06-23-25 FULL SHOW - I Leave the Country for 5 Minutes And All Hell Breaks Loose - The Mandy Connell Podcast

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Mandy Connell Show is sponsored by Belle and Pollock
Accident and injury Lawyers.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
No, it's Mandy Connell and ninety and nicety three and
Conal sad bab well but well.

Speaker 3 (00:26):
But welcome to a Monday edition of the show.

Speaker 4 (00:29):
I am your host, Mandy Connell, back from an epic,
epic vacation, and we're gonna be talking about that.

Speaker 3 (00:37):
I promise I.

Speaker 4 (00:38):
Won't bore you with my travelog, but so much interesting
stuff on our trip to South Korea and Japan, and
I want to share some of it with you, especially
our trip to the DMZ and all of the things
I learned. I absolutely loved Japan, loved it, and I'm
I will be straight up honest with you. This trip

(01:00):
was a trip that was picked by Chuck because Chuck
really wanted us to be able to go back to
South Korea and he, you know, he was stationed at
Camp Casey there and he wanted us to be able
to see where he served and have the opportunity to
understand that region better. And I was like, Okay, we'll
go to Japan. Whatever, it's good. My prior experience in

(01:21):
Japan one experience as a flight attendant was not a
positive one, not to do with anything with Japan other
than the country is, especially at the time thirty years ago.
You know, it sounds stupid to say it's so foreign, right,
but when you go to Europe there are enough people
who speak English and a lot of the signs are
in English and whatever language that you know that country

(01:42):
speaks primarily that it's really easy to get around and
not speak the language. I didn't have that experience thirty
years ago in Japan, and in some places that we
stopped in Japan, there is there was still a little
bit of a language barrier. But let me just share
with you guys this tip. Google Translate is a game
changer for foreign travel, absolutely a game changer, because when

(02:06):
we found ourselves in a situation where we were dealing
with a cab driver or we were dealing with somebody
else who didn't speak English, we would literally read into
Google Translate what we needed to say to the cab
driver and then hold it up and let him hear it,
and then he could respond the same way. And it
was magical. It was so good, it was so good.

(02:29):
So my fears of that language barrier, and there were
fears there.

Speaker 3 (02:32):
Even though we were going on a tour, right.

Speaker 4 (02:34):
I was going to be among friends, and I knew
that I was always going to be able to get help.
That fear still sort of was there. It was under
the surface, completely unfounded. And the Japanese people are an
absolute delight.

Speaker 3 (02:47):
Still were the South Korean people.

Speaker 4 (02:49):
The South Korean people are a much more chill version
of the Japanese people, much more laid back version of
the Japanese people. It was just a stellar, stellar trip.

Speaker 3 (02:59):
Once again.

Speaker 4 (02:59):
I just heard the ad for Ross's trip to go
to you know, Central Europe, and if you've ever wanted
to travel but you've been afraid, cruise and tour of
the company that both Ross and I work with, they
make it the easiest thing ever. I cannot express to
you how simple it is to go and experience the
world on one of these trips because they take care

(03:21):
of everything that's difficult. Right, So think about that. I'll
announce my trip. We announced it to the people on
our trip already. It's not until October of twenty twenty five,
so you've got plenty of time to do that. I'll
announce that. I'll probably announce it tomorrow. I should have
put it on the blog today, but I didn't. But
this trip was absolutely outstanding. Let me do this. We've

(03:43):
obviously got a huge story happening right now, and that
is that we bomb the crap out of Iran this weekend.
It only took how many years of us singing.

Speaker 3 (03:52):
Bomb bomb, bomb, bomb bomb around for us to actually
do it. And I I have.

Speaker 4 (03:59):
Very inflicted feelings about this, and not for the reasons
you might think, and they're really esoteric reasons for me
to be conflicted about this, but they're esoteric reasons that
I think matter, and matter a lot. So let's jump in,
Let's do the blog, and then we will get right
to I'll talk about Japan throughout the show today. If

(04:19):
you have any specific questions about the trip, just take
them and text them on the Common Spirit Health text
line at five sixty six nine. Oh and thank you
to all of you people who are saying that it's
good to have me back.

Speaker 3 (04:33):
I'm glad to have me back as well.

Speaker 4 (04:35):
Although I will be perfectly frank. This jetlag is kicking
my butt, not just me.

Speaker 3 (04:43):
Chuck and the.

Speaker 4 (04:44):
Queue, we're like, you don't really expect to come out
of your room at three o'clock in the morning to
see your sixteen year old also coming out of their
room with the saying, oh, I'm awake, I can't sleep.
I mean, this jet lag is brutal for me. It's
fourteen hours difference and a day, right. I mean that

(05:04):
sounds stupid to say it that way, but you fly
over the international date line, so you lose the day
going there, you gain a day coming back.

Speaker 3 (05:11):
But this jet lag is brute whole.

Speaker 4 (05:13):
Maybe I'm curious how welcoming both places were to tourists.
We were welcomed everywhere we went, whether we were traveling
with a group or we were traveling by ourselves, and
anytime that we like, you know, I bought tickets to
ride the bullet train. We rode the bullet train from
Osaka to Kyoto, which I don't know how fast we

(05:35):
actually got going on the bullet train, because it was
fifteen minutes between Osaka and jape Era and Kyoto, and
to give you a frame of reference, it was about
forty five minutes on the regular train and about an
hour and twenty on a bus. Okay, so there was
different ways to get from Osaka to Kyoto, and the
bullet train was fifteen minutes and it was a delight.

(05:59):
Somebody said, how was the bullet train as well? You
could have a full martini sitting on your tray the
entire time and none of it would spill. That's how
smooth that train was. It was pretty amazing, really really amazing.
But in buying tickets for us to ride the Bullet train,
I made some errors. I didn't quite buy the right
train tickets initially. And everybody in Japan, whether they spoke

(06:22):
English or not, they stopped to help, like.

Speaker 3 (06:25):
Here, go over here, take care of this.

Speaker 1 (06:27):
You know.

Speaker 3 (06:27):
It was Everyone was lovely.

Speaker 4 (06:29):
The only thing that I would say irritated me was
we went to both Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We did in
Nagasaki the tour of the museum, we did the Peace
Memorial Park, which is beautiful, and I noticed then I.

Speaker 3 (06:48):
Was like, Okay, our tour guides are kind.

Speaker 4 (06:50):
Of glossing over why the bomb was dropped.

Speaker 5 (06:55):
Right.

Speaker 4 (06:55):
Everything focuses very much on the aftermath of the nuclear
weapons that were used in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and they
sort of don't mentioned why we were at war with
them in the first place. They just got a yeah,
but the purpose of those museums and those monuments is
to share the horrors of nuclear warfare. And the horrors

(07:19):
are significant, they are They're terrible. I mean, it's incredible
to see the devastation that those nuclear weapons unleashed. But
what's even more incredible is how both Hiroshima and Nagasaki
are now just thriving cities, and they're beautiful, and they've

(07:39):
got these beautiful peace parks that are dedicated solely to
telling people not to engage in nuclear war and they're
gorgeous and lovely, and there's a lot of tradition and
history there, and there's a lot of really devastating stories.
But by the time we got we went to Nagasaki
first and then we went to Hiroshima, and by the
time we got to the Hereshima Museum, I walk through

(08:02):
the doors of the Hiroshima Museum. First of all, it
is so crowded, there's so many people in there, and
all it was was pictures of burned people and horrific
stories of what the people who didn't die immediately then
they suffered before that. I mean, it was just and
I have never walked through a museum faster in my
life than that. At that point, I was like, I'm done.

(08:24):
I'm absolutely finished. I can't do this anymore. I don't
want to hear any more about nuclear war, and I
certainly don't want to hear it from people who are
glossing over why we were at war in the first place.
That was my only irritation, just sort of you know
that that bothered me a little bit.

Speaker 3 (08:41):
I understand why.

Speaker 4 (08:42):
One of the best museums we went to, and I
promised I was going to do the blog and then
talk about this, but now I'm thinking about stuff.

Speaker 3 (08:47):
One of the best museums that we went to was
the Kamakazi Museum.

Speaker 4 (08:51):
And that museum feels like it is for the Japanese
people more than any of the other museums that we went.

Speaker 3 (08:58):
To, if it felt very person First of all.

Speaker 4 (09:01):
You're not allowed to take pictures inside the Kamakazi Museum
because lining the walls of the Kamakazi Museum were all
of the photographs of the one thousand and sixty six
young men who were sent to their death, average age
twenty one years old.

Speaker 3 (09:15):
The part that got me about that.

Speaker 4 (09:16):
Museum and the part that really provided kind of a
window into the souls of those young men who were
fighting is they had these displays where you could pull
up the last letters that they wrote to their parents
or their last Will and Testament where they were talking
about where their few belongings should go.

Speaker 3 (09:35):
And the thing that.

Speaker 4 (09:37):
Came through in all of that was the sense of
honor that these young men felt to their country, to
the Emperor, and that they really believed that they were
on the right side of God, right. I mean, it's
not a religious war. It's different than what's happening in
the Middle East. But to understand so many of the
letters said things like, dear mother, I should have been

(09:59):
a better son, but you can be proud of me
now because I'm going to take down the American enemy.
I'm going to sink a battleship or whatever, and now
you can know that I died with honor and dignity.
And it was a fascinating look into those young men
and a fascinating way to understand the mentality of the

(10:21):
people that were fighting a war that I don't think
they ever really rationally thought they should have been able
to win, and yet they waged it anyway. So it
was absolutely fantastic. This Texter said, I bet the USA
paid for all.

Speaker 3 (10:38):
Those new buildings.

Speaker 4 (10:39):
Here's the kicker, you guys, Japan was rebuilt by the Japanese.
When I have and by the way, if you don't
follow me on social media, I have so many pictures.

Speaker 3 (10:49):
I did a giant photo dump.

Speaker 4 (10:50):
The only thing I haven't done yet is the last
day in Tokyo, just because I've been so tired, I
haven't been able to sit down and function.

Speaker 6 (10:58):
And the.

Speaker 4 (11:01):
Bomb in Nagasaki knocked about six feet.

Speaker 3 (11:04):
Of dirt, just evaporated it.

Speaker 4 (11:07):
Right where the bomb dropped, there was a huge basically
five feet of earth was destroyed, and in order to
deal with the contaminated earth, the Japanese people by the wheelbarrow,
brought in earth that was uncontaminated to cover up that
earth so they could reinhabit the area faster. And now
these are thriving, beautiful cities, na not as beautiful as

(11:31):
the older cities. One thing that I found very depressing
about Japan overall is that much of their historical stuff
is actually stuff that has been rebuilt because between fire
the occupation by China of Japan, something that the Japanese
still feel a great deal of shame of it. Happened
in the beginning of the twentieth century. They were occupied

(11:54):
for thirty years. In a thousands and thousands of years history,
that was the only time they've ever been occupied. And
because of the occupation, the Chinese came in and tried
to essentially raise like our aze, not our aisee. They
attempted to destroy Japanese history. So they destroyed a lot

(12:14):
of stuff, and the Japanese, using historical records, went back
and rebuilt everything painstakingly. But a lot of the historical stuff,
and I'm putting air quotes around that is actually something
that has been built fairly recently. Even if it was
rebuilt using historical standards, it's just that was their way
of reclaiming their heritage. But also because of the nature

(12:36):
of the buildings they are all wood. There have been
massive fires that have annihilated huge parts of Japan. So
it was very interesting when you did see something that
was would be considered ancient by our standards.

Speaker 3 (12:46):
It was kind of unique. We saw a lot of.

Speaker 4 (12:49):
Stuff that it was you know, this is where this was.
It was burned down in nineteen twenty nine and it
was rebuilt or it was destroyed World War two and
it was rebuilt, and so it was. It was fascinating.
I really thoroughly enjoyed it. I love the food.

Speaker 3 (13:03):
I heard Dragon say it wasn't much of a fish guy.
What a shame? Do you like sushi? A rod are?
Are you a seafood guy at all?

Speaker 7 (13:10):
Well, fish as a whole? Not really right.

Speaker 5 (13:14):
I am slowly on the good kind, coming a little
around on sushi. I've had some good stuff recently, sushi overall.

Speaker 4 (13:22):
Now, we got sushi in the fish market in Tokyo,
which is the old fish market that all the tourists
go to now, and it's just ile after isle of
people selling fish and selling sushi and selling stuff like that.

Speaker 3 (13:34):
The sushi that we got there, the fish just.

Speaker 4 (13:38):
Melts in your mouth. You don't even have to chew it.
It was unbelievably good. The food was amazing. It was incredible.
And know to this person, Mandy, how many times did
you guys yell bonsai?

Speaker 3 (13:48):
We did not do that. I'm telling you. The Kama
Kazi Museum was like.

Speaker 4 (13:51):
Sacred ground, and it felt that way my favorite thing
we visited. And then I swear I'm gonna do the
blog and I will stop talking about this right now,
because obviously we have big things to talk about. My
favorite thing that we went to was in Kochi. We
did not have a planned excursion, but Chuck found this
Buddhist temple that had been.

Speaker 3 (14:10):
There for a very long time and it looked.

Speaker 4 (14:11):
Lovely, and we went to it and it was stunningly beautiful,
one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen in
my life.

Speaker 3 (14:19):
And I could have been there for days.

Speaker 4 (14:21):
I could have just walked around those grounds for absolute days.
We met some of the young Buddhist monks, female had
to chat with her about, you know.

Speaker 3 (14:30):
Being a Buddhist monk.

Speaker 4 (14:31):
It was just a really incredible and different experience than
anything I've experienced before. And I would absolutely go back
to Japan in a New York minute. I would absolutely
go back to Korea. I just would not do so
in the summer because good gravy.

Speaker 3 (14:47):
You guys, Holy cow, was it hot and humid.

Speaker 4 (14:52):
I mean the kind of hot and humid that's just debilitating,
you know, where you're just like, oh, you're out in
it for like five hours, You're like, oh, I have
to just lie down. But again, absolutely beautiful, absolutely beautiful. Mandy,
I'm six five and two forty. Will I fit into
anything in Japan? I will tell you some of the

(15:13):
cabs were challenging for Chuck.

Speaker 3 (15:16):
But the good news is is that in most.

Speaker 4 (15:19):
Cities they have like minivan cabs, so there was no
problem there. But going into anything like we went to
a Samurai village that.

Speaker 3 (15:28):
Was very old.

Speaker 4 (15:29):
You have to basically bend in half to get through
the doorway, like the doors are maybe five ten maybe.
So yeah, there was parts that it was a little challenging,
big guy, but yes, you can fit in and like
traveling on the bullet train or things like that, very comfortable.
Chuck had no problem with that. Now, let me do
the blog. Find the blog by going to mandy'sblog dot com.

(15:53):
Look at the latest post section. Then look for the
headline that says six twenty five blog I leave the
country for five minutes and all hell break close. Click
on that and here are the headlines you will find.

Speaker 2 (16:03):
Within I's office.

Speaker 5 (16:05):
Half of American all with ships and clipments at Corna
Press play.

Speaker 4 (16:09):
Today on the blog Holy smokes you guys, the Iranians
move something out of Foord, Oh before the attacks. Speaking
of civility, Colorado Pet Patrol is being sued.

Speaker 3 (16:20):
The Scrimmetti decision is a big deal.

Speaker 4 (16:22):
Barry Morphew is indicted in the death of his wife.
Iran says it will close the straight Afore moves. Doug
Co votes on home rule tomorrow. CPR is suing to
keep your tax money. Denver City workers not happy about merit.
Taco Trump seems pretty stupid. Now, good guys with a
car and a gun prevent a mass shooting Florida versus

(16:42):
New York and it.

Speaker 3 (16:43):
Isn't even close.

Speaker 4 (16:44):
GOP members are asking Colorado to kick illegals off Medicaid.
Bucky's Buck's the low pay trend. Iran is salty about
the attack. The snack wrap is back. Giant weddings are dumb,
an overreaction in high school sports. A de transitioner sounds
the alarm. I tried so hard to get Cue to

(17:05):
do this. Why people hate Israel explained. Those are the
headlines on the blog at mandy'sblog dot com tech to
correct a winner. Indeed, obviously, the big story of the
day is that the over the weekend, Donald Trump and

(17:25):
I have the video of Chuck Schumer on the blog today.
Remember when everybody was posting those taco Trump means remember
how funny they were to if you miss them, let me.

Speaker 3 (17:36):
Explain Taco Trump, which.

Speaker 4 (17:40):
Means Trump always chickens out, was put forth by the
Democrats trying to make the point that, oh.

Speaker 3 (17:48):
Donald Trump's big talk, he doesn't actually.

Speaker 4 (17:50):
Do anything, which is super ironic considering that their dear
leader Obama never did a damn thing about his red
lines in Syria. I did not say something about reading
the brog. I did not develop a slight Asian accent. Texter,
stop it, stop it right now. So the Democrats have

(18:10):
been running with his Taco Trump thing. And I'll play
the audio when we get back of Chuck Schumer because
this says not age twelve, not at all. We'll do
that after this. We're dropping bombs on people. So yesterday
was it yesterday?

Speaker 7 (18:29):
You guys?

Speaker 3 (18:30):
All my days are running together. I haven't slept. I'm
just it's all a big books Yesterdaday. Saturday. Okay, so
Saturday we are seeing.

Speaker 4 (18:39):
The updates like, hey, we've bombed the nuclear facilities in Iran,
and I'm like, I'm sorry, what what did I miss?
Because I didn't really pay attention to the news while
we were gone, And what I mean, so here's the
situation right now, and I just want to lay this
out so you understand how I feel about it. Number One,

(19:00):
I am super glad that Iran's nuclear program has been
pushed back. I don't think that there is enough evidence
to say that we destroyed those bases. We do know
that sixteen trucks went into the four to Zho base
before the attacks and then went back out loaded with

(19:21):
something and they went somewhere else, And apparently we let
them do this because we wanted to know where the
somewhere else was. Now there's no doubt in my mind
that Israel knows now where the somewhere else is. Israel's
intelligence community has been slowly doing things to let Iran
know that there is nothing, nothing that Iran does that

(19:44):
Israel doesn't know about, and I think it's really fascinating
to watch them use that psychological flex on Iran. Now,
when I heard this, I had the same feeling that
I have whenever we start to engage militarily, and that is,
once again, we're potentially marching into war without a declaration

(20:05):
of war from Congress. And I know it's such an
arcane thing to care about the Constitution I know it's
so like seventeen ninety one to worry about the Constitution,
but here I am over here because I don't like
it when Democrat presidents do it. I don't like it
when Republican presidents do it. Now I understand why, though,
And this is my conflicted self right now, because I'm

(20:27):
super glad those nuclear sites were bombed. Straight up, I'm
incredibly happy about that. I think the world is safer
today because of it. So I want to be clear
about that. I also want to be clear about the
fact that this operation was incredibly impressive, and it was
incredibly impressive because, first of all, apparently no leaks that

(20:49):
we can determine. Now one can speculate that perhaps we
didn't have any leaks because no Democrats were looped in
on the attack plans. And I hate to say that,
I truly do, but we have far too many people
in Washington, d C. In powerful positions that care more
about politics than they care about the safety and security
of the United States of America. And I am one

(21:10):
of those people that believes if Iran managed to get
nuclear weapons, and they're well on their way to doing that,
and they can build an intercontinental ballistic missile. They're going
to aim it at the United States of America.

Speaker 3 (21:23):
That's the goal. They don't chant death to.

Speaker 4 (21:26):
America for fun, I mean, and they've been doing that
for fifty years now. I'm old enough to remember the
Iranian hostage crisis very clearly. As a matter of fact,
I'm old enough to remember Iran sponsoring the terrorists who
blew up a bunch of.

Speaker 3 (21:45):
Soldiers in Beirut.

Speaker 4 (21:47):
I'm old enough to remember embassies being bombed all at
the host of Iran. And the reality is is that
our foreign policy for decades now has sucked when it
comes to Iran, and they've been lulled into apparently a
false sense of security that they could do whatever they
wanted in the United States wouldn't.

Speaker 3 (22:04):
Do anything back.

Speaker 4 (22:06):
What I found really interesting over the past couple of
days is to watch people sort of line up in
their camps. And this is a very nuanced.

Speaker 3 (22:16):
Situation, right.

Speaker 4 (22:17):
This is not a this is not a black and
white like choose your side and you're going to be
right and I'm going to be wrong situation Because to
act as if the Iranians were not on their way
to making a nuclear weapon, you have to literally be just.

Speaker 3 (22:30):
Stupid to hold that opinion.

Speaker 4 (22:34):
You have to be dumb, You have to be willfully ignorant,
you have to be a person so invested in hating
the Republican Party in Donald Trump that you're incapable of
rational thought when it comes to what they had already
done and what they were trying to do. You don't
very civilian nuclear facilities three hundred feet into a mountain.

Speaker 3 (23:00):
You don't do that.

Speaker 4 (23:02):
You don't enrich uranium past sixty percent, which they've done.
The amount of enrichment needed for nuclear energy is far
far lower than that. You don't do the things that
they have done to hide from the United Nations and
the IAEA.

Speaker 3 (23:18):
You don't do all of.

Speaker 4 (23:19):
The things that they've done to obfuscate what they've actually
done in their program unless you're trying to build a
nuclear weapon.

Speaker 3 (23:26):
And the biggest dumbest.

Speaker 4 (23:28):
Argument that I've heard is if Israel can have a
nuclear weapon, why can't Iran. Well, for the most part,
Israel isn't run by crazy people. Nobody in Israel's government
is running around chanting death to America.

Speaker 3 (23:43):
And if you don't think.

Speaker 4 (23:44):
That the Iranians would love to use a nuclear weapon
on parts of Israel.

Speaker 3 (23:48):
You are insane.

Speaker 4 (23:51):
The thing I truly trying to figure out, and this
is one of those unknowns that I simply don't have
enough information to figure out exactly what this regime's mentality is.
You know, we always had with the Soviet Union a
mutually assured destruction kind of deterrent, right because we knew
if we fired missiles at them, they were gonna fire

(24:13):
missiles back at us, and we were just gonna all
blow up in a giant conflagration.

Speaker 8 (24:18):
But with the.

Speaker 3 (24:19):
Iranians, uh, they think they're doing this for God.

Speaker 4 (24:24):
They think they're doing this so they can build an
Islamic caliphate. That's what they're wanting to do. This is
religiously motivated. So are they irrationally stupid or are they
Are they delusional about what their capabilities are compared to
the enemies that they face. I kind of think so,
and that that causes me worry. But and I'm telling you,

(24:49):
I got a very conflicted opinion about all this stuff.
But the fact that they launched a few missiles at
our military basis, I mean just a few, a handful,
when they launched two hundred at Israel.

Speaker 3 (25:04):
Leads me to believe that their retaliation.

Speaker 4 (25:06):
Is more for show for their own people than it
is actually trying to start something with the United States
of America. What remains to be seen is what kind
of negotiating can happen now, and whether or not that
negotiation means anything. AARN clearly continued to work on their
Iranian nuclear program while the Obama deal was going was
in force. Clearly, I mean, there's no doubt about it.

(25:30):
By the way, if you need any confirmation that the
Iranians were actually building nuclear weapons, the Medvedev from Russia
tweeted out, Now we could be open about the fact
that nuclear weapons are the goal, and we've got a
bunch of people willing to give the Iranians nuclear weapons.
Except if that's the case, why haven't you given to
them already?

Speaker 3 (25:51):
Maybe because they know that.

Speaker 4 (25:53):
After the molas take down America, they're coming after the
next white people next.

Speaker 3 (25:56):
And guess what those.

Speaker 4 (25:57):
White people might be in Russia anyway, Hey, Mandy, I uh,
the threshold.

Speaker 3 (26:03):
Is one hundred percent.

Speaker 4 (26:04):
They say, once you get to sixty, it's easy to
get to one hundred, and they're saying that Iran was
out to sixty. It's over sixty percent in they're enriched uranium.
And by the way, they can have centrifugeons right now
built in various places all over Iran that can continue
to enrich that same material. So I'm not certain that
we stopped their nuclear ambitions, but I certainly hope we slowed.

Speaker 3 (26:27):
Them down anyway.

Speaker 4 (26:31):
So mandy, Iran would blow up the entire Middle East
if they thought it would eliminate Israel, not just parts.
The only problem is is that for them is that
the Alaxa Mosque is in the middle of Jerusalem, and
it is prominent and huge in the middle of Jerusalem,
and I think that gives them pause as at least

(26:52):
as it pertains to Jerusalem, but other parts of Israel.
If youel like or fair game, we'll be right back now.
There's a couple of things we have to pay tention
to you. Right now in Doha, Cutter, there are missiles
coming in they've been shot down by the missile defense systems,
and a base.

Speaker 3 (27:09):
In trying to see where that is.

Speaker 4 (27:14):
Iran's doing a lot of showy things to show how
tough they are. A lot of showy things. The biggest
of the showy things is that they are saying they're
going to close the Strait of hor Moves, which is
a huge problem for the oil market.

Speaker 3 (27:31):
So, uh, the oil market.

Speaker 4 (27:33):
About twenty percent of the oil in the Middle East
comes through the Strait of Hormos, and that would be
a significant disruption. I should say no, about twenty percent
of the oil in the world comes through the Strait
of horm Moves, to be clear, and.

Speaker 3 (27:46):
That could be a big deal.

Speaker 4 (27:48):
But now Fox News is reporting oil is down seven
and a half amid Iran's missile attack on the US
basin cutter. The markets, by the way, are up right now.
They're up like two hundred points after being down earlier
in the day. I think everybody's like, what are we doing?
I don't know, trying to make it make sense any

(28:11):
Rod and I did just talk about something on the
break that I think is significant and serious, and I'm
going to say it to this audience, not because I'm
trying to scare people, but because if you are a
concealed carry permit holder and you are well practiced and
well trained, you need to be carrying right now. Because
I truly believe that before we know it, we're going

(28:32):
to have some kind of incident on American soil. And
it's not going to be missiles, it's not going to
be hijacked planes. It's going to be a person or
people trying to reac havoc. And the more good Americans
that are armed and trained, the better off we will
all be.

Speaker 3 (28:52):
I mean, I hope it doesn't happen here. I hope
it doesn't happen anywhere.

Speaker 4 (28:56):
I certainly don't want Americans to be hurt because of this.
But the reality is is that dropping bombs on a
foreign nation is an.

Speaker 3 (29:04):
Act of war, and we have over.

Speaker 4 (29:08):
The last few years we know this allowed thousands of
young Middle Eastern men to walk across the southern border
unvetted by the Biden administration, remarkably after being told by
the way remember that nothing could be done without congressional action.
That's pretty much stopped under the Trump administration, somehow miraculously.

Speaker 3 (29:29):
So it's like a miracle.

Speaker 4 (29:32):
So the reality is we all have to be paying
attention where we are. We have to be I head
on a swivel, for lack of a vetter way to
put it. And again, I don't want something to happen,
but we're engaged with people who are willing to die
for their cause and they don't care how many people
or hopefully they try to take out as many people

(29:53):
as they can. Mandy, do you really think the public
should be firing at people that they think are going
to cause terrorism?

Speaker 3 (29:59):
That's what I said at all.

Speaker 4 (30:01):
But if you're in a situation where someone is actively
shooting at someone else, wouldn't you rather be able to
defend yourself? And that's why I say, if you're a
concealed carry permit holder and you regularly train, then please,
I'd much rather be around somebody like that than be
completely incapable of defending myself or my family. So, no,

(30:23):
you don't go shooting at people that might cause Terra's stupid.

Speaker 3 (30:26):
That's a dumb thing to say, Texter.

Speaker 4 (30:29):
It's idiotic to even extrapolate that from what I just said.
That's that kind of comment right there. This is what
irritates me about this society is like people are incapable
of using any kind of critical thinking to figure out
what I'm saying, which is, if you find yourself in
a situation where someone is shooting at other people, just

(30:50):
try and defend yourself.

Speaker 3 (30:52):
Now, I'm annoyed, completely annoyed Mandy.

Speaker 4 (30:56):
Stephen Firestone says, if I were Israel, I'd plan a
small nuke in Iran and make it look like they
blew themselves up. Steve, I bet they're working on that
very thing right now. I mean it's not something they
could put them all in cell phones. They've done that
successfully before, but not with news.

Speaker 1 (31:14):
accident and injury lawyers.

Speaker 2 (31:18):
Well, no, it's Mandy Connell and KA ninety one am, stay.

Speaker 3 (31:31):
And the nicety us through three Mandy.

Speaker 2 (31:36):
Donald Key sad thing.

Speaker 3 (31:40):
Welcome, Welcome, Welcome.

Speaker 4 (31:41):
To the second hour of the show, or should I
say now Canishia. I love the way the Japanese people
sing the songs with certain words. Very friendly mice. You
a somebody just hit the text line and by the
way back from a two and a half week vacation
to Korea, to South Korea and Japan.

Speaker 3 (31:58):
Outstanding.

Speaker 4 (32:00):
But if you have questions about it, you can send
them to me and I will intersperse them throughout the show,
as I'm about to do now.

Speaker 3 (32:05):
Before we get back to the biggest story of the day,
which is of.

Speaker 4 (32:08):
Course the bombing of Iran, and now Iran is firing
back missiles at bases and cutters.

Speaker 3 (32:16):
So far, no real issues have.

Speaker 4 (32:20):
Been reported, some damage, but most of its being intercepted
by missile defense systems. Why missile defense systems are a
real game changer, aren't they? Can we all take a
moment and be grateful for that. In talking to my
nephew in Israel, they are pretty much living in their
bomb shelters right now, obviously, And he if you've just

(32:44):
joined us for the first time. My nephews served in
the IDF for about twenty years, had just retired the
year before October seventh happened.

Speaker 3 (32:52):
They pulled him back in. He is no longer in
the middle of the fight.

Speaker 4 (32:55):
He is now training other soldiers, but he's still in
and his family and he lived in Tel Aviv, and
he said, yeah, just everybody Israel's just living in their
bomb shelters right now, and that's just life. And as
I was lying in bed last night and I was
thinking about all this, and I said my little prayer

(33:16):
of gratitude, I was like, you know, God, I'm sitting
here in the United States of America, and I've got
to figure out what I'm gonna say to my audience tomorrow,
and we've got to talk about the potential downsides and
the possibility of war and all of these things. But
the reality is is that tonight, in my bed, as
I try to go to sleep, I'm not the least
bit worried about someone dropping a bomb on my head.

(33:38):
And the people of Israel don't get that luxury ever.
So you know, in the conversations that I've had with him,
he said, it's not going to stop until the Iranian
regime falls.

Speaker 3 (33:50):
Interesting news about that.

Speaker 4 (33:52):
The Sun of the Shaw of Iran is posting messages
on x and other forums essentially saying, hey.

Speaker 3 (34:00):
We're ready.

Speaker 4 (34:01):
We're ready to step back in to do the transitional
government so the Iranian people can elect their next leadership.

Speaker 3 (34:07):
But we're ready.

Speaker 4 (34:08):
We're not gonna let Aron fall into chaos. We are
going to come up and we are going to We're
gonna take care of things now. The Shaw's regime, of course,
was not perfect, but it would be wonderful if we
had somebody that did not actively hate America leading Iran again.
That would be lovely, really lovely. So we're gonna be

(34:29):
watching that. Mandy, did you have a chance to check
out any of the vending machines walking around Japan. I
heard they're pretty crazy. Hey want a bowl of ramen?
This vending machine can give it to you. And I'm
not even kidding, And I don't mean a packet of ramen.
I mean a prepared bowl of ramen out of a
vending machine. There are certain things of Japan that they

(34:49):
are absolutely kicking our butts. On public toilets all have
the days the day seats. They have a little button
when you're in the public bathroom.

Speaker 3 (34:57):
You can press it and it makes noise so you
can do your business and the noise will cover up
your business.

Speaker 4 (35:03):
That is amazing. The whole bullet ring thing. Loved it,
absolutely loved it. What else did I love? The orderliness,
no garbage, no trash in the streets of Japan because
people just don't do that.

Speaker 3 (35:19):
That's not how they do things in Japan.

Speaker 4 (35:22):
I love their deep sense of honor and respect and
how deeply held those beliefs are.

Speaker 3 (35:30):
Love that.

Speaker 4 (35:31):
Yeah, I didn't get anything out of the vending machines
because we were always on the move and we found
some really cool little restaurants and like joints to eat
in as they say it was fantastic.

Speaker 3 (35:41):
Manby, did you have a chance.

Speaker 4 (35:43):
We'll wait a minute, wrong, one, one more. Let's see here, Mandy,
did you have wygu and cost? My son was in
Tokyo and December, and yeah, it's cheaper than Denver. The
food in Japan is way cheaper than in Denver or
in Colorado. I mean, you could legit get like a
really really good meal for like five bucks American, you know,

(36:06):
And it really makes you realize whenever I travel out
of the United States, I realize how much like garbage
food is served to us on a regular basis. And
don't get me wrong, they have plenty of garbage food
in Japan and South Korea.

Speaker 3 (36:20):
They've got fast food.

Speaker 4 (36:21):
They have the most incredible selection of snacks that you've
ever seen in your life. But the people are all
still very thin for the most part, at least in
the cities, because everybody.

Speaker 3 (36:32):
Walks Mandy, Lol. Now tell us about the bombs in Ukraine.
I mean, what do you want me to say about that.

Speaker 4 (36:44):
I'm not a super big fan of the bombs in
Ukraine either, at least the ones that America's involved in.
Isn't it amazing? Someone pointed this out on Twitter, and
I thought it was kind of funny. Not funny, haha,
just kind of funny. They said, two months ago the
streets were full of Ukrainian flags, and then six weeks
ago the streets are full of Palestinian flags, and then

(37:07):
two weeks ago the streets are full of some other
kind of flag, and now they're full of Iranian flags.

Speaker 3 (37:11):
You guys, if anyone you.

Speaker 4 (37:13):
Know is crying for Iran, please remind them that this
is a regime that regularly kills people who protests against them,
still kills gay people for just being gay. It beats
women in the streets for not wearing the heat job.
This is a terrible regime, absolutely terrible. This is one

(37:36):
of the regimes around the world that when I hear
people in the United States, and remember when Barack Obama said,
and I'm paraphrasing here because I didn't look it up
because I don't care that much about what he said,
but I'm just paraphrasing what he said. He said, of course,
American is an exceptional you know, except we believe we're exceptional,
just like Greece believes they're exceptional. Essentially saying that our
American exceptionalism is just a figment of our imagination that

(37:58):
we've created to make ourselves feel good. What the harsh,
cold reality is is that some cultures are better than others.
And though our culture is far from perfect, I would
argue that, you know, you could sit here and pick
apart American culture and the way we live and the
fat that we're too fat, and we watch too much porn,

(38:20):
and you know, maybe we drink and we smoke too
much pot like I mean, there's a lot of things
that are not perfect about American society. But the reality
is is that when you compare it to a society
where there is a there are governmental goons walking around
smacking women with sticks because they don't adhere to the
right dress code, or a place where if you do

(38:43):
speak out against the regime, you're going to be murdered
and your body's going to be dropped on your parents'
doorstep with a note.

Speaker 3 (38:51):
Our culture is superior to that, And I have no
problem saying that.

Speaker 4 (38:57):
And I can't imagine any of these idiots that are
out there with their don't bom iran signs.

Speaker 3 (39:03):
Hands off Iran. I saw a sign it set.

Speaker 4 (39:06):
A hands off iran can you imagine if that same
protester were in Iran right now and he walked around
with a protest sign that said down with Kamani, what
do you think would.

Speaker 3 (39:17):
Happen to him?

Speaker 4 (39:19):
And God forbid, it's a woman walking around like that
kind of moronic idiocy. The notion that you can support
a Middle Eastern country and still be a feminist is insane,
absolutely nuts.

Speaker 3 (39:31):
Now some are better than others, but.

Speaker 4 (39:34):
There's a big reason that I do not want to
darken the doorstep of any country in the Middle East.
And it's not because I think that I would be
attacked or whatever. It's because I'm not giving a dime
to people who think I'm a second class citizen because
of my gender. And I don't understand these people who
have aligned themselves with people who behave in this fashion.

(39:56):
It's truly shocking to me, completely covered in black, even
heads and faces except for eyeslets me wearing shorts and
a T shirt that from a Texter.

Speaker 3 (40:08):
Mandy.

Speaker 4 (40:08):
Did you see the tweet that the La Sheriff's Department
put out in support and Iran and the victims over there?

Speaker 3 (40:14):
Yes? I did, Yes, I did.

Speaker 4 (40:18):
I I just like who's in charge of that social
media account and what in the world is going on
in their heads?

Speaker 3 (40:27):
Why would you align yourself with those dictatory Well, you
know what it is. This is what I've determined to
be the situation.

Speaker 4 (40:37):
There is a certain segment of the hard left in
this country, and even this is definitely drifted into the
more allegedly.

Speaker 3 (40:45):
Moderate Democrats in this country.

Speaker 4 (40:48):
They have convinced themselves that living in America is the
same as living in Iran. They have in order to
justify their blind hatred of anything that they disagree with,
and in order to justify their blind hatred of people
that disagree with them, they have to convince themselves as
they take to social media to call, you know, Donald

(41:12):
Trump everything that a child of God. They're going to
tell you that it's just as bad for women here
in the United States as it is for women in Iran.
And they're going to do it while they're walking around
wearing a hat looked shaped like a vagina that they
k needed for the Women's March. But they're just now
getting to try out again and they're pretty excited about that.

(41:32):
And they've created this this bubble where they I think
they really believe that they live in a world where
if you came out as gay, someone is going to
throw you off a building. And then if you don't
dress in a handsmaid's tail outfit, that somehow you're going
to be ordered to marry someone.

Speaker 3 (41:53):
And and you know, be their wife.

Speaker 6 (41:55):
I don't know.

Speaker 3 (41:56):
I can't even wrap my head around this.

Speaker 4 (41:58):
I shared a video on x the other day that
I saw, and it's of a young girl maybe twelve,
maybe eleven or twelve in some you know, backward ass
culture and she was being quote married off to an
old dude, and she's she's like begging, she's crying, she's screaming,

(42:19):
she's clinging to her father. He's shoving around the back
of a donkey so she can be made a child bride.
Our system is better than that. We are culturally superior
to those cultures. And if they're so great, then why
are their nations so backwards?

Speaker 3 (42:40):
Why don't they have the.

Speaker 4 (42:42):
Sort of economic development that we have in the United
States or in other western countries. The only reason they
have anything is because they have oil. That's the only reason.
So yeah, I just I will maintain that our culture
is superior. It is not perfect, it is flawed, but

(43:04):
it is better than that. So anyone I see aligning
themselves with Iran, I just have to think to me, like,
maybe they're developmentally delayed, but I don't want a disparage
developmental delay per people, right, And maybe how do you
get to that point where you walk around with a
sign that says hands off Iran? What has to happen

(43:25):
to you as an individual to make you align yourself
with that regime. Now, there's quite a different way to
look at this, and that is there are people in
this country and around the world that are pure pacifists
and they don't believe in anymore.

Speaker 3 (43:40):
And I understand that, and I support that in theory.
But those people get to.

Speaker 4 (43:44):
Exist in that sphere because other people are willing to
go to war on their behalf. It's easy to be
a pacifist when you're standing behind the United States military.

Speaker 3 (43:56):
An interesting development in Japan.

Speaker 4 (43:57):
Actually, Japan just canceled a meeting with the Trump administration
because the Trump administration is demanding that they raised their
defense spending to three point five percent of their GDP. Now,
Japan has had a really bad run economically because they overspent,

(44:20):
their government overspent, and it strangled their economy. That you know,
in the eighties and nineties, we were all sure that
Japan was going to take over the world.

Speaker 7 (44:29):
Remember that. That's so cute.

Speaker 4 (44:31):
I saw stapp the other day and I checked it
to make sure it was accurate. Poland, the country of Poland.
Their GDP is about to be larger than Japan's. You
know why because as Japan has strangled their own economy
with government spending and high taxes and things of that nature,
Poland has gone in the opposite direction and embrace freedom,
and embraced capitalism and embraced free markets and the free economy.

Speaker 3 (44:56):
And now they're about to surpass Japan.

Speaker 4 (44:57):
So Japan can't really afford to spend three point five
percent of GDP on their defense. But additionally, one of
the things I know with great certainty after visiting there
is that Japan as a nation is committed to pacifism.
They're committed to never being in war again. When you
see a young Japanese person or a young even Korean person,

(45:22):
when they take pictures, in every picture.

Speaker 3 (45:24):
They're flashing a peace sign. That's not just you know,
a no big deal thing. They mean it.

Speaker 4 (45:33):
So it's it's fantastic to sort of see how that
all bears out. But if I'm Japan and I'm next
to China, I'm spending a little more on my defense,
and it could all be defensive stuff, right. I mean,
you could shore up your own defenses without necessarily having
offensive weapons.

Speaker 3 (45:52):
So we'll see how that plays out.

Speaker 4 (45:54):
Mandy, I always tell my kids the US is not
superior because we're better. We're superior because we bring capitalism,
which can lift people out of poverty. The United States
has lifted more people out of poverty than any other
country in the world. I would take that one step further.
It's about more than our system of economics. It's about
the core belief that you have the right to self determined,

(46:19):
that you should have the ability to make good decisions
and work hard and succeed without someone else getting in
your way. It's about the freedom to worship who you
want to worship, as long as you don't bother anybody else.
I'm happy that there are Muslims here who can go
to a mosque and practice their faith as long as

(46:41):
they're not preaching death to America. I'm happy that all
they have that opportunity. Christians don't have that opportunity in Iran.
There's no Baptist churches in Iran, and as a matter
of fact, since the creation of Israel, the number of
Christian churches has dropped dramatically in the Middle East as
they've shoved other religions out. There's so much about us

(47:04):
that makes our country far superior to the people that
we're fighting right now. Mady I thought Japan was forbidden
by treaty from having armed forces. They do have defense forces,
and I don't know you're right about that, but there
have been some changes over the years.

Speaker 3 (47:23):
So this person, why is Japan so for peace?

Speaker 8 (47:26):
Now?

Speaker 2 (47:26):
What changed?

Speaker 4 (47:27):
After the Kamakazis they were absolutely annihilated and Nagasaki and
Hiroshima annihilated.

Speaker 3 (47:34):
People were vaporized.

Speaker 4 (47:36):
You can still see the shadows of the bodies on
some of the buildings in those cities. They absolutely were
brought to their knees, and they were brought to their knees.
They surrendered, something that we haven't ever seen in the
Middle East.

Speaker 8 (47:52):
Right.

Speaker 4 (47:54):
So it's Japan is very much committed because they were
on the receiving end of the worst sort of warfare
that has ever been deployed in the world, and they
take it Seriously, It's not just lip service. It is
deeply embedded in their culture and in their sense of
honor and duty. Their sense of honor and duty tells

(48:16):
them that it is their honor and duty to tell
the rest of the world that nuclear weapons are terrible. Again,
I'm a little annoyed they kind of glossed over why
they were dropped in the first place. But whatever, it's fine, Mandy,
Ariana Grande is depending impeachment for not allowing Iran to
have a nuclear weapon, y'all if you get your political
advice from Ariana Grande.

Speaker 7 (48:37):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (48:38):
The sad thing is is that there's a lot of
young people who probably do Mandy, ha ha.

Speaker 4 (48:44):
I just googled my previous question to you and to
hear the noises in Japanese public toilets. Apparently, the device
is known as a sound Princess and is used primarily
in women's restrooms to avoid embarrassment among the women. I
guess the Japanese guys really don't care about the sounds
that they make. That from Andy, I don't know. I
didn't go in any men's bathrooms, Mandy, running any robot

(49:07):
servers in Japan? No, But you know what they have
in the Tokyo airport. They have driverless wheelchairs and anybody
can use them. So if you're super tired and you
got to go to the other end of the airport,
you just PLoP your Hindi down, set your destination and
bada bing bada boom, it's gonna zip you right over there. Uh, Mandy,

(49:31):
I think our culture is superior because I bet their
Mexican food sucks. I bet you're right, Texter. The Mexican
food in Europe is terrible, really terrible. Don't ever get
Mexican food in Europe. Just avoid it, like the play,
because it's not It's not what you think it is
going to be, not at all. Mandy Yara Zokai is

(49:54):
our first generation Iranian American state representative from Colorado fifty two.
Would you want to get her on your show to
discuss her progressive views? She writes about on X You
know what, that's a great idea. I did not know
we had an Iranian American in our legislature. Iran is
an example of countries led by religious zealots. The Democratic
Christians led their Republican leadership to bomb Iran. Yeah, no,

(50:19):
I don't think that's why you guys, I really don't.
I don't think this is about religion. I think this
is about the fact that since the late seventies, Iran
has been a thorn, a deadly thorn in the side
of the United States of America, and has become rapidly
obvious that they were going to get their hands on
a weapon capable of reaching our shores and capable of

(50:41):
fully destroying Israel. And unlike prior presidents who love to
say things like Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon, Donald
Trump was like, yeah, iron can't have a nuclear weapon. Oh,
they don't want to talk, they don't want to play ball. Okay,
We'll take care of it for them.

Speaker 1 (51:00):
This is why.

Speaker 3 (51:00):
Sometimes him not being a politician is I think a
net benefit.

Speaker 4 (51:10):
Even though, as we're going to get into in the
next segment, I feel strongly that the United States has
lost its way when it comes to engaging in casual warfare.
Even if I love the outcome, even if I'm glad
the way it turned out, I I, you know, maybe
this is the gen X in me, but I've been

(51:32):
alive long enough to see how these things generally turn out,
and generally speaking, they're not great for the United States
of America.

Speaker 3 (51:39):
We'll discuss that after this. We're talking about all kinds
of stuff here, lots of you weighing in.

Speaker 4 (51:43):
I want to know from you listening audience via the
text line at five six six nine, Oh, what are
your thoughts on these attacks? I feel a little like
a bad talk show host because I don't have this
like firm opinion, like yeah, don't get me wrong, I'm
firm that I'm happy that those nuclear sites were bombed.

(52:06):
Would I prefer they'd be bombed by someone else?

Speaker 3 (52:08):
Yes, I would.

Speaker 4 (52:11):
I'm not interested in another long entanglement. I think that
any of us who have, you know, remembered back in
the early two thousands, when we were told by Colin
Powell in a big presentation to the UN that Iraq
most certainly had weapons of mass destruction and though they
probably did have gas.

Speaker 3 (52:28):
They didn't have nukes. And yet for twenty years, our money,
our men, our.

Speaker 4 (52:34):
Women were sent into what turned into a really crappy
quagmire that then ended up being turned over to the
very people we.

Speaker 3 (52:43):
Overthrew in the first place.

Speaker 4 (52:45):
So color me skeptical about what happens next now right now?
The quote retaliatory strikes that Iran is doing right now
as we speak, trying to aiming missiles at at Israel
and aiming missiles at Cutter, our military bases and Cutter.
And you just heard Nia's report widely ineffective. So are

(53:07):
they show strikes or are they just the Iranian regime
trying to save face with their people. I don't know,
but if you're the Iranian regime, you have to recognize
that if you don't do something, if you don't have
a successful strike back, it weakens your position domestically even more.

(53:28):
I looked at the BBC yesterday and the BBC is
a left wing news organization, it just is. And I
was looking at their website yesterday and they were talking
to people in Iran. Now amazingly, they didn't talk to
any of the Iranian dissidents who want the regime overthrown.

Speaker 3 (53:45):
They only talk to people who said, oh my gosh,
oh my gosh, this is terrible.

Speaker 4 (53:52):
I can't believe it. We'll fight to the death for
our country. Okay, do whatever you want, Mandy. Iran's leaders
are like a group of insane, homish people who see
technology and progress as evil, like the way the world
used to be and want it to.

Speaker 3 (54:08):
Go back there. I don't necessarily know if I agree
with that. They just want to control the technology.

Speaker 4 (54:17):
It's why they've locked down the Internet, right, I mean,
you cannot get a free and open internet, same way
with China. You can't get to our internet in China.
It just doesn't exist. I mean, I guess you can
if you have a virtual private network and things of
that nature. There are ways to get around it. But
you're average bear, You're average human who doesn't have those
sort of computer skills. I think Iran wants the technology

(54:38):
because they think the technology will assist them in creating
the Islamic caliphate that they believe that they are supposed
to create, where any non believer will have to bow
down to them or pay at tax or be killed.
That is what I think they're trying to do. And
if they can use technology to make that happen, then
they love technology. But unfortunately technology is often used to

(55:03):
gather up people who disagree with that. What's fascinating to
me about Iran is that they've destroyed their economy by
pursuing nuclear weapons. They have for everything we talk about,
you know, sanctions and things of that nature, their economy
should be thriving because they have so much oil, but
it's not. People are struggling and they're starting to get

(55:24):
mad about it. They're starting to realize that the Islamic
Revolution has not paid off, especially younger people, the way
it was supposed to. So we shall see what happens
next there, Mandy, Sometimes the schoolyard bully Iran needs to
be reminded that they're not as badass as they think
they are. That from Bill, I tend to agree with you,

(55:46):
and this is one of those areas where I think
Donald Trump's own what's the word that I'm looking for?
I don't want to disparage Donald Trump when I say
what I'm going to say, so I'm when I choose
my words very carefully. I think Donald Trump understands a bully,
because he can be a bully right kind of It
takes one to know one's situation, and to your point,

(56:09):
I think he understood that maybe this was the time
to stand up and punch the bully in the nose.
And if you're gonna take a shot, you better make
the first one count. Mandy, glad to have the nuclear
sites diminished. Wish we had sold or given the planes
and the bombs to Israel instead of doing it ourselves.
You know, the only problem with that is that the
only plane big enough to move those bombs that were

(56:36):
massive is the B one. And I don't know if
we sell those to anyone simply because of the technology.

Speaker 3 (56:43):
I don't know.

Speaker 4 (56:44):
I'll look on the break though, Mandy, welcome back. Please
don't leave again, Dartutin. I will make no promises about
not leaving again. Mandy, welcome back. In my opinion, the
attacks needed to happen. The Iranian regime has been chanting
death to America for years, about fifty years. We're gonna
do the math, and now because of how many terrorists

(57:05):
have been let in from the previous administration, we need
to be on high alert. Wake up people. I agree absolutely, Mandy.
I agree with bombing just the nuclear sites. Iran has
said they're building bombs and we'll use them. That is
like a crazy person saying they have guns and once
they finish making bullets, they'll go shoot up a grocery store.

(57:27):
Would we not take their guns and dismantle the bullet?

Speaker 6 (57:30):
Yes?

Speaker 4 (57:32):
Yes, this texterter said, I think it had to be
done to prevent Iran from having nuclear weapons, and I
think our bunker busters were the only ones that could
take out that site. So I'm glad that Iran is
now nuke free. I do not think that Iran is
nuke free. I think that Iran moved. We do know,

(57:53):
by the way from satellites that on Thursday, Iran took
sixteen heavy machinery trucks in two the Fodoh site and
took stuff out.

Speaker 3 (58:04):
Was it nuclear material? I don't know.

Speaker 4 (58:08):
We don't know what was on those trucks, but I
believe it was allowed to happen so we could get
information about where they took those trucks.

Speaker 3 (58:19):
So we shall see what happens there. Mandy is a
forty something year old.

Speaker 4 (58:24):
I've been told my entire life that Iran is the
evil doer behind everything, and yet the USA has gone
after all these little wars mucking up the water around
the world. I'm frankly relieved that we're finally going after
the head of the snake. But no boots on the ground,
not from Shared and Boulder.

Speaker 3 (58:40):
I don't think.

Speaker 9 (58:41):
I mean.

Speaker 4 (58:41):
I'm with you, and I am very invested in the
security of Israel because we have family there.

Speaker 3 (58:47):
I've been there. I think it is an.

Speaker 4 (58:49):
Incredibly important piece of real estate for a variety of reasons,
not the least of which is is the cradle of Christianity.
It's the cradle of Judae and that is important, and
I think it matters a lot. And frankly, I don't
trust Arabs.

Speaker 3 (59:08):
Not necessarily.

Speaker 4 (59:08):
I shouldn't say Arabs, I should say Islamis. I apologize
to Arabs who I just lumped in there. I apologize.
I don't trust Islamist to take care of our sacred
Christian sites. Look what they did to the ancient Buddhist
statues in Afghanistan.

Speaker 3 (59:24):
They blew them up.

Speaker 4 (59:26):
I'd rather have people that align with my values taking
care of stuff. But yeah, no boots on the ground, Jared,
I'm with you anyway.

Speaker 3 (59:37):
Let's take a quick time out. A lot of you
are well.

Speaker 4 (59:41):
I'm gonna read this one and then we'll talk about
it when I get back. This text has said I
struggle without a declaration, but smart enough to know the
attack would have failed. Struggle with Obama leaving five hundred
million dollars on Iron's doorstep. But the Israel Persians battles
goes back six thousand years David and Goliath. So how
does one go about ending that kind of history. You

(01:00:01):
don't end the history, but if you can stop the
funder of terrorism, it gets a lot easier to convince
people around the region to finally live in peace. And
I think that's where we're headed. I asked for your
thoughts and you can text them to five six six
nine zero. Many of you have taken me up on
this offer. This from Lefty Tony from Denver, Mandy. Trump's

(01:00:23):
bombing was totally wagged the dog. His big beautiful bill
is very unpopular, and Trump ignored his own intelligence agencies
as well as international observers that say Iran was not
currently trying to.

Speaker 3 (01:00:35):
Build a nuke.

Speaker 4 (01:00:36):
It's also funny how so many people have said they
were voting for Trump to because he wasn't going to
involve the US in any wars. Yet they're cheering him
bombing a sovereign nation with no verifiable provocation. So which
is it, Trump lovers? Now, Iran has closed the Wormoose Straits,
which twenty percent of the world's gas passes through. Enjoy

(01:00:56):
those higher gas prices, Republicans. Now, I'm going to take
a little bit of this apart.

Speaker 3 (01:01:01):
Wag the dog.

Speaker 4 (01:01:02):
Was the first time I heard that used at a
presidential action was, of course, when Bill Clinton bombs some
aspirin factories in Somalia. Accomplish zero nothing, did nothing. But
that's right when the Monica Lewinsky story was breaking and
he was trying to redirect the conversation away from that.

Speaker 7 (01:01:20):
Didn't work.

Speaker 4 (01:01:21):
This feels less wag the dog because a I don't
think that there's enough pressure from this bill.

Speaker 3 (01:01:28):
I mean, the Senate is either going to pass it
or they're not right. There's nothing to be done there.

Speaker 4 (01:01:33):
And yeah, it's unpopular in a lot of corners, but
it's probably still going to get done anyway, much to
my chagrin, by the way, But you are right in
that a lot of Trump supporters, and I don't think
we're talking about maga Trump supporters, okay, because I have
discovered something about maga Trump supporters. I don't think there's
anything Trump could do that would turn them against Trump

(01:01:55):
in any way, shape or form.

Speaker 3 (01:01:56):
They're just not they're not in a mood.

Speaker 4 (01:01:58):
Whatever Trump does is right, whatever Trump does is correct,
and they're not in a mood to hear anything that
it possibly isn't. But there were a lot of people,
and I follow a lot of these people on x
dot com who did vote for Donald Trump because they
were tired of the wishy washy nature of we're gonna
bomb this or we're not. They did believe, and truthfully,

(01:02:18):
I do think that Donald Trump is the most anti
war president we've had in the last hundred years. And
I mean anti war. I don't think the dude wants
to get into a war. But I think if anything,
if there's anything to be in my mind really critical
of Trump on this about is does he underestimate the
Iranian response?

Speaker 3 (01:02:40):
Does he think that he can just drop.

Speaker 4 (01:02:43):
These bombs and then everybody's gonna come to the negotiation
table and they're gonna want to work something out. I
don't necessarily think that's realistic, but then again, he has
access to much better information than I do. And as
for the intelligence assessment that everybody is quoting, I actually
read the rest of that intelligence assessment the other day,

(01:03:03):
and it essentially says, yeah, but we don't know. Here's
what I have to say about whether or not Iran
was building a bomb, and I said it at the
very beginning of the show that is they have enriched
uranium to.

Speaker 3 (01:03:17):
Over sixty percent.

Speaker 4 (01:03:19):
There's no civilian use for anything that requires enriched uranium
at that level. That is a level that is designed
to be jacked up just a little bit more to
make a weapon. Iran has a space program. Why does
Iran have a space program? I mean, are they going
to send so much to the moon. No, they're trying
to build intercontinental ballistic missiles to target the United States

(01:03:43):
with nuclear warheads. They built their quote civilian nuclear program
three hundred feet beneath a mountain. I mean, that does
come on, Tony, That doesn't make you raise an eyebrow
and go why exactly would they do that? We already
know from the ie IS the International Atomic Energy Association

(01:04:04):
their own reporting that the Iranians have been hiding information
from them and not allowing them to inspect certain sites
and basically violating any inspections that we're supposed to happen.

Speaker 3 (01:04:15):
Under any deal. They've been doing that for years.

Speaker 4 (01:04:19):
So you kind of add all these things together, and
it certainly does seem as if there's not a lot
of good reasons other than building nuclear weapons to do
all of those things. So the notion that somehow we're
supposed to believe that Iron did all of those things
that I just mentioned, but they're not trying to build
a nuclear weapon.

Speaker 3 (01:04:39):
Is just it's just stupid.

Speaker 4 (01:04:42):
Plus we have the Russian Prime Minister Medvedev literally putting
on Twitter now we can be open about their pursuit
of nuclear weapons, and we have many countries who are
willing to give them nuclear weapons right now, to which
I respond, why haven't you already?

Speaker 3 (01:04:58):
Because they know these people are crazy, that's why.

Speaker 4 (01:05:01):
So you know, Tony good points, and I think the
point is fair that some Trump supporters who were very
anti war, although I'm still seeing them be anti war,
they're basically saying, we didn't vote for this. So there's
a pretty good chunk of Trump voters who are very
unhappy about this. So, like I said, it's not a
black and white situation. It's just it's a whole lot

(01:05:23):
of gray right now.

Speaker 1 (01:05:25):
Accident and injury Lawyers.

Speaker 2 (01:05:30):
No, it's Mandy Connell and.

Speaker 6 (01:05:39):
FM got.

Speaker 7 (01:05:42):
Sady and the Nicety through Grey.

Speaker 2 (01:05:47):
Andy coronaldab is sad Bab Welcome.

Speaker 3 (01:05:52):
Welcome, Welcome to the Third Hour. Of the show, or
as they say in Japan, Canisima.

Speaker 2 (01:05:59):
Loved it.

Speaker 4 (01:06:00):
Lots of comments on the Common Spirit health tech line
about the bombings. I'll also take questions about our trip
to Japan and South Korea. I highly recommend. I haven't
even talked about the part where we went to the DMZ.
If you heard the interview Ross did with me, that
was fascinating, absolutely fascinating, and the how can I explain it?

(01:06:25):
So on the South Korean side of the DMZ near Seoul,
there's like a whole tourist attraction, and when I say
a whole tourist attraction, I mean complete with like a
little carnival with like a ferris wheel and little rides
for kids right there where you can go and you
can have like the DMZ tourist experience where you can
see the railroads.

Speaker 3 (01:06:47):
One used to go north, one used to go south.

Speaker 4 (01:06:51):
And when they rebuilt them, they only rebuilt the one
that goes north, because nothing good is coming out of
the south, or nothing good is coming out of the north.
Only good is coming out of the South. But you
can go have this tourist experience, and that was fairly interesting.
But then we actually hired a private guide who was
a former catusa. And catousa's are Korean Army. Oh what's

(01:07:14):
the tea stand for Korean Army something US Army. They're
attached to the US Army. And as my husband explained,
he's like the Catoosas were the kids of the rich
Koreans who didn't want to have to serve in like
bad conditions. They made them they became a katusa and
then they got to live and stay with the United

(01:07:34):
States soldiers. But our guide that we hired was a
former cartusa, So we got to go to a Republic
of Korea guy a guard post well away from the
sort of tourist area. And the guard post is on
one side of this beautiful valley. It's beautiful, and from
the guard post, you know, observation deck, I could look

(01:07:58):
through their binoculars and I can see the North Korean
guard post across maybe three kilometers away, and you could
hear this kind of weird noise, so that it took
me a moment to figure out what the noise might be.
But it sounded like when you used to scroll through
the radio dial and you'd get all like that.

Speaker 3 (01:08:20):
They broadcast it twenty four hours.

Speaker 4 (01:08:22):
A day, and it's loud enough to hear three kilometers away,
and the speaker system is right next to the guard
shack on the North Korean side, And they do that
because there are South Koreans who broadcast propaganda into North
Korea and they want to block the propaganda.

Speaker 3 (01:08:39):
But learning about how South Korea, South Korea's.

Speaker 4 (01:08:43):
Gotten very complacent about North Korea, North Koreans don't just
try to defect by coming over the border with South Korea,
because we'll probably get killed if they see somebody violating
that demilitarized zone that that is supposed to be four
kilometers but there where we were there had been. They

(01:09:06):
call it North Korean creep where they'll wake up in
the morning and there'll be a new building out there
and it's only three point seven kilometers away instead of
four kilometers away. So then they move all the fencing
and that's that's they call that North Korean creep. So
where we were, it was about three kilometers away, but
you could still hear it very very clearly. And the

(01:09:27):
North Koreans who try to defect, they do this, they
walk to China or Russia and then they work their
way down China or Russia and then they will take
a flight to Seoul in order to you know, defect,
or a ferry or whatever.

Speaker 3 (01:09:44):
They don't try and walk across the border because they'll
they'll get killed.

Speaker 2 (01:09:48):
But they have.

Speaker 4 (01:09:50):
I think you said one thousand people a year defect
from North Korea. But there are still families that have
been separated since the Korean War. And there's a monument
at the tourist area. I'm gonna call it the tourist
area because I don't know what else to call it.
There's a monument at the tourist area, and their Memorial Day,

(01:10:11):
all of these elderly Koreans come and they stand at
this monument and they cry for their relatives who are
trapped in North Korea. It's heartbreaking but fascinating at the
same time. Now, you guys, this place was so beautiful.
It was gorgeous. And I even said to the Korean
guard that was walking us through this process, I said,

(01:10:33):
in the United States, this guard shack would be a
beautiful luxury resort with an infinity pool overlooking this beautiful valley.

Speaker 3 (01:10:41):
And she thought that was very funny. She was like,
ah yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:10:44):
I was like, no, I'm serious because this area is gorgeous.
I asked her Korean guide if anybody lived in the
mountains in Korea, and he said only crazy people. It's like, okay, Mandy,
what is the average price for a house in in Tokyo?
It depends on where you are our guide in Tokyo,

(01:11:07):
lovely woman, they had a house. Wait a minute, hang on,
let me do this math very very quickly. What is
what is six hundred square meters in feet?

Speaker 6 (01:11:20):
Oops?

Speaker 3 (01:11:21):
What is six hundred square meters in feet? Let me
see here?

Speaker 7 (01:11:25):
Oh no, that's wrong.

Speaker 3 (01:11:27):
So essentially it worked out. I did the math when
she said it.

Speaker 4 (01:11:30):
They live in about a six hundred square foot apartment
in Tokyo, and it was roughly four hundred thousand dollars
when they bought it ten years ago. She said now
it would be about six hundred thousand dollars. So six
hundred square feet six hundred thousand dollars. And she doesn't
live in the city center.

Speaker 6 (01:11:45):
She said.

Speaker 4 (01:11:46):
Most apartments in the center of Tokyo start at a
million dollars US and go up from there, and none
of them are very big.

Speaker 3 (01:11:54):
The living quarters of.

Speaker 4 (01:11:56):
People in Asia are much like they are in Europe,
they're tiny compared to what we sort of expect in
the United States of America. I don't think Americans realize
how spoiled we are when it comes to just the
space we have to live in. To South Korea or
Japan except the United States dollar, they do not. But

(01:12:17):
exchanging your money is super, super easy. And in all
the guide books and all the videos that we watched
and read, everybody kept saying, oh, nobody takes cards, noe y'all.
Everybody takes cards outside the markets. Like if you go
to a market where it's you know, an open air
market and that's where people are serving crazy food, they

(01:12:38):
don't take They only take cash in the markets. But
if you're in a cab, they're going to take a card.
You can use a card at the train station, you
can use a card pretty much everywhere. So that was
a little bit different than what I was expecting.

Speaker 6 (01:12:51):
So that is that way.

Speaker 4 (01:12:54):
Twenty five by twenty five is six hundred and twenty
square feet, that is correct. So that was four hundred
thousand doll ten years ago. Our guide in Tokyo was
very interesting when she talked about the fact that their
birth rate has plummeted in Japan and they are well
below the replacement rate. And she said, it is people
like me and my husband who chose not to have

(01:13:15):
children that are the problem.

Speaker 3 (01:13:17):
That is exactly what she said.

Speaker 4 (01:13:19):
Can you imagine a childless American couple saying, yeah, we
chose not to have children, We're the problem. I mean,
But in Japan they're further along in this, in this
you know, situation where no one's having babies and it's
just because it is prohibitively expensive to raise children in Japan.
And one of our travelers said, you know, in Japan

(01:13:40):
there's a deep sense of responsibility to your elders, and
when your parents get old, you're expected to take care
of them. And someone said, who's going to take care
of you? And she said, we don't know. Fascinating. I
loved it, Mandy. What do they think of your hair
and hype? Plus Chuck's size, y'all, Chuck got some looks
because he's just so big.

Speaker 3 (01:14:01):
But the whole you know, you're now a foreign item.
I did not have any of that.

Speaker 4 (01:14:07):
Now, granted I'm older, so take that, but there was
none of that, no steering of any kind at any
of us it was just like we were just another
another tourist from somewhere else.

Speaker 3 (01:14:17):
It was really fantastic.

Speaker 7 (01:14:20):
We'll be right back.

Speaker 3 (01:14:21):
Heard the news.

Speaker 4 (01:14:22):
Throughout the day around launch and missiles at US air
bases in Cutter. The State of Qatar strongly condemns the
attack the targeted al Udeid Air Base by the Iranian
Revolutionary Guard. We consider this a flagrant violation of the
sovereignty of the State of cutter, It's airspace, international law,

(01:14:43):
and the United States Nations Charter. We affirm that Qatar
reserves the right to respond directly in a manner equivalent
with the nature and scale of this Brazian aggression.

Speaker 3 (01:14:54):
In line with international law.

Speaker 4 (01:14:57):
We reassure that Cutter's Air Defenses six Esscully thwarted the
attack and intercepted the Iranian missiles. A detailed statement regarding
the circumstances of the attack will be issued later by
the Ministry of Defense. We also emphasize that the continuation
of such escalatory military actions will undermine security and stability
in the region, dragging it into situations that could have

(01:15:19):
catastrophic consequences for international peace and security. We call for
the immediate cessation of all military actions and for a
serious return to the negotiating table and dialogue. Furthermore, the
state of Qatar was one of the first countries to
warn against the dangers of Israeli escalation in the region.
We have consistently called for diplomatic solutions to be prioritized

(01:15:43):
and have stressed the importance of good neighborliness and avoiding escalation.
We reaffirm that dialogue is the only way to overcome
the current crises and ensure the security of the region
and the peace of its people. The base had been
evacuated earlier following established security and cautionary measures. Given the
tensions in the region. All necessary steps were taken to

(01:16:05):
ensure the safety of personnel at the base, including Katari
armed forces members, friendly forces and others. We confirm no
injuries or human casualties resulted from the attack that from Katar.
So we have our winner for the Metallica tickets. If
you did not win, you can always go to our
social media channels either our x dot com page.

Speaker 3 (01:16:28):
Oh hang on what Kayla? Congratulations?

Speaker 6 (01:16:33):
Kayla?

Speaker 2 (01:16:34):
Thank you many.

Speaker 3 (01:16:35):
Now are you a big Metallica fan.

Speaker 5 (01:16:39):
H by proxy?

Speaker 8 (01:16:41):
Yes, I am.

Speaker 4 (01:16:42):
Who's the special person that you get to call and
tell them you want tickets to the show.

Speaker 7 (01:16:46):
Well, my husband who's here right now, and he's really stoked.

Speaker 4 (01:16:50):
Yay. Well yeah, nice that he let you dial the
phone so you can get credit for the tickets and
you can lured this over him, you know, indefinitely, Like
remember when I win those Metallica tickets for you?

Speaker 7 (01:17:01):
Yeah, that's right.

Speaker 3 (01:17:02):
Well, Kayle, you guys have a blast.

Speaker 4 (01:17:04):
I know that Aeron already got your information and uh
and I think you're gonna have a great time at
the show. And I hope your your husband appreciates your dedication.

Speaker 3 (01:17:12):
To the dialing.

Speaker 2 (01:17:14):
Thank you, thanks so much.

Speaker 3 (01:17:16):
I appreciate the tickets, Thanks, Kayla. Enjoy the show.

Speaker 4 (01:17:19):
We're gonna be doing this all week h on KOA.
We're also going to be giving them away the our
social media channels.

Speaker 3 (01:17:26):
I was getting to that.

Speaker 4 (01:17:27):
Go to x dot com or go to our Instagram page,
both of those are at Koa, Colorado, and follow the
very careful directions on how to enter the contest.

Speaker 3 (01:17:38):
Okay, just follow the directions because.

Speaker 4 (01:17:42):
If you don't follow the directions, we cannot accept your
entry because of rules.

Speaker 3 (01:17:47):
Rules.

Speaker 4 (01:17:47):
We didn't make rules we have to follow, all right, kids.
When we get back, I am shifting gears entirely. There's
an organization called braver Angels that is trying to elevate
the dialogue when it comes to politics. They have an
event coming up, and I think is going to be
really fascinating. Not that I was going to be fascinating before,
but now it's going to be even more fascinating.

Speaker 6 (01:18:07):
We're going to do that.

Speaker 4 (01:18:08):
Right after this, I realized I'm a talk show host
and everybody's like, you're a part of the problem, but
I'm actually mostly nice, and I try to keep our
discussions on policy not personal, right, and I try to
talk about the issues rather than the people, and I'm
very purposeful about that, and sometimes I'm better than others.

(01:18:29):
I'm certainly not perfect, and it's always a work in progress.
But my guests right now are working within two different
organizations with a similar aligned goal, and the first one
that I want to talk to. We've got Lori Leander
from Braver Angels first of all, and Sandra Brownrigg from
Restoring Civility. But we're going to start with Lourie because
Lourie Braver Angels came onto my radar pretty quickly after

(01:18:52):
it was created, and I've had somebody on from braver
Angels a while ago. But why don't you tell my
audience who might not have heard of braver Angels what
exactly it is and what you guys do.

Speaker 3 (01:19:05):
Sandra, do you want to go ahead?

Speaker 6 (01:19:06):
Oh? Sorry, I'll do that.

Speaker 4 (01:19:08):
I did do that back, Yeah, Mackers. Sorry, Sandra, I
told you it's the vacation brain. It's that's my excuse,
Sandra brownrig is with braver Angels.

Speaker 3 (01:19:18):
Let's try that again. Go ahead, Sandra, all right, yeah,
you I think you had.

Speaker 6 (01:19:25):
I'm gonna butcher the name.

Speaker 8 (01:19:26):
But Karen O'Connor on in twenty nineteen from braver Angels.
We started in twenty sixteen after President Trump was elected
because we wanted to bridge the divide and strengthen our
constitutional republic. And I got involved in twenty twenty two
because I was volunteering within the school district in Douglas

(01:19:48):
County and the political polarity was causing harm to the schools,
to the students, to the teachers. So I look forward
an organization that could help with that, and I found
braver Angels.

Speaker 4 (01:19:59):
Tell me, just tell me a little bit about what
the mission of Braver Angels is because it's pretty simple.

Speaker 8 (01:20:05):
It's the largest grassroots organization in the nation dedicated to
bridging the divide and strengthening the constitutional Republic.

Speaker 6 (01:20:12):
So we heal the divide.

Speaker 5 (01:20:14):
That's what we do.

Speaker 8 (01:20:14):
We bring people together to have scratchy conversations on issues,
like you said, versus assuming that people should stay in
their echo chambers and mindlessly agree with other people who
they think think like them.

Speaker 6 (01:20:29):
So we bring people in to bridge that divide and
have those conversation.

Speaker 8 (01:20:32):
So we do it through debates, We do it through workshops,
we do it through book clubs and film screenings, whatever
it takes to build that connection and remind people that
we have more commonality than we do differences.

Speaker 6 (01:20:45):
And when we do have differences, how do we disagree?

Speaker 4 (01:20:47):
I want to ask a little bit of a follow up,
because everyone that I know who has been involved with
Braver Angels has definitely been a right leaner. Do you
have the same level of participation from people on the left?
I know that there are people on the left you
want to have a higher level of dialogue who have
the same feelings about it that we have. Are you
able to bring them into the fold for these events

(01:21:08):
so we can truly start that process.

Speaker 8 (01:21:11):
Actually, yes, the up until the twenty twenty four elections,
we had many more people who leaned left we'd call
them blues than we did reds. Especially in Colorado, there
was kind of an intentional desire to pull back from
reaching across the aisle, and the Blues were leaning in

(01:21:33):
partly because I think they thought they were going to
win the election, and they really were trying to heal
that divide. But then the election disrupted that and now
we're seeing people on each side come back in. The
Blues retracted for a while, but they're coming back in.
So at our event over the weekend, we had a
balanced group of reds and blues discussing how skills to

(01:21:54):
families and politics, and then we had a debate on gender,
id and schools, and it was fascinating to see people.

Speaker 6 (01:22:02):
Come together and have those discussions.

Speaker 4 (01:22:05):
That's very encouraging. That makes me very very happy because
I don't think it. I know for a fact there
are a lot of people on the left who are
just as tired of the vitriol and nastiness. Unfortunately, the
nastiest on the left and the right are the ones
that suck up all the oxygen on social media and
in other places, So it gives the impression that there

(01:22:25):
everybody is on the same level of nasty, when I
actually think a much larger section.

Speaker 3 (01:22:31):
Of people are like, Okay, we should be able to have.

Speaker 4 (01:22:34):
A discussion and not you know, call the other person
evil or or you know, the worst thing ever. So
I'm actually super pleased to hear that, Sandra, that you
guys have seen that rebound.

Speaker 3 (01:22:44):
Let me go to Lori. Lorid Leander is a founder.
Let me see if I can get this right of.

Speaker 4 (01:22:48):
Reclaiming civilitation, not giving you the wrong organization.

Speaker 3 (01:22:52):
Yeah, tell me, I'm co founder, I have it. Yeah,
go ahead.

Speaker 7 (01:22:55):
I'm sorry.

Speaker 9 (01:22:57):
I have a business partner named Lisa Brandt who could
be with us today. But it's interesting you're talking about
the loudest voices on either end, and we're hearing a
lot about this exhausted majority.

Speaker 3 (01:23:10):
In the middle, people who hired the incivility and don't want.

Speaker 7 (01:23:14):
To just complain.

Speaker 6 (01:23:14):
They want to do something.

Speaker 9 (01:23:16):
People who don't want to be afraid to bring their
authentic opinions to the table for fear of losing relationship
or repercussions. In the workplace, and we're here to link
arms with those people and teach them the skills to
help them develop warm connection, to have fruitful dialogue over difference,
and even to de escalate conflict. And those skills range

(01:23:38):
anywhere from emotional intelligence to the power.

Speaker 3 (01:23:42):
Of basic manners like saying please and thank you.

Speaker 4 (01:23:45):
I will tell you I My wonderful friend, Deborah Flora
and her husband and so many other wonderful people have
created an organization very Douglas County specific right, it's called
Douglas County Citizenry, same thing that you guys are trying
to do. But the only reason I bring it up
now is we went I got to moderate a conversation
about this home rule initiative, and what I found striking

(01:24:08):
was that there was obviously people in the audience that
are on the left, but they were able to get
their questions answered. And aside from some snide commentary from
one of the commissioners that I thought was uncalled for.

Speaker 3 (01:24:20):
It was a very everybody was open.

Speaker 4 (01:24:22):
Everybody just wanted to learn right, They wanted to find
out more, and it just really underscored for me what
both of you ladies probably know far better. And there
is this first, there's this hunger to be able to
have those conversations without worrying about getting socked in the nose,
you know, I mean rather rhetorically or actually so, Now, Laurie,

(01:24:44):
is your organization locally because I know Braver Angels is nationwide?
So is your organization local or is it also nationwide?

Speaker 9 (01:24:53):
Well, we actually said we are launching on julytowenth.

Speaker 6 (01:24:56):
We're helping our launch event here.

Speaker 9 (01:24:58):
Where we're having an astronaut speak on stability in the
space station, and we really want to reach out to
our local community. But we're part of a nationwide initiative
called Project Stability, and we were actually part of planning
to nationwide conferences. So all those events can be found
on our website for people who are interested.

Speaker 3 (01:25:20):
Now let me ask this question.

Speaker 4 (01:25:21):
And I don't know if you're better positioned, Sandra, or
if you can address this Lori. It's easy to be
magnanimous when you've just won, right, it's easy to say
we need to elevate the dialogue when your team is
in charge. Did you find a consistent number of people
on the right And Sandra, Gus will direct this question
to you. During the Biden administration, when they were not

(01:25:44):
in charge, when it was far more tempting to drop
back into those sort of you know, vitriolic positions. And
I'm wondering, because you said there was a little bit
of a pullback after the election.

Speaker 3 (01:25:55):
Is that a natural ebb and flow?

Speaker 4 (01:25:56):
Do you think or can we get to a point
that everybody, regardles of who's in charge, is pursuing these
same goals.

Speaker 8 (01:26:05):
Well, I think I'll answer that tangentially because forty nine
percent of the citizenry in Colorado is unaffiliated, and so
the interesting phenomenon that I've seen for our Braver Angels
initiatives is that those unaffiliated come to them because they're nonpartisan.

(01:26:26):
So we're having a debate on gun laws in July
and a debate on religion in August, and they know
that's nonpartisan, so they'll come to the event. They'll hear
the speakers who may be partisan, but you have all
of the people in the room, So it's more the
left and the right. It is about who's in charge

(01:26:46):
as far as the willingness to engage. But it should
be a math problem that everybody wants to talk to
those people who are not speaking up, not being heard, to.

Speaker 6 (01:26:57):
Find out what they think.

Speaker 8 (01:26:58):
And I don't think any body is just fully on
board with whatever platform a party has put out there.
We all have radical ideas we might be what do
you call yourself a concerned libreservative.

Speaker 4 (01:27:10):
I call myself a liberservative. I for a lart oft
time I said I'm a libertarian, but there are certain
things where I have gotten more conservative over the years
after seeing the outcome of some of the truly libertarian positions.
I have definitely shifted on some of my positions. But
I think I think there's a lot more people like
me right who may be a liberal liberal know that

(01:27:35):
it's just kind of a little bit squishy depending on
which issue you're talking about right.

Speaker 8 (01:27:42):
And that's kind of where I've landed, is that we
use left and right so that we can actually categorize
our stereotype people who we think are different from us right.
And so if you suspend that, you simply come in
and say, well, what do you think about us and such,
then you find you find alignment almost immediate, and from
there you can proceed to how you differ. So I've

(01:28:03):
got something on my Facebook page, my personal page, about
what happened about the bombing, and I've got people from
all different political perspectives on there and they're having a conversation.
And I look at that and I think, Okay, we
need more of that, please, because it's civil. It's very definite,
but it's still very civil.

Speaker 4 (01:28:21):
Laurie, tell me about your event coming up. You've got
an astronaut coming to talk about this civility. And when
I first saw this, I was like, it didn't even
occur to me that if you're going to be on
the space station for six months, you better be able
to get along with everybody, because talk about close quarters.

Speaker 3 (01:28:38):
How did you get this guy?

Speaker 9 (01:28:41):
Right? Well, it's someone that we know from the community,
and he was on the International Space Station and have
this you know, spoiler alert. He had this amazing interaction
with the Russians over coffee, and so he tells his
story and the point is that as human beings, we

(01:29:01):
have more in common than in contrast.

Speaker 3 (01:29:04):
You know, one of our heroes is a man named
Daryl Davis.

Speaker 9 (01:29:08):
He's a black man who made friends with a grand
wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, and through that friendship,
the grand Wizard gave up his position. To date, Daryl
has collected over two hundred robes, medallions, and hoods of
people who have changed their mind because of friendship. So
we really believe that it all starts with relationship. And

(01:29:32):
no matter what side of the aisle you're on, people
are craving that. You know, I understand your question. For Sandra,
there could be a ping, you know, based on who's
in charge, but I think it's just a general We're
tired of this. Good people who really want to be civil,
they want to treat people respectfully. So we're starting to

(01:29:54):
see the needle shift and there's kind of momentum going,
kind of a movement towards back, towards we reclaiming civility
because there's been evan flow all through history from the
very beginning. We want to reclaim that civility that once
was there.

Speaker 3 (01:30:10):
I think people are just exhausted, you know it is.

Speaker 4 (01:30:14):
I have one of my dear friends is a left
wing Democrat, and we've been friends since childhood. And when
I say dear friends, like she's my ride or die
on many many issues, right, but we have always been
able to have respectful conversations about politics because we have
a foundation of genuine love for each other right. I mean,

(01:30:34):
there's there's a deep and abiding love there, but at
the same time, the way she consumes politics and news,
it is perpetually upsetting to her. And I think she's
representative of a lot of people who are every day
it's whiplash, it's every day, what's happening now?

Speaker 3 (01:30:53):
Every day? What do I have to worry about?

Speaker 4 (01:30:55):
And I love the fact that you are just focusing
on the human connections because that those underpinnings, that human
connection that I have with her is the thing that
has kept our friendship going for fifty years now, because
we're first and foremost, we are deep and abiding friends.
And I love to think that we're going to get
back to a point where you're going to be able

(01:31:15):
to disagree with a family member or disagree with a
friend without feeling like you have to excommunicate them out
of your life, which I when I hear of people
being removed from other people's lives because of politics, I
find that heartbreaking, because there's nothing more hollow than politics
as a reason to remove someone from your life.

Speaker 3 (01:31:33):
It really is in my view anyway. So I'll let
you guys, Sandra.

Speaker 4 (01:31:36):
You guys have some events coming up I did put
a link to both websites on the blog today. Can
people join? How do they join your organization, Sandra, I'll
start with you.

Speaker 7 (01:31:49):
All right.

Speaker 8 (01:31:49):
You can join braver Angels simply by going to braver
Angels dot org. It's twelve dollars a year and we
offer free workshops, free debates, etc. Life local alliances the
Colorado Southern Front Range Alliance, which is based out of
Douglas County, but it goes all the way down to
Pueblo beyond. We partnered with Reclaiming Civility to host two

(01:32:12):
more events. We'll have one on the third Saturday of July.
We'll have Skills for Disagreeing Better workshop in the morning
from nine to noon in Colorado Springs, and then we'll
have a debate where the topic is Colorado's gun laws
unfairly in French on personal freedoms for two hours.

Speaker 6 (01:32:30):
We are looking for speakers pro and.

Speaker 8 (01:32:32):
Con whether those gun rights in French gun control laws
in French. And then on August sixteenth, we will have
an apolitical Skills workshop where we drill down on lap skills,
which is listening, acknowledge, pivot and perspective.

Speaker 6 (01:32:46):
And in the afternoon the debate.

Speaker 8 (01:32:48):
Is the First Amendment correctly prioritizes freedom of religion over
freedom from religion.

Speaker 6 (01:32:55):
And again we are looking for speakers.

Speaker 8 (01:32:57):
It's a community debate, so we have we start with
four speakers and then everybody can engage. So you can
find that on coosh TinyURL dot com, slash Civil twenty
twenty five, or on reclaiming Civility dot com.

Speaker 3 (01:33:12):
All right, and Laurie, how can people do in reclaiming civility?

Speaker 9 (01:33:17):
Right, So just go to www dot reclaiming civility dot com.

Speaker 6 (01:33:21):
You can also register for.

Speaker 9 (01:33:23):
The Braver Angels events their sability on the space station
the registration links there on July tenth, or if you're interested,
if you have a small business or you're a manager,
or a nonprofit or any kind of group that you
would like us to come and give a workshop, you
can reach out to.

Speaker 3 (01:33:39):
Us that way.

Speaker 4 (01:33:40):
Laurie Leander and Sarah excuse me, Sandra Brown Red, thank
you so much for making time and thank you for
what you're doing.

Speaker 3 (01:33:46):
I wish you all the success in the world.

Speaker 4 (01:33:48):
And please let me know if I can support your
organizations in the future. But just letting people know what's
coming up. I think my audience would very much enjoy those.

Speaker 6 (01:33:57):
Thank you man, thank you all right, thank you ladies.

Speaker 1 (01:34:00):
And now.

Speaker 4 (01:34:02):
Then Albright has entered the shot. He's in the studio
right now. You know, I'm just doing a show. Welcome back,
thank you.

Speaker 3 (01:34:09):
I'm so happy it's to forty nine.

Speaker 4 (01:34:13):
So exhausted, I'm just like, oh, I just have to
stay away till like eight o'clock.

Speaker 2 (01:34:18):
You have it.

Speaker 4 (01:34:18):
You haven't done the full Oh no, well, the day
we got back. We got back Thursday. We landed at
twelve thirty noon noon.

Speaker 3 (01:34:25):
I came home. I made it till four pm when
I fell asleep in my chair.

Speaker 7 (01:34:29):
Oh you're still cycling through.

Speaker 6 (01:34:30):
Oh no.

Speaker 4 (01:34:31):
But then I slept like thirteen hours on Thursday night,
and I got cocky. I was like, oh, look at me.
I'm like back, No, that's a lie. I haven't really
slept since then. You can't sleep on the plane of
the canyon, No I can? I well, I can sleep anyway.

Speaker 3 (01:34:45):
I cannot.

Speaker 4 (01:34:46):
I can't sleep in my bed, ben so why would
I be able to sleep in an airplane?

Speaker 2 (01:34:50):
So fair enough, there you go.

Speaker 3 (01:34:51):
But now it's time for the most exciting segment on
the radio. It's Kine.

Speaker 2 (01:34:59):
Well, done.

Speaker 7 (01:35:01):
You know, Mandy, what if you told her he did
of the day when he filled in for you?

Speaker 2 (01:35:05):
I did?

Speaker 7 (01:35:06):
He did pretty well?

Speaker 3 (01:35:07):
Yeah, very good. He is doing pretty well, very good.
Christ right ever, spirits so bad he had to take vacation.

Speaker 4 (01:35:14):
Well you know, I mean Ryan, he's delicate. Yes, sensitive,
I don't want to you know, don't don't hurt him
too much. It's a sensitive part of a guy.

Speaker 7 (01:35:23):
All right.

Speaker 3 (01:35:24):
What is our dad joke today?

Speaker 6 (01:35:25):
Please?

Speaker 5 (01:35:26):
You've been gone a long times. I got two for
four years. Okay, did you hear about the kid napping
in the park?

Speaker 7 (01:35:32):
No, he woke up.

Speaker 4 (01:35:37):
You leaned on napping on that? Yeah you sort of
if you're just kidnapping in the park.

Speaker 7 (01:35:42):
Would yeah, yeah, yeah, love the day.

Speaker 5 (01:35:45):
Okay, even if a bear is wearing shoes and socks,
we'll still have bare feet.

Speaker 3 (01:35:52):
Anyway. Today's word of the day, please, Anthony.

Speaker 7 (01:35:55):
It is an adjective convivial, convivial v I V I
A L.

Speaker 4 (01:36:02):
It doesn't mean easy to get along with, sort of
a fun person to be around. Somebody who's easy I
can't think of And I don't even know if that's right.

Speaker 7 (01:36:10):
I don't know this one.

Speaker 5 (01:36:10):
I don't but it's waiting to occupied with or fond
of feasting, drinking and good company.

Speaker 3 (01:36:18):
Fun person. Exactly, you're a convivial sort.

Speaker 2 (01:36:20):
I I have to be.

Speaker 3 (01:36:22):
What is the adjective today's trivia question? Glabrous? Mean g
L A B R O U S.

Speaker 4 (01:36:30):
Glabrous. It sounds like something is gelatinous to me.

Speaker 7 (01:36:34):
You know what I mean?

Speaker 3 (01:36:35):
Glabrous? Yeah, it doesn't sound flattering at all. It sounds
kind of gross. Oh jeez, I'm exactly wrong.

Speaker 4 (01:36:44):
Smooth It is commonly used to describe a surface like
the skin or leaves that has no hair or down glaborous.

Speaker 3 (01:36:52):
All that one up anyway?

Speaker 6 (01:36:54):
All right?

Speaker 3 (01:36:55):
What is our Jeopardy category measure?

Speaker 1 (01:36:57):
This? Ugh?

Speaker 5 (01:36:59):
Contrary to its name, this signature cowboy accessory would actually
hold about ninety six ounces, then be a ten gallon hat.

Speaker 4 (01:37:08):
Correct form of a question, D're you're like a pro now, dude?

Speaker 7 (01:37:12):
All right?

Speaker 3 (01:37:13):
So no wiggle room.

Speaker 7 (01:37:15):
Used by junks? And is it schooners alike? It's about
one point miles? Then what's not not a mile? I'll
take it. Yeah, that's not all right.

Speaker 5 (01:37:28):
Due to drying and planning, the piece of lumber known
by this name is actually what is.

Speaker 7 (01:37:34):
A two by four.

Speaker 2 (01:37:35):
That is correct.

Speaker 7 (01:37:37):
Bring your ho. This unit of land is equal to
fifty three.

Speaker 3 (01:37:41):
What's the hectare?

Speaker 7 (01:37:42):
Fifty three and sixty square feet? What is an acre?
That is correct?

Speaker 5 (01:37:47):
And in a blood pressure reading such as one hundred
and fifteen over seventy five, the numbers represent these of mercury.
Was like, does are Yeah, that's what systemic milimeters? Oh wow, blobbering.

Speaker 8 (01:38:08):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:38:11):
And I'm not good at messuring exhibition game.

Speaker 7 (01:38:14):
This is the pre season.

Speaker 3 (01:38:15):
I'm not good at measuring here all week.

Speaker 7 (01:38:17):
So by the end of the week we'll have ming.

Speaker 4 (01:38:20):
I ever get to sleep. I mean, are you doing
the Satway Sports all night week? What do you guys
have coming up today?

Speaker 7 (01:38:26):
We're gonna lot of stuff coming up today.

Speaker 3 (01:38:28):
And talk about the finals last night on the Oh
congrats to Okay.

Speaker 7 (01:38:31):
Yeah, they pulled out there.

Speaker 5 (01:38:33):
Logan and I had when we originally when they started,
I said this was going to go seven games, and
I picked the pacers and everybody laughed at me.

Speaker 3 (01:38:39):
It did go seven pacers were off one at halftime,
but it was over after that.

Speaker 4 (01:38:42):
We could not get it done.

Speaker 3 (01:38:43):
Could not get it done anyway. That's Gataway Sports coming up.

Speaker 4 (01:38:46):
Tomorrow, We've got we're gonna do like a little Pride
Month update with our friend Rich Cougan him. It's gonna
be awesome and uh and hopefully I'll sleep, because if not,
I can be super cranky about it.

Speaker 3 (01:38:58):
Mar I'm just letting you know not. I got some
gummies for you. Gawa Sports coming up next

All Episodes

06-23-25 FULL SHOW - I Leave the Country for 5 Minutes And All Hell Breaks Loose

Episode Transcript

The Mandy Connell Podcast News

Popular Podcasts

Cold Case Files: Miami

24/7 News: The Latest

Crime Junkie

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}06-23-25 FULL SHOW - I Leave the Country for 5 Minutes And All Hell Breaks Loose

Episode Transcript

The Mandy Connell Podcast News .css-1q01m3q{margin:0 0 -2px 0;}

Popular Podcasts

.css-r6mb8g{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:1;overflow:hidden;}Cold Case Files: Miami

24/7 News: The Latest

Crime Junkie

All Episodes