Trump Meets With GOP Senators Over Save Act

Your education is more than a path to a degree. At Regent University, it's an important step in God's plan for your career. It's where you'll be equipped to lead and serve with purpose. It's where 40,000 graduates have prepared to fulfill their callings, and so can you. Choose a top-ranked program from over 150 areas of study on campus or online and watch what God will do. Learn more at regent.edu. That's regent.edu. News, politics, entertainment. This is O'Connor and Company. And good Thursday morning to you. Thanks for tuning in to O'Connor and Company. My name is Cam Edwards, editor at barianarms.com, host of the Bering Arms Cam and Company podcast. Sitting in for Larry O'Connor today, please that you're with us on the program. We've got a busy one in store for you coming up on the show. Governor Abigail Spanberger's latest energy policy. Cost Virginians more than a billion dollars. Jason Isaac from the American Energy Institute will be with us later on in the hour to explain why he says higher electric bills are on the way. Plus, we'll also be talking with Virginia delegate, Ren Williams, about the latest fights over our Second Amendment rights in the Commonwealth of Virginia. You've got battles going on in the courts over background checks as well as Virginia's impending ban on so-called assault firearms and large capacity magazines. Attorney Alex Sawyer will be with us as well. Breaking now what's left on the Supreme Court's docket. Today is an opinion day. There are 12 decisions left for the Supreme Court. I don't know how many of those cases will be decided today, but it looks like there are going to be multiple decisions handed down, and there are some major decisions expected before the end of the term. At 805, former Deputy Secretary, National Security Advisor, Katie McFarlane, will be with us to talk about the latest on Iran. And what comes next after President Trump? And we'll also be talking with Washington Times correspondent. Susan Ferratio on the growing showdown over the Save America Act and whether Senate Republicans can get it across the finish line. The House Speaker Mike Johnson said maybe he needs to be in a reconciliation 3.0 bill. So there would be another way, perhaps, to get the Save America Act to President Trump's desk. All of that is coming up this morning here on O'Connor and Company right now, though let's talk about what's going on in Iran. We had a major reversal in the Senate overnight as President Trump scored a big victory. The Senate rejecting an effort to restrict his war powers over Iran. That vote happened several hours after President Trump met with Senate Republicans behind closed doors and what was described by Minnie as a fiery and dramatic showdown. A lot of finger-pointing, a lot of, well, I don't want to say name-calling, but I think that tempers were high, even Senator Bill Cassidy, who was on the receiving end of President Trump's sire, said that he let his temper get the best of him. during these discussions. But Bill Cassidy ultimately ended up switching his vote along with Senator Rand Paul, and that gave the president a victory and a defeat for the Senate Democrats who were trying to limit the administration's authority going forward. President Trump had said that the vote on the War Powers Act had hamstrung his administration and negotiations with Iran, and that apparently had an impact on these senators last night.

Scott Bessent also talking about the oil sanctions for Iran being lifted. That has been met with some criticism by Warhawks who say that the move only emboldens Iran at a time in which we need to be putting more pressure on the Iranian regime to come to the table. And Secretary Scott Bessent says that that is the wrong move for the Warhawks. Take a little listen. I don't know if we've actually got that clip here. He said, what amazes me is this the same people, a lot of the hawks in the U.S. who say, you can't believe anything the Iranians say unless they say it about negotiations. All right. This is a clip 11. It's selling oil. It was going to China, but at a discount. It is a carrot that we can always pull back. We want them to see what it feels like not having the sanctions on. And then we can always put them back on. Their economy is hurting, though, obviously. Devastate. They've got more than 100% inflation. Troops weren't getting paid. So, you know, we have laid their economy to waste. And that's what brought them to the table. So when you hear the Iranians, maybe it's the IRGC, with this public relations saying the IAEA inspectors are not coming, the Strait of Roos is closed, all of these things day-to-day get picked up. What amazes me, it's the same people, a lot of the hawks in the U.S. who say, you can't believe anything the Iranians say, unless they say it about the negotiations. Believe them for the negotiations. Remember Baghdad Bob from Iraq? It's kind of Taran Tim. Like, it's just a lot of big talk. And let's just see how this cooks out. But I'm optimistic. You know, I think Secretary Guy Benson does have a point when he talks about not believing or at least not taking the Iranian statements about the negotiations at face value. Obviously, both the U.S. and Iran playing to a domestic audience back home. But the Iranian regime, I think, has some different factors at work that do not exist here in the United States, right? they've got their thumb on the Iranian people. They want to show and project that they are still in power, that they are not negotiating from a position of weakness. In fact, they want the Iranian people to believe that they won. this military conflict, that it's the United States that is coming to heal. So when you hear the Iranians talk about, no, we haven't said anything about nuclear inspections, no, we're not doing anything to give up our nuclear ambitions. I would take that with a very big grain of salt. And in fact, you know, when President Trump said that the Iranians had agreed to allow EA inspectors in, and Iran said no, now we're hearing from one of those independent partners at the negotiating table that Iran, has in fact said that they will allow nuclear inspections, quote, at some point. So the negotiation appears at this point to be over what those inspections will look like when those inspections will take place. But Iran has apparently conceded that, yes, there does need to be independent monitoring.

of their nuclear ability, and that is something that the Iranian government did not want to share with the Iranian people. So I think Scott Bessent is smart to remind folks, again, about how these negotiations are shaking out, both behind closed doors. and again in the public eye. Now, again, speaking of behind closed doors, we did have that closed door meeting, President Trump going to Capitol Hill yesterday. Originally, he was set to sign a bipartisan housing bill and he was going to meet with Republicans behind closed doors to talk about the Save America Act. Instead, President Trump announced that he would not. be signing that bill that passed with broad majorities of both the House of the Senate unless or until the Save America Act gets to his desk. We'll be talking about the politics of that in a little bit on O'Connor and Company, but the Iran War was a big topic during that closed door meeting with Senate Republicans. According to multiple sources, Trump was, quote, very animated over the war powers vote again saying it had hurt the administration's negotiating position with Iran. He named names of Republicans who voted with Democrats or were absent for the vote, including Pennsylvania Senator Dave McCormick, who was actually in Pennsylvania campaigning with President Trump, and that's why he wasn't there. But you did have senators like Bill Cassidy. Rand Paul, who ended up voting against that War Powers Act. One source called the meeting a shouting match between the president and Bill Cassidy saying, quote, you know like two boys on a recess that are yelling at each other over a foul on a basketball court. And afterwards, President Trump did make some brief comments. about what happened during that meeting. Senator Bill Cassidy spoke as well. Let's start with Bill Cassidy's version of events, and then we'll tell you what President Trump said. This is a clip 12. The President was wondering why people would vote for the War Powers Act, asking if that would be a rhetorical question, a real question, he said real. And so as we begin to speak, the President didn't want to hear my question, interrupted me. I didn't care to be interrupted. I felt like I was trying to get answers for the American people. And I'm not going to be bullied when I'm trying to get answers for the American people. And so escalated from there, at some point it de-escalate. We're told the president called your lunatic.

Can I imagine that the president called me things that that would be said on the playground? Yeah, I can imagine it. Does it bother you that he went after Leader Mitch McConnell who wasn't here to defend himself? If there's somebody I know who's got thick skin, it's Leader McInty? I mean, do you believe that this the way the President should be conducting himself in a meeting of colleagues? I'll let the President's action speak with themselves. Did you refer to him? We're hearing reports that you refer to Matt's brother at one point. and there was that sort of contentious people. I don't think that's really important to this story. I don't think. I mean, I'm sure I know the answer to this, but you don't regret that all in the vote for the power's resolution yesterday. No, as I said, and I said before, that once I start getting answers, I can change my vote. But I feel like there's answers that need to be given, and they've not been given. And that's important to the Senate. And it's important to the Senate. It's important to the American people.

Meanwhile, as Bill Cassidy alluded to the language from President Trump and the language from Bill Cassidy, not exactly what you would find in the church pews, maybe on the schoolhouse grounds. But President Trump did talk about afterwards those individuals in the Senate, who the Republicans in particular, who voted against that, or voted in favor rather, of the war powers resolution that passed just a couple of days ago. This is clip 13. Right in the middle of one of the key things, which we're going to get anyway, we got... We have breaking news. The Senate has voted that they'd like Trump to stop the war. So Iran sees that and they go, what's that all about? Now, you know it's meaningless, right? But... I had lunch with them. We had four Republican senators and all Democrats. Democrats, they want to lose the war because they're stupid. All right, let's drop out there. The important takeaway from the president's comments, apparently they did have an impact because, again, last night, another vote. This one, the Democrats lost, Senator Rand Paul voting present, and the president getting what he wanted from the Senate on that resolution. We have much more O'Connor and Company coming up right after this. Stick around. When we return, we'll be talking about the Save America Act. Also a big topic of discussion on Capitol Hill yesterday. We're back with more O'Connor and Company. For nearly 3,000 years, Homer's The Odyssey has shaped Western imagination. It tells the story of Odysseus as he faces monsters, shipwrecks, false comforts, and impossible choices on his long journey home. As one of the foundational works of Western literature, Homer's epic is more than mythology. It explores permanent questions about courage, duty, loyalty, family, leadership, temptation, and the search for home. In one of the epic's defining moments, Odysseus rejects the offer of immortality from the goddess Calypso, choosing instead the long and difficult journey home. His decision reveals one of the central themes of the Odyssey that a life of duty, family, and home, is greater than a life devoted to comfort or glory. Achilles chose glory. Odysseus chose home. That's why Hillsdale College has released its newest free online course, the Odyssey. Taught by Professor Benedict Wayland, the course reveals why Homer's masterpiece remains one of the greatest works of Western Literatured. literature. Find this free course at Hillsdale.edu forward slash start now. The Odyssey from Hillsdale College, go to hillsdale.edu forward slash start now. And good Thursday morning to you. Thanks again for being a part of O'Connor and Company. Still to come, we're going to be talking about the American Energy Institute, CEO Jason Isaac, about why Virginians electric bills are about to soar even higher than they already are. But we've been talking about what happened on Capitol Hill yesterday in terms of the war powers resolution, the vote that Democrats put forward in the Senate that failed late Wednesday night. But the Save America Act was also another big topic of conversation on the Hill and in that closed door session between President Trump and Senate Republicans almost immediately after that closed door discussion concluded. The president made some remarks to the press. Here's what he had to say. This is clip 14.

I think we had a really great meeting, and we're very proud of the party. We like our leader. We like everybody really in the room. I don't like a few people, but that's okay. I think you know who they are. But we, I'll give you that information someday. But for the most part, we have a really well-unified party. And I said it very strongly. We have the hottest country anywhere in the world. We're the most powerful. We're the smartest. We're the most respected. Two years ago, we were a laughing stock all over the world. world. We had a terrible group of people representatives. Every leader, I just left G7, every leader, and we had a lot of people in addition to G7, is you know, K, everyone said what we've done in a year and a half is a miracle. We have the hottest country in the world, and we want to keep it that way. We have more factories being built right now than we have at any point at any time in the history of our country, and all of those factories are opening up soon. It's all jobs and our job numbers are incredible anyway I see that oil just broke the $70 number who would have thought that was going to happen and that's during a war and Iran is being very nice they're agreeing to everything that I want and they have to otherwise we just go back and do what we have to do So the president talking a little bit about what happened in that closed door session. Actually, you're pretty genteel compared to what happened behind those closed doors. And again, the discussion is how do we get the Save America Act to President Trump's desk? And the holdup is not the House. As Speaker Mike Johnson noted, the House has actually passed this legislation multiple times. So how do you get it through the Senate? Well, Speaker Johnson has an idea about how to do that as well. This is cut 18. He's laser focused on Save America Act, as most common sense Americans are. The only path, I think, to get that done because you're never going to get seven Democrats to join 53 Republicans in the Senate to do that. They will not do it. Chuck Schumer will never vote for that or release any Democrat to do it. You have to put it on a reconciliation bill. We believe that if you create a grant program, It ties it to reconciling the budget, and you allow blue states, if they come to their senses and they want to avail themselves to election integrity proposals and ideas and policies, they can draw down from a federal fund and use those funds. We're willing to invest heavily in that. And House Republicans will put together a reconciliation bill, reconciliation 3.0, that will have that. I talked the president through that in detail this morning, as I have in the past. And he said, can we do it? I said, we can. If the Republicans will stand together, we're on the line right now to defend it. Hold on it. So that's what we're going to do. And the president said, I want to see some progress on it. I said, I'd love to show it to you. We've got a meeting today. We've had some more coming up. And so he decided, and I didn't announce it. I wanted him to announce it. But we're delaying this. As you know, he has a window of time before he has to sign a bill. And he's going to use a little bit more of that window of time. And we're going to go through this together.

Now, the bill that Speaker Johnson was referring to was that housing bill that President Trump said he would not sign until the Save America gets to his desk. Apparently that bill has not been presented to President Trump. There is, you know, a constitutional authority that says bills that are presented to the president take effect within 10 days or after 10 days if he does not sign them or veto them. However, It's up to Speaker Johnson to present that bill to the president, and apparently has not done so as of yet. So what about the odds of a reconciliation 3.0 bill passing with that language in it? Well, it would be up to the Senate parliamentarian to decide whether or not that rule would be germane. But also, Speaker Johnson noted that that grant pool that would be used to tie this into a budget bill. would be voluntary, right? States could opt in to getting that grant money if they wanted to abide by the voter ID laws and things of that nature. The question then would be, would that be enough for the president, given that states could also opt out? of accepting that grant money in exchange for requiring voter ID and the other provisions of the Save America Act. And that, I think, is yet another open question. So negotiations will continue. It looks like the Senate recess will also happen as well. We're going to take a quick recess, but not going to be two weeks long, I promise that. When we come back, we're going to talk about what's going on with Virginians energy bills. Thanks to Governor Abigail Spanberger and the Democrats in Richmond. Stick around. We'll be back with more right after this. Your education is more than a path to a degree. At Regent University, it's an important step in God's plan for your career. It's where you'll be equipped to lead and serve with purpose. It's where 40,000 graduates have prepared to fulfill their callings, and so can you. Choose the Top Rings program from over 150 areas of study, on campus or online, and watch what God will do. Learn more at regent.edu. That's regent.edu.

Hey, good morning to you. Thanks again for being a part of O'Connor and Company this morning. My name is Cam Edwards, editor at Beringarms.com, and also the host of the Barron Arms, Cam and Company podcast, and it in for Larry today. Still to come on the program this hour, too crazy for Carville, why some of the Democrats who won on Tuesday night in New York's primaries. are too much not only for the longtime Democrat strategists, but for many other Democrats as well. Right now, I want to welcome to the program. The CEO of the American Energy Institute, Jason Isaac, is with us. Jason, good morning, sir. Hey, good morning. It's great to be on. Thanks for having me. I really appreciate you being a part of the program today. You know, I am a Virginia resident. I am having to live under the Democrat rule here. And it's amazing to me, Jason. Democrats ran in Virginia on this message of affordability. They are not governing. on affordability right now. One of the things that has been done by Governor Abigail Spanberger is to re-enter Virginia into what's called the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. These are part of efforts, they say, to combat global warming and to boost green energy. But at the same time, this initiative also boosts the electric bills of customers in these states, including Virginia, right? I mean, how big an increase are we talking about for the average rate payer? Yeah, you're looking about $13 a month for the average rate payer, which may not seem like a lot to people that live in northern Virginia, but there are certainly people in the rest of the state, and the least among us, that are going to be affected by a $13 per month increase. This is just an additional tax so that people can virtue signal that they're actually doing something, and all they're really doing is redistributing wealth. and giving handouts to other people and other friends and non-profits that are going to benefit from this regional greenhouse gas or emissions. And then there's Reggie, this program, they're going to benefit from it. We saw that the prior administration, this massive redistributions of billions of dollars of government funding to nonprofits of friends of the administration for no benefit whatsoever. And I think that's what... you know, voters and rate payers need to understand that this is for absolutely zero benefit whatsoever. It's just an additional tax. Yeah, well, and I can tell you, I mean, 13 bucks a month, that does matter. I'm already using less electricity than I used last year. I've turned my thermostat up this summer, and I'm paying more for my electric bill, even though I'm using less energy. So this is just another, you know, additional money that's going directly to the government in this case, you know, courtesy of the Democrat policies. You know, meanwhile, she comes out yesterday with this video.

talking about, hey, Virginians, you know, here's how you can save money on your electric bill. I went and I looked and it's things like, you know, have you thought about, you know, getting new windows? Jason, I don't know if you've looked at pricing new windows lately, but that seems to be a pretty big tradeoff. You know, it's been $20,000, $30,000 up front and maybe you save $15 in your electric bill next month. Yeah, and this is what some of the people on the left really think. They think that efficiency is going to get us there, and it's really going to convince people to use less energy, is that they have a more efficient home. Well, more efficient homes cost more money, things like windows. So, yeah, it's enrollment in programs that are benefiting. I imagine donors of the governor and leftist campaigns. I mean, this is what happened with the Biden administration. It's just incredible handout to their donor base. And that's what's going to likely happen here in Virginia when you, you know, it's going to be solar panels, you know, double pane windows, reinstating your home, more fuel efficient and more efficient appliances, which are more expensive and they're less reliable. And it's something that typically only the wealthy people can afford. And so. This video, I watched the video, go to the website. So if your power's on, you've got access to the internet, then go to the video and ultimately spend more money, which is just amazing to me that the self-righteousness that's being imposed on people in Virginia and really just crushing people. We're seeing stories all over Europe about they just don't have air conditioning and they want to guilt us into using less energy. Gosh, air conditioning has been one of the greatest things to extend life expectancy in the history of mankind. Absolutely. And I feel bad because I'm telling my kids like, no, keep the thermostat where it is. Dad, it's hot. I'm like, well, it's summer. Put on shorts. You know, because I'm the one that's paying the electric bill every month. And, you know, one of the things that I noticed because I, too, clicked that link. I started going through the website. And I noticed, Jason, that a lot of these programs that Governor Spamber is touting, They've got income caps, right? So maybe it's, you know, 50% above the poverty line. Maybe it's 100% above the poverty line. But once again, it seems to me like the middle class who may be priced out of some of these incentives. They're the ones who are really burying the burden, right? They're not making a ton of money. The cost of living in Virginia has gone up as it has around the rest of the country. They're having to, you know, do more with less. And yet these programs are often not available to those folks. You know, you're absolutely right. They're the ones that are paying for it. It's the people in the middle that are getting to get the crunch the hardest. It's a larger share of their income. And they can't benefit from any of these programs whatsoever. And so you're going to continue to see what's happened in California. Unfortunately, happened in Virginia where massive amounts of people are getting disconnect notices from the utilities. A year and a half ago in California, the numbers were reported. There was over a billion dollars in arrears that people were behind. Nearly 800,000 meters in the state of California were behind on their utilities. And those people are at the greatest risk of homelessness. And I say that because when you buy a home, you're required, your homeowners insurance policy requires that you have your utilities connected. When you sign a lease for those people that aren't homeowners or they sign a lease when they rent a home.

They're required in their lease to keep their utilities connected. And when you can't afford your utilities and you get disconnect notice or you actually get them disconnected, you're violating the terms of those agreement. And that's what's going to happen. Unfortunately, in Virginia, as utility costs continue to increase, and the state does these green new scam programs like the regional greenhouse gas initiative, the costs are going to increase, disconnects are going to rise. And those people are going to be at the greatest risk of homelessness. And this is not a Virginia specific problem. I mean, Virginians are dealing with this right now because Democrats got a trifect in state government last November. But this is something that voters can expect pretty much everywhere Democrats take power, right? No, that is absolutely the blueprint, make energy more expensive and less reliable. And so anywhere the Democrats get into office, this is the thing. They've been the knee to the climate cartel, and they increase the cost of energy significantly. I did a comparison on the cost of gasoline, and blue states are higher than red states. Blue states are bringing up the national cost of a gallon of gasoline. They're bringing up the cost of electricity. They had this cult-like fascination with decarbonization, which does nothing to mitigate a changing climate. It just makes everything more expensive. I tell people I live a high-carbon lifestyle. I think the rest of the world should, too. When I said that to Congress, Jamie Raskin, dubbed me the Carbon King, like it was an insult. I've embraced it. It's my license plate. It's on my business card. It's my nickname. I mean, I'm the Carbon King. Heck yeah. The rest of the world should get to live like the one billion people in the Western world that get to experience affordable and reliable energy. And Democrats are trying to make that harder for the 7 billion people in poverty that don't get air conditioning, that don't get running water, that don't have access to electricity to turn lights on. They're trying to take that away from the one billion of us that do have it. And I advocate and continue to work for policies or reduce the cost of energy to promote human flourishing. All right. Well, if you are the carbon king, what about those of us who want to be the carbon count or the carbon countess? What can we do to push back against these policies? What are, you know, when somebody says, you know, we want to enter the regional greenhouse gas initiative, we want to do these things to save the environment to, you know, have a better future for our kids. What are some, you know, rebuttals to that? And then what are some action plans that we can do? to actually bring down the cost of energy for Americans across the country. Yeah, and I really think it's, and I've been studying this for decades now, and it gets back to decarbonization. These companies and politicians have embraced the low-carbon lifestyle, these political agendas to reduce emissions, not pollution, but reduce emissions of CO2, which is a trace gas in the atmosphere. It's 0.04% of our atmosphere. It's necessary for life on Earth.

And I would encourage shareholders that have companies that vote in the proxy elections to make sure the companies that they've invested in, their 401Ks, are actually focused on fiduciary responsibility. That's a return on investment, not political agendas like decarbonization. Senator Robert F. Kennedy Jr. from Louisiana, a question a Biden official asking him, what does it do? What does decarbonization do? And the guy couldn't answer him. And because Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s like, you don't know it is a great Cajun accent. You don't know, do you? You don't know, do you? And that's the thing. They've just been the need to this cult-like fascination with decarbonization. When that's really the bane of all this climate policies. I think that's why the Trump administration understands. that greenhouse gas emissions, namely CO2, are not a danger to human health and the environment, and they're moving to rescind the endangerment finding that the Obama bureaucrats put in office in 2009, and you and I have been suffering with higher cost of energy since. So we need to get companies and politicians to abandon decarbonization. It does absolutely nothing. It's making the planet greener. You know, are the Democrat bumper sticker is going to say save the deserts because we're actually losing deserts around the globe because this trace gas in the atmosphere is slightly increasing? That's a good thing. So we've just got to get politicians and business leaders to really abandon this. And oil could be lower right now if these companies would stop doing these European political agendas and focusing on decarbonization instead focusing on providing affordable, reliable energy. But they're not. And I think that's why the president was calling out some of the majors yesterday for prices not being lower at the pump. So that's what people can do. They can talk to their politicians and tell them to stop focusing on decarbonization because it does nothing but it's focused on affordable and reliable energy, which does everything to promote human flourishing. 30 seconds or less, Jason. If we did those things, we price of oil right now, right around $70 a barrel. What would oil be like if we actually were able to follow that advice and to put your policies into play? So you'd see an immediate reduction in the cost of a barrel of oil about $7. So about 10% of the price is sitting right now. We've seen a $20 swing because of political agenda is in the cost of a barrel of oil. People could have been providing relief, but companies could have been providing more relief during the peaks that we saw during the Strait of Formos crisis. These companies weren't for political reasons, and that's really unfortunate. So we could see the cost of energy come down significantly. if people get back to the future responsibility and affordable and reliable energy. Jason Isaac, CEO of American Energy Institute, thank you so much for me with us on O'Connor Company. Thanks for what you do, Carbon King. Hey, thanks so much. Great to be on. Keep living in the high carbon lifestyle. All right, Jason and Isaac with us here on O'Connor and Company. Well, thank you.

For being a part of O'Connor and Company as well. Still to come on the program, we're going to be taking a look at what is going on in the state of New York, a state of confusion as alerts to the left. Keep you right here. We'll be right back. Your education is more than a path to a degree. At Regent University, it's an important step in God's plan for your career. It's where you'll be equipped to lead and serve with purpose. It's where 40,000 graduates have prepared to fulfill their callings, and so can you. Choose a top-ranked program from over 150 areas of study on campus or online and watch what God will do. Learn more at regent.edu. That's regent.edu. We're in the final two days of my campaign to send boys and girls with a mom or dad in prison to Angel Tree Camp this year. And thanks to men and women just like you, donating at Larry O's Show.com. We're already sending our first 300 kids heading back to camp. They'll be in for an entire week of fresh air activities, swimming, horseback, riding, and more importantly. Most importantly, they get to hear the gospel. Some of them for the very first time, and many of them accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior at Angel Tree Camp. Just listen to Beth. She's an angel tree mom. She personally has seen the care that counselors at Angel Tree Camp provide to kids with a mom or dad in prison. Sometimes they need that love, not just their parents, but a community that knows what they're going through and has experienced it and say, like, hey, you're going through this now, but things can get better. Be positive. Hopefully, this is something that they will keep and treasure forever. Like I said, a core memory to help them want to do better and not end up in their parents' footsteps and realize that that was their dad's mistake and not theirs, but they can do better and succeed and have a great life. Beth knows how special an angel tree camp visit can be for deserving. boy and girl through no fault of their own. They're the silent victims of crime. You can help. Go to that banner at Larry O'show.com. Click it and continue to bless these children's. Thank you so much for that, Larry. All right. And it was a crazy night on Tuesday in New York as the Democrat Socialists won big in New York primaries. And some of the candidates that will likely soon be in Congress are going to be, I think, a real headache and give Democrats around the country heartburn. In fact, James Carville, who is no moderate, he was on his Politicon podcast yesterday. He actually said he's not in the same party as Canada's like Vila Chevalier, who was one of the Zohran Mamdani-backed candidates. She actually once said, now, listen, the greatest hits, if you will, of a Chevalier are going to be all over TV between now and November, and there is a lot to work with. But one of the things that said James Carvaloff was that she had once said that white people should not be in interracial marriages.

Carville said, lady, I ain't in the same party as you. Said, I'm sorry, I'm just not. And I actually do think it's time for Democrats to talk the S word schism. He said, I really do. Everybody's always, no, no, we're a coalition. We're a big tent. And there's just some bleep that I can't be in the same tent with. You want to say that these individuals like Chevalier are not Democrats. Which is true to a degree. They're not your father's Democrats. They're certainly not your grandfather's Democrats. The socialist, I think, is a much more a primary component of the Democratic Socialists of America than Democrat. But... These individuals are running as Democrats. They're winning elections, at least winning primaries, as Democrats, and they are a problem for the Democrat Party and for the nation as a whole. One of the other individuals who won a state Senate primary, Aberkawas, also endorsed by Zohran Mamdani, she had said a couple of years ago that 9-11... was rooted in America's system of quote capitalism, racism, white supremacy, and Islamophobia. That's right. That's why we had terrorists target the World Trade Center. That's why we had terrorists target the Pentagon. That's why we had terrorists tried to target the White House because of Islamophobia, right? It's absolutely insane. The New York Post also reported that DeKos's father, she had cited him as an example of the draconian immigration system in the United States, was actually deported after felony convictions. I don't know about you. I don't think that's particularly draconian. Court records cited by the New York Post showed that her dad, Abdel Karim Kawas, a Jordanian national, was convicted in Virginia in 1995, making a false statement. And then he later pleaded guilty in New Jersey to property fraud involving inflated real estate values. He was sentenced to three years in prison. I think only did about 18 months before he was deported. And yet, Kua says that her dad was booted out of the country because we're racist because we're Islamophobic, right? Again, this is a real problem for the country because as the Democrat socialists push out, even the progressives are not far left enough for the DSA types. They will be in Congress. I mean, that's the thing. Those individuals who won the New York primary, excuse me, on a Tuesday night, they're not going to face tough opposition. I mean, these are Democrat-dominated districts. They'll likely win their general election by 40, 50 points. And then they're going to be in Congress. And what happens then? Excuse me. Well, they're going to be, they're going to make Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Look more like Joe Manchin, right honestly. Hopefully, Americans will wake up in time to realize the threat that their ideology poses. When you've got individuals like Hasan Piker proclaiming that Stalinists, Maoists went out and voted on Tuesday and were happy with the election results, that should scare the heck out of every American who wants to see this country remain strong for the next. 250 years. Coming up here on O'Connor and Company next hour, we're going to be talking about another threat, this one to our right to keep in bear arms. Virginia delegate, Ren Williams, is going to be with us. We'll talk about the latest court fights over Virginia's universal background check law. It's an upcoming ban on assault firearms and large capacity magazines. We're just set to take effect next Wednesday. We've got a lot more. O'Connor and Company coming up here in the next couple of hours. So stick around. We'll be right back with much more right after this. It's Thursday morning to you. Thanks very much for being part of O'Connor and Company. My name is Camden, Edwards. I'm the editor at barringenarms.com, host of the Buried Arms Committee podcast at Townhall.com. I'm very pleased to be sitting in for Larry this morning. Coming up on the program, we're going to be talking with Alex Sawyer, who is attorney, author of Lawless Lawfare, host of a court watch podcast, and editor-at-large at the Washington Times. We'll talk about what's going on in the Supreme Court. There are 12 cases yet to be decided this term. Some pretty important cases as well. Plus, we'll be taking a look at what's going on in Venezuela as the country waking up to devastation. More than 100 people killed last night in a series of earthquakes there. The United States pledging that help is on the way. We need some help in Virginia as well because we've got a political earthquake underway that is impacting our right to keep and bear arms. We've got next Wednesday about a dozen new gun control bills taking effect, including a ban on commonly owned rifles, shotguns, handguns, and magazines. In addition, we've got ongoing legislation, excuse me, ongoing litigation, challenging some of the gun control laws that were put in place the last time. Democrats had a trifect in state government, including universal background checks. We've had pretty major developments in both of these cases. Welcome to the program right now, Delegate Ren Williams, to the program. Delegate, good morning. Thanks very much for joining O'Connor and Company. Hey, good morning. Thanks for having me. Yeah, absolutely. So, first of all, I've got to ask you just sort of a general question here. The Democrats found time to pass, as I said, more than a dozen gun control bills. They couldn't pass a budget in the regular session. So they've been working on that after the regular session concluded. Apparently the Democrats in the House and Senate have now reached some sort of agreement. But Governor Abigail Spanberger says that she has amendments that she wants to see in place, including amendments from what I understand to a bill that she's already signed into law, that ban on so-called assault farms and large capacity magazines. Have you heard, I mean, is this normal? Because I've lived in Virginia since 2004. I can't recall a governor of either party saying, hey, I want to further amend a bill that I already signed into law. And we're going to use the budget process to do it.

Yes, no, I've never seen anything like this administration. I mean, let's start there. This has been crazy. 41 new gun laws and you can't even pass a budget. And now you've got Abigail Spanberger out there suggesting that we have a budget. And then day after or almost same day, they passed the conference report that will go to the governor to become an enrolled bill before she signs it. She's saying, no, we need to tweak it. And I'm like, lady, come on. And there's a deadline here, right? She has, we have to have a budget by June 30th. Correct me if I'm wrong. The calendar that I saw is that the House and the Senate will come back next Monday. That's the 29th. They'll, I guess, vote on these amendments. And then the governor will sign or not a budget Monday night? That is what it sounds like. I mean, talk about coming down to the wire. And what I think the plan might be is to potentially curtail some of the walls that she has signed into law already within the budget by putting some sort of different type of more restrictive language or something like that. And I think the goal is... They're trying to circumvent some of these cases, these law cases that you're talking about, these court cases you're talking about, adding specific language to try to get around the constitutionality of these frankly unconstitutional laws they keep passing. I mean, I don't think there's enough lipstick you can put on that pig of a gun ban bill to make a constitutional, quite frankly, as long as it's still targeting some of the most commonly owned popular farms in the country, I think you're going to violate the Second Amendment. But it sounds like, delegate, that you've not seen the amendments that the governor is proposing. Has anybody seen these amendments again? Lawmakers are supposed to go back into session on Monday. You're expected to cast a vote and not just on this amendment, right? She's got other amendments that she wants, other changes that she wants. When do you get to see what it is that she wants changed? I don't think that we get to see it. I don't think there is a 48-hour deadline rule on this particular piece because it's just an amendment. So, I mean, they could drop an amendment on this all the way up until the, I guess, noon on this before we actually gavel in this session on Monday. And of course, that means Virginians don't get a chance to weigh in. We don't get a chance to talk to our delegate or our state center to express our concerns. I guess even our support is warranted, right? Virginians are just supposed to be left in the dark about all of this.

Oh, absolutely. And this is a very, very common strategy for the Democrats. I've even been told that one way that you can sneak one past is to pass it one way and then send it back with that amendment. And that is a way to circumvent even the higher threshold on overcoming some of the veto. And it's just strategy that's been used before. But they are taking it to the extreme with adding this into budget language during a special session and they haven't even passed the budget yet. This is crazy. I've never seen anything like it near as Virginia. Yeah, well, I was going to say, I mean, like I said, I've lived in the Commonwealth for 20 years. I've never, 22 years, I've never seen anything like this before. But, you know, again, you talk about kind of making it as they go along, this bill that was meant to establish or reestablish universal background checks, quote unquote. It was passed in the regular session with an emergency amendment, so it took effect immediately. But Governor Abigail Spanberger rejected the bill originally. She wanted some changes to it. So they go back in the veto session. Democrats modify the bill. Again, it passes with this emergency clause that's supposed to require 80% approval to take effect immediately. They don't get the 80% because it passes on party line votes. And yet, the Democrats immediately tried to put this law to effect, reinstating universal background checks, and not to get too far in the weeds here, the reason why there was an injunction against enforcement of the existing universal background check law is because it treated adults 18, 19, and 20 years old differently than it did adults 21 and older in terms of conducting these background checks. It just said, now you can't do that. The Democrats' answer was, okay, we'll treat everybody the same because we're just going to deny 18 and 19 and 20-year-olds the ability to exercise their Second Amendment rights and purchase a firearm. A Lynchburg Circuit George yesterday, a circuit court judge yesterday, reinstated these background checks, delegate. It seems to be like there's still an underlying issue here in that now the state of Virginia is depriving young adults of their ability to acquire a firearm and exercise their second amendment rights. I mean, that's exactly what they did. They basically said if we can't curtail this law and take away firearms from 18 to 21-year-olds, even though they can, you know, become an adult vote, everything else, exercise their constitutional rights in any other way. Instead, now we're just going to make it unlawful for anybody under 21 to even own one. And that's the thing that they're doing completely with these other gun laws is they're trying to, I've said death by, I've said death by thousand stupid laws is because they're trying to make sure that you can't move your firearm from your place, your abode, unless you have certain.

places you're going in certain ways you're carrying your firearm. You can't sell them. You can't transfer them. You can't own them. The magazines, you can't transfer the magazines at death even. At death, 30-round magazines that you own become contraband to your family members. They can have the gun, but not the magazine. It's crazy. I've never seen anything like it. Well, we have, at last report, we have two different court hearings today in challenges to this assault firearm and magazine ban. One in Lancaster County, one in Washington County Circuit Court. Do you have, do you have any hope at all that a judge will recognize the inherent problem with these bans and grant an injunction before July 1st? I don't think you're going to see that at the circuit court level. The only hope that I had is that Virginia Supreme Court took them up together and consolidated them like what was rumored and see if that actually strikes the injunction that we would need. The way that that circuit court judge looked at it was, okay, the law that you have right now is... unconstitutional, but the one you passed, which was coming into effect July 1st, is constitutional. So that injunction, I believe, is not immediate. I think it starts or drops on July 1st with the new law is the idea. I might be wrong. Right, yeah, on the background checks. Yeah. Well, Delegant, unfortunately, we are running short of time here, but I want to thank you for all your efforts in this session to try to preserve freedom. in the Commonwealth of Virginia. I know the fight continues, and thank you very much for everything you were doing. Yes, sir. Thank you so much for having me and keeping up the fight with us. Thank you, sir. Delegate, Ron Williams, joining us here. I was speaking to a friend who lives in Richmond, Virginia last night. He went to the gun store to pick up some magazines while he still can. New Fireham as well. He said the line was about 35 people deep to make purchases. They were actually extending these store hours to keep up with the demand. Gun sales already about double in Virginia what they were this time last year, and I think we're just going to see that number increase as we get closer to July 1st. Stick around. We've got much more O'Connor and company coming up next. In fact, we're talking about the latest on the earthquakes of Venezuela. Stick around. We'll be right back. Good Thursday morning to you. Thanks again for being a part of O'Connor and Company. My name is Cam Edwards, editor at barrenarms.com. Host of the Barron Arms Cam Accompany podcast on townhall.com and I'm very pleased to be sitting behind the microphone with you this morning. There is... Some breaking news that we've been following out of Venezuela, two very powerful earthquakes occurring on Wednesday, one magnitude of 2, shortly thereafter, a 7.5 magnitude earthquake, Iraq, the country. And the initial reports were Wednesday night, I saw at least 32 people killed, hundreds injured. As of this morning, the acting president, Delci Rodriguez, says at least 164 individuals have died.

971 individuals have been injured. That number is unfortunately expected to rise and rise dramatically because of the number of buildings that were just simply flattened, the damage done, and the inability of rescue crews to get into a lot of these areas. So we still don't know the full scope of the devastation. But we do know that just from the video that we've seen, the damage is absolutely extensive. Rodriguez said that La Goria, which is on the northern coast of Venezuela, and one of the primary transportation hubs, it's home to the country's, one of the country's biggest ports, as well as its biggest airport, was apparently the hardest hit state. Rodriguez said dozens of buildings have collapsed who were engaged in the arduous task of rescuing the lives that God allows us to save. The state of Lagorea is facing a true tragedy and has become a disaster zone. And we don't know the extent of the damage to the airport or to the port there, but that could also hinder. the assistance that is coming from the United States. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a post on social media early Thursday that at President Trump's direction, the United States is deploying search teams, medical resources, humanitarian aid of Venezuela. President Trump himself posted on truth social. The two major earthquakes that just hit the great people of Venezuela are both massive in scale and have left a devastating number of deaths. adding that the USA stands ready, willing and able to help, says that I have instructed all agencies of our government to get ready to move quickly. We will be there for our new and great friends. Early reports are not good. And no, they are not. The California Post reporting that as many as 100,000 people. could ultimately be fatalities of these two earthquakes. Jeremy Lewin, who is the U.S. Undersecretary of State for Foreign Assistance, says that the State Department has mobilized a disaster assistance team and a task force to coordinate the aid in coordination with the interim Venezuelan government. You've also seen offers from help extended from other countries in the region, including Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile. Ecuador, El Salvador, Mexico, Panama, Uruguay, China, too, extending help, perhaps hoping to reassert its influence in the region. The earthquakes were so powerful, they were felt more than a thousand miles. From Venezuela's capital of Caracas, as far away as the Amazon basin in Brazil, the strongest earthquakes to hit Brazil in more than a century, according to experts. And again, the devastation you can see there is just absolutely a massive and heartbreaking. And...

As we have seen in previous earthquakes, both here in the United States and in other countries, again, it does take time for rescue crews to even have a good idea of the scope of what they're dealing with and how to evacuate survivors from the rubble. And then, of course, you're working against the clock as well, right? So you can have individuals who are trapped in that wreckage. who are alive right now, but have a finite window of time to be rescued before they perish as well. And so... If you are the praying kind, say a prayer for the good people of Venezuela today because they are dealing with the devastation that they have not seen before in their lifetimes. And it is absolutely heartbreaking to see. I am glad to see that the president has offered not just his comfort and words of the Venezuelan people, but promising and pledging action on the part of the United States as well. All right, still to come here on O'Connor and Company. It's going to be a big day at the Supreme Court. We have 12 cases left in this term. We don't know what cases will be decided today, but we do know that opinions will be released starting at 10 a.m. Eastern time. When we return here, we're going to be talking with Alex Sawyer, host of the Court Watch podcast, attorney, author of Lawless Lawfare. We'll talk about some of these big cases and what Alex things might happen when we get opinions handed down from the justices. We'll be back with more O'Connor and Company coming up right after this. Good Thursday morning to you. Thanks very much for being a part of O'Connor and Company. My name is Cam Edwards. I'm the editor at barrenarms.com. Host of the Bering Arms Cam and Company podcast on Town Hall.com. And a longtime friend of Larry O'Connor, glad that he extended the invitation for me to sit in while he was off today. Still to come on the program this hour, we're going to take a look at the kickoff of the Great American State Fair on the National Mall, a great opening Wednesday night, some great music. President Trump making some comments. Right now, though, let's talk about what is going to be happening in just a few hours at the U.S. Supreme Court. Alex Warrior, attorney, author of Lawless Lawfare, host of the Court Watch podcast, and Washington Times editor-at-large is with us on the program today. Alex, good morning. Hi, thanks for having me. Yeah, it's my pleasure. So 10 a.m., that's when the opinions start getting released today. We have 12 opinions left this term. As of right now, today is the only opinion day on the calendar. Do you expect that to change or do you think we're going to get this massive opinion dump today? No, no. I am.

I have been telling people to expect a couple, maybe three days next week. Usually they released anywhere from like three to four opinions on an opinion day. So you do the math. I'm thinking we're going to need at least maybe two more, three more days. So it's probably likely things wrap up by the end of next week. There's about five cases that I know a lot of people are keeping their eyes and ears out for. You know, obviously the one I get asked the most about is birthright citizenship. People are really serious about when that one's going to be issued, how I think the justices might rule. You know, my take is I'll be surprised if we get birthright citizenship today simply because I think that's one of the biggest cases of the term. And usually that ends up being the final day, just in my experience. So so many, I vet all the justices are writing. It takes more time, that sort of thing. So we're waiting on that one, which just, I don't know if I'm. I've probably shared this with Larry before, but when I left oral arguments on birthright, I did not think it went well for the administration. So I do expect a loss for the administration there. That's just my prediction. We will see. You never know. Sometimes I'm surprised with what the court does. The other ones, of course, are probably my top three would be then you have mail-in ballots. There's a case, R&C versus Watson. And so the R&C sued Mississippi. The state has a law, basically, that allows mail and ballots to be counted five days past election day. And the argument is that there's one federal election day. So this is one of those cases that works its way through the conservative Fifth Circuit where, you know, they ruled for the RNC, basically said, yeah, like there is one federal election day. So this is now gone to the Supreme Court. How the Supreme Court rules here could be a big deal because you have states like in Illinois allows 14 days past election day for ballots to be counted. You have Washington State, which I believe is 21 days. So this would kind of, you know... Maybe I should say tamp down some of what we see where it's like weeks after the election and people are still sitting down maybe to like Thanksgiving dinner and not know who won. So that's a big case. So there's that one. And then of course, I mean, so many people have been tracking like the culture issue with allowing transgender athletes into girls sports. You have the states of West Virginia and Idaho that passed laws basically saying, you know, biological girls are who compete in girls sports, you know, go figure. And so that was challenged by two transgender athletes, and those have worked their way up through the appeals courts. And so the Supreme Court will rule, basically, if states can pass these types of laws that protect girls' sports and say, hey, you have to be a biological female to compete.

So those are the major ones I'm watching. There's still those others, kind of there's a couple on Trump's ability to fire people. And then, of course, there's like the TPS issue with terminating protective status for Haitians and Syrians as the Trump administration has looked to go ahead and keep, you know, moving some of these people out of our country. So those are the kind of, that's the big picture. I'm not sure what we'll get today, but I don't think it'll be birthright. Okay, well, I've got to say, I'm hopeful that one of the cases we get, you know, I cover Second Amendment issues for barren arms.com, and one of the cases that I've been watching closely is Wolford v. Lopez, which is a challenge to a Hawaii law that essentially bans concealed carry by default on all private property that's open to the public. So if you want to allow concealed carry, you've got a post a sign that says, hey, you can bring your gun inside. This one is a very interesting one. I always never, with the justices, since Bruin, there's been kind of a string of these Second Amendment cases. We just had one issued about what to do if you're somebody who occasionally uses marijuana and possess a gun. Is that legal? I don't know if you covered that one, but that was kind of interesting. Then this one you're talking about, it is a big deal because you had in the wake of Bruin. Many states, I'm sure you could probably go on in more specificity than me. But, like, I think of New York, for example, after brewing trying to come in with these, like, what is it called selective places or whatever that you're not, it takes? You can have a gun. Yes, sense of you can have a gun, but basically not here. And the list is, like, everywhere. Right? Like I remember New York, I was like, well, so I could basically stand in one place with my gun, but if I went too far this way or that way, then you're in trouble. So, yeah, this is kind of gets into that with Hawaii and basically if you can carry your gun on to, I believe it's private property. I can't remember the specifics of the case. I did a single argument. Yeah, and I remember some of the, yeah, I remember some of the Democratic appointees. It's kind of coming back to me. I can't remember which one, but brought up the question about, is this a Second Amendment case or is this a property case? So it could be interesting to see, you know, how they try to go with this. I think it will be. I mean, in that case that you referenced earlier, U.S. v. Imani, which dealt with the federal prohibition on gun possession for unlawful users of drugs. What we actually ended up seeing was a 9-0 decision, essentially, right? All of the justice agreeing that the statute was unconstitutional as it applied to the defendant, but different rationales for doing so. I don't think Wolford v. Lopez is going to be 9-0. I suspect that it is going to be a 6-3 decision. The fact that you had a Democrat appointee trying to make the argument that it could be a property rights case instead of a Second Amendment case might tell you that.

Yeah, but even from a property rights perspective, it's the state telling property owners what you can't, you know, your guns aren't allowed on your property by default. If you want to allow that, you've got to explicitly say so. That is not the norm, right? I mean, in the vast majority of states, the expectation is, yeah, you get to exercise your rights unless you are specifically told you can't. I think it's like the no shirt, no shoes, no services, no soliciting signs, things of that nature. And if we go back to the Bruin standard, which is basically these ban control laws can only really be upheld if they comply with, you know, what the founders would have understood at the ratification of the Second Amendment. I mean, I don't think there were many places. People couldn't carry their firearms back then, right? So, yeah, the state of Hawaii was pointing to laws that, like, dealt with, you know, carrying guns on plantations or carrying guns on, you know, enclosed land. basically anti-poaching laws, not laws that were designed to limit somebody caring for self-defense. Yeah. So that's another big one. I mean, so you asked me when we first started this conversation how many days I think we'll have, I'm guessing we'll have today and then probably three days next week, maybe Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. Usually they're out by July 1st. It's very rare that they go into July, but you never know. We'll see. One of the things I thought was interesting, because I do, I get just inundated with questions on the, aside from all these other issues that are very interesting, is birthright citizenship. And I have asked a few senators just because I did not think oral arguments went well for the Trump administration if they've been talking, if they have like a plan B or any sort of legislation they're looking at, trying to, you know, end birthright citizenship. given that I, you know, I think Trump will lose. And nothing. They have no plans, no talks. Nothing is happening. And I find it so, you know, wild that this is one of the, this is kind of a big, this is a big issue. Of course, it is for Republicans, but when you get down and start talking about it to, I think, like, independence, for example, and how our immigration laws have been used even by, like, you know, CCP officials. those foreign adversaries that are trying to utilize our immigration laws, like birthright citizenship paying surrogates, for example, to have children. I think that people are like, yeah, like, this isn't what it was meant for. So, you know, I think that one of the things I've had trouble with this case is even though there's kind of writing on the wall that things weren't great and like this is a big issue for the president in this administration, that Republicans over on Capitol Hill haven't really done much to move it forward. Well, I think it's going to be tough for them because if the Supreme Court rules that it's the 14th Amendment that protects birthright citizenship, then you're not just talking about passing a law, right? You're talking about having to change the Constitution. And that is, that's a much bigger lift, I think. I think it would depend exactly how the ruling came down. For example, there is one bill, and I've written about this, and I am shocked.

It has like two sponsors, or two co-sponsors. It was introduced by Senator Rick Scott. And it's exactly what I was just talking about. It bans. foreign adversaries, so like anyone connected to the CP, from utilizing surrogacy laws to have children here. Like, at a minimum, how can that not be something that you get more support for? I would think bipartisan support. You know, you don't want to have our adversaries utilizing our immigration laws to then be able to... send their children here and I guess you could even say create spies. Like this would be a whole national security issue. So, yeah, I mean, like this is just one of those areas that depending on how the court rules, the language, there could be workarounds for Congress. And this bill is this one I'm just referencing. I mean, like that doesn't seem problematic. I don't know how that doesn't have more than two people find on to it. Well, and it may be that the Supreme Court decision sparks interest in that bill. Maybe that these senators are keeping their powder dry for now. But, you know, one of the things I think we've all seen, Alex, is that even when the Supreme Court decides a particular case, It doesn't necessarily settle the issue, right? I mean, this is not going to, you know, Wolford versus Lopez is not going to be the end-all be-all in terms of sensitive places where we can carry firearms. And I suspect that the decision of the birthright citizenship case is not going to be the end of the conversation about that issue as well. Of course, we're going to have to leave it there. Alex Warrior, thank you so much for being a part of O'Connor and company this morning. Really enjoy the conversation. Of course. Thanks for having me. Absolutely. Alex Wrigan, make sure you check her out on the Court Watch podcast and pick up lawless lawfare as well. And we will see what cases come out today. I suspect that Alex is right. I don't think we're going to get 12 cases decided today. I think we'll also see this going to next week. The court's final conference of the term is also scheduled to take place today. We'll get the orders from that conference coming out next Monday. All right. When we come back, we're going to talk about something else going on in Washington, D.C. the Great American State Fair kicking off on the National Mall on Wednesday night. I have to say I'm an unabashed lover of state fair, so I'm really excited about this. Stick around with more O'Connor and Company right after this. We're in the final two days of my campaign to send boys and girls with a mom or dad in prison to Angel Tree Camp this year. And thanks to men and women just like you, donating at Larry O's Show.com, we're already sending our first 300 kids heading back to camp. They'll be in for an entire week of fresh air activities, swimming, horseback, riding, and more importantly,

Most importantly, they get to hear the gospel. Some of them for the very first time, and many of them accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior at Angel Tree Camp. Just listen to Beth. She's an angel tree mom. She personally has seen the care that counselors at Angel Tree Camp provide to kids with a mom or dad in prison. Sometimes they need that love, not just their parents, but a community that knows what they're going through and has experienced it and say, like, hey, you're going through this now, but things can get better. Be positive. Hopefully, this is something that they will keep and treasure forever. Like I said, a core memory to help them want to do better and not end up in their parents' footsteps and realize that that was their dad's mistake and not theirs, but they can do better and succeed and have a great life. Beth knows how special an angel tree camp visit can be for deserving. boy and girl through no fault of their own they're the silent victims of crime you can help go to that banner at larry o's show dot com click it and continue to bless these children's thank you so much larry o's show and help out if you can so the great american state fair is officially underway kicking off on Wednesday night on the National Mall with a string of performances from the U.S. Marine Band and others like Alexis Wilkins performing the National Anthem. And as I said before the break, I love state fairs. I grew up in Oklahoma. The great state fair of Oklahoma was one of my favorite activities every year. Casey would go down to see the OU Texas football game, which always took place during the Texas State Fair. And not to throw a shade at my new home state of Virginia, but Virginia State Fair really needs to up its game. So I am excited about the great state fair taking place on the National Mall. In fact, I'm going to be in Washington, D.C. next Tuesday. And I think I've made up my mind that before I head back home, I'm going to stop by. Next Tuesday is Future of America Day, celebrating innovation, technology, and progress at the Great State Fair, the National State Fair. And I wanted to share some of the sights and sounds from Wednesday night. President Trump welcoming the crowds and some great music. You know, everybody was talking about the... acts that canceled. And I'm, boy, it's a shame we're not going to get to see Millie Vanley, isn't it? But what we did see from the, folks like the U.S. Marine Band, some incredible performances, including this rendition of Toby Keith's classic, courtesy of the red, white, and blue performed by the United States Marine Band with Masary Gunnery Sergeant Alan Prather singing. Take a listen to this. This is a clip three. Now in tribute to the men and women who have defended our freedoms, performing Toby Keith's iconic patriotic anthem, courtesy of the red, white, and blue. Please welcome Master Gunnery Sergeant Alan Prather of the President's Own United States Marine Band.

American girls, American guys, we'll always stand up in salute, we'll always recognize when we see your glory fly. There's a lot of men dead so we can sleep in peace at night when we lay down our head. My daddy served in the army, where he lost his right eye, and he flew a flag out in the yard. For the day that he died, he wanted my mother, a brother, a sister, and me do grow up and live happy in the land of the free. Now, this nation that I love has fallen under attack. A mighty sucker punch came flying in from somewhere in the back. As soon as we could see clearly, they were a big black guy, and we lit up your world like the 4th of July.

Yeah, I have to say, I thought that the Marine band would be playing John Sousa Phillips marches and things like that. I was blown away when I actually heard that version of courtesy of the red, white, and blue. There were some other amazing performances last night, too. You don't have time to share them all with you, but I do want to share at least one more. Also from the Marine band, rocking it out to Sweet Home Alabama. This is clip number six. All right. All right. Obviously, that is last week home, Alabama. That is America the Mayor of the Beautiful, but a great rendition. Almost sounds like Jimmy Hendrix. There. Secretary Sean Duffy was on hand as well to appraise the U.S. Marine Band as a fantastic replacement for the musicians who canceled. And I have to say, again, I'm just, I'm really bummed. We don't get to see Millie Vanilli or Vanilla Ice. But no, I think the U.S. Marine Band performed incredibly well. And what a great job and a great way to kick off the Great American State Fair again on the National Mall. Stick around. We've got a lot where O'Connor and Company coming up. We'll be right back with more after this. Good Thursday to you. Thanks very much for being a part of O'Connor and company. My name is Cam Edwards. I'm the editor at barrenarms.com. The host of the Barron's Camaccompanic podcast on Town Hall.com. And very pleased to be sitting in for Larry today. Coming up this hour, we're going to be talking about the national security advisor, KT. McFarlane, talking about the latest on Iran. After the Senate last night, rejected an effort to limit President Trump's war powers. Also, it's today's critter news. Scientists say New York City's rats and mice may actually be evolving to outsmart humans. and certainly the voters of New York City. And at 8.30, Washington Times national politics correspondent, Susan Faratio, will be breaking down the escalating battle over the Save America Act. The latest from Capitol Hill and whether Senate Republicans can find a pathway to pass that piece of legislation that's all coming up in the next 60 minutes. Right now, let's kick things off with KT. McFarland, former Deputy National Security Advisor, joins us now. KT., thanks very much for your time this morning. It's an honor and a pleasure. Thank you. Absolutely. It's good talking with you once again. So yesterday, we were talking about this meeting beforehand. We knew that President Trump was going to Capitol Hill. He was going to be having a closed-door meeting with Republicans. He was not invited by a majority leader John Thune, but instead it was Senator Rick Scott who invited him to this meeting. And it sounds like while there were fireworks during the meeting, the president ultimately was able to get his wish. We saw another vote in the War Powers Act last night. And this time around, unlike the last one that was held, the Democrat-led measure actually went down to defeat. What happened? What changed?

Well, I think President Trump briefed them, and then some of the members who were downers actually got personal briefings at the White House and over the phone of why it's important to let President Trump have a free hand. in the negotiations, especially as we're now down to the crunch time. And I think that's what made the difference in their, for the senator's judgment. And even someone like Rand Paul, who's historically been very much against any kind of military engagement overseas, even he didn't vote with the president, but he just voted present. So even he said, look, we need to let the president have a free hand in these negotiations because we're right now down to that crunch. You know, Iran, we're right to the point where Iran is going to give up its nuclear weapons. We're going to be able to verify that they've given up their nuclear weapons with any time, any place inspections, as it's being negotiated now. And then by leaving the armada in place and the banking regulations that we have in place, we can enforce. their compliance. If they decide they're going to cheat, well, they're going to cheat, but we'll see them cheating. And then when they cheat, then we can bring the hammer down, either with more military operations or particularly with more financial, economic banking, punishments that we can do. You know, one of the things that I thought was very interesting in the memorandum of understanding is establishment of this deconfliction committee. So, in other words, if the IRGC tries to sabotage the deal, like by getting Hezbollah to attack Israel, knowing that Israel will respond, and then Esbalah can say, oh, see, they're not complying with the ceasefire. We now have a committee that will deal with that. It doesn't have to scupper the whole agreement. It can be dealt with on the side. The other thing that I thought was really important, if you look closely at this idea that Iran is going to be able to buy things and sell oil in dollars. Now, some people have said, oh, this is just such a heresy. This is so terrible. Why should we let them into the international banking system? You know what? If they get dollars for their sales, the American banking system, we can see where their money moves. That's a huge thing because in the past, Iran was able to hide its money behind the sanctions regime. They weren't allowed to trade in U.S. dollars. They weren't allowed to use U.S. banks. So we could never see where they were going, where the money was going. So the money was coming in, going to Hezbollah. Money was coming in, going to the nuclear program. Now we'll be able to watch the money. And, you know, that's always, always follow the money. That's where... Any enforcement is going to make a big difference. You know, to that in, though, would Iran, I mean, as you say, they've evaded some of these sanctions by not using U.S. dollars by working with China. Would they not still be able to do that under the memorandum of understanding and the terms that are being offered? Sure, they'll be able to do it. But they'll be have to do it in an open way.

So in other words, they'll sell their oil to China. China will buy the oil, pay U.S. dollars for it. And then we can see, and the thing about that's sort of not understood is if you trade in U.S. dollars, you have to have that trade be filtered through American banks. So in other words, you're going to write me a check, and I'm going to receive the check. But you write the check on an American bank. I receive it on an American bank. So the American bank sees that you're sending me this check. The same will happen as Iran sells its oil in dollar denominations. We'll be able to see what money they're getting and where that money goes. You know, the vote that took place yesterday was kind of symbolic in nature, wasn't it? I mean, this was a vote basically to allow the president or to curtail the president's ability to the conflict with Iran. But as you note, I mean, the negotiations are underway, right? The shooting has stopped, at least for the moment. Why were Democrats even pursuing this vote? you think, other than to try to score a political point and show that this is an unpopular war or conflict among the American people. If Donald Trump had been against the war, they would have been for it. If he's for the word, they're against it. It's just Trump derangement syndrome. They're not even thinking. They're just reflexively hating anything Donald Trump proposes. But I think there's a real sense in the American people. We don't want a war. We don't want boots on the ground. We don't want an extended conflict. That's why the president, I think, has not done what some of the critics on the right have said, which is, we'll go in and just. basically destroy the economy, destroy the country, so it'll be a generation before they recover, prevent them from selling their oil. President Trump, I think, is looking beyond the Iran agreement and saying, okay, what happens now that we're going to have the ability to see where Iran is spending its money, now that Iran's not going to have a nuclear program, now that Iran's been their military and military industrial complex has been really devastated, destroyed, now that their proxies are on their knees. Now we can, what do you deal with an Iran after that? And I think that's an important part of this. It's very unpopular. You know, it's unpopular to say, we want this deal to be done. We want to normalize relations with Iran. We want to welcome an Iran into the world community, if it abides by the terms of the agreement. A lot of people say, well, you know, we need to change the regime. The problem is to change the regime, you'd have to do boots on the ground, and the American people don't want to boot on the ground. We want to change the regime, that's for sure. But to take this further and topple the entire regime, it's a country of 90 million people, somebody's got to run it. We don't want it to be us. Yeah, I mean, and I think that's, you know, that is a difficult reality.

because President Trump clearly wanted to change the regime at the beginning of this conflict. He talked about taking out the leadership. He talked about taking out multiple levels of leadership. He, before the conflict began, spoke about the attacks by the regime on the Iranian people, the 20,000 individuals who had been killed by their own government. And so I think that's one of the sticking points for a lot of Americans. I'll tell you, it's one of the things that bothers me, KT, about the idea of normalizing relationships with Iran, welcoming them into the world community. This is a regime that has slaughtered its own people. This is a regime that has declared that the United States is the great Satan. Just because these particular leaders might be willing to do business with the United States, and I'm not sure that they really are, by the way. I don't take Iran at their word. I think that there are some genuine misgivings about are we giving up too much here? You know, again, it's trust but verify. I don't think anybody trusts them. You know they're going to cheat. We would never trust them. But we have the ability to monitor that they're complying. And if they don't comply, we have the ability to enforce it, their compliance. So, you know, to me, it's almost like the... You don't want to get into a position, Cam, where you so devastate 90 million proud people that they then do what happened after World War I, where the allies who defeated Germany in World War I, because Germany had been the aggressor, it was all Germany's fault, that they condemn Germany to a generation of poverty and humiliation, because that's what gave rise to Hitler. You want to make sure that when this is over, and it will be over, and we will be in a position to enforce compliance, that Iran has a way of getting up off its knees. Now, whether it's with its first tier, second tier, as President Trump said, we got rid of their first tier of the leaders, the second tier of the leaders, we're working on the third tier of the leaders, and if that doesn't work, we'll find new leaders. We don't want to be in the position of running Iran. We want Iranians to run Iran. We just want them to do it our way. KT. McFarland, thank you again for joins on the program. It's always a pleasure of talking with you. Thank you. Okay, Tim McFarland, a former deputy national security advisor, joins here on O'Connor and Company. All right, when we come back, I've got a story for you out of a New York City. We talked about the primary result on Tuesday. And voters, boy, they are taking a huge turn for the worst there in New York City. To add to these cities woes, you've got super rats and mice apparently evolving. I don't know how long it'll be before they get the right to vote in New York City, but maybe they can actually be the one to write the ship. Stick around. We've got that story and a whole lot more coming up here in O'Connor and Company, including another look. at what's going on with the Save America Act. Stick around. We'll be right back with war right after this. One of my favorite things about filling in Valery O'Connor is getting to do Critter News. And this story, well, this is something else. Well, the voters in New York City are getting dumber. The rats and the mice apparently are getting smarter and evolving, getting stronger, too. The New York Post reports that...

The rats are winning the rad race, apparently. And the mice as well, although in different ways, according to Jinja Yu, who is a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Entomology at the Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, house mice are genetically mutating to build immunity against household pesticides. So the anti-coagulant poisons that are typically used to go after mice, the mice are eating those and shrugging it off. The rats, on the other hand, apparently are figuring out how to escape the traps that are laid out for the rats. And Yu says they've adapted to human strategy, which means that we have to understand more and we have to become much smarter than them. I thought we were. Much smarter than them already. So apparently we just have to figure out a new strategy. I mean, it's, yeah, anyway, according to Zhu and his partner, Shanglu Wang, they sample DNA of over 300 house mice and Norway rats from dense urban areas in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Washington, D.C. and New York, all of the New York rats and mice came from New York City. What they found is that both of these species were evolving, although in different ways than one another. 70% of house mice had a genetic mutation that, again, rendered these anticoagulants absolutely useless. Wang says when the mice eat the poison, they can still function normally, basically. That's why they're more tolerant. Basically, suggests that over decades... mice have built up this immunity. The weaker mice have been killed off and the stronger mice have survived. Rats, on the other hand, they don't really eat the anticoagans. They're much more suspicious about the food that they eat. But they are apparently developing in their brains. There was another study of rats, particularly in the Bronx, that found that the Norway rat population are learning how to escape traps. You said we've got a lot of video clips showing that the rats can avoid the physical traps like snap traps and sticky traps. They can spend one week or 300 approaches before they even touch the traps. So what does this mean? Well, the researchers say that it might be time to curb the rodents aside, the mouse poisons, because they may be more harmful to other city wildlife that. are predators of these mice and rats. Wang says there are studies showing that all of the wild animals that need road kills, they contain these poisons, and these poisons are more likely to be transferred to the predators like birds.

Coyotes. I didn't realize New York had a huge coyote problem, but who knows? And other predators that were then a feast on the rats and mice. The findings also indicate, according to the post, that there could be future health concerns if the mouse and rat populations aren't curbed in new ways. You know, we've seen in other parts of the country of the Hanta virus, an outbreak. In fact, we saw that on the cruise ship, right? And typically the Hanna virus doesn't pass human to human. But it is a pass through mouse droppings. So if you've got a blowing up mouse population, that that does increase the dangers of diseases from these critters. Plus, the rodents can contaminate food. They can damage buildings and infrastructure, spread not just disease, but parasites as well. Wang and you are suggesting that the city leaders explore non-chemical exterminations, particularly those that focus on prevention and sanitation. I suggest an army of cats. I think we need to introduce millions of cats into New York City and just see what happens. And if that doesn't work, then I don't know. Someone else is going to have to come up with a better plan. But yet another reason why I'm glad that I don't call New York City my home. All right. Coming up here on O'Connor and Company, we're going to talk with Susan Faratio, national politics correspondent for the Washington Times, the latest on the showdown over Iran on Capitol Hill, as well as the continued efforts to pass the Save America Act. President Donald Trump says he's not going to sign that housing bill to pass on a bipartisan basis until... The Senate agrees to pass the Save America Act, which doesn't look like it's going to happen. So where do we go from here? We'll talk about it with Susan Ferratio coming up in just a couple minutes here on O'Connor & Company. And good Thursday morning to you. Thanks for being a part of O'Connor and Company. My name is Cam Edwards. I'm the editor at barianarms.combe. Host of the Barian Arms Campic Company podcast at Townhall.com. And I want to welcome you again to O'Connor and Company. I also want to welcome to the program. The National Politics Correspondent for the Washington Times. Susan, good morning. Thanks very much for coming on the program today. Hey, thanks for having me on. Yeah, of course. There is a lot to talk about. And yesterday, a busy day, this is typically a fairly sleepy time of year in Washington, D.C. At least we're getting close to the sleepy time of year. And it looks like we're heading into the summer break with a bang. President Trump showing up on Capitol Hill. He was invited to talk to Republican senators by Florida Senator Rick Scott. And this was, is it fair to call us a contentious closed door meeting, Susan? Oh, absolutely. I think at this point, the president has.

a very tense relationship with some members of Congress and especially the Senate. And it really came to a head yesterday where they were, you know, battling over differences over the Iran War, over the SAVE Act, which is a voting rights legislation, voting integrity legislation, and also a housing bill. And the Senate has become an increasingly big thorn in the president's side. And at the top of his list of to do stuff for the Senate is, of course, the voting integrity legislation that would require a voter ID to vote and proof of citizenship to register to vote. And that has not, you know, despite the fact that it's pretty popular, if you'll get polls, you know, upwards of 80% of the public, proves of a voting integrity bill. It hasn't made it through Congress yet. And the Senate, of course, is the big sticking point. So the president is basically fed up. And so he's starting to basically, I don't know, throw a little bit of a presidential tantrum. And he's refusing to sign the big housing bill that just passed with overwhelming support in both chambers. And he's also pulled back his nominee for the Director of National Intelligence. who the parties, the publicists are eager to get in place. And because he says he wants them to take action on this bill that's been stalling with the voter integrity bill. So there's a lot of tension right now. And of course, on top of that, Senators are feeling the pressure as the midterms approach and they feel like the high cost of living in Iran war are going to drag down the ticket and jeopardize the majority in the Senate. So all these things are swirling on Capitol Hill when President Trump showed up yesterday and gotten into some pretty tense discussions behind closed doors with Senate Republicans. Which did seem to make some progress, at least in terms of the Iran vote, right? I mean, we saw that with the resolution last night on the War Powers Act, where Senator Bill Cassidy did change his vote, Senator Rand Paul voted present, and this measure failed. But when it comes to the Save America Act, I think the calculations are a little different there. First, the Republican opposition... is a little bit larger and maybe not just to, maybe not to all of the ideas in the bill, right? But this is not just a voter ID bill anymore. So I just a voter integrity bill anymore. President Trump has added some, you know, other issues into this bill that he still says it must pass legislation. And it seems to be like you've got probably five Republican senators who are unwilling to go along with this. And, you know, Senator John Fetterman, he voted against this war power's resolution last night. I don't think he's inclined to vote for the Save America Act at this point, is he? So this is still a pretty big lift for the president. That's right. And I think what they're going to try to do now, it's got these extras in there, but, you know, about social issues. But I think what he is thinking about, right, at this point where Republicans are, is to try to attack it on to another reconciliation bill.

Now, that is also potentially rocky road for the Republicans for the reasons you just described. But at least this is an avenue. So yesterday, the Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, said that, you know, he's been in conversations with the president about another try with a reconciliation bill. Now reconciliation bill. It's a wonky term. It just means it's the type of legislation that can make it through the Senate with. just a simple majority. In other words, they wouldn't need any Democrats to overcome the filibuster because the hurdle is higher in the Senate. Now, how should you can pass anything with the majority? But in the Senate, you need Democrats because you have the 60-vote threshold you need to reach. So they're going to try that again to try to move this thing through. But as you say, it's got the same issues with people opposing little pieces of the bill. And that will make it really difficult. Now, It's still possible that they'll see it as well. Overall, it's a good bill. We should support it. But here's the president's problem. You know, you think of past presidents who spent their time trying to... build relationships with the most difficult members of the body in their party to make sure they get things across the finish line. Well, the opposite has basically happened with President Trump. He's really been an unusual president. He's taken on members of his own party who we feel have not been helpful to his agenda. And he's actually pushed them out of office. So now they are lame ducks. And they form this sort of lame duck army in the Senate. And they stand to trip up his agenda even more. as we head into the midterm. So this is a real kind of unusual political situation for the president. And it's part of the reason why yesterday you saw, you know, we didn't get to see it because it was behind closed doors, this explosive meeting where, you know, we had Senator Bill Cassidy. who's now a lame duck, partly because the president helped his primary opponent beat him, came out of there and said, you know, I'm not going to let the president bully me. But then, of course, he went on to, uh, to vote favorably. And I ran, I ran war resolution doc favorably for the president. So, you know, it's a real unusual situation with the president and his own party because he's been a tough president. Like, come along with me or else. And the party loves that. The base loved that because they're always choosing these guys of being rhinos, you know, Republican and name only. They like that. But on the other hand, the practical effect is this, is that it's hard, you know, to get it over the finish line with so many lawmakers who he's kind of turned into. within his own party, who he's turned into enemies. And that's where we are right now. We've got a stalled bill that would basically help the party right now, this housing bill.

And it's now stalled. And now we have the missing Director of National Intelligence because that hasn't moved through. And it gives the overall, you know, kind of aura that the party is a mess. And you don't want that ahead of the midterms. But do I think that's going to be the overriding factor when people vote? No. But it is something that's simmering in the background. People hear all this noise instead of watching the successful bill signings and talking about what the powerful, you know, impact of the legislation is. We're reading about these backdoor, backroom fights between the president and his party. Yeah, I mean, I think the headline dims in disarray is accurate, particularly after we saw, you know, on Tuesday night, but I think the same can be said of the Republican Party as well. Yeah. And I want to go back to the, the reconciliation route that you just described, because. As you say, there are some pitfalls there, right? A couple of things. First, the Senate Parliamentarian have to rule that that language is germane, that it actually does fit within, you know, it's a budget-related item. So that probably, to me anyway, that makes it much more difficult to include those social issues that are currently in the Save America Act. So that would, in President Trump's view, water that bill down. Speaker Johnson was also talking yesterday about if you use Reconciliation 3.0 as a route to get the Save America Act to President Trump's desk, that there would have to be some sort of language about grants for states that adopt these voter security measures, right? Whether it's a voter ID, voter verification. But he said that those things would have to be voluntary. And so then the question becomes, does that weekend the Save America Act? Because we know that a lot of Democrat states will probably say, well, I don't want this grant money if it means that I've got to require voters to show their ID before they cast a ballot. Would that still be, you know, even if the Senate parliamentarian went along with that, would the ultimate legislation still be in a form that the president would find acceptable? Because he has been insistent. He doesn't want to see a watered down version of this bill. No, he doesn't. Now, if they did take out the, like, the social issues, which is, of course, the issues having to do with trans athletes, trans children, that would probably, like you say, potentially run into trouble with the parliamentarian. That could be a good thing because it might get more people on board ultimately to get rid of some of that stuff. Now, the funding part is a really important thing because for reconciliation, it has to impact the budget or it can't be in reconciliation, as you say. It's a very special type of legislation. It has to fit certain conditions. Now, if I had to just guess, you know, based on how. I've covered the president for so long. He probably would accept those changes, but it meant you got the main body of the legislation through, and you could say we finally got the voter ID bill through. I think he would take it as a win. That's what I think. If they can get, first of all, they can get this bill in most of its form right now through Congress. I think the president would celebrate it as a win. Right now, they haven't been able to get anything through. It's just, you know, stuck.

And he's always shown a flexibility with all the big legislation. Remember, with all the tax cut legislation's passed in term one and term two, he's always flexible along the way, even though it was important legislation, willing to accept changes to it. And I've seen that flexibility with him throughout his presidency with Congress. So I, so in answer your question, yes, I do think the LGBTQ stuff is going to potentially come out. And I think if they are able to get this through, and it's a big gift, and they have to make some of these changes with the funding, et cetera, that some people say could weaken the bill. I still think the president would, at least he would be smart to take it as a win at this point because he's shown now that he's going to hold up his whole agenda over it, which is kind of like, you know, shooting yourself at the foot. He wants to show he's having these legislative wins. especially on affordability right now, which of course we know is the numeral uno issue with voters as we head into the midterm election. So he doesn't want to come away a loser. So I think he would accept it as a win and he would support it. But we're a long way from there. They're just now talking about, okay, we're going to try the reconciliation route again. This is what the speaker said yesterday. Let, you know, let's see how that winds its way through. And if they can pick up, remember, they only need. You know, they need 51 votes. So they can lose a couple of people we know aren't going to vote for this bill on the Republican side. They don't need any Democrats. So it's potentially doable. And I think for the president, he would finally get the voter integrity bill that he has long been yearning for. Okay. Susan Faratio, appreciate your insight. Thank you so much for joins on the program today. And look forward to talking to you again soon. Thanks a lot. Absolutely. You know, one of the other things about Speaker Johnson talking about Reconciliation 3.0 as the avenue here, the filibuster is not going away. And I think that Speaker Johnson's comments yesterday are a reflection of that. I know that President Trump has talked about nuking the filibuster, getting rid of it. He's talking about getting rid of the Senate parliamentarian before. I think John Thune is too much of an institutionalist to do that. And I think reconciliation is... you know what's left on the table stick around we have a lot more cam and company nope we have a lot more o'connor and company coming up right after this we'll be right back Two days of my campaign to send boys and girls with a mom or dad in prison to Angel Tree Camp this year. And thanks to men and women just like you, donating at Larry O's Show.com. We're already sending our first 300 kids heading back to camp. They'll be in for an entire week of fresh air activities, swimming, horseback, riding, and more importantly. Most importantly, they get to hear the gospel. Some of them for the very first time, and many of them accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior at Angel Tree Camp. Just listen to Beth. She's an angel tree mom. She personally has seen the care that counselors at Angel Tree Camp provide to kids with a mom or dad in prison.

Sometimes they need that love, not just their parents, but a community that knows what they're going through and has experienced it and say, like, hey, you're going through this now, but things can get better. Be positive. Hopefully, this is something that they will keep and treasure forever, like I said, a core memory to help them want to do better and not end up in their parents' footsteps and realize that that was their dad's mistake and not theirs, but they can do better and succeed and have a great life. Beth knows how special an angel tree camp visit can be for deserving. boy and girl through no fault of their own they're the silent victims of crime you can help go to that banner at larry o's show dot com click it and continue to bless these children's and thank you very much larry o's show dot com and help out if you can You know, Larry is going to be on a cruise later this year, the Salem Media Gulf of America cruise. Scott Jennings, Larry O'Connor, Jennifer Horn, Keir Starmer Lichter, Mike Gallagher. I guess it's going to be a great event. I'm not a huge cruise goer, I will say, and one of the reasons is because... I keep seeing stories like this, this brawl that happened on a carnival cruise. Actually, not even on the cruise itself, I guess they were getting ready to board the cruise ship. We had this massive brawl on a Carnival Cruise customs line. I think we've got video of the brawl itself. Sixteen people banned from Carnival Cruises for life as a result of this brawl. Now, apparently no arrests were made. But this is at the Port of Miami. Cruise passengers were going through customs, getting ready to start the cruise. This isn't even, you know, as they're leaving, and this is they're getting ready to take to board. It was June 22nd. The fight occurred between two families. Police did respond, according to the Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office. You can see the brawl there. The customs officer is actually having to get involved in breaking up the fight. Carnival said in a statement, we're appreciative of law enforcement, swift response and handling of the matter. We do not tolerate such behavior, and 16 people have been placed on our do not sale list. As the newer post report of the incident, not the only one of its kind, Carnival previously placed 24 people on its do not sale list, ever they got into a fight while leaving a cruise in Galveston, Texas in April of 2025. There have been some other... high-profile incidents as well. And there are a number of reasons, I guess, other factors for this. People talk about the lower-cost fares on Carnival cruises, the short party cruises three to five days where they say alcohol consumption tends to be higher. Some analysts have also pointed out that, you know, these videos can go viral and that can amplify isolated events and make it appear that they're more common. I have an idea for Carnival, though. I think they should take one of their smaller ships and actually invite everybody who's on their do not sail list to take a special cruise that will be turned into a reality show and let them fight. Let them fight. Let them fight in the buffet line. Let them fight on the poop deck.

and show it to the world. I think it would be ratings gold for whatever network or streaming service picked that up. Maybe a little extra cash for Cardinal. Listen, there'll be some cleaning fees associated with this, I'm sure. You might have to, you know, get some liability insurance. Maybe you can get the UFC to sponsor the crews. And, you know, you can have some UFC fighters along to provide tips for those on the do not sale list who want to engage in a brawl on board. I don't know. What do you think? Maybe I'm off base here, but I probably watch. Anyway, I don't think you're going to see any type of brawl like this take place on the sailing media cruise. I don't think Larry O'Connor would allow that to happen. Kurt Lichter. You know, he'll have to be on his best behavior. But I trust Kurt. I trust Kurt. So if you want more information about the Salem Media Gulf America Cruise, you can go to Inspiration Travel. It's coming up November 14th through the 21st. It's a great itinerary, by the way. And I think it's going to be a much more pleasant experience for everybody involved than those who are on this cruise taking off out of Miami, the Carnival Cruise ship. And, you know, listen, I mean, you're going on vacation. It's supposed to be fun, relax, chill out. You're going to get through the customs line just fine. Just take a deep breath, slow down. I don't know. I don't understand people get messy and angry as you're getting ready to go on vacation. But. hopefully the people who did make it on board the boat had a much more pleasant experience than those who were left behind. All right, that is unfortunately all the time that we've got for you here on this edition of O'Connor and Company. I want to thank Larry O'Connor once again for inviting me to sit in the last couple of days. Also want to thank the fantastic tech team at O'Connor and Company for helping me out. I don't sound like a doofus for three hours. And I want to thank you for being a part of the program as well. Please be sure to check out barianarms.com and the Barian Arms Camac Company podcast. For all things 2A related, have a great rest of your Thursday. Welcome back, Larry tomorrow. And thanks again for being a part of O'Connor and Company today. Here's something most people don't know. When Warren Buffett was just 13 years old, he didn't put his money into a savings account. While other kids were earning next to nothing at local banks, Buffett put $114 into a little-known investment. Today, that $114 would be worth over $15 million. And it wasn't a risky trade, it wasn't even insider knowledge. It was an account that's been around since 1888, and over the last 25 years, it's averaged 29% a year. That's what happens when your money is allowed to compound. Compare that to today's savings accounts, paying less than half a percent, while inflation quietly eats away at your buying power. Buffett understood early. Banks are...

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