The Bill Martinez Show 09 14 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. Welcome. Six minutes after the top of the hour right now. I am Bill Martinez. He's Dr. Michael Bussler. Michael, how you doing? I'm doing very well, Bill. Thanks for having me. It's always my pleasure to be here. Well, great to have you here because here we are. We got the run to the midterms. And the spin is almost out of control. You know, voters are not sure what to believe. Well, whether it's, you know, some polling numbers or even what the politicians are saying. I mean, the DSA has gone from super radical to try to find some middle ground. I don't know how you found middle ground over the cliff, but, you know, they're trying nonetheless.

0:50 Right. Yeah, they certainly are. And, you know, Bill, just some good news that came out recently. The jobs number for August was extremely strong, over 160,000 jobs. That indicates the economy in the third quarter looks like we're going to have pretty good growth. Some of the president's economists say the growth could hit up to an annual rate of 5% this quarter. Most of the economists I talk to are forecasting about a 3%. Growth rate. The Atlanta Federal Reserve model is forecasting 4.7%. So there's still a lot of data to come in. We don't have all the- But still.

1:37 This is incredible, Michael. I mean, 3% to 5% projected growth from these variant groups. I mean, wow. And of course, look what happens. I mean, think about this. If Iran goes away, if that's settled, oh, Katie, bar the door. Yeah, everything gets much, much better. You know, Bill, you may recall when I was on the show in the beginning of the year, I forecast that I thought GDP growth would hit 4% before the end of this year. And I said inflation would get down to 2% by the end of this year. Now, it looks like I'm going to be right with the GDP growth. It's going to hit 4% possibly in the third quarter here. If it wasn't for the Iran conflict, which in January I had no idea about, obviously, but if it wasn't for the Iran conflict and the reduction in the supply of oil and the resulting high price of oil, inflation would be down to about two and a half percent now.

2:39 So if they can ever get this Iran war over, and although, as you know, I'm a very strong supporter of President Trump, I am a little bit frustrated Because he did tell us in March that it will be over shortly. And he told us that again in April, May, June, July, and August. So I appreciate what he's doing. I think the methods he's going about it now are probably the best. That is using economic warfare rather than military. And I think it will eventually come out well. The problem is it's going to continue to result in high energy prices going into the... midterms. And people will react negatively to that.

3:25 I don't know if they would go so far as to vote for a socialist candidate. I certainly hope they don't. But still, the Republicans need to do something here to preserve the midterms. Now, one last thing. As I just mentioned, GDP growth for the third quarter could be very strong. The first estimate for GDP growth for the third quarter comes out about a week before the elections. So if that turns out to be a positive number and the economy is growing, that's going to change a lot of sentiment. But right now it's the- But. That only gives you a week. It only gives you a week before you go into the poll and you got some early voting taking place But the good news is, yes, that tells you the snapshot at the end of the cycle.

4:15 But while the cycle is going on, people are realizing a benefit, even though the mainstream media and the Democrats, the naysayers of the country who are rooting against America, are giving you a different narrative, right? They certainly are. If you look at the mainstream media, the economy is doing terribly. And they look at all the negative things that they can find. Look, gasoline prices are high. But if you take a look at the overall inflation rate, it's just over 3% now, even with all this. Wages have gone up about 3.8% in the last year. So people are seeing a real increase. So yes, inflation is higher than we like it. And yes, gas prices are much higher than we'd like it. And people are very sensitive.

5:04 But the overall economy is strong. We're adding jobs. The economy is growing. There's opportunity for every well-prepared American. And once all of this investment boom filters through, because remember, again, as I mentioned at the beginning of the year, the Big Beautiful Bill allowed for 100% expensing of investments in the year it's made instead of depreciating it. over 20, 25 years. That's caused business investment to go up significantly. Now, it takes some time for that to filter through, because yes, we're investing in a new factory, but you can't build it overnight. And yes, we're investing in new equipment things, but it takes some time for all of that to come through. President Trump is really taking a long game here.

5:54 Everything he's doing is geared to having a very solid future. I just hope that we can, the Republicans can maintain control of both houses of Congress in the fall. That'll make things much easier for the president for the rest of his term. You know, Michael, to your point, he's building a foundation here for future growth. I mean, for us to launch off of. And this is what exciting. I mean, clearly there's a difference between, you know, what Biden would have done and the Democrats with their regulations and their ideas. You know, Trump is saying, look, I'm building for the future here. And you can see the building blocks lining up. I mean, the supply chain, you see this all coming together. Whereas if Joe Biden was in office, he'd be printing money and getting us deeper in debt. I mean, even though we're at $ 40 trillion, but he'd exacerbate the problem.

6:45 I mean, what people are forgetting is that when Trump came into office, he inherited an inflationary rate of over 8%. And yes, it had been coming down, but still, when you've got that inflation in there, you've got to get it through on the other side of that python, right? There's this big lump of crud that's getting through that python, and we've gotten through some of it, but there's still some more. And of course, then, like you talked about, we add in the Iran war that's exacerbating the problem. But even in the midst of that, I think most Americans at least, you know, this isn't hope and change that Barack Obama talked about that was actually hopeless. Yeah, there was change, but there wasn't anything there that you could say, hey, I can see by that change that it's going to be better. You know, whether it was, you know, universal health care and all the other things that he came up with, you know, shovel ready jobs, which he laughed about after all the money we poured into that, Michael. You remember he laughed. I mean, he laughed at the irresponsibility of all that money, taxpayer money that was assigned to shovel ready jobs that he laughed about and said, well, I guess they weren't so shovel ready after all. And they just all laughed about it.

7:58 Same thing with the EV charging stations. I don't know how much money it was, millions that were pumped into that. I think it was billions of dollars. It was like $ 8 billion. It was a billion dollar per charging station, Michael. That was ridiculous. But look, I think the country has now gone in the right direction. As you mentioned, the foundation is being there for the future. I'll tell you, Bill, one thing I'm a little upset about. Is the young people. Generation Z, I guess they are the young people today. They're saying, look, we went through college. We can't get a job. Housing prices are high. I don't think we're ever going to get a house. We need this fixed.

8:40 And they're looking to socialism to fix this when we all know it's only going to make the matters worse. Why I'm so upset with them is why don't they figure this out themselves? I mean, look, if there's a housing shortage, there's entrepreneurs in that group. I'll tell you what, I think some are. Do you have Medicare and do you use a CPAP machine? This is a national health care alert regarding your CPAP supplies. Using a clean CPAP mask and clean supplies is important to staying healthy. The best way to make sure your CPAP equipment is clean is to get new supplies. If you have Medicare, we have great news. Medicare will pay for you to have new clean supplies every 90 days. We'll even do all the paperwork for you to make sure that there's little to no out-of-pocket cost to you. And you don't even have to leave your home. We provide free in-home delivery. So if you're a CPAP user and you have Medicare, staying healthy with new CPAP equipment is easy. Just make this free phone call right now to get started.

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13:22 That's magavitamin.com. Nutrition for patriots. We're talking with Dr. Michael Bussler. He's a public policy analyst, economics expert, and a professor of finance at Stockton University in New Jersey. And Michael, as you were saying, yes, it can be a bit frustrating for these young kids. They're living it. I mean, here they were told, hey, if I go to college and I get my degree, it's all going to be hunky-dory. And meanwhile, these college students are living in their basement, you know, rooms of their parents' houses with $ 100, 000 in tuition debt. And thank God they got a place to live. Otherwise, if they didn't, Michael, they'd be homeless.

14:03 Yeah, look, the colleges and universities, they provide degrees and programs for what people want. So there was a lot of demand, I guess, in years for programs that colleges provided. They got degrees, but you're not employable. Right. I know you have an interest in some kind of literature or art or something or certain kind of gender studies or something. That's okay. But what kind of a job are you going to get when you graduate? Yeah, but who's responsible for that, Michael? Aren't the universities? I mean, they're selling snake oil to these kids.

14:44 Yeah, they certainly are. I like to place responsibility on individuals. So if you're going to college, just think about it. I know you want to pursue an interest and there's certain things you want to do, but you have to look at reality. Are you going to be employable? Are you going to be able to support yourself? And you should be thinking about in the future, you want to have a family. So you want to be able to support those too. What you make and what I tell the students who I know have some of these interests that I admire, but they're not employable. I tell them, try to take something where you're going to get employable and take a minor or take extra courses or something.

15:25 And some of these things you have an interest in, but you have to take responsibility for yourself. And I agree with you, the universities are offering programs that are ridiculous, in my opinion. Fortunately, there's, or unfortunately, there's a financial crisis in education today because there's what we call an employment cliff. I mean, enrollment cliff. Why is that? 2008, 9, 10, we had the financial crisis, birth rates went way down. Well, here you are 18 years later, and since birth rates were way down, there's a fewer number of high school graduates. In addition to that, a lot of high school graduates are questioning the value of education. Hey, I see my older brother, he's 100,000, and daddy lives with my mom and And dad, so I don't want to be there.

16:15 And there are a lot of trades and professions that may offer a better alternative. So enrollments in universities and colleges generally are down. And now what they're doing is eliminating those programs where you get a degree where it's not employable. I think I read the other day, Syracuse University dropped, I think, 90 programs that they had because the graduates, they couldn't get people to enroll there. And that's because the graduates aren't getting So universities have a responsibility. Individuals have responsibility also to make sure you're getting something where you can help yourself survive in the future. You know, you bring up something that's critical here, and I think it's a message to parents and kids alike.

16:58 Because as you said, it's really ultimately it's self-responsibility. You're in the situation and you're in because you made the wrong choices. Maybe you had the wrong information. Maybe some people misinformed you. We get all that. But the fact of the matter is, is it's your life. and your choices, and you need to be all the wiser because of what's happened, particularly in the last 10 years. Like you say, hey, you've seen your older siblings go before you, and they've got these fantastic degrees, and they're living out of mom's basement, and they're lucky to go get a job flipping pancakes somewhere in a minimum wage, and it's ridiculous. Because the other thing too, Michael, that's worked against these kids, and again, they need to see that this is something that our government has failed them on too, because in the whole of You know, in the whole consideration of the problem here, you got to look at how the government participated in this in terms of these temporary short-term visas. They're bringing in people competing with these kids that have gone to college, and they're not in the front of the line. All of a sudden, you get these people from other nations, not even citizens. And they're knocking these kids, our own citizens, who've paid this incredible amount of tuition, and they're getting kicked out of line to be replaced by somebody from India or wherever.

18:18 Those people from these countries will work at far lower wages than Americans will, too. I think the Trump administration is trying to fix that by limiting the number of visas that are coming in. And it used to be, if you're bringing somebody in You had to show that you tried to find an American to fill a job. You couldn't find one. And then if you couldn't find somebody, then you got a visa. You were able to bring somebody in. But now the companies are saying, hey, look, I'll just bring in all these people from these countries that are willing to work a lot cheaper. I know even in the tech industry today, The people that live, I know the Philippines are big with this and some other countries, they hire these people to do the work.

19:04 They can stay in the Philippines. You can work remotely, but it still is taking away from American jobs. Americans have to learn that the way our system works is you're paid according to the value of your output. So you have to be able to produce, do something that's valuable to the economy. Just because you can do something And you have knowledge, that's good. But if it doesn't carry any value in the marketplace, you aren't going to get paid for it. So they should learn this in college. I know my students, I emphasize this to them, that you have to learn something that's marketable and has value in the economy.

19:45 And the thing is, part of the challenge that they're dealing with is that... and this is one thing Trump is doing, even on a macro level of leveling out the playing field, you know, with our allies and everything, when it comes to trade, it's like, okay, let's level the playing field. Well, for our students and our young people, the playing field has to be leveled out. If there's an unfair advantage because you're hiring somebody from out of the country, and they're able to work cheaper at the expense of an American citizen, that's a bunch of BS, Mike. I'm sorry. What galls me, it's kind of like when we had this shift of manufacturing and all these jobs moving out of America, these policies, and they were mostly driven by Democrats, which galls me how they, you know, they seem so self-righteous about it. And that is they put these young people in the position, or even veterans, people who'd been at the job for several decades, and they said, hey, we're going to have you, you know, we're giving you notice, you're going to lose your job, but you get to train your replacement. And here you are training all these foreigners to replace you because they decided to take the jobs and the company overseas.

20:58 A big trend for decades that this was happening. It's going to benefit all Americans if we do this. We'll take manufacturing over to Asia. They work at one-tenth of the wage that we work here. So even if we have to ship stuff over there and ship it back, we can get it for a lower cost. And as a result, we can sell it at a lower price. Won't Americans be better off by that was their logic. Now, what they didn't see was the other side. You take all the manufacturing out and suddenly we don't have a manufacturing base. We're not producing any goods anymore. That's not healthy for the U.S. Economy. And even for some security needs.

21:38 It's not healthy. We got all this medical stuff being made in China. I remember during COVID, everybody had to wear a mask. So the masks were made in China. So they had a ship full of masks coming over here. And China says, wait a second, the pandemic is worse over here, turn that ship around, bring it back to China. Then we had a shortage in masks and the 25 cent mask was gone for $ 5 because it was such a shortage. We can't afford to have that happen anymore, especially in medicines and materials like steel, copper, aluminum, things that you need. And that's why Trump placed the tariffs on them. So the foreign is more expensive and So now we'll have to start making it here. It'll be a little more expensive, that's true, but we'll have much more security and growth in the U.S. economy. And overall, it's better for the American people.

22:32 Well, Dr. Bustler, I gotta tell you, I believe these young people have a bone to pick and it's legitimate. And they just shouldn't be cast aside because they're kicking the tires on socialism. The fact of the matter is, is policymakers are forcing these kids to consider it because they've done a poor job in managing it, just like the things we've talked about. And I'm saying to Republicans, you better listen to what these kids are saying. Just because they happen to be aligned with socialism, okay, that's the current wave that's got people excited. But you got to listen to their pain. Listen to what they're saying. Because when it comes to solving the problem, Michael, I think you would agree, capitalism far in a way is going to solve their problem. Socialism is going to give them nothing but shared misery.

23:17 Right. Capitalism has done so well, as I've spoken on the show numerous times. Remember, our country went from the birth of a nation to the largest, most prosperous economy in the world in 150 years, roughly. Other countries were hundreds, in some cases, thousands of years older. So the principles that we use to get here, encouraging individual freedom, individual responsibility, low rates of taxation, a limited role for government, and of course we had private property. Those are the principles that made us strong. Everything that this democratic socialism of America is suggesting is exactly opposite. They want to control your freedom. They'll tell you what to do. They're replacing social responsibility instead of individual responsibility. Don't worry, the government will take care of you. And thirdly, to pay for all this, you have to have high rates of taxation.

24:15 And fourthly, you have a very large role for government, exactly opposite to what made this country great. I hope we reject this socialism. And you're right. The Republicans have to listen. These young people, they're going towards socialism. They have a problem and they don't see the Republicans offering any kind of solution. They don't really know what this socialism is going to happen in the long run. All I know is they're going to give me free health care. They're going to control my my rent, they're probably going to give me universal basic income. So, hey, all this sounds real good. And it's very. Appealing to young people who don't, who are somewhat confused about what their future will be. Well, Dr. Michael Bussler has been our guest, public policy analyst, economics expert, and professor of finance at Stockton University in New Jersey. Thank you, Michael.

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28:40 Hey, welcome back. Bill Martinez here with Dr. John Zimerick. Always great to have John with us, the author of No Second Amendment, No First. Hey, John, good morning. How are you? I'm fine, Bill. As we record this, it's a very solemn day. It's 25 years since the 9-11 attacks. And I was in New York City when it happened. You were? Wow. I'm a native New Yorker. I lived there until 2014, 2015. And yeah, I was there that day. And one thing I'll never forget. I used to listen to BBC News to get to sleep. At like three o'clock in the morning on September 11th, five hours before the attacks would happen, I heard a BBC report that the Taliban in a daring raid had captured and killed the leader of the Northern Alliance, the US-backed opposition to the Taliban, and that this was a big setback for America and for uh the forces of freedom in afghanistan and i just thought huh that's weird what i didn't realize is that was the first step of the 9-11 attacks that would happen the.

29:49 Next morning wow wow. It was part of the same operation which was directed we now know from pakistan from from Afghanistan with ties to Pakistan. And also Saudi Arabia. Oh, yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, everyone's talking about their experiences of that day. I remember when the plane hit the first building, it was eight o'clock in the morning. And I thought, well, at least there's probably nobody in the building because I didn't know the financial industry. I didn't know people are at work at eight o'clock in the morning. Six o'clock. Yeah, I didn't know that. So I thought it was sad, but I thought at least the tragedy was limited. I had no idea that there were 30,000 people in those buildings.

30:36 Right. Yeah. Well, and of course, the initial report was that it was a private plane, not a jet. Yeah. Right. I remember walking after the second tower was hit. I didn't know, but my friend, Father George Rettler, was there. ministering to wounded firemen in Tower Two, he was called out to the sidewalk to give last rites to a dying fireman. And that's the only reason the tower didn't collapse on top of him. Heroic, wonderful priest, Father George Rudler, now retired. I remember walking- And of course, we remember the scene of the other priest who was giving final rites to somebody.

31:17 And the tower did hit him, yeah. It was a body, a body- Father Michael Judge, I believe. I remember walking my dogs. I went to the nearest Starbucks because that was the closest thing to like a community, a center of community. And we all thought we were being attacked by Russia or China or North Korea or something. We heard the Capitol might be hit. You know, we didn't know that the plane was down. It was en route to the Capitol. It took hours to find out that this was not an attack by another world power. but by Islam. And I want to say, I want that to be clear. This was not the war on terror was nonsense. That's like saying we're fighting a war on infantry.

31:58 We're fighting a war on tanks. No terror is a tactic. We were, what happened was a war. Islam declared war on the West. I mean, there's, it's always been in this level of conflict with the rest of the non-Muslim world, but in on nine 11, Jihadist Islam, mainstream Islam, the Islam that's preached in every mosque in your neighborhood, declared war on Western civilization, ramped up the war, made it an open war. And the response of the Bush administration was basically to surrender. It was to take the bait, first of all. Bin Laden said very clearly in his manifesto, he was hoping to lure us into pointless wars. He was hoping to trap us in quagmires. And what did we do? We did exactly what he wanted. We invaded Afghanistan, and instead of just knocking down the government, we tried to turn it into a Western liberal democracy with religious tolerance, which was, you might as well try to turn Greenland into a greenhouse. And then we invaded Iraq, which had absolutely nothing to do with the attacks, which actually was a secular government opposed to Al-Qaeda. And we got stuck in that quagmire. But we're killing Muslims around the world, allegedly to set them free. To make up for that,

33:30 we opened the borders to bring in millions more Muslims. And George Bush gathered the next day with people from the Muslim Brotherhood, the international terror conspiracy group that's trying to take over the world. He gathered, he brought people from the Muslim Brotherhood, and they declared it. Islam is a religion of peace. That's kind of like saying the Nazi party is a kosher delicatessen. That's how much sense that makes. Right. And where was the intelligentsia on this, John? Because that was such a non sequitur. It was so moronic to say that. But also, Bush was championing the cause of Islamophobia and being super sensitive. You have to remember, the.

34:20 Bush family made its money from oil in the Middle East. And their main concern was staying friendly with the Arab sheiks who allowed them to continue to prosper through the oil industry. He flew every member of the bin Laden family out of the country to safety the very next day, just to make sure. And we were immediately barraged with warnings against Islamophobia and Imagine if the day after Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt had said Bushido is a religion of peace. And the big emphasis of the U.S. government was to make sure that nobody discriminated against Japanese migrants and Japanese militarists and Japanese nationalist organizations. And we let in millions more Japanese so they could open up Shinto shrines and worship the emperor.

35:10 Mm-hmm. That is how bad, that is how treasonous the behavior of George W. Bush is. And let's remember, he is unrepentant about it. He's still proud of it all. He actually said that the January 6th protesters were children of the same vile spirit as the 9-11 hijackers. This is the guy who, through dereliction of duty, did not prevent the 9-11 attacks. and then got us into two pointless forever wars that got tens of thousands of Americans killed or wounded or traumatized, wasted trillions of dollars, turned Afghanistan is now exactly as it was before 9-11, and Iraq went from a secular state that opposed Iran to now a Shiite-dominated puppet of Iran. And now the US is in another quagmire trying to contain Iran, which we made more powerful by invading Iraq. This was the Republican establishment.

36:11 This was not the Democrats. This was not the DSA. This was not the communists. This was rhino establishment Republicans. This was the Republican party before Donald Trump. It was the party that said, Islam is a religion of peace. We have to let millions more Muslims into our country just to prove that we're not hateful. What is at the heart of that? What explains that kind of, I won't say suicidal, it's genocidal. People talk about suicidal empathy. White guilt, which I argue is the new religion of Antichrist. White guilt is actually genocidal empathy where you feel good about yourself and make yourself into a hero by selling out every member of your own ethnic group in your own country to hostile foreigners. You sacrifice the interests of your grandchildren so that you can have a warm, fuzzy feeling as you look in the mirror every day. I'm one of the good people. I'm not one of those rednecks.

37:16 I'm not one of those people with a Confederate flag on his pickup truck. I live in Martha's Vineyard. It's a sanctuary city. Of course, if immigrants show up, we have the National Guard take them away and send them somewhere else. But we're a sanctuary city. The Bush family- So self-righteous. Yeah, exactly. So Donald Trump has lots of flaws. He's not perfect. But he came along to express the disgust of the American people at a Republican Party that was selling them out for the interests of oil companies, for- the interest of cheap labor employers who wanted more foreigners here to drive down the wages so that their stock portfolios would be boosted. People like John Cornyn, our soon-to-be former senator from Texas, who, because he lost a primary to Ken Paxton, is now basically trying to help a left-wing radical Democrat who supports transgender surgery for children.

38:15 Yeah. Yeah, what does that say- about the Republican Party and so many people like Cornyn, as you say. We've got to go to a quick break. We've got more from Dr. John after this. Stay with us. A new study finds a major increase in STEM learning in after-school programs, but gaps remain. Today, 92% of parents with children in after-school say STEM is available, up from 69% a decade ago. That's 6.4 million kids now getting STEM in after-school. Emma Binet, Overdeck Family Foundation. This study underscores the remarkable work out-of-school time programs do to help students discover the joy in learning while preparing them to succeed now and into the future.

38:55 The study finds rural and low-income students are less likely to get frequent STEM opportunities, with rural programs also offering fewer opportunities in computer science and technology. Jody Grant, Executive Director of the After-School Alliance. STEM literacy is no longer optional. It's the foundation of nearly every aspect of our economy and our world. The next step is clear. Invest more in after-school programs so every child in every community has access to STEM learning after school. To learn more, visit afterschoolalliance.org, sponsored by After School Alliance. Have a manuscript ready and just need to find the right publisher? Christian Faith Publishing supports authors like yourself to bring their books to life. And right now we're offering you a free writer's guide designed to steer you towards book completion. Christian Faith Publishing evaluates each manuscript we receive.

39:46 If your book earns approval, we take care of everything. Editing, designing, printing, promotion and widespread online and in-store distribution picture your book gracing the shelves of specialty christian bookstores amazon barnes and noble and numerous other retail destinations it's time to get that manuscript published and to work with a publisher who shares your values of integrity and honesty you can get your book published get your manuscript reviewed and a free writer's guide today 800-439-1588. 800-439-1588. 800-439-1588. That's 800-439-1588. If you're 65 or older. And Medicare is your main source of insurance. Pay close attention right now and listen for details on how you may save thousands of dollars on your health care costs. Did you know that Medicare can pay for things like dental visits, home delivery of drugs, even a gym membership? Call us right now and learn how to unlock all your Medicare benefits.

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41:29 Hi, everyone. If you've been injured in an accident that was not your fault, listen up. We have legal professionals standing by to answer your questions for free. Call now and find out if you have a case and how much it's potentially worth. Call 800-830-5050. I'm here with spokesman John Wolf. So, John, tell everyone listening who should call right now. Well, Maria, first off, thank you for having me here. It's always nice to answer the listeners' questions. Now, as far as who should call in, Anyone who's been injured in an accident and think you deserve compensation, give us a call right now. 800-830-5050. You'll find out if you have a case and how much it's potentially worth.

42:10 Thanks, John. You heard it, folks. Take advantage of this opportunity and call now. 800-830-5050. Advertisement sponsored by Legal Help Center may not be available in all states. Not available in California. Hey, we're back with you. Bill Martinez here with Dr. John Zimerick, the author of No Second Amendment. No First. You know, John, as you bring up the history and remind us of what happened in 2001 and 9-11 and the Bush administration, and when the Bush administration, I think of Bush-Cheney. And how Dick Cheney was all involved in this. And, you know, we get the Patriot Act. A lot of our freedoms as a result of 9-11 were flushed down the toilet.

43:02 Oh, yeah. Let's talk about the Patriot Act. I actually wrote, I was a contrarian. And back in like 2005, they were compiling this book, American Conservatism and Encyclopedia. And I was invited to write a couple of articles. And I wrote the article on the war on terror. And I said- Do not give George W. Bush any powers that you don't want Hillary Clinton or somebody worse to have two, three, four years from now. The Patriot Act, in the name of dismantling the compartments that had kept us from finding out about 9-11 before it happened, in the name of of better intel and preventing acts of terror, because remember, Islam is not the enemy, terror is, this abstract entity called terror or terrorism. It basically allowed the CIA and the NSA to work with the FBI and spy on US citizens. It allowed the intelligence community to be politicized.

44:09 And the moment Obama took power, He turned the FBI and the CIA and the NSA into a political secret police akin to what you saw in East Germany and the Soviet Union. And when you look at the Russia collusion hoax, when you look what they did to General Mike Flynn, when you look at what they did to countless innocent Americans, the entrapment they did in Michigan where they made up a plot to kidnap the governor and then recruited people for it and paid them to do it and then arrested them for doing it. And then the same guy who managed that operation was in charge of the FBI on January 6, 2021. So that was also a setup.

44:52 Right. All right. So in the name of national security, we handed the intelligence community enormous powers. They're basically now a fourth unaccountable branch of government. You saw what James Comey tried to do to a sitting president. Tried to get him impeached based on entirely invented, made-up evidence that we had an impeachment of a president based on lies that are intelligent. And why does he get away with this, John? I mean, this is the thing that's frustrating for most Americans. I mean, because we are rotten to the core. That's what you're talking about here. I'm saying that the Patriot Act was basically a legal coup d'etat by the intelligence community to take over and ultimately run the country however we voted. And then in 2020, they faked the votes. First of all, you had the FBI lying about, I'm sorry, you had members of the intelligence community, 50 of them lying about the Hunter Biden laptop prior to the election. And you had the CIA go to Facebook and tell them to censor truthful news reports about the Hunter Biden laptop until after the election.

46:09 So you had the deep state managing public opinion, controlling the media, and then, of course, we had massive election fraud. America turned into a Latin American tin pot dictatorship because of the Patriot Act, which only was able to be passed because of the massive intelligence failure that led to 9-11. So basically, America's elites failed us And then they used their failure to justify gaining far more power over us than we ever would have imagined. And then they used it to try to nullify the 2016 election. They used it to steal the 2020 election. They tried to steal the 2024 election. If it hadn't been for some white hat hackers who managed to take down these vote farm servers in Serbia... that were going to steal the election for Kamala Harris, we would have Kamala Harris and Tim Walz as president and vice president of the United States.

47:11 It was a very close call. Freedom hangs by a little spider's thread. And the upcoming midterm elections are absolutely crucial. No, the congressional Republicans are not great. No, they're not accomplishing very much. You know what? The government in France in 1940 was not great. It was run by socialists. It was anti-Catholic. It was corrupt. But it was better than the Nazis. We have to go out the midterms and vote like it's 1940 in France, and we're going to the Maginot Line to stop totalitarian enemies who hate our country. The far left has united with Islam in state after state, Minnesota, Maine, Here in Texas, Muslims vote as a bloc. They're putting voting centers at mosques.

48:02 The mosques, the preacher tells them, you have to vote. Vote for the left-wing Democrat who wants abortion and transgenderism. It doesn't matter. They're just useful idiots. We're using them as stock puppets. Once we're 20% of the population, we will impose our will on the rest. You see it in Europe, Germany, England, France. Millions of Muslim immigrants they brought in as cheap labor and cheap votes. But most of them are not even cheap labor. Most of the Muslims who come to Europe immediately go on welfare. They marry more than one woman. They have 10, 15 kids, all of them on the dole. And they only exist to vote, to vote for the left. It's like those ants that bring in aphids and they milk them for their sugar. These immigrants are brought in and they're just there for their votes. So French far-left leader Mélenchon admitted it.

48:52 He said, we won't create socialism with white votes, but we will bring in votes from Africa. He openly said it. Angela Merkel admitted she brought Syrian refugees who started a rape epidemic in Germany. She brought them to stop the far right, by which she means any patriotic German who doesn't want mosques to replace cathedrals and Sharia law to replace the Constitution. How does that not happen here in the United States, John? It is happening. It is happening. I'm making a film now, Jihad in Texas, about the attempt to turn Texas, not just to flip it blue, but to turn it Muslim green. We've got hundreds of mosques open here in the last 10 years. They all vote. They show up and vote the way the Christians don't.

49:39 That's a great point. The way Christians don't. 50%, only 50%, Barna says, register to vote. Not that 50, only 50% of them actually vote. And we're wondering why we're losing this country. That's right. So if you want to do something about this, make sure to vote Republican in the midterms and contact your representatives in government and tell them you want to close down immigration. I don't think we can constitutionally get— legally, politically— I don't think we could get away with excluding Muslim immigrants. It's constitutional, but— Politically, it would be impossible. What we need to do is shut down virtually all immigration. We need to bring immigration to zero. We need a moratorium on immigration for the next 30 years. We're like a snake that swallowed a gazelle and its huge lump going through, almost tearing the snake apart. He needs to stop eating for a while. That snake needs to go to sleep and digest what he's already brought in. We've brought in more immigrants than we ever did before in history, even in the 19th century. And we're not bringing them from Europe, from a compatible civilization. We're bringing them from the civilization of Islam, which does not believe in peaceful coexistence, does not believe in tolerance, does not believe in rights for women, does not believe in toleration for gay people, doesn't believe in religious freedom. If you're a Muslim and you stop being a Muslim, they believe in the death penalty for that?

51:10 Exactly. Right. Uh-huh. Yeah, so why would you want... I mean, this doesn't make sense at all, but this is what's happening in our country, is we're inviting people who want death to America. We're saying, oh, buenvenidos, come on in, you know? You know who's saying that? Pope Leo. Pope Leo is saying that you have to admit... limitless immigration, or you're not really Christian. If Christianity really taught that you have to let your country be invaded, your women be raped, like 250,000 of them were raped in Britain in the last 30 years with the government looking on, if you have to let your country be invaded and your women be raped and your churches be closed, if Christianity really taught that, I would persecute it myself. Christianity is not a civilizational suicide cult. If that's what the early church had been teaching, The Romans would never have stopped persecuting it.

52:00 Constantine would never have converted. Europe would never have been converted. The missions would not have gone around the world. That is not Christianity. That is a post-Christian anti-Christian. That is the new gospel of Antichrist. White guilt is the new gospel of Antichrist. I think I'm going to need to write a book on this because nobody else is saying it quite this way. But it is a replacement religion where you don't worship Christ anymore. You worship yourself. I'm so pure. I'm so tolerant. I'm so sophisticated and so very cosmopolitan that I'm willing to let my children, if I have any, live under Sharia law. At least I get to enjoy a falafel and a doner kebab. And at least I get to pat myself on the back until I fall over backward because I'm just so virtuous.

52:50 I can't even stand it. I'm so pure. I'm so good hearted. I'm like the jurors on the Lindsay Clancy trial. I'll even let women strangle their children because, you know, they felt bad. They were having a tough day. I feel like we're living in a satirical, apocalyptic novel written by some guy in a double-wide trailer, typing it single-spaced, who self-published it and sold it at gun shows. I've read some books like that from the 90s. None of them were as insane as what we're actually living now. I know that's the thing that's so incredible about where we are. And John, this is why I insist, I mean, this is a God issue. Without God, we don't solve this problem.

53:38 No, no. You know the way a magnet makes iron filings all line up and you take away the magnet and they all scatter. Without a lively faith in Christ, without an attachment to the gospel, to the biblical image of man, we are just scattered. We're sheep without a shepherd, and the wolves are out there, and the wolves are coming through the gate, and our hireling shepherds are waving them through the gate. It's as if they really want to raise wolves. They don't want to be shepherds. They're wolf producers. You're exactly right. Well, we got to leave it there for now. Dr. John Zimerick, author of No Second Amendment, No First. John, as always, appreciate the time. Take care.

54:19 Thank you. You got it. Have you written a book or do you have a manuscript ready and just need to find the right publisher christian faith publishing supports authors like yourself to bring their books to life and right now we're offering you a free writer's guide designed to steer you towards book completion christian faith publishing evaluates each manuscript we receive if your book earns approval we take care of everything editing designing printing and widespread online and in-store distribution. Picture your book racing the shelves of specialty Christian bookstores, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and numerous other retail destinations. It's time to get that manuscript published and to work with a publisher who shares your values of integrity and honesty. You can get your book published. Get your manuscript reviewed and a free writer's guide today.

55:07 800-439-1588. 800-439-1588. 800-439-1588. That's 800-439-1588. Getting America back on track. Bill Martinez live. Hey, right now, six minutes after the top of the hour, Bill Martinez here. Great to have you with us. And we got Dean Sykes going to be joining us. He's been ministering words of hope in thousands of high schools across America and in nations of the world, sharing the You Matter message with millions of people. He's a published author.

55:52 He's written 34 books. He should be doing better. But, you know, 34 is where he is right now. and serves as a follow-up for teens. Of course, I jest. In fact, I have his latest book in front of me right now, Home 365. It's a daily devotional for teens. I hope you don't mind me teasing you just a little bit, Dean. 34, wow, that's a plethora. Listen, I would rather you tease me than not. I enjoy this. Well, good. Well, let's talk about how this all started for you, you know, and how it evolved in its fashion into You Matter and this critical message that is gaining traction among the young people that really are in a crisis like almost like never before, it would seem.

56:38 Yeah, you're right on. I started this on January 1st, 1993, a long time ago. And with one basic message and one mission, and the mission was to bring hope to teenagers who needed to know that their life matters. The whole You Matter campaign, if you will, began out of Job chapter 33, verse 4, that says, The Spirit of God made you, and the breath of the Almighty gives you life. So my response, when teenagers ask me, why do you say that I matter? You don't know me. You don't know what I've done. You have no idea what I believe. And I go, yes, yes, yes. Here's why you matter. Your breathing matters. Period. It has nothing to do with anything else right now. Let's just get that established. And so it all came as a result. I grew up in a Christian home, became a Christian at seven. I had a defining moment at seven years old and at 15 years old and at 21 years old, 15 years old. I was sexually abused and 60 seconds changed the trajectory of my life.

57:32 I made a vow. I'll never tell anybody what happened to me. And for 22 years, I did not tell anyone. But at 21 years old, I was in real estate development, had whatever society says makes you successful, and I was miserable. Couldn't figure it out. Why does money not? Nothing. Nothing I tried brought any fulfillment. And so one day I said a simple prayer, Bill. I said, God, if you will, I don't think you are, but if you are, prove it. I've been in church my whole life. And by the way, if you're such a good God, why do you let bad things happen to good people? I didn't do anything wrong 15 years ago when I was 15. Had no faith attached to my prayer whatsoever. Two weeks later, sitting in my office, dialing a phone, not bothering anyone. Behind me, off to my left, I heard someone say, call mom. I swung around, saw no one, but the hair on the back of my ear knew to call my mom. And when I did, my mother was attempting suicide.

58:19 She was dying. Got her to a hospital that day and a doctor with four years of college, four years of med school, two years of residency and years of practicing medicine, walked over to my dad. and had the most bewildered look on his face. And he said, Mr. Sykes, there's no medical reason to tell you what I'm getting ready to tell you. It's a miracle of God. Your wife is alive. She's fine. You can go see her. And that moment, my life changed. And shortly thereafter, I began to share this message. And now, as of today's date, I've done it 4,482 times in eight nations of the world, reaching millions of students, had over 200 million views of our videos on social media. have written those 34 books. Most recently, it's called Hope 365. It is that daily devotional.

59:02 And I want students to know that you can have a daily relationship with God. Yeah. And it's something that, like you said, air you breathe, as you say, Dean, when you get to that understanding that it's as the air you breathe, your spiritual beingness requires and demands this kind of attention, doesn't it? It really does, and today's teenagers are Not the same teenagers I started with almost 35 years ago. They deal with things today that none of us back then ever thought you would deal with. The average teenager today will spend seven hours a day on their phone, on social media. Seven hours. Today in America, every day in America, 5,600 teenagers attempt suicide. In an arena that seats 12,000 people, that arena would fill up every two and a half days with teenagers who in the previous 60 hours bought the lie that their death was a better choice than their life.

59:58 Yeah, how devastating that the kids have been reduced to this level. And I was just reading a study the other day, Dean, that said that the amount of time that people are spending, especially as young kids on social media, that it's literally dumbing them down. Literally, it is destroying IQ points to the amount of 25, 30 points on average. Yeah, no question. Ask the average everyday teenager to write a sentence You'd be surprised. They can text. Everything is hyper-focused on. Here's how I say it to teenagers. I did it just yesterday in three assemblies on the road.

1:00:38 If you're still counting your likes, you have no idea how much you're loved. Today's teenager is finding their value in what they can create, the content. And this is what I share with parents. Teenagers today are inundated with content, but they're starving for connections. Yes. You can have all the, all the content you want, but there's no connectivity. There's no, there's no intimate connectivity. There's the home front is void of conversation. You know, I was in a restaurant, you know, I travel all the time and I was in a restaurant a couple of days ago. Here's when I knew society was really in a challenge. There was a, what appeared to be a mom and a dad and two teenagers sitting at a dinner. All four of them had their phones out looking down at their phone, ignoring the other, the others at their table. And I see that a lot.

1:01:28 Well, John A. Smith, I think about 20 years ago, at least, I remember his book, Megatrends. And he talked about how technology coming into our sphere would demand a higher touch. He said high tech, high touch, which meant that there was going to be this need for connection. And to your point, we're living this out. Our kids, our wives, everybody is crying for connection. And I think that when you don't have that connection, you have a tendency to get angry. Oh, angry. And you go find the alternative to what true connectivity should be. And you then will, you'll experience, you can go after drugs, addiction, sex, money, ego. It all is the counterfeit for what's supposed to be, what I believe to be as wholly, completely, fully reserved, that space in your heart. for a relationship with Jesus. And when people ignore that or they go a different direction, and here's, you know, I share with students that, you know, what I'm going to talk with you about today is truth.

1:02:34 And here's the coolest thing I can tell you about truth. Truth is always true. Yes. It never changes. And truth always has a mission. And that is to bring freedom. You'll know the truth and the truth you know sets you free. Yeah, exactly. But do people really understand what freedom means though, Dean? You know, that's a great question. I would say maybe not. And I think they maybe look at what they think freedom could be like or should look like. But at the end of the day, I mean, I see so many students. Just in the last five assemblies, we had 92 suicides stopped after hearing our message. Well, that's the 92 that raised their hand and said, yeah, I'm dealing with this. There's always more. And so I think when people fully embrace the truth that their lives matter, not because of their last name, not because of their financial status, their looks, their academics, their athletics, they matter for one reason.

1:03:26 And if we can encourage people to live in that reason, that they're breathing, and they're breathing on purpose, with purpose, and for purpose, then they begin to better understand, I believe, that they can then navigate this journey we know as life. Today's teenagers desperately need to be seen and desperately want to be heard. Right. Well, you matter because God says you matter. God Almighty. The creator of the universe says you matter. In fact, you matter so much that he sent somebody to save you. Yep. No question. I mean, and of all people, it wasn't like he just went down, you know, to the barrio somewhere and got some of the, you know, one of the work. No, he went to the cream of the crop, his very own son and said, Hey, I need you to go on this mission.

1:04:11 Yep. Yep. And he said, yes. Yeah, exactly. We got to go to quick break. We've got more from Dean on the other side. Stay with us, ladies and gentlemen. A new study finds a major increase in STEM learning in after-school programs, but gaps remain. Today, 92% of parents with children in after-school say STEM is available, up from 69% a decade ago. That's 6.4 million kids now getting STEM in after-school. Emma Binet, Overdeck Family Foundation. This study underscores the remarkable work out-of-school time programs do to help students discover the joy in learning while preparing them to succeed now and into the future. The study finds rural and low-income students are less likely to get frequent STEM opportunities, with rural programs also offering fewer opportunities in computer science and technology. Jody Grant, Executive Director of the After-School Alliance.

1:04:59 STEM literacy is no longer optional. It's the foundation of nearly every aspect of our economy. And our world. The next step is clear. Invest more in after-school programs so every child in every community has access to STEM learning after school. To learn more, visit AfterSchoolAlliance.org, sponsored by AfterSchool Alliance. Everything is expensive right now. Gas, food, you name it. You're spending more. You are making the same or less money. So what do you do? You rack up credit card debt. That's what you do. It's not your fault. It's the economy. And guess what? If you rack up too much credit card debt like some of us, you can't pay your bills. Then the credit card companies, as nice as they are, start hounding you for money. Then you start your downward spiral.

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1:08:53 Hey, we're back with you. Dean Sykes is with us. He is the author of the new book, Hope 365. a daily devotional for teens. I know it's for teens, Dean, but I guess we're all teens at heart still. We are. I believe this devotional is going to touch not only teens, but it's going to touch the parents of teens. There's no question. I was just in Houston, Texas a couple of nights ago, and we had the book for the first time on the road with us, and I was doing a big conference. It was all adults. We sold out within minutes. I was astounded at how many people, even though I promoted it as a book for teens, it's the daily devotional. What's cool about it, Bill, is that if you happen to enjoy how I speak, you'll love how I write. It's very casual, just from the heart to the point. And it invites people into a journey.

1:09:40 And I tell people, adults and teenagers, the more you get into the devotional book that I wrote, the more you'll want to get into the Word of God. Amen. One will lead to the other. Right. Well, and we would all hope to do that. Whatever it is that we say, do, what we think, what we write, you know, it's like the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is constantly, you know, showing us the way to Jesus. And then Jesus shows us the way to the Father. I love the way this works out. And Dean's been sharing the You Matter message with millions of people around the world, as he said, which is just incredible. I mean, what a commission. that God would come to you and say, Dean, you're my guy. I want you to do this.

1:10:22 It is one of the most humbling experiences. And I tell people, I haven't had a job in 35 years. I get to do this. I wake up every morning. And one of the coolest things the Lord showed me a long time ago, Bill, is what I do oftentimes does not move me. But why we do what we do catapults me out of bed every morning. I can hardly wait for the next day to get here. Because it is an opportunity to reach a lot of people. And it's also getting to just listen. to people because again, they want to be heard. And at the end of our assemblies, all these students will just come piling in and I'll sit there and just smile and listen because they are taking the time from their life to share part of their story. And I think if you get a young person in your life, whomever's listening or watching, and you have somebody who's willing to come and actually talk with you, remember you were given two eyes, two ears, and one mouth for a reason. It's important to listen.

1:11:13 Yeah, without a doubt. And as you say, young people, especially will hit that time of life. It's inevitable. I mean, it's just part of the season they go through where they feel a sense of rejection. And that's part of, you know, going through the process of becoming adult is going through rejection and understand how to deal with it and to come out on the other side to understand that. But if you don't have this sense that you matter and that you're significant, you know, you're made in the image of God and all these things that the word of God tells you, If you're not nourishing on that, then you're going to be victimized by the culture that looks at everything as being disposable, right?

1:11:54 There's no question about it. 1,000% agree with you. It's a journey where the enemy has never told the truth. He's the father of liars. He's not going to start telling the truth to anybody watching or listening today. So truth, again, always is true. It always brings freedom. And young people today are starved for this. I share with adults a lot, Bill, that The last word in the Old Testament is curse. And if you read that last scripture, it says, I'll turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, hearts of the children to the father, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse. What's the curse? A fatherless generation. Big difference between a father and a dad. Dads give you what you want. Fathers give you what you need. And that's what I'm trying to get young people to understand. Embrace the fathers in your life. And I'm encouraging the fathers, the men, be the father you were created to be. whether you're the actual father of this child, or maybe you're a foster or you've adopted, or maybe you're a mentor, get in their lives. Moms, I think have the most important job in the world.

1:12:51 I mean, moms are just, you know, they're who they are. So, yeah. Well, you know, and as you say, I mean, we have clear examples of living out this curse in certain demographics where, you know, these young people have been raised without fathers and look at the results of it. Oh, it's, If you could go with me into high schools, public schools, private schools, Christian schools, alternative schools, and just see, just look out across, you know, 1,000 kids, 1,500 kids, whatever, and these assemblies, you know, they are so desperate to know that their life does matter. They don't know they're saying that, but in their everyday life, they're just trying to, they're just trying. And here's what I've learned. Broken teenagers become broken adults.

1:13:35 Yeah. And brokenness attracts brokenness, like health attracts health. two become one they recreate what they are. Yeah yeah exactly yeah i uh had one teacher uh she would tell uh or he said ask of the young kids this is you know like in first second grade uh is you know what kind of person would you want to marry and uh you know and here it is you're asking these young kids a very provocative question yeah but it's rather forecasting because you say okay uh if this is the kind of person that you want to marry, are you deserving, would she want to marry you? So what are you building, right?

1:14:16 Right. That's a great question. What foundation, right? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. So I thought that that was quite interesting because, you know, I mean, let's face it, you know, most people, most young people are going to want to get married. I mean, it's just the natural way that God has created us to be fruitful and multiply. Right. And, uh, but do you have the qualities just like you just said, which is, you know, and, and, you know, you want to have a Salem moment, you know, as the Bible would refer to it, even on radio or in television to say, pause for just a minute and chew on that. You know, uh, you know, if you're damaged goods, you're going to attract damaged goods and you're going to create damage, you know, progeny. How's that? How's that fair to those kids?

1:15:00 And it's not. And that, because here's what I, you know, kids never asked to be born. Yeah. That they show up and they are, they're trying, they're trying to fit in. They're trying to find their value. They're, they're spending all this time on social media. They're, they're, there's no communication in most homes. And so they're, they're kind of kids that are, I was in a school yesterday where I was told about, you know, a young man who was taking care of his two, when he was, he was seven years old at the time, taking care of two little bitty kiddos himself. He was the father at seven. How do you function? You can't do that. Yeah, exactly. You know, in your, conversations with these young kids, you're hearing, and I hear this as well, that they're intimidated by the Bible. What is the issue here?

1:15:44 Religion. You know, they think they have to be a certain way, act a certain way, do certain things. There's three types of people that I see in their faith today. There's transactional. Well, God, I did this or you're going to do this. I'm going to twist your arm. That doesn't work. There's performance-based Christianity. Well, I prayed today. I read my Bible today. I fasted. I gave. I did. That doesn't move God. The only thing that moves God that I've seen in the Word is faith that works by love. And when we have a revelation of love, then we can embrace God as He always is. He is love. It's not what He does. It's who He is. And so I try to get young people to understand this isn't a performance or a transactional life that God's looking for. He created you because He wanted to have a relationship with you And that's birthed out of his love.

1:16:30 Right. And there's no doubt. I think faith is underappreciated. You know, that's the seed. That's the groundwork that God operates in. You know, even Jesus said he couldn't do miracles in certain areas because the people lacked faith, right? Yep. Unbelief. Yeah. Yeah. If you look at that, there's two places in the word where Jesus said he marveled at their great faith and he marveled at their great unbelief. So you can deduct from that that at any given time, any of us are making Jesus marvel. Right. And I think because of that, Dean, our prayer should be more focused on the idea that faith would abound, that when we go into an arena and we're speaking to people, that there would be that proper groundwork established to where the word of God would take root. And as the Bible said, that it would go forth and not come back void.

1:17:25 Yeah. Yep. And that's, I think that's a great point to kind of just focus on that, that this word is not going, it's effective. It is effective. It will do what it was sent to accomplish. And our job, I believe the only thing that God is honor bound to respond to is his word coming out of our mouth from a position of faith. Yeah, exactly. Well, Dean, I got about a minute left here. Hope 365, a daily devotional for teens. Obviously you did this on purpose. It's your fault. And so what do you want the teens to take away from this? That they matter. It's real simple. And when you have a relationship with Jesus, you'll begin to better understand that your life matters, that you are the apple of his eye.

1:18:09 And my belief is that if we're supposed to renew our mind daily with the word, this book is an opportunity and it's an invitation to get into a daily routine. You can read each page in about a minute, minute and a half max. So you matter. That's the answer. So in those moments when you're downcast, and as a teenager, you probably run into that more often than not, this is, if not the Word of God directly, this is a good resource, a lifeline to get you back on track, because that's what we do as we journey through, is we, you know, we make adjustments to make sure that we get back on track, right? Absolutely. And that's the cool thing about the Word. It's a course corrector. The more you in the Word, the more the Word's in you. And that's important because what comes out of your heart in abundance are the words that you speak, and that's what creates your world.

1:18:57 Well, Dean Sykes, since January 1993, he's got that date emblazoned on his aorta. He knows it well. Dean Sykes has been ministering words of hope in thousands of high schools arenas across America and in nations around the world sharing the You Matter message, the website they can go to, Dean, to find out more information. Yeah, it's YouMatter, Y-O-U-M-A-T-T-E-R.us. YouMatter.us, that's all things You Matter you can find right there. Timeshare owners, listen to this. You know it's coming. Your timeshare maintenance fee bill. At RFA Cancellations, we've seen timeshare maintenance fees rising every year. And I bet you have too.

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1:23:02 Hey, good morning. Welcome back. Glad you could join us. Bill Martinez here. And we've got Commissioner Merle. He will join us in just a moment. National leader of the Salvation Army in the United States of America, serving as the national commander. He assumed this appointment back in March of last year. And we're talking about the after effects, particularly of 9-11. You know, first responders and survivors at Ground Zero, the Pentagon in Shanksville, carried a weight none of us can fully imagine. The Salvation Army stood beside them from that very first day and for years after trying to be whatever helped them keep going. When they asked their own responders what actually helped, they all said the same thing. It was the small acts of kindness that carried people through. Right, Merle?

1:23:52 That's correct. One of the things that we learned from that experience was that you didn't have to make a grand gesture. You didn't have to have a big financial investment. it really was making that individual personal touch. So as the responders came into our sites, having an opportunity just to sit and rest, having the opportunity for a good meal, having the opportunity even where needed to have their feet washed and their feet massaged because of the terrible circumstances that they were facing. And it was in those small acts that the lives of those responders were really touched by that kindness and that generosity.

1:24:33 Well, here we are 25 years later, Commander, and the Salvation Army is asking people across the country, I love this idea in this campaign, be that something, right? That's right. What we're saying is that one of the things that we recognized happened after 9-11 was people from all diverse backgrounds, from all walks of life, came together and were unified together in responding to the needs of that day and well beyond that day for months and years to follow to really make a difference in the lives of those that had been impacted. And we know today that there are always tragedies that happen, circumstances that people have that they need that extra helping hand. And we can be that something to them right within our local community if we're willing to step out and to share with them in a very small, practical way, what will make a difference in their life.

1:25:32 You know, Commander, we were talking about this the other day. It is the legacy of America. It's inbred in our DNA as a nation. We're always the first ones to respond to tragedies, you know, no matter where they are around the world. And especially if it's in our neighborhood, you know, that still carries through time and time again. And I think that sometimes, you know, because, I don't know, some, you know, bad attitude, let's just put it that way right now. You know, it gets in the way of the good things of, like you say, being that something that people do every day for their neighbors.

1:26:12 That's right. And it's one of those things that it is something that everyone can do. It doesn't matter how old or young you are. It doesn't matter what your economic status is. that you can look around within your own neighborhood. If there's someone who's living alone and you can just go over and listen to their stories and let them know that they haven't been forgotten. If there's a family that's struggling with food insecurity, if you can make them a meal and share. That with them. If there's someone that needs transportation to a job interview or to run a few errands, those are ways that you can get involved. And if you don't know what the needs are within your neighborhood, within your community, you can visit our website, SalvationArmyUSA.org, and we can provide you with volunteer opportunities right there within your local community where you can be that something for someone who needs your support right within your neighborhood.

1:27:08 Well, as you say, Commander, 9-11 did kind of reopen the door and demonstrate to us how we could answer the need and be that something to people. Of course, for the first responders, it was pretty dramatic, and as you said, what the first responders had to endure and how appreciative they were for just little acts of kindness. Nothing significant, but just the idea that people in their community said, hey, you know what? We see you and you matter, right? Definitely. And one of the things that is the reality is that you don't have to worry about having the perfect words. You don't have to worry about solving all of life's problems.

1:27:49 It's really just finding a way to reach out and be that something in a very practical, meaningful way that will make a difference in the life of those around you. Well, let's expand on that a little bit more and talk about the simple ways that people can put that idea into practice in their own communities. Well, one of the ways is just simply getting involved in some volunteer activities. whether that's in supporting a local food pantry and helping in that operation, whether it's an after-school program where you go and provide an opportunity to tutor a young person, getting involved with your local schools, with a senior citizens high-rise facility that you can go and just listen to the stories there. There are so many different ways that you can just reach out and be that something to someone who does need your support right there within your own neighborhood, within your own local community.

1:28:48 Well, and as you say, Merle, that you talk to the people afterwards and the stories they said probably just seem so basic and natural. But, I mean, for them to testify and offer their testimonies of how they were blessed by people in their local communities had to be heartening. And the fact that the Salvation Army kind of coalesced these ideas and are kind of bringing this to bear and bringing us into focus to remind us that it's not that difficult to be that something. And guess what? There are people out there in need that we can make a significant difference to. for just by a little act of kindness, right?

1:29:32 Definitely. And you never know how that's going to play out within a local circumstance. Even on 9-11, one of the things that we would have not ever thought about was that the search and rescue dogs, as they were having to go through all of that area, that they were having a hard time being able to take care of their paws, their feet properly, And we had had a large donation of socks. And so we were able to actually provide socks to those search and rescue animals to protect them as they were going out and supporting the first responders. And so there's always something that you can do to really make a difference, whether that is sharing that meal, whether that is being a listening ear, whatever it might be, you can be that something that makes a difference in the life of someone else.

1:30:25 Commander, we've got a couple of minutes here, and I know our audience would love to hear more of these stories. Do you have maybe a couple of special stories that stick out from your conversations with these people? Well, I think one of the things that I've heard over and over again is just the way that in those times of tragedy, one of the things that we couldn't understand is how much that impacted the emotions and the well-being of those that were first responders. And one of the most touching things was just to be able to sit down, to listen to them, to provide them emotional support and spiritual support during what they were facing as an unimaginable tragedy, even though they had not personally suffered the impact, but they were suffering by being out there on the front lines trying to find those that were still needing to be rescued, finding hope in the midst of a terrible circumstance. And it was through having those opportunities just to share in the stories, to be able to share and listen and to be supportive of them and to even offer a prayer at times just to let them know that they had people that were on their side and that they were going to really make a difference.

1:31:52 In that situation. And you can even read some of those firsthand stories right on our website, SalvationArmyUSA.org. We've got them posted there so that you can hear the stories of the individuals that were there on that day at the front lines and hear how that impacted their own lives moving forward throughout the rest of their time in serving others. Well, what does the Salvation Army commander hope to take away from that Be That Something campaign? Well, one of the things that it's taught us is that no one should ever have to face a terrible tragedy, a terrible burden like this alone. That we as a community, we can come together and really make a difference in the lives of those who need us and that we can be that something in whatever circumstance they might be facing.

1:32:49 That again, it doesn't take the perfect words. It doesn't mean that we have to solve an entire problem and an issue that is insurmountable, seemingly. But it's just reaching out and showing that act of kindness that's going to make a difference in the life of that person who needs us to be that something for them. Well, Merle Heatwell is the national leader of the Salvation Army in the United States of America, serving as the national commander. Commander, where can our viewers go for more information? Again, they can go to our website, SalvationArmyUSA.org. They can find those volunteer opportunities. They can see the stories. They can have that opportunity to really look at some of the pictures and the videos of what happened in those days.

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1:38:11 I don't wonder that much. I feel like we're worse off, and I think we're worse off because never forget seems to be a forgotten slogan in many quarters. Obviously, just a sea change in worldview with regard to all kinds of things you know, related to Islam, to immigration, to those sorts of things that I think certainly are influencing the conversation in a way that maybe they weren't 20, 25 years ago. Oh, without a doubt. I mean, it's one thing to say never forget, but it's another thing to say, what are we supposed to remember? Right. That's exactly right. You see, and I think we missed the whole point of 9-11, frankly, in my humble opinion. You and I have talked about this over the years because, you know, I believe that was judgment day. And we, you know, I think people responded to it. A lot of people went to church. And for three weeks, you know, church was, you know, people were going, tell me what's going on.

1:39:10 What happened here? And, you know, Jonathan Cahn wrote a great book, Harbinger. It really, I think, laid out the thesis of what was going on. And even, I mean, it was just unbelievable to think how these things all came together. 9-11, you know, even talking with Bill Federer here recently, 9-11 is a consistent date when it comes to Muslims and why they react on 9-11. It's because time and again in the past, you know, centuries ago, they got their head handed to them on. 9-11. And so they needed to find a way to redeem that day. And so here it is. They go after the world's superpower and bring us down. And here, you know, people of faith responded in the same defiant way, Adam, that the Jews did back when you read Isaiah 9 and Isaiah 10. Very defiantly.

1:40:09 That's exactly right. And I think, you know, obviously I make this disclaimer fairly frequently. I'm not a political commentator. I'm a movie guy. And I think just to segue toward that, you know, there are some movies that I think remind us of the reality. Top of that list is United 93, which came out in 2006. I think Zero Dark Thirty is worth revisiting. And I think World Trade Center, I thought, was a remarkable movie. And there are others, but I think there are opportunities for us to remember. And there was a lot of criticism, especially of World Trade Center and United 93, that it was too soon. It felt like we had barely gotten the smoldering smoke out of the World Trade Center rubble and we were making a movie about it. But in retrospect, I almost feel like the opposite is true. Like it's almost, we need to remember, right?

1:41:10 And we have forgotten. And I think, you know, all three of my kids were born since 9-11. And so for them, it's kind of like Pearl Harbor. You know, the difference between a World War II veteran who woke up to that news on December 7th, those of us who only have seen newsreel footage of it, it's different for us. And so it's important for us I think, to be the living bearers of that legacy and of remembering the importance. And I think that that remembrance goes hand in hand with remembering and reminding ourselves of the good things that America is about, right? And how, at its best, America, it stands against all of this sorts of stuff.

1:41:56 But also that God is the same yesterday, today, forever. Yes, exactly. And he says, look, you know, you have a choice. You can be blessed, live under the blessing, or live under the curse. Yep. And, you know, and again, going back and looking at the pattern, which I thought was so uncanny that Jonathan Cahn brought out so clearly in his book, Harbinger. Yeah. He just went step by step. And the pattern that was laid out back then, thousands of years ago, in Isaiah 9-10... we are replicating in 2001, almost word for word, Adam. And I mean, politicians were echoing, you know, the words of God, the words in the Bible. And I, I think they just did it because a speech writer told them or somebody else or, or maybe, maybe God in his own way, the Holy Spirit said, no, we're going to put the words of God in your mouth and you're going to put them out. And so for those that have spiritual ears to hear, they're going to, like when Jesus was here and he spoke in parables, those that understood spiritually understood what Jesus was communicating.

1:43:10 Well, that's exactly right. And Jesus and elsewhere in scripture talks a great deal about hardness of heart. And I think left to our own devices as sinful humans, we drift from God. You know, in Ephesians 5, 15 through 17, the Apostle Paul says, be very careful then how you live, not as unwise, but as wise, making the most of every opportunity because the days are evil. The evilness of the days is the world's trajectory on its own bends away from the things of God. And so it's up to us to be intentional. And obviously it's up to God's faithfulness too. I don't want to come across as, you know, have something sort of works theology here, but our responsibility is to remember. And obviously, you know, we talk about remembering 9-11, but scripture is full of admonitions to remember because over and over again, we see God's people forget and become hardened of heart. And these sorts of things are, they're watershed moments where we have an opportunity to To take stock, right? And I think that we would do well to take stock again as a nation.

1:44:20 Yeah, take stock and correct course. Exactly. Course correct. Exactly. And as you say, I believe people who count these things say that there's some form of a remembrance or don't forget 365 times. Right. Well, that's weird. That's the same number of days as a year. You think, huh? We need that message every day. It's the same with do not be afraid, too, right? Exactly. Exactly. These are not accidents. We can live in fear. And I think that as somebody who has wrestled with anxiety, the fruit of anxiety is our hearts get smaller and we close in on ourselves. Exactly. And when we practice lifting our gaze, you know, to the hills from where our help comes from.

1:45:04 Right. Psalm 121, my favorite. When I remember, when I am intentionally focused on gratitude, I don't, have that grip of fear on me. It doesn't mean there aren't serious things happening, but I think it frees us to be agents of redemption whom God can use out there in the crazy world. You see, you just said something that I, boy, I'll tell you, I gravitate constantly. You talk about course correcting. I constantly, at least consciously, try to do this course correct to freedom because I believe that's God's highest calling. It's why he sent his son. And I think, you know, I think I may have shared this with you. When I was an adjunct professor in Southern California, I was teaching these kids and I was sharing with them something that I'd shared with many sales teams and other people that were, when I'd given speeches on and talked about, you know, in terms of, you know, the labor and the fruit of our labor. And here we are just not that far away from Labor Day and that it is a gift of God, but that, You know, if you're going to, you know, be working, you should enjoy what you do. I mean, considering that's eight, 10 hours a day. The second thing I said that there should be some level of competence, you know, so that if you're a brain surgeon, you're killing nine out of 10 people, probably not your gig.

1:46:21 Right. Maybe you'll be a mechanic. Something else, you know, but yeah, this is not good for you. The third thing I said is the giftings and talents that God's blessed you with have to be exercised and grown. What I found was people, were easily frustrated when they were a round peg in a square hole. And all this led to a U.S. labor study that said that approximately only 10% of the U.S. labor force was fulfilled. I would go and do this training, and I mean, I did this for years, and say, okay, look, the highest calling you could have is to be fulfilled, you know, because that's 10% of the U.S. labor force. So go and be fulfilled. Well, I'm doing this final class this semester for these kids, And I get to this point where I'm at the denouement. Here we are.

1:47:06 They're winding up the pitch. It's about pitch. It's going to be fulfillment, right? And the Holy Spirit stops me and goes, eh, wrong. And so I had to tell these kids, I go, hey, look, I just got a fresh download. I'm telling you, this is not me. God dropped this into me. Holy Spirit says, no, it's not fulfillment. It's freedom. And you should have seen it. When I told the kids that, you should have seen their response, Adam. I mean, it was like the light bulbs went on. It was throughout the whole room. And I said, oh my God, thank you, Lord. Yeah. And with that freedom is the opportunity to point people. Toward the only one who makes us free. You know, there's political freedom, but when we talk about spiritual freedom, Jesus set us free. And I think that is the foundation of for all of our other discussions about freedom and culture, because ironically, we have a mainstream and secular culture that thinks the definition of freedom is, I can do whatever I want and there are no consequences, and that my feelings are what dictate what matters most.

1:48:14 Those of us who have lived in that worldview long enough to wake up one morning and say, I don't think this is working, right? And some of us, you know, you and I have talked over the years, Bill, we're kind of knuckleheads, right? We can bang our heads against the wall. But I had a moment in college, I'm like, this is not working. And I think true freedom comes when we submit our hearts and our will to to the one who calls us and the one who frees us and the one who redeems us. And that's where that freedom really lies, Bill. And when we realize the best version of ourselves. Well, yeah, and that is the best version of ourselves because we're not driven by selfishness. We're not driven by compulsion.

1:48:56 We're not driven by addiction. We're not driven by the lie of the world. Exactly. The next little flickering thing we see on our phones is going to make us happy, and I'm guilty of that, right? It's an ongoing spiritual battle. Welcome to humanity. Exactly. And we're going to let you chew on that as we wrap things up right now, and Adam's going to tell you where he's from and what he's all about. Yeah, I am from PluggedIn.com. We review movies, music, TV, video games, books, YouTube. Channels, technology. And we're a ministry of focus on the family. We want to encourage you. We want to equip you. It's a crazy world our kids are growing up in today. Please come to PluggedIn.com and check out what we have to offer to help you with those things.

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