Guests - Steven Mundt, Jeff Dornik

Welcome to win Tucson, and we have to start with the Wildcats win from last night. They are the Big 12 champions, and we are now ready to go and rock and roll for March Madness, and here we are. I'm not going to make any bold predictions yet, but we're looking good and coming back, and the closest that game last night was four points. I love when we end and we're like 20 points higher. That just makes my heart happy. And what also makes my heart happy is my co-host today, Stephen Munt, my good friend Steve, retired brigadier general. How you doing back there? How's the snow? Yeah, I got up this morning to see the blood moon went out early and all I could see was snow flurries and freezing rain. There you go. But it's going to be 80 here on Saturday. Sure, you tell yourself that. I know that's not as warm as it is. No, I know. That's what the weatherman said. I mean, they never get it wrong. Well, never. And by the way, just so you know, you're Arizona, cats, their coach said last night, this is an opportunity for greatness. We have a chance to do something amazing. Our coach, Tommy Lloyd, is the best. Like, he's so steady. And Co-Apeed, I think, took one in the eye. You know, it wasn't a, you know, and I have to say. that the opponents played what I would say it was a really physical game it was probably the most physical game I've seen in a while and and there was a time when we didn't we weren't as strong but we came back and when we came back it was fabulous it was just fun it was really exciting I love winning though of course as you know you've known me a while I don't like to lose so that was I'm just so happy I'm really happy for these kids, and they have gelded a team, and there's eight players that can be rotated in and out, and they are just exceptional. So kind of like our military, huh? Yeah, I agree with you. So here's... Go ahead. So here's the what. I wanted to have you on today because, number one, you spent years in the military. There's all this whining about the president needed to come and ask for Congress's permission. I think that that's been debunked. I heard something on the way in today that World War II was really the last time that that happened. I'm aware of conflicts that you and my husband got involved in, and I... don't remember it because it wasn't on my radar back then if the president went to Congress and did whatever, but I know that there was authorization from the president to the military to go protect us or to go participate in things. So is what the president's doing in Iran, I'm going to put this in air quotes, illegal? Short answer, no.

Okay, now let's go back. What is the requirement for the president? And the only requirement the president has is to notify Congress that he's taking this action. And it doesn't say you have to notify everybody in Congress, which is what many people are alluding to, is that he didn't come over and seek congressional approval. Well, I would just ask people to step back and ask their self rationally. If you're about to make a military strike and you're going to do something against an adversary, why would you telegraph all of that? so that when the men and women who wear the nation's uniform, go into harm's way, the harm has been increased. Why would you do that? Well, I remember when that happened with a reporter who was embedded, told somebody where they were and endangered. The whole, I know. I mean, like, so we've already experienced that from the stupid media, but go ahead. Yeah, but the point is, is that literally our secretary of state, Marco Rubio alerted the key eight a week to 10 days before, and then the night before he let them know it was going to unfold. That meant the legal obligation. Now, what Congress has to do is if the president of the United States says, we are an all-out war and we're going to war, then Congress has to say, yes, okay, and why is that? It's not because of the approval, it's because if they don't fund it, it doesn't matter what the president decided, you're not going to go do something. But that's when you declare all-out war. That's not what he's done. He is trying to make it very clear to everybody about the limits of what he is after, what this administration is after. And when you listen to the news, I don't know if they ever listen to him talk or if they're so mad with Trump derangement syndrome that they don't want to hear what he's saying. I think it's the latter. I really, I think Mark John Fetterman, Senator Fennerman from Pennsylvania today was on. And he was, he's in full support. He said, this has been going on for 47 years. These people killed their own people. They have been chanting death to America for 47 years. And somehow the extreme left of the Democrat Party wants to align themselves with them. that that doesn't make any sense he said and and and you know whoever uh John Fetterman who would ever guess that john i was going to say that but no it's okay i corrected myself my brain um uh i i would say that who would ever think back when John Fetterman started because he had some medical issues that he would be the voice of reason in the democrat party it just it it and i and i'm just

I'm just so disgusted with, to your point about Donald Trump, it doesn't matter what he does. It literally does not matter what he does because whatever he does. they've stuck up for the other side. There's the hypocrisy. The hypocrisy right now of the Democrat Party is what's speaking the loudest. President Obama took out Osama bin Laden. There's like there's all these, everything that Trump is doing has been done by every previous president in different settings. And so to now single him out. It is absurd. It is just absurd. And John Fetterman said something that I thought was so wonderful, which was we normally as a nation would celebrate this together, putting party politics aside. And we would normally do this, but this is not normal. What's happening in this nation is not normal. Go ahead, Steve. Yeah, I know. I wouldn't disagree with anything you said. I mean, part of this is, okay, let's say that you disagree with what the president said. Let's stop using sound bites, you know, because I heard one that said, well, you know, just think of what we could do with all that money to help the people and lower prices and everything else. You know, if we weren't spending on this war and funding of ICE who are killing Americans. Pardon me? Yes. I mean, you know, it's a sound bite that does anybody that makes those statements understand that the straightest her moves, if it's closed, 20% of the world's oil supply is shut off. 20%. Now, if you don't think that's going to have an impact on your cost of fuel and the rest, It absolutely will. And so here's an administration since 1979. Go back to when they took Americans hostage, how they held them for a thousand days. Let's talk about the number of embassies that have been attacked, the number of people that have been killed, the number of bombings that have taken place. you know where we've blown up marines in the barracks where we literally hit ships where we i mean i can go on and on and on with all the different now whether it's 46 or 47 but you can't go on and on right now because we have to take a break okay i'll i know hold that thought uh we are talking to ron we are talking about what We are doing as a nation, where do we stand? Do we stand up for America or do we sit down and just let the war go on without us? I don't even think it's a choice at this point. You're listening to 1030 The Voice, your trusted local news and talk. I'm Kathleen Wynne with my good friend, Steve. We'll be back right after this.

Welcome back to Wind Tucson, and we are talking about what's happening on the other side of the world. Israel, Iran, the conflict, who's on our side, who's not on our side. And unfortunately, some of the loudest voices are Americans decrying the president's actions. I'm joined by Stephen Munt, retired general. And he's just my good friend, Steve. That's all I'm going to say, Steve. All right, so we were going to break, so please pick up where you left off. Yeah, so I mean, what I'm trying to say is lay out the facts of this group of people with the Ayatollah and his clerics and the rest of it. And everybody goes, well, if you were going against military targets, why did you attack them? Let us be perfectly clear. The Ayatollah himself, his clerics, his regime, have sponsored global terrorism that has affected Americans, people in the Middle East, people in Europe, and it continued. It was not getting less. Everybody talks about what we were negotiating. It's getting better. There has not been one negotiation held with Iran since the Ayatollah took over that has moved the goal of peace closer. What it is done is given them time. to arm, equip, to build nuclear weapons and do the rest. So, okay, what are you going to do? Are you going to do something about it or not? And then I hear people in Congress go, well, you know, we didn't have a bloody attack. I don't know why we think we have to get involved. So. Well, that's just... But that's ignorance. That's just ignorance, Steve. I'm sorry. Yeah, well, I agree. I agree. But, I mean, the counter argument would be, I have to be bloodied. I have to lose a large group of American people wherever it is to then go after the bad guy. I mean, this is like, okay, I'm not going to arrest criminals until they're actually in the commission of a crime. The fact that they committed a crime yesterday doesn't matter. And that's the way certain people are thinking. I mean, when I heard a podcaster for the Democrats. and Jasmine Crockett say to me that that let's hope that Texas ends her political career today please well being a criminal is not the fact that you committed crimes it's a state of mind what I mean, if there's a listener out there that can explain that to you and me, I'd love to hear that. If you commit crimes, that makes you a criminal. I do not speak Jasmine Crockett. I don't speak Jasmine Crockett. And I don't think I have anybody in my friend's circle that speaks Jasmine Crockett. So go ahead. Sorry, Steve. Okay. No, but I mean, it's this kind of logic and we're using it right now. So what happened?

He took a new table, we kept telling him, and Trump was very clear. He's been clear since before he ran for president where he stood when he ran and won the first term. They will never, ever, ever have a nuclear weapon. Every negotiation we've been in, all we want is it for peaceful purposes. If it's peaceful purposes, it only has to be enriched to 20 or 30%. So why are we up at 60 or 70%? Just they can't answer that question. Right. And so, you know, if you're not going to, and he's told you, then you've got to take action that's decisive. And if you want to minimize the threats to Americans. So in the first 24 hours, we had 2,000 strikes. Think of that. 2,000 strikes. And we took out 40 to include the Ayatollah. And since then, we've continued to take out people. And yet, in spite of that, you have the president of Iran stand up and say, death to America, we're going to do this, we're going to do that. And you're going, no, we're not. So I'm sorry. No, I think, and I think good for him for standing up and being loyal to the, to the, um, uh, executed, you know, dictator. I think then we know where he stands. And hopefully, because we're hearing, you know, I don't know if you're hearing this, but I'm hearing that military members, local law enforcement are taking the invitation of the president to, you know, turn, I don't say turn themselves in and they haven't, you know. I don't know if they've done something wrong or not, but to take advantage of immunity or whatever they're going to apply, you know, it's not our laws. So however that works out, I was a little disappointed in Europe, but, you know, I think everyone's going to figure this. What would you expect of them? Well, they know backbone. Let's be candid. No, I mean, listen, it's about backbone. It's about taking away the right of freedom of speech. It's about they have had mass migration into Europe that has been out of control, very much like we've had until President Trump. As a consequence, the shift in population bases has changed dramatically. And they are now scared to death to do the right thing. And in all honesty, I think we have a lot of Americans who are scared to death to do the right thing in so many of the issues that we're talking about today. You know, you've got to understand what the long-term consequences are for action and for inaction. And Trump has tried to explain that, but you've got to be willing to listen. And you've got to be willing to read between the lines of what he's saying. So.

Well, and I think they gave every opportunity to Iran. They just were not willing to give up their nuclear weapons. I think that's because, and then the question. Well, there's more to it than that. I mean, they've got ballistic missiles. Right. This is the thing. Everybody's focused on. The nuclear. Okay. If they have, if they, if they, if you have ballistic long range missiles. You can reach out and you can strike places in Europe and the United States. If you have hypersonic missiles, which they are on the verge of getting if they don't have them, they move at speeds and they don't have to be controlled and they can do certain things that make them very, very hard to intercept. You know, these are all things that are designed to attack, not to defend the homeland, not to protect Iran, but to take down their number one. You know, it's kind of interesting. Who's the number one threat to Iran? Is it Israel or is it the United States? It depends on which state you're listening to them. Well, and the bottom line is they want the annihilation of Israel and they want death to America. Well, and the other thing... And unfortunately, we have Congress people that say the same thing. Right. They're siding with Iran. With the Ayatollah. Exactly. Give me a break. I know. It's right. It's absurd. But it's like siding with... illegal immigrants here that are murderers and rapists and criminals and cartel drug lords and against ice agents that's the same mindset and the hypocrisy again this is what just me well and Steve just on your point you know Iranian drone strikes they targeted the UK Royal Air Force Base in Cyprus And that's the first attack on European territory. So even though Europe didn't take a stand, Iran took a stand against Europe. So hello. Well, the same thing happened with the Middle East. You look at all the countries to include Oman and the rest, okay, who literally said we're not involved right now at the beginning of the war. Right. We are not going to allow attacks to be launched towards you by the U.S. from our countries. And Iran hit every one of them. You know, the only one I don't think they hit was Oman. And that was because the guy was actually trying to negotiate and broker the peace. But, you know, and so now you have all the Mideast that are going, hey, games on now. You've attacked us, and we are not going to sit here and do it either way by. So the Middle East has come on board against Iran, and who would know more about him than the Middle East? I don't know, but it sure isn't the Europeans. Well, and as you know, the Europeans want to sit at home like they have and let the United States and others do the heavy lifting. The difference with this president is he's going, I've got to take this stand now.

So that in 10, 15, 20 years, we are not still dealing with this problem. We've been dealing with it for 47 years. It's time to take a stand. It's trying to take this capability out. And they haven't talked about it. I mean, they go, well, Israel's talking about regime change. Trump has not talked about regime change. He's saying, I'm giving the Iranian people a chance to decide what they want. This is their opportunity to take that. Well, and I think, you know, now they're calling it World War III, right? It's not World War III, but they're calling it World War III. But this is, again, the languaging, right? This is again, he's dragged us into this war, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I think, you know, Marco Rubio, you know, I think he's doing the best he can. I think he's been very... defensive in terms of standing up for what this president's doing and what he's doing in his role as Secretary of State. And, you know, what's interesting is he was in the Senate. So he said he was never briefed the four years that he served as in the Senate under Biden, ever. He was never asked for permission for all the conflicts for everything that they did. So again, you can't have it both ways. And they want to have it both ways. We have to take a break. We come back. I think there's more to talk about about this. And so you are listening to Win Tucson on 1030 The Voice, your trusted local news and talk. the Iranian conflict. We are not in World War III. It would be a lot different if we were. And thank God that we're not. Stay here and we'll have more for you right after this news break. And I'm Kathleen Wynne. This is Wynne Tucson with my good friend, Stephen Munt. We'll be right back. Welcome back to Win Tucson, and it is a lot going on in the world. I'm talking to one of the smartest guys I know next to the guy that I live with. He's pretty smart too. That's why they're friends. And Steve, so about an hour ago, the Iranian Supreme Council was counting votes to appoint the next Supreme Leader. Israel struck the meeting location. So it tells me that Israel's intel is pretty good. Will that benefit what the U.S. and Israel is trying to do to not have this will be a prolonged conflict? Or is it what happens now that a lot of leadership's being taken out? the vacuum. I asked this question yesterday. What happens in the interim? Because I think that's the most dangerous time, not only for the Iranian people, but for the rest of the world, because you don't want the people that have been supporting Iran, which I believe to be China and Russia, swooping in to kind of pick up the pieces and take over that region. So how do we protect?

those that mean harm to America from then taking advantage of this weakened state of Iran. Well, let's go back and try to answer the first question you asked, which is, You know, we're taking out the leadership that keeps coming up and saying, I'm going to continue the fanatical behavior to America. Strike everybody. Go out and do that. Okay. So that's the first thing that we're taken out. You've got to remember to in the history since 1979, they came in kind of on one platform, but very quickly you realized that. You know, women had no rights. And again, this is culture and other things, but it was a system that was set up to suppress a population of people. And so when you look at the Iranian Republican Guard, this is a group of soldiers who've had more money, more opportunity, and everything else than the rest of their military. They are. fanatics in support of the cleric and, you know, death to anybody who is not supporting that Islam and the Muslim faith. It is, they want to establish the worldwide caliphant. I mean, you got to go back and look at what their goals and what they really wanted to do and what still want to do are. And so as a consequence, you have this people that have been, I mean, some of them don't remember life before the Ayatollah. Well, yeah. So when everybody goes, well, why aren't they rising up? Well, they did. They rose up a couple of weeks ago and 30,000 of them were killed or put in a prison, you know. Right. So, you know, you got to say, okay, I'm a rational human being. I just want to live my life with my family and do the best I can. Do I want to go out and be fodder in the streets if I don't think that I have a chance of success? And so I think what Trump is trying to say is he's trying to say, I'm giving you an opportunity. We're going to take these bad guys out. And then you've got to make a decision, do you want to take back your country? So, you know, at some point, we surely don't want. We don't want another Iraq, okay? We cannot go in and do nation building in Iran and the rest. I mean, we, there would just, I will go back. Look, I served there. I'm proud to serve there. I love the Iraqi people. There were some amazing people, but we made a number of. Iraqi freedom of blunders. Yes. Yeah, I mean, we just, we made some blunders. We took. a whole sector, the society out that was actually the infrastructure and the folks that understood how the infrastructure worked and how everything else worked out and said, no, you can't be part of the government. I mean, we don't need to do that in around. What we need to do is facilitate the ability of the people to express their wishes and take their country back. And I think that's what they're trying to do. It seems that way. And with that, there's been an outpouring from...

people that live here in this country that came from Iran that got out there's been an outpouring in Iran which they they are still putting themselves at risk by expressing that and so I think that I mean there's an outpouring around the world of displaced Iranians who go hey good we want to go home right so I think that this is This should be positive, but I think that they're afraid of the midterm results more than they are of. And they cannot stop the narrative of, you know, bad president, bad president, dictator, king. You know, they're just, they're so invested in that. And, And the fact that 30,000 people were either jailed or murdered by their dictator in the last month or so is somehow just normalized. That that doesn't even bat an eye. And I look at who the Democrats were during the State of the Union speech. This girl who was an immigrant, who was throat was slashed on a train by... And they can't even stand for her parents. Like, where is your heart? Where is your soul? How do you expect that's not where America is. That's not who we are as a nation. We're a very kind, generous giving people. We're a Christian nation. And whatever the hell they're doing, I don't think, I don't care what party you are. I think it's disconnected from reality because they're on a mission to destroy this country. These are Americans who. just want to be in charge and want to have whatever power they think comes with their jobs or whatever job that they want to get to next. And it is so destructive. And so I hope and pray. And then saying that Donald Trump doesn't have a plan. He's just trying to start wars. That's nonsense. He's probably one of the most, he negotiates. He doesn't like conflict. But when there's no other choice, when the person you're negotiating with isn't doing anything, making any steps, and maybe there was integrity in what they did because they said, no, we're not going to give up our weapons. Maybe that was the most honest thing that they were saying. But at the end of the day, they can't be trusted with those weapons. And how do we know this? Because they're annihilating their own people who dare to speak up against them. You know, and we may have the same situation with China. I hate to say that. And that's not encouraging that or anything else. But my hope is that we get in, we get out, and we stabilize Iran for the first time in 47 years. Well, I think everybody's hoping that. And I mean, we clearly mourn the loss of lives.

in this conflict. There's nothing harder for a soldier, a commander, even a commander in chief, then to mourn the loss of one of our own. And to stand at those funeral services or those vigils or to go to Arlington or to watch the caskets loaded with the nation flag where these people have paid the ultimate sacrifice. There's nothing harder on any one of us. So when I hear people say, well, you guys just like war. No, I despise war. But I also know that somebody has to go and somebody has to be prepared. And it kind of like has been said by others, if not me, then who. And you've got to stand up for something, you know. So I believe in the ideals of the country. I think most of the folks that wear the uniform would say the same. And that's why we serve. But this idea that Trump just doesn't care and that he's going, you know, you can see. The one thing I would ask people is look at him. Look hard at him when he's having to do those things. Right. It deeply touched him with each one of those folks he stood up and talked about. And he wanted to make sure that they understood they were heroes, the families and the rest to America in his State of the Union address. He knew how many people were going to be watching that. And he wanted to make sure people understood what these sacrifices were. The Warren Officer Slaverer, who literally, I mean, people don't quite see. They saw him stand up. They don't understand that he can't really stand up. And if it had not been for his upper body strength and that little four-legged assist, he wouldn't have been able to stand up there. Exactly. Like, think about, and think about what he did and how he risked his life and his wife standing there so proud. And just the caliber of human being that are in our military at this moment in time. So proud of those that have stepped up to protect this country who get it, who understand what's at stake, who understands the importance of our nation, of our history, of freedom. Go to any of these. The people in Iran talk to Iranians who asked them about the freedom three weeks ago. There was none. And so that we have people in this nation who are young, who have families who step up and risk their lives for the freedoms that we take for granted. And then you have people that we've elected who take an oath, and they are trying to work against this nation, including our Senator Mark Kelly. This is where...

You have let the politics go before the people. And you can't do that. I mean, you can do it. I think it's going to be to their detriment. We shall see. We have to take a break, Steve. And so it's a break. All right. I was getting ready to say that. I just beat you to it. Okay. You are listening to 1030 The Voice. Your truck trusted local news and talk. And I'm Kathleen Winn with my good friend, Steve Mutt. We'll be back right after this. Don't go anywhere. Welcome back to Wind Tucson, and the president of the United States is taking on things that other presidents kick the can down the road. And he's just not a status quo kind of guy. And so I think it's incredible that Kristi Noem, who's in there. testifying today has to defend ICE agents that the Democrats are not wanting to fund the Department of Homeland Security, that they're trying to interfere with things that they voted for last year. and that they're putting our nation at risk. And Steve, the last segment I want to talk about today is back here at the homeland. There are, you know, are there terror cells in the U.S.? Are there people here that don't belong here? Should we be vigilant right now as U.S. citizens? A hundred percent, yes. Okay. We had a number of people cross our borders that have never been vetted. We have no idea who they are and where they come from. And, you know, you have to be vigilant. We have, I mean, this is the thing. When they say they're not funding homeland defense or homeland security, the problem is there, there are people out there that believe what they're doing is not funding ICE. And so they all jump on the bandwagon. ISIS has been funded in the big, beautiful bill for the next, I mean, until Trump comes out of office. Right. They are not the ones hurting for money. The people that we're not funding are the TSA folks that protect us in our airports. You know, the. certain law enforcement. I mean, it just goes on and on and on. These are all the people. How ridiculous is that? The FBI and the rest, it's stupid. It is stupid. It is not, it's not ridiculous. This is dumber than dirt and they know it. But it's their talking point. I mean, it, and it wouldn't be so bad. I mean, when I listen to people speak.

And I hear 15 different folks from all over the United States that are using the same words. Yes. You really think those are original thoughts? I don't think they've had original thought in quite some time. No, they have been bought and paid for. They've been bought and paid for. I know, if you can watch it. I used to think that there was a meeting before the news day started and all the media, so they'd all say the same thing. And then what I loved is Fox News and Newsmax started taking those and just assembling them. So it showed that there wasn't an original thought. But I want to go back because I think Here's... We've already got the... I know we're in the U.S., but we have a breaking deal that says the U.N. now said that they want to launch an investigation into a strike in Iran that they call horrific because they believe it killed innocent people. Are they, when are they going to do that? And the only verify, the only word they have on it is from the Iranians. Yes, there was a horrific strike there. They're absolutely right. And we took out probably now 50 of their top leaders. You want to talk about all the strikes in Israel that hit, you know. Let's go back to October. Was it October 6, October 7th? Let's go back there. Just stop it. Well, let's go right now, Hezbollah out of Lebanon. You know, they don't want to get attacked. They think the West Bank and everything. People who have not been in that part of the world do not understand how integrated many of these terror cells that have been sponsored forever and are still being sponsored by Iran are. Where do they think they got their missiles? Where do they think they got their weapons? Where do they get their training in there? And so they're lobbing missiles into Israel. And guess what? If you launch it from the middle of a courtyard, the likelihood that courtyard is disappearing is 100%. And you know what? There may be people that should not be hurt there. And every military professional I know do the best we can to minimize civilian casualties. But, you know, when read communist doctrine with Mao, you know, the way you stay safe is a revolutionary or a terrorist or whatever is you swim amongst the fishes. Right. And that just means they're going to integrate themselves in the population. And, you know, I wish we had the magic weapon that could just pick those guys out. We don't.

And in the United States, there are going to be innocent Americans hurt because we are not funding and supporting the folks that need to be in place to protect us. Right. Our TSA people, our border patrol, the Department of Homeland Security, all of it. You know, it's, anyway, my concern is that people think it's happening in some other part of the world and that if they get their source of news from their congressman who is against this president, against this country, that they're going to let their guard down, that there are people that. You mean like the Legos who didn't attend the State of the Union address? Gallego, yes, Rubin. Yes, former Marine, or U.S. Marine. Yeah, didn't even show up at the State of the Union. Neither did Adelaide Grahava. Neither did Grahava. You can't even, just Miss Pepper Spray, 2025. You cannot. I don't have to like you. I've had to be in a number of places that were uncomfortable for me because I didn't agree with certain people. But I had a responsibility because of my job to be there. And you have to be able to put those things aside, be professional, and show up. You didn't do anything to his speech. You didn't stop his speech. It didn't get any less attention by the media. Yeah, I got millions of people watching it. Right. So I'm not sure what your intent was, but, and green, okay, he gets up, he makes his little grandstand and out he goes, okay, got it. That took all of about 10 seconds. And he did nothing. At the end of the day, it changed nothing. You know, people sitting in the audience wearing the F word on their shirt as a professional representing others. Really? What are we doing? I didn't know that that happened. I missed. Look at where Elon Musk Omar is and look at her great friends sitting next to her. And she has a sign on that basically says that ice. Is that the one that got arrested? It is shown on national town. No, I don't think she did. But. Okay. Anyway, it's just, I mean, we have. It used to be that we would reach across the aisle and Congress was worked on consensus building and arrest and that you could go to a state of the union address and you would have Republicans and Democrats standing up for those things they supported. And if they didn't on both sides of the aisle, they wouldn't stand up. Right. And that was okay. There are some things that like, how can you not stand up for the men's hockey team? And the women's hockey team. Well, the women's hockey team wasn't there. How could you not stand up there? Right. And there were a number of things that went back and forth about the logistics forum and everything else. And, you know, but everybody wanted to politicize it to make it about the men and women's team. And then you have the soccer player who's been out a while, you know, and she's talking about the sexist and racism.

the whole bit and how the men were so stupid because they were drinking beer in their locker. Are you kidding me? Yeah. Well, I think we've got to prioritize what's important, what's significant, what matters, and the safety of Americans here and abroad matters. And I've got friends that are in Israel right now that can't get home. And they're not worried about their safety, but they can't, you know, you're now experienced what it's like to have a lack of freedom. And any time that we can't enjoy where we are or be where we are safely, because others mean to do us harm, you lose your freedom. And I don't understand someone who gets elected who wants to represent people in where they live, in Congress, and doesn't understand what the job is. that they think the job is to bash the president or to bash Republicans. That's what they think that, because if they thought the job was something different, they would do something different, but that's what they think the job is. Well, and when you said about, you know, people who are stuck in places around the world, and you know, you hear people say, well, you know, Marco Rubio isn't doing anything, take care of those people. It's not true. Okay. First of all, that's not true. The first facts are they very quietly moved a lot of folks out of there before. People stayed. Second piece is you have a number of tourists and the rest. The State Department in every, every location has said, please contact the embassy so we know that you're here and where you're at so that we can, you know, they've given them a website to go on so that they can log and register where they're at. And so. To say the State Department is not doing anything, they are. They're identifying where people are. They're looking at the risk and they're looking at when they can get people out. This is not the first time we've had to do this. And for people to stand by and just say, oh, he doesn't care, he's not taking care of these people. Let me go back to a bombing and a kidnapping of an embassy. with an administration who had the chance to literally order strikes against the terrorists and did nothing. Right. And American lives were lost. Yes. To include the ambassador. Right. That's doing nothing. Yes. That's far different than what's happening today. No, I applaud this president, obviously. I applaud his efforts. We've come to the end of our time, and I so am grateful for your perspective. And we have to be vigilant. I don't care where you are and understand that everyone doesn't agree with how we see the world. But that...

I know for me personally, I'm going to fight like how to protect what I know this nation to be and what I know our military to stand up for. And I hope and pray that those that are serving us in our government get the memo, America first. So Steve, thank you for being on today. Well, thank you, and have a great day. And the best of your listeners, please enjoy your sunshine. We on the East Coast will continue to carry the burden. Oh, the victim of his weather. I love it. We'll have you back soon. All right, go out and have a great day. You are listening to 1030, The Voice, your trusted local news and talk. I'm Kathleen Wynn. This is Wynn, Tucson. We'll be back after this break with Jeff Dornett to talk about kids. AI, parents, you need to protect them, especially now. Don't go anywhere. We'll be back. Welcome back. There's a lot going on, as I said earlier today. And one of the people that I am so thrilled to have back on our show is Jeff Dornick, founder and CEO Pickax, but also hosting a new weekly show with Matt Couch called Unsanctioned. I love that. Jeff, welcome back. And thanks for me back down. Looking forward to chat with you again. Yes. So the reason I reached out is that AI, right? AI is the new thing. And anytime there's a new thing, young people tend to find it first and then older people like myself. I won't include you in that because I know I'm older than you. But they start to understand that when a new thing comes along, we had vaping. That wasn't good. But it's reshaping risks online for kids. And there's just a lot of scams happening to older people too. But we've just gone through this whole grooming cycle with kids and stuff like that. So what should we do for?

to stop maybe grooming or this deep fake manipulation that's happening. And we've had these hearings going on with all the social media platforms, Facebook, all these things. Kids committed suicide. So how dangerous is AI to this next generation? Go ahead. No, it's extremely dangerous because AI can be used, obviously, to manipulate, to simulate reality to where it's hard to even tell what's real and what's not. I mean, there's scams going around right now to where, you know, they're using AI to actually call people on the phone, you know, saying that they're in an emergency, they need money, set wire money here, and it sounds exactly like your loved one. and you wouldn't be able to tell the difference. And so, you know, one of the things that my wife and I, you know, have is, is like a code word to where if something like that was set up, there would be, you know, a code word that we would say to where we would know, know this is real because, you know, this is something that's going around a lot. When you're dealing specifically with what's happening online. There's kind of two different kinds of scams. Like you had mentioned, you know, the older generations oftentimes are scammed from a financial standpoint. Money, right. Because there's a lot of like trust. It's hard. It's hard to, you know, not trust somebody, you know, you know, just with, with the, you know, there's, there's a certain level of not wanting to believe that somebody would be scamming you. On the flip side for children and for young people. There's a lot of targeted grooming. There's a lot of targeted exploitation. There's like the 764 group, which the FBI is now deemed a terrorist organization where they're actually going online and on gaming platforms, social media platforms, and then essentially getting children in compromising situations, getting photos or certain things like that, and then blackmailing them to do all sorts of horrific things. Because the shame of whatever they got them to do is more than wanting to live. I mean, I... Exactly. Exactly. Go ahead. And this is where I think, especially when you're dealing with children, we have to be very, very careful. I think a lot of parents think, oh, well, you know, they're only friends, they're only, you know, associated with their friends or they're, you know, they're on a gaming platform. They're just talking with other, you know, other people. There's no harm in that. But in all reality, they're targeting. kids on a lot of these video gaming platforms and then trying to get them over to something else like Discord where they can be even more invasive. And so we have to be very careful. And I would urge parents to cut off access to any technology that allows your child to have access to anybody outside of your house. Because if they have access to that, you're opening them up to all sorts of perversion and exploitation and blackmail and all sorts of horrific things.

Well, and I think that, you know, parents, I don't know if I talked to you about it, but I spent a long time 10, 10, 15 years finding missing kids, fighting sexual exploitation, sex trafficking, all of that. And... You know, when kids go missing, everyone's in a panic, hysterical, crying, and then if we get them back, we cry even harder. And that whatever happens in that gap, whether it's a week or the longest case I had, four and a half years, and we got the girl back. But then, and she was, she was groomed away because of a gaming site at 14 and a half years old. So how, and the guy had been working on her for two years before he ever came and got her to leave her home. He's in jail now, but we're now talking, this family's been in my life for seven years. And that's just one family. The other families, you know, you can't stay in contact with everybody. But the impact on these families never goes away. It is the line of demarcation. And so parents that are casual about that or don't take the time to find out who's got contact with their kids, it's kind of like handing them a loaded gun without doing it. It's very dangerous. And you don't want to sound like, you know, the town crier, but this is now the next latest, greatest thing. And you're right on the AI. The AI. is really, you don't know what's real or what's not real. And there's so much fake, you know, people trying to diminish other people anyway out there for whatever purpose, you don't know. So is there a place where kids can communicate and be in their social environment that parents have controls on it? Do you have a recommendation? What do you suggest that... You know, I'm a grandparent, 19 grandkids. I'm not raising the kids on the day-to-day basis. Thank goodness, because I don't think I could do 19. But what do you suggest to parents right now who have kids in, you know, elementary school, junior high, high school, how do you protect them? Honestly, I don't think that there is any protecting them as long as you allow them to be on any platform with outside communication. I mean, you know, even, you know, you go on to some of these other platforms. You know, like, for example, there's, you know, YouTube has a children's version of YouTube. You could have your kid on there, but then there's people that take advantage of that, and then they will create cartoons that are, you know, teaching kids how to commit suicide. And, you know, there's all different kinds of things that are on there that.

I would urge parents, you know, if you're strictly looking at it from a safety perspective, do not allow your child to be on anything that allows communication with anybody else. I think that that's extremely important, especially today with how many predators there are, with the development of AI and all that. From the perspective of brain development and child development, as well as, you know, being propagandized in addiction. I would get your kids away from screens if at all possible. And it's very strange me saying that as a tech CEO, but I've seen the way that this is and I've seen the way that it works. And it's one of the reasons like with Pickax, like we require you to be at least 18 years old to be on the platform. Not because there's anything explicit on the platform, but because I don't believe that it's healthy for children to be on there. There's a new study that came out. I believe the NIH put it out where it was actually showing that... That, you know, if your child is watching screens, that you're actually stunting their brain development. And when you actually dive into that, it actually makes perfect sense. Because if you sit down and you read a book to a child, their brain has to work. They have to critically think. They have to imagine the words that the character is saying, what it sounds like. They have to visualize the scene, the movement, you know, how it's playing out. If you're watching the TV, your child's brain doesn't have to work because it's feeding them the lines. It's feeding them the audio. It's feeding them the visuals. Their brain doesn't have to work. So it's actually stunting their brain development if you're having your kids on screen. So the best thing to do is basically cut off screens altogether, you know, get them reading, get them outside. You know, if you want them to be, you know, social with other kids. take them to the park, you have a play date, do things like that that are much more physical, manual stimulating in the right way. And I know it's harder, it's easier said than done, but it's what's best for your child. 100%. And one of the things we used to look at is the endorphins that were released, especially when it came to pornography for young boys and young girls. And so their brain would get addicted to that and it would keep craving that. And so, and I don't know that it's that way for kids and screens, but when you alter the brain and the natural development of it, you actually can do great harm. And then... Kids get desensitized, and I think we have a whole generation of desensitized young people right now due to access to screen, so I 100% agree. Jeff, we have to take like a minute break. Can you hang with me? Sure. Okay, great. We are talking to Jeff Dornick, CEO of Pickax, and he's got a book coming out. So is that right? You have a book coming out soon? Yes, yeah, it's a pre-order right now. It's called Following the Leader. Okay, so when we come back, we're going to talk about that because I'm interested and I'm curious, so that's where I want to go. And we will talk a little bit more about this topic because it is so important that we protect our next generation and we give them all the healthy things that they can have to grow and develop.

without those that mean to do them harm. You're listening to Winn Tucson on 1030 The Voice, your trusted local news and talk. We'll be back with our very special guest, Jeff Dornick, right after this brief break. Welcome back to Wind Tucson. We're talking to Jeff Dornick, and Jeff is a... Jeff, what would you call yourself? You said you are the CEO of a media platform, but you're more than that. So tell everybody you are a great interviewer, you are involved in social media, you are involved in a lot of, you have your finger in a lot of different pies from my assessment. Yeah, no, definitely have. You know, it's, it's, it's been, it's been fun. We, uh, we just launched our own social media platform called Pickax, uh, and the CEO of. And, uh, that, that's been a lot of fun building out. And it's kind of like a hybrid between, uh, X and substack with, you know, Rumble integration. Um, you know, I host a show, the Jeff Dornish show where I've had the, you know, honor of interviewing everybody from like Kash Patel to General Flynn, uh, you know, fill in the blank. It's been a lot of fun. And then I've co-authored and been the general editor for a couple of books and then, you know, writing a new book right now called Following the Leader. So, yeah, it definitely keeps me busy. Between that and chasing the three-year-old around the house, it keeps me busy. The three-year-old probably is the thing that wears you out. They have a lot of energy at three. Oh, yeah. So your book that's coming out, you can pre-order it now. So tell what's the book about? Sure. So really, it stems out, really, so I wrote a chapter in one of our previous books about the evangelical cult of personality. And in that chapter, I was really looking at how, you know, a lot of naked church pastors actually manipulate their audience and their congregations. in order to, you know, keep people loyal to them, which goes against what the Apostle Paul talks about, where he talks about, you know, you're not supposed to follow me, you're not supposed to follow Paul. Or Peter, you're supposed to be following Christ. And so, you know, I wrote that chapter. And then now that I'm more in the, I got in the political space after that, and I saw a lot of the tactics that were being used are being used by politicians and, you know, the media and all that. So then I started doing a lot of research into it and figuring out, okay, this is happening on a massive scale. Why is this happening? And so I went back to the Colts, like everything from Jim Jay Jones, Charles Manson, the Scientology, all of that kind of stuff, looked at the tactics that are being used there and how those exact same tactics are being used on a mass scale in order to manipulate the masses. And so, you know, we're diving into this idea that... looking at the intelligence agencies, a lot of the research that they've done in the past on propaganda, mind control, you know, brainwashing, all that kind of stuff, how those same tactics were then employed by, you know, cults and are now being employed by mass media and politicians. And then we look at the Bible and say, what does the Bible say about all this? You know, where is your worldview grounded in?

uh where where's your foundation are you are you playing follow the leader and following your favorite politician your favorite pastor your favorite you know thought leader you know whatever that might be or are you grounded in something bigger than yourself are you grounded in god's word are you are you grounded in truth and then everything else flows out from that so that's really that's really the kind of the gist of the book uh you know to put to put it quickly and what and what motivated you uh I guess you had an epiphany, right, seeing what's happening? But what was your, like, was there a moment where you said, I have to get what I've discovered out to people? Yeah, well, you know, I think, I think that it's kind of been an ongoing development. I mean, you know, during the last presidential cycle, I ended up, you know, endorsing Robert F. Kennedy Jr., which, you know, going through that experience and then coming back into the fold when Robert F. Kennedy Jr. joined up with Trump, that was a really unique, interesting experience as somebody who, you know, I, that was backing Trump to all over back to, you know, 2015. I wanted him to run in 2012 instead of Mitt Romney. It was a very interesting experience, but then kind of coming back into the fold, I realized that there's this two-party worldview. It's us versus them. It's a team sport mentality. And what ends up happening, when you start feeling like you have to defend your team, then you are setting yourself up to be manipulated. What you should be loyal to is you should be loyal to the truth. You should be loyal to your worldview, your belief system. um you know something bigger than yourself because if you're if you're just loyal to your team you can be easily manipulated to change your opinion from day to day depending on what's politically expedient as opposed to being grounded in the truth and then you know your alliances and who you support and who you vote for and who's your quote unquote team all flows out from your worldview and your belief system as opposed to starting out with i identify myself with this political candidate and then uh and then everything else flows from there if you do that you can be very easily manipulated and i always remind everybody if you if you're putting your identity in a person or a group or an organization uh they will always let you down at some point because we're all fallen sinful creatures however if you if you put your hope and your true and your in your foundation and your uh identity in God and the truth, you're never going to be let down because God is perfect. So why would we do the former? We should always be doing the latter. Absolutely. And I think that it's important to understand that you have to have a strong sense of self. Don't let other people think for you. As we head into these midterms, there's a primary in Texas today. Any predictions on who the Senate candidate is going to be? I don't necessarily have predictions on the specific campaigns and elections and all that kind of stuff. The thing that I'm concerned about is that

Um, it's, it's going to trend blue across the country. Um, you know, again, it's midterms as predictable. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Well, and the thing is that I think it's because, and it kind of comes back to the whole idea of my book where, you know, it's because we're fighting the battle on the wrong front. We're fighting, we're fighting this battle for, to quote unquote, save the country on the political front, which is just really when you think about it, it's the symptom of the problem. It's not the actual problem. The root problem. is that we're having a secularization of society. The root problem is that we're having a huge, huge percentage of the American population with a faulty worldview. And so then the culture flows out of that, and then politics flows out of that. We need to focus on your belief system and your worldview, but instead we're fighting, it's like we're trying to put a band-aid on an open wound thinking that that's going to fix the problem as opposed to getting in there and dealing with the root cause problem. Well, and what do you define? Is the root cause that we're not getting our message out? Is the root cause that media is still controlled or that the Democrats are better at convincing people that their narrative is the right path forward for this country? Well, so when you think about the Republicans in general, again, I talk in very generality here. Yes, right. Republicans in general are very reactionary, right? So we focus on the things at hand, right? They were very literal. And then we respond, you know, in kind. Whereas the Democrats, what they're doing, what the left is doing, they've been infiltrating every single aspect of American life, every single aspect of influence in this country, whether you're talking education, you're talking entertainment, you're talking music, you're talking media, they've infiltrated everything, and they are going after changing people's hearts and minds. I mean, when you think about it, think about how many Christian families send their kid to college, their kid goes to college, and all of a sudden they come back a flaming lefty. Well, it's because they actually got in there and they're forcing them to wrestle with things and there's not a conservative viewpoint in there. So what ends up happening? They end up changing the heart and mind of that child. Whereas we aren't engaging at that same front. We're on the right. We're oftentimes focusing on, you know, we're going to post on social media and we're going to do this and we're going to react to this. And it's like, no, get in there and let's actually change hearts and mind. The one person that was actually doing that was Charlie Kirk and he was going to where the people were. talking to them, wrestling with them, not just blasting them with a fire hose of information, but actually getting them to actually self-reflective, think through their world view. What do they believe? That's why Charlie Kirk was so effective. But nobody's picking up that mantle, really, and focusing on it from that standpoint. They're focusing on owning the left and destroying the left and supporting Trump and doing all this stuff, which is fine. That's great and all that. But if you actually want to save this country, we need to actually get in there and change hearts and minds. And I think that that's, that's, that's, that's that root, that gets down to the root cause that we're actually talking about. Yeah, and Charlie planted a lot of seeds, and, but it's almost like we're not taking care of the garden he created. Right. You know, there's, there was the immediate shock and, and reaction to his assassination. And, and to me, that was evil and strategic, though. And.

And the other side place, not to win, but to, it's a different game. It's not about winning and losing. It's about control power. And not about what's in our best interest. It's about what's in their best interest. And it takes care of the few, not the many. And I think that we have to really understand that that's where we're at right now. So people want to order your book? What did they do, Jeff? Yeah, you guys can go to gatekeepersonline.com and it'll be right there on the homepage, following the leader. And you guys from pre-order that. There, you can also check out some of the other books that I put together. One's called Social and Justice, one's called Church and State. We also published a book called Five Steps to Kill a Nation by Pastor Sam Jay Jones. We've got several books over there, several resources over there, and you guys can definitely do that at gatekeepers online.com. I love it. And I want to thank you again for jumping on today, and we'll have you back. I think parents find out about something, and they have to experience it. I always like to provide resources, especially for those that are raising kids in these trials. Raising kids right now, it's a big lift. And we have to give them every tool that we can. So thank you for being one of the voices out there in the wilderness standing up and telling us what we need to know. I appreciate you. Thank you. I appreciate it. Okay. You guys are listening to 1030 The Voice Your trusted local news and talk. We come back. We'll give you some updates on what's happening in our elections and some other things that are going on. Don't go anywhere. We'll be right back. Welcome back to Win Tucson. So this... thing that's going on uh it really isn't um has been a uh effect on our nation uh in a way that um i've never seen people who are serving act the way that they're acting it is unprecedented in that um we are cross trying to take out a, well, we have taken out, somebody who was in leadership who killed 30,000 of their own people, young people, their next generation, for standing up and wanting to speak against the atrocities that were happening in Iran. And so the United States is currently engaged in military conflict with Iran. And you have to, I give President Trump. decisive leadership credit because being able to do this when no other leader before you has done it, not because they were unwilling. They put their political career ahead of the safety of human beings. There's been times all over the world where we've seen atrocities and we go to step in.

But right now back at home, public safety has to be our absolute top priority. And for every elected official in Tucson and Pima County, this is not a Republican thing. This is Democrat, Republican independence. The Biden administration's open border policy just factually allowed millions of illegal immigrants. including hundreds on the terrorist watch list. I'm not saying that to scare you. I'm saying it because it's true. There were people that came into this country. We didn't track them. We didn't know who they were. They were called Godaways. Millions and millions of people. And with active hostilities against Iran underway, the risk... to our families have escalated dramatically. And we saw that in Austin, Texas over the weekend. And so I really want to put every local elected official on notice. The safety of Southern Arizona families comes before politics. And right now...

protesting the war, you have a freedom of speech to do it, protesting ICE agents, but then when you cross that line and you harm someone in your attempt to bring cause or bring attention to your cause, there can be no higher duty right now than protecting our neighborhoods, our schools, our streets. It is a delicate and dangerous time, and Arizona's U.S. senators must immediately stop. And I'm going to call it the way that I see it as childish, partisan attacks against President Trump and unite in support of strong national security leadership. The people of Tucson, And Pima County deserve leaders who put America and our local safety first. I stand firmly behind President Trump as he protects our nation. And really, the time for division is over. I don't know that we're going to get there. We are heading into an election cycle, and we seem to be more concerned about how something's going to play out in the media than why something is being done. And so I am confident that we don't want to, this is not World War III. And the words matter. This is not an illegal action. The words matter. This is us standing up for freedom in another part of the world. Iran brought this action upon themselves when they... killed and slaughtered innocent people in Israel. And this is not a war. This is making sure that we restore order to Iran after 47 years. And this is the president who's stepping forward to do that. And you don't have to like him. He's not running for prom king. He is trying to protect the interest not only of our citizens. Now, we are going to become the target. Why? Because our president is doing this. He should stand with him, not against him. And so we're going to take a quick break and we come back. I just wanted to just share my thoughts this morning because I am more disturbed by the questions and the way that the Congress is treating those that are in tough jobs Homeland Security Department of Justice and all those that are trying to protect Secretary of War protect the interest of this great nation and we are acting Like spoiled brats. It's got to stop. So, Wynne Tucson, I'm Kathleen Wynne on 1030 The Voice, your trusted local news and talk. We'll be back right after this.

Welcome back. And so the Board of Supervisors meetings going on. And there's, today is the last day for people to mail their ballots in. If you don't want to mail your ballot in, we've gotten a lot of calls and complaints. And apparently Supervisor Christie has been, Let me see what I've got here. The Board of Supervisors were getting chastised by Supervisor Christie about the mobile voting center and lack of privacy envelopes. I will say yesterday, and I will give credit where it's due. We had the first mobile voting center in sales, Arizona. They did allow observers, so thank you for that. We appreciate that. About 30 people came. and dropped off their ballots and another 20 people voted. So it's a big effort, but I think anytime you can get voters, that's a good thing. And the envelopes, the lack of privacy envelopes are a big deal. But don't... keep that, don't use that as an excuse to not vote. We are seeing a higher voter turnout for the Republicans and was anticipated. We appreciate that. We are glad to see you being engaged. Let's just call this practice for the primary and the general election. The more people that we can get to turn out and get into the practice of doing that, the better off that we're going to be.

We really need to understand that these elections coming up are going to be very critical. Just because something has always been done a particular way in terms of midterms, we know midterms typically go against the sitting president, whatever party they are, it's not, I would say it's not personal, but with President Trump, it seems to be more personal. Just remember right now that no one. is voting and that it's a chance for you to discover who your primary candidates are so you make sure that you get the right people and the primary into to be able to vote the other thing that's happening is that we have We have this special election, election day, the actual election day if you want to go vote on election days next Tuesday. There are limited places to go vote. So I recommend that you vote your ballot, but do not mail it after today. If you don't get it in the mail today, you now need to hand deliver it. So today is the last day to mail your ballot. And we are... We are encouraged by what we're seeing, and let me just give you the updated as of this morning. So we have, and let me give you this breakdown, because I think this is important also. This is Pima Countywide. There are 184,000 registered Republicans. I can say that fast three times. There's 230,000. 300 independents and there's 235,000 Democrats. So we could say a third, a third, a third the Republicans are still behind. by about 50,000 voters. However, the Republicans in terms of returning have returned 26%. The Democrats have returned 27% of their ballots, and the independents have returned 16%. That is a good turnout, considering that we're, we still have a week to go.

So about 48,000 Republicans have voted so far. That's higher than our previous election. So we need to keep going because there are ways to fix the problems, 418 and 419, that are not on the table. And if one of those fails, 418 or 419, they both fail. And I'm hearing that there's... There's plans for if it fails, what we can do and how we can fix it. Most importantly, one of the things that I keep hearing over and over again is that the biggest player at the table is the city of Tucson and that people want to see Tucson get their financial house, their fiscal house. in order before entering into this 20-year agreement. I don't think it's unreasonable. We've been told and we know that the RTA is managed separately, that the programs are... The programs can... can only exist if they're funded and if the funding source goes down let's say we vote for the program and for the design of the roads but we don't vote for the funding this does not go forward so we have to figure out what is best for Tucson if we don't have the infrastructure and we don't take care of the brokenness that's in the city homelessness Tucson has a huge homelessness problem. We have an illegal immigrant problem. We have people here that don't belong here, and our elected officials fight against the law enforcement that are trying to protect us. That's a big problem. And when you do that, and people know that you are, whether official or not, a sanctuary city, and you're protecting the interest of those that don't pay taxes, that are criminals and that are amongst you, You alienate businesses that would consider Tucson. If we're in competition for a business between us and some other place where the policies of the governing are more supportive of the actual citizens than those that are here breaking our laws, as a business owner, you're going to go to those places. As with education. If we are not doing a good job of educating our students, keeping them in schools, and not allowing for ideology that doesn't support what most parents want for their kids in our schools, all of those things are deterrence for businesses that are looking to relocate here and create jobs. And so it may seem like you're voting on roads, but I've got everybody. What wasn't done is explaining the structure of this to the average voter. And so as we've been out knocking on doors and telling people, you know, you need to return your ballot. I did that over the weekend. Most people that I talk to now, I'm very east side, were telling me that they were going to vote against this.

And I'm confident that this is going to be a very close election, if nothing else. Does it pass? Not based on my own internal polls, but there is that chance that it could. And we have to demand from our leaders. the supervisors and the city council in Tucson, but also Morana, Sarita, Oro Valley, that they work collectively because what happens in Tucson seems to spread out across the rest of the county. And we are not becoming a more safe place to live. And so the warning that I had about being vigilant, what happened in Austin can happen in Tucson. You have to pay attention to what's happening in our community. I think if you would ask two months ago, could someone out of the foothills be abducted and gone missing as in Nancy Guthrie? We would have thought that that could never happen. And yet there are things that are happening in our community and in our city and in our town that have never happened before. And we as citizens here have to start to solve those problems instead of pointing fingers instead of politicizing. Instead of condemning those that are trying to lead and trying to fix the problems. But if you turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to the citizens who live here, chances are... you're not going to be able to get what you want. And maybe with the billions of dollars that you have, you fix the immediate problems and show some good faith to those of us that are voting and show some good faith to those of us who love this place, who call it home, who are proud wildcats because that's going on. But Tucson has so many great things and great restaurants and great people and people with heart that do the right thing. But we're fighting against our own leadership and bad policies where we don't support the people. that are supporting us. We have a new chief of police in Tucson. She's come up through the ranks. We wish her well. We hope that the Tucson Police Department continues to recruit to take care of their officers and to take care of their retired officers to support them, to thank them for a job well done. I know a lot of people in Tucson leave to go. The benefactors of that are... full departments in Oro Valley in Sarita, in South Tucson, in Marana. So you can't, if you're weakening the biggest city.

and the smaller cities around that are fiscally responsible that do all the things and those cities are working but the place that's the biggest is not you might want to look at your policies you might want to look at what's working and what's not working and what's not working is making us pay taxes for things that don't get done, that don't get complete. And although many of the projects from the last 20 years of the RTA did get done, the ones that remain undone, and there's some that are funded and some that are not, and some that are carryovers for this next one, that is the problem. Because at a point where someone should have stepped in who was managing that, they didn't step in. They didn't do it. They didn't do what they were supposed to do. So the last thing is if you during this election year want to get involved with the Pima County GOP, that's my team, but you can get involved with the Democrats of your Democrat, but I invite you to get involved to sign up. to become a precinct committeeman where you live. In that way, if we get everybody signed up, you are allowed so many precinct committeemen per party. And if you sign up, you just have to get 10 signatures. You go on the ballot if it's contested. I live in precinct 179. A lot of great people live there. But you just have to get 10 signatures, and then you turn it in. And if there's no election, if there's no contested, meaning there's more people that want to be PCs, that happens very rarely, but it does happen in certain parts of the valley. Then you can get elected, and you would serve as a precinct commitment for the next two years. The next two years in this nation and the city and the state are going to be critical. especially if we don't have a change of leadership at the top. We have to work together to fix the drug problems, the homeless problem, the traffic problem, the crime problem. And those things are not...

They're not unable to be fixed. But in order for us to fix them, we absolutely have to come up with plans and taxing the citizens and inconvenience in the citizens and making the citizens afraid is not the right way. And that leads me to the free bus system. The free bus system is the thing that's going to probably bring this down, even though the RTA funds other buses. But whatever the connection is between the RTA and the city of Tucson allowing these crime buses to go across the city where people have been killed at bus stops, people have been injured, where the bus drivers are not safe. That is the deal breaker. That is the complaint. That is where people are upset. That and the $67 million of being over budget that the city of Tucson currently says it is. We can't run our budgets, a million dollars over budget, let alone $67 million over budget. We elected you to manage the resources, not spend more than we have, not ask for things. And $2.67 billion is a lot of money over 20 years. Would we like to have the roads? Yes, you've promised that you can. The voters don't trust you. It's going to come down to trust. Who do the voters trust? Who do they believe in? And who do they support? So you have to really do some research. This is unprecedented times. And I believe that people will let the leadership in this community know how they feel. It doesn't make one side right or wrong. It means that we have to go back to the drawing board if it doesn't pass. If it does pass, then we'll have to figure out how we do that too. Either way, it's time for us to come together and work together. And maybe we can start by cheering on the Wildcats. I think that's not a Republican or Democrat thing. That's a loyalty. And we are super happy about our team and what they did last night. So we will see where we end up in March Madness. I'm sure we're going to be a first seed. And congratulations again to my wildcats and your wildcats. Have a great day. Tomorrow's China Watch Wednesday. And we'll be back. I'm Kathleen Wynne on 1030, The Voice, your trusted local news and talk. Be safe out there.