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Live from the Liberty University Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, it's America's conservative blowtorch. That's right. I love this American. Todd Starnes. Wherever you're listening across this, the greatest nation God ever blessed, welcome to a Thursday edition of the Todd Starns radio program, Coast to Coast.

On more than 140 outstanding radio stations and streaming live, among other places, at ToddStarnes.com. Hello, fellow Patriots. Jeff Stein filling in for Todd today, coming to you from my home base at Iowa's home to the Todd Starnes Show. News Tark 1540, KAXCL, in Cedar Rapids and Waterloo, the 50,000-watt blowtorch scorching Middle America with accurate news and reasonable views. It's a travel day for Todd.

He will be back in the air chair on this program on Monday. But we have a lot of business to take care of with you, and we welcome your calls as always on the Liberty University Studio line, 844-747-8868. That's how you can join this coast-to-coast conversation. It's 844-747-8868 as we transact business in the Liberty University studio today. Lots of great guests on the program in the next two hours.

Plenty of time in this hour for your calls, so take advantage of that phone number and join the conversation. Coming up one hour from now, we'll speak with Peter C. Earle. Mr. Earl is an economist with the American Institute for Economic Research.

You might have heard in the news just a few moments ago before this program started on your local station that the new Consumer Price Index report came out today. And it's not good. It is a turnaround and You'll recall the Biden administration jacked inflation way up. To something like six times what it was when they took over. And it has been on the decrease over the past 12 months of reports, unadjusted reports.

And so they've been taking credit for halfway sort of fixing the tremendous problem they got us into.

Well, in any event, the tide has turned. And you know this if you've been trying to buy anything, back-to-school items, clothing, groceries, gas for the car, etc. I mean, the inflation is just not abating in any way at all. But I'll tell you, for this to actually be admitted by the government? That suggests that it could even be much worse.

Because as you all know, And I don't want to go too far down the road before the guest gets here, but Look, you hear these reports, and then the next month they say, Well, we had to readjust last month's report. And you know they're going to play with these numbers as we get near the election. You know that.

So the fact that they even conceded at this point that inflation was back on the rise, that's big stuff. That's my take. But I'm not an economist. Peter Earle is, and you'll hear from him here on the Todd Starnes program one hour from now. If you listen to programs like this or you go to ToddStarns.com, then you know about the Biden crime family.

But if all you do is watch the network newscasts on the formerly mainstream channels of ABC, CBS, and NBC, You don't really know a thing about it. You know an awful lot about Donald Trump being indicted, but you don't know anything about the real crimes being committed by the Biden family.

Well, the folks at the Media Research Center, in particular the newsbusters wing of that great organization, they do keep track. And even though this information does not surprise you, the bias, I think it's important to actually note it and chronicle it and make sure that everybody knows we're on to them. And Curtis Hauck is managing editor of Newsbusters. He'll join us in less than 90 minutes here on the Todd Starns program. In our number three today, The state superintendent of schools of the state of Oklahoma, former education secretary and teacher, he's Ryan Walters.

And the Chinese influence in U. S. public schools is something that has not been getting enough attention. Until now, however, we'll make you aware of that situation coming up in our number three. Also at number three, OUR NUMBER three THE ASSOCIATE PRESS which is really the only new service we have now.

Well, they're hardly unbiased. In fact, my station dropped AP earlier this year because it it was just comical to some degree the bias.

Well, they have now slandered Something called the Women's Bill of Rights. They say a women's bill of rights is, in fact, an attack on transgender individuals. That is not the way the Independent Women's Forum sees it, however, and we'll speak with folks from that fine organization in hour number three as well.

So, much to get to, including your calls at 844-747-8868. And thanks again for being along for the ride.

Now, I said that Todd was on a travel day. He's on his way back to Gotham City. And he's not just on vacation. Who goes to New York these days on vacation anyway?

Well, certainly, not many people listening to this program, but Todd's going to take one for the team because he's going to be finding himself behind a TV camera again tomorrow. He'll be filling in for Greg Kelly on Mr. Kelly's Newsmax show in prime time. How about that? We get to see Todd on TV again tomorrow night.

I had no plans for Friday, but I do now.

So make sure that you're watching Todd on Newsmax as he fills in for Greg Kelly. And I think, well, I'll check the time. I don't even want to tell you time. I think it's 10 o'clock Eastern, 9 o'clock here in God's country, and the rest of you can figure it out with your own math. But I'll cross-check that.

They changed the schedule a while back, and I can't keep track of things. But our man, Mr. Starns, filling in for Greg Kelly on his program tomorrow night on Newsmax, and that's why he is away today and tomorrow. But we'll be back here on Monday. ToddStarns.com is where you go for all manner of information, including the live show blog.

And I want to talk to you about something in this segment and perhaps the next as well. And it has to do with History to some degree. I mean, if you think back, the founders of this country. And it's almost two hundred fifty years ago that the Declaration of Independence was signed. But It took a while to get the government part of it right, so it really started with the Constitution.

in seventeen eighty nine.

So still a long time, right? More than 200 years. These folks were pretty smart. They set up the most.

Well-functioning democracy in the history of personkind. And as part of that, they said, all right, we need somebody in the nation's capital to. be the figurehead of the government. And there was a lot of conversation at the time. Should this person be known as a king?

Because if you think about history There this was monarchy all over Europe, right? That's what they were escaping. But the thought was, well, what do we call the person in charge of the American government? And the title President came up. For a number of reasons.

One, George Washington did not want to be King George, because that's what they just got away from. and so he became President. In other words, we wanted a president elected by the people. Not directly through the Electoral College, so that even those of us in rural areas. and smaller states had a proper voice, We wanted a president that was elected by the people, not a king that would rule as a dictator.

And that has served us very well. I would say, and I trust you agree. But apparently, there are those now in the Biden administration. who believe that instead of President Biden it should be King Joe I. And I say that because of actions that they are taking.

You never question. the motives or actions of the monarch. You never question or challenge the king.

Well, heaven knows, don't challenge This President Because he seems to think that he is above it all. He's shuz shown it in so many ways. CONTEMPT FOR THE NEWS MEA contempt for dissent, contempt for the American people. His loyal subjects, don't you know? I've been thinking about this and speaking about it on my program a bit lately.

The idea of the high-handedness of this administration going into an election year to the point. that safety could be an issue. safety of those who dare challenge or question This President who would be king We're going to take a break now, and when we come back, I want to play. A quote uh picked up on a mic yesterday and you've probably seen it or heard it. But to me again it speaks volumes.

of the high handedness Of this administration and the low regard with which they think. Just yet another example, and that's coming up in a moment. We'll return to the Liberty University studio after this break. In the meantime, jump on the phone, 844-747-8868. It is a free call.

We'll make Mr. Starnes pay for it. I mean, he's doing Newsmax again for crying out loud. he can pick up the tab for the phone call, eight four four seven four seven eighty eight sixty eight. And if that comment didn't cross the line, I'll be back in a moment.

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Jeff Stein filling in for Todd today. 844-747-8868 is the phone number. I started talking about King Joe I. And I was going to mention something that was in the news overnight and into this morning, but Victor calling in from Maryland, I think, saw the same item, and he listens online to the Todd Starden Show. Victor, thanks for taking the time to call, and tell us about this situation and your thoughts.

Okay.

Well, I have Alexa, so I can tell her to play Today I got KYK and on, so I'm learning about Salem or gone. Anyhow. I was listening to Uh Country this morning. And Jeff was talking about Uh this Utah man 75 years old. Yes.

Yeah. walks with a cane, He does mouth. Awful lot, and he was saying that someone needs to take care of Biden and all the other people. But yet, at the same time, Time. Raided this guy's house and killed him dead.

So he can't speak what he wants to speak. peak, but yet you got Madonna dreaming about Blowing up the White House. With Trump in it. You got Uh, what the hell was her name? Kathy Griffin.

Gifford or Griffin or somebody had a Donald Trump and another guy. These people can say anything they want. They can make all kinds of threats. Donald Trump, but if you did say something about Biden. the FBI is going to come after you.

Why do you think they took such aggressive action, Victor? As opposed to really d I mean, because you have to understand, everybody does, that the President, any President gets all manner of threats and they all need to be investigated. But when was the last time you heard anybody was dropped by an FBI bullet as part of this? This is a message. You better be quiet.

better behave yourself. Yeah. Mind the Bidens Or Else. It's a message. They'll come and kill you.

And what I What I am terrified is that when they arrest Trump and put him in jail, they're going to kill him.

Well, they're doing everything they can to require the former president to be in custody. And I'm very concerned about his safety on an ongoing basis. And I hear people complain that he's not doing certain campaign events.

Well, if you've ever been near the logistics of a presidential visit, you know you have to. Care about security an awful lot, especially in this climate. Do you have some concerns? That maybe the folks who are paid to protect him Have divided loyalties? Let me phrase it that way.

Yes, I do. Every government agent From the Secret Service to the FBI to the CIA. Can't trust these people anymore, and I'm afraid they're out to get. The good guys. And Um, I can talk.

But That's about all I can do. But you never know. Know because I love talking on the phone. Colin talked. I like listening to Um And I can pick any Yeah.

Around the country. I like DXing. I used to get KXE L every Yeah. until I move to Silver Spring, where I have interference from a fifty thousand watt station at one thousand five hundred. Hey, we're on Alexa too, you know.

Oh, yes. You can find us on Alexa and I'm on just before Todd comes on.

So it'd be an honor if uh a couple of times um when there was E skip, I got channeled two in uh Cedar Rapids. Just down the road. Victor, it was a privilege talking to you, and I appreciate the thoughtful conversation. Keep listening on that Alexa device. Thanks so much for calling in.

And this is the thing I saw yesterday when I. saw the news that this individual had been killed. No, you don't make threats against a President. But again, when was the last time? This kind of action was necessary.

And it just feeds into this whole argument that this is a dictator or a monarch. And therefore they will do what? Ever it takes to stay in power. Matt called in at 844-747-8868. Matt is in Eastern North Carolina listening on WTKF.

Matt, thanks for calling the Starn Show. Jeff Stein filling in. How are you today? Yes, sir, Jeff Stein. How are you?

I am very well and better now that I'm talking to you.

So what do you think about the FBI? Can we trust them when it comes to the Biden crime family?

Well, no, but unlike what Victor just told you. Um Anybody threatening to kill a president I think the and I said this last night on a different show I'm not supposed to talk about, Um Uh Anyone threatening to kill a president, I don't care if it's Biden, I'm a Trump supporter. That's just crazy stuff. I mean You don't go around threatening a President, even if he's an idiot. No, you're going to get somebody showing up at the door of your house.

There's no question. And usually. You either get a stern talking to, or if it looks like there might be something to it, you're arrested. But you're not shot and killed on sight. immediately before the president comes to town.

No, but the guy put it all over social media, I was told. Yeah, well, but again, anybody can just thumb out a tweet or an X or whatever it is. It's the job of the law enforcement to investigate and see if this is a valid threat. And I don't know enough about the situation either. but I just find it interesting that Just at a time that we cannot trust.

The heads of these agencies to act in our best interest. I worry about how they are acting when they go to investigate these things. I mean, that's just the concern that I have. And thanks so much for weighing in. I do appreciate it.

More of your calls on the other side at 844-747-8868. I'm Jeff Stein filling in for Todd today. He's on his way to New York. You'll see him on the Newsmax tomorrow night instead of Greg Kelly. Todd filling in at 10 Eastern, 9 Central tomorrow night on Newsmax.

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That's mypello.com/slash starnes. Use the promo code STARNS or call 800-839-8506. Promo code STARNS. Yeah. Welcome back to the Todd Starn Show coming to you from the Liberty University studio.

I'm Jeff Stein, filling in for Todd today. 844-747-8868. That's how you can connect with this coast-to-coast conversation. And so far today, we've been talking about. The Biden administration and some high handed efforts on their behalf.

That make us think, at least makes me think, that they would rather it be King Joe I. as opposed to President Biden. Yesterday At a public event Fox News Channel reporter Peter Doocy. came up to the President to ask a question, And this was permitted. I mean, there were people milling around.

It was not an inappropriate thing. It was not shouting at a news conference, et cetera. But here is what the exchange sounded like. And again, because it was not directly. Into a microphone on a podium, it's a little hard to hear.

But listen to this, please. There's this testimony now where one of your son's former business associates is claiming that you. We're on speakerphone a lot with them, talking business. Is that what? We've never talked business in England.

And I knew you'd have a lousy question.

Well, what do you? Why is that a lousy question? Because it's not true. Thank you, Mr. President.

His aides could not get there fast enough to pull him away from getting himself in trouble. I knew you'd ask a lousy question.

Well, why is it a lousy question? Oh, thank you. Thank you, folks. Here we go. Let's usher him off.

Before he says something that is going to be contradicted by testimony in court, oh, wait, he already did say something that was contradicted by testimony. Keep in mind, this is Peter Doocy of Fox News Channel. He is the same reporter. Who the president once called a stupid B word, Meaning child born out of wedlock. And then the president had to call and sort of apologize, but he didn't really apologize.

This time, according to news reports. Mr. Doocy had barely gotten to his car after the event, and White House officials were calling. to criticize the foundation of the question. Doubling down.

Without any question. But keep in mind. Just because Joe Biden says it doesn't make it true. My family never benefited from China. This is where we need the game show buzzer, by the way, because all of these are incorrect answers.

Of course, now Hunter has admitted in court to taking hundreds of thousands of dollars from China. Yet Joe still says nobody in my family benefited from China. Yeah. I wonder how much of this Is straight denial of because he knows it would be trouble, And how much of it is given his limited mental state, These days. And I say that with sadness, not with any derisiveness.

I think he's convinced himself of the story. Or he lacks The fundamental desire or ability to question what he is told. No, Pops, we never took any money from China.

Sounds good to me. The fact that they continually Deride those who raise an issue. That is the sign. of an administration That thinks they can get away with anything? and thinks they're better than you.

And the way that they treat any criticism. Look, You know, if you're the president and you're in your right mind, you know, you're going to get asked. about all manner of things like this. About the testimony of Devin Archer, about the fact that. there are all manner of bank records That Show.

That the President has been lying to the American people. Congressman Comer dredging up another list Here they are Bank records don't lie. But if they talk loud enough And make fun of you for asking the question, or freeze you out from asking questions, or saying, I should have known you'd have a lousy question. Wow That is arrogance. But my broader point is, you know those questions are going to get asked.

Are you telling me his staff doesn't have a response beyond ushering him off the stage? You can have a non-answer answer. I'm not going to comment on pending investigations, but I am confident my family did nothing wrong. There, it's a pretty simple answer. You folks in the White House monitoring this program, that's free.

You can have that one. But this shows something much. Deeper. This is the kind of administration that is desperate to hold on to power at all costs. And when it is at all costs?

Ah Then you have to worry. Because maybe they'll arrest their key political opponents. Maybe they'll deny Secret Service protection. for key political opponents. Robert F.

Kennedy, Jr. is getting a lot of attention. Obviously it started with his famous name. But there has to be something more to it. And he says things that I don't think every person listening to this program would agree with.

He says things not every Democrat would agree with. But he says a lot of things that make you think. And that's dangerous to these people currently in charge. They don't want you thinking. Thinking for yourself?

We can't have that. Presidential candidates have been afforded Secret Service protection. Since nineteen sixty eight. The events happened in nineteen sixty eight that led to a change in policy. And the triggering event was the assassination of Robert F.

Kennedy, Sr. who at that time was the leading Democrat candidate. Was not the nominee. All right, so now they have all manner of provisions saying once it's the nominee. Then they get protection.

But that's not the only time. There are exceptions. For example, Barack Obama got Secret Service protection in the spring of 2007.

Well, before the January 2008 Iowa Presidential Precinct Caucuses, Which he won. And it led to his Eventual winning of the election. But because he had received credible threats He got Secret Service protection. More than a year before.

someone in his position normally would have. They say four months before the election.

Well, that's July. He got it in the spring of the year before. I have no problem with that, by the way, as a taxpayer. I'll pay for safety, and if that includes people who could be the leader of the free world, I'll pay for that. I'm good.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has received a number of threats. partly because of his name, partly because of his stance on COVID. And COVID-related issues.

He asked for Secret Service protection as a bona fide presidential candidate challenging King Joe I. Despite I think it was an 80-page investigative report with specifics listed. The Biden administration denied Mr. Kennedy. Secret Service Protection.

Mr. Kennedy has protection. He has private security. That's not the point. The point is that you are leading up to an election.

Where the average American thinks things are far worse off than they were four years ago. You've got the leading Republican being slammed with criminal indictments at every turn. And you've got the leading Democrat challenger denied Secret Service protection. Then you have what may be an overreaction. to someone mouthing off on social media.

which we talked about in the earlier segment. That family's planning a funeral to day. as this President is planning a trip to Utah. And you've got the attitude of: don't ask me lousy questions. That's a lousy question.

With the White House then having to. Pull the leader of the free world by title, not by action, by title, off the stage. Put all of this together. And how comfortable do you feel? About how the next year and three months before the next general election is going to go.

or essentially a year and a half before The next president is inaugurated. I have great fear That there is so much that is rotten here. That there are so many who are desperate to cover up. The rot. that they will engage in whatever is necessary.

to maintain their stranglehold on power so you don't get to know what they were doing. And when they are that desperate, When the dogs are cornered They will lash out. Is there anything that this bunch Won't do. in order to preserve their way of life, and preserve their control Over you and over me. I'm not sure there is anything.

That's what's really scary about it. I'm really not sure there is anything they will. Say, oh no, we can't do that. That's crossing the line. That has me greatly concerned.

And The fact that as we go into this 2024 election cycle, there are so many people. On the right, quite honestly, who say, Well, look how bad Biden is. He can barely get along on the stage and he fumbles. And look at all the corruption. Surely people will see this, and we won't have somebody from the Republican side will be in.

We don't have to worry about it. You'd better worry about it. Because we are no longer in the days where people play fair. We are in the days where there is desperation. to maintain power and control over you.

and for their benefit. And if you think it is going to be business as usual with fair counts in the next election, And that everybody is going to play fairly because that's how we've always done it. You need to open your eyes a bit more. I have grave concerns about this. I have grave concerns about how things are going to go.

Regardless of the outcome. I don't have a recipe for what we do at this point, other than stay active, stay legally engaged. and pay very close attention. But we must do at least that. 844-747-8868.

That's how you can join in on this coast-to-coast conversation. We'll take your calls after this break. I'm Jeff Stein, In for Todd, and this is the Todd Starn Show. Should be the bad, shoot the buttons. I wanna love you, shoot me.

I wanna love you, man. Welcome back to the Todd Starn Show. Jeff Stein filling in for Todd today. He's making his way to Gotham City, where he will be filling in for Greg Kelly tomorrow night on Newsmax. Greg Kelly reports airs weeknights at 10 Eastern, 9 Central.

The rest of you do your own math, but Todd will be sitting there filling in for Greg Kelly tomorrow night, 10 Eastern on Newsmax. My privilege to be with you here today in the Liberty University studio. 844-747-8868 is how you can reach the program.

Now, I'm here in the state of Iowa. Which is the first in the nation, caucus state, and our great Iowa State Fair began today.

Now you may think you have a pretty good state fair, but our state fair is a great state fair, we know it, because they wrote a song about it and a book and three movies. And we have a cow sculpted out of butter. The woman who did that for generations was from my hometown. Thank you very much. And there are all manner of presidential candidates making their way through.

And they are also looking forward to that first debate, which will be in Milwaukee a little later this month. And the Republican National Committee is requiring candidates to sign a pledge. And it is I'm not a fan. All right, let me just tell you, I'm not a fan of the RNC pledge. Because it doesn't mean anything.

But here's what I do like. Ambassador Nikki Haley has signed off on it. Mm-hmm. And basically, it's called the Beat Biden Pledge, and it says, I will only participate in a debate that's sanctioned by the Republican National Committee. See, I don't like that part.

Keep your mitts out of the local politics. And if you do participate in a debate that's not sanctioned, you won't be eligible to participate in others. And then there's this. Additionally, I affirm that if I do not win the 2024 Republican nomination for President of the United States, I will honor the will of the primary voters and support the nominee in order to save our country and beat Joe Biden. She drew a line through the Beat Biden logo and wrote the word.

the words President Harris. It's a very smart play. Because if you elect Biden Harris? At some point you're gonna get Harris. I pray for Joe Biden's health every night.

Every single night. Because if his health falters Look who's the President of the United States. And I have no confidence. that we will get anything Constructive done. including uttering a complete sentence, without cackling.

or repeating the same words three different times to define the word you were defining with the words. That's Kamala speak right there.

So Nikki Haley is saying, sure, I'll sign the pledge, but let's make it clear we're beating President Harris. And that's a very interesting approach, and she's not the only candidate to mention it. To mention that You've got to consider. what you're getting with a Biden-Harris ticket. At this point, President Trump is not.

revealing whether he will be At the debate. He's teased that he might hold another event. He goes to public appearances, as he did in my state of Iowa recently, as he did in New Hampshire, saying, I don't know, should I do the debate? Should I not do the debate? I made it our poll question of the day.

My station, News Talk 1540 KXEL, does a poll question of the day, and Miss Grace is kind enough to put it on the live show blog.

So go to ToddStarnes.com, click on the live show blog, and you'll see the link, or just go to kxel.com/slash poll. That's KXEL. Dot com slash poll, and I'm asking, do you think Trump should participate? in the debate. And there are various options like yes, all the candidates should be there, or no, doesn't serve him any purpose at this point.

He has nothing to gain from it. Or maybe no, but he should join in later when there are fewer candidates.

Well, what do you think? Toddstarns dot com live show blog The link to the poll question is there or my website directly. It's kxel.com/slash poll. Should Donald Trump Be on the debate stage. Should he participate in the debate in Milwaukee later this month?

Would love to get your thoughts and share them with the audience. Coming up in our next hour, we'll talk with an economist from the American Institute for Economic Research. The new Consumer Price Index report released today. It's not what the Biden administration wanted, and I have my own suspicions that if they're reporting bad news at this point, it must really be bad. Because they can always cook the books, but there's only so far that they can cook them.

So the mere fact that it's negative. Gives us some concern. Also, media bias? Yes, sir. Curtis Howe of Newsbusters.

Yes, ma'am. Yes, sir. He'll talk about that in the next hour as well. Thanks for being here. Come on back for hour two.

Jeff Stein in for Todd on the Todd Starn Show. Live from the Liberty University Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, it's America's favorite cunt totem Bible-clinging deplorable American. That's us, that's right. I love this American. Todd Starn.

Oh yeah. Wherever you're listening across this, the greatest nation God ever blessed, welcome to hour two of a Thursday edition of the Todd Starnes radio program, coast to coast on more than 140 outstanding radio stations and streaming live at ToddStarnes.com. Hello, fellow patriots. I'm Jeff Stein, filling in for Todd today. He'll be back on Monday, coming to you from my home base at the 50,000-watt.

Clear channel voice of the Midwest. The Blow Torch. We scorch this area with accurate news and reasonable views. News Talk 1540 KXEL, which, of course, is I was home to the Todd Star Show, and I'm glad to be here in the air chair today for Todd in the Liberty University studio. 844-747-8868 is how you can join this coast-to-coast conversation.

We'll get to your calls in the next segment. But now we go to the Patriot Mobile newsmaker line. We are joined by economist Peter C. Earle. Mr.

Earle is with the American Institute for Economic Research. They are online at AIER.org. Mr. Earle, thanks for taking the time. Jeff Stein in for Todd today.

How are you? Good. How's everything, Jeff? Thanks for having me.

Well, it was better before gas prices went way up in the Midwest, where I live last couple of weeks, and grocery stores and everything else. And finally, we've got some government data, the Consumer Price Index report in particular, that well, it's not as positive as it had been as I understand it. Yes. So I mean, we've got a little bit of good news in there. Certainly, prices are increasing at a slower rate than they have been.

But one of the things we're going to see over the next two months is we're going to see the top line number, the headline number, which includes food And energy price is probably rising because there's a situation Where we have refineries that are going offline because of the high temperatures. And the combination of less supply and higher demand in the summer because of vacations means. you are probably already seeing gasoline prices rising with, and they're probably going to go up a bit more.

Well, they don't seem to go down very often after these things, little seasonal spikes, etc. When we look at the cost, just a fuel alone, as you just mentioned.

So, yeah, it's going to cost me more to commute to work. It is going to cost our school districts more to take kids to school. It's going to cost more to transport goods. That really, to me, has always been the fuel cost. Cost, that has always been the thing to watch because it has such a wide impact in so many areas.

Or am I misreading that? No, no, no, you're right. And as a matter of fact, if you look at the areas which have risen the most in price over the last two years, You'll see fuel. Right, you'll see gasoline and oil, you'll see food. And you'll see shelter.

Now, what I mean, talk about the three things that you can't get away from paying. You know, where you live, how you get to your job and how much boot costs. It's um it's been an awful, awful Sort of a period for the Federal Reserve, who just makes one mistake after another. And the first was these really heavy-handed responses to COVID. There was no need.

to create trillions upon trillions of dollars, and we're still looking at the effects today. And that is really the thing that as you track this. The rate of inflation when the Biden administration took over was what 1.4%, 1.7%, something in there. It wound up being six times that, and now they're bringing it down saying, look how good we are.

Well, they caused the problem to begin with. I'm not sure they should get much credit for, quote, fixing a problem they caused. Yeah, and it's by the way, it's the exact same thing with employment. The only reason why we have strong employment numbers. Is because we basically, or I should say, not we, not you and I, but our policymakers basically.

Invoked or they brought about an artificial recession in the beginning, you know, year, six months, a year of COVID. And then basically, they wouldn't basically take the emergency off until Biden came in office. And all we're seeing are the effects of an economy healing. There's no actual Bidenomics or Biden policy going into the economy. This is simply the economy healing after having been sort of held down for over a year.

So yeah, it it it What they're doing right now is they're taking credit for things that would have happened anyway. which is just I mean, that's the ultimate sort of political accomplishment, isn't it?

Well, it's hardly surprising, but I've grown far more cynical than I ever thought I would be, and I started at a high level of cynicism, let me tell you. Economist Peter Earle joining us. He's with the American Institute for Economic Research. AIER.org is the website. He joins us on the Todd Starn Show.

Jeff Stein filling in for Todd today. If the economy is in a healing phase, and that makes perfect sense to me, You have the data, but it makes perfect sense to me. How much longer can that go on? before we have tapped out of the healing.

Now that's an awkward way to phrase it, but in essence, how long can this administration live on what is the natural result of a post-COVID recovery?

So, frankly, I think we're on borrowed time already. If you recall, you know, last Last week, maybe two weeks ago, we had our second quarter GDP number, which came out at two point four percent, which was higher than the one point six, one point eight percent. But when you look under the hood, as I have, and I've been writing about this stuff, the only two numbers that made that number positive or that really accounted for about ninety percent of that two point four percent are not really great things. The first, of course, is consumer spending, where if you look at the top line of spending, it looks good. But when you look at durable spending, which are durables are basically good for the last for three years, and it's a very durable spending is a very strong indicator of recessions.

And it falls for the session. They went from over sixteen percent than the first quarter to zero point zero four percent. In the second quarter, So that's a big drop durable spending. The second thing is a lot of the GDP increase was in nonresidential fixed investment, which by the way means The Biden administration has passed three bills. One is called the Chips and Science Act, one is called the Inflation Deduction Act, that's a left, and the other is the so-called bipartisan infrastructure act.

And those three acts are sending billions and billions of dollars to companies to builds facilities.

So that's what accounts for a lot of the growth in GDP in that particular category. But the problem is, that's building that's based upon government subsidies. That's not building to meet unmet demand, which would be real sort of business. And uh and growth uh uh positively also data items.

So really about 2%. Of a 2.4% number is a number of the number of 2.5 is based on very, very sort of weak, you know, strong looking numbers that are actually very weak and probably declining soon. You know, we have consumers of token taking on a lot of credits. You know, we have student loans picking up again in September. It's not so easy to see where they're spending from.

how that spending rather is going to continue. This is an imperfect analogy, but it's sort of like a kid who gets an allowance. And they think that they're rich because they've gotten the allowance, but then they turn eighteen and have to live on their own. And it's like, oh, wait a second, I don't have any money. I mean, it's all just a house of cards because again, and I look at these reports every month, and if I see that government Jobs, for example, have increased.

Well, that's not helpful because, again, you've got to have taxpayers to pay for the government employees. And if the only real growth in jobs is due to government, That's just a fiction in terms of long term sustainability. Absolutely. It's a shell game. The governments don't really have any way of raising money.

I mean, we're actually productively. They do one of three things: either take it from you and I through taxes. They either sell debt Like treasury bonds, of which we have 32 trillion of now, or they print money, which reduces the buying power of our existing money.

So, you know, any type of government growth that comes from either of those three is really sort of ephemeral. It's not real growth. It's just sort of like window dressing. How does this all affect the housing market? And I ask that because of the fact that.

Things have gone very high in terms of prices because you could get financing for a low rate.

Well, now the interest rates are going up. I'm seeing more stagnancy, at least where I live, with regard to houses for sale. What's the sense nationally on this? And also, there's the hesitance to build, and that has an even greater effect.

So the rise in home prices has been so rapid, and the increase in mortgage rates have been so rapid, they're over 7% now. I predicted that by the end of the year they would get up for 7.5%, but we'll see how that works out. But at any rate, At any rate, The turnover in terms of of of residential housing is as low as one percent in some areas. And where it's not that high, many houses have been constant out of the market.

So we're going to see a lot of millennials and Gen Zs, the younger people, have to stay in apartments for longer. By the way, those shelter prices are still up about seven percent here over year. That was ninety percent of the increase in the CPI from June to July was in shelter prices.

So we really have our younger people who are trying to strengthen their lives between a rock and a hard place. Final question for economist Peter Earle of the American Institute for Economic Research. All right, here we are in early August. What's this all going to look like if we speak at the end of this calendar year?

Well, I am on the record since March of saying that before September 2024, we will enter a recession. Um a lot of my uh a lot of my uh uh you know fellow uh economists I gave us a lot of A little more time than say before the end of this year, because I thought that we are still seeing a lot of distortions. from the pandemic policies like lockdowns, supply chain issues, all of those problems. I think that we are heading for a recession. I don't know whether it's going to be a severe one or maybe a more sort of muted one, but the combination of artificial growth of government subsidies to companies, of a diminished consumer, of the effects of price increases on people's credit and on the sticky sort of high prices of groceries.

I think that those is going to fall in the second half, those human sessions. uh by uh about uh well at least before September 2023 or something. Tom is kind. I was talking with an economist from Creighton University named Ernie Goss, who is an expert in the Midwest economy, and the manufacturing reports that he prepares were in concert with the national manufacturing reports that were issued about a week and a half ago. Those weren't positive either.

And if manufacturing starts taking a slide, That plays right into the scenario you described, does it not? Sure, we've got some softness in certain markets. You know, the states always arise before the federal numbers, and as early as April or May, we're We're seeing increase in First-time applications for unemployment on the state level. Like you just mentioned, I see growing indications of Slack in manufacturing. The Institute for Purchasing Managers, all of those sorts of things have brought up some Institute for Service.

My miniatures. I was going to say so much fatigue. Interest rates now at twenty two year highs. Any business which was started in the last twenty one years has never had to contend with rates this high, unless they had really bad credit, which you usually don't start a business if you have credit that's that bad.

So, yeah, there's a lot of tests in space in the U.S. economy over the next year or so, and I have no doubt that every single one of them. It's got to be publicized. Most unfortunately. It is indeed, but it is we just need to be aware of that so we can filter some of that out.

AIER. org is the website for the American Institute for Economic Research. Economist Peter Earle, thanks so much for the smart conversation and the insight. I appreciate it. I hope we talk again.

Thanks for having me.

Great time. Peter Earle And again, it's American Institute for Economic Research. Aier.org is their website. That's Aier.org. And he has taken these numbers, by the way, and put them into their own Everyday Price Index.

And that's some interesting stuff, too.

So if you need some data. That will help you back up your argument about how things are, or to see if how you think things are squares with some national data.

Well, that's a good place to go: aier.org. And he joined us on the Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line here on the Todd Starn Show. 844-747-8868 is how you can connect with us. We'll take your calls in the next segment. I'm Jeff Stein, filling in for Todd, and this is the Todd Starn Show.

Yeah. Welcome back to the Liberty University studio and the Todd Stern Show. Jeff Stein filling in for Todd today. It's a travel day for TS. He's on his way to New York.

He will be filling in for Greg Kelly on Newsmax tomorrow night. The excellent program Greg Kelly Reports airs at 10 o'clock Eastern, 9 o'clock Central Weeknights. And Todd will be filling in for Greg on Newsmax tomorrow night on Greg Kelly Reports. That means I'm here today. Todd will be back, by the way, on Monday in the air chair.

Excellent conversation we just had with economist Peter Earle. Because there are so many aspects of this that I know from talking to other economists. It bothers them when this stuff becomes politicized. Because they're numbers people. And they study the organic nature of capitalistic systems, et cetera, and to see the government interfere like it did to spike inflation.

And now you've got the interest rate hikes from the Fed to wait for it, curb inflation that they caused. I mean, it drives these people crazy. It was a great conversation that we had. And guests on the Todd Starn show, join us on the Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line. I always tell you here to go to patreonmobile.com/slash Todd.

And I hadn't done it in a while, just thought, well, I'll just kind of do that, because that's what you'll be doing right now. Patreonmobile.com/slash Todd. And there you go. There's Todd's picture. And there's a button where you can check coverage.

And this is important so that you know before you sign up that you're going to get the kind of service you need. You click on that. I just typed in my address during the break, and sure enough, I knew this, but sure enough, obviously, Patriot Mobile covers, and they have so many different plans that fit all your needs. But really, more than ever, as we've discussed everything today and how we have such distrust. Of institutions we used to trust implicitly.

Well, now more than ever, it is important to support individuals, companies, and organizations that share our values. And Patriot Mobile. is one of those. It's America's only Christian conservative wireless carrier, sharing our beliefs but actually doing something about it by donating a portion of every dollar to organizations that fight for the causes you care about. Switch to Patriot Mobile now, use promo code TOD, and you'll get free activation and a free gift.

How's that for a deal? Patriot Mobile and the maps right there on the website's got the broadest nationwide coverage. They use the same towers other carriers use.

So it's not like the old days. They have so many plans that I was just looking at in terms of maybe doing an upgrade. They fit any budget. Also, great discounts for our veteran and first responder heroes, discounts for multi-line users. You owe it to yourself to check this out because if you're going to spend money, do it with someone.

you can trust, and that is not only for service, but also With what they believe in and what they do with the money. And it is super, super easy to switch to Patriot Mobile. Go to patriotmobile.com/slash Todd. And you could, if you'd rather, call their U.S. base.

Thank you very much, customer service team at 972-PATRIOT. I'll repeat that in a moment. Special discount. Free premiere activation, but you have to use promo code TOD. Go to patriotmobile.com/slash Todd, patriotmobile.com/slash Todd, or call them at 972-PATRIOT.

That's 972-PATRIOT. And as you go through the website, they ask you: Do you want to keep your phone? Do you want a new phone? Do you want to keep your number? It's all the kind of things that you would be asked if you went into a store.

But you can just do it on your time from home at patriotmobile.com slash Todd. I don't have to tell you. In this audience, I don't have to tell you that the formerly mainstream media, the former media we could trust, Well, we don't trust them now because the bias is clear for everyone to see. They used to hide it at the very least, well now it's not hidden at all.

So if I were to tell you that if all you did was watch The evening news on ABC CBS NBC. You would hear a lot about Trump indictment stories, but you wouldn't hear anything about the Biden crime family. Would that surprise you? No, it doesn't surprise you at all. But the amount of bias Categorized by the folks at Media Research Center and newsbusters, that's staggering.

And that's our topic when Curtis Hauck joins us after this break from the Liberty University studio. Jeff Stein, in for Todd, stay with us on the Todd Starn Show. Welcome back to the Todd Stein Show. I'm Jeff Stein, filling in for Todd today. Here in the Liberty University studio, 844-747-8868 is how you can join this coast-to-coast conversation, and we'll take your calls in the next segment.

Let's go to the Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line for this conversation with Curtis Hauk. Mr. Hauck is managing editor of Newsbusters. That's part of the Media Research Center. Mr.

Hauk, Jeff Stein filling in for Todd. Thanks for taking the time, sir. Good to talk to you again, Jeff. You and I have spoken on my program in Iowa in the past. I'm not sure we've talked on the national program before.

I think people know what the Media Research Center is, but why don't you remind us generally and give us some specifics about newsbusters and all the great work you folks do there? Yeah, we've been around for thirty six years, just like Joe Biden in the United States Senate. The MRC has been chronicling the best and worst of the liberal media bias, both on a short and long term basis. We look at ABC, CBS, NBC, primarily because they are still, despite declining numbers, the most watched newscasts here in this country. We also look at the liberal cable networks, CNN, MSNBC.

And we also just check on what's going on at Fox News, Newsmax, and the business channels, Fox Business, CNBC. Look at the major papers, the New York Times, Washington Post, et cetera. And we also check out what everybody's doing to put their foot in their mouth on social media as well. And we also look at big tech censorship, that's one of our new platforms as well. And occasionally we still look at um what the liberal media are saying in Spanish as well.

Well, that's a pretty full plate, especially the people putting their foot in their mouth on social media. But I mentioned to the audience before you came on that if I said to the audience there's bias in the media, Nobody would be shocked. I mean, we know this, but I still think it's important to quantify it and call it out when we see it. And the double standard that we talk about in the judicial system. Is also a double standard in terms of news coverage about these cases.

Give us some of this data regarding the Trump indictments as opposed to the actions of what I call the Biden crime family.

Well, yeah, we should just know that you are being spun. Even if you can sniff out media bias, you should always be you know, have your antennas up. You know, I think that while the internet allows you different news outlets and opportunities to check out media of all stripes, it does require a little bit more know how on your part. And I know people have real jobs out there, but it's just something to keep in mind. The tally that we have here that the reason I'm on the show is I've been looking at ABC, CBS and NBC coverage Of the third Trump indictment.

So, just the Trump indictment. We're not talking about the document scandal. We're not talking about Alan Bragg. We're not talking about the one that's coming in in Georgia. The January 6th indictment, whatever you think about it, is a big story.

But is it really worth three hundred and forty one minutes.

So over five point five hours, On the broadcast networks between the evening of august first, so when the indictment came out, through this morning, august tenth. Is it really worth that much?

Now, you think that's a big number, so I also looked at it because we usually try to pit two numbers against each other, and we try to offer some sort of contrast when we do our studies.

So I said, what is the amount of time that Scandals have been looked at on these networks, even just vague estimates. Esoteric allusions to Biden scandals, or Republicans are saying things about Hunter Biden. It could be that vague. Only four minutes and fifty seconds. You convert it all to seconds and you do a ratio to come up with a big ratio.

That is the Trump number is seventy one times larger. Then the bidd number. Yeah. That's what it is astounding, and it's again when we know there's bias.

Alright, that's helpful. but to see how obvious it is and and the magnitude of it. You've done this more than a day, and so you're probably not surprised by much. But did even this disparity, and I know you folks have kept track on this, and it just keeps getting worse and worse. The news releases your people send out often say, The tally of four minutes and 50 seconds on Biden scandals remain unchanged because they've moved on from that story.

But are you even surprised at this disparity and how large it is? I mean, sometimes. I'm not so the disparity, yes, I would say, but the the largest of the Trump number, I wasn't. And then I split it down even further per network. I compare their Trump coverage versus their Biden coverage.

I'll just do ABC. I hadn't done updated it with last night and this morning's number, so through yesterday morning. ABC had about two hours and three minutes.

So 123 minutes, almost 124. They only had thirty-nine seconds. On Joe Biden. And that came from Doug Bergham, longshot presidential candidate, on ABC's this week telling George Stephanopoulos: I'm not here to talk about Donald Trump. But if you want, I can talk about Hunter Biden and his laptop and et cetera, et cetera.

So you put those two numbers together. ABC has spent one hundred and ninety times more On Donald Trump's third indictment. Then Trump's or Biden scandals in this same time period. I mean, it is huge. Huge.

And I think it's just important for people to know that Their friends and family. And let's be honest, folks, these are the peop you know, people that watch these networks. Whether it's Donald Trump or some other Republican candidate, they are going to need them. In November 2024.

So that's why you say, well, why does this matter? We have our news, we get the real news. Yes. You should, but you should also know what's going on on these other networks because the people who Who the Republican nominee is going to need watch these networks, and they are completely in the dark. Curtis Hauk is with Newsbusters, managing editor of that group within Media Research Center.

Very simple website in terms of the address to remember. It's newsbusters.org, newsbusters.org. And if you go there, there is all manner of information on a variety of topics, including the story that we're talking about right now. 71 times more. Minutes and seconds spent on the Trump indictment than on any hint of the Biden scandals.

And look what they're doing there with North Dakota Governor Bergham, who I have interviewed because I'm in Iowa. That's kind of what you do. You interview presidential candidates every four years. And he's got a compelling story. Um but i this is what they do is they try to draw People in, you know, you invite Doug Bergamont to talk about his presidential candidacy, and then you want to take up all the time by talking about Trump.

I mean, that's what they do, they goad people into. trying to make some news or make some headline and call it news. And we saw This is with Dasha Burns, who completely embarrassed herself. She was clearly tr on NBC with DeSantis. She was trying to make up for her Jon Fetterman interview, which nearly caused John Fetterman to lose that Senate race.

I'm from Pennsylvania, so that one still that one that one still hurt. But she was clearly trying to make up for it with DeSantis, and she embarrassed herself. And she tried to make it about Trump. And when DeSantis' argument is the election needs to be about January 20th, 2025, not January 6th, 2021. And she was like, well, Well, you don't get to decide that.

What she was saying was: we, the media, are going to get to decide what the election is about. And of course, that's not how any of this should work. For any election, the American people should decide what is important to them.

So I caution folks, well obviously this Trump story and the two-tier justice system is very important because it underlines how the American people you know you look at pro-life activist Mark Hauck is just one example, no relation to me, in Pennsylvania, what happened to him when he was protesting peacefully outside an abortion clinic and what he went through and everything that's been coming up about the FBI targeting religious groups, particularly Catholics. Um At the same time, you cannot allow the media to take your eye off the ball. The economy. Education. are just two of the issues.

They're going to be huge in this election. Um so will the media continue to be focused singularly on Donald Trump, and they want you to be focused on the Trump indictment. Voters need to continue to push back on this. and demand that they actually cover real stories.

So for islands, when you're being interviewed, Don't give in to their don't take their bait. They're going to make you want to talk about whatever's going on in the Trump trials. Um And if you give them like two seconds of that, they're only going to use those two seconds. They're not going to care what else you're going to say.

So you need to focus on the issues that really matter to you. Um and what we do here is just try to let people know that you're more or less being conned, and this is the scale in which you are being conned. Because otherwise, this doesn't leave time for other important issues because let's face it, on these networks, they'd much rather do deals and steals or whatever's the latest trending thing on TikTok instead. I have gotten caught up in seeing that every channel has deals and steals, and I thought, you know, originality is now officially dead. But Curtis Hauk of Newsbusters joining us on the Todd Starn show, Jeff Stein filling in for Todd today, newsbusters.org.

And you're talking about the bias with regard to Biden coverage, Trump coverage. That's very obvious. But something I've cautioned my audience in Iowa and this audience nationally about before, as has Todd, is the slanting and skewing of news coverage. And you wrote a piece which is on the website, newsbusters.org, about how these formerly mainstream media networks delight. In any misstep by Ron DeSantis, because obviously they want Trump to be the nominee.

For very different reasons than many members of this audience might. But it's the words they use, right? I mean, it's much more subtle and therefore insidious. It's struggling. It's tumultuous.

You know, uh they they've used other words in the past like pitfalls or, you know, really pick a word, pick a pick you know, pick an adjective, pick a verb. And really that's what they're going to use to talk about Ron DeSantis. And the thing is, they do two things. You know, there's bias by omission. which means they just ignore the other candidates.

Unless they're going to come on and willing to talk about Donald Trump, Doug Bergum unwillingly, Asa Hutchinson and Chris Christie willingly, because that's really all those guys want to talk about. Um Or You know, and you also buy us by admission on other things, such as we have zero seconds on the Biden bribery scandal from Burisma. It's been 60 days since all that stuff started leaking out. We have zero seconds on that. We also have zero seconds on the House Oversight thread from yesterday.

uh that was posted about twenty million dollars to the Bidens and family members from oligarchs in China, Russia and Kazakhstan. There's zero seconds on that as well, but also the more insidious one is when something is covered, how it's spun. And we see that with the SANS campaign. And I said this on Newsmax the other day. When I was asked about the SANS, it was like, well, if everything's so early like this and we're all everybody's just supposed to pack it in, why don't we have a President Rudy Giuliani or a President Jeb Bush or even going back before I was born, Gary Hart?

Elections are long. Islands know this. This is a process. New Hampshire, South Carolina, Nevada, and all those people in early states know this is a long campaign and things can completely change. Um so I s but the media don't want that.

They don't want that because if you remove the other candidates, then they can really talk about the Trump trials, and that's it.

So you may you can support Donald Trump and that's totally fine with me. But just know that the media also have that same goal in mind because they believe that he's beatable. That's why they elevated John McCain. They elevated John McCain in 2007, 2008, and sure enough, they turned on him then. I was with you on all this until you said.

Or back before my time, the Gary Hart campaign, because that was not before my time, but Curtis Hauk is managing editor of Newsbusters within the Excellent Media Research Center. It's newsbusters.org for all manner of detailed information so that you can have a good conversation with folks who say, oh, there's no bias.

Well, here are the numbers, courtesy of newsbusters.org. Mr. Hauck, thanks for the time. I appreciate it. We'll talk again.

Yep, thanks Jeff. Curtis HaukNewsbusters.org. And he joined us on the Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line on the Todd Starns program. Much more to come, including your calls at 844-747-8868. Short break now, your calls on the other side.

Jeff Stein in for Todd, and this is the Todd Starn Show. Welcome back to the Todd Starne Show and the Liberty University studio. Jeff Stein filling in for Todd today. He is on his way to Gotham City. And the headquarters of Newsmax, where he will be filling in on Greg Kelly Reports tomorrow night, 10 o'clock in the East, 9 o'clock in the Central time zone, and other times as you can do your own math on that.

Todd Starnes on Newsmax tomorrow night, 10 Eastern. My privilege to be with you here today: 844-747-8868. I tend to work more than I should. I tend to not get the kind of rest that I need, but I have had so much better sleep. The sleep I get is such good sleep.

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Yeah. Earlier today, we were talking about a poll question I put up on my local station's website. Should Donald Trump participate in the presidential debate in Milwaukee? And if you go to the live show blog, Refresh to todstarnes.com. There's a link to the poll question there, or you go to my station website, kxel.com/slash poll, kxel.com/slash poll, to weigh in on whether you think Donald Trump should be on the debate stage.

And if you go to ToddSterns.com right now, you'll see the story that's posted with information from Mr. Trump on Newsmax last night where he says, I will not sign the pledge. You know, quote, the pledge, the one that says won't participate in unsanctioned debates, the one that says, most importantly, whoever the Republicans nominate, yes, I will support that person. I won't run as a third-party candidate, et cetera, et cetera. It's really meaningless, stupid stuff, in my view.

That's not what Mr. Trump said. He was much more diplomatic. But he says he will not sign the pledge because there are some of the people running that he just can't support.

So go to ToddStarnes.com and you can read that story about Mr. Trump saying he will not sign the debate pledge. And you can weigh in on my poll question. The link is there in the live show blog at ToddStarnes.com. Two hours down, one more to go on this fabulous Thursday from the Liberty University studio.

Thanks for being along. I'm Jeff Stein in for Todd, and this is the Todd Starnes Show. Live from the Liberty University Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, it's common sense conservative commentary from Todd Starnes. That's right. I love this American ride.

Wherever you're listening across this, the greatest nation God ever blessed, welcome to hour three of the Thursday edition of the Todd Starnes Radio Program, coast to coast to more than 140 tremendous radio stations and streaming live at ToddStarnes.com. Hello, fellow patriots. Jeff Stein coming to you from the free state of Iowa, my home base, News Talk 1540 KXEL, in Cedar Rapids and Waterloo. The 50,000 watt blowtorch scorching middle America with accurate news and reasonable views. And I was home to the Todd Starn Show.

Good to have you along. Todd is in a travel mode today. He's on his way to New York. You'll watch him tomorrow night. Yes, he said watch him on the TV box.

Watch Newsmax tomorrow night, 10 o'clock Eastern, 9 o'clock Central. Todd will be hosting Greg Kelly Reports tomorrow night from Gotham City. We hope you'll tune in to that. He'll be back behind this microphone on Monday. We are coming to you, as always, from the Liberty University studio, and as always, we invite your calls at 844-747-8868.

I'll say that again: it's 844-747-8868. We'll take your calls in the next segment. But we begin this hour of the program by going directly to the Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line to speak with the state superintendent in the state of Oklahoma. He is Ryan Walters, Superintendent Walters, Jeff Stein filling in for Todd. Thanks for joining us on the national show today.

How are you? I'm great. I really appreciate you having me on.

Now, my background, in addition to being a broadcaster and a lawyer, I taught college students for 25 years, and so I know something about curriculum development at the college level. It is a very different thing at the K-12 level, and I'm really interested in something that you've brought to national attention, and that is how. Outside forces can Infiltrate is the best way. Insidiously, crawl into curriculum. When it's really indoctrination, tell us this story, please.

Absolutely. Well, first, we've been very concerned about some of the strings the Biden administration has been attaching to federal dollars, trying to push for boys to go in the girls' bathroom, pushing critical rates theory. And these type of measures. And we were just absolutely appalled here in Oklahoma to find out two weeks ago that our largest school district has accepted money from the Chinese Communist government to push indoctrination the Chinese government in their K-12 classrooms. Uh there's 28 Tools that this has been found in across the country.

It is absolutely. undermining our institutions, undermining American values and is actually meant to promote the communist regime there. It's actually meant to kind of whitewash the history of this Chinese communist government. And this is literally embedded in Tulsa Public Schools in one of the most conservative states in the country. And we are rooting it out.

But it is just almost an unbelievable story to see a foreign adversarial government literally funding our classrooms. Is this simply pay-for-play? I mean, is it as crass as that at its basic level? Yes, and I will tell you They are getting. Much better about hiding this, and parents know this story all too well when they started asking questions about curriculum.

You know how difficult that was.

Well, now that we've brought this added level of transparency, and frankly, big credit to President Trump here. President Trump called out these. Um Chinese Communist funding streams And so they stopped the program, paused it temporarily and then began funneling money through nonprofits to then reinstitute the program.

So we thought a few years ago, well, we've read all this Chinese Communist money out of the country. Biden lessened those restrictions. And now the Chinese government is literally funneling money through nonprofits to continue these, they call them Confucius Institutes. And what they are, again, they are promoting the Chinese government. Promoting the Chinese communist values.

And folks, we all have seen the curriculum. They have undermined American history. They've told you America isn't great. They've undermined the Constitution. They've undermined the faith of our schools and undermined the role of the founders' faith in this great country.

So they've already done all this damage in our own curriculum.

Now we're literally allowing our enemy to come in and say, yes, America is terrible. And guess what? We're actually the good guys here. Our form of government is actually the best. This as actually communism realized is beneficial.

And we have allowed these into our schools, our largest school district, which by the way, consequently, is also our lowest performing school district. Is that a shocker for anyone out there that the district that believes that taking Chinese communist money is also the one with the lowest reading scores in the state? It's absolutely not a coincidence. It sounds like the attention to detail has become quite off the mark. In other words, they're much more worried about The financial health or welfare of the people running the district, frankly, as opposed to performance of students or the curriculum that's being taught to Oklahomans.

And and you know and you know Again, what are you willing to give away for 30 pieces of silver, right? I mean, what are you willing to do to our kids? For a few more dollars. It's absolutely unbelievable. And as you point out, Honestly, what you see are leftist.

Administrators that are more concerned with playing the woke Olympics and seeing how they can promote ideology, their left-wing radicalism. And so they chase things like Chinese communist money. They put pornography in schools to push a transgender movement. They push critical race theory. And then at the same time, reading scores drop.

12%. Is the reading proficiency rate at Tulsa Public Schools? Only 12% of their children. are reading proficient. And they're funneling indoctrination in.

They're funneling Chinese Communist money in. It is a disservice they're doing to our students, and we are not going to allow it here in Oklahoma. And again, there are over 20 schools in the country That are still part of this program.

So we are trying to shine a light on it to say we have to ensure that we aren't taking money from foreign adversaries in our K-12 schools. The fact that they called them Confucius Institutes I mean, that's just brazen. They're not hiding anything, and it's the audacity with which they're carrying this out that is striking at yet another level, is it not? I completely agree. My background is I'm a public school history teacher.

And when I was teaching in the classroom about fifteen years ago, I began to go to these trainings where they were downplaying the Constitution, saying the Declaration doesn't matter because Thomas Jefferson was a slave owner. And so you saw these things that were becoming more out in the open. In the last 10 years, I mean, we're we're not kind of, you know, you know, it's not a a steady slope. This is a full cliff. I mean, they've gone from saying, you know, we're going to undermine and question and downplay the Constitution and American exceptionalism to America's evil.

And now Chinese government is great. Chinese system of government and society is what we should aspire to. I mean, it is unbelievable what's happened to our country, to our schools. These young people, you know, I think back one of my favorite things to do with students. Read letters from World War II soldiers.

You know, they're writing back home, they're telling their wife. You know, if I die today, you know, I'm going to know that I died for my country that was great, that was founded on Judeo-Christian values, that I love and I cherish. And you got young people today that are growing up in a school system that's telling them America is evil, and Chinese communism is great. It's just we have to get this corrected for this country to be the greatest country in the world and maintain that standing and begin and continue to be this exceptional country. We have got to rid our schools of this absolute nonsense.

Ryan Walters is state superintendent. For education in the state of Oklahoma, and he joins us live on the Todd Starn show, Jeff Stein filling in for Todd today. I have a two-part question. One is, how Pertinent or not pertinent. How deeply is this sort of thing where people can Make donations like this.

even if it's something that you and I or people listening might think is a good thing. In other words, how many outlets are there trying to pay to gain access to schools, And the second part of the question is, you now see this in Tulsa. How can you as the state superintendent stop it? Great question. Twofold here.

So, number one, we are seeing this a lot. What districts do is they hide from their board, they hide from parents. what they're teaching, where money's coming from, where it's going. We're actually right now in Tulsa Public Schools requiring them to turn in all of their finances. We're looking at their accreditation.

And again, this is part of what you have to do in your states. Remember, Your schools are accredited. Which means that they have to show they are abiding by state law. They have to show that they are maintaining all the rules that are required of them as a district. And here in the state of Oklahoma, we've passed legislation, and my administration has championed it and passed rules to enforce that you can't have critical race theory, you can't have this radical transgender education in your schools, you can't tell a kid to change their gender, you have to talk to their parents, you can't be having these conversations with kids.

And so, when we go in, we are able, we have asked for all the information around the program to the school. We have required them to turn in not only the finances of where it came from, but actually all the curriculum. We want to see every single thing that you said there, and we are moving to make it illegal for schools to take money from a foreign government. I mean, you think that's common sense. A foreign adversarial government should not be able to put money into your school, but that's what we want to do.

They're an adversarial foreign government. You don't take money directly from them. But a big part of this that you hit on. You have to enforce transparency on who are your schools doing business with, where is the money coming from, what are they doing, what is the materials, because what we're seeing time and time again are these nonprofits, they get money from the likes of George Soros, Communist China, the Southern Poverty Law Center, all of these left-wing fanatical groups. put money in, launder it through a nonprofit.

They have these names that sound super touchy feely, super nothing to see here. And then you start getting the curriculum and you go, holy cow, they're pushing radical elements in our schools.

So you have to get transparency of not only the finances, but of all the materials in the schools. But that is the trick, is it not, lastly, that if in fact the foreign countries or the ne'er dwells of any kind are funneling cash through what on the surface looks like a domestic non profit entity that's only there to do good in the world, that makes your job harder, does it not? Absolutely. And I mean, that's where we have to continue to stay vigilant here. And that's where, again, we have taken the accreditation process very seriously.

I'm getting the teachers union Running all these negative ads against me because we are taking our role seriously: that taxpayers and parents in the state of Oklahoma are going to have accountability in their schools.

So, if you take questionable money, if you don't report to us your finances appropriately, we're looking, we're digging in, we're going to make sure, or guess what, your accreditation will be downgraded. To receive state money in the state of Oklahoma, you have to be accredited.

So if you're going to continue to do business here as a school, if you're going to continue to keep the same school leadership in place, you have to abide by our rules and laws. Folks, we have to get serious about this. Your local school board, your state education entity, your governors, your state legislators, We have to get these schools back on track, and the teachers' unions are your biggest impediment to this. And I would encourage everyone listening: you take them on directly. Nobody knows their kids better than their parents.

And you do not allow them to push this and take this fight to our kids. We've got to win this battle. Oklahoma State Superintendent Ryan Walters, thanks for the time. Thanks for making us aware of this rather important issue, and good luck with your efforts, sir. Thank you very much.

I very much appreciate it. Ryan Walters, Oklahoma State Superintendent, that's just scary. That the Communist Chinese can pay your local school district Monday money and then on Monday morning your kids are being taught stuff that the CCP says should be taught. That is scary. He joined us, by the way, on the Patriot Mobile newsmaker line, as all guests to the Todd Starn show do.

And so what do you need to do? Get involved. Find out how they're developing curriculum, and if it's coming from the outside.

Well, who's paying for this? Because it's, I dare say, people in Tulsa did not know that the Chinese Communists were. infiltrating the curriculum of K-12 schools there. Just scary stuff. All right.

We'll continue from the Liberty University studio. We have your calls at 8447-47-8868 coming up. And after the bottom of the hour, the Associated Press slanders women. Another one of those shocking headlines, right? All right, all of that's still to come.

Jeff Stein filling in for Todd. Thanks for being along on the Todd Starn Show. It's really good that when I host the show we don't have the video feed because You know, Dylan plays this music and I just start having throwbacks. To those silk shirts and the big medallion chains. There are no photos of my life in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and there's a good reason for that.

Jeff Stein filling in for Todd today from the Liberty University Studio because nobody needs to see that. Nobody needs to see the dance moves I was just doing in my studio here in Iowa either. 844-747-8868. That's how you can join us here in the Liberty University studio. Josh will take your call.

Dylan taking care of the music. Grace has booked so many good guests today. We'll have another one coming up just after the bottom of the hour about the Associated Press taking sides on what women's rights really mean and what it means to be a woman.

So we have all of that coming up here on the program. The Consumer Price Index number came out today. It's not terribly positive. We talked about that about, oh, I don't know, an hour and a half ago, thereabouts. Here's a report that plays right into that.

And it is the fact that the New York Federal Reserve issued a report. On Tuesday, that for the first time ever, Americans' credit card debt has surpassed a trillion with the T dollars. We as Americans have more than a trillion dollars in credit card debt. And that's never happened before. In the three month period from April to June, the second quarter of this year, total credit card debt surged to one point zero three trillion.

That is an increase of four point six percent from the previous quarter, and it is the highest level on record. in Fed data dating back twenty years.

Now why is this a concern? We're using credit cards. to pay for everyday necessities. Because we don't have the money to keep up with ever-increasing inflation. And again, If you've been anywhere grocery store, gas station, Back to school shopping, vacation.

It's costing more, and we're putting it on plastic. That's bad enough. It's worse because the interest rates Are what Fox Business calls astronomically high right now. The average credit card annual percentage rate, the APR, hit a new record of twenty point three three percent last week. Credit card interest is twenty percent, people.

That database goes back nearly 40 years. And it's a record. Previous record was in July of 1991 at 19%.

Okay.

So let's put this all together. We are having to use credit cards to pay for everyday items more and more because we don't have the cash to pay for them. Our wages, our income, it's not keeping up with inflation.

So we put it on the plastic. At a time when we can't pay the plastic, and interest accrues at a record rate of more than 20% APR. Here's a fact before we go to break to think about. If you owe $5,000 in debt, that's the average amount, by the way, the average American has $5,000 of credit card debt. The current APR levels mean it would take 277 months to pay it off.

That's more than twenty some years. And oh, by the way, the interest on that $5,000, $7,723 if you make the minimum payment. No, biomics is just fine. We're doing really well. Think about that on the break.

Jeff Stein in for Todd, back in a moment on the Todd Starring Show. Welcome back to the Liberty University studio. Final half hour of the Todd Starn Show for this Thursday. I'm Jeff Stein coming to you from the free state of Iowa, filling in for Todd today. The voice of reason, Andy Hooser, will be behind this microphone tomorrow.

Todd is back on Monday.

Well, where's Todd? Is he off to claim the Mega Millions Prize? Was he in Florida at the time to buy it? No, no. No, sadly, that's not the case because he would have shared.

I'm confident Todd would have shared the big prize. No, it's a travel day as he makes his way to New York City because our friend Mr. Starnes will be filling in for Greg Kelly on the excellent Take No Prisoners program. Greg Kelly reports on Newsmax. Todd Starn's filling in for Greg Kelly on Newsmax tomorrow night, 10 o'clock Eastern, 9 o'clock Central.

And replays overnight, I think, as well. If you're up and Want to see it again? If you're one of those folks with the fancy DVR, you could do that as well. I'm just going to make some popcorn and watch live. 9 o'clock in the Midwest, 10 o'clock out east.

Greg Kelly reports tomorrow night at Newsmax, and our friend Todd Starnes will be sitting in for Mr. Kelly, and that is why he is away today, travel day, tomorrow to get ready for the show. But he'll be back with the team in Memphis on Monday. As you would expect. 844-747-8868 is how you can reach us as we continue this coast to coast conversation in the Liberty University studio.

You know, one of the things that I have heard recently, and again, I'm in Iowa, and so we pay attention to presidential politics here. Thank you. First in the Nation Presidential Precinct Caucuses. And Todd is kind enough to ask me to come on and share what little I may know about it over the course of time.

Well, this is now Iowa State fair time. And it is interesting how many candidates are going to be there. In fact, two of the three Democrat candidates, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., will be there, so will Mary Ann Williamson. And earlier in the program, tied to the theme that the Biden administration.

Is acting more like he's King Joe I as opposed to president for a limited term. I mentioned the fact that the Biden administration Joe's fingerprints are not on it, but you know it's all connected. The Biden administration rejected Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s request for Social Security protection. because of threats made to his life.

So on the Republican side, the Biden administration has the leading opposition charged with criminal offenses, and if they had their way, jailed. And he's taking care of potential Democrat opponents by denying them the very basic Secret Service protection. I talked about that in hour number one. And after that, a news release came out from. Team Kennedy.

This is from the Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Uh campaign. Here's the headline. And it's a bit provocative, but You gotta just state it simply.

Here's what it says: Presidential Hopeful shot dead in Ecuador. Kucinich calls on Biden to order Secret Service protection for RFK Jr. Dennis Kucinich, who of course served in Congress, he was also a mayor in Ohio, was in Congress for 16 years, he is Mr. Kennedy's campaign manager. If you did not know, Dennis Kucinich, former presidential candidate himself, He is the campaign manager for Robert F.

Kennedy Jr. Stateline Washington, D.C. Today, in the wake of Wednesday's assassination of Ecuadorian anti-corruption presidential candidate Fernando Villa V. Ciencio. Robert F.

Kennedy Jr.'s campaign manager Dennis Kucinich has publicly called on President Biden to order Secret Service protection for Mr. Kennedy. Because to do otherwise ignores how volatile The situation is.

So we'll keep you posted on that. But the Kennedy campaign doubling down on their request. for secret service protection. Let's go now to the Patriot Mobile newsmaker line, and we are joined by a senior fellow at the Independent Women's Forum, Mae Mailman. Ms.

Mailman, thanks so much for taking the time to join the national show. Jeff Stein, filling in for Todd. How are you? I'm great. Thanks for having me.

All right, tell us first of all, you are a senior legal fellow with the Independent Women's Law Center. Tell us what you folks do on a regular basis, then we'll talk about this situation in Oklahoma and elsewhere. Yes. So Independent Women's Forum advocates for issues that affect women, which are all issues and We do so by advocating policies that don't just sound good and are well intentioned, but that actually help people's lives The Independent Women's Legal Center is the legal advocacy arm there.

So things that I've been very busy with are, for example, trying to preserve Title IX as protecting women and women's sports and women's educational opportunities and defining a woman. I mean, it's funny, we're in twenty You think we'd be very advanced. And I'm spending a lot of my time defining women and saying that women exist as a category of people. But fortunately, we don't just spend our time defining women, we also advocate for all sorts of Freedom for people, and that helps women. How can we have a better health care system with lower costs and more price transparency?

How can we reverse the course of Bidenomics? Things like that. And again, when I went to law school, I think it was pretty well defined that we had two genders, but obviously courts these days are opening that up. And to your point, with regard to Title IX, I mean, it's the kind of thing that, frankly, if you told some of us five years ago this would be the fight in 2023, we'd have said it was fanciful and you're crazy. But that has led to something called the Women's Bill of Rights.

Tell us, please, what that is as it was put in place in Oklahoma, and tell us about how one news organization is hardly impartial.

So the Women's Bill of Rights has now been passed in various forms. in Kansas, Tennessee, and most recently, Oklahoma. And the bill in each of these states, they're all a little bit similar and a little bit different, but basically does a couple of things. One, it defines a woman as a biological female. And then that definition applies throughout state law, state regulation, state policy.

And then it also helps Court when they are applying laws. Saying that when you're looking at when there needs to be non-discrimination on the basis of sex, equality between the sexes. That equality doesn't mean you have to eliminate all women's spaces. Equality between the sexes can often mean that women get their own sport or their own sorority or their own bathroom, their own locker room, their own prison.

So those are a couple of things that I think are really important to us. I guess a third point is data collection. If you're collecting data about how girls are doing in school, About violence against women, these types of just basic data collection. You collect and if the law says collected on women, how are women doing? How are girls doing?

then you have to collect that based on biological womanhood. Biological girls, biological women. Otherwise, how are you going to know how women and girls are doing if you have no definition?

So these are, I think, very basic. It's a basically compromise law. It doesn't mandate any anything necessarily. It just defines it. Oklahoma goes a little bit further and does protect women's spaces.

So, this is something that progressive women's groups came together with conservative women's groups and said, let's just level set at least on the idea of womanhood and how. federal court should be and state courts Should be thinking about equality, meaning you can have separate spaces. Nothing crazy, nothing bigoted, nothing outrageous, a very compromised position. And yet And yet The media has lost their minds, of course. These are transphobic.

measures, just it it it's almost it I don't even know if we're reading the same language. May Mailman is a senior legal fellow with the Independent Women's Law Center. She joins us on the Todd Starn show, Jeff Stein filling in for Todd Today. A couple of things you said there. You've got groups.

Some of whom are quote conservative, some are on the other side of the spectrum, yet the common ground led them all to come together. On this issue to come up with this.

So, this literally is one of these things where. It's truly, I don't want to say bipartisan because that's political, but the idea is you've got people working across. the barriers that often divide them. And yet the Associated Press, once known as a news group, called the Independent Women's Voice an anti-trans group. That's kind of a stinger.

I mean, that is beyond the the normal bounds.

So they're they're all in, aren't they? They really are. And these laws don't actually have anything to do with trans, right? The laws don't say anything about People who identify men who identify as women, women who identify as men, people who are.

Something different than that. If you identify as a cat, it doesn't matter. All this says is that women exist. And once you know that women exist, then you can create women's only spaces.

Now There have been women's only spaces since certainly since Title IX. But really, I mean the idea of separate bathrooms, this is like very basic in any civilized society. Just by having women's only spaces does not really make you pro or anti. trans or anything else. It just means that there is a biological element and need for privacy that any reasonable society should be willing to stand up and protect And through our laws like Title nine, we already came together as a society to protect that.

So if you are a radical group, And you no longer think that women should be given certain rights, should be given spaces, should be given privacy. Here's what you need to do. You need to go through the democratic process. And you need to convince people that women don't exist anymore and are not entitled to privacy. But what you're not entitled to do is get a bunch of bureaucrats together in the states of Oklahoma, Kansas and Tennessee, and just monkey with the definition of women, where all of a sudden a women's prison doesn't actually mean a women's prison.

All of a sudden, a woman's locker room doesn't actually mean a woman's locker room. You've got to go through the front door of democracy and not through the back door of the judiciary or an administration. That's all this is. It is not an anti-trans measure. It is a pro-democracy measure.

And the last I checked, The left thought that they were the great defenders of democracy, and I just wonder why they're not supporting front door pro-democracy measures like the Women's Bill of Rights.

Well, because again, quite obviously, they're playing a zero-sum game. Why can't you have a pro women measure? without it automatically being anti something else. It just shows it exposes their agenda for what it really is, which is all about power and transformation, in a way that most Americans would find quite puzzling. Yes.

And so a lot of these there's been lawsuits that have been going on for years and years. And I know that the new news, the major media would have it seem like, oh my gosh, in North Carolina, They forced a bunch of you know Non-binary or transgender kids to go use a bathroom that they were uncomfortable with. No, in these cases, they had Stalls and rooms that were just meant for family bathrooms, basically. There was full privacy, you're fully entitled to it. And yet that was never enough.

It's never enough. It's never enough to have your own space. It's not even enough to have your own sports team. It's not enough to just be recognized as: hey, you know what, you're uncomfortable in a certain bathroom. We're going to give you your own space.

That is not enough. What is being demanded now is that everyone else Everyone else. has to be made uncomfortable to change what To change their understanding of biology, to change their understanding of privacy. to change their entire world view. to match a progressive ideology.

You will be made to celebrate. And that is something I think that is just foreign To our American democracy, where we do have a pluralistic, we've got a lot of diversity, everybody thinks a lot of different things. You know what? There's a little bit of just, okay, do your own thing, but it's no longer that. It's you will be forced to change your life to match.

progressive needs and wants. We will leave it there. Ms. Mailman, thanks so much for the time and keep working on this because it is fundamental to who we are. I appreciate your time today.

Great, thank you. Mae Mailman is Senior Legal Fellow with the Independent Women's Law Center. Yeah, it used to be. We'll just let people do their own thing.

Now it's conform or be canceled. And there something she said before I go to break, something she said there, it is never enough with these people. You can Make that a broad statement with all of these folks. who advocate this radical agenda. It is never enough.

You cannot simply acquiesce. Because that's not the game they're playing. It is never enough. We'll continue. She joined us, by the way, on the Patriot Mobile newsmaker line, and we'll continue from the Liberty University studio in a moment.

Jeff Stein in for Todd, and this is the Todd Starn Show. Welcome back to the Todd Starn Show. Jeff Stein filling in for Todd today. Just a few minutes left in the program, so now Let's go to the phones. And Pete is listening in central Iowa on the live stream.

Pete Jeffstein here for Todd. Thanks for calling in. What's on your mind? Hey, thank you, Jeff. One question or thought.

The Democrats sort of scotched themselves in the foot about the caucus when they moved it to South Carolina. If you look at I well the history In Iowa they Selected Jimmy Carter. Uh Barack Obama. and Bill Clinton. over, you know In the carter Teddy Kennedy was run on Hubert Humphrey.

Um and Barack Obama. They picked Hillary Cl uh Barack Obama over at Hillary Clinton. Yeah. So if you look at South Carolina, They selected the last Oba or um Biden.

So if they have moved it. They're gonna lose insight, Iowa, but The other thing I wanted to mention is that The US Senate is more important to me than the Presidency. The because There's dippy. Wow, there's There's uh fifty U.S. senators.

Uh first And if you look at the U. S. House of Representatives, if you take the top three in Texas, New York, And uh California. That's one hundred sixteen house seats. And Iowa only has four in a lot of states You know, you get South Dakota and Wyoming.

They only have one or two. representative cell phone. the US Senate Each state has two, so Iowa California, New York. all have two standards and sort of even. That's an excellent point, Pete, and we're right up against the end of the show.

But I wanted to make sure you made that point because that's why we have the system we do, folks, the Electoral College and everything else. And Pete is exactly right. If you have control of the Senate, You can do so much. because that's the chamber where the people are Taken care of in an equitable fashion by state. And by the way, Axios is reporting that Joe Manchin says he's quote thinking seriously about dropping his affiliation with the Democratic Party and becoming an independent.

And that makes Pete's point. They're just jumping off the sinking ship. Andy Hooser's here for Todd Tomorrow. Todd's on Newsmax tomorrow night at 10 Eastern. Jeff Stein, thanks so much for being along on the Todd Starn Show.