The secret Democrat election autopsy report was leaked to media outlets...guest host Jeff Stein has a few ideas of why it came out at this point in the 2026 election cycle.

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Ready for the perfect spring getaway? Visit crystalcoastnc.com slash booking now. Live from the Liberty University Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, it's common sense conservative commentary from Todd Starn. I love this American Wherever you are listening across this, the greatest nation God ever blessed, welcome to an open line Friday edition of the Todd Starns Radio Program. Hello, fellow Patriots.

I'm Jeff Stein, filling in for Todd today. No, nothing's wrong. This was on the schedule for Todd to be away. We know that you all keep very close tabs on our friend Mr. Starnes and his activities, and all is well.

And it gives me the opportunity as we head into this long holiday weekend to connect with you, Starnes Nation. Open Line Friday, as noted, we've got some wonderful guests, but always time for you at 901-260-5926. That's 901-260-5926, same number you are used to using when you call into the Liberty University studio. Coming up in this hour of the program, just after the bottom of the hour, a return guest, he's the noted financial journalist Dennis Neal, his new book, Auric Goner's: How One State Chased Away Businesses and People. That was released not long ago.

We're going to talk to Dennis Neal about that and what lessons it could teach the rest of the nation. Dennis Neal, coming up. At the bottom of this hour. And if you're with us for the second hour, and I hope you will be, another return guest, he's the noted historian and author Craig Shirley with some thoughts about the true meaning of Memorial Day. It is far more than hot dogs and brats on the grill.

Craig Shirley, coming up in just about an hour. And again, your calls in and around it all at 901-260-5926. Yesterday, CNN Published a report indicating that they had been leaked this. 2024 Democrat Election Autopsy Report.

Now, this has been something that's been talked about in the 24 hours or so since CNN broke the news, and then the DNC, the Democrats, were forced to release an official version with some of their notes in the margins.

So you've heard a bit about this already. But I'm finding it fascinating why the thing was looked at this time.

So first let's Established that the document, somebody on the inside of the DNC, Somebody who had this draft. of this autopsy, this postmortem, this How did we screw it up so badly in 2024 report?

Somebody on the inside with a copy of this. Released it. to CNN, leaked it to CNN. Why did they do that? And of course, it then forced The DNC to release the whole 192-page draft document with some footnotes.

Now this could have been orchestrated By the DNC, in other words, the leak was targeted to a friendly news outlet, CNN, Chicken Noodle News. It was uh could very well have been orchestrated in that way. But why? Why now? Why at this time?

I have a few thoughts, and I'd be interested to hear yours as well. nine oh one two six zero five nine two six. The report does no favors. to Camela Harris. The report suggests that the Biden White House did not properly prepare her.

For the eventuality of a national campaign to be Biden's successor. I find that conclusion to be interesting. because it ignores a few aspects of history. First of all, Con Harris was a United States Senator from California. and ran for President herself in the twenty twenty campaign.

Now granted, she did such an abysmal job in terms of wasting campaign money, in terms of not connecting with people on a one to one basis, she pulled out of the race before the calendar year twenty twenty had even begun. She and people like Cory Booker pulled out before the Iowa caucuses because they said they would have to be in the Senate for the Trump impeachment trial. Because, of course, senators serve as jurors in that situation. It was a convenient way for them to avoid being embarrassed. With a very low level of support in the Iowa caucuses and then the New Hampshire primary, but Kamala Harris has a record.

As a candidate. It was no surprise to anyone. She put the stiff arm in Biden's face during that one debate. With a story that was not quite true about being the girl waiting for the school bus, etc. But she had no people skills in connecting with voters.

She had no management skills. That's why the campaign hemorrhaged money. Despite all of the wonderful media, that she got. about this is the future She failed. Flat out failed.

It is not too much of a stretch to suggest that her. Ascension to the vice presidential spot on the ticket. was part of the Biden DEI hire effort. You see it now in the Supreme Court, and oh my, isn't that going well So the fact that the White House did not properly prepare her.

Well, first of all, they had to know going in what they had. Maybe they tried. There's the suggestion in this post-mortem report. That she wasn't given the opportunity to do things that would then elevate her standing. I seem to recall an awful lot of the time in the Biden-Harris administration when Joe didn't know what to do with something, he put her in charge of it.

She was the Border Czar, as you'll recall. A name that they did not resist using at the beginning and then ran away from it when it went so horribly bad. she was put in charge of various things, none of which did very well. If in fact she was not ready. To run for president?

What makes us think she was ready to be president? And if you're the vice president. Your heart beat away. Especially When the guy in the job is north of 80 years of age. And I say that as someone who's getting to that point himself.

The fact of the matter is, the older the person in the top job, the better the likelihood that the number two is going to be forced to step in.

So they did nothing to get her ready to be president. She was such a horrible candidate, did they not even have her ready for The eventuality of the job? Contrast that by the way. with the Trump 2.0 administration. Donald Trump Is in his upper 70s, but you wouldn't know it.

He's got the energy of three people, much less somebody. Of the Biden age, you put the two of them next to one another, it was very clear who's got the staying power. But unfortunately, because the left, Seems to think it's okay to criticize and demonize. anything associated with Trump. There have now been not one, not two, but three attempts on his life.

So while he is healthy as opposed to Biden, There are nefarious forces. That all being said, Donald Trump has left a letter for J.D. Vance in the Resolute desk. This came out of course during the China trip. Trump has left a letter in the desk for Vance should it, and we pray it never is needed, but should it be needed.

That's how you prepare people. You confront the situation. and address it.

So they say she wasn't ready, and the White House didn't get her ready. If that's the case... Do you suppose that this report was leaked now, because Kamala seems to be showing up an awful lot? There was that abysmal book launch. But now she's showing up all over the place.

If you sample The left-wing news outlets, you'll see that she is well in demand as a public speaker on the stage with the microphone, ripping off profanity and laughing about it.

So are they? Trying to blunt any Harris in 2028 talk. In other words, they all know on the inside how bad it was. And so let's get this report out there that Blames the Biden White House, but yet it makes it very clear that she is flawed. Do we get that out there?

Is that one of the reasons? The DNC chair, Ken Martin. made a big deal about getting this report. And then said And I don't think I want to release it. it's going to get in the way of the midterm election.

And we did so well as Democrats in the general elections of 2025. We don't want anything to get in the way of 2026.

Well, we find out. that the report is a half-hearted effort. at best, and makes no conclusion. In other words, it's a draft that's not finished. But they rush it out there.

Is the leak because there are some who don't think Ken Martin? is an effective DNC chair. That they're really trying to get him out.

Well, good luck, 'cause who wants the job? Politico is reporting. And by the way, Politico is not necessarily. friendly to Donald Trump. I think that's a charitable way to phrase it.

Politico is reporting that now that this draft report has come out, which appears to be pretty shaky. In terms of Preparation in terms of what the the lack of conclusions, etcetera. It's not a help to Democrats, in other words. There are a lot of people saying, okay, somebody's got to take charge of the DNC. Because we don't have messaging, we don't have candidates, we don't have anything.

This is an opportunity. We need to make some changes. Nobody wants the job. Witness Politico's reporting. There was a buzz out there yesterday that maybe they need a new head of the Democratic National Committee.

Well, let's look to former Montana U. S. Senator John Tester. He's plain spoken, that'll speak well to the middle of the country. He can raise money.

Sure, let's go for Tester.

So Politico playbook called Tester. And they quote him as saying, when they ask the question. Get the H out of here. he tells them, and then says, Are you on illegal substances?

Now again. Could have been a fair question. But the bottom line is, when John Tester is asked, would you like to be the head of the DNC, what do you think of these rumors? he's like, get off my phone. You people are high.

It shows just how disorganized the Democrats continue to be.

Now, don't get overconfident come November. There are some issues on the other side of the spectrum as well. But this report being leaked And being as poor as it is? and all of the buzz about it going into a long holiday weekend? It seems to be very purposeful by people who have an agenda.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on it. Call us 901-260-5926. We'll take a short break now, and your calls on the other side. Jeff Stein filling in for Todd on the Todd Star and Show. Hey guys, quick heads up, this is actually a big one.

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If you'd like to join the Coast to Coast Conversation, we've been talking so far today about this. Democratic National Committee election autopsy report that was leaked to CNN yesterday, and then the draft was released by the DNC. They were shamed into doing it, put a few notes on there for disclaimers, et cetera. I suggested in the last segment that it might have been leaked at this time. Perhaps there are some at the DNC not thrilled with how Ken Martin is handling things.

Certainly not thrilled with how they handled this issue. It may also be because Kamala Harris has been resurfacing, and they want to remind everyone what a mess she was in trying to blunt her attempt to get back in the national conversation. But what's really interesting about the whole thing is that very little in the report.

Now again, the report is supposed to tell Democrats why they failed so miserably. in November of twenty twenty four. But very little in the report touches on a critique of policy. Instead, It talks about messaging. They did not have effective enough television ads.

Their social media was not as robust. They did not have the candidate in the proper venue for getting her message across Again, It's all messaging. It has nothing to do with the fact that their policies were so out of step with America that Donald Trump swept The swing states. They are talking about fixing how to communicate as opposed to saying, Maybe we communicate just fine. They just don't like what we have to say.

In other words, There are issues that Americans find to be important. And they don't square with what the Democrats are advocating.

Now, some of the analysis in this report. And I'm only going to talk about it a couple of more minutes, and then we'll move on.

Some of the parts of the report talk about, hey, we should not focus on abstract issues. We need to talk about issues that citizens find important. Gosh, you think? This is a quote from the report. Voters have come to believe they are not included.

In the party's larger vision, quoting again. Millions of Americans are suffering. Yet continue to be persuaded to vote against their best interests because they do not see themselves reflected in the America of the Democratic Party.

Now you may know Democrats, they may be friends and family members. But here's what I'll tell you about what I see on the TV box. When I see a group of folks in the left side of the spectrum protesting. It's a freak show, people. I mean, these are people I don't see on the streets every day.

I they can't all be bussed in from one central casting house across the country for these things, but This doesn't look like me. You look at a group of Democrats protesting. They are at the far end of the spectrum. Of course, folks see that and say, I don't really think I want to be a part of that. It is a clown car.

And the policies that they appear to want to go to the mat to support. It's the absolute opposite. of what the country was built upon, and it's the opposite. of what we know to be common sense.

So again, Democrats, if you want to focus on messaging as your problem, go ahead. The problem's your issues, but if you want to focus on messaging, You go do that. Dennis Neal on Oregon Gonners after this bottom-of-the-hour break. Jeff Stein in for Todd. Thanks for being along on the Todd Starring Show.

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Next time you're driving, remember to give buses plenty of time and space to finish turning before driving ahead. Let's all plan to share the road safely. Learn how at www.sharetheroadsafely.gov. Welcome back to the Liberty University studio in the Todd Star and Show, Jeff Stein filling in for Todd today. Nothing to worry about.

It was a scheduled day off for Todd away from the radio studio. Open line Friday, 901-260-5926. We'll take your calls in the next segment. Go to Amazon.com and order your copy of The Golden Age: How Trump Saved America and the Future of MAGA, the author, of course, Todd Starnes. Its release date now is July 7th.

Go order that right now, so you'll be sure to have it right after the America 250. And if you need something to read in the meantime, why don't you go to Amazon.com and pick up a copy of the brand new book called Oregoners: How One State Chased Away Businesses and People. The author, the great financial journalist Dennis Neal, who joins us now on the Patriot Mobile newsmaker line. Mr. Neal, welcome back to the program.

It's great to talk to you, Jeff Stein, and I'm you're doing a great job sitting in the seat of the great Todd Starns. My only question is, why didn't Todd hire me to write that book for him?

Well, you're busy writing your own, trying to save the state of Oregon and the rest of us, and that leads me to wonder you can only write one book at a time, right? What led you to do this extensive research on Oregon? How did that become a test case for your reporter's notebook? You know, as I was working on my previous book, The Leadership Genius of Elon Musk, which you were kind enough to have me on your show to talk about. You know, Elong talks so much about that woke mind virus.

And in the fall of 2025, Trump wants to send 200 National Guard troops to the ICE site. In Portland, Oregon, where it's been under siege for 100 nights, you know, and I thought that seems pretty reasonable. But no, every local official outrage and they came out against it, and Trump's so terrible. And I just thought they are blinded and brainwashed. They've gone so liberal, so crazy insane, that they no longer can recognize sanity.

And so I started to report on it. And I was just astonished that such bad outcomes could come out of raising taxes so high, and yet the Democrat liberal voters just keep voting in the same people over and over again. And I figured it was time for an outsider I've lived in I've lived in Brooklyn for forty plus years to come in there and tell them, Hey, you guys are heading in the wrong direction. You're in trouble. Molly, you're in danger, girl, as Whoopi Goldberg said in the movie Ghost.

Yeah.

Well, is anybody listening? I mean, are the people in Oregon. You kept getting a lot of The great HarperCollins, one of the world's biggest publishers, fantastic job on my Elon book. But it it took nine months to get that thing out the door after I turned in the manuscript. Amazon, two weeks.

And it's already hit number one in three different categories, and it's rising with a bullet in four others.

So I'm real proud of it. It's a fat face. argument for liberal policies that have just gone way too far. Jeff, this is a state in trouble, as beautiful as it is, and graced with amazing natural resources, It's got thousands of people and jobs leaving. It's got timber companies.

It's one of the biggest timber lands in in in the world really, but it's got its own timber companies investing hundreds of millions of dollars in North Carolina, where the rules are less strangling of the ability to log. I mean, it it spends over seven hundred million a year in the Portland metro area. on homelessness. And yet their ranks went up 64% in two years by an official account. Um it's just craziness and there's no accountability.

You know, The spending at the state, local, and county level is going up. More than double in 10 years, but their employees have gone up only 8 to 15 percent. How does that happen? It's because they're handing money hand over fist to NGOs. They have no accountability and no real way of checking to make sure they're spending the money in a good way.

Our people Voting with their feet? In other words, they could stay and fight and run for office, etc. Or are there significant blocks of people who say, Okay, you folks are crazy, I'm getting out of here? That's what my whole book is about, and it's why it's called Oregoners, because so many people are leaving that place behind. And I profile some of them, and I profile others who cannot leave.

They would if they could. But then, since the book came out, I've talked to a couple of those. People who were trapped there who now give it up and they're moving anyway. The owner of the vinyl resting place. Steve Cook.

That was once an answer in a Jeopardy show about it selling albums. What is an album?

Well, he can't leave, right? He's got thousands of records in that store. He's got 20, 30 years there. And yet, I talked to him the other day. He's leaving.

He's moving out. Charles Froelich, owner of the Froelich Art Gallery in downtown Portland. 30 years he's there, major fundraiser for AIDS and for gay groups. And yet, the liberal community he was part of turned on him during COVID when he raised question about what are you asking for a vax ID for? And they just devastated him.

Well, he's now leaving. And so you've got Intel cutting back and going elsewhere. You've got the famous Dutch Brothers Coffee, maker of sweet, high-energy drinks. Founded in Grants Pass, Oregon, insisted it would never move, move its headquarters to Arizona to be closer to its higher growth markets. Origoners, How One State Chased Away Businesses and People.

It's the brand new book by our guest, Dennis Neal. You get it through Amazon, hardcover, paperback, Kindle. I don't know, it's probably in chalk on a rock. You could probably buy it there. You get everything else at Amazon.

But Origoners is the new book, and Mr. Neal joins us on the Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line. As I recall when we were talking on the radio, as you were putting this together. This is not only A properly sourced and reported journalistic tale of what went wrong there. It's also a cautionary tale for anybody else willing to listen, is it not?

It sure is. And voters had a big message to send the Democrats. The Democrat Party has lost its way. It's gone way too liberal. It's gone way too low.

when people care about the nuts and bolts issues of high taxes and bad service for those high taxes. And this is happening in blue states everywhere, that divide between this urban blue center and a red rural area. You're seeing it in Washington State and California and Colorado. Yeah.

They've just gone so liberal that they no longer look at the actual outcomes. Here they spend $20,000 a year per student. That's in the top one-third of states in Oregon. And yet, their fourth grader's math is ranked 48th in the nation. Their reading ranks 46th in the nation.

What are they getting for that money? And in Portland, they have 1993 levels of cops. Top employment, only 800. And And yet you know, it takes them nineteen minutes to respond to a violent four one one uh nine one one call. And so they're just getting really bad service for this.

And we see this in other blue areas, right? You know, the thing is, New York, where I live for forty plus years, so big, so diverse, that it takes a longer time for the effects of bad policy to show up, and they don't show up maybe as sh sharply. But Oregon is so small, 4.2 million people, 2.2 million of them in that Portland urban area up there in the top left corner of the state. It's so small that the bad effects of those policies show up sooner and they show up in sharper relief. And so that is why Oregon is a canary in the coal mine for blue states, everywhere else.

How quickly will it take for things to turn around? Should voters vote people into office who have that as their agenda as opposed to what's been happening? It's a great timing and a great question there, Jeff, because on Tuesday came the Oregon primary, and voters, 83% of them, voted to get rid of the $4.2 billion 10-year tax increase for the Transportation Department pushed through by Democrat Governor Tina Kotek, an 83% resounding defeat of one of her premier efforts. She called an emergency session of legislature to get that through because she said this is an emergency. Oh my gosh, we have to have this money.

It was just a gift to the government worker unions. And now voters have rejected it. And it's more than just Republicans. And she is vulnerable in the coming governor election. Christine Drazen, the Republican, ran against her in 2022, lost by only 3.5 percentage points to Tina Kotek.

And now they're going to face off in a rematch. And Christine's stronger this time around. And it could be that Oregon voters may. elect their first Republican governor since nineteen eighty two. And that would send a stark, scary message to Democrat parties in all of the other blue states that die if one of the most liberal states in the country, Oregon, can end up electing the first Republican governor over 40 years.

Your party is in trouble and you better fix it by swinging back to the middle. Oregon's How One State Chased Away Businesses and People, the brand new book. The author is Dennis Neal. Get it at Amazon in whatever format you like. I've only got 60 seconds and I'm going to shift topics if you'd be so kind.

We now have a new chair of the Federal Reserve sworn in today at a White House ceremony. That hasn't happened since Alan Greenspan's time. Give us your sense on the change at the Fed and what that might mean to folks listening. It's going to be slow and steady and patient rather than quick. He is only one vote on the, I think is it, twelve member or seventeen member panel that comes up with the interest rate policy.

So he has to work. He can't go in and just be a Trump shill. Also, we just had a 3.8% inflation number, 2.8% without food and fuel. And that's too high for the Fed to be able to come in and cut rates, which is what Trump wants them to do.

So it's going to be a while. The pace will be slower, but the economy is growing without inflation. I think inflation is going to be a temporary problem. They've said that before, but this time it's true. Dennis Neal's new book is called Oregoners.

It not only tells you how things got all messed up out there, but it's a cautionary tale for other states so that they don't fall in line the same way. Dennis Neal, thank you so much. Have a safe Memorial Day weekend. Appreciate your time today. You too, have a glorious weekend, sir.

I appreciate your time so much. Any time, the great Dennis Neal, our guest. Patriot Mobile Newsmaker Line is how we made the connection with Mr. Neal from his new home base after years away in New York at his home state of Florida. 901-260-5926.

If you'd like to react to that conversation or anything else, we'll take a break now back on the other side from the Liberty University studio, Jeff Stein, in for Todd. This is the Todd Starn Show. Welcome back to the Liberty University studio and the Todd starring show Jeff Stein filling in for Todd on this Open Line Friday. Join the conversation coast to coast 901-260-5926. Our guest in the last segment, Dennis Neal, his book, Oregoners, his prior book, The Leadership Genius of Elon Musk.

You can get those at the Amazon. And while you're there, of course, pre-order The Golden Age by Todd Starnes. That book is released just after Independence Day, and it's The Golden Age: How Trump Saved America and the Future of MAGA. I've got a Social Security update for you now. Seventy million Americans collect Social Security benefits today.

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So whether you're getting benefits now or you soon will, you need this Social Security report, and you can get it free by just making a simple phone call. eight hundred Nine nine nine. ninety six ninety. Again, that's 800-999-9690. We'll text it to you right now, along with President Trump's act cutting your Social Security taxes.

Information is power, and you'll get it by making one simple phone call. Call now, 800-999-2009. ninety six ninety again, eight hundred nine nine nine ninety six ninety and as always text and data rates may apply. Coming up in our next hour of this program, we'll pay tribute to those who wore the uniform and paid the ultimate sacrifice as Memorial Day 2026 is upon us. Our guest, returned guest on this program, is Craig Shirley.

He is the historian and author in two of his books. were tied to the World War two era, December 1941 and April 1945, the titles, and we'll talk with Craig Shirley about the impact of Memorial Day on society today, and we'll do that in just about ten minutes' time. Another return guest to the star and show, Brad Brandon, of Across Nigeria. comes up next hour. as well.

Now, we're going to finish this hour out, and most of the stations you're listening to will air network and local news and weather at the top of the hour. And this is the last day for one of the venerable radio networks. CBS Radio Network. The CBS Radio News, the well-known World News Roundup, the place where Edward R. Murrow and so many others broadcast from World War II.

All of that going away after ninety nine years. This is the last day. And you can say, well, good riddance, because it's been nothing but a liberal outfit for a long time. A couple of things I'd say in response. The first is that the television side and the radio side.

It all said CBS. But there was not a ton of overlap in terms of personnel or in terms of approach.

So the CBS radio news product Was not as off in the ditch as CBS television. has been. That said, it still was not some people's cup of tea, but many of the folks who Carry this program have had CBS Radio News and they found that it provides a good service. I'm never a fan when voices are silenced. And it is allowing some new voices, some new networks to be created.

It's causing quite a jumble in the radio industry because the news hit pretty much out of the blue a few months ago. But this This is the final day. For the CBS radio network. And again, fewer voices is not a good thing in the marketplace of ideas.

So, as CBS Radio News goes away today, CBS Television bid farewell. to uh the late show with Stephen Colbert last night. I stopped watching basically after the first week. Uh I grew up here in the State of Iowa I had a great affinity for Johnny Carson as a native Iowan. And I said this on this program before, but it bears repeating in light of.

all of the pearl clutching about uh the Colbert show being uh cancelled. Johnny Carson at his average The average number of people watching. Was something like four times as many as the current three shows combined.

Now say it again. Carson drew in four to five more four to five times more people. then the three, the Stephen and the two Jimmies, combined.

Now you could say, well, there are three of them, they split the audience. Yeah, well, in the aggregate, Still a Carson all the way. You could say, well, there are a lot of different options out there today. You don't understand.

Well, yeah, I understand. Fine. We have a lot more people out there too. But what was the difference? You didn't know Johnny's political views.

And it was successful. B, something for comedians to consider. One hour down, two more to go. Jeff Stein in for Todd. Thanks for being along on the Todd Starring Show.

Live from the Liberty University Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, it's America's conservative blowtorch. True. Hello. Love is American. Todd starts Wherever you're listening across this, the greatest nation God ever blessed, welcome to our two of an open line Friday edition of the Todd Starnes Show.

Hello, fellow Patriots, Jeff Stein, filling in for Todd today. Nothing wrong, scheduled day off for Mr. Starnes. Gives me a chance to connect with you coast to coast from the Liberty University studio. 901-260-5926.

That's how you can join our coast-to-coast conversation. We'll take your calls in the next segment, but I want to go right to the Patriot Mobile newsmaker line and welcome a return guest. He is the noted author, historian, Craig Shirley. Mr. Shirley is the author of a couple of books that should draw your attention as we look toward Memorial Day: December 1941, 31 Days That Changed America and Saved the World, and April 1945, The Hinge of History.

Craig Shirley, thanks so much for taking the time, sir. How are you? Oh, thank you, thank you. It's such a pleasure to be with you again. It is always an enlightening conversation when you're able to join us on the Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line.

And as we look toward Memorial Day, I get a sense that a lot of people are excited about a three-day weekend and the start of summer and all of these things. Do you think we truly take enough time to appreciate the reason we have the day off from work? Yeah, I frankly, I don't think we ever take enough time to appreciate Of the sacrifice so many men and women have made over the last 250 years. Uh, if I had my way, uh, you know, there'd be commemorations, there'd be more than just. Veterans Day and Memorial Day.

Not just as an historian, but also as an American citizen. You know, my father and two brothers were all in the military during World War Two. My uncle was shot down and killed in the Pacific. Uh and that that you know, that his death rippled through the family and still continues to ripple through the family.

So it's not something to be taken lightly. It's something to be really honored and remembered. And I would like to I would like I would frankly hope more Americans would would honor the sacrifice. As the Bible says, no greater love hath a man Been to lay this life for another.

Well, that's what these. That's what these patriots did beginning with this, the shot heard around the world. I like to say that if you're sitting down at a Memorial Day cookout or something of that nature, you're only able to do that because somebody died. And they died so that you could enjoy the freedoms that they were off protecting. And again, that sounds like a downer, but if we can't take at least a couple of days a year to honor those who wore the uniform, we don't deserve it.

Yeah, I I couldn't agree more. I couldn't agree more. This is that Uh it is that this should be the first thought.

Well, it should be his first thought in everybody's head many times During the year, not just on Memorial Day, but especially on Memorial Day, because it does honor. Every man and woman who laid down their lives begin originally beginning with this Civil War, but then extended to include all of all American veterans, not just Civil War veterans. We've talked previously on this and other radio programs about your books, December 1941 and April 1945. What attracted you to those topics or that period of history? Many people know you as a Reagan biographer, and you have the forthcoming book on Mr.

Trump that we'll spend a little time talking about. But what attracted you to the World War II era as an author? Oh, I love this question. Um you know um Every Sunday after church, our families uh would gather at my grandmother's house. uh for uh you know a big roast turkey or big uh big ham or something.

And around there was lace tablecloths and linen napkins, and around the table were aunts and uncles, and parents and grandparents. And I'm sitting there as a little child, just mesmerized by the conversation because Inevitably it turned toward the war. Uh my grandfather would like say, Well, I bought that DeSota before the war. But I didn't sell it till after the war. And they would talk about gas rationing and they'd talk about uh mixing oleo with you know, mix the the dye with oleo to make it more look more appealing.

And they talk about black oust and they talk about brown ousting it. I all three of my all two of my two of my grandmothers, they were both rosy deriveers. One one was tested machine guns. And the other was a bottom inspector. And I never got a really chance to ask my grandma what a bottom inspector did, but she was always using the riveter.

Uh so but the Striller family was not unique. Is that is that it's in the World War II Every family in America. uh committed their ultimate committed to their resources. They grew victory guards and they did scrap drives and they did rubber drives and they did paper drives and metal drives. And everybody contributed to the war effort.

It was truly. one of the few times in America we've been we've been we've been absolutely united. Um uh with that and uh and and then the uh months after uh September 11th. But those are really the only two times. Where America has really been united.

But I think I'd like to think that now. We I mean at least be united in our appreciation and our thanks. for those men and women who uh make the ultimate sacrifice. It makes me wonder If, heaven forbid, we were involved in a conflict, Of the scope of World War II, if the citizenry Because we're spoiled these days, let's face it. I mean, would the citizenry respond in the way necessary?

for the United States to prevail. That's a scary prospect. I think we have our lesson after september eleventh, is that nothing should have unified this country more. Than the terrorist attack of September 11th, and yet within months. We fell into fighting uh among ourselves about unit contracts and about About other things.

You know, partially I blame that on the political leadership is that, you know, George Bush was a good man. I worked for him. We were friends. But I always thought it was a mistake. And then mon in the month after September eleventh, he didn't call the American people to make sacrifices to give blood or to write letters to GIs overseas or you know, to to to make some type of sacrifice to win the war war against terrorism.

He told American people to go shopping. And that's not really uh an inspiring message. For national unity.

So we got I think we unfortunately you know, it depends on the leadership. It really depends on leadership. If we had if we had Ronald Reagan is president today, and there was a national uh c there was international crisis like like uh Nazi Germany uh you know declaring war on Poland and uh And in the starting World War Three, Uh you know, we have a strong political leadership. I think The American people might answer your call. But you but it but it does come down to leadership.

And so you know, what we had FDR fortunately we had the FDR during World War two who led the American people. I mean, you know, as as as as many criticisms as I have today, of the Great Deal. I cannot criticize FDR for World War two. his conduct. I mean George Winston Churchill And Franklin Rose was virtually saves the world from the scourge of Nazism and Japanese fascism.

Depending on the source you cite. It's around 415,000, 417,000 Americans died in the World War II conflict. More than 400,000 Americans died. They are to be honored every day, but certainly on Memorial Day. Craig Shirley is our guest for a few more minutes here on the Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line.

Do Americans realize how close We came to not winning World War II. I mean, for some of us, we hear about it's a great victory, et cetera, and we just assume that it's preordained. Yeah.

Most Americans don't even know where Pearl Harbor is. Is that we don't study history the way we used to, the way you and I did growing up. Is that they don't teach in public schools anymore.

So the idea that we to teach how close we came to losing World War two is not even a concept that's even understood by post-school teachers. Uh it's just understood by tho those people who who uh who you know like American history. Who self-teach themselves about American history, but not the or they're they take a college course in World War II, hopefully not from an ultra-leftist professor, and they're learning the truth about World War II. They're learning the truth about the sacrifice that was made in this country, about the about the about how many people, how many Americans died in that war, how many Canadians died in that war, how many British soldiers died in that war. Uh how many French soldiers died in that war?

We don't learn any of that anymore, and that's really that is a real tragedy. And in that vacuum, in that vacuum of history. is that you get presentism. Which is the fallacy of applying standards of today to the mores and behavior of people. 50 years ago, 100 years ago, 200 years ago.

Is that fair? to pass judgment on on George Washington's mother, Mary. For having slaves, because it was part of the culture, it was part of the system. Many people, not everybody, many people owned slaves. and defe make a moral judgment on her is unfair.

Or to make a moral judgment on on on FDR about Pearl Harbor is unfair because he somehow knew about it. He didn't know about it. I've researched that through fairly well. He did not know about it. Uh There was plenty of war warnings.

We knew war was coming. We believe the Japanese might attack the per might attack the Panama Canal, the West Coast of the United States. Uh the Philippines uh other other regions in the Western Central Pacific Uh Wake Island. Uh But we did but there was no concrete evidence that we actually knew they were going to do it. This is the kind of insight you get by reading books by Craig Shirley, December 1941, April 1945.

That ties to what we've been talking about. Of course, he's also the biographer of Mary Ball Washington, George Washington's mother, and coming from humanics books. They don't just have a Todd Starnes book coming out this July, they've got a Craig Shirley book coming out this July. Congratulations, Todd. Called Upheaval: A Clash of Cultures.

Craig Shirley, it is always a privilege. Thank you, sir. I hope you and yours have a very safe Memorial Day weekend. You too. Thank you so much.

And Mr. Shirley joined us on the Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line. Yes, the new book by Craig Shirley is called Upheaval: A Clash of Cultures Has to Do with the Last Election, Presidential Election. And Humanix is publishing that in July. And while you're there ordering that, why don't you order The Golden Age?

How Trump Saved America and the Future of MAGA. Todd Starn's, the author of The Golden Age. It's released July 7th. Get it now at Amazon or wherever you get your good books. And Mr.

Shirley, join us on the Patriot Mobile newsmaker line. We'll continue from the Liberty University studio in a moment. Jeff Stein in for Todd, and this is the Todd Starn Show. Back with you from the Liberty University studio. This is the Todd Starn Show.

I'm Jeff Stein filling in for Todd today. It's a scheduled day off for Mr. Starnes. Nothing serious, nothing of a negative nature. Just like to keep you all informed because I know you're going to ask.

We've got some sad news coming. There's a change in the administration, and it's not for any reason that we would ever wish upon anyone. The headline released just a couple of minutes ago: Tulsi Gabbard has resigned. as the Director of National Intelligence, She informed the President of this during a meeting today, her last day at The Office of National Intelligence will be June 30th. Her resignation letter indicates that her husband Abraham has recently been diagnosed with an extremely rare form of bone cancer.

Tulsi Gabbard says her husband faces major challenges in the coming weeks and months. Quoting, At this time I must step away from public service to be by his side and fully support him through this battle. And she uh cited um called him her rock through their eleven years of marriage, and that includes her political campaigns, deployment to East Africa, etc.

So again, the breaking news, and it is sad, the cause. Tulsi Gabbard is resigning as Director of National Intelligence. Her husband has recently been diagnosed with an extremely rare form of bone cancer. And so, of course, our thoughts and prayers are with them. And I'm sitting here in my radio studio in Iowa.

Which means we're the center of the universe every four years for presidential elections. And I'm looking right across this counter. And uh Tulsi Gabbard sat there in the summer of 2019, and her husband was the campaign photographer. And so I vividly remember as she and I are talking about the issues of why she was running as a Democrat for president in 2020. Here was her husband who was taking photos and all manner of things, working his way around the studio.

So really sorry to hear that news. But once again, the President will be looking for a new Director of National Intelligence. And again, for reasons, regardless of politics, you just don't want to hear.

Okay. Coming up after the bottom of the hour, we'll be speaking with a returned guest to the program. He is Brad Brandon of a group called Across Nigeria. And just to show you how Multifaceted the Trump administration is. There are some administrations, there are some people who can barely focus on one topic at a time.

President Trump got back from China and immediately. issued a raid that took down the number two ISIS commander in Nigeria. It's like they did they didn't even get the suitcases unpacked, and he was moving on because, again, they're able to do so many different things. Brad Brandon has been on the ground in Nigeria of late. He may actually be there now.

We'll find out. In just a couple of moments, when he joins us. Again, the CEO of Across Nigeria, Brad Brandon. Talking with us about that topic, and that's coming up in just a few moments. Then just after the top of the next hour, hour three of this program, we'll speak with Pete Sepp of the National Taxpayers' Union.

They are Very active as a group. NTU.org is the website. They're very active as a group looking at governmental policies, things that seem like taxes, even though they aren't called taxes. Pete Sepp of the National Taxpayers Union joining us on this program as well, a little more than a half hour from now. And it is open line Friday.

And so in and around these guests, we'd love to hear from you. 901-260-5926, same number as always. That's how you connect in this coast-to-coast conversation from the Liberty University studio. 901-260-59266. We're coming upon the Memorial Day holiday, and I say holiday, I hear people say happy Memorial Day.

That just doesn't make any sense to me, but I understand the sentiment. If you have a chance to get out, to your hometown commemoration. Whether it's the Legion that puts it on, etc., please do. is the least that you can do to show your support. And even if you're just out for a little walk, take a walk through and see all of the flags that are on display honoring those who wore the uniform and made the ultimate sacrifice so that we can live the kind of lives that we do in freedom in this country.

It's been my great privilege to tell stories of some war heroes at various Memorial Day commemorations over time, and it is definitely worth your attention, at least for a little bit, during the long weekend. We'll talk about Nigeria when we come back. Jeff Stein in for Todd. This is the Todd Starn Show. And first, I'd like to get your thoughts on what the president just had to say about the Democrat, James Tallarico, calling him a weird dude.

I know, I kind of think he's a dangerous dude. What say you? I totally agree with you, Todd. He is a deceptive guy, presenting himself as a Christian pastor, and yet. Very calmly espousing very anti-Christian views from his view on God being non-binary to his focus on Mary and abortion.

And all of his positions seem to be very anti-biblical, and yet, you know, people believe sometimes. Just as we saw Satan use the Bible against Jesus in the temptation of Christ, here we have a guy expressing his views on the Bible that are so seemingly anti-Christian.

Well, I know the president still has not made an endorsement here. I'm wondering how critical is that endorsement? We're just, what, about 11 days out from the runoff? All right, and that was a conversation Todd was having about the Texas race.

Well, again, the runoff is Tuesday. We now know that the president has endorsed Ken Paxton in the U.S. Senate race over John Cornyn. Welcome back to the Liberty University studio. Jeff Stein filling in for Todd on this Open Line Friday.

And I want to go to the Patriot Mobile newsmaker line. Return guest to the program.

Someone I've talked to on my programs in Iowa before. He's Brad Brandon. Mr. Brandon is CEO and founder of Across Nigeria. They are online, acrossnigeria.org.

Pastor Brandon, Jeff Stein in for Todd. Thanks so much for being on the program. How are you? Hey, I'm doing well. How are you doing?

Very well.

Now, am I to understand? Are you on the ground in Nigeria still? I am. I'm in northern Nigeria. I'm in the epicenter of the crisis right now.

All right.

Now, I hope that folks who are listening to this program are somewhat aware of the situation, but I make no presumption.

So please tell us across Nigeria: who are you folks and what do you do?

Well, right now, Nigeria is the most deadly place to be a Christian.

So, more Christians are killed. Here in northern Nigeria than anywhere else in the world. In fact, last year, there were 8,200 Christians that were. Within about a 300-mile radius of where I am right now. That's 72% of all the Christians killed in the entire world.

So it's the epicenter of persecution right now. And what Across Nigeria does on the ground here in northern Nigeria is we have two things that we focus on: one, helping persecuted Christians.

So that means bringing aid. We have a refugee facility where we house them and rehome people who have lost their homes in attacks and things like that. We also do extraction missions that take people out of dangerous situations they're in where they're being hunted, and we bring them to one of our safe houses or our refugee facility and help them restart their lives. I was just in a village two weeks ago where we showed up one of our widow communities and there were 14 people that were slaughtered and we buried them in a mass grave. We left there and went to another village where another mass grave we were burying.

Ten people, and about an hour after we left, there was another attack on that same village. That village has suffered about five attacks in the last two weeks, by the way.

So it's a dire situation here. It's at a fever pitch, and we're just here helping persecuted Christians. The other thing that we focus on is we believe that the gospel of Jesus Christ is the solution to all of these problems. Governments can help, institutions can help, but ultimately the gospel is the answer.

So we focus on bringing the gospel to Muslim communities. And a lot of times, we end up bringing the gospel to a lot of communities who are the ones who are doing the persecuting. In fact, just in the last three months, we've been able to lead ten Boko Haram soldiers to Christ, and they've joined our underground churches and are being discipled right now.

So those are the two main things that we focus on on ground here in Northern Nigeria.

Now, I think for many people, if they're not aware of the situation, they have a very hard time understanding. When you say the underground churches, I mean, the conditions there are such that you risk your life by even attempting to practice your faith. That's something that no matter how bad things are in this country, I don't know how we can fully appreciate the situation. How do you explain it to people so that those who live a good, comfortable life in the U.S. understand what's really going on in Nigeria?

Yes, that's a great question.

Well, our underground churches operate a lot differently than churches do in the U. S. first of all, we can't meet at the same time on the same day in the same location.

So we move around. We meet at different times, different days. We alternate. Our churches really can never meet all together corporately like a lot of churches do in the United States.

So what we do is break our churches up into groups of about six to ten people, and then we have what we call group leaders that are really disciplers, and they disciple the group. A lot of people in our underground churches can't read and write their own language Hausa, let alone English.

So getting them Bibles doesn't really do any good.

So what we do is bring in audio Bibles. And a lot of times our Bible studies really consist of sitting around listening to a chapter of the Bible, and then our group leader will discuss that with the group that's there.

So we have many of those groups spread around different areas because in northern Nigeria, you're right. There are places where you cannot practice openly your faith. Sharia law here in northern Nigeria is one of the strictest forms of Sharia law in the world. This is where if you're a Muslim and or you grew up in a Muslim family and you convert to Christianity, you become a Christian. That's a crime punishable by death.

So your family can legally kill you or they can hire somebody to kill you.

So those in our underground churches are always in danger. In fact, about a month and a half ago, there were four suicide bombers who walked into the city where our underground churches. Operate in and around that city, and they blew themselves up, killing four of our church members. In our underground churches.

So they're constantly in danger, constantly being hunted, and they faithfully practice their faith in our underground churches. We're helping them grow and disciple them. Discipling is a huge part of our programs here in northern Nigeria. We usually take a good year to root and ground people in the Word of God. These are people who don't know hardly anything about Christianity because they grew up in Islam other than what they've heard through the prism of Islam.

So we walk them through the Bible and help them with that. A lot of our people who have come to Christ want to go back and reach their families with the gospel. And so we have a Bible Institute that's specifically designed to train former Muslims. become pastors and evangelists, we train them up and we send them out to start churches. We send them out to be evangelists for our radio programs to follow up with call ins that we get.

So that's a little bit about what our underground operation looks like. We're speaking with Pastor Brad Brandon. He is the founder and CEO of Across Nigeria. They are online at acrossnigeria.org. He joins us from Nigeria on the Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line on the Todd Starn show.

Jeff Stein filling in for Todd today. And as you were just talking, Pastor, I can't help but think there are many folks who. Skip out on services on Sundays or whenever the traditional service time is in their culture and with their faith. You know, well, it's too hot, it's too cold, I've got other things to do, I just don't feel like going. I mean, the steps.

that these folks in Nigeria will go. To have a connection with God, and it's like we can't even be bothered to walk down the street. I mean, I hope people listening understand. The gravity of the situation that you're demonstrating through these examples to us. Yeah, our folks, even in our underground churches, but even in our above ground churches, which is more like a conventional church that you would see in the United States, we've started 10 of those as well.

Every day, Nigerian Christians here risk their life just going to church. 18,000 churches have been destroyed, 3.5 million Christians in IDP camps. They end up in IDP camps because terrorists have come in, Boko Haram, Isla, Ulani militants have come into their villages, destroyed their homes, burned their villages to the ground. They have nowhere to go, so they're thrown into the horrible conditions of the IDP camps. But they literally risk their life every time they go out and every time they go to church, they're risking their life to do so, absolutely.

You and I spoke on the radio shortly after the Christmas time Attacks on Nigeria to improve things for Christians, the airstrikes that I'm talking about. And I remember we talked at the time about the potential for backlash, if you will. Unfortunately, that came to pass, but now the administration just ordered another set of airstrikes. Give us a sense of this rather active six-month period and where you stand toward an ultimate resolution in favor of Christians. Yeah, so it was Friday that last Friday, a week ago, that the administration ordered airstrikes in the Northeast, which is not far from where I am right now.

And that took out ISIS second in command worldwide.

So that was a huge victory. Also took out some other soldiers and leaders as well. They continued with a series of airstrikes that lasted until Tuesday. And I think all in all, there were 176. ISIS soldiers that were taken out, or ISWA, we call it ISWA here, the Islamic State of West Africa.

It's ISIS, so it's the same thing. And took out their leaders as well. And so that was a huge success. And you know, I think one of the best things that come out of these airstrikes is the Nigerian Christians have been ignored. This genocide has been ignored for over a decade now.

Media hasn't covered it. Churches aren't talking about it. Administrations haven't dealt with it. And this, now they know from these airstrikes. That the United States is standing in their corner.

And that's the first time they've felt this since this genocide started 15 years ago.

So that's a huge encouragement, but it has. The negative effect of it really has whipped up terrorism here and emboldened terrorism here. And we've seen that happening. We've seen more attacks now more than ever. This is the worst I've ever seen in the 11 years we've been working here.

There's an attack every day now in a different area or different location. Every time I turn around, there's an attack. I've stood at more mass graves in the last couple of weeks than I care to remember.

So it's definitely increasing. The violence is increasing. The situation is dire. I think what the administration needs to do from my perspective here on ground, and I'm all for kinetic action to take down and minimize terrorist strongholds, that needs to happen. But they need to make a commitment to continue this.

The United States has a history, and not particularly this administration, but the United States has a history of dropping a few bombs into situations like this. And then abandoning the situation, leaving a vacuum, and it just gets worse. I mean, we saw that happen in Afghanistan and Syria and a few other places.

So I don't want the administration to do that. If they're going to make a commitment to these airstrikes and taking out Boko Haram and Iswa and Makarawa and these other groups, Then they need to continue with that commitment until it's resolved. But along with that, there's socioeconomic issues that are really feeding this process. Islam does this everywhere that it operates in the world. They draw in people who are disadvantaged and of a lower socioeconomic situation.

And they use the discontentment to draw them in, and then they brainwash them and make them soldiers of terrorism. It's the same thing that's happening here.

So, along with that, what needs to happen is an increase in the socioeconomic conditions. And that's one of the things we do with our school system. We have over, I think, 5,500 students in our school system right now. We're reaching out and specifically focusing on at-risk communities who are at risk to be drawn into Boko Haram.

So we go in there, we provide. We provide them education, we teach them to read and write English, literacy training, and it really gives them opportunities so that they're not so easily drawn into radicalism. Pastor Brad Brandon of Across Nigeria, acrossnigeria.org. Blessings to you, and thank you for the work that you folks are doing. I appreciate the update.

Okay, thank you, my friend. Appreciate it. And Pastor Brad Brandon joined us on the Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line. If you go to townhall.com, he wrote a piece called Silence in the Face of Slaughter: The Crisis in Northern Nigeria. It was published a couple of weeks ago before the most recent airstrikes, townhall.com, and his name is Brad Brandon.

Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line made the connection for us. More from the Liberty University studio after this break. Jeff Stein in for Todd. This is the Todd Starn Show. Welcome back to the Todd Starn Show.

Jeff Stein filling in for Todd today from the Liberty University studio. You know, Mike Lindell and the MyPillow employees want to thank you for your great support this past year. They're looking to make 2026 the best year yet.

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Great stuff, mypillow.com. And again, it's promo code STARNS. All right, two hours in the book. One more to go. We'll talk with the folks from the National Taxpayers Union to kick off hour number three of this Friday edition of the program.

Thanks for being here. Jeff Stein in for Todd. This is the Todd Starn Show. Live from the Liberty University Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, it's America's favorite gun totem Bible clanging deplorable American. That's us!

That's it! Bye. I love this American. And round. Todd Stars.

Wherever you're listening across this, the greatest nation God ever blessed, welcome to hour three of an Open Line Friday edition of the Todd Starn Show. Hello, fellow Patriots, Jeff Stein, filling in for Todd today, scheduled day for Todd to be away from the radio studio, coming to you from my home base at Iowa. It is Open Line Friday, and we'd love to take your calls at 901-260-5926. Same number as always when you dial into the Liberty University studio, 901-260-5926. We'll take your calls in the next segment, but we begin this hour by going right to the Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line, and we welcome the president of the National Taxpayers Union.

He is Pete Sepp. NTU.org is the website for the National Taxpayers Union. Mr. Sepp, good to talk to you again, sir. Always great to be here.

National Taxpayers' Union for folks who are not aware. Who are you folks and what do you do? We're a nonprofit, nonpartisan citizen group founded in nineteen sixty nine to work for lower, fairer, simpler taxes, less wasteful government spending and accountability from public officials at all levels.

Well, that's no small task, that public accountability thing. And it does seem that for all the conversation about from politicians saying that they're going to try to return our money to us, I don't see enough of it. And so you have to get somewhat creative in funding budgets. Your group has taken on the issue of data centers, and you've come up with some interesting, I find, interesting results on the topic. What are data centers?

As you're studying this and talking about their feasibility as part of our tax system, What are data centers so we're all are on the same page? Data centers are structures that house computers, memory storage, telecommunications equipment and energy sources, either backup sources or sometimes their own power plants that facilitate the flow of Information is the thing that drives all of our economy. It's what helps to power factories, make financial decisions, deliver health care. Data centers are on the forefront of modernizing the way we move information and use things like artificial intelligence. Think of a warehouse.

A telephone switching station and a factory all rolled into one, but made for the information age. Why is it necessary or perhaps advantageous? Necessary may be the wrong word. Why is it necessary for these to be such large structures? They don't necessarily have to be very large structures, though there are certainly many of those.

And there are certainly large campuses like Industrial Park of a generation ago that house data centers. But one can be in a building that no bigger than a large department store, for example. And they can serve a given region or serve as a way station for the flow of data from other regions.

So they do come in all sizes.

Now, this has become a bit of an issue in some areas. I am in the state of Iowa. We have had a variety of conversations, municipalities, counties, etc., with regard to placing these things. out in rural areas, adjacent to urban areas. There are some who say there is a big drain on local resources to have these things without much benefit.

You folks did a cost benefit analysis, and I'm interested in what you found. Yes, we have found that if the policy parameters are set right, The data center boom can definitely benefit rather than cost taxpayers, and there are many examples of how it is done right. For one thing, you have to look at the upfront contribution of data centers toward a tax base. If you have a good, welcoming climate for taxes that says to all kinds of business, we would like to have you here, you're already ahead of the game. That's one reason that, for example, Iowa has the second largest number per resident of data centers in the entire country.

Virginia is at the top of the heap. One reason, a big reason, is that both states offer good business tax policy, and at least until recently, both states had tax policy headed in the right direction. Here I'm speaking of Virginia and the U-turn that they've taken on their successful tax policies of the past. What that does is grow your tax base. Returning to Virginia, loud account.

one of the biggest counties in the Washington DC suburb. Is the only one in the region that is actually reducing property taxes for its residents. The county council itself. We can do this because we have so many data centers paying so much in property taxes.

Okay. I can tell you from my own experience, property taxes and property tax reform, it's a big issue in my state. And I'm guessing everybody listening to this conversation across the country has some concerns about property taxes. And what the National Taxpayer Union research is showing is. Your local property tax burden, you as an individual listening and paying taxes.

You might get a break if some of these businesses come in and pay their fair share. Boy, that's a talking point. Pay their fair share. This helps diminish the need for individuals to have to fund the government on their own backs. Exactly.

And that same principle translates to energy usage as well. It seems counterintuitive when you think about it that, well, if a big industrial customer of any kind, a factory, a data center, a retail shopping mall comes in, they're going to use a lot of electricity and my rates are going to go up as a homeowner. That's not what's actually happening in most, most places. What happens is large industrial customers come in and need upgrades to the existing power grid to plug into it. Not only capacity, but the wires, the basic infrastructure, they end up financing that.

And they end up financing improvements that have also been needed for decades, but the local utilities have been reluctant to pass along the cost to residents. And so what they're coming in and doing is financing long-needed improvements because they've got to have them, and homeowners benefit on the side. This is being shown in statistics. The Berkeley National Laboratory, which kind of the place to get statistics on energy usage, bears this out in 30 states where load growth, in other words, demand for electricity has been the highest. Electricity.

Lowest. or run for them. Again, this is the phenomenon. Big customers pay big money to make big upgrades. And again, here in my state, there are some folks, and I think it's Google, but there's another company.

They want to have these big data centers. And so they are working with an energy company to Fire up the nuclear plant that has been dormant for many years, and they're doing it by contracting for some extended period of time, twenty, twenty-five years as I recall, and promising to purchase from that utility something like 85% of what the utility produces.

So that therefore makes it cost effective for the utility to do the very thing that you said many wouldn't do, upgrade the infrastructure, because you got a customer paying for it. Yes, exactly. And this can happen if wants to plug into the existing grid or they want to build what's called a behind the meter power source.

Sometimes that's a new natural gas plant.

Sometimes it's taking advantage of things like nuclear reactors that have been dormant for years. The CEO of a Mississippi utility said it best, thanks to the influx of new customers like Amazon and other data centers coming to Mississippi, we're able to fund critical reliability improvements without passing any added costs. on to our residential customers. True win-win, in this guy's words. And okay, it doesn't always happen everywhere, but it's happening more than most people think it is.

Exit question for National Taxpayers Union President Pete Sepp joining us on the Patriot Mobile newsmaker line on the Todd Starn show. Am I to understand that The places where this is working, where it becomes a win-win, it's because the local officials had the foresight to. create a situation As opposed to letting it happen to them? In other words, there's government proactivity necessary for this to pencil out in the way you're suggesting? Yes, absolutely.

If government reaches out first, To many of these companies, and says, look, we know we're in a competition with China here, for example, which is building data centers at a breathtaking pace. We want to be a part of this new economy, but here are the things we think we need from you in the private sector in order for this to happen. Also, States and localities can lay the groundwork long in advance with low, fair, consistent tax policies. It's not a secret that initially, the data center boom going back 10, 15 years, well, that was scattered into a lot of traditional tech corridors.

Well, In places like California, now Virginia, those tech corridors are where they're raising taxes. And so they're looking for places where the tax environment is less harsh and the resources are there. NTU.org is the website for the National Taxpayers Union, and that's where you go to get information, these papers that have been prepared by the folks at NTU on this topic. National Taxpayers Union President Pete Sepp, thanks for the time on the Todd Starn Show. Have a safe Memorial Day weekend, sir.

You do the same. It's been a pleasure. Likewise, and mister Sepp joined us on the Patriot Mobile Newsmaker Line, 901-260-5926. We'll take your calls on the other side of this break. When we come back to the Liberty University studio in a moment, Jeff Stein in for Todd.

This is the Todd Starn Show. Welcome back to the Liberty University Studio. This is the Todd Starn Show. I'm Jeff Stein, filling in for Todd on this Open Line Friday, 901-260-5926. In order to be a part of this coast-to-coast conversation, and we've been making the folks at Team Todd in Memphis work today.

I've got all these guests on the program, and they all join us via the Patriot Mobile newsmaker line. You know, everyday Americans make choices that shape our country's future.

Sometimes it's at the ballot box and sometimes it's with the purchases that you make, right down to which cell phone provider you support.

Now here's what a lot of people don't realize. Patriot Mobile is not just a wireless provider. They're actually an activist organization funded by selling top-tier cell phone service. That means they've been on the front lines defending our freedoms long before it was cool to do that. They stood in the gap literally when others would not.

The best part of all this, though, they deliver prioritized premium service on all three major U.S. networks. That gives you the same, or even better, coverage, backed by 100% U.S.-based customer support. Ugh, you've called customer support at some companies lately. That's why it's important to know that this is U.S.-based with Patriot Mobile.

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Keep your number, keep your phone, or upgrade. It's your choice, no high-pressure sales. But you can take a stand today, and so many of us do that these days, right? If I'm going to spend my hard-earned money, I want to make sure that I'm giving it to someone who has the same values I have. and who will do good things with it.

Well, you can do the same thing. Go to patriotmobile.com slash Todd or or call 972-PATRIOT. And be sure to use promo code TOD. You'll get a free month of service. My favorite four-letter word, free.

That's patriotmobile.com slash Todd. Or call 972-PATRION and make the switch today. Promo code Todd, it's Patriot Mobile online, patriotmobile.com. 901-260-5926 as we continue from the Liberty University studio. A lot of you are listening to this radio program on an AM radio station.

AM, not the morning, AM, it stands for Amplitude Modulation, but you know, we have AM and FM radio, free over-the-air radio. And there was a period of time where when we had the Biden-era electric vehicle mandates. They got greedy, those electric vehicle producers. And they tried to get AM radio out of vehicles. They stopped offering your AM radio with your new electric vehicle.

And some of the manufacturers said, well, the reason is because there's interference, electric vehicles, and the static electricity of AM radio. You know this when there's a lightning storm, there's a little crackle, right? And so the automakers tried to say, well, you know, you can't have an AM radio in an electric vehicle. By the way, that's false. All they had to do was put a $3 filter in.

Then they also said, well, with all the electric vehicles on the road, we can't put AM radios in other vehicles because it'll interfere with the traditional vehicle radio. also false. Why were they doing it?

Well, they were doing it for money. to a large degree, because when you buy a vehicle, they don't want you to have free radio, the automaker. They want you to subscribe to their satellite or on-demand services. It's all about money. in that respect.

But it's also about power. Because the folks on the woke left did not want you listening to the Todd Starn show because then you'd know better and you'd be able to tell them to go pound sand. And most of these shows have been on AM radio.

So look at that. We can get rid of AM radio and the car makers make more money and the liberals can stay in power and the people will be kept from getting the information they need. Ah, not so fast. That's why there's the AM in Every Vehicle Act, which has huge bipartisan support in Congress. Huge support of the President, but yet they can't get it across the finish line because wait for it, it's Congress, and they can't get out of their own way these days.

Well, now they've attached it to a transportation funding bill. In the hopes that by grouping it with these other provisions, we might actually get. The guarantee that the information you need, whether there's an emergency situation, the emergency broadcast system, as it was known, whether it's shows like this, it's your choice to have in the vehicle. And now they've attached it to a funding bill for transportation. Maybe that's the way to finally get it across the finish line.

We'll certainly keep you posted, Todd Will, on this program. Short break now. We're back on the other side from the Liberty University studio. Jeff Stein, and for Todd, this is the Todd Starn Show. And welcome back to the Liberty University studio and this Openline Friday edition of the Todd Starnes Show.

Jeff Stein filling in for Todd, scheduled day away from the radio mic, but he's burning up the Twitter X machine at Todd Starnes. And as always, go to ToddStarnes.com. While you've got that computer device in your hand, why don't you go to Amazon.com and pre-order a copy of Todd's forthcoming book. It's called The Golden Age: How Trump Saved America and the Future of MAGA. Order now, pre-order now at Amazon.com.

And while you're there, you might consider a forthcoming book by the guest who joins us now on the Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line. He's Nils Grevilius, and the book that's coming out in just a few weeks is called The Last Lawman: True Stories of a Private Detective. Thanks so much for taking the time. Jeff Stein, in for Todd today. How are you, sir?

Yeah.

I'm fantastic, Jeff. How are you? Doing very well. And I'm interested in your background as someone who has been involved as a private detective, law enforcement, et cetera, but you're there in Los Angeles. I'm out here in the state of Iowa.

We feel pretty good about things here. But what I see on T V makes it look like it's a real mess out there. Give us a sense of the crime situation out there in California and what you would do if given the opportunity to maybe turn things around. I will say that the state of Los Angeles is seriously deteriorated, and this isn't a new thing. It's just picked up pace over the last ten years.

In eighteen ninety two, everybody in the world saw the Rodney King riots. with people getting beaten to death in the streets Innocent business owners looted while the city stood by and did the bare minimum, if that. And that was the year that I obtained my private detective's license, having been in the Pinkerton service and the Army before that. And it's just been a growth industry. I'll give your listeners an interesting fact.

You would think that the business community would have a lot of. sway in a town like Los Angeles, and they do have a certain amount of sway. The last time I had a client suffer a five hundred thousand plus dollar embezzlement. At a loss city of Los Angeles based business, meaning within the city limits. they were told by LAPD's Financial Crimes Unit that the minimum threshold was seven hundred thousand dollars for that unit to even investigate the crime.

and they had a four year backlog for filing cases. Hmm. Hmm. There's no way anybody hearing that statement. Can have confidence in those who are running things, can they?

I'm trying to figure out what can even account for that, other than. Laziness, malfeasance, misconduct, or what? The Jacobins running the city. don't want criminals prosecuted. They can s they equip prosecution with persecution.

Unless it's select primes, like But perceived assault on a racial or sexual minority. Let's say somebody goes over to Griffith Park. and beats up a gay man in the men's room at night or something like that, they will launch a ruthless manhunt to identify, locate and prosecute that guy. If somebody beats up somebody in the street and steals their phone or their catalytic converter, something like that. There's heavy pressure on the police to do as little as possible unless there's a known identifiable suspect.

I will say that it's been job security for me, Jeff. I relocated to Iowa for four years. From 2006 to 2010 and almost starved to death in Iowa. The only criminals in Iowa are the political class.

Okay. Okay. Well, I was a defense attorney at one point in my career, and at that point, and I kept food on the table, but that was well before the period of time that you're mentioning. What's the difference between some of these states? Because a lot of good folks listening to this program in the heartland of the country, when we talk about things in these big blue cities, it's hard for us to understand.

So, since you've had the multiple experiences, give us a sense of the conditions that are different that may help explain it. In the state of Iowa. If the state patrol, Des Moines police, the Dallas County Sheriff, et cetera, pulled over a car. With four men on paper, meaning on parole, and there were two guns in the car. They would toss the car, they would impound the car, they would impound the weapons.

The Polk County. District Attorney's Office would file felony charges they would investigate the weapons to see if there were any dead bodies on them, meaning attributable to the ballistics of the weapons. You know, they they do all the proper things associated with that crime. In Los Angeles County, Often no one is prosecuted.

Now things are changing a little bit. Nathan Hawkman was elected a district attorney in twenty twenty four when George Gascon, who was a A Jacobin communist was district attorney. They would just warehouse the guns. Pasadena Police Department. Pasadena has a population equivalent.

to that of Des Moines. Has three trailers full of impounded guns taken off of criminals. They were taking an average of one gun a night during the week. and three guns on the weekends off of men on paper. Men who already convicted felons, that sort of thing, with the district attorney refusing to prosecute them for anything unless it could be tied.

to uh an immediate crime, like an attempted murder or a robbery that occurred that night. Otherwise it just went into the trailer and and nothing occurred. I am struck by the rationale that some give, some who have the ability, to file charges, prosecute, etc. I think they either claim they're overworked, they claim that there's not enough facilities. But they also claim things like, well, given that person's socioeconomic background, given the hard times they had growing up, they deserve this kind of leniency.

I don't know where we got off track with that. Again, you've done this 30 plus years. It's just completely different now. I trust, or at least far, far worse, as you mentioned, than it was when you started. mister Stein, let's draw a line of distinction between good government democrats, which are intensely rare right now, particularly in blue cities, and Jacobins, meaning communists.

Like the Communards who led the French Revolution. in the late eighteenth century and lined people up for the guillotine and killed them for the mere crime of having a farm that wasn't fallow or having a shop that wasn't fair enough. That's the sort of mentality. they view their natural constituency as inclusive of the criminal class. And the criminal class, they they're very smart, they're adaptive, they know that they have equity in the people running these cities.

We're speaking with Nils Grevillias. He is the author of the forthcoming book, The Last Lawman, True Stories of a Private Detective. You can pre-order it now. It's released June 9th. He joins us on the Patriot Mobile newsmaker line on the Todd Starn show, Jeff Stein filling in for Todd Today.

What led you to collect these stories and put them in book form at this time? What was the impetus for you? In twenty twenty two, a good friend of mine had died. He was like my Gaelic rabbi. He was a NYPD organized crime squad detective who went to work for SPY and Vandity Fair, et cetera.

He wrote Filthy Rich, which was one of the exposés of Epstein, and he had died. I was in attendance at his funeral at St. Vincent Ferrer in the big city of New York. And I got a notice on my smartphone that I had been permanently banned from Facebook. for the alleged crime of stochastic terrorism.

which is one of those one hundred dollar terms invented by the worms at the Southern Poverty Law Center, meaning your mere words and ideas are so violent that we cannot allow you in to even have a Facebook account. I was so irritated, Jeff. I went back to my room at the New York Athletic Club and wrote the first three chapters of my professional memoir, The Last Lawman, that very evening. And it took me about, I don't know, six months to get the manuscript uh roughed out. And then I had to get a literary agent.

I am very well represented now, having never been really a literary figure before. And I intend to get this book widely read, widely distributed. I'm very grateful to have the ears of your audience. You're lending me a very powerful microphone here today, Jeff.

Well, you're on the Post Hill Press publishing label, and they know what they're doing there. The book comes out on June the 9th, and again, it's called The Last Lawman. Let's close with this. And we're headed into a holiday weekend, and I want people to be in a good mood as much as possible. Do you see?

A sense of optimism. Should we have a sense of optimism? Because as you tell these stories, as you use your voice, so many others are as well, voters are paying attention. Is there cause for optimism for the society that we can, again, feel safe? I'm endlessly optimistic, Death.

I'm seeing a revolt afoot here in Los Angeles right now arising of these recent fires. My sister and my ex-wife both lost their houses in the Altadena fire. And People are waking up to what has occurred. It's been the slow-boiling frog.

Well, the frogs are hopping out of the pot now. and they're as mad as hell. There's a very good chance that the city government is about to be overthrown by Spencer Pratt. I fully support him in this. There are many people behind him, and because Los Angeles doesn't require voter ID, in fact, it's illegal to present your ID to vote in LA.

We're importing as many illegal aliens as we can to vote for Spencer Pratt to overthrow this government. The Last Lawman: True Stories of a Private Detective. It comes out in a few weeks. Nils Grivilius, the author and our guest.

Well, I'm sorry that you starved when you were in my state of Iowa, but I'm glad that your table is full these days. And thank you so much for sharing this. It was a fun conversation. It's been my very sincere pleasure. I want to wish you and all your audience the most lovely Memorial Day ever.

Never forget the fallen. Saddle up. We're on for a long patrol here, Jeff. Amen, sir. Thank you much again for the time.

And he joined us on the Patriot mobile newsmaker line, The Last Lawman, Nils Grevilius. And we certainly echo the statement about remembering the reason for the day off from work for some people come Monday. The Last Lawman, the book, is available wherever you get your good books, and it is available in just a couple of weeks. And as you're thinking about what could be a better way to celebrate America two fifty, How about a bright, shiny copy of Todd Starnes' new book, The Golden Age? How Trump Saved America and the Future of MAGA?

The release date is July 7, so pre-order now, and this is great for Father's Day. See, Starnes always releases a book around Father's Day. This is not his first day.

So what you do is you pre-order the book now. At Amazon.com. And then comes Father's Day. You hand Dad or Father figure, whomever. Um a picture.

Of the cover of the book, and you can say, This is coming your way. And dad or father figure is going to say, Well, this is fantastic. I've been waiting for another Todd Starnes book.

So you get the benefit of handing them the uh the voucher, if you will. And then they'll think very positively of you and enhance your status in the will. When the book comes a few weeks later, it's a perfect plan. Buy now, it gets delivered later. Nothing better for Father's Day.

Yeah.

You know, wherever you get your good books these days, The Golden Age by the great Todd Starnes, it's released July 7th. And all guests on the program, join us on the Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line. One more segment of this Friday program from the Liberty University Studio. Short break now. We're back on the other side.

Jeff Stein in for Todd, and this is the Todd Starn Show. Ha ha ha. Mm-hmm. Uh Welcome back. Final segment from the Liberty University Studio.

This is the Todd Starn Show. Jeff Stein filling in from Iowa for Todd today. Scheduled day off from the radio for TS. He's active on the socials and doing all manner of other things. And so uh You know, why don't you pay him back for all of that good work by purchasing a copy of The Golden Age?

Comes out in July. The new book by Todd Starnes, The Golden Age. Get it wherever you get your good books these days, including amazon.com. Big thank you to Helen for all the work on this call screening, getting our guests in place. Parker at the controls of the mighty Wurlitzer down in Memphis.

And of course, to Mr. Starnes for having the confidence to allow me to sit here and talk with you all in Starnes Nation. It's always a privilege. Never take it for granted, to be sure. I got to tell you, let's close with a story that.

It's okay to get older. I'm trying to be better about that. I'm in my low 60s. I like to phrase it that way because it seems like maybe I can shave a year or two off that way. But I was at the grocery store.

So, for you, it might be the Kroger. For me, it was the High-V. All right, so I'm at the High-V, and a young lady is doing the checkout duties. And there's music playing. Through the speakers in the store.

I'm not paying any attention to what the music is. I'm looking at my grocery list. I just want to make sure that I got what I was supposed to get. And as she's doing the checkout, you know, kind of sweep the thing across and goes, boop, boop, boop, whatever. And she kind of looks up where the speaker is in the ceiling and makes a face and says, Ugh.

I don't know where they get these these songs, this music.

So I started listening and I realized, well, I know the song. It was popular when I was her age, probably, right? And I said, oh, okay, that one. And she said, you know this song? Like it was this hideous thing.

I said, Well, yes. It's from a band called Sticks. And then, because of course I was a disc jockey in my youth, I retain useless information about the popular music of the time.

So I tried to be helpful and said, Not only did I say it was by a band called Sticks, I said, It's from 1978. At which point she stopped checking out the groceries, looked at me and said, 1978 That's even before my parents were born Miller. There is nothing to put you in your place. Because then I start doing the math and yeah, it's not just mathematically possible, but that's grand my granddaughter, if you will. I don't have kids, so I don't know how to measure these things.

But when the the girl checking you out at the grocery store says Your music is older than my parents'. And then I thought, well, I'll try to make it cool. You can see this is not going to work, right? I thought I'd make it cool because the song that was playing was called Come Sail Away. Good luck getting that out of your head the rest of the day, those of you of this age group.

And it was used in a somewhat parody form in the show South Park. And so I said, thinking I was being helpful, Well, you know, Southpark even did a parody of it, and I got this look like I might as well have said the Jack Benny show.

Okay? I mean. And then to top it all off, I had coupons. I mean, nothing says old man who is losing Relevancy than to pick out songs that are nearly fifty years old and then cap the whole thing off with a fistful of coupons so we can save thirty five cents or something of that nature. But yet, I like to eat.

I will be back at the grocery store And I will engage in a game of name that tune with her again, should it come up. What a delight to have these wonderful guests on the program today. My goal in radio is to make sure we don't waste your time, and I sure hope that was the case today. Again, to Team Todd in Memphis, thanks so much. Mr.

Starnes, always a privilege. Godspeed. And to all of you, a very safe Memorial Day weekend. Jeff Stein in for Todd on the Todd Starnes Show.