Jon Levine Unmasks Ivy League Activists and Biden’s Cancer Diagnosis
01:13:12 Share

Support American jobs while standing up for your values. OldGloryDepot.com brings you conservative pride on premium, made-in-USA gear. Don't settle. Wear your patriotism proudly. Visit OldGloryDepot.com today. I say this every election cycle, and I'll say it again. The 2024 political field was intense, so don't get left behind in 2025.

Welcome to another episode of Breaking Battlegrounds with your host Chuck Warren. I'm Sam Stone. Our first guest up today, John Levine, friend of the show, now writing for the Free Beacon after previously reporting for the New York Post. Follow him on X at LevineJonathan.com.

John, so we had this horrible terrorist attack in D.C. this week where this lovely Jewish couple were assassinated. And I was listening to the news this morning, and a reporter was talking about if they're going to seek the death penalty on this. And the comment that struck me was, if the circumstances warranted seeking the death penalty, if the circumstances here don't warrant the death penalty, then is there ever circumstances that warrant the death penalty? No.

Well, I mean, if you believe in the death penalty and, you know, there's arguments that we shouldn't have a death penalty. But if you believe death penalty is a legitimate punishment for capital crimes, there's obviously no more appropriate crime than this. And obviously he should be put to death, executed by the death penalty. You know, the problem is it's going to take.

Obviously, the conviction is not in question. The problem is it'll take 20 years to actually get to the death penalty. And if I was a betting man, I guarantee you some future Democrat president is just going to commute this sentence and it'll end up being licensed prison.

that'd be my guess of how it's going to go. And it won't be like, say this person, but it'll be some blanket. All the death penalty cases are commuted to life in prison. Yeah. I'm not talking to the democratic parties going, maybe they'll just let them out. Yeah. No kidding. No kidding. No kidding. Yeah. I, this touches on something that Chuck and I have talked about before, but for these very serious crimes, should we have not, I'm not talking about getting rid of any sort of due process, but,

But should we have an expedited schedule through the courts for these kind of cases where it doesn't take 20 years? Because I think one of the things that's been happening is there's a disconnect between the crime and the punishment in our society. Well, it's funny. If you steal, you know, a $100 radio from Walmart, it'll be open and shut case in a week. But something like this takes 20 years. And it does raise questions. Why does this take so long? And we have, you know,

you know for better or worse i think an insanely complicated lengthy appeals process where after you're convicted even in such an obvious open and shut case like this there's endless endless appeals the courts are all backlogged and you know as as you know it takes like 20 years if you look at anyone that's executed in the united states it's for crimes committed a generation ago um and it that's just it's our system i

I don't even know how to begin to fix it, but I would be open to ideas. I mean, Arizona, I think today the AG announced she may pursue the death penalty against a guy who committed his crime in 1994.

Yeah, that sounds right. Maybe when we're all old men, we can hear about the death penalty being enforced. But I mean, the key thing is like life imprisonment isn't teachers and cream either. If you ended up in like Florence, Colorado or Alcatraz or El Salvador, I wouldn't be averse to those options either. Right.

And, you know, Trump famously said to the El Salvadorian president, we have to do something about the homegrown. And let me tell you, this is the homegrown. Right. Right. Let's talk about original sin. So you you did a great article interview with Ronnie Jackson and Congressman Ronnie Jackson, former physician of Obama and Trump. Can you explain to our audience about your interview, what you learned and what surprised you?

Well, people know Ronnie Jackson because he's in Congress and he's a Texas congressman. He's a very, very good congressman. But I remember Ronnie Jackson before he was in Congress. And his job is he had a fascinating job. It was physician to the president. He was the highest medical official in the United States government and the president's personal care team.

So he, you know, if Obama had a cold, he went to Ronny Jackson. If President Trump didn't feel, he went to Ronny Jackson. Ronny Jackson was in charge of their personal medical evaluations, keeping them healthy. In fact, it's the exact same job as

as the man who is now accused as being part of the Biden cover-up, Kevin O'Connor, in addition to President Biden. So he has this incredible background that isn't as widely known as it should be. So when you start seeing all this stuff about Biden cover-up, medical cover-up, the prostate cancer stuff,

My first thought is to always go to Ronnie Jackson because his opinion, there is no one who has a more credible opinion on these matters than him because he actually was in the arena and did the very job and worked with the same people and institutions that are now accused of being complicit in the cover-up.

So, you know, that's not something you can say about every Republican congressman or any, you know, it's a very, very rarefied group of people that he's a part of. So I reached out and we spoke a lot about different things. And one of the things that struck me was I said, Ronnie, you know, I hate to ask this. What's the prognosis on on the condition President Biden has? And, you know, well, he said he wasn't an expert. He said it was 12 to 18 months. He

He's spoken to a lot of urologists who know a lot about this, and that's what it said. And you have to wonder, and I know this has been talked about to death, stage four prostate cancer that spread to the bones doesn't show up overnight. It's a very slow-moving illness, prostate cancer. And it's either criminal negligence that they didn't uncover this when he was in the White House, or clearly some kind of an active cover-up.

Do you believe that he really has not had a PSA test since 2014? I mean, that sounds crazy, but it's possible. I don't know. I can't. It's hard to believe. I do know this. He had a condition called benign prostatic hyperplasia. Yes.

which is not linked to cancer, but it's, you know, a thing that happens to older men with prostates. It enlarges. And he had that treated, and it's mentioned in President Biden's medical report from 2019. And you can see he had this condition. It was treated with surgery, and it definitively says no cancer detected. So they at least said there was no cancer in December of 2019. So something was checked at that time.

Now, I don't know. Did they just they had this prostate issue? And then the second that was resolved, they never went back and looked at the prostate again. I don't know. It seems crazy. You the president of the United States has to be checked for everything. Right. And prostate cancer is incredibly common among older men.

And they try to sing you a song and dance about, well, the guidelines are 55 to 70 or 40 to 70. But give me a break. That might be for the general population, not for the president of the United States. No. And Kevin O'Connor said he checked Trump and Obama for this. And Trump was also over the 70-year-old line as well when he was being checked for this. It's just basic metaphysics.

good medical practice. So it's crazy if it didn't happen, but I don't know. Maybe it didn't happen. Maybe being, maybe being couch potato, you know, psychiatrist here, maybe he just, because of, you know, his son's death, he just didn't want to know out of sight, out of mind. Maybe that's his mentality on it. It's possible. And you know, if the president says, I don't want a PSA test, you know, what are you going to do? Can't make him get one. But I, it's, it's, it's,

It's all very, very weird. And I don't know that we'll ever get a real answer because I think they're going to just hide behind HIPAA laws. Yes. Well, we can't discuss medical stuff, you know, laws, you know, and that'll be that. Which will be the worst thing for him because it continues to deteriorate people's trust on the press, on this White House, on their truthfulness. It's just because because if you don't share it.

people are going to think, of course, you had it and you knew. That's where they're going to go with this. Of course. It'll be the least charitable interpretation, which in my experience is usually the right one. That brings up kind of another interesting thing that just occurred to me. How have we gotten this far now from the Biden administration and there isn't an insider tell-all, a real insider tell-all book out? That's actually sort of impressive in a certain sense. Yeah.

Well, Biden's staff, we must remember, is very, very loyal to him. Yes. He's had the same people around him for 20, 30 years, like Ron Klain and Steve Brischetti and Donnellan. So right off the bat, it's not like Kamala, who cycles through staff every six months. He has loyal people who've been with him forever. But also, I think sooner or later it's coming. I think it's maybe when Biden has sort of left the scene.

uh more permanently when maybe when trump is off the scene yeah i think a lot of people yeah right because it would seem in a way like disloyal to biden to write that book when trump is president when the current era we're in has passed and it will like everything is a season um

I think you will start to see people open up a little bit more. And there'll be a market for it. There will be a market because I really think the American people do want to know exactly what happened and what went down and not whispering anonymous sources to Jake Tapper, who was complicit in the cover up, but an honest first person account with someone who put their name to it and provide the receipts.

We don't have yet. You just brought up a good name. We're with John Levine. He is with the Free Beacon. What are other reporters – I mean, I know you guys talk. What do they think about John Tapper being able to go and make money on this?

Hey, you know, don't hate the player, hate the game. Good for him. I don't know what to tell you. It's a free country. It's a little gauche. I mean, it's a little like you whisper it in private. I mean, you know, generally the conservative right-leaning reporters are more open about it than the mainstream media guys I talk to. But everyone knows it's like

Seedy and swampy. And I'm not going to name names, but like, yeah, but you know, what are you going to do? And, you know, for a lot of mainstream reporters, it's like, but for the grace of God, go I. So I'm not going to attack him. Have you read the book? Have you read the book? I have. I was given, I was, Alex sent me a signed copy. It was very sweet of him. He did a good job on the story. I will, I will read it.

I plan to read it, but also I feel like I lived it. I lived it. And it's like the implication, oh, we missed it. Conservative media, the New York Post was writing about it

the word cheap fake exists to discredit coverage of Biden's decline in the New York Post because there was that video of him wandering off in Paris or France somewhere and it was like oh the New York Post is publishing cheap fake cis videos well he might have done it but he was just going to talk to someone else it

it exists to disparage real deal reporting that we were doing. You know, there was also just us, the Wall Street Journal had a great story about the mental decline, which you can Google. And that was also sort of just, you know, one day move along, hear no evil, see no evil. So it was covered. It was just deliberately downplayed by the people who are now talking about how it's so important that we talk about it. We have one minute here. Let me ask you this question before we go to the segment.

Should the cabinet have called the 25th Amendment into play on him, do you think? I don't know. I mean, I don't know. It really depends how bad it was. I think, you know, we've gone from no, that's crazy to it's very plausible. And I think we may yet learn things in the future where it's, oh, we definitely should have done 25th Amendment. But don't forget, then we have Kamala. So I don't know.

You know, be careful what you wish for. Yeah, I'm not sure if dementia or wine are bigger impediments to excellent governance. I did see my first bumper sticker this morning. It said, don't blame me. I voted for Kamala. I literally saw that driving in this morning. Good. Wow.

I was at a liquor store and I saw some Kamala bourbon. I'm like, wow, that's on the nose. Boy, that is on point. And we're going to be coming back with more here in just a moment from John Levine. Folks, stay tuned. Breaking Battlegrounds coming right back.

All right, imagine this. You're running for president. Yes, president. What's the first thing you need? Well, besides the million dollar fundraising, you need to secure your web domain. You need your name, .vote. Easy to remember, straight to the point, and a direct link to your campaign.

No, but seriously, whether you're getting out to vote or convincing people that yes, you can fix the potholes on Main Street, a .vote domain helps you stand out. It's not just a website, it's a call to action. Head over to godaddy.com or name.com, type in your name .vote, and boom, you're ready to make a lasting impact. Get started today with your .vote web address.

Folks, this is Sam Stone for Breaking Battlegrounds. Discover true freedom today with 4Freedom Mobile. Their SIM automatically switches to the best network, guaranteeing no missed calls. You can enjoy browsing social media and the internet without compromising your privacy. Plus, make secure mobile payments worldwide with no fees or monitoring. Visit 4FreedomMobile.com today for top-notch coverage.

digital security, and total freedom. And if you use the code BATTLEGROUND at checkout, you get your first month of service for just $9 and save $10 a month for every month of service after that. Again, that's code BATTLEGROUND at checkout. Visit 4freedommobile.com to learn more.

Welcome back to Breaking Battlegrounds. We're continuing on now with John Levine writing for The Free Beacon, and you can follow him on X at LevineJonathan. If you're not doing that, you're missing some great content. You had a piece recently talking about what's been going on at Columbia and the fact that there's a lot of very wealthy, rich kids turning up, getting at these protests, committing violent and felonious acts, and obviously, you know,

Well, I think the short answer is that they just don't have real problems. Right.

And in life, when you don't have real problems, you create problems to invent for yourself. But I think it's not just that they're wealthy, per se. It's just, you know, they're in this campus environment. And there were plenty of wealthy kids arrested on May 7th when they stormed the library and started chanting about Hamas when the normal kids are just trying to do their work. But it's because they go to these seminars and these lectures with these professors, right?

who are openly Marxist, openly chanting intifada and decolonization and Israel's evil. And by the way, they all say America's evil, too. Everything they accuse Israel of, they accuse the United States of. This is not an anti-Israel movement. It's an anti-Western, anti-white, anti-American movement. Israel's just a Trojan horse at the tip of the spear. So that's what you've got to understand. They hate Israel because it's like they view it as a white Western country. That's it. You know, it's not about Israel.

So you have that, and you also have TikTok, which is insane. And I do recall there was a law that we were going to ban TikTok or force the sale, and then that sort of went by the wayside, unfortunately. I...

I'd like that to come back. I think that was a thing we were going to do, and I wish we were doing it. Totally agree. But it's not just the rich kids. And I'm like, I'm very, I'm radicalized myself in that I'm not just publishing the names of the rich kids. I'm publishing the names of the poor kids. I'm publishing the names of everybody who was arrested at that library. They're all going to get named. Rich, poor, everyone. Well, they should be, because quite frankly...

The anonymity, the hiding behind masks, the antifa tactics, it robs any actual legitimate point they might have to these movements, right? I mean, how –

Yeah, you look at the Civil Rights Movement. You didn't see Martin Luther King wearing a mask. You didn't see John Lewis wearing a mask when he walked over Edmund Pettus Bridge. Those people actually cared about their views. And by the way, I'm not comparing these movements. That was a real legitimate movement.

This is cosplay. This is LARP. This is they're just pretending. They're doing Starbucks latte activism. Right. And I will tell you, the way this ends, the imposition of a single consequence. Let me tell you, if these kids had to spend a week in Rikers, you would see the end of their movement. Yes. For how about a month? I was cracking up all through 2020 when the climate strike protesters would show up at 3 o'clock every Friday afternoon outside Phoenix City Hall and

All dropped off by mom in her SUV. Right, right. The soccer mom is dropping them off. Here's a lunchbox. No. A week in Rikers, it would end. And this is true for a lot of their protests. These people that throw soup at great paintings and museums. One week in Rikers or El Salvador, and it would end.

What do you think about this reporter that joined the protest storming the Columbia Library? Oh, the Bloomberg reporter? Yes, yes. The Bloomberg. Oh, yeah. Bloomberg. Not the Huffington Post. Not the People's Daily Worker. Bloomberg.

And it just shows you that this person didn't just work at Bloomberg. He'd been at The New York Times. He'd been at The Texas Tribune, ProPublica, the full suite of blue chip mainstream media publications. And he was actually the whole time a dangerous radical and frequently writing about the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

It's a public service. I mean, this person has been successfully extracted from the media ecosystem now. Bloomberg parted ways with him. But the problem is there's so many more people that don't necessarily get arrested, but they share the exact same viewpoint and beliefs of this person. So it's a never-ending struggle.

You know, I'm going to throw a curveball into this, but this ties to me, and thank goodness we're finally seeing some accountability for some of these people. This ties to me why so many Trump supporters had an issue with the J6 prosecutions.

Because there were real consequences for the actions at that event that at least the government was trying to impose. Where we see over and over, there's really very little or no effort to impose consequences on these left-wing protesters. No.

No. I mean, we all went through BLM. In New York City, hundreds of BLM rioters, activists had their charges dropped. Hundreds. They just don't prosecute them. And I think that's what was so egregious about January 6th. Obviously, there were people who committed crimes on January 6th, but it's

It's the misapplication of justice. It's a double standard. Why do we only prosecute crimes in one direction? And I am someone that likes prosecuting crimes for everybody. But it undermines, you can't just have a system where only Republicans who commit crimes get prosecuted. And you're just going to create conditions where people are going to want charges dropped for those people as well, which they ultimately were. And I like, see, I think America has a decarceration problem.

We need to incarcerate more. You never hear it, but that's true. We need to incarcerate a lot more people. Yes. Because we're just, I mean, New York City is lawless. If you walk around New York City, it's like we lost a war. There was a graph out the other day that something like 93%.

people in prison are repeat offenders. It was 80% three times. 80% three times or more. We need to bring back three strikes. It needs to become a thing again. Yeah, and just, you're right, exactly. And if you don't want to build new prisons, that's fine. There are countries in Latin America, Central America, where there's plenty of prisons we can send people to. We won't need to build new ones, and they'll probably be a lot cheaper to house. We outsource every other industry in this country. Why don't we outsource the prison industry? I'm in. Fine.

100%. Hey, I want to bring up a subject here about South Africa. We have two minutes in this segment. We'll want to carry over the next one. Boy, the press is really pushing back on Trump on this when it's very obvious there have been a concentrated effort to kill white farmers. I don't care who you are. I've been to South Africa.

I know how the crime is there. It's horrible, right? Oh, yeah. But it's really funny, the pushback. They're just trying to sell America that this isn't happening. It's weird. Oh, yeah. You saw that, watched the press briefing yesterday. You meet Alison Dorr, that question. And she puts in all of these weasel words like, well, could you explain why the president showed false video that was false about the thing that's not happening? Right.

That was like her question. It was a statement. The ferocity and the uniformity of the media pushback on South Africa is very, very interesting. And it reminds me a lot. It feels so similar to like Joe Biden is fine because

Be quiet. Yes. The Hunter Biden laptop is Russian. COVID definitely didn't come from a lab. When you get them, when they're all on the same page and they have that same sort of like militant ferocity, that is when your antenna should be going up. Whoa. Why are they all coordinating this? Why is this so important for them? By the way, you and I can go to Jake Tapper's 2020-19 book launch about the killing of the white farmers in South Africa, which maybe he'll write about.

What South Africa did to the farmers, Tapper, 2029. I think the one thing that we have talked on the show a little bit in the past year about how Trump has changed what you can talk about public, I don't see the Trump administration Republicans backing down on this, which is a good thing. No. I mean, the South African farmer, I mean, watching him in the Oval Office with the president of South Africa and playing that video, it's

it was priceless television. And he's like, I have no idea what this is. Well, these are fringe people. They are not fringe people. One of the kill the white people in that video is Jacob Zuma, who used to be the president of South Africa. Absolutely. John, I got to cut you off. Breaking Battlegrounds coming right back in a moment.

In today's digital world, standing out is more important than ever. Whether you're running for office, leading a cause, or hosting a vote for the cutest pet in town, you need a web domain that's simple, memorable, and action-oriented. You need a .vote web domain. It's clear, impactful, and establishes a lasting presence for your campaign.

Don't wait. Head to GoDaddy.com or Name.com, type in your name.vote, and get started today. Because after all, every pet deserves a web address that's as special as they are. Welcome back to Breaking Battlegrounds. We're continuing on for one more segment with John Levine. Follow him at LevineJonathan on X or at the free beacon. When we went to the break, we were talking about South Africa. One of the things, you know, that how do we square that?

The notion that the persecution that these white farmers are facing in Africa, where they're being killed and being hunted and being driven off their land, they're not qualified for asylum. But a gang member who's afraid of other gang members from El Salvador is. Right.

Right. America has to be a garbage can. We can't we can't possibly bring in people who might work and pay income tax. No, no, no. I only want the I only want the refuse. I only want the gang members. It says on the Statue of Liberty, give us your gang members. No, we don't have to do this. We don't have to be the garbage can for the world. We have a right to take in migrants who might actually make our country better. I'm sorry. You know, the farmers in South Africa.

do very great work. You know what you're not going to hear about from Afrikaners? Grooming gangs. You want to hear about Afrikaner grooming gangs? They're not going to dominate the welfare role. They might actually contribute something useful to our country. So I can't explain why the left hates them, except that there is a part of a broader ideology, as we've talked about already, of anti-white racism on the left. Yes.

And it's a core part of their philosophy. And I'm not saying it's just that, because, you know, the Ukrainians were white and we took many of them as well. But anti-white racism can't be extricated from why progressives hate the Afrikaners. The other element to this, which, you know, the world is allowing this slaughter and them to be driven out. We've seen this story before. White Afrikaner farmers produce the vast majority of South Africa's food crops. Yeah.

Right. And in Zimbabwe, they did a similar kind of land reform deal where they took all of the farmland that was owned by the white farmers and they gave them to just political cronies of Mugabe and the ruling government. And it produced an instant famine, an instant famine. And Zimbabwe was once called the breadbasket of Africa.

but you've got to be over 70 to remember that. And it went into complete famine. It's been in a tailspin ever since, and they've never recovered. And when he talks, that law, that law that allows them to seize land without compensation,

That's the beginning of the end. Because once you start doing that, it's not going to go to qualified black farmers. It's just going to go to like the president. Right. You the hunter, whoever the hunter Biden is out there. Yes. Smoking crack on it. I'm sure. Yes. And you think they're going to grow things? They definitely won't. It'll be here's a plow. Here's the land. They won't know what to do. And you end up with famine because what that guy said in the Oval Office was true without food and without water. That's one of the most important things. Yep.

We got a couple of minutes left here. So let's talk about Trump yesterday barred Harvard from enrolling foreign students. It's not quite all the story. They have to meet some standards to open this back up again. Harvard today pressed for an injunction legally. What is your take on this? Is Trump taking this too far or is he not taking it far enough? Not far enough. I mean, I think what's that line you say? We need a total and complete shutdown until we know what is going on.

I think he actually used an expletive. We need, I don't, the foreign student population, you know, where are these countries that they're coming from? Yes. It's not being, maybe we can open this up in five years, but right now I want American universities to focus on Americans. And it's not just foreigners. I mean, it's, the homegrown population is a very serious issue, but it's,

So it's part of the broader process of reorienting and fixing these universities. And I want Harvard to be great. I really do. I do, too. I want Harvard to be a great institution. I'm not like anti-Harvard for kicks. But there's so much that needs to get unwound. And this is part of the unwinding. Well, and these international students are also part of their profit-making scheme. I mean, you know, I saw an estimate this morning that they're getting from, you know, 27% of their enrollments form college.

And that 27% provides $500 million annually. Right. They will sing a song and dance about diversity and multiculturalism, but it really is all about the money, which is fine. The money is important. And that does go to subsidized Americans. But

We need to reorient the schools. We can't have foreign malign influences at Harvard University. I'm so sorry. I agree with that. By the way, don't you find it funny that Harvard keeps talking about educational independence, academic independence, but please give us your federal grants?

Yeah, I mean, Harvard is doing all of this because they're dedicated to discriminating. They want to continue to discriminate against white people. I mean, that's the root of a lot of the current troubles that they have. But they don't need to take federal money. They have a $60 billion endowment. They're a very wealthy institution. They don't need federal money if they want to continue to do this. It's just crazy.

I, you, me, the taxpaying public of this country shouldn't have to subsidize Harvard bringing in God knows where people from Palestine or wherever else and teaching them that America is an evil country, that white people are evil. Why am I paying for this? Why are you paying for this? Nobody in this country should be. John Levine, thank you so much. We love having you on the program, folks. Stay tuned. We have Lynn O'Donnell coming up next.

with some amazing reporting on former Afghan military pilots who assisted the U.S. here in the and now here in this country are stuck. Amazing story. You're going to want to stay tuned for that. Breaking Battlegrounds coming right back.

Old Glory Depot isn't just a website. It's a movement. Featuring unapologetically conservative shirts and gear, we're proud to deliver 100% American-made products. From premium materials to bold designs, every purchase supports American jobs and celebrates our country. Show your pride, support your values, and shop oldglorydepot.com because patriotism never goes out of style.

Welcome back to Breaking Battlegrounds with yours, Chuck Warren. I'm Sam Stone. Our next guest up today, friend of the program, Lynn O'Donnell, author, journalist, and broadcaster specializing in South and Central Asian affairs, war, and terrorism. Follow her work on Substack at lynnodonnell.substack.com or on X at Lynn K. O'Donnell. She just did an amazing piece.

In partnership here with Breaking Battlegrounds, from Blackhawks to Uber, Afghanistan's Top Gun struggle for new flight paths continues.

Lynn, tell our listeners about the story, about what's going on behind the scenes for those who maybe weren't here for your first episode with us. Yeah, thanks. Hi, it's good to be back with you. I came out to Phoenix to meet with Afghans who had been combat helicopter pilots, and they evacuated to Arizona with the help of Jack McCain in the weeks after the collapse of

of the Afghan Republic to Taliban control in August and September 2021. And altogether, a few hundred pilots and their families went to the United States and about 50 went to Arizona. And they're still there now. And it's been a pretty tough transition for them because of the bureaucracy and

and various other things that have happened in their lives. A couple of them died, accidents, car accidents. I think one person drowned. But they have largely been left to their own devices, driving Ubers and scooters

working as dishwashers in restaurants. There's a lot of people in Phoenix who've been very kind to them and helping them settle in and transition, getting their kids into school, finding them doctors and medical care, and also trying to get them back in the air certified so that they can fly again because that's what they want to do. They want to be back in the air.

So pilots like to – pilots love to fly. It's what it is. One of the things in your article that I hadn't really thought about that was striking in terms of what a valuable asset these folks could be if we'd get the red tape out of their way is how many of them have significantly more flying time and experience in the last decade and combat experience than American pilots were getting. Yeah.

Well, yeah, that was pointed out to me as well. There was one guy that I spoke to, Colonel Salim Fariki, who flew 5,000 missions.

in a Blackhawk. It's really quite astounding the hours these guys put in. They were not just working with the US military, they were doing medivac backup, troop transportation. So yeah, a lot of them have hours surpassing their US colleagues simply because of the conditions that they were fighting in. Yeah. Yeah.

How are their children adapting to the country? Well, kitties are kind of resilient. They're doing well. So I did meet one family with three little kids and they're just bouncing around as kitties do. They go to school, they're loving it, they're learning English, picking it up like sponges. I think probably the most difficult thing

transition experience is for the women because it was never really part of their game plan to leave home. They are largely stay-at-home mums anyway. That's how they lived in Afghanistan with the extended family. Now they find themselves

largely as homebound, looking after kids when the kids are home from school, not speaking English, finding it difficult to adjust. So it's been much slower. It's been nearly four years, you know, and it's very slow when you're isolated.

no matter what the circumstances are, to learn another language or to get to know people. So, yeah, for the women, the wives, the moms, it's been very difficult. But for the men, it's been demoralizing. Do they have, has the community tried for these women who don't speak English, are there opportunities for them to learn English? Are there opportunities for them to get out? I mean, what's going on with that?

Yeah, of course there are opportunities for them to learn English. It's making and finding the time. It's also being able to get around. You know, they don't drive. And getting...

access to transport is also part of the difficulty for... You know, I live in the UK and it's difficult for the women of men who were part of the government or military who've moved here to get around as well. So first you have to learn English and then you have to learn how to drive. And so those two things...

come in that sequence and that isolation is compounded in in you know big American cities like Phoenix by not being able to get around easily so it's just a matter of time and

But it's taking a long time. And of course, their immigration status is a little bit wobbly. There's a lot of uncertainty. There's the stress and, you know, compounding depression that goes with that as well. So, yeah, it's difficult.

You know, I can't paint it in any other way. It's been really very difficult for all these people. We're with Lynn O'Donnell. She wrote an article, From Blackhawks to Uber, Afghanistan's Top Gun Struggle to Find New Flight Paths. You spent a lot of time in Afghanistan. Do you see any scenario where these people can go back to Afghanistan and live a life or not be killed?

Oh, no, I don't. At the moment, it's and I've written about this as well. It's especially dangerous for people who were in the armed forces. Pakistan and Iran are neighbouring east and west Afghanistan. And so a lot of people fled over the borders into those countries. And both Iran and Pakistan have died.

policies of deportation and repatriation.

And many people who were in the military, whether they were special forces or army or air force, also police, are being hunted down and murdered by the Taliban when they go back. And those who never left the country, many have been in hiding. I'm in touch with a lot of them and moving around all the time because they are

being systematically hunted down by the Taliban. And when they are found, they are murdered. You know, it's very, very dangerous. It's a dangerous place to go back to. There seems to be a growing narrative that Afghanistan is safe, that the economy is stabilising.

that it's okay for women. You know, there have been a couple of articles published recently, and the Department of Homeland Security has made an announcement that it's better to go home than stay here. It's a safe place. You'll be okay. But it really isn't. I don't know where they're getting their information about this. That is just a lie, and this is a great stain on the United States. Sam, go ahead. You had a question. Well, so one of the things I've been wondering is,

Why isn't there some sort of concentrated government effort to cut the red tape to make their transition in this country work more effectively? Because at the end of the day, we have shortages of civilian pilots and airlines and helicopter operations all over this country. These people are needed everywhere.

But it doesn't sound like there's any actual organized effort. They're not only needed. We owe them. Yeah. This isn't needed. This is owed. This is honor.

And I expect my country to honor our commitments to people who spilled blood next to us. Yes. Yeah. And very many of them did. More than 100,000 Afghan people were killed and 75,000 of those were in the military fighting the Taliban alongside troops from your country and my country. So, yeah, I kind of, I do, I unequivocally agree with you on that. But, yeah,

You know, it's easy to make laws and rules and regulations. It's very difficult to get over them, break them, push them aside. And one instance that I was given by one of the chaps who's working with them was that a national civilian air ambulance service contacted the people who are working with the Afghan pilots in Arizona and said,

We'll take 50. You know, we need pilots. We'll take 50. Are they authorized and trained to use night vision goggles? And of course they are because they would, you know, a lot of the flight time was at night and they were military guys trained by and equipped by America solely. Right.

And then it came to pass that it is illegal for non-US citizens to use night vision goggles in the United States. And so this particular air ambulance service that wanted to take them on, needed to take them on, couldn't because of this regulation against foreign citizens, non-American citizens using night vision. Do you know the origins of that regulation? Is it because of terrorism? No.

Well, no, I don't. I didn't look into that because it didn't come up as I was writing the story. I just, I didn't put that part in the story. But, you know, rules are rules. And I remember when I was in Afghanistan covering the war that night vision goggles were a very, very sensitive issue and thing. And they were very closely guarded. Use of them was restricted and

And they were highly prized by the Taliban. And so they did go missing now and then. And it was a hugely big deal when the Taliban turned up with night vision goggles because it was only one place that they could come from, and that was from the American supply. So it didn't surprise me that there was a sensitivity, but it does disappoint me that men who were trained at a cost, according to the U.S. government,

government figures of around about a million dollars each. You know, it costs a lot of money to train a helicopter pilot. And that money was spent. It was taxpayers' money. And yet there is no return on that. You know what I mean? Where it is needed. Yeah, it's infuriating. And the red tape has been more than infuriating and frustrating for the people in Arizona who are working with and trying to get these guys vaccinated.

settled and back in the air where they all desperately want to be like you said they're a tribe um flying people love to fly and they understand that about each other um but yeah it's it's been one of the guys that flight vector um partners who's you know got a flight academy outside of phoenix and working with them said if it hadn't been for the government we would have you know dealt with this in 90 days

You had in the article, you wrote that the person you were interviewing felt that the Taliban was watching them. Do they feel there's Taliban informants here in the United States watching these families?

Yes, they do. And I've had that experience with many people living in many countries. The Taliban have eyes everywhere. I have friends here who have been attacked physically. One guy almost stabbed to death by Taliban sympathisers. It's a very dangerous situation.

situation for people like him. And he was very brave to talk to me and go on the record. And one of the reasons that a lot of the others wouldn't was because the Taliban are watching, they are listening, they've all got family back in Afghanistan, who are vulnerable to Taliban retribution. And that retribution is usually violence and death. Lynn, we have only two minutes left here. I want to

I want to ask how these folks feel about America. Is there a sense of betrayal for what happened at the end when it was fairly obvious we could have held the status quo in Afghanistan with a few thousand troops?

It's got to be sort of mixed emotions for them, how they feel about this country. Yes, I think you're right, and that's natural. It was a terrible rout, an awful collapse. It was built in as soon as the Doha Agreement was signed by President Trump and the Taliban leaders. The collapse of the republic was inevitable, and it only took a year.

These guys fought right up until the end. Colonel Fakhiri, who I spoke with and quote in the story, was really in two minds. Do I leave? Do I stay? Do I stay and fight? He's from the Panjshir Valley, which is the place in the highlands in central Afghanistan that held out against the Taliban during their first regime. And he went there and he met with the

the republic leaders who were hiding out there and planning and he said I realized that they had no backup they had no capacity to fight to stand and so I decided that the best thing for me and my family and my men was to leave their gratitude and their relief about

being out of Afghanistan and in the United States, which is a wonderful place to be, and Arizona of all places, just glorious. The lifestyle is great. They do feel well looked after and well placed. The trauma of losing your country is...

We could never, we can't even possibly begin to empathize with that. But they know that they can't go back and what they want is to build a life and be useful. And we need them to do that. Lynn O'Donnell, thank you so much. We always love having you on the program. Folks, make sure you're downloading that podcast, BreakingBattlegrounds.vote. We're back next week. I say this every election cycle and I'll say it again.

The 2024 political field was intense, so don't get left behind in 2025. If you're running for office, the first thing on your to-do list should be securing your name on the web. With the yourname.votedomain from godaddy.com, you'll stand out and make your mark. Don't wait. Get yours today.

Welcome to the podcast portion of Breaking Battle Rounds with yours Chuck Warren. I'm Sam Stone and you're going to want to stay tuned for the end because as always we've got Kylie's Corner coming in and it's coming in hot today from what I understand. Lots of mayhem. Lots of mayhem. Okay. But first let's talk about some mayhem in the markets. Our next guest up today Gary Gigi seasoned financial expert former mayor and president of Gigi Capital Management.

He's coming on to talk a little bit about what has gone on in the markets and in the economy since Trump declared Liberation Day. The stock market tanked. The stock market rebounded when the tariffs were tamped back down or withdrawn. And now we have European Union today. Gary, how's this affecting the markets? A lot of volatility, you guys. And the reason for this is back in the first Trump administration, he had tariffs. Inflation was almost non-existent.

Biden had tariffs, massive inflation, but I would argue that was due to excessive government spending as opposed to

the same type of tariffs that were going on. The reason it's different this time is because it's much larger than what the market had expected. So on Liberation Day, the markets reacted negatively and profoundly so. And so since then, the market is trying to figure out what this all means. And I don't think that the market has figured it out yet. So as you mentioned, to

Today, President Trump had talked about tariffs and specifically Apple. And if iPhones were not made that were sold in the U.S., were not made in the U.S., then he's going to impose a 25 percent tariff on that. And so that didn't go well with the markets. The European Union and the

the talks there are not going well according to Howard Letnick who's the Secretary of Commerce. So all of this is creating instability and chaos in the markets.

Why is this important? Because if you are invested in the market, you have a couple of approaches. One of those approaches is I'm going to try and outguess what the president's going to do. And I'm going to sell it when I think there's a high point. I'm going to try and get in a low point. I think that's a fool's errand. And so the reason I think that is because in every given year,

the majority of the gains or losses occur in a handful of days. If you miss those days, you have missed your performance for the year. So when tariffs started to have a little bit more clarity after Liberation Day, there was a

Massive gain in the market that was approximately a 10 or 12 percent gain that day You missed that and you missed the majority of the gains for this year And so since then the markets came back almost all what it's lost it had gained it all back earlier this week But then the market selling off so I think we're close to where the markets had been prior to that

but we're not quite there yet. So a lot of volatility for you guys. Talking about Europe and the issue with the European Union, Gary, is the European Union a rational economic actor? Because at the same time, we're apparently having difficulties in the negotiation with Trump. They're opening their doors to trade with China without getting any concessions in return. They've tanked their economy with incredibly high energy prices and regulation. It

Is this a market we should be Trump should be really focusing on or should his focus be more on other parts of the world? You know, I think he should be focused on all of it, Sam. And the reason for that is because we like some of their some of their products. The problem is.

is that the European Union, which sounds like it's one entity, is really not. We have really good relations with Italy. Their Prime Minister, Giorgio Maloney, and Trump get along really well. But there's other parts of the European Union that

kind of want to give the president the middle finger, if you will. And so it's hard for the European Union to all get on the same page. And I think that's why we're having some problem with the talks right now. At least that's what I'm getting from Secretary Letnick, is that you can't get them all on the same page. And until that happens,

then these negotiations are going to continue. And I think you're going to hear rumors that they're going well, then other rumors that they've stalled, which is what we're hearing right now. Where do you see this economy going? Let's say that within the next six months, Trump can settle down the terror fight. Where does the economy go from there?

So I don't have a crystal ball, but what I will tell you is that I'm pretty solid that I think that the economy has the underpinnings of strength. The job market, which is super important, that seems to be steady and people that want jobs seem to be able to get them. There is some potential softening.

In that, but still the job market seems to be decent and you're you generally don't see a recession when you have a healthy job market like we have right now. So for that reason, I'm inclined to think that these tariff talks at some point.

are going to be resolved and the economy, I think if it maintains its strength, is going to look pretty good in six months. I guess I'm a little bit more comfortable saying I think the economy in 2026 perhaps looks even better because earnings from corporations which are forecasted not just for this year but for next year look decent. And so unless things fall apart,

then the economy is going to continue to plot along. And next year, corporations, I think, will be doing even better because by next year, the tariffs should be resolved. For those getting cold feet and want to get out of the market, what is the advice you would give them?

Yeah, as I mentioned earlier, I think that is an understandable emotion, but I don't think it's the right emotion. Because if you, again, if you miss out on the half dozen days during the year when the market's gains are all included, which means that all of the other days are pretty unimportant.

The ticket that you pay to get the higher gains in the market is volatility. So you have to buy that ticket in order to get better returns. So how do you deal with it? Essentially, if you're younger, you should have heavy exposure to the equity markets, which are stocks. As you get older and looking at retirement, you should still have exposure to equities and stocks, but you just don't have as much.

And so you do have some exposure to bonds, which creates a little bit more stability and income. But perhaps you've got, you know, maybe up to 3% to 5% of your portfolio in gold. And so in times of volatility, gold typically does well. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies seem to be in that same area as well as that they do well when there's a little bit of volatility. So as long as you've got some diversification,

then you should be able to make it through these times of economic uncertainty. Do you recommend your clients have some crypto in their asset portfolio? You know, as long as it's small, then I think that's okay. It isn't an active part of what I do. And the reason for that is that there's still some things that are uncertain about crypto, you guys, which is that there are so many

cryptocurrencies. And so banks have talked about getting into the cryptocurrency space. And if they're going to do that, they're not going to do it through these obscure

cryptocurrencies they're going to do it through Bitcoin and other you know larger larger players so I do purchase cryptocurrencies for myself monthly just because I believe in diversification but it's not a big part and I don't actively do it I just understand if a client wants to have part of it in their portfolio keep it small the same way that you do have

gold small and reason for gold being a small portfolio it doesn't pay dividends it doesn't pay interest and typically takes the escalator up at the elevator down which means step by step gold goes up but when it goes down it goes down heavy and

Cryptocurrencies can be the same way. So that tells me that you just need to have limited exposure if you want some. We're with Gary Gigi. He is a financial expert, former mayor and president of Gigi Capital Management. Gary, last question before we let you leave. And Gary will be on with us a couple times a month. We were talking about

digital currency being a small portion of your portfolio, what should the breakdown be for our audience that's starting to invest? What should their breakdown be of stocks, bonds, crypto, whatever? What would you recommend for a first-time person? Great. Love that question. So let's just say someone is 30 years old. Their exposure to stocks should be the majority of that, roughly 60% to 70%.

closer to 70 percent and then um for the other part of it about 20 of it should be into bonds typically treasuries and then the other 10 can be five percent into gold and five percent into crypto um and and i would like to see um

the total of gold and crypto being closer to 5 as opposed to 5% each. So doing that creates diversification. One of the most important things to consider is that you can't control whether the market goes up. The only thing you can control are your fees, so you want to keep your fees low.

Folks, like we said, Gary, he is a financial expert. He's with Gigi Capital Management. He's going to be on the show twice a month. Gary, next show I'd like you to talk about to our audience who's 50 and has not started to save yet. Let's talk about some plans for them to get their crap together and get going on this, all right? Absolutely. Have a good weekend, guys. You too. Take care. Talk to you next time. Thanks a million. Thanks, Gary.

Well, yeah, I wanted to bring Gary on. I've known Gary a long time. He actually handles my money. As a matter of fact, I took credit to Gary on this whole Trev stuff. So I don't open the statements. Okay. Because especially with what's going on, I don't want to do that. So I finally got the –

to open one the other day. And it's gone up 28% since December. So whatever Gary's doing, he can just keep doing it for me. So anyway, Jeremy, let's tee off Kylie's Corner here with a little music to get our folks ready to go. ♪ Talking about crimes and the ones committed ♪ ♪ Murder and mayhem in a world of sin and awe ♪ ♪ Kylie's on a roll ♪

Welcome to my corner.

Today, I have an update. Well, last week, I want to touch about last week, because last week, we thought there was some stuff going on with the Karen Reid case. And I've decided that we're no longer going to be talking about this until it's over. Because there's too much back and forth. There's too many notes to the judge. And there's too many judge comments to the jury. Like yesterday, she pulled the jury aside and had to ask them to make sure they weren't all doing outside research on their own. So there's just too much going on. I think there's

Something to be said about the fan involvement. And fans are involved in this. I want to give an update on the Canada case because the fans are now involved in this as well. And I just think there's something about fans of everything.

fanatics of everything that are just getting a little bit out of control. I think it's an addiction and they're trying to fill a void. So, yeah, continue. Go get a hobby. I don't know. But, okay, so the Canada case, if you don't remember what this was, I talked about it two weeks ago. Go listen to it because it's very dark and very deep. But Carter Hart, Alex Fermentin, Cal Foot, and Dylan, or Dylan Duby, and Michael McLeod, five guys from the 2018 World Championship Canada team are on trial for sexual assault. And Michael McLeod actually has a second trial

charge of sexual assault for abating the whole thing. And when I went through this case, I talked about the first jury that was originally selected was dismissed, and we didn't know why because of Canada's publication ban laws. But now the second jury has now been dismissed, and we now know why the first jury was dismissed, and it was because...

When the first jury went out, were dismissed for a lunch break, one of the defense lawyers approached them while they were ordering something and they were like, oh, there was a lot of head shaking going on during the prosecution's intro or whatever, opening statements. So then that jury then reported that to the judge and the judge dismissed them because they felt like the defense was... That is so stupid. I can't even... That's weird. So now that the second one was dismissed...

They were dismissed because Alex Fermenton, the first one, we don't know which defense lawyer it was because all five guys have a different defense team. But this one was Alex Fermenton's and Daniel Brown and Hillary Dudding. They were apparently whispering and laughing about a juror, which made that juror uncomfortable. So then they reported that to...

And the judge then dismissed them to which now the judge says, no more jury. I will just rule on this myself. And they're moving forward with no jury. So now there's not. Oh, they're going to jail. Yeah. So now they're not. There's no publication ban law.

which has opened this up for people to talk about this more in Canada. And these fans are now showing up and they now know where the courtroom is. They now know where, and they're trying to figure out who this victim is because we only know her as EM. So they're trying to get photos of her. And I guess there's been three or four different instances of people trying, of like cops having to intervene with people trying to figure out who this woman is. That's accusing these guys. we don't disclose the name. Yes. Yeah. So now that,

For some reason, now that there's no jury, the publication ban law is lifted. Based on what you told me about some of the transcripts and what was said at the bar, my assumption, sadly, is that she does not want her name disclosed because I think there will be a lot of people popping out of the woodwork about her weekend activities. Is that fair to say? I don't know. I don't know. But I did learn something else that Team Canada –

had paid 21 other sexual misconduct cases, have paid them off and just kept them quiet since 1990. Team Canada. Yeah. Okay, how many? 21. 21 since 1990. So that's essentially almost one a year.

Okay, no, a little more. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like a half a year. I mean, that's just what's come forward. Yes. I mean, you still have to – I mean, it takes a lot of fortitude to come forward on this. Because again, we learned in Canada, like I couldn't press charges. The Crown has to push sexual assault charges. So I could go to the – report it. But they have to bring it forward to do that. So probably double and triple on that. Yeah. Good grief. So they said this is going to be eight weeks.

They're not derailing it. They continued right. The jury left. They continued right. They picked up right where they left. Like an entire program full of Baltimore's kicker. So what do you think? What is your guess being a crime storyteller? What's the conclusion to this, do you believe? My conclusion is what my father always tells me, and nothing good happens after 10 p.m. laughter

I think it makes more sense the older I get. It's true, especially in bars. Yeah. That's the hard part is we did discuss...

I'm not putting any blame on her. But we did discuss she had over 10 drinks. Well, no, but that's the point. I'm not blaming her. She should not have had this happen to her. But any decision-making after 10 drinks is never anything that anybody is going to be proud of. That's why I'm saying you really don't want her name out because then you're a bunch of people, men and women, say, well, no, she goes to bars and has 10, 12 drinks, whatever, all the time. And so you don't want that because that will influence the jury. Which there is none now. But yes.

That would influence them. So that's my point. It wasn't guilting her. It's just like, obviously when you've done that, it's not a first time. Do you go have 10 drinks in a bar? No, no, no. How old is she? Yeah, because you wouldn't be standing up. How old is she supposedly? I think 21 or 22. Young. Oh boy, she's young. Good grief. Yeah, it's very young. Well, remember though in Canada too, it's 18 to drink. Yeah. What? So the bar scene starts at 18. And it's cold. I did not know this. And it's cold. Yeah. So you're drinking a lot. Well, and they don't really ID. Yeah.

I could have been going to Canada this whole time. Maybe they do now, but when I was growing up, they most certainly did not. We were closer to Mexico. We just needed to go down to Mexico. So, Sam, did you see the movie Birds with Alfred Hitchcock? Yeah. Kylie has experienced this at her house. Really? I am being tortured right now. Like, tortured. So, a mockingbird. I have now found out that...

And I have found out so much about this. So I'm trying to sit by my pool peacefully on Sunday night or Sunday, you know, in the middle of the day. And this bird is diving down, attacking my dog. And my dog's just like whacking it away, like moving. And then he's like running inside and this bird will not stop. And I'm like, I'll just go inside, give it a break.

and we'll just move forward right so the next day i'm like let's i completely forget about it i go to take out the trash and this bird dives down at me and i'm like what is this bird doing like this is crazy so then i've noticed my dogs are outside it's attacking my dogs i'm like okay i have an upset bird for some reason so i call um animal control or no no i just i google bird removal right i didn't know what this bird was i ordered bird removal and this company shows up and they're like

well, ma'am, I hate to inform you, but this is a federally protected bird and we cannot touch this. And I'm like, what do you mean? It's, and it was diving down, attacking him. He's like swatting it away. And he's like, well, because it's really aggressive, I can try to call in and help you with this. But I have learned that there's a migratory bird treaty act, which protects over a thousand birds. And, um,

We could not have this bird removed from my home because I did call the wildlife services again. They're like, ma'am, this is federally protected. I'm like, OK, I understand that. But this is now affecting the quality of my life because I simply can't even take out this morning. I was taking out the trash and it's attacking me. And I'm like, I'm not touching your nest. And I went to her house to talk. We're talking over some stuff or some work for another podcast. And I've witnessed this bird. Yeah.

And this bird does have a role in a future horror movie. Yes. This bird is very protective. And you literally cannot kill a mockingbird. Yeah. I'm actually just Googling because there's a hilarious scene in some rom-com about this. Oh.

where the bird is driving this woman nuts and she goes to the store and asks to buy a shotgun and she says, I just need one shell. The guy thinks she's going to kill some guy and she's like, no, no, I just need to kill this bird, this mockingbird. And he takes the gun back. He's like, you can't do that. They're protected. Yeah. I remember when I went, I was like, this bird, I'm trying to get rid of it. And I was like, don't. She was going to get a BB gun. That was her answer to the problem. So it is...

In all bold, illegal to harm, harass, or destroy a mockingbird's nest or eggs. You want to borrow my cat? Apparently they attack those too. Oh shoot, there was one other thing. But the things that I can do, these are my rights. Stay in your house. Those were the mockingbird's rights. Stay in your house. I can identify the nest. I can use an umbrella for protection or a hat. I can alter my route, which is my home. I literally can't leave my home. It attacks my car, which is fine. Okay.

And then I could be patient. That's what it says on the website? It says be patient. So in extreme cases, which I do feel like I have an extreme case, that I can file for a permit. So I did call and try to get this permit. And they're like, it most likely will not, you won't get it. But on their website, it says, no, that permits are rarely issued for non-emergency situations, which I think this is an emergency. But...

Processing times can be lengthy and often longer than the nesting period itself. She has sent me videos of this. This is a very aggressive mockingbird. I will put it on my... I could simply just walk outside. And it's gaining more territory. So it used to just have my pool area.

The pool area was fine. You know what? Fine. Just have that for the next 12 days. I did. Yeah. So I submitted the, cause I got photos of the babies. Well, the guy did that, that I called out. And so I submitted that to chat GPT and said, how long do I have till these babies leave the nest? And it said I have between 12 and 15 days because it said they thought it was about five days old. So we love chat GPT for that. I think I've suffered about six days now of this. So I just have about six days left and we'll see where,

where that takes me. You know, this mockingbird, so it just keeps expanding its real estate empire. Oh, yeah, that's where I was. Maybe it's part of Trump International in the bird world, right? Yes, it does have the pool area and now she has since come into my patio area and she's moving closer. Yesterday, she was fairly close to the door where like I slammed it shut and left the dogs out there to fend for themselves.

Your two neurotic doodles are out there. One just got neutered yesterday. But I'm like, what if it has diseases? And he's like flapping his wings on my dogs. And then now they're like bringing them in. I don't know. But as our first guest said, everything has a season. So I just will let this mockingbird have it. There's a lot going on over there. Yeah. And you cannot kill a mockingbird. And I cannot kill a mockingbird. This is what we've learned today. I will just let her raise her babies in peace and I won't use my pool. She won this time.

Sounds like the rules are stacked that she'll win every time. No, no, no. I now know that I'm supposed to do preventative things to prevent this. What are you supposed to do to prevent it? Keep my bushes trimmed. Make sure if I see these things building up. By the way, I have another nest, but this mockingbird, that one's not me. She's chilling. She just hangs out. Like a little sparrow or something? No, no, no. She's a mockingbird. They're both mockingbirds.

Oh, so she's the calmer mockingbird. That's why I thought I was doing something kind by calling and saying we should relocate this nest because I'm clearly stressing her out. She's stressing me out. This isn't a great living relationship, so we should move someone. I had a crow that kept coming and landing on my window and pecking where my cat was sitting in the window. And crows get big. Yeah. And so it kept doing that for weeks and weeks and weeks. And one day I was home.

And I was cleaning the house, so I had the window all the way open. Did it get in? It jumped on the ledge, and that cat came out of nowhere. No more crow. Are crows protected? I hope not. No. Okay. Poor crows. I mean, it was a lot of feathers in the house. I wish it was those cute little green parakeet birds you see in Scottsdale, but not this one. No.

What are those, by the way? Do we know? No, I just think someone let a bird out and they just started producing. I mean, that's possible. Like the pythons in Florida. Somebody let a couple of pythons out and now they're all over Florida. I don't know, but those ones are so cute. They're like little green birds. So do you have anything else for Kylie's Corner today or is that just the bird from hell? Honestly, I got distracted. I don't even know what else I have to talk about. All right. Well, I want to wrap up here since we talked about Afghanistan with Lynn.

The colonel who was banished for condemning Biden's Afghanistan withdrawal, he was actually court-martialed. Trump has him now investigating the withdrawal. His name's Lieutenant Colonel Stu Schiller. He was thrown in the brag, actually.

He was drummed out of the U.S. Marine Corps for condemning the chaotic military withdrawal from Afghanistan. Almost four years later, he is part of the team investigating the Biden administration's handling of the evacuation that led to the deaths of 13 U.S. troops.

And then to quote him, ironic that I will be investigating who should be held accountable for Afghanistan. Lieutenant Colonel Schiller said he was handed a senior role at the Pentagon by Donald Trump this week. Wow. So I wish him the best because that has been an underreported story. Yes. And again, as we told...

It was a stain how we left the country. Doesn't mean we need to be there for everybody. There's things we should have done. Keeping 2,500 troops there should have been done. Well, for 2,500 troops, you could have maintained the status quo in that country going forward. Or at least start doing – Right. A long build into it. And what we're doing to these people who fought alongside our troops and who love their American friends –

Shame on the United States. Get your crap together. If I hear one more thing about government talking about regulations, bureaucracy, just destroying things and delaying things, I'm going to scream because this is uncalled for. It's uncalled for. And I mean, come on. It's so counterproductive to the actual interest of the American people in this country. I mean, you hear the story about we need the company needs 50 pilots to fly air ambulances.

But they can't hire them? Well, and by the way, I looked that up. Night vision goggles are not universally allowed for pilots in the United States.

particularly for commercial aviation due to several factors, cost, which they've already done, training equipment, cockpit integration challenges, and limitations in depth perception. What that simply tells me is that it's a bunch of bureaucratic gobbledygook from the Department of Transportation that just needs to be get rid of right now. Right. That's exactly 100%. More regulation keeping 50 people who could probably save lives. Right. Right.

All right. Well, folks, great show today. On behalf of all our guests and Jeremy and Kylie and the Mockingbird who wants to kill her, Sam and myself, we hope you have a great weekend. Again, visit us at BreakingBattlegrounds.vote. Also, wherever you get your podcasts, Apple, Spotify, Sirius, etc. Have a great weekend.