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In this episode of the Kim Munson Show, guest host Bradley Beck takes the mic to delve into pressing political issues affecting Colorado and beyond. Joined by former representative Don Beasley, they discuss the challenges faced by the GOP in communicating a coherent message to voters and the critical importance of clear principles in shaping public policy. From an in-depth look at state ballot measures to the social implications of government overreach, they provide a nuanced examination of how policies affect citizens’ lives.
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It’s the Kim Munson Show, analyzing the most important stories.
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The socialization of transportation, education, energy, housing, and water. What it means is that government controls it through rules and regulations.
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The latest in politics and world affairs.
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Under the guise of bipartisanship and nonpartisanship, it’s actually tapping down the truth.
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Today’s current opinions and ideas.
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On an equal field in the battle of ideas, mistruths and misconceptions is getting us into a world of hurt.
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Is it freedom or is it force? Let’s have a conversation.
SPEAKER 11 :
Hello, Colorado, and welcome to the Kim Munson Show. The voice you hear is not a frog in the throat of Kim Munson. This is Bradley Beck. Kim’s out for a couple days, and I have the great honor of sitting in her chair and doing today’s show. And as Kim always says, let’s have a conversation. Thank you for listening. Each of you are treasured. You’re valued. You have purpose. Today, strive for excellence. Take care of your heart, your soul, your mind, and your body. We were made for this moment. And thank you to all the good people here at Crawford Broadcasting and the team that Kim has to work with. And in particular, producer Joe. Joe, how are you doing this morning? I’m doing well, Brad. How are you? I am doing unbelievable. And it’s a great day in Colorado. It’s good to see your smiling face. And thanks for letting us in the door. And in the studio with me is my friend and former Colorado House District 33 representative, it’s easy for me to say, the Honorable Don Beasley. Don, how are you this morning?
SPEAKER 09 :
Hey, I’m good, Brad. How are you today?
SPEAKER 11 :
I’m doing unbelievable. I just am so excited to be here. I always enjoy being on the radio and interacting with people I know. And so it’s always good to see you.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah, there’s nothing better than waking up with Brad Beck to talk about freedom and opportunity and prosperity early in the morning.
SPEAKER 11 :
When we go back to 2008-9 when we were in the leadership program of the Rockies together and we got a chance to get to know each other and that was a great experience. And you ran for HD33 and asked me to be part of your campaign and it was a great experience.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah, it was. And we made a real difference for a couple of years there in terms of splitting power in Colorado and putting the brakes on some things that no longer have brakes on them. And we see what is happening here in our beautiful, beloved state of Colorado.
SPEAKER 11 :
Exactly. Well, we knocked on a lot of doors. We got a lot of good stories. So we can share some of those as we go along here today. Sure. And the website that Kim has, KimMonson.com, you can sign up for her weekly email newsletter. You can get the first look at all our upcoming guests and recent essays. I write several of those essays once a month and really enjoy. And you can always email Kim at KimMonson.com. And Kim could not be successful with this great show with her wonderful sponsors. And we’d like to say thank you to the Harris family for the gold sponsorship of the show. And to thank Hooters Restaurants for their sponsorship. You know, they have three locations here in Colorado, Don. Aurora, Westminster, and Loveland. It sounds like we might go to lunch there. Yeah, we might want to catch one of those. They have great lunch specials Monday through Friday for dine-in or to-go. Wednesdays are wing days. You buy 20 wings and get additional 10 for free. Offer is for to-go or dine-in. Hooters Restaurant’s a great place to get together with friends and watch your favorite teams. So, Don, Kim likes to always have a word of the day, and I chose this one from the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, and it’s sagacious. Let me spell it. S-A-G-A-C-I-O-U-S. It’s an adjective. S-A-G-A-C-I-O-U-S. And the definition is having or showing understanding and the ability to make good judgments, having keen discernment, good judgment, farsightedness. And used in a sentence, her sagacious comments provided clarity in the discussion. So if you get a chance today, use that word and improve your vocabulary and your ability to interact with people. So sagacious is the word of the day.
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, we’re going to strive to be sagacious here this morning together, Brad. I think we’re going to hit that one.
SPEAKER 11 :
I hope so. And then the quote of the day I picked from a gentleman who I’ve read a lot about and read many of his books, Samuel Longhorn Clemens, who was born November 30th, 1835. He died on April 21, 1910, and we know him by his pen name, Mark Twain. He was an American writer, a humorist, and an essayist. He was praised as being the greatest humorist of the United States by William Faulkner, calling him the father of the American literature. Twain’s novels include The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and its sequel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, both great books. And he said, quote, There is no distinctly American criminal class except Congress. End of quote. So it’s great. Mark Twain, Samuel Clemens. And that kind of reminds me of where we are today in the headlines, because there’s a lot of things going on, not only around the country and around the world, but here in Colorado. And for those who didn’t know, on Saturday, the Colorado Republican Central Committee met to vote on whether to change from a nominating candidates through the primary election to nominating them through the assembly or convention. And the statute mandates that at least three-fourths of the total membership of the party’s state central committee vote to do so. And the chairman of the Colorado GOP, Britta Horn, put on her Facebook page that statement. And, you know, it’s interesting that the state GOP continues with some factions, and it seems like The grassroots and the quote money class or the elite keep fighting amongst themselves rather than shooting out. They are shooting in. Don, what are your what are your thoughts on, you know, how this sausage making internal process has been the last few years?
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah, I mean, it’s a little bit frustrating, I think, to observe what’s going on in the Republican Party as they decide how they want to move forward. And you and I talked a little bit that, underline it all, at some point there has to be a coherent message. That has to be the objective of the party is how do we message, how do we communicate a better way for Colorado to go forward and be prosperous for everyone? and have that coherent message be consistently delivered and stop shooting inward, as you say, and start shooting outward so that we can communicate more effectively with Colorado, which I still believe is an essentially quasi-conservative state. I think it’s a fiscally conservative state, but certainly socially moderate to liberal. And the challenge for the party is to not fight about these mechanisms, but to figure out how do we craft a message that is relevant for Coloradans today that helps us move towards a more limited government, more ownership and freedom for ourselves, and as a result, every single time, more prosperity for people in Colorado from all walks of life.
SPEAKER 11 :
You know, it’s interesting as you say that, what goes through my mind is if you were to ask the average Coloradan, you know, on the street, man on the street kind of interview, and ask them what does the Colorado GOP stand for, you’re going to get probably a blank stare because I don’t know what the party’s platform is Right now is I know what it should be. And I’d like to say it’s based on principles, the ideas of human equality, natural rights, consent to the governed, all the things that we believe in. And I think at one time all parties believed in. But I don’t know what their message is. Do you?
SPEAKER 09 :
I don’t. And, you know, that comes back to that driving that coherent message and being able to find those principles that we should all be able to agree on, that we do want a more limited, controlled government. And, you know, I’m going through doing my or recently did my continuing education for my real estate license. And it was hard to get through because it was so outrageous because they have the responsibility through that continuing ed to let you know what’s gone on in the legislature and what’s changed within the realm of real estate and the things that affect it. I’m a business broker. I help people sell their companies, but real estate is part of that. And there are so many things in there that affect landlords, for example, that you have to ask yourself, who actually owns this property? Do I own the property or does the government own this property? I mean, it really is Marxist equity-driven ideas. And while we’re shooting inward… that’s what’s going on in our state. And of course, there’s practical effects of it. It reduces investment in real estate and housing and drives up costs and all those kind of things that, you know, they sound nice, but they end up hurting everybody. And those things are going on. And that’s just two examples out of tens of thousands of examples in this state, especially over the last five or six years as these kind of Super majorities by Democrats have taken us down really negative roads across all environments, not just the business environment, but business, education, our personal lives, what we have the right to do or not to do, whether we’re going to be criminally penalized for dead naming someone, those kinds of things. And it’s just a very perverse environment that should rally people that want justice. Reason and rationality and reality and limited government and opportunity and prosperity. We should be able to rally around those core ideas that we can all agree on. And that should become the message for the Republican Party.
SPEAKER 11 :
I totally agree. Well, and to that point, I just received my state 2025 state ballot information booklet for the November 4th, 2025 statewide election. And as usual, the information in here is clear as mud. And I don’t know if you’ve had a chance to really look at it, but there are two statewide ballot initiatives or maybe something locally where you are in your jurisdiction. But real quickly, I wanted just to mention that there is LL to retain and spend state revenue exceeding the estimate for Proposition FF. so it’s almost a Rubes cube, and MM to increase state taxes for school meals and food assistant programs. And as I read both of these, Don, it just is more confusing. All I can gather from it is the government wants to tax you more and keep it and not give you the opportunity to make choices. They both sound nice, and we want to do more for children, but my goodness, when is enough enough?
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, and I’d be willing to bet the first three words in the description are without raising taxes, which, of course, then they’re going to tell you how they’re going to get more revenue. Right. And it is an increase in taxes. And, of course, they’re going to try to divide people against each other and say that it’s, I believe in there, it’s a threshold of $300,000 in income. So people over that amount don’t get their TABOR refunds or it’s retained in some other way. And that’s divisive. And I’ve had years where I’ve made more than that. I’ve had years where I’ve made less than that. In the years I make less, I don’t want other people to be penalized. And the state government budget is the largest it’s ever been in history. And yet they’re saying they don’t have enough money to go do what they’re doing, so maybe they shouldn’t be doing so many things and practice a little bit of fiscal sanity.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, and trying to help people where they don’t need help, and that’s always a problem. You know, we have great sponsors here that do solve problems, and one of those is Roger Mangan and his great way of doing business.
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And I’m talking with Roger Mangan with the Roger Mangan State Farm Insurance Team. And, Roger, auto coverage is important. It’s important that people understand this. So unpack this a bit for us.
SPEAKER 03 :
Why, that’s a good question. When you get your auto policy renewal bill from your company and you look at it, normally you look at the bottom line and say, wow, my premium’s $1,000 this six months for this wonderful car I own. And it’s gone up from $800 to $1,000 over the last probably two years. There have been significant rate increases on the auto side as well as on the homeowner side. But we’re talking auto today. So what I’d like to do is maybe educate you without… Speaking down at you, but a lot of people really don’t take the time to study what I’m going to share now. So the first item of, and there are 10 items normally in an insurance policy, an auto insurance policy that impact your rate. probably the most important for you would be liability coverage. And when someone says $250,000 or $100,000, they say that in one fell breath, and people go, oh, okay, well, let’s go back. That first $250,000 is $250,000, and the second $500,000 is the same amount claim the maximum that will be paid on that claim. If you get sued, this public liability I’m talking about now is what is going to protect you and your lifetime assets that you’ve accrued. The last number, the $100,000, so $250,000, $500,000, $100,000, the last $100,000 is property damage that you may cause as a result of your negligence. Now, let’s say you do get sued and you have $250,000, $500,000, $100,000. Now, you know what that means. And you get sued for $300,000 by one individual in a car accident that you are liable for. Most cases, claims, never go to the jury unless they’re severe or long holdouts for some reason. So let’s say you do get sued for $300,000. That’s $50,000 more than you have coverage for. So that $50,000, you’re going to have to pay. I assume a jury decides your claim is worth $300,000, your insurance company pays $250,000. And I’ll talk a little bit about what they pay when I say they’ll pay later. But that extra $50,000 is going to come out of your assets. Could be savings. Could be a home equity loan you have to take out because you don’t have enough savings. Could be your investment account, your equities are subject to attachment. Your 401k or your IRA are protected by ERISA, Public Employee Retirement Act. So they can’t touch your 401k, but they will if… You start taking the money out and the lawsuit is still going on to pay for that deficit, that $50,000 deficit. Normally they’ll arrange a payment with you, a payment schedule, to reimburse that $50,000. So they’re not going to come knocking on your door and want $50,000 tomorrow. Well, first of all, if you get sued… We want to make sure your defense costs are being paid for, and that’s what the policy does. Medical expenses incurred by the person you injured has to be paid. If they do not have medical insurance and their medical bills run up to $200,000, you’re in deep trouble. Pain and suffering is another part of what they will pay on your behalf. Pain and suffering, that’s a wide-open one. Maybe the pain is your back was injured severely. So they’ll put a monetary value on the pain and suffering over a period of time. And the period of time can be very long. And that could be a very big number as well. Loss of wages. If you hit me, I can’t work. My employer doesn’t have any kind of benefit for me in that regard. And I lose, I can’t work for three years and I’m making $100,000 a year. $300,000 is going to be paid for by your 250, 500, 100 policy. I think you’re getting the message. $250,000 really isn’t enough. And we talked about umbrella policies before, but an umbrella liability policy overlays your auto insurances, the entire family, as well as your home, and it’ll pay an extra million dollars or two or four million, whatever you want to buy. And you buy according to your net worth and your asset base. So as far as property damage, the last one, the $100,000, it includes damage to property that is lost as a result of your negligence. So if you hit my car and it’s a $40,000 car and it’s totaled, you owe $40,000 to me to replace that car. And… I’m going to get back to the $500,000 for a minute. I skipped over that quickly. But $250,000, $500,000, $100,000, that $500,000 applies to all the people in that car at the time of that claim. So if I have three people in that car and all of them sue me in excess, let’s say all sued me for $200,000, that’s $600,000. So the $250,000 hasn’t been breached, $200,000 each person. But the sum total of that claim has been breached. That $500,000 is short $100,000. So that is out of your hide or out of your pocket. So you really need to talk to your insurance agent about this line of coverage, which is probably one of the most expensive lines of coverage on your policy.
SPEAKER 18 :
And an umbrella policy, then, is something to talk about to augment that.
SPEAKER 03 :
Absolutely. Okay. Everybody… should have an umbrella don’t rationalize not and that’s going to cost you maybe 25 a month so let’s say 300 a year depending on how many drivers um how your your net worth uh so two million is probably going to be around five or six hundred dollars a year you have to decide but keep in mind this community called The Denver Metro is growing exponentially. Driving downtown to work or driving over to see Kim today, I have seen a lot of drivers that I’m playing defensive driving all the time nowadays.
SPEAKER 18 :
So that is why people should give you a call. What’s that phone number for the Roger Mangan State Farm Insurance team?
SPEAKER 03 :
303-795-8855. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. You got it. Awesome. Okay, thanks. I wanted to be Kim to the point. All right.
SPEAKER 16 :
Peralston Valley Coalition is hosting a candidate forum for the Arvada City Council candidates on September 29th at 6 p.m. at the Depot in the Village of Five Parks. Land use, traffic, density, and zoning have become a very important set of issues, and we will be asking the candidates about how they envision the future of Arvada’s growth and development. Please join us either in person or online by visiting RalstonValleyCoalition.org where you can reserve your free ticket or find the live stream link. Statewide, the City Council elections are on November 4th of 2025. Local elections matter and ordinary citizens can make a difference.
SPEAKER 02 :
The Second Amendment was established to ensure that all individuals have the right to resist oppression, stand firm against government overreach, and protect our ability to defend ourselves, our families, and our freedoms. Today, that right is under relentless attack in Colorado. Colorado’s premier grassroots Second Amendment organization, the Second Syndicate, is on the front lines fighting to preserve and protect your constitutional rights. We expose the most pressing threats to the Second Amendment and provide the education, resources, and tools to stay informed, empowered, and prepared. Join the movement. Protect your rights. Visit thesecondsyndicate.com. That’s thesecondsyndicate.com, where the second is first.
SPEAKER 17 :
There’s so much noise coming at us. Sometimes it is difficult to make sense of it all. How can you sift through the clamor for your attention and get to the truth? The Kim Munson Show is here to help. Kim searches for truth and clarity by examining issues through the lens of freedom versus force, force versus freedom. Tune in to the Kim Munson Show each weekday, 6 to 8 a.m. with encores 1 to 2 p.m. and 10 to 11 p.m. on KLZ 560 AM, KLZ 100.7 FM. The KLZ website, the KLZ app, and Alexa. Play KLZ. Shows can also be found at KimMunson.com, Spotify, and iTunes.
SPEAKER 11 :
And welcome back. I’m Bradley Beck filling in for Kim Munson today. Check out Kim’s Web site at Kim Munson dot com. And you always can email her at Kim at Kim Munson dot com. And thank you for contributing to support Kim’s independent voice and exercise our right to freedom of speech. And you know, through all of Kim’s work with veterans, she’s honored to highlight the USMC Memorial Foundation and all that they’re doing to raise money to remodel the official USMC Memorial, which is located right here in Golden, Colorado at 6th and Colfax. Paula Saris is the president of the foundation. She’s a Marine veteran and a Gold Star wife. Paula and her team are working diligently to make the remodel a reality. And you can help by donating to usmcmemorialfoundation.org. That’s usmcmemorialfoundation.org. And on the line with us, we have Colorado representative for House District 19, a friend of mine. He’s a father. He’s a two-time trustee for the town of Erie, where I reside. And he’s running again for HD19. Dan Woog, good morning.
SPEAKER 14 :
Good morning, Brad. Thanks for having me on. It’s great to be here.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, it’s great to have you on, Dan, and appreciate your time. Tell our listeners where HD19 is and then why you’re running for that office.
SPEAKER 14 :
Sure. HD19 covers all of Firestone, Frederick, Dekono, and Erie, and then it covers a sliver of Longmont just east of Pace Road. It’s Weld County and Boulder County, so obviously Erie’s both Weld and Boulder County. It’s got the entire town of Erie, so there’s a significant amount of Boulder County as far as density and numbers, and then also the eastern part of Longmont there. So it is a mix, and it’s… It’s a seat that actually Kamala Harris won by 8.6%. So the fact that I’m in here is kind of a small miracle, but we had a lot of help last campaign and hope to have it again. So I’m, you know, I’m running bread. It takes me back. And thanks for mentioning that as a trustee in here, it takes me back to that point where. I first got into politics in the town of Erie as it was growing and thinking, oh, this is going to be a lot of fun, just listening to the people and kind of helping develop the town the way the residents saw fit. And I quickly realized, especially as a small business owner, that So much regulation that’s thrust upon businesses, small businesses, large businesses, really hurts those businesses, especially me as a small property management owner. So I just realized, wow, this is affecting me. And I’m, of course, passing the cost to my customers because I have no other choice. That just is rampant, and especially in the state of Colorado. So more than anything, I just saw that so many legislators, unfortunately, can get greedy. And it’s really the reality is it’s mostly the Democrat Party right now, and they just want to find ways to increase the revenue stream. And a lot of times that’s at the expense of businesses and residents alike.
SPEAKER 11 :
Dan, can you tell what you stand for versus your opponent in this race? Why should people consider you over them?
SPEAKER 14 :
Yeah, absolutely. You know, I will say I hate the term politician, and I have done this for a few years now that I’ve been a trustee and a state legislator. But I do know that it helps to just kind of know how things are working in the statehouse and kind of who to look out for it. Um, and who to make friends with that kind of thing. I don’t know a lot about my opponent. Now I know she has a primary, but I do believe it will be the lady I ran against the last time. And, um, I’ve been told from others when she does get in rooms full of other, you know, current legislators that in her party, she definitely falls way, way to the left. Um, It just seems, Brad, that, and I’ve seen this again, I’ve had three years now in the state capitol, and the Democrats do fall in line. I mean, there are a select few that tend to be a little more business friendly, but the reality is I have seen them change their votes. I’ve seen them, whether it’s in committee or even on the floor for, you know, third vote from second vote, they change their votes. So they definitely fall in line, and I don’t see anything different from her. I’m just going to continue to uphold the values I carry and try to lower the cost of living and really focus also on public safety because we’ve really struggled there. Our state’s number two now as far as worst state for safety. And just the amount of regulation we impose here has gone through the roof. So I know we’re one of the most heavily regulated states as well. And again, that just increases the cost of living for everyone.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, in studio with me, if you haven’t heard earlier, I have Don Beasley, former representative of the House of HD33. And Don’s kind of gone through that territory before and has his campaign actually for two years helped stop some of the craziness down there. Don, do you have any words of sage advice for Dan?
SPEAKER 09 :
Sure. And Dan, thanks so much for what you’re doing and for running again. Really appreciate it. You know, you just mentioned kind of what you see in the voting patterns or the direction they go. And one of the things that I’ve observed, and I want to see if you’re seeing this with your more active involvement, is It seems like what I call the Democrat next door, which is no different than you and me, right? They want to have safe neighborhoods, good schools, good jobs, those kinds of things. I don’t think they understand how much their party has changed and that the folks that are even in the 15 years since I was in there, or 13 years, it seems like the more radical activists are the ones that have kind of risen up through the Democrat party and are becoming those representatives. But the Democrat next door doesn’t really understand that it’s not a Democrat that reflects their values. Do you observe that?
SPEAKER 14 :
Yeah, I absolutely do. And thanks, Don. I truly try and be careful at saying, oh, it’s all the Democrats’ fault, because I think all of us obviously have family members that are Democrats, and we also know Democrats like my two grandfathers, late grandfathers, that believed in a lot of the same things we do, like you just mentioned. So it’s very unfortunate. I won’t say who, but one Democrat told me in a closed-door meeting about a bill, working on a bill, and they said, you know, They really, you know, the people in my party really have no clue what’s happening outside these walls. And that was just, I mean, that really made my eyes the size of saucers and my ears perk up. And I felt that way, but to hear someone in the party say that, you know, I just, it was really telling. Yes, it’s just so unfortunate. But here’s my optimism. I do believe there are those Democrats, like you just mentioned, that have so much more in common with me. Smaller government, less regulation, get rid of these fees that are really hurting people and creating issues with society. you know them being able to save for their kids future them being able to take their kids on vacation even pay their high utility bills so um we just there are those people and i i do believe in them and um and and same with unaffiliated voters that obviously i think we’re going to get more that lean right i just i worked so hard last campaign and i’ll do the same i just getting out there and talking to people and uh and keeping it civil you know i always respect and listening i think that’s what’s I’ve gotten better at as a legislator for HD19, which is so, we’ll say a purple seat compared to a previous seat I served that was way more conservative, is that i’ve just really learned to become a better listener and and let people talk and uh and and maybe we disagree on some stuff but i do try to find stuff we agree on and guess what oftentimes we find those things so um i think more now than ever we need that i mean obviously we just see this world and uh our country going through so much violence right now and hateful rhetoric and uh We just need to lower this temperature and have some respect on both sides, and I sure hope we will. And that’s what I will do going forward, especially on this campaign.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, Dan, what are your closing thoughts, and where can people get more information about your campaign?
SPEAKER 14 :
Yeah, first off on that, woog4hd19.com is my website. That’s w-o-o-g-f-o-r-h-d-19.com, woog4hd19.com. and there’s information on there i would love some help it will be an expensive campaign and the reality is we we need especially in seats like mine it’s going to be a targeted seed because it was so close last time i won by only 110 votes so i know the democrats are going to put a lot more into it so uh donations and even volunteering you can get on that site and submit a notice that says you want to volunteer as well so i would love to help um in closing just i i think we need to have great optimism and it’s just reiterating what i said Just staying above the fray and keeping, you know, eliminating the hateful rhetoric and just treating people as people. I do think so many Coloradans, and we’ve seen that, especially on votes that support Tabor, we’ve seen that Coloradans have common sense. Whether people want to say we’re a blue state or not, fine. I don’t care about party affiliation. Let’s work on the things we agree on. And I do think that’s lowering the cost of living and creating a safer environment across the state. So those are the things I’m going to focus on, and I’d love all the support I can get.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, Dan Woog, thank you for joining us this morning. We appreciate it, and we wish you good luck. Stay tuned, and we’ll be right back.
SPEAKER 13 :
Award-winning realtor Karen Levine with Remax Alliance understands the importance of home ownership. Karen Levine works diligently at the local, county, state, and national levels to protect your private property rights. With over 30 years experience as a Colorado realtor, Karen Levine will help you navigate the complicated metro real estate market, whether you are buying your home, selling your home, considering a new build, or exploring investment properties. Kim Monson highly recommends Karen Levine call Karen Levine at 303-877-7516 that’s 303-877-7516 for answers to all your real estate needs
SPEAKER 08 :
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SPEAKER 01 :
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SPEAKER 07 :
All of Kim’s sponsors are in inclusive partnership with Kim and are not affiliated with or in partnership with KLZ or Crawford Broadcasting. If you would like to support the work of The Kim Munson Show and grow your business, contact Kim at her website, kimmunson.com. That’s kimmunson, M-O-N-S-O-N dot com.
SPEAKER 11 :
And welcome back to the Kim Munson Show. I’m Bradley Beck filling in for Kim, who’s off for a couple of days. And I get to sit in the big boy seat and enjoy some time with my friend, former representative Don Beasley. And Don, good to see you this morning.
SPEAKER 09 :
Good to see you, Brad. We’re the dream team here this morning.
SPEAKER 11 :
The only thing is you’re tall and I’m short, and we have the Mutt & Jeff Show, actually. We can hit them low and hit them high. There you go. We can do a routine. So today we’re going to be talking about a variety of things, but you can always find out what’s the latest in Kim’s newsletter by going to her website at KimMonson.com. You can email Kim anytime at Kim at KimMonson.com. And you can always thank her by contributing and supporting to her independent voice to exercise our right from freedom versus force, force versus freedom. If you don’t have to force anybody to do something, it’s a better way of doing it rather than using the force of government. And ready for any of your financial freedoms today, you need to call an expert and have somebody on your side. And Mint Financial Strategies is an independent firm and an accredited investment fiduciary. They always put your interest first. And Mint means more than money. It stands for Meaningful Relationship. information sharing, and a network of smart strategies and thoughtful advisory. Somebody who puts you in control first. No cookie cutter plans. Everything is tailored to you. So call Mint Financial Strategies today at 303-285-3080. That’s 303-285-3080 for Mint Financial Strategies. And we had a guest scheduled, and we’re having some issues getting a hold of him. But in the meantime, I’ve got my friend Don Beasley here, and we’ve got lots to talk about. And there is so much going on, Don, in the world, especially when you start thinking about all the riots, people being against ICE doing their job. deportation of illegal aliens you see what’s going around with protests with the conflict in the Middle East you know and I know you’re a husband and a father and when you look at all this stuff and you think my goodness you know how are we gonna get through it all and how are we gonna guide our youth our children especially through this morass of things that are happening daily in our lives
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah, you know, when I, you know, I have two kids and one’s just starting on his first real job in life and the other one’s a senior in high school and you certainly do project forward three, four and five years and you think about the violence going on, the assassination of Charlie Kirk for just engaging people in open conversation, whether you agree with him or not. And it’s easy to get really focused on that. And there are things that obviously we have to deal with in our culture in terms of this rising idea that it’s okay to use force against other people up to including killing them if you disagree with them. But there’s also a step back. We sometimes think about July 4th, 1776, what I call one perfect moment, that kind of pinnacle of the enlightenment, and that that was the pinnacle. And then we’ve kind of sort of drifted from that. And I think that’s true. But if you take a step back and look at 5,000 years of history, It’s been a march upward. And this is still the absolute best time to be alive. I think that’s one of the things I don’t want to lose track of is I would much rather be alive. The only thing wrong with today right now for me is that I’m not 20 years younger. Because it really is the best time to be alive as an American in terms of technology and opportunity and prosperity and things we can do. Now, there’s problems that are chipping away at that. The uncivil discourse that’s going on in our society, the belief that it’s okay to use force against other people to make them do what you want to do. And it really is, you talked about force versus freedom. One way or another, all these discussions are about, are you going to be a free person who lives in a free society and has a right to determine your own direction in life and live peaceably? Or are you going to be subject to other people coming at you and initiating force against you, trying to control your speech up to and including killing people, harming people? I was just watching somebody the other day, a very nice woman, just having interviews on the street, and she was attacked by the person she was interviewing. And we have to all universally say no, not no but, right? There’s a lot of no buts out there after Charlie Kirk was assassinated. It’s got to be no. It’s unacceptable to live in a society that is violent. And we have to be willing to deal with our secure borders, with violent crime that is going on. We can’t. release people for no reason just because, you know, right now in Colorado, it’s a huge issue. You’re releasing people because you say they’re not competent to stand trial. And then they go out and they commit the next crime. And we have to find solutions that hold criminals accountable and protect innocent people. And we’re just sort of doing the opposite and promoting the opposite. And we’ve got to get away from that.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, and I think conversations, the solution to free speech and the curtailment of it and calling other people out and calling them names, we need more free speech. Second Amendment, you know, the ability to protect yourself with a firearm. is not a something that the government gives you it’s a god-given right and therefore you should be able to do that so the answer there is to have more firearms out there so people who learn how to use them can protect themselves from the criminals when the police or whoever else is in the security is minutes away you know you look at what happened at the church in michigan yesterday And, you know, I don’t know how many security they had around there, but it’s just amazing. This keeps happening. And I think we have to be aware of it. But I agree with you. We do live in the greatest country in the world. This idea of America was so unique that people are still wanting to come here in droves. And they’re not busting down the gates to get to any place else as far as I’m aware of.
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, it’s interesting how just a little bit of freedom goes a long ways. Anywhere you look around the world where a little bit of freedom, free markets, things of that nature are introduced, prosperity jumps. Whereas if you introduce a little more state planning, it goes down. And it takes very little freedom to supercharge a society. And that’s because freedom is consistent with reality. Human beings have to be free to take action to improve their lives. And when we protect that freedom, they do great things. They do what comes natural. They get up in the morning. And they work hard to build a better life for themselves and their family and the community around them.
SPEAKER 11 :
And it’s incumbent upon our fellow citizens, our friends, our neighbors to get involved. And if it’s just one thing, if it’s going to a school board meeting or just showing up at a town hall meeting. I don’t know how many times I’ve been watching my local community. What what’s going on in the town of Erie and had to put on my pants and walk into the door and say, guys, really, we’re going to do this again. And, you know, if people don’t get involved, we’re going to have the bureaucracy get bigger and bigger and take away more of our rights.
SPEAKER 09 :
We are. And, you know, one thing you mentioned a couple of minutes ago, too, is stop calling people names. And it happens on both sides. I’m not gonna cast the first stone. It happens on both sides, but we have to commit to civil discourse. If there’s no other lesson from what happened to Charlie Kirk, let’s at least commit together to civil discourse and have a conversation about what’s right, what’s wrong, why. Make your point, make your argument. But calling everyone a Nazi or a fascist that you disagree with or making up nicknames for them, as some people like to do, it just degrades the discourse. And we’re a better country than that on both sides. And we need to do better.
SPEAKER 11 :
We do. And one of the things that I know in Toastmasters we talk about when we evaluate somebody’s presentation is reflecting first before you answer. You just don’t react. You think about what you’re going to say, how you’re going to say it, the tone, the pattern, the words that you use. It makes all the difference in the world. And if you’re accusatory, people are going to be defensive by nature. And so we really need to work on getting people to think first before they speak.
SPEAKER 09 :
We do. A good business rule, if you’ve got a situation going on that’s negative, is to wait 24 hours before you fire off that email. Or longer. Or longer sometimes, yeah. And it’s the same kind of thing. Take a breath and think about what it is you actually want to achieve and why. It’s easy to react. We’ve all done it, right? You’ve done it. I’ve done it. It’s easy to react off the cuff, but we’ve got to take that breath and take that measured moment and just always for us, bring it back to principles, right? It is about freedom. It is about opportunity for people and the prosperity that creates and thinking about how can we share those ideas better.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, after we come back from the break, I want to talk to you a little bit about some business practices and based on principles, because I don’t think we talk enough about principles, whether it’s in our businesses, our daily lives or in our politics. We’ll be right back.
SPEAKER 12 :
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SPEAKER 20 :
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SPEAKER 13 :
Do you strive for excellence as you work with your clients and customers? Does it make sense for you to add a unique and focused branding opportunity to your marketing portfolio? Would you like to access a broad customer base that loves our country and wants to make life better for ourselves, our neighbors, our colleagues, our children, and our grandchildren? Then you may be a perfect fit as a sponsor slash partner of The Kim Munson Show. To learn more, reach out to Teresa at 520-631-9243. Teresa would love to talk with you. Again, that number is 520-631-9243.
SPEAKER 20 :
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SPEAKER 11 :
And welcome back to the Kim Munson Show. I’m Bradley Beck, filling in for Kim, who’s out today. Check out Kim’s website at kimmunson.com. And the Center for American Values is located in beautiful Pueblo, Colorado, on the Riverwalk. The center is focused on foundational values of America, those of honor, integrity, and patriotism. Through their K-12 programs, grade educational programs, they train educators, and the portraits of valor of over 160 Medal of Honor recipients are at the center that help instill those ideas of honor, integrity, and patriotism for our next generation. And you can check out their website at AmericanValueCenter.com. That’s AmericanValueCenter.com. and I love listening to Drew Dix’s podcast. If you haven’t done that yet, it’s well worth your time. I’m in a studio with my friend Don Beasley, former representative of House District 33. He’s a small businessman, and he’s a Colorado resident for a long time, sees a lot of changes, and we’re talking a little bit about principles and ideas in business, as well as in communication. And One of the things I just was sharing with Don on the way down here together is I had the opportunity to be at Fairview High in Boulder, Colorado, and talk a little bit about the ideas of principles of the American founding. Things like human equality, natural rights, consent of the governed, limited powers, democracy. Rule of law, equal protection of the law. And the students responded very well to those ideas. And I challenged them to ask their questions based on those principles. And what was amazing is we had a dialogue rather than a screaming match. And it can be done even in the belly of the beast of Boulder, Colorado. Now, what are your thoughts about that way of communicating?
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah, fight on your nights for old Fairview High, my alma mater. I’m glad you were able to go talk to them. Yeah, I mean, I think it’s so important. One thing I’ve observed, and I have a high school, he’s a senior in high school, and we talk about these things a lot. And I hear even them talk a little bit amongst their friends and offer opinions on each other and those kind of things. And kids at that age are actually very open to thinking about these ideas and thinking in terms of these principles and how they apply them. They’re just not getting enough. They’re not getting enough critical thinking skills. They’re getting a little bit of agenda-driven oriented things. And I think the way that you go in, in some ways it’s almost a Socratic method in a version of it, right, in terms of asking questions of them and letting them find the answers based on those principles or find the questions based on those principles. And I think that’s what kind of opens people’s minds to thinking critically, right? It’s not even about, hey, you have to think what I’m thinking, right? But just open your mind and think critically about these ideas. And, man, we need that in our high schools and really K through 12, but certainly in our high schools. And that’s why there’s a target of kind of controlling those ages, right? Because they are very, the flip side is they are super impressionable at those ages in terms of forming what they really think. And then they’re going into their university experience right after that as well. And that obligation of helping them think critically and think open-mindedly and look at it from a couple of different sides is incredible. And you’re doing incredible work in that.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, thank you. It was a privilege to do it. You know, one of the things that makes me remember is when I was a facilitator for the Hugh O’Brien Youth Leadership Program for five years, I was on the board here in Colorado. And one of the things that we… focused on is getting the students how to think, not what to think, going to your point. And it’s so critical. I know we were going to have Jonathan Turley here with us, and we had some technical issues. But he wrote a book, The Indispensable Right, Free Speech in the Age of Rage. And I like that bottom part, that in the age of rage, is because it’s such an important aspect of how people communicate with each other. And in fact, we do have Mr. Turley on the line with us. Jonathan Turley is, you probably know him because you’ve seen him on many different prominent newscasts. He’s an American attorney, a constitutional law scholar, and a media legal analyst. And he has extensive work in academia. And he’s published many things in the Washington Post, New York Times, USA Today, and The Hill. And most recently, Mr. Turley was in Colorado for Constitution Week up at Grand Lake. Professor Turley, welcome to the Kim Munson Show. Tell us about your experience.
SPEAKER 15 :
Well, first of all, going to Grand Lake was truly rejuvenating. You know, there’s a tendency when you are on the East Coast to yield to the sort of tribalism and cynicism that is prevalent in Washington, D.C. And then you go to a place like Grand Lake and you meet people who love the country, love the Constitution, who are not angry. They’re grateful. And it’s something that, frankly, I wish everyone in Washington could experience. There are other towns and cities across America like that, just not this one. Washington has become a really poisonous tribal place. So I came back really feeling a sense of renewal from Grand Lake.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, you know, when I met you first time at the LPR leadership program at the Rockies Retreat in Colorado Springs, and you were talking about the indispensable right. And you have so many great stories in this book. I have to commend you on it. But the one that really struck me is the one in the beginning by a activist, Charlotte Anita Whitney. Tell us a little bit about that case.
SPEAKER 15 :
You know, Whitney is a fascinating case. I took the title of my book, The Indispensable Right, from an opinion, a concurrence by Louis Brandeis, one of the great civil libertarians that ever sit on the Supreme Court. And the reason I did that is because he wrote beautifully about how free speech is indispensable. But then he made it every bit dispensable by signing off on the sentence that for Whitney, who was arrested for speaking against lynching. Now, she was someone who was radicalized. She became one of the early American communists, but she was also one of the great voices for feminism. And while I disagree with her ideology, I do respect the reason that she became an activist. She saw great poverty. She wanted to do something about it. And she saw great violence in the form of lynchings and other forms, and she wanted to stop it. And she spoke against lynching and was arrested for it. And then she came before one of the greatest libertarians in our history, and he signed off. And the question the book asks is, If Louis Brandeis can lose his way on free speech, maybe we could learn from that as to why. And what the book suggests is that you can’t really understand the meaning of free speech until you understand who we are and why we need it and why it is indispensable. And what the book argues, which is a bit controversial with law professors today, is that it’s a natural right. It’s a right that was given to us as human beings. It was not bestowed upon us. It was not granted to us as a privilege. It belongs to us as human beings. And if you view it that way, and that’s how the framers when they first created this republic and wrote the First Amendment, they viewed it as a natural right. But we lost our way and we started to develop what I call a functionalist view of free speech, that we protect free speech because it has this function of helping democracy. And it most certainly does that. But it does so much more than that. And so that’s what the book really explores. And the true heroes in our history are all those people we arrested. You know, people like Whitney, all of those that just wouldn’t shut up. And she’s an example of what George Bernard Shaw said, which is that unreasonable people expect the world to conform to them. And then he added, that’s why all history is made by unreasonable people. And she was one of those unreasonable people.
SPEAKER 11 :
Professor Turley, we only have two minutes left in this segment. And I’m just curious, you talk about James Madison and Madison’s monster. Can you give us a quick synopsis of that?
SPEAKER 15 :
You know, Madison was someone who is really, I have a huge amount of respect for, but he lived in a time of great hypocrisy. John Adams became everything he fought against. He used the alien sedition acts to crack down on his opponents. Thomas Jefferson also used sedition. It was Madison who wrote a beautiful essay in 1800 called where he said, look, this is a monster, a monster called sedition, called speech prosecutions. And I really was captivated by that term because it is a monster. We release it upon our neighbors when we’re very angry or we’re very afraid. And we do it during ages of rage like the one we’re living through. And we can learn from that history instead of constantly repeating the cycle.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, thank you for your insight into the book, Professor Turley. We appreciate that. And we look forward to your continued essays and information and all the things that you are known for in commentary. So thank you for being on The Kim Munson Show today.
SPEAKER 15 :
It is a great pleasure to be on the show today. Thank you for having me.
SPEAKER 11 :
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, today, be grateful, read great books, think good thoughts, listen to beautiful music, communicate and listen well, live honestly and authentically, strive for high ideals, and like Superman, stand for truth, justice, and the American way. You are not alone. God bless you and God bless America. Stay tuned for hour number two.
SPEAKER 05 :
And fast on a rough road riding High through the mountains climbing Twisting, turning further from my home Young like a new moon rising Fierce through the rain and lightning Wandering out into this great home And I don’t want no one to cry. But tell them if I don’t survive.
SPEAKER 19 :
The views and opinions expressed on KLZ 560 are those of the speaker, commentators, hosts, their guests, and callers. They are not necessarily the views and opinions of Crawford Broadcasting or KLZ management, employees, associates, or advertisers. KLZ 560 is a Crawford Broadcasting God and country station.
SPEAKER 10 :
It’s the Kim Munson Show, analyzing the most important stories.
SPEAKER 18 :
The socialization of transportation, education, energy, housing, and water, what it means is that government controls it through rules and regulations.
SPEAKER 10 :
The latest in politics and world affairs.
SPEAKER 18 :
Under this guise of bipartisanship and nonpartisanship, it’s actually tapping down the truth.
SPEAKER 10 :
Today’s current opinions and ideas.
SPEAKER 18 :
On an equal field in the battle of ideas, mistruths and misconceptions is getting us into a world of hurt.
SPEAKER 10 :
Is it freedom or is it force? Let’s have a conversation.
SPEAKER 11 :
Indeed, let’s have a conversation. Welcome to the Kim Munson Show. I am Bradley Beck, filling in for Kim, who’s out for a couple days. So let’s have a conversation in studio with me is my friend and former Colorado House District 33 Representative Don Beasley. Good morning, Don.
SPEAKER 09 :
Good morning, Brad. It’s good to be back here after the hour.
SPEAKER 11 :
It’s good to see you. And Joe, thank you for doing all you do behind the board. How are you this morning?
SPEAKER 02 :
I’m doing fantastic, Brad, and it’s my pleasure.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, thanks for being here. And thank you all for listening. Each of you are treasured. You’re valued. You have purpose. Today, strive for excellence. Take care of your heart, your soul, your mind, and your body. We were made for this time in history. And, you know, you can always find out what’s going on in Kim Munson world by going to her Web site, Kim Munson dot com. You can sign up for Kim’s weekly email newsletter and get the first look at all her upcoming guests, as well as the most recent essays that are listed there. And thank you for contributing to our independent voice and the exercise of our freedom of speech. And we talked to Jonathan Turley. on his book the indispensable right and we’re hopeful we might get him for our last segment of uh this this hour so stay tuned we’ll see if we can do that we also like to say thank you to the harris family for their gold sponsorship of the show And also, we’ve got a newer sponsor from Little Richie’s Pizza and Pasta. It’s a place you go for real New York-style pizza, hearty pastas, and an unbeatable local vibe. Little Richie’s is a place where they serve up daily specials, quick and tasty lunch day meals, and happy hour for the locals that actually build around pizza. their community there at Little Richie’s. Whether you’re bringing the crew, catching up with friends, or flying solo for a hot slice, Little Richie’s is your neighborhood hangout. Don, today I picked the word of the day is sagacious, and it’s an adjective. It’s spelled S-A-G-A-C-I-O-U-S, and the definition is having or showing understanding and the ability to make good judgments and having keen discernment, sound judgment, and farsightedness. So we can all use a little bit of vocabulary to sound a little more intelligent, at least than I sound, but it’s a great word of the day, sagacious.
SPEAKER 09 :
It is. We could all use a little more discernment, I think, in our everyday lives and as we interpret all the information that’s flowing in constantly into our lives.
SPEAKER 11 :
Exactly. And our quote of the day is from somebody who had a lot of humor in his looking at the world, Samuel Longhorn Clemens, born in November 30th, 1835. He died April 21st, 1910, and he was known as Mark Twain. He was probably one of the greatest humorists that America ever produced, according to William Faulkner, another author. He wrote The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and the sequel, Adventures of Huckaberry Finn. And he said, quote, suppose you were an idiot and suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself. I love that quote. And some of the folks that are serving down there at the Golden Dome, I think it applies to them as well. Well, on the line with us is somebody who knows a little bit about creating financial freedom. And she’s one of the sponsors here at the Kim Monson Show, Jody Hensley from Mint Financial Strategies. Jody, good morning. Good morning. Good morning, Brad. Thanks for having me. Well, thanks for being here. And you’re an expert on planning for the future in people’s finances and in today’s uncertainty. What are some of the things you recommend as an expert in this field?
SPEAKER 21 :
Well, first, you actually have to have a plan. And surprisingly, only about 50% of Americans actually have a financial plan when it comes to their financial future. So that’s always one place to start. And when you’re starting to build a financial plan, the very first place to start is building a strong foundation. And what I mean by that is anytime somebody comes to start investing, I always recommend that you have to have an emergency reserve even before you start investing. Because when you start building that financial blueprint for your financial house, If you don’t have a strong foundation and something happens, like you lose your job or you have a medical emergency and you don’t have that emergency reserve, then your financial house can come crashing down. So that’s a great place to start. And then the next thing to do is when you start building that financial plan, you have to define your goals. And the more specific you can be, the better that we can be when it comes to your financial advisor in setting those clear action plans. And last. Yeah, go ahead.
SPEAKER 11 :
No, I was just going to say so many people don’t even think or consider of that till much later in their life. And it’s amazing to me that more people don’t start thinking about these things earlier so they can actually build wealth over time.
SPEAKER 21 :
Well, and that’s a good point. I think people start thinking about that probably in their 50s and 60s. And you really should start planning much earlier than that. And I recommend when you start having a career. And financial plans are very fluid. We recognize as financial advisors that things are going to be changing all along the way. So financial plans aren’t art set in stone, we recognize that goals and objectives are going to be changing all along the way. So we need to have a plan that can be flexible as things change with your lives. So you want to have a financial plan that can pivot and adjust as things change in your life.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, what do you recommend for somebody who’s just getting started? They have a new family. They are just starting a new job or maybe their second job. How much should they be putting aside for the future?
SPEAKER 21 :
Well, the general recommendation is about 10% to 15% of your gross income. Now, sometimes that can be a little hard when you’ve got a lot of conflicting goals. You’re building up that emergency reserve. You’re saving for college. You’re saving for retirement. But it’s a good general rule of thumb to try to put away 10% to 15%.
SPEAKER 11 :
And that idea of compound interest is something so important, especially when you’re younger, because when you get older, you have this money that you never knew you had if you leave it alone. Too many times as a young man, I dipped into that. And I’m a little bit regretful now, but I’ve caught up over time. And what are some things that people can do to make sure they don’t touch that emergency fund?
SPEAKER 21 :
Well, best thing that they can do is stay disciplined, right? It’s kind of like when you start a diet and you want to lose 10 pounds, right? Good intentions only go so far. If you eat ice cream and you don’t work out, you’re never going to lose that 10 pounds. And the same thing goes with, you know, your financial plan. If you touch that emergency reserve to go on vacation or, you know, to go to a concert, you’re never going to… reach your financial goals and objectives. So stay disciplined and don’t get emotional when it comes to investing.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, in other words, be sagacious in your financial approach to your way you’re dealing with your future, really, because too many people are waiting for their retirement and they’ll get this pot of gold, which probably won’t be there, at least not the amount that they thought they were putting into it.
SPEAKER 21 :
Absolutely. That’s a good way of looking at it.
SPEAKER 11 :
So where can people get more information, and what would you recommend just starting the conversation with you at MidFinancial?
SPEAKER 21 :
Mm-hmm. Yeah, we do a complimentary financial plan for anybody who contacts me. It’s a great way for us to get to know you and for you to get to know us at Mint Financial. You can contact me through phone or text at 303-285-3080. Again, that’s 303-285-3080. Or you can email me at Jody with a Y at MintFS.com. That’s J-O-D-Y at MintFS.com.
SPEAKER 11 :
Jody, we appreciate your support of The Kim Munson Show, and we appreciate what you do out there in the community. And go call Jody at Mint Financial and have a conversation with her. Thanks, Jody. Thanks, Brad. Bye-bye. Have a great day. We’ll be right back after this message.
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SPEAKER 13 :
Do you strive for excellence as you work with your clients and customers? Does it make sense for you to add a unique and focused branding opportunity to your marketing portfolio? Would you like to access a broad customer base that loves our country and wants to make life better for ourselves, our neighbors, our colleagues, our children, and our grandchildren? Then you may be a perfect fit as a sponsor slash partner of The Kim Munson Show. To learn more, reach out to Teresa at 520-631-9243. Teresa would love to talk with you. Again, that number is 520-631-9243.
SPEAKER 11 :
and welcome back to the kim munson show i’m bradley beck and i’m pleased to host the show today filling in for kim who’s out for a few days and sitting here with me is my friend the honorable don beasley how you doing don good brad it’s always good to have you here and having a conversation with you and kind of helping me rearrange things as they come at us so thank you yeah anytime we can make it a good morning and the opportunity to talk with good guests and a little bit of freedom and opportunity That’s what it’s all about. And that’s what Kim’s show is all about, is about your support for her independent voice, exercising our right to free speech. And you can always find out more about the Kim Munson Show on her weekly email newsletter. You can get the first look at all her upcoming guests as well as her most recent essays at kimmunson.com. And through all Kim’s work with veterans, she’s honored to highlight the USMC Memorial Foundation and all the work that they’re doing to raise money to remodel the official USMC Memorial, which is located right here in Golden, Colorado at 6th and Colfax. Paula Saris is the president of the foundation. She’s a Marine veteran and a Gold Star wife. And Paula and her team are working diligently to make that remodel a reality, and you can help by donating to usmcmemorialfoundation.org. Well, recently there was a great op-ed, a reply to something that was in the Denver Post, and I, as I always do when I go to Think about what’s happening in Colorado and somebody who, as I say, GSD, gets stuff done. I’ll clean that up a little bit for radio, is my friend Laura Carno. Laura Carno is the founder of Faster Colorado, and she travels the state to promote and run the program. And when tragedy strikes in any school shooting throughout our state or throughout our country, Laura has become the go-to person as a calm, reasoned voice to approach school safety. And she’s also the author of Government Ruins Nearly Everything, Reclaiming Social Issues from Uncivil Servants. Laura, welcome to the Kim Munson Show.
SPEAKER 22 :
Absolutely. Thanks so much for having me. Good to hear Don on this morning as well. Isn’t it?
SPEAKER 09 :
It’s good to be here, Laura. It’s good to hear your voice. And I love all the work you’re doing in FASTER. It’s just incredible.
SPEAKER 22 :
Thanks so much. And you both are being very sagacious.
SPEAKER 11 :
She listened to the word of the day. Love it. So, Laura, tell me a little bit about this op-ed that you published in response to the editorial board at the Denver Post.
SPEAKER 22 :
Sure. And such an important issue. And, you know, we’ve been just slammed since um since the evergreen high school shooting and the point that the denver post was making that i felt the need to respond to is we need school resources or school resource officers everywhere and i’m also known as sros and for the listeners that don’t know what they are they are actually law enforcement members they’re police officers they are um They are sheriff’s deputies that are on scene at schools to protect the kids. And we love them. And they help kids have, you know, a good relationship with law enforcement. And they’re also there, I think, as a deterrent. See a cop car in front of a school and you have bad intentions and you might say, hey, you know, today isn’t the day. This isn’t the place. And that keeps people safe. So what the Denver Post said is, gosh, we wish they were everywhere. Agreed. And but they’re super expensive. So what other choices do we have? And it was sort of a, you know, put your hands in the air and say, you know, we’re we’re just resigned to have these school shootings. And at Faster Colorado, we have been around for the last nine years training armed school staff. And so this would be not members of law enforcement and not full time security officers. teams that some schools hire out, a full-time security guard. But these are people who have other jobs in schools. They are the principal or the janitor or the teacher or the coach. We’ve even had a school nurse and a self-described lunch lady. But they are people who are there in school, more than one of them, And nobody knows who they are except for that security team. So there is a deterrent effect to that, the fact that these are unknown people. And the killers don’t know when they might be stopped and where they might be stopped. So we have advocated for this for, like I said, during our ninth training year. And it really in the last nine years, it has become more of a very mainstream policy, causing people to ask after Evergreen, why wasn’t anybody armed on campus? And that really is the right question.
SPEAKER 11 :
So you have, last I recall, over 500, as I would say, heroes who have volunteered. This is not people being forced by the school district. These are people who either want to or think that their training can get better and they could stand in front of a shooter or be the first responder in an incident at a school or a church or any religious organization that you may be working with. And you’re now in something like 50 different districts around the state. Talk a little bit about those heroes.
SPEAKER 22 :
Yeah, and they are heroes, absolutely. These are people who, if they weren’t armed, would run toward the sound of a gunfire anyway and hope to save children. But if they aren’t armed, if they don’t have the same skills, firepower that these potential killers have, they would use their bodies to shield children. And what we see in school shootings and church shootings is they continue to do that. They have the mindset to go save lives. It is, you know, I think fairly criminal for us not to allow them to have access to, you know, be able to lawfully carry in those schools. And not only are they volunteers, as you mentioned, Bradley, is they also go through this very thorough vetting process. So when a school district decides this is what they’re going to do, it’s not raise your hand and pick a gun out of a safe. It’s you raise your hand and say, yes, I’d like to be considered. You go through some sort of a vetting process. Each school district can do it differently. But they are thorough and they are rigorous. There’s applications, there’s interviews, there’s all kinds of things like that. And then when they come to FASTER for their annual training and qualification course, we got our eye on them too. And if there was anything that we saw, our active duty law enforcement instructors, they train cops for a living. If there’s anything they see, We can say to a school, hey, we noticed some things that caused us some concern. We only had two of those conversations in nine years. But these are very thoroughly vetted people.
SPEAKER 11 :
How can folks get involved in FASTER if they’re interested? And why do you think that it’s not more readily accepted in school districts like Boulder and Denver where it makes so much sense? What’s the fear?
SPEAKER 22 :
Yeah. You know, the fear is there’s a whole bunch of things that have never happened that people who are opposed to the policy think is going to happen and think happens all the time, yet it doesn’t. And those things are, well, you can’t force somebody to carry a gun. We know that. It’s things like a student could get a gun from an armed staff member and And certainly that’s always a risk, but it’s also never happened. And we train around it. So there’s all kinds of things like that. There’s also, I would say, another category of people who they just are opposed to civilian use of firearms and they don’t like the idea. So regardless of whether it is the safest policy in the country or anything else that points to the deterrent effect, they’re not going to be in favor of it regardless because they just have an ideological opposition to the idea of civilian ownership of firearms.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, you know, we protect our politicians, we protect our jewelry stores, our department stores, and yet the most precious of all our things in our lives are our children, and we don’t protect them. How do we get people to understand that that probably is a priority over all these other ways that we protect people?
SPEAKER 22 :
Yeah, and that’s the right question to be asking. And sadly, it takes continued examples of what happens when schools are not protected. And what happened in Evergreen, the timeline’s very interesting. Although it took just a couple of minutes for Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office to get there after the 911 calls, there is somewhere between six and eight minutes between the shooting starting and the first 911 calls and uh you know we’ll we’ll see in this um this uh lds church shooting in michigan that happened yesterday you kind of what all those timelines are as well law enforcement was there very very quickly but how how long did the killer have time to commit his carnage before law enforcement was notified sometimes there’s just not time to pick up your phone and say, oh, hey, there’s some problems here. You’re too busy trying to run for your life. So those critical moments, whether we’re talking a school or a church, those critical early moments, the first second, the first 30 seconds, the first minute, what are we doing to protect people? And it is concealed carry, typically unknown to the public. well-trained people who are going to be able to stop killers in those early moments.
SPEAKER 11 :
Laura, we’ve got some more questions for you. I know Don has a question for you. We’re going to go break, and when we come back, Don, what are you going to ask her?
SPEAKER 09 :
I was going to ask you about the decision-making level in a state like Colorado in terms of the state versus the district versus the school versus the board.
SPEAKER 11 :
And we’ll be right back after this message.
SPEAKER 02 :
The Second Amendment was established to ensure that all individuals have the right to resist oppression, stand firm against government overreach, and protect our ability to defend ourselves, our families, and our freedoms. Today, that right is under relentless attack in Colorado. Colorado’s premier grassroots Second Amendment organization, the Second Syndicate, is on the front lines, fighting to preserve and protect your constitutional rights. We expose the most pressing threats to the Second Amendment and provide the education, resources, and tools to stay informed, empowered, and prepared. Join the movement. Protect your rights. Visit the second syndicate.com. That’s the second syndicate.com where the second is first.
SPEAKER 12 :
April 26th, 1777. Colonel, the British are raiding Danbury and burning the town. I’ll go tell them. 16 year old Sybil Ludington mounted her horse and rode 40 miles through night and pouring rain. That’s twice the distance of Paul Revere to sound the alarm.
SPEAKER 21 :
Quickly.
SPEAKER 12 :
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SPEAKER 17 :
There’s so much noise coming at us. Sometimes it is difficult to make sense of it all. How can you sift through the clamor for your attention and get to the truth? The Kim Munson Show is here to help. Kim searches for truth and clarity by examining issues through the lens of freedom versus force, force versus freedom. Tune in to the Kim Munson Show each weekday, 6 to 8 a.m. with encores 1 to 2 p.m. and 10 to 11 p.m. on KLZ 560 AM, KLZ 100.7 FM. The KLZ website, the KLZ app, and Alexa. Play KLZ. Shows can also be found at KimMunson.com, Spotify, and iTunes.
SPEAKER 11 :
And welcome back. I’m Bradley Beck filling in for Kim Munson, who’s away for a few days. And you can always reach Kim by email. Kim at Kim Munson dot com is her Web site or Kim at Kim Munson is her email address. And thank you for contributing to her independent voice, exercising the right of freedom of speech in studio with me is my friend Don Beasley. And Don, you had a question for our guest on the line, Laura Carnal.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah, thanks, Brad. Hey, Laura. So I was curious about just the decision-making process for a school to be able to adopt these policies to protect their kids. Does that start at the district level, or is it at the board level, the individual school level? How does that decision-making process go?
SPEAKER 22 :
Yeah, just pulling out the camera a little bit, there are 33 states that have some lawful ability for schools to do this. Some on one end are constitutional carry. You can carry in a school. Some are much more restrictive. Colorado is somewhere in the middle where our school boards and charter school boards can make the decision. So we have, for example, charter schools that are in districts that are unfriendly to the policy that are still able to authorize armed staff at their charter school because of the law. And most of the districts in Colorado that have armed staff, and I’ll say 65%-ish, are traditional rural school districts where the whole rural school district has the armed staff policy. We’ve got some near suburban districts as well. And then we have charter schools and religious schools. And just, you know, you were talking earlier about church violence as well. There’s so much crossover between members of our armed security teams at schools that they are also on their armed security teams at churches. So we have also dabbled in that. And as we see, church security and violence at places of worship is just as big a problem as it is at schools.
SPEAKER 11 :
Laura, you know, FASTER, which stands for Faculty Administrator Safety Training and Emergency Response, I wrote that down from your website. People should go look at your website. You know, FASTER not only does what they do with their volunteers for protecting our children in schools, but they also are trained in life-saving medical instruction. Talk a little bit about that, would you please? Sure.
SPEAKER 22 :
Yeah, and medical care is as critical as stopping the killer. You’ve got to stop the bleeding. So many of these schools are far away from emergency response. So we give them, I’m going to call it an appetizer, of use of tourniquets, chest seals, and wound packing skills. We give them a little appetizer. They really need to go get a full trauma medical class to really be able to have the best chance possible of saving lives. But we want them to understand how critical those first few moments are to save lives. Because if you stop the killer, but people have been injured and are bleeding out and medical, you know, paramedics are, you know, five minutes, 20 minutes, even more in some of these communities. you’re going to lose lives anyway. So our class isn’t required by their insurance or anything to teach that, but we do give them that little bit of instruction that really opens their eyes to, you know, holy cow, if we’re going to have an armed security team, we absolutely have to have more medical training than we have already.
SPEAKER 11 :
That’s so important. You mentioned in your op-ed the organization, the Crime Prevention Resource Center, Dr. John Lott, who I’ve had the good pleasure of meeting and reading several of his books. My favorite is More Guns, Less Crime. And most people would push back on that because they’re afraid of crime. They’ve never been trained or they’re never around their homes. And yet the statistics that he cites, and they come from the government, so often paint a different narrative than what we’re told in the media. What are your thoughts on that?
SPEAKER 22 :
Right. And if folks want to go down that rabbit hole, they should go to crimeresearch.org. and look at that research. John Lott, I lovingly refer to him as a data nerd. But everything that he says, you can go look at all of the data. It’s not an opinion. It’s where the facts lead. And that is a fact that in societies where there is more gun ownership by lawful citizens who are using their firearms to in the course of their business, protecting their livestock, for example, or caring for their self-defense, that there is less crime. And we can look, Brad, at the Covington Christian school shooting in Nashville a couple years back, and we can look at the Annunciation Catholic church shooting in Minneapolis just a few weeks back. The manifestos of those uh those killers both said i’m considering these two different places this one is known to have really good armed security this other one is known not to i’m going to go to the one that is not well armed this is a deterrent policy um we we don’t want somebody to come um with the intent to shoot up a school or church and get shot we want them not to go there at all we we want the elimination of these, not just the stopping of these. We’ll stop them if we need to. But the real goal is we don’t want anybody to have to go through this. If you look at Evergreen High School, there’s a list of victims. There are, yes, two people who got shot. But think of all the people who know the people who got shot. Think of all the witnesses. Think of all the parents and the siblings. Nobody gets out of these unscathed. These are huge impacts to our society. So stopping them by deterrence is really the big goal.
SPEAKER 11 :
So FASTER has done some amazing work in Colorado, and I know there’s another program in Ohio, and it continues to grow. How do you see the FASTER program in five or ten years? What would you like to see happen?
SPEAKER 22 :
Yeah, and, you know, because of John Lott’s work with the data pointing to there have been zero deaths, mass shootings even attempted at armed schools, meaning armed with concealed carry armed staff. I think that the policies will continue to grow around the state and acceptance of the policies in various school districts around, not just across the state, but across the country will continue to grow and they will continue to stay the safest type of protocols that we have out there. I don’t think I don’t think we’re going to have any choice. I think we have to do this to protect our children. As you mentioned, the department store has armed guards. For goodness sakes, our children are more important than whatever is going on in a department store. There’s nothing special or sacred about that geography of a school building that says you can be safe over here across the street at the mall, but not over here. in the school. It’s going to continue to become unacceptable.
SPEAKER 11 :
You have seen so many different political campaigns and public policy issues. You’ve been at the forefront of many of these. You’ve really been a change for the culture here in Colorado. How do you see the environment today in Colorado, and how can citizens help you get things turned around?
SPEAKER 22 :
A couple of years ago, Brad, there was an attempt by a lawmaker in Denver to repeal the law that allows for school boards to authorize this. And so at Faster, we had to hire a lobbyist for the first time ever to protect the right of schools to be able to protect their students. And for the foreseeable future, we are going to need to bear that expense. which we were a 501c3. We were not intending to spend a bunch of money on a lobbyist to protect us, but it’s important that we do. What happened a couple years ago when this law was introduced is, you know, Faster Colorado was kind of the center of this, and we brought alongside the Colorado Rural Alliance And interestingly, even the, um, the CEA, the Colorado education Alliance, the teachers union, um, they were very concerned about a statewide policy that would leave rural school districts without the ability to make those security decisions on their own. And we ended up defeating that bill and we’re, uh, we’re taking a good chunk of the credit for that. Um, so there is still at least today. And understanding that rural schools especially need to be able to make these decisions. We think every school does. But we never know. We just had Evergreen High School shooting. So we are always geared up to protect the schools. I don’t look at it as protecting faster. We’re simply providing that educational opportunity for them. But we have to protect their ability to protect the children or what are we going to have? We’re going to have schools that are by law disarmed and every bad guy will know it.
SPEAKER 11 :
Laura, how can people get involved and what’s that website that they can contact you at?
SPEAKER 22 :
Yeah, folks should go right on over to fastercolorado.org. I suggest people look at the R-Team website. Pull down and look at the incredible experience of our law enforcement instructors. They are an incredible group of guys we work with. We’re also, I mentioned we’re a 501c3. We’ve got a great sweepstakes going on right now. You can win a couple of firearms and a side of beef, which I think everybody loves both of those things. And every dollar helps our program to expand throughout Colorado.
SPEAKER 11 :
I have participated in donating to that. I encourage people to do so. I like my beef and I like my bullets and guns, so it’s all good. And where can people get your book, Laura?
SPEAKER 22 :
They can go to Amazon. Government ruins nearly everything. It is a 10-year-old book, so you’ll have to forgive some of the things that are no longer timely, but it is still a very accurate book that if you want to fix things in your society… You need to do it yourself. For people who say there ought to be a law, I make the case that there ought not to be a law. We should do things outside of government. We are always more effective when we do.
SPEAKER 11 :
Absolutely. Laura Carnal, thank you for joining us today. Appreciate all you do. And keep up the good work.
SPEAKER 22 :
Thanks so much. Appreciate being on with you guys.
SPEAKER 11 :
Thank you. Thanks, Laura. We’ll be right back.
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SPEAKER 07 :
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SPEAKER 11 :
And welcome back to The Kim Munson Show. I’m Bradley Beck, guest hosting today, sitting in with me with the Honorable Don Beasley, my friend for many years with the Leadership Program of the Rockies. And on the line, continuing the conversation with us, we started in the first hour, is Jonathan Turley. He’s a prominent American attorney, constitutional law scholar, a media legal analyst, and he has extensive work in both public commentary and academia. Professor Turley, welcome back.
SPEAKER 15 :
Thank you very much.
SPEAKER 11 :
You know, your book, The Indispensable Right, we talked a little bit about the free speech in the age of rage. And one of the things I found interesting in your book is that you state that free speech is a fundamental right and it’s necessary for human beings to interact. And one of the things you point out is the story about the Sistine Chapel and that famous touch. and you make the point, and I think rightly so, that man is a creator. Can you share a little bit more about that?
SPEAKER 15 :
Well, you know, it’s interesting that I show the picture of the central panel of the Sistine Chapel, which is called God Creates Adam, to try to get my students, and then also now the readers of my book, to focus on not just what free speech is, but who we are and why we need free speech. And, of course, that picture of the touch has probably launched more PhDs than any picture in history as people debate, you know, what does it mean? And one could say, well, it’s just simply the spark of life, but it doesn’t really fit that well because Adam is clearly fully formed and doesn’t quite seem to be capturing the moment of creation. And the question I raise is, what if it means something else? I mean, what if it means truly that God created man in his own image? That what is God? He is a creator. And it’s meant to try to get people to think about the need of human beings to project part of themselves into the world around us. It’s insatiable. You can find it in everything from the Great Wall of China to doodling. We often create without even thinking about it. And the question is why? And the book explores how we seem hardwired for expression. Parts of the human brain actually change. If you are cut off from other people and unable to express yourself, and studies of prisoners and segregation, explorers cut off from civilization, they actually physically change. So things like the hippie campus actually shrink. So what this is meant to do is to get people to think about free speech as a human right, a natural right, a right that belongs to us, so that we can be fully human. Now, the reason that’s important is that if you believe that free speech is a human right, it becomes more difficult to trade off free speech. The problem that I have with many of the cases in this area, and certainly much of the academic writings, is that they treat free speech as something you protect because it’s good for democracy. It’s function, as I call functionalism, is the dominant view of free speech. The problem with that is that it allows you to do trade-offs. It means that some speech is good speech, some speech is bad speech, some speech is good for democracy, some is not. And that’s the slippery slope we have found ourselves on. That’s how people silence others today.
SPEAKER 11 :
You know, that is so true. And you have so many beautiful stories and various characters in your book. And my favorite is the Norman Rockwell painting, Freedom of Speech, where you have a Vermont selectman standing up and talking about the school they want to build in his town, and yet they don’t have any money. And he asked that question. Tell us a little bit about that painting and then how his critics responded to his modern art painting. I thought that was just fascinating.
SPEAKER 15 :
Well, you know, I put that picture in the book because it was Rockwell’s effort to support the war because FDR had given his For Freedom speech. And Rockwell contacted the White House and said, I want to paint that. And of course, they were delighted because Rockwell was even then probably the most popular artist in the United States. But when they received the painting, some of them were a bit surprised because it wasn’t George Washington crossing the Delaware or some more traditional image. It was this unknown individual simply standing up and speaking. And so the response was, who’s that? And Rockwell said, that’s my neighbor. That is Jim Edgerton, who Rockwell witnessed. standing up at a meeting in which everyone agreed they wanted to build a new schoolhouse. And yet, Egerton stood up and said, how are we going to pay for it? He said, I’m a dairy farmer. I’m going to lose my farm. I can’t feed my cows. I don’t want to lose my farm. And it sort of brought home that maybe free speech is more important when we’re talking to friends than when we’re talking to enemies. It’s much harder in many cases. And Rockwell felt that moment, that vignette captured everything about the United States and free speech. What’s funny is that the American people saw that. It became the most popular war bonds picture of the war because they didn’t know who he was. They didn’t know what he was saying, but they knew exactly what that was about. It was about them. It was about who they are. So, you know, Rockwell was criticized by critics, particularly one named Clement Greenberg, who credited himself with discovering abstract art, or at least Jackson Pollock. And Greenberg just would slam Rockwell almost on a weekly basis. uh he’s saying that this was kitsch that rockwell was an artist who decided not to be taken seriously and rockwell didn’t respond until he did in probably the greatest takedown of any rebuttal i have ever seen he painted a large painting called the connoisseur and it’s it’s unique among rockwell’s portfolio because You cannot see the face of the person in the painting. But you sort of can, because you’re looking at him from the back, facing this large abstract painting. He’s clearly been there a while. He’s clutching tightly an art catalog in his hands. And he’s obviously been there searching for meaning, staring at this abstract art. Well, it was a devastating criticism, but the most… Wonderful aspect was that when it was unveiled, de Kooning, who was one of the most famous abstract artists of his generation, was in the audience. And according to reports, he stood up and said, my God, that’s better than Pollock. And, you know, he was so enthralled by it. He had critics go up with magnifying glasses to look at the painting and said, this is one of the best abstract paintings. I have seen. Well, the point is that Rockwell could do that. Rockwell was amazingly talented. He went to the best art schools and his portfolio contained different styles, all of which are really breathtaking images. But he didn’t ultimately paint that way. He could. And there was one interview where a young reporter asked him, Basically, he just asked him the simplest of questions. He asked Rockwell, why do you paint like that? And the question seemed in some ways to sort of unleash Rockwell, or at least free him. Because what he gave was an amazingly poignant response. And he said that when he went through America, he saw things that… His colleagues and fellow artists just didn’t seem to see that they walked by these moments that were incredibly profound, these vignettes of what America is. He said, I wanted to paint that. And the American people knew that he really wasn’t just painting a police officer sitting at a soda stand with a young boy or something. a baseball manager screaming at an umpire. He was painting them. He was painting something about who they are. And, you know, what the book suggests is that, first of all, I believe that the First Amendment means exactly what it says. I don’t believe it’s simplistic. It’s the most revolutionary statement of the American Revolution. that we will not abridge free speech. And in that sense, I am undeniably Rockwellian when it comes to constitutional law. But we also have our constitutional connoisseurs, academics that say, look, that’s deciding you won’t be taken seriously, that the First Amendment can’t mean that. It’s got to be more nuanced. It has to be interpreted. You have to rely on people like us. to tell you when you can have free speech, because you can’t just have free speech. Well, I think that’s wrong, and I think the American people understand it’s wrong. They understand that those words, which seem so simplistic to many law professors, are incredibly profound, and they define a people, and that people understand that this is the indispensable right.
SPEAKER 11 :
Boy, that’s just amazing. It’s a beautiful ending to our show today, and we appreciate your time, Professor Turley. Where can people get your book?
SPEAKER 15 :
Oh, it’s available on Amazon and all the other sites, and I really appreciate you doing a show on The Indispensable Right. I’m so glad we were able to talk about it.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, we are, too, and thank you for taking the time today, and it was great meeting you down in Colorado Springs. Come back to Colorado often.
SPEAKER 15 :
Oh, I look forward to it. Thank you.
SPEAKER 11 :
Thank you, sir. So our quote for the day is by Samuel Clemens, a.k.a. Mark Twain. He said, quote, So today, ladies and gentlemen, be grateful, read great books, think good thoughts, listen to beautiful music, communicate and listen well, live honestly and authentically, strive for high ideals, and like Superman, stand for truth, justice, and the American way. You are not alone. God bless you, and God bless America. And Don, thank you for being in studio. Thanks so much, Brad.
SPEAKER 05 :
and fast on a rough road riding high through the mountains climbing twisting turning further from my home young like a new moon rising fierce through the rain and lightning wandering out into this great And I don’t want no one to cry. But tell them if I don’t survive.
SPEAKER 19 :
The views and opinions expressed on KLZ 560 are those of the speaker, commentators, hosts, their guests, and callers. They are not necessarily the views and opinions of Crawford Broadcasting or KLZ management, employees, associates, or advertisers. KLZ 560 is a Crawford Broadcasting God and country station.
