8/26/26 - The Dan O'Donnell Show

Matt Kittle fills in for Dan O'Donnell

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Just a little bit later this hour, bureaucracy is choking
our schools. I think that is pretty clear. And the
question is, why are so many of our schools failing
America's children? Let us count the ways. But the growth
of the education industrial complex is a big reason for that.

(00:21):
There's some legislation that's going to go after the industrial,
the education industrial complex. We're going to talk more about
that coming up in just a bit with Dan West,
Heritage Actions Government Relations Director for the House. There's an
interesting new bill, as I noted, less bureaucracy, better education.

(00:42):
It's a legislative package. We'll go over that coming up
in a bit. Here's a U.S. citizen we should deport.
In fact, maybe we'll go over the list coming up
a little bit later in the show. In the 4
o'clock hour, yes, the Trump endorsement is gold again, and

(01:02):
it brings a very nice lady, a victory in South
Carolina's Senate runoff. That very nice lady quote is not
as nice as you might think it is. We're going
to talk about the problem with.
Folks who are, well, as one person put it, gravely

(01:25):
unprepared for the job. And then, a little bit later,
it is time to start school. My kids started back
this week. I believe Jason, they're starting back. Everybody is
kind of dealing with the same thing. Yours starts Monday? Okay.

(01:46):
So here, let me give you a little update, Dave,
on what's going to happen. You're going to all excited.
The kids are going to get back into school. And
then two, three days later, they're going to bring something
disgusting home. It's going to be some kind of virus
that will be unidentifiable. It'll involve a sore throat and
a headache, perhaps some chills, a fever. And then hopefully

(02:11):
it goes away as it has in the past. Because
let's face it, we send them out there to schools.
They all get together, congregate in the same place. And
here we have an incubator of disease. That's what our
youngest is experiencing today as she begins her high school career.
But pace yourself. There's much more disease to come. Oh,

(02:35):
my goodness. First Dolly. Now Tim. Who's next? Did you
see this story today? Very, very sad. I like this guy.
He was kind of on the weird side. But Tim Curry,
who shot to stardom in his signature role as Dr. Frankenfurter,

(02:56):
the corset-wearing, sweet transvestite from transsexual Transylvania. Maybe they started
it all there on the 1975 cult classic, The Rocky
Horror Picture Show. Tim Curry has died at the age
of 80, passed away at his home in L.A. 's
Toluca Lake neighborhood, I believe, last night or early this morning.

(03:19):
His death was confirmed by longtime manager and friend Marcia Hurwitz,
who said the actor passed away peacefully but did not
provide a cause of death. This guy was in a
lot of movies. Are you a Tim Curry fan, Dave Michaels,
or just a passing fan of interest?

Speaker 3 (03:37):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (03:38):
Oh, that was awesome. I would say that might have
been his greatest movie, although he did rub shoulders with
a future president in one of his movies. Do you
remember that? Of course. Home Alone 2. Donald Trump tells
Kevin McAllister which way to go. Have you ever seen the...

(04:01):
This was a viral video several years ago. It had Trump.
In that scene, telling McAllister which way is whatever. And
then they have Joe Biden in the scene as well.
And Kevin comes up and Joe sniffs him and then farts. Well,
it's not true, but it is funny. It is funny. Yeah,

(04:26):
he played Pennywise. Scary, scary stuff. He played a lot
of villains. He kind of played an anti-hero, that's for sure,
as Dr. Frankenfurter. And I remember, of course, he wasn't there,
but the Oriental. A student, an undergrad student at the
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Where did we go? Saturday night before Halloween.

(04:48):
You better believe it, down to the Oriental. Yeah, people
brought their props to toss around and all those sorts
of things. I may have... Now, I can't... confirm this
because i don't quite remember it i may have been
inebriated that night just saying i did and then late

(05:09):
late late of course we went to oakland avenue euros
the best at least at the time and i know
it is and i gotta get me back there one
of these days but the best uh chicken shish kebab
fry platter in town hands down so we uh We
pass along our condolences to Tim Curry's family. And then

(05:30):
of course, yesterday we find out, oh my goodness, Dolly Parton.
And I know the nation is still reeling. She really
is perhaps the last universally beloved celebrity. And let's deal
with the elephant in the room here, shall we? Yes,
throughout her career, she has done so much and she's

(05:52):
done so much for so many people. And, of course,
one of the all-time greats, the queen of country. The movies,
all of the movies, 9 to 5. Best Little Whorehouse
in Texas. That might have been overlooked in the bibliophile,
the cinemaphile. But there's something about Dolly that kept coming

(06:17):
up over and over again, of course. And no pun
intended when I say up. Listen to this. This tells
you that we are no longer in 1977. It was
a different time. This is one of my favorite clips
on the Johnny Carson show. Those of us old enough
to remember Carson used to be the It show late night.

(06:41):
Johnny Carson, Dolly Parton talking about the It factor for
Dolly Parton. Yeah, go ahead there. Have you always been
rather exotic?

Speaker 3 (06:53):
What would they call that where you grew up in Tennessee?

Speaker 1 (06:57):
I can't say.

Speaker 2 (06:59):
Healthy? Healthy, I guess.

Speaker 1 (07:01):
Bosomy.

Speaker 2 (07:02):
Bosomy?

Speaker 3 (07:03):
Yeah, I guess that would be what they'd say. But
what did you ask me just before that?

Speaker 2 (07:10):
Oh.

Speaker 1 (07:12):
Well, yeah.

Speaker 3 (07:13):
I've always been pretty well-blessed. People are always asking if
they're real.

Speaker 4 (07:17):
Oh, I would never.

Speaker 5 (07:17):
I would never, you see.

Speaker 1 (07:19):
No, you don't have to ask.

Speaker 5 (07:20):
I would not.

Speaker 3 (07:21):
I'll tell you what.

Speaker 1 (07:22):
I have certain guidelines on this.

Speaker 5 (07:25):
But I would give about a year's pay to peek
under there.

Speaker 1 (07:30):
That's what I'm telling you. I don't know if you
could get away with that. Johnny's saying he would give
a year's worth of salary to get a peek under
the blouse of Dolly Parton. But she confirmed Yeah, these
are mine. These are real. And now before you get
all out of sorts with this, here's Dolly, maybe one
of the best jokes ever told on The Tonight Show

(07:53):
with Jimmy Fallon. She tells this story about her, how
do we phrase this? Her lovelies. There we go.

Speaker 3 (08:06):
Can I tell you a story? Once when I took
them up there, we were in the restaurant, and this
old man came over to our table. And he sat
down and he was just talking to us and we
were all laughing. We didn't know him. And so he finally,
he left and we finished. So I went up to
pay the bill and the man said, well, your grandpa
left his bill here too. I said, my grandpa? So

(08:26):
that old man had come over and kind of scammed us.
And so I said, well, that was not my grandpa,
but I paid it, of course. So when we left,
I walked down the street and he was standing there
at the light. And, you know, we walked to the corner.
I went over to him. I said, hey, I would
have been happy, you know, to have paid your Your bill.
Then you tell him you're my grandpa. And he took
his walking stick and he started just beating me across

(08:50):
the chest. I mean, just as hard.

Speaker 5 (08:51):
As he could.

Speaker 2 (08:52):
Wham, wham, wham, wham.

Speaker 3 (08:53):
And it hurt.

Speaker 1 (08:55):
Oh, my gosh. I know. But then what happened?

Speaker 3 (08:59):
What do you mean what happened? These two big lumps
came up and they never.

Speaker 2 (09:03):
Did go down.

Speaker 1 (09:07):
Yes, Dolly was well endowed. she was also well endowed
with a great spirit and she will be missed. Gosh, uh,
you think about, uh, so many times the iconic Dolly
Parton in our lives and certainly for my whole life
as a 50 something year old. And, and again, like Johnny, um,

(09:29):
Dolly helped me through some of my formative years and
I'll just leave it at that. Uh, Dave reminds me,
oh my gosh, this, this shakes me to the core because, um, Well,
I've talked about it on this show before. I was
there at the last show, Alpine Valley, the last show
that Stevie Ray Vaughan ever played. I can't believe it's

(09:52):
36 years ago. It was 1990, August 26th, obviously. I
remember it was a beautiful, beautiful night at Alpine Valley.
Eric Clapton, of course, was the headliner, but Stevie Ray
Vaughan stole the show. Clapton will tell you that. They
also had a guy there by the name of Jeff Healy.

(10:14):
He was a blind guitarist. He's passed away since as well.
But I remember Jeff Healy playing at that show and
he was sitting down playing the slide rail guitar and
he would edge ever closer to the stage, to the
end of the stage. And the crowd was like a
wave out in Alpine Valley. And we were like, no,

(10:34):
he's really going down. on While My Guitar Gently Weeps,
just an awesome version of that classic George Harrison Beatles song.
But he was so into it, he kept almost falling
off the stage, which would have been, sure, certain death.

(10:55):
But I do remember the day, definitely. I didn't find
out about it until the following morning. All of a sudden,
I wake up, I'm listening to the radio, and Stevie
Ray Vaughan is dead at He was in his 30s.
Helicopter crash following a show in Alpine Valley, the fog,
all of that sort of thing. Stevie and members of

(11:17):
Clapton's crew, I believe. God, just that was right before
we started school my senior year. Amazing, amazing, amazing. It's
amazing what people have done in the name of Dolly
Parton of late. Yes, the left cannot help themselves. We'll
talk about that a little bit later. But now, coming

(11:39):
up in just a bit, let's delve into one of
the biggest reasons why so many schools are failing our children. That,
straight ahead, on this Wednesday edition of the Dan O'Donnell Show.
What's on your mind? Anything at all? Carpetland USA Flooring
Center Talk and Text Line. It's just that easy. Here

(12:00):
is a question for you that we'll delve into in
a bit. Are there U.S. citizens you would like to
see deported? I want names. I know some people. Perhaps
we'll get some things done. No, I'm just thinking about
this with a story. Well, we'll delve into that coming up.
Just really, really awful people that should, you know, how

(12:23):
they used to do in Australia. The United Kingdom years ago,
they used to use that as a penal colony. Georgia,
the state of Georgia was the same thing. Maybe that's
what we need to do. But we'll talk about that
coming up in just a bit. Bureaucracy is choking our schools.
Why are so many of our schools failing America's children?

(12:47):
Let us count the waves. The growth of the education
industrial complex is a big reason. The new education reform
package could go a long way in fighting the Leviathan.
Dan West, Heritage Actions Government Relations Director for the House,
joins us to discuss the Less Bureaucracy, Better Education legislative

(13:08):
package moving its way through Congress. The package consists of
10 bills which aims to transfer statutory authorities from the
Department of Education to agencies better equipped to administer them.
And that seems to me, knowing the Department of Education,
just about any agency out there. It does so all

(13:30):
while maintaining continuity for students. Dan, thank you so much
for joining us on the Dan O'Donnell Show with yours truly,
Matt Kittle.

Speaker 6 (13:38):
Thank you, Matt.

Speaker 1 (13:41):
This is interesting because early on in this administration, President
Trump said, uh, we've, we've had it with the department
of education. It's something that a lot of Republicans had
talked about for a long time, shutting it down because
it's just this massive bureaucracy that continues to tell. And

(14:02):
then in some cases force local school districts to do
whatever they want them to do and whatever they want, uh,
whatever DOE wants the school district to do oftentimes is
not in the best interest of our children. What would
this package ultimately do, and why are there so many
bills involved in it?

Speaker 4 (14:22):
Yeah, this bill would ultimately bring forth something that Republicans
have said they would do for decades. And under this administration,
actually making the moves to actually make good on that promise.
I find it interesting that Secretary McMahon, the Secretary of Education,
she actually is very proud to say that she hopes

(14:44):
to be the last Secretary of Education. But this package
of bills from the House Education and Workforce Committee is
a really commendable effort to codify the 10 interagency agreements
that have already been implemented administratively, but now Congress can

(15:05):
actually make them law and actually make education better by
actually throwing out a lot of the bureaucracy.

Speaker 1 (15:15):
That's a good point. The president did just that, like
I said, in executive order, and he called upon agencies
to work together, agencies better suited to deliver different components
of the federal's involvement in education, which should be limited
at best. How is that working so far? Because what

(15:36):
this bill would do, as you just noted, would codify
what the president has done, but we all know a
new president comes into town and That's all gone, and
the Department of Education is back bigger and worse than ever. Exactly.

Speaker 4 (15:52):
So what's going on now is that under an interagency agreement,
that's kind.

Speaker 2 (15:59):
Of an HHS, part of the agency at the.

Speaker 4 (16:03):
Department of Education is doing the work, but it's sharing
its work with a partner agency. So, for example, Workforce Development,
The Department of Education is sharing that with the Department
of Labor. Under these different bills, it would finally go
all the way. So that when the board is trying

(16:27):
to proof concepts now with highly operational, even better suited operations,
they could finally move that fully over to that partner
agency which then would allow for the president or to

(16:48):
close down what otherwise would be kind of a non-functioning office.
So it would kind of make that move permanent.

Speaker 1 (16:59):
Dan West, Heritage Actions Government Relations Director for the House,
joining us now to discuss a package of bills. It's
called the Less bureaucracy, better education legislative package. You know, Congress,
they might not do a whole lot, but they can
come up with some awesome names, some names that really

(17:20):
feel good. Is this more than just a feel-good name?
I say that, Dan, because, you know, we have some
very devoted House conservatives ready to take this on and
to pass this legislation, and it can get done there.
I don't think it's going to go anywhere today. in
a Senate where we have, first of all, leftist, we've got, uh, uh,

(17:43):
enough to, to stymie anything moving, you know, they can
just basically, uh, move to, to shut everything down. And
then you have, unfortunately some, some rhinos in that Senate
that don't want to rock the boat.

Speaker 4 (18:01):
Yeah. You know, uh, the Senate has to, um, figure
out how to tell them business and they have, they
have a, a problem of their own for sure. I
do think it's a measurable difference to, even if this
bill only, it's already gone through a full committee, and
then hopefully what we're pushing for at Heritage Action is

(18:22):
for this bill to be taken up this next month
in September to pass the House. To me, that's meaningful
change to see after decades of calling for, hey, we're
going to dismantle Department of Education to finally actually get
a bill through at least one chamber in Congress, I

(18:43):
think that would show measurable progress toward our goal, even
if it's not all the way. I think it's just
to see how far we've come. And with, like, meaningful text,
that could show to offer things to work from in
the future Each of these bills could be separated, put

(19:07):
into other packages, or kind of negotiated into future sort
of larger vehicles. That's how a lot of Washington works
right now. For better or for worse, things get attached
to a larger vehicle.

Speaker 2 (19:24):
So obviously having.

Speaker 6 (19:25):
A marquee bill like this brings a lot of tension
to this issue, and it helps people realize, like, I
think as people have recognized for a long time, throwing
money at the problem.

Speaker 4 (19:35):
Doesn't really work. It only grows the bureaucracy. And as
a surprise, the bureaucracy creates more regulations to rationalize their
existence and doesn't actually improve education. So as we can
be moving towards an education that's better implemented at the
community level, level, we see this as a win towards
that bigger picture.

Speaker 1 (19:56):
Yeah, you're absolutely right. You throw more and more money.
You create bigger and bigger government. The bigger and bigger
government has to justify its existence. So it promulgates all
kinds of rules and regulations. does nothing to further education.
Education gets worse. The bureaucracy gets bigger. And here they

(20:17):
are once again with their Democrat friends fighting like hell
to save their jobs, of course. Final question for you.
It is the money thing. How much money could taxpayers
save by getting rid of this useless department?

Speaker 4 (20:34):
You know, I don't know if they've fully scored this bill,
but the Department of Education gets hundreds of millions of
dollars each year. So over time, it's going to save
billions of dollars, which obviously, some of this bill, what
it would do is send certain particularly helpful functions, functions

(20:56):
that have led people to say, but what if we,
but what happens to this or what happens to that?
They're actually going to better function. So like student aid
can go to Treasury. They already do loans at Treasury.
why do we need a separate duplicative office for that?
So I think it just makes more sense to remove

(21:16):
the duplication and actually give people a better experience.

Speaker 1 (21:22):
Yeah, I think it's a good idea to just shut
down any agency, any government operation that is doing the
same thing that another government operation is doing. And sadly...
And something that frustrates the hell out of me is
that there are many, many of those operations costing us

(21:42):
taxpayer dollars every year. Dan West, Heritage Actions Government Relations
Director for the House, joining us on the bureaucracy, less bureaucracy,
better education legislative package. Thank you for your time and
walking us through that. We do appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (22:00):
Yeah, thanks, Dan.

Speaker 1 (22:02):
You bet. Coming up in just a moment here, you
can join the conversation as well. And like I said,
you can do that at any time in the Carpetland
USA Flooring Center talk and text line. What U.S. citizen
or citizens would you deport if you had the chance,
if that were a thing? Because I got to tell
you something. I'm all in for cleaning up the mess

(22:28):
that the auto pen president made with his open door
border policies. And we've got to move a lot of
people to do that. But there are indeed some truly
hard-working folks who came over here, do indeed want a
better life. They're not committing crimes. They're not engaging in

(22:49):
violence against their communities. They want to be left alone.
And while their first act was indeed breaking the law,
at least... Some are more American than the filth that's
pushing out all of the anti-American crap. I have coming
up next one gentleman for sure that I would like

(23:11):
to see deported. And yes, he is a U.S. citizen.
We'll get back to that straight ahead. It's the Wednesday
edition of the Dan O'Donnell Show with yours truly, Matt Kittle.
Hang on. Less than a month away, September 18th and 19th.
This is what you get. round-trip airfare for two to
Las Vegas, two nights hotel, ground transportation, tickets to both

(23:35):
nights of the iHeartRadio Music Festival, and a $ 1, 000 gift
card to boot. Whatever you want to spend that on.
You're an adult. That's up to you. Although decisions have consequences,
as we like to tell the kids. But anyway, I'm
not going to bother you over that. Again, you're going

(23:56):
to get a chance to see some of the greatest
acts of our times. Kenny Chesney, Laney Wilson, the dog,
Snoop Dogg will be there. The Goo Goo Dolls, Dave,
who else do they have? I mean, this is just
the starter. This is just the hors d'oeuvres. They got
Benson Boone, I know. That's one of my kids' favorites,

(24:18):
of course. They've got a lot of folks, and you'll
be able to, if you are a winner, enjoy it all.
It is our iHeartRadio Music Festival Flyaway Contest, going to
give you a chance to win, once again, in the
5 o'clock hour. Now, though, yeah, there are a number

(24:39):
of people who actually legally live in this country, I
would like to see on the deportation list. I'm going
to lie to you. I know you can't do it.
You can't do it. I understand. But there are a
lot of folks who just absolutely hate this country. I mean,
really seething hatred for this country. And I just think about, again,

(25:06):
first and foremost, I am for immigration enforcement, immigration law enforcement.
Most of the folks on the left are not. Many
of the folks on the left would like a continuation
of the open borders, which brought us absolute chaos. But
I do believe there are people who come here, many

(25:28):
people who come here, and the reason they want to
be here is because they want a better life. Now,
a lot of those folks who come here want a
better life, but they want to continue to live the
third world life that they were in, or they're willing
to put up with the third world life, and that
cannot be. And then, of course, there are others who

(25:49):
want to come here because they see a huge advantage
to a burgeoning crime marketplace. They were doing well wherever
they were, but they could do better. A lot better.
There's a lot more money to be made here. There's
a lot more people to injure and to kill, to assault.

(26:11):
So those folks, they need to be on the deport train.
But a lot of people.
Who are here legally, I look sometimes and I say, hmm,
maybe there should be an expanded deportation list, and I'll
tell you who I'm talking about right here and right now.

(26:33):
It's that nutjob from Michigan who wants to be Michigan's
next senator. And this ties into the passing of Dolly Parton.
Why should it? It shouldn't. But here, I'll tell you.
As millions of Americans across the country issued heartfelt tributes

(26:53):
following the death of country music superstar Dolly Parton, Michigan
Democrat Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed is facing heat online over
what critics call the politicization of Parton's passing. This from

(27:15):
Fox News, Dolly Parton used her gift for music to
highlight the challenge of poverty, inequality, and struggle in ways
that uplifted and inspired working people. El-Sayed posted on X
on Tuesday, shortly after Dolly Parton died at the age

(27:36):
of 80 after a brief battle with cancer. That's the moment,
that's the vehicle, that's what he wants to do with
the passing of an American icon, an American legend, an
American through and through Dolly Parton, who lived core American values.

(28:00):
We're not politics in this, but this guy is dumping
in his leftist socialist politics, and a lot of people
don't like it. I'm in that group. Again, he says,
Dolly Parton used her gift for music to highlight the
challenges of poverty, inequality, and struggle in ways that uplifted

(28:20):
and inspired working people. Now, there are a lot of
elements to this very politically driven statement about Dolly Parton
that are true. Yeah, she not only inspired, she helped
poor people. And she started off in her home in Tennessee.

(28:41):
And she expanded from there. She was a beautiful soul,
a big-hearted human being. One of the great things about
Dolly Parton along with that is she didn't care what
your politics were, where you were from. She opened her

(29:03):
heart to everyone. And she avoided politics because in the main,
like the plague. But the socialist in Michigan cannot help himself.
He goes on to, I think this was on X,

(29:24):
he goes on to post, and I told him all
the story Mama told me while she sewed and how
my coat of many colors was worth more than all
their clothes, El-Sayed, quoting Parton's song lyrics. Else, post was
ratioed on social media, yielding far more negative comments and

(29:48):
quote tweets than positive ones from users accusing the far-left
candidate of injecting his political message into his campaign. Parton tribute.
Leave it to you to exploit her death for political gain.
Twitchy managing editor Sam Janey posted on X. And then

(30:10):
he posted a word that we cannot use. Well, we
can if we were talking about a guy I used
to know years ago. Worked in the University of Wisconsin system.
His name was Dick Schumacher. Well, take out Schumacher, and

(30:32):
that's what you have. I didn't think anyone would actually
politicize Dolly Parton's death, but here we are. Washington Free
Beacon reporter Chuck Ross posted on X. Quiet, town hall
media storm Paglia posted on X. You hate America. It
is very difficult to hear from a guy who has

(30:55):
a record and a long record of loathing the country
that he wants to be a representative of, a state
in a country that he wants to serve as senator for.
With all of the things that we know about El-Sayed

(31:16):
and his loathing for the American system in general, yeah,
I understand where one might say, pipe down, pal. We
don't need to hear from you. Stay away from her,
Senate Leadership Fund Rapid Response Director Chloe Smith posted on

(31:36):
X in a meme form. There was a lot of that,
and understandably so. This is the same guy who has
ripped apart, of course, capitalism, first and foremost. He's a socialist, communist,
so that's not at all surprising. And it's not surprising

(31:58):
that he would glom on to an absolute legend in
Dolly Parton to try to shovel his political message. And
the Washington Post, of course, cannot help itself either as
the leftist vehicle. Remember, as the Washington Post likes to say,

(32:20):
democracy dies in darkness. It also dies in stupidity. This
was a column from the Washington Post, and they proudly
promoted it. Dolly Parton's lack of children, says this columnist,
demonstrated that the world could in fact love a woman

(32:40):
who wasn't a mother.

Speaker 7 (32:43):
What?

Speaker 1 (32:43):
Let me read that again. Dolly Parton's lack of children,
the fact that she was childless, demonstrated that the world
could in fact love a woman who wasn't a mother.
What the hell does that mean? I'll tell you what
it means. Again, it's another political spin-on. You see, these

(33:04):
single leftist women out there, they care deeply for everyone, except,
of course, they hate conservatives and they hate cisgendered white
males and the rest, but they love everyone. You see,
they don't have to have children. In fact, when they do,
they can abort them all the way up to birth.

(33:25):
They can still love. They still have the love in
their heart Colonist goes on to write, but more importantly,
Dolly Parton was proof that a person could be an
advocate for children while personally choosing against parenting. Choosing against parenting.

(33:46):
I was glad to see this was posted on the
Washington Post X account. I was very glad to see
that one of the first comments below was, hey, you know,
I agree with a lot of the sentiments here, but
Dolly Parton did not choose to be motherless. She wanted

(34:07):
desperately to be a mother. She hoped and prayed. She
had a condition that would not allow her to have children.
And one of the thoughts here is, I think, hopefully
a lesson again for the Washington Post. It won't be.
They'll double down on this crap. But one of the

(34:31):
posters on this Washington Post X account says, I thought
journalists were supposed to research stuff. A tiny moment of
research would have netted you the quotes from Dali who
said quite plainly, they never chose not to have children.
That they'd wanted children, but they came to terms with

(34:52):
not being able to have children. Dali Parton did love children.
Dolly Parton did want to be a mother. Dolly Parton
should not be co-opted by any group. On the right
or on the left. She's so much bigger than that.

(35:32):
Welcome back, thrill-seekers. Hour number two of our little get-together
on this Wednesday edition of the Dan O'Donnell Show with
your old radio amigo, Matt Kittle. Former child actor turned
terribly bad. No, none of that's true, except for the

(35:57):
terribly bad part. Yeah, that is. Dave Michaels, our excellent producer.
Keeping this thing on the straight and narrow. Dan's back
with you tomorrow. Lots of stuff to discuss this hour,
and we're going to get to that in just a moment.
From last hour, my friend Jim texted, listening in. He
said he was at the last Stevie Ray Vaughan show.

(36:17):
Dave reminded me that it was 36 years ago today.
Good Lord, I can't believe it. Stevie Ray Vaughan was
killed in that helicopter crash, Alpine Valley. Yeah, that was
the last show. They did two nights there, if I
remember right. They did a Friday and a Saturday, the
final show at Alpine Valley. That would be Stevie Ray

(36:39):
Vaughan's last. And what a great story that was. Stevie
Ray Vaughan, one of the all-time legends, blues guitarist, really
brought that Texas sound down, you know what I'm saying?
His brother Jimmy was an awesome guitarist, too. But he
had Stevie Ray had gotten his life really back together.

(37:01):
He had battled with the bottle for some time, and
he was clean and sober, and he was living his
best life, as they like to say. And then, well,
then the rest is history, as they also like to say.
I said, man, can't believe it's been 36 years. I
am old. And Jim wrote, I am older. But yes,

(37:26):
what a show that was. He had seen Stevie Ray
Vaughan twice before on his own bill, but that encore
was something else. Yes, it was. It was like he
was playing for eternity there. I'm not going to say
that he knew that something big and bad was about

(37:47):
to happen. It just felt like he was playing for everything,
for the highest stakes. What a show, what a time.
While we're talking about all of this, of course, as
we learned yesterday of the passing of the Queen of Country,
Dolly Parton, at the age of 80, Tim Curry also

(38:08):
passing at the age of 80. Today, movie star Tim Curry,
probably best known for his roles in Clue, and as Dr.
Frankenfurter in the Rocky Horror picture show a lot of
folks have been talking about uh the the concern of

(38:34):
three that is to say that we often see celebrity
deaths like this come in threes and everybody is wondering
when the next shoe will drop and there are some
online who are praying if you will I don't know
if they're really praying, but they're sending desperate messages out there. Please,

(38:58):
they say, please protect our legends. There's not many legends left,
writes someone on the social media sphere. Protect at all costs.
And then they give a number of names. Cher, Elton John,
Shirley MacLaine, Julie Andrews, Dick Van Dyke. Isn't he 100 now?

(39:24):
Somewhere around there. That guy is fit as a fiddle.
I don't know how fit a fiddle is. is, but
Dick Van Dyke is fit. Jane Fonda is on this list,
according to this person. Harrison Ford. Judge Judy.

Speaker 3 (39:40):
Oh, God!

Speaker 1 (39:42):
Protect Judge Judy at all costs! Judy goes and the
whole legal system collapses. Stevie Nicks. Yeah, I can see
some of these. Some of these I don't want to
spend the money protecting, quite frankly. I don't want to
spend the money or the time. Cher. Sonny. Now, Sonny

(40:07):
I would have protected, but nobody was protecting Sonny when
he was on the skis so long ago. Elton John.
I have to be honest with you. I love Elton
John's music, but he's kind of a bitch. Shirley MacLaine?
Why would you protect Shirley MacLaine? She's already lived 17

(40:31):
different lives, and she fully expects that she'll jump into
another when it is her time to exit this earth.
Julie Andrews, yes. Dick Van Dyke, absolutely. Jane Fonda? What
is she doing right now? Is she giving blood to
the The Iranian Republican Guard. Is that what she's doing? Probably.

(40:55):
I know she was doing that for the Viet Cong.
Judge Judy, yes. Again, for all of the same reasons.
We do not want to see our judicial system collapse.
And Stevie Nexia. There are a lot of other names
that I would personally put on the list of celebrities
that are in need of our protection, make sure that

(41:15):
they survive. I would put Keith Richards on there, but
we all know he will outlive all of us. We
talk about it on many occasions, and that is this.
What kind of world are we going to leave for
Keith Richards? I think of a lot of musicians that
I would put on this list. Bob Dylan would be

(41:37):
number one. Perhaps that's not for you. I hate his voice. Yeah,
I've heard that for many, many years. But a number
of people I would put on this list. I remember
years ago when the fam and I, my wife and kids,
they were little then. We went to this place in Kentucky.

(41:57):
We were in Kentucky. And it was this huge, it
wasn't a cave. It was like an underground limestone pit
where they used to mine. And they turned this, as
you can understand, into America, you can turn anything into
anything and sell it. And they did. And it was
this big, massive hole in the ground. And they had

(42:22):
a number of different things, but you could tour it.
And they had a section of this quasi cave, where
I'm not kidding, they had like, wax figures of the
people that the U.S. government, or at least the Kentucky government,
would save should there be a nuclear holocaust. Now, this

(42:48):
was all put together at a time when, of course,
we had our parents and our grandparents were ducking under
desks and putting books over their heads, of course, to
save them from nuclear annihilation. That was a good thought,
In theory, that sounded good. In practice, that would not

(43:08):
have worked at all. But, you know, a lot of
people were very afraid. There was the Cold War, and
we all felt that we were a step away, a
click away from kaput. So anyway, they build this place,
this old limestone quarry kind of cave underground, and they

(43:31):
put The plan was to put people in there that
they must have for society to advance, for society to
go on, life as we know it, should there be
nuclear war. There were a number of people in this
cave-like thing, and I don't remember many of them, but

(43:55):
I do remember one in particular. And you have to
understand why. We're in Kentucky. Colonel Harlan Sanders... And they
had a wax statue of Colonel Sanders and others. But
Kentucky said, seriously, they said, we have got to protect

(44:16):
the 11 herbs and spices recipe at all costs. And
we have to protect this beloved Colonel, who may or
may not have been a Colonel. I don't know. But
I thought that was fascinating. The people they were choosing
to protect should the worst scenario come about. It wasn't you.

(44:36):
It wasn't me. It was finger-lickin' chicken cooker Colonel Sanders.
Coming up in just a bit, as we turn our
attention away from the Colonel, although everybody loves a little KFC,
that's for sure. We're going to get into school safety.

(45:01):
Obviously the kids are returning back to school and what
is on every parent's mind, well, the safety of our kids.
It's not sadly a question of if, it is a
question of when the next burst of violence takes place.

(45:22):
One of our schools, and we know that it can
happen anytime. In elementary schools and junior highs, high schools,
college campuses, God forbid it happens, but you gotta be prepared.
And I have invited onto the show a gentleman who
is an expert in these areas. Coming up in just

(45:45):
a moment, we'll talk to Matt Osborne. He is a
United States Concealed Carry Association certified instructor, founder of Osborne
Security and Education Consultants. He's also a former CIA agent.
He knows this business, and he has some tips to
keep kids and schools safe. We'll do that straight ahead

(46:06):
as we roll on this Wednesday edition of the Dan
O'Donnell Show with yours truly, Matt. Remember, one call, that's all.
Doing that voodoo that we do so well, the Dan
O'Donnell Show. Kittle here. Filling in. How are you? Getting

(46:31):
closer to a weekend. That sounds pretty good to me.
It was called Mammoth Cave National Park. That's where the
family and I stopped into. I don't even know if
it's a cave. It was this big limestone hole in
the ground. And what was fascinating to us First and

(46:53):
foremost is that some people were able to make money
out of this in the most bizarre ways, including showing
us a room where they would keep the most important
Americans should there be a nuclear war. And according to
these folks, one of the most important Americans would be

(47:15):
brought to safety was Colonel Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame. Yeah,
I can see it. I definitely can see it. You've
got to protect the 11 herbs and spices. As I
said before, it is sad to say, but the next
outburst of school violence is not a matter of if,

(47:37):
it's a matter of when. Matt Osborne, United States Concealed
Carry Association Certified Instructor, founder of Osborne Security and Education Consultants, Also,
a former CIA agent and Department of State official joins
us now to walk us through how to keep children
and schools safe as the new school year begins. Matt,

(48:00):
thank you so much for joining us on this edition
of the Dan O'Donnell Show with Matt Kittle. Thank you, Matt.

Speaker 2 (48:06):
It's always great to have a chance to talk with you.

Speaker 1 (48:10):
Yeah, you know, we do this on a number of occasions.
You have joined me on a number of shows that
I've hosted. I really appreciate your expertise, and I know
that we have listeners, parents, who are, like any other parent,
concerned about what happens when they put their kids on

(48:31):
the school bus or drop them off. How do we
keep schools and parents, communities, how do we keep kids
safe from that next violent outburst?

Speaker 2 (48:46):
This time of year always brings butterflies, both for the
students themselves, excitement and nerves, and I imagine for parents, grandparents,
parental figures. As you said before, you went to break
a moment ago. It's not a question of if or
but when, unfortunately. So what I would tell all those
listening out there is to really think first and foremost

(49:08):
on your family's situational awareness, your family's emergency plan. There's
obviously only so much that You can demand of a school.
I think you should definitely try and make sure that
the schools are as armored up as possible, but really
focus on building awareness habits in your children across grade levels.

(49:29):
So very briefly, kindergarten to fifth grade, maybe it's mostly
just Who are authorized adults to pick you up and
drop you off? Don't approach an unknown vehicle, even if
the driver claims to know your parents. Teach them who
are trusted individuals at the school and who are not
trustworthy people out and about. You get a little bit older, though,

(49:52):
into middle school and high school, I would then say, parents,
you know your kids better than anyone, so encourage your
students to speak up immediately. If they observe things like,
Broken locks, doors propped open, unfamiliar individuals who are wandering
around without an escort. You won't be a snitch. You
won't be a tattletale. You could be saving lives. And

(50:14):
then if your kids are mature enough, certainly in the
high school, think about teaching them that it's a small
chance that something bad would happen, but that chance is
not zero. And they need to always be paying attention.
Follow the rules of what the schools are telling you
to do, but know that oftentimes, as we say at
the USCCA, you may need to be your own first

(50:37):
line of defense. Know about run. Know about hide. Know
about fight. I know it's a lot of information, Matt,
but I hope parents are realizing that if I can
just discuss with my children these different options, communication plans,
where to meet, who to talk to if something happens,
It shouldn't make people more worried. It should make them

(50:57):
more prepared, right, and empower them. And that's what I'm
hoping your audience will do.

Speaker 1 (51:03):
You bet. Yeah, you have to know what to do,
and you have to know what to do beforehand. Obviously,
there are a number of drills. It's a sad commentary
on society, but we see this at... Uh, just about
every school out there, there are drills for active shooters and, um, for,
to prepare against mass shooters. The first and foremost thing

(51:25):
is these schools have to have security in place. Not
all schools do. It's not always a school's fault. Maybe
there's not enough funding for that in Wisconsin. We had, uh,
a lot of funding that went out, um, several years
ago and it was to harden, uh, targets. It was
to harden the schools. What's the best way to go

(51:48):
about doing that? And then we will get into what
happens if even those things fail.

Speaker 2 (51:56):
So first, let me talk about just the physical facility
around the schools. Parents demand that your schools either have
or will quickly create access control measures. There should just
be one strictly monitored point of entry for all visitors.
You would need to have, if at all possible, I
know it's expensive, but these interlocking vestibules called man trap, right? Matt,

(52:20):
I didn't come up with that name, but a man
trap impacts resistant doors where you have to push a
button with a camera to make sure it's an authorized
individual who goes in that first set of doors and
then they don't have access to the school yet. There's
another set of doors that do not open unless they're
given access again to get through. So that would be

(52:41):
the first thing. Then I would really just absolutely encourage
school districts, spend what you need to spend to have
a valid and a trained, vetted school resource officer, SRO. Matt,
you and I have talked in the past how valuable
these men and women are. They are trained law enforcement,
not just trained to... Stop a bad guy. Right. That's

(53:03):
their main job. But they are in the schools. They're
in the cafeterias during the day. They're at the football
games on Friday night. They are watching, monitoring, getting to
know these kids. Oftentimes it's the SROs who are alerting
and can alert counselors and principals and authorities. to potentially
dangerous situations before the issues become a problem. And the

(53:27):
last thing I'll throw out, because I'd love your thoughts too,
I know sometimes it's controversial, but the USCCA 100% supports
legislative paths that would allow properly vetted and willing employees
in the schools to carry concealed firearms. There would be
a high standard of continuous and specialized training But these teachers,

(53:49):
those individuals who want to do this and be trained, they,
I believe, are the absolute best chance to stop an
evil one, whether from outside the school or a kid
with all sorts of issues to make him or her
think that it's okay to shoot up a school. That
is what I would see as absolutely something that can
protect schools and protect students.

Speaker 1 (54:13):
I couldn't agree with you more. I know it's controversial.
I wish it wasn't so controversial. Matt Osborne, United States
Concealed Carry Association certified instructor, founder of Osborne Security and
Education Consultants. Matt is walking us through how to keep
our kids safe, our schools safe, as we begin the
school year. Now, how many times have we seen it where,

(54:35):
whether it's at a school, it's at a church, it's
at a gathering, there is someone who is armed. You've
talked about this before, that... You know, sometimes a bad
guy with a gun is only stopped by a good
guy with a gun. And we've seen that a number

(54:57):
of times. But you're right. There are districts, there are
cities fighting against this. What if you live in a
community where you're a so-called no-gun zone? What do you
do in terms of security?

Speaker 2 (55:14):
I tell you, that's almost like waving a red card,
you know, in front of a bull, a red flag
in front of a bull that tells anyone who would
want to do harm. Hey, there's no one who's going
to be actually countering you and defending against you. So
first and foremost, parents, and I know there are laws
in different states, but to push back against how is

(55:34):
a no gun free zone. This is just an invitation.
You should ask, is your child's school safe? But you
also need to ask, does my family have a plan?
Do my children know what to do? Am I exhibiting
situational awareness that will then rub off on my children
to know what is going on? These children need to know, again,

(55:58):
not to be scared, small chance, but it's not zero chance.
You need to pay attention to your drills that you're
learning with your classes, but also know that sometimes you
may need to be able to run, hide, fight in
that order. Even if it appears that everyone's trying to
get out of one exit, you need to be aware

(56:19):
that there are multiple exits around your school. This is
difficult for a K-5 grader. I understand that, but they
still can be taught this. certainly middle school, high school, college,
know where the exits are. Know that sometimes going with
the crowd is not the right thing. There are other
ways you need to do to get away. Because in
these gun-free zones, Matt, oftentimes they truly, these individuals in

(56:41):
the schools, are sitting ducks if someone does bring firearms
in with an intent to kill or maim.

Speaker 1 (56:47):
Yeah, no doubt about it. So let us talk about
the unthinkable. What happens... if there is an active shooting
going on, if there is someone who definitely means harm,
a school shooter for whatever the twisted motivations are, and
now you're a kid stuck in that school, how do

(57:08):
you survive that and give your fellow students the best
chance to survive that? Right.

Speaker 2 (57:15):
And parents, too, for kids of all ages, as you're
taking your kid to school, say, honey, right, son, daughter, honey,
The chances are you'll never need this, but if you
ever are getting out of the school because you have
to run, you have to flee, here is where we'll
meet up. We'll meet at this building or this tree
or this fire hydrant or this trusted neighbor's home. That's

(57:37):
one thing I would advise to parents. Also, parents, if
you are allowing your kids to walk to and from
school in the neighborhood, my daughter did that when she
was in elementary school. I understand this happens. Teach them
situational awareness. What should the neighborhood look like? What should
it not look like? And to know safe areas and
safe houses where they can go if a threat presents itself.

Speaker 1 (58:01):
Again, this is just a matter of making sure that
there are good lines of communication open. That's parent to student,
student to parent, but it's also administrator to parent, and
we don't always have that. So The lines of communication
are absolutely critical. Let me ask you this, Matt. What

(58:22):
happens if the threat comes from someone the child knows
at school? We have seen the growth of horrible circumstances,
children being trafficked. We have seen grooming in our schools.
That's a big issue here in the state of Wisconsin

(58:43):
following some some very troubling reports on that front. You
did work in the nonprofit sector where you were doing
what you could to keep kids safe from these kinds
of predators. Correct.

Speaker 2 (58:59):
And I'm glad you asked that question. As horrific as
school shootings are, fortunately, knock on wood, they are relatively rare.
But you know, Matt, and I know you know this
because we've talked about it, what happens guaranteed every day
or every other day in a school system? A child
is exploited, is cyber bullied, is groomed. Somewhere this is happening.

(59:24):
So parents, talk to your kids. De-stigmatize the term or
the idea of snitching or tattletailing. It's not snitching or
tattletailing to report behavioral red flags, cyberbullying, online threats. Guidance counselors,
and this is where these student resource, school resource officers
come in. You need to be paying attention. Social media,

(59:47):
to the extent, this isn't violations of privacy. These kids
are putting this out to the world. You need to
pay attention. If there are disturbing threats, if there are
disturbing stories, images that are being put out by the child,
take that seriously. Matt, in the studies of those who
would be school shooters and who would cause mass casualty attacks,

(01:00:09):
many of them, if not most of them, broadcast their intentions.
They broadcasted those intentions for days, weeks, months, even years
ahead of time. You need to pay attention to that
and let children know that you're not putting a friend
or colleague in a bad situation if you report suspicious behavior.
You may very well be saving them, saving your life

(01:00:32):
and the lives of your peers.

Speaker 1 (01:00:34):
And that is what it is all about. Kids need
to feel safe and they need to actually be safe.
We have school districts in this state. that have, I believe,
opened the door to all kinds of vulnerabilities. But there
are ways that you can keep your kids safe, even
if the people who are in control of those schools,

(01:00:56):
those school districts, aren't doing what needs to be done
to keep your kids safe. Thank you, as always. Very
important topic. Where can folks go if they want to
get some more information on how to keep their kids
safe in schools?

Speaker 2 (01:01:13):
Thank you, Matt. USCCA.com for the United States Concealed Carry Association.
We have all sorts of trainings, free even. You don't
have to be a member, although we have 875,000 members.
Situational awareness, how to protect schools, protect churches. We have
a free mobile app. And then I would just say
talk to your school district. And remember, and Matt said

(01:01:36):
it just a minute ago, the majority of school emergencies
are often resolved because someone recognized warning signs early and
reported them. They didn't ignore them. It may be cliche,
but it isn't any less true. If you see something,
say something.

Speaker 1 (01:01:53):
Yeah, absolutely. I pray fervently that we never, ever have
to see anything like we saw in Uvalde or In Florida, well, Nashville,
too many to name. Sad that we can't remember them all.
I pray that we don't have another one of those incidents,
but I also live in the real world. We've got

(01:02:15):
to live in the real world. The real world requires
us to be prepared so that we can keep our
kids safe. Matt Osborne, thank you as always. I appreciate
your time and your expertise. Thank you, Matt.

Speaker 2 (01:02:27):
Always a pleasure, truly.

Speaker 1 (01:02:29):
Matt Osborne, United States Concealed Carry Association certified instructor. He's
founder of Osborne Security and Education Consultants, former CIA agent
and an officer with the Department of State for a
dozen years. Matt knows this field very, very well. We'll
take a quick break. Coming up in just a moment. Oh, yes,

(01:02:55):
last night there were some primaries, weren't there? One in
South Carolina that I kept my eye on, I was
curious about. One that I think has some broader implications.
We'll talk about that next on this Wednesday edition of
the Dan O'Donnell Show with your old radio. The I
Heart Radio Music Festival Fly Away Contest. Make sure you

(01:03:19):
are tuned in. I'll give you the key word coming
up right after the top of the hour. You could win,
in this nationwide contest, a trip for two to the
iHeart Radio Music Festival in Las Vegas on September 18th
and 19th. And, well, we basically cover everything for you.
Your flight, your hotel accommodations, ground transportation, obviously tickets to

(01:03:42):
both nights of the event, and a $ 1, 000 gift card
in there as well. Kenny Chesney will be hanging out,
Laney Wilson, the Goo Goo Dolls, Benson Boone, Snoop Dogg,
you name it, they will be there, they will be performing,
and you will have a seat to watch it all. Again,
we'll give you the key word coming up after the

(01:04:04):
5 o'clock hour. What's on your mind, you can tell
us at any time. We're open for business, of course,
here on the Dan O'Donnell Show, Carpetland USA Flooring Center
Talk and Text Line. That's how you drop your comments
to us. There was a pretty big primary runoff last night,

(01:04:25):
and when you think about primary runoffs, you think, well,
something went terribly wrong in the actual primary. No, they
just couldn't get a majority winner, and so they took
the top finishers, and here we are. That's a little
bit different than the idiotic and very dangerous form of

(01:04:50):
an election system under the ranked choice voting scheme, which, well,
we don't have time to talk about now, perhaps at
a later time, but it is a mess. Just ask
the good people of Alaska what a mess it is.
So last night, South Carolina voted had its runoff election

(01:05:12):
with a Trump-endorsed candidate. And let's just make it clear.
You get the Trump endorsement, that's pretty much gold. Almost
a lock that you're going to win your election. And
last night was no different for Darlene Graham. But there's

(01:05:36):
a bigger problem here because... Sometimes Donald Trump's loyalty to
someone has gotten in the way of competence. Someone is
selected out of loyalty, and he's acknowledged as much. They
might not be the greatest candidate. They might have some problems,

(01:06:02):
and in some cases, they might have some... some pretty
significant issues when it comes to the old moral compass.
But these are our friends who have stood by Trump,
and loyalty is very important to them. This is another case.
There's a piece at The Federalist written by a world-class reporter.

(01:06:24):
I like this guy. He knows where it is. You
can find the story at The Federalist, thefederalist.com. The Trump
endorsement wins again. This time in the Palmetto State's special
primary runoff, where Darlene Graham secured the GOP nomination for
the Senate seat her late brother long held. Her late brother,

(01:06:47):
of course, Lindsey Graham. Darlene Graham beat proven conservative Representative
Ralph Norman by five percentage points, with primary voters opting
for a quote, woefully unprepared, quote, very nice lady over
a five-turn congressman and Freedom Caucus member who is, by

(01:07:11):
the way, informed on national security. We'll get into that
in just a moment. Graham will now face Democrat Annie
Andrews in November's general election. Ruby Red, South Carolina, of course,
has not elected a Democrat to Senate since before the
turn of the century, so Darlene Graham is who now

(01:07:35):
was appointed Senator to fill the spot, fill the seat
that was left empty by the passing of Lindsey Graham,
she will now go on to the general election where
she has a very, very good chance of becoming the

(01:07:55):
next Senator for the next six years. Governor Henry McMaster
tapped Darlene Graham to serve out her brother, Lindsey Graham's
current term after South Carolina senior Senator died in July,
less than four months before November's midterm election. As we said,
Darlene Graham stands an election away from keeping the seat

(01:08:18):
her brother had held for four terms. He was running
for a fifth. I want to thank president Trump for
all of his support and his endorsement. The Republican nominee
said following her win, speaking to her biggest benefactor, Graham
said her brother truly loved the president and thought of

(01:08:40):
Trump as one of his closest friends. Our victory would
not have been possible without you, and we are truly grateful,
the senator said of the president. She couldn't have been
more correct. During his concessions, speech, Norman told supporters that

(01:09:02):
he never understood why Trump got involved in the South
Carolina race. Darlene Graham is thanking her lucky stars that
he did. There's a lot of other stuff that went
into this, but let's just say the Trump endorsement really,
in this case, got Lindsey Graham's sister over the threshold.

(01:09:29):
Because there were a lot of conservatives on the ground
in South Carolina, and South Carolina is not alone in this.
There are a number of conservatives in this state and
across the country that are not so sure about some
folks that Donald Trump is supporting, and they certainly don't seem...
like conservatives, the old rhino name, because that's what Lindsey

(01:09:53):
Graham really was. Lindsey Graham was very loyal, at least
over Trump 2.0 thus far. He's been very loyal to
the president, but he is a rhino, and that was

(01:10:13):
the fear and continues to be the fear that his
sister will be this empty vessel for rhinos in the Senate,
and we don't need another one of those. Of course,
a number of her critics believe she'll just be a
rubber stamp for Trump, which if Trump is following the
agenda that the MAGA movement hopes that he does, that
won't be a problem. But it is a problem that

(01:10:39):
South Carolina could have, and most likely will have, a
senator in Darlene Graham, who does not know much about
foreign policy, as the old Sam Cooke song might put it.
Right before the election, she landed this failure burger during

(01:11:03):
a national debate. This is a C-SPAN cut. Let's listen
in to Darlene Graham's shortcomings, if you will.

Speaker 7 (01:11:14):
Question as well. Senator, are Taiwan and the South China
Sea national security issues for the United States?

Speaker 2 (01:11:21):
If so, why?

Speaker 5 (01:11:25):
I'm sorry, could you repeat the question?

Speaker 7 (01:11:26):
Are Taiwan and the South China Sea national security issues
for the United States, and if so, why or how?

Speaker 5 (01:11:34):
I'm just going to be honest here. I'm not on
national security. I'm not that informed on national security, so.
But I do support the military. My brother was in
the Air Force for 33 years. So I will do
everything I can to support the military. My dad was

(01:11:54):
in the Army. I'm not a polished politician up here.
National security is not my thing. Not my area of expertise.

Speaker 1 (01:12:04):
Not my thing. That's fine. I mean, Trump was... not
a polished politician, didn't come from the world of politics.
He has a huge core of support in this country,
in the Republican Party. That cannot be denied or debated. But,

(01:12:26):
and maybe this was a sucker punch by Greta Van Susteren.
Neither way, an ageless face for Greta, thanks to the
latest in plastic surgeries. But no, this is a tough thing.
This is no different than a Rick Perry moment. Remember

(01:12:49):
during the 2012 debate, he wanted to cut three agencies,
wanted to cut three departments in the federal government. He
could not remember the last one. And you could, there's
something about the relativity of time. You could really feel
time just stop in that moment. And that's the same

(01:13:11):
moment here. You can't say foreign policy is not my
thing as a senator. That is the thing. That's a
big thing for the Senate. It reminds me of the
old SNL clip back in the 80s. The George H.W. Bush,
Michael Dukakis, you remember this one? Here's a little bit

(01:13:31):
from that particular moment.

Speaker 4 (01:13:35):
You still have 50 seconds left, Mr.

Speaker 2 (01:13:37):
Vice President. Well, let me just sum up. On track.
Stay the course. A thousand points of light. Stay the course.

Speaker 1 (01:13:52):
Governor Dukakis rebuttal. I can't believe I'm losing to this guy. Oh,
John Lovitz. Great bit. Great SNL sketch. Dana Carvey, of course,
playing the great, as he always does, a great character
in George H.W. Bush. But that's really what that moment

(01:14:14):
was like. And now South Carolina is, and not just
South Carolina, in our iHeartRadio Music Festival Flyaway Contest. It's
been a little while, so let's see if we can
make a winner this afternoon on the Dan O'Donnell Show.
All you need to do is text the word, the
keyword Vegas, V-E-G-A-S, Vegas to 200-200. Text that keyword, Vegas

(01:14:41):
to 200-200. You could be a winner. You have until
55 minutes to the top of the hour. Put another way,
five minutes before the hour of six o'clock in the
central time zone to enter the contest. Now, if you
do so, You'll get a confirmation text and information, standard data,
message rates apply in our nationwide contest. You could be

(01:15:04):
our next winner of a trip for two to the
iHeartRadio Music Festival in Las Vegas on September 18th and 19th.
Two days, going to be a big bash. The different
acts and artists you're going to see, just amazing. They
got something for everybody, really. What do you get? In

(01:15:25):
all of it, well, you get a round-trip airfare for
two to Las Vegas, two nights hotel, ground transportation, and
tickets to both nights of the iHeartRadio Music Festival. And
we'll throw in a $ 1, 000 gift card for you to
spend any way you want to as well. Kenny Chesney
is going to be there, Lainey Wilson, Snoop Dogg, the

(01:15:47):
Goo Goo Dolls. That's just for starters. A lot more
going to be entertaining. Our listeners at the iHeartRadio Music
Festival Flyaway Contest. Again, the keyword this hour is Vegas.
Text Vegas to 200-200. We do it three times a day.
We'll do it again tomorrow in the 9 a.m. hour.

(01:16:13):
Once again at 1 o'clock during Clay and Buck. And
then one more time again in the Dan O'Donnell show
in the 5 o'clock hour. Good luck to you. A
couple of things coming out today that I think are
of interest and like to chat a little bit about because, well,

(01:16:33):
the first is the Marquette Law Poll. And this is
the first poll after the Democrats' interesting, very interesting primary election.
Wouldn't you know it? All of a sudden, the votes
that are needed come in from Milwaukee County, and Milwaukee

(01:16:54):
County Executive David Crowley is your Democrat candidate, beating the
even farther left, if you can believe that, candidate in
Frannie Hong, who lost by a few thousand votes in
that contest. The new poll shows that David Crowley, Milwaukee

(01:17:17):
County Executive, has a five percentage point lead. That's 49%
to 44% in the new Marquette Law School poll. David
Crowley leading Republican Tom Tiffany among likely voters, 49% to 44%, 7%
remain undecided. Very interesting numbers coming out. Just a little

(01:17:45):
bit outside the margin of error. The race for governor,
which will come to a head with the election on
November 3rd, is tied among all registered voters, however, at 44%.
And among that group, 12% are undecided. That's where the
poll stands right now. It's a snapshot. And it's a

(01:18:09):
snapshot that was taken... following the primary elections on August 11. Much,
of course, is subject to change. But right now, David
Crawley is ahead, at least among likely voters, and it's
a dead heat among registered voters. What does that mean? Well,

(01:18:34):
it means a lot, and it means little. Things are
subject to change over the next few months. Tom Tiffany
has been just about everywhere. He is becoming well-known across
the state. Obviously, the 7th Congressional District Congressman. He was

(01:18:55):
well-known to a big section of the state as a
former state lawmaker. His name's been out there for a while.
David Crowley is the executive of the largest county in Wisconsin.
That comes with some Some name recognition. But you'd be
surprised how many people in rural Wisconsin don't know who

(01:19:17):
the executive for Milwaukee County is. All they know is
that Milwaukee County and the city of Milwaukee keep taking
more and more money from them. Their tax dollars more
and more going to Milwaukee and Milwaukee County. propping up

(01:19:38):
failed systems, propping up a government where the county executive,
for instance, couldn't get some paperwork done. So we have
a county health insurance fiasco. You know, it's one thing
after another. And the issue right now, there may be 7%, 12%

(01:20:01):
undecided voters who But there remain a number of voters
out there who still don't know who David Crowley is.
Some who don't know who Tom Tiffany is. It will
be the job, of course, of both campaigns to let
them know and to let them know their records over time.

(01:20:24):
David Crowley will continue to push the affordability message. And
he will continue to do that without really knowing what
to do about that. Because what I have seen so

(01:20:45):
far from David Crowley is more government solutions to a
problem that the government created. So I guess Turnabout is
fair play, but it will be incumbent on the Tiffany
campaign to And I know that they have done so
so far, but they're really just getting a start in

(01:21:07):
going after Crowley and the narrative that is being shaped
about this incompetent county executive with very deep-seated leftist leanings.
That's all a matter of public record. The problem is
that there are a lot of Wisconsin voters who don't

(01:21:28):
know that record. There are a lot of Wisconsin voters
who aren't going to look up that record, and there
is a dishonest media in this state that will not
tell them about that record. Republicans are up against it
every election cycle for those reasons and more. We have

(01:21:55):
a city election office in Milwaukee that has been an
absolute disgrace to election integrity. And I had a conversation
late last week with one of the members of the
Wisconsin Election Commission. Bob Spindell, vice chairman of that commission,

(01:22:17):
has very deep concerns about Milwaukee and its handling of
election administration coming up in the 2026 midterms in November.
In the primaries, they already showed that they can screw
up in so many different ways, and they have over
the last several election cycles. How anybody could have any

(01:22:42):
faith in this election commission is beyond me. That, too,
will definitely play a part in this election cycle. And
Republican leadership, the Republican Party, is going to have to

(01:23:03):
work like hell to get out voters who have given up. Because,
quite frankly, they haven't seen much evidence or much reason
to support coming out to the polls again. They did
in 2024, and they've been let down a lot. That's

(01:23:29):
the stark reality that the Republicans will have to deal with.
They will have to pound the message, and I know
that they're working on this, but they have to pound
the message that this is a race between sanity and insanity.

(01:23:49):
The failure to show up is in itself insane. because
the leftist, the Marxist that will be in that office
of governor, if David Crowley is elected, they will do
some stunning things that not even Tony Evers could have imagined.

(01:24:13):
Elsewhere in Milwaukee, how about this report coming out today?
The Milwaukee Department of Emergency Communications completed its investigation into
the handling of a 911 call and delayed emergency response.
Perhaps you're familiar with this story, but Director Tony Bueno

(01:24:33):
and staff called a news conference to provide details today,
but abruptly ended it, fielding two questions from reporters. That
was enough, thank you. Yeah, two questions. It's like a
two-drink minimum. But in fact, this is a two-question maximum.
All of this stems from an incident in which A

(01:24:56):
99-year-old woman was seriously injured during a home invasion, but
emergency services did not respond for hours after the initial alert. Hours.
How do you explain that? Well, it might explain why

(01:25:19):
the folks over in emergency services at the call center
are taking just two questions. Tony Bueno, the city's emergency
call center director, according to Fox 6, called a news
conference to discuss the findings of an investigation into the
mishandling of a 911 call. The department, the director said,

(01:25:42):
would provide an overview, discuss personnel actions and performance expectations,
break down steps to reduce something like this from happening again.
But that didn't happen. It didn't happen. And to take
you back, the 911 call investigation looks into an event

(01:26:07):
that happened, when was it, earlier this year? The investigation
stems from the mishandling of a 911 call in July.
A 99-year-old woman, beaten and seriously injured in a home invasion,
waited two and a half hours for emergency responders to
come help her. That is unconscionable. That is disgusting. A

(01:26:35):
third party dispatcher called 911 twice because she was worried
about the 99 year old woman. On a second call,
the third party dispatcher played audio where you could hear
a man swearing and a woman moaning in pain. The
call takers labeled it a priority three welfare check, something

(01:26:57):
that's supposed to get a police response within 15 minutes.
But help only came two and a half hours later
when the woman called 911 herself. So this 99-year-old woman
who is badly beaten is conscious enough to reach for
the phone and dial 911.

Speaker 6 (01:27:19):
Why?

Speaker 1 (01:27:20):
She has to. Because the one thing that city government
should get right, protecting its citizens... It can't do. While
the call itself was misclassified, it is unclear why police

(01:27:40):
dispatchers who received the call from the universal call taker
did not send a police response within 15 minutes. Firefighters
actually got to the house first after the woman's call,
but they stood outside and waited for police to clear
the scene before going to help her. That's understandable. That's protocol.

(01:28:01):
That's the way it's supposed to work. There are a
lot of things in this disgusting story that should have
worked and they didn't. And there are a lot of
unanswered questions. A lot of unanswered questions. Fox 6 News
did not get an answer as to why police dispatchers

(01:28:23):
who received the call from the universal call taker did
not send a police response. within 15 minutes, despite having
the ability to elevate the call classification and it being required.
It's not something that you can say, well maybe we'll
do that. Maybe. When a 99 year old woman is

(01:28:48):
the subject of a serious, well I don't care who
it is, but in this case one of our most
vulnerable citizens is There damn well better be some answers
and not just this, oh, we'll try better next time
kind of crap. That's, as I mentioned before, what we're
going to get with the Milwaukee Election Commission review, its

(01:29:11):
review of itself. When Fox 6 News tried to ask
questions about all of that and the investigation as a
whole at a news conference, which Poino and his department
called to discuss the incident. But after two questions, they
refused to answer anything more and left the room. Oh,

(01:29:33):
that's not a good look. That is not a good
look if you're trying to hold on to your position.
Of course, in incompetent Milwaukee, you really don't have to
worry about that much. Besides, I can imagine that when

(01:29:55):
All of the answers are provided. We'll just learn that
they were just waiting for a social worker to be
able to respond to the incident because that's what the
defund the police crowd would call for. This all ties back,
of course, into the election for governor in Wisconsin. You

(01:30:17):
want more of this happening in more and more communities
across the state. elect a guy like David Crowley. Good Lord.
What a mess. Coming up next, now we've got a
couple of things that I want to get to, but
a very interesting story within the story of the Clancy case.

(01:30:47):
Lindsay Clancy. Really some very sickening things coming out of this,
but What else would you expect in this very sick culture?
That's straight ahead as we roll on the five o'clock
hour of the Dan O'Donnell show with your old radio.
It was 20 hours in the car to Eastern Florida. No,

(01:31:13):
this was after the, this was, you are absolutely right.
I did. I did that on that Sunday, Monday. It
was a night game. And so we did the six,
what was it? I had to pick up my father-in-law.
We were down there and then we had to drive
six hours to Chicago. And we did that and we

(01:31:36):
came back and within a day I had to turn
around and I had to load up, help the son
load up the vehicle and head to his university so
he could start his sophomore year. Of course, though, that
was in sunny Florida. And the reason we did this, well,

(01:31:59):
I didn't drive back. We did drive there. We had
to get him moved in. We left Thursday afternoon. We
had to get him moved in by, what was it,
3 o'clock Saturday afternoon. And, man, that was the longest

(01:32:19):
road trip I think I've ever been involved in But
he had to be down there. We had to take
his car because he just bought a car. And of course,
when you're 19, is there anything more cool than a
2008 Buick LaCrosse? Oh yeah.

Speaker 6 (01:32:40):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:32:40):
He worked hard. I'm very proud of him. He worked
hard this summer and he had some savings and well,
we were a little reluctant, but his mother and I said, okay,
all right, there you go. You got the car. Well,
Eventually you're going to have to drive that to your
place of education. And he was going to need some help.
So old dad volunteered, but I came back then the

(01:33:06):
Saturday night and flew in on Southwest. And wouldn't you
know it, yet another in a series of delays that
I have experienced through air travel. I know I'm not alone. Okay.
I know everybody within the sound of my voice. has
experienced some sort of delay or FUBAR situation in air travel.

(01:33:31):
But this one was a doozy. I was talking about this,
when I was filling in for Vicki earlier this week.
You know you're in trouble when you're on the plane
and the captain comes on, makes the announcement, folks, here's
the story. And I was thinking to myself, if you

(01:33:53):
don't say something about a lovely lady who was bringing
up three very lovely girls, I'm going to be pissed.
But it wasn't a Brady Bunch theme song. It was, folks,
here's the story. Looks like we don't have a gate
to land the saddle up to. Denver is going to

(01:34:15):
need that gate. And I'm thinking to myself, why didn't Denver...
consult somebody on this plane about that before so that
took some time and long story short i'm ready for
this weekend between the car travel and the air travel

(01:34:38):
it was like planes trains and automobiles with my son
and at one point i could truly say Please have mercy.
I've been wearing the same underwear for two days. Yeah,
it was rough. And I'm sorry about that. You're probably

(01:34:58):
trying to eat. Nobody needs that. I have been following
with interest and sickness. Just a really, just a sense
of disgust. at where this society is and the measure
of how sick this society is, is when I see

(01:35:22):
hundreds of women in pink shirts gather outside a Plymouth,
Massachusetts courthouse, hand in hand, in solidarity with Lindsay Clancy,
the mother who murdered, in cold blood, murdered her three children, five, three,

(01:35:46):
and eight months. There's a piece at The Federalist that
delves into this, and you can find it at thefederalist.com.
The Massachusetts woman who used exercise bands to strangle the
life out of her three young children has a fan
club of sorts. As I noted, thousands of Lindsay Clancy

(01:36:11):
supporters believe the 36-year-old killer is herself a victim. Hundreds
turned out for a rally Thursday at Plymouth Superior Courthouse,
most of them women in many in pink shirts carrying
signs with fangirl slogans such as Believe, She Needed Help,

(01:36:32):
and Peace for Lindsay, the Associated Press reported. They have
leaned into claims that the overburdened mother was suffering from
postpartum psychosis when she committed the heinous crimes. She also
slid her wrist and neck and jumped out a second-story

(01:36:55):
window in a suicide attempt that left her paralyzed from
the waist down, according to court documents. We've seen all
kinds of stuff online. Believe. Believe Lindsay Clancy. And the
stuff is, I haven't really followed the trial live. I

(01:37:16):
definitely have read from the transcripts and the documents and
the stories, the coverage of this trial. And it is
hard to fully know, I hope. It's hard to know
at all what it is like to snap and to

(01:37:39):
be a mother of who has not just postpartum depression,
but what is described as psychosis, a very rare malady,
but one that can make a mother lose total grasp
of reality. And so there is this somewhat understandable compassion

(01:38:06):
for this woman because she If that is indeed the case,
she snapped and went through this event, murdered her children.
When she comes out of that, obviously, she's going to
have to live with what she did, whether she had
control over that or not. And that, of course, is
a matter of debate. It looks pretty clear that... she

(01:38:30):
was in her at least right enough mind to be
able to plan this, send her husband out on errands
while she went about committing her evil errand. You know,
there is a Wisconsin influencer who has set up a
GoFundMe account for Mike and Paula Musgrove, Clancy's parents, who,

(01:38:53):
according to the page's creator, have spent years traveling back
and forth, staying in hotels, attending court proceedings, and ultimately
relocating from Connecticut to Massachusetts so they could remain close
to Lindsay. The page includes an illustration of Clancy apparently
in a wheelchair. It's apparently Clancy. The illustration is of

(01:39:17):
a woman in a wheelchair, her head buried in her hands,
elbows resting on her knees. She is encircled by a
host of women holding hands. The account had raised more
than a million dollars as of late Monday evening. What

(01:39:37):
can explain this cult of personality that in some very
disturbing quarters has turned a twisted mother who systematically slaughtered
her children into some kind of hero? Or at least
a symbol of a deranged feminist movement? The answer is

(01:39:59):
untethered empathy. That's how Joe Rigney, pastor and fellow of
theology at Moscow, Idaho-based New St. Andrews College, describes it.
Rigney is also author of Leadership and the Sin of Empathy,
Compassion and its Counterfeits. It's a Christian guide to discernment,

(01:40:22):
emotional manipulation, boundaries, and false compassion. Wait a minute, wait
a minute, wait a minute. I thought compassion, empathy, sympathy,
they were all part of the core of Christianity. For
God so loved The world he gave his own begotten son.

(01:40:49):
Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do. Yes,
all of that is good. Compassion, empathy, walking a mile
in someone's shoes. It is good until three little children
are murdered, strangled to death by the one person that
they counted on more than anybody else to protect them.

(01:41:15):
That's just the way it is when the children are little.
They counted on their mother. Rigney says, it is when
our compassion and our care for those who are hurting
overrides consideration of what is true, what is good, what
is right, and instead with our emotions and our passions

(01:41:37):
in the driver's seat steer us off a cliff. We're
going to get closing arguments this week. This trial will
be over at some point. They're going to come to
a decision. The verdict is going to be, I believe,
one of two things. It's going to be this woman

(01:41:59):
in cold blood murdered her children, and she's going to
get life in prison without the possibility of parole. She
won't face the death penalty. Massachusetts does not have that,
just like so many other blue states, so many other states.
So the death penalty is not an option. And I

(01:42:22):
don't know, people can agree, disagree, agree to disagree on
whether that would be a good option in this case.
The other option is that she'll be sent to a
mental institution where she will be reviewed. Her mental health
will be routinely reviewed with the idea that if she

(01:42:43):
becomes acceptable to society, that is to say that she's
no longer stark raving mad, she will be released at
some point? You cannot take that off the table, of course.

(01:43:04):
And then we get all of these people who have
all kinds of different motives, and some of them I
certainly understand. A mother who has been through postpartum depression
understands things that I can't possibly understand. And so I
try to. But to the point where you're excusing the

(01:43:31):
murder of three beautiful young children, three children, eight months,
three years old, five years old, you don't even think
about them. in how you frame this issue. Some of
this is very politically driven. It is a wacky feminist thing.

(01:43:54):
It's an empowerment thing. It's toxic masculinity. There it is again.
What the hell does that have to do with a
mother who murdered her three children? It's a sad story
for many reasons. It is a sadder verdict on society's
at least some portions of society that believe that they

(01:44:19):
are doing an important service by defending a woman who
murdered her children and then as if those children didn't matter,
that they didn't mean anything. They don't mean anything in
the ultimate goal and scope of whatever society cause they

(01:44:43):
believe in. And that's sad. And that's what we get
when empathy is, again, untethered from reality. Not just for
Lindsay Clancy, but the people who are encircling her and
telling everyone to believe her and standing up for her

(01:45:09):
regardless of her actions. Because empathy and compassion without the
truth has little meaning. There has to be accountability in
this case. There are a lot of people who don't
want to see accountability in this case for whatever their

(01:45:31):
motives are. That's not empathy. That is insanity. And a
society can't survive it. We'll take a quick break, wrap
up a few... Are you kidding me? It is... No.
It is.

(01:45:54):
Spice season? Pumpkin spice season already? Ah, we'll discuss that
in just a moment. It's the Dan O'Donnell Show. Your
old radio talk show host, fill-in daddy, Matt Kittle. Dave Michaels,
you watch about... Every sport that's out there. I've known
you for some time. And is it safe to say
that you love the world of sport? Okay. And I'm

(01:46:19):
sure you have seen your share of sport coverage on ESPN. Okay. Well,
apparently ESPN is getting rid of bottom line score ticker.
And people are celebrating. You know what I'm talking about? Yeah. Exactly.

(01:46:42):
They're all over the place. They're crazy. In case you
missed the news, ESPN is getting rid of its bottom
line score ticker during college football broadcast this coming season.
Yahoo Sports Report says the network is trying to streamline
the college football viewer experience for fans and will remove
the ticker from all broadcast of the sport across its

(01:47:05):
different channels. Do you agree with the decision, or do
you like all of that crap all over the place?
It's not necessary anymore. I didn't think it was either.
I didn't think it was necessary back then. I mean,
they would include every score. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, that's ultimately it,

(01:47:26):
isn't it? We don't need ESPN to tell us anything.
All we have to do is pick up our phone
and quickly type in something, and there we're opened up
to the world of of any sport you want. I wonder, though,
if this will interfere with their mission to fight for

(01:47:47):
men in women's sports, unless they happen to be a
former male NBA star. I wonder if you'll see that
across the crawl anytime soon. Boy, I'll tell you what.
There was a time when ESPN... It was kind of

(01:48:08):
a treat. I remember our first cable system in Platteville,
and they were offering this new sports channel called ESPN.
ESPN has become such big business. Obviously, it's part of
the Disney umbrella. And it's just, it's unrecognizable from when

(01:48:31):
I was a kid watching the old ESPN, because the
old ESPN had absolutely no programming. Well, I shouldn't say that.
It had programming, just not programming that most people were
interested in. And at three in the morning, of course,
they would play reruns of big Swedish guys lifting tires

(01:48:55):
in the strongest man contest. They did roller derby at
one point. I talked to Scott Rasmussen, who is a
famous pollster. He was the creator of Rasmussen Polls. But
he was also one of the founders of ESPN. And
I asked him that one time. I said, you know,
you were right there at the beginning. What was it

(01:49:18):
like trying to fill 24 hours of programming? And I
think how he expressed it was, it was hell. It
was definitely a challenge. And so much has changed, of course,
in the landscape of sport broadcast, certainly in ESPN. Finally,

(01:49:39):
my calendar says August 26th. To commercial America, to retail America,
it's pumpkin spice time. You know, the whole spring ahead,
fall back argument, the daylight saving time battle that's been

(01:50:00):
going on in Congress, I think this needs to be updated.
I think we need to talk about premature change. pumpkin spicing.
That's a problem for some men, you know. If it
seems like fall decor and seasonal food and drinks are
arriving earlier each year, it's not just in your head.

(01:50:22):
It's in your nostrils. Data show consumers are increasingly embracing
season creep, shopping for seasonal products earlier than they did
in years past. Younger consumers' enthusiasm for fall is a
desire to plan ahead, and retailers' efforts to extend seasonal
spending may all be helping drive the shift. First of all,

(01:50:48):
I'm going to tell you something. I do not have
a lot of enthusiasm for fall. I'm a spring-summer guy. Fall,
I know it's beautiful in Wisconsin, the leaves.

Speaker 4 (01:50:57):
The foliage!

Speaker 1 (01:50:57):
What about the foliage? You love the foliage. Well, sure.
But it is the precursor. It is the overture. to
that awful season. Snow whiteouts, freezing temperatures, wind chills at

(01:51:18):
35 below zero and higher. No, no, not for me.