5-26-25 Dan Caroll in for Willie

he's an entrepreneur, has lived just an unbelievable life. He is a great commentator on the passing scene and always has the ability, I think, to put into perspective and really good perspective, and put into words exactly why days like today are so meaningful to all of us as individuals and to all of us as a nation. And so Scott Powell has joined me on a lot of different holidays, and I'm glad to have him here. A

little bit later on today. Evangeline de vol we'll be here in the one o'clock hour.

She is also on the board of a great organization, my buddy Dan Varner, who's just a outstanding musician and plays a lot of plays, a lot of gigs in around the Anderson Township area and really all over the country. He is a Nashville recording artist. He has an organization called the Varner Foundation for Children and Families, and this is an organization that works with foster children. And Evangeline

Davol is on the board of his organization. And when I say tireless, I mean she is tireless because not only does she do that, but she does just a whole list of other things as well. And that's how I met her through my buddy Dan Varner, and so I appreciate his friendship and Evangeline. I haven't hadn't seen her in a while. And Dan Varner had a fundraiser event that he invited me to be part of a couple of weeks ago, and that was a great event.

So Evangeline is going to be on, and then my buddy Jim Serger will be here at one thirty five and we'll talk to Jim. He's got another book coming out. He's got actually I think I think he's got two books that are getting ready to come out. If I read his if I read his message to me correctly.

You may remember we had Jim on some time ago when his book came out about the the when he was a young man, a young lad, him and his buddy's got to go see David Lee Roth and Eddie van Halen and see the band van Halen when they played at Gosh. I want to say it was it Maybe I'm mistaken on well, I don't have to, but it was either. I want to say it was Cincinnati Gardens. Might have been the Guards, might have been. It was

probably the Guards. I'll double check on that. But he was so moved by that concert that he wrote a book about it, and just a great a great story about about youth and the sort of things that impact people's lives and the and the pure joy of seeing a band like that and a show like that that impacted his life in a very positive way. And Jim Surer is just an absolute bright light of positivity.

me all these years. And you know, out of all the travels I had when I was in the TV business, out of all the interviews I did, all the you know, all the meetings I covered, all the stories I put forth, this one, this one story, this one interview, the words he spoke to me stuck with me like none other. And I always, if I have the ability, I always

retell that story on Memorial Day. Because it is just it is a Memorial Day story that stuck with me through all these years, and I'll be doing that in.

freedoms that we have. If you would like to relate any of those stories, we'll open up the phone lines in the two o'clock hour and we'll see, well, and we'll see what happens. You never know how those things are going to work out, but on this Memorial Day, as we sit in for Bill Cunningham, we will see how that goes in the two o'clock hour. It is

a Monday, it is a holiday. I know, student report today, Bill Dennison enjoying some well deserved time off, So we will muddle through on our own without the Stooge report today. And I really can't say it. I can't say it any better than Richard K.

love for our nation will never be forgotten. On this Memorial Day, we pause to reflect on their legacy and express our deepest gratitude. Let us carry their memory with us, just not today, or I'm sorry, not just today, but every day. And he posted that along with a photo.

going to have. We hope to have brad brad Winstrop, Congressman brad Winstrop on in this first half hour, but we have not been able to make our connection with the former congressman and current colonel in the United States State's Army Reserve. And brad Winstrip Is is a true American, American patriot. I think he's an American hero, not only for his service in uniform, but his service in Congress

and what he has done over the years. And I've seen Brad If you've been fortunate enough to uh, to see brad winstrip in action when it comes to making a speech, when it comes to addressing a crowd, when it comes to putting in perspective, uh the uh what it means to honor those who wear the uniform and what it means to be in service to this country.

And this guy has done it in multiple ways by being a member of Congress, by wearing the uniform, by you know, being the man that he is that does what everything he can for his family, the things he does for his community, the things he has done for

his country. Brad winstrip is just an outstanding in all those areas, so we will continue to try and make our connection with him until then, what else the the let me get let me I got so many things here I want to This was another and one of the things I was going to ask Brad Winsor about was once we got through all the Memorial Day stuff, which was the most important thing was the continued revelations that continue to come out about the Biden administration, because

he saw a lot of it up close and personal when he was there in Congress. And one of the things that among the numerous things that have come out over the last several weeks, and a lot of it is due to the book that has come out by Jake Tapper and Thompson I think Alex Thompson, I believe the guy's name is, yeah, Alex Thompson of v Axios, the co author on that book. A lot of the

things that have come out have been somewhat shocking. But this was another very interesting set of circumstances that was talked about by Alex Thompson. And Alex Thompson was doing an interview. Where was he doing this matter? But he was doing an interview talking about the book, and he

talks about. A long time aide to former President Joe Biden admitted that the White House staff felt justified, justified somehow in doing undemocratic things during Biden's term in office because they believe that President Donald Trump posed an existential threat.

his go ad, I said, is that criminal? And he looked at me and he said yeah, he said. You know, this is a former judge. He thinks that kind of activity, if it happened, is indeed criminal. That these aids, these staffers that many of us don't know their names, saw themselves as the as more than the gatekeepers, they you know, more than just the ones who controlled access to an ailing president. They saw themselves as the ones who would

make the decisions in his stead. If you believe, and I think a lot of these people do, sincerely believe that Trump was an existential threat to democracy. You can rationalize anything, including sometimes doing undemocratic things, Thompson said. And again he's describing the mindset of these people who worked around Joe Biden in the White House. Thompson also cited a quote from his reporting in which a long time Biden made openly admitted the president just had to win

and then he could disappear for four years. He only had to show proof of life every once in a while. The aide told Thompson his aides could pick up the slack. The disappointing thing is and look, I have not read the book. I do not see myself purchasing this book. I do not see myself reading this book. Maybe if someone is someone you know has me a copy of it, maybe I'll take the time to look at it and read it. But right now I'm probably not going to.

I'm just from I'm just reading the accounts that that that are flowing from these various interviews that Thompson and Jake Tapper are doing. Access to Biden was tightly controlled by an inner circle of unelected staffers. And how rich is it now that we well, we sort of already worn out that that that bit of complaining from Democrats that Elon Musk was unelected, no one, no one elected

him to do anything. But these were unelected staffers who managed the schedule and limited who could speak directly to him. When you're voting for president, you're voting for the aids around him, is what this aid said?

this country is really supposed to be about. And you've got these people who not only fiddle it around with the election, but then saw sought to act in his stead. And I mean, this goes way beyond a media cover up. And I remember I was talking to ah, my buddy Joe Hoft over at joehoff dot com and when and this is when the the autopen story first broke and he was talking about I said, I said, do you think this autopen story is a big deal? And do

you think this autopen story really has legs? And it's going to be in a pen? He said, it may wind up being the most important thing that we found out about the Biden White House. And so when I see things like this, you know how these staffers are saying, oh, well, you know Donald Trump and I and this is this is just another tangent. This is just another component of

Trump derangement syndrome. And you would think that people who make make their way into the responsible position of actually working in the White House would be level headed enough to look at issues like you know, these these talking points, these Democrat Party talking points that go out all over the place and get repeated ed nauseam that Donald Trump

is an existential threat. You would think they would be level headed enough to be able to look at that on their own and and you know, be able to come to the conclusion, well, you know, this is just some hyperbole. This this is just really an absolute exaggeration that we have enough checks and balances in this country.

You know, this is a kin to Mark Milli trying to spin this narrative and create the notion that Trump somehow would go off the rails and launch a nuclear war that would threaten China to the point to where Millie felt the need, or at least he that's the way he explains it, that he felt the need to call his counterpart in China and say, look, if Trump launches a nuclear war, you know I'll have your back. I'll be here to you know, to give your heads up and do everything I can to make sure it

doesn't happen. It is it is absolutely insane, how out of control these people are from top to bottom, and how out of control they were. And I didn't think the revelations from this book were going to be that big of a deal because we knew about it, we talked about it in real time. And now that this kind of stuff is coming out about how others were taking it upon themselves to make the decision for the most important office in the world. Not something that should

be taken lightly. It should be frowned upon in the most serious ways. And we'll see what happens. Twelve twenty five. We've got to get to a break news coming up a bottom of the hour. Then we'll be joined by our friend Scott Powell as we roll on through this Memorial Day, Dan Carolyn for the Great American Bill Cunningham on seven hundred WLW. All right back on the big one, seven hundred WLW twelve thirty five, make twelve thirty six now,

Dan Carolyn for the Great American Bill Cunningham. And one of the guests that Bill Cunningham has on quite often, and I'm lucky enough that I get to have him on from time to time, is our buddy Scott Powell. Of the Discovery Institute and Scott Powell. Welcome again to seven hundred WLW.

sedition or treason. But with holidays like Memorial Day, you know, we're reminded of values that provide actual solutions to our insturmount are apparently insurmountable problem. You know, most people rightly associate Memorial Day with paying homage to those who gave their lives for American War. It is one of America's most patriotic holidays because of doing just that, honoring those who gave their lives for American What it stands for justice,

equal opportunity, life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness. But the holiday really has roots that go back to the aftermath of the Civil War. At that time, America was as or more divided than it is today. The Civil War cost at least six hundred and twenty thousand men, and many put the number up to seven hundred thousand. It was a greater cost than all the other all of America's successive wars combined, and the country was so divided

after the Civil War that many thought reconciliation impossible. Yet forgiveness began with the humble and virtuous actions from the vanquished, that is the South and not the victorious North. So there's a lesson there, I think for all of Us, and it was on April twenty five, eighteen sixty six, that a group of women from Columbus, Mississippi, chose to visit Friendship Cemetery, the burial ground for about sixteen hundred

men who died at the Battle of Shiloh. The Battle of Shiloh was one of the famous battles in the Civil War, and their purpose was simple.

But the Columbus women were a prayerful group and they had no such intention, despite having heard about the Union's cavalier mass burial treatment of Confederate army fatalities on northern battlefields where there was just there were just mass graves in many cases, and so it was that their equal decoration of the graves of both sides became a catalyst for a national reconciliation movement. Can you believe it?

and Roberty Lee. You know, President Lincoln actually recruited Robbery Lee to be the to be his general for the Union Army, and Robberie Lee turned him down because it would mean that if war, if he went to war, he'd have to fight against his family and his friends from Virginia because he was a Virginian and he couldn't

do that. President Lincoln expressed no blame or bitterness towards the Confederacy and in the in his second inaugural address, which of course he he he never got a chance to serve that, but he held that he held that both sides, the North and the South, were accountable for

this most costly war. And so so this decoration day came to be known as the Day of Reconciliation and commemoration to honor those loss while fighting the Civil War, but its observance really wasn't very consistent for many years. And the contribution by officers and soldiers from the South and winning the Spanish American War, this is an incredible story.

The Southerners still had this spree de corps. They were great fighters, and they were instrumental in America winning its next major war, the Spanish American War, and they wanted no time. It was like I think the war lasted not even a week. It was an eighteen ninety eight and this provided a catalyst for erecting what came to be known as the Reconciliation monument in Arlington Cemetery, a project overseen by four presidents and finally unveiled in nineteen

fourteen by President Woodrow Wilson. Anyway, the long story short is that ultimately Reconciliation Day did ultimately become Memorial Day. You know, there was a recognition that we had subsequent wars and war deaths need to be honored, and so it was that Memorial Day came to be the ultimate holiday paying tribute to all casualties, all that lost their lives in in uh in the course of war for the United States.

do that really wind up making the biggest difference. And especially on a daylight today, you know, the laying of the wreath at the at the Tomb of the Unknown. That is a very simple act that the president does every year. When you look at the communities, you know there are I think there are around here the Cincinnati

and the Tri State area. I think there are more Memorial Day events going on today than I can remember in past years, whether whether it's a parade or a community event, or someone's giving a speech, or you know, there's some sort of outreach going on to veterans. I think there's all kinds of things like that going on.

And again, these are not grand, giant production things. These are simple things that in a lot of cases, it's either someone at a legion hall, individuals within their community, you know, a town council that's deciding to take these small, simple steps. But it's those simple things I think that wind up having the most meeting. I was talking with a guest the other night and we were talking about the idea of saying the Pledge of Allegiance in school.

And I remember when I was a kid that we did this, and I went to Catholic school and we did this every day. We said the Pledge of Allegiance in school and I think for a while, a long time, we got away from that sort of thing. But when you have just that simple act of standing and addressing the flag every day, it instills those values, especially in young people, that can last a lifetime and really make a.

into an evil force. And this force has really been in ascendance in America because we have abandoned we have really abandoned God to a larger extent than ever before. We have marginalized Christianity. We have and in so doing, you know, God's protective hand, because God protects us through spiritual forces, we have lost in some ways that protective hand of God. And and and we've seen the results of that, I mean, the the level of uncivility, incivility,

urban chaos, uh has really is unprecedented in America. And so I think our real hope is that we see a spiritual revival. The spiritual revival will bring about cultural revival, and that cultural revival, of course, will bring about a greater political alignment, because politics is actually a lot of people look to politics as solving the problem. No, politics is downstream of what people believe of the culture. And the culture traditionally has been shaped by the most powerful forces.

And the most powerful force of all is the force of God and God's hand in society. And when we've had God's hand in society, things have gone much better when we have walked away from God. And this is not true just for America. It was true for Israel. It is true for you know, it's true for any society, but particularly the Judaeo Christian society, because Judaism and Christianity

is the ultimate truth. I have studied the other religions, they do not even hold a candle to the depth of truth that is in the Holy scriptures in the Bible. The Bible is a user's manual for every possible problem you could have in life.

because it's not inclusive enough. It doesn't include everybody. And I think, you know, when I when I look at the something like the Constitution. You know, that's the beauty of the Constitution. Rush Limbaugh said. One time, he said he asked a caller, he said, do you know what the smallest minority in the world is? And the caller was dumbfound and you know, they couldn't answer the question.

And he said, the smallest minority is the individual, each individual, you and yourself and you there is no one else, even if you're a twin, there is no one else exactly like you. Therefore you are the smallest. And that's the brilliance of the Constitution because it is meant for the individual. And therefore, anyone who is lucky enough to be an American citizen and you know, subject to this

jurisdiction thereof the Constitution. You're covered by the Constitution and no one no matter who you are or what you believe or what you do, you are not excluded from that. And I think if we you know, I think we get away from that. And a lot of people don't don't recognize it or look at it like that.

And number two, that it was the role of government to protect these rights enshrine in the Bill of Rights, because there are more rights than just what was articulated in the Declaration of Independence. You know, there's a right of due process and the right of your privacy being honored without you know, either can't the police, can't just show up and barge into your house, and a whole host of other other rights. But uh, we forget that. No other nation had this before, No other nation was

founded this way. We were founded on ideas. We weren't founded on the spoils of war or really one uh you know, one culture, one language, one ethnic group. We were you know, I mean, we were a multi ethnic country from the very beginning. And yes we we Unfortunately, slavery had crept into America.

the basis of slavery totally falls. When the Constitutional Convention took place, and you had delegates from the southern states and the northern all of the states, all thirteen states, with the exception of Rhode Island which did not did participate. They did vote for the ultimate ratification. But they knew the delegates of the Constitution Convention had one purpose, and that was to create a new government. And they knew

that they couldn't solve the problem of slavery. That would be impossible, but they knew it was important, it was morally important to make a statement. So an article one, section nine of the Constitution there is that that section says specifically that all slave trade would cease in the United States by eighteen oh seven. By eighteen oh eight, there would be no more slave trade. It was a twenty year you know, sort of a will allow this to go on for twenty more years, but then it stops.

By law, by constitutional law, slave trade was to stop. We were the first nation in human history also to outlaw slave trade. We did it before Great Britain did. And people don't even know this greatness of America. And yes, it wasn't fully realized really until Martin Luther King, who really you know, he really delivered on Jefferson's Declaration of Independence that all people were created equal. He said that in the declaration. Of course it wasn't it wasn't realized.

But the march of progress, and this is God's hand in American history raised up another man, Martin Luther King, an imperfect man. Remember, God only has sinners to work through. No one's perfect. You know, the great King David Solomon, they were all sinners, they all made huge mises, and yet God use them. And it's the same for our president today. I believe he's not a perfect man, but God is using him. But in any case, Martin Luther

King delivered. He cast a vision that in the future he looked forward to a society where his children and grandchildren would be evaluated by the content of their character and not the color of their skin.

never could pay for any bills. He relied on the large ess of Angles and others to bail him out. He was an evil man, and he created this ideology of Marxism, which is morphed into many different neo Marxist ideologies. But it's all nonsense. It's contrary to God.

Baseball coming up just after three o'clock. Chick Ludwick is going to have the inside pitch for you, and uh, well, hopefully the Reds will get off that skid they are on currently. Let's welcome in our next guest. This is a woman that I met when I was a couple of years ago when I was at an event with

the Dan Varner Foundation. There was another event a couple of weekends ago, and and she was a little cross with me because I had not invited her back on the show since then, and so I told her that I would invite her back, and here she is, and Evangeline Devaal, it is great to have you back on seven hundred WLW.

My dad would invite my mom and dad servicemen that were stationed in that country to come over from a rail day because it was so darn important to him.

contracted Larry didn't didn't survive. Had it not been for the American forces that broke through the camp and rescued my dad and his family, he came, he went back to England on a hospital ship, my life would be completely different. And my dad, he spent his whole life being so thankful to the American forces that and they lost from men when it happened that broke through the camp and rescued him in the same So this means a lot to me. So I just wanted to share that that's great.

before they started. And when I started to dig into that and look into it, and Dan and I have been friends ever since you did a fundraiser for my other nonprofit, I found that there was such a huge both is this huge gap in need for fostering parents and kinship, And that's what kind of got us all started.

What's so neat about the Warner Foundation for Children and Families and that it stands in the resource gap for families that are fostering, whether it's a kinship grandmother, grandfather, uncle and aunt, or a traditional foster family, is that nobody else does this that we've enabled to find it's and it's one of the reasons that fifty percent of the people that are fostering in the United States will give it up within the first year because they don't

feel supported in and they don't have the resources resources that these kidneys that are really out of the box mean. For instance, one of the things that I talked about at the event was a portable oxygen thanks for a little person that wasn't even a year old that was inter care. How that makes such a big difference, and no place ILSE will pay for this that a care wouldn't pay for Newbity did. So we stand in those

kind of gaps grandparents. I can't tell you how many are cars we fixed or tires because these a lot of these grandparents are on fixed income and they have to take in their kids if they don't want them their regular foster care. And if there's more than two of them, which often there is, these kids are going to get split up because the system can't handle them

all being together. And then on top of that, all the trauma that these kids have gone through some of them is just just horrific and I can't even read the words sometimes when the branch come in the abuse they had and all the rest of it, and they need special therapy. They need therapy, to camp, they need so many other things. Some of them have hearing loss that they've never been addressed. Some of them just just

need the whole family needs help. So that's why we're really proud, Dan and I and also Brent Colehath and Laura Calhoun and Rob Cook. I mean, we're this little trio that go around and try and be the alternative to what's going on right now, and it's unfortunately just getting worse and worse. When we started this five years ago, every two minutes the child was put into foster care. Now it's every minute and a half.

trafficing case. For facts, and between the fact that the United States as a whole, we are now number one consumer and number one distributor of child in the whole world.

on that on battling that scourge right now. I don't know if if you were shocked by the number that came out when they talked about three hundred thousand plus migrant children who got into the system under the Biden administration and then wound up being lost because they didn't follow up on the people who were supposed to be vetted on taking them in and all the rest of it.

And I know that has been a priority for Tom Holman and the Trump administration too, to try and track these kill these children down, find out where they are, you know, I mean, and maybe bring to justice those who are responsible for inflicting this upon these kids. But where are we on that battle right now? Give me a give me a report. What's the latest do you know on that? And were you shocked by that three hundred thousand number.

And that was where I want seventy one and seventy five. I have some friends after one year of running down as that are in the police running down that just gave up. They couldn't do it anymore. It was just too hard. It was just so hard. And the average age of a child being traffic for sex of eleven, and the average aged age of being able to live being traffic is only seven years. And then they will perish from drug overdos or beatings or something like that.

But I think it is getting better in the sense that people now know about it. They didn't really know about it before. They didn't really see what this looks like. And everybody. There's a lot of really good organizations like not for Sale that I'm very passionate about, that are

really trying to get out there and do it. One of the biggest problems, and I hate this whole conversation be so negative, but one of the biggest problems is you have children that don't speak English, don't know where they came from, someone as young that don't even know their name, and here you have the wonderful carrying American authorities trying to figure it out. What do you do with a child when you don't know what You can't send them back because you don't know where they came from,

so they're trying to find placements for that. And then not only is the language barrier, but the trauma these kids have been true, your brain never forgets, the trauma never does. And they have behavior problems and may not even some of them are so to traumatize or become non verbal. So there's there's so many layers to what these kids are going through and we just and they didn't get to choose this, They didn't get to have

any say and everything they're happening to them. And if anything I could get across today, it would be we need, we need to be their voice because they don't have a voice, They're invisible and unless they speak up loudly, what do we do with that, I mean, and it takes all of us to figure it out, not everybody to do what I do, but at least talk about it, at least at least be aware of it. Well if you're a senator, right, it's Congress and something.

We've only got a couple of minutes left here. But I was thinking about this while you were talking, and I was thinking about have you been able to figure out or have you even tried to figure out.

It's easy, accent, and it's just it's a straight shot, and so it's easy, and a lot of them will continue to go up into Canada. So I think that's I don't.

this is our crisis. Are these kids with and and some of the things that are having these kids to put them into foster care and teamship care, the abuse they go through and all the rest of it. And we don't have to be this way. We when we make up our minds, damn it, we do it. But it's it's gonna take all of us to do it.

And and kind of concentrate especially children. Children just don't have a voice, and they don't they can't speak for themselves, so they're dependent on speaking for us or for us to speak for them.

I'm still going to be the ED at the Varner Foundation, but I feel very strongly that doors are opening for me to speak and read, uh I'm sorry, speak and write and teach about kids just like the ones that we talked about, as well as neurodivergent kids and how they're struggling with education and kids are what I live and breathe all day long, and so that's where I'm

headed that. So if anybody ever needs a speaker for something on a ton of different topics when it comes to children, I hope that they'll reach out to me. They can find me at E DE all E B E C O l SO atmail dot com. Right, and thank you so very much for taking the time to talk to me.

Reds Baseball coming up at I think what's first pitch, Dave was the four h five first pitch four ten, something like that, But Chick Ludwig, we'll be here at three ten with the inside pitch and then we'll have some Reds baseball. I believe they are in Kansas City and they got to do better than what they did with the three games with the against the Cubs. Trying to reach out to our buddy Jim Serger. Jim Serger,

local author, has written all kinds of books. We were talking to him last time about his book that came out called Jump the fortieth anniversary of attending the nineteen eighty four Van Handling concert. He's got a couple of more books that are getting ready to come out, and we will talk to him about that as soon as we can make the connection. So we are this is the way it goes sometimes when we have guests coming up on the show. But we'll try and reach out to him and see if we can't get to him

before too long. In other news and other stories going on, the Democrats have an interesting proposal. They need to somehow reconnect with mail voters. Democrats strategists are struggling to come up with Donald Trump's decisive right word shift in the electorate. So they look at the people who are voting and

they see how their message is being rejected. But instead of coming up with a message that resonates with voters, say I don't know, a message of maybe truth, a message of maybe, you know, getting away from all this DEI and transgender nuttiness. No, they need to spend a whole bunch of money and talk with consultants and figuring out,

you know, why people aren't voting for them. The New York Times published the first installment of a deep dive into the Democrats' efforts to figure out and correct what went wrong in the election. The report describes it as a defeat that felt like both a political and cultural rejection. You don't say. Among the democrats problems how to reach

young men. Reporter Shane Goldmacher reported on a proposed twenty million dollar study that would study the syntax, the language that would that is attractive to young men.

the working class voters. All right, let's let let's break that sentence down. They've been gathering at luxury hotels to discuss out of impact.

video games, among other things. So instead of you know, being being positive about the message that you have, right, instead of going out there and saying, hey, this is what we stand for, this is what we think is important. You know, this is what is going to move America forward. This is I don't want to use, you know, a phrase, you know, make America great again. But this is a this is a plan that is going to make America great.

going to make people vote for us? Instead of having you know, solid ideas, how to put more money in people's paychecks, how to get government off your back, how to make government more responsive to things that need to be done, instead of looking at stuff like that. Now, got to have these consultants look at what they're saying to each other on the video games. Right, where do they want to hang out. Let's go in there and create some kind of program that's going to get them

to vote for us. Is that really what's going to attract people to vote for Democrats? And who really votes for a political party anymore?

they've always voted for. But I think, at least I hope that in the world we live in today, with the availability of all the information that's out there, you know, all the stuff on the internet, everything you can possibly read, and all the rest of it, that you judge candidates individually instead of by whatever political party they represent. I would like to think that's true. I really I can't think of I can't think of anyone I know who goes out and I certainly don't. I don't vote for

Republicans just because they're with the Republican Party. That is, to me, that is as stupid as saying that, you know, I want to hire someone because they're a woman, or I want to hire someone because they're black, or I want to hire someone because they're a minority. I think that's a that's just ridiculous. You know, I think you can speak in generalities. Obviously, you know what the you know what the how the Republicans differ from the Democrats,

the two political parties differ from each other. But think about that in a practical way. How do you go out, how do you commission a study that's going to cost twenty million dollars to go out and look at young people and what they're saying on video games and how they're you know, maybe look at their chats and all the rest of them. I mean, we know that this administration was busy before trying to crack down on freedom of speech, especially speech that they didn't like, whether it

was political speech. And it started with the notion that people were putting out things that were a different than what the administration was saying when it came to the Wuhan virus, if they if the administration didn't like. I was talking to doctor Brian C. June Deaf on my

show on Well it was Saturday night. I had him on and he was talking about how he was attacked because in the early days of the Wuhan virus, he came out and he dared to point out some things that he thought the government was doing wrong, especially as it related to the you know, once the Biden administration.

that sort of thing. And now the idea that they want to monitor the speech of young people and try to I guess, mimic that or copy that or feed it back to them in a certain way, and that by doing that and creating commercials or you know, something that these individuals will see online is going to encourage them to vote Democrat when it comes time for them to vote.

talking about targeting guys like me. They're talking talking about targeting guys like my son and uh and and probably a lot of you listening now have kids that age as well, especially you know, the the you know, I guess they're not that worried about women, because when I'm reading here, doesn't talk about how they're concerned about women voting Democrats. And you got to get those guys, got to find out, you know, study their language, study their

speech habits, and then feed it back to them. And somehow, miraculously that is going to uh accrue to your favor when it comes time for these people getting to getting to vote. Absolutely unbelievable. One of my favorite stories from last week was the story of Colonel Stu Powell. And I'm not Stu Powell, but Stu Sheller. We had Stuart Power Powell on on a little bit earlier, Scott Powell,

I'm sorry, but Lieutenant Colonel Stu Sheller. And Stu Sheller was one of the guys, or the really the only guy who paid a who paid a price for calling out the leadership of the United States Marine Corps and essentially the military leadership for the withdrawal from Afghanistan, and he paid a price for that.

especially in terms of those in leadership positions. And so when you look at his book and when you read his book, he talks about how instead of these military commanders and these people who are high up the chain of command, instead of acting in the interest the best interest of those who are under their command, they act

in the best interest of themselves. And because of the way the military has become structured over the last several decades, and because of the political environment that was part of the Pentagon and part of the command structure, these individuals wound up looking up more for themselves than they did for those who are under them. And that is the

exact opposite of the way it's supposed to be. So when the time came to put this plan together to pull out of Afghanistan, too many of these, and the you know, in top leadership positions in the military simply stood by and did nothing while this plan and these actions played itself out. And Stu Sheller, as you'll remember, he probably shouldn't have by the letter of the law, by the letter of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, he should not have done what he did.

attack at the Kabul Airport. Ironic that I will be investigating who should be held accountable for Afghanistan, Lieutenant Colonel Seller, who was handed a senior role at the Pentagon by Donald Trump, said earlier this week. So it's just how much Washington has changed since Trump returned to power. It marks an extraordinary turnaround for a figure who was relieved of command and court martialed after posting a video criticizing senior officers on a day a blast ripped through the

American personnel guarding the evacuation from the Afghan capital. I've been fighting for seventeen years, then, commander of the Advanced Infantry Infantry Training Battalion, I am willing to throw it all away to say to my senior leaders, I demand accountability. So again, he knew what he was getting into when he did that, He knew what the consequences would be, and he did it anyway because because what he thought

it was the right thing. And now Pete heg Seth and Donald Trump has said, you know what we need. This guy who had it was intimately familiar with the plan and wanted to know why the top military leader or top military leaders whom he was under, didn't step up and say this is wrong. This cannot happen like this. Last month, he announced he had taken up the post of the Pentagon Senior Advisor, and Pete Hegseth the military is in desperate need of change, and there can be

no change without disruptors, he said at the time. For those who criticizing or criticize wanting stability in the status quo, you are the real problem. And look, you know, on one hand, you know, these these top military leaders who have served the country for many years and worked their way up into these top leadership positions. On one hand, it's right for them to be concerned about I guess,

their own personal futures. But when you really look at you know, what's necessary for cohesive leadership in the United States military. What's really necessary is that you know, they look out for those who are under their command. And that is really the the way that I guess, in a perfect world that these things are supposed to work. Stu Scheller said he was the only guy fired for

telling the truth about what happened in Afghanistan. Biden, president at the time, ordered the withdrawal of the last remaining American troops from the country in April of twenty one, quickly descended into chaos. We all saw the video. We know what happened. Afghan government force has melted away as our allies left, setting Taliban troops on a helter skelter race too Kabul.

he is able to talk about it. And with all these different investigations going on in Washington, I know a lot of people like me are feeling like, you know, it's one thing to have the investigation, let's have some accountability on the other end.

see here in Cincinnati. I saw video recently of David Lee Roth, and David Lee Roth is going back out on tour, and he is, and he may have lost a little zip on the fastball, if you know what I'm saying. But I was wondering, are you planning on going to see the David Lee Roth tour and maybe relive the greats of that Van Hallen concert from nineteen eighty four.

would be like the Blues Brothers in reverse. You know, the band is broken up. Yeah, but yes, I am gonna go. As a matter of fact, that white guy just talked about it. Yes, me and a couple another couple are gonna go, and we're gonna go down there.

because that's not the mission of the book. The mission of the book with tunnel to Towers is everybody can remember minute by minute, hour by hour, who they spoke to on nine to eleven, who they were with on nine eleven, and who they shared a conversation with, who are they were concerned with, who they reached out with. So this is the third book with Tunnels to Towers.

All the money goes back to Tunnel to Towers. We don't make any money off of this book, and it's to help gold Star Families, first responders, families, disabled veterans And as of today, they have given out over ten excuse me, one hundred and thirty mortgage free homes last year and they're in the process of opening up their fifth homeless village for veterans in the United States. So they have Texas, Florida, Michigan, Maryland, and New Jersey as we speak.

of my upbringing. I should say that I've always respected veterans and I wanted to do something for them, loving this country, putting the country first like they always do. So I kept seeing the time nine to eleven, which correlates with the date nine to eleven, and you're given seven hundred and thirty times basically in the year to remember nine to eleven. So that includes military, that included first and Fondi's cops, what have you. So this book,

it's amazing. It brings me great pride for this country to create this book, just helping out so many of that needed. So that's a mission behind the book.

how's your brother Dave doing? And then they kind of hit it off, you know, just for a few seconds. So that was a good piece of history with my dad. Nine on a little road trip. Love road trips with baseball. A lot of fun.

all the stuff that I had seen. A couple of high schools here in town helped me out build the story, allow me access to their practices, and I build a fictitious story of how you can do that. Just torit his memories. My dad played, you know, from University of Cincinnati baseball. I played for Midland Chiefs for one year. Mylok Rockets for state runner ups in nineteen eighty eight.

So baseball has always been in my blood absolute So I thought it would be a great project for me, something that is a serious challenge for me to do. Putting a lot of quotes in something in commons, I've ever done any of that, Dan, I'm only good at referencing. So this is a terrific project. I've heard good reviews. I've already sent it out to free people. They gave me positive reviews on the book. So that book will be coming out in February. Right, there's the high school season start?

process compelling. My wife reads a series of books by Diana gambled On, and we went up to Canada actually and attended an event with her, and she was doing some Q and A sessions and we were in one of those sessions and I got to ask her about the process of writing the book that was. You know, that's what I was interested in, you know, about the physical process of writing a book. What's that like for you?

When when Jim Serger decides I'm going to write a book, what, you know what, what's kind of like a day in the life of Jim Suger, Like when you're involved in that.

Maybe I write for two hours straight and I don't proof read my book until I'm done writing the book. Then I go back and try to catch as many mistakes, and then there goes those comments again, Dan, Okay, all right, I try to catch as many as I can. I will have read the book probably about nine times before I turn it over to the editor, and then he will take it from there. So the process myself is I think where a lot of authors stop is they never finish it. Well, it's just a rough draft, that's

all it is. It's but it's a finished item. It's something tangible in your hand that you can say, I did it. Now, I got to go on to step two. I gotta edit it. Now, I gotta go on to step three. I gotta line edit it. I mean, there's a lot of steps that followed. But to a new writer, finish it. Don't worry about anything. Who cares. You're gonna have the spill words, all right, That's just the way it's going to go. That's why you have.

cutting and uh, you know that process. Do you find that process hard? To cut out stuff that I do?

would make for a great story as a reference. So I do that all the time.

to them, Salute them. I mean Memorial Day. I was asking somebody the other day what does Memorial Day mean? And they said, well, instantly, I think of half off mattress sale. And I said, you know what, as a nation, that is true, we were like half off mattresses. Well, that's not what Memorial Day is about. Memorial Day is about all of those that have gone before us, that have served this amazing, beautiful country. I mean, I'm looking up right now in this cloud. The sun's coming through.

I mean, it's Chris, it's clear again. Sweats your mind. This is an all American day right now, all Americans, and we need to celebrate that and remember to say thank those tonight when we cheers our bottles or whatever beverage of choice, tell them thank you. You know what I mean.

that wind up having having the greatest meaning. Have you found that in life that you know, it's the production. It's just every sort of day to day stuff that really.

the grass or whatever. Whatever somebody's little part is. It's awesome. And I thank them for doing that.

for Reds baseball. Tonight's and it's Memorial Day. Pools are open, barbecues are going, and we had a great time at our swim club last night. I know all the folks are there again today. I'll be joining them before too long. And it really doesn't feel like pool weather, but that didn't stop the kids and some adults who were brave enough to jump in that pool.

greatest Jeopardy player I ever saw. Dave Smith decided that we should go to a VFW hall or an American legion and he said, I bet we can find someone there, some guys who were there who will talk to us. And I said, you know what, that sounds like a good idea. Let's do it. So we headed for an American Legion hall. We wound up at the American Legion Hall in Mount Washington, and this is the mid nineties.

And so we got there and we are in the Legion Hall and as we talked to the men and women that we found there, many were happy to speak to us in person, but they declined to speak to us. You know, we offered them an invitation to speak on camera,

and they declined to speak to us on camera. These were mostly combat veterans with incredible, compelling stories to tell, but like so many veterans of the World War Two or Korea Korean era, they were reluctant to recount their own personal time serving in harm's way, many of them telling me that what they did in the war was not about them, it was about those who did not come home. Compounding all this, it was Memorial Day, a day that I came to found out that was a

day that was not only sacred but deeply personal. For these veterans. Every single one of them carried with them the horrors of war and the memories of those many of their closest friends and fellow soldiers who were fallen so many years ago. They think about them every day, but on this day those memories come to the surface, and the idea that they would go on camera to talk to some young TV reporter about those experiences was

less than appealing. So we heard these sentiments repeated many times that day, and it was all very respectful, and Dave and I were getting to the point where we thought it was best that we thanked them for their time and be on our way and move on. So it was at this point that we were approached by a man who introduced himself to us as Squeaky not a very big guy, wearing an army jacket from the

World War two era. Turned out it was the same one he used to wear back in the day, still fit him at that time.

that my time was. Squeaky has stuck with me, and I came to find out they called him squeaky because of an injury that he suffered in combat. Piece of shrapnel hit him in the throat and damaged his well cars, so initially it was thought he told us that he may never speak again, but doctors were able to repair the damage to a degree, and the surgery leaving him with a very high pitched voice, and that is how he came to earn the nickname Squeaky because of the

way his voice sounded. So I asked him if he would like us to use his proper name to identify him in our report, but he declined that, saying that Squeaky was fine because that's how his friends knew him, and if they saw Squeaky on TV, they'd know who it was, and if he used his real name, they might think it was some other guy. So that was a little insight into his humor. He said, now, Squeaky's good enough. That's how they know me. That's what I'll

go by in your report. So we said fine. So we started to talk on camera, and I asked him about the importance of Memorial Day for all of us and why this day was so important and so meaningful to him, And to this day I have never forgotten what he said. On June sixth, nineteen forty four, he was a young man on board a navy ship, a troop carrier, a troop ship they called it, off the coast of France. This was d Day, day one of

Operation Overlord. That day, he was convinced that he would be headed to Normandy Beach alongside one hundred and fifty six thousand other soldiers as part of the Allied invasion. As fate would have it, on that day, he was instructed that he would not be going ashore. Instead, his duty that day would be to man and maintain the cargo netting that his fellow soldiers used to go over the side of the ship to the assault craft, the

landing craft that weighted below. Now, these soldiers were geared up with all the equipment they would need for the fighting, and so that required them to need assistants to get over the rail of the ship and onto the cargo netting. This part of the transfer, just getting over the edge, had its own set of dangers. And it was during this process of assisting these soldiers over the side that Squeaky came face to face with so many of the

men that he knew. Many of them he had served with since his first day at basic training, all the way up to this day. It was then he told me what he remembers when these or what he remembered that these men said to him as they went over the side of the ship, these young men knowing they were headed to hell on earth, knowing that they were the first wave, knowing that there was a very good chance they were likely to never return, and that this

day may very well be their last. At this point I could see his eyes well up with tears, and he looked at me and he said, almost every single one of them, the ones I knew, the ones I didn't know, As they were going over to meet whatever fate awaited them. They looked at him and said, don't forget about us, And his reply to them was his promise that he would not that he would not forget

about them. Squeaky never forgot the looks on the faces of those young men that he saw that day, and two days later, when it was his time to go ashore, he learned about how many had fallen on that beach and how much had been lost, and the faces and the words don't forget about us, they were seered into his memory, and his promise to them that he would not forget about them became a sacred vow. And so that's why this day, Memorial Day, is so meaningful to

men like Squeaky. Had he not been selected for duty of assisting soldiers that day get over the edge of the ship, he might very well have been part of that first wave, and God only knows what may or may not have happened to him on that day. He told me he believed that God spared him on that day so he could carry the memories of those who made the ultimate sacrifice, and so he would never forget

those who went ashore that day. He felt that God had reached down and touched him in a way that that was the purpose of his life, was to never forget those men and what they did that day. Several years ago I learned that Squeaky had passed away, and I truly believe that his oath to remember those lost in the cause of freedom has been fulfilled, and that there is a special place in heaven for the Squeakies

of this world. And so I decided years ago and that as long as I'm able, and if I'm lucky enough to be behind this microphone on Memorial Day, I am going to tell the story of Squeaky and what he said to me that day. I do this with respect and in hope that the memories of all of those who paid the price for freedom will be honored, and that the men who went over the side of

the ship that day will not be forgotten. And if I have anything to say about it, the man I met that day, known as Squeaky, he'll never be forgotten either, and God bless him. And I don't know, I don't know why it is that particular story that above all others that I did well. I was a reporter for Fox nineteen has stuck with me more than anything else, more than anything else I can remember doing back in

those days. But Squeaky, God bless you wherever you are, and all men and women who serve in the military, God bless you, and God bless those who who pay the ultimate sacrifice so we can enjoy the freedoms that we enjoy. Doug Collins was on Fox News earlier this morning.

was the families who were now without. So today, on this Memorial Day, not only do we remember those who gave that last full measure devotion, but remember today as you go about life, that there are some who are still looking at an empty chair. They're looking at a visit or someone that they would pick up the phone and talk to.