Suspect(s) in Court

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Last week plus has been certainly one that has been
pretty difficult to kind of run through, to get through.
And if there was ever anything that I could do
to make my life at all easier when it comes
to handling these things, I would tell you I would.

(00:23):
I think we did a video earlier today, myself and
Jim Rose and Gary Saddlemeyer and Scott Vorhees all sitting together,
and the subject of the video today, which you can
find on the eleven tin kfab Facebook page, was what
have you done over the last week to try to

(00:43):
find some levity in what's happened over the last week
or so, cause, I mean it's six days since the
Charlie Kirk situation occurred. The show we did here that
I'm never going to forget. As the news was coming out,
we were sitting here trying to unpack it and do

(01:08):
the best that we could to get information but also
try to stay as intrinsic as possible about everything.

Speaker 2 (01:19):
And that was.

Speaker 1 (01:25):
I mean, it really was on my mind like it
was so many others pretty much the rest of the
week until we got to the weekend, and I had
a chance, as I talked about yesterday, to really put
my feelings into order over the weekend about life and
what I'm going to do moving forward and how I'm
going to view things and hopefully find joy in not

(01:48):
just what I do, but in life itself.

Speaker 2 (01:50):
It's very easy to feel very.

Speaker 1 (01:52):
Distraught about where our nation is at that we could
have enough hatred just in the ether of this country
that a twenty two year old from southern Utah is
going to decide to assassinate someone who just debates people
on politics and philosophy. So I was wondering what that

(02:17):
was and what that meant for me, and I eventually
came around to I want to honor the legacy of
what Charlie Kirk was attempting to do by continuing to
have an open mind about debate, be convicted in how
you feel, but not be afraid of talking to people
who might think differently, and something I've been passionate about before,

(02:43):
but as passionate as I might have been before, I
want to make sure I'm practicing the fairest version of
that as possible. And that means, yes, we're gonna share
the news, and we're going to talk about things, and
I'm going to share my opinion the same as usual,

(03:04):
but I want to welcome people who want to debate
the basis of a specific topic, the different political ideologies
maybe can come up. It was one of the things
that Charlie Kirk really shined is when he was talking
to people who felt very passionately but also very differently

(03:29):
than he did, and he either was able to shut
them down with their own words, get them kind of
in a catch twenty two situation, or he was able
to talk in some way sense about how it fits
into the American kind of a zeitgeist, if you will,

(03:52):
whatever the topic was, or what the best way to
live in America with that particular situation and what that
looks like. So what I can do on this show
is the same thing, is you know, anyone that wants
to be a part of a conversation and talk about
things or email me their thoughts to respect everyone who

(04:13):
comes to the table looking to have a constructive debate
about things, and that's what we'll do. If you'd like
to email me here in the first out of the show,
it'll probably be easier for me. E M E R
Y at kfab dot com, Emrie at kfab dot com.
And I welcome any and all interactions. Now the big
news today as it relates to the shooter. Several counts
of you know have been charged to this twenty two

(04:38):
year old shooter who I will not mention his name,
aggravated murder among them, and they allege in the paperwork
here that this twenty two year old fired a rifle
shot from a rooftop sniper position, striking Charlie Kirk in
the neck. And there were roughly three thousand people in attendance,

(05:02):
which certainly changes some of the charges because it was
a dangerous situation for others. New information included the digital footprint,
the people he communicated with, and everything that was talked

(05:23):
about from him to his roommate to some of his
friends online about this before and after.

Speaker 2 (05:32):
The shooting occurred.

Speaker 1 (05:35):
Now they have the surveillance footage that they were able
to review. Within a day of the shooting, when they
apprehended a couple of people that they said was a
person of interest, but they were not people who actually
committed the crime itself. They released those individuals and said
they were not suspects. And it wasn't until a couple

(05:57):
of days later that this individual was turned in as
the shooter and we heard all about the background and
how this occurred. Now, according to the Washington County Sheriff
Nate brooksby Washington County being the county in which the
twenty two year old shooter lived and they are the

(06:21):
ones where he was turned into the parents of this
twenty two year old both have fully cooperated with the
investigation and the person we were told is the transgender
the transitioning transgendered roommate has also been cooperating with the

(06:42):
officials as they continue to investigate. He faces potentially the
death penalty as the maximum sentence, as you would imagine,
Utah does have the death penalty, and if they deem
this he death penalty situation if he refuses to cooperate
with authorities, he does not enter a police agreement, and

(07:05):
even if he did, there's a chance that they could
just ignore that and not accept that is certainly something
that will continue to twist and turn as time goes on.
Now he's being held in Utah County Jail right now.
According to the police affidavit, this twenty two year old shooter,
and the charges include not just aggravate and murder, but

(07:25):
a legal possession of a firearm and.

Speaker 2 (07:27):
Obstruction of justice.

Speaker 1 (07:31):
Now again we will see how Charlie Kirk's family, his widow, Erica,
and how they react to this, because they will also
have something to say about how this entire conversation, not
just the conversation, but also the charges and the trial
and how it is going to go, and what their

(07:53):
wishes may end up becoming, and whether or not they
ask for the death penalty here or with through the prosecution,
or whether they ask for life imprisonment. It just kind
of depends, and I suppose time's going to tell on
how all of that goes down, but certainly going to
be high profile as the days where on. This is

(08:16):
not the only bit of information that we have, and
of course we have Cash Battel, who's been questioned on
Capitol Hill about the handling from the FBI and how
it took two days essentially to find the individual responsible.
I think, much like the RFK Junior hearing, if you

(08:39):
want to call it that, a couple of weeks ago,
this is certainly going to be just another thing that
the Democrats tried to hold against Cash Battel that they
didn't have the person apprehended immediately. Again, I will stand
by my convictions here that the security aspect from local
law enforcement in the security team from Charlie is really

(09:01):
who allowed this to happen, and they didn't have a
good enough presence that the individual who was responsible was
able to escape and in fact flee all the way
back to their home before eventually they were brought in
to face the music. I suppose a couple of days later.
I don't know how the FBI is in some way

(09:21):
responsible for that, but we'll see and we'll continue to
chat about that and other interesting caveats with this particular conversation,
and again, if you'd like to be a part of
the conversation, feel free to email me Emory at kfab
dot com, e M. E. R Y at kfab dot
com and we'll have more coming up on news radio
eleven ten KFAB.

Speaker 2 (09:42):
This is a.

Speaker 1 (09:44):
It's a nice day outside and hopefully we're feeling more
cheerful by the day about where our lives are. I
know how distraught and depressing last week was. I spent
the first couple of days just can't get it out
of my mind, this poor Ukrainian refugee that's just sitting
on a you know, like subway train and Charlotte and

(10:06):
she gets stabbed to death by a career criminal for
no reason. And the excuse is that could possibly be
made for that individual. I just could not believe there
are people defending the act itself. And yeah, we could

(10:26):
talk about mental health issues. People like that who've been
arrested that many times. Certainly mental health issues are not
have no interest, no care, no interest.

Speaker 2 (10:42):
As far as.

Speaker 1 (10:46):
What we do as a society, right like, people in
and of itself have to be able to identify other
people as dangerous. There's no reason why we should be
walking through life every single day trying to justify to
ourselves that, well, they won't do it again. We have

(11:11):
different opportunities to learn about people. Like I said this
time a week ago. If somebody's been arrested fourteen times
in their lives as an adult, you have to at
some point say, this is a person that isn't interested
in being a law abiding citizen. This is not a
person that's interested in fitting into society safely. How are

(11:34):
we allowing this person to just wander through the world
without any repercussions to what they do, and then we
act surprised when they commit more violence. There's no good
answer to that. For me, we have to do better.

(11:55):
I have a few other bits of pieces of information,
but I have a couple of here I had. Skewtery
emailed me and said, no disrespect, but enough with Charlie Kirk.
It's been a week now. Other things, both good and bad,
are going on in the world.

Speaker 2 (12:14):
Ps.

Speaker 1 (12:14):
The guy already said he'd be asking for the death
penalty a half hour ago. Yeah, that's not Charlie Kirk's family.
They're going to extend the death penalty to the conversation
as far as the prosecution goes, but they will take
into account how the Kirk family wants prosecution to go.
They have to do the paperwork for the highest possible charge,

(12:36):
and they don't sentence right away. They have to, you know,
go through the findings the trial, make sure this is
the guilty party, that there are no other accomplices, and
then we can go through the sentencing process. As far
as enough already can. Can you challenge me, in some way,
shape or form to find a news source of any

(12:58):
kind on a local level, or a national level, or
even an international level that isn't still talking about the
Charlie Kirk situation. This isn't some small deal, you know.
I feel bad that we don't spend this much time
talking about every single school shooting. I feel bad that
we don't spend this much time going through the possibilities

(13:22):
of the implications of Ukraine and the possibilities what's going
on in the Middle East with Israel. I feel bad
that we don't spend this much time digging into a
ton of other topics that I think deserve this kind
of attention. But the reason this thing is so big
isn't just because of an assassin and just because of

(13:44):
how it happened. It has everything to do with a
fabric of debate in the First Amendment in this country.
Anytime there's new information, anytime we get a little bit
further into understanding the true motivation for the individual who
committed the crime, and anyone who may have known about
his plans, whether they thought he was joking or not,
that's important. How are we going to stop this from

(14:07):
happening in the future. This truly is a crux of time.
Things will change from before September the tenth, twenty twenty
five and after September the tenth, twenty twenty five, when
this happened. There will be a shift in change in
what we talk about, how we talk about in this nation,
not just politically on the right, but politically on the left,

(14:32):
in fact, sharing opinions at all, and how you share
those opinions, how do you do events? Are you going
to be better with security? Just imagine how much your
personal life changed after nine to eleven. Now this is
in nine to eleven, but this is something that is
going to change how people look at things. When you
jumped on a plane after nine to eleven, you did

(14:53):
not have the same experience. The process was much longer,
much more thorough. The TSA was in ed with the
idea of keeping people as safe as possible in airports
and on aircrafts, So when that took place, right, you
couldn't talk about that stuff enough. This is going to
change how we talk in this country and how we

(15:16):
do events in this country. You may be sick of
the story. Trust me, if I didn't have to talk
about death and an absolutely horrific assassination that unfortunately many
of us saw the images of in the minutes after
it happened, then I'm sorry. You're just you just got
to avoid the news for a couple of days, because

(15:39):
this is the biggest story of twenty twenty five as
far as politics are concerned, Yeah, the inauguration of Trump,
some of the stuff that he's doing, But as far
as society goes and feeling comfortable about the way we
speak about things, there is nothing more important than this. Now,
with that being said, the reason that there's so much
additional information is because the paperwork has been filed. According

(16:00):
to the authorities. Prosecutors have said the mother of the
twenty two year old shooter did identify the twenty two
year old through photos that they had released, and he
went to the Sheriff's office with his parents and a
family friend to turn himself in in Washington County on
Friday morning, or I guess it would have been he

(16:22):
originally turned himself in on Thursday night. We didn't find
out about it until Donald Trump said that they got
the guy on Friday morning. Now after that, it's going
through text exchanges talking about different things as it.

Speaker 2 (16:36):
Looks for.

Speaker 1 (16:40):
These individuals who may have been close through social media
or the discord app. And this individual who was the
roommate of the twenty two year old is a biological
male identifying as a transgender person, and we are under

(17:00):
the impression was in a romantic relationship with this twenty
two year old That individual, as I mentioned, has been
touted for the cooperation that they have done with the
authorities here and said, there are a series of text
messages on the day that this happened, and I mean,

(17:29):
this is what the texts say. It's pretty uncomfortable to read, honestly,
but this is what it says. The text message from
the twenty two year old shooter sent back to the
transgender roommate said stop, drop what you're doing. Look under
my keyboard now. According to the roommate, they looked under
the keyboard found a note that said I had the

(17:50):
opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk and I'm going to
take it now. There is actually a photograph of that note. Specifically,
the roommate texted back and said, what you're joking right,
And the twenty two year old shooter replied and said,
I am still okay, my love, but am stuck in
Orum for a little while longer yet shouldn't be long

(18:13):
until I can come home. But I grabbed my rifle. Still,
to be honest, I had hoped to keep this secret
till I died of old age. I am sorry to
involve you. The roommate responded, you weren't the one who
did it, right. The shooter said, I am, I'm sorry.
The transgender roommate replied and said, I thought they caught

(18:35):
the person. This was in the immediate aftermath when we
saw a video come out of what seemingly was an
older man with glasses on that they were holding down
on the ground and he was yelling that he has
rights and things like that. The twenty two year old
shooter said, no, they grabbed some crazy old dude that
interrogated someone in similar clothing. I'd planned to grab my

(18:56):
rifle from my drop point shortly after, but most of
that side of got locked down. It's quiet, almost enough
to get out, but there's one vehicle lingering. The roommate
asked why. He said, why did I do it? The
roommate said yeah. The shooter said, I had enough of
his hatred. Some hate can't be negotiated out. If I

(19:19):
am able to grab my rifle and see I will
have left no evidence going to attempt to retrieve it again.
Hopefully they have moved on. I haven't seen anything about
them finding it. The roommate asked, how long have you
been planning it? The twenty two year old said, a
bit over a week. I believe I can get close
to it, but there is a squad car parked right

(19:39):
by it. I think they already swept that spot, but
I don't want to chance it. So there's more here.
I'll read more of this later on, but it is
some stunning stuff that in the immediate aftermaths going back
and forth texting the roommate that many had questions about
and has been cooperating fully with authorities on this investigation,

(20:02):
and it seemingly is leaving little to no doubt that
there was anything to do with this twenty two year
old this, whether or not maybe there were additional people
who might have known or could have theoretically been involved somehow.
That is information that we will continue to learn. Had
a chance earlier today to chat with someone who is
an expert in strategy about things and to talk about

(20:27):
what the future of the United States and rhetoric holds,
and what it means that we are kind of going
after groups on the political left for their disrespectful kind
of celebration or overtures about the Charlie Kirk assassination. So
joining us now on our phone line is a polster
and director of political and policy strategy at Signal, Alice Tarassio,

(20:51):
joining us, Alex, thanks so much for being on our
show today.

Speaker 3 (20:54):
Thanks for having me.

Speaker 1 (20:55):
I we've talked not just about the act itself and
how track and it is that Charlie Kirk was assassinated,
what it means for the United States. But I think
a lot of people have focused with the fallout on
the political left in groups that have or I guess, ideologies,

(21:17):
or people who have celebrated or not necessarily condemned this act.
On who really was a political commentator? What can you
tell me about what the attitude has been from the
White House about these specific types of groups.

Speaker 4 (21:34):
So, I think the attitude from the White House is
that they have to do something because the reaction on
the American right in the past few.

Speaker 3 (21:42):
Days is explosive.

Speaker 4 (21:45):
And that's because they started the week Monday last week
watching a young woman who did literally nothing excepted on
public transits killed by a fourteen time arrested career criminal
who was let go by a judge, by prosecutor. That's
a policy choice that could happen to anybody, anybody who's
writing on public trains that could be killed because of
policy decisions by people who want to let criminals out

(22:06):
of jail. That was the first time. Then on Wednesday,
we all saw Charlie Kirk in broad Daylight, killed thirty
one years old for simply speaking, debating, and holding conservative
views that are fairly mainstream views. Millions of people in
the Republican Party in the United States believe the same
things that Charlie did, and some of them like to
speak out a loud And so those people wonder now

(22:27):
looking around at the reaction to Kirk's killing, when tens
of thousands of their friends in neighbors, doctors, nurses, the
teachers for their children are celebrating this, people wonder would
they dance on my grave if I happen to be killed.
Would people be happy if I lost my job? Are
people going to intimidate me into being silent? Maybe I
shouldn't put a political sign in my yard. Sim's going

(22:50):
to break my window.

Speaker 5 (22:51):
This is.

Speaker 4 (22:53):
Where people have gone. And so the administration has two choices.
They can either let people take action, take mares in
their own hands. Because I think that at this moment
they would or they could do something, and so this
investigation is them doing something. I think it's fairly open ended.
It's not a law they're passing at this point, and
they're not committed to an outcome, and so I think
it's the minimum responsible thing that they could do to

(23:16):
calm the situation down.

Speaker 1 (23:18):
Yeah, the calming of the temperature is something that I've mentioned,
and I think there are a lot of people that
are Republicans that say, why are we in some way
responsible for doing that? And I understand that sentiment at
the same time, Right, you hear Donald Trump talk and
you hear people that are political opponents left, and when

(23:39):
he says eleanor Omar is a disgusting person, or you know,
he says something that you know, demeans people who are
on the political left for really anything at all, people
point to that and say, this is where the rhetoric
comes from. Is there some responsibility that Trump or his

(24:01):
White House feel like they have to try to also
tone it down? Or are they pointing the finger directly
at the political left saying it's all on their shoulders
and if they don't do something about it, then we'll
do something for them.

Speaker 4 (24:14):
The Trump administration is certainly taking the latter approach. They
have very clearly rejected any kind of both sidisms. They
are pointing the fingers squarely at the left end. And
I don't think that it's a it's an either or
or an or else situation. I think that they definitely
intend to go after groups they've named Antifa, which is

(24:36):
not a not a terrible candidate because it's so decentralized.
I mean, it was a decentralized cell that organizing was
about eight people that attempted to attack an ice unit
in Texas, and they were found and some of them
were killed. It was a decentralized unit going back in
time that the killed a Raham Lincoln like, he doesn't

(24:57):
need to be a registered tax exempt five Z one
C three to have an impact on society. And so
I think that these groups of people, rather than lone wolves,
which are really hard to go after, I think basically impossible,
these cells are their target.

Speaker 1 (25:12):
Interesting Alex Terrassio is joining as a director of public
Political and Policy Strategy at Signal Alex the next step
right of the United States, and again the both side
ism thing. I look at as many sides as I
possibly can. But the last thing that I think America

(25:33):
needs to have is people, as you alluded to earlier,
afraid to say their political views out loud. At the
same time, social media has given everybody kind of a
voice and an additional platform that they'll either share their
political thoughts or, as we've seen with a lot of
people on the political left, they'll go on their social
media to celebrate the assassination of someone they disagreed with.

(25:55):
What role does social media play in either the healing
of America or or the continued divide that we are
seeing continuously as both sides seem to be still very
far apart in the Americas that they wish to live in.

Speaker 4 (26:12):
I think that you're thought on that it's inescapable that
social media is driving a lot of this, but it's
also where people are finding out what happened. If you
only relied on the Washington Post, then you would have
no idea what's going on. You would have no idea
why conservatives are upset because they're not talking about it,
because they're captured and they have an interest in not

(26:33):
talking about it. I think the New York Times is
a little bit better than that, not much, and so
there's a reason that we go to social media, but
it's you know, maybe it's true to the poison tree
because it definitely spins people up and it makes this
all a lot easier to have happened. So I suspect
where they're going to go as companies is to take
a harder line on actual threats of violence.

Speaker 3 (26:56):
I think it's the.

Speaker 4 (26:56):
Most limited thing they can do and has a clear
limiting principles conservative where you can't threaten the president for instance,
you turns knock on your door. If you do that,
everybody knows that. So that's where I suspects we're probably
going to go, rather than they started a hope something
like what the Europeans do, where you can't even say
that a man is a man or.

Speaker 3 (27:15):
A woman's a woman.

Speaker 4 (27:16):
If you do that, you can go to jail. They
call that hate speech there, and it wouldn't be that
hard to imagine that being considered hate speech here. One
change of administration. You can't talk about immigration in the
same way that that's obviously a terrible place to go,
and I don't think that where we would want to
go as the United States.

Speaker 1 (27:32):
Yeah, but the time is especially now going to tell
last thing for you, Alex. As part of that, some
people in the political lasts who have noticed all the
people that are being put on an administrative leave for
their celebratory posts or them celebrating that Charlie Kirk was assassinated.

(27:52):
They've been removed from their jobs. They've been fired, they've
been let go. They could be teachers, they could be
faculty at you know, college, they could just work for
other corporations. See some pilots being relieved of their duties,
people at hospitals relieved of their duties, and then people
on the political left saying I thought you guys wanted
to cancel cancel culture, or something along those lines. I

(28:16):
think that this is a very different situation than what
traditional cancel culture may end up being. But from your
vantage point, Alex, is a healthy thing for the political
right to do, to be targeting individual people who might
be sharing their own political opinions, even if they're very

(28:36):
disgusting ones, honestly, because it does kind of fall in
line with what we would consider to be cancel culture.

Speaker 4 (28:45):
I think that a safer place to be is one
where there are some clear limiting principles and there is
no limiting principle to cancel culture. The entire purpose of
it is to constrain the space for debate into where
the councellors say it is, and they've done that in
so many ways. In this case, if you are limiting

(29:08):
it to you should be allowed to say that Charlie
Kirk was a parable person if you want to. I
don't think that you should be canceled for that. I
think that that is speech that I'd be willing to protect,
even though I firmly disagree with it. But saying that
he should be killed, I think is fundamentally different. I
think that's a different thing. You can call it cancel
culture if you like. If so, I'd wear that with
a badge of honor. I think conservatives would too. I

(29:28):
think that adherence to principles matters less, or rather perceived
adherence to principles matters less than getting this one right.
And that's what is going to be so different about
how this political fight plays out compared to fights of
the past, Because we can't have a civil society where
people want their political opponents dead. You can't have political

(29:48):
debate when that's where you are. And so going after doctors, nurses,
people were at hospitals, people work at schools who educate
our children. We have a societal interest in making sure
these institutions function really well. I don't have a whole
lot of interest in going after a mechanic. I can
go to a different mechanic. I don't have to go
to that one. I don't get a lot of choices

(30:08):
in which hospital I go to or which school I
send my kids to. So I think there's a different
societal interest in making sure that people know that the
individuals they're interacting with, their authority figures there that you
have to listen to. They treat everybody the same.

Speaker 2 (30:25):
It's a really good point. Couldn't agree more.

Speaker 1 (30:27):
Alex Drassio Upholster and Director of Political and policy Strategy
at The Signal. Alex, thank you so much for being
on our show today.

Speaker 4 (30:34):
Thanks for having me.

Speaker 2 (30:35):
Did have a.

Speaker 1 (30:36):
Very nice long email here in the last half hour
from Carrie said, I've been thinking a lot about free
speech lately. When people from other countries talk about America,
they often point to our freedom of speech sort of
the most remarkable and valuable things we have. I agree,
but I also wonder how do we regulate it, or
should we regulate it at all, that's a million dollar question.

(30:56):
I'm going to just keep reading the email here, though,
because this is a really good email. It's clear that
words can influence actions. I believe free speech played a
role in fueling a shooter's decision to kill. Of course,
each of us is responsible for our own actions, but
it's undeniable that speech can push people toward dangerous choices.
So where do we draw the line between preserving free
speech and protecting lives Personally? I wish we could start

(31:20):
by holding politicians accountable for their words. They shouldn't be
able to casually label someone a communist, socialist, or fascist
just as an insult. We should also move away from
media sound bites taken out of context, only playing snippets
used to support a narrative while ignoring the bigger picture
that distorts truth. Maybe the solution lies in treating harmful speech,

(31:40):
especially when it's defamatory or libelous, more seriously, in the
legal system and beyond the law. I'd love to see
political leaders set an example by admitting when they've spoken unfairly,
taking responsibility, and committing to stop. Sadly, I doubt we'll
see that anytime soon. Still, the question remains, how do
we preserve one of our great freedoms while also protecting

(32:02):
people from the harm the reckless.

Speaker 2 (32:04):
Speech can cause.

Speaker 1 (32:05):
Thank you for your show in the conversation, man, that's
some good stuff. Now, if we can all just be
that thoughtful in this politicians included, then we can find ourselves,
I think, in a better place in this country. But
as Carrie mentioned here, moving away from using that language

(32:27):
is something that's really nice to think about. But the
issue you're going to run into is that you agree,
let's say we're conservatives, we agree that we're going to
do everything we can to avoid name calling, especially when
it implicates someone as a communist or a socialist or
something like that. But then the other side does not

(32:51):
agree to that, and they continue to throw the fascist
nazi just consistently. You know, dictator want to be stuff
like that that really can you threat to democracy? Existential
threat to democracy. That is the kind of stuff that
is going to fire up their base. And now all

(33:12):
of a sudden, you've handcuffed yourself to not fighting that
fire with fire. I'm not one of these guys that
is like, well, two wrongs make it right. I don't
agree with that, and I think it does pay to
be the bigger people in some regards. But I also
am not naive enough to think that if you as
a political movement or party agreed amongst each other, that

(33:33):
you should stop with hateful rhetoric or using words that
are insults but essentially are designed to scare people from
voting a certain direction because of labels like fascist or Nazi,
or communists or socialist.

Speaker 2 (33:50):
These are the things that you set.

Speaker 1 (33:52):
Yourself up to get god on if you just allow
the other side to steamrollly over. I'm not advocating for
that type of language, but I just unless both sides
at the same time in paper handwriting and sign it
all of them that they don't want to do that,
I just don't see that happening. Even though I think
everything that Carrie said about free speech is correct, there

(34:14):
are people. I get it that we've talked about this
for the better part of a week and it has
been the major national and in some ways international news
story just because of the profile in the background of
the person who was assassinated. It was a person who
was assassinated because of political beliefs, in political rhetoric and

(34:36):
something that Third world countries do try to kill each
other over stuff like this is something that we read
about in places like the Middle East or in Russia.
We don't hear about it in the United States of America.
And that's why it's such a big deal when something
like this happens. And where do we go from here?

(34:57):
That's the biggest question, is where do we go? What
do we learn from this? What's the next thing? You're
always looking for answers, some sort of sense making, and
especially from people that you kind of run to, the

(35:21):
people you think you'd agree with. You know, you go
to trusted people in your life, whether they're close to you,
or their voices of people that you listen to on
a regular basis, or you like what they wrote about.
You kind of look to them for their advice or
for their opinion. But I think even more powerful words
sometimes can come from people you may not agree with,

(35:43):
enter a person like Bill Maher. Bill Maher is a comedian,
but he also has hosted Real Time on HBO. He's
long been considered a very liberal person. He considers himself
this is the words he says, is I'm an old

(36:05):
school liberal. But when he came and tour in the
Omaha area a couple of years ago, after I had
just started on this show. I got a chance to
interview him, and he's a great guy to talk to,
just because he does feel like the woke mob is
a detraction from real politics and real progress in this country,

(36:29):
and so I was pretty curious to hear what he
had to say. I think he's with Billy Corgan of
the Smashing Pumpkins here on his show, and I think
this was either on Sunday or Monday. I believe it
was Sunday, but I found this clip and it perfectly
encapsulates I think what the political left need to rally

(36:51):
around if they want to regain a foothold in this country.
And I didn't expect to hear it from somebody like
Bill Marp, But take a listen this Bill Maher from
his show over the weekend.

Speaker 6 (37:03):
Just the fight I have been having with the left.
While I'm of course the irony as a lot of
people in my position is still a liberal, just a
traditional liberal, not I won't go along with their like
a lot of the stuff that's just crazy out there
too far, which gets Trump elected blah blah blah. As

(37:24):
I always say to my woke friends, we voted for
the same person. You're just why she lost.

Speaker 2 (37:31):
Took me a second, Sorry, I absorb that.

Speaker 7 (37:33):
Okay.

Speaker 6 (37:35):
You know, they're the people who don't want to talk.
It's my main issue with them. They and Charlie Kirk
was a guy who, like he was always talking, and
I talked to him here. You know, the right wingers
say what you want about them, but they talk to you.
They're not into this leftist think that the left really

(37:56):
has much more of a I don't talk to you.
I don't want to deal with you. You're deplorable. I can't
break bread with you. Ye that attitude and like all
the right wingers, they don't have that attitude. No again,
I didn't vote for them. And Charlie Kirk and I
certainly don't agree on much politically, but he sat here.

(38:19):
He's a human being, he's not a monster.

Speaker 2 (38:22):
And a husband and a father, yes, and.

Speaker 6 (38:24):
I liked him. I liked them all. They're all nice
people when you meet them in person, and they're not
as crazy as they would nobody's as crazy as they
make them out to be.

Speaker 1 (38:35):
That's Bill Maher from his show, and you can hear
the voice. It is Billy Corgan of smashing pumpkins there
with him.

Speaker 2 (38:43):
Think about that.

Speaker 1 (38:46):
This is an old school liberal man who I think
this is the moment that we have upon us here
to learn and to understand what is happening around us.

Speaker 2 (38:59):
We have.

Speaker 1 (39:00):
A thirty one year old father husband whose biggest sin
I suppose is loudly proclaiming the convictions that he has Politically,
He's never run for office, he's never held office where
he's decided that he's going to legislate against groups of people.
All he would do is have an entire platform around

(39:25):
debate and wanting people to prove him wrong. As he
would say, come up here, grab that microphone and prove
me wrong.

Speaker 2 (39:34):
Debate me.

Speaker 1 (39:34):
That's all he did. And here you have Bill Maher saying,
they will talk to you. People on the political right
will talk to you. These are not monsters, no matter
what you're attempting to make them feel like they are. Now,
I'm not here as a person. I'm in no position

(39:59):
to tell people how to live their life. But if
you can't listen to something like this as a Democrat
and understand fundamentally where he's coming from, I'm not sure
how you can continue to function and think, well, people
will still eventually vote for us.

Speaker 2 (40:17):
How do you know that.

Speaker 1 (40:22):
Hillary Clinton started this with the whole deplorable thing. The
people who support Trump are deplorable. He mentioned that word
right there. You talk about his point of the woke people,
the very far radical left on the spectrum, who just

(40:42):
absolutely refuse to reason or talk to the people of
the political right because they think there's some sort of
better individual or a better human being than they are
in some way, when that's absurd, and no person in
America should be acting like there's some better person than
anyone else. There are people who accomplished more, but you

(41:03):
don't have the dignity or the true integrity to act
like you're some sort of better individual than I am.
And even if you try to do that, I don't
like you. Who likes people like that? He just acts
smarter and better than everybody all the time. Yeah, you
could say Charlie Kirk did that, but he used intellect
to debate people, and he did it in a respectful

(41:25):
enough way that he wasn't gonna shut people down. He
was going to let you tie yourself into a knot,
or he was gonna win an argument with you until
your time was up, and then he'd move on. Those
were words, those were talking points. He at least spoke
to you. People who act too good to even talk
to the pews of America like me and you. Those

(41:46):
are the people that will never feel like we can
vote for. And that's to another point that Bill Maher
brought up. There, we voted for the same person, he said,
So he voted for Kama Harris, and all of the
other radical left people when they voted for president voted
for Kamala Harris as well. But he says the reason

(42:09):
she lost is because of the radical, woke people that
chased away anyone in the middle that would have otherwise
considered voting for the Democrat.

Speaker 2 (42:18):
Is he wrong?

Speaker 1 (42:21):
I think a lot of us here in this country
saw the results in November of last year and thought
to ourselves, yeah, this definitely more and so illustrates what.

Speaker 2 (42:33):
The real world.

Speaker 1 (42:36):
Looks like, and that the people on the far political
left are living in their own version of reality. That
many independent voters who swing elections every four years, heck
even every two years when you talk about the midterms,
those independent voters can't find ways to reason with the
far left radicals that act like they are the backbone

(43:00):
of the Democrat Party. I'm not sure they are, but
you can hear these politicians. I played audio from Chuck
Schumer from thirty years ago and the way that he
talked about how illegal immigration is a terrible problem in
the United States of America and how people are using
it to defraud America. He said that as a Democrat
in the mid nineties while he was a senator. Fast

(43:23):
forward to thirty years he's in the same position now,
a leader in his political party in the Senate, and
he is saying things that are insanely radical as far
as open borders and sanctuary cities go. Why because he
is trying, much like all of these other lifetime career politicians,
trying to appeal to what they think is the greater

(43:46):
denomination of people who are moving that far to the left.
Now again, you could say the David Hoggs of the
world and some of these younger influencers are going to
kind of crop up an even more radical version of
what the Democratic Party could look like into the future.
And yes, if you are trying to stay in office

(44:08):
and stay in power and have the opportunity to maintain
your ability to be a Democrat and be elected by
other Democrats, you have to kind of morph into whatever
the party looks like.

Speaker 2 (44:20):
Now.

Speaker 1 (44:20):
I get that, I understand the strategy behind it, but
it has no integrity. And as soon as you start
acting like everybody who disagrees with you is beneath you, somehow,
you've lost the room. And that's where the Democrats find themselves.
Whether or not they're going to figure it out by
midterm elections a year and two months from now, or
by twenty twenty eight, when they're certainly going to be
a hotly contested presidential race, that remains to be seen.

(44:45):
But if the Democrats actually want to win back Middle America,
they're going to have to listen to people like Bill
Maher who haven't lost their sense of common sense, if
you know what I mean. How he was describing how
the political left has just kind of lost the plot
in a lot of ways when it comes to debate,
when it comes to trying to understand what the other
side has to say about anything, because they just act

(45:08):
like they're too big to actually speak to somebody who
disagrees with them. Tom sent me an email Emory at
kfab dot com. If you want to be a part
of the conversation E M. E or y at kfab
dot com. That is the email address. He said, Bill's right.
The Left can't talk or debate because they lose every time,

(45:29):
so they scream or do a riot or they kill. Yeah,
I mean they may lose, but does anybody really lose debates?
And now you could say, yes, there is such a
thing as debate in school, I actually was on the
debate team for one year.

Speaker 2 (45:48):
It's quite a commitment.

Speaker 1 (45:49):
You really had to know your stuff about the things
that you were in the process of debating, and if
you were a good talker, you were well prepared, you
could find a way to out debate someone. The debate
as competition has existed for a long time. It was
a great way for kids in the high school or
college age to learn how to formulate arguments and articulate

(46:14):
their arguments properly, get scored for them, and that the
people who are good at that. Usually that'll translate into
people who are doing public service as a politician. They
are acting as a lawyer or an attorney for their
own company, their own firm, or working as a defense

(46:34):
attorney or something for the government as an appointed attorney,
things of that nature. All of that stuff is useful
in a way because you do learn that you can
argue better or worse. And it's not about agreeing with
the people who.

Speaker 2 (46:55):
Like it.

Speaker 1 (46:55):
Doesn't matter if you agree or not with the argument.
It's about how you bring that to the table so
as we learn about each other's perspectives. And this is
the one thing about America is there's not a whole lot.
If you're politically active, you are not surprised by much

(47:16):
of anything. You know what, if somebody calls themselves a
Democrat or a liberal, you can pretty much pin down
where they're going to stand on major issues like transgender
transgenders and sports, LGBTQ plus rights, no abortion. You can

(47:36):
know how they stand as far as it relates to
the war between Hamas and Israel, with the Palestine situation,
you know where they stand. With Ukraine and Russia. You
can figure it out without really even talking to them. Well,
Democrats are the same way. The difference between the two
sides is Republicans want to tell Democrats why they're right.

(47:57):
For the most part. Now some of them just want
to yell not here back. I've had people call into
this show this week already that think that they know
everything and they don't want to hear anybody give them
anything that.

Speaker 2 (48:08):
Disagrees with their perspective or their point of view.

Speaker 1 (48:11):
There's not a whole lot of constructivity to that, and
so there's not a whole lot of use. If you're
always shouting and never listening, that's not going to actually
change anything. But that's the thing about Charlie Kirk, and
hopefully we can learn with his incredibly untimely death, is
that he did listen to people, and he used a
lot of their arguments against them, tying them in knots.
I watched this one clip of this girl coming up

(48:33):
and saying, why do you think that transgender females shouldn't
be in women's locker rooms? And Charlie's answer was, do
you think that there should be rules against men like
being peeping tom's and watching women undressed through their window
of their house? And this girl said yes, of course,
and then he's like, okay, so then why do you

(48:54):
think that biological men should be in women's locker rooms?
And she didn't have an answer to that, just took
one sentence and she was bamboozled. So learning how to
articulate that type of argument is something that hopefully we
can take from Charlie Kirk and what Charlie brought to
the table. Well, on the other side, the political left,

(49:18):
they're not even interested. They know, they feel like, they
don't even feel like it. They know in their heart
that they are on a moral high ground on almost
every topic, which is insane to me, right, because how
can you be on the moral like the moral high
ground on all these topics when some of them are
contradictory to each other. It's difficult to put into words

(49:43):
the disdain that I have for people when they act
better than someone and they don't even want to hear
the other people. This is the difference between what I
am noticing from the political right versus the political left.
The political right willing to say why they are right
and maybe even open up a discussion. I think all

(50:03):
of us could be better about listening to the other side,
whereas on the political left they don't even want to
start the conversation because they think they're too good of
a person to even talk to you. That in and
of itself is an absolute sin. In the United States
of America. What are we doing in this country that
put us in such a terrible situation where we don't

(50:25):
even think that we can talk to each other. It's
something to mole over. While it's still incredibly important to
Charlie Kirk fall out the charges that are being brought
to the individual who is being charged, I mean, it's
he's the person everything that we're seeing, He's the person.
We're gonna learn, hopefully what the possibility is of somebody

(50:47):
else knowing about this or working together with this individual.
We don't have that information as there's an obvious second
or third person that was involved, but maybe indeed there
is someone else that will end up being charged for
one reason or another. We'll give you that information as
it happens. But I want to talk about something completely

(51:08):
different now. I saw a survey that talked about botox.
I don't know if you've known this, but a lot
of people who are my age and younger, especially young women,
mostly they are using botox in their twenties, like injections
that are every few months. But it actually really slows

(51:31):
the aging process in a way. And I've always found
it to be a really fascinating thing for somebody to
get involved with that early. Whereas you know, most of
the botox that I've heard about before was with people
that are getting older that just want to, you know,
make their face seem to be a bit younger. But
what if I told you that botox might be a
bit overrated. Well, to talk about this and what might

(51:54):
end up being even more so more attractive than having
a botoxed up face is the CEO of Quantum Connections
in Dallas, which helps individuals and organizations find connection in
a disconnected world. His name is doctor Jonathan Thorpe. Joining
us on the phone line, Doctor Thorpe, thank you so
much for being a part of our show today.

Speaker 4 (52:13):
You bet Emory.

Speaker 2 (52:15):
Yeah, I gotta.

Speaker 1 (52:15):
Tell you, you know, I'm a person that doesn't think
I'm super duper attractive, So maybe this, you know, goes
beyond the scope of how I think about myself. I've
never once said, you know, botox is the answer. But
I live next door to somebody who gets like botox injections,
and she says that it's no big deal and she

(52:37):
loves how it makes her look. I have some close
friends that started doing botex when they were like twenty three,
twenty four, years old. But is this actually accurate that
more people seem to find just a natural smile more
attractive than somebody that's giving themselves injections over the years.

Speaker 3 (52:54):
Yeah, you know, that Tilbert study is fascinating. It showed that,
you know, makeup and botox gives small all bumps to
scores that reflect a person's appearance. You know, that confirms
that people do notice the surface. But I think what's
even more interesting in that study is it suggests that
smiling has an effect four times greater than botox on
actual feelings of attraction between two people and really the

(53:18):
deeper ways that we all connect with each other. You know,
one of the things we learned at quantum connections dot
com is that when you smile at me, Embry, you're
not just changing your appearance, You're really changing the way
my brain functions. My mirror neurons fire, and I feel
invited to smile back, not just really as a mimicry reflex,

(53:39):
but it comes with the flood of neurochemistry, oxytocin and dopamine,
the real chemistry of trust, warmth, even attraction. So while
makeup can polish how we look in two dimensions, A
genuine smile really transforms how we feel together in the
three D real world.

Speaker 1 (53:58):
I look at you know, well, I'm gonna I'm ashamed
to say this, I'm gonna just say it anyway. I
use artificial intelligence to help me with self confidence a lot.
And that includes fit my physicality and you know, whether
it's my hair or you know, my facial hair or
the clothes that I decided to pick out. I am

(54:20):
trying to like give off more than just an attractiveness
good vibes. I want people, you know, male, female, to
look at me, young and old and see somebody that
they feel is approachable right or or somebody that they
would be impressed by. Even like you mentioned, your brain
kind of tells you that upon just looking at somebody.

(54:43):
So what what would you say the power of a
genuine smile is? And for those who say, you know,
I'm not a super duper smiley person, is there a
way to exude positive vibes maybe without wearing a smile
all the time?

Speaker 3 (54:59):
Great couple of questions. Let me ask you one back.
If I were to ask you are a group of people,
what feature on the face do most people key on?
When I when asked to evaluate a smile, what do
you think Most people.

Speaker 2 (55:10):
Would say probably the mouth, right.

Speaker 3 (55:12):
You bet, And that makes a lot of sense. Either
it's the shape of the mouth or the number of
teeth that they show, because all smiles include the mouth,
but only real smiles also involve the eyes. Now, psychologists
called us a Duchane smile, the smile that engages both
the mouth and the eyes, and it's the difference between
a polite kind of half grin and the kind of

(55:35):
smile that can really light up a room. What's true
is our brains are really finely tuned to spot it.
And when we see that Duchane signal the crow's feet
around the eyes, we relax, We feel warmth, safety, acceptance.
And what's true also is when it's missing, even if
the mouth is smiling, something feels off. So the paradox

(55:58):
for people is that botox may actually smooth out those wrinkles,
but it also freezes those eye muscles to create that
little crinkle of genuine smile. Like I said, our brains
are wired to look for it because it's a sign
of authenticity. So in actually trying to look more appealing,
we may actually be erasing the very signals that make
us most attractive.

Speaker 1 (56:20):
That is very interesting. We're joined by doctor Jonathan Thorpe.
So erasing your crow's feet or some of those signs
that make you seem a little bit more genuine could
actually pull back maybe an attractive score to a variety
of people. I you know, for somebody like me who
has a neighbor she's about my age, but she says

(56:41):
she's been getting botox for about twelve years now, and
I don't for those who might be of an older
generation when that sounds absurd. The play I guess here
is you go get injections every few months, starting when
you're you know, twenty two to twenty three years old,
if that's what you're into, and it keeps your face
looking young, and it keeps your face looking kind of

(57:02):
full and fresh for years without needing to kind of
load up on botox later on in life. Is there
still a place for people who you don't want to
do their face up or do their makeup, or that
they have somebody in their life that has already kind
of committed to this level of you know, botox, which

(57:23):
I'm under the impression you just kind of have to
stick with it for it to be as effective as
it would to be you know, down the line in
the future.

Speaker 3 (57:31):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (57:31):
Sure.

Speaker 3 (57:32):
I mean take nothing away from botox. It's the darling
of the cosmetic industry, twelve billion dollars a year, probably
half of that year in the United States. It helps
soften features and that has value. It can help somebody
feel more youthful, and it can give them a sense
of confidence internally. Now, whether that's what you really need
to drive real connections in real life, that's what we're debating.

(57:55):
And I think what I would probably encourage people to
do is remember that's something that doesn't us a thing,
something that you're born with. A natural smile helps generate
those feelings of safety and warmth between anybody. It's free,
not in a bottle syringe, and it's really a simple
secret that I think has a dynamic effect on the
people that you bump into.

Speaker 1 (58:17):
Last thing for you, doctor Thorpe. Social media being what
it is now, and I know a lot of people
that are on dating apps. You know, single people who
might be you know, getting into their you know, late
twenties and into their thirties or even older than that,
looking for the right type of person to find them
attractive or even just to find some level of you know, influence, right,

(58:41):
you know, so people like in my industry trying to
find ways to get more people to like or interact
with social media posts. Does this type of rule also
apply when we talk about putting up your profile picture
or sharing fo on social media in the world of

(59:03):
filters and being able to edit photos to make them
look exactly the way that you want.

Speaker 2 (59:08):
What would be your.

Speaker 1 (59:10):
Best interpretation of what we've learned in this study and
how we can apply it to our social media world.

Speaker 3 (59:18):
I think I have to pay attention to it. I
think your appearance is part of your brand, and you
mentioned how personally important it was to you. I think
social is no different. I think in my static, two
dimensional photo, I want to maximize that. So I'm going
to try to feel a genuine smile, try to combine
both the mouth and a sense of emotion in the eyes,
and then try to in my first dynamic face to

(59:40):
face interaction that follows, try to reinforce that with as
much genuine smile and emotion as I can add to that.

Speaker 1 (59:49):
Good idea is for people who are out there are
looking to try to get as much attention on social
media or your dating apps as you can find doctor
Jonathan Thorpe with great information today, CEO of Quantum Connections
in Dallas. Really appreciate it, Doctor Thorpe, thanks so much
for being on our show today.

Speaker 3 (01:00:03):
Every thanks for your time.

Speaker 1 (01:00:05):
Yeah, as a guy, as I mentioned that, good information
for somebody who isn't super confident about the way that
they look, that can actually help you out quite a bit.
Thanks so much for listening. We'll have more coming up.
Thanks for tuning in News Radio eleven to ten KFAB
always excited when there's some fresh blood that enters not
just this business, but also this radio station. And we've

(01:00:27):
had a young man hanging out with us last week
or so. His name is Peyton high Lock and he's
in the studio with me today and Peyton, first off,
welcome to the team man, Thanks for being interested in radio.

Speaker 7 (01:00:39):
Thank you very much, Emory. You know, it's.

Speaker 8 (01:00:43):
Always such a blessing, you know, being welcomes into a
new place like I have. Everyone here in this building
has treated me with so much respect and the welcome
has been so incredible.

Speaker 1 (01:00:52):
Yeah, so we don't know exactly what you're going to
be doing around here all the time, but you may
hear him. I know people called in. You did some
weather updates for us. You've done a lot of different
you know stuff here in the last week or so,
maybe like.

Speaker 2 (01:01:05):
Who's that voice?

Speaker 1 (01:01:06):
You're a young guy, man like, so let's tell people
about who you are and how you got interested in radio,
because this is a you know, it's a thing that
many people are just like.

Speaker 2 (01:01:14):
Man.

Speaker 1 (01:01:15):
I wish I would have known how to do that
when I was, you know, in my early twenties.

Speaker 8 (01:01:19):
Absolutely, you know, ever since I was a little kid,
the commentators on the TV were always a huge, a
huge draw to me. I think about sitting in front
of the TV wanting to commentate it myself. That's really
where I got it. Got it started first time behind
a mike, high school football games, high school basketball games,

(01:01:42):
calling sports, and that's where I really learned man. Like
the pressure of being behind a microphone, it isn't really there,
you know, I just felt so comfortable for me.

Speaker 1 (01:01:53):
It is a thing. I think people underestimate how much
that is an unlearned thing. You don't really learn how
to be comfortable in front of a microphone, it really is.
You either kind of have that in you or you're
like a lot of other people out there that you
kind of freeze up and you're really scared to speak

(01:02:14):
and have a lot of people hear you. When you
learn in your teenage years that that's not something that
scares you all of a sudden, this becomes a pretty
attractive industry to be in.

Speaker 8 (01:02:23):
Most definitely, And I would be lying if I told
you Ill wasn't nervous right now. You know, get on
the mic the first time, there's definitely some pressure involved.
But like I said, you know, you and Emery and
Scott have been so welcoming to me. It just made
me feel really comfortable, and I think that's really important.

Speaker 1 (01:02:38):
Well, I can tell you this, it's good that you
feel nervous. I'm going to pull the curtain back to
how does a production. It takes a lot more people
than just one person to pull off a good radio
station or a good radio show. Even if you know,
I might be sitting here by myself some days producing
my own show and things of that nature. That's all

(01:02:59):
fine and good, but it takes a lot of prep
and it takes to the people who I'm working with
that help me figure out my show, help coach me
and make me feel good. The reason all of that
works is because I care about what it sounds like.
And that's another thing that sometimes is unlearned, that feeling
in you that you want it to sound good all
the time, you don't want to make mistakes. That puts

(01:03:21):
a lot of pressure on yourself. And when you have that,
when you have people around you that really just want
to get it right all the time, and you care
about how it sounds, you care about not trying to
make any mistakes, whether it's on the board or in
the way that you speak, that means that the passion
is there and that you want to succeed and you
want to make this a career. So how old are you?

(01:03:44):
If you don't mind me asking? Did you go to
school for this?

Speaker 8 (01:03:48):
Like?

Speaker 2 (01:03:48):
How did you kind of land at kfab?

Speaker 8 (01:03:52):
I'm twenty three years old, just graduated from college.

Speaker 2 (01:03:57):
Where'd you go?

Speaker 7 (01:03:58):
Mid American?

Speaker 9 (01:03:59):
Now?

Speaker 7 (01:03:59):
Zarine Law School in Kansas City.

Speaker 1 (01:04:01):
I my my William Penn University Statesman beat up on
Mid American Nazari and football a few times, so you know, well.

Speaker 8 (01:04:09):
I'd be lying if I said that I didn't beat
beat up on him on the soccer field.

Speaker 2 (01:04:12):
A cute, you know. I yeah, it goes.

Speaker 8 (01:04:14):
Both ways, but uh yeah, you know, like I was saying,
soccer took me down there?

Speaker 2 (01:04:19):
Are you from here? Originally?

Speaker 8 (01:04:21):
Yep, Omaha Papio South grad nice classic twenty one.

Speaker 7 (01:04:27):
But I would say.

Speaker 8 (01:04:29):
As I was on the job, hunt in and around,
the thing that stood out to me the most was
being local, sticking true to Omaha.

Speaker 7 (01:04:41):
This is my home.

Speaker 4 (01:04:43):
You know.

Speaker 8 (01:04:43):
I tasted Kansas City a little bit, but this is
where I want to be. And you know, Scott was
able to get in contact with me in my hunt
a little bit and we just clicked right away.

Speaker 6 (01:04:54):
You know.

Speaker 2 (01:04:55):
Would you study down there?

Speaker 7 (01:04:56):
Digital communications?

Speaker 1 (01:04:57):
Okay, so you were a communication guy, so you learned
about communication.

Speaker 2 (01:05:01):
It's really cool.

Speaker 1 (01:05:02):
You know you mentioned you graduated in twenty one, completely
unrelated to anything that we're talking about here. I've always
you know, asked kids that are getting into the industry
and things. COVID nineteen would have messed up your junior
and senior years pretty badly. Briefly, like what could you
talk like, tell me about that experience as you were
rounding out high school and it was probably nothing like

(01:05:24):
you thought it would be as it was happening.

Speaker 8 (01:05:26):
You know, there's a lot of different perspectives about it,
and depending on how old you were, you know, it
greatly influenced how you you know, grew up. For me
junior year of high school. You know, we always talk
about that the first two week break, right two weeks
of school. You know what yesterday was actually two thousand

(01:05:49):
days exactly since that March fourteenth of twenty twenty.

Speaker 2 (01:05:54):
When everything and crashing down on us.

Speaker 7 (01:05:56):
Yeah, I saw that yesterday. I thought that was pretty incredible.

Speaker 2 (01:05:59):
Think a thousand days.

Speaker 7 (01:06:00):
Think about how much you've grown in two thousand days.

Speaker 1 (01:06:01):
Two thousand days. That sounds unbelievable. Feels like it didn't
happen more than just a few months ago.

Speaker 8 (01:06:06):
As I know, it's unreal. But you think about the masks.
You think about you know, I missed my junior year prom, homecoming,
basketball games, sports, classrooms, everything masked, you know, is.

Speaker 7 (01:06:24):
Sort of dystopian in a way.

Speaker 2 (01:06:26):
Do you have a lot of remote learning? Did you?
Would you outside the classroom a bunch that that was.

Speaker 8 (01:06:32):
The start of the transition. You know, we had that
first juniors you know year that it happened. We went
virtual the rest of the year, but That's when the
next school year started and they started integrating the Okay,
we're going to have more online homework assignments, more online
recorded classes, and things of that nature.

Speaker 2 (01:06:54):
Did you like that as a student or did you
miss the way that it was before?

Speaker 8 (01:06:57):
You know, I'm a student that doesn't take many notes,
doesn't study a whole lot. But let me tell you,
I'm a great listener in the classroom. I'm actively listening,
you know, and for better or for worse sometimes, But
you know, at the end of the day, I could
watch the watch the video and get it done and
I was okay with it.

Speaker 2 (01:07:14):
I was college. I mean, you went to college. College.

Speaker 1 (01:07:17):
By the time you got to college, it probably felt
a little more normal than the last couple of years
high school did.

Speaker 7 (01:07:21):
Probably most certainly.

Speaker 8 (01:07:23):
And I moved away, so for four years I lived
on my own, experienced a different side of life a
little bit. And you know, the first few months it
was rough. You know, you forget about how much you
depend on the people in your close circle, and there
was absolutely some learning that needed to be done.

Speaker 1 (01:07:43):
Well, what I will tell you is that you're doing
some great learning here at KFAB, and we're excited to
have you, And so if people are calling in, I'm
going to open the phones here in the four o'clock hour.
If people call in and they're like, who's this voice
that I'm hearing, don't you worry. We're you know, young
Peyton high Lock is learning very quickly the ropes here
and he's gonna be helping me out. He's gonna be

(01:08:03):
helping a lot of people out here on the station,
and I'm sure you'll be hearing plenty of them here
on eleven ten KFAB, especially in the afternoons. Moving forward,
I'm gonna hop in here to the court hearing of
virtual appearance. This suspect in the Charlie Kirk assassination is
now seated in a cell in southern Utah where he's

(01:08:26):
being held. The judge and the lawyers are there as well.
We're gonna listen to this as long as I feel
like it's relevant. I really am kind of actually pretty
curious as to how this is going to go, and
I have it up here from the very beginning as
the judge sits down and is about to begin this,
and like I said, we'll take this as long as

(01:08:47):
we feel like it's relevant. And we're learning things, but
the charge is now being announced today felony charges, aggravated murder,
discharge of firearm, among other things. I think there were
seven total charges.

Speaker 3 (01:08:58):
Here.

Speaker 1 (01:08:59):
Let's take a lass in to the judge and here
from maybe some of the lawyers who are taking this
case as well.

Speaker 5 (01:09:06):
Good afternoon. My name is Judge Graff. I will be
handling the first appearance calendar today at the conclusion of
the hearing the first At the conclusion of the hearing
for the first case, the court will take a recess
and remind all those who are scheduled for the first
appearance calendar to log back in in fifteen minutes after

(01:09:26):
the court has taken a recess. As a general note,
no electronic usage is allowed unless pre approved. Any disruptions
will be removed to the jail. Are we ready to
proceed as your honor calling case two five one four
zero three five seven six State of Utah versus Tyler

(01:09:51):
James Robinson. Could you state your name? Tyler James Robinson.
Thank you for being here, mister Robbins. I'm Judge Graff.
Mister cortis good.

Speaker 2 (01:10:05):
Afftering you are.

Speaker 9 (01:10:06):
You're probably already where my presence or why I'm here,
but if not, I am not entering appearance. I'm not
counsel in this case. I'm working with the county to
get counsel assign but we need you to allow for
the appointment of counsel.

Speaker 10 (01:10:22):
Thank you, mister Scurtis. It is well.

Speaker 5 (01:10:25):
I want to go through the qualifications for individ see
but that is my intent. Mister Scottison, very well, and
I thank you for being here. So, mister Robinson, you
have a right to an attorney. If you cannot afford one,
the court can appoint in turning to represent you. I
have reviewed your declaration of financial status and find that

(01:10:47):
you are indigent. I'm provisionally provisionally appointing a rule a
qualified attorney to represent you on your case, mister Robinson.
Along with their filing of their appearance of counsel, the
assigned attorneys must file declarations with the court that outline
their qualifications under Rule eight and in Rule eight C.

(01:11:08):
I'm sorry under Rule eight B and Rule eight C,
or council appointment in a case where death may be
a sentencing option, I'm worrying that those declarations be filed
prior to the next hearing date, which is set for
September twenty ninth at ten am. Mister Robinson, I also
wish to inform you of your rights against self incrimination.

(01:11:32):
Anything that you say in court today could be used
against you, and we want to protect your constitutional rights,
mister Robinson. At this time, you will remain in custody
without bail. Mister so Gortis, is there any other points
that you wish to address?

Speaker 10 (01:11:49):
No, thank you very much for turning to the state. Yes,
your honor, Chad Grunander for the States. I'm also joined
and they're listed as attendees. Ryan McBride, Lauren Hunt, David Sturgell,
and Chris Ballard. We are the trial team on this case.
I do have a few points I'd like to bring

(01:12:11):
up with your honor. We have filed a pre trial
protective order on behalf of Erica Kirk. We would ask
the court to review that. It should be in your queue,
your honor, and sign that.

Speaker 7 (01:12:23):
Thank you.

Speaker 5 (01:12:25):
I have reviewed the pre trial protective order and will
be granted issuing this pre trial protective order in favor
of Erica Kirk. Is there any other business that we
need to address today, Counsel, Just.

Speaker 10 (01:12:38):
For the court's information, we did file just recently, within
the last few minutes, and notice of intent to seek
the death penalty that was filed by Utahio Attorney Jeff Gray,
so that should be in the court's file. Lastly, I
would just indicate to the court and at this point
mister Robinson, that we are prepared to collect all of

(01:13:02):
the discovery in this matter and get that burned over
to the defense as soon as possible. Rule sixteen requires
us to provide what we have relied on in charging
the information and bringing these charges within five days once
it's requested, So that'll be prepared to disseminate to the
defense as soon as possible.

Speaker 5 (01:13:22):
Thank you, mister Grander. Mister Robinson. What I also want
to do is you have the right to have the
charges read that you stand charged of, and I wish
to read those to you.

Speaker 1 (01:13:34):
At this time, the judge is reaching over for its file,
and here he.

Speaker 10 (01:13:48):
Is, mister Robinson.

Speaker 5 (01:13:49):
Recount one aggravated murder, a capital felony and violation of
Utah Code annotated seventy six Dash five Dash two two
in that on September tenth, twenty twenty five, in Utah County,
the defendant Tyler James Robinson intentionally or knownly caused the
death of Charlie Kirk under the following circumstances. The defendant

(01:14:13):
knowingly created a great risk of death to another individual
other than Charlie Kirk and the defendant. Notice. Conviction of
this offense may carry the death penalty or pursued to
Utah Code seventy six y three Dash two oh seven
point seven, a mandatory term of imprisonment for life without parole,

(01:14:34):
or an indeterminate term of not less than twenty five
years that may be for life. Victim targeting enhancement and
violation of Utah Code annotated seventy six Dash three Dash
two oh three point one four sub two. Tyler James
Robinson intentionally selected Charlie Kirk because of Tyler James Robinson's

(01:14:57):
belief or perception regarding Charlie Kirk's political expression.

Speaker 9 (01:15:02):
Notice.

Speaker 10 (01:15:03):
If the Trier.

Speaker 5 (01:15:03):
Fact finds beyond a reasonable doubt that the victim targeting
enhancement applies, the sensing judge or the Board of Pardons
and Parole shall consider the defendant selection of the victim
as an aggreg debating factor. Violent offense committed in the
presence of a child aggravating factor. The sentencing judge or
the Board of Pardons in Parole shall consider as an

(01:15:24):
aggravating factor in their deliberations that the defendant committed a
violent criminal offense in the presence of a child. Count
two felony discharge of a firearm causing serious bodily injury
a first degree felony in violation of Utah Code, annotated
seventy six Dash eleven Dash two to one zero sub

(01:15:45):
two and three c In that, on September tenth, twenty
twenty five, in Utah County, the defendant, Tyler James Robinson,
discharged the firearm in the direction of Charlie Kirk, knowing
or having reason to believe that Charlie Kirk may be
endangered by the discharge of the firearm, and that the
act caused serious bodily injury to Charlie Kirk victim targeting

(01:16:09):
enhancement in violation of Utah Code annotated seventy sixsh three
Dash two zero three point one four sub two. Tyler
James Robinson intentionally selected Charlie Kirk because Tyler James Robinson's
belief or perception regarding Charlie Kirk's political expression. Notice if
the tryer fact finds beyond a reasonable doubt that the

(01:16:31):
victim targeting enhancement applies, the sensing judge or the Board
of Pardons in Parole shall consider the defendant selection of
the victim as an aggravating factor. Violent offense committed in
the presence of a child aggravating factor. The sensing judge
or the Board of Pardons in parolesha considered an aggravating
factor in their deliberations that the defendant committed a violent

(01:16:54):
offense in the presence of a child. Count three obstruction
of justice, a second degree felony in violation of Utah
Code annotated seventy six to eight Dash three zero six,
sub two, in that on September tenth, twenty twenty five,
in Utah County, the defendant, Tyler James Robinson, with intent

(01:17:14):
to hinder, delay, or prevent the investigation, apprehension, prosecution, conviction,
or pursue it to any person regarding conduct that constitutes
a criminal offense, conceal or remove the firearm used to
shoot Charlie Kirk, and the conduct that constitutes an offense
would be a capital felony or a first degree felony.

Speaker 1 (01:17:35):
Count So I'm going to stop it there. As you see,
you're hearing a lot of the legal jargon around the
charges instead of just a quick read of the charges.
I'll give you the charges as they're listed here when
we come back and see, I don't think it lasts
too much longer, and see if there's any pertinent information
from either side, whether it's the defense that they're assigning,

(01:17:57):
which they don't have a lawyer assigned to this individual,
the twenty two year old shooter, yet they have a
team on the prosecution. They said he will remain in
custody without bail. That's not a surprise. The prosecution is
seeking the death penalty, that's not a surprise. We had
heard that a little bit earlier this afternoon, but this

(01:18:18):
is now an official The paperwork is officially in that
that they're going to seek that. And they also had
a protective order on Erica Kirk, the wife, the widow
of Charlie Kirk in this situation. So it's important, I know,
like people talk about major impactful situations as it relates

(01:18:38):
to trials in this country, this is going to be
a big one. Even though we know enough about this
individual that we find likely to be a guilty verdict.
Is it going to be the death penalty. Is it
going to be life in prison? Are they going to
allow for a plea agreement. Is there going to be
something from the Kirk family that's going to change things?

Speaker 2 (01:18:58):
Is this going to.

Speaker 1 (01:19:00):
Be a turning point in how people talk about politics
in this nation? Are there going to be supporters showing
up in favor of the twenty two year old shooter,
like there are people showing up to the Luigi Manngione
trial cheering on Luigi Mangione after he killed in cold blood.
Brian Thompson, the United Healthcare CEO, these are all things

(01:19:21):
that we're gonna come to terms with over the next
several weeks. Gonna hop back into this. I fast forwarded
through the reading of all the different charges. There are
seven charges, including felony charges, aggravated murder, discharge of a firearm,
obstruction of justice, among other things. And the prosecution is
seeking the death penalty for the twenty two year old suspect. Here,

(01:19:43):
I'm gonna I fast forward it. I would just want
us to hear how this wrapped up. It wasn't a
super long ordeal. This initial appearance in court, the suspect
sitting there. The only thing that the suspect to this
point has said is his name. We've heard from the
judge reading the counts, and the prosecution talking about doing

(01:20:06):
the paperwork for the death penalty, got a protective order
for Erica Kirk, the widow of Charlie Kirk, and now
putting together the best that they can of the kind
of the basis of what this case is going to
look like. So here we are back to the judge
and back to the conclusion here of the initial court

(01:20:29):
appearance virtually for the twenty two year old suspect in
the Charlie Kirk assassination.

Speaker 5 (01:20:35):
Mister Robinson, this case is set for September twenty ninth
at ten am. It will be a waiver hearing and
I will be the judge assigned to this case. Mister Robinson,
I invite you to join us at that time. Is
there anything further counsel? No, will have counsel appointed by them,

(01:20:56):
Thank you, mister Grander. Anything further item, just for clarification,
your honor, the hearing on the twenty ninth, is that
in person or WebEx?

Speaker 7 (01:21:05):
Thank you?

Speaker 5 (01:21:06):
That is a great question. It will be via WebEx okay,
thank you judge. All right, I want to thank all
parties for being here. And this concludes this hearing. At
this time, cord is in recess.

Speaker 1 (01:21:21):
And there it is the end of the situation. The
first appearance not a whole lot other than just really
lining up the next. The next appearance, they say September
the twenty ninth, ten am. I would assume that's Utah time,
that's Mountain time, that's an hour behind us. It'd be
eleven am theoretically on the twenty ninth, our time. That'll

(01:21:44):
be not next Monday, but the Monday after that. And
that's a waiver hearing. And the jargon that is what
you'll hear in legal terms. Not exactly sure what that
leads to. Immediately, they are going to get some opportunities

(01:22:06):
for what appears to be this individual to have legal counsel.
I know there are a lot of people out there
that say, who would take this case? Well, this is
how defense attorneys operate when they work for the government.
Their entire existence is based on whatever level they're requiring

(01:22:29):
of a judge for a case or part of an
attorney for a case. They will find an attorney that
will do their best based on the oath that they
took to defend the due process of the individual at hand.
It is not an exciting thing. I don't think it's
a fun thing, especially in a case like this, especially
with all the incriminating evidence that seems to be against

(01:22:50):
this specific individual. But what we do know is that
someone will be the person or maybe even people that
are assigned to represent this twenty two year old in
this case, and I suppose what we have to look
forward to on it is testimony from people on both sides.

(01:23:15):
Will we hear from the roommate at some point, I
would imagine we will the roommate for whatever it's worth, yes,
transgender or transitioning, and apparently the lover of this twenty
two year old, which certainly would have been I would
imagine the chief mot chief motivator of the crime in

(01:23:35):
and of itself. All this talk about this being from
a conservative family and a conservative individual, all of that
is completely and totally debunked, as we've gotten that information
over the last couple of days. But I do applaud
the family for being able to turn this individual in alive.

(01:23:56):
As you've heard in national newscasts, there was an effort
for him to commit suicide. In the wake of this determination,
they talked him into heading to their home and along
with a family friend, his parents helped turn him in.
He's not redeemed at any point here for any of this.

(01:24:17):
I don't know what like As the story continues to
come out, and I'll get to these text messages which
are very intriguing between he and the transgender roommate slash lover,
that I think are going to humanize this assassin. The
alleged assassin, I suppose, but I think we have enough
information to assume that he is the one who did

(01:24:39):
this based on the evidence that they have acquired to
this point and the text messages. But the text messages
themselves are going to humanize this individual. And I could see,
and I hope not to see, but I could see
a movement of people in support of him getting a chance,

(01:25:01):
or people trying to push for him not to get
to death penalty, that he could get a second opportunity
at life, even if it is behind bars for the
rest of his life. I don't know if that's going
to happen or not, but we have to be very
careful in the way that this story is told because
this is not a person that I think we need
to be talking all. You know, this admirable thing that

(01:25:23):
they did, that is not what happened, no matter whose
side you're on. And I think the person the roommate
here that was transitioning that he was in love with
the cooperation that they have done with authorities to this
point pretty clearly states that they don't think it was
that admirable either. He is facing charges of aggravate and murder,
two counts of obstruction of justice, and felony discharge of

(01:25:45):
a firearm causing serious bodily injury, two counts of witness tampering,
and commission of a violent offense in the presence of
a child because there were children there, including Charlie Kirk's
children when this happened.

Speaker 2 (01:25:59):
Really terrible stuff.

Speaker 1 (01:26:00):
Right District Attorney in Utah County where this occurred, Jeff Gray,
announced his office was seeking the death penalty against the
twenty two year old in this That was confirmed by
the prosecution that followed that up and put the paperwork
in just before the top of hour four o'clock hour today.

Speaker 2 (01:26:19):
Other news Erica.

Speaker 1 (01:26:20):
Kirk got a they had a motion to have a
protection on her during this process that was granted by
the judge. And then the other thing of note is
they are holding this twenty two year old suspected shure.

Speaker 2 (01:26:36):
We have a ton of evidence.

Speaker 1 (01:26:38):
I mean, I'm doing the procedural thing saying it's a
suspected shuter, he's the guy. But I'm going to go
along with the terminology from the court system. As I
read the procedural stuff. This person is going to be
held without bond in that jail. Next appearance in court
will be a virtual one again, and that will be

(01:27:00):
not next Monday, but the Monday after the twenty ninth
of September. And they are assigning a defense attorney from
the state to represent that individual, which again you'll be saying,
who's going to want to take that case? It's not
about that. It's not how being a lawyer works. When
you don't have the funds to have your own lawyer

(01:27:20):
who whose entire job is to try to be in,
you know, the defense of someone who was accused of
a crime and all the evidence points against them. You're
not really trying to prove that they didn't do it
as much as you're trying to prove that maybe there
was something else at play, maybe that there was an accomplice,
maybe somebody brainwashed them, Maybe there was somebody else to blame.

(01:27:43):
Maybe there's somebody something going on with like the claiming
of an insanity, or you could fight for some level
of plea agreement. So the maximum punishment in this case,
the death sentence, wouldn't be the sentence at the end
of this entire ordeal. With that being said, I these
text messages that have been provided here through officials from

(01:28:07):
the transgender roommate. We heard about the transgender roommate pretty
quickly after we were able to identify who the shooter was.
This is another young person who is about the same age,
biological male who is transitioning to a female, has a
love affair, some relationship romantically with the shooter. I want

(01:28:30):
to read these because we need to know this stuff.
And I'm telling you why you might be saying these
text messages don't matter. They're going to matter in terms
of trying to prove his guilt, But more so than that,
this is going to be the backbone of the swell
of I think potential support for this individual, not that

(01:28:54):
people in the LGBTQ plus community are going to be
outright celebrating Charlie Kirk's assassination, But in a way they
will be when they start supporting the humanity that is
this shooter and the romantic relationship that he had with
a transgender person. Just wait for it. I'm going to

(01:29:15):
read these texts to you, and this is These are real.
They have been provided and they have been corroborated as
legitimate by the prosecution. These officials have released this information.
This is incriminating to the shooter but also humanizes him
in a way to people who are looking for any

(01:29:36):
reason to support him in what he did. Here is
the first text message, which was on the day that
this happened. So the transgender roommate received a text from
the shooter which said, drop what you are doing. Look
under my keyboard. The transgender roommate looked under the keyboard
found a note. They have a picture of that note.

(01:29:58):
The note says I had the opportunit unity to take
out Charlie Kirk and I'm going to take it. The
transgender roommate responded by saying, what you're joking right. The
shooter replied and said, I am still okay, my love,
but I am stuck in orum the city this occurred
in for a little while longer yet shouldn't be long

(01:30:20):
until I can come home. But I got to grab
my rifle still. To be honest, I had hoped to
keep this secret till I died of old age. I
am sorry to involve you. The transgender roommate replied, you
weren't the one who did it, right. The shooter said,
I am. I'm sorry. The roommate responded, I thought they
caught the person. The shooter said no, they grabbed some

(01:30:44):
crazy old dude, then interrogated someone in similar clothing. I
had planned to grab my rifle from my drop point
shortly after, but most of that side of town got
locked down. It's quiet, almost enough to get out, but
there's one vehicle lingering. Roommate responded and said why. The
shooter said, why did I do it? The roommate said yeah.

(01:31:06):
The shooter said I had enough of his hatred, speaking
of Charlie Kirk, of course, some hate can't be negotiated out.
If I am able to grab my rifle unseen, I
will have left no evidence going to attempt to retrieve
it again. Hopefully they have moved on. I haven't seen
anything about them finding it. The transgender roommate responded, how

(01:31:28):
long have you been planning this? The shooter said, a
bit over a week. I believe I can get close
to it, but there is a squad car parked right
by it. I think they already swept that spot, but
I don't want to chance it. Time goes by just
a few minutes. The shooter sends another long text. Here
it is, I'm wishing I had circled back and grabbed

(01:31:50):
it as soon as I got to my vehicle. I'm
worried what my old man would do if I didn't
bring back Grandpa's rifle. I don't know if it had
a serial number, but it wouldn't trace to me. I
worry about Prince. I had to leave it in a
bush where I changed outfits. I didn't have the ability
or time to bring it with I might have to

(01:32:11):
abandon it and hope they don't find prints. How the
bleep will I explain losing it to my old man?
Only thing I left was the rifle wrapped in a towel.
Remember how I was engraving bullets. The bleeping messages are
mostly a big meme. Uh says stuff and he says,

(01:32:35):
I might have a stroke. All right, I'm gonna have
to leave it. That really bleeping sucks. Judging from today,
I'd say Grandpa's gun does just fine. I don't know.
I think it was a two thousand dollars scope. Delete
this exchange another text. My dad wants photos of the rifle.
He says, Grandpa wants to know who has what. The

(01:32:57):
Feds released a photo of the rifle and it is
very unique. He's calling me right now and not answering.
At this point. The roommate is not responding very frequently here,
and I'm sure is worried about the implication they have
in this moment. The shooter says again, since Trump got
into office, my dad has been pretty die hard.

Speaker 2 (01:33:18):
Maga.

Speaker 1 (01:33:19):
I'm gonna turn myself in willingly. One of my neighbors
here is a deputy for the sheriff. You are all
I worry about.

Speaker 2 (01:33:26):
Love.

Speaker 1 (01:33:27):
And finally, the roommate texted back, this is over a
couple of days now, I'm sure. The roommate says, I'm
much more worried about you. The shooter replied and said,
don't talk to the media. Please, don't take any interviews
or make any comments. If any police ask you questions,
ask for a lawyer and stay silent. They did not
stay silent. This transgender roommate has provided all this information

(01:33:47):
to authorities.

Speaker 2 (01:33:48):
As they were asked. So there you go.

Speaker 1 (01:33:51):
But that in and of itself, this is going to
be a very very useful thing for I think the
defense of the shooter mostly not because of legal aspects.
It's going to do nothing but implicate him legally. But
if you see the narrative start to turn in a

(01:34:11):
way with the political left, they are going to do
what it takes to humanize this individual, and say a
twenty two year old who was in love with a
transgender person that he was living with felt compelled to
take out someone who they say used hate speech against
transgender people. Do not be surprised if these text messages

(01:34:33):
are utilized in building a swell of support for him.
I it would be a disgusting thing to see, but
you can't rule it out in the America that we
are living in now,