New Year's Resolutions plus Minnesota Shooting, Riots & Fraud

Welcome.

It is Verdict with Center, Ted Cruz Ben Ferguson with you. It's so nice to have you with us on the radio wherever you are around the country. And as a reminder, if you like the show, you love the podcast that we do three days a week and you can grab it wherever you get your podcast Center. It's a new year and this is our first show in the new Year for men on the radio that are listening and Senator, so let's have a little phone in New Year's resolutions.

So give me your top one for the year.

I'm ready, all right, So number one in twenty twenty six, I'm gonna lose some weight. I like two damn fat uh. You know I weighed in this week at two thirty six. That is two damn fat. You know, when I graduated from college, I was a buck thirty five one hundred and thirty five pounds. I was skinny as a rail. And my target for twenty twenty six is to drop thirty pounds. I want to clock in next January at two oh six. I'm at two thirty six right now,

Now, now, my question is, hold on, how are you gonna what's your plan for this? Is this gonna be like water polo or are you gonna get a trainer?

I got to give you a little a little hard time here. I want to know.

Look, look, it's it's kind of all of that. It's diet and exercise at the end of the day. And you know what, we're going to talk over the course of the year about how to do that and what's working and what's not. We're to have some of those conversations over the course of the year on the podcast.

The objective, which which I've.

Decided on, is to drop thirty and so so we'll see if we can do that, and and and and get to that point. H. My second resolution is actually related to my first, which which is that I am doing a dry January. As you know, Ben, I I enjoy red wine with dinner. It it it makes for a fun dinner. The problem is it's like injecting calories straight in your gut.

Uh.

And and and so if if you want to drop some weight, having wine with dinner is not conducive to that. And so I've decided for the month of January, I'm gonna go dry.

Uh.

And I'll tell you just a few days into it, I'm already feeling I'm sleeping better and feeling better. I think that's just a good It's healthier. I mean, at the end of the day. Uh, it's a lot healthier way to live. And and and so that is resolution number two. And then resolution number three, Uh is I am committing to myself that I am going to read the Bible every day in twenty twenty six.

All right, that's strong.

That's something I've done at different periods of my life. When our girls were younger, we would do devotion at night with them, so we read through the Bible, the New Testament with them every night. We would read and talk about it and pray together. And you know, when you're being a parent, that gives you an excuse to do so, but life pulls you a million different directions and sometimes it eats away at the time you would have to otherwise just just sit down and study the Word.

Dude, I love that. By the way, the Bible one.

That's cool because I literally tried a couple different times and life gets busy to do that one year Bible where you rea every day and you read the whole Bible in a year. And I got through it a couple of times where it was like you get about halfway and then things get happen the year. But the idea of just reading it every day, I actually will take that challenge with you, I will, I will actually commit to getting on board with that one. So my the thirty three percent, by the way, I was right

I don't realize you're down at two and nine. That's impressive, man, that is a lot of weightl lot and then that's really impressive.

So yesterday I was like, what is my goal? And my goal for this year is I want to put back muscle on and because I've been so focused on weight loss, so I'm going to work out lifting weights to a neighbor three days a week at least it just waights do the other stuff I've been doing. But I put on a shirt yesterday to kind of motivate me. I had one of my old shirts. I pulled it out. I swear to you it's this far in front of my chest, like I was able to pull it out

So it's never been a thing.

But I'm sixty six percent in with you, but I'll encourage you on the other thirty three percent, So I like it.

Well, look, it's a journey, and I expect that a lot of our listeners are making your own commitments in a new year, and maybe the maybe the resolutions Ben and I are doing our resolutions, you'll decide to do in your own life. Maybe you're maybe you're already skinny, in great shape, and so that's not a resolution you didn't need to make. But maybe there's some other aspect of your life that it's a chance to think about.

All right, center.

I want to get into Minnesota, and what happened in Minnesota There is a rallying cry because of a woman who tried to run over an ICE agent that she is somehow a victim, and the Left is wanting to have a civil war over this. You have the mayor there telling ICE agents to literally get the f out. You have civil war the words being used by the governor. They're seizing on this like it's an opportunity to derail

You're right, and what we're witnessing in Minnesota is is the natural culmination of several years of just increasingly heightened rhetoric from Democrats demonizing ICE agents, demonizing border patrol, demonizing law enforcement, just attacking them. We have democrats who call ICE agents Nazis, they call them Gestapo, and and listen, listen.

It's so sad to see them look at this almost like an opportunity to score political points. It was like, yes, we've got someone that's passed away. We can now seize on this, make our political statements. It is a tragedy, as you said earlier, that this woman died. I hate that this woman died, but you gave this law enforcement individual no other choice when you have a car coming right at you. And thank goodness, by the way, if you watch the video, there was some ice on the

Yeah.

And look, anytime there's an officer shooting, there will be an investigation. That standard procedure, so they'll go and examine the facts after the facts and then that's the way law enforcement operates anytime you've got a particularly a shooting involving a fatality. But but but it is it is amazing that this particular ICE agent, uh, Christinome, the DHS secretary said, had previously in recent months been hit by

Give a listen, and I have a message for Ice to Ice, get out of Minneapolis. We do not want you here. Your stated reason for being in this city is to create some kind of safety, and you are doing exactly the opposite. People are being hurt, Families are being ripped apart. Long term Minneapolis residents that have contributed so greatly to our city, to our culture, to our economy are being terrorized. And now somebody is dead. That's

I never thought i'd see a day where I would witness a mayor be so political after something like this happens, to tell law enforcement who were just sitting to do their job to enforce the laws of the land, to get the f out and then say it's their fault.

What a repulsive partisan swine like that is. I'm physically sick listening to and watching Jacob Fry. You know we talked about before how he you know, dances with glee waving the Somali flag and the massive fraud that has happened he has presided over and profited from.

And here he is.

You know what, this woman, a thirty seven year old woman, she's the mother of three. Look, she was there in part because of rhetoric like that, because of rhetoric attacking Ice. And and by the way, this woman she was married to another woman. Apparently her her wife was there videoing the entire incident. That that is a level of radicalization, and it is radicalization the Democrats have caused, they want and they're deliberately inflaming that passion center.

Let's go back to just the rhetoric that is coming out of the left, and we're going to talk about the governor wats in a moment. But there's been also, i think a very back law enforcement mentality that's been clear across the entire Trump administration. I'm glad that's their line and they're not backing down from Ice doing their job.

Look that that is absolutely right.

President Trump has the back of Ice, has the back of border patrol agents and law enforcement. You know, I view my job as having the back of law enforcement. I'll tell you, as I travel the country, I see whether it's border patrol agents or ice agents, or sheriffs or local local police, and I tell them all the time, I just say thank you, and it's my job to have your back. And that's a big part of why President Trump was re elected in twenty twenty four is

Thank you for taking questions today.

He is there a risk with you describing for as a deranged left as talking about very specific facts of these events when an investigation is just beginning. Are you preempting a thorough investigation by drawing such conclusions? And have you received any information beyond the videos we've seen publicly about this individual per specific act that has informed your point of view.

Well, first of all, the Department of Justice is going to investigate this. The Department of Homeland Security is already investigating this. But the simple fact is what you see is what you get. In this case, you have a woman who is trying to obstruct a legitimate law enforcement operation. Nobody debates that you have a woman who aimed her car at a law enforcement officer and pressed on the accelerator.

Why don't you vote?

Why don't you organize instead? What some of them are doing, what some of them are doing is encouraging people to get violent with our law enforcement officials. It's disgraceful and it's got to stop.

It's sad that you have to have that type of clarity, but he's absolutely right in what he's saying. If you don't like something, you can vote and change, but you don't just get to make up the rules and target people you disagree with.

Well and more and more, the left is condoning violence, violence on a partisan basis. And let me be clear, violence is always always wrong, whether whether I agree with your politics or disagree with your politics, nobody has a right to engage in violence. And and we're seeing on the left, more and more, we've seen the pole numbers of growing numbers of people on the left think violence

The seat or something.

Look, all of that is prudent it's the advice that I give my kids. It's the advice that every responsible parent I know, yeah, gives their child that that don't put yourself in a position where law enforcement has reason to be afraid, even if you're not a threat.

Don't give them reason to be afraid.

My dad was in law enforcement. He said to me so clearly. He said, I want to make it clear you never argue with law enforcement. If they're wrong, you get to go to court, but you always make sure you do not argue and you follow the orders given and if you've been wronged, that's why we have a judge. That's why we have a court system. And he was very clear, you're my son. I always want you to be safe. You turn your dome wide on, you turn the car off, you put your hands up there.

It goes back to respect.

But the left is now saying if you don't like them, for whatever reason, you don't have to abide by the rules.

You don't have to respect the law.

And if you don't like a law, instead of going in and actually voting and trying to change a law, they're saying, just be a vigilante.

And that's how we've gotten to this point.

And by the way, Ben At lunch Thursday, several of the senators were talking about exactly this topic, and Mike Lee brought it up. Although what he said is you should put your hands at nine and three instead of ten and two.

I'm like, nine and three. Who drives like that?

What are you Mario Andretti or something that's a little bit weird to nine and three. I don't know if that's a a Utah thing or what exactly that means. Uh, But I at least was talk ten and two, But I don't know how about you.

Are you a ten and two?

I'm at ten and too.

But my dad always said, he's like if you, he said, when you get pulled over, cross your hands on the top of the steering wheel because it's showing that you're not trying to grab anything. And I'm like, every time I do it, almost nine und percent of time.

One force always said to me, thank you. I turned the don one on.

I rolled down all four windows because if they come on the left side.

Of the right I don't want them not to worry about anything with me.

They've had a hard enough day and they've done this, and like you said, they walk up to a traffic stop. They don't know if you just robbed a bank. That's what my dad always told me. They don't know if you just killed your wife. They don't know, if you just ran over someone. They don't know if you have drugs in the car. They don't know who you are. So make them comfortable with you. And and I wish we lived in a society where that was like the common denominator.

Now unfortunately it's not.

And that naturally de escalates.

When you do that, you can see law enforcement kind of just you know, take an extra breath and okay, this is this is not going to be confrontational. And and listen, the reason that didn't happen is is this woman didn't want to de escalate. This woman was there to provoke a confrontation with law enforcement. She was there because the rhetoric on the left was is stand up and fight ice and and she was there to do that and and and and so it was the opposite

By the way side, note just I was talking to something in law enforce and they said, would you please just remind people that we will charge you with major crimes as a deadly weapon if you use your car to hit somebody.

We do it every day in America. This isn't some new rule.

You use your car as a deadly weapon, you will go to jail for that, whether you're going after law enforcement or an innocent person. It and and I think that's the important point for you to remember. If I was in front of that car, I could ease been run over. You could have anybody. That's why we have laws in the books that say you cannot use your car as a deadly weapon, and if you do, you will be charged with major crimes. It's sad that we

And by the way, you remember back in twenty twenty two, the man in Waukeshaw, Wisconsin who drove his suv into a Christmas parade and murdered multiple people, did so very deliberately, using it as a deadly weapon and killing children, killing the elderly, and it was horrific.

And the grotesque irony is that.

He had previously used his car as a deadly weapon against if I remember correctly, is his pregnant girlfriend. Yeah, And he had been charged with it and then let out a jail on a nominal I think it was a five hundred dollars bond, because you had one of those George Soros prosecutors.

Who lets people go.

And they let him out of jail for attempting to kill someone with a car as a deadly weapon. And he went out to the Christmas Day parade and committed mass murder. A car can be a very deadly weapon.

Senator, I want to go back to this the rhetoric here, and we mentioned the governor earlier. The governor Tim Waltz is now a disgraced governor. He had to drop out of his re election campaign because of the fraud that is just continuing to grow in the dollar amount and the different sectors of the government. I'm not sure there's any sector in Minnesota that wasn't involved in fraud and corruption at this point. We're seeing it in transportation, child care,

It's very odd.

Yeah, Look, the Democrat politicians in Minnesota are in crisis right now because this Somali fraud. It is the worst instance of fraud that has ever been uncovered in American history, nine billion dollars in counting massive theft from the taxpayers.

It is so bad that Tim Waltz.

I mean, remember, like twelve minutes ago the Democrats said he was going to be vice president of the United States, and now he's ended his campaign for re election even as governor, because look, I think he's facing potentially very real criminal liability for the fraud that unfolded under his leadership. And it is and Waltz and the mayor in Minneapolis that they're not the only ones. I think there's an

Well, I said this yesterday. We've never been at war with our federal government. I think in this case that the National Guard is their main mission. They have a dual mission.

When he said that and it went viral, I'm Mike, let me get this straight. You have a governor who is in a crisis situation. I'm talking about the Christs on the ground whose job is to back law enforcement, and his job is also to ratchet down the rhetoric so we don't have a civil war breakout. And he's like, maybe this is an opportunity for a civil war. He's saying that Minnesota is at war with the United States federal government.

The governor just said that.

Yeah, and listen, if you're an angry left wing radical, you already hate Ice, you already hate Donald Trump, and then you hear the elected Democrat governor say Minnesota is at war with the federal government. That is a call to violence. That is a call in war. People get killed, people get injured. That is Democrats very deliberately calling to violence. It is not we disagree over policy with the federal government.

Thank you for being here. Ask you, does large scale Somali immigration make Minnesota stronger or weaker? Certainly stronger, certainly stronger. Do you know what percentage of Somali headed households in Minnesota are on food stamps?

No?

Fifty four percent. Do you know what that number is for Native Minnesota headed households.

Well, to be clear, a majority of this.

It's seven it's seven percent. There's a big difference between fifty four percent and seven percent?

Is there?

Not?

Use me?

So I could I answer the question?

Let me let me move on. We've got a lot of questions here. What percentage of Somali headed households in Minnesota are on Medicaid?

I don't know.

It's seventy three percent. Do you know what that number is for Minnesota native households?

Again, you're using the phrase Minnesota native households.

The number.

If the number is eighteen percent, that's a quite an astounding difference. I think we would. Can I answer the question? Please, let me ask you one more and then we can go onto that. What what percentage of Somali headed households are on welfare in general?

I don't know.

It's eighty one percent. What about let me just ask you, after ten years of being in the United States, what percentage of Somali immigrant households are on continue to be on welfare?

I don't know.

The number is seventy eight percent. So even after ten years, seventy eight percent of Somali immigrant households continue to be on welfare. Do you know what that number is for Native Minnesota headed households non Somali immigrant immigrant headed households.

If I can just answer the question, you're using the phrase native Minnesotans. The majority of Somali Minnesotans are as Minnesota as any of us. They were born in the United States. It's only eight thousand of the one hundred and eight thousand.

In Nevertheless, the welfare usage is astoundingly different. Let me ask you again, does that make Minnesota stronger or weaker?

Again?

I'd like the opportunity to answer the question here. So again, the majority Somali and Minnesotan's are born in the United States. Is I understand, okay, well.

What percentage of working age Somalians who have been in the US for ten years or more? Ten years or more, how many of them speak English very well? I don't know about half. The answer is about half. That seems pretty low, doesn't it.

I love just the facts there, Senator, like the way that he handled that, the reason why you're good friends with, the reason why we played it, because he's just laying out the reality of the situation on the ground and how we got to a point where virtually every government program in Minnesota has been compromised by the Somali community in this way where they could grab money and create fraud with it.

But by the way Brandon got elected, he had a rough primary, He had a bunch of primary opponents, He had millions of dollars spent against him.

Brandon is a conservative.

Actually, his father in law is Danesh Desuzo, who's a good friend, and I endorsed Brandon early, went and campaigned with him, and he overcame a ton of money come against him. And part of what I told the voters of Texas is listen, if y'all elect brand and he's going to go and fight for you and make you proud.

He's doing that. You know. I want to make a point about the.

Back and forth because that that Weasley, Minnesota lefty witness. He kept saying, well, the majority of Somalians are are born in America. Now noted, note what Brandon Gill was asking. Somali immigrant headed households, and the guy says, well, they have a bunch anchor babies.

In other words, we bring over Somali immigrants.

Yeah, they have tons of babies here and because of birthright citizenship, which is a really foolish policy. And my hope is that the Supreme Court will side with President Trump and ending it. But the Somali immigrants come here, they have a lot of babies here. That guy's focusing on the babies, and Brandon's saying, all right, how about the person who heads the household and the person who heads the household? Are these Somali immigrants and you've got

This is a scam.

The Democrats did it deliberately, and they did it to buy votes. They were importing votes to vote for Democrats. They allowed them to commit fraud to steal nine billion dollars and then to bundle those votes for the Democrats, to bundle cash for the Democrats, and the Democrats covered

Ay Man, I couldn't agree with you more. Don't forget. We did this show three days a week, Monday Wednesday Friday. Is a podcast. Make sure you download Verdict with Ted Cruz wherever you get your podcast.

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