You're not gonna believe this. The ACLJ's new client. A firefighter. Rejected for being homeschooled. Keeping you informed and engaged, now more than ever.
This is Sekulow. We want to hear from you. Share and post your comments or call 1-800-684-3110. And now, your host, Logan Sekulow. Welcome to Sekulow.
We have a packed show today. This is Logan Sekulow. Will Haynes here. Phone lines open: 1-800-68-4-30-110. We got to start this off.
The ACLJ has a new client. You are not going to want to miss this. It's an unbelievable story. about someone who is just trying to get a job doing a service that look, we need more people like Andrew who'll be joining us in the next segment on this show. More people who are ready to step up and do jobs I don't know, like trying to be a Firefighter.
in their local community. And their job, their application. Is rejected for a reason that, likely, a lot of your kids who are listening are your grandkids. Would be rejected for that exact same reason. And I don't want to bury the lead here, okay?
We're going to bring him on. We're going to discuss it all coming up. But this is simply because. Get this. What is his diploma?
His high school diploma? What's it come from? I don't know. A home school program. And for some reason, that has disqualified him.
From being a paid firefighter. Let's not forget that the guy, I don't know, is already. For multiple years. A pay DMT. Passed that service, has been a volunteer firefighter for a number of years.
Went to go apply for the job in the city, rejected it, and we are not gonna stand for this. And this is one of the coolest things about this when you're listening. You know how we found this client? Because one of you tagged me on social media. And said, Logan, I think the ACLJ needs to get involved in this.
And I read up on it and I sent it to our legal team and I said, Absolutely, let's see what we can do. We reached out and now we have him signed. It's one of our clients here at the ACLJ, not only standing up for him, but standing up for homeschoolers across the country. That's right.
So we'll be joined in the next segment by Andrew Coates, who is 22 years old from Nebraska, a really impressive young man who just wants to be a first responder. Nebraska. Remember, this is Nebraska. We're not talking about some state that you think of that may be really, you know, hampering homeschoolers and dumb like that. You're talking about Nebraska.
You wouldn't think this is a problem. But again, it's not a semantics issue. This is an issue where they are still specifically going after him. There are, you know, clips that I've seen of people at this, at the meetings when he's trying to get through saying, well, you know, it's implied. And guess what they did after?
Because the job requirement did not say no homeschoolers or had to be a specifically state accredited school. They went back and changed the language. After. They denied his request. After the deadline.
So not only are we going after them because he clearly was discriminated upon. We are also going to be representing this in a much bigger way to try to protect the rights of homeschoolers. And we can do that with the team here at the ACLJ. Look, we've this is the kind of work we've been doing for forty years. And sometimes these still bubble up, but this one is maybe the most egregious that we've seen in a long time.
Because, again, you cannot be more qualified and you cannot be more targeted. That's right.
And we sent yesterday evening a litigation hold letter to the city of Fremont letting them know they're on notice that a federal litigation can be reasonably anticipated from the American Center for Law and Justice.
So they're on notice. We have an attorney on our way to Nebraska right now as we speak to be there for a city council meeting tonight where they're trying to clean up the mess, so to speak. But it won't be enough. And we'll talk about that as well. But you'll get to hear from the client in the next segment because the only thing that happened here.
Was his parents followed the law when it came to homeschooling their child, and the city decided that's not good enough. We're discriminating against you. Homeschoolers, it's time for you to stand up. Homeschool parents, homeschool grandparents, anyone who feels like their rights are going to be trampled on because of rules like this. We have a petition right now.
Help support Andrew and help support homeschoolers worldwide. Go to aclj.org/slash sign right now and sign that petition. Of course, the ACLJ team couldn't jump into action. Without you. And I mean that in two different ways.
Financially, obviously, because we need our team, I want the best lawyers on this, but also because people like you even kept us aware that this was happening. That is the strength of the ACLJ family, the ACLJ champions. We'll be right back with. Andrew Coates. Welcome back to Sekulow.
This story we have been teasing for the last few days. It is something that came directly, by the way, from one of you. Who tagged me in a social media post and said, Logan, the ACLJ needs to get involved in this. And I saw the story and I said, Absolutely. You're right.
I got with our legal team and said, let's figure out how we can help, if possible, at all. And we are joined by our new client, Andrew Coates. Andrew, Has a wild story. And for anyone who cares about the rights of homeschoolers, and by the way, I'm a homeschooler. Will was a homeschooler.
Uh my children are homeschoolers.
So it hits Pretty close to home when you have these situations where there are people who have spent their lives dedicated, obviously, to service and so many different things, and then they are. specifically targeted because They were homeschooled. or they are home schooling in general. And that brings us. To Andrew.
Andrew, welcome to the show. We have such an interesting story for you to break down because your story doesn't have to do with being a current homeschooler, it has to do. With what happened after when you decided I would like a career, a career that everyone thinks is one of the most noble professions. Yeah. Thank you for having me.
Absolutely.
So let's break that down. How did this story start? Because you've been working successfully, you've been working professionally as an EMT, qualified, trained, and then you've also been have you been volunteering? At the fire department, how did this happen? Yeah.
So I actually volunteer on a town close to me for about two years now. And then I saw the opportunity for Fremont that opened up and I decided I just wanted to take my shot at it. Yeah. And things devolved fairly quickly. Will, you want to?
That's right.
So, in this story, you apply for the job and then get turned down. For a very specific reason, tell our audience what that was and how you found out that you were not going to be hired as a full-time firefighter in the city of Fremont. Yeah, so I said I went to go apply, sent in all my stuff. Um The next I got phone call after the deadline the next day. From the HR director, and she said, My application was being withdrawn.
uh because my high uh my high school diploma was unaccredited. And I Actually, just couldn't believe that for a minute because I graduated under a lawful Nebraska school.
So when she told me that, I was actually kind of shook that that was the reason I was being excluded from the process. And we also will be talking with our attorney to kind of break down some of the legal side of it as well and what we're doing as we are representing Andrew here. But one of the other things here is that it wasn't just the fact that they had something on the books that said homeschoolers cannot apply. They actually. Changed things after the fact to make sure that the regulations backed up what the HR individual said.
So, this wasn't something you could have, in advance, gone and find out. This specifically was discriminatory against you because you were homeschooled. Yeah, I mean, I can't speak to what the intent on the person's heart may have been that day, but it definitely seems like. They're There was an attempt to keep homeschoolers out, especially after changing the job requirements after the closing date of the job. Again, you're someone who is very well qualified for this position beyond this one very nuanced and I would say ridiculous, as Will said, discriminatory rule set.
Because look, we need people like you who are willing to risk their lives in these positions. And I think anyone who has dealt with local fire departments, police forces, anything like that, EMT, is like you, you want people like you who know what they're doing, who are qualifying the situation, can do the physical requirements that are needed.
So the fact that we are disqualifying people because of something like this, like you said, you can't speak to the heart, but it feels like a deeper reason. And look, homeschooling is very important to us. And what it sounds like is that. Respecting and being able to protect homeschoolers, even beyond yourself, seems important to you. Yeah, yeah, it does.
I, you know, I was, you know, obviously homeschooled and I know what that's like, and I had a great time being homeschooled. Uh I just feel like we need to stand up right now, especially if homeschoolers aren't even allowed to work for the city right now.
So it's just, it's kind of crazy to me, honestly. I know, Andrew, this isn't something that you obviously were looking to get involved in. You were just wanting to be a firefighter, something that you had been doing. You'd been doing as a volunteer basis. And by the way, also, you were awarded, you know, Rookie Firefighter of the Year.
You have received praise for your job and the job that you do on a volunteer basis. But now that you're in this, you see, I know homeschoolers, our faith are normally very important to us. There are reasons that we homeschool outside of just we know that we can get a good education that way as well. But now, what does this feel like? Does it feel like something that...
As you take this story to a wider audience, that there is something here that needs to be pointed out to one, ensure that people in Nebraska, where you are, are not discriminated against for the way that they and their parents chose to educate them, as well as maybe even nationally, where this might be happening other places that we need to point out and ensure that laws are applied equally, that people aren't discriminated just because of a legal education that you received and that is recognized by your state. Yeah, no, I I agree. It's just um Yeah, I I think this is this is a fight worth fighting and If it's I mean, if it's recognized by the state, I I don't see what the issue would be.
So I yeah, no, you were definitely right. Andrew, I wanted to jump into sort of the heart of the story here as well, which is you've decided that you wanted this to be your career path. Why is that? Why is being whether it's an EMT or a firefighter? Why was that?
the journey you have been on and why is that important to you? Yeah. Um, so actually, I kind of my I started in law enforcement kind of following my dad's footsteps, and he was like, Don't do law enforcement. He's like, Go, go, try firefighting. And then we actually had a friend at the time that worked for our family business who actually was a Fremont firefighter and still is.
And he was like, hey, you should try firefighting. He just talked to me about the fire service and like really just good things about it.
So he just kind of encouraged me. To go try fire school.
So I did. I went to go Fire One, took Hazmat Ops, really, really just enjoyed the hands-on training experience. And just really, I. In love with the job at that point, so we've just been chasing the job for about two years now, and we've loved every step of the way.
So, I also think it's important to point out: one, we've mentioned that you've been obviously volunteering in that way, you've been doing other, uh, that you're a licensed EMT in the state, but that you're this isn't as though you graduated yesterday and went and applied. Uh, you're you're 22 years old now, you have been out of high school for some period of time. I think, even that, to point people to the that you have life experience, this isn't just um, you know, that they found a way because they were looking for someone with more experience. That's when our legal team looks at this. The deeper we dive into, we see this is what appears, and that's why a litigation hold letter has been sent to the city to be prepared for action because it is on its face.
It appears discriminatory, it seems like it violates the free exercise clause, all of these things that. This isn't that they just found a way to look for someone with more experience. Yeah, I mean, I would I would definitely say I met the minimum requirements of the job. I definitely have some experience in the field that I was looking forward to bringing with me to Fremont Fire, and then I mean, I don't know. I mean, I even meet almost meet kind of the Preferred requirements, which is an associate's degree in fire science, which I graduate.
Uh, hopefully, in the spring, so I'll have that too. That's absolutely wild, Andrew, that they are disqualifying you for your high school diploma, saying that it was not accredited. When you have an associates or about to have an associates, specifically in I didn't even know these were requirements that were necessary. Look, for our audience, and Andrew, I appreciate you popping on and spending time with us today. I know that it's important to you, it's obviously important to us, and we're gonna fight as hard as we can.
Like Will said, there are things that they may try to do to say, Well, okay, we're making up for it. That doesn't necessarily get you the job, that doesn't necessarily move things along properly for you because you were one of the people here who was certainly discriminated on, but We need to also protect homeschoolers in general. And I think when I'm saying this right now to our audience. Is this old school ACLJ work? This is the work that we have been doing for 40 years nearly here at the ACLJ.
It is time to keep standing up for homeschoolers. Again, it's hitting a little closer to home. Right now, all of us who were homeschooled now have school-age children. My children are homeschooled.
Okay, so I understand this firsthand. I don't want them to come out of college or come out of high school and feel like they can't do incredible jobs like what Andrew's trying to do. Just as I'm honestly being someone who is paid to do a service that very few are willing to sacrifice themselves for.
So at this moment, I really want to encourage you to all, one, Pray and pray for Andrew. Pray for the team here at the ACLJ. It is not going to, it sounds like sometimes it can be a ridiculous thing when you hear the facts of this case, the facts of this situation. But the truth is, there are forces at play that certainly don't want this to happen.
So I encourage you all to please stand up and support right now. We're going to have a lot of ways you can do that directly with our teams at aclj.org. But also, again, keep Andrew and his family in your prayers. And really, we're going to fight back hard. This is something that, again, I have to thank.
One of our ACLJ supporters for bringing this to my attention.
So then we could take it from here and do some amazing work. Be a part of that team today, also at aclj.org. We'll be right back with more on Sekulow. Welcome back to Sekulow, continuing this discussion. Look, the ACLJ, when these moments happen, we have to jump on it as fast as possible.
And there are some people maybe panicking. In Nebraska, trying to write this wrong, fix it very quickly. But you know what? Even their suggested writing of the wrong. It's not going to stop us because the discrimination happened, it occurred, and it can continue to happen.
By the way, it specifically happened to our client. And I think we need to restate that because they are trying to. We maybe even saw one of the video packages: people from the city, people from the area saying, Well, we're gonna try to see what we can do. It doesn't change what's already been done. That's right.
And what we're seeing tonight is that the city of Fremont, their city council and their mayor are meeting to try and pass a new policy to change what happened in the past. Even though, remember, The policy before wasn't to exclude homeschoolers. They changed the language after. They rejected our client here. But still, now they're trying to say, look, we got caught.
Let's go ahead and change the policy to make it so that every homeschooler has an equal opportunity as well. What does that not do? It doesn't remedy the situation with our client here. And that's why we have an ACLJ attorney that is on his way to Nebraska right now to be there for that meeting. But it's also why, if they change the policy, that doesn't, it's not the get off the hook card here.
They don't all of a sudden make this go away just by changing the policy. That's why last night. We sent a litigation hold letter to the city of Fremont that basically is saying, you're on notice. Preserve your records. Here are the things you have to be holding on to because you can reasonably expect there's a federal lawsuit coming.
And listen, the ACLJ team will be on this tomorrow. We will have our ACLJ attorney giving you an update on this live on the show.
So again, we will have some form of update coming to you about what is going to go down and what has gone down. We'll give you full updates. I think this is an important one. Look, again, the ACLJ work, sometimes we talk a lot about the UN. We talk about world events.
We talk about war. We talk about, you know, whether it's what's going on in Pakistan, what's going on in all these different places. Those are very important. A lot of times those are very life and death situations that are happening for people on a global scale. But that does not discount at all And actually, should be highlighting more when something like this happens in our country, that our ACLJ team is ready to jump into action.
And again, this only happened, and I know I'm going to reiterate this quite a lot during this. Whole push about this case, because I think it's wild. We would not have known about this. If one of you Who watches? This show.
didn't hear about the story. and tagged me on social media and said, Can the ACLJ get involved? And I found the story, I watched it. I read about it, I sent it immediately to our team and said, What can we do? And here we are representing our new client.
And again, it's at no cost to him because people like you not only stood up and said, hey, you may have not seen this local news story out of Nebraska. Look, we have a large operation. Maybe not seen it, but you should keep your eyes on this. Maybe you can get involved. But you also said, and here's some financial resources.
The ACLJ supporters, the ACLJ champions said, we want to do this to help this 20-something year old guy who just wants to be a firefighter's local community, whose family decided to homeschool him in Nebraska. and is being discriminated because of that.
So we jumped on it. And now, again, the ACLJ team is taking action and taking action aggressively.
Well, and also when you think about the context of everything here, it plays into so many issues that I know that ACLJ members and champions care dearly about. School choice, parental rights, parental choice for their students, for their children. What is the best path for their family, making those decisions? And at the same time, if it's legal in the state to homeschool, but yet there are hurdles that are placed arbitrarily later down the path. That's not really freedom of school choice.
That's not parental choice. That isn't the rights for the family to decide what's best for the family because then they're saying, yeah, go ahead and do your homeschooling. You can't do anything with it. You can't be a firefighter. Even though he's currently enrolled.
In community college, getting his associate's degree in fire science. And it's a paid EMT, which again, Those are, you know. aggressive training. You can't just jump in and be an EMT. You can't just jump in and be a firefighter.
And really, if you could qualify for one, likely, I feel like you're going to be able to qualify for the other, especially if you're physically fit enough to do that job. Which is no easy task. I want to take Bill in Wyoming online. One, Bill, go ahead. Cars, yeah, thanks, uh This is one of the reasons why the perks Yeah.
Champion. Because I got your uh Link to uh sign the petition and I already put my signature on that. And what really upsets me is the fact that um I twenty years ago I lived there in Nebraska for seven years. Yeah. I got to know They would treat this person with a really good idea.
quite uh fairly as far as uh being to qualify for something like that. And uh when I was in college uh uh the uh one of the other co uh local colleges Yeah. But uh condoms. In Uh dormitories for The kids, this is what really is. It's This has been going on for quite some time as far as I can see, and I'm really upset about it.
Yeah, I mean, Bell, this does a a swiping, you know, or a push on Nebraska in general. I think there are a lot of obviously good people in Nebraska. One of them is our client. Andrew, do I think the people of Nebraska see this and feel? No, many homeschool groups are getting behind Andrew and are supportive of what's happening here.
What you're seeing is a creep. A creep of discrimination against people of faith, against people who have decided to take alternative schooling pattern platforms. Again, my kids are one of those kids. Will and I were those kids. who needed different kinds of schooling.
Who parents felt like the traditional educational system wasn't right for them, and whether that's for a religious reason or not. Right?
However, We have seen it, and you can watch.
sort of the nature of the people who are pushing back upon this. There's some real vitriol there. You know what I also love about this for the ACLJ and for the ACLJ members and champions? Many of these attorneys. Including ones that are fighting directly on the behalf of this client, that are some of the best attorneys in the country, dare I say, in the world.
You know where they were educated before uh they went to college and law school? At home. We have homeschooled attorneys that are fighting for this homeschooled firefighter right now. It hits home. That's right.
They're fired up. I can tell you this. They are all very excited about this case in this case. We need it to hit it hits home like. Merch.
It's homeschooling well. I get it. I had to make sure I did understand. Home lines are open for you. 1-800-684-3110.
1-800-684-3110. Maybe there's a homeschooler in your family and you feel like, hey, they may want to have one of these very noble professions, and we're going to make sure we're standing for them. That being said, we have a second half hour coming up on this broadcast. Rick Rinnell is going to be joining us on the second half, and we're going to pivot a little bit to sort of the world of political news, some journalists, some interesting things, a little Jack Smith action. Don't want to miss that.
We are going to move on a little bit from this case. We're going to catch you all back up on this tomorrow when we do have an update of what went down tonight. But again, that doesn't stop anything. We keep rolling because what they're proposing doesn't all of a sudden get Andrew this position. It doesn't all of a sudden fix and right the wrongs that were committed against him.
That's not how our system works here.
So, the ACLJ is jumping into action right now. Our team. Is really, right now we have, again, sent a letter, a litigation hold letter. Just make sure I got the legalese right. Which signals that essentially A lawsuit is coming.
So start preserving your records and holding your evidence because guess what? We're going to take you to court. Be a part of that journey as well. Go to aclj.org slash sign right now. That'll get you not only signing this petition in support of Andrew, it will also get you hooked up to this whole case and all the scenarios that are going to be involving over the next hopefully, you know, days, months, weeks, years.
Who knows how long this is going to take? But we're not going to stop. Be a part of that team today, aclj.org/slash sign. We're going to reset here. Second half hour coming up.
You don't get us on your local station. Find us broadcasting live on aclj.org. Keeping you informed and engaged, now more than ever. This is Sekulow. And now, your host, Logan Secular.
Welcome back, second half hour of the broadcast. Thanks for joining us. By the way, if you ever want to go back and hear old episodes, do whatever you want to do, they're all archived, they're all on YouTube, they're all on rumble, aclj.org. You can find all this great content we produce here every day, not just this show, but everything else at aclj.org, including ways to sign this petition right now. And I encourage you to do that.
Of course, that is specifically about this case out of Nebraska. Andrew Coates, who you saw earlier on the show, kid who, not even a kid, 20-something, wants to be a firefighter and was denied because they said his homeschool diploma was not a sufficient enough high school degree. And I think we should clarify too. He wants to be. A career firefighter.
He's already a firefighter. Yeah, a paid firefighter. Doing the job as a volunteer firefighter, which he's been awarded Rookie Firefighter of the Year for that job that he's done unpaid as a volunteer, as well as licensed EMT in the state.
So that means the state has already put a stamp of approval on this young man for the work he is capable of doing. And yet, the city of Fremont, with individuals, and once again, we'll get to the bottom of it. We'll find with the discovery process as we get to that when a federal lawsuit comes. We'll find out what was really going on here. But the fact of the matter is, it first just said you have to graduate from high school.
That was just the requirement. And then he was told you cannot be, and that it's implied graduating from high school means an accredited high school. There was animus somewhere that they chose to single him out. Changed it. They change their own verbiage after this.
Like Will said, there is something below the surface here that is not just a semantics argument. We're going to find out about it. And I want you to be a part of that again as well as ACLJ.org. We are going to move on a little bit here, Will. In the next segment, we're going to bring Rick Rinnell in.
But if you are on hold to talk about this, I will get to you after Rick.
So don't go anywhere. Stay on hold or give me a call at 1-800-68-430-110. Maybe we need to set this up a little bit of where we went ahead because this is, again, another Jack Smith situation. Again, not a rerun. Still more information to come.
Jack Smith has been testifying this morning before the Senate, but there's new revelations. We've talked about all of the information that Jack Smith was able to obtain against sitting senators, sitting congressmen by obtaining their phone records and the content of their text messages.
Now we're learning. That they subpoenaed text message records. with media companies.
So At the same time, you're seeing all this outrage about the First Amendment, the freedom of the press, because President Trump banned CNN, MS Now and Politico from the White House. Where is the outcry? That that outlets like NBC News CBS News, specifically 60 Minutes, one that you hear a lot about these days. CNN. Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Bloomberg, LA Times, New York Magazine, Reuters, Associated Press, NPR, the Federalist and Washington Times all had records subpoenaed by Jack Smith.
So it appears, and we'll talk to Rick about this, that there's a double standard here. Because I think it's much more of a chilling effect on the freedom of speech and freedom of press when a special counsel that wasn't approved by the Senate, wasn't confirmed in that way, Is using the heavy hand of the Department of Justice and the legal system to go after journalists and get their records? I think that's a lot more scary in the broad scope of things. Than saying, CNN, you can't attend this state dinner, but other media outlets can. We'll get into that with Rick Rennell.
And that being said, again, we have two lines still open for you. 1-800-68-431-10. Don't go anywhere. Rick's going to be joining us. And then I want to hear from another very important voice, yours.
So give me a call, like I said, at 1-800-68-430-110. But let's kick off today really strong. Sign this brand new petition right now. Stand with Andrews, stand with the ACLJ team, and stand with homeschoolers around. the country.
It's home. because it's important to me as a homeschooler. Former homeschool. Red. It hits home to me because my kids are homeschoolers.
And I want them to have the same opportunity as anyone as we know they should. Alternative schooling is the future. We got to protect these students' rights. We'll be right back. Welcome back to Secula.
Rick Rinnell's joining us. Look, when it comes to Jack Smith, it always feels like I always have to reiterate. No, this is not a show from four years ago. This is not a show from six years ago. This is a show that is reacting to what is happening right now on Capitol Hill.
Will give us a little setup and then kick it to Rick. Right. We know that Congress is still continuing oversight of this special counsel, as well as even special counsels in general. The concept of special counsel, which has been criticized the way it's been handled over the past decade, really. But this is an interesting one because I think it ties in perfectly with something else that's been going on as we speak.
And I think it points out the bias that we're seeing in real time. And I would be okay with the media, with their protestations at everything that's going on with barring CNN and Politico from the White House if they were equally as outraged at this story. But they're not. And that's what really gets me here. Because We find out uh that through through Senator Grassley The Jacksmiths team.
Got the communications between nearly 50 journalists and the Trump administration officials. Yeah. This is one that I actually think is. An issue that could chill the freedom of the press when you start to see unconfirmed special counsels. Going after the communications with journalists that are talking with the executive branch.
And it's not just Fox News, it's not just the Daily Wire or the Daily Caller or any group that is more conservative. It's Wall Street Journal, CNN, CBS News, including 60 Minutes, which has gotten so much attention for what they say are editorial decisions that are bad these days. But Rick. I haven't heard a peep about the fact that Jack Smith used subpoena power to go and get these things that are communications between journalists and members of the White House team. Look, I think that's a great analysis.
We have a real problem in Washington with people who aren't really interested in the truth. They're interested in scoring political points. And the Democrats that are just rushing to defend Jack Smith, I just find to be really the height of hypocrisy. This is a guy who his family, he himself has demonstrated over years that he's out to get President Trump. He is the king of Trump derangement syndrome.
I know this personally. You know, we could do a whole show on what he did. At the Hague with the Kosovo court, he really came after Donald Trump because Donald Trump was bringing together Kosovo and Serbia to do a huge deal, which included getting rid of the court that he was employed by at The Hague.
So his job was threatened. He lashed out immediately. He called for the arresting of Hashem Thachi. And I just see it very plainly. This guy is as political as you come.
Fast forward to what he did on President Trump. I mean, it's clear that he had vengeance. He was crazed in his pursuit. Listening and tapping in on journalists. Look, I know I had my own run-in with him as well.
I got hauled into his Washington, D.C. show trial and had to testify in front of a grand jury. Spent a lot of money of my own money to defend myself. But it was clear through the questioning then that he's just a partisan. He's just literally.
Someone who has to get President Trump at all costs, and he therefore was super reckless.
Well, and I think to that point as well. That was the MO of his bosses, of the party that his bosses were a part of, was get President Trump at any cost. And what we see is, what was any cost to them?
Well, it was the Constitution. That was the price they were willing to pay, is just completely trashing the Constitution in order to get to their objective. And that's why I even bring up the CNN and the MS Now and the Politico ban, which is, you see, headlines saying Trump's media ban. Which is a lie, because a media ban would mean everyone is banned. But it was three outlets.
I would get on board and say, you know what, they have the right to uh to protest this. They have the right to say this is egregious. You're picking out certain outlets and saying, even if I may not agree fully with that argument of them. I would say you're allowed to make that argument if. This were just as egregious, actually, more so.
Because one is just, okay, you didn't get press badges to the state dinner because that's really what you wanted. This was your prize, your Super Bowl, of having to sit through. A lot of press briefings as you finally get to go do something cool you can tell your family about. No, that isn't a real danger to the freedom of the press. This is.
This is a special counsel that's not really accountable to anybody that is using the system to go after the very profession that they hold so allegedly sacred. And I mean, it does fire me up. I want them to be as outraged as I am, but I think that's the problem that we see here is that they're blinders, they have bought in so much, and you've seen it throughout the past decade. They've bought into the Trump derangement syndrome that they can't even get beyond that. Because the narrative in their head is that Jack Smith is still the good guy here.
Yeah, look, I think you point out something that's really good: that if they were interested in press freedom, they would immediately be calling out what Jack Smith did. But they're not interested. They're cheering for a team. You got people like Sam Stein, who used to be at the Huffington Post, and he's on Twitter pretending like he's outraged about all these things. But these are players for the other side.
Look, I have a. I I have something that I just want to make very clear about. When we say that you don't get a pass to the White House. Assumed in that relationship is that the person coming in or the outlet coming in is actually interested in journalism. I see this very clearly is that they're not media outlets, they're businesses.
They are businesses that have an audience, that feed the audience. We make a mistake when they don't treat themselves or act like a journalist, and then they expect us to pretend like they are unbiased journalists and they get access. There are plenty of unbiased journalists who have access to exactly what's happening. Transparency is key in this Trump administration. For heaven's sakes, he calls them into the Oval Office and talks to them constantly.
He's an open book.
So the fact that they don't have a reserved seat inside a briefing is not press freedom. At the end of the day, like you said, these are advertisement-driven. Television networks or media outlets. It is they're not only driving for clicks or for likes or for views, they are for advertising dollars.
So I think we do need to keep in mind on that. Obviously, I believe in a free press, I believe that we should have really respected journalists that are out there. And then there are plenty that are within even the ones that are advertiser-driven. But we do need to remind ourselves that it's like even the sort of misnomer, Will, of public media, which was not exactly being funded the way even people when they, when we started the should we be funding public media, it's like we forgot how very little was actually being oddly. My NPR station locally is still on every day.
I hear all things considered at the exact same time, if I so choose to. Yeah, why are you doing that, Will?
Well, I interned there, so I have to, you know, still dance with who I went to the dance as a homeschooler, right? Ties in. But yeah, I mean, Rick, I think that that's just the truth. We always have to look through it from a little bit of a different perspective. As you said, these are people searching for ratings, but it's also people searching for dollars.
Yeah, look, I've always said that as a consumer of news, we have a responsibility. Gone is the day that you get to just open up one publication or listen to one outlet and pretend like you're getting the news. It's all a business now. Everybody has to pay the bills. And so altruistic journalism is dead.
I really believe that. What we have now. Are people who have to make a business and therefore have to have a secure audience? And they have to feed that audience what that audience wants. And there's very little room to educate there.
But as a consumer of news, if we look at multiple outlets, And we go to different sources, then we can decide what we think the truth is. All right, Rick, thanks so much for joining us today. We always appreciate it. We just wanted to divert a little bit and spend a little time on what's happening in the news. I think that's always important.
But when you get back, we are going to be keeping the conversation rolling about that case, a brand new case, our client, Andrew Coates, out of Nebraska. Again, Nebraska. Not where you'd expect to have discrimination against homeschoolers, but again, this is someone who just wants to be a firefighter in his community, a paid firefighter, wants to be a career fireman. It's already an EMT. Getting an associate's degree in fire.
Fire science. Fire science. Which sounds awesome. Unbelievable. I want to study.
I think Will and I may go back to school for fire science. Again, something that. Yeah, it doesn't sound like that's fr it doesn't sound like a real thing, but it's also counselor did not tell me that I should study fire science. All right.
Well. That being said. Was your guy who canceled as a homeschooler? Was your mom?
So, phone lines are open at 1-800-684-3110. She just knew. He was like, I don't need him playing with fire. 1-800-684-3110. We got a few lines open.
I do want to hear from you today, and I want you to stand up and stand with Andrews, stand with homeschoolers. They need it, okay? Get some support behind them. Go to aclj.org slash sign. Be a part of that today.
We'll be right back. The flew by first. Show the d of the week and here we are. No, second show, third show. Are you okay today?
I think as it's a new story, I'm just excited. I am very excited. But we're here at the last segment of the day. That's what I was looking for. It flew by on this sunny Tuesday.
Yeah, I was going to say last segment of the day, and I said, first show of the week. And I sorry, folks, it happens sometimes. Look. Forget I said that. We're not live.
Redo that again. What? I'm sorry. I'm just kidding. All right.
Can we retake that? Uh, no.
Okay. Let's take some calls. That'll be the way to reset it. Let's go to Martin in North Carolina, ACLJ champion. Been holding a little while.
I appreciate it, Martin. We had a lot to cover. Go ahead. Oh, we lost the pie. Yes, sir.
I actually have two statements that I need to make before I give my question. Probably more important. Number one is. Yeah. Uh um There is the story that came across to me and over the weekend, Friday, whatever.
And I was thinking you should be involved with this. And I didn't know for sure, but I also even as a champion didn't know that we could step in and let people let you know about these kind of situations so you can sit through it.
So it's important for people when you hear things that You can go to the ACLJ and at least prick their ears and see if they can get involved. Not to cut you off, I'll go back to you. I think a really easy way to do that is to tag us on social media. If you see a news story or something like this, because that's easier than even sending an email or something like that.
Someone on our social team may see it. I may see it directly. Often I do. And I can go, oh, that's interesting. And then we can even proceed and look a little bit deeper.
Sometimes, look, it happens fairly regularly that people go, ACLJ should get involved. And sometimes I go, okay, well, that's one, they may already have a team. That may not be something that we can do. But there are instances where it does happen. And this is one of those directly.
But okay, go to point two. And then the fact that you have to take this to court now.
So it could set precedents so this can't happen again, which goes into my question. Do not the people that teach in homeschooling, parents or whatever, have to file rules and regulations set by the state. to be able to have an accredited diploma. There are state requirements. It is state to state of what is needed and what is required at Nebraska.
I'm not sure of the details. I think we have them. But look, I mean, I know it because, again, firsthand, I know what I have to submit to the state and what really my wife works on pretty aggressively to submit to the state to make sure we are meeting those requirements. But there's also a slippery slope here because there is a level you don't want them to get involved as well.
Well, and that's why it is at the state level that it is regulated more than at the federal level. We wouldn't want the federal government necessarily stepping in. That's why, also to some degree, in a state like Nebraska, that it was a little bit more surprising. But they did follow Nebraska law. This here, everything about this story is they followed Nebraska law as a homeschool family.
His diploma is a valid high school diploma. He has completed high school. None of that is what the hang-up is here. As a matter of fact, that's why he's studying currently and will soon have an associate's degree in fire science because they followed the law of Nebraska to achieve that high school diploma. The people that are discriminating against that.
Is not the state of Nebraska. It is the city here that has taken issue with that. And now, as we mentioned, they're going to try to fix the regulation tonight. And we will have an update later in the week and maybe tomorrow on that as well. But that won't fix the injustice that happened to our client.
And also, we want to preserve, and not just with the city here, but that's why sometimes you have to go to court and win there too, so that it is the precedent that's set, so that it does protect the rights of other homeschoolers, not necessarily that even want to be firefighters, that may want to be, is it a nurse next that you can't get into a nursing program? Or you do complete a nursing program, like he is a licensed EMT, but we won't hire nurses whose high school. was home school. Where does it go next if you don't stop this? Because it is clear discrimination, not against the individual, even himself, but the fact that he was homeschooled, the choice the parents made, the way they educated their child, who is very successful in his own right, even at this stage, young in his career.
And he wants to make sure that he can continue to be that first responder, that he can have that noble profession of firefighter. We just celebrated the 25th anniversary of 9-11, and all of that goes into thinking about the nobility of the first responders and how much we hold that up in our society. And I think that that is something that can't be lost as well. Yeah, I think so too. This one's an interesting call coming in.
Deborah, and this is precisely some of the problems. If the ACLJ team can't jump in, we won't know, but go ahead. Deborah, North Carolina. Hi you guys I'm so proud of you and the work you do. We homeschooled.
our children and our oldest son graduated with a state issue DED He wanted to go into the to the navy. MV in the nuclear program.
So we took him to see a recruiter. The recruiters say This is a very difficult program to get in. Most people can't pass the test, and we said, okay. Can you take the test anyway? Our son took the test.
out of the water. The recruiter was elated. And when he when the recruiter went to get some more paperwork and came back to us, we saw his countenance was changed. He came in two outside. because you and I Educated with tradition.
no book. You cannot go into this program. And my husband. say are you kidding me this was your test your test says he's qualified But they wouldn't let me in. Thankfully by the science.
Yeah. to the military and he served 10 years in the Navy.
So I am just so grateful that you guys are here for this young man that wants to be a firefighter. And I wish I had known about ACLJ way back then. Absolutely, Deborah. And look, I'm not sure what the current rules and regulations are. But I'm going to have our team look into it.
Because if there's ever a time where we can influence how our nation's military treats homeschoolers, they are being very creative right now.
So, if that somehow is still on the books, I'm going to have our team look into it and see what we can do about it.
So, maybe we can't help your son now because it's been many years, but maybe we can help the future of homeschoolers who want to do something similar.
So, I appreciate you speaking out about this. Look, I feel the exact same way. And again, this is someone who not only passed the flying colors, was rookie of the year, firefighter, again, an AMT already, and just wants a paid position. And when he went to apply, the only problem was. I mean, other than that, what have been sort of the star.
was that his diploma came from essentially his family from being home schooled. And this point, we've got to change things. Alternative schooling is the future. We know this. We've all experienced it first hand.
And if we don't get behind this, we are going to have a nation that is falling short, whether it is from the people who want to stand up and be heroes, like firefighters, first responders, or people who want to serve their country. And again, thank your son for his service, for being able to do that. But of course, we feel like he should have had the opportunities at hand, specifically as someone who was clearly qualified.
Well, and once again, I feel like, as you mentioned, the current Secretary of War probably has a little bit more positive feelings about homeschooling than maybe previous secretaries of war.
So, but that is something we should look into. If it's on the books, tell me you never know. That is something that we can get, you know, pretty quickly, get it to the right people.
So again, my team, hopefully you're watching right now and listening. Get on that. Let's right the wrong that maybe happened for one of our listeners. Could have been decades ago. It was decades ago.
But the AZLJ team is hard at work in this. Look. We're going to have updates for you tomorrow on this.
So I need you right now. Not tomorrow? Not in a week, not when you get an email. Right now, I need you to go to aclj.org and sign that petition. There is no time to waste, because while we are specifically standing up, For Andrew, 22-year-old Nebraska volunteer firefighter, licensed EMT, wants to get a job as fireman, is told no.
We are standing up for homeschoolers. around the country. Which again, that's my family. That's me personally. That's the legal side of the ACLJ often.
Be a part of this ACLJ family today. Sign the petition at aclj.org/slash sign. We'll talk to you tomorrow with a new update.
