The Bill Martinez Show 09 01 26

0:00 Are you ready? Yeah. Okay, let's do it. Bill Martinez Live, a program about current events, our culture, our values, our politics, and our future. And now, Bill Martinez. Well, good morning, America. Glad you could join us six minutes after the top of the hour right now. We've got Murtad Mardy Yousafzani joining us. He's the director of the Iran Freedom Project with the Middle East Forum. Mardy, welcome to the show. Good to have you with us. Thank you, Bill. Thanks for having. Lots to talk about here. I love what you're bringing up here because I agree with you. I think that what's been missing in all that's been going on with Iran, you know, bombs, now sanctions that seem to be going.

0:45 I mean, last I was checking this morning, I think, what is it, over two million to one ratio against the dollar right now. You know, gas lines. It just has to be horrendous. for the people, for the Iranians there. But as we've been saying, when you're negotiating with a death cult, for them, they look at it as, in a sense, they have nothing to lose. I mean, and I think it's hard for people in the West to understand this because we cherish life. They're not worried so much about this life because they see life beyond this, this time here, right? That's correct, Bill. I think it's very telling. Secretary Besant today or yesterday said something that really stands out. And he said that we're trying to push and we hope and we expect that the Iranians, meaning the regime, will come to their senses.

1:41 Well, that's the key point. Their senses, what they sense and what their ideology tells them is not intuitive, is not based on what we believe sensibility is. They have an ideology that believes in martyrdom They have an ideology that dictates to them to fight to the death, to the end, and there is no exit for them. And so they will elevate, elevate the tension and try to raise the risk reward ratio as far as they see it, not how we see it here in the West. And so that is the issue and that's a challenge. Well, and the thing that is a challenge for us here in the West, and I believe we're still carrying the grief of World War II and releasing the atom bomb in Japan. I believe that that haunts us to this day when it comes to military action. And we have been careful as a country to say, hey, we don't want to go there. But the deal is, is that you can't dictate that. War has a personality and demands of its own. And I think that when you start trying to orchestrate an outcome that is out of your purview, so to speak, I think you get yourself in trouble and you get into a quagmire, which is what we've experienced since World War II. Because, I mean, whether we're talking about Japan or Germany, those were two like-minded death cults, were they not?

3:08 Well, I mean, I think at the end of the day, what you're saying, Bill, is that the cost-benefit ratio, whatever caused and enabled the end of the Pacific campaign, World War II, to come to an end, That notwithstanding, what we're looking at today is the cost, the cost on certainly the United States Armed Forces, the cost on global economy, and as well as the cost on the Iranian people. Let's remember, do not destroy the country you claim to seek to free. That means exactly what you're saying. If we have this military option on the table right now, unfortunately, there is a measure beyond, there is a point in measure beyond which it is counterproductive. And we want to make sure that somehow we have a deterrent effect against the regime. At the same time, make sure that Iranian people themselves do not catastrophically get cornered, because at the end of the day, it'll be a lose-lose. So we need to make sure how far we need to take this far.

4:17 Well, and the thing that we've already realized, you've had I've heard estimates anywhere from 50,000 to 80,000 citizens that have been murdered by the IRGC there in Iran. And that grieves most of us here in this country. And as you state, we're seeing the military pressure, but we're not seeing the political architecture. How do we raise up the political architecture? And it's got to be something more than just saying, hey, we got to get the people guns. I mean, there has to be something there. that we're not doing in order to, I guess, to add pressure, you know, upon this current regime that would force them out because, you know, having, you know, hundreds of thousands of people in the streets only invites the IRGC to mow them down again, right?

5:08 Well, that's, yes, that's true. And wherever the numbers are, there are a thousand too many killed. Now, of course, the regime has been very capable of obfuscating the actual number of people it killed a few months ago. But we saw that the regime has never held back. It has consistently basically signaled to the Iranian people and the world and the region that it will do all it can to stay in power. And that means killing its own citizenry. So when the West, when the United States looks at Iran, there's a point at which we need to look at how how exactly will the Iranian people, which are our biggest and most important asset, how can they be empowered? I'm very happy to have seen that Washington has sort of avoided anointing anyone from exile to serve as successor to the regime because it knows that whatever actually assumes, whatever process assumes power in Iran will need to come from inside Iran.

6:19 So the instinct is right there. I think at this point, Washington needs to look at how to amplify connectivity inside Iran among the people, how to document the crimes against humanity that the regime has committed, allow and create space for pluralistic coordination inside Iran so that the Iranian people can come together. Let's not forget The regime and its goons and its leaders have nowhere to go. They have no off exit ramp. They have nowhere to go. So it's very, very important when we look at the additional pressure coming on. What is the exit ramp Washington is looking to offer to the Iranian regime? At this point, it's a lose-lose. The regime has nowhere to go. It is under enormous economic pressure. As you said, the rial has collapsed. 2 million. At one point it was 70.

7:18 You know, 47 years ago, when this regime took over, the rial was 70 to a dollar. Today it's 2 million. Shortage of gas, food, water, all sorts of services have been shut down, government in terms of servicing the citizens of Iran. And so it's a matter of time where the regime itself, the state may be facing collapse, but not the political infrastructure. And that is the challenge we're facing. A state collapsing is one thing, a regime walking away and handing power is another. Yeah.

7:59 And what's the likelihood of that regime walking away? Well, it is not likely at all because it has demonstrated as it exercised in Syria when it decided to sustain Bashar Assad, it, it, executed and put into practice what it is doing today, meaning taking guns and clubs to the streets and against the people. And this is where this combination of massive military strikes and punitive measures that was delivered to the Iranian regime combined with the economic collapse brings pause and concern to us because when you have a population incapacitated and unable to take on a regime, we have a combination that is very, very concerning there. So we need to take a pause and make sure whatever comes next includes a political solution, as you said, a political architecture that allows a transition. At this point, war and missiles and dropping bombs has not proven effective. And so we need to combine and bring together a political formula whereby those opposition figures inside Iran can combine and organize their resources with the Iranian street, with the people, and hopefully convince a process whereby a

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13:59 That's magavitamin.com. Nutrition for patriots. We're talking with Mirdad Yusufiani. He's the director of the Iran Freedom Project of the Middle East Forum. 15 years as a senior strategic counselor to Iran's crown prince, an insider opposition perspective, a current analysis of the Middle East Forum, credible nonpartisan policy voice, and bridges the gap between Trump's military pressure and the need for democratic alternatives. So, Marty, where we are right now, and as much as we can feel, what the Iranian people must be enduring right now, and just hoping that there's some answer to all this, to where they could realize freedom. Because as you've been reporting on this, I mean, the people there in Iran, outside of the ruling regime, they have aspirations of a democratic society, do they not?

15:04 Absolutely. That is what the Iranian people have communicated. to the regime, to the region, to the world. Over the past 47 years, just a few months ago, we saw massive demonstrations. Prior to that, under the Women, Life, Freedom movement, we saw massive demonstrations. Even prior to that, the Green Revolution, so cyclically, the Iranian people have basically demonstrated the courage to show that they reject the regime. Now, we need to make sure here that it is not the Iranian people who get punished, and so outside of targeting strategic infrastructure, which is catastrophic for the people who need to succeed and take over a vibrant country, we need to make sure that whatever we do is strategically targeting the regime's off-book networks, the regime's repression apparatus, and the IRGC's economic empire.

16:07 The combination of. Those three elements, I think, will effectively stop the breathing of the regime and allow the Iranian people to sort of take on and see what they can do to take over power. Is it true that the soldiers are not being paid right now, Marnie? Well, I think the economic pressure that we have seen, the fall of oil sales, in fact, down to zero in And the billions, hundreds of billions of dollars of the Iranian regime's assets that are frozen all over the world, that is actually the pain point that the regime is facing right now. Don't listen to me. Listen to the president, Pesachian himself, just over the weekend said that it's catastrophic economic conditions. He himself said inflation is at 100%. And he himself said that they have no you know, the piggy bank is empty. And so I can see under those conditions, payroll not to be met. Of course, what the regime has been doing is it just prints money.

17:16 It prints money to meet payroll, but that printing, as we all know, creates inflation and massive pressures on the people itself. What about the Ayatollah? Is he alive or dead? That's the million-dollar question. I have a sense that even if he is alive, he is not in a very good condition. So I really don't know, but it really matters not. It'll take years, if not decades, for any leader to sort of consolidate power under the best of circumstances. It took his father several years to consolidate his power.

17:57 And so under these conditions, even if he was alive or even if he was functioning 100%. It'll be very, very difficult with the economic conditions and the political pressures for him to really take charge and demonstrate his reign. So I think it's a matter of time for him to be sort of sidelined either formally by the military coup that we in effect de facto have right now by IRGC. Yeah, I was going to say, who's in charge? IRGC, they have the guns, they have the butter. They have the suppressive machine. They have an economic empire that they singularly are focused on maintaining, including their heads.

18:43 That's why they will not go. Well, they played the Estrella Hormuz card, and Trump has trumped them in as much as that clear to all the minds, is controlling what goes in, what goes out, just as you reported here just a moment ago. You know, there's no Iranian oil that's exiting the Strait of Hormuz right now. That's right. Iran's strategic value over centuries, certainly over the past century and past 40, 50, 60 years, because of the Strait of Hormuz being the lifeline of energy to the world, has been its strategic value. I fear that the regime has overextended its hand because it was its final trump card, no puns intended here, but it was its final card.

19:36 And I think it's stretching it too far because Washington has demonstrated that it can somehow open up the flow of oil, albeit at reduced numbers, but it is demonstrating that it can do it. And long term. The advantage will be Washington's and not the Islamic Republic of Iran, and that is a catastrophe, an economic one as well as political, that the regime will not be able to survive. Well, we don't hear much these days from Oman. We did for a bit. What's their status? I'm sorry, from who? With Oman. Oman, yeah. Well, Oman is a long-standing neighbor of the Islamic Republic.

20:17 It's got to balance between its neighborly needs as well as managing a hostile beast that it has sort of experienced in the past 47 years. So it's not an easy position for Oman to be at. So it's doing its best somehow manage a flow and protect its own interests. So It's difficult. Of course, some of the rhetoric that sometimes comes out of Washington is not helpful, but the Omanis have done their best, in my view, to play an honest broker here and have served the interest of Washington and the West for a long time now, having mediated over and over again from release of hostages and prisoners and exchanges and so forth. But it is in a situation that is not envious. Deal with a beast or deal with the beast.

21:11 Pick your beast, I guess. Exactly. Marty, we got a little more than two and a half minutes left here. What needs to happen? What moves do Washington need to make now in order to expedite the collapse of this regime? Right. Well, the dynamics are very simple. There is absolute deep, deep mistrust between the two parties here going back 47 years, half a century, Washington deeply mistrusts the Islamic Republic of Iran for good reason. And counter wise, the Islamic Republic of Iran deeply mistrusts Washington for its own series of reasonings. So there is no love lost there. And the challenge here is how to overcome this mistrust. For example, that MOU, which was enormously beneficial and it was an imbalance in favor of the Islamist regime was not effectuated. Why? Because the Iranian regime, at the end of the day, felt there must be something up and that it cannot trust Washington. Well, today, we sense, we see, there are hints that the Iranian regime actually would like to possibly execute pieces, if not all of that, 14-point MOU back then. So this mistrust

22:42 has somehow need to be overcome if Washington is going to offer itself, find itself an exit ramp to reduce the energy pressures on the global markets, as well as if the Iranian regime wishes to sort of reduce the economic collapse that it's facing, it needs to somehow overcome that mistrust. I fear However, the ideological depth driving the Iranian regime is such that unless those elements that are emerging in Iran today that favor sort of a pause, an MOU, a peace of some sort, I'm not saying they're ultimately the good guys, but there are elements that are favoring a reduction of tensions if they get the upper hand There is a chance here. Otherwise, it's going to be escalation and more tensions and more catastrophic kinetic options on the table.

23:45 I understand. He's the director of Iran Freedom Project, Middle East Forum, Mirdad Mardy Yousafiani. Mirdad, thank you so much for being with us. Appreciate the time. Thank you, Bill, for having me. You got it. Every 40 seconds, a child disappears. That's 2,000 children every single day. Find the Children is a non-profit organization fighting to bring them home. But we can't do it without you. Your unwanted car, running or not, can help find missing kids, reunite families, and support the search and rescue efforts that protect children every day. We'll pick it up fast and free with a 24-hour response, and your donation may qualify for a tax deduction. Find the Children provides crucial resources to help locate missing children and educational programs to teach kids how to recognize and avoid predators before it's too late. Together, we can give families hope. and bring children home where they belong. Donate your car today and help bring a child home. Find the children because every child deserves to come home. 800-547-5331 800-547-5331 800-547-5331 This advertisement was paid for in partnership with Cars R Us and Find the Children.

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26:52 We make buying life insurance, well, easy. People are always searching for ways to relax and feel calm. Some people drink, some people smoke, and others may take an edible to take the edge off. If you prefer a more natural option, it's time to try Hapazen, the new anxiety relief formula from the Magavitamin Company. Hapazen is formulated to help provide relief from mental fatigue. It contains an all-natural blend of high-potency herbs and minerals known for their relaxing qualities, helping you feel less stressed. Try Hapazen now and learn how you can get a free bottle with your order. Visit Magavitamin.com. That's Magavitamin.com. Nutrition for patriots. Hey, welcome back. I'm Bill Martinez. He's Jeff Kemp, the ministry leader and author and former NFL QB.

27:38 Mr. Jeff, how are we doing? I'm well. How are you, Bill? Hey, I'm doing terrific. I wanted to talk today about, if we can, I've been reading a new book, Jonathan Cahn's new book, The Altar of Pergamon. And it really has brought to mind several things because his earlier book was about the return of the gods. And what's happening in terms of the spiritual battle that we're in and that we're seeing more and more demonic expression being displayed in our culture. And it's quite fascinating. Jonathan is an interesting individual. He's a Messianic rabbi. So he understands all the nuance of the Old Testament and Jewish culture that is so valuable to help us understand some background there. Uh, and also the other thing that I found and I've known Jonathan for ever since I got a Bible college.

28:36 So we're going back almost 20 years and he and I just kind of connected from day one. And, and what I appreciated about his spirit was that he had this, this sense, because when God called me to get back behind the microphone again, uh, I, I, I said, God, are you sure about that? Because, you know, when I was behind the microphone, I was in LA and I was, I was a juvenile, I was playing music, taking requests and just having fun. And God said, no, no, no, no, I don't want you to do that. I want you to do a talk show and talk about the word, talk about the truth, the truth of God. I said, God, you sure? I'm sitting here just thinking, I'm lucky to be alive by your grace and mercy. You sure you want me to do this? And so as we were having our conversation, over a period of time, I said, okay, God, if this is what you want me to do, bring people into my realm, into the radio show that are directly connected to you, that have revelation, that have gone into your throne room, had conversations with you. You know, like Moses, he was face-to-face with you. You know, send me those people. Open the door in context with that. Well, Jonathan was one of the few that I was able to connect with on that basis. And I found him to be quite connected with And and his vision and the things that he was seeing in the culture was it was things you had to say that had to

30:07 come from God. It was almost like a Peter Jesus moment. You know, when when Jesus asked him, who do you who do they say I am? You know, who do you say I am? And Peter says, well, you're Jesus Christ. You're the Messiah. And Jesus says, well, hey, no mere mortal told you that. I know you got that from God. Right. So so it's those kind of things. And like, you know, and this is what I enjoy about our relationship, because oftentimes, you know, you and I have said, hey, what are we going to talk about? We get here and say, OK, God, you know, take it. And the Holy Spirit comes in and, you know, we're talking about things. And I don't know about you, but my friends, they go, hey, I heard that interview, you know, that you had with Jeff Kemp. And I know you, you're not that smart. And I go, of course, I'm not that smart.

30:51 Nor is Jeff. Yeah. But, you know, I said, you know, you do this sometimes and you just hang on to the spirit of God and say, OK, God, what is it that you want your people to hear? And all that to say is, first of all, let me say this. You've got to get your hands on the book, his latest book. It's a bit of an allegory, almost like his first book, Harbinger. I don't know if you were familiar with that. But this was called The Altar of Pergamon. Yes. The mystery of the dark angel, the future of the world. Right. And what it does, it points to, as you know, Pergamon was one of the seven churches that were judged in the book of Revelations. And what was in Pergamon?

31:32 What was in Pergamon was the throne of Satan. And when Jesus came, then that throne kind of got buried. And what happened was a couple of German archaeologists, this is even before Germany was German, you know, was a country, but they were from that area from Prussia and they started digging up this altar and, uh, and they moved it to Germany. Now this is in the latter 1800s. And it's interesting how, when they moved it to Germany, what happened and that influence that, that satanic influence of the throne of Satan, moving to Germany, what impact that had on the world. And it coincides with the birth of Adolf Hitler. It coincides with the rise of the Third Reich. It coincides with the nationalism and the ordination of the country of Germany and two world wars. And it's just, it's phenomenal. So I highly recommend that book.

32:46 But all that to say, Jeff, It brought me to this point of saying, we have to get serious about our faith. I mean, you know, people are somewhat casual about it. And there's going to be that time when we're in front of Jesus and Jesus may ask you that same question. You know, who do you say I am? And if you don't have the right answer, he's going to say, get away from me. I don't even know you. And you're going to say, hey, wait a minute. I went to church on Sunday. I served donuts and coffee. I went to the poor. But your heart was never with me. You were really never committed to me 100%.

33:26 And I think we need to have that conversation more and more, you know, with our loved ones, with ourselves, to say, okay, where are you with Jesus? That's, I think, the most important question, the question that Jesus asked. his disciples, and Peter's the one who answered it and answered it well. Who do you say that I am? Who do you say that I am? And in your checkbook, in your schedule, in your conversations, in the way you spend your time, in your choice to attend church and be a part of it, or just occasionally drop by and check the box.

34:15 Are you. Demonstrating and proving that your answer to the question, who do you say that I am, is who Jesus really is. Because Jesus made such amazing claims and backed them up with a completely loving, humble, compassionate, courageous, truthful, uniting, healing, reconciling, perfectly obedient to the Father life. And of course, his resurrection from crucifixion and death, that if he says, I'm the way, the truth, and the life, I'm the only way to the Father. And if you believe in me and confess me, you'll have eternal life. But apart from me, you don't have eternal life and you don't have anything that's good. Then it really calls for a complete decision.

35:14 You know, Romans 12, verse 1 and 2. Exactly. Present your body, your time, your thoughts, your mind, your family, your marriage, your house and assets, your future to God as your living sacrifice. Right. And it's not like a sacrifice that's painful. No sacrifice made for God is really a sacrifice because he made the ultimate sacrifice and we benefit when we sacrifice for him. Unless you're like that wealthy young man who, when asked, when he asked Jesus, what else can I do? And Jesus said, sell everything, give it to the poor and follow me, take up your cross. And he goes, oh, can't do that.

35:56 And that was because that young man wanted control of his life. He had created security and identity around his wealth. He may have followed the religious rules and the 10 commandments, but he, He actually didn't because he had a God and an idol higher than God. That was control, himself, his life. So there's the question you're asking about, you know, you'll meet Jesus at the end. And did you follow him and surrender to him? Were you born again and make him the priority in your life? Or did you not? Because it's not just lip service, right? The other side of that question is right now, living with God all in, is so much better than half in or a third. Or just like a token belief in a little insurance policy in the back pocket. Maybe I'll get forgiven and go to heaven, but I want to run the show and be in charge right now.

36:54 There's no peace in that. There's no power in that. There's no ability to apologize and forgive and make your marriage strong and to show your kids that humility is the way to live, not pride. So both at the end, when you want Jesus to welcome you into heaven because you trusted him. And now let's be a hundred percent committed. Yeah. You want, you want to hear well done, my good and faithful servant, right? Don't we want to all hear that? I didn't want to hear the other one, you know, for me. I didn't know you. No, we don't want to hear that. And we don't want anyone that we know to hear that. And we need to pray that the Holy spirit opens people's hearts and we need to live in such a way and share the message.

37:39 I think, I. Can't remember who it was that said something along the lines of preach the gospel everywhere and if necessary, use words. Some people have used that to say, oh, you don't need to talk about God. Just live well. It's both and. And in the Bible, it says, share the gospel, praise God, tell of his glory, tell the stories of his faithfulness, remind Israelites of what happened in the past when they didn't remind themselves and their next generations, they rebelled and they had to get punished and oppressed by other nations. So exactly. Live the gospel and tell the gospel, which is simply God's grace saves us if we trust in him. Well, Jeff Kemp, we're going to go for more information to connect with you.

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42:14 Call Heritage for the Blind right now, 1-800-785-9618. Donating is easy, and your vehicle is towed away for free. Plus, you'll get a free vacation voucher. Call now, 1-800-785-9618. That's 1-800-785-9618. Hey, good. Morning. Welcome back. Good to have you with us. Bill Martinez here. We've got Emily Chow joining us from Focus on the Family. She's Plugged In's content editor. Emily, good morning to you. How are you? Good morning. I'm doing great. Well, excellent. Well, are kids doing great as they get back to school? Or are they at that point where, I can't wait for school. I'm bored. I got to get back to school, right?

43:03 Has anyone checked in on the children lately? Yeah, no. I remember those days when, you know, it was like, you know, vacation was good for about Four or six weeks after that, it was like, okay, I'm ready to get back. Get back to friends. Yeah. There's something about the rhythm of school that calls out to you and says, okay, you need to come back. Of course, facing the kids now is the impact of artificial intelligence. which has become commonplace in school settings for everything from essay outlines to quick searches for science fair ideas. And all that. So I'll tell you, not only do parents have to be on their toes, but teachers especially, right?

43:46 Absolutely. Kids can, you know, kids can use AI as a very helpful tool. They can use it for, you know, if they want to use it for tutoring or if they're using it, you know, to help them edit an essay or explain a math problem to them. It can be really helpful, but it can also be used for cheating and, you know, writing their papers for them, doing their research for them. And if they're doing that, they're not really learning anything. No, that's true. Now, are teachers figuring out, you know, because I've spoken with a couple of teachers and they're wising up. They can tell, you know, just based on the experience with the kids and style and their age level, what kind of, you know, what an AI-backed document looks like versus something that was done of their own doing, if that makes sense. Yes, it does.

44:39 So a lot of teachers, probably, honestly, I think teachers who know their students pretty well probably can just tell, like, you know, especially if there's all of a sudden a huge jump in, you know, the quality of writing or something like that. That would definitely be a clue. But there's also, there are AI detectors. They're not foolproof. If I was a teacher, I would definitely not rely on them. But I think that. There's different ways where, you know, if you suspect that your student is using AI, you know, have another teacher or the school principal, just another school administrator or educator look at it and get their opinion. And, you know, I think that schools should probably standardize that to protect students because, you know, you don't want to throw out a false accusation that could... you know, that could ruin a lot of things for that student if they're falsely accused.

45:34 So you definitely want to make sure that you're not just taking it for granted or being like, yeah, it feels like AI, so I'm just going to say it is. Like, have the students show you their work. If you're a parent, really start encouraging your kids. Like, it's annoying, but literally save a first draft of whatever you're writing. Save a second draft, a third draft, you know. And if If you do use AI, make sure that it falls within the regulations that have been laid out by your school. And if your school doesn't have regulations in place, don't use AI unless you talk to a teacher beforehand and get permission because there would be nothing worse as a student, and this is just from my own memory, than being like, well, there's not technically a rule and then you go.

46:22 Through with it. And then that could I mean, like there are kids who've gotten suspended or expelled for doing just that because there wasn't a rule. And you became the reason that there's a rule, you know, that you don't want to be the guinea pig. So, well, and, you know, you said something earlier in terms of the impact that would have on the student. But there's other students involved because they see how their colleague is being treated, how their fellow student is treated. And if they feel like, wait a minute, this is up for some discussion and they feel it's a bit unfair because, you know, hey, look at the technology affords this to you. If it does advance and it does work in your favor, then, you know, how do you how do you cut the baby in half here, Emily?

47:08 Oh, that is that is the question that I think is just plaguing so many schools and, you know, parents, students alike. So over the summer, there was actually a mock session. It was like a student congress. Oh, I was going to ask you about that. I heard about that. Go ahead. Yeah, tell our audience about this. I thought this was clever. So over the course of a long weekend, you had 98 juniors and seniors from across the country. They met in this mock session of student congress, and they formed a bill called the Student First Act, and it outlined everything. all sorts of different ways for students to appropriately use AI, for teachers and schools to regulate that appropriate use, even for parents and guardians to, you know, encourage a balance of AI use, where it's like you still need to get your student, you know, practice those critical thinking skills.

48:10 So I think that as parents, Schools are trying to come up with rules and regulations. That document is honestly a really good resource, just kind of the Superintendents Association sent it to like 10,000 educators across the country already to help them as they're. Forming those regulations. But I think it's a good place for parents and teachers to start just to kind of get an idea of like, okay, what, what is the scope of AI use? Like, can it be helpful in what ways? And how do we, how do we set a, as you said, you know, where, where do we make our cut in? This is the helpful side of things. This is the not helpful side of things. You know, where do we toe the line?

48:55 I got to tell you, I'm impressed with those students to get together like this and have that discussion. I mean, maybe they're learning a lot from, you know, what's going on in social media with the, You know, Facebook and all these other social media platforms are being sued right now and saying, hey, maybe we ought to be proactive and get in front of this and have a say. I mean, we'll create a table of our own and, you know, kind of. force a chair out, you know, up underneath us so that we can be part of the discussion. That's a great idea. I mean, if that doesn't, you know, introduce you to some critical thinking, boy, you know, I'm impressed. Yeah, no, I was impressed by them too.

49:36 And that's actually what you just said about how, you know, imagine what would have happened if we had gotten ahead. Of the game on social media. It feels like we waited. And the students addressed that. They were like, it feels like we waited way too long, you know, to get involved. With social media. Like, let's try to get out ahead of AI before it completely envelops our lives. Yeah. I think there's so many smart kids out there. They, they are not just, you know, they're not lazy kids out there who are. Just like, eh, I just want the easiest way out. It's like, you'd be amazed like what kids, kids want to learn. I think, I think there's an instinctual part of us when we're young, where we do want to learn.

50:19 We want to be treated like adults. We want to figure out how the world works. And I think that we kind of instinctively know we're not going to learn that. From an AI. We might learn it from the adults in the room, giving them a seat at the table and letting them express their thoughts and their concerns. And even just. Like, If I was a student, I'd be like, can I just show you what I. Can do with AI? Let me just show you the scope of what is possible because this could be great for me and my fellow students. Well, and I think that this is one of the things that's being missed a little bit here. And that is that, as you say, the kids have an eagerness to learn and they want to perform at a higher level.

51:08 If a tool comes in and gives them a higher launching pad, so to speak, That's to their advantage. And I think that what will happen is we're going to have to study this maybe, you know, three, five years down the road to see, in fact, are these kids leveraging this tool in such a way that their output is so much more improved and not just so, oh, you know, that you're cheating. No, it's that it's the level of conversation now is at a higher level. Their thinking is a little bit more advanced because AI has helped them get to that higher level to launch off. Does that make sense?

51:50 It does. Yeah, no, it's like you want to make sure, and I think that because of that reason, everything you just described, I think it does come down to we can't pretend like AI doesn't exist. This is a part of their world. It is. To a certain degree, it is kind of on the adults in. The room to learn how AI can be leveraged for good rather than. Just for cheating. The fear is that kids are going to use it for cheating, but that's not the limitation of what they can use it for. And so I think that AI use, I don't know exactly what the appropriate age is to start teaching AI use. It's probably closer to middle school so that by the time they get to high school, they're proficient in a appropriate AI use.

52:36 They're already appropriate in elementary school. Are you kidding me? They have chewed this up. I mean, this is incredible. I think the message that needs to be stressed here is look at what we're preparing you is for life. All right. Now, you might be able to cheat your way through school, but when life hits you in the face and you're ill-prepared, don't blame us. Blame yourself because you cheated the system. And because you cheated the system, guess what? You lack the tools on when you go and get a job, you lack the tools and development in order to be successful at your job. And so you're going to end up paying the price. So what we're trying to do is help you understand be more successful out there in the world.

53:23 I agree 100% with what you just said. It's like the. Only person you're hurting, the only person you're cheating when you cheat is yourself. You cheat yourself out of the experience to learn and to figure things out on your own, critical thinking, social development. There's so many things. Now, you can develop an over-reliance on AI. And I do think that that's maybe somewhere where... educators and parents have to intervene is the over-reliance factor because kids, if. You get a hold of a new technology, like we can't help ourselves when we're kids. We just want to, it's like, oh, it's this new toy. We just like become zombies and just do nothing but stare at our screens all day. So it's like, it does come down to parents and guardians to set up, you know, boundaries regarding the over-reliance factor. But in terms of, being able to use AI as this incredible tool I honestly think if you talk to your kids and you're just.

54:23 Like, show me what you're learning, show me what. AI can do, you will be amazed at all the different things it can do. If you get to a point where you're like, where they're showing you things, you're like, that makes me uncomfortable. Okay. That's where you either have a conversation or set some boundaries, probably both. You know, it's not like you lose all control because this AI is, you know, Talking to your kids. It's like, no, you're still the parent. You can still set up safe, healthy boundaries. For your kids. But you do need to know how your. Child is using AI in order to set up those boundaries. No, you're exactly right. This is going to be a parent-student joint effort. that there has to be that conversation because I think the benefit for parents is get ready for parents to learn and adapt to AI as well.

55:12 I mean, as if they're not already, because AI has crept into every part of our lives ever so subtly. And it's amazing, even myself in what I'm doing, I'm surprised how often that I am leaning into it when I thought, oh, well, it's just out there. I didn't quite understand what was going on, but it's really taken over some areas. And I've benefited largely from it. But I'm excited. I got to tell you, I'm excited to see what these kids five years down the road, what it's going to look like. And yes, with some trepidation and concern and guardrails that need to be there and open conversation all the way around with the parents, the teachers, the students all getting involved to say, hey, look at this is a powerful tool. How can we make sure that it's for good?

55:58 Right. Yeah. How can we keep the kids safe? You know, I know one of the things that parents are really scared about too, and rightly so, is when your child is talking to a chat bot, when they start having like an emotional connection with that chat bot. And I know that that's a big fear that was actually something that student that student congress brought up as well as they were like when do we when should um an ai alert a trusted adult you know where does how does that get worked into the system especially if the ai chatbot is being provided uh by the school to the students you know and so those are others those are some other questions you got to talk to your kids about and i think it's just an ongoing conversation and reminder that you know AI is this great tool, but it is, at the end of the day, it's a tool.

56:49 It's not a person. It is an object, not a human being with a soul who loves you and cares about you and cares. That you have a future. The AI does not care if you use it for everything under the sun for the rest of your life. That's actually probably its pre-programmed goal is to get you to use it more. Yeah. That's why we have to, you know, we do have to regulate it. We have to say, okay, this is the limitation of what we're going to do because we don't want to become these little screen zombies. Exactly. AI is not your God, ladies and gentlemen. She's plugged in content editor. Emily Chow has been with us. Emily, thank you. We got to keep this conversation going. This is going to be fascinating to see how this evolves.

57:38 Yes, I agree. It is just, it's going to continue developing. I feel like I've said. So much about it already written so much about it already. And, you know, keep your eye on the news. Like more stories are going to come up and when they come up, you know, don't be afraid to. Just talk about it. You know, it might be something where your kids are aware of what's happening and they're like, I have an opinion. It might be something where they're like, mom, dad, Like, that's not even a thing. Why are you worried about this? You might get a little bit of teenage attitude. And, you know, that's there. And you get that for free. That comes with no charge. Emily, where can they go for more information and stay on top of this important topic?

58:23 If you go to pluggedin.com, we have our blog. We also have a tab on our homepage just for technology. Every week we'll be posting new stuff there. It's not always going to be AI related, but you will see a lot of our AI articles in those two places. You can also go to our YouTube channel. Occasionally we'll have conversations about AI there. But yeah, PluggedIn.com is the place to go. We do our best to just keep up to date on all of that stuff. Well, keep up the great work, Emily Chao. Thank you so much for being with us. Take care. God bless. You too. Bye-bye. We call ourselves ASAP.

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59:48 Call this number now. 800-506-4885. 800-506-4885. 800-506-4885. That's 800-506-4885. Getting America back on track. Bill Martinez live. Good morning. Welcome. Six minutes after the top of the hour. Bill Martin is here and we've got Todd Starnes joining us. He's the American conservative columnist, commentator, writer and radio host. Todd, good morning to you. Well, good morning. Great to be with you, Bill. Thank you for the invitation.

1:00:32 Well, looking forward to this. Congratulations on the book, The Golden Age, How Trump Saved America. This idea of a golden age really encapsulates America. the vision that he's cast for America. And this is what good leaders do, is they cast a vision, don't they? Well, I think they do, but it's not just casting a vision, it's delivering on campaign promises. And that's really why I wrote The Golden Age. There were a good many folks in the conservative media world that have been saying, well, this hasn't been a very successful term for President Trump. So I thought, well, that's ludicrous. So I just did some old school journalism, went back, looked at the promises to see whether or not he had delivered. Bill, I'm looking at at least 70% promises made, promises kept. And to me, that is pretty darn phenomenal. And that really was the foundation for writing The Golden Age, a celebration of what Trump has done, but also a reminder that all of us bear responsibility for carrying on the America First agenda.

1:01:38 Exactly, because this is still a government up for by we the people, is it not? Well, it is. The last time I checked my constitution, it was. Absolutely. And again, you know, there's just so much that this president has done restoring common sense back to America. He saved our schools and our military. He secured our borders. These are things that the American people want to have happen, and the president's delivered on those promises. You know, Todd, one of the things that I'm frustrated over, and maybe you feel the same way, between the media and the DSA, the way they talk about Trump, they forget what he inherited. It wasn't like it was, you know, you started at the starting line, a fresh starting line.

1:02:23 You had to carry all the luggage that was left behind because of Democratic policies and all that Joe Biden did. to really damage our country, whether it had to do with the borders or national security or fraud for that matter? I think you have to go back really beyond the Biden administration, which was a very dark and dangerous time in our country. Biden was just not there. We have a phrase in Tennessee where I'm from, the cheese slid off his cracker a long time ago. And that turned out to be dangerous because so many radical leftists were employed by the administration in very key positions. But you have to go all the way back to Barack Hussein Obama.

1:03:03 and this promise to fundamentally transform America. And that was a long-lasting thing that happened within the bureaucracy of the government. We call it the deep state. And that went on unchecked even during the first Trump term in office. So this president had a lot to fix because there was a lot that was broken in this country. Well, are we going to find out that Barack Obama actually had a third term as a somewhat silent partner, so to speak, you know, hidden by the deemed state and the bureaucracy of the administrative state of Washington, D.C., because he remained, as we know, he remained in D.C.

1:03:45 I think the only past president ever in our history to stay in Washington, or nearby, anyway. Well, he was. He was the only president in at least modern political history who actually stayed behind in Washington. I think you're onto something there, And I would be very alarmed if a Democrat wins a presidency in 2028 or beyond, because I think Obama would have his thumb on that individual. Look, we're dealing with two major threats to the republic right now, the rise of Islam and the rise of communism. Both are very dangerous, and they're working hand in hand right now. But at the end of the day, one will rule over the other. And I would have my money on the Islamists. God forbid that happens, which is why, again, I write in the book, and it's really an encouraging book, but there are warnings that we have dangers lurking in the very near future in this country.

1:04:44 Well, Todd, the question I get is, is God judging us? And I say, well, it's interesting that you ask that question. Why do you ask that question? Because when you look at, let's just say from 9-11 going forward, I mean, we could go back even before 9-11, and we started to see the fruit from the tree here, where there were, you know, judgments, you could say judgments, catastrophes that were happening to America that would cause people of a spiritual awareness to pause. I don't know about that. I'm a deeply Christian man. I believe that that that God may not necessarily be punishing us. We're just getting what we asked for. I believe that God has certainly blessed our land. He's also given us free will, and we've been making a lot of bad decisions. Remember what John Adams said, our second president, our nation wholly inadequate for anyone other than a moral and religious people talking about our founding documents. And so when you take God out of the equation, I think you get chaos in the culture. And Bill, we've got chaos in the culture right now. And I think there is a responsibility that Christians specifically have, and I write about this in The Golden Age, they've got a responsibility to engage the culture and be involved in the political process.

1:06:04 And far too many of our evangelical churches have now disengaged. Meanwhile, you have a large swath of these Christians that are out there, and they're really power hungry. They're grifters. They want access to Mar-a-Lago. They want to be able to claim credit for holding a church service in the Oval Office. I think the American people see through a lot of that stuff, if you know what I mean. No, I know exactly what you're saying, and it is quite obvious. But let's talk about the church. The church, you know, Jesus formed the church to be the salt and light. And here in America, as you know, only 50% of evangelicals will bother to register to vote. And of that 50, only 50 will actually vote. It's no wonder we're going to hell in a handbasket here, so to speak.

1:06:54 Yeah, look, I place the blame on what's happening directly on the Christians, because again, we know better. I'll give you an example. Here in Memphis, Tennessee, the danger we're dealing with, we're a blue city. And Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez came to town a couple of weeks ago to campaign for one of these DSA congressional candidates. They held the rally in a black megachurch. Over a thousand people turned out, wall-to-wall people. The pastor of that church, which claims to be evangelical, the pastor rose up and from the pulpit said, Jesus was a socialist, therefore you should be socialist. And the crowd roared with applause. So on election day... You better believe every black church, every progressive church in Memphis was mobilized, driving buses to the polls. Democrats won in a landslide all of their primary races. But you know who wasn't involved? All of those predominantly white evangelical churches in the suburbs. They say, oh, we don't do politics in our church. Well, you get what you vote for.

1:07:59 Exactly. And you just got your hat handed to you. And the thing that still amazes me, because when you look back historically, the Democratic Party, you know, set the DSA aside for just a moment. But the Democratic Party, the ones that gave us the Ku Klux Klan. And, of course, we're seeing that that relationship continues with what happened with the Southern Poverty Law Center. OK, but it is the Democratic Party that really birthed Planned Parenthood, that is responsible for killing 40 percent of black babies. That's right. And blacks are still going to vote. For Democrats, what are you thinking? I mean, some are rising up and saying, you know, and asking the same question of their own people, but it's still not connecting with them yet, Todd.

1:08:43 No, it's not. You know, Bill, we also have a lot of fun in this book. I grew up reading Louis Grisard and Irma Bombeck and even liberal humorists like Art Buchwald, which is really old school. Anybody remember Art Buchwald or Molly Ivins? And even though I didn't agree with some of them politically, I just thought they write in a funny way. So I try to infuse some humor. And unfortunately, one of my parody chapters came to life. We were doing a book signing. at a Barnes & Noble, and we had a mob of these morbidly obese white woke women that stormed the Barnes & Noble, and they staged a protest in the middle of my book signing. And I actually have a chapter in the book. I call them gals of girth, the GOGs. And in the book, I try to become a life coach Helping these women so they can find fulfillment in life by getting a husband. And apparently, I guess that chapter somehow triggered them, Bill Martinez. I don't know why they were triggered, but there you go.

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1:14:24 We're talking to Todd Starnes, American conservative columnist, commentator, writer, his new book, The Golden Age, How Trump Saved America. I heard it was a lot of fun interviewing Donald Trump. You know, it has been, and I've been honored to interview him about a dozen times over the years. And It's always fun. I tell people it's like being in the Daytona 500, except you're on the hood of the car just holding on for dear life. But the man is really, he's a funny guy. And he also is a multitasker. He can do a lot of different things at one time. And I think people are going to come across with a different take on the president when they read The Golden Age. Because he really is this blue collar billionaire, a guy who's got more money than you and I put together, Bill. But he loves enjoying a good old Big Mac down at the McDonald's.

1:15:15 Right. And he loves this country and loves the people the way he's been he's been fighting for us. How many questions? I'm just curious. How many questions did you get a chance to ask him? Because whenever I see him, sometimes, you know, you ask one question and just put on your seatbelt and your crash helmet because he's got it from there. Right. So the first time I interviewed him, I got a half a question in, one half of a question. But then later on, you kind of get a little bold, so you can kind of interrupt. You don't want to interrupt the President of. The United States. But he sort of eases up. One time, I guess he was in a mood because he only gave short answers, and it really shocked me because I only had two questions written down. Yeah, exactly.

1:15:56 Exactly. Yeah, look, you've trained me to come in with a short list and then you give me short answers. That's not fair. You're killing me, Mr. President. Well, speaking of which, the faith of Donald Trump. Yeah. I mean, people are a bit confused, but man, I'll tell you, his actions tell you that he loves God, loves Jesus. He may not have a full comprehension of and hold of the gospel message because he still thinks he needs to do something to earn his way to heaven. That's only my, if I had a moment with him, I'd say, Mr. President, you know, you profess Jesus as your Lord and Savior. That's it. You know, go ahead.

1:16:39 Yeah, I've asked that question of him privately, and I'm going to keep that conversation private because that's an issue, you know, Where we spend eternity, that's an issue that far transcends politics or anything else in life. And I think those are deeply personal and important moments. And I do know that this president has surrounded himself with good, godly men like Dr. Robert Jeffress and Pastor Jack Graham and others. And that encourages me. One of the things that comes across in the book, when you don't listen to the speeches, but read his speeches, when he does talk about matters of faith, And this man does have a comprehensive understanding of the importance of religion and the American experience. And that, to me, is incredibly encouraging. And I pray for my president. I hope everybody prays for our president and the first family. But this is a man who understands, and he actually said this, to make America great again, America has to pray again. Those are the words of Donald J.

1:17:40 Trump. Exactly. Charlie Kirk. Yeah. Let's talk about the impact that this young man had in such a short period of time. So, Bill, I was really struggling with how to write about that in the golden age. And it actually happened live during my national radio show. We broadcast noon to three Eastern. I was interviewing Senator James Lankford from Oklahoma when the first bulletin came in that something had happened. And we took the story live on air. And so what we did was we pulled the transcripts from that moment. And we actually built a chapter around that. The following day, I had a chance to have Dr. Jack Hibbs from Calvary Chapel, Chino Hills, who was a mentor. He was discipling Charlie. And so we include a lot of that in the book and talk about the aftermath of all of that and the impact I believe it's going to have on the country.

1:18:36 Yeah, without a doubt, there was the question, who was going to replace Charlie? And the answer came very quick. Lots of Charlie Kirks. And this is what we're seeing, right? I mean, he is. You know, you could say a once in a generation figure that impact a generation. Yeah, I think, you know, one of the challenges we have in the conservative movement is that we have a lot of grifters in our midst now, people who are not truly authentic. They're either paid to be a conservative or They're trying to scam conservatives and especially within the Christian community. And that really alarms me. So I think you have to discern who the real folks are out there, you know, talking about these issues and really encouraging people to do their homework before they decide to align with somebody or support somebody's ministry or this or that. That's just something that we have to do our homework on.

1:19:34 Two points there in what you just brought out, because this is something we bring out repeatedly in our show. Number one, own your own knowledge. Just because somebody told you something doesn't mean, in fact, that is true. You need to, as you say, exercise some discernment, some critical thinking, something that has been lacking in our society for a long time. And we're paying the price for that. And so in addition to owning your own knowledge, it's important that you do take self-responsibility seriously. That is critical when it comes to the truth. And we've abandoned the truth for a number of decades. And ever since that idea of, you know, it's your truth, my truth, it's all relative.

1:20:15 My goodness, I mean, that is a direct, you know, decision and free choice to make to say, you know, I'm not going to have anything to do with God because God is truth. Yeah, look, I think that's a great way to look at it, Bill. And again, it's just a weird time in the country right now with the onslaught of AI and you've got the social media platforms. So there's a lot of ways to get the truth, but there's also a lot of deception out there as well, which is why we encourage people on our website, toddsterns.com. We still do old school journalism there and bringing people the stories that that are not being covered by the mainstream media.

1:20:59 You know, we've been doing this a very long time, and Lord willing, we're going to keep doing it for a very long time. But that's really my calling here. And I think people, and you've experienced this as well, you know, people appreciate your point of view because your opinions have not changed. What you believed, you know, 10, 20 years ago, you still believe today, regardless of who's. In the White House. Exactly. Well, here we are, as I mentioned earlier, the media, left, especially DSA, keep telling us repeatedly Trump is bad. So help me out. What am I missing here? Since taking office, as promised, as you said, Trump secured our border. He's been working against all resistance to deport millions of illegals, some who have killed our citizens. In every state of the union, a homicide has occurred to an American citizen at the hands of an illegal immigrant. They've taken unfair advantage of our hospitality by stealing, committing billions of dollars in fraud against our social services. Affordability was an issue on day one of this administration because, as I mentioned, what the Biden administration, Democratic policies and regulations, how they weakened our energy sector, monetary policy, raising inflation as high as almost 9%, you know, something that can't be resolved overnight.

1:22:12 But we're supposed to believe that Trump is. Bad, Todd. Yeah, look, they tried to tell us that George W. Bush was Hitler. So again, I think you've just got to remember, this is the way they play the game, right? It doesn't matter. It could have been Jeb Bush in the White House, and there would be that same level of vitriol that we've seen directed at Donald Trump. What makes this so disingenuous, though, is that many of these people who have been attacking President Trump used to be his friends before he became president. So I think, again, it's ugly, and I think it's gone well beyond the norms in politics. But the reality is it's all political theater. I really do believe that. And, you know, when you look at some of the conservative TV cable channels, for example, I'll give you an example of this. On one of them in particular, they'll be yelling and screaming at these Democrats, these far leftists, on the TV set. After hours, they're hanging out at a watering hole together. That, to me, just screams democracy. disingenuous, and it's not right, but that's the way it is, as Dr. Cronkite said.

1:23:28 Well, we got to put a wrap on it. He's the author of The Golden Age, How Trump Saved America, an American conservative columnist, commentator, writer, radio host. Todd Starnes has been our guest. Todd, as we part here, what's the big takeaway? What do you want the audience to take away from this book? The golden age is not about lower gas prices or affordability. The golden age is really an aspiration more so than a destination. There's a great song, and I write about this in the book, from George Beverly Shea. I'd rather have Jesus than silver or gold. You know, our aspiration should be to follow the teachings of Christ. And I believe if we return to the faith of our founding fathers, we're going to be that shining city on a hill.

1:24:15 And that ultimately, for me, is what the golden age is really all about. I'm with you, Todd. Thank you so much. Take care. God bless, my friend. Thank you, sir. Every 40 seconds, a child disappears. That's 2,000 children every single day. Find the Children is a nonprofit organization fighting to bring them home. But we can't do it without you. Your unwanted car, running or not, can help find missing kids, reunite families, and support the search and rescue efforts that protect children every day. We'll pick it up fast and free with a 24-hour response, and your donation may qualify for a tax deduction. Find the Children provides crucial resources to help locate missing children and educational programs that teach kids how to recognize and avoid predators before it's too late. Together, we can give families hope. and bring children home where they belong. Donate your car today and help bring a child home. Find the children because every child deserves to come home.

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1:28:00 Hey, welcome back. Bill Martinez here with Dr. Wilford Riley from Kentucky State University. Hey, Will, how are we doing? Pretty well, doing pretty well. What about you? Well, doing fine. You know, I'm not like you, though. You're back in session. Kids are back on campus. What's the buzz amongst the kids as they're coming back after a summer break? Well, they're mostly just glad to be back in school, see their friends, all that kind of thing. They're not necessarily excited about the tests and homework, but they are. They're pretty happy to be back in the building. So overall good. They're a little annoyed about some of our policies. We're doing all our tests and person because of massive AI cheating at every college.

1:28:43 So that's something most schools are doing. Oh, so they're having a tough time adjusting to that, huh? Yeah, I mean, we actually we had one of the lowest rates of cheating in the state of Kentucky. But at every major college, like when tests were put online, the rate of tampering was like 40 percent, 50 percent, because you could just cut and paste the test to drop it in grok heavy. And you can tell the AI model, you know, complete this test and get 91 percent correct. So it looks somewhat plausible. And so you have to figure out how to deal with that. And most people have just gone back to sort of the blue book. Right, exactly. So, yeah, so we just get back to the way it was. I mean, it's too bad we can't figure out to do the same thing with our elections, right?

1:29:29 Yeah, I mean, that's something I've said for quite a while, that the way to election security is really just to have paper ballots. You get dozens of volunteers from both parties, older ladies probably, and you have them grade the, score the ballots at a table. And in a lot of other countries where you haven't yet had the blessing and curse of technology, Elections usually take a day. Every time I look, I'm watching the election in a developing country with a friend from there or something. Nigeria or Mexico. Mexico's not developing anymore. But it takes two or three days. They're like El Salvador. Bukele wins in eight hours. So I think we can easily do the same thing. With all our mechanical technology and votes delayed for three weeks to help, people overseas or the handicapped or whatever. I mean, an American election can take months and that's very problematic and that makes it easier to hack.

1:30:22 Well, especially like in California. I mean, here it is. It went on, you know, they said it was going to be three weeks and then they got to the point, I guess, where they just, you know, they got tired of manufacturing votes. They said, oh yeah, Karen Bass won. And then you, and then of course the big controversy coming out of there is you had this polling, you know, company that put up this faux poll saying, that obviously influenced the voters, showing that Karen Bass was running away with everything. Then it was like, here they get found out and they go, well, we're not in business anymore. Well, this is actually insane. This is one of the bigger political science stories of the past couple of years. This same company put a poll out saying that Hong The kind of crazy anti-white candidate that recently just lost her race was up by 23 points.

1:31:15 Yes. They had a poll showing Fishback and Donalds. I don't have a beef with either of these guys, but tied. Neck and neck. Fishback got 10 percent of the vote. So, like, I think people have joked about this before. Like, what if a pollster just wagged the dog? What if they took your half million and they didn't poll anybody? And I think this is the first time it's happened where some clever young guys just said, we're going to do this. We're going to take and spend the money. And then what did they call it? A social experiment? They said they were doing this to see how gullible people were. But I mean, it's just it's the craziest thing in the world. I'd imagine they'd be at least civilly sued because you can't do that. Yeah. So we'll see what happens. Well, but again, see, when you have the attitude, the perception that, you know, the the election process is fraught with fraud. OK, what's a little more fraud, you know?

1:32:08 So why not? We'll just have fun and play games. And, you know, here we are. And look what happened in L.A. and God only knows how many other places. And something tells me, well, this is not going to be the end of it. Yeah, I mean, I think that this probably wasn't the beginning of it either. I mean, like I said, this is something that sort of edgy young business people, political scientists, stock traders have always joked about. Like, we should set up one of these polling companies, buddy. And, you know, I might be the guy who says, I don't feel like polling. And then someone would say, well, you don't have to actually poll. You know, so it's just that there's a basic question of, you know, if you know from other polls that someone's ahead by 10. Percentage points, you could just say that.

1:32:50 And I mean, obviously, everyone would then just smoke their cigar and say, OK, we're not doing that. These guys did it. And I don't apparently they put out enough wrong results that they either were doing an experiment or they had to eat crow and admit it. But I think there's probably been a lot of. Bad data that's been going out into the slipstream and kind of the post Enron era. I would bet large amounts of money on it. And it now makes a little more sense why some of these companies have said just crazy things, like Trump's behind by seven points. Why might you say that? Well, maybe you're a Democratic-run outfit, and you're just making up the data. So I think that it's maybe time to get a little more skeptical about that. Well, yeah, if you're not skeptical already, I mean, it's like there's been plenty of reason to be skeptical. And I guess that's where I find myself these days more in the camp of skepticism, because- you know, we've got people yanking our chain, and they're not interested in the truth, the whole truth and nothing but. And so, you know, I find out who they are, and I choose not to associate with them anymore.

1:33:53 Yeah, I mean, I choose not to associate with people that are obvious liars and all that. But I mean, I think that there's a deeper question of what do you do with the corrupted information? So I mean, like the polls that showed that Trump Because this has a real impact. Like, if you are using a poll that shows that Trump is down by seven the day before the election, I think there's an assumption throughout society that no one would just make that up. And now it seems increasingly obvious that there are multiple top 10 polling outfits that did. I mean, maybe not in that case, but that do that. Like, Hong was up by 23, allegedly. But those kind of things have major impacts. Like, if you feel like your candidates down by 10 or up by 20, like, you're much less likely to vote. There's a whole bunch of research on this. So it's not just that you're taking crap and putting it out in the public place. You're probably doing that because they're results.

1:34:45 You expect to get. So this is. An interesting social experiment. That's actually in their little letter what they said they were doing. They wanted to see how vulnerable people were to obviously partisan, kind of obviously inaccurate misinformation. And it turned out people were very, very vulnerable to it. Yeah, and we needed to run more tests after COVID to see how vulnerable people would be? I mean, I think COVID was a pretty good one, but that actually is extremely problematic. Now, there were red states like Florida and even Kentucky that didn't really put up with a lot of the COVID stuff. They were open in months. Seniors were protected, but they were protected by organizations within neighborhoods that shopped for them and so on. But in a lot of the larger states, California, New York, For that matter, purple states like Ohio, the whole like American thing, like we're not going to tolerate any infringement of our freedoms.

1:35:39 I mean, like their people are still school kids are eating outside three years later. So I think that for the powers that be, they now know that that's probably not true. And if you use very dubious information to implement these kind of draconian measures, 80 percent of people are just going to go along with that. And that's a disturbing thing for the for the government to know. Right. But what happens the next time if it's a real thing and we need to have adherence? They've lost their credibility. Yeah. I mean, the thing with COVID, like COVID was real in the sense that it could kill you. It was just very, COVID was not what it was presented as being.

1:36:21 I think that, so this again gets into false information and why trust is important. Like the original presentation of COVID-19 was that it was the rage virus from the Resident Evil series of movies. I mean, Neil Ferguson, that British epidemiologist, the greatest destroyer of wealth since Subotai, the Mongol general. I mean, he argued that two million people were going to die. I think no matter what we did, I'd have to reread his paper, but two million people were going to die by October of the first year in the United States. It turns out that over five years of COVID, about a million people maybe have died with COVID-19. So there's still a problem. That's like the fourth leading cause of death. But it's not a problem at the level that was presented. And then people started jumping on top of that building bubble of panic. So you had a Puyo, the tech genius, say that, no, 10 million people are going to die unless we lock down.

1:37:14 And that's what led to lockdowns, those guys. So, I mean, that was all wrong. I mean, there's no other way to put it. And we paid the price for that. So the theme here is like believing partisan misinformation. And I guess there's no real, other than distrust or the ability to check pretty advanced methods, there's no way to guard against partisan misinformation anymore. Historically, the assumption was just you wouldn't get too much of it. Right. Or that you'd have the media, you know, serving as a guardrail and balancing out that misinformation. T-Mobile unveiled Super Broadband, a revolutionary business Internet solution that brings together the largest nationwide 5G advanced network and Starlink.

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1:41:40 Greska's Carbon 60 for a beautiful you. c60. com. We're talking with a professor of political science at Kentucky State University. He's the author of Taboo, 10 Facts You Can't Talk About. And Lies My Liberal Teacher Taught Me, Dr. Wilfred Riley. Well, the story that will not go away is Sophie Cunningham and the WNBA. Yeah, I like big Soph. I mean, it's amazing to me that sort of these macho men's right-wing programs are talking so much about the WNBA. I mean, my one sort of Fox appearance recently was also about the WNBA. It's become a very popular topic of discussion. But, you know, first of all, you are getting some better players in the league. Kaitlyn Clark obviously is an excellent shooter, ball handler. Sophie Cunningham is kind of her protector. She's the force. She's the power forward on that team. You know, Angel Reese is, I mean, I make fun of her game because she's mostly rebounding her own misses, but it's probably going to set the WNBA rebounding record.

1:42:44 So they're doing pretty well over there. What's drawn the WNBA into the public spotlight this past week, of course, is the fact that Freedom Cantor and Royce White have announced that they're in the draft. And now a guy in the Russian League has declared as well. So you have all these men... that are in the WNBA draft pool, Royce White, who's a former NBA player, conservative black guy, GOP candidate. Beard, like 5'6. He actually bought a blonde wig. So when he does these interviews now, it's him sitting there like, yeah, I'll always be a man, but with the wig on. So anyway, funny stuff. But Sophie Cunningham is, I think, popular just because of her personality. She seems to genuinely like life.

1:43:29 she doesn't seem to dislike any of the major races. She likes America. There's a, there's a scene where she goes to. One of the big bars in Indianapolis after a game. Yeah. Courtesy of the red, white, and blue. And she's dancing on the bar with a bunch of guys. I think most people are just pleased to see an athlete that seems to like the country, like them, like the fans, as opposed to a bunch of surly anger and, holding the autobiography of Malcolm X, which they've clearly only read 10 pages of and commenting on it. I mean, kind of the LeBron model irritates a lot of people. Right, without a doubt. Well, the deal is the WNBA needs a crisis manager. They don't know what to do.

1:44:10 And sitting there, of course, the other big story that's come out is how the fans have been mistreated. Here you've got a mother and daughter. They paid $ 1, 000 per ticket. to go see a WNBA game, and they're wearing T-shirts. And somehow, according to the one official that confronted them, they're the, oh, I don't want to say law enforcement. It wasn't law enforcement, but it was security for the team there. Went to them and said that their shirts were offensive to an individual. Yeah, that's crazy.

1:44:50 So first of all, shout out to Jennifer Say of XXXY Athletics. That's actually my friend's company, like. A former VP for Levi's, decided to make a brand that's actual men's and women's athletic wear. And that's actually like, it's more in demand than you might think, like pants with pockets for women and like, actually absorbent fabric. But for the guys, you have stuff that's hard to, like, the clothes are actually good. Like, I have some XXXY athletic stuff. But because it says XXXY, like, these would be the demands for a male athlete, whereas a woman might want this as she trains. It's become very controversial. And so at these WNBA games, Jen and a bunch of friends, like Riley Gaines has gone to a few, Megan Murphy, the, like, post-feminist writer, Like they've gone to these games and they actually like they're all athletes and they like the sport, but they've been kind of almost chased away.

1:45:50 The idea is like, who. Are these conservative women to come cheer for women's sports? And it's sort of revealed who the, like a lot of the ownership of the WNBA team seemed to be very wealthy kind of radical lesbians. I don't know another way to put it. So like the Seattle storm ownership, which is two, like five foot four lesbian partners. came and argued with Jen. So there's a question of, in business, are you able to grow? Like the natural audience for the WNBA. Yeah, I mean, I think. We both know that and have experienced it. Like the natural audience for the WNBA would be dads, Mostly right wing, but also black, Hispanic.

1:46:32 A lot of them right wing, but dads with daughters. Like, yes, you get beyond that sort of gay urban audience and you go to guys whose girl just made varsity and you pitch this as. An all American fun experience. It's maybe as good as men's college ball, but the players are pretty and they're proud of it. That's exactly the opposite of what the WNBA wants to do. You'd have to take the rainbow flags. Off the court. So you've got to maybe new ownership would help them. I think that would be a plus. Yeah, well, you know, I'm surprised, frankly, that the the NBA, because they own in essence, they own the WNBA. Why they're not stepping in and doing something here. They're almost like just watching it like they're, you know, I don't know.

1:47:16 It's like a female mud wrestling deal or something. I don't know. It's weird. Yeah, that's an interesting question. I think it's because of the, and like conservative business people always attribute things to woke as though it's like an amorphous force in the ether. I think that there are specific things that like Dick Hanania, for example, pointed out in the roots of woke, like there were until recently their ESG scores, for example, were taken very seriously by big brands. Like how, how much are you teaching people to be nice and, How much gender equity do you have? So like the NBA would have a zero gender equity score. They have no female employees if you're counting athletes, even in the front office. I mean, I would assume those are all former players of people who aren't quite good enough to make the league like guys from the Big Ten or the Pac-10.

1:48:04 So the WNBA. Probably boosts all of those those metrics for them. So if they go on to the WNBA and they take away all the gay rights stuff, like does the human rights campaign. Start scoring them down? And now if I were the Commissioner Silver of the NBA, I wouldn't worry about that at all. Nope. Your fan base doesn't care. Your fan base is like urban guys who play basketball. But if you worry about all these external metrics, if you worry about being humiliated at dinner parties in New York, then you've got, you don't just have stockholders anymore. You have stakeholders and that's a problem. Right. Exactly. Uh, well, I want to talk about Donald Trump for just a moment. Uh, because I, I tell you, this is, you know, the narrative that's being put out there and supported, you know, by the mainstream media. And of course the Democrats, then you got the left of the left Democrats who, uh, the DSA types, um, you know, they repeatedly talk about how bad Trump is. And, and I'm thinking, wait a minute, since taking office, you know, as promised, he secures the border, uh, And this is against all resistance to deport millions of illegals, some who have killed our citizens. Every state of the union has suffered a homicide at the hands of an illegal in our country. They've taken unfair of our hospitality by stealing and committing billions of dollars of fraud against our social services. Affordability was an issue. on day one of this administration because of Biden and democratic policies and

1:49:35 regulations that weakened our energy sector, monetary policy, raising inflation almost 9%, you know, something that can't be resolved overnight. And then of course, let's not even mention or get into big detail about the big, beautiful bill that people are realizing, you know, a bigger check, you know, in returns from the IRS, no tax on tip, no tax on social security, but, Donald Trump's bad. What am I missing? Well, I think that for a lot of people on the... So first of all, for people on the left, Donald Trump's bad because he's the. Demon-like head of the Republican Party. But I think for a lot of people on the right, Israel and Iran have become big distractions. And I don't think that this is a real offline issue, by the way.

1:50:20 So like I said, I don't have huge beef with either of these guys, but we saw yesterday the Byron Donald's James Fishback election. And these guys have been talking a lot of trash back and forth, and Fishback is kind of presenting himself as the dynamic young man's candidate. We're going to stop funding these Middle Eastern wars and all this stuff. Fishback got 10% of the vote. So the question is, how much does this sort of groiperism really appeal versus MAGA versus— mainstream GOP conservatism to the Republican base? Probably not much. By the way, even seven out of 10 of the DSA candidates, so the Dems have more of a problem with this, but lost as versus like the big Jim Clyburn, union boss type of Democrat. So, I mean, like when I look at, Johnny Rebel said this online, he's talking about Trump. He said, I hate Trump's Iran policy, but since 2016, we've seen the overturn of Roe versus Wade.

1:51:13 We've seen the abolition of affirmative action. border secured, gun rights expanded, I don't know, I have a question about that one, but tax cuts, regulatory cuts, energy expansion, DEI ended via fair admissions, massive ICE funding, federal workforce slashed. I think that's underappreciated, by the way, on the right. The federal workforce is down by 600,000 jobs between Trump, Rubio, and Elon Musk. Crime rates down, ACA individual mandate gone, that one bipartisan. So I think that A lot of people have been kind of, they've heard a lot of this, the USA is controlled by Israel and or the Arab stuff online for the past couple of months.

1:51:59 Well, actually, it's been a growing sentiment for decades, but it's definitely coming through very loud here recently. Yeah, that's something you hear in bars. But the actual idea that foreign powers control the president is something that ironically, I think online is mostly foreign sponsored. It's just different foreign powers. I mean, like Russia, for example, obviously does not control Trump, but is a big proponent of the idea that Israel might, if you look at where bot traffic comes from. So everyone plays these games. We similarly, we back Ukraine's bot traffic against Russia. Which is a debatable decision. But anyway, like the things Trump has actually done, like gotten rid of DEI, I think are pretty significant. So it's weird that people are being distracted from a fairly high-performing conservative president by this policy stuff. And I understand it, but I would agree with you. I mean, I think there are obviously quite a lot of Trump accomplishments.

1:52:55 Well, yeah. And you sit there and, you know, I want to say, look, if you hate the guy so much, then, you know, send the money back to the government. You know, pay down the debt. You know, we're looking at $ 40 trillion. It's just around the corner here. And we need to really focus on some, you know, clear issues, but definitely, I mean, I, I feel for what he's trying to do and Marco Rubio in terms of negotiating, uh, you know, peace in the Middle East with, with an untenable foe. I, I think, uh, it's almost a fool's errand to try and negotiate with Iran, but, you know, bless his heart, you know, he's got more patience than I do, but, um, you know, that's why, I guess why he's the president and I'm not, but still it's that, uh, Here he's trying to do all this, and you've got people nipping at his heels. The media is doing that. The Democrats, of course, the people that hate Trump. It's like, wait a minute. The guy's trying to negotiate peace, and you're not helping here. Why don't you just shut up for a while, huh?

1:53:59 I think there's some validity to that. Now, obviously, of course, like Trump's a big talker and he's negotiating with the Persians who are as well. So, I mean, like the joke is that the war's ended 120 times already. So, I mean, after a while, like you do start looking at this, like the deal's been made on Hormuz and there's a headline you can generate every second day. But yes, I do. Obviously hope for peace. And I think that negotiating between... Being the middleman between the Jewish state and Persians without stereotyping as they negotiate is not the easiest job. I mean, you've got some pretty good people in the room, probably. So hopefully that gets done. I think that that can't overshadow the overall record of the Trump administration.

1:54:44 And to me. Most presidents are remembered for one thing. Like, you can like Barack Obama or dislike him. I'm in the second camp. But Barack Obama, Obamacare, maybe you could add kill Bin Laden, although that was the SEALs, and gay marriage or right-winger would throw it. So he gets two or three. Trump, I mean, he. Peace with North Korea, we haven't heard much from them. But the big one's going to be immigration. Like, if Trump actually. So even. Even what he's done in terms of ending TPS would go on that kind of board. But if somehow an actual border wall was built during this second term, I mean, Trump would go down as a Roosevelt-level president.

1:55:25 Some would view it as good. Some would view it as bad. But you only get a couple things. For me, immigration is the centerpiece of this administration. And we forget that there's There's a choice sometimes between imperfect on your side and very bad on the other side. So President Biden let in about 10 million illegal immigrants during the course of his term. It was about 2.2 million a year. That figure from Fox News that people tried to debunk turned out to be pretty much real. So had, say, Kamala Harris taken over, that would have happened again. There would have been some domestic policy pieces on health care that some people on the right might have even liked, but there would have been 10 more million people flowing into the USA. That would have been the defining feature. So everything that Trump's doing in terms of these small foreign wars, that's secondary to that, in my opinion.

1:56:13 Yeah, exactly. Well, we've got to leave it there for now. Dr. Wilford Riley, professor of political science at Kentucky State University. Thank you, Will. Take care. Thank you, Bill. We call ourselves ASAP Travel for one reason. We can help you book a ticket ASAP. For those of you that don't know, that means as soon as possible. That means no wait time. You get through right away. No searching online. Our specialty is the lowest available fares on the big name airlines. You know them. We can't tell you their names. You can fly domestically or internationally and save more money than you could if you called the airlines directly. Our proprietary software goes underneath the hood of the major airline booking systems and finds you the best rates available.

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