07-07-25 FULL SHOW - Deborah Flora Fills In Joined By Sammy Davis and Dan Gordon

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Mandy Connall Show is sponsored by Bill and Pollock
Accident and Injury Lawyers.

Speaker 2 (00:05):
No, it's Mandy Connell and.

Speaker 3 (00:11):
Koa Na God Wait say Ken Nicey just Throughreynald.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
Keith sad bab.

Speaker 4 (00:27):
Welcome to the Mandy Connall Show. This is Deborah Flora
sitting in for my friend Mandy Connell, who's still enjoying
I think a long holiday weekend. Hope you are doing great.
We're gonna talk a lot about the Fourth of July.
I hope that you had a great one.

Speaker 5 (00:40):
We sure did.

Speaker 4 (00:42):
We'll talk a little bit about how some people refuse.

Speaker 5 (00:44):
To celebrate it at all and what does that say
about our country.

Speaker 4 (00:49):
To counter that, we are going to have a couple
of great guests that you are not going to want
to miss. Coming up at one o'clock. We're going to
be joined by Medal of Honor recipient Sammy Davis. If
you've never heard his story, it's pretty darn amazing. He's
actually the real life Forrest Gump. He always says that
ends with his military service. As you may remember, Forrest
Gump was awarded the Medal of Honor. By the way,

(01:13):
you are a recipient, it is not something that is
seen as anything other than a somber acknowledgment of uncommon valor.
But in the movie Forrest Gump, you may remember, Forrest
runs into the jungle and carries people out, several at
a time, including our good friend Lieutenant Dan Gary Sonise Well,
Sammy's bravery in Vietnam was very similar to that, And in.

Speaker 5 (01:38):
Fact, in the movie, when.

Speaker 4 (01:40):
You see Forrest Gump getting the Medal of Honor, receiving
the Medal of Honor, that is actually Sammy Davis's body
that they just superimposed Tom Hanks head on.

Speaker 5 (01:51):
But he's going to be here.

Speaker 4 (01:52):
It's going to talk to us a little bit about
uncommon valor, honor, or military, the things that we celebrate
on the of July, without whom such service, we would
not be able to celebrate the way that so many
of us did this past weekend and on Friday. So
you're going to be having Sammy Davis joining us. He

(02:13):
is the Medal of Honor recipient, and then you aren't
going to.

Speaker 5 (02:16):
Want to miss that.

Speaker 4 (02:17):
At two pm, I'm going to be joined by Dan Gordon.
Dan Gordon has an amazing story is in American Israeli.
He served in the IDF in several different operations, going
all the way back to some of the earliest operations
like the yam Kappur war of nineteen seventy three. Also
an award winning screenwriter of the Hurricane Wyatt Earp with

(02:41):
Kevin Kostner and several others. He's got a very interesting
tank about what is going on in Gaza. What is
the outcome of the attacks on Iran after Iran attacked Israel,
et cetera. And the removal of the nuclear program released,
the delay of the nuclear program in Iran.

Speaker 5 (02:59):
And right now in.

Speaker 4 (03:00):
Washington, DC, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyah, who is meeting with
President Trump to talk about a ceasefire. We're going to
talk about that at two o'clock. What does that need
to look like? Is the work they're done? Is civilization
safer now against barbarism?

Speaker 5 (03:15):
Is their work still to be done?

Speaker 4 (03:16):
We're going to talk about all of that coming up,
But I want to start by talking about what has
been happening in Texas. Many of you may know that
the flood in Texas in the Kerrville area, the death
toll is nearly eighty people right now. In the wake
of these devastating floods started July second and just kept going.

(03:40):
And it was pretty crazy to hear about how high
and how quickly that water rose. I don't know about you,
and I'm dating myself. I grew up here in Colorado
and Lowry Air Force Base, and I do remember hearing
about the big Thompson Canyon flash flood in nineteen seventy six,
forty nine years ago. How devastating that was, how there

(04:00):
was so little warning. And I can understand that just
I'm not a geologist. I'm not a weather ologist hashtag
this is not a weather show. But you can understand
how flash flood can happen there, or if you've ever
been in Zion National Park and you see how those
canyons are carved out. But the waters of the Guadaloupe

(04:21):
River rose.

Speaker 5 (04:24):
From about one foot to more.

Speaker 4 (04:25):
Than thirty six feet in three hours. Pretty herring when
you think about it. And of those who are dead
right now confirmed dead, there are many that are still missing.

Speaker 5 (04:36):
Forty were adults, twenty were children.

Speaker 4 (04:40):
I got to tell you, any parent right now is
thinking about the heartache of those parents whose children predominantly
were at the Christian summer camp on the Guadalupe River
called the Camp Mystic. There are another eleven fatalities in
other counties. As many as forty one people remained missing,

(05:02):
including ten girls and a counselor from Camp Mystic. Having
grown up going to Christian camps our kids have, I
had to tell you my prayers are out to those
families in the wake of this Sometimes uncommon bravery gets overlooked.
And one person who definitely was a hero from all

(05:26):
accounts that we're hearing, was the seventy year old Richard Eastland.
He and his family have been running Camp Mystic ever
since nineteen seventy four. People are saying that he did
everything he could do to save so many of the
children there, and according to one former camper, it wasn't
a surprise that his last act of kindness and sacrifice
was working to save the lives of the campers.

Speaker 5 (05:48):
They talked about how he.

Speaker 4 (05:50):
Was a father not only to his two sons, but
two hundreds of girls at this camp.

Speaker 5 (05:55):
You know, I'm gonna talk later about this divide.

Speaker 4 (05:57):
In our country and how we are a civilization, Western civilization,
and how that's actually under attack, both the Western civilization
part of it and the very idea of civilization itself
being civil. I'm only going to point out one thing
that I just think is absolutely terrible. Many may have

(06:19):
heard about this person. She was appointed to a position
in Houston. Say shut a Perkins, I think said how
you see her name? On a TikTok video showing the
Camp Mystic website.

Speaker 5 (06:35):
She basically said that she really didn't care anything about.

Speaker 4 (06:39):
The girls who were killed because it was a white
girl's Christian camp. I'm hoping that every one of us
listening right now is ready to help shut down that
kind of vitriolic conversation. If we can't come together to
say a flood, no, but he can be blamed for

(07:01):
that flood, even though there are people that are trying
to blame the.

Speaker 5 (07:03):
President for the flood. No, he is not God.

Speaker 4 (07:07):
And I'm for only the camp of not deifying anybody
you're putting them in save your status. But if we
can't come together and just have compassion for those who
have been lost and the families of those children, predominantly
children have been lost so far in this flood, then
my goodness, we've really really been losing our way. Fortunately,

(07:30):
I can say that Perkins I believe was going to
be reappointed to her position in the Houston government and
now she is not.

Speaker 5 (07:37):
So that is good.

Speaker 4 (07:38):
Good on the folks for saying that is not the
kind of character we want in public service. But I
want to before I tell this other heroic story, the
one heroic story of the seven year old founder his
family or his family had been running the camp since
nineteen seventy four. I just want to give an example
of what these people were going through. There is a resident,

(07:59):
Stephen Blevin, fifty five, And if you're just tuning in,
Deborah Flora sitting in for me and diy Connell talking
about the Texas, the Texas flood, the death toll nearing eighty.
At least twenty eight of those are children, many still missing, unfortunately.
But just to give you a sense of what it
was like, Stephen Blevins, who's fifty five, was interviewed and

(08:20):
he said he was evacuated from his home along the
Guadalupe River around six am on Friday. He said a
police officer knocked on the door. He'd fallen asleep just
hours earlier to pounding rain, and the office said you've
got to get out of here. Stephen looked out his door,
and he was shocked to see that roughly one hundred
yards downhill from his house that's where the water normally was,

(08:42):
was now lapping at his door.

Speaker 5 (08:43):
And by the time he gathers.

Speaker 4 (08:44):
Stuff to leave, it was already flooding underneath his house.

Speaker 5 (08:48):
So pretty crazy.

Speaker 4 (08:49):
But I want to share another hero story that I
think we often overlook these. One was the gentleman seventy
year old Richard Day Eastland. My dad was called Dick
and that was what Richard went by. Also, he is
credit with saving many of the campers. But there's another
young man I want to share because this gets.

Speaker 5 (09:10):
To a little bit of the heart of Fourth of July.

Speaker 4 (09:13):
There's a Coastguard rescue swimmer who was on his very
first mission. And his name is Scott Ruskin, twenty.

Speaker 5 (09:20):
Six years old. He is with the Coastguard.

Speaker 4 (09:23):
He was a rescue swimmer and he is credited with
saving one hundred and sixty five people from this flood
that happened in Texas. And here's what he said that
I think is interesting.

Speaker 5 (09:36):
He said, you know, this is why we do the job.
He said, this is why we do it to help
save other people. And he said, I'm.

Speaker 4 (09:42):
Really just a dude doing my job and these guys
were asking for help. So that's kind of what we do,
that kind of humility, that kind of downplaying it. That's
why I'm excited to have Sammy Davis Medal of Honor
recipient joining us in just a little bit under an
hour at one o'clock.

Speaker 5 (10:00):
I think that's important.

Speaker 4 (10:01):
I think one of the things that has been lost
in our country. And we're going to talk about this
a lot today because in the wake of fourth of July,
this past Friday, two hundred and forty ninth anniversary of
the United States of America, we're about to enter into
the two hundred and fiftieth year of our country's existence.
That is miraculous on so many fronts, because.

Speaker 5 (10:25):
Rarely, rarely do countries last that long.

Speaker 4 (10:29):
And it is a testimony to our Constitution, to our
declaration of independence, to the foundation on which this country
is built, and.

Speaker 5 (10:37):
Yes it is.

Speaker 4 (10:38):
Western civilization is based on a Judeo Christian idea that
all people are created equal, therefore they are endowed with
inalienable rights, individual liberty not granted by government but protected
by government. America was exceptional in its founding, and it

(11:01):
is exceptional now and if you're listening and you're one
of those people that you know posted on Facebook on
Friday saying I dissent, I dissent, I will.

Speaker 5 (11:10):
Not celebrate America.

Speaker 4 (11:12):
Or perhaps you dinner, perhaps you were protesting instead.

Speaker 5 (11:16):
I want to hear from you.

Speaker 4 (11:17):
Text in at five sixty six nine zero and tell
me why five six six nine zero. If you celebrated America,
I want to hear why five six six nine zero.

Speaker 5 (11:28):
Please text. But I'll tell you the other.

Speaker 4 (11:30):
Thing that is amazing I think about America, and that
is our military. We often forget that somewhere across our country,
across our world, there are those who are serving right
this moment, whose families then are serving in a different
way by being without them, so that we.

Speaker 5 (11:50):
Can celebrate freely.

Speaker 4 (11:53):
There's an inscription in our nation's capital and one of
the memorials that says, the price of freedom is eternal vigilance.
And that's one hundred percent true. And who's being vigilant? Well,
we know our military is for the most part. I'm
not saying every single person who serves in the military
is exceptional, but I think the vast majority are. It also,

(12:13):
though takes eternal vigilance on our part being twenty four
seven citizens. And we'll get to that, but I want
to hear the story of one of these young men
who serves in our military, and that is Scott Ruskin.
That humility he shared saving at least one hundred and
sixty five people from these floods answered the call went

(12:35):
And no matter what you think about any of our
military background, any of the military events and wars that
we've been a part of, whether it's a Vietnam or
anything else, Iran, Iraq, any of that sort of thing.
I remember my father who served in Vietnam. He told
me one time, and he didn't talk about it a lot.

(12:56):
He was not on the front lines. He didn't see
as much of the hairy action that some people really do.
But he did serve, and he did go over when
he came back, and he came back to people yelling
at him and screaming at him.

Speaker 5 (13:10):
And he had a better situation. He was able to
land on the Air Force base.

Speaker 4 (13:14):
And I remember as a young child, one of my
earliest memories was him getting off the plane, walking down
the steps. We were on the base, who was in
his uniform. The band was playing the flags were flying.

Speaker 5 (13:25):
It was beautiful.

Speaker 4 (13:26):
But then the minute we drove off the base, people
started screaming at our car and throwing things at us.
As a little girl, I thought to myself, why do
they hate us?

Speaker 5 (13:36):
I did not understand why.

Speaker 4 (13:38):
But my father said afterwards, he said, if anybody ever
ask you about Vietnam, just simply tell them this.

Speaker 5 (13:45):
When he's time.

Speaker 4 (13:45):
About the military, those who serve, he said, we were
asked to serve, and we did the problem with that
war was not the military. The problem with that war
was the absolute politicization of what was happening happening in Vietnam.
So this young hero carrying on this great tradition, Scott

(14:06):
Rusk in twenty six credited with saving the lives of
one hundred and sixty five Texas flash flood victims Coastguard
rescue swammer his first ever mission, and he talked about,
you know what, I'm just a dude doing my job.
My dad did to say, dude, that's a new military
vernacular and I love it. But you know what's going
on right now, people who have the warrior ethos, and

(14:31):
we can all talk about, you know, at some point
in time, not today, but you know whether or not
the draft was right because not everybody has the warrior ethos.

Speaker 5 (14:40):
Not everybody has.

Speaker 4 (14:41):
A warrior mentality, but those that do are returning to military.

Speaker 5 (14:46):
Service now in throngs.

Speaker 4 (14:48):
A historic recruitment in the military is happening right now.
The Army hit its annual goal four months early, Navy,
Air Force, and Space Force hit their.

Speaker 5 (14:57):
Goals three months early. Recruitment surge.

Speaker 4 (15:01):
This recruitment search follows two consecutive years of.

Speaker 5 (15:04):
Missing recruitment targets.

Speaker 4 (15:07):
This is a significant tournament and why I really think
talking to people. My husband's an eighty second airborne veteran,
My dad was in the Air Force. Many of my
other family members have served. We know a lot of
folks in the military is because they're finally getting politics
back out of the military once again, and that is

(15:28):
a good thing. My brother in law graduated from the
Air Force Academy. I remember walking down as a junior
bridesmaid when my sister and my brother in law got
married in the Air Force Academy Chapel, that same place
that I was in awe of as a child. Until
recently was telling cadets they could not call their parents

(15:48):
mom or dad, only parent one or parent two, That
is nonsense. And I think the eradicating of all of
that DEI and division and and woke stuff out of
our military is leading to this huge surge and recruitment,
and that is a good thing. I do want you

(16:08):
to text in five six six nine zero, that's five
six six nine zero.

Speaker 5 (16:13):
Want to hear from you. Did you celebrate the fourth
of July? Did you not?

Speaker 4 (16:17):
And if you didn't, what is your reason? Because I
want to have a conversation with you about that. But
just heard from a listener who said, I celebrated America,
the greatest country on Earth. My son Dane left for
Navy boot camp a week and a half ago. God
blessed us all to let us be in America. Chad
and Frederick, thank you so much.

Speaker 6 (16:35):
Chad.

Speaker 5 (16:36):
I agree. You know it's interesting.

Speaker 4 (16:38):
Now as a mom our son is twenty years old,
and he does talk about being raised to love this
country and seeing clearly after doing mission trips as well,
how blessed we are to be here, that he would
stand up and fight if called to do so. And
I got to say, as a parent, I can only

(16:59):
imagine you must feel incredibly proud, and yet the same
time realizing it is a sacrifice. It's a sacrifice not
just for those who serve, but for family members. So
God bless you and your son Dane, who is serving.
My father in law is in the Navy, so we
almost have the whole complete thing. We just need someone
in the Marine and the coast Guard and we'd have

(17:21):
all military branches in our family. But I appreciate your
sharing that there is so much to be proud of
in this country.

Speaker 5 (17:28):
Is it perfect?

Speaker 6 (17:29):
No?

Speaker 5 (17:30):
Our goal is to create a.

Speaker 4 (17:32):
More perfect union, meaning it gets better all the time.

Speaker 5 (17:36):
And yes there are issues.

Speaker 4 (17:38):
But I take issue with those who think there is
nothing to celebrate because they have completely brought America down
in their minds to one thing, the current resident of
the White House. That's what I've been reading. I've been
trying to read a lot about this. Why would somebody
not celebrate America? America has survived, residents from both sides

(18:01):
of the isle, America has survived so many different things.
Why Because the principles on which it's founded are truly revolutionary.
And that's what we're going to talk about more when
we come home. But I want to hear from you
five six, six nine zero. That's five six six nine zero.
What did you do for Fourth of July? Or did
you protest on the Fourth of July? Want to hear

(18:23):
from you? Five six sixth nine zero. Deborah Flora sitting
in for Mandy Connell, talking.

Speaker 5 (18:29):
About the Fourth of July.

Speaker 4 (18:32):
Happened Friday, obviously, and usually I'm on with Ryan Choling
every Friday on the sister station right here with this station,
but everyone was off for the Fourth of July, which
was great. However, I think it's the first time in
my many years that I have seen people saying boldly
and out loud that they will not celebrate the Fourth

(18:54):
of July. The primary reason is the current resident of
the White House. One I'm going to be talking about here.
I'm going to read some of the things that have
been coming in from listeners. So thank you for texting,
and feel free to continue to text in at five
six six point nine zero.

Speaker 5 (19:09):
If you celebrated, if you didn't celebrate.

Speaker 4 (19:12):
Our country is so much more than the current resident
of the White House, and thank goodness because we survived
a lot of crazy stuff happening heading into our two
hundred and fiftieth year. But I want to read some
of the comments that are coming in. One, by the way,
it was interesting. I was talking about how military recruitment
is way up, patriotism amongst so many of those, but

(19:34):
the worry ethos is way up. And I credited that
to removing a lot of the woke ideology from the military.

Speaker 5 (19:42):
Because people with that warrior ethos.

Speaker 4 (19:45):
Don't join to be told things like that happened at
the Air Force Academy. And this is what the listener
took exception with, and I'm going to cite it in
just a moment, being told that they have to be
more sensitive and not use gender specific terms calling their
parents parent one and parent two. This listener texted in

(20:05):
said parent one and parent two.

Speaker 5 (20:06):
What social media post told you this? Just googled it?
It's false. Why would you say this on the air?

Speaker 4 (20:12):
Number one, do your research a little bit deeper than Google.
To say the least, I spend hours researching whatever I
say here in the air, because I do believe that
credibility matters.

Speaker 5 (20:22):
And all you have to do is.

Speaker 4 (20:23):
Look at the stories from nineteen from excuse me twenty
twenty two, when the handbook for the training for cadets
at the Air Force Academy in that period was released
and there was DEI training in there that talked about
using gender neutral terms, including for their parents, calling them
parent one and parent two, not mom and dad. I

(20:45):
also know firsthand because I know a parent of a
cadet there who stood outside protesting at that time saying
I'm a dad, I'm not a parent too. So yes,
I do a lot of research, and I encourage every
listener to research as well, and to research more deeply
than just a quick Google search. But here are some
other things that people were saying about why they celebrated.

Speaker 5 (21:08):
One said, we celebrated the.

Speaker 4 (21:09):
Fourth along with our neighbors at a local park in Oravada.

Speaker 5 (21:12):
I was so encouraged by.

Speaker 4 (21:14):
Young people in their upper teens and twenties wearing patriotic
clothing and having a wonderful day and evening.

Speaker 5 (21:20):
It gave me so much.

Speaker 4 (21:20):
Peace and hope for this country's future. Thank you for
sharing that. That is absolutely encouraging. My husband and I
joined with lots of family and we had a good
old fashioned Fourth of July ourselves.

Speaker 5 (21:33):
We were in Douglas County and.

Speaker 4 (21:36):
There were fireworks we watched from the porch, fireworks that
the kids helped set off in the driveway, all of
which were legal, very fun to watch and see. We
played patriotic music. Everybody was wearing red, white and blue.
I'm currently wearing red, white and blue because i don't
believe in being patriarch just on the fourth and I
appreciate your sharing that. Another person shared went to Colorado

(21:56):
Rapids game and fireworks following show. During show, music played
without including patriotic songs. Only song that could pass as
patriotic was Born in the USA, which by the way,
is an anti USA song. That was my little insertion there.
This person said, I will rethink ever attending again. Not
to mention all announcements were repeated in Spanish.

Speaker 5 (22:19):
Do they do that in Mexico? Likely not.

Speaker 4 (22:21):
If a public attended venue can't support USA, who will.
I also went to an event like that with our kids.
My husband and I did a couple of years ago
in Colorado, and we never went back because you couldn't
have told whether it was the fourth of July or
any other celebration. So let's talk about this a little bit,
because there is a divide in our country.

Speaker 5 (22:41):
There really is, and if we don't pull.

Speaker 4 (22:43):
Back from this divide, I have real concerns. I know
I'm not alone about where we will end up. And
this should not be partisan.

Speaker 5 (22:52):
This should not be.

Speaker 4 (22:53):
Left or right, Democrat, Republican or unaffiliated. Loving this country
is the understanding that if you've gone to any other
country on the planet, you realize how fortunate we are.

Speaker 5 (23:09):
I believe America is exceptional.

Speaker 4 (23:10):
I don't believe the people are any more intrinsically valuable
than any human being that God has created. I don't
believe the land mass is any more.

Speaker 5 (23:20):
Hallowed.

Speaker 4 (23:21):
Although I love the Rocky Mountains, I do think it's
better than any place I've seen in Europe, any of
the mountains there. It's gorgeous. It is the idea that
America was created upon once in all of US history,
all of world history, the revolutionary idea that every person
is created with intrinsic value. Therefore individual liberty and government

(23:44):
has one job to protect the rights and the safety.

Speaker 5 (23:47):
Of its citizens.

Speaker 4 (23:48):
That should be something that we can all stand on.

Speaker 5 (23:52):
Because it allows us to disagree.

Speaker 4 (23:54):
Some of the people that are like I'm going to
post this, I hate America.

Speaker 5 (23:57):
They're actually able to post because they.

Speaker 4 (24:00):
Live in a country that's not going to come and
hunt them down because they posted something negative about the government.

Speaker 5 (24:06):
I've been to those places.

Speaker 4 (24:07):
I've been to East Germany, I've been to the Soviet Union.

Speaker 5 (24:11):
I've heard the stories whispered in the.

Speaker 4 (24:13):
Back corner of a pub about how they are not
allowed to say anything or even ask questions.

Speaker 5 (24:20):
Let's just start there.

Speaker 4 (24:22):
Our ability to even say I have problems with America
is because America is exceptional.

Speaker 5 (24:28):
It is an amazing thing.

Speaker 4 (24:29):
Right now, in Canada or in many places in Europe,
you are not allowed to speak freely anymore. So let's
just start there. If you're someone that did not celebrate
the fourth of July, I want you to tax at
five six six nine zero. I will read your comment.
I will omit any profanity, but I will.

Speaker 5 (24:49):
Read your comment.

Speaker 4 (24:51):
And I want you to know you can text in here,
I can speak here. People can post whatever they want
to because we live.

Speaker 5 (24:58):
In a free country. So not be partisan.

Speaker 4 (25:00):
But I'm going to read some disheartening information breaking.

Speaker 5 (25:05):
This down my party. This is a Gallup poll.

Speaker 4 (25:07):
Only thirty six percent of Democrats say they are proud
of our nation. That's down from sixty two percent.

Speaker 5 (25:15):
A year ago.

Speaker 4 (25:16):
That big of a drop, according to Gallup in one year.
That tells me that folks associate what is good in
our country based only on who is the current resident
of the White House. I did not vote for Joe Biden,
but regardless of when he was in the White House

(25:38):
or whatever he was doing, while I would find fault
with his policies or critique his policies, I never stopped
being proud of the United States of America, and I
hope you all can join there.

Speaker 5 (25:50):
A political independence.

Speaker 4 (25:51):
Pride has also reached a low point, declining to about
fifty three percent, still over half. The reason why we're
above fifty percent is because those who consider themselves to
be conservative Republicans do consider themselves to be proud of
the United States of America. And part of what the
changes are amongst independence, they said it is greater pessimism

(26:12):
about economic prospects.

Speaker 5 (26:14):
For young people.

Speaker 4 (26:15):
But what I do agree with this texture who talked
about the young people that we're celebrating that is shifting.
One of the reasons why the younger generation is more
conservative and more patriotic than the generation right before them
is because they have seen the lack of fulfillment of
the promises that they were sold or utopia promises from

(26:37):
leftist ideologies, and they're realizing that really the American dream
has not been afforded to them under that the ability
to have a house, to be able to provide for
your children. I do think though, that this can be
turned around. One other point I want to bring up
is Jason Kelsey. Of all people, sports used to be
the place where we could all come together and say

(26:58):
we disagree, but we can all at least agree on
this well. As a Philadelphia Eagles football legend, he posted this.
He said, man, I love the fourth one of the
great days. We can all set aside our differences in
this country and enjoy the one thing we all share
in common, that we are American. Tears to you, Oh

(27:19):
beautiful America. Now nothing there was left or right. It
was simply saying we have this in common. What happened
afterwards he was pilloried by people saying that that was
so insensitive on the day that the big beautiful bill
was being signed. I would say good on you, Jason.

(27:39):
I don't think you're necessarily listening to this, but if
you are, thank you for pointing that out. Because if
we do not begin to find out those things that.

Speaker 5 (27:47):
We actually have in common.

Speaker 4 (27:51):
We will no longer be a nation, and I do
believe this is a nation we're saving.

Speaker 5 (27:56):
We're going to head to a break.

Speaker 4 (27:57):
I'm going to read more of these texts that are
coming in five six six nine zero. That's five six
six nine zero, Deborah Flora sitting in for Mandy Connell
Fourth of July recap because so many people, not so many,
I don't know how many, but you certainly saw on
in social media, which is usually a disproportionate representation of

(28:19):
those who just want to express their viewpoint loudly. But
some of those people were talking about dissenting, not celebrating
Fourth of July and why many many others did, and
I do believe that's probably the majority.

Speaker 5 (28:33):
Because we don't hear from them.

Speaker 4 (28:34):
They're kind of the I'd almost call it the missing middle,
or you're just everybody's quite living their lives. But I
did ask and ask people to tex to text into
five six six nine zero if you're one of those
people that did not celebrate the fourth So I'm going
to read some of those. I'm also going to read
some of the great comments from people who did and
thank you for texting in five six six nine zero.

(28:56):
First of all, thank you to the callers who've been
saying nice things about my being back in this year.
For Mandy, it's good to be here talking with you all.
Let's see, someone pointed out it is Independence Day, and
you are right, fourth of July is just when we
celebrate it, but it's really about our independence, which is
all about being able to talk about things. It's interesting because,

(29:19):
as I was saying, to anyone who's listening, who doesn't
want to celebrate, who doesn't think America is exceptional, to
take into consideration that they're able to say that because
they live in a free country. You can't do that
in many countries around the world. And honestly, I do
think it would be really wonderful if it was almost
a requirement that when somebody graduated from high.

Speaker 5 (29:41):
School before they go to college.

Speaker 4 (29:43):
And hear a lot of the you know, more left
leaning and doctrination, because that has been proven that that
has disproportionately represented that viewpoint amongst the academia elite teachers
in our country's colleges.

Speaker 5 (30:00):
Well, wouldn't it be.

Speaker 4 (30:00):
Great they actually then had to go visit another country
for a while, a country that is either you know communist,
a country that is truly more totalitarian, or socialists where
you're not allowed to speak freely and that's many of them,
or a country that is struggling because economic freedom is

(30:22):
actually a juggernaut that has led to lifting of millions
and millions of people out of poverty. It would be
great to have people visit these other places. But that
person who I mentioned that to texted it and I
am going to clean up the language and said, you say,
this is the land of free speech, yet you're angry
that they're speaking both English and Spanish at a sporting event.

Speaker 5 (30:45):
Just a little clarity.

Speaker 4 (30:46):
I quoted someone who went to a Rapids game on
fourth of July where they did not play any patriotic
music other than Born in the USA, which is not
actually a patriotic song, and they mentioned that things were
then translated into Spanish. The amazing thing is, if you
really want people from another country to succeed, to be

(31:09):
able to become assimilated and work and have an upward mobility,
learning English is one of the most important things. And
I'm not saying that is from educators, from sources like
Forbes and others. It allows their advancement. I think it's
the best thing for everybody. You can speak whatever language
you want to celebrate, whatever your cultural heritages. I supply

(31:30):
I definitely applaud that that's what that was from. So
let's see some other people. People who don't celebrate the
fourth or stand up for the national anthem, et cetera.
They're not American and they should move. Then the boys
and girls who are willing to pay the ultimate price.

Speaker 5 (31:47):
They are the true heroes.

Speaker 4 (31:50):
Well, speaking of true heroes, coming up at the top
of the hour, you're gonna want to stay tuned. Medal
of Honor recipient Sammy Davis will be joining me. His
acts of heroism in Vietnam earned him that highest medal
given in the military for uncommon valor, and he talks
about America and what it means to him. So I

(32:12):
think it's important that we do hear from some of
those here is so thank you so much for sharing
that love this comment, Deborah, in citing America's marsh toward perfection,
we might want to recall Frederick Douglas's July fifth, eighteen
fifty two speech and poet Amanda Gorman's inaugural comment that
America hasn't failed.

Speaker 5 (32:30):
We're just not finished here here.

Speaker 4 (32:34):
We can love this country the principles it's founded on,
knowing it is not perfect. By the way, wherever there
are people, myself included, it will not be perfect. We
are working towards a more perfect union. And by the way,
when people want to completely tear down our founding documents
by saying that Jefferson, who wrote the Declaration of Independence,

(32:57):
owns slaves, as he said all men are created equal.

Speaker 5 (33:02):
That was the law of the day.

Speaker 4 (33:04):
In every other country on the planet had slavery at
that time. We were the only nation that eradicated it
within a generation of our founding. And in the very
constitution where the beginning of the end of the slave trade.
And guess who signed that twenty years to the day,
the first moment it could be signed Indy the Atlantic

(33:26):
Slave Trade. Thomas Jefferson. That's who did it. History is amazing.
Perfect people, no perfect country, no country we're celebrating.

Speaker 5 (33:36):
Absolutely.

Speaker 4 (33:38):
Please please, if you think this is a terrible country,
visit some others and then take a long look. And
I'm not talking about the tourist destinations. I'm talking about
talk to the people that live under oppression. One of
the reasons I love this country so much, I've said before,
is because I have been.

Speaker 5 (33:55):
To the Soviet Unioniti's Germany.

Speaker 4 (33:57):
I have been to many other countries around the world
that are not nearly as prosperous and.

Speaker 5 (34:05):
Free.

Speaker 4 (34:07):
It's a beautiful thing. I'm celebrating, glads. So many of
you are too. When we come back, we're heading to
the break Now, don't go anywhere. We're gonna have Sammy
Davis Medal Honor recipient, the real life Forrest Gump. By
the way, you'll learn more about that when we come back.
Deborah Flora's sitting in for Mandy Connell.

Speaker 1 (34:24):
The Mandy Connall Show is sponsored by Belle and Pollock
Accident and Injury Lawyers.

Speaker 2 (34:29):
No, it's Mandy Connell on KA ninety one sat.

Speaker 6 (34:39):
Wait say Kevin.

Speaker 2 (34:43):
Rough Free, Andy Connell, sad bab.

Speaker 5 (34:51):
Welcome back to the Mandy Connell Show.

Speaker 4 (34:53):
This is Deborah Flora sitting in for my good friend
Mandy Connell. Well, we've been talking a lot about this
being while we're entering into.

Speaker 5 (35:01):
The two hundred and fiftieth birthday for our country. That'll
be next summer.

Speaker 4 (35:05):
We just had the fourth of July Independence Day on Friday,
and we're talking about what really makes our country great.

Speaker 5 (35:11):
It is the ideas upon it which is founded.

Speaker 4 (35:14):
It is those who have been willing to serve and
fight so that we are free to celebrate, to disagree,
to have these conversations. Well, one of those amazing individuals
is going is my guest now, and that is Sammy Davis.
Sammy Davis is a recipient of the Medal of Honor,
the highest award that can be given to anyone in
the military for uncommon valor.

Speaker 5 (35:36):
Sammy is a good friend.

Speaker 4 (35:38):
He enlisted in the Army right out of high school.
In nineteen sixty five. He volunteered to be sent to Vietnam.
He asked to be sent there, and I'm going to
tell you real quickly his citation and then invite him
in to talk about this Sammy.

Speaker 5 (35:53):
In nineteen sixty seven, his unit was.

Speaker 4 (35:56):
Helicoptered into an area west of Kaili to set up
a ford fire support base. Shortly after midnight, the battery
sea came under a heavy attack and estimated fifteen hundred
Vietcong soldiers launched intense ground assault. Sammy took over a
machine gun and provide cover fire for his crew. Despite
crushed ribs, a traumatic brain injury, and wounds from shrapnel,

(36:20):
he fought off hundreds of soldiers then crossed a canal
to rescue three injured infantrymen. Sammy, thank you so much
for joining us so we can talk to someone who
understands what true heroism looks like.

Speaker 5 (36:32):
Thank you for being on the show.

Speaker 6 (36:34):
It's an honor to be here with you, Dever.

Speaker 4 (36:36):
Absolutely, And I wanted to add, by the way, that
you now travel around the country with your beautiful wife, Dixie,
making sure people understand what makes this country great. Sammy,
can you tell us about that day, that day in
nineteen sixty seven, tell us a little bit about what
you experienced during that period that you were able to
show such uncommon valor.

Speaker 6 (37:00):
Experienced. Was I got really scared? You know. There was
forty three of us and teen hundreds of the enemy,
and we just continued to do our job and take
care of each other, and we won because we didn't
quit trying. Yeah.

Speaker 5 (37:17):
Well, and I love that. That is a phrase that
we're going to talk about in a moment. That means
a lot.

Speaker 4 (37:21):
On top of all of that, you while you were injured,
you didn't even know how to swim, but that did
not keep you then from using a rat.

Speaker 6 (37:32):
I knew how to swim.

Speaker 5 (37:33):
Okay, there you go.

Speaker 6 (37:34):
Broke. My back was broke, couldn't hardly walk, let alone swim,
but I did.

Speaker 5 (37:40):
And tell us about that. How you rescue some of
your fellow soldiers.

Speaker 6 (37:46):
Well, when I looked across the river and Steen Wendell
Holloway standing up and waving at me, and I said, well,
that's what Wendell's black man. Well, that's that's my one
of my brothers. So I know I had to go
get him because I could see all the enemy around.
So I went and got him. And when I got there,
there were three men in the foxhol instead of just one,

(38:08):
and I knew I didn't have this drink to make
three trips, so I carried all three of them basically, wow,
and you got them to safety, yes, spam. I got
them to the river and took two across the river,
and then came back and got one and we all

(38:28):
made it. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (38:30):
It's amazing, I think because you were how old that
day in nineteen sixty seven, twenty one, you were only
twenty one, and showed that kind of braver. Our sons
is twenty Benjamin who you know, and our daughter is
twenty one, and that's pretty amazing.

Speaker 5 (38:45):
You know, you use the phrase you don't lose till
you quit trying.

Speaker 4 (38:49):
Can you talk a little bit about where that phrase
comes from?

Speaker 6 (38:53):
Well, my mama, Yeah, she's the one that taught me
that when I was really young. Samily, don't you quit trying?
And it just stuck with me all my life. It's
still with me in my heart because I know that
no matter what you're faced with, you don't lose until
you quit trying.

Speaker 5 (39:10):
And you said that.

Speaker 4 (39:10):
That came to mind when you despite having a broken back,
crushed ribs, all of those injuries.

Speaker 5 (39:17):
You went and you still got wounds, Oh goodness, and
you and did that keep.

Speaker 4 (39:22):
You going when you went across to save your your
brothers as you call them.

Speaker 6 (39:28):
The love in my heart is what kept me going. Yeah,
because I'm not I know, I'm not a brave man,
but I love my brothers and that kept me doing
my job then and that's still what keeps me on
the road, trebling and speaking and encouraging America to stand
up for what you believe is right.

Speaker 5 (39:48):
You know, when you were recovering from all those injuries.

Speaker 4 (39:52):
As we were talking about crushed ribs, gunshot wounds, traumatic
brain injury. You actually petitioned General will We's Moreland to
be allowed to stay with your unit. Tell us about
that and why did you fight to stay and keep
fighting after all those injuries.

Speaker 6 (40:10):
Well, I woke up in the hospital and camp ed Homa, Japan,
and the doctor came in and showed me the behived
UARTs that he had pulled out of me, thirty behive
arts and said, we're you know, we're going to send
you home and retire from the army. Says, well, sir,
I don't want to go home. I don't want to
retire from the army. I want to go back and

(40:31):
be with my brothers. And he said, well, so I
did my best to contact Duner William Charles West morning
and he came and seen me in the hospital and
he said, I think we can get you back. So
he did. He got me back to Vietnam and I

(40:51):
got to be with my brothers. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (40:52):
You know we were talking earlier in this show, Sammy,
you know about you were talking about.

Speaker 5 (40:57):
How you saw your brother across the water, which led
you to.

Speaker 4 (41:01):
Go and rescue him and two others despite having a
broken back, and you said, you know your brother who
was black, but he's your brother.

Speaker 7 (41:08):
You know.

Speaker 5 (41:09):
In the last few years.

Speaker 4 (41:11):
In the military, there was a lot of stuff that
was introduced where people told to look at one another
based on their skin color as an oppressor or oppressed.

Speaker 5 (41:20):
Was that even a part of how you saw those
you served with?

Speaker 6 (41:26):
No, man, the coat of the skin's not important. It's
the coat of the heart. Yeah, and that's why I
went and got my brother because color his heart was
the same color as mine.

Speaker 4 (41:38):
Yes, indeed, yes, indeed. Okay, so here's kind of the
fun part. You have been referred to as the real
Forest Gump. Tell us about how that term came to be.

Speaker 6 (41:50):
Well, they, the people that were making the movie, seen
my video of when I received the medal and said, boy,
we can put this in the movie somewhere, and they did.
That's when Forrest is receiving the Medal of Honor in
the movie. That's my actual film footage of when President
Johnson awarded me the medal, and they just put Tom's

(42:11):
face over mine.

Speaker 4 (42:13):
Well, and it's there's obviously a bit of similarity to
the heroics of Forrest Gump as.

Speaker 5 (42:17):
Well, going and stayed on people. Yeah, but I do
have definitely, I'll give you the opportunity to clarify.

Speaker 4 (42:23):
When Forrest Gump actually drops his drawers to show his wound,
I'm guessing you.

Speaker 5 (42:29):
Did not actually do that.

Speaker 6 (42:32):
No, I did not actually do that. That's if the
President would have asked me this. Well, actually I pulled.
He did ask to see where I was wounded, and
I pulled the top of my pants down, and because
I had some of my buttocks those that were right there.
But I did not pull my pants down.

Speaker 5 (42:54):
Well, good.

Speaker 4 (42:54):
I just want to make sure all listeners understand the
difference there, and there are many many other differences between
you and Forrest as well. You know, nothing to put
Forest down, but he wasn't the sharpest tool of the shed.
And you're a very smart individual, Sammy. If you're tuning in,
Deborah Flora is sitting in for Mandy Connell, my guest
Sammy Davis Medal of Honor recipient, someone who travels around

(43:18):
to continue to inspire next generations about why this country
is worth standing and fighting for. You know, Sammy, when
our children were little, you were so gracious to let
them hold your medal of honor, and I remember them
looking at it and you talking to them about it
and talk about what you do and why you do it.

Speaker 5 (43:38):
With so many young people around this country.

Speaker 6 (43:43):
We have such wonderful young people in this country. And
Dixie and I go out and we travel all over
the United States talking to schools and it's been wonderful.
It inspires your heart so much. And one of the
things that's even in inspires you even more is And

(44:03):
just recently we were flying, I think we were in Atlanta,
it's been a month or so ago, and a young
man come up to me and he said, Sharon Davis,
and I said yes. He said, you spoke to my
class when I would be in the sixth grade and
he's like thirty five years old now, and he said,
you taught me that you don't lose until you quit trying.

(44:24):
And it's little things like that that just inspires your
heart and keeps you going.

Speaker 5 (44:29):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely, well, and that's great.

Speaker 4 (44:32):
You know, Sammy, this past fourth of July in America
is amazingly heading into our two hundred and fiftieth year,
which defies history for the length of countries. You know,
it really does and I think it's due to our
founding documents, to the principles that's found onto the service
of people like yourself. However, there was a trend this
past worth of July on Friday of some people saying

(44:54):
they're dissenting because they're not celebrating America.

Speaker 5 (44:57):
What would you say to folks like that?

Speaker 6 (45:01):
Freedom is not free. It has always had to be
fought for and earned. Unfortunately, there are those out there
that don't understand that, and they're the ones that are
protesting and say, oh, well, we can't fight for it,
blah blah blah, and they'll get what they deserve.

Speaker 5 (45:21):
What do you think is the key to keeping our
country strong?

Speaker 6 (45:26):
The key to keeping our country strong for each of
us to stand up for what we believe is right
in our hearts. I think there's more of us that
believe in America than there are those that want to
protest against it. But we don't lose to a quoit trient.
So that's one of the reasons why we're on the road,

(45:46):
traveling and speaking over two hundred days a year. We're
on the road. We're traveling and encouraging America to stand up.

Speaker 5 (45:53):
Yeah, that is so true.

Speaker 4 (45:55):
I mean, we are so blessed to live in this country,
and it takes every single one of us. Sammy, I
wanted I wanted to have you share. Also, the harmonica
became a very big part of your story in Vietnam,
as well as what you have done since, saying can
you tell us a story about the harmonica.

Speaker 6 (46:15):
Well, I've had the privilege of playing the harmonica all
across well not only America, I've played it in many
other countries too. But my mama sent me a harmonica
in Vietnam because she thought I was bored. I was
only writing just a few sentences and I'd put it

(46:35):
because I had to write your mama or my mama,
so I would. And because I didn't tell her a
whole lot of things, I just you know, said mom,
and didn't find today I might write, you know what
we had for c rations and then mail that was
my letters that I could mailed to my mama. And
she thought I was bored, so she sent me a harmonica,

(46:57):
and I didn't know how to play it. I just
stuck up my pocket. Well, one of my sergeants, Johnson Dunlap,
on the day that I got the harp, he knew
if what was in the age. And he come and says,
well play shennon door farm in private Davis, he was
a sergeant, and you don't tell it East six, the private,
don't tell it East six that no, I don't play

(47:18):
the harmonica. I said, okay, So I started practicing. We
were artillery. It was okay that I could sit and
still do my job and watch the perimeter and blow
on my harmonica because the enemy knew where we were.
And one of the cool things that even now the
guys will say, Sam, we always loved to hear you
play in the harmonica because we knew that you were awake,

(47:40):
We knew that you were watching, and it just fourified us.
One of the cool things. In twenty sixteen, our State
Department worked with their state department and Dixie and I
and Jim Diister, one of the three men that I
swum across the river for. We went back to Vietnam
and the state departments got some of the enemy that

(48:01):
were there the night that I earned the medal, and
we had a meeting and one of the first things
that they asked was, well, do you have it? I said,
what do you mean, do you have it? With you,
and they were talking about the harmonica, but they didn't
know how to say the harmonica in English. But we
kept talking and all the harmonica. Yeah, I got it.

(48:23):
They said, play it for us. I did. One thing
I never even thought to consider was that they could
hear me playing the harmonica. And I played it. I
won't say all the time, but I played it all
the time during the night. If I wasn't sleeping, I
was sitting there playing the harmonica. Shenandoah was one of

(48:43):
the songs that I always played because it helped my
guys feel better. And there the enemy was asking me
to play it. So downtown Saigon, I pulled the harmonica
out and I played Shenandoah for the five men that
were there and all of us. Wonderful.

Speaker 4 (49:00):
Well, you've done so much to inspire the next generation.
In fact, you gave our daughter a harmonica, which is amazing.

Speaker 5 (49:07):
They yes, absolutely. I don't know if you'll have replace.

Speaker 4 (49:10):
I know as well as you you do, Sammy, but
it is beautiful.

Speaker 8 (49:15):
You know.

Speaker 4 (49:15):
Last thing I want to ask you before we leave is,
even though you say you're not a brave person, you
just did it out of club, But I do believe
courage is contagious. For our listeners who maybe are not
feeling courageous, feel like they can't stand up for what
they believe in, or feel like they're getting battered down.

Speaker 5 (49:34):
What would you want to say to them?

Speaker 6 (49:37):
You don't lose until you quit trying. No matter what
you believe in, you stand up for what you believe
is right. That's what makes America great because we can
do that, and you don't lose to quit trying.

Speaker 5 (49:50):
Yeah, that is so true.

Speaker 4 (49:51):
And that's also the name of your autobiograph, which is
a great read.

Speaker 5 (49:54):
I encourage everybody to read it.

Speaker 4 (49:56):
Well, Sammy, thank you so much for joining us, Thank
you for stand up for our country, for being a
continuing example of that, and please give Dixie our love
as well. God bless you, my friend.

Speaker 6 (50:09):
You're well. Squeeze Jonathan. I hope we get to see
ya soon.

Speaker 5 (50:13):
We hope so too. Thank you so much. Take care, Sammy,
bye bye bye bye.

Speaker 4 (50:18):
Well, as we head into this next break, I do
want to play have us play Sammy Davis playing his harmonica,
and the story really is straight out of If you
Were Saw a Band of Brothers. I know it is
a different war, different period, but it was that touch
of home. And when you hear him play, just picture

(50:39):
a twenty one year old young man who was willing.

Speaker 5 (50:43):
He actually volunteered to go later.

Speaker 4 (50:46):
While he is humble, showed such an act of bravery
that he saved three of his brothers while he had
a broken back, multiple gunshot wounds, fractured skull. Here is
Sammy Davis playing Shennon Doah on his harm harmonica. That

(51:54):
is Sammy Davis Metal Honor recipient. You hear people are
plotting there if you look him up. And this is
appropriate googling, not the misinformation that a listener earlier shared.
But when you google and you watch, he has played
that in front of the Vietnam Memorial, he has played
that in the Pentagon. He's played that, as he just shared,

(52:16):
even back in Vietnam downtown Saigon, he played it there
for those who even had been on the other side.
A remarkable man. And the reason why I wanted to
make sure that you have the opportunity to hear his
story is because uncommon valor can come from everyday.

Speaker 5 (52:37):
People who just know what's right.

Speaker 4 (52:40):
He said he didn't consider himself to be a brave man,
but he did it because of the love in his heart.
He looked across the river after he had broken back,
had been shot numerous times, couldn't swim, grabbed a mattress because,
as he said, I saw my brother on the other
side of the river, and I knew they needed saving
when are actually three that He then swamed them back

(53:03):
to the other side of the river to safety, and
after all of that, volunteered to go back into the
military to join his unit.

Speaker 5 (53:11):
He actually petitioned to do that.

Speaker 4 (53:13):
I hope that inspires us because what I particularly like
about what Sammy said is it's the love in his
heart that motivate him. Why do I stand up for
America because I actually really love the ideas of this country.
That every single person has intrinsic value there for individual liberty,
and that includes people who have different viewpoints and have

(53:35):
a different idea of their own personal idea of pursuing happiness.

Speaker 5 (53:41):
That's fine, and I'm hoping that more and more we
can be motivated by the things we love, not by
the things that we hate. That's happening on both sides
of the spectrum.

Speaker 4 (53:51):
I'm not just calling out one side here, but I
think that common ground in the center where eighty percent
of us agree in eighty percent of things, sometimes silenced
by the vitriol on either side. Time to take a
little bit of an example from Sammy Davis Medal Vanna recipient,
Courage is contagious and if we're mot motivated by the

(54:15):
things we love, it's a very very different way of
going about things.

Speaker 5 (54:19):
Well, we'll be back heading to a break.

Speaker 4 (54:21):
I'm Deborah Flora sitting in from Mandy Connell. I was
so honored to have the guests that we just had
on the show, and if you missed it, definitely listened
to the podcast later. We're gonna have another great guest
coming up at the top of the hour. But we
just were joined by Metal Vanna recipient Sammy Davis, who,
at twenty one years old in Vietnam, which you volunteered

(54:43):
to go to and enlisted right out.

Speaker 5 (54:45):
Of high school, he saved three other.

Speaker 4 (54:49):
Members of his troops called him his brothers, despite having
a broken back, multiple gunshot wounds, serious brain t et cetera,
broken ribs, all of that, and he went and he
saved them, as he said, his brothers, And for that
he received the medal, the highest honor provided to the

(55:10):
military for uncommon valor, getting some great responses from listeners,
thank you for texting in. One said how inspiring. Thank
you so much for sharing Sammy Davis with us. His
harmonica make me cry, makes me cry every time, Valerie.
Another person said he needs to jam with Jimmy Sangenberger.
I think they would be awesome, and I think Sammy
could show Jimmy a thing or two, even though Jimmy

(55:32):
is great on the harmonica.

Speaker 6 (55:35):
You know.

Speaker 4 (55:35):
But what I wanted to kind of pivot to is
who do we honor today? And I kind of want
every listener feel free to text in five six, six
nine zero, who do you honor today? Because that's another
thing that shows a division in our country. I do
believe people like Sammy should be honored that someone like

(55:58):
the young coast guard first time he was on a
mission that I shared at the beginning of the show,
saved one hundred and sixty five people in the terrible
flash flood in Texas. The gentleman who owned the camp
with his family gave his life to save so many

(56:19):
of those young girls at that mystic camp in Texas.
There's so much to honor around us, and then we
see other types of honoring. And I'm going to share
a story that's very personal, but then I'm going to
get to the bigger point. My father, who served in
the military for twenty five years and then served again
twenty five years in civil service and the same job,

(56:42):
went to Vietnam, was willing to go to Korea. Is
showing his age.

Speaker 5 (56:46):
He left college to go and then it had wound
down before he ended up going.

Speaker 4 (56:50):
But he was willing to serve a life that I'm
proud to say was a life of service.

Speaker 5 (56:55):
He was a man of great integrity and quiet strength.

Speaker 4 (57:00):
Well, he passed away in May of twenty twenty, just
seven months after my mother.

Speaker 5 (57:05):
That is not tragic.

Speaker 4 (57:06):
They lived very full, wonderful, amazing lives, married sixty seven years.

Speaker 5 (57:12):
But when my father passed away, it was COVID and
he was.

Speaker 4 (57:16):
Going to be buried at Fort Logan Cemetery, and we
were notified that because of the COVID shutdown, he would
not be buried for four to five months, that we
would have to wait. When he finally was buried, we
were told we could only have about twenty people there.

Speaker 5 (57:32):
Despite the fact that he was a father to five.

Speaker 4 (57:34):
A grandfather of ten and then all of their siblings.
Not everyone could even attend. But the day after we
were told that my father would not be able to
be buried after all of his service in Fort Lookan
Cemetery for a few months, what did I turn on
the TV and see the George Floyd funeral where hundreds
of people were crammed into a church without masks and

(57:59):
nothing shut that down. Now, I am not saying they
should not have been able to hold that ceremony, but
if we are in a society where that is allowed,
but we had to wait to bury my dad, there
is something that is upside down. When he finally was
buried laid to rest, I remember the biggest thing that

(58:21):
really moved me, other than missing him, was watching the
honor guard fold the flag with such honor, the way
they handled my father's coffin as they let it into
the area where we had the ceremony, and by the
way we had to do everything at Forelookan Cemetery.

Speaker 5 (58:36):
We could not have a service anywhere else because of COVID.

Speaker 2 (58:40):
And it made me.

Speaker 4 (58:41):
Really wonder who do we value in our culture, who
do we lift up? And I think this is a
tale of two Americas, because there are so many of
you who are texting in right now all about how
moving Sammy's service was, how you have those in your
family who are serving. And my husband was an eight
sick an airborne veteran, my dad, my father in law

(59:02):
is Navy, you know, so I grew up around that
and had this sense of honor as well as comfort
knowing that anywhere I turned when I was on Lowry
Air Force Base growing up, that somebody there would be
willing to stand and fight for me. I mean that
that's a pretty amazing thing to think of in the
United States of America. But there's an interesting trend that
is happening that I think is disturbing. I think it's

(59:23):
a minority trend, but I think we need to call
it out and take a look at it. It's interesting
how some of those who are now being lifted up
and honored don't necessarily represent the values that we have
traditionally honored in society period, not just in America, but
in much of history. For instance, now, George Floyd, that

(59:46):
was an unfortunate incident, but the way that he was
treated in the outrage and the rioting that happened in
the wake of that in twenty twenty he was referred
to by many as a martyr.

Speaker 5 (59:58):
That's a lot of heavy.

Speaker 4 (01:00:02):
Verbiage, a bit of almost religious feeling about something or
someone that would not normally have been lifted up.

Speaker 5 (01:00:10):
Like I said at the same time that my father.

Speaker 4 (01:00:11):
We had to wait on his even being buried after
he passed away. Here's another example of that. Luigi Mangione.
Now many of us know that he gunned down the
United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson in twenty twenty four.

Speaker 5 (01:00:25):
In cold blooded murder.

Speaker 4 (01:00:26):
But something strange was reflected in our culture after that.
And once again it's not everybody, but we do have
to talk about potentially. I don't know if it's all
the same people, but those who don't believe that America's
were celebrating, but many have turned around a celebrated Luigi
Mangeone who is really by all accounts, I don't believe

(01:00:49):
he has been.

Speaker 5 (01:00:49):
Convicted yet, but committed murder.

Speaker 4 (01:00:52):
If that is what is proven, I mean certainly that's
what the witnesses all say, and no reason to doubt it.

Speaker 5 (01:00:58):
Well, what happened? How has he been treated since then?

Speaker 4 (01:01:02):
There have been images that have been made into kind
of public culture memes and icons and really reflected this
very strange thing that's happened. Pictures of Luigi Mangione in
a green mantle with a red sacred heart with a
halo over his head and under it the title Saint
Luigi Patron, Saint of health Care Access for All. Now,

(01:01:24):
I know I'm pulling out a story from you know,
last year, but it is a time for a little
bit of introspection if we are going to, as everybody
likes to say, now, save the soul of our country.
And I think it's you know, it's most threatened by
the vitriol predominantly on one side, but yes there's an
equal and opposite reaction on the other side. So it's

(01:01:45):
coming from both sides. But what leads to saving the
soul of our country, little soul searching? Who do we
actually elevate? Just went to DC, and every time I do,
I go by all of the memorials, the Vietnam War,
the Korean Memorial, go and read the inscriptions on the
Lincoln Memorial, Go to the World where two memorial because

(01:02:08):
those are who I believe we should be honoring those
who are willing to give the last full measure of devotion,
whether somebody saw combat or not. Someone who served in
our military, as they say, is willing to write a
blank check, meaning that check could be cash at any
time of them giving their lives.

Speaker 5 (01:02:25):
So we can sit here and disagree.

Speaker 4 (01:02:28):
I think we need to begin to push back on
this shift in value with someone like Luigi Mangione being
lifted up that way, all the girl fan clubs that
have come up, people calling.

Speaker 5 (01:02:41):
Him, you know, a pretty decent guy. What's pretty decent.

Speaker 4 (01:02:45):
About shooting brutally in cold blood someone that was a father,
a husband. And whether or not you like the healthcare
in the United States, that's a completely different subject.

Speaker 5 (01:02:55):
That's also going.

Speaker 4 (01:02:57):
To lead to something that I'm going to shift to next,
which is a normalization of political violence or any kind
of violence. There's a recent Rutgers University poll that found
that fifty five percent of all self identifying liberals and listen,
I don't want to.

Speaker 5 (01:03:12):
Make this partisan.

Speaker 4 (01:03:13):
This is a democratic republic, but republican this should be
right or wrong, But this was the Rutgers University poll.
Fifty five percent of all self identifying liberals believe killing
is a justifiable means of pursuing their political goals. Let
me repeat that again, fifty five percent of those who

(01:03:34):
self identifies liberals.

Speaker 5 (01:03:36):
And this might not be you.

Speaker 4 (01:03:37):
If you identify as a liberal and you're not against
and you are against using killing or violence for your
political goal text in five six sixty nine zero five
six six nine zero. And this followed another poll that
over half of those self identifying as liberal said it
was justifiable to murder Donald Trump and Elon Musk.

Speaker 5 (01:04:01):
That's problematic. We can't have a civil society if we
abandon what it means to be civil.

Speaker 4 (01:04:09):
I believe in protesting, I believe in making your voice
heard on what you believe in making real change. That
is problematic. But I think many of you listening are
honoring those who really deserve to be honor, which is
why I'm getting so many great comments about my interview
with Sammy Davis.

Speaker 5 (01:04:26):
Well, when we come.

Speaker 4 (01:04:27):
Back, we're going to wind up this hour before we
have Dan Gordon joining us, former Idea of Captain, award
winning Hollywood screenwriter, and we're going to talk a little
bit about what's going on in the Middle East.

Speaker 5 (01:04:39):
But here's my country.

Speaker 4 (01:04:40):
My question for you to be head to the break
five six six nine zero. Who do you honor? Who
do you think is worthy of honor? Five six six
nine zero, don't go anywhere. I'm Debora Flora sitting in
from Mandy Connell. You missed any of it, please make
sure to listen to the podcast later. Is particularly my
interview with Sammy d Medal of Honor recipient amazing heroism

(01:05:03):
at the age of twenty one when he was in Vietnam. Also,
many people have already texted and commenting about the beautiful
rendition he has of Shenandoah with the harmonica.

Speaker 5 (01:05:16):
Just just really beautiful.

Speaker 4 (01:05:19):
You know, we've been talking a little bit about who
do we honor in this country. We've been talking a
lot about this divide, and I want to say that
when I look at this divide, I do believe it
is a minority.

Speaker 5 (01:05:31):
But it is a very loud and vocal minority that.

Speaker 4 (01:05:34):
Did not celebrate the fourth of July, that did not
celebrate Independence Day, that said it was because they don't
feel like they can celebrate America. I do believe it
is a small group of people. And I've been asking
certain questions. I want to read some of these answers.
I've been asking people how they participated in the fourth
of July, the Independence Day celebration. One listener textion and said, Deborah,

(01:05:58):
my wife and I were part of a tool were
to Normandy, France, sponsored by the World War II Museum
and the eighty first anniversary of D Day. I have
to pause to say, my husband is very jealous right now.
We definitely want to go do that ourselves. But this
listener went on to say, the French people in Normandy
are more appreciative of the USA than many of our

(01:06:18):
own citizens. I couldn't believe the number of USA flags
throughout the region. Absolutely why because they have a better
understanding of the history than some of our own residents here. Unfortunately,
of all the good that has happened, in all the
evil that was stopped because America was willing to do that.
Another person said, I agree, those who gave their lives

(01:06:41):
for our country we should honor and those who have
served our country.

Speaker 5 (01:06:44):
Indeed, absolutely thank you for that.

Speaker 4 (01:06:48):
This was an interesting analogy a listener shared because I
was talking about how there is just this increasing normalization
of political violence, and one listener texted this great analogy.
They said, if you put one hundred black ants one
hundred red ants in a jar, nothing will happen. But
if you shake the jar hard, the ants will start

(01:07:10):
killing each other. The red ants will consider the black
answer enemies, and the black ants will consider the red
answer enemies. The real enemy is the one who shakes
the jar. The same thing happens in human society. So
before we attack each other, we should think about who
is shaking the jar. Love that that's one hundred percent true.
It's interesting somebody earlier texted that, you know, if woke

(01:07:33):
means you care about people who are hurting, then.

Speaker 5 (01:07:35):
Call me woke.

Speaker 4 (01:07:36):
I think it's time to step back from that kind
of language, because I do believe that so many of
us want the same thing, but we are told that
the other person is the enemy and those who are
shaking the jar. Honestly, if we have vitriolic mobs on
different ends of this political spectrum, there are those who
know how to manipulate it.

Speaker 5 (01:07:57):
And even more, if we can all come together.

Speaker 4 (01:08:01):
In the nine to twelve spirit we had after nine
to eleven, were we remembered who is really shaking the jar?

Speaker 5 (01:08:07):
Who is really the enemy?

Speaker 4 (01:08:08):
It is not our fellow citizens, It is those who
actually want to eradicate the very values that this country
is founded on. That kind of leads into who I'm
going to have joining me at the top of the hour.
That is Dan Gordon, former captain with the IDF American
Israeli citizen, is also an award winning screenwriter. We're going

(01:08:31):
to talk about what's going on in Gaza, what's going
on now that it's so many days after over six
hundred days since the hostages were taken. And that's going
to be a part of the conversation with a potential
city spire talking about are we do we have the
wherewithal to protect civilization versus barbarism.

Speaker 5 (01:08:54):
That's really what the bigger question is going to be
when we come back.

Speaker 4 (01:08:57):
He's got some amazing insights you will not want to
go anywhere, including some insights about Hollywood itself and potential
complicity with where we are right now.

Speaker 5 (01:09:06):
Don't get me where. I'm Deborah Flora sitting in for
Mandy Connell.

Speaker 1 (01:09:11):
The Mandy Connall Show is sponsored by Belle and Pollock
Accident and injury Lawyers.

Speaker 2 (01:09:16):
No, it's Mandy Connell.

Speaker 6 (01:09:18):
And Donna.

Speaker 8 (01:09:21):
Ka ninety one, sat Watty, Kevin Nicey us through Prey Nycnall.

Speaker 4 (01:09:34):
Keithing sad Babe, Welcome back to the Mandy Connall Show.
Deborah Flora sitting in for my good friend Mandy Connell,
continuing a great conversation today.

Speaker 5 (01:09:44):
Thank you so much for tuning in. Well, we are
switching gears.

Speaker 4 (01:09:48):
And I'm very excited to introduce my next guest, who
is Dan Gordon. He is an American Israeli citizen. He
was served as a captain in the Israel Defense Forces.
He was a spokesperson the IDF and a Middle East
analyst and then with his other hat, a renaissance man,
also a screenwriter, a fifteen Hollywood feature of films including

(01:10:09):
The Hurricane and whitet Erp starring Kevin Costners, as well
as many others. Last time I had Dan join me
on the air was right after October seventh and was
so much going on in the Middle.

Speaker 5 (01:10:21):
East in that region.

Speaker 4 (01:10:22):
I'm really grateful to have him joining me again. Dan,
thank you so much for being on the show.

Speaker 7 (01:10:28):
My pleasure, Thank you for having me. And just first
want to say that my prayers and those of every
person that I know books in America and in Israel,
go out to all the folks in Texas who are
dealing with the impacts of chiefs just catastrophic. Yes, yes, unummaged.

Speaker 4 (01:10:47):
Indeed, thank you for that, Dan, Yes, I started the
show the first hour talking about that and prayers being
lifted up. As a mom. It's unimaginable to me all
of the young girls at that camp that were lost,
to all the children and many others.

Speaker 5 (01:11:01):
So thank you for that.

Speaker 4 (01:11:02):
I do believe many people are joining with your prayers
and my prayers for everyone involved. Many of us are
also praying for Israel and for the remaining hostages who've
been held for six hundred and thirty nine days.

Speaker 5 (01:11:15):
Now, you know, with your.

Speaker 4 (01:11:18):
Background, Dan, you joined the Israeli Army in the early
nineteen seventy and served almost a decade, including during the
Yam Kippur War of nineteen seventy three. With that background,
just give us a little bit of your thoughts about
October seventh and what's you know what that day, that

(01:11:38):
horrible day meant not only for Israel, but for civilization
really those who.

Speaker 5 (01:11:43):
Are fighting for it.

Speaker 7 (01:11:45):
Sure. I mean I actually served from nineteen seventy three
to twenty eighteen, which wow, five years and was in
six wars and in one long day, October seventeenth. I
think is represents something almost unmatched in the last hundred years.

(01:12:13):
First the greatest slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust. But
what people need to understand is it wasn't a border raid.
It was an invasion.

Speaker 6 (01:12:27):
It wasn't a battle.

Speaker 7 (01:12:28):
It was a massacre, and it wasn't meant to be
a one time will raid. Killed twelve hundred people, kidnapped
two hundred and fifty people, and then we'll go back
to life as normal.

Speaker 6 (01:12:44):
The point of that was to.

Speaker 7 (01:12:48):
Literally it was an invasion of Israel, the de facto
state of Gaza, which possessed all the attributes of a state.
They had to fine borders, a defined population, a strong
central government of very impressive military, and an independent foreign policy.
Those are all the attributes of a government. So the

(01:13:08):
de facto state of Gaza invaded Israel, knowing that Israel
then would come in with a ground force, because they
have absolutely no choice but to do that. You simultaneously,
Israel's facing thousands of rockets coming into the south from Gaza,

(01:13:29):
thousands of rockets coming into the north from Grizabala, rockets
coming in from Iraqi, militias from Syrian militias from the
Houtis and all under the umbrella of a thread of
ballistic missiles, which we saw that threat realized later from Iraq.
So Israel was facing a seven front war that starts

(01:13:54):
with a surprise attack. That was for Israel what Pearl
Harbor was from the United States. Honestly, for Israel, this
was to Israel what World War II was to the
United States. And even more than that, because I don't
believe in World War two that Hitler's objective was to
annihilate the United States of America and kill every American.

(01:14:18):
Kamas's objective and Iran's objective was to annihilate the State
of Israel and kill every Jew, non Jew, Muslim, Christian,
what have you in Israel. So this was really an
existential war. It was a war that Hamas had planned

(01:14:39):
for ten years.

Speaker 6 (01:14:40):
You know.

Speaker 7 (01:14:41):
I was in the war that was hot in twenty fourteen,
that was called Operation Defensive Edge. And after that war,
which was about a month long, and Israel had you know,
limited success in that war, we found and destroyed thirty
four of these terrors attack tunnels. We killed probably a

(01:15:04):
couple thousand terrats, and we thought we had subdued Hamas.
I think in retrospect we stepped into a trap because
right after that war, both the United States and the
Europeans pledged two and a half billion dollars for reconstruction

(01:15:25):
quote unquote.

Speaker 6 (01:15:26):
Of Gaza, and they allowed in over a million tons of.

Speaker 7 (01:15:31):
Cement and seal. That cement and steel didn't go to
build houses, schools, hospitals. It went to build five hundred
miles of terraced tunnels that made Hamas almost impregnable. And
it was the perfect cover that the international community supplied

(01:15:54):
them with bulldozers, excavators, all the things that you need
to dig in plain sight. What we called the metro
of terror. It was quite literally urban renewal for terror.
And I got in January of last year doing a
seven part documentary and I was embedded with Israeli combat engineers,

(01:16:18):
and what we discovered was there were phantom villages that
had no people in them, that didn't even have plumbing structures,
and there were electricity hookups. They were neighborhoods that were
built to mask the tunnels that were being constructed underneath them.

(01:16:39):
And each one of those houses was a fighting position
or was booty trapped. So They had a great plan
which was to suck the Israeli army into a prepared
battlefield that was all of Gaza, interconnected by five hundred
miles of these tunnels. None of the terraces wore uniforms,
so they they're out, they got their hands raised, not

(01:17:00):
carrying a weapon, they say, please, don't shoot, I'm a civilian.
Then they go into the house where the weapons had
already been planted. Wow, fire off RPGs or rockets at
Israeli forces or civilians. And then they escaped through the
tunnels that connect these buildings, and when the Israeli forces

(01:17:20):
come in after them, they blow up the building. So
it was the most challenging urban warfare environment I think
in history. If you look at what Nazi Germany did
in World War Two, they did urban fighting from occupied
Europe and they used buildings. Japanese dug a system of

(01:17:42):
tunnels throughout all the islands of the Pacific. Hamas combined
both of those things into one urban environment, and it
was honestly the most challenging urban environment for any army
I think that's ever been faced.

Speaker 4 (01:17:58):
Yeah, and Dan at the great If you're tuning in
Deborah Flora is sitting in for a Mandy Collum I guess.
Dan Gordon served twenty five years in the Israeli Defense Force,
a IDF, also an American screenwriter, describing the situation that
the troops faced after October seventh, the horrendous barbaric attack

(01:18:20):
that slaughtered fifteen twelve hundred civilians, took two.

Speaker 5 (01:18:23):
Hundred and fifty hostages. That has now been six.

Speaker 4 (01:18:26):
Hundred and thirty nine days that the remaining hostages have
been there.

Speaker 5 (01:18:30):
You talked about this being a.

Speaker 4 (01:18:32):
Seven front war, and yet it seems now that miraculously
and also because of the amazing efforts of the IDF
and others, that it has pretty much been a huge
success for Israel.

Speaker 5 (01:18:48):
What is this status right now?

Speaker 4 (01:18:50):
Do you think of this seven front war now that
obviously has led to finally Iran that has been funding
all of it.

Speaker 5 (01:18:57):
But what is the status now?

Speaker 7 (01:19:00):
Well, you know, Iran spent forty years and literally all
its resources. I just got to back up for a
second because people sort of gloss over something. Iran is
a country that shares no border with Israel. Iran as
a country that is thousands of kilometers away from Israel,

(01:19:24):
it has no dispute of any kind with Israel. It
has no territorial issues with Israel, it has no imperialist
fears of Israel having a design on conquering Iran. And
there's a two thousand year history of very cordial relations
between the Persian people and the Jewish people. When the

(01:19:47):
Iatolas took over in the Revolution in the late seventies,
they literally decided to devote all of their military, scientific,
and economic res sources to destroying a country with whom
they had absolutely no carell wow, no reason to fight.

(01:20:09):
So Iran decided to build what they called the Axis
of Resistance, which it was going to be the ring
of fire that they believed would destroy Israel and while
insulating Iran from an Israeli response, Dan North.

Speaker 4 (01:20:24):
Yeah, yeah, if I can, If I can just pause,
we're heading to a break. Can you hold on when
we come back so we can get to the rest
of this.

Speaker 5 (01:20:31):
Thank you so much. We're heading to a break right now.

Speaker 4 (01:20:34):
Deborah Flora sitting in from Mandy Connell with my guest,
Dan Gordon.

Speaker 5 (01:20:37):
Don't go anywhere.

Speaker 4 (01:20:39):
Very enlightening informative interview with Dan Gordon. He served in
the IDEA for twenty five years also an American Israeli
citizen screenwriter in Hollywood Award winning and we're talking about
the history of what was going on and our last
time here.

Speaker 5 (01:20:57):
Dan, I just wanted to find out from your perspective,
because today.

Speaker 4 (01:21:03):
Prime Mister of Benjamin Netanya, who's meeting with President Trump
talking about a ceasefire in the region, do you feel
that the work has been done that has been needed
to be done in Gaza defeating Hamas and stopping the
Seven Front wars you were calling it.

Speaker 7 (01:21:22):
Thanks to President Trump's leadership, we are in a much
much better place than we were a year ago. Hamas, basically,
thanks to the idea and their government's leadership, has been
decimated as an organized military force and they basically exist

(01:21:43):
as a decentralized guerrilla force that exists mainly by stealing
its own people's food. That's how they exist today. His
Baala was defeated with before Israeli even set foot in
Lebanon by the use of three thousand exploding beepers, which
was the most precise back in history. Amazing Bala chose

(01:22:05):
the targets because Bala said, we're only giving these out
to the three thousand most important people in his Bala,
and the charge was so small that it wasn't meant
to kill anyone, it was meant to wound someone. So
they were taken off the battlefield and their leadership was
decapitated before the ground invasion happened. So Kbala has been

(01:22:29):
again degraded to the extent that Lebanon now has a
chance to be a free country. And they suffered terribly
under his Bala. Because his Bala's no longer there, the
Asad regime in Syria fell and their people were able
to depose a dictator who tortured them for over forty years.

(01:22:50):
And now because of President Trump's actions, fighting shoulders shoulder
with Israel. After Israel took out Iran's air defenses in
the United States, It's b two's put a real dent.

Speaker 6 (01:23:02):
In their day.

Speaker 7 (01:23:03):
Iran's nuclear ambitions have been set back by several years,
and the world and America and Europe are much much
safer places today. I hope that in these discussions about
a ceasefire, the United States and Israel will stand firm
with the goal that in any post war Gaza Hamas

(01:23:27):
cannot exist as a military force and can play no
role in its governance and to that really is who
distributes the humanitarian aid. If it's the UN, the UN
is complicit with Hamas or whatever bodly reasons that is
the case. So that will be the main challenge making
sure that the body that distributes the food is not Hamas,

(01:23:51):
and that will make Hamas.

Speaker 5 (01:23:53):
Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 4 (01:23:54):
You know, I had a guest on June tenth when
I was guest hosting for Mandy and it was Aile
Salmarano whose son was murdered by you know, Hamas on
October seventh outside the Nova Music Festival and on camera
and nra U n AID worker was saying dragging his

(01:24:16):
body into an sub and driving it into Gaza. So
the complicity there has been terrible. Well, thank you, thank you, Dan.
You have so much information provide. I'll definitely have to
have you on again and we can go even deeper
into this. But it is great to hear about the strides.

Speaker 5 (01:24:34):
That have been made. And when I come back, I'm
going to make.

Speaker 4 (01:24:37):
Sure we talk about the other battlefield, which is in
public opinion, to make sure people understand where the real
threat to humanity is and to civilization, and that is
with Hamas and Iran. Thank you any last words, Dan,
you want to share with listeners as we go to
the break.

Speaker 7 (01:24:54):
No, just to thank you for having me on, and
you know, pray for the folks and exist for the
piece of Jerusalem.

Speaker 5 (01:25:02):
Absolutely, you've got it. Amen. Well, thank you, Dan, You
take care and thank you for all that you do.

Speaker 4 (01:25:09):
Well, when we come back, we will continue this conversation
because there is actually a lot of good news in
this region that you don't usually hear hear, So yes,
we're gonna have good news about the Middle East when
we get back.

Speaker 5 (01:25:21):
Just think about that one statement.

Speaker 4 (01:25:24):
And when we return, I'm going to share some information
that you may not be hearing elsewhere.

Speaker 5 (01:25:28):
Don't go anywhere.

Speaker 4 (01:25:28):
I'm debbrah Flora City in for Mandy Connell. Hard to
believe three hours go that quickly. Well, it's because of you,
great listeners. And I'm enjoying all of the texts that
are coming in five six six nine zero. And yes,
because I love freedom of speech, I also mean the
text that I don't agree with. Love reading all of them.
Five six six nine zero. That's what this is all about.

(01:25:51):
The ability to have a conversation in the public square
and have a marketplace of ideas. That's a key and
winding it back to the very beginning is one of
the reasons why I do believe America is the country
to celebrate on the fourth of July and every day.

Speaker 5 (01:26:10):
I'd ask this question earlier about you know, who do
we honor? You know, there's the Luigi mangion.

Speaker 4 (01:26:17):
Basic cult where you see figures of him now looking
being presented like Jesus with a Saint Louis underneath it.

Speaker 5 (01:26:25):
We talk about how.

Speaker 4 (01:26:27):
Others are honored versus the military, that we should honor
or those who serve, those who are willing to be selfless,
that could be first responders, that could be our military,
et cetera.

Speaker 5 (01:26:38):
Which is why I also had.

Speaker 4 (01:26:39):
Sammy Davis join me at the one o'clock hour. You're
going to want to hear his great interview medalvan a recipient.
I appreciate one listener who texted this and kind of
tied it all together. They said, I spent this past
weekend at Fan Expo. I am sixty two years old.
I came away with questions, why do we celebrate villains?

Speaker 5 (01:27:00):
Number one? Number two?

Speaker 4 (01:27:02):
When did your reverence become okay? The celebration of violence
is not okay, But we live in a culture where
it is okay, because we live in a country that
allows us these choices. Who do I celebrate My husband
who served from nineteen eighty three to nineteen eighty seven,
my brother who retired from the Air Force, my cousin
who retired from the Navy, my uncle who was drafted

(01:27:22):
to the Marines dur At Vietnam, and my grandfather who.

Speaker 5 (01:27:25):
Served in World War Two.

Speaker 4 (01:27:27):
Thank you for all of that, and please give a
big thank you to those who are still with us
who served in your family.

Speaker 5 (01:27:33):
Well, I wanted to pause because.

Speaker 4 (01:27:36):
When we're talking about who do we honor, it's those
who also turn tragedy into something that is.

Speaker 5 (01:27:43):
A fight for others.

Speaker 4 (01:27:45):
When I was sitting in for Mandy on June tenth,
if you were listening, I had a guest on and
that was Aile Samarano.

Speaker 5 (01:27:53):
She is a mom whose son, Yonatan Samarano.

Speaker 4 (01:27:58):
Was killed at the Supernova Music Festival on October seventh.
She mentioned at the time that perhaps her son was
still alive, his body or his living person had not
been recovered yet, and we talked a lot about what
she had been doing since then, because there was an

(01:28:18):
UNRA employee UNRWA, that is a United Nations Relief Worker employee,
and a large portion of those under workers, over fifteen
hundred under workers are affiliated with HAMAS and Palestine and
Islamic Jihad terror groups.

Speaker 5 (01:28:37):
That's important to note. It's important to.

Speaker 4 (01:28:39):
Note that as Gaza is rebuilt after this cease fire,
we have.

Speaker 5 (01:28:45):
To make sure.

Speaker 4 (01:28:46):
As Dan Gordon, my guest right before the break shared
that whoever the relief money goes to, it goes to
someone who is not going to use it to build
tunnels underneath schools and hospitals, using as human and shields
these civilians, these poor Palestinians who were abused by Hamas.
But getting back to Islet, she then had made her

(01:29:10):
calling over the last few years, six hundred and thirty
nine days since her son was taken at the music
festival on October seven, making her voice heard around the nation. Then,
two weeks after the bombing that happened, the molotov cocktails
that were thrown up in Boulder, my husband and I

(01:29:30):
walked in the Run for Their Lives movement that happened
in Boulder.

Speaker 6 (01:29:35):
That's what was.

Speaker 5 (01:29:36):
Happening when the.

Speaker 4 (01:29:39):
Egyptian national who was here illegally through those molotov cocktails,
and we walked holding her son's signs Jonatan Samorano.

Speaker 5 (01:29:49):
I want to.

Speaker 4 (01:29:49):
Pause because just a week after that, Islet was informed
that her son's body was returned from Gaza. He was
in fact killed that day, and now she is mourning,
and so our prayers go out to her, as Dan
was saying to for the safety of everyone there, for
the return of the remaining hostages.

Speaker 5 (01:30:09):
Six hundred and thirty nine days later.

Speaker 4 (01:30:12):
So I led to someone that I honor because she
took tragedy and turned it into a calling for so
many others. So I do appreciate the listeners who've been
texting who they honor. But as I promised, I was
going to get to some good news about the Middle East,
because really, talking to my good friend Rich so well,
what has happened since October seventh really is pretty miraculous.

(01:30:34):
A seven front war that Israel was fighting from every side.
Can't even imagine that we lived in such We live
in such safety and security here. But with all that
has been happening and the turning of so much that
has been going on, there are some amazing things that
are happening as I shared earlier today, Benjamin Netanyahu, prime
Minister of Israel's meeting with President Trump and they're talking

(01:30:57):
about the cease fire holding strong Netna, who's saying that
only as long as Hamas is not allowed to remain
in power. Which is a good thing because right now
they are still by the way, targeting and actually injured
two American aid workers in Gaza. Let's just be really

(01:31:18):
clear of who we're dealing with here to a salans
through two grenades at the Americans.

Speaker 5 (01:31:24):
They are not interested in peace.

Speaker 4 (01:31:27):
Civilization, mutual coexistence, or any of the bumper stickers that
people see as we're driving around. There's other things that
have come out, and I will get to the good
news in a moment, but there are new reports coming
out detailing how the women were treated. I'm not going
to get into the details, but it is everything the worst.

Speaker 5 (01:31:48):
Thing that you can imagine.

Speaker 4 (01:31:50):
My question is this, where are the feminists speaking out
against that?

Speaker 2 (01:31:58):
Well?

Speaker 4 (01:31:58):
I have to give kudos to to Cheryl Sandberg, by
the way, former CEO of Meta until twenty twenty two.

Speaker 5 (01:32:05):
She made a documentary all about the women that were.

Speaker 4 (01:32:09):
Abused, sexually abused, beaten, traumatized by hamas unfortunately did not
get a lot of attention. Deborah Messing from the famous
TV show Will and Grace, she made a documentary called
October eighth.

Speaker 5 (01:32:25):
So good for them.

Speaker 4 (01:32:26):
But my guest Dan Gordon, who I had on before
the break, as I shared, he was also an award
winning screenwriter in Hollywood. He wrote The Hurricane, which earned
Denzel Washington and Academy Award nomination for Best Actor, Wyatt
erp starring Kevin Costner. Many many other amazing programs that
he was a screenwriter for. Well. He actually, right after

(01:32:49):
October seventh, left the Writer's Guild Association the Union in
Hollywood because Hollywood did not.

Speaker 5 (01:32:58):
Stand up and make their voices heard about what was
going on.

Speaker 4 (01:33:01):
And unfortunately, as I mentioned Debrah Messing, Cheryl Sandberg, these
are documentaries that they've made. But let's not forget some
of our popular culture's complicity in this. Woopy Goldberg.

Speaker 5 (01:33:13):
I know the view is so easy to pick on,
but I'm meant to do it again.

Speaker 4 (01:33:16):
As many of you know, Woopy Goldberg basically said that
black people in the USA are treated the same as
women in Iran.

Speaker 5 (01:33:28):
Okay Wood be.

Speaker 4 (01:33:29):
To set you straight, by the way stoning still.

Speaker 5 (01:33:32):
Happened for women in Iran.

Speaker 4 (01:33:34):
The Taliban shoots women whose burkhas have slipped and maybe
show their ankle right after we left Afghanistan at debacle.
But what is really happening now that Israel has been
allowed to stand strong. America has been unequivocally supporting them,
not with boots on the ground, but knowing that the
fight they are fighting there is for all of us.

(01:33:57):
Some pretty amazing things are happening around the Middle East
and the wake of that here is one many people remember,
you know, Yasser arafat the PLO all of that, which
then basically the people there elected Hamas afterwards, and I
do not know if that was a free election. My

(01:34:18):
suspicion antenna go up and I say, I think not.
But regardless, they do need to be removed. And what's
happening now. It's amazing to find out that there are
several sheikhs, there are six of them at least that
are in what would be considered Palestine, living in Hebron,
for instance's largest city in the West Bank, who want

(01:34:40):
to build a new government, and as part of making
a new government, they want to have peace with Israel,
and by the way they said that the PLO should
no longer speak for them, Hamas should no longer speak
from them, and they out of their own words that
the Hamas has done nothing but quote steal from the
people that have lived in the West Bank, including stealing

(01:35:01):
their water, and as we heard earlier, using actually the
people living there, the civilians as shields. You have Palestine
Shakes ready to make an entirely new government that will
bring peace and stability to the region.

Speaker 5 (01:35:17):
Syria.

Speaker 4 (01:35:18):
Syria is now in talks with Israel to normalize relations,
something that was unthinkable a year ago. They're holding talks
that would lead to peace in that region. It continues on,
and when you think about all that is happening, the
peace in the Middle East was.

Speaker 5 (01:35:36):
Always this unreachable goal that was always out.

Speaker 4 (01:35:39):
There for every president from Jimmy Carter and beyond, trying
to bring people together for peace in the Middle East.
It could actually be close at hand. Many of you
may remember the Abraham accors, which were truly miraculous. In
twenty twenty of September, they were sign and that following.

Speaker 5 (01:36:03):
Period of Hanukkah.

Speaker 4 (01:36:04):
Later that year, there was the Hana Kamural miracle of
Bahrain and UAE members lighting the Menora with the Jewish
people on the western wall, the whaling wall of the Temple.
Whether you like Donald Trump or not, he should have
received a Nobel Peace Prize for that. I'm sure it's

(01:36:24):
going to set many people off, but.

Speaker 5 (01:36:26):
He should have. And why is it that we cannot
all come together?

Speaker 4 (01:36:32):
Many of you, I think are in the majority and
can doesn't matter if you're a Democratic Republican celebrating the
fact that peace in the Middle East may finally be
at hand or very nearly at hand. It is an
amazing thing for everyone living that area, Arabs, Jewish people alike.

(01:36:53):
That is pretty phenomenal, and it seems as though it
is moving in that direction.

Speaker 5 (01:37:00):
One could hope. We will pray and we will keep
watching for that for sure.

Speaker 4 (01:37:05):
You know, I want to share a couple of other
wins for our country that really should have nothing to
do with left or right, Republican or Democrat partisan divide,
because there is a lot of good news happening. As
many know, June is the month when different Supreme Court
rulings are released, and there have been so many that
are so positive. We talked about the Scurmetti decision when

(01:37:28):
I was on the show the last time, which says
that states can, like Tennessee, stop funding if they choose,
and the people choose, and the legislative sure chooses.

Speaker 5 (01:37:41):
To stop the.

Speaker 4 (01:37:44):
Permanent medical and chemical transitioning of children. I think that
that is amazing. Whether you are for transgenderism or not.
We're talking about children here, not adults, and that is
a huge win. Other wins that have come down moth
Mood that decision said that parents actually do have a
right to have a say over what their children are

(01:38:06):
taught in schools.

Speaker 5 (01:38:07):
We all knew that, but isn't that fabulous that that
was decided.

Speaker 4 (01:38:11):
So many good things are happening in our country, and
I want us to be able to focus on that
and come together.

Speaker 5 (01:38:17):
You know, even when I.

Speaker 4 (01:38:18):
Look at the big beautiful bill, I got to tell
you I am definitely not a fan of the omnibus
spending bills. When I ran for Congress is one of
the biggest things that I was really talking about. We
needed to make sure we did not continue.

Speaker 6 (01:38:35):
Well.

Speaker 4 (01:38:36):
When you look at what is actually in that bill,
some of it is just common sense and good news
for all of us. Stopping so much of the waste
that is in our country right now, that is going
on when you think about and I had a conversation
the other day, and this is why it's so important
for us to know our facts. Had a conversation with

(01:38:57):
our neighbor about the cuts medicaid. I want to share
something really positive about what was really in that it's
going to stop a lot of the waste.

Speaker 5 (01:39:07):
Even that when you look at it is common sense.

Speaker 4 (01:39:09):
What it is saying, for the most part, is that
there is an eighty hour per month work requirement for
able bodied people up to the age of sixty four.

Speaker 5 (01:39:21):
Is anyone against that?

Speaker 4 (01:39:23):
If somebody is able bodied, would it not be a
positive thing for them to work and gain the dignity
of work because medicaid is meant to be for those
who truly cannot support themselves, not for those who are
becoming dependent. I want to share a quick story as
we're winding up today's show. One of my favorite figures
in history is a woman named Sojourner Truth.

Speaker 5 (01:39:45):
She was an escaped slave.

Speaker 4 (01:39:49):
She ended up changing her name to Sojourner Truth because
her Christian faith was a central part of her life.
She then went on to fight for the suffrage movement
as well well. But in the wake of that freedom,
when she went to Washington, DC and she saw policies
even back then being put back into place after the

(01:40:12):
assassination of President Lincoln that.

Speaker 5 (01:40:16):
Would basically enslave the freed slave, she said.

Speaker 4 (01:40:19):
It would re enslave them again by making them dependent
on the government. Fdr by the way, who implemented some
of the largest social programs, I would not say he
was a conservative, was a progressive. But he even said
that welfare should not be permanent lest people become dependent
on the government.

Speaker 5 (01:40:39):
There are some things in.

Speaker 4 (01:40:40):
The Big Reconcilation Bill that I'm not a fan of.

Speaker 5 (01:40:44):
There are many things that I am a fan of,
and some of that.

Speaker 4 (01:40:48):
Is getting government back to its proper role, not funding
that continues the dependency of people on the government. If
someone is actually unable to care for themselves, Yes, that's
the proper role of government. But when you see the
fraud and the waste and the SNAP program, which is
the food stamps program, it's actually a debit card, but

(01:41:10):
that's what it's known as getting rid of the fraud
and waste. There once again saying if an able body
adult is able to take care of themselves. Then they
are required to work eighty hours a month, that's twenty
hours a week to.

Speaker 5 (01:41:24):
Help them on their path.

Speaker 4 (01:41:26):
Because if the goal is not dependency on government, if
the goal truly is an independent lifestyle and the dignity
that comes with it, those shouldn't be partisan. Those should
be something that we all celebrate. Brings me all the
way back again in these last two minutes talking about
why I believe America an independence state is something to celebrate,

(01:41:50):
whether you are left of center, right of center, smack
dab in the center. The dream that is America, and
it is miraculous that we're heading into our two hundred
and fiftieth year defying every historic pattern of civilization. It
is all about the dignity of the individual human being,

(01:42:14):
not being dependent on government, not being told by government
what they have to do, not having government take more
of our hard earned dollars and spending them how they
see fit, but allowing each individual to do that. You know,
charity works a whole lot better than government welfare. Government
welfare about seventy five percent of each dollar goes into overhead.

Speaker 5 (01:42:39):
If any charity had that, you.

Speaker 4 (01:42:42):
Wouldn't donate it to it anymore. It allows human beings
to step into that place. It pulls government back to
its right role, and then it allows people to be free.

Speaker 5 (01:42:55):
Most of all, my hope for each and every one
of us.

Speaker 4 (01:42:58):
Echoing the words of Sammy Davis, Yes, the Metal of
Honor recipient, who was earlier in this show, he said
that when you stand and fight for what you believe in,
let it be out of love for others, not out
of anger and hatred and a victimization spirit. I'm going
to close with this you usually do, but hey, we're

(01:43:20):
right around the fourth of July. If Abraham Lincoln could
say this, facing the end of the Civil War, right
before he was assassinated, he said, with malice towards none,
with charity towards all, with firmness and the right, as
God gives us to see the right, that is our
charge to make sure that what we stand for is
out of love for our fellow man, and including then

(01:43:44):
the final caveat that this government of the people, by
the people, and for the people will not perish from
the earth.

Speaker 5 (01:43:50):
We can be part of the solution.

Speaker 4 (01:43:51):
Hope you'll join me in that, and hope that you
have a wonderful week God bless you. I'm Deborah Flora,
sitting in for Mandy Connell.