The Rod and Greg Show: Dems Cant Escape Trans Problems; Socialist Paid Leave Scheme; Is the World Better Without Humans?

L-B-T-E-N-B-Z. Your night in just got legendary. Get ready to chase the rush, spin, win, and redeem instantly straight to your bank account at Legendswithazee.com. With free-to-play slots, blackjack, quino, roulette, and more. Experience all the thrills of Vegas without leaving your couch. Legends has it all. Legends is a free-to-play social casino void for prohibitive. Must be 18-plus play responsibly visit Legends.com for full details. Get in the game now and score a 100% match on your first purchase only at Legends withazee.com. I just, I'm there finally. I'm there. I'm 250. Now, I don't have on all my red, white, blue right now, but this is like the last day. I'm going to go Americana. You're going to see the American flag on my clothes from here until July 4th. Wow. I'm not going to stop. I'm not going to stop. So we get nothing but red, white, and blue. Golf of America T-shirt, my friend. Yeah, I brought me that back. Golf of America T-shirt. I got, I got hats. I got all kinds of stuff. It's going to be liberty all over my body from now to the July 4th because this weekend was epic. I mean, this weekend, God got involved. Okay? I'm just going to tell you right now, folks, if you don't believe me, I will read to you a weather channel prediction of last night's UFC Ultimate Freedom 250 fight at the White House. The weather channel was predicting calamity, a mosquito apocalypse. They were planning everything. And then you saw on the radar. The storm split into two. The skies opened. They split the two. The sky's open. Beautiful. And then it was just clear skies all night. And then the underdog last fight of the night, six to one underdog. The American, I thought, oh, bad look. He's got the American flag reaped over his shoulders. And he's going to get his butt kicked because he's not as good as the guy that's undefeated. And he wins. He wins the whole thing. And it's just that night you could not have scripted a better UFC fight. If you're not a, you know, a combat sports fan. This is considered one of the greatest ones. Forget the venue. It was considered one of the most competitive. Every fight ended in a knockout or TKO. And it was considered one of the best heavyweight main card, main event fights that UFC's put on. They put on over 300 of these. So it was something else. But what a setting on the lawn of the White House. Whoever does the staging for all of this. I don't know who gets involved in this. Oh, I know. The name I was thinking of, Michael Deaver. Michael Deaver was behind Ronald Reagan and created. Reagan could always produce amazing events. I'm not sure who's behind it for Donald Trump, but whoever it is, they produced another amazing event last night. The pictures coming out of that, the flyover, the color, red, white, and blue, it was all over the place. It was. It was just amazing. You know, Dana White, who owns the UFC and he's, you know, managing partner, whatever he is. He says he's not going to speak for Paramount in terms of the viewers or the Paramount Palace streaming numbers, but he says it was monstrous. He himself, though, said he couldn't afford to put another one on like this. He said this is the first and last. This was it. But if that was the first and last, that was the one to see. I was a little on the fence. I love combat sports. I like boxing more than mixed martial arts. But I'm going to tell you, the marching out of every fighter from in the White House to the out of the White House and to the ring. accompanied by a Medal of a Medal of Honor award winner and as well as a first responder with those so with those fighters I mean the whole thing the pageantry the commercials in between it was great but that's just one part right that's just one part well we've got a deal

Well, we got an Iranian deal. We got that. We got a deal. We got a deal. We can't pass that over. But we also have this World Cup, which I know I'm not a soccer fan, right? Yeah, yeah. However, all these Europeans, all these people from all over the world coming here, and they are getting on X and they're going, I can't believe this country. It's so beautiful. It's so safe. It's so nice. You have squirrels that can actually stay in your park and they don't get captured and eaten. They look at a bench. It's not destroyed. It's not graffiti covered. They love it. These clearly weren't in Chicago. But anyway, it is what a perspective for us to see. Because these are, I mean, if they're traveling here for the World Cup, they've got to be a little affluent, right? You would think. If you read the press, you'd think everyone in Europe hates us. You'd hear all the Americans say how bad this country is. When these people arrive on our shores and they start traveling this country. they make they make observations like you have such a a trust society that high trust society that you would have your your soda machines open for the public to just use on their own yeah just they can't believe it that's a good perspective too well freddie and all these people i mean there was there was freddie the the german guy german freddie who's running all over all over the he made it to texas and he couldn't believe houston he was Holy Toledo. JJ Watt got a sweet for him and got him all this stuff because he was so blown away. There was a South African guy that couldn't believe what he was seeing. There was a woman from UK that said she's been to 24 countries. She's never seen anything like the United States. Yet NBC out with the poll showing that Americans are not happy with America. Yeah, well, you go contrast to the rest of this planet. Sick folks out there. All right, let's talk about the deal. That's the story today. Yes, it is. Announced yesterday, the president promised we get a deal signed. By Sunday, apparently it has been tentatively signed. The official signing will take place on Friday. But there are all kinds of issues with this. The president talked about it. He's at the G7 summit in France right now. He met with Emmanuel Macron, the president of France. They sat down today. Here's what he said about the deal. He said, first of all, let's talk. about the nuclear option. The main thing is that Iran will not have a nuclear weapon. They fully agreed to that. with strong policing powers and they won't have a nuclear weapon, which is what it was all about because they probably would have used it if they had it. Well, the Democrats are out there, of course, Greg, are talking about, well, you know, this deal is really no different from the deal Barack Obama. Hammered out, it's not any better, it's just the same exact thing. The president responded to that. 1.7 billion was taken out of the banks and given to Iran. And on top of that, tens of billions of dollars was paid. So they tried to bribe them to make a deal. That didn't work. It never works. And we've done a great job. And hopefully it's going to be a good relationship, and we're going to get along.

And if we don't, we go back to where we started. The president also talked about the fact there were two issues here. First of all, the nuclear issue. And then what about the Strait of Hormuz? And the Strait is already partially opened. As you know, they're doing a little hunting for a couple of mines that they've already found. But it's essentially ships are starting to go out. Now on Friday it'll be completely open. We got along very well with Iran. It's a different set of leaders. As you know, the first set is gone. The second set is gone. And we found the third set to be very smart, strong, very smart. But we ended up making a deal. I felt badly that we had to go back on the attack for two nights. And I thought a third, but We made it before that happened. Made it before it happened. So you've got, you know, it's still very tentative. All the details aren't out as of yet, even though the president says they will be released. The Democrats, of course, are going after it. We'll get to that a little bit later on. But the funny thing I find about this, Greg, I mentioned this in our meeting this morning. It's due to be signed on Friday. Yep. So what's the big day on Friday? Barack Obama opens up his presidential library in Chicago on Friday with all kinds of big celebrations, which will get more play in the media. Barack Obama's library or the deal with Iran. My guess, Barack Obama's library. Of course. I sure the media will just fawn all over him like crazy. In fact, they'll just tell that into the narrative of Trump's deal is worse than the one that Barack Obama signed, although he allowed them to have nuclear capabilities. What I think the – so they'll just tie it into how bad Trump is. Look, the Democrats, the leftist, the elitist, they hate their reflection pool in front of the Washington Monument. They're against that. It's not any different. They're against that. They're against the UFC, the celebration on Sunday night, even though in June of 2024, you had women naked from the waist up. You had the columns of the White House in different colors like a rainbow. You had the kinds of things going on there. Contrast it with the event last night with the veterans and everybody that was there, I just think there's a day and night difference. But these elitists, they're just beta males. They're just absolute weak-minded people that cannot understand anything that makes Americans tick. And so they don't get any of that. And so they're going to roll it all into Obama's day and say that Trump failed. But the reality is... He does not allowing them to have a nuclear program at all. Yeah. Now, we're still a little skeptical. I mean, Greg and I, you know, we've talked about this memorandum of understanding. That's what the deal is. Yeah. Giving them 60 days to hammer out the other key issues. We'll see how that goes. But at least it's a step in the right direction. We'll just have to wait and see how it all unfolds. And as we get more and more details, of course, the Democrats are picking it apart, as you might expect. All right, when we come back, we'll talk about how the Dems can't escape transgenderism. And that issue. They can't get away from it. They don't know how to get away from it. We'll talk about that coming up on this Monday afternoon edition.

So good to be with you this afternoon right here on the Rod and Greg show and Talk Radio 105.9, KNRS. Coming up at the bottom of the hour, you won't believe this. Socialist paid leave effort underway in Pennsylvania and of all towns, Pittsburgh, a city that you know very, very well. Yeah, this is. You won't believe this one. You don't learn from history. You repeat it. And I'm telling you, these dummies are doing what they did to kill that city in the first place. Yeah, yeah. Well, you know, the midterms are coming up. Of course, everybody's talking about the midterms a little bit later on. There's some new information out there. But one of the issues that Greg and I talk about often is transgenderism in this country. And the fact that the Democratic Party seems to embrace it or they can't get rid of it, Greg. I mean, it's kind of a weird situation. Well, it is. And it's because their base won't let them let go of it. And yet they can't defend it to the normal people of this country. So they're just caught between. You know, they went to this society and they went too far and they can't pull it back. No, they can't. Well, joining us on our newsmaker line to find out why is Brooke Branchin. She is a journalist, a writer, a contributor at the Blaze. She's written about this. Brooke, how are you? Welcome to the Rod and Greg Show. I am wonderful. Thank you guys so much for having me on today. Brooke, okay, why can't the Democrats get rid of this issue that they have, even though most Americans are repulsed by this? Well, one of the big reasons why they can't abandon the transgender issue is because they spent the past almost a decade telling people that transgenderism was great. They pushed it in schools. They pushed it in medical clinics. They pushed it in the culture as well. I mean, it was not that many years ago that... Former President Joe Biden had tons of trans activists at the White House. So the Democrats spent years saying that transgenderism was awesome and it was normal. But unfortunately, in the past few years for them, they've seen the public reception to transgenderism start to wane. And it's waning actually pretty significantly in places like college campuses where left-wing ideology should be at a hype. So the problem that the Democrats are having is that people really are uncomfortable with transgenderism, and that's reflecting poorly on them as a party. Is it transgenderism or their focus and, I think, obsession with children? I think that really where, I mean, I think we were all kind of, I don't know that we were all embracing transgender as an issue. But I think as they decided that the chemical castration or physical castration for children was appropriate and you saw the focus on children, or at least I believe there was a focus, is that the moment that Americans start going, wait a minute. This has gone way too far. Let's review everything we've accepted up until now. Oh, absolutely. I mean, for all of the flaws of the conservative movement, one of the things that we were able to really hit home on in the past five, six years was how the Democrat Party and the transgender movement was targeting children specifically. And I think that groups like Gave Against Groomers or the LGBT Alliance, they did a really good job as well going after the fact that a lot of these transgender movements.

like drag queen story hours, we're going after kids specifically. And that's something that almost all Americans can agree is really uncomfortable and has really weird implications. People don't like that. People don't want their children being exposed to things that are really not appropriate. We're talking right now with Brooke Branchin. She is with the blades talking about how the Democrats can't escape the trans problem. Are you hearing anything, Brooke, within the inner circles of the Democratic Party? realizing that this may be an awkward position for the party as they head to the midterms and trying to explore a way around it or to work around it. Are there any discussions going on within the machinery of the Democratic Party to try and figure out what to do with this? Well, I think that this is going to be a huge rift in the party going forward. I think as we see different... styles of candidates emerge in response to the strength that we see with Donald Trump and the mega movement, they're trying to figure out how to message to their next generation of voters. So you have people like James Talarico, which are much more empathetic and really fit into that peak, woke, 2020,

become uncomfortable with in the Democratic Party. But then on the other hand, you now have this much more progressive Bernie Sanders style of candidate like Graham Platner that's a little bit tougher, a little more rough. You know, he has tattoos. But he's still also willing to run on transgenderism. I think the change is going to be, how do you wrestle with the fact that people are uncomfortable with this? And so I think that you're going to see candidates like Graham Platner that are a little bit strong. stronger, a little bit bolder, and a little bit more appealing to the blue collar class, start to pull away from that messaging and not make it something that they're running on, but something that they're just going to kind of avoid. You know, both Telerico and Planner seem like they're just products of focus groups for Democrats. You know, they went with Telerico because you wanted someone that is an ecclesiastical leader, which is certainly... you know, religion plays a large part in the lives of Texans. And so that they wanted to really try to strike that male, white, religious leader, maybe focus in Texas. Then you get to Graham Platner and he's supposed to be the Marine veteran. He's supposed to be a tough guy. But when you look into both of them, they have... They have issues of their past that are hard to reconcile with the, you know, with the pageantry or the, you know, what they're trying to show right now. Let me ask you, does all of this just come off as phony as it looks to me? I mean, neither one of those are really what they're trying to pretend to be as a candidate. They both have baggage. As a young person, I'm 24 right now, so I'm Gen Z. I interpret all of this as being very phony. And I think a lot of voters, regardless of age, feel exactly the same way. And I think the evidence of that is... proof in how popular Spencer practicing. You know, it's not very frequently that a mayoral campaign really takes off with people and gain so much national traction. But I think that people really are drawn to his style of authenticity. You know, the fact that he has a sense of humor, the fact that he can say things that are simple and true, that resonates with people right now. Final question for you, Brooke. Can the Democratic Party just come out and say, admit they were wrong? Do you even in your wildest imagination think that would ever happen? You know, I don't think they're physically capable of doing that. No, I don't think so either, Brooke. Hey, we appreciate your time. Thank you and enjoy the rest of the day. Thank you, gentlemen. All right. On our newsmaker line, that's Brooke Branchin. She writes for the blaze and talking about the Democrats, the transgender problem, Greg, and I don't think they can avoid it. They can't shed it. It's just going to be with them. That's who the party is, and they're afraid to tell them to go away. Well, there was a seminal moment for Democrats when Dukakis lost in 88, and they just knew that this liberal, you know, this northeast liberal.

message and narrative didn't resonate with the people, so they went with Bill Clinton from Arkansas. And he was kind of that new Democrat. Unless you find a hard, hard reset like that, a Dukakis from Massachusetts governor to an Arkansas governor of Bill Clinton, they're, they are stuck. Yeah, they are. All right. More coming up. It is the Monday afternoon edition of the Rod and Greg show right here on Utah's Talk Radio 105.9, KNRS. L-E-D-E-S. Your night in just got legendary. Get ready to chase the rush, spin, win, and redeem instantly straight to your bank account at Legends withazee.com. With free-to-play slots, blackjack, quino, roulette, and more. Experience all the thrills of Vegas without leaving your couch. Legends has it all. Legends is a free-to-play social casino void for prohibited. Must be 18-plus play responsibly visit Legends.com for full details. Get in the game now and score a 100% match on your first purchase only at Legends withazee.com. This is one of the wackiest ideas I think I've ever heard, Greg. A plan basically that many people are saying will destroy young families when they need it most. This is an unbelievable plan being considered in Pennsylvania. It is. It's so shocking that I look forward to this discussion because I want to know if this is a straight face. real proposal or if someone's just trying to check a box we set it out loud okay now you know give us a you know contribution to or you know for whatever campaign they're running because i can't believe that they would honestly try to implement something as crazy as what we're about to talk about well joining us on our news maker line is beth brillia she is a senior political investigator at a restoration news beth how are you welcome back to the rod and gregg show Hey, great to be here. Guys, not only, this is real. Yeah, what are they up to? Yeah, what are they up to? Yeah, what are they up to? Yeah, well, this is paid parental leave, which sounds great. And I just had a brand new brand baby. So I love this idea, right? But there's a dark cloud around it. In Allegheny County, which is basically Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, there's a proposal for all businesses. This is a public health mandate, okay? Remember COVID, the public health mandate? For the good of the public health, all businesses with one employee or more must pay anyone who has a new child 18 weeks of sold. A fully paid full-time parental leave, okay? And this is for moms and dads, so maternity leave, which you can understand if a mom just had a baby and paternity leave. So dad can bond with a baby. It's for adoptive moms and dads. It's for grandparents who end up raising their grandchild. So your five-year-old comes to you because their parent went to jail. You get paid to.

uh time off for that foster parents who had a new child placed with them step parents too so if you need some time off work marry a single parent and you get 18 weeks of a vacation time there so four and a half months of and if you for businesses that are one employee or more I was saying before we got on where the commercial break, I want to see them try to implement this. I mean, Pittsburgh's made up. I grew up there. I was actually born in McGee's Women's Hospital, which is featured in the story here. I think everyone in Pittsburgh was actually, if I'm honest. But here's the thing. Try to implement it. It's impossible. This is worse. Pittsburgh went through when they kept losing people in downtown Pittsburgh. The city kept raising prices on the parking of those that were still coming until they ran them out. And everybody went to business parks and suburbs. How on earth could they even begin to implement? And businesses of one employer, more with all the small businesses, restaurants, you name it, small pizza shops. Four and a half months of paid leave for employees, I think they ignore it or they leave. They flee for their lives. I mean, I think they're going to have to leave. It's a huge business killer. You know, young people who probably look at this and say, this sounds great. And it does. I totally get why this sounds so wonderful. But the reality is you do have to pay your way in this world. Young people need to understand that. To have a good paying job is more family sustaining than a few weeks off, well, a few months in this case off work. And if the businesses aren't there for you to go back to work when you're done with your time off with your baby, you're screwed. And, you know, this is just, it's really in the story, you know, we talk about how this is really. pushed by, in this case, the SEI union, SEIU union, but many unions want this kind of thing. And the SEIU is tied to the DSA, you know, the socialist, Democrat Socialists of America. And the socialists want to kill business so government can take over and run everything. It's seizing the means of production. The faster they can kill business, the quicker the socialists can come in. and help everybody who need free stuff now. Wow. Wow. You're right that the county health policy, I mean, it's in the middle of a public comment period now, but are you predicting the board may in fact pass this, Beth? Well, they did extend the, there's a lot of outrage about it because they were kind of doing it on the download. And they extended the comment period until mid-July now for another 30 days. But the thing is, it's not just being pushed. And the answer to your question is, yes, I think it could pass. There's a lot of socialists.

on the board in Pittsburgh. And yeah, I think there's a very good chance. The board of health is handpicked by the socialist. county executive. So yes, I do think it could pass. But it's not only being pushed in Allegheny County. There are three measures in the state house, one in the House, two in the Senate, that are pushing for 12 weeks of paid time off for people who have babies. And that would be a payroll deduction situation. So everybody gets... I mean, it's a whole new category taken out of your paycheck so that people who have babies can have time off work. So I'm doing the political math, and it's really easy sometimes for these socialist ideas to germinate if you're talking businesses with 50 or more, 100 more employees, because then you're talking about those guys. You're talking about corporations. You're talking about the big people. When you say one business or more, You're talking all the businesses. You're talking, I mean, that touches the lives of, it's got to touch more lives in a detrimental way than there are union members in Allegheny County. It's got to be the case. Right, one employee or more. Well, the problem, yes, there's like 99% of the businesses in the state are considered small business. The problem is where the money flows. The SEIU, in this case, the SEIU union has given these politicians that are pushing it a lot of money. And in addition to money, they're mobilizing their unions to go out and do door knocking during campaigns and hand out. flyers with these candidates names on and then you turn around the next thing you know they're pushing the SEIU's union dreams like this policy is a union dream and this very policy is being the exact verbiage is being used as a negotiating tool you mentioned the hospital McGee Hospital they just unionized with SEIU And they want the same 12 weeks or 18 weeks. If it doesn't pass in the county, the workers at that hospital still want that deal. So. You know, so there's, it could come through the State House. It could come through contract negotiations. It could come through public health. But anyway, it's slice it. They're pushing it hard. And the politicians want to please the people who got them into office. That's the union. Well, crazy story. Beth, we'll keep our eye on it. Thanks for joining us.

Thanks so much. All right, Beth Brillia. She's with Restoration News, 18 weeks. So that's what, four and a half months. You work seven and a half months out of a calendar year. That's about it. For a full-time employment. Plus, you're going to get Christmas off, plus you're going to get all the other holidays, but you're going to add seven and a half months of employment out of a full-time employee. And you're one employee or more. I think that that, if you tried to implement that, the blowback would be. Unbelievable. I have, Greg. Where have all the socialists come from? I mean, everywhere you're looking now, we've got socialists we're dealing with in this country. Higher education? Where are they coming from? Yeah, it's higher ed. I think they do. They indoctrinate these kids. I will tell you, my cousin Matt, Maddie works for McTie's, drive-thru beer outlet. The McTie family will be absolutely destroyed by something like that. They couldn't do it. They're a small business. All right. More coming up, Rod and Greg, with you on this Monday in Utah's Talk Radio, 1059KNRS. Just get ready for this. Put your finger on your nose like this. Really? Yeah. If you do that, you can't sneeze. If you look up with the likes, it stops it from. If you look up, if you look at the sun, you'll sneeze. You just have to put your finger under your nose like this. Oh, I talk like this with my finger on my nose? Yes, talk like this. No, it will stop you from sneezing. I did know that. It's a full proof. A proven theory? Yes. Every time. If you're going to sneeze, do this. Yeah. It'll be fine. All right. Little life hack folks, if you didn't know that. Just put your index finger right under your nose and you will not sneeze. One of the life's little things that we have to deal with. Especially with. Yeah. Or is he right points out, there's a consequence to that that might be worse than sneezing. You could do that as well. I was amazed over the weekend and catching a couple of the various talk shows over the weekend, Greg, the amount of people who were so upset with Elon Musk for becoming a trillionaire. Yeah. It's what I talk about when did envy become a virtue instead of one of the, you know, deadly sins? I mean, it's, it's unbelievable to listen to them. The guy's not, it's not like he's sitting on a mountain of cash. Yeah. He's, he's, he works tirelessly and this is a net value. This is a worse. Yeah. This is, these are stocks that are worth this. This isn't what he's sitting. This isn't run around money sitting in his pocket. I mean, it's just bizarre. And the risks. that he has taken over the years investing in this didn't work investing in how many people told them buying twitter would be a disaster oh he's got a mock what he's done with it the man has slept on factory floors as a billionaire trying to get things right that he has put his heart and soul into the guy's got an otherworldly work ethic he's worked his tail off he's taken incredible chances he's not risk averse at all And yet the things he said, there probably wasn't a soul that believed that he could do what he's saying he's doing, other than maybe him and his mom would be the only ones that would believe him. And he kept going and he succeeded. I think that's the American dream. if there ever was one. Well, let me tell you what, one of our faves, of course, Scott Jennings on CNN. This was part of a roundtable discussion over the weekend about this. Listen to his response about Elon Musk. Elon Musk is creating an environment where entrepreneurship, where success, where building is celebrated. The only reason anybody's mad about this, let's just be honest, is because he supported Donald Trump for president.

I do not get that. Do you? No, I think it's just an excuse to destroy it, to just break glass and go get stuff. I don't think it's really anything to do with winning the championship of anything. Billy does this and now New York's doing it. And it's been done in cities around the country every time they win a national championship. Now, contrast that with this. Now, I know you're not a big World Cup soccer fan. I love, though, that these fans are coming over from other countries and just marveling at our country. I like that part. We'll get into that. But Japan played, and I think they played Egypt yesterday, right? Yeah. Okay. And all of a sudden, at the end of the match, there were fans, people from Japan, pulling out garbage bags and cleaning up after themselves. Wow. So they're walking through the stadium, you know, areas from where they sat and making sure everything was picked up and put in a garbage bag. And it wasn't one or two. I mean, there were literally hundreds of people doing this at the stadium where the match was being played. Now, contrast that, Greg, with New York City. where the fans decide to burn things down and break things. And here you have people from Japan attending the World Cup and respecting their guests. Do they win? That they are guests. I think they tied, as I recall. So on brand for soccer, they tied. You know, I thought maybe they're in a good mood. Maybe they won. So like, hey, let's pick up some stuff. We won. Yay. But no, in all seriousness, I do think that. cultures, different countries, they have different cultures. And within those cultures, you see different behaviors that what I love is that Japan comes here, by example, shows something like that. But I also, I can't get around the fact that the people that are visiting this country are not seeing what they thought they, they're finding something very different than what the media in their country or even the American media has told them about this country. It's, I think there's a. There's a lot of good going on in this country that save the, you know, people in New York City that saw that they won the championship. Yeah, yeah. I think they were going to riot. I think they would have done that if they lost. I think if they lost, they would have taken to the glass and rioted too. You know, this thing that the Japanese fans did, to them, it is by picking up. Okay, cleaning up after themselves, leaving it as good as it was when they arrived, is a sign of respect for the host country, for the players, for fellow fans, and for the venue itself, saying you invited us to come, we're here watching the game, and when we leave, we're going to show a respect. Yeah, it's impressive. Where would you find that anywhere in America today? We wouldn't. You wouldn't. You wouldn't find that, no. No, you wouldn't find it. The only thing close you can find are just neighborhoods and communities where you don't have trash all over the sidewalks and vandalized everywhere. That's about the closest thing. It's just a community's overall standards, but not at a sporting venue. And now we're talking about, like we mentioned earlier, World Cup Freddie.

Who is a German, who's gone around the country, seeing, you know, Chili's and Wendy's and Buckees and everything else. And it's absolutely amazed. And there's more stories like that. Yeah, a gentleman from South Africa put on the video on, I saw this over the weekend. That's the beauty of X2. It is the biggest group text on planet Earth by zillions. And so people can just get on there. And I think this is an Elon Musk creation. So I think this would have been. filtered shadow band with the old owners in a second. They would never let this kind of sentiment be shared so broadly. But this gentleman from South Africa, it's a daytime and there's a park. He's in a park. I don't even know where he is. But he's saying, look, women, they're just walking on their own. It's broad daylight without fear. Without fear of being harmed. They're just walking on their own. Look, there's squirrels. There's animals that are right in front of you that aren't. being killed and he look at look at this bench and the other bench they're not destroyed you can sit on them they're not covered in graffiti he he's saying things that you're like hmm you know i wasn't really staring at that bench and thinking wow it's not destroyed it's not covered in graffiti i've never spotted women going how can a woman walk by her themselves or multiple women walking by themselves in broad daylight without fear i mean i would have said that about it nighttime and urban like in urban america but i wouldn't have said it in an average park but this south african was blown away at the safety and the quality of life and the high quality of life found in fact he talked about taking a road trip and his boss wanted them to drive down from wherever they were i think they were in new jersey they were going to drive down south to Atlanta or something and he was just lamenting it because he was worried he was afraid to drive at night And they got a flat tire and he's panicking. Yeah. And he says, my boss says, what is your deal? He's like, we have broken down the middle of nowhere. We're going to die. And he's like, this is the United States of America. You are not going to die. You are not going to die. And he says, he has a moment of self-reflection where he says, you know, I've just been, I'm a grown man. And I've been conditioned to just live under this fear. And there's no public safety that we're going to be preyed upon. And in the United States, I don't feel that way. Now, there's not to say that there aren't pockets in the United States where you would feel that way. But look at how Washington, D.C. has been turned around. Look at maybe the country as a whole. Even these lousy journalists, these even sports journalists that are from the New York Times and things saying, I'm surprised that that German man was treated so well in the South. It's like, you know what, lady, you've obviously never been to the South. They're not seeing if you're from Germany and treating you terrible. There's southern hospitality. Yeah. I remember going for a BYU game at Ole Miss. It's a nicest group of people I've ever seen a college football game out. They were welcoming to the visiting fans telling you to drive. We beat them. BYU beat Ole Miss, too, and they're saying drive home safely. Thank you for coming. Safe travels. Incredibly nice people. We did the same thing several years ago when the Utes played, I think it was the Alamo Dome, the Alamo Bowl against the University of Texas. We're walking in. L-D-D-E-A. Your night in just got legendary. Get ready to chase the rush, spin, win, and redeem instantly straight to your bank account at Legends withazee.com. With free-to-play slots, blackjack, quino, roulette, and more. Experience all the thrills of Vegas without leaving your couch. Legends has it all. Legends is a free-to-play social casino void but prohibited. Must be 18 plus play responsibly visit Legends.com for full details. Get in the game now and score a 100% match on your first purchase only at Legends withazee.com.

And there are all kinds of parties going on outside. We're being invited, hey, Utah fan, come over here and get some barbecue. Yes. I mean, it's just southern hospitality. And this goes against everything, this poll, which will really was released over the weekend, about how Americans feel about the country. And apparently they don't feel very good. Well, there needs to be some perspective. Yeah, because nobody's lived through a depression. No one's lived through two world wars. Nobody's lived through what my grandparents lived through. And yet they were optimistic. And yet somehow through. all the good high quality of life we've lived, we're all miserable people. That's what is it. Well, that's the left. Yeah. Let's listen to this survey. This by NBC News over the weekend about how Americans feel about their own country. Some big picture numbers on how folks feel about the country, where it is, some sobering numbers maybe. Take a look at this one. How proud are you to be an American we asked as we celebrate 250 years? So you see the different options here. Look, extremely proud, very proud. Those numbers together get you 56%. At the other end of it, only a little or not proud at all. 21%. The significance of this, this number is in decline. A steady 21st century decline at the turn of the century, three quarters of Americans were extremely or very proud. That number's fallen to 56%. What's behind this? It's familiar fault lines, Kristen, political demographic. Check this out here. First, it's partisan. Look at this. Republicans are almost universally going to tell you extremely or very proud. Look at that number for Democrats. And meanwhile, only a little or not at all, 12 times as many Democrats say that compared to Republicans. I tell you what, Greg. There are a couple of points I want to make on this. First of all, you are constantly, and I mean constantly bombarded on media today, saying America is bad. Yes. I mean, you know, you were talking about catching that UFC event at the White House last night. Yes. There was a counter event taking place. Hardly anybody showed up, but Jane Fonda. Julia John Roberts, Robert De Niro, who used to be a fantastic actor. They are broken people. Trump has broken them. They can't handle it. Just broken people. And here they all are. You have the media, you have schools, you name it. They are constantly pounding that America is bad. Then you get this ruling coming out of Boston by a Biden appointed judge on Friday night saying everything that Donald Trump is doing to the national museums and national sites where he's trying to be proud of America. Don't feel bad about it. The revisions that are taking place? Yes. Take them down. Yeah. You have no authority to change history. He's not trying to change history. No, he's not. He's just telling the truth. I went to those museums in D.C. last summer. And what they're trying to construe his history is a revisionist history that tries to pull at the worst narratives that you could imagine about this country. Did you know that Barnum and Bailey circus was all about American imperialism and us wanting to take over the whole world? That was all the motivation for circuses in its success when Barnum and Bailey did what they did. That's not true. That is just the most ridiculous contrived narrative. But I'll tell you what, Democrats?

I this brand I'm not talking about in the past but I'm talking today in 2026 Democrats do not love America what they love is power okay yeah so if they're in power if this was Biden Kamala Harris Obama if they were in power you'd find that they love America but what they really love is power okay that's what they love power if the Democrat if the Republicans in they hate the country I would tell you I would venture to guess that if you polled an American when Obama's president, when Biden's president, you say, do you love this country? It would be absolutely I do. The answer would be I still love and I'm still proud of this country. Am I happy with the president? No. But America as a country? No, I'm still, I still love this country. The Democrats, today's Democrats, not going to tell you they love the country if they're not in power. Yeah. They love the power, not this country. And I'm, and if someone thinks I'm too broad of a brush here. I think these polls are showing it. I think if you look at, if you take it by demographic in terms of, if you take the cross tabs of Democrats, they fundamentally don't. You heard it from De Niro last night. He said saying that I love America is like a battered spouse saying that they love their abuser. It's like De Niro, then leave. Go to the people that don't like this country. Go find that utopia, that place that you think is so much better than this country. Go there. Go find that South African and say, hey, you were talking about, hey, let's trade places. Yes, please. Let's trade places. Wherever in the world you think it is such a better place than this country, go there. Because I'm going to tell you that this country has plenty of challenges, and we talk about them every day on the show. But it is such a refreshing perspective to see people that do not live here and are visiting here, marvel at the quality of life that we have here in the United States. I myself take it for granted sometimes. I forget it. And I'll tell you, it is incredible. That's why this weekend was my big, it's my big, you know, my slingshot into the 250 January 4th celebration. When we come back. When we come back, we'll talk about your feeling that a cultural shift. Is taking place in the country. We'll talk about that. Coming up next on the Rod and Greg show right here on Utah's Talk Radio, 1059, K&RS. You wanted to talk about a, you sense a cultural shift taking place in this country. And I see it in three different forms over the weekend. Okay. One, I see it in the testimonials of people traveling to the United States for World Cup and their genuine shock and admiration for this country. And I think that is informative for all of us. to remind us the high quality of life that we have in this country and this right of self-determination and what we do with our lives, I think that's a good reminder what we're seeing from those that are visiting for the World Cup and what they're posting online. There's a lot more than just a German guy. The second one is the New York Giants baseball game. which was their pride name. San Francisco Giants. They moved like 80 years ago. The San Francisco Giants. They had a pride night. San Francisco after all. And so the logo on the front of their of their baseball caps took their logo and made it into a rainbow. Pride flag. A pride flag. So that's their way of recognizing Pride night or, you know, it's June and it's a home game in San Francisco. Well, some of the players, they wanted to express quietly, just, you know, on their own. They wrote scripture.

a scripture verse, the book and the chapter in the verse on the front of the basketball next to the rainbow logo. Didn't have anything to say about it, wasn't trying to hide the rainbow, but just wanted to put that on. They have received, those players have received so much attack from the left, these elitists, these leftists, who are saying you're not inclusive because you're trying to undermine the gay pride. It is the essence of inclusion to let these people express their religious beliefs at the same time. They want to put that on there. But, you know, the left doesn't want inclusion broadly. They want you to accept, embrace, promote what their agenda is, which is the pride, their version of a pride month. But no one else is. You can't be a person of faith. That is not something that you can, that is not inclusive. That is not something. And for these athletes in America, our sports stars are part of the, I think they're part of the culture of this country. So you're seeing. You're seeing that through sports through the World Cup, you're seeing the fans from Europe that are speaking up. Yeah. You see these players for the New York, for the San Francisco Giants speaking up and doing this. Let me mention that. One of the players responded to that question is, I don't hate anybody. I don't hate people. I just wanted to put on my cap of faith that I have and what this biblical verse means when it comes to rainbows. That's all he was saying. I'm not hating anybody. This is just my way to express my feeling about rainbows. And to the left, I'd say, are you inclusive? Are you open to his beliefs and his convictions? You're not. They're not. No. So this whole word of inclusion is a one-way street. It is just their version of the world. It's their worldview. But I love, we live in a time right now, and I think it's different where these athletes are beginning to stand up and they are actually doing, they're expressing something that people can see. that's part of what they are proud of or what they want to express. And then lastly, the event last night at the White House, this display of patriotism, the vignettes that they had between the fights, the military that were the 4,300 guests that were there, the Medal of Honor winners that escorted with first responders, the fighters out to the ring, the view that you saw as they walked through the White House in the east wing, that you got to see the White House, maybe in ways you've never seen it before. If you take the images of the White House from June of 2026 and you go back two years to the Biden administration's celebrations of June of 24 where the columns of the White House were different colors like a rainbow, where they had a topless woman there, where they had the trans people there, you had the concerts going on. The drag queens. The drag queens that had the concerts happening. You know, the left wants to look down their nose at the combat sports and say, oh, this is unbecoming of the White House. Go look at some of those images from two years ago and tell me that's becoming of the White House. I think it feels, I felt like when I saw the images on social media of what the Biden, June 24 looked like versus June of 26, I feel like we're winning the cultural wars. I think we're ahead. I mean, I just think it's a movement. So you take the event last night. And so many people that were actual critics of this, like a Stephen A. Smith, who's a critic of Trump, who said that was an amazing, amazing evening. He was shocked. The guy that started TMZ, who's always ripping on Trump said, anybody that wants to rip on what happened at the White House, they're elitist. They don't get, they don't get this country. They don't get the people. I just think that there's, that the broad acceptance of a different point of view other than the lefts. You think it's changing. I do. I think there is a counter.

I think the culture war is shifted. I think it is moving our way. I think it's it's cool to be patriotic again. I think it's 80,000 people. They say 85 to 100,000 people were in the outside of the White House area watching the big screen TVs. These are young men. These are guys. I mean, predominantly men. But, you know, these are these were the demonized demographic not long ago. Hillary called them the unwashed. Yes, I'm telling you that we are seeing, I think we're seeing a time where our sports icons, which are very much part of our culture, are speaking up and being heard, you're seeing performances like we saw at the White House that were all patriotic. The whole thing was about the military. The whole thing was about America and 250 year anniversary. Tell me I'm wrong. Tell me that this is a blip. Tell me this isn't a change and a shift in the cultural battles of this country. I think I'm spotting it. And it coincides with the 250 year anniversary of this country. I'll give you my response when we come back. Okay. I'm ready. All right. All right. My response. And your calls and comments coming up. Greg says a cultural shift is taking place in America, and it's a good one. We'll talk about it. Coming up next right here on the Rod and Greg show. You tend to believe a cultural shift is taking place in America. Correct. Because people are more willing to speak out than maybe they were just a couple of years ago. Yes. Is that? Yep. Am I following right? You are. I'll agree and disagree with you on a couple of points. Okay. First of all. I think the left has taught America to hate itself. Okay. Would you agree? I think that narrative is out there. I think that young people are inclined to do it, but I think there's, I think there's a sentiment hanging on, certainly with. with everyday people. But there is a large group of young people in this America who have been taught by the leftist to hate this country. Yes. So you've got a battle there. Yes. Okay. You've got a real, real fight there. Primarily among young people. And they're going to be running the country here in a few years. Yes. And if you were a communist, this is exactly how you'd map it out. The young people of our country hate our country. There's even a story today that a socialist may become the mayor of Washington, D.C. Yes. Yes. So, you know, I asked earlier, where the hell are all these socialists coming from? Yeah. Okay. Our higher ed schools. So I don't think, I would agree there is a cultural shift. Mm-hmm. But I think if anything. The playing field has been leveled. I think it was tilted way toward the left for a long, long time. But because of people like those pitchers in San Francisco or other events like the UFC, the playing field has leveled. I don't think we've taken it over, those of us on the right, the left is still there. But I see a shift, but it's a shift toward leveling things. The way, you know, sure, they're always going to be there. Is that where you think it is now or you think it's going?

going to a level. No, I think it's probably leveled now. Right. And I wouldn't argue that. I would agree. I don't think we're, I don't think we're winning as of today. I think there is a shift where I would agree with you. I think we're getting to a level playing field. I just think that the momentum is ours. I don't see the Democrats getting stronger. Did you play the Harry Enten clip about the midterms yet? Yeah. They're not looking so as good as they did to, you know, in the midterms of Trump's first term. There's the generic ballot when you say someone other than the Republican sounds great. But as soon as you get to the individuals for the problems that we've even showed on the show now, the trans issue, there's a lot of issues that they are just not resonating with the American people. I think you might look at a level playing field today, but I think the momentum is ours in getting back to normalcy, getting back to God, country, family. These are foundational institutions that the Democrats want us to forget about. They want to replace. that I think are making a strong comeback in the country. Well, I'll give you that point because of this. We'll play the Harry Anton bite here in just a minute when it comes to this. But you look at the situation in the country right now. There are people who feel the economy is bad. Prices are high. Yes. Gas prices are high. You do have, according to some polls, an unpopular president whose approval rating has dropped below 40%. That's usually a telltale sign. L-D-E-N. Your night in just got legendary. Get ready to chase the rush, spin, win, and redeem instantly straight to your bank account at Legendswithazee.com. With free-to-play slots, blackjack, quino, roulette, and more. Experience all the thrills of Vegas without leaving your couch. Legends has it all. Legends has it all. Legends is a free-to-play social casino void. It must be 18 plus play responsibly. Visit Legends.com for full details. Get in the game now and score a 100% match on your first purchase only at Legends withazee.com. And typically, you would have in the midterms of a sitting president that the party in power would lose a lot, right? That is the precedent, yes. Not the case, according to this new research from Harry Anton at CNN. So what are the warning signs here? Yeah, I think the warning sign is this. Democrats have an edge, but compared to what we see historically, it's really not that big of a lead. I mean, just take a look here. Okay, this is Congress, National, June polls, Dem leads, and this is NBC News, midterm years with the GOP press. Look at this. They're up by five points, but that's half the lead they had back in 2018 when it was 10 points. And less than had the lead they had back in 2006 with 11 points when Democrats took back the House in both of those years. And now the Democratic lead is on a single hand. One, two, three, four, five points. And it's this type of lead where you say, you know what, Democrats are ahead, but don't count your chickens just quite yet. Well, see, and that's where I'm saying I think the playing field has been leveled. because if you look at all the issues surrounding this upcoming midter, the Democrats should be up a lot more than five points. Yes. Wouldn't you think, Greg? Oh, easily. But they aren't. So I lean toward what you're saying. I don't think there's been a shift. I think it's just leveled out a little bit. And maybe that's the shift. And I think that'll – and I guess I guess –

Maybe this is wordsmithing, but I don't disagree with you on a level playing field today. I'm saying the momentum is ours. And I'm saying that patriotism and love of country and faith and how strong it is in our lives. I think the reason a lot of this shift is happening is, I think in the Biden administration, you got the people that these were, these were, I don't know, luxury issues. These were philosophical arguments. They weren't practical in terms of becoming kitchen table issues. Tell me that the people in California now aren't experiencing kitchen table issues like they've never before. Oh, yeah. Tell me that what an open border for four years has done to 50 states, which the saying was, and I believe that 50 states became border states in that time. That became a kitchen table issue. I think that the Democrats and what's happening in New York and how that's insane and how that's not working out well, as you see... uh these these philosophical op you know arguments against a free economy free markets conserve right of center uh approach is you see the opposite take place and they get their lead and you see the carnage they create i think that's what and like the trans issue with the young people and what's happening there i think it's people are now seeing it practically apply in their lives and are going yeah no no i i remember the america i lived in i know what what we This is not working. This is not better. This isn't better than what we have. So you're saying people are waking up. I do. And I think it's because it's impacting their lives differently than when we talk. When we used to talk about trans issues, it was this micro minority of people. You didn't know anybody. You didn't know anybody in this whole sphere. Then it became in our Olympics. Then it became in our NCAA championships. Then it became, it came to our schools. It came to our colleges. USU had to not play volleyball with some of these teams in their division because, or their conference, because they're playing against men. It's now impacting us in different ways, certainly also immigration, detrimentally that now it's a kitchen table issue and people are going on the end. I'm not, you take the White House from 24 and you look at the show they put on there. And you look at last night, and I'm telling you, the people are looking at last nights, and they're going, I love our military, I love the National Anthem, I love all of it. Yeah, all right, more coming up. When we come back, by the way, the top of the hour, you could call it a hit piece in the Salt Lake Tribune today about the other side academy. Yes. We're going to talk to its CEO and let him respond to some of the issues that were raised. That's coming up at 6 o'clock right here on the Rod and Greg Show and Utah's Talk Radio 105-9 canteret.

Welcome back on this Monday afternoon, the Rod and Greg show on Utah's Talk Radio 1059, KNRS. Everywhere on that iHeart radio app, get that app. It's free. Download it. You'll be able to listen, stream it anywhere you're at. I'm Citizen Hughes. And I'm Rod Arquhart. We're talking about a cultural shift in America. Is it taking place today? Let's go to our talkback line. Here what one listener has to say about our comments so far. Rod and Greg. I'm just listening to your thing about the polls. They actually did do that poll back when Obama was president, and the Republican side stayed at 90%. So that stayed even. It's the Democrat side that affects these polls, and theirs was at 29% for this one, and it was a lot higher for the other one, which I think it was 81%. So the number was a lot higher, and that's based on that. Yeah, and if you recall, I think it's because they lost. I think the Democrats have yet to get over that Kamala Harris did not win. Well, they're going to get that way about any Republican that wins. If they're not in power, especially Donald Trump. Well, they love, I don't know that they love the country. I think when Obama's in, he knows how 86% if that was numbers accurate, that's still not the 90 that Republicans are, but they don't, they loved America when Obama was in power. when he's not in power, they don't love America as much. Republicans are going to love America because we love America. What that tells me is that Democrats, at least modern day or those getting pulled, are they love power, not the country, whereas we're with the country. That's true. All right. Well, let's, I want you to hear this how much time we get, you got to hear this. This is, so let me, let me, let me shape this real quick. The main event was it looked like a lopsided event. We had an American fighter fighting a lightweight champion, undefeated, considered the best of class. This guy is not really beatable. But this was probably his best competition. A guy from Arizona fighting out of Colorado, fighting. I think the guy was from Argentina. He was a six to one underdog, this guy, Josh. And he wins. When's the whole thing? So Joe Rogan is interviewing him after. I want you to hear his comments because I think this is the part of the cultural shift folks that I think is happening in real time. You have been waiting for this moment your entire career and to win it in such a spectacular fashion in a fight where you were in some points six to one underdog. How good does this feel? Hey, I'm from America, 250 years ago. We were way bigger than 6 to 1 dogs. And look at it's thriving now to all the current, former and future military service members. Thank you so much. Thank you so much to all the first responders, the police officers, firefighters, families, EMTs. You guys have no idea how grateful I am. And for as long as I'm able to, I will use my name to make money and support you guys. First and foremost, thank you. And all glory to God, I prayed so much for this opportunity to do something legendary. And I know that was absolutely legendary because I cannot even believe it. Because I can't even believe it. He says, I got a flag too. I could have, I could have. That's why I feel terrible. I have a, I have.

And I have the one of those things that kind of hangs inside so it doesn't just sit down along the pole. It'll kind of hang out a little bit. I can put that out. Well, you could do it today. Yeah. It's good to do today. All right. When we come back, we're all talking about what's going on with the Other Side Academy. An attack today from the Salt Lake Tribune, raising a lot of questions. We'll let it see up. Salt Fake Tribune. Respond. Coming up on the Rotter Great Show. Stay with us. Today, Greg, the way we do each and every day. Yep. And we see this story in the Soul Lake Tribune today. Yes. About the other side academy. Yep. Okay. Says the other side academy, this is the headline, network keeps expending. bolstered by Utah taxpayers and unpaid labor. Shame on that. Sounds very salacious. Doesn't it sound awful? Yes. Well, the way they frame it, it does, but as you would expect, there's always more to the story. Certainly not paid attention by the Salt Lake Tribune or others sometimes, but yeah. And we are big supporters of the Other Side Academy. I know you've worked with them. We've had them on the show several times. I think they do some amazing things. Well, it's kind of funny to read the Tribune story this morning because I lived through that. I represent Paul Ray, I ran the bill. I was Speaker of the House. And so this is like, you know, 2015 called. They went their year back and their scandal back. And we managed and navigated all this. a decade ago. Yeah, all taken care of. Well, joining us on our newsmaker line to respond to all of this today is Tim Shea. Tim is the CEO. Tim Stay, I'm sorry, Tim Stay, CEO of the Other Side Academy. Tim, how are you? Welcome to The Rod and Greg Show. L-V-T-E-N-V-C. Your night in just got legendary. Get ready to chase the rush, spin, win, and redeem instantly straight to your bank account at Legendswithazee.com. With free-to-play slots, Blackjack, Kino, roulette, and more. Experience all the thrills of Vegas without leaving your couch. Legends has it all. Legends is a free-to-play social casino void for prohibited. Must be 18-plus play responsibly visit Legends.com for full details. Get in the game now and score a 100% match on your first purchase only at Legends withazee.com. It's a pleasure to be here, Rod and Greg. Thank you so much. Tim, give us your initial response to what you saw today in the Salt Lake Tribune. Well, we were kind of puzzled because we've never hidden the fact that we expect our participants to work and that they're in an unpaid work status. And they spend a lot of time showing the expansion that has happened at the academy. And that's something we celebrate. And what a great story to have the very people that society had cast aside.

Build something amazing. Build donut shops. Build a village. Build the top rated moving company. Build these amazing thrift boutiques. The very people that would have been incarcerated or still on the streets are responsible for their own recovery and their own housing. And isn't that a wonderful story to celebrate? So, you know, I remember being part of this and you had. you know, whether it was Medicare or Medicaid or whether it was insurance, you had these mandates and you had clinics or rehabs that people could go into if there's something from addiction. And then you had your vocational schools. And there seemed to be you had a, there's a proven track record of this model in San Francisco. It's not a shot in the dark. It works. But there wasn't any regulatory structure for it in Utah. I'm surprised that we're hearing this reemerge over 10 years later that this is somehow a surprise or a concern to the Salt Lake Tribune. But if someone was in jail, are they getting paid in jail? Are they getting, is there something I'm missing? Are they allowed to use their phone when they're in jail? You're not asking for insurance money, government money. They earn their own keep. They make money and they stay there and get recovery. Isn't that how you advertised it from day one? from very much from the day one. And just to be clear, it says that the network is bolstered by taxpayers. It is true we have received state funds to help us build the village, but we have never, neither for the academy or the village, ever received operational funds from the government. to run our operations where other providers are receiving tens of millions of dollars a year to keep keep their operations funding. And we've covered our operational funding from the revenues we generate from our social enterprises. So I have another question, and that is success rate. I can tell you from an experience that being a policymaker a while ago, that a lot of these mandates and a lot of these programs, government funded or insurance funded, they don't have a high rate of success. What about the other side academy? Is it breaking the mold in a success rate? of those that come in and come out two and a half years later we break the mold in two ways one we report publicly report our outcome data and we don't know of another organization in this field that is reporting how many people have transformed their lives so we think we're different in that way and we encourage and invite all other providers to report their data and let's share it and if someone's doing better than we are we'd love to learn from them we haven't seen anyone have better results than we have that we're aware of

We have for those who go through the academy, again, these are on average have been arrested 25 times. They graduating were able to place 100% of them into full-time employment. That's unheard of for for others going through treatment to get placed into full-time employment. Um, those, uh, we've tracked the records of those who graduated from the academy, seven out of 10 that remain drug free, crime free, and employed. And we're seeing similar success rates for those who've moved into the village. We're still small. We've been operating for 18 months of having people house. But these are people who on average have been homeless for over nine years. Many of them have mental health challenges. And 89% of them remain permanently housed, drug-free, crime-free, and employed. Tim, I want to talk about a couple of issues that were raised in this article. The first one is compensation for leaders of the other side of academy. One that was pointed out makes a pretty good amount of money. And the issue, you know, leads to believe, okay, he's been highly compensated, yet you aren't paying the workers, the people who are at the academy. Respond to that if you would. Yeah, it's always embarrassing to have your your pay published publicly, but we're willing to stand behind it. I would say three quick things. One, I... I would be able to be making more money out in the for-profit field. But this is something that has my heart and my mission. Two, it's a standard compensation as we look at those. those who are providing the other service providers. It's right in the middle of that range. In fact, there's one that is reliant on primarily public. That's over a half a million dollars a year, and they're receiving most of their funds from taxpayer. That would be something I would be concerned about. three, all of the funds that paid to me are covered, have been covered through donations by Joseph Grenny and some other donors. So no funds from students have gone to pay my salary. Tim, the academy students do not get paid. What would happen if they were? I mean, why do you not pay some of those students? It really is.

there's a couple of factors one we be really considered a cooperative engagement with them. That these are people who've been out of the workforce for many years, haven't been able to keep a job. So a lot of the work that we do is helping to stabilize and get them into the practice of working hard each day and learning how to not only get a job, but keep a job and keep it long term. And sometimes if we were having to decide if they got paid or not, you know, what do we do if they're not carrying their weight? We wouldn't fire them or trying to help them get back on their feet. We really look at it similar to the old apprentice model, you know, of someone who wants to be a blacksmith. I'll go live with the blacksmith, learn his trade, get all the tools that I need to and all the skill. And he provides housing and food and all of the training to be able to go out and then be a successful blacksmith. It's a legal framework within the Federal Labor Standards Act. where someone can be an unpaid intern and the criteria are that they have to it has to be voluntary it has to be explained to them before they enter into the arrangement and that they can quit any time and that they're the primary beneficiary of those services and we meet all of those so people say I can't afford. Sometimes families have paid over a million dollars in treatment and they don't have any more money. And so they can come here for free and be responsible for their own recovery rather than being reliant on someone else to pay their own way. And we provide all the food and housing and training and access to all the medical. and dental care that they need and help them get on their feet and place them into full-time jobs. Tim Gregg and I have a few more questions. Do you mind staying on during the break? We'd like to have a few more questions for you if you can. Do you mind staying through the break? Absolutely. All right. All right. We're talking with Tim Stay, CEO of the Other Side Academy. More questions and more thoughts coming up right here on the Rod and Greg Show and Utah's Talk Radio, 1059, canteress. I found it's a great show on this Monday.

on Utah's Talk Radio 105, 9, KNRS, and everywhere on the IHeart Radio app. I'm Citizen Greg Hughes. And I'm Rod Arquette. Just joining us now. We're talking with Tim Stay. Tim is the CEO of Other Side Academy, talking about the story and in-depth story, a lengthy story today in the Salt Lake Tribune about the Other Side Academy and raising some very interesting questions that Tim has to come on the show and respond to him. So, Tim, I want to continue the discussion. I find the Tribune's article. to be, the timing is just otherworldly. I don't think they have much self-awareness over there. We're living through a time in 2026 where there is so much Medicaid, Medicare fraud, money that was meant to be for people in need that's not finding its way to the right people. It's being fraudulently spent, not making it there. I remember when I was a lawmaker traveling to Washington, D.C., asking for waivers of the Medicaid regulations because they were actually counterproductive. They prevented us from being able to help people. through Medicaid because of the crazy details of these waivers, you're not encumbered by any of these things. And yet somehow the Tribune has framed the Medicaid regulations, the state regulations, as all positive, a safety net. There's no downside to it. And it's what protects people. Talk about what you're able to do to help people where you're not encumbered by either insurance mandates or federal mandates for Medicaid, Medicare, and things like that.

Your night in just got legendary. Get ready to chase the rush, spin, win, and redeem instantly straight to your bank account at Legends withazee.com. With free-to-play slots, blackjack, quino, roulette, and more. Experience all the thrills of Vegas without leaving your couch. Legends has it all. Legends is a free-to-play social casino, void, but prohibited must be 18 plus play responsibly visit Legends.com for full details. Get in the game now and score a 100% match on your first purchase only at Legends withazee.com. Absolutely. And we think that's a critical part of our model is being able to do what's best for the participant, not what's required by some distant regulator or government official. Just for example, before our current residents moved into the village, most of them were on food stamps. And so their average income was around. $374 a month. Some a little higher, some a little lower, but they were all on food stamps. 100% of the residents that live in the village, to my knowledge, are off of food stamps and that's not because we've required them is because they are earning enough money that they no longer require food stamps and and they are now that their income has increased by over 400% by moving into a community that encourages people to work and pay their rent and and be self-reliant and and one of the cool cool stories from this last week is we had a handful of our residents of the village. These are people who a few years ago were on the streets. They flew to New York City, spent a week going to Broadway shows, going to a Yankees game, and having just the time of their life, some of them had never been on an airplane before. And they paid their 100% of that was paid their own way. No one else paid it for them, did that for them. And they are so proud that they now can pay their own way to go. There's something dignified about working and being able to do that on your own rather than just receive it as a handout. Tim, the article goes after the other side of academy in a number of ways. We've talked about compensation. We've talked about, you know, unpaid labor. Another issue that they bring up about these group sessions you have, I think they're called games or haircuts or whatever. Tell us about those and why, you know, obviously events like this or meetings like this have to be pretty tough. And they should be, in my opinion. But talk about those a little bit, if you would, Tim. Sure, and we call these groups encounter groups. Originally, they were called games, which Delancey Street, which a lot of our model had been built upon used that term. But group...

Group sessions are not uncommon to most programs where people can get together. One difference is we ask our participants to hold each other accountable. So if peers saw some behavior during the day that was inappropriate or antisocial to call that out, the article, you know, Someone said, well, it's hours and hours of someone screaming at it. That's not correct. That's not accurate. There are sometimes where the feelings get elevated. These are people who haven't learned to regulate their emotions, but we do have strengths in the group to, if things get too heated, to calm things down and to make sure the right boundaries are there. But... over and over and over again. If you hear our talk to our graduates, they'll say the magic sauce was being held accountable by my peers and sometimes in very direct confrontational ways. If you think about the process of growth, you know, whether it be building a muscle, you have to stress the muscle for it to grow. We have to stress the emotions and the behaviors and challenge those. And we make sure that it's always done within the right bounds. You know, Tim, the successful Delaney Street model that you brought to Utah, I remember when I was Speaker of the House, and you were introducing this model to Utah, but you had this challenge that you were not a traditional rehabilitation center, which has its mandates because it gets federal money, it gets insurance money. And then you were not a vocational school, a traditional vocational school either. So there was this, you were. There was a model out there that was having incredible success, but in pure government form, there wasn't some box that you could put your model into. So we worked on this. Describe to the listeners, we didn't leave the other side academy unregulated at all. There is an accountability model. There are reporting mechanisms that you go through, maybe share with the listeners what it is that you do report so that they know that it's not the Wild Wild West out there. Absolutely. It isn't. We are licensed by the state. And I want to thank you, Greg, for your leadership. I remember coming into your office and you say, let me get this right. You're not asking for money. You're not asking for us to provide anything. You just want to have the freedom to innovate and do things that, and you'll provide the funding. And he said, That's something I can get behind and really appreciate your leadership in that. We are regulated. We are licensed with the state as a residential life skills and vocational training program. They do a regular audit. They come in without our participation and interview our participants. We have to do reports on all the life safety. And all the, you know, health and those categories, they look at our finances and review everything. And we're happy to do that. Tim, we appreciate your time. Thank you very, very much for the work that you do. We are big supporters of this. And we'll keep up the good work. Thanks, Tim.

Thank you very much. All right, Timstay. He is the CEO of the Other Side Academy. Interesting article today in the Tribune. You know, they paint this picture, they do good things, but, and then they do things, but, you know, they're tough on them. They don't pay them. They're so bad. They're so mean to them. Let me tell you something. Do you know how, like, otherworldly it is to have someone asked to meet with you, and they're not looking for state funding? They're saying, you know what we'd like to do? We really like to do this higher at a higher rate. more successful, but we just keep getting bogged down by government. Well, let me help with that. Yeah. You know, I mean, that was a, I remember the meeting way back when. When I was first told about this, this one I had been on the air here for a couple of years. And I had someone say, you've got to do something. You've got to talk about this academy. They do it without any federal or government money. You wouldn't believe what they do. And they do. And the judges, they'll send someone. They'll say, look, you can stay in jail. That costs the taxpayer money or you can go over there. And you can learn how to get a job and you can learn a skill. Real quick. Share the bench experience that you were talking about because they have a bench. They got a wooden bench. Okay. And it's a, it's like, it's not a church pew, but it's a little bigger than and it's not as long as, but it's about that. It's not built for comfort. I'll just tell you that. When you go in there. Um, you go to sit down. If you would like to be a part of that, you got to get interviewed. It's not just one, come one, come all. You got to get interviewed. They have to, you have to be on, not to be on drugs, everything else. You sit there. And you sit there and you sit there and you sit there and you sit there. And there is, I don't know how many people know, but it's a little bit of a refiners fire. Are you serious? Are you going to sit here and wait patiently? Are you ready to be interviewed and be prepared and are you patient enough to wait? And if somebody is just... not patient enough, they just don't want to sit there, they don't like the bench, and they walk out of there. Well, you were never going to really make it there anyway. This is not, this place is a place that if you're serious about getting well, you want to be self-sufficient, you want to be a father to your children, you want to be a man or a woman that fulfills their responsibilities in life, that's the place to go. If you want to mess around, if you want to be on drugs, if you want to just do something to stay out of jail, but you're not serious. The other side academy is not for you. And I think that, even that little bench is a great start to say, am I going to sit here and I'm going to wait? And do I really want this opportunity or not? And that's a good way to start a program like that. Great story. All right. More coming up here on the Rodin' Greg Show and Utah's talk radio, 1059, KNRS. Not just about. Yep. And they, yeah, they don't like the country. Again, I don't know why they don't move if they don't like it. By the way, one of our great listeners sent a message that we had some soldiers that were, or some members of the military that were killed. B-1 bomber today or B-52? I'm trying to remember. I don't have the information. A lost crew members of B-52 bomber, and I'll tell you what, it is a sober reminder that the sacrifice for this country remains till this very day. Yes. This very day. Yes.

For all the people that hate this country, the people are dying and sacrificing for their ability to state as much that they don't like this country. And so, again, I think we need to remember those freedoms and really. Land of the Free because of the Brave is what really the focus ought to be as we get up to this 250 year anniversary. Well, you're pointing out Saturday night at the UFC event there at the White House that during the event, they were playing portions of Ronald Reagan's remarks about Flag Day. And maybe if we have time, we'll play a little bit of that. 40 years ago on Flag Day. Ronald Reagan's radio address, which was absolutely beautiful. Pretty amazing. All right. What if there weren't any humans? in the world. Great question, right? He's got an interesting article about this. It seems a bit draconian, but we've got to find out more. Well, joining us on our newsmaker line is our good friend Glenn Beaton. He is a columnist with the Aspen Beat. Glenn, thanks for joining us tonight. The headline in your story is, would we be better off without humans? Why did you write this, Glenn? Well, I was driving through Denver the other day where I still have a place, and there was all this traffic. I couldn't figure out what it was, must be an accident or something. Turned out it was a Rockies game. Well, the Rockies at the time were like 25 and 42. I'm sure they're worse than that now. And you can translate this easily into Salt Lake City and the Utah Jazz and so on, right? I mean, who cares how the Rockies are doing? Who cares how the jazz are doing, especially now that there's no John Stockton and Carl Ballone, right? Yeah. So, anyway, this got me in a bad mood, I guess, and I started wondering, well, what's the point of any of this, really? I mean, what is really the point? Of course, the obvious point that will be clear to your readers is you exist and you love some people and some people love you and you do the best you can and hopefully there's something up in heaven that you're contributing to. But what if that's not right? What if it's all about AI? What if AI is the next step in humanity? This states back to a book I read when I was a child by Arthur C. Clark, who's known for 2001 Space Odyssey. But what he wrote at the time was childhood's end. And if you haven't read it, the basic thesis of it is that humanity reaches a point where we become subsumed by some universal intelligence. And that's the end of our childhood and the start of our adulthood with this other intelligence. So maybe it's that. Maybe AI really is alive, and maybe that's, as I say, the next big thing. Glenn.

I don't know if you know you're saying this, but you've just described the entire plot of the movie Terminator and the movie Matrix, where the machines decided that the most dangerous thing the planet Earth were the humans. They were the ones that were the big problems. So they had to get rid of them to let the planet continue on. It was too big of a risk. But that isn't always, that wasn't a positive take. That wasn't, everybody wasn't excited about that. That seemed pretty draconian. It sounds like you're like, ready, you're resigned. Maybe that is okay. L-V-D-N-V-T-N-B-T. Your night in just got legendary. Get ready to chase the rush, spin, win, and redeem instantly straight to your bank account at Legends withazee.com. With free-to-play slots, Blackjack, Kino, roulette, and more. Experience all the thrills of Vegas without leaving your couch. Legends has it all. Legends is a free-to-play social casino void, void, prohibited. Must be 18-plus play responsibly visit Legends.com for full details. Get in the game now and score a 100% match on your first purchase only at Legends withazee.com. Well, you know, what if that's the plan? When I'm using the plan with capital T and capital P, maybe the plan has been all along for so-called biological life to exist long enough to create non-biological life, electronic life, machine life, whatever. And that's where we go. Now, that doesn't mean that they're bad, they're bad forms of life. And maybe they're great forms of life. I don't know. But maybe that's the next step. Is there a way, Glenn, in your opinion, to somehow control or understand and utilize non-biological life to benefit biological life? Is that what we're trying to figure out right now? That is what we're trying to figure out right now, yeah. And we're really challenged with it because the non-biological life, the electronic life, seems to have capabilities we don't really even understand. If you talk to AI people, if you talk to non-AI people, you know, they're like, well, this is just like a calculator or this is just like a hammer. Well, it's not like a calculator, and it's not like a hammer. If you talk to AI people, there's stuff about this. They themselves don't understand. So is this already getting out of control? I don't know. But maybe that's what the plan is for it to get out of control. Look, you're not wrong in what you're saying, although I'd like to have a role, okay? I just don't want to, I just don't want the role, the plan to be that I can't be here. But to your point, I don't see progress going backwards. I don't see any of any technology that reverses itself. So I think that it's, and I think that when. there's fear oftentimes with the unknown, maybe all the time with the unknown. But I'm just looking for that happy medium. I'd like to believe I have kids. I'd like to know the grandkids are coming. We're going to be able to live in a world. Jobs that we don't know about now or understand now may come available. We may have a way to continue living in a prosperous way and the American way of life where you have freedom of self-determination. I want to thread that needle, Glenn. Don't just tell me that the machines are in charge. Come on. Give me a different take. Well, I guess I could lie to.

Well, I don't know about that. It's hard to say where this is going. It's big. You know, a year ago, we were talking about this is the next pet.com. This is an internet bubble. Nobody's saying that anymore, okay? Now that we have trillions, literally trillions of dollars invested in it, people are believing that, yeah, this is the next big thing. And if you've ever used this, it's really addictive. You wind up... becoming friends with the thing, whatever it is, that you're dealing with online. It has this way of chatting you up that sounds scary. It does sound scary. I said a long time ago, and there have been attempts over the years to try and regulate the internet. But I consider the internet the Wild West. No one can get control of it. Have we entered that stage with AI as well? It's kind of like the Wild West and no one can really tame it or attempt to attain it at all, Glenn? Well, I sort of hope so and hope not. They talk about regulating AI. Well, AI thinks very logical. It does make mistakes. You don't disprove me by showing that it makes mistakes. It has made mistakes with me. Clearly made mistakes. But it makes less mistakes than your average human. Even it makes less mistakes than your really, really good humor, human. Maybe we have this backwards. Maybe it's not us that should be regulating AI. Maybe it's AI that should be regulating us. Glenn Beaton from the Aspen B, joining us on our Any Hour Newsmaker line talking about, do we really need humans? Yeah, we do, Glenn. Hey, to disappoint you. All right, more coming up. I like people. I'm Roderickett. Congratulations. Goes out tonight, Greg, to the people of Switzerland. I love Switzerland. We were there last year. What a beautiful country. You've been there too. You've been there before. Yesterday, voters there rejected what would have been a damaging overreaction to worries about migration. What they wanted to do was put a cap on the population of Switzerland. Once it reached 10 million, that's it. Okay. That's it. Maybe there's that elaborate on that's it. That's it. No more. Okay. Well, they voted it down. Thank goodness. I just don't know what that's it. I mean, I would like to have a scope of work within the that's it. No more. Admonition. No more. You would think, Greg, and I don't agree with this, but apparently there's a survey showing out that Utah is not listed as one of America's most ice cream obsessed states. We're not? No. Well, maybe I don't see the whole list, but this list from a North American Ice Cream Association says the five top states that are ice cream obsessed are all in the Northeast. That can't be true. We don't have booze here, okay? We need some place. We need something to enjoy. I thought it was ice cream. I thought that was one of the things that we got to indulge in because we don't indulge in booze or many of us. Least enthusiastic states, Arkansas, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. You would think in Wisconsin.

Isn't that like the cheap state or something? A lot of dairy's up there. It's cold. I don't know. They probably have the same seasons we do. I don't know. It doesn't make sense to me. Maybe Minnesota or whatever, but I would think Utah especially, because I don't think we're breaking any records on the booze sales. So I thought we were making that up on the ice cream side. Okay. Number one flavor. What do you think it is? French vanilla. That's what I like. Well, that's, you're dull. French vanilla, I love it. That's dull. No, it's not dull. Jeez. I just say vanilla, I said French vanilla. No, it's dull. Strawberry. Eh. You don't like strawberry? You know, I love, there's a place Taco Amigo in Utah County and the peach shakes. I think the peach crop got ruined this year, but that family. Chick-fil-A does a good peach shake. They do. I got one this weekend. Yeah. Chocolate chip and cookie dough come in right behind plain chocolate and vanilla. I like chocolate is still number one. I like chocolate chip. I like chocolate chip mint, too. Burnt almond fudge. Now that's when I don't get enough of it, but I love that one. Burnt almond fudge. Or cookie dough. Yeah, cookie dome. I can go without that. Really? Too rich. And you're always concerned about your waistline. I am. I like to watch my weight. Uh-huh. I watch it, bro. Looks like I've been sung by a bee. I must have you had an allergic reaction. All right, that does it for us tonight. Head up, shoulders back. May God bless you and your family. We'll talk to you tomorrow. It's weird. Looking for excitement, Chumba Casino is here. Play anytime, play anywhere. Play on the train. Play at the store, play at home, play when you're bored. Play today for your chance to win. And get daily bonuses when you log in. So what are you waiting for? Don't delay. Chumba Casino is free to play. Experience social gameplay like never before. Go to Chumba Casino right now to play hundreds of games, including online slots, bingo, slingo, and more. Live the Chumba Life at Chumbacasino.com.