Twelve Day's of Preston: April

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:13):
Welcome friends. We are yet another day closer to Christmas.
That's Tuesday, December twenty third, and we'll get to this
date and history in just a few moments, but it
is in fact the fourth day of the Twelve Days
of Preston, the twelve Days of Preston our Christmas gift

(00:35):
to you. We are taking some time away to spend
time with our families. But rather than just leave you without,
we have cobbled together a chronological look at the year
twenty twenty five and we dedicate one show to each month,
and so this is the month of April, the fourth

(00:59):
month the year, thus the fourth day of the twelve
Days of Preston. So welcome, thanks for joining us. Now,
as we like to do, we will start this program
as we start every program, with a look into God's
Word and until Christmas Day, where of course you know

(01:20):
we'll have something special on Christmas Day. I've been talking
about the merger of how Christmas carols, hymns, music of
the season that specifically talks about Jesus is so significant
this time of year. There is a song called Angels

(01:42):
from the Realms of Glory, and it goes Angels from
the Realms of glory, wing your flight or all the earth,
Ye sang creation story. Now proclaim Messiah's birth. Come in worship,
Come and worship, worship Christ, the newborn King. The scripture
that inspired that song is found in Luke chapter two,

(02:04):
verses thirteen and fourteen, where it says, and suddenly there
was with the Angel a multitude of the heavenly host,
praising God and saying glory to God in the highest
and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased.
That exciting announcement of Christ's birth, the sudden appearance of

(02:31):
the angels, the fact that the angels appeared to the
people that were considered kind of the outsiders, the outcast,
the lowest of the low, speaks volumes about God's wish
to redeem all of mankind. That song is a reminder

(02:57):
that all have been invited to celebrate and to worship Jesus.
Jesus is the most amazing gift that has ever been given.
There's nothing underneath a Christmas tree that can even remotely
compare with the gift that was brought in a manger

(03:20):
that we celebrate and honor that. In fact, I would argue,
there's nothing like it anywhere in the world, because basically,
in a couple of days on December twenty fifth, commerce
is going to completely stop. It's going to shut down.
It's going to grind to a halt. Even among those
who quote don't believe, they're going to pause and acknowledge

(03:42):
whether they have, whether they choose to or not, they're
going to have to acknowledge, Oh, this is Christmas, and
Christmas is about Christ. That's the power of Christmas. Angels
understood it that God so loved the world he sent
his son, He gave the gift of Christmas that we

(04:05):
could have a chance to be right with God. And
so my challenge to you as we start the show
today is to make sure that in this season you're
not losing sight of the invitation you and all who
you will spend time with. All Right, it is December
twenty third, and so inside the American Patriots Almanac, we

(04:28):
always touch on this date in history. And even though
we're we're dealing with the month of April and the
chronology of the Morning show this year, this is this
is Tuesday, December the twenty third. It was on this
date in seventeen seventy six Thomas Pains the American Crisis
is published now. In that he wrote the following, These

(04:53):
are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier
and the sunshine patriot will in this crisis shrink from
the service of his country. But he that stands it
now deserves the love and the thanks of man and woman. Tyranny,
like hell, is not easily conquered. Yet we have this

(05:15):
consolation with us that the harder the conflict, the more
glorious the triumph.

Speaker 2 (05:21):
Woo.

Speaker 1 (05:23):
It goes on from there, stirring words. Right. That's on
this date in seventeen seventy six. In seventeen eighty three,
George Washington resigns as General of the Army retires to
Mount Vernon. In eighteen twenty three, This is Awesome Twas
the Night Before Christmas by Clement C. Moore is published

(05:46):
eighteen twenty three, nineteen forty seven. At Bell Labs, researchers
first demonstrate the transistor, a semiconductor device that becomes a
building block for modern electronic equipment. And it was on
this date in nineteen eighty six. I remember this. I

(06:08):
was fascinated with flying as early as I can remember.
Maybe it was the time my dad spent as a
pilot in him telling me stories I don't know. Nineteen
eighty six, Dick Rutan and Jenna yeger Land the experimental
Aircraft Voyager at Edward's Air Force Base to complete the
first NonStop around the world flight without refueling. How in

(06:35):
the world. I remember the plane. It was this massive
just it was almost like a very lightly powered glider
that stored a tremendous amount of fuel and they had
to the two of them managed to fly this thing

(06:59):
in shifts without ever stopping around the around the Earth.
That's that's a that's a remarkable accomplishment, it really is.
And so yeah, there you go this date in history.
Now we also always acknowledge national day of It is

(07:20):
National Roots Day. And now we're we're not talking about
like in the garden or out in the yard. We're
talking about our our family tree. So it is it is,
it is National Roots Day. It is it is National
fef for Noose Day. And I had to look this

(07:42):
up fef for News and I'm probably pronouncing it wrong.
It is a German spice cookie which is very very
popular around the holidays. They are made with ground nuts,
spices and covered in powdered sugar. Yeah, buddy, Christmas cookies,
come on you just you cannot go wrong there. And

(08:03):
today is Festivus, December twenty third, Festivus and Festivus for
the uninitiated. It comes from the television comedy Seinfeld and
it was kind of a protest holiday because one of
the characters on Seinfeld just could not embrace how commercialized

(08:31):
Christmas had become, and so they created this holiday in
one of the episodes of Seinfeld in nineteen ninety seven.
And it's become a thing. The slogan a festive Us
for the rest of us. We'll be back with more

(08:52):
of the Twelve Days of Preston. Welcome back to the
Twelve Days of Preston. This is the fourth of the

(09:14):
twelve days, which means the month of April. If you're
just joining us, we're just two days away from Christmas anyway.
All right, let's pick up back with the month of April.
And this is our sit down with doctor Bob McClure,
president of our good friends over at the James Madison Institute.

(09:34):
He has led that organization for years. Insightful analyst of
well just government in general, politics at large, but certainly
it's a Sunshine state. Let's turn into some Florida politics
and policy and one of the big, big areas of

(09:55):
debate which impacts so many people. Well, it impacts every
Floridian in one form or another, and it's the discussion
going on right now between the proposals on tax here
in the state. Bob, let me first, I want to
work this backwards. Senate President Ben Albritton said, you know,
before we jump on either a sales tax change or

(10:15):
a property tax elimination, maybe we need just a little
bit more time to study both of these plans and
make sure that we fully understand their impact, cause and effect,
how this trickles down to local cities and counties before
we do anything. I am of that approach. What do
you think about that approach first, before we get into

(10:39):
the specifics of the proposals, Well.

Speaker 3 (10:41):
I think I mean, first of all, integrate to live
in a state that has two coequal branches of government
competing to lower our taxes. Even more like, the debate
is over tax cuts, not overspending.

Speaker 1 (10:57):
It's just.

Speaker 3 (11:00):
Where do you see this New York State has double
the state budget we do with fewer people, and they're
constantly looking for ways to pick your pocket. Right, there's
a reason why a thousand people are moving to Florida
a day. So isn't it refreshing that that the Speaker
and the Senate, President and governor are competing over how best.

Speaker 4 (11:21):
To cut our taxes?

Speaker 3 (11:22):
Having sent that president there are things that must be
worked out if we eliminate the property tax. And I
get the governor's philosophical point of view, He's right, do
you ever really own your house? What replaces that? Is
it a higher sales tax? Is it raising the homestead

(11:43):
exemption by one hundred thousand dollars? I don't know the
answer to that. Conversely, you have the Senate or the
Speaker of the House talking about raising, you know, cutting
the sales tax, and so I think we need to
we need to have serious conversations, and we need to
have some serious data on this to understand it. But

(12:05):
the momentum is the only thing, you know, you know,
politicians are notorious for you know, blue ribbon panels and
appointing committee this committee that, and we lose the momentum
to actually do something significant. That would be my only concern.
But I think you're right, we have to understand the ramifications,
because there are very real ramifications. One more thing on

(12:28):
that present is that it's the local government and local
municipalities that are the primary problem. So if we cut
property taxes or we do something else, we have to
make sure those local municipalities don't try to claw it
back by raising attacks somewhere else in these local communities.

Speaker 1 (12:47):
And at the same time, you have to find a
mechanism for the local communities to fund their operations. Obviously
we're focused on, you know, protecting citizenry and infrastructure. You know,
I would I would argue that there are communities in
Florida that waste a lot of taxpayer money, but they
tend to be blue counties and blue cities that do that.

(13:09):
And so I guess my thought here is do we
need to just hit the tap the brakes a little
bit on this and take another year to look at them,
or is the momentum factor, as you mentioned, more important.

Speaker 3 (13:25):
I you know, I'm always hesitant to tap the brakes,
But I don't know if we can get all of
the data in and understand fully the ramifications, because what
you don't want is the law of unintended consequences, right
the other area that will be heard that has to
sort this out are the rural communities. And Senator all

(13:47):
Britton has made the centerpiece of one of his legislation
is protecting and promoting rural communities. I mean, gosh, in
North Florida, all you have to drive is ten minutes
and it's in any direction, and you're in a rural county.
And so we have to be very careful about how

(14:07):
we do this. Can it be done before the end
of session? That is very ambitious. I don't know if
they want to give it a shot, give it the
Old College. Try sure, but we have to have the
data before we just start doing these things because there
would be tremendous, potentially unintended consequences in a lot of

(14:29):
these areas.

Speaker 1 (14:30):
Twenty two minutes past where with doctor Bob McClure, always
a great conversation, the head of the James Madison Institute,
and it is a great point that you make, Bob,
that boy, what a problem to have that we're talking
about different ways to reduce taxes for the people that
live in this state. Understanding the property owners that rent
their properties out their renters hopefully would benefit. There's no

(14:54):
guarantee of that, but it certainly relieves some pressure on
housing in the state if property owners are no longer
paying property taxes. But without the data, just on the
surface level, which of these two proposals do you lean towards?

Speaker 3 (15:08):
Oh, gosh, Preston, I think both have pretty good merit.
I like the elimination of property taxes in some way
because people can see it how much. I mean, if
if I were to say to you, how much sales
tax do you pay a year? You probably don't know.
I don't, I don't, I don't know what I pay.
And I think you know there is a philosophical component

(15:31):
to the point that do you really own your home
if the government can slap a lean on you for
not paying your property taxes? So I like that it's simple.
I mean, it's not simple. It's it's it's simple, but
not easy. Let me say that it's uh, people can
see it. It's significant because it really not so much.

(15:52):
You know, in North Florida. We're not talking about Gason
County or or you know, Madison County, but in some
of those areas and call your and browered and you
know some of those places that are fast growing. I
mean they property taxes are just just unsustainable. And when
you talk about affordable housing and you talk about property insurance,

(16:13):
you know, all of this combined makes it really hard
for people to buy homes, and you know, particularly younger people.
And so I like that we just the devils into details,
as they say, you know, for.

Speaker 1 (16:27):
Me, I mean, I have been advocating. It's so funny.
I've been advocating this issue on property tax since I
started the show in two thousand and two. I've been
a champion of this idea. And I'm of the mindset
that the governor put out, and that is that you know,
we do so well with tourism, and we had a

(16:49):
record tourism year last year alone. We have the largest
share of tourism visitors of any state in the nation.
We get fifteen percent of all the tourists that come
to America could come to Florida, yep, and so, and
then when you count the people that are just visiting
from other states and the migration factor. I like the

(17:10):
idea of leaving the sales tax where it is and
letting all of those visitors help pay for our infrastructure,
help pay for our governance, and maybe if anything, maybe
carve out a portion of that sales tax to then
go back to cities and counties to replace the property
tax revenue that they would lose.

Speaker 3 (17:28):
Sure, I mean, there are so many different ways to
skin that cat. I think that you know, we're having
this discussion with our policy team yesterday, you know, and
I'm not I'm not advocating for this, but the old
bed tax and the you know, the all these different
different ways that we could skin this cat to make
sure that local communities are protected in some way, There's

(17:50):
no doubt. I mean, you know, we we have roughly
the equivalent of the entire country of Germany coming to Florida,
just Florida every year and then going back. Germany's the
largest bipopulation country in Europe. It's just amazing how many
people come here. Let them pay for it. Not to
mention super Bowls and Final Fours and concerts and Taylor

(18:14):
Swift and all of the things that happen in Florida
all the time. I think that makes dound that sound logic. Preston,
what do you.

Speaker 1 (18:23):
Think we've got about a minute left? What beneath this
issue is bubbling on your particular burner right now?

Speaker 3 (18:32):
I'm my there too. One, the trial lawyers are trying
to roll back the reforms that were put in place
two years ago that are driving down the cost of
property insurance in a good way. And the trial lawyers
have lost their edge and they are trying they are

(18:53):
trying to roll those reforms back, and everybody's blaming insurance companies. Look,
nobody loves their insurance company. They're not warm and fuzzy.
They never help themselves. I understand that. But those reforms,
those tort reforms, are driving down the cost of property
insurance and will continue to do so over the next
year or two. Secondly, affordable housing affordable housing. I've said

(19:17):
this one hundred times. There's difference between building affordable housing
and building housing that is affordable. And we have to
build good housing that is affordable by reducing permitting and
wait times and the cost of doing business for builders.
Those are the other two issues. But we really have
to push back on the trial bar. All those billboards

(19:37):
and all those buses that we see. They are attacks
on Floridians on an annual basis.

Speaker 1 (19:44):
Doctor Bob mccluur of the James Madison Institute, my guest,
all right, let's take a break for a little news
back with more of the Twelve Days of Preston on
The Morning Show with Preston Scott. Well, good morning friends,

(20:15):
if you're just waking up and joining us, it's the
Twelve Days of Preston. This is the month of April.
Our little gift to you, the twelve Days a chronological
look at the year twenty twenty five, and it's our
Christmas gift is we're away on vacation. We didn't want
to leave you alone, so we're here sort of kind
of with you. And I thought it would be fun

(20:39):
because most of you that are early risers, you might
miss the later parts of the show. You might not
get a chance to hear us. Congresswoman kat Camick when
she visits with us. This is our April visit, well
one of our April visits, and she represents the third
Congressional District of Florida and is just a dynamite and

(21:00):
I think you'll enjoy our visit. Are you concerned at
all that this talk about Greenland and the talk of
a third term that he he takes and he distracts
from the business that needs to get done.

Speaker 5 (21:16):
So a couple of things. One, if it sounds incredibly windy,
it's because I'm walking to the capital and it is
absolutely frigid, especially for Fluordian right now. So sorry about
all the women in the background. But then on the
issue of you know.

Speaker 3 (21:32):
I'll just use the third term as an example.

Speaker 5 (21:34):
Do I think that he's serious. No, I think that,
you know, the president, he's very good at some shock
and awe and it does more to throw off his
opponents than anything else. So I'm not too worried about
anything really being seriously considered in that way, And if
it were, I would oppose it because what we know

(21:57):
has been done on our side will absolutely done on
the other side. And as a constitutional conservative, it's pretty
clear I'm not interested in the constitution, so we would
definitely not be in support of that. So I think
most of this is mostly for shock and awe. And
again I'm all in on the America First agenda, but

(22:20):
it has to be focused and I have a lot
of concerns about that at this moment.

Speaker 1 (22:25):
What are your expectations for the upcoming announcement tomorrow on
Liberation Day, the tariff announcements. Have you been cute on anything?

Speaker 5 (22:34):
Yeah, In fact, We've been having a lot of conversations
about how that's going to impact Florida specifically. You know,
a lot of people in our neck of the woods,
particularly in the ag industry, are very concerned because the
number one industry that sees retaliatory tariffs is agriculture, and
so folks are very nervous. There's some discussions about what

(22:56):
the administration would do to try to ease that pain,
but we need to be very honest about the fact
that and I'm sorry'm getting in an elevator, so sorry
about what that would mean in the in the I

(23:17):
take short term pain for long term gains. And I'm
laughing because one of my Democrat colleagues is hopped in
the elevator with me and he's given me a look.
He just hopped in the elevator and he's looking at
me like, uh huh, yeah, okay, cat. But no, I

(23:38):
think that that's we have, especially in the Sea of Florida,
experienced decades of unfair practices that have put us at
a disadvantage, particularly in Florida. I mean that goes back
to NAFTA. So there has to be reckoning and there
has to be an adjustment because I'm all for free trade,

(23:59):
but it has to be fair traits, yes, and what
we see is not fair.

Speaker 1 (24:03):
Kat. I don't know if when you're back home, or
even while you're gone, if your office is getting hammered
like some other congressional offices of the GOP, but it is.
It is unbelievable what I'm watching happen with the disinformation
regarding Social Security. Senior adults and activists on the left

(24:24):
are trying to turn this into they're taking away our benefits.
They're gonna cut benefits. I don't know of any proposal
to cut Social Security benefits, do you.

Speaker 5 (24:35):
I still have yet to come across that one. But again,
this is this is the playbook from you know, circa
you know, the beginning of the two thousands. This is
the George Soros blueprint. And you know, I was born
and raised in Colorado, and there was actually a book
written about what George Soros did in the state of Colorado,

(24:57):
talking about how they did the medical marijuana than the
legalization of marijuana, how they used fear mongering tactics on
national issues that were just patently false. This is the
playbook and there it was very effective. Then it's going
to be used again now and people are seeing it
in action. You have paid protesters going to these town halls,

(25:19):
shutting these members down. And it's not because they think
that they can actually change someone's mind. They're there because
they want to shame Republican members of Congress. So we've
been getting protests at our office, and for the ones
that we know are our constituents, I've actually offered. I said,

(25:39):
come sit down and have a meeting with me. And
in fact I met with two ladies. They call themselves
the Gainesville Democrat Badass Feminists. I think that's their official
group name, and yes I know. They sat down and
they immediately hit on the social security issue, and I said,
I said, lady, are familiar with the fact that in reconciliation,

(26:03):
it is a violation of the Bird rule to touch
social security. It cannot be done. Even if people wanted to,
which no one wants to, it cannot be done. They said, well,
how come that never gets talked about? I said, because
no one wants to actually have a conversation. People just
want to scream at each other. And so we actually
ended up having a very productive conversation and it ended

(26:24):
with them saying we wish we had this information because
we we don't want to go out and tout false,
false narrative. I think that there are people who are
getting caught up in this that don't know better. And
I admittedly I said, you know, Republicans, we've always been
bad messengers. We've never been very effective when it came
to telling the story and getting the truth out. That's

(26:47):
just always been a weakness collectively of the party. So
we have a lot of work to do in reconciliation.
We cannot touch Social Security and no one is looking
to take away social Security, period, heart stop, full stop.
There was a great interview I only got to catch
bits of it with Brettbaer and really kind of the
leaders of DOSE, and of course he was there, and

(27:08):
they said, you know, they said, it's absolutely staggering the
amount of fraud and abuse that gets that gets thrown
onto social Security. They said, the calls that come in
where you have scammers that are calling into the Social
Security Administration and pretending to be someone else, changing the
benefits and sizoning the money away, and not to mention

(27:31):
the illegals, the non citizens that are collecting Social Security.
We should be all collectively as Americans fighting to get
rid of this type of crap, this garbage that is
really really damaging the system. I mean, and again point
me in the direction of the one hundred and seventy
nine year old that is collecting a Social Security check.

(27:51):
I want to know their nutritional habits and I want
their skincare routine. Okay, So this is this is absurd
that anyone is willing to go out into.

Speaker 1 (28:00):
That last question before we let you go, you had
mentioned a few visits back the need to do a
bill that requires background checks of those working in Congress.
Where are we on that?

Speaker 5 (28:12):
So we are aiming to introduce this week or next.
It is pretty staggering the amount of pushback that I
have already received. But you know me, I am a
I am a negative reinforcement type person. So the more
pushback I get from Republicans and Democrats, the more I
continue to push to get it done, because it is

(28:34):
staggering the amount of foreign government influence that is taking
place here on Capitol Hill through organizations like the Muslim
Brotherhoods for example.

Speaker 1 (28:44):
Yep.

Speaker 5 (28:45):
And then of course it goes without saying that you
have access to the United States Capitol to members of Congress,
and you should. We should have a background check done
on everyone, period, full stop. I mean, you have to
have a background check to work at publics. Why should
didn't you have a back sub text to work in
our nation's capital. It makes no sense. So that bill

(29:05):
is going to be introduced. We're going to be doing
a lot of media around it because it's going to
take we the people to get this to the finish
line because Washington, as we all know, they're very slow
to adopt change and embrace change. So we're going to
need everybody, all hands on deck.

Speaker 1 (29:22):
You as Congresswoman Cat Cammick with us the Twelve Days
of preston our April visit with the congresswoman from Florida's
third District. One of the real joys of this last
year was that Congresswoman Cammick offered to come on the
program twice a month and other than taking a break
when she had her first little baby, Augusta Dare So

(29:45):
she and her husband mad are now proud parents about
to celebrate their first Christmas with their daughter. Just a
delight to have Cat on the program and to get
to know her over these last few years. All Right,
we've got more to come on the Twelve Days of Preston.
Don't you dare leave us Allow for a retro seventies

(30:26):
eighties disco vibe Christmas music kind of thing to hit
as we as we finish up the first hour of
our fourth of twelve Days of Preston, It's the Morning
Show with Preston Sky. Good morning, wrapped up in a
bow for you, A little early Christmas present is our

(30:49):
chronological look back at the year. And so this is
the fourth show of our break. And so we're in
the fourth month, which is the month of April. Now,
our next guest is currently the interim president, maybe going
to be the full time permanent president. We'll see. I

(31:09):
mean he's full time interim now, but Manny Diaz is
the president of the University of West Florida. But now
in April that sounded weird, didn't it. But as of April,
he was still the Commissioner of Education for the Sunshine
State focused on K twelve, and he joined us here

(31:31):
on the Morning Show. Haven't had this gentleman with us
in as they like to say, in a minute, joining
us commissioner of Education for the State of Florida. He's
Manny Diaz Manny, how are you good morning.

Speaker 6 (31:45):
Doing great to be with you. How are you doing?

Speaker 1 (31:48):
I'm doing well. I'm curious to get your take on
the effort to dismantle the Department of Education. For those
who aren't in your world, you know, this is what
you do for you're in the midst of it all,
explain what difference would be made by the ending of
the Department of Education.

Speaker 6 (32:07):
Really just a huge benefit to the states. I mean
a lot of people they hear Department of Education and
think that the Department of Education has actually been involved
in improving the education and dealing with kids in our country,
but they haven't. It's really just a large bureaucracy who's
been used, especially by the Biden administration and other Democratic administrations,

(32:32):
to really impose the will of the federal government on states.
And we all know that education is a responsibility that
belongs to the state. And how do they do it.
They use per strings. They put strings attached to those
dollars that are appropriated by Congress, and they try to
get states to do things like allow you know, men

(32:53):
to play in women's sports, which is what the Biden
administration's you know, final push was before they kind of
get out of office there. So it's really not something
that has an actual effect. The dollars are still appropriated
by Congress. They are coming to the states. We will
have a lot more flexibility on how to use those
dollars appropriately within the state. And so that's really the

(33:16):
big difference. It's a positive.

Speaker 1 (33:19):
And I mean it would be fair to say that
not just that there's more money. If X amount of
dollars is allocated to education in America through the federal government,
we don't have a bleed off of any of that
money to run a bureaucracy.

Speaker 6 (33:35):
That's correct. And I mean, look, if you really kind
of a dose theory, if you really wanted to take
a deep dive into those dollars and how they've been
used going back to the Carter administration when this was created,
you're going to be very disappointed. So I think people
have the misunderstanding that these dollars have all flowed down

(33:55):
into the classroom, have been used to educate our kids.
And so you know, you hear those same folks saying
what we need is more money. No, we spend more
than almost any country in the world on education, but
we're not getting great results. Part of that is because
of this bureaucracy.

Speaker 4 (34:12):
Again.

Speaker 6 (34:13):
You know, you take someone something like Title one funding,
which is supposed to come from the federal government down
to help schools and students that are of low income
improve performance. Well, when you're siphoning off a good portion
of those dollars to have to build a bureaucracy at
the district level, which is just to respond to the

(34:35):
needs of what the federal government is asking for, kind
of defeats the purpose.

Speaker 7 (34:39):
Doesn't appress me.

Speaker 6 (34:39):
It's not really getting into that prossrum to help those students.
And so we hope and we're starting to see notifications
from the United States Department of Education now under Trump
and lind of a command that is giving us more flexibility.
We're inquiring us to push that flexibility so that we
can get those into the classroom and helping our students

(35:02):
here in Florida.

Speaker 1 (35:04):
What are the priorities for you in the legislative session.

Speaker 6 (35:06):
Look, we don't have huge bills this year in the
legislative session. There's been a lot of big things done
in Florida the last few years. There are a few
bills moving through there that provide some tweaks for the
scholarship program, just the logistics of it and how we
get it rolled out as is now five hundred and
twenty thousand students participating in that. We also like to

(35:31):
see some streamlining when it comes to teacher certification and
some of the other things that we just do and
day in and day out, just to try to make
it better for our districts to be able to recruit
teachers and make it easier and make more sense for
our teachers when they get in the classroom to have
the right training and right certification. So we're really just

(35:51):
looking overall at how we continue to improve our choice landscape,
how we continue to improve teacher recruitment. Obviously, the governor
has come out again with the budget proposal that includes
increasing teacher salaries and investing in teacher salaries, so we
know that's important, but we also know it's very important
that we maintain our options for families and students and

(36:16):
continue to thrive with our choice landscape here in Florida.
So I think it's a good balance and that's kind
of what we're looking at.

Speaker 1 (36:24):
One of the proposals I discussed in the last few
days was one that would change that the graduation standards,
removing a couple of the standardized barriers, namely, I think
the biggest one, problematically to me is the one of
regarding algebra one. I just I think they're roughly half
the students just are not mathematically inclined, and I think

(36:45):
it's a kind of a silly requirement, especially when you
apply it in ged settings. What are your thoughts on that?

Speaker 6 (36:52):
Well, look, I think we have to have a requirement
for math. We have to have a measurement right by
which we we're saying, we're giving us students of Florida
High School diploma and we're expecting that they are going
to be able to read in tenth grade level, which
is what we're we're telling our folks when they graduate.
I think there has to be requisite in math. And
you know, some people will argue, is that algebra is

(37:13):
at geometry? What is it? And some folks will tell you, well,
do you know, do you use algebra the rest of
your life? The truth is you do. It's the logic
that you learn. You know, it's the process of logic.
You may not be doing equations, but I guarantee you
that throughout your day there are there are equations you
go through in your head using logic to get answers

(37:34):
to things, uh, even if it doesn't look like an
algebraic equation. So I think there's there's a you need
to have a minimum math requirement when you're when you're
saying you're going to give a student a graduation a
diploma from the State of Florida high school diploma, and
so you also a lot of these students are going
into the world has changed, as you know, and a

(37:55):
lot of students are opting not to go to the
traditional four year route universities. They're opting to go into
the state college system and look into credentials, to stack
credentials to go into things like welding, electricity and all
those things. Right, And I think it's important that students
have a base when they do that, but they're all,
you know, students have multiple ways that they can master that,

(38:17):
including some alternative examinations. And so I think, look, if
you look at our graduation rate, Preston, it's the highest
it's ever been non COVID, you know, right, we had
during COVID the tests were suspended. We're almost at ninety
percent graduation, which is the highest it's eighty nine point
seven highest the status had. So this is you know,
students are graduating. It's not stopping them from graduating. They're

(38:39):
just having some students are having to go through a
process of remediation and getting there. So I think it's
important that we don't if we're not getting students to
the bar, that we don't think we just remove the
bar just because students can't get there. Don't underestimate students
we're able to get them there.

Speaker 1 (38:56):
Then, Commissioner of Education now President Interim President of the
University of West Florida, Manny Diaz. It is the fourth
day of the Twelve Days of Preston. This is the
month of April. If you're just joining us, this is

(39:17):
our Christmas gift. We take the entire year, wrap it
up and present it to you in chronological order. The interviews,
the guests, the stories, the segments that we think are
worth letting you here again or maybe for some of
you here for the first time. So stay with us.
The second hour of the month of April on the
Twelve Days of Preston is next here on the Morning

(39:40):
Show with Preston Scott. Yeah, let's wake up, Come on,

(40:15):
come on, let's go. For some of you, it's time
to get shopping. Just a couple days away from Christmas.
It is Tuesday, December twenty third, just a couple of
days away now, so you're running out of time. Welcome
to the second hour of the Morning Show with Preston Scott.

(40:37):
The Twelve Days of Preston. I just thought that crescendo
worked there. We are going through the year, and this
is the fourth of the twelve days, so it's the
month of August, the fourth month of the year. And
for this particular segment, I thought it would be interesting

(40:59):
to just pull out a short segment of the show
where we talked about a story that I think forces
a little reflection. Let me know what you think. You
can always send me an email Preston at iHeartRadio dot com.
But going back to April, in a story I was

(41:21):
in the news, do you remember when we talked about
the shooting at the student union at Florida State and
the video of someone sipping an iced coffee videotaping someone

(41:48):
who had been shot on the ground, as opposed to
rendering aid just casually walking by videotaping, And do you
remember the discussion that we had about the danger of
quote outing somebody. What if you get it wrong. Remember

(42:11):
that the story I'm about to share with you is
now Santa Ana, California, And there's two different points that
I want to make us In this story. Forty five

(42:32):
year old Alejandro Alaveros Acosta was arrested and has confessed,
according to police, to a heinous crime set of crimes
animal cruelty. He enticed cats to come to him using

(42:54):
food and treats, and then he grabbed them and killed them,
lots and lots of cats, brutally, horrifically killing these cats.
Now he bonded out and people animal lovers believe they

(43:24):
found out where he was living, and they arrived at
the home. They proceeded to throw rocks through windows and
break down fencing, and when someone approached one of the
gates to close it back up, they pepper sprayed him
in the face. It was the wrong home. The guy

(43:45):
wasn't there, he was nowhere in the area. There were
children in there being scared to death. Now there are
two points here. Number one, w Really, this is the

(44:08):
danger of outing somebody, of becoming a vigilante mob, whether
it's through social media or in this case, showing up
at someone's house. But then there's the other side of
this story that has nothing to do with any of
the concerns that I had at FSU. It's this, this

(44:33):
is a horrific crime, and likely this guy's gonna advance
from cats to people, because most serial killers, not all,
most have at some point an infatuation which with killing
and torturing animals, and then they progress. Now again that's

(44:53):
not always the case, and so perhaps this is somebody
that is heading I don't know, but but think about
the people that have been killed in this country by illegals,
by just other people, and and okay, a group of

(45:13):
cats got people this upset. Now, I'm not saying that
it's a it's a terrible crime, but vigilante mob justice
over animals versus humans. I targeted this story because I

(45:36):
think it is indicative of something I don't know exactly what,
other than the sinful nature of man on the part
of the criminal, on the part of the people that
showed up, the angry mob crucify a crucifier. I'm just saying,

(45:57):
I think there's there are points to sit back and
reflect on in this story, don't you. No, I know,
not a very christmasy story, I get it, But that

(46:20):
was in the news in April, and we talk about
things on this program that are not necessarily comfortable. Now,
what I thought was very interesting about that story is
how it it brought a lot of different issues and
it converged them into one story, and I thought it

(46:44):
was important to consider what it nudged us about social media.
You know, I'll tell you there are so many examples
of kind of a social media form of mob justice

(47:05):
that takes place when people decide to dox people or
out them or whatever, and they're just flat mistaken about
who they're identifying. And I think one of the ironies
of our culture today is that social media has bred

(47:31):
the most unsociable society in the world. Too much time
spent online, too much time spent with our head buried
into a phone or a laptop or a desktop, just down.
Eye contact in this day and age with many in
this generation is considered intimidating. All I know is the

(47:56):
ramifications of social media in cases like this where people
are wrongly identified and then become victims because of a
mob injustice, if you will. I think it's something to
just sort of step back and consider, and maybe it's

(48:18):
grounds for a you know, the formation of a little
bit of a new resolution for the upcoming New year
to just say to the social media, yeah, you have
a place, but that place is not going to be
nearly as big of a place in my life moving forward.
I don't know. We have a lot more to do.

(48:39):
We are in the midst of the fourth of the
Twelve Days of Preston, so stick around. Much more to
come here on The Morning Show with Preston Scott. Welcome

(49:07):
back to the Twelve Days of Preston. Here on the
Morning Show with Preston Scott. Okay, I gotta make a
confession here. There may be some repeat Christmas music, even
though I've got literally thousands of songs, but I only
pull about forty or so in to produce one of
these programs, and I jump around a little bit and

(49:31):
I might forget. So I'm just I'm just saying, if
there's a repetition of Christmas music, I'm sorry. You can
complain about it the next time we do. What's the
beef in the New Year? Speaking of perfect segue, a
segment inspired by former producer Mike Gentine twenty three plus

(49:54):
years ago. Let's give it a listen. Another edition of
Bring in the.

Speaker 8 (50:07):
Fire Hose because my biscuits is burning. What's going on here?
We got buds standing by and that's it, but might
get the whole half hour. Eight five zero two zero
five WFLA. It's what's to be Friday. It is time
to call now, my friends.

Speaker 1 (50:28):
You call now, I guarantee you you will be on
the radio program so long as you stay with me.
But we've got three lines open to complain about anything
your little heart desires. If it matters to you, it
matters to me. It's eight five zero two zero five WFLA.
And here are the rules. No profanity. You can do
it and don't make it personal. If you have a

(50:51):
bad experience at a business, tell us all about it.
You'll feel better. That's what this is about. This is
about helping you feel better. It contributes no matter where
you live. It contributes to a kinder, gentler community, starting
with your immediate area where you live, work, and breathe.

(51:14):
So there you go. Eight five zero two zero five
to bfl A. Bud, thank you very much for calling in.
What's the beef?

Speaker 9 (51:21):
Okay, I'm losing you sometime. Mother, how's that getting that's better.
I think I've been with you a long time, me
and my boys taking them to school from the days
of ar thermometer. Oh my goodness, how long has that been.

Speaker 1 (51:39):
It's been a minute. It's been a while. So what's
on your mind today, Bud? What's the beef?

Speaker 9 (51:46):
Okay, no more Barnabies. That was the best pizza place
I've ever been to. I hate it. We Barnabies is gone,
Walts is gone, and no more Barnabies. But there are
still Barnaby's up around Chicago. It used to be a franchise.
I didn't know that talking about Yeah.

Speaker 1 (52:08):
So Barnabys was was a thing. I thought it was
a local O and O. So it was a it
was a franchise.

Speaker 9 (52:16):
That's correct. The story I heard was that if we
got it on the franchise, run into Walt somewhere and
he talked them into opening one up. And this is
the only one that was outside the Chicago area.

Speaker 1 (52:28):
How about that?

Speaker 9 (52:30):
That's the That's the story I heard, Okay, I had
nowhere to not believe it. And the other one was
the Brown Derby.

Speaker 1 (52:38):
Oh yeah, do you remember I do?

Speaker 9 (52:40):
That was so good? We used to that was a
daily We'd go there every chance we got to go
eat lunch.

Speaker 1 (52:48):
Yeah, that was the time when that and the Silver
Slipper were a thing. Mm hmm, yep, yep. But thanks
for calling in, brother, I appreciate it. We talked earlier
in the program about restaurants that or more and U
Bud going down Memory Lane and complaining about the fact
that they're those those places are gone. Let's go to Kristin. Hi, Kristin,
you're up. What's the beef?

Speaker 10 (53:10):
Hi?

Speaker 11 (53:10):
My piece is that the state parks are you can't
get in there to camp anymore with your family.

Speaker 4 (53:17):
They're always full.

Speaker 5 (53:20):
Wait, you have to you have to do they take
your spot a chance.

Speaker 1 (53:28):
Okay, so you've got you've got to make a reservation
a year in advance.

Speaker 11 (53:33):
Yes, and it's just full of snowbirds and with all
their big giant campers, and you can't get in there
with your families anymore.

Speaker 1 (53:42):
So there's no preference for Florida State residents there is.

Speaker 11 (53:47):
That the snowbirds have po boxes here. So they get
in and they they wait in line in the minute,
like it's like a a lottery game. I go on
the computer and I wait and wait until it's a
year in advance, and then I click to reserve and

(54:08):
it's too late. You can So we used to go
camping all the time with our families.

Speaker 1 (54:15):
You need to mention that to your state rep. And
state senator because I've got to believe there's a way
for them to weed out people that aren't really residents
of the state and give priority to people that are.

Speaker 11 (54:26):
Yeah, well they've figured it out, and then you can reserve.
They can reserve a camp site up to two weeks.
I believe, and you just can't. I remember when I
was growing up, you could just go after school. We'd
load up in the van and go down and camp.

Speaker 1 (54:42):
You can't do that anymore, all right, Kristen. Yeah, it
is be an agent of change. Get out there and
make something happen. Talk to your state rep. And your
state Senator and make it. That's the type of low
hanging fruit that they love because they can pass stuff
like that, they can address stuff like that, and it's
not really partisan. That's why they love bills like that.

(55:05):
Let's get to the phone lines right now, Jeffrey, thank
you for your patience. You're up. What's the beef?

Speaker 12 (55:10):
Hey, Preston Unfortunately, we've learned that somebody posts on Facebook
or starts talking to people that they got some new
arms in their house and they're going to go ahead
and take out a group of people or go to
some school or church. Finally, people are starting to get
the idea, we better report this and do something about it. Well,
here we have an entire nation Iran that is dedicated

(55:34):
to the destruction of Israel and to great Satan America,
and we're sitting here and negotiating with them as to
whether or not they should have some kind of nuclear program.
I think Mark Levin and Meting Yahoo from Israel are
the only ones that are starting to scream out that people. Look,

(55:56):
we have got to destroy their nuclear program. And I'm
concerned that President Trump may negotiate something with him, but
when he leaves office, there's no telling what may happen. Again,
we've got to go to this house where these people
are saying they're going to commit some kind of crime

(56:18):
like that, and we've got to disarm them. Thanks a lot, Preston.

Speaker 1 (56:22):
Thanks very much for the phone call, Jeffrey, appreciate you
weighing in. Let's go to Ron. Hello Ron, good morning,
and welcome.

Speaker 10 (56:29):
Hello, Preston, always super duper thank you for you and
what you do. I'd like to notice maybe some of
the others could email Old Handkerchief handed he quit saying
the guy's name. He's making that man a hero that
the Democrats, you know, trying to make a hero about
the El Salvador guy. But I emailed him, I don't
ever get no response, but he is just repeat his

(56:52):
name over and over.

Speaker 6 (56:53):
He's such a whiner about everything.

Speaker 10 (56:55):
But still maybe we could get enough people to calm
him down.

Speaker 3 (57:00):
And he just goes on and on about.

Speaker 10 (57:01):
Him and says his name over and over.

Speaker 3 (57:04):
So God, we need to stop that.

Speaker 10 (57:06):
You are such great person for not repeating those ignorant
people's name like that.

Speaker 4 (57:11):
Thank you very much.

Speaker 1 (57:12):
Guys, You're welcome Ron, and thank you for the phone call.
We try our best, you know, if they're not a
mass killer, we might drop their name out there now
and then, but we like to let people like that
to go into the world of anonymity as quickly as possible.
We have two lines open eight five zero two zero
five WFLA. But Jay, you are up. What's the beef?

Speaker 13 (57:35):
Thank you for taking my phone call, Preston, My beef
is with my Republicans in Congress. And the reason is
is because I have the greatest twenty twenty quarterback in
the country, Donald Trump. He can play the best offense
and defense between the twenties. But now we need to score. Yep,

(57:57):
we are not scoring, and specifically we're not scoring with
laws that protect conservatives, which would be also every American.
We the Dems pull out their defense, they pull out
their judges, they stop us inside the twenty, they pull
out their Jeff Sessions. Oh, they stop us inside the twenty,

(58:19):
and yet we can't score. So it's the judges that
are stopping us. He's got to defeat them. Number two,
he needs to get our laws codified. And number three,
if he needs a lesson, have him call Ron d
He can figure.

Speaker 1 (58:32):
It out for Thank you, Jay, appreciate that I can
give you a little bit of good news. I think
it passed the House, and I think it's going to
pass the Senate, and it would definitely get the president's signature.
Of the district. Judges can only render a ruling for
their district. They have no power to issue a nationwide anything.

(58:52):
They can only rule on something that impacts their district.
Which means that it has to have standing in their district.
It can't come from outside. My understanding from Newt Gingrich
is that it passed the House and is about to
pass the Senate. It should pass uh and then it
would be signed by the president. That would be huge,
that would be a huge step forward. But in general,

(59:15):
you're one hundred percent right, one hundred percent. Doesn't this
just make you feel better? After you listen through some
beefs and some of those beefs are just timeless, right,
and it just makes us nod and go yeah. Others
might cause you to just pull your hair out, but hey,
look it's it's just a couple of days before Christmas.

(59:38):
It'll be all right. Are We are officially halfway through
the fourth day of the twelve Days of Preston a
month of April. More to come, don't leave us here
on the Morning Show with Preston Scott Welcome back past

(01:00:12):
the halfway mark on the fourth of the twelve days
of Preston the month of April in the year twenty
twenty five, where we go back and pick out some interviews,
some subjects, some call in segments, some features that you
might find interesting, and a chance to listen to again,
or for some of you listen to for the first time,

(01:00:33):
joining us on the show. A friend of the program
from the Heritage Foundation, a fellow Floridian, I might add,
even if he is a Florida Gator, he is Zach Smith.

Speaker 14 (01:00:43):
Hi, Zach, good morning, Preston.

Speaker 1 (01:00:46):
How are you terrific? My friend? Hey, our subject matter here.
I think you wrote an article and I'll just read
to everybody the title article three in the Canal Zone
District Court. What does the kind of institution require of
territorial courts? And I'm going to guess that to most
people listening right now, they just went, huh. So let's

(01:01:11):
go with a brief history. Lesson, take us back to
the beginning of the twentieth century. Where does this all start?
Explain what you mean?

Speaker 14 (01:01:20):
Yeah, so I run about this president because of President
from pledged to take back the Panama Canal. And so
many people don't realize at the beginning of the twentieth century,
the United States actually ran a large swath of territory
in Panama around the Panama Canal, and they had to
administer justice in that area. And so what Congress did.

(01:01:41):
They established a set of territorial courts in the Panama
Canal Zone to administer justice. And there's still territorial courts
in existence today Puerto Rico, Guam, the Marianna Islands, others
as well. And then of course there are also the
local courts in the District of Columbia. And so I
fall what does the constitution require?

Speaker 15 (01:02:02):
You know?

Speaker 14 (01:02:02):
Article three of the Constitution, which deals with federal courts,
which deals with judges, has certain requirements. For instance, that
judges served during good behavior. That's what we think of
as life tenure. Article two of the Constitution requires that
the President nominates to certain individuals to serve, and once
they're confirmed by the Senate, they then serve. And yet
many of today's territorial courts, many of the District of

(01:02:25):
Columbia's local courts, they don't comport with that appointment and
confirmation and life tenure that the Constitution lays out for
federal judges. And so my question was is that constitutional?
And I think in some instances it is not.

Speaker 1 (01:02:41):
Let me give us some historical context of where or
how this court flexed its muscle along the way. I
just sort of visually gave Jose this image of this
swath of land. And so what you're telling me is
there's almost this area in and around the Panama Canal

(01:03:05):
that is sort of sovereign US territory for the administration
of law.

Speaker 14 (01:03:11):
Formerly formerly, so that was the case for most of
the twentieth century. So Jimmy Carter in the late nineteen
seventies struck a deal for that land to eventually be
returned back to Panama. So the Panama Canal Zone no
longer exists today, But for most of the twentieth century,
it was a ten mile wide swath of land in
Panama's five miles on each side of the Panama Canal

(01:03:34):
that was sovereign US territory for all practical purposes. And
there was a good reason that was the case. It
helped ease administration, it helped the United States as administered
the Panama Canal itself. And yet that zone no longer
exists because Jimmy Carter, when he was president, struck a
deal to return not only that land, but the Panama

(01:03:57):
canw itself back to Panama.

Speaker 1 (01:04:00):
So what does that mean on the surface, We'll dig
a little deeper. But on the surface, doesn't this all
present a bit of a problem for Donald Trump in
asserting that we're just going to take it back.

Speaker 14 (01:04:11):
Well, look, I think Donald Trump hasn't been exactly clear
what he means when he says we're going to take
back the Panama Canal. I think we're already seeing some
progress being made in terms of Chinese companies that have
been charged with operating the canal being divested from those responsibilities.
And so it's unclear that it means we're actually going

(01:04:32):
to physically take back the Panama Canal or simply make
sure that Panama is complying with its treaty obligations to
make sure that everyone enjoys free and fair past. And
it certainly seems strange to me Preston that the United States,
particularly the United States Navy, are paying very high fees
to pass through the Panama Canal, when in fact, it

(01:04:53):
was the United States and American taxpayers that help to
fund and create the Panama Canal.

Speaker 1 (01:04:59):
Itself as side of the Panama Canal that I'm guessing,
like me, none of you've thought about, and of course
being explored by Zach Smith from the Heritage Foundation. So
if we look at the administration of the law during

(01:05:21):
the US ownership for lack of a better way of
putting it, of the Panama Canal and now it's extinguished.
Where's the intrigue? What has you most fascinated, Zach Well?

Speaker 14 (01:05:33):
Part of the reason I wrote about this press and
there's a little bit tongue in cheek, but to talk
about the very real issue that's happening today. A lot
of people don't realize a lot of adjudication resolution of
disputes is taking place by government bureaucrats that are not
appointed in and compliance with Article three of the Constitution.

(01:05:54):
We've heard a lot about administrative Proudbudnal's administrative judges, and
this is a big problem the federal government today, with
many of the alphabet soup agencies, the SEC, the CFTC,
the FTC having essentially their own in house courts, and
many people have been raising constitutional concerns about those courts
for many, many years, and you've even seen the Supreme Court,

(01:06:16):
the US Supreme Court strike down certain instances where those
courts have resolved cases. And so my larger question was, when,
if ever, is it appropriate for judges and tribunals constituted
not in compliance with Article three of the Constitution, which
deals with federal courts and Article two of the Constitution,
which deals with the president and his appointment power. When

(01:06:38):
is it appropriate for those judges and those tribunals to
hear cases? And largely my view is that is generally
not appropriate for those entities to hear cases. And I
think you're seeing the Supreme Court move in that same
direction as well.

Speaker 1 (01:06:53):
It almost and I could be way off in my
assertion here. I questioned last year why, for example, Jack
Smith was allowed to even argue anything in front of
a judge because he wasn't appointed according to the United
States Constitution to do just that, and so he had

(01:07:16):
no more authority to walk into a courtroom and make
arguments than me. Is this similar to what we're talking
about here.

Speaker 14 (01:07:24):
In some sense?

Speaker 1 (01:07:25):
Yes.

Speaker 14 (01:07:25):
Absolutely. Look, you're not often an assertion president. In fact,
you have many legal scholars of making that same position.
Former Attorney General Ed Mesa, who's the namesake of the
Meat Center where our work in the Heritage Foundation, took
that same position and a brief he filed with the court.
And so, yes, the Constitution has these very important structural
safeguards in place. There's certain procedures that have to be

(01:07:47):
followed before someone or some entity can exercise certain types
of power, and when those procedural safeguards are not followed,
it creates very real issues and undermined the design that
the frameworks of our Constitution put in place to help
make sure that at the end of the day, our
rights are protected to the fullest extent possible.

Speaker 1 (01:08:09):
Okay, Now, I have looked at for example, to just
draw this and make a different kind of comparison, I
have looked at the work of Doze as the work
of a contractor in a home that's been squatted in
for four years, just saying four years and ripping off
the drywall and exposing the damage to the house. So

(01:08:30):
if we are ripping off this particular piece of drywall
and we're seeing a conundrum with Article three of the Constitution, okay,
now what.

Speaker 14 (01:08:39):
Well, I think Congress needs to step in and take
actions and look if we step out again and look
at some of the larger disputes taking place against about
the federal judiciary today, we've heard a lot about nationwiding junctions.
There are six hundred federal district court judges, over six
hundred federal district court judges in the United states, and
right now in one of those federal district court judges

(01:09:02):
could purport to stop and the action of the administration
of Donald Trump from taking place anywhere against anyone at
any time. That is a power that has been unknown
for most of our nation's history and was certainly unknown
at the time of our family. And so you're seeing
actions by Congress. Mike Lee has a bill he's introduced,

(01:09:24):
Chuck Grassley has a bill he's introduced to essentially pair
back the jurisdiction and power of some of these federal
district court judges. And so I think you're going to
need to see Congress step in and take actions to
correct many of these issues that have cropped up over
the past several years, but particularly that have cropped up
over the last half century or so.

Speaker 1 (01:09:44):
Zach Smith from the Heritage Foundation now i trustee at
the University of West Florida, as well our guests back
with more of the Twelve Days of Preston don't leave us.

(01:10:10):
As we wrap up the second hour, don't forget now
there's a third hour. We're not short changing you here.
You're getting a full show even though we're on vacation.
That's how much we love you. We have wrapped up
the entire year with a big fat bow, divided it
by twelve, and given you the twelve days of pressed

(01:10:32):
And this is day four, otherwise known as the month
of April. Now, one of the things I enjoy doing
is just rolling out some topics from time to time
and allow you to weigh in on those topics or
in this case, giving you a chance to evaluate the
performance of our president. And this is April. So we're

(01:10:56):
just a few short months into the second term of
President Donald Trump, waiting patiently to answer the question what
grade do you give President Trump in his first one
hundred days? And why Vince you're up?

Speaker 2 (01:11:14):
Yes, good morning, President, Thanks for taking my call. All right,
I agree one hundred percent. I think it was Derek
the last caller. I give Trump an absolute hay with
no reservations. I would say a plus, but I don't
want to sound like I'm gushy. Promises made, promises kept.
The border is closed in what three days? Immigration down

(01:11:36):
ninety eight percent the by all accounts. And of course,
like Derek said, you know this trying to rebalance strain
that has been lopsided for fifty sixty years doesn't happen overnight,
and it just frustrates the beams ahead of me that

(01:11:56):
you know, it's constant negative that the sky is falling
chicken little. The stock market reacts. I believe the stock
market looks for any opportunity in the headlines so that
they get short short sell straight long and option straders
and make a little money and swing it up and down.

Speaker 16 (01:12:15):
But that's a separate subject.

Speaker 2 (01:12:16):
But I get Trump an absolute a. Of course, the
tariff's gonna come with a little bit of pain in
the short term, but I think it's going to be
shorter than anyone thinks and realizes, and the economy is
going to be exploding by the second half of this year.
The last thing I wanted to say was these poles
are just like the poles that had Clinton beating Trump

(01:12:39):
by double digits in twenty sixteen, by like the trop
poles that had Biden, you know, ahead, and we know
twenty twenty one is an anomaly. And also in twenty
twenty four they had Trump behind by some pretty widespread
and McLaughlin a great bowler who's on Newsmax last night.

Speaker 17 (01:12:58):
I don't watch Fox.

Speaker 2 (01:12:59):
News anymore than one oney, but he plays that the family.

Speaker 1 (01:13:05):
Hey, Vince, I gotta go, brother. I appreciate it, but
I can't deviate from the question here. But thank you
very much. I thank you for calling in deb Europe.
What do you what grade do you give Trump? And why?

Speaker 18 (01:13:17):
I give him a solid C?

Speaker 1 (01:13:19):
Okay?

Speaker 15 (01:13:19):
Why?

Speaker 18 (01:13:21):
First of all, on immigration absolute A. He has done
what he has said he's going to do.

Speaker 3 (01:13:28):
He's closed the border.

Speaker 7 (01:13:30):
But as far as Doge.

Speaker 18 (01:13:32):
Goes, I work for a federal agency. All we've had
our threats, we've not had seen any changes at all.
I appreciate the fact that they're finding the waste, fraud
and abuse, but they're not actually doing anything about it.
They need to shut off some of this money that
is flowing unnecessarily. Then there we have the way that

(01:13:56):
he has taken care of world situations. We'll just say
it like that. I appreciate that he's looking at Russia
and the Ukraine fairly, treating both sides with the opportunity
to voice their opinions, but we have got to stop
the money. The money is where it matters. The same

(01:14:19):
with Israel. He talks about wanting to treat Iraq fairly,
and I appreciate that, and Israel fairly. But he's got
to shut the money off.

Speaker 10 (01:14:28):
It's got to end.

Speaker 18 (01:14:31):
And that's why I give him a CE.

Speaker 1 (01:14:33):
Thank you, deb appreciate that. I would simply say in response,
Congress controls the money. There's only so much a president
can do. Part of the challenge here is Congress has
to come alongside and ratify by making law some of
these executive orders. Let's fit one more caller here before

(01:14:53):
the break. Let's go to Chris. Chris, you're up, Good
morning morning.

Speaker 16 (01:14:58):
I would give him a solid B plus.

Speaker 1 (01:15:00):
Okay.

Speaker 16 (01:15:01):
Possibly the reason I say that is I think he's
doing a good job. I think he's got some cabinet
picks that are lagging. I'm not real thrilled with Pam BONDI.
You were talking yesterday about the Epstein files, and she
said they're on her desk. I see. I saw where
there were photo ops where people were holding binders of
these things. Ano they're gone. I don't know what happened.

Speaker 1 (01:15:23):
That's why we're asking questions.

Speaker 4 (01:15:25):
Yeah, right, lawfair.

Speaker 16 (01:15:26):
And what's really killing him is just like I don't
understand why he can't ever get to be president. The
constant law fair. And then you've got a knit which
like Judge Napolitano saying things like he's declared the jihad
on the judiciary. And I don't know if you've ever
read any of Napolitano's past words, but he used to
be quite a proponent of freedom in the American way,

(01:15:47):
and all of a sudden he has this hard case
of Trump arrangement syndrome, and it's just disgusting.

Speaker 1 (01:15:54):
Chris, thank you, fair comments. I appreciate the phone call.
We have one very simple question, what grade do you
give Trump? He is really underwatering the quote approval ratings
in fact historically so. But I maintain that a lot
of the people that fill out those polls and take
the time are people sitting old, old white people sitting

(01:16:16):
at home watching the cable news networks and and CBSNBC,
ABC because they won't pay for cable. Maybe that's the
that's their source. And and so if they're just sitting
there watching cable news, or if they're just sitting there
watching the legacy networks, all they're getting is ninety two
percent of the stories are negative. So that's their opinion.
I don't know, that's that's my thought on it. Cowboy Bob,

(01:16:37):
what greade do you give the president?

Speaker 17 (01:16:40):
I give Donald J. Trump a triple a plus. Okay,
He's doing an excellent job. And the reason you know
that is because every slimy Democrat is trying to slander
him or bad mouth him in some way. And so
that's the the gauge you can use.

Speaker 1 (01:17:04):
What is the one singular policy that you think he
has that resonates the most with you.

Speaker 17 (01:17:12):
Well, the border is the obvious one. But just the
fact that the Democrats would want to bring in criminals
to replace the American citizens, regardless of the danger to
your family, your children, your daughters, tells you everything you

(01:17:35):
need to know about them. And Trump is fighting that
as hard as you can. And I'm eighty one, he's
what eighty I mean, that's a tremendous load he's burdening.
And so he's working on the economy, the interest rates.
I mean, the guy is doing all the right stuff

(01:17:57):
and we need to support him. And I hope people,
I hope the Democrats, the voters will wake.

Speaker 1 (01:18:04):
The hell up, Bob, Thank you, I appreciate the call.
He's seventy eight, he'll be seventy nine and June fourteenth,
Flag Day, which by the way happens to be the
anniversary of the United States military, the Army, and he's
going to he's going to celebrate that. But people are
ripping him because it happens to be his birthday. Oh
he's touring his big parade to celebrate himself. No, he's

(01:18:26):
celebrating the military, Thank you very much. He does. I
do want to have a segment. Thanks for the phone calls, folks.
I want to have some segments devoted to America's birthday party.
We will in twenty twenty six be celebrating two hundred

(01:18:48):
and fifty years of America. I would love to get
your not today, we'll we'll do it soon, though. I
would love to get your ideas on what a celebration
of America in America looks like. Always fun listening to
what you have to share your thoughts on the various

(01:19:10):
things that we bring up on the radio program known
as Common Sense Amplified. This is the twelve Days of Preston.
If you're just joining us, we're not live. We are
on tape. So if you hear an inadvertent invitation to call, disregard.
We will be back shortly after the new year begins.

(01:19:31):
But this is the second hour now in the books,
and so we will be back with our number three.
More segments, more interviews, more fun on the Twelve Days
of Preston, which is actually December twenty third, here on
the Morning Show with Preston Scott. Welcome back to The

(01:20:03):
Morning Show with Preston Scott. This is the third and
final hour of this installment of the Twelve Days of
Preston the month of April, and back in April, I
had my good friend Ron Sacks of SAS Media on
the program to talk about something very very near and
dear to his heart. I want to circle into why
we're visiting this morning, and to do that, I think

(01:20:25):
it's important for us to learn about your daughter, Amy.
Tell us about her.

Speaker 15 (01:20:30):
Okay, Amy Nicole Sachs was my middle of three daughters.
She was the prematurer so she was thirty eight years
old in twenty twenty three, four foot ten, one hundred pounds,
A rabid journalist, baseball fan, and her greatest joy professionally
was covering the brave for MLB dot Com in the

(01:20:50):
press box with the bastion of men, mostly so she
knew more about baseball than almost any ten men put
together well. In May of twenty twenty three, Amy had
terrible neck pain and a few days later, after being
admitted to the hospital, had a small stroke. If there's
such a thing, there is who was recovering from it?
And several days later, on May twenty eighth, she had

(01:21:13):
a major stroke, a devastatingly powerful stroke that plunged her
into a condition called locked in syndrome. She was on
a ventilator. She would never be able to talk or
breathe on her own, or have any kind of movement
or normal life for this active young woman. And she
could think, she could feel emotion, but the only physical

(01:21:34):
action she had control over on her body were her eyes.
She could open and close her eyes, and when we
had them awaken her on May thirtieth, we gathered around
her and tell her what had happened to her, to
make sure she understood, and asked her, if you want
to live like this, we can do what people do
with machines and doctors and institutions, But if you don't

(01:21:57):
want to live like this, let me know by clothes
in her eyes, and she closed her eyes instantly, so
tight that her eye lids wrinkled. And then I said,
you know you've had it on your driver's license since
you were sixteen, that you want to be an organed downer.
If you're choosing to leave this life, do you want
to donate your organs to help other people live? And
she shut her eyes immediately again. So we spent the

(01:22:20):
entire ye of that day, May thirtieth telling her how
much we loved her, and this loving on her individually
and together my oldest daughter, Samantha, who has had her
little sister's side religiously from dawn till dark those whole
nearly two weeks so to Amy's last days on this earth.
We didn't know we were going to lose her, but

(01:22:41):
we're so proud of the brave decision she made and
impressed in a week before she died, Amy's laying in bed,
hooked up to an iv recovering from the first strope.
We're thinking she's making good progress with the physical therapist
and Samantha. Amy loved music, loved to sing turns on
her phone Michael Jackson song Man in the Mirror and

(01:23:02):
if you know it, it's a very inspiring song about
and Amy's rocking for forty seven seconds in bed on
an ivy lips thinking the song with just just crushing
some Phillips think. And that is a treasure to us.
Because after Amy passed, Gary Jorden, a good friend, Josh mclahorn,

(01:23:22):
Jay Revel, and Samantha turned it into a one minute
public service announcement to help spur people to register as
organ donors. And that's what April is. It's National Donate
Life Month. And many of your listeners may be organ donors,
but many of them are not. And it's a pretty painless,
free step to go to Donatelife Florida dot org register

(01:23:45):
to be an organ donor. You know this is not
all there is this life. It's wonderful, but when our
time here is through, how wonderful to deepen your own
legacy by leading the gift of love and life to
others by organ donation. Every day, five thousand Fords are
waiting for a transplant of some sort, and many of
them are not going to make it and have an

(01:24:05):
extended life. And yet Amy saved the lives of two
young men in their twenties and a young mom wife
in her early forties.

Speaker 1 (01:24:13):
The Morning Show with Preston Scott. You might not know it, friends,
but sixty percent of organ I tissue donors are authorized
by donor registration. This matters a lot. Joining me, the
founder of SAX Media, round Sachs and Ron. You were

(01:24:36):
sharing how Amy's passing led to life transformation for others,
Share a little bit more about that.

Speaker 15 (01:24:45):
Sure, well, you know, when you become a donor, you
really don't know where the organs are going, and neither
there's your family. But you're allowed to write a letter,
as call it a blind letter, without any details about
who you are or who the donor was, and through
Donate Life and its related organizations, these letters get to
the people who were recipients of organs. And my daughter

(01:25:09):
Samantha took the lead for our family and writing the
letters to find you know, hopefully just a reassurance to
the two young men and the young mom who received
Amy's organs and didn't get a response. And she's not
a patient person sometimes, so she wrote another letter, and
somehow the woman over in Mims, Florida, Chris Banni, who

(01:25:31):
got the second letter, figured out how to find us.
And the largest single thing that's helped our healing about
losing Amy is actually knowing one of the people who's
alive because of her and Chris. Amy did not just
save Chris's life with her liver, she saved Christy's family unit.
So two teenage boys instead of getting pre written cards

(01:25:53):
and letters their mom was preparing because she thought she
was going to pass. They're with her for Christmas and
birthdays and her and so it's been a huge part
of our He only Chris considers herself and we consider
her part of our family, and we're part of hers.
So this really impacts people. One person's skin can help

(01:26:13):
seventy five people's lives, and again it's kind of painless.
You can do this by going to Donatelifeflorida dot orgon
register and the more people who register, the more lives
are likely to be saved. And again this is not
all there is. These are just vehicles our bodies that
we're using this time around. And why not when you're
done with your pathway here, leave something in a gift

(01:26:35):
of love and life to others. That's what April is.
It's National Donate Life Month. And we hope that this
PSA that features Amy and there will be other PSAs
will go statewide where we launched a statewide organ donor
registration campaign a couple of weeks ago, and there's never
been anything like it in Florida, the third largest state.
We hope it's going to be kind of a bell

(01:26:56):
weather that could be replicated in other states because the
more of us a register, the more likely it is
that many lives will be saved.

Speaker 1 (01:27:03):
We're talking about some realities that are amazing and positive
and some that are a little negative. And one run
that I want you to speak to is that in Florida,
registrations are below where they need to be.

Speaker 15 (01:27:16):
Tell us more well, and in some of the big,
large population urban areas. So that's the case too.

Speaker 19 (01:27:23):
That's why this.

Speaker 15 (01:27:23):
Campaign is intended to have people open up their hearts
and open up their minds to this doesn't cost you anything.
It's free to register to be an organ downer that
you know. The Donate Like Florida website has so much information,
a treasure drove of information. Frequently ask questions. Almost any
pushback someone might have or reservations about being an organ
donor can be addressed by these questions that are somewhat common.

(01:27:48):
And this campaign is intended to motivate people to register.
You know, you can register at tax collector's office when
you're renewing a license tag or driver's license. But people
don't do that so frequently, right, So donate life Florida.
Dot Org's website is a place you can register sitting
in your jammi's at the kitchen, countership and coffee, right,

(01:28:09):
and then you're on the registry. And then whether you
are a short term on a path to leave us
as Amy was and we didn't know that, or you've
been sick for a long time and it's almost your
time to check out the registry, will know that when
notified and kick into action and live will be said.

Speaker 1 (01:28:28):
Run Sacks of SAX Media with us back in April
talking about his daughter and being an organ donor. We
cover a lot of ground on this program throughout the
course of a year and in April, boy, yeah, stick around.
Next on The Morning Show with Preston Scott, Welcome back

(01:29:05):
to the Twelve Days of Preston. I'm Preston Scott. This
is our kind of replacement, at least for the season
of the Morning Show with Preston Scott, with the Twelve
Days of Preston the month of April. Let's get to it.
A special guest here on the Morning Show with Preston Scott. Well,
they're all special, but just well you'll understand the man,

(01:29:26):
the myth, the legend. Peter Schweitzer himself.

Speaker 19 (01:29:28):
Hello, sir, Hey Preston, how you doing, my friend?

Speaker 1 (01:29:31):
Well, I'm doing well. I have wanted to have this
conversation since Doze got busy, because Peter, anyone who follows
the work you've done for all these many years with
all the best sellers, know you saw this coming, right,
You saw what Doze's uncovering, and the waste and the

(01:29:52):
fraud and maybe even the corruption that we're going to
learn about.

Speaker 19 (01:29:57):
Yeah. I mean what I like in the to Preston is,
you know, you go into a dark room and you're
trying to find something and you're feeling your way around,
and you know it's there, right, you can you lift
it up?

Speaker 17 (01:30:10):
You know?

Speaker 19 (01:30:10):
Okay, the weight is right, Yes, it feels exactly right.
You know what's going on with Dosh is basically done
is turn on the light and expose it in a
way that that we or no outsider really could because
you know they have the ability they you know, ultimately
would have subpoena power to say, you know, give us
access to all your records. So yeah, it's it's tremendously encouraging.

(01:30:33):
The resistance that you're seeing is certainly not unexpected because
you're talking about this sort of vast uh maybe call
it underground economy where you see you know, billions of
dollars slashing around, not just for you know, some scam
artists who's trying to get some Social Security money, but
you know for very connected people politically who have figured

(01:30:57):
out a way to take for example, government brand to
nonprofit and turned it into huge profit centers for themselves
and their family members personally.

Speaker 1 (01:31:07):
What book started this journey for you?

Speaker 19 (01:31:12):
Uh, it was a book I wrote called throw them
All Out.

Speaker 3 (01:31:14):
The level title right, and throw them All.

Speaker 19 (01:31:17):
Out really looked at looked at two things. It looked
at insider trading on the stock market by members of
Congress and and uh you know, executive branch officials.

Speaker 7 (01:31:29):
Uh.

Speaker 19 (01:31:29):
And the second thing it looked at is uh, government
grants and the shifts in legislation to you know, to
benefit people. So that was kind of the beginning, and
that really gave me a sense of how you know,
when you look at a nonprofit organization, you think, okay, well,
it's a nonprofit. You know, Yeah, they got to pay
their people's salaries. But it's not like people are building

(01:31:52):
up a business. But then when you realize how you
can structure it, you know, you get let's say you
set up a nonprofit business, uh for you know, green Banking,
for example, which is what Stacy Abrams did, and you
get the federal government to transfer you two billion dollars.
You know, Okay, you can't pay yourself an outrageous salary

(01:32:12):
because you'll be called out for But here's what you
can do, Preston. You can set up a series of LLCs,
limited liability companies, and you can have the nonprofit hire
those LLCs to handle marketing, to handle communications, to handle fundraising,
and so in effect, you have set up a series
of businesses and you're using government grants to pay yourself

(01:32:35):
or your family members. And that's really what you're seeing
with a lot of these quote unquote nonprofits. They're enormously profitable.
You look at USAID, the US Agency for International Development.
We found this in Clinton Cash, the book I wrote
in twenty fifteen. There was a study done that said

(01:32:55):
half the money that USAID spent on grants to help
the people of Haiti after the earthquake. You know, we're
supposed to see them, clothe them. More than half the
money never left Washington d C. It went to consultants,
that went to advisors, that went to all these very
comfortable people that were getting paid big salaries and you know,

(01:33:17):
big consulting fees to quote unquote advised on how you
were supposed to see the people of Haiti. So I
think what's going on with Jos is great. I think
there is more to come. We're going to see more squealing,
but that's okay because we got to bring this stuff
to light.

Speaker 1 (01:33:33):
Peter I saved the post by Lara Logan where she
connects some dots reporting of Michael Schellenberger and you mentioned
USAID and that there's even a money trail and connection
between USA, I, D and the CIA, and that it
was behind the first impeachment trial of Trump. And it

(01:33:54):
goes on and on, and there's a suggestion here that
there needs to be an investigation of criminal charges against
people involved in all of that connecting back to this
money being exposed. Would it surprise you for us to
see criminal referrals?

Speaker 19 (01:34:10):
I think there absolutely should be criminal referrals and I
hope they act on them. And here's why, Preston. I mean,
the problem is, as we all know, money is fungible.

Speaker 7 (01:34:19):
Right.

Speaker 19 (01:34:20):
You have a seventeen eighteen year old kid and they say, oh,
you know, can I borrow fifty bucks? And you give
them fifty bucks. Well, they could use that for just
about anything, for something good or for something bad, for
the intended purpose, or for what they really want to do.
And the problem with these government grants is nobody's really
minding the store. And so it should not be surprising that,

(01:34:44):
you know, money is flowing to an entity that says
they're going to use it for one thing, they you know,
shift it through a couple of LLCs or a couple
of other nonprofits and it comes out the other end
doing something else. And the problem is there are I'm
legitimate I would say it's pretty limited, but some pretty
legitimate things that government grants can go to. The only way,

(01:35:08):
the only way Press and you are going to deter
people from manipulating the system is that people that have
manipulated engaged in illegal activity, of which this would be
go to jail and face the penalty. See only to
turn if we know one thing about Washington DC. I
don't care if you're a Democrat, Republican, independent, communist. You
know that in Washington.

Speaker 1 (01:35:29):
D C.

Speaker 19 (01:35:30):
If you allow people to get away with something that's
going to enrich themselves or advance their agenda and they
don't pay any consequences for breaking the law, everybody's going
to start doing it. So that's why you've got to
put your foot down and deal.

Speaker 3 (01:35:43):
With this or it's just going to get worse.

Speaker 19 (01:35:45):
It's not going to get better.

Speaker 1 (01:35:46):
Let me read a tail end of her post here,
because it references you and the work you've done, Muscot.
It connects the dots into the Clinton Foundation receiving USAID funds,
Clinton roll of sale of uranium stockpiles to the Russians,
US tech companies, partnerships with Russia, setting up Moscow's version
of Silicon Valley, and then all the FBI investigations into

(01:36:08):
Clinton never came to fruit, despite a mountain of evidence
documented by Peter Schweitzer the Government Accountability Institute in his
book Clinton Cash and It goes on to say Special
Counsel Durham and his findings found the Deputy FBI Director
McCabe restricted the FBI investigations in their Hillary Clinton. Will
we ever see that reopen?

Speaker 9 (01:36:28):
Peter, Well, I hope so.

Speaker 19 (01:36:30):
I mean, look, you've got you've got cash btelled FBI,
You've got an Attorney general and Pam Bondi that you
would think would not have political reasons for not doing so.
And look, it's a similar thing with with with the
Biden family. I mean, you know, people say, oh, you know,
let you know, Biden's not in office anymore. Of the
Clints are long gone. Let bygones be got bygones. The

(01:36:52):
problem is, again, if you allow people to engage in
this and get away with it, it's going to be imitated.
So we need to be doing this not because we
need to quote unquote get the Biden's or get the Clintons,
but because we have to ensure that this abuse is
not going to continue. And the only way you're going
to get that is by taking it seriously as a

(01:37:14):
criminal matter. And I think certainly in the case of
the Clintons, there's questions probably about some of the deals
in statute the limitations, But on the other hands, there's
some that there's no question they should there should be
criminal referrals, and they should be looking at ways in
which you know potential prosecutions could take forward. I'm not

(01:37:36):
a lawyer, but you know, don't let the excuse be oh, well,
they're out of office, it's no big deal. That is
just not going to cut it. And I don't think
is healthy for our country China.

Speaker 1 (01:37:46):
We're seeing this back and forth on tariffs. We know
that Biden's compromise with China, but he's kind of sort
of out of the way. In your mind, is China
have any cards to play in all of this or
as many suspect, really the card you're in the US hands.

Speaker 19 (01:38:01):
Yeah, the cards in the US hands. And I think
if you look at many of the things that Trump
is doing, they are geared precisely around dealing with the
China threat and the China challenge. I mean, look at
the Ukraine Russia War. What's happened with Ukraine Russia War,
in addition to the human tragedy, is it has pushed

(01:38:22):
Russia into the camp with China and made them much
closer than they have been really historically since the times
of the time of Stalin. By trying to unwind the
Russia Ukraine War, he is trying to pull Russia away
from China to further isolate China. If you look at
what's happening with the tariffs, the tariffs on Mexico and

(01:38:45):
on China and Canada, a lot of it relates to
the fentanyl trade. And as I laid out in my
book Blood Money, the Chinese control every link in the
chain to the fentanyl poisoning that's happening in America. One
hundred thousand people are dying every year. It's the leading
cause of death for people under.

Speaker 3 (01:39:01):
The age of forty five.

Speaker 19 (01:39:03):
And it's not a drug addiction in the way we
think of it. The people that are dying of Sentinel
overdoses don't even know they're taking Sentinel. It's a kid
who is studying for a test in college and takes
what he thinks is an adderall and it's the laced
with Sentinel. So it's a form of warfare that China
is engaging against the United States. So what Trump is

(01:39:25):
doing with tariffs, and yes it is a little bit chaotic,
but what Trump is doing with tariffs is really isolating China.
He's telling other countries come and make a deal with us,
and we are going to deal with China. Last and
this is what China fears the most.

Speaker 1 (01:39:42):
Peter Schweizer, best selling author, head of the Government Accountability Institute,
and our guest got to make way for the news,
which is next. It's the Twelve Days of Preston on
the Morning Show with Preston Scott. Welcome back, final half

(01:40:11):
hour of show number four in the Twelve Days of Preston.
So we're a third of the way through. Skip the math.
It's Christmas time. We don't need that. And yeah, just
a couple of days away, right December twenty third. Anyway, Tuesday,
here on the radio program, we are looking back at
the year twenty twenty five, and we're doing it in

(01:40:33):
chronological order, jumping in the wayback machine, opening up the vault,
listening to interviews I selected for this segment, a really
important segment with Lee Williams. Lee's known as the gun Writer.
You can find his work at the gun Writer dot
substack dot com. The gun Writer as in writing columns

(01:40:57):
The gun Writer dot substack dot com. He's been following
the story of Patrick Tate, a domiac, and he's been
updating us throughout. And this is where we stood in
April of twenty twenty five, I want you to describe
who Jeffrey Bodell is with ATF and then share the

(01:41:17):
story of Tate.

Speaker 4 (01:41:20):
Oh boy, it's a little early for this. Yep, jeff
Bodell is what they call a well I don't think
I'll use those words on your radio show.

Speaker 1 (01:41:32):
Thank you.

Speaker 4 (01:41:34):
He is a Firearms Enforcement Officer FEO. He works for
the ATF. He's non sworn, he's not armed. He's a specialist.
And unfortunately for Patrick Tate adamiak and we've written more
than a dozen stories about him right now, this kid

(01:41:57):
made up a bunch of life eyes about the guns
founded Patrick's home, and unfortunately the jury believed him and
Patrick's not doing twenty years. Jeff Brodell was a failed gunsmith.
He went to the small gunsmithing Academy in Pittsburgh, tried

(01:42:19):
it on his own, tried it working for a couple
of places, couldn't make a dollar, so he joined the ATF.
It's terrible how they used this guy. He supposedly has
a Bachelor of Criminals Criminal Justice. I haven't been able
to get anything out of school to confirm that. He'
supposedly graduating from the Pennsylvania Gunsmith's School. Had been able

(01:42:40):
to get anything out of that school to confirm that.
But man, you talk about a devastating guy. What he
did is he took all of this stuff, the legal
stuff they found at Patrick's home, and he turned it illegal.
And Patrick, who's now thirty one, has another seventeen years
to go in prison. Now. Patrick was East six in

(01:43:04):
the Navy where he had a private gun site, a
website where he sold gun parts, not guns. Always very careful.
When they kicked down his door and went through all
his stuff, they didn't find anything illegal, which is why
they called it the Odell character because he made quick Frankly, I.

Speaker 1 (01:43:25):
Was gonna say, when you say he turned it illegal,
we're not talking about in essence of euphemism, for he
just adequately described what the real sinister nature was. You mean,
he literally turned some of these things into illegal weapons firearms,

(01:43:45):
I should say.

Speaker 14 (01:43:46):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:43:47):
The worst thing for me were the RPGs, the rock
and propelled grenade launchis. Patrick had bought two of these
when he was nineteen in California, and he later flew
back to the East Coast with them in his luggage,
all taken apart atf or NSA, never even opened to
his suitcase when they saw him. RPGs are rocket propellal

(01:44:09):
aid lonsers, Patrick said, two of them, which were both
made to shoot, not to shoot. I mean, they're both
made in this country. They didn't have any cyrillic letters
or anything on their training aids. ATF took a sub
caliber training device which looks like the warhead, but it
is not. It's a gun. It fires at seven to

(01:44:30):
sixty by thirty nine millimeters round. They put it on
each gun I'm sorry, on each RPG and pulled the
trigger and then fired one round. This thing will fire
around whether or not it's in a tube in an
RPG regardless. I mean, it's just incredible the lengths they
went through to convict this guy. I mean, Patrick knew

(01:44:50):
these RPGs were were one hundred percent legal. I mean,
people go over to his home and pose with them
in photos that they put online. If you want one
right now, you can buy them online. They're about one
hundred and ten to three hundred and fifty dollars, the
same thing he's in prison for. I just don't get it.

Speaker 1 (01:45:14):
To buttress what Lee Williams was just saying about, because
some of you are like really an RPG. Just pop
the question up in any AI answering service that's out there.
For example, if you google this, is it legal to
buy a RPG? Yes, in the United States, it is
legal to own a deactivated RPG, and it tells you

(01:45:38):
the guidelines and then you can look and you will
find them on sale all over the place. Lee, how
is it possible that a judge even allowed this conviction
and this type of evidence to be entered into the
court case.

Speaker 4 (01:45:55):
Well, Boddell is the one who's responsible for that. This
was the first time he'd ever testified ever. He'd been
with ATF for about two years, and he just laid
it on so thick. And the judge turns out, was
pretty anti gun, and the jury unfortunately went along with them.

(01:46:16):
They're talking about air guns as if they're During the trial,
they were talking about airguns as if they were real rifles.
I mean, if you look at what this guy did,
he took a toy Sten, which you can buy it's
a submachine gun. The one he had was a toy
and he made it fire a couple of rounds by
using a real Sten barrel and a real stand receiver
got it to fire one round up it's a submachine gun.

(01:46:39):
I mean, this was absolutely crazy. The crap that this
guy did. They wanted, they wanted to put Patrick in prison,
and that's what they did, and you know, Bodell was
just a way to do it. I mean, it's crazy.
I spoke to a former at officer, a senior ATF officer,

(01:47:02):
he's in the story, mister O'Kelly, and he just went
off on what they were allowing, because you know, a
court should be all about the truth and quite frankly,
everything that they charged this guy with. He had flats,
which are flat pieces of metal that are cut out

(01:47:25):
and they take a lot of work to make them
into a firearm. He had nine hundred and seventy seven
of them, and thank god mister Kelly was able to
get them the judge to see that, hey, they're just
flat pieces of metal, they're not machine guns as they
were charged. Otherwise Patrick would be in prison for thirty
years as opposed to twenty. I mean, the excesses the

(01:47:45):
craft that went on during this trial is legendary. I've
been through every firearm that he supposedly owned, and not
one of them is illegal. Man, and he's doing twenty years.

Speaker 1 (01:48:00):
What is the status of any appeal that's going on here.

Speaker 4 (01:48:06):
He has an attorney there filed, They filed appeals. You know,
appeals are very time consuming. It's like Patrick said the
other day when I spoke to him, it's like he
feels like he goes to court once a year or
once every six months on these appeals. It could happen.
I would prefer a pardon. I think he's more eligible

(01:48:29):
for a pardon. Keep in mind, this is a kid
who would if if he Tiff had left him alone
right now, he'd be leaving a seal platoon. He was
accepted as an officer as he was an E six
and they were going to make him an officer in
the Navy and send him to seal School where he
would have excelled and would have gotten his trident. But

(01:48:51):
he never got that opportunity, and that to me, I mean,
if you know anything about seal school or any kind
of special operations, the number of slots available for active
duty E sixes is not a lot, and he would have,
especially at the officer level, he would have done very well.

Speaker 1 (01:49:08):
Lee Williams, the gun writer, He has been faithfully reporting
on any and all developments, really taking the case to
the masses that the ATF should be abolished. You know,
maybe there's pen and pencil work that can be done,

(01:49:29):
but they have grossly. It has grossly overstepped its boundaries
and all but destroyed this young man's career, his life unfairly, unjustly,
and the President needs to act on this. If you
happen to be listening, have any poll. We've done everything

(01:49:51):
we know to do, but more needs to be done.
It's The Morning Show with Preston Scott. Welcome back to
the twelve Days of Preston. Let's get right to it.

(01:50:13):
One of the newest members of Florida's congressional delegation from
our own area, former CFO Jimmy Patronis. He is newly
minted US Congressman from Florida's first congressional district. Jimmy Patronis, Hello, Congressman,
how are.

Speaker 9 (01:50:30):
You, hey, buddy?

Speaker 7 (01:50:31):
Thanks for having me.

Speaker 1 (01:50:33):
Okay, let's start here. Was this ever on your radar
of something you wanted, you felt like you were to
do to run for Congress or was this just circumstances
led to it.

Speaker 7 (01:50:50):
Yeah, I never dreamed about being in Washington, DC a
living Really, I think I've finished my career in tell
h asty. But back in November of twenty four, you know,
Matt leaves the congressional seat to go be Attorney General,
and my phone started ringing And the next thing, you know,
President calls me in November, the day before my anniversary

(01:51:14):
and says, look, he says, if you'll run on doorshef
we want you in DC. And so I mean, one,
how can you say no? But but two, I mean,
my boys are going to get an experience because they're
still young enough to want to be under the roof
with us. They're going to get an experience on life
that they never would have ever been able to have
access to. So you know, it's uh. If the family

(01:51:36):
wasn't so supportive, I wouldn't be doing this. But this
is this is an opportunity to save our country at
the same time do something right for my kids.

Speaker 1 (01:51:45):
Congressman, I know that we will have the opportunity to
talk fairly frequently because I just know you to be
that type of person. You're going to make yourself available.
But for those that may not know what the demand
demands are, give us just a quick snapshot of what
your general broad schedule is not so much day to day,

(01:52:06):
but how much time up there, how much time back
in district and back and forth.

Speaker 7 (01:52:11):
So we are in d C at a minimum of
three weeks of every month. So like this week, the
plan was, I got I got out of home early
Monday morning, got up here. We start with meetings and briefings.

(01:52:32):
Yesterday was was really one of my first committee meetings
since I've been up here. And then and then last time.
You got to think about everybody, similar to talent as
during the legislaation, everybody wants to come to d C.
Their issues are important to them. So it's a lot
of folks that come from all over the country, and
we like in my case and as other number two,

(01:52:53):
we prioritize those folks that come from the district. When
you come from the district in my case, and you
come from from the state of Florida for that matter,
because I've got a lot of a lot of people
that I love. You know, we're we're going to move
heaven and earth to sit down and hear what your
concerns are. I got to bed last night about midnight.
I'll wrap up sometime Thursday afternoon evening, and then I'm

(01:53:18):
going to be in Fort Walton on Friday morning at
seven am for Walton Chamber Breakfast, make the rounds, visit
with people, and and just continue to hear what's important
to them. As we're debating the big beautiful bill, as
as Congress is in session, we need to hear input
from from our constituents.

Speaker 1 (01:53:38):
What specifically do you want to hear from them about?

Speaker 7 (01:53:42):
You know, I think you know, we I don't want
to stir the pot too much. I know there was
a story that popped on Politico last night. As we're
trying to bring some of this stuff in for a landing,
there was a there was potently of things that could
be interpreted as a tax, and so a number of

(01:54:04):
us started really digging in our heels, you know, because
we didn't we didn't go to Congress to do things
like that, and so you start to work those issues.
And even though in this case, the members did our
job as we started engaging the process, but it's just
a matter of time before we would have heard about

(01:54:25):
it from our constituents as stories start breaking about potential
ways to try to fill you know, budget needs. I mean,
and here's kind of at the challenge the President wants
no tax on tests, no tax on social Security, no
tax on overtime, and all those costs. Something the Congress,
especially the House of Representatives, we want one point five
trillion dollars in new cuts. So those issues end up

(01:54:51):
draining reserves and draining dollars that we're having. So, I mean,
it's about bringing this thing in for a landing. And
Trump has got everything he's negotiating globally with with tariffs
and other ways to try to onboard cash to our country.
So it's uh, it's a full day.

Speaker 1 (01:55:12):
What is the best thing that you've experienced in terms
of that surprised you in a good way? And what's
been the worst?

Speaker 19 (01:55:22):
You know, I think the.

Speaker 7 (01:55:23):
Best thing was just being an all. I get to
walk to work. Okay, so my wife found me a
basement apartment and I get to walk to work. As
soon as I step out in front of my place
i'm living, Uh, the United States Capital hits me in
the face, and uh, it just you know, it's it's
an all. I mean, it's the single greatest capital in

(01:55:44):
the world and we've got to work to keep it
that way. So that's the best thing. But you know,
probably the worst thing is how how nasty, Uh, some
of the partisanship can be. You know, I've been the
Western business for thirty years. Everybody's a customer, you know.
I'm always a big believer in taking care of the customer.

(01:56:06):
I Mean, there's some some just people that are just
just damn right disagreeable, you know, and and the hateful
things that they say, and the and the things that
they do. You know, it's just you know, everybody needs
to just used to go take a reality check. People
did send us up here to be nasty, okay, And
so that's that's something that will will you know, hopefully

(01:56:30):
change at some point. For right now, it is the
status quo.

Speaker 1 (01:56:34):
Is it too soon for you to render a verdict
on whether or not the Republicans in the House and
the Senate will get the job done and deliver some
of the things that President Trump is done by executive
order and codify those into law.

Speaker 7 (01:56:52):
Yeah, I don't think. I don't think we have a choice. So,
you know, a lot of people say, why aren't you
codifying the executive orders? Here's the deal. There is so
much bandwidth being spent on the financial side of things
right now, and if there was any problems that Congress
had because we have both chambers, if there was any
problems that Congress had on what the President was doing,

(01:57:15):
we would go and convenient working with specific issues. Okay,
but right now, President's doing what he's doing. We like
what he's doing. President, continue to do what you're doing.
We're going to focus on bringing in your campaign promises
every single day when we meet those campaign issues, those
things that he campaigned on, as we had a breakfast

(01:57:36):
meeting yesterday, is reinforced to the members. So again those
are well and strong, and there's a lot of communications.
The Speaker talks to the President multiple times a day,
so we're all on the same page. And I feel
like all those issues will get brought in for landing
and due time because we do have the debt ceiling
and continue resolution that it's got to take the priority.

Speaker 1 (01:58:00):
When you say all on the same page, we you know,
we read about some infighting some things between the House
Speaker and Representative Else Stefanic of New York, who may
be a candidate for governor. I mean, I don't I
don't want to hear names or anything, but I'm just
curious how much division exists in the party.

Speaker 7 (01:58:21):
Now look, here's the deal with the lease. Elise is
an amazing member of Congress, but she's also somewhat of
a unicorn. That particular seat in New York it is
it is a it is a Republican seat. Is it
a strong Republican seat? No, but Elise can win that
seat all day long. Okay, So we have got some

(01:58:45):
issues that we've got to get across. The finish one
right now, the Save Act that that that creates voter integrity.
The only reason why it passed is because Randy Fine
and I got elected. That's how tight the margins right here.
So the plan was that the lease was going to lease.
When rain Dy Fine and I got to Congress. Well,
we can't afford for her to leave. And plus, you know,

(01:59:05):
you've got a Democratic governor who is not our friend
in New York State. So she's gonna do everything possible
to flip that seat to allow the Democrats to create
chaos in Congress and derail everything. That November was about.

Speaker 1 (01:59:17):
Florida Congressman Jimmy Patronas from Florida's first congressional district our
guest back in April, shortly after taking office. All Right, friends,
that's it for the month of April. Tomorrow the month
of May, on The Morning Show with Preston Scott in
the Twelve Days of Preston, have a blessed Day.