Remembering the Great Chuck Norris

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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 us! Wow.

I'm sorry. Love is American. Todd starts. Oh, yeah. In the eyes.

of a ranger. The unsuspecting stranger had better know the truth of wrong from right. Because the eyes of the ranger are upon you. Yeah. When you're Can Texas look behind you?

Cause that's where the Rangers gonna be. And hello, everybody. This is the Todd Stearns Radio Show. And wow, what a shocking news announcement, a breaking news alert earlier today that Chuck Norris, the great Chuck Norris. Had passed away in Hawaii.

Great to have you with us today. And we're going to open up the phone lines. As a matter of fact, Jeff Katz, our good friend from Richmond, Virginia, our terrific affiliate there, is going to be joining us a little bit later on to talk about the incredible life of Chuck Norris and the fact that this guy, 86 years old, just turned 86. What, about a week ago? He was in Hawaii and he was actually doing some mixed martial arts training at the age of 86, posted a video on his Instagram and looked like he was in great shape and in good spirits, but there was some sort of a medical emergency.

And we're not getting a lot of details on what happened. The family, of course, is asking for privacy. But he passed away early this morning, and we'll get to that in just a moment. By the way, Dylan, you know, a lot of people, I mean, your generation is like Chuck Norris was indestructible, right? That was the whole lore of Chuck Norris.

Yeah, and I remember him specifically. There's so many different sayings about like Chuck Norris when he does, you know, when he does a push-up, he pushes the ground down, he doesn't get pushed back up. Like so many, he was an icon to so many of our middle school minds in that time. Chuck Norris doesn't die, he left to beat up the Grim Reaper. Yeah.

Chuck Dorris didn't pass away. He just walked into heaven and told St. Peter, I'll take it from here. I love it.

Someone said Chuck Norris didn't die. Bruce Lee wanted a rematch, and Chuck Norris decided to oblige. Any of you have great Chuck Norris sayings? You have to call in today on the program. By the way, it is Open Line Friday, and our telephone number is 901-260-5926.

That's 901-260-5926. I was texting with Mike Hakabe yesterday, our great ambassador to Israel. And, you know, he and it's interesting because he and Chuck Norris have been longtime friends. And one of the things about Chuck Norris. is that um Is that he was a patriot, and he was like one of these John Wayne sort of guys, you know, for those of us in the in the 80s, of course, with Delta Force.

And I mean, he had the killer mullet. You know, the guy was just like the man's man. Everybody wanted to be like Chuck Norris. Everybody wanted to be Chuck Norris. And by the way, he wasn't one of these like Hollywood squishy dudes.

I mean, he was the man. He was a mixed martial arts champion and just had an incredible career, an incredible athlete. And he was the guy.

So, Mike Huckabee, and I don't know if you guys, if you go back into the time machine, when Mike Huckabee was running for president, this is when he dropped like 100 pounds and was running marathons. And he actually won the Iowa caucus. And it stunned everybody because, you know, folks thought, oh, it's John McCain's, or no, it was Mike Huckabee who won that caucus. And a lot of people say it was because of Chuck Norris.

So Chuck Norris actually cut an ad. A campaign ad for Mike Huckabee. And honestly, this was one of the most brilliant. Political ads I've ever seen, and they actually say this ad is what gave Mike Huckabee the victory in Iowa. Take a listen.

An important policy message from Governor Mike Huckabee. My plan is secure the border. Two words. Chuck. Norris.

Mike Huckabee's a lifelong hunter who'll protect our Second Amendment rights. There's no chin behind Chuck Norris's beard, only another fist. Mike Huckabee wants to put the IRS out of business. When Chuck Norse does a push-up, he isn't lifting himself up. He's pushing the earth down.

Mike's a principled, authentic, conservative. Chuck Norris doesn't endorse. He tells America how it's going to be. I'm Mike Huckabee, and I approve this message.

So did Chuck. Chuck North approved. I love that. You know, we should have gotten Chuck Norris to voice the show opener. That's what we should have done.

I agree.

So, anyway, we're going to be celebrating Chuck Norris today because he was a great American patriot. And by the way, John Wayne was one of his heroes growing up. But this guy was the real deal. He had black belts. And karate taekwondo.

And he was actually encouraged by Steve McQueen to become an actor. Of course Steve McQueen of Bullet fame. And he was taking karate lessons from Chuck Norris, and that's how they got to know each other. And then, of course, Walker Texas Ranger. They redid Walker, Texas Ranger a couple of years ago, and they got some sort of a weirdo.

It was like a weirdo metrosexual Walker, Texas Ranger with issues. They may as well put a woman in the role. But I mean, it was really sort of the, it was the anti-Chuck Norris Walker, Texas Ranger, which is why the show completely bobbed. But anyway, Chuck Norris, man, I mean, the number of movies, everybody remembers Delta Force, that came out in 1986. And then they did a sequel a few years later, Code of Silence, Invasion oh, Invasion USA.

Where Chuck Norris, I think, defeated an entire enemy nation's army by himself. It was amazing. You know, here's another little known fact about the original Walker Texas Ranger. Dylan, it was created by a guy by the name of Al Ruddy. And Al Ruddy was the producer of the Godfather film.

back in the early nineteen seventies in the late sixties, early seventies, Al Ruddy also was responsible for a T V show. And this sounds so absurd, but it was based in a prisoner of war camp. It was a 30-minute comedy. It was a prisoner of war camp called Hogan's Heroes. And it was one of the most popular shows.

And nobody thought it would work, but it was one of the funniest shows. And many of you might remember that. But anyway, I don't want to get too far away here. But Al Ruddy is that and that's the reason why Walker Texas Ranger was so incredibly successful. It was just a great, great program.

And he played Cordell Walker, the U.S. Marine turned Texas Ranger. Unbelievable. It's just hard to imagine that he's already gone. But God bless Chuck Norris and his family.

By the way, he was actually born in Oklahoma, not too far away from the Texas border. His dad was a mechanic and a truck driver, and his mom did odd jobs to help pay the bills. He grew up very poor.

Well, not incredibly poor, but they were a poor family, a working-class family. And he had two brothers. Uh he was the oldest. And he was born Carlos Ray Norris.

So Carlos, and they called him Chuck. He once said I am equal parts Irish and Native American. He was determined, though, to grow up. His dad had a drinking problem. Often the dad was AWOL.

And so Chuck Norris started looking at movie stars like John Wayne and Roy Rogers and Gene Autry. As those male role models. And he wrote in his book that he was determined that one day he would grow up. To be like them. And he really adapted this, what they call it, the code of the West.

Loyalty. friendship and integrity. And that's the kind of character he had. And I mean, what you saw on TV, what you saw on the screen was really. Chuck Norris in real life.

He also served in the Air Force, by the way.

So there you go, Chuck Norris. What a great American patriot. Mm. By the way, he did meet Bruce Lee, but I don't believe they ever. I don't think they fought.

But um Anyway, just a great life and a great career, and he certainly was a great. American Patriot. Oh, I forgot about this. The Chuck Norris karate school actually got got a credit in the movie Dolomite back in 1975. And he also gave private lessons to a lot of Hollywood stars, including, I mentioned Steve McQueen, also Priscilla Presley, and believe it or not, Bob Barker from The Price is Right.

And I guess Bob Barker needed it because sometimes those middle-aged housewives, when they won the showcase showdown, I mean, they go crazy.

So Bob had to put them in their place.

So, anyway, God bless Chuck Norris. We've got a lot going on today, a lot in the news. President Trump making headlines as well. We're going to get to all of that. It is Open Line Friday, a chance for you to really talk about whatever you want to talk about today, everybody.

And that's why we do this also as an homage to our dear friend, Rush Limbaugh. Our telephone number: 901-260-5926. That's 901-260-5926. This is the Todd Stearns show. Hey, everybody, Todd Stearns here, and I've got to tell you about my friends at PhD Weight Loss, my very good friends at PhD Weight Loss.

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That's phdweightloss.com. The phone number, one more time: 864-644-1900 and say STARNS. All right, new polling data coming out of Texas. You know, there's a big, big runoff race in the U.S. Senate primary, the Republican side of the aisle.

You've got Ken Paxton, the Attorney General. You've got the incumbent Senator John Cornham. And President Trump has not endorsed anybody in that race.

So, this new survey information coming from Impact Research. And this is really remarkable.

So keep in mind, John Cornyn has been the incumbent senator. People in Texas. Can't stand this guy.

So, the new polling data, and keep in mind, the runoff is not until May. Here we are in March. Ken Paxton has a 16-point lead over John Cornyn, 53% of the vote to 37% of the vote. And by the way, I am hearing from conservatives and any of our Texas listeners, you can verify this information or you can say it's a load of hooey. But what we are hearing from many, many conservatives in Texas, they don't want if Trump is going to, if Trump is leaning towards endorsing John Cornyn, they're asking the president just to stay out of it.

Just stay out of it. Don't endorse anybody and let the voters decide.

Now on the other hand, if the President is coming out and saying, you know what, I think I'm just going to go in and throw in for Ken Paxton, well, everybody's okay with that. But there's a lot of concern here that President Trump might step in and try to save John Cornyn. Look, if you're the incumbent senator and you're trailing by sixteen points, Against the Attorney General. It's over. It is over.

And again, I would not be surprised somewhere along the line that Cornyn, I mean, if these polling, if there are more polls that are coming out. And these numbers are very similar across the board. I wouldn't be surprised if Cornyn, for the good of the country and for the good of the Lone Star State, decides to pull out. But then again, he may try to tough it out. You know, he spent most of his money Nearly getting beat.

in the in the primary race.

So, 901-260-5926, that's the latest from Texas. That's 901-260-5926. Let's start Open Line Friday in Ella J, Georgia. Our good buddy Joe from Ella. Joe, what's going on?

Well, Tom, you have a great show. I'm down here in Seattle and you got a lot of friends down here that Like you, and I'm amazed I go around talking to people. I've sort of done an informal poll. And ev about ninety five percent of the people I'm talking to down here at Seala. support Trump and his Iran going after and saving Iran.

Of course, they love what they think Cuba's going to fall to.

So and Venezuela is already in our camp.

So I tell you what, I think Trump is just so popular down here. I think he could run for mayor of Sea Island and get elected. But Todd, you do a great job, and I know you and I hope Paxon by the way, I th I hope Paxon wins in Texas. I've talked to a lot of Texas people here at Sea Island and about Eighty-five percent of them. Important Paxon, I think, Cornin.

I think we need to move on and get rid of these career politicians. And elite new people because Corna's been there so long. We need new leadership, new blood. But anyway, I know you got a lot of other callers. You keep up the great work.

Proud of you. We need more people like the great Todd Starnes.

Well, Joe, it's always fun to have you call in, and especially from Seat Isle. You always seem to be in a much better mood when you're in Seat Isle. Ha ha. But, Dr. Todd, there are a lot of fine people like you here that are friendly and outgoing.

So, it's not hard to be in a a good mood to see.

Well, there you go. All right, Joe, good hearing from you, my friend. Enjoy the weekend. Let's go to Beaufort, Texas. Mike is on the line.

Mike, hello. What's on your mind today? Hey there. I'd just like to talk about the sad death of Chuck Norris. everything that he's done for America As As a person.

And I'm here with my son. He's a big fan of Utah. And he just doesn't really get. The hot behind Chuck Norris.

So I was wondering if. Calm down, son. Calm down. Calm down. Fuck him up.

Oh dear. Did we? Yes.

So a little too excited there, I do believe. But anyway, we do love Chuck Norris here on this radio program. Dylan, were we able to excise that demon? Yes, we did. He is very good.

He's gone. Very good. All right. 901-260-5926 is our telephone number.

So coming up, by the way, we've got a story from ESPN. ESPN has a big problem with patriotism. Also, New York Yankees broadcast announcer Michael Kaye, they've got a big problem with patriotism as well. We're going to get into that story. Also, want to give you an update on the situation involving our good friend, the Arkansas Governor, Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

And uh she was at a restaurant in the Little Rock area. And was kicked out by the owners because the gay weight staff was triggered and said they felt threatened and unsafe by the presence of a Republican woman.

Well, now we understand that the cafe known as the Cross Onteria, the Cross Onteria, is defending their decision to force Sarah Sanders. out of the cafe. Unbelievable. So, ladies and gentlemen, we actually tried. I reached out yesterday to the cafe.

I called them five times and finally got through, only to get a voicemail, but the voicemail was full.

So, there's no way to contact, they're not answering the phones now. But they're doubling down, and they're saying conservatives are not welcome at their establishment. And I say, okay, no, no problem with that. Personally, I would much rather eat at a restaurant that serves biscuits than croissants. To be perfectly honest with you, Southern hospitality always trumps whatever the French are doing.

No, I don't know.

Somebody asked: are the owners lesbians? That reporting is out there, but I cannot verify that. We'll try to see if there's like a Google, you know, they do the Google maps. We'll see if there are any Subaroos in the parking lot. That might be a clue.

All right, got to take a break. 901-260-5926. This is the Todd Stern Show. Has the news been getting you down? I'm Megan McArdle, and I'm here to help.

I'm the host of a news show from Washington Post Opinion called Reasonably Optimistic. and it's an antidote to the pessimism that's riddling America right now. Every Wednesday, I'm going to talk to people who see a path forward. It does seem to me that there is some awakening of a desire to act together, to solve problems where they are. No, I am a believer in America, and it's worth fighting for.

Join me Wednesdays on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. All right, welcome back, everybody. It is the Todd Starns Radio Show. What an honor to have you with us today. Our telephone number, 901-260-5926.

I do want to go to the phone lines real quick. Stephen in Moorhead City, North Carolina. Wants to weigh in on Chuck Norris. Hey, Steven, what you got for us? Hi, Todd.

From one district we'll go American to another. I still pass that book around. That is a wonderful book that you write.

Well, thank you for that. Thank you. It has turned a lot of people onto the program. And it's made people pathetic.

So as you said, thank you for that. As far as Chuck Norris, I see an absolute parallel. You mentioned Um His influences. John Lynn, Bruce Lee. And on and on.

Think about this, it occurred to me. You look at Are present And you look at Chapman Ors, doesn't it occur to you that they're exactly the same as far as the type of character? and patriotism. And they're both tough guys. You know, I I mean, I I see that now that you mention it, I do sort of see the comparisons between the two because a lot of folks think that, you know, Donald J.

Trump, too, is sort of indestructible. Everybody kind of thought Chuck Norris is going to live on forever. Right. Where Donald Trump is he's getting on up there. And I did hear, and I hope you can explain to them this.

Did they or did they not meet? I seem to remember that Chuck Norris did meet with the President. Not when he was pregnant though. I don't think. That is true.

Yeah, no, no, no, no, no. They did meet publicly at least, I think there was a rally in Texas. This would have been back in 2016 that Norris and his wife actually met. But they also met many, many years before that as well. And I think it was at some sort of a mixed martial arts event.

So, you know, I think you're right there. All right, Stephen, thank you for that call. I want to go right away to the Patriot Mobile newsmaker line. Our good friend, he is the host of the number one talk radio show in Richmond, Virginia, WRVA, our good buddy Jeff Katz, which also happens to be the home of the Todd Stern Show on the weekends. Mr.

Katz, good to have you with us today. It is wonderful to hear your voice, Brother Starnes. Then again, it's always wonderful to hear your voice. As soon as I got the news this morning, I was like, we got to get cats on the show to talk about this because Chuck Norris is just one of these iconic. You know, heroes for a lot of people, and especially a lot of conservatives out there, and a lot of young men, especially.

Well, he personified what an American man was supposed to be, right? He was an up by the bootstrap sort of a guy. He worked hard. He achieved greatness, talented in so many areas and strong. I mean, a real honest to goodness, strong guy.

And the message that you probably got that I know I got was you have to be able to fight. You have to be ready to fight. You don't want to, but don't ever back away from something.

Somebody else starts it, you finish it. And I think it's a lesson that Chuck Norris shared with us. And just like your previous scholar was saying, I mean, this is what President Trump has embraced as well. It's American exceptionalism and American strength. That's it.

As a matter of fact, Dylan, do we have those Chuck Norris? Here are some of the fun Chuck Norris facts. Let's take a listen. You know, they say Chuck Norris is so tough, there's no chin under his beard. There is only another fist.

That's ridiculous. Chuck Norris. I heard another rumor that you were bitten by a king cobra. Yeah, I was. But after five days of agonizing pain, The cobra died.

You know, Chuck, I hear that when you do a push-up, you're not really pushing yourself up, you're pushing the earth down. Correct. Absolutely. But Norse doesn't churn butter. He roundhouse kicks the cows, and the butter comes straight out.

Claw went in. And I bent down and I petted him. And all of a sudden, we hear this. Like that.

So the trainer says, Get up very slowly and back up.

So the tiger did. He slowly got up and backed out. You can't make this stuff up, Jeff Gas. Oh, my gosh. I love it.

I love it.

That's I mean, it's it's what so many of us aspire to be, right? I mean, just just cool as a cucumber and I I Know if folks realize what a talented martial artist he really was, and he actually invented his own karate discipline throughout the years. I mean, just accomplished any way you slice it. What was the movie? Was it Delta Force where the mall came, was the mall taken hostage and Chuck Norris went in and saved everybody?

Or was that there was Invasion USA, which came out first, and then there was Delta Force. I'm just curious, you and I are very similar in age. Did you do the whole Chuck Norris hairdo, the big mullet, back in the day? Yeah. Well, all I will say on that, Mr.

Starnes, is there are no photographs indicating yes or no.

So I yeah, of course I did. Yeah, yeah, I gave it a shot. It failed miserably. Chuck Norris's mullet was losing no sleep, and Chuck Morris, Chuck Norris's mullet, was probably laughing at my attempt anyway.

So, yeah. But, you know, there were teenage boys of a certain age, you know, when that movie came out that actually patrolled, they would patrol the shopping malls. You know, I think they were ready in the event the Russians decided to invade and take over TJ Maxx. That's true. All of our discount socks were going to be safe with those young men.

You're absolutely correct. Oh, my goodness. Jeff Katz joining us on our Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line as we remember the great Chuck Norris, who was a Trump supporter and met President Trump at a rally in Texas, publicly endorsed the president, and said at the time he was really concerned about the country's direction and the need for strong leadership. And you mentioned the whole masculinity part of Chuck Norris, Jeff Katz, and the new iteration of Walker, Texas Ranger. They took an exact opposite approach to having an emotionally troubled Walker, Texas Ranger trying to get in touch with his feelings.

And it completely bombed. And I think, again, young men in America, they look to people like a Donald Trump and a Chuck Norris and say, you know what? That's my idea of an American man. Heck yeah. I mean, Chuck Narris in Walker, Texas Ranger was exactly what every law enforcement officer around America Thought about it.

And every young man said, Yeah, this is what you do. Happen you find a bad guy, and you got to be tough enough to step to them. And could you imagine the response from Chuck Norris with the Texas, you know, the Walker, Texas Ranger version 2.0? Be something like, Oh, you're looking for your feelings? I found them.

I crushed them.

Now get back in the game, kids. Rub the dirt off. You know, let's just do it. That's it. Jeff, if we can, since we have you here, I've got to ask you about what in the world is happening in the Commonwealth right now.

These Democrats, just absolutely insane. The latest we had heard is that they wanted to, they're going to tax you guys out the wazoo. And then the Democrats wanted to take away your guns, but they could have kept theirs. Absolutely. And in the midst of all of that, they're also trying to steal congressional seats.

Yes.

Abigail Spamberger is our governor. And some of us, Todd, not pointing a finger at anybody, For me, I told people about her. She's always been a far left wing person. She said, oh, I'm going to be a moderate. I'm going to govern as a moderate.

And the Democrats said, this is all about affordability. President Trump is he's made everything too expensive. They came up, Todd, with 15 brand new taxes they are about to impose on us, including a tax on sleep. It sounds crazy, but they came up with a way to tax you for sleeping because they don't like the way that mattresses are handled in the Commonwealth.

So they're going to set up a brand new Virginia Mattress Commission to address the issue at taxpayer expense. And impose a new tax on mattresses, they are absolutely going after guns like nobody's business. The very nonsense they're putting forward now has been struck down by the Supreme Court. It's been struck down by other courts. They don't care.

And so that is about to come down the line. Many of us are stocking up as we speak. They came up with an arbitrary number for magazines. They said, Oh, you can't have a magazine that has more than 10 rounds in it. Then they said, Oh, the magic number is 15.

So that's what it is today. And let me see what else they're doing, man. It's oh, yes, and you're right. They did have an exemption for themselves that while they take hours away, I guess if they're all going to be taken away, they'll get a really good deal because, yes, the members of the General Assembly could keep absolutely everything that they wanted. Jeff, I'm curious about why all of this happened.

What was the problem there? Did Republican voters just stay home? Was that the issue? Or are you guys just completely overwhelmed by Democrat voters now? No, it was a confluence of things, Todd.

If you remember, there was. A government shutdown, lots of government workers in Northern Virginia, who already were anti-Trump people.

So they were energized to vote. And I hate to say it, but we had a million. Republican voters who did not bother to vote. They had come out, they supported President Trump in his reelection, which was fantastic. We were all on board, every one of us, right?

And then they did not bother to vote In this election, and there were a handful of people who really did believe Spamberger when she claimed to be a moderate, and they ignored all of the evidence to the contrary. They threw their vote to her, and now everybody's paying a very, very, very big price, and it's getting more and more dangerous here in my beloved Commonwealth as a result.

So I know you guys have had a couple of just spotty here and there special elections, and it looks like Republicans won in pretty big, big numbers. Has the party understood they've got a problem here and they've got to get people motivated and get them out to the polls?

Well, the Virginia Republican Party, I will say in the most charitable sense. leaves a lot to be desired. We are really, really good at beating up on Republicans. We're not so good at mounting campaigns or really contesting things with Democrats. I wish that were different, but it's just what I've seen through the years.

There is a special election underway right now, which has motivated a lot of people to not go along with this attempted steal of congressional seats, this gerrymandering that the Democrats are just seem hellbent for leather to jam down everybody's throats. Just a couple of years ago, Virginia voted overwhelmingly, bipartisan as well. Massive numbers of Democrats joined massive numbers of Republicans to take the redistricting process away from state lawmakers. And our governor in October of 2025, as she was running for governor, said, Oh, I'm totally opposed to gerrymandering. That's awful.

We all ought to be. And now, this is the first thing they're doing. And she's the one who signed the enabling legislation to put it out there.

So that is motivating people for sure. There are Republicans who are motivated. Our former Attorney General, Jason Mayaris, God bless him. He's taken point on this. He's traveling throughout Virginia.

He's doing a lot of hard work. To push back on it, and April the 21st, we'll find out whether we save even a shred of. this this great state, this this old dominion.

Well, look, I'm very sympathetic because I don't think this is a Virginia-centric problem. I think that Republican parties from the local level all the way up are struggling right now. And Jeff, I think a lot of it may possibly have to do with the fact that everybody's looking at post-Trump. And trying to take back, wrestle back control of the party away from the populist. And I think they've neutralized the evangelicals to some great extent through the party platform fights that happened in 2024.

And I think they're trying to put grassroots Republicans in their place, literally from border to border and coast to coast. I know we're seeing that here in Tennessee. And it's sad to see because when that and I put out a post earlier today, I said if we would just focus on fighting the Democrats as much as we're fighting each other, Republicans would actually win some elections. Heck yeah, from your lips to God's ears, that's exactly right. And you know, Todd, I mean, you've been around and much closer to this with the D.C.

folks and all of your national activities. We've got a whole collection of Republicans who love not being in power, right? They're perfectly happy to lose. They get to go to the wine and cheese parties they think are important. They don't have to make any pretext of trying to govern.

And so many of them, people describe them as elites. I don't think they're elites. I think they're elitists. I think they hate those of us who are the great unwashed that they always look to for votes. And then we buy into it.

We do the hard work. And then they're back to having cocktails with folks that, frankly, they shouldn't let in the front door.

So I'm with you. I think there's a massive Uh degree of um weakness And I guess for some of us, I'm going to put myself in this category. Maybe we're just gullible. Maybe we just go along each time thinking. This is really different, and we really are Charlie Brown, and they really are Lucy with the football.

All right. Jeff Kantz, real quick before we let you go. This news just breaking a little while ago, and it affects all of us in the radio business. CBS News Radio. CBS has announced that they are officially shutting down Their radio network, 700 affiliated radio stations.

They're going to end service on May 22nd, and everybody involved in CBS News Radio will be out of jobs. And I will say this: they were liberal. They did an incredible, they were one of the best breaking news radio organizations in the nation. And I can tell you, just from my relationship with them as a radio station owner, we carried their product, and they knew that there were issues, and they were trying to fix those issues. But I'm very disappointed to hear that news today.

Oh, it sure is. Look, as a long time radio guy and an admirer of plenty of people who passed through that CBS News radio operation, because there were some really solid reporters through the years there, It's sad. I mean, it's a sad thing. Todd, we're seeing a big change in lots of parts of our business. And That's painful to hear.

Yeah, it is. Yeah. Crazy. All right, Jeff Cancel, we're going to let you get to it. I know you got to get ready for your big show this afternoon.

And, Jeff, man, we sure do appreciate you, and we sure do appreciate you guys carrying our show. It means a lot to us.

Well, I appreciate that, and we love having you here. We always love welcoming you to my show. Keep doing what you're doing, Todd. We need you. Likewise, and we've got to get you over here.

I know our wrestling fans would love to see Jeff Katz here in the Mid-South. I would love to do it, Stars. Don't you dare put anybody in that front row that I didn't approve.

Okay. Dylan, get me a chair and a steel-toe boot. All right. Jeff Katz, everybody. Great American Patriot.

Got to take a break. We'll be right back. Bring incredible sound into every corner of your home with the new WhimSound Smart Speaker. Get high-resolution audio with a 1.8-inch touchscreen, smart control, and modern design in one powerful speaker for just $299. From quiet mornings to lively family gatherings, WimSound makes every moment sound better and feel better too.

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Good to have you with us. And by the way, the Senate will be working through the weekend. It's really all theater. There's no way they're going to do what needs to be done to get the Save America Act across the finish line. And I know President Trump is so frustrated by all of this, but ultimately, there's really not much the President can do at this point.

As a matter of fact, Jon Thune just admitted the Democrats may, in fact, nuke the filibuster when they retake power.

So Jon Thune knows exactly what the Democrats are going to do, but he will not intervene. He will not stop The bad guys from getting power. And that's what's going to happen here. We'll play some of that audio coming back in the next hour. Also, ladies and gentlemen, now you have the opportunity to pre-order my brand new book.

It's called The Golden Age: How Trump Saved America. You can get it at Barnes Noble, Books a Million, Amazon. Pre-order a copy or two or Three I can't wait for you to read this book. This is the book that lays out the platform to how to save this nation after Trump leaves office. Again, The Golden Age: How Trump Saved America, available at your favorite bookstore in Amazon right now.

We'll be right back, everybody. Live from the Liberty University Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, it's common sense conservative commentary from Todd Star. I love it.

Love is American. All right. Hello, everybody. Welcome to the Todd Starns Radio Program. What an honor to have you with us today.

By the way, our telephone number on this Open Line Friday edition of the show is 901-260-5926. That's 901-260-5252. 5926.

So, those of you that are longtime talk radio fans, you may hear, you may have heard of CBS News Radio. They provide news radio updates at the top and the bottom of the hour on some 700 radio stations around the nation, and they're nearly 100 years old. They've been doing this. I remember when I bought the radio station in Memphis, Tennessee, KWAM, they were one of the original well, they picked up CBS News radio, so they carried CBS News Radio. In the Memphis area.

And um you know I We dropped the service because it was so liberal.

Well, over the years, some good friends of mine became employed at CBS News Radio. And they recognized the bias right away, and they were working diligently to try to provide fair and balanced news. on the radio side. The problem was all of those changes had to go right at the food chain. And unfortunately, a lot of the the T V side of the operation, which control the radio side of the operation, they're just as liberal as the day is long.

Now, the fact is that CBS News Radio When it came to breaking news coverage, if there's a storm, an explosion, some sort of a natural disaster. Those kinds of, or a major, like a criminal, you know, a major murder thing, or, you know, whatever kind of mass shootings or whatever, they were the gold standard for that sort of news coverage. Nobody, not even Fox Radio, could meet that standard. They were just so good at it. The problem is that the political coverage was off the charts liberal.

And so we had to end up dropping the service. And I it really was heartbreaking because, number one, I've got a lot of friends at CBS News Radio, and number two, their coverage outside of the world of politics was actually really good. And one of the big problems in all of radio, and I just want to talk for a moment about. About the state of radio in America. One of the big problems is these massive corporations.

These conglomerates, they come in and they take over and they cookie-cutter everything. When you listen to KWA, if you're, let me just say something about our great affiliates. And I want to call out especially WTUN in Gainesville, Georgia. This radio station is doing it right. And they really have the blueprint.

It's a family-owned, family-run news organization. And they do an amazing job not only on the talk side, but also on the news side and delivering that local component. It is a very unique radio station, but they are driven by excellence. And the same thing is true at a lot of the radio stations that carry this program, mainly because they are not owned by the corporations. They are owned by small groups or families.

And they believe in doing excellent broadcasting on the radio. But when you look at, for example, I don't know, the talk radio world in general. You know, everybody wanted to be the next Rush Limbaugh, and anybody who said they wanted to be the next Rush Limbaugh, you just have to delete those people from your minds. Because they're not authentic. You know, Rush Limbaugh didn't go running around saying, I want to be the next Paul Harvey.

No, Rush Limbaugh wanted to be the next Rush Limbaugh. Paul Harvey wanted to be the next Paul Harvey. Todd Starnes wanted to be the next Todd Starnes. You do your own thing, and if people embrace it and they enjoy it, they're going to listen to you, and if they don't, they're going to go somewhere else. But now you've got a lot of these corporations, and I'll just call them out.

I don't mind. You've got. Eye heart and cumulus. And those are the big guys. And they they have their own talk show host.

And I and they forced their radio stations that they own to carry their their product. And I don't blame them. I mean, if they own the radio stations, you should expect to carry the content. Right? I mean, that's.

I own my radio station. I decide what airs and what does not air. In Memphis, Tennessee, on this station. But the problem is, a lot of the stuff that these big radio giants are broadcasting is garbage. I mean, I've heard some local morning shows.

Where they literally have hired idiots. I mean like simpletons. That have no knowledge of anything. It's just mind-boggling what's out there that is allowed to go on their and the reason why is that they want cheap labor. No talent.

And a lot of these talk radio hosts think they can just get behind a microphone and just scream at you for three hours. And they think that you're supposed to sit there and you're supposed to tolerate it. Then there are other talk show radio there are other talk show hosts out there. Who they're always looking for something, what they consider something better. Oh, I'm just a talk radio host now, but I want to be on Fox or I want to be, you know, in the Trump administration.

You know what? That kind of stuff angers me. And I actually interviewed, we get a lot of people wanting to come and work here, and I saw a couple of resumes. And I talked to somebody once, and I said, Well, you know, what's your goal? What do you want to do?

He goes, Well, I just see this as a stepping stone. And I'm like, okay, great. Thanks. We'll get back to you. See, I love radio.

And radio is it for me. This is what I love to do. I love to sit behind a microphone and have conversations. I love it when you guys call up and your conversations and. We we have a lot of crazy times on this show.

And a lot of times we're not even talking about politics. We're talking about something just weird. Oh, by the way, Dylan, I do have a weird Price's right story coming up, but there's a local tie-in. Statesville, North Carolina. I can't wait.

Oh, yes, we're teasing that. But all that to say is that. We just like to spend three hours a day hanging out together. And by the way, that's exactly what Rush Limbaugh did. All of these people who think that they're going to be just like Russia, all they do, all we do is talk politics and we scream at you.

That's what Rush did. No, that is not what Rush did. Rush was an entertainer. And Rush covered a lot of stories, a lot of topics.

Sometimes he'd start his show off by talking about something that nobody else in the country was talking about. Because it was something that interested him. And I do that, I do that on the Newsmax show. And you may think it's interesting. You may not, you think, you may think, oh, well, Starring is off his rocker.

What's going on there? I'm just telling you, that's just how we do things here.

So, when we got the word here that Barry Weiss, who is, and she's the new person in charge of CBS, and she got whacked by the New York Times for, you know, exposing bias or whatever, and everybody thinks, oh, she's going to turn CBS conservative.

Well, first of all, she's not even a conservative. And second of all, why would you want to turn it conservative? Why not just have a news service that's fair and balanced, just right down the middle? Let the listeners decide. Why can't we do that?

And then there's, I think, Fox Radio, and they've got their new service out there. And we did try to pick up Fox Radio, but they're already on two other stations here in our area. But their mentality is we're Fox News Radio. You come and worship us. You know, and that really?

I What about affiliate relations? What about taking care of the radio stations that carry your programming? What about that?

So, I'm not, no, I'm not busting anybody's chops here. I'm just saying that CBS News Radio, if they would have, and I only know this because leadership at CBS News Radio would call me and we would have these conversations. And they're like, Todd, we get it. And they said, Todd, we've tried to talk to the executives and they just They don't get it. And they appreciated the fact that I was willing to give CBS News Radio a second chance.

Because I saw that they were trying. But now it's all done and it's all over and a lot of layoffs today. And a lot of good people are losing their jobs. And I just, I really hate that. But all that to say Radio's not going away.

But until we start getting more and the problem here are the big corporate owned radio stations. Many of them hate talk radio. And I'm just going to tell you this. Nobody else is going to nobody else is willing to talk about this, but I will. When Rush Limbaugh passed away, the pro.

Let me back up for just a moment. Eye heart and cumulus They could not stand Rush Limbaugh. Behind the scenes, I know they may, what they forget what they said in public. Behind the scenes, they didn't like his politics. And they didn't like his controversy.

At all. And they had made decisions that when Rush passed, they weren't going to get somebody. that had the same sort of a voice that Rush had. or the same sort of opinion that Rush had. They wanted somebody they could control.

They didn't want a bombastic talk radio host. They wanted somebody that they could control and somebody that would not make waves. And that's what they got. No, I'm not saying that's bad or good. I'm just telling you, they don't want anybody to upset their financial apple cart.

By the way, the same thing happened. The same thing happened with cumulus. And I only know that because we had had talks, you know, and we had conversations about maybe them picking up some of the, you know, some of the stations carrying the Todd Stern Show. We were actually on one of their programs, on one of their stations in a good-sized market, and we were number one in the market. We were actually beating all of the other guys, noon to three.

And then Cumulus came in and said, nope, got to get rid of Starnes. We're putting in our replacement, which at the time was Bongino. And then the ratings actually dropped. Had nothing to do with Bongino, people were used to our program. And I was talking to one program director.

They said they never recovered their numbers after that. You know, that kind of stuff happens.

So all that to say. I'm very sad to hear this news. But the answer to fixing what is broken in talk radio is for. Locally owned radio stations.

So step up to the plate. And I am so thankful for all of the locally owned radio stations. That carry this program. Monday through Friday, we do a best of show on the weekends. We bust our butts for you every single day.

Our whole staff does. You guys need something. We're going to be there for you because that's what we do. That's who we are. And that's never going to change.

It's just never going to change. All right, 901-260-5926. I'm going to try to work in some calls here. Let's go to Jerry in Iowa. Jerry, what's on your mind?

Christian Brother Todd. I prayed for you and your show at our prayer meeting last night, and I hope others do too.

So I calling in with a quickie and a main point. My quickie is I met Chuck Norris and his wife with my son And on Mike Huckabee's night when he won Iowa, I think it was zero eight. And that was it's a priceless memory, and my son is changed today because of that. And the way I kind of did that was I it was accidental because I was on our county central committee twice. And You were talking earlier with your guest from Virginia about how to save America.

And for me, it's at the county level.

So I have a confessional. example of what to do right. and what to do wrong.

So if If the priest is here to hear my confession, that would be you, Todd. And I know you're not Catholic. But it's okay, so it's super easy to get elected on the county level because nobody cares or wants to do it. And it's a it's a great in if you're a Christian.

So, what I did right and what I did wrong.

So, what I did right was I volunteered, slash, got elected. And I didn't know anything. All I did was speak about the Bible and Conservative issues and the the movie was controversial, amazingly, and they were always trying to get me to shut up. But I think I did a lot right, and people listened to me. I didn't know what was going on, like rules committee and how everything worked.

But that shouldn't stop people.

Now here's what I did wrong. when I got elected twice, and I don't know any anybody would do that, is uh it was kind of fun. Yeah, well, let's get to it. Guy we're running out of time here, Jerry. I quit early.

I quit. And I because I was disgusted with rhinos. And I was I I I Sort of gave up. And if I had it to do all over again, what I would do is I would get on central committee again. On the buddy system, because you've got to have one other.

conservative or Christian to help you get through all the baloney. And you don't have to know everything that's going on, that'll come in time. And so if you want to do it right, just do it at all. Because you can really have a great effect in your county. I found for me.

But the wrong thing was I let myself get discouraged, and I wish I would have stuck it out. and continued to bother the forces of Rhino World And there you have it. Chuck Norris. Anecdote and um How to uh Do it right and wrong on Central Committee.

So thank you for opening the lines to people like me. And we did pray for you last night.

Well, I greatly appreciate that. And, Jerry, thank you, folks. We do have to hate to cut it short, but we got to take a break. This is the Todd Stern Show. All right, let's get right back to the phones here.

901-260-5926, Open Line Friday. Let's go to Memphis, Tennessee. Arnaz is listening to us on KWAM. Hi, Arnaz. What's on your mind today?

Hey, how you doing? I'm good. Thanks for asking. All right. Um, well, it's been a long two weeks with this No.

This I mean, it seems like every time I call in, it just goes bad from it just goes from bad to worse for the Republicans. come these midterms. For starters, this war in Iran, look, This is probably this this is pointless. There's no other way to say it. There's no other way to call it.

when you have ardent Trump supporters, and I mean Art, and I'm talking about. Jan Sixers. Who are openly saying, and worked in the administration are openly and publicly saying. that there was no imminent threat from our land. And now we're at war with Iran.

We're debating booths on the ground. And on top of that, gas is going gas is going up. right before the summer, right before vacation season, None of none of this looks good. on the party coming in. At all.

and they're still lo and they're still losing legislative seats. you know, at the rate of at least one or two a month. Republicans are still retiring at a pace that I have never seen. It's like My question to really any Republican is, are y'all even trying to win in November. And let me, well, let me let's let's stop there for a second, Arnest, because I want to answer.

You've raised a lot of issues. First of all, Joe Kent. Has been on the record for years saying that President Trump needed to take out Iran's missile program.

Now, all of a sudden, he's changed his tune. Clearly, he was facing some big trouble. I mean, there was an FBI investigation over leaking information. And by the way, the reporting is that he was leaking that information directly to Tucker Carlson. That's the allegation that's out there.

So, if that's the case, then he's got big problems. The gas situation, yeah, that's a problem for Republicans. And I'm not sure. that the American people are going to be tolerant of that. And to your other point, Ardez, and you raised some great points here.

The other point is, do Republicans really want to win? I don't know the answer to that question. And maybe that's the issue, ladies and gentlemen. Do you think that Republicans are trying to win nationwide? Are you seeing that in your state, in your county, in your local community?

901-260-5926. Thanks, Arnaz. I got to run. We'll be right back. Dylan, I'm just curious, if you had to guess what was one of the most popular, like.

Sit-down restaurants in America. What would you guess? Chilies. Chilies? Easy.

Chilies. So you're a big chilies guy. I'm confident on that. Would you what about Texas Roadhouse? Yeah, I can accept that one too, if it has to be.

It is, are you ready for this?

So, Olive Garden, a lot of people say olive garden. Yeah, also good. Yes.

Their unlimited breadsticks are unlimited. Because you can't physically eat sixty-three, I've tried. Oh, what about the salad? Do they still do the bottomless salad bowl? I think so, but that's not as appealing.

You ever go to Olive Garden and ask, I want a I want all of your salad? Just keep it coming. Keep that lettuce coming. They have plenty, I'm sure. Don't be skippy on the red onion.

So it turns out though that for that Olive Garden, and look, I was a big Red Lobster guy back in the day, and I know this was like a sin in New York City. You're never supposed to go to chain restaurants in New York City, but I would occasionally go to the Red Lobster. In Times Square. Yeah, for the biscuits alone, I was probably I probably had gone. And gotta tell you, and this is really a heinous sin in New York City, home of the best Italian food in America.

You know where I would go? Buca de Pepo. Yeah. Buca de what? Buca de Pepo.

Has anybody you never been to Buka de Pepo? I don't think so. Ask Helen. Helen, have you been to Buka de Pepo? No, she's shaky.

All right. What about Ian? Ian, digital guy, Ian, the intro. Oh, he said yes. He's been to Buchanan.

He's been to Buchanan. Ask if he got to sit at the Pope's table. Did you get to sit at the Pope's table? No, he hasn't.

Okay, well, you haven't lived till you've been able to sit at the Pope's table. This is interesting that you're bringing this up.

So, Buccaneppo, they are home to like these massive family-style Italian meals. And they have like the meatballs are about the size of a ripe cantaloupe. And they're delicious. But it's like Italian themed. And I had no idea it was like a chain restaurant.

I thought this was like an exclusive, like, wow, Buka de Beppo. And I was telling you all my friends, I'm like, I've been to this exclusive Italian restaurant. I had an incredible experience. I thought I was on the set of the Godfather movie. They said, Todd, where did you go?

Puka de Pepo. Oh, yeah, we got one here in Houston, or we got one here in Atlanta. I remember this now because of the Pope room. They got the Pope room.

So you sit at the table, and the Pope's head is in the middle of the table, and that's where they put the pizzas if you want to order the pizza. And he watches you eat. It's a little off-putting. Yeah. But there's a lot of fun, and I just love it.

It's great food, and you get a lot of it, and it's just delicious. But anyway, The number one the number one Top ranked largest casual dining chain in America. Texas Roadhouse. And there's a story out of Maryland. where and this will impact our WCBM listeners in Baltimore.

There is legislation underway. That could end up causing big problems for Texas Roadhouse. The reason why is that lawmakers are considering something called the Living Wage Act for All. And if this is successful, the state's minimum wage would rise to $25 an hour. Right now it's fifteen dollars an hour.

But they want to raise the minimum wage to $25 an hour. And the servers at places like Texas Roadhouse are saying This is not a good idea because they're afraid that it would actually hurt tips. And another part of the plan is to actually Take away The tipped wage system. Workers like ser like restaurant servers and bartenders typically make a pretty small, meagre, what, hourly wage, but they bring in a lot more money. They bring in the cash from the tips.

And of course, thanks to President Donald J. Trump, there's no tax on the tips. One worker saying this is going to hurt us a lot. It would not only hurt the servers and the bartenders, but also restaurants in general.

Now, under the current tipping system, and this is interesting, this is according to the Restaurant Association of Maryland. Under the current tipping system, The average server, when they sort of balance it all out, Ends up earning about $27 an hour, which is more than the $25 an hour, which would be mandatory. And a lot of the people in the restaurant industry are really concerned about this. Most workers in Maryland get paid $15 an hour. The base wage for tipped employees stands at $363 an hour.

The tipped employees have made it abundantly clear the current tipping system is not broken and does not need to be changed.

So the people that the Democrats say they actually want to help are pushing back and saying, we don't need any help. We're good. We're just fine.

So there you have it. Ladies and gentlemen. Minimum wage increases from across the states. New York, $17 an hour, upstate at $16 an hour. $14 an hour in Alaska.

Uh, 1928 is going to rise to $25 an hour in California for healthcare workers.

So. There you go. All right, let's go to the phone lines: 901-260-5926. I do think it's interesting, though, that the. The restaurant servers, the ones who, and if you listen to the Democrats, they're impoverished, but these servers are saying, no, actually, everything's working out just fine.

Just stay out of our lives. Let's go to Ohio. Harold is on the line. Hi, Harold. What's on your mind today?

Yeah, Todd, I'm a Baptist pastor and uh I've been l listening about uh Governor Huckabee. And I don't think any Christians ought to go to a restaurant where they know the owners and servers are part of that LGBT thing for this reason. In Leviticus chapter 18, verse 22, God says that the sodomites, that same sex people, are an abomination to him. An abomination, Todd, is a sin that's so bad it makes God sick in the stomach. And then in Romans chapter 1 in the Bible, that's a due test, but God tells you what he thinks about same-sex affairs right there in verse eighteen, chapter one, verse eighteen, I think thirty one.

And so God hates it. And there's no way in the world that Christians should ever be talked into condoning something God calls an abomination. Plus, I would not feel safe eating anything that people that were in that lifestyle handled because You know, that there's it's an unsanitary lifestyle to the max. And if they don't like you because you're not woke, because you're a God fearing Christian, there's no telling what they'll do to the food you eat or drink. That's all I want to say.

I think they wear gloves. Yeah. Well, they still, you know, they can do I'm talking about on purpose, not intent. Oh, I see what you're saying. I got you.

Yeah, look, that's my biggest concern over all of this, which is why, again, I do not go out to eat a lot. And if I do, I'm going to a place where I know the owners and I know the servers because I would be afraid of one of these radical leftists doing something to my food or putting something into my food. That I would have a big problem. You know, as I explained, you know, when we got the lip balm to try out, we made Dylan go first. Just to make sure everything worked.

People in that lifestyle, there's no line they won't cross if they want to, you know, well, I don't know. No, no, no, no, no, no. I don't know about that. But I will say that from a political ideology, those people are insane. And I would not put anything past one of those flaming Democrats to pull something like that off, Harold.

Harold, I got to run, but thank you for the call. Dylan, how are you feeling, by the way? I'm okay. Thank you for asking. Good.

Just want to double-check. Lips are still tingling, actually. Hmm. I have reapplied. What do you call it?

Is it because I said I smeared my lips, and they're like, no, that's probably not the right word to use. Don't know the term. Covered with lip balm? I don't know. How do you know?

There has to be a word for that. What is the lip balm? Yes.

Maybe a lady will let us know. One of our lady listeners. That's sad. We should know. Because lip balm is universal.

It doesn't have to be. Just for the ladies. Fair enough. That's true. That's right.

Yeah. I am. I am going to be. By the way, we're working on getting Afroman on the show. Oh, yes.

Please. Please. Oh, my gosh. I need him to rap a verse, too. Yeah, I want some of that lemon.

I want to hear the lemon pound cake song, maybe perform live on air. Wow. That story. What an incredible story that is because again. Pardon me.

I mean, here's a poor guy. Just minding his own business, and the cops come in, they destroy his house. There's no charges filed. He didn't do anything wrong, and he's wanting somebody to foot the bill here. And so he writes the song and he the cops sue him.

Did you see the female cop? She was really tore up about it. She was very upset. I'm not sure cops are allowed to cry like that. It was like the worst news.

It was like she had just heard the worst thing ever. Yeah. It was just a diss track, ma'am. She should write her own diss track if she really wants to get exactly 901-260-5926. Our telephone number open line Friday.

That's 901-260-5926. Michael Allen is a social security expert and. He's got some really interesting data to share with us. Are you ready for this? 70% of you guys are not getting your full social security benefits.

And he's come up with five key strategies that will not only increase your benefits, but increase them by a lot, as much as $188,000 over a lifetime. And Newsmax wants to give you this special guide free of charge.

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All right, let's go back to the phones. Richard in Ocala, Florida. W-O-C-A. Richard, what's on your mind on this open line Friday? Praise the Lord.

Howdy, Mr. Todd. Good to talk to you. Hey, first thing, I want to say I really appreciate that pastor you just talked to. Manny hit everything spot on, looked to me like, and I appreciated.

What he said, I agree with him. But, Tom, what I was wanting to mention to you. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it looks to me like there's If this Save America Act don't go through, It's one person in the m the world that it's going to be the fault of. Uh and that's thoon the Senate leader. It's not going to be the Democrats.

It ain't going to be nobody else. The one person that could make it happen or let it happen by nuking the filibuster, knowing the Democrats are going to nuke it on when they get in. And he's the only man in the world that can do it, and he's deliberately not doing it. And I want him to know publicly. That we of America blame him and nobody else but him for the destroying of America.

I feel like he's a traitor to God and country. And I feel like everybody ought to take a strong stand against that individual. And uh on another note I want you to know, mister Todd, not blowing smoke at you. We all love Rush Limbaugh, and you come as near to taking his place As any of the radio talk show hosts that I listen to, probably not more than a half a dozen, six or eight or ten, but I want you to know I appreciate you. And you come as near to fulfilling his position as anybody I've ever heard.

Well, Richard, I sure do appreciate you saying that. And it does mean a lot. You know, we just sort of carve our own path and no doubt about it. You know, when I was in college growing up and listening to El Rushbo, you know, it really, you know, he really did have an impact on me. But one of the things I learned from Rush and one of the things I learned from Paul Harvey was you've got to be your own man and you got to have fun.

You know, if you're not having fun doing what you're doing, especially on the radio, then there's something wrong with you. I agree with you. All right. Well, Richard, God bless you. You know, we're going to have to get down to Ocala, Florida for maybe a book signing when the new book comes out.

901-260-5926. Real quick, I want to play this audio. You know, Richard brought up Jon Thune. And this is the problem I have with John Thune. I'm not sure where his mind is right now.

Because he knows, he knows exactly what the Democrats are going to do, and yet he's not taking full advantage of that now. Take a listen to Jon Thune Cut 7. Look, I don't disagree that there is a possibility if the Democrats ever get the House, the Senate, and the White House, get unified control of the government, they might try to do that. I don't think we don't know the answer to that. It's hypothetical.

But what I will tell you is there are not the votes to nuke the filibuster in the United States Senate today. And I think, frankly, too, for a lot of reasons, Bill, it has protected Republicans through the years, conservative principles and priorities, by requiring a supermajority to get things done in the United States Senate. That's the way the founders designed it. You can argue that these are different times, and maybe they are, but the founders decided to divide power in the Article I of the branch of the government between the House and the Senate. And they made the Senate this way for a particular reason, and that is to require a supermajority to get things done, which means that the minority has a voice in our government.

So we're debating the philosophy of that right now, but the practical reality is, and this is what I keep coming back to, is there aren't anywhere close to the votes to nuke the legislative filibuster in the United States Senate today. That's the reality that I have to deal with. All right, yeah, so he knows what they're going to do. But Jesus Loo. By the way, my good buddy, if you're watching us on our video streams on Facebook, Rumble, and YouTube.

I'm getting a text message. Speaking of Rush Limbaugh. Our good buddy Paul Shanklin, who used to be Russia's parody guy for many, many, many, many years, and Paul now hangs his hat with us, and we're just so honored to do that he does that. He's weighing in on the Italian restaurant Uh he says it it's Villa or V yeah, Villa Castriotti. He says it's in Cordova and Lakeland, Tennessee, and they have good Italian.

Grisantes On the square in Collierville, Tennessee, also very good. But he says that Villa C, they have a picture of the grandmother that follows you around the room. She's a loo. They say her ghost follows you out the door if you don't pay. I believe that.

Turns out everybody pays when they're at the Vela C. Anyway. Any of our Memphis listeners want to verify that? She probably makes sure you eat all your food too, because that's like an Italian grandmother thing, right? Are you hungry?

No, I'm not hungry. I'll make you something. Send out. I'll make you something. By the way, we don't have a lot of time here, but oh, geez, Alou, who is it?

Is it Scorsese? No, we'll, you know what? We're going to take a break. I've got a Scorsese story to share. This is the Todd Stern Show.

All right, let's go to the phone lines here. Hendersonville, North Carolina, one of the kindest radio stations in America, WHKP. Such very kind people there. Carolyn, what's going on in Hendersonville?

Well, it's the whole state. Uh our governor, Josh Stanz, Recognized Islam with a statewide proclamation. uh marking the holy month of Romadon. I don't know if people know about it. I mean I mean, he he's gone crazy.

So, you're telling me that in North Carolina, your governor is issuing a statewide proclamation celebrating Ramadan? Yeah. Wow, I am stunned by that.

Well, we are too. It's uh Oh, he's uh the importance of diversity and inclusion for North Carolina. He's getting about like Tom Tillis. I don't know what's got into Tom Tillis, but I think he's gone crazy.

Well, it's you know, and we've seen this play out in, for example, Texas, where Greg Abbott and he's playing both sides of the fence here on the Islam issue. And I think the concern there in North Carolina is that your governor is bending a knee to the Islamist with this particular proclamation. Yeah. Well, Carolyn, I appreciate you bringing this to our attention. We're going to look into this.

We'll probably weigh in a little bit more next week on it as well. I got to take a quick break here, but Carolyn, thank you for calling in. Folks, it is Open Line Friday, 901-260-5926. Don't forget, head over to Bunksamillion and Barnes Noble. Get yourself a copy of my upcoming new book.

The Golden Age. We'll be right back. Live. From the Liberty University Studio in Memphis, Tennessee. It's America's conservative blowtorch.

Yeah. Try I love There's the marrick Todd Starns. Oh, yeah. Hello, everybody. Welcome to the Todd Starns Radio Show.

Great to have you with us.

So, coming up a little bit later on, we're going to be talking to the Pennsylvania school bus driver. Remember, the driver was told that he had to remove. His red MAGA hat. He said, Not going to do that. I quit.

So we're talking to the bus driver as well as Pennsylvania State Senator Doug Mastriano a little bit later on. Also, Congresswoman Beth Van Dine is going to be here, and our good buddy Ben Ferguson. Today is also Open Line Friday. That's the uh opportunity for you to call in and Well, talk about whatever is on your mind. Our telephone number, 901-260-5926.

That's 901-260-5926. By the way, today's segment brought to you by our good friends at Patriot Mobile, America's only Christian conservative wireless company. Patriot Mobile, they have incredible nationwide service. They use all three major U.S. networks.

So if you have service today, you're going to have it as good or better when you take on Patriot Mobile. By the way, if you think switching is a hassle, absolutely not. You can keep your number, you can keep your phone, or you can upgrade. And their customer service team is based right here in the good old U.S. of A.

Give Patriot Mobile a call, 972Patriot. That's 972 Patriot. Use my name Todd, promo code Todd, and they're going to give you get this a free month of service. You can also go to patriotmobile.com/slash Todd, promo code Todd, and that gets you a free month of service. Dylan, how are your brackets?

They're doing pretty well, Todd. Yeah. Actually, yeah.

So I made six brackets.

So just to be safe, I picked every other team on each one.

So I have, you know, at least a small percent chance that I'm going to do okay, at least at the beginning. Wow. I'm impressed. That's pretty impressive.

Well, I want to go right away to the Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line and say hello to our good friend. He is the sports director at radio station KWAM in Memphis, Tennessee. Also, a student at Sanford University in Birmingham, Alabama. The great Parker May. Parker, good to have you with us today.

Thank you, Todd. Good to be back. All right. So Parker, I know you've got like quite the setup there, My Andrew. You've got like with the multi-screens and you're monitoring all the games.

Yeah, I currently have a TV in my dormer with all four games showing at once. Very excited for another great day of basketball. Yeah, look, yesterday did not disappoint at all.

So, first of all, how are your brackets doing? Dylan seems to be in good spirits. What about you? I'm doing pretty good. My best bracket right now is in the 96 percentile.

Went 13 for 16 yesterday. The one thing that really hurt me was South Florida losing to Louisville yesterday. And that was a trendy 11-6 upset pick that I got wrong. But besides that, I'm pretty happy in my bracket. Dylan, I got, you know, I didn't complete all my brackets.

Yes, I know. And Parker, I know you're going to be disappointed in me, and I get it. Um, I I I just decided to pick Tennessee to win the whole thing. I didn't bother to fill out the rest of the brackets, except for one team, and I did pick High Point to win yesterday. No way.

Yep, picked High Point. That's a great pick.

So, I want to play, guys. This is, and again, I love radio. And Parker, you do a lot of radio work when you're back home for the summer. But I want to play, this is the student radio station there at High Point, which is in what in North Carolina. And it's a pretty small school, but this was what it sounded like on the radio when High Point.

Upset Wisconsin and got their Cinderella ticket. Let's listen. Jay Anderson. Body, step back. Yeah, Ooh, ooh.

In circles there. Johnson. Gotcha, shoot. James Johnston, that's what they need. Time out, time out.

Portland, do you believe it? Transition kicks it in bounds. Nine seconds, four. Wants it inside. Five, six seconds.

Now, boy, they launched down court. Fantasy district for a long time slipper. It's a Cinderella story in Portland, Oregon. For the first time in program history, High Point breaks through. We will see you in the round of 32.

Oh, what a feeling. Oh, my gosh. Now, Parker May, you started doing play-by-play for high school football. I mean, to be able to call a game like that, wow. Yeah, unbelievable and Just to kind of give a little background, I've seen those guys before on social media, they do a fantastic job.

Their story is incredible. They've been able to follow the team all season long from the regular season. Getting to cover the conference tournament and now in March, Madness.

So, a really cool pretty fun team to watch in the High Point Panthers. You know, I'm curious about the religious aspect of all of this because it seems like the High Point team really sort of embraced their faith, much like the Indiana quarterback whose name just completely slipped my mind. Dylan Hoppin Mendoza, thank you. Just like he really embraced faith. I want you to listen to Chase Johnson.

He's the guy that hit the game-winning shot against Wisconsin. Here's what he had to say: What's going on, everybody? My name is Brian Hanway. I'm joined by High Point University graduate student guard Chase Johnson. Chase, once again, thank you so much for joining me today.

Yeah, man, thank you so much. I appreciate you.

So, when the roster numbers came out at the beginning of the season, made a number change, one of the two last year for the Panthers. This year, we're in number 99. I just kind of wanted to ask you, you know, what the backstory behind the number is, what was the process of you changing the number? Just get your general thoughts about that. Yeah, so the back story, it has everything to do with Jesus leaving the 99 to find the one.

I was trying to find any other way to share the gospel, and 99 came to my mind. A lot of people will ask, it's a random number, it's a unique number, not a lot of people wear it.

So I chose that because there's two parables in the Bible where Jesus is talking to his disciples, and he gives a story of a man who has 99 sheep. He leaves those 99 righteous sheep to find that one lost sheep that went away. And he finds more joy in finding that one lost sheep that came back home than the 99 that remained righteous. That's the gospel, right? That we are all sinners.

We are dead in our sin, and Jesus Christ left the 99. He went to the cross humbly. He became a slave for us, though he was God. He did not take up equality with God as something to cling to, and he died on the cross for our sins. And so that's like the whole backstory: 99 represents our calling as Christians to go out and proclaim the gospel to the lost ones, and the gospel that Christ went to the cross and died for us.

You guys would go over scriptures before every game. And I saw a clip of you guys last year, right before the Vixell Championship, going through scripture. You guys still do that today, and like, how much does that help you guys get prepared, your minds centered on the game when you guys are going through scriptures? I'm not going to take any credit for that because obviously it's all the Lord, but Trey, that's something Trey started before I got here. Just kind of something I've taken from him.

It's just a way for before the games, we share a verse and kind of break it down within 30 seconds, like you had just mentioned. Just a way to remind all of us and the guys. Hey, we're doing it for something bigger than ourselves. We're doing it for the Lord first, but then we're doing it for the person to the right and left. And a verse that we would always talk about is John 15, 13, that Jesus says, there is no greater love than this than to lay down one's life for one's friend.

And if we're not willing to lay down our life for our brother that's beside us on the court or even off the court, then we're not being true servants. And the only way to win is to be a servant. You know what what really strikes me about that Parker is That these guys, I mean, that is a real faith right there, you know, that he's able to share. And I know that you're a believer, you're a Christian man. How important is that?

And do you see that faith being played out in college basketball? I one hundred percent do and even Going back to Chase Johnson, he took to X yesterday after their game and saying that this team was truly built on John 15-13. Even deeper on his the back of his basketball shoes and during the game, he has Acts 2024 written on his shoes and It's something that's really special to their team, but you see it all across college basketball. Personally, for our team, we pray after every practice. We pray before we go out.

For the tunnel, before we take the court every game.

So it's a really cool thing that you've seen kind of more and more college teams. make it importance in their lives. And I think that's look, and again, we're living in a time now when guys your age, you Gen X guys or Gen Z guys rather, you know, you're out there and faith you know, guys are just not afraid to share their faith. You know, it's really something that's out there and people, I think, really appreciate that. I think it's a great movement that we've seen, not only Throughout the world in our generation, but now that we've seen it in college sports on this great stage, it's really encouraging.

All right, Parker May, who is the sports director at KWAM News Radio. By the way, you hear Parker all the time, but if you watch our broadcast, you can actually see Parker. Go to YouTube, our YouTube or Rumble channels, or our Facebook live stream, and you'll be able to leave a message for Parker there as well. All right, so here we are. We're still sort of early in the tournament.

Any surprises so far, aside from High Point? Yeah. Yeah, high point was a big surprise yesterday, but there were six upsets yesterday, Todd, a very wild day. And the upsets are continuing right now. Early game, the first game that they had tipped off today, Santa Clara, a 10-seed, leads Kentucky right now with just under 30 seconds to go.

The game is actually now tied, looking to head into overtime. But other big upsets yesterday included VCU an 11-seed, coming back from a 19-point deficit. to defeat North Carolina in overtime. Wow, that's Dylan. Were you surprised?

Are you surprised? Are you about to bust your brackets yet? No, actually, so there's like a few upsets that you want to pick. Like, statistically, over the years of March Madness, like, these are probable that these upsets are going to happen.

So, I just went off of that, and I actually did pick VCU to win that game. Mine was the what is it? St. Louis game against Georgia.

So I didn't even predict the upset. Not only that, they beat him 102 to 77. Oh, geez. It was ridiculous. Wow.

That's his. All right, Parker, final thoughts here as we wrap it up. We want to let you get back to the game. We can see what you're doing. You're watching the games and you're not hanging out.

You're trying to multitask. I've got. I've got the corner of my eye on this Kentucky Santa Clara game about ahead into overtime, but it's going to be an exciting day of basketball. Looking forward to the games later this afternoon. This late afternoon window will be fantastic.

Headlined by the Tennessee Volunteers taught a very tough matchup with Miami, Ohio, and then Hofstra taking on Alabama without their starting guardian Holloway. Two of the most interesting matchups I'm looking forward to today. Guys, I put it all on Tennessee. I'm nervous. We'll see.

I'll be honest, I would too. I would be nervous. That's not helpful. That's not helpful, partner. By the way, can you help us out?

How is Helen doing? I think she picked Hawaii to win something. Is that right? No, Virginia. Yeah.

Virginia. Virginia is doing good. She warned me that she was going to take Hawaii. I steered her otherwise. Thankfully, she picked Arkansas.

They looked very good in their win yesterday. By the way, this is breaking news from Cheryl, our advertising director at KWAM Parker, Kentucky, just made an incredible last-second three-point shot to take it into overtime. Unreal five exclamation marks. A crazy game indeed. I was watching it earlier and looking forward to getting back to overtime here as we get into an exciting day here.

All right. Good. Cheryl, go sell something. You're supposed to be selling advertising. Everybody's watching basketball today.

All right. Parker May, always good to see you, my friend. Great work. We'll talk next week. Thank you, Todd.

Have a good one. All right. There you go. Just I know a lot of people are into the whole basketball thing, and we're doing the brackets here. And I got a lot of money riding on this.

What, five bucks? A whole five bucks, yeah. Five bucks? Yeah, that's right. Tennessee to win it all.

Are we supposed to tithe? Do we have to tithe? Are we allowed to tithe? You're getting taxed. Taxed.

Oh, geez. All right. We got to take a break here. Going right back to the phones. Open line Friday, 901-260-5926.

This is the Todd Starn Show. Facts like Chuck Norris once challenged Lance Armstrong in a Who Has More Testicles contest. Chuck Norris won by five. You are. This is the sort of stuff You know, we've selected 10 for you.

So we want, yeah, it's all true.

So we want you to read them off for us, Chuck. Here we go. These are 10 of them right here. And number 10 is when Chuck Norse does push-ups, he doesn't push himself up, he pushes the earth down. I like that.

There are no steroids in baseball, only players Chuck Norse has breathed on. Shooting. The fucking honey. I don't know. Believe me.

Something, these ought to be screenplay writers here. Rather than being birthed like a normal child, Chuck Norse instead decided to push his way out. Punch his way out. Punch his way out. Chuck Norse once shot down a German fighter plane with his finger by yelling, bang.

Chuck Norse doesn't churn butter. He roundhouse kicks the cows and the butter comes straight out. All right, a little bit of Chuck Norris humor as we remember the late, great Chuck Norris. All right, let's go to the phone lines here. Welcome back to the Todd Stearns Radio Show, 901-260-5926.

On this open line Friday, let's say hello to Mike, Clear Lake City, Texas. Mike, what's on your mind today?

Well, let me real quick. A Chut Norris joke? When Superman goes to bed, He puts on his Chuck Norris pajamas. I love it.

I love it.

I've been listening to your show all week, as I usually do most of it, and you haven't covered any of the. uh high school age student led ICE protest that took place all last week during spring break.

Now, we had been talking about them, and I don't think we've talked about them this week. Have you guys been dealing with that problem in Texas?

Well, no, that's the point. with a whole week and all that time on their hands. No ice protests.

Well, of course, it's spring break.

So you're telling me that without any teachers or teachers' unions to. Orchestrate them or classes to cut or anything like that, they decided it wasn't really worth it. Mike, you raise a very fair point here, and it goes back to the argument that these were not organic protests. The kids had no idea what they were protesting, and this was all organized by the activist and, quite frankly, many teachers and administrators.

Well, yeah, I just wanted to point that out: the fact that there was taking place last week when they had all that time on their hands. And nothing happens. Kinda Little bit suspicious, I think. Mike, you've you raise a great point. Let's go to Salem, Oregon.

Ron. Ron, why does the Republican Party keep losing? One, they're not proactive. Two, they don't want to talk to people. Three, they want to basically use the tech.

Data, data. Four. Groot people like Groot is compared to Lauren Trump and Michael Watley have been losing all the way through, just like in twenty seven twenty eighteen. Just like when Paul Ryan was running in the house. The common denominator is they do not want to reach out.

And if you as one of the fiery lines that will stand for liberties and reach out to the base and people not your base, but you come at them for constitutional principles, parental rights and everything, they will throw you under the bus and back over a a manure truck over you. The main point that I'm trying to say, and I'm looking right here in Oregon. Is this Its conveniences over Overall liberty shall we shall not have liberty. just like reverse from Ben Franklin says. And the last thing I will say is, John Gruders, he's been silent, but it's asked me this question.

Why would you have meetings during time when people work? Oh, that's a good question. I have wondered that. Yeah, a lot of the Republicans do that. Ron, great comments.

Folks, gotta take a break. Statesville, North Carolina. We've got a treat for you coming up next. All right, welcome back, everybody. Open line Friday on the Tom Stearns Radio Show.

So I'm in this weird algorithm again.

Now, you know, I was getting the elephants giving birth algorithm. And Dylan, it makes absolutely no sense. And then what did I get into? There was another weird algorithm. Oh.

Kittens. I got into a kittens, like little tiny cats. I I got into one of those algorithms. Yeah. It was weird.

It's mostly animals. Mostly animals, but now I'm in the price is right algorithm. And I saw this, it and actually. The only reason I clicked on it was because they said this is the best price is right contestant ever. And the history of the price is right.

And I thought, wow, I'm going to have to watch that. And it turns out the guy, did you see the video? Oh, yeah, I saw it. It's pretty great. It's pretty great.

So it turns out the guy is from Statesville, North Carolina, which is home to WSIC. And I thought, holy cow, this is great. All right. So, this is the best contestant ever on the price is right. Michael exactly 2148 His bid is 2148.

That's an interesting bid. How did you settle on 2148? I seen that on there last week and that was the exact price. I know that's what it is. Ha ha ha.

Ha ha ha ha. I want to every game!

Now you were laughing and you didn't hear what else he said. He says he watches every day.

Now if he wins this, you'll see that loyalty to this show paid off. What do you bid, Scott? Why bid it all? He has the exact price.

Well, what are the bids so far? The bids so far are $1,700 and $2148. $1,800. $1,800, Noel. $1,500.

$1,500 for her.

Now.

Now wait. Wait a minute here. Michael is already leaping around down there. He says he's got it.

Now we'll just find out whether you got it or not. We have a lot of scooters, you know. First number is two. Two thousand one forty-eight. Exactly right.

You got it exactly right. Wow, how about that?

So, this guy's name is Michael Marlowe, who was from Statesville, North Carolina, and was on the price is right. Made it on the front page of the local newspaper. This was like it back in 2018, I believe. Uh when he was on the prices right. But he watched.

What was it? He watched it last week and they had the same price. He studied. That's one way to do it. That's one way to do it.

Sure did.

So he and a buddy apparently flew out in the whole nine yards.

So, wow, what a crazy story that is.

So, anyway, 901-260-5926. That's 901-260-5926. By the way, we're getting some breaking news here, Dylan. Breaking news now on the Todd Starn Show. This from the exclusive reporting of the Babylon B Dateline Pearlie Cates.

A group of seraphim guarding the gates of heaven was terrified by the sudden appearance of legendary martial arts and action star Chuck Norris, who passed into glory. Fear not, Norris reportedly said. to the trembling angels as he arrived in a flash of bright light. I bring you good tidings of great joy. I have roundhouse kicked my mortal coil to join you here in heaven.

I just can't. I can't go on. Ah, all right. Let's go to the phones. 901-260-5926.

Mike in Memphis, Tennessee. Mike, what's on your mind? Greetings, Todd. Hey, yesterday, when you had talked about Joe Kent, I've looked. I can't find anywhere where it says that he resigned after learning he was the subject of an investigation by the FBI, and I was hoping you had a source or something because I can't find it.

Well, the reporting is out there that he was reportedly under FBI investigation. Again, for leaking. Again, classified intelligence documents, and the reporting is that he leaked it to Tucker Carlson.

Now this is coming from well, I'll just read the the CBS News the CBS News and BBC reporting is that he is under investigation and connection and that the the investigation actually happened before he resigned. But he didn't know that he was under investigation, is the point. You said he knew, and that's. was something that he knew prior to resigning. And that's what I couldn't verify is that he knew that he was being investigated.

What have you been able to verify, Mike? Because clearly you have better sources than every single news agency on the planet.

So tell us about your sources. What are your sources telling us?

Well, it's it's the same thing. I listened to the slides. Mm-hmm. I Clearly, you're missing the point. The point is.

No, clearly, I'm not. You're making allegations, and I'm asking: where's your facts? You've not been able to provide the source. But one thing that he did say, and look, it's a shame. Right now, you got.

an entire Epstein list full of cannibals and pedophiles that are not being prosecuted, but mister Kent exposes that the war was released because of what, the benefit of Israel for Greater Israel project, and he's now being investigated? Come on.

Well, do you believe that President so who do you who are you going to side with here? Are you going to side with Joe Kent or do you side with President Trump? Because both of them are telling very different stories.

So who do you believe? Yeah, I side with the truth. And when the president said he was going to do one thing and does something completely different. And they knew they were going to invade before he had this speech on the, what was it, the fourth when they had the speech to America about how great things were, they knew they were going to invade. It was planned.

They had the strategic information well in advance long ago. They had the ships in place. They had the assets in place. And now they're spending, what, two hundred billion dollars more and we can't even find jobs that will pay above minimum wage. The people are being laid off right and left, and you got, what, AI factories everywhere so they can do surveillance on us.

And they're building what, these detention camps with incinerators to dispose of bodies. fifty billion dollars going backdoor through the Navy so they can have these incinerators and these warehouses converted into detention centers. This is crazy. This is a remake of Nazi Germany.

So so you're accusing who are you accusing of being Nazis here in your reporting?

Well, the deep state. I mean, the president. And who is the deep state? Who is the deep state?

Okay, your entrenched government agents that are running the show because of the globalist bankers and the corporations that are behind everything. Give me a name. Give me a name, though. I hear this all the time, but I never actually hear a name. Who is the deep state?

Are you talking about Donald Trump?

Well, he's just a Tool of the deep state. The globalist bankers are the Rothschilds, the Rockefellers, the Warburgs. Look at the people that own the central bank since 1913 when this country was hijacked. We've had no conversation.

So you're blaming the Jews for everything. The Jews are responsible for all the problems. Is that what you're saying here? Is that where we're going? No, that's where you're going.

No, I'm just asking. You're saying that President Trump is a tool, and I'm trying to understand exactly who's who's pulling the strings here. Who are the modern day Nazi people that you're talking about?

Well, look at the operation they're running. They've got Like that. Look, the Rothschilds, the Rockefellers, the Warburgs, All these people are the globalist bankers that are controlling this government. Look at the AIPAC people. All of Congress, you asked them, are you?

Oh, the Jews. I knew we were getting around to the Jews eventually. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. It's not a religious thing. This is a cult.

Let me ask you, are you Israel first or America first? I'm always America first, but I also support the nation of Israel, which happens to be our closest ally.

So I've got no problem saying that at all. By the way, I want to go back to something here. And again, this is the reporting from Fox News channel, not just CBS, not just the BBC. But Fox News saying that sources are telling them the FBI investigation into Kent had been underway for weeks before his departure. And the whole point of this is that he knew he was under investigation or got wind that he was under investigation and decided to pull the parachute and get out so that he could frame the investigation as he was coming under attack.

For not backing the administration. And whether or not you want to believe that, we shall see. But if this guy, who was, by the way, not allowed to go into briefings anymore, and my whole point was he should have been fired on the spot. He should not have been allowed to resign. If somebody is leaking.

classified intelligence, they need to get the heave ho immediately.

Well, just look at the information that's been released and look at the fact that he was under investigation without his knowledge, and there's no proof that he knew it. And to claim that he knew it, and that's why he left, That doesn't jive well. People are listening. We're paying attention. We want people to be honest with us.

And when you've got detention camps being built and the background is available. Where are the detention camps being built? I must have missed that. Is that happening in Mississippi or Alabama?

Well, yeah, there's one in Mississippi, there's one in Missouri. You know about that. What was it? The senator. Asked them not to build it and they were not.

No, for the illegals. Are you talking?

So, what do you so now are you alleging? What's I'm just confused here.

So, you have a problem with these detention centers that are being built to house the illegals before they get deported? With high volume biological incinerators, yeah. Oh, wait, so so you're and Okay. I'm sorry. Let me see if I get the I just want to make sure I get this straight.

So, you believe that the government is incinerating the illegals in these detention centers? No, no, no. Political dissidents, that's what they're going to be housing. Look, if you've got an illegal, you deport them. What those are for are detaining political dissidents and people that are opposed to the war.

Oh, I see. Has anybody been incinerated yet?

Well, that's a good question. I don't know. I don't have that information. But why would they be putting incinerators in detention camps? There wouldn't be.

It's a biological incinerator designed for disposing of people. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, that's about all I can handle today. All right.

Thank you, Mike. Oh Hmm. Yeah, I agree, Dylan. I think we do need to install the wet bar. I think we do.

Mm-hmm. What's I need a Dr. Pepper right now. I'll get you one. 901-260-5926, our telephone number.

Let's go to John in Kentucky. John, please tell me we're not talking about aliens or the Rothschilds. Or incinerators. In Alabama. I will tell you what.

Go have a Baptist martini on me, my brother. Please make it a double Baptist martini, okay? You can have that, and I'll just have a bourbon and Coke, okay? Then we'll both be happy, okay? Sit on the porch.

Wouldn't sit on the porch and make fun of this guy.

Okay. I want to make fun of the guy. I'm just trying to understand, but he genuinely believes that people are being incinerated somewhere in Alabama. I don't have any idea, but you know, Todd, that's just who he is. But anyhow, let me just say this.

Let me well, let me say this, though. I mean, again, if you're talking about incederating, we don't do that in the South. It's always low and slow. I mean, that's the rule when it comes to barbecue, low and slow. Yeah, grab hands.

I'm sorry, go ahead, John. Yeah. Okay, Todd, your joy to talk to. Todd, I just want to make this quick point. I know you're speaking time.

Today, Sergeant Benjamin N. Pennington is coming home. That you're doing a dignified transfer from Fort Knox. You know, he was one of the soldiers that died in the attack. The um drawn attack.

And he's coming home today to Kentucky. And I just want to say thank first of all to his family Thank you for your serve. Thank you for your son. and we honor your family. And I just wanted to say that.

But also, I just want to put this out to the politicians specifically on this area. If you try to make a political statement about this young man's death, If you have any inkling of doing that, You're messing with the wrong people. You need to shut up and let the family be honored, and let this young man's death be honored. for sacrificed. And as a veteran, my wife a veteran, Todd, you've always had our six.

And you've always had the six of those families that have lost loved ones. These politicians need to shut the heck up. You need to stop, but more than likely they never will, but I just needed to put that out there.

Okay. These this young man's death as well as the other one, a family Ashley Pruick, she died in the one refueler accident that crashed. They signed on the Donned Line. They raised the right hand. They knew the risks involved, and they did it without question.

They did it because they wanted to honor and protect their countries.

So all you politicians that try to make political points with their deaths, You need to shut the hell up. Yeah. And I hope that that comes back. and get your bet butts voted out of office. And Todd, I just need to put that out there.

And I also wanted to say this to you personally as a veteran. And anything else, Todd? You are one of the best and honorable men I have ever had the honor of listening to. and you have some of the best staff in the country. And I hope the good the good Lord allows me some day To give shake your hand and give you a brotherly, brotherly hug in Christ.

Because Todd, you've always had our sixes. And I just wanted to let you know about this young man and this young lady. And thank you so much for doing what you do for the veterans community, our active duty. And I'm getting emotional here, but thank you, brother.

Well, thank you, thank you for that, brother. Thank you for that, Pastor John. Greatly appreciate it. And thank you for those kind words. And we certainly appreciate you listening.

And folks, we're going to have to take a quick break here. Before we do go to break, I do have some breaking news to share out of Memphis, Tennessee. Breaking news now on the Todd Starn Show. Yeah, and this is certainly sad news for many folks in the Memphis area. We have just received word that our good friend, and he was a longtime friend, Pastor Steve Gaines from Bellevue Baptist Church.

He was the pastor emeritus, had entered hospice just a few days ago. We can now confirm that Pastor Steve Gaines has died. He was 68 years old. And just what a wonderful man. He and his wife, Donna, spent time with me in New York City.

And just one of the good guys in the pulpit of America, and just an incredible preacher and just incredible ministry there at Bellevue Baptist Church, by the way, one of the largest churches in America, based right here in the Memphis area. He was 68 years old, and certainly hope that you will pray for Brother Steve's precious wife, Donna, Miss Donna, and the entire family had a very large family. And also, pray for our friends at Bellevue Baptist Church as they begin the mourning process. But also, knowing that Pastor Steve woke up just a little while ago in glory and probably walking the streets of gold with our good buddy Chuck Norris at this very moment. Because as we know, for Christians, those who follow Christ are.

Well, this is not the end. All right. Got to take a break. We'll be right back. All right.

Wow, what a weird day. What a weird week, actually. It's been a lot of fun, though. And by the way, if you missed any of the interviews we've done, Kathy Lee Gifford, Senator Tommy Tubberville, we had a lot of folks coming on the show this week. I want you to go to our website, ToddSterns.com, and download our free podcast, one of the fastest-growing podcasts in the conservative world.

And we sure would be honored if you got a subscription. Again, free of charge, and we don't share your information. All right, it's been a lot of fun. We're going to see you tonight, 5 o'clock Eastern. Congressman John Rose, Congressman Brandon Gill joining us on the Todd Stern Show on Newsmax.

In the meantime, we'll be back behind the microphone on Monday. Get out there. Have a great Friday, everybody. And whatever you do, be sure to go to church this weekend.