12-30-25 FULL SHOW - Deborah Flora Fills In For Mandy

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Mandy Connell Show is sponsored by Belle and Pollock
Accident and injury Lawyers.

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

Speaker 1 (00:13):
Ninety one.

Speaker 3 (00:15):
God boy, you want to study the nicety us through
three Andy Connell.

Speaker 2 (00:25):
Sad base.

Speaker 4 (00:27):
Welcome to the Mandy Connall Show.

Speaker 5 (00:29):
This is Deborah Flora sitting in for my good friend Mandy.
Hope that you have had a wonderful holiday week. Hope
that you're getting ready to celebrate the new year. Boy,
there is so much to talk about. We're going to
just push into the new year here talking about the
stories the year in review, and in many ways, I
call it the Year of review. If I think of

(00:50):
one word that sums up twenty twenty five, it really
has been everything has been reviewed when it comes to
things in our country.

Speaker 4 (00:59):
Let me just a couple examples this year.

Speaker 5 (01:02):
Obviously we're gonna kick it off talking about the Trump
re entering into the White House.

Speaker 4 (01:09):
But what happened after that?

Speaker 5 (01:11):
A complete review of government spending with those reviewing medical
status quo through Rfkaid Junior and the Department of Health,
reviewing immigration rules and status.

Speaker 4 (01:21):
Lots of review for the Year in Review.

Speaker 5 (01:24):
Also want to be hearing from you text in at
five six six nine zero.

Speaker 4 (01:29):
Want to hear what your New Year's resolution is this time?
Do you do them?

Speaker 5 (01:34):
Many people do, many people don't. Some are successful, some aren't.
We're going to talk about that as well. We're going
to get into some steps and some tips to keep
your New Year's resolutions. I don't know about you, but
in our family, it's kind of like we start with
Thanksgiving and we eat, then we have our daughter's birthday,
my husband's birthday, Jesus' birthday, New Year's It's just like

(01:55):
this one long celebration time with lots of food. So
you can kind of guess what one of my news
resolutions is going to be. But we're going to get
in do that, but we also want to review another
question I have for you five six six nine zero.

Speaker 4 (02:09):
What is your news resolution? Are you making any?

Speaker 5 (02:12):
And what do you think was the top story of
twenty twenty five? Well, I'm going to just jump in
and start giving you some of mine. So, as we said,
this year started off twenty twenty five, Trump being the
first president to serve non consecutive terms since Grower Cleveland
in eighteen ninety three.

Speaker 4 (02:34):
So a rare occurrence. As we know, and.

Speaker 5 (02:37):
I don't know about you, but I think back as
we were moving into inauguration January twentieth, and the look
on Donald Trump's face during the inauguration pretty much just
broadcast everybody this was going to be very different.

Speaker 4 (02:53):
He looked like a.

Speaker 5 (02:53):
Man who had was there solely for business, not really
warm and friendly, eyeing down people. As you remember, it
was in the rotunda because of security concerns to assassination
attempts the year before, and that is exactly how it started.
Taking us back to the beginning of this year. Well,
immediately after being inaugurated, many of you may remember that

(03:17):
he went on stage a Capital Winn Arena in Washington, DC.
Thousands of people were there cheering, and he immediately signed
numerous executive orders revoking seventy eight executive orders of the
Biden administration. Many of them, as you might know, had
to do with really kind of eradicating some of the

(03:37):
woke policies DEI initiatives, tackling the Green New Deal, things
that have been passed over and over again. And the
other ones he did I think are very interesting. Many
of you may know that I ran for Congress I
only say that because one of the things that I
was talking about when I was running for Congress the

(03:58):
last time in twenty four a lot of I was
saying is is you know, when the Republicans had all
three branches of government during the first Trump administration, it
was an opportunity to do some serious, serious work. And
that's one of the reasons why I put my hat
in the ring. Now I'm very happy that it's turned
out in a different way and a lot of other

(04:19):
ways that we can all work to stand and fight
for our republic. But what happened this time was that
President Trump did not waste a moment taking major action. Now,
a lot of it, I know, from any of you
who are listening, has probably been somewhat shell shocking, to
say the least.

Speaker 4 (04:37):
Really things being.

Speaker 5 (04:37):
Reviewed and questions that haven't been in decades and decades
and decades of our country's history. But let's just set
the stage for some of the changes that have happened
this year if you think about it, since FDR became president,
during you know, obviously major crises, including the Depression, he

(04:58):
grew the size of Governe exponentially. Now, whether you think
that was good or bad or otherwise. Some people are
looking back realizing the depression might have actually ended much
sooner if there wasn't so much government overreach, if people
were allowed to take care of it some of it themselves,
in the natural process of our economy. But it happened nonetheless,

(05:20):
and FDR was the only one to sign more executive
orders than any other president in his first or second third,
however many terms he was.

Speaker 4 (05:29):
But he'd signed so many.

Speaker 5 (05:32):
Since that point, our government has done nothing but grow
and grow and expand and grow to the point where
we have a deficit that is unsustainable and personally think
immoral handing that on to our children.

Speaker 4 (05:47):
That is absolutely inexcusable. So it is in that.

Speaker 5 (05:49):
Vein that many of these executive orders were put in place.
These are some of the ones that were taking on
the first day of the Trump administration.

Speaker 4 (05:58):
We're doing this little review.

Speaker 5 (06:00):
Of twenty twenty five, what I call the Year of Review,
and is the year in review of the Year of Review.
I know, hard to say, not catching up. I've been
working on it, but there you go. Some of the
seventy eight executive orders that President trun signed the very
Davis inauguration was restoring freedom of speech and ending federal censorship. These,

(06:23):
by the way, fall UNDERWD calls stop the overreach of government.
If you recall, the Biden administration was coordinating with social
media organizations and platforms and starting the Ministry of Disinformation.
If that sounds a little bit like out of George
Orwell's nineteen eighty four, I guess what it.

Speaker 4 (06:43):
Kind of was.

Speaker 5 (06:44):
And so Donald Trump said about changing that. Another area
of government overreach that he pushed back on was an
executive order to stop the weaponization of government. Now, some
of you may know that I've been very involved in
prenteral rights for quite a while, school choice, which I
believe leads to greater situations for teachers, for students, flourishing, etc. Well,

(07:07):
I thought this was important because during twenty twenty, when
we started working to flip our school board in Douglas County, yes,
it did flip back the other way. This last election,
I was one of those people probably being called a
domestic terrorist by an overreach of the federal government.

Speaker 4 (07:22):
So I think that is.

Speaker 5 (07:23):
A very good executive order. He also signed a regulatory freeze.

Speaker 4 (07:29):
We've got some.

Speaker 5 (07:29):
Statistics, by the way, how Colorado, let's just talk about
you know, there's regulation coming from the federal government, but
there's also regulation coming from the state government. Colorado is
number six and regulations on businesses, and the Colliery Chamber
of Commerce has said that's one of the reasons why
we have dropped from fifth in economic growth all the

(07:50):
way down to forty. First, we want to look at
some of the causes and effects here. I do believe
freezing regulation is a good thing, and looking at it now,
there's places for regulation.

Speaker 4 (08:01):
I grew up here in Colorado.

Speaker 5 (08:02):
Remember the brown cloud That was not fun and we
had kind of a mirror of it a few dacas ago.
It's like, oh well, I pointed out to our kids.
I'm like, that's what it used to look like, but
far worse. So yeah, some regulation is good, but the
massive amounts of regulation has been hindering businesses for far
too long. Doing the year and reviews, starting off with

(08:23):
all the executive executive orders that Trump did his first
day in office, reducing government bureaucracy by the way, A
really unpopular one have been to make sense return to
in person work. He actually mandated that federal employees return
to their offices having met to DC numerous times this

(08:44):
past year and obviously before as well. It was interesting
to go through and have people point out which buildings
are nearly empty in our nation's capital. Restoring American sovereignty.
I think those are some of the other important ones
that came through an executive order withdrawing from the World
Health Organization that really has more to do with American
sovereignty than anything. When you look at some of the

(09:04):
people who are pushing some of those policies and telling
us what to do with our policies.

Speaker 4 (09:09):
I was kind of for that one.

Speaker 5 (09:11):
Another one declaring a national emergency at the southern border.

Speaker 4 (09:14):
Let's just talk about that for a moment.

Speaker 5 (09:16):
During the Biden administration, well over ten million people poured
over our border. That's according to the Border Patrol, the
CBP ten million people at a minimum. When I was
down there in twenty twenty three, standing in the place
where President Biden had stood and said, there's no problem here,

(09:38):
because what had happened is they had cleared out all
the tents that were an entire city on the Juarez,
Mexico side of El Paso of that border. Saying there
was no problem, there was nothing behind him was kind
of a Putempkin Village moment. Well ten million people were
starting to see some of the results of that. We're
going to talk later about global Intifada and different things.

(09:59):
These are some the big stories from twenty twenty five.

Speaker 4 (10:04):
What's happened since.

Speaker 5 (10:06):
That executive order was passed, Well, the US Customs and
Border Protection now has total control of the border on
our side. That doesn't mean there aren't occasional crossing, but
it means that it is at the point now where
they can actually do their job, they can stop it.
They're not just processing people constantly as much what the
border patrol was doing before. The daily border encounters are

(10:28):
down by ninety three percent, got a ways, which are
a huge problem where a huge problem are down by
ninety five percent, and immigrant crossings, migrant crossings across the
border are down ninety nine point ninety nine percent. Those
are some huge changes, huge changes. So yes, I know

(10:48):
many people in our country, many of our friends that
we talk to you are a little overwhelmed by the
breakneck pace of these changes. But honestly, our country has
needed them for a long time. Like I said, building
ever since FDR, growing the size of government, the deficit
being at an unsustainable pace, so good better Otherwise, in

(11:12):
people's viewpoints, some of these have been very necessary. Here's
a couple of other big executive orders of the past year,
and February, President Trump signed the executive Order keeping men
out of women's sports. Now, this is an issue that
it should have been embraced by Biden. If you go
by what Democrats and Republicans both want, it's like seventy
five percent of all Americans understand that Title nine was

(11:36):
in place put in place to create a fair and
level playing ground for women who, yes, are biologically different.
Even if someone transitions in their adolescence or post puberty,
there's a huge difference in muscle mass and bone structure,

(11:59):
all of that. And studies have even shown that in utero,
if a baby has certain chromosomes, they are doused with
testosterone and the difference is already there. So when you
look at that, this was something that is longer for June. Now,
why do we still have issues going on like CHESSA
having to settle with D eleven the school district in

(12:21):
Colorado Springs because the federal mandate really only impacted federal
money and for many you know, K through twelve schools.
That is not a huge part of their budget, but
that was another big one. In March, Trump signed in
executive order to dismantle the Department of Education.

Speaker 4 (12:39):
Now, before everybody freaks.

Speaker 5 (12:40):
Out about that one, because that is one that is,
you know, without a lot of background or understanding. The
Department of Education is a fairly recent development in our
country's history. It was a backroom deal between Jimmy Carter
and the teachers' unions when he realized he was losing
the election in the late seventies. I think it was

(13:00):
nineteen seventy nine approximately. What has happened since then, the
amount of spending in public schools has skyrocketed, and our
academic standing in the world has plummeted. It has not
improved education. It's not improved teacher pay. What it has
done is bloated the size of public schools, where tons

(13:23):
of money is collected by teachers unions. As we've seen
administrators skyrocket seventy five percent increase in twenty years approximately,
when students and teachers have only increased by seventeen percent.
So the Department of Education was signed in executive order
to dismantle it. That's still in process as different areas
of it are getting really decentralized, going to the Department

(13:48):
of Health and Human Services, Department.

Speaker 4 (13:50):
Of Treasury, et cetera.

Speaker 5 (13:52):
So those are some of the major headlines, starting with
an incredible flurry last January twentieth, enough to make people's
head spin, to say the least. So let's talk about
the other parts of what I would call twenty twenty
five the year in review, and I call it the
year of review by the way. Text in five six

(14:13):
six nine zero. Debra Flora sitting in for Mandy Koma.
I want to hear from you about your New Year's resolutions.
Do you even have a New Year's resolution or have
you given up? Was your resolution to not have a resolution?
And what do you think are the top stories of
twenty twenty five? Pretty good chances that we will be
covering most of them. Here's another area of review that

(14:36):
I think has been long overdue. RFK Junior is certainly
one of the most unique political figures in quite a
long time. Don't agree with everything he does, but I
just want to share some things that I actually think.

Speaker 4 (14:46):
Are pretty darn positive.

Speaker 5 (14:49):
He has re examined the vaccine schedules for baby SNeW.
Let me just put this down. I am not an
anti vaxxer. Our children were vaccinated with all of the
basic vaccines and they were little.

Speaker 4 (15:01):
We did space it out for them.

Speaker 5 (15:02):
Because there's no reason that all of those need to
happen in the first week after birth. So I'm not
anti vaccine anyway, But just get this statistic, because these
are the things that happen in our country when we
don't take a moment to review, when we don't take
a moment to say, wait a second, when did all
of this stuff start happening and we weren't even asked

(15:24):
about it.

Speaker 4 (15:24):
Here's an example.

Speaker 5 (15:26):
There's been a massive vaccine increase for infants. Let's put
it this way. In nineteen eighty six. Nineteen eighty six,
that was let me do the quick math, I'm tired.
Forty years ago. Nineteen eighty six, there were only five
vaccines recommended for babies.

Speaker 4 (15:44):
Only five.

Speaker 5 (15:45):
In twenty twenty five, they're over thirty. That is a
five hundred percent increase in vaccines for children.

Speaker 4 (15:56):
And you know what, nobody stopped to ask why.

Speaker 5 (16:00):
A great example is the hepatitis vaccine.

Speaker 4 (16:02):
Heptiz B vaccine.

Speaker 5 (16:05):
The CDC under RK Junior's leadership has just questioned that
and has made it no longer recommendation.

Speaker 2 (16:13):
Why is that.

Speaker 5 (16:14):
Important because you get hepatitis B if a baby does,
if their mother has it, or usually if someone is
an intervenous drug user. So why does every single baby
get that vaccine? Good question?

Speaker 4 (16:29):
Time to review.

Speaker 5 (16:31):
And by the way, even if you don't agree with
some of these outcomes, the minute we try to make
it say that we can't. We don't have the right
to actually ask these questions. That's when we need to
ask these questions. That is an important one. Colorado, by
the way, is rejecting the CDC recommendation to drop the
hepatitis B vaccine for children. That's that we're gonna have

(16:54):
to deal with here. But here's another one. By the way,
COVID nineteen vaccine no longer recommended for pregnant women or
healthy children. Way back in twenty twenty, the current CDC director,
Robert Redfield, who was removed probably because he was saying
things like children are more at risk from the regular

(17:17):
flu than they are from COVID, which is proving to
be true. He did not recommend that, but suddenly there
was a full on push even for babies. Okay, so
that's another thing that was read this year. I'm gonna
go with one more here, and that is the banning
of certain food additives.

Speaker 4 (17:33):
Here's another thing.

Speaker 5 (17:34):
That we never looked at overall of these years, and
I think it is refreshing. Whether you like Trump or
RFK Junior or not, this is something I think we
can all look at and agree on.

Speaker 4 (17:48):
So in the United States of.

Speaker 5 (17:51):
America we have over ten thousand food auditives ten thousand.

Speaker 4 (17:58):
Now, it certainly makes them.

Speaker 5 (18:00):
Pretty, lots of bright colors, it makes them probably taste better.
We know whatever they put in chips makes them something
like an addictive drug.

Speaker 4 (18:09):
So yes, those were probably some of the reasons.

Speaker 5 (18:12):
But how many additives are there in Europe three hundred
and thirty eight, over ten thousand in the United States
of America, and ninety nine percent of new food additives
are not approved by the FDA before they are put
in food.

Speaker 4 (18:27):
They're just put in there.

Speaker 5 (18:29):
And honestly, I think a lot of it has to
do with huge food lobbies.

Speaker 4 (18:34):
I do and some of us probably well.

Speaker 5 (18:35):
Meeting GMO foods genetically modified organisms. That was really pitched
to the first President Bush as something that would help
increase the volume and the durability of crops. But even then,
by the way, rats in the studies wouldn't even touch it.
I am not a helpboo, not by the way, but

(18:57):
I think it's a great thing that we are actually
asking these questions. Here's another one that is pretty wild
when you think about it. The red dye number two
was finally banned from food this year. And guess what
is banned from about twenty years ago cosmetics, actually thirty
five years ago in nineteen ninety red dye number two
is banned from cosmetics. You know what, if it's not

(19:20):
safe to put on your skin, probably not really safe
to be putting in your body.

Speaker 4 (19:26):
Hey, I'm just saying.

Speaker 5 (19:27):
I'm not a scientist, but I think that was a
pretty good reexamination. Final thing, I'll say that was examined
hormone replacement therapy. It was getting a bad rap for years,
black box warnings. It was all based on synthetic hormone
replacement therapy and is actually very beneficial to women if
it is done with a more bioidentical form. I know

(19:51):
Mandy talks about that a lot on her show, So
that is just part of the review of twenty twenty five,
which I call the Year of Review.

Speaker 4 (20:00):
So we're in a break right now.

Speaker 5 (20:01):
We're going to head to the break when we come
background have a very interesting story where our money goes
and where it doesn't go. Here in Colorado, don't go anywhere.
I'm dever Flora sitting in for Mandy Connell. When I
have the privileges in the chair, I talk a lot
about the proper role of government, and there is a
role for a safety net there most definitely is One

(20:21):
example I've come to see up close and personal is
what's known as medically fragile children. And a little background
is that Colorad's being compassionate individuals passed a law that
allows for in home care families who are certified either
with the CNA or a nursing's license, to take care

(20:43):
of these children in their own homes.

Speaker 4 (20:45):
Foster and adopt them.

Speaker 5 (20:46):
That is a foster home movement as well, and I
know many great people in that field that give these
children a humane, caring life.

Speaker 4 (20:57):
So why is it when in.

Speaker 5 (20:58):
Colorado the healthcare budget has increased four hundred and sixty
percent in twenty years.

Speaker 4 (21:05):
It's the largest part of our budget but they are.

Speaker 5 (21:08):
Currently trying to cut or dismantle or stop this very,
very wonderful program that allows these children who huge portion
of the time is because of child abuse that they
have these disabilities. Why are they trying to stop these
children from being carred in this way? Well, joining me
now is one of those amazing caregivers, and that is transmitly.

(21:29):
Trant is a registered nurse. He studied to be originally
pre med but found a great calling in this with
his wife. Trent, thank you so much for joining me.
I really appreciate it.

Speaker 6 (21:42):
Yeah, no, I'm happy to do this be here.

Speaker 5 (21:45):
Absolutely absolutely. Well, Trent, let's just give a quick background
for yourself, because you and your wife got involved in
this fostering and taking care of medically fragile children because
her family has been caring for children like this for
so several years. Can you talk about why you will
adopt it a center of fostering and others and that

(22:05):
you're caring for and what you see as the benefits
for that, both for the children and for families like
your own.

Speaker 7 (22:13):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (22:13):
No, me and my wife we got married nine years
ago and I had never been around anything like this
or many special needs kids. And then being with her
parents and working with her parents' kids. You know, I
was a pre med student and I found that there
was bigger meaning doing this, and then we started having

(22:33):
a hard time with having our own kids, and we
decided to do this. And it's amazing when you pull
these kids out of the system and you start taking
care of them, the changes it has in their life
and how well it takes out, like how much their
life changes for the better. Yeah.

Speaker 5 (22:50):
Indeed, you talked about how your mother in law seven
medically fragile children that she cares for, how they are
so lived beyond their life expent. See one you said
one child was supposed to die thirteen years ago. Another
daughter was supposed to die too and is now twenty
six because of that kind of care. And you and
I've also talked about how this is actually cost saving.

(23:13):
Can you give an example from your own situation with
your foster son, with your actual adopted son.

Speaker 2 (23:20):
Yeah, this was my adopted son.

Speaker 6 (23:22):
And yeah, no, because going into these facilities or having
to go to the hospital, these companies that get to
charge the max amount to Medicaid and whatnot. But a
year and a half ago our son contracted viral meningitis
and his brain swelled. But because I was a nurse
and I was able to take care of him at

(23:44):
home up until we needed to go to the hospital.
And then once we were at the hospital, he ended
up spending a week in the hospital before coming home.
And thank goodness, they saved our son's life, and like,
he got the care that he needed. But if I
wasn't a nurse and into that situation, and he would
have ended up spending four weeks in the hospital. And

(24:06):
just for that one week was around two hundred three
hundred thousand dollars, and that you know, you multiply that
by four and you're you're looking at eight nine hundred
thousand dollars just in life.

Speaker 5 (24:18):
Yeah, and it's interesting because Colrade has a three hundred
and fifty million deficit for Medicaid and yet they're trying
to dismantle this program that is saving taxpayer dollars. It
is more humane. You talked about why while you don't
fault the previous family that one of your sons was at,
because it's a different state with different rules. They were
basically almost kept in kind of like a cage sort

(24:40):
of facility. And now you're able to care for him
in your home. Talk about that fulfillment and about the
children that you care for, because you really said something
poignant when we were talking about this. These are children who,
for the most part, been handed a really raw deal
through no fault of their own.

Speaker 6 (25:01):
Yeah, no, they really have. Like our adopted son and
our foster son, ninety percent of their disabilities are due
to abuse and what people have done to them. And
you know, when I really wanted to be a doctor,
and you know.

Speaker 8 (25:16):
The idea, I loved it, But as I was taking
care of these kids, you start to develop a love
for being able to take care of them and do
for them what they can't do for themselves.

Speaker 6 (25:27):
Yes, and it's not easy, it's hard, it's twenty four
hours a day and that, but there is a sense
of fulfillment and purpose and love because they just love.

Speaker 9 (25:38):
You, and like, yeah, they have theirside.

Speaker 6 (25:41):
Upset moments and they get mad and whatnot, but they
just love you unditionally. And so it gives us a good,
strong sense of purpose and fulfillment when we get to
do this. And that's what I love about Colorado is
because we came together as a community and we decided Hey,
we're going to take care of these kids. They got
Delta crap hand and let's take care of them. Yeah,

(26:04):
I feel like that was just everybody.

Speaker 5 (26:06):
It was. And now though under the police administration, he
is actually guiding what is basically the Health Department. It
has a longer name, but it's basically the Health Department
of Colorado. They've tried to circumvent this law that Colorado's supported.
Now they can't do that, and they are now just
making it incredibly difficult for families like yourself.

Speaker 4 (26:28):
Can you just share a little bit of that.

Speaker 6 (26:31):
Yeah, So basically every year we have to apply for
the next year of benefits to make sure these kids
are taken care of because it is expensive, and they
see like five to six specialists generally per kid. But
so basically what they're doing is they're denying us everything,
and then we have to appeal and go to an

(26:52):
appeals court and go before a judge and argue out
why our child deserves that, even though they've we've shown
years of why this child needs them deserves that, and
they tried justifying it by changing the interpretation of the law,
by not changing the law, but like, okay, well we're
just not going to do this anymore, and is.

Speaker 5 (27:14):
So odd because they're saying that they would rather than
just have these children in a full time care facility,
which costs more for the taxpayer, is less loving of
an environment that what you all are doing. And I
think it's interesting you talked about why Polis and his
administration aren't really going after the facilities, and it's because
they have.

Speaker 4 (27:33):
Teams of lawyers.

Speaker 5 (27:34):
I mean, families like yours are caring for these children
and then on top of it having to go through
all of these appeals and everything like that. What would
you want listeners to know about this situation?

Speaker 6 (27:48):
I would like them just to understand and know maybe
where we're coming from and how this affects our lives, Like, yeah,
we're a small minority in the state of Colorado, but
these kids' lives matter, yes, and their care and their
care matters. And if they take away our ability to
make sure they're taking care of because this causes staffing chorges.
If we cut hours, then we lose nurses, and then

(28:11):
those nurses have to go somewhat somewhere else, and you know,
we're we're losing jobs, we're taking away care and really
just everyone's losing.

Speaker 5 (28:21):
Yeah, well, I really appreciate. This is just the beginning
of talking about this, and later on the show, we're
going to talk about Cholera's budget and where all the
money is going.

Speaker 4 (28:28):
But like I said, the largest portion is healthcare.

Speaker 5 (28:32):
And here's a real need of a safety net and
a better circumstance for these special needs children that are
medically fragile, and it's something that needs to be brought
to people's attention. So thank you so much for joining me,
Trent and bringing it to attention. We'll make sure to
get this out a lot of other places as well. Yep,
thank you and happy you you got.

Speaker 9 (28:53):
Happy New Year to you you too, Happy New.

Speaker 4 (28:56):
Year's thank you.

Speaker 5 (28:57):
Thank you.

Speaker 4 (28:57):
Well that was my guest.

Speaker 5 (28:58):
Trent Smithley is a one of the foster families that
care for medically fragile children.

Speaker 4 (29:05):
And why is this important? Because it's time that.

Speaker 5 (29:08):
We once again talking about the year of review. I
hope twenty twenty six continues.

Speaker 4 (29:13):
To be a year of review.

Speaker 5 (29:14):
How is it that so much of our taxpayer dollars
right here in Colorado is going for all kinds of benefits,
and you know, all of those kind of programs for
illegal immigrants. How come we are paying for all sorts
of other things we have. We're being forced to pay
for things like abortion up until the moment of birth.

(29:34):
But we cannot say that taking care of children like
this is something we all agreed on in law, and
it is being challenged. You know, We've got to look
at these things, particularly as we are entering into a
gubernatorial race. Police will be termed out, and these are
the kind of things when we look at the budget

(29:55):
that is your and my money and we get to
have a say and where is spent. So just part
of our year review, don't go anywhere, We come back,
run and continue. I also want to hear from you
five six six nine zero or share some listener comments.

Speaker 4 (30:08):
Do you have a new Year's resolution?

Speaker 5 (30:10):
If not, why, If so, what is it and what
do you think is the top story of twenty twenty five.

Speaker 4 (30:15):
Don't go anywhere.

Speaker 5 (30:16):
I'm debraah Flora sitting in for Mandy Connell as we
prepare to bring in the new year twenty twenty six.
We're talking about the year in review.

Speaker 4 (30:27):
Which really is a year of review.

Speaker 5 (30:30):
I've been asking the question of listeners five six six
nine zero. Please text in a couple questions. Number one,
do you have a New Year's resolution? If not, was
your resolution to give up resolutions? And if so, what
is it? I've also been asking what do you think
are the top stories of twenty and twenty five. We
have so much to review because this has been a year. Wow,

(30:54):
so much has happened, some good, some bad, some just
downright ugly. But there's a lot of good too, and
I do want to talk about that. So one listener shared, Deborah,
I hate the idea of New Year's resolutions. A lot
of people feel that way, but went on to say,
and this was very kind. Well, I am thankful for
is that Mandy found you to step in for her. Well,
I am happy to be here and sitting in for

(31:16):
my good friend Mandy. Thank you for that kind comment.
Another person said that the top story is Obama's fundamental
transformation to communism. I think that's an interesting comment. I mean,
obviously this past year has felt like instead a revoking
of it and a pushing back on it. We were

(31:37):
talking about this just lightning speed of changes happening in DC,
but why it's actually needed and by the way, whether
you are a Democrat or Republican. Whether you like Trump
or don't like Trump, I hope that we can all
come to agreement that when we have a situation where
our debt is unsustainable and immoral, government has done nothing

(32:01):
but continue to grow. Ever since FDR, he was present
with the most executive orders, he really kept growing the
size of government, understanding that it was during a period
of great turmoil, economic just suffering to say the least.
But by the way, even FDR said that welfare as

(32:25):
he called it, the relief that was being handed out,
he warned, he said FDR himself, that it should not
become generational because that would lead to a wearing down
of the work ethic and the dignity of Americans. He
even warned that should be for a short period in time.

(32:46):
When we look at that. When I think of big
stories of the year, obviously one of him has been
more recent, and that has been exposing the incredible fraud
of welfare, particularly in Minnesota. That's a huge, huge one.
And you know, just going back by the way, I
just I want to say this because the story we

(33:07):
had earlier talking to Trent, there is a place for
government support, There is a place for a safety net
for a period of time, or for children who are
medically fragile for their entire lifetime. We are called as
a moral and a civil people to care for those
in need in this way. That's why I had to

(33:28):
take huge exception to Paul Is trying to cut back
the budget in that particular area while expanding it with
all of these welfare benefits for people that are here
illegally or otherwise. There is a place for that. But
even Sojourner Truth, I don't know if you know who
she is, but one of my favorite characters, not characters,

(33:50):
women in history. I don't know if she was a
character or not, but she was a woman in history,
freed slave. She not only helped with the emancipation movement,
then helped with the movement for women's suffrage after the
Civil War. But when she went to Washington, DC and
she saw the beginning of.

Speaker 4 (34:10):
The welfare state, she said it was.

Speaker 5 (34:14):
It was like instituting slavery all over again for the
black people being basically enslaved independent on the government. Well,
that was completely exposed by the way in Minnesota. I
called this story from twenty twenty five the Mess in Minnestoa.
In Minnesota. The huge fraud that was going on. It

(34:35):
wasn't just by the way, or isn't still going on.
Isn't just with the immigration situation. We'll talk about that
in a moment, But there is huge fraud across the
board that they're uncovering in Minnesota. But the one that
most of us know about is the scam that has
been going on using what was supposed to be a

(34:56):
food program for children in need and instead billions of
dollars getting siphoned offt and wasted, most of it going
to a terrorist group in Somalia. That has also led
to the review of something else, a review on something
called the temporary protected status now comes to light here

(35:19):
because of the Somali community. Well when you think about it,
what is in that term temporary protected status? But it
has been in place for twenty four years. Another area
we need to review because by the way, that was
supposed to be because it was unsafe to go back
and forth between Somalian here. That's not the case now,
and even ilhan Omar herself goes back and forth all

(35:40):
the time, particularly to talk in Somalia about how she's
there to fight for the Somalian government not four hours. Okay,
continue with the Year in Review five six, six nine zero.
Please do continue to text in. We're going to continue
this year in Review, the Year of Review twenty two
twenty five.

Speaker 4 (36:00):
Don't go anywhere.

Speaker 5 (36:01):
I'm Debborah Flora sitting in for Mandy Connell.

Speaker 1 (36:05):
The Mandy Connall Show is sponsored by Bill and Pollock
Accident and Injury Lawyers.

Speaker 2 (36:10):
No, it's Mandy Connell and ton on Ka.

Speaker 3 (36:18):
Ninetem saw God Wait stady a nicety us.

Speaker 2 (36:25):
Pray, Andy Donald Keithy you sad babe.

Speaker 5 (36:32):
Welcome back to the Mandy Connell Show. This is Deborah
Flora city in for Mandy Connell. Hope that you're having
a great holiday weekend. You're getting ready to celebrate the
new year. We're doing that year in review, and I'm
calling this the Year of Review because it seems like
everything was questioned this year and reviewed, whether it was
health policy or whether it was the.

Speaker 4 (36:53):
Size of government. So much coming from DC.

Speaker 5 (36:56):
Obviously, we're gonna do a little Colorado review here because
right now, a recent polls showed that a majority of
Colorado voters say Colorado is heading in the wrong direction.
Here's a couple of markers that I'm going to give
to you, which is Colorado is forty eighth out of
fifty states, forty eight out of fifty states, and housing affordability,

(37:19):
and we've gone from fifth in economic.

Speaker 4 (37:21):
Growth to forty first.

Speaker 5 (37:23):
Growing up here, it was always a place where there
was prosperity, growth, all of that.

Speaker 4 (37:27):
Well, it's heading in the wrong direction. As we know.

Speaker 5 (37:30):
The November election this passed off your election. Affordability was
really the number one issue. So I think it's time
we take a look of where our Colorado tax dollars
are going. And joining me to do this year in
review of the Colorado economy and also are going to
take a quick look at crime as well. Is Kelly
kaw Filled with the Common Sense Institute. Kelly, thank you

(37:52):
for joining me. I appreciate it, of.

Speaker 7 (37:54):
Course, thanks so much for the invitation.

Speaker 5 (37:56):
You got it well. I love Common Sense Institute and
the studies you do. Could just really look at the
issues that matter most of people, the economy, crime, etc.

Speaker 4 (38:06):
Let's start with the review.

Speaker 5 (38:08):
You all did both of twenty twenty five and also
this incoming budget request from Jared Polis and one of
the things that was noted in your reviews that spending
and colors rising faster than growth.

Speaker 4 (38:21):
Can you unpact that a little bit for us?

Speaker 7 (38:25):
For sure? I Mean the bottom line in our budget
analysis was, while you're seeing more and more Colorado households
are needing to make cuts and better figure out their
household budget, while the Colorado budget just continues to grow,
and that's a real disconnect. You know, we looked at
this is really a twenty year analysis, so this is

(38:47):
not a short analysis. We really wanted to know. It's
from a twenty year trends of the Colorado budget, and
it's the opposite of the Colorado household. We're making cuts
and the Colorado budget keeps growing. Specifically, that percentage increase
over twenty years shows the Colorado budget has grown over
thirty percent. We're a thirty one percent increase over twenty years.

(39:11):
We wanted to bring that down to what's the What
that mean to me? You know, what's right? What's the
per person you know cost? So what that means is
twenty years ago, the Colorado government spent about fifty five
hundred dollars per person, and now we're up to seventy
three hundred. So the coverment is growing while we're trying
to cut back at home.

Speaker 5 (39:31):
Yeah, that's that's a good point, because that certainly has
been Affordability is one of the watch words really of this,
you know, of this last election and what people are
feeling right now. If there's there's some positive markers nationally
which I'll share later, but here in Colorado we are
one of the least affordable states, particularly when it comes
to housing. One of the things that I thought was

(39:53):
interesting in your review with the Common Sense Institute, Kelly,
is that healthcare.

Speaker 4 (39:59):
Now dom innates the budget.

Speaker 5 (40:01):
Let's talk about that increase, because it's quite extraordinary.

Speaker 9 (40:07):
Absolutely right.

Speaker 7 (40:08):
We found when you looked at every single state agency
in the Colorado State government, our Healthcare Agency also known
as HIPPOB health Care Policy and Finance, that has increased
by four hundred and sixty percent over the last twenty years.
Our state used to dedicate three billion dollars of our

(40:31):
general fund to healthcare, and now we're up to eighteen
billion dollars. And that crowds out many other important resources
and services of the state. K twelve, higher education, transportation, correction.
So healthcare is the headline. It's the largest part of
the budget, and again, crowding out things that matter to

(40:52):
other people.

Speaker 4 (40:52):
Yeah, I know.

Speaker 5 (40:53):
It's interesting because a big promise obviously with Obamacare was
it was going to make it affordable the Affordable Care Act,
and health care costs have expanded and just rose, you know,
really astronomically, not just here in this state, but around
the country, and that's something we really have to look at.
But you talked about how it now it's gone up

(41:13):
nearly four hundred and sixty percent in twenty years for
health care, but education, which is frequently touted by the governor,
that's actually gone down in spending.

Speaker 4 (41:23):
Can you talk about that?

Speaker 7 (41:26):
Oh sure, Yeah, So compared to healthcare, everything feels like
a much smaller sliver of the pie. So I would say,
you know, K twelve is still increasing, but the increase
is just so much smaller when we look year every year.
You know, K twelve. You know, I'm the you know,

(41:48):
daughter of two public school teachers. K twelve matters, you know,
and K twelve increased by Again, we've got twenty year
period of K twelve increased by one hundred percent. Well,
health care increase by four hundred and sixty percent. And
we also just for any of your viewers who are interested.
Common Sense Institute, I just launch a Colorado education.

Speaker 9 (42:12):
Dashboard where you can look.

Speaker 7 (42:14):
More closely for your particular school districts. If you live
in Denver, you're probably really interested in that. Douglas County,
we looked at every single school district to do a
deep dive on what have been the spending trends, the
classroom size trends, and funding trends for and proficiency. That's

(42:35):
the thing that really matters. How are our students doing?
So anyways, I just wanted to make sure your viewers
knew about that resource too.

Speaker 5 (42:41):
Yeah, that's very good, and it really is time that
we review what we're getting for our dollars. Because government
doesn't have money. It just spends the money that we
pay in taxes. And we need to review that because
some of the some of the markers academically in Colorado,
I think it's approximately below for twenty percent of our
students are proficient and reading below thirty percent of proficient

(43:04):
in math, even as it's increasing but not increasing as much,
even as healthcare is.

Speaker 4 (43:10):
So I think that is something that we do need
to review.

Speaker 5 (43:13):
Let's switch gears to another report that you guys came
out with I thought was very interesting. So colrad has
gone from one of the safest states to one of
the most violent. I mean, in fact, there was a
recent study that said we were number one amongst the
twenty one the twenty most populous states in violent crime.
And that's not some we want to be number one

(43:34):
in that means we're above New York and New York
City where we have more violent crime than Illinois was Chicago,
and you all had a very interesting study. It shows
we're going to hear a lot of brags about this
next year during the campaigns that the recidivism rate is down,
meaning how often you know prisoners return to prison once
they're released. That is down, which is good if there's

(43:55):
actually reform and decreasing crime, but crime has skyrocketed at
the same time. Can you tell us little bit about
what Common Sense Institute found on that front.

Speaker 7 (44:05):
The top line finding for us is Colorado is not
the state it used to be ten or fifteen years ago.
Colorado back in twenty eleven was middle of the pack. Again,
not where you want to be, but in a much
better spot. We ranked Colorado as twenty fourth back in
twenty eleven in terms of drug overdose police for capita

(44:25):
crime rate. But today we are all the way down
to forty fifth in terms of public safety. We are
very far from being a top ten safest state, which
has been a priority for a lot of our state leaders.
But to your question, when we looked a little bit
more closely, I mean nothing scarier than violent crime. I'm
a mom of two small kids. Violent crime is something

(44:47):
that I would do everything possible to protect my family,
my community from. I live in Denver. We found that
Denver's violent crime rate is the highest among Colorado's largest cities,
which makes sense, so I think Aurora was second.

Speaker 9 (45:02):
And this is not something that I think.

Speaker 7 (45:05):
Gets the amount of conversation it really should, because in
addition to being scary, violent crime and property crime cost
the state significantly in economic losses. We found that in
twenty twenty two, property and violent crime cost the state
twenty seven billion dollars. That includes the tangible cost of

(45:30):
the points and the judicial system and prisons, but also
the intangible effects of crime that you can include counseling
and social service support. So there is a huge cost
we're all paying, and we're still paying a lot to
be almost near the bottom. I don't think we've really
embraced the solutions that the state needs yet to make

(45:52):
this more of a priority.

Speaker 5 (45:53):
Right well, and especially when there've been several bills that
have come out of the state legislature over the last
few years. Send a bill fifteen one, twenty four that
was in twenty fifteen, another one in twenty nineteen that
have actually lessened the penalties. They have made it so
that it is, you know, there are many things that
people are not actually sent to prison for that they
used to be easier on many fronts, which reduces a

(46:16):
recidivism rate, but it doesn't reduce the crime rate, which
is what it's really all about. You know, I've got
callers that are texting. I don't know if you can
impact this a little bit further for us, Kelly, before
we let you go, and my guest, Kelly Cawfield from
the Common Sense Institute, Deborah Floor is sitting in for
Mandy Connell. A lot of listeners are asking in that
healthcare budget that has gone at four hundred and sixty

(46:38):
percent in twenty years, what is that going towards?

Speaker 4 (46:42):
I mean, we're I'm.

Speaker 5 (46:43):
Not seeing like all of this amazing, you know, improvement
and everything. In fact, everybody keeps talking about how it's
more expensive for them. What is that getting spent on?

Speaker 2 (46:52):
You know, deb.

Speaker 7 (46:53):
We did a big study on healthcare as well, and
it's pretty amazing all of the different services that Medicaid
and medicare cover in the state of Colorado and some
of the way that expenses have really gone up. I mean,
we pass over four hundred bills over the last I

(47:16):
think it's six years that expand what is covered by.

Speaker 9 (47:20):
Medicaid, And I would really question.

Speaker 7 (47:21):
Is it critical important services? We even have Medicaid covering
equine therapy will you know, might really help some autistic
you know, students, and that's important, But should that really
be a covered you know, service that we're providing everyone.
But that's not really the biggest driver. I mean the
biggest driver, DEB is a good thing we're living longer.

(47:44):
Long term care is really expensive. But I would really
urge the legislature instead of asking or for the governor's office,
you know, when they looking at the budget this most
recent you know, twenty seven budget.

Speaker 9 (47:59):
Request, they're not cutting back. They're asking for.

Speaker 5 (48:02):
More, yeah, in.

Speaker 7 (48:03):
The general fund with healthcare, and I mean I think
some cuts are probably just going to be necessary. And
they've look at the four hundred bills they've passed that
really expand.

Speaker 9 (48:16):
Coverage and really think is that a.

Speaker 7 (48:18):
Critically needed service for the state of Colorado.

Speaker 9 (48:21):
Start there.

Speaker 4 (48:22):
Yeah, I agree, because it's amazing.

Speaker 5 (48:23):
We had a guest on earlier where and we talked
about how while the budget has grown for healthcare four
hundred and sixty percent twenty years, Colorado is a three
hundred and fifty million dollars deficit for medicaid. It's like,
where is.

Speaker 4 (48:35):
This money going? And honestly, it is time to ask.

Speaker 5 (48:38):
Our elected officials, those who are hired by us to
manage the finances and the programs of our state, to
deal with the budget the way we all have to.

Speaker 4 (48:48):
You know, you don't spend more than you bring in.

Speaker 5 (48:51):
Well, I mean we're gonna, you know, bring these to
a close, but definitely, Kelly tell us where people can
find out more of these details because there's a lot
of uh, there's a lot of information that people want
to dig into with this. Where can they find out
more about the Common Sense Institute and these studies.

Speaker 7 (49:07):
Please check out Common Sense instituteco dot org. Make it
one of your new year's resolutions. I've ben to get
smart on the most recent data and trends impacting you
and your household.

Speaker 5 (49:21):
That sounds great. Well, thank you so much, Kelly. Appreciate
the work that you guys do. Thanks for helping us
do a twenty twenty five review of Colorado. Wishing you
a happy New Year.

Speaker 7 (49:31):
Thanks so much, DEEB saying you.

Speaker 4 (49:33):
Got it, bye bye.

Speaker 5 (49:33):
Well that was my guest, Kelly Kawfield from the Common
Sense Institute.

Speaker 4 (49:38):
You know, when we're looking forward to and I.

Speaker 5 (49:40):
Don't mean looking forward like g I'm so excited. I
mean when we're looking into the next year, twenty twenty six,
it is going to be dominated here in Colorado by
state wide races. We're talking the governor, the attorney general.
I mean, it goes on and on and on. There
is a lot of races are going to be upsenate races.
But when we look at that, it's important for you

(50:01):
to understand our government has been pretty much in a
majority Democrat control for quite a while now. And when
a recent poll shows a majority of voters in Caloras
say that this state is heading in the wrong direction,
you know what, what's the definition of insanity to keep
doing the same thing over and over and over again,

(50:23):
expecting something different.

Speaker 4 (50:25):
Colorado, when you.

Speaker 5 (50:27):
Look at it, forty eighth in housing affordability. Why is that? Well,
the Colorado Chamber of Commerce has an idea because they say,
there's way too many regulations. We are number six in
the country for regulations on businesses here in this state.

Speaker 4 (50:42):
What does that mean? It drives up the cost of everything.

Speaker 5 (50:45):
Some regulations are necessary, but when there are that many regulations,
we far outpace federal and other states. It makes it
incredibly difficult to have affordable housing because you know, you
hear the stories of contractors talking about how much more
this exponential increase just to get permits, how long it takes,

(51:06):
et cetera.

Speaker 4 (51:08):
So when we look at things, we definitely.

Speaker 5 (51:10):
Need to look at the difference between what's happening because
of Colorado policy and federal policy. There are some really
bright spots when it comes to federal policy.

Speaker 4 (51:20):
When it comes to the economy, I want.

Speaker 5 (51:22):
To share some of those because many people still are
feeling the pain. But when you come into a forty
year high inflation. The inflation was under the Biden administration,
it was I believe we got up to nine point
one percent in twenty twenty two. It is now down
to two point forty percent. That's good. Now the prices

(51:45):
are still going up, they're just going up by far less.
But it takes a little while to turn that around.
Here's some positive economic news for Colorado, I mean, excuse
me for our country when it comes to economic news. Obviously,
forty year high inflation now down to two point four
percent in September, where people actually saying this in their
real lives, real experience. The cost of eggs many people

(52:09):
remember when they were six dollars more than that.

Speaker 4 (52:12):
Couldn't just be blamed on the Avian flu.

Speaker 5 (52:14):
That was part of it, but even more so it
was this breakdown of even the delivery systems of the
inflation on many many fronts well. The price of eggs
in April fell by more than a dollar for the
first time in months, now down to we bought them
the other day for two dollars and thirty eight cents
for eighteen a dozen and a half. So I don't

(52:36):
want to do the quick math, but one and a
half times at so very low now for.

Speaker 4 (52:40):
The price of eggs. Gas.

Speaker 5 (52:42):
We're seeing gas dropping tremendously here in Colorado, several pumps,
one we just used the other day under two dollars.

Speaker 4 (52:52):
That's huge, because, by the way, that's not.

Speaker 5 (52:54):
Just oh great, you know, I fill up some people don't.
We don't drive that much. We fill up our tank
maybe you know, once.

Speaker 4 (53:01):
A week or so. But for many people.

Speaker 5 (53:05):
I have the privileged serving in an organization that gives
out scholarships to underprivileged children as scholarships, which is a
phenomenal organization. There were many low income families that could
not even accept the scholarships because of the price of
gas it would take to drive their children to a
more high performing school. That's a real impact of gas. Now,

(53:27):
let's once again contrast that with state policy. By the way,
in California over five dollars per gallon. Here in Colorado,
it's lower, and not because all of our policies are great,
but because we actually have our own energy source here
and we actually process it here, and we need to
make sure that doesn't get cut down even more. GDP
in America.

Speaker 4 (53:47):
Is way up.

Speaker 5 (53:49):
Forecasters thought it was going to improve some, but not
as much as it did. From the Bureau of Economic Analysis,
the US economy grew four point three percent in real
growth GROS domestic product in the third quarter. That's huge,
the best quarter of growth in the past two years.
So there's a lot of positive markers that are happening

(54:10):
around the country. But here in Colorado we're going in
the wrong direction. I'm staying here because it's a great state.

Speaker 4 (54:18):
I love this state. I grew up here in Aurora.

Speaker 5 (54:22):
My dad was at Lowry Air Force Base. I remember
this was always the state of balance. Even when we
had a Republican governor, the chambers in the House, excuse me,
in the legislature were split, one Democrat control, one Republican controlled.
Let's just get back to balance, by the way, and
let's remember that a lot of these elections for state representatives,

(54:45):
for state senators, those are just as important because right now,
when we have one party that represents the Republican Party
represents in the high forty percent of Colorado's but in
the super or near super minority, this is what happens.
Unchecked spending, out of control policies, a four hundred and

(55:08):
sixty percent increase in healthcare. Getting a lot of texts,
by the way from listeners that will read when we
come back from this break, talking about where is that
money going? Well, one has to think when we have
a sanctuary state and we've turned this into a welfare
bonanza drawing people here, I'd like to know where all

(55:29):
that money is going. I'm sure there is a lot
of fraud, the heavy hand on business driving business down.
These are the things that are making this state unaffordable.

Speaker 4 (55:41):
And for the.

Speaker 5 (55:41):
First time, by the way, Colorado has had more people
leave than come in.

Speaker 4 (55:46):
Unless we think that's a.

Speaker 5 (55:47):
Good thing, because I don't want to see us continue
to grow at the pace that we're growing. One of
the things that makes like Douglas County, where I live, wonderful,
is because we've got a lot of open space. But
that is not going to drive down prices because the
people who are moving into our state are of higher
income levels, driving up housing prices even more.

Speaker 4 (56:08):
But why are people leaving?

Speaker 5 (56:10):
Because, as I said, when it comes to just housing,
affordability is one marker. We are forty eighth out of
fifty states, and we are the number one in violent
crime amongst the twenty most populous states, higher than Illinois, Chicago,
higher than New York and New York City. Let's talk
to our neighbors. Time to connect the dots between one

(56:33):
party rule and this state going in the wrong direction.
When we come back, I'm going to read a lot
of these texts that are coming in five six six
nine zero. Don't go anywhere, Deborah Flora doing the year
twenty twenty five in review, what I call the year
of review.

Speaker 4 (56:50):
Don't go anywhere. We'll be right back.

Speaker 5 (56:51):
Well, we've been doing a review of twenty twenty five
and we just focused a lot on Colorado. Boy, did
that light up all the text me. I want to
hear from you as well. Five six six nine zero.
We talked about as we head into a twenty twenty
six election year for the vast majority of statewide races
here in Colorado, that there's something we should keep in mind.

(57:14):
While things are improving economically nationally through.

Speaker 4 (57:18):
Federal policy growth and.

Speaker 5 (57:19):
Gdp A, you know, definitely a decrease in inflation down
to I think it's about two point four percent after
being at nine point one forty year high. That's not
necessarily happening here in Colorado. We are forty eighth out
of fifty states for affordability for homes, and we are
heading in the wrong direction on numerous factors. We've also

(57:41):
gone down in our being, our economic growth levels. We've
really plummeted on so many and we're talking about the
regulations and what that does. A Quality Chamber of Commerce
talked about how our number six, I believe it is
in the country as far as states for the most regulations.
This this just came in, by the way from a listener.

(58:02):
I own a construction company and we had the worst
year on record in twelve years. We're paying a five
to ninety percent for trades and materials. Had to loss
for the first time leaving Colorado. So sorry to hear that.
That is what I'm hearing from so many people who
are in the business of building. The number of regulations,

(58:23):
the level of burden that is put on those who
build homes.

Speaker 4 (58:28):
That is a huge problem with that.

Speaker 5 (58:30):
Another listener said Deborah, one of the biggest issues is
the legislature refusal to address the construction defect laws in Colorado.
There's no starter housing options, no condos. Why do you
think there are so many apartments being built? You know,
I don't disagree that there's a problem with the legislature,
but I would say this, I.

Speaker 4 (58:48):
Think we don't need more laws.

Speaker 5 (58:50):
I think We need them to pull back on the
heavy hand of government, freeing up people like this construction
company owner to do their work and allow free trade
to begin to happen.

Speaker 4 (59:02):
Again.

Speaker 5 (59:03):
We have such a high level regulation it makes things unaffordable.
Let's see, let's talk about some other things that are
going on here. We were talking about the fact that
health care costs in Colorado. Healthcare spending by the government,
I should say, has increased four hundred and sixty percent

(59:23):
in twenty years. Want to make sure I do want
to read this listener's comment.

Speaker 4 (59:30):
We were talking about.

Speaker 5 (59:31):
Medicaid and there is a deficit in Medicaid spending. This
listener said, Deborah, Medicaid is deeply important to me. My
son has to rebral palsy every four months. He has
to go in for thirty four thousand worth of injections
so he does not curl up into a ball.

Speaker 4 (59:46):
There needs to be stricter guidelines.

Speaker 5 (59:48):
When it comes to Medicaid, but as a blanket statement
that it needs to be overhauled, there needs to be clarity,
and I agree with that. We had a dad of
Foster data on the show in the first hour talking
about how there is spending in areas that needs to
be reviewed, honestly, for illegal immigrants, for other parts of

(01:00:11):
the community, some of the programs that are getting spent
on should be reviewed. However, there is a place there
is a government role for medicaid, and that is for
those who are truly in need, like this listener's son.
I one percent think that continues to be needed to
be taken care of. And the dad that we had

(01:00:31):
on these are foster parents of medically fragile children. Ninety
percent of this dad's children their needs come from abuse,
and under Governor Poulis, they're trying to cut back on
that well, spending money in a lot of different ways.
This really is about looking at these policies and making

(01:00:52):
sure that the money is going in the right places.
As we're beginning to see the uncovering of fraud in
Minneapolis and places, we should have full transparency. I do
recommend people go to Common Sense Institute to look at
some of their data, but we need to hold our
elected officials accountable because a lot of this is out

(01:01:14):
of control. I was also asking people what were some
of the top stories of the year. One listener texted
in and talked about and this is on my list,
So thank you so much for sharing this.

Speaker 4 (01:01:25):
The June.

Speaker 5 (01:01:28):
The June operation it was called Operation Midnight Hammer, when
US forces did a stealth attack on Iranian nuclear facilities.
Now I want to bring this up one of specifically
shifting gears here because another thing I would say about
this year twenty twenty five has been it is a
return to kind of the mantra of peace through strength.

(01:01:53):
Another example of that would be of Ronald Reagan. You know,
trust but verify, and I do believe the world is
saying for when America is stronger and when we portray
that strength. Some of the peace that we've seen here
in the United States has been a peace deal. Really,
the United States has been a part of a peace
deal between Israel Hamas that's still unfolding, but that is

(01:02:15):
something that numerous previous administrations had tried to achieve. In August,
Donald Trump helped negotiate an Armenian and Azerbaijan agreement addressing
decades of conflict hosted the Washington and Coords for Peace
and Prosperity between the Democratic Republica of Condo and Congo
and Rwanda, ceasefire between Thailand and Cambodia.

Speaker 4 (01:02:38):
These get overlooked all the time.

Speaker 5 (01:02:41):
Obviously, we know that right now the Trump administration is
working on a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia that's
really going to come up to them, and there seems
to be some resistance, not surprisingly.

Speaker 4 (01:02:52):
But getting back to this top.

Speaker 5 (01:02:53):
Story of also where we have shown strength pushing for
peace using a lot of times, by the way, what
we have in our tool belt, which is threatening terrorists.
Whether you're a fan of tariffs or not, I've got questions.
I'm not thrilled about all of them. But by the way,
what happened when President Trump said to Mexico that they

(01:03:16):
were going to increase terrace, well, suddenly the largest drug
bust in Mexican history. They started cooperating with the United
States and started keeping people on the southern side of
the border.

Speaker 4 (01:03:25):
A lot of.

Speaker 5 (01:03:25):
Things like that that have been enacted because of that.
Here's another area of pressure. Talking about Iran for many years,
all the way back to the Obama administration, talking about
how Iran cannot have nuclear weapons. But what happened under
the Biden administration lifting of the sanctions which allowed Iran,

(01:03:45):
by the way, to finance the horrific October seventh attack
on Israel as well as the Taliban situation. They're the
number one funder of terror and then and very close
to getting nuclear weapons. So why I think this was
pretty amazing is this show to return in June to

(01:04:07):
the military ability to keep things quiet the way things
have been. Can you imagine under previous administrations more recently,
if we had tried to attend D Day where it
had to be kept quiet and secret in order to succeed,
probably would have gotten leaked and they probably want to report, hey,
guess everyone, we're going to be attacking on this beach

(01:04:29):
at this time.

Speaker 4 (01:04:30):
No, we managed to keep that as secret.

Speaker 5 (01:04:31):
Well that's what happened with Operation Midnight Hammer, that was
a in Krebi's stealth attack on Iranian nuclear facilities. And
how did they do it this time? Well, first of all,
President Trump has reduced the number of people in the
know in Washington drastically, which honestly I think is fine.
I think it's helpful. And why this was a complete

(01:04:54):
surprise to Iran minimal communication for eighteen hours from the US.

Speaker 4 (01:04:59):
To the tar area.

Speaker 5 (01:05:01):
B two Spirit stealth bombers dropped two three thirty pound
bunker busters on some of the Iranian nuclear sites, and
the operation also practiced other stealth tactics such as there's
an announcement for Trump kind of a red herring, saying
that he would decide in a few weeks what he
was going to do. There was one bomber group that

(01:05:23):
traveled west from Missouri as a decoy seven other bombers
toward the target. They managed to do this and it
was a big moment for world peace. So I agree
that was one of the top top stories of twenty
twenty five. And it's starting to also come back around

(01:05:44):
again because Iran is starting to rattle.

Speaker 4 (01:05:48):
Their saber again, so to speak.

Speaker 5 (01:05:50):
But here's something else that's going on in Iran, and
I think we are seeing a huge transformation in the
Middle East. Started with Abraham accords that were really miraculous,
the Hana Khimeercle I believe that was in twenty twenty
and now continuing where there is greater peace and greater
normalization of relations that are going on between Israel and

(01:06:11):
other countries in that area. But that is occurring, and
when the sanctions have been re implemented on Iran, what's
starting to happen again. This was going on in Iran
before Obama ease the regulations and Biden took it even further.

(01:06:32):
What's happening now is Iranians themselves are starting to protest
because there's a crashing of the Iranian currency. This is
an important thing. What I see us doing here is
using the full cadre of pressures that America actually has
these sanctions being reinstated using very surgical, limited strikes. How

(01:06:56):
many of us remember that after that operation and Iran,
everybody was saying, oh my gosh, we're gonna be a
war with Iran. No, it was a single strike.

Speaker 4 (01:07:06):
And then it stopped.

Speaker 5 (01:07:07):
I think the measured piece through stink that we have
begun to see in twenty twenty five is pretty amazing.
Talking about the good stories that are going on, Well, it's.

Speaker 4 (01:07:17):
Time to head to a break. When we come back,
I'm going to read.

Speaker 5 (01:07:19):
A few more of these texts five six six nine zero.
I'm going to talk a little bit about New Year's
resolutions as well, So don't go anywhere. Deborah Flora sitting
in for Mandy Connell. Well, I got to tell you
that conversation about overspending in government really got all the
text lines going five six six nine zero we're talking

(01:07:40):
about the Year in review twenty twenty five, and I
call it the Year of review because it has been
a time when a lot of things are getting examined
in ways they have not before. We've talked, you know,
in the show about the re examination of America having
over ten thousand food additives and Europe only having three

(01:08:01):
hundred and eighty something. The fact that we banned red
dye number two in cosmetics thirty five years ago, but
we've been putting it into our body until this year
doesn't make a lot of sense. We've been talking about
how there was a five hundred percent increase in vaccines
that were required for babies in just the last forty years,

(01:08:23):
and re examining hepatitis B and COVID vaccine. Things that
are all good reexamining. But when we started talking about
particularly government spending, that really hit a nerve. And that
is understandable because at the end of the day, when
Americans are working very hard, having to really watch their dollars,
have endured forty year high inflation, which the good news

(01:08:46):
is it dropped from nine point one under Biden all
the way down to two point four here.

Speaker 8 (01:08:54):
In this.

Speaker 4 (01:08:56):
Last marker in September. That's good news.

Speaker 5 (01:08:58):
It's heading in the right direction, but still taking a while.
And when government doesn't watch spending our dollars, but we
have to. I'm also glad that it's been a rearview
year in review when it comes.

Speaker 4 (01:09:11):
To doze cuts.

Speaker 5 (01:09:12):
So let's just remember by the way, some of the
things that were exposed. Whether you liked Elon Musk or
don't like Elon Musk, this is something we should all
feel outraged about. One of the areas that was revealed.
I'm just using this as an example because one of
the listeners said that all programs need to be examined.

Speaker 4 (01:09:29):
I think they do.

Speaker 5 (01:09:30):
I think there needs to be a law that each
program goes through a full on onit, that it's completely
transparent every couple of years so we can see where
our money is getting spent. I agree with a listener
who said those who are truly in need of medicaid
that should be prioritized. She was talking about her son
with epilepsy, and we had another guest on the show, Trent,

(01:09:50):
who is a foster dad and adoptive dad of special
needs children. That's where it should go. There's a lot
of places that shouldn't be going. I want to just
share this real quickly. The us AID situation that was exposed.
That was the organization, by the way, that was supposed
to be dedicated to helping those countries that are really

(01:10:12):
in need.

Speaker 4 (01:10:12):
But guess where some of that money went.

Speaker 5 (01:10:13):
This is just an example of what we found out
this year eight point three billion from USAID, the mission
to aid struggling Third world economies.

Speaker 4 (01:10:23):
About two million of that went to.

Speaker 5 (01:10:24):
Train African circus performers. We found out eight million went
to a floating restaurant in the Caribbean, and nearly ten
million went to luxury furniture.

Speaker 4 (01:10:33):
For USAID themselves.

Speaker 5 (01:10:35):
Here's one that was find to be one of the
most comical when you hear those studies millions of dollars
of study and went to this, Well, this is millions
and dollars of your and my money that was spent
under bloated government, and it's time to turn that around.

Speaker 4 (01:10:50):
There was a five million.

Speaker 5 (01:10:51):
Dollars study you were in my tax dollars we found
out because of DOGE that was to study how fish
feel about climate change. Okay, my first question is what
is your methodology? Do you just like warm things up
a bit and see if the fish is floating upside
down the next morning.

Speaker 4 (01:11:09):
I don't mean to make light of it, but this is.

Speaker 5 (01:11:11):
The kind of stuff that happens when government is not checked,
when there's not a balance in government. Somebody what texted
you know, do you think we'll ever return to red?

Speaker 10 (01:11:24):
Well?

Speaker 5 (01:11:24):
I don't know, but right now Colorado should just return
to balanced. A super majority of one party that likes
to spend our tax dollars more than another party does
is no good for anyone. So when we've exposed these
kind of things in the US government through DOGE, there's
another one two million dollars to teach farmers in South

(01:11:46):
America how to play the violin. Don't know why that
was necessary, Or how about two million for trans surgeries
and LGBT activism in Guatemala.

Speaker 4 (01:11:57):
That is what you're and my tax dollars.

Speaker 5 (01:12:01):
We're going to time to re examine it, continue to
examination at the federal level, and make sure we can
do that here in Colorado.

Speaker 4 (01:12:08):
Well, don't go anywhere.

Speaker 5 (01:12:09):
When we come back, we'll continue and we're going to
talk a little bit about what we're looking into the
new year tours here in Colorado.

Speaker 4 (01:12:16):
I'm Deborah Flora sitting in for Mandy Connell.

Speaker 1 (01:12:21):
The Mandy Connell Show is sponsored by Belle and Pollock
Accident and Injury Lawyers.

Speaker 2 (01:12:26):
No, it's Mandy Connell, andy Ton on KLA.

Speaker 6 (01:12:34):
Ninety one.

Speaker 3 (01:12:35):
M saw God Wait say Kenn Nicey us through Free
Andy Connal, Keithy No, Sad.

Speaker 5 (01:12:45):
Bab Welcome back to the Mandy Connell Show. This is
Deborah Flora sitting in for my friend Mandy Connall.

Speaker 4 (01:12:52):
Wishing you and early happy new Year.

Speaker 5 (01:12:55):
We're doing a lot of reviewing of twenty twenty five,
talking about what's coming up in twenty six.

Speaker 4 (01:13:01):
And here to join me to.

Speaker 5 (01:13:03):
Talk about Colorado specifically on the political front in that
way is Dick Wadhams.

Speaker 4 (01:13:08):
You may know him as.

Speaker 5 (01:13:09):
A former GOP chair here in Colorado when we were
successful and brought in the budget the way it should
be part of many successful campaigns. Dick, thank you so
much for joining me today. I really appreciate it.

Speaker 10 (01:13:23):
Hey, Devya, nice to be with you absolutely.

Speaker 5 (01:13:26):
And also people of course can read all of your
great input on the gazette and hear from you right here.

Speaker 4 (01:13:32):
So let's just jump right into it.

Speaker 5 (01:13:33):
Dick, you wrote an article recently that talked about one
of the biggest stories I think relating to Colorado politically,
which is we are now almost fifty percent unaffiliated, and
most people presume that that's just because they automatically get
registered as unaffiliate when they get their driver's license, but
they're really not unaffiliated. You talked about a new poll

(01:13:55):
calling the let Colorado Vote Poll. What did it actually
show about unaffiliated voters here in Colorado?

Speaker 10 (01:14:02):
But there was a fascinating poll and it answered a
question that I've had for some time, uh, Debora, because
a lot of I've heard Republicans and Democrats say, well,
the only reason we've got all these unaffiliated voters is
they registered vote when they get a driver's license to
some other government process, and so they're not really unaffiliated,
that they they just automatically registered that way. Well, that

(01:14:25):
there's that's true, that that happens. But this poll did
a deep dive into asking these unaffiliated voters did you
did you intentionally want to be unaffiliated or independent? And
and and and and did you want to stay that way?
And there was a resounding majority eighty six percent said
that they wanted to stay that way. That they did

(01:14:49):
it intentionally because they frankly don't like either political party
right now. The Democrats are just as disliked as Republicans
are right now.

Speaker 4 (01:14:57):
Yeah, it's interesting.

Speaker 5 (01:14:58):
There was a Magelan poll I had David Clarity on
a couple of weeks ago that showed actually, by many markers,
Democrats are more upside down in Colorado, their approval reading
being you know, way below, they're disapproval rating. They're more
upside down than Republicans are. Well, why do you think
it is that? Therefore, these voters still tend to break

(01:15:19):
for Democrats when it comes to, you know, electing candidates.

Speaker 10 (01:15:24):
Well, and I think David Clarity is a great poster
and Malan does really great work. But if you add,
if you look at both Nagelan and this pole that
we're talking about unaffiliated, there's a constant theme is that
voters think Colado is on the wrong track. And if
they think Colredo is on the wrong track, they think

(01:15:44):
Democrats are on the wrong track because they run everything
as you are in Colorado right now. But this is
the this is the the the problem for an affiliated
voters of a challenge for them. They there is still
a great deal of anti Trump sentiment among un affiliated voters.
They think that Democrats are miss misgoverning the States if

(01:16:08):
they look at Republicans and they still see Republicans through
their anti Trump lens. So, but but I think there's
a there's an opportunity in twenty twenty six for strong
Republican candidates to to break from that and that that
that that's that's why, because I agree with David, I
think Democrats are in worse shape in some ways in

(01:16:30):
Colorado because and if you look at the he had
these numbers about about the governor and the two senators
big way upside down in terms of their approval disapproval.
Right but right now, Republicans are still kind of have
this hangover on them from this anti Trump attitude that
these voters have. But I think I think that this

(01:16:53):
is going to be a very different election from what
we've seen before that I think Republicans actually have a
shot at the unaffiliated voters.

Speaker 5 (01:17:01):
Yeah, and we've talked about that because you know, obviously,
if they think it's going in the wrong track, and
the Democrats have been you know, solidly in control for
a while, but not connecting the dots and still voting
for the Democrats. This is a huge opportunity for Republicans.
But let's look at some of the major races first.
I want to look at one that I find interesting
because when you see the trend of the Democrat Party

(01:17:22):
and at being upside down and being pulled more extreme.
One interesting race coming up is actually Hickenlooper. Senator Hickenlooper
has now a primary opponent, Julie Gonzalez. Now she's a
Democrat socialist. Do you think she is a chance of
knocking Hickenlooper out? I mean, are we going the way
of a Mom Donnie situation here?

Speaker 4 (01:17:44):
Obviously he's mayor.

Speaker 5 (01:17:44):
This is for a Senate race, But what do you
think is going to happen in that race?

Speaker 10 (01:17:49):
I don't know that she can win, but I think
she's going to make hicken Hooper's vife miserable. And and
it's for two reasons. Number one, Opher is really pushing
the envelope. Now, listen, I think that people in their
seventies and eighties serve admirably in Congress. But this is
a brutal truth. Hickenooper has already said he's only running

(01:18:12):
for one more term. He will turn eighty years old
if he's reelected. Wow, and he would be eighty years
old sometime in his second term. I think a lot
of Democrats, because I've heard this from Democratic friends of mine, saying,
why is he running again? If he's just kind of
at the tail end of his public career, why doesn't
he just graciously step aside for a new generation of

(01:18:33):
Democrats to run. So there's that frustration. Then, second of all,
there is a perception in the Democratic Party that hicken
Hooper has been way too friendly to Trump and frankly,
to his credit, frankly, Eckenhooper did vote for some of
the Trump's cabinet apployments, and especially Chris Wright and Energy.
And so that's frustrating the Democrats. And so I think

(01:18:58):
there's an idiot logical basis to her candidacy. And you
and I both know Democratic Socialists are in they are
That's where the excitement is. I'm a Democratic party.

Speaker 5 (01:19:08):
Yeah, she could pick.

Speaker 10 (01:19:10):
I don't think she will win, but she's gonna, she's
gonna she's going to be a factor.

Speaker 5 (01:19:14):
Well, we have, we have. It's an extreme situation right
now with the parties, for sure. So want to end
with this question because obviously the governor's race is a
huge one, as you just talked about, because of this
let cholera vote poll and what Magellan has showed and
how so many of the Democrats are upside down. It
does provide an opportunity in the gubernatorial race for Republican candidates.

Speaker 4 (01:19:35):
But what do you think is going to happen. There's
twenty four.

Speaker 5 (01:19:38):
Candidates and it's you know, they have to break away,
as you've been talking about from this anti Trump sentiment
in Colorado.

Speaker 4 (01:19:45):
What do you think is going to play out there?

Speaker 5 (01:19:47):
And does anyone really have a chance of beating either
Bennett or Wiser, depending on who's the Democrat nominee.

Speaker 10 (01:19:56):
It is still uphill, Debora. It is very uphill to
in this election for governor. But I would say this
is that, yeah, there are twenty candidates, it's going to
boil down to a three or four way primary. I
kind of separate our field with those who say that
that the election was stolen from Trump in twenty twenty
and all the conspiracy theories around that, and those two

(01:20:18):
and the same thing about pardoning Tina Peters. Those candidates,
anybody who occupies those two positions cannot win at all
in Colorado. That's just all there is to it. From
what from where I said, I only see one candidate
in that field of twenty two that has said that
that is not talking about stolen elections in Tina Peters,

(01:20:39):
and that's Barb Kirkmeyer. I don't know why they've all
found some people who there are candidates who know better
than to do this, but they fell into that trap anyway.
But I can just tell you that those are disqualifying positions.
That if you say the election was stolen due to
conspiracies and TENA partners Peter should be pardoned, you cannot

(01:21:02):
win a general lesson in Colorado. And that helps to it.

Speaker 7 (01:21:04):
Well.

Speaker 5 (01:21:05):
I do think it's time that we look at this
very logically and not just keep saying what we think
we want here. And even if we like Trump's policies,
we have to realize he was upside down in Colorado
forty one to fifty six percent, and that is that
is something that is true. And by the way, it's
time to start talking about new things going forward. We

(01:21:25):
have enough we need to deal with going forward. Instead
of harping on these you know, these issues that are
in the past.

Speaker 4 (01:21:32):
We need to be looking forward.

Speaker 5 (01:21:33):
Well, that is a great perspective as we begin to
frame for twenty twenty. Sakes always too short of time, Dick,
but I really appreciate you joining me today.

Speaker 4 (01:21:42):
Thank you, Debra, thank you, and Happy New Year.

Speaker 2 (01:21:44):
To you you too, Thank.

Speaker 5 (01:21:46):
You, Bye bye. Well, when we come back, I'm going
to read some of the texts that are coming in
five six six nine zero five six six nine zero
and want to hear from you.

Speaker 4 (01:21:55):
We're all going to talk about New Year's resolutions.

Speaker 5 (01:21:57):
We're not going to escape that conversation, and we're going
to continue the twenty twenty five year review. I'm dever Flora,
sitting in for Mandy Connell. There is so much to
cover for twenty twenty five, so I'm going to just
hit a couple of things in this current segment that
we have. When I think of twenty twenty five and
top stories. We've been covering the economy, we've been covering

(01:22:18):
the changes in Washington, the re examination of the bureaucratic
state and size of government, all of these different things.
But I definitely think we could not think of twenty
twenty five without looking at the term global intifada. And
this is not a happy go lucky thing to talk about,
to say the least. In fact, it's quite disturbing when

(01:22:39):
we're looking at a huge movement with the sole goal
predominantly of breaking down Western civilization, with a primary target
being Jewish people Israel and then the US, because that
is the pillars that they are looking at tearing down.
And when you look at that, let's just remember some
things that have happened. It's amazing to me, by the way,

(01:23:01):
when I bring this up and people like, why do
you talk about this so much? Because I do agree
with what Benjamin Nettnall who said after the October seventh
attacks were thousands were killed, hundreds were taken hostage, and
I've seen the Hamas body cam footage.

Speaker 4 (01:23:17):
Personally it was beyond barbaric.

Speaker 5 (01:23:21):
I actually suggest you watch it.

Speaker 4 (01:23:23):
You probably will lose sleep like I did.

Speaker 5 (01:23:25):
But we need to understand what is going on here,
a completely different worldview and understanding of civilization and how
people are supposed to behave towards one another.

Speaker 4 (01:23:35):
When Benjamin Netnell.

Speaker 5 (01:23:36):
Who said this is really the fight between civilization and barbarism,
that's that's it.

Speaker 4 (01:23:42):
Well, where have we seen this term?

Speaker 5 (01:23:44):
And by the way, This term global Intofada has also
been in the news because because Mom Donnie in New
York refused to condemn that term, he used to use
it some and then he finally just stopped and said
he did encourage people to stop. It's not so much
about using the term. It's about do you support this
or not? So just looking at said the headlines, and
we need to look at the good, the bad, and

(01:24:05):
the ugly, and this is the beyond the ugly. But
we've talked about how anti Semitism has skyrocketed. The Anti
Defamation League has said almost nine hundred percent increase in
the United States in ten years. Here in Colorado a
four hundred percent increase in five years. One of the
headlines that showed that clearly in Colorado was the June

(01:24:25):
first Boulder Molotov cocktail attack. A forty five year old
illegal immigrant from Egypt through molotov cocktails into a crowd
injuring numerous people and killing one woman who is eighty
two years old. The next week after that, my husband
and I went up to join this group that was
simply a part of the walk every week called Run

(01:24:47):
for their Lives to get the hostages returned.

Speaker 4 (01:24:51):
Now the good news is they were returned. That is
the good news.

Speaker 5 (01:24:55):
The many never made it back, but that horrible chapter
has ended. But that happened here in Colorado. What else?
January first, a year ago, coming up on Thursday, New
Orleans terror attack.

Speaker 4 (01:25:06):
Let's not forget that there.

Speaker 5 (01:25:08):
Was someone with an ISIS flag in his truck that
drove into a crowd at Bourbon and Canal Street in
New Orleans.

Speaker 4 (01:25:15):
I was just there for a conference not too long ago.

Speaker 5 (01:25:18):
Know that intersection, well, hitting the crowd, killing several people.
That was a part of global intovada. He had an
ISIS flag in his truck. Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, he
had a monotel cocktail thrown into his governor's mansion on
the first on the night to Passover, and while he
and his family were sleeping. The person who did that

(01:25:40):
said he did it because Shapiro is Jewish. To Israeli
embasc staffers murdered in DC as they were leaving an
event at the Capitol Jewish Museum. You know what the
irony of that was. Those young people were there, those
two young staffers for the Israeli Embassy that were about
to be engaged. They were there meeting with people of
the Muslim faith, Christian faith, other nations to talk about

(01:26:04):
humanitarian aid to Gaza. Which side were they on of
this civilization versus barbarism?

Speaker 4 (01:26:11):
I think we all know the answer to that.

Speaker 5 (01:26:13):
And it goes on to National guardsmen attacked in DC
by an Afghan national. They were attacked, They were basically ambushed.
This person came into the country under the twenty twenty
one Biden relocation program. Another attack and then going outside
the United States, the Bondai Beach massacre December fourteenth, a
father and son targeted Jewish families at Hanukkah by the

(01:26:37):
Sea festival in Sydney, killing fifteen people, including a.

Speaker 4 (01:26:40):
Ten year old girl and a Holocaust survivor.

Speaker 5 (01:26:43):
As we look back on this year, we need to
remember those moments that are going to propose the greatest
challenges for us going forward. Will we be the ones
to stand up and say we will stand for civilization
over barbarism, we will push back and not be in
fear of this kind of activity, And will we stand

(01:27:03):
together because we have to, and we have to really
acknowledge that there is a conflict going on in the
world and here even in our country between the pillars
of Western civilization, the pillars of our constitution, that every
person is created uniquely with intrinsic value and therefore should

(01:27:24):
be able to live freely without fear. That's something that
we call can all work together to redress and see go.

Speaker 4 (01:27:32):
Down in the new year.

Speaker 5 (01:27:33):
Okay, when we come back, we're going to wind up
this show talking about New Year's resolutions, just resolutions in general.
Some really good news that I want to share as well,
So don't go anywhere. Text in by the way. At
five six six nine zero, Debra Floor sitting in for
Mandy Connell, wanted to share from one texture. On our

(01:27:53):
last segment, we were talking to Dick Watdams about the
upcoming races and the shift that's happened here in Colorado
and what I think that we just really is helpful.
Let me just put it this way, if we look
at Colorado as it is, not as we think it
should be, not as we wish it was. And there's
an interesting study he was sharing right now. Colorado is

(01:28:14):
forty nine point seven percent unaffiliated, and a new study
shows the vast majority, almost eighty seven percent of the
unaffiliated voters choose to be unaffiliated. They're not just sitting
there because they were signed up by their driver's license.
So one listener said that no Republican can win Colorado
without Trump's supporters. That kind of disagreeing with something that

(01:28:37):
Dick Wants had shared, and I would just phrase it
this way. I'm a Republican, I have been my whole life.
I've been a run as a Republican. I think the
Constitution is the greatest document of governments in Man's history,
and I therefore am a constitutionalist. But when we look
at Colorado, Republicans are twenty three percent, actually under that

(01:28:58):
twenty two point seven seven percent, but basically twenty three
percent of voters, Democrats are twenty five percent, and unaffiliated
voters are forty nine percent. This is what I hope
as we go into twenty twenty five, as we look
just not just at Colorado, but the division within our
own country, if we can get back to looking at

(01:29:20):
principles and not personalities, then we can persuade our neighbor.
Why the Constitution limited government, greater freedom. Why that is
the model that I believe the Republican Party is predominantly behind.
But even if a Republican candidate won every single Republican vote,

(01:29:43):
and there's not always a great turnout that is only
twenty three percent of Colorado's when they are saying that,
they probably just don't understand that the current policies are
good coming out of this administration, but there's a great
distaste for the personality. We need to take that in
if we're ever going to achieve balance once again in Colorado.

Speaker 4 (01:30:06):
We can talk about the principles.

Speaker 5 (01:30:09):
That Donald Trump is pushing through a lot of his
initiatives that he's doing, but talk about them as principles
limiting the size of government, cutting bureaucracy, cutting waste, having
peace through strength. All of those things can be discussed
without linking it solely to an individual. Okay, that was

(01:30:29):
my unintended little soapbox there. Before we get into the
final part of the show, Well, we're talking.

Speaker 4 (01:30:34):
About the year in review.

Speaker 5 (01:30:38):
What I want to talk about is I think the
biggest story of last year, other than obviously the change
over with the new administration, was the assassination of Charlie Kirk,
and I want to talk about him. I'm going to
share some good news about what has come out of it,
and one can come out of it. As we know,
there's been a growing default to violence when it comes

(01:30:59):
to political ideological differences and.

Speaker 4 (01:31:03):
That has to stop.

Speaker 5 (01:31:04):
It has to stop. And yes, Minnesota lawmakers were targeted
and a couple of Democrats were killed, and that was terrible.
The actual motivation of the shooter is not one hundred
percent clear. He was an appointee of Tim Walls before
there was a Minneapolis Catholic school shooting. That had to
do with an issue dealing more with attacking a Christian

(01:31:27):
school and a transgender ideology. I'm not saying everyone who's
transgender of resorts to violence, obviously, but these are people
who felt that resort to violence was a way to
go about it. And then September tenth happened. And I
think the reason why that changed so much was because

(01:31:47):
Charlie Kirk, while he was out there being outspoken about
conservative principles, about his Christian faith, he was not an
elected politician, He wasn't running for office. He actually, what
you agreed with him or not on his positions, invited
those who disagreed with him to come and talk to him.
I think the majority of the time he did it
with great respect. I think he evolved and got better

(01:32:09):
and better at that through his time doing.

Speaker 4 (01:32:11):
It, but he was killed.

Speaker 5 (01:32:14):
He was assassinated by someone who ingraded Antifa messages on
their bullets. The family said he'd recently become more politically radicalized,
and he confessed to it in text to his transgender partner,
So certainly an extreme different ideology of that than Charlie Kirk.

(01:32:35):
I also think why it was one of the most
it was probably the biggest moment of twenty twenty five,
is because we saw it happen. And I've got to say,
I wish I could unsee the actual part of the
footage that showed the bullet hit and the aftermath of

(01:32:58):
what it did to Charlie Kirk, But it happened, and
I think it left us all with a moment that
we have to ask ourselves going forward.

Speaker 4 (01:33:08):
Is that enough to wake us up? Is that enough
for us to.

Speaker 5 (01:33:11):
Pull back from the fringes, and I mean on either
end of the political spectrum, the radicalized edges that no
longer even try to talk to one another who disagree.
Are we willing to be a part of the solution
or just dig down further into our own individual silos.
I think we have a huge opportunity here and where

(01:33:34):
I see that happening with people of goodwill. There's a
group called Braver Angels. It's about recreating and reinitiating civic
discussion and dialogue. And by the way, I firmly believe
that eighty percent of us in the center agree on
eighty percent of things. We just are told not to

(01:33:56):
talk to each other, we're told to vilify one another,
we're told to humanize one another. But you know where
I find hope. I find hope in the youngest generation.
And boy, probably been a while since we've said that,
to be honest, probably even about my generation.

Speaker 4 (01:34:12):
I was a Gen X.

Speaker 5 (01:34:13):
I'm kind of like the generation that had no remarkable
characteristic and we were just given an X. Well, what's
happening with Gen Z and the wake it was a
Charlie kirk assassination is pretty darn remarkable, whether you agree
with Charlie.

Speaker 4 (01:34:28):
Kirker or not.

Speaker 5 (01:34:29):
First of all, young people getting engaged is phenomenal. Before
that terrible day on September tenth, there are about nine
hundred college chapters of TPUSA.

Speaker 4 (01:34:41):
In our country. Now.

Speaker 5 (01:34:43):
Right afterwards, there were more than one hundred and twenty
thousand new chapter applications, people getting involved, people saying, you
know what, we should be able to disagree, We should
be able to talk with one another. We should understand
that a difference of opinion is not hate. It is
a of opinion, and there's far more that unites us
than divides us. What else is going on with gen Z?

(01:35:06):
This is the generation, by the way, being a mom
of two gen Z or is this is the generation
that every time they turned around, they had a new
apocalyptic decree and prediction put on them of the world
ending in two years, four year, six years, had to
keep being changed because it hasn't happened yet, or COVID shutdown,
where they're completely shut down and separated in a way
that no generation has before. And you've seen a huge

(01:35:30):
increase during that period of teenagers drinking, doing drugs to
self harm.

Speaker 4 (01:35:35):
They went through.

Speaker 5 (01:35:36):
All of that, and it is not surprising therefore that
amongst this generation they are rejecting a lot of the promises,
the false promises that they were given that has not
borne anything other than the inability to buy a home
and experience the American dream, or being told that they

(01:35:56):
should hate every aspect of themselves, particularly that they happen
to have an immutable characteristic of less melanin in their skin,
or they were born with the wrong chromosomes, or they
were Christians or something like that, or Americans hate yourself
just because you're Americans. They're rejecting that gen Z is
more conservative than its previous generation. And that's the first

(01:36:18):
time the younger generation has become more conservative than the
older generation in about as long as I know, Grant,
I don't know all of history, but in a very
long time.

Speaker 4 (01:36:29):
Let's just say that you know us gen Z is doing.
They're seeking.

Speaker 5 (01:36:36):
Something greater than themselves. There's a spiritual awakening happening amongst
gen Z, and I think we can all take a
lesson from this. What also was going on during twenty
twenty five that didn't get a lot of attention. What
got more attention was the anti Semitic pro Palestine riots
and rallies and whatever that were happening. But what's going

(01:36:57):
on that was kind of under the radar. There were
college campus revivals happening all over our country. Just a
couple to note, University of Arkansas, Texas A and m
both had over ten thousand students that showed up, led
by students to worship, to praise, to have baptisms. Florida

(01:37:18):
State University. I always tease Mandy because it's her alma mater,
Big party school. Forty five hundred students had a revival
on their college campus.

Speaker 4 (01:37:27):
Ohio State University.

Speaker 5 (01:37:29):
Loved the Buck guyes. My husband's a buck Guy. I'm
married into a great football team. But they had an
incredible revival led by the football team. I spoke to
an Arizona University minister last Sunday at church.

Speaker 4 (01:37:41):
He was here visiting family, and.

Speaker 5 (01:37:43):
He said, since COVID at the University of Arizona, there's
been tens of thousands of young people that have come
to faith. Now, you don't have to be a Christian,
I am, but you don't have to be a Christian
to see hope in that people understanding there's something better
and bigger than themselves, something greater that unites us because
we're all created in God's image.

Speaker 4 (01:38:04):
That's what our countries founded on.

Speaker 5 (01:38:06):
You know where else we're seeing this, By the way,
Bible cells have skyrocketed up this year twenty two percent
in September alone, the month of Charlie Kirk's assassination. Bible
purchases search thirty six percent among gen Z get this
eighty seven percent increase in purchasing Bibles from twenty nineteen

(01:38:30):
to twenty twenty four. All other booksells are only up
one percent. Now, you don't have to be a Christian
to find hope in that, because if you do believe
that Jesus's words were correct, that we should love God.

Speaker 4 (01:38:45):
With our hearts, sold our mind, and love our neighbor.

Speaker 5 (01:38:48):
As ourselves, that is positive. If you believe that our
country was founded on the uniquely Judeo Christian idea, doesn't
mean that everyone isn't welcome. Everybody he's welcome, But the
idea of America is that every person is created with
intrinsic value. Therefore individual liberty and government has only one

(01:39:11):
job to protect the rights and the safety.

Speaker 4 (01:39:14):
Of its citizens.

Speaker 5 (01:39:15):
I think this We're going to look back was not
just the biggest story of twenty twenty five, but perhaps
the biggest story of the decade, because hopefully we'll look
back and see that September tenth was the moment that
Americans woke up and said, we can't continue this way
as we enter into our two hundred and fiftieth anniversary.

Speaker 4 (01:39:37):
America is exceptional.

Speaker 5 (01:39:39):
Is it perfect?

Speaker 4 (01:39:40):
No, We're working for a more perfect union.

Speaker 5 (01:39:45):
But the freedom this country has allowed has created a
middle class that didn't exist anywhere before, has allowed for
the greatest prosperity, the greatest inventions, the greatest furthering of
the potential of banned kind.

Speaker 4 (01:40:01):
I believe that firmly.

Speaker 5 (01:40:03):
So I hope we can have a renewed, a renewed
vision for the two hundred and fiftith anniversary, because I
got to tell you when we think about the New year,
when we think about New Year's resolutions, I got to
tell you one of mind is to begin to build
bridges with people of goodwill or continue I've been working
on it, with people of good will and talk about

(01:40:26):
the things we have in common, not just that, not
just the things we have that are different.

Speaker 4 (01:40:31):
I hope that's something that we can all do.

Speaker 5 (01:40:33):
So as we wind this up, I want to talk
about some New Year's resolutions.

Speaker 4 (01:40:37):
First of all, many of you know New Year's resolutions.

Speaker 5 (01:40:39):
Only about twenty five percent of people keep their resolutions
within thirty days.

Speaker 4 (01:40:44):
I'm talking about a.

Speaker 5 (01:40:45):
Resolution that is so big we carried it.

Speaker 4 (01:40:48):
On to the rest of our lives for.

Speaker 5 (01:40:49):
The good of this our country, our generation, our children,
and our grandchildren's generations. So it's got to be that big.
One of the things I always remember somebody talked about
when they discussed a resolution.

Speaker 4 (01:41:01):
And you don't have to.

Speaker 5 (01:41:02):
Wait to New Year to do it.

Speaker 4 (01:41:04):
It can be any time.

Speaker 5 (01:41:06):
But it has to be so big that.

Speaker 4 (01:41:08):
You cannot imagine the.

Speaker 5 (01:41:10):
World without it. That's how big it has to be
to really make a change. Now, some people think people
don't change. I think it's hard for people to change.
I do think God can help people change, and that's
why it's always a part of it for me is
to ask for God's help to make these changes. But
my big why comes from one of Reagan's quotes. He said,

(01:41:33):
you and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We will
preserve for our children this the last best hope of
man on earth, or we will sentence them to take
the final step into a thousand years of darkness. I'd
been to the Soviet Union when it was still this union.
I've been to East Germany, far beyond.

Speaker 4 (01:41:52):
The wall, when the wall was still up. I've seen
the alternative.

Speaker 5 (01:41:55):
I've seen what that darkness is, and I'm sorry socialism
has never worked well wherever it's been tried. I hope
that we then work this year to talk to our
fellow neighbors to heal this divide, to stop letting the
extreme pundits talk for us, and talk to one another
and begin to understand there is far more that connects

(01:42:18):
us than separates us.

Speaker 4 (01:42:20):
We can do that, and we're going to have to
if we're going to continue.

Speaker 5 (01:42:24):
This great American experiment beyond two hundred and fifty years,
and I think we can.

Speaker 4 (01:42:29):
You know, when I was thinking about.

Speaker 5 (01:42:31):
New Year's resolutions, I also wanted to think about some
personal ones as well. Where I looked, by the way,
was I looked at what are the most common regrets
of people who are on their deathbed? Because hopefully you
and I are not there, although we do not know
tomorrow's promise to us, But what if we looked at
these regrets and made the changes today.

Speaker 4 (01:42:53):
So I've talked about a national.

Speaker 5 (01:42:54):
New Year's resolution to restore and to continue this great
republic as we turn into our two hundred fiftieth celebration,
But what are the personal ones? Here are some of
the top regrets that people have on their deathbeds, they
wish they'd been more loving to the people who matter most.
If there's someone you haven't told lately that you love them,

(01:43:15):
pick up the phone, write them a letter, text them.

Speaker 4 (01:43:19):
I mean, our family.

Speaker 5 (01:43:20):
Probably gets a little sick of how often we tell
each other we love each other.

Speaker 4 (01:43:23):
But I don't ever think you can say it too much.
Tell somebody that.

Speaker 5 (01:43:27):
You love, that you do care about them, that you
appreciate them, what you like about them, what you love
about them. No one has said on their deathbed that
I'm aware of or anything I've read, gee, I wish
I was more mean to that person. It's not really
a resolution or a regret. One of the second ones
people wish they had not spent so much time working,

(01:43:48):
but instead had spent time with their families. I got
to tell you, I am grateful for my family. I'm
grateful for the people I love and that I get
to spend time with them, and I don't mind pulling
back from other commitments in order to do that. That's
something that people will never regret. Another people thing that
people regret on their death bet is they wish they'd

(01:44:08):
taken more risks. It's usually the fear of failure that
stops them from taking that step. Think about what would
you do if you were not afraid of the outcome,
and then write it down. Make it a goal. I'm
not just talking about a bucket list. It could be
boy it could be learning to play the piano. It

(01:44:29):
could be running a marathon. I read a story of
a woman who U ninety years old ran her I
think it was her fifth marathon, and she only started
swimming when she was sixty. I was a triathlon, so
she had to swim in it also, so that's pretty remarkable.
Never too late. A lot of people say they wish
they had been more happier and enjoyed life more and
worried less. One of the things that I think is

(01:44:54):
key is it's so important to live in today instead
of worrying about the future. On the front of my Bible,
it's in a case that has the Serenity prayer on it,
and I love it. It says, God grant me the
sammerenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage
to change the things I can, and the wisdom to
know the difference. Worry will not add one minute to

(01:45:16):
your life, but it sure can rob you of a
lot of joy. So praying for peace for you in
the new year. People wish that they had lived their dream.
That was another common regret of people on their deathbeds,
and they wish they'd taken better care of themselves.

Speaker 4 (01:45:29):
I tell you that's the one that most people talk about.

Speaker 5 (01:45:31):
I always think of Mickey mannl when he said, if
I knew I was going to live this long, I
would have taken better care of myself. Whatever your goal
is in the new year, whatever your resolution is, or
if you don't even have a resolution, but you're looking
for a goal, think about what is that big why
for you. If it's health, make it so big that

(01:45:53):
you want to see your kids or your grandkids go up,
grow up, or you want to see them get married,
or you want to be able to be active with them.
That could be a big why when it comes to health.
If you're big why is saving this republic? Then remember
remember it's going to take all of us. In a

(01:46:13):
state like Colorado fifty percent unaffiliated.

Speaker 4 (01:46:16):
We are not one another's enemy.

Speaker 5 (01:46:18):
Let's remember that we can talk to one another and
remind each other of what we have in common, not
that which divides us.

Speaker 4 (01:46:28):
What is your new Year's resolution?

Speaker 5 (01:46:30):
You know, when I think about living your dream, I
think about some of the guests and people we've heard
from here on the show today. A young man who
was studying pre med who instead now is a nurse.
And an adoptive dad who he and his wife have
adopted a special needs child so he can care for
that child. That's a beautiful thing. There's a phrase by A. W.

(01:46:54):
Tozier if you're wondering what to do in twenty twenty six. A. W. Tozier,
a great Christian thinker. He said, your place in the
world is where the world's greatest where your greatest passion.
Let me start this over where your greatest passion meets
the world's greatest need. There's a lot of needs out there,

(01:47:15):
and we can be the answer to them, whether it's
healing the division, standing up for those who are being
attacked because of their faith or their ethnicity, Jewish people,
anti Semitism, talking to our neighbor finding common ground, begin
bridge building.

Speaker 4 (01:47:33):
We can do that. That's what I wish for each
one of us.

Speaker 5 (01:47:36):
And I wish, and I hope and I pray for
another two hundred and fifty years what I believe is
the greatest country in the history of the world, or
people of every walk can agree to disagree, can pursue
their own unique idea of happiness and live in freedom.
I'm wishing that for you in twenty twenty six. God

(01:47:59):
bless you, thank you for listening, wishing you a very
happy new Year. This is Deborah Flora sitting in for
Mandy Connell.