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In this episode of the National Crawford Roundtable the guys discuss the passing of Pope Francis. How much should we, as Protestants, care about what a Pope says? What about his liberal theology and politics? Also, Real ID will begin being enforced May 7th. Is this good? Bad? Big Brother?
SPEAKER 01 :
Welcome to the National Crawford Roundtable podcast, a view of culture, current events and politics through a biblical lens brought to you by Preborn, saving babies and souls. Join us in the fight to save babies from abortion. Your gift provides a free ultrasound for a mother in need. 80% of the time she will choose life. Visit CrawfordMediaGroup.net and click on the Preborn logo to donate to save babies now. and buy SunPower LED light therapy devices. Bring light to your pain. Visit CrawfordMediaGroup.net and click on the SunPower LED logo to get out of pain and improve your overall wellness. And now, here are your hosts, Neil Boron, Bob Duco, and John Rush.
SPEAKER 04 :
Back with another week of the National Crawford Roundtable podcast with, of course, the guys, John Rush, Neil Boron, myself, Bob Duco. Guys, how are you? How was Easter? Great. Right. Wonderful. Absolutely loved it. Yeah. Yeah. Which, by the way, can I just say on a sometimes not to get all political here, but the Democrats, you talk about seizing on anything they possibly can to criticize Trump for Easter Monday, the White House Easter egg roll, the Democrat Party actually in their official Twitter X account. posted that, you know, Donald Trump used 30,000 real eggs and Americans are dying potatoes for Easter because they can’t afford to buy eggs. And it’s like, oh, my goodness. Number one, the eggs that were used were small and medium size that were donated by farmers because it’s grade A large that are sold in the stores. And they really end up being wasted, the small and medium size. And so they were donated. It didn’t cost anything. And then number two, nobody’s dying potatoes. So I’m kind of waiting for the media to be willing to treat this like the J.D. Vance and Haitian migrants eating cats in Springfield when he didn’t say they were eating cats. He merely said he was being told by people they were eating cats. So will the press do some fact checking on whether people are dying potatoes? I guarantee if Trump had said that during Biden’s term, people are dying potatoes because they’d have such a field day. It’d be potato Trump and everything else. All right. I digress. We’re going to talk about the Pope. Pope Francis is passing away. We’re also in this podcast going to be talking about. about the real ID, which is coming up May 7th, and the significance of that and what that means. But let’s start with Pope Francis, 88 years old. They say that he died of a stroke, and he died one day, actually just a few hours after meeting Vice President of J.D. Vance. But anyway, I kind of want to explore with you guys the legacy of this pope. Usually when somebody dies, if it’s a famous person and it’s somebody who I disagree with, Usually I’m very careful about criticizing that person too soon because, you know, you want to encourage people to pray for their wife or their husband or their children or their family or things like that. Well, in the case of the Pope, you don’t have that. So we should be praying certainly for Catholics who are mourning and grieving. Okay, absolutely. But I don’t mind saying I just was not a fan of this pope at all. He was a liberal left-wing pope. Politically, he pushed all the stuff like, yeah, global warming, climate change, Green New Deal. He was against border security. He criticized Donald Trump saying anybody who wants to build walls is not Christian, as he says sitting surrounded by his 40-foot walls at the Vatican that are for the purpose of keeping people out of that want to come in illegally. And then, of course, the whole LGBT thing, supporting kind of a softening approach toward that. And to me, my biggest issue was him saying that all religions in the world are paths to God. As he said, there’s only one God, but religions are like languages, paths to reach God. Some Sikh, some Muslim, some Hindu, some Christian. It’s like, you know, so I just, I had real problems with him. I’m hoping we end up with somebody more conservative. But after 12 years, what’s your guys’ take on this? I mean, John, what’s your take on Pope Francis and his passing?
SPEAKER 03 :
I’m like you, Bob, and again, very much like you. It doesn’t take the same much bad about anybody that has just passed because of all the reasons that you say I have exactly the same, I guess you could say, policy on my show where you let the dust settle, if you would, before you lay in anybody about anything along those lines. Although, this is a little different situation given… circumstances and i’m with you and i i’ll be the first to admit and i neil probably will understand this not a catholic never been a catholic don’t even understand all of the catholic rituals i i’ve never really been ingrained in any of that i’ve known You know, some Catholics over the years and know a little bit about their faith through that. And then I’ve known it just from some of the studying that I’ve done and so on. But I do not, I by no means, Bob, am a Catholic expert. But with all that said… Anytime that guy spoke, you always wondered, okay, where’s this coming from? Because this is not the way I was raised as a Christian to believe. So where’s this guy getting his information from? And I get the Catholics feel like this is the thing I don’t understand. They feel like the Pope is God’s direct voice to the people. It’s like, I hate to say it, but guys, you’re listening to the wrong guy because that guy’s not listening to God. I can tell you that right now.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah. Well, and certainly even the role of the pope, the papal infallibility thing, it’s called ex cathedra. It is limited to when the pope speaks from the papal chair and the authority. That’s the ex cathedra thing. But still, this notion that what the pope says in his official capacity from the papal chair is infallible on the level of Scripture, I mean, that’s interesting. Catholic Church issue right there.
SPEAKER 03 :
I mean, no offense, Bob, that guy puts his pants on one leg at a time like the rest of us do.
SPEAKER 04 :
I know. Or, you know, puts on his papal robe. Well, I guess there’s probably pants on there.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, there you go. At any rate, that’s the part of that. And I’m sorry, Catholics, I’m not laughing at you, but it’s just, I struggle, Bob, with that whole, and I know there’s a lot of young people now that are even converting to Catholicism because they like a lot of the liturgical end of things and so on. And I still can’t wrap my head around all that. I’m just thinking, why do you guys allow one guy, one guy to dictate to you what you’re supposed to do and not do inside the church? To me, it just sounds whacked. I’m sorry. I don’t know how else to say it.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah. Neil, what’s your take on Pope Francis and his passing?
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, number one, to kind of dovetail off what John just said, let me mention I live in Buffalo, New York. I’ve lived here most of my life. A couple of times I’ve been other places. At one point, going to school in Boston, Massachusetts, that also was a very Catholic area, but Buffalo… you know, was largely Catholic, especially when growing up. And during the baby boom generation, you know, I lived on a street that had just one block, had about probably 80 kids on it. And like 75 of them were Catholic and went to Catholic grammar school. So I’ve grown up around Catholicism. I have friends, I have extended family members that are Catholic and I know and love them. I, you know, have fond memories of things we’ve done together, even conversations we’ve had about God together. But You know, my first reaction to all of this is my concern about statements like you referred to that, you know, this many paths lead to God kind of idea. And even, you know, he knew he was dying. There’s no question. And whether he knew he was going to die within hours of his last Popemobile trip around the Vatican there on Easter Sunday, I’m not sure whether he knew he was only hours away from death. But either way, He knew that he was nearing the end of his life. And if he’s truly the head of some 2 billion, as they referred to on NBC News, I’m not sure that’s true, but 2 billion Catholics around the world, to not be pointing people to Jesus during those final days is suspect, to say the least. I mean, Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes under the Father. except through me salvation isn’t found in the catholic church it’s not found in the protestant church it’s not found in religion it’s found in one place and that’s jesus christ alone by the way about speaking for god kind of thing there’s one mediator between man and god it says in first timothy too the man christ jesus period that’s the only person that stands between any of us and god it’s just jesus and if we want to get to god by the way it’s got to be through Jesus, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes unto the Father except through me. Well, those are, I think, the themes that I wish I had heard more from Pope Francis about. But, you know, I’m not sure that’s what he actually believed. And if you believe it, you would talk about it. So I’m not here to say that he was a Christian or a non-Christian, a believer or non-believer, but I’m very curious about why he wasn’t talking about what Scripture had to say regarding salvation. And I think I lost my train of thought a minute ago. Let me go back. Coming from Buffalo, New York, this largely Catholic area, which today, by the way, is reeling as a result of clergy abuse scandal in the church— There was just a settlement a few days ago here in the Buffalo area, $150 million settlement. The Catholic Church has declared bankruptcy here, and they’re consolidating parishes. People are trying to fight that, but little parishes that have 37 people left in them and no parking lots. And so people in the old days used to walk to church or ride mass transportation. Those little churches are all closing. They’re trying to consolidate. They don’t have enough priests. and the whole thing is in a state of disarray but they said that’s only that they’re only scratching the surface they’re going to go after the insurance companies now my point is i don’t think that there’s a lot of teenage young people in the buffalo area or boston or places like that that are thinking about converting to catholicism and i’m not here to slam catholicism per se but what i am here to do is say what needs to guide us is not church tradition or the teachings of any church or individual but the word of god alone and and really honestly martin luther nailed it to the door when he said, sola scriptura, right? Scripture alone is our source of authority. And it either is or it isn’t. So because if you’re listening, this is how cults start, when people start adding extra biblical texts, you know, and saying, well, I wrote this and here’s my Book of Mormon or whatever it is. It’s some other document outside the Bible that can help people get a, quote, better understanding of truth. No, there’s one source for truth, and it’s Jesus Christ. He is the Word of God, and God’s Word is our source.
SPEAKER 04 :
And I am the way, the truth, and the life. Amen. No one comes to the Father but by me. Jesus could not have been more clear about that. We’ve got more to talk about regarding… Pope Francis’ passing, including the so-called prophecy of the popes, okay? Is Armageddon going to happen now because Pope Francis is the 112th and therefore the last pope, according to the prophecies of St. Malachi? We’ll talk a little bit about that. And we’ll be talking about Real ID later on in the second half. We do want to remind you folks that we have sponsors to this podcast. We appreciate you folks supporting those sponsors. And you know something? You’re doing a lot of great things, too, when you do, like, for example, Preborn. Preborn sponsors this podcast. Now, Preborn is a great pro-life group. They’re in pro-life centers all across the country. And they have ultrasound machines in these pro-life centers. And when they show ultrasound images to moms of unborn babies, you know what? The moms choose life. They don’t go across the street to Planned Parenthood. They let their babies live. And very often they accept Jesus Christ as Savior too. I would love to say that every pro-life center in America has an ultrasound machine in it. And those ultrasound machines, they’re able to show images to every mom that comes in there. But unfortunately, that’s not the case, folks, because the demand is higher than the supply. And so that’s why we’re asking you folks in the audience right now, partner with Preborn, okay? pay for ultrasounds so that we can save babies’ lives. If you can buy an ultrasound machine, they’re $15,000 a piece, nice tax write-off for you. But if you can buy an ultrasound machine, you know your forever legacy is that you’re stopping thousands and thousands of abortions year after year. Think about that. Now, if you can’t buy an ultrasound machine, will you pay for an individual number of ultrasound images? $28 is the average ultrasound expense to stop one abortion, to save one baby’s life. So how many babies’ lives will you save? Take $28 times fill in the blank. And whatever that number is, that’s your legacy. Maybe you’ve given a pre-born already and it’s time to do it again. Well, 100% of what you give goes to ultrasounds, not a penny for overhead. That’s covered by private donors. So here’s how you give to Preborn right now. Just go online to CrawfordMediaGroup.net and click on Preborn. CrawfordMediaGroup.net, click on Preborn, give right there. You can give over the phone. They answer the phones 24-7. So just call 833-850-BABY. That’s 833-850-BABY. Mention National Crawford Roundtable when you call. And we appreciate you supporting Preborn. We appreciate you supporting SunPower LED. And Neil, this photobiomodulation is incredible technology that’s helped so many people, myself get out of pain, helped you, helped a lot of our listeners.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, I use it every single day on my right knee. I’ve had some pain and swelling. I’ve had four knee surgeries, two on each, and my right one seems to act up periodically. When I use that thing, I stand up out of the chair and the pain is gone. Now, sometimes it returns, but, you know, I have the option to sit down and do it again and spend 15 or 20 minutes while I’m reading the paper or having my devotions and find relief immediately, instantly, using SunPower LEDs Red Light Therapy. by the way, I wanted to mention, you know, tomorrow we’re scheduled to have 76 to 78 degrees in the Buffalo area. It’s going to clearly be the nicest day so far of 2025. Um, so I don’t know why I’m going to talk about snow skiing, but the last time I went snow skiing, I took a tumble, man, and I broke my ribs. And I don’t know if you’ve ever broken a rib. It is horrendous. Somebody tells you a joke and you start to laugh and it feels like they’re stabbing you in the side. Um, breathing is difficult. Rolling over in bed is, is agonizing. Anyway, um, There are stories, and you can read about them, see them for yourself by going to SunPowerLED when you visit Crawford Media Group. Talking about a guy named Alan, for instance, his ribs were totally restored using photobiomodulation. In other words, the healing increased and was sped up. Today, the breaks in his ribs are completely undetectable using x-ray technology. So really, really interesting. This is a great assist when it comes to healing and the reduction of inflammation, promoting healing in your body. Learn more about it by going to CrawfordMediaGroup.net. Click on Sun Power LED and find out how the very light God himself created can be used to help reduce pain and swelling and promote healing in our bodies. Bob?
SPEAKER 04 :
Absolutely. Well, I’ll tell you what, we appreciate you folks doing that and supporting our sponsors as we talk about the passing of Pope Francis. And, you know, we also there’s a lot of speculation about who the next pope is going to be. And we don’t know that yet. Of course, we’ll have to wait for the conclave to have their word. their election among the College of Cardinals and whoever they elect pope. There are some liberals that are in the running. But you know what? There’s also some conservatives in the running. One of them is a black pope. Well, he would be a black pope. This is Cardinal Robert Serra, and he’s from Africa. And you know, So far, a lot of conservatives really like to see him because he tends to be more conservative. But we’ll see. We’ll see what the conclave ends up doing. I am curious, though, to get you guys’ take on this so-called prophecy of the popes. Because, you know, I’ve been getting email from people going, Bob, is Pope Francis the last of the popes? So Jesus is going to return now? And hey, look, Jesus could return any time, so let’s be ready. Let’s be the five wise virgins here and always be ready for his return. And I do think we’re getting close to it, but I don’t think for a second it’s going to be based on this so-called Malachi prophecy of the popes. So for listeners who maybe aren’t familiar with what this is, let me explain it very briefly, and then we’ll kind of throw it around the table, all right? So Supposedly, back in 1139, actually, 1595 AD, you have a Benedictine monk, his name is Arnold Weyan. Arnold Weyan publishes, for the first time, this so-called prophecy of the popes that was purportedly written by Malachi, Saint Malachi in 1139 AD. And Malachi, so it’s almost as though this guy in 1595 You know, is he really just publishing for the first time what Malachi wrote 400 years prior, or did he forge it and write it himself claiming that he was Malachi? Well, what it does is it gives a brief definition of what each pope is going to be like, some things about each pope, all the way up through a whole total of 112 popes from the time of Malachi. Well, The description of the popes was very accurate from 1139 up to 1595. But then after 1595, they didn’t get anywhere close to accurate. Their accuracy completely plummeted, and it wasn’t anywhere close. And so that’s why it looks like this Weean guy in 1595 merely wrote and forged and plagiarized and just claimed that he was Malachi from 1139. Because how is it that you’re accurate for the last 400 years, but suddenly you’re completely inaccurate for the next… you know, several centuries. But the list of popes from Malachi was 112, and the last pope, the final pope, that’s supposed to be the last pope before Armageddon, and it specifically says Armageddon’s going to happen after that pope dies. Well, anyway, Pope Francis was the 112th in that particular list. But it was according to this prophecy that he would be called Peter the Roman. Well, guess what? He’s not from Rome. He’s from Argentina. His name was Pope Francis. His original name was Jorge Bergoglio. And so there’s nothing about that even remotely Peter-ish. So I think people are just kind of kidding themselves, get nervous about, uh-oh, there’s supposed to be just 112 popes and we just had the 112th. No, that was written by a guy in 1595 who claimed falsely that it was written by Malachi in 1139. So there’s no reason to give it any kind of weight. That’s how I look at it, but I’m curious to get you guys’ take. And Neil, let me start with you. I mean, what are your thoughts on the whole prophecy of the pope thing and people getting a little bit nervous about the last pope?
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, frankly, I didn’t ever hear about it until recently, so it’s had zero impact on me over the years. But I just think human beings are prone to to being suspect about things. We get drawn into conspiracy theories. And usually there’s some element of truth, or maybe it’s not truth, but there’s a fact we can wrap our brain around, like the 112th pope. Well, that’s what it said in the prophecy. This must be it. I mean, you just pointed out a half dozen things that make it invalid.
SPEAKER 04 :
It’s not a prophecy.
SPEAKER 05 :
It’s not an actual prophecy from God. right okay so so my point is that and yet you know we we always want to look outside the box when you’ve got you know jesus himself saying that i’m going to prepare a place for you and if i go i will come again and i’ll receive you unto myself that where i am there you may be also there is an end of time coming at some point at least as we know it here on planet earth the idea that one day there’s going to be a new heaven a new earth that the final truth regarding the kingdom of God will be revealed, that Jesus Christ is the King of kings, the Lord of lords. Every knee will bow, every tongue confess. All that stuff, we’re moving in that direction and that will come to fruition one day. The idea of getting sidetracked and wasting time, listening to things that are, were said 500 years ago that have holes like Swiss cheese in them. It’s just a waste of time. This is my interpretation of that. And I think that we ought to look elsewhere and have our time consumed by reading the word of God and doing what he said to do. And that’s to make disciples of Jesus.
SPEAKER 04 :
John, what do you think? You selling all your assets because we had just had the last Pope?
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah. No, I mean, I’m a lot like what Neil just said a moment ago in, The reality of Scripture is very clear that even Jesus the Son doesn’t know when he’s coming back, only the Father does. So tell me, how’s anybody on earth? And yes, I get it. There are signs and wonders and many things that will start to happen and so on. And will we know as we get closer? Well, yeah, I think we know right now. We’re getting closer, although I think Neil will appreciate this. I mean, I can remember from the time I was a young boy that the rapture was any minute. I mean, the reality is I’ve been living almost 60 years with this theory of, you know, it’s just around the corner. It’s just around the corner. And 60 years later, we’re still here. Not saying it’s not going to happen because eventually it will. But when will it, guys? There isn’t a person on earth that has the foggiest idea when that’s going to happen.
SPEAKER 04 :
So true. So true. Okay, so good. I think we’re all in agreement. We can just dismiss that. I’m also curious to get you guys’ take on whether it matters who the pope is. You know, I was saying before that there are some conservatives and some liberals in line to be the next pope. And is this going to be a pope who’s going to be progressive and liberal like Francis? Is it going to be somebody who’s more traditional and holds to more – biblically sound positions, at least on things. And I know some people say, well, we’re Protestants, you know, who cares who the Pope is? I actually, I don’t go to one extreme to say, oh, this is very, very significant, but I don’t go to the other extreme to say it’s a nothing burger. And the only reason I say that, not because I give the Pope any kind of authority, I don’t, but he does have perceived authority around the world when it comes to the perception of what Christians believe. And if the Pope says something, he is perceived by a lot of people to be speaking on behalf of Christianity. Now, as Protestants, we recognize he’s not, but he is perceived that way. And so, therefore, if you do have we’ll say some prominent pastors here in America, whether it’s people like Robert Jeffress or whether it’s people like Franklin Graham or whatever, when they say things that contradict what the Pope says, then suddenly it creates a perception where some of these right-wing preachers are just being too dogmatic and narrow and mean-spirited and intolerant, unlike Pope Francis. And so it To me, it does matter if you have a voice that’s supposedly speaking for Christianity saying a bunch of watered-down liberal leftist things. It creates tension, and it creates a contrast that makes it easier for people to attack conservative biblical voices here in America. So for that reason, I do think it’s significant about who that pope is. But we are running out of time here, so we only got about 60 seconds. Real quick, John, let me get your take real quick. What are your thoughts in like 30 seconds on the significance of who the Pope is to us as Protestants?
SPEAKER 03 :
Two words, leadership matters.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah. Okay. And that’s it. Okay. Very concise. Very to the point. What do you say, Neil?
SPEAKER 05 :
I don’t think it matters as much as that the Church of Jesus Christ, those who know and love God and are counting alone on Jesus for salvation, who understand that the Word of God is very simple and clear. about where salvation is found, et cetera, that that ought to be our focus and our message. And yeah, I think, you know, it’s great when other, quote, conservative voices—I remember Robert Casey in Pennsylvania talking about pro-life issues back in the day. He was a Democrat, of course. Those things are good. They help, but nothing is more important than the truth of God’s Word, and the only ones who can speak with authority on that are those who are— have the Holy Spirit living with us. And I think we ought to count on the Holy Spirit to be able to speak truth into a generation that is desperately desiring it and needing it.
SPEAKER 04 :
I don’t know if you guys remember this or not, but back when Pope John Paul II died, And Pope Benedict came in. One of the cardinals that was considered a possibility, his last name was Sokola. And I remember people talking about we could have Pope Sokola. Oh, jeez.
SPEAKER 01 :
I know. Okay.
SPEAKER 04 :
Come on. I’m being serious. I’m being serious. One of them was named Sokola, although he would have changed his name, so it wouldn’t really matter anyway. He would have changed his name to Coke, and then it would have been Pope Coke. No, I’m just kidding. But there really was a Sokola, and I remember us having those jokes. So, hey, come on. We can’t have a little lighthearted time? Send your emails to Bob. I know. There you go. Thank you. That’s Neil Boron. Anyway, second half, we’re going to be talking about real ID and what is the significance of this? How serious do we take it? Is it a problem or not? Does it make sense to do? So we’ll dive into that. We also want to encourage you folks, please support our sponsors. If you haven’t given to Preborn yet, or maybe you haven’t given to them in a while, would you do it again? You’re saving babies’ lives by paying for ultrasound images. It’s that simple, folks. Ultrasoundimages.com. cause moms to choose life and not abort their babies. This happens all the time. Last year alone, Preborn Nationwide stopped 67,000 abortions. Did you know that? And there were close to 10,000 of those moms that accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. So When you’re paying for ultrasound images, you’re doing a lot, folks. So here’s how you do it. You either, A, buy an ultrasound machine for $15,000 apiece, or option B, you pay for an individual number of ultrasound images. They’re $28 apiece. $28 saves one baby’s life. So take $28 times fill in the blank. Whatever that number is, that’s your forever legacy of the number of abortions that you stopped, folks, through pre-born. And if you can buy an ultrasound machine, your legacy is thousands and thousands of abortions that you’re stopping. So here’s how you give to Preborn. Go to CrawfordMediaGroup.net and click on Preborn. CrawfordMediaGroup.net, click on Preborn. And you know 100% of what you give goes to fund ultrasounds, not a penny for overhead. It’s all covered by private donors. So CrawfordMediaGroup.net, click on Preborn, or just give them a call. They answer the phones 24-7, and you can give over the phone. 833-850-BABY. It’s 833-850-BABY. Mention National Crawford Roundtable when you call. Support Preborn. Support SunPowerLED, Neil, and the great work that they do getting people out of pain naturally.
SPEAKER 05 :
About twice a year I get sick and for whatever reason I’m susceptible to bronchitis and sometimes walking pneumonia, whatever. I was sick in October, didn’t really officially kind of get past that till the end of December. It lasted almost three months. I didn’t use the red light therapy device that I have because I had loaned it out to a friend who was using it for a different reason. I got sick again about 7 to 10 days ago, got the device back, used it, and am free of my symptoms except for a little bit of rasp in my voice that you can hear. But I’m telling you what, that the reduction of inflammation in the lungs, et cetera, can help promote and speed healing in the human body, and that’s exactly what we need. So learn more about red light therapy from SunPowerLED. You can discover it at CrawfordMediaGroup.net. Just click on SunPowerLED. Absolutely.
SPEAKER 04 :
And we appreciate you folks supporting our sponsors. We appreciate you folks listening to this podcast and your five-star reviews and telling your friends about it and everything else. So we’re going to continue the second half of this National Crawford Roundtable podcast coming up next.
SPEAKER 01 :
This is a Crawford Media Group production.
SPEAKER 04 :
Continue in the second half of the National Crawford Roundtable podcast with myself, Bob Duco, the Bob Duco Show out of Detroit. John Rush, Rush to Reason out of Denver, Colorado. Neil Boron, Neil Boron Live out of Buffalo, New York. And we talked about the Pope in the first half. Second half. Let’s talk about Real ID. If you folks don’t know what Real ID is, this is something that actually came around 20 years ago. It was passed in Congress. It was signed. This was a George W. Bush thing. It was kind of part of the patriot movement after 9-11 and, hey, cracking down on security and such. But it’s never been enacted. Every president has kind of kicked the can down the road because it would be disruptive. There’s certainly a big brother feel about this. And what Real ID basically says is that if you want to get on a plane or go into some federal – places that your driver’s license is not going to be enough because they’re too easy to forge. So you have to provide additional documentation, and then you get this special gold star on your driver’s license that says that you have proven something beyond just your driver’s license, or you have to use a passport. Well, like I say, nobody’s done anything with this. Donald Trump is now enforcing it, and it goes into effect May 7th. All right. And so there’s a lot of people scrambling right now thinking, hold on a minute. You got to get on a plane starting with May 7th. Your driver’s license is not going to be enough. If you don’t have a passport, then you’re going to have to get to DMV and provide the additional documentation to get that little gold star. And right now, DMVs across the country are so backlogged with appointments that you may not be able to get in there in time. So there is going to be a disruptive process to this. But let’s go around the table and talk about it. And, John, I want to start with you because as our resident libertarian, I’ve got to imagine your eye is twitching over this more than anybody else’s. So your take on Real ID and is there any case for this?
SPEAKER 03 :
I’m going to surprise you because I’m probably the opposite on this one than what you would imagine. I don’t have a problem with it at all. We’ve had it in Colorado now for years. It’s very seamless. I don’t remember even going to the DMV and giving them any extra documentation to even get my real ID. And originally, and follow me here on this is why it’s not a big deal to me. Originally, this was designed to help keep driver’s license from getting counterfeited, much like there’s been passport changes and things like that have been made to keep them from getting counterfeited. If we’re going to try to get to a situation in the country which is being pushed by this president to have ID for voting, well, then, yeah, guys, I want ID that is valid. It’s not fake. counterfeit that hasn’t been duplicated that no offense the left can make that happen on an easily basis i want something that’s more verified if we’re going to actually require id i want verified id that this in fact is that person especially when it comes to voting no offense i could care less about the travel and tsa and all of that that’s a whole that’s a whole separate issue if you ask me but as far as the voting aspect of it goes do i want real id for voting absolutely i do bob
SPEAKER 04 :
All right. You know what, John? I got to say, you are catching me by surprise because I would have thought that you would align with some conservatives that are saying, you know what, this is too Big Brother-ish. You know, Sarah Palin really just had a meltdown about this.
SPEAKER 03 :
And really quick, I’m confused as to how is this Big Brother-ish when all you’re doing to get your— Your idea is bringing a couple of extra forms of ID to prove who you are. In other words, proving you live where you live, bringing, you know, in some cases, a birth certificate. I mean, in other words, proving that Bob is Bob, Neil is Neil, John is John. How is that big brotherish? I’m confused.
SPEAKER 04 :
All right. Well, the argument from many of them go that, you know, we already have driver’s licenses and now the government’s stepping in and telling us that we have to jump through additional hoops to go beyond the driver’s license, which has always been sufficient anyway. So why should I have to go through these extra hoops for, you know, before I’m allowed to get on a domestic flight?
SPEAKER 03 :
My answer back would be because the regular driver’s licenses are very easily duplicatable, meaning you can have one forged pretty easily, where the new ones, much like you’ve got our currency, which is hard to duplicate, that’s all they’ve done is they’ve made that license harder to duplicate, which again, I go back to what conservatives want, which is ID for voting. So guys, time out. You conservatives that are against this, you’re talking out of both sides of your mouth. You want people to actually have ID to vote, but then you don’t want verified ID? I’m confused.
SPEAKER 04 :
All right. And by the way, John, I’m only devil’s advocating with you because I’m with you on this, okay? But they do say, yeah, but if you’re talking about domestic travel, you’re flying from Denver to Detroit, okay? Now we’re turning into show me your papers when you’re merely traveling state to state.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, we can go down the path of- We can go down the path of TSA and all the nonsense that’s involved regarding flying and all that. That’s a whole other conversation, Bob, to me that is way outside of even what Real ID is all about because, again, I look at Real ID a little bit differently maybe than most. And bottom line, for those of you that are trying to scramble – you know, in the end here, do you, none of you have a passport? I mean, to me, that’s almost a given. Most people I believe today, I know a lot don’t, but people get a passport. I mean, how hard is this? If worse comes to worse, you use that to fly.
SPEAKER 04 :
All right. Now I got a passport. That’s why this is just not on my radar screen. But Neil, what’s your take on this Real ID? Are you concerned about that? And actually, Neil, let me say, because I’d love to get your take on this. But before we get your take on this, we do want to remind our listeners that when we talk about Real ID, we also have real sponsors to the show, Preborn and certainly SunPower LED. And it’s amazing how they can help people get out of pain, be healthier in a completely natural way that God designed.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, when we talk about red light therapy or near infrared light therapy, both are utilized in these palm units and other units that are sold by SunPowerLED. All we’re really talking about is taking certain wavelengths of light, which was created by God. And applying it to areas of the body where there’s inflammation or maybe an injury where pain or swelling exists and activating the cells there. Really what happens is that this light creates energy in the cell, wakes up the mitochondria, and the mitochondria says, oops, you know, we’ve been sleeping here. Time to do our job. Time to do what we were created to do. and begin to reduce pain and swelling and promote healing. You know, our bodies were created to be, to heal. If you injure yourself, if you cut your finger and sit there and look at it for three weeks, you can watch it heal. It’s like watching grass grow or paint dry, but you could literally watch your finger heal. Why? Because that’s how we were created. So it’s just taking the very light God created and applying it to an injury, applying it to an area where there’s inflammation or pain or swelling and watch what happens next. It’s unbelievable. how people are recovering from tinnitus and migraine headaches and wound care is sped up, you know, post-surgical care. It’s an amazing technology. No chance of getting, you know, skin cancer or anything. We’re not talking about UV rays here. Just certain wavelengths of the light God himself created to heal our bodies. Check it out by clicking on SunPowerLED when you go to CrawfordMediaGroup.net. CrawfordMediaGroup.net. And Bob, that’s exactly where you can go as well to learn more about Preborn.
SPEAKER 04 :
That’s right. If you go to CrawfordMediaGroup.net, you can also click on Preborn. And you can give to Preborn to pay for ultrasound images to save babies’ lives. That’s how Preborn does this in pro-life centers all across the country. They have ultrasound machines, and they show these images to expectant moms. And expectant moms see a picture of their baby. They don’t go across the street to Planned Parenthood anymore. They let their babies live. So when you show an ultrasound image to a mom of her baby, you are stopping an abortion. How much is that worth to you folks listening to us? That’s why we ask you, support pre-born, pay for these ultrasound images. You know what only costs $28 to save one baby’s life? $28 to pay for an ultrasound image to save one baby’s life. How many babies’ lives will you save? Take $28 times fill in the blank. Whatever that number is, maybe God lays a number on your heart. That becomes your forever legacy of the number of abortions that you stopped, folks. Now, if you can do it, we need some of you heavy hitters out there to buy ultrasound machines. They’re 15 grand apiece, nice tax write-off for you. But your forever legacy is you’re stopping thousands and thousands of abortions year after year. But for everybody else, pray about a number of abortions you’ll stop. $28 times fill in the blank. Whatever that number is, and if you’ve given a pre-born already, maybe it’s time to do it again. But you’ve got to remember, 100% of what you give goes to fund ultrasounds, not a penny for overhead. That’s all covered by private donors. So, yeah, you give by going to CrawfordMediaGroup.net and click on Preborn. CrawfordMediaGroup.net, click on Preborn. Or just give them a call. They answer the phones 24-7. So call 833-850-BABY. 833-850-BABY. You can call right now. And just mention National Crawford Roundtable when you call. As we continue talking about Real ID… And so, Neil, what’s your take on this? There are some conservatives that are saying, oh, come on, we shouldn’t have Real ID. It is a big brother kind of thing. You’re making people jump through more hoops. It’s like, show me your papers now. I can’t even fly from Buffalo to Denver. It’s across state lines without having to jump through extra hoops now, blah, blah, blah. A lot of libertarians really upset about this. Cato Institute ripping it. Our resident libertarian, John Rush, is like, hey, come on, guys, lighten up. It’s not a big deal. So I’m with John, but what’s your take on the real ID?
SPEAKER 05 :
Somewhere in our listening audience, Bob, there are people who are concerned about the fact that this is finally being implemented 20 years after being signed into law. 20 years. And all of this was contingent upon the death of the 112th pope. dating back to the prophecy of the pope so it’s all i knew there had to be a connection i knew there we go exactly you know honestly it’s armageddon yeah i have a passport i also have something called a nexus pass because i travel to canada all the time it’s amazingly convenient allows me to get into canada um i don’t have to go through the nexus line Oh, it’s I’ve passed 500 cars before. See, wouldn’t want to be, you know, like, OK, I’d like to be a trucker. I’d like to be one of those truckers. So I’m not opposed to enhanced sort of forms of identification. And some people get a little weird about that. And they say, well, you know, it’s this digital technology stuff. It’s all moving us towards the mark of the beast. Well, let me just say, honestly, let’s be real, folks. Electricity moved us towards the mark of the beast. Computers have moved us. Credit cards are moving us. Everything digital, everything, honestly, that represents technology is moving us in the direction of the mark of the beast. It’s all part of the thing. In the end, ultimately, true believers with the Holy Spirit living inside will have the witness of the Holy Spirit to say, no, I am not following that person That’s the Antichrist or that is not Jesus and I want nothing to do with it I mean there is a time coming when Antichrist will come to power and the mark of the beast and all these things are gonna happen God’s people will be Protected by the truth of God’s Word in the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives if we’re true believers So I’ve none of this stuff really freaks me out I don’t want to have to go to the DMV again because I feel like I’m there quite a bit you know for various things to get registration problems resolved and whatever and I’m just not that afraid of it. Why it took 20 years, though, that’s unbelievable. Is there any true explanation as to why it took 20 years to bring this to fruition?
SPEAKER 04 :
Personally, I think every president has been afraid of touching it with a 10-foot pole because it’s like telling people that now you’ve got to go through some extra red tape and extra hoops and your driver’s license isn’t strong enough to fly now. And so I think everybody’s just been afraid of the unpopularity that that would bring. But I got to say something about that.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, go ahead. I was just going to say that in an age when we’re concerned about – 15 million illegals who came to our country. We don’t know exactly who they are, what their background is. Maybe we’re trying to ferret out, root out some of them. That’s going to take a really long time. The idea that you can’t fly domestically without a real idea, I think, is honestly a safety factor for the people of America. Well, it is. And actually vetted further that way.
SPEAKER 04 :
Neil, that’s where I was going to go with this next because, you know, as John was saying earlier, there is the issue of counterfeiting driver’s licenses, and it’s not that hard to do. It is harder to do to counterfeit a real ID. So we are making the actual IDs, the driver’s licenses, the people showing. There’s more weight to them because they’re now more credible. But I got to tell you, the illegal immigration thing – If anybody wants to get mad about the May 7th deadline for Real ID, you know the person to get mad at? Joe Biden and Kamala Harris for their four years of open borders. Because this is what – look, notice Trump didn’t push to make Real ID happen in 2016 for his first four years. And you know why? Because Barack Obama, for all of Barack Obama’s evils and wrongs, at least he didn’t open up the borders completely and allow – 10 to 20 million illegals to flood into this country, including who knows how many ISIS members, Islamic Jihadi terrorists, MS-13 gang members, Trende Aragua and everything else. Joe Biden did that for four years. So now you have 10 to 20 million new people in this country. Who knows how many of them are really bad guys? And what do they do? They flood into places like California and New York. And then the Democrat-run states, pass out driver’s licenses to these illegals like they’re tic-tacs, okay? So anybody these days could come in here illegally, get a driver’s license, go ahead and fly across state lines. And you know what else they can do? If they’re Islamic jihadi terrorists or if they’re drug dealers or whatever, they can carry out all kind of activity by flying state to state to state in this country with their driver’s licenses or even, they’re not even fraudulent. They’re just passed out to illegal aliens. So now suddenly that illegal alien, that California driver’s license that was passed out like candy, now suddenly that’s not going to be enough. He’s going to have to prove that he was actually born here in the United States and he’s not an illegal. So Joe Biden is the one who caused this by opening up the borders and allowing 20 million illegals to flood into this country illegally. and have millions of driver’s licenses passed out like candy to a bunch of illegals, including the dangerous illegals. So now, yeah, they have to prove that they’re here in this country. Your driver’s license isn’t going to get you access to everywhere anymore. So that, to me, honestly, John, is probably the biggest argument, even above the counterfeiting issue, of why this is a necessary thing to do.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, no, Bob, you bring up a great point that I hadn’t really thrown into the equation. So you just added one more thing to add in where it’s like, okay, all of you conservatives that are against this, which again, I just – at times – and I love you all. Believe me, I love all conservatives, Bob. You know that. But there’s times it’s like – Guys, pick battles that really matter. No offense. This one doesn’t. And frankly, at the end of the day, it’s a good thing when it’s all said and done for us as conservatives because it cuts back on all the things you and I have talked about. Right.
SPEAKER 04 :
No, I know. So I don’t think this is a wise battle for the conservatives to die on.
SPEAKER 02 :
Here’s my point, Bob. Sometimes we’re our own worst enemy.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, I know. This really is about security. It is about national security. And you can’t – okay, when 9-11 was carried out, let’s keep in mind, you had people on 9-11 that were flying around. They were flying on planes, and they were just using their regular driver’s license. And some of them were fraudulent driver’s licenses as well, okay? So that was for 9-11. But now you have to think, after 10 to 20 million illegals just in the last four years have flooded into this country, Let’s just think about those on the terrorism watch list that are in this country now. Who knows how many thousands of Islamic jihadi terrorists are in this country now through Joe Biden’s open borders? It only took 19 to carry out 9-11. How many thousands of them now? We know of several hundred that we actually caught that came over during his open borders. So if we know of several hundred that we caught, how many thousands… that we not catch because they slip through the fingers of open borders. And they’re in this country right now. You don’t think they’re plotting things. You don’t think they’re planning things. And you don’t think that they’re flying state to state with the IDs that were passed out to them in California like nothing. They’re here illegally. And that doesn’t even count the drug dealers, MS-13, Trend de Aragua, and all those other dangerous people as well. So yeah, it’s a new day when it comes to security. And nobody’s… Nobody has anybody other than Joe Biden to blame for this. Donald Trump is trying to clean up Joe Biden’s mess. That’s why he’s doing it now, but he didn’t do it in his first term following Barack Obama. So Barack Obama was a terrible president. But at least he deported illegals.
SPEAKER 05 :
digitally speaking we’re we’re very vulnerable you know in terms of our computer networks etc and anybody that’s ever been hacked um i know of a business a friend of mine happens to work for uh is a upper level kind of management person there they were hacked you know from an outside source i don’t know who took over everything literally shut down their systems now had access to all their data and wasn’t just like an empty the bank account thing it was more like hey unless you do what we want unless you pay us x number of dollars You’ll never have access to your client information again. We’re locking it out. Like you can’t even get to who your customers are now. And, you know, wow, that’s terrifying. Like all of a sudden somebody can just take over your life digitally. Well, what are we doing about it? We’re upgrading, you know, security systems on computers and networks and everything. you know, databases, et cetera. This is, this is imperative in the world that we live in because there’s evil players out there. There’s people, you know, in rogue countries and other places around the world that would shut down the U S you know, digital infrastructure in a second if they could. And I believe that future wars are going to be largely wrapped around those kinds of vulnerabilities. So if we’re all for, you know, that kind of security, why not security on, you know, on travel within the United States, you know, you got somebody who’s a, a terrorist that’s come to our country and picked up one of those, you know, cheapo driver’s licenses you can get in California. I want to know who that person actually is. And I don’t think they should be allowed on an airplane without, you know, an understanding of who they are. So I think this kind of thing ultimately ought to be celebrated. Sure. Is there a little bit of discomfort about more digital information getting into the hands of the government? Yeah, but I’m not afraid of the government having my digital information. I’m afraid of the government not having the terrorist digital information.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah. But be careful, though, because John’s going to sit here going, all right, you can only push me so far. OK, as far as a libertarian stuff. But no, I get what you’re saying, Neil. I do. As we kind of wind down our time, I want to throw a little side thing in here because I am curious to get you guys take on the Democrats rallying around this MS-13 Garcia guy down in El Salvador. Now you’ve got an additional four Democrats that have gone down there and they keep on – first of all, the media keeps on calling this guy a Maryland man. He’s not a Maryland man, OK? He’s an El Salvadoran who came here illegally and he was illegally staying in Maryland. He wasn’t kidnapped, OK? He was arrested for being here illegally. But now these Democrats keep on saying we’re going down there to try to bring him home, OK? He is home, OK? In El Salvador. But my goodness. John, let’s remember something. You have two different courts, immigration courts, including an appellate court that says, yes, we have concluded that he is or was a member of MS-13. He also was arrested with other MS-13 gang members. Okay. He also was wearing the clothing that’s considered kind of the quasi-uniform of the MS-13 gang people. The guy’s a wife-beater whose wife had to get a restraining order on him. And he’s being heralded as the next poor victim hero martyr that the Democrats are rallying around. You talk about picking your battles stupidly. But this is – John, we’ve got like 30 seconds. Your thoughts on that?
SPEAKER 03 :
Unbelievable. I like best what the El Salvadorian president said, which was basically what you said a moment ago, Bob. He is home. He is a citizen of this country. And no, we’re not giving him back because this is where he belongs. This is his home, to your point, Bob. Reality is you guys have no control over this but out.
SPEAKER 04 :
And by the way, the Supreme Court only said that Donald Trump had to facilitate his return, not effectuate, facilitate. If El Salvador wants to send him to the United States, we have to receive him, hold him here in prison and put him through our court system. El Salvador has already said we’re not sending him to the U.S. and Trump’s like, good, because we don’t want him anyway. So he’s not violating what the U.S. Supreme Court said, Neil.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, real quick, you know, the left, according to the Daily Signal, great article, they’re talking about the left pushing a new Mount Rushmore, you know, not the one with Washington, Lincoln and Roosevelt and so forth in Jefferson. Today’s left is pushing a new Mount Rushmore that features Luigi Mangione, Carmelo Anthony, Kilmar, Obrego Garcia, a cold-blooded killer, another cold-blooded killer that stabbed a fellow teenager in the chest because he felt challenged to disrespect the illegal immigrant you’re just describing here, MS-13 gang member, and others. I mean, this is the new narrative. I think what they’re trying to do is just continue this narrative that Donald Trump is a bad, mean man, and that he picks on poor Maryland fathers who are part of a family in Maryland. No, this is an MS-13 gang member that’s dangerous, and I appreciate the way that the Trump administration is handling this.
SPEAKER 04 :
You know, I do, too. And by the way, how about Senator Van Hollen there in Maryland? How about caring about some other constituents like, oh, I don’t know, maybe the mother of Rachel Morin, who was murdered by an illegal alien that lives in Maryland and such. So it just drives me crazy. But, you know, Democrats keep on doing stuff like this. You’re just going to turn off independent voters.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, if you talk about that stuff, that gets attention focused on the failed policies of the Biden administration. So they’re not going to talk about it.
SPEAKER 04 :
You know what? It really does. It really does. I’ll tell you what. We appreciate you folks listening to this podcast, and we very much appreciate you folks supporting the sponsors of this podcast, like Neil, SunPowerLED, and just the great work that this photobiomodulation really does do.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, it’s simply light that God himself created, and it’s taking certain wavelengths of that light. I don’t know if any of you have ever been to the dentist when they put a wand in your mouth. First of all, they’re filling a cavity. They put that paste in your mouth, whatever, to try to fill the cavity, but it’s kind of wet. It’s mushy. Then they put this blue light in there, which all of a sudden hardens it, and then they – They file it off and it becomes the filling in your tooth. How is that possible? Well, because there’s power in light. A sonic boom obviously is a sound wave, but it can knock people out of bed. Some people clean their teeth with sonic toothbrushes. Why? Because sound waves matter. Well, light waves matter too. And red light taken from the light spectrum, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet, red and near infrared light can be harnessed to, be in the cell at enter. Do what the cell was created to do. And the end result is a reduction of pain and swelling and a promotion of healing. You’ll see wounds heal faster. You’re going to see inflammation decrease. And you’re going to be amazed at how your joints feel and how fast your wounds heal using red light therapy from SunPowerLED. You can learn all about it by going to CrawfordMediaGroup.net. Click on SunPowerLED. Watch the videos. Ask questions. Learn about the power of light to heal our bodies. Bob?
SPEAKER 04 :
Absolutely. Neil, look, I’m just impressed how easily you were able to rattle off the light spectrum. It’s pretty good.
SPEAKER 05 :
I had crib notes here.
SPEAKER 04 :
Oh, okay, okay. But no, I’ll tell you what, really, I’ve used this very same kind of red light therapy for myself, and it’s amazing how it works. It really does. And It’s also amazing what Preborn does in saving babies’ lives across this country. But, folks, they can’t do it alone. It takes money to show ultrasound images of unborn babies to expectant moms in pro-life centers across the country. It takes money to do that. And we’re asking for you folks’ money. to do this so you can save babies’ lives and stop abortions. You’re doing this by paying for ultrasound images. If you can buy an ultrasound machine, we need some of you to do that. It’s $15,000 a piece, nice tax write-off for you. And you get to know that you’re stopping thousands and thousands of abortions year after year after year. What a great legacy. And for everybody else, pay for an individual number of ultrasound images. $28 is the average ultrasound expense to stop one abortion, to save one baby’s life. So how many babies’ lives will you save? Take $28 times fill in the blank. And whatever that number is, that’s your forever legacy of the amount of abortions that you stopped. You know, last year, pre-born stopped over 67,000 abortions, and close to 10,000 women accepted Jesus Christ along the way. Okay, that’s what your money’s buying, folks. So will you do this? 100% of what you give to Preborn goes to ultrasounds, not a penny for overhead. That’s all covered by private donors. So here’s how you give, online or on the phone. Online, just go to CrawfordMediaGroup.net, click on Preborn. CrawfordMediaGroup.net, click on Preborn. Or over the phone, they answer the phones 24-7. So call 833-850-BABY. That’s 833-850-BABY. Just mention National Crawford Roundtable when you call. And we do appreciate you folks supporting Preborn and supporting SunPowerLED and listening to this podcast. We thank you for your five-star reviews. We thank you for sharing us with your friends and social media and getting them listening as well. And John Rush, Rush to Reason out of Denver, Colorado. Neil Boron, Neil Boron Live out of Buffalo, New York, who’s getting ready to have a 78-degree day. I’ll bet it punches 80, just so you know, Neil. Oh, I hope so. There in Buffalo. I know. It’s like, man, you go through the same thing we do here. Okay. You can have snow one day and wearing shorts the next. Welcome to Buffalo. Yeah, I know. Welcome to Detroit. Trust me. And of course, myself, Bob Duco, a Bob Duco show out of Detroit. Guys, always great catching up with you. Looking forward to next week. Thanks a lot. We’ll see you later. Thanks for listening, everybody. God bless.
SPEAKER 01 :
You’ve been listening to the National Crawford Roundtable Podcast, a view of today’s culture through a biblical lens, brought to you by Preborn, saving babies and souls. Join us in the fight to save babies from abortion. Your gift provides a free ultrasound for a mother in need. 80% of the time she will choose life. Visit CrawfordMediaGroup.net and click on their logo to donate. And by SunPower LED light therapy devices, bring light to your pain. Visit CrawfordMediaGroup.net and click on the SunPower LED logo to get out of pain and improve your overall wellness. You can download this podcast from Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and more from your local Crawford Media Group stations website or at CrawfordMediaGroup.net. And please give this podcast a five-star rating on your Apple app. Look for the notification on your app for when the next weekly edition of the National Crawford Roundtable podcast is ready for you to download. This is a Crawford Media Group production.
