5-30-25 - 7am - Jon Caldara Filling In - Extinguishing DEI

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, John, I'm heading up to the children's hospital right now.
My son's going to get three to forty shots of botox.
Not quite a vaccine, but it is a dead buyrus.
It keeps them from curling into a ball because of
his cerebral palsy. People need to calm down about getting shots.

Speaker 2 (00:25):
I agree my daughter. I don't want to.

Speaker 3 (00:30):
I don't want to ruin any hip of violations here,
but my daughter has these terrible headaches and she gets
shot up with botox to relieve the headaches, and so
she has to go in and get dozens of shots
at the same time in different places.

Speaker 2 (00:52):
It's awful. I'm so sorry your son has to go
through that.

Speaker 3 (00:54):
I'm sorry you have to deal with that as a father,
father's law, the child of cancer and has one who
has down syndrome.

Speaker 2 (01:03):
I know, I know what.

Speaker 3 (01:04):
It's like to be a frequent flyer at children's hospital.
It's a tough, tough go. And and when I say
that I wish I didn't take the COVID vaccine, I
want to be really clear about that. I wish I
didn't take the COVID vaccine. I'm glad I've taken all

(01:26):
the other vaccines. In fact, almost yearly when I remember
I take my flu shot. It's it's an important thing
to do, especially as you get older. If you have kids,
good God, I hope you get them. The measles vaccine
and the rubella vaccine and the whooping cough vaccine.

Speaker 2 (01:47):
We have dealt with these for so long it has
really helped.

Speaker 3 (01:52):
I remember when I first was born and we asked
the asked the pediatrician, well, what are we think about
these vaccines. You live in Boulder, and therefore every kid
who has autism it's because of a vaccine. And you
struggle with a decision. And the doctor said to us,

(02:13):
you know, if you've ever seen a kid suffer with
whooping cough, you wouldn't be asking.

Speaker 2 (02:20):
And it was like, got it.

Speaker 3 (02:23):
But I do find that it is fascinating that on
the political extremes, both left and right, there is this
real fear of vaccinations. And you know, on the crazy
crazy right, it's it's a way to, you know, for
the government to control you. On the crazy crazy left, it's, no,

(02:46):
we don't need it. It's not a natural thing to do,
all right. I respect both of those decisions. All I'm
saying is the COVID vaccine came so quickly with a
new technique. I think it had some unintended consequences, and
the danger of COVID was not nearly as bad as

(03:11):
the panic was around it. So all things considered, I'd
rather take less than more of things that I'm not
certain of. It is politically fascinating that Operation warp Speed
happened because of Donald Trump. It usually takes twelve to

(03:35):
fifteen years for the FDA to okay a new drug
or new vaccine has to go through trials, and then
clinical trials, and then double blind trials, and needs to
go through this and that, and it takes forever. Donald Trump,
to his credit as president, took away all the usual bureaucracy,

(04:03):
and within five months we had vaccines because there were
several companies working competing to try to find the cure.
We've never seen anything developed that quickly. However, when it

(04:23):
came to Donald Trump running for office in twenty twenty four,
the one thing he didn't take credit for was his
incredible work on warp Speed. Why because so many of
his rank and file supporters are skeptical about the COVID vaccine.

Speaker 2 (04:48):
What do you do with that. I'm not certain.

Speaker 3 (04:51):
It's just odd that the thing that Donald Trump did
so very well in his first term to take on
the unknown of COVID, Remember the panic that was ripping
across the planet, and he he did something that no

(05:13):
one else did. He made this vaccine available fast. That
that was him. You think he'd be crowing about it.
But because in retrospect some of us regret it, he
had to not use that as as a campaign point.

(05:34):
Could you imagine if if Biden was in control at
that point, would there ever have been a vaccine?

Speaker 2 (05:44):
We'd still be fighting over it, all right?

Speaker 3 (05:45):
Three oh three seven, one three eight two five five
seven to one three talk. The Trump administration told federal
agencies yesterday check this out to halt the use of
statistics on race, sex, athnicity, or national origin in the
hiring process, making it the latest effort to extinguish the

(06:07):
use of DEI diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

Speaker 2 (06:14):
How crazy is it that.

Speaker 3 (06:19):
It's top of the fold news when the president enforces
the law. Remember, we have laws on the books all
the way back to the Civil Rights Act that governmental
discrimination based on race.

Speaker 2 (06:40):
Is unconstitutional. It's illegal.

Speaker 3 (06:46):
If you wondered why it was important to get Donald Trump.

Speaker 2 (06:51):
Elected.

Speaker 3 (06:53):
This executive order aimed at quote restoring merit to the
center of hiring process is a great reason. Is a
great definition of why we had to elect this man.

Speaker 2 (07:09):
Quote.

Speaker 3 (07:09):
All hiring and promotion decisions must be based on solely
on merit, qualifications and job related criteria, not race, sex, color, religion,
or natural origin. The memo from the Office of Personnel
Management said on Thursday, how many of you hear that

(07:34):
and go, well, duh, because it's America. How many people
don't see DEI as repugnant discrimination based on race, sex, color, religion,
and national origin. DEI is the opposite of what America is.

(08:01):
This alone, this alone is one of the reasons we
needed we needed to elect this guy. How is this
even a news story? How did we get here to
the point where we discriminate based on race? How do

(08:22):
you not find that ugly? So I've got this little
theory saw Lewinski in the seventies really helped articulate the
leftist playbook, and a lot of was the destruction of personalities,
the idea that we will cancel people, we will triangulate

(08:47):
on common enemies, take them.

Speaker 2 (08:49):
Out and make them make them useless.

Speaker 3 (08:53):
So the politics of personal destruction really got honed in
the seventies. In the last sep decades have just become wonderful.

Speaker 2 (09:03):
It's been widely used.

Speaker 3 (09:10):
And who was against using race as a deciding factor?

Speaker 2 (09:17):
Martin Luther King.

Speaker 3 (09:19):
Martin Luther King says, we have this dream we won't
be judged by the color of our skin, but the
content of our character. That is such a beautiful American ideal,
but it runs completely counter to the woke movement, which says,

(09:41):
we will discriminate and we will not use merit. We
will not use the content of your character. We will
use the color of your skin.

Speaker 2 (09:54):
To decide who you are.

Speaker 3 (09:58):
How awful it must be to be a young African
American with the DEI woke world saying you know you
are the color of your skin, not who you are
between your ears, not your personality, not your achievements, not
your thoughts and hopes and dreams. Getting back to Slowinski,
I think the woke movement at some point will try

(10:24):
to cancel the memory of Martin Luther King. I mean,
we do this all the time. We rip down statues
of people we don't no longer like who are out
of political favor. We can't even think about, you know,
people upset and vandalizing statues of Abraham Lincoln, but they

(10:44):
have changing the name of Washington High School or Lincoln
High School to something else. I can see a point
in the future where Martin Luther King gets canceled the
memory because if Martin Luther King stays active with us
as an American icon, he is the epitome of everything

(11:12):
that's against the DEI movement, everything that is against the
woke movement, where you see people based on not who
they are inside, but who they are outside. I don't
know how DEI survives if we continue to hold Martin
Luther King in a beloved status. So how are they

(11:38):
going to cancel him? Well, how to say this politely,
Martin Luther King had some sexual proclivities that are going
to become public the more that the records, the FBI
records become public. When Jed car Hoover had motel and

(12:04):
hotel rooms bugged that where he stayed, they caught him
in some oh shall we say, rape acts, And when
that becomes public, will that be used as a way
to as a way.

Speaker 2 (12:24):
To meet to him? Yeah? I think So that's my prediction.
Could be wrong.

Speaker 3 (12:32):
I have no idea, but I don't know how the
woke movement survives against an American hero like like Martin
Luther King. They cannot keep him there. They've got to
find a way to.

Speaker 2 (12:47):
To take him down. Now.

Speaker 3 (12:49):
I don't know what's in these tapes. I don't know
what it says, but I just have a sense. Give
me your thoughts. Three h three seven one three eight
two five five seven to one three talk all which
to say, everyone should be thrilled when Trump bans the
use of race and sex and color or religion or

(13:16):
national origin in hiring. How can you say this is wrong?
How in the world could you say this is wrong?
This is what we fought for, for people to be
judged based on who they are and what they get done.

(13:37):
Imagine imagine hiring somebody because they're the best person for
the job. I think about professional sports. Imagine if DEI
was really used in sports. So I've seen the Denver

(13:58):
Broncos on their website talk about what they do for diversity.
They don't do anything for diversity. Oh, they do it
with their with their front of house. They do it
with their charitable gifts. They do it with their cheerleaders,
that's spectacular, you know where they don't do it on
the field. Could you imagine the Denver Broncos if their

(14:27):
roster had to look like Denver's population, that there had
to be an equal representation of all races, sexes, colors,
religions on the playing field. That was in rough parody
to what Colorado's population was. Well, first, the football team

(14:51):
would be half women, which I don't think the fans
would like. I don't think they'd play as well. I'll
be the first to say it. Yes, I've seen some
large women, but still I think the linebackers the Broncos
have are stronger.

Speaker 2 (15:12):
Or could you imagine.

Speaker 3 (15:16):
If if the racial quotas on the Broncos had to
look like look like Denver, you'd end up having having
more white players than you do now. Black football players
would would have to get canned in order to make

(15:36):
room for players who might not be as good. You know,
you know who hires based on merit. Football teams, however,
they wish to decide what that merit is when they're
drafting players. Do you think they really look at their race?

(16:01):
Do you think they look at their color? Do you
think they look at their religion. No, they want the
best players. They want the very best players. I mean
except for the Rockies, but every other team wants the
very best players. It is always chosen by merit. Is

(16:28):
merit by how this person will fit in with our plans,
our offense.

Speaker 2 (16:35):
How we do this.

Speaker 3 (16:37):
Well, we're gonna have a big running game. Well, we're
gonna need linebackers and front linesmen who can break open
a path for these guys to run. We're gonna need
the fastest runners. Well, we're gonna need the largest guys
who can bowl over the competition. Oh no, no, no,
We've got a wild passing game. Oh, then we're gonna

(17:00):
need some of the fastest wide receivers we have. Who's fast?
Wait a second, can't be just fast. You've got to
be able to catch the ball. So who has the
best hands? I remember growing up watching the Morton to
Moses passes, Craig Morton to Haven Moses called the eminem connection,

(17:21):
they called it back then. Years and years later I
met Haven Moses. He was an older guy. He was
working at a charity, an educational charity, and we've got talking.

Speaker 2 (17:33):
He said, Oh no, I can catch.

Speaker 3 (17:36):
The ball better today at sixty than I ever could
in my youth. The problem is I just can't run
to get there, all right, give me your thoughts three
or three seven, one, three, eight, two five five. I
dare someone to say that Donald Trump's decision to ban

(18:01):
the use of statistics on race, sex, authenticity, national origin
is somehow hateful.

Speaker 2 (18:08):
Way why that is? I don't think you can do us.
I'm John Kelderrek keep it here six thirty k out.

Speaker 4 (18:15):
I don't want to disrespect that man whose son's having boatox.

Speaker 2 (18:18):
I feel for him, but I.

Speaker 4 (18:21):
Don't understand how you can compare that to other people's
anger about vaccines. I personally have had botox vaccines for
a health problem, and now that location that I've had
boatox is completely dead and I have to live with that.

Speaker 2 (18:38):
For the rest of my life.

Speaker 4 (18:39):
So I think it's still something that we can't overlook.

Speaker 2 (18:47):
These are tough decisions.

Speaker 3 (18:49):
Medical decisions are the toughest decisions. My frustration over the
COVID vaccine is not that the COVID vaccine created, that
it was made available, that it was made quickly, that
it saved lives, or it didn't save lives.

Speaker 2 (19:07):
My frustration with the COVID vaccine was the.

Speaker 3 (19:10):
Tyranny by which government said, Oh, if you don't get it,
you can't travel. Oh if you can't get it, you
can't hold down your job. Oh if you don't get it,
you can't do this. Show us your papers, please. The
whole COVID experience for me was an enlightening one. I'm

(19:32):
John Caldarian for the big Man. Give me a call.

Speaker 2 (19:34):
Three h three seven three.

Speaker 3 (19:37):
Eight two five five. I've I've said this before. Let
me just say it again because it blew my mind
when when the shutdowns were happening, when schools were being closed,
when our kids were being robbed of their futures, when

(19:59):
the government put us under house arrest, I was so
very disappointed in the American character. I was so very
saddened that Americans just towed the line. I never thought
that would happen in this country. I thought that we up,

(20:24):
any freedom loving people, would never give up our constitutional
rights because of fear. Now think about this. We could
not have our right to assemble, we did not have
our right to worship. We could not follow our religion.

(20:49):
We couldn't go to church, we couldn't go to school,
we were put under house arrest by force of law,
and we took it. Our kids were robbed of a
year and a half of education.

Speaker 2 (21:11):
No wonder they're so messed up.

Speaker 3 (21:15):
Our debt spiraled out of control, and as it turns out,
everything we were told was wrong. You gotta wear these masks.
It did nothing, nothing, and we all stood in line

(21:36):
and obeyed. You know, I always ask myself, how in
the world could human beings throw other human beings into
cattle cars. I look at history, I go, how could
that happened? How in the world could that happen. I

(21:56):
look at what happened during World War Two. I look
at what happened and the Gulags. I look about the
one hundred million or so people that died around World
War two, around the globe from tyranny, and I go,
how is this possible? But not in America. We couldn't

(22:20):
do it. Now I understand, I understand.

Speaker 2 (22:25):
Fear.

Speaker 3 (22:27):
Fear gets people to bow to tyrants. That happens every
time I think about this. We we went through COVID,
but we weren't hungry. All of us had food in
our bellies. There was no shortage of food. We were
not starving. In the streets.

Speaker 2 (22:50):
We weren't fighting a war.

Speaker 3 (22:55):
Enemies were not crawling up our coasts, Bullets weren't lying
over our heads, homes weren't being exploded by bombs. We
were fat, dumb, and happy. We printed a whole bunch
of money that didn't exist, and we were fine. And

(23:17):
still with all that security, with all that food in
our bellies and shelter over our heads, clothes on our backs,
and peace, and more entertainment and Netflix than we could handle,
more video games to play, we were still so scared
that when government said don't go out of your houses,

(23:38):
don't go to church, don't congregate, don't open your businesses,
we all just stepped in line. And I was really
shocked by how many social conservatives that I thought would
never put up with it put up with it. And
I came to realize it was because they believe in

(24:00):
law and order, and if the authority says this is
the way it is, you might not like it, but
for the sake of an orderly society, that's what we do.

Speaker 2 (24:13):
I remember calling someone from.

Speaker 3 (24:15):
The ACLU when this all happened, and I thought, you know,
this could be a fun thing. How about you from
the ACLU and those of us from Independence Institute, the
Colorado's Force for Freedom. Let's do a joint a joint
media is something and say we're not putting up with
this because of all groups, the ACLU, who's there to

(24:41):
put our bill of rights first, particularly the First Amendment,
can't stand for something that says no, sorry, you can't congregate.
You have no right to gather, you have no right
to peaceably assemble, you have no right to worship.

Speaker 2 (24:56):
I said, you know.

Speaker 3 (24:59):
You can't go to temp Oh, you can't go to church,
you can't go to your mosque. And you guys love
the Muslims at the ACLU. Let's do something together. It'll
be a left right crazy thing to happen. The response
I got was, well, right now, we're just following the science.
Following the science. Your mission is to follow the First Amendment.

(25:24):
My very favorite meme throughout COVID was that beautiful photograph
of a photograph painting of the signing of the declaration,
actually was the Constitution. They're all signing the Constitution. That's
looking at the Constitution. All of our founders are there,
and one of them says, all right, just to be certain,

(25:47):
none of this matters. If there's a if there's a virus, right,
and that's true. That's what was so disappointing. I wonder
how history will remember COVID. I have a lot less
faith in the American character after COVID that I did before.

(26:12):
Now I understand when eight people are afraid, when they
don't know their future, when they're fearing for their very lives,
they look for security, and they will follow things that
look like security. And you know what looks like security. Tyrants.

(26:35):
Tyrants look like security. Hitler looks like security. When you've
got hyperinflation and massive unemployment, when the monetary supply means nothing,
when you're bringing willbarrows of paper cash to buy a
loaf of bread, and you know you're in crisis. You

(26:59):
want a strong man and a strong leader, and that's
when it takes over. And I saw it here. You
saw it here. All right, everybody line up, get the
jab everybody. No, you can't do this. You got to
stay at home. We kept the doors of Independence Institute
open and we have media there. We have three different

(27:22):
working studios. We have complete Colorado dot Com. We're a
news reporting service among other things, and people would turn
us in to the authorities when they saw people coming
in and out of our headquarters in downtown Denver. Yeah,

(27:43):
we got complaints that look there are people gathered there.

Speaker 2 (27:48):
Now.

Speaker 3 (27:48):
At first I thought these were our political opponents calling
the police going look, look look what they're doing.

Speaker 2 (27:54):
They're gathering.

Speaker 3 (27:56):
I came to realize that no, wasn't our political opponents.
It was just the people around the building living in
apartments and condos and other things, or walking by who
were like, oh my god, look they're they're meeting in there.
Let's turn them in for peaceably assembly. Now, if you recall,

(28:21):
since we were part of what did they call that
Critical Positions or something like that, the media was among
those who could stay open, Well, we use that as
the hook to stay open.

Speaker 2 (28:38):
How insane? How insane? All right? Three h three seven
one three eight two five five.

Speaker 3 (28:48):
As far as the war on vaccines, yeah, it's your
choice whether or not to get a vaccine, and it
should be, but it's government's decision on if they mandate it.
And that's the part that bothers me personally. I love
that RFK is there. He's crazy. I mean, he's wrong

(29:13):
on a lot of stuff, but to have Secretary of
health who challenges and disrupts the system. I absolutely love it,
absolutely love it. Let me throw this one out his
NBC News. Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmore said Thursday, she's very

(29:38):
disappointed that President Donald Trump is considering pardoning the men
who were convicted of conspiring to kidnap her. Yeah, I
might recall back in twenty twenty, there was a plan
to kidnap her. The governor told NBC she's very disappointed
that they are even considering it. Frankly, during an Oval

(30:02):
office event Wednesday, Trump said he would take a look
at pardoning the men, added that he watched the trial
and quote, it looked to me somewhat of a railroad job.
I don't know, I don't know what that meant. I

(30:27):
think this is gonna be I think this is gonna
be overstated. Trump better not release these kidnappers. They better
not get a pardon, They better not move away.

Speaker 2 (30:41):
Now.

Speaker 3 (30:41):
I am no fan, no fan of Gretchen Whitmore by
any any means that being said, if if the president
pardons kidnappers, is we've got a problem. Agreed three or

(31:04):
three seven, one three eight two five five seven to
one three talk or give me a text. I'm John Calderic.
Keep it right here, you're on six point thirty key.

Speaker 5 (31:12):
This only goes to show that the ACLU, by its
founding and its nature, is communist, and this lockdown basically
complemented communism, if not Marxism and statism.

Speaker 2 (31:27):
So first Amendment.

Speaker 5 (31:30):
Goes out the window for the Marxist revolutions communists from
the start.

Speaker 3 (31:39):
ACLU interesting thought. I'm going to disagree. I'm John Caldera's
nine Minutes to the Top. I put out the thought
that the fact that the acl you wouldn't partner with
us back in during COVID to come out against the lockdowns.
They decided this is a local one and the ACLU

(32:03):
is is, I think, let me put it differently, used
to be a great organization, used to be an incredible organization.
I disagreed with a lot of their positions, but they
were principled.

Speaker 2 (32:17):
I mean, think about this.

Speaker 3 (32:19):
They believed so much in the right to free speech
that they sued on behalf of neo Nazis. They sued
on behalf of hateful racists who were denied the right
to publicly parade in Skokie, Illinois.

Speaker 2 (32:40):
Think about that, you had a bunch of Jewish lawyers
who said, on principle.

Speaker 3 (32:44):
Even these scumbags have the right to free speech, and
we'll fight for it.

Speaker 2 (32:50):
That's principle.

Speaker 3 (32:53):
Now, Now, where is the ACLU when it comes to speeches?

Speaker 2 (33:01):
Where is the acl you?

Speaker 1 (33:03):
Now?

Speaker 3 (33:03):
When it comes to this cancel culture and words you
cannot use? Where where is the acl you now? When
the state passes a misgendering and dead naming law saying
that if you use your free speech and call a
man who thinks he's a woman a man, you are

(33:27):
now having an active discrimination and you could be brought
up on civil charges. You could you can go in
front of the government authorities for your speech. The ACLU
should be the first organization bringing up a lawsuit, but

(33:48):
they're not. It's now being left to groups like Fire
on the Right who are bringing such lawsuits. What happened
to the ACLU? So I disagree that ACLU has always
been communist, but I'm telling you right now they are

(34:11):
more concerned with trans rights and Muslim rights than they
are about free speech.

Speaker 2 (34:21):
I find that heartbreaking.

Speaker 3 (34:24):
I think they used to be a really important, principled organization.
Now I've always wondered why they love the first Amendments
so much, but hate the Second Amendment. But I'll leave that,
Leave that to them. What else did we lose during COVID?

(34:45):
What else did we lose during the shutdowns? You can't
see the increase in crazy violence, mental illness, mass shooters.

Speaker 2 (34:57):
Without drawing a line back from COVID.

Speaker 3 (35:03):
When you take young people and you separate them and
put them under house arrest for a year and a half,
bad things are going to happen.

Speaker 2 (35:12):
Keep it here, You're on Kyo