Election Theft the Latest Lump of Coal from Dems

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live from the liberty university studio in memphis tennessee it's america's favorite gun toting bible clinging deplorable american that's us that's right i love this american And rise. Todd Starnes. Oh, yeah. Wherever you're listening across this, the greatest nation God ever blessed, we welcome you to this Friday edition of the Todd Starnes Show, coast to coast on more than 100 outstanding radio stations and streaming live at ToddStarnes.com. Hello, fellow patriots.

I'm Jeff Stein from Starnes Media Affiliate. News Talk 1540 KXEL in Waterloo and Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The 50,000-watt blowtorch scorching middle America with accurate news and reasonable views. And it is a privilege, as always, to talk to you today, Starnes Nation. Todd getting a head start on a little time off for the holidays.

And so we will be privileged to be here in the chair today for the next three hours. Hope you'll join the conversation. Same number as always, 844-747-8868. That's 844-747-8868. Connect at ToddStarnes.com.

The live show blog is there. You can follow Todd on Twitter and Parler and Getter at ToddStarnes. You can follow me on Instagram, Twitter, Getter and Parler at Iowa, IOWA Politics. A lot of items that we're going to get to in the program today. as always, joining us in less than a half hour, just after our bottom of the hour break, return guest to the program.

She is attorney and national news analyst, Dr. Wendy Patrick. And we're going to talk about legal liability of a business when you say to your employees, no, stay here during the storm if bad things happen. Obviously, the candle factory in Kentucky is an example, but this has broad ramifications. And we'll talk with Wendy Patrick about that coming up at the bottom of this hour.

And I hope you'll join us between now and then. Again, 844-747-8868.

Well, this is the Christmas time of year, and it's a time for gift-giving. And it's a time to look and see who is getting a lump of coal in their holiday stocking. Democrats, undeterred by the fact that they have bad policies that they can't even agree on, they're undeterred by gosh they're going to cram something down our throats and they're going to shovel a whole pile of coal in our christmas stocking if they get their way build back better is apparently going to be build back later as i have called it kicked ahead to calendar year 2022 yet another democrat deadline blown because of this poor piece of legislation this poor attempt at taking over even more of the U.S. government. You can remember that Nancy Pelosi promised all sorts of deadlines.

This will be passed by this date in the House, and those dates came and went, Halloween in particular, and Chuck Schumer kept banging the drum for Christmas, and apparently he must have meant Christmas 2022, because even the White House concedes this is going to move on to 2022. They all are saying how optimistic they are. And then you talk to the guy whose vote really counts, Joe Manchin, and he says, no, we're really not any closer than we were. Glad to keep talking about it.

So most folks in that situation would say, all right, we're not going to be able to get this reconciliation thing done, the build back better, lose a billionaire bailout, use whatever collection of bees you like. We're not going to get it done. Let's just go home.

Well, the problem is twofold. One, if they go home without passing it, and that is what's going to happen, if they go home without passing it, they're going to wind up hearing from constituents about what a horrible piece of legislation this is. And so any resolve that some of them might have had to push ahead may be undercut when they actually go back home. In other words, the leaders in Washington wanted to keep all of their members. in the dome, in the swamp, so that they could keep them sequestered and away from all of you.

Because I have a feeling there are a lot of people who are going to give these politicians an earful when they come home and do town meetings or just meet and greets throughout their districts or throughout their states. And so if you're Chuck Schumer, you wanted your Democrats right there where you could keep a firm hold on them. because if you've already got a couple of senators who are a little squishy about this holding things up, imagine how many more, and it only takes one, but imagine how many more are not going to be thrilled about risking their political future on this bad piece of legislation.

So that's why they were pushing so hard. They didn't want you letting the senators know and representatives know how you felt.

Well, that's the one problem. The second problem is lawmakers are going to go home, Democrats with the barest of majorities in the House and only a tie-break majority in the Senate. Democrats are going to go home with their own solid constituents saying, what have you done for me lately? What have you done to advance the agenda?

So they feel they have got to go home with something. And they started the year just full of themselves, and by gosh, we're going to reform elections. We're going to pass national voting bills. We're going to throw a whole bunch of proposals up there.

Some of them we will name after legendary figures in history, hoping to get their endorsement from the grave. And yet it hasn't been done. by the way the vice president was put in charge of making sure this gets through congress so in one respect you might sit there stars nation and say what am i worried about she can't do anything right including keep her staff but i don't want to just rest on kamala harris's incompetence i don't want to rely on that everybody gets lucky sometimes so i don't want to rely on that. But that's what they're doing now. They have pivoted very quickly.

The Democrats in Washington have pivoted very quickly. If they can't get billed back better before Christmas and New Year's, put that aside, and when you least expect it, boom, here comes election reform. That's their concept anyway. They want to overhaul these election laws.

Now, there are so many things wrong with this that it's hard it is hard to even list all of the ways here's chuck schumer from wednesday there is a universal view in our caucus all right stop there in their caucus among their elected officials it's not a universal view in the country by any stretch and it sure isn't a universal view among those who paid attention last November. All right, back to the Schumer quote. There is a universal view in our caucus that we need to pass legislation to protect our democracy. All right, let's just stop there again. A little bit of a history lesson.

You know, I was a college professor for 25 years, so stand back. The only thing missing right now is the PowerPoint to go along with this. First of all, we don't have a democracy. I'm not saying that because of anything in the recent past. It's not a democracy.

We have a representative democracy within a republic. These are very important facts that those who want to water down your vote, facts they want you to ignore. this is not a democracy we don't elect presidents by popular vote for a very darn good reason that's why we have the electoral college losers don't like it but it's a fact the representative democracy is what gets us congress it doesn't mean 50.1 percent of the population has to be in favor of something. Similarly, it is a republic. We have independent, self-governing states that have their own purview over most of their affairs.

The national government is not supposed to trump. Whoops, can I say that?

Well, I can't on this show, but you get the idea. Can they trump the states on certain issues? In a limited way, sure. National defense. That's one of the key ways.

In other words, go back to why the government of the United States was founded. Why did we have the Constitution? And again, keep in mind, we have the Constitution because the original attempt at an American government, the Articles of Confederation, failed. This was the second attempt.

So they were acting on experience when they came up with the Constitution and the separation of powers between branches of government and the fact that states were part of a republic. It is not for a government far off in Washington, D.C. to steamroll states and individual sovereignty. Not supposed to do that. and over time courts have expanded the role of the federal government the federal government has expanded its own role without pushback and if you just take a look back over the past 50 maybe 60 years the federal government has taken a bigger and bigger role in your daily lives probably impermissibly, but it has not really been challenged.

And often they do it by holding money back from states. In other words, the states are held hostage. Two quick examples before we go to break, and then I'll expand on it after our break. Why is it that we wound up with a universal speed limit across the country? At one point, it was 55 miles per hour.

The federal government said to states, you set your own speed limits. You can. You can set your own speed limits in your state. But unless it's 55, we're withholding your federal highway funds. And we can do that because you're setting the speed limit on an interstate highway or a U.S.

highway.

So there's our nexus. That's the connection. That's all we need. We're going to withhold the money. And what did states do?

Oh my gosh, we need the money. All right, drive 55. Same thing with legal drinking age. The federal government decided it should be 21 minimum legal drinking age across the country. And states had to fall or else lose federal money.

Because again, young people might drink and get in a car and be on a road and roads travel across the country. There we go, Interstate Commerce Clause once again. These are ways in which the federal government, through Congress, has held states hostage. And states have gone along with it because money talks. But that's not how it is supposed to work.

The states are supposed to have their own rights. and finally thanks to the COVID debacle and the overreach by the Democrats in Washington finally states are standing up and citizens are standing up so again now they're trying to overreach the Democrats in Washington by taking control of elections completely impermissible completely impermissible and I'll explain why when we come back from the break. 844-747-8868 is the number. Thanks for being along. I'm Jeff Stein filling in for Todd.

You are in tune with the Todd Starnes Show. Christmas is just around the corner and if you are in one of the big box stores, you're not going to find MyPillow and there's a reason why. They've been kicked out of many big box stores because of the cancel culture mob and that's why Mike Lindell wants to sell directly to you And that comes with some great savings. You're going to be able to get the lowest price in the history of MyPillow for their classic standard pillow. Normally $69.98, now only $19.98 with the promo code STARNS.

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and use the promo code STARNS or call 800-544-8939. That's MyPillow.com backslash STARNS or call 1-800-544-8939. Also, use the promo code STARNS. Merry Christmas, everybody. Welcome back to the Liberty University Studios.

This is the Todd Starn Show. I'm Jeff Stein filling in for Todd today. Todd getting a head start on some holiday time off. 844-747-8868 is the number for you to call and join this conversation. Breaking news on the Todd Starn Show.

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Well, before the break, I was talking about the Democrats' attempt to steal elections moving forward. They're trying to nationalize your elections, and it is unconstitutional for them to do it. And I just gave you some examples before the break of how, So over time, Congress and the federal government has used the Interstate Commerce Clause to affect state behavior, speed limits, drinking age.

Well, why not voting, right? Because we're voting for members of Congress, members of the U.S. Senate, the House, the Senate, and the President. It's a false argument. states vote for the individuals that they then send to be in the house and the senate and there are credentials committees that review those things it's not an automatic and so you cannot say that those bodies the federal government control the state election of those representatives even though they're the representatives in washington because they're the representatives of a state within a republic that's point one point two every state selects its electors for the electoral college by its own rules each state has its own rules that's what the big fuss was last november we're talking about can a state legislature overrule a slate of electors Well, every state selects its electors.

When you go and vote for president in your state, what you're really doing is ultimately voting for an elector to cast a ballot in the electoral college. The rules for that are set by state.

Some say it's winner take all. All the electors for a state go with whoever gets the most votes. And some break it down by congressional district.

So states have their own rules with regard to how electors are selected.

So it is not the federal government's ability, responsibility, duty, anything. They have no business telling a state how to run an election for president. Because it is not a direct democracy. We elect the president by the electoral college, and each state handles electors its own way.

So the only thing I can say is, read the Constitution. It is really very clear. And the things that are being said now by Democrats are being said out of fear that their past shenanigans will be exposed. It is of fear that you listening right now have had enough and you're not going to support their poor policies going forward. again barest of majorities in the house only with a tie break in the senate which by the way was set up by the constitution for the vice president to break the tie in the senate so if you're going to believe in the constitution democrats believe in all of it you can't only cherry pick the provisions of the Constitution that suit you.

So this attempt, 11th hour, right before Christmas, to ram nationalizing of elections down your throat, that's a truckload of coal for your stocking. And it needs to be stopped. I don't believe it's constitutional to begin with. But there would have to be a fight in court. the key is to stop it from even being passed so nice try democrats are trying to get something done what you ought to do is just leave town and save us all the misery it is never miserable when attorney and news analyst dr wendy patrick joins the conversation and she will after this short break jeff stein filling in for todd thanks for being along on the todd starn show Oh, oh, oh, O'Reilly.

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Jeff Stein filling in for Todd. 844-747-8868 is how you can connect with the show, and we encourage you to do that. And we'll get to your call this hour, 844-747-8868. You know, there are some states, just to put a bow on what we were talking about in the last segment, there are some states who really could do better work with regard to voting and the voting procedures. I am blessed to live in a state that does paper ballots.

We do audits. Nobody ever claims that we have a problem. But we can't use the fact that some states don't do it right as the excuse to violate the Constitution with some kind of bogus nationwide voting law. All right, joining us now on the Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line, return guest to our program, attorney and news analyst Dr. Wendy Patrick.

She is on the Twitter machine at Wendy Patrick, Ph.D. Dr. Patrick, thanks for joining us. Always a pleasure, Jeff. Thanks for having me.

It's been a couple of weeks since devastating tornadoes hit the Mid-South with deadly implications. We had some fatal tornadoes where I live in the Midwest just Wednesday of this week. Amazing storms in Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin. And there's always an issue with regard to what you're supposed to do. And I hear meteorologists often say, if there's a warning, get to your safe place, stay where you are, don't try to outrun the storm, all that good stuff.

But that's not what some litigants and their attorneys may be alleging in some lawsuits that are going to be filed as a result of the Kentucky tornadoes. Fill us in, please, on the basics. Yeah, well, you cheated up very well. A class action lawsuit has, in fact, been filed against Mayfield Consumer Products, and that's on behalf of the candle factory workers who were claiming that they were told they would be fired if they left work ahead of those tornadoes. And, Jeff, a couple things really stick out about this story.

First of all, unlike what we have here in California, earthquakes, which don't have a warning, there's no weather siren that goes on outside when an earthquake is coming, but there is with a tornado, and there was prior warning here. That distinguishes this case, and the workers were told that when they asked to leave, because not only did they hear the siren, but they were following the news reports, They were told they'd be fired if they left. This is also a case where the dueling narratives could not be more opposite. The factory says we did no such thing. In fact, they allege that they have had a policy since the beginning of COVID that if you wanted to leave and come back the next day, you could.

And there was nothing that was mentioned that that was just COVID specific. In fact, they say that this was in effect, you know, last week. And this is one of those factual disputes that almost has to be solved in court because there's no middle ground. They either happened or it didn't. And it's unfortunate that eight lives were lost.

That factory was leveled because there will be other allegations that are no doubt going to be present in the lawsuit as to why would you even, why wouldn't you send them home when you knew there was no storm shelter, there wasn't adequate place to shelter, et cetera. And you can tell all that's true by looking at the before and after pictures. It's just devastating loss. All right, so you're an attorney. I'm an attorney.

So I'm going to take the other side on this and say, well, let's say the business said you have free will. Do what you want. And someone was driving home and was severely injured or, heaven forbid, killed as a tornado came through. I could sure see suing the company for dereliction of duty for providing a safe place for workers if, in fact, they thought that the counsel from experts is that you go to your safe place. I'm putting that in quotes.

Is there merit to – I hate to say that the company is darned if they do and darned if they don't.

Well, here would be the hiccup to that argument. Apparently, this factory didn't have a safe place to shelter. They talked about employees being gathered in bathrooms and hallways, but there was no storm shelter, there was no place that was fortified. You saw that in the photos. It was fortified in a manner that it would have provided safe cover for these kinds of employees.

But both of our scenarios, Jeff, really hinge on the issue of foreseeability. You know, how much can a company do to ensure a safe place for its workers, whether that's sending them home, keeping them there? This is a very different scenario than have there been an evacuation order. If that had happened, obviously a company can't order its employees to do anything that would contravene a lawful government order. But that wasn't true.

So I like your statement about, you know, does the company lose either way? Is it a judgment call? Ultimately, if the answer is yes, it's going to depend on whether they exercise the best judgment due to the facts and circumstances that were present at the time this happened. That would include, by the way, precedent. You know, is this a location where they were able to say, well, the last time this happened?

Many times the answer is no.

So, you know, the candle makers who had their life tragically snuffed out in this tornado, I mean, our prayers are with that community. But how that happened and why it happened, that's going to be right front and center of the lawsuit. Obviously, if they had no designated safe place, no tornado shelter, that works against the company without question. I wonder if from a legal defense argument, if a storm is unprecedented, catastrophic, etc., and it's not that uncommon in that part of the country as I understand it for there to be overnight or late-night tornadoes, December might be a little odd for when these things break out. I wonder if you could, as the company, have as a defense unforeseeability.

I mean, you don't have a protection plan for an asteroid falling from the sky either. Yeah, no, that's exactly right. I mean, here in California, we don't have storm shelters, and nobody would sue a company for not having one. I mean, you have to look at what natural disasters strike where. Here, it wasn't completely unprecedented, but is there enough advanced warning where, for example, employees could get home before the storm?

Would there be other ways to work around it so the foreseeability is balanced against the ability to take preventative measures before harm occurs? It's kind of like those shelters at the airports.

Sometimes they say storm shelter here we all see when we travel. Where do you need to have those? That has to be weighed against the likelihood of the natural disaster actually happening.

So you are correct that as this moves forward, not if, but as, we're going to see those questions answered. And I hope we address it again because you know what? Natural disasters are not going away. Dangerous weather is not going away. If anything, we're just getting into the season.

Dr. Wendy Patrick joining us on the Todd Starnes Show. Jeff Stein filling in for Todd today. She's online at wendypatrickphd.com. There's no time that's appropriate to file an action or a lawsuit, and I know there are some who are not lawyers who hear about these things in the news, and they hear that a lawsuit has, quote, already been filed, and they may say, well, you know, what vultures?

Why can't you, you know, let the poor people rest in peace for a bit before you start suing everybody? but there's a very good reason and that has to do with preservation of material that could be evidence correct well preservation of claims and preservation of evidence are both reasons that people file lawsuits within a reasonable period of time um and it's also one of those things that really gives us law sometimes i mean obviously a lot of these cases settle so we don't really have the rulings we would like but that's why we have the legal system that's why we have a justice system. And, you know, you could make arguments that people bring lawsuits without merit, but that's why we all have ethical rules saying that we can't do that. And if that does happen, there could be very strict sanctions for lawyers that go around filing lawsuits that have no merit. And that's also one of the reasons we have courts that are willing to look at the pleadings early on and make sure that only meritorious claims get out of the gate.

So, you know, it's kind of a double-edged sword that we have this ability to move forward quickly. If we didn Jeff I not sure we wouldn be in a worse position because like just taking this case you would have so many people without any legal recourse for these what being called very preventable damages especially the loss of life and the injuries Well, and that's where I'm thinking, if you're going to file a lawsuit and you wait a year, which in most jurisdictions would be totally appropriate under the rules of court, but emails might have been deleted, text messages deleted, video from phone deleted, etc., etc. And so by putting everyone on notice, you might be able to salvage some of that or preserve some of that that could be helpful in determining a proper resolution. And in addition to that, Jeff, when you file a lawsuit, you have subpoena power. You have the power to order depositions.

You have a lot of legal powers that can help you with the investigation. That's not necessarily true if you're just out there with a private eye trying to figure out what happened and hoping people will cooperate.

So these are some of the tools that are used to actually build the case. And, you know, I hate to say it, you and I both know cases move very slowly, sometimes far more slowly than plaintiffs would like. But as they move, investigation continues and a case is built while memories are fresh and evidence is preserved. And that is to everyone's benefit, both sides, in attempting to resolve these issues.

So that's why it's not surprising lawsuits are filed early, because that sometimes just starts a process of justice ultimately being served for both sides. I neglected to ask how much time you have, so if you have to leave, just say so. But I did want to ask a final question, if you're able to answer it, and that is, we've talked about class action lawsuits. for those who are unaware, what does that mean, and what does that do to potentially help, frankly, both parties in terms of consolidation?

Well, a class action lawsuit is usually filed when you have many people that have the same issues. They suffer the same kind of harm.

Sometimes they suffer the exact same harm.

So you consolidate those people under one particular class. And then there's the opportunity to join a class, a court has to certify a class, you go through these steps. But when you have something like this, where one wrong, let's call it that for the sake of argument, created damage for so many different people, that would be why you would see it proceed in this fashion. To do otherwise, you might have a lot of inconsistent rulings, you'd use a lot of court resources that could be allocated to other claims, other cases, achieving justice in other areas.

So this would be the kind of case where you might expect to see a class action. And that's exactly what we have very shortly after the incident occurred. Dr. Wendy Patrick, thanks so much for taking the time. If I don't talk to you before, blessings of Christmas to you and yours.

To you as well, Jeff. Thanks for having me. Dr. Wendy Patrick, she is an attorney and news analyst. You see her on Newsmax and News Nation and One America News.

She is also a frequent contributor to psychologytoday.com. She's on Twitter, at Wendy Patrick, PhD. and online, wendypatrickphd.com. Those storms in the Mid-South, and again, our prayers are to all of those individuals, but I will tell you as someone living in the state of Iowa, the Liberty University studio was in Iowa today for this program, and we had a situation Wednesday where we had a very similar weather pattern set up. Temperatures in the 70s in the middle of December, and that led to, I believe, 37 different warnings in my state alone, including maybe a half dozen tornadoes of various strength.

The state of Minnesota had never had a tornado in the month of December ever until Wednesday of this week. And there was loss of life, but not very many given the scope of the storms. And sadly, it's because we all had, fresh in our mind, the Mid-South situation, the Kentucky fatalities. And I don't limit it to Kentucky because, again, there were fatalities elsewhere as well, Illinois, et cetera, Arkansas.

So as we were talking to people on the radio and talking to the meteorologists who help us guide people and warn people, we had the lessons of the Mid-South, and that may have led to people paying closer attention here so that our situation, which was not as severe as the Mid-South breakout, but it still was pretty close in terms of its setup and pretty unprecedented in a similar way, that may have led to people paying close attention. And if lessons can be learned for the future to save lives, well, more the better. 844-747-8868. but there's going to be some amazing recovery tools needed in all of these storms. And so if you have it in your heart and if you have it in your wallet, if you will, this time of year of giving, you may consider making the appropriate donation to help out folks throughout the heartland, whether it's the Midwest this week or the Mid-South to a greater degree the week before.

844-747-8868. When we come back, your calls. I'm Jeff Stein filling in for Todd. And thanks for being along for the ride on this edition of the Todd Starnes Show. Grand Canyon University, a Christian university, is one of the largest and fastest growing universities in the country, offering over 250 engaging programs online.

GCU integrates the free market system and its welcoming Christian worldview perspective into its academic programs and throughout its online campus. GCU's online students received over $144 million in scholarships in 2021. Visit gcu.edu slash myauthor to see the scholarships you qualify for. Find your purpose at Grand Canyon University. From the Liberty University studio, this is the Todd Starnes Show.

Hello, I'm Jeff Stein filling in for Todd today. He's getting a little head start on the holiday, and I have it on good authority that the reason why he ducked out today is he's got some Christmas shopping to do. He has a plan to purchase some very nice and very expensive gifts for Grace and for Kyle, and yes, something extra special for Merlot as well. I don't know if Team Todd in Memphis believes that or not, but he went out today because he knows where you are today, right?

So that way you won't catch him at the mall buying these very expensive gifts.

So I have it on good authority, as good a source as I can find, that Todd is actually out shopping for fantastic Christmas gifts for the board operator, executive producer, and official dog of the Todd Starnes Show.

Now, if that leads you folks in Memphis to now have to up the ante to get the boss something nicer than you had planned, well, you still have a week before Christmas Eve in which to do that. Coming up in our next hour, if you're able to be with us, and we hope that you are, Liz Peek will be a long friend of this program. I've had the privilege of speaking with her before in filling in for Todd, and we're going to talk about the impact of all of this government printing of money, this fantastic level, and not good fantastic, but huge amount of debt, debt ceiling being raised, the spending kicked down the road until February just to get past the next couple of months, all of this. What's the impact on the economy? And we'll talk to Liz Peek about that just after the top of the hour.

and if you're able to be with us for Hour 3, whether it is live on your radio station, whether it is at ToddStarnes.com or through the Toddcast podcast that you find at ToddStarnes.com, Hour 3, Republican Representative Ron Estes from Kansas will be along and we'll also get a movie review from Avery Bryson. The Spider-Man movie premiered last night. I miss this because it has to do with pop culture And I used to be up on this stuff. And then I got old. I guess.

I don't know. We'll find out. That's coming up in our third hour of this program today. We've told you a number of places where you can reach this show or how you can get the show. It's streams at ToddStarns.com.

Toddcast Podcast. What about an app? You say, sure, why not download the Mighty 990 KWAM radio app? all sorts of great programming from the conservative blowtorch of the Mid-South. That's the mighty 990 app.

It's free wherever you get your apps. And if you're stuck for a stocking stuffer, hurry, you could probably still get it in time. Go to ToddStarns.com and purchase a copy of the best-selling book, Our Daily Biscuit. It makes a great gift, and you should get multiple copies, because if you don't have one for yourself, let's say you buy it as a gift, and then you get it home and you kind of look at it. You're going to say, oh, geez, I really, really should have gotten one for myself.

Well, just buy two now. Just buy two now. Dee, I know you're on the line from Georgia. Ran out of time this hour. Please hold on so we can talk to you in the next hour.

ToddStarns.com so you can get our daily biscuit and all other manner of good things. Hope you can stay along for hour number two. If not, blessings for a good weekend. I'm Jeff Stein filling in for Todd. This is the Todd Starn Show.

and personalized support. In addition, you can earn your Master of Social Work by completing the Bachelor of Social Work plus just one additional year instead of two. Find your purpose. Visit gcu.edu slash socialwork to learn more. Live from the Liberty University studio in Memphis, Tennessee, it's America's conservative blowtorch.

That's us, that's right. I love this American ride. Todd Starnes. Oh, yeah. Wherever you're listening across this, the greatest nation God ever blessed, this is our number two of a Friday edition of the Todd Starnes Show.

On the radio on more than 100 tremendous radio stations, coast to coast, and streaming live at ToddStarnes.com. Hello, fellow patriots. I'm Jeff Stein. From Starnes Media Affiliate, News Talk 1540, KXEL in Waterloo and Cedar Rapids, Iowa, The 50,000-watt blowtorch scorching middle America with accurate news and reasonable views. My privilege to be filling in for Todd today as he gets a jump on some time off around the Christmas holiday.

Hope you'll stay along. Lots to talk about this hour. And I hope you'll join the conversation as well coast-to-coast. 844-747-8868. We're here in the Liberty University studios ready to take your call and have a good coast-to-coast conversation at 844-747-8868.

We begin this hour of the program by going to the Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line to speak with a return guest to this program. She is Liz Peek. Her latest column at LizPeek.com has to do with the chances that this Build Back Better, as it is called, plan will actually help President Joe Biden. Liz Peek, Jeff Stein filling in for Todd. How are you today?

for having me on all right so build back and we've heard all sorts of uh different things that the the b should stand for um blue state uh billionaire bailout etc you're suggesting maybe build back biden is what they're trying to do you're not optimistic tell me about it please well look i think that this bill uh is a an atrocity i was just actually uh thinking about all the various things that the Democrats have sort of stuffed into it. And the sort of sad thing for the Democrats is, I think, that had they gone after one or two main policies like child care, making child care more affordable, or, you know, the elder care issue or expanding Medicare in some ways, they might have gotten it done. But because the overreach was so gargantuan that even their own members began to question it.

Now, none of these things will get done. And frankly, I think that's a blessing for the country because our essential welfare programs, Social Security and Medicare right now, are in deep, deep financial trouble, something you have not heard a single Democrat senator talk about, even as they propose massive new programs.

So it's a good thing it's not going to go forward. But here's the amazing thing. the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan that passed in March with only Democrat votes was a similar overreach. It was an enormous amount of spending that the economy did not need. We were already growing at 6%.

There was absolutely no excuse for it, except it was sort of a vote-buying kiss to all the various segments of the population that had elected Joe Biden. But the amazing thing is the polling shows, even with $1,400 checks going out, even with rent moratoriums, expanded food stamps, all the things that were in that bill, Joe Biden didn't get credit for much at all. And in fact, most Americans said that those payments, $1,400 payment is no nothing, really didn't help very much, if at all. And the same for the child tax credit payments, which started going out mid-summer. Not only did Biden not get much benefit from it, but it looks like Americans didn't get much benefit from it.

So, you know, I think that this Build Back Better is not going to help Biden, even if it passes now in some watered-down way. I think people will be alternately horrified that it passed or else disappointed it wasn't bigger. And to the point you made about the child tax credit, the number of people that I have talked to just anecdotally who, when you bring it up, say, oh, I saw there was a few hundred dollars in my bank account. It says it was from the government. They didn't pay much attention to it, much less give credit and praise and thanks to the folks who put it in place.

Yeah.

Well, again, I think they've come in with such a shotgun approach to legislating so many different kinds of programs, so many different benefits, et cetera. People are sort of befuddled by what they've done, what they haven't done. And they're not, you know, I think there's a tremendous amount of confusion about this social welfare bill. I mean, what does that even mean? Why is it that you have amnesty for six to eight million people in the country illegally in that bill?

What does that have to do with social welfare? Is that really good for the United States? The Senate parliamentarian, thank heavens, has said no. But you have voting rights issues in the bill. You have great benefits for labor unions, making union dues tax deductible for the first time, giving $4,500 extra tax credits to electric vehicles made in union shops.

All this stuff is so, it is so partisan and so also, frankly, kind of complicated. I really think people are confused about the bill. They don't know what to think of it. And when the CBO comes out and basically destroys Joe Biden's prime talking point, which is that it costs zero, I mean, that's a head scratcher anyway. But, you know, I think Americans are like, oh, well, that didn't make any sense.

And now we know it wasn't true. And the credibility of the White House sinks ever further into the mud. We're speaking with Liz Peek on the Todd Starnes Show. She's on the Twitter machine, at Liz Peek. Jeff Stein filling in for Todd today.

It's a broad credibility issue, is it not, for not only the Democrats who can't meet deadlines that they keep promising to do all of these things by this holiday or that hot holiday, but then you've got the administration that can't figure out a COVID policy. I guess it's my sense that rank-and-file citizens who pay average amounts of attention, they don't know what to believe, and they sure don't believe what the news release of the week is or the moment from the White House, based on what you just said. They have no credibility on not just this, but any issue.

Well, and honestly, there are even left-leaning polls, like there's one out just in the last few days from The Economist, which is certainly not a friend of Republicans. And the polling in that survey on honesty, people don't think Joe Biden's honest. And independents really don't think so.

So politically, you know, I'm sort of dumbfounded just by the constant string of politically stupid things they do. And that's all Joe Biden's ever done is politics. That's all Nancy Pelosi's ever done.

So you would think they'd get that right, but they aren't. You know, talking about paying families separated at the border $400,000, you know, please gather in one room the people who thought that was a very smart thing to talk about. Kamala Harris, who has terrible polling because she's, you know, insubstantial and nonproductive and incapable. The first puff piece you see in weeks comes out, and it's about redecorating her office. I mean, who in the White House thought that was a good idea?

I can't get over just the political ineptness, but on a broader scale and much more significantly, the White House is a bunch of B-level players, most of whom have never been tested in real time, most of whom were selected not because they're very capable and brilliant people, but rather because they've checked some sort of gender or racial box that the White House was trying to assuage and to curry favor with. And what you have is a really, really poor performing group. And really, to go back to your initial point, they're paying everybody off who gave them the vote, the coalition that was built. And it was do anything to stop Bernie Sanders from getting the nomination, even propping up Joe Biden, who wasn't exactly setting the primary field on fire. And so you can't govern that way.

And then by putting everything, including the kitchen sink, into this bill in Congress, there's no way for there to be any focus. And they're acting like they've not been here before, which, again, is kind of odd given the experience level of those who at least have the titles. Yeah.

And again, it's not like they can roof your house or, you know, bake a chicken pie. This is what they do. This is politics. And they're terrible at it. Imagine Joe Biden going to Congress twice, not once but twice, to beg his own party to pass a bill that is his signature bill.

And they don't do it. You know, that's pretty incredible. Imagine Joe Biden calling up Putin and begging for a meeting, a bilateral meeting, and having Putin basically waffle. I mean, this stuff, you know, honestly, there's a reason Joe Biden didn't become president earlier on in his career when he was sort of with it. he's not a smart man, and he knows he's not, which is why he bristles when anyone challenges his intellectual accomplishments.

And now he's not only not smart, but I think he's increasingly not capable, and this is a very bad place for our country to be, honestly. All right, so Crystal Ballett, and if you knew the answer to this, you wouldn't be talking to the likes of me, but what do you think the chance is that anything resembling so-called build back better actually makes it through congress let's say by february 1st well you can't say never because obama came back came back and was passed in january as i recall but i think that's because the legislators went home and they heard from their constituents hey get this done we want this to be done because certainly democrats were on board with that i'm not sure democrats are on board with this i mean when you have serious democrat moderates like Joe Manchin, Kyrsten Sinema, possibly John Tester even questioning some aspects of the bill. I don't know that there's a big enthusiasm for it. It is a very left-wing bill, and I don't know that the country yet has gone to that extreme.

So I'm going to say 20% chance that they get a very watered-down version, and then it has to go back to the House, and we'll see what the AOC contingent does in the House, because I don't think they'll like that very much. Gosh, I hope you're right, because those aren't very good odds. But, well, we shall see. Liz Peek, thank you so much for taking the time. Have a very Merry Christmas until we talk again.

Yes, thank you. And thank you. Merry Christmas to you, too. Liz Peek, she, of course, is with The Hill and FoxNews.com, and you can read her most recent work at LizPeek.com. And it is an article for FoxNews.com called, Will Huge Spending Build Back Biden?

And then she says, Not a Chance. And you heard about it. here on the Todd Starnes Show. I see on the call list, we have Dee from Georgia and Connor in Boston. And I promise I want to give you full time.

So let's do the break now. And I'll take both of your calls, plus anyone else who joins us after the break. It's 844-747-8868. Jeff Stein filling in for Todd. Thanks for being along on the Todd Starnes Show.

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From the Liberty University studios, this is the Todd Starnes Show. Hello, I'm Jeff Stein filling in for Todd, who's starting his holiday a little early. 844-747-8868 is the number, and that is the number that Dee used to call in from Georgia. She's listening to the program on the great WDUN. Dee, thanks for taking the time.

What's on your mind today? I want to call and tell you that one of the first things that Biden said about the tornado in Kentucky, he said it was global warming and it was a hurricane. And back in 1936, my mom told me about a tornado that hit Gainesville. and it killed 360-something people. And that was in 1936.

It was that global warming too. It says God is in control. He's doing this, trying to get people's attention to come back to God. And another thing I want to tell you is Hillary Clinton, I wish they'd keep her ugly face off the television and her trying to cry. and she needs to be paying for this dossier with Russia and to them three or four men that was killed in Benghazi.

And she better watch her old husband that was going and molesting all them kids with that man that was doing it. I don't remember his name, but he was in on it too. Yeah, Jeffrey Epstein. Do you think Hillary is seriously thinking that she can run for president in 2024? or either try to take Biden's place.

We don't need that old husby. Yes, Merry Christmas to you and yours, and you may have said that's all I've got to say. You said plenty right there, Dee, and thank you so much for joining the Todd Starnes Show today. You know, the thing about the global warming, and I know Todd has talked about it, but, you know, if you go back 30 and 40 years, these same folks were talking about how the planet was going to be nothing but an iceberg, and then all of a sudden it's going to be nothing but warming. Look, the climate has changed since God created the place.

It has. That's why we don't have dinosaurs today, all right?

Well, Democrats who are running Congress. But the point is, we don't have dinosaurs roaming the earth. The climate changed. It is changing right now. That's the natural order.

The question is, are we as humans doing anything to make that worse? And no one can justify that. No one can prove that. But they've got a way to make money. You know, these folks all seem to be traveling pretty well and guzzling a lot more natural resources than I am.

Connor, you are on the line from Boston. Thanks for calling the Todd Starnes Show. Jeff Stein filling in for Todd. How are you today? Jeff, I'm doing great, and you're doing a phenomenal job today.

Thank you. I'm a huge fan of the show, a huge fan of what you've been doing for Todd. But, Jeff, I'm going to tell you, when it comes down to this Build Back Better plan, you have the president out there in the Biden administration talking about how this is going to benefit ordinary Americans. It's not going to. Whenever this president goes out there and tries to sell the American people some type of agenda he's pushing, It's only going to benefit the elites and then the people out there who are in the poorest areas of this country.

People out there who are just trying to make ends meet and put their kids through school. They're the ones who pay the most for it. When you look at what he has done since he's taken office, he talks about how he was going to unite the country. He's divided this country more so than I've ever seen before in my life. And I'm one of the younger viewers here, viewer of the show.

But I will tell you, he is a divisive president. He has divided this country more so than I've seen in recent history. And he's just not helping make this country a better place. He's not progressing the country. He's basically just, he's worried about keeping power and worried about entertaining his base.

And it's just very unfortunate, considering what we had with President Trump. Connor, I appreciate your kind words at the start of the call. Do you mind telling us about how old you are? You said you're one of the younger listeners. About how old are you?

Yeah, I'm 25.

Okay, so here's the thing. I've got a few decades on you, but I remember when Joe Biden ran for president, and he was in my state of Iowa back in 1987 before he dropped out before the 88 race, and I've covered him and interviewed him since. The impression of Joe Biden that many of us of a certain age have is this nice, genial, moderate guy who had a nice smile. But you're of an age who knows the more recent Joe Biden. And to you, it's just transparently obvious that he is the divider and not the unifier.

Exactly, Jeff. And I'll tell you, when it comes down to what we had with President Trump, we had a great economy. We had a great foreign policy.

Now we have a foreign policy in Afghanistan, a complete collapse. We're really not in the forefront of world leadership right now. That's all thanks to Joe Biden. It just a very unfortunate place where we are in this country right now We can get better obviously We can change it but unfortunately not so with this president in office Connor thanks so much for the great insight and for listening to this program Keep telling all your friends to come over to your side of the fence. Connor from Boston joining us before that.

Dee from Georgia, and I'd love to have you be on the list after the bottom of the hour. It's 844-747-8868. That's 844-747-8868. Hope you listened to the news and weather break. And then go to ToddStarnes.com while you're doing it and buy a copy of Our Daily Biscuit.

Talk about a perfect stocking stuffer. All right, Jeff Stein in for Todd. Back with more in a moment. This is The Todd Starnes Show. Grand Canyon University, a Christian university, is one of the largest and fastest growing universities in the country, offering over 250 engaging programs online.

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I'm kind of getting into the groove with that rejoined music. Jeff Stein filling in for Todd on this Friday, 844-747-8868. That is the number to call. One of the great Starnes Media affiliates is North Georgia's news talk, WDUN, at AM 550 and FM 102.9. And that is where TC is listening today.

TC, Jeff Stein in for Todd. You're on the radio. What's going on? Hey. TC, go for it.

You're on the radio. Well, we were talking about the president and all the situations going on. my two cents worth is that I don't look for things to get a whole lot better unless people can put the needs of the country ahead of their own agenda. Because if it's not good for the country, it ain't good for you in the long run.

So what I'm saying is everything has gotten worse, but we're all worried about what Trump said. Did he offend this person? Did he offend that person? That's going to happen. But we've got to take care of this country first.

So unless we can do that, it's never going to get better. We're just plugging holes in a dam. And unless we can ever get term limits to get people out of office to just get up there and get rich, it's never going to get better. You know, if you think about it, T.C., you're making excellent points, but if you look at the current president's career and what he did that everyone is able to demonstrate, feathering his own nest lining the pockets of family members who were selling influence i mean he's a guy who was a politician who got rich while getting a government paycheck contrast that with but that goes for about half a month there you know but you're right you're right but but here's never meant to be run by professional politicians it was meant to be run by the common man yes and turned back over to another common man. But now we've got career employees that are government employees that really don't have a...

Joe Biden has not a clue what a middle American that makes $60,000 to $80,000 a year life is like. He's been above that his whole life. And most of them are like that. And what I don't understand is how they get the dang smart when they get to Washington. AOC doesn't know anything about anything when she says, we don't need farmers.

We have grocery stores. That lets you know that she just was probably in. She just doesn't know. No, you're right. You're right.

But here was my point on Biden. You never had to worry when Donald Trump was in office if he was trying to do something to make a little money. Because he has money. You didn't have to worry about it. I mean, look at some of these people.

And it's everything from Clinton to Obama. Biden actually has a nice house that somehow he got money for. Think about that. But all those other people, they're off at rented houses because they're just living off of the government and the charity of their friends. That's like what Truman said.

Truman said, if you find a politician that got rich while he's in office, I'll show you a crook. And that's exactly how it is. Biden's been on the wrong side of almost every issue there ever was. And if people want to call Trump racist, you don't have to go back very far to see who tutored Biden and where he got where he was at and look at what he said and who he hobnobbed with to find out who's racist and who isn't. I mean, Trump talked too much.

I agree. He said things that he could have toned down and got him in a lot less trouble. But this country is no different than a business, than a tractor supply or a Macy's or anything else. If you run it in the red, it won't last.

So it's a business. You have to run the country. It's a business. And if a country's not making money, it eventually is going to fall by the wayside. And as we see right now, all these people catering to the Chinese, and they got their fingers in our education system and our health care system and everything else, but as long as people get rich off of them, nobody speaks up against them, and that's just garbage.

T.C., you make some excellent points. Thanks for joining the Todd Starnes Show today from Gainesville, Georgia. And TC is right about the perception of politicians, and you might say that your elected representative doesn't fall in line with that, and let's hope that's the case. But if you look at the group as a whole, and again, you say, how did you get so rich on a government paycheck? And again, I'll go back to the point about, and this is painting with kind of a broad brush, but why not?

You look at Bill Clinton, you look at Barack Obama, they're renting houses when they go on vacation, right? Martha's Vineyard here, there, whatever. Bush family made their own money in the private sector, had their own houses. Trump had his own place to go.

So when you start looking at that difference, first of all, and now all of a sudden Biden, his family's got plenty of money. How do they have plenty of money when he drew a government paycheck all these years? And why is it you can't talk about it?

Well, we know why. We know the answer. And so now the question is, how do you get out from under it? And obviously it is standing up now for everything and getting to the ballot box and make sure that we have fair elections and then get to the ballot box moving forward. You know, one of the things that I really want to encourage you to do during this holiday season, a lot of your representatives are going to be home, members of Congress, members of the U.S.

Senate, and they're going to be traveling around. And if you agree with them in what they are doing, you need to tell them that. You need to, and especially I'm talking to those who are in the minority party on the right side of the political spectrum, do not assume, Starnes Nation, do not assume that the person you voted for to go to Congress is going to do what you want them to do. You have to tell them how you feel, because the more people who come up to them at a town meeting, who email, who call, who make their feelings known, The more people who do that, that just fortifies them. That convinces them to move forward.

They may think they know what they should do. You've got to help them grow a strong backbone.

So don't sit in a red state and say, well, my representative's a Republican, my senator's a Republican, we're all good. No, we're not all good. You've got to keep telling them. And when I talk to politicians on the radio, they tell me the same thing. And they want to hear from you, even if they don't like what you tell them.

Because they have to know how you feel. In the first hour, if you were with us, and if not, go to the podcast section of ToddStarns.com for the ToddCast podcast. I was talking about how this is a representative democracy. We have a republic, and it's a representative democracy. They are your representatives.

Tell them how you feel, how you want them to vote. and hold them accountable. And that doesn't mean be nasty. It just means they want the information because it helps them. And again, you can't be upset with them if you did not weigh in.

This is not a time to sit back. And I understand you've got the holidays. I get that. The other thing to keep in mind is in many places, I dare say all, but I'm sure there's got to be an exception, But January is the time when your state legislature goes back into session. This is the perfect time to let your representatives at the state level know how you feel about these issues.

Because this is too important a time to sit back and say, I remained silent. You have to let them know how you feel. 844-747-8868 is how you can reach this edition of the Todd Starnes program coming to you from the Liberty University studio. I'm Jeff Stein filling in for Todd today. I have talked to you before about my personal experiences with my pillow.

Used to have no end of trouble with sleeping. And I'd use two pillows, I'd use one pillow, I'd double it over, and, you know, I hurt in the morning when I'd get up. I would not have the rest that I need. And finally, my wife said, you know, we hear these people, and this is now going back 10 years. We hear people on radio and TV, the late Don Imus on TV, would talk about MyPill, and she said, well, maybe you should try that.

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Instead of all of these retailers with their hands out to take some of your money for selling Mike Lindell's product, he's reaching out to you directly, and that means you get the lowest price in the history of MyPillow for their classic standard MyPillow. Regularly $69.98. It's only $19.98 if you use the promo code STARNS. That's the regular classic standard pillow. Queen size, regularly $79.98.

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It's 1-800-544-8939. And whatever you do, use the promo code Starnes. whether it's by phone, mypillow.com, mystore.com, frankspeech.com, works everywhere. Mypillow.com, promo code STARNS. And our great friend Wyatt Cox from the Nevada News Network and the USA Radio Network sent me a note while we were doing the program today.

And Mike Lindell is donating, and I'm so glad Wyatt gave us this information because you need to know this. This is where this guy's heart is. Mike Lindell is donating more than 10,000 pillows to tornado victims in Kentucky on Christmas Eve. How about that? Take that, you folks on the left, who've made fun of the MyPillow guy all this time.

More than 10,000 pillows to tornado victims in Kentucky on Christmas Eve. He doesn't have to do that. He doesn't have to drop the price on the pillows because of the fact that he doesn't have to pay these stores anymore? Wow. Talk about doing things the right way and for the right reason.

Thanks, Wyatt, for letting us know about that wonderful donation by Mike Lindell. MyPillow.com, promo code STARNS. 844-747-8868. We'll take your call on the other side of this break. I'm Jeff Stein filling in for Todd, and this is The Todd Starnes Show.

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Now that is what I was missing. Christmas music coming out of commercial breaks.

Now we're talking. Welcome back to the Liberty University Studios and the Todd Starn Show. Jeff Stein filling in for Todd on this Friday. Still some time to hear from you in this hour at 844-747-8868. If you're with us, and I hope you will be, for hour number three, just after the top of the hour, we are scheduled to speak with Republican U.S.

Representative Ron Estes from Kansas.

Now, it's interesting times to be a Republican in the U.S. House with dysfunction going on all around you. We'll talk about that. And just after the bottom of the hour, in the next hour, the host of the informative nerd burrito podcast he's avery bryson and he went to the spider-man premiere last night and apparently everyone else in the free world did too according to the numbers that i'm seeing 50 million dollars brought in at the box office last night that's a pandemic era opening record for a preview and the thing may bring in 100 to 130 million in weekend one Is it worth your money? We'll find out.

I trust Grace will chime in as well because I understand she was shelling out hard-earned cash to go to that movie as well. I was sitting at home. That's about all I can say about that. We'll pick that up in the next hour of this program. You know, we were talking with Liz Peake in the first portion of this hour of the program.

And again, if you missed the conversation, go to the podcast section of ToddStarnes.com, and you can listen to it a little later on today. But I've been talking with a number of business people for one of the radio programs I do, and they're all lining up their state legislative agendas.

Now, most of these groups, these business groups, I suppose politically they would lean to the right. That's probably a fair way to phrase it. And among a couple of the items that are on a sheet I'm looking at now from one of these groups, child care was one of the key legislative agenda topics. Another key is housing, availability of adequate workforce housing of a variety of levels. In other words, many places you have some very fine high-dollar homes, you have low-income homes, you don't have the middle range.

And so the idea is how do you get government to be more friendly in this way? How do you get government to have policies to remove these impediments to creating a good workforce? All right, so if the business groups say, you know what, we need to have more affordable child care and we need to develop some better strategy on housing. If the business groups are lobbying state lawmakers on those topics, and those things were in the mammoth spending bill, so-called Build Back Better bill, why could they not, the Democrats, why could they not say, hey, look, the Republicans like these topics. Let's pull these out.

Let's have them be standalone bills. Let's get some stuff done. And then we can all go back to constituents and say, see, the government works. but they weren't satisfied with that. They acted like they've never been here before.

And again, you've got people like Pelosi, you've got people like Schumer, who is not quite as old, but it's not his first day. You've got Biden. They've all been around. They don't act like they've been here before, and it's because they're being guided by all of the so-called progressives, better phrase is Marxist, better phrase is anti-Americans, who haven't been there before and it's my way or the highway. We want it all and we want it all right now.

And as Liz Peake pointed out, they may get nothing. And if they want to take the attitude and Cori Bush was this way, I can't believe that we're not able to get done what we want to get done. You don't have the votes. You've got poor policies. And you want this big swing as opposed to taking care of things that everyone agrees on.

they're a victim of their own mindset. And that's why you need to get out and talk to lawmakers over the break to make sure they know how you feel. Hour three coming up. Thanks for being along. Jeff Stein in for Todd on this Friday edition of the Todd Starn Show.

Thank you. in scholarships in 2021. Visit gcu.edu slash myoffer to see the scholarships you qualify for. Find your purpose at Grand Canyon University. Live from the Liberty University studio in Memphis, Tennessee, it's common sense conservative commentary from Todd Starnes.

I love this American ride. Wherever you're listening, across this, the greatest nation God ever blessed. Not even close. This is the Todd Starnes Show, coast to coast to more than 100 excellent radio stations and streaming live at ToddStarnes.com. Hello, fellow patriots.

I'm Jeff Stein. from Starnes Media affiliate News Talk 1540, KXCL, and Waterloo and Cedar Rapids, Iowa, the 50,000-watt blowtorch scorching the Midwest with accurate news and reasonable views. And it's my privilege to talk to you here on Starnes Nation today. Talk to all of you in Starnes Nation. Todd is getting an early jump on some time off for Christmas.

Well-deserved. Man never takes a vacation, so we're glad that he's taking a little time for himself and family. We'd like to have you join this coast-to-coast conversation, if you'd be so kind. We are at 844-747-8868. That is 844-747-8868.

And we would love to continue this conversation with you as you have something to say, and we know that you do. Joining us now, I believe, on the Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line is Representative Ron Estes, congressman from the state of kansas congressman jeff stein filling in for todd how are you today i'm doing well how are you doing jeff i am very well and you're probably well because i'm guessing you got out of the swamp this week you're back home right yeah i'm actually on my way home i haven't haven't quite made it there yet but it is good to get out of dc after you know all the crazy things that have been promoted and all the wild spending ideas that the democrats seem to want to come up with.

Well, seeing D.C. in your rearview mirror is always good. I have spoken in the last few days with two of my members of Congress from Iowa, folks you serve with, Randy Feenstra and Ashley Henson. And, you know, sitting there in the minority party, are you just shaking your head at this point at the dysfunction you're seeing across the aisle from the Democrats? You know, it really is.

The sad part is they just think they never met a spending program that they don't want to increase. And, you know, it's sad. You know, we've listened to Senator Schumer talk for months now about how he was going to pass this BBB bill, which, you know, I call it Biden's bankruptcy bill, as opposed to Build Back Better, because really what it does is it spends a lot of money, and it expands all these, you know, 150-plus government programs. And it's not good for our country. I think it would be much better for our country if this bill never passes.

And just to highlight some of the gimmicks that they used with this process and as they bannered back and forth was they were trying to hide the real cost of it by saying, well, we'll raise taxes for 10 years, but only execute these programs for one year. And one of the examples that actually Senator Graham from South Carolina and, you know, my colleague, Congressman Jason Smith from Missouri, got the Congressional Budget Office to say, well, here's the true cost of that bill over a 10-year period. And some of the things like the Child Allowance Program went from $185 billion to almost $1.6 trillion over 10 years. and that's just kind of some of the budget schemes and and gimmicks magic math that they use to make this sound like it makes sense and once again this is what's wrong with the federal government and why people turn their nose up at washington it's this kind of gamesmanship if you want to fund a program for 10 years then fund it for 10 years and tell us what it's going to cost don't put a program in place fund it for one year and then you know make the republicans have to take it away from people. I don't know.

You have children. You've raised children. Do you take something away from them once you've given it to them? That doesn't work. Yeah.

No, it really doesn't because that Todd allowance was actually started six months ago. And now they're saying, well, we need to extend it for another year. And when we get to the end of 2022, they'll say, well, we need to extend it again. And when you look at it over a true 10-year cost, it was going to add $3 trillion to the deficit over that 10 years. And, you know, I can't do that to my kids and grandkids is to add that much more deficit spending for them.

And particularly when so much of the bill is bad policy. You know, they're talking about hiring another 80,000-plus IRS agents by spending $80 billion. and they want the IRS agents to do things like go look at our bank accounts and track what comes in and out of the bank accounts. They were pushing out the Hyde Amendment, which has been the rule of law for over 40 years that taxpayer dollars shouldn't be used for abortion on demand. And raising taxes on small businesses, I mean, obviously as we're trying to come out of COVID right now and the whole issues that we've got with the economy, raising taxes is just going to slow that down so it's it's uh horrible to look at i mean it's it's basically it's irresponsible to be spending this much money particularly when they're they're focusing on raising the the debt ceiling and and as we're seeing inflation going rampant across the country representative ron estes joining us on the todd starn show he represents the state of kansas in the u.s house all right so here it is you're coming home for the holidays and you no doubt are going to meet with constituents have you talked to them about the impact of all of this inflation because i guess what we're at 6.8 percent the most recent report i'm going to take a guess most of your constituents have not gotten 6.8 percent raises this year to keep pace that that's right i mean people are seeing the pain at at the grocery store you're seeing the pain when you try to go buy christmas presents uh you know turkey for thanksgiving dinner or christmas dinner is up almost 18 percent uh over last year and and people are really starting to feel that pinch we're seeing it with gas prices when when when president biden first came into office you know two of the things he did was shut down the keystone xl pipeline and shut down drilling on federal land.

So we saw almost immediately an increase in prices of gasoline, and it's up over 30% from a year ago. And it just comes out of people's pocketbooks. And the people who get hurt the most with inflation are the working class. I mean, the middle-income and low-income folks who get a paycheck every week or every month because that paycheck doesn't things. And if they are fortunate enough to get a larger than normal salary increase at the end of the year to try to offset some of this inflation, they can never catch up because by the time they get their salary increase, it's going to be taken up by higher prices.

And those prices never reset. I mean, at least the Federal Reserve now recognizes that inflation is a problem. We've been beating the drum for months now that they need to stop calling it transitory because it's being baked into our economy. And it's causing pain, and it's going to continue to cause pain for at least another year and probably longer. And now we see that the Fed Reserve says it's going to raise interest rates not once, not twice, but three times in the next calendar year just to try to put some firewall in with inflation.

that that uh and again that doesn mean we going to return to the carter years of the 70s but when you have that kind of an action taken that shows that we got something here that more serious and harder for this administration to blame on Donald Trump That's right. And it's all the doings of the Biden administration and the Federal Reserve on ignoring inflation. And, you know, President Biden saying that, well, adding a new social spending bill was cost zero dollars. I mean, we knew that was not true. and now we're having to suffer the consequences of that and the economy is going to struggle with keeping our economic growth as we come out of COVID.

It's a bad case that we're putting everyday Americans in. Representative Ron Estes from the state of Kansas joining us live on the Todd Starnes Show. Jeff Stein filling in for Todd today. So what do you think you're going to hear? I assume, again, you're going to spend plenty of time with family, kids, and grandkids, but you're also going to connect with constituents.

What do you think they're going to tell you during your next couple of weeks, perhaps, at home? Yeah, it's going to be good to be able to be back and spend some more time in the district and be able to talk with folks about the things that I'm seeing that are really affecting people. Obviously, we're seeing now labor shortages with so many of these big government programs that I can make the argument that a year and a half ago we needed to spend some money with COVID as we were going into, and, you know, that money was used to create Operation Warp Speed and develop the vaccine. But, you know, a year ago, we started with a $900 billion bill last December, and then President Biden came on board and had to do something in his first 100 days and passed another $1.9 trillion. And what we've seen inflation come up and the folks not being able to find workers to fill the jobs out there.

And that's the story that I've been hearing in my district and expect to continue to hear more as people look. And they try to get their Christmas gifts. I mean, the supply chain's been broken now because of, you know, some of these government policies. And I think there's going to be a lot of people that, you know, aren't able to get what they wanted to get for the holidays or to run your manufacturing operation or, you know, other things that you need just because of some of these problems. Congressman, I hope you and yours have the blessings of the holiday, and thank you so much for taking time to not only fight the good fight but talk to us about it here on the Todd Starnes Show.

I appreciate it.

Well, great. Thank you, Jeff. I appreciate the opportunity to talk and wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. Safe travels home. He's Congressman Ron Estes serving the 4th District of Kansas.

And he joined us live on the Todd Starnes Show coast to coast here. 844-747-8868 is the number. Murph, you're on the line and you hold on through this break, sir, and I'll give you all the time you need on the other side. It's 844-747-8868. I'm Jeff Stein filling in for Todd and this is the Todd Starnes Show.

Advocate for those who need support and make a difference in your community. Earn a Bachelor of Social Work from Grand Canyon University. GCU is a premier private Christian university offering online social work programs with affordable tuition and personalized support. In addition, you can earn your Master of Social Work by completing the Bachelor of Social Work plus just one additional year instead of two. Find your purpose.

Visit gcu.edu slash social work to learn more. Coming to you from the Liberty University studios, this is the Todd Starn Show. Hello, I'm Jeff Stein, filling in for Todd today. The home base for this radio program is the conservative voice of the Mid-South, the mighty 990 KWAM radio, and that is how Murph from Germantown is listening to the program, and he's called in now at 844-747-8868. Murph, Jeff Stein here in for Todd.

Thanks for calling. What's on your mind today? Hey, Dr. Stein, thanks for taking this call. Yes, sir.

One comment, please, sir, and a couple of questions. Sure. This huge piece of legislation is trying to get its way through the Senate and the House. It advocates the usual low-cost child care, universal pre-K, and low-cost housing. And then you combine that with low-cost quality medical care.

When I was in class, I used to ask our kids three questions. Number one, everyone in favor of a tax increase, raise your hand. Of course, no hands went up. No, of course not. Secondly, why should you, Dr.

Stern or Grace Baker, the bait, or Todd Starnes, or your kids and grandkids pay for my health care in any way, shape, or form? And the third question is, if your guest you just had on your program is so concerned about our financial stability, what would it take for him to say to take a 20 or 30 percent pay cut? He and the rest of his colleagues on the Hill, because that costs us a fortune every year.

So that's where we are. And I was just curious. Oh, one more. Where's that money going to come from for low-cost housing, low-cost child care, universal pre-K? And if you've been to a hospital lately, I would shudder to think what the light bill and the water bill alone for your local hospital is.

Take care, all the best, and Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas to you, Murph, calling in from Germantown. I snickered as you were talking, saying, where is the money going to come from?

Well, we know where it's going to come from. It's coming from Murph and Jeff and Grace and Kyle and everybody else. People actually working for a living. All right.

So a couple of things there to unpack. There is a concept of all of this universal pre-K and all. Are they really just starting to indoctrinate young people sooner and sooner? That's a concern. What I'm looking for in such things are ways that the government gets out of the way.

You know, for example, we're talking about child care. I don't have children. I don't know what any of this is like. But I know it costs a lot of money, and there are certain certifications that states have in place so that children are protected.

Okay. Are some of those inappropriate? In other words, are there more hurdles to clear than are necessary? That keeps costs up. And obviously, when you build in this infrastructure that says pre-K and K-12, and now let's pay for college and all of this, those who fund it get to call the tune, right?

Those who pay the fiddler get to call the tune. And this has to do with the curriculum. And when I say those who pay, it's, yeah, you're paying it, but it really comes from the federal government.

So the federal government is going to have all of these rules about curriculum, etc.

So I have great concerns about that kind of thing. But it is also true that if you want to develop a full workforce, you have to remove certain impediments. and some of the impediments have to do with affordable child care also has to do with housing but we're not talking here i don't think we should be talking about government run housing government creating this child care system i don't need government i need government to get out of the way? Is there a way for regulations, rules, etc. to be taken out of the way for there to be incentive, for example, for businesses to engage in their own child care if the business is of sufficient size?

Those kinds of places do very well. The employees are happy. They're more productive if they know that they don't have to worry about their kid all the time.

Now, that doesn't work for a 10-person business, obviously, I don't think. But what can the government do to, A, remove impediments, but B, to facilitate good solutions that are not, C, government programs? Government should not be running this as a one-size-fits-all. But why not encourage the kind of American ingenuity that has made us the greatest nation in the history of the planet?

Well, the problem is so many of those now with the purse strings don't believe in American greatness. They don't believe in American ingenuity, and they don't think we're the greatest nation on the planet. They think we're horrible and we ought to be struck down. Here's the thing that I find very interesting about those people. if we're so darn bad how did you get to be so darn successful if everything is so bad how did you rise above it can't be that bad then can it 844-747-8868 it's a Friday afternoon and we're going to lighten it up with Avery Bryson reviewing the Spider-Man movie when we come back in a moment Jeff Stein in for Todd on the Todd Starnes Show From the Liberty University studios, this is the Todd Starnes Show.

I'm Jeff Stein filling in for Todd today. 844-747-8868 is how you can reach this program. Last half hour or so on a Friday, one week before Christmas Eve. Wow. 2021 moved along pretty quickly.

So Dolly Parton is obviously a legendary talent. She's a wonderful soul and has done so much for her home area. And now she has not one, not two, but three additional Guinness World Records. They announced this yesterday. She now has the title of most decades on the U.S.

country songs chart female division. In other words, no other woman has had a song on the country chart in as many decades as Dolly. Seven decades. That dates back to the 1960s, if you're keeping score. George Jones did that in the men's category and that's it Dolly and the Possum each having hit songs in the country charts in parts of seven different decades she also now has a Guinness World Record most number one hits by a country female artist with 25 that is just phenomenal phenomenal stuff pretty good pretty good stuff to say the least so congrats dolly just keep it up keep up the good work there was another one what was it because they there's a picture here that i'm looking at on the internet where she got three new records what's the third one now let me get it here for you oh she is extending extending her current record of most hits on the country charts by a female artist, now at 109 hits over the course of seven different decades.

God bless you, Dolly. Just keep that up. 844-747-8868 is how you can reach us here on the Todd Starnes radio program. We were going to talk, and we probably still will talk about this Spider-Man movie, but I need to come clean. I couldn't remember the last time I was in a movie theater.

So I looked up the movie. I think the last time I was in a movie theater was nine years ago this fall. Nine years ago. And the time before that was 11 years before that.

so literally it would appear in the last 20 years i have been to two motion pictures i don't know what that says about much it may tell you more about me than than i want to share i don't know i don't go out i used to think that i was into pop culture you know i started in radio as a teenager and played the top 40 songs and i you know i thought i was all sorts of cool and Well, that's so far from the truth. And it's certainly, no, no, not now. No, no, I have no idea what you kids do these days. I do know, and I want to go into this topic if we have the time, and I think we do. The Democrats in Congress have been pushing build back better, their phrase, not mine.

So now that's going to the wayside, it appears. but one of the, at least until after Christmas, one of the things that they've tried to do, and they're doing this through the budget reconciliation process. That means everything has to do with money. And if it doesn't have to do with money, it is not germane, and therefore it cannot be included. And the Democrats who are just bent on getting this done don't even care about the health of the Senate parliamentarian.

I'll follow up on that in our last segment. But joining us now on the Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line is Avery Bryson. You know Mr. Bryson as host of the informative nerd Burrito and, of course, long-time member of Team Todd. Avery Bryson, how are you?

Good to talk to you again. It is good to talk to you as well, Jeff. Thank you so much for having me. All right, so Spider-Man was a comic book, but now it's a whole series of really well-attended motion pictures. Tell us about the latest one.

You were there last night, right? Yes, sir, I was there. And the most recent installment to the Spider-Man universe is called Spider-Man No Way Home, and it is absolutely a knockout. It blew my mind yesterday. I went with a whole bunch of friends, and it's definitely one of the best superhero movies I've seen in very recent years because it's got heart.

It's got, you know, just a lot of passion. You can definitely tell that all the people working on this project were just willing to make this one of the best projects that they've ever done. And it really comes out on the screen, and it was just absolutely phenomenal to watch. $50 million last night alone it brought in. And Sony thinks it may be as much as 130, and that's a pandemic-era record for a quote-unquote preview night.

Now, I alluded to the fact that Spider-Man has been around since long before I was a kid, and that's long before you were even thought of. And so what is it about this that – you don't have to agree so quickly with my age, but that's okay. What is it about this and this whole genre of superhero movies that really appeals to a younger generation?

Well, I mean, there's definitely the cool costumes and the cool fights and stuff like that have a pretty decent amount of leeway when it comes to getting the younger audiences to come and see the films. But I mean, we're all the same throughout all generations. We've all been the same. We all love a good story. We all love a good underdog story.

And Spider-Man is like a perfect picture of that. Because when Stan Lee and Steve Ditko made this character way back in the day, they were just wanting to make probably one of the most relatable characters of all time. You know, someone who has a difficult time with money problems, you know, like has a difficult time with their love life and things like that. And so, I mean, that character, that idea of that character just resonates with everybody on a very personal level. I believe that that is one of the biggest reasons why he's, you know, such a popular character.

Avery Bryson joining us on the Todd Starnes Show, the informative nerd burrito, one of the best named podcasts ever created, just by the way, if you're interested in this.

So help me out. Yeah, I just name my stuff with my name. That's just so lame. You know, the informative nerd burrito. I mean, that's just classic.

All right.

And a logo to match.

So talk about the Spider-Man movies that Marvel Studios has put out. Approximately how many in the current genre? And rank this, if you would, with the others that have come out.

Okay. Yeah, absolutely. Currently in this universe, there are two other Spider-Man movies that follow this same cast of characters. And those two were both called Spider-Man Homecoming, Spider-Man, and then Spider-Man Far From Home. And I think this has been one of the best trilogies so far, one of the best versions of Spider-Man, because with the previous two Spider-Men who have been able to bring this character to life have been Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield.

And Tobey Maguire was the first, you know, and I really think that he definitely helped pave the way for superhero movies, because those were probably, again, you know, Spider-Man's one of the most popular characters even before he was put on the screen. And so I think, you know, that just boosted his fan base, definitely. And so huge props and thanks to Tobey for bringing the character to life originally. and you know there's a you know again we're human so we all obviously have problems so there were some things about his films you know that not everybody liked and there were some things that uh you know people enjoyed and then they tried again with Andrew Garfield back in the early 2010s and you know again the same sort of situation happened but with Tom Holland who was the most recent Spider-Man he is definitely I think you know third time's the charm the best example of that phrase uh being true you know third time's the charm he basically was able to take what both people liked from the first two Spider-Men and was able to put them together into this amazing character that we all know and love. That's one of the things that I guess for me I have a hard time, I guess, clicking with is the fact that you can have this franchise and then you have different actors portraying the same character.

Now, I go back to when they started making Batman movies 30 years ago, right? And Michael Keaton was the first film Batman. and I still can't tell you how that movie ended because my now wife and I went and I fell asleep and missed the ending and she to this day refuses to tell me how it ended.

So don't go by me on this stuff. But we've had I don't know how many Batman actors. Apparently though, is it more about the devotion of the fan base to the character, to Stan Lee, who was just legendary obviously, to all of that as opposed to the manifestation of the individual as actor? I think it's a little bit of everything that you just said. I mean, yeah, definitely.

The fans feel so strongly about these characters because, like I said earlier, Spider-Man has affected people on a personal level. He's resonated with them. They're able to identify with his struggles because they're like, yeah, I go through the same sort of thing. But then also on the Chronicle page, obviously, he has superpowers.

So that definitely helps out with some of his stuff that he's got to deal with. But, I mean, people are just able to recognize that superheroes are still human at the end of the day, for the most part. Again, Batman is probably one of the most human heroes that we've ever seen because he doesn't have any powers. He just has a lot of money, which some people would consider a superpower. But, I mean, it's just, yeah, it again goes back to the human part of the character.

That's what a lot of people fall in love with, with these comic book heroes and things like that. is the ability for them to show their humanity and, you know, they're willing to face their human issues without their superpowers. Because, yeah, the superpowers are cool and stuff like that, but when it comes down to the real, you know, the nitty-gritty and just, you know, the personal conflicts, those, you know, superpowers can't help you that much. And so I think when they show them how they work through their problems emotionally, you know, it really does inspire a lot of people. I'm going to ask Ms.

Grace to get ready to offer her analysis because I understand she attended as well, but I want to ask you while she's getting to the mic, Avery.

So are you a fan of multiple comic book characters on screen, or are you more of a Superman devotee as opposed to some of these others?

Well, that honestly kind of depends. I like a nice little mash-up of where we get to see all of these characters, like speaking of the Avengers and things like that. That's probably one of the biggest star-studded cast movies we've seen probably ever. and probably will ever see. And so, you know, those are all fun to see those characters work together and interact.

But, I mean, yes, I do enjoy the movies that focus on more individual characters because, again, you get to peek more into their personal lives, see what's going on in there, and, you know, get to know them as a person.

So I would definitely say that I do like the solo movies a lot more than definitely the Avengers-level movies and stuff like that. What do you pay to go to the movie? What does it cost these days to go?

Well, that kind of depends. I mean, I've heard, you know, I've just got back home from Liberty University where I attend college. And, you know, I have friends from all over the country and all over the world. And, you know, so some of them, I've heard some of them say, oh, they still only have to pay $8 when they go to the movie theater. And I've heard people say, like, you know, oh, I pay like $20 to go see a movie.

So it honestly really depends. But I paid around for my tickets, you know, around $20 because I went to go see, you know, the IMAX.

So that was like the big screen, the big surround sound and stuff like that.

So, you know, movie prices, unfortunately, are still getting up there every now and every now and again. Twenty. OK, I'm an old guy. Grace, what did it what's it cost for you to go to a movie there? Miss Grace.

All right.

She's just going to be rude and not talk to me, or at least I can't hear. All right.

Twenty. Oh, my goodness. OK, I don't even want to get down to what popcorn soda goes for. But all right.

So, yeah, yeah. Don't don't want to talk about that at all. Probably not. All right.

So. Hey, guys, I am here. I'm sorry to interrupt, but I want to chime in about popcorn prices. Can I do that?

Well, yeah, I'd ask you what it costs to get into the movie.

So what it costs to get in the movie, I think it was about $14.50 a ticket without tax. Isn't that crazy? That wasn't even to go see it in IMAX. To go see it in IMAX would have been $19, and to get a bottle of water and a large popcorn, it was $15. Yep.

So it was a little pricey. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Okay. Now, it was like $15 to get in.

And how much then for the bottle of water and popcorn? $15. It was, I remember specifically, it was $5.50 for the water. And it was about $9 for the popcorn. Yeah, it's definitely gotten a movie.

You know, going to the movie and like getting a light snack has basically become the equivalent price of going to see a movie, or excuse me, going to see a dinner and a show back in the day. Yep.

Okay, I'm just obviously stunned by this whole concept.

So, well, give us a movie review, Grace. What did you think about, what is this called? It's called Spider-Man No Way Home.

Okay, no spoilers. I'm not going to give any spoilers. No, no. I mean, I thought it was great. Honestly, if I had to rank MCU movies, it's my new number one.

I know it's brand new in my head, but it's kind of my number one at the moment. I would have to agree as well. I mean, from a fan point of view of the character, it's just like it's everything you could have wanted. And it was the right amount of fun, like funny stuff. And it honestly was like, finally, Peter Parker, Tom Holland's version has to go through some stuff and grow up a little bit.

And that was a little long time coming.

So I enjoyed it very much. Being in the movie theater, I will say, was the best thing because everybody was clapping and hollering, and you can't replicate that at home.

Okay, so now, is Todd Starnes in line right now for the matinee? See, that's what I wonder. He took time off. I'm like, maybe he went to go see Spider-Man, really. Possibly, yeah.

Do you really, either one of you, think that would ever actually happen? Is he going to a movie theater to watch Spider-Man? But, you know, maybe just in general, maybe he would if, you know, Grace Knight dragged him. He probably would.

Well, yeah, peer pressure, but that doesn't count. Would he just go on his own and lay out that kind of cash? I don't think so. I don't know. I'm just throwing it out there.

I'm just not positive.

Okay, so where does the franchise, either or both of you, where does the franchise go from here? We've got a trilogy of these movies.

Well, what happens from here? I mean, are there plans for additional ones? Is the success of this going to lead the fan base to demand more? I'll let Avery answer that. Yeah, I was just about to say, yeah, I definitely think, you know, this movie still leaves fans wanting more.

I mean, it was a great conclusion to this trilogy. I've heard rumors that they're planning on making yet another trilogy, you know, where he's in college and things like that, because the past three films have been when he's in high school. And so I think, you know, we're going to be able to follow this character almost into adulthood, you know, being able to the point where he has a family. But honestly, like, I really don't know. But I just know that if there are more Spider-Man films that come out, there will definitely be fans to fill those seats in the theater.

Avery Bryson is host of the Informative Nerd Burrito podcast. You get it wherever fine podcasts are served. That's a Wyatt Cox phrase. Thought I'd slide that in again. Thanks so much for taking the time.

And $20 for a ticket. All right.

Anyway, Avery, thanks so much. Very good to talk to you again, Grace. Thanks for your insight as well. we've got a final segment of this program and we'll do it after this break. Jeff Stein in for Todd on the Todd Starnes show.

Advocate for those who need support and make a difference in your community. Earn a bachelor of social work from Grand Canyon university. GCU is a premier private Christian university offering online social work programs with affordable tuition and personalized support. In addition, you can earn your master of social work by completing the bachelor of social work plus just one additional year instead of two. Find your purpose.

Visit gco.edu slash social work to learn more. One more time from the Liberty University studios. This is the Todd Starnes show one more time for this week. I mentioned this a little bit ago and I want to make sure I point this out.

So the Democrats have been trying to get some massive immigration provision into this reconciliation bill.

Well, sorry, reconciliation proposals have to have a direct impact on the federal government. And yesterday, the Senate parliamentarian Elizabeth McDonough says the plan to allow the six and a half million immigrants to just come on through is not tied to the budget. Third time, she has quite appropriately, if I may say, said you can't do it this way. Third time. Here's the thing that's even more annoying.

Yesterday, after senators were caucusing, one of the Democrats said, yeah, I hope we get a ruling on this this week. I guess the parliamentarians, you know, busy with treatment or something. Yeah, Ms. McDonough has breast cancer and she's undergoing treatment to save her life, you insensitive troll. Seriously.

The best you can do is say, oh, I really hope that she can come through this week and give us a ruling on this so that we can, what, water down the Constitution? Shame. Shame on all of those folks for that attitude. Thank you all for being along. What a good way to end the week.

Grace, Kyle, thanks so much. You're wonderful as always, Mr. Starnes. I appreciate the opportunity. Thank you all for being there.

Jeff Stein in for Todd. Have a blessed weekend. This is the Todd Starnes Show.