08-07-26 FULL SHOW - Deborah Flora Fills In, Talks Movies with Christian Toto

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Kyoway and Hi hard Radio.

Speaker 2 (00:03):
Station Guaranteed Human. Welcome to the Mandy Connell Show. This
is Deborah Flora sitting in for my good friend Maindy Connell.
Hope that you are already having a great Friday getting
ready for a beautiful weekend. I gotta say I love
living in Colorado. Grew up here. Can't quite say I'm
a native ben here since I was four group on

(00:24):
Lowry Air Force Bace. But I tell you, no matter
the headlines we share or the struggles that we may have,
it is a state worth fighting for. And hope that
you're getting ready to enjoy it this weekend. By the way,
I like to figure out what day this is in
history or national designation or whatever. There seems to be
a day for everything. And guess what today is National

(00:47):
water Balloon Day. I think that's kind of fun. I
don't have any in here I want throwing it Shannon
through the glass. Gonn't make it anyway, but it's usually
picked because this is the middle of the hottest week
on our bridge for Americans. Tomorrow is an International cat Day.
So since I'm a dog lover, glad that it is
not the day today so we can talk about something

(01:09):
else on a more meaningful front. However, it is also
natural purple heart day. So just want to give a
big shout out there to everyone who has served in
our military, particularly those who were injured in service, and
every member of our military signs what we would call
a blank check, willing to give the last full measure

(01:30):
of devotion. So thank you to everyone. Big shout out
to my husband who's an eighty second Airborne veteran, my
family members who served, and honoring my dad who's no
longer with us, but he served in Vietnam and many
years after that in the military as a lieutenant colonel. Okay,
we're gonna switch it up here. Sometimes I find that

(01:51):
when I'm preparing for a show, it is there. It
seems to be a through line theme. So there are
two things we're going to talk a lot about today.
We're going to talk about protecting children. There's a lot
of interesting intertwining stories and many different fronts in our
news or society, our culture right now, and movies. If
you don't know, I grew up here, but then I

(02:14):
had temporary insanity. I went to Hollywood to be an actress. Yes,
I'm now a recovered actress, my left brain, my right mind.
But my husband and I still have a media company.
He was a producer at Walt Disney Studios, and we
believe in the power of story. So leading in the show,
we'll have Christian Toto. We're going to talk about some movies.
I do want to hear from you five six six

(02:36):
nine zero, the Kowa Common Spirit health text line. Tell
me if you've seen a good movie lately. We're going
to talk about two really good movies that I've seen lately,
which are The Odyssey and the New Spider Man Brand
New Day. Saw that this week, both really good ones.
I gotta say, I love movies, so it's nice when
they're actually movies I want to see. We tend to
watch old movies because there are not that many new

(02:59):
good ones coming out. Well, those are two good ones.
We're going to talk about that. But want to hear
from U five six six nine zero. But I want
to bring up this intersection between protecting children and movies.
When we went to see Spider Man this week and
it was excellent. Like I said, I'm going to talk
more about that later. There was a trailer for a

(03:19):
new movie by Aaron Sorkin called The Social Reckoning. Many
of you may remember the first movie, The Social Network
by Aaron Sorkin, and it was about Mark Zuckerberg and
the founding of Facebook. This movie, now, that will be
coming out in October, is based on the twenty twenty

(03:39):
one whistleblower revelations by Francis Hogan and investigative reporter Jeff
Horowitz with the Wall Street Journal. And it's an interesting trailer.
I'm not sure how good the movie's going to be,
but it all came together a very interesting time because
they started working on this movie in twenty twenty five,

(04:00):
but in twenty twenty three there was a lawsuit that
began against Meta, particularly focused on their lack of protection
of children. They're building ability for children to be exploited
for causing many mental health issues. We all know that now.
By the way, there was a reason why Steve Jobs

(04:20):
wouldn't even let his own children have a tablet or
an iPhone. He knew it, and he made it, and
then Mark Zuckerberg just took it on steroids. There's many
good things about it. I do like the fact that
obviously we can keep in touch with one another and
relatives and show pictures. But I think we all know
social media has gotten really out of hand, particularly with

(04:44):
young people. I'm a mom. I'd to say the order
of my poor priorities is I'm a Christian, I'm a wife,
I'm a mom. It goes in that order. So I
look at so much through that lens and our children
did not even have access to the Internet until they
were I think about to go into high school. But

(05:05):
that's not what's happening today. Well, it's interesting because this
movie comes out October twenty twenty six, and the day
after we saw the trailer, or two days after, Meta
was just ordered to pay nine hundred and forty two
million dollars in penalties for harming children online based on

(05:28):
that very same whistleblower story. Meta, as you know, is
a parent company founded by Mark Zuckerberd. It has both
Facebook and Instagram. So this is one of those things
where I'm sure that Aaron Sorkin is thinking, oh my gosh,
can we recut the ending of the movie to fast
forward and say in twenty twenty six, Meta was held responsible.
Now why is this important? It's actually incredibly important. It's

(05:51):
a landmark case. It is the first case in US
where a state has successfully held a major tech company
accountable for child safety harms. And where did this come out?
It was a new Mexico judge, Brian. I'm sorry, Brian,
I'm going to say your name wrong. It's either beadsheed

(06:12):
or Bideshide. It is German. I have a German maiden name,
so I understand how hard that can be. But this
new Mexico judge found now that Meta is responsible, is
liable for nine hundred and forty two million dollars in penalties.
Here's how it is going to break down. Three hundred

(06:34):
and seventy five million in civil penalties that was previously
assessed by a jury, now an additional five hundred and
sixty seven million dollars and what they call an abatement fund.
And what this means is Meta is going to have
to pay nearly five hundred and seventy million dollars to
address ongoing harms to children, including treatment services for those

(06:57):
affected and the remainder going for prevention, awareness, screening, et
cetera over the next five years. I think this is
a big win. I'm all for free speech, but when
there is harm being done, it would be like in
the old days. If our public square was a square,
which it really was at the time, and somebody stands

(07:18):
up and just begins to say whatever they want to,
but at the same time they're throwing things at children
and hitting them, you'd have some kind of a regulation.
I know it's not a perfect analogy, but just hey,
run with it. It's Friday. It's a Friday analogy. So
I think this is actually very very important, and a
lot of people compare it to what happened with the

(07:39):
big tobacco reveal or accountability, when there was a whistleblower
by the name of Jeffrey Wiggins. He was a former
tobacco executive and he when he found out that his
company knew that cigarette smoked tobacco nicotine were really really harmful,

(07:59):
but they covered it up anyway. He went on and
did an expose on sixty minutes and there was a
movie made about that. There's once again a correlation in
nineteen ninety nine in the movie was The Insider starring
Russell Crow. By the way, I appreciate these types of things.
This is actually the arm the job that journalists are

(08:20):
actually supposed to do. By the way, for meta, which
just has tons of money. They have said that in
the second quarter alone, legal preceding proceedings and their legal
costs have cost basically two point four billion dollars. Hard
for me to imagine. I can't picture that much money,

(08:41):
but it's a lot, and I think what will happen.
We see this time and again when a corporation or
a business, or a government entity or someone who's doing
an overreach faces legal challenges, that is off in what
begins to change it? This kind of all ties together.

(09:03):
By the way, yesterday I was also sitting in Deborah Flora,
sitting in for Mandy Connell, a good friend of mine.
When I was in yesterday, we were talking about the
importance of the checks and balances in our system. That
the DSA wants to get rid of. Our checks and
balances being the judicial, the executive, and the legislative, and
they're not supposed to do each other's jobs. They're supposed
to be checks on one another. I really believe our

(09:24):
judicial branch is one hundred percent saving our republic in
so many ways, and it is the place where so
many wins for citizens are happening. So, by the way,
just one more reason to chalk up that, No, the
judicial branch should not be under the House of Representatives,
which is what democrats socialists of America want. Can you

(09:46):
imagine the entity nome for insider trading where people go
to Congress, go to the House of Representatives, make you
know anywhere from one hundred and eighty to lower two
hundred thousands in come out multi multi, multi, multi millionaires. Yeah,
let's put the judicial branch under them and we'll just

(10:09):
hope that nothing happens. Well, I got to tell you,
if some of those politicians are getting money from large organizations,
how likely do you think they are to allow lawsuits
like this to continue? Yep, I think we've seen that
movie before. Well, it leads me to another thing about
this intersection of protecting children and also protecting individuals, protecting

(10:34):
our country and movies. You know, when I think about
the work that was done by Wall Street journal Jeff Horowitz,
who Horowitz who helped uncover this situation in Meta where
they were prioritizing profits over children, I think about, you know,

(10:55):
sixty minutes that aired the whistleblower for tobacco. But I
want to find out where are all the president's men
right now? When it comes to other issues for which
there should be whistle blowing. But guess what these other
issues I'm about to discuss really, you know, kind of
go against the more liberal grain of the most of
our mainstream media. Let me give you an example. You know,

(11:18):
when I refer to All the President's Men, obviously that's
Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. And many people ask, by
the way, where is Bob Woodward as far as uncovering
you know, Biden really not necessarily being completely in use
of his full faculties towards the end, up you are
like Bob, You're still writing, You're still out there. But
Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein kind of made this very

(11:40):
clear in the movie All the President's Men, when they
exposed Nixon and the Watergate tapes and all of that.
And that is what journalists need to be. They are
the additional rail to our institutions another way checks and
balances are supposed to be working. Well, here's a question.
I have a great whistle blow or that I think
would make an amazing movie. Maybe my husband I will

(12:03):
have to make it. He was a producer with Walt
Disney Studios before we did our own company, or before
we start own company. And this is going to tie
in with protecting children. Many of you may remember Jamie Reid.
She worked at the Washington University School of Medicine in Missouri,
and she was a whistleblower in twenty twenty three. Now

(12:26):
you would think she'd be a perfect person to have
in a movie that Hollywood would absolutely welcome the opportunity
to highlight. Because she describes herself as a Democrat, a
lesbian married to a transman whose politics and this is
her quoting herself, are left of Bernie Sanders. You think
that whistleblower would have a movie about them. But here's

(12:50):
the reason why not. What was she the whistleblower over well,
working at the Washington University School of Medicine in Missouri.
She we usually set out to work at their transitioning
clinic for minors because she is married, as she says,
to a transman, she's all for supporting trans youth and
by the way, any young person that is dealing with

(13:12):
gender discordy deserves all of our support and help one.
But what does she blow the whistle on. She began
to realize when she was there that there was a
disturbing trend happening, she said, starting in twenty fifteen when
she started working there, the normal person you would see
at the clinic would be a young teenage boy. That

(13:34):
was the vast majority, she said. Suddenly there was this onslaught,
this change that happened where huge, a huge increase of
girls coming in, usually in friend groups, and it timed
exactly with this real infiltration into our school system, into

(13:55):
our culture, into social media once again, of people being targeted,
particularly girls, towards transitioning. If you doubt this, and I
like when listeners say, hey, show me the statistics and
the facts, well how about that. In the UK they
actually did a study on this because they were ahead
of us on the curve of this whole transitioning of children.

(14:17):
They saw a four thousand percent increase in girls transitioning
in twenty eighteen, four thousand percent, which Jamie Reid whistleblower,
should have a movie made about her. I doubt it's
in development right now. She blew the whistle on that.
Not because she is right wing, not because she's a Christian,
not because she was maga, not because of anything other

(14:40):
than she realized this wasn't what she thought it was
all about now. I just say this is a very
personal thing for me, which is why I've testified so
many times under the Dome about this. Because guess what
else they discovered in England. They discovered that while autistic
children are two percent of the population, there's thirty five

(15:03):
percent of children who are transitioned. Our daughter's autistic, and
I do remember the bombardment that started hitting her the
minute that she was diagnosed, where the message is, oh,
you feel you feel socially awkward, you feel like you
don't fit in, Well, it's because you're actually transgender. Now
there is a percentage of students, young people who are

(15:25):
truly experiencing gender fluidy and they deserve our help. But
a four thousand percent increase in girls thirty five percent
who are transitioned or autistic, when they're only two percent
of the population. Maybe that's why the Tavis Dot Clinic
in the UK, the first and the most leading clinic

(15:46):
in transitioning, was closed. It was closed down because it
was shown that they misdiagnosed ninety seven point five percent
of the children they transitioned. When you think about that,
why is there not a woodward and a burnstain covering that.

(16:08):
Why is there not a whistle blower from the Wall
Street Journal. Well maybe there is, I don't know, but
it's not getting covered in Hollywood, that's for sure. But
it's time for us to look at that. And by
the way, if you are transgender, and you are pro transgender,
we're talking about children here. I believe in the United
States of America, if you're an adult, you can live

(16:28):
your life however you want to live it, pursue your
own unique idea of happiness. But we need to look
at these numbers. And we look at movies about whistle
blowers who are incredibly courageous people. We want to make
sure that we're looking at it across the board. I
think that's a great idea. I bring this up because

(16:50):
I've got a couple of whistleblowers joining me on the
show today coming up at the Bondy hour. Aaron Lee
from Protect Kids Colorade is going to be joining me.
Sheep blew the whistle on something that happening right here
in Colorado, and she is behind a ballot initiative that
is going to stop the surgical transitioning of children. By

(17:10):
the way, Europe is already beginning to do this because
they've had a lot longer to watch the devastation that occurs.
Let's just let kids be kids. Let's not make them
make a decision for their entire lifetime. When they are ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen.
They can't even decide, by the way, on their own

(17:31):
to get a tattoo at that age, let alone decide
they're going to permanently alter their body. Okay, that was
my kickoff. Don't worry. We're gonna have a lot more fun,
lighter stuff as we go, or we're gonna be heading
to a break. I am Deborah Flora sitting in for
Mandy Connell. Come back to the Mandy Donnald Show. Deborah

(17:55):
Flora sitting in for Mandy Connell. Hope you're already having
a great Friday game, being ready for a great weekend.
I want to jump right into it because I've got
a wonderful guest joining me, and that is Aaron Lee.
She is the founder of Protect Kids Colorado Aerin. Thank
you so much for joining me. I appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (18:12):
Hey Dad, long time, no talk.

Speaker 2 (18:16):
Great to see you. Last night as we listened to HARMEI,
Dylla and the assistant Attorney General for the United States
of America, and she was talking a lot about what
you and I are going to discuss, which is protecting children.

Speaker 3 (18:28):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (18:29):
Yeah, it was a good event. Well, you know, I
want to jump right into this erin because I talked
earlierbout whistleblowers and whistle blowers, and you certainly have kind
of been one of those. For what's going on in
our School's your own story with your daughter. I'm sure
most listeners have heard it. And we were talking last
night when I saw you was for jeff co Kids first,
by the way, great organization. Make sure to support them

(18:51):
as well as protect kids Colorado. You and I were
discussing that the American Medical Association had made a common
sense decision. It sounded like because in February the American
Plastic American Society of Plastic Surgeons decided that they would
no longer do transitioning surgeries on minors. The AMA said

(19:14):
they were kind of leaning towards that, and then they
totally reversed course again at their annual meeting in Chicago,
where they doubled down a no minimum age for this
transitioning surgeries for children, even though they said there's really
not enough evidence to show that it is, you know, worthwhile.

(19:35):
Tell me your thoughts about that.

Speaker 4 (19:37):
Yeah, allD moment last night when you mentioned this and
I said, they're like the Teachers'.

Speaker 5 (19:42):
Union of Medicine. Yet the AMA and the American.

Speaker 1 (19:46):
Academy of Pediatrics, these.

Speaker 4 (19:47):
Medical orgs where they're so clearly ideologically driven.

Speaker 5 (19:51):
They're not following science, they're not following the systematic reviews
that have proven if you do more harm than good.

Speaker 4 (19:58):
That's why every the western country besides the US, Finland, Sweden,
the UK has backtracked all these procedures for kids, especially
the surgeries, and it just so clearly shows that they're
ideologically driven. As you said, ASPS came out and said
we don't recommend these for children under nineteen, and the
AMA then told the New York Times, yes, we agree

(20:20):
with that, citing a.

Speaker 5 (20:21):
Lack of evidence to support it.

Speaker 6 (20:23):
And then the.

Speaker 1 (20:24):
Transcult mobbed them, and I would call.

Speaker 4 (20:26):
Them the cults because that's how they operate, and they immediately.

Speaker 5 (20:30):
Backtracked, and then here at this meeting last month, they
kind of quietly.

Speaker 1 (20:34):
This has only recently made.

Speaker 4 (20:35):
News, doubled down on what they call gender.

Speaker 1 (20:39):
Affirming care for kids, But can we just talk about
how that's.

Speaker 4 (20:42):
The euphemism, how they're using this really language, and what
it really.

Speaker 1 (20:47):
Is is sex rejecting mutilation.

Speaker 5 (20:50):
I mean, we can break that down even further. First
of all, there's nothing caring gender firming care. There's nothing
caring about chopping off the healthy body parts and destroying
the sexual function of healthy bodies of kids because brains
aren't fully formed. Secondly, what you're.

Speaker 4 (21:05):
Affirming is mental health distress, not reality. You're affirming confusion,
self hatred, this impossible belief that you can become the
opposite sex when you can't.

Speaker 1 (21:16):
And then let's talk about gender, because I think people.

Speaker 5 (21:19):
Really innocently use that term a lot.

Speaker 1 (21:22):
People on our side, but you know, are against this, but.

Speaker 5 (21:25):
Use the word gender a lot.

Speaker 6 (21:26):
Gender is a.

Speaker 1 (21:27):
Language descriptor for male and female.

Speaker 5 (21:30):
But humans don't have gender. We have sex. There are two.

Speaker 1 (21:33):
Sexes, male and female.

Speaker 5 (21:35):
They are immutable. You can't be.

Speaker 4 (21:37):
Neither, you can't be both, and you cannot change it.
So we need to stop using their language. Gender affirming
care is really deceptive.

Speaker 2 (21:46):
Well, it's interesting because Americans buy and large, I really
believe are good people. They've got good hearts. So we're
quick to respond. One of the most generous cultures actually
in history. But it's weaponizing compassion, and that is exactly
why they use certain terms. And you know, if you're
an adult, you can do what you want to you

(22:06):
and choose to live how you want to. There is
such a thing as gender dysphoria. But what people have
been afraid to talk about because they get so shouted
down by the mob as you described it, or you
described it as a cult, but they get so shouted
down vehemently. Before this, we knew there were studies showing
that any child that experiences gender dysporyer when they're little,

(22:26):
on average, like eighty five to ninety percent would outgrow
it by the time they were teenagers. Happens. I wanted
to be Superman or Batman and didn't understand why I
had to wear a shirt when my brothers didn't. I mean,
thank goodness, you know they didn't look at that as confusion.
I was a child, But I appreciate your saying this.
I want to clarify with you, Aaron Lee, about what's

(22:47):
happening here in Colorado, because a lot of people thought, oh,
you know, Trump has you know, put out these executive orders.
The DOJ is pursuing it, but this is still happening
even here in Colorado. There is a Connecticut hospital that
now has said that they're not doing anymore because the
DOJ is pushing down on this. Children's Hospital has been

(23:07):
caught in this tug of war. They stopped doing gender
transitioning treatment. I think it was in January. Then the
Cholorado Supreme Court told them they had to in May,
but the doctors that work at Children's Hospital has said
they're not going to because they have the right to
not proceed with that because of their own liability. What's

(23:30):
happening here in Colorado.

Speaker 1 (23:32):
I'm so glad you brought that up.

Speaker 4 (23:34):
I mean, first of all, kudos to the Trump administration
for taking up dis Mantle, making this a primary tenant
of the administration.

Speaker 5 (23:40):
And doing everything they can with.

Speaker 4 (23:42):
The power of the federal purse strings, which is, you know,
putting out these executive orders.

Speaker 5 (23:46):
They're not law, they can't force Colorado to stop.

Speaker 4 (23:49):
Then they went to withhold Medicaid funding, which was effective.

Speaker 5 (23:52):
That's what caused Children's Hospital Colorado to say, Okay, we
don't want to lose Medicaid funding for all the other
purposes kids needed. We had better up doing these procedures
on kids. And then, as you said, the Colorado Supreme
Court said, well, you're going to do it anyway, and
thankfully all of the doctors at Children's Hospital consulted.

Speaker 4 (24:09):
Attorneys and said, no, we fear retribution, we're not going
to do it.

Speaker 1 (24:13):
And so supposedly not happening.

Speaker 5 (24:16):
But what's interesting is there's a great resource that do
No Harm put out.

Speaker 4 (24:19):
It's called Stop the Harm Database. It's just Stop the
Harm Database dot com.

Speaker 5 (24:24):
Manurage everyone to.

Speaker 6 (24:25):
Check it out.

Speaker 5 (24:26):
They found that in a four year period, over fourteen
thousand kids had.

Speaker 4 (24:30):
Been mutilated, that Colorado Children's ranked number ten in the
country on these procedures, and.

Speaker 5 (24:35):
According to insurance data, they found.

Speaker 4 (24:38):
That twenty two kids were receiving these procedures per year
according to insurance claims at Children's Hospital Colorado. But in
this lawsuit that led to the Supreme Court telling them, no,
you will do this, they testified the Children's Hospital did
that they were doing at least.

Speaker 1 (24:52):
Eight hundred year on average.

Speaker 4 (24:55):
So what a huge discrepancy where they were trying to conceal.

Speaker 1 (24:58):
What they were actually doing.

Speaker 5 (25:00):
We expect that there's fraudulent coding.

Speaker 4 (25:02):
Involved that they have been trying to hide the amount
of kids they're actually doing this too. So it's happening
to hundreds and.

Speaker 5 (25:08):
Hundreds of kids.

Speaker 4 (25:09):
And that's one hospital, whereas Stop the Harm lists over
sixty hospitals in Colorado that are performing these wrong sex
procedures on kids.

Speaker 2 (25:17):
Wow, it's a.

Speaker 4 (25:18):
Much larger issue than people realize, and it is ongoing, and.

Speaker 5 (25:22):
We have to stop it at the state level.

Speaker 2 (25:24):
Yeah, it's so important because oftentimes, even if you finally
get someone to admit that, you know, a child cannot decide,
you know, at ten that they want to have this
surgery or the you know, the chemicals and the hormones
that can actually cause lifelong infertility at ten years old,
when they're also not shown or judged by our society

(25:46):
to even be able to decide whether or not they
want a tattoo or a piercing at that age. And
so it's interesting that then they downplace it was well,
it's not really even happening. Well, it is happening. We
don't have a lot of time unfortunately, and I love
these resources that you're sharing. But the good news is
in Colorado we have a citizen led BALLID process that

(26:09):
we go through, and you are the proponent the official
title that you have with this. But there is a
ballot initiative that callers can vote on. This ball one
of three that would stop these transitioning surgeries amongst miners.
Can you just tell listeners about that?

Speaker 1 (26:27):
Yeah, so excited to say that all three.

Speaker 5 (26:29):
Of the protective balid measures have made the ballot. It's
the Children Are Not for Sale Act, to Protect Girl
Sports Act and we stop Irreversible Surgeries on Kids Act.

Speaker 1 (26:38):
And so important to point out we're talking about children here.

Speaker 4 (26:41):
Yes, no one is disputing cosmetic surgeries for adults.

Speaker 5 (26:44):
Who may disagree with them or not attempting.

Speaker 1 (26:46):
To outlaw them.

Speaker 4 (26:47):
We set aide limitations on drinking, smoking, voting, and buying
a beta fish in Colorado.

Speaker 1 (26:53):
Why not give.

Speaker 5 (26:54):
Kids time to turn eighteen before they make these irreversible
surgical decision. And so over three thousand Coloradens sprung into action,
took petitions.

Speaker 1 (27:05):
We're an all volunteer historic.

Speaker 5 (27:07):
Effort, and now every Colorado has the opportunity to stop this.

Speaker 1 (27:11):
With Colorado to say, Nope, we're not going.

Speaker 4 (27:13):
To rank number ten anymore. We're not going to harm kids,
and all.

Speaker 5 (27:17):
You have to do is vote yes and tell everyone
you know that they have this opportunity to vote on
this very simple common sense measure.

Speaker 2 (27:24):
Absolutely, thank you so much. And it is miraculous that
all three ballot initiatives were made it onto the ballot
when these were basically citizen led volunteer efforts. Obviously you're
leading the charge, and Laura, Gimmeilstein, Aaron mean, excuse me,
Jen Say, Mark Ozgeist, all of you. You have done
an amazing job and just give the website one more

(27:47):
time before we let you go erin yet.

Speaker 1 (27:50):
Protect kids Colorado dotorg.

Speaker 4 (27:53):
Encourage everyone to read the initiatives and tell everyone you
know to vote yes, yes, yes.

Speaker 2 (27:57):
Yes, thank you so much. Yeah, and is no no
but protect kiss Colorado's Yes yes yes. I love that
so thank you so much. Aaron, God bless you. Appreciate
all that you're doing. My friend, it is Friday. I'm

(28:17):
so happy, Happy Friday. Deborah Flora here, thank you so
much for joining the conversation tuning in. By the way,
Mandy and I do exist in the same time and
place sometimes, even though I'm usually in the chair when
she's not. We have a great show I hope you
check out called Mandy and Depp. It's a streaming video show.
You can see it on ITV or our Facebook page.

(28:39):
Mandy a person deb We say we have the ampersan
because we are so fancy. That's just that squiggly thing
that means and a percent. Okay, don't spill that out anyway.
Just had a great conversation. If you missed any of it,
make sure you check out the podcast. We were just
time with Aaron Lee about ballad Initiaive. I love it.
In Colorado we have ballot initiatives, which means we can

(29:03):
if we need to go past the state Assembly when
they just don't what I consider do their job, they
come up with silly things. And we were talking about
in this instance the ballid initiatives from for Protect Kids Colorado,
particularly the one that Aaron was talking about that will
stop irreversible surgeries for children if they're dealing with gender

(29:28):
fluidity issues. I mean, that's irreversible. And by the way,
I do understand many people that out of compassion think,
oh my gosh, this young child is dealing with dysphoria
and all of that. We need to help them. We
do need to help them, but we need to help
them in a way that leads to hope and a future,
not despair. Because there is a study, let's just look

(29:49):
at it. NIH National Institute of Health that is in
Great Britain. Because of socialized medicine, they keep really clear
records of everything. As we heard from Aarin even right
here in Colorado Children's Hospital Colorado said that they were
doing hundreds of these procedures where the records only showed maybe,
you know, under fifty I think she said it was.

(30:12):
But the NIH keeps very clear records and they did
a study that showed children miners who go through transitioning
are twelve times more likely to commit suicide. You need
to pay attention to that. That's a real fact. That
is science. That is not opinion, It is not bigotry.
It is just science, and our kids deserve to have

(30:36):
that taken into consideration. Hams switchgears real quick. We only
have a couple minutes before we head to the break.
But I want you to bring up something that I
don't know. I kind of got a little kick out
of it, because common sense is still alive in many
places in America. Shared yesterday that me or Mom. Donnie
was booed off the stage in Staten Island, probably a
lot because he was there for the National Night Out

(30:58):
against Crime event. And when you want to say that
you want to end prisons and you want to get
rid of the police, I don't really think that's a
solution for crime. So people with common sense boot him
off the stage. I think his speech was barely over
a minute before he had to walk off. Well, Minnesota
governor's race is heating up, going to have the primary
next week, and Minnesota Democrat Senator Amy Klobashar, she's one

(31:21):
of seven Democrats running for that nomination for the Democrats
side to replace Tim Walls. She was at the Minnesota Farmfest.
God bless our rural people because they have a lot
of common sense. She was at the farm fest and
she started to say that she has always supported funding
for order at the border. She's always worked well with

(31:42):
law enforcement. She got to that part and everyone in
the audience started booing and laughing. It's time we need
to hold people to what they really mean, not what
they're saying when they want to get elected. It's kind
of like Manny routinell up in CD eight, who actually
call ranchers and farmers. Basically, you know, despicable people. Those

(32:04):
were his exact words, and now he's saying, you know, heck,
Gollie g I really do like a good steak once
in a while. Even though he was pushing for penalties
against that agricultural production. We got to we can't let
people say one thing when they're on one side of
it and an entirely different thing when they're running for office.
Let's hold them accountable. Okay, time to go to a break.

(32:28):
When we come back, we're gonna have a great interview.
You are not gonna want to miss it. I'm Deborah Flora,
sitting in for Mandy Connell. Come back to the Mandy
Connell Show. Deborah Flora's sitting in for Mandy Connell. Hope
you're having a great Friday. We're having some great conversations.

(32:52):
If you miss any of it, make sure to go
listen to the podcast afterward. But I want to jump
right in because if you've been having your television on,
or your eyes open, or even you know, even listening
at all, you're I'm pretty sure you're aware of all
that's been going on with the WNBA with Sophie Cunningham
with my blood pressure went up when two sweet little

(33:15):
girls teenagers maybe pre teens, were wearing xx x Y
shirts at one of the games and the co owner
of the team came up and berated them. These girls
were then surrounded by a crowd in Seattle who called
them garbage and said, take out the trash. Come on, America,
we are better than that. But someone who has been

(33:36):
a leading voice and designs gray clothes those xx x
Y shirts the girls were wearing, and I have my
exx x Y hat on right now and I love it. Well,
I'm happy to have the person behind that phenomenon. It's
really a movement is Jennifer says. She is the CEO
of xx XY Clothing Company, no stranger to speaking courageous,

(34:00):
speaking out against COVID and many other things. Jen thank
you so much for joining me today. I truly appreciate it.

Speaker 6 (34:07):
You got it. Hi, Devor.

Speaker 2 (34:09):
We missed you last night at jeff Co Kids First
and her Meat Dylan even gave you a shout out.
But we know you were busy.

Speaker 6 (34:16):
I heard I wanted to be there. I wanted to
see her and see all of you. I love that event.

Speaker 5 (34:22):
But yeah, things are a little crazy right now because
we have a lot of momentum in this movement, and.

Speaker 6 (34:29):
You know, it started in Seattle, which you mentioned that
was the first rally for Sophie, and I think you know,
it was really grassroots and people.

Speaker 5 (34:37):
Just wanted to show up and show their support for
her courage.

Speaker 6 (34:41):
And speaking out on the protection of women's sports because
the league isn't supporting her, her team's not and no
young girls and women their moms came to just say
thank you, Sophie. And as you described, Annalie Wilson, who's
actually one of our athletes on our athlete rot rooms
and speaking up on this for two years now because
she low in eighth grade at a major Olympic Movement

(35:04):
competition to a male athlete in track and field, so
she's been very outspoken. And the thing is, it's been
so lonely for these girls. I mean, I do everything
I can to make them feel supported, but I'm sure it.

Speaker 5 (35:15):
Feels lonely for Sophie sometimes too. So they wanted to
show their support, and you know, she was honorly was
treated so terribly by the co owner of.

Speaker 6 (35:24):
The team who cursed at her and.

Speaker 5 (35:26):
You know, pointed at her and I don't know how
you know.

Speaker 6 (35:29):
There is no way to treat a sixteen year.

Speaker 5 (35:30):
Old girl for she wore a T shirt and had
a singin that said we loved Sophie.

Speaker 6 (35:34):
That was it.

Speaker 5 (35:35):
She came in peace and love and.

Speaker 6 (35:37):
Was abused by that crazy old lady.

Speaker 2 (35:42):
That's a good description, you know. And it's interesting to
me because if you just listen to the voices that
are out there as you were saying, these girls and
it's great that you know, Honile not surprised. I hope
she's doing okay. They were. They were holding up a
sign saying thank you Sophie for speaking up for girls,
and then that Sophie Cunningham said afterwards, I truly believe

(36:03):
there's a safe space and love for everybody, biological girls,
biological boys, trans women, transmen. You can disagree and still
be kind. Bravo to those girls for standing up for
what they believe. I mean, really, when you look at this,
the intolerance and the hatred is only coming from one side.
You can stand up for trans people's rights to live

(36:24):
their life freely without accosting six year old sixteen year
old girls who have every right under Title nine to
have their competition protected well exactly.

Speaker 6 (36:35):
And I think the other side, who's fighting for men
and women's sports, what a thing to fight for, right,
they've shown their true colors. I was in Minneapolis, so
we have kept these rallies going in support of Sophie.
And I was in the at the Minneapolis game last
last weekend, and we were there, maybe fifty or sixty

(36:56):
of us outside the stadium wearing T shirts.

Speaker 5 (36:58):
We had balloons, we had cooks like we were just
there to say thank you and yes, some of us
were going to the game. And as soon as we arrived,
there actually were four agitators there.

Speaker 6 (37:10):
At the spot already and the treatment Deborah. I mean,
we were middle aged women and teenage girls.

Speaker 5 (37:17):
We were, and we were called names.

Speaker 6 (37:19):
I cannot stay on the.

Speaker 5 (37:20):
Radio through a bullhorn in our ears, the S word,
the B word.

Speaker 6 (37:26):
He held signs over our heads. He wouldn't let us
talk to each other. Anytime two people started talking, he'd
come over this man, this terrible, terrible man with his
megaphone and scream right in our faces.

Speaker 2 (37:36):
Oh God.

Speaker 6 (37:37):
And you know, I don't know who would want.

Speaker 5 (37:40):
To be on that side. Why would you want.

Speaker 6 (37:42):
To choose that side? I mean, at the very least,
you see that.

Speaker 5 (37:45):
He's a deranged, lunatic misogynist.

Speaker 6 (37:49):
You know, even if you agreed, I mean to say,
if you agreed.

Speaker 5 (37:52):
With what he was saying, he wasn't saying anything. He
was just reading explitives at us and calling us names.
He wasn't stating his case, he wasn't making an argument,
he wasn't making an argument about inclusion. He was just
calling us really disgusting names.

Speaker 6 (38:04):
And that's the other side. And I think when that
is revealed, kind of people see the truth of what
that movement is, and people more and more are unafraid
to speak up and join us. Day I stand with
women and girls.

Speaker 2 (38:20):
Yeah, I think this is a real turning point. You know.
I just had a listener say I loved when Sophie
hit a three during that game and she turned around
to those rowdy fans and did a big l loser
symbol on her forehead. I mean, it just takes courage.
And you've been saying that for a long time, and
you know, so I want to get down to some
of the facts that people might know because a lot

(38:40):
of people and you and I've talked about this. My
guest Jennifer say, one of the most courageous voices out
there right now and fortunately no longer quite as alone
as before in doing that. Obviously, Riley Gaines was at
the Minneapolis game and they asked her to remove her sign,
which just said say Sophie, thank you a girl mom,
when you know, the head coach of the Linx was

(39:03):
wearing a shirt that said trans kids Belong in sports. So,
you know, it's very hypocritical, but many people believe jen
that when Donald Trump signed the Executive Order protecting Girls
Sports that it was just done. You know, you and
I've talked about this. Oh, every Bridgeside's just done. Obviously
it's not. Can you talk about what the situation really

(39:24):
is because there's many governing groups.

Speaker 5 (39:27):
Yeah, that's a great question.

Speaker 6 (39:29):
So yeah, I was there.

Speaker 5 (39:30):
That day, Yeah, February twenty twenty five.

Speaker 6 (39:33):
I was actually standing right behind him.

Speaker 5 (39:35):
And the room was celebratory, and I didn't want to
be like a bummer in the room, you know, but
I also knew that it wasn't it like people were
declaring victory.

Speaker 6 (39:45):
And I just.

Speaker 5 (39:46):
Knew, first of all, the executive order only impacts the
educational system, and you know, sports played in schools, schools,
middle school, high school, because that's what TOEMND governs. Right, Well,
the vast majority of sports are played outside of that system.
They're played in private clubs.

Speaker 6 (40:05):
I think two thirds of sports.

Speaker 5 (40:07):
Youth sports are played in private clubs. And they're played yeah,
I mean, there's pro teams, there's all of it like that.

Speaker 6 (40:13):
Most sports are not played in the school system. It's
great that there is there are school.

Speaker 5 (40:18):
Sports, but there's a lot of sports outside of that.
I also knew that states blue states were not going
to abide that executive order, which we've seen, right, I
mean we saw this year and last year boy named
David Hernandez has won the state championship in California and
two jumping track and field, and that he's done.

Speaker 6 (40:37):
That two years in a row. So California is completely
ignoring it. And they're saying, there's state law, Trump's.

Speaker 5 (40:42):
The executive order, and their.

Speaker 6 (40:43):
State law dictates the gender identity Trump sex.

Speaker 5 (40:48):
So if you say you're a girl, you are a
girl and you can compete in women sports. But beyond that,
I think the real question you're asking is about the
complexity of the governing body landscape, and.

Speaker 6 (40:58):
It is really complicated.

Speaker 5 (41:00):
There's not one magic wand you can wave to have
all the sports protect women's sports. Now we've had the
International Olympic Committee say that they will. They announced test
for SEC.

Speaker 1 (41:10):
That's great.

Speaker 6 (41:11):
Just last month we had the WTA, the Women's Tennis Association,
they announced they would test for sex and.

Speaker 5 (41:17):
All the high profile players are saying they welcome that.

Speaker 6 (41:21):
For the WNDA, that's separate national women's soccer league. The
Boston Marathon has.

Speaker 5 (41:27):
Its own governing body.

Speaker 6 (41:28):
Each individual race, you know. So you've got sports.

Speaker 5 (41:31):
That take place in schools, and you've got private clubs,
and you've got the Olympic movement. I mean, it's just
like it's all over the place. I couldn't list I
couldn't name all the governing bodies on one each two hands.
There's so many. And so my point has been we
have to change the culture. Because if we change the culture,
which is what is underway right now because of Sophie

(41:53):
she instigated it, then once all.

Speaker 6 (41:55):
The people make it clear this is not going to
be tolerated.

Speaker 5 (41:59):
Then leagues will change yes and follow suit, which is
why I think.

Speaker 6 (42:04):
The WTA did it. We were shocked to.

Speaker 5 (42:06):
See them announce their rule change.

Speaker 6 (42:08):
I did not see that coming.

Speaker 5 (42:09):
No one was lobbying them, but I think they felt
the change in the culture and the pressure building.

Speaker 6 (42:14):
And I'm sure there athletes wanted it, Yes, want it.

Speaker 2 (42:17):
Yeah, they do.

Speaker 7 (42:18):
Well.

Speaker 2 (42:18):
It's interesting because you mentioned the Tennis Association and people
like Megan Rapino. First of all, let's just clear something up.
She was on the view and she said, oh, this
is going to lead to them checking women's bodies. No,
there was a chromosomal test, and you and I when
we talked about the score, we're like, I'm sorry. Chromosomal
reality is not bigotry. It is not invasive. You can
do a swab, you know, in your mouth. You can

(42:39):
do all kinds of stuff. But I think it's interesting
because Megan Rapino has been so on one side where
the US women's soccer team lost to a high school
boys team. When it comes to tennis, both William's sisters
Serena and Venus both won to a much lower ranked man.

(43:00):
And I mean, kudos to Riley Gain. She actually tied
William Thomas Leah Thomas. I mean, that's phenomenal. It has
done so simply, and it's a really silly conversation about it,
but I do think the Olympics Committee, that's a huge one.
Let's talk about something though, that could also kind of

(43:20):
be a red herring, and that's the Protect College Sports Act.
People need to know. That may sound good, but you
and Riley have written about this. It doesn't even mention
women in it. Am I correct, No.

Speaker 5 (43:33):
It doesn't. And here's what I would say about it.
I think it was well intentioned, good so, but I
think women were just forgotten and they can get thrown
under the bus because they were forgotten. There's too much
ambiguity in the bill. Republican senators are split on it.
Josh Holly has been outspoken on it. He does not

(43:55):
support it. There are others as well.

Speaker 6 (43:59):
It's meant its real primary intention.

Speaker 5 (44:02):
Is to clean up college football and protect college football.
It's a mess right now because of nil and paying
outside sums, and players are moving from season to season.

Speaker 1 (44:11):
There's pro players, you know who.

Speaker 6 (44:14):
Maybe had an injury and haven't played in the pros
who are going to college just playing.

Speaker 5 (44:19):
You would like to pray, yeah, so.

Speaker 6 (44:22):
You can't have this. So the intention was to clean
up or is that's the primary intention to clean up
college football, which as we know is where the money
in college sports is, right, that's the only possible thing
in college sports. So that's the intention. But one of
the things that is in the bill that they do
to do that because there's separate nil laws in every state.

(44:42):
So what they've said in the.

Speaker 5 (44:43):
Bill is that the NCAA sets eligibility. It doesn't matter
what the state law is. The NCAA sets eligibility rules.

Speaker 6 (44:50):
Well, guess what that means or could mean.

Speaker 1 (44:53):
It's not outline.

Speaker 6 (44:55):
That it won't mean this. It could mean that in
the laws with twenty three states that let always compete
in girls sports.

Speaker 5 (45:01):
That that that is what that or sorry, I apologize
that the twenty.

Speaker 6 (45:06):
Seven states that have laws protecting girl sports.

Speaker 5 (45:08):
Yea, the MCAAA can override that. All we need is
one left wing activist judge. So I think it's fair
to say the bill is not about that leaves a
crack in the door. And I'm sorry, I don't trust
the MCAAA. They're not trustworthy. So if they want this
to happen, it will happen. All we need is a
new administration. So all we're asking is that there be

(45:29):
protections for the women's category built into this do whatever
you want, go crazy with men's football.

Speaker 6 (45:35):
But if we're trying to protect college sports.

Speaker 5 (45:37):
That has to include female athletes too, and we can't
leave the door open for all this hard work to
be Undone.

Speaker 2 (45:44):
Deborah Floor is sitting for Mandy Connell. My guest is
Jennifer say xxxy clothing company. Check it out. It is
not only a great statement and a cultural movement. The
hats and the T shirts are great. I can vouch
for that very comfortable, high quality. That's the closest I
come to do a commercial at the radio show. But yeah,
but Jen you make a great point, because that is

(46:06):
really the difference between good policy and bad policies. Are
you looking at the unintended consequences? So we need to
watch and make sure that it doesn't allow the NCAA
to override the twenty seven states that actually have laws
protecting women in girls' sports. Let's bring it right here
in Colorado because hopefully we'll become you know, with State

(46:30):
number twenty eight by a ballot initiative that is on
the ballot this November. You are the proponent of it
through Protect Kids Colorado. Talk about that ballot initiative.

Speaker 6 (46:42):
Yeah, I mean we need state legislation. I am working,
you know, through the brand on changing the culture, but
we do need legislation, and I would like to see
national legislation that basically.

Speaker 5 (46:52):
Clarifies Title nine. I mean, we have national.

Speaker 6 (46:54):
Legislation, it's called Title line. So the Dems are choosing
to reinterpret that.

Speaker 5 (46:59):
Yes, maybe they meant gender identity. We know they didn't,
but so state by state legislation.

Speaker 6 (47:05):
So we we and Aaron Lee and a bunch of
other folks, we worked really hard to get the signatures
to get this on the ballot.

Speaker 5 (47:13):
To put it to the people. And what it would
do is it would establish that there are three there's
three categories. Basically there's girls, there's boys, and then there's
open right now where anyone can compete. And that's it's
And I think we got so.

Speaker 6 (47:29):
Many more signatures ever than we needed. I think that's
five percent more signatures than we needed. We had the
highest validation rate of any valid initiatives ever. People want this.

Speaker 5 (47:39):
People know that it's crazy to let boys steal girls
opportunities and put their safety at risk by allowing them
to go up against each other in contact sports. It's nuts.

Speaker 6 (47:49):
So I think I believe firmly that we are definitely
going to win. We are going to protect girls sports
in Colorado. I think when people can say so anonymously
at the best books based the right thing. But I
will say.

Speaker 5 (48:02):
More and more people aren't afraid to stand up anymore.

Speaker 6 (48:04):
I mean, this Sophie thing has kicked off.

Speaker 5 (48:06):
A firestorm so good.

Speaker 6 (48:07):
We were outside the stadium in Minneapolis and people who
aren't even attending the game were stopping by. They wanted stickers,
like it's like a ground.

Speaker 5 (48:16):
Swell yes ort.

Speaker 6 (48:17):
And when you see somebody like her, who's a star
in the league, and then you see a big rally
of young girls standing up and they've got our T
shirt on and they're saying, you know, we love Sophie.
Thank you, say well, they.

Speaker 5 (48:28):
Feel comfortable then asking their.

Speaker 6 (48:30):
Voice to the mix. So Nope, people really aren't afraid
anymore now. Unfortunately, the WNBA is.

Speaker 5 (48:35):
Like thinking it's five years ago and that they can
still scare people into being quiet.

Speaker 6 (48:41):
But I don't think it's going to work.

Speaker 2 (48:42):
No, I don't think so at all. And you know,
here's the final question I want to ask you because
I love your courage. I mean, and it really it
really all started. You were already doing this. You're a
world class gymnast. My guest Jennifer say, you stood up
against COVID gratefully you made Colorado your home. Thank you
for not leaving. We can turn it around, but you
think about it. It was Riley Gaines who stood up

(49:03):
and said, I'm just not going to go quietly into
the night like they telled me to. And she had
to face, you know, being cornered in almost like a
hostage situation at a college campus where she was speaking.
You've spoken up, You've received so much hate and bullying
and all that. And these young girls who were doing it,
my gosh, they're leading the way. But now it's filling turning.

(49:27):
But it takes those first voices. My final question to
you is what would you say to listeners right now
who are maybe trying to struggle up courage, whether it's
on this issue or something else. Give them that shot
of courage, because we really do encourage one another, We
put courage into one another. What would you say to them?

Speaker 5 (49:47):
I would just say, if not you, then who you
can do it?

Speaker 2 (49:50):
Yeah?

Speaker 5 (49:50):
You can withstand and what are you going to get?

Speaker 6 (49:53):
Name calling?

Speaker 2 (49:54):
You can take it.

Speaker 5 (49:55):
I've been taking it for twenty years.

Speaker 6 (49:57):
I'm fine. I'm stronger than ever.

Speaker 2 (49:59):
You can do it.

Speaker 6 (49:59):
It's names the cancelation that's going away. That's the thing
of the past. It doesn't work anymore.

Speaker 5 (50:04):
You're not gonna you know, that's I don't really believe
that's real risk anymore.

Speaker 6 (50:08):
It doesn't work anymore.

Speaker 2 (50:09):
I get it.

Speaker 6 (50:10):
It puts you in a tough spot. Maybe your neighbor's
mad at you, maybe your friends on Facebook say mean things.
You can handle it, to do the right thing, and
you'll you'll find new people.

Speaker 2 (50:19):
Yeah. Yeah, that's the thing that I found is when
you speak up boldly. Yeah, you may lose some friends,
you may lose some business, even although we're moving away
from that a lot more, but you do gain an
incredible group of friends who now you actually, you know,
you have a lot in common. You got just some
basic principles of fairness and what is right and courage.

(50:43):
So on that great note, Jen, I'm you know, privileged
to call you a friend. Thank you for standing up,
Thank you for your courage. It just makes me so
happy to see you, know, you and Riley no longer alone.
There have been some of us speaking up, but thank
you for all you do. Why don't we lasting tell
people where they can get your amazing xx xy clothing.

Speaker 6 (51:07):
Yeah, go to xx dash x Y athletics dot com.
The logo tea is setting the world on fire. I'm
sure you've seen it in at all in rallies. That's
what Annalie was wearing in the front row. We can't
keep those in stocks, so go get it. It's a
simple way to speak up and not have to say
a word. You just wear the shirt and it says
I believe in fair competition for women and girls. So

(51:28):
definitely definitely go check it out. It's cool now you
don't wear you see.

Speaker 5 (51:34):
I want to add one thing though about the price.

Speaker 6 (51:36):
We make more. We're not a merch coming. We make
so much more than teas and hats. Like all your
workout gear. We have performance high quality, whether it's leggings,
running shorts for men and women, anything you could buy
from Lulu or from Nike.

Speaker 5 (51:48):
And training you can get from us and ours is
ours is better.

Speaker 2 (51:52):
Yeah, and I love that you took all that expertise
went for when you were a Levi's executive and you
put it into a company. I'm really I mean I
like Levi's don't get me wrong, but I love xx
x Y. Jen. Thank you so much for calling in.
I know you are so busy. You know I keep
looking for you at every w NBA game, but look
for to seeing you.

Speaker 6 (52:11):
There you go Chicago.

Speaker 2 (52:12):
Now okay, wonderful. Well we'll look for you on this sidelines.
Will you take care? God bless, thank you, thank you,
Bye bye. Well that was Jen Say, My guests. We're
going to talk more about this on the other side,
but we are heading into a break. I'm Deborah Flora
filling in for Mandy Connell. For Mandy Connell. If you

(52:36):
have missed any of the show, definitely check it out
on the podcast. We've had some really courageous voices that
we've been able to hear from Today. We had Aaron
Lee talking about uh this stand for Protecting Kids, Protect
Kids Colorado and those three Ballad initiatives, and you know,
she got activated simply because she was a mom and

(52:58):
things were happening in her school that she was unaware
of and being hidden from her about her daughter. Then
we just talked to Jen Say, who is a courageous voice,
and she first got involved as a gymnast a world
class gymnast because of all that was going on in
that industry. And she's carried on that legacy of courage,

(53:18):
you know, standing up talking about COVID and losing her
job at LEVI because that now she's standing up to
protect women and girls' sports. I love talking to people
like that because I truly believe that courage is contagious.
I also think when we hear what is going on
in our culture, let's listen to not just what people

(53:39):
are saying, but how they're saying it as well. When
you see what's going on at the WNBA games right now,
you have these two young young girls, I mean they're
about sixteen. Anna Lee Jen was talking about how she
is one of those young athletes who is speaking up
because she lost to a biological male in a race

(54:01):
in I think was middle school. She courageously stood up.
But what happened when these two girls were just sitting
at the saddle Storm game. They were sitting in their
xx x Y shirts and holding up a sign that
she said, thank you Sovie for speaking up for girls.
That was it, sitting there politely watching the game. Not
only did the Storm co owner Celeste Keaton aggressively confront

(54:25):
the girls. Basically, one report says she's said to them
that they were blanking, insane to their to their faces.
But a crowd afterwards of Seattle Storm fans that's a
positive word was just call them. Part of the mob
surrounded these young girls and started yelling at them. One

(54:46):
guy in the video says calls them garbage and ask
the security to take out the trash. Here's what I
want to say about that. We can be the ones
to add our voices to the sane side, not the
aggressive side where people are just kind of losing their
minds out there. I experienced this firsthand when I've had

(55:09):
the privilege of leading some rallies in from the Supreme
Court steps for Alliance Defending Freedom. I did that for
Nifflip versus Bessera, where forced government for speech the Supreme
Court ruled against it. Thank goodness, that was with Alliance
Defending Freedom. I also led the rally in front of
the Supreme Court steps for Alliance Defending Freedom when Lourie

(55:31):
Smith right here in Colorado, one of the kindest hearted
people I know, simply said that she should not be
forced to create work that is contrary to her belief system,
I would say that if the person was, you know,
an atheist, if they were gay, if they were transgender,

(55:52):
if they were a Muslim, whoever they are, no one
should be forced to use their work counter to their
sincerely held beliefs. Unfortunately, we won that case again against
by the way, Phil Wiser, who was the one arguing
against our rights against government compelled speech. He was arguing

(56:14):
for government compelled speech. We should keep that in mind
when we're voting for governor. But by the way, the
thing that I experienced verstand is when we held that
rally from the Supreme Court steps and we had people
come up and speak, everyone from Lorie Smith to a Jewish,
an Orthodox Jewish Man, to someone who is Muslim, someone

(56:36):
who is an atheist, somebody who is gay. They were
all saying, you know what, we stand for one another's
rights to not be compelled. Let me use this example.
We're thinking of the Jack Phillips case, and the Jack
Phillips case it doesn't come under public accommodation. There are
thousands of bakeries, but this one baker should not be
forced to bake a cake that disagrees with his own

(56:58):
personally held views. Just to test the SERI out. Somebody
went to another baker nearby and tried to get them
to bake a cake that had a biblical scripture on that.
They said, no, they were not held in contempts, nor
should they have been. That is right. Well, when we
were leading this rally, it was one of the most

(57:18):
violent experiences other than you know, when we were over
in by Antifa in twenty twenty down at Civic Center
Park when we're having to support the police rally. This
is probably the second most violent mob experience I'd been
a part of. I was leading the rally I was hosting.
We were surrounded by a mob of people. There weren't
a lot, there were ten fifteen maybe that were only

(57:42):
talking about transgenderism. And I know a lot of people
who are transgender are not this way, but this group was,
and they were screaming at us. They were putting bullhorns
right up to people's ears and screaming in their ears.
They were trying to disrupt our our, you know, public

(58:03):
event that we were having. Here's what should happen. Go
have your own event. You know, many years ago when
we did Niffler versus Besara, there were two different rallies
going on. I'm like, I'm all for that. You rally
and you share your points of what you are for,
we'll rally, we'll share our points of what we are for.
But they really showed themselves when the Orthodox Jewish rabbi

(58:30):
stepped off the stage, walked away, and then they encircled
him with their bullhorns and started calling him a Nazi
and calling him hitler. I mean, listen to the burbage
that comes out of people's mouths and keep that in mind.
You know, there's a great quote that I think of
when I think of people like Jense and others who

(58:50):
speak up, and it's Martin Luther King Junior, and he
said this, our lives begin to end the day we
become silent about things that matter. We don't have to yell.
I'm a Christian. I believe in speaking the truth and love.
We do not have to do it and hate, but
we do need to speak up and speak the truth.

(59:11):
And when we do, our entire society is changing. When
you look at protecting girls' sports, it was Riley Gains
and her life has been threatened so many times, but
she spoke up. Jen Say did the same thing. Now,
you've got Sophie Cunningham, and there's this movement. Courage is contagious,
and we need to be the ones who speak up.

(59:32):
One of the things that I really believe in speaking
up against is anti Semitism. The Sunday after the malatop
cocktail thrower threw it at peaceful protesters walking silently down
the Boulder Mall. And by the way, many of these
people are Democrats. We went the next week and many
of those people had just been at the No King's rally.

(59:55):
They were silently walking in the the movement of run
for their lives, standing up for the hostages who are
held after they're brutally attacked. On October seventh, we went
and we spoke up, and we marched with them the
very next time. It's time that people begin to wake
up and make their voices heard. There's something that has

(01:00:18):
happening now that I think is a very positive movement.
I like talking about positive movements and the light of
Abdul el Sayed, who won the Democrat nomination for US
Senate in Michigan. He is campaigned with Hassan Piker, who
is a incredibly divisive voice in our culture today. Says

(01:00:38):
really incredibly hateful things. Well, there's a new poll coming
out and a new article by the Jewish Insider magazine
where many Jewish Democrats now in Michigan say that they
might vote for Mike Rogers, the Republican nominee, because what
they said is, we cannot vote for someone who basically

(01:01:02):
spews hate and is speaking out so anti semitically along
with someone like a Hassan Parker. Courage. Courage is one
of the most important things we need today. Let's be
inspired by those we see being courageous and realize we
actually have so much more in common than we have
that separates us. And when people are beginning to wake up,

(01:01:24):
when it gets that extreme, we start seeing exciting trends happening.
I believe it's happening here, by the way, if you're
in Denver. Shimon Blau decided to run against the melt
Kiros because melot Kiros could not even say or condemn
the Molotov cocktail bomb thrower that killed an elderly Jewish

(01:01:47):
woman injured many others, and she basically said, you know,
I don't really know why he did it, so I
can't speak to that. How about the fact that when
he's threw the bombs. He was saying anti Semitic thing
and being pro hamas Okay, got to go to a break,
got that off my chest. Thank you for listening. Want
to hear from you. Five six six nine zero five
six six nine zero Deborah Flora City in for Mandy Connell.

(01:02:16):
Love Fridays. I love weekends in Colorado, beautiful scenery. We
are blessed to live here. Well, you know, I've been
talking a lot this show about courage, courageous voices, you know,
and we can encourage one another, put courage into one another,
and we're going to find that there's a lot more
people that are waiting to speak up. It's kind of

(01:02:37):
like the Emperor's new clothes. It took a little boy
to point out what everybody knew, that the emperor had
no clothes, and everyone else was like, oh my gosh,
I've been waiting to say that. I just want to
see who would be first. We can be that person.
Another third thing that can help us in this interaction
to our society and being couraged is just remembering there's

(01:02:58):
so many good, decent people around us. That's why I
like sharing good news stories, particularly right now. When we
have the resurgence or the surgeons. I guess it's not
a resurgence. Although socialism has been around a long time,
never worked really bad. That's a summary, that's the cliff
Notes version of history. Let's just say that. But the

(01:03:20):
DSA right now wants to basically not just defund the police,
but dismantle the police. I just want to give a
shout out to everyone who is a first responder, who's
willing to step out on that thin blue line, that
thin red line, and I want to share just this
great good news story of just the decency, the things
that so many police officers do when we aren't looking.

(01:03:42):
This story is about Officer JP Young. This is in
Kansas City, neighboring state. And I know there's a lot
of great police officers sheriffs right here in Colorado. But
officer JP Young, he was notified that someone stole the
three will e bike from Olivia. Well, the big thing
about Olivia is Olivia is a cancer survivor and she

(01:04:04):
uses her e bike to get to her oncology appointments.
So when he heard this and he found out, he
went and he met with Olivia. He asked her, okay,
give me a complete description, and he made a promise
to her because he understood that his job to protect
and to serve is really that it's serving. So we

(01:04:24):
promised Olivia that he would look every single day until
he found her e bike. So he did that. He
looked every single day, and then finally, after a month
of looking everywhere, he saw this man riding along on
an e bike that looked unusual to him because it
had been spray painted. But guess what, there's a little

(01:04:45):
part that wasn't spray painted and it was the color
that Olivia's bike was. So he sent a picture to
Olivia said is this your bike? And she said, yes,
indeed it is. Well, when Officer Young came by and
brought the bike back to her, she was so happy,
not just because he'd carried through with his promise, not

(01:05:06):
just because human kindness one to one is one of
the most moving things that we can experience and give.
She said she was so happy because a look on
Officer Young's face was an ear to ear just basically
a face splitting grin, and she said this this is
Olivia said this oncology patient Officer Young went Wanda above

(01:05:29):
and beyond the call of duty to help me get
my e bike back. He kept a steadfast eye out
for it. The best part for me was seeing how
big of a smile he had on his face when
he was able to return it, just like he had
found the golden goose. I loved it. You know, one
good deed spurs another, so let's be the one that
starts it. Because when the e bike was given back

(01:05:51):
to her, it has some damage on it. A bike
repair shop locally heard about it and said, you know what, Olivia,
We're happy to fix it at no cost, and they
did just that. Olvia said she was overwhelmed by the
acts of kindness, and those on social media loved hearing
about it too. Here's a couple of random acts of
kindness we can all do. When you see a police officer,

(01:06:11):
say thank you, I'm a cup of coffee. And then
when you see something good happen share on social media.
I don't know about you, but I get tired of
the diet of negativity and vitriol and dopamine rage hitting.
How about we share good things that have happened, good
news stories. That's why I want to share it with you. Well,

(01:06:32):
when we come back, we are going to move into
movie mode because I've seen a couple of really good
ones lately. Christian Toto will be joining me and we're
going to talk about movies, So don't go anywhere. I'm
Devora Flora sitting in from Mandy Connell, my friend Mandy Connell.

(01:06:55):
By the way, we can't exist in the same space
and time. Usually I'm in the chair and Mandy isn't.
But we have a show together, Mandy and deb Yeah,
very originally named you can see it on iv or
Facebook Mandy ampersandb the ampersand makes us very very fancy. Okay,
speaking of entertainment, I am happy to have joining me
a good friend. We should do a regular segment together

(01:07:19):
every week on Ryan Schuling Show, and that is Christian Toto. Christian,
thanks for joining me. I appreciate it. Thanks having me
absolutely well. I love it because you are a great
appreciator of movies. I was in the belly of the
Beast for a while, so I appreciate our conversations.

Speaker 5 (01:07:35):
Well.

Speaker 2 (01:07:35):
Last time I had you on, Christian, we were talking
about the Odyssey and I have to do Amya Kulpa.
I did what I usually encourage people on to do,
which I prejudged it by a lot of the more
you know, reactionary headlines. I really liked it was It
was I think one of Christopher Nolan's best movies since
the Dark Night series. Give me your quick take. It's
almost at a billion now. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:07:57):
I enjoyed too. I had some significant is with it. Yeah,
the casting issues, I can't defend that. I think that's
not the wisest the choices. Yeah, but it was a
very very very small part of the film, and I'm
not going to be smirched the entire movie base of
those decisions. But I think he's working on another level.
I think he has chronic issues. I don't find his

(01:08:17):
movies as emotionally rich as i'd like Connect as well
as other films. I think he's more of a technician.
Look at the technical practless on the screen. I think
that's what really accepts them apart. It just is mesmerizing.
So I was transported. I enjoyed it. I'm glad I
saw it in the biggest screen possible, and it's certainly

(01:08:39):
worth seeing and I'm happy that it's doing so well
because that is what we'll save movies, is movies like
this with epic scope at the ambition, and even though
it's imperfect, it does a lot right and the cast
can't be equippled with and give generous speaking the big
stars of it. I'm glad for his success. He's working

(01:09:00):
his tailoff to make something sound and even when he
misses a bit and comes so close to the mark.

Speaker 2 (01:09:06):
Yeah, he does absolutely and I agree with you. Like Dunkirk, missstory,
Oppenheimer was just one note. But I really do think
Odyssey was good. And we saw it in the Imax
screen and we haven't done that in eons, and you
definitely have to. It was exhausting because it is an Odyssey.
And by the way, I love I saw a meme
afterwards that you know, Hollywood has spent hundreds of millions

(01:09:27):
of dollars trying to get Matt Damon home, whether you
look at The Martian or you look at Interstellar, or
you look at the Odyssey. But it was worth it.
It was definitely worth it. Saw another one in the
theater this week that I one hundred percent think is
worth it. I liked it even better than Odyssey. Different categories,
but Spider Man Brand New Day the second fastest to

(01:09:48):
get to one billion a box office only after Avengers
End Game, and it's not even fully into its second weekend.
I really enjoyed it. Tell me about your thoughts for
a Spider Man endgame, Jesus Hardy Brand New Day. I
just combined the two top grossing.

Speaker 3 (01:10:06):
It's amazing in a couple of ways. One is I
think it's a verigest film. I think it's well told.
I think Tom Holland is being allowed to grow as
this usually young figure, you know, teenager, he's high school,
and then let him grow because Tom Holan's growing in time,
is marching on. I like the maturity behind it. But
the co stars, the Hope and the Punisher, who will integrated.

(01:10:26):
I didn't love love the villain. There's some quibbles there.
I don't want to get into it because it gets
into spoilers cat spoilers. But yeah, I thought it was
ambitious in a way. It was mature in a way,
in a way that I didn't expect, about getting older,
about having responsibility by accepting your faith, about love and
mourning the fact that his his main love doesn't remember

(01:10:48):
him anymore. Just a rabbit hole. You don't know the answer, you, Yeah,
I was very much Having said all that a month ago,
how much is that going to make? And that's a theater,
I'd say, you know, it's going to be big, maybe
like one twenty.

Speaker 8 (01:11:01):
One thirty three. I think this is my gig, this
is what I do for a living. And I'm flummoxed
by how much hunger there was for the story. Listen,
I know he's a lovable character. I understand everybody in
a spider Man.

Speaker 3 (01:11:16):
I get all those things, but it really is something, yeah,
that it's making all that money. The Avengers is you know,
they made a bunch of movies that was the final story.
It was a million Avengers. I get the hype, I
get the hunger, but this is very interesting. But it
also speaks to this has been a heck of a year.
Cricket Homes. I mean, we're just making a lot of
money and it's the Rising Tide list soul Boat as well.

(01:11:37):
I think that people are going back to their theaters,
and that's all right. I'm a movie crek. I love it.

Speaker 2 (01:11:42):
Yeah. Well, and I think when you look at why
they're coming back to theaters, let's talk about the movies
that did really well this year. Project hell Mary Odyssey
spider Man, Brand New Day. One of the things I
think they all have in common is they're just good
old fashioned action adventure escapism, not handed message movies. And

(01:12:03):
even though there was a little bit of, you know,
criticism about Odyssey going into it by some of the choices,
it really ended up just being good storytelling, and I
think people want to see that again. I think that
should be the lesson to Hollywood. Having been there, my
husband was a producer Walt Disney Studios. I hope they're
listening those you Christian and me. People want to go

(01:12:25):
to be entertained, not to be lectured, not to be
preached at. And I think that's the reason why they're
doing really, really well. What's your thought about that?

Speaker 3 (01:12:34):
Yeah, I mean I can't disagree. You know, I wrote,
literally wrote the book on woke Hollywood.

Speaker 2 (01:12:39):
Yes you did?

Speaker 3 (01:12:41):
Is overused. Having said that, I think Hollywood really in
recent years has lost its way. The messaging, the focusing
on the cast thing has to be a certain way.
It just felt different. I think the newer films and
I think hollywoods learning this lesson.

Speaker 5 (01:12:57):
Yeah, if you're more joyful.

Speaker 3 (01:12:58):
If you're more hate, We're gonna tell a story We're
going to focus on characters, and that I think is
resonating with people. I think that's one of the reasons
why people are coming back to theaters.

Speaker 2 (01:13:07):
Yeah, I think so too. I talked about the movie
Twisters last year I think it was or I believe
it was last year, and it did really well, and
you know, Hollywood tried to come down and say, oh,
you didn't talk about it's all about global warming, and
I remember, you know, somebody involved with the movie was like, yeah,
that's not what this is for. People don't want to
be lectured. They just want to see a movie.

Speaker 3 (01:13:29):
You know.

Speaker 2 (01:13:29):
It doesn't mean you can't incorporate deeper things and important topics.
But I think there's a weariness to it. You know,
we're gonna head to the break, Christian, but I want
to see if you can stay when we come back,
because this wokeness, it's interesting how it's almost like Hollywood
can't help themselves and they have to try to insert
it and put it upon people. And you've been writing

(01:13:51):
about that as well. So when we come back, we're
going to discuss that you can stay with me and
through the break, correct, Christian, Yep? Great, Okay, wonderful. Well,
when we come back, we'll talk about that. But I
love movies too, and I used to have to go
back to like, oh, ten years ago, fifteen years ago,
twenty years ago. There's some good new ones and that
is a positive thing. So we get back. We're going

(01:14:12):
to continue with that conversation with Christian Toto. I'm Debrah
Flora sitting in for Mandy Connell. Conall finishing a great
conversation with Christian Toto. Make sure to check him out
at hollywoodintoto dot com. Christian, thanks so much for continuing.

(01:14:35):
I appreciate it. Yeah, yeah, absolutely, Well this show, I've
been talking a lot about courageous women standing up against bullies,
and you brought a story to my attention. I'm someone
who's doing that, and that's Tate McCrae, pop singer. I
have to admit I'm not hip enough to really know
much about Tate McCrae, But why don't you tell us
what's going on, because once again, the culture things are

(01:14:56):
just kind of silly at this point in time.

Speaker 3 (01:14:59):
It's pretty crazy. Basically, she was being interviewed and I
understand she worked briefly with Morgan Wallance, who's only the
biggest country start in the world, and she may have
done something else or something else that some people think
maybe coded a certain way or may indicate a certain thing.
So they pressed her on it, and she had an
innocuous I'm not really political comment or something like, you know,

(01:15:21):
look at the things I do or look at the
things I say, and she basically got a backpedal, didn't
want to go there, and all of a sudden, now
the music, well, she could be maga, she could be
hiding her views. Now, mind you, Morgan Wallin is not political,
but the media has basically said, well, he isn't political,
but he certainly does certain things and thinks certain things

(01:15:43):
and acts a certain way. He might just be maggot too.
So it's like this weird try to connection, but basically
it's bullying. It's trying to shame people. Listen, there are
a million celebrities who are on the left, and that's
their own right. They can do whatever they want perfectly fine,
no problem at all. But if you go the other way,
well there's suspicion. What are they saying, what do they mean?

(01:16:05):
Why did you say this to pressue? It is transparently bullying.
One oh one, I thought bullying was bad. I thought
we were talking you shouldn't bully. So that's that's where
we are.

Speaker 5 (01:16:15):
Yeah, it is.

Speaker 2 (01:16:15):
It's interesting because I kind of think she's in New Sydney, Sweeney.
And you know, when I was reading the article that
you sent, Tate McCrae, pop singer. Yeah, she happened to
do a duet with Morgan Wallan ended up being her
first Billboard Hot one hundred songs. So well done, Tate.
And she's rumored to be in a relationship with hockey
star Jack Hughes, who show to the world as a

(01:16:38):
Team USA Olympic hockey player who dared to say he
was proud to be an American. I mean, I guess
that's you know, that's innuendo now at this point in time.
But I thought it was interesting when you brought this
to my attention, Christian, because I remember sitting in waiting
rooms in Hollywood when I was auditioning, or i'd be
on his set, and everyone around you is saying all
of this, you know, extreme left wing kind of stuff,

(01:16:59):
and that's their right, And it started to get to
the point where if you didn't chime in, even that
was a problem. They would suddenly look at me a
certain point in time go and say to me, you're
not saying anything. You're not conservative, are you? And I'm like, well,
I'm so glad you actually asked, but yeah, it's crazy.
I'm glad you bring this to attention. You know, I'll

(01:17:20):
give you last thought on this because and by the way,
I also be sure to tell people where they can
read your your articles and all of that.

Speaker 3 (01:17:29):
Yeah, I'm just going to Hollywood. Inn I n Toto
my last name t og Ot. I'm at Blaze, I'm
a daily wire. I'm not hot air. I'm a justin news.
I at a lot of different places. That's my home base. Yeah, listen,
this is it's bullying. It's also a morning sign. Yes,
anybody else wants to have a unique point of view,
a different kind of thought. I thought that isn't embraced

(01:17:51):
by ninety nine percent of Hollywood. Well you'll be two
shot across the bout. That's what this is. You think
like else dot dot dot org. That's all it is.

Speaker 2 (01:18:01):
Yeah, and bullys are actually cowers. All it takes is
standing up and then realizing and I think, good on
Tate McCray, she just was like, yeah, I'm not really
going to answer that, because you know, my work, my
volunteering speaks for itself, and she volunteers for some you know,
progressive causes, et cetera. But I find what is interesting
is Forms Magazine of all Things, a business magazine, had

(01:18:24):
an article about her that said, uh that Tate McCray
distances herself from MAGA but doesn't outright deny, and they
call Wallin's music trump coded. I'm like, goodness, gracious, people
just focus on what you're supposed to do is just business,
and let Tate focus on making music, which she seems
to be doing well at.

Speaker 3 (01:18:44):
Yeah, it speaks to the bias, it speaks to the bullying,
it speaks to the group thing, it speaks to a
lot and buck way. Sydney Sweeney has basically navigated this
very difficult path. She didn't talk about politics, and they've
tried to force her into saying certain things. Either say
your Mega and then we're going to trash you, or
say you hey Trump and then we're we're going to
elevate you. That's what it is. That's what this is

(01:19:05):
all about. It's all about weaponizing people and their beliefs.
It's not about freedom, it's not about free speech. It's bullieing.

Speaker 2 (01:19:10):
Yeah, and we can all just stand up to it
and they will stop. But they find they cannot intimidate you.
The worst thing you can do is, you know, jump
to the other side. But you know, let let's sports
be sports. We've got the Sophie Cunningham situation. Let movies
just be movies, which is why I think Spider Man
is doing so well. And you know, and I think
it's time, you know, fortune just focus on business. Let's

(01:19:34):
have these things that are not politicized. Well, we have
to head to a break. Thank you Christian for joining me.
Always enjoy it. Go to Hollywood intotoa dot com. Thank
you so much, my friend. Have a great weekend.

Speaker 3 (01:19:46):
Thank you.

Speaker 2 (01:19:47):
Okay, well that was my guest, Christian toade. We're heading
to break. When we come back, we will continue Deborah
Flora sitting in for Mandy Connell half hour. This show
has gone so quickly. Appreciate your being a part of
that conversation. If you missed end me this show, definitely

(01:20:09):
check out the podcast. Later had some great interviews with
Jen Say, with Aaron Lee, with Christian Toto and I've
got another very moving interview that I'm grateful to have
today because yesterday I was talking when I was guest
hosting about that phrase, never forget. We say that a
lot about something that happened in our history, whether it's

(01:20:29):
nine to eleven with the twenty fifth anniversary coming up,
or it's something else. Never forget. We say that about
the Holocaust, we say that about people. Well, coming up
on August twenty first is National Sentinyl Prevention and Awareness Day. Well,
we've got to make sure we don't forget those who

(01:20:50):
have been lost to this horrible it'stime of a drug.
It's a poison. One drop can kill you, and we
need to remember that even more in Colorado because many states,
most states are seeing fentanyl dropping, the fentanyl death rate dropping.
Klara is one of only five states where fentanyl deaths
are actually increasing. In fact, it's gone down a whopping

(01:21:14):
nearly twenty seven percent across the country, but fentanyl overdose
deaths have climbed in Colorado seventeen percent. That's not okay,
it's going in the wrong direction. Well, last night I
was at the Jeff co Kiss First event. It was
a wonderful event, great organization and I ran into someone
that i'd interviewed a couple of years ago when I

(01:21:37):
had my own regular show, and that's Mickey Sadivi. And
she's a powerful voice speaking out making sure we don't forget.
And she does this as a mom. Last night, she
gave me this beautiful pin I'm looking at right now
to make sure we never forget her daughter, Hannah Elise,
and this beautiful pen that I'm holding says forever sixteen

(01:22:00):
that no poison Colorado. Mickey, thank you so much for
joining me on the air today. I really appreciate it.

Speaker 5 (01:22:07):
Thank you, Deborah for having me. You know, it is
a it's an honor and a great pleasure as well.

Speaker 2 (01:22:12):
Yes, well, Mickey, when I saw you last night, I
asked how you were doing, and you you were honest,
and you said, it's actually harder every year, it's not easier.
Why didn't you tell us about what happened to your
beautiful daughter, Hannah? And it was I think almost four
years ago, is that correct?

Speaker 5 (01:22:30):
So actually it's been today is four years and eight months. Okay,
I lost Hannah.

Speaker 2 (01:22:36):
Okay, well tell us what happened four years eight months ago?

Speaker 5 (01:22:41):
So you know, you know Hannah had gotten into some trouble,
got you know, straightened out. You know, great kid.

Speaker 7 (01:22:48):
I mean she was so compassionate, loving, you know, protector
over her brother, wouldn't like kit sit alone.

Speaker 5 (01:22:54):
I mean, an amazing young lady.

Speaker 2 (01:22:57):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:22:58):
And she had gone over to a friend's house the night.

Speaker 7 (01:23:02):
Before, and you know, the next morning, she came home
at six in the morning and you know.

Speaker 5 (01:23:11):
Good morning, beautiful, I love you so very.

Speaker 7 (01:23:14):
Much, and she's, you know, I'll be down in a few.

Speaker 5 (01:23:20):
Minutes to go to school. Well then I panicked because
I was in my car for about fifteen minutes, and
I ran inside, went upstairs, you know, and flung open
her door, and.

Speaker 7 (01:23:33):
She's just like, Mom, I'm so tired, you know, but
you know, give me just a few more minutes, I'll
be down.

Speaker 5 (01:23:40):
So I sat in my car for about another half hour,
and I was like, I've got to go to work.
I did not want to go to work that day.
And I was gone about three hours and I came
home and she had already passed away.

Speaker 2 (01:23:57):
Oh my, I'm so sorry, Micky. And you talk Mickey
about how she had taken a xanax and did not
even know that it was lace with ventanyl.

Speaker 5 (01:24:12):
No, No, she had very high anxiety. You know. I
did take her to the doctor.

Speaker 1 (01:24:16):
I mean this was during the shutdowns.

Speaker 5 (01:24:18):
Yeah, and you know I did take her to the doctor,
you know, and did everything that I could, you know,
and I didn't know. And I mean her and I
had conversations and she goes, Mom, I would never do
fentanyl because I see what it does to people.

Speaker 2 (01:24:35):
Yeah. Well, and that's that is the horrific thing about
ventanyl is it's it's in all kinds of manufactured pills.
I remember interviewing a mom who her two sons thought
they were taking a percocet. They had no idea. This
looked like a xan X. And I appreciate your sharing that.
Tell us a little bit more about your daughter, Hannah,

(01:24:58):
because I think it's important we remember these aren't numbers,
These are individuals.

Speaker 7 (01:25:05):
Right, I mean, you know, like I said, Hannah was
just she was just amazing, loving. Her teachers loved her
because she was so helpful. You know, the biggest complaint
I guys, maybe she talked a little too much.

Speaker 2 (01:25:21):
People excuse me of that.

Speaker 5 (01:25:22):
Not surprisingly, and so I would laugh, you know, and.

Speaker 7 (01:25:30):
They would always I mean, her teachers were always there
for her. You know, they were always around and.

Speaker 5 (01:25:37):
Because they knew her, and just how affectionate she was.
And you know the biggest thing is not letting a
child sit alone, you know, because she saw her brother
sit alone.

Speaker 7 (01:25:50):
And so what she would do is she would go
you know, if she saw a kid sitting by themselves,
she'd go up to them and bring them up with
whoever she was hanging around with that the time.

Speaker 5 (01:26:00):
Yeah, I mean she was a social butterfly.

Speaker 3 (01:26:06):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:26:06):
And her picture is beautiful. I mean, just a beautiful
young woman and this tragedy just sixteen years old and
forever sixteen. You know, Mickey, what would you want to
say to people, because we talk about never forget this?
Coming August twenty first, National Fentanyl Prevention and Awareness Day,
what do you want to say to listeners?

Speaker 5 (01:26:27):
You know, my biggest thing is never say not my child.

Speaker 7 (01:26:32):
Yeah, THATONYL does not discriminate race, color, income, you.

Speaker 5 (01:26:39):
Know, it doesn't.

Speaker 7 (01:26:41):
And if it's you know, if it's from the street,
assume it has sutanel in it, because it's most likely does.

Speaker 5 (01:26:53):
I mean, you know, we're not we're getting worse here, yeah.

Speaker 7 (01:26:58):
And remembering that our children and we're poisoned.

Speaker 5 (01:27:01):
You know, my daughter didn't want a guy. You know,
she didn't know what she had was, what had fetanel
in it.

Speaker 7 (01:27:08):
You know, there's no safe amount, and you know, be proactive,
you know, don't don't wait until you lose a loved
one to be aware and spread awareness and continue to
educate yourself.

Speaker 5 (01:27:26):
Yeah, because there's so.

Speaker 7 (01:27:29):
Many things and it's just basically it's the DEA and
US moms. We're not getting faces out there until we
lose another one. And it's heartbreaking. Yes, it is heartbreaking
every child.

Speaker 2 (01:27:45):
Yeah, it is. And these are children. And like you said,
I mean I remember when all of this started becoming,
you know, to the forefront. Our kids were young at
the same time, or they were they were in high
school during twenty twelve when Hannah was killed by this
poison known as ventanyl, and we would tell our kids,

(01:28:07):
you can't touch anything. You cannot take tile and all
from someone. You cannot pick something them off the street,
you cannot take anything from anyone. You know. I just
read that statistic and you shared information as well that
while across the country, overdose deaths from fentanyl have dropped
nearly twenty seven percent, here in Colorado, it's actually gone

(01:28:30):
up seventeen percent, one of only five states. What does
it make you feel like that we need to pay
attention to here in Colorado.

Speaker 7 (01:28:39):
Well, so I also want to say to be careful
with the word overdose.

Speaker 5 (01:28:44):
I feel that, yeah, that's correct. Use two people. It's
an illicit drug. It was brought here to kill us.
I mean, let's just be real about it.

Speaker 7 (01:28:55):
And there's no safe amount because it's illicit, I still
call it poisoning.

Speaker 2 (01:28:59):
It is.

Speaker 5 (01:29:00):
It is even with addiction.

Speaker 7 (01:29:02):
I mean, it's nothing that the US has ever seen before.

Speaker 5 (01:29:07):
And then I forgot the part of your question.

Speaker 2 (01:29:09):
About about Colorado's rate going on seventeen percent people being
poisoned by vent noll compared to it dropping twenty seven
percent across the country.

Speaker 5 (01:29:20):
We are going in the wrong direction. We've also have a.

Speaker 7 (01:29:24):
Governor who, honestly, I'm so grateful he's almost out, who
would never talked about it, because if you talked about it,
then you have.

Speaker 5 (01:29:33):
To admit that there's a problem, you know, just being aware.
I mean, and we do have a bill coming up
in November, and it is to make all possession.

Speaker 7 (01:29:45):
Of felony yes and mandate treatment for addicts, which which
that's I mean, that's what we as parents want, is
for those who are.

Speaker 5 (01:29:57):
Suffering from addiction to get help. Mm hm. You know,
but you know, there needs to be accountability because if
you're an addict, you're most likely selling it to support
your own habit.

Speaker 3 (01:30:10):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:30:10):
I agree, and we got it.

Speaker 5 (01:30:12):
We have to keep talking about it, you know.

Speaker 7 (01:30:15):
And I also encourage people to watch Devastated as well.

Speaker 5 (01:30:19):
Yes, it's a great documentary. I am in it, and
it's on YouTube.

Speaker 7 (01:30:26):
And I suggest, you know, parents watch it with their children.
It's a harsh reality.

Speaker 2 (01:30:32):
Yeah, and just because it's not in the headlines as
much as when it first came into being, this horrible
poisoning by Ventanyl here in Colorado, it is up. And
I appreciate your pointing out government policies. We also need
to point out the fact that Phil Wiser is the
top law enforcement officer here in Colorado and it's gone
up seventeen percent when no poisoning has gone down across

(01:30:56):
the country, and he's running for governor. We need to
make sure this doesn't go away and that people continue
to hold others accountable. I'll give you the last word
before I let you go, Mickey, just.

Speaker 5 (01:31:08):
You know again, you know, keep talking, keep learning, keep educating,
you know, because there's there's worse stuff out there.

Speaker 3 (01:31:15):
Now.

Speaker 5 (01:31:15):
We've got cars at in all one hundred times worse,
you know, fixing with trinks which Narcan does not touch.

Speaker 6 (01:31:22):
Wow, there is.

Speaker 5 (01:31:23):
No safe amount.

Speaker 7 (01:31:25):
It's the number one killer of eighteen to forty five
year olds, and it's the number one.

Speaker 5 (01:31:29):
Killer of children.

Speaker 2 (01:31:30):
Yeah, and how we have forgotten. Everybody needs to remember
August twenty first. Every single day we need to remember
fentyl prevention and awareness. But August twenty first is the
date that it is recognized. Mickey, thank you so much.
I appreciate it because I know how hard it must

(01:31:51):
be for you to talk about. Actually I don't know,
because I haven't been in your shoes. But thank you
for the gift of continuing to share Hannah's story and
making shore that, you know, the tragy that happened to
her is brought to light so it doesn't happen to others.
Thank you for your generosity in that.

Speaker 7 (01:32:11):
You know, Deborah, thank you so much as well. And
as I tell people, I'm here for anybody that ever
wants to reach out.

Speaker 2 (01:32:17):
That's great. Well, that's great. Well, God bless you, Micky,
and just know I'm looking at Hannah's beautiful picture and
we'll do what we can to make sure that people
remember Hannah and the horrible poison that killed her. So
God bless you.

Speaker 5 (01:32:33):
You take care of yourself, you two deva Thank you again.

Speaker 2 (01:32:37):
Thank you Mickey. Well that was my guest, Mickey Sadivi.
She is in the documentary devastated and ran into her
last night, and I'm looking at this beautiful pen she
has of her daughter, Hannah Elise, and it says next
to it forever sixteen because she was let's just say it,
she was murdered by fentanyl four years eight months ago,

(01:32:59):
and Mickey talks about her so well, you know, about
being this light, joyful person, did not want to die,
took what she thought was a xanax, and it turns
out was laced with it. Here's why it matters. Yes,
it matters because every life matters. But it matters also
because Colorado, like on so many markers, is going in

(01:33:21):
the wrong direction. We are increasing in crime, we are
decreasing in affordability. We're forty to fiftieth of states for
housing affordability, Our crime is up wherever you look at it.
We're heading in the wrong direction and there are consequences
for this. When we look at why is the rate

(01:33:43):
of fentanyl poisoning going up in Clauda seventeen percent when
the rest of the country's going down twenty seven. Well,
part of it is because we are a drug distribution
center right here in Colorado. And if you think borders
don't matter, anyone who was thinking of voting for a
DSA candidate who wants to get rid of bers, borders matter. Colorado,

(01:34:03):
the drugs, the crime, all that comes straight up I
twenty five and straight out I seventy. Every time I
talk to somebody Border patrol ice, they talk about how
we're one of the drug distribution capitals of the world.
As we know. There was a bust that that happened
down in Douglas County and obviously Darren Weekley, a great
sheriff down there, and his team found this. They were

(01:34:23):
tipped off and they worked with government agencies. But that's
just what they found, A huge millions of fentanyl pills.
That's what they found. All these others they do not find.
Why else is this happening in Colorado? Because guess what
what happens under the Dome matters. We have this ballot initiative.
I'm going to get to that at the end of this.
But how did we get here. Let's look at this.

(01:34:45):
In twenty nineteen, there was a law passed under the
Dome and dever that made under four grams possessing under
four grams of fentanyl not a felony but a misdemeanor.
They made it softer on crime. Now that with fentanyl

(01:35:06):
with four grams that they made a misdemeanor. In twenty nineteen,
four grams ventanyl can kill two thousand people. That is
not a policy that works. And if you have compassion
for those who are addicted, then you need to make
possessing any amount of fentanyl a crime. And if you're
an addict, then you have mandatory treatment, but if you're

(01:35:26):
distributing it, it should be a felony. That's what the
prop eighty five Citizen Lead Initiative will do, and I
encourage you to vote for this ball Then in twenty
twenty two, by the way, they passed HB twenty two
that under four grams of fentanyl is now a felony. However,

(01:35:48):
what they put in there is if you know it
has ventyl in it's a felony. Why is that a problem.
It's really hard to prove whether someone knows it has
fentanyl in it, because they look like all other kind
of pills. The legislature then voted against a measure in
twenty twenty five that would have removed that little loophole,

(01:36:10):
and this legislature voted against it. Here's the bottom line.
Eight years one party rule in Colorado. Are we heading
in the right direction or the wrong direction? We'll tell
you just statistically, we're heading in the wrong direction. By
every single marker. Votes matter. But what I do love
about Colorado is that we have the ability to have

(01:36:32):
citizen led ballot initiatives. I just talked about one that
we have to vote for, and that is Prop eighty five.
Vote for Prop eighty five. It will make even possessing
one gram of fentanyl a felony. If you are an addict,
it will be mandatory treatment, and if you're distributing it,
it is a felony crime. That is common sense, common sense.

(01:36:55):
There are other ones we had earlier in the show,
Jena talking about a ballot initiative that will protect women
and girls' sports. By the way, that's hugely popular, Democrat, Republican,
popular across the board because honestly, we as Americans understand
whether something is just playing fair or not. We had
a great conversation with about that with Jensa. But you know,

(01:37:18):
right now, Megan Rapino was in the news or she
was on the view I guess, and then it was
on the news or she's talking about, Oh, that will
lead to, you know, basically a violation of the privacy
of women because they'll have to, you know, examine a
woman's anatomedia, see she's a woman. That is one of
the most ironic arguments that there could possibly be, because,

(01:37:38):
first of all, how you determine that is simply by
a chromosome test. But what is happening that is invading
girls and women's privacy, Girls and women being told that
they have to change next to anatomical males in their
locker rooms. Come on, people, it's just common sense. Then
we had Aaron Leon talking about the valid initiative that

(01:38:02):
would stop permanent surgeries transitioning children in the name of
gender fluidity. Okay, we're talking about children who cannot even
decide to get a piercing or a tattoo under the
age of eighteen without parental cassette. But somehow they're supposed

(01:38:23):
to be able to make these decisions. These are common sense.
I am grateful that in Colorado we have the ability
to circumvent a legislature that time after time after time
is showing they are not passing bills or legislation that
actually solve the problem. Now, I believe many of these

(01:38:43):
come from a place of compassion. Maybe they are focused
simply on the person that is addicted to drugs, so
they think, oh, we need to make the penalties less
for having it. That is not helping them because the
next hit they take may have ventanyl in it and
maybe their life because that's a poison. Maybe they believe
they're being compassionate towards children who are experiencing gender dysphoria,

(01:39:07):
But the reality is we shared statistics earlier about how
children usually when they are left to sort it out themselves,
by the time they become teenagers at the experienced gender
dysphoria as a child, eighty five percent to ninety percent
of them outgrow it. But they can't outgrow the long

(01:39:28):
lasting things that come from transitioning young, including studies that
show twelve times more likely to commit suicide. Common sense.
You know, the biggest thing that we all need today
is common sense, discernment, and courage. I love that today's
show had a lot of conversation about courage. When I

(01:39:48):
was talking to Jen Say about the two young girls,
one of them Anna Lee, who was sitting at the
WNBN game in her xxxy shirt and she was holding
us that just basically was thanking Sophie Cunningham for standing
up for girls. She was courageous and courageous. Courage is contagious.

(01:40:09):
If we are the ones to speak up the next thing,
you know, there's a movement, whether it's Nicky SIDEVI speaking
about her daughter Hannah, or Rebecca Keasling who I interviewed,
who basically took Congress to task because both of her
sons died at Ventanyl and she said, this is a war.
Act like it do something. Voices of courage are the

(01:40:30):
ones that change things. That's why the quote I want
to leave you with is the one from Martin Luther
King Junior, who said life begins to end the moment
we were silent on the things that matter. I appreciate
you being a part of the conversation. I appreciate these
conversations about the things that matter. As we go into
this weekend, let's encourage one another, put courage into one another.

(01:40:51):
That's what the word encouraged means. And let's be Let's
let this be the weekend that we stand up, we
speak about things that matter, and we remember those like
Hannah who've been I'm grateful we can do that together,
because together we can turn this all around. We'll have
a wonderful weekend. It's been a joy to be here
in the seat with you today. God bless you. I'm
Deva Flora sitting in for Mandy Connell.