DEADLOCKED: A New York City jury can't reach a verdict in the case of a Marine veteran who faced charges for stopping a madman on the subway.

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

Well, hello, everybody. Happy Friday to you, America. This is the Todd Stearns radio show. And we have a lot going on today. By the way, we've got some breaking news coming out of New York City.

And we're going to be talking to New York City Councilwoman Vicki Palladino here in just a little while. But we've been following this very, very tragic case involving Daniel Penny, the 25-year-old Marine Corps veteran. And he was on a subway when, on a subway car in New York City. When this lunatic, this madman, came bursting in and said he was going to kill people. This guy had an outstanding warrant for his arrest.

He was a career criminal and he was a homeless guy. And so Mr. Penny sprang into action as a Marine veteran would do, and as you would think a Marine veteran would do. And he put the guy in a chokehold, and it's all on video. The entire thing is all on video, ladies and gentlemen, all of it.

And then, in the course of taking him down, this guy stopped breathing, mainly because he was hopped up on so many drugs and he died.

Now, the New York City medical examiner said that the chokehold killed the guy, but there are others who say that wasn't the case. Anyway, this guy, Daniel Penny, now on trial for manslaughter. And so just moments ago, the jury sent a letter to the judge. And the judge, and they're telling the judge here: we're deadlocked on count number one. We cannot reach a verdict as a jury.

Are are I'm sorry, are you kidding me? Who in their right mind would want to convict this kid? Yeah.

Now, ladies and gentlemen, I'm sorry, but New York City, you people are screwed up. The fact that you're not treating this guy as a hero, they need to be naming a street after him. They need to be giving this guy an award. He needs to be the Grand Marshal in a parade because he saved lives that day on the subway. And my concern is: what does this tell all of the other good Samaritans out there?

That, you know, are they going to step up when women and children are in harm's way? Because that's what this 25-year-old young man did. And now he is facing possible jail time.

Now, we don't know how all of this is going to play out. Again, this news just breaking a few moments ago, but the jury on count one cannot reach a verdict. They are deadlocked. Even the mayor of New York City, Eric Adams, is saying that this kid's a hero. And Adams is a Democrat.

Well, he's well, another big story we're following is that now Eric Adams says he may become a Republican. It's a squirrely time right now in New York City, folks. I'm just telling you.

So, anyway, we're following that development, but again, put yourself in that situation. What would you have done? you're in the you're on a subway, you're a man and you're an abled bodied man, and you see this guy coming on the subway. He's harassing women, he's threatening women, he announces he's going to start killing people. What would you do at that point?

Because in New York City, according to According to this jury, there's somebody on the jury, and we don't know which way the jury's going here, but somebody on the jury clearly thinks. that what this guy did, Daniel Penny, was wrong. That they should have just. I don't know, let the guy go and kill people? It's insanity.

Just absolute insanity.

So, look, today is Open Line Friday, and that is the day that you get to call in. You can be a part of the show. You can talk about whatever you want to talk about. I want you to write down our telephone number. You will need this: 901-260-5926 is our telephone number.

That's 901-2600. 260-5926, and we'll be taking your calls as well. I want to come in, you folks. You have been lighting up the phones on Capitol Hill. And I know that because we are getting word that things are looking better for For uh Pete Hegseth.

Yeah.

And that's a good sign. President Trump last night saying that things are looking very good for Pete, and so it looks as though the nomination is on the right path here. But I want to play some audio here from Senator Joni Ernst. And Senator Ernst, you got to watch out for this one. She'll say one thing in public, but in reality, it's something very different.

Now Senator Ernst is not willing to come out and say that she's going to be supporting Hegseph, and that's a problem. But the reason why is she wants the job.

So, Joni Ernst wants the job. And here's the reason why she wants the job: because she wants a woke military. I want you to listen to Senator Joni Ernst saying, we need transgender talent in the U.S. military. Take a listen.

So, the example of transgender people serving in our military. We have transgender people serving in our military. They will bleed red just as the rest of us. But I also take a stance that we should not be integrating transgender people into certain situations where it does make, if you have a female barracks and you have a transgender woman who has not transitioned, we shouldn't make the rest of the unit uncomfortable about that setting. There are certain accommodations we can make for that transgender individual.

But if they bring value to our unit, if they have specialties that we can use, especially if we want to maintain an all-volunteer force. We want to bring that talent into our services. And I know that's controversial, but again, I'm looking at what's good for our nation. And believe me, when we're facing a recruiting challenge right now, if people are physically willing and able to serve our country, we want them to do so. All right, so there you have it.

Senator Joni Ernst, a Republican who wants to be the Defense Secretary, she's the one who is saying, hey, look, we need transgender people in the military.

Now, I'm curious, what say you, ladies and gentlemen? Do we need men who identify as women and vice versa serving in the armed forces? 901-260-5926 is our telephone number. That's 901-260-5926. Also, coming up a little bit later on in the show, I am really fascinated by this story out of New Jersey.

I don't know what's going on in the skies of New Jersey. Once the sun goes down, the drones come up, and there's some weird stuff going on. You've got drones the size of automobiles, and you've got dozens and dozens and dozens of these reports. The FBI is investigating, Homeland Security is investigating. The governor's office there says, Well, we really don't think there's a danger to the public right now, but these drones are apparently now hovering over military installations as well as people's homes and businesses.

There is a report out of Fox News that says the drones. There were actually, when they were flying over automobiles, people's radios and their technology. Started acting up. Here's cut four, please.

Well, well, one of the ships was in fact inspected by the Coast Guard and they couldn't find anything. The thing is that there were several other suspicious ships in the region that they never got to. And well, it gets worse. Just a couple of months earlier, there were several mystery drone flights over our nuclear testing range in Nevada, just north of Las Vegas. And again, nothing was done.

And it gets even worse.

Some of the FBI agents that have been assigned to look into this have reported drones flying over their homes as if to say, hey, we know where you are. And so, I really think that what this does is it boils down to an administration that doesn't take these threats seriously. You just had on the previous segment a drone attack on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's house. Of course, we've seen with Russia and Ukraine the utility of drones. And yet, somehow, we're preventing our warriors from defending their own bases by saying, Oh, no, you need to get permission from the Attorney General or from Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas.

No, that's wrong. Base commanders have an inherent authority within their command to defend their bases. All right. We need to know what what's going on here. Are we dealing with some sort of super secret military air?

Air experiment here? Are they experimenting with new airships? Is this some sort of a possible domestic terror group that's that's trying out their their equipment, their gear? Or are we dealing with are we dealing with the Chinese? The Iranians.

Is it possible that this could be some sort of you know, these airships, as you heard them described? Is it possible they're coming from?

Some other planet. No, no, I'm not saying they're aliens. I'm just throwing out all the possibilities here because there's clearly something going on. For me, the bigger question, though, is not necessarily the bigger question is It is not necessarily whether or not Not, we're facing some sort of an invasion. I think the bigger issue is why New Jersey?

What the heck is going on in New Jersey that the aliens want to invade the The garden state. Before, say, Maui or Palm Beach, Florida, that makes no sense to me. I don't get it. I mean they have Yeah, well, Atlantic City could be. Atlantic City is very nice, but why not Vegas?

I mean, you've got all that desert out there. You can land your spaceships. But something is going on, and it's terrifying the people, and that's the issue now.

Okay? Are these pranksters? What is going on here? 901-260-5926. We are going right to the phone lines.

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You're on a subway in New York City, and you see some lunatic. That's threatening to kill women. Do you intervene now? I mean, knowing that. This poor Marine Corps veteran could be going to jail.

Again, we don't know. The jury is deadlocked right now, and we are waiting to figure out what the judge is going to do. He could declare a mistrial. I don't know what the judge is going to why aren't we exonerating this kid? That's what I don't understand.

What would you do, ladies and gentlemen? 901-260-5926, our number. That's 901-260-5926. Again, open line Friday. And let's go to Westbrook, Maine.

Lisa, listening to us on W-L-O-B and wants to talk about trade schools. Hi, Lisa. What's going on? Hi, I just wanted to say I'm thrilled with revamping the school systems. and bringing it down to the states.

But if I had to go to a high school and have my face buried in books, I may very well have been a dropout. Um I went to a trade school. and I had goals to be a hairdresser. And got my license and stuff. And I just think, I mean, you got kids out there that can't sew a button, they don't know how to hem a hem, they don't know how to build a porch.

that you know what I mean, like we need children need a goal, you know what I mean? And I think trade schools are great because it gives some them something to reach for. And I just think that we need to make trade schools great again. We had boat building, we had upholstery. we had culinary arts.

I mean, we had everything at my school. And I would like to see more of that in every state because I think that it's important. You know, Lisa, Lisa, isn't it fascinating? Because there was a time in, you know, in this country's history, not too long ago, where the young men of America in high school had to take shop class, and the young ladies had to take home economics. There were, I mean, that was just the way things went.

And there were just basic things that young men, when they were graduating from high school, knew how to do. For example, they knew how to rotate the tires. They knew how to change the oil. They knew how to do basic handyman work. And from the ladies' side, home economics, these young ladies were taught how to do budgeting for the home and how to prepare meals.

But now all of a sudden, I don't know if they actually require any of this in public schools. No, I don't think they do. And I think that we need to take a serious look at bringing trade schools, making them great again, because children need direction, they need goals. to reach for and with all this ADHD and all this stuff going on, like I think more than ever. You know, um You know, I I just know that I would I might have been a dropout had I had to just go to regular high school.

So I'm just not, you know what I mean? I couldn't have my face in a book all the time. You know what I mean? No, look, I know exactly what you're talking about, Lisa, because there are a lot of people just like you. And, you know, the book, going the academic route, is not necessarily the best path forward.

And I think there do have to be options. And so, anyway, I got to run. But, Lisa, God bless you. And thank you for affirming the trade schools. We are huge fans.

Of trade schools. And it's almost becoming a lost art. But the reality of it is, folks, we need. Engineers, we need construction workers and electricians and plumbers and welders. I'm not sure Ben Dieter would know what a w would Okay.

I'm not disparaging you, but do you know how to weld something? Hey, what? Listen to me. Listen to me right now. I took shop class in high school.

Wait, I'm sorry. Are you kidding me? Are you pulling my leg right now? No, and guess what? One of the semesters was in.

Welding. I didn't know that you couldn't take off your welding glasses. And I. Did you know you had to have welding glasses? I kept on taking them off.

I think I burned my eyes. I did weld one piece. I think it was one piece of metal to the other. It was terrible and choppy, but I got through it. And here I am in radio and media.

I'm shocked they let you anywhere around an open flame. That's. That's what's shocking me here. Hey, I made wood ornaments. That's how skilled I was.

Wow. Those shop classes, they taught me a lot. My goodness. All right, did you do shop classes? No.

Oh, no.

Okay. No, I did not. Could have, but I didn't. You were on the yearbook committee, weren't you? Writing captions.

I was the high school newspaper editor. Oh, that makes sense. The Gleanings. That was the name of our high school newspaper. I don't know why I remember that.

I am curious here, folks. This report from Campus Reform, you know, they're starting to go through. Yesterday they had the big Doge meeting up on Capitol Hill, and now all this information is starting to link out. And our friends at Campus Reform have outlined the 10 most outrageous examples of your tax dollars being used by a university. And I'm curious to get your thoughts on this.

First of all, at the National Institute of Health, they gave Reed College in Portland, Oregon, nearly $500,000 to teach pigeons how to gamble with slot machines.

Now No, I'm not making this up. The study gave pigeons tokens that they could earn, accumulate, spend or gamble on slot machines. I would have rather used that five hundred thousand dollars to teach the pigeons to stop pooping on the sidewalks. and the benches in the parks. Also, Emory University in Atlanta, you folks got nearly six hundred thousand dollars to try to figure out why chimpanzees throw feces.

And they spent another one hundred thousand dollars to Figure out whether chimpanzees prefer to throw their poop with their right hand or their left hand. They said that research suggests that throwing feces is a sign of intelligence. In the chimpanzee community. Oh, we're going to get to the shrimp in just a moment. And selfies too.

Well, we're going to talk about selfies. All right, 901-260-5926. That is our telephone number. It is open line Friday. That's 901-260-5926.

This is the Todd Stern Show. Our daughter Jessie loves playing detective. A clue. But since we discovered she has sensitive skin, we've been playing detective too. We thought the problem was our puppy.

But it was actually our old detergent. Aha.

So we switched to Tide Free and Gentle. Tide Cleans better than the leading competitive free detergent, and it doesn't leave behind irritating residues. Plus, Tide Free and Gentle has no dyes or perfumes, so it's gentle on her skin. Case closed. If it's got to be clean, it's got to be tide-free and gentle.

All right, welcome back, everybody. Good to have you with us on this Friday edition of the show. Uh 901-260-5926 is our telephone. I want to come back to this list from campus reform. This is insanity.

So, we're leaking out yesterday from this meeting on Capitol Hill that we're just, there's so much money being wasted on our university campuses. Let's see here, University of Illinois. A two hundred and forty thousand dollars to get bees. Like bumblebees hooked on cocaine. And at the College of Charleston in South Carolina.

There was um a study. And this was $1.3 million. $1.3 million. And they wanted to determine how fast shrimp can run.

So they built, I kid you not, they built these tiny little treadmills for the shrimp. And the They put the shrimp on the treadmills to figure out if they can run fast or not. All I want to know is how tasty the shrimp are. On my plate at the Red Lobster. That's all.

A half a million dollars to study if selfies make you happy. I you know, here's the thing. I'm not a selfie guy, and it just seems to me if you are of a certain age, you probably don't need to be taking selfies. Ben Dieter, I know you are of the age and your people that's all you guys do is take selfies. Yeah.

So Are you happy? Is that the reason why you take a selfie to make yourself happy? Yeah.

'Cause we're selfish. And we like seeing ourselves. What did you guys do before selfies? Get an old Polaroid or? One of those.

Because it's not about you, it's about your friends or your family. You know, you want to. Nobody took a picture of themselves. But you get a ton of happy endorphins. That's the good hormone when you post the selfie online and a ton of people compliment.

That's what it comes with. They need a study to figure. I could have been the researcher and I would have done it for free. Oh, here we go. They funded the Again, Cornell University got a million dollars to figure out if it hurts when you get stung by a bee.

We could have done that at the tower site at KWAM. Wait, they spent mu why? I mean, that's as simple as putting someone in a uh a beehive. Throwing them in a beehive.

So, according to the researchers, they wanted to find out if somebody gets stung, does it hurt if it's like a different part of the body?

So, and they determined that if you get. Did they conclude yes?

Well, sort of. If you get stung in the nostrils, your upper lip, or your genitals, it hurts more. Oh, yeah. I can confirm. It's happened.

I just want to know: how did that work? They have like a box full of bees, and they have a hole, and you just. Try it. I'm just asking. I don't how did they do it?

Imagine having to be the person they're testing it on. Like, how did they determine? Was it volunteer? Did they pay someone? That's paying me a whole lot of money.

Who do you pay? Maybe that's why it costs a million bucks. Mm-hmm. I won't stick my in that box unless you give me a million dollars. Maybe well.

People spend a lot of money, Todd. Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right. There's medication for that. You don't need medication.

You just. There you go.

Now, this is fascinating. We've spent nearly, and by the way, this is all your tax money, ladies and gentlemen. All of your tax money. $7 million at Stanford University to build an AI toilet.

Now the toilet is equipped with cameras that scan the user's waist and anal print.

So I guess they take a picture of your butt. Nice. Yeah.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. I mean I mean, why not? Of course. I would spend seven million dollars. On an AI toilet?

At least, does it do everything for you? Does it wipe your butt for you? They're calling it a smart toilet.

Okay. So Senator Rand Paul brought this one to everybody's attention, and the researcher, Sung Ming Park, Wrote that the notion of an anal print was actually observed by the great artist Salvador Dali. Oh. And said that there are 35 to 37 creases in one's anus. Todd, stop saying that word.

Which is representative of a fingerprint. I'm done. I'm clocking off. You have to use the word butt. You cannot use it.

I'm sick to my stomach. I'm eating. The toilet analyzes a user's urine color and flow rate and classifies the user's stool to measure their health.

Now, that is an actual thing that could, there could be something to that last part there.

Sounds like something you would say in a Batman movie. Holy crap, Batman. Have you noticed, Todd, people go to school and then they get dumber? This is what happened. You go get your degree and you're actually getting dumber.

It's true. I think the point of college, as it was explained to me when I was being recruited and you went and met with colleges, is you were to come out the other side a whole lot smarter. By the way, I saw a survey last night. Speaking of school, your alma mater is one of the third most conservative campuses in America. Wow.

That's how I turned out so well and solid and based. There you go.

Hey, let's go to the phone lines here. Tom in North Carolina wants to weigh in on transgenders in the military. And, Tom, you just heard a little while ago we played the audio from Senator Joni Ernst, who says we need the talent of the transgender people in the military. What say you?

Well How do I follow? I don't know, the monkeys growing poop. And the Last segment, we'll just let go. But uh Um So I spent thirty four years in the military. And immediately you start you start talking about um Well, individuals Need to X, Y, and Z.

We're not a Individual sport, we're a team sport. And when you have a subs a subsegment of the population with a forty percent suicide rate before and even higher after, I don't know, transition surgery. You're creating chaos. I think you're spot on here with your analysis. And not only that, now you're getting people in the milit who are literally joining the military to actually have those kinds of surgeries, which take them completely out of commission.

Yeah, that's exactly so. it takes away from the whole team thing and starts creating divisions It don't need to be there. Look. Our job in the military is to, I don't know, destroy the enemy before they can destroy us. In a in a Epic fashion.

Yeah, pretty much. I mean, to blow things up and break things, that is pretty much the job of the military. And unfortunately, under and this all started under Barack Obama. This weaponization of the Pentagon and turning it into a social engineering force of social justice warriors. That's where all of this started.

And Pete Hagseth, I truly believe, is going to be able to get all of this undone. Tom, thank you for the call. Let's go to David in Collierville, Tennessee. Hi, David. What's on your mind today?

Morton, how are you? I'm all for the trade school thing. I was trained classical TV, which is the old CRT tube. vacuum tubes, resistors. And of course, technology has has bumped that around.

But um And then I retrained into uh network T V t you know, and some of the other stuff. But One of the problems I see with this is is that they've made so much that everybody's throwing it away and it costs more to have it repaired than it does to go buy it new.

Well, fair enough. And I think especially with cars now, you really I mean, you can't really just work on your car like you used to, right? There are so many computer components now, you've got to take it into the dealership.

Well yeah. You've got to have a computer to plug in to work on. all what they call drive by wire cars because everything all these little sensors and stuff you gotta be able to to to to get, so I if you don't have some kind of, you know, It takes more than just sitting in school to do that. David, I'm curious. I mean, the the schools there in the Collierville area, do they teach things like shop?

Do they give students the options of going to home economics and things like that? I know the new high school has a state-of-the-art automotive shop, and I don't know about the rest of it because I graduated a long time ago. Oh, yeah, I hear you. Same here. I'm old school.

All right, David, appreciate the call, and thank you for that. Folks, got to take a quick break here. 901-260-5926. This is the Todd Stern Show. I don't really like working.

I'm going to need a priority parking space. I only work remotely. How are your safe spaces? Can I bring my dog to work? Will your company protect me against microaggressions?

You're chickening me. Is this interview almost over? You don't run a daycare. You run a business.

So, why use high-priced recruitment agencies who charge you up to 40% of an employee's first-year salary?

So they're focused on getting you the costly talent, not the best fit, which means you get more of this. What's your policy on paying employees to attend protests? I demand eight weeks of vacation. I need at least 12 weeks of paid vacation. I'm going to need a lot of mental health days.

Do you have a Gaylu? My pronouns are Z's and Zeer. Isn't it time you hired grown-ups? Call RedBalloon.work and skip those high-priced recruitment agencies. Call 833-880-0600 for a free consultation.

That's 833-880-0600 for a free consultation. Redballoon.work. It is interesting. Um It looks as though President Biden is considering a preemptive pardon. Oh, by the way, did you see the president at the tree lighting last night?

He looked like some creature out of the what was up with the hair? The hair was all like, it was like somebody had hair sprayed him and his hair was straight back. It was very bizarre. I've never seen anything like it. It looked like something from the Christmas Carol.

He looks like the ghost. Caesar Scrooge or something? That, but also the death ghost, the scary one. Jacob Marley. He looked like Jacob Marley, I think.

The death ghost. Yeah.

He looked bad.

So now Biden is looking at doing preemptive pardons. And this, of course, coming after he pardoned Hunter all the way back for crimes he has committed or may have committed over the past, what, 10 years.

So now Biden is considering preemptive pardons for Dr. Anthony Fauci. Adam Schiff and Liz Cheney. The White House Council this is coming from Fox News. The White House Council is arranging discussions about the potential pardons with several other senior Biden aides.

This is also coming from the reporting of Politico. The conversations include whether Fauci, Schiff, or Cheney would even accept the preemptive pardon. Which could suggest wrongdoing. No, really, you think so? Why else would you give someone a pardon?

That means they did something wrong. You know, like all these people, oh, well, for the sake of unity, Biden needs to pardon Donald Trump. For what? Trump's done nothing wrong. Why would he do that?

And Trump knows he hasn't done anything wrong. Anyway, this is it certainly cast a shadow of doubt on what exactly Liz Cheney was up to with these attacks On Donald Trump. And then Dr. Anthony Fauci. This guy, Dr.

Fauci, is really a modern day version of some sort of a Nazi-esque doctor. I mean, really creating genocide and causing genocide around the world. This guy is d i it's Doctor Evil. is who this guy is. Unbelievable.

Meanwhile, you've got Barack Hussein Obama, and he's back out there. And a lot of folks are wondering: well, why is Obama out there? Because Obama is trying to repair. his credibility, which is shot because he was ultimately the guy behind Kamala Harris.

So now Obama is out there and he is threatening Donald Trump. He's not coming out directly and saying, We're going to declare a jihad on you, but he's coming pretty darn close. Take a listen to Barack Obama. There are going to be times. Potentially when one side tries to stack the deck and lock in, Okay.

Hey, hey, hey. Common. Grip on power. Either by actively suppressing votes or politicizing The armed forces are using the judiciary. The criminal justice system go after opponents.

And in those circumstances, pluralism does not call for us to just stand back and say, well, I'm not sure. That's okay. In those circumstances, A line has been crossed, and we have to stand firm. Wow. You know the biggest problem with Barack Obama, Ben Dieter, is that he doesn't have his old speechwriters on payroll.

So he has to write this stuff him. The guy is an empty suit. That's the ugly secret about Barack Obama. That, and also, is he peddling a lot of people? Election interference, as he's saying, because in that audio he said, Republicans rigged this election.

That's what he's saying there. And I thought that not standing up for democracy by saying it was a fair and free election made you an election denier, thus making you a threat to democracy. Or is that only when Republicans do it? Because what he's saying there is because they didn't win. Surely The election was rigged.

He's an election denier. And then that nonsense about the weaponization of the Justice Department. I mean, that's a nonsense. He's laying the groundwork for people to do things that could be very dangerous in this country. That's what he's doing here.

And he was very careful. You could tell he was trying to figure out what he could and could not get away with, which is why you had that long pause there. But this guy, he is bad news for this country. And Barack Obama. Hates America.

I think the wife is right. BM. I think that she's right when she said it was the first time she's ever been proud of her country when they elected her husband.

Well, also in that audio and in this speech, because this is really the first time he has made a public remark since the election. And the headline that caught my attention from Politico was: Obama calling. Political divisiveness, the greatest challenges of our time.

So it's the divisiveness by the right that is now the biggest threat to our country. But this is the guy who literally has divided the country. Told people to get in their faces. If Barack Obama, back in 2007 in Pennsylvania, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, I was there in the crowd when he said, if they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun. That does not sound like unity to me.

No, this is Mr. Hope and Change and unite the country. He's a common street thug. I mean, honestly, that's what it is. He's a community organizer.

That's what they do. They cause dissension, they disrupt. Why is he even talking? Like, no one asked him. We understand why they got them out on the campaign trail, but no one's like waking up and going, man, we missed the Obamas.

Let's hear from them. They're kind of irrelevant. As horrible as Hillary Clinton is. And Bill Clinton. Their version of the Democrat Party was a winning party.

It's not Barack Obama's. Barack Obama actually is more representative of the AOC wing. It's Bill and Hillary who had the power to bring in. If you go back to Bill Clinton's presidency, it was basically, I mean, He was almost as conservative as Mitt Romney was and John McCain.

So it was a conservative Democrat ish kind of a presidency.

Well, what does it say to their egos and to their morale? When these two are viewed as demigods and demigoddesses, Michelle and Barack, and Trump won in a landslide. Every swing state that they positioned these two quote-unquote key players of this election sect, they were out there on the campaign trail daily. And look at how that turned out. It's got to be bad for your ego.

Fair enough. Can we weigh it? Can I want to mention this Justice Department thing that came out over the Memphis Police Department? Can we mention that real quick here? That all comps are racist.

Yeah, exactly.

So, all the news coverage, and it was the big story of the New York Times, you mentioned that today, that the Memphis Police Department is racist and targets black people. And so, what they're failing to tell you, folks, is who the Memphis Police Department is because they want you to think that all these white people are going after. The blacks here in Memphis, all right, and they're comparing the Tyree Nichols case. What happened in Minnesota with George Floyd?

So here's what people need to know. The mayor of Memphis, Tennessee, is a black man. The police chief in Memphis, Tennessee, is a black woman. The chair of the city council is a black man. Seven of the 13 city council members are black.

Five of the eight Memphis Police Department command staff are black. More than 50% of the Memphis Police Department officers are black. Over 90% of the suspects in homicides in this city are black. Over 90% of the victims are black. And here's the nugget: the five police officers charged in the horrific beating death of Tyree Nichols, all five of those officers are black.

Black. But it's your fault. Because you're the white guy. Yeah, but Whitey is to blame here. That's what they want you to believe.

And by the way, all of them are Democrats.

So you can make of that what you will. Hang tight, everybody. Hour two of the big show coming up next. Hi everyone, if you've been injured in an accident that was not your fault, listen up. We have legal professionals standing by to answer your questions for free.

Call now and find out if you have a case and how much it's potentially worth. Call 800-702-5400. I'm here with spokesman John Wolf.

So John, tell everyone listening who should call right now.

Well, Maria, first off, thank you for having me here. It's always nice to answer the listeners' questions.

Now, as far as who should call in, anyone who's been injured in an accident and think you deserve compensation, give us a call right now, 800-702-5400. You'll find out if you have a case and how much it's potentially worth. Thanks, John. You heard it, folks. Take advantage of this opportunity and call now, 800-702-5400.

Advertisements sponsored by Legal Help Center may not be available in all states. Live from the Liberty University Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, it's common sense conservative commentary from Todd Starr. See ya. I mean, I was looking at some of the social media comments, and I try to stay away from social media, but it said some of the comments were thoughts and deductibles to the family. One of the comments was, unfortunately, my condolences are out of network.

And so I think it really, isn't that something? I really think it's reflective about how people are feeling about their health care. And if you look at this particular CEO, while he made about $10 million a year, which is not actually unusual for a CEO of a company this size, this particular health company, United Healthcare, is the largest company that's responsible for Medicare programs for people over the age of 65. And our country is one of the only countries that doesn't have universal health care, and we don't take care of our elderly. And people are feeling the pinch.

We talk about that all the time. And I think people are really angry at the healthcare system.

So uh what are you saying there, Sonny Hostin? What are you saying there, ma'am?

Sounds to me like you are suggesting That this Assassination was justified because the guy headed up an insurance company. that this guy was a multi bazillionaire and that that that makes it okay. Is that really the conversation we're having here in this country? Welcome to the Tom Stearns Radio Show, folks. Hour two.

How much money do you make, Sonny Hostin? Just curious. It's unbelievable, folks. And I've been reading all of the social media comments, and people are out there and they're justifying the assassination of this man, a husband, a father of children, gunned down in broad daylight on the streets of New York City. Unbelievable.

Well, let's bring into the conversation from New York City a great city council member from Queens, Vicki Palladino. Vicki, good to have you back on the show. Thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate it. How are you?

You know, I'm doing well, Vicki. A little just shocked at how open people are talking about the assassination of this guy as if Brian Thompson deserved to be shot and killed on the streets of New York City. Sick, isn't it? That's the world we're living in. And you know, the more we talk, And the more we hear people say what they say, You and I, people like minded people like ourselves, We just shake our heads because you're demonized for being wealthy.

You're demonized for being a certain race. You're demonized for thinking a certain way. You're just all in all, you're just being demonized. It's ridiculous, it's disgusting, and it really needs to stop. And they keep getting the press, and you refer to Sonny.

That's the one from the View, right? Oh, yeah, yeah.

Sonny Hostin. Oh, that View. Yeah, that Butte. Yeah, let's answer what she makes a year. You're one hundred percent right.

Uh, you know, we're living in an alternate universe. And things things are going to start to change, though. I want to just give everybody In my opinion, I try to walk on the sunny side of the street. And I have to tell you that I think with the awakening of the American people, by voting the way they did. in this last election.

Didn't matter what the letter was after your name, what your party affiliation was, DR, whatever. Did not matter. The people spoke. And that tells you there's a lot, a lot of people out there, millions and millions of people who are starting to see pe see through these people like Sunny and see through these people who speak So ignorantly. I mean, it's enough is enough.

You know, Vicki, we've been following another story out of New York City, and that is this case of the trial of Daniel Penny, the Marine Corps veteran who I believe saved a lot of lives on that subway car. And now we understand the jury's deadlocked. How is that possible? I want to know who doesn't think this guy was a hero.

Well, it's all the way the DA politicizes everything. And I mean, for all of us, again, here we go. Uh we all know That I was there. I was there on Monday. And I listened to Tom Knip, Daniel Penny's attorney and Steve.

And I've been following this case from the beginning. And I have got to say this, Daniel Penny wanted to kill this guy. He could have killed him in a minute. Yeah.

He held him down. That's all he did. This guy is a hero. Daniel Penny is a hero. And the fact that the jury is deadlocked at this moment and the judge wants them to come up with a a verdict.

He doesn't like the idea that it's being deadlocked. I just heard this on the news. and that they're sending them back in And now they want, they sent a note. to the judge. Asking him to explain.

What does reasonable doubt mean?

So if you got a gander at the jury, as I did. Uh No. I wouldn't want my life in their hands, but the fact that they are deadlocked is kind of a good sign. Because uh I want this to come back. With a reasonable doubt, okay?

As soon as that happens, Daniel Penny goes to free.

So that tells us. Six out of the twelve. believes he's innocent. Vicki Palladino is with us from the New York City Council. Vicki, I am just it's it's a different world in New York City.

I I saw the report a couple of days ago where you have over seven hundred thousand illegals living in New York City now. sixty thousand of those are violent criminals who are now prowling the streets. What is it like living there now?

Well, the figure of $765,000 is not for New York City alone. We have over. $250,000, which is big enough, trust me. And things here have changed drastically. We've got fifty-six thousand.

of them have been convicted, or not convicted, they don't do that here. They've been brought in on charges of very serious, very serious charges, and we want them deported.

Now we have Tom Holman. as our real borders are. And we have our mayor. who I believe really wanted to say these things. From the beginning, he wants them out of the city of New York.

We want to deport them. And if Tom Holman gets his way, they will allow ICE to talk to Uh you know, off on me. uh visit Vikers. where they're where they're held for what, two or three hours and then let go. And instead of being let go back onto our streets, Put them on a plane, a bus, a train.

Get them the hell out of here. Send them back to their country of origin. They don't belong here. And that's it.

So it's gotten quite treacherous. I'm curious, Vicki, what's up with your mayor? The latest word is that he may be thinking about switching back to the Republican Party. He used to be a Republican years ago, and now he's suggesting that he may switch parties. Has he had a come to Jesus minute, or is this maybe a pretty straightforward attempt at a pardon?

Yes, I think it's straightforward. Because um I'll tell you something about it, Eric. And I was is being Eric is dis disliked tremendously by his party. and it showed its two colors in his first three years in office. My City Council has done everything in their power to take his power away.

He is up against the progressive radical left. and he's not winning any brownie points there. He would be much better off running as a Republican in the upcoming race for mayor should he survive the legal battles because he's going to go to court In March.

So they have taken out the big guns and aimed them right at Eric Adams, his own party.

So there's no loyalty to Eric Adams there. He now finally realizes that. Because he tried to appease them. It doesn't work. And I've said it a thousand times.

I said it to him once or twice. And I have a very good relationship with the mayor's office. And I'm going to tell you this. They answer my calls on the first ring. The police, he's working really well with the cops.

They disdain that. They don't like that. The progressive radical. They don't like it. And for him to make a statement, I don't know whether those words actually came out of his mouth, or that's just hearsay.

I think Eric is going to meet I know he's going to meet with Tom Holman. He said so. And Trump is a native New Yorker. He grew up in the borough of Queens, as I did. And uh he loves this city.

And he wants to help the mayor. He wants to help the mayor get the city back to where the city should be. And I think Mayor Eric Adams has got nothing to lose Bye. Battling up with Trump, with Tom Holman, and clean up this city. Again, the again to go back to the point of how New York City and Bodin.

For Trump. it was on the rise. New York State, forty six percent of New York. Volley Patron. That's huge!

This is the blue state of New York. This is the bluest city other than Chicago and San Francisco. And Chicago. that we've got.

So you know, these mayors I can't speak for Chicago, I'll only speak for mine. He's had it. and he will take the help wherever he can get it. And it's and it's Donald Trump and it's Tom Holman. Did he have a Jesus moment?

Perhaps. But I think it's something he's been contemplating And maybe hoping. that Trump did win the election, so he wouldn't be held captive By the radical left, progressives that exist in New York City. All right, Vicki, we've got to leave it there. Appreciate all the good intel, and thanks for coming on the show today.

And I would just like to put this out to the people. Please pray for Daniel Penny. This is an innocent young man. twenty four years old when it happened, twenty six years old now going through this. His family.

Pray, pray that the jury comes back. Pray that the judge does the right thing, and pray that he goes free. The sooner the better, because that's another thing. This jury is not sequestered. While they are deliberating, they go home.

So if they are deadlocked at five o'clock tonight, they're going home for Saturday and Sunday and then reporting back. to the to the courthouse on Monday.

So that that to me is wrong. These jurors should be sequestered for the next several days until they could reach a verdict. A verdict which I Pray to God. Is the right one. All right.

You're going to ruin a good man's life. Yeah, absolutely. All right, Vicki Palladino, ladies and gentlemen, our Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line. Vicki, thank you. Folks, we're going to take a quick break here.

901-260-5926. That is our Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line, and also Open Line Friday.

So today you can talk about whatever you want to talk about. 901-260-5926. This is the Todd Starn Show. I don't really like working. I'm going to need a priority parking space.

I only want. Work remotely. How are your safe spaces? Can I bring my dog to work? Will your company protect me against microaggressions?

You're chickening me. Is this interview almost over? You don't run a daycare, you run a business.

So, why use high-priced recruitment agencies who charge you up to 40% of an employee's first-year salary?

So, they're focused on getting you the costly talent, not the best fit, which means you get more of this. What's your policy on paying employees to attend protests? I demand eight weeks of vacation. I need at least 12 weeks of paid vacation. I'm gonna need a lot of mental health days.

Do you have a game room? My pronouns are Z's and Zer. Isn't it time you hired grown-ups? Call RedBalloon.work and skip those high-priced recruitment agencies. Call 833-880-0600 for a free consultation.

That's 833-880-0600 for a free consultation. Redballoon.work. All right, welcome back, everybody. Good to have you with us. Let's go to the phone lines on this open line Friday, 901-260-5926.

William in Moorhead City, North Carolina, wants to respond to Vicki Palladino. William, what you got?

Well, I hope they pull one thing out that she said, and I hope they just play it over and over and over. And think about this. mister Penny is a very large man, and if he had any malintent whatsoever, He could have killed that man in the first thirty seconds. We did not. simply try to restrain a man.

He obviously was in distress. Middle and Physical. And I as far as I'm concerned, AJ Yuff. He kept a bad situation from becoming really bad.

Well, when you William, to that point, it wasn't just Mr. Penny. He's the one that got him in the chokehold, but there were two other men that came to his assistance to take down this guy. They were not charged. It was only the white Marine Corps veteran who faced charges.

Exactly. And I found that outrageous.

Well, yeah, I mean, could you imagine, though, William? I mean, you're in New York City and you see something go down.

Now you have to wonder, okay. Do I intervene and get myself arrested, or do I let innocent people get shot or killed? Exactly. You always look for peace officers first. You try to contact law enforcement first.

But again, it If the if it calls for it, And you feel you are capable, then, yes, I think you have every responsibility. not just right, but responsibility to intervene. Yeah, I just don't understand why this jury has not come back with a not guilty verdict already. That makes absolutely no sense to me. But it sounds like they've got some woke morons on that jury.

Well, it sounds to me like they're looking at a white guy who's in the military. Oh, big time. Big guy. And they are stereotyping. Ms.

Gentleman and Max Mott Tennier. I mean, this guy was literally coming to the aid of others. And this is how we're going to treat our vets. Are you really come on? Who are these people?

They must be morons or something. William, thank you for that call. Yeah, I'm I agree with William there, folks. 901-260-5926. Let's go to Vicki in Moorhead City, North Carolina.

Hi, Vicki. What say you?

Hi. I just wanted to comment on the Joe Biden pardon. Joe legally cannot make decisions, number one, to pardon anyone with an ongoing investigation in the Congress. any congressional hearings and or Elsewhere. Elsewhere.

Um the um The fact that he could not go to his own trial and be prosecuted for the documents, which the DOJ said because of his memory. has made him Unable to make any legal decisions at all about his son, about his wife, about anyone else, about their salty or anybody else. Because He legally cannot do it. He's not mentally competent or able to stand trial. He cannot be making these decisions.

So I think that it's time. that the White House be investigated. And that the stats be brought, the people, anyone in the courts, including Congress. to initiate a petition to stop this Um wild behavior that someone Is doing.

Now, Jill Biden said that she had persuaded Joe. To Um Pardon his son.

Well, Jill Biden. has no authority. to persuade her husband and I'm curious though, Vicki, I I want to go back though because you're saying the President doesn't have the the right.

Well what about what about Gerald Ford?

So you are you saying that Gerald Ford was wrong to pardon Richard Nixon? No, what I'm saying is that Joe Biden is not mentally dire, and he has problems with his. Memory And when an investigation has been done on the White House, They will see that that man all along was not mentally competent to do anything and that others were making the decisions for him. He has no short-term memory. I know that.

Everybody in this country that has seen his actions knows he is mentally incompetent. He cannot, in a court of law, it's called elder abuse. You or your wife or anyone else in this country cannot abuse somebody and pushing them into making legal decisions. When they have memory problems and/or dementia and/or Alzheimer's or Parkinson's, you have to have a power of attorney.

Well, Vicki, that may be the case, but Joe Biden, regardless, is still president of these great United States, and he's got the power to do that. Whether we like it or not, there's really nothing we can do. And once the pardon is granted, that is done. It's over with. Vicki, gotta run.

Thank you for that call. 901-260-5926. That's 901-260-5926. This is the Todd Stern Show. All right, welcome back, everybody.

This is the Todd Starns Radio Program.

So very happy to have you with us today. You know, we mentioned earlier what in the world is going on in New Jersey, and there is. There's a lot of stuff happening in the skies, and nobody seems to know what's going on. Are we dealing with pranksters? Are we dealing with China or some sort of a foreign actor here?

Is the military experimenting with some sort of new aircraft, or are we talking about E.T.? I want to go to the Patriot mobile newsmaker line and say hello to our good friend Bill Spadilla, who is now running for governor as a Republican, but also has a great radio talk show at New Jersey 1015. Great radio station. Bill, good to have you with us today. Todd, great to talk to you.

Thank you. Yeah, we've got the largest audience in New Jersey. And I have to tell you, for now, going on. Pretty much the whole week of four and a half days. We have been talking about drones over the skies of New Jersey.

Unbelievable.

So, what's the general thought here? I mean, this is really, people are getting really nervous about this. You know what it is, and you know how this is that when there's a lack of information from government, People jump to their own conclusions. And unfortunately, with social media, some of those conclusions go way, way out there. Um Up to Wednesday, on my show.

Yesterday, we had people calling in, and what I did was I gave out the governor's number. I encourage listeners to call the governor, text the governor. There's a cell phone set up that they have. You can text him. I said, You got to tell him he's got to make a statement about this.

The fact that he's been silent when the first drone sighting was back on November 16th, a day later, I got a call on my show from the mayor of Florim Park, my good friend Mark Taylor in Morris County. And he said, Bill, I'm looking up from my backyard. I've got four or five drones.

Some of them are six feet across and We had a Black Hawk helicopter hovering for several minutes over the same spot. And he called me to say, What is going on? He called the FAA, they called the local airport. No one seems to know.

So here's my thought on it based on listening to everyone: that clearly the government knows.

Something. The governor, after being flooded with calls from thousands of our listeners, did in fact make a statement yesterday. But Todd, I'm going to tell you, it was a statement about nothing. He basically said there's no danger to the public, and we're happy that the public is giving us their feedback, calling the FBI, calling the state police.

someone knows more than they are telling us. I think it's probably the most likely explanation is there's some sort of military exercise going on with Ticatinny Arsenal or the Joint Base. That's what it would, and again, that's as much as I think it would be very interesting and entertaining to be talking about an alien invasion of New Jersey. Yeah, I'm with you here, Bill. I think that is the more plausible explanation.

But there had been a report that Langley Air Force Base had to be, you know, that fighter jets had to be relocated because there were so many drone overflights at Langley. My question is: why aren't we shooting these things down? I mean, if. You know, I mean, if they're there, you've got the helicopters. It's interesting you say that.

I've actually had a few callers ask me the same thing, and I have encouraged people to, I said, look. Don't do anything with these drones because the most likely explanation is that this is our side. But it got me thinking. If the government is telling the truth, That they really have no idea, and they are relying on the general public and cell phone footage to try to figure out what's going on, then we are in much deeper trouble than anybody wants to admit, right? And if they do know what's going on, well, then why are they lying to us?

I mean, let's face it: any helicopter or any tracking system from one of these airports, they can take those drones, don't have. Battery light or fuel to last more than 20 minutes to an hour.

So they've got to land somewhere. We absolutely, positively can find out where they're landing.

So it tells me they know they're not telling us. And let's face it, Todd, we went through government lies after government lies all through the lockdowns, all through COVID. They're pretty good at lying to us. And this is now fueling a lot of speculation. I had people calling about alien treaties back to the 1950s and 60s.

And I said, look, I'm taking my tinfoil hat off on this one. I really think that we have to be calling on the government, demanding an explanation. And I will tell you, Todd, when I am governor of New Jersey, this will not happen because one of the things that is the hallmark of our campaign is. Transparency and government accountability.

Now, it's possible that this is a military exercise that if you leaked information, you could compromise national security.

Well, obviously, we don't want that. but they ought to be telling us, hey, guys. This is why we know there's no threat to the public because we know this is a military exercise and that's all we can share. But they got to share something because some bad things happen when people get their minds going and think that it's something potentially much worse than what it uh most likely is. I don't want to speak for my fellow Southerners, but I can tell you uh day one there would have been a lot of gunfire.

Um th the the Southern people uh yeah, we don't tolerate that kind of stuff. If this had happened in Tennessee or in Georgia, are you kidding me? There wouldn't be a drone left. New Jersey, look, there's a lot of air traffic over New Jersey, right, Todd? We're the most densely populated state in the country.

We've got 9 million residents, and we're used to a lot of traffic. We're used to the airplanes flying over our homes. The flight patterns are all over. We're used to seeing military jets go by. We're used to seeing state police helicopters.

So the reality is, the air traffic is not that out of the norm. And you know, when but when you look up and you see six Drones with blinking lights buzzing, and they're only about 100 feet off the ground or lower, and they're six feet across. I'm happy that people just didn't ignore it, that we are flooded with thousands of phone calls of people very, very concerned. Yeah, I'm with you. But again, if there were, in fact, Blackhawk choppers up there and this was Nefer's, they would have shot it down or they would have done something.

But again, we're talking about, and it's hard to see exactly what it is with all the video that's being shot at nighttime. But these appear to be rectangular in shape? This is pretty weird stuff. People are describing them as the size of a Volkswagen. If a Volkswagen was flying above your head, You know, that old VW bug about that size, which that's an enormous.

Aircraft when you're talking about an unmanned drone.

So I think that they clearly know where they're coming from because. There's no way with all the air traffic we have between the small airports, the private airports, Cedarboro and Monmouth and Princeton and major airports, Newark. And of course, we've got LaGuardia, JFK, we've got Trenton, Atlantic City, so much air traffic. There is absolutely no way they do not know Where they're coming from. But I threw out a theory the other day when it felt less serious because it was only a few reports.

I said, hey, we just had a major drone light show from Disney in New York Harbor. And I'm like, well, maybe they're just left over and they had nowhere else to go, so they're hanging around Jersey. But I don't think so anymore. I think this is most likely a military operation. And that's why I've encouraged people to continue to flood the political leaders with calls.

If you're I don't believe that if you if the FBI is relying on an eyewitness cellphone video from a Jersey resident in his backyard, then our country's in a lot of trouble when it comes to facing our real enemies like China.

So I'm believing that we actually do still have our strong, capable military intact And this is just one of those exercises that They need to come clean soon. And we'll see what they do. But this has not been going on for three weeks. Bill, real quick here, I know you mentioned you're running for governor. You want to be you're running as a Republican.

Where can people go get more information about your campaign? Right to my website, Spadia S-P-A-D-E-A, Spadia4Governor.com, and that's F-O-R, Spadiaforgovernor.com. All right, Bill Spadia, ladies and gentlemen, great radio host. Going to make a great governor there in the Garden State. Bill, good luck to you.

Thanks, Dodd. All right, may the force be with you. There you go.

We'll take it. All right. Wow. Um what do you think it is, folks? I'm with Bill.

It sounds to me like the military's doing something here, but at some point, and he mentioned this weeks, and these things are massive and louder than blue blazes. I can't even imagine if you've got a wife and kids, and all of a sudden, in the middle of the night, you've got this Volkswagen-style drone hovering over your house. And you heard Bill say, and this has been the reporting, we're talking about 100 feet off the ground. Unbelievable.

All right, got to take a quick break here. 901-260-5926. That's 901-260-5926. We'll be right back. All right.

Welcome back, everybody. Good to have you with us on this Open Line Friday edition of the show. By the way, our telephone number, right at town, 901-260-5926. Let's go to Clayton, Georgia, Greg, listening to us on WDUN. Wants to weigh in on Daniel Penny.

Hi, Greg, what you got for us?

Well, good afternoon, Todd. I bring in a defense point for the Marine in the fact that Judo is an Olympic sport. And you win by one point, a throw or a foot sweep. There are no punches or kicks.

However, if you wind up wrestling around on the mat, there are options to use Arm bars. pin downs and chokes. Chokes are used to cut off the blood to the carotid artery, and you put your opponent to sleep in just four or five, six seconds on average. You're not blocking the airflow. The opponent has the option to tap out and give up, or you can just be put to sleep while you're still breathing just fine.

I think I speak for everybody that plays judo. I played judo from sixth grade to college. And I've been choked out. It doesn't hurt. You come back to life flopping around like a fish on the mat and get up and everybody laughs at you.

But I think they're the the ninety-nine percent of the people see that video and they think he's choking with air. No, he's probably trying to put him to sleep by blocking the blood flow to the carotid artery. And I think the defence defense probably needs to be aware of that also.

So that was what I wondered about. The Marine has no business being on trial for this, it's a sham. That's all I've got, Tom. I just listen to you every day, but.

Well, thank you for that, Greg. And yes, I was reading this comment from a guy named Health Coach Josh, who is following us on our Rumble channel. Says, Todd, I'm a Marine veteran and I would do no different than Daniel Penny. And I've heard nothing but affirmation of that, Greg, is that people are out there and they're saying if they had been in the same position, they would have done the exact same thing. But what a crazy world we live in, where good Samaritans are brought up on charges.

And a lot of it has to go back to this radical George Soros district attorney, Alvin Bragg, the same guy who targeted Donald Trump. And you do have to wonder if any of that factored into the decision to go after this good and decent kid. Greg, thank you for that call. Let's go to John in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Hi, John.

What you got for us? Hey Todd's Uh screen of it I would be short Uh you were you were wondering earlier about Yeah, I think that's a good question. it's between five million and eight million dollars a year. Yes, that is correct. And they're estimating that it's right up there at about $8 million a year, which is just about $2 million shy of what the health insurance guy was making.

So, again, to the point, Sonny Hostin is out there and basically giving a wink and a nod, suggesting that it's okay to go out there and kill people that are wealthy. I mean, this is incredible. Incredibly dangerous. And you would think and don't be surprised Monday If they've got Sonny Hostin out there reading yet another legal statement, you know, they've been having to do that with the Pete Hegseth stuff, they've got the attorneys all over this. But sooner or later, ABC is going to have to pull the plug on the view.

These women are unhinged right now, and they're going to end up getting ABC Disney into a massive, massive lawsuit. All right, John, thank you for that call. Again, our number 901-260-5926. Again, 901-260-5926. Unbelievable what's going on out there, folks.

Just absolutely unbelievable. I want to play some audio here. This, again, is coming from New Jersey, and we just had Bill Spadia joining us. He is running for governor there. This is from Fox News.

Cut forward.

Well, one of the ships was. In fact, inspected by the Coast Guard and they couldn't find anything. The thing is that there were several other suspicious ships in the region that they never got to. And Will, it gets worse. Just a couple of months earlier, there were several mystery drone flights over our nuclear testing range in Nevada, just north of Las Vegas.

And again, nothing was done. And it gets even worse.

Some of the FBI agents that have been assigned to look into this have reported drones flying over their homes as if to say, hey, we know where you are. And so, I really think that what this does is it boils down to an administration that doesn't take these threats seriously. You just had on the previous segment a drone attack on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's house. Of course, we've seen with Russia and Ukraine the utility of drones. And yet, somehow, we're preventing our warriors from defending their own bases by saying, Oh no, you need to get permission from the Attorney General or from Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas.

No, that's wrong. Base commanders have an inherent authority within their command to defend their bases. So there you go, folks. And we're getting some other eyewitness accounts saying the drones are actually flying from the ocean up the New Jersey coast into and around Morris County. And I mean, there's just so much photographic evidence and video evidence of that.

But again, my concern would be that you've got bad actors. We could have domestic terrorists out there. On American soil. And they're trying out this drone technology to try and stage some sort of an attack. And that is a grave fear.

You know, tomorrow President Trump is going to be in Paris at the rededication ceremony of Notre Dame, the cathedral. A lot of people are really concerned about that and concerned about the President's safety and well-being and whether or not you're going to have bad actors going after Notre Dame. Which was burned, by the way. Bye. Radical Muslims.

Now they're gonna tell you that, but That's what happened.

So, again, when you look at what happened and you look at the attacks that happened in Israel on October the 7th, this is what people are concerned about. And look, if the military's out there and they're doing some sort of exercises, there's a way they can let people know about this because right now you just have a terrified population. And honestly, if you had drones the size of Volkswagens hovering over your house, just a few, about 100 feet off the ground, yeah, you'd be worried too. And I can say this: in Tennessee, at least, those drones would be on the ground.

Somebody would have already captured them, they would have been in somebody's pickup truck. I'm just telling you, that's how we do things in the South.

So, by the way, coming up in the next hour, this is sort of a fascinating story. But we're going to tell you the story of an old concher. Who caught a drone hovering over his house and he shot the thing? And we'll tell you what happened to that guy coming up in just a little while. All right, hang tight, everybody.

Hour three of the big show coming up: 901-260-5926. That's our number, Open Line Friday. We'll be right back, America. Live from the Liberty University Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, it's America's conservative blowtorch. That's right.

I love this American ride. Todd Starns.

Well, hello, everybody. Welcome to the Todd Stearns Radio Program. Happy to have you with us. It is Open Line Friday. That means we get to talk about whatever you want to talk about today.

Give us a call. Write down our telephone number to join the program. 901-260-5926 is our number. Again, that's 901-260-5926.

So, yesterday, Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy met with members of Congress on Capitol Hill about Doge and how exactly they plan to cut government spending. One of the people that was at that meeting happens to be on our Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line right now, Congressman Ben Klein from Virginia. Congressman, good to have you with us today. Todd, great to be with you.

So, Congressman, I'm curious, what was your takeaway from yesterday's meeting?

Well, it was great to see Members of Congress.

some of whom have been advocating for cutting wasteful spending for years and years, like myself and other members of the Freedom Caucus. And then there were a lot of my colleagues who were jumping on the bandwagon and were ready to join in. And we'll take. the votes, if that's what we need to pass the legislation to implement the Trump agenda. But they also indicated, you know, Elon and Vivek indicated that they've got a stack of executive orders that they're going to be giving to President Trump that are Uh Five feet high, and they're ready to go on day one.

So we're anxious to get started at all different point from legislating to executive orders. And this is going to be A great accomplishment to have all the boats sailing in the right in the same direction. We haven't had that for several years. And uh we're looking to follow Trump's leadership and really do a lot to change America to change Washington culture, to help America. Congressman, any particular things that you would like to see defunded that our tax dollars are funding right now?

Well, sure. I mean, I was the budget chairman for the Republican Study Committee this year. We put out a balanced budget, the balance seven years. It really took a hatchet to a lot of wasteful spending. And there are a number of different agencies that we can get rid of.

There's an Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy that got three point five billion dollars this year alone. It regulates toilets to light bulbs, everything in the name of energy efficiency. we've got other things that can be block granted, we've got other things that can be privatized, we've got other things that can be consolidated.

So you talk about all the different agencies Um That can be impacted to improve the lives of American citizens by reducing the amount of regulation coming out of Washington. There's a lot that can be done. You know, I was just shocked by the revelations that have come out over the past couple of days that an overwhelming majority of government workers aren't even in the office. What's that all about? Oh, it's incredible.

You know, when you look at the vacancy rates in our In our our federal office buildings, you got Um Nowhere near. the levels needed. You can sell these buildings You can uh Or if these are Employees who need to be working, we need to bring them back to work. I believe if we follow through on the requirement that every federal employee come in five days a week. Right.

Uh eight to five. you will have half of them Quit. And that will save us. billions of dollars Uh in in you know bureaucracy Uh and middle management that uh I think the taxpayers would ultimately benefit from them. Uh leaving federal employment.

Congressman, I know that Chip Roy said a few words to all of you folks there. Molly Hemingway was regurgitating some of that on her X feed. And Chip Roy, if and if If her description of this is wrong, please correct me. But she you know, Roy was basically saying, hey, look, you know, the people in this room are really the problem, and we've got to put a stop to all of this pork barrel spending, including a lot of stuff that's going back to our districts. Do you see that?

Does Roy have something there? Chip Roy have something on that?

Well, absolutely. There are a lot of my colleagues, as I said, who haven't advocated for Cutting spending very often. And if they do on the campaign trail, Some of them will come to Washington and then. Uh start the pork barrel. spending.

everyone's welcome on the Trump bandwagon to cut wasteful spending. And if they're newcomers to the bandwagon, so be it. And we welcome them. Those of us who have been pushing for to cut spending and return more money to the taxpayers for years and years, we say the more the merrier. Is this when you look at the makeup of Congress and what our numbers I've been hearing various numbers, but you basically Republicans will have, at the end of the day, a one seat majority in the House.

Are the Republicans going to stand together or do you anticipate there's going to be some trouble?

Well, there's always a challenge to unite all Republicans and when you have a margin of one feat. Any one member Can uh can be the Republican equivalent of a Joe Mansion where you you uh stop the train to get what you're after. And we're a majority part of the Party across this country. Republicans are in the majority.

So we range from Uh you know, New York, Long Island, Moderate to conservative Alabama Southerners to you name it. I'm from Virginia, the Shenandoah Valley. And uh So we've got different priorities and different issues we want addressed. But when we unite on day one with the Trump administration, we're going to be focusing on issues where we get one hundred percent agreement. And the border Is the first issue that we are going to focus on, that the administration wants to focus on.

And that's why we're going to be coming out with a hopefully legislation immediately that's going to Help this administration seal the border. All right, good stuff. Congressman, we're going to leave it there. We appreciate all the good intel, and hope you and your family have a great holiday season. Todd, Merry Christmas and to you as well.

All the best. All right, Congressman Ben Klein, representing the 6th Congressional District in Virginia. All right, we're going to take a quick break here, folks. 901-260-5926 is our telephone number. That's 901-260-5926.

What would you like to see coming? Congress defund.

Okay. I'm telling you, MPR, PBS at the top of my list, followed closely by the Department of Education. Hey, by the way, some huge news. Rob Schmidt, again, beating CNN in the ratings. This is pretty spectacular.

Rob is Newsmax's number one host, and he's now got a bigger audience than CNN during any hour of the day. This is huge. Millions of Americans like you are now making the switch to Newsmax. You guys are getting real facts: no BS, no spin, just the truth. That's why President Trump watches Newsmax, and you should too.

Rob Schmidt and Newsmax are on all the major cable systems. YouTube TV just added us. And if your system does not carry Newsmax, just call and cancel and then go to getnewsmax.com, and we will help you find a new carrier. 40 million Americans are now watching Newsmax, and you need to find out why you can do that by going to getnewsmax.com and And start watching. All right, folks, welcome back to the show.

Let's go to the phones. Memphis, Tennessee, Jay is listening to us on our flagship station, KWAM. Hi, Jay. What's on your mind today? Hi, Todd.

A little while ago, you were talking about the trial in New York City of Daniel Penny. the Marine Hero. And as far as I'm concerned, I think it's important. for people in your listenership to be reminded of the nineteen sixty four incident in New York City, in Queens. in which a young woman named Kitty Genovese was raped and murdered.

And about thirty eight people heard what was going on. And nobody really bothered to call the police. And it was a tragedy that New Yorkers may still be talking about today.

So we need more people like Daniel Penny. Yeah, I remember that story. The reality is that somebody could have intervened, but again, and that was a whole different world than New York City is today. For whatever reason, people did not intervene. I know the psychologists have studied that case and they've gone over it with a fine-toothed comb.

But, Jay, the problem I have now is, what does this say? You know, if they've been telling us for years now, if you see something, say something, you know, here's a guy, a Marine Corps veteran who was following through on his training, and now this guy could spend the next 15 years in prison if they end up convicting the poor kid. Yeah, I don't think there's anything more that I could add. I just think it's a tragedy if this befalls Daniel Penny. As far as I'm concerned, I think he's a hero.

I think he did the right thing. All right. Well, Jay, thank you very much for the call, and I suspect a lot of people share your sentiments. I've got to tell you about this fella, 72 years old. And he lives in Claremont, Florida.

And he's facing multiple charges, including a felony charge after he shot a Walmart delivery drone that he said was. Flying over his house, which it was. And the the poor guy Is was very open about it. As a matter of fact, we're going to play you audio of the police body cam footage. Yeah.

As the guy was being questioned, and this is, and you're going to, I mean, he's a typical grandpa. And he saw something really weird happening directly over his home. And he saw this drone, and something was coming out of the drone. And the guy didn't know what it was.

So he took out his weapon and he shot at it. Take a listen.

At some point today, did a drone fly over your house and you shoot at it? I'm gonna be rope a lot with you and ask. Yeah.

You did? Yeah.

Okay, why'd you do that? Because I thought it was somebody turning around playing games on my house. I got you. Where did you see the drone at?

Well can you can you walk out and just kinda show me? Sitting straight above it? Straight above me. Do you have any Hubbard lowered some kind of cord down or something. Turn around and send something back up.

And then after it was shot at, It turned around and went north. Gotcha.

Okay. What'd you shoot at it with? Nine millimeter.

Okay. Alright, um How much trouble am I in? Quite a bit. You've been honest with me? I'm being honest with you.

Um Quite a bit actually.

So there's a a federal charge that goes along with it, there's a felony charge that goes along with it. That's kinda like where we're at. I was working on my pool equipment. Oh, you were outside when you noticed it? Oh, I was working on my pool equipment.

Gotcha.

Waved it off and everything, never left. I went inside, went into the safe, got the weapon, came out, tried to shoot it off again, it didn't move. I fired one round at it.

Now they say I hit it, so I must be a good shot. Or else it's not that far away.

So I'm under all sorts of They said it's $10,000 was the damage to the drone and all sorts of stuff.

So I'm going to wind up having to find a real good defense lawyer. I want to cough you in the front. Whatever's come, whatever you need to do by protocol. I don't know, we have been fine, there's no issues. We're not known if it's too tight, alright?

I can't breathe, I can't breathe, I can't breathe. Oh, that's funny. Oh, wow. What? He was look, the guy was in pretty good spirits for getting arrested.

And the guy's name is Dennis Wynne, 72 years old. And he said, yeah, I mean, this thing was flying over my home. He didn't know what it was. And so he shot it down.

So, are you ready for this, folks? It turns out. That if a drone is flying above your house, you can You don't own the the air rights. According to the federal government, that's their airspace.

So that it belongs to them, which means the FAA actually controls the airspace over your home. And that means that when you shoot down a drone, it is a literal violation of federal aviation law. Sure.

So, the question, and I would be thinking about this for the good people in New Jersey. You've got a drone the size of a Volkswagen that's parked over your house and you can't sleep at night. What are you supposed to do? Telling you, in the South, they would shoot the drone and nobody would ever see from it again. Never, ever.

Let's go to Scott in Maine, WLOB. All right, Scott, what you got for us? How are you doing today, Todd? Good, good. Good.

I think I know what's going on in New Jersey.

So what that is you you know what Uber Eats is? Oh yes, yes. Uber eats it. Yeah, they're using drones to deliver Chris Christie's dinners.

Well that would well, it is the size of a Volkswagen, so that would make sense, Scott. That's the thing I can think of, you know. All right. Scott, thank you for that. There you go.

What do they used to call him Krispy Kreme is what they used to call the governor back in the day. But no, this is really fascinating. And this is going to be, I suspect this is going to be a problem as more and more people acquire drones, is that it is not a crime. To to fly your drone over somebody's house. You're not trespassing according to the the government.

This is insanity.

So I hope that poor mister Wynn down in Florida is able to get a good attorney. Otherwise, he could do some jail time here, and the poor guy thought he was doing the right thing. I mean, what happens if the what happens if the drone was up to no good and it dropped a bomb or had, I don't know, some sort of a blowtorch attached to it? At what point Do the homeowners have any kind of rights? This makes no sense to me.

Yeah.

So, anyway, and by the way, Mr. Wynn should deserve some credit here for being one heck of a good shot. He was also charged with firing a weapon. In public. But they say that he was a Pretty solid shot here.

The Lake County Sheriff's Department literally blasted a hole into the payload area of one of the drones. Unbelievable.

Mr. Wynn told police he thought it was being surveilled by a delivery vehicle, and that's when he went to retrieve his 9-millimeter pistol from a safe in his house.

So, again, this is a. A law-abiding gun owner. who he thought was just doing all the right things. Again, this uh turned out to be a Walmart drone, and uh people the Walmart people in the neighborhood were testing the drone. And the drone delivery program.

Uber Eats. You know, the guy mentioned Uber Eats. I, you know, back, remember back during COVID, that's all everybody was doing was that they were having the food delivered. It was a what is it, DoorDash and all these others. Have you noticed now that if you try to use one of those delivery systems, it's actually more expensive than the actual meal is?

Anyone else notice that? I was going to order something a couple of weeks ago. It wasn't feeling all that great. And I thought, you know what? I don't want to get out and drive.

The weather is bad. I'll just order something.

Well, when I saw how much it was going to cost, I'm like, geez, the low. The delivery was more expensive than the actual food was. I'm like, yeah, not going to be doing that. All right, got to take a quick break here. Again, our telephone number, 901-260-5926.

That's 901-260-5926. Hey, head over to ToddSterns.com. And if you haven't done so, be sure to download our free podcast, all three hours of the Todd Sterns Show. We'll be right back, America. All right, I have a question.

Um, are dress codes racist? You know, you go into a nice restaurant and you show up. And you're wearing a hoodie. And you're excited of marijuana smoke. And they tell you, sir, you can't eat dinner here.

Is that racist? That's a great question. What provokes that question? What's going on? So, yesterday, Ben, I told you about the situation with my favorite restaurant.

Yeah, you're still upset about it. I'm still in mourning. Houstons, which is a national chain. A lot of people may not realize it. It's not a very large national chain.

They have a couple of restaurants in New York City. And that's really one of the reasons why I loved it, is because I used to eat at that. It was, I forget the name of the restaurant, but it was owned by the same company in New York City, and I used to eat there all the time. And just good, consistent food. And so, anyway, they announced they're shutting down, and the reason why is because of the crime.

And when you actually pull the crime reports since January, there have been like 50-plus criminal reports from the parking lot of the restaurant. And so now you've got the restaurant community that's in an uproar, but they're not defending the restaurant. And they're saying, well, this is a chain restaurant. And these people have done nothing except cause problems. They accused the restaurant of being racist because they told a couple, the allegation was they told a couple they couldn't eat at the restaurant because they smelled of marijuana.

And so the allegation is discrimination. But the reality of that story is this. And again, the media here in Memphis, most of them are DEI hires.

So it's unfortunate, but many of them can't even read. They failed a report that the judge dismissed the case and then made the couple pay Houston's, the restaurant chain's legal bills. Yeah, it's defaming them. Of course it is.

So anyway. Um This has been a big issue because now restaurants are requiring Dress coats, and people around Memphis are pushing back and saying that's racist. That you should allow. A woman with a thong up her butt to sit down and eat at a fancy. Not even sit down, Todd.

We're saying woman in thong up her butt on top of a table twerking all over your food. That's acceptable. Is that, I mean, seriously, I'm just a delicacy. I want to hear your thoughts on this because there's another, a very popular restaurant called Moondance, which is very good, and I believe it's locally owned. You know, they implemented a dress code, and here was the dress code: no thongs.

You have to wear shoes and your pants. Your pants, oh, here's the one that really upset people. Your pants have to be on your butt, they can't be swagging down around your ankles. But they say that discriminates. 901-260-5926.

I'm curious to hear your thoughts on this. 901-260-5926. Because what they're now saying is, well, it's a culture thing. And I bring this up because earlier today, someone sent KWham a video from a locally owned restaurant called Folks Folly. And Ben, this is a high-end restaurant.

The Ribeyes start at $65. And that's, you don't get bread, you don't get a salad, all of that is extra. That's discrimination.

So you're looking. I'm kidding.

So that discriminates against me.

So you're looking at, I'm trying to do the math here. I mean, these are, I mean, this is like. Big dollar stuff. If you want potatoes, let's say you want a baked potato, that's $13. Wow.

So you're looking at $70 just for a steak and a baked potato. And it's Memphis's and they've been around. And by the way, Houston's restaurant had been in this city for 40 years. That's pretty significant.

So now, Memphis' original prime steakhouse, Folks Folly, they sent us this video of. Black customers having a fist fight, but people are pointing out how these individuals are dressed in this super high-end steakhouse. This. makes the Jake Paul and the big fight that was on Netflix, you know, the one that everybody was talking about, seem mild. This is like MMA fighting Todd.

And it's in the mid and the woman are those leggings she's wearing? Mm. I don't know. In the middle of the steakhouse. Yeah.

Well, they needed to be expansive and stretchy. But here's the thing. We've seen this in the Walmarts around America. You see the videos all the time, right?

So now the argument now coming from some of these activists, these race-based agitators, Is that it's here's a headline from Salon? Here's a headline from Salon. They say, It's time to admit restaurants have a racist dress code problem. There's a long history of dress codes being implemented unevenly among black and white people. And they actually list a couple different examples.

They say that, for example, there was a customer that was denied seating because they were wearing. Baggy sweatpants and things like this. And they cite some of those things. The question that you're posing: is it racist to enforce people to show up? And I don't know, not your pajamas.

Or should you? And if you do enforce address code like you're referring to these restaurants, they are saying this is veiled. Racism. It's not blatant or overt. It's not saying you have to sit at that booth and the whites sit at that booth or different drinking fountains for the blacks and the white.

It's just a veiled version of racism in this country. I'm just if I'm going and I'm just this is just me, but if I'm spending $150 at the Prime Steakhouse, which is going to be on the low end, I want to be able to sit there without having to worry about whether or not the people next to me are going to pull, I don't know, guns out of their thongs and start shooting each other because the waiter forgot to bring the A1 steak sauce. Yeah.

Yeah.

Todd, can we say that? Is the FCC? I think you could say that. Yeah.

I don't know, Todd. I have been with Todd, and Todd is not wearing sweatpants.

So everybody. No, you dress appropriately. And Todd, if you did wear sweatpants to moondance, You would be kicked out. I hate to say it to you, Buster, but they're kicking your butt out. That's right.

And it just seems to me that you have an obligation to dress appropriately. I mean, right? That's the big problem. I mean, there was a time in American history and culture when, if you were on an airplane flight, you were wearing a coat and tie if you were a guy.

Now people wear just bras. If they have. Let's go to Harold, 901-260-5926. That's 901-260-5926. Harold, in Memphis, Tennessee.

Harold, what say you?

Well, it's like this right here. Uh at the hotel that I manage, Have a sign at the door. You smell like weed, we won't wait on you. And that's the bottom line because you're going to stink up a room. You know.

I mean Uh You know, and I've went to a few restaurants on Union Avenue at their drive-thru window. It says, if you smell like weed, we will not service you. I mean, the mall the Woodchase Mall in Memphis, Tennessee, has a dress code policy. If you read the rules, and when you come in the mall, it tells you the dress code policy. I mean, there's nothing wrong with having the domestic policy as long as you enforce it on everybody.

I mean, if you walk into my hotel with your pants hanging halfway down your butt, We're not going to wait on you. You know, I think that, yeah, I completely understand where you're coming from, Harold. And again, it's, I will say this: that smell of weed, especially in a restaurant, is so disgusting. And I rank that up right over there with cigar smoke. It's just very unpleasant if you're trying to have a good meal.

And let me jump in here, Harold. It's probably not easy to get that smell out of a hotel room if someone's lighting up and smoking pot in one of your rooms. Right. Well, we're non sm we're a non smoking hotel, but people today, they don't care about the law anymore. They'll smoke in a hotel room, and then you got to call the police to put them out because they said they're not going to leave.

They don't get they don't care. You know, I don't care what the police do, what the police is going to put them out, because if I ask them to go out, they got to leave. That's that's the law of the innkeepers law in Tennessee. But the problem of it is people really don't care about the law anymore. you know, especially in Memphis where it's it's broken so many times.

And everything. And and they say everything is racist, Harold. And there's nothing racist about it. It's uh but they want ever they want to make everything about race.

Well, that's very true. I can call names all the time. And what I find really disrespectful to black Mempians is you have a lot of black Mempians that aren't wearing sweatpants.

So I actually think it's racist of them to just look at black populations across the nation and just say, oh, yeah, that's the way that they behave. No, there's a lot of people, white and black, that when they go spend $98 on a ribeye. They're not walking in in pajamas. I'm sorry. That's just that's actually pandering and pretty prejudicial, in my opinion.

But But I've I but, you know, I've always learned the same rule applies to everybody, whether you're white, black, men, women, gay, lesbian, whatever you are. You know, the same rule is going to apply. You know, and that's one thing That anybody can say about me. I apply the rules equally. Opportunity, I get people to come in from California and these states that don't smoke marijuana, and they say, Well, I got a medical marijuana car.

I can smoke it anywhere. No, you can smoke it in California anywhere, but you can't smoke it in Tennessee anywhere. All right. Well, Harold, I appreciate the intel there, and I'm glad to know that you guys have standards, and you're enforcing those standards. Let's go to Angelo, also listening to us in Memphis, Tennessee.

Angelo, what do you think about these dress codes? Look, I you know, I grew up uh knowing that they had dress codes. Every you know, nightclubs would have dress codes.

So, yeah. Bad about having dress codes in restaurants, which you should have. Because me personally, I don't want to go to a nice restaurant, me and my wife, and uh. You know, people are there dressed inappropriately. Uh we don't want that.

So, you know, I And and it's you can't you can't label everybody's being like that, you know.

So, you know, there are people out there that just like that, but everybody's not like that. Yes, dress codes are very appropriate. Uh When you go to a certain event, hey, you gotta have a dress code. If you're on a plane, you gotta carry things a certain way.

So, yeah, those are rules that should be upheld. You respect those rules, you abide by them. And move on. You know? And if if the dress code you don't like it, then you don't go there.

That's all I see. Yeah, exactly, Angelo. And I think, you know, a lot of it is common sense. And I think most of us were raised right, Angelo. Our parents taught us: hey, if you're going to go to McDonald's, okay, you can be in shorts and a t-shirt.

You're going to go to back in the day, Red Lobster was pretty high-profile.

So if you're going to Red Lobster, you're going to wear pants and a nice button-down shirt. You know, that's just the way, you know, our parents raised us. Yeah, absolutely. So, you know, as far as having breast cold, If they have a dress code, you don't want to be there, don't go there. That's it.

You know, just as simple. It's great advice.

So I just move on from there and do other things. You know, find somewhere else to go. All right, Angelo, thank you for the common sense. And that's really what it's about, Dieter: common sense. Common sense and pants.

You've got to have pants. Can we talk about what did you just send me? We have 22,000 people coming to the city. And this is a city, and I hate to make everything political, but they destroy everything. Look at anything that the mayor, the Democrat rule here in our city, and it's every big blue city in America.

We're talking New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco. They're all the same. The St. Jude Marathon is this weekend. Huge, huge.

I mean, everybody, when you go to a Walgreens in your neighborhood, you're going to see donate to St. Jude. I mean, this is the most prestigious child cancer research hospital in all of America, and it's based right here in Memphis.

So you sent me a photo. This is from the finish line of what the marathon, where the marathon will be. Is that a dead body in the bag? It's a hurdle.

So all the runners. And we have a lot of new listeners today because they're all piling into Memphis today.

So these people are coming from all around the world. This is an international run, and it's all to raise money for St. Jude. And so, for those that are in the city today, just be on alert. You are going to probably have to jump over a couple dead bodies at the finish line.

Can you? That's the finish line. And it looks like there's so much blight there. I mean, they might as well just have a dumpster. They couldn't mow the grass?

No. Yeah.

Anyways Welcome to Memphis, everybody. That's unfortunate. Yeah.

That's very unfortunate. All right. 901-260-5926. What do you think about these dress codes? People are saying, and as you heard Ben talk about the report nationally, they're now saying that having a dress code for a restaurant or a hotel is somehow discriminatory.

Which, let me add in here. Todd, when we have gone to this Houston's with Todd, what is the one thing you tell your younger staff? Wear pants. Yep. Yep.

And and we've had to go home and change.

So in theory it's discriminating against us as well, anybody wearing shorts. I but I'm not filing a lawsuit. And by the way, this is what gets me. Ninety percent of the staff there is black.

So, again, I'm trying to understand the racial component to all of this. Help me understand that. I just don't get it. But again, it goes back to this issue, Ben. And this is what bothers me: they're deflecting.

They don't want to talk about the real issue, which is you have parents that are not raising their kids. They're not teaching them right from wrong. They're not addressing the crime problem. The fact that just a block or so away, you had the hamburger joint, Huey's, which was shot up. You've had other restaurants in the area that have had to shut down because the city doesn't want to address the crime problem.

Yep. And that's not right. It's not right. And all you folks in the Memphis Restaurant Association that are attacking your Houston's because it's owned by a corporation. I got some news for you.

That corporation, they were employing people, they were putting money back into the city by the wages they were paying those people. And now all those people are out of a job.

So just something to think about. And by the way, the other people that were complaining about all of that, one of the top gurus had honchos over the Memphis Restaurant Association. Just a couple of months ago, they were at city council complaining that their downtown restaurant was suffering because of the criminal element. That's hypocrisy. Just serve up a dish of soul and swagger.

That's on the menu. All right. 901-260-5926. This is the Todd Stern Show. All right.

So, Ben Dieter, you're going to be one of the, what is it, 22,000 runners tomorrow that'll be running for the St. Jude Marathon. Are you doing the marathon? No, that was last year.

Okay. So you did the marathon last year. It was horrible. Which is why you're not doing it. You'll never do it again.

It was brutal. You know, the secret. Of doing a marathon and a 10K or a half marathon in the nation's most deadly city is you have your own motivator. You're just running for your life. It's a great motivator.

But yeah, I'm excited. Early in the morning. You're doing the 10K. It's going to be like 20 degrees outside. It's gonna be brutal.

But we run for the kids. You know what's interesting? That's my PR answer. You run for the kids. Run for the children at St.

Jude. You know, they actually have you run through the campus and their facility. And it's pretty neat and remarkable. They have the children that are currently undergoing treatments at this cancer facility with their families. And they'll be outside and they'll be cheering for you.

So instead of just your family, your immediate family that gets out there with the signs, go, go, run, run. You actually are running through the campus where all of those families are being benefited from the thousands of people here. And not a single person has to pay. Those parents do not pay a single penny. Nope.

A lot of people don't realize that. It's all free. And again, Danny Thomas, you know, selecting Memphis, Tennessee, to build this beautiful hospital and research facility. Of course, Danny Thomas Boulevard is here. And I mean, the amount of charity that this man brought to Memphis and the numbers of people from All over America, the number of children that have been helped is just really, really remarkable.

Yeah.

And of course, the Trumps have been very involved in fundraising efforts as well.

So, yeah. All right. Well, good luck tomorrow, Ben Deer. All right. Don't freeze to death.

There'll be an icicle out there. All right, folks, it has been a great show. Don't forget 5 o'clock Eastern tonight on Newsmax, the Todd Stearns show. Also, head over to ToddSterns.com. Be sure to check out some of our great stories as well as our other content.

Download the podcast and the newsletter. Folks, it's going to be a busy weekend. I know our church has the big living nativity in Germantown. If you're in the neighborhood, come by and say howdy. I'll be hanging out next to the camels.

All right, folks, get out there. Have a great Friday. Whatever you do, be sure to go to church this weekend, America. Na na na na na na na na na na na na na.