The Rod and Greg Show: Sen. Mike Lee and Speaker Mike Schultz Condemn UVU Commencement Speaker

Oh, I've had no luck lately. Wait, lady luck? Brett Ski, I got you. I've had so much luck on SpinQuest.com. They have all of my favorite games, slot games, live blackjack craps, and bubble craps. You can even get a $30 coin pack for just 10 bucks. 10 bucks for 30? I'm headed over to SpinQuest.com right now. SpinQuest is a free-to-play social casino. Voidware prohibited. Visit spinquest.com for more details. It's good that we're here to digest and share. Disseminate the information that people need to know. Yeah, I mean, you can pile up on you. You might not know what's going to break it down. We're going to tell you what's, what to be, you know, concerned with and what to blow off because you're just getting tricked. You know, these leftist regime media types, they want you to look at, it's like a parlor trick. They want you to look over here while they're running around over there. We'll tell you. Which way to look? Hey, you know what happened today? What? Lawmakers are back in session in Washington. Whoa, they're working. No, no, I'm saying they're in session. I didn't use the word work because the question is, do you think they'll get anything done? No. No. No. No, I don't know. Maybe they'll expel some members of Congress. I don't know. I think that's already going to happen. That sounds like it's, you know. It's voluntary expulsion. Yeah. Again, I think there was a, I think what did they would be see? You know, team trades, what do we call it? You know, there was a, they made some, the teams came in, made some. some decisions together and said, oh, we'll boot ours. You get rid of our degenerate. You get rid of your degenerate and we'll call it good. So, you know, this is a two-team negotiation or trade. My question is, Greg, how many more women are going to come out after Eric Swalwell? I think he's now up to five or six. Man, for the conduct. We always knew he's a dirtball. You've heard that here on the show for quite some time. We didn't have the deets. We didn't know specifically. But it's actually... growing and it just begs the question well two questions one how could that guy be a hypocrite enough to sit and wag his finger at anyone always a republican on their believe women and look at what's been said about them and uh even he had a what was it his new saying for uh for the democrats was going to be it's all about to come out yeah well that didn't age very well it did come out unfortunately for so the the number of people that are coming out shows at a level of hypocrisy that's almost otherworldly but then second how about all the all the democrats who didn't who easily and had to know about all of this you can't have this much misbehavior and not know and they never cared which which gives us the answer the only crime that in their minds in the leftists and the elitists and the democrats minds about what crime he committed is he was messing with their power yeah that's it yeah and and if they couldn't get if they stood the chance of losing uh the the the governor's office to a Democrat in California and Swallow wouldn't leave, then his only crime was he was threatening their power. So they just turned on him, went after him. Well, another woman came out today, and we'll let you hear this a minute. I've got an interesting thing to share with you on that. But a little bit later on, we'll talk about recess, making recess mandatory in schools.

Amen to that. Yes. Mike Shulson is going to join us. He's going to talk about what's going on in UVU. As a matter of fact, someone tweeted out today. You know, the university says they selected her because she is nonpartisan. Yeah. Okay. Yes. Let's know what we dug out today. Completely nonpartisan. All right. She was in Kamala Harris's campaign motorcade in Wisconsin. Okay. She fawns over the phrase, the future is female. That's a Kamala Harris phrase, by the way. And she praises Kamala Harris's book 107 days. But she's nonpartisan, Greg. Well, are there any Republicans that she's praising? Or is that just it? Don't see any. Don't see any. I said this yesterday that the leftists think that nonpartisan means everyone believes us. Yeah. Like they just don't go too far away from our worldview. That makes you reasonable. That makes you nonpartisan. They just... You know, I guess it's a good gig if you can get it, but it's not very fair. All right. Another woman, as we mentioned, came out today with a very detailed account of the allegations of rape against Eric's Walwell. Listen to what she said at a news conference earlier today about meeting up with him two or three times and finally a third time. What happened to her? On the third occasion, I believe he drugged my drink. I only had one glass of wine. He, we were supposed to go to a political event and he said he needed to get paperwork from his hotel room. When I arrived at his hotel room, I was already incapacitated and I couldn't move my arms or my body. He raped me and he choked me. And while he was joking me, I lost consciousness. And I thought I died. Her name is Lana Drew, I believe, Greg. And she owned a modeling company. And Swalwolo, you know, said, hey, I will help you with your company and make it expand. That's why she was meeting with him because she saw an opportunity to grow her company and look what happened to her. Allegedly. Yeah, yeah. Allegedly. Now, interesting thing about this when this news conference was going on today earlier, I was watching this, Greg. No coverage on CNN. No coverage on MS now. Only Fox News provided coverage. Do you think they're trying to cover up for this guy? Of course. Sure they are. Of course. Well, they want to win California, but if they pay too much attention to it, then it's going to, you know, it's going to still splash. It's going to splash negatively. Yep. All right, we've got a lot to get to today. When we come back, we'll talk about an effort to make recess mandatory. in public schools. Before the break, we were talking, you know, you and I and Tim from RGS about our favorite time in school. It was always recess. Absolutely. We just look forward to recess. But it's sad, Greg, that it's gone away. More and more schools, they don't. It's inhumane. Yeah, it is. Especially the boys. Yeah, we like sports.

You know, we like to play. We like to do lots of stuff. Yeah, yeah. Well, is it time to bring it back? Should it be mandatory in elementary schools? Joining us on our any hour newsmaker line to talk about that. It's great to have Kelly McKenna. She is CEO of end chronic disease on our newsmaker line this afternoon talking about recess. Kelly, how are you? And welcome to the Rod and Greg Show. Thanks for joining us. Thank you for having me. Kelly, why is recess so important and what on earth has happened to it? First of all, I want to say, I heard you saying that boys need recess, girls need recess too. Everyone needs recess. Okay, I'm sorry. I just spoke from that boy's perspective. I apologize. You're exactly right. You're right. It is a without regard to gender. Yes, I'm here to give the other perspective. So my organization and chronic disease were focused on tackling the number one cause of death and disability in America, which is chronic disease. And chronic disease is things like diabetes. cancer heart disease autoimmune disease all these illnesses which anyone listening to the call is more likely than not to die from have are caused by the same underlying factors There's as much as 80% preventable. And one of the biggest factors aside from nutrition in contributing to these illnesses is a lack of enough physical activity. So recess is very important from that perspective. It's important for many other perspectives as well, you know, kids need. social face-to-face time, which is happening increasingly less in an era where all of us are on our phones all the time. So, but the importance of seeing your peers face to face is very important for childhood development. It's very important for nervous system regulation and safety. And then giving kids that break in the school day also helps their behavioral, their behavior. It helps their academic outcomes. And so it's a crucial time. Over the last couple of decades since the No Child Left Behind Act, you know, our country was trying to catch up on academic performance and that came at the expense of non-tested subjects like recess. So there was an effort to increase time spent on teaching kids more and more for the subjects that they'd be tested on academically and reducing the other ones. Ironically, that taking away recess probably has hurt academic outcomes. But yeah, as you mentioned, many states, so right now my organization is working on a number of bills. We work on policies at the state level to promote chronic disease prevention, do a lot of K-12 policy reform work. Recess is a hot topic right now. There are only 10 states nationally that require a daily minimum set amount of time. for recess. There are a few other states that vaguely require it, but there's not an enforcement mechanism. There's not a time amount that has to be offered. And it doesn't say that they have to be outside doing unstructured play. So for example, in New York right now, there are kids who aren't getting recess because

Well, they're given indoor recess instead of outdoor recess. And so they're coming home telling their moms, we were watching Disney movies instead of playing outside. So every kid needs to be outside. And the other important piece of it is a lot of schools withhold recess as punishment. And so when you have kids, you have behavioral issues, and then you take away the opportunity for them to kind of get some of that energy out and, you know, get a break from the confinement of the classroom. the rigidity of being inside, that is helpful for actually behavioral issues. So a lot of the recess bills that are underway are also removing that ability to withhold recess as a punishment, which will help all the other outcomes I've mentioned. Recess as a punishment, I would have never seen recess. I would have been it for me. No kickball, nothing. I would have been out. So what's so confusing and actually surprising about this is. I think that there's some, whether it's physical education, whether it's the presidential fitness program that I think was started by John F. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and carried on for quite some time. And I think maybe Donald Trump reintroduced it into our schools, this physical fitness test. But I've never heard anyone argue that physical activity for kids isn't a positive thing. So what is their argument? What is the public schools argument? And you mentioned no child left behind, but. What is the argument that you should not have physical activity for kids and keep them inside school and drilling, whatever it might be? But what is the argument that they're using to take away recess? So there's not such loud opposition against recess mandates. Though we do hear in Arizona earlier this year, for example, I went to the state to testify in support of recess and PE, presidential fitness test. And there was a lot of concern in the legislature because their last place, I think, of all states in terms of literacy. And so they said, we can't make more time in the day for recess. We have to make sure our kids can read. And like I said, giving them recess might help them read more. But aside from that, it's really a matter of competing priorities in the legislature. And then some schools... You know, we'll argue that they don't have the space for it, especially like urban schools where there may not be any playgrounds. But we are finding, I mentioned working on a recess bill in New York, some of the teachers in the most urban schools that have, might have the least access to outdoor play space are the most in favor of this bill because they're recognizing that those kids are furthest from green grass. They're likely not getting that outdoor playtime at home. And so it's not so much that there's. opposition saying kids don't you know kids shouldn't be outside it's it's a competing priorities and so our our organization one reason I'm invested in our work I left a career and a long career in finance to run this organization last year I've had a long history of chronic illness myself because it's important to have loud voices making sure these bills get prioritized. You know, I recently learned that there was a bill in Nevada for recess last year and it didn't pass only because I think someone missed a deadline and there wasn't a loud voice making sure it got pushed forward. So that's what we're trying to do. I also wanted to assist.

Go ahead. Yeah, Kelly, I want to ask you a question. I love this idea. I think Reg and I are big supporters of this. My concern is, as I talk to my grandchildren, and they're in recess, even recesses are controlled nowadays. I mean, they don't have the play equipment they used to have. They can't tease each other. I mean, they have to even be careful in recesses to what they say to each other. Well, I love the idea. We need to free them up when they're in recess. Do we not? Mm-hmm. What's going on, everyone? It's Bluff here, and we're driving through the states in the BluffMobile, and the best thing that we can do is play our favorite casino-style games on SpinQuest. They have over a thousand games, including Live Dealer Blackjack and Crops, with tons of slots and unlimited options. You can get a $30 coin pack for just $10 for new users. Sign up today. Go to SpinQuest.com right now. SpinQuest is a free-to-play social casino. Avoid where prohibited. Visitspinquest.com for more details. Yeah, I mean, kids need, so what the bills that we like to support are advocating for unstructured playtime, unstructured screen free playtime, basically. Let the kids go be kids unless someone's hurting someone. Don't intervene. Don't have them on their phones. They need to be interacting with each other. And yeah, minimal regulation. We'll take that anytime. Kelly, keep up the good work. We love this idea. Thank you very much for joining us. Thank you for having me. Appreciate it. All right. On our newsmaker line, that's Kelly McKenna. She is the CEO of end chronic disease talking about the fact that we need to make recess mandatory in all our schools. I'm trying to, off the top, do you know what the Utah law is? Do we have a recess law? I don't know. I don't think so. I don't. Let them out and go. Absolutely. I didn't even know it was debatable. I didn't. I really didn't. I thought that's just intuitive to the whole experience. I would think so. All right. We've got a lot more going to get to the Speaker of the Utah House. Mike Schultz scheduled to join us next right here on the Rod and Greg Show and Talk Radio 105.9, KNRS. This Utah Valley University commencement speaker for quite some time. And we've had a lot of you call in. express your frustration. And really, we don't understand in the timeliness. This exact school year, largest graduating class of Utah Valley University that they've ever had, it was this class that lived through the September assassination of Charlie Kirk. And to have a commencement speaker that would address this class, who's been, who was critical of Charlie Kirk hours after he was assassinated, who's who doesn't look nonpartisan to me whatsoever. If you look at her just even a little bit in terms of what she's done, what she said, I don't know. It sounds like UVU is tone deaf, but I do know who they do listen to, Rod. Do you know they listen to? Who? Utah Speaker of the House. I would have. They probably should. I think they should. So joining us, because we want to know the inside details, if any. Speaker Mike Schultz of the Utah State House is joining us on the program. Speaker Schultz, welcome to the Rod and Greg show.

Hey, Rob, Greg. Hey, it's great to be with you and your listeners. Thanks for having me. So I've got to believe that if you, and I think you have on a podcast and other things, maybe informally expressed frustration, but where are things as you see it standing right now with Utah Valley University? It is a state institution of higher learning. You are power of the purse, the legislative branch. I know those communications can be strong with universities, state universities. Anything to report to us in terms of, is there any buyer's remorse on this speaker? Is UVU hearing the kind of concern and maybe even anger coming from many Utahans right now? You know, I don't know whether they are or not. I am disappointed that they have not made a decision yet or have not canceled and found a new commencement speaker. Look, commencement should be a moment centered on the students, right, and their achievements, their hard work, the families who supported them. This day really belongs to them and to have and to bring this kind of controversy back to, you know, it was just a year ago. when Charlie Kirk was assassinated right there on the very campus. And those same kids had to witness that. And this is not something that was just, I mean, this is something that was just horrific. We haven't seen an assassination like this in decades and decades. And to have a speaker, ask a speaker that was not just critical of Charlie Kirk, the things that she said right after in the wake of the murder was just totally inexcusable and inappropriate. And to ask a speaker like that. to come and speak is just not the thing to do. It's not common sense. They need to do better, and I really hope that they change course on this. sooner than later because it's going to take it away from the kids all this is going to turn into is a huge mess with people protesting and it's not going to be good for any side it's not what a commencement speaker should be you know uh speaker i i love your emphasis on the the students and the kids who've gone through school and are graduating and being recognized for their efforts um You talk to a lot of people out there, I know, interacting with people all the time. What are you hearing from people? Do they bring this up at all, Speaker Shultz? You know, they absolutely, my phone has been blowing up over the last couple weeks. Over the last couple weeks on this. It's just average people, and I think that's what you'd be used missing on this. They do not understand. the way that most people feel in the state of Utah on this. And it's wrong. And this is not the right time, not the right speaker for this year's commencement. It was less than a year ago that Charlie Kirk was assassinated. And again, this was the worst assassination in decades. And it happened right there. It's not.

Fair to the kids. You know, fair to those students. Speaker, you brought up, you bring up some very good points. They really sound very similar to a lot of points that we, a lot of issues that our listeners have called in and made, talk back recordings that have also expressed. But has anyone asked UVU to formally walk us through why there is no problem with this? Why we are misreading this and why she is, we are lucky to have this speaker. And to the extent that she said anything negative about Charlie Kirk, were the problem they're not the problem have they walked anyone through their rationale here and justified what they've done You know, I've asked UVU to reconsider their invitation to Sharon Linda McMahon and express my concerns exactly that. And I have not got an answer back yet, but I'm disappointed because it's been close to two weeks now and nothing's happened. And so it makes me a little nervous that they might be moving forward with this. And I just, I can't, I couldn't urge. And this is the absolute wrong decision. And I will continue to express my concerns with that and ask for that exact reasoning as to why they think it's a good idea. Because for the life of me, all I can see is all the terrible points of this and the fact that it's not fair to the students. And why put the students through this type of thing again? It was less than a year ago where that tragic assassination happened. It's not the right thing to do. It's not the time and the place to be having this. I mean, commencement speakers should be about. the students and celebrating them and their hard work. And you think what it takes, what is taken to go through to get their degrees, let's make it about the students. Not politics. You know, Speaker Schultz's final question for you. I think what leaves everybody scratching their head over this whole thing is the timing of it. And as you mentioned, I mean, and Greg mentioned, you know, going into our conversation with you, he was shot and killed on, what, September 10th? It's not even a year yet. And did nobody think about the timing of this and why it was inappropriate? Again, you know, if Sharon and they want to have Sharon come and speak on the campus, I think that is totally appropriate, but not for a commencement speaker. That is where I just can't get through my head the rationale of this, and it's wrong, and I hope that they do better. And I'm going to encourage them, and I know many others are. So let's keep talking and trying to get common sense through on this. Speaker Schultz, always great chatting with you. Thank you. We appreciate a few minutes of your busy time. Thanks for having me. Thank you. All right. Speaker, Mike Schultz, Speaker of the Utah House, talking about the commencement speaker at UVU. Hopefully, I don't know if it's going to change anything, Greg, but I think if people are upset about this, call the university. Let them know of your dissatisfaction with what's going on because it is wrong. The timing of it is horrible.

It's so obvious. I just want to hear them say it's not. Tell me why I'm seeing this wrong. It's on them. It's on them to walk us through how in the world this makes any sense. I mean, we've all articulated why it doesn't make sense, but have them explain why this, after hearing all they have, they're immovable, they're doubling down, and they think that they've made the right decision. Just tell us how that works. I'd love to hear. All right, more coming up on the Rod and Greg Show on this Tuesday afternoon. This is kind of frightening news. We all know what has happened in Virginia. where Abigail Spanberger, who went to voters before the election saying, hey, I'm a moderate. We'll bring all the sides together. And as soon as she gets in, she begins as flaming liberal, right? I mean, that story is basically out there. Well, apparently this afternoon, she signed into law a bill. It's called HB. 965. It effectively says Virginia's presidential votes are null and void. Because what's going to happen under this bill, it basically says that the state's electoral votes. will go to the winner of the national popular vote, not the winner of the vote in the state of Virginia. So you could have a Republican win the Virginia race, but if this Republican would lose the national voting, okay, the national popular vote, that individual would not get the electoral college votes from Virginia. They'd go to the winner of the popular vote. Yeah, and I've seen this idea that's been pushed, and it was even a bill in Utah. And, you know, some people can make this sound like it reasonable, that if you, the flyover states, Republican states get ignored. Everything, when you do the electoral college, everyone wants to talk Iowa at the beginning of the primary, so you're talking farmer subsidies. You're talking swing states in manufacturing areas, so you're talking manufacturing deals. Mm-hmm. um senior social security in florida there's just like these just different issues meanwhile the bulk of america their votes maybe if they're strong blue or red nobody campaigns them because they think they've already got those votes so it was a way to make put everybody's vote in play is what is said The problem with this is think about what Virginia just did. They don't have to cheat now in their own county clerk and their own county. All they have to do is make sure those highly blue, red metropolitan areas in America just spike those votes beyond belief. And whatever that popular vote final tally is, they went all of Virginia's now without regard to whether Virginia voted in every county for a Republican. Virginia's electoral college votes. And they have to do that through their legislature and their governor. But, you know, they. They can assign those electoral votes as they like. It's a popular vote. It used to be, yeah, so it's a bad idea. Scary, scary idea. We brought this up late yesterday. More information on the, I love the title of this, the Stop Nick Shirley Act. being considered in California, which basically would criminalize investigative journalism, right? Yeah. Guess who sponsors the act? Who? It came out of committee in California yesterday and a vote 11 to 2. Primary sponsor is Far Left Assemblywoman Mia Bonda. She is the wife of the Attorney General in the state of California. Rob Bonta.

Yeah. So Nick could be fined $4,000 if he does something like this again. So they don't want to stop fraud in California. They want to stop the guy that finds the fraud. That exposes the fraud. In California. Isn't that about right? That's not very on brand for California. Yeah. They're calling it the Stop Nick Shirley Act, which will criminalize investigative journalism. Now, if you're a major television station there in L.A. and you have an investigative unit. Can they not do investigative journalism anymore? No, I can answer that. Only against Republicans. There you go. I'm sure there's something in the language that as long as they all agree that it's right of center, go for it. Yeah, yeah. All right, coming up, hour number two of the Rotting Greg Show, The Pain at the Pump. We'll talk about that next. Stay with us. Happy birthday, America. It's time to celebrate and play your favorite Las Vegas casino games by American-owned SpinQuest.com. What's better than fireworks than American Pie? Hitting a black tech in the palm of your hand, and you won't lose your fingers. Over a thousand games, including slots and live dealers. And $30 point packs are on sale for 10. SpinQuest.com. Buy American players for American players. SpenQuest is a free-to-play social casino. Avoid where prohibited. Visit SpenQuest.com for more details.

You say Tuesday morning? Oh, good, good. I might say Tuesday morning, Tuesday afternoon. Ah, okay. Just checking. Just, just back, checking. I had the afternoon ahead of the morning. We're just, you know, we're truthful here. We just have to, you know, we got to keep it accurate. We're not Democrats. We just can't throw out words that don't matter. I know it's afternoon. I figured, I meant to say, hope you had a good morning and a good afternoon. And I reversed that. Unfortunately, you picked up on that. I didn't think. Sorry, sorry, boss. Sorry, just where I was. Just checking. Where I was, where I was checking. Well, I'm Citizen Hughes. Just wanted you to know. I'm glad you know that. Look, this 5 o'clock hour, I love this 5 o'clock hour. And it doesn't always, I mean, we have a lot of things to unpack. We've talked about some important issues here. We just heard from the Speaker of the House, Mike Schultz, about UVU. We talked about the crazies trying to kill our recess. I think that's rude. There's public schools doing that. But anyway. I like the 5 o'clock hour because as we delve into some issues, I love to hear from the callers. We've just got the greatest, I think, smartest listening audience in all the land. And so it's always fun to check out the talk back live comments and the calls. So this 5 o'clock hour is always kind of the one I hope to have that conversation. Well, the interesting thing going on right now, of course, a lot of people are talking about the blockade. There are rumors that the U.S. and Iran may get together again, have a conversation. Apparently the... The breakpoint in the conversations over the weekend was Iran's effort to gain nuclear power, become a nuclear power. Yes. And develop nuclear power within their own community and nuclear missiles. The United States, they want a ban on it for five years. The U.S. was asking for 20. I think you and I would like it forever. I'm looking at 500 years. That sets ballpark. I mean, at least there's an end date on 500 years. I can't believe we would be okay with any year they would end and be able to start building nuke state. They don't seem very trustworthy. That's just my take. But apparently that was the one key element, the red line, that neither side was willing to cross. when it comes to the development of nuclear in Iran. Now, there is discussion, of course, about maybe. And, you know, the president hinted at this. He says they're feeling the effects of the blockade. And a lot of people around the country or, you know, around the world are saying, we got to get that oil going. We were talking with who we were talking earlier. You know, Tim Brown from our Jans just got back from New Zealand. I think he said. They're limiting gas. He also mentioned his son, I believe, who is in South Africa. They have no gas. They've parked their cars. They're parking their cars. So the world is really feeling this. We are feeling it back home here at the United States, not for a lack of fuel like we did in 1973 with the gas lines, but in the price. And, you know, I paid what, 420, 439 the other day? It is, and we've heard this. I mean, we have all the supply we need, so we don't have a supply and demand problem, but it's a global commodity. And so you're seeing...

uh, the, uh, you know, the straighter Hormuz really affect global supply. Here's what I'll tell you. And I'm going to connect these dots. You said what? Over 100 empty tankers on their way to the Gulf of America. Okay. So there is, it looks like certainly people have given up on the waiting game going on around there and around the Strader Hormuz. And now they're going to go find some supply here in the, in, you know, in the Gulf of America, which actually addresses the supply issue. Well, guess what I saw? I don't know if this holds or if the markets have closed, but. that turn of events, at least on the global market, has lowered the price of a barrel of crude down to 80 bucks today. I haven't seen that. No, I haven't seen that, yeah. Dropped. And I'm telling you, if we create some trading partners with all the gas, we're a net exporter already between Venezuela and the United States, according to Donald Trump, you're looking at as much a supply as... What, Saudi Arabia and Russia combined? Well, let the games begin. Let's go find new customers all over the world, and let's get that supply up, and we'll see the prices come down. Senator Roger Marshall, he's a Republican senator from the state of Kansas, was interviewed yesterday. and was asked about how long he thinks the American people are willing to deal with higher gas prices, the tradeoff being national security. I want you to hear what he said, and then we want to get your reaction to this. That's an interesting question. I think back to my grandparents and their generation that served in World War II. Could you imagine trying to tell the president, look, you only got so many days to defeat Hitler or defeat Japan? We have to do it until we get the outcome that we want. It's weeks and not months. But at the end of the day, Americans are going to be safer. And the good news is we're the leading producer of oil in the world. We're exporting more than we're importing. We're not standing in lines. That overall wages have been going faster than inflation under this president. Here it is. It's going to be tax day very soon. And then Americans are going to get an extra $1,500 or $1,500 rebate as well. So I'm sorry the gas prices are going up, but help is on his way. And your national security, yes, is even more important than your pocketbook. So, Greg, my question, is national security more important than the pocketbook to the American people right now? And soft times, I think people will be, are going to be really, really mad about being inconvenienced. If something were catastrophic enough or dangerous enough to make you feel a little bit more that your safety is being threatened, I think that the inconveniences would mean nothing versus the security that we need in this world. I think that's what's, I think that Trump is the only president in a window of time that could deal with Iran where he understands the balance between the American people. inconvenience versus what could be worse than that. And so I trust this specific president to deal with the nukes, the missiles, and the terrorism, those three things that we have this opportunity to stop with Iran. And really, I think President Trump's the only guy that can do it. But if the American people don't feel they're threatened, because that's basically what the senator is saying is for national security. If we don't, if we're not afraid of our national security, are we willing to wait for?

gasoline to continue to go up the president said the other day it may be high through the summer yeah well you know so are how long are the american people willing to wait You know, again, there's nice to haves and half to halves, and it just depends on what the role that you see Iran. Now, look, there's a lot of people that conflate Iraq in a 20-year war with what this president's doing in Iran. You got 88 minutes to get Maduro out of Venezuela. Let's put that in the good column, that that wasn't a forever war. Let's look at this president and understand how critical he was of Jeb Bush and his brother, George W. Bush, for the Afghanistan, Iraq and Afghanistan deployments. He has been so critical. of these forever wars. He's never been a neocon. So what you're seeing out of him is when there's new information and information that shows, these guys have long-range missiles. No one believed it. Iran was saying in February, we don't have them. They proved they did in March by shooting missiles, 4,000 kilometers at the same distance to Diego Garcia Islands. They could have reached London, Paris, Germany, you name it. So... I think he's making the right decisions for the American people. And I think he's going to do his level best to explain why these are threats that we need to deal with in this window now. But I do. I think you've got to let the man cook. He's got to be able to do what he's doing. And if you're upset about the gas prices, I think that it could get worse than gas prices if this type of threat is not dealt with. So you're saying give them some time. Absolutely. What have we been? Month and a half, six weeks now into this? Yes. And I'll tell you this. Bullies don't show up. When it's easy. Yeah, if you're weak, that's when a bully shows up. If you're strong, bullies go away. This is a strong time for us. This is the time to confront these bullies. And I'm going to tell you that if they stay strong, they're going to defeat this bully. But if you get beat from within or you get flanked, that's harder to do. I just think. that he's going to prevail. And I think we get a lot of this sorted out well before the midterms. And I think people will be happy. Yeah. And that's the question I have for people today because I think the senator raised an interesting question. Is the war with Iran right now worth higher gas prices? The president says they're a threat. He felt that threat. And he said, you know, unlike the, what, three or four presidents before him, he's doing something about it. Is it worth it to you? Higher gas prices for national security. Do you feel that? 888-5708010. 888-57080-10 on your cell phone, dial pound 250 and say, hey, Rod, or just go to the talkback line and leave a message by downloading the iHeart radio app. The war with Iran right now is worth the higher gas prices because it's an issue of national security. So what is more important to you? National security or higher prices? Short-term pain for long-term gain. We want to hear what you have to say. 888-570801010 or on your cell phone, dial pound 250 and say, hey, Rod. Okay, let's go to the phones. Let's go to John and Ogden. John, thank you for holding. Welcome to the Rod and Greg Show. How are you doing, guys? We're doing well. Thank you for asking. I just want to touch on something that Beck had on this morning.

You know, theoretically, we have, we're a net exporter of oil and we have a huge resource. The problem is our technologies out there. Most of our refineries are decades old. They don't effectively, the majority of them, don't effectively fracture or crack is the term, the oil and break off the solvents and, you know, aromatics and stuff that you produce gas and whatnot with. He estimated, and this was based on some economic studies, due to the permitting process and financing, which, you know, it's risky to finance something like an oil refinery when you don't know what's going to happen. They're looking at 12 years to build a refinery. And I don't know why we can't get the president and Lee Zeldin and some of these people to say, hey, you know what? Our product has to be shipped offshore. We have to buy other fuel oil and bring it here. That makes us subject to global pricing. Why don't we refit these refineries, make them able to fracture that oil, or build new ones, cut the red tape and build them, and then we're self-contained, and we have a reliable resource. Who do you go to to get somebody to do that? We have one decent senator. Maybe we should talk to Mike. Yeah, you know what, John? Great point, John. Great point, John. I heard Glenn talk about this as well. You did this morning. I didn't realize, first of all, that our refineries are not... to the point where they, what is it, where they can process the light sweet crude, we can only do the heavy stuff. And the light stuff we can do. So we have to ship it elsewhere to have that done. I mean, and you're right, on the refineries, it's going to be 12 to 20 years. And administration changes, they could put a stop just like they did keystone. They put a stop to it, on again, off again. And you could have the same thing happening again, John. Happy birthday, America. It's time to celebrate and play your favorite Las Vegas casino games by American-owned SpinQuest.com. What's better than fireworks than American Pie? Hitting a black tech in the palm of your hand, and you won't lose your fingers. Over a thousand games, including slots and live dealers. And $30 point packs are on sale for 10. SpinQuest.com. Buy American players for American players. SpenQuest is a free-to-play social casino. Avoid where prohibited. Visit SpenQuest.com for more details. We have to overcome this. I don't know how to approach that. But somehow this has got to be corrected because we're just shooting ourselves in the foot. Yeah, we sure are. John, good point. Thank you very much for joining us. Yeah, and I just say two things. There is some permitting and some green light for a new refinery. We covered this on the show. I think it was in – anyway, there's new permits that have been given. In Texas. In Texas, there's a new refineries. But 78 was the last time a new refinery came online. We've been dealing, as John pointed out, all this time with these older ones.

We have seen upgrades. I do, maybe it's not taking the light suite crew, but we have a good supply here in Utah. We have refineries in Utah. And we've also partnered as a state to make sure that those refineries were upgraded so that they were, it was called the tier, I think tier three fuel. So there's been a lot of upgrades to these refineries, but I think the point still remains that we don't have the number of them. And then you look at California where it used to be the third largest state with refineries, and that state has almost all of them. Yeah. by making it so difficult, all shut down. If they aren't shut down now, they will be very, very soon. Let's go to Draper. Here what Robert has to say tonight on The Rod and Greg Show. Hi, Robert. How are you? Hi, guys. I just was thinking it's not as the price of gasoline, though. It's the cost of fertilizer and all of the things that are associated with that. So I think that people who support Trump are probably on board with this, and Democrats are probably against it. The interesting part is the middle ground, the independence. I don't know, particularly when you're looking at the midterms, how they're going to feel about not only their gas tank, but, you know, the price of food and everything associated with petroleum going up. It's a really good point, Robert. Do you think we, well, that's okay. My question is, you know, midterms, it's after Labor Day when you start to see those campaigns really heat up. That's September. Are we, is this conflict one that we're going to start to see the global commodity market go back down? I said that I saw it drop to $80 today just on some news. If you got control of that region, would we see a response quick enough that by Labor Day? we see a brighter picture than we see now. My question is too, Greg, if, let's say the Democrats take control the House, okay? That's the prediction of a lot of people. What are they going to do differently? Just say, just want to impeach Trump. What plan have they offered to the American people that say, we'll make your life better? Here's the plan. They don't have one. They'll impeach Trump. I mean, they have just made a living on being critics. They've never had anything that they've actually created or pushed or done that was for the benefit of this country. They just want to criticize their way in. And impeach them. Yeah. And they've promised to impeach. That's what they'll do. All right. We've got a lot more calls to get to. Stay with us if you would. It is The Rod and Greg Show on Utah's Talk Radio, 1059, KNRS. A Republican senator from the state of Kansas. His name is Roger Marshall interviewed on one of the morning news programs. He basically argued that the war in Iran is worth high gas prices when it comes to national security, you know, a little short-term pain for long-term gain. And he says the American people need to be willing to accept that. And I think a lot of Americans do. But there are some who are very concerned about it. I mean, he brought up World War II as a whole different situation, in my opinion, from World War II.

that up but it was interesting you talked to people who lived during that time are many of them left unfortunately you know they gave up sugar they gave up fuel they they really had to limit a lot of things we are nowhere near that point but we are paying higher prices we are and i and i again i want to go back to i want to go the colors but there's a lot to say on this but i do think that it there are times and this is american grit american might i think that the people the democrats over over overplay it i'm not callous to the challenges but i think the challenges or the or the threats that this country faces you got to you got to address them let's go to the phone let's talk to i think it's uh dana or dana in ogden tonight dana how are you welcome to the show i'm good thank you good afternoon gentlemen i think on the issue of gas prices that educated americans patriots know that we can do it. We've done it before. We can do it again. If we can free the Middle East from Islamic regime, that's the best outcome. We've got to do it. Yep, I would totally agree with you, Dana. Thank you. She's spot on. I agree with her. I really do. Okay, let's keep going. Let's go to Dane from Roy. Dane, thank you for holding. Welcome to the Roden Greig Show. Yeah, is it Dana or Dane? I'm saying Dane. Not Dana. Dane. Unless you want to be called Dana. No, well, I have been before, but, you know, my name's spelled a little strange. So. I kind of think that it's a no-brainer question. I mean, I'm all for the economic independence of uncoupling ourselves in the fuel industry or prices from everyone else. But to the question, are you willing to pay for security? If you know what's coming... then I don't think anybody can say no. I mean, I got an analogy. A real quick one. If you're a salesman for a security firm that watches, say, a neighborhood, you pull up to a house knocking the door trying to sell your security, and you realize that the burglar is knocking on the door at the same time, the person answers the door, and you say, hey, do you want some security? It's for sale, or you want to pay the price. You're going to say, yeah. It's only the people who don't know it's coming who are going to say, well, I don't know if I'm willing to pay it or not. So to me, it's all about those people who don't realize or haven't been taught or the message hasn't been given well enough of how much in danger we were of a situation with Iran that we didn't start. The one that was going to be started by them. Yeah, yeah, good point. Thank you, Dan. I like the analogy. I like the point, and I think he's right. And I think that goes back to how is this framed? And are the everyday American people really understanding the threat that this place has? And look, all you have to do for me, the case was closed when you saw that they had long-range missiles that could hit Western Europe.

when they said just weeks earlier in the month of February before March, that they did not have those in any way, shape, or form, and they did. Once you saw that, I think that we should have better understood who we were dealing with. Let's go now to Eric from the Fine City of Draper. Eric, thank you for holding. Welcome to the Rodding Greg Show. Eric, he's only saying that because he lives there. So that's why he's pointing out. Your intelligence are. I know you're a smart guy because you live in a great city. It's just a wonderful place to raise kids. That's right. Hey, everybody, Lady Luck here. And we're celebrating America's 250th birthday. Now, all summer long, I'm going to be celebrating by playing on SpinQuest.com, which is an American-owned social casino. It obviously features over a thousand slot games and live blackjack, live craps, live bubble craps. Head on over to SpinQuest.com. Get yourself a $30 coin pack for just $10. SpenQuest is a free-to-play social casino. Voidware prohibited. Visit SpenQuest.com for more details. Okay, so at the end of the day, when Trump took office, the country was in such a mess. And as he looked at China, and, you know, China really is the danger in the world. They're the ones that are trying to bankrupt America. They're the ones that are trying to take over, as much as they can possibly take over, just watch what they do. And so Trump's position really was, well, what is China's weakness? and their weakness is oil. So what did he do? He sat down first right from the very beginning with the Arabs and got them shored up and made sure they were on our side. Then he goes into Venezuela, gets to Venezuela oil. And the third leg of the whole deal is Iran. And without oil, China is now vulnerable from the standpoint of negotiating. They weren't in a negotiating position. They were strong. They were looking at us as weak. And it was dangerous. And Iran was their proxy. their guy that was going to really cause problems. They were going to shut down the straits anyway. They were going to create problems for the Saudis and for the rest of the oil countries. And so Trump really had, you know, this is the last thing. And so if he can just get this and get control over it, then he can sit down with Xi Jinping and say, guys, what are you doing? This is bad for business. This isn't going to help you. You know, we all can make plenty of money. Let's just stop this whole war thing. and let's go to work. And that's what he's trying to do. But he had to shore up this whole situation with it. I mean, we're $38 trillion in debt. We're right on the edge. Trump knew that. And so he's kind of everything that he does is to save America. Everything he's doing to bring in all the investment, to bring in manufacturing, get it out of China, bring it back into the United States. All of those things, the average voter has no clue. They don't see what he's doing. But he's saving this country. Yeah, good point. I think you're spot on. And I'd mention this during the break, as we were talking about this deal, that, you know, the president has indicated they may be coming back to the bargaining table. They may want to sit down. I wonder how much China is behind telling Iran.

Get back to the table because if we don't get our oil from you because he sealed off those ports were in trouble as well. I saw a video of where they track tankers. There was a Chinese tanker that was turned around today. Back into the straight, they weren't able to come back. They weren't able to come out. I do. And I think if you get that under control straight of her moves and then you look at the supply between Venezuela and the United States, I think over midterm to long term, we're going to see lower gas prices because we've got a sane country we're dealing, a world we're dealing with versus. Madness we have with driving out there. That's true. All right. We'll get to some of your talkback comments. More of your phone calls. 888-5708010 on your cell phone, dial pound 250 and say, hey, Rod, or leave us a message on the talkback line by downloading the iHeart radio app. All right, let's go to our talkback line, see what you're saying about higher gas prices versus a safer country. Hey, Ryan, Greg. Do not let this go into the summer. If they're so smart up there, they can keep those gas prices down and have national security at the same time. They brought their prices up in six weeks. Bring them down six weeks. Each time I go to Costco to gas up, I get less money in my pocket. Each five and ten cents per day, no, it doesn't work. Get smart, Washington. You know, he brings up a good point. This is what I do think. I think that if you give the president the room to do what he needs to do, we can see these prices turn around before you get into Labor Day, which is when the window for the midterms really begins. And, you know, and Greg, it's also based on speculation. If the world knows that there's a lot of oil out there, they'll become gasoline and speculate prices will come down. Guess what? They'll come down. That's right. Now, let's go back to the talkback line. Ron and Greg, you guys always put on the best show and bring up the best topics. All this refinery issue going on with it and the fuel prices, I just want to say that last week at Costco, I bought gas for $3.80 a gallon. When you go outside of Costco, gas was anywhere from $4.15 to $4.40 a gallon. Why the difference? Why can Costco sell gas almost 40 cents lower than the national stations? Take it easy. Thanks again. All right. Thank you. They work in a membership fee, right? Yeah, so there's a couple of it. I think Costco uses the purchase of gasoline as a loss leader because that sends them into the stores to purchase that. And the subscription amounts for every one of those customers, be it inside Costco or at the gas pump, they factor that into what they're going to price the fuel at because they have that membership fee that. that they use as well. So it's, they are truly in volume, but they're also ready to make their gasoline a loss leader just because they want, it's a great incentive for people to go to Costco. Well, and you talk to convenience store owners, and I had a friend who owned one. He didn't make any money off gas, maybe a penny or two. What he's doing is in the inside to buy all the other stuff. You know what? I don't want to get back to our old topic, but that's the rip off on gas prices and the free market competing here in Utah is that that should still be going on here in terms of lost leaders at our smaller gas stations. Mike Lee will join us next on the Rod and Greg Show. Stay with us.

It's tax day, it's extension day, it's procrastination day, it's... Oh, you play that game, huh? Hurry to get it done in time day. There's a lot of days tomorrow. There's a lot of days for a lot of different people. Yeah, tax day, here we go. There we go. Aga. Yeah, that's for sure. All right, Utah Senator Mike Lee. We had a chance to talk to him a little bit earlier today, a lot going on. They're back at work. Wow, it's pretty amazing. Yes, you said, though. Work might be a subjective term. Do they really work? Well, let's find out. Utah Senator Mike Lee. I asked him first of all about the partial shutdown and what's going on and where he sees this all going. After Senator skipped down for two weeks, while the Department of Homeland Security is still shut down, Save America Act. Still has yet to be passed. We're finally back at it. Our ability to pass the Save America Act is in our own hands. As far as that one goes, we just need to buckle down and remain committed to maintaining debate until the bill passes. And it's really a somewhat similar circumstance with regard to Homeland Security funding. We should not have taken any recess, let alone a two-week recess, while an entire department of the U.S. government is going without pay, particularly an entire department that is as central as DHS is to President Trump's agenda. There's only one way to fix that, and that's to stay on it, continue to debate it, until it's done. Now, look, I believe we've got two choices. Because Democrats are using the... cloture rule, the 60 vote cloture rule. It's the standard for bringing debate to a close. They're using that as a tool of obstruction to a truly unprecedented degree. And so we've got two choices. Now that they've shut down an entire part of government, left it shut down for a couple of months now. We can either enforce the talking filibuster, make them speak and exhaust them out of it to break it, or we can nuke the filibuster. I still strongly prefer the former because there are benefits to operating within our existing structure insofar as we respect it as a means of protecting debate. But insofar as they're going to use it only for purposes of illegitimate obstruction, then we may have no choice at some point, but to nuke the filibuster. I hope it doesn't come to that. But in the meantime, we should at least try to make them speak and force the talking filibuster on that, and we could get it done. Particularly if we... Hold them through and make it inconvenient. Make them debate over weekends and through what would have otherwise been a recess. We've got a much better shot. What about the reconciliation? I know there's talk about reconciliation. Where do you stand on that? What exactly would that do? And do you like it or are you opposed to it, Senator?

Now, UVU, no, I understand the need in an academic environment to have viewpoint diversity. That's all great. But the timing matters. You've got an entire community that is still grieving from that horrific event, including thousands of UVU students who were there that day when it happened. I mean, couldn't they, couldn't they at least wait a year before scheduling a commencement speaker who defamed Charlie in the days immediately following his horrific murder on that campus? Now, she said millions of people feel that they were harmed and the murder that was horrific should never have happened does not magically erase what was said or done. It's just disgraceful. And then she quoted badly out of context and things that he had said to try to smear him. What if Charlie Kirk had been a beloved figure on the left rather than somebody who's loved by conservatives? And what if Sharon Linda McMahon? Hey everybody, Lady Luck here, and we're celebrating America's 250th birthday. Now, all summer long, I'm going to be celebrating by playing on SpinQuest.com, which is an American-owned social casino. It obviously features over a thousand slot games and live blackjack, live craps, live bubble craps. Head on over to SpinQuest.com. Get yourself a $30 coin pack for just 10 bucks. SpenQuest is a free-to-play social casino. Avoidware prohibited. Visit SpenQuest.com for more details. We're a conservative, one who had defamed Charlie Kirk immediately after that horrific assassination. Would UVU have scheduled her to speak at their commencement? Heavens, no. This is the same college that did not provide Charlie Kirk adequate security for Charlie Kirk's event. There are countless speakers who could challenge students who could inspire them and rise to the moment. Even this speaker, if they want to do it at some point later, but just months after that horrific, very public assassination with their community still grieving, this is tone deaf beyond my ability to express with words. What do you think motivated them to do this? Mike, was it lack of research into what she had said? I mean, I don't understand the motivation behind it to begin with. I have no idea. I really don't know what motivated them. I know the university and some of its leaders have praised Sharon Linda McMahon by calling her America's civics teacher or something like that. They've got some notion that she's some sort of a healer. Maybe they were aware of these statements. Maybe they weren't. I don't know. I don't really care exactly what their reasons were. I know only that it was incredibly insensitive and they shouldn't have done it. And it's not too late to change it. These things can be rescheduled. Utah Senator Mike Lee joining us on our conversation talking about a number of things, including UVU and what's going on there. We heard earlier today as well from House Speaker Mike shows a lot of people out there disappointed in what UVU is doing. I'm telling you, they need to tell us why. They need to explain us the opposite. Tell us why this is the absolute best commencement speaker for the largest graduating class out of Utah Valley University. Go make that case. Let's hear you say it. They're just silent. I want to hear why this is the right speaker for all involved. Community, students, the school, its reputation. Tell me how this just hits it over the fence and is the best decision they've ever made. Go ahead, defend it. I think we all know why it's wrong.

I'd love to hear that narrative of why it's right. There's a lot of news coming out today on social media about that they're really hip on this dignity index. What the heck is that? It's another leftist scam. It's a leftist thing again. And that's what they're talking about, that the university was high on the dignity index. And she apparently was part of the dignity index, also tied in with the Mormon women for ethical government. Ah, that raises the red flag. Yeah. Yeah. More coming up. Broughton, Greg, with you here on Utah's Talk Radio, 1059, KNRS. Far-left California Democrat Representative Joe Rogan. He's all over the place, right? Hates Donald Trump. Apparently, he got absolutely torched. I love it. Yeah, me too. In a live unscripted showdown on Jubilee Media's Surrounded series, which I don't know if you've ever seen this, but this is where... A well-known figure like Joe Rogan sits in a table, and people around the circle can come up and have a conversation with him for five minutes and raise any questions. They write, right? Well, apparently, this woman decided to go after him for California's... pro-criminal border policies. Listen to this confrontation that took place. My frustration is, as a regular everyday American citizen, I feel that I am more likely to be harmed by democratic policies such as open borders. Because in your state... I'm not for secure borders. Okay. So, but in your state, something like 4,600 or so illegal migrants that had criminal records were re-released from jail. So when we're talking about harming Americans, when we're talking about children potentially being harmed, when we're looking into... child trafficking. We have to acknowledge that illegal migration is the biggest funnel for child trafficking. So when we're worried about Epstein with a couple of people and you guys turn a blind eye to tens of thousands of children being harmed by your policy, that's a problem. We have been for a secure border, but here's what I want the... No one in California can say that they're for secure border. I love that. No one in California can say they're for secure borders. It's just unbelievable that they can just say, just say, uh-uh. No, I'm, what did you say? I'm against? No, I'm for that. Yeah. With all evidence and everything you've seen happen on that border showing otherwise, proving otherwise, he says, no, uh, no, that sounds like a really bad thing you just said, so I'm not for that. Yeah. It doesn't, I don't know what you're talking about, but whatever it is, I'm not for that. Of course you are. Yeah. That's what you supported. It's what you at least minimally cast a blind eye towards, but we know you. Khan has been one of the, you know, one of the problems. I love as she comes back. It says nobody in California is for secure. No, you can't say it and see what's been going on. It's so true. All right. Scott Jennings, who we all know, we love, he, I mean, frequent guests. He's a regular on CNN. Recently spoke to the Texas Public Policy Foundation, their summit that they have every year. I want you to listen to what he had to say because he begins begins. by saying, you know, you need to understand what the left is all about. And then he goes down this list of what they're trying to do to this country. Here's something that you must understand about the left. They hate success. They hate it when people make it on their own. They hate it when you don't need them. Think about what they teach our kids, that America was founded on racism.

That our country is rotten at its core. That capitalism is evil. That hard work is for suckers. That merit is a dirty word. That the nuclear family is oppressive, especially to women. That faith is for idiots and rubs for people who are from Kentucky and Texas. They run people for the United States Senate who think there are six genders and that we can solve the climate crisis by taking away all of your bacon. Is it any wonder that Charlie? spent his life on college campuses trying to reach young people. He saw what was happening. I think when that shooter pulled the trigger and killed my friend in Utah, he thought he was ending a movement. He thought if he killed Charlie Kirk, he could kill what Charlie stood for, that the rest of us would get the message, that we would heed the warning. Silence yourselves. Or we will do it for you. I think that's what he thought. Certainly what the people who cheered on, the assassination thought. And make no mistake, there were thousands who cheered it on. But in trying to silence one voice, I think they created thousands. And trying to end a conversation that day, I think they started millions. I think they have. They've started millions. Did you see what happened to Charlie Kirk's wife today? She had to cancel an appearance, didn't she? She was scheduled to make an appearance with JD Vance at some summit had to cancel it because there were threats against their life. Well, that's because I'm not even, this isn't hyperbole. The Democrats are the party of violence, and they look to foment fear to compel behavior. And they do it unapologetically, Tesla takedown, threatening Erika Kirk. Even their response, as Jennings pointed out in that sound bite you shared, where people have sickly celebrated, we're sickly celebrating his assassination. They embrace violence. And don't let anyone tell you that's both sides, because it is absolutely not both sides. And while our men and women are out there fighting Iran and trying to change the world. You've got people like Thomas Friedman. Protect the world. You've got people like Thomas Friedman, New York Times columnists saying, you know, I really want that regime to be taken down. But if it makes Donald Trump and BB Nets and Yahoo look good, I'm not for it. Yeah, because there's such bad people. I can't let such bad people have such old political win. Amazing. Hanging out at the pool is great. Relaxing and playing Vegas-style games on my phone at the same time. Drink in one hand and a blackjack in the other. It's all at SpinQuest. Over a thousand games including your favorite slots and table games. Be cool with this summer special. New players get $30 coin packs for 10 at SpinQuest.com. SpinQuest is a free-to-play social casino. Avoid where prohibited. Visit spinquest.com for more details. All right, more coming up. We're out and Greg with you here on Utah's Talk Radio 1059, KNRS. We mentioned a few moments ago. Tomorrow is April 15th. Tax Day, a day that we all enjoy. Boo.

Well, what about tax day? You know, we've got the big, beautiful bill. The president promised us some tax breaks in there. People are seeing some. Others are going, eh, maybe not. Let's get the lowdown on what's going to happen tomorrow. As far as the taxes are concerned, joining us on our any hour newsmaker line is Ross Marchand. He is the executive director of the Taxpayer Protection Alliance. Ross, how are you? Welcome to the Rod and Greg Show. Great to be back on your show. Ross, let me, I saw this story today. The president, of course, promised tax relief with the big beautiful bill, but there's some polling out there that shows Americans still think they're overpaying for taxes. Isn't that a common theme among Americans? We all think we're paying too much for taxes. Yeah, they're right to think that way. Because guess what? Each and every year, and this total grows by the year, we are spending more than $5 trillion. We're forking all that money over to Uncle Sam. So, of course, I mean, totally understandable that we want to pay less in taxes and taxes are out of control. Okay, so the other topic you have is this postal service. Now, my co-hosts told me in the break that our U.S. Postal Service is a constitutional duty. I didn't – this is news to me. I didn't know this. But I am shocked that snail mail is even a practical way to deliver mail or to communicate. And you point out in another column that the rates that are going up, to pay for postage, to be able to keep that system alive is not where they should be looking. They should be looking at efficiencies, maybe the non-career employees. My question is, is snail mail a thing? Is it going to stick around for even if it's in the Constitution? Why? Who's practically using it? Well, the number of people are using a year in and year out is going down very, very quickly. And look, I mean, we keep seeing these stamp price increases and this latest increase, it's going to bring it up. We're getting close to a dollar. We are not that far away from the days of $1 stamps. And, I mean, that should be deeply concerning to people because the Postal Service loses $9 billion a year. So if the Postal Service was a business, it would have been added business years ago. So you have to ask the question, what is the Postal Service doing? Why is it losing so much money? Let me ask you this. A lot of people are saying, you know, the president has been out there, you know, talking about the big beautiful bill and all the tax cuts that are coming with the big beautiful bill. What's your take on it? It's been signed into law. What are some of the effects you're seeing now? So one really big impact is something that did not happen. And what did not happen is rates did not go up dramatically at the end of last year going into this year. And if nothing would have happened, if the one big, beautiful bill was not signed into law, what would have happened was there would have been a tax cliff and all of the tax rates would have gone up dramatically at the end of the year. But because that legislation signed, not a perfect piece of legislation by any stress the imagination.

But one really important thing that did was to make sure the tax rates did not go up on working Americans. So you point out in your report card of just the performance of government as we pay our taxes. You're seeing the FOIA requests, which are, you know, Freedom of Information Act, where you wanted to give information based on, you know, what's going, it should be transparent. I don't see a grade better than a C for all these different agencies, health and human services, Social Security, Department of Defense, Veteran Affairs, USDA, Department of Transportation. They're all, and some VA is getting an F. Department of Homeland Security gets an F. Others, HHS gets a D. What is going on? Where is the accountability? How can these, I'm looking at the spending. It's out of this world. That is probably one of the most direct ways that you interact with the public or get to show what you're doing. How are these grades even success acceptable? And how do you get it changed? And to tell you the truth, so I was the one doing the grading. And look, did you grade on a curve? Yes, big time. I mean, that's the understanding of the century. And at best, right, you have agencies maybe in the 50% to 60% range. I don't know where you guys went to school, but where I went to school, that would have been failing or at the very least getting a D. Now, you know, you have some agencies that are, you know, maybe in around 60% range, but some basically don't let any information through. I mean, how is that acceptable? It is definitely not legal. Ross, you always hear this line you hear from the Democrats all the time. Tax the rich, tax the rich. Is it true, though, and I've heard this figure before, you may have some insight on this as well. The top 1% in this country pay 40% of the taxes. The top 10% pay 70% of the taxes. Is that right? That is right. Yeah, let's go back to that 1% figure because they're paying 40% of all taxes, but they're only making and combined 20% of U.S. income. So it's not proportionate at all. And you know something is truly wrong. Now, a lot of Americans in the bottom runs with the ladder, they actually have a negative tax liability. So Uncle Sam is actually sending them money in the mail rather than the other way around. So it's a very imbalance system. Well, it sounds like it. I would go back. Your grades, I don't see any good grades. I mean, if you talk about improper payments, HHS and F, you know, you got USDA NF. Improper payments, help our listeners know. What does an improper payment mean?

Well, yeah, first of all, like I said, I was being very nice and I'm a very generous greater when it comes to giving out curves on this report card. But improper payments, I mean, these are pieces of funding, right? These are programs and subsidies with money. It's supposed to go legally to one purpose, but it's actually going towards another or worst case scenario. It's getting basically compromised by a fraud. So you have criminals who are diverting some of those money. And this is especially big problem when it comes to Medicare and Medicaid. Because between those two programs, you're looking at close to $2 trillion in spending. So fraudsters get even a small percentage of that. I mean, that is a big trouble for taxpayers. Now, a lot of it isn't outright fraud, but it's wastefully spent. And you're spending for these really obscure categories in medical spending, for example. And it just... becomes completely divorced from the goals of whatever program this is. Yeah, that's for sure. Ross is always great chatting with you. Busy day tomorrow for a lot of people. Thank you for joining us tonight. Thank you. Yeah, great to be back on. Thanks a lot. Ross Marchon, he's executive director of the Taxpayers Protection Alliance here on Utah's Talk Radio 1059, KNRS. You know, one of the president's biggest campaign problems are promises, not only in his first term, but in his second term was he was going to shrink the size of the federal government. Okay. Well, it is now at its lowest level since the 1960s. Really? Yeah. I thought this is going to be a bad news story. No, no, that's a good news story. Yeah. And guess what? What? Government's still working. Yeah. Remember everyone's saying, oh, you've got to have big government. It's going to break. No, he has taken it down to 1960 levels. It's amazing. So is that, but that doesn't sound like our, we're still in debt like $29 trillion. Is that? Because we're spending more money. But we're not growing government to do it. No. At least the employee base is shrinking. No. The employee base is shrinking. That's amazing. Yeah. Sort of. I'd like to see the deficit slow down a little bit, but I love that we're seeing the employee base because that's less swamp monsters, I say. The more, less of those, less people, the less swamp. That ecosystem gets smaller. You know, there has been a effort here in the state of Utah and really around the country, efforts on the part of government to try and ban teenagers from social media. As much they possibly can, right? Yeah. Okay. Well, case and point. Australia did it. Now, you know Australia, you're right. Yep. Your effort to ban teens from social media, 60% have found a way around it. I guess so. This one cracks me up. Why do they think they get? It's like climate folks, climate change people. They think they can control the weather. I know. You know what I think, too? And when you say that 60% have a workaround.

Of that 60% probably most of them have actually pinned an adult and made them out to be the minor and they can't. They keep going, I can't get this internet to work. That's because some minor put it on them and say, you're going to do that to me. I'll show you. And now you've got adults that can't get online because. You know, we wouldn't know how they do it. They know how to work that technology. They just, you know, they ban it. 60% of the kids have still found a way around. 60% of kids are laughing at all these old-head adults going. Isn't that cute? Isn't that special? Bless your heart. They all were, weren't they? Some good news coming out of Miss America. Yeah. Do you hear this story? No. They basically have, they're now emphasizing that entrance into the Miss America pageant must be female. There you go. There's a, there's a, there's a. Yeah, got to be female if you want to do it. Profile and courage there. Thank you, Miss America. Miss America, Miss being the operative word, has to be. A female. Good. Yeah. Apparently, a spokesman for the pageant said that the policy wording was revised earlier this year to clarify that a contestant must be a naturally born female. Go figure. But you know what? I mean, that's kind of important, isn't it? Go back a couple years or not long, that would have been a very controversial statement. Not anymore. Thank goodness. The tide has changed, Greg. I think it has. Pendleum is swinging back to normalcy. To some degree. To some degree. Sad news for Dick Vital. Yeah. This guy has been through. You name it. He's been through it. Poor guy. He tweeted or ex-messaged over the weekend. He was really nervous. Sunday night, he couldn't sleep. I don't know why this has to happen. You've got to wait for your results on Monday. I don't know why that has to be the case, but usually these results, you've got to wait over the weekend and wait for him, and he had boasted that he was worried, and I guess the news was it came back. Does it say what stage? The cancer is? No, no. No, I think it's melanoma. Oh, well, that is the most treatable, hopefully. But the guy has been through so much. I know. I know. I hope he's all right. I love Dick Vitel. He's great. Yeah, yeah. You know, Utah has always been known as one of the youngest states. Yes. State with large families? Mm-hmm. States like we like babies? Yes. Apparently not anymore. What? Yeah, fertility rate going down in red states like Utah. Hmm. Well, we did see in that that we were at a 1.8 replacement rate. I haven't met a 0.8 human, so I don't know how we get the 0.8, but, you know. We are now at 1.6. No. All around the country. Oh, around the country. Yeah, but Utah's 1.8. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, no, I, you know, I just think, I don't know, I just think social media, these kids don't even know how to talk to each other anymore. They don't know how to.

Well, you think they would know how to make a baby. You know, I got to tell you, I think this whole thing is you've got to have some communications. You've got to be at least in an environment where someone that you would like to maybe marry someday and do that. You have to be in the same room. I don't know that they have to do that with technology anymore. One of my favorite scenes I brought this up before I'll bring it again is from the TV series Big Bang Theory. Yes. And the kid from India who cannot speak to women. finally found a woman that he could date. They went on a date. They didn't talk to each other. All they did was text each other back and forth. You're going to make a baby that way, folks. Seems to be about right. Seems to be the way it's working. I hate to tell you this, but not going to happen. No, you know what? Yeah, I do think that my kids tell me it's, it's tougher out there than in my day or your day. It's a different, it's a different dating environment is what I'm told. Yeah, I wouldn't want to do it today. These kids, I think, I think there's a low-tie issue going on with the young men in this state. There's a lot of skinny jeans and like, you know, I don't know what, but it just doesn't, they're not impressing me as a potential father-in-law. These guys that maybe date my daughter, I don't know. I'm not convinced. Well, if you think about it, too, that study out a couple days ago showing that today it now takes about $300,000 to raise a child. yeah so you know well let's just let's just track those numbers see how that how that works out that might be the cost but that'd be pretty hard for a lot of people better three hundred thousand dollars Apparently, you take in everything that's involved in raising a child. I know there's people that are cheap. Kids will go, give me 150 and I won't have one. Can we work out a deal? There we go. All right, that does it for us tonight. Head up shoulders back. May God bless you and your family, this great country of ours. We're back tomorrow and for us. Have a good Tuesday evening. Oh, I've had no luck lately. Wait, lady luck? Brett Ski, I got you. I've had so much luck on SpinQuest.com. They have all of my favorite games, slot games, live blackjack craps, and bubble craps. You can even get a $30 coin pack for just $10 bucks. $10 for $30. I'm headed over to SpinQuest.com right now. SpinQuest is a free-to-play social casino. Avoid where prohibited. Visit spendquest.com for more details.