Rejecting Prayers

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
After a school shooting in Minnesota yesterday, the Mayor of Minneapolis,
Jacob Frye, attacked people of faith from offering their thoughts
and prayers for the victims. Your city has a school shooting,
a Catholic school shooting. Two children are dead, others are wounded,
and you think this is a good time to show
your disdain for religion. What would you like to say

(00:24):
to the mayor of Minneapolis. Six one seven two six
six sixty eight sixty eight is the number here? Six
one seven two sixty six sixty eight sixty eight. The
shooting happened yesterday morning. Oh, in case you were unaware,
I am Sandy Shack filling in for Jeff Cooner, who
is going to be back after Labor Day. The shooting

(00:45):
happened yesterday morning at the Annunciation Catholic Church. The kids
that the children were in mass marking the first week
of school. The shooter, who had a rifle, a shotgun
and a pistol, began firing through the church windows from outside.
Two children, eight and ten years old are dead. Seventeen

(01:10):
others are injured, including fourteen of them kids. Two of
the children are in critical condition. Police found a slew
of other terrified children hiding throughout the building. It was
heart wrenching. The whole thing was heart wrenching. Police Chief
Byron O'Hara at first said that they would investigate the

(01:36):
motive of why this occurred. Cut four or four, please, Mike,
we have this.

Speaker 2 (01:50):
The uh I was going the question was what can
be said about the shooter. We believe it is one suspect,
a soul shooter. We believe he is deceased, he is
in his early twenties, does not have an extensive known
criminal history, and we are looking through information left behind

(02:10):
to try and determine some type of motive, some type.

Speaker 1 (02:15):
Of mom And when they did examine and investigate who
the shooter was, the discovered that the bleep who did
this to innocent children and others who were praying was
none other than Robin Westman, who is a transgender woman
whose mother worked at the school where two children you

(02:36):
know were slaughtered. Basically, Westman had previously been known as Robert,
having petitioned to have her name changed in twenty nineteen,
which apparently her mom had full knowledge of because she
signed the papers. Because Robin was a minor at the
time that Robin made that move to change everything over.

(02:58):
There's a now deleted YouTube account that looks like it
was Westmans that shared what appeared to be a manifesto
just a few hours before the shooting. It's a very
disturbing video. It's about twenty minutes long that appears to
show a drawing of a church and then someone stabbing

(03:19):
the drawing over and over again as you hear quietly
in the background, I'm going to kill myself and apparently
others as well. Other clips posted to the YouTube account
show gun parts and semi automatic rifle and a shotgun,
and the gun parts have the names of other mass

(03:40):
shooters written on them, and one of the parts has
a message on it aimed at President Trump, calling for
calling for him to be killed. One of the magazines
contained the words kill Donald Trump. One said where is
your God? Mashalla and Israel must Fall were among the words.

(04:00):
They were written on various magazines and weapons that this
person had. Now, the shooter Westman here was trying to
inflict as much damage as possible. He barred the door
to the church with two by fours. At least that's

(04:23):
what That's what Chief O'Hara says. Let's see cut number
four or four A, please Mike.

Speaker 3 (04:32):
Some neighbors who said that the door to the church at.

Speaker 4 (04:35):
The barricane yep.

Speaker 2 (04:37):
So the question was neighbors had said that the door
to the church had been barricaded. The shooter approached on
one side of the church building, and on that side
at least two doors. It appears there had been like
a two by four place, so not all of the
doors around the building, but on the side where the
shooter did fire on the outside.

Speaker 1 (04:59):
Yes, so he barred people and then began shooting through
the windows, and it looks like he stayed outside. Cut
four or four C. Please Mike, is.

Speaker 5 (05:13):
This outside or for posting inside that.

Speaker 4 (05:15):
He was shooting?

Speaker 2 (05:19):
The question was was he shooting outside and inside? He
was absolutely shooting outside of the building on the side
of the church inside through the windows. It appears he
may have gone inside, but I don't believe we've located
any casings inside the building, so I'm not certain if
he fired also while inside. It appears, if not all,
most of the shooting happened outside the building.

Speaker 1 (05:39):
So and then after he was finished shooting up the
place and shooting through the stained glass windows and had
barred people from trying to run away. He killed himself
four four B please.

Speaker 6 (05:54):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (05:55):
The question was is he dead from a gunshot wound?
The answer is yes. We believe he took his own
life in the park.

Speaker 1 (06:01):
So it was it's horrific and they were they were,
you know, little children apparently throwing themselves on top of
other little children to try to protect them. In fact,
we have that cut. I'm not sure where it is, Mike, Okay,
So this is a one of the little kids that's
that's inside. His name is Weston Halsney. He's ten years old.

(06:23):
He was a student at the school. He says his
friend was shot in the back, right on top of him.
Cut four o nine or your.

Speaker 7 (06:32):
Friend, my friend got hit in the back.

Speaker 6 (06:37):
Did he go to the hospital.

Speaker 7 (06:38):
Yeah, he went to the hospital. What went through your
mind when you saw that? I was super scared for him,
but I think now he's okay, and he.

Speaker 1 (06:48):
Had more to say. Cut four O nine A.

Speaker 7 (06:52):
When you heard the shots, what went through your head?
I was like the first one, I was like, what
is that? I thought, is your something? Then I heard again.
I just ran under the pew and then I covered
my head and my friend victor like saved me though,
because he laid on top of me. But he got hit.

Speaker 1 (07:10):
Your friend laid on top of you.

Speaker 7 (07:12):
Yeah, and he got hit.

Speaker 1 (07:14):
Just you know, that's a ten year old. You know
his life was saved by another ten year old who
got shot. It's I can't even begin to imagine what
you would do as the parents of one of those childs,
other than get on your knees and thank God that
your child is okay and start praying for the families

(07:36):
whose kids are not okay. Isn't that your isn't that
what you do? Especially think about it. These are little
kids praying in a Catholic church. There's a mass to
celebrate the beginning of school, and this is what happens.
President Trump has signed a proclamation and ordered flags to

(07:56):
be flown at half staff in honor of the of
the victims of the shooting, and at the same time,
he spoke to Governor Tim Waltz. Of course, because that's
the right thing to do. Whether you like Governor Waltz
or not, that's what you do. And FBI Director Cash

(08:16):
Ptel says that this is going to be investigated as
a hate crime. You know, it's a deliberate act of
violence against innocent children and people who were worshiping. So
I think that is, in fact, the right thing to do.
Governor Waltz, of course, came out and spoke at a

(08:39):
press conference after the incident. But you may think I'm
maybe being unfair, but I didn't find it a particularly
helpful speech. And I will admit right up front, I
do not like Governor Waltz. I find him to be
a boob but and disingenuine, and I don't like him

(09:01):
even I don't like his politics. I don't like him personally,
I don't like anything about him, but he's the governor
of the state. It was the right thing to do.
Get out and you tell people what's going on, because
information can usually assuage people's fears make them feel better.
But I don't think what he did was a particularly
strong or helpful speech. He rightfully thanked President Trump for

(09:23):
his attention to the matter, which was the right thing
to do again, but he did not condemn the targeted
violence against Catholics. He didn't mention the mental illness that
was suffered here by the shooter. It wasn't He just
glossed over things that I think people wanted to know about.

(09:45):
And then after he was done, the mayor of Minnesota,
Jacob Frye, in a tone deaf, callous rant, belittled people
for sending thoughts in prayers. I want you to hear
for yourself. Cut four or five. Please.

Speaker 8 (10:05):
These were Minneapolis families. These were American families, and the
amount of pain that they are suffering right now is extraordinary.
And don't just say this is about thoughts and prayers
right now. These kids were literally praying. It was the
first week of school, they were in a church. These

(10:27):
are kids that should be learning with their friends. They
should be playing on the playground.

Speaker 1 (10:35):
What the bleep is he saying, don't pray for the
kids who were murdered while praying. Don't pray for Catholics
being singled out at the church. Don't prayer is useless?
Is that what he's saying it don't. I could not
believe that this was the mayor of a major American

(10:57):
city standing in front of a Catholic church that had
just been sprayed with bullets, where children had just been murdered,
and he's saying, don't send your prayers the Catholic school
shooting church and school shooting in Minneapolis has not elicited
the public response that one would expect from its elected officials,
or at least that I expected naive person that I am. First.

(11:20):
Governor Waltz made no mention when he addressed the public
that the shooter was trans the shooter was anti Trump,
anti GOP, and he never mentioned that this was anti
Catholic violence. Cut for ten, please Mike.

Speaker 3 (11:38):
Certainly a day and a news conference that no one
wants to be at. A community behind us Annunciation Church
and school committed to academics, service, and Catholic values, filled
with the first days of school, beautiful children going to

(12:02):
learn those values, share with their.

Speaker 4 (12:03):
Teachers and their classmates.

Speaker 3 (12:05):
And instead of that joy and that curious and that learning,
they were met with.

Speaker 4 (12:09):
Evil and horror and death.

Speaker 3 (12:15):
And we often come to these and say these unspeakable
tragedies or there's no words for this. There shouldn't be
words for these types of incidents because they should not happen.
And there's no words that are going to ease the
pain of the families today on behalf of all the
people of Minnesota, our deepest sympathies.

Speaker 1 (12:37):
Yeah, as far as it goes, that's I have no
problem with that. That's fine. That's fine, except that he
never really addresses the elephant in the room and that
what was behind this cut. Four tenC.

Speaker 4 (12:50):
Minnesotans will not step away.

Speaker 3 (12:52):
We'll stand with this community, will redouble ourselves to do
the best we can to understand what we can do
to any parent from having to receive the calls they
receive today from any school dedicated to children having to
respond to a situation that, as we said, is unthinkable,

(13:13):
but it's all too common, not just in Minnesota, but
across this country. It's Minnesota's day to day, and it's
my strongest desire that no state, no community, no school ever.

Speaker 4 (13:25):
Experiences a day like this.

Speaker 3 (13:27):
So I asked the rest of folks around the country
who are watching, keep us in your thoughts and prayers,
but also keep us in the thoughts for action, keep
us in the ideas that we can work together. And
it's on these days like this I think, and I
hope we can hold on to it.

Speaker 4 (13:42):
We are unified as a community.

Speaker 3 (13:44):
Everybody across the country today is part of the Annunciation
Parish and they're with those families.

Speaker 1 (13:50):
I okay, I have no problem with what he said.
I don't have any problem at all. And he did
ask for thoughts and prayers. You know, got problem with
any of that. Nothing he said was offensive. Everything was fine.
It's just that he left stuff out. He did not
mention certain things, for instance, the fact that the shooter
was trans the shooter was crazy, the shooter was anti Maga,

(14:13):
the shooter was anti Trump. And here's the thing. Are
you telling me that if that shooter had a Maga hat,
if it had, if the shooter had written kill Biden
instead of kill Trump on the gun, that we would
not have heard about it from Governor Waltz. I think
we would have. I want you to remember something. This

(14:35):
was Governor Waltz just last week, actually the end of
last week, the beginning of this week.

Speaker 9 (14:42):
Cut eight.

Speaker 1 (14:43):
Please, we are strong because we challenge each other.

Speaker 4 (14:49):
We are strong because we're held accountable. We're strong because.

Speaker 10 (14:53):
We believe that there's a place for everyone here. Think
of how easy it would be to be a damn Republican.
Oh watch, what should I wear today? This stupid freaking
red hat? What should I say today?

Speaker 4 (15:04):
I don't know. Just make sure it's cruel. Who do
we listen to? That guy?

Speaker 5 (15:08):
Oh?

Speaker 4 (15:08):
The fella in the White House. Yeah, listen to him,
and that will be fine.

Speaker 1 (15:12):
That was him just a few days ago. Now, I
agree that this was not the moment for a tirade,
but you hid information. I, honest to God, believe that
if in fact it had been a red hat wearing
gun tote and don't like you know, don't like Republican,

(15:33):
I don't like Democrats, that we would have heard about it.

Speaker 11 (15:36):
That.

Speaker 1 (15:36):
I don't think that the seriousness of the moment would
have stopped Tim Waalts from mentioning it. But I will
give him this. He did call for thoughts and prayers,
and I think that was appropriate. That was an appropriate mention.
But then right after him, right after he gets down,
up comes and by the way, I don't know if

(15:58):
you noticed it, but when he asked for thoughts and prayers,
he thought about it for a second and then he
decided to go ahead and do it. And he did
the right thing by doing it. But right after him
up comes Jacob Pry, the mayor of Minneapolis, and he
he does not want your thoughts and prayers. Let's play
that again. Cut four h five.

Speaker 8 (16:22):
These were Minneapolis families. These were American families, and the
amount of pain that they are suffering right now is extraordinary.
And don't just say this is about thoughts and prayers
right now. These kids were literally praying. It was the
first week of school, they were in a church. These

(16:44):
are kids that should be learning with their friends, they
should be playing on the playground.

Speaker 1 (16:52):
All of the above, But don't send your thoughts and prayers.
There was just an attack against a Catholic school church
and you're telling people not to pray, that praying doesn't
do anything. What the hell is wrong with these people,
meaning the elected officials in particular the mayor in Minneapolis.

(17:18):
That was bizarre, absolutely positively bizarre. And you don't think
social media has exploded after hearing Mayor Jacob Fry, you know,
slamming people for praying. This is from Scott Jennings. He
wrote on X tragedy struck a Minneapolis Catholic school today

(17:39):
and the very first thing the mayor Fry did was
attack people of faith for calling for prayer. I couldn't
believe it when I heard it. Whatever your political ideology,
there are a few moments where prayer is not more appropriate.
Don't you agree with him? Can you think of any
moment in time that prayer is not more appropriate than

(18:00):
after something like a school shooting where little children have
been murdered and shot, fourteen of them shot injured. I
I am so with Scott Jennings. And there's so many more.
Here's one Democrat mayor using a tragedy to slander Christians

(18:20):
for thoughts and prayers. Wow. While Lives of TikTok circulated
video of the controversial marks, highlighting his acknowledging that these
kids were literally praying. Here's another way. Nothing says idiot
politicians like this guy who comes out and promptly attacks

(18:41):
and mocks prayer after a tragedy involving people praying, or
just any tragedy. What would you say to the Mayor
of Minneapolis? Are you shocked by this? This is Sandy
Shack sitting in for Jeff Kooner on the Kooner Report.
The Mayor of Minneapolis is don't bother to send thoughts
and prayers after the school shoot at the Catholic church.

(19:02):
We need action instead, no thoughts from prayers. What would
you like to say to the Mayor of Minneapolis. You
know that's that's a question I have for you because
I'm utterly shocked by this on the text line, which
is seven zero four seven zero five oh eight. Let
me just make sure I just lose it. Move so

(19:22):
you tend to lose it for a second, five oweight
says the first instinct of that brave child was to
protect his friend. Isn't it sad and very telling that
the mayor's first instinct is to try to use children's
death to make political party more powerful. It's it's not
just sad, it's it's appalling, it's disgusting, and social media

(19:44):
echoes that. Here's another one on social media. I am
just gobsmacked that, in their effort to immediately politicize a
horrific tragedy in which children were murdered at prayer, the
line that Democratic Democrat seems to have chosen is where
is your God? Which, incidentally, the murderer wrote on the
magazine one of the magazines of his gun. Yeah, is

(20:09):
it lost on them? Do they just not see that?
Are they blind? As well as tone deaf? Former Georgia Rep.
Vernon Jones tied phrase remarks about don't bother with you
your thoughts and prayers to a broader democratic messaging. He
said after the Minneapolis murders by a liberal Democrat trans

(20:32):
Minneapolis mayor, Jacob Fry. CNN's liberal hacked Dana Bash and
other Democrats are now saying it's not about thoughts and
prayers anymore? Are Democrats now abandoning prayer? A? Wow, that's
what Vernon Jones heard? Is? Is that what you heard too?

(20:53):
I have a cut of that, by the way of
in fact, Dana Bash with Jacob Fry basically saying exactly
exactly that this is Jacob Fry on. Actually I was
just looking for the CNN cut that we have there

(21:14):
it is, So this is Dana Bash actually with Amy Klobrasher,
and they're both kind of gushing over Jacob Fry rejecting
prayers over school shooting. Cut four of seven.

Speaker 12 (21:25):
Please, Mike, I just think that they have to get
to the bottom of this, as you know, with these
scenes from covering so many of them, that they'll be
rumors and then they're not true and then you figure
it out. But I think this image of this gunman
shooting through these windows, picking off these kids while they're
praying is something that it's going to be with people

(21:46):
for a long time. When you think about guns and
you think about as the mayor said, thoughts and prayers
just aren't enough here right now because these kids were
actually praying.

Speaker 9 (21:57):
Yeah, I do want to listen to that, because that
sent chills up my spine.

Speaker 1 (22:02):
I'm sure everybody's spine when they heard the mayor say that. Yeah.
So they're right there with the mayor on that. Is
this the new democratic mention messaging? Is Vernon Jones?

Speaker 3 (22:14):
Right?

Speaker 1 (22:14):
Is there no God? Basically? Are they? Are they now
abandoning prayer? As I mean, these kids were shot while
they're praying, so obviously praying is no good, is what
they're saying. Does that send a chill up your spine
for a different reason than it does for Dana Bash.
Let's go to Bruce in Wuburn. Bruce, welcome to WRKO.
How are you?

Speaker 9 (22:33):
Oh?

Speaker 13 (22:36):
And that's a how from Bruce from Uburn for these
poor kids? And Jacob that's a biblical name. Can you
believe that this guy wouldn't offer any kind of condulencence
or prayers? And I believe Tim Pampon Tim incited some

(23:00):
kind of this. It's it's all involved with this LGB
teach you weirdness, and it's just a shame because I'm
a shooter. I like guns, I hunt, I fish, I
do all kinds of things. But this is just so appalling.

(23:24):
And by the way, seeing that you're doing such a
tremendous job, you're very kinds on you. You are just
an awesome, awesome human being and these are not human
being actions that are going on right now. This is terrible.

Speaker 1 (23:42):
What do you say about the mayor's comment regarding don't
bother to send your thoughts in prayers because we don't
need them.

Speaker 13 (23:53):
And I'm too much of a religious person to even
say he can go to Hell in a handbasket. This
is what they This is so I can't even I
don't have the words. It's the Paul and I went
to a I went up to Occipede and my friend's wife,

(24:15):
my best one of my best friend's wife got killed
by a guy driving on vetanol and hit her head
on in a dumb truck and killed her. She was
the nicest, kindest, gentlest person, the biggest smiles. She lit
up the room. I cried during my interview.

Speaker 5 (24:38):
With the.

Speaker 13 (24:40):
But anyways, when I heard what happened for those little
kids that had to ex the ones that got killed,
I cried. For and I'm I'm I'm a pretty tough guy,
but it just it just my just I can't believe

(25:04):
that there are people that want to do this kind
of things to anybody, let alone little kids that bring
I know, now, what if that was a Muslim praying
on a rug and oh, they'd be all kinds.

Speaker 1 (25:24):
I think they'd be calling it. I think Mayor Waltz
would have come out with it it's a hate crime.
I think I think we probably would have heard that
from him. So thank you for the call, Bruce. And
I'm sure that those the families of those people in
Minneapolis are grateful for your prayers. No matter what the
Mayor of Minneapolis has to say. I think that that's

(25:45):
something to remember that the people of Minneapolis and the
people of uh that parish and that church and those
families affected are not necessarily represented by Mayor Jacob Fry.
Let's go to Miranda in Providence. Miranda, welcome to w RKO.
What would you like to say to Mayor Fry?

Speaker 9 (26:04):
Miranda Before Mayor Fry, I just have to say I
have a question. Given the low ball for Tim Wolves,
his comment and his statement was fine, I just wondered
what he meant by we stand by this community.

Speaker 1 (26:21):
Yeah, I wonder that too.

Speaker 9 (26:24):
I wondered which community he meant, the greater community or
the trans That's.

Speaker 1 (26:28):
A really you know what, Miranda, that is such a
good point. That is an absolute brilliant point. Because I
I that flit it through my mind briefly, but I
didn't focus on it. I think that's I don't know either.
I think I'm hoping he meant the Catholic community, because
since he didn't actually reference the trans community at all

(26:49):
when he spoke to h when he spoke to the public,
that didn't acknowledge the trans community even you know, he
doesn't want to acknowledge that that has anything to do
with the shooting. I think is is what's going on.
But you raise a very good point. I'm sorry continue Miranda.

Speaker 9 (27:04):
Hoping he meant the city, the state, whatever. But here's
what I want to say about Jacob bry Does anyone
remember I'm amazed. I was so surprised that he's still
in office, still in politics. Does anyone remember when he
came out maybe it was during the George Floyd thing.
He came out to the center of town and the

(27:24):
entire town turned their back on him and walked away
to look that up. He came out to make a
statement and the statement was so out of touch that
the entire town people turned around and walked away, and
he was left standing there by himself.

Speaker 1 (27:42):
Yeah, I think I do think you're right. I also,
now that you bring it up, I also wanted to
point out that he's been a little hypocritical when he's
telling people not to pray for the victims of the shooting,
because if you remember when he was during his high
profile mourning at George Floyd's casket, He's saying, you know why,

(28:09):
he said, why are people criticizing prayer for millions? Prayer
is the most significant, profound thing that can do in
the wake of evil, And so, I mean, he was
all for prayer at George Floyd's funeral, but in this
particular instance, when the shooter is somebody, or it's not
politically expedient for him to acknowledge prayer or the shooter,

(28:29):
then all of a sudden, it's a bad thing to do.
I mean, that's I'm so glad you pointed that out, Miranda. Yeah,
he was. He was a whaler in the in the
services for George Floyd and thought prayer was find that
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Price says, we don't need your thoughts
in prayers after the Catholic church school shooting. We need action.

(28:50):
I'm going to play the cut again because it's just
I it floors me every time cut four h five.

Speaker 8 (28:58):
These were Minneapolis family, these were American families, and the
amount of pain that they are suffering right now is extraordinary.
And don't just say this is about thoughts and prayers
right now. These kids were literally praying. It was the
first week of school, they were in a church. These

(29:20):
are kids that should be learning with their friends. They
should be playing on the playground.

Speaker 1 (29:28):
Is he saying that because these kids were shot when
they were while they were in church, that prayer is useless.
We can't, we don't, shouldn't bother praying? Or are democrats? Basically?
Is this a sign that democrats are abandoning religion? Is
that what you're seeing here? Six one seven two six
six sixty eight sixty eight is the number. Paul in
New Hampshire, Welcome to WRKO. How are you Paul? Paul?

Speaker 11 (29:54):
Oh, Hi, yeah, I'm good.

Speaker 14 (29:56):
How are you fine?

Speaker 4 (29:57):
So?

Speaker 1 (29:57):
What do you think why would the mayor say that.
Is he saying prayer is useless? Or is this a
democratic party line.

Speaker 11 (30:03):
I'm not interested in michae managing the mayor's neural network.
What I'm interested in talking about is how does this
come about? The whole pharmaceutical push for expensive drugs for
a lifetime. If they last that long, it's just a
horror show. It's an assault on the soul and on

(30:26):
the human biology. We're all getting estrogen mimic and compounds
in our clothes, in our water, in our food. It's ridiculous. Well,
how this is going on, the government's doing nothing about that.

Speaker 1 (30:42):
I think Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Is trying to make
an effort to clean up stuff. So you're saying that
this was caused by big farmer, that's one way to
look at it. Paul. I appreciate the call, but I
think there's a bigger issue here than mental illness. To
be honest with you, I think there's multiple issues that
come out of the shooting, and the mental illness is
certainly one of them of the shooter. But to me,

(31:06):
another huge issue, and we don't know enough about the
shooter yet to really we know enough and we know
enough that, but we don't know what we'll know in
a week from now. I'm saying, so I think we
need to the motivation obviously, besides mental illness and things
that could have been done to stop this person are

(31:27):
issues that we will absolutely talk about. But to me
right now that the issue for me within twenty four
hours of this happening is the response of the elected
officials in Minneapolis, and for a mayor of a major
city to come out after a obviously a school, a

(31:48):
religious school church shooting to say, don't bother to pray
just floored me. And I was having this conversationation with Mike,
who said, you know, and by the way, I just
want to point out it was not a misspeak. It
was not just something he threw off casually. He meant it.

(32:11):
And the reason why I say that is he went
on various cable shows afterward and he's kind of repeating
the same mantra. Here he is with Jensaki on MSNBC
cut four h six.

Speaker 15 (32:26):
The individual possibly being trans about the individual possibly having
negative things to say about Trump, about some things that
have been on the weapons. A lot of this is
just very early reporting. What do you do as a
leader of your city to prevent details from being weaponized
and using this to blame something other than the guns.

Speaker 8 (32:49):
First off, anybody who is using this as an opportunity
to villainize trans people has completely lost touch with a
common human. Operate not off of hate for any community.
Operate off of love for our kids. Kids died today.

(33:10):
This should be about protecting our children. This should be
about loving our children. And far too often I feel
like people will think of the conclusion that they want
to get to, and then they'll like reverse manufacture the
facts that they want to hear to get to that
end point.

Speaker 1 (33:27):
Isn't that what he's doing? He you know, we don't
want to We don't want to go into the mounted
illness behind the shooter, which which you know they're a
member of the trance community. Don't blame the trans community
for this. But if it had been a Republican or
you know, a good old boy with a red Maga
hat who shut up, we would be going after his

(33:48):
community with no problem. So I think it's very disingenuine.
And for him to say this is about the children
and then tell people don't bother to prey is frightening.
And I started to say before Mike and I had
this conversation before the show started, and he's like, why
would the mayor say that? Why would he not ask

(34:09):
for prayers? And what occurred to me is that that's
the progressive response to religion. It goes back to remember
after the Russian Revolution, the Soviet communists Basically the first
thing they attacked after the revolution were the churches, because

(34:31):
the churches were an authority that was outside the party,
and so what they want is no God, only government.
And because they want to be the only authority, they
don't want anything else that will take away from their authority,

(34:51):
and so the first thing they did was get rid
of the churches and say God is dead? Is that
what the democrats are doing? Here?

Speaker 10 (34:58):
Is?

Speaker 1 (34:59):
Did the masks up with Jacob Pry in Minneapolis after
the shooting? Is that what the progressives are going to?
God is dead? I mean, that's basically what the shooter
was saying when he shot. And how ironic that the
mayor of Minneapolis is echoing that when telling people not

(35:19):
to pray. Do you think I'm reading too much into
this or do you think that, yeah, that is where
this is going. It's belittling religion. It's telling you it
doesn't work. Kids were shot while praying. So wow, that
to me is a really frightening turn of events. Mark

(35:43):
in Medford, Welcome to WRKO.

Speaker 6 (35:45):
How are you, Mark, Hey Santiago going?

Speaker 1 (35:49):
So? Do you think I'm reading too much into this?

Speaker 6 (35:51):
Mark?

Speaker 1 (35:51):
Or do you think this is a turnaway from God
the way the old Soviet communists.

Speaker 14 (35:55):
Did Sandy For the past eight ten now they've been
denouncing God. So I know I agree with you.

Speaker 6 (36:03):
You're not You're not far, You're not far from.

Speaker 14 (36:05):
The truth here. Believe me when I tell you. But
what I have you played a cordion clips from? You know,
these liberal democrats this morning, and not once have I
heard the calls and the cries for the gun control.
We have to get guns off the street because guns killed.

Speaker 1 (36:23):
Oh we're getting there, Mark, We're heading in that direction.
That What do you think? What do you think that
Mayor Jacob Fry was referring to when he said we
need action, not prayers. That's exactly what he was talking about.
He doesn't want to hear your prayers. So I think
you have a double a double edged sword there coming
in or a two pronged attack. One, don't bother to

(36:45):
pray because you know, God is dead, and then we
need action. The action he's talking about is gun control.
So that's exactly what they were doing.

Speaker 14 (36:53):
Mark, he did think that for a second. That was
the hidden message in there. What else saying it is?
I did that. But on the other hand, Sandy, you
have to think this, Okay, is it because they're not
really pushing the gun control issue here?

Speaker 5 (37:10):
Is it?

Speaker 14 (37:11):
Because oh wait a minute, this guy did like Catholics.
The shooter did not like Catholics. He hated MAGA, and
he hated Trump. So there's no really calls for gun control.
But I could guarantee you this, like you said earlier,
if this was a shooter that hated liberals, hated trends,

(37:31):
or hated Democrats, that didn't agree with any everything, they
said that one of the first things out of there,
most would be we have to get guns off the streets.

Speaker 1 (37:39):
Well, I think basically that is the first thing out
of a lot of fact Chuck Schumer, before we even
knew what happened at the school shooting, literally within minutes, Mark,
within minutes, I mean the shooting occurred about a thirty
in the morning, within minutes of that, I would say
before nine o'clock even we didn't even know what was happening.

(38:00):
Before any details were released on what weapons were used
or how the weapons were acquired, Senator Schumer put a
post up on X to push for gun control, and
then he also pushed don't forget. He also pushed for
gun control before the facts were known following the Midland
shooting that was in twenty nineteen, and he pushed for

(38:21):
universal background checks before anything was no regard regarding how
the attacker acquired his firearm. Then, but he did it
here too, So no, they've started it and to me
that's appalling too. But to me, the worst thing besides
pushing for the guns, which we are going to talk about,
is the fact that we're belittling God and beliving the

(38:42):
power of prayer. You know that that's part of the argument.
And don't bother to pray, go after the guns. That's
what he said. That's what he was saying with Jensaki,
and that's what Dana Bash was saying with Amy Klobershard too.
It's the same this ex that same thing. She's saying

(39:03):
that basically, we need the guns, don't bother with prayer.
So they are saying it, but they've married it with
this argument Mark of don't pray because, as I said before,
the progressives, the progressive movement, the communist movement, doesn't want

(39:24):
you to pray. They need to get rid of the
church because the church can supplant them in the hierarchy
of society and nothing can supplant them if they want
to bring all of their hopes and wishes to fruition.
Does that make sense to you?

Speaker 4 (39:40):
Mark?

Speaker 14 (39:42):
A lot of sense to me, Sandy.

Speaker 6 (39:43):
I got a question how old was the shooter?

Speaker 1 (39:46):
The shooter was like, what nineteen twenty? I think they're.

Speaker 5 (39:50):
About nineteen years?

Speaker 14 (39:52):
Is another thing for you, Sandy, he I guess he
had mentioned in his manifesto that he was dealing with
some issues, mental issues, and admitted it in the manifronto.
Who was his mom and dad? How do you have
a child and you have not noticed this with your child?

Speaker 1 (40:11):
Well, you know, that's interesting because they were certainly aware
of a lot of what was going on with their child.
Because mom, I can't speak for the dad. I haven't
seen any mention of the dad at all, but the
mom was aware of what the kid was going through
in regard to identifying as the opposite sex, because the

(40:33):
mom is the one that so the shooter when they died,
name was Robin Westman, a transgender woman who was formerly
known as Robert, and Robert petitioned to have his name
changed to Robin in twenty nineteen, and Mom had to
sign the application because Robin was a minor at the time.

(40:57):
So and Mom, by the way, was an employee at
the school where the shooting occurred right up until I
think three or four years ago when she retired, so
Mom had to be aware of a lot.

Speaker 5 (41:08):
But I.

Speaker 1 (41:10):
Don't know if Mom ever looked at the social media pages.
I don't know. I don't that account's been taken down,
so I can't go through and see what happened in
the past. But and the manifesto with the really violent,
horrible stuff was only up there I think just before,
just a few hours before the shooting occurred. There had

(41:30):
to have been other things too, but I don't know
because I didn't see it. But the video, the twenty
minute video mark is really it's gut wrenching, it's very
it's horrific, and I mean they talk about Robin, Robert
talks about how you know he's going to kill himself,

(41:51):
but he doesn't really talk about hurting other people. And
then when you look at the pictures and see the
captions and the pictures, you begin to be concern for
other people. So but I have no answer for that, Mark,
I don't know where Dad is, but I can tell
you Mom had to be aware of something. I don't
know why she wasn't aware of more. To be honest with.

Speaker 14 (42:11):
You, leave you this last question, Sandy.

Speaker 5 (42:15):
If if mom was more concerned and more involved with
when when her when her son decided he wanted to
be a girl, and got more involved with it and
paid more attention to it, could maybe if this not happened.

Speaker 1 (42:32):
I don't know the answer to that. That's that's one
of those, you know, hypothetical questions that we will never
know the answer to. I tend to think that parental
involvement is key to helping anybody through a mental illness,
and family support is key to helping people get through
a family illness. But I don't believe that we'll ever

(42:55):
know in this case. But thank you for the for
the call, Mark, I appreciate it very much. The number
is six one seven, sixty eight sixty eight. We're talking
about the response of the mayor of Minneapolis after that
horrible school shooting at Annunciation School, Catholic school yesterday where
two children were murdered, fourteen were shot, and a couple

(43:17):
of adults were killed, and then the shooter, a very
troubled trans woman, killed herself. I go back and forth.
The text was saying, is it her or him? I
go back and forth depending on what news story I've
just read. Some of the papers are referring to the
shooter as him, some are referring to it as her.

(43:38):
I think, for I don't think either way is wrong.
To be honest with you, I think depending on what
your stand if you want to refer to Robin, if
you're referring to Robin, then it's her. And if you're
referring to past life is Robert, than it's to him.
I don't think. And the police chief refers to the

(43:59):
shooter as him, So I think that's probably where I
will land, because that's where the law officials are referring
to him. He's the shooter and him and so forth.
So he may have changed his name to Robin, but
it doesn't look like he did anything else other than that.
I don't know for sure. We'll find out over the

(44:20):
next week. I don't think just by changing your name,
you change your gender, So I think you've got to
do a lot more than that, And a lot of
people don't believe you can ever change it. So it's
really a personal reading of the situation. But what we're
talking about is the mayor's response to this horrible shooting,
and that is to tell people not to bother to pray.

(44:41):
These kids were shot while praying, so don't bother to pray.
We need action, and the action he's referring to is
gun control. So you have the democratic mayor of Minneapolis
coming out with dead children, turning it into a political
diatribe against against prayer and for gun control. And why
would you do that?

Speaker 14 (45:02):
Why?

Speaker 1 (45:02):
And social media exploded. My head exploded, and I'm thinking,
why would you do that? And when Mike asked the question,
the only thing I can think of is that is
the progressive way they want to get rid of the church?
God is dead?

Speaker 5 (45:15):
Is that?

Speaker 1 (45:16):
And did the mask of the mayor's slip when he
said that when he said don't bother to pray? Doesn't
was he supposed to say it or is that really
what he thinks? And he just said it without thinking
because it was a press conference in a heated moment
after a huge tragedy. I think that's what happened. I
don't think he was meant to say it, but once

(45:37):
he did, it was out there and okay, the other
progressive jumped on board. Yeah, don't bother to pray. Is
that what's going on here? Is it a further move
to the left. Let's go to Angelo in Rockland. Angelo,
Welcome to WRKO. How are you.

Speaker 6 (45:51):
I'm good, Thank you for having me.

Speaker 5 (45:54):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (45:54):
I don't think that was a slip of the time.
Most of the things those democratic people are regime or
whatever you want to call them, because they're not human. Lately,
they don't want to pray, they don't want to have
any compassion, but they want you to bow down to
the Antichrist. Not happening. This is America. We are all one.
You can do what you want, but be legal when

(46:14):
you do it. You know, maybe they should just have
no trial in a death penalty to send a strong
message because he's caught red handed and it's not a girl.
They want to be called girls. But they want to
have respect. You can't have respect when you're like that.
So he's got to go right to the cheer in
my eyes, and I don't know that I'll ever happen,

(46:37):
but you've got to send a strong message. You know,
most of the American people maga whatever. We don't care
what anybody does. Transgender, do whatever you want, don't force
it in our face. Leave the little kids alone to
their eighteen and legal and then they can decide what
they want to do. And everybody else just live life

(46:58):
and respect and we will have no problem. I mean,
what do you think about that?

Speaker 1 (47:02):
I think that's the common sense approach.

Speaker 6 (47:05):
Angelo.

Speaker 1 (47:05):
I think that's exactly where most Americans are. I think
you put your finger on it. I don't care what
you do, as long as you're not hurting anybody. I
don't care what you do, and you can. You can
go ahead and find peace in your own world, whatever
that takes. I wish you to go with God, and
I wish you to go to be happy. That's what
I want for you. It's what I want for everybody

(47:27):
but I but I agree with you. But when somebody
goes awry either because they didn't get the psychological help
they needed. Mom, as, as Mark and Medford pointed out,
Mum wasn't paying attention when the signs were there, and
you became imbalanced to the point of killing people, and

(47:50):
not just people, little children who are praying. I mean,
do you have a more innocent, vulnerable victim than that?
And you know, because you are, you are insane. And
I don't know anybody who can say that they anybody
who would do that is not insane. And I think
the situation ended the way it should have. To be

(48:11):
honest with you, I'm not crying any tears over the
gunman killing himself in the parking lot. It saves us
the cost of a trial and the cost of an
execution at some later dates. So, but I think your
position is where most people are. Most people don't care,
and the left wants you to believe Angelo that we

(48:31):
do care. The left wants you, wants people to believe
that we're furious, we want we want anybody who isn't
like us to be wiped off the face of the earth,
which is the farthest frink from the truth. I don't
I don't care if you're like me. I don't care
if you what traits you share with me. I want
you to be happy as long as you don't hurt
anybody else. God go with you. I think that's what

(48:53):
how most of us feel. But the left are portraying
us as monsters who don't like diversity, and so they
think it's justifiable to hide the truth of what happened
at the shooting, who the shooter was, what their motivation
could be. We can't mention that because it'll fly in
the face of that. You know, Conservatives and Americans hate

(49:17):
people who aren't like them, or hate people who are
different than them. They want to hide. They have to
keep that mantra alive. And so that's why I think
they hid what was actually happening, don't you Angelo, So
I believe you.

Speaker 6 (49:31):
Yeah, you're definitely Well, all of us are on the
same page, and they just keep spewing the hate and
there's no hate. It's just an understanding and respect all around. Yeah,
and I think it'll get better as time goes on.
Hopefully they, well, the people start to realize that and

(49:53):
realize that it's just a apploy to keep the hate going.

Speaker 13 (49:56):
You know.

Speaker 1 (49:57):
Well, don't you think though, that they've reached a new
bar By telling people not to pray. It's one thing,
you know, to to hide the actual facts behind a
situation or not address them or accuse people if they
point out, well, wait a minute, didn't the shooter No, no, no,
you can't go there because that's a hate. If you
point out that the shooter was trans and had some
mental issues, you're a hater. But if you point out

(50:19):
that the shooter was, you know, a maga hat wearin Republican,
that's justifiable because that fits the progressive story. But I
think they reached a new low actually when they tell
you not to pray. That to me was an attack
on religion and the church, not just the Catholic Church,
but churches and religion in general. And I think that's

(50:41):
one of the first things that communists progressives do when
they're moving to remake society is get rid of churches.
And I think and I think that's what we saw
in Minneapolis. Do you think I'm right?

Speaker 6 (50:57):
I think absolutely, that's part of this part of what's
been going on for many years here. When it started
no more Merry Christmas, it's happy Holidays, they start just
kipping away and keep getting away with they can get
away with but you know, we don't say, don't you know, Ramadan,
whatever it is, you can do what you want. This

(51:18):
is America, but you have to go along with the
American way. And if you're not happy with that, well
don't be here. I mean, I don't want to sound disrespectful,
but this is America. We're founded on many many cultures,
thank god, and many cultures are still trying to get
here legally. And you know, I'm only third generation and

(51:40):
I love it here in somewhat of a military family
as well, and you know, it's what it has to be. Yet,
thank god, we have the right to have our differences
and so forth.

Speaker 4 (51:53):
You know.

Speaker 6 (51:54):
But that's all I really have to say on that.
But I hopefully things are getting bad.

Speaker 1 (52:00):
Well, thank you for the call, Angelo, I appreciate it
very much, and I hopefully things are getting better too.
And I agree with you. We're founded on diversity.