September 11, 2025 • 34 mins
Stephen L. Miller, Versus Media podcast host, is offering no quarter to mainstream media whose casual references to conservative political figures as 'far-right extremists' - or worse, 'fascists' and 'Nazis' - have corroded public discourse and made voices on the right targets of unstable maniacs who take that sort of language literally, and whose violent acts are often equivocated or explained away by members of the media themselves. He joins Ryan to discuss the assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, and where we go from here as a movement Charlie helped champion... and as a country.
Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) / X (twitter.com)
Versus Media by Stephen L. Miller | Substack
John Castillo, father of STEM school shooting hero Kendrick, joins to discuss the coordinated effort to have his son canonized as a saint by Pope Leo XIV and the Roman Catholic Church. Also, his reaction to the assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk and the Evergreen High School shooting - both of which took place on Wednesday.
Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) / X (twitter.com)
Versus Media by Stephen L. Miller | Substack
John Castillo, father of STEM school shooting hero Kendrick, joins to discuss the coordinated effort to have his son canonized as a saint by Pope Leo XIV and the Roman Catholic Church. Also, his reaction to the assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk and the Evergreen High School shooting - both of which took place on Wednesday.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Yeah, and again emphasize what you just emphasize. We don't
know any of the details of this that we don't
know if this was a supporter shooting their gun off.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
In celebration or so, we have no idea about this.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
But following up what was just said, he's been one
of the most divisive, especially divisive younger figures in this
who is constantly sort of pushing this sort of hate
speech or sort of aimed at certain groups. And I
always go back to hateful thoughts lead to hateful words,
which then lead to hateful actions. And I think that's
(00:33):
the environment we're in that people just you can't stop
with these sort of awful thoughts you have and then
saying these awful words and not expect awful actions to
take place. And that's the fortunate environment we're in.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Matthew Dowd on MSNBC.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
This guy, former Bush neocon, IRAQ war supporter, war hawk
himself going back better than twenty years now, a pundit
on MSNBC basically saying that Charlie Kirk was responsible for
the assassination of Charlie Kirk if he just would have
kept his mouth shut and not spoke in his mind
(01:12):
or used his First Amendment rights in public forums like
college campus as well.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Maybe this wouldn't have happened.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
Even Joe Scarborough earlier today chimed in on that horrid take.
Speaker 4 (01:24):
Took that holds in it also from leadership of this network.
Somebody came on Matthew Dowd yesterday, came on and made
a wild speculation that was obviously wrong and it extraordinarily
hurtful to many people. And Becca Cutler said so last night,
came out and condemned his words in the strongest term.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
So we're glad that she did that. Okay, condemned his
words in the strongest terms. The guy should be jettison
from the network altogether. And Katie Turr was equally awful
in her presentation of coverage on MSNBC in real time
as the situation was unfolding Utah, where Charlie Kirk was
shot and then later died from his wounds. Joining us now,
he is the host of the Versus Media podcast. You
(02:07):
can follow him on x at red Ste's Steven L.
Miller our guest, and he joins us on Ryan Shuling Live,
Stephen Welcome.
Speaker 5 (02:14):
Are you sleeping? Okay? Ryan?
Speaker 2 (02:17):
No, I'm not.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
As a matter of fact, it was one of the
roughest nights I've had, honestly since twenty four years ago
to the day.
Speaker 6 (02:24):
Yeah, obviously not sleeping much as someone who's in this arena,
certainly not at the level that Charlie Kirk was.
Speaker 5 (02:32):
But it's interesting. I see a lot.
Speaker 6 (02:34):
I didn't know Charlie Kirk personally, but I feel a
lot going around how he persuaded people. You know, he
went to college campuses, and you know, he would do
these q and a's, and some people kind of accuse
him of punching down and I don't think that's really it.
I think what Charlie Kirk's power was was basically making
an entire generation of college and age males in particular
(02:56):
realize that they're not some weirdo walking around campus that
they don't have to keep to themselves. And I think
what Charlie Kirk really did was basically say to these kids,
you're okay to believe you do believe. You know, you're
surrounded by you know, weirdo progressives in furry costumes or
whatever it is. And that's really what he unlocked. And
(03:17):
if you know, a lot of people don't you know
know this, but the Romney Ryan campaign of twenty twelve
did not visit a single college campus in the one
hundred days of their presidential campaign, not one that was
a space that was kind of seated by the old
guard GOP, you know, the national abuse with the weekly
Standards and those writers. And if you abandon those spaces,
(03:41):
something is going to fill it. And for the kind
of older guard of the Republican Party who disapproved of
Charlie Kirk's tactics, I don't want to hear it. Charlie
Kirk filled a vacuum that those guys abandoned, and he
became very, very influential over it, to the point to
where he was killed over it. And that's really where
he drew his influence and power. And you know, I
(04:04):
don't think that the political left understands what's coming electorally.
I think you're going to see one hundred of thousand
or so red pilled college age males coming here.
Speaker 5 (04:14):
In these next few elections.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Steven L. Miller, our guest.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
We've seen myriad polls, Stephen, revealing that Gen Z coming
up maybe the most conservative generation since the greatest generation
the World War II generation we see them, they're more
pro life, they don't drink or smoke as much.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
They are getting red pilled.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
To your point, they went through COVID, many of them
coming into college or out of college, and they had
that taken away from them with the draconian lockdowns and
so forth. How much of that shift for gen Z
moving to the right do you attribute and credit to
Charlie Kirk himself.
Speaker 6 (04:53):
I would say a lot of it, the majority of it,
But there's other you know, there's other influencers.
Speaker 5 (04:58):
Is kind of what the.
Speaker 6 (04:58):
Network that tur like Kirk created. When when Charlie Kirk
kind of landed on the scene a bunch of years ago,
he was kind of this kind of goofy ucker Carlson's style,
want to be kind of infotainer, and that was really
just kind of the response to the kind of media
reaction to Barack Obama. They decided he's going to be
info pointer in chief and the clerk that I encountered
(05:19):
with that. And then as Charlie got older and he
kind of matured, I think he saw that, you know,
there's a there's a better way of doing things that hey,
I'm going to try to talk to you and you know,
maybe where I think he did make his mistake is,
you know, as he said, he's trying to persuade people
to the other side. And you know, I think that
he was probably one of the biggest political forces since
Andrew Breitbart, and I'm and Andrew Breitbart conservetive that he
(05:41):
was kind of the guy that I got.
Speaker 5 (05:43):
Into coming up.
Speaker 6 (05:44):
And I think when Andrew Breitbart realized is you know,
there's there's a faction of these people that just have
to be defeated. And we're now seeing the political left
settle into this thing called stochastic terrorism.
Speaker 5 (05:56):
And it's their entire narrative. It's an it's.
Speaker 6 (05:58):
Oppressed versus oppressor, and Trump is the opcer, and therefore
LGBT two is the oppressed. Never mind that this is
the best time to be gay in the history of
the world is in the United States of America in
twenty twenty five. And therefore they justify anything as violent
against them. Your speech is violence, and therefore any violence
(06:20):
I commit against you is a defensive tactic. You see
this with the Hamas Playbook, and that's what's kind of
it work to I don't want to traffic in speculation
with the You know, we still don't know the motive
of the shooter. I think it's pretty clear itself. But
this is this is dangerous. This is where the political
left is now. We're seeing not just kind of a
few loonies on social media celebrating this. You're seeing takers
(06:44):
in academia celebrating this. You're seeing medical professionals celebrate the
shooting of chartlie Kerr. And you know, the media is
going to start this. The political right is going on
to cancel culture spree. And yes, that's what we do.
We don't burn buildings down, we don't go out and
buy it. You don't destroy people's businesses. And so the
media should be thankful that getting a few people fired
(07:06):
for this is all that.
Speaker 5 (07:07):
We're going to do in reaction to this.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
Steven L.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
Miller versus Media podcast host. You can find that on
a substack and also via his ex page at red Stees.
I'm old enough to remember the assassination attempt against Ronald Reagan.
I was with my grandmother at the time, and she
broke down crying, and of course through the comparisons to
Kennedy and good thing that old Dutch survived that and
it brought the country together. And I don't remember, and
(07:30):
I was young, but even when I go back watch
archival footage, I didn't remember a single America, not at
least that was anywhere near the mainstream going man. I
wish John Hankley had gotten him and taken him out.
But now we had the University of Texas at Austin
keep Austin weird, one of the most liberal bastions in
the nation, despite it being in Texas. And these were
the reactions of students after the Charlie Kirk assassination.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
Charlie Kirk got shot and killed?
Speaker 7 (07:53):
How do you feel happy?
Speaker 8 (07:54):
Goodbye?
Speaker 5 (07:55):
Wow?
Speaker 7 (07:56):
Did you see that Charlie Kirk just got shot and killed?
That's okod wow, that's good. That's good that people are
getting shot yourself in a political.
Speaker 9 (08:04):
View, good the people are dying in America.
Speaker 10 (08:10):
Did you see that Charlie Kerrot gets shot and killed today?
Speaker 4 (08:14):
Yes?
Speaker 11 (08:14):
I did.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
How do you feel about that?
Speaker 7 (08:17):
I don't really have any feelings about it.
Speaker 11 (08:21):
Who are you?
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Charlie Kert gets shot and killed today. We're just getting
people's opinions. How do you feel about that?
Speaker 7 (08:30):
Girl?
Speaker 5 (08:30):
Someone had to do it, And that's how I feel.
At this point in time.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
But yeah, I appreciate your honesty. I truly do so.
Speaker 7 (08:36):
You said someone had to do it, Yes.
Speaker 9 (08:42):
Trying not to get all pulled up into that. But
he was a misogynist. He was a disgusting person with
disgusting beliefs.
Speaker 4 (08:47):
So if you had a magical wand a magical button
that you could press.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
And keep him from being assassinated, would you press that?
Speaker 6 (08:57):
No?
Speaker 9 (08:58):
I think things happen for a purpose, and if that's
how his life was ended, then that's how it was unded.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
So, Stephen, I'm not the most religious guy in the
world by any means, but I look at this emptiness,
this soullessness, and it seems to me to derive directly
from nihilism. And we know that one of the foundational
tenets of Marxism is to divorce people from their gods,
and their politics becomes their religion, and that becomes their
god replacing that. There's a reason why in the Soviet
(09:27):
Union in China they've banned religions because nothing can supersede
the power, the centralized power of the government. This is
disturbing on many levels. But how would you analyze as
to why we are here. Why so many young people
and that's just a sampling, right there, have this reaction
to an innocent man being murdered in broad daylight.
Speaker 6 (09:49):
I think a lot of it has to do with,
you know, the status of our social media platforms and
their groups. You know, they see posts that people cheer,
and it's kind of the devalue of life. The interesting
thing about Charlie Kirk is he took away a lot
of the less power to.
Speaker 5 (10:08):
Insault.
Speaker 6 (10:09):
And you know, this was something that he did. He
was recently featured on South Park. He was made fun of.
Is he took away the power to be offended. And
so when I hear those clips, you know, and there's
probably people in your audience who are offended by this stuff.
Charlie Kirk is the kind of guy who probably just
laugh at some of that stuff. And this was something
and this is the thing I've been on for a while.
(10:30):
If you've read my posts and stuff like this, the
power to offend the political right and especially the religious right,
whether it's through entertainment, through artworks, through academia, has always
been a very very potent weapon for the political left.
And Charlie Kirk was a guy who took that away
from them. On one of his there's a video of
him on one of his college events and a guy
comes up to him in a full like boat of
(10:52):
Satan costume whatever, and he's got the head and he's
chanting and Kirk just kind of laughs and clips at him.
And that was also his reaction to aar on South
Park here just a few episodes ago, which is you know,
he made you know, Charlie Cartman his Twitter.
Speaker 5 (11:05):
Avatar and he said, this is great. I guess I've
made it.
Speaker 6 (11:08):
And that's something that infuriates that side of the aisle,
and it's something that infuriates the media because it really
is a new right. They talk about the new right
and the youth right, and so I when I hear
this with you know, these kids saying this in this interview,
I kind of just shrug it off. If I'm being honest,
it doesn't offend me. You know, there is you know,
(11:29):
our humor in times like this, and you know, Kirk
was a guy who was able to poke fun at
himself and whether it was an act, you know, he
really did disarm the political left that way. And again
that's one of the reasons he became so influential. A
whole generation of people saw this guy over here who
was having fun, and they looked on the other side
and they see people scolding them for their skin color,
(11:51):
for their choice of music, for their choice of fashion,
for their diet. You know, you're killing the planet with
your meeting. And that was that was another big part
of his influence in all of this. And it really
is where that side of the aisle is. And again,
when you're sitting at you know, twenty percent approval rating,
the political left sits.
Speaker 5 (12:10):
In a very dangerous place right now.
Speaker 6 (12:12):
And again, as someone who is in that arena as well,
I don't take that.
Speaker 5 (12:16):
For granted at all.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
Steven L.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
Miller versus media podcast hosts, I saw your comment on this,
so I want to break it down as we go.
This was Representative Dan Goldman, Democrat in New York, one
of my least favorite in the House, on with Anderson
Cooper last night.
Speaker 11 (12:29):
That's certainly not the message we're hearing from some in
the sort of far right you know podcasting sphere who
make money off off this, But this kind of rhetoric,
I mean, they're talking about war. There's a war targeting conservatives.
Speaker 12 (12:45):
Yeah, look, it's that is incredibly dangerous.
Speaker 7 (12:51):
I am really really disappointed.
Speaker 12 (12:54):
And what I would urge I would really urge the
President of the.
Speaker 7 (12:59):
United States to speak out against that.
Speaker 11 (13:01):
What.
Speaker 12 (13:02):
I don't view this as an issue of the right
or the left. I think we've seen political violence, you know,
on both sides of the spectrum, and it's not that
one is worse than the other. Obviously, the efforts to
assassinate the president were horrific, thanks and we're absolutely unacceptable.
Speaker 7 (13:25):
Should have been unacceptable.
Speaker 12 (13:27):
But we can't get in a tit for tat here
where we're just going one after the other after the other.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
Well, Representative Goldman, I might remind you that it wasn't
that long ago that Senator Chris Murphy said this are
we at war?
Speaker 6 (13:42):
Like we're in a war right now to save are
this country, and so you have to be willing to
do whatever is necessary in order to save the country, whatever.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
Is necessary, including taking out Charlie Kirk on a college
campus in Utah.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
Goldman continues, and.
Speaker 12 (13:57):
I hope these far right podcasters come of their senses
and recognize that this is not war. We are Americans
at bottom, and we may be Republicans, we may be Democrats,
but we don't. We do not divide this entire country
based on political ideology, and we can't do that. And
(14:18):
we have to come back and remember that we are
all Americans in the greatest country on earth, and that
we may disagree on how we move forward, but we
all want our country to move forward.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
Kumbai Yah, come together. Except this was Representative Dan Goldman
a year ago.
Speaker 12 (14:36):
Just unquestionable at this point that that man cannot see
public office again. He is not only unfit, he is
destructive to our democracy and.
Speaker 7 (14:48):
He has to be He has to be eliminated.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
Donald Trump has to be eliminated now, Stephen.
Speaker 3 (14:54):
This is why I think you are so important, why
this show, and why I feel I have a duty
to Charlie Kirk and everybody else. Because Democrats assume the
American people are stupid, that they have no memory of
anything that they've said in the past.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
Just forget about all that.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
We're all good now, but we have long memories. The
Internet is forever, and these audio clips are in archives
that exist.
Speaker 6 (15:17):
Yeah, you know, after what happened yesterday, I don't think
I'm going to be getting lectured at at a guy
and a party that throws a stone and hits the
nearest NRA member after every mass shooting. That's you know,
that's just kind of how I look at this. These
guys and they know how bad this looks, you know,
(15:37):
and that's why a.
Speaker 5 (15:38):
Lot of this is finger wagging.
Speaker 6 (15:39):
And you have Mars bay AOC out here calling for
more gun control and everything like that. And it's really
interesting that, you know, Conservative is the one getting shot
at right now, whether it's at college campuses, whether it's
while they're attending church with kids, and the bullets are
flying in one direction. That's not always the case, but
you can look at the rationalolitical violence, including two attempts
(16:01):
on the Republican nominee for president last year. And uh,
I said, if the if the Democratic Party thinks they're
going to take guns away from the people being shot at,
let me let me tell you that that's going to
be a hard no, right, that's going to.
Speaker 5 (16:15):
Be a conversation killer rate the bat. And so they
don't really know how to handle this.
Speaker 7 (16:20):
Uh.
Speaker 6 (16:21):
You know, something that's interesting is we're seeing this rash
of celebratory tweets and tiktoks and everything, and there's not
a single Democratic leader out there telling them to cool
it right now. And that's really the problem here. And
again it's because you hear Dan gold In there. This
is the perfect example of what I talked about.
Speaker 5 (16:38):
The stochastic terror is.
Speaker 6 (16:40):
Uh, you know, Chris Murphy, we're we're in a warm
and we're they're destroying the democracy. And therefore if you
think that, and you can take it against them as
a service to protect the democracy. And again it's it's dangerous.
That's where they're at and it has to be resoundly defeated.
And that's it.
Speaker 5 (16:56):
I don't know how. I don't know what else to
put to say one.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
More quo that I want people to hear.
Speaker 3 (17:01):
And granted this is from overseas in the BBC, but
this is nells Abbey. And if you think it's bad
here in America, we know how bad it's getting in Britain.
You're being panalized, you're being punished, you're being arrested for
free speech and mean tweets. And just listen to how
he characterizes Charlie Kirk here. Doesn't want to justify Charlie
Kirk's murder, but I don't agree. He was a sistery
of for the tiklock Age.
Speaker 10 (17:21):
I believe it was a David Duke for the TikTok Age,
and I have some degree was the former Grand Wizard
of the khlukos Klan. That this was a very seriously
deep Now, this is by no means trying to justify
his murder. Political violence is wrong at home, this is
wrong abroad. It is wrong, and it's also wrong political
(17:42):
violence must be condemned, as must be the propagandizing for
political violence and the dehumanization of people. Charlie Kirk was
somebody who was I shiver particularly for conservatives when he's
described as conservative, because he wasn't a conservative by any
means whatsoever. He was quite clearly a comfortably of supremacists.
If I was somebody who was going on television, I'm
sure you would have described somebody who doesn't TV and
(18:04):
blames Jewish people for what he describes at the coursening
of Western culture. Says things like the Equality Act or
the Civil Rights Act or so it was a mistake.
Says things like women shouldn't be entited into abortions.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
That well, that's a gross exaggeration of a lot of
Charlie Kirk's positions.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
But Steven.
Speaker 3 (18:20):
My final point would be this, you know, the likening
of Trump to Hitler, it's become passe, and that any
one of us who supports Donald Trump, we're Nazis, we're
brown shirts, we're ASTs whatever. And now the comparison here
of Charlie Kirk to David Duke, I mean there might
be the average person on the street that if they
believe that comparison, that through line that if they had
an open shot at David Duke of the KKK, of
(18:42):
course they would take him out because that would be justifiable.
Speaker 6 (18:47):
Yeah, I kind of think the authoritarians are the ones
shooting people.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
Indeed, Steven L.
Speaker 3 (18:53):
Miller, he is the host of the Versus Media podcast.
You can find it on his substack, and I advise
you to follow him at Red Ste's on Ax. Steven,
you've been cranking out the hits over the last twenty
four hours on that platform. Appreciate all you do and
always appreciate your time with us.
Speaker 5 (19:07):
Thanks Ron.
Speaker 6 (19:08):
I'm going to be having a live podcast tonight at
six pm Mountain time, so and that link is in
my Twitter bio.
Speaker 3 (19:14):
Look for that at Red Stees a live podcast tonight
at six pm Mountain time Steven L. Miller, who we
turned to after this last twenty four hours of surreal
and horrific events.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
Speaking of bottom of the.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
Hour time out, when we come back, John Castillo doing
God's work here on earth as his son did, Hero
Kendrick Castillo. Kendrick is a candidate for canonization. We saw
the first millennial saint canonized by Pope Leo the fourteenth
and the Catholic Church, and there are efforts being made
to do the same for Kendrick, who saved so many
(19:50):
lives in that classroom at the Stem School where there
was a shooting and he sacrificed his own life to
protect others. Of course, in the wake of the Evergreen
High School sh duo, John Castillo is a man that
we definitely want to have a conversation with, and we'll
have that conversation when.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
We come back on Ryan Schuling life.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
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Speaker 6 (21:24):
Follow up to the SR question.
Speaker 9 (21:25):
And forgive me if you've already answered this, but you
should have been should have.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
An SRO been there?
Speaker 12 (21:30):
I know you said they.
Speaker 7 (21:31):
Left to do something. It sounds like it was okay
for them to do that?
Speaker 6 (21:35):
Sure was? Was that SRO following Department Police school.
Speaker 9 (21:40):
Policy when they left the chambers?
Speaker 6 (21:42):
Yes, the SRO that was sharing responsibility of Evergreen.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
High School is allowed to come and go.
Speaker 7 (21:48):
He can go to lunch.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
They might have to handle something in the parking lot,
and he might be covering something that that's happening in the.
Speaker 7 (21:54):
Neighborhood or up in the Evergreen area, cover cars for that. So, no,
he did not do anything wrong.
Speaker 3 (22:00):
He didn't do anything wrong this SRO. But why did
he have to be gone in the first place? How
does that make our kids safer? Back with you On
Ryan Schuling Live, John Caldera spoke about this filling in
for Dan Kaplis yesterday.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
Why wouldn't you go.
Speaker 3 (22:18):
To the logical end and conclusion to keep our kids
the safest. They had a dedicated SRO who then won
a medical leave, and then they replaced that setup with
part time soros that would pop around jeff Co Evergreen
into the mountains over here. Another thing tells them away
they go off on lunch, they can come and go
as they please.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
Maybe they're there, maybe they're not. But when they're not,
and this SRO was not there.
Speaker 3 (22:44):
That opens the door, that gives daylight as a soft
target for a would be shooter.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
And that is what happened yesterday.
Speaker 3 (22:52):
And our good friend Laura Carno Faster Colorado sent me
the following. She says, final thought on the SROs, I
don't think anybody is looking to blame them. We love
our SROs. They are heroes, but you have to put
them in a position to succeed. That's me, that's my
parenthetical there. If an SRO had been there to respond
within seconds of that shooter opening fire with a revolver
(23:13):
were told in this press conference you heard there Jackie Kelly,
Jeff co Pio, the Sheriff's Department, then maybe the two
kids who got shot would not have gotten shot. And
but for the grace of God, one is still in
critical condition in the hospital.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
The other one has been released.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
But if an SRO had been there, dedicated the whole time,
if there were armed teachers in personnel there at any time,
would this shooting have even happened.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
And the answer is likely not. It likely would not
have happened.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
Continue with Laura's comments here, but this is the issue
that can't be everywhere at once. But you know who
can be is the school staff. They are already there
because they have jobs that keep them there. And Laura continues,
another one thing I've been saying on media is that
we have tried this their way for decades and this
is what it's gotten us. The Crime Prevention Research Center
(24:07):
has documented that there has never been a school shooting
on a campus with armed school staff.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
Those are concealed Carrie Arms staff.
Speaker 3 (24:17):
Why don't we try it our way for a change.
If it was no nationwide that every K through twelve
campus had multiple concealed Carrie arm staff members, school shootings
would stop today. Let's try it our way for a change.
That from Laura Carno joining us, he is a hero.
His son was a hero, Kendrick Castillo at the Stem
(24:39):
school shooting, sacrificing his life to save the lives of others,
his classmates, acting with courage at a moment's notice, and
he was taken down by a school shooter himself. Kendrick Castillo.
His father, John Castillo, joins us now on Ryan Shulting Live. John,
thank you so much for your.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
Time, thank you for having me Ryan, your reaction and.
Speaker 3 (24:59):
A know this has got to be absolute torture for
you and Maria, because every time this happens, especially when
it happens as close to home as Evergreen, I have
to imagine you go through those same emotions over and
over again. I can't even imagine what was going through
your mind yesterday. How would you describe it?
Speaker 8 (25:17):
Oh, it's eerie, how your emotions and your point in time.
I mean, you know, today is the anniversary of a
terror attack. In the school shooting is no different when
we see these events play out. I was eating lunch
(25:38):
in a fast food restaurant yesterday, similar to May seventh,
when I got the news about the sam school shooting.
I went back to my job and I turned on
a television. I seen it unfolding before my eyes. You know,
yesterday evening, when I got home, I had a very opening,
candid talk with my beautif wife, Maria, and I told
(26:02):
her as I was watching the news on the television,
they had made the comment that it was raining. You know,
it was raining on May seventh. I remember that very clearly.
It's like the sky opened up over the Stem school
shooting when we were looking for Kendrick. I mean, those
things are.
Speaker 5 (26:20):
Just the same.
Speaker 8 (26:22):
You know, and then a lot of the language I
hear about people who should be protecting our schools is
the same. You know, we just keep making these failures
where we don't have multi layers of security to protect
our children. It's very difficult, very sad.
Speaker 5 (26:42):
You know.
Speaker 8 (26:42):
The impact it has on surviving parents is at times indescribable.
Speaker 3 (26:51):
John Caldera told us yesterday, John that he wants schools
to be at least at the level of security that
we're seeing right now at King super shopping centers. I
just went there this morning myself and there was an
armed security guard there. Now, some people will say, all
that makes me feel like I'm living in a police state,
and it's oppressive, and it makes me nervous and it
(27:11):
puts me on edge.
Speaker 2 (27:12):
And a lot of those same arguments are.
Speaker 3 (27:14):
Being made about having a full time staffed SRO on
campuses throughout the state of Colorado. But as Laura Carnal
puts it, perhaps nationwide, and yet we have political figures
like Tay Anderson wanting to get SROs out of schools completely. John,
I don't see the logic in that argument that the
kids are going to be made to feel like they're
(27:34):
reporting to prison or something if there are armed guards.
There SROs all the time. But I don't see it
as anything but a good thing. Am I off the mark?
Speaker 12 (27:42):
There?
Speaker 8 (27:43):
No, you're not off the mark at all. In fact,
you know, there should be budgets created around security that
address these issues. So our children, on average go to
school for six hours a day and if they're out
in school, well you know they're truant or whatever. I mean,
I personally and Maria feel the same way. I mean,
(28:06):
anybody who has children get them out of public schools,
homeschool and come up with something different. They're not safe.
We're not doing enough, and that's just the fact of
the matter. You know, we need to address this issue,
and it's very simple, but it just falls on deaf ears.
Other things move in and it's the same talking points
over gun control or whatever it might be politically. In fact,
(28:28):
the same individuals keep popping up after every shooting as well,
but it's just sad.
Speaker 3 (28:34):
John Castillo joining us, the father of Kendrick Castile, the
hero of the Stem school shooting some years ago, and
the eerie similarities that he witnessed on that day. Hearkening
back to that May day and I was here, and
I think about this, John, and as difficult as yesterday
was for me personally and professionally, we were covering that
on one hand, and the Evergreen School shooting and then
(28:56):
the Charlie Kirk assassination happening at the same time.
Speaker 5 (29:00):
Call.
Speaker 3 (29:00):
The last time I felt that way in this job,
at this station was the day of the Stem School shooting,
when that was happening in real time. There's so much
that happens in such a small period of time. John,
what would you advocate for? And I know that you
are already doing this in many ways, but have people
turned to you, and I mean school systems. You are
(29:23):
a voice of reason here. You are the voice of
a parent who lost his son in the worst possible way.
What would you tell legislators about you know, what should
be done here going forward?
Speaker 8 (29:37):
I think what they should do is be sure that
there's transparency mental health screenings in our schools, making sure
that there's dedicated SROs and they're not shared between schools.
I would even go as far as saying that the
SROs that are in schools should not be in uniform
(30:00):
be a tona. There should be some autonomy there and
they should you know, rotate them out so that nobody
knows who they are. I just think that, you know,
we're not doing enough to have conversations around security, and
there are simple things you can start from no dollars
to whatever it costs to make sure that we are
(30:21):
doing the right thing. But as it is right now,
we just come up with the same talking points and
nothing ever really gets done, or if it is, it's
very little to make a difference. So you know, I
would start there. I think that that is a reasonable ask.
And as far as you know school districts or schools
reaching out to me for advice, that hasn't happened. I
(30:42):
will tell you that there are some brave individual administrators
in some schools, some very good schools that have reached
out and invited Murray and I to talk and share
our ideas, and they're very attentive to putting practices in
place to protect your students. So there are some outliers
(31:03):
out there that are doing it on their own, but
I don't feel that they're getting the support for an
administration in school boards and school districts. That's not happening yet.
Speaker 3 (31:12):
John Castillo, our guest. My apologies for the alarms going
off here in real time. Kelly's trying to wrap things
up there. But just one final question, John, about the
status of the pursuit of the canonization of your son, Kendrick.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
I thought of you immediately.
Speaker 3 (31:25):
I was on vacation in Florida and the first millennial
saint was sanctified and Carlo Acutus, and he was creating websites.
He was very dedicated to the Catholic religion, and he
died of leukemia, your son making the ultimate sacrifice his
own life to save the lives of others. It's a
remarkable story in and of itself. What is the status
of that pursuit, Where does it go from here? And
(31:47):
does the sanctifying of Carlo's Acutis give you hope that
Kendra Castillo may be a saint himself?
Speaker 8 (31:54):
You know, it definitely gives us hope. The fact that
we received their phone call from two priests that we
had never met to, you know, look into the process
has humbled Maria and I to the core, has devowed
(32:16):
lifelong Catholics. You know, Kendrick went to Catholic school pre
K through the eighth grade, and I lived a virtuous life.
We have always known that Kendrick has what it takes
to become a saint. And now our prayers and our
(32:37):
devotion to Kendrick is showing that there's other people in
our faith and around the world, in our country who
believe the same thing. And I hope that when they
investigate him and go through and go through the chapters
of his life, that people will get to know Kendrick
(32:58):
where they didn't know him before. I knew he was
a hero that stopped the school shooting and saved countless lives,
but I don't think they knew the individual that led
up to May seventh, and how he lived his life
since the day he was born and for Murray. And
I not only is that a statement and a testimonial
to who he was, but it's gonna, you know, be
(33:21):
his legacy. And I just have to say, watching Charlie
Kirk get murdered on television, assassinated, you know he was
a martyr, He talked his faith, He was true to
our Savior and our Lord, just like Hendrick. And individuals
need to be bold and be free. We're all called
(33:43):
to live our lives like saints, but how many us
really do that on our Judgment day, Have we done enough?
I think for a fact we know that Kendrick did,
and all the things I know about Charlie Kirk, I
believe he did as well.
Speaker 3 (34:00):
So wonderfully said with the grace of John Castillo, the
father of Stem School shooting hero Kendrick Castillo, and a
tremendous comparison, both gone too soon. Kendrick Castillo and Charlie
Kirk great young men who will leave a legacy long
after their years on this planet are gone. John, Thank
you so much for your time, wishing you and Maria
(34:20):
the very best in pursuit of this canonization for Kendrick,
and we'll talk again soon.
Speaker 8 (34:25):
Thank you, Ryan, I appreciate you inviting me on your
show today.
Speaker 2 (34:28):
I'll take this time out back with more after this.
I'm Ryan Schuling Live
Yeah, and again emphasize what you just emphasize. We don't
know any of the details of this that we don't
know if this was a supporter shooting their gun off.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
In celebration or so, we have no idea about this.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
But following up what was just said, he's been one
of the most divisive, especially divisive younger figures in this
who is constantly sort of pushing this sort of hate
speech or sort of aimed at certain groups. And I
always go back to hateful thoughts lead to hateful words,
which then lead to hateful actions. And I think that's
(00:33):
the environment we're in that people just you can't stop
with these sort of awful thoughts you have and then
saying these awful words and not expect awful actions to
take place. And that's the fortunate environment we're in.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Matthew Dowd on MSNBC.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
This guy, former Bush neocon, IRAQ war supporter, war hawk
himself going back better than twenty years now, a pundit
on MSNBC basically saying that Charlie Kirk was responsible for
the assassination of Charlie Kirk if he just would have
kept his mouth shut and not spoke in his mind
(01:12):
or used his First Amendment rights in public forums like
college campus as well.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Maybe this wouldn't have happened.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
Even Joe Scarborough earlier today chimed in on that horrid take.
Speaker 4 (01:24):
Took that holds in it also from leadership of this network.
Somebody came on Matthew Dowd yesterday, came on and made
a wild speculation that was obviously wrong and it extraordinarily
hurtful to many people. And Becca Cutler said so last night,
came out and condemned his words in the strongest term.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
So we're glad that she did that. Okay, condemned his
words in the strongest terms. The guy should be jettison
from the network altogether. And Katie Turr was equally awful
in her presentation of coverage on MSNBC in real time
as the situation was unfolding Utah, where Charlie Kirk was
shot and then later died from his wounds. Joining us now,
he is the host of the Versus Media podcast. You
(02:07):
can follow him on x at red Ste's Steven L.
Miller our guest, and he joins us on Ryan Shuling Live,
Stephen Welcome.
Speaker 5 (02:14):
Are you sleeping? Okay? Ryan?
Speaker 2 (02:17):
No, I'm not.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
As a matter of fact, it was one of the
roughest nights I've had, honestly since twenty four years ago
to the day.
Speaker 6 (02:24):
Yeah, obviously not sleeping much as someone who's in this arena,
certainly not at the level that Charlie Kirk was.
Speaker 5 (02:32):
But it's interesting. I see a lot.
Speaker 6 (02:34):
I didn't know Charlie Kirk personally, but I feel a
lot going around how he persuaded people. You know, he
went to college campuses, and you know, he would do
these q and a's, and some people kind of accuse
him of punching down and I don't think that's really it.
I think what Charlie Kirk's power was was basically making
an entire generation of college and age males in particular
(02:56):
realize that they're not some weirdo walking around campus that
they don't have to keep to themselves. And I think
what Charlie Kirk really did was basically say to these kids,
you're okay to believe you do believe. You know, you're
surrounded by you know, weirdo progressives in furry costumes or
whatever it is. And that's really what he unlocked. And
(03:17):
if you know, a lot of people don't you know
know this, but the Romney Ryan campaign of twenty twelve
did not visit a single college campus in the one
hundred days of their presidential campaign, not one that was
a space that was kind of seated by the old
guard GOP, you know, the national abuse with the weekly
Standards and those writers. And if you abandon those spaces,
(03:41):
something is going to fill it. And for the kind
of older guard of the Republican Party who disapproved of
Charlie Kirk's tactics, I don't want to hear it. Charlie
Kirk filled a vacuum that those guys abandoned, and he
became very, very influential over it, to the point to
where he was killed over it. And that's really where
he drew his influence and power. And you know, I
(04:04):
don't think that the political left understands what's coming electorally.
I think you're going to see one hundred of thousand
or so red pilled college age males coming here.
Speaker 5 (04:14):
In these next few elections.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Steven L. Miller, our guest.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
We've seen myriad polls, Stephen, revealing that Gen Z coming
up maybe the most conservative generation since the greatest generation
the World War II generation we see them, they're more
pro life, they don't drink or smoke as much.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
They are getting red pilled.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
To your point, they went through COVID, many of them
coming into college or out of college, and they had
that taken away from them with the draconian lockdowns and
so forth. How much of that shift for gen Z
moving to the right do you attribute and credit to
Charlie Kirk himself.
Speaker 6 (04:53):
I would say a lot of it, the majority of it,
But there's other you know, there's other influencers.
Speaker 5 (04:58):
Is kind of what the.
Speaker 6 (04:58):
Network that tur like Kirk created. When when Charlie Kirk
kind of landed on the scene a bunch of years ago,
he was kind of this kind of goofy ucker Carlson's style,
want to be kind of infotainer, and that was really
just kind of the response to the kind of media
reaction to Barack Obama. They decided he's going to be
info pointer in chief and the clerk that I encountered
(05:19):
with that. And then as Charlie got older and he
kind of matured, I think he saw that, you know,
there's a there's a better way of doing things that hey,
I'm going to try to talk to you and you know,
maybe where I think he did make his mistake is,
you know, as he said, he's trying to persuade people
to the other side. And you know, I think that
he was probably one of the biggest political forces since
Andrew Breitbart, and I'm and Andrew Breitbart conservetive that he
(05:41):
was kind of the guy that I got.
Speaker 5 (05:43):
Into coming up.
Speaker 6 (05:44):
And I think when Andrew Breitbart realized is you know,
there's there's a faction of these people that just have
to be defeated. And we're now seeing the political left
settle into this thing called stochastic terrorism.
Speaker 5 (05:56):
And it's their entire narrative. It's an it's.
Speaker 6 (05:58):
Oppressed versus oppressor, and Trump is the opcer, and therefore
LGBT two is the oppressed. Never mind that this is
the best time to be gay in the history of
the world is in the United States of America in
twenty twenty five. And therefore they justify anything as violent
against them. Your speech is violence, and therefore any violence
(06:20):
I commit against you is a defensive tactic. You see
this with the Hamas Playbook, and that's what's kind of
it work to I don't want to traffic in speculation
with the You know, we still don't know the motive
of the shooter. I think it's pretty clear itself. But
this is this is dangerous. This is where the political
left is now. We're seeing not just kind of a
few loonies on social media celebrating this. You're seeing takers
(06:44):
in academia celebrating this. You're seeing medical professionals celebrate the
shooting of chartlie Kerr. And you know, the media is
going to start this. The political right is going on
to cancel culture spree. And yes, that's what we do.
We don't burn buildings down, we don't go out and
buy it. You don't destroy people's businesses. And so the
media should be thankful that getting a few people fired
(07:06):
for this is all that.
Speaker 5 (07:07):
We're going to do in reaction to this.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
Steven L.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
Miller versus Media podcast host. You can find that on
a substack and also via his ex page at red Stees.
I'm old enough to remember the assassination attempt against Ronald Reagan.
I was with my grandmother at the time, and she
broke down crying, and of course through the comparisons to
Kennedy and good thing that old Dutch survived that and
it brought the country together. And I don't remember, and
(07:30):
I was young, but even when I go back watch
archival footage, I didn't remember a single America, not at
least that was anywhere near the mainstream going man. I
wish John Hankley had gotten him and taken him out.
But now we had the University of Texas at Austin
keep Austin weird, one of the most liberal bastions in
the nation, despite it being in Texas. And these were
the reactions of students after the Charlie Kirk assassination.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
Charlie Kirk got shot and killed?
Speaker 7 (07:53):
How do you feel happy?
Speaker 8 (07:54):
Goodbye?
Speaker 5 (07:55):
Wow?
Speaker 7 (07:56):
Did you see that Charlie Kirk just got shot and killed?
That's okod wow, that's good. That's good that people are
getting shot yourself in a political.
Speaker 9 (08:04):
View, good the people are dying in America.
Speaker 10 (08:10):
Did you see that Charlie Kerrot gets shot and killed today?
Speaker 4 (08:14):
Yes?
Speaker 11 (08:14):
I did.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
How do you feel about that?
Speaker 7 (08:17):
I don't really have any feelings about it.
Speaker 11 (08:21):
Who are you?
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Charlie Kert gets shot and killed today. We're just getting
people's opinions. How do you feel about that?
Speaker 7 (08:30):
Girl?
Speaker 5 (08:30):
Someone had to do it, And that's how I feel.
At this point in time.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
But yeah, I appreciate your honesty. I truly do so.
Speaker 7 (08:36):
You said someone had to do it, Yes.
Speaker 9 (08:42):
Trying not to get all pulled up into that. But
he was a misogynist. He was a disgusting person with
disgusting beliefs.
Speaker 4 (08:47):
So if you had a magical wand a magical button
that you could press.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
And keep him from being assassinated, would you press that?
Speaker 6 (08:57):
No?
Speaker 9 (08:58):
I think things happen for a purpose, and if that's
how his life was ended, then that's how it was unded.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
So, Stephen, I'm not the most religious guy in the
world by any means, but I look at this emptiness,
this soullessness, and it seems to me to derive directly
from nihilism. And we know that one of the foundational
tenets of Marxism is to divorce people from their gods,
and their politics becomes their religion, and that becomes their
god replacing that. There's a reason why in the Soviet
(09:27):
Union in China they've banned religions because nothing can supersede
the power, the centralized power of the government. This is
disturbing on many levels. But how would you analyze as
to why we are here. Why so many young people
and that's just a sampling, right there, have this reaction
to an innocent man being murdered in broad daylight.
Speaker 6 (09:49):
I think a lot of it has to do with,
you know, the status of our social media platforms and
their groups. You know, they see posts that people cheer,
and it's kind of the devalue of life. The interesting
thing about Charlie Kirk is he took away a lot
of the less power to.
Speaker 5 (10:08):
Insault.
Speaker 6 (10:09):
And you know, this was something that he did. He
was recently featured on South Park. He was made fun of.
Is he took away the power to be offended. And
so when I hear those clips, you know, and there's
probably people in your audience who are offended by this stuff.
Charlie Kirk is the kind of guy who probably just
laugh at some of that stuff. And this was something
and this is the thing I've been on for a while.
(10:30):
If you've read my posts and stuff like this, the
power to offend the political right and especially the religious right,
whether it's through entertainment, through artworks, through academia, has always
been a very very potent weapon for the political left.
And Charlie Kirk was a guy who took that away
from them. On one of his there's a video of
him on one of his college events and a guy
comes up to him in a full like boat of
(10:52):
Satan costume whatever, and he's got the head and he's
chanting and Kirk just kind of laughs and clips at him.
And that was also his reaction to aar on South
Park here just a few episodes ago, which is you know,
he made you know, Charlie Cartman his Twitter.
Speaker 5 (11:05):
Avatar and he said, this is great. I guess I've
made it.
Speaker 6 (11:08):
And that's something that infuriates that side of the aisle,
and it's something that infuriates the media because it really
is a new right. They talk about the new right
and the youth right, and so I when I hear
this with you know, these kids saying this in this interview,
I kind of just shrug it off. If I'm being honest,
it doesn't offend me. You know, there is you know,
(11:29):
our humor in times like this, and you know, Kirk
was a guy who was able to poke fun at
himself and whether it was an act, you know, he
really did disarm the political left that way. And again
that's one of the reasons he became so influential. A
whole generation of people saw this guy over here who
was having fun, and they looked on the other side
and they see people scolding them for their skin color,
(11:51):
for their choice of music, for their choice of fashion,
for their diet. You know, you're killing the planet with
your meeting. And that was that was another big part
of his influence in all of this. And it really
is where that side of the aisle is. And again,
when you're sitting at you know, twenty percent approval rating,
the political left sits.
Speaker 5 (12:10):
In a very dangerous place right now.
Speaker 6 (12:12):
And again, as someone who is in that arena as well,
I don't take that.
Speaker 5 (12:16):
For granted at all.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
Steven L.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
Miller versus media podcast hosts, I saw your comment on this,
so I want to break it down as we go.
This was Representative Dan Goldman, Democrat in New York, one
of my least favorite in the House, on with Anderson
Cooper last night.
Speaker 11 (12:29):
That's certainly not the message we're hearing from some in
the sort of far right you know podcasting sphere who
make money off off this, But this kind of rhetoric,
I mean, they're talking about war. There's a war targeting conservatives.
Speaker 12 (12:45):
Yeah, look, it's that is incredibly dangerous.
Speaker 7 (12:51):
I am really really disappointed.
Speaker 12 (12:54):
And what I would urge I would really urge the
President of the.
Speaker 7 (12:59):
United States to speak out against that.
Speaker 11 (13:01):
What.
Speaker 12 (13:02):
I don't view this as an issue of the right
or the left. I think we've seen political violence, you know,
on both sides of the spectrum, and it's not that
one is worse than the other. Obviously, the efforts to
assassinate the president were horrific, thanks and we're absolutely unacceptable.
Speaker 7 (13:25):
Should have been unacceptable.
Speaker 12 (13:27):
But we can't get in a tit for tat here
where we're just going one after the other after the other.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
Well, Representative Goldman, I might remind you that it wasn't
that long ago that Senator Chris Murphy said this are
we at war?
Speaker 6 (13:42):
Like we're in a war right now to save are
this country, and so you have to be willing to
do whatever is necessary in order to save the country, whatever.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
Is necessary, including taking out Charlie Kirk on a college
campus in Utah.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
Goldman continues, and.
Speaker 12 (13:57):
I hope these far right podcasters come of their senses
and recognize that this is not war. We are Americans
at bottom, and we may be Republicans, we may be Democrats,
but we don't. We do not divide this entire country
based on political ideology, and we can't do that. And
(14:18):
we have to come back and remember that we are
all Americans in the greatest country on earth, and that
we may disagree on how we move forward, but we
all want our country to move forward.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
Kumbai Yah, come together. Except this was Representative Dan Goldman
a year ago.
Speaker 12 (14:36):
Just unquestionable at this point that that man cannot see
public office again. He is not only unfit, he is
destructive to our democracy and.
Speaker 7 (14:48):
He has to be He has to be eliminated.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
Donald Trump has to be eliminated now, Stephen.
Speaker 3 (14:54):
This is why I think you are so important, why
this show, and why I feel I have a duty
to Charlie Kirk and everybody else. Because Democrats assume the
American people are stupid, that they have no memory of
anything that they've said in the past.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
Just forget about all that.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
We're all good now, but we have long memories. The
Internet is forever, and these audio clips are in archives
that exist.
Speaker 6 (15:17):
Yeah, you know, after what happened yesterday, I don't think
I'm going to be getting lectured at at a guy
and a party that throws a stone and hits the
nearest NRA member after every mass shooting. That's you know,
that's just kind of how I look at this. These
guys and they know how bad this looks, you know,
(15:37):
and that's why a.
Speaker 5 (15:38):
Lot of this is finger wagging.
Speaker 6 (15:39):
And you have Mars bay AOC out here calling for
more gun control and everything like that. And it's really
interesting that, you know, Conservative is the one getting shot
at right now, whether it's at college campuses, whether it's
while they're attending church with kids, and the bullets are
flying in one direction. That's not always the case, but
you can look at the rationalolitical violence, including two attempts
(16:01):
on the Republican nominee for president last year. And uh,
I said, if the if the Democratic Party thinks they're
going to take guns away from the people being shot at,
let me let me tell you that that's going to
be a hard no, right, that's going to.
Speaker 5 (16:15):
Be a conversation killer rate the bat. And so they
don't really know how to handle this.
Speaker 7 (16:20):
Uh.
Speaker 6 (16:21):
You know, something that's interesting is we're seeing this rash
of celebratory tweets and tiktoks and everything, and there's not
a single Democratic leader out there telling them to cool
it right now. And that's really the problem here. And
again it's because you hear Dan gold In there. This
is the perfect example of what I talked about.
Speaker 5 (16:38):
The stochastic terror is.
Speaker 6 (16:40):
Uh, you know, Chris Murphy, we're we're in a warm
and we're they're destroying the democracy. And therefore if you
think that, and you can take it against them as
a service to protect the democracy. And again it's it's dangerous.
That's where they're at and it has to be resoundly defeated.
And that's it.
Speaker 5 (16:56):
I don't know how. I don't know what else to
put to say one.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
More quo that I want people to hear.
Speaker 3 (17:01):
And granted this is from overseas in the BBC, but
this is nells Abbey. And if you think it's bad
here in America, we know how bad it's getting in Britain.
You're being panalized, you're being punished, you're being arrested for
free speech and mean tweets. And just listen to how
he characterizes Charlie Kirk here. Doesn't want to justify Charlie
Kirk's murder, but I don't agree. He was a sistery
of for the tiklock Age.
Speaker 10 (17:21):
I believe it was a David Duke for the TikTok Age,
and I have some degree was the former Grand Wizard
of the khlukos Klan. That this was a very seriously
deep Now, this is by no means trying to justify
his murder. Political violence is wrong at home, this is
wrong abroad. It is wrong, and it's also wrong political
(17:42):
violence must be condemned, as must be the propagandizing for
political violence and the dehumanization of people. Charlie Kirk was
somebody who was I shiver particularly for conservatives when he's
described as conservative, because he wasn't a conservative by any
means whatsoever. He was quite clearly a comfortably of supremacists.
If I was somebody who was going on television, I'm
sure you would have described somebody who doesn't TV and
(18:04):
blames Jewish people for what he describes at the coursening
of Western culture. Says things like the Equality Act or
the Civil Rights Act or so it was a mistake.
Says things like women shouldn't be entited into abortions.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
That well, that's a gross exaggeration of a lot of
Charlie Kirk's positions.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
But Steven.
Speaker 3 (18:20):
My final point would be this, you know, the likening
of Trump to Hitler, it's become passe, and that any
one of us who supports Donald Trump, we're Nazis, we're
brown shirts, we're ASTs whatever. And now the comparison here
of Charlie Kirk to David Duke, I mean there might
be the average person on the street that if they
believe that comparison, that through line that if they had
an open shot at David Duke of the KKK, of
(18:42):
course they would take him out because that would be justifiable.
Speaker 6 (18:47):
Yeah, I kind of think the authoritarians are the ones
shooting people.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
Indeed, Steven L.
Speaker 3 (18:53):
Miller, he is the host of the Versus Media podcast.
You can find it on his substack, and I advise
you to follow him at Red Ste's on Ax. Steven,
you've been cranking out the hits over the last twenty
four hours on that platform. Appreciate all you do and
always appreciate your time with us.
Speaker 5 (19:07):
Thanks Ron.
Speaker 6 (19:08):
I'm going to be having a live podcast tonight at
six pm Mountain time, so and that link is in
my Twitter bio.
Speaker 3 (19:14):
Look for that at Red Stees a live podcast tonight
at six pm Mountain time Steven L. Miller, who we
turned to after this last twenty four hours of surreal
and horrific events.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
Speaking of bottom of the.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
Hour time out, when we come back, John Castillo doing
God's work here on earth as his son did, Hero
Kendrick Castillo. Kendrick is a candidate for canonization. We saw
the first millennial saint canonized by Pope Leo the fourteenth
and the Catholic Church, and there are efforts being made
to do the same for Kendrick, who saved so many
(19:50):
lives in that classroom at the Stem School where there
was a shooting and he sacrificed his own life to
protect others. Of course, in the wake of the Evergreen
High School sh duo, John Castillo is a man that
we definitely want to have a conversation with, and we'll
have that conversation when.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
We come back on Ryan Schuling life.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
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Speaker 6 (21:24):
Follow up to the SR question.
Speaker 9 (21:25):
And forgive me if you've already answered this, but you
should have been should have.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
An SRO been there?
Speaker 12 (21:30):
I know you said they.
Speaker 7 (21:31):
Left to do something. It sounds like it was okay
for them to do that?
Speaker 6 (21:35):
Sure was? Was that SRO following Department Police school.
Speaker 9 (21:40):
Policy when they left the chambers?
Speaker 6 (21:42):
Yes, the SRO that was sharing responsibility of Evergreen.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
High School is allowed to come and go.
Speaker 7 (21:48):
He can go to lunch.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
They might have to handle something in the parking lot,
and he might be covering something that that's happening in the.
Speaker 7 (21:54):
Neighborhood or up in the Evergreen area, cover cars for that. So, no,
he did not do anything wrong.
Speaker 3 (22:00):
He didn't do anything wrong this SRO. But why did
he have to be gone in the first place? How
does that make our kids safer? Back with you On
Ryan Schuling Live, John Caldera spoke about this filling in
for Dan Kaplis yesterday.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
Why wouldn't you go.
Speaker 3 (22:18):
To the logical end and conclusion to keep our kids
the safest. They had a dedicated SRO who then won
a medical leave, and then they replaced that setup with
part time soros that would pop around jeff Co Evergreen
into the mountains over here. Another thing tells them away
they go off on lunch, they can come and go
as they please.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
Maybe they're there, maybe they're not. But when they're not,
and this SRO was not there.
Speaker 3 (22:44):
That opens the door, that gives daylight as a soft
target for a would be shooter.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
And that is what happened yesterday.
Speaker 3 (22:52):
And our good friend Laura Carno Faster Colorado sent me
the following. She says, final thought on the SROs, I
don't think anybody is looking to blame them. We love
our SROs. They are heroes, but you have to put
them in a position to succeed. That's me, that's my
parenthetical there. If an SRO had been there to respond
within seconds of that shooter opening fire with a revolver
(23:13):
were told in this press conference you heard there Jackie Kelly,
Jeff co Pio, the Sheriff's Department, then maybe the two
kids who got shot would not have gotten shot. And
but for the grace of God, one is still in
critical condition in the hospital.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
The other one has been released.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
But if an SRO had been there, dedicated the whole time,
if there were armed teachers in personnel there at any time,
would this shooting have even happened.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
And the answer is likely not. It likely would not
have happened.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
Continue with Laura's comments here, but this is the issue
that can't be everywhere at once. But you know who
can be is the school staff. They are already there
because they have jobs that keep them there. And Laura continues,
another one thing I've been saying on media is that
we have tried this their way for decades and this
is what it's gotten us. The Crime Prevention Research Center
(24:07):
has documented that there has never been a school shooting
on a campus with armed school staff.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
Those are concealed Carrie Arms staff.
Speaker 3 (24:17):
Why don't we try it our way for a change.
If it was no nationwide that every K through twelve
campus had multiple concealed Carrie arm staff members, school shootings
would stop today. Let's try it our way for a change.
That from Laura Carno joining us, he is a hero.
His son was a hero, Kendrick Castillo at the Stem
(24:39):
school shooting, sacrificing his life to save the lives of others,
his classmates, acting with courage at a moment's notice, and
he was taken down by a school shooter himself. Kendrick Castillo.
His father, John Castillo, joins us now on Ryan Shulting Live. John,
thank you so much for your.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
Time, thank you for having me Ryan, your reaction and.
Speaker 3 (24:59):
A know this has got to be absolute torture for
you and Maria, because every time this happens, especially when
it happens as close to home as Evergreen, I have
to imagine you go through those same emotions over and
over again. I can't even imagine what was going through
your mind yesterday. How would you describe it?
Speaker 8 (25:17):
Oh, it's eerie, how your emotions and your point in time.
I mean, you know, today is the anniversary of a
terror attack. In the school shooting is no different when
we see these events play out. I was eating lunch
(25:38):
in a fast food restaurant yesterday, similar to May seventh,
when I got the news about the sam school shooting.
I went back to my job and I turned on
a television. I seen it unfolding before my eyes. You know,
yesterday evening, when I got home, I had a very opening,
candid talk with my beautif wife, Maria, and I told
(26:02):
her as I was watching the news on the television,
they had made the comment that it was raining. You know,
it was raining on May seventh. I remember that very clearly.
It's like the sky opened up over the Stem school
shooting when we were looking for Kendrick. I mean, those
things are.
Speaker 5 (26:20):
Just the same.
Speaker 8 (26:22):
You know, and then a lot of the language I
hear about people who should be protecting our schools is
the same. You know, we just keep making these failures
where we don't have multi layers of security to protect
our children. It's very difficult, very sad.
Speaker 5 (26:42):
You know.
Speaker 8 (26:42):
The impact it has on surviving parents is at times indescribable.
Speaker 3 (26:51):
John Caldera told us yesterday, John that he wants schools
to be at least at the level of security that
we're seeing right now at King super shopping centers. I
just went there this morning myself and there was an
armed security guard there. Now, some people will say, all
that makes me feel like I'm living in a police state,
and it's oppressive, and it makes me nervous and it
(27:11):
puts me on edge.
Speaker 2 (27:12):
And a lot of those same arguments are.
Speaker 3 (27:14):
Being made about having a full time staffed SRO on
campuses throughout the state of Colorado. But as Laura Carnal
puts it, perhaps nationwide, and yet we have political figures
like Tay Anderson wanting to get SROs out of schools completely. John,
I don't see the logic in that argument that the
kids are going to be made to feel like they're
(27:34):
reporting to prison or something if there are armed guards.
There SROs all the time. But I don't see it
as anything but a good thing. Am I off the mark?
Speaker 12 (27:42):
There?
Speaker 8 (27:43):
No, you're not off the mark at all. In fact,
you know, there should be budgets created around security that
address these issues. So our children, on average go to
school for six hours a day and if they're out
in school, well you know they're truant or whatever. I mean,
I personally and Maria feel the same way. I mean,
(28:06):
anybody who has children get them out of public schools,
homeschool and come up with something different. They're not safe.
We're not doing enough, and that's just the fact of
the matter. You know, we need to address this issue,
and it's very simple, but it just falls on deaf ears.
Other things move in and it's the same talking points
over gun control or whatever it might be politically. In fact,
(28:28):
the same individuals keep popping up after every shooting as well,
but it's just sad.
Speaker 3 (28:34):
John Castillo joining us, the father of Kendrick Castile, the
hero of the Stem school shooting some years ago, and
the eerie similarities that he witnessed on that day. Hearkening
back to that May day and I was here, and
I think about this, John, and as difficult as yesterday
was for me personally and professionally, we were covering that
on one hand, and the Evergreen School shooting and then
(28:56):
the Charlie Kirk assassination happening at the same time.
Speaker 5 (29:00):
Call.
Speaker 3 (29:00):
The last time I felt that way in this job,
at this station was the day of the Stem School shooting,
when that was happening in real time. There's so much
that happens in such a small period of time. John,
what would you advocate for? And I know that you
are already doing this in many ways, but have people
turned to you, and I mean school systems. You are
(29:23):
a voice of reason here. You are the voice of
a parent who lost his son in the worst possible way.
What would you tell legislators about you know, what should
be done here going forward?
Speaker 8 (29:37):
I think what they should do is be sure that
there's transparency mental health screenings in our schools, making sure
that there's dedicated SROs and they're not shared between schools.
I would even go as far as saying that the
SROs that are in schools should not be in uniform
(30:00):
be a tona. There should be some autonomy there and
they should you know, rotate them out so that nobody
knows who they are. I just think that, you know,
we're not doing enough to have conversations around security, and
there are simple things you can start from no dollars
to whatever it costs to make sure that we are
(30:21):
doing the right thing. But as it is right now,
we just come up with the same talking points and
nothing ever really gets done, or if it is, it's
very little to make a difference. So you know, I
would start there. I think that that is a reasonable ask.
And as far as you know school districts or schools
reaching out to me for advice, that hasn't happened. I
(30:42):
will tell you that there are some brave individual administrators
in some schools, some very good schools that have reached
out and invited Murray and I to talk and share
our ideas, and they're very attentive to putting practices in
place to protect your students. So there are some outliers
(31:03):
out there that are doing it on their own, but
I don't feel that they're getting the support for an
administration in school boards and school districts. That's not happening yet.
Speaker 3 (31:12):
John Castillo, our guest. My apologies for the alarms going
off here in real time. Kelly's trying to wrap things
up there. But just one final question, John, about the
status of the pursuit of the canonization of your son, Kendrick.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
I thought of you immediately.
Speaker 3 (31:25):
I was on vacation in Florida and the first millennial
saint was sanctified and Carlo Acutus, and he was creating websites.
He was very dedicated to the Catholic religion, and he
died of leukemia, your son making the ultimate sacrifice his
own life to save the lives of others. It's a
remarkable story in and of itself. What is the status
of that pursuit, Where does it go from here? And
(31:47):
does the sanctifying of Carlo's Acutis give you hope that
Kendra Castillo may be a saint himself?
Speaker 8 (31:54):
You know, it definitely gives us hope. The fact that
we received their phone call from two priests that we
had never met to, you know, look into the process
has humbled Maria and I to the core, has devowed
(32:16):
lifelong Catholics. You know, Kendrick went to Catholic school pre
K through the eighth grade, and I lived a virtuous life.
We have always known that Kendrick has what it takes
to become a saint. And now our prayers and our
(32:37):
devotion to Kendrick is showing that there's other people in
our faith and around the world, in our country who
believe the same thing. And I hope that when they
investigate him and go through and go through the chapters
of his life, that people will get to know Kendrick
(32:58):
where they didn't know him before. I knew he was
a hero that stopped the school shooting and saved countless lives,
but I don't think they knew the individual that led
up to May seventh, and how he lived his life
since the day he was born and for Murray. And
I not only is that a statement and a testimonial
to who he was, but it's gonna, you know, be
(33:21):
his legacy. And I just have to say, watching Charlie
Kirk get murdered on television, assassinated, you know he was
a martyr, He talked his faith, He was true to
our Savior and our Lord, just like Hendrick. And individuals
need to be bold and be free. We're all called
(33:43):
to live our lives like saints, but how many us
really do that on our Judgment day, Have we done enough?
I think for a fact we know that Kendrick did,
and all the things I know about Charlie Kirk, I
believe he did as well.
Speaker 3 (34:00):
So wonderfully said with the grace of John Castillo, the
father of Stem School shooting hero Kendrick Castillo, and a
tremendous comparison, both gone too soon. Kendrick Castillo and Charlie
Kirk great young men who will leave a legacy long
after their years on this planet are gone. John, Thank
you so much for your time, wishing you and Maria
(34:20):
the very best in pursuit of this canonization for Kendrick,
and we'll talk again soon.
Speaker 8 (34:25):
Thank you, Ryan, I appreciate you inviting me on your
show today.
Speaker 2 (34:28):
I'll take this time out back with more after this.
I'm Ryan Schuling Live
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