08-07-26 FULL SHOW - Deborah Flora Fills In, Talks Movies with Christian Toto

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With Jace, you're investing in more than health. You're investing in true peace of mind, knowing you're prepared for the unexpected. It's vast, it's affordable, and it could be life-saving. Just go to jace.com, answer a few quick questions, and a licensed doctor reviews your information and ships your medications straight to your door. Keep yourself and your loved ones prepared, no matter what comes next at jace.com. K-O-A, an iHeart radio station. Guaranteed human. Welcome to the Mandy Connell show. This is Deborah Flores sitting in for my good friend Mandy Connell. Hope that you are already having a great Friday, getting ready for a beautiful weekend. I got to say I love living in Colorado. Grew up here. Can't quite say I'm a native. Been here since I was four. Group on Lowry Air Force Space, but I tell you no matter the headlines we share or the struggles that we may have, it is a state worth fighting for and hope that you're getting ready to enjoy it this weekend. By the way, I like to... figure out what day this is in history or national designation or whatever. There seems to be a day for everything. And guess what? Today is National Water Balloon Day. I think that's kind of fun. I don't have any in here. I won't throw any at Shannon's through the glass. Couldn't make it anyway. But it's usually picked because this is the middle of the hottest week on average for Americans. Tomorrow is an international cat day. So since I may... dog lover, glad that it is not the day today. So we can talk about something else. On a more meaningful front, however, it is also National Purple Heart Day. So just want to give a big shout out there to everyone who has served in our military, particularly those who were injured in service and every member of our military signs what we would call a blank check willing to give the last full measure of devotion. So thank you to everyone. Big shout out to my husband who's an 82nd airborne veteran, my family members who served and honoring my dad who's no longer with us, but he served in Vietnam and many years after that in the military as a lieutenant colonel. Okay, we're going to switch it up here. Sometimes I find that when I'm preparing for a show, it seems to be a throughline theme. So there are two things we're going to talk a lot about today. We're going to talk about protecting children. There's a lot of interesting, intertwining stories in many different fronts in our news or society, our culture right now, and movies. If you don't know, I... grew up here, but then I had temporary insanity. I went to Hollywood to be an actress. Yes, I'm now a recovered actress, my left brain, my right mind, but my husband and I still have a media company. He was a producer at Walt Disney Studios, and we believe in the power of story. So later in the show, we'll have Christian Toto. We're going to talk about some movies. I do want to hear from you, 56690, the K-O-A Common Spirit Health Text Line. Tell me if you've seen a good movie lately. We're going to talk about...

two really good movies that I've seen lately, which are The Odyssey and the new Spider-Man, brand new day, saw that this week, both really good ones. I guess I love movies, so it's nice when they're actually movies I want to see. We tend to watch old movies because there are not that many new good ones coming out. Well, those are two good ones. We're going to talk about that, but want to hear from you, 56690. But I want to bring up this intersection between protecting children and movies. When we went to see Spider-Man this week, and it was excellent. Like I said, we're going to talk more about that later. There was a trailer for a new movie by Aaron Sorkin called The Social Reckoning. Many of you may remember the first movie, The Social Network by Aaron Sorkin. And it was about Mark Zuckerberg and the founding of Facebook. This movie now that will be coming out in October is based on the 2021 whistleblower revelations by Francis Hogan and investigative reporter Jeff Horowitz with the Wall Street Journal. And it's an interesting trailer. I'm not sure how good the movie is going to be, but it all came together at a very interesting time because they started working on this movie in 2025. But in 2023, there was a lawsuit that began against META, particularly focused on their lack of protection of children. The ability for children to be exploited for causing many mental health issues. We all know that now. By the way, there was a reason why Steve Jobs wouldn't even let his own children have a tablet or an iPhone. He knew it and he made it. And then Mark Zuckerberg just... you know, took it out on steroids. There's many good things about it. I do like the fact that obviously we can keep in touch with one another and relatives and show pictures, but I think we all know social media has gotten really out of hand, particularly with young people. I'm a mom. I'd say the order of my priority is as I'm a Christian, I'm a wife, I'm a mom. It goes in that order. So I look at so much through that lens and our children did not even have access to the internet until they were, I think, about to go into high school. But that's not what's happening today. Well, it's interesting because this movie comes out October 26 and the day after we saw the trailer. Or two days after, META was just ordered to pay $942 million in penalties for harming children online. based on that very same whistleblower story. Meta, as you know, is the parent company founded by Mark Zuckerberg. It has both Facebook and Instagram. So this is one of those things where I'm sure that Aaron Sorkin is thinking, oh my gosh, can we recut the ending of the movie to fast forward and say in 2026 meta was held responsible. Now why is this important?

Our checks and balance is being the judicial, the executive, and the legislative, and they're not supposed to do each other's jobs. They're supposed to be checks on one another. I really believe our judicial branch is 100% saving our republic in so many ways, and it is the place where so many wins for citizens are happening. So by the way, just one more reason to chalk up that, no, the judicial branch should not be under the House of Representatives, which is what Democrat Socialists of America want. Can you imagine the entity known for insider trading where people go to Congress, go to the House of Representatives, make, you know, anywhere from 180 to lower 200,000's income, come out multi, multi, multi, multi millionaires. Yeah, let's put the judicial branch under them and we'll just hope that nothing happens. Well, I got to tell you, if some of those politicians are getting money from larger organizations, how likely do you think they are to allow lawsuits like this to continue? Yep, I think we've seen that movie before. Well, it leads me to another thing about this intersection of protecting. children and also protecting individuals, protecting our country and movies. You know, when I think about the work that was done by Wall Street Journal, Jeff Horowitz, who helped uncover this situation in Meta, where they were prioritizing profits over children, I think about, you know, 60 minutes that aired the whistleblower for tobacco. But I want to find out where are all the president's men right now when it comes to other issues for which there should be whistleblowing? But guess what? These other issues I'm about to discuss really kind of go against the more liberal grain of the most of our mainstream media. Let me give you an example. You know, when I refer to all the president's men, obviously that's Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. And many people ask, by the way, where was Bob Woodward as far as uncovering, you know, Biden really not necessarily being completely in use of his full faculties towards the end. People are like, Bob, you're still writing, you're still out there. But Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein kind of made this very clear in the movie, All the President's Men, when they exposed Nixon and the Watergate tapes and all of that. And that is what journalists need to be. They are the additional rail to our institutions. Another way checks and balances are supposed to be working. Well, here's a question. I have a great whistleblower that I think would make an amazing movie. Maybe my husband, I will have to make it. He was a producer with Walt Disney Studios before we did our own company, before we start our own company. And this is going to tie in with protecting children. Many of you may remember Jamie Reed. She worked at the Washington University School of Medicine in Missouri. And she was a whistleblower in 2023. Now, you would think she'd be a perfect person to have in a movie that Hollywood would absolutely welcome the opportunity to highlight because she describes herself as a Democrat, a lesbian married to a trans man whose politics, and this is her quoting herself, are left of Bernie Sanders. You think that whistleblower would have a movie about them?

But here's the reason why not. What was she the whistleblower over? Well, working at the Washington University School of Medicine in Missouri, she originally set out to work at their transitioning clinic for minors because she is married, as she says, to a trans man. She's all for supporting trans youth. And by the way, any young person that is dealing with gender dysphoria deserves all of our support and help, 100%. Well, what does she blow the whistle on? She began to realize when she was there that there was a disturbing trend happening. She said, starting in 2015, when she started working there, the normal person you would see at the clinic would be a young teenage boy. That was the vast majority. She said, suddenly, there was this onslaught, this change that happened. where a huge increase of girls coming in, usually in friend groups. And it timed exactly with this real infiltration into our school system, into our culture, into social media once again, of people being targeted, particularly girls, towards transitioning. If you doubt this, and I like when listeners say, hey, show me the statistics and the facts. Well, how about that in the UK, they actually did a study on this because they were ahead of us on the curve of this whole transitioning of children? They saw a 4,000% increase in girls transitioning in 2018. 4,000% which... Jamie Reed, whistleblower, should have a movie made about her. I doubt it's in development right now. She blew the whistle on that. Not because she is right wing, not because she's a Christian, not because she was MAGA, not because of anything other than she realized this wasn't what she thought it was all about. Now, I just say this is a very personal thing for me, which is why I've testified so many times under the dome about this. Because guess what else they discovered in England? They discovered that, well, autistic children are 2% of the population, there's 35% of children who are transitioned. Well, our daughter's autistic. And I do remember the bombardment that started hitting her, the minute that she was diagnosed, where the message is, oh, you feel, you feel socially awkward, you feel like you don't fit in. Well, it's because you're actually transgender. Now, there is a percentage of students, young people who are truly experiencing gender fluid and they deserve our help. But a 4,000% increase in girls, 35% who are transitioned or autistic when they're only 2% of the population, maybe that's why the Tavistock Clinic in the UK, the first and the most leading clinic in transitioning. was closed. It was closed down because it was shown that they misdiagnosed 97.5% of the children they transitioned. When you think about that, why is there not a Woodward and a Bernstein covering that? Why is there not a whistleblower from the Wall Street Journal? Well, maybe there is. I don't know, but it's not getting covered in Hollywood, that's for sure.

But it's time for us to look at that. And by the way, if you are transgender and you are pro transgender, we're talking about children here. I believe in the United States of America, if you're an adult, you can live your life however you want to live it. Pursue your own unique idea of happiness. But we need to look at these numbers and we look at movies about whistleblowers who are incredibly courageous people. We want to make sure. that we're looking at it across the board. I think that's a great idea. I bring this up because I've got a couple of whistleblowers joining me on the show today. Coming up at the bottom of the hour, Aaron Lee from Protect Kids Colorado is going to be joining me. She blew the whistle on something that was happening right here in Colorado. And she is behind a ballot initiative that is going to stop the surgical transitioning of children. By the way, Europe is already beginning to do this because they've had a lot longer to watch the devastation that occurs. Let's just let kids be kids. Let's not make them make a decision for their entire lifetime when they are. 10, 11, 12, 13, 14. They can't even decide, by the way, on their own to get a tattoo at that age, let alone decide they're going to permanently alter their body. Okay, that was my kickoff. Don't worry. We're going to have a lot more fun. Lighter stuff as we go. But we're going to be heading to a break. I am Deborah Flores sitting in for Mandy Connell.

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Your child wakes up in the middle of the night with a high fever and the pharmacy is closed. You could wait agonizing hours just to try and get a doctor's appointment, or you could prepare ahead of time with Jace Medical. Jace makes it simple for families to stay ready with kids like the Jace case. These are ready-to-go supplies of prescription antibiotics and essential medications for travel, emergencies, or everyday life. With Jace, you're investing in more than health. You're investing in true peace of mind that you are prepared for the unexpected. It's fast, it's affordable, and it could be life-saving. Just head to jace.com, answer a few quick questions, and a licensed doctor reviews your info in minutes. After that, your meds are shipped directly to your door. Keep yourself and your loved ones prepared with the right medications on hand no matter what comes next at jace.com. Welcome back to the Mandy Connell show, Debra Flores, sitting in for Mandy Connell. Hope you're already having a great Friday getting ready for a great weekend. I want to jump right into it because I've got a wonderful guest joining me and that is Aaron Lee. She is the founder of Protect Kids Colorado. Erin, thank you so much for joining me. I appreciate it. Hey, Dad. Long time, no talk. Great to see you last night as we listened to Harmeet Dillon, the Assistant Attorney General for the United States of America. And she was talking a lot about what you and I are going to discuss, which is protecting children. Yeah. Yeah, it was a good event. Well, you know, I want to jump right into this, Aaron, because I talked earlier about whistleblowers and whistleblowers, and you certainly have kind of been one of those for what's going on in our schools, your own story with your daughter. I'm sure most listeners have heard it. And we were talking last night when I saw you was for Jeffco Kids First. By the way, great organization. Make sure to support them as well as protect Kids, Colorado. You and I were discussing that the American Medical Association had made a common sense decision it sounded like because in February, the American Plastic Society of Plastic Surgeons decided that they would no longer do transitioning surgeries on minors. The AMA said they were kind of leaning towards that. And then they totally reversed course again at their annual meeting in Chicago where they doubled down. on no minimum age for this transitioning surgeries for children, even though they said there's really not enough evidence to show that it is worthwhile. Tell me your thoughts about that.

A old moment last night when you mentioned this, and I said they're like the Teachers Union of Medicine, the AMA and the American Academy of Pediatrics, these medical orgs where they're so clearly ideologically driven. They're not following science. They're not following the systematic reviews that have proven that these do more harm than good. That's why every Western... country besides the U.S., Finland, Sweden, the UK have backtracked on these procedures for kids, especially the surgeries. And it just so clearly shows that they're ideologically driven. As you said, ASPS came out and said, we don't recommend these for children under 19. And the AMA then told the New York Times, yes, we agree with that, citing a lack of evidence to support it. And then the trans cult mobbed them. And I would call them the cult because that's how they operate. And they immediately backtracked. And then here at this meeting last month, they kind of quietly, this has only recently made news, doubled down on what they call gender affirming care for kids. But can we just talk about how that's a euphemism, how they're using this frilly language. And what it really is is sex rejecting mutilation. And I mean, we can. break that down even further. First of all, there's nothing caring. Gender affirming care. There's nothing caring about chopping off the healthy body parts and destroying the sexual function of healthy bodies of kids. His brains aren't fully formed. Secondly, what you're affirming is mental health distress, not reality. You're affirming confusion, self-hatred, this impossible belief that you can become the opposite sex when you can't. And let's talk about gender because I think people really innocently use that term a lot, people on our side that, you know, are against this, but use the word gender a lot. Gender is a language descriptor for male and female. But humans don't have gender. We have sex. There are two sexes, male and female. They are immutable. You can't be neither. You can't be both. And you cannot change it. So we need to stop using their language. Gender affirming care is really deceptive. Well, it's interesting because Americans, by and large, I really believe, are good people. They've got good hearts who are quick to respond. We're one of the most generous cultures, actually, in history. But it's weaponizing compassion, and that is exactly why they use certain terms. And, you know, if you're an adult, you can do what you want to, you can choose to live how you want to. There is such a thing as gender dysphoria. but what people have been afraid to talk about because they get so shouted down by the mob, as you described it, or you described it as a cult, but they get so shouted down vehemently. Before this, we knew there were studies showing that any child that experiences gender dysphoria when they're little, on average. Like 85 to 90% would outgrow it by the time they were teenagers. It happens. I wanted to be Superman or Batman and didn't understand why I had to wear a shirt when my brothers didn't. I mean, thank goodness, they didn't look at that as confusion. I was a child. But I appreciate you're saying this. I want to clarify with you, Aaron Lee, about what's happening here in Colorado because a lot of people thought, oh, you know, Trump has put out these executive orders. The DOJ is pursuing it. But this is still happening.

here in Colorado. There is a Connecticut hospital that now has said that they're not doing anymore because the DOJ is pushing down on this. Children's hospital has been caught in this tug of war. They stopped doing gender transitioning treatment. I think it was in January. Then the Colorado Supreme Court told them they had to in May. But the doctors that work at Children's Hospital has that they're not going to because they have the right to not proceed with that because of their own liability. What's happening here in Colorado? I'm so glad you brought that up. I mean, first of all, kudos to the Trump administration for taking up this mantle, making this a primary tenant of the administration, and doing everything they can with the power of the federal purse strings. which is, you know, putting out these executive orders, they're not law. They can't force Colorado to stop. Then they went to withhold Medicaid funding, which was effective. That's what caused Children's Hospital, Colorado, to say, okay, we don't want to lose Medicaid funding. For all the other purposes, kids need it, we had better stop doing these procedures on kids. And then... As you said, the Colorado Supreme Court said, well, you're going to do it anyway. And thankfully, all of the doctors at Children's Hospital consulted attorneys and said, no, we fear retribution. We're not going to do it. And so it's supposedly not happening. But what's interesting is there's a great resource that do no harm put out. It's called Stop the Harm Database. It's just stop the harm database.com. I encourage everyone to check it out. They found. that in a four-year period, over 14,000 kids had been mutilated, that Colorado Children's ranked number 10 in the country on these procedures. And according to insurance data, they found that 22 kids were receiving these procedures per year, according to insurance claims at Children's Hospital, Colorado. But in this lawsuit that led to the Supreme Court telling them, no, you will do this, they testified. Children's Hospital did that they were doing at least 800 a year on average. So what a huge discrepancy where they were trying to conceal what they were actually doing. We expect that there's fraudulent coding involved, that they have been trying to hide the amount of kids. They're actually doing this too. So it's happening to hundreds and hundreds of kids. And that's one hospital, whereas Stop the Harm lists over 60 hospitals in Colorado that are performing these wrong sex procedures on kids. Wow. So it's a much larger issue than people realize, and it is ongoing, and we have to stop it at the state level. Yeah, it's so important because oftentimes, even if you finally get someone to admit that, you know, a child cannot decide, you know, at 10. that they want to have this surgery or the chemicals and the hormones that can actually cause lifelong infertility at 10 years old when they're also not shown or judged by our society to even be able to decide whether or not they want a tattoo or a piercing at that age. And so it's interesting.

that then they downplay, say, well, it's not really even happening. Well, it is happening. We don't have a lot of time, unfortunately, and I love these resources that you're sharing. But the good news is in Colorado, we have a citizen-led ballot. process that we go through and you are the proponent the I don't the the official title that you have with this but there is a ballot initiative that cars can vote on this fall one of three that would stop these transitioning surgeries amongst minors can you just tell listeners about that Yes, so excited to say that all three of the protect kids ballot measures have made the ballot. It's the Children are Not for Sale Act, the Protect Girls Sports Act, and we stop irreversible surgeries on kids act. And it's so important to point out we're talking about children here. Yes. No one is disputing cosmetic surgeries for adults. We may disagree with them or not attempting to outlaw them. We set AIDS limitations on drinking, smoking, voting, and buying a beta fish in Colorado. Why not give kids time to turn 18 before they make these irreversible surgical decisions? And so over 3,000 Colorans sprung into action, took petitions. We were an all-volunteer historic. effort. And now every Colorado has the opportunity to stop this. The Colorado are to say, nope, we're not going to rank number 10 anymore. We're not going to harm kids. And all you have to do is vote yes. and tell everyone you know that they have this opportunity to vote on this very simple common sense measure. Absolutely. Thank you so much. And it is miraculous that all three ballot initiatives made it onto the ballot when these were basically citizen-led volunteer efforts. Obviously, you're leading the charge, and Lori Gimelstein, Erin, excuse me, Jen Say, Mark Ozgeist, all of you. You have done an amazing job. And just give the website one more time before we let you go, Erin. Yes, protectkidscolorado.org. Encourage everyone to read the initiatives and tell everyone you know to vote yes, yes, yes, yes. Yeah, thank you so much. Prop N is no-no. But Protect Kids, Colorado is yes, yes, yes. I love that. Thank you so much, Erin. God bless you. Appreciate all that you're doing, my friend.

Your child wakes up in the middle of the night with a high fever and the pharmacy is closed. You could wait agonizing hours just to try and get a doctor's appointment, or you could prepare ahead of time with Jace Medical. Jace makes it simple for families to stay ready with kids like the Jace case. These are ready-to-go supplies of prescription antibiotics and essential medications for travel, emergencies, or everyday life. With Jace, you're investing in more than health. You're investing in true peace of mind that you are prepared for the unexpected. It's fast, it's affordable, and it could be life-saving. Just head to jace.com, answer a few quick questions, and a licensed doctor reviews your info in minutes. After that, your meds are shipped directly to your door. Keep yourself and your loved ones prepared with the right medications on hand no matter what comes next at jace.com.

It is Friday. I'm so happy. Happy Friday. Deborah Flora here. Thank you so much for joining the conversation, tuning in. By the way, Mandy and I do exist in the same time and place. Sometimes, even though I'm usually in the chair when she's not. We have a great show. I hope you check out called Mandy and Deb. It's a streaming video show. You can see it on IITV or our Facebook page, Mandy. Amper sand, Deb. We say we have the ampersand because we are so fancy. That's just that squiggly thing. That means and ampersand. Okay, don't spell that out. Anyway, just had a great conversation. If you missed any of it, make sure you check out the podcast. We were just talking with Aaron Lee about a ballot initiative. I love that in Colorado, we have ballot initiatives, which means we can, if we need to go past the state assembly when they just don't. what I consider do their job. They come up with silly things. And we were talking about in this instance, the ballot initiatives for Protect Kids Colorado, particularly the one that Aaron was talking about that will stop. irreversible surgeries for children if they're dealing with gender fluidity issues. I mean, that's irreversible. And by the way, I do understand many people that out of compassion think, oh my gosh, this young child is dealing with dysphoria and all of that we need to help them. We do need to help them. But we need to help them in a way that leads to hope and a future, not despair, because there is a study. Let's just look at it. NIH National Institute of Health that is in Great Britain because it's socialized medicine. They keep really clear records of everything. As we heard from Erin, even right here in Colorado Children's Hospital, Colorado said that they were doing hundreds of these procedures where the records only showed maybe under 50, I think she said it was. But the NIH keeps very clear records and they did a study that showed. Children, minors who go through transitioning are 12 times more likely to commit suicide. You need to pay attention to that. That's a real fact. That is science. That is not opinion. It is not bigotry. It is just science. And our kids deserve to... have that taken into consideration. I'm going to switch gears real quick. We'll have a couple minutes before we head to the break. But I wanted to bring up something that, I don't know, I kind of got a little kick out of it because common sense is still alive in many places in America. Shared yesterday that Mayor Zohran Mamdani was booed off the stage in Staten Island, probably a lot because he was there for the National Night Out Against Crime Event. And when you want to say that you want to... And prisons and you want to get rid of the police. I don't really think that's a solution for crime. So people with common sense booed him off the stage. I think his speech was barely over a minute before he had to walk off. Well, Minnesota governor's race is heating up. Going to have the primary next week.

And Minnesota Democrat Senator Amy Klobuchar, she's one of seven Democrats running for that nomination for the Democrat side to replace Tim Walz. She was at the Minnesota Farm Fest. God bless our rural people because they have a lot of common sense. She was at the Farm Fest. And she started to say that she has always supported funding for order at the border. She's always worked well with law enforcement. She got to that part. And everyone in the audience started booing and laughing. It's time. We need to hold people to what they really mean, not what they're saying when they want to get elected. It's kind of like Manny Rutinell up in CD8, who actually called ranchers and farmers basically despicable people. Those were in his exact words. And now he's saying, you know, heck. Golly gee, I really do like a good steak once in a while, even though he was pushing for penalties against that agricultural production. We can't let people say one thing when they're on one side of it, an entirely different thing when they're running for office. Let's hold them accountable. Okay, time to go to a break. When we come back, we're going to have a great interview. You are not going to want to miss it. I'm Deborah Flores sitting in for Mandy Connell.

Welcome back to the Mandy Connell show, Deborah Flores, sitting in for Mandy Connell. Hope you're having a great Friday. We're having some great conversations. If you miss any of it, make sure to go listen to the podcast afterward. I want to jump right in because if you've been having your television on or your eyes open or even, you know, even listening at all, you're, I'm pretty sure you're aware of all that's been going on with the WNBA, with Sophie Cunningham, with my... My blood pressure went up when two sweet little girls, teenagers, maybe preteens, were wearing X, X, XY shirts at one of the games, and the co-owner of the team came up and berated them. These girls were then surrounded by a crowd in Seattle who called them garbage and said, take out the trash. Come on, America, we are better than that. But someone who has been a leading voice and designs gray clothes, those XXY shirts the girls were wearing, and I have my XXY hat on right now, and I love it. Well, I'm happy to have the person behind that phenomenon. It's really a movement. As Jennifer say, she is the CEO of XXY clothing company. No stranger to speaking courageously, speaking out against COVID and many other things. Jen, thank you so much for joining me today. I truly appreciate it. You got it. Hi, Deborah. We missed you last night at Jeff Co Kids First, and Hermit Dillon even gave you a shoutout, but we know you were busy. I heard. I wanted to be there. I wanted to see her and see all of you. I love that event. But, yeah, things are a little crazy right now because we have a lot of momentum in this movement. And, you know, it started in Seattle, which you mentioned. That was the first rally for Sophie. You know, it was really grassroots and people just wanted to show up and show their support for her courage and speaking out on the protection of women's sports because the league isn't supporting or her team's not. And so young girls and women, their moms came to just say, thank you, Sophie. And as you described, Annalie Wilson, who's actually one of our athletes on our athlete roster, speaking up on this for two years now because she lost. in eighth grade at a major Olympic movement competition to a male athlete in tracking field. So she's been very outspoken. And the thing is, it's been so lonely for these girls. I mean, I do everything I can to make them feel supported. I'm sure it feels lonely for Sophie sometimes, too. So they wanted to show their support. And, you know, she was, Annalie was treated so terribly by the co-owner of the team who cursed at her and, you know, pointed at her. And I don't know how, you know, this is no way to treat a 16-year-old girl for where, she wore a T-shirt and had a fine that said, we love Sophie. That was it. She came in peace and love and was abused by that.

Crazy old lady. That's a good description. You know, and it's interesting to me because if you just listen to the voices that are out there, as you were saying, these girls, and it's great that you know, Annalie, not surprised. I hope she's doing okay. They were holding up a sign saying, thank you, Sophie, for speaking up for girls. And then I like that Sophie Cunningham said afterwards, I truly believe there's a safe space and love for everybody. Biological girls, biological boys. trans women, trans men, you can disagree and still be kind. Bravo to those girls for standing up for what they believe. I mean, really, when you look at this, the intolerance and the hatred is only coming from one side. You can't stand up for trans people's rights to live their life freely without a costing 16 year old girls who have every right under Title IX to have their competition protected. Well, exactly. And I think the other side who's fighting for men and women's sports, what a thing to fight for. They've shown their true colors. I was in Minneapolis, so we have kept these rallies going in support of Sophie. And I was in the... at the Minneapolis game last weekend. And we were there, maybe 50 or 60 of us outside the stadium, wearing T-shirts. We had balloons. We had cookies. Like, we were just there to say thank you. And celebrate. Some of us were going to the game. And as soon as we arrived, there actually were four agitators there at the spot already. And the treatment, Deborah, I mean, we were middle-aged women and teenage girls. That's what we were. And we were called names I cannot say on the radio through a bullhorn in our ears. The C word, the B word. He held signs over our heads. He wouldn't let us talk to each other. Anytime two people started talking, he'd come over this man, this terrible, terrible man with his megaphone and scream right in our faces. Oh, gosh. You know, I don't know who would want to be on that side. Why would you want to choose that side? I mean, at the very least, you see that he's a deranged... Lunatic, misogynist, you know, even if you agreed, I mean, to say if you agreed with what he was saying, he wasn't saying anything. He was just screaming expletives at us and calling us names. He wasn't stating his case. He wasn't making an argument. He wasn't making an argument about inclusion. He was just calling us really disgusting names. And that's the other side. And I think when that is revealed, kind of people see the truth of what that movement is. And people more and more are unafraid. to speak up and join us and say. I stand with women and girls. Yeah, I think this is a real turning point. You know, I just had a listener say I loved when Sophie hit a three during that game and she turned around to those rowdy fans and did a big L loser symbol on her forehead. I mean, it just takes courage and you've been saying that for a long time. And, you know, so I want to get down to some of the facts that people might know because a lot of people, and you and I've talked about this, my guest, Jennifer, say, one of the most courageous voices out there right now. And fortunately,

no longer quite as alone as before in doing that. Obviously, Riley Gaines was at the Minneapolis game and they asked her to remove her sign which she said, Sophie, thank you, a girl mom when, you know, the head coach of the, the links was wearing a shirt that said trans kids belong in sports. So, you know, it's very hypocritical. But many people believe, Jen, that when Donald Trump signed the executive order protecting girls sports, that it was just done. You know, you and I've talked about this. Oh, everybody decides it's just done. Obviously, it's not. Can you talk about what the situation really is? Because there's many governing groups. Yeah, that's great question. So, yeah, I was there that day in February 2025. I was actually standing right behind him. And the room was celebratory. And I didn't want to be like a bummer in the room, you know, but I also knew that it wasn't it. Like people were declaring victory. And I just knew, first of all, the executive order only impacts the educational system. And, you know, sports played in... schools, middle school, high school, because that's what total mind governs, right? Well, the vast majority of sports are played outside of that system. They're played in private clubs. I think two serves of sports, youth sports are played in private clubs, and they're played. I mean, there's pro teams, there's all of it. Most sports are not played in the school system. It's great that there are school sports, but there's a lot of sports outside of that. I also knew that. states, blue states, were not going to abide that executive order, which we've seen, right? I mean, we saw this year, and last year, a boy named Davey Hernandez has won the state championship in California and two jumping track and field in that. He's done that two years in a row. So California is completely ignoring it. And they're saying their state law trumps the executive order. And their state law dictates that gender identity... Trump's sex. So if you say you're a girl, you are a girl, and you can compete in women sports. But beyond that, I think the real question you're asking is about the complexity of the governing body. And it is really complicated. There's not one magic wand you can wave to have all the sports to protect women's sports. Now, we've had the International Olympic Committee say that they will. Yes, thank goodness. That's great. Just last month, we had the WTA, the Women's Tennis Association. They announced they would test for sex. And all the high profile players are saying they welcome that. But the WNDA, that's separate National Women's Soccer League. The Boston Marathon has its own governing body. Each individual race, you know, so you've got sports that take place in schools, and you've got private clubs, and you've got the Olympic movement. I mean, it's just like it's all over the place. Yes. I couldn't list. I couldn't name all the governing bodies on one, eat two hands. There's so many. And so my point has been we have to change the culture. Because if we change the culture, which is what is underway right now because of Sophie, she instigated it, then once all the people make it clear, this is not going to be tolerated, then the leagues will change.

Yes. And follow suit, which is why I think the WTA did it. We were shocked to see them announce their rule change. I did not see that coming. No one was lobbying them. But I think they felt the change in the culture and the pressure building. And I'm sure their athletes wanted it. The athletes want it. Yeah, they do. Well, it's interesting because you mentioned the Tennis Association and people like Megan Rapino, first of all, let's just clear something up. She was on the view and she said, oh, this is going to lead to them checking women's bodies. No, there's a chromosomal test. And you and I, when we talked about this before, we're like, I'm sorry, chromosomal reality is not bigotry. It is not invasive. You can do a Eric Swalwell, you know, in your mouth. You can do all kinds of stuff. But I think it's interesting because Megan Rapino has been so on one side where the U.S. women's soccer team lost to a high school boys team. When it comes to tennis, both William's sisters, Serena and Venus, both won to a much lower ranked man. I mean, kudos to Riley Gaines. She actually tied William Thomas, Leah Thomas. I mean, that's phenomenal. It is done so simply, and it's a really silly conversation about it. But I do think the Olympics committee, a huge one. Let's talk about something, though, that could also kind of be a red herring, and that's the Protect College Sports Act. People need to know that may sound good, but you and Riley have written about this. It doesn't even mention women in it. Am I correct? No, it doesn't, and here's what I would say about it. I think it was well-intentioned. Good. But I think... women were just forgotten. And they can get thrown under the bus because they were forgotten. There's too much ambiguity in the bill. Republican senators are split on it. Josh Hawley has been outspoken on it. He does not support it. There are others as well. It's meant... It's real primary intention is to clean up college football and protect college football. It's a mess right now because of NIL and paying outside sums and players are moving from season to season. There's pro players who maybe had an injury and haven't played in the pros who are going to college just playing. We'd like to play. Yeah. So you can't have this. So the intention was to clean up or is that's the primary intention to clean up college football, which as we know is. the money in college sports is, right? That's the only profitable thing in college sports. So that's the intention. But one of the things that is in the bill that they do to do that, because there's separate NIL laws in every state. So what they've said in the bill is that the NCAA sets eligibility. It doesn't matter what the state law is. The NCA sets eligibility rules. Well, guess what that means or could mean. It's not outlined that it won't mean this. It could mean that in the laws with 23 states that let boys compete in girls sports, that that is what, that, or sorry, I apologize, but the 27 states that have laws protecting girls sports, that the MCAA can override that. All we need is one left-wing activist judge. So I think it's fair to say the bill is not about that. Yes. But it leaves a crack in the door. And I'm sorry, I don't trust the NCAA. Yeah. They're not trustworthy.

So if they want this to happen, it will happen. All we need is a new administration. So all we're asking is that there be protections for the women's category built into this. Do whatever you want. Go crazy with men's football. But if we're trying to protect college sports, that has to include female athletes too. And we can't leave the door open for all this hard work to be undone. 100%. Deborah Flores sitting in from Mandy Connell. My guest is Jennifer Say, XX, XY Clothing Company. Check it out. It's not only a great statement. cultural movement. The hats and the t-shirts are great. I can vouch for that very comfortable, high quality. That's the closest I come to doing a commercial on a radio show. But, yeah, but Jen, you make a great point because that is really the difference between good policy and bad policies. Are you looking at the unintended consequences? So we need to watch and make sure that it doesn't allow the NCAA to override the 27 states that actually have laws protecting women and girls' sports. Let's bring it right here in Colorado because hopefully we'll become, you know, with state number 28 by a ballot initiative that is on the ballot this November. You are the proponent of it through Protect Kids, Colorado. Talk about that ballot initiative. Yeah, I mean, we need state legislation. I am working, you know, through the brand on changing the culture, but we do need legislation. I would like to see national legislation that basically clarifies Title IX. I mean, we have national legislation. It's called Title IX. But the Dems are choosing to reinterpret that. And it's like, well, maybe they meant gender identity. We know they didn't. But so state by state legislation. So we. me and Aaron Lee and a bunch of other folks. We worked really hard to get the signatures to get this on the ballot to put it to the people. And what it would do is it would establish that there are three, there's three categories. Basically, there's girls, there's boys, and then there's open, you know, where anyone can compete. And. That's it. And I think we got so many more signatures ever than we needed. I think we got 25% more signatures than we needed. We had the highest validation rate of any valid initiatives ever. People want this. People know that it's... crazy to let boys steal girls' opportunities and put their safety at risk by allowing them to go up against each other and contact sports. It's nuts. So I think, I believe firmly that we are definitely going to win. We are going to protect girls sports in Colorado. I think when people can say so anonymously at the ballot box, maybe the right thing.

But I will say more and more people aren't afraid to stand up anymore. I mean, this Sophie thing has kicked off a firestorm. It's so good. We were outside the stadium in Minneapolis and people who weren't even attending the game were stopping by. They wanted stickers. It's like a groundswell support. And when you see somebody like her who's a star in the league and then you see a big rally of young girls standing up and they've got her t-shirt on and they're saying, you know, we love Sophie, thank you, save women sports. They feel comfortable then, adding their voice to the mix. So, no, people really aren't afraid anymore. Now, unfortunately, the WNBA is like thinking it's five years ago and that they can still scare people into being quiet. But I don't think it's going to work. No, I don't think so at all. And, you know, here's the final question I want to ask you because I love your courage. I mean, and it really all started. You were already doing this. You were a world-class gymnast. My guest, Jennifer, say, you stood up against COVID. Gratefully, you made Colorado your home. Thank you for not leaving. We can turn it around. But you think about it. It was Riley Gaines who stood up and said, I'm just not going to go quietly into the night like they told me to. And she had to face, you know, being coroner. in almost like a hostage situation at a college campus where she was speaking. You've spoken up. You've received so much hate and bullying and all that. And these young girls who are doing it, my gosh, they're leading the way. But now it's finally turning, but it takes those first voices. My final question to you is, what would you say to listeners right now who are maybe trying to struggle up courage, whether it's on this issue or something else? Give him that shot of courage, because we really do encourage one another. We put courage into one another. What would you say to them? I would just say, if not you, then who? You can do it. You can withstand. What are you going to get? Name calling? You can take it. I've been taking it for 20 years. I'm fine. I'm stronger than ever. You can do it. It's just names. The cancellation, that's going away. That's the thing of the past. It doesn't work anymore. You're not going to, you know, I don't really believe that's a real risk anymore. It doesn't work anymore. I get it. It puts you in a tough spot. Maybe your neighbor's mad at you. Maybe your friends on Facebook say mean things. you can handle it to do the right thing. And you'll find new people. Yeah, yeah. That's the thing that I found is when you speak up boldly, yeah, you may lose some friends, you may lose some business even, although we're moving away from that a lot more. But you do gain an incredible group of friends who now you actually, you know, you have a lot in common. You've got just some basic principles of fairness and what is right and courage. So on that great note, Jen, I'm, you know, privileged to call you a friend. Thank you for standing up. Thank you for your courage. It just makes me so happy to see, you know, you and Riley no longer alone. There have been some of us speaking up, but thank you for all you do.

Why don't we last thing, tell people where they can get your amazing XX XY clothing. Yeah, go to XX-X-XYathletics.com. The logo T is setting the world on fire. I'm sure you've seen it. You've been at all the rallies. That's what Annalie was wearing in the front row. We can't keep those in stock. So go get it. It's a simple way to speak up and not have to say a word. You just wear the shirt. And it says, I believe, in fair competition for women and girls. So definitely, definitely go check it out. It's cool now. It's cool to wear the tea now. See? I want to add one thing, though, about the product. We're not a merch company. We make so much more than teas and hats. Like all your workout gear, we have high performance, high quality, whether it's leggings, running shorts for men and women, anything you could buy from Lulu or from Nike and train in. You can get from us and ours is... ours is better. Yeah, and I love that you took all that expertise when you were a Levi's executive and you put it into a company. I'm really, I mean, I like Levi's, don't get me wrong, but I love XXXY. Jen, thank you so much for calling in. I know you are so busy. You know, I keep looking for you at every WNBA game, but look for it. I'm off the one. There you go. I'm headed to Chicago now. Okay, wonderful. Well, we'll look for you on this sidelines. Will you take care? God bless. Thank you. Thanks, Deborah. Bye-bye. Well, that was Jen Say, my guess. We're going to talk more about this on the other side, but we are heading into a break. I'm Deborah Flora, filling in for Mandy Connell.

For Mandy Connell, if you have missed any of the show, definitely check it out on the podcast. We've had some really courageous voices that we've been able to hear from today. We had Aaron Lee talking about the stand for protecting kids, protect kids Colorado, and those three ballot initiatives. And, you know, she got activated simply because she was a mom. And. things were happening in her school that she was unaware of and being hidden from her about her daughter. Then we just talked to Jen Say, who is a courageous voice. And she first got involved as a gymnast, a world-class gymnast because of all that was going on in that industry. And she's carried on that legacy of courage, you know, standing up talking about COVID and losing her job at Levi because now she's standing up to protect. women and girls sports. I love talking to people like that because I truly believe that courage is contagious. I also think when we hear what is going on in our culture, let's listen to not just what people are saying, but how they're saying it as well. When you see what's going on at the WNBA games right now, you have these two young girls. I mean, they're about 16. Anna Lee, Jen was talking about how she is one of those young girls. athletes who is speaking up because she lost to a biological male in a race in, I think it was middle school, she courageously stood up. But what happened when these two girls were just sitting at the Saddle Storm game? They were sitting in their X, X, X, Y shirts, and holding up a sign that she said, thank you, Sophie, for speaking up for girls. That was it. Sitting there politely watching the game, not only did the storm. co-owner, Celeste Keaton, aggressively confront the girls. Basically, one report says she said to them that they were blinking insane to their faces. But a crowd afterwards of Seattle Storm fans, that's a positive word, was just calling part of the mob. Surrounded these young girls and started yelling at them. One guy in the video says, calls them garbage and asks the security to take out the trash. Here's what I want to say about that. We can be the ones to add our voices to the sane side, not the aggressive side, where people are just... kind of losing their minds out there. I experienced this firsthand when I've had the privilege of leading some rallies in front of the Supreme Court steps for Alliance Defending Freedom. I did that for Nifla versus Xavier Becerra, where forced government forced speech. The Supreme Court ruled against it. Thank goodness that was with Alliance Defending Freedom. I also led the rally in front of the Supreme Court steps. for Alliance Defending Freedom, when Lori Smith, right here in Colorado, one of the kindest hearted people I know.

simply said that she should not be forced to create work that is contrary to her belief system. I would say that if the person was, you know, an atheist, if they were gay, if they were transgender, if they were Muslim, whoever they are, no one should be forced to use their work counter to their sincerely held beliefs. Unfortunately, We won that case again against, by the way, Phil Weiser, who was the one arguing against our rights against government-compelled speech. He was arguing for government-compelled speech. We should keep that in mind when we're voting for governor. But by the way, the thing that I experienced firsthand is when we held that rally in from the Supreme Court steps and we had people come up and speak, everyone from Lori Smith to a Jewish, an Orthodox Jewish man, to someone who is Muslim, someone who is an atheist, somebody who was gay, they were all saying, you know what, we stand for one another's rights to not be compelled. Let me use this example. We're thinking of the Jack Phillips case. In the Jack Phillips case, it doesn't. Come under public accommodation. There are thousands of bakeries, but this one baker should not be forced to bake a cake that disagrees with his own personally held views. Just to test the cereal, somebody went to another baker nearby and tried to get them to bake a cake that had a biblical scripture on it. They said no, they were not held in contempt, nor should they have been. That is right. Well, when we were leading this rally, It was one of those violent experiences other than, you know, when we were overran by Antifa in 2020 down at Civic Center Park when we were having to support the police rally. This was probably the second most violent mob experience I've been a part of. I was leading the rally. I was hosting. We were surrounded by a mob of people. There weren't a lot. There were 10, 15 maybe that were. Only talking about transgenderism, and I know a lot of people who are transgender are not this way, but this group was, and they were screaming at us, they were putting bullhorns right up to people's ears and screaming in their ears. They were trying to disrupt our... our, you know, public event that we were having. Here's what should happen. Go have your own event. You know, many years ago when we did Nipflip versus Xavier Becerra, there were two different rallies going on. I'm like, I'm all for that. You rally and you share your points of what you are for. We'll rally. We'll share our points of what we are for. But they really showed themselves when. The Orthodox Jewish rabbi stepped off the stage, walked away, and then they encircled him with their bullhorns and started calling him a Nazi and calling him Hitler. I mean, listen to the verbiage that comes out of people's mouths and keep that in mind. You know, there's a great quote that I think of when I think of people like Gen Say and others who speak up. And it's Martin Luther King Jr. And he said this.

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. We don't have to yell. I'm a Christian. I believe in speaking the truth and love. We do not have to do it in hate, but we do need to speak up and speak the truth. And when we do... Our entire society is changing. When you look at protecting girls' sports, it was Riley Gaines, and she was, her life has been threatened so many times, but she spoke up. Jen Say did the same thing. Now you've got Sophie Cunningham, and there's this movement. Courage is contagious, and we need to be the ones who speak up. One of the things that I really believe in speaking up against is anti-Semitism. The Sunday after the Molotov cocktail thrower threw it at peaceful protesters walking silently down the Boulder Mall. And by the way, many of these people are Democrats. We went the next week and many of those people had just been at the no Kings rally. They were silently walking. in the movement of run for their lives, standing up for the hostages who were held after they were brutally attacked on October 7th. We went and we spoke up and we marched with them the very next time. It's time that people begin to wake up and make their voices heard. There's something that has happening now that I think is a very positive movement. I like talking about positive movements. In the light of... Abdul El-Sayed, who won the Democrat nomination for U.S. Senate in Michigan. He is campaigned with Hasan Piker, who is an incredibly divisive voice in our culture today, says really incredibly hateful things. Well, there's a new poll coming out and a new article by the Jewish Insider Magazine where many Jewish Democrats now in Michigan. say that they might vote for Mike Rogers, the Republican nominee. Because what they said is we cannot vote for someone who basically spews hate and is speaking out so anti-Semitically along with someone like Hassan Parker. Courage. Courage is one of the most important things we need today. Let's be inspired by those we see being courageous and realize we actually have so much more in common than we have that separates us. And when people are beginning to wake up, when it gets that extreme, we start seeing exciting trends happening. I believe it's happening here, by the way. If you're in Denver, Shimon Blow decided to run against Milot Kiroz because Milot Kiroz could not even say or condemn the Molotov cocktail bomb thrower. that killed an elderly Jewish woman, injured many others. And she basically said, you know, I don't really know why he did it. So I can't speak to that. How about the fact that when he threw the bombs, he was saying anti-Semitic thing and being pro-Hamas? Okay, got to go to a break. Got that off my chest. Thank you for listening. Want to hear from you. 56690, 5669690. Deborah Floresidian for Mandy Connell.

Love Fridays. I love weekends in Colorado. Beautiful scenery. We are blessed to live here. Well, you know, I've been talking a lot this show about courage, courageous voices, you know, and we can encourage one another, put courage into one another. And we're going to find that there's a lot more people that are waiting to speak up. It's kind of like the emperor's new clothes. It took a little boy to point out what everybody knew. that the emperor had no clothes and everyone else was like oh my gosh i've been waiting to say that i just want to see who would be first we can be that person another thing that can help us um in this interaction to our society and be encouraged is just remembering there's so many good decent people around us that's why i like sharing good news stories particularly right now when we have the resurgence or the surgeons uh i guess it's not a resurgence although Socialism has been around a long time, never worked really bad. That's the summary. That's the Cliff Notes version of history. Let's just say that. But the DSA right now wants to basically not just defund the police, but dismantle the police. I just want to give a shout out to everyone who is a first responder who's willing to step out on that thin blue line, that thin red line. And I want to share just this great good news story of just the decency, the things that so many police officers do when we aren't looking. This story is about Officer J.P. Young. This is in Kansas City, neighboring state. And I know there's a lot of great police officers, sheriffs right here in Colorado. But Officer J.P. Young. He was notified that someone stole the three-wheel e-bike from Olivia. Now, the big thing about Olivia is Olivia is a cancer survivor. And she uses her e-bike to get to her oncology appointments. So when he heard this and he found out, he went and he met with Olivia. He asked her, okay, give me a complete description. And he made a promise to her because he understood that his job to protect and to serve. is really that. It's serving. So he promised Olivia that he would look every single day until he found her e-bike. So he did that. He looked every single day. And then finally, after a month of looking everywhere, he saw this man riding along on an e-bike that looked unusual to him because it had been spray painted. But guess what? There's a little part that wasn't spray painted and it was the color that Olivia's bike was. So he sent a picture to Olivia said, is this your bike? And she said, yes, indeed it is. Well, when Officer Young came by and brought the bike back to her, she was so happy, not just because he'd carried through with his promise, not just because human kindness one to one is one of the most moving things that we can experience and give. She said she was so happy because look on Officer Young's face was an ear-to-ear, Just basically face splitting grin. And she said this, this is Olivia said, this oncology patient. Officer Young went way and above and beyond the call of duty to help me get my e-bike back. He kept a steadfast eye out for it. The best part for me was seeing how big of a smile he had on his face when he was able to return it. Just like he had found the golden goose. I loved it.

You know, one good deed spurs another. So let's be the one that starts it. Because when the e-bike was given back to her, it had some damage on it. A bike repair shop locally heard about it and said, you know what? Olivia, we're happy to fix it at no cost. And they did just that. Olivia said she was overwhelmed by the acts of kindness. And those on social media loved hearing about it too. Here's a couple of random acts of kindness we can all do. When you see a police officer, say thank you. I'm a cup of coffee. And then when you see something good happen, share it on social media. I don't know about you, but I get tired of the diet of negativity and vitriol and dopamine rage hitting. How about we share good things that have happened? Good news stories. That's why I want to share it with you. Well. When we come back, we are going to move into movie mode because I've seen a couple of really good ones lately. Christian Toto will be joining me and we're going to talk about movies. So don't go anywhere. I'm Debra Flora sitting in from Mandy Connell.

My friend Mandy Connell, by the way, we can't exist in the same space and time. Usually I'm in the chair when Mandy isn't, but we have a show together Mandy and Deb. Yeah, very originally named. You can see it on IITV or Facebook Mandy Amper San Deb. The Amper San makes us very, very fancy. Okay, speaking of entertainment, I am happy to have joining me. A good friend, we should do a regular... segment together every week on Ryan Shuling's show. And that is Christian Toto. Christian, thanks for joining me. I appreciate it. Thanks, having me. Absolutely. Well, I love it because you are a great appreciator of movies. I was in the belly of the beast for a while, so I appreciate our conversations. Well, last time I had you on, Christian, we were talking about the Odyssey, and I have to do a mea culpa. I... I do what I usually encourage people a lot to do, which I prejudged it by a lot of the more reactionary headlines. I really liked it. It was I think one of Christopher Nolan's best movies since the Dark Night series. Give me your quick take. It's almost at a billion now. Yeah, I enjoyed it too. I had some significant issues with it. Yeah, the casting issues, I can't, I can't defend that. I think that's not the wisest of the choices. Yeah. But it was a very, very, very small part of the film, and I'm not going to besmirch the entire movie based on those decisions. Yeah. I think he's working on another level. I think he has chronic issues. I don't find his movies as emotionally rich as I'd like. I don't connect as well as other films. I think he's more of a technician. Yes. the technical prowess on the screen. I think that's what really sets them apart. It's just, it's mesmerizing. So I was transported. I enjoyed it. I'm glad I saw it in the biggest screen possible. And it's certainly worth seeing. I'm happy that it's doing so well because that is what will save movies is movies like this with epic scope, epic ambition. And even though it's imperfect, it does a lot right. And the cast can't be quibbled with. Generally speaking, the big stars of it. I'm glad for his success. He's working his tail off to make something profound, and even when he misses a bit, he comes so close to the market. Yeah, he does absolutely. And I agree with you. Like Dunkirk, Miss Story Oppenheimer was just one note. But I really do think Odyssey was good. And we saw it in the IMAX screen. We haven't done that in eons and you definitely have to. It was exhausting because it is an Odyssey. And by the way, I love, I saw meme afterwards that, you know, Hollywood has spent hundreds of millions of dollars trying to get Matt Damon home, whether you look at the Martian or you look at Interstellar or you look at the Odyssey. But it was worth it. worth it. Saw another one in the theater this week that I 100% think is worth it. I liked it even better than Odyssey, different categories, but Spider-Man brand new day, the second fastest to get to $1 billion, a box office only after Avengers end game. And it's not even fully into it second weekend. I really enjoyed it. Tell me about your thoughts for a Spider-Man end game.

Excuse me, my brand new day. I just combined the two top grossing. It's amazing in a couple of ways. One is, I think it's a very good film. I think it's well told. I think Tom Holland is being allowed to grow as this usually young figure, you know, teenager, he's high school, and they're letting him grow up because Tom Holland's growing in time is marching on. Yes. I like the maturity behind it. The co-stars, the Hulk and the Punisher. well, integrated. I didn't love, love the villain. There's some quibbles there. I don't want to get into it because it gets into spoiler. Yeah, no spoilers. Yeah, but I thought that, I thought it was ambitious in a way. It was mature in a way in a way in a way that I didn't expect about getting older, about having responsibility about accepting your fate, about love and mourning the fact that his main love doesn't remember him anymore. It's a rabbit hole if you don't know the answer to you. Yeah, I was very impressed. Having you said all that? To me a month ago, how much is that going to make at the theater? I'd say, you know, it's going to be big. Maybe like 120, 1.30. It made 360. This is my gig. This is what I do for a living. And I'm flummoxed by how much. hunger there was for this story. Listen, I know he's a lovable character. I understand everybody knows Spider-Man. I get all those things, but it really is something that it's making all that money. The Avengers is, you know, they made a bunch of movies. That was the final story. It was a million Avengers. I get the hype. I get the hunger. But this is very interesting. But it also speaks to this isn't a heck of a year for the films. I mean, we're just making a lot of money. And it's the rising tide of this all both as well. I think that... People are going back to their theaters, and that's, I'm the movie, Craig. I love it. Yeah, well, and I think when you look at why they're coming back to theaters, let's talk about the movies that did really well this year, Project Hell Mary, Odyssey, Spider-Man Brand New Day. One of the things I think they all have in common is they're just good old-fashioned action adventure, escapism, not heavy-handed message movies. And even though there was a little bit of, you know, criticism about Odyssey going into it by some of the choices, it really ended up just being good storytelling. And I think people want to see that again. I think that should be the lesson to Hollywood. Having been there, my husband was a producer, Walt Disney Studios. I hope they're listening. I hope they're listening to you, Christian, and me. People want to go to be entertained, not to be lectured, not to be preached at. And I think that's the reason why they're doing really, really well. What's your thought about that? Yeah, I mean, I can't disagree. You know, I literally wrote the book on woke Hollywood. Yes, you did. The term woke is overused. Having said that, I think Hollywood really in recent years has lost its way. The messaging, the focusing on the casting has to be a certain way. It just felt different. I think the newer films, I think Hollywood's learning its lesson, if you're more joyful, if you're more, hey, we're going to tell a story, we're going to focus on characters.

And that, I think, is resonating with people. I think that's one of the reasons why people are coming back to theaters. Yeah, I think so too. I talk about the movie Twisters last year, I think it was, or I believe it was last year. And it did really well. And, you know, Hollywood tried to come down it and say, oh, you didn't talk about, it's all about global warming. And I remember, you know, somebody involved with the movie was like, yeah, that's not what this is for. People don't want to be lectured. They just want to see a movie. You know, it doesn't mean you can't incorporate deeper things and important topics, but I think there's a weariness to it. it. You know, we're going to head to the break, Christian, but I want to see if you can stay when we come back because this wokeness is interesting how it's almost like Hollywood can't help themselves and they have to try to insert it and put it upon people. And you've been writing about that as well. So when we come back, we're going to discuss that. You can stay with me through the break, correct, Christian? Yeah. Great. Okay, wonderful. When we come back, we'll talk about that. But I love movies, too, and I used to have to go back to like, oh, 10 years ago, 15 years ago, 20 years ago. There's some good new ones, and that is a positive thing. So when we get back, we're going to continue with that conversation with Christian Toto. I'm Deborah Flores sitting in for Mandy Connell.

Connell, finishing a great conversation with Christian Toto. Make sure to check him out at Hollywoodintoto.com. Christian, thanks so much for continuing. I appreciate it. Yeah, no problem. Yeah, absolutely. Well, this show I've been talking a lot about courageous women standing up against bullies. And you brought a story to my attention of someone who's doing that. That's Tate McCray pop singer. I have to admit, I'm not hip enough to really know much about Tate McCray. But why don't you tell us what's going on? Because once again, the culture things are just kind of silly at this point in time. It's pretty crazy. Basically, she was being interviewed, and I understand she worked briefly with Morgan Wallen, who's only the biggest country in the world. Yes. And she may have done something else, or something else. Some people think may be coded a certain way or may indicate a certain thing. So they press her on it. And she had an innocuous, I'm not really political comment or something like, you know, look at the things I do or look at the things I say. And she basically got a backpedal and didn't want to go there. And all of a sudden now the media, well, she could be MAGA. She could be hiding her views. Now, mind you, Morgan Wallen is not political. Right. But the media has basically said, well, he isn't political, but. He certainly does certain things and thinks certain things and acts a certain way. He might just be mad at it, too. So it's like this weird kind of connection, but basically it's bullying. It's trying to shame people. Listen, there are a million celebrities who are on the left, and that's their right. They can do whatever they want. Perfectly fine. No problem at all. But if you go the other way, well, there's suspicion. What are they saying? What do they mean? Why did you say this? It is true. transparently bullying 101. And I thought bullying was bad. I thought we were taught that you shouldn't bully. So that's... That's where we are. Yeah, it is. It's interesting because I kind of think she's the new Sydney Sweeney. And, you know, when I was reading the article that you sent, Tate McCrae, pop singer, yeah, she happened to do a duet with Morgan Wall and ended up being her first Billboard Hot 100 songs. So well done, Tate. And she's rumored to be in a relationship with hockey star Jack Hughes, who shocked to the world as a team USA Olympic hockey player who dared to say he was proud to be an American. I mean, I guess that. That's, you know, that's innuendo now at this point in time. But I thought it was interesting when you brought this to my attention, Christian, because I remember sitting in waiting rooms in Hollywood when I was auditioning or I'd be on a set. And everyone around you is saying all of this, you know, extreme left wing kind of stuff. And that's the right. And it started to get to the point where if you didn't shine in, even that was a problem. They would suddenly look at me a certain point in time, go and say to me, you're not saying anything. You're not.

conservative are you? And I'm like, well, I'm so glad you actually asked. But yeah, it's crazy. I'm glad you bring this to attention. You know, I'll give you a last thought on this because I, and by the way, also be sure to tell people where they can read your, your articles and all of that. Yeah, I'm just going to do Hollywood N-I-N-T-T-O, my last name, T-O-T-O dot com. I'm at Blaze, I'm not Daily Wire, I'm not hot air, I'm not just the news, I'm not a lot of different places, but that's my home base. And yet, listen, this is, it's bullying, but it's also a warning sign. Yes. If anybody else wants to have a unique point of view, a different kind of thought, a thought that isn't embraced by 99% of Hollywood, well. You'll be bullied too. This is a shot across the bow. That's what this is. You think like else dot, dot, dot, or else, that's all it is. Yeah, and bullies are actually cowards. All it takes is standing up and then realizing. And I think good on Tate McCrae. She just was like, yeah, I'm not really going to answer that because, you know, my work, my volunteering speaks for itself. And she volunteers for some, some, you know, progressive causes, et cetera. But I find what is interesting is Forbes magazine of all things. Business Magazine had an article about her that said that Tate McCray distances herself from MAGA but doesn't outright deny. And they call Wallin's music Trump coded. I'm like, goodness gracious people, just focus on what you're supposed to do is just business and let Tate focus on making music, which she seems to be doing well at. Yeah, it speaks to the bias. It speaks to the bullying. It speaks to the group think. It speaks to a lot. And by the way, Sidney Sweeney has basically navigated this very difficult path where she doesn't talk about politics. And they've tried to force her into saying certain things either. Say your MAGA and then we're going to trash you or say you, hey, Trump, and then we're going to elevate you. That's what it is. That's what this is all about. It's all about weaponizing people in their beliefs. It's not about freedom. It's not about free speech. It's bullying. Yeah, and we can all just stand up to it. And they will stop, but they find they cannot intimidate you. The worst thing you can do is, you know, jump to the other side. But, you know, let sports be sports. We've got the Sophie Cunningham situation. Let movies just be movies, which is why I think Spider-Man is doing so well. And, you know, and I think it's time, you know, fortune, just focus on business. Let's have these things that are not politicized. Well, we have to head to a break. Thank you, Christian, for joining me. Always enjoy it. Go to Hollywoodin-toto.com. Thank you so much, my friend. Have a great weekend. Thank you. Okay, well, that was my guest. Christian Toad, we're heading to break. When we come back, we will continue. Deborah Flora sitting in for Mandy Connell.

Math out. This show has gone so quickly. Appreciate you're being a part of that conversation. If you missed any of this show, definitely check out. The podcast later had some great interviews with Jen Say, with Aaron Lee, with Christian Toto. And I've got another very moving interview that I'm grateful to have today because yesterday I was talking when I was guest hosting about that phrase, never forget. We say that a lot about something that happened in our history, whether it's 9-11 with the 25th anniversary coming up. or it's something else. Never forget. We say that about the Holocaust. We say that about people. Well, coming up on August 21st is National Fentanyl Prevention and Awareness Day. Well, we've got to make sure we don't forget those who have been lost to this horrible sign of a drug. It's a poison. One drop can kill you. And... We need to remember that even more in Colorado because when many states, most states are seeing fentanyl dropping, the fentanyl death rate dropping. Colorado is one of only five states where fentanyl deaths are actually increasing. In fact, it's gone down a whopping nearly 27% across the country, but fentanyl overdose deaths have climbed in Colorado 17%. That's not okay. It's going in the wrong direction. Well, last night, I was at the Jeff Koch's first event. It was a wonderful event, great organization. And I ran into someone that I'd interviewed a couple of years ago when I had my own regular show. And that's Mickey Sidiwi. And she's a powerful voice speaking out, making sure we don't forget. And she does this as a mom. Last night she gave me this beautiful pen I'm looking at right now to make sure we never forget her daughter, Hannah Elise. And this beautiful pen that I'm holding says, Forever 16, fentanyl poison, Colorado. Mickey, thank you so much for joining me on the air today. I really appreciate it. Thank you, Deborah, for having me. It's an honor and a great pleasure as well. Yes. Well, Mickey, when I saw you last night, I asked how you were doing and you were honest and you said it's actually harder every year. It's not easier. Why don't you tell us about what happened to your beautiful daughter, Hannah, and it was I think almost four years ago. Is that correct? So actually, today is four years and eight months. Okay. I lost Hannah. Okay. Well, tell us what happened four years, eight months ago. So, you know, Hannah had gotten into some trouble, got, you know, straightened out, you know, great kid. I mean, she was so compassionate, loving, you know, protect her over her brother. Wouldn't let kids sit alone. I mean, just an amazing young lady.

Yeah. And she had gone over to a friend's house the night before. And, you know, the next morning she came home at 6 in the morning. And, you know, good morning, beautiful. I love you so very much. And she's, you know, I'll be down in a few minutes to go to school. Well, then I panicked because I was in my car for about 15 minutes. And I ran inside, went upstairs, you know, and flung open her door. And she's just like, Mom, I'm so tired, you know. But, you know, give me just a few more minutes. I'll be down. So I sat in my car for about another half hour, and I was like, I've got to go to work. I did not want to go to work that day. And I was gone about three hours. And they came home, and she had already passed away. Oh, my. I'm so sorry, Mickey. And you talk, Mickey, about how she had taken a Xanax. and did not even know that it was laced with fentanyl? No, no. She had very high anxiety. You know, I did take her to the doctor. I mean, this was during the shutdowns. Yeah. And, you know, I did take her to the doctor, you know, and did everything that I could. Hmm. You know, and I didn't know. And, I mean, her and I had conversations. And she goes, Mom, I would never do fentanyl because I see what it does to people. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Well, and that is the horrific thing about fentanyl. It's in all kinds of manufactured pills. I remember interviewing a mom who her two sons thought they were taking a Percocet. They had no idea. This looked like a Xanax. And I appreciate your sharing that. Tell us a little bit more about your daughter, Hannah, because I think it's important. We remember these aren't numbers. These are individuals. Right. I mean, you know, like I said, Hannah was just, she was just amazing, loving. Her teachers loved her because she was so helpful. You know, the biggest complaint I got is maybe she talked a little too much. People accuse me of that, not surprisingly. And so I would laugh, you know. And they would always, I mean, her teachers were always there for her. You know, they were always around. And because they knew her and just how affectionate she was. And, you know, the biggest thing is not letting a child sit alone. You know, because she saw her brother sit alone. Yeah. And so what she would do is she would go, you know, she saw a kid sitting by themselves. She'd go up to them and bring them with whoever she was hanging around with at the time. Yeah. I mean, she was a social butterfly. Um.

Yeah, and her picture is beautiful. I mean, just a beautiful young woman and this tragedy just 16 years old and forever 16. You know, Mickey, what would you want to say to people because we talk about never forget this coming August 21st National Fentanyl Prevention and Awareness Day? What do you want to say to listeners? You know, my biggest thing is never say not my child. Yeah. Fettonal does not discriminate. Race, color, income, you know, it doesn't. And if it's, you know, if it's from the street. Assume it has fentanyl in it because it's most likely does. I mean, you know, we're not, we're getting worse here. Yeah. And remembering that our children were poisoned, you know, my daughter didn't want to die. You know, she didn't know what she had was what had fentanyl in it. You know, there's no safe amount. And, you know, be proactive. You know, don't wait until you lose a loved one. to be aware and spread awareness and continue to educate yourself. Yeah. Because there's so many things and it's just basically it's the DEA and us moms. Mm-hmm. We're not getting faces out there until we lose another one. And it's hot. heartbreaking. Yes, it is. Heartbreaking every child. Yeah, it is. And these are children. And like you said, I mean, I remember when all this started becoming, you know, to the forefront, our kids were young at the same time. You know, they were in high school during 2020 when, when Hannah was. killed by this poison known as fentanyl and we would tell our kids you can't touch anything you cannot take Tylenol from someone you cannot pick something off the street you cannot take anything from anyone you know I just read that statistic and you shared information as well that while across the country Overdose deaths from fentanyl have dropped nearly 27%. Here in Colorado, it's actually gone up 17%. One of only five states. What does it make you feel like that we need to pay attention to here in Colorado?

Well, so I also want to say to be careful with the word overdose. I feel that overdose is used to numb people. It's an illicit drug. It was brought here to kill us. I mean, let's just be real about it. And there's no safe amount because it's illicit. I still call it poisoning. It is. Even with addiction, I mean, it's nothing that the U.S. has ever seen before. And then I forgot the... Part of your question. No, about Colorado's rate going up 17% people being poisoned by fentanyl compared to it dropping 27% across the country. We are going in the wrong direction. We also have a governor who, honestly, I'm so grateful he's almost out, who would never talk about it. Because if you talk about it, then you have to admit that there's a problem. You know, just being aware, I mean, and we do have a bill coming up in November, and it is to make all possession of felony and mandate treatment for addicts, which that's, I mean, that's what we as parents want. is for those who are suffering from addiction to get help, you know. But, you know, there needs to be accountability because if you're an addict, you're most likely selling it to support your own habit. Yeah, I agree. And we got to. We have to keep talking about it, you know. And I also encourage people to watch Devastated as well. Yes. It's a great documentary. I am in it, and it's on YouTube. And I suggest, you know, parents watch it with their children. It's a harsh reality. Yeah. And just because it's not in the headlines as much as when it first came into being this horrible poisoning by fentanyl, here in Colorado it is up. And I appreciate you're pointing out government policies. We also need to point out the fact that Phil Weiser is the top law enforcement officer here in Colorado. And it's gone up 17% when fentanyl poisoning. has gone down across the country and he's running for governor. We need to make sure this doesn't go away and that people continue to hold others accountable. I'll give you the last word before I let you go, Mickey. Just, you know, again, you know, keep talking, keep learning, keep educating, you know, because there's worse stuff out there now. We've got car fentanyl, 100 times worse, you know, fixing with tranks, which Narcan does not touch. Wow. There is no safe amount. It's the number one killer of 18 to 45 year olds, and it's the number one killer of children. Yeah.

And how we have forgotten. Everybody needs to remember August 21st, every single day we need to remember fentanyl prevention and awareness. But August 21st is the date that it is recognized. Mickey, thank you so much. I appreciate it because I know how hard it must be for you to talk about. Actually, I don't know because I haven't been in your shoes. But thank you for the gift of continuing to share Hannah's story and making sure that. that, you know, the tragedy that happened to her is brought to light so it doesn't happen to others. Thank you for your generosity in that. You know, Deborah, thank you so much as well. And as I tell people, I'm here for anybody that ever wants to reach out. That's great. That's great. Well, God bless you, Mickey. And just know I'm looking at Hannah's beautiful picture. And we'll do what we can to make sure that people remember Hannah and the horrible poison that killed her. So God bless you. You take care of yourself. You too, Deborah. Thank you again. Thank you, Mickey. Well, that was my guest, Mickey Sadie. She is in the documentary, Devastated, and ran into her last night, and I'm looking at this beautiful pen she has of her daughter, Hannah Elise, and it says next to it, Forever 16, because she was, let's just say it, she was murdered by fentanyl. four years, eight months ago. And Mickey talks about her so well, you know, about being this light, joyful person, did not want to die, took what she thought was a Xanax. And it turns out it was laced with it. Here's why it matters. Yes, it matters because every life matters. But it matters also because Colorado, like on so many markers, is going in the wrong direction. We are increasing in crime. We are decreasing in affordability. We're 40 to 50th of states for housing affordability. Our crime is up. Wherever you look at it, we're heading in the wrong direction. And there are consequences for this. When we look at why. Is the rate of fentanyl poisoning going up in Colorado, 17% when the rest of the country is going down 27? Well, part of it is because we are a drug distribution center right here in Colorado. And if you think borders don't matter anyone who was thinking of voting for a DSA candidate who wants to get rid of borders, borders matter. Colorado, the drugs, the crime, all that comes straight up I-25 and straight out I-70. Every time I talk to somebody at Border Patrol, they talk about how we're one of the drug distribution capitals of the world. As we know, there was a bust that happened down in Douglas County. And obviously, Darren Weekly, great sheriff down there and his team found this. They were tipped off and they worked with government agencies. But that's just what they found. A huge millions of fentanyl pills. That's what they found.

all these others they do not find. Why else is this happening in Colorado? Because guess what? What happens under the dome matters. We have this ballot initiative. I'm going to get to that at the end of this. But how did we get here? Let's look at this. In 2019, there was a law. passed under the dome in Denver that made under four grams possessing under four grams of fentany not a felony but a misdemeanor they made it softer on crime now that with fentanyl with four grams that they made a misdemeanor in 2019 four grams fentanyl can kill 2,000 people That is not a policy that works. And if you have compassion for those who are addicted, then you need to make possessing any amount of fentany a crime. And if you're an addict, then you have mandatory treatment. But if you're distributing it, it should be a felony. That's what the prop 85 citizen-led initiative will do. And I encourage you to vote for this ball. Then in 2022, by the way, They passed HB 22 that under 4 grams of fentanyl is now a felony. However, what they put in there is if you know it has fentany and it's a felony. Why is that a problem? It's really hard to prove whether someone knows it has. fentanyl in it because they look like all other kind of pills. The legislature then voted against a measure in 2025 that would have removed that little loophole. And this legislature voted against it. Here's the bottom line. Eight years one party rule in Colorado. Are we heading in the right direction or the wrong direction? Well, I'll tell you just statistically. We're heading in the wrong direction by every single marker. Votes matter. But what I do love about Colorado is that we have the ability to have citizen-led ballot initiatives. I just talked about one that we have to vote for, and that is Prop 85. Vote for Prop 85. It will make even possessing one gram of fentany a felony. If you're an addict, it will be mandatory treatment, and if you're distributing it, it is a felony crime. That is common sense. Common sense. There are other ones we had earlier on the show, Jen Say, talking about a ballot initiative that will protect women and girls' sports. By the way, that's hugely popular. Democrat, Republican, popular across the board. Because honestly, we as Americans understand whether something is just plain, fair, or not. We had a great conversation about that with Jen Say. But, you know, right now, Megan Rapino was in the news or she was on the view, I guess, and then it was on the news. Or she's talking about, oh, that will lead to, you know, basically a violation of the privacy of women because they'll have to, you know, examine a woman's anatomy to see if she's a woman. That is one of the most ironic.

arguments that there could possibly be because first of all how you determine that is simply by a chromosome test but what is happening that is invading girls and women's privacy Girls and women being told that they have to change next to anatomical males in their locker rooms. Come on, people. It's just common sense. Then we had Aaron Leon talking about the ballot initiative that would stop permanent surgeries transitioning children in the name of gender fluidity. Okay, we're talking about children who cannot even decide to get a piercing or a tattoo under the age of 18 without parental cassette, but somehow they're supposed to be able to make these decisions. These are common sense. I am grateful that in Colorado, we have the ability to circumvent a legislature that time after time after time is showing they are not. passing bills or legislation that actually solve the problem. Now, I believe many of these come from a place of compassion. Maybe they are focused simply on the person that is addicted to drugs, so they think, oh, we need to make the penalties less for having it. That is not helping them. Because the next hit they take may have fentanyl in it and it may be their last because that's a poison. Maybe they believe they're being compassionate towards children who are experiencing gender dysphoria. But the reality is we shared statistics earlier about how children, usually when they are left to sorted out themselves by the time they become teenagers if they experience gender dysphoria as a child, 85% to 90% of them outgrow it. But they can't outgrow the long-lasting things that come from transitioning young, including studies that show 12 times more likely to commit suicide. Common sense. You know, the biggest thing that we all need today is common sense. discernment and courage. I love that today's show had a lot of conversation about courage when I was talking to Jen Say about the two young girls, one of them, Anna Lee, who was sitting at the WNBA game in her XXXY shirt and she was holding a sign that just basically was thanking Sophie Cunningham for standing up for girls. She was courageous. And courage is contagious. If we are the ones to speak up, the next thing you know, there's a movement. Whether it's Mickey Sidiwi speaking about her daughter, Hannah, or Rebecca Keesling, who I interviewed, who basically took Congress to Tass because both of her sons died at fentanyl. And she said, this is a war, act like it, do something. Voices of courage.

are the ones that change things. That's why the quote I want to leave you with is the one from Martin Luther King, Jr., who said, life begins to end the moment we were silent on the things that matter. I appreciate you being a part of the conversation. I appreciate these conversations about the things that matter. As we go and do this weekend, let's encourage one another, put courage into one another. That's what the word encourage means. And let's let this be the weekend that we stand up. We speak about things that matter, and we remember those like. Hannah who've been lost. I'm grateful we can do that together because together we can turn this all around. We'll have a wonderful weekend. It's been a joy to be here in the seat with you today. God bless you. I'm Debra Flores sitting in for Mandy Connell.