Congressman John Curtis on the Conservative Approach to Climate
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Welcome to Broken Potholes with your hosts Sam Stone and Chuck Warren. We are going to start out today without a guest on the line, but talking about a pretty important Supreme Court decision that just came down regarding Arizona. Also has some implications for Georgia, really for the entire country and for what Democrats are trying to do with our elections. Chuck, I know you've been following this very, very closely.

These were really, really interesting cases for the Supreme Court. I really didn't – I wasn't sure they were going to take these cases up. But they came back and they upheld Arizona's, frankly, really minimal restrictions on elections, so-called ban on ballot harvesting, which for people who aren't familiar is a process of political groups going around collecting ballots from people at their homes and then turning them in. It is a very insecure process.

No one should ever let their ballot out of their own hand. The other one actually isn't relevant to Arizona since the case was filed, but it is really relevant to the whole country. That is in precinct voting. If you voted out of your precinct in Arizona in the past, your vote was thrown out. We now use a vote center model where they print the ballot at the polling location, whatever polling location you show up at.

So that actually doesn't have an impact here in Arizona, but it may all across the country. Chuck, what are you seeing with these cases? Well, I think what we have seen, first of all, kudos to Michelle Ugenti-Rita, who pushed the ballot harvesting, and kudos to our attorney general, who successfully defended it to the highest court of the land. They both deserve tremendous credit for doing this. I think these can be summed up on two tweets I saw last night. The one was

from first one was from Rich Lowry at the National Review. And he said, first, they asked you to show an ID when you vote. Then they won't let you vote in the wrong precinct. This is how democracy dies. Now, obviously, it's sarcasm. But the responses from the more liberal elements of our society were just

They're crazy. I mean, they act like this is really suppressing people. And then the next one, which is very accurate from Ben Shapiro, he said, if we have reached the point in America where banning ballot harvesting and voting out of precinct are considered racist threats to the republic, we have run out of actual racist threats to the republic. That is so spot on.

It is because there is nothing about that that suppresses vote. No. You know, and ballot harvesting and the Arizona law, like the Florida law, allow a caretaker or a family member to pick up your ballot for you if you really can't go do it or for some reason you can't figure out how to put it in your mailbox. Because since, what is it, 85% of Arizona votes by mail? I mean, so...

The criticisms are really unjustified, and it's just like a barking dog in a crowd. I'm wondering if we're going to get to the point, and I think point is showing it a little bit.

People just are buying this continual outrage that is very fake by the left. There's nothing wrong with these bills. No, it's it's totally fake. And what bothers me most, you know, like you go back to Georgia, is these big multinational companies, whether Coke or Delta or any of these jumping on board, mirroring that narrative. Oh, this is racism. This is voter suppression. This is all this stuff.

I mean, when you're talking about in Arizona, the cases in front of the Supreme Court didn't even touch on this. But I mean, for goodness sake, everybody has I.D. Everybody knows you need it for every bloody thing these days. It's really hard to tell Americans that asking for I.D. is racist. And thank goodness they are waking up on this. Asking for I.D. is racist. And yet at the same time, you're asked for I.D. everything you do.

I buy lottery tickets once in a while. I'm 45. I get ID'd for a darn lottery ticket. Well, if I if I was a Republican legislature in Arizona or any other state that's considering government or photo ID and you have this pushback, which is lessening a little bit because Democrats can read polls. That's what they base policy on.

I would go and turn around and submit legislation that is no longer required to have ID to drive, open a bank account, get a mortgage, write a check, et cetera. And we'll see how fast the great arbiters of moral fortitude like Coca-Cola and Delta quickly turn tail on photo ID. I mean, let's just, if we're going to do it, let's just not require it for anything. And then I want to see what,

these supposed corporate Titans, these moral priests we have now allotted to corporate America is doing that. I heard a great quote the other day is,

It was a quote. It was an article. And the gentleman who was liberal saying the reality is the reason they're pushing this is they don't have to explain why they pay people crappy salaries, why they produce their products in third world countries that underpay people. And he just, you know, he just thought it was a complete, you know, shuffle to avoid from the real issues. And frankly,

Frankly, it makes a lot of sense. Yeah, it's fake wake. I mean, that's what it is, right? This is what they're doing. You're absolutely right. I saw that piece also and agree 100 percent. These companies are trying to get out from having to be actually responsible corporate citizens. I mean, if you want to talk about, you know, look, I am a diet cokeaholic. Put that out there right now, folks. If you're asking me to boycott or ban it.

We're going to have a problem because that headache is going to stay with me for a week or two. But look, the products that these companies are selling, you know, do you need Coca-Cola? Is there anyone on this world that actually needs anything Coke produces? No. No. And they do a lot of harm between the sugar and all the chemicals and everything else that's in it. This is not a company that is making the world a better place one Coke at a time.

Absolutely not. And you're right. They do cover up for that deficiency and for a lot of the other things we've seen. You know, look, you and I are big capitalists, right? But the executive pay, that's a legit issue there. Absolutely. They are, to my mind, defrauding voters, not voters. They are defrauding their stockholders by taking that massive amount of money.

They are hurting their customers, their employees, everyone down the line. And they excuse themselves with this fake wokeness. Yeah, it's it's gotten out of hand. But, you know, the rulings by the Supreme Court, you and I would have bet our houses that this was going to be the ruling. You know, what's funny about the Supreme Court is that it's always an ideological divide when the conservative side votes in unison.

The only people who are open minded on the court are, frankly, conservatives because they go over and join progressives on certain things. Look at the recent Obamacare ruling. Look at not accepting some abortion, you know, abortion legislations come. So, frankly, the only open minded people on the court are the conservative side. Do we ever really see one of the three liberals break ranks?

Any of them? No. They join the conservative side hardly? They don't break ranks. And actually, you know before any case is heard in front of the Supreme Court where those three liberal justices are going to come down. And they're going to come down on the side of whatever the national politics of the Democratic Party is, period. They have no interest in the law. They have no interest in precedent. And as jurists, they are far inferior to every one of the six members of the conservative side of that court.

And here's a kind of a tip, folks. If you're out there, Chuck, tell me if you disagree with this. If the conservatives see an issue out there that they think is truly a divisive issue and they don't think that they're going to be honest debate on it, they don't take that case. I mean, this is what John Roberts has been doing essentially is avoiding some of the most controversial cases. When they take up a case like this, you pretty much know the outcome ahead of time.

Absolutely. Today, dear listeners, we're going to have Congressman John Curtis, Republican from Utah, on with us and talking about some environmental issues, the state of Congress, and so forth.

But Sam, before that comes, let's talk quickly about a poll that came out today. Jeremy Duda, I think that's the way you pronounce his last name, but the Arizona Mirror wrote about it. And it was interesting. Only 37 percent of Arizona respondents said Biden deserved to be reelected based on his job performance. And, you know, compared to 53 percent said he deserved another turn.

What's amazing about that is that number's there, but when you put them up against former President Trump, he beats President Trump 51-44. But here's the key to this. In a re-election, independent voters break 54-41 to Biden. And this is something the conservative side of the Republican Party in Arizona have to start focusing on is how do they get these independents back into the fold?

And it's something that's really going to make a difference on how Arizona is governed in the future. Chuck, I'm going to say something on that front that I think may get me in trouble with some of the Republican Party here. But I think the numbers are clear. The mood of the nation is clear. If Donald Trump is the nominee, we're going to get four more years of Joe Biden and or Kamala Harris or whoever it is. I mean, that's just all there is to it.

He has not gained support since losing the last election. I don't care if you think it was stolen or anything else. The fact of the matter is that other than the Republican base, the rest of this country is ready to move on. And I strongly believe that you can adopt and and promote basically the same policy agenda as Ron DeSantis does. Right. And that's a message from a different person. Exactly.

The reality is Arizona is not a blue state. We have talked about this. It's not even a purple state. It is a conservative state that's right of center that is purely candidate-based. You have 51% support approval for Kyrsten Sinema right now, which is interesting. In the same poll,

only 36% of the respondents said they disapproved of the filibuster. Now, if you listen to the progressives in Arizona and you listen to the Arizona Republic and people like Lori Roberts, oh my gosh, everybody supports getting rid of the filibuster, whereas 46% support it. So 10% more people in Arizona support the filibuster than not. But then they asked an interesting follow-up question. They asked,

If you knew that a 60 vote threshold needed to overcome the filibuster is a hindrance to the Biden and Senate Democrats, support for the filibuster goes to 50 percent. It increases. Right. You tell them that it takes 60 votes and it will in order to be a hindrance to Biden and Senate Democrats. It goes to 50 percent. It's beating those who oppose it by 11 points.

Yeah, absolutely. You know, look, I think this country is ready for a return to some sort of political normalcy and to the process of negotiation. We're going to be able to talk about that and some other things coming up here in just a moment with John Curtis, congressman from Utah, and fantastic to have him on the show today. This is going to be a really interesting year. Republicans better be ready. Broken Potholes coming back in just a moment.

2020 elections are over. Phew! Thank goodness for that. But don't sleep on your plans for 2022. Start today by securing your name and getting a .vote web address with your first and last name. Visit GoDaddy today. Welcome back to Broken Potholes with your hosts Sam Stone and Chuck Warren. On the line with us now, John Curtis, Congressman from Utah's 3rd Congressional District.

He is a Republican who, much like your host here right now, is a former Democrat, served as mayor of Provo, Utah from 2010 to 2017. And in 2017, he won the special election to replace another friend of the podcast, Jason Chaffetz, in Congress, who is certainly one of my favorites. And Congressman Curtis rapidly climbing that list. Congressman, welcome to the program. So good to be with both of you, Stan and Chuck. Thank you.

Thank you for being on. As we are, as we are reading your bio, the women in our office kept asking me, what is it that he has the largest stock collection? Can you explain how you got into the stock collection business?

Oh my goodness, we could spend a whole time on this, but I'll be quick. Years ago, before socks were cool, I was experimenting with colored socks and fun socks, and I had so much fun with it, I started wearing them everywhere I went and giving them away, and before long, I was branded as the sock guy. And I thought I would lose that reputation when I went to D.C., but it followed me, and

And now if you look on C-SPAN and watch this on the House floor, you'll see about every two or three minutes somebody will ask to see my socks. So I can't disappoint them. I've always got to have a good pair of socks on. That's a very high bar to have to live up to every single day. I mean, there have been some good socks in Congress.

Yes, I now give them as gifts to Congress people on their birthdays. They love that. And I've started quite a trend to D.C. with much better socks. You are a trendsetter.

Yes, some people will be known for their legislation and some people will be known for the legislation and I'll be known for my stocks. In America, we can all agree on stock except for the grumpy 8% out there who are just grumpy about everything all the time. That's right, exactly. Congressman, talk to us about this new Green Caucus in the House of Representatives where there's 50 plus Republicans who have joined you.

that said, look, global warming's real. We need to approach it. But there are free market solutions to do this. So spend some time to tell us about it, how the reception's been, how have the Democrats responded to this, how have your constituents responded to it? So let me just tell you, I've watched this debate, and I just feel like it's a mistake for conservatives and Republicans to allow ourselves as being branded as not caring about the earth.

We care deeply. We don't necessarily identify as environmentalists or fans of the Green New Deal. But that doesn't mean we don't care deeply, and it doesn't mean we deny the science of it. But unfortunately, we've allowed that brand to persist, and it's because we've not really engaged in the debate. When the subject comes up, we kind of run from it.

I'm on a mission to change that. I think conservatives should go on the offensive. We have amazing ideas that do far more to reduce greenhouse gas emissions than our colleagues do. And so we formed a caucus out in D.C. It's called the Conservative Climate Caucus. It's exactly what it says in the name. We want to talk about climate. We're not running from it, but we're conservatives.

And when you stop and list the number of conservative alternatives that are actually better than some of the alternatives put forth, you'll cheer us on. So it's been very successful. You mentioned 50 or so. That number changes daily. It's now up to 65.

That's a third of all Republicans in Congress in the House of Representatives can join this caucus. They, too, want to go on the offensive. So it's very exciting. Our Democrats' response is you're not going to be surprised. Some of them have been very welcoming.

and want to see us at the table. Others have been somewhat critical and skeptical. And I kind of feel it's a little bit of a witness test for Democrats to see if they really do care about solutions or if it's more political for them. That's a great point, Congressman. And, you know, I always say, I always call myself, and I know Chuck and I have basically the same view on this,

I call myself a conservationist, not an environmentalist. And I think one of the things that a lot of people don't really think about is that with all the talk about Democrat power concentrating in the big inner cities, the bulk of their representation in Congress comes from those major urban environments. Whereas if you want to talk about the natural environments of the United States, whether it's in Utah, here in Arizona, most of the country is

Our natural environment is represented by Republicans. And we care about that environment. Well, there's no better environmentalist than farmers. They don't like to be called environmentalists. But I tell you, you talk about people that care about the earth and are dependent on leaving the earth there when they found it. You're absolutely right. That's a huge, I mean, huge. It's really critical. I grew up on a farm. I grew up in the middle of nowhere.

It is absolutely, whether you're talking about weather, whether you're talking about pollution. When I was growing up, acid rain was a big issue. Factory scrubbers addressed that, right? The market addressed it. And so I'd love to hear more about some of these market-based solutions because I think people don't realize the U.S. has really made huge strides in greenhouse gas emissions, in all sorts of other things, where other countries haven't.

Yeah, so one of the parts to the dialogue that's unfortunate is what I call the culture of shaming, which is no matter how much you do, it's just not enough.

And I regret that because that forces people away instead of bringing them into the conversation. But let me give you a really good example of that culture of shaming. We hear all the time that U.S. should be a leader. And why aren't we a leader? Well, let's look at the facts. The U.S. has reduced more carbon in the last decade than the next 10 carbon-emitting countries combined.

That's a stunning number that we never talked about. But we are leading. We're leading the world right now in carbon reduction. And how have we done that? We've done it with fossil fuel. Natural gas has actually been responsible for reducing vast amounts of carbon and so forth.

If we're going to solve the worldwide carbon problem, we've got to be using fossil fuels, not eliminating fossil fuels. And there's no better one than natural gas. If we just simply implemented and got U.S. natural gas into Russia and China and India on a large scale, we would do more to reduce worldwide greenhouse gas emissions than the entire Green New Deal combined.

Absolutely. You know, one thing I've thrown out there before, Congressman, I mean, there are still a lot of coal burning factories around the world that don't use the coal scrubbing smokestack technology that was developed here. Really easy to put those in all those factories.

Yeah, and this is the great lie about the Paris Climate Accord, you know, that everybody held as being so important. The Paris Climate Accord allows China to increase their carbon emissions for the next 20 years.

Well, what good does it do if we go to zero carbon here in the United States where 14% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions? What good does it do if we go to zero and we allow China to increase for the next 20 years? And you've got India and Russia in that same equation. Yeah, absolutely. Another one we get brought up, and we only have a few moments here, but when we come back, I want to talk a little bit more about this, is ocean pollution.

I think some of our focus has been a little too monomaniacal on carbon in the atmosphere as opposed to all the other forms of pollution that are equally affecting or more affecting the planet. Yeah, I couldn't agree more. I look forward to coming back with you. Perfect. Well, Broken Potholes, fantastic interview so far with Congressman John Curtis of Utah's 3rd District. We will be right back.

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Welcome back to Broken Potholes. I'm your host, Sam Stone. On the line with me, my co-host, Chuck Warren and John Curtis, congressman from Utah's 3rd Congressional District. When we went to break, we were talking about pollution other than just carbon. Congressman, can you talk a little bit about some of the effects of other things that we may be not paying enough attention to? Maybe in what we need to do.

Yeah, kind of a funny story. When I was the mayor of Provo, all we talked about was clean air. And when I went back to Washington, D.C., nobody talked about clean air. They just talked about carbon. And they don't realize that, sure, we've got some long-term impacts with carbon, but we have here and now impacts with clean air. And you mentioned ocean waste and the amount of plastic and things in the ocean and the way we're inadvertently polluting this earth.

And this is where I think conservatives have done a fantastic job and need to do a better job. You know, we may not be overexcited about it, but, you know, Richard Nixon was the one who started EPA. And sure, Republicans have a lot of questions about it, but we forget that we have been in a leadership position on water as Republicans. And it's always been very important to us.

Yeah, absolutely. Chuck, you had a question I thought was really, really good during the break. So let's go to that. Yeah, it's two part, Congressman. First,

What does the polling show about Gen Z millennials regarding climate change and how important is this issue not only for us to talk about, but to actually tackle for the growth and the future of the conservative movement, the Republican Party? And then two, how do you think we should approach those on the conservative spectrum who just don't believe a global warming or don't know what they really can do about it?

Those are great questions. Let me address this first one, Ms. Gen Z. I have the honor of representing the youngest district in the country. People are always surprised when they hear that. The average age of my constituents is 27.

And I'll tell you what, I see it in their eyes. They will not be patient with us if we don't make progress on climate. For many of them, it's a single issue. We'll lose them on just this single issue. And we can't afford to lose the next generation of Republicans. We've got to engage them. So it's incumbent on us, for the help of our party, to figure this out. And you're absolutely right. This is a very important issue to them. And then...

Go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead, Sam. No, Congressman, how do we approach people who are on the conservative side who are skeptical of climate warming or what can they ask us? What can we really do? You know, when you have, for example, and this is a comment I hear a lot. OK, we do everything. But then what does India and China do? Fair question. Yeah. How do we answer these folks?

Yeah, I've got a couple of really good answers for that because I think about this a lot. First of all, I don't care how you feel about climate science. I don't judge myself. I'm not a scientist. But we can all agree on one thing. Less pollution is better than more pollution. We have a responsibility to leave this earth better than we found it.

And that is a very common ground for conservatives and Republicans. So let's toss that question aside and say, look, we don't need to care about the science on this, but we can agree that we get a responsibility to lead the service better than we can't.

And then as far as the China and India question, this is a fantastic opportunity for the U.S. economy. The world is changing. The world buying habits are changing. They will buy green. So as a country, we have a choice. We can either stand back and let China and Europe develop that green technology, or we can develop it here in the United States and use U.S. innovation. And if that happens, I actually believe the next generation

industrial revolution type opportunity for our economy is to export green technology around the world. And we don't want to miss that. We don't want to miss that wave. And so to my conservative friends, I'd say, first of all, come join me on the level of less pollution, steadily more. And two, we don't want to miss this economic opportunity. Right. I have to tell people when they ask me and they're skeptical, I said, I asked them the question.

Well, we both can agree putting bad stuff in the air is bad, right? Yeah. We both can agree putting bad stuff in the water is not good, right? Yeah. Okay. Well, then call yourself an environmentalist. We need to protect these. And Congressman, as you as being a religious man, I'm surprised we don't use more, especially to our side, that we have a stewardship. It is an important stewardship. Yeah.

I'm sure glad you brought that up. I tell people on the left all the time, don't be surprised that science is not a motivator and crisis is not a motivator. But you know what motivates me? It's my reverence for the earth and my belief that I have a stewardship. That motivates me. The science doesn't motivate me. Crisis doesn't motivate me. I don't want to look at a maker in the eye and say,

I disrespected the situation that you left us. Congressman, thank you so much. Fantastic discussion. Are you going to stay with us for the next segment or do we need to let you go? I'm with you. Hang on. Fantastic. Great. Fantastic. Broken potholes back in just a moment.

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Welcome back to Broken Potholes. I'm Sam Stone on the line with us. My co-host Chuck Warren and John Curtis, congressman from Utah. Congressman Curtis, one of the things we keep talking about is what do Republicans need to do right now? What is it in this moment that is most important for our party to be focusing on? Because I think we're kind of all over the place.

That's a great question. I believe and I feel strongly about this. The only thing that will keep us from taking back the House in a year and a half is ourselves. It's right there. The Democrats have seen it, of course. The only thing that can prevent us is if we fight amongst ourselves.

And if we're a divided house, we've got to unite as Republicans, and we've got to come together. And that may mean that we've got to realize that the enemy without is greater than the enemy within. And I know right now it's popular among some of my colleagues to attack our own colleagues, Republican colleagues. And we've got to remember that just we can do this. And it's far more important to focus on taking the House back.

let's work to work together. That's fine. The areas that we agree on. And if we do that, I think nothing could keep us from taking back the House. I think to your point, Congressman, the one thing we've talked about on this show, and I challenge people to look around this country and tell me if I'm wrong about this. But if you were in a state this last year and a half with a Republican governor

regardless of whether you think that governor is a strong conservative or they're more moderate or too moderate, whatever that may be, your life was better over these last 18 months than it was under any Democrat governor in any state. Yeah. Yeah. And so we have a five vote separation in the House now between Democrats. I don't care what that Republicans like. We

We need that Republican vote to stop increased taxes. We need that vote to stop H.R. 1, the federal takeover of elections. We need that Republican vote to stop H.R. 3, a war on prescription drugs. We need that vote to keep from expanding the Supreme Court. We need that vote to keep D.C. from becoming a state.

those, that's what's at stake. And we need Republican votes. And so we can have our differences with Republicans. But at the end of the day, making Kevin McCarthy a Speaker of the House and not Nancy Pelosi is so important for those reasons I just listed. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Chuck, you touched on something else, which is the congressman's experience. And I think this is kind of an important one. You want to talk about that?

So Congressman Curtis, who's on the line with us, Republican from Utah, previously served two terms as mayor of the city of Provo. Mayor, I'm going to call you mayor right now. As being a former mayor now congressman, what did being a mayor mean?

teach you and how does that carry over to your work as a congressman? You deal with all these local issues and then you have to go to the federal government. What is your takeaway from it and what can Congress do to be of a better help to cities? Is it just get the heck out of the way and stop mandating so many things to us? What is it?

Well, I'll tell you what. There's a group of us in the mayor's. And I think almost every person you find more serious legislators who came to Washington to get things done. As a mayor, you could walk in the office and people didn't care. You put up a party when there was a pothole in front of their home, all in the trash and didn't get picked up. And you learn very quickly that serving the people is about getting things done. It's about effective government. It's about

delivering services to residents. And I'll tell you, there's a group of us there. We all just kind of smile at each other. There's kind of an unwritten code that we know how to get things done. It's a great point, Congressman. You know, I work with our local government here at the city of Phoenix. Chuck and I obviously have tons of experience working with these local issues. I think local government grounds you in a way for the rest of your political career to

that someone who doesn't have that experience and then jumps into Congress, for them it's ideology. But for those of us who have worked in and around local government, it's results. I mean, throw out everything else.

Yeah. And I'll tell you, it's so easy to get lost in Washington, D.C. And I'll give you a really good example. Last week, we were debating a bill and the Democrats wanted to make everybody so they didn't have to pay their water bill for five years if they didn't want to, because they felt like they should have water.

And so he said, well, let me just share a mayor's perspective with you. A lot of times we use water rates to get people to conserve water. Right now we're in a drought. You're taking away a tool from local government to get the residents to conserve water if you do this. And let me tell you something else. We bond off the revenue from our utilities so fast.

So who's going to issue a bond to us if residents don't have to pay their water bill? So you're making it so cities cannot invest in infrastructure. The exact opposite of what you want them to do. And so they don't see those unintended consequences. But if you're on the ground and it's really easy for you to see, well, let me tell you what the unintended consequences are. I think that's a great point. And I got to say, I'm hoping and looking to people like you,

For actual infrastructure, I know we've been talking about this negotiated infrastructure bill. There is a desperate need for real investment in infrastructure, water infrastructure, power infrastructure, roads, rail, everything else. There is a desperate need for that all across this country, isn't there?

Yes, I wish I could transport everybody here to Utah. Our state and local government has been so responsible in looking ahead and making hard decisions. We have a balanced budget here in Utah. And we also have good roads and infrastructure because they make hard decisions. It's really, we could take a page out of the book, not just Utah, but other good, conservative states. There's a lot to learn. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.

Congressman, as we wrap up here, we are at the July 4th weekend. And Ronald Reagan had a quote that's my favorite quote. And for some reason, it's more relevant today, sadly, than it was 10 years ago. And he said simply, if we lose freedom here, there is no place to escape. It's the last stand on earth. Tell us why America's better days are ahead and tell us why she's worth fighting for.

Wow, that's such a great question. Let me tell you, while I've been in Congress, I've had a chance to visit 30 different countries. And I think my life has been changed. On our worst day, there is no place like the United States of America. Even on our worst day. And I think it's so easy to complain or to recite about what we have here in the United States.

All you can do is look around. I stood on the border of Venezuela and I watched people who don't have freedom. That's why they have free education. They have free health care. But they don't have freedom. And even out across the border to come to the Colombian side and get medicine. And I just, I hope people really understand the shape of what we have in America.

I

Congressman, we're getting a great deal of interference on the line right now. Maybe you're driving through a rough area or something there. I'm not sure. Apologies there. Do you want me to just wrap it up? Yeah, if you could. Yeah, that'd be great. Go ahead. All right. It's been great talking to you guys today. Congressman, thank you so much. Thank you. Appreciate you. All right. Thank you. Bye-bye. Thank you. Bye.

Chuck, apologies to the congressman. I appreciate him being pulled over on the side of the road. Obviously, folks, if you're out there, you know the issues with cell phone. You can have good reception one second and, you know, a couple other people get on that cell tower nearby and all of a sudden your reception drops. So we really appreciate his time today. Absolutely. Let's talk. Let's have our sunshine moment real quick. Yeah, let's get on it.

The irrepressible Kylie Kipper. She has sunshine to bring us. I always have sunshine to bring you guys. You bring the sunshine every time you walk in the room. Oh, thank you. Well, this story was when it came out yesterday about a 107-year-old woman. However, today is her birthday. So I suggest if you're listening to help her out. Her name is Juliet Bernstein and she is now 108 years old from Cape Cod. And she started a GoFundMe so that she can stay in her home.

So she was a schoolteacher from New York making $7,000 a year, and she had saved $100,000 for her retirement. She still gets a pension, but with how old she's getting, she didn't expect to live this old. She's running out of money and needs a little bit of help. She loves America, especially with 4th of July coming up and her birthday so close to it. She was highly involved in the League for Women Voters of Lower Cape Cod.

She also participated in the Cape Cod Chapter of Fellowship for Reconciliation, which is an international peace group created during World War I. She pushed her town of Chapman Town Band to include women. It was an all-male band, and she wanted women included. And she also helped the council with aging by setting up a nutrition program for the elderly.

So she's highly involved, and she has started a GoFundMe. She's raised about $14,000, and her goal is to raise $25,000. What's her name? How do people find this GoFundMe? Her name is Juliet Bernstein. Juliet Bernstein. Yes. And honestly, if you just Google her name, we'll also put it up on our social media accounts. Multiple stories have come up through it. But this also inspired me to kind of, you know, it's a little bit older than I was anticipating. But just yesterday, another news story revealed

news story was released that a Puerto Rico man just passed the Guinness World Record for the oldest man alive. And I'm going to emphasize man because he's 112 years old. However, the oldest person to be alive is Cain Tanka. She passed away at 118 years old. So she holds the world record of the oldest person and female alive. It's amazing. Well,

Yeah, and let's get that posted up on our social media pages. And folks, if you can, if you have $25, $50 or whatever you can do, let's help this dear woman and let's make it be remarkable and memorable Fourth of July for her. Folks, I'm going to go on there right after this program. I'm going to send her some money. You know, if you have $2, send it to her because I can't imagine taking this woman with all this involvement in her community at 108 years old.

Out of her home. That's wrong. I'm getting a little emotional on this because I've been dealing with a lot of issues around aging with my parents and my family. But folks, the home is so important to people as they age to be able to stay in it. If you can help your parents do that, in this case, if we can help this woman do that, you're going to be doing some real good in this world. Some real good.

And so get on there. Let's make this happen. Yeah, she did say that she after saving $100,000, she thought she was rich.

So she does need a little bit of help, but she just wants to leave one thing to her family. And they are trying to help her to the best, but they all have children. And, you know, they just want her to be able to stay as long as she can. But she wants to leave one thing, and that is her home. Now, if we're talking about this stuff, and we only got two minutes left, Chuck, you and I are sort of poster opposites on this issue because I have not done nearly enough to take care of myself. And Chuck is like he is the man who takes care of every little detail, super fit,

Gets every medical treatment in on time. I'm no less good at that. But you actually sent me a really interesting article the other day I want to wrap up talking about, which is there's a lot of these sort of tech bros and wealthy folks out there right now who really truly believe that if they can just hang on long enough, whether it's 10, 20, 40, 50 years, that human immortality is within reach or nearly so. And they may well not be wrong, right?

No, they won't. Well, just let's just think about this. I mean, you know, Kip here is, you know, decades younger than us. And the reality is Kip's going to have a remarkable amount of friends that she went to high school with.

the Awatukee gang, and they'll be living in their 90s and 100s and have quality lives. I mean, that's just the way science is heading, and that's the way fitness is heading and nutrition is heading, and she's going to have that. And it will be interesting to see the quality of life and what people do with this gift. What do you do with these extra years? What are you going to do with this gift? And that will be fascinating what people do. If you do half as much as this woman did, you're doing a lot.

And actually, I think that's one of the keys to longevity is don't disconnect. The minute people disconnect, they die. So make sure you tune in next week. You can connect right here on Broken Potholes, KKNT, The Patriot, Playing in Phoenix, Saturday at 3 p.m., Podcast, Apple, Spotify. We got all the good stuff. Tune in. Have a good weekend and happy Fourth of July. ♪

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