Penske Rages at ICE Over Home Depot Raid

Live from the Liberty University Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, it's America's conservative blowtorch. Yeah. That's right. I love this American. Todd starts well.

Hello, everybody. Welcome to the Todd Cerns radio program, and hope you are having a great day wherever you are across this great nation. We have got a lot of fun coming your way today, and we're very excited about the official kickoff of the FedEx St. Jude Championship, the big PGA tour in Memphis. And we have some of the world's best golfers hanging out with us on Beatle Street in the barbecue joints.

And of course, at beautiful TPC Southwind, we were originally, I was going to be down there broadcasting today. We had a little connectivity issue, so I had to scoot back to the station.

However, our team is in place, and we're going to be interviewing some very special guests coming up later on in the program, just giving you a little bit of flavor of the great things that are happening in the Mid-South, and especially Memphis. You know, Memphis is in the news all the time for all the bad stuff, but we're going to be checking in with Parker May, who is the Sports director over at KWAM, the radio station Iota Memphis. Parker's been out there, had a chance to interview Scotty Shuffler yesterday, and we'll talk to him about that in just a few moments. I want you to write down our telephone number. You will need this if you plan on calling in today: 901-260-5926.

That's 901-260-5926. Judge Janine. Was back on Fox News last night. She and Laura Ingram sat down together, and it was really a fascinating conversation about the dangers that are lurking in our nation's capital. And the dangers lurking in the nation's capital are really not all that different from the dangers that many of our nation's large cities and medium-sized cities are dealing with.

Of course, we all know what happened in Cincinnati. We follow what's been happening in the deadliest city in America, which happens to be Memphis, and, of course, Washington, D.C. And I want you to listen to Judge Janine last night talking about the problems that they're facing, cut number six. This young kid who worked at the White House was beaten to a pulp. He's got a broken nose.

He's got a severe concussion. He's battered all over his head, okay, by a gang of thunk punks. 10 of them, I believe. Two have been arrested, two 15-year-olds. None of them come to my office, Laura, because they're not considered criminals.

They go to family court where the effort is rehabilitation. The DC council, and the president is right, they've got to stop their coddling. Number one, we've got to lower the age of responsibility to 14. I'm tired of having these kids commit crimes and they're crews, not gangs in D.C. We've got an intern.

You said it and you're open. He's an intern from college. He gets shot going out for McDonald's at 10.30 at night. This kid is trying to help his girlfriend or his friend to a car. He gets assaulted and but for a cop going by, they would have, had they gotten him on the ground, they would have stopped him and finished him.

He was able to stay standing. This has to end. The council has this youth incarceration. Act, where we had a guy who shot a kid on a bus, not justified, with an illegal gun. You know what the sentence was?

Probation, the judge said go to college.

Okay, he took an illegal gun. He should be jailed for the illegal gun. Forget about the shooting. You put that on top of the gun. Then what we've got are kids who are out there who are making fun of all of this, doing carjackings, and I can't touch them because they want to protect them.

They know that, and that's why they travel anymore. They know that. And the older kids send out the younger kids to do the real dirty work because they know they absolutely understand. And youth violence is on the rise, not just in D.C., but across the country. And if you think that these kids need to be coddled and they need to be hugged, they need to have consequences.

They need to understand that enough is enough, that we're going to put them in jail or some kind of youth rehabilitation detention facility and not allow the D.C. council, one of whom I just recently indicted, to take cover for these kids. It's time to end it. That's what the president wants. That's what we're going to do.

Look at what worked in New York City when Giuliani was mayor. He went after the small crime. Which led to reducing big crimes.

So, the quality of life.

So, people defecating in the streets blocks from the Capitol, which I saw the other day. That was lovely. The tents on K Street, the tents under the tunnels over here. I mean, they cleared up some of those out in front of Union Station. But it's horrific.

This is the nation's capital. And all over the United States, we have a similar story told. St. Louis, we've still seen a blight everywhere. They want D.C.

now to be Baltimore.

Well, here's the thing: D.C. is the nation's capital. People come here for pride and patriotism, not to get assaulted, carjacked, or shot, get caught in a crossfire like a young kid did a couple last months. All right, there you go. Look, that was Judge Denine last night on the Laura Ingram show on Fox.

So, look, here's the deal: they're raising holy, you know, what, because crime is off the charts in Washington, D.C. And it was fascinating to find out that 99 people have apparently been murdered so far this year in our nation's capital, which is a terrible number. It is absolutely terrible. But they, and that's why they're talking about federalizing Washington, D.C. They're talking about bringing, just doing a whole massive, really invasion of our nation's capital to deal with the infestation of crime.

I mean, the problem in D.C. is very similar to what's been happening everywhere else in America, where instead of raising kids, and this is just, and again, we're taking race out of this for just a moment, if you will. All right? I want you to hear me. This is not about race, but we have parents that are raising their children to be savages, to behave even worse than animals, because even animals would not do what these savages are doing on the streets to fellow animals.

They wouldn't, unless you're, you know, a tiger eating a puma or something or a, you know, a gazelle.

So That's the problem. And I'm not sure how we're going to fix that problem. But let me say this: as horrible as things are in Washington, D.C. right now, as bad as they are. 99 people killed so far this year, and all hell is breaking loose.

And people are begging for help. They're begging for the federal government to rush in and save the day.

Well, let me give you a comparison here. In Memphis, Tennessee, almost 100%, well, I think as of today, 180 people have been murdered. 99 people have been murdered so far in Washington. In Memphis, 180 people and county. That's not including all the carjackings and the shootings and the robberies and the burglaries and the car thefts.

Doesn't include any of that, just in murders. A hundred and eighty. Where is the help for the rest of us? Or is it only the Republicans and Democrats in Washington, D.C. that deserve to be protected?

I mean, I hear what President Trump said yesterday: that Washington, D.C. ought to be the safest. the the safest city in America.

Okay, well why can't all of our cities be the safest cities in America? Why just Washington, D.C.?

Well, Todd, it's our nation's capital. I don't care. What about where we live? What about the most dangerous cities in America? And by the way, I mean, no offense here, but the Borders are said he was on the way.

That was a couple of months ago. We haven't seen, you know. We haven't seen them. We don't know where they are. All that to say, I appreciate the concern here, but the reality is what's happening in Washington, it's nowhere near as bad as what's happening in other parts of the city.

It's just not. And until we can get a handle on these moms and dads that are just, and a lot of these moms are single moms. They've got kids by, I don't know, seven or eight baby daddies, and it is bad. It is bad. They're churning out babies for checks from the government.

That's ultimately what's going on here. And we got a problem with that.

So I hope they can get it all sorted out. I think that we ought to be sending in I think we ought to be sending in the military into our American cities. That's how bad I think the situation's gotten. But the problem will continue, and it's only going to exacerbate because you've got people out there. that are having babies and they're not raising these kids.

They're just turning them loose. And these kids have no moral, they have no moral center. It's a dangerous situation, a very dangerous situation in the country.

So, look, we'll be tackling that. We have some other things to say about that. Coming up, we're going to be talking to C. Richard Archie, a really great guy. He's going to be a keynote speaker at the Gun Owners of America convention coming up this weekend in Knoxville, Tennessee.

I'll also be one of the keynote speakers, and we're doing a big book siting as well. And looking forward to talking to Richard. His advice: every American citizen. should buy a gun and learn how to use it. And understand the laws of the cities and the states where you go.

So we'll be talking to him a little bit later on. Also, we're expecting Congressman John Rose to drop by, and we're excited to be able to talk to the executive director of the FedEx St. Jude Championship. He'll be coming up in just a little while as well. All right, our telephone number, 901-260-5926.

This is the Todd Stearns Show. A generation of children in El Salvador are lost to malnutrition, and the only way to a better future is through a school feeding program. Join me, Todd Stearns, in saving lives with food for the poor. When you click the Feed Their Future banner at ToddSterns.com, your gift of $100 will provide a child in El Salvador with daily school nutrition for a year. Call 855-353-4673 and make your most generous gift.

The nutrition these children get in school is often their only meal of the day. Food for the Poor School Nutrition Program effectively addresses malnutrition and increases children's school attendance. Your donation will also support. Local farmers who produce the nutritional supplements that are needed to improve children's nutrition in El Salvador. Your gift will allow them to focus on learning rather than worrying about their next meal.

Today, you have the power to feed a child or an entire classroom for a year. Click the blue banner at ToddSterns.com or call 855-353-4673 with a gift of $100 to feed their future. All right, welcome back, everybody. This is the Todd Starns Radio Show, and a bit of breaking news. First of all, We understand the National Guard has been mobilized in Tennessee.

The governor, Bill Lee, mobilizing the National Guard to assist with the mass deportation plan that's coming out of the governor's office. This is great news. Apparently, we have lots of illegals roaming around the volunteer state, and I'm glad to see that we've mobilized the National Guard. We also ought to be mobilizing the National Guard to start arresting all of these thugs. And I like what Judge Janine said, and I'm curious to hear your thoughts on this.

Judge Janine, Judge Janine says that we need to start charging these 13 and 14-year-olds as adults. If they're out there engaging in grown-up people crime, they should be doing grown-up people time. Yeah. And I know there are others out there saying, but Todd, they're just kids and they deserve a second chance. Do they?

I'm sorry, but if you've got a 13-year-old and they're out there, I don't know, say, carjacking people or beating people up or shooting people, do you think you can really rehab that? And I don't know, maybe you can, but it seems to me you should rehab those people in prison for many years. And I'm not sure if you can actually reprogram and rewire these kids. I I don't know. But it's incredibly troubling.

So good on the governor of Tennessee for getting out there and dispatching the National Guard. By the way, have you heard about Pinski? The the moving people, right? They've got the the rental trucks.

So all you people out in California are very familiar because you've been using them to get out of get out of California.

So anyway, Pinski. Is very upset. It turns out that a bunch of federal agents, a good buddy of mine at Fox, Matt Finn, was embedded with ICE and they were staging a raid at a Home Depot. In the West Lake section of Los Angeles. This is brilliant.

And so they had the big. The big yellow moving van and its park there at the Home Depot.

Okay. And all of the illegals, they just, they're so open and blatant about it all. They're out there selling fruit and vegetables and waiting for jobs. It's basically like a refugee camp.

So all of a sudden, the back of the rental truck opens up and out pours all of these federal ICE agents, and they ended up arresting a couple of dozen folks out there. And everybody's upset about this. But the reality is, as the attorney the U.S. attorney said, Hey, look. For those who thought immigration enforcement stopped in Southern California think again.

The enforcement of federal law is not negotiable, and there are no sanctuaries from the reach of the federal government. Good for you.

So the mayor is enraged, and she flat out called the ICE agents un-American, and she called them terrorist.

Now Pinski is getting involved in all of this. And Pensky, taking Condemned the raid, And they said they have a strict policy prohibiting people from being transported in the cargo areas of the trucks. I want to read to you the statement from Pinski's. Pinski strictly prohibits the transportation of people in the cargo area of its vehicles under any circumstances. The company was not made aware that its trucks would be used in today's operation and did not authorize this.

Pinske will reach out to DHS and reinforce its policy to avoid improper use of its vehicles in the future.

Now here's what's ironic about this. Back in 2023. And you could Google this if you doubt what I'm about to share with you. But back in 2023, Pinski's A Pinski van was used. to transport, to smuggle 60 illegal aliens.

They had sixty illegals crammed inside a Pinski's rental truck. And We searched and we haven't seen anything. We haven't seen. One story, one bit of condemnation coming from... Pinsky's about their vehicles being used for human trafficking.

I don't know what to make of that, but a lot of conservatives are now suggesting that we ought to be boycotting Pinski because they are defending human traffickers or at least at the very least, why don't we say this? They're turning a blind eye to human trafficking. And they're attacking our law-abiding, red-blooded, patriotic American heroes known as ICE agents. Unbelievable. Yeah.

So President Trump Just moments ago But I'll put out a statement, and this is exciting news. President Trump says he's instructed his administration to start working on a brand new census. that excludes illegals. The President writing about this on True Social, and I'll read to you the President's statement. I have instructed our Department of Commerce to immediately begin work on a new and highly accurate census based on modern day facts and figures.

and importantly, using the results and information gained from the Presidential election of twenty twenty four. People who are in our country illegally will not be counted in the census. Thank you for your attention to this matter. It's a brilliant idea. Because The United States, they typically do a census about once every decade.

The government last counted residents of the United States and its five territories in 2020. This is coming from Bride Park. The count historically includes foreign born residents of the United States, including lawful permanent residents, students, refugees, asylum seekers. The consequence of the push by Trump to exclude illegals. And just who can vote has already been highlighted as it addresses the left strategy for decades to inflate their power in Congress.

So do you understand? And Stephen Miller last night on Mm. I'm sorry, what uh Stephen Miller last night? On um Uh on Fox. Revealed That Democrats got 20 to 30 House seats.

From counting illegals in the census. This is insanity. Understand what's happening. The Democrats, this is why they've been flooding the borders. with illegals for the past however many years.

They wanted those people in our country. for the census.

So if President Trump is successful here, theoretically, we could look at at least twenty to thirty House seats going back to the Republicans. I love this idea.

Now before we go to break, I've got a quick question for you. You know, a lot of the blue states are now threatening retaliation if Texas goes through with its redistricting plan, which, by the way, has the approval of the Supreme Court. I think. That every red state needs to do the exact same thing and redistrict out every Democrat district they can. 901-260-5926, our telephone number.

That's 901-260-5926. This is the Todd Stern Show. A major retail chain just canceled a massive order, leaving MyPellow with an overstock of classic MyPellows.

Now it's your gain. For a limited time, MyPellow offering their entire classic collection at true wholesale prices. Get a standard MyPellow for just $19.98. Want more? Upgrade to a queen size for only $24.98 or king size for $29.98.

Snag body pillows for $39.98 and versatile multi-use pillows for just $12.98. Visit mypello.com and use promo code STARNS or call 1-800-839-8506 to score these amazing deals. Plus, when your order totals $75 or more, you'll receive $100 in free digital gifts, no strings attached. That's right, premium pillows at unbeatable prices and bonus gifts to. Top it off.

Don't wait. Head to mypello.com or call 800-839-8506 now. And don't forget to use promo code STARNS to grab your standard MyPellow for only $19.98 while supplies last. Chicago, New York, Massachusetts. Democrats have gerrymandered the vote beyond recognition to try to maintain their advantage in the House elections.

On top of that, let's not forget. Democrats rigged the 2020 census. By including illegal aliens. Remember, they sued Donald Trump, they sued the administration, they fought tooth and nail to include illegal aliens in the census. Twenty to thirty of House Democrat seats wouldn't exist but for illegal aliens.

Texas is taking just a small corrective step against this ocean of fraud, this ocean of abuse by the corrupt Democrat Party, Sean. This is just really stunning. President Trump announcing today that he wants a new census done. And I'm excited about this. The headline of the New York Times: Trump demands a new U.S.

Census that excludes illegal immigrants. The census would be a significant departure for a process stipulated by the Constitution to occur every ten years. Historically, the census has counted all U.S. residents regardless of their immigration status, a process that helps determine both the allotment of congressional seats and billions of dollars in federal money sent to the states.

So do you understand how significant this is? As a matter of fact, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, just moments ago with President Trump in Florida, had this to say. Ron, they they include anybody that happens to be in your state. California. California would lose like five seats if they did a fair census.

And even beyond that, the Biden census gypped Florida of at least one seat. We only got one seat in the last census. Are you trying to tell me that Florida only had one seat in that? We should have had at least two. Texas should have had another one.

That could be the difference in the House of Representatives in the majority.

So I would love for them to redo the census for 26. My legislature will redistrict those lines. We'll get it to where it's fair. But as it's right now, this country is not fairly apportioned. I've got so many more millions of people in Florida that have representation because of that flawed census.

Mr. President, I think it's going to do very well. A lot of people, I don't know if you've heard about it, it's like, it's captivated the country. Everybody wants it. It's going to get in.

It's going to pass. And we're going to be... Yes, I'm excited about this, and I hope you are as well, because this could really set the country back on solid footing, at least constitutional footing. You heard Stephen Miller say during his interview with Hannity, At least 20 to 30 seats right now are Democrat seats because of the illegals who were counted. In the census.

So, the question now is: will other states follow suit? You heard Ron DeSantis saying Florida is going to begin the process to redistrict. And, folks, I know this, some people might say it's unseemly, but these are the rules that the Democrats have been playing with for generations. And the Republicans really have to start playing their game. And that means targeting the Democrats.

They've been doing it to us. We've got to do it to them. And I love the idea of going into, say, for example, a red state like Tennessee and targeting the one Democrat congressional district, that would be Memphis of all places, Congressman Steve Cohen. I would love to see the mega majority of Republicans in the state house decide: you know what? Yeah, we're just going to kind of divvy that up again.

Let's take another look at those district lines. See what we can do. I mean, it would be great to have yet another Republican from the volunteer state. In Washington, D.C. Our telephone number at 901-260-5926.

A lot of Republicans, though, are like, well, you know, that's just not who we are. I was, I'll never forget this. I was out. I was out campaigning at an election site or something. I was volunteering, and I was pretty boisterous, you know, trying to get people fired up and.

You know, it's kind of like a pep rally out there. You want people to vote for your folks. And somebody came over and said, Todd. Todd They had their golf they had their golf tournament voice. Todd.

We just don't do that. We don't we don't make fun of the of the Democrats. We're we're Republicans. We're we're above that. Such language and behaviour is just that's beneath us.

I'm like, forget that. That's why we lose. You gotta play the game the Democrats are playing. I mean, it really is that simple. Look, if the Democrats were winning elections by hosting cocktail parties where they serve those little sandwiches, you know, the ones with the the crust cut off, and the cream cheese filling and the cucumbers.

Yeah, I mean, if that won elections, then heck yeah, I'd say, you know, give me some hot tea. But that's not where we are right now. That's not the game that's being played here. And that's one of the reasons why these Republicans across America are losing. California especially.

And we've got to so Hear me on this. And I'm just saying, let's just give it a shot. It can't it can't hurt. But President Trump is coming in and he is fixing what has been broken for decades in our nation. And he deserves the backing and support of every freedom-loving American, every single one of them.

All right, 901-260-5926 is our telephone number. That's 901-260-5926. There's a guy that um Posted a video. You know how these kids these days are? They're posting the videos on TikTok and Instagram.

And this guy's really frustrated. He said that he's doing everything the right way, but he's still having a hard time getting ahead. And I'm curious to hear your thoughts about this fellow's plight. Cut number seven, please. They tell us to stop eating out and rent $2,000 a month.

Oh, save for retirement, and yet you can barely save for next week. Go buy a house Every house is half a million dollars, brother. I'm not asking for a handout, man. We're asking for a frickin' fair shot at life. Our parents did not work harder than we work right now.

They were simply just given a better chance. Their wages covered their lives, their bills, their hobbies, their passions. Our wages barely cover our freaking bills for the month, dude. No amount of budgeting can ever fix a system designed to keep us down. We're doing the best that we can, and yet it feels like the outcome has already been decided.

Mm. How do you respond to somebody like that? Um uh and again, I don't know his complete circumstances. But if you know, I don't think a lot of young people are making a lot of money these days. And this guy clearly frustrated.

And he laid it all out there. I mean, apartment rents, even in medium-sized cities, can be well over $1,000 a month. And if you're paying that kind of money, you're not going to be able to save that much money.

Now It's interesting, there's a new survey out. Where did I see this? Investopedia. There's a new survey out. They said Americans spend nearly four hours a day.

Thinking about money. That's almost that is almost half of a typical work day. Stressing about finances. The survey was conducted by Empower, It reveals that money is a dominant preoccupation, especially for younger generations like Gen Z and millennials. Inflation making ends meet at the top of their concerns.

I don't ever, ever, ever want to be in a situation on this show where we are mocking or belittling. Young people that are out there trying to get their start in life. That's just not right.

So I'm just going to throw this out. And I'm curious, what do you tell young people like this guy you just heard? And he sounds like he's doing all the right things. It's just that it costs a lot of money to live these days.

Now, my recommendation would be this. And, parents, you can tell me if I'm off base here because I don't have kids.

So, my. Advice may be off base, but it seems to me If you are in the mood to buy a home, if you do want to get into, you know, if you want to buy a house, a starter house, Maybe you stay at home. Instead of going out and renting an apartment in a nice luxury part of town or one of these luxury apartment live, work, stay areas, maybe you work out a deal where you can stay at home and you can sock away money. Maybe you have to take a long, hard look at cutting the cord on cable television, or maybe you've got to buy a cheaper cell phone. Do you have a brand new car?

Did you go out and buy a car? Maybe you need to get a cheap car. That will get you around town. You take a lot of vacations. Maybe you got to stop taking those vacations.

Mm-hmm. And I know that's hard for a lot of young people to hear because they think a lot of people think, I don't want to paint with a broad brush, but I think a lot of people believe that when they graduate college, They're going to immediately have the life that their parents had. And the reality is that you have to work many, many years to get to that point.

So you have to start out at a certain point where your parents did.

Now, if you're a parent of a child, you want to leave your child in a position that's better than what you had. But sometimes that's just not possible.

So I'm wondering if maybe part of the answer is kids live at home. You know what? Go to work, get a job, you have boundaries, you have rules, whatever. But stay at home, start saving your money so you can put down that down payment. And you can begin to make a life for yourself.

But I'm curious to hear your thoughts as well. What advice do you give young people that are trying to start out? And you know, they want to start out on the right foot. What kind of advice do you give them? 901-260-5926 is our telephone number.

Again, that number, 901-260-5926. This is the Todd Stern Show. Hello, it is Ryan, and I was on a flight the other day playing one of my favorite social spin slot games on chumbacasino.com. I looked over the person sitting next to me, and you know what they were doing? They were also playing Chumba Casino.

Everybody's loving having fun with it. Chumba Casino is home to hundreds of casino-style games that you can play for free anytime, anywhere.

So sign up now at chumba casino.com to claim your free welcome bonus. That's chumba casino.com and live the chumba life. Sponsored by Chumba Casino. Do purchase this. VGW Group void where prohibited by law 21 plus terms and conditions apply.

All right, welcome back, everybody. Happy to have you with us. Let's go to the phone lines: 901-260-5926. John is listening to us in Jackson, Tennessee, on WTJS.

So, John, I understand you have some kids. What advice do you give them?

Well, I'm a retired educator.

So um They all went, they both went to the school that I was principal at, and my oldest son. He had a thirty-three on his ACT. Had a full ride to college, went one year, decided college wasn't for him. My advice to him was: you're not living here unless you pay bills. Um He decided to join the Air Force, which I was proud to that he did.

He served in the Air Force for about 12 years, I believe. He now has a family, owns his own house. But he chose his road, and I'm proud that he chose the road that he did. have a daughter who also did very well in ACT. She went to college.

She got her degree. She could not find a job in the area that She got her degree in, which was fine. She wanted to move back home, which was fine again, but she's going to pay bills. The advice I gave her was you're going to pay the rent that is the rent around this area, which happened to be about one thousand dollars.

So you pay me one thousand dollars rent, you don't have to worry about food or electricity. I'm not spending your money, I'm putting it in a savings account. And when you decide to move out, that money will be there for you if you want to buy a house or if you get married or whatever it might be. And so she did live with us for several years and built up quite a little nest egg. uh found her a little house and she had her down payment.

So that's the advice I gave them and it's worked out.

So so you made them pay rent, but you you kept that money in what, an an escrow until they they found a house. That's right. Wow. I'm curious how your kids, you know, when they looked back at that experience, what was their take?

Well, my son was not happy at the fact that he was not going to be able to stay in my house rent free just because he decided not to go to college. Which i it's fine. Every college is not for everybody. I used to tell my kids, you know, my students, College is not for everybody, but you can make six figures and not go to college. You know, we need electricians, we need masonry, we need all kinds of folks.

in those fields. Um The education just felt like everybody needed to go to college, and it's not that way. You don't know my demographics from my area. Um, you just you really don't know what you're telling me from your Cathedral, how I should be teaching and training the students that I have, and it just doesn't work that way. I'm glad to see Trump getting rid of the Department of Education and sending it back to the States.

We know our students in our area. Students in New York are not the same as students in Tennessee or California or Utah. They're all different. Students learn differently.

So Um he was not happy with the fact that I was not going to let him live rent free. But he had options, and one of the options was military. And he chose that and he came out a better man. That could probably save his life because I was going to kill him if he saved his life. Fair enough.

Fair enough. John, I love that idea of, again, getting them in the habit of paying. You know, rent like they would pay a mortgage, and then turning that money into a down payment.

So, everything going well after all that? Everything's well. My son's like I said, he's out of the air force. He works for a hospital system over in Arkansas. He has three kids of his own, happily married now for about 10 years, I believe.

Wow. In fact, he bought a house, sold it, and bought another house. Good for you.

My daughter, she has her career back online, and she has her own house.

So, yeah, they're both doing very well. John, what a great story. Thank you for calling in and giving a lot of moms and dads out there something to think about. Let's go to Alicia in North Carolina. Hi, Alicia.

What say you? Hey, how are you doing, Todd? I'm well, thank you. I was talking about them kids. You talking about kids, you don't have none of your own.

Well, I raised two boys. I worked hard, I worked three jobs, two permanent and one side job, just to raise kids and have what I got today. I was taught to work hard and to have what I wanted. It was never given. You know, I think if you told a young person today that they had to work two jobs.

I think they will laugh in your face. I guarantee there would. Wow. Like they're close to work. Mhm.

Alicia, no, I think you're right. That, you know, there is something to say about a hard work, and that's a lot of it. You know, if you've got a job and it's not paying the bills, you've got to go out and get another one. That's right. All right.

We have that all the time. Learn to get out there and work hard. Yeah. It ain't gonna get in a bedroom. That's true.

All right. Alicia, I gotta gotta run, but thank you for that call. 901-260-5926. Real quick, I want to go check in with our good guy, Parker May, over at the St. Jude Championship.

All right, Parker, where are you, and what's the scene like? Yeah, it's a great atmosphere Todd at TPC Southwind. Great crowds on hand, and we're currently in the hub, a great fan area with air conditioning on the 18th Fairway. A great spot to Get a break from the heat here in Memphis and watch these golfers finish their round.

So, yes, the air conditioning is vital. It's like 97 degrees out there already, and you have to wonder how that's going to impact play this afternoon. That's a great point, and I think we're seeing it early on the leaderboard. The guys who played early this morning are having the advantage. The top two guys on the leaderboard started their round before 8 o'clock this morning.

All right, let me ask you: you had a chance yesterday to interview Scotty Scheffler, who is the top-ranked golfer in the world. What'd you ask him, and what did he tell you? Yeah, the main thing we focused on with Scotty Scheffler was his consistency. He's had 13 straight, top 10 finishes this year. And we talked about what's the key to that, and his main focus was the attention to detail in the preparation that he takes and kind of managing his workload.

Off the course with practices, times that he takes to get extra work. And obviously, that'll be a little bit less as he's got three straight weeks of playoff golf. All right, goodness gracious. All right, Parker, we're going to wrap it there. Coming right up after the break, we're going to be coming back to you.

And we've got the executive director of the FedEx St. Jude Championship, and Parker will be along as well. Also, a little bit later on, Congressman John Rose from the great state of Tennessee. He's running for governor. Marcia Blackburn is as well.

So we'll look forward to having a conversation with him. All right, hang tight, everybody. Don't forget ToddSterns.com. Head over there, check out all the great resources we have for you. We'll be right back, everybody.

Live from the Liberty University Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, it's America's favorite gun-totin, Bible-clanging, deplorable America. That's us! That's right. I love this American. Todd Starns.

And hello, everybody. Welcome to the Todd Starns Radio Show, broadcasting border to border, coast to coast, across the fruited plain, right here from our headquarters in beautiful Memphis, Tennessee. Hope you're doing well today, everybody. We have a jam-packed hour of the program. Coming up a little bit later on in the show, Congressman John Rose joins us.

Also, we're going to be talking to one of the keynote speakers at this weekend's Gun Owners of America conference. But we're also celebrating just a phenomenal several days here in Memphis. The FedEx St. Jude Championship underway, and it really is the crown jewel of sporting events, not just in Memphis, but really the Mid-South. And it's one of the best golf tournaments in America.

The level of hospitality, folks, that I experienced earlier today when I was there, it's off the charts.

Well, I want to go right to our special Todd Starn show location. At the FedEx St. Jude Championship, and say hello to the executive director of the championship, Joe Tomek. Joe, great to have you with us today, and congratulations. Thanks, Todd.

I'm sorry I missed you this morning, but we're happy to have you all here. Joe, we had a little connection issue, and so I had to rush back to the station. Otherwise, we might have had dead air.

So I took one for the team, and I wish I but the time I was there, Joe, Just, it blew me away the level of hospitality and the just really the classiness of the whole operation you guys have there.

Well, I appreciate it, but that's all thanks to the 1,600 volunteers that are out here helping us operate and really putting on that southern hospitality that we're known for.

Well, and it's right there on the front of the front gate. There's a huge bamboo that says, Welcome, y'all. And from there, it's just all the food, drink, beverage, and great golfers you can experience. And Joe, I'm just curious. And Parker May, by the way, our K-Wham, K-Wham is our local affiliate there in Memphis.

Parker May, our sports director. And Joe, I'm just curious, what is it that sets the FedEx St. Jude Championship apart from the other tournaments out there?

Well, I think you've hit on hospitality as a really big one. The feedback we get from our fans, our customers, even our players and caddies, everyone treats them so well. And I think we're just so excited for having them here, having this national spotlight, and putting on an amazing Massive event for the city of Memphis. I think people take great pride in that. And so we're happy to have them all here, and we do our best to make sure they have a great experience.

And of course, St. Jude is a big part of this, and it was so exciting. I was walking by one of the planes there, and every year, St. Jude and FedEx honor a patient at the hospital. They get their name emblazoned on an airplane.

Man, it's such an awesome moment. Probably my favorite moment of the week. First is when they actually bring the plane in, that's quite a spectacle. And then that ceremony, which happened yesterday at 11 a.m. That's the 13th year of the Purple Eagle plane celebration.

That is the coming together of FedEx and St. Jude, our most iconic brands here in Memphis. That patient yesterday was Bailey, an absolute adorable little girl. Her grandmother works at FedEx, and so that's the nod: you have a patient who is treated at St. Jude, but has a family member that works for FedEx.

So after that plane gets dedicated in her honor, it actually goes back into rotation and now will fly, deliver packages all over the world with Bailey's name on it for the rest of its life. Joe, one of the other neat things that you guys do, and again, folks, if you haven't been to a golf tournament before, this is the one you need to go to. You're just going to fall in love with not just Memphis, but with Southwind. It's a beautiful experience. But, Joe, one of the things you guys do is that you also celebrate the military, which we're super proud of on this program.

And you guys point out that military members are always welcomed, active duty and retirement. service members. Absolutely. We're really proud to be able to do that. Big River Steel is a great partner of ours right across the river.

And so they've stepped in the last few years. First and foremost, all military can get access to complimentary tickets. Those are all online at FedExChampionship.com. If you haven't gotten yours, they're still plenty available. And then once you're out here, a couple other ways to enjoy it.

First and foremost, the Patriots Outpost is on the 8th Green, awesome hole right next to the silos here, which are pretty iconic at TPC Southwind. Any military member with their military ID can get in there with a guest, get reprieved from the heat, get some water, get some snacks, and a great viewing hole. And then finally, in the fan shop, all military receive a discount when they're in there getting the latest merchant gear from this year. I just think that's pretty awesome. I know that Parker Mays had a chance to interview a number of the golfers there.

And, Joe, I have to imagine that's the exciting thing as well. Literally, the top golfers in America are right here in Memphis, Tennessee, for the weekend. They are. You know, the playoffs for all of PJA Tor golf, the FedEx Cup, all starts right here in Memphis.

So it's a huge moment for us as a city broadcast around the world to over 200 countries to watch. To your point, the best golfers in the world take on a golf course that's been completely redone over the last year. Feedback's been great. Golf has started. I'm excited to see how they do this year.

And Joe, recently this has become a FedEx Cup playoff event three years ago. How have you seen this tournament kind of evolve since then? I think that's the biggest thing is the reach it's had for us.

So not only from a global standpoint of being broadcast around the world, which is huge for us, but the people that come from all over the world to see this tournament because of their favorite golfers. We truly have one of the best fields in professional golf. Last year, based on the PGA Torres strength of field metric, we had the third strongest field, only behind the Players' Championship and the PGA Championship.

So better field than the. Three of the majors, actually.

So, great chance to see all of your favorite players. Yesterday I met a couple from Utah. This morning I met a couple from Sweden. I know there was a little kid out there this morning with a sign that said he came from New Zealand. This truly is our opportunity to showcase Memphis to the world.

I saw that kid with the moment with Justin Thomas from New Zealand. That was really special.

So, kind of building off that, what does success look like to you during a tournament week beyond just ticket sales or attendance? How do you kind of. value success in a great tournament like this? Success is the feedback of the customers. First and foremost, obviously I want to make sure everyone has a healthy and safe experience out here.

There's thousands of spectators, thousands of workers, and if we can get through with very little injury or damage, then I've done my part and so have all of my staff. But the feedback we get post-tournament is crucial to us. And we use our event surveys just like every PJA Tour event does. And it allows us to benchmark against different tournaments on what we're doing better, what we might be able to improve on. And we're really proud of the fact that based on that survey that happens, last year this tournament was actually ranked second out of all PJA Tour tournaments for what is called a net promoter score, ultimately how well we did with our fan satisfaction.

Your fan satisfaction continues. No, go ahead, Parker. Your fan satisfaction continues to grow every single year. How do you kind of, you and your team, balance the fan experience, keep improving while also maintaining the mission of keeping St. Jude the front and center?

Well, they go hand in hand, right? To me, the better we do as an event, the more tickets we sell, the more hospitality we sell, the more hats you buy, the more Pronto Pups you eat, right? All of that goes back to fueling the mission. Last year, we were able to generate $7.6 million for St. Jude throughout just this one week.

That brought our total to over $80 million in our lifelong partnership with St. Jude. About half Half of that, 48% or so, has come in just the last four years since we've really elevated into a bigger event.

So the bigger event this becomes, the more happy people are out here, the more excited they are, the more they're spending. All of that goes back to our partnership with St. Jude. And Joe, I don't know who's responsible for the air conditioning, but God bless those people. It's brilliant.

Yeah, that's a great partnership with United Rentals. How they get this level of equipment and resources out here to keep people cool is beyond me. You know, always really important to say that air conditioning can be accessed for anyone with a general spectator. You've got K-Wham here in the hub, which is on 18 Fairway. Come see him because they're hanging out in some nice air conditioning, tons of fun in here.

Again, open to everyone on property. And, Joe, real quick, before I let you go, of course, this would not be possible without FedEx, and of course, Fred Smith, who just passed and was just a great icon and a great hero for the city of Memphis. And you guys also honored him. It's interesting, he was not a big golfer, from what I understand. He was not.

Our general chairman, Jack Salmons, told him one time that golf was a colossal waste of time, were the exact words he used. But he saw the value in the sport first and foremost from a business perspective. He obviously helped invest in the FedEx Cup, which has revolutionized the PJ Tor. But most importantly, he understood the value of this tournament and its ability to shine a spotlight on Memphis.

So, you know, really sad to have lost Fred earlier a couple months ago. This, we believe, is the biggest event the city has hosted and certainly the largest national spotlight since he has passed.

So we're taking that opportunity to honor Fred. You'll see our players, Caddys, and some of the broadcast personalities wearing special pins that say FWS on them, his initials. And then Saturday is going to be an awesome moment. Every year there's a flyover at 3 p.m. Boeing triple 7 comes flying over about as low as it can go right over the 18th green.

Right before that this year at 259, we'll actually do a moment of silence across the entire golf course. Play will stop in the middle of the round. Give a chance to honor Fred and thank him for all he's done for us and for the sport of golf and for the city of Memphis. And then as the whole property is quiet, you'll see that triple seven coming right over your head. Wow, that's going to be an amazing moment.

Joe, we're going to have to leave it there. We really appreciate your great hospitality. We just wanted to share with our 170 affiliates around the nation this great, great story coming out of Memphis today. And we just appreciate all the great work you guys are doing for golf, for St. Jude, and for Memphis, Tennessee.

Well, we appreciate you guys being out here and happy to chat whenever. All right. Joe Tomek, ladies and gentlemen, vice president, executive director of the FedEx St. Jude Championship. We'll check in with Parker and Dylan.

I think they're grabbing food here momentarily, so we'll get a rundown of that. And again, if you are in the area and if you're in the military, military veterans or active duty, you're going to get a free ticket package. All you have to do is show a valid military ID. And of course, they have that special area called the Patriots Post exclusively. It's a shaded venue exclusively for military guests and a companion.

You're going to get free refreshments and incredible views of the course. That's what it's about here. Memphis is the most philanthropic city in all of America. And we get to put that on show for the next couple of days for the entire nation. All right, we've got to take a quick break here, folks.

901-260-5926. That's 901-260-5926. This is the Todd Stern Show. Uh All right, welcome back, everybody. This is the Todd Starge Radio Show having a little bit of a weird ending of the week here with the golf tournament in town.

You know, we're not a sports talk show, but we do like sports here. And this is an awesome story. As you heard Joe Tomek just a few moments ago tell us, last year they raised $7.6 million for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital here in Memphis. And if you know much about the hospital, you know that the children, nobody ever pays a penny at St.

Jude, right? That's the greatness of this hospital and really this community. And the $7.9 million that was raised just. Unbelievable. Just unbelievable.

I want to bring your attention to a story out of New York City. And I've I've got some disappointing news to share. But if you are a gay homeless person or a Lebanese homeless person. If you are a bisexual, homeless person or a straight homeless person You may have to sleep on a park bench tonight.

However, However, If you are a homeless transgender person, well, you have a brand spanking new home in the Big Apple.

So New York City has just announced a A transgender homeless shelter, and it's exclusively for transgender people and non-gender conforming people. And it's been funded entirely by your tax dollars, a lot of tax dollars, $65 million of your tax money. It's called Aces Place. According to According to the city's Um Health and Human Services Director. New York City has long been a leader in advancing LGBTQ rights and protections, and we're proud to continue that tradition with the opening of the nation's first city-funded shelter dedicated to trans individuals.

It includes a full-time psychiatrist, clinical staff, and social workers. They also have culinary classes, GED classes. That's according to the New York Post. City leaders say the transgender community needs a place exclusively for them because trans rights are under attack. Again, gender nonconforming people would be allowed to use this space as well.

I don't know what that means. What is a gender nonconforming per is that like somebody who, I don't know, is attracted to shrubbery? Is that what we're talking about here? Do they allow azalea bushes? I don't know.

We'll find out. Joanne Areola is one of the city council members here, a Republican, by the way, and she is on the New York City Council. And she's going bonkers crazy over this. And Joanne is like, wait a second. She says every New Yorker should feel safe in the shelter system, but But instead of fixing The system for everybody.

The city is spending $63, $64 million to build a separate facility. Based on gender identity. Joanne, by the way, is going to be with us tonight on the Newsmax show. City leaders say ACES will provide comprehensive services in a trauma-informed setting. What does that mean?

All I know is that we've been trauma informed as taxpayers Because New York City is transing 65 million of our straight tax dollars into Lord knows what. It's the craziest story I've ever heard, ladies and gentlemen.

So, again, I'm sure President Trump is going to have something to say about this. It seems to me this flies in the face of everything that the administration has been trying to do by getting rid of all of these DEI policies and whatnot. 901-260-5926 is our telephone number. That's 901-260-5926. Again, Newsmax.

If you haven't downloaded our Newsmax app, you got to do that. It takes about 30 seconds, and you would have access to all of our great programming, including the Todd Stearns show. Newsmax is also now on the New York Stock Exchange, which is sort of exciting. You can actually buy shares in the fastest-growing cable news channel in America. You can do that by going to NewsmaxInvest.com.

That's NewsmaxInvest.com. 40 million Americans, ladies and gentlemen, 40 million Americans have made the switch to Newsmax. It is remarkable. We are now the fourth highest rated cable news channel, just behind CNN. And I saw some numbers today which were just Phenomenal.

And the reason why is that people want that real news that they can trust. Remember back in the old days when they said, what was the saying? We report, you decide. And that's what we do on Newsmax.

So, anyway, again, newsmaxinvest.com. Get yourself some information on buying shares in, I think, the greatest news channel out there, Newsmax. And be sure to watch us 5 o'clock Eastern tonight. We will have the very latest on all the big stories of the day, including what happened yesterday at Fort Stewart. Caleb Park is coming to us live from.

From Fort Stewart, where five soldiers were shot yesterday. By a fellow soldier. All right, gotta take a quick break here. 901-260-5926. That's 901-260-5926.

This is the Todd Stern Show. All right, welcome back, America. This is the Todd Stardens Radio Show. You know, they're Have you noticed there's been a lot of controversy lately and debate within conservative and Republican circles about the level of support we've been. We should have for the nation of Israel.

And it's really fascinating to see how this is playing out. If you listen to folks like Megan Kelly and Charlie Kirk and others, there is there's been a little bit of a pushback that You know, there are some people on one side, you've got folks that say, well, we should have unconditional support for the nation of Israel, no matter what, even to the detriment of the United States.

Now, I'm not at that point, and I don't think Megan Kelly's at that point either. I think that we have to put American interest first. And in doing so, I don't see how that would. would obstruct Our support for the nation of Israel. They are a cherished ally, our closest ally.

And I don't see that getting any, I don't see that separation happening. But within the The MAGA movement, there, especially among younger Republicans, there is not allegiance to Israel. As a matter of fact, there's animosity. A lot of animosity. And I think that a lot of that.

comes from the fact that the war is still raging. Between Hamas and Israel. By the way, Benjamin Nyahoo, and this is breaking news, breaking news at this hour. Benjamin Netanyahu says there is a thirst for liberation. Among Iranians under the current regime, Netanyahu says that Israel now intends to control all of Gaza.

So That's pouring gasoline onto the fire when it comes to the controversy surrounding exactly the extent of our support for the nation of Israel.

So, Netanyahu is speaking right now, and we'll cover, we'll provide you more details. On that, but I'm just curious: has your level of support for Israel? changed? Is it stronger? Is it not as strong as it used to be?

Do you believe we should cut ties?

Some people believe that we ought to cut ties here. Here's my take on it real quick, and I'm curious to hear your thoughts as well. But it seems to me that Israel should have gone in and And they should have obliterated Hamas. And I think they could have gotten this war. Over and done with in under six months.

But for whatever reasons, and I suspect a lot of those reasons actually came from the United States. Behind closed doors and through other channels, I suspect they were told to ease up and just let this thing linger. And I think that is a problem. Let's get it done. Get it over with.

And you heard President Trump use that similar language not too terribly long ago.

So, our telephone number here: 901-260-5926. Do you believe that America should be re-evaluating its support? For the Nation of Israel, 901-260-5926.

Well, we've been talking all show about the excitement at the FedEx St. Jude Championship over at Southwind, TPC Southwind, and the best golfers in America are there. Our very own Parker May, who is the sports director at the radio station I own, KWAM, has been interviewing a lot of the top golfers. And we're also excited about another major event that has put Memphis on the map and is one of those special football moments. Let's go right back to the FedEx St.

Jude Championship. And say hello to Harold Grader, who is the Associate Executive Director at the AutoZone Liberty Bowl. Harold, they let you in, my friend. They did. They left the back door open and I snuck in, Todd.

Well, I'm don't tell Joe Tomek that. We just had Joe on the show. I saw Joe here earlier. Yeah, he's. Let me tell you, Joe.

Grid friend. They do a great job out here, and it's going to be a special week here in Memphis for St. Jude George's Research Hospital. You know, it really is. Joe was talking about the money we raised last year, $7.9 million.

And this is one of those moments where you get to put Memphis on show. And we need that, honestly, Harold. You and I, I don't want to get into the negative headlines, but we need something like this to bring the city together and show the nation: hey, this is what we can do here in Memphis. Absolutely, Todd, and you go back to the founding of St. Jude.

By the great entertainer Danny Thomas. He was a sports guy as well, in addition to his entertainment career. And he had the philosophy that the two things that can bring people together. Are entertainment and sports. And if you might recall, way back in the day, Mr.

Thomas was one of the co-owners of the Miami Dolphins football team way back when.

So he understood the value. Of entertainment and sports, and especially when it ties into this entity that is now worldwide the best in the world in childhood pediatric cancer research and treatment at St. Jude. Bringing people together for an event like this, also an event like our event at the AutoZone Liberty Bowl football game. St.

Jude is our charity as well. You know whether you have a An R in front of your name, a D in front of your name, an I in front of your name, or nothing. We can all come together to celebrate. Your favorite entertainer, your favorite sports team, events like this, events like ours at the AutoZone Liberty Bowl. It is common ground, and you can rally around all of that.

And then here in Memphis, we're proud at the AutoZone Liberty Bowl to be one of. The shining positive lights for our city. And again, thanks to folks like you and the great Memphis community, we're able to continue on. And this is year 67 for us. Wow.

It's remarkable. And I know that one of the reasons I bought the news radio station in Memphis is we wanted to be able to make radio great again here in the Mid-South and to really focus on what was happening locally. And so here on the national show, it was sort of fun to say, here's what my city is really like. Forget about all the nasty headlines, and there are a lot of them. And we got to deal with that stuff.

But you know what? This is what it's really all about. Absolutely. You know, one of the things we always talk about our community, Todd, and you know this, you're a native, is the great hospitality and the kindness of our city. And sometimes that gets lost with all the other stuff.

But Memphis, as it has been said over the years, if you embrace Memphis, Memphis will embrace you. And I'm a big believer in that. That has certainly been the case for the event that I represent each and every day, the AutoZone Liberty Bowl. And again, so many good things happening in our city. And again, we're proud to be a part of that.

Shine the positive light on Memphis each year at the bowl game.

Now, this season, and I got to tell you, Todd, you know, the college football season starts up in here about three weeks. Not exactly football weather today, but. We can see the start of the season on the horizon and looking ahead to our event this year. Actually, it will be in the new year. We're going to be playing on Friday, January 2nd.

3:30 Central. We'll have teams from the SEC and the Big 12 Conference playing in our game, televised nationally by ESPN. And we take the approach, Todd, that it's more than just a football game. Obviously, there are events that lead up to the game, but when it gets to that three and a half-hour telecast, Yeah, you're showing a football game, but it's an opportunity for three and a half hours for us to shine the positive light on Memphis, what's happening in our city, and share the message of St. Jude.

And again, the positive things that are happening. Basically, it turns into a three and a half hour commercial. And again, that's part of our mission is to share that positive message to the country. And we're proud to be able to do that now for 67 years. And I've got a couple of questions about the Liberty Bowl, and I know Parker, feel free to jump in here.

Parker May, who is our sports director at Radio Station KWAM. You know, when you look at what's happening with NIL, and there's been a lot of conversation, President Trump, the administration stepping in, and maybe they're going to help do some things there. Do you see, you know, where do you see college sports right now? Is there still that excitement, all that enthusiasm, especially when it comes to bowl games? You know, right now, Todd, that hasn't directly impacted us, maybe a little bit, you know, because players have the opportunity to opt out of bowl games.

Obviously, we don't like that. None of us in the bold business like that, but that's all now a part of the new world. know where we headed, yes, NIL. Yes, revenue sharing going to the student athletes. Is there going to be, down the road, will there be collective bargaining?

Will there be salary caps? I mean, just like the pro leagues. Right now, obviously, every day is a new day. But we try to keep in mind that that piece of education, academics, is still there. And yes, the headlines go to the big-name football programs, the big name athletes, but there are thousands.

of college students, college athletes that are going to College and getting a degree. thanks to their ability to play college athletics. And they will go on to other careers. Other than something in sports.

So we try to keep that in mind, that there's a bigger picture here, not to get too jaded. You know, some days it's easier than others because you do have all of those issues swirling about. But certainly, college athletics is going through a major transformation. It's probably not over. And again, you mentioned just the Sports Commission.

uh that the president has has created um What's going to happen from there is: will Congress ever step up and get the antitrust exemption for college athletics? That's a big one, I think, that colleges would like to see happen.

So, you know, it's that intersection of. Academia, athletics, real world politics, and government. It's not over, and we'll just have to hang on and see where the ride takes us. Yeah, and you mentioned Harold. It's a lot of change in cost athletics, and there's changed to Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium now with the renovations.

How excited are y'all to have that as part of the Liberty Bowl? We are. We're all of us are very excited. And for folks who may be somewhat familiar with the football stadium here in Memphis, Going through a $225 million renovation. In the past year, ownership transferred from the city of Memphis to the University of Memphis.

So as a tenant of the stadium, we now have a new landlord. But the $225 million renovation, we're all excited about that. It'll be completed in time for the 2026 season. New suites, new low seating, premium seating, opportunities to drive more revenue and just, again, spruce the place up and create a really, really first-class big-time experience for the fan. And whether you're going to a sporting event, a show at the theater, or a Broadway show, everyone is looking for a first-class experience.

And for the football experience in Memphis, Tennessee, it is going to be a major upgrade. And we're looking forward to that. And that just enhances the experience for our local fans who come to our game and the fans that follow their teams from the SEC and the big. Big 12.

So we're looking forward to that in 2026. All right. This is exciting stuff, and I'm loving what you guys are doing with the Liberty Bowl. It's a first-class bowl game, and it's so exciting to see the fans coming into Memphis from the SEC and the Big 12. And Harold, not only that, you've got the huge parade on Beale Street, and you guys always bring in some fun musical acts for a halftime.

We do, and we're beginning to work on that. We do a big gala the night before the game featuring that entertainment at the Peabody Hotel. Then that act also performs in our halftime extravaganza.

So we're beginning that process.

So a lot happened between now and December. But again, we're excited about the coming football season. And Todd, as we say at the AutoZone Liberty Bowl, we may not win the game, but we're going to win the party, and we invite you to our party. By the way, watch out for Chris Thomas. You know, he's the executive director of the Chamber of Commerce in Millington.

He's driving around dangerously on a golf cart.

So I just want to say that. I have seen our friend Chris whizzing around the golf course today. Thank you for that heads up. Yeah, no problem.

Well, look, Harold, we just want to thank you so much. And again, this show broadcasting on 170 stations around the nation. And we just appreciate the great work that you and the team at the Liberty Bowl do. You make us proud, and we're excited to fill up that stadium next, well, later on this year. Yes, sir.

Thank you, Todd. We appreciate it, and thanks for all you do. All right, Harold Grader.

Now, Parker May, real quick before I let you go. Parker, you and Dylan have an assignment. Um Food.

So you've got to scope out, and when you come back at the next hour, you've got to tell us the best food that you found there at the St. Jude Championship. Can you do that? Absolutely. There's a great food scene.

We'll tell you all about it later. All right, good stuff. Park Hermay, everybody, broadcasting live from our scene at the FedEx St. Jude Championship there. Great setup.

All right, before we go to break, I do want to go to the phone lines. Barry in Fort Myers, Florida is listening to us. And Barry, we appreciate you holding on. You wanted to weigh in on this Israel situation. How important is Israel to?

to the United States of America. Actually, people don't realize how important Israel actually is technology-wise. And also their spy network is amazing, and they feed America tremendous amounts of information in that area. we could always rely on them if we need them. It's always a good place to have, to be able to go to, in a very violent area.

They're the victims here. And I don't know why these young kids, especially this. the college kids.

Sometimes education is not a positive thing because they are being twisted. for to support an absolute disgusting group of people that have been firing missiles into Israel for years and years. And they've the the attack that they had on Israel was unbelievable. And what they've done to these people that they're holding. is is crazy.

I mean, it they burn they burn Babies, they beheaded men, they raped, of course, the women that they took. Uh and kill them. Um a lot uh many of them. I think they're on the wrong side of the humanity on this. Israel is a good guy here.

Israel is probably the most humane nation in the world. They actually tell people before they're going to bomb. I wouldn't do it. I would never allow it if I was in charge of their military. Neither does the United States or any other country in the world, actually.

We blew the heck out of Germany. We blew the heck out of Japan. Civilians. We were killing civilians. Without even a second thought, because if you start a war, people are going to die.

So don't start a war. War is stupid. You start a war, expect there's going to be some problems, but you can't all of a sudden say, wait a second, hold it. You know, I don't want you to hurt anybody anymore after you hurt a lot of your enemies. That's insane.

I don't know where these. Young kids are coming from. Barry, it's a good point you bring up. And again, I think they'd be singing a different tune if there was a barge set up parked right off of Williamsburg in the Brooklyn area where a lot of these hipsters, young kids live, and they were lobbing bombs and missiles at them non-stop for weeks and months on end. I think they would probably feel differently about it because that's exactly what's been happening to Israel.

So you're right. They aren't the victims here. Barry, I got to run. Thank you for holding on. Thank you for listening.

And thank you for those wise words. Hang tight, everybody. I got to take a quick break. We'll be right back. All right.

Welcome back, everybody. Good to have you with us. Hang tight if you're on the phones. We're going to get to your calls at the very start of the next hour. We are also expecting to talk to Congressman John Rose, who has announced that he's going to be running for governor.

Senator Marsha Blackburn just declared yesterday her intentions to run. We're also going to talk to Richard Archie. This weekend, I'll be giving a big keynote address at the Gun Owners of America convention. That's taking place in Knoxville. And if you're going to be there, I would love to meet you.

After the speech, I'm sticking around. We're doing a book signing, so you can come by and say hello. All right, hang tight, everybody. We'll be right back. Live from the Liberty University Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, it's common sense conservative commentary from Todd Starr.

That's right. I love this American ride. And hello, everybody. Welcome to the Todd Stearns Radio Program.

So very happy to have you with us today. A lot going on. Coming up in just a little while, we're going to be talking to Congressman John Rose, who wants to be the next governor of Tennessee. You know, it's interesting. Tennessee has really become the foundation for conservatism in the southern states when you look at what's happening in places like North Carolina and Georgia.

And really, right now, the fight in Texas is over whether or not Texas will be a rock-solid, Republican, reliably Republican state.

So here in Tennessee, we are God-blessed with a mega-majority of Republicans in the state house. And so anyway, we'll be talking to the congressman about that. This weekend, I will be speaking at the Gun Owners Advocacy and Leadership Summit in Knoxville, Tennessee. There are thousands of people expected to attend at the Knoxville Convention Center. Gunowners.org is the website.

That's gunowners.org. As Ron Paul said, they are the only no-compromise gun lobby in Washington. Washington.

Well, my next guest is going to be there, and they're going to have a big display in the convention exhibit hall. He's also a great American patriot, C. Richard Archie with the Tennessee Firearms Association. Richard, good to have you with us on the national show today. It's good to be here.

You know, Richard, first of all, I love these kinds of gatherings. This is the first time I've been invited to speak at a gun gathering.

So I'm excited to be able to meet a lot of our fellow advocates for the Second Amendment.

Well, what you're going to find is that the true American patriots tend to gather. at places like this. you're going to find folks that are going to travel from all over the United States to show up. And what they're there to do is to make sure that we can hold the promise of the Second Amendment for our children and grandchildren down the road.

So this is a great group of people to show up with and share time. And try to understand their specific concerns from the different states. And it's just a, it's a, Committee of Communication basically across the nation.

So I'm looking so forward to having you over there this weekend with us. It's 120,000 square feet of exhibition space. You're going to have the most iconic brands in the shooting sports industry along with a lot of other fun folks. I know my good pal Chris Salcedo from Newsmax is going to be one of the speakers as well.

So it's just really, like you said, it's a time to fellowship, get together, and figure out how we're going to defend this great Second Amendment we've got. That's absolutely true. And you have a number of the premiere YouTube folks like Mark um Smelled. And Tom Greaves, and a number of those folks are gonna be there as well. And I'm trying to kind of build my brand in Tennessee.

And so I'm hoping that I can pick up some hints from them on social media, because these guys have got tens of thousands of followers, and so. This is basically a summit of individuals who have the Second Amendment as the first thing on their mind when they get up in the morning because it is the rock upon which everything else is built for liberty in the United States. Richard, what would you say is the big issue for gun owners in America? What do we need to be concerned about right now?

Well, for the first time in decades and decades, we have hope because President Trump Put out an executive order and told the DOJ that he was expecting for them. to reassert the promise of the Second Amendment. And so what you've got now is a number of states across the board that are trying to picture of that. And so we're looking to coalesce around the central theme that the Second Amendment is, in fact, a preexisting right that belongs to each of us. That was granted to us by God, and it was promised to us by the founders of this great nation.

And so the fear that I have right now is that we're going to have politicians that don't pay attention or want to keep control. of the people. And so that's why we show up at these gatherings so that we can share information and learn from others on how we go forward in keeping the promise alive for our issue down the road. One of the great things I love about you is you're writing, and you've got really a nice substack. Folks, go check it out.

CRichardArchie.substack.com. And Richard, there was a national story that emanated from Jackson, Tennessee, where you had this guy, Austin Drummond, who shot and killed four people, and there was a massive manhunt. And it turned out that he was hiding in the Jackson area. And you guys, I mean, that whole area of Jackson was really under siege. That is correct.

In fact, my son, lives two blocks from where they finally picked him up. This Individual Was armed with an AR-15 pistol with a 60-round magazine, and he had friends. Who were supplying him with water and food. And what he was doing is going from place to place, trying to hide out and stay under the radar. But you can see him on different cameras in people's yards and at churches.

Trying to break in to find a place to lay low while the police were looking for him, and we had a massive. Law enforcement effort out there, and thank God that they were finally able to put hands on him and get him up because. Like I said, this is a guy that killed four people in cold blood. And yet he's walking around the neighborhood with my two granddaughters who are 15 and 16 years old. And it's a pretty scary situation.

The whole point of the matter is, is each of us is our own first responder. With all that massive police presence, they're simply responding to an issue that had happened.

Now Police carry chalk and crime scene tape. because what they're doing is they're coming in after the fact that something's happened, And like I said, we can't do without them, but by the same token, each of us is responsible for providing our own safety and security. The police will come pick up and arrest somebody once they're told that they are lawbreakers. That's what they do. But each of us is responsible for our own safety and security.

You have a column up on Substack. Why is it cops and robbers get to carry AR-15s, but not the people who pay for them? Yeah, in Tennessee right now, it is a crime for any person to carry a firearm for any reason. If you look at our actual statutes that are on our books from 1871, at the end of the Civil War period, and the Jim Crow. Guys were in charge of Tennessee, they simply say it's an offense to carry a firearm or a club.

with the intent to go on. Our permits that we have, the enhanced carry, the concealed carry and the governor's so-called constitutional carry permits, are simply defenses against prosecution of their crime. But from 1796 until now, It has never been taken off of the books when they put the first one on in eighteen oh one, saying it's crime for you to carry a handgun, and then they start laying defenses out, but the crime is still on the books.

Now From 1796 to 1989, it was lawful in Tennessee to carry a long gun. If you remember, My age, I graduated high school in 1971. We kept shotguns and deer rifles in the backlash of our pickup trucks. on school grounds, and nobody thought anything about it. That all changed in 1989 when it became a crime for you to let somebody even see a farm in your vehicle.

And so what we're trying to do is to move the state back to the original construct of the Tennessee Constitution that said the free men of this state have the right to keep and to bear arms for their common defense. Period.

Now, it's a crime for you to do that. And so it is our endeavor, wish, and desire to turn us back to the original construct of that 1796 Constitution. All right. Well, Richard, it's great work you're doing, and we're excited about the work of the Tennessee Firearms Association and also the Gun Owners of America. And looking forward to seeing you there.

And we'll be definitely dropping by to visit you guys at the exhibit hall. And we wish you safe travels to Knoxville. Thank you so much, and I appreciate the opportunity to get online and let people know what we're doing. All right, there you go. C.

Richard Archie, ladies and gentlemen, from the Tennessee Firearms Association. You know, one of the things that, and this happens to all of us, is that you get lulled into this sense of security. You know, the Republicans are in charge of the White House and all of that. I get that. But the reality is the fight goes on, and not every Republican is a supporter of the Second Amendment.

So you've got to fight for the Second Amendment. Let me say this: the reason why is because the Second Amendment protects every other amendment. Without the Second Amendment, the government would be able to run roughshod over our lives. I mean, it really is that simple. All right, got to take a break here, folks.

901-260-5926 is our telephone number. That's 901-260-5926. This is the Todd Stern Show. I'm really disturbed by this story here. The headline from Fox News: Tarantulas are on the move and will swarm during mating season in certain states.

A lot to discuss here, folks. Reading from the piece written by Chloe Quill. Miss Quill, writing that tarantula mating season is here, And if you're in the southwest, you might see hordes of these fist sized spiders marching across the landscape. Yeah. From late summer through fall, Male tarantulas emerge from their burrows.

On a single mission. to find a female mate before they die. According to Cara Shingleton, a biology professor who studies tarantulas at Eastern Michigan University, she says the males have been alive for five to eight years. They have one mating season. and at the end of the mating season they die.

So that's it. You got a long life, so you're. I guess, are the tarantulas, would they be considered? Virgins, I suppose, and Then they Then they mate and they keel over. That means if you see a tarantula out and about between August and October, you're witnessing its grand finale.

The final act in a long hidden life underground. Man, I got the willies. Oh, did I tell you? I'm getting off on a on a side tra a a side a tangent here, if you will. I was getting out of my car the other day.

And I stepped out of the car and I looked down. In the parking lot, And there was a baby snake.

Now, I should have asked. I meant to ask about, I should have taken a photograph, but I was a little freaked out by the fact there was a baby snake. And I was really concerned about Mother Snake. And I didn't.

Somebody's going to ask, Did you find out? Did you see what kind of a snake it was? And I'm like, well, I don't know. I'm not going to go up and ask the snake. And I don't want to I don't know.

Here's my working philosophy when it comes to snakes: they will all kill you.

Now, Todd, the rat snake, I don't care, they'll kill you. But, Todd, the black snake, I don't care, they'll kill you. And by the way, That philosophy has served me quite well. I've never been bitten by a snake. But anyway, I looked down and it had the um It was sort of tan and had diamond like a diamond back shape.

So I'm curious if anybody knows what kind of a snake that is. I'd be curious to know what almost killed me. No, I know it was a baby snake, but I still think they can bite you. Uh Okay. Yeah.

Was it the size of your pinky, Todd? No, it was long. It was like a big shoelace. I mean, that's how long it was. It was I don't know.

I didn't want to bend down there because then it would like latch on and I think the kill shot is when they it like you get bit in the cheek. Yeah, right smack dab in the middle of your cheek. I think it may be, I don't know, but it was tan, and it was. I don't know if it had a rat. I don't think it had a rattle because it's too small.

You know, I think it was just birthed, which is like, Where's Mama Snake? That was my big concern. You don't want to mess with mama snake. No, they're like bears. You know, the bears will come after you.

And I can't ever remember. I gave the instructions yesterday. I don't know if Brown, you what? Stay down. Black you fight back.

White Say your prayers.

So, I'm not sure what the rules are for snakes. I just have one. Get out of there as quickly as possible. But anyway, it was a tan sort of snake with darker splotches, and then it had the diamond shape on its little, tiny, little baby snake back. I think I may have killed it.

Yeah. Anyway. It's one less snake in the world. Back to the tarantulas though. It turns out that male tarantulas emerge only to find a mate when they reach sexual maturity, which is around eight to ten years old.

And then they die. That's terrible. Oh, here we go. Here are the states that you've got to be worried about. And apparently, they swarm.

They call it mass migration. Uh Texas, Arizona, California. Oklahoma, New Mexico, Nevada and Utah. Those are the states Wow, so the Mormons have to deal with this. I don't care who you are.

You come across a tarantula, you're losing your religion. In some areas, the movements are noticeable, are so noticeable that the Colorado Parks and Wildlife website refers to it as a migration. Oh, and the park rangers say they're more scared of you. than you are of them. Yeah, I don't think so.

I don't think so.

Southeastern Colorado hosts an annual tarantula festival. What is wrong with you people? What what?

So, you're intentionally surrounding yourself and exposing yourself to giant spiders? There was a movie a long time ago about that. I can't remember what it was, but the whole town was taken over by spiders. Yeah. Got the Willys.

Um Let's uh Let's go to Patty. Patty, do you know what kind of a snake I nearly stepped on? It's a copperhead. Oh, geez a low. Are you sure about that?

They're bad. They're bad. No, they're bad todd. They're not good. I see them.

I'm in North Carolina. I don't see 'em a lot, but they they usually hide like like like They hide in the wood, but they're very, yeah. If you see a black snake, Believe me, I see black snakes all the time. They kill rats and everything. Black snakes are great.

They will actually kill a copperhead. Do you know that song? Is that right? I didn't know that. Yeah.

Yeah. So you Seeing a giant? Yes, it's copperhead. Wow. So I'm doing some.

I just did a Google search, and you know, everything you see on Google is true, Patty. They say baby copperhead snakes are dangerous. And they can't. If you get bit and plus you you're not I mean, I'm not s listen to me, you're not in the dress of health. You I don't mean it that way, damn you.

Listen, you just go to the hospital. If you get bit by one of them, you go straight to the emergency room. Oh my God. Look, I'll be driving 120 miles an hour down the road. I just wanted to let you know because as soon as you said that.

Because I know the guy next door, Ken, he's a great guy. And he carries I carry two, but he he shoots He had one he had tires. He was getting rid of tires. There was one in his tires. He actually shot one.

Jeezaloo. It was, yeah, you got, yeah.

So if you can use diamond head, and you're yeah, that's a copperhead talk. Patty, thank you for that.

Sorry, the computer's going to cut us off here, Patty. Wow, so I came face to face with death and I had no idea.

Alright, hang tight, everybody. We'll be right back. And welcome back to the Todd Sterns Radio Show. Don't forget 5 o'clock this evening, the Todd Starns Show on Newsmax. We have a jam-packed lineup, and you're going to have a lot of fun tonight.

5 o'clock Eastern on Newsmax.

Well, I want to go to the Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line. Hello to a friend of this program. He currently serves as the congressman from Tennessee's 6th congressional district and now wants to be the next governor of the state of Tennessee, Congressman John Rose. Congressman, hope you're doing well today. Good afternoon, Mr.

Starnes. Thanks for having me on the Todd Starnes Show this afternoon. You know, Congressman Marcia Blackburn, Senator Blackburn, jumping into the race yesterday. You've been in the race for quite a while now, and I'm curious to hear your thoughts on the senator jumping into the fray.

Well, you know, welcome. It's warm water, but it's deep, and we're glad to have hopefully the maybe the The field framed at this point of who's going to be in this election.

So, looking forward to taking our issues to the people and comparing our records and our experience and our capability for doing this job of being the next governor of Tennessee. Congressman, what is it that does separate you from Senator Blackburn?

Well, I think it's experience. You know, the job of being governor of Tennessee is an executive job, it's not a legislative job. And so prior to the last six point five years that I've spent in Congress, I was in the private sector managing a farm and managing small businesses, building businesses from the IDFAs all the way through to success, creating scores of jobs. finding the front side of a paycheck. Figuring out how you solve problems and implement policies and implement a vision and make it a reality as opposed to just passing legislation.

And so I think it is that executive experience. And I think you see from past experience in Tennessee that Tennesseans get that. The last many governors that they have elected have come from a business background and have had that executive experience. And I think that's appropriate because I think that's what the job is here. Congressman, crime has been a major issue.

President Trump talking about federalizing the national or federalizing Washington, D.C., because of the insane crime there. We've seen what's been happening in Cincinnati. As a matter of fact, Vivek Ramaswamy, who is running for governor of Ohio, actually held a town hall in Cincinnati to address the violent crime there. I just had to, and I don't mean this in a happy way, but I did chuckle in an ominous sort of way. When Janine Pirro, last night on Fox, said, Oh, yeah, we've got to do something in DC because we just had 99 homicides for the year.

Congressman, we've had almost 180 in Memphis, Tennessee. Absolutely. And we know that the crime problem in Memphis is. It really overshadows everything. mister Stones, as you know.

And so until we solve that, it's hard to think about the other problems that we're facing. And as I think you would agree, and I think many of your listeners would agree, this is to some degree a self inflicted wound. This is what happens when you don't have effective prosecution in an area and you don't have a backing of the blue in terms of getting the job done. And so we've got to figure out how we remedy that, how we bring surge the resources and assets to make sure we attack that problem. When you have a Soros-funded DA, you're going to have these problems.

We see it all across the country, and unfortunately, it's a problem that's plaguing and visiting Memphis.

So take me through that process. Do you have a plan already in place, or is that something that you're going to work on as far as dealing with the crime epidemic in Memphis?

Well, as you know, I think we've talked about before, I'm a recovering lawyer, so I kind of have that starting point to think about these things. I've thought about the criminal justice system a lot from that perspective. Uh and so I'm also listening to leaders and looking at how this problem has been addressed elsewhere around the country.

So I don't think it's one of those things where you could say you got a plan and that's it, and we're going to go down that path. I have certainly some concrete ideas. about how we do that. We've already seen some, I think, some beginning efforts to augment what's happening there in Shelby County. And so I think we just have to look at those solutions, the ones that have worked elsewhere around the country.

At the end of the day, it's got to mean that we have the law enforcement resources there to confront the problem and then a willingness on the prosecution side to pursue the bad guys. And if we can't do that through the locally elected DA, then we're going to have to figure out another way to do it. And that's just about navigating the political process And the cross currents that exist in that space to make sure that we can pursue crime in the Memphis area. Part of that is a federal solution.

So it's been good to see that The FBI director is aware of that problem, and I think the Justice Department is aware of the problem in Memphis. And so we may see hopefully going to see effective surging of resources in Shelby County and the western area of Tennessee that will be part of the solution. The governor, the current governor, has obviously sent assistance in the form of added state troopers to Shelby County. But at the end of the day, we want a long-term solution, and that means going after the criminals. You've heard the statistic.

I've heard it. It may be just six, seven hundred people that are the main source of the problem. And when you really dig into it and you kind of sort your way down to who are the bad guys it's a manageable problem if you have a willingness to confront it.

Now, Congressman, you previously served as the state's agriculture commissioner, and that has been a passion of yours on Capitol Hill. You have been bulldogging those issues regarding ag, and, of course, celebrating National Farmers' Market Week. And one of the things that I loved moving back to the Mid-South is going to the farmers' markets, not just in Tennessee, but in Arkansas and Mississippi. And I think even with RFK Jr.'s push to make America healthy again, how important is it for farmers in not just Tennessee, but really across the nation, to know the government is staying off of their property and out of their crops?

Well, I mean, that's obviously, farmers are an independent sort, and they like to they like to be able to make the decisions about what happens on their farms and how they pursue the opportunities that are there. Unfortunately, government has a role that they've taken Decades ago. And so we said we definitely have some government interference in the ag space. And so then farmers get have some dependence then upon. upon the government.

We have a cheap food policy in the United States, frankly, since the Depression era. And that makes agriculture tough because the government's going to be sticking its finger into the pie, so to speak. And we have to deal with the repercussions of that. But at the end of the day, and so farmers' markets, you mentioned, are important because they provide a way for farmers to deal directly with customers oftentimes and producers to get their food from direct from the farm to the consumer. And that always is a good outlet and a value added outlet for farmers that can pursue those opportunities.

But at the end of the day, we've got to figure this out from the federal perspective as well because we've got a lot of hungry mouths to feed here in this country and around the world. And so that means opening markets. And that's why I've been very adamant about working with the President and helping him with his global free trade initiatives to get markets open to U. S. products.

We saw during the last administration what happens when you go four years And you don't open any markets for U. S. agricultural products, it's not good for farmers. And that's a big part of the source of Yeah. the pain that we're feeling in Farm Country right now.

Congressman, I'm I'm curious, w would you be would you ever be interested? I know we've got a long time between now and the primaries, but coming to Memphis and maybe holding a town hall with folks on those big issues like crime? Absolutely. I think you'll see us do exactly that and happy to do that, happy to We've been to Memphis now several times, meeting with individuals and listening to the challenges and problems, and that's. It's one of the ways that ways that I've developed keen awareness of the crime issues and the concerns in Memphis.

About crime and other challenges. Obviously, there's some infrastructure challenges in Shelby County as well that need to be addressed. Access to water and wastewater treatment that are and obviously highway and transportation challenges as well that are unique to the Shelby County and the mid-south area there. And so On the Tennessee side. And so we've got including the bridge across the river, obviously, that's hopefully on the way to being salt.

We will be there and happy to participate in those things, and we'll certainly develop some of our own. I'm coming to speak to the Shelby County women. uh next week I believe.

So I'll be down there uh For a couple, maybe two, three days next week.

Well, it's going to be exciting to see you here in the Mid-South, and we're excited about the new bridge. You guys are actually taking up some of my property. My radio towers are right there, so you'll be able to get a good glimpse of them across the new Mississippi River Bridge. Congressman John Rose, we really appreciate you coming on the program. I just have one final question for you.

You are in a pretty safe district. You've done a great job for your constituents. This could be a lifetime seat for you, and yet you're giving all that up and you're deciding to run for governor. And I'm just curious, why? Why do you want to be governor?

Well, I think I'll add to the first part of that by saying I think the framers of the Constitution, the founders, wanted a citizen legislature. And so I'm going to be true to that plan by coming home And I've served I will have served for eight years. I am going to finish the job that I started. I'm going to finish the term that I was elected to.

So I will serve through january third 2027, God willing. But I'm at a point in my life where I think I still have a lot of service to give, and there's an open seat for governor. And I think I am well suited for that. And so I'm going to make the case to the people of Tennessee, listen to the concerns and issues that they have, and apply for the job. And I think at the end of the day, what I have to offer is superior to what my opponent offers.

And I think my job is to convince the people of Tennessee of that and then serve them ably if they choose me. All right. Congressman, we've got to leave it there. Good luck to you out there on the campaign trail. We had Senator Blackburn on the show yesterday.

We're fair and balanced here on the Todd Stearns radio show. But Congressman, we certainly appreciate your time. Thank you, Mr. Starnes. It's a pleasure to represent the people of Tennessee, and I hope that I can earn the vote and support of your listeners.

All right. There you go, ladies and gentlemen. Congressman John Rose wants to be the next governor of Tennessee. He is passionate about American farmers, and I totally respect that. Did you see he threw some shade at Senator Blackburn?

Did you catch that? He said he was going to finish the job. Senator Blackburn catching a little bit of flack because she just got reelected to the Senate. And if, in fact, she is governor, she'll be giving up that seat.

So a little shade thrown there. All right. We've got to take a break. When we come back, we're going right to the FedEx St. Jude Classic.

Our guys, Dylan, Parker, chowing down. We'll find out what the food scene looks like. We'll be right back. Yeah. All right, welcome back to the Todd Stearns Radio Show.

I try not to be Memphis-centric on the show too often, but this weekend is a special weekend, so I am breaking my rule. And I hope you guys are enjoying our fun coverage.

Something we don't normally do, go to a PGA tournament, but we are, and I want to go back to the FedEx St. Jude Championship. Parker is there and Dylan. Dylan, we finally let you out of the studio, which is a shock. Normally, we have you tethered to the control board.

I know, I'm working remotely today. It's amazing. Thanks for letting me out of the cage. You need to get a little sun.

So, Parker, tell us about the food scene, and it sounds like the crowds are picking up. Yeah, the crowds are definitely getting bigger throughout the day, and I'm expecting the same thing as we get further into the tournament up into Championship Sunday. And the food has been spectacular. Me and Dylan both had. Scotty Scheffler's chicken tenders from the Netflix movie Happy Gilmore 2.

They had a stand promoting it. It's one of his quotes from the scene. Saying he wanted some chicken tenders while he was in jail. If you haven't seen the movie, definitely go check it out. Great chicken tenders and fries at that place.

just off the 18th fairway. I saw that coming in. They weren't open yet. And there are lots of. Dylan, I know that you're a chicken tender aficionado.

Yes, they had my name written all over it. And if you were wondering, I got the regular, not any sauced. I didn't get any fancy honey barbecue. I just got the plain Jane regular chicken tenders. And they were great.

So there is a lot of stuff to do. And Tito's, they've got a golf club on the 18th Green as well, where you can enjoy a cold drink and get some great views of the golf action. Guys, that's one thing I was really impressed with and Parker is just how beautiful the newly renovated course looks. It's fantastic and it's The players have said nothing but positive things about it all week long. They thought it's been giving him a challenge, but Akshay Batia has made light of the course with a 62 today.

The new greens have really been the story for me. All the new greens got resurfaced, so 18 greens to look out for. Making it tougher. No golfer has really seen the greens this week. Wow, this is I didn't realize that.

That is going to be interesting as we move forward into the the weekend. I am curious, have you guys been able to see any of the golfers, Jessette? Have they made it to that eighteenth hole? Yeah, a lot of big names are making their way now. Scotty Scheffler started his round about an hour ago.

Crowd favorite Justin Thomas is wrapping up his round right now. He just passed us on the 18th Fairway. By the way, Dylan, just so you know. Um they've got tacos. The barbecue looks great.

Um and uh they've got uh great burgers there too, from what I understand. Oh, I'm definitely going to have to find the burgers because that's the other, as a picky eater, that's the other one that I would probably dig into. The tacos, I don't know. You'll have to convince me a little bit more on those. It's a little warm for tacos.

Yeah, it is. I got the AC running, though. It's pretty nice here. Nice. I ventured into a brisket taco yesterday, and that was fantastic.

Wow. Now, Parker, describe to us where our location is, and Lord willing, I will be out there with you guys tomorrow. Yeah, we are in a great spot inside the hub on the 18th Fairway. A great spot air conditioning. Feel free to come by tomorrow.

All right, so if you guys are there, you'll see all of our imaging branding.

So we'd love for you to drop by and say hello to us. Guys, as we wrap up today's show, I suspect y'all are what's just going to stick around, maybe catch some of the action there. I want to see Scotty. I want to see him play. Because, you know, I've heard he's the best, so you've got to watch the best, right?

This is the week for the best with the top 70 in town. No doubt about it. All right, Parker May, Dylan Dandridge. Guys, be safe, and we'll check back in with you tomorrow live at the FedEx St. Jude Championship.

Here in Memphis, Tennessee. Thanks a lot, guys. All right. Well, folks, tomorrow it is going to be a jam-packed day. Not only are we doing the three-hour radio show, we've got the one-hour Newsmax show, then the six-hour drive to Knoxville, where we're going to hang out with some of the greatest patriots in America.

And by the way, It is true, if you are a pistol-packing American, you are among the greatest American patriots in the country.

So be sure to drop by and say hello wherever you might find us over the next several days. Also, just want to remind you: if you haven't done so, head over to Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Books a Million, wherever you get your books, and get yourself a copy of my latest book. It's called Star Spangled Blessings: Devotions for Patriots. But I've also noticed that the book before that one, Twilight's Last Gleaming, we have seen somewhat of a surge in recent days. People picking up that book and trying to get an understanding of where we are in the country right now and how President Trump is going to get us out of this mess.

And a lot of it depends on us.

So I really want you to read both of those books, and you can get them at your favorite bookstore. You can also get copies, assigned copies rather, at ToddSterns.com. All right, folks, this has been a fun, fun day. We're going to do it all over again tomorrow. Get out there.

Have a great one. You be good, America.