin is banking on is that Ukraine is not in NATO. I think that really is where he's trying to push at first to see how NATO responds when it's not a NATO ally that's directly affected. But we have seen NATO allies directly affected as well, especially in the Baltic countries. Over the past 5 or 6 years. We've seen various incursions there, especially with cyber attacks.Mike Coté: And that's something that I think we're going to see more of going forward, that asymmetric sort of warfare, trying to test NATO's tripwires and see where we'll really get a stronger response and where they may not. And as you said, with other countries, especially with China, in Taiwan, I think, as you said, with respect to Israel, we've seen Iran becoming more belligerent with respect to the way that it's attacking Israel and trying to carry out its own aims. You know, we've responded pretty strongly in Ukraine. I think one of the problems is we haven't been getting them the material they need fast enough. The Biden administration has basically slow walked a lot of these things saying, oh, you know, Israel doesn't need it, sorry, Ukraine doesn't need it. And then a few months later, okay, well, Ukraine can get it in a couple of months from now. And by the end of that cycle, it's 8 to 9 months, if not a year down the line, that Ukraine is actually getting these sorts of weapons on the battlefield. And that sort of delay is something that I think really does incentivize our enemies to try to make these big moves, especially like China on Taiwan, and try to get that done before we even really have the opportunity to react.Sam Stone: Yeah, absolutely. Okay. Moving on and switching up subjects a little bit here, talking about what's going on in Israel with the Hamas attacks. Israel's response. You had a great piece accusing Israel of genocide as a moral outrage, but also based on your historical background and knowledge. How can people I mean, again, this is a narrative, Michel, that I think has been massively oversimplified in public discussion here and around the globe. There's a lot of history that goes into this. And people, you know, people talking about apartheid or talking about occupation don't seem to understand that history very much at all. So, Mike, give us a little bit of that background and what is informing the decisions that are being made on both sides.Mike Coté: Sure. So I mean, you can go back even to before the foundation of the State of Israel in 1948. And see, there was very interesting back and forth between Israel, Jews in the area that would become Israel, and the Arabs in the area that would have become Palestine had they accepted the creation of a state either in 1948 or later on. And basically, we're seeing a battle over something that's been really fought about for for centuries. The Holy Land has always been somewhere that you've had competing claims Muslim, Jewish, Christian, obviously, the Crusades going back over a millennia at this point. But with respect to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it really goes back to 1948, where you have Israel being partitioned, the land that was Mandate Palestine. The UN basically split it into what would have become a Jewish state and what would have become an Arab state. And that was something that was accepted by Jewish leaders at the time, including David Ben-Gurion, who became the first prime minister of the country. Unfortunately, the Arabs did not accept this and had basically launched a genocidal invasion at the time to wipe out all the Jews of Israel. And this is something that you can see pretty clearly from the historical record. Various Arab and Palestinian leaders essentially are saying that we need to wipe out the Jews here. We need to make sure that this is purely a muslim land. And at that time, you had a significant number of Arabs living in what would become Israel. Many of them fled. There was a lot of fighting that was really back and forth, civil war, sort of fighting. A lot of civilian casualties on both sides. And the Arab armies that were coming in essentially said, hey, get out of our way.Mike Coté: Let us come in here to do what we need to do to destroy what would be the state of Israel. And then you can go back to your homes afterward. And so a lot of people did listen to that. Most of the population, the Arab population of the area fled. I think there were about 750,000 refugees. Palestinians today call that the Nakba, the catastrophe. So basically, the catastrophe for them was the very existence of Israel in the first place. And you see a lot of this happening at the time, you know, various partitions of states, India and Pakistan being split up, which caused about 15 million refugees, a much, much larger population. And those people were eventually absorbed into those two states. Obviously, there's still conflict between India and Pakistan, but you don't have as much of that internal conflict, whereas you have Palestinian refugees that have been refugees in camps for 75 years now. And I lay a lot of that blame at the feet of the Arab states around which have kept the Palestinians essentially completely outside of the political process in these countries. Whereas you had Arabs who remained and became citizens of the state of Israel who have participated in politics in Israel. You even had in the last government, an Arab party was part of the government for the first time in Israeli history. So it's really been a very long term conflict here. You've always had Palestinian Arabs, especially in the leadership, basically advocating a genocidal aim towards the Jews of Israel. And that's something that is very, very hard to make peace with, as we have seen.Sam Stone: Obviously, the underlying issue, I mean, really break it down, is that one side would accept peace and one side will not. And the accusations of genocide are completely reversed from the reality. Yeah.Mike Coté: No, totally. I mean, it's one of those things again and again, you'll hear even people who have been very pro the peace process. Bill Clinton, for example, in 2000, essentially was trying to broker a deal at Camp David between Yasser Arafat and the Israeli government, and they gave Arafat essentially everything that he could ask for in terms of territorial splits, in terms of having a relatively contiguous Palestinian state. And he turned it down, and they launched the Second Intifada, which killed several hundred Jews in terrorist attacks across Israel. And it's really one of those things where, again, you can offer so much, but if it's not accepted, what are you going to do? Israel withdrew unilaterally from Gaza in 2005, pulled out Israeli settlers at gunpoint and relocated them into the state of Israel. And yet you had the people of Gaza essentially electing Hamas as their government, who only had one election. They've held a power in Gaza the rest of the time, and they've been using all of the aid money we give them, essentially, to impoverish their own people and build terrorist infrastructure to try to destroy Israel. So it's very hard to make peace with a group of people who are led essentially by terrorists, who have no interest in actually having a state, even when they have the chance.Sam Stone: One of the one of the charges you hear all the time is that Israeli settlements are encroaching upon Palestinian land. But but as you point out, since 2005, that has not been the case. As far as I can tell. Those complaints are actually based on well, Israel's population is growing, so they're building more houses in Israel.Mike Coté: Yeah, yeah, that's a lot of it. And you do have some settlements in the West Bank, which have been very controversial, but that has nothing to do with the conflict with Hamas in Gaza. Like I said, there have been no Jews living in Gaza essentially since 2005. And if you look at Palestinian governed territories or generally the Middle East overall, it used to be various vibrant Jewish communities across the Middle East, whether that was from in Morocco, in Baghdad, which had a centuries old Jewish community. They were all evicted essentially after 1948, causing about 850,000 refugees, which were indeed accepted by Israel and integrated into the population.Sam Stone: So a fair swap at that time, I mean, if we're just talking fair, would have been, okay. All you Arab states, you take the 750,000. That are.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: Refugees.Sam Stone: That are that left to get out of the way of your armies. You take those refugees and we're taking the 750,000 Jews. But but this, this sort of genocide, if you want to talk about genocide or apartheid has continued very programmatically into very recent years in a lot of these Arab countries where even just 10 or 20 years ago, there were still hundreds of thousands of Jews living there. And now there are basically none.Mike Coté: Yeah, yeah, you've seen that happen constantly across the years. And thankfully there is a state of Israel for these people to go to that would be able to protect them. And I think that's one of the biggest things that we see is that obviously there is the atrocities of October 7th, and that was one thing that was obviously a very big security failure for Israel that they'll be dealing with over time. But that's somewhere where you have an Israeli army that is meant to protect Jews in Israel. And having that place for them to go to is something that really is very different than what the Arab countries. Obviously, there are plenty of Arab countries. Jordan has a very large Palestinian population, and yet they have refused to essentially integrate these people into their societies, which has indeed actually caused many more problems. Know, if these Arab countries aren't integrating Palestinian refugees, that breeds more resentment. And instead of directing that resentment towards the Arab countries, they're directing it towards the one Jewish state in the region.Sam Stone: Mike, before we wrap up, we have just about three minutes left here today. Really appreciate you joining us on the program, folks. You can follow his work at Rational policy.com. Also at National Review. Mike Cote, I want to thank you so much for joining us. But before you go, I want to jump onto one last topic. You recently wrote a piece, The Multi-headed Hydra Menacing America, talking about increasing cooperation between China, Russia and Iran. Why should that concern the average American?Mike Coté: So basically, I think it comes down to their goal, which is really what unites them. They all wish to essentially destroy the world order that we live in and have lived in since the end of World War two. Basically, at that point in time, the transition from Britain, you know, running the world is really not the right word. But controlling the world system, making the rules, trying to establish fairness for various countries that really that responsibility came on to the United States. And what we've seen over the past 75 years is an explosion in prosperity, not only within the US, but around the world. Whether that's been the protection of trade by the American Navy, the fact that we have rule of law generally have international bodies which have arbitrated disputes between states. Obviously, there have been wars since World War two, but nothing to the extent of that war. And I think part of that is really because of the Western led world order and these countries China, Russia and Iran, as well as some of their proxies, Venezuela and North Korea, etcetera. They want to overturn that. They want to return to a world that's much more like the 19th century, where you'd have hard spheres of influence with the great powers basically running their near abroad and controlling that. And that's been something that has not been the case for the past 75 years, where we've had small states be able to have their own interests and have their own security without having to worry about their bigger neighbors gobbling them up. And so these nations really want to go back to that older world where they can have a stronger influence around the countries around them, whether that's economic or military. And one of the ways they're trying to dismantle our world order is through secondary economic institutions. They try to avoid US sanctions. They try to build their own banking systems, things like that, to really separate themselves from the American led order. And that poses a danger to us here at home, because it really cuts at the core of our prosperity and our security.Sam Stone: Fantastic. Mike, thank you so much for joining us today, folks. Mike Kotei, writer for the National Review. Mike, how do folks follow you and your work and stay in touch? And obviously, we're going to look forward to having you back on to continue some of these discussions. I think it's critical for the future. Yeah, sure.Mike Coté: Well, thanks so much. They can check out my website at Rational policy.com. I write there a good bit. Obviously I have writing at National Review, Providence Magazine, and The Federalist, and you can check me out on Twitter or whatever they're calling it now at RATL Policy.Sam Stone: Fantastic, folks. Thank you so much for tuning in today. Breaking battlegrounds. We'll be back on the air next week, but make sure you download our podcast segment. Also got some juicy stuff in there this week from Michelle and I. Breaking battlegrounds back next week.Advertisement: The 2022 political field was intense, so don't get left behind in 2024. If you're running for political office, the first thing on your to do list needs to be securing your name on the web with a Your name web domain from GoDaddy.com. Get yours now.Sam Stone: All right, welcome to the exclusive podcast segment of Breaking Battlegrounds with your host today, Michelle Ugenti-rita. Thank you so much for joining us in studio I love coming. You know, we were talking a bit in the first segment, and I want to kind of build off of that about the Democrats really appear to have a problem with pedophilia, and they have a problem calling it out, and they're not willing to just be like, this is wrong.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: Well.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: You know. Do they see a constituency there?Sam Stone: Apparently they must. I mean, but but so I was thinking about that in light of everything going on with Hamas and Israel. Right. I don't know how you cannot anybody everybody cannot unambiguously say that people. Raping women and children, taking hostages, killing civilians, 1400 dead civilians. How? You cannot say that. That is an unalloyed wrong. There is no justification for such an act ever. And yet you see Democrats in this country, they cannot say that.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: Right. There's something there's something that they're unwilling to admit.Sam Stone: The moral, the moral equivalencies they're creating. Are just. I mean.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: But remember.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: These are the same people that can't even say what a woman is.Sam Stone: Yeah, it all ties together, though, to me, Michel, because, like, you can't say that a woman's a woman. No, you can't call a pedophile a pedophile, and you can't call a terrorist a terrorist.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: So it's bigger than those examples. It's it's really this war on facts and the truth. And they seem to want you to believe that there's subjectivity in facts and the truth and there's not. It just is factual and it just is the truth, whether you believe it or not, doesn't take it away. The truth doesn't need you to support it. It survives and exists outside of of whether you agree with it or not. But they don't want it seems like they don't want you to believe that. They want you to believe. Whatever they say is the truth, or that you have some ability to create your own set of facts and truth.Sam Stone: You know.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: How do you have. A society if there aren't rules?Sam Stone: Well, so this is actually the point I was I was going to get to with all this discussion. How do you have a society without some sort of moral values? Right? I mean, the entire Western world has been built on essentially the Judeo-Christian set of values, right? We all agreed on those things. And I think one of the things that's going on is Democrats. It's all about power and control. And a moral. People do not require a lot of government oversight.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: No, but.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: You're right on power and control. That's exactly what you saw with Covid. That was all about power and control. That's what all of. And that's really this. The trans gender issue is about power and control, making you feel that you can't even speak out loud what you know to be true, what is true, what is factual because you are so in fear of being either ridiculed, fired, you know, drawn and quartered in your community. And that's a power and control thing. They don't want you to feel like you have freedom. They want you to get permission.Sam Stone: And and you just brought up a really good point. So for like you and me, you know, I say things whether here on the radio or on Twitter, which I now call Twix, right? I say things all the time that if I were working for almost any company, any fortune 500 company in this country, I would be fired that day.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: There'd be some video.Sam Stone: Oh no. Yeah, I mean, they they would never tolerate someone like me. They would never hire someone like me if they went back and looked at those things.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: So, you know, I, you know, this really actually brings up an interesting area which is corporations and what they're doing, what they have done. To allow this and give this kind of this, this power grab steam. I mean, look how they market. Look what they do. Look at the choices they make, look at how they set up their corporate boardrooms and the diversity training and what, you know, cancelling Christmas parties because God forbid, you celebrate anything and, you know, they're part of it.Sam Stone: It's corporate cowardice, I think is the root of this. And I don't think they're just part of it. I think they are the engine now behind it, because I think the I think the left realised that without the power of corporations behind these ideas, that these ideas would never extend past the dark recesses of academia.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: That's right.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: They would implode upon any reasonable person, you know, thinking about it or looking at it. It couldn't survive. It's that nonsensical. So you use corporate the corporate world to.Sam Stone: Yeah, you infiltrate HR.Sam Stone: You take HR and turn it into something it was never intended to be. Hr was never intended to be the Hall monitor in a business. It was simply intended to be the person who managed like your health plan and your benefits. Yeah, exactly. And, you know, oversaw the paperwork for now.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: You know, looking in your office and seeing what posters you've put up or, you know.Sam Stone: They're following all your socials, you know, they're they're tracking everything you say and do.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: These ideas don't sell like you were saying. So people have to be.Sam Stone: They have to be.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: Coerced and coerced into acquiescing. So that's why you can never acquiesce. Don't put that mask on. Don't social distance.Sam Stone: Amen. You know, I know absolutely.Sam Stone: Absolutely. You're hearing it from a Jewish guy now.Sam Stone: Amen, sister.Sam Stone: There's no question that is exactly right. The only answer is to have no tolerance at all for their version of this societal great change that they're trying to bring in, which is built on the most amoral and and unsustainable foundation.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: Well, no. Yes. It's collectivism. Right? Everybody does the same thing. Nobody stands out. That is not how we are built, particularly in America. It's exceptionalism that motivates us. Individuality. It's funny that these are the same people that pretend to care about individuality when they want everyone to be the same, marched to the same tune. Do not deviate. Everyone has to act the same, be the same, think the same, look the same. It's that's really how they behave.Sam Stone: It's an amazing.Sam Stone: Point. It's. It is. You're telling these people, oh, you're an individual warrior, and yet you don't allow them to step out of line one bit. They're ants marching, right?Michelle Ugenti- Rita: That's exactly right, sheeple. Going right off the cliff.Sam Stone: Well, and speaking of off the cliff, folks, we are going off this cliff and off the air. But thank you so much for tuning in and joining us today. We really, really appreciate having you. And make sure if you're not subscribed, subscribe. Send this to a friend. We really count on those things to show the support to the Salem Network and to our folks here, so we can expand and help reach more people each week. Again, thank you for tuning in for Michelle. I'm Sam. We'll see you next week. Get full access to Breaking Battlegrounds at breakingbattlegrounds.substack.com/subscribe

Join us for a dynamic episode featuring three exceptional guests who bring diverse insights to the forefront. Paul McLeary, a seasoned defense journalist at Politico with unparalleled reporting experiences; Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, a former Navy Lieutenant Commander, physician, and political candidate running in Arizona’s 4th Congressional District; and Rick VanMeter, the Executive Director of The Coalition for App Fairness, leading a bipartisan effort to address anti-competitive policies from tech giants Apple and Google. -Connect with us:www.breakingbattlegrounds.voteTwitter: www.twitter.com/Breaking_BattleFacebook: www.facebook.com/breakingbattlegroundsInstagram: www.instagram.com/breakingbattlegroundsLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/breakingbattlegrounds-About our guestsPaul McLeary covers major defense programs and acquisitions policy for POLITICO. He previously covered the Pentagon for Foreign Policy, Defense News and Breaking Defense, and has embedded with U.S. forces in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria.In Afghanistan, he was the first reporter to get inside the secretive ODIN program that targeted insurgents planting roadside bombs, and later accompanied U.S. special operations forces training Syrian Kurds in northern Syria. He has also traveled to the Arctic with the Norwegian military.-Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, a former Navy Lieutenant Commander, physician, and political candidate running in Arizona’s 4th Congressional District-Rick VanMeter is the Executive Director of The Coalition for App Fairness. A bipartisan Congressional effort aimed to address anti-competitive policies from Big Tech companies Apple and Google.-TRANSCRIPTIONSam Stone: Welcome to another episode of Breaking Battlegrounds with your host, Sam Stone. Chuck Warren and I are apparently taking alternate days off this month, but fortunately for for us, we have Michelle Ugenti Rita in studio today to be here. Michelle is always fantastic and another fantastic lineup of guests for you today, folks. First off, we're leading out with Paul McCleary. He covers major defense programs and acquisitions policy for Politico, previously covered the Pentagon for foreign policy, defense news and breaking defense and has embedded with US forces in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria. Paul, thank you so much for joining us today. Welcome to the program.Paul Mcleary: Thank you.Sam Stone: Obviously, there's a lot going on right now. A lot of news focused around Israel and Gaza and everything going on there. But that's also leading to a lot of ripple effects around the globe in terms of defense, in terms of economics, a whole host of, of of problems that are created when a situation like this kicks off. Can you talk a little bit about what's going on and how that's affecting our defense programs and policy really globally right now?Paul Mcleary: Sure thing. Yeah. I mean, I think what the wars in Ukraine and now in Israel are really showing is that the the Pentagon gets $800 billion a year, is well funded, but there are some real stresses here that were being felt even before these wars and the defense industry, as far as how long it takes to get new weapons and equipment under contract and things like that, and how expensive they are. And that has not been working out well for Ukraine as we're shipping billions of dollars worth of weaponry. We've given 2 million, I think, artillery shells to Ukraine. And the Pentagon has been struggling a little bit to get contracts to the defense industry to replenish our own stocks for that sort of thing. Both countries are also using a lot of Israel, more than than Ukraine, precision guided weapons. And those are expensive. They're kind of tough to make. And the US hasn't really ramped up production for those as much as maybe they would like to, given that China is also posing a threat on the other side of the world. We're not in a war with China, obviously, but the DoD is trying to increase production to increase its stocks for that, while it's also giving to Ukraine and now Israel. So there's some real concern on Capitol Hill and at DoD about how they're going to pull this off. There's no US troops involved in in these wars, clearly, but the US defense industry is going to have to get on wartime footing at some point. And it's definitely not right now, which is the new package that the Biden administration released on Friday morning. $106 billion for Taiwan, for Israel, for Ukraine, for the US defense industry, for border security. And that's going to try to get at some of this to increase production lines, speed things up a little bit. But there's no House of Representatives at the moment. So that bill is going to go anywhere for the foreseeable future. It's going to be some debate.Sam Stone: Is there a whole you know, you follow obviously, acquisitions policy really closely. And I've wondered for a few years now if we have a hole in our thinking where our adversaries around the globe are manufacturing very quick, cheap, easy to manufacture weapons, where everything we have is very high tech and tends to be very expensive. Does the US need to consider creating almost a secondary pipeline for weapons that we we've known how to manufacture for 50 years, and things that can be manufactured and given into the field very quickly.Paul Mcleary: Yeah. I mean, the thing with God is everything that they buy is bespoke, right? Very little commercial off the shelf, off the off the shelf equipment and stuff, you know, and and so everything that they buy or they ask industry to make is made for God specifically. Right. They demand intellectual property, things like that. So it is tough for them to do it quickly. And it's tough sometimes to even share that technology with with allies. That's been the case with Ukraine, with some of the weapons systems, even with Israel. So and we've seen the Ukrainians, I mean, they're building small drones using Chinese parts and whatever they have, and they're being incredibly effective with it. The Russians have no answer for it, but the US Army and military would never do that in a million years. Right? Right, right.Sam Stone: Right.Paul Mcleary: Build small parts even though it works. But we're just not going to do it.Sam Stone: Yeah. I mean, it seems like our enemies obviously have the ability to wage war for a lot less money than we do. And a lot of it comes down to that sort of bespoke military that you're talking about.Paul Mcleary: Exactly. I mean, the Chinese are doing it, the Ukrainians are doing it. Most countries around the world are doing it to some degree, and DoD won't. And there's a real push to try to change that. There's a new program that the DoD announced in August. We don't have a lot of details about it called replicator, which is a great name, where they want to build thousands of small drones that can be lost. They can be treatable where they can perform drones, drone swarms, do surveillance, I think some kind of kinetic activity. And this is aimed directly at China because China is building these, these drone swarms and things like that. But there's a lot of questions if DoD can do this in the next 24 months, which which they're giving themselves a timeline to do it if industry is ready, if DoD will trust small, innovative companies who they don't have a relationship with to work on this stuff, because this has been a years long project where DoD is trying to get VC firms, small tech firms to work with them. And they've had real, real problem with it because the overhead is low, the payoff is low for these companies, and it takes years for DoD to do anything right. They say, okay, this little drone looks good. Make five of them. We'll get back to you in two years, and we'll tell you if we want to buy 500 of them. And these companies say no thanks, it's not worth their time, right?Sam Stone: Yeah. We talked to a reporter a few maybe, actually about a year ago, who was talking about this in a different sense, that we've become too reliant on just a handful of major contractors, and they're not designed none of them. Their operations are designed to quickly gear up to expand production overnight.Paul Mcleary: Well, exactly. Well, this is part of in 1993. So I'll be quick about the history lesson, I promise. Then-secretary of Defense Les Aspin called in all the major defense contractors for a dinner at the Pentagon, and it's called the Last Supper. And he told them, hey, budgets are going down. There's 92 defense companies. And some of you, we have no problem with some of you going out of business, so you're going to have to consolidate or die. So those dozens of defense companies whittled down to the handful we have today, which creates less competition, higher prices. Et cetera. Et cetera. So that was a decision made then, that we're really feeling now that all those smaller companies that maybe would compete or have new ideas are now, you know, ten companies, essentially the Lockheed Raytheon's BAE systems bought up all those companies. So the policy decisions made 30 years ago are having a real impact now in trying to modernize and reform the system.Michelle Ugenti-Rita: Is is America vulnerable militarily, with us being pulled so thin across all of these different interests in terms?Paul Mcleary: Yeah, I mean, I think that there's an argument that the DoD makes that I think has some merit to it that, you know, we're giving billions of dollars worth of equipment to Ukraine. But what Ukraine is doing with that investment is decimating the Russian war machine. Right? I mean, stuff that we had built in the 80s or early 90s to fight the Soviet Union is now fighting the Russians in Ukraine. And it works. It works the way they wanted it to work. And the Russians, a lot of it for a lot of this equipment, don't have a good answer for it. And this is at the cost of the package. Today will be at 64 billion for for Ukraine, a lot of money, but no American soldiers are being killed, no Americans are being taken hostage or prisoners. So the argument by DoD is that this is we're achieving our aims cheaply and without loss of American life. But still, like I said before, until and unless DoD and industry can really figure out a way to get industry on some sort of. War footing. It's not sustainable for the long run for the United States. If this war drags on for four years, which it looks like it likely will.Sam Stone: That looks like it will drag on for years. And, you know, we we've talked about that quite a bit on this program that I don't think anyone really has any idea of what the out out in story is. Is Gaza different? Because it does seem like Israel is starting to very carefully focus on what comes after the invasion that appears to be imminent.Paul Mcleary: Yeah, it does appear that the IDF will go in on the ground in Gaza and try to clear out the north and target Hezbollah leadership. I it's it's not clear that Israel has a good day after plan other than decimating Hamas leadership. What comes next? Is it going to be an occupation? Is it a couple of battalions behind you? Create a buffer zone. It's that is going to be tough, tough stuff because the urban fight in in Gaza will be will be absolutely brutal. And we, the United States has done it in Najaf and in Fallujah. And those were hard, bloody door to door, literally room to room knife fights.Sam Stone: And and those are not as dense. And the density creates additional challenges in that type of environment. Right.Paul Mcleary: Exactly. I spent some time in Fallujah with the Marines after the, after the big fight. And there was still, you know, some some resistance there, but just driving through those streets and, you know, taking over houses and, and just trying to do that in a populated, dense city is just so hard. I mean, every time you turn a corner, there's a threat. Every time you pass an open window, there's a threat. And Hamas, I'm assuming, has Islamic Jihad has dug in pretty well in Gaza. They're going to have tunnels. And so this will be incredibly difficult for Israel. And it blunts a lot of their technological advantages, right? Things like drones and things like that they'll still be able to use, but packed in so tight those won't be nearly as effective as they would be on open ground.Sam Stone: We have just about a minute and a half before we go to break. We're going to be coming back with more right after that. From Paul McCleary with Politico covers major defense programs and acquisitions policy. Talking a little bit about, obviously, Gaza and Israel, what's going on in the world right now. But also I want to touch a little bit on Taiwan and China and does this when we come back. Does this create an opening, the US involvement in Ukraine now in Israel, potentially a pretty significant supporting of our ally there? Does this continue to make things more dangerous for Taiwan and increase the chances that China may look to take advantage of everything that's going on in the world right now? And obviously, I want to give you a little bit more time than the 30s we're about to have here. But Michelle, I think it's not been talked about enough. What what all this various conflicts is doing to create additional instability.Michelle Ugenti-Rita: Absolutely.Sam Stone: So folks, make sure you stay tuned for that. We're going to be coming back with more from Paul McCleary in just a couple of minutes. And then stay tuned afterwards, because we have a very interesting second guest on the program, Dr. Judy Zaza. Zuhdi Jasser. I'm getting his name wrong already, but he has a fantastic background, and he's just announced a run for Congress here in Arizona. It's going to be an interesting fight, folks. Stay tuned. Breaking battlegrounds back in just a moment.Advertisement: At Overstock. We know home is a pretty important place, and that's why we believe everyone deserves a home that makes them happy. Whether you're furnishing a new house or apartment or simply looking to update and refresh a few rooms. Overstock has every day free shipping and amazing deals on the beautiful, high quality furniture and decor you need to transform any home into the home of your dreams. Overstock. Making dream homes come true.Sam Stone: Welcome back to Breaking Battlegrounds with your host Sam Stone in studio with me today, Michelle Ugenti-rita. Michelle, thank you so much for joining us. And on the line, Paul McLeary covers major defense programs and acquisition policy for Politico. We're talking, obviously, about what's going on in Israel and Gaza and the effects all around the globe. Paul, is this creating an opening that China may look to take advantage of, or that creates additional concern for Taiwan in that regard?Paul Mcleary: Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. The Biden administration is trying to at least make the right noises about this in the $106 billion supplemental today for Israel and Ukraine and other things. There's 2 billion for foreign military financing for Indo-Pacific partners, and there's also money for Taiwan to finance US weaponry. But yeah, I think the Chinese are seeing the United States and Europe being consumed with the fight in Ukraine and now Israel. And just like they watched for 20 years in Iraq and Afghanistan, while China was cranking out destroyers and aircraft carriers and submarines and things like that, they can kind of continue with that, that that project there is I think they're also probably taking some lessons from the from the fighting, right, in that in Ukraine, particularly that a small country backed up by the West and can fight and can do some real damage to a larger industrialized nation like Russia.Sam Stone: Well, and they share a lot of the same technology. Theirs is better for the most part, but the basis of a lot of their military technology. Is Russian technology, correct?Paul Mcleary: It is. It is the disadvantage that Chinese have if they were to try something in Taiwan or, you know, give them a shooting war in the Pacific, is that they haven't they haven't fired a shot in anger since the late 70s when they fought Vietnam to a standstill. Right. So they have brand new ships and submarines and drones and a lot of and fourth or fifth generation fighter jets, as we've seen with Russia and Ukraine. That stuff doesn't always work. You know, you build stuff cheaply and in mass. It's not always going to work the way you want it to.Sam Stone: It doesn't even always work for us. I mean, hence the f 35 and its continued travails. But yeah.Paul Mcleary: Exactly. Or the littoral combat ship for the Navy, which are retiring five years after they built some of them. So that's not to take away what China's done, but it's a big unknown. If this stuff works right, we're doing something in an exercise is a lot different than doing it under the stress of actual combat. But the United States is trying to bolster allies in the region, you know, trying to make more deals with countries like Vietnam. There's a big push in the Philippines to get them more aircraft and more ships and things like that. So it is an increasingly complex situation in the Indo-Pacific, and it's kind of unclear where China wants to take this and how just how, how many things the United States and its allies in the West can juggle at the same time?Sam Stone: Reading into some of what kicked off this event in in Israel, in Gaza, it looked in the weeks preceding this like they were going to be some fairly historic agreements coming up on the table between Israel and some of the other regional powers there, particularly Saudi and Egypt. We're talking about a large economic corridor for transport. How much are groups like Hamas tuned in to those sorts of things, and how much does that affect their decision making when they launch these type of things? Or was this just something from what you know, that they were planning and they were going to do regardless of anything else going on in the world?Paul Mcleary: Yeah, I mean, Hamas had clearly planned this for, for several years. I mean, this was a complex, massive operation. They somehow kept kept secret. But I would think that the agreements that were being reached, Israel kind of being accepted slowly and incrementally into the larger Middle East community, I'm sure that did concern them. But they also took advantage of an Israeli defense force that was completely distracted by. I mean, I think they were most of the IDF was focused on the West Bank. That's where the Israeli settlers and their politicians in the Knesset had demanded more protection from the IDF. And those are Likud voters. There's a Netanyahu people. So the IDF was fully focused on the West Bank, and it was also in focus, focused on a lot of internal fighting, with Netanyahu trying to change the Constitution and and exert more control over the courts. You know, there were mass resignations, there were protests within the IDF from top leadership to the to to regular soldiers. And I've spoken to a few IDF soldiers who said that they were distracted by just internal fights over these political moves by Netanyahu and the rejection of them within the military. So I think they took advantage of that. The idea of being focused on the West Bank and the internal struggles in Israel, where they took their eye off, off the border there and in Gaza and. They clearly took advantage of that and took the Israeli army hours to reach a lot of those communities, which wouldn't have been the case probably just a few years ago.Sam Stone: That brings up kind of the follow up question is the IDF regardless of some of these other things going on, have they gotten, you know, sorry to say it this way, but a little soft, a little complacent with the last decade of relative quiet?Paul Mcleary: Yeah.Paul Mcleary: I mean, I think whenever things are quiet and there seems to be a status quo, most people settle into a routine. Right? And you watch the border and nothing happens. You do that for years at a time. You probably settle into that routine. But like I said, a lot of those units that were around Gaza were pulled out to go over to West Bank and the West Bank and and protect the Israeli settlers there. So I think that was it was a confluence of a lot of events. And Hamas pays attention. And they saw it happening and they they decided the time was right. I'm sure with the agreements Israel is making with other countries and just kind of the internal chaos and the distraction by the IDF, they figured it was time to go.Michelle Ugenti-Rita: Who's Hamas is, you know, back up where where can they rely on for military support and money and finance?Paul Mcleary: Several places I've speaking to earlier today, a few sources in the region who said that the Israelis have seen some North Korean components in some of the rockets that have come over from Gaza. So they have been pulling a little bit from North Korea, is happy to solve anybody.Sam Stone: Right? Right.Paul Mcleary: So they've pulled from North Korea. There's been some Iranian help, just like with Hezbollah. So they they have allies and sources that they can. I mean, there's been a blockade of Gaza for years, but they've still managed to smuggle in all this weaponry and all this equipment. So it gets in and they have some state actors who are helping them out for.Sam Stone: Fantastic. Paul, I want to thank you so much for joining us today. How do folks stay in touch with you and follow your work? Because obviously, we'd love to have you back on the program. I thought this was a fascinating discussion. I'm sure a lot of folks out there want to stay in tune with the work you're doing.Paul Mcleary: Yeah, thanks for having me on. I write daily or multiple times a day, depending on what happens in the world. Yeah. Politico.com. I'm also on Twitter at Paul McCleary Mcleary. And if I could remember my blue Sky and threads handles, I would tell you those, but you could look me up on either one of those, and they could.Sam Stone: Probably find you through your Twitter and take it away from there. Right?Paul Mcleary: Exactly, exactly.Sam Stone: Paul, thank you so much. We really, really appreciate having you on the program. Thank you for fantastic discussion today, and we'll look forward to having you back on to talk about some more of this stuff, as unfortunately, the world doesn't look like it's getting safer anytime soon.Paul Mcleary: So thank you very much.Sam Stone: Okay, folks, make sure you stay tuned. We're going to be coming back with a couple more segments here. Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, he has an amazing resume.Michelle Ugenti-Rita: Michele, interested to hear about this. A challenger to Stanton.Sam Stone: It's a it's a blue seat. You got to you got to be ready to fight.Michelle Ugenti-Rita: I want to hear the strategy. Yeah.Sam Stone: Me too. All right, folks, breaking battlegrounds. Coming back with more in just a moment. Welcome back to Breaking Battlegrounds, folks. You've been hearing us talk about why reify for a while now, and if you haven't gone on their website and checked them out, you need to do it today. Especially with the stock market as discombobulated as it is, the market's going up. It's going down. World events are decimating people's bankrolls and their futures. So you need to check out our friends at Invest Refy. You can earn up to a 10.25% fixed rate of return. That's not correlated to the stock market. All you got to do is go there, invest the letter Y, then refy.com, or give them a call at 888. Y REFY 24 and tell them Chuck and Sam sent you, and you'll do a fantastic thing to help secure your financial future and your family's future. So moving on with our next segment today. We are very excited to talk to recently announced congressional candidate Dr. Zuhdi Jasser. He is running against Greg Stanton here in Arizona. For folks who don't know, Stanton is the former mayor of Phoenix. He campaigns as a moderate. He governs as an extreme liberal. He did this when he was at the city of Phoenix, when he was on the council. And as the mayor, he will talk the the middle of the road all day long, but he votes the far left lane. But on the other hand, Greg Stanton is a tough competitor. He knows how to campaign. He knows how to to win in these races. And so, Dr. Jasser, thank you for joining us today. And welcome to the program. You've got a big hill to climb, but I think you're the type of guy who can climb it. Tell us a little bit about you and your background first.Dr.Zuhdi Jasser.: Well, I served in the Navy for 11 years as a physician. My family emigrated from Syria in the 60s as political refugees and got asylum here. I grew up in Wisconsin, was on a Navy scholarship for medical school, and moved here to join my father in practice in 99. My dad was a cardiologist and internal medicine doc here in town, and I've been in primary care running a small business in Maricopa County. And with most of my patients actually from the district area for now 25 years, and been very involved not only in the medical society. As a past president of the American, I'm sorry, the Arizona medical Association, but also active on the Maricopa County Board of Health and a number of areas in the community, but also post nine divided by 11, have been very active in Islamic reform, counterterrorism. And as we see now, it's more relevant than ever and have been leading the charge nationally and globally, actually in Islamic reform and counter ideology. And I think that it's time for new leadership. It's time for folks that our community trusts and have looked to leadership on a number of issues, not only in health care. I mean, through the pandemic, for example, I was one of the few docs to to stand up and say, listen, we shouldn't have these shutdowns that destroy American businesses. We shouldn't be printing money. We should allow the engine of American economy to work. And I'm for free speech and the ability of American citizens to make their own decisions and not have government make the decisions for them. And I think it's time to to send people like Congressman Stanton back home, as they are simply empty suits who talk the talk sometimes when it suits their purposes and campaigns. But the reality is, is he's a rubber stamp for President Biden and also the far left radical progressivists that are anti-Semitic and un-American.Sam Stone: And, Doctor Dr. Jasser, you have served two terms as a US Senate appointee and vice chair of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, which I think is actually one of those groups that does really good work that a lot of people don't know about. We have only about two minutes before we go to break here. We're going to be coming back for more. But tell us a little bit about that experience and what your work was there.Dr.Zuhdi Jasser.: Yeah. Thank you. Senator McConnell had appointed me based on the recommendation from Senator Kyl back in 2010. It took a year and a half of vetting. I was one of the first appointees that President Obama actually refused to accept, even though the Republican seat that should have just been accepted. But the the Islamists across the country did not want me in their served for four years. That's an independent body that had nine seats, three from the Senate, three from the House and three from the white House. That is pretty balanced. And it provides feedback to the State Department, to appropriations and others about how we spend our money abroad, and the fact that America should stand behind forces of freedom, religious freedom, protecting minorities, such as. And what I spoke out quite a bit about was the protection of Christian minority Jewish minorities across Muslim majority countries, across the planet. And 2013 we went to Egypt. I confronted the Muslim Brotherhood in meetings at the time. I went to Saudi Arabia three times and basically told our State Department that they were mistranslating things intentionally to make it seem like the Saudis were more moderate than they were. And now, fast forward, we realize we need adults in the room. And this is some of the experience, I think, that would shape my ability to do a lot more as a member of Congress and represent our constituents much better than Congressman Stanton, who really has really very little to show on what he's done in his three terms.Sam Stone: Yeah. You know, for folks who know, I worked at the city of Phoenix while Greg Stanton was mayor there, and quite frankly, he had very little to show for his time at the city of Phoenix. You know, he is he's one of those go along to get along rubber stamp votes. And folks are not being well served by him here and here in Arizona. So we're going to be coming back with more from Dr. Zuhdi Jasser in just a moment.Advertisement: At Overstock, we know home is a pretty important place, and that's why we believe everyone deserves a home that makes them happy. Whether you're furnishing a new house or apartment or simply looking to update and refresh a few rooms, Overstock has every day free shipping and amazing deals on the beautiful, high quality furniture and decor you need to transform any home into the home of your dreams. Overstock. Making dream homes come true.Sam Stone: Welcome back to Breaking Battlegrounds with the host Sam Stone and Michelle Ugenti-rita in the studio with me today on the line, Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, he's running for Congress against Greg Stanton. And while we were at the break, Michelle was asking a good question because we're broadcast now across this country, literally from coast to coast. Yes, a lot of people probably have no idea who Greg Stanton is or what this district is we're talking about.Michelle Ugenti-Rita: Yeah. Let them know what the geographical makeup.Dr.Zuhdi Jasser.: Yeah, it's a CD four. It includes all of Tempe, most of Mesa, and also Ahwatukee Phoenix. And demographically, it's a very diverse district with various populations of the community that include a large Hispanic population and, and a number of faith representations. And also the numbers Republicans should win this district. It's not as democratically blue as it was when Stan got elected. It's now plus 2%. It was split completely down the center presidential ballot with 49.1 to 49. Biden, Trump and right now registers heavier Republican by 3 to 4% with a large independent registration. So it's definitely winnable by a conservative, by Republican and with the right candidate and the right background. And that can take Stanton to task.Michelle Ugenti-Rita: Very competitive district.Sam Stone: Yeah. It is. And it's funny because it includes a big Mormon population in portions of it. But you also have Tempe where ASU is, which is is very blue around that. So Dr. Jasser, you mentioned kind of briefly that you were one of the few physicians in the country who kind of stood up to the Covid restrictions that were rolled out and all the limitations on on people, the lockdowns and everything else. Tell how how tough was that? Because there really weren't many physicians who were able or willing to do that at that time. And I think a lot of them I've talked to kind of regret not taking that that tough road that you did.Dr.Zuhdi Jasser.: Yeah. You know, this is one of the reasons I'm, you know, after being an activist and small business medicine for some time, I'm putting my hat in the ring to politics because I see folks like Stanton in politics. And I ask, where is their courage? Why? Why the demagoguery in which they say one thing privately and do something else publicly and so many physicians, unfortunately, from Fauci on down here, we have a profession that for a long time, I can tell you in primary care, I'm often trying to push physicians to tell my patients what they should do, because they're often giving them a buffet of choices and often are noncommittal. And yet, in the pandemic, we were basically our our profession almost willingly became weaponized in order to tell government that they should shut down businesses, shame gyms and shame restaurants and others into shutting down. I understand initially, until we figured out what was going on for 4 to 6 weeks, maybe it made sense. But after that, when did America become the most risk averse country in the planet in which we were basically telling businesses, telling families, somehow I became the only profession that was essential. I mean, health care is not the only essential profession. Every family is essential when they want to put food on the table for their kids and their families. And we then started doing disease trading. I was telling medical leaders here in Arizona and was on the radio frequently in television saying, listen, you're going to delay the treatment of elective procedures of cancer, screenings of patients with abdominal pain, asthma attacks, heart attacks and chest pain.Dr.Zuhdi Jasser.: And true enough, there's going to be pandemics after the pandemic. And we saw that now in the last year, so many diseases were delayed, so many treatments were traded for that one virus. It didn't make sense from a public health perspective. It didn't make sense from an American choice perspective. Let families make their own decisions. And yet politicians locked us up, told us that they couldn't go to work. And I was talking to so many people in the district that were saying they wanted to work, and they were being forced to wear masks, and sometimes they didn't disagree. They disagreed with that. They were suppressed in their free speech. They couldn't speak out against what government was mandating. And it's just from every perspective. And I think the people of this district, especially that includes ASU and other places where free speech should be a big part of who we are. I think there's going to be a large pushback in this election, as we're seeing, for example, even on the left with Rfk's candidacy and others, there's folks that are really fed up with government controlling so many aspects of our of our lives.Michelle Ugenti-Rita: Yeah. Well, I would say I mean, Covid to me was about control. I think you really hit the nail on the head there about control. How do you see the campaign moving forward right now? Are you the only Republican in the race?Dr.Zuhdi Jasser.: No. We've got a contested primary against Kelly Cooper and I've I've not met Kelly. Look forward to a challenge and challenging him. You know last time he had his hat in the ring and unfortunately lost by 12 points. So I think it's time for a new candidate, new platforms. And I think we can hit Stanton with a much broader and I think diverse portfolio, if you will, for the constituents to appeal to.Sam Stone: Yeah. And for folks again, who don't know, outside of Arizona, Kelly Cooper, a local businessman, owns a handful of restaurants here locally. You know, certainly he he, you know, did as well as he could in that run, but it was still a 12 point margin. That's a tough seat. But I think it does take a little bit more experience. And maybe he could bring that in a second run. But you come to the table with that here for your first run.Dr.Zuhdi Jasser.: Yes. And I think it's this is the issue I believe in meritocracy. That's what America is all about. And have the voters decide, you know, who is not only the best for their district, but the best to bring change and new leadership, because it's not just about being able to check a box and become a congressperson, but it's what's best for the district, what's best for the state, the country. I think the Republican Party needs a bit of a new branding, if you will, as far as diversity. And and we look on the far left, you've got extremists like Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, and I think the party of immigrants, legal immigrants as the Republican Party. And that's really the story that and the reason I believe in this country. And I've been so honored and privileged to be able to serve. So many different ways in the past few decades.Michelle Ugenti-Rita: And I think another important component of this race coming up will be turnout. So we're coming into a presidential election. And that's not what obviously last election cycle was. That was a midterm cycle. So there may be an opportunity to get this seat. If you see our side, our Republican side, really build out our turnout, the ground swell. And with Biden doing such a horrible job, I mean that in a weird way, there's a gift there. If we can capitalize on it and see if we can't win some of these more competitive seats.Dr.Zuhdi Jasser.: Amen. And this is one of the reasons I felt, you know, sort of carpe diem. Seize the moment now. Because if you look, I became a conservative in high school right after the Carter administration and saw what inflation was doing, was a Reagan conservative in junior high. And that's when I started to do my first volunteer work. And so much of this seems the same to me, is that you see a huge swing because people are working twice as much to make the same money. They are realizing that we're losing strength. We had hostages in 79 that were taken by Iran, and now we're seeing Iran fueling another war in the Middle East. Same thing is that nature abhors a vacuum. There's been a vacuum of American influence, not only domestically, economically, but globally, militarily. And I think people you're going to see a conservative wave. And this district governor Ducey won by six points in the current polling of the current district. So with the right candidate, this district can be won. And I think it's only been lost in the past because, you know, good candidates might have said, oh, it's it's too solid for Stanton, but it's just not true. I think that toe to toe pre.Sam Stone: 2020 though, the district legitimately was tougher because you had he had more of central Phoenix wrapped into it. Right. So it was through redistricting. Yeah.Dr.Zuhdi Jasser.: Yes exactly. And that's why the numbers I gave you about Ducey's margin, the Republican margin of registration of 5 to 6% is all post 2020 redistricting.Sam Stone: So one of the one of the challenges I think you're going to face in other candidates. You've got an amazing background, amazing record, is getting that out to the public in a in a year when people are talking about Arizona potentially being the having the most political spending of any state in the country, I mean, people are talking about maybe 5 to $800 million plus in political advertising spent just here in Arizona in this cycle. And obviously, you're running for Congress. You're not going to have 50 or $100 million to get your message out. How do you get across to voters who you are and who what your background is, so that they have an they can make an informed decision?Dr.Zuhdi Jasser.: Well, I think it's exactly what I've been doing for 25 years in primary care is you meet people, you engage them, and then they feel they can trust you and want to invest in your message and feel that you will serve their interests transparently and do the best possible to advance the interests of the district. So I think ultimately, as they hear that message, they'll want to invest in that future, because I think most of the voters are looking for new leadership. They don't want the same old failure that's been happening with the Democrats. They see that the Biden administration and the rubber stamps like Stanton have brought them nothing. And I think ultimately, you're right. It is going to take a bit of fuel. Stanton is not only an empty suit, but he's not as good a fundraiser as you know, the folklore has. Yes. The ICC dumped a lot of money into the last few months of his campaign, but that's really most where most of his money came from. And I think ultimately, this is my first run for political office, and I think people will be refreshed at seeing a new candidate who can bring new leadership for the district and ultimately want to invest in that and, and be able to produce very good.Sam Stone: Dr. Jasser, one of one of the things here on your resume I got to ask you about, well, two things, but I'm going to start I'm going to start with the easy one. First, you were a recipient of the Meritorious Service Medal for service to the office of the Attending Physician of the US Congress. Tell us a little bit about that, because that's pretty darn cool. Yeah.Dr.Zuhdi Jasser.: Well thank you. Yeah. My I served as a physician with the Navy for 11 years. My last billet was as a physician to Congress. I was chief resident at Bethesda Naval Hospital, which also includes NIH. And by the way, Fauci was one of our attendings out there. And after I.Sam Stone: Did, he actually did he actually, like, treat patients?Dr.Zuhdi Jasser.: Sometimes you did a lot of research, done a lot of grants. And yeah, he's a smart he's a smart guy, but obviously became a politician instead of a sort of state as an academic professor, if you will. But then my last billet was the head of internal medicine at Bethesda Naval Hospital, then became the admiral for the attending physician of Congress, and he asked me to join him. There are two junior internists that are staff physicians to Congress, and I served there for a little over two years. And after that service, I received the Meritorious Service Medal. And part of it was in recognition, I don't know if you remember, but on July 24th, 1998, Russell Weston junior shot his way into the US Capitol and killed three Capitol Hill Police officers. And I was the only physician that responded to that. It was 20 yards from our medical clinic, and we did advanced trauma life support on the police officers. And unfortunately, they didn't make it. We did get them to the hospital, but it was the closest I got to terrorism directly, if you will, with the four corpsman and I that responded to that. And I talk about it, by the way, in detail in my book, A battle for the Soul of Islam and a lot of Time on service. I was a member of the USS El Paso, served in Operation Restore Hope in 93, in Somalia, and was part of that deployment.Sam Stone: So last question before we let you go here today. You are a father of three. Your children are ages 21, 19 and 15, which means by the time it's all over, you will have had a teenager in your house for the better part of a decade and a half. Can anything prepare you as well for the battles in Congress? Is that.Dr.Zuhdi Jasser.: Exactly? This is you know, it's the teens today especially, you know, post Covid are my poor kids were stuck at home. It made my wife and I were like, this makes no sense. Why are they at home? Covid doesn't affect them. You're affecting the next generation for no reason. They had to stare at a screen instead of socialization, and it was just the worst decision public health could have made. Absolutely.Sam Stone: Folks, you can check out Dr. Zuhdi Jasser at Z for F or Z for Arescom. Check him out. Go on. Their breaking battlegrounds is going to be back on the air next week, and we'll look forward to as this campaign unfurls. Learning more about Dr. Jasser and his positions back next week.Advertisement: The 2022 political field was intense, so don't get left behind in 2024. If you're running for political office, the first thing on your to do list needs to be securing your name on the web with a Your name web domain from GoDaddy.com. Get yours now.Sam Stone: Welcome to the Breaking Battlegrounds podcast with your host, Sam Stone in the studio with me today, Michelle Ugenti-rita. Michelle, thank you so much for joining us. Happy to be here. And someone on the line right now that I'm excited to talk to because it's I love finding out about issues I know nothing about but that are potentially actually really impactful for folks. And so, ladies and gentlemen, we have Rick Vanmeter on right now. He is the executive director of the coalition for App Fairness, a bipartisan congressional effort aimed at to address anti-competitive policies from big tech companies Apple and Google. And yeah, they are really vicious in their, frankly, their agenda, in their agenda and their exclusion of all potential competitors. They have created these landscapes that are almost impossible to avoid and that they control totally. So Rick, thank you so much for joining us today. Welcome to the program.Rick Vanmeter: Yeah, thanks. Thanks for having me. We're a coalition for App Fairness is a group of about 70 app developers from all over the world. Some big companies like Spotify, Epic Games, match Group, but also a lot of smaller kind of mom and pop app developers with with 1 or 2 employees. So but what unites us all is that we're all fighting these anti-competitive practices, which come through the app stores, which are holding back innovation and creating a lot of consumer harm. So look, looking forward to discussing this with you all.Sam Stone: So how did this come about? I mean, we know that they have developed these ecosystems. And I think when you look at some of the antitrust issues behind it, it's this exclusion of app developers and other software developers from their platforms. Given that Apple and Google essentially dominate the the mobile, mobile phone and mobile device market. How were they able to do that legally?Rick Vanmeter: Well, to your point, this really came about because of the fact that Apple and Google came to dominate the mobile, the mobile internet, if you will. So if you think back, you know, ten, 13 years ago, you had a lot of different choices for smartphones. You had iPhones, there were Android devices, windows had a phone, there was Windows Phone, there were Nokia's, there were blackberries. And at that time developed kind of the the hardware companies were competing for developers to create products and software or apps for their, their devices because they lured customers to their products. You know, if you've got cool apps on iPhones, you want to buy an iPhone. That's that's why I originally wanted to buy an iPhone.Sam Stone: It's not just for the color of your texts.Rick Vanmeter: That's right. Yeah. Somebody, you know, at first I had no interest in having an iPhone. Then I had a friend who had one, and he was showing me Pandora and Google Maps. And, you know, I thought all these things were really that it was because of the software on the phone that made it desirable. And then now you've basically got a system where two companies not only control 100% of the market share, but within that market share, there's no going back and forth. It's not like Coke and Pepsi, where one day you're going to buy Coke, and maybe next week you're going to buy Pepsi. Once you have an iPhone, you're locked into that Apple ecosystem and you can't get Android apps on your your iPhone and vice versa. So it's really kind of a siloed ecosystem where they have total control over developers and ultimately over what consumers can put on their phone and what they can't have on their phone.Sam Stone: I mean, really, it's sort of, for consumers, a digital prison that you have, you can roam freely within the walls of the prison that Apple or Google create for you, but you're dependent on them to expand it, to go anywhere else.Rick Vanmeter: Yeah, that's exactly right. And for for developers, where this is a problem is, you know, on on you can't get your software to a consumer on their phone without going through the Apple App Store. And they use that basically as a choke point to impose all of these other crazy things.Michelle Ugenti-Rita: So like what what are what are some of the things that they do.Rick Vanmeter: So for example, one of the major concerns of our member companies is that they one thing that they will do is they will say they categorize you if you sell goods through the app. So they say you're either physical goods or digital goods and why that matters, I have no idea. But if if you sell digital goods, they say you have to use. Our payment processor to process credit card payments. So Apple Pay on the Apple devices and Google on Google devices, they both do this the exact pretty much the exact same way. So and they charge a 30% commission to process those payments, whereas a standard credit card processing fee is like 3 to 5%.Sam Stone: So and this is for digital goods. But like so like if someone orders from whatever restaurant app, you know, Grubhub or whatever, they don't pay that same level of fee.Rick Vanmeter: They don't. And actually that's a good example because this is a good point on, you know, kind of the arbitrary nature of this, of this determination by the two companies. So things like Grubhub don't believe are they're categorized as physical goods because they say you're getting a you know, food, you know, it's a physical thing. Whereas the companies themselves, like Grubhub might argue, well, we're just a platform, you know, we're just software. We're connecting drivers and restaurants and customers.Sam Stone: Yeah, they make that argument extensively. Legally.Rick Vanmeter: Yeah they do. Yeah. Uber is another example where Apple and Google said Uber is a physical good because you're getting a ride. So when you pull up your Uber app, you say where you want to go, but then you have a choice on how you want to pay. You can pay with Apple Pay or Google Pay. You can use your credit card, which they use a third party processor to process that payment. You can use Venmo, PayPal. You can even use your SkyMiles. But if you're using a dating app or if you want a streaming service, something that they determined to be digital, you don't have a choice. You have to use Apple Pay or Google Pay, and the company has to pay that 30% commission. So when you're talking about 30% commission, that's a huge amount of money, especially for small companies that are up and coming and trying to get started to pay 30% of their revenue to Apple and Google, who have provided no value for the developer. So but what do they say, other business expenses that ultimately gets added into the cost of the products that they have to consider?Michelle Ugenti-Rita: What does Apple and Google say in response to that? There must be a justification that they rely on.Rick Vanmeter: Sure. Yeah. What they will say is that these are our customers. And if you because they're using an iPhone, they are apples customers. Of course, Spotify might say our customers to, you know, just because you that like if. If you use your Toyota Camry to drive through a drive through at McDonald's, and then. Toyota wanting 30% of the sale of the McDonald's food because their Toyota customer mean they're just it's just different things, right? You can be a Spotify customer and an Apple iPhone customer, but but Apple takes kind of a controlling view of that is their customer.Sam Stone: Rick, I got to tell.Rick Vanmeter: You, you want to right? To sell anything to them. You have to pay us a commission.Sam Stone: I don't want you to give these car companies any ideas right now while they're looking at it.Michelle Ugenti-Rita: At this this this is a familiar issue. Has there been legislation regarding this? This sounds like something I've, I've seen introduced at the state level and maybe even at the federal level.Rick Vanmeter: Yeah. So several different states have attempted to pass legislation that would say is very narrow and kind of one, one part of this issue, which is the payments issue. Right? So essentially saying that you you can't force developers to use your payment processor if they want to use something different, they have to be able to do it. That should be fairly common sense. You know, any other business can choose how to accept payment. You know, there are many businesses that are cash only. There are other businesses that are no cash. Some businesses accept checks, some do not. You know, for for brick and mortar stores, that's that's always the option. So that should be the option online as well. Um, that has not I don't believe that has passed in any state, and in large part because there was federal legislation introduced about two years ago, bipartisan, the Senate, by Senators Marsha Blackburn and Richard Blumenthal. Um, it did get a bit of traction in the past. Last Congress, it passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee 22 two. So nearly unanimously, um, and it's a little bit broader than just that payments issue. It would also basically say that developers can offer their apps and services outside of the App Store. So that would make it basically work on your phone exactly the way you get software on your desktop computer or laptop, where you can go through the official app store to get software, or you can go directly to a developer's website and download it directly from there. So we people do this all the time. It's it's very common if you if you buy a new computer, which I did recently, I went to Microsoft's website to get Microsoft Office, you know, Outlook Word. Um, I went to Zoom's website to get, you know, to download the zoom app. I went to Spotify's website to download the Spotify app. This would essentially remove Apple and Google as the internet gatekeepers for mobile devices and just make it work like your your desktop computer or laptop.Michelle Ugenti-Rita: And I suspect they're vehemently opposed.Rick Vanmeter: Yes, yes, there might be an understatement. Yeah, yeah, the big tech companies, I think last year spent, according to Bloomberg, they spent over $300 million in advertising against this bill and several others, you know, kind of big tech reforms. And they spent an additional, I think, $90 million in lobbying, um, which is which is just insane. I mean, it's it might be the most ever spent on a lobbying campaign. It tells you how.Michelle Ugenti-Rita: Lucrative this must be.Sam Stone: Yeah. I mean, from my understanding for Apple and Google now, they're both basically trending towards being essentially subscription services and that revenue being a much more significant portion of their business than hardware or other other services or that kind of thing. So this points right at their intended business model. Right?Rick Vanmeter: Right. Yes. And one of the arguments that they make all the time is this is our business model, to which we say, well, you're you're just because it's your business model doesn't mean that it's right or doesn't mean that it's legal. So it can still.Sam Stone: Be monopolistic and anti-competitive. We've had plenty of businesses that have engaged in very predatory practices like that. Rick, we have just about two minutes left. What are the current what is the current status of that legislation? What are you guys trying to get done and how can folks support your work doing that?Rick Vanmeter: Well, the current state of the legislation is that we're hoping it will be reintroduced in the House and Senate shortly. You know the best thing, folks? Can do is to contact their members of Congress, their senators, their House members, and encourage them to support this issue. We actually have a function on our website which is app fairness.org. And you can you can go there and you can enter your address and information and it will help you contact, you know, send a message to your your representatives and senators. But there's a lot of more information there. So I would encourage folks to go to our website again. App fairness.org. And to contact your lawmakers.Sam Stone: And tell them to support the Open Apps Market Act. Correct. Or or similar legislation. And and there can be a push to get some of this done at the state level also. I mean, it might not be as effective, but at the same time, we've seen states have a major impact on corporations like these when they pass these laws. Absolutely. Because all of a sudden they either have to start creating a patchwork system, or they have to follow what that state is leading.Rick Vanmeter: That's right. Yeah. If a state were to pass it and folks in other states would see that it works and it's effective, it helps lower prices and probably have a lot of app developers moving to that state. Yeah, it could grow from there. So we definitely would not discourage that at all.Sam Stone: Fantastic. Rick Vanmeter, thank you so much for joining us today. We really appreciate having you on the program, folks. Make sure you check them out at the coalition for App Fairness and the Open Apps Market Act. I'm going to trip over that if I try to say it again. But thank you again, Rick, so much for joining us. We really appreciate having you on the program and look forward to getting an update, hopefully down the road when this moves forward.Rick Vanmeter: That sounds great. Thanks for having me.Sam Stone: Perfect. Thank you. All right, Michelle, I want to thank Rick Vanmeter for his time on the program. Really appreciate having him. But I got to got to get to something that, folks, if you're outside of Arizona, you're probably rolling your eyes because this is a little bit of an Arizona heavy episode. But at the same time, there is one of these organizations in your state, too. And if you're not aware of who they are and the work they're doing to undermine public education, quite frankly, you should be. We're talking about the Arizona School Boards Association. There is a National School Boards Association. There are basically branches in every state. These are hard left organizations that pretend to be nonpartisan.Michelle Ugenti-Rita: When they're the exact opposite.Sam Stone: When they're the exact opposite. I mean, they are they are so far lefty. Remember, these are the ones they got in big trouble around. Some of the trans stuff. They got big trouble around some of the Covid stuff. These organizations are.Michelle Ugenti-Rita: They're like an arm of the the the.Sam Stone: Teachers union.Michelle Ugenti-Rita: Yeah, the teachers union. It's exactly right.Sam Stone: And and they control by the way, this is where schools get their superintendents from, right?Michelle Ugenti-Rita: This is where they're farmed. Right.Sam Stone: If you wonder where your superintendent came from, who put them up for that job? It was your local school board association or your state or your national. So they have a huge influence on what happens with schools, which makes this week's news in Arizona just a little bit more entertaining. So, Michelle, it came out today that the Arizona School Boards Association hired as their executive director a ridiculous nutjob commie Democrat.Michelle Ugenti-Rita: Perfect for them.Sam Stone: Yeah, perfect for them. But who lied on his resume? Oh, and doesn't have a college degree?Michelle Ugenti-Rita: Well, whoopsies.Sam Stone: Now he has put this on multiple applications and resumes. Not only for this, but he tried to get a maricopa supervisor, you know, supervisor seat. He applied for that.Michelle Ugenti-Rita: Oh, as an as as an.Sam Stone: Appointee and he didn't get it. But he had that on his resume. When he applied for that. He served as a temporary appointee in the state legislature. As a far left dem and he had it on his resume there. But then this fool had had gone on.Michelle Ugenti-Rita: So it was working for him.Sam Stone: It was working for him. Except that he went on some friends podcast in 2020 and told the truth.Michelle Ugenti-Rita: Well, how would you do that?Sam Stone: I don't know, it's.Michelle Ugenti-Rita: Not that smart at the end of the day.Sam Stone: Oh my goodness. Seriously. Like so here's the thing. Like I don't even care that he doesn't have a college degree. What does that.Michelle Ugenti-Rita: Matter? Right? But why'd you lie about it?Sam Stone: Yeah. What is it again? Why does it matter? And then the school board is being called out. They found out about it.Michelle Ugenti-Rita: What are they going to do? Have they said anything?Sam Stone: They. They have a lawyer looking into it. Right. Who came away with. Okay. No, he didn't go to college. But more to the point, they weren't then going to they were going to sweep this under the rug and just go on. And they're paying him, by the way, $215,000 a year.Michelle Ugenti-Rita: Is. Are you really?Sam Stone: Yeah. For to be the executive director for the state school board Association, which, by the way, is a cakewalk of a job.Michelle Ugenti-Rita: And what are you doing? You're coordinating your.Sam Stone: Coordinating some meetings each year. They have like a monthly meeting and then they have an annual meeting. I'm sure you're coordinating those and you're coordinating messaging and you're recruiting candidates to to come be school leaders. It's not a $200,000 job.Michelle Ugenti-Rita: You know, what's this organization even doing? I mean, beyond just the executive director position.Sam Stone: Why do they exist?Michelle Ugenti-Rita: Yeah, that's right. There's like a broader question there. Why do they exist? They have been nothing but a thorn in the side of students parents.Sam Stone: And they're paid for.Michelle Ugenti-Rita: By the legislature.Sam Stone: They're paid for with tax money. Right.Michelle Ugenti-Rita: Because these are this is this is an association and the school boards pay dues.Sam Stone: Yeah. The schools are all members. The districts are members. The school boards pay dues. So, I mean, these are they work.Michelle Ugenti-Rita: Against the interests of students and of parents and of hardworking teachers who just want to, you know, get in the classroom and and teach. Yeah.Sam Stone: And folks, again, this isn't just Arizona. This is going on. They may not have hired a liar in every other state.Michelle Ugenti-Rita: I don't know.Sam Stone: Possible in at least a few of them. But I mean, but this is going on everywhere. And why does you ask the right question, Michelle? Why does this organization exist? What is the point?Michelle Ugenti-Rita: Well, when this happens, a lot of times they consolidate, right? And there's just a lot more power and control when you can consolidate the school boards and then have everybody in lockstep, in unison, saying the same thing the same way, and it looks like there's a much bigger support for your message when it's all coordinated by a select few.Sam Stone: Yeah. So so to your point, the school board associations actually put out and train all the school board members at all the different schools on their approved agenda.Michelle Ugenti-Rita: And the school board should be like, what approved agenda? I'm a school board member. I will approve our agenda for our district, but you have the association wanting to combine all of that and take advantage of the control that you get when everybody's saying the same thing. This is all about propaganda pushing.Sam Stone: Isn't that even, like entirely the point of having independent school boards?Michelle Ugenti-Rita: That's right. Exactly.Sam Stone: Because otherwise, wouldn't you just elect a state school board? That was these people. Basically, why do we have.Michelle Ugenti-Rita: 200 plus districts? Right? Right.Sam Stone: Yeah. Because otherwise, again, this this throws out the entire notion of local control disappears.Michelle Ugenti-Rita: I mean, this is a one size fits all for education. And that's the exact opposite that those at the local level like to say they support, which is something that's far more connected to the local districts and those that you know are in school.Sam Stone: It's really amazing what's going on with our public schools. Like I'm not I used to a few years ago and tell me if you agree or disagree, but a few years ago I was like, no, we can turn this around. We can save them. I'm kind of at the point, like just tear it down and start over because they're just such a disaster.Michelle Ugenti-Rita: You know, I have three kids in public school and it's there's there's a lot of great moments. The problem the problem is there's so much fear and there's they've abandoned independence. They've abandoned their teachers, their, you know, teachers can't do what they want in their classroom. There's so everyone's being watched and they're really been exploited. And now this is an area where they can get to your kids before you can. And you know, there's a distrust. You know, that's how I feel as a parent. I dropped my kids off and I am like, I hope you're teaching the basics.Sam Stone: How much of this do you think? I've always wondered about this, but how much of the hard core left movement in schools, which has gotten way worse in the last decade or two? How much of that has come from a combination of helicopter parents and endemic lawsuits from those parents? Right.Michelle Ugenti-Rita: I think a lot. I mean.Sam Stone: It's kind of a defense mechanism against that, isn't it? Like the way they're doing it.Michelle Ugenti-Rita: Well, I just think that schools have gotten way too outside their scope.Sam Stone: I'll give you a good example. So the local school district that I live in, they have I think the last time I looked at the numbers, it was like 37,000 students. They deliver 90,000 meals a day.Michelle Ugenti-Rita: Yeah. Yeah. Right. So exactly like they're, you know, their you they're they're addressing food and mental well-being and, you know, education and sex and, you know, personal health issues. And they're just getting way too big and they're becoming way too integral into like, your student and your child's life when they just need to be talking about math, science, reading, writing. But this is a way to get to your kids. That's what's so sad.Sam Stone: You know, I think there's a lot of sometimes good intentions gone wrong in a lot of this stuff, right? But at the end of the day, I think they've just made themselves so vulnerable to this sort of Marxian philosophy where they have just decided we're going to take over the schools and mis educate the children and the way we want, and that's going to change the world and the way we see it, and they may not be wrong, is what worries me.Michelle Ugenti-Rita: Well, the good news is, if you have parents who are active in a child's life, then a lot of this stuff can be combated. I find that the problem is when you have schools that have an agenda and are looking to exploit and then, you know, parents and caregivers who aren't, as.Sam Stone: Some of the narratives, though, seem worse than that, like the anti-police narrative, the anti-Israel one.Michelle Ugenti-Rita: At the school level. Yeah, yeah.Sam Stone: Like, these things are societally destructive. I mean, you talk to Democrats. You've heard this a lot this week. Israel is an apartheid state. Well, it's empirically not. The people of Gaza are prisoners. They are empirically not. It's an occupation. They hadn't set foot inside Gaza since Israel had not set foot inside Gaza since 2005. The blockade is not a blockade. It's basically a checkpoint where they try to limit the number of weapons that come in via the sea. So they just checking the cargo ships. It's essentially a port control.Michelle Ugenti-Rita: Well, I mean, we're talking about something that I don't really know needs to even be discussed in school. I mean, you know, maybe you want to acknowledge it, but in terms of talking about the complexities of the issue, I mean, those are conversations that are probably best for home. It really has no relevancy in your arithmetic class.Sam Stone: It's also, I think, the age at which you're exposing kids to some of those.Michelle Ugenti-Rita: True. I mean, is it a second grader, you know, or are you talking about high school?Sam Stone: That was one of my complaints. Do you remember the old La Raza studies issues here in the state? Right. Uh huh. And one of my issues, I read through those books and I was like, you know, this all material is good when you're in college and you can question your teachers, and you don't have to assume they're right about everything, but it doesn't work when you're in high school. And the default for most kids is, well, if the teacher says that, then that's true. Like, as you get older, you learn that that may not really be the case.Michelle Ugenti-Rita: That's such a good point because I had this come up with with my kids. They were given ID badges. You know, they have an ID badge. And this year there was a chip put into it so that when you got off the bus, if you rode the bus, I mean, it would, it would log when you got on and off the bus and I hole punched them out and said, you know, you can have the ID, but not with a tracking chip in there. And my, my kids were like, mom, it's not. I'm like, what do you mean it's not? They're like, well, that's because the principal went on the loudspeaker and said it wasn't. And I'm like, so yeah, tell me why. How when it logs, it's an RFID chip. Yeah, yeah. How it logs where and when you're located. That's not tracking. I go did it measure your weight right. You're like, but it's mom. They said it's not tracking. I'm like, no, honey, I know, but what's the justification to your point? They just took it, right? And we had to spend, you know, I had to spend 45 minutes unwinding that and helping them understand that that's not the case. And let's use logic and let's work backwards from that statement and see if we can justify it. And you can.Sam Stone: A perfect example we dealt with at the city of Phoenix was around the traffic cameras, the red light cameras and that sort of thing. So the city told us for years that these things only take a still photo. Oh video. When a car goes through illegally. Right. And they told us that over and over and over here. Here's what we get. They even showed us that the videos and the photos, they're like, this is all we have, doesn't show anything else. We get into it and bring someone from that company in and put them up on the on the dais where they're now. They're afraid to perjure themselves. Right, right. Because it goes on public record. And so we start asking them those questions and it's like, well, no. So the camera's always running. It's running 24 over seven facial recognition. It's running 24 over seven license plate recognition. It's running geolocation data and all of that's gathered. But we don't give that to the city.Michelle Ugenti-Rita: Right. But you can subpoena it.Sam Stone: Yeah but but but what do you do with it? Oh, we sell it.Michelle Ugenti-Rita: Yeah.Sam Stone: In. What are they selling data on your kids?Michelle Ugenti-Rita: That's what I was saying. What was the. What was the purpose of it? Did they tell you the purpose? Well, what's the harm? Well, no. You see, you guys, you're not looking at it at the right way. It's your autonomy. It's your privacy. You shouldn't have to justify why you want to keep it that way. They should have to justify why there's some overarching interest that makes a compelling one, that makes it so they can take it from you. But yeah, but if you just believe everyone at first blush, particularly in the K through 12 world, God only knows what you're going to.Sam Stone: Yeah, well, they will look.Michelle Ugenti-Rita: To you to come out at.Sam Stone: They will look you straight in the face, I.Michelle Ugenti-Rita: Know and just blatantly.Sam Stone: Yeah.Michelle Ugenti-Rita: Tell you the sky's not blue.Sam Stone: Yeah, yeah. Like we don't base our curriculum on on CRT.Michelle Ugenti-Rita: Really. Right. That's not a tracking device. It's not interesting.Sam Stone: Folks. Thank you so much for tuning in again today. We really appreciate having you join us on the program. Make sure you share this with your friends. Share the podcast around. That's how we know you're actually interested in things we're yapping about here. And it's worth coming into the studio every week to do this. So again, thank you for joining us for Chuck. This is Sam for Michelle. I'll let you say goodbye to the.Michelle Ugenti-Rita: Yeah, please share it. And we appreciate the listeners out there. And everyone have a great weekend. Get full access to Breaking Battlegrounds at breakingbattlegrounds.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome to this week’s episode of Breaking Battlegrounds! In this episode, we have an incredible lineup of guests and captivating discussions. First up, Anna Giaritelli, a Homeland Security Reporter for the Washington Examiner, dives into pressing topics like illegal immigration, the southern border, 'special interest aliens,' and the recent 'Day of Terror' announced by Hamas leaders. Jon Riches, Vice President for Litigation at the Goldwater Institute, provides insights into the growing concerns of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) on Arizona State University's campus and the actions being taken to address it. Lastly, we welcome the Honorable Don Tapia, former United States Ambassador to Jamaica, who shares his valuable insights into the role of an ambassador, the appointment process, and the modern challenges of managing the Israel/Hamas conflict. Be sure to stay tuned for Kiley's Corner, where Kiley explores intriguing global topics, including the remarkable story of the world's largest pumpkin, affectionately named 'Michael Jordan.'Connect with us:www.breakingbattlegrounds.voteTwitter: www.twitter.com/Breaking_BattleFacebook: www.facebook.com/breakingbattlegroundsInstagram: www.instagram.com/breakingbattlegroundsLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/breakingbattlegrounds-ABOUT OUR GUESTSFriend of the show, Anna Giaritelli, is a Homeland Security Reporter for the Washington Examiner focused on immigration, and border issues. Anna has traveled to the border on more than 40 occasions since 2018 and has covered human smuggling, the evolution of the war on drugs, domestic terrorism, and migration trends. She is currently based in Austin, Texas. Follow Anna on X: @Anna_Giaritelli. -Jon Riches is the Vice President for Litigation for the Goldwater Institute’s Scharf-Norton Center for Constitutional Litigation and General Counsel for the Institute. He litigates in federal and state trial and appellate courts in the areas of economic liberty, regulatory reform, free speech, taxpayer protections, public labor issues, government transparency, and school choice, among others.Jon has developed and authored several pieces of legislation, including the landmark Right to Earn a Living Act, which provides some of the greatest protections in the country to job-seekers and entrepreneurs facing arbitrary licensing regulations. He also developed legislation eliminating deference to administrative agencies in Arizona—a first-of-its-kind regulatory reform that can serve as a model for the rest of the country.His work at the Institute has been covered by national media, including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, CBS This Morning, Bloomberg News, and Politico. Jon is also a member of the Federalist Society’s Regulatory Transparency Project: State and Local Working Group.Prior to joining the Goldwater Institute, Jon served on active duty in the U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) Corps. While on active duty, Jon represented hundreds of clients, litigated dozens of court-martial cases, and advised commanders on a vast array of legal issues.He previously clerked for Sen. Jon Kyl on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, worked for the Rules Committee in the Arizona State Senate, and clerked in the Office of Counsel to the President at the White House. Jon received his B.A. from Boston College, where he graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. He earned his J.D. from the University of Arizona, James E. Rogers College of Law.Jon served as a presidentially appointed Panel Member on the Federal Service Impasses Panel. He is an officer in the U.S. Navy Reserve and an Adjunct Professor at Arizona State University School of Law. Jon is a native of Phoenix.-Honorable Donald Ray Tapia, a prominent businessman, committed civic leader and compassionate philanthropist, was the Chairman and CEO of Essco Group Management the largest Hispanic owned business in Arizona for more than three decades before retiring in 2010 to devote his time to philanthropy. Essco Group Management provided front line management and back room production for twelve electrical wholesale branches located in Arizona and Southern California. Mr. Tapia’s philanthropic efforts have included serving on the Board of Directors of the Sun Angel Foundation & Endowment at Arizona State University, as Chairman of Board & Trustee at Saint Leo University in Florida, and as Member of the President’s Circle at Xavier College in Phoenix, Arizona. He has served on the Boards of social service organizations such as the Boys & Girls Club of Metropolitan Phoenix, Teen LifeLine Phoenix, Advisory Council of the Arizona Animal Welfare League and Advisory board for Foundation for Blind Children in Phoenix Arizona.Mr. Tapia is a veteran, having served in the U.S. Air Force, Honorably Discharged (1955-1959). Mr. Tapia’s excellent management and entrepreneurial skills, demonstrated commitment to a culture of success and wide-ranging leadership in business, community and education make him well-qualified to serve as Ambassador to Jamaica. Additional enterprises Mr. Tapia has engaged in; include CEO, Sonapar USA, Chandler, Arizona (2008-2010) as well as employment with Cal Neva Corp., Los Angeles, California (1973-1977) and International Telephone & Telegraph Corp., Chicago, Illinois (1967-1973). He also worked as an air traffic controller for the Federal Aviation Administration in Cleveland and Cincinnati.Mr. Tapia earned a B.A. and M.B.A. from Saint Leo University, Saint Leo, Florida, which also awarded him an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters.-TRANSCRIPTIONChuck Warren: Welcome to another show of Breaking Battlegrounds. I'm your host, Chuck Warren, and with my co-host, Kiley Kipper. Sam is out ill today. We're first going to start with Anna Giaritelli. She's a homeland security reporter for the Washington Examiner. She's been on the show before. She has a very specific knowledge. She's been to the border more than 40 times since 2018. And she's also covered human smuggling and the evolution of the war on drugs, domestic terrorism and migration trends. And she is based in Texas. Anna, welcome back to the show.Anna Giaritelli: Thanks for having me.Chuck Warren: So we have a day of rage, apparently. Hamas has declared it. Tell us a little bit about it. And what does the United States government doing to prepare to keep our citizens safe here and abroad?Anna Giaritelli: Yeah. So yesterday the former leader of Hamas came out and said that, you know, people who sympathize with Hamas around the Muslim world and outside that that that just that region should take part and come out in public and protest and engage in a day of jihad and rage. And so the Israeli government put out notices yesterday saying, you know, people should take cover, should remain vigilant, should be, you know, braced for the worst. And so the United States has also followed suit. Typically, something happening in one region of the country wouldn't affect us. But the Department of Homeland Security said it's been in touch with for different faith leaders, 65,000 people in faith organizations, making sure that synagogues in particular, even mosques, are going to be safe today. I know here in Austin, Texas, police are are have been called in in full gear. So they're ready for anything they have to deal with. New York City, LAPD, Miami police, they're all being called in today to report to duty just to to make sure that their presence is there in case something does happen in any of these cities.Chuck Warren: Anna, have you talked to any Jewish folks or synagogues or educators at Jewish schools about today? Have you had a chance to talk to any of them and how they're feeling?Anna Giaritelli: You know, I haven't, but the secretary of Homeland Security had his spokesperson was saying on this white House call last night that he's been in contact with a number of different groups, and really, one of their top three priorities right now is being in constant contact with these faith based organizations. So it's not like these groups are on their own. You know, if you're a synagogue, you're on your own hope for the best. The federal government has billions of dollars in grants so that these facilities can what we say is hardened security. So make sure you have more security presence as well as police. Make sure you have private security, just especially at this point in time. So I think the department really is rolling out a lot. We've seen this for several years now, where DHS has even yesterday said that faith based organizations are considered critical infrastructure here. So that gives even more ability for the federal government to really surge resources and even push funding to to these entities.Chuck Warren: Well, and that's fascinating. And the Biden administration is to be applauded for that. There's not much I would applaud them for, especially regarding immigration and so forth. But I applaud them for doing that because they are a critical infrastructure. Explain to our audience what a gateway is and how this relates to what is going on at the border. And because of the gotaways, how this may pose a threat to some of these faith based communities and to our our larger cities.Anna Giaritelli: Yeah. So at the southern border you've got A 2000 mile border. Some with fence, some without. What we've seen over the past two and a half years is a real. It went up in March 2021 when Biden first took office and hasn't declined. Normally we would see 30 to 50,000 people cross the border in a month and get arrested. What we've seen. In each of the months since Biden took office is anywhere between 150,000 and 300,000 people in a month, which is just, you know, we can't detain people through court proceedings. There's things that bar families from being held more than 20 days. So it's the perfect storm of this mass releases.Chuck Warren: And let me and let me ask you this. How big is Austin, for example?Anna Giaritelli: Austin, I believe, is 1.1 million.Chuck Warren: So over a course of a week, we get a new Austin. Over a course of 4 or 5 months, we get a new Austin in the United States.Anna Giaritelli: We do. And that's and that's who's crossing, right? That doesn't mean they're getting released since since Biden took office, the best estimates we have are more than 2 million people have been released into the United States. And so we've seen the number one spot that people are going is New York City, based on where people tell Border Patrol agents and Ice, you know, when they're getting released, hey, I'm going to go to my sister who lives in Queens, and then let the immigration officials do is place them in removal proceedings. So, hey, you need to go to court and see if we're going to remove you down the road. And we're the closest court to Queens is the New York immigration court. So we'll put you in that system. And so based on all the court data, we're seeing that more people are being placed in the New York court system than any other in the country.Chuck Warren: And is the Biden administration and Congress providing more resources so you can have more judges so they can do quicker rulings on these and not have these lengthy time periods. So they bring it back in.Anna Giaritelli: You know, each administration the last few years has added judges. I mean, we only have under 700 nationwide and we have more than 2 million cases pending. So the thought is that even if you hired enough judges, you can't. You can't go through the backlog fast enough. You really need to do something up front. That that causes fewer people to either come through or you're immediately dealing with cases now so that more aren't being added to the system. But but this is something we've seen under President Obama, President Trump, and now President Biden each administration is guilty of. Well, not guilty of. But they have hired more judges. But but they're guilty of that number of the backlog just keeps going up.Chuck Warren: Well, I'm sure the judges also work banker hours. I mean, it'd be interesting if you say working quadruple the amount of judges we have. We're going 24 over seven.Anna Giaritelli: Yeah. And, you know, back to what you said about the Gotaways. Gotaways are people who, thanks to great technology and agents who are in the field, border patrol agents, you know what they'll happen. What will happen is downtown, in populated areas, at the border, you have a group of, say, 400 people come across at once. And that pulls all the agents in the nearby vicinity over here to take everybody into custody, to pat people down, make sure no one's carrying something they shouldn't be, and then to organize people by by country and by families here, adult men here, single women here, and then bussed them to the appropriate facilities where they'll be processed. That means that other areas of the border, maybe ten, 20 miles away, you've just pulled the agents that were there from their spots. And so what the cartels will do is run drugs across. They'll run the meth across. They'll run different stuff across the border because no one's there. And they'll also run the criminals. So say someone who's been deported previously knows they shouldn't be reentering the country, or someone who maybe is on the terror watch list, or someone who is a kind of a worldwide known criminal. So we can't look at databases for each country and see crimes, but they're well known, or they're a gang affiliation. They don't want to get caught like all the families coming across. So you'll see them on camera or agents will see them. But but they're too busy to make an apprehension. So it's like, okay, there's a group of 20 bodies we see in this infrared camera, and they're walking in and we have no one to get them. So, you know, add 20 to the list. And at this point we're over 1.6 million people. Who are we dubbed Gotaways. We've seen enter illegally. And then they got away. And that doesn't include the number who have entered illegally, not been observed and also got away.Chuck Warren: How big? You know, look, this is purely a guesstimate on your part. So I'm not asking you to go to Vegas to put a wager on it. But okay. So we have the ones they've seen the gotaways right. And they've done an estimate on it. And let's say they're off ten, 15% one way or another, minus or more. How many do you think have come into the country that they never observed?Anna Giaritelli: You know, I could not put a guess on that. So all sorts of numbers out there.Chuck Warren: So give me the give me the. You've heard a bunch of numbers. You talked to a lot of people. Homeland security border. What's the low number and what's the high number you heard. And then Kiley and I will make some really gut wrenching comment here on it. But what is the lowest number? What's the highest number?Anna Giaritelli: You know, I really just don't I focus on the numbers. We know for sure just because as a reporter, I want to make sure I'm putting out the most factual information.Kiley Kipper: Do We, Sorry. Do we know how much, how many miles? There aren't cameras that we so that we aren't seeing them. Do we know how many miles there are that aren't being monitored, or are they like drones that are going back and forth?Anna Giaritelli: You know, that's a good question. It's a it's a mixture of both drones have in the last few years, become a real big part of how Border Patrol is monitoring the border. The latest numbers we have are that the Mexican cartels actually have 17 drones for every one drone that the US has. So they're using that to surveil ports of entry. They're using that to see where agents are on the border. And oh, there's no one here, you know, run something across. And they're also some of them are capable of carrying, you know, just a couple pounds of something. So obviously you carry it. So you would carry a pound of marijuana over the border in a drone that's not worth a lot of money. But if you can carry, you know, fentanyl a pound or two, like that's, that's going to be worth a lot more money. So drones are really a way that cartels are surveilling US federal law enforcement and, and making moves here and there. And they're also you can't shoot it down with a gun half the time. You can't even hear them or see them at night. And so there's also no prosecutions. I think one has been prosecuted, one incident in the last five years, because you don't know where where it's going to or from.Chuck Warren: I. It's just. It's just not getting. It's just. I don't even know what to say. It's just not getting better here. We're coming up to a minute left here and we to our next segment. We're going to talk to you. But one thing I want to talk to you about, how was the dysfunction of the Republican Congress right now affecting things like homeland security and border, if it is or if it isn't at all? We know you have to have operational government to get resources, so we want to do that. One other quick question before we go to a break, because of the legalization of marijuana in the United States, has that decreased the amount coming across the border?Anna Giaritelli: Yeah, we do believe that. We used to see a couple million pounds coming across the border in a within a couple of years, easily over a million in a year of just marijuana. And that number has diminished significantly. And so overall, you would say Border Patrol is seizing far, far less drugs than it used to. But really, if you see a pound of fentanyl one year and then you seize £1,000 of the next year, but you're used to seizing £1 million of marijuana, you know, it's hard to sort of quantify. So we really try to look at it as a drug by drug. Right. But you're right. Marijuana is available here. So so yeah, it's still coming over, but it's not as profitable.Chuck Warren: We make our own. We don't need to import that. This is Chuck Warner breaking battlegrounds with Anna Giaritelli. She is a homeland security reporter for the Washington Examiner. You can find her on X, which is formerly Twitter at Anda. Underscore gear brightly. This is breaking battlegrounds. We'll be right back.Advertisement: At Overstock. We know home is a pretty important place, and that's why we believe everyone deserves a home that makes them happy. Whether you're furnishing a new house or apartment or simply looking to update and refresh a few rooms. Overstock has every day free shipping and amazing deals on the beautiful, high quality furniture and decor you need to transform any home into the home of your dreams. Overstock. Making dream homes come true.Chuck Warren: Welcome back to Breaking Battlegrounds. I'm your host, Chuck Warren of Kiley  Kipper. Today we have with us a friend of the show, Anna Giaritelli, Homeland Security reporter for the Washington Examiner, really asked you to follow her work. She does fantastic work telling us what's going on in our border, homeland security. And you'll be more knowledgeable for following her, folks. First of all, want to make sure and give a plug to our sponsor. If you're looking to increase your savings and your return, I suggest you go talk to Y refy. You can call them at 888 Y refy 24. That's 888Y Refy 24. You can go there. There's no fees for your investments, and you can get a 10.25% fixed rate of return while also helping college students with their college loans. So take a look and call Y refi and tell them Chuck and Sam sent you. All right, Anna, so let's talk about something people don't talk about. Canada has a big border up north. And I, you know, assumption is the mother of all screw ups. But I would assume that people are starting to go into Canada and crossing through our border there. Is that true or am I just making something up?Anna Giaritelli: No, you're right on there. We see about 1% of the number of southern border crossings on the northern border. So it sounds like it's nothing really, but 1% of 2 million in a year. We do see a good amount of people who are coming across typically in Vermont, Maine and upstate New York areas. And we also see a lot of smuggling going from the United States into Canada. Those are typically things guns, the firearms, sometimes cigarettes, those sorts of things. And those are those are the old school bootleggers from 100 and so years ago who whose families are still involved and moving stuff. Um, but yeah, we do see immigrants coming across typically from Europe, sometimes Mexico and Central America. People will fly into Canada and then try to come down. But it is certainly there's no border wall across the 4000 mile northern border. It's double the length of the southern border. So yeah, it's very wide open. But again, we still have Border Patrol up there monitoring things. And and these are typically senior agents. They've they've paid their time on the southern border. Right. And now they're up north.Chuck Warren: Yeah I mean, you know, this is your nice retirement, your gold watch opportunity to serve at the end. And now you've got this going here. Do they have like coyotes up on the Canadian border like we do in the southern border? I mean, how are they getting across? I mean, there's obviously has to be operations that help them do this.Anna Giaritelli: There are. Yes. And some of the groups that smuggle stuff north are also working with people who are coming south. Some of those more irish-italian, sort of old school mafia groups are helping people. We do still have some coyotes, but but typically what we see are. People from Eastern Europe who have flown into Canada because they didn't need a visa. And then that's that's how they're coming down. And this winter, we saw a number of deaths of people who were trying to cross the border at night and, you know, freezing conditions and got lost. And, you know, those are really the really tragic things. But but, you know, people are going to there's a coast, there's the northern and southern borders and um, even Florida, Florida has seen extraordinary amount of people taking boats from Cuba and Haiti trying to reach the Florida Keys and get on land or trying to reach. We've even had West Palm Beach boats landing not far from Trump's home at Mar a Lago.Chuck Warren: Maybe they were just. Maybe they were just real estate appraisers. We don't know this, but maybe so. Yeah. Let me let me ask you this question. So since the start of the fiscal year 2023, which is October. October through August, the Border Patrol caught 151 people who were processed and determined to be on the FBI's terror watch list. That's who they caught. Is this something people should be concerned about, or is this just the imagination of conservative media that these are bad people.Anna Giaritelli: You know? And you explained it perfectly because these are people on the watch list. That doesn't mean that they are actual terrorists. I mean, they.Chuck Warren: Have a cousin or something, right? Or a friend or. Exactly. Yeah, but but but but they've got but there's a link. There's a handshake in there somewhere.Anna Giaritelli: Yes, exactly. It's not like you get on the list for no reason. Um, you know what we believe a lot of it to be is people, Colombian nationals who were affiliated with FARC. So during the the fight in Colombia a number of years ago, people who were involved in that are still sort of flagged in the system. But inevitably in the last ten days, we've seen people from 28 special interest countries. So that includes Egypt, Iran, uh, the whole of the Middle East, the Eastern Europe, Indonesia, certain countries, Uzbekistan, uh, apprehended at the border, which is not a normal but, you know, to see so many just just with what's happened in Israel and Palestine has given Republicans a lot of a lot of concern with, you know, we we know who we're encountering and we can screen them through the databases, but who we who gets away and hasn't been screened, we don't know.Chuck Warren: And so well in 20. So in 21 we had 15 people. Right. So there's hundred and 51 now. So and before.Anna Giaritelli: That it was like three. Yeah.Chuck Warren: So the number. So the number is increasing. Let's just say they're not all bad people. I mean I know Kiley, but I'm still a good guy. So we have that situation. But if you have 151 people versus 15 and 21 three before that, 1 or 2 probably we don't want to have over for dinner. Is that fair to say? Maybe just based on numbers?Kiley Kipper: And Tom cotton, I think you reported on it. And he said it took 19 terrorists to commit nine eleven. Right. So we have potentially, you know, so.Chuck Warren: So, Anna, look, you've been you've done this for a while. We got about three minutes left in this segment. What needs to be done in your expert opinion. And you are an expert. But your reporter I just want an objective. And you can say Republicans stink at this, I don't care. What do they need to do to get this border situation under control?Anna Giaritelli: You know, I think one of the interesting points is that under Obama, when he imposed the DACA program, Republicans said you overstepped your executive authority and you shouldn't have done that. Right. And so now what we're seeing with the Biden administration is they're using that to Republicans disadvantage. They're saying, well, the border, yeah, stuff is happening, but we can't do anything because we don't have the authority. It's only Congress that can do something. And so they're using Republicans argument against them as a means to do nothing. So, you know, in a way it's like you respect that, but it's nothing's happening. And it's we're heading into almost the fourth year now of the border. Just I mean, I would say remain unchecked. They've tried so many different programs that haven't worked. I don't think you necessarily need to return to Trump era policies to bring things down, but as long as people are seeing family members and friends, you know, hey, call, call them back home and say, I got released and I'm in New York now. What the Biden administration says, they can say the border is closed, but you have 2 million people who have been released and called home and said, yeah, you should come. Yeah, yeah. And so there's that stuff happening. Um, you know, whatever policy doesn't matter. You can have a policy, but are you going to enforce it.Chuck Warren: Yeah. I mean, yeah, it's like a lot of parents, we threaten our kids, but at the end of the day, if we don't have the punishment aligned to it, they're going to just keep ignoring us. So it's it's hard to watch. And we appreciate you coming on the show. You've been fantastic as usual. Could you tell our audience a little bit where they can catch you at and follow your work?Anna Giaritelli: Yeah. On X if you search Anna underscore Giaritelli just look up. Gia. If you also want to go to Elon Musk's page and search his followers, I, I don't know why, but Elon Musk follows my work.Chuck Warren: That's amazing because you give good numbers and we hope you have a great weekend. Thank you for joining us on Breaking Battlegrounds. We'll talk to you soon. Thank you. This is Breaking Battlegrounds, folks. We'll be right back. Welcome back to Breaking Battlegrounds. I'm your host with my co-host Kylie Kipper. Sam is out with the sniffles today. Kiley we feel bad for Sam, don't we?Kiley Kipper: We do. All right.Chuck Warren: Well, we're here with a friend of the show, John Riches. John is the vice president for litigation for the Goldwater Institute. And he litigates on federal and state trial and appellate courts in the areas of economic liberty, regulatory reform, free speech, all those things. Good conservatives, libertarians care about things that the left says they used to care about, but they apparently don't care much anymore. He has a Boston Law School grad. He previously worked for John Kyl and he is a commander at the Navy Reserve. Thank you for your service, John.John Riches: Yeah, Thanks for having me on, Chuck.Chuck Warren: All right. So let's talk about DEI It's been an interesting conversation here on the show when the whole Barrett mess happened, and we had a professor on who didn't work at Barrett, but he was defending him because he just likes to talk all the time. And he said, oh, they don't require die. And what you found, what Goldwater found is that they were making was it staff or just professors take a loyalty oath.John Riches: So that was new job applicants. And then we started to learn that they are requiring.Chuck Warren: And how long ago was that for the did they implement this policy for new job applicants?John Riches: It seems like a couple years back. Okay. What we found is that they'd post like a new job application and there'd be your traditional things, your resume cover letter, but then they would require and tell us in two pages or less your professional accomplishments wherein you advanced dei measures. Et cetera. Et cetera.Chuck Warren: Really?John Riches: And we found that they did that in like, more than 80% of all new job postings.Chuck Warren: So, you know, conservatives like to yell and scream about Michael Crow. I think he's been a decent university professor in some ways. Is this something he would be unaware of because it's a department mandate that just happened?John Riches: Yeah, it's entirely possible. And to ASU's credit, and maybe to Michael Crow's credit, once we pointed it out and presented the evidence and provided the report, they stopped doing it.Kiley Kipper: What was Crow's response when you brought it to him? Well, we.John Riches: Didn't have a specific one from Crow, but when we brought it to the university and published the report, the university stopped doing it. And that's and.Chuck Warren: That's a decision probably he was well aware of at the time. And so when they when you brought this up with them about these loyalty oaths, what was their first reaction to you? Like, no, this doesn't happen. I mean.John Riches: There was a denial at first.Chuck Warren: So they lied.John Riches: There was a denial at first from the school and from professors and others like, you know, this isn't happening. This isn't happening.Chuck Warren: So John's talking legally, saying there's a denial. We're going to tell you on the radio show, folks, they lied because they knew they were doing it. Okay. So Johns saying denial hashtag Chuck lied. Okay. How long did it take to get the information from them that this was actually happening? And did you have to follow, you know, take the bat to this issue and say, you know, we're suing or what happened?John Riches: So we requested the information through public records requests, talking with new hires, things like that. You know, put put the report together in a few months. And once we published it, they were pretty quick to act to their credit. And they eliminated it. But that got us thinking, you know, is this happening in other areas? Does this go beyond the loyalty oath? And so a few months after that, we had a couple professors reach out to us and say, hey, we saw what you did with the Dei loyalty oath. Do you know that ASU is requiring all faculty and staff to take a mandatory training that covers all these Dei initiatives? Not only that, after you complete the training, the university gives you a quote unquote test where they supply the right answers. So it'll say something like, you know, you refer to a student and it's not the student's preferred pronoun. What do you do? A apologize B whatever. And the university then supplies the right answer. And if you get it wrong, then you're reported to your dean. So when we heard about that, we go, well, that seems like a compelled speech problem. So we requested more information about that.Chuck Warren: How long was DEI training? They had to take this mandatory training.John Riches: Unfortunately, I sat through it once we got the public records. Well, I should because you're.Chuck Warren: Because you're an associate professor at the law school. That's right. So you you had to participate in it?John Riches: Well, I, I never actually, I think I got an email once or twice, but I didn't quite pay attention to those ones. But once we realized that it was happening, I requested the records to get to.Chuck Warren: So how long did it take?John Riches: It was several hours.Chuck Warren: Just mind numbing word salad, progressive DEI. Don't offend anybody. Woke crap.John Riches: Kendrick. Zebra. You know, intersectionality. You know, the.Chuck Warren: Fraud, the fraudster they're promoting the fraudster. The guy who's basically bilked millions of dollars.John Riches: I think he had his own little video segment in the training.Chuck Warren: What a grift.John Riches: Yeah, yeah, truly. You know, things like white supremacy is built into the foundational documents of our country, you know, that sort of stuff. And it just went went on and on.Chuck Warren: It's just unbelievable what happened if you didn't take it?John Riches: Well, we don't know for sure. We asked about that. We asked the university about that, and they said no one's been disciplined for failing to take it yet, or at least they didn't have records of anybody being disciplined for failing.Kiley Kipper: Can you fail this said test? So if I fail it, I am just not a professor or.John Riches: Well, I mean, that was the problem. They said if you failed it, they would report you. They would report the professor to the dean. But then we asked, has anybody been disciplined, reported, and they said, we don't have any records of that.Chuck Warren: This is Breaking Battl Grounds today with John Riches. He is the vice president of litigation at the Goldwater Institute Center for Constitutional Litigation. He's general counsel for the institute. And this is Breaking Battlegrounds. You can find us at Breaking Battlegrounds .vote. We'll be right back with John to talk more about DEI and the craziness at the university, not the University of Arizona. Arizona State, we want to talk about University of Arizona as well. Breaking Battle Grounds. We'll be right back.Advertisement: At Overstock. We know home is a pretty important place, and that's why we believe everyone deserves a home that makes them happy. Whether you're furnishing a new house or apartment or simply looking to update and refresh a few rooms, Overstock has every day free shipping and amazing deals on the beautiful, high quality furniture and decor you need to transform any home into the home of your dreams. Overstock. Making dream homes come true.Chuck Warren: Welcome back to Breaking Battlegrounds. I'm your host, Chuck Warren. My co-host Kiley Kipper, also known for Kiley's Corner, which will be on later today on the podcast with John Riches, vice president of litigation for the Goldwater Institute. John, let's go talk further about the DEI situation at Arizona State. First of all, is University of Arizona, Northern Arizona. Are they also having these same type of issues?John Riches: We think we've gone to their website and requested some records, and it looks like they're doing these sorts of trainings as well. We sent a letter to Arbor where we asked them to audit all the universities across the state, because it appears that this is a broader problem than just ASU.Chuck Warren: How much money is ASU dedicated to DEI officers? Do you know that's.John Riches: A good question I don't.Chuck Warren: That'd be interesting for us to find out. Kiley, I think our audience would like to know. All right. So let's talk about the Board of Regents and die Staffing. Did the Board of Regents, were they aware of this? Did they? What did they do on it?John Riches: I don't know, we sent them a letter just last month. So this is interesting. The Arizona legislature last session passed a statute that prohibits DEI esque trainings for state employees and prohibits the spending of taxpayer dollars to provide these trainings. And there's, you know, very quaint concepts like, you know, no race is inherently superior to another. People aren't inherently racist based on their race. You can't discriminate based on someone's race. All of these things were in the statute.Chuck Warren: All common sense things. Most people would find common sense if we just went door to door.John Riches: Exactly. Common sense, moral things. Right. And it said, you know, no state agency, including the universities, can require their employees to take training that advances things contrary to the, you know, to these common sense items, and you can't spend taxpayer money on it. So when we got the records on this training for faculty and staff, it was pretty clear that that training violated violated the statute. Yeah. Correct. Yeah. So that's what we sent the letter to Eburon. And we said, look, here's the training. We pulled out specific segments of the training and said, you know, you're in violation of state law. What you should do now is stop mandating the training and stop spending taxpayer dollars to provide it.Chuck Warren: You have much money, just even the mandatory training cost, what they spend on that.John Riches: It had to have been a lot. I mean, it was a it was a very comprehensive training with videos with, you know, people throughout the country because.Chuck Warren: These people sure have no problem increasing tuition every year.John Riches: Yeah, yeah. That's true.Chuck Warren: Let's talk about the Cronkite's journalism school at ASU. It's a mandatory class there. Is it not or was.John Riches: That's right. Yeah. So what we found they're requiring this loyalty oath for new hires. They're requiring the training for existing faculty. And then we're wondering, is it going into the student body? And it turns out that the Cronkite School has a required Dei course for every single journalism student at the school. So we requested those records. We asked for the syllabus. At first they didn't want to give us copies of it, but eventually they did.Chuck Warren: What was what was on what was on the syllabus?John Riches: You know, a lot of the same sort of Dei dogma stuff that you see, you know, throughout, throughout these sort of courses, a lot of the intersectionality stuff and that sort of thing.Chuck Warren: We wonder why Kiley, our press is slanted.Kiley Kipper: I don't wonder anymore. It all makes sense, and I don't think ASU is coming up with these ideas themselves.Chuck Warren: So it'd be interesting to see surveying the students when they start the Cronkite School of Journalism if they think it's needed, and after four years, if they think it's needed.John Riches: Yeah, yeah. I mean, I mean, think about how little time you have to actually do the few mandatory courses that are required that are required. And this is this is the thing that the school is focusing on, you know, and that limited chunk of time.Chuck Warren: Do you is this happening in our public schools on the high school level? Is it happening on the junior college level?John Riches: I'm not sure about junior college, but K-12 for sure. I mean, this has been a debate for for a couple of years now where, you know, K-12 are clearly introducing di CRT concepts into the classroom. They deny doing it. Then you come up with real clear evidence that they have. So yeah, this this goes obviously broader than higher. Ed.Chuck Warren: John, explain to our audience why this fight is necessary. We all you know, we want we really do want a colorblind society, right? I mean, I think that's all we want. You know, that may be a goal. You know, sort of like the more perfect union. You know, we can get a little bit better each time each generation. Our kids will be better, hopefully. But why is this important for us? Just to put our thumb on it and say this, this nonsense has to stop. Why is it important for our country, for the state of Arizona?John Riches: It's contrary to the founding ideals of the country, right? If you take a concept like equity, what does that mean? It's the opposite of equality of opportunity. It's they're trying to get equality of outcome, which of course, you can't do. And that's essentially a Marxist theory. But, you know, our country is predicated on the belief that all people are created equal and everybody should have an equal opportunity. Not that some people are given special privileges, not that some people should be discriminated against based on race. You know, the content of our character is determined by our choices and our actions, not by immutable characteristics.Chuck Warren: Kiley, do you feel like folks in their 20s and early 30s believe in that concept at all?Kiley Kipper: Yes. Yeah, yeah yeah I was.Chuck Warren: I mean, you have some friends who are Democrat liberal, I imagine. I mean, you've not cut him off, I'm sure.Kiley Kipper: No, no absolutely not.Chuck Warren: No, no, I have recommended it. But anyway, continue. What do you find their beliefs are on this, this type of thing.Kiley Kipper: I find that my friends who. They think Republicans are racist. Yeah, like, but when I was in high school, in college, I was really not political. And none of my friends were like, we did not discuss this and how I got in because.Chuck Warren: Because you're a normal human beings.Kiley Kipper: Yeah. And we just and we all. That's why we became best friends. And then obviously 2020 when the whole Trump everything, that's when it all started coming out. And I'm like, you have known me for this long, and have you ever.Chuck Warren: Seen me say racist thing in the world?Kiley Kipper: Exactly. And so I'm like, you guys need to look, reflect back and like, look at this and really look at the people. They really their character.Chuck Warren: They really don't look at the content of the character. No. It's been it's been very odd to see John as a Goldwater and you do litigation there. Okay. You've been doing this how long now? Goldwater? Ten years. How have things changed with the left and governments are trying to do ten years ago versus now? What is it? Have you seen a change? Has it gotten worse? What's what's going on.John Riches: Sure. So we got to decide, of course, what cases we're going to take. Are we going to do an economic freedom case? Are we going to do a free speech case? Are we going to do a regulatory case? And for the first five years, six, six, maybe even seven years, I was there. Things that everybody basically agreed on. Free speech is a good thing. People shouldn't be discriminated against based on their race.Chuck Warren: It was it was a liberal ideology in the 70s and 80s. Right. And Republicans are always trying to suppress it.John Riches: Supposedly it's essentially a liberal notion. Right, right, right. But these things that everybody that we thought everybody agreed on, you know, it appears they don't. And now things like free speech, you know, equality of opportunity are controversial concepts. And that's been that's been something of a surprise.Chuck Warren: Have you noticed attorneys you work with who are on the left or, you know, have they changed on this. Do they feel things are going too far? In one extreme, I think they're.John Riches: Saying, I think there's a divide in the, you know, on the left between classical liberals and this.Chuck Warren: Israel massacre. What's happening? It's been interesting to watch. And I know this isn't your forte, but we talk about this a lot on the show. I've noticed a lot of liberal journalists, traditional liberals, I'll call them. They're appalled. Like, I can't believe how much anti-Semitism is on the left. It's like, well, you never talk to anybody because it's been there forever, right? Right. I mean, talk about people with their heads in the cloud. Do you find that type of eye opening moment has come to some of these folks on the attorneys on the left you've known and you respect, just like, oh my gosh, what is going on here? Yeah.John Riches: And I've had I've had conversations with some that say, hey, look, I mean, I've been so disenchanted with what's happening with the progressives and this, this, you know, this animosity towards free speech that it's made me want to leave, for example, the Democratic Party. But I feel like it's necessary for me to stick around so that there's an adult in the room and so that there's a sane voice. But I think they're that voice is becoming quieter and the progressives are becoming louder.Chuck Warren: Yeah. I don't know where they go. I know we've had that on the right. We have our Never-trumpers or Trump. Of course, our side, in all their self-righteousness, stomp their feet, held their breath and just felt like, I'm just going to leave and take my ball and go home. And it's been an absolute catastrophe that they've done that because there's not this intellectual rigor of debate in the party right now. What else is Goldwater working on right now that you feel our audience should know about?John Riches: All kinds of things? You know, we do a whole lot of things where we try and protect taxpayers against subsidies. We got a case going up to the Arizona Supreme Court next month on an issue where City of Scottsdale is subsidizing one of its favorite parties. We're always working on people's right to earn a living, right? So everybody has an inherent right to work in the job of their choice, free from government interference. Courts have sort of relegated that right to second class status. So we're frequently in courts arguing.Chuck Warren: Talk a little bit about that, about the hairdressers and so forth. Occupational licensing talk a little bit what Goldwater has helped do versus your Michelle Ugenti sponsored the bill. Governor Ducey signed it. You folks are intellectual power behind that to a degree. Explain what difference that made for people. Sure.John Riches: Yeah. So you think about this about 50 years ago, only 5% of jobs required an occupational license, a government permission slip to work in the job. And it would be like lawyers, doctors, things you'd think about today. Depending on the state, it's about 25% to a third of all jobs require an occupational license. And some of the stuff is bizarre.Chuck Warren: Is that because of certain people in their industries have gotten together, created a cabal, and said, you need to be licensed? Precisely.John Riches: It's rent seeking. You know, it's rent seeking. It's a lot easier to go to the government and ask them to prevent competition than it is to actually compete and beat your competitor.Chuck Warren: I don't think people realize that's where a lot of it comes from, right? I saw it a lot. My dad owned a dental lab, and they're always trying to get people to have to be licensed to do it. Right now it's medical, I get it. It's a little bit different than nails or hair or, you know, things of that nature, but it does seem like it comes from people who've done well and have time to devote to let's create a trade organization. And then our next step is let's get these suckers. All licensed here.John Riches: 100%. Yeah. You'll like this story. In Florida, they decided to license florists. So if you wanted to sell flowers, you had to take a test. And then the second part of the test is you had to make a floral display and show it to a panel of licensed florists, and only if they deemed it sufficiently beautiful could you have the privilege of selling flowers in the great state of Florida.Chuck Warren: How long ago was that?John Riches: They still have the licensing requirements.Kiley Kipper: Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.Chuck Warren: Is Goldwater do anything in Florida to knock down that nonsense? It is the free state of Florida, so I've been told.John Riches: So there was a case. In fairness, there was a case I think brought it a few years back that that attempted to challenge it. And I think they had some some victory in there. But the the licensing regime is still in place.Chuck Warren: Well, that sounds like something DeSantis probably should. Sounds like something he'll do if he gets excited about it. Yeah. You had a question. You know, I was just.Kiley Kipper: I was just thinking about why licenses are necessary in the first place. Because if I'm going to like my hairdresser and she doesn't have a license, but she cuts my hair, well, then I'm going to keep going to her. If she doesn't cut it, well, then.Chuck Warren: You go elsewhere.Kiley Kipper: You go elsewhere.Chuck Warren: Yeah. I mean, I get it for like, doctors I get for attorneys for medical.Kiley Kipper: Stuff and nails. I do because.Chuck Warren: They're basic things now. So I'm sure now for medical boards you have to pass some other sort of DEI training, as well as actual medical things that make people get better. Right? Yeah.John Riches: They're building all that stuff into a lot of licensing requirements.Chuck Warren: So we got we got a couple of minutes there left. How do people stop this? What do they need to do to prevent this die, this progressive organ control your thought patrol progress first.John Riches: Notice it. I mean, people got to got to understand this is happening, you know, throughout government, throughout universities, throughout K-12. So, you know, figure out what's going on in your school district, figure out what's going on in your state universities, identify the problem first, and then, you know, be willing to stand up. And sometimes that takes takes courage. You know, people don't want to get quote unquote canceled. But, you know, if there's a professor that's like, hey, this training's going on, I shouldn't have to do it. I shouldn't have to take this test where they're telling me what the right answer is. You know, it requires people willing to say, this is wrong and we shouldn't be doing this.Chuck Warren: So it's a really good point. I think people I think it's a problem is it takes people like you because most people don't have the time to spend on these issues. I mean, they've got a, you know, a lot of people working two jobs now trying to get extra income. They got their kids, they got soccer practice, all the things you do except during the day. You get to be sort of this watchman at the tower doing this. One final thing. You recently had a new baby. Yep. And you had a son before. What? How has fatherhood made you a better attorney?John Riches: Oh, that's a that's a really interesting question. I guess maybe fatherhood at bottom makes you more empathetic. And I think a lot of attorneys lack in empathy, you know, of course, for opposing counsel, but maybe even sometimes for your own clients. And I think, you know, there's nothing like having responsibility over a human life, developing a person's character. And, and, you know, being able to achieve those really important things that make you more empathetic and focus on the things that truly matter in life.Chuck Warren: 15 20s left. What's the hardest part about being a father for you?John Riches: Making sure they're protected while also giving them the freedom to grow?Chuck Warren: That's hard. You can scrape your knee. I just don't want you to break the leg. Got one of the two, right? That's right folks, this is thank you, John Richards, for joining us from Goldwater Institute. This is breaking battlegrounds. You can find us at Breaking Battlegrounds. Vote. Pay attention for our podcast. Coming up, we're interviewing former Jamaican ambassador Don Tapia. This is breaking battlegrounds. Have a fantastic weekend. Share the podcast. We love you guys. Take care.Advertisement: The 2022 political field was intense, so don't get left behind in 2024. If you're running for political office, the first thing on your to do list needs to be securing your name on the web with a your name web domain from GoDaddy.com. Get yours now.Chuck Warren: Welcome back to Breaking Bad Grounds. I'm your host, Chuck Warren with Kiley Kipper. Sam is out with the sniffles today. We are honored for this portion of the show to have my friend and community leader, ambassador Don Tapia. He's former ambassador of Jamaica, and he's been a community leader and led a business here in Arizona for many years. He's also served on various charitable boards and whatever you think in Arizona, that's happened in the last 30 years, 40 years John's been doing it. Don's been doing it. Sorry, John. Don's been doing.Kiley Kipper: Just moved from John to Don.Chuck Warren: Yeah. Ambassador Tapia, welcome to the show. Well, thank you very much for inviting me. Well, we're so glad to have you on. So what was the process like becoming an ambassador?Ambassador Don Tapia: Well, the first thing is, is you've got to be nominated, of course, by the president of the United States. And whether you're a Democrat or a Republican, it's great an honor to have the president nominate you. And then after the nomination, the process is you've got to go through the confirmation. And that's a confirmation of the US Senate. And you have to go and visit Washington, and you must make your rounds to the senators and so forth to let them ask you questions and so forth. And one of the things that always set me back is that what they call a motor, a motor, a motor board, and what that is, is that you go before the the opposition, which would be the Democrats, since I was a Republican, to go before this board and they take you down the road, believe me, they take you down the road with questions and so forth. And I always remember one I sat across from Menendez's attorney, know his office, and he said, I've been a liberal Democrat all my life, and I'm going to die a liberal Democrat. And of course, there's five other people in the room. And so you sit there and you listen to the questions and so forth. So when it came around to my time to respond, I said, well, I'm a Republican, but if in fact, I'm confirmed as a US ambassador, I will represent you as a liberal Democrat because I represent the American people. On which side of the aisle you're on, it makes no difference. And after the after we got through with that as we were walking out, he says, that's the best answer anybody has ever given me in 20 years that I've been on the murder board.Chuck Warren: Oh that's amazing. How many senators did you have to visit with?Ambassador Don Tapia: I visited with probably about 15 to 20, basically the foreign minister, the Foreign Relations Committee, and that was.Chuck Warren: Over a couple of days.Ambassador Don Tapia: They had oh, no, that's over. You got to go with their schedule. So that could be over a couple of weeks that it could take place.Chuck Warren: Once you got the phone call until you were confirmed. How long did that process take?Ambassador Don Tapia: Just about 11 months.Chuck Warren: It's a long process.Ambassador Don Tapia: It's a long, long process, yes.Kiley Kipper: So is what is that seat open? And then the president nominates someone. Or does every time a new president come in, a new nomination happens. You got to keep.Ambassador Don Tapia: In mind that it was some trying times back there. So Trump being the president and you coming in normally you would be you would be confirmed through, you know through a a committee. And then it goes to the floor and the floor then would actually call you up and it'd be unanimous. But because of the situation in Washington at the time, they were taking individuals. So we had to wait and wait and wait until he got called up. And out of all of them by acclamation, there was only two ambassador nominees that went before the full the full Senate, and that was myself and the one out of Georgia. There was only two of us that was that actually had to go through the complete roll call vote.Chuck Warren: Really?Ambassador Don Tapia: Yes. We thought that was pretty good. I came across out of all of the 100 senators, I got 68, I think it was 68 US senators across the aisle, which meant that I had Democrats and Republicans across the aisle. You're a.Chuck Warren: Bipartisan choice.Ambassador Don Tapia: I'm not real sure about that because you know it. But it was by eye that year was the highest that anybody ever received. Going through confirmation to the Foreign Relations Committee.Chuck Warren: We're with  the honorable Don Tapia. He's a former ambassador to Jamaica during the Trump administration. What being an ambassador, what did you think it was about going in and when you left, how had your opinion changed on the role?Ambassador Don Tapia: Well, going into it, the first thing you got to look at is what is an ambassador? You know, what does the duties of an ambassador? And I always relate it to being the CEO of a large company. And that's basically what you are. You're the ambassador. You're the what they call the commander, the chairman of the board. When you go there, you have an embassy. And I had just under 500 people at the embassy that reported to me in different agencies. I had 18 law enforcement associate companies, or you might say, units that reported to me across the board from the CIA, down to the FBI, down to, you know, the. Dea and so forth. So you go all of those people were reporting to you to tell you what's taking place in the not only in Jamaica, but in the world.Chuck Warren: As an ambassador. Let's say today is supposedly the day of rage. Hamas has asked people to go out, express their rage. What would you be doing right now as an ambassador in Jamaica with such a warning throughout the world today? What would you be doing?Ambassador Don Tapia: Well, let's take a step back and talk about Martin Luther King Day. You know, when we had the we had the Black Lives Matter that was going on and throughout the Caribbean and throughout the world, right at the embassy, of course, you have you have people showing up, you know, to demonstrate. And one of the things that I did is you have your detail. You're always around with your detail, your security detail. One of the things that I did that surprised everybody in Jamaica, and in fact, even the Caribbean, got a lot of a lot of press on. It is the fact is that I went out into the Black Lives Matter demonstration. And when I walked out there, they were all aghast at the US ambassador, who would actually walk out of the embassy and walk into a demonstration, right to meet with the people.Chuck Warren: Yeah, it would be. They wouldn't. They don't see that. No.Ambassador Don Tapia: And I'm not real sure of the way that with the organization that's out there now demonstrating that you would want to be in that, in that group of people. You know, it's it's a different type of you're talking about terrorists versus a demonstration. Correct. So that's one of the things that you're seeing here in, in the US that when you look at the demonstrations taking place in New York and in Los Angeles and so forth, Hezbollah, and you're seeing things that that truly we never have seen on our on the US soil, where you see terrorists. Actually, I shouldn't say they're all terrorists, but yet the the matter that they're, that they're demonstrating against or for is terrorism. It has been terrorism. So that's one of the things that you look at. And you're going to ask me about, about what my thoughts are about what's taking place in. Yeah.Chuck Warren: Yeah. What would you do as ambassador to prepare your staff today and obviously protect them and so forth on this type of day?Ambassador Don Tapia: Well, they tell you to, to stay in place, which means when they say that, it says stay where you are, don't go out in the streets, don't get involved, stay where you are. And that's what you basically train. And we actually have things within the embassy that you train. All the people that went something like that happens to stay in place. So if they start storming the embassy like they did I did a few years back, that's different. You have there's no way that you can control that. There's no way that you you have your of course you have your military there, that that guards the gate and so forth, but there's not enough of them that could take that could stop a major demonstration coming over the wall of an embassy in Jamaica.Chuck Warren: How many people worked at the embassy? I mean, you told us you had this big crew, about 500 people. How many people were career people that worked at the embassy had been there for a decade plus.Ambassador Don Tapia: There's no such thing as a decade plus. Plus in an embassy. You're all your all your organizations that are that are assigned to the embassy is a three year, basically a three year run. You have your career, people that come in and they they're there for three years. The worst part about that is that that on their second year, they have to bid out to their next job.Chuck Warren: Oh, okay.Ambassador Don Tapia: They actually have to bid out. So you have them for one year when they knowing that that that they're leaving within a within that year period of time to go to their next assignment. So that's one of the things I hold the career people or the people in the State Department that are in the US embassies because they're traveling around the world. If you really want to, if you really want to see the world, join the Foreign Service, because that's where you will see the see the around the world. And if you have children, they'll get an education around, you know, different countries around the world and so forth.Kiley Kipper: So did did you find that people would join to see the world? So they would say, I'm going to go work at this embassy for three years, and then I know that I can be assigned to another one. Is that kind of their goal or.Ambassador Don Tapia: I don't think that that's anybody's goal to know that, you know, it sounds you're going to keep switching. It sounds, you know, romantically, you know.Chuck Warren: It sounds like the Navy recruitment. Right.Kiley Kipper: So they would prefer just to stay in like, well, there's an assignment.Ambassador Don Tapia: Or I think that they would like to stay longer. But you've got you got a three year because keep in mind, in two years you're only there two years and you're bidding, you're bidding out for your for the next three years or next four years. So and you're still maintaining your position there and in the embassy.Chuck Warren: What do you feel the difference is between ambassadors like you who are appointed men and women of great integrity, background substance versus these great career Foreign service folks who are appointed? What do you feel the difference is? Is it that folks like you, who have been appointed and not been part of the Foreign Service, just comes with fresh eyes? Is that helpful as an ambassador, to come in with fresh eyes and say, we can do this better?Ambassador Don Tapia: Well, let's take a look at a career, a career ambassador. In an appointed or a political ambassador. A career ambassador, of course, is is a employee of the State Department. Keep that in mind. So for them to get things done, they have to actually more like tag based constantly with the with the State Department to do anything if they want to. If I wanted to talk to if they wanted to talk to, let's say, the DEA director, they actually would have to go back to the State Department to have somebody within the State Department make the appointment, tell them what they want to discuss with and who they wanted to talk with. Well, as a as a political appointment, you're you're appointed by the president of the United States and you're representing him directly. So therefore, you pick up the phone and I've talked to the vice president, I've talked to the secretary of defense and so forth, where you pick up the phone and you just call the secretary, or you have your secretary set up an appointment and you and you can get more things done as a political appointment than you can as a career.Chuck Warren: That makes sense in your weekly schedule is ambassador, how much time were you actually at the residence versus being out and about in the country?Ambassador Don Tapia: I started at 730 in the morning, got home normally about 4 to 6:00 in the evening.Chuck Warren: And so you're out every day?Ambassador Don Tapia: Yes, yes.Chuck Warren: What is something about Jamaica that the American public doesn't know about it? Besides, it's a great place to go for a vacation. What? Tell us about the people. And I'm sure you fell in love with these people. You feel like it's probably a second home now. Tell us a little bit about that.Ambassador Don Tapia: Well, Jamaica, there's a couple of things. There's the security thing that that you've got to look at. One of the things is Jamaica is sits in a location, of course, in the Caribbean, as we know, just south of, just south of Cuba. There's only two ways into the Gulf of Mexico. And that's one of the things that a lot of American people don't realize, that you either go north to come into the Gulf of Mexico, and that takes you that takes you by the D.R. and into by Cuba, into the Gulf of Mexico. If you're coming out of the Panama Canal, which most of the big ships are coming out of the Panama Canal going into going into the Gulf of Mexico to New Orleans to drop you to drop the goods off that they've picked up in Europe is the fact is that you're going by Venezuela, you're going by Colombia into the Gulf, into the Gulf of Mexico. So what we have seen in one of the things that you've got to look at is the CCP, which is the communist, the Chinese Communist Party, which becomes a factor around the world. And that's one of the greatest threats that we have. It's not Russia is a threat, of course, it's they bring Russian. But we found out that Russia in the Ukraine did not did not have the where to to really fight a world war.Chuck Warren: Right.Ambassador Don Tapia: That's some of the things that you look at as an ambassador, because you were involved looking at what's taking place around the world. These are some of the things that that I think the American people in the Caribbean is seek the Caribbean actually is our first line of defense. When you look at it, the first line of defense. And during the Cold War, we put a lot of money and a lot of effort into the Caribbean. Once the Cold War was over, after after Reagan, we more like took him, took advantage of them. We we didn't pay attention to them. We paid more attention to to Europe, in South Africa and so forth than we did to our own home base. You might say to the beaches that that really protect us in the long run.Chuck Warren: What should we do? What should be the policy going forward in the Caribbean from the United States government?Ambassador Don Tapia: Well, I think there's a certain areas that that need to be that need to be beefed up. You know, whenever you get down to El Salvador, down in that area and so forth, that the people that are coming from El Salvador, El Salvador, what you found out that just crossed over the border just about two weeks ago ago, about 50,000 Venezuelans that are coming into the US. So when you turn around and you start taking a look at who is coming across our border today, it's very scary because there's busloads of Chinese. How did the Chinese get to get to Mexico?Chuck Warren: Yeah, they didn't walk. They didn't.Ambassador Don Tapia: Walk. So you so when you start taking a look at the people that are crossing the border, we have no way to vent those people. No way to vent. Thousands of people crossing the border on foot. So we have a we have a major security line. And I always say that a country is not a country without a border. We are not a country today. We have no border to the south.Chuck Warren: No, we do not. We do not what right now, there's a there's a number of countries that do not have a United States ambassador for various reasons. And I'll get into all those. But what does it mean when a country does not have a United States ambassador in it? Who's running the the.Ambassador Don Tapia: Charge d'affaires is he's the second. Normally when the ambassador there you have what they call a DCM, which is actually the deputy commander, your deputy chief of staff is what they call him. Once that once the ambassador leaves, his title changes to charge d'affaires, which means that he is in charge. Charge of thee takes the place of the ambassador. He didn't have all the authority that the ambassador would have, but he has the authority to run the embassy and to take care of the day to day business.Chuck Warren: But to the president of a country or so forth. It's not the same as having the actual ambassador there. They know there's somebody, they know there's a manager at the place, at the business. They know there's somebody there, maybe an assistant manager. But the person who really can give yes or no is not there. And that and that has to play some role.Ambassador Don Tapia: That's exactly right. Is that without the ambassador, the ambassador in many countries, believe it or not, the ambassador has the same voice as the prime minister or the president of that company, that country. Because the fact is, he is the representative, the direct representative of the United States. So his words and what he says is taken very seriously. In a lot of times you can get yourself in trouble. So you've got to watch. You've got to watch what you're saying, too.Chuck Warren: How many how many countries had ambassadors in Jamaica when you were there?Ambassador Don Tapia: You know, that's a good question. I'm not sure, but we I know that I could be out probably 17, 17 or 18.Chuck Warren: Did you did you become close to to any particular ambassador from another country?Ambassador Don Tapia: Well, the Chinese ambassador kept trying. The Chinese ambassador kept trying to meet me. And of course, my my detail. Your detail comes up and whispers in your ear as you see that the the Chinese ambassador would like to to meet with you and shake your hand. And I my comment was, I don't believe that I need to shake his hand, you know so so. But the differ the different embassies had would have certain kind of affairs and so forth that you were invited to. And a lot of times you sent your deputy instead of instead of you.Chuck Warren: Interesting, interesting. Well, ambassador, we sure appreciate you coming on the show today. You've been fantastic.Ambassador Don Tapia: Well, thank you very much. I wonder how I looked before.Chuck Warren: You look fantastic, and I appreciate your service. Would you do it again if they called you tomorrow? Would you do it again?Ambassador Don Tapia: You know, that's a that's a question that I get asked a lot. And it'd have to be depending on the, on the country and so forth in which you're going to. The reason at my age is I had a choice of a couple of countries, but I went to pick when they gave me Jamaica, I thought, you know, at my age I'm not that far away from the US. If something happened, I could be flown back to the US. So you take a look at things. I always, I always like to say that I'd like to be the ambassador to to Iceland, but that's. But that is covered by a different. There's three countries that are in there Iceland, Newfoundland. And I forget what the other. It's either Finland or one of them that actually has the responsibility. Oh, Norway. Norway actually has the responsibility for for those three areas.Chuck Warren: Oh, fascinating. Well, ambassador Don Tapia, thank you so much for coming on our show today.Ambassador Don Tapia: Well, thank you for the invite. And I'm.Chuck Warren: Anytime.Ambassador Don Tapia: We're happy to come back and give you you know, I had I get a lot of calls from still from around the world of people that I know, ambassadors and so forth. And we talk about the systems, the things that are taking place. And like in Israel, we it's been a lot of chatter on that one, I bet.Chuck Warren: What are they saying about it?Ambassador Don Tapia: Well. That you've had so many, you know, upstarts with Jamaica in the in the I'm sorry, the Israel and the Palestinians, you know, you've got to come to some some conclusion and let it and run its course. That's a heck of a thing to say, because that means that there's going to be a lot of a lot of deaths and so forth, a lot of innocent life, a lot of innocent life, a lot of innocent people that are going to that's going to suffer. But at the same time, are we going to continue? Are you going to let Israel and the Palestinians fight this battle every 10 or 15 years and so forth? This one seems, from what I from what I've been reading and what I've been told by some people that are actually in Israel, that this has been planned out for for quite a long time.Chuck Warren: Sounds like a year or two where I've been reading this morning. It's been coming out. It's you know, it is. We have the Wall Street Journal reporter on last week who covers Eastern Europe. So he's been covering the Ukraine war. And we asked the question, how does this come to a resolution? And his comment was someone has to win. That's and I feel sadly you brought up. I appreciate you bringing up the stark reality and not talking a word salad here. Somebody has to win for this to sort of end. And I was sort of stunned. He took it was, you know, a very unreported like statement. But he's been there for 12 years, speaks Russian and just says someone has to win. You know, you could do a peace agreement, but it's basically a recess. They'll be back at it in a year or two again. And that's what we're seeing in the Middle East and our prayers are there. Sadly, a lot of innocent people are going to lose their lives on this.Ambassador Don Tapia: That's a very dangerous spot in the world, because if that place explodes, keep in mind you've got Egypt, you've got Iran, you've got Syria, you've got Jordan. Well, you're talking now. You're talking about not just one country that can that the explosion can take place. And if it does World War, World War two will look like it. It was a training.Chuck Warren: Well, we can pray for some wiser heads prevail. And everything right now is what we definitely need in the world.Ambassador Don Tapia: All right, I know our prayers. I'll tell you. You have to pray. Pray for the people that are suffering, the people that are going to suffer, you know, and and of course, our people, that we have to pray for them and hope that we can work our way through this. But we haven't been able to. So I somebody would call me a hawk because the fact is, I say, let's get let's get the job done one way or the other. Like you say, somebody has to win, right? Let's get this. Let's find out who's going to win and move on from there. We haven't done that. It's over the last 50 years. We have not done it since the young Kippur War.Chuck Warren: Exactly. Well, ambassador, thank you for joining us today.Ambassador Don Tapia: Well, thank you for the invite.Chuck Warren: This is Breaking Battlegrounds. We'll be right back.Advertisement: The 2022 political field was intense, so don't get left behind in 2024. If you're running for political office, the first thing on your to do list needs to be securing your name on the web with a Your name web domain from GoDaddy.com. Get yours now.Chuck Warren: Welcome back to Breaking Battlegrounds. I'm your host, Chuck. Weren't my co-host, Kiley Kipper today. Kiley. Thanks. You've done fantastic today.Kiley Kipper: It's very exciting to be here.Chuck Warren: Very, very exciting here.Kiley Kipper: The big.Chuck Warren: Roll. Kiley and I before the show were harmonizing, trying to figure out a closing song. We'll get with you on that in a couple of weeks as we practice a little bit more. So Kiley  what do we have on Kiley's corner today?Kiley Kipper: Well, I felt since today's Friday the 13th a little spooky season. October I wanted to talk about the world's largest pumpkin. Okay, so Travis Gienger, he has been growing enormous pumpkins for 30 years now. It's one of his hobbies. He grew one so large that this year it was the it weighed as much as a small car.Chuck Warren: Really?Kiley Kipper: Yes. But in his previous year. So in 2020, he grew a pumpkin named Tiger King, which weighed £2,350. Last year, Maverick, his pumpkin was £2,560. Still hasn't did not beat any world records, however. This year it was the 50th annual World Championship pumpkin Weigh-off and he has been growing Michael Jordan for six months now, and he is the world's largest pumpkin, officially weighing £2,749. And he transported this. He drove 35 hours to this competition with this pumpkin in the back of his truck.Chuck Warren: How how did he grow them so big? I mean, what's different from, say, you and I go in our backyard and grow pumpkin? What does he do that gets them so big? Is there a certain a certain seed he's using? What does he do?Kiley Kipper: You know he does not tell his secrets. However, he did say this pumpkin. He sat out there and he watered him every 30 minutes. I'm not really sure what his day job is. However, he sat out there. Well, he's probably even watered him.Chuck Warren: Does he look older? Is he retired? Maybe.Kiley Kipper: No, he's not retired every 30 minutes.Chuck Warren: Huh?Kiley Kipper: Yeah, every 30 minutes. He was watering because he really wanted Michael Jordan to beat it this year.Chuck Warren: So what we're seeing is he's the poster child for the termination of remote work and get back in the office. Is that what we're telling us?Kiley Kipper: Yes, yes, yes, yes.Chuck Warren: Every time they said he says I'm on a conference call or something. We know he's out watering his pumpkin.Kiley Kipper: He's on mute, but he says that he names all of his pumpkins fantastic. But he names all of his pumpkins off of what's happening in this year. So this year it's 2023, so named after Michael Jordan. But you know Tiger King in 2020 and so so be it. That's how he names him.Chuck Warren: Well Kiley I think this was a needed ending today to our show where there's a lot of chaos going on in the world. Folks, this is breaking bad grounds. We hope you have a great weekend. You can of course find us on Breaking Battlegrounds dot vote. We also ask you to go to anywhere you get your podcasts, or listen to one of our 12 stations that has our radio show on every week. We hope you have a great weekend! Stay safe!- Get full access to Breaking Battlegrounds at breakingbattlegrounds.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome to Breaking Battlegrounds Radio! In this week's episode, we dive deep into a range of thought-provoking topics with our fantastic lineup of guests. First up, we have Thomas Grove, a renowned WSJ reporter, who provides valuable insights into the latest developments in Russia and Ukraine. Then, our friend of the show, Dan McLaughlin, also known as the 'Baseball Crank' on Twitter, joins us for an engaging conversation. Dan shares his thoughts on how to refocus the media's attention on critical issues beyond Trump, including discussions on polling trends for both Trump and Biden, the upcoming presidential election next year, and his insights into the Speaker's race.And, of course, we can't forget Kiley Kipper in Kiley's Corner! Tune in to hear Kiley's unique take on various subjects this week, including the mysterious world of Tupac, the Citizen app, and the enchanting puffin season in Iceland. Join Kiley as she unravels the story and discusses its implications, all from her corner of the studio.-Connect with us:www.breakingbattlegrounds.voteTwitter: www.twitter.com/Breaking_BattleFacebook: www.facebook.com/breakingbattlegroundsInstagram: www.instagram.com/breakingbattlegroundsLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/breakingbattlegrounds-ABOUT OUR GUESTSThomas Grove covers the confrontation between Russia and the West for The Wall Street Journal. He is based in Warsaw. Before that Thomas covered Russia for more than a decade and he has traveled to Ukraine regularly since Russia's invasion. He writes on Russia's military, the arms trade and the Russian defense sector as well as great power competition.He started his career in Istanbul with Reuters writing about the economy and the rise of Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s AKP. Thomas has since reported from across Central Asia, the Caucasus region and the Middle East.-Dan McLaughlin is a senior writer at National Review Online and a fellow at National Review Institute. He was formerly an attorney practicing securities and commercial litigation in New York City, a contributing editor of RedState, columnist at the Federalist and the New Ledger, a baseball blogger at BaseballCrank.com, BostonSportsGuy.com, the Providence Journal Online, and a contributor to the Command Post. His writings on politics, baseball, and law have appeared in numerous other newspapers, magazines, websites, and legal journals.-Transcription Sam Stone: Welcome to another episode of Breaking Battlegrounds with your host, Chuck Warren. I'm Sam Stone. As always, fantastic guests up for you today, folks. We're going to lead things off with Thomas Grove of The Wall Street Journal. He's been covering in depth the confrontation between Russia and the West. And obviously he is based in Warsaw, previously covered Russia for more than a decade. He's traveled to Ukraine regularly since Russia's invasion, writes on Russia's military, the arms trade and Russian defense sector, as well as great power competition. Thomas, thank you for joining us. Welcome to the program.Thomas Grove: Great. Thank you so much for having me.Chuck Warren: Thomas How did you get started in this business? It seems like you've done great reporting, starting with Reuters and now you've just planted your flag out there in Eastern Europe. Was this a career path you wanted or you just sort of fell into it by doing various stories?Thomas Grove: That's a really good question. I studied Russian in college, and I was just fascinated by kind of what was the kind of referred to more frequently at the time as the kind of the post-Soviet space. So all of Central Asia, the caucuses, Russia itself, you know, it was all just wild and fascinating. And I couldn't get enough of it coming out of college. So I basically after that just basically washed up, started with Reuters, and things just kind of took on a life of their own, really. So spent spending ten years in Russia, you know, we left just right before the war, just a few months before, luckily. And I went to I was going to Israel just to kind of start something completely new, turn a new page. And that lasted about 4 or 5 months. And before I knew it, I was back in Ukraine again. I'd covered the 2014 war and and now it was kind of I really didn't expect. However, when I went back in 2022 that I'd be seeing the biggest land invasion in Europe since the Second World War. It was obviously a surprise. At least it was for me. You've been so much for others.Chuck Warren: You've been to Ukraine a lot in person. Do you feel sort of like you're reliving a World War One video from junior high? I mean, is it you know, here's one thing you see on our side. You see these you don't get to see many photos, but you see some about the trenches and the the bloodshed. And then you see Ukraine where it doesn't look like anything's going on. And there are some on the conservative side who say, see, this isn't a big deal. Tell us a little about what you see on the ground when you go.Thomas Grove: Well, I mean, that's a really that's a great question. I think probably the best way of explaining it is is explaining the journey. You know, you have to take to get there. You know, there's no airports in Ukraine. So anybody who who makes that trip, they come from most of the time from Poland. You know, we're just based to and you cross the border and you're in western Ukraine and everything feels, you know, you're in Lviv and things are bustling. You know, stores are open. It's a, you know, a beautiful city full of, you know, 17th, 18th, 19th century buildings. You know, it's it's gorgeous. And you think, well, you know, it is hard to reconcile that with what, you know, lays ahead. And obviously, you know, the closer you get east, closer you the further you get south, you know, it becomes that that reality becomes a lot more dramatic and the scenes are a lot more dire as well. And, you know, it doesn't take long, you know, until. You are in Bermuda and you see things that you simply can't imagine happening in the in Europe in the 21 century.Chuck Warren: That would that would seem to me to be a very interesting article for you to work on, because I think there is this this disconnection here with the American public.Sam Stone: There's definitely not much understanding of what the real conditions.Chuck Warren: And so and I think it's part of the problem with the funding, to be honest with you. I think if more Americans knew what was really going on in the Eastern and south and there was more pictures because we live in a very social media picture, visual society, I think there'd be some difference there because what you see, especially on conservative media, because, you know, Sam and I always have this conversation with people, look, both, you know, Korean Ukraine has corruption and Russia is bad. They're not mutually exclusive. You know, you just can't let a country do this to another country. And people say that and they sort of, you know, nod their shoulders and say, yeah, you're right, you know, But I think that type of thing would happen. So let me talk about something's happened this week, which has been quite amazing, actually. And you wrote about it on October 4th. Russia Withdraws Black Sea fleet vessels from Crimea base after Ukrainian attacks. And my understanding is in your articles is because Ukraine can't use the drones or the missiles from France or England or even the United States to attack outside of certain areas, and especially in the sea Black Sea, that the Ukrainians have created their own missiles. And, you know, tell us about that.Thomas Grove: Well, I mean, what we're seeing is kind of the culmination of a few things here. And, you know, on one hand, you know, we have to think about the fact that in the first weeks of the war, much of the Ukrainian navy was was destroyed. And so, you know, it didn't have the kind of it was certainly not on an equal footing with Russia beforehand in the Black Sea. I mean, the Black Sea fleet. If we could just take a moment to talk about what this is. I mean, this is kind of a jewel in the crown of Russian naval power. You know, it's kind of it is what it is. It is the the Russian empire's power projection, the most important power projection it probably had in kind of the latter part of the Russian empire. So it's in the Russian narrative and the Russian myth. It's an incredibly important fleet. Um, you know, started under Catherine the Great, you know, if you can imagine kind of what that means for people. And so it's only been, you know, vessels have only been withdrawn from Sevastopol three times as far as we know, you know, um, since, since they started to base there and twice during the two World wars, one in the First World War, just after the First World War and the other one right in 1942.Thomas Grove: So you have this incredibly important symbolically and just in terms of capabilities as well, naval power that's there in the Black Sea, which Russia's, you know, has been very proud of. And then you have, you know, the Ukrainian navy, which, you know, they mentioned before, was was kind of wiped out. And so what the Ukrainians have done is they've just been improvising, basically, you know, and I think they kind of did this very early on that was kind of, you know, one of their first impetuses was to to really try to to improvise. They didn't have the the defense industry that that Russia had. So they had to basically kind of try to make things that that would work on the fly. Right. And so what we've seen is these Neptune what are anti-ship missiles but have you know and was used effectively against the Moskva you know Russia's flagship last year, we've seen them start launching their own kind of naval drones, these kind of unmanned surface drones. And so, you know, they have some capabilities of their own. But, you know, two of those, you know, they've added what the British and the French have given them.Thomas Grove: You know, the the storm shadow missiles. And so I think it was a very potent kind of mixture that sorry here, the terrain behind me apologize for that. But yeah, so you had a very potent mixture of of of of weapons that Ukraine was using against Russia in the Black Sea. And so, you know, it made the officers on the ground feel unsafe because they flattened and flattened it. But they, you know, sent, I think, two rockets right through it, the Black Sea fleet headquarters. And then you saw an attack on a submarine and a landing vessel not too long ago as well. And so I think it was it was really a calculation made by the Russians that this is just it's not worth it right now. They weren't really the Russian ships weren't able to affect the grain corridors along the sea as much as they hoped they would. Be able to. And apart from that, I think they realized that if they were to just withdraw a little bit further east, it really wouldn't hurt their capabilities in terms of doing what they were doing before in terms of sending missiles into Ukrainian cities. It doesn't really make a lot of difference.Sam Stone: Their weapons have the range from those ships, regardless of if you move them a little bit.Chuck Warren: With Thomas Grove. Exactly. Thomas Grove, Wall Street Journal reporter. He's based out of Warsaw, Poland. We're going to call him the Indiana Jones of The Wall Street Journal because he seems to be going all the hot zones here in Eastern Europe. Let me ask you a question. In your article that we talked about, about Russia withdrawing from the Black Sea. They moved their ships to, you know, a new port in the Black Sea. And you made a comment that I thought was really interesting. You wrote, While the move may represent only a temporary measure to safeguard against further Ukrainian strikes, the logistical headache of relocating some of Russia's heaviest ships underscores the threat of Ukraine's strike capabilities. Why is that such a logistical headache? And I ask this because I think most people are like, I get on a boat, I turn the key, I leave the dock. Why? Why is this why is this such a logistical headache?Sam Stone: People do not realize.Chuck Warren: Oh, no. So, you know, it's like you always hear the old saying. It's like turning the Titanic. Why is it so hard? Why is it such a logistical headache to move them, though?Thomas Grove: Because I think basically you're talking about several kind of docking issues and you're talking kind of diverting the fuel and the supplies that you would need for for these crews to stay on ship or stay stay on board and maintain the ships. You know, we're talking you know, you're rerouting trains, you know, and you're trying to figure out exactly when that happens, where they come from, where those supplies come from. And, you know, this this is all and as we've seen, logistics has been has been a sore spot for the Russians.Sam Stone: Yeah, there's a there's the very famous military quote, and I don't know who came up with it but but said that bad generals talk tactics, good generals talk strategy and great generals talk logistics. As we're we're coming to the end, We have about a minute and a half left in this segment. We're going to be coming back with more from Thomas Grove, The Wall Street Journal, covering this. One thing I want to get into. Thomas When we come back, is, is there or do you see a solution to this that isn't a negotiated solution that costs Ukraine some territory they had before this invasion? And the reason I ask that and I apologize for kind of springing a lengthy question on you as we come to the end of this segment. But the reason I ask that is, is you just look at the demographics and, you know, there are as many military age males in Russia as there is, you know, total population in Ukraine. That's a really big mismatch long term in a war of attrition. How does Ukraine account for that?Thomas Grove: Well, I mean, I think if you were to talk to the Ukrainians, I mean, they would say that it's about defending your homeland and, you know, basically trying to fight off somebody who is trying to take your, you know, your very house from you, so to speak. So, I mean, I think there's no shortage of guts, as we've seen on the Ukrainian side. But I mean, I think, you know, we do have to acknowledge and I think I think the Ukrainians have acknowledged in conversations with Western officials that it is absolutely necessary to kind of maintain the flow of weapons if they're going to continue fighting. Otherwise, it really does become just just very difficult for the Ukrainians.Sam Stone: There's there's no way for Ukraine to supply its own armament needs in this war. We're going to be coming back with more in just a moment. Breaking battlegrounds. Back in just a second.Advertisement: At Overstock. We know home is a pretty important place and that's why we believe everyone deserves a home that makes them happy. Whether you're furnishing a new house or apartment or simply looking to update and refresh a few rooms. Overstock has every day free shipping and amazing deals on the beautiful high quality furniture and decor. You need to transform any home into the home of your dreams. Overstock Making Dream homes Come True.Sam Stone: All right. Welcome back to Breaking Battlegrounds with your host, Chuck Warren. I'm Sam Stone continuing on the line with us in just a minute, Thomas Grove of The Wall Street Journal. But folks, you've been hearing me talk about Y refy for a while now? A lot of people are talking about this investment. So I'm going to just quickly review the basics with you. First off, it's true, you can earn up to a 10.25% fixed rate of return. That's not correlated to the stock market. You can turn your income on or off, compound it, whatever you choose. There are absolutely no fees. There is no attack on your principal. If you ever need your money back and you'll get your monthly statement each month, No surprises if you're not sure. If you trust this economy, this secure collateralized portfolio may be a good option for you. Check them out. Invest Y refy.com that's invest the letter Y, then refy.com or give them a call at 888 y refy 24  tell them Chuck and Sam sent you. Thomas Continuing on, I hit you with a big long question. At the end of that, here's 30s. Yes.Chuck Warren: Solve the war for us.Sam Stone: Go ahead. Right. But just continuing on in terms of, you know, without Western support, as you as you alluded to at the end in terms of military support, supplies, civilian and military, there's really no way for Ukraine to stay in this war. They definitely have, as you you mentioned, a significant will to war, which is obviously a big deal when you're being invaded. You have much higher will to war. That historically has been a big decider in these type of contests. But Russia is still a behemoth with manufacturing, with a huge population base and a manufacturing base that far exceeds anything Ukraine has. So continuing on with that, how does Ukraine get out of this eventually?Thomas Grove: Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, yeah, it's a really important question. And I think one that, you know, everybody is probably thinking about right now. I mean, you have I mean, Russia's economy has basically switched to a war footing. And so, you know, you you had you had factories in Russia that were, um, you know, producing, say, a hundred train wagon cars a year and maybe two tanks. And now they're producing no wagon cars and nothing but tanks. So obviously, you know, there's a there's a great industrial capacity here. You know, all of Russia, just like much of the Soviet Union, had a kind of dual use capacity. Everything was there was a civilian capacity to most factories and there was a military capacity. And so you could kind of you could switch back and forth between them. Russia's obviously gone all in with the with the military capacity at this moment. So obviously that leads has left a lot of people wondering about what we do going forward. And so I think, you know, one of the things that's been talked about is a negotiated end to the fighting. And I think whenever we look at that, you know, on both sides, both sides see that as nothing but a pause in fighting. I mean, it's I think it's ultimately unacceptable for the Ukrainians to have Russians on their territory. And I think it will always be unacceptable for Putin and for Russia to have anything less than all of Ukraine. You know, unfortunately, I think a negotiated settlement will help stop things, maybe ease the burden for some time, unfortunately. I mean, I think I think unfortunately for Ukraine, I think a cease in fighting would probably favor Russia more, but it would just buy time for the next round of fighting, which, you know, could turn out very different differently from what we're seeing, you know, last year and this year.Chuck Warren: What a wonderful way to live, really in my eyes. Let's talk briefly here. You wrote about really interesting piece. I mean, you wrote about this in your article that Russia is constrained in the Black Sea due to the decision by Turkey last year to implement an international treaty that bans warring states from bringing additional warships through the Turkish straits, which is a strategic checkpoint, which means Russia can't bring ships that are based in the Pacific or elsewhere in. Right. And exactly. It's always amazing how Turkey pops up in all these conversations now, isn't it?Thomas Grove: Isn't it?Chuck Warren: I mean, it is. It's fascinating. It's fascinating.Sam Stone: They have always been really good at using their geographic centrality to European and Asian conflictChuck Warren: Everything you read about Middle East, the Ukraine war. Turkey is in there somewhere, right?Sam Stone: That's their location. Their literally central. Yeah.Chuck Warren: So. Yeah, exactly. So how has this hindered Russia?Thomas Grove: Well, I mean, so basically what you have to do, I mean, because because Ukraine has been so focused on the Black Sea fleet, I mean, obviously there's a lot of ships that are being that have been damaged right now. Well, you only have so many shops that can repair those various ships that have been hit, you know, And so if you're if you're backed up, if you're if you're if you're backed up, you know, you are it's like, you know, it's like playing a hockey game and you have three, three players out, right? So it's like, you know, quite honestly, if you can't bring more people in, more, more guy. Let me think back to the to the war. If you can't bring more ships in, you know, you're stuck with this huge disadvantage. I mean, you know, Russia has the ships that it needs to continue bombing Ukraine. I mean, let's not forget that. But in terms of what could do operationally in the Black Sea, it's been greatly hindered. And I think part of that speaks to why Russia has been not as effective as it would would like to have been in terms of stopping Ukrainian grain shipments, exports out of out of out of Ukraine and through the Black Sea.Sam Stone: Thomas This is a little bit of a tangent, but our navies around the world, looking at what's happened to Russia with this asymmetrical warfare and the the hits they've taken on so many of their warships from these drones and that sort of thing, are they looking at this and starting to reconsider how they're going to defend their own ships at sea?Thomas Grove: That's a fantastic question. I mean, I think I mean, I think the use of drones here has kind of revolutionized the way we think about a lot of things. And I think, you know, obviously, this isn't the only theater in which we've seen kind of naval drones pop up, but they've they've been pretty effective. And so I think people do have to account for that down the line. I have to admit, I'm an expert in naval power, but I would have to imagine that this is this is something that people who are much more intelligent than I am are thinking about a lot.Chuck Warren: So Russia pulled out of this grain treaty we had so we can ship Ukrainian grain throughout the world and alleviate poverty and food inflation and so forth. So my understanding from reading and I wish everybody here could just have a map of the Black Sea in front of them, which we're doing this on video. So basically the grain export now is they take they hug the coast of Ukraine, right? And then they go past Bulgaria and Romania, which are members of NATO. So Russia can't really do anything, right?Thomas Grove: Exactly. I mean, Russia has played it has played it a little bit dangerous and they've gone very close. Right. I mean, we have seen strikes on Ukrainian grain terminals that literally are miles away from Romanian territory, for example, right on the Danube River. So, I mean, they're they're not they've made some pretty risky moves. But so far we've seen, you know, whether or not it's because of NATO or whether it's, you know, for other reasons there. Yeah, we've seen them. We've seen them back up, but the ships have hugged the coast and that's exactly what they have to do.Sam Stone: Yeah. We have just about a minute left here. Thomas. How do people follow you and your work? Obviously, folks, you should be subscribing to the Wall Street Journal if you're not already. I think that's one of a handful of papers that if you want to be informed, you need to have in your inbox. But Thomas, how can folks follow your work specifically?Thomas Grove: I mean, you know, we still use is it Twitter that X.Sam Stone: I started calling it Twix.Thomas Grove: Twix. I think that looks pretty well. I'm You drove.Chuck Warren: TG Grove. Perfect. Perfect. Thanks. Thomas. Thanks a million. And stay safe out there. And we hope you'll join us again in the near future.Sam Stone: Yeah. Chuck, we're going to be coming back here in just a moment, folks. We're going to have a friend of the program, Dan McLaughlin. He is the baseball crank at baseball crank coming.Chuck Warren: On and National Review, the primary job, baseball, just a hobby. National Review.Sam Stone: Let's talk about the important stuff here, Chuck. We're going to have this guy on and.Chuck Warren: Thomas Grove is fantastic. Oh, he was phenomenal. We got to have him back on. And literally, people really should look at the Black Sea map today. You'll understand a lot more of what he's talking about in Turkey. We got to we got to get flake on. We got to get Ambassador Flake on talking about.Sam Stone: Turkey in just a moment. All right. Welcome back to Breaking Battlegrounds with your host, Chuck Moran and Sam Stone. Thank you to Thomas Grove of The Wall Street Journal. Fantastic information about Ukraine there. And up next, friend of the program. And it's the right time to have this gentleman on. Dan McLaughlin, senior writer at National Review Online and a fellow at the National Review Institute. He's also on Twitter as at baseball crank, which gives you an idea of the most important topic we're going to discuss today. Chuck and Dan, who's winning this next round of playoff series and who's your World Series pick? Dan McLaughlin: I mean, you know, I think this is one of those years when your presumption has to be that the favorites are going to win, that we're going to end up with the the Braves and of all teams, the Orioles. You know, certainly you can't count out, you know, the real veteran teams like the Dodgers and the Astros, but the Dodgers in particular are just awfully banged up.Sam Stone: The Dodgers pitching is a is a nightmare right now. Like they have nobody. Dan McLaughlin: Yeah, No, they're they're a mess. They're a mess. Um, and you know, I mean, you just you don't want to get into October having felt like you've already burned most of the gas in your tank.Sam Stone: I see. Chuck I'm actually calling it for the Orioles. I think that's just the team that's just scrappy, fiery, tough right now.Chuck Warren: I wouldn't be surprised. I think it's going to be the Braves or Phillies that win it all. All right. So let's talk a little politics here. So last night and this morning, if you turn on any of the cable news or broadcast news, it's all about Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump. But, you know, we have Iranian spies infiltrating the White House. We got bond yields soaring, China's economic downturn. We've got Ukraine. People can't buy a home. It's 8% mortgage Now. I'm guessing by the end of the year it could be nine. But we just keep talking. Trump How do we get the press serious about serious things? Dan McLaughlin: Um, you know, I think that I think as long as Trump is there, they're not going to be and they're going to be caught by surprise by a bunch of things. I mean, the polling the polling at this point is just comical if you look at the general election matchups. Right? Because on the one hand, you look at like, you know, you look at these polls that are like, oh, you know, Trump versus Biden on the economy. It's like Trump plus 30, right? Trump versus Biden on national security, like Trump plus 25. What's the bottom line of this poll? Biden's ahead of Trump by two, you know, or you get on the other side, you get like voters, you get you know, you get an electorate where they're like. So 67% say that Trump should be in jail. So what if we ask these people who should win? Oh, it's like, you know, Biden 46, Trump 46. Right. So literally, people are just they're looking at the economy and everything that this White House is doing. They're looking at Joe Biden and saying anybody but him. And then they look over at Donald Trump and all the drama and just everything with Trump and they're like just anybody but him. And then you ask them to choose between the two and they're like, Oh, man.Chuck Warren: I literally saw this morning before we started the show a poll that was done of new registered voters the last six months in Georgia, Arizona, Nevada. And they have their Trump's winning by five with these new people who moved into the state and registered to vote. So Trump's winning by five in Georgia. He's losing by five of these people. And Arizona, he's basically even with them in Nevada. But what was interesting, the next question was, do you support a Republican majority or Democrat majority in Congress? It was like literally 15 to 20 point Republican majority in each of those three states. So people really.Sam Stone: Are Trump is an enormous drag and people.Chuck Warren: Really are making a decision. I think I mean, I think you're going to see so many split tickets this time unless something dramatically changes. I don't think we've seen it before. And it's going to make every political scientist lose his mind. Dan McLaughlin: Yeah. And I mean, it is entirely possible that that if it's Trump, Biden, you're going to get more money and energy than usual behind third party tickets. I mean, you could easily have three of those tickets, right? Because you got Cornel West, you got RFK Jr, you got the No Labels people who are talking about maybe running Larry Hogan or Joe Manchin. And, you know, it could end up looking like, uh, I mean, you know, I remember the what was it, the Texas governor's race, I think, in 2006 when Rick Perry was running for re-election. They had a four way race. They had Kinky Friedman in there. It was like this wild thing. But, you know, of course, our history with four way presidential races is not good, right? So those have typically ended in chaos or worse.Sam Stone: Yeah. I mean, one one thing, Chuck, is we're heading into this and everyone's pointing at RFK. He seems to be pulling more from Republicans and libertarian leaning folks than he does from Democrats.Chuck Warren: It seems like it.Sam Stone: Is that. Is that. Dan McLaughlin: Yeah. I mean his, his his he he really has succeeded in alienating, I think the Democratic base.Chuck Warren: 100%.Sam Stone: Well, and unless you tow the line 100%, you're going to alienate the Democrat base. I mean, Kirsten Sinema has voted literally like twice in her life outside of outside of the Democrat majority, and they ready to burn her at the stake for it. Folks, we're going to be coming back with more in just a moment from Dan McLaughlin, senior writer at National Review and National Review Institute. He's a fellow there, formerly an attorney practicing securities and commercial litigation in New York, a contributing editor at RedState, columnist at The Federalist and the new New Ledger. I can't speak today. And a baseball blogger at baseball Frankcom That's what we're saying is the important stuff and breaking battlegrounds. We'll be back with more in just a moment.Advertisement: At Overstock. We know home is a pretty important place and that's why we believe everyone deserves a home that makes them happy. Whether you're furnishing a new house or apartment or simply looking to update and refresh a few rooms. Overstock has every day free shipping and amazing deals on the beautiful high quality furniture and decor. You need to transform any home into the home of your dreams. Overstock Making Dream Homes Come True.Sam Stone: Welcome back to Breaking Bad with your host, Chuck Warren. I'm Sam Stone. Folks, I can't say enough about investing with Y refi. This is a fantastic opportunity. You need to just go and check it out for yourself. Go to their website, invest Y Refy.com. That's invest the letter Y, then refy.com or give them a ring at 888. Y Refi 24. Learn how you can earn up to a 10.25% fixed rate of return. That's not correlated to the stock market, where you'll know what each monthly statement is going to look like, but no surprises. Again, that's invest refi.com or give them a call at 888 refi 24 and tell them Chuck and Sam sent you.Chuck Warren: Dan, you recently came out with an article in the National Review entitled What's a Ban? What's Not a Ban? Talking about what progressives call everything a ban. Now, could you give us a little overview about it? And what, for example, on books, what do they consider a ban? And we'll go from there? Dan McLaughlin: Yeah. I mean, one of the leading sources on book banning and there's all this alarm. Oh, book banning. There's all this book banning going on is a group called Pen America, which has at times in the past been a more reliable kind of just pro-free speech group. But they've clearly taken a very partisan tack on this one. And their definition of a book ban extends all the way to anything that is age restricted for very young children. That book has been banned even if they have a book that was already age restricted. And they say, well, you slightly changed what grade it was, you know, it was appropriate for. That's considered a ban, which is ridiculous, particularly when you consider that, you know, I mean, you've got a lot of the books that there are controversies about, you know, sexually explicit books or books that, you know, are otherwise just you would think that everyone acknowledges that these are books that are inappropriate for very young children, you know, and yet somehow this is getting turned into a ban. And my point is that that's, you know, this extremely vague and broad definition of ban not only misleads the reader of these reports when they give statistics, it's also inconsistent with how, you know, left wingers look at what is and isn't a ban in other contexts.Sam Stone: Dan They also want to pretend, I think I think I have two points here, but they also want to pretend that these books are the equivalent of, say, The Catcher in the Rye. But I've been actually getting a bunch of them because this is relevant to a lot of the campaigns here. Reading through them myself, these are not exactly profound literature for the most part that they're talking about. And quite frankly, I can't read any of them on the air here with you. I mean, right now with our adult audience, the Federal Communications Commission would throw this program off the air if I read these things. How has this discussion gotten so out of hand, that saying that that type of book can only be read by a ninth grader and up becomes a ban? Dan McLaughlin: Yeah, No, it's ridiculous. And it's yeah, I remember Ron DeSantis did a press conference on this where he was reading out some of the books that were in, you know, lower grade children's libraries. And literally all the TV stations were like, whoa, we got to cut out from this because we can't have him say this stuff on the air. Um, it's it's nuts, but it's, you know, part of it is I think that simply the hunger for partisan point scoring, but part of it is also that there is kind of a, you know, an ideological faction that genuinely wants to indoctrinate kids in a certain sexual ideology. And so, you know, they really, really don't like it when these books get taken out of circulation because they want to push this on kids.Chuck Warren: Which is just weird, right? I mean, let's just call it for what it is. That's weird. The sexualization they're trying to do with kids.Sam Stone: Sexualization of other people's children.Chuck Warren: Yeah, it's.Sam Stone: Really, really odd. Dan McLaughlin: Yeah. No, it is weird and creepy, and we shouldn't be afraid to call it weird and creepy.Chuck Warren: You know what we should do? Dan, we need to fly you out here to Arizona. Then the three of us on a show will start reading. We'll pick 50 of their top books that are banned and start reading, and we'll have an FCC former employee in here and some of the producers of the local TV stations and tell us what we could put on air and what we couldn't. That would be a real interesting show. That actually would be fun. Just tell us, would this pass could you put this on the 6:00 news? Dan McLaughlin: Yeah. You know, do it, do it live. So the cops come up and raid you in the middle of it.Chuck Warren: I think we're going to look at doing that. We may get you out here to do that. That'd be fun for us. All right. So Hillary Clinton being the menace. She is came out and said there needs to be a formal deprogramming of the Trump cult members. Your thoughts? Dan McLaughlin: You know, look, I give Donald Trump credit for the one thing that he has genuinely done for the the quality of American politics was to finally put the Clintons out of business. So it is good it is a good thing that she's just giving these interviews instead of, you know, having being speaking from the Oval Office or anything. She's weird and creepy in her own way, in a sort of more menacing way. But it's also she's bitter, you know, She's just bitter. And look, you know, are there people who are Trump supporters who are, you know, absolutely could use to be to be unplugged a little bit from how they follow? Trump? Absolutely. But, you know, when you start talking about it in phrases like, oh, you know, we need formal deprogramming of these people, and you've been in the government for years, that's that takes on a much more menacing cast.Chuck Warren: Oh, very much so. Very, very much so. All right. Let's talk about Biden did a 180 on the border wall and it's been fascinating to listen and watch the various Democrats try to explain this. And first of all, what do you think would have happened if Trump said, I am waiving 26 laws to build the wall just unilaterally? What would been the press reaction? Dan McLaughlin: Oh, yeah, no, there would have been all sorts of stuff about tyranny. And there was I mean, at the time when Trump was trying to do various things to get, you know, a modest, fairly modest amount of the wall built. And Biden is is also building only a fairly small section of wall here. Let's not. Right. Let's not kid ourselves. It's not he's he's just doing what he thinks is the bare minimum.Chuck Warren: But even but even 100 yards is a wall. I mean, it doesn't matter. I mean, he's doing everything he's complaining about all the time. Dan McLaughlin: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, if your position is well, you know, there are better ways to cover the border than a wall, and then you rethink that. Well, okay, that's a bit of a change of position. But people reassess the situation. But when you're like, oh, you know, the wall is like a violation of the poem on the Statue of Liberty. And this is like, you know, fascist, fascist knight falling over the country and everything. Maybe, maybe that's a little bit of a problem when you go turn around and have to do it yourself.Chuck Warren: Well, Dan McLaughlin, he's with The National Review. Dan, Speaker's race, what's going to happen? I mean, this has been sort of a complete cluster in a very untactful way of saying it. But what happens with the speaker's race? Dan McLaughlin: Yeah, I can think of a number of ways to describe what's going on, none of which one could say on air. I mean, now. Well, of course Trump had to had to wander his way into that first. He was of course, he was taking in the accolades of a few people who were like, Why don't we draft Trump for speaker? And then he threw his support behind Jim Jordan, who I think is not really well suited to the job and probably not a guy who's going to get the support of the caucus. I mean, we're in a weird position, right? Because if you held a vote just among the caucus, you'd get 210 votes for McCarthy because that's what you just got and eight votes against him. And so it's this it's this weird math where, you know, you can't get anybody elected unless you've got everybody on board. You know, I think Steve Scalise is the most naturally unifying figure there. Obviously, there are some concerns about his health. He's being treated for cancer. But, you know, he seems to feel that he's up to doing this. And, you know, but but now they're going to they're going to have a TV debate, which is just ridiculous. So this is just no way to you know, it's no way to run a circus.Chuck Warren: Well, I mean, how this never was going to end. Well, former Speaker McCarthy, I mean, when you go on, say, one person who has a bugaboo on his tail about it, it's never going to end well. Right? Dan McLaughlin: Yeah. I mean, the problem from the start was, I mean, first of all, they have such a small majority that they need to get everybody to agree, which gives an enormous amount of power and leverage to anybody who wants to be disagreeable. And then one of the conditions he agreed to as a condition of being elected speaker was that anybody could bring a vote to the floor at any time to unelect him. And that just that just gave everybody a veto over him, and particularly the people most likely to use it.Sam Stone: You know, and I agree with everything, Chuck, you're getting at there. My one point with this is that the major condition McCarthy agreed to was doing the spending bills individually and in order. And then his leadership, they did not move those forward in a timely fashion.Chuck Warren: And he quickly blamed them for it, by the way.Sam Stone: Yeah, but but at the end of the day, we didn't hear anything about it. So if that's a failure of communication on McCarthy and the leadership's part, okay, but they need to rectify that. I mean, at some point the getting back to regular order was a very legitimate thing for that caucus to demand, and it would be hugely beneficial if they do. What kind of commitment are you going to get from the next speaker to follow through with that? I guess that that would be my question. Is it going to get better or is this just a totally pointless fight? Dan McLaughlin: Well, and the problem is, you know, I think McCarthy was making progress in that direction. I don't think he was meeting all of his deadlines. But, you know, again, you can't meet all your deadlines without the cooperation of a whole lot of people, some of whom threw sand in the gears because they wanted to stop this. I mean, you know, I think it's kind of telling that Chip Roy voted to keep McCarthy because Roy was really among the people who were holdouts in January. He was sort of the leader of the people who were very serious about imposing particular process. Right.Sam Stone: Gosar and Schweikert here in Arizona, same story.Chuck Warren: Yeah. Dan McLaughlin: Yeah. And Roy has been kind of vocal about, you know, obviously he has some things he thought McCarthy should be doing that he wasn't. But, you know, the fact that he voted to keep him suggests that that, you know, he thought that they could still make some progress on the budget.Chuck Warren: Presidential race. So Trump has this huge double digit lead. Okay. Who do you see possibly being the two other candidates right now that could have the possibility of something happens of becoming the nominee that that names, not Trump? Dan McLaughlin: Yeah, I mean, I think it seems now pretty clear that I mean, Ron DeSantis is obviously still in the number two slot he has held by any realistic measurement, the number two slot all along. Obviously, there's always the question of whether people are going to drop out if they, you know, somebody like DeSantis decides that he doesn't have the, you know, as many resources as he expected. But but, you know, he's got a lot of money. And I think right now, the person who has edged out everybody else for the number three slot is Nikki Haley. You know, I think she has really used the debates and used her focus on New Hampshire to effectively push Mike Pence, Tim Scott and Chris Christie off to the side. And they're the only other people running who are actually running to win in any sense. I mean, you know, Vivek Ramaswami is really there to to help Trump, to try to improve his brand, to maybe get in a spot in a Trump administration if he's not running to win.Chuck Warren: Right. Right.Sam Stone: With Haley in particular. And I think this truck is Chuck and Dan has plagued DeSantis also. We have just about two minutes before we come to the end of the program here. But has she done enough or have any of these people done enough to actually outline a positive future vision for America? It seems like it's kind of like set talking, stayed talking points and attacks on Trump and not much of a where's the Reagan, where's the hopeful positive future? Dan McLaughlin: Yeah. And I mean, granted, you know, Reagan Reagan established himself as a tough guy before he got around to reminding people that he was also, you know, a genial and optimistic character. I mean, one of the things DeSantis certainly has done and I think that he can do more effectively than Haley, is to just say, you know what, I'm going to govern the way I've governed in Florida. Look at my record, which is sometimes a good predictor, right? I mean, George W Bush, for example, on domestic policy, his agenda in Washington was pretty much exactly what he did in Texas. But I think, you know, I'm not I don't think that DeSantis or Haley has really been ambitious enough in really laying out a full view of what their presidential agenda would be. But frankly, I think, you know, I think the voters I think the voters are at the point where they deserve to have a smaller debate stage where they. Can push the major candidates on that and they deserve to hear from Trump.Sam Stone: Yeah, I thought it made a lot of sense for Trump to skip the first debate, but I was bitterly disappointed in him skipping.Chuck Warren: He's not he's not joining he's not joining any of these debates ever. Dan, thanks a million for joining us again. Dan McLaughlin, senior writer at National Review Online and a fellow at National Review Institute. You can visit him on Twitter at baseball crank and follow his writings. He does great stuff and really suggests you take a look at the piece on book banning and just the word banning being used by progressives and conservatives and so forth. Yeah, and.Sam Stone: Make sure you stay tuned, folks. We have a podcast segment coming up, if you like our podcast, if you like our show, make sure you're downloading that podcast. It's available wherever podcasts are available. You can also find us at Breaking Battlegrounds. Vote and stay tuned because we've got Kiley's corner coming up. The irrepressible Kiley Kipper, she found good news.Kiley Kipper: I did. I did.Chuck Warren: Dan, thanks a million. Have a great weekend.Advertisement: The 2022 political field was intense, so don't get left behind in 2024. If you're running for political office, the first thing on your to do list needs to be securing your name on the web with a your name Web domain from GoDaddy.com. Get yours now.Sam Stone: All right. Welcome to the podcast segment of Breaking Battlegrounds. We're going to lead off with Kiley's Corner here in just a moment. And then, Chuck, I want to get to something that's happening here in Arizona. You sent me the article. I'd actually already read it this morning. Arizonans are soon going to be drinking their own pee.Chuck Warren: Yep, that's true. Yeah. Kiley, pick up your newspaper and read it every morning. You'll learn things.Kiley Kipper: This was not part of Kiley's corner.Chuck Warren: No, drinking your urine is not part of Kiley's corner.Kiley Kipper: But continue. Okay. Well, the first story I want to start with is I was in Seattle this weekend, and last week I had downloaded an app called the Citizens App, which I've had like a couple of years before, but I don't think it was like as developed as this is now. But you can pretty much see like all the crime that's going on around you and all the registered sex offenders and everything like that. So naturally, first of.Chuck Warren: All, why did you download it?Kiley Kipper: Because someone was telling me how you could see the the sex offenders that are around you because my mom just got a notice in the mail that a sex offender moved into the neighborhood. So I wanted in Arizona or Washington in Arizona. So I wanted to see if there was any that lived in my neighborhood. So was there. Yeah, there's one there's one from a crime in 1990. Um, so I, you know, got to keep my head on a swivel. So naturally, I open it up.Sam Stone: You know what? Look, honestly, if you committed a crime in 1990 and you've done nothing since, you're.Chuck Warren: Probably okay.Kiley Kipper: Well, that's a sexual crime. I don't know about the other crimes.Chuck Warren: That's true. That's true. Right. Don't generalize. All right. Go ahead Kiley.Kiley Kipper:  And it was on children, which.Sam Stone: Yeah, okay. Not.Kiley Kipper: No, but good.Sam Stone: I'm all for just castration, and then we can solve this problem.Kiley Kipper: Yeah. So I open up my app when I'm in Seattle, and I just want to read what was all within less than a mile from me that was occurring.Chuck Warren: And this was at a hotel, right? Yes.Kiley Kipper: So I was at a coffee shop technically, but it was like right downtown.Chuck Warren: But downtown Seattle. Yeah. Okay.Kiley Kipper: Right next to the baseball and football stadium. It says Person fighting security guard at Central Library Report of woman wielding a knife. Body found report of a man armed with a knife steals items from a shop and shoplifting suspect threatened to kill employees at the drugstore.Chuck Warren: You feel like the body found would get a little more detail?Kiley Kipper: Yeah. No, it just says police are responding to a report of a body found.Sam Stone: You know what, though? That's so in the age of fentanyl. Oh, yeah. The police reporting and responding to bodies found. I can tell you from talking to my cop friends here in Phoenix, it's every day.Chuck Warren: It's just a body from a drug or from a drug overdose.Sam Stone: Yeah, there's a body every day somewhere. Basically.Chuck Warren: You have to put that screenshot on.Kiley Kipper: Yeah, I will. But I just thought that was I was just I mean.Sam Stone: One of the things so, so one of the things I actually, I was reading another piece about Seattle and they were talking about the significant rise in ODS and they're going to start having like everybody in the city, they want to start carrying Narcan basically, right?Kiley Kipper: Oh, yeah. Yeah.Sam Stone: And here's the thing. This did not this was not the case five years ago. These new drugs are totally different and they're trying to use these death tolls, whether it's here in Arizona for the heat issues, whether it's in Seattle. They're trying to get in any little litany of liberal policies out of this. But at the end of the day, I got to tell you, Chuck, I have a lot less sympathy for this issue than I used to in that there's resources, there's help available, there's ways to get off the street and get. I don't want it. No, they're not. They're choosing this lifestyle and this lifestyle ends in death because.Chuck Warren: And they don't want to change because they don't want to know. I mean, I mean, you know, some that is going to sound harsh to the audience, but there are people who literally just say, I don't want to.Sam Stone: All the time.Chuck Warren: Yeah. And and what do you do to force somebody saying, but we don't want you to die. Right. Right. We like you around.Sam Stone: Well, this is where and so interestingly for all the bagging on Trump, one of the things I appreciated when he was president was a lot of his policies actually worked. They were kind of common sense. A lot of them work. If you go and look at his current platform, one of his things on on this drug addiction is, look, we need ways to put people in treatment against their will. That is common sense. The left will lose their mind over the idea they have when we put it in Kari Lake's platform here, they have another. But at the end of the day, that's the only solution here to this problem other than just letting them die.Chuck Warren: Yeah, correct.Kiley Kipper: But a great lead way is we were asking about the sex offender that's in my neighborhood is the it was a child crime. So if you guys follow us on Facebook and Instagram or Twitter, you should if you don't. But I posted a poll this week because.Chuck Warren: I then I talked one morning. We want to see if people supported capital punishment for kidnapping a child that they don't know. It's not even a relative.Kiley Kipper: But I said so the question was, do you think kidnapping, abuse, touching a child in any inappropriate way? And I posted this on social media, Twitter. I got. 89% say, yes, they support the death penalty. 5.6 say no and 4.9 said undecided. And then on Facebook, 97% said yes and 3% said no. And as I was reading, because for the no, there was an option to say why. And on Twitter I got no depends or like I didn't get great explanations. But on Facebook they still lean in like no, he should suffer an entire life sentence. Why take him out of his misery or yes, life without parole? Most people, you know, stuff like that. Why are we taking him out of his misery? Make him stay there. So those were the knows where Twitter was. I had some people try to explain it to me. I said, okay, explain it. They want it. But I thought those numbers were.Chuck Warren: How many people replied to the poll?Kiley Kipper: A total of 490 between Facebook and Twitter.Chuck Warren: It's funny about explaining things on Twitter. I got Sam involved in a little discussion this week because, as you know, my big thing right now is this national debt. I think everything that is that is the hub. Everything else is spoke to the wheel, right?Sam Stone: Like, for instance, we were talking about Ukraine in the first segment with Thomas Grove and continuing to fund their operations. Right. Right. That's tied up in our debt discussion right now. That's tied up. If we did not have the national debt crisis, we have funding, Ukraine would be a nothingburger.Chuck Warren: So so Sam and I sometimes I respond to people and I especially do they have a Ukraine flag on it. Now, folks know I'm a conservative who does not think Russia should be in Ukraine. So I'm not going to back away from this belief. But we talk I put a comment on somebody saying we need to focus on the debt. Right. The national debt. And so this person goes and starts. He says we need to raise taxes on the rich and raise taxes, period, primarily on the rich, but we want to raise taxes.Sam Stone: He was very specific on the rich. He did not want middle classes because we.Chuck Warren: So then so I asked the follow up question, what would you cut? And they were they were just so minor and so dumb that immediately understood as all these people who I engaged with don't understand the crisis at all. Right. So, of course, Sam jumped on Shea, jumped on the guy.Sam Stone: So he ran into a more intellectual set of Republicans than he was planning.Chuck Warren: But my favorite thing of it was he was going to cut defense as he has a Ukrainian flag and his profile. And does he not understand where that money's coming from?Kiley Kipper: Wanted to cut it in half.Chuck Warren: So it's like these.Kiley Kipper: More than half. Yeah.Chuck Warren: It's like. So I like to ask these questions to see where people are and the lack of knowledge on the most basic fundamental issues facing our country is horrifying.Sam Stone: Oh, it's amazing to you know, he actually brought up something new or that I haven't seen in a while, which was Right. We need to get rid of sugar subsidies. Well, there's no such thing. We have price supports. Right. So so we set minimum prices and then we tax sugar coming into the US.Chuck Warren: And the sugar subsidies are a big deal for liberals because it goes to climate change, right? So what they want to do is get rid of the sugar down in Florida. So when you talk to the people opposed to sugar harvesting down in Florida, where do we get sugar? We'll go from Mexico. Well, don't they have the same problems? Well, yeah, but it's a Mexico. They literally don't care.Sam Stone: No, this is this is a trope. And then he pointed out oil, which, by the way, folks, oil is not subsidized by the federal government. No.Chuck Warren: He just wasn't bright.Sam Stone:  No. You know, but but this is a bigger point when it comes to oil, like liberals all the time use. Oh, there's $30 Billion in oil subsidies. You know what subsidies they're pointing to? They're pointing to the same business tax deduction as everybody else. So, like, if I spend $1 million in improving my business and buying equipment, it's a write off. What's a write off for the oil company, too? But there's no difference. But somehow they think this is like handing away the cookie jar and then they think they can tax the rich. The taxing the rich is literally a swimming pool and they're demanding an ocean.Chuck Warren: Yeah, 100%.Kiley Kipper: Yeah. He was a no on my poll as well, he commented. He doesn't follow us, but he's sure.Chuck Warren: We've engaged him. He's a follower. I hope he's downloaded. Yeah.Sam Stone: He's got us listed somewhere.Kiley Kipper: He does. Okay. But I want to talk about this Tupac stuff. Okay. Arrest because he's been.Chuck Warren: Dead since the 90s, correct?Kiley Kipper: 1996, Maybe I yeah, maybe I was two years old, so I never like super got into the Tupac like conspiracies, which surprises me. Oh, no, I was.Sam Stone: I was. I was exactly.Chuck Warren: That. It is a true it's a conspiracy like Elvis being alive and living in Mexico.Kiley Kipper: Yeah, it is. Yes. Yes. But they made an arrest last Friday. And as they described it in a long awaited breakthrough in one of the hip hop's most enduring mysteries. So they arrest Keef D and he was a gang leader, but they don't believe he was the actual one that made the shot. Oh, they describe him as he was the ringleader. So he ordered the shot and provided the gun.Chuck Warren: He did the planning.Kiley Kipper: Yes. Which. So I'm going to go back to the long awaited arrest breakthrough in 1998. So a year later, two years later, he doesn't interview, telling a cable channel that he was in the front seat driving the car and he slid the gun into the back seat, of which that's where the shots were fired that killed Tupac. So he didn't Tupac didn't die immediately. He died a week later in the hospital. But. Then he goes on and he releases a memoir a couple of years ago, 2019, a tell all memoir, where he, again admits to these interviews, says he was the one that provided the gun. It was a drive by shooting and basically talks about what happens. So if he hadn't made so he's been talking about it publicly for a while now. So to me, I'm like, where is this mystery up? Because the dude's been talking about it.Sam Stone: But investigators apparently were sitting on it, right? Like letting him incriminate himself further.Kiley Kipper: Yes. So they basically said Davis's own public comments revived the investigation and he and it proved that it was premeditated. So that's what they were trying to prove. That was premeditated, that it was planned. Yeah, because prior to Tupac being shot, he had beat up Davis's nephew.Chuck Warren: But he was shot in a car right.Sam Stone:  No, he was leaving a casino. So he was.Kiley Kipper: Shot in a carjacking?Chuck Warren: No, no. He was shot in a.Sam Stone: Car outside the vehicle when he was shot? No, he was in it. No, no, no. I remember that from the time the photos and all that kind of thing. He was outside.Kiley Kipper: So how everyone's describing it right now, he was shot in a car. Is he was in a black BMW being driven by his record producer. And he was also hit with one of the shots but didn't die. And now he's serving 50 years in jail. This is all gang, by the way, like two gangs, Right?Sam Stone: Right, right. This is a Bloods and Crips rivalry that goes back.Kiley Kipper: So then they say that the white Cadillac, which had four people in it, Davis being the driver or at least described as in the front seat, he and the two people in the back seat shot Tupac in a BMW, a black BMW. That's all I keep finding. So but he's claiming now that he made a deal with La PD that he could make these comments publicly, which is why he's been so public about it and that they couldn't incriminate him because they wanted more information on it.Chuck Warren: I think there was a movie on it this past year.Kiley Kipper: It was 2019.Sam Stone: It was, yeah, a major motion picture.Kiley Kipper: Oh, yeah, yeah.Chuck Warren: No, I mean, it wasn't even an independent.Sam Stone: Documentary type thing. Like.Chuck Warren: Like real actors, you know? Yeah. Sorry for all you struggling actors out there, but people who make a living acting. But yeah.Sam Stone: So that's really it's kind of one of the really interesting thing, not about the origins of rap, which were not really truly gangster. Yeah. But in the 90s there was this breed of actual gangster under Suge Knight and all those folks that really invaded the industry. And that's where this all came with.Kiley Kipper: Because as I'm reading this, they all have the nicknames, the rap names that I, I've never even heard of them before. But when you.Chuck Warren: Get your rap name.Kiley Kipper: K Swizzle.Chuck Warren: Put up on, let's put up on our social media. The survey Is Tupac still alive? And if so, where is he living? All right, all right, all right.Kiley Kipper: So maybe so. Okay, I guess. You saying you remember that he was walking out and it was outside and then now all these reports of them saying he was in a car?Chuck Warren: I've always I've always heard I've always read and heard he was in a car. I mean, I wasn't there. So I don't know.Sam Stone: He was he was going into his car. So the car was pulled out. They watched him walk out and and shot.Kiley Kipper: Him because this was right after he had just beat.Chuck Warren: Up working. He had Sam assignment for next week for you to find the actual documentation. Was he walking in or out of a car? Was he shot in a car? Was driving? Because I think everybody who somewhat knows about this believes he was shot in a car drive by a show. So I'll find out.Sam Stone: But one of the interesting things so I didn't know that he hung on for a week because they announced if I remember, they announced at that time that he had died on the scene. Now, that might have been to protect him, right. Thinking that, you know, a follow up hit would come through so he.Kiley Kipper: Could get away and go live in.Sam Stone: So he could get away and go live in Antigua.Chuck Warren: Yeah, exactly. So.Sam Stone: And drop 75 new albums. Yeah.Chuck Warren: This is fantastic. I want to talk to you about this one last subject. So you probably get it too. I'm pretty stringent when people try to follow me on Twitter. Like you get a lot of these bots. So for example, if you have below 50 followers, I just I block you. I don't want you on. I don't care if you're on my side or not, but I had this person try to jump on Mary DeMaria. She had 2700 following 44 followers. So I go and quickly look at who they are. And I don't mind Democrats. I just don't want insane people. Her first post that I pull up anthropological literature frequently refers to third gender Native Americans.Sam Stone: But blocked.Chuck Warren: Marianne's blocked. Right. I'm just done with her. Really. But that brings me to a case here. The Free Press had a little snippet here that Larry Sanger, the creator of Wikipedia, went on Unheard podcast to slam the website he made. Sanger talked about how Wikipedia had been taken over by a small group of ideological aligned editors who assert their worldview over each entry. Quote, Eastern medicine is basically called quackery in dismissive, quite judgmental language and so forth is done, apparently without any compunctions at all. Then when it comes to Christianity, the viewpoint on Christianity given is the liberal one that would be found in mainline denominations and liberal Catholicism as opposed to the actual by Bible believing fundamentalism. And he goes on and on on. He's right. So, you know, we've talked about Sam's heard me. There's three pillars conservatives have just blown it on public schools, which you can easily take over by winning school boards. That's a that's a two for 2 to 3 cycle.Sam Stone: Thing that and governors.Chuck Warren: Right. But but.Sam Stone: But.Chuck Warren: But still but still school board school boards are a big deal. I mean, especially like state like Arizona and so forth. You should have the school boards, Right.Sam Stone: The one difference, though, is the governor can affect the schools of education in the university. Very true.Chuck Warren: Very true. So that brings me up. The second one is universities. We have just simply what you have is a lot of conservative donors, small business guys who love it. For example, ASU has got a lot of people who went there who have made money there, moderate to conservative. And I've seen it because I give a lot of money. I sit on these committees and they just go and they give money and say, Well, I'm gonna put my secretary on there or something. And they're not representing their values and donors have got to get more, you know, that would be a harder change. But you can start dictating what your money is doing. Well, liberal donors do.Sam Stone: Right? They are very, very specific.Chuck Warren: No, they go through it. They make it their own. And the third one is the third one is journalism. So, you know, they've gone and have a whole industry of putting these young progressives on papers. And what has to happen is conservatives need to do this. But it's not it's not that they just go to like The Daily Caller, National Review. They have to go work at The Arizona Republic, the Provo Daily Herald, The Colorado Springs Gazette, because that's where your news comes from a lot of times and people don't get that. And then the fourth thing is this social media online trolling thing like I'm ever going to accept. I mean, once you start telling me anthropological literature talks about, you know, the. Have a third gender. You're smoking crack. Yeah.Sam Stone: Yeah. No, you are in the service.Chuck Warren: Can really get involved. I mean, I think you can make the quickest change in public schools. And more than people realize. Sam's right about the universities, but the school boards do a lot.Sam Stone: Yeah, school boards do the two things. I mean, look, school boards can do a lot, but you're you're drinking from a poisoned well on two fronts because the teachers are getting from the various education schools are being trained for to be highly liberal. But also the textbooks. Yeah, that's a big textbooks are a big problem. There's basically only three textbook companies that provide the textbooks, and the left made a concerted effort to take them over for their ideology. They've been they've.Chuck Warren: Been smart about it. They've been smart about it.Kiley Kipper: I have one more story.Chuck Warren: Oh, okay.Kiley Kipper: A feel good story. So I can end on a happy note.Chuck Warren: Going to end on a happy note here.Kiley Kipper: Who knew? After listening to last week's episode in the week before, I was like, Man, I'm a Debbie Downer sometimes. So my feel good story. After reading this story, I was like, okay, now I have a new item on my bucket list, so I thought I'd share it with you guys. It's um, so every August and September it's called Puffling season in Iceland. Puffling season Puffling. Yeah, Puffin. So if you don't know. Heard of this? If you don't know what a puffin is, it kind of looks like a penguin. Okay? But basically they hatch on top of a hill and how they get how they live their life is once they hatch, they go into the out to sea and then they live there for like 2 to 3 years. And then they come back and they then they're safe for babies.Sam Stone: Because they're flightless.Kiley Kipper: But because they're flightless. Yes. Yeah. But because the lights in Iceland started confusing them because they would find the ocean by the moonlight. But all the lights from the city are confusing to them. So they'll fly into the city on accident instead of flying out to sea. So they have puffling control patrol where they run around like little families run around. And when you're on puffling patrol, you run around in any puffling you find you take them to a vet to make sure that they can survive before you just throw them off a cliff. But then you take them to the top of a cliff and you throw them off the cliff and then they fly into the sea and you basically save their life.Chuck Warren: Why aren't we doing this?Kiley Kipper: I know.Chuck Warren: I mean, Kiley and I want a baby elephant. Are we going to get a puffling now, too?Kiley Kipper: Yeah.Sam Stone: I saw I saw a network piece on this that was so fantastic. So they're interviewing and it's like it's almost all women that are rounding up the pufflings and tossing them.Chuck Warren: Then count me in there.Sam Stone: And so, yeah, so here's the great part, though. They interview some guy who does it, you know, they see him doing it and they're like, Hey, you're one of the few guys. And he was like, I'm single. Why do you think I'm here?Kiley Kipper: But it's so important. The guy.Chuck Warren: That takes a dog to the park, it's so.Kiley Kipper: Important because they only mate with one puffin the entire their entire life. They're monogamous and they only lay one egg a year. So, like, if they die or if they don't make it out to sea and come back, then they are they could go in danger.Sam Stone: A huge percentage get eaten out at sea anyway. I mean, really.Chuck Warren: Find some clips on that on YouTube and let's post on our social media so we know a puffin is.Kiley Kipper: Yeah they're so cute. Westman Islands is the the most populated one so that's I think where I have to go.Chuck Warren: Who is, who is the natural critter critter that tries to harm them and eat them.Sam Stone: Everything.Kiley Kipper: Probably like meat. Yeah. Anything out in the water.Chuck Warren: That's a tough they're.Kiley Kipper: Not great at.Sam Stone: Raptors, you know what I mean?Chuck Warren: Like that's a tough lie.Kiley Kipper: They're like basically penguins, so they're not great at flying. Like they got a short, but like, you can just throw them like a football.Chuck Warren: They said, Are they as cute as penguins?Kiley Kipper: Oh, yeah. They're might they might be cuter. They have like these big old colorful beaks.Chuck Warren: Why aren't we talking about puffins more?Kiley Kipper: I know what's.Chuck Warren: Going on here. Well, this is a wonderful Kiley Kipper Kiley's corner today to end it on. I appreciate it.Kiley Kipper: You have a big smile on your face. Well, I do now.Chuck Warren: I know there's a puffling out there. Anyway, folks, thank you. We hope you'll go and share the podcast with your friends and family and co-workers. Our episode today is fantastic, especially if you want to learn about Ukraine. I thought the information there was fantastic. This is breaking battlegrounds. You can also find us at breaking battlegrounds dot vote or wherever you get your podcasts. Have a great week. 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Join us for this week on Breaking Battlegrounds where Chuck Warren and Sam Stone dive into a diverse range of compelling topics with our esteemed guests. In our first segment, Congressman Ralph Norman of South Carolina’s 5th Congressional District provides valuable insights into the impact of housing interest rates, the specter of inflation, the looming government shutdown, and his role as a surrogate for Presidential candidate Nikki Haley. We then shift gears in the second segment, featuring political reporter Jon Levine from the Sunday New York Post. Jon takes us on a captivating journey, sharing his experiences dressing as Senator Fetterman and exploring the culinary world of New York's finest restaurants. In the latter part of our discussion with Jon, we delve into the complex world of Hunter Biden and the Biden Administration.Finally, we welcome back Alexander Raiken to provide answers to Chuck’s question posed last week. And that's not all! Kiley Kipper delves into two new cases that captivated her attention in this week’s Kiley’s Corner segment. First, she unravels the mystery of Thea Chase, a 2-year-old who was reported missing, only to be found asleep on her dog, three miles from home, four hours later. Then, we explore the tragic case of Adam Simjee and Mikayla Paulus, a couple who pulled over to help a stranded woman, only for Adam to be shot and killed. This week, Yasmine Hider pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in connection with this shocking incident. -ABOUT OUR GUESTSCongressman Ralph Norman is a lifelong resident of South Carolina's 5th district. After graduating from Rock Hill High School in 1971, he attended Presbyterian College in Clinton, SC, and graduated in 1975 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business. After college, he joined his father's construction business and helped grow it into one of South Carolina's most successful commercial real estate developers.Over the course of his career, Ralph has served with a number of organizations dedicated to improving the community, including the York County Home Builders Association, the Children's Attention Home, the Salvation Army, and the Medical University of South Carolina Board of Visitors.He has consistently demonstrated his dedication to conservative principles. Throughout his political career in the South Carolina House of Representatives and the U.S. House of Representatives, he has consistently voted in favor of limited government, individual liberties, and sound financial policies.Ralph married Elaine Rice Norman on December 28,1974. Elaine also is a lifelong resident of South Carolina, growing up in Belton. Together, they have 4 adult children: Warren, Anne, Mary Catherine, and Caroline, 17 grandchildren.-Jon Levine is a political reporter for the Sunday New York Post. His work covers city, state and national politics. He has worked on significant continuing stories and investigations, including Hunter Biden and the 2020 presidential election. A native New Yorker, he previously worked as a media reporter for TheWrap and Mediaite. His work has been featured on CNN.com, The Atlantic, and the Chronicle of Higher Education. When he’s not working, he’s thinking about work.-Alexander Raikin is a freelance journalist and a writer interested in medical ethics and bad statistics. His writings have been published in City Journal and The New Atlantis. Alexander is also a research fellow with Do No Harm. He can be found on Twitter at @AlexanderRaikin. Get full access to Breaking Battlegrounds at breakingbattlegrounds.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome to this week's episode of Breaking Battlegrounds! First on the show is Congressman Alex Mooney, Representative from West Virginia's 2nd Congressional District. He'll be diving into pressing topics such as federal spending, the looming specter of a government shutdown, and the pivotal Senate race in West Virginia. Stay tuned as we unravel why this race carries not just statewide significance but also national importance. In our second segment, we welcome back friend of the show, Alexander Raikin. With a focus on medical ethics and a keen eye for statistics, Alexander delves into his latest research, featured in the National Review, titled 'The End of Medicine: How death care replaced health care.' He exposes the proliferation of euthanasia within healthcare facilities in Australia and Canada with reports of silencing whistleblowers, inappropriate discussions about sedating a patient into euthanasia, and the expansion of Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) to vulnerable populations, including the homeless and children, particularly Indigenous children. Our final guest of the show is Ken LaCorte where he joins to discuss Lachlan Murdoch, soon to be the new chairman of Fox News. Stay tuned for Kiley’s Corner, where Kiley Kipper serves up the week's most intriguing stories. In this episode, Kiley delves into the recent controversy surrounding Dave Portnoy, the President of Barstool Sports, who exposed a Washington Post food critic's eyebrow-raising practices. Uncovering the critic's efforts to engage sponsors by making claims of misogyny and racism, Kiley discusses the implications for journalistic integrity and ethics. She also dives into the gripping Karen Read murder case, where Read faces charges of murdering her Boston police officer boyfriend, all while asserting her innocence amidst allegations of framing. -ABOUT OUR GUESTSCongressman Alex X. Mooney and his wife, Dr. Grace Mooney, live in Charles Town in Jefferson County with their three children. The son of a Cuban refugee and Vietnam veteran, Alex grew up with a deep sense of appreciation for the American ideals of individual freedom and personal responsibility.Alex’s mother, Lala (Suarez) Mooney, was born and raised in Fidel Castro’s Cuba, where she was thrown into jail for seven weeks for opposing Castro’s communist regime. When she was 20, Lala escaped Cuba and fled to America to restart her life.Alex’s father, Vincent, was sent to Vietnam when Lala was expecting their first child. He served as an Engineering Captain and was awarded the Bronze Star.Listening to his parents’ inspiring stories, Alex knew from a young age that he wanted to spend his life fighting for the American ideals set forth by our Founding Fathers.Alex played football and rugby at Dartmouth College, where he graduated in 1993 with a major in Philosophy.Alex was first elected to Congress in 2014 and re-elected in 2016 and 2018. He is a principled conservative fighting for lower taxes and less government regulations on businesses to create more jobs in America.Alex believes in the American values of hard work, faith, and freedom that have made our country great. With a proven record of fighting for conservative values, Alex is working to defend traditional values, protect the Second Amendment and promote respect for all human life.Congressman Mooney serves on the House Financial Services Committee which oversees some of the most important economic issues facing West Virginia, such as our banking, insurance, housing and investment policies.-Alexander Raikin is a freelance journalist and a writer interested in medical ethics and bad statistics. His writings have been published in City Journal and The New Atlantis. Alexander is also a research fellow with Do No Harm. He can be found on Twitter at @AlexanderRaikin -Ken LaCorte is Host of Elephants In Rooms and Former Fox News behind-the-scenes. He writes on Substack about censorship, media manipulation, and honest insight for people curious about how the world works.-TRANSCRIPTIONSam Stone: Welcome to another episode of Breaking Battlegrounds with your host, Chuck Warren. I'm Sam Stone. As always, we have a couple of great interviews lined up for you today. We are leading off the program with Congressman Alex Mooney of West Virginia's second Congressional District. Congressman Mooney and his wife, Dr. Grace Mooney, live in Charles Town in Jefferson County with their three children. He is the son of a Cuban refugee and a Vietnam veteran and grew up with a deep sense of appreciation for American ideals of individual freedom and personal responsibility. And right now, Chuck, he is getting out on the campaign trail, looking at the Senate seat in West Virginia and taking on Joe Manchin.Chuck Warren: It's unbelievable. Congressman, thank you for joining us on the show.Ken Lacourt: Hey, man, great to be with you guys.Chuck Warren: So you're running for us Senate. You've been out on the campaign trail. What are what are voters most interested in versus what the media wants us to think they're interested in?Ken Lacourt: Well, the voters are most interested in keeping their freedoms, not being controlled by their government, being censored or frankly, being even jailed by their government just for being patriotic Americans. That's what I'm hearing. And they want people who do what they say they would do. My good friend, Congressman Jim Jordan of Ohio, who, by the way, has endorsed me for my Senate race, he wrote a whole book. It just said, Do what you say you would do. Said you would do just the whole book. Just do it. And people get really upset because they elect oftentimes conservatives and conservatives don't don't follow through. Repeal Obamacare, for example, cut taxes and rein in this two tier system of justice that we're seeing these days. So that's what I'm hearing. They want a fighter and that's what I'm going to give them.Sam Stone: Congressman, I love that you made that point because one of the things I've been saying for a while now is Democrats run center and then govern left, Republicans run right and have not made not fulfilled those commitments. A lot of them have moved to govern center. And I think that's created a lot of the distrust and division within the party right now. Is that specific dynamic?Ken Lacourt: Yeah, I mean, it's a willingness to fight. It has created that. There are some Republicans you just give up. They get down there. The Democrats fight real hard. I mean, the Senate will filibuster and shut down government, then try to blame Republicans for what the Democrats are doing. And it is a fight. I mean, we have to go on shows like this and other shows and explain to the American people the truth. They're not. The American people will get it, but they have to be told the truth. And frankly, too much of the mainstream media that report on this stuff obsessively do not report the actual facts of what's happening. They're almost like mouthpieces for the far left. And so you've got to you got to work a little extra hard for us conservatives to tell our constituents what's actually happening. So it's a it's a worthy fight. As you mentioned, my mother fled a communist country. And those countries, they declare people guilty until proven innocent. And the government censors what can be said. And we're fighting for that here. And you mentioned, you know, I'm running for Joe Manchin seat. Senator Joe Manchin voted to impeach Donald Trump twice, throw him out of office for nothing for a phone call to the Ukraine to make sure our money is being spent correctly. So, frankly, he's part of the problem.Chuck Warren: With Congressman Alex Mooney. He is serving West Virginia's second District. For those of you in West Virginia, you can catch him on the station, 1170 a m in Wheeling, West Virginia. Congressman, so as you've gone around, you've done these meetings and we want to go here to the possible shutdown in a minute. But as you go around and you meet with donors in West Virginia versus town halls in West Virginia, is there any difference of what the priorities are, what they supposedly think of the donor class in West Virginia versus your small business, your people going to town halls? Is there any difference? They both see the same problems.Ken Lacourt: Oh, honestly, I'm hearing the same problems now. Most of the donors I'm talking to are conservatives. They wouldn't be donating to me to begin with. Right. And when I when I tour businesses, a lot of the businesses are related to oil and gas. Coal here and small business people are the backbone of our economy and they're struggling under the weight of high taxation lawsuits. And frankly, the most harmful is just these regulations, these well, well written in the cleverly written, I should say, regulations that just make it hard to make money and the wokeness into the banking system where they want to bank gun stores or coal companies. I mean, the left is really obsessed with pushing these things. And I don't think a lot of Republicans understand that, that we really have to fight back. They're not going to go away easy.Chuck Warren: No, they're not. And yeah, as a matter of fact, the you're on the financial committee. What they're doing on the banking system is just it's like a dictator. It's unbelievable what they're doing to the financial institutions of this country.Ken Lacourt: Yeah. I mean, they shouldn't even have a right to ask. They're just asking how much of your money goes to green new energy? How much of your money goes to coal? Do you bank guns? And it's freaking everybody out. Like, why are they even asking the question? There is no government mandate as to how much money private investors can give the energy sector for coal, oil and gas. There's no there's no requirement that they only invest a certain amount or have to give to green energy. That's not a mandate that they're trying to push it and they're abusing their powers. President Biden tried to tried to forgive everybody's entire college loan debt in the whole country, trillion dollars.Sam Stone: Well, in the downtown.Ken Lacourt: You can do whatever he wants.Sam Stone: The downstream of that is d. Banking of unfavored individuals, businesses and institutions.Ken Lacourt: Exactly. You know, you know, these policies have the opposite effect. They actually make it harder for someone who needs a loan for a home or a small business to get one because the regulations take away the money.Chuck Warren: Congressman Mooney, we're looking at a possible government shutdown. Would you first explain before we get into the weeds on what's going on in DC? I understand Speaker McCarthy has sent everybody home for the weekend to take a deep breath and they told to be on alert, to be called back. And I want to talk about that. But what I want to ask is if the government shuts down, what does this mean for the taxpayers of West Virginia? The small business owner, for the taxpayers of this country? Is America falling apart? Then? Do dogs and cats start raining or is it just overblown by the press?Ken Lacourt: Well, first and foremost, most of the money coming out of DC is mandatory. So programs, Social Security that is not affected by a government shutdown, that's an automatic program. The checks go out every month. So any scare tactics you might hear about people not getting their Social Security benefits is just not true. Social Security checks go out and Medicare and Medicaid are still programs that continue to exist because they're they're not something we vote on in the regular budgets. Then I mean, the way it's supposed to, the way we do it is we would fund one agency at a time. Don't mix them all together. Do you deal with one topic at a time? Single subject is a way to say it, and most of the funding is frankly the military to fund our troops, their pays and their activities. That's the big one. That's the one we're working on this week and we've not gotten it through yet. I did vote for that one, of course, and we're just a couple of votes away from passing that. But that's the biggest one. That's most of the spending. Then it goes to transportation and health care. And at some point you'll get to, like the EPA, the Environmental Protection Agency, which frankly, if that shut down, it wouldn't be the worst thing.Sam Stone: I one of the things that I think the media, certainly The New York Times, Washington Post style media would like to forget is that a lot of the speaker's battle, the leadership battle, centered on return to regular order and handling these bills individually rather than as omnibus or continuing resolutions. And even the Democrats at that time were saying, well, that sounds like a good idea. Why? Why are we so behind, it seems, in this process?Ken Lacourt: Gosh, I mean, there's no excuse for it. We've had eight months to pass these bills. We have a very slim majority. There's 222 Republicans. So if five Republicans don't want to vote for the bill, you have a problem. And those could be people who have certain specific concerns or cuts. Too much doesn't cut enough. We have a very slim majority. We've known that all along. We saw the speaker's battle. It took a really long time to put Kevin McCarthy in there as speaker. And I think that sort of showed our Republican majority are slim Republican majority, how we could get things done, how we need to actually just have a conservative product is what it is. If it's a good conservative product, I think it would pass. And we only 1 or 2 votes short at this point for passing it. So I guess we could have stayed. I would I would have been for staying in continuing to vote if we work it out. But we have this deadline and we've had eight months to get there. We've known it's there. I've seen this over and over again. This is my ninth year in Congress. And this is this happens like every year. You wait till the last second. And it's a bad tendency. We need to get back to what you just said, regular order. We're supposed to have this all done by June and over to the Senate and you negotiate it. I'll tell you, the Senate is Democrat and the things that we want to do in our bills like ban transgender surgeries in the military, ban taxpayer funding of abortion, the things that we want to do. The Senate doesn't want to do that. So there's going to be some differences there.Sam Stone: Yeah, there's a reality that Republicans need to win these seats to have our way. Otherwise, you are in a position, you're required to compromise and come up with something that everyone can agree on.Ken Lacourt: Right? Right. But what I've seen is if you go to this continuing resolution idea where you just you put all the money in there and you try to add a couple a couple of things. I think one of the proposals said border security. I'm all for border security, but that doesn't stop the wokeness in the banks. It doesn't stop the transgender surgeries. It doesn't stop the war on coal and the war on oil and gas in my state. So we really just do it all. We should do it. All of it. At least pass it in the House, see what the Senate will do. I mean, the Senate, these things require 60 votes in the Senate because either party can filibuster, can can require a cloture motion and require a filibuster. So you have the Senate. It has to be more bipartisan. And that's tough. That's really tough for the Senate. I mean, it's tough on us for us. And we have a majority here. We don't have the filibuster. We can just pass it with a majority vote. They require a supermajority of 60 votes. So it actually is you know, what normally happens, sadly, is 10 or 12 Republicans vote with all the Democrats for a more liberal product for more spending. But then we should still go that go to conference committee. They need to teach us in fifth grade. Then you go to conference committee and you reconcile the differences there. And yeah, there's some give and take, but it's all too all too often we just give up on the whole thing. We pass what's called this continuing resolution so there's no checks and balances on the money. The two tiered justice system continues. No border. I mean, we just give up. Basically, we're giving up. And that really upsets the voters. That's your first question. Yeah. The voters want to see us actually do something.Chuck Warren: We're with Congressman Mooney from West Virginia. Congressman, we got a couple of minutes left here to our next segment. And when you come back on that next segment, we want to talk about your mother's story about Fidel Castro, Cuba, and how she was thrown in prison. I think voters would like to hear that and how it affects you. You played football and rugby at Dartmouth College. Which would you prefer and which do you still watch?Ken Lacourt: Rugby? I prefer rugby. Do you really was my dream sport. I did, yeah. Well you know in football is offensive line so most I'm just blocking people right when I switched to rugby you get to run the ball. Everybody, all 15 players get to run the ball. You're like a running back, which I always wanted to be a running back and they wouldn't let me do it. And on the football team. And then when you're not running the ball, guess what? You're tackling the guy running the ball. So you're like a middle linebacker at that point. I mean, that's a dream, your middle line. And those are the two positions I always wanted to play Big guys, probably true of most football players. You want to be a quarterback running back at least to wide receiver, right?Chuck Warren: Right.Ken Lacourt: It's every every lineman's dream.Chuck Warren: Yeah. What was your what was your nickname? What was your nickname on the rugby team? Did you have a nickname? Well.Ken Lacourt: Well, what did they call me? They only played football my freshman year. They called me Mooney in the bank instead of money in the bank? Mooney In the bank. It was nice. It was complimentary. Oh, God. They called me Moondog. All sorts of things.Chuck Warren: On the football. That's great.Ken Lacourt: On the rugby team, we at Dartmouth College had a very active rugby team and we were we were we often were Ivy League champions. We were ten. And over my senior year, I mean, we took it we took it real seriously up at Dartmouth.Chuck Warren: All right.Sam Stone: Love it. Congressman, We're going to be coming back with more in just a moment with Congressman Alex Mooney of West Virginia. Folks, stay tuned. We've got a great second guest coming up today. Alexander Rankin talking about Canada's medical euthanasia program. Stay tuned.Advertisement: At Overstock. We know home is a pretty important place and that's why we believe everyone deserves a home that makes them happy. Whether you're furnishing a new house or apartment or simply looking to update and refresh a few rooms, Overstock has every day free shipping and amazing deals on the beautiful, high quality furniture and decor. You need to transform any home into the home of your dreams. Overstock Making dream Homes Come True.Sam Stone: Welcome back to Breaking battlegrounds with your host, Chuck Warren. I'm Sam Stone. We're going to be continuing on with Congressman Alex Mooney of West Virginia's second Congressional District here in just a moment. But folks, how are you feeling about your portfolio right now? Stock market's been going up and down with Joe Biden's economy. You just cannot trust it if you are looking for a fantastic opportunity to earn a great return on your money. A fixed rate of return up to 10.25%, you need to call our friends at refy and talk to them about the fantastic opportunities they offer. Go to invest. Y refy.com that's invest the letter. Why then refy.com or give them a call at 888 yrefy 24 and tell them Chuck and Sam sent you.Chuck Warren: So, Congressman, you have a you know, all families have stories, have narratives. Your mother is a Lala. Is that how you pronounce it? Lala, Lala, Lala. Yeah. She was born and raised in Fidel's Castro, Cuba, and she was thrown in jail for seven weeks for opposing Castro's communist regime. What was she doing? Her opposition. How did she get thrown in jail? How has this influenced your view of those seeking asylum, say, for those from Venezuela right now? And how has it affected your view of national security?Ken Lacourt: Yeah. Yeah. So she actually wrote a book about it a couple of years ago. Oh, wow. "My story". Yeah. Lala Money. You can look it up. And the first chapter of that book talks about how when the Bay of Pigs invasion was coming up, the chance to free Cuba from the communist regime and it failed because John F Kennedy canceled the air support anyway, that was coming up. So the communists started putting in jail. Everybody they suspected, right? No. No rights, no hearing, no trial, no chance to defend yourself. You just went to jail if you were even suspected of not being a communist supporter who might sympathize with the freedom from communism and not side with Castro. So they put her her siblings, her, her father all in jail. It was seven weeks long. Unfortunately, the Bay of Pigs invasion didn't did fail. And so, of course, they let people out. And, you know, they wanted to frankly, they let people leave for a period of time. So fortunately, my mother and her brothers and sisters, she's one of 14 children. So her brothers and sisters and parents all got to leave. And then, of course, everybody kept leaving. So then they lock you in. That's the way communists are. They lock you in. People want to come to our country in communist countries, they won't let you leave. You know, it's the opposite issue. But she came here legally because she was a political political refugee.Ken Lacourt: So she came here legally. And the immigrants that come here. The rule of law is important. They come here because of the rule of law, because the Constitution applies to everybody the same, regardless of when you came, what race you are, anything. It's the rule of law. And my mother is a big believer in that. She's a big believer in political participation. She's 82 years old, lives near near me here, a couple of miles away in Charlestown, West Virginia. Very blessed to have her here. She loves the political process. She would never run, but she's she did raise us to believe in participating in elections because she saw what's happened. She saw firsthand what happens when the bad guys take over. They lock you down, man. These Covid lockdowns that were going on, waiving our rights, emergency powers being abused, you know, people being forced to vaccinate or wear masks. Man, that is that is totalitarianism. That's the type of stuff we do not believe in and cannot get to that point. So that's who raised me. My father passed away many years ago. He did fight in Vietnam. He was an army captain behind the advance of Vietnam, the advance of the communism in Vietnam. And he was proud of doing that. But now I feel that the good Lord has called me to fight within this country, those same types of policies, frankly.Chuck Warren: Well, that's that's a fantastic story. And I'm sure you're proud of your mother and your your kids are as well.Sam Stone: And we're going to actually get the link to that book and put it up on our Twitter and our social media. So people want to check that out. They they can get Lola Mooney's book.Chuck Warren: So, Congressman Mooney, thinking about your mother's story, if I'm a cynic, which I sometimes in and I'm on a comedian show, I would say your mother would be in prison and would put her hands on Joe Biden's face and say, Joey, let me tell you how bad communism is. I mean, that's the way Joe Biden would tell if it happened to his family. Right, Right, right. Tell us tell us about the impeachment inquiry. What should people know about it? Yeah.Ken Lacourt: I was livid when when Adam Schiff had his secret little star chamber down there and was deposing witnesses in secret without Trump or his attorneys able to even be present, selectively leaking information. I was so upset, I said, this is what the communists do. This is actually what they do. So you may recall I helped lead a group of about 60 congressmen who went into the skiff at one point. We just walked in there, even though they told us we weren't allowed in and we occupied it for the entire day. That got so much media. See, that's the type of fighting back I'm talking about. That's why I'm running for the US Senate because I am a fighter and I think West Virginia is deserve a conservative US senator. I'm the only one running and I'm a fighter. And I walked in there. We shut that thing down. We got so much attention. I did. I did media for basically the next day to explain why it was so important we had to go in there even though they told us not to, and it got so much attention. Then they moved the impeachment trial to the for the whole country to see and the full Judiciary Committee and the country turned against it because it was so unfair. But we had a fight. We had a fight. We couldn't just sit there and let them keep abusing their powers. And that's the way I was raised. I was raised to fight because if we don't fight those little battles, it gets worse and worse. Frankly, you're seeing it now because the Democrats want to shut down the government and blame Republicans and create a two tier system of justice right here under our nose.Chuck Warren: Yes, they do.Sam Stone: Yeah. How much has your mother talked at all about seeing any parallels in what Democrats are trying to do here now versus what she experienced when Fidel came to power?Ken Lacourt: Absolutely. Yeah. The parallels are everywhere. And it's not just that. I mean, that's the two tier system of justice, but even things like we're a family of faith. Faith is very important to us, our religion. We believe in Jesus Christ. We believe in the Bible and for people of faith, even that even that's in jeopardy. Now, if you don't want to I don't know you don't want to participate in a transgender surgery. The Democrats want to get you fired. People, you know, you don't want to bake a cake for a gay wedding. They want to shut down your business. Yeah. So.Sam Stone: Congressman, I look at like what's going on in some of these other countries, too, like Canada, New Zealand and some of these others that have gone further. And, you know, I was just reading a piece and we're going to be talking about it a little bit with our next guest. But but Canada actually went in and just government took over a Catholic hospital because it was Catholic and they didn't want to allow that. I mean, that we're not that far from that here, are we?Ken Lacourt: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, one of one of the scarier things that happened two years ago when the Democrats had total control, they actually removed the historical religious freedom protections that were in all the spending bills used to be any money given to a hospital. It was a standard language that you're sincerely held. Religious beliefs can never be violated. That was just a standard actually passed in 1990s. Bill Clinton signed it. Chuck Schumer supported it. They started taking those out. They literally were subjugating faith to government, which had never been done in this country before. We always had said, your faith comes first. And they want to they want to subjugate that. It is scary. And that's what they'll do if we give them total control. And that's why the House of Representatives that's now Republican. That's why I'm running for the Senate. We're one seat away from taking the US Senate over, you know, getting those like Joe Manchin didn't vote to confirm Amy Coney Barrett. But he did vote to confirm. Jackson Brown, the most radical one we've ever put on there. So it does matter who we put on these courts, and that's the job of the US Senate. And I'm the only you know, I'll vote for conservatives, not liberals.Sam Stone: We need more conservative fighters. Congressman, thank you so much. We really appreciate your service. We've got just about one minute left here. How do folks get behind you and support you and your campaign and stay on top of the work you're doing?Ken Lacourt: So thanks. My is Mooney, my last name M-o-o-n-e-y Mooney for F or WV, West Virginia Mooney forwv.com. And we run a grassroots campaign. Please sign up there. We'll door knock phone bank, get some yard signs out, have some rallies, Please sign up Mooney for WV. You can donate through there as well. And we appreciate whatever help you can give us. We are going to take this message right to the voters.Sam Stone: And folks, if you're out there thinking, hey, that's not my state, maybe you're in California where we're on the air, maybe you're in one of the other markets where we're on the air and you're not going to have a Republican opportunity to put a Republican in the Senate. You can phone bank for these guys. You can contribute as a volunteer for these folks like Alex Mooney, who are going to be our conservative fighters. Congressman Mooney, thank you so much for joining us today. We look forward to having you back again in the future. All right. Welcome back to Breaking Battlegrounds with your host, Chuck Warren and Sam Stone. Coming up next, friend of the program, Alexander Raikin coming back on. He is a freelance writer interested in medical ethics and bad statistics. And unfortunately, Chuck, medical ethics are in decline and bad statistics are increasing like crazy. And he's joining us today to discuss his continued research into assisted suicide with his newest piece in the National Review, The End of Medicine How Death Care Replaced Health Care. Alex, I would say I love having you on this program to talk about this stuff because you were like the only one doing this. I wish we didn't have to have you on this program to talk about it because it wasn't happening. But it is some of the stuff you reported. I was hot under the collar yesterday, so he called me.Chuck Warren: I was in a meeting and he was off the hook.Sam Stone: I mean, let's just start with the fact that someone in Canada can call a suicide hotline. Alex They can call a suicide hotline and be offered assisted suicide instead of help. How is that even?Alex Raikin: It is much more. It is much more frugal.Chuck Warren: Yes, it is. Yeah, it is.Alex Raikin: It's really hard to believe just how quickly all of this has escalated. I mean, we're talking about a practice that was illegal in 2015. And now again, the people who are most impacted by this are not physicians. They're not the hospitals. So imagine if you are a physician in Canada right now and you see what your colleagues are doing right, or you're working in a hospital where you know that euthanasia is being provided to people who otherwise would get better if they actually had proper health care. Right. But the people who are most impacted by this are exactly what you say, Right? There are people with disabilities, people with serious illnesses who are trying to get medical care and they're being denied. Right. Long wait times in Canada have continued to get worse at the same time as you have this massive normalization of death care.Sam Stone: Yeah. Astoundingly, I mean, you you documented the first case of physicians in Canada, and apparently this has happened previously in the Netherlands as well, talking very flippantly about sedating a patient in order to prevent the patient from resisting. This made assisted suicide program.Chuck Warren: Can you imagine someone saying no in a let's use me too, as an example. Someone saying no, say, well, I'm just going to sedate you. It's not what you really want. I mean, that may be a crude analogy, but is that far off from what they're doing?Alex Raikin: It's it's crude, but it is exactly what they're doing. Right. And this is a conversation. So this is a conversation that's recorded where physicians are openly discussing what to do if a patient is and here's a quote, is a patient who has lost capacity with a waiver in place and is now delirious, shouting, pulling their arm away as one tries to insert the IV to provide made. So the waiver for final consent is this completely cryptic agreement, right? It's unsigned agreement with only one of the two made physicians. That's how they describe themselves, made providers or made assessors. It's an unwritten agreement. There doesn't need to be any witnesses. Family does not need to be informed. And yet, as soon as they enter into this cryptic agreement, Right, a physician can sedate you essentially to make sure that you're not shouting, pulling your arm away. It is absolutely absurd. And yet these physicians are openly discussing this and laughing about it.Chuck Warren: Well, how many people maybe you know this fact, If not, maybe you can find out. Be good for an article. How many people think about suicide? Get to the point where they do the preparations, but don't go through with it. I'm sure it's not one. I'm sure it's not 5%. I'm sure it's double digits. What? What do you think that percentage is?Alex Raikin: Right. So this is the part where it gets interesting. A lot of these statistics are. Intentionally made secret. So we know from the beginning that when euthanasia was first legalized in Canada, there was a physician in Toronto who claimed that only 10% of made requests went through. And obviously there were media articles about this, like what a travesty it is. Right now, only 4% of cases are actually rejected based on capacity or based on the illness. And the majority of those cases are because the patient is only suffering from a psychiatric illness, which will be a qualifying condition this march. So in six months. So we don't really know what the true number of people who would otherwise still be alive. Right. All that we know is that there is a few percentage of cases that are, you know, where people do change their minds. Right. But we're literally living in a time. So if you look at Quebec as the only province that publishes this data and they show that 50% of the time between requesting made and dying for made in Quebec in 2021, 50% of cases was in under ten days. I don't know any other medical service where goodness get that done so quickly.Sam Stone: Oh, okay, folks, we're going to be coming back with more from Alexander Raikin here in just a moment. If you haven't, you need to check out his piece on National Review. We have that up on our social media feeds for breaking battlegrounds. We'll be back with more in just a moment.Advertisement: At Overstock. We know home is a pretty important place and that's why we believe everyone deserves a home that makes them happy. Whether you're furnishing a new house or apartment or simply looking to update and refresh a few rooms. Overstock has every day free shipping and amazing deals on the beautiful high quality furniture and decor. You need to transform any home into the home of your dreams. Overstock Making Dream homes Come True.Sam Stone: Welcome back to Breaking Battlegrounds with your host, Sam Stone and Chuck Warren. Folks, you probably heard me talking about why wi fi for a while now, they've been getting a ton of phone calls and I thank you for supporting an investment that actually helps people. First off, let me give you some some facts about this. It's true. You can earn up to a 10.25% fixed rate of return that's not correlated to the stock market of the Fed. You can turn your income on or off, compound it, whatever you choose. There are absolutely no fees and there's never any attack on your principal. If you need your money back, you'll get your monthly statement each month with zero surprises. If you're not sure if you trust this economy, this secure collateralized portfolio may be a good option for you. So go to invest Refy.com that's invest the letter Y, then refy.com or give them a call at 888. Y refy 24 and tell them Chuck and Sam sent you.Chuck Warren: Before we go back to a new question, I just looked it up. The University of Washington did a study with teenagers from 2019 through 21, and they found in their studies that there were 38%. Who were suicidal. Who had planned suicide. Went through the steps but did not attempt it.Sam Stone: Well, in a lot more we know from all the literature.Chuck Warren: But can you but can you imagine if they're doing it saying, no, no, no, Look, you made you sign something. You made a commitment. We're going to.Sam Stone: Yeah, we're going to sedate you. We're going to sedate you.Chuck Warren: I mean, that's what they're doing. You have 38% and then you have the, you know.Sam Stone: A lot of suicide attempts are cries for help. Right?Chuck Warren: Right. But there's just incredible. That's what they're doing. So let me ask you a question. Since Canada is quickly becoming one of the biggest serial killers in the world and that's what they are. Let's not pretend otherwise. And Australia seems to be joining in on the fun. They are defunding and threatening hospitals who will not go with this madness, aren't they?Alex Raikin: Yeah. And so the first victims were those who were public hospitals. So secular hospitals, they overwhelmingly were the first to cave in. There are still some holdouts. So the largest mental health hospital in Canada, they still do not allow euthanasia on site, but that might change in six months. They haven't issued any statements. There were secular palliative care clinics in Quebec that refused to sign on. So the government essentially passed legislation forcing them to before they were just threatening to cut their funding. But now they just force them through legislation. So the remaining targets are Catholic hospitals or other faith based institutions that are trying to say, no, we will not be part of this madness. The Guardian. Also just recently, I just looked earlier today, The Guardian has issued essentially a hotline where you can report cases of physicians turning you away from euthanasia.Chuck Warren: Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh.Sam Stone: It's hard for me to understand this. I mean, I think coming from any kind of moral perspective, but but reading and this is where maybe maybe you have some insight into these people, Alex, and why they're why they're doing this. Because as I as I read through your piece and looked at the quotes and then clicked on some of the links and watched some of the videos, the absolute callousness for human life displayed by these supposed doctors, I think was the most shocking thing. As you're watching that, you know, they really sort of revel in what they're doing. And my question is, why? Why why would anyone be so eager to kill other human beings?Alex Raikin: That actually reminds me. I interviewed a forensic psychiatrist. She told me that in her work she has dealt with the most vile people in our society. She has dealt with mobsters. She has dealt with child abusers, serial killers. And yet she told me that the people who who she is most afraid of are none of them. It's instead physicians who provide assisted suicide in the hundreds and thousands, by the way, in the Netherlands.Chuck Warren: Oh, my gosh.Alex Raikin: These people legitimately believe that what they're doing is medically therapeutic. They legitimately believe that some people's lives are not worth living and they want to be the people to get them to the other side. That's why Stephanie Green, for instance, who's the head of the Canadian Association of Made Assessors and Providers, she delivered babies before and then she decided to have a career change and she decided to perform at least 3 or 400 made made deaths. And she still calls them the exact same thing. She also calls them deliveries.Chuck Warren: Oh, she's an evil mindset.Sam Stone: I mean, I don't see many of these people being religious, so what the heck do they think they're delivering them to? I mean, you can almost say, like, if you don't believe in heaven, then where's the where's the good outcome from this?Chuck Warren: It's just a burden on society. That's the only way I can view them viewing it. Is that right, Alexander?Alex Raikin: They have almost this quasi religious worldview where so I have this document from 2018, so it's of Camps annual conference. So again, the Canadian Association of Maid Assessors and Providers and they openly discuss and they describe Maid as sacred. That's the word that they use. So it's almost as if they do have this alternative religious out view and it's not that they're against religion. They're only against religion. If you take thou shalt not kill seriously. Otherwise, though, they'll gladly sign you on.Chuck Warren: I think that's I think that's called a cult. It sounds like it's cultish behavior.Sam Stone: It's a death.Chuck Warren: Cult we are with  Alexander Raikin, we're talking about Canada's medical assistance and dying or made law. Alexander One thing that has alarmed me as I've read your your work on this is physicians who are basically voicing opposition to this, voicing concern they're being threatened with their medical licenses. Can you talk a little bit about that?Alex Raikin: Yeah, I mean, it's quite explicit. If you so many provinces and in many countries. So this is also happening in Australia. This is happening in New Zealand. This has already happened in Netherlands and Belgium. And of course, as with everything else on this file, Canada is going at the forefront. If you do not provide a referral for medical assistance in dying, right, Even if it's in cases where you think that the patient can't qualify, it's not legal for them to qualify. The patient doesn't have the capacity to consent. The patient doesn't have an illness that is serious enough. Many different medical colleges have instituted effective referral requirements. If you do not refer the patient, you are at risk of losing your medical license. If you're outspoken about this, you are getting threatened by a college. One of the cases that I had was of a geriatrician in Quebec who spoke to a parliamentary committee. So remember, freedom of speech. You're literally testifying to parliament, right? The the site where defamation laws do not even apply because it's considered to be a breach of of free speech laws. Right. He testified to a parliamentary committee saying that Canada was not ready to allow made for cases of dementia. What happened was that his colleague from his hospital, he claims, filed a complaint with the medical college. And even though it should have been dismissed outright because they do not have jurisdiction over parliament and who gets to testify to a parliamentary committee, he instead was threatened with this massive investigation and it took him hiring a lawyer and going through this multi-month ordeal for him to actually to clear his name. And all of the time he knew what was the reason. It was because he testified to parliament. He claimed and he claimed what he saw. Right. Which is that the the current law is not working and it shouldn't be expanded. So, yes, these physicians are being threatened with their livelihoods.Chuck Warren: I. What they're doing sounds a lot like what Iceland did with Down's syndrome Baby Sam. You know, if you're identified as your pregnancy is possible Down syndrome, you know, I mean, magazines like CBS News has talked about how Down's syndrome in Iceland is almost disappeared. Well, it's disappeared because you're killing them. It's eugenics. There's nothing here. What Alexander has been reporting that does make believe that they would have no problem. Say, look, you're homeless. You know, you're you're you're a burden on society. You have autism. You're a burden on society if you're broke, you know, so you know, you're a burden on society. One of the things.Sam Stone: He reports and this really blew my mind is that they are advocating expanding made to indigenous people because of poverty that they've already qualified. As I understand it, Alex, based on your reporting, they've already qualified people for this based on credit card debt. And then then this line just threw me for a loop. And to Indigenous children since they are quote, are considered wise because they are closest to the ancestors. What the.Chuck Warren: Well, that's the cultish behavior. Alexander What does that mean? What is the indigenous tribe saying about this? Are they getting upset about it?Alex Raikin: That's a good question. It's a random delegate to camps conference in 2018. Right. Just two years after legalization. And they're already discussing plans on how to expand it to children and especially to indigenous children. I mean.Chuck Warren: Where are the progressive groups? Where are the progressive groups on this?Alex Raikin: Well, that's a very good question. Disability groups are an uproar. The Indigenous Disability Alliance, they're an uproar.Chuck Warren: But that doesn't get reported and it doesn't get reported, right? Yeah.Sam Stone: I mean, it's it doesn't get reported.Alex Raikin: It doesn't get reported.Sam Stone: It's crazy. You know, if you run an oil pipeline through a a native reservation or tribal area and you pay them a bundle of money to do it with really no effect on anybody. The liberal groups will be out in the tens of thousands marching and screaming and leaving a giant mess behind. And here they're. They're silent. They're gone. This, this, this just none of this makes any sense to me at all. Have you. Have you, Alex, have you tried? Like, how do you even comprehend the mindset of the people that are pushing this? Because I just. I still struggle with that. I think you can tell by my questions this is so foreign to to any kind of morality that I've ever experienced or thought of or expected in any Western democracy.Alex Raikin: Right. It's I'll be honest, I struggle with the exact same thing. There was a bioethicist or excuse me, a clinical ethicist, right. So he actually deals with patients in hospitals. He's the one who helps hospitals decide when they need to ration ventilators. Right? So he has a real job with real impacts. He wrote an article in a Canadian newspaper recently trying to claiming that Catholic hospitals should be forced to provide made on site. And he's also the same individual who wrote who wrote an entire article justifying infanticide. And the reason that he used is because you can abort as many children as you want. Some children are going to be born and some children are going to be disabled during childbirth. That is his worldview. And that's why you need to legalize infanticide.Chuck Warren: Oh, my gosh. Alexander, we have we have a minute left here with you. First, I'm going to give you an assignment. I'd like you to come back on next week and explain to people what the government shutdown, if we have one in D.C., really means. You're a numbers guy. What does it really mean to the average taxpayer? Can you do that for me? Yeah, we'll do. Okay, Perfect. Second, first time we had you on, I was quite adamant and said that this is evil. You took the proper course, and we're not as quite dogmatic as I was about it and being a good journalist. Since our first conversation now. And you've written more. You've investigated more. You've interviewed more. Would you view this? What they're doing is simply just evil, demonic.Alex Raikin: Yeah. I mean, at this point it is evil. I do not understand how they are not even pretending to abide by the legislation and the fact that they are openly lying. This is an organization and these are physicians who testified to parliament saying that this is the first time that the first time they've ever heard that euthanasia was being granted to patients because of poverty was in 2020 or 2021, because that's what the that's when the media started reporting about it. That's what they claimed. Yet in reality, they were already discussing it in 2018. It took them two years to figure it out.Chuck Warren: Yeah.Alex Raikin: And then they just lied.Chuck Warren: So, Alexander, tell our folks where they can find you and they can find your most recent article. We'll also post it on our social media, folks. Go ahead, Alexander.Alex Raikin: Yes. Feel free to follow me on X. I'm Alexander Raikin. Raiken is Raikin. You can find my work on National Review or the New Atlantis.Chuck Warren: Alexander, thanks a million. Stay tuned for bonus podcast section Kiley's Corner. We're going to talk about Fox News changeup, other fun things. Alexandra, thanks. A million, folks. Have a great weekend. Bye now.Advertisement: The 2022 political field was intense, so don't get left behind in 2024. If you're running for political office, the first thing on your to do list needs to be securing your name on the web with a your name Web domain from GoDaddy.com. Get yours now.Sam Stone: Welcome to the podcast segment of Breaking battlegrounds. Folks, stay tuned because we're going to have Kiley's Corner coming up, everyone's favorite segment where we alternately make fun of Kiley and she tells us all sorts of fun stuff. But right now, we have Ken Lacourt, our media expert and friend of the program, returning to talk about the big news at Fox, which, Chuck, it may be an earthquake in the conservative media world happened yesterday and it doesn't seem like a whole lot of people know it.Chuck Warren: Talk about it, Ken. Tell us what you know.Ken Lacourt: Well, on one hand, it's really not a radical change. I mean, Lachlan Lachlan is now the the chairman of News Corp, the overall overall entity which runs Fox, Fox News, and I think executive chairman of of Fox News. He was CEO before, but his dad.Ken Lacourt: Was always somebody, you know, for the last several years Lachlan had been in that seat, but his dad was probably driving or at least certainly around for most of those decisions. So they've done a they've done a gradual move of power over the past handful of years to get Lachlan running it. So and he's a mixed bag. On one hand, he's very good, if you like, the Fox News Channel because unlike his siblings, he doesn't hate the Fox News Channel.Chuck Warren: You know.Ken Lacourt: I mean, you know, James, James was is a is a very James's brother is a very shrewd, aggressively business guy. Lefty always talked about trying to make it more responsible, which you know what that means. It means make it look as much like MSNBC as you can without losing our audience. And the sister was the sister was was out in out in left field as well. The trickiest part right now is, is I don't think the external kind of challenges that Fox has and they've got a few they've they've got another big Smartmatic lawsuit which might cost them another half a billion. They've got some other lawsuits by some pension funds, which I think are nonsense, political driven, driven things. I think I think Lachlan's biggest problem is that that he came out of such a privileged position. And I say that not not not as an insult. I mean, I mean, Lachlan has been groomed for this most of his life. He's worked in various News Corp entities around the world. He's had dinner with US senators and governors on a routine basis. He's he's shadowed his father for for much of his life. He's been well trained for it.Ken Lacourt: But there's a serious question is, does he have the grit and does he have the drive that his dad had? I mean, his dad was very much like a shark. I mean, he just wanted to keep eating and growing. And even when he was worth $5 billion and had a a media conglomerate that was X size, he always wanted it to be double sized. Lachlan Not so sure. Lachlan You know, look, he's, he's tan. He's got the tribal tattoos on his arm. He's got a gorgeous ex-model wife. He lives in a $30 million house down in Australia. He bought when he bought his LA mansion. It was the it was the most expensive house in Los Angeles ever sold, $150 million. 11 bedrooms, one of those. So and from from what I hear in the past year or so, he's hard to reach. He's he doesn't have his fingers on the pulse of it. He's still down in Australia. He's so on one hand, all decisions need to go through him and they haven't given the current CEO like Roger Ailes type powers. On the other hand, he's just not as invested in it. And that's a recipe for problems.Sam Stone: Yeah, One of the things that I've noticed Chuck and Ken over the years is there's a huge difference with these giant companies that have been created by a singular founder or personality driving that company. And I think the best example is is Apple with Steve Jobs, which was an innovation machine. And then after Steve Jobs death, it's it's a moneymaking machine, but it's not an innovation machine in the same way.Chuck Warren: Well, for example, they had Mr. Cook, who was the CEO or chairman or whatever he is, of Apple. They had him on CBS Sunday Morning show, which I like because they do pretty good interviews. His big thing was the innovation is that they've done a bunch of solar power to replace the usage of iPhones. I mean, that was his big innovation. Right? Right. And that's not innovation. I mean, that's nice. I'm not discouraging it, but that's not innovation. So, Ken, so what do you see him doing long term with Fox News?Ken Lacourt: I think, well, long term, their biggest issue isn't. The issues that I talked about long term is the fact that cable news viewers are dying. And for every 80 year old cable news subscriber who died, there's not a 25 year old jumping into that pipeline. Our kids aren't going to write checks out to Comcast to to maybe for Internet service, but not for this whole kind of of, oh, you know, I'm waiting for the 6:00 news or Hannity's coming on at eight and I'm going to sit in front of this this screen and wait till they start it for me and then roll commercials into the middle of it. So the biggest long term challenge for all of the cable systems is at some point in the next decade or so, that model will become unsustainable, that they are paying huge amounts of money. They are earning still just gobs and gobs of money. I mean, Fox News Nets probably about a billion and a half a year. That's net, which is just mind boggling. But when that starts to change, that will change. And they will they will contract in power. And the ones that have put smart bets out in the digital world and expanded their their audience there, which Fox hasn't done a good job of, they'll be the future. So that's the long term challenge. The middle term again, the big challenge for them is that Lachlan is still hanging out at yacht races and and is ostensibly in charge that that the CEO, Suzanne Scott isn't doesn't have the ability to make bold decisions even if she was even if she was inclined to making the right ones and that it kind of meanders along as I think we've seen it happen as basically as it's happened since since Roger Ailes left. And it's still got an almost an almost monopoly situation in the sense that what else are you going to watch? You're not going to say, I'm done with Fox. I'm going to go watch CNN. Maybe you go to Newsmax. But Newsmax is still just it's just.Chuck Warren: Yeah, no.Ken Lacourt: It's a small audience because they're very, very conservative. And but it's the Junior League. It's like watching high school TV.Chuck Warren: Exactly. I mean, I know everything about the person. When they tell me watch Newsmax like the same person who still wears a mask in public. I know everything I need to know about both people. One last question here. We're going to let you go. So there seems to be a trend upon the corporate media that we need to we need to save democracy. That's what a lot of these reporters seem to think, You know, and it doesn't seem.Sam Stone: Like they have much idea of what democracy.Chuck Warren: Is. And so, therefore, one of their rules that seems to be is you can't criticize Biden. And I'll give you an example. NBC       's Ben Collins was concurring with Guardian columnist Margaret Sullivan this week. Quote, With democracy on the ballot, the mainstream press must change its ways, arguing both sides reporting misinforms the public. Since it's not two parties, but democracy versus something maybe illegal. Do you see this being a trend, this election, that they're just simply saying it's our way or the highway? Or is this just am I just picking 1 or 2 people and being unfair?Ken Lacourt: No, no. I mean, if anything, it's the continuation of a trend that has started ten years ago and probably peaked or at least hit full throated ridiculousness with Trump. And there it was open. It's like he's Trump, Hitler, we're all going to die. And therefore we have to put our values of being an American over our journalistic values. And so and the largest problem with the press is that they're still pretending to be referees when they have long thrown away their referee notions and they put players jerseys on. Right. And and it's like, that's my look. I don't I'm not bothered at all by the Huffington Post being The Huffington Post or at this point, even MSNBC being MSNBC. We all know what that is. The larger problem that I think that we face as a democracy and we face as news consumers is that so many people still think when they're reading The New York Times or the LA Times or watching CNN, that they're getting a relatively unbiased point of view. And they're not. They're getting hard core, hard core narrative that's that's specifically excluding conservative thought on things and pretending it doesn't exist and that that tweaks out the whole system when people are lying like that and they have so many news consumers still believing them, it's getting less every year, but it's still exists.Sam Stone: Even, you know, the conservative icing out conservative thought is one thing. But I've actually been going back and forth with a guy that, you know, has followed me and interacted with me on Twitter for many years as more of a centrist Republican. And we're talking about something here where the mayor of Phoenix is the co-chair of the C40 cities. She's a signatory to all their programs, which include, you know, no cars, you know, getting rid of cars and meat and all this other stuff. And I mean, she's co-chair, she's signatory. I've told this guy, you know, this is what she she stands for. She's done this. And he literally said, no, I can't find it on our local. Npr, our local affiliates, our local paper. I don't believe you. Yeah, that's a hard thing to get around.Ken Lacourt: Yeah, And I've got some very good friends who in most lives are smart people, but they just, you know, they grew up not being lied to by the groups that are now and I'll call it a lie, because when you misrepresent something enough and you do it intentionally and you keep certain things away from people and you blow up certain certain aspects, that's a misleading that's close enough to a lie. And your friend, like some of mine, just doesn't realize that that again, they they change their somewhat biased referee clothes for players. And he just hasn't figured that out yet and hopefully he will.Sam Stone: Yeah that's that's going to be a long road. And it's one of the key battles for Republicans going forward over the next few years. Ken Lacourt, thank you so much for joining us today. We really appreciate having you on the program again and looking forward to having you back very soon. Terrific.Chuck Warren: My pleasure. Thanks, buddy. Have a great weekend.Ken Lacourt: All right. Take care, guys.Chuck Warren: Kiley's corner folks. She has a stack of paper. She is fired up today and she is ready to air her gripes.Sam Stone: She's got like, war and peace in her hand right here. Chuck, she's made more notes than I do in in a year.Chuck Warren: Kiley I think a couple of years you'll have a book, just Kylie's Gripes, a book with which every podcast episode with your gripes.Kiley Kipper: I know I couldn't even narrow it down this week. There was I have a whole notes page of just links like I have a murder section. I got a, you know, my opening statements missing Jets, Pornhubs doing crazy stuff. But we're not talking about any of that. All right, let's go.Sam Stone: Can I tell you how much I love the meme about it was a bad week for expensive jets.Kiley Kipper: The the 911 call from the guy that ejected, he's like, I don't know where it's at, but.Chuck Warren: Did they find it?Kiley Kipper: No. No.Chuck Warren: What the hell? All right. Well, that sums up America again for the week. Or just crying out loud. Skip that. It doesn't sum up America. It sums up the world. Yes. I mean, folks who think we're cluster just go outside of the United States. The cluster grows significantly. Kylie, go ahead. What do we got?Kiley Kipper: Okay, So my first topic short, we have to acknowledge it because it's Dave Portnoy and Barstool and it's just like such a great story.Chuck Warren: He always needs to be acknowledged.Kiley Kipper: Yeah, yeah. So this week in New York, Saturday. So tomorrow I guess people are listening to it today. So he is hosting a pizza fest where he has over 35 pizza parlors all joining together. There's music, all of this stuff, party, whatever. In the past, he's like, it raises money. He's raised $50 Million for Small Businesses to Stay Open.Sam Stone: Dave Portnoy leading it. You know, none of those 35 are bad pizza.Kiley Kipper: Exactly. Yeah, you can trust him with the pizza. So he gets wind of a sponsor, forwarded him an email from a Washington Post reporter. Basically, she's saying, I'm going to write an article about this pizza fest, but she didn't really state it in that way. She started saying that he was misogynistic and racist. Do you want to defend your sponsorship? So I actually have a clip because Dave calls her out, so calls her and is like, this is Dave Portnoy. Why are you emailing my sponsors? You're calling me misogynistic. He's and he pronounces it wrong, but ignore that part in racist and whatever. So he's he's calling her out and she's trying to deny it. But Jeremy has the clip, so I want you to hear this.Washington Post Reporter: Not. I haven't said anything like that.Dave Portnoy: Well, I can. I can read if you want. If you want, I can read what you actually sent. I have it.Washington Post Reporter: Yeah. Yeah. Because I sent a bunch of notes, so I want to make sure I know which one.Dave Portnoy: Okay. We are planning to write about the festival and how and how some of the sponsors and participants have drawn criticism by seemingly to associate themselves with Dave Portnoy, who has a history of Misogynic comments and other problematic behavior. I want to make sure that Blank had a chance to respond to this, since the company is the most prominent in their partners of his festival.Washington Post Reporter: Oh, that's the one I sent. It was definitely the most pointed of them because I really did want them to respond and I was hoping to get something from them.Dave Portnoy: Do you think that's fair? Like, I totally disagree with the assertions of what you said, that misogynic and all that stuff. So like it kind of backs people into a corner. So I'm happy to go over anything. I mean, you have that is pretty pointed. You said you didn't do it then. I have the exact evidence of you doing it, so.Washington Post Reporter: I didn't say I didn't do that. I said I did. That was the one that was the most well.Dave Portnoy: Know before I before I provided proof. You said you didn't really remember doing that. And then I read it to you and you're like, Oh, yeah, I did at that one time. So you did do it.Kiley Kipper: So this call goes on for 12 minutes. It's on his it's on his Twitter. I'll reshare it on breaking battlegrounds, Twitter, so you guys can read it or listen to it. But it.Sam Stone: Goes on. It's a fantastic call. I've listened to the whole thing and it's it's worth your time, folks.Kiley Kipper: She goes on and says, Unfortunately, this is I have it in quotes. Unfortunately, this is standard journalistic practice. And he responds and goes, Unfortunately, yes, it is. So her background is she's a Washington Post food critic.Chuck Warren: Oh, my God.Kiley Kipper: She's starting out these emails to these sponsors saying he's misogynistic, racist. Do you want to defend yourself? Basically trying to get them to pull out of the pizza fest.Chuck Warren: But she's a food critic. She's supposed to be doing reviews of restaurants and food and dishes and things of that nature. Instead, she's taken The Washington Post, woke Culture and applying it to these 30 plus pizzerias. Yep. Yep. So what's been the public reaction to her lie since she since she clearly lied? I mean, this is awfully we'll just call it. She's a horrible human being. What does people's reaction been to her?Kiley Kipper: Well, I'm assuming well, everyone's on Dave's side. They're all attacking. I'm assuming she's getting lots of messages because she has gone private on social media.Chuck Warren: She should be fired. Yeah, 100% be fired. Once the press starts doing this a couple of times, this crap will stop. Yeah. Yeah. It's not it's not part of her mandate. It's not part of her lane. She should be doing food. And then she's just making. I mean, if she wants to go do that, she should go work for some pod, you know, some something. Some do her own podcast or work with National Enquirer or something just make unfounded.Sam Stone: Well, I mean, look, I think Dave Portnoy is handling this exactly the right way. He's fighting back, using his platform, calling her out by name with the recording, just saying this is garbage. And people can judge that for themselves and they see it's garbage. That's how we stop this. You're right, Chuck. You just got to smack them.Chuck Warren: Let's make sure we put that and boost that on our social media.Sam Stone: Yeah, All right. I mean, congratulations, Dave. You. You're playing this perfectly, man. Don't give up. Don't stop.Chuck Warren: Kiley has more.Kiley Kipper: I have so much more. Not just kidding. All right. So I wanted to bring this case up now because the the it's a murder case and the trial is going to be in March, I believe it was. And so I want to discuss it now because it's there's a woman named Karen Reed, and she's being accused of killing her boyfriend, who is a Boston police officer. So she's charged with the killing of him. Right. She's saying she's being framed by Boston police. Two sides of the story here. Okay. So this is these are the facts. That night, her and her boyfriend, uh, John O'Keefe, they go out to the bars having a good time. There's video footage of them, like from the bars. They're hugging, kissing, totally normal, whatever. They then leave to go to another Boston police officer's house where she says now, this is based on what she told the officer who came in the morning. I dropped him off. My stomach was hurting, so I went home. So I just dropped him off the party and I'm going home. So then in the morning at 5 a.m., this is where the timeline all starts. She starts calling her friends, saying, John never came home last night. Where is he? Blah, blah, blah. Um, so then one of the friends goes to her house and she describes her as hysterically crying and is saying, What if I hit him? Is he dead? It's snowing out. Where is he? Blah, blah, blah. So then her that friend and another friend go back to the house where he had dropped him off and they found him in the snow, dead. So to her and another friend, start giving him CPR. Call the police, obviously. Where had.Chuck Warren: He been shot or.Kiley Kipper: Something? No, he just looked like. So according to her, the defense, he it looks like he got beat up. Okay. The prosecutors are saying he got hit by a car. So when the when the investigator showed up that day, she was supposedly hysterical, yelling, could I have hit him? Did I kill him? Did I hit him with my car last night? Blah, blah, blah, blah. She has a broken tail light, to which her father said was in the morning when she was, which there was no report on either. Friend has said anything, but the dad said that she, when she was backing out of the driveway, hit John's car because she was frantically leaving. And that's where the tail light broke, which.Sam Stone: Is actually plausible, which.Kiley Kipper: Could.Sam Stone: Yeah, I mean, sure.Kiley Kipper: So she's so this is like what we know now. She's she was out on bail, but there's like a whole group of people that think she's that this is she is being framed like there's a website. They've raised almost $200,000 for her for legal fees and she's done all of these interviews. So like this is where I kind of believe her because if you're going to, like, premeditate to kill your boyfriend or husband or whatever it is like you're going to, I don't believe you'd be yelling. Like, did I hit him or was this me? Or maybe you do. But but she's doing a bunch of interviews now, too.Chuck Warren: I agree. But the problem with this and I agree, you know, just all.Kiley Kipper: Play it off. Yeah. I mean.Chuck Warren: But I agree. The problem is you can't view it that way because unlike a physician in Canada who does euthanasia, we don't have those minds. Right. So I don't you know, I don't know what psychosis is if someone like this. But right now, that does not sound like enough evidence to me to to indict someone.Kiley Kipper: Well, she was indicted.Sam Stone: I feel like you do need more. And actually, the fact that they indicted her on what appears to be flimsy evidence to me is actually the best argument for her case.Chuck Warren: Exactly right.Sam Stone: Exactly that. You know, look.Chuck Warren: But she's always tagged with it innocent. She's always tagged now. Oh, there's well, there's the neighbor that killed 56.Kiley Kipper: Pieces of evidence that the defense is not able to look at. So the prosecutors haven't allowed them to look at it, which they've said, oh, we found the tail light in the like part of her tail light in the snow near John. But they haven't been able to see the tail light test. The tail light to make sure it's her tail light or anything like this. So everyone's saying because it was at a Boston police officer's house with another Boston police officer and this woman, that they think that when she was saying, oh, my gosh, could I have hit him with my car, that they then took that story, ran with it, And it's all like a whole framing.Chuck Warren: I'm thinking some police officers of another police officer or police officer's wife.Kiley Kipper: Well, and there's you know, people being interviewed is like highly possible.Chuck Warren: This is this is where I'm going with today on on Chuck's Conspiracy Corner. This is where I'm going.Sam Stone: I know a lot of police officers. Most of them are excellent people in a few of them are dogs.Kiley Kipper: I'll share this on our social media, too. But there's a photo of people outside the courthouse in free Karen shirts. Like they are going all out for her.Chuck Warren: Wait, wait. Her name's Karen. All right. Next story for you. Wrap up. No, no, no, no.Kiley Kipper: I just narrowed it down to two today.Chuck Warren: All right, well, that you'll keep us up to date on Karen. Oh, absolutely. All Karen's are just this.Kiley Kipper: Karen. Karen Reed. Just one. Karen.Sam Stone: Well, just. Just. Just Karen. The accused killer?Chuck Warren: Yeah.Kiley Kipper: The accused.Chuck Warren: Murderer. Folks, thank you for joining this week. We hope you enjoyed it. Please pay particular attention to what's happening in Canada and Australia. Make no mistake about it, I believe there's ten states in our country that allow it. It's 11 now, 11 that allow it. Folks, this is just not a whole we need to go down. It's bad. It is evil. If you don't think it's evil, you probably shouldn't listen to the show. This is Chuck Warren. You can follow us on all podcasts and also follow us on breaking battlegrounds. Upvote or wherever you find your social media. Have a great weekend. Get full access to Breaking Battlegrounds at breakingbattlegrounds.substack.com/subscribe

In this week's Breaking Battlegrounds episode, we welcomed two prominent guests; John Pudner and Dawn Hawkins. John Pudner, President of Take Back Our Republic Action, joined Chuck and Sam for a discussion about the path forward for the GOP. We discuss topics like campaign contribution, abortion, faith-based voters, Department of Education and more. Dawn Hawkins, CEO of the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, highlighted a pressing issue - big tech's role in the proliferation of sexual exploitation. Shockingly, 13% of Twitter content is explicit. She shared that the organization has initiated multiple lawsuits against big tech to bring about necessary changes in their terms and conditions.Join us for an insightful discussion on these critical issues shaping our political landscape and digital age.-Connect with us:www.breakingbattlegrounds.voteTwitter: www.twitter.com/Breaking_BattleFacebook: www.facebook.com/breakingbattlegroundsInstagram: www.instagram.com/breakingbattlegroundsLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/breakingbattlegrounds-AboutDuring John Pudner's tenure as Executive Director (2015-2021), Take Back Our Republic compiled a perfect record of five statewide referenda wins in five different states, and Pudner led a 2017 effort before the Federal Elections Commission, in which Take Back Action Fund defeated Facebook, requiring the social media giant to disclose who was paying for political ads on that platform.  These important successes were a prime motivator in Pudner’s transition to full-time President of Take Back Action Fund, where he will be able to focus his attention on political and grassroots lobbying efforts. Before shifting his efforts to the integrity of the system itself, Pudner spent 25 years running Republican political campaigns, including the faith-based turnout in 16 states for George W. Bush, and was first featured on Fox News after directing the campaign strategy of Republican Dave Brat’s historic primary upset of Republican Majority Leader Eric Cantor. In the same period, he also won 185 out of 202 local zoning referenda, as well as dozens of Planning Commission and Supervisor votes, preventing developments that would have saddled communities not only with massive traffic jams, but also with flooding and erosion. -Dawn Hawkins is CEO of the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, the leading organization exposing the connections between all forms of sexual exploitation, including sex trafficking, prostitution, pornography, and child sexual abuse. Dawn’s energy, creativity and mobilization skills are deployed to build a world free from sexual violence, with freedom and human dignity for all.Dawn is deeply committed to bipartisan public policy solutions at the federal and state level. Her issue expertise, visionary initiatives, and innovative strategy have led to groundbreaking change in the legislative arena and in multimillion-dollar corporate policies. She has also envisioned and created a Law Center to challenge sexual exploitation profiteers in the courts.Dawn has been instrumental in re-imaging the National Center on Sexual Exploitation. She has centered the need to address sex buyer demand for commercial sex, has severely weakened the mainstream pornography industry, and is leading efforts to bring more accountability to technology platforms for child safety.Dawn has called out and changed corporate entities facilitating exploitation through the annual Dirty Dozen List, fostered a broad international coalition of 600+ organizations, and constantly: advocates for survivors. Her work has sparked change at Google, Hilton Worldwide, Comcast, Walmart, the Department of Defense, Instagram, TikTok, and other influential firms. Dawn has appeared on many television programs, including CNN, Fox & Friends, and Good Morning America. She regularly authors articles and speaks around the country addressing the public health harms of pornography, curbing demand for sex trafficking, protecting children and families in our digital world, and more.Dawn regularly volunteers for organizations devoted to helping children and refugees. She is a graduate of Tufts University and currently resides with her husband and five children in Virginia. Get full access to Breaking Battlegrounds at breakingbattlegrounds.substack.com/subscribe

In this week's episode of we kick off with a dynamic duo. Join us as we sit down with Kimberley Strassel from The Wall Street Journal and Ross Douthat from The New York Times. Together, they'll provide unique insights into the ever-evolving landscape of media, as well as, share their perspectives on the Republican Party, Joe Biden and more.Later in the show, Chuck and Sam take the microphone to delve into some pressing current news, including VP Kamala Harris, Larry Sinclair’s appearance on Tucker Carlson and New York’s migrant “crisis.” In a brand-new segment, we introduce "Kiley's Corner," hosted by the irrepressible Kiley Kipper. Kiley delves into current news stories, offering her unique perspective on the headlines. This week, she takes a deep dive into the Ruby Franke case, a shocking incident involving a Utah mother and YouTuber from "8 Passengers." Join Kiley as she unravels the story and discusses its implications, all from her corner of the studio.-Connect with us:www.breakingbattlegrounds.voteTwitter: www.twitter.com/Breaking_BattleFacebook: www.facebook.com/breakingbattlegroundsInstagram: www.instagram.com/breakingbattlegroundsLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/breakingbattlegrounds-Kimberley Strassel is a member of the editorial board for The Wall Street Journal. She writes editorials, as well as the weekly Potomac Watch political column, from her base in Alaska.Ms. Strassel joined Dow Jones & Co. in 1994, working in the news department of The Wall Street Journal Europe in Brussels, and then in London. She moved to New York in 1999 and soon thereafter joined the Journal's editorial page, working as a features editor, and then as an editorial writer. She assumed her current position in 2005.Ms. Strassel, a 2014 Bradley Prize recipient, is a regular contributor to Sunday political shows, including CBS's "Face the Nation," Fox News Sunday, and NBC's "Meet the Press." She is the author of "The Intimidation Game: How the Left Is Silencing Free Speech," which chronicles recent attacks on conservative nonprofits, businesses and donors.An Oregon native, Ms. Strassel earned a bachelor's degree in Public Policy and International Affairs from Princeton University. She lives in Alaska with her three children.-Ross Douthat joined The New York Times as an Opinion columnist in April 2009. His column appears every Tuesday and Sunday. He is also a host on the weekly Opinion podcast “Matter of Opinion.” Previously, he was a senior editor at The Atlantic and a blogger on its website.He is the author of “The Deep Places: A Memoir of Illness and Discovery,” which was published in October 2021. His other books include "To Change the Church: Pope Francis and the Future of Catholicism,” published in 2018; “Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics” (2012); “Privilege: Harvard and the Education of the Ruling Class” (2005); “The Decadent Society” (2020); and, with Reihan Salam, “Grand New Party: How Republicans Can Win the Working Class and Save the American Dream” (2008). He is the film critic for National Review.He lives with his wife and four children in New Haven, Conn.-Sam Stone: Welcome to another episode of Breaking Battlegrounds with your host, Sam Stone and Chuck Warren. First up today, folks, we have to apologize a little bit. We had two longer interviews that were supposed to frame this show with Ross Douthat. Douthat of The New York Times. I'm so bad at last names, folks. My apologies there. And Kimberley Strassel of The Wall Street Journal. Chuck interviewed both of them last night at an event here in Arizona was fantastic. We were going to open and close the interview with that. We had a technical difficulty in the last half of each interview basically got wiped out by the electronic gods. Chuck. And so we're kind of scrambling a little bit. We pasted the two of them together. You're going to hear them in this segment. And then we're going to continue on with just Chuck and I talking about some of the issues of the day and some about this.Chuck Warren: Yeah, the event last night was Center for American Institutions of ASU. And the the whole the whole point was to have them in a forum. And they're about the responsibilities of the media and the age of polarization. The one thing Ross said that was really interesting to me is it conservatives really want to go and change the media. They need to start getting some conservative foundations that start financing journalism, that start buying some papers and making them nonprofits.Sam Stone: This is what you and I have talked about forever.Chuck Warren: And he was very specific about it last night, saying you've got to be serious about it. And you and I talked about this, about the Koch brothers, how much difference they would have made if they had gone by 5 or 6 major daily newspapers. And so he brought that up. I was it was I was like listening to you and I talk. I found that very interesting. And then Kimberly was wonderful. She started as a reporter in Europe for The Wall Street Journal, now the editorial page. So folks, you'll find this interesting. We're going to get them both on here within the next month to talk more about it. And we hope you'll enjoy this clip. Welcome back to Breaking Battlegrounds Today, this segment we are honored to have with us Kimberly Strassel. She is a columnist and editorial writer for The Wall Street Journal. You can also catch her on her podcast with Potomac. Potomac. Potomac. I can't pronounce Potomac. Watch.Kimberly Strassel: Watch Potomac Watch.Chuck Warren: And she has written a new book called The Biden Malaise.Kimberly Strassel: Well, it's so great to be here. Thanks for having me. Yeah.Chuck Warren: So is Joe.Chuck Warren: Biden worse than Jimmy Carter? About the same?Kimberly Strassel: No, I think he's worse. And here's why. And because I think the comparison is utterly unfair to Jimmy Carter. And that's why I ended up writing the book. Right. That's fantastic.Chuck Warren: And.Kimberly Strassel: Timely. Yes. And that's that is exactly why I did it, because, you know, we had all these comparisons the minute inflation popped up, the minute we had the horrible Afghanistan withdrawal, the minute that we had an energy problem. But the difference is Jimmy Carter, he was he was not a great president, but he inherited a lot of his problems. Right? Yes. We were already in the 70s in the middle of the great inflation, OPEC, all that OPEC oil shocks, you know, Cold War turmoil. Et cetera. Joe Biden created all of his problems. And that's a really important for spite, for spite or just because he lacked the backbone to push back against progressives in his party.Chuck Warren: The ActBlue segment of his party. That's right. That's really what it is.Kimberly Strassel: You know, And if you and that's the other thing. If you go and look at Jimmy Carter, he was an unpopular fellow, in part because he pushed back on parts of his party and didn't always do what they wanted him to do.Chuck Warren: I also think Jimmy Carter was just a better person. Oh, without a doubt. I mean, I'm stunned with the past or the press has tried. I mean, so tonight I was watching NBC Nightly News and we were talking earlier about the number one story in NBC Nightly News was the migrant problem in New York. And, you know, a lot of people in the Republican governors did it. Abbott as an example. It was a stunt, right? And now it's put a focus on it where Mayor Adams is saying, where's the federal government, which Texas and Arizona have been saying forever? Yeah, sure. Right, right, right, right. But I noticed tonight the third or fourth story was about Hunter Biden and Biden's connection, finally. So finally, they're starting to do it. I'm interested when it becomes number one. But the fact that it was in the segment number 3 or 4, the first third, I found that interesting, which you would not would have had a month ago.Kimberly Strassel: No. And I think the only reason they're doing it, though, I mean, let's not give anyone too much credit. They're doing it because when you have a US federal prosecutor, special counsel, as it is now, David Weiss saying that he has an intention to file indictment prior to the end of September. That's kind of news. And so we're going to see. But that's a really good point. I mean, Jimmy Carter, again, a lot of faults, but could you imagine him? And I mean, this is not a man who would engage in graft. He was deeply religious. He had great respect for the office of the presidency. Correct. It just there's no comparison with Joe Biden.Chuck Warren: No, none whatsoever. So what are the three takeaways for our audience who we're recommending they get the book? Yes. What are the three takeaways? And let me let me start first this. What surprised you when writing the book?Kimberly Strassel: Well, just how bad Biden is. Worse. Worse than you thought. Yeah. No, just you know, again, because people on the surface make these comparisons, you know, it's like, oh, my God, the worst president since Jimmy Carter. And I always say, like, that's not fair. Jimmy Carter Because you you realize when you go through the stories of what happened to Carter and what happened to Biden, the many and deliberate efforts that were taken to end us up in the situation that we are now. I mean, let's just be really clear. We shouldn't have any inflation at the moment. No, it's entirely the purpose, both of the fault of both the extraordinary overspending, but also the pressure the Biden administration and progressives in Congress put on Jerome Powell to keep interest rates low for too long. And, you know, we wouldn't be dealing with rising gas prices right now. I mean, look what just happened this week.Chuck Warren: 3 million acres wasn't a 40 million acres. So they out of a federal lease is gone.Kimberly Strassel: And by the way, can I just point out that a number of those millions of acres are on something called the National Petroleum Reserve, which when Alaska, they were setting up all these different areas, it was a specific agreement and deal that was made is that the federal government would lock up some of this in national parks, but this would be remained to do drilling on. And they're reneging on that. They're reneging on the leases that were duly issued at the very moment that OPEC is squeezing our necks. So, you know, by the way, Jimmy Carter would have killed to have had a domestic energy industry. Oh, 100%. He didn't have it, but he did good work. He started to deregulate the natural gas industry. He did everything he could to support oil and coal. You know, he really wanted us to be independent. And Joe Biden just wants other people to drill oil and send it here.Chuck Warren: Welcome to breaking battlegrounds. Today, we are honored to have with us New York Times columnist Ross Douthat. Douthat. Douthat.Ross Douthat: It's a pleasure to be here. Thanks so much for having me.Chuck Warren: So did you get in today.Ross Douthat: Just two hours ago? Oh, my gosh. Take off tomorrow and I take off tomorrow. Yes, we have I have four kids at home and one of them is starting middle school and one of them is starting pre-K. So I can't be gone too long. I can't take any camping trips into the desert or anything like that. It seems like the right weather for it, but maybe next time.Chuck Warren: That's fantastic. So you've been in New York Times columnist for four years now.Ross Douthat: No, for I've been in New York Times columnist since, amazingly, 2009. So I started in Barack Obama's. Oh, my goodness. Very first year. Yes.Chuck Warren: So how do you how do you get along with your colleagues? I know there's a lot of independent thinkers there. Probably many of them sort of lean left to a degree.Ross Douthat: I think that's fair. That's probably fair to say. Yes.Chuck Warren: How has that been for you intellectually and as a work environment? And how have they accepted you?Ross Douthat: I mean, I think the you know, the work environment has always been good. I mean, I was you know, I was a conservative when I was hired. I don't think there's sort of any secret that I'm there to sort of represent views that are not shared by all of the New York Times readership, to put it mildly. Right. Our audience tends to be more more liberal leaning. But I think there's a lot of support for that work institutionally in the paper. You know, I think that the challenge is like everything in American politics, everything has become more challenging over the last 5 or 10 years than it was when I started. You know, in hindsight, the Obama Romney race in 2010, 2012. Right. Was a relatively low key presidential election. Very much so. Well, it didn't I mean, it didn't necessarily feel that way at the time, but compared to the Trump era. Right. And so everything has been sort of higher stakes in the last in the last 6 or 7 years. And obviously Covid wokeness, everything else has, you know, it's sort of made the job of writing for an audience that disagrees with you, somewhat challenging in new ways. But at the same time, I consider myself very lucky because we live in a very polarized media environment where it's not just that most readers are reading people they agree with. Most writers are sort of writing almost exclusively for people who agree with them. And, you know, at least in theory, the point of arguing in public is to convince at least some people, correct, push them a little bit in your direction. And I'm not sure whether I succeed at that or not, but just getting the opportunity to try on a consistent basis is, you know, it's a it's a dream job with with all of the challenges that dream jobs entail.Chuck Warren: I do know with my college educated Republican friends that your articles probably get forwarded the most.Ross Douthat: That's good to hear.Chuck Warren: That's good. They enjoy your writing. It doesn't mean they always agree, but they enjoy your writings. It brings me a point. So Mike Pence gave a speech today about conservatism. Yes. What are your thoughts on that? Is he talking about an era that's gone or is an era that needs a new champion?Ross Douthat: I think he's mostly talking about an era that's gone. I think that, you know, there's always continuity as well as change in American politics. And there are ways in which, you know, you can go back to the Reagan era and see some surprising. Commonalities with the Trump era. Donald Trump, for instance, was not the first Republican president to use tariffs and fight trade wars and these kinds of things. Right. He was not the first Republican president to try and get America out of foreign wars. So there is there is more continuity sometimes than you would think. But the broad vision that Pence stands for, I really think belongs to an era when Republicans and conservatives were just fundamentally a lot more optimistic about the condition of the country. There was a moment at the first Republican debate that where Vivek Ramos sorry. Vivek Ramaswamy was talking about sort of depression and malaise and mental illness in America. And Pence broke in and said, no, no, there's you know, the only thing wrong with America is that we need leaders who are worthy of our country. Right? And this is a sort of long running, sort of old school conservative view that the country is in great shape. The problem is just liberals in Washington, D.C. And I think Trump's election was itself a sign that Republicans didn't really believe that anymore, that they were willing to, you know, elect someone who who would sort of, you know, break things, for want of a better term, because because the country was going in such, from their perspective, a dire direction. And I think that's still where Republican voters are now. The you know, I don't think it's clear where the party goes from here, but I think the sort of the the basic optimism that the country is all right and just the leadership needs to change that Pence embodies. That's not where I think most Republican voters are anymore. They think things are more dire than that.Chuck Warren: Generally, we're not happy warriors anymore.Ross Douthat: No. And I mean, we're just warriors.Chuck Warren: We're not.Ross Douthat: Yeah, exactly. The mentality is, you know, there's a battle for the future of the country and we need to win it. But it's not, you know, it's a tough battle and things are not necessarily going our way. I think that that's the sense Republicans have.Sam Stone: Welcome back to Breaking Battlegrounds. This is Sam Stone with your host, Chuck Warren and Kylie Kipper. Thank you to Chuck and Kip for the fantastic interviews that are leading and finishing this program today. But in the meantime, folks, how is your portfolio doing? How's your. How's your finances doing? If you have not gone to check out our friends at Invest Yrefy.com, you really need to do that. You can earn up to a 10.25% fixed rate of return. That's right. 10.25 fixed. You can turn your monthly income on or off, compound it, whatever you choose. There's no loss of principle if you need your money back at any time. It's a fantastic opportunity. We've talked about it quite a bit. It's time for you to go there and take a look. Invest. y Refy.com or give them a call at 888 yrefy24 and tell them Chuck and Sam sent you.Chuck Warren: Well, first of all, we have a clip I want to talk about. There's been some conservative media has gone hypersonic that Kamala Harris says she's ready to take over the presidency. Jeremy, go ahead and play this clip, please.unknown: Question about the president's age often go hand in hand with questions about how he would step into the role if necessary. Do you feel prepared for that possibility and serving as vice president prepared you for for that job?Kamala Harris: Yes.unknown: And how would you describe that, that process?Kamala Harris: Well, first of all, let's. I'm answering your hypothetical, but Joe Biden's going to be fine. So that is not going to come to fruition. But let us also understand that every vice president, every vice president understands that when they take the oath, that they must be very clear about the responsibility they may have to take over the job of being president. I am no different.Chuck Warren: Sam.Sam Stone: Well, first off, she had to say that. Well, first of all.Chuck Warren: She had to say it. And no vice president would not say it, Of course. I don't want this job. Are you kidding me? I mean, this is dear conservative listeners. Sam and I are conservative. We have been in the trenches. We have skin in this movement. You cannot cry wolf about everything for a statement that, frankly, I don't know what she could say differently than what she said If she's vice president of the United States. And we seem to go on to keep we have a conservative journalistic sphere. That wants clickbait, for example. So Tucker Carlson interviewed this guy this week, Larry Sinclair, that had smoked crack and had sex with Obama. Right.Sam Stone: Allegedly. Who says he did? Allegedly.Chuck Warren: Right. Allegedly.Sam Stone: So part of the backstory about this, by the way, and I'm not sure why Tucker had this guy on, he is a a known fraudster. I mean, you know, he's got a long.Chuck Warren: Rap sheet, a long rap sheet. He's been he served jail. He filed an affidavit 20 years ago saying he couldn't stand trial because he was terminally ill. He's still alive. Right? Right. Colorado records him having 13 aliases. He has failed polygraphs over this claim. Tucker did about matter of fact, Barstool sports founder Dave Portnoy said.Sam Stone: I'm a huge fan of said.Chuck Warren: I met Larry Sinclair when I was doing my Tucker thing a couple of weeks ago. I would trust Anna Delvey before I trusted anything, Larry Sinclair said top to bottom may be the least trustworthy human I ever laid my eyes on. So my point is, here's the thing.Sam Stone: Dave Portnoy has a very good b you know what detector? Yes, he does. He really does. He does.Chuck Warren: He does. Very much so. Very much so and so, folks. We have a responsibility, what you share on social media, what we give clicks to a vice president of United States that neither Sam and I in a million years would vote for. I think she is not the brightest bulb in town. I think she's ill prepared for the job. I think she does not represent any views whatsoever I represent or want in my country to have.Sam Stone: And you can make that judgment. The majority of the country agrees with you.Chuck Warren: She's the lowest. She has lower approvals than Biden and Biden's are horrible. Yeah, but when you're asked a question by a foreign correspondent where she did this interview at about are you ready to of course she's supposed to say it the rural news would be if she said, oh my God, no, I don't want this. Right. That's the news. That would be the news.Sam Stone: Right? Then the question is, when is your resignation coming, Madam Vice President? Exactly. And you know, look, at the end of the day, too, and not that, you know, dear God, I would be terrified for this country with Kamala Harris as our 100%, 100%. But on a foreign international stage, if you're if you're the vice president and you don't say that you have just weakened and made this country more vulnerable, if you don't come out and just say, yes, of course I'm prepared.Chuck Warren: So what we're doing on the right is we're be clowning ourselves. We have to start being more serious about what we put out there in the social media sphere, what we think is actually worthwhile. Larry Sinclair is not worthwhile. Even if it's true, Obama is not current occupant of the Oval Office. It would happen 30 years ago. I don't care.Sam Stone: Well, and let me expand on that, Chuck. I do not care at all about a politician's sex life. No, it does not make any difference or interest to me whatsoever.Chuck Warren: No, not me. Once over. So, folks, let's start being a little more serious about what we look at. Jeremy's gonna play another clip here from Mayor Adams. Folks, as you know, before we play it, Governor Abbott, Governor DeSantis bussed migrants to New York City and other areas.Sam Stone: Governor Ducey, Let's give him some credit to do. He got in on the act. Yep.Chuck Warren: And all the press said this was a stunt and folks, it was a stunt. But the stunt purpose was knowing the hypocrisy of these mayors, of these sanctuary cities, the ones that go and claimed all of these border state governors are racists. And so they said, fine, you're a sanctuary city. You have promised these social services, therefore you take care of the problem. So what they did is they shipped them to New York City, a city where Mayor Adams says was a sanctuary city. Jeremy, go ahead and play this clip.Mayor Adams: I'll support. And let me tell you something, New York is never in my life have I had a problem that I did not see an end to. I don't see an end to this. I don't see an end to this this issue will destroy New York City. Destroy New York City. We're getting 10,000 migrants a month. One time we were just in Venezuela. Now we're getting Ecuador. Now we're getting Russian speaking coming through Mexico. Now we're getting Western Africa. Now we're getting people from all over the globe have made their minds up that they're going to come through the southern part of the border and come into New York City. And everyone is saying it's New York City's problem. Every community in this city is going to be impacted. We got a $12 billion deficit that we're going to have to cut. Every service in this city is going to be impacted, all of us. And so I say to you as I turn it over to you, this is some of the most educated, some of the most knowledgeable, probably more of my commissioners and deputy commissioners and chiefs live in this community. So as you ask me a question about migrants, tell me what role you played, how many of you organized to stop what they're doing to us? How many of you were part of the movement to say, we're seeing what this mayor is trying to do and they're destroying New York City? It's going to come to your neighborhoods. All of us are going to be impacted by this. I said it last year when we had 15,000. And I'm telling you now, with 110,000 the city we knew.Sam Stone: So obviously, we're going to break right now. We're going to be coming back with more in just a moment here. But, you know, look, 10,000 people, he's complaining about 10,000 people. 10,000 people is a slow day on the border. Biden's been president for two and a half years. So you're talking about something like eight, nine, almost 900 days he's been. An office. So now let's multiply that 10,000 by all those days. And now ask yourself how people are dealing with the rest of them and the rest of this country.Chuck Warren: Exactly. This is breaking battlegrounds. We'll be right back to talk more about Mayor Adams, New York and Biden's lousy border crisis.Sam Stone: All right. Welcome back to Breaking Battlegrounds, folks. Check out our friends and invest. Why refy.com. You can earn up to a 10.25% fixed rate of return. That's right, 10.25% fixed. This operates a lot like a CD, folks. So if you need your principal back at any time, 100%, you can get it. This is a secure collateralized portfolio with an extremely high rate of return. And by doing well for yourself, you're actually doing good. Helping college students get their lives back on track by refinancing their their private student loans. This is a fantastic opportunity. Check it out. Invest. y Refy.com or give them a call at 888 yrefy 24 and tell them Chuck and Sam sent you.Chuck Warren: Sam, you. You've worked a lot on the border crisis here in Arizona. You've done a lot of policy. You've done a lot of research. Talk more about it. So Mayor Adams is complaining now. Now, part of the problem for Mayor Adams is being a sanctuary city. They have promised so many social services. My understanding what's interesting about this is last night NBC Nightly News led with this story. It was the first day of school and 20,000 new migrants were going to school. And they were explaining this, the cost of this. But again, this would not have happened without Ducey, DeSantis and leadership on this by Abbott. This never would be a front page story. And now it is.Sam Stone: It is. And that was the intent all along. It was the right move. Look, the first major race I worked on was a congressional race in southern Arizona on the border. So we had about 140 miles of the border in that congressional district. We went down there. We met with the farmers and ranchers. I'll never forget the story I got from one of them who he was getting older. His kids had moved out of the house, gone off to college. So it was just him and his wife there. And his house had been broken into 16 times that year. 16 times. Now, what he had actually done was go ahead and put out food and drinks and all this stuff, put refrigerators so they wouldn't break in.Chuck Warren: So go take some water, take some food and get on your way.Sam Stone: And so then they did stop actually breaking in. Right. But but that's the impact on one person. You're talking about an issue where we have millions of these folks coming here. And what Adams has done and what New York and some of these other cities are doing by by treating them the way, quite frankly, they treat the black population, which is we're going to keep you in a very minimal living. Right. And not expect you to actually do any work or any sort of thing like that. They are exacerbating the costs of this dramatically. They're increasing the number of dependent type people who are coming here for this. You know, look, this is there are so many elements of this. Nobody comes across the border without the permission of the cartels. So these people are all being trafficked in one sense or another. They've either paid directly or now they're here as indentured servants or sex trafficked. This is a problem that thank God for those governors who stood up and did this. It might have been grandstanding. The news might have might have thrown a little hissy over it at the time. But you know what?Chuck Warren: It worked. They were throwing a hissy as of six weeks ago. Right. I mean, I will say this. God bless Mayor Adams for Elise being blunt about it, not caring. He offends the administration and saying this is a problem. It's a problem in Chicago now they're complaining about it.Sam Stone: As long as the problem was in Phoenix and Dallas and in places like.Chuck Warren: Tucson, who cares? Who cares?Sam Stone: Yeah, but now that it's affecting these big national Democrats in the coastal cities where there's real Democrat media there that has to now be forced to cover this story. The the the sense of indignation coming from the left that this is a story now is just entertaining as hell.Chuck Warren: Well, I think one thing to for our listeners to understand, this is not going to slow down. The world is in chaos. So there's not it's not folks it's not like ten years ago, 20 years ago, where they came from, Central America, Mexico. These are folks coming from Russia, Ukraine. They're coming from the Middle East. They're coming from Africa. They're coming from Cuba, They're coming from Venezuela. This is not slowing down. So you got to get a border policy that actually works done.Sam Stone: What was the Pew study a couple of years ago that said something like 60% of the world's population would move to America if they.Chuck Warren: Could, and I would, too. I mean, that's why that's why you always see these moronic progressives saying what a horrible country. Hey, jackass, over 5 billion people in the world would come to America if just given the chance right now, right this very minute. You want to.Sam Stone: You want to talk about housing crisis. I mean, gosh. So that's the other thing. So the lowest estimate out there is that there are two plus million people who have come here illegally or claimed asylum status under the Biden administration. I think it's quite a bit more than probably double. It's probably more than double. It's probably double. But let's say it's 2 million. We have not built 2 million new housing units in the last two and a half years. We probably not built 200,000 new. Housing unit.Chuck Warren: We're behind several years of housing just to.Sam Stone: Catch up behind by more than a decade. So, I mean, so and you look at the issues with schools, you're complaining about Democrats always complaining about school funding. Well, you're bringing kids here who require a vastly higher rate of spending to to get them caught up. You are stressing every level of your social service system. You have a lot of kids who are coming here who are kids in our definition because they're 13, 14, 15, but they're not in Mexico. Right. Absolutely. And so then we're taking them in under a system, folks. We're going to go to the next interview here. Chuck, I didn't even catch which order we're doing them in, do we?Chuck Warren: Kimberley Strassel was the first one. Ross from The New York Times will be the next.Sam Stone: Is the next one, folks. Stay tuned for that and then stay tuned for the podcast segment afterwards. We're coming back with.Chuck Warren: A new segment.Sam Stone: All right. Welcome back to Breaking Battlegrounds, the scramble show where we are making up for our electronic foibles.Chuck Warren: We had one more. We would have a scramble.Sam Stone: Well, look, we're Gen-Xers. We do not we should not be expected to be good with technology. I'm just saying, like all the younger generations have an advantage on this front that we are not allowed to have. Exactly. Because we grew up with. Did did you have a computer growing up?Chuck Warren: No, no, I started college with a typewriter. So I and I remember and I remember my friend Darren Richards, who was the top public defender for Clark County, Nevada. Folks, if you don't know Las Vegas, I remember when the computer came out, he goes, This is a fad. This will never last.Sam Stone: So I can I can actually top you on that one, Chuck. My father wrote an article for The Wall Street Journal. At that time.Chuck Warren: They said it was a fad.Sam Stone: Yeah. That this was never going to this is never going to work in business.Chuck Warren: It won't stick. He won't.Sam Stone: Stick. His two most famous articles are the two he was most wrong on. He said the computers would not make it. And then number two, he said Amazon was a fad.Chuck Warren: Well, you can't be a bold prognosticator unless you're willing to make bold.Sam Stone: He was right about many, many things in his life. Not those.Chuck Warren: Not those. Well, it's like my friend who was invited to invest in the first KFC, and he said, no one's ever going to buy chicken going through a fast food. And then his second opportunity was to invite in the storage units. You know, he goes, Oh, yeah, no one's going to take their stuff out of a garage and put it in a storage unit. So those are his two things that he's failed on. Anyway, we.Sam Stone: Anyway, we have as as always, the irrepressible Kiley Kipper is in studio with us here and we were planning in going forward, it's going to be a new feature on the podcast segment, a new feature program with Kiley's Corner. This is a conspiracy theory based.Kiley Kipper: Not necessarily conspiracy theory, but more. I wanted to for those that have been around for a while listening to us, it used to be the sunshine moment, but you know, the world's not always sunshine and I like to talk about other topics. So sometimes Kiley.Chuck Warren: Has gone down the hole of gloom and doom.Sam Stone: Kiley is. Kiley is the captain of sunshine and murder.Kiley Kipper: Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. So this one's not actually a murder case that I'm talking about today. This is a case up in Utah where this this mother was just arrested, I think it was this week or maybe last week. Ruby, Frank, Frankie, there's been pronounced twice, but she's a Utah mom who is a big YouTuber, so she has 2 million followers on YouTube.Sam Stone: Oh, I saw.Kiley Kipper: Something about this. Yeah, they're called eight passengers because there's eight of them. Six kids. And she she was basically known for her tough love and putting this in air quotes of why people would watch her. So she was recently just arrested for child abuse. So what had happened was her kid escaped from a window and ran to a neighbor's house and said, I need food, I need water. He was duct taped on his wrist and his arms and had I listened to the 911 call from the guy that whose house he ran up to and he just broke, he was breaking down. Crying was like, this kid's been tied up like there's lacerations on his arms from ropes. Oh, my God. And so I had never even heard of this woman before.Sam Stone: I do. How many followers did she have on YouTube? 2 million.Kiley Kipper: 2 million? Yeah. So 2 million people are watching her parenting advice.Sam Stone: You make really good money when you have that kind of followers. Like that's a that's a significant Well.Kiley Kipper: They would do meet and greets so people were posting photos of like them actually going to like meet the family which was weird in my mind.Chuck Warren: Wow. Very weird.Kiley Kipper: Yeah. Which I'm not. I don't have kids, so there was no need for me to watch a mommy blogger. But 2 million people apparently did think that. So I went back and I watched some of the videos and there were over time, you could see it get worse. So in the beginning, it was just like, I'm a strict parent, no sleepovers, which is I get in this day and age like very normal. Right?Sam Stone: I you know, there's a line I think it's a little bit like what was the the the justice who said I you know, I can't tell you what pornography is. I know it when I see it. Right. It's the same kind of thing. It's really a judgmental line. Yeah. But in this day and age, it's hard to criticize someone for being a strict parent.Chuck Warren: Yes. Yes.Kiley Kipper: So, Chuck, Chuck's looking at me because I just switched to my next note page, but where I saw it, we.Sam Stone: Have audio issues on this page.Kiley Kipper: No, no, no. This is all good. So where I saw it going south was when she started using food as her main, like, I guess, punishment. So in many times.Chuck Warren: It was a carrot and stick situation. Yeah, yeah, yeah.Kiley Kipper: So many times she would say food is a privilege, so you have to earn it. So there would be many like mornings where she'd say her kid would be like, Mom, I'm really hungry. And she's taping all of this and putting it on YouTube for years now. And she's like, Did you do the dishes? She's like, Yeah. Did you do the laundry? Yeah. Her kids six, by the way, in this video, she's like, Yeah, I did. She's like, Did you clean the toilets? She's like, Yes. She goes, Did you mow the lawn yet? And she goes, No, mom, I'm really hungry. And she was like, Well, you can't eat until you mow the lawn. Get out there.Chuck Warren: Didn't her audience. Excuse me? Didn't her audience feel like they were enabling her?Kiley Kipper: Yeah. I mean, so some people there was like a very people would report her videos. Neighbors have have said that they've called the cops on this family and they've just they've done nothing, which I don't I think. So They recently joined when I say recently, like five years ago, the oldest daughter, she's 20 now, so she's out of the house. She's going to college. She said that they joined this group called Connections, which is a mental health podcast. It's spelled with an X, and the woman, the host of that was also arrested, Jodie, because the kid when he escaped was in Jodi's house. So not actually the family's house. So it's a little confusing, huh? Um, so this woman has been arrested, too, because it was occurring in her house as well. But the 20 year old daughter, who's now in college said that when they joined Connections, they started getting she didn't use this word, but I'm going to say cult like they were. It was a really strict following. That's when she separated from her family. So the oldest 20, who probably endured some of this abuse when she was younger, but.Chuck Warren: Not not to the level probably.Sam Stone: Sounds like it was escalating. Yeah.Kiley Kipper: So she said since this in 2018 when they joined, it's gotten really bad. The dad used to be a professor at BYU. He's kind of like he's not arrested. He's supposedly they were separated for the past year, so I don't know if maybe that's when it got really bad was this past year. But basically this case is open. One of the daughters was talking about how they have limits of how much food they can eat. So Fridays and Mondays is 1900 calories. Tuesdays and Thursdays is 1700 calories.Sam Stone: That's not enough for a kid.Kiley Kipper: And then Saturday, Sunday, Wednesday, it's 1500 calories.Sam Stone: Oh, no, that's no.Chuck Warren: I mean, not enough.Sam Stone: At all. No, that's that's not enough.Chuck Warren: Well, I will tell you, Utah will pounce on this. She will be serving jail, if not prison time on this. And good.Sam Stone: Yeah. And good.Chuck Warren: And she should. They will.Kiley Kipper: But so Alex Murdaugh did the same thing. They have all these calls and then like the calls in jail are still like, you can request them and hear them. So supposedly one of the calls I say supposedly I listened to it. So one of the calls, unless it wasn't Jodi's voice, she was talking to her husband or the who she's been separated with for a while now about there was apparently a flood in their house and they were discussing the. So while she's in jail, they were discussing renovations of the flood that was that happened in their house over like anything else that's more important in their life, which apparently not the kids.Sam Stone: Wow.Chuck Warren: The world is really screwed up. Yes, very. And I do feel like this woman. I don't think that's going to be something abnormal. I think as people try to find purpose to a confusing, chaotic world, I think we're going to hear more stories like this over and over and over because people are trying to find meaning. They're trying to find purpose or trying to find structure because it's not out there.Sam Stone: Well, I think all of that. But I think then it goes to a different and dangerous level with social media because one driver behind behind these social media accounts is you have to keep building. I mean, who's who's watching?Chuck Warren: Who are the 2 million? I'd love to know the demographics of the 2 million people watching this woman. I mean, me too. I mean, what makes that worth your time?Sam Stone: Well, I mean, look, in a certain sense, I think you can see it because for parents, the advice they're getting from the official sources appears to have failed in so many ways.Chuck Warren: It happens all the time, too, right? I mean, it's unique. I mean, that's the hard part. We are in the country that want to protect parental rights. Right. And there is a danger on overboarding that so much. But, you know, so they're always going to take, I think, the parents side on a lot of things, unless you have some real, real proof or evidence.Sam Stone: Yeah. Yeah. No, absolutely. And look, one of the things when you're dealing with whatever your state calls Child protective services, one of the things you realize is the situations they routinely see are so beyond the the understanding of the average human being, even far beyond what. Kylie, you're describing in this. I mean, because from working at the city of Phoenix, I know I've seen some of the police reports that are attached to these things. You're talking about, you know, kids this is sick, folks. But kids being kept in cages is not as uncommon as we'd all like to believe. Kids being starved. Yeah. For for really unfathomable reasons is not uncommon.Chuck Warren: And the problem is it gets passed down from generation. Yes. Generation to generation, which creates a whole culture of psychopaths.Sam Stone: It's it is consistent. I mean, you really do see the generational trauma, the effects of it, and a lot of stuff right now tied to the generational poverty that we've created with government programs, which becomes so hopeless that it increases the frequency of those traumas because people are lashing out and even at their own families for things that are affecting their lives.Chuck Warren: Well, and the three of us in this room, we hit the lucky sperm club by being born into the families.Kiley Kipper: I was going to say.Sam Stone: This is Chuck's second statement of the day that I'm not sure won't get bleeped on Christian radio here. But but it's.Chuck Warren: True. It is true. We, the three of us in the room. And, you know, when I was growing up there until ten years ago, I thought my upbringing was somewhat average American upbringing. I grew up in a middle class home. My parents worked hard, did dinner. You know, there was no abuse. There was nothing like that. They were supportive and, you know, prepare you for the future. The older I get what I was, what was available to me is rare. Yeah. And you wonder why we have problems in this country and throughout the world. It's not it's not unique to America. This happens everywhere. It's one.Sam Stone: Of the reasons I was disappointed that friend of the show, Larry Elder, was not allowed to go on, you know, to to participate in the debate, to talk.Chuck Warren: About that, to.Sam Stone: Talk about that issue specifically.Chuck Warren: One other item, Kylie from Kiley's Corner. Before we move on to the next subject, what's going on in Idaho? Is he going to get off?Speaker10: What's going on in Idaho?Kiley Kipper: You know, if he does, I think there'll be a lot of people that riot. However, if he.Sam Stone: Does, he's probably got a slam bang.Speaker10: Lawsuit. Yeah.Kiley Kipper: Yeah. So he waived his right to a speedy trial. So we will not see this in court for a long time. They say it could be years, years, years, years. During that hearing, though, Kaylee, one of the victims her. One of her family members. They don't show it because they don't show. The audience in the courtroom wrote wore a pro-death penalty shirt to kind of taunt Brian.Kiley Kipper: Um.Kiley Kipper: And they also he was so cameras will be allowed in the courtroom. However, I don't think that I think the judge ruled that they they won't report on the case. So there will be cameras. I'm assuming, you know, at the end of it there will be a documentary and whatnot. However, there won't be live reporting. And one one this one's funny. One of Brian's arguments against it was they kept focusing on his crotch. So supposedly I. I haven't seen any of those photos, but the judge agreed.Kiley Kipper: That.Kiley Kipper: Something fishy was going on.Sam Stone: Oh, okay.Chuck Warren: All right. So let's let's Sam, let's talk about Salman Rushdie. As you know, a fanatical jihadist attacked him on the stage, stabbed him. He lost an eye. Right. Do you have to So I guess you only need one. According to the Biden administration, you only need one eye.Sam Stone: Now, this is amazing. So Barry Weiss, Free Press reporting today, Salman Rushdie's attacker. I'm just going to read this, folks. Salman Rushdie's attacker getting treated with kid gloves. Sure. A crazy jihadi ran on stage and stabbed Salman Rushdie, who lost an eye. But have you considered that the Biden administration really wants to make a deal with Iran? And so maybe Rushdie is being a little dramatic. Did he really need both eyes? This is a real quote from Jason Schmidt, the district attorney overseeing the case, arguing that some of the prosecution depends on Biden's Iran agenda. Quote, the US attorney's office. I know they are engaged in their own investigation and potential prosecution, and they've been looking at this as well. I do think it does have political considerations and recognizing, for instance, that the Biden government is trying to negotiate with Iran now to bring them back into a nuclear treaty. I understand that there's a lot of considerations here that, you know, that are way outside my pay grade.Chuck Warren: I'm telling you, this administration, what they decide, needs to receive the punishment of the law and what needs to be handled with kid gloves is a decision they make every day now.Sam Stone: Well, let's add the fact that this nuclear treaty is literally just a way to hand Iran a nuclear bomb 100%. I mean, nothing more. It's handing them money and a bomb. And that's what you're saying, that Salman Rushdie's attacker should be let off, should be should be allowed to skate on.Chuck Warren: It's just not a justice system I want in my country.Sam Stone: It's not a justice system.Chuck Warren: No, it's not at all. Folks, thank you for spending time with us this weekend. And this is breaking battlegrounds. You can see this clip and more at breaking battlegrounds. Dot vote or pick us up wherever you listen to podcasts and in addition to all our other markets. So check out our website again, Breaking battlegrounds dot vote on behalf of Sam and I and Kiley's Corner. Have a great weekend. Get full access to Breaking Battlegrounds at breakingbattlegrounds.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, we've lined up a trio of compelling guests to keep you informed. First, Congressman Russell Fry, representing South Carolina's 7th District, joins us to discuss critical topics, including the border crisis, Hurricane Idalia's impact on his district, and his bipartisan bill, the Fentanyl Crisis Research and Evaluation Act. Plus, we'll explore the latest developments in the Biden family investigations.Then, we'll shift our focus to New York's 3rd Congressional District with congressional candidate Kellen Curry where he discusses his bid to unseat incumbent George Santos.Lastly, friend of the show, Henry Olsen, a Washington Post columnist and senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, will provide insights into the ever-evolving political landscape, including his recent analysis of Trump._Connect with us:www.breakingbattlegrounds.voteTwitter: www.twitter.com/Breaking_BattleFacebook: www.facebook.com/breakingbattlegroundsInstagram: www.instagram.com/breakingbattlegroundsLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/breakingbattlegrounds-Congressman Russell Fry is proud to serve the Grand Strand and Pee Dee as their Representative for South Carolina’s Seventh Congressional District.Russell is a true believer in the American Dream. Growing up he watched his parents work hard for every penny they earned, and since then Russell has been doing the same. He put himself through his undergraduate education at the University of South Carolina and law school at the Charleston School of Law, where he served as president of the Student Bar Association, helped the school achieve its American Bar Association accreditation, and also received the prestigious Civility Award. After this, he practiced law along the Grand Strand for over a decade.As an Eagle Scout, Russell shares the sentiment that “you should leave your campsite better than you found it.” Every day he strives towards a goal that  “we should leave our country better than we found it.” Growing up, he saw first-hand how government’s actions directly affect families living paycheck to paycheck, and he is committed to fighting for those who don’t always have a voice.Russell is a public servant and active member of his community. Prior to this role, he represented State House District 106 (Horry County) in South Carolina’s General Assembly for seven years. He served as Chief Majority Whip, where he fought for lower taxes, less government, pro-Second Amendment legislation, and pro-life legislation. Russell also chaired the House Opioid Abuse Prevention Study Committee, which resulted in 18 policy initiatives being signed into law and record funding for opioid prevention, education, and treatment.Russell is a loving husband to his wife, Bronwen, and dedicated father to their son, James. The family lives in Murrells Inlet with their chocolate lab, Jasper.  -Kellen CurryAs a graduate of the United States Air Force Academy Kellen spent eight years on active duty delivering critical cyber security technology for our country’s military and completed two tours of duty in Afghanistan. After completing his Master of Business Administration degree at George Washington University, Kellen went on to work at J.P. Morgan’s Corporate and Investment Banking Division in New York City. Kellen believes his extensive experience working in national security and in our national economy will serve him well in his bid for Congress. Kellen continues to serve our nation in the Air Force Reserves and is a student at Columbia University pursuing a Master of Science in Sports Management where he also volunteers with Positive Coaching Alliance, a non-profit organization which strives to create a positive youth sports environment in communities across the country.In his campaign, Kellen will be focusing on core issues including national defense in the face of rising global threats, economic insecurity due to persistently high inflation, increasing affordability on Long Island and raising the accountability bar in D.C. through ethics reforms.He will also be working to achieve what he calls ‘the gold standard of constituency services’ which has been absent but is critical to improving the lives of NY-3 residents.-Henry Olsen is a Washington Post columnist and senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. He was the Thomas W. Smith distinguished scholar in residence at Arizona State University for the winter/spring 2023 semester. Olsen began his career as a political consultant at the California firm of Hoffenblum-Mollrich. After three years working for the California Assembly Republican Caucus, he returned to school to become a lawyer. Following law school he clerked for the Honorable Danny J. Boggs on the United States Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals and as an associate in the Philadelphia office of Dechert, Price & Rhoads. He then joined the think tank world where he spent the next eighteen years as an executive at a variety of institutions, serving as the President of the Commonwealth Foundation, a Vice President at the Manhattan Institute, and as Vice President and Director, National Research Initiative, at the American Enterprise Institute. He left AEI in 2013 to pursue a career in political analysis and writing at EPPC. During that time his work has appeared in variety of leading publications in America and the United Kingdom. He is the author or co-author of two books, “The Working Class Republican: Ronald Reagan and the Return of Blue-Collar Conservatism” and (with Dante J. Scala) “The Four Faces of the Republican Party”. His biennial election predictions have been widely praised for the uncanny accuracy, and he is a frequent guest on television and radio programs. Olsen regularly speaks about American political trends and global populism in the United State, Europe, and Australia.-TRANSCRIPTIONSam Stone: Welcome to another episode of Breaking Battlegrounds with your host, Chuck Warren. I'm Sam Stone. Our first guest up today, Congressman Russell Fry, represents South Carolina's seventh District. Prior to going to the US Congress, he represented the state House in South Carolina's General Assembly for seven years, served as chief majority whip. And Chuck, we always love Congress members and senators who have served in their local, state house or local government because you just get a perspective that Washington does not offer. So we're very excited to talk with him. He is a fighter for lower taxes, less government, pro-Second Amendment legislation and pro-life legislation. Chuck, if you're pro-life today, you've got to be fighting this fentanyl epidemic, this crisis that is tearing the country apart.Chuck Warren: 100%. Congressman, you have introduced a bipartisan bill called the Fentanyl Crisis Research and Evaluation Act to learn more about how the fentanyl crisis is impacting America in South Carolina in 2021, you had 1494 deaths due to fentanyl. I mean, that's we can multiply that by 1020 because of the family members it affects, right? Their loved ones, things of that nature. What do we need to do to turn the tide back against this fentanyl crisis?Congressman Russell Fry: Oh, gosh, there's just a lot. And quite honestly, I don't even know that we have enough time in this segment, but we'll try. The first thing I think is and the first thing is you've got to stop the flow that's at the border. You've got to stop that. You've got to address that. But beyond that, what you have to realize is you need access to care. You need the ability of families to get the resources and the help they need. You need to strengthen law enforcement. And what frustrates me is this is the biggest one of the biggest health care problems that we have in this country. But beyond that, Congress doesn't know a lot about the impact on the economy, on the labor market, on housing, the impact on the Treasury, I mean, all these different things. And the fact that we don't know those frustrates me. I just got there. I'm like, wait a second, y'all don't know these data points that would help dictate good policy. So you got to stop the flow. But beyond that, you need to give lanes for recovery so that people can get back on their feet and get back to work, get back to being normal people. And fentanyl just I mean, we see it every day. 70% of the overdoses in this state are associated with fentanyl alone. And it's similar like that across the country. It's just sad to see.Chuck Warren: Well, what's so frustrating about this fentanyl crisis is a there is a role for government closing the border, finding out what these data points are, the things you're trying to investigate.Sam Stone: And pushing people into treatment.Chuck Warren: Pushing people in treatment. But what's also frustrating for me is just don't take drugs. I mean, you know, I mean, it's that's what's hard about it. Right? And so there's you know, the government has a role in this. And I don't want to pretend it does not law enforcement has a role in this. But there's also a lot of personal responsibility. And I think that's something the communities and churches I mean, the old Nancy Reagan slogan, just say no, which was mocked. I don't know. Maybe we need a campaign like that again.Congressman Russell Fry: Well, maybe. Look, and I do know that prevention for every dollar that you invest in prevention, you save, I think, $4 in health care costs and $7 in criminal justice costs. So the messaging, the PSA that people put out there, that that education component is just so big. And what's crazy look, I'm 38 years old and we all know people who partake in a little bit of marijuana or whatever. People just do that. And and in some states, it's allowed. Some states it's not. But you know what's crazy? They lived to tell the tale until recently. I mean, it's laced in everything. And that's the that's the crazy people don't go out and seek, you know, let me get some fentanyl. It's usually added into other things. And you hear about West Point cadets, you hear about students, you hear about just really everybody in all walks of life that have to deal with this. And they never live to tell the tale to get back on the recovery. So the prevention side, which you just talked about, that's critical to this.Sam Stone: Well, and and, Congressman, this is Sam. One of the things that so I've worked a lot with the city of Phoenix. And one of the things that that we know that I don't think the public is fully aware of yet is that Narcan loses effectiveness after a person has had to use it a couple of times. So the more the more someone has overdosed. And right now, we're keeping a lot of these folks alive by having Narcan everywhere. But there are limitations on that. And that's going to result in a increased death toll over time.Congressman Russell Fry: I'm right. Right. And you know what's frustrating to to that point, we just did this pilot program in South Carolina that I think other places can do. But say you say you overdose, you go to the hospital, you're recovered, you revive, you come around again, and you know what? You have this moment of clarity. At that point. A lot of people do, and they go, I need to get help. And so then they try to go get into a place to get help. And guess what? You got to wait two, three, four weeks to get into a place. Well, guess what? By that time, that addiction has already started to pull you back in and you're back doing the same thing you are again. What we've done in South Carolina, at least here locally, is fast track those people. So when these things happen. But that's one of those barriers to access that just when there's that clarity because everyone hits that point, when there's that clarity and you go, I need to get help, I need help, you got to wait around for 4 or 5, six weeks. If you can even get in somewhere.Sam Stone: You have to have help available right then and there, right?Congressman Russell Fry: So you need it. And if you don't have that peer to peer help, if you don't have, you know, medication assisted treatment or whatever, whatever options are out there, if that's not available to you, you're doing the same thing again. And you might not get a second, third and fourth chance in the future. You might overdose and pass away. And that's what we're seeing right now.Chuck Warren: With Congressman Russell Fry. He represents South Carolina's seventh district. You can catch this interview this weekend in Florence, South Carolina, on Am 1400 and of course, nationwide on other outlets. Congressman, have you talked to local law enforcement about this issue? And what are their what's their feedback to you?Congressman Russell Fry: Well, I have and unfortunately, in your listening area in Florence, there's a sheriff whose daughter just recently passed away from a fentanyl overdose. And so, again, it affects everybody, but they're seeing just the dramatic growth in it. Their officers are equipped with Narcan. They're seeing it. They're seeing the growth of this drug in rural communities, in urban centers, really everywhere. And it's and it's worse than it's ever been. So they feel frustrated. South Carolina did fortunately pass a law last year. I had when I was in the General Assembly, I was had brought it up. And sometimes these things take a couple of years to get done. But in this one, it just gives tools to law enforcement to be able to crack down on this, to be able to, you know, to unwind some of these some of these drug rings that are that are around. And so that's a big component to this, too. But they're feeling it and they see it every day. And they have to train their officers on how to deal with it because it's a dangerous substance that if it gets on your skin, one of their own might go down.Sam Stone: Yeah, we've seen that across the country with police officers who have been overdosed from from very minor exposure to fentanyl during their interactions with the public. So it's a huge issue. But Congressman, one of the things and I know you've been a big fighter for a secure border, but it seems like this is not a problem we're going to be able to address unless we start getting control of the border. And the data that just come out shows that not only are we not doing anything realistically to get control of the border, the problem is worse than it's ever been. Over 90,000 people detained by Border Patrol last month, you know, beating a May 2019 record.Chuck Warren: And that's who they.Sam Stone: Caught and that's who they caught. The fentanyl dealers are not the ones those are the ones who are turning themselves over to Border Patrol to begin the asylum process. The people were not catching are the fentanyl traffickers, the dealers, the cartel members. Right. How do we address this unless we start really securing our border?Congressman Russell Fry: Well, you can't. And that's been my message even before I got to Congress. And just doing dealing with opioids in the state level, you cannot begin to address the issue until you shut off the hose, until you shut off the flow. And it doesn't mean you can't start start trying and keep trying. South Carolina's always going to do that. Local governments are always going to keep trying to address it, but they're not in the position that the federal government is to deal with the flow. And when you have the administration touts the record amount of fentanyl that they've seized, that's great. But there's so much more that's coming through the border. We know that. We know the precursors, the chemicals are coming from China. We know that they're being manufactured. And just south we know that the cartels are shipping them up and they're not dummies. They will flood an area with 100 200 migrants and then two miles up the road, they'll sneak a you know, they'll sneak fentanyl across the border or, you know, human smuggling or human trafficking. They'll do that because all the resources are dealing with the 200 people that are just sitting there in this section of Yuma or wherever they might be. It's obscene.Chuck Warren: Well, with Congressman Russell Fry, you can get him on Twitter at Russell Fry, SC. Congressman, you you're your district was just hit by the hurricane. How is everybody doing? How's everybody coping out there?Congressman Russell Fry: I think okay. I mean, we were very fortunate. I mean, there was some tornadic activity up in the Cherry Grove section along the coast. And so you had some homes that were damaged. You have a road that that looks like it took some damage. But I would say overall, we were very fortunate. I think the storm, you know, there's never a. A great time for a storm to hit. But when it's low tide and the storm arrives, you don't have the storm surge. It was moving very quickly, so it didn't stay here long. You know, it rained five and a half, six inches, which is a lot. But it was able we were able to largely absorb it. So I think overall, we were very blessed in dealing with it. And so some some things to recover from, but not as bad as Florida and not as bad as prior storms in our area.Sam Stone: Congressman, we have just about two minutes before we go to break. And folks, we're going to be coming back with more from congressman here in just a moment. But one of the things I kind of Chuck and I have been kind of talking about these last couple of days watching this hurricane is that I think the almost every American citizen would would give thanks to God that this did not end up being a worse situation than it was, that it was not the catastrophe that was predicted. But what is kind of disconcerting to me is that it seems like the corporate media, the left media, even some Democrat officials, there was almost a palpable sense of disappointment that these two hurricanes that we've just had, the one on the West Coast and this one neither delivered the kind of catastrophe that that they almost seem to be hoping for.Congressman Russell Fry: No, it's it's it's wild. And they drive clicks and they spin up fear. We actually had some and I won't tell you who, but we had some news interviews that were canceled. And I just have to assume that it was it wasn't it wasn't chaotic enough for them. But regardless, I think I think you're right. And and it's sad to see people get spun up. We've been dealing with storms since forever. And in 1957, we had Hurricane Hazel that wreaked havoc. It was way before my time. But you talk to people, it was, I think, a Category 4 or 5 that hit this area directly. These storms are you know, they they are problematic. But what makes it worse is just the the doomsday scenarios from the media. People just need to be prepared. They need to listen to their, you know, their local local officials and state officials on how to deal with this. But then that's when FEMA comes in on the back end, is to help the recovery.Sam Stone: Yeah, absolutely. Breaking is going to be back in just a moment with more from Congressman Russell Fry.Advertisement: At Overstock. We know home is a pretty important place and that's why we believe everyone deserves a home that makes them happy. Whether you're furnishing a new house or apartment or simply looking to update and refresh a few rooms, Overstock has every day free shipping and amazing deals on the beautiful, high quality furniture and decor. You need to transform any home into the home of your dreams. Overstock Making dream Homes Come True.Sam Stone: Welcome back to Breaking battlegrounds with your host, Chuck Warren. I'm Sam Stone. We're going to be continuing on in just a moment with more from Congressman Russell Fry of South Carolina's seventh District. But first, folks, how's your portfolio doing? Been an up and down, another up and down week in the Biden stock market. What if you could earn up to a 10.25% fixed rate of return instead of taking all that risk up to 10.25% fixed? It's a fantastic opportunity from our friends at  Y refy. Check them out, invest, yrefy.com or give them a call at 888 y refy 24 and tell them Chuck and Sam sent you. All right, Congressman, before we went to break, we were talking a little bit about the issues with fentanyl, the border. And you mentioned that something I think a lot of people are becoming aware of is that the precursor chemicals for the fentanyl that we're seeing coming into the country for the meth, that is vastly more powerful than it was just a few years ago. That is coming into this country with the the tranq and other new designer drugs, the precursor chemicals are all coming to Mexico where they're turned into drugs. They're coming from China. What can we do to try to stop that pipeline?Congressman Russell Fry: Well, I think I think you've got to have a realistic one. I think that there are and we we saw this a little bit with with the Trump administration in the early stages. But you've got to stop that flow. You've got to be able to sanction those companies, stop the flow, take, you know, and look, China needs to be a willing participant here, too. And that's the frustration that I have right now, is that there was a there was an op ed the other day talking about fentanyl from a Biden administration official, but they never mentioned China. Well, they have a big role here. These chemicals are manufactured over there and they're shipped across to the cartels who put it all together and make fentanyl. And so they've got to be a willing participant. But you've got to have an administration that actually wakes up and says, we know this is coming from our southern border. We know the chemicals are coming from China. And up to this point, they're not really talking about that. And I think that's the big that's the biggest frustration.Sam Stone: You're asking Joe Biden to wake up. There's no evidence that's possible.Chuck Warren: I mean, look, if you're China and you want to hurt your competitor, I won't say we're there. Amy, let's say were their number one competitor. What do you do? You flood their country with things that will cause devastation, Right? It's an unseen war that.Sam Stone: Fentanyl, meth.Chuck Warren: Tiktok, it's not the same as firing a missile, but it has the same effect. All due respect.Congressman Russell Fry: Well, in a lot of these companies, too, I mean, they have multiple locations in different spots, right? I mean, they're just they're usually not just isolated in China. You know, these are big companies. And so they need to have some skin in the game. You need to be able to you need to be able to leverage influence there, maybe even tariff or sanction them. But at the end of the day, the flow, you know, China has a spot there. And you know what? Maybe there's there is a nefarious purpose behind this. I believe you're probably right about that. But there are ways to address it. And if they won't, then we need to there are other ways that we can force them to the table. And we need to we need to take a look at that. 300 Americans die every single day from this drug. I mean, it's just astronomical. And, you know, we've used the term poisoning because that's really what it is. It's not an overdose as much as it is fentanyl poisoning in our country. So pulling them to the table, even if they don't want to come, I think has got to be a priority of this administration.Chuck Warren: With Congressman Russell Fry of South Carolina's seventh District, you can join and help us campaign at Russell Fry SC.com or visit him on Twitter. Russell Fry, SC. First, I have two questions. First, is it true you're the eighth grade ping pong champion?Congressman Russell Fry: Oh, yeah. I still got the trophy. It wasn't it wasn't a participation trophy either. It was a real trophy.Chuck Warren: And and and the person you you, you beat, is that person still bitter about that or has he given up? Given up?Congressman Russell Fry: They probably given up. I don't know. Maybe they're bitter. I haven't talked to that person in a while.Chuck Warren: But, you know, I think I think we need a social media post with that trophy.Sam Stone: We'll be coming We'll be coming back with with more from from Congressman Gump here shortly.Chuck Warren: Exactly. All right. We have Hunter Biden and, you know, the press, which is gives the ultimate cover to the Biden administration. First of the laptop two years later, they admit it. Now we have all these alias names, 5000 emails and archives. Tell our audience what on earth is going on. I saw a tweet this morning. I just replied, The easiest way for Biden to solve this just release all the emails if there's nothing there. Right? I mean, just transparency. So tell people a little bit about it and what House Republicans can do to flesh this out more since the press is going to do everything they can to protect President Biden and Hunter.Congressman Russell Fry: Well, they're finally starting to pay attention. And I think that's maybe begrudgingly, maybe they don't want to pay attention, but they're finally starting to take notice of what's going on. But the new the new revelation, you know, look, Hunter Biden or Joe Biden had aliases that they used and that's what the Oversight Committee had subpoenaed. They used aliases, you know, Robin Wear and Robert Peters and, you know, different names that they would use. And so we subpoenaed anything that had to deal with those names or those email addresses. And again, it just shows a pattern of conduct with this family. You look at the text messages, you look at the emails, you look at the use of the term the big guy. You look at the 1023 that was released, you look at the the bank transactions and the money that flows from, at this point, four companies ultimately layered through kind of a series of money laundering actions and funneled into 20 LLCs that are all connected to multiple members of the Biden family. So this this again, just shows a course of conduct.Chuck Warren: And what people, family and what people don't understand is I own several companies, so I have various LLCs for various things. Correct. It takes a lot of work to manage 20 LLCs. You get filings, you get taxes. I mean, so this wasn't done just. To be. I mean, it was done more to be clever and hide something. They don't seem done.Sam Stone: Admittedly, they don't seem to have paid a lot of attention to the taxes part.Chuck Warren: No, but would you agree with that? I mean, doing 20 LLCs. I mean, it takes a lot of work.Congressman Russell Fry: Oh, it's a headache. And most of these LLCs were actually formed while Joe was vice president. That's that's kind of alarming. But to see and I think there was a quote in the 1023. You all have seen it. Your listeners have seen it as well. But it was toward the bottom. And the guy says it will take investigators ten years to figure out what's going on. And that's kind of proven true. I mean, we're on year I think, eight at this point, but it's taken that long because no one, DOJ and others didn't want to actually investigate this. But to when you're dealing with financial stuff, it's just so nebulous and it's hard to follow and it's hard to track and it's hard to keep people's attention. But there is enough smoke here that people realize what's going on. And I think that's why the work that we've done so far has been incredibly important on this and also why I think that this is headed toward an impeachment inquiry. It doesn't mean impeachment. You still have to do your homework and make sure you do your job. But at this point, there's just enough there. There's way more than enough to launch that process.Chuck Warren: We have about 30s left with you. Tell our audience, tell your constituents why you have faith in America's future.Congressman Russell Fry: Because I have faith in the American people and their resolve and their ability to take large amounts of information, synthesize them and make an opinion. We're seeing people wake up in a powerful way right now. And and it's not just Republicans. It's really everybody realizing what's going on. The people control this country. They always have. And they see what's going on is is, you know, shameful. But they're ready for for a better tomorrow.Sam Stone: Fantastic. Thank you so much, Congressman. We very much appreciate your time today. Folks, you can follow him. Chuck, what was that?Chuck Warren: You can follow him on Twitter, Russell Fry, SC, or you can also visit his website. Russell Frysc.com contribute, volunteer, get involved. He's doing the great work and help him out. Congressman, thank you.Congressman Russell Fry: Thank you all.Chuck Warren: Have a great weekend.Sam Stone: Folks, more from breaking battlegrounds. We're back in just a moment. Welcome back to Breaking Battlegrounds with the host Chuck Warren and Sam Stone. Big thank you to our first guest up today, Congressman Russell Fry. Fantastic discussion with him. And now we're talking to someone. Frankly, Chuck, I think this is going to be one of the most important congressional races for for Republicans in the country in this coming year. It's going to be close. Well, if you.Chuck Warren: Like honesty in public elections. Yes.Sam Stone: Yeah, Well, some of us still do. Some some of us believe in truth telling, even even on the air here where almost everyone else wants to lie to you. But, folks, we're not doing that. And that's why we have today Kellen Curry, congressional candidate running against Jorge Santos for New York's third Congressional District. He is a graduate of the United States Air Force Academy, one of those places where they don't take liars lightly and spent eight years on active duty delivering critical cybersecurity technology for our country's military. After completing two tours in Afghanistan, Kaelin went on to work at J.P. Morgan's corporate and investment banking division in New York City. Kaelin Curry, welcome to the program.Kellen Curry: Hey, how are you? Thanks so much for having me. I'm excited to be talking with you guys this afternoon.Chuck Warren: So tell us, what did the Air Force do to prepare you to run for Congress and to serve in Congress eventually?Kellen Curry: Absolutely. I think, you know, every every part of my experience in the Air Force was extremely positive. You know, the culture of serving the country, which, you know, is a culture that I come from my my you know, I'm a third generation veteran. My parents were public servants. Dad was a retired naval officer. Mom is a is a continues to be a decades long federal civil servant. And so just grew up watching them and and they both worked at Tinker Air Force Base right outside of Oklahoma City. And just, you know, I always wanted to have my own story of service. And so I think it was always in my future and going to the Air Force Academy and serving in the Air Force as an officer, you know, just the lessons of leadership, the lessons of of of being in a team and a group where you don't know who's who's a Republican or who's a Democrat, you just your mission focused. And that's the kind of perspective I bring to politics.Sam Stone: Kellen Considering especially mission focus, one of the things I like about your background, your resume, is the experience in cybersecurity. There are a few people in Congress, in the Senate who are starting to become more aware of that issue. But it's not an area where there's a lot of elected expertise. You talk about mission focus. How much do you think you'll be able to make that your mission to help educate your colleagues about the various issues related to cybersecurity on both sides of the aisle?Kellen Curry: Absolutely. I think the country has been going through and really all of society has really been going through a learning curve when it comes to cybersecurity. And it's really just a matter of how do we defend and safeguard the information that's that's on that's on our networks. And we're so we're such a networked people in in society today. And so, you know, the first and foremost is just, you know, your hygiene on the Internet. You know, when you use the same password for every website. I know some of us are guilty of that. I know I am sometimes, too. It seems like I'm.Sam Stone: Looking across at Chuck right now and laughing. Yeah.Kellen Curry: Yeah, yeah. I think, you know, we live in a in a culture in a society where you got to have a password and login for like everything you touch. And so, you know, that's the first and foremost. And then the other thing is that I think from a national security standpoint is that we just have to invest, we have to invest, and we have to nurture innovation. One of the best things about America is our is our innovative economy, and that flows into our national security. I mean, to the extent that we can nurture that, that innovation in the private sector and then leverage it to use in military applications is what my time in the Air Force was all about. And so, you know, like you said, being able to educate, you know, our lawmakers on how to procure those those technologies, how to make sure that we don't pass regulation, that that stifles that technology is really the biggest thing.Chuck Warren: What do we do about China? I mean, you were in the military, two tours in Afghanistan. What do we do about China? What do your colleagues you worked with, what what do people actually who defend this country think we should be doing with China? Yeah.Kellen Curry: Yeah. Well, first and foremost, we have to not overreact. China for sure is a is a near-peer competitor, as we say, in the military. And so they absolutely should be taken serious. But they have a lot of issues and challenges, social challenges on their end, you know, so so it's not like we're going up against an adversary that we cannot be successful in. I think, you know, going back to the innovative economy that I mentioned earlier, we have to make sure that we remain an innovative and capitalistic economy that can produce technologies of the future. You know, you think about you think about China, so much of what they want to you know, how they want to. Place American superpower is, is really through AI and quantum computing and biotechnology and these other things. So we have to continue to make those investments. We also have to do things. For example, the Merchant Marine Academy is located here in my district. And so when you think about how do we sustain naval power in the South China Sea, the merchant Marines are on the front lines of making sure that we're able to do that because they transport so much equipment and personnel into the South China Sea. So those are just a few things, a couple of things I would say. And then maybe the last is that we have to reinvigorate our all volunteer military force, which is at an all time low in terms of our propensity for people to serve.Sam Stone: And I want to talk more about that. And and the merchant Marine issue you brought up Kellen Curry. We're coming right back with more from him. He's running against Jorge Santos in New York's third Congressional District, breaking battlegrounds. Back in just a moment.Advertisement: At Overstock. We know home is a pretty important place and that's why we believe everyone deserves a home that makes them happy. Whether you're furnishing a new house or apartment or simply looking to update and refresh a few rooms. Overstock has every day free shipping and amazing deals on the beautiful high quality furniture and decor. You need to transform any home into the home of your dreams. Overstock Making Dream homes Come True.Sam Stone: Welcome back to Breaking battlegrounds with your host, Chuck Moran. I'm Sam Stone. We're going to be continuing on in just a moment with more from Kellen Curry, congressional candidate running against Jorge Santos in New York's third Congressional District. But before we do, folks, how's that portfolio of yours doing? Are you making money in this stock market, this Biden economy working out for you? It doesn't seem to be working out for most people. That's why Chuck and I recommend you check out our friends and invest. Why refy.com Go to their website. Invest y refy.com Learn how you can earn up to 10.25% fixed rate of return. That's right up to 10.25% fixed. You can turn your monthly income on or off, compound it, whatever you choose. There's no penalty to your principal if you need to withdraw your money early. This is a fantastic opportunity. So check it out. Go to investyrefy.com or give them a call at 888 yrefy 24 and tell them Chuck and Sam sent you.Chuck Warren: Well, we're with Kellen Curry here. He is running for Congress in New York, three against Jorge Santos. And you can learn more about him at Kellen Currycomb. Sam wants to follow up with some questions on the Merchant Marines.Sam Stone: Go ahead, Sam. Yeah, so that's actually Kellen, thank you for bringing that up because that's actually something that hasn't come up here before. I know a little bit about it from a friend who went through the Merchant Marine Academy. But one of the big underlying issues to national security that I don't think most people understand is our ability to transport goods and troops in wartime crisis. And to do that, you need US flagged carriers and we don't have many of them. And that's a huge issue. And we don't have enough merchant marine sailors. And that's another huge issue.Kellen Curry: Absolutely. I mean, if you if you think about it, over 90% of the ships that come in and out of American ports are, you know, our foreign crews. And so you could expect that in a conflict that China, they will do all they can to put pressure on those foreign crews and on those host governments not to make good on deliveries to our ports. And we saw what can happen with this during the pandemic. You know, when store shelves went bare and, you know, the American economy was crippled, supply chains became dislocated. So we have to be able to continue our economy even if we do get into, you know, a a hot war, if you will, in the South China Sea with with China. But, you know, to your other point, the vast majority of the military's equipment and personnel actually moves on sea. And so we have to have that capability. It has to be something that's real and that's a deterrent effect and that China understands that we can sustain ourselves in a in a naval, you know, in a naval conflict or just a naval operation in in the in that region, particularly in the South China Sea. And so, so much of this capacity over the last, you know, three or 4 or 5 decades has really left our country. And it's it's been outsourced. And so we have to work and think about how we bring more of that capability back to America. You know, we've seen industrial policy in the microchip space, and we're going to have to do a industrial policy to bring the merchant marine presence back to our country, increase the number of sealift officers, the number of merchant Marine officers, which the Merchant Marine Academy produces. And this is you know, this is one of the crown jewels of our district. It's one of the crown jewels of the nation. We need a strong federal partner for that academy. And I look forward to being that in Congress.Sam Stone: You know, one of the things I think that's underreported also, we had a different congressman on our program. Hopefully you'll be joining him in office fairly soon. But one of the things he pointed out was China's aggressive efforts via both partnership and intimidation to essentially deny that chain of Pacific islands that the US used in World War Two to eventually get to Japan. But China realizes that that chain is is our ladder in a Pacific war with them, and they're really doing a lot to take it away. You talk about that ability to deliver equipment that becomes doubly critical in this situation where we can't count on our ability to fly troops and resources into those islands.Kellen Curry: Absolutely. Absolutely. And so much of so much of how we posture to be successful against China is really going to depend on our allies in that region to make sure that we have basing options, that we have places where we can stage and host our troops and our and our equipment in a way that that China can't can't penetrate. And so it's positive that we recently had a trilateral at Camp David with some of the nations there, mainly Japan and South Korea and America. Of course, Japan and South Korea have been, you know, at odds for quite some time. And so our ability to bring those nations together is extremely important. The administration just you know, we did a big bill out of the House that eventually passed the Senate and was signed into law to. To deliver more aid to Taiwan in a way that we haven't done in the past. And so I think the administration just released about two. 2 billion or so to make sure we operationalize that that that that legislation. So that's that's a good thing. I mean, one thing about America that's unrivaled is our alliances around the world. I mean, it's a tremendous source of soft power, the ability of an American president to pick up the phone and call somebody anywhere in the world. And, you know, eight, nine times out of ten get a favorable response is is really, really important. It's going to be important against against the fight against China. So it's good that we have an administration that recognizes that. And that's one area that I do support this administration on.Sam Stone: See, Chuck, I love it when we get congressional candidates and people running for office for the first time who can talk about this whole variety wide range of geopolitical issues, because that kind of knowledge. Kalen Curry that you're just displaying is is rare for people who are entering Congress. And folks, you need to check him out and follow him at Kellen Kellen underscore Curry on Twitter. You can go to his website. Kellen Curry.com Definitely go and check him out there and support this man because we need to bring we need to retain control of Congress. We need smart people there who can talk about issues like we've been talking about. And also we need to restore some integrity to this specific seat, because, quite frankly, Jorge Santos is an embarrassment to every Republican in this country.Chuck Warren: He's a bad Saturday Night Live Saturday Night Live skit. Kellen, let me ask you this question. There's two reasons. There's a couple reasons why you said you were running for office besides obviously your service in the Air Force and your tours in Afghanistan. One was running against Jorge Santos because he's ineffective. But number two, you've cited Joe Biden's withdrawal from Afghanistan and you called it a disastrous withdrawal. Talk about it a little bit, what that meant to you and the people you served with over there.Kellen Curry: Oh, yeah. Yeah, it was it was heart wrenching, you know, I mean, I spent two tours there. I worked, you know, actually I worked on an old Russian base we were embedded with with our Afghan allies working shoulder to shoulder. It was a very interesting unit. I was I was attached with, you know, we had actually bought about 30 helicopters from the Russians, actually when relations were good in the early 2000. And we were trying to outfit these with new armaments for what was essentially the Afghans, like 82nd Airborne helicopter unit. And so we were doing that work. My job was to do all we could to keep these things in the air and provide all the procurement necessary to do that and to teach the Afghans how to do that as well. And so, you know, you go through things like that. You travel the country doing that work, and then you turn on and you come home and you turn on CNN and you see, you know, people clinging from planes and just the chaos and certainly the 13 Marines that we lost. And there was just there was a better way to exit that country that did not leave, you know, America diminished on the global stage.Kellen Curry: And I think watching that, certainly every veteran that spent time there watching that and then, of course, you know, by going to the Air Force Academy, I had friends that went there that unfortunately did not come back home. And, you know, you internalize all that and and it moves you, you know, emotionally. And then you look over and you see we have somebody here in Congress who's just wholly unfit. And the fact is that our veterans and the American people writ large, they deserve the best leadership that our country can provide so that we can avoid those situations, but also so we can have trust that the agenda that our elected representatives are pursuing is, is the agenda of the people and not their own personal agenda. And so, you know, all of those things, I think moved me to to think about how I could serve again. And and this was something that that that came up. And I did a lot of the research and asked a lot of the questions and eventually got to the point where I decided to go for it. And here I am.Chuck Warren: Well, we certainly need more leaders like you in Congress and you've had some great life experiences. So, for example, you ran the 60m at the Air Force Academy. What did track and field teach you about leadership?Kellen Curry: Yeah, you know, I've always been active in sports. And I think, you know, for me as an athlete, you know, you've got mom and dad there to, you know, to make you into the person that that you that you eventually become. But but something happens in that relationship with coaches and with athletes that's just special. And it enriches the life of a young person. You know, Track did that for me. High school football did that for me. I still stay in touch with coaches from high school. Wait, what.Sam Stone: Position did you play? We got to we got to get the important stuff in here.Kellen Curry: Yeah, I was a I was a defensive back. I didn't have any hands, so I couldn't catch anything. So they put me on that side of the ball. But. But yeah, man, I enjoyed sports of all kind and just the relationship building. Being in the team building and in the lessons that you learn from those experiences, they just make you a well rounded person and and enjoy traveling the country and running track at the Air Force Academy. It was a real highlight for me.Sam Stone: All right. So so now we know you were a DB. So the important question becomes, are you a Deion Sanders DB or are you covering everybody, locking them up or are you Troy Polamalu? You're coming in there to knock their head off?Kellen Curry: I'm covering them up, man.Chuck Warren: Yeah, Yeah. You're a blanket.Kellen Curry: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I was only like £160 soaking wet, so there wasn't a whole lot of hitting I could do, but. But I could run and I could run and chase and cover folks. And so, so really enjoyed the ups and downs of what you learn in that sport and just in sports in general. So really enjoyed competing.Chuck Warren: You worked in investment banking after the Air Force One issue you're going to have to deal with when you're elected is our deficit in national debt are it's just not a path we can continue. What do you propose we do on it? How do we pay down our debt? How do we get our finances in order?Kellen Curry: Yeah, I think the first thing we have to do is we have to be honest with the American people about where we are. I mean, the fact is we're not going to cut our way out of this hole. We're not going to, you know, grow our way out of the hole in terms of, you know, achieving, you know, astronomical GDP growth rates year over year. I think in order to bend the curve on the debt, we're going to have to get away from annual deficit spending at some point. And and listen, we are transitioning right now from a low interest rate environment to a high interest rate environment. So the interest on the debt is going to become more material than what we've seen in the past, and it's going to create more pain. So, you know, some of the first things that I think we're going to have to do is we're going to have to get our arms around how do we make our entitlement programs more solvent. We know that Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid, these programs are going to become insolvent here in the next ten, 15, 20 years. And so we've got to get serious about how do we restructure these things and do it in a way where Democrats aren't going to go out and say, oh, here comes the Republicans again. They're going to end these programs as you know it and all that. So so we have we need presidential leadership on this issue to move the country in this direction and get serious about it, because it will become something that that begins to crowd out what we can do in the defense space, the investments that we have to make there, and certainly the investments that we have to make on the domestic side as well. But but the entitlement programs is something that's going to be a forcing a forcing function that makes us get real about how we spend and how we allocate money. We definitely need more members of Congress who are going to hold the line on spending as we go forward here in the next several decades.Sam Stone: Kellen, we have only about two minutes left here before we let you go. What has been the initial response from folks on the ground there in the third Congressional District in New York? You know, as they're learning about you and that you're taking on Santos in this race.Kellen Curry: You know, it's been tremendously positive. I think a lot of a lot of what was in the trajectory of the Santos story, I think at this point here, you know, people on the ground are just kind of sick and tired of hearing about the guy.Chuck Warren: So.Kellen Curry: You know, they they are they are hungry for what comes next. We are the first campaign that's been out there on doorsteps and the reaction has been positive. They want to know who the candidates are, what they're talking about, what their ideas are for moving the district forward. And they're ready for the stain of of of Mr. Santos to be removed. And so I think at this point, we've all kind of learned our lesson, that we have to wake up and make sure we're paying attention in these elections, that we get out and vote and that we know who we're voting for. And so I think you're going to see a lot of people who are just excited about about doing that work as citizens and taking responsibility to make sure that they get to know the candidates. They're getting to know me. I think they like what they hear and what they see, and I think we're going to be successful here.Sam Stone: I love that folks. Thank you so much, Kellen Curry. We really appreciate having you on the program today. Folks. You can follow him at Kellen underscore Curry on Twitter at Kellen Currycomb. Make sure you tune in to breaking battlegrounds next week when we're back on the air. But in the meantime, we always have a little extra segment for our podcast listeners. Go to all your favorite podcast places, download us subscribe, and we'll see you next week.Advertisement: The 2022 political field was intense, so don't get left behind in 2024. If you're running for political office, the first thing on your to do list needs to be securing your name on the web with a your name Web domain from GoDaddy.com. Get yours now.Sam Stone: All right, Welcome to the podcast. Only segment of breaking battlegrounds. Folks. Thank you for tuning in as always. And special thanks to Congressman Russell Fry and Kellen Curry for their appearances today. Fantastic discussions from them. But now we're continuing on with somebody that, frankly, Chuck, I always loved talking to him more than almost any of our guests, friend of the program and repeat returning guest Henry Olsen, Washington Post columnist and senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. Henry, thank you so much, as always, for joining us.Henry Olsen: Well, thank you, as always for having me back.Chuck Warren: Henry, Tell us about your new podcast, by the way. Let's get a plug for it. Tell us about it. Sure.Henry Olsen: My new podcast is called Beyond the Polls, and I interview leading election analysts and poll analysts every two weeks. And we talk about all things political. We talk about the Republican race and we talk about where Biden is. And I always have somebody from one of the key swing states in my segment called State of Play, where the person who's on the ground knows the state best can give you the lowdown. So it's every two weeks you can find it on all the podcast formulas.Chuck Warren: So since you've been doing that, tell us something that has stood out to you, talking to your guests, a little nugget that has stood out to you.Henry Olsen: The importance of what I'm calling the double doubters, that if you go back to 2016, the reason the polls were upended is that 18% of Americans didn't like Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, and they switched in the last week from being undecided or third party voters to backing Trump over 20%. My pollsters, analysts are telling me, are double doubters with respect to Biden and Trump. And that's before the mudslinging between them really starts in earnest. That sounds to me like if we do get the rematch that the polls suggest, we're going to get the same sort of late break that may confound the experts.Chuck Warren: So that perfect segue into your your column this week. Trump might have the lead in Iowa, but he has one big weakness. What is that weakness?Henry Olsen: That weakness is churchgoing evangelicals, that they are the group that has swung behind one candidate and propelled them to victory in each of the last three caucuses. Actually, the last four. They gave George W Bush a narrow plurality in 2000. And I spent a week there. And the polls say he's got a lot of support among evangelicals, but the people on the ground may be willing to back him, but they're looking around. They want to see is there somebody better, somebody who supports our values, supports our issues and doesn't have the baggage? Iowa evangelicals historically break late. They wait until the last few months to make a decision. So it's not saying Trump isn't going to win, but don't be surprised if you see them switch to somebody who they think can give them 80% of the fight with 10% of the baggage.Sam Stone: Now, is it just the baggage or are there specific policies that Trump is weak with them on? The one that popped to my mind was Covid and allowing the closure of churches. Is there something like that that's playing?Henry Olsen: I'll tell you, I was surprised in my conversations at the lack of policy disagreements. I would have expected more of the evangelicals to note things like that, but also note his backing away from a strongly pro-life stance, saying that the whole point of overturning Roe was to negotiate without saying what he actually stands for. I did not get that from anybody. I really got a question of that. His long standing concerns about his character remain. And the question of is this guy so tied down by his character and legal problems that he can't effectively beat Joe Biden. And they're really scared of Joe Biden.Chuck Warren: They should be. They should be. Let's do a little switch here and let's talk about the Hunter Biden stuff. Do you feel look, you're in D.C.. You're a columnist for The Washington Post. Do you feel what people call the legacy media is really starting to pay attention to this issue or are they still trying to just sweep it under the floor mat?Henry Olsen: You know, I would say it's between and it depends on which legacy media outlet you're talking about. There's beginning to be enough there, there. Right. You know, in the sense that you just can't ignore some of the things that are now being said under oath as opposed to things that were being speculated about or which relied on, you know, on emails, copies of emails found on laptops. And so I think we're only 1 or 2 revelations away. If those revelations exist of the legacy media actually having to pay much more attention to it. I think they're no longer in the sweep under the rug. They hope that it goes away. But if it doesn't, I think there's been enough there that they actually will have to turn their attention to it.Chuck Warren: Do you find any reasonable explanation why he would have 5000 emails under an alias?Henry Olsen: A reasonable explanation? Yeah.Chuck Warren: I mean, look, I mean, the easy way to handle this is just release them all. If there's nothing there, there's nothing there. Just make it transparency and embarrass the Republicans. That's an easy way to handle this, right? If there's nothing there.Henry Olsen: Yeah, well, I never want to get into the argument that stereotypically is offered by autocratic police departments. If you have nothing to fear, you have nothing to hide.Sam Stone: Guys, guys, I don't know this. I've got to say, this is like going when you've got this. This is like going to the ATM after 3 a.m. Nothing good is going to come from this. When you have fake email addresses and you're in office, nothing good is ever going to come from that.Henry Olsen: Yeah.Henry Olsen: You know, the thing is, I can imagine reasons you would want to do it like evade, you know.Sam Stone: Like did you see Gretchen Whitmer's guy communicating with her in Greek alphabet letters?Chuck Warren: Oh, that's cool.Sam Stone: To avoid FOIA.Henry Olsen: Yeah. No, I hadn't. I hadn't heard about that one. You know, just goes to show they all should have been watching Bill and Ted because I.Chuck Warren: Think there's.Henry Olsen: Greek alphabets when Bill interviewed Socrates. But.Henry Olsen: You know.Henry Olsen: I can imagine good reasons for 5000 emails under multiple aliases, depending who he's communicating with. But again, the thing is, at some point, we're going to find out at least some of them. And if they aren't benign, you know, like personal stuff, that you just don't want to have somebody you know, somebody who's you're concerned about hacking and they'll looking for the words Joe Biden. I could imagine that if you were a foreign government and you might want to have malware placed on Joe Biden's personal friends and anything that says Joe Biden gets sent to Beijing. Yeah, I can imagine that as a vice president and wanting to avoid things like that. But again, we'll see whether eventually some of these will be produced. May not be 5000, may be 200, maybe 500. And we'll see what they say.Chuck Warren: Interesting. If we wrap up here, anything you think we should be looking for here in news the next month or two? Something that's going to pop up that you feel we should keep our eyes on?Henry Olsen: You know, I think there's the usual, you know, who knows what's going to happen in the counteroffensive in Ukraine? Who knows what's going to happen with the Chinese economy. I would say, though, that, you know, the second debate is going to take place at the end of the month, September 27th, out at the Reagan Library. And it's going to be make or break time for some of these people. You know that the one in Milwaukee was really kind of first impression, kind of like speed dating. The second one is going to find out whether anybody wants to return the phone call. And so I think you're going to see a little bit more fire, a little bit more opposition. And it could be that somebody breaks out or somebody crashes to the earth.Sam Stone: I would like to see a couple more people drop out before then. I would narrow it to 4 or 5 maybe.Chuck Warren: I think what's really impressive is the cultural references Henry's used today speed dating and Bill and Ted. That's the most amazing thing of this aspect today. One last question. One last question, Henry. I think Republicans have a really good chance of taking the Senate. What are your thoughts?Henry Olsen: Absolutely. I think they should be the favorites. Even if Biden wins re-election. That has to do with the math. Yes. You know, so poll came out today or yesterday from a respected pollster showed Jon Tester only getting 43% against either of his opponents, Sherrod Brown. There's been polls show that Brown's in a neck and neck race. But the important thing is where is the longtime incumbent? And he's sitting at 45%, which is roughly around where a Democrat should get flip those two seats. The Republicans control the Senate. And then you've got all the other seats. This is a map that heavily favors Republicans. Joe Manchin haven't even mentioned him. You know, these are three states that Trump carried by between 6 and 30 something points. It's just hard to see where Republicans don't get those 2 or 3 seats. And then it's very hard to see how they would lose other seats that they hold given what are up to throw control back to the Democrats?Chuck Warren: Well, being a Republican, I have complete faith my party can blow it one way or another. So amen.Sam Stone: Amen. Our skills are legendary.Chuck Warren: Henry Olsen, thanks a million for visiting with us today.Henry Olsen: Thanks for having me on.Chuck Warren: Folks. This is breaking battlegrounds. We hope you've enjoyed this week's show and we'll be back next week. And if you can visit us at Breaking Battlegrounds or anywhere you find your podcasts. Have a great weekend. Get full access to Breaking Battlegrounds at breakingbattlegrounds.substack.com/subscribe

Join hosts Chuck Warren and Sam Stone this week on Breaking Battlegrounds for a dynamic lineup of discussions. Our first guest, Governor Joe Lombardo, gives an exclusive update on his journey as Nevada's Governor and shares his perspective on the state's progress and his vision for the road ahead.Later in the show, we shift gears to explore the complex world of technology with David Sinclair. Sinclair delves into the intricacies of data gathering and behavioral manipulation by tech giants. Gain a deeper understanding of how these companies collect and leverage user data.Concluding the episode, Rachel Walden, Mesa Public Schools Governing Board Member, brings a crucial dialogue on school safety to the forefront. Gain insight into the latest agreement in Mesa, AZ, where a significant step has been taken to enhance student safety. Every junior high and high school campus now benefits from the presence of school safety resource officers, fostering a secure learning environment._Connect with us:www.breakingbattlegrounds.voteTwitter: www.twitter.com/Breaking_BattleFacebook: www.facebook.com/breakingbattlegroundsInstagram: www.instagram.com/breakingbattlegroundsLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/breakingbattlegrounds-Governor Joe LombardoBorn in Japan in a military family, Governor Joe Lombardo spent his childhood growing up across the world, until his father was stationed at Nellis Air Force Base and his family put down roots in Las Vegas.Governor Lombardo attended Rancho High School in North Las Vegas, before going on to attend the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where he earned his Bachelor of Science degree. After graduating, he served in the United States Army and in the Nevada National Guard.Following his military service, Governor Lombardo joined the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD), where he quickly rose through the ranks and served on nearly every level of LVMPD, from detective to assistant sheriff. While serving at LVMPD, Governor Lombardo earned his Master of Science in Crisis Management from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in 2006.After 26 years on the force, Governor Lombardo was elected as Sheriff of Clark County in 2014 and re-elected in 2018. As the sheriff of Nevada’s largest county, he oversaw a $1.3 billion dollar budget, 6,000 employees, and LVMPD’s efforts to protect millions of Clark County residents and visitors each day.Governor Lombardo was elected as the 31st Governor of Nevada in November 2022 and sworn into office in January 2023. Governor Lombardo is focused on diversifying and revitalizing Nevada’s economy, restoring law and order in communities across the state, and bringing excellence, school choice, and accountability to Nevada’s education system.More important to him than anything, Governor Lombardo is a devoted husband to First Lady Donna Lombardo, a dedicated father to his daughter Morgan, stepdaughter Lacey, stepson Jackson, and a grandfather to his 1-year-old grandson Teddy-David Sinclair is the founder and CEO of 4FreedomMobile. A secure mobile service platform that provides secure, unlimited talk, text and high-speed data worldwide, while preventing tech companies, network operators, and others from tracking users' location, identity, communications, internet activity, payments, and more.-Rachel Walden is a member of the Mesa Public Schools Governing Board, the largest school district in the state. As a Governing member she has prioritized academic achievement, parental rights, fiscal responsibility, and transparency.TRANSCRIPTIONChuck WarrenWe met with Governor Joe Lombardo today. He is the governor, the 20th most popular governor in the United States. How does it feel to be in the top 20?Gov Joe LombardoWas it 20 or 27? 20th?Chuck Warren20th, 57% approval, 20th. Most popular. You should. It feels.Gov Joe LombardoGood. I just don't know how comprehensive the poll is. Right. I mean, but it's good that in the short tenure seven months. Right. That people the word is getting out. What we're trying to achieve here in the state of Nevada and what we're trying to achieve for the conservative side of the Republican Party and and the decisions we're making along the way and how we're competing with the state legislature that's in the verge of a supermajority. And and and yet we're still getting work done. So I think people recognize that.Chuck WarrenThat's fantastic. I flew out from Milwaukee this morning and I was talking to a gentleman doing my shoeshine, and he said, I said, Who is your favorite politician? Because he knew that there were RNC meetings there. Where were you at? Milwaukee.Gov Joe LombardoYou were in the airport in Milwaukee. Okay.Chuck WarrenAnd I said, Who's your favorite politician? Because he was asking a lot of political questions. And he said, Tommy Thompson. And I said, Why is that? He goes, I could just trust him. And it seems like something we're facing now as people don't trust their elected officials anymore. So how do you being truly outnumbered in the legislature develop this trust not only with the voters of Nevada, but the legislature, so that they know that when I deal with Governor Lombardo, his word means something?Gov Joe LombardoYeah, that's a good point. Well, hopefully part of it and the trust factor is my previous career. Right. Being a law enforcement official for 34 years, almost 35 years, and and being the sheriff, the top dog in Clark County, Nevada. You know, we went through a lot of crisis during my tenure and our response and leadership and doing what I say I'm going to do and actually doing it is a big deal for politicians. You know, it's quite often you hear people complain that they say they're going to do stuff, especially during the campaign periods, and it actually doesn't get done right. It's just a sound bite to garner votes. And I think it's important that you do exactly what people say, and that's what we've done or not say but expect. And that's what we've done in our short tenure. And I made that promise on the campaign trail. You know, I'm not going to make these flamboyant statements thinking it's just going to be arbitrary statements to garner votes. Right. You know, an example I'll give you is we had a debate here. There was. Can believe it was either 6 or 7 Folks were vying for the Republican nomination for the governorship, and one of the questions was presented about bringing the National Guard to the border states.Gov Joe LombardoOkay. And whether I would support that. And that was the only one dissenter on that question. And the reason being is I know how you use the National Guard. I know the cost of the National Guard and its intent. You know, it's for protection of your own borders within your own state. And you have those individuals are tasked with personal jobs that are usually part time soldiers and and they have their careers. And so you can't arbitrarily willy nilly make decisions on that kind of resource for something that is, they say it's not in our backyard. Right. And people trust that. And you have a knowledge of exactly what you're talking about and not just, you know, spitballing. Correct. And and so they appreciate those those kind of decisions. But it's all the proof in the pudding per se, right? You know, you do what you say you're going to do and you actually do it.Chuck WarrenHow has it been trying to diversify Nevada's economy? You always hear that is the goal, right? It's always the goal. You have no income. You have no income tax here. So but it's always the goal. But we know the strip commands a lot of attention.Gov Joe LombardoYou know what it is, is. Well, first and foremost, every governor and every state in the nation in history has always had that in their platform. Right. Right. Because that's their job. The governor's job is the economy. The environment, education. Right. The economy is diversifying the economy and ensure that you don't have all your eggs in one basket. And that you don't suffer in times of crisis. So unfortunately. But fortunately, you got to take advantage of a crisis, correct? Right. You can't put your head in the sand and say, I'm going to go away. I hope he goes away and then you'll deal with the aftermath. But the important thing is take advantage of it when you can. And what I'm alluding to is Covid. So in the state of Nevada, throughout our history, we've survived. Our economic engine has been gambling and entertainment. And we have all those eggs in that one basket. In previous years, we've seen some certain crises, you know, the Great Recession, you know, part of the the housing crisis and all that, you know, we suffered because that, you know, it's disposable cash that they use in the state of Nevada. And that's the first to go away during times of economic strife. And so we saw some errors in our economic engine or our profile or our program in the state of Nevada, because we were always the first one out and the last one back in in economic recovery. So when you say your goal is to diversify the economy, it's got to be true. It's got to be accurate and you got to put a concerted effort into it getting past an election. Now, repeat what I said earlier. Every governor says that.Chuck WarrenYou have to or you're not going to win.Gov Joe LombardoRight. Right. And and that's one of the responsibilities of government is the economy. And so Covid happens. And once again, we're the first out and the last to come back. And what I mean by last comeback is the last to recover. And butfortunately here last month, we've had a 4% increase overall since the beginning of my tenure and economic numbers, employment numbers. So that's that's proof that we're getting what we say we're going to do, get it done. So back to your original question, diversifying the economy. We have to expand upon the gambling space. And people realize that now. Now it's not just rhetoric. They're saying, Oh, s**t, we got to do something to fix this. And what I've done in that you talked about our there's no state income tax. Our sales tax is very low or modified, business tax is low and every other revenue source that we utilize in small business and big business is state of Nevada is low across the board. So how can we get track more people? Well, now we start getting into tax incentives. You know, Tesla is the perfect example of that 4 to 1 on return, on dollar, on investment in return. So people see that, oh, you know, that is a good, viable functionality of the economic package that we are able to offer. Every state is offering an economic package in recent legislative session. We're talking about film tax credits. Okay. That's a new hot button item in the economy. Now, film getting the film industry in your state. Education drives the economy. Education drives the companies that want to transfer and and have the labor force available for their companies once they put their roots down. So all that is all part and parcel of what we're trying to achieve.Chuck WarrenPart of the diversity.Gov Joe LombardoYeah, that's the.Chuck WarrenDiversity school choice. Does it have a.Gov Joe LombardoFuture that does.Chuck WarrenSchool choice have a future here? I mean, I.Gov Joe LombardoKnow.Chuck WarrenTeachers unions, they just think like you're asking for the end of the world. If you give kids a choice.Gov Joe LombardoYou know, I got to I got to be frank with you on that. You're you're that's usually an accurate statement. But here in southern Nevada, the Clark County Education Association, which is the teachers union here, they I've been working hand in hand with them. They are not opposed to school choice. They're not opposed to school choice. Their primary driver is teacher salaries. Right. And they can't argue against school choice. For one, it polls in the 70th percentile across the board here in the state of Nevada. And two is. Our curriculum is bad. I mean, we're continually ranked at the bottom of the barrel in education, availability, environment and curriculum. So how do you change that? And it's been proven across the United States, in the states that have adopted school choice and the success associated with it. So the unions not necessarily isn't pushing back against that. So they're more defined in how we fix the teacher pipeline. So it's a little bit transactional.Chuck WarrenWe need higher salaries. Then we'll we're not going to stand in the way of this.Gov Joe LombardoYeah, exactly. And it's, you know, in the. It's a good thing, right? So now so what is preventing it from happening here?Chuck WarrenYou're outnumbered in the legislature, legislature.Gov Joe LombardoWe bring it back to the legislature. There's a mechanism here in state of Nevada called Opportunity Scholarships. It's a it's a different form of education savings accounts, where there's a tax benefit of organizations that participate in into the into the program. And, you know, we have 400,000 students in totality in the state of Nevada. It only affects 1400 students. But something as simple as that, you're like, that's pixie dust. As far as budgetary costs, the legislature, legislature pushed backon it, wanted it to default to the statutory regulation of amount provided to that program. And so as a result, 600 kids were going to lose their scholarships as part of school choice. And so I had to fight tooth and nail, find different funding mechanisms to support that. And it was all the result of the legislature pushing back on it. It's that it's the the left decision in point of context. With school choice, they don't support it. I think it's a detriment to public dollars for private institutions. And if you look at it and understand it and know both sides of it, that's absolutely opposite. It's nothing more than an opportunity for our kids to get educated.Chuck WarrenYour families used to you being in the spotlight. We have a minute left. How do they like. We only have a minute. A minute left. Yeah, you had lots of say. They're in the spotlight again as governors in 20 years. Clark County sheriff. Now they're governor first, the first family in Nevada. How are they liking it?Gov Joe LombardoDid you say 20 years? As the Clark County sheriff?Chuck WarrenIs that what you were?Gov Joe Lombardo20 years? I was on the department in totality.Gov Joe Lombardo35 years.Gov Joe Lombardo35 years. But I was the sheriff for eight years.Chuck WarrenOkay.Gov Joe LombardoI want to make sure you're accurate.Chuck WarrenI was not. I was.Gov Joe LombardoNot. I'll read it.Chuck WarrenI was not I was not accurate. So how do they like how has it been for them?Gov Joe LombardoUm, that's a great question. And to be frank with you, it's so so, you know, it's on a different level of transparency and public. I as the governor, as compared to the sheriff. And, you know, and there's a lot of event driven schedule issues as the governor. And so there's a balance of what what's important for the to the family to show face and and ensure that they're part of what we're doing here. You know, as the governor within the state of Nevada and what's important in the family unit. And so it's a balancing act. It's still early in it. It's overwhelming, I would say, for the family at this point. But we'll work out the schedule. We'll get it worked out. And your uniqueness in the state of Nevada, you know, opposite of where you're from, you know, down in the Phoenix is, you know, the largest metropolitan area is obviously Phoenix. And your capital is there, right? Well, it's opposite here in the state of Nevada. So we got Carson City, where the state capitol is, but the largest metropolitan area is in southern Nevada, Clark County, Las Vegas. So it's a balancing. I have to spend time in both places. I enjoy both places. So that's probably the hardest part for them. Separation.Chuck WarrenGovernor, we appreciate your time today.Gov Joe LombardoYeah, absolutely.Chuck WarrenGood luck. Thank you.Gov Joe LombardoThanks for making the effort to come out and see me.Chuck WarrenAppreciate it.AdvertisementAt Overstock. We know home is a pretty important place and that's why we believe everyone deserves a home that makes them happy. Whether you're furnishing a new house or apartment or simply looking to update and refresh a few rooms. Overstock has every day free shipping and amazing deals on the beautiful high quality furniture and decor. You need to transform any home into the home of your dreams. Overstock Making Dream homes Come True.Sam StoneAll right. Welcome back to Breaking Battlegrounds with your host, Chuck Warren. I'm Sam Stone. Up next with us, David Sinclair, founder and CEO of For Freedom Mobile, a secure mobile service platform that provides secure, unlimited talk, text and high speed data worldwide while preventing tech companies, network operators and others from tracking users location, identity communications, internet activity payments and more. Folks, I think you'd be shocked at how much data your phone company is collecting on you and what gets done with it. So, David Sinclair, welcome to the program. I had a great time meeting this guy at Freedomfest this year in Memphis. And, you know, he has a wealth of knowledge and background experience that both led him to start this company and then lends expertise to a number of related issues. So, David, thank you for joining us and welcome to the program.David SinclairThank you so much for having me. I appreciate it.Sam StoneWhat made you decide to go start for Freedom Mobile?David SinclairSo I spent most of the last 30 years living outside the US, primarily working in emerging markets. So countries like Russia, Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia, Myanmar and other countries like that. And what I was doing there was implementing large, complex IT projects for government agencies, nationally owned companies, that sort of thing, some of which included surveillance systems. So we were implementing systems at large mobile operators to track people through their mobile phones, track their locations, monitor their communications, even enable people to, for example, turn on your phone's microphone when you weren't using your phone and listen in to your conversation. Yeah. So implementing these types of surveillance projects in these emerging markets, we saw the way that government agencies could utilize this data. And when I moved back to the US after spending almost 30 years abroad doing this, I was shocked to discover I'm surveilled more in the US than I ever was when I was living abroad. It's crazy. And so that was when I realized, wait a minute, I didn't move back to the land of the free. You know, in the 30 years that I was gone, things have changed. And so I decided that there must be a way to try to stop some of this surveillance. And since I've been implementing it for so long, I began working on technologies to help stop it.Chuck WarrenHow does this compare to other countries you've been in developing countries. How does the surveillance in the United States compare to other countries, these growing markets you've been in?David SinclairUm. I would say that there is much less awareness of the level of surveillance in the US than there is in other countries. Interesting. You know, I will tell you, I had a conversation at the CS, the consumer Trade show in Las Vegas with a woman from Hong Kong, and she flat out said to me. I fully expect that the Chinese government is listening to my conversation through my phone right now with you. And therefore, she didn't want to discuss my topics with me because she was afraid.Sam StoneYeah, that I think, is stunning. And something you said a minute ago, David. We're talking with David Sinclair, founder and CEO for Freedom Mobile. I think people don't realize that this is absolutely true. So somebody in government, whether theyhave a warrant or not, they can access, whether it's truly legal or not, they can access your phone, turn on your microphone, turn on your camera, download everything in there right now without you knowing it.David SinclairIt is absolutely technically possible to do that. I've personally seen it done. The the thing to understand here in the US is there is a law that requires the mobile operators to collect their subscribers, location, identity, keep a record of every phone call they make and receive, keep a copy of every text message they make and receive, you know, track their internet activity, etcetera. Beyond that, the mobile operators have access to an enormous amount of sensors inside your device. And I'll give you one example. There's a effectively a gyroscope inside your phone. So your phone tracks, whether it's laying on a table or it's moving horizontally, or maybe you're going in an elevator and it's moving vertically, that sort of thing. Using that, they can tell. What time did you wake up this morning? Because the first thing we do, we pick up our phone, right? Sure. So so, you know, mobile operators know your sleep habits. They know that makes sense in your home.Chuck WarrenMakes sense.Sam StoneIt's really stunning.David SinclairThe amount of data that they have.Sam StoneNow. It's not just the gathering of this data, for instance, like for some sort of criminal investigation, But one of the things that you touched on when I was talking with you is behavioral manipulation. And the more data someone has, the easier that becomes. But let's talk about what is behavioral manipulation in the digital world.David SinclairThe simplest example of that is manipulating your search results. So back between 2000 and 5 and about 2015, Facebook and Google both were running experience experiments and actually publishing the results to the public in which they showed how by changing people's search results. They could change the actions that those people took. They could change because what do they do? They show you only certain information and they hide from you. Other information that changes the way you think. And as a result, it changes the way you act. And these reports are available on the Internet still to this day. This is something they prove they can do. And today they do that.Sam StoneHow much are they doing that today? Because I know there have been a lot of people who have said that occurred during, for instance, the last election, and then we should expect it during the next one. But how pervasive is this? I mean, even beyond politics, how much does this stretch into other areas of human behavior?David SinclairSo there is a value to the social media companies. I'll give you this. The social media as an example, their business model is the traditional advertising business model. It's driven by eyeballs on ads, right? So they need to drive engagement. A part of the experiments that they ran in the early 2000 was to see if I show people rainbows, unicorns and butterflies. They figured out people stop looking at their app and walk away happy. But if they throw in items that play on people's fears, uncertainties and doubts, those drive a negative emotional response. And guess what? Negative emotional response drives greater engagement. You stay on the app longer. And so while they may show primarily things that you're happy to see and that sort of thing, they also throw in a certain amount of FUD fear, uncertainty and doubt in there to keep you engaged, to keep you emotionally engaged in what you're looking at and keep eyeballs on the screen. And so, you know, I don't have anything against the social media companies doing this because it's a part of their business model. But what people need to recognize, though, is that they are doing this. And what have they begun doing really in the last ten years? A lot more is they play a lot more on people's fears, uncertainties and doubts around topics that have been politicized. And so I believe that a lot of the political fragmentation that we see in our country is driven by the social media companies because they have a commercial vested interest in driving that fragmentation, pitting one group against the other.Sam StoneWe're going to be coming back with more in just a moment with David Sinclair, founder and CEO of Four Freedom Mobile. Folks, check that out. I believe. David, it's for freedom. Mobilcom. Go on there. You know, it's you need to protect yourself. You need to protect your data. You need to try to limit what some of these foreign and domestic actors have access to because they've proven they're not responsible. Breaking battlegrounds will be coming back with more in just a moment. Welcome back to Breaking Battlegrounds with your host, Sam Stone and Chuck Warren on the line with us right now, David Sinclair, founder and CEO for Freedom Mobile. We were talking before we went to the break about all the ways that you can your data can be gathered from you, from your mobile device, from any electronic device, and then talking a little bit about how data can be used to manipulate and manipulate behavior. We're seeing that with the social media companies. David, Obviously, I think this can and should be concerning to a lot of people. What do folks need to do to start taking better control of their privacy and protect their their data?David SinclairYou know, I'm glad you asked that because there's a low awareness amongst people about how their data is collected and used and often used against them. Things like banks collecting your data in order to determine what interest rate to give you on a loan, How risky an investment are you? Right? And most people don't even think about the things that they could do. There's even less awareness around what people can do to protect their information. Let's start with the simple stuff. Most people have heard of the term VPN. Unfortunately, a lot of people think that, well, if I use a VPN, well then my data is secure. What a VPN does is it encrypts your internet activity. And that's about it. It hides your IP address. Right. Which is often used to determine your location. But it doesn't do any more than that. Your communications are not secure. Your app usage is not secure. Your operating system on your phone is still collecting all this data and sending it back to the people who made your phone. You know, I'll give you a simple example here. The FCC ran a test on iOS and Android phones. And discover that on average, an iOS device sends data on you back to Apple 52 times a day. And Android device sends data on you back to Google 14 times an hour.Chuck WarrenOh, my gosh.David SinclairThat's more than 300 times a day.Chuck WarrenOh, my gosh.Sam StoneThat's astounding.David SinclairIt's shocking. It really is. And Apple has spent, you know, 150, $200 million promoting themselves as Apple equals privacy. I honestly don't believe that.Chuck WarrenI don't either.David SinclairApple prevents other apps maybe from collecting your data, but Apple is still collecting your data. Apple is all about creating a unique data set. Who is the Apple consumer generally? They're they're better off. Right. Generally, they're the kind of people companies want to market to.Sam StoneRight. Mhm. Well, and regardless of what they intend to do with your data, even Apple isn't truly secure from having that data breached and then, you know, collected by others. Right.Speaker7Absolutely.David SinclairAny company that collects any data on you, they're at risk of getting breached. Absolutely. And frankly, that's part of the reason why my company for Freedom Mobile, we don't collect any data on anybody. So people sign up anonymously. All we have is an email address, a phone number, and that's it. So we don't collect their location, we don't collect their identity. We don't collect their communications, internet activity, etcetera. And we provide them with software applications that they can put onto their phone to help prevent anybody else from being able to collect that data either.Sam StoneNice. Nice.David SinclairThe other big thing that we do, you know, we started as a software company, just a pure software player, right? Get our apps, put them on your iPhone, get them, put them on your Samsung Android phone. Prevent other people from collecting your data. What we figured out is that the mobile operators themselves, AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile. Are actually some of the biggest data collectors there are in the world. Right. And by the way, each of those three companies has been fined for selling their subscribers real time location data in real time, meaning somebody would go out on the Internet and pay $19 a month and enter a phone number and they would be able to track the location of that phone number, that device, 24 by seven in real time. And that's against the law in the US to sell that. And they've been fined for doing it. They pay the fines. Yeah, I'm sure if they've actually kept doing it. No, no, they'll.Chuck WarrenKeep doing it because it's just it's a rounding error for them. It doesn't mean anything.Sam StoneIt's Michael Jordan's shoe. Yeah, right. You pay the fines because you're going to end up making so much more money from what you're doing. We're going to.Chuck WarrenPay the fine for each NBA games because they'll make more money on the shoe. Absolutely.Sam StoneDavid, before we go, we have just one minute left. How do folks I think I gave the website earlier, but give that and tell us a little bit more about how people can get connected with for Freedom Mobile.Speaker7Sure.David SinclairSo the website is for Freedom Mobile. That's the number for Freedom Mobilcom And they can go out to the website and learn all about how they're being, how they're being tracked, how their data is being collected, how hackers are breaking into their phones and stealing their data. And they can also learn about the solutions that we have to help prevent that, including, by the way, helping prevent network operators from being able to track you even.Sam StoneI love that. David Sinclair, thank you so much. Folks, check them out for free, T-mobile.com. We're going to have David on from time to time as we go forward, talk about some of these technical issues, because obviously he has a wealth of experience and knows a lot about what's going on that I think the average person needs to know. Breaking battlegrounds. Back with more in just a moment.AdvertisementAt Overstock. We know home is a pretty important place and that's why we believe everyone deserves a home that makes them happy. Whether you're furnishing a new house or apartment or simply looking to update and refresh a few rooms, Overstock has every day free shipping and amazing deals on the beautiful, high quality furniture and decor. You need to transform any home into the home of your dreams. Overstock Making dream Homes Come True.Chuck WarrenWelcome back to the final segment of breaking battlegrounds. I'm your host, Chuck Warren. And Sam Stone is with me here. And we're going to take this time to talk about just some highlights and issues of the day. We appreciate our twoguests. We had David Sinclair, A for Freedom Mobilcom, and then.Sam StoneBefore that, Chuck.Chuck WarrenWe need to read.Sam StoneI got to we got to pay the bills.Chuck WarrenPay the bills. Sam, go ahead and talk about why.Sam StoneFolks, if you want to pay the bills, you've been hearing us talk about why refy a lot.Chuck WarrenThat's well, it's important people are paying $705 more per month for basic goods. So you've got to have your retirement money and something that's going to keep up with inflation.Sam StoneWell, and if you need a way to generate extra income on a monthly basis, this is it. You need to check out our friends at invest y refy.com that's invest the letter Y then refy.com Because it's true, folks, you can earn up to a 10.25% fixed rate of return. That's not correlated to the stock market. You can turn your monthly income on or off, compound it, whatever you choose. There's no fees, no loss of principal. If you need your money back, if you're not sure, you know, look, if you're just unsure in this economy, this is a great secure, collateralized portfolio that you can earn a fantastic return for yourself. And when you're doing it, you're helping you're.Chuck WarrenHelping college students who have bad debt from college loans.Sam StonePrivate student loans that they can't discharge in bankruptcy. They're getting them refinanced. They're getting their lives back on track. And you're making a fantastic return. It doesn't get better than that. Check them out. Invest y refy.com or give them a call. 888Y Refy 24. Tell them Chuck and Sam sent you.Chuck WarrenI appreciate the opportunity the other day to go down. Kiley and I were interviewing Governor Lombardo of Nevada. He was a guest on our show, and he was Sheriff Lombardo, candidate for governor. You know, the one thing I took from him, he's a very blunt man. I think he has a clear vision of what he wants to do. I get the sense when we were talking about school choice, that he understands how to work within the confines of public sector unions because of, you know, being over the sheriff when the largest sheriff's departments in the country.Sam StoneRight. Yeah. You're dealing with a huge union presence, multiple unions.Chuck WarrenI found it interesting and I've said this for years, so it's sort of hit me, hit me hard. I've been saying that the way you take care of the school choice issue is make sure teachers get a great salary. Then they just really don't care. And he said when I made a comment about that and he corrected me quickly, he said, The teachers unions in Clark County are not the problem. It's the legislature. They just simply want higher teacher salary. So he said it's, you know, and they've got almost a supermajority in Nevada for the assembly and State Senate, which is another point. You're going to have some conservatives moaning and groaning about Governor Lombardo's decisions on some things. I think he's taking the Ronald Reagan approach. If I can get 70 or 80% of something, I'm taking it right.Sam StoneHe's dealing with Democrat, big Democrat majorities in his House and his Senate. You don't get you're not a dictator. You're a governor. Exactly.Chuck WarrenSo I think he's doing a great job. It's going to be interesting to watch him. He is the 20th most popular governor in the country.Sam StoneWhich is astounding because none of the other swing state governors are that high except for Youngkin.Chuck WarrenYeah, he's just he's just done a good job. And I think people appreciate him in Nevada. I think Nevada has changed a little bit. It's probably more getting more towards center like. But they've got a they've got issues out there, party wise organization as almost every state has. So there's that. Um, let's talk about the debate in Milwaukee this week. It got 12.8 million viewers, which is darn good. It's a lot. It is. You know, we keep hearing that the Tucker Trump thing had 180 million views, Folks, that's a lie. It never had that many. First of all, it's not mathematically possible.Sam StoneWell, so so I actually saw a really good breakdown on this. And I'm going to go ahead. I'm going to credit Tim Pool of pool Cast, who. Thank you. I think is a very, very good analyst on this kind of stuff because he did a nice job. He said, look, out of those 180 million impressions. Right. Typically what we see on a video is 20% will watch a few minutes. Correct. And then 10% will watch 15, 20 plus minutes and a much smaller number will actually get to the end. So if you watch every every Internet video, viewership starts out much higher and then drops off pretty quickly. So you have.Chuck WarrenAll right, so let's go. So let's go to those numbers real quick. So 200 million, let's say 200 million, 200 million. Okay.Sam StoneSo 40 million saw at least a couple of minutes of that video. Okay.Chuck WarrenAnd then how many saw less than that? So.Sam StoneSo 160 million. Who just scrolled Buy it on Twitter.Chuck WarrenDo TV ratings have 12 points? So basically, long story short, folks, more people watch the debate in whole in totality than they ever watch the Tucker Trump debate.Sam StoneBut more individual eyeballs touched, at least for a few minutes. The Trump thing. Yeah, but.Chuck WarrenThat's just it's.Sam StoneNothing. Look, but I don't want to dismiss that.Chuck WarrenI don't want to dismiss it. But people are smoking again, Hunter Biden crack pipe. If they think that there's actually 200 million people watching that whole interview.Sam StoneOh, no, that's not the case.Chuck WarrenIt didn't get close. So you probably had 5 million. 6 million watch it in its entirety, probably less.Sam StoneWho actually made it to the end? Yeah.Chuck WarrenBased on the. So again. Aggressive numbers for Trump. Trump did a great strategy. It's the same strategy that Biden used in 2020. You know, he's he's a clear frontrunner. I think the indictments are going to you know, look, I think it's very hard for him to lose the nomination right now.Sam StoneI thought he made the absolute right decision in not going into that room.Chuck WarrenHe made it politically right decision.Sam StonePolitically right decision. I would add, though, that I actually thought it was a good decision for the country because it changed that debate entirely and it became a much more open, free flowing debate. And one of the things I really like, Chuck, is you had a range of opinions and ideas on that stage.Chuck WarrenYes. Yes. I mean, for example, I thought, hey, Nikki Haley was the best one. If you're just basing on poor performance, I mean, you don't have the griefer issues or anything. I just think she was the best performing one.Sam StoneI thought she performed very well. Yeah, she.Chuck WarrenDid.Sam StoneShe performed well.Chuck WarrenVivek has lots of energy. And I think, look, if I was going to if you and I were going to Vegas tonight and saying, put down who's the VP for Trump nominee, I think it's Vivek.Sam StoneI would agree with that. I think you know what what I like about Vivek, he's young and inexperienced. He'll say some things sometimes that aren't, you know, don't make much sense or that are kind of wacky. But he's also talking about a vast range of issues all the time. And I don't expect somebody to know everything about everything.Chuck WarrenOh, no. I mean, you know, it's funny. The press has been trying to attack him on various issues. Boy, they do not hold Biden to the same accountability for the wackadoodle things.Sam StoneHe says no. And one of the things I kind of like about Ramaswami, but that is a weakness in this sort of media environment is that he very carefully chooses words. So like, for instance, when he said the climate change agenda is a hoax, right?Chuck WarrenNot climate change, the agenda. Right.Sam StoneThe agenda is actually very specifically not saying climate change is a hoax. He's saying the agenda behind it is a hoax and most.Chuck WarrenLiberals are too stupid to pick that.Sam StoneUp. Almost nobody seemed to.Chuck WarrenPick that up, which is sad. I think he did well. Um, look, Asa, who's been a guest on this show and a friend of the show, he should not be in this. I love the North Dakota. The North Dakota governor is dedicated to federalism. That's the one thing I really took from the debate. You agree? And I and you and I've talked about this. I think that's really an alternative, truly federalism in our country versus what we're heading towards. You and I have discussed this, and I think he's right about it.Sam StoneI think he's 100% right about it. And I think that was something if you looked up there. The governors, including DeSantis, have a very different kind of outlook than the people who are not governors, because I think they've dealt with this federal overreach in a very personal way. Right. And that includes, to some degree, Chris Christie, who I was very impressed with his performance.Chuck WarrenWell, he's just you know, look, Chris Christie is very good. And, you know, the right just, you know, because he's gone and turned on Trump, he's.Sam StoneGot a very low rating, you know, high negative.Chuck WarrenBut would there be a better AG in this country than Chris Christie?Sam StoneI tell you what, he'd be a good AG and you know what I like. And and look, folks, I'm an old school Easterner in this sense. I like that he's a brawler and he doesn't have a glass jaw.Chuck WarrenThe chat GPT comment was just incredible. You know what the.Sam StoneBest part about that was? Ramaswami had a better comeback, but Christie delivered his line so well that no one even knows Ramaswami hit him back.Chuck WarrenYeah, no, absolutely. 100%. So let's talk briefly about how bad the Biden administration example 5428 And today we've got. Is that.Sam StoneAll? I thought it was much more than that.Chuck WarrenSo based on Bloomberg us and talks with Venezuela over sanctions relief in return for fair elections. So basically, energy expert Phil Flynn explains the hope is lifting the sanctions on Venezuela will be better able to export that now coveted heavy blend of dirty oil that is so good in yielding diesel that is globally undersupplied. Basically, we're making deals with Venezuela, a country that has absolutely been a monster on human rights comparable to Iran.Sam StoneYeah, well worse since in in its recent history is is as bad as any place on the planet.Chuck WarrenBut we're not going to go to Alaska, Texas or Oklahoma. Let's go to Venezuela. It reminded me, Sam, when you and I worked on a sugar project years ago in Florida and the environmentalists did not. They wanted to get rid of all the sugar, Right.Sam StoneAll the sugar farming in.Chuck WarrenFlorida and Florida and say, where do you get well, Mexico. Well, I remember us asking, well, don't they have the same pollution? Well, yeah, but it's a Mexico. I just sort of feel this is their talking point, right? It's just like they're really notconcerned about it. Let's talk about mortgage rates. So when Trump left office, mortgage rates were 2.9%. Today, they're 7.1 that the higher mortgage rates are going to cost people about $32,000 more or $900 per month.Sam StoneYou know what? I was seeing two things to that point that I found interesting and troubling. Well, one is troubling. I think the other is actually a great thing. The housing sales. Right now, the vast majority of housing sales right now are people who are being paying cash. So whether it's the BlackRock Vanguard, big companies or it's people who are wealthy enough to just pay cash, the houses that are being sold are only the ones that basically people can buy for cash. Right. And to and I think that's a really bad thing that that speaks to a huge distortion in a market for first time homebuyers.Chuck WarrenAbsolutely. Absolutely.Sam StoneA really good thing is a new development that people are finally realizing that you don't have to sell your house with a mortgage financed by a bank, that you can sell your house to somebody, issue a mortgage yourself. And as the homeowner, you can make the interest off it.Chuck WarrenWell, you're going to see a lot of stuff like that. Michelle Ugenti was telling me a conversation that she feels we're getting to the point on home ownership because of the cost as well, that you're going to see sort of a European style where you're just like, I'm just handing it down to my kids, I think.Sam StoneAbsolutely.Chuck WarrenYou know, and that's.Sam StoneUh, here's one thing in that vein.Chuck WarrenI don't want to live with my family. Do you know?Sam StoneI know I kind of don't. Um, one of the things we're seeing here, like, people don't realize if you haven't really traveled outside the United States, but the size of every living space in the United States is so much vastly larger. Like you go, the bathrooms in European and Asian countries are tiny, the bedrooms are tiny, you know.Chuck WarrenBut they're used to it. They're used to. So we're not. Remember when we were working on a campaign in Florida, down in Miami Dade and the campaign manager, we were driving, if you remember this, and he said he had worked at Publix and Publix lets employees take part of equity. So he sold out his position, had enough money to buy a home. So he was living with his mom and some other relatives. So I said, being a gringo, I said, Are you excited to go and live on your own with his upcoming wife? He goes, Well, no, my mom's going to live with me too. So there are certain cultures just used to it. I think this would be a big adjustment for gringos.Sam StoneI think it's a huge adjustment for the gringos, for all of us. And and not only to the crowding, but to frankly, the time has come for us. Housing spaces to shrink.Chuck WarrenYeah. By the way, Vivek raised 450 grand the night of the Republic after the Republican debates. Small donors.Sam StoneExcellent.Chuck WarrenHall Yeah. No, it's a good hall One more thing. Let's talk to Bloomberg here. So the outlook for the federal budget right now is essentially unprecedented crisis sized deficits as far as the eye can see, even through even though the economy appears to be in good health, that prospect is making investors uneasy, as demonstrated by yields on benchmark. Ten year treasuries climbed to 4.3% this week, the highest since 2007. Investors worry that sustained fiscal shortfalls on the scale projected by the CBO could push rates higher, which only puts more pressure on public finances by adding to the government's ballooning interest. Bill's concerns and testified this month after A12 punch, Treasury ramped up debt issuance, heralding a supply deluge that likely will last several quarters. And Fitch ratings unexpectedly downgraded America's sovereign credit rating. Folks, if we don't take care of this, you are going to pay the price. This isn't this isn't monopoly money. You're going to see in higher interest rates, higher inflation. Your paychecks are going to be hit and they're going to come after more taxes. You're going to we just can't do everything.Sam StoneAnd it's going to get a lot worse because we're going to lose reserve currency status. And that's coming, you know, BRICs, which is the alternative now to sort of the Western alliance built around the dollar, Brazil, Russia, India, China, they just added six new members.Chuck WarrenSaudi Arabia, UAE, Iran, among six countries invited to join BRICs, you know, so they've also invited Ethiopia. Argentina have them. Those are train wrecks. But, well.Sam StoneEthiopia, though the problem is Ethiopia has a huge reserve of rare earth minerals. Yes, that's why they added them.Chuck WarrenYep. Yep. It's basically become an anti-Western bloc. Right. Folks, we we appreciate it. We hope you join us for our podcast portion. We're having Rachel Walden on to discuss school boards and resource officers in Mesa. They've made some changes there. And she'll also discuss why school boards important. If you want to get involved, show up at the minimum to your school board meetings, if not, run for school board.Sam StoneRachel's the only Republican on the Mesa Public Schools Board, and it's made a huge difference. Make sure you download and tune in and hear about it.Chuck WarrenBreaking battlegrounds dot vote. We'll talk to you next week.AdvertisementThe 2022 political field was intense, so don't get left behind in 2024. If you're running for political office, the first thing on your to do list needs to be securing your name on the web with a your name Web domain from GoDaddy.com. Get yours now.Sam StoneWelcome to the podcast segment of Breaking Battlegrounds with your host, Chuck Warren. I'm Sam Stone. Chuck, a story you and I both glommed onto in the Arizona Republic came out very recently, showed Mesa public schools had finally will be adding a school resource officer for every single school in the school district. And that's something I know parents and others have been fighting for for quite a while. But one of the changes that instantly jumped to my mind and frankly, it's been tough. We've had a tough time getting resource officers into all those schools. We've gotten pushback from some of the schools, school leaders, some of the school boards, just like we have with Phoenix Union, Tempe, the Tucson school districts, Flagstaff, some of the others that have trended more liberal. But there was a change last election cycle on the Mesa Public School board. And we now have school board member Rachel Walden on the line with us. Rachel is a Republican. She was as I understand it, Rachel, the only Republican elected to that school board.Rachel WaldenCorrect? Yeah. In 2022.Sam StoneYep. And so I really felt like when I saw that story, I said, you know, that's the impact a single school board member canhave that if conservatives go out and get people on these boards.Chuck WarrenWell, one thing people don't understand is if you really want to change public education, elect a new school board. I mean, I think everybody thinks the legislature and the governor control that. But the you know, the rubber meets the road at the school board. Is that right, Rachel?Rachel WaldenYes, it does. The school board has a lot of authority. They direct the entire tone of the district. They oversee the superintendents so they can oversee the goals of the district, the priorities of the district. And they call the shots on what the agenda is every meeting.Sam StoneAnd your role when you came in there, I know you've you know, you're working. Frankly, everything I've heard is you're working very well with your colleagues. But it's very different when someone like you is in that room and on that board and when they're not. Right.Rachel WaldenYes. I think I'm the most outspoken board member. A lot of the past meetings, there wasn't much discussion. It felt like the board was a rubber stamp. And people were surprised to know that the board didn't ever meet outside of those meetings because there were so little discussion, so few questions would be asked in those meetings.Sam StoneHow many people do you think they're just viewing? I see this on the left more than the right, and maybe that's just part of the focus we need to redo. But a lot of folks on the left seem to just be using these as their first step up the political ladder. And it's not really about the kids.Rachel WaldenI think that we've seen that in school boards. A lot of people that ran for school boards for Mesa were asked to run. It was almost like a community service where people were tapping in and saying, well, we want to make sure these projects get through and keep the status quo. And they'd ask certain people to run. And then on the flip side, too, you do have the people that run as a political stepping stone. And we've seen that with a lot of our elected officials where they often start at school board. At the same time, someone like myself has gotten into school board and then realized that I'm good at government, I have a knack for government. And then there may be other opportunities that come from that too.Sam StoneAnd I think you're earning those opportunities. But one of the differences is you didn't run to start your way up the political ladder. People have been reaching out because you're effective and like, Yeah.Rachel WaldenYeah, that's absolutely true. I didn't I had no political ambition whatsoever. When I ran. I was still a stay at home mom. I had left my career and it was all about trying to save the rising generation. It still is. That will always be priority one for me.Chuck WarrenRachel, do you feel there's a more important office that people should get involved in? Parents should get involved in the school board.Rachel WaldenA more important office? Yeah. No, I mean, school board is everything. That's where if you've got kids in the district, if you're concerned about the future of this country, then you absolutely should be involved in school board. It is for everybody. We need every voice speaking out about this, because the boards right now across the state, across the country, are not focused on academic achievement.Chuck WarrenDo you feel that there's outside groups on the left, like teachers unions, that are really that really go and push to get people to run for school boards here in Arizona?Rachel WaldenOh, absolutely. The teacher union is very organized. We had 45 speakers at our last meeting. 45 people signed up for public comment. We haven't seen that since the school shut down and they were all there to just parrot the same talking point. They were teacher unions. They were wearing their matching shirts. They definitely have their own agenda. They definitely have their own people. They want to run.Sam StoneYou know, one of the things so school resource officers, obviously school safety has become a really big issue. Right. But I you know, and obviously, I think it's a great thing to have an officer there who can help protect the students, but they play a much bigger role than that, too, right? I mean, this isn't just about stopping a school shooting.Rachel WaldenYes. Yes. They're often involved in somebody bringing a weapon to school, into vaping and to drugs and to overall discipline where they get called in to to help with with those issues.Sam StoneIn discipline is actually if you if you look at real surveys of teachers, Chuck. Classroom discipline and the ability to maintain order in their classroom is at least as important as salary when it comes to the conditions that are driving teachers out of schools.Rachel WaldenThat's completely.Rachel WaldenTrue.Rachel WaldenCompletely true.Sam StoneRachel. How many? I mean, you know, I obviously, I'm not asking for straight numbers, but how much does that resource officer change the environment in the school when they're there?Rachel WaldenI think overall, everybody feels better knowing that there is that authority there and that comes from parents that have requested it. People in the community that go. This just makes sense that we have somebody on there with that authority to to help provide safety. And the teachers like it. The principals of requested it. The elementary schools even would like to have school resource officers. We have them in all the junior highs and high schools. But the elementary schools want it too. I mean, we have issues where kids are suspended from school, for example. They still show up at campus. So who's going to who's going to remove that student from campus? Right. We need SROs.Sam StoneHow when the vote for this to expand them to all the schools came down, was there a lot of opposition? Did you have a bunch of people speaking against it?Rachel WaldenNo, not at all. I don't think anybody spoke out against it.Sam StoneThat's honestly, I'm surprised to hear that. And I think that's fantastic. Yeah.Rachel WaldenWell, because the I think part of it is the whole agenda of of the left to to try to make guns a big focus of even though there's way more problems than that. So they kind of can't speak out against it because it goes against the left narrative.Sam StoneWell, I mean, frankly, I'm glad to hear that they're starting to take this more seriously because every time we had this when I was with the city of Phoenix, every time there was a request or a push to get more SROs into the Phoenix Union schools, it was, you know, we don't feel safe having somebody with a gun on campus. And this you know, these officers are huntingour children kind of thing. I'm glad to hear that didn't come up.Rachel WaldenYeah, I think there's a lot more stronger voice in Mesa from the community that that does feel safer. I agree with you. I think if we got some of the teachers union people on, they would voice that that same concern. But they're a minority in Mesa.Sam StoneHow much how much has your being on that board shifted? You know, shifted the school district back to a focus on educational basics.Rachel WaldenWell, I think it's helped quite a bit because my being on the board has helped a lot of parents get involved and come to the meeting because they feel like there's somebody that represents them. So I hear that all the time from the community. They're more engaged now in what the board is doing. So this time when we did our board goals, they were completely academically focused. That's the first time that's happened. Usually they have other goals in there, maybe something about social emotional learning or counseling or but every every single topic was just graduation rates, proficiency, student outcomes. And I felt like that was a big win for us because it was it was very new to only have those goals.Sam StoneThat's a big deal, Chuck. I mean, just it's a.Chuck WarrenHuge deal and people just need to make it part of their daily life to go to these school boards. You can't have teachers union showing 40 people up and we've got to get more. Rachel's on the school board, so we're going to focus on what education is supposed to be. The basics, reading, writing, math.Sam StoneRachel We we do kind of a short segment for the podcast here. We're going to wrap up in just a moment. But how do folks stay up with with the work you're doing at NPS? And then I know you are eyeballing a run at the corporation commission and keep me in. I'm planning to keep that school board seat, which you can do, and I think that'd be great. We need great people on the on the Corp also. But tell folks how they stay in touch with you and your work.Rachel WaldenSo you can follow me online. My handle is at Walden Patriot and. And I post what's going on with the school boards and upcoming meetings and then just put it in your calendar. Right. Everybody's got a smartphone now. Put second Tuesday and second Thursday of the month at 630. It doesn't change except that fall break. That's the only time. And and just make it a point to go even just once a month the last meeting of the month, which is the fourth Tuesday that's open comment so you don't have to know what's going on. You can just come and comment of what you think is important or what you want to see in the schools.Sam StoneLove it. Thank you so much. Rachel Walden, member of the Mesa Public School District Board. Really appreciate having you on there. And I love hearing good news about schools, Chuck, because we don't get that enough anymore. We do.Chuck WarrenNot. Thank you, Rachel. We hope you have a great day.Rachel WaldenGreat. Thank you so much.Chuck WarrenThank you. Bye bye.Sam StoneBye now. That was really good, Chuck. I like that. You know, we don't put enough focus on school boards on our side of the aisle. Democrats are so organized from the very, very base up.Chuck WarrenWe have talked you and I have talked many times. There's three areas of influence, the United States that conservatives have simply ignored. Okay. One is universities. And I think it's going to take a while, But but that's going to take a while. But, you know, at the end of the day, you can go and get more of the wealthy. Donors say, I'm going to endow this chair in economics. I mean, you can change that. It's not going to be rapid, but you can really start making a difference on that because at the end of the day, universities are just money horse. And if you go in with $1 million check, they're going to let you do what you want. And it's a simple reality. And I explained this to conservatives all the time. They complain about so- and-so charity, go. Universities are money w****s. They are simply going to go and take the check.Sam StoneWell, and that's what I liked about Tom Lewis's move, following all the stuff with Ann Atkinson that we've been talking about and the suppression of free speech at ASU pulling his money out and walking away from them. I think more donors need to use that power, that lever.Chuck WarrenYeah, I agree. The second one is journalism. We need to start setting up scholarships, pushing creative and thoughtful conservative college students to get into journalism. But it can't be the journalism where you just go, I'm going to work at the Daily Wire and National Review. Right. You got to you got to go work at the daily papers. You got to go work at Arizona Republic, Las Vegas Review Journal. You got to go look because.Sam StoneYour local broadcast Nightly.Chuck WarrenNews, because that is where well, even more so than that, the newspapers, only 6% based on polling get their news on candidates and things from the newspaper. But 2,526% get it from their local news. Well, where's the local news? Get it from from the newspaper?Sam StoneYeah.Chuck WarrenSo it really is 30%. So we really have got to get involved in that. And again, you and I have discussed this. I'm not looking for slanted news. I just want both sides put into it.Sam StoneYou know, you don't find in almost any publication.Chuck WarrenNo, no, no, they don't. And then the third item is public schools. We've talked about this. Teachers unions are truly one of the greatest threats to our country. I believe that. And frankly, the test results prove that. Now there is a role for parents. They're not doing their job. There's lots of things. But teachers unions are in. For one thing, they're a union representing teachers. If you think the kids are their first priority, then you are smoking Hunter Biden's crack pipe because this is just not reality. And how do you solve this? People think, well, Doocy go and gave a 20% raise in the legislature to teacher salaries. We both know those teachers do not get a 20% salary because it goes elsewhere.Sam StoneThey got like eight, nine, 10%.Chuck WarrenSo if you want to affect change and it's easy, go run for school board and win. Yeah, I mean, just look what Rachel's done there and she's still in the minority. But there's one reasonable voice there that brings people and then you have to show up. Teachers unions continually pack these meetings with public comments. It's a charade. Everybody should know it, but you need to show up and counter it.Sam StoneYep, absolutely you do. Folks, if you enjoy this, make sure you share it with friends. Get on our subscriber list so you get our content in your email box every single week. And be sure to tune in again next week for Chuck. This is Sam. We're back next week. Get full access to Breaking Battlegrounds at breakingbattlegrounds.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome back to another episode of Breaking Battlegrounds. First up is Orlando Sonza, a U.S. Army Veteran and dedicated Ohioan running in Ohio's First Congressional District. Raised in New Jersey and a West Point graduate, Orlando's journey is a testament to his diverse background and commitment to service. Our second guest is Jason Willick, an Opinion columnist at The Washington Post where he primarily writes about legal matters, political ideas, and foreign affairs. In this episode, he delves into the timely topic of Hunter Biden and the Trump indictments. Don't miss this engaging conversation that brings thought-provoking insights and expert analysis to the forefront._Connect with us:www.breakingbattlegrounds.voteTwitter: www.twitter.com/Breaking_BattleFacebook: www.facebook.com/breakingbattlegroundsInstagram: www.instagram.com/breakingbattlegroundsLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/breakingbattlegrounds-Orlando Sonza is a proud Ohioan. A second generation Filipino American, Orlando was raised in New Jersey and attended the United States Military Academy at West Point. While there he met his wife, Jessica, a Mexican/Filipino American, fellow Academy classmate, and Cincinnati native.Orlando graduated top ten in his class at West Point where he majored in political science and minored in systems engineering. Upon graduation, he and Jessica both commissioned as second lieutenants in the U.S. Army. Orlando served on active duty as an Infantry Officer and Finance Officer with the 3rd Infantry Division at Fort Stewart, Georgia.Jason Willick writes a regular Washington Post column on legal issues, political ideas and foreign affairs. Before coming to The Post in 2022, he was an editorial writer and assistant editorial features editor for the Wall Street Journal, and before that a staff writer and associate editor at the American Interest.-TranscriptionSam Stone: Welcome to another episode of Breaking Battlegrounds with your host, Sam Stone, Chuck Warren out of the studio for the moment. He will be joining us, we hope, within a few minutes. But we wanted to get rolling with our first guest today, frankly, because he has an amazing background. I'm really looking forward to chatting with Orlando, Sonza, candidate for Ohio's first congressional district and proud Ohioan, second generation Filipino American, raised in New Jersey, attended West Point, graduated top ten in his class, majoring in science, majored in political science, minored in systems engineering. So folks, this guy is no dummy. That is for sure. Orlando, Sonza, welcome to the program.Orlando Sonza: Sam, Thanks for having me. I appreciate it. Great to be here.Sam Stone: So what made you decide to go to West Point or to try to go that route?Orlando Sonza: Yeah. You know, I always knew, I think early on in my life that I wanted to join the army. I mean, call it whether it was playing Army men as I was a little kid or that.Sam Stone: Now are we talking about the little green plastic guys or did you have the metal ones? That's right.Orlando Sonza: Oh, no, no. It's definitely the little green guys, you know, kicking it back old school, too. Toy Story one, you know, to to those guys. But no, there was a fateful trip that my family and I took. I remember distinctly when I was in eighth grade, of course, growing up in New Jersey, I was just an hour away from Bear Mountain, West Point country. And so we went up there and I saw the cadets in uniform. I saw them marching. I looked out over the Hudson River and I was like, this is the place where I'm going to, this is where I'm going to. And so I made it my commitment. And, you know, I was involved with Junior ROTC in high school, and that kind of just charted the path. And that's how I ended up at the at the academy now.Sam Stone: So because a lot of us out here are dummies, what exactly is systems engineering?Orlando Sonza: So systems engineering, you know, is another name for it is industrial engineering. At at West Point every cadet had to minor in an engineering, whether it was nuclear engineering, mechanical, electrical. I didn't know that love kind of. Yeah, yeah. So I really gravitated towards problem solving. And really that's all systems engineering. Industrial engineering is it's how do you solve complex problems, whether it's in business or in manufacturing. And so that's what I chose, not just me, but actually my wife. I don't know if you knew this, Sam, but.Sam Stone: Folks. Sorry about that. We had a very short technical glitch. We are continuing on with candidate or Lanzo Sansa running for Ohio's first Congressional District, Orlando. When we rudely technologically disconnected you there briefly, you were telling us your wife also, I think, actually went to West Point. So this is an amazing family.Orlando Sonza: Yeah, that's right. I mean, look, public service and servant leadership that's in our blood. I mean, that's in the signs of blood, whether it's it's me and my story. But my wife, too, is an incredible person because she grew up in Cincinnati, you know, native here in southwest Ohio. And she also found her way to the academy. And that's where we met. We were classmates. We commission together. We graduated together. We served our country for about five years together. And yeah, we're my best friend and also my my co fighter in this thing.Sam Stone: So and now after that, as I understand, after you both left the military, you moved back to her hometown in Cincinnati. So there's an important question I think we need to ask you here. Ah, yeah. No.Orlando Sonza: Go ahead. You know it's coming. It's coming.Sam Stone: Have you become a fan of eating chili on spaghetti?Orlando Sonza: Look, Sam, I will tell you this, all right? It is Skyline all the way. I don't think I've yet to even taste Gold star, but it's Skyline all the way. But I had the luxury of tasting skyline for the first time, wearing a bib in front of my now father in law, asking for his blessing to marry Jessica. So when I put that coney in my mouth and tasted cinnamon in my chili, I was like, What in the world is this? This is awful. But I got his blessing and I've since acquired the skyline taste.Sam Stone: So and so. So you actually got a photo of that from that that evening?Orlando Sonza: No, because I think I spit it all on my bib, so, you know, know it well, but it's ingrained in my memory and so in John's as well.Sam Stone: So I love that. So Orlando, just a heads up. Chuck is just now rejoined us in studio here, so we'll be continuing on with the both of us. But. All right, great. Hello, Orlando. Orlando.Orlando Sonza: Good to meet you. Nice to.Chuck Warren: Meet you.Sam Stone: One of the things I wanted to get at in your bio, it says you're a second generation Filipino American. One of the things Chuck and I have talked on this program about is, frankly, the patriotism of people who have come to this country and then served in the military and how in many ways we're finding that recent immigrant families are as or more patriotic than than people more so here for generations. They're more so. More so.Orlando Sonza: Oh, 100%, Sam And, you know, that's something that I grew up. Knowing, you know, and seeing it's, I think, just a false narrative that has been perpetrated by left wing media to showcase that this is something just recent. You know, it is truly immigrant families or that have that life story that showcases that. It is this sense of patriotism, love of country. Commitment to hard work, you know, love of freedom that this country has and the ability to go from nothing to achieving the American dream. That's something I grew up with and saw in New Jersey. It's something that my wife also, you know, that she's she's coming from a parents that have a Mexican American lineage, then also a Filipino American lineage. She saw that as well. So, yeah, that's 100% true today for sure. But it's also been true, you know, for for decades also in our country.Sam Stone: I like that you brought up the American dream because if you're running for Congress, another thing we've talked about, Chuck, a lot on this show is that the American dream isn't dead, even if there's a lot of people out there who who seem to think it is but one group that across doesn't matter where they came from. But immigrants believe in the American dream.Chuck Warren: They're the demographic that believes in it.Sam Stone: Yeah, absolutely. Orlando.Orlando Sonza: That's right. Yeah.Chuck Warren: Let me ask you a question. So you're running for Congress now out there in Cincinnati. You've had a very illustrious career. You've had some many opportunities to to learn certain aspects of a career. So, for example, I want to ask you what each job has prepared, how each job has prepared you to be in Congress, for example, by going to West Point and serving the military. What? Talents that you acquire and develop that will benefit your constituents in Cincinnati. If you're in Congress.Orlando Sonza: Yeah. You know, talking specifically to buy West Point and military background, I remember distinctly, you know, every week I would go to the Cadet Barber shop, get a haircut, and there was this poster in one of the, you know, one of the walls at the barber shop and it said West Point, where leaders aren't born. They're made. You know, it's kind of a cliche. It's a it's a funny thing, but it's just so impacted me the first time I saw it, because what I realized was leadership is about going through experiences and challenges and formulating this ability to lead people and lead them well. You know, the good leaders that we've seen in our country, they're not born. They were made by the crucible of adversity. And so whether it was at West Point, but then being able to translate and apply what I learned at the Academy, which was truly a premier leadership institution and applied it in the military, that's what I gleaned back. And I knew that in the military, whether I was leading infantry soldiers or leading finance soldiers in the second half of my military career, what it came down to is how do you motivate, train and inspire people to achieve a common goal but do it in a way that's transformational. And so I took that and then translated it into a post-military career. But I would say first and foremost, it is leadership that I learned at West Point and the military. And that's quite frankly, what we are seeing the lack of today. Right. Whether it's in Congress or at the White House, just Washington and its lack of good leadership is what's crippling for our nation and what people are tired of seeing. They want good, serious leadership that can solve complex, serious problems. That's what I seek to do when elected to Congress.Sam Stone: It does seem, Chuck, like there's a lack of I was going to say, like Congress and the White House often these days seem rudderless, but I guess that would be more of a Navy analogy. They're bad pathfinders, right? They're not good at following the trails that they need to follow to get where they need to go.Chuck Warren: No, not at all. You also served as an associate prosecutor for Hamilton County prosecutor's office. What, while serving in that role, what talents can you take to Congress that you learn from there?Orlando Sonza: You know, it's a lot of problems, right, that are impacting our nation, not just southwest Ohio, but specifically, you know, drawing from my experience as an assistant prosecutor, as an attorney. The problem that we're seeing in southwest Ohio, whether it's the crime that is just continue to escalate the rate of violent crime, that's continuing to escalate across our big cities where Cincinnati you know, I just saw the numbers recently that we've got more juvenile homicides in in years, in decades in Cincinnati, or it's the fentanyl crisis, the opioid epidemic that is impacting southwest Ohio and across the country. You we need someone that can understand how to advocate for the right legislation necessary to reduce the crime in our cities and stop the wave of harmful drugs like fentanyl from destroying more lives. Look, that's that. That goes to the heart of having the right type of laws. And we don't need an actual, you know, legislator that has a law background, but certainly would help, right. Because it is laws and having constitutional laws that would then advance the good goals that we need in order to fix those problems. But as a prosecutor as well, I can speak firsthand to what I saw Fentanyl was doing and the the opioid epidemic was doing for our city and also what violent crime was doing in our city. And so that's what I'm seeking to actually fix and drawing from that experience.Sam Stone: Yeah, I think that's actually one of the most important things right now for Congress to truly understand is how dramatic a shift fentanyl and then sort of the post 2020 lawlessness has created in this country. It's a really critical issue. We have only about 45 seconds before we go to break here. We're going to be continuing on after the break with Orlando, Sonza, candidate for Ohio's first Congressional district. And folks, make sure you stay tuned for the second half of our program. We're going to have Jason Willick, regular Washington Post columnist, talking about all the legal issues with Hunter, with Trump, all that kind of stuff. So make sure you stay tuned for that. And folks, if you're not already subscribed to our substack, go on our website. Make sure you get all the new episodes of breaking battlegrounds right when they come out for Chuck Warren. I'm Sam Stone. We'll be back in just a moment.Advertisement: At Overstock. We know home is a pretty important place and that's why we believe everyone deserves a home that makes them happy. Whether you're furnishing a new house or apartment or simply looking to update and refresh a few rooms. Overstock has every day free shipping and amazing deals on the beautiful high quality furniture and decor. You need to transform any home into the home of your dreams. Overstock Making Dream homes Come True.Sam Stone: Welcome back to Breaking battlegrounds with your host, Chuck Moran. I'm Sam Stone. We're going to be continuing on in just a moment with Orlando Sansa, candidate with an amazing background running for Ohio's first congressional district. But before we do that, folks, how is your 401. K doing these days? The market's been up. The market's been down. This Biden economy is not helping folks. It is maybe time for you to consider diversifying your portfolio. You need to check out our friends at invest  Y refy. Go to their website, invest the letter Y, then refy.com check them out because you can earn up to a 10.25% fixed rate of return. That's right. A 10.25 fixed rate of return in this economy is a fantastic opportunity. So go to that website. Check them out. You're not going to regret it. Invest the letter Y, then refy.com.Chuck Warren: So you're running for Congress. What is it? Why should people vote for you versus the Democrat incumbent?Orlando Sonza: Yeah, you know, it comes down to really what we've seen that Ohioans want today. They don't want the identity politics. What they want is serious leadership representing them in Washington. Who has the background and experience as a problem solver capable of understanding the complex issues impacting our nation? And, you know, unlike my opponent, I'm not interested in focusing on attention grabbing headlines like, for example, posing shirtless on the front page of the Cincinnati Enquirer to show off personal tattoos as a sitting US congressman.Sam Stone: Was he riding behind Vladimir Putin on his horse?Orlando Sonza: I don't know.Orlando Sonza: About that, but he was on top of a rooftop and that was his first headliner as a US congressman. It's like, are you kidding me? You know, it's like, what about highlighting weird times?Chuck Warren: What times? You know what?Chuck Warren: Weird times.Sam Stone: Yeah, that's, you know, that's really bizarre. Orlando.Orlando Sonza: Well, you know, I say it. I wish I could make it up. But what it really highlights is the the leaders that we have in Washington, Greg Landsman is no exception. He's just completely out of touch for his role as a congressman and how he seeks to actually solve these complex issues of today. We're talking about a guy who is completely off when it comes to trying to fix inflation. You know, yesterday or two days ago, he decides to highlight on Twitter, you know, this infrastructure bill that got passed last year and how because of.Sam Stone: His call that the pedestrian bridges to nowhere bill.Orlando Sonza: Yeah right and and you know yeah it's great if we have a new Brent Spence Bridge here in Cincinnati connecting northern Kentucky and Cincinnati. But look, if our city continues to be crime ridden, if fentanyl continues to be in our streets, if our wallets are still being wreaked by inflation, then what? What good is a bridge? And my question to Landsman is, you know, why was your first position when this whole debt ceiling debacle unfolded? Why was your first position to increase government spending with no cut, with no cuts in spending? It's like, are you are you kidding me? It's like, you know, let's perpetuate the problem to solve the problem.Sam Stone: You know, your experience as a prosecutor, you see a lot of people on a day to day basis who are really living on the edge, who a few hundred dollars a month can be the difference between them potentially participating in crime or ending up on the street or having all sorts of issues. And here we have an economy that news just came out $700 per month per family is the cost of the Biden inflation that Landsman and these others are are cheering on. That's right. How much of an impact does that have on the people of your district?Orlando Sonza: It it has a huge impact. And look, it doesn't take a CPA like me, you know, with a master's in tax to realize that inflation has a direct impact on the wallets of Americans, everyday Americans, middle class Americans, especially me. Where to your point, I saw the same statistic $700 more a month than two years ago. And what is that actually speaking of? That's the rise in just the cost of living of our utility bills. I mean, we are talking about, you know, Greg Landsman being one of the ones that voted no on the very bill, H.R. one, that seeks to reduce our monthly gas and electric bills. Well, that's contributing to the $700 more a month than Americans are spending. It's the fact that we even have this thing called, you know, an electric and energy poverty in our country. And he doesn't want to fix it by the very bill that can lower the cost of gas and electricity for everyday Americans, completely out of touch. And so ultimately, what I'm seeking to do is to showcase to southwest Ohio that we have the opportunity here to bring back serious leadership. Not a. Attention grabbing antics. Back to Washington for southwest Ohio. Let's roll up our sleeves and let's actually get things done and achieve the things we want to achieve for Ohioans.Sam Stone: We have about 3.5 minutes left. Chuck, you have experience as a chief of staff on Capitol Hill. I've worked at the city of Phoenix. I think one of the things that we would both probably agree on is that when you find a member of Congress or any elected body who has that one issue that they are passionate about.Chuck Warren: You can tell you can tell it's sincerity when they talk about it.Sam Stone: Orlando, what for you is that issue that drives you?Orlando Sonza: Yeah, you know, we haven't touched on it yet. Right. But my ultimate motivation for jumping in this race is my four kids. You know, I'm raising alongside Jessica, four kids under the age of eight, seven, five, three and one. So when we're talking about protecting them and also achieving an America that is safe and secure for them, it also speaks to my parenting and the ability to make the best decisions for them. So what's the issue that's near and dear to my heart that's resounding with a lot of Southwest Ohioans? It's standing up for the family, whether it's the parents or the kids, and whether it's just simply standing up for parental rights with the the the Parents Bill of Rights, where you have landsmen voting no on simply affirming that we parents have a right to know what happens in our kids schools or to make the best educational decisions for our kids. I mean, that's bar none. First and foremost, we need to stand up for our parents and then also stand up for the safety and well-being for our kids so that they thrive. That is the number one issue that I think transcends all these other issues, whether it's fixing our economy for them, securing America for them, or just making sure that they thrive as they grow up in this country. That's what's motivating me to get into this fight. Get into this fight with no district map, Right. I'm not a candidate of convenience, right? I don't know if this map is going to be blue or red, but we'll find out in a month. But look, I didn't hold out. What? What? Southwest, Ohio, Cincinnati, Warren County, Hamilton County needs as a fighter. Someone who's willing to fight and lead from the front, no matter what this district may look like in terms of map lean. And I'm committed to do that. I'm committed to fight for my kids, my community, and this country will win in November. And I just urge everybody to join the fight alongside with us.Chuck Warren: Where can they reach you at? Where can they find you? And learn more about your campaign? Where can they donate all that fun stuff.Orlando Sonza: Yeah, absolutely. Orlandosonza.com Orlando like one of your favorite places in Florida Sonza Sonza.com come join the team come volunteer this this movement is just starting chip in if you can and we're just excited to to do this alongside other strong Americans that love this country, love their community.Sam Stone: That's fantastic. Folks, we have just about a minute before we go to break. And we are going to be coming right back with Jason Willock of The Washington Post. Orlando, we really want to thank you for coming on the program today, folks. You know, Orlando is one of those candidates we have out there that are really highlighting the growing diversity of the Republican Party. But also what you hear from our guests week after week is the intellectual diversity, the variety of views and issues that are important to them in Orlando. We want to thank you again for taking the time to join us in our audience today. We really appreciate having you. We'll look forward to getting some updates on your campaign as it goes forward. And we're wishing you the absolute best.Orlando Sonza: Thank you, Sam. Chuck, Thank you for having me.Chuck Warren: Have a great weekend, folks.Sam Stone: Breaking battlegrounds will be back in just one moment. Welcome back to Breaking Battlegrounds with your host, Sam Stone and Chuck Warren. Up next with us today, Jason Willick writes a regular Washington Post column on legal issues, political ideas and foreign affairs. Before coming to the Post, he was an editorial writer and assistant editorial feature features editor for the Wall Street Journal, and before that, a staff writer and associate editor at American Interest. Jason, thank you for joining us. Welcome to the program.Jason Willick: Good to be with.Chuck Warren: You, Jason. We want to talk about the legal mess our country's in right now with both Hunter Biden and former President Trump. I want to first start with this. So it was announced this week that Germany is not going to meet their commitment on 2% of GNP towards defense spending. Poland is now spending 5% of their GNP towards defense. Should we just move our troops and everything over to Poland?Jason Willick: Well, I ah, you know, the post Cold War. Arrangement is really sort of getting unsettled, isn't it, with. Yes. With Russia's invasion of Ukraine. I mean, Germany is the biggest economy in Europe. I think there's a growing consensus in Washington that we need to be focusing on Asia, on China, that that's the bigger threat to American interests. And Germany's the richest country in Europe. So they're clearly going to need to foot the foot the bill for maintaining security in Europe. And it looked for a moment like they might do that with Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Berlin was really freaked out and starting to rethink all of its priorities. And I think they're starting to fall back to a it'll be okay. The Americans will take care of it. The Eastern Europeans will deal with it. We don't we don't really need to fundamentally rethink things. And I think it's definitely a priority for a US administration to talk some sense into the Germans on this.Chuck Warren: I hope they bring it up at the RNC debate for the presidential candidates on Tuesday night, because I think this is a real issue going forward for national security. All right. Let's talk about this. You wrote a column recently called Written said why the Hunter Biden plea fiasco will be a drag on Democrats. And since you wrote that, we now have a special prosecutor, the same prosecutor who gave the sweetheart deal to him on the plea arrangement. Talk to our listeners, explain to them exactly what's happening.Jason Willick: Well, there was this astonishing situation a few weeks ago where the plea deal, which we were all told, you know, this is a very normal plea deal. The Merrick Garland says everyone is treated alike. And my Justice Department, we treat like cases alike. How dare anyone question that? And then they put the plea agreement in front of a judge and she said, this is very irregular. I've never seen anything like this. What is going on here? She didn't even say, I'm not going to accept it. She just said, Can you explain to me what the deal is? What's the immunity? How much immunity does he get in exchange for pleading guilty to these charges? How does it work on this gun charge, the diversion agreement that you guys have entered? And then the two parties that turned out didn't even agree what was in the deal? Because the defense for Hunter Biden thought it was very generous and the prosecutors were like, no, no, no, it wasn't that generous. So the whole thing, the whole thing blew up and they weren't able to reach.Jason Willick: And then she said, Come back to me in a few weeks, work this out. And then it seems that they've tried to go back and work it out and they couldn't come to an agreement about a plea deal. And I think what basically happened is the Justice Department was trying to give Hunter Biden a very generous deal. But when they were asked to explain it in public, it became politically embarrassing to admit how generous it was. So then with all this scrutiny, the thing fell apart. The Justice Department realized politically, we can't do this. We can't look like we're giving such a generous deal to the president's son. And so now Merrick Garland thinks that he's resolving this by appointing a special counsel, which, you know, it's true that if he would have appointed a special counsel a while ago, that would have, I think, made people less concerned about what was going on. But now you're appointing a special counsel, the same prosecutor who gave this deal in the first place. So I don't think it's it's really solving the issue.Chuck Warren: Jason, wasn't there anybody Look, I don't think Garland made this decision just by himself on his desk one day. So he obviously had some people that he trusts that he talks to. Right. Do you think anybody said, you know, we probably shouldn't appoint the same guy that just gave this what most Americans think is a sweetheart deal? Do you think there's anybody advising him that's playing devil's advocate, saying, you know, this may not look right?Jason Willick: I think, you know, it's Republicans were calling for David Weiss, who's the United States attorney for Delaware, who was appointed by Trump. But, you know, Delaware is a Democratic state, has has two Democratic senators. So it was approved basically by Democrats as well as Trump to become the special counsel. And Republicans initially said, why isn't he a special counsel? And some of the whistleblowers in this case said, you know, he needed these powers of special counsel that he didn't have. So I think Garland's like, you know, a few months ago, this was the debate was, should David Weiss be a special counsel? I think so. And I think Garland is trying to hold the thing together, satisfy critics by making him a special counsel. But you're absolutely right. It's you know, it's too little and too late.Chuck Warren: It stinks to high heaven with Jason Willock. He is a Washington Post columnist. We're going to have him back on our next segment. You can find him on Twitter at Jay Willock. And this is breaking battlegrounds. You can find us at breaking battlegrounds dot vote. We'll be right back with Jason. Talk more about Hunter Biden and all the fun Donald Trump appointments, indictments. We'll be back.Advertisement: At Overstock. We know home is a pretty important place and that's why we believe everyone deserves a home that makes them happy. Whether you're furnishing a new house or apartment or simply looking to update and refresh a few rooms. Overstock has every day free shipping and amazing deals on the beautiful high quality furniture and decor. You need to transform any home into the home of your dreams. Overstock Making Dream homes Come True.Sam Stone: Welcome back to Breaking battlegrounds with your host, Chuck Warren. I'm Sam Stone. Folks, if you're looking for a fantastic investment opportunity where you can earn up to a 10.25% fixed rate of return, 10.25 fixed rate of return in this market is absolutely phenomenal. And when you invest with refy, you actually benefit while doing good for others. They're helping refinance distressed private student loans, and they've turned that into a fantastic opportunity for you to make money while they're doing it. So it's a win win. Check them out. Invest. Why Refy.com that's invest the letter Y, then refy.com or give them a call at 888 y refy 24. Make sure you tell them Chuck and Sam sent you.Chuck Warren: We're with Jason Willock. He is a Washington Post columnist. He goes over law, politics, foreign policy. You can find him on Twitter at Jay Willock, W.i.l.l. Ike All right. Going back to Hunter Biden, can Congress do anything to have them appoint a new special prosecutor, special counsel, or are they just sort of stuck with this same old, same old?Speaker6: I think.Jason Willick: They're stuck. I mean, they can they can do subpoenas and conduct, try to do their own investigation. But I think that the Justice Department, they can't compel the Justice Department really to do to do something different. Merrick Garland's in charge of the Justice Department. They and I think that they're they need to conduct their own parallel investigation if they want to if they want to.Chuck Warren: Mitch McConnell does not get enough credit for keeping Merrick Garland off the Supreme Court. Not at all. But that's a conversation for another day. All right, Jason, you wrote an article this week called Trump Triggers the Politics of Emergency. Talk to us a little bit about that article and explain to our audience what you see as the most difficult indictment on Donald Trump. What's the most dangerous for him? What's the least likely to produce anything against him?Jason Willick: So on the article on the Politics of Emergency, I wrote that after some of you may have remembered that people wanted to disqualify Trump from the ballot from running again under the 14th Amendment's Section three, which disqualifies someone who engaged in insurrection against the United States as a Civil War era provision of the Constitution meant to disqualify Confederates. And so the House impeached Trump for incitement to insurrection and wanted the Senate to disqualify him. But he was acquitted in the Senate trial. But what I'm saying in this column is I think that among Trump's opponents, we're going to see this idea getting momentum again. What what triggered that was there was a long article by two law professors sort of arguing that he needs to be disqualified. It's not even close. And and it's in effect automatically so people can go to court or secretaries of state can take him off the ballot and and it can be challenged in court. But this is this has to happen. This is what is constitutional. And my point is just we're really getting into a politics of emergency here. I think as the as Trump's political momentum increases, he seems likely to get the Republican nomination. I think that's why part of the reason at least we we saw the decision to indict him. There was this sense that we have to do something about January 6th. And I think in the next year or so, we're going to see some efforts to try to disqualify him from the ballot, because just if one state disqualifies him from the ballot, that would then go to the Supreme Court and it would become a national issue. It's been something that most serious people would not have taken seriously before, But who knows, maybe in six months they will start taking it seriously and will start lobbying for this to happen.Sam Stone: In this piece, Jason, written by these professors, are they arguing that, for instance, a secretary of state or high state elections official could simply they don't have to go to court to get Trump thrown off the ballot? They could simply make the decision to just leave him off the ballot and then it would actually be in Trump's camp or the RNC camp to try to sue to restore that access.Jason Willick: Pretty much there. You know, the procedure varies by state who has standing to do what, what the power is of various election officials. But they're basically saying, yes, someone can try to enforce, in their view, the 14th Amendment and then Trump can take them to court and challenge them.Sam Stone: See, here in Arizona, for instance, you have a Democrat secretary of state who's been very vocal about Trump. You have a Democrat AG who's been vocal about Trump. You have a Democrat governor who's called for them to prosecute Trump here. I think very easily they could throw it off the ballot. But you're talking about the politics of emergency. This that kind of thing is what worries me, Chuck, more than anything else right now.Chuck Warren: That's nothing goes right to the.Sam Stone: Supreme Court environment.Chuck Warren: Yeah, no, absolutely.Jason Willick: I agree. I mean, look, I think this is not normal politics. This is we're talking about having an election. We're. Where we have a candidate who's under indictment in four jurisdictions. The judge in D.C. is basically telling him to stop talking about the case in the way that he is or she might have to take action against him. Meanwhile, in parallel, you might have efforts to take him off the ballot. And like I said, I don't see how at least somebody doesn't try to take him off the ballot in some blue states such that this gets to the courts pretty quickly. This is just an extraordinary situation. And I have I have worries for how it will affect our legitimacy of our of our political system.Chuck Warren: If you have an office pool, look for Arizona's AG to try this trick. I'm convinced of it. I would. She is she is an activist and she wants that headline. It's amazing. Okay. Trump's been indicted now on four separate, you know, many indictments, but many counts. But there's you know, there's basically four big things. What do you view as the most dangerous to him of actually being convicted on in order You can rank him in order. What you think? One, two, three, four?Jason Willick: Well, I think I mean, what I think he's likely to be convicted on is different from what I think is likely to actually hold up on appeal and and what I think is actually the strongest. I mean.Chuck Warren: So so go through each case. Go through each case. Let's start first with J six. Go ahead. What do you think on that?Jason Willick: Well, I think, you know, on January 6th, you're talking about a Washington, DC jury, which is know roughly 95% Democratic. And I think if you give a jury like that permission to convict Donald Trump, you say, look, if you find that he acted corruptly, you can convict him. I think most you know, I think he has really long odds to get an actual acquittal. You know, a hung jury is possible. I do think the statutes that are being used in that case, fraud and obstruction and conspiring against rights are sort of strange uses of these statutes. I think they're they're aggressive uses of the statutes. And I think that there's definitely a chance that on appeal, one or more of those could be invalidated as No, that's not what this statute means. But I think Jack Smith is racing to get to trial, to get a conviction before the election. And, you know, appeals would take much longer than that. I think in Florida, the Mar a Lago case, that's clearly the strongest case. I think Trump did mishandle the documents. I think if what Jack Smith says is true, he obstructed the efforts of the government to get back the documents that said in Miami, he's got a much more, you know, friendly, friendly terrain.Chuck Warren: Friendly terrain down there.Jason Willick: Much, much more politically friendly terrain. It's possible for me to imagine one juror saying, no, this is politically motivated. I'm not going to convict him and getting a hung jury because, remember, even a hung jury would be a big defeat for the prosecution in any of these. But I do think that's the strongest case by far down in Florida. And then you've got this New York case that I think is kind of ridiculous about about paying. But but again, you're talking about a Manhattan jury is not is not very popular there.Sam Stone: No. I mean, look, I, I absolutely expect that whatever Manhattan jury is to convict him. But I would love to see them prosecute all the other New York politicians who have paid off mistresses over the years, because that could be fun, right?Jason Willick: I mean, it's a little bit you know, it's a little bit ridiculous. And on appeal, you know, on some of these, you know, appellate courts are going to look at it in probably a less political way and be like, hold on a second. This isn't a proper use of the law. So I could on a lot of these, I could see one thing on conviction, something else on appeal. Then down in Georgia, you know, I think Fulton County, again, a fairly Democratic area, Trump's going to try to remove the case, the federal court, which would be a little bit of a different jury pool, maybe a more favorable jury pool. I think some parts that that one is a mixed bag. I think some parts of the case are stronger. I think the Rico, the idea of using Rico is is a little is a stretch and may not hold up. But Georgia has sort of more straightforward laws like it's not like this was fraud and fraud means this in some broad sense. It's like it's more straightforward, like soliciting an officer to do something that they shouldn't do. It's more broken down. You know, this particular phone call is a crime. So I think it's a little more straightforward. But I think the whole Rico framing is flawed and that that one's a mess. It's a huge case, huge numbers of people. Some of them are going to try to remove it to federal court. That one is not going to go to trial before the election, I don't think.Chuck Warren: Well, yeah, I mean, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp today said that, quote, This trial, despite what dates anybody is asking for, it's not going to happen before the election.Jason Willick: Oh, did he?Chuck Warren: Yeah. That came out this morning. That was like a couple hours ago. So Kemp has just said this is not happening before the election, so. You know what, Jason? If. If Peacock or Netflix came to you and said, Write us the craziest experience about an ex-president getting in legal trouble, Could you have made this up?Jason Willick: Uh.Jason Willick: I would need more imagination. I would need more imagination. But, you know, he's, uh. I think it's important to note, you know, he's he's given, you know, he's in a real way. He's brought this on himself. Yes, he has. He did. On January 6th. On January 6th, I, you know, I'm on the fence and I and I, you know, I don't I'm not I don't really think that it fits the criminal statutes. I think they're trying to create criminal statutes to fit his terrible conduct. But I think it's basically terrible political conduct that that voters should judge. And, you know, but that's that's not happening. And instead, we're trying to use the legal process. And, you know, I think, you know, who knows what kind of precedents are going to be set by this legal process? I really do do worry about that.Sam Stone: Jason, which of the charges do you think you've talked about? Some of them. They may have different fates in front of a jury. And then on appeal, which of these charges is the one that is most likely to make it all the way through and stick?Jason Willick: All the way through and thick. Well, I mean, I'd say if if a jury in Florida convicts Trump of mishandling the documents or of obstructing the investigation, that will stick. That's not something I don't think that the appellate courts will reverse.Jason Willick: So I.Jason Willick: Probably have to say that one, that's ultimately the strongest, clearest case alleging sort of a straightforward violation of the.Jason Willick: Law.Sam Stone: Yeah. It seemed that way to me. I think one of the the questions I had, especially looking at the Georgia indictments that I felt frankly, in some ways angered me most, was that they're targeting Trump's lawyers and. Right. And that sort of thing, that that's a really dangerous precedent to be setting in our legal system.Jason Willick: Yeah.Jason Willick: Yep. Um, you know, to some extent they don't prosecute the lawyers in the January and Jack Smith's January 6th case in Washington, but they're named as co-conspirators, you know, without naming them. But it's clear that they're co-conspirators. I mean, the line between a nutty legal theory and and a fraud, you know, we want people to be allowed to raise nutty legal theories in general. I mean, and that's why I made the comparison in the piece. What if somebody says I have the right to take Trump off the ballot because it's constitutionally required? And so you take him off the ballot and then he wins, Can he turn around and say this was election interference? Your theory was in bad faith and it was completely wrong and you're taking me off the ballot was, you know, interfering with the election process illegally. I mean, the these are the kinds of things that we want to be very careful with. And I think this is what gets to the sense of emergency. People are normally careful with these things, but they feel now we're in an emergency. We have to throw caution to the wind. And we we have to stop this.Chuck Warren: Democrats are going to create a whole new precedent. It's like when Harry Reid did with the judges in the Senate and then we go around and use it and they have a cow and a conniption. Quickly here, we got about a minute left with you, Jason, and we want to have you back on because I'm sure this topic will be continuing for a while. President Biden today is having a summit with Japan and South Korea. I think that's a good move for the country. Your thoughts?Speaker6: Absolutely.Jason Willick: You know, we have treaty commitments to defend South Korea and Japan. We've you know, we've fought a war in the last century and in both countries, in World War II and in the Korean War. These are important strategic countries that are rich, powerful countries that we need to check China. They have, you know, a tough history together. You know, Japan invaded Korea. There's no love lost between them on some issues. So to the extent that we can bring them into an alignment as opposed to being pried apart, you know, our alliance structure will be stronger.Sam Stone: Fantastic. Thank you so much, Jason Willick of The Washington Post. We really appreciate having you on again today, folks. You can follow him at I believe it's at JA Willick on Twitter.Chuck Warren: That's correct.Sam Stone: That's correct. Okay. Follow him, folks at Jay Willick on Twitter and subscribe to The Washington Post. Let's keep the good journalism rolling, breaking battlegrounds coming back, not on air. You got to tune in for our podcast segment, Go to breaking battlegrounds dot vote. We'll see you on air next week.Advertisement: The 2022 political field was intense, so don't get left behind in 2024. If you're running for political office, the first thing on your to do list needs to be securing your name on the web with a your name Web domain from GoDaddy.com. Get yours now.Chuck Warren: Welcome back to Breaking Battlegrounds podcast. Only extra innings. Glad you're with us here today. And Sam, I are going to talk about three issues on this portion of the podcast today and we'll probably talk baseball.Sam Stone: Now you got me drooling over this extra innings.Chuck Warren: I I'm a changeup baseball podcast is now extra innings podcasts now for breaking battlegrounds is extra innings so that's where we're at. All right, folks, you were here first. All right. First, the average rate of most common type of mortgages in the United States is now 7.1%. That's 30 year fixed loans. Wow. That's the highest since December 2001. And folks, most of you remember what happened in 2001, right? We had nine divided by 11 and September 2001. Yeah. So, um, the 2% past year, that's more than 4.4 points from the all time low seen in January 2021. That's how much mortgage has gone up under a Joe Biden presidency. They don't want to talk about it. But here's here's what the reality of this is. With a 20% down payment. And Sam, there's a lot of people who do not have a 20% down payment for a home.Sam Stone: Now, a lot of people are putting 3% maybe if that.Chuck Warren: But our mortgage companies, because of these, they're probably going to start requiring there's no more going to be this 3% stuff. I'm telling you right now, unless you do a 50 year mortgage.Sam Stone: Or your Fannie Freddie back. Yeah, right, right, right. Yeah.Chuck Warren: So so a median priced house is $465,000. No, excuse me. Sorry about that. With a 20% down now on a median priced home, you will pay $465,000 in interest over 30 years. Now.Sam Stone: Up from from how much? I mean, it had to. It was 200. Yeah. 200. Right.Chuck Warren: A year and a half ago. So when Biden talks about the economy's doing great, it's it's an interesting scenario. A lot of people work. That's true. I don't feel we're in this crippling recession, but we are in as our guest Oscar talked earlier, we have things like electric poverty now. We have food poverty now. I love gas. Poverty now. Right. And so that's where we're at. And, you know, I don't know, you know, this extra $700 a month, Sam, where are people getting it? We know, for example, that 60% of people don't even have $1,000 in savings. They couldn't come up with 1000 for emergency. Were people getting this extra $70 a month? They're doing it from credit cards.Sam Stone: Which is running.Chuck Warren: Out. Which is running.Sam Stone: Out. I mean, we're we're hearing already from the credit card companies that the defaults are going way up. Yep. You're hearing from the auto loan companies, the defaults are going way up. If you want to talk about the risk of a real recession, it's not the job situation now, but it's the home and living situation with these folks being displaced because of these increases. And then how do you maintain a job?Chuck Warren: Well, and this is the dishonesty of our mainstream media. If this was a President Reagan or President Bush 41 or President Bush 43 a Trump, we would see front page stories in the Miami Herald, Arizona Republic, San Diego Tribune, weekly of people standing in food lines.Sam Stone: Every single day. You would see teasers throughout the day on all their commercials for the big piece that night attacking, you know, Trump, Reagan, whichever Republican for these conditions. I mean, this is $700 a month per household. You know, folks, do the math, right? You're talking $8,400 per year. Yeah. Where's the average American getting an extra $8,400?Chuck Warren: Right now they're big borrowing still and it's a problem. So let's talk now about another problem that the Maui fires.Sam Stone: The response to the fire.Chuck Warren: The response has been horrible. I talked to a friend a couple of days ago who used to be an employee of mine who now lives out there. And we were talking about I said, so do the deaths get over 100? This is a couple of days after, and she's homeless, lost her house, but she has some in-laws that she's been able to stay with on the island. And she said, Chuck, there's a thousand people missing. I mean, you're going to get to a thousand people dead here because it happened so fast. And there's a story today which I have posted on our social media of a woman trying to go back and rescue her son, and they found him charred. I mean, he was he was dead with the family pet. And it's just and so the real question is, and Sam, why don't you describe it, there was an administrator who's in charge for five hours, did not allow them to have water that they needed.Sam Stone: Yeah. Did not release water that, you know, that Maui has stored and didn't allow homeowners to get that water to be able to, you know, protect their properties at all, even for the firefighters to hook up to and fight the fires. This administrator literally hemmed and hawed because he said that due to environmental considerations, water had to be treated as a precious resource. Let me add a couple other things, because the the emergency response from Hawaii, the state of Hawaii, the officials of Hawaii, Chuck, I believe are guilty of mass murder.Chuck Warren: Well, they should be held up for manslaughter. Yeah, I mean, they really should.Sam Stone: For for a thousand counts by the end of this thing of manslaughter.Chuck Warren: Absolutely. What he did was criminal.Sam Stone: Well, how about the power companies which left the power on for five hours in all their lines when they knew they were sparking fires? And why would you do that? The only thing I could think I haven't seen much investigation on this, Chuck, but the only thing I could think of was they didn't want to turn off power to the big resorts.Chuck Warren: Maybe so. Maybe so.Sam Stone: I mean, because I mean.Chuck Warren: There's no there's no reason for.Sam Stone: It. Look, I know from here in Arizona and I know from situations in California now, the power companies have just made a decision, look, if you get winds over a certain amount, that's likely to be starting to down, shut them down, you just shut them down. You just shut them down because the risk of fire and the risk to to civilian life from that kind of situation is too great. So he shut them down. They did not do that. Then they denied them water. Then they're not letting them into their homes. They didn't activate the sirens to let people know there was a problem. I mean, there are so many things that Hawaii did wrong here and they're being kind of given a pass again by the national media on this. Well, what's.Chuck Warren: Amazing is Hawaii's governor asked the press to do their job to investigate the water. He did that yesterday. Just saying basically, why don't you guys do your job and find out why this wasn't released?Sam Stone: Well, and why aren't they asking questions about the electricity? Why aren't they asking questions about some sort of organized rescue that never came together?Chuck Warren: So, Mr. Manuel, he's the deputy director of Hawaii's Commission on Water Resource Management. Whenever you have a long title like that, you're fairly worthless anyway.Sam Stone: Guaranteed.Chuck Warren: I think he should be charged with manslaughter.Sam Stone: I agree.Chuck Warren: And I'm not saying that to make a political point. I think what he did was putting the needs of people as a very secondary measure on this.Sam Stone: I think there are numerous, numerous officials there that need to be looked into very carefully and criminal prosecution considered in a number of cases based on how they handled this. And he's number one at the top of that list.Chuck Warren: I agree. All right. Well, let's talk about a headline grabbing politician. Katie Hobbs thinks Donald Trump should be prosecuted. You know, view that for what he was. I don't know if the country needs a fifth one and ag mains, which you and I said when the elections were over, that was going to be worse for Arizona than Katie Hobbs. I still stand by that.Sam Stone: Because Chris Mayes is smarter than Katie Hobbs.Chuck Warren: And she directly has and she has an agenda. She has an agenda. I don't. I think that's just very bad for the country. And I think that is going to cause a real problem of Arizona. They do it, and I'm pretty convinced they're going to try to do it.Sam Stone: I think they are going to I think they're going to prosecute him for sure. And again, going back to some of the things Jason said, write your jury here isn't going to be an easy jury.Chuck Warren: No, it's a hung jury here.Sam Stone: It's a hung jury here for sure. You're not you're almost certain not to get it through. This is Arizona still. It's still despite all the election laws, it's still a lightly center right, light red state. So you're not going to do that. But what does concern me, what he was talking about, that state of emergency, I fully believe and expect that Mayes, Adrian Fontes and Hobbs will conspire to remove Trump from the ballot. And given the timelines here in Arizona, they'll do it after the preferential the presidential preferential election, right. So when Trump is the nominee. Right. They'll wait because until then, you can't. I mean, really, you have nothing to remove. They'll do that. Our timeline is so tight between that and when ballots go out for the general election, there's barely time to print them. So they're basically going to ensure that there's no way that Trump's name appears on a ballot in Arizona. If they do that and.Chuck Warren: Does that.Chuck Warren: Does that if that goes, does that go up to the US Supreme Court or are Arizona State Supreme Court?Sam Stone: Well, it's going to have to go through the Arizona Supreme Court first. I mean, it's going to be a state court case first and then potentially could be appealed to the US Supreme Court. Now, I do think, frankly, the Arizona Supreme Court will rule to put him on the ballot. I agree. But let me let me just say this. The minute they make that move. I'm putting on body armor. It's going to be because this the chance that that will create an actual insurrection. And real violence to me is here in Arizona and in many other places in this country, to me would be almost 100% if they do that.Chuck Warren: Well, I hope it doesn't happen. I hope their political ambitions take a back seat. Let the current four cases play out.Sam Stone: Well and let the election play out. I mean, at the at the end of the day and Jason Willick alluded to this, is that there is a role for judging the actions of politicians when they're legally questionable but aren't clearly over a line. Correct. And that mechanism is elections. Correct. And we're going to have one.Chuck Warren: Yeah. Let it play out. Yeah, let it play out. Well, folks, this is breaking battlegrounds. Please share our show with your friends and family and colleagues. You can find us at Breaking Battlegrounds dot vote or wherever you download your podcast. This is Chuck and Sam. We look forward to having you next week.Chuck Warren: Have a great weekend. Get full access to Breaking Battlegrounds at breakingbattlegrounds.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome back to another episode of Breaking Battlegrounds that tackles a range of pressing topics. Our first guest, Arizona Representative Matt Gress, candidly shares his concerns about the homeless hotel conversion in Scottsdale. Join us as we dissect the intricacies of this issue and its potential implications. Representative Gress also provides insights into President Biden's recent visit to Arizona and his pivotal role in the ADE’s School Safety Taskforce.Shifting gears, we sit down with Tim Chapman, Senior Advisor of Advancing American Freedom. Tune in to gain a comprehensive understanding of conservative trends and the impactful initiatives spearheaded by AAF.Concluding our episode, we engage in a thought-provoking dialogue with Dr. Owen Anderson, a distinguished professor at ASU specializing in philosophy, religious studies, and theology. Building on our ongoing exploration, Dr. Anderson provides fresh insights into the nuanced landscape of free speech on ASU's campus._Connect with us:www.breakingbattlegrounds.voteTwitter: www.twitter.com/Breaking_BattleFacebook: www.facebook.com/breakingbattlegroundsInstagram: www.instagram.com/breakingbattlegroundsLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/breakingbattlegrounds-Representative Matt GressMatt Gress represents Arizona’s 4th Legislative District. Matt Gress is a former public school teacher, school board member and an active member of the local community. He is passionate about public service and solving problems. As our state representative, Matt will work with both sides – Republicans and Democrats – to find solutions to issues such as reducing the cost of living, increasing teacher pay, reducing crime and addressing Arizona’s water crisis.Matt is endorsed by some of our community’s most respected organizations: Arizona State Troopers, the Arizona Police Association, the Arizona Fraternal Order of Police, the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association, the Professional Firefighters of Arizona, the Arizona Nurses Association, the Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce, the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Home Builders Association of Central Arizona.Like many, Matt came here from somewhere else — small town Oklahoma. The youngest of four, he was raised by a single mom in a single-wide trailer. Growing up, Matt’s family didn’t have much, but that never stopped them from dreaming big. Matt learned the value of hard work, to respect his elders and to count his blessings.Matt worked his way through college driving school buses, and became the first in his family to earn a degree. While attending the University of Oklahoma, Matt was selected for the distinguished Harry S. Truman Scholarship — awarded to only one college student in each state who possesses leadership potential and a call to public service. After graduating, Matt was accepted to join Teach for America, a national teaching corps focused on serving in high-need, high-poverty schools. Matt taught high school English.From 2017 to 2021, Matt served as a Governing Board Member in the Madison Elementary School District. While on the board, Matt fought to keep schools open during COVID-19, supported increased school choice and advocated for parents and taxpayers to have a seat at the table in curriculum, hiring decisions and budgeting, including expensive procurement contracts.Matt is a budget hawk. He holds a Masters in Public Administration, with a focus on state and local government finance and public management, from Syracuse University. Here in Arizona, Matt has served as a faculty associate at Arizona State University and as a budget analyst at the Arizona State Capitol, learning exactly where our tax dollars go. Currently, he serves as the state’s top budget chief in the Arizona Governor’s Office of Strategic Planning and Budgeting. There, he has authored budgets directing billions of new dollars towards K-12 education and teachers.Matt also has experience in energy, water and technology policy, previously serving as an advisor at the Arizona Corporation Commission, where he worked on issues related to expanding broadband, lowering energy rates, reducing regulations on small businesses, and enhancing the stability of our power grid. Matt, along with his partner Daniel, is proud to call Arizona and District 4 his home. He's an avid volunteer in the community, and plans to focus in the Legislature on solutions that can bring both sides together.Matt is a proud Rotarian and past president of the Phoenix-Arcadia Rotary Club, a Flinn-Brown Civic Leadership Academy Fellow, a former board member of the Madison Education Foundation, and previously served as a commissioner on the Maricopa County Planning and Zoning Commission.Tim ChapmanTim Chapman is a Senior Advisor at Advancing American Freedom (AAF), a public policy advocacy organization founded by Vice President Mike Pence. He is also a Principal at P2 Public Affairs where he works with clients to build national campaigns to influence public policy. Chapman has served as the Executive Director of Heritage Action, Chief of Staff at the Heritage Foundation, and as an adviser and staff to Senators DeMint, Nickles and Hutchinson.Chapman's experience in conservative policy advocacy is extensive as he was a co-founder of Heritage Action - the advocacy arm of The Heritage Foundation – and a former Executive Director at Stand for America, an advocacy organization founded by Ambassador Nikki Haley. Tim has built and maintained policy coalitions on the right that have helped shape the consensus within the GOP and he has helped craft messaging/activist campaigns that have resulted in policy victories.Dr. Owen AndersonDr. Owen Anderson is a professor of philosophy, religious studies, and theology at ASU and he writes about the radical ideologies of class, race, and gender used by some to coerce students and prevent free speech. He is also a pastor at Historic Christian Church of Phoenix. Recently, he has been working on the problem of DEIB, antiracism, decolonizing the curriculum, secular universities, and the loss of academic freedom.  The philosophy behind these movements is presented in our universities as “the fact of the matter.”  Why is that?  And are we still allowed to think critically and discuss alternative ways of understanding the world and our history?  Rousseau, Marx, and Freud dominate the mind of the current secular university professor. We can do much better. Substack: -TranscriptionSam Stone: Welcome to another episode of Breaking Battlegrounds with your host, Chuck Warren. I'm Sam Stone. Our first guest up today. He just won the legislator of the Year for the Republican caucus in the state of Arizona. Oh, my goodness. Yeah. Big, big news. He didn't he didn't even highlight it for this show. He's so humble. He wouldn't even put that on there. The Legislator of the Year, Matt Gress, thank you so much for joining us. Welcome to the program.Matt Gress: It's great to be on with the illustrious two of you for sure. So when you got this award for Legislator of the Year, is it just like a big gold medallion that you wear around your neck now? Maybe a target on my back, I think, hey, you were just appointed and join the school safety task force in Arizona. Tell our listeners a little bit about that and why that's important not only for Arizona, but other states should be considering this superintendent of public instruction, Tom Horn, has convened a number of different stakeholders across the state teachers, social workers, school counselors, school resource officers, sheriffs legislators. It ranges the gamut. And I think he is trying to be responsive to what we've all been hearing across the state and really across the country. It's one of the issues that I hear about in my legislative district quite a bit, which is how can parents know that when they send their kids to school, they will be safe and they will come home. And and there's a variety of ways of addressing this situation. And thank God, you know, Arizona has not witnessed one of these mass school shootings that we've seen in in other states. But that shouldn't dissuade us from acting to, you know, take clear, measurable steps to secure our school facilities. There's a balance for sure. You know, we we don't want schools becoming prisons, but but we do want them to be safe places that parents, staff and students themselves feel is a safe place for learning. So, you know.Chuck Warren: Just I mean, you're going to dig more into this. So when we go and join these type of task force, we get more information than we currently have. Okay. So my question is, what is your gut reaction tell you that needs to be done on this right now before getting more details from the task force? What is your gut reaction tell you that it needs to be done to make schools more secure so parents and kids feel confident when they go to school, they're going to be safe.Matt Gress: I think there are two two key measures. One involves personnel and one involves physical infrastructure. So on the personnel front, a few years ago when I served as the budget director, we worked on some changes to the school safety grant program, where we allowed school counselors and social workers to be part of a school safety apparatus. So you had your SROs, the so-called cops on campus, right? And then we added to that on the mental and social health side of this, because mental health is a major factor when you look at these shootings. So we recognize that. And we also increased funding. You know, the program started out at $13 million, I believe, back in, let's say, 2018 or 2019. We boosted that to now it's over $82 million that we're spending on the school safety grant program. And there still is excess demand versus supply. So I'm on the funding and grants subcommittee of this task force, and we're going to take a hard look at where we can free up resources. And I believe that there are plenty. So personnel is a side of it. And in particular, in addition to, you know, not just the social workers and school counselors, SROs have been something I've heard from from parents and and a number of different stakeholders about having an SRO in every campus. And the challenge with that is SROs are sworn peace officers from police departments.Matt Gress: Correct. We have huge vacancies when it comes to filling our police departments as it stands right now. So we're exploring ways where we can tap into talent of perhaps retired sworn peace officers or, you know, staff that meet all of the criteria. But have not gotten the full, what we call a post certification. Maybe there is an alternate form that we can provide that opens up talented, capable people who care about keeping kids safe, that can be there to respond when a crisis occurs. So the personnel side is one element and then the physical infrastructure. You know, when I served on the school board in central Phoenix, we did a safety threat assessment of every building. We looked at the physical premises, fencing the doorways. How do you get in and out? Who lets people in and out, Cameras, locks, all of the above. And I think that if a school in Arizona is going to go out for a bond or a capital override, the first thing that they need to prioritize is the safety of their facilities. And if they don't have a safety assessment done, they are flying blind and I don't think they should be asking voters for tens or hundreds of millions of dollars if they don't know what they need to do to improve the security of their physical infrastructure.Sam Stone: Matt that's a really good point because one of the things that's underrated, frankly, are the secured entry and exit points at schools. There was an incident, it barely got covered. I think it was the end of last month, July 31st. I had to actually go to duck, duck, go, because you can't find this link on on Google for an attempted school shooting in Memphis, Tennessee, at a Jewish school. The shooter could not get in. They opened fire outside the building and then were taken down by police and court. So no one was hurt. You know, nothing happened. Obviously, something happened. But it wasn't a traumatic incident in the way these others have been. And that was just a matter of simple physical security like you're talking about. It's not that hard to implement these, especially when the legislature is putting the kind of money you're talking about into it, right?Matt Gress: Absolutely. And take, for instance, the study on Uvaldi, another case in point where the door was propped open. It was a, you know, lock and key type of door. You know, in this day and age, they need to be electronic locks, you know, the magnetic locks where you need a badge to swipe in and out. There needs to be alarms on these external doors when they're left open. I mean, you can go to a gym and you go out the wrong exit and within 15 seconds, you know, the the alarms are sounding. And if we can do it at some of these other places that that aren't as sensitive of spaces as schools, we can definitely prioritize that at at our school campuses. And that was something we included in this year's budget. Speaking of private or parochial schools, that. Department of Homeland Security is established a grant program that that these places of worship and and the parochial schools can access to help bolster their security. We had we heard from a rabbi that talked about the increase in anti-Semitic behavior and how they're taking great pains to ensure that these sacred spaces are kept safe for parishioners.Sam Stone: Yeah, absolutely. Anything else on that before we move on? Because I do want to get on to this city of Scottsdale. Plan to house homeless in a hotel there. You have raised some concerns with that, as have others.Matt Gress: Yes, let's let's chat about that one. That one's been a hot topic.Sam Stone: Start by telling because we're on in markets across the country, literally coast to coast. Now, folks, if you're listening to Breaking Battlegrounds, you can be doing it in San Diego. You can be doing it in Miami. You can be here in Phoenix. You can be almost anywhere in the country and hear this program. You can be anywhere online and download and subscribe to our podcast and get all of our content. But folks probably don't know if they're not here in Phoenix, and even if they are, they probably don't know what's going on here. So can you give us a little background? What what is this situation?Matt Gress: Well, here in Phoenix and in the Valley, just like everywhere else in the country, homelessness has really gripped communities. It has created such misery and tragedy for the people experiencing homelessness, as well as the surrounding communities that are affected by people living outside and this year at the legislature, we put in $60 million, $60 million to invest in homelessness programs. Um, that that can get people off the streets and into the treatment that they need. And that was the intent all along, is that we need to approach this from a treatment first modality versus a housing first modality, which I think a lot of cities and public policy has advocated for years. And I think it's failed.Sam Stone: It has totally failed. And it's just warehousing. The problem is what they're doing.Matt Gress: Absolutely. You're absolutely right there. And that's exactly what has happened in a quasi sort of way with an initiative. The Department of Housing has executed with a number of cities, not just Scottsdale, but the city of Phoenix, Mesa, Flagstaff and others. And what they're doing essentially is convert meeting rooms at an active operating hotel. Converting these rooms into homeless shelters in Scottsdale. Ten rooms. It ranged between 10 to 15. And as part of the contract with the Department of Housing, the city of Scottsdale has to set aside at least three of these rooms, and they're going to be operating year round for people who live in the zone, which is a which is a notorious place that has gained national attention about failing people in downtown Phoenix, just these large, massive encampments. So people from the zone in central Phoenix being moved up to Scottsdale, as well as foreign nationals who would have otherwise been deported under the now expired Title 42, which is now under litigation. The Florida attorney general is challenging the the Biden administration's approach to immigration. So what we said is whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute. What is going on here with this program? Did you did you confer with the surrounding community? It's abutted the the property in question is is abutting the largest HOA in the United States. It's across from a school and other amusements that cater to kids. Are you doing background checks? I mean, there were just so many questions. And we reached out to the city of Scottsdale to ask those questions. And their answers have been have fallen short of satisfactory.Sam Stone: Yeah, absolutely. Matt, I want to continue on with with this a little bit more. When we come back from our break here. We've got about 45 seconds before we go to break. One of the points that I was going to make on that is it's $940,000 state grant to house 15 people, 10 to 15. So anywhere from 94,000 down to a cheap price of $63,000 per person to house them for the year. And you ask a bunch of questions that I think need to be answered about what's going to happen when they're in that housing. We're going to be coming back with more from Matt Gress here on Breaking Battlegrounds in just a moment. Welcome back to Breaking Battlegrounds with your host, Sam Stone and Chuck Warren continuing on the line with us in just a moment. Arizona Legislator of the Year Matt Grass, freshman legislator, win that award. Pretty darn impressive, folks. But you know what else is impressive? Being able to earn a 10.25% fixed rate of return in this Biden economy. The stock market is all sorts of volatile. Inflation continues to rage out of control. This is not a time to take a lot of risks with your finances.Sam Stone: You need a reliable product that delivers a high fixed interest rate of return. Then you need to talk to our friends at invest. Why Refy.com that's invest the letter Y, then refy.com give them or give them a ring. They're at 888 y refy 24 and make sure you tell them Chuck and Sam sent you. Okay. Matt Continuing on, when we went to break, I mentioned that the cost of this program, it's a $940,000 state grant, as you mentioned, Scottsdale's planning to house 10 to 15 people. That's a lot of money per person, over 60,000, maybe over 90,000 per person, depending on how many there is. And you asked you sent a letter to the city of Scottsdale that raised a bunch of questions that I thought were frankly, really important about community outreach program implementation. What's going to happen to these people? Are they just going to be housed, you know, warehoused like we were talking about, or is there going to be a treatment program to help get them back on track? Matt, what have you gotten any answer? What are some of these questions that citizens in Scottsdale need to be asking and then get those answers to?Matt Gress: Well, it's it's a mixed bag. And one of the reasons why I'm concerned about this program, it's been portrayed as it's helping grandma who couldn't afford the rent anymore and has just recently been evicted from her apartment. Let's keep her from becoming homeless or same situation with a single mom with kids. That's a very different type of situation versus what we call chronic homelessness, or Mayor Gallego is referred to as service resistant. And you're going to be putting those participants in this program. And there is just this unfounded confidence that they're going to be able to solve the issue. And your regionalizing what is a tragedy that has been unfolding for quite some time now in central Phoenix, your regionalizing that to places like Scottsdale. But what's even worse and you is that it's one thing to take an entire hotel facility and go through the process of converting it to a homeless shelter. But what you're doing is operating the hotel simultaneously to a homeless shelter in the same location. So a family on vacation is right next to someone who's just experienced one of the most chaotic, traumatic times of their life right next door. Unknowing of what's happening, the hotel paying customers are not given the benefit of the doubt. They're not given any information about whether this is an active homeless shelter. I think that's pertinent information to know for a paying customer. And I think it's very it's very problematic. And it hasn't worked in other places. Look at San Francisco. L.a. Is going to be having a measure on the ballot next year related to forcing hotels to accept homeless vouchers. This is just not the approach.Sam Stone: You brought up. A good point about the type of person who's homeless, who's going into this, whether it's someone who's very recently on the street, what I would tend to describe as transitionally homeless people who were generally able to get off the streets fairly.Chuck Warren: Quickly, What is that, 10%, ten, 15% of homeless?Sam Stone: It's probably half, chuck. Half are transitionally homeless, but they don't stay homeless for very long. We don't even consider them.Chuck Warren: Those are people generally go to shelters or.Sam Stone: Something to correct. They will go to shelters, they will couch surf. They will do whatever they need to do. And very soon they will get off the street. We dealt with this a lot in Phoenix, the type that Matt was talking to, the service resistant homeless are your chronic street homeless. They're who people actually think.Chuck Warren: Of as homeless. They're the ones that won't go to the Salvation Army because they require them not to take drugs there.Sam Stone: It's exactly right. Yeah. And so that's a very different population. You're dealing with a lot of pathologies, including criminal pathologies that you're dealing with at that point. And you're clearly right to bring this up. There's another element to this I want to touch on, which is what you said about the Zone. Phoenix had had allowed this enormous homeless, sprawling encampment near downtown, totally out of control. Judge They were sued. Judge stepped in and said, you've got to mitigate this. The judge clearly in their order, in his orders, was saying, hey, you have to provide alternatives, including structured camping and all this. One of the things that's going on right now is Phoenix spent a bunch of money on a structured camping site that now they. Can't use because they put it in a in an area with a toxic environmental problem. They knew that problem existed before it went. They they went out there. They spent all this money, achieved nothing, and are back at square one and are pushing the problems off on people in your district and elsewhere around the state. We're seeing it throughout the entire valley now much more, much more significantly because of that. How I mean, how do we start getting some of these liberal cities on track to to start actually doing their part the right way?Matt Gress: Well, we've the state has provided money and we've we've tried to do our part in investing in programs that should be evidence based. But unfortunately, I think that the executive has incorrectly interpreted what the legislature was trying to do with, you know, we included $150 million for the housing trust fund. That's to help people stay in their homes, $60 million for homelessness, people who aren't in their homes anymore. And we need to find a place for them to be. There just seems to be more of a focus on climate change in this context versus finding real solutions for people experiencing homelessness. And I think we have to sue, I think, and the courts are going to have to force the cities to do what they have been loathed to do. And until you can clean up these tragedies like the zone, it's going to be hard to engage in a more holistic conversation about how we address homelessness in the Valley.Chuck Warren: Let's change topics here real quick. We have we have two minutes left. Biden's visit. What are your thoughts? He came to Arizona this weekend. He decided to take more property away from rural miners. What are your thoughts on it?Matt Gress: A million acres removed from the tax rolls. And you'd think that, by the way, how much.Chuck Warren: By the way, let me ask you a question real quick. How much does that hurt schools, public schools? How much does it take out gently?Matt Gress: Oh, significantly, because they're tied to either state trust land or they're tied to private taxpaying owners. And all of those dollars go into the equalization formula that helps fund schools. But not a peep, actually. Praise from from the Democrats. No real engagement with half of the monument. They decided to go to Flagstaff and do their public outreach, but not two hours, 2.5 hours to the west in Kingman, where there was a clearly different point of view. And then, you know, we talk about there are so many precious minerals here on these claims that could help us achieve more clean energy or help us achieve energy independence or other key areas.Sam Stone: Precious minerals.Sam Stone: That are.Sam Stone: Precious, minerals that are being mined all over the world using much dirtier mining techniques, using.Chuck Warren: We're using child labor. Yeah, child labor across the overseas. Yeah.Matt Gress: And by countries who hate America. Yes. If this was an opportunity to make America stronger.Chuck Warren: Clearly missed the mark. Quickly, real quick here, I want to get back to this question. How much money I know we got 30s. Real quick, how much money do you think it takes out of public education for Arizona? Just a guesstimate. Give a range.Matt Gress: That's that's hard to say depending on the number of mining claims because there are property taxes.Chuck Warren: 30 million. 40 million. 30. 40 million.Matt Gress: Oh, I would have to be more than that. You have to be more than that over the lifetime. Over 20 years. Say, I think you're going to see much more than that.Sam Stone: Matt, real quick, 15 seconds. How do folks stay in touch with you and your work?Matt Gress: You can look me up, Matt Gress. MattGrress.com You can follow me on Twitter at Matthew Gress two T'S and just feel free to reach out. All right. Always yours.Chuck Warren: Thanks, buddy. Have a great day, man. We appreciate you.Sam Stone: Welcome back to Breaking Battlegrounds with your host, Chuck Warren and Sam Stone. Up next today, Tim Chapman, senior adviser at Advancing America Freedom, a public policy organization founded by Vice President Mike Pence. He's also a principal at P two public affairs, where it works with clients to build national campaigns to influence public policy. Former executive director of Heritage Action Action, chief of staff at the Heritage Foundation and has advised Senators DeMint, Nichols and Hutchinson to a heck of a resume. Tim, thank you so much for joining us and welcome to the program.Tim Chapman: Hey, thank you.Tim Chapman: Both for having.Chuck Warren: Me. Excited to be here. So tell us about what advancing American Freedom is working on right now.Tim Chapman: Well, thanks for asking.Tim Chapman: Advancing, as you mentioned there in the intro. Advancing American Freedom was founded by.Tim Chapman: Vice.Tim Chapman: President Mike Pence.Matt Gress: And he founded.Tim Chapman: This thing about a a little more than a year and a half ago. And he you know, I've always loved him. I came to Washington in 2001 and he came to Washington a little after that time as a congressman. And so I followed him and always had great admiration for him because, you know, as we were working on the outside to try to influence Congress towards conservative ends, he was on the inside and he was always fighting for the limited government perspective and the conservative perspective and the pro-life perspective in the House of Representatives. And he did that in many different ways there. And so he was super policy focused. And then, you know, once he left the administration, you know, he was thinking about ways that he could continue to be focused on policy. He worked a little bit with with the Heritage Foundation. And then he began to build out his own organization, which was advancing American freedom. And he asked he asked me to come on board there a while back. And he said, look, like we knew that he was thinking about running for for president. But he said, look, I need people who are going to come on board with this organization.Tim Chapman: I need this organization to exist irrespective of my political future. And, you know, Tim, will you come in and work with this team? And I was you know, I jumped at the chance because I've always like I said, I've always liked being dead. So, you know, our focus is on kind of the traditional three legs of the stool and the conservative movement, social, social values, fiscal values and a strong national defense. And we kind of see, you know, there's a lot of things, as you both know, probably better than I. There's a lot of trends happening in the conservative movement and the Republican Party right now. And one of them that kind of worries me a little bit is a trend away from fiscal conservatism. Yes, it is a trend away from American leadership around the globe. Well, Tim Tim, let me ask. I think we wanted to talk about that. Yeah, Tim, let me let me ask you this. We talk about this a lot. You know, look, it's not as sexy as hitting some woke issue, right? It's it doesn't doesn't it's not good for fun conversation.Sam Stone: It's also complicated.Chuck Warren: It's complicated. Yeah. Tim, how do we get out of this mess? It's a mess. I mean, I'm so worried about it and what it's going to start doing in reality in the next five.Sam Stone: Had our credit rating downgraded. Yeah.Chuck Warren: I mean, people don't understand interest rates are going to be higher. I mean, what people don't get is how this you know, they always talk about trickle down economics. And we just recently had our show about Biden's inflation. Biden's inflation caused people $14,000 dollars per family extra dollars. Yeah. Which means they either use their savings, which we know most people don't have. They borrow from friends or family, which a lot of people don't have friends or family. You can loan them money or they use credit cards, which have minimum 19 to 20% interest rates. So really, inflation is in the high teens when you think of it that way. Right. How do we. Yeah, I mean, I don't think in our lifetime you and I and Sam here are going to be able to pay off $30 trillion. But what do we need to do to show the world, to show the markets to strengthen our currency, keep low? What is the plan we need to do? Do we just need to say we're not going above this level anymore? What do we need to do? Yeah, I mean, your show, right on what has happening right now with inflation and Biden's inflation is basically just a tax on, you know, on average families across this country. And that's the first wave of what's going to happen to people if the fiscal profligacy continues. The second wave is actual raising of taxes on people.Tim Chapman: So you'll you'll not only be taxed by the inflation, but eventually it's going to catch up to us and to pay for all the programs that we're running right now and we're going to have to raise taxes. And that's actually the left game plan. That's where they want to go with this. They you know, they're they are comfortable to wait out having discussions about Social Security reform, Medicare reform, welfare spending, you know, any kind of spending. They're comfortable to wait out that discussion because they think when push comes to shove, we'll get to the point where we just have to, you know, raise taxes. Right. But I'll tell you the first thing to. Do you know to address this is not to run away from it. And that's what we're afraid of right now. We see a party that, you know, we love this party. We've been Republicans and conservatives a long time. But I see some of my best friends in some of the greatest think tanks in this country and some of my best friends who are working with some of great leaders on Capitol Hill, refusing to talk about the spending issues. And so that's one thing that AAF wants to do, is to is to raise the issue again, even though it's out of step with where we are right now. It's a populist moment. We're going to raise it and we're going to keep talking about it. Good.Sam Stone: Yeah, fantastic. We're going to be coming back with more from Tim Chapman in just a moment. Folks, you can follow him at Tim Chapman on Twitter. Tim, thank you so much for joining us. Stick around, folks, for the next segment. We're going to be talking a little bit more about the fiscal health of this country and some other things happening in Washington. Breaking battlegrounds coming right back. Welcome back to Breaking Battlegrounds with your host, Chuck Warren and Sam Stone continuing on the line with us in just a moment, Tim Chapman, senior adviser at the Advancing American Freedom Public Policy Organization, founded by Vice President Mike Pence. They're focused a lot on classical conservative issues like fiscal fiscal responsibility. And folks, if you want to be fiscally responsible, one great way to do that is to get some quality diversity in your in your portfolio. And one and a fantastic way to do that is to go to our check out our friends at invest y Refy.com that's invest the letter Y, then refy.com you can earn up to a 10.25% fixed rate of return. That's right. 10.25% fixed rate of return. The market goes up. The market goes down. You keep making money. Check them out. Invest y refy.com or give them a call at 888 YREY24 and make sure you tell them Chuck and Sam sent you.Chuck Warren: So, Tim, I want to go back to talk about what you're doing. So Sam and I were talking before the show today that Republicans are like a two note pony. It's like, okay, we're going to the moon. Well, how does this affect abortion or Second Amendment rights? We seem to. Right. We we just seem to have the political mailing thing. Here's a checklist. And, you know, those are important issues. I'm not disagreeing, but there are so many other issues. You know, you know, for example, I do not have on my bingo card in 22, 23 that Republicans that there's a segment of Republicans, not all of them, but a segment who are sympathetic to Russia and the Ukraine war. Right. And then they try to couch it and say Putin's evil. It's like Democrats talking about crime. Well, I'm right. I'm not. I hate crime, but I don't want to fund cops. Right. Yeah, right, Right. Has this caught you? I mean, you've been in this you were you worked at Heritage Action. You worked for some of our great senators. Has this caught you by surprise that this this this isolationist movement has taken such strength? So, you know, it's always been latent in our movement. And as you all know, there were times in our movement where we were more isolationist than not. You know, as the as we rolled through the Reagan years, that changed and we projected American strength and led the world to a better place. But, you know, that latency has now caught up and there's and you see it everywhere. And I think it's caught steam for a few reasons. And, you know, the first reason is that just you know, we did we didn't do, you know, a great job in our foreign entanglements over the last 20 years. Right. So and that may be almost.Sam Stone: Over the last hundred years, like Exactly World War two forward.Tim Chapman: Yeah. So I understand that. Okay. So there's a track record there and there's a problem. There's also this is one area we were just talking about spending. I think there is still within the conservative movement, you know, a desire to be fiscally responsible. And this is low hanging fruit that they perceive a lot of, you know, people perceive. Sure. Why are we going to spend another 24 billion to Ukraine now? But I think the biggest thing driving this right now, especially with respect to Ukraine, is just good old fashioned politics. If you look at the politics around Ukraine, this is one where Democrats just accidentally got one, right. They they they they're supportive of the Ukrainian effort. But it's not because they somehow found principle on this. It's because they perceive, you know, in their in their version of history. The only reason that Donald Trump ever won in 2016 was because Vladimir Putin handpicked him and used all sorts of, you know, machinations to install them in office. So this is Ukraine versus Putin. And Putin is the guy in their minds who put Trump in the in the in the White House. And so, therefore, Ukraine must be protected at all costs. They're fighting a knee jerk. Yeah, there's a knee jerk reaction there from Republican voters, grassroots conservatives, who are like, well, if all these Democrats are flying Ukrainian flags, this must be the wrong cause. Right?Sam Stone: Right. Yeah. Democrats are there or want us to be there to fight Trump in reality. Right. And you've got a handful of Republicans who are obviously against that.Chuck Warren: As Sam and I talk a lot with guests, We had Congressman Issa on last week, as you can agree that Ukraine has much corruption in it. You can also agree that it's not cool for Russia to go take over a country that it wants to take over because it doesn't stop there. I mean, they're not mutually exclusive. Right. And so, yeah, it's interesting, you know, and talk about the foreign policy. The last, you know, 75 years or so. I think that's sort of a cheap shot. People take. I mean, if you look at cities that practice practice the broken window theory and then they abandoned it with cops. Looks what happened to them. And I hate to break it to people, but the United States is not doing a lot of this. This rule is a bigger crap hole than it is now. Well.Sam Stone: Chuck, I mean, one of the things that's happened, we've pulled back from a lot of our engagement and a lot of our economic and. Military engagement from the Pacific Theater, from Latin America, to focus.Chuck Warren: On the Middle East.Sam Stone: But in China has has stepped into that breach in a way that's very damaging for us.Chuck Warren: I agree. All right. Let's talk about trade. Does the Republican need to start becoming more productive and proactive on getting trade agreements again, or are we going to let China and other people just do it? Yeah. So the way we think about this is we have learned some lessons about trade over the last 20 years. Free trade is still an overwhelmingly good thing. You know, people producing things and trading those things and bringing, you know, profit to their nation and their communities is a wonderful thing. And then people get to have the benefits of that. But we did not do it right with China. That's very clear. And China is is far and away our biggest global challenge for the United States over the next couple of decades. So what we need to be thinking about, the world's already doing this in its own kind of in its own way. The world is dividing into free countries, you know, free spheres of influence and those that are run by authoritarians like China, like Russia, like Iran. And we need to we need to make lots of great trade agreements with our allies, period, You know, and we need to think about how to do this in a way where we're not relying on China for the things that we really need.Tim Chapman: So we we're stuck right now. We're stuck dealing with kind of the residue from some bad policy decisions that are in the rear view mirror. And we have to figure out how to get out of it, you know, So, for example, like, you know, China is so intertwined in our economy right now. We've got, you know, great American companies like Ford that are opening plants, you know, with Chinese batteries, Chinese battery plants in Michigan and other places around the country. You know, and that's a problem like that is a problem because China having that foothold in our economy is not a good thing. So we need to think, All right, well, what is it that we need to do as Americans to wean ourselves off of, you know, the need for Chinese renewable energies or batteries or whatever it is, and build our own source of domestic energy here. Tim You guys, you know.Sam Stone: Yeah, go. Can I stop you on that front? Because that's relevant to the discussion we just had with our previous guest on this program. It's something that just happened here in Arizona. It's not just previous bad policy. We just had Joe Biden come out to Arizona, take a million acres. That is key mining territory for any number of precious minerals that we need for these things and declared a national monument and take it off the table. Exactly. That is that is exactly the opposite of what we should be doing, right?Tim Chapman: That's exactly right. I mean, we if and why would Democrats be doing that when they are the ones demanding that we produce green vehicles and use all these renewable sorts of energy because it's an elitist party, it's an elitist party. It's amazing how they've become. I guess they've always been latte liberals, right? There's always been that group. But it has been exasperated since Trump. It's just like, because I hate this guy, I'm going to become a latte liberal now. It's just so out of the realm of moral consciousness. I don't know where to begin. Yeah, and it's a logical disconnect according to their own principles too. So if you want us to have more, more electric powered vehicles in the United States, but you also say that you are against authoritarian regimes who, you know, punish religious, you know, dissent or any sort of political dissent, You know, China, then why are you forcing Ford and other companies to use Chinese resources to build the things that you are forcing us to to do, you know, in your own the bill that they just passed. So it's a complete mess. They're all over the place on it. Republicans and conservatives really have a chance to come in on the energy issue and to double down on what we produce, whether it's, you know, gas or oil. Et cetera. You know, or to or to even win over some of that renewable stuff. Yeah, well, we should be we should be using those mines in Arizona. Minnesota has the same thing.Sam Stone: Why are we not hammering? Why is our party not hammering the left on the very simple fact that mining activity here in the United States is far less environmentally damaging than mining almost.Chuck Warren: I'll raise my hand on that because it's not abortion or gun rights. We don't talk about anything else. Right? Yeah. No, I you look, I'm with you on that. I think that's one of the reasons we created Advancing American Freedom. And that's what Vice President Pence really wanted, is to try to bring a policy discussion back to the party, because right now it's so personality based. I mean, it is personality based. It's based on whatever the latest thing on Twitter is. I don't even I can't even check Twitter anymore because it's driving me insane. Although I do, I'll admit to it. I do. You're an addict. You're an addict. We'll get you. We'll get you help. Yeah. Sorry. I guess it's not Twitter or whatever we're calling it, you know? But it is a it is a bad situation. Like if we're able to focus this on the policies, the left is such so bent and pretzels as we were just discussing on so much of this stuff. And they're on the wrong side of the American people. We'd be a 60% party pretty easily if we do this stuff. And energy is just huge and it all ties together. It's the energy stuff. It's what we were talking about earlier on. The spending stuff and the spending stuff also leaves us very weak to China. Um, so there's a lot of opportunity here, but we kind of got a, um, we kind of got to pull it together as a movement.Sam Stone: What are you seeing ahead of these upcoming budget negotiations? I mean, are is there any real appetite on our side to stand firm and get real concessions during this negotiation?Tim Chapman: Yeah, I mean, look, there is there certainly is. You know, the the House Freedom Caucus guys are have been consistently saying they want to use these leverage points to score some wins on fiscal discipline there. So that's you know, but really, that's like 20 Republicans in the House who want to do that. And then there's probably another 60 to 70 that also would be on board fighting with those guys if they can identify an achievable, you know, outcome that makes sense and that is politically popular. There's a debate right now as to whether or not you use this this leverage point for fighting on the border or whether you use it for fiscal stuff. And frankly, guys like I don't know, I don't know where they're going to go with it. I hope they I think they should use it for fiscal stuff because I think anytime you're having a spending fight, it makes more logical sense to me to just attach it to spending rather than some of the other issues. As much as I want a victory on the border, um, so but, but, but I can't I can't handicap it for you because I think we'll end up in a shutdown. And I think once we end up in a shutdown, you know, it's like, is this a three day shutdown? Is it a 13 day shutdown? I don't know if I don't know where they land. If they go shut down, they just need to keep it shut till they get what they want. If you're going to take the political prize, just say, I don't care if I lose. That's right. We're going to just do it. So multiple have a have a quiz for you here. What's more realistic that we get to a balanced budget annually within ten years that we get the border secure or the Cleveland Browns win the Super Bowl? And you ask this, he's a Browns fan. That I'm a Cleveland Browns fan. Yeah. Look, Hope springs eternal. This is the best time of the year to be a Cleveland Browns fan. We're going all the way this year. Keep the dream alive, buddy. Chuck.Sam Stone: Their team is not terrible anymore.Tim Chapman: Oh, yeah.Sam Stone: You never know. I got. I got to say, I put my odds on the Browns.Chuck Warren: Oh, I do, too. That's the point. I put my odds on the Browns. That's how bad this is. I know. Look, guys, we're off season champs every single offseason, all right? We always win the off season. I don't know if anyone saw the the number one movie on Netflix right now is the Johnny Manziel special. And that just peels back The Onion about how dumb the decisions we make as Browns, you know, as a Browns team are.Sam Stone: That was a stunning documentary, by the way.Tim Chapman: Like, yes, it's a good watch.Chuck Warren: Maybe, maybe, maybe. You really do need to hire Kevin Costner from Draft Day, who is a pretend general manager. Tim, with limited time left, tell us how you got into this. I came to DC, you know, right out of college. I knew in college that I wanted that I wanted to be involved in politics and that I thought I think politics, despite, you know, the bad rap it deservedly gets, is a noble profession if done right. And I think we need to find a way to make politics work for this country. I came here in 2001 and kind of got the bug and got hooked. And and the longer I've stayed here, the more I think we got to find a way to get it right. And I tried to escape many times. I tried to escape, but DC sucks you back in and so, you know, we'll just keep working. I got into it that way and and we're going to stick it out and see if we can make something really big. Great.Sam Stone: Fantastic. Thank you so much. Tim Chapman, senior Advisor at Advancing American Freedom. You can follow them at Advancing American Freedom.com and follow Tim at Tim Chapman on Twitter. Tim, thank you so much. Folks, stay tuned. We've got a continuation of an education fight, a professor fight here in Arizona. You don't want to miss it on the podcast only segment.Chuck Warren: Thank you, Tim.Sam Stone: Welcome back to the podcast segment of Breaking battlegrounds with the host Chuck Warren. I'm Sam Stone. Folks, if you've been following our show, you've been in tune with what happened at the Barrett Honors College at ASU with a protest by a number of the professors trying to, despite whatever they might claim, trying to shut down a free an event featuring some conservative speakers Charlie Kirk, Dennis Prager and Robert Kiyosaki and others, They called it a white supremacist event. They did everything they could on campus to chill the free speech of these individuals and to to basically to hide this event. Students were bullied and threatened by professors. The materials for this event were taken down. There was I mean, really, it was a very concerted effort. We have been talking about this. We had an Atkinson who was the director of the program that put the event together, who was subsequently fired. We've had her on the program after we had her on, we had a professor, Brooke Simpson. You may have heard his segment. He said we were completely wrong. Then we had him on the air. We gave him 40 minutes. And frankly, I didn't feel like Chuck, he contributed anything particularly to the conversation. I mean, he told us we were wrong, but he could never say why we were actually wrong or why an was wrong or any of this.Sam Stone: It really came down to a convoluted logic. And so we have another professor from ASU who's been part of this discussion, Dr. Owen Anderson, Professor of Philosophy, religious Studies and theology at ASU. He writes about the radical ideologies of race, class, race and gender used by some to coerce students and prevent free speech. So obviously really, really relevant to what we're talking about here. He's also a pastor at Historic Christian Church of Phoenix. He's been working on the problem of DEIB  anti racism decolonising the curriculum, secular universities and the loss of academic freedom that has attended those movements. And, you know, this is something I don't think is going away anytime soon. This is a major problem when you have universities stifling free speech and the free exchange of ideas. So, Dr. Owen Anderson, thank you so much for taking the time today and joining us to continue this discussion. We really appreciate it because we know that every time someone like you comes on a program like this and talks honestly and openly about it, you're putting yourself under the gun from a lot of your colleagues. And so thank you for joining us. And and thank you for being willing to participate in this discussion. Well, yeah.Dr. Owen Anderson: Thank you for having me on. I'm really looking forward to talking to you about this. And and, you know, there is some of that pushback. I've I was told at one point by my dean not to speak to the media without getting ASU approval and that that that got me to appeal to fire, which is the foundation for individual rights and expression. And that's a that's a fire is a group that kind of monitors universities. Universities all want to be rated as a green light, including ASU. So fire got involved and ASU took that back. But what they did tell me was my provost specifically said, before I talk to the media, I have to say this is my own personal opinion. I don't represent ASU.Sam Stone: And so and so, yeah, folks, let's be clear. We're talking to Dr. Owen Anderson. This is his own personal opinion and he does not represent ASU. He simply.Dr. Owen Anderson: Works. What? I'm curious. I'm sorry. I didn't mean.Sam Stone: No, I was just going to say, you work there and you've been part of this discussion. So thank you for taking the time.Dr. Owen Anderson: Yeah, I'm curious to see if that's done for everybody or just the conservative guy.Chuck Warren: Well, Professor Simpson, in fairness, made very clear that he was not speaking for ASU. So I think you I think you all got the same memo.Sam Stone: And actually, I agree with that memo. I think professors should be able to say whatever they want and not speak for the university.Chuck Warren: I agree. I agree.Dr. Owen Anderson: Well, and that's one of the issues with this letter by the Barrett faculty is they wrote it on ASU resources. And as Barrett professors, they didn't say they're speaking as private citizens. So that is one of the issues.Sam Stone: Yeah, absolutely. That's an issue. I mean, look, and I'm sure you would say and I've seen a lot of the comments you made online and this and other issues, and I would generally assume you agree with the statement that, hey, no one's trying to stop these professors from saying that they do not like these speakers or that they think that these speakers don't have anything to offer. That's their opinion. Fine. But there's a difference. That's perfectly.Dr. Owen Anderson: Fine. Exactly. And so that's actually been ASU's point is to say, well, the event happened, so that's free speech and the professor's objected and that's their free speech. But the concern has never been that they objected. The concern was how they did it, that they used ASU resources, they use their classrooms and they intimidated students. Those are things that are clearly violations of our ASU faculty manual. And so that's been the problem.Sam Stone: And how much do you see this because of the work you're doing? How much do you see this? I mean, to me, this is a really fundamental. This incident highlighted a really fundamental underlying fight in academia between a handful of what I would call traditionalist free speech and and free thought advocates and then this new D-I bureaucracy.Dr. Owen Anderson: Yeah, well, exactly. I think so. I think the letter itself written by 39 of the Barrett faculty, which is a supermajority, didn't get any issues. It spent his time calling the people they disagree with purveyors of hate, white nationalist bigots. And so you left. If you read the letter, you left it thinking, well, what what do you disagree with, though? Like, what's the issue that you would take and what's your argument against it? And so that's really what happens when you have this Dei philosophy, which those are all very positive words. Diversity is a good word. Inclusion is a good word. We want to do those things, equity. But they're actually part of a social philosophy which says from the outset things like America is structurally racist, and if you don't agree with us, you're one of the racists. And so it shuts down actual conversation because you're just not allowed to doubt it or debate it.Sam Stone: I want to focus real quick, doctor, on on equity, because if we're talking about equity, as in I have equity in my bank account, it's an unmitigated good thing. And for anybody. But when you're talking about equity in an academic setting, that's a very loaded and charged word that's very different, whose actual meaning in practice is very different from the perception that the average member of the public has about it. Right.Dr. Owen Anderson: Exactly. I mean, all three of the words in Dei don't mean what the public thinks they mean, because I mean, that's really what you do, right? You're both involved in politics and in politics. You pick positive words. You say, well, we're pro-choice. Everyone likes choice. You don't say, well, we're pro killing babies, Right? So that's what you do is you pick a positive term. So that's what they've done here. So equity means because America is structurally racist, we need to redivide wealth appropriately. And so that means that some people have been getting privileges and they need to have their wealth taken away and given to other people who, although they may not have been direct objects of the discrimination, they're maybe their ancestors were. And so they should be given that wealth.Sam Stone: Correct? Yeah. There's also a tie to to just Marxism and equality of outcomes, right?Dr. Owen Anderson: Well, yeah, exactly. Well, that's one thing is, you know, the Barrett faculty have said, well, we said they're white nationalists, but then we're getting called Marxists. Well, wait, there's a big difference.Chuck Warren: Well, they don't.Dr. Owen Anderson: It doesn't believe he's a white nationalist. Well, yeah, these professors, many of them, identify as Marxists. So this is not name calling. It's just saying this is what they believe they are.Dr. Owen Anderson: Well, they don't. It's a funny pattern. And I think conservatives probably do it, too. But you see it a lot in academia. They like to go and tattoo people with these phrases, Right. I mean, look, there's there are many things to be called that have a very ill effect on all of us mentally. But being called a bigot. Yeah.Dr. Owen Anderson: It's basically.Chuck Warren: And it stays with you. It stays with you. Yeah.Dr. Owen Anderson: That's the worst one. Yeah.Chuck Warren: Yeah. I mean, it's just. And it's just horrible. And they know this. And so when you turn around and say, Well, you're a Marxist, you're a commie, they're like, We're being attacked. Well, yeah, you started this idiot conversation to begin with. Why don't you just shut up?Dr. Owen Anderson: And if someone told me, Hey, I'm not a Marxist, I'd be fine saying, okay, well, tell me what you are. I'll use that term. But the truth is, they teach that all of history is a conflict between economic classes and that the rich rule over the poor and that money should be redistributed. I mean, that's all straight out of the Communist Manifesto. So. So that's not an insult. It's just a it's just to say that's what they are. Whereas no one thinks white nationalist is a title people take and say, Yeah, that's what I am. Whereas Marxists, yeah, a lot of professors identify as Marxists or they're greatly influenced by Marx.Sam Stone: Yeah, and that's an important difference too. I mean, but also to Chuck's point, there's this attitude I think, that has crept into academia where they can criticize society and elements of society, individuals.Chuck Warren: And it's free speech for them.Sam Stone: Too. It's free speech. But but then when they come under criticism, it's it becomes this, you know, soul altering thing that they have to roll around in distress and scream for help. It triggers them. Yeah.Dr. Owen Anderson: Yeah. Well, that's what happens is I think they go from calling their opponents white nationalists, biggest hate hatemongers and these, these these guys like Charlie Kirk, especially Dennis Prager, that's really mainstream conservative thought. If he's a hatemonger, that's labeling all conservatives hate mongers. I mean, he's not somehow an extreme conservative.Sam Stone: And so and he's a practicing Jew.Chuck Warren: He's devotional. He's devout, strictly speaking.Dr. Owen Anderson: I mean, when the event started, Charlie Kirk wasn't on the panel. He introduced it. And I asked people about the event. And I tell I asked them, do you know what he talked about? And they say, no. He told people to observe the Sabbath day. That's what he spent his introduction on. And he said, Dennis Prager has been helping me as a Christian learn how to observe the Sabbath. So that's the kind of advice that was being given. Its not exactly political and.Dr. Owen Anderson: So.Dr. Owen Anderson: It was objected to.Chuck Warren: I have a question for you. So this brings up a point. Okay. So is that the type of program that, you know, here's what it is. I feel academia and I you know, look, I support ASU financially, various things there significantly. I feel college has become sort of pay for play now, you know, Sam and I and you can say we want to do an endowment chair for X And look, I think Michael Crow deserves a lot of credit for a lot of things. And one thing is if you come in with 1.5 for an endowment chair, you come on in. I mean, that's just that's just how he is, right?Dr. Owen Anderson: A university organized like ASU, we don't have lots of state taxes. We don't have any money from oil or things like that.Chuck Warren: Yeah. So. So he does that and he would do it for right or left. I don't think Michael Crow cares one way or another. Right. I mean, that's the problem.Dr. Owen Anderson: With their letter also is they're saying Lewis is paying he's to have his his position taught to students. Well, wait a minute. If that's what worries them, are they writing letters for all of the leftist centers at ASU or just the one?Chuck Warren: Well, it's not only that. How many of them are less of an endowment from a leftist endowment? Yeah. Which no one Has anybody even looked at that, Sam?Sam Stone: No, but you know what? When you said that Chuck and Dr. Anderson, when you said that it occurred to me something from my time at the city of Phoenix, because the city of Phoenix was repeatedly partnering with ASU to reach out to get grants from far leftist charitable institutions and to endow chairs to study whether it was global warming or some something that Phoenix had some interest in. And in the five years that I was in Sal Deceases office at the City of Phoenix, there were probably, if I would remember off the top of my head, 12 or 15 of those positions that came through on our budget.Chuck Warren: So should we. So should colleges just stop accepting this? I mean, that one way to solve this, I mean, so for the for the Lewis for this Ted Lewis thing at Barrett, was it was that the right entity to be having that type of thing at And I think that's a fair question. How it gets.Dr. Owen Anderson: How it gets politicized. I just I just put up on my YouTube channel, which is Dr. Owen Anderson, a interview I did this week with Representative Austin Smith, and we were talking about this exact issue of how do we avoid politicizing public education. And this goes back to using these special words because we have a center for American institutions at ASU, right. Which doesn't believe America is structurally racist and teaches the value of our founding principles that considered far conservative. Right. So so those words aren't telling you to vote for Republicans. They don't tell you how to vote in the next election. It's just saying, hey, Thomas Jefferson has some really good ideas and that's considered to be on the right. Whereas the political stuff on the left is very political. So this spring we also had Ibram X Kendi come out and he's one of the guys who said discrimination is good as long as you do it the right way, which means you discriminate against white people. He's very clear about that. That's not me putting words in his mouth. And we hosted him and no professor said, Wait, this is political. We shouldn't have that on campus.Sam Stone: My favorite Ibram X Kendi moment is when Joy Reid didn't realize that and started asking him that question. You know, she's asking him, Hey, you didn't really say this, right? And he's like, Well, yes, I did. That's exactly what I meant to do.Chuck Warren: I appreciate his honesty.Dr. Owen Anderson: Yeah, yeah. Last week we had a drag event at ASU and NAU. Professors wrote and said, Hey, this might hurt some of my students because. Well, because.Chuck Warren: Because. Because you're not a Marxist. I mean, at the end of the day, that's what it is. People who oppose to anybody else speaking that opposes their view of the world is a Marxist. They can say whatever they want, but that's what they are. They're suppressing free speech.Dr. Owen Anderson: Right. I think that's and one of the classes I teach is logic. I'm a philosopher, so like my whole job, I'm paid to question people. So the more someone says, Hey, don't question me, the more that, you know, red flags are going off, right. To say, Hey, I got a question this person and use logic to do it. So what really disappoints me is that professors couldn't get into the substance. What I would have loved to have seen if they said, look, in their letter, they said they're worried for their LGBTQ plus students. Well, why? Presumably it's because Dennis Prager believes that marriage is ordained by God between one man and one woman. So they should have written a letter debating that and said, hey, we don't believe in God. We think marriage is a social construct. Right. That's been used to oppress women. That would have been a great debate. And I know for sure Dennis Prager would have had that. And if he didn't want to, I'll debate it. But that's not what they did. They got right into name calling. And I guarantee they expect their students to actually provide evidence in their papers and give arguments, not just resort to name calling.Chuck Warren: Who knows.Dr. Owen Anderson: For.Chuck Warren: That? I mean, I don't know. I question that.Chuck Warren: It depends.Chuck Warren: It depends. It depends if they like the way their their views are. I don't question. I question that. I think that's where we're at now and that's what's frightening about it. I think the guests we have talked about who much of the right would find repulsive. They deserve the right to speak.Sam Stone: There was a really good tweet by Scott Walker, the former Wisconsin governor, a couple of days ago, where he said he had been at a forum and someone criticized him on the basis saying, well, conservatives don't want college students to hear these things that we disagree with. And Walker said, no, that's not it. We just want them to hear that there are two sides.Chuck Warren: It's very.Dr. Owen Anderson: Well, that's. Oh, yeah, I read that tweet. That's exactly right. They don't even give the two sides. And and then maybe I was somewhat pampered as a philosopher because as a as a student, I expected that. And my professors were good at doing that. I never really got the sense that, okay, my professors teach me his view. I would we'd we'd go to philosophers who disagree with each other, and I got to figure out how to think about that. So, yeah, I think those days are pretty well gone. And that's what really bothers me. That's what we need to bring back, is the ability to teach students what is logic and how do we use it to evaluate different belief systems.Chuck Warren: And and and sort of grow up. There are people you walk by every day, people you live with. They had just opposite views on various things happening in our world. And if you can't handle that, get some help.Dr. Owen Anderson: Well, that's that's exactly why they go to the word hatemonger and white nationalist bigot, because if they just said, hey, these guys disagree with us about marriage, you'd say so. You know, we're adults. Lots of people have different opinions. So they have to go to something shocking and say, no, not just that, but these guys are white nationalists. And you think of Nazis or something and you say, Wow, really? I didn't know that. And you don't want to go to the event. Yeah. And that's really the sad part.Sam Stone: That and that that is where I felt Professor Simpson fell so short on this program is he didn't understand the connection that what they're doing are really just ad hominem attacks designed to suppress speech that that in doing so, they are committing an act against free inquiry and against free thought at that university. Whereas like you just said, Doctor, had they gone out and said, we disagree with them on these points and we would like to have open debate on these issues. That's the purpose as most of us understand it, of a university.Dr. Owen Anderson: Yeah, that was wonderful. And I said that three of us wrote a letter and that's one of the things I said in there by myself was since I'm the philosopher in the group, I'll debate any of them or all of them at the same time. Let's do that. But I don't I'm surprised to find this out. But it doesn't I guess it doesn't surprise me. Debating is considered a form of of violence. So if you say, hey, let's debate this, they view that as using the coercion of reason and reason is probably also white nationalist or something.Sam Stone: Oh, geez. Well.Dr. Owen Anderson: Even asking for public debate gets dismissed.Sam Stone: Yeah. No, and that's got to stop. And folks, for any of those Barrett professors, if you want to come on, we will provide the platform on our podcast with Dr. Anderson or others. You can debate it with us. You can debate it with him. Any of those letter signees who want to join us and have that open discussion on these issues, we'd welcome it. We'll set it up. We'll provide the time and place. Chuck, thank you so much. We really had a great show today, folks. Thank you for tuning in. I want to thank Dr. Owen Anderson for his time today. Doctor, we really appreciate you having on the program. And if you are not subscribed, folks, make sure you subscribe so you get our all of our podcasts, all of our content directly to your mailbox each week.Chuck Warren: Thanks, Doctor.Chuck Warren: Appreciate you. Yeah, thank.Dr. Owen Anderson: You for having me.Sam Stone: Thank you. Folks, breaking battlegrounds back on the air next week. See you then. Get full access to Breaking Battlegrounds at breakingbattlegrounds.substack.com/subscribe

Join us this week as we delve into crucial conversations and heartwarming nostalgia. In this episode, our first guest, Congressman Darrell Issa, opens up about his dedicated efforts in supporting the 13 Gold Star families who have been profoundly impacted by the unfortunate fallout of the Biden administration's withdrawal from Afghanistan. Through insightful dialogue, we uncover the dedication and resilience required to address these critical issues.Shifting gears, we invite you to a captivating trip down memory lane. We're thrilled to be joined by the charismatic cast of 'The Sandlot,' coming together to celebrate the 30th anniversary of this beloved classic. Chauncey Leopardi (Squints), Marty York (Alan “Yeah-Yeah” McClennan) and Victor DiMattia (Timmy Timmons) join us as they share their treasured experiences, behind-the-scenes stories, and the enduring magic that has made 'The Sandlot' a timeless masterpiece.Connect with us:www.breakingbattlegrounds.voteTwitter: www.twitter.com/Breaking_BattleFacebook: www.facebook.com/breakingbattlegroundsInstagram: www.instagram.com/breakingbattlegroundsLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/breakingbattlegroundsCongressman Darrell Issa represents the people of California's 48th Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives.The 48th District encompasses the central and eastern parts of San Diego County and a portion of Riverside County, including the communities of Fallbrook, Bonsall, Valley Center, Ramona, Escondido, Santee, Poway, Lakeside, Alpine, Temecula, Murrieta and the mountain and desert areas of the San Diego-Imperial County line. Originally from Ohio, Issa enlisted in the U.S. Army when he was a senior in high school. Through his military service, he received an ROTC scholarship and graduated with a degree in business from Sienna Heights University in Adrian, Michigan. Upon graduation, Issa was commissioned as an Army officer, and ultimately obtained the rank of captain. He completed his active-duty military service in 1980 and turned his interests to the private sector.At the height of his career in business, Issa served as CEO of a California-based electronics company that he founded and built in the mid-1990s, which became the nation’s largest manufacturer of vehicle anti-theft and auto security devices. In 1994, Issa was named Entrepreneur of the Year. Issa also served as chairman of the Consumer Electronics Association, an organization of 2000 companies within the consumer technology industry.Issa is a senior member of the House Judiciary Committee and the House Foreign Affairs Committee.  From 2011-2015, he was the Chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and  previously served on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, the Energy & Commerce Committee, and the Small Business Committee.As a congressman and leader at California’s grassroots level, Issa has championed smart, limited government and advanced legislation to balance the federal budget and promote transparency to hold government accountable to the people.A holder of 37 patents, Issa has been vigilant about protecting intellectual property rights. His successful efforts to fight human trafficking along the U.S. border have resulted in tougher laws, stiffer penalties, and more consistent enforcement. His watchful concern to guarantee that U.S. taxpayers receive the royalties they are owed from mineral interests on federal lands exposed fraud and mismanagement at the Mineral Management Service (MMS) in 2006. In 2008, when Congress was asked to pass the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) in the wake of that year’s financial crisis, Issa stood by his experience starting and growing successful businesses, opposed giving a blank-check bailout to Wall Street, and voted against all government bailouts.-The Sandlot Cast:Chauncey Leopardi is an American actor known for playing Michael "Squints" Palledorous in the 1993 film The Sandlot and Alan White in the 1999 series Freaks and Geeks.Marty York is an actor, known for playing Alan “Yeah-Yeah” McClennan in The Sandlot (1993). He is also known for Boy Meets World (1993) and Due Justice.Victor DiMattia is an actor and director, known for The Sandlot (1993), Cool as Ice (1991) and Dennis the Menace (1987).About The Sandlot: When Scottie Smalls (Thomas Guiry) moves to a new neighborhood, he manages to make friends with a group of kids who play baseball at the sandlot. Together they go on a series of funny and touching adventures. The boys run into trouble when Smalls borrows a ball from his stepdad that gets hit over a fence.-Transcription Chuck Warren: Welcome to Breaking Battlegrounds. I'm your host, Chuck Warren with my co-host, Sam Stone. On this segment, we have Congressman Darrell Issa. He represents California's 48th Congressional District, which encompasses central and eastern parts of San Diego County and a portion of Riverside County. He is also a senior member on the House Judiciary Committee and House Foreign Affairs Committee. And Congressman Issa, thank you for joining us.Darrell Issa: Well, Chuck, thanks for having me on and and congratulations on your ever expanding listeners.Chuck Warren: Well, thank you. And it's because of folks like you who are willing to come on and talk about important issues. And you have one coming up this Monday. You're holding a congressional forum for folks who want to attend it. It's at 10 a.m. Pacific Escondido City Hall. And tell us what you're going to be doing there during this congressional forum.Darrell Issa: Well, this Chuck, this is the kind of official event that these district work periods are made for, you know, in 2021, with the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan and 13 of our service members killed. Uh, we sort of, you know, said, okay, now turn the page. The administration likes to say the problem is for these the Gold Star families, the spouses, the parents, the children of these servicemen and women. You can't just turn a page. And they've never really been never been heard. They when they went to to Dover to claim the bodies, even that they managed to the administration managed to sort of screw up and make it happen and so on. So one of the things that we wanted to do in addition to we've had some of the Gold Star families in Washington, many of these individuals, they deployed from what's called the 21 here at Camp Pendleton. And so we've arranged to bring them back to the district, flown their families in, put them up and given them an opportunity, not just on Monday to tell their stories, but on Tuesday, thanks to the Marine Corps station, they will be transported to the top of this mountain where a marine. Includes their loved ones. They'll be taken up by Humvees. Walk that last few feet and and really have an opportunity to bring at least a little closure to it. And by the way, have thousands of people that support what their loved ones did and how that sacrifice may have been unnecessary mistake, but it was still their sacrifice. And so they're going to get a thank you from the people of San Diego and the Marines of Camp Pendleton.Chuck Warren: I imagine. Have you have you met and talked with most of these these 13 families?Darrell Issa: I have. We hosted nine groups of families in San Diego and Washington, D.C., but I've spoken to two at least one member of each family. So in some cases it's too soon for them to to really want to open up, to communicate. But there's usually, in this case, always at least one member who was willing to speak on behalf of the family. You know, years ago, Brian Terry, the Border Patrol agent that was killed based on the Fast and Furious mistake of the Obama administration, we saw one family member who the family felt comfortable saying, let him speak for all of us. And the same often happens here, but many of them will attend and, you know, have that quiet remembrance that see them, their loved ones honored by their fellow Marines at the memorial and at the ceremony on Tuesday. Now, that's a private ceremony because, again, they're coming on Monday. They'll tell their story and people will have an opportunity to meet with them if they want to. Tuesday, though, is really for the families to understand that the Marine Corps is a close knit family and their loved ones will be remembered for their sacrifice.Chuck Warren: Let me ask you this. This may be a bit of a personal question. How has this affected you? I mean, I imagine this is emotionally draining. It probably gets the blood pressure increasing, talking to each one of these families and knowing that they they sort of died a little bit in vain because of poor execution. How has this affected you?Darrell Issa: Well as a Vietnam era, serving with, you know, my colleagues who served in Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, um, you know, all of us who have served, you know, ask, you know, what was it worth it? The ones we lost in training, the ones we lost later in in their service. And it is tough because you're constantly reminded that our men and women in uniform have won every war we've been sent to. Only to have the peace somehow screwed up by those who have PhDs and are supposed to know so much. You know, we won the Iraq conflict. We won the Afghanistan effort. No question at all. By the way. We won it with our NATO. It's like we never had before. Uh, just as we we fought North Korea and could have done more. There was a cease fire and no end to it. We won Vietnam and left a government with capability and then allowed it to be taken. So that's what I think the reminder is, is and I think it's important for your listeners, many of whom are in San Diego. Look, we we need to continue to thank those who serve, who go in harm's way. And then we need to hold those accountable who squander their efforts in Iraq today. We have an inherently chaotic country because not because we didn't drive Saddam out, but because while we held that country the same in Afghanistan, the experts couldn't figure out how to help them form a stable government that could go on. And you notice I didn't say a democracy, right. Not every not every place in the world is ready for democracy, but every every place we go into.Darrell Issa: We have an obligation as the late George Herbert Bush once said and was told, you, look, if you break it, you own it and you have to leave it with the pieces back together. Uh, we we didn't do that in Afghanistan, and we withdrew at a time when we had the ability to keep it stable. We had the ability to give more time to to efforts to make that country able to sustain. Instead, we gave it back to the Taliban, who are the only reason we went in there was their control of the government. We we didn't have to take over Afghanistan to hunt down Osama bin Laden. We made the decision to drive them out. And 20 years later, we invited them in. That's not what we're talking about on Monday. Monday, we're talking about the sacrifice of these individuals, who they were and how much they they loved service in the Marines or the Army, which person is talking. And that's important. But we're not going to be talking about the mistakes that were made, how 160 other people died in that explosion and fire because they were crammed into an area. We're not going to be talking about how they should have been in Bagram, which would have been safer. Those are for other times. Those are for the times in Washington where we hold the hearings and try to hold those accountable, many of whom are still in power, made these mistakes.Sam Stone: Congressman, I think and I would agree with you, it is really critical to hold those people in power accountable for what happened, in part because the mistakes they made, it wasn't the service members or their mistake. It was the mistake of the Biden administration, the people pulling out. But the repercussions of that, as seen in the actions of Russia, as seen in the actions of China, what they did in that period has made the world less safe for everybody.Darrell Issa: You're exactly right, Chuck. That is that is the challenge that that we deal with every day, and particularly those of us who are veterans is how do we get there? And I serve on foreign affairs on top of it. We've got to get to where famously, you know, our allies count on us and believe in us, and our enemies fear us. Neither one is the case right now. I was I've been in Munich, I was in Kiev, in Ukraine, and so on. These people, many of them, you know, they're being encouraged to hedge their bets. Even some of our former allies in the Middle East are hedging their bets. That's not good. Even Israel, when I talk to the leaders there, they're they're very concerned that we don't have their back, which we've had since the founding of the state of Israel. And I will tell you, the when the speaker made the decision to bring the president of Israel to speak before Congress, he did so as part of what we could do. To assure them that we still are strong allies. Because if that if those allies don't trust us and our enemies don't fear us, we will be back in a major conflict, the type that too many men and women have given to to not have again.Chuck Warren: I'm old enough to remember, and you are too, that when Republicans were wholeheartedly against Russian communists and I and I feel there's a segment right now who are opposed to Ukraine because of some affiliation or something to Russia. It's important Ukraine for the United States and for national security and world security.Darrell Issa: Chuck, this is one of the things that's frustrating. I call them compromised, and I don't say they're compromised by money. I don't say they're compromised by something that somebody knows about them. And I don't even know if they're compromised by some sort of false information they've been given. But there are a number of people who I respect otherwise who clearly, on the issue of Russia, a few were on China, but some on China, they somehow hold out this hope that evil isn't what we're looking at, that these that you can somehow switch it. You can't. And that's what we knew for, by the way, Republicans and Democrats stood united. Kennedy was just as staunchly an anti-communist as Nixon. We need to get back to that resolution that there's good and evil. And once you determine that somebody is evil, don't be debating whether the other side's good enough. Deal with evil. Ukraine isn't perfect, but it's not Russia and it's not the aggressor.Sam Stone: Yeah, nobody in the world is perfect, but there are absolutes in the real world. It is absolutely a fact that Russia and China are great power, opposites to us. They are our competitors on the world stage and if they take over, that leads to a much more dangerous world and a much, much less stable world for everybody. And I think there are far too many members who continue to discount that fact, Chuck, that that we just have to start looking once again. At the moment, we are in a great power conflict and there is good and evil.Chuck Warren: Congressman Sam and I have told other guests we've had you can say Ukraine has corruption problems, but also we can't allow Russia just to go take a country. They're not mutually exclusive. And oh, you're absolutely.Darrell Issa: You know, you're absolutely right. And I would tell everyone, Taiwan had corruption problems. South Korea had corruption problems. But they we worked them through that. And today they are sustainable democracies. So the transition can take a long time. But if Russia invades and takes them over, just like the 60 years before, there won't be a transition to an effective democracy.Chuck Warren: With Congressman Darrell Issa. He'll be right back with us for our next break. This is breaking battlegrounds with Chuck Warren and Sam Stone. We'll be right back.Advertisement: At Overstock. We know home is a pretty important place and that's why we believe everyone deserves a home that makes them happy. Whether you're furnishing a new house or apartment or simply looking to update and refresh a few rooms, Overstock has every day free shipping and amazing deals on the beautiful, high quality furniture and decor. You need to transform any home into the home of your dreams. Overstock Making dream Homes Come True.Chuck Warren: Welcome back to Breaking Battlegrounds. I'm your host, Chuck Warren and Sam Stone. Today we have with us Darrell Issa. But folks, Sam's going to make a little point here for you.Sam Stone: Look, folks, you've been hearing us talk about why refy for a while now. This is a fantastic opportunity. If you haven't gone on their website, you need to go check them out. Invest. Why Refy.com? There just aren't many places out there where you can earn up to a 10.25% fixed rate of return, 10.25% fixed rate of return. The stock market goes up. The stock market goes down. Your returns stay steady. You keep making money. Check them out at invest. Why refy.com that's invest the letter Y then refy.com or give them a ring at 888 Y REFY 24 and tell them Chuck and Sam sent you Congressman.Chuck Warren: So the Supreme Court did the United States a really huge civics lesson favor in that they rejected Joe Biden's student loan forgiveness program for one simple reason. That is something Congress has to vote on. What do you see needs to happen so Congress start taking their appropriate role again on budgeting, on foreign policy, on things of this nature. It seems like we truly are, to use the catch phrase, swamp running. Dc It's just a bunch of bureaucrats. You guys pass a bill, they put the details in, they run it, they rule on it. What can we do to give that power back to Congress as it was intended to?Darrell Issa: Well, that's a great question, and it's one that the speaker began when he literally clawed back $29 billion of funds that were already spent that were basically being used as walking around money for immigration. And he used the debt ceiling as a basis for it. But that's just a very small down payment, you know, living in Washington and having the honor of being able to lead people up to the top of the dome of the Capitol. When you look out on the dome from the dome, what you see is you see you're from the Capitol. You see six buildings total that belong to the House of Representatives and Senate for their their offices. And there were two more annexes. That's all the buildings of our entire branch. But you don't see is you don't see another building for miles. It is in part of the executive branch cabinet position after cabinet position. And of course, you know, what you see at the EPA pales in comparison to the field offices or all these other large bureaucracies. Congress has the ability to determine who hit it hires to do determination of its rights and responsibilities. And the reality is Congress needs to be more responsible and it needs to cede less in each law. And many of our laws require reauthorization. One of them actually is called FISA. It's just spying on people, presumably outside the US. But as we found, they used it to spy on President Trump and others.Darrell Issa: We have the ability to take back a lot of that authority. We have the ability to give some of it to courts, but we certainly need to do that on foreign policy, Believe it or not, people have forgotten this. Every trade agreement is the absolute right of the House of Representatives. We pass a law every so many years, you know, that gives a right to the administration to negotiate and then come back to us with an up or down. And of course, sometimes, like Obama, they negotiate something they know that Congress will never pass and then they act like they were they were pro trade and we weren't. That's ridiculous. We can and should, for example, have members of the House of Representatives or people that we hire. Those trade negotiations with a seat at the table. Constitution says we can do it if we simply hold the constitution and return to original principles, including how we allocate money to the executive branch, we can absolutely take it back. But it's going to take every member of Congress understanding that ceding power to the other branch is lazy. And unfortunately, it's led to the kind of control that Democrats seem to like. And Republicans to a person go home and tell their constituents is wrong. So that's a long winded way to say the way we take it back is we begin taking it back every day with every bill we've had.Sam Stone: Congressman, this is Sam. One of the things my background was in part working with the city of Phoenix and in talking to friends that I have who work in federal bureaucracies, federal agencies primarily outside of DC, one of the issues that I think is across the board in government now is they are just massively overstaffed. On the bureaucratic side, 20 to 30% of the people do 80 to 90% of the work. The others are frankly a drag on their morale. But the the overarch, the. Coming out of it is that when you have that many bureaucrats, they can really only justify their jobs by continuing to pass more and more regulation, more and more, expand the reach of their departments and their government agencies. And so much of the problems in this country, I think, now stems from the fact that our government, we can spend huge amounts of money to $2.2 trillion on infrastructure, and the signature outcome of it is a handful of pedestrian bridges to nowhere that we're not getting the bang for our buck because of that over bureaucracy, bureaucratization.Darrell Issa: Well, you're exactly right. And, you know, one of the best examples is, you know, if you try to get a visa or a passport right now, you can't get a passport renewed. And unless you go to your congressman, you're going to wait months. Now, you sort of look and say, well, why is that? Is it because they can't get enough people or they they don't have enough money? Not at all. It's because they got used to basically they call it teleworking. I call it working. Congress has the ability to hold them accountable. And we need to right now, one of the things that Foreign Affairs is looking at is literally privatizing to a contractor. Most of that work with a recognition that we're going to pay X amount. It has to be delivered in a certain amount of time or they don't get anything. You can't do that very effectively with the in-house bureaucracy. You can do it when you force them to have a lesser amount of government worker and a greater amount of people who you can hold accountable. And by the way, you can fire them if they don't meet the target objective. So a lot of that has to be done that way. The headcount I'll give you an example. The Pentagon today has more employees for basically 1 million soldiers, sailors and Marines than they had when we had 11 million spread all throughout the world. And remember, back then, we were doing everything by paper with typewriters and carbon copy. The fact is that our overhead has become so bloated that, for example, in the Pentagon, holding someone accountable is almost impossible because there are so many people with so many titles needs to change again. When Congress authorizes money, we have the ability to authorize how many generals and how many colonels and by the way, how many DOD civilians. And I've challenged the Armed Services Committee to do just that, to reduce. And Ken Calvert, who's a California congressman, has actually begun the process of reducing the total number of DOD civilians and telling them that we know they can live with less and we expect them to do so.Chuck Warren: Well, please, please keep pushing that. Congressman, we have about 30s left here with our time with you. We appreciate you coming on today with Congressman Darrell Issa, California 48th District. You're on the foreign House Foreign affairs Committee. What is the 1 or 2 things that keep you up at night with 30s left on that?Darrell Issa: What keeps me up at night are three things the the cozy relationship this administration seems to want to have with Iran, the unwillingness to actually call China and Russia for what they are on an everyday basis. President Biden called Xi a dictator and then he backpedaled from it. He should never have backpedaled from it. Ronald Reagan called Russia Soviet Union an evil empire and it stuck and it made a difference. We need to get back to those three above all other countries, those three countries being called for what they are.Chuck Warren: Thank you. Congressman Darrell Issa, thank you for joining us. We hope to have you on again soon. Folks, this is breaking battlegrounds. We'll be back.Sam Stone: Welcome back to Breaking battlegrounds with your host, Chuck Moran. I'm Sam Stone. Well, as baseball geeks, as family movie fanatics, we were really excited for this next interview. I remember this film from a long time ago. Chuck and I really enjoyed it, rewatched it last night and I thought it aged better than I could have ever imagined. We are incredibly honored to have the cast of The Sandlot here to celebrate their 30th anniversary today. We have Chauncey Leopardi, squints known as Squints Marty York, who played Alan Yaya McLennan. And guys, thank you so much for joining us today. We really love having you on the program. It's it's you know what I thought about the film last night rewatching it. It was an homage to a lost era in American childhood in many ways. You know, the last free kids in America.Chuck Warren: We used to play baseball every day. Yeah, wake.Sam Stone: Up all day, every day.Chuck Warren: So you're both we're young child actors. Did you play baseball like this? Did you have a bunch of friends you gather with and played baseball every day in the park?Chauncey Leopardi: Um, I think you guys nailed it with the homage to, like, a Lost childhood, because I definitely feel like today's generation and even, you know, the generation before kind of lost that out all day until the, you know, the streetlights came on type of vibe. But yeah, we both were athletic, I would say, and we didn't play organized sports. We were sandlot kids ourselves.Marty York: So yeah, I mean, we, uh, we learned a lot before we went to the field. So we, we actually became very good at playing in Los Angeles before we came to Utah. And our, our coach, our baseball coach was actually squints his grandpa. Oh, wow. Uh, during the, the squint scene where he talks about in the tree house.Chauncey Leopardi: Police chief Squiggman Pallidus.Chauncey Leopardi: Yes.Chauncey Leopardi: Yeah. He's a Kappa. He's a Giants fan. But we won't hold that against him. But he actually was our baseball.Sam Stone: Here in Arizona. We do hold that against him also.Chauncey Leopardi: Yeah, we do too. Silently in Los Angeles. But, you know, he's. He's fond of heart.Chuck Warren: Do you do you get tired? I know you're doing it 30th anniversary. And, you know, this film's become very special for a lot of people. Um, do you do you do you look back on it with fond memories or just something like this is just in the past. And I'm a new chapters in life now.Chauncey Leopardi: No mean you see the joy that it brings people and that it's it's continued over, you know, three, four generations now of like, you know, parents passing it down to their children. And you see the moments that they've shared and the the genuine happiness that the film brings and the fact that kids will still watch it to this day, which is, you know, super odd and doesn't happen very often anymore. So we enjoy it, we embrace it and take on the roles that we've been given. And I guess we're here to carry the torch for, you know, for the sandlot kids everywhere now.Marty York: Yeah. I mean, it's still surprises us when we, you know, we go to these sporting events and these like professional athletes are like, we love your movie or you guys are the reason we play baseball or, you know, it's it's still, you know, it's like year after year it just gets bigger and bigger, which is really cool.Sam Stone: I asked a bunch of parents if they had shown it to their kids. You know, with young kids right now and universally they had.Chuck Warren: Like, well, it's a movie. It's a movie you can actually watch with your kids to generational film. So, um, Chauncey and Marty, do you both do you both have kids? Do you have nephews and nieces?Chauncey Leopardi: I have. I have a bunch of kids. Marty doesn't have any kids. Not that I know of.Chuck Warren: So have you made. Have you? But. So, Marty, we'll leave that for another episode one day. John, we.Chauncey Leopardi: Got 50.Sam Stone: Minutes coming up in the second segment here.Chuck Warren: Chuck, Chauncey, have your kids all watched the show?Chauncey Leopardi: So, you.Chauncey Leopardi: Know, my oldest is 21, so she's seen it previously. But I have a five and a seven year old that I just started showing it to them. And like I caught my son, who's five, watching it the other day, just like it might be the first like live action movie that he's actually sat through. So it still holds strong. You know, he's still like, they're excited. They're with us. They they came here to Utah with us and they're going to be at the sandlot. So they're so excited to be in The Sandlot movie because that's what they think's going on.Chauncey Leopardi: Oh, that's fantastic. And.Chuck Warren: Chauncey, I want I want to make a correction, though I split time between Arizona. Utah when you said a bunch of kids in Utah were thinking, that's five, six, seven kids. So just realize three kids in Utah is not a lot of kids.Chauncey Leopardi: I have four, but yeah, I'm working on it. I'll get.Chuck Warren: There. You get there. You got to get there and be part of it. Are you both baseball fans?Chauncey Leopardi: It pours a.Chauncey Leopardi: Lot in l.a.Chauncey Leopardi: Are you both? Yeah, we're baseball fans. Are you baseball.Chuck Warren: Fans? So.Chauncey Leopardi: Yeah. Did.Chuck Warren: Were you baseball fans before the movie?Chauncey Leopardi: Yeah. I mean, I was in a basketball phase when we did Sandlot. It was the Michael Jordan era. So, you know, basketball was king at the moment. But I think over time, the game has grown on us because we've become such a part of it. Um, and, you know, it's a great thing.Victor Dimattia: Yeah. Oh, and this is Victor Dimattia, by the way. I played Timmy Timmons. Y'all didn't introduce me, but I'm hearing you. Hi, Victor. How are you talking? So I'm good, man. Good.Chuck Warren: Victor. Hey, Victor, We want to hear you. We're going to take a quick break. This is breaking battlegrounds.Victor Dimattia: You know, I'm leaving. Never mind. We're going to.Chuck Warren: Come back with a very bitter victor. We'll be right back. This is breaking battlegrounds. We're with the cast of Sandlots with Marty, Victor and Chauncey. We'll be right back.Advertisement: At Overstock. We know home is a pretty important place and that's why we believe everyone deserves a home that makes them happy. Whether you're furnishing a new house or apartment or simply looking to update and refresh a few rooms. Overstock has every day free shipping and amazing deals on the beautiful high quality furniture and decor. You need to transform any home into the home of your dreams. Overstock Making Dream homes Come True.Sam Stone: Welcome back to Breaking battlegrounds with your host, Chuck Warren. I'm Sam Stone. Folks, are you looking for an opportunity to earn a tremendous rate of return that's not tied to the stock market. The stock market can go up. The stock market can go down. You can still earn up to a 10.25% fixed rate of return. That's right, 10.25% fixed. Just give our friends at invest refi a call. You can call them at 888 y refy 24. Or just go online, invest the letter Y, then refy.com and let them know Chuck and Sam sent you. Okay. Continuing on with the cast of the Sandlot, we are very excited to have them in studio. I was really stunned, Chuck, rewatching that movie at how well it has held up over all these years and so the opportunity to talk about it, we have Chauncey Leopardi, Marty York, Victor Dimattia online with us today. Guys. I was stunned at how well, like even the really kind of goofy effects about the beast kind of held up just because they they sort of still seemed like kids. Overblown fears. And the rest of it looks like it could have been made yesterday.Chauncey Leopardi: Yeah, Yeah. It's really cool.Chauncey Leopardi: I think it's kind of lost in time because of the way that David shot it. David Mickey Evans is the writer director and he had Tony Richmond, the DP. He handed him like Kodak chromatic film and he said, I want the film to look like this. And if anybody remembers Kodak chromatic film, it has that like. That that weird like, like pop art type of vibe to it. And so it's kind of like this last summer that's just, you know, it's like a time capsule and it doesn't really age and it just is, you know, a piece of Americana.Chauncey Leopardi: It connects it.Sam Stone: Beautifully.Victor Dimattia: That it I think the fact that it's set in the 60s, it came out in the 90s but set in the 60s kind of also sets it apart like that. So it doesn't look aged like kind of like a Christmas story, how it takes place like in the past, correct. So it just like, it just never like looks like it's dated.Chuck Warren: Um, Victor, Marty, Chauncey, you all seem like you have a good relationship. I'm sure a lot of movies, a lot of movie casts. Can't say that. Have you all stayed close over the years?Chauncey Leopardi: Yeah, we got a great group chat. It's been cracking lately. Actually, I've been. I've been putting some really good memes in there.Victor Dimattia: Yeah, it's mostly just Chauncey and Marty making fun of each other, but. But it's entertaining, pretty much.Chuck Warren: I tell our audience. What was it like filming? Okay, so your young men, how long did it take? How long were you out there? You know, I know filming at times, too, can be quite boring at times because it's a hurry up and wait. Hurry up and wait. What was it like being young men, boys, teenagers, filming something like this? Victor, we'll start with you.Victor Dimattia: Oh, it was a long it was a long shoot. I mean, it was like almost three months, which like these days you don't do that anymore. Really. Things move a lot faster. But they really took their time. And we had a lot of days in Lake City filming this movie.Sam Stone: Yeah. One of the things I mean, in watching it, it looked like you guys were having a ton of fun throughout it. I mean, it's hard, I think, for kids sometimes to to hide their their personal experience on film other than the pool scene, which I guess apparently was was freezing cold that day. But you guys look like you were having a ton of fun throughout that movie.Chauncey Leopardi: It was a blast. I mean, we got to play ball all day. You know, you got nine kids running around, you know, with their their their set parents or, you know, we had our parents come to set. It was it was a really cool experience. And it was a.Chauncey Leopardi: It was a lot.Chauncey Leopardi: Of it felt like the last of like a real film production where, like, all those sets were really built. They were all hard sets. You had real props. Nothing was CGI. Everything was like, really done. So you really had like that awe of like, you know, this is a cool period sports movie with kids and a dog. And it was a lot going on. It was a really good time.Marty York: We all did our own stuff too, which was really cool. Well.Chuck Warren: The big stunt.Marty York: This is Marty, the scene where I'm actually going over the fence in the harness. I actually really did that. Oh, did you really? Yeah, It was about 25, 30ft in the air and just literally held on by a fiberglass harness. And the crew was pulling me with these, like, metal wires. So it was I mean, it was dangerous. You know.Chauncey Leopardi: It was definitely an OSHA violation.Chuck Warren: How long? Oh, definitely. How long did how long did it take to film that scene? How how long were you in that harness?Marty York: I think we did. It took about two hours. Three hours of filming.Chauncey Leopardi: Yeah, Marty had to perfect his.Chauncey Leopardi: Yeah.Marty York: You know, that was, uh. That was all improvised, too. We improvised a lot of the stuff on set, too.Chauncey Leopardi: Also, if you watch it when. When they. When we pull him up, Marty pushes off of the the railing of the treehouse because he would have cracked his head open. So you definitely can't do that kind of stuff anymore with child labor law.Chuck Warren: No, you can't. Not at all. I have a question I want to ask all three of you individually, and I'll start with Victor, then Marty, then Chauncey. How did you get the role? Did you have to go through a bunch of auditions? Victor, I want to start with you. Then we'll go to Marty and Chauncey. How did you get the role?Chauncey Leopardi: Yeah, it was a really long casting process. I mean, I had done a bunch of stuff before and it was like, you know, you go out and maybe have a callback or two, but this was like they kept bringing us back over and over, and then they would like pair us up with different kids and like kind of see how we interacted together. And they brought us out onto a field and had us play baseball and stuff. So it was like definitely a much longer process than than other stuff that I had done.Sam Stone: I have to ask because I had totally forgotten when I got to the end of the movie last night that James Earl Jones was in it.Chauncey Leopardi: Yeah.Sam Stone: Did you all get that? I mean, because obviously that's post Star Wars Post Darth Vader. Were you guys a Star Wars fans and be like, what was that like? Did you get to interact with him and what was he like?Marty York: Yeah, this is Marty. Actually, I did get a chance to interact with him. My mom said I'm actually going to take you to meet Darth Vader. He took me to his trailer, and she said. She said, Yeah, that's. He was like eating breakfast or something. And she's like, That's Darth Vader. And I asked him that and he goes, I said, Are you Darth Vader? And he goes, I am your father. And yeah, and the James Earl Jones, you know, Darth Vader voice. And it was amazing.Chuck Warren: Jones I want to go back to these auditions. Chauncey, How did you get your role?Chauncey Leopardi: Um, originally I was reading for another part, actually, I think I was reading for. Yeah. When I went in and like Vic said, it was a pretty rigorous, I think I went back on like 4 or 5 callbacks and then we did like a lot of like, I guess it's kind of like screen testing. But we went to this place in LA called the Sportsmen's Lodge. It's where a lot of the kids from out of town were staying and we would like run lines on film or tape. Like for 2 or 3 hours in the morning as they pulled in kids and mixed and matched and did their thing. And then we would go play baseball in the afternoon with our baseball coach and see if the kids could actually look like they could play. So it was probably the the, you know, the most strenuous casting process I had ever done. I mean, sometimes you go in, you don't hear anything, and then you book a job or sometimes you read a couple times and maybe screen test. But this was like a month and a half long process probably of like, you know, continuous. Um, you know, rigorous auditioning and and baseball training. You know, and I think obviously they did what they had to do and the film held up. So I guess it was a good process for them.Sam Stone: The baseball training worked. It looked good.Chuck Warren: Yeah, it looked it looked legitimate because they obviously can play. So how many of the kids that you saw during.Chauncey Leopardi: Some of these guys were rough? Yeah, Well.Chuck Warren: That's my question. During auditions, how what percentage of people during auditions really cannot play baseball at all?Chauncey Leopardi: Like like 90% of them probably.Marty York: Really horrible.Sam Stone: The theater kid crowd does not cross over entirely with the baseball kid crowd.Chauncey Leopardi: You know, the thing is, actors, they had clips of audiences when you would go to like a casting call and of course your mom or whatever be like.Chauncey Leopardi: Yeah.Chauncey Leopardi: Yeah, yeah, you can do all of it. Just if they ask, just tell them you can do that to ride a horse. Sure, we'll figure it out later.Chuck Warren: I think that's what all parents advice is. When you have a job opportunity, just say you can do everything. We'll figure it out later, right?Marty York: Exactly.Chuck Warren: Hope is not a battle plan, but sometimes it is in the world. Yeah. When you got done with the film, were you just of the mindset like, All right, I'm ready for the next job? Or did you realize what a wonderful experience this was? And I mean, how how and we'll start with you, Chauncey, then Marty, then Victor. How did when it got done, what were your feelings with it? Just it's done. I'm worn out. It was three months in Salt Lake. I'm ready to get back to other things in life. Try new things. I mean, what went through your mind?Chauncey Leopardi: I was late to start junior high.Chuck Warren: Oh.Chauncey Leopardi: I went right back into school.Chuck Warren: Did everybody know you were an actor in junior high?Chauncey Leopardi: I mean, it was starting a new school because I was just going into sixth grade, so I think it was a little funny. I met one of my best friends. We're still friends to this day because we were the only two kids in the back of gym class with no gym clothes on and we were just sitting there next to each other because we were both he was moving from somewhere else from San Diego up to L.A. And I was just had come back from doing this film, so we were both late to school and had no gym clothes. And that kind of set the tone for our friendship kind of, you know, which is pretty cool. Um, yeah, it was cool. And when the film came out, it's interesting. It was a different time. So, you know, nowadays I think that like there's a lot more social media presence, especially for young actor kids, and they have, you know, a more demanding promotional schedule. We did go on a promo tour, but outside of that, you kind of lived a normal life even if you were, you know, a quote unquote, celebrity at the time. I mean, they had like teenybopper magazines, but there wasn't nobody chasing you around or paparazzi or that type of deal. So, you know, you came in and you did movies and then you went home and you had a normal, you know, teenage life.Chuck Warren: Marty, how about you?Marty York: Yeah, I mean, it was, you know, after the, after the movie I. Yes, auditioning for stuff. I think like a lot of Boy Meets World and it was, you know, going to my school experience was like very strange because I was like the only actor there. And, and the, the jocks didn't like that for some reason. So it was an interesting experience for me. But I mean, you know, life and I kept acting and doing stuff and. Yeah.Chuck Warren: And Victor, how about you?Victor Dimattia: Um, yeah. I mean, you know, um. Lake Chauncey was saying, you know, right after that, I went back to school and was a little bit late getting back in there. But I went to school in San Fernando Valley in California. So like, there was other kids in my class that were actors, and I think all of them were trying to be actors and going out on auditions and stuff. So, I mean, it wasn't really all that all that weird, but we stayed in touch, you know, after the movie and we went and hung out. We actually I remember Brandon, who played Nunez, was in the Mighty Ducks that had filmed just before The Sandlot. So right after the movie Wrapped Ducks came out shortly after that. And I remember, um, a few of us that lived in LA all went to the theater to go watch that together and go see Brandon and the Mighty Ducks. So that was pretty cool.Sam Stone: That's awesome. Is there is there one scene that you guys had the most fun filming that that was like just a blast that day?Chauncey Leopardi: I really like the playing. The baseball against the other team was fun. We played a lot that day. It was pretty cool.Chauncey Leopardi: I saw you said the pool scene.Chauncey Leopardi: I mean, not that everybody. I mean, I guess not everybody has the same experience. I think for us as a group, like I like the stuff when we were actually getting to play ball. I know that as we were shooting the film, we were shooting a movie, but we were always trying to just like hit dingers and like hang out together and have that kind of thing, you know? So.Sam Stone: Yeah, what I loved about that scene, it sort of as a baseball fan, it portended in many ways the future of baseball, where it moved from the sandlots of the country to the organized teams. And personally, Chuck, I don't think that's helped the game. I think they built stronger players when it's that opening of it, when they talk about they just never stop playing.Chuck Warren: No, no. Well, we see the.Chauncey Leopardi: Kids in with the with the the milk, the milk box gloves just coming in and crushing the league. So I guess you're right, right? Yeah.Sam Stone: Yeah.Chuck Warren: Guys, we're going to go. We're ending this segment wherever you can. Stay with us just for ten minutes more. Go into our podcast portion, which talk a little bit more with you. Can you all three do that? Do you have time for ten more minutes?Chauncey Leopardi: Yeah, we're good.Chuck Warren: Okay, good. By the.Chauncey Leopardi: Way, the green room.Chuck Warren: Here, by the way. Yeah, I saw that there at the hockey stadium. Marty, I understand you were born in Auburn. I graduated high school in Auburn in 83. And you were born in 80.Marty York: Oh, get out of here. Auburn, California.Chuck Warren: Yeah. Plaster High School. Go, Go! Mighty Hillman.Marty York: Oh, awesome, man. Yeah, it's. I haven't been down there since I was, like, ten, but it's changed. It's grass Valley has grown. Grass Valley is actually. That's where I lived. Are born in Auburn, but lived in Grass Valley.Chuck Warren: Fantastic. This is breaking battlegrounds with the cast of Sandlot. Please join us for our podcast portion with Marty, Chauncey and Victor, and we'll talk a little bit more about the 30th anniversary and how this films influenced baseball and kids and families. This is breaking battlegrounds. You can find us at Breaking Battlegrounds, Dot Vote or wherever you find your podcasts. This is Chuck and Sam. We'll be right back.Advertisement: The 2022 political field was intense, so don't get left behind in 2024. If you're running for political office, the first thing on your to do list needs to be securing your name on the web with a your name Web domain from GoDaddy.com. Get yours now.Sam Stone: Welcome back to the podcast. Only portion of breaking battlegrounds with your host Chuck Warren and Sam Stone continuing on the line with us. And thank you guys so much for doing so. We have key members from the cast of The Sandlot, Chauncey Leopardi, Marty York, Victor Dimattia, thank you so much for joining us today. We really appreciate having you on the program. Kind of reliving a little slice of of my childhood, if you will. And guys, I just got to thank you rewatching that. I really enjoyed it again last night. It was That's a blast. It's such a fun film, Chuck.Chuck Warren: It really is. So what do you tell us a little about what's going to go on this weekend for the 30th anniversary?Chauncey Leopardi: So tonight we're going to be at the Salt Lake Bees game. Um, hanging out there with the fans and the team. And then tomorrow, um, on the lot. Uh. Think we'll be doing a VIP session early and then we're going to do a public signing for all the ticket holders, and then they're going to show the film after we do a big Q&A for everybody. Um. And yeah, that's kind of the gist of things, you know? But on the lot celebrating 30 years.Sam Stone: And the bees are a ton of bees.Chauncey Leopardi: Be there.Chauncey Leopardi: Oh, the.Chauncey Leopardi: Bees. Yeah, the bees are great. Yeah, that's a good time. We haven't been back for about five years.Victor Dimattia: Yeah, we've been there. Yeah, we were there for the 20th anniversary of the 25th. And now the 30th.Chauncey Leopardi: Yeah. They always take good care of us There.Chuck Warren: That's fantastic. So being child actors, which I think would be very difficult, is it something you would recommend for kids to pursue if they really want to pursue it now that you have 30 years to reflect on these things?Chauncey Leopardi: If they really want to pursue it. Yes. It's not something that I would necessarily. Um, throw my kids into unwillingly.Marty York: But it's kind of a different ballgame now as far as like social media and everything and like YouTube and yeah, the way that auditions are done nowadays is they're like self tapes. Whereas like, when we were kids, our parents would take us to auditions and, you know, they'd be shuttling us around all over Los Angeles. And nowadays it's like a bunch of thumbnails on a computer screen. And you know, these casting directors have to choose like that. So I mean, I definitely think nowadays it might be like, you know, a little tougher, but it's easier on the parents nowadays than it was back in our day.Chauncey Leopardi: Do you feel like it can be a lot of pressure? Yeah, I have kids, so I feel like I would say that, you know, there was times that I wanted to be a kid and I had a job, you know? And it's.Chauncey Leopardi: Hard to.Chauncey Leopardi: Tell a ten year old that wants to go hang out with his friends that he's got to go hold down the family. So, you know, I feel like if it's something you're passionate about, you know, we. But thought wasn't necessarily. You know, I don't want my kids auditions necessarily, and force them into that life either. I guess to each their own.Sam Stone: Yeah. The social media element has to be really, really tough because it's tough enough to be a kid in a social media world, much less a famous kid in a social media world. As parents, that's, I think, a tricky.Chauncey Leopardi: Yeah, a lot of it is like. That's kind of the focal point of this field now to I mean, the whole business is kind of ran off of social. So if you don't have a social presence, especially for younger, younger people, then they don't really have a place, you know what I mean? So it's more driven around that. Do you have a following? Not like, are you an. Get it. Are like, you handle the social game and can you go viral on TikTok and and can you more or less you know.Chuck Warren: Yeah right, right. So let me ask you this question. We'll start with you. Chauncey, who played skits on Sandlot. Who has been your favorite athlete?Chauncey Leopardi: You've met my favorite athlete. We've met. Yeah.Chuck Warren: You've actually met Wade Boggs?Chauncey Leopardi: Yeah. Wade Boggs. Yeah, man, Wade is a he's a I've met a lot of athletes and they're all great. But Wade is we played we played a softball game with him at the Field of Dreams. Oh, wow. And Wade Wade took us out drinking afterwards and did karaoke with us. Me and Wade did a duet. And at the end he he grabbed me and he whispered in my ear. He sang back up for me. We were singing Leonard Skynyrd. And. And at the end of the song. He he whispered in my ear and he said, That was f*****g beautiful, brother.Chuck Warren: And you can say and you can quote that on podcasts. That's amazing. And see and see and see. Chauncey That should be on social media right there.Sam Stone: Okay. As a as a Boston kid born and raised now I'm super jealous. I'm super jealous.Chuck Warren: Marty, how about you?Chauncey Leopardi: Yeah. No, he's.Chuck Warren: Go ahead.Marty York: I'll have to go away, too, man. Wade Wade's just. I think we'd all probably go with Wade because he's made an.Chauncey Leopardi: Impression on us.Marty York: He's the funniest guy to be around. And it's funny because we just saw him at the Baseball Hall of Fame. And the moment we walked in, he goes.Chauncey Leopardi: The Little Leaguers.Marty York: He goes, the Little Leaguers are here, tells us a little leaguer. It's not the same.Chuck Warren: As your old men in your 40s Now, that's fantastic, man.Chauncey Leopardi: I'm sorry I missed that.Marty York: He had his he had his cooler of beer right there, too. He always has his cooler of beer.Chuck Warren: Oh, that's amazing.Chauncey Leopardi: I. Yeah, we saw him in Cooperstown two weeks ago and then I saw him again last weekend in Chicago. And he just as soon as he saw me, he goes, How did I get so lucky? I got two weeks in a row seeing you guys. And. And Wade's a kisser. He's a kisser. Is he? Yeah. Yeah.Chuck Warren: Well, I guess when you're.Chauncey Leopardi: Affectionate with this loved.Chuck Warren: One. Yes. When you're carrying around a cooler of beer, you're going to be affectionate all the time. Is there. Is there some homage or recognition of Sandlot at the Hall of Fame?Chauncey Leopardi: There is. So they have I think they have the original screenplay signed by everybody. And there's a couple big posters and then a I think the Babe Ruth Ball is there as well.Chauncey Leopardi: Yeah, they got a few things in there. Yeah.Chauncey Leopardi: So it's there and the baseball section. So that was really cool to see that as well.Chuck Warren: How was it playing at Field of Dreams? How was that?Chauncey Leopardi: That was incredible, bro. A really great experience. We got two minutes left, guys. We got to go on air. No worries. But the field of Dreams was incredible. It was an experience that I hope that we get to have again. Yeah, we played softball with Reggie Jackson and Rickey Henderson and Ozzie Smith and Wade Boggs, and we came out of the cornfield and and, you know, it was it was a it definitely bring a tear to your eye because the field is still the same. And it's pretty inspiring if you're into baseball and films.Sam Stone: And someone who's deeply into baseball and films, we're going to let that be the final word. Thank you so much to the cast and crew from The Sandlot, guys. That's an amazing experience. And I think every baseball fan, every fan of the movie would love to have been able to to see and participate in that like you did. Unbelievable. Thank you so much for joining us this morning.Chauncey Leopardi: Thanks, guys.Marty York: Thanks, guys. Have a good.Chuck Warren: Weekend. Take care. Thanks, guys. You too. Well, Sam, that was fantastic.Sam Stone: That was brilliant. That was brilliant.Chuck Warren: And I'm glad. I'm glad the Hall of Fame has that recognition in there for them.Sam Stone: You know, I do like that. It's interesting. I think baseball generates better movies than any other sport. Yes. I mean, it just for some reason, it lends itself to the moviemaking business, right? Like the pacing of it, maybe. I don't know exactly what it is, but it does. And yeah, the hall I was probably there before that display went up, but I remember the one from a League of their Own, which had just, just gone in there when I went.Chuck Warren: Um, we definitely need to go scalped some tickets and go hit the Field of Dreams game Major League Baseball does during the summer next summer. So yeah.Sam Stone: Absolutely. I mean, look, the the field at Cooperstown is one of the most beautiful little stadium fields you've ever seen in your life. They do just a brilliant job, folks. If you haven't been to Cooperstown, if you're if you're baseball fans, if you've got a kid who's a baseball player, take the time to go to Cooperstown. That is it. It's so different than the basketball or Football Hall of Fame. It's really a living experience when you're in that town.Chuck Warren: Well, we've had a great show this week with the cast of Sandlot, and we appreciate them coming on. And Congressman Issa from California introducing us. He's our first guest for the San Diego market. That's very exciting. I want to talk a couple a couple political issues here to end the show. First of all, Ron DeSantis came up with a great idea this week. And sadly, Ron DeSantis campaign won't get this out. But I'm hoping every frankly, every Republican congressional candidate does an ad on this. What Ron DeSantis is proposing is that college student loan debt be dischargeable during bankruptcy because right now you can't declare bankruptcy on student loans. But here's the twist. He would put the universities on the hook for it. His quote is, I think the universities should be responsible for the student debt. You produce somebody that can be successful. They pay off the loans. Great. If you don't, then you're going to be on the hook, he said on the campaign trail. I really like this a lot. Oh, I love it. And DeSantis  DeSantis is very I mean, look, people may not like his personality. The campaign may.Sam Stone: Seem the campaign has been.Chuck Warren: Rough, seem.Sam Stone: Rough. It's been rough.Chuck Warren: But he is the smartest policy guy. I think him and Vivek are the guys that really are thinking outside the box. And and, you know, we need that's how you win. That's how you build your that's how you broaden the tent.Sam Stone: I mean, first, I think going forward and I've said this for a couple of years, you should absolutely make these universities guarantee their own loans. And so I love this idea. I mean, at the end of the day, if a university is having to guarantee their loans, they're not going to allow a student to rack up $200,000 for a career that pays 45 grand.Chuck Warren: Or they may or they may say, if you want to get a degree in modern art, you also have to have a minor in business. Right? Right. You can do this, but you also have to have a skill.Sam Stone: Well, return on investment.Chuck Warren: Yeah. And they need to start looking at more. And so like, you know, it's unfair to make somebody who's repairing air conditioning or working at a grocery store or driving a taxi pay because some kid defaulted on it. So make the university responsible. So they put a little more time and effort into this as well.Sam Stone: Well, and bankruptcy is not a nothing thing. No, no.Chuck Warren: I mean, it's a major thing. It's on your record for seven years. It can affect a lot of things.Sam Stone: So people aren't just going to rush to give themselves a BC to get rid of their their student loan debt. So it becomes a very thoughtful decision at that point. I love having universities on the line. You're right about DeSantis having real policy chops as he's shown in Florida. Yes, he's he's very much in front of the game when it comes to the policy end of this. For all the criticism, his campaign, I have not been impressed. Apparently, nobody in the country has been particularly impressed. But his governance has been beyond impressive. And I wish we would be recognizing that more and stop, stop this idea that that a primary fight means we have to tear down.Chuck Warren: Right?Sam Stone: I mean, stop.Chuck Warren: I wish all of the Republicans this includes President Trump, which is focused more on Joe Biden. Joe Biden is corrupt. Yeah, Joe Biden is not honest. Joe Biden is not. I'm not even sure he's there. And that brings a point. You and I, we because we're on an hour a week plus a podcast, we really try to focus on issues, right? And sometimes we have like the cast of Sandlot because it's our mic. We're going to have some people we.Sam Stone: Want to have some fun from time to time. Yeah, but.Chuck Warren: This Hunter Biden thing stinks to high heaven. And watching Democrats change the narrative every time is incredible. For example, The New York Times literally came out the other day and said it has been long. It has long been known that the elder Mr. Biden at times interacted with his son's business partners. That is a bald faced lie. Put in print by the New York Times because they have denied it. Matter of fact, when Hunter Biden this is not New York Times, but when Hunter Biden's story came out, the NPR said they announced that they weren't covering the laptop news because, quote, We don't want to waste our time on stories that are not really stories. Right. But they keep getting these facts right. So you had trust fund, Dan, who was a Levi Strauss heir in New York, who seems to be he decided that AOC was enough to have an idiot on the Democrat side. He's got Levi Strauss.Sam Stone: And Goldman Sachs.Chuck Warren: He's going to do it as a white trust fund guy. Right. And so he's been covering for these folks. But every time the facts come out, it gets more and more and more now, again. Does Joe Biden love his son? 100%. And we all know dads will do certain things for sons, but people aren't being honest about this. And even if Joe Biden took no money, okay, Even if he took no money. We'll give them. We'll give them the benefit of the doubt.Sam Stone: He didn't want to, but okay.Chuck Warren: He still went and intervened to play a role, to give an illusion so his son could take money from foreign countries.Sam Stone: One of the things one of the things forget the illusion. One of the things that is totally damning in this thing to me is the Viktor Shokin incident, the Ukrainian prosecutor that Biden bragged on the world stage that he got fired. And what was Shokin doing? Investigating Burisma, Burisma, which was the company in Ukraine that was paying the Biden family through Hunter. I don't think you know, you're already hearing all the left say, well, he didn't do anything. It was the illusion you hit on it. It's the illusion of access.Chuck Warren: But before he didn't know. But as of a month ago, he didn't know anything. He had no part in his business deals. He's just a loving father. That's just not true.Sam Stone: Oh, no. Look, these newspapers, The New York Times and The Washington Post, when it comes to politics, they do some good work outside of those areas. And it's sad. I don't want to tar the entire newsroom with the same brush, but when it comes to politics, all they're doing is is mirroring the Democrat Party line, whatever that happens to be. And Covid taught them a terrible and unfortunate truth is that if they just lie long and strong enough that more and 51% of people will buy.Chuck Warren: It, and The New York Times and The Washington Post will cover for them. Right. And then The New York Times did like like they did with the laptop. They came out later and said, oh, yes, we you know, we had somebody look at it this this laptop.Sam Stone: Did with the.Chuck Warren: Dossier. And now they're pretending like, well, people have known that he knew the business associates. I mean, it just keeps it's a staggering thing. One last item before we take off. I came across this this morning on a on a newsletter I get. And so I Googled it and there's articles on it. And so California is threatening to sue professors who want to testify as experts in the learning loss case against the state of California. Technically, these professors signed away their right to engage in litigation when they got access to non-public state K-12 datasets for their own research, and now they can't testify to the extent of damage and learning loss suffered by the state's poorest students. The only time rules are enforced in California is when it's very important not to question California's obligation to children in poor families. Yeah, that's I mean, I am, by the way, I am really excited for the DeSantis Newsom debate. And I really help, you know, as as Newsom likes to throw the term around Nazi all the time. I hope this and the myriad of examples that California does all the time that Governor DeSantis just pounds it on him.Sam Stone: He absolutely needs to do that. I mean, absolutely needs to run over him with this, because when you look at it, Florida is in a upward trajectory. The state has improved dramatically in in DeSantis term. It has Republican policies are working across the board. It's Florida has one of the best educational systems in the country now, K-12. They have one of the best college systems in the country. What state doesn't have those things anymore?Chuck Warren: California. That's right. And California has. Do they have the worst homeless population in the the.Sam Stone: Worst homeless problem? They have the worst housing problem. They have the next to Boston now the worst traffic and transit problems. There is nothing that California is doing well other than generating huge wealth at the very top. And so one of the things there's a piece I think it was the I forget which paper put it out, The Chronicle or LA Times, I think. But saying, oh, California is still doing a wonderful job attracting the ultra wealthy. Okay, So what they're creating is a Latin American country.Chuck Warren: Absolutely.Sam Stone: It's a Latin American country where the top.Chuck Warren: Well, it's a Russian economy. Yeah.Sam Stone: Yeah, that's a perfect example.Chuck Warren: It's a Russian.Sam Stone: Economy. Yeah.Chuck Warren: All the oligarchs who are Putin's friends. So these are all Newsom's friends, right? Same concept.Sam Stone: And then underneath them are this giant mass of struggling poor people.Chuck Warren: Well, one other note, and we'll leave here. So remember the old days when we had people like Elizabeth Warren claimed to be Native Americans or some other ethnic groups so they can get into college. Pocahontas. Yeah. Well, now New York's the state of New York is having the amount of people who claim a disability apply for college. And it is almost it's almost doubled. I mean, you know, look, whenever there's a loophole, kids are going to find a way to get that loophole. Right.Sam Stone: Kids and parents. I mean, look, at the end of the day, I remember. So when I go, I have certain issues learning in classrooms, in certain classroom settings because I don't hear super well. It's hard for me to differentiate certain vowels. So language learning in particular is very difficult in a classroom setting for me. Right. So I went through all this testing. They had me go through all this testing when I got to college, and then they offered me an out around the language. And I realized this is what a lot of them are doing right, is they're making their experience easier. It's not just the access to get in, but it's the experience you deal with there easier. I didn't want that. I actually, you know, if I had to do it over again, I would take a summer and go do an immersion course and really learn it, because I do regret not doing that. Taking that that grant for that, it was a mistake. Well, like.Chuck Warren: In New York in 20 1516, you had about 11,000 applications saying they have mental health problems. So as disability. Right. In 21, it's 15,000. Right.Sam Stone: Well, okay. But we've seen what's happening to the mental health of young liberals. So that actually sounds maybe legit.Chuck Warren: Unbelievable.Sam Stone: They're lost their mind.Chuck Warren: Well, folks, this is breaking battlegrounds. This is Chuck and Sam. Thank you for joining us and for our new friends in Tulsa and Cincinnati and Nashville and San Diego, thank you for joining us. Please share our show with your friends. If they don't have time to listen to it when they're driving or going to kids games, you can find us at breaking Battlegrounds, dot Vote or wherever you download. Your podcasts. Have a fantastic week. Get full access to Breaking Battlegrounds at breakingbattlegrounds.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome back to Breaking Battlegrounds, the podcast that fearlessly tackles the most divisive issues gripping our nation today. In this riveting episode, we are thrilled to host two guests whose expertise and perspectives promise to ignite thoughtful discussions. Congressman Andy Harris joins us first, shedding light on critical matters such as legal immigration and the urgent need for enforcing our border laws. He also delves into the world of IRS whistleblowers and Secretary Mayorkas, providing keen insights into these complex topics. With a unique background as a medical practitioner in Congress during the COVID pandemic, Congressman Harris discusses the federal government’s handling of COVID. Later, the show takes an intense turn as Professor Brooks Simpson engages in a fiery debate with Sam Stone and Michelle Ugenti-Rita, exploring the state of Free Speech at Arizona State and Barrett College. Get ready for a gripping episode filled with candid conversations that will challenge your perspectives and broaden your understanding. Connect with us:www.breakingbattlegrounds.voteTwitter: www.twitter.com/Breaking_BattleFacebook: www.facebook.com/breakingbattlegroundsInstagram: www.instagram.com/breakingbattlegroundsLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/breakingbattlegroundsThe son of immigrants who fled communist Eastern Europe immediately after World War II, Dr. Andy Harris was as a physician at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, a medical officer in the Naval Reserve, and a state senator before coming to Congress.Born in Brooklyn in 1957, he studied medicine at Hopkins, where he continued to practice as an anesthesiologist for nearly three decades. Andy specialized in obstetric anesthesiology. In 1988, Andy answered a recruitment call to fill a critical need for anesthesiologists in the Naval Reserve during the Reagan administration. He went on to establish and command The Johns Hopkins Medical Naval Reserve Unit.  In 1990, his unit was called up to active duty in order to assist with Operation Desert Shield (and later Operation Desert Storm) at Bethesda Naval Hospital.  Harris attained the rank of Commander (O-5) before leaving the Reserves after seventeen years.Unhappy with the status quo in Annapolis, Andy decided to take on the establishment and run for the Maryland State Senate in 1998, where he served for 12 years.  Maryland’s First Congressional District first elected Andy to serve in the House of Representatives in 2010. He is the is the current Chairman of the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and related agencies subcommittee on Appropriations. He also serves on the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies subcommittee as well as the Homeland Security subcommittee on Appropriations. Andy was married to his late wife, Cookie, for over 33 years, and he is the proud father of five children, stepfather of one, and grandfather to ten.  Andy lives with his wife, Nicole, and their dog in Dorchester County.  In his free time, he enjoys spending time on the Chesapeake Bay with his family and repairing old cars with his sons.-Brooks D. Simpson is an ASU Foundation Professor of History at Arizona State University, where he is a member of the College of Integrative Sciences and Arts faculty. A member of the honors faculty at Barrett, The Honors College, during the spring 2017 semester he served as associate dean (interim) at Barrett's Downtown campus. As a historian of the United States, Professor Simpson studies American political and military history as well as the American presidency, specializing in the era of the Civil War and Reconstruction.Note: Brooks Simpson speaks on his own behalf, not as a representative of ASU. His opinions are his own.-TranscriptionSam Stone: Welcome to another episode of Breaking Battlegrounds with your host, Chuck Warren. I'm Sam Stone. We're going to be jumping right into it with our first guest today. We're very pleased to have on the line Congressman Andy Harris of the first Congressional District of Maryland. Congressman Harris was a physician at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, medical officer in the Naval Reserve and a state senator before coming to Congress. Congressman, welcome to the program.Chuck Warren: It's good to be with you, Congressman. This is Chuck. I want to start with two questions. The first one is a little more practical. You're the only Republican member of the Maryland delegation. Is that correct? That's right. That's right. Yeah.Andy Harris: Hopefully we'll get another one. But I'm the only one now.Chuck Warren: Do they treat you this? The other members of the delegation treat you like a misfit toy or are they good working with you?Andy Harris: It depends on the issue. You tell me what the issue is. I'll tell you how I get treated.Chuck Warren: Well, how about this? Regarding constituent issues in Maryland, do they work pretty well with you?Andy Harris: Absolutely. No question. The senators work with me. Obviously, if we have a constituent who contacts my office from another representative's office. Yeah, they work. They work with me on that. Again, look, on some issues, on a lot of issues, we're going to disagree. But on the issues that are important to our constituents and where we have commonality, we agree.Sam Stone: Congressman, I'm glad we touched on constituent services because I think that's something that doesn't get talked about enough. How important is that to just doing your job the right way and how much can that separate, frankly, a good Congress member from a great one?Andy Harris: I think it's very important now, honestly, to be honest with you, it shouldn't be that important because the federal government should work without the intervention of representatives. But the problem is, is that it frequently needs it. Right now. For instance, passports are months and months behind. And if somebody has a trip coming up, you know, we have to we have to advocate on their behalf with the Department of State. It shouldn't be that way. I mean, you pay a fee to process a passport. It should be processed in a timely fashion.Sam Stone: Chuck and I have a good friend who is in green card limbo right now. And, you know, I mean, it's a constant problem. And you're right, they shouldn't need intervention by someone like yourself.Chuck Warren: With Congressman Andy Harris of Maryland. Congressman, so both your parents fled communist Eastern Europe to come to the United States. I find that background fascinating because I think it gives you a unique perspective on the immigration crisis our country faces now. How has that that giving you an outlook on immigration and what do you feel needs to be done?Andy Harris: Sure. No, My parents came from my mother's ethnic Ukrainian. It was, you know, fled Poland That was part of Poland, part of the Ukraine she was born in at the time. But it was again, the communists took it over after World War II. My father fled Hungary when the communists took it over. They, you know, met at a displacement camp in Austria, and they waited literally years for the legal pathway to come to the United States. They came they found the American dream for them and, you know, raised four boys here, all all successful, the absolute American dream. But they waited years in line to come in legally. And this is a great country. You know, we accept, you know, a million immigrants every year legally. And that's what immigrants should expect. They should expect to respect our process. And, you know, a lot of them don't. I mean, some do like my parents did. So we're a country of immigrants. I get it. But, you know, you can't start out your trip to this country, a country of law and order, by breaking the law. It's just not right. It should never we should never allow it.Chuck Warren: What are some things we can do to stop this crisis? You know, for example, we had a guest on the show months ago. Talk about that. If you don't come through a port of entry and there's 327 in the country, you're immediately denied asylum.Sam Stone: Former US attorney out of Yuma, right.Chuck Warren: I mean, is that the type of type of legislation we need to start getting this under control?Andy Harris: Honestly, we don't even need legislation. The laws are on the books. We need an administration that will enforce the laws on the books. The last administration did. This administration doesn't. And what we've seen is roughly a tripling of the number of illegal immigrants coming in under this administration. We have plenty of laws. We don't need laws. You know, the Democrats want to pass laws because they want to legalize everybody who came in illegally. They want to legalize people and make citizens out of people who came in illegally. Again, we just need to enforce our current laws. And it's a shame. It's a real shame that we don't enforce our borders.Sam Stone: Congressman, we recently had some hearings with Secretary Mayorkas on this issue. And one of the things I find so disconcerting with this administration is their officials will sit up there and flatly not merely deny the truth, but present a picture that is directly opposite. Of the reality. And I think a lot of folks in Arizona, Texas, Florida, New Mexico, California know the reality is not the picture he painted.Andy Harris: That's absolutely right. And you know, about a few months ago when there was that crisis in Del Rio where you had, you know, 10,000 people flooded and, you know, one of one of the one of the broadcast outlets, you know, had had a helicopter taking pictures of it. Americans realize there is actually chaos at the border. You know, I blame the media. The media should be you know, it's American media. It should be protective of our laws in this country. And it should actually expose the administration when they are not enforcing the laws of this country. Instead, you know, most of the media is absolutely complicit.Sam Stone: You know, one thing that came out in the media this week, Chuck, and Congressman Harris, that I almost swallowed my tongue when I saw it and the way they presented it, the media was talking this week about the Border Patrol keeping crossers in cages in this heat. They their entire talk was it's the Border Patrol that did that. Compare that to Trump when he was.Chuck Warren: Trump, it was the Trump administration that did it. Yeah. Yeah, it's incredible. Congressman, you mentioned that we just need to enforce the laws on the book. Let's do a tutorial for our audience here because I don't think a lot of people, as we've talked to people, they really don't realize what's on the book. It's sort of like these gun laws. We have lots of gun laws on the book. There always seem to be ignored. And then a mass shooter who wasn't convicted of committing crimes with them, you know, bypassed them. So talk about what laws we have on the book with immigration that you feel we need to enforce.Andy Harris: Well, one of the one of the first ones is, is that if you're if you're applying for asylum, you need to be detained until your asylum hearing. It's pretty simple. I mean, that's that's the law. The law is you're supposed to be detained. Now, when you when you allow, you know, hundreds of thousands, millions of people to cross the border, you don't have adequate detention facilities. The answer is don't allow any more people to cross the border instead of allow them across the border and then just release them into the interior of the country with perhaps the promise that they will one day show up for their asylum here and hearing years into the future, because literally we have a backlog of a couple of million cases. That's not the way it should be done. You know, you could interpret you could easily interpret the law to say you can't cross into the into the United States unless we have a detention facility that has a bed for you. And if we don't and that you get a prompt asylum hearing, we don't have enough detention facilities, we don't have enough judges. So we have a years long backlog with people being admitted into the interior with literally just the promise that, yeah, I'll show up, I'll show up for my asylum hearing. And of course the statistics are the vast, vast majority never show up. And of the ones that do show up, the vast majority are in fact denied asylum.Chuck Warren: Let's talk about a minute here about the IRS whistleblowers. What have you found interesting about the IRS whistleblowers that came out this past week?Andy Harris: Well, I think, you know, the 50,000 foot picture is it's amazing because when the whistleblowers, you know, two years ago, the Democrats loved whistleblowers. They respected it. Oh, my gosh, you can't say anything bad about a whistleblower because they were whistleblowers who were blowing the whistle on the Trump administration. Now you've got whistleblowers who I think any objective person would say, yeah, these are legitimate whistleblowers. They are, you know, some of the informants, legitimate informants, and yet they're supposed to be distrusted. Now, this is the hypocrisy of that is just is particularly stunning. I don't I think the average American has come to come to understand that there are two systems of justice, you know, one for Hunter Biden and one for everybody else in the country. You know, the judge the judge's decision yesterday to deny the plea bargain shows just how true that is. That here's a here's here's a man accused on a gun charge where if, according to the plea bargain, if he keeps his nose clean for a couple of years, doesn't even get doesn't even get a felony conviction on a gun charge on his record, that's pretty amazing. That's all I can say. And people and people that really bothers Americans. Americans, above all, would like to believe that there is a that, you know, Lady Justice wears a blindfold. But it's pretty clear that peeking out from under that blindfold for some people, especially if your last name is Biden.Sam Stone: Congressman, I agree 100% with everything you just said, the except that the American people really understand and know this. One of the things I keep having conversations with Republicans about is that when you're talking to your Democrat and independent neighbors who aren't watching Fox News and things to the right of Fox News, there has been no coverage of any of this. No, I mean, no coverage of the whistleblowers, no coverage of Hunter Biden, no coverage of the border hearings. There's no coverage anymore of anything that is detrimental to the left point of view.Andy Harris: Well, you know, but that's only the last in a long string of of incidents that tell the same story. So I think most people. And you'd ask most people that. Yeah. You know, if you went and protested at a school board. Yeah. The FBI actually began to open files, domestic terrorism files on you. I think people just understand that if you are part of the administration or agree with the administration, there's one way you're treated. If you disagree, there's another way. And the Hunter Biden incident is just the latest in a string.Sam Stone: How much should Republicans be really featuring this in all the campaigns coast to coast coming up for for next year? Because quite frankly, when you look at all of this, the level of corruption and incompetence, I can't point to a single area right now where the Biden administration is succeeding in their policy.Andy Harris: Look, I agree. I mean, you know, the biggest laugh is they somehow claim Biden is working out great. Well, I don't know. I go to the grocery store and I don't think it's working out so great. I go I go to the gas station. I don't think it's working out so great. So, I mean, I'm not sure I understand, you know, where they see that coming from.Chuck Warren: Well, there was a I saw a news clip today from a liberal economist who said that the reason people are not impressed with the economy is that real wages went up for manufacturing and middle class workers during Trump administration. They're not doing that now. And so it's not affecting the people that they think it affects. And so then what they do is they take their paycheck, they go to the grocery store, they pay more for gas or pay more for groceries or pay more for utilities. Everything's gone up five, ten, 15, 20%.Andy Harris: That's right. So so to compare the Trump administration and the Trump administration, wages went up faster than prices because inflation was low and wages grew in the Biden administration. Wages are going up way slower than inflation. So in fact, your paycheck doesn't go as far and everybody knows it. I mean, again, you know, you can talk all you want, but people, they take their paychecks and they go out and they try to you know, they try to buy things that they fully understand that this economy is very, very different from the one before Joe Biden took office.Sam Stone: Yeah, enormously different. We have just about 30s before we go to break here, we're going to be coming back with more from Congressman Andy Harris of Maryland's first Congressional district here in just a moment. Folks, if you want to keep in touch with him, you can follow him on Twitter at Rep. Andy Harris, MD. That's at Rep, Andy Harris, MD. And definitely make sure you check him out. He's doing fantastic work there. Congressman, When we come back, we're going to be talking more on spending and the economy. Also, folks, stay tuned. Breaking battlegrounds. Back in just a moment.Advertisement: At Overstock. We know home is a pretty important place and that's why we believe everyone deserves a home that makes them happy. Whether you're furnishing a new house or apartment or simply looking to update and refresh a few rooms. Overstock has every day free shipping and amazing deals on the beautiful high quality furniture and decor. You need to transform any home into the home of your dreams. Overstock Making Dream homes Come True.Sam Stone: Welcome back to Breaking battlegrounds with your host, Chuck Warren. I'm Sam Stone. We're continuing on with Congressman Andy Harris here in just a moment. But folks, we were talking about the economy. And if you're concerned about the economy and about your portfolio, you need to check out our friends at invest y refy.com that's invest the letter y, then refy.com they have an opportunity for you to earn up to a 10.25% fixed rate of return. That's right. 10.25% fixed. Phenomenal opportunity not tied to the stock market. The Biden economy goes down, the Biden economy goes down. You continue to earn 10.25%. Check them out. Again, that's invest y refy.com or give them a call at 888 Y refy 24 and tell them Chuck and Sam sent you.Chuck Warren: Worth Congressman Andy Harris. Congressman, I want to take a step away from what we've been talking about for a moment. You are a doctor. You work from Johns Hopkins during Covid. Did your colleagues from both sides of the aisle come and talk to you about your opinion on it?Andy Harris: Well, I will tell you that certainly from my side of the aisle, they did. You know, my opinion was that we didn't take the right course of action during Covid. So a lot of the members on the other side of the aisle didn't come talk to me about it. But it became pretty clear early on that this, first of all, that this was this was a function of the Chinese. There's no question about it. It came out of the Wuhan Institute of Virology. It's amazing that there's still not there's near-total universal acceptance of that now by the federal government, but it's not universally accepted yet. And that's dangerous because we need to know how dangerous China is and how they lied to us during the at the beginning of this pandemic.Sam Stone: Congressman, you're a doctor. So one of the things that I've been dismayed about since the you know, since Covid is that our public health response was awful. I mean, it was just awful. But there doesn't seem to be any real effort to go back and look and say, hey, we need to redo our plans and reconsider how we're going to approach these things, how we interact with the public, all of that sort of stuff. I mean, they basically got everything wrong, but but aren't appearing to admit it or prepare to next time, hopefully, you know, long, long time from now. But whenever that may be to do better, Is there is there effort underway in Congress or in the federal government to really look at how we can do things differently than we did this last time?Andy Harris: There certainly should be, and we're certainly trying to steer it that way. You know, the Republican majority in the House. But I'll tell you, they're still denial among the federal agencies. They deny that they did anything wrong. And look, they didn't get everything wrong. Honestly, if you were a high risk patient, you were a senior, you had multiple, you know, co-morbidities. We call them, you know, you were you were sick person. The vaccines were that was probably a good idea because the vaccines didn't prevent the disease. They did decrease the severity. But very early on, we knew that there were two categories of people, high risk and low risk. And if you were in low risk, there really was no need for the vaccine. And yet the government continued to push them. That was probably when that occurred that the government didn't give you a choice because, look, if you want if you're low risk and you want to take the vaccine, God bless you, your choice. When the government stopped giving you a choice, that's when I knew this government was out of control on this. And they were not following the science. They were just they were just going to deny that they had gotten something wrong. And in medicine, that's very dangerous. You know, if you realize you've made the wrong diagnosis, make the right one and begin the treatment on the right one, you don't just continue down the path saying, well, I'm really not going to admit that I made the wrong diagnosis because that doesn't end well for the patients.Chuck Warren: Well, it's I I'm going back. It's amazing to me that members on both sides of the aisle, especially Democrats, didn't come to you. So there's you know, there's there's 19 members, 19 members of the Senate in the House who are doctors. There's 15in the House. Which of those ten are Republican and the Senate? All of them are GOP. I just find it appalling that they're not willing to talk to a colleague and say, you know, hey, Congressman Harris, what do you think about this based on your background? I just that's just so strange.Andy Harris: Well, again, you know, they made everything partisan. You know, you know, if you agreed with President Trump on anything, you were wrong. It didn't make a difference whether you're a physician or not. You were wrong. That's not that's just not the way it should be. And literally to a person, I mean, I knew all the physicians, all of them who are Republicans, literally every single one of them knew that we were heading in the wrong direction. And yet the what the problem was, what there were only a couple of doctors that were appearing every day. You know, their names were Berks and Fauci. Right. And Dr. Fauci clearly had a conflict of interest here because he held responsibility for the Wuhan Institute of Virology doing some of that gain of function research. And I think, again, there is this and it may come to light, you know. In the future that there was a kind of a collaboration with the NIH and people with the NIH, with this with this denial that this was this this came from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, partly because they were funding them. They didn't want to again, they didn't want to admit they made a mistake. You make a mistake. Just admit it. People in the end are much more forgiving if you just admit it rather than double down on on the on the misleading, the misleading evidence. And that's what they were doing.Chuck Warren: And people would have understood that. I mean, that's the thing. They all knew. This was knew people were caught off guard. They knew that. I mean, it's just so simple to say, okay, look, this is what we've learned. We need to change course.Andy Harris: Absolutely. Again, the conflict of interest here was that obviously the NIH and the National Institute that Dr. Fauci headed, you know, funded the Wuhan Institute of Virology. And again, you know, again, you know, at some point and part of it is that Dr. Fauci was a little naive. And a lot of scientists are naive believe that, well, you know, we can trust the Chinese scientists. Well, no, you can't. Because, you know, if you to succeed as a Chinese scientist, you have to be a member of the Chinese Communist Party and you have to do what you're told. That's not science. Science is when you follow the scientific truth, not do what you're told. And again, I think it's just being naive about the ways of the world and communism. Again, with my parents having come from communist countries, I fully understood what was going on here. The communists were lying about it. And again, there are people who refuse to believe that somehow a scientist would lie. No, that's not the way it works in communist countries.Sam Stone: Yeah, One of the things so we just touched on China, and that's kind of been one of our running themes on this show. We are in a period of contest between great nations, and it doesn't seem like we fully comprehend that that is the case here in the United States.Andy Harris: I agree with you. And the evidence of it is if you go into one of the large container ports in the country, you see ships loaded with 1000 containers from China. We are we are literally funding our enemy. When we purchase things from China, we are funding our enemy. And this is just a bad it's just a bad choice. I don't know how we end it. I think President Trump, through some of his tariff and trade policies, was getting in the right direction with it. And then, of course, the Biden administration just whistling past the graveyard.Sam Stone: Yeah, absolutely. We have just about a minute and a half before we go to break, Congressman, anything coming up on the docket that you think people should be keeping an eye on?Andy Harris: Well, the most important thing is the is the appropriations, the spending struggle that's going on in Washington right now. Again, many people in Washington, honestly, on both sides of the aisle, are just addicted to a deficit spending. But when we're running deficits over $1 trillion a year, I think the average person understands, you know, they take out a home mortgage, they take out a car loan. The proviso is you're actually going to pay it back. There are people in Washington who believe that somehow you can borrow trillions of dollars without ever having a plan to pay it back. That doesn't work. It doesn't work. That doesn't end well.Chuck Warren: It's never worked.Andy Harris: Nope, it never will and never will for mathematical reasons.Chuck Warren: Never will. Yeah. Math. Math is a real stinker, I have found out.Andy Harris: It's like science. It's a real.Chuck Warren: Stinker. You know.Sam Stone: Those absolutes. Democrats just don't want the binary answers to anything. No, they don't. Congressman, thank you so much for joining us today. Folks, we want to thank Congressman Andy Harris for taking his time this morning. We're really pleased to have him on the program. You can follow him at Rep. Andy Harris, MD, on Twitter and breaking battlegrounds. We'll be back with more in just a moment. We have a we have a hot couple of segments coming up for you. Stay tuned. All right. Welcome back to Breaking Battlegrounds with your host. I'm Sam Stone. Chuck Warren actually stepping out of studio because in a certain way, this next couple of segments are a continuation of some segments we did a few weeks ago. So we have Michelle Ugenti-rita back in studio here in Chuck's place. Thank you again, Michelle, and in studio with us today. And thank you for joining us. Professor Brooks Simpson, ASU Foundation Professor of history at Arizona State University, member of the College of Integrated Sciences, Sciences and Art Faculty, a member of the Honors Faculty at Barrett the Honors College during Spring 2017 semester. He serves as associate dean at Barrett's downtown campus. So, Professor, thank you so much for joining us.Professor Brooks Simpson: I'm really glad to be here, Sam. And right now I have to give the disclaimer that I am speaking for myself and not as a representative of Arizona State.Sam Stone: Absolutely. And folks, that's an important distinction. If he were if we wanted to get him in here speaking from Arizona State, we'd have to go through them. And that's a that's a complicated process. So we appreciate your willingness to step out here and speak on it. When we were talking last time, Michelle, we were talking about an incident surrounding the Barrett College, an event Health, Wealth and Happiness event featuring some conservative speakers that brought some controversy to ASU. And there's since been a rather great deal of fallout. After we did that segment, Professor Simpson said on our Twitter, Hey, you guys are wrong, said we got it wrong. So we're having him in here today and we thank him for the courage to come in here, because not everyone is willing to do that and tell us how and why we were wrong. And we want to get into that. More in just a minute. But first, start out, Professor, with a little bit about you and your background. How how did you get into teaching in the first place?Professor Brooks Simpson: Um, I enjoyed history as a historian. I've written some books and done some other things as that goes, my concentration is in American history, especially the presidency, military history, political history, civil war and reconstruction. Pretty traditional stuff.Sam Stone: So is there a book I saw you've written a couple of them. Is there one of them that you're like, Hey, this is my best piece of work.Professor Brooks Simpson: The one for which I'm most known is the first of a two volume biography of Ulysses S Grant called Ulysses S Grant Triumph over Adversity, 1822 to 1865.Sam Stone: And I I'll admit I haven't read that yet, but I am actually going to order it because I'm a huge US Grant fan. I think he's one of the more underreported figures from the Civil War and the post-war period, quite frankly. But okay, so you grew up where did you grow up?Professor Brooks Simpson: Long Island, New York. I am unlike you, a born and bred Yankees fan and also a New York Islanders fan. But we can still talk.Sam Stone: All right, folks. Now, I'm not sure about that. We may need to throw him out of the studio before we continue any further. Yankees fans are not allowed in here, so. Okay. So you started out in New York, Long Island. Where did you go to school?Professor Brooks Simpson: Undergraduate University of Virginia Graduate School. University of Wisconsin. Worked at the University of Tennessee, then at Wofford College in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Came out here in 1990.Sam Stone: Okay, so 1990 pretty much makes you a native Arizonan at this point.Professor Brooks Simpson: It sure looks that way.Sam Stone: 70%. Did you know, Michelle? 70% of our state was born elsewhere?Michelle Ugenti- Rita: No, I was born here. Really? So I guess I'm. Yeah, You're not the norm. You're them. But I'm not the norm in a lot of different ways. But yeah, I'm one of them.Sam Stone: I didn't realize until the other day it was that high. I think that's a pretty extraordinary number. It's one of those things I laughed at. I think in campaigns, when you see someone come out, I'm a native Arizonan and my opponent only moved here, it's like, well, most of the voters just moved here too.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: So yeah, well, we're kind of a melting pot within a melting pot. Arizona.Sam Stone: Yeah, Very, very true. We've got just about two minutes before we get a break. We're going to get into the specific story, why we have Professor Simpson in the studio. Touch on that a little bit more. But before we go, we'll just kind of lay out the basics of it. Michelle, do you want to kind of just lay out the basic what happened?Michelle Ugenti- Rita: Well, there was a an event hosted by an organization, organization associated with the Barrett College. They were bringing in.Sam Stone: Guests to Lewis Center.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: Lewis Center, Correct. They were bringing in guest speakers. This event was being advertised to anyone who wanted to attend, but primarily geared for the the students of the college. And there was subsequently a letter signed by the faculty of that college.Sam Stone: A majority, but not all of the faculty.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: Correct? Correct. A majority, but definitely not all that outlining their frustration and. And opposition to hosting a open event with speakers that they.Sam Stone: Charlie Kirk, Dennis Prager, Rich dad, poor dad.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: Robert Kiyosaki right that they and they labeled these individuals purveyors of hate and they outlined in the letter why they disagreed with the choice of the college to promote such an event for students to attend.Sam Stone: And then subsequently there were some blowback and repercussions with an Atkinson who helped organize that event, being let go from her position and then also the director of the Gammage Center being let go from their position as well. So we're going to get into now all of the fallout from that. Our take, Professor Simpson's take when breaking battlegrounds comes back in just a moment.Advertisement: At Overstock. We know home is a pretty important place and that's why we believe everyone deserves a home that makes them happy. Whether you're furnishing a new house or apartment or simply looking to update and refresh a few rooms. Overstock has every day free shipping and amazing deals on the beautiful high quality furniture and decor. You need to transform any home into the home of your dreams. Overstock Making Dream homes Come True.Sam Stone: Welcome back to Breaking Battlegrounds with your host, Sam Stone. In studio with me today, my co-host, Michelle Ugenti-rita, for the second half of the program, and Professor Brooks Simpson of the ASU of ASU folks. But before we get into our next segment, I got to tell you a little bit more about our friends from Refy. They are doing a fantastic job creating a tremendous investment opportunity with an up to a 10.25% fixed rate of return. That's right, 10.25% fixed rate of return. And by investing with by refy, you help them. You help them refinance distressed student loans, getting students who have fallen behind on their private student loan payments back on track, getting their lives back in order. And you make money doesn't get any better than that. Check them out. Invest. Why refy.com that's invest the letter Y, then refy.com or give them a call at 888 y refy 24 and tell them Chuck and Sam sent you. Okay. Continuing on now with Professor Simpson, Michelle Ugenti-Rita in studio. So we've laid out on the program what we have been told happened or what we believe happened. Tell us why we were wrong.Professor Brooks Simpson: Well, you're not wrong so much as it's incomplete. And that's what I said, that I think Ms.. Atkinson's account is incomplete. And some of the statements made since then.Sam Stone: What are what are some of the things that are incomplete?Professor Brooks Simpson: Okay. First of all, there was a history of friction between the Lewis Center and Barrett from its inception that this is not something that.Sam Stone: What's the what was the basis of that friction?Professor Brooks Simpson: There were administrative issues and there was a perception among the faculty of donor overreach on the part of. Mr. Lewis.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: May I ask, But what does that have to do with the faculty's position on the health, wealth and happiness event that they sponsored?Professor Brooks Simpson: Well, I think that what happened is when when Miss Atkinson went ahead and had this much more public program, so this was not student programming anymore, but a public presentation. A majority of the Barrett faculty said, we don't like this program, not not because of its subject matter. And I think that's been misunderstood, but because they didn't like Dennis Prager and Charlie Kirk in particular, and they expressed their opposition to having Barrett associated with those two speakers names in what was originally a private petition to the dean. So this was not originally supposed to be for public release.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: But who who who cares why? Why should we care about what the faculty think about these individuals and their ability to express themselves to students who want to attend an event?Professor Brooks Simpson: Matters who you are, whether you want to care or not. But the fact is that they were expressing their opinion about these speakers and about being associated with those speakers. They wanted, in fact, just to be disassociated from the Lewis Center. They had no problem with the programming, so to speak. They had a problem with the speakers. And so that is the.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: Programming, the speakers, because in their letter, which, you know, they they talk about how the event runs contrary to the core values of the community. And then they call the speakers purveyors of hate. They say that this platform legitimizes the speakers, legitimizes their anti-intellectual and anti-democratic views. I mean, I think that's more than just expressing a dislike or displeasure for the speakers, but really trying to, in my opinion, um, well. And squash the event.Sam Stone: And I want to add a second part to that question is why should any professor or a group of professors be out front saying, we don't want students to have a choice to go listen to someone who has very different views, even views they may find hateful. I mean, this is this is the difference between the definition of free speech that has traditionally been in this society, which says the answer to speech you don't like is more speech. But, Sam.Professor Brooks Simpson: They didn't say that the event shouldn't be held. They just wanted to have Barrett disassociate.Sam Stone: Well, they want the university to not be involved with the event.Professor Brooks Simpson: No, no. They just wanted Barrett not to be involved with the event. They understood that the event was going to take place, and they were. They observed in that petition, not crossing that line that they said, we're not opposed to the event being held. We're opposed to being associated with it.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: What is the distinction there? I mean, the kind of one of the same not being associated with it. I mean, my question is, it is why even opine? This is not a mandatory event. It's it can be attended by everyone and anyone. Why?Sam Stone: And this is not the other part to this professor, is that this is not an isolated incident. This is a they are now becoming a chain of these type of incidents, not only across the country, but even right here at ASU with people who objected. A bunch of professors really pulled the exact same thing in regards to an event with Don Critchlow's I forget the name of the center, but Don Critchlow's Center, where they were bringing in Jason Chaffetz and Andy Biggs to speak. I mean, you're talking about a former congressman and a sitting congressman, and they said we can't hear them. And they gave the same reasoning, the same, oh, this is hate, This is this, this is that. And how is this not just them being too weak to to listen to and then stand up to opinions they don't like?Professor Brooks Simpson: I wouldn't frame it that way. They didn't say that they were going to stand up to opinions they didn't like.Sam Stone: And again, no, they they they didn't stand up to opinions. They didn't like. They went back door and said, hey, we're not going to listen to it. We're not going to we're not going to propose an alternate event with different speakers. What they did is say, we want to make it difficult for them to speak.Professor Brooks Simpson: That's your reading of their petition? That is not my reading of their petition. And this goes back to, I think, what you said. What's the difference? There's a difference between saying, I don't want to be associated with that and saying, I don't think this event should take place on campus. If they said, I don't think this event should take place on campus and we are protesting this event and we think these speakers should be disinvited and the event canceled, then that's a much more serious issue of faculty.Sam Stone: Well, I mean, I feel like they sort of learned their lesson the first time because Crow stepped in to defend Critchlow's program and allow it to continue when they did try to cancel that one entirely. Right. So to me, this is they're just finding whatever line they can defend, the farthest line out there they can to suppress speech.Professor Brooks Simpson: But was it the Barrett faculty who did with the center of the study?Sam Stone: There were a bunch of names that were adjoined. I mean, I wasn't 100% the same group, but a bunch of the same people, same professors were part of the objection to.Professor Brooks Simpson: Both, but it wasn't identified as a barrack or they may have been acting.Sam Stone: It was it was a professor group.Professor Brooks Simpson: Well, but there are different professors, right?Sam Stone: This in this case, though, it was just a broad group of professors that were objecting.Professor Brooks Simpson: And that's a different thing. I know Don Critchlow very well, a former colleague of mine. That's a different issue than what we're talking about in terms of what happened with Barrett in this February 8th presentation. So there I think the Barrett faculty said we don't want to be associated with this, but you can have the event. Now, you some people may not see a distinction there, others do. It's what happened after that that became even more interesting. Talk about students being intimidated, which if. True would be quite serious.Sam Stone: Well, I mean, there's a lot about this that, quite frankly, I depending on exactly what happened, I find kind of offensive. I mean, ASU released a statement. There were flyers for this event put up around campus. Asu, released a statement, said if anyone removed flyers, it was not at the direction of ASU or Barrett leadership. But we also have evidence from who was taking those down that it was campus campus employees who went around and took down all that those advertising materials.Professor Brooks Simpson: And that's what I think this investigation is going to try to determine what really did happen there, because we have differing accounts of what's going on from from differing sides. And there are people watching this who are not in either camp who are saying, boy, there's a lot of confusion here about what did happen. And and this did not turn out well, in part because people didn't explore alternatives post event.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: Well, what is the confusion? I mean, I read this letter, which is off the chart. I mean, the the kind of pompousness this letter.Sam Stone: Read a few of the passages because I think this is relevant.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: Um, our collective efforts to promote Barrett as a home of inclusive excellence demands that we distance ourselves from the hate that these provocateurs hope to to legitimize by attacking or attaching themselves to the Barrett name. Um, yeah.Sam Stone: I mean, this is the thing. Here's here's the thing. I don't, I don't see it as all that different to, say, the Barrett name versus the ASU name, right? I mean, at the end of the day, what you're trying to do is say, hey, these people should not be speaking to our students because they're hateful according to these individuals.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: Right. So what do you say to that?Professor Brooks Simpson: I say that is not what the petition letter says. And we'll go back to that again and again. So we're going to disagree on that. I don't see them as wanting to stop the event because they understood that would have violated free speech protections. I do say, yeah, they wanted to disassociate themselves from Lewis. And and frankly, you know, one of the questions should be why would Lewis want to stay with Barrett after this? You could set up a center for free speech or for career development. I mean, this was not supposed to be a free speech center. This was a personal development center set up the Lewis Center outside of Barrett. No one seems to have explored that. Well, why should they? You could still because.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: You have a handful of professors who have their.Sam Stone: I mean, to me, that that seems like a cop out because at the end of the day, what would these professors not be objecting to? The exact same let's say the exact same curriculum was put on by a different center will create. It's the t.W. Lewis Standalone Center.Professor Brooks Simpson: Part of free speech. Sam is the ability to object, the ability.Sam Stone: The ability to.Professor Brooks Simpson: Object and and and I'm not, you know, going to vouch for the wording used in this petition. That's that's why I don't sign petitions, because I don't want someone else pretending to speak to me for me. All right. I watched the event on tape. It seemed to me to be, except for a few comments about the controversy. A pretty straightforward event.Sam Stone: Yeah, I mean, that's part of it, too, that this was not a political event in the way these speakers normally focus on their things. So they were adjusting their message. But it's like, okay, if you if we've said something you don't like, then that forbids you from coming on and talking about anything else either.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: To me, this is the this is the faculty thinking that they're smarter than everyone else and this is them disguising their prejudices and their biases under the guise of intellectualism. And that's what this this that's what this letter says, that they're smarter. The people who have opposing views are dumb and they shouldn't be exposed to these people that they've labeled as provocateurs and hatemongers. And and that is concerning. That's actually very concerning in our democratic United States of America.Sam Stone: I would say that I would I would be more apt, professor, to agree with your take on this if we didn't have things like students who had come forward to say that in their you know, as soon as this controversy broke, they went to a class and the professors in that class spent 30 minutes dedicated to talking about the potential dangers associated with the event and how the T.W. Lewis Center has given in to its donors philosophy by hosting a dangerous speech, which have been debunked through speakers who have propagated hate towards various minority communities and who undermine getting an education in the first place. I'm sorry, isn't the point of getting an education to be exposed to ideas that aren't yours?Professor Brooks Simpson: Absolutely. Okay. So let's let's address two things here. First of all, the faculty member who was supposed to have done that has actually issued a denial that that account is accurate. So that's going to be part of an investigation. What went on in that classroom? We're talking now about a single faculty member, not all of the signers of the document, 39in all acting like this in class. And I think you're right about how do people talk about each other. So I do know that one of the professors who is supportive of Ms.. Atkinson has gone ahead and declared that anyone who disagrees with him is showing contempt for God. Now, I find that a chilling of a piece of speech myself, that my my faith is being questioned by someone who disagrees with me. Okay.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: I think you you digress. I think we need to go back to this.Sam Stone: We've got just one minute before we we come to the end of our on air program, folks. Be sure to tune in. Professor, do you have a few more minutes? Sure. Fantastic. We're going to continue on in our podcast segment because I think this is a really important discussion. We want to we want to really dig into this some more folks. Make sure you stay tuned for that podcast segment. You can also get all of our past podcasts at Breaking battlegrounds dot Vote. Check us out there, follow us on social media, substack, Spotify, all the good places to find your podcasts. Breaking battlegrounds is there. And again, you're not going to want to miss the rest of this show, so be sure you're subscribed and you get our you get our podcast in your email box. You don't have to do anything else. Breaking battlegrounds back on air next week.Advertisement: The 2022 political field was intense, so don't get left behind in 2024. If you're running for political office, the first thing on your to do list needs to be securing your name on the web with a your name Web domain from GoDaddy.com. Get yours now.Sam Stone: All right, Welcome to the podcast. Only segment of breaking battlegrounds with your host, Sam Stone, in studio with me today. The lovely Michelle Ugenti-Rita is taking Chuck's place so we can continue on with the conversation. Michelle and I started on the air a few weeks ago and in studio a man who and I always appreciate this, quite frankly, who dared to challenge us because that, you know, there's lots of people who will tell you to. And thank goodness. Jeremy And we're in the podcast segment, I can say it. They'll just tell you to go f**k off when you're online, right? It's, you know, some poop emoji. Poop emoji. Finger emoji. But you didn't do that. I appreciated the discussion and I appreciate having you in here. Professor Brooke Simpson of the of ASU. We really enjoy the chance to talk about this. When we were before we went to break, we were talking about there was one professor who reported, according to their student, and they've denied this. The professor has denied this, spent a bunch of time in class really kind of dissuading students from attending this event and kind of trying to make sure that they were lined up against it. And unfortunately, I mean, we do have two other students who said more or less the same thing about other classes. So that that one I was referring to was a professor. Dr. Miller. I have one student who was I have no idea what CWHAL101 is. Some human events class by a professor Sores got the same thing and then a second student who said the same thing about the Dr. Miller's statement. So I don't think I mean, obviously you said ASU is looking into this. They're investigating what happened in these classes, but it doesn't seem like it was just that one incident. I mean, this was a really concerted effort by the 37 signees to to try to to, if if nothing else, disrupt this event.Professor Brooks Simpson: I haven't seen evidence of that. I've seen one professor, Dr. Miller, discussed extensively in two of those three accounts. Professor Suarez seems to have been a between class discussion from which the student assumed other things were going on in the class. That doesn't always happen. Students walk out and they ask you other things and you give your opinion. They know what your opinion, and that doesn't mean what's going on in the classroom is an ideological rant. I mean, to characterize this faculty as some sort of radical Marxist group and Marxist has been. I mean, no one of those faculty are more like Groucho Marx in terms of their live and let live attitude towards this than they are towards Karl Marx. And you see, this is where, you know, I I'm saying that sometimes faculty behave ways that outrage people. And I would argue that if you don't want to be ticked off, don't go on a college campus because there'll be something that will tick you off.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: But but, but but let me just ask because do you think the letter signed February 1st by by faculty was designed to disrupt the event? No. No. What did what was it.Professor Brooks Simpson: Designed to do? I think it was designed to start to move the Lewis Center outside of Barrett and said we cannot have this kind of programming. The Lewis Center programming beforehand was so internal that it didn't get this kind of public scrutiny.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: But. But who are the professors to be the arbiter of what's right and what's wrong and what's hate and what's not and what people can listen to and what they can't listen to and what's described as anti-democratic or anti-intellectual? Who are why are they the ones that get to be the judge of that?Professor Brooks Simpson: I wouldn't frame it that way. First of all, they are expressing their dissent and dissatisfaction and criticism of the speakers. All right. And and not the topic as far as what goes on afterwards after they had spoken. It's really up to the Barrett leadership, the deans, to deal with this. The faculty had their say. They organized their counter workshops or whatever you want to call them. And in a sense that is an exercise of free speech, just as the three professors, including Don Critchlow, who wrote in response to this, they were exercising their free speech. I didn't like that they characterized this petition as trying to shut down the event altogether because the Barret faculty was actually very careful to say, no, the event could go on. We don't want to be associated with it anymore.Sam Stone: Well, but so I think they're very smart and toeing a line they knew if they crossed would would make it more difficult for them. So I get that. But at the same time, there is an underlying issue with this that we're seeing at universities across the country, which is an intolerance of speech. Deemed anathema to the left. And we've seen this at with speaker after speaker after speaker and for professors. What makes this different to me when they're when those things are led by students, I think you kind of just got to shrug and roll your eyes and say, we need to do a better job of trying to get through to these students. But when it's led by professors, the the fundamental issue behind all of this is that we've reached a place where what is it? I think 90% of positions at ASU require a diversity statement in your in your application.Professor Brooks Simpson: Now, I'm unaware of that. Okay. And I know that that that accusation has been made. And I do know that in Barrett there is a request for a statement that's been produced. So, you know, they didn't have Dei statements when I came in in 1990.Sam Stone: So and that's my point is like, why why all of a sudden do we need to do to universities and a subset of professors. It's not all but a subset of professors that those universities feel the need to limit the speech that they don't like or that they deem hateful rather than contend against that speech. Because to me, what they're demonstrating to the students is not a commitment to academic excellence and intellectual pursuit. What they are demonstrating to the students is intellectual cowardice.Professor Brooks Simpson: I understand that. And and that's a good broader conversation now for multiple years. And I you know, I think I informed you folks that I served as the chair of the Committee on Academic Freedom and Tenure. So academic freedom is important to me and freedom of speech is important to me. And I understand the desire of the contest of ideas in the public square so I can understand the concern and the need for discussion of whether such statements, statements are the kind of thing we want to have in the environment. We have that it's hard. It is up to President Crowe and others to justify a commitment to the University of Chicago statement and these hiring requirements. Okay. But that's that gets outside of what we're talking about, a very specific event and a very specific response. And I understand that you're saying is this the tip of an iceberg?Sam Stone: Well, I think that is the basic problem that underlies what happened with this health, wealth and happiness event. The basic problem is that we are we are we are accepting now more and more of professors who are. And it's anti free speech.Professor Brooks Simpson: I don't know who the we are.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: Well, I'll. We'll do these. I mean, they put their name on it. We'll just talk with these professors. I mean, they're right here. We'll just start with this list. And since it's local and ASU, I mean, I think we're over complicating this. This was an event with national speakers designed to communicate, you know, certain points of view to college kids and others who are invited. And the professors took it upon themselves. Not all of them, but the majority of them in the college took it upon themselves to label this a hate event and with with the expressed motivation to disrupt it. What other motivation would there be other than to stop it and squash it?Professor Brooks Simpson: I again, that's.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: Something that you kind of see in China and other third world countries.Professor Brooks Simpson: And that's where this argument begins to.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: When you don't like something, you squash it. When you don't like the point of view expressed by someone else. Instead of having an intellectual conversation and trying to persuade someone with your argument, you label them and then you try to stop it.Professor Brooks Simpson: I think, you know, you make a point about labeling. And so what I've heard this faculty, again, labeled as Marxists, they've come under attack. They were put on a professor watch list. Okay.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: And then that person who did that and that person who did that can come in here and you can talk to them. I'm just talking about this letter. I didn't put anybody on.Professor Brooks Simpson: I understand.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: But that's why you opined. I mean, you went on Twitter and you opined and we're giving you a platform.Professor Brooks Simpson: That's right.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: And so defend it.Professor Brooks Simpson: My comment on Twitter was that the story that you were getting from Ms.. Atkinson was incomplete. So let's understand what I did say and what I haven't said. Now, you've characterized labeling as counter intellectual, and I agree with you, but that's also what the people who've criticized the actions of the. Well, two.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: Rights don't make you know, two wrongs don't make a right.Professor Brooks Simpson: And that's and that's why this is a larger discussion about how we're going to conduct a free speech environment. The real difficulty with free speech is that you have to defend the free speech of people who you disagree with. Yeah, I.Sam Stone: Mean, famously, the ACLU defended the Klu Klux Klan. Right now, I'm Jewish. I'm certainly not jumping out front to defend the KKK, but that was the right thing to do because it guarantees my ability to say pretty much anything I want to say. And that runs.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: Contrary to what what.Sam Stone: What is happening.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: Here. So I think we all agree and that's not what happened here. To your point, it's to me the greatest expression of free speech is tolerance. It's tolerance of other speech that you may not like.Sam Stone: Or to to go attend this event, then hold your own event and counter it if that's what you feel you need to do.Professor Brooks Simpson: Which is what they did outside. Prior to the.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: Event, they sent a private letter outlining why the college should disassociate themselves from the event. They took a, I guess, a vote of no confidence in the leadership of T.W. Lewis Center. You know, they didn't want this event to go on. And they highlighted in their letter why and they outlined why these speakers.Professor Brooks Simpson: We will continue to disagree on the issue of them not wanting to.Sam Stone: But but, but, but but with all of this. So we can disagree on that one point. But other than that, I mean, you did say on Twitter we were hilariously wrong that Ann Atkinson was hilariously wrong. So other than that one point of disagreement, which is between whether they're saying it shouldn't be part of Barrett versus it's the broader issue, which I would call quibbling. But. But you say it's significant. Okay.Professor Brooks Simpson: Because the the Barrett faculty isn't speaking for all.Sam Stone: But then where were we hilariously wrong?Professor Brooks Simpson: Ann, for example, has portrayed this as a very harmonious relationship that all of a sudden was disrupted and it was harmonious with the previous dean, Marc Jacobs. People I've talked to suggest that that was not the case, that Jacobs did not look very carefully at the donor agreement. And Lewis is very good. Mr. Lewis is very good at structuring donor agreements very carefully so that he continues to have influence. There are reports that, in fact, an was not the choice of Barrett to head Lewis, but rather was Mr. Lewis's choice forced upon them with the suggestion that perhaps if Mr. Lewis did not get his way, he might pull his.Sam Stone: Okay, okay. But we we don't have any.Professor Brooks Simpson: I'm just saying there's a longer institutional.Sam Stone: Well, that may be, but none of that's qualifies as being hilariously wrong. I mean, what what was hilariously wrong?Professor Brooks Simpson: Well, got your attention if I said, Oh, yeah.Sam Stone: Absolutely it did. But I mean, this is where this is.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: Where are you intimately involved in the contracts or are you part of.Professor Brooks Simpson: No, no, that's that's your watch this. I watch this as an outsider. I okay.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: So you don't have any direct.Professor Brooks Simpson: Information? No, no. And that's why I think I as part of the investigation, I'd like to see these contracts. I'd like to see the agreements. What harassment? The harassment of the Barrett faculty and the. But. So wait, wait.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: So you're just repeating hearsay?Michelle Ugenti- Rita: Because you don't have an eye.Professor Brooks Simpson: I'm repeating a lot of this is hearsay at this point. Those student reports were redacted and reformed by the person who gave them that. That's hearsay. So it's okay.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: Well, I'm glad you just admit that you're repeating hearsay.Sam Stone: That's fine. Well, that's actually witness testimony versus hearsay, which is third party second hand.Professor Brooks Simpson: And so but until I see the original document. With names redacted to protect the students. I'm going to go. What? I'm not quite sure what's going, but.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: What is that I still don't get? That's that's a separate issue with the students. Said we have the professors signatures on a letter where they outline why they think that this event should be labeled, you know, or should be stopped, frankly. And I think you're right. They did it in a way where they just kind of.Sam Stone: They knew where the line was from the previous event, from when they got when they got pushed back from Michael Crow. And that brings up a different point, which we haven't touched on, which is that crow is always a day late and a dollar short coming to these things. It's always down the road. And his response is. Is never up front to to stand behind these type of events and say, no, before this gains any traction, before it gets the point that people start getting fired. I'm going to stand on the front line and say, say we do have a commitment to the Chicago Chicago University free speech commitment. It seems always late. And this is the for a lot of conservatives, this is a fundamental issue right now with universities that they will put out these these broad statements that they're committed to free speech. But when the rubber meets the road, it's the they they do not stand behind it.Professor Brooks Simpson: I understand that that that's how this has been portrayed in various venues, etcetera. And the reporting on how was the.Sam Stone: Portrayal different than the reality? I mean, isn't that the reality?Professor Brooks Simpson: The reality is the event came off. It was successful. You've already heard this? Yeah.Sam Stone: No, the event the event did happen. Okay.Professor Brooks Simpson: And so actually what then interests me is post event, what actions were taken by various actors and what happened. Mr. Lewis pulls his donation as is every right to do that means Ann Atkinson no longer as a funded position because that's a soft money position. She contends that she has donors ASU contests that.Sam Stone: Well, but she wasn't given any time to do it. I mean, I've tried to raise money before. You can't raise $1 million in a day.Professor Brooks Simpson: I know, but I understand that. I'm saying let's have that investigation take place. We know that the Barrett faculty were targeted by both Charlie's Professor Watchlist and by Dennis Prager calling for their firing. And since then. So if you're going to fire somebody for their freedom of expression, then you violated free speech.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: But that was just his opinion on a radio show and that was after the fact.Sam Stone: Well, also also, though, no.Professor Brooks Simpson: Actually, that is not after the fact. He made his first protest on February 3rd on his podcast After after.Sam Stone: But it was after the letter came out. That's what.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: I'm saying.Sam Stone: And I'm saying where this was already under attack and he's responding. Now.Professor Brooks Simpson: You have a state senator who headed that hearing committee who also called for the firing of faculty. So. If you fire faculty and the expressions, if you fire faculty for their expressions of opinion. Then you're violating free. No, no, no.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: That's the action I'm asking. So what? Someone said that.Professor Brooks Simpson: Well, then so what? So that's all it happened with the Barrett faculty. They made a request to the event. Went on?Michelle Ugenti- Rita: No, they. What they did was try to disrupt the event, and what they did was try to walk. No, no, I'm just reading the language they call these individuals. And I want to get your opinion. White nationalist provocateurs. Do you agree with that?Michelle Ugenti- Rita: I and referencing Charlie Kirk.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: And Dennis Prager. Do you agree that these two are white nationalist provocateurs as outlined in the letter signed by the majority of faculty at the Barret at the Barret College?Professor Brooks Simpson: For what I've listened to about Charlie and Dennis, they often say things about American history, which I would take issue with. Okay. Okay. Would I have used that language? No. All right. But again, part of free speech is fighting for people who may use language of which you do not approve. And so as much as you want to focus on that petition, the petition triggered so many other things that I think do address and raise concerns about how we're going to govern free speech on campus in the future. What are going to be the parameters ET?Sam Stone: I guess that concerns me because I'm an absolutist on free speech and I don't think it should be governed.Professor Brooks Simpson: And I knew it. I knew it. I'd say governance. You'd go, Hmm. And I got that. And that's why. On the other hand, Crowe has endorsed this Center for American Institutions. That's why there are people who are supporting this. The criticism of the Barrett faculty, who, you know, are themselves, in a way, shining examples of free speech because they're there. And I've never heard, you know, another job I've had is run the university's promotion and tenure committees for the last level of review before it goes to the provost and the president's office. No one ever talked about anyone's political views.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: But but see, there's we're kind of blurring a couple of lines because.Sam Stone: You don't have to talk about their political views when you weed them out with.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: The diversity.Professor Brooks Simpson: I know because some people who have been involved in this, their their files went forward. And all I'll say is I've never heard a discussion about political views at that level at all or saw it discussed in the files. Uh, so we can continue to talk about the narrow issue of the petition. And you and I will go around and circle.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: But it's not, it's not, it's not narrow. I mean, it's really the crux of the issue, which is you have a letter signed by the majority of faculty attacking the individuals, not attacking or talking about or offering a different opinion about what was presented at the event, but attacking the individuals personally, labeling them just trying to discredit them and stifle speech and trying to be disruptors and trying to stop these individuals from expressing themselves.Sam Stone: Only thing, Michelle, that I agreed with that they said at all, and it wasn't really part of the letter, but but part of the discussion at that time was I'm not sure what some of these folks have to do with health, wealth and happiness. Now, I would disagree. Knowing more about them in their backgrounds, that would be a reasonable point to contest. Right?Michelle Ugenti- Rita: Right. What's the nexus between the speaker and the event.Sam Stone: And the event? But when these attacks, Michelle, is exactly right. When you start out with saying that the reason this shouldn't be that this should be disassociated, that this should be cut out of of our circle, is because these people are X, Y and Z. And frankly, those those contentions are not provable unless you come from a very specific mindset.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: And they and they and they list things that have nothing to do with the event and have everything to do with, I mean, other incidents, other situations and quotes that happened know, in the past. So.Professor Brooks Simpson: Then you can test it by saying the Barrett faculty have incorrect understanding of the speakers of what they said, which which has been said that, you know, media matters is not exactly the most unbiased source if we're going for information. But and I think and I think that was a really good point that I think you have to listen to the people. I mean, because.Sam Stone: The media matters, media folks who we've kind of back up on this media matters. A lot of this started the letter was prompted by information sent out by Media Matters, which is a far left wing organization designed to promote and help elect Democrats, essentially is why it was founded to create a narrative to help elect more Democrats. So fine, but a lot a lot of their contentions are pulled so far out of context as to be absolutely ridiculous. But again, they weren't contesting why they're there or the ideas they're contesting these people as individuals and saying they hold views we don't like, therefore we don't want to have any association with them or allow any association with them. Isn't that exactly the opposite of the way we should be treating academia?Professor Brooks Simpson: We agreed all the way to the last sentence. So we we have a common narrative here at this point, which, given how this discussion has been going on in the broader sense, is is an achievement.Sam Stone: Well, no. And that's why we appreciate you being here.Professor Brooks Simpson: And so. I think that the way to push back against the petition is also to exercise free speech, which is what those three professors did. Okay. This was not a I hate, you know, not because there were issues of publicity. A lot of issues, a big place. Lots of things are going on we have no idea about. I would not have known about this except, frankly, for for Critchlow, because I've known Don. I helped bring him to ASU. So, you know, if you're going to talk about me, that's a little different than Marxist radical.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: I feel like we need to answer questions, though, here.Professor Brooks Simpson: But.Professor Brooks Simpson: But I've answered the questions that I can answer. You keep on asking me to defend a document that I did not author and to decide where the charge is made. Well said document are true.Sam Stone: So okay.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: You went on Twitter and claimed that there were falsehoods being made and there was a lack of understanding and parts of the story was not discussed.Professor Brooks Simpson: And yeah.Professor Brooks Simpson: I think, for example, the harassment, rather serious harassment of the Barrett faculty and calls for their termination, that also brings in the issues of free speech.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: Like how?Professor Brooks Simpson: If you speak up, you get fired.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: That's just what one person said.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: Why can't they say that? No, no, no.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: You keep talking about if that's acted upon.Professor Brooks Simpson: It's not one person.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: So what's someone say? Wait a minute.Professor Brooks Simpson: Excuse me. Well, when a state senator says it at a hearing, I pay attention.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: Really?Professor Brooks Simpson: Don't you pay attention to what?Michelle Ugenti- Rita: As a state. As a former state senator.Sam Stone: I was about to say, as a former state senator, there's no way you pay attention every time one of your colleagues opens their mouth and.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: Says and demands someone be fired.Professor Brooks Simpson: Okay, Well, then if you.Professor Brooks Simpson: Want to say that Anthony Kern is just talking out of his hat, that's fine. That's fine.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: But the point but the point is, why can't he why can't anyone why can't these individuals attend an event and talk about health, wellness and happiness without the faculty trying to interfere with the event and try to stop it?Professor Brooks Simpson: We're going to continue to go around Michelle time and again. And I'm saying the faculty said you can have your event, but we don't want to be touched by this anymore. We don't want to be associated by this anymore. We do not want to have Barrett the Honors College presents, Charlie Kirk and Dennis Prager. That was the crux of their complaint. So so.Professor Brooks Simpson: And.Sam Stone: I do look, I don't want to go back around in circles. We've been on this long enough. I do feel like that is a bit of a cop out. I mean, I feel like what they did was a very fine line that they knew where the line was. And they they tried to walk that line. But the fundamental issue for me is that there is this underlying attitude that has pervaded a large portion of faculty at universities, which is anti free speech and which quite frankly is very totalitarian in their instincts and how to prevent that speech.Professor Brooks Simpson: Okay, then we can either from this event say, okay, let's step back for a moment. People on both sides and people in the middle and say, okay, how do we want to do this in the future? Okay, we could stop this now. And the conversation going on now I don't think is productive for anybody because there is a lot of labeling, There is a lot of name calling. It's on both sides. We could say it's faculty behaving badly. But I mean, this is not just one side. There's there's a larger controversy going on.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: I do. I don't really I.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: Don't see that.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: I'm sorry.Sam Stone: I make a distinction. I make a distinction like Michelle does, I think because one is a group of faculty at that institution and the mission of the institution should be the open pursuit of knowledge. Right? I mean, basically, the fundamental mission of every university should be the open pursuit of knowledge. So they have they should have a commitment to that. Do I expect radio listeners to always have that exact same level? No, No. And so when you're saying people are calling them, you know, who listen to Charlie on the radio and he said something and then people are sending emails or calling, I don't hold I'm not going to hold them to the same standard I do. A professor that professor is in some sense on the public payroll, and they're there to enhance the overall mission of the university. And when we're failing from that, that is a very different thing than some state senator or some radio listener calling in and saying saying something on the same level. Even when they're saying the same thing, the role makes it different.Professor Brooks Simpson: I understand what you're saying. And look, I just wrote a piece for the conversation which was non argumentative, didn't give a point of view at all, just a descriptive issue about the Tuberville holds. And I've already gotten hate mail and I'm going, Where is this from? So hate mail is part of this They.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: Hate What is.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: That? What is the.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: Point?Professor Brooks Simpson: The point is we all get that. Didn't ask for my job. That didn't ask that that I be fired, that didn't threaten my family, that didn't threaten to have CPS come into my household part of. And, you know, when you're threatened to be fired. No, you're not fired yet. But your state employees and now you've got a state senator calling for you to be terminated. Yeah, we might want to take a step back.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: I think we're just.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: We're putting blame somewhere else. I mean, the real focus is that the professors intervened and tried to stop an event.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: You continue to say, because.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: That's the point. And you keep ignoring it and you want to opine on Twitter. But then when we invite you here, you you can't seem to defend the position. That's what I'd love defend why the professor should be allowed to interfere with an event sponsored by a college to bring guest speakers.Professor Brooks Simpson: No, I said that the the story was incomplete.Michelle Ugenti- Rita: That is the that's the story.Professor Brooks Simpson: Well, you and I then disagree. So. So you know Michelle to have I. Make a better conversation. We probably You've said your piece on this. I've said my piece on this. There really are other things we we might want to explore that I think are more fruitful and frankly, more pertinent because.Sam Stone: I think I think there are a lot of broader issues attached to this. I mean, that I think fundamentally, when you're talking about people on the right related to this, what we're looking at is this being a symptom of a much larger disease, right? And so the symptom itself is bad, but the disease is the concern. The symptom goes away if you address the disease. And I think there is not much evidence at this point that universities, including ASU, are taking that disease seriously enough. And that we can get into all of that. And I think it would be a great piece for another podcast, another program, because we're deep into this one. And I want to thank Brooke Simpson, professor at ASU, for coming on with us, challenging us here a little bit. Michelle, again, always lovely to have wonderful in studio folks. Be sure if you are not subscribed, that's the easiest thing in the world. Literally click one button and we will come to your email box every single week when breaking battlegrounds comes out. Thank you so much for tuning in. We appreciate you. We're back on the air again next week. Get full access to Breaking Battlegrounds at breakingbattlegrounds.substack.com/subscribe