← Independent Americans with Paul Rieckhoff
Independent Americans with Paul Rieckhoff
315. California is Burning. And America is on Fire. The Country Braces for Trump. Congress is Sworn In. Zuckerberg Bends the Knee. Hegseth Hearings Loom. CFB and NFL Playoff Picks.
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Power by righteous media. Welcome to independent Americans. Welcome to episode 315 and welcome to 2025. It is starting off hot. Literally we felt like the world was on fire going into the holidays. And now we come back and California is literally on fire. And I think that's what we got to strap in for and be ready for throughout this entire year. And I'm going to try to help you get through it with an independent, no bullshit, outsider's view on all the stuff that's going down in news, politics and national security. It's a new year, it's a new normal and we've got a new format. So welcome to everybody tuning in on YouTube. We're going to try to post every single week here. And you can of course Follow us at IndependentAmericans US. You can follow us on all the social media platforms. And coming up in the next couple of weeks, we're going to do more episodes, more frequent hits and guests as you have come to expect for the last five years of this show. So we're gonna, so I'm gonna break out a couple of different segments. I'm gonna read your fan mail and play your voicemails and we're gonna rip into the most important issues happening in America and not just cover what's happening now, but cover what's happening next. Let's start out with a new segment. Number one, California is on fire. Literally all the way across the Pacific Palisades down to Malibu, places I've visited many times. I have many friends that are there staying in hotels, covering it as journalists and responding as firefighters and EMTs. And this is in my view, a 911 moment. It is a catastrophic, game changing moment for our country and maybe for the world. I don't think everybody fully appreciates it yet, but they will in the days to come. And like every crisis, it presents an opportunity. And here's what I mean. Now is the time for Biden or Trump to issue a national call to serve as firefighters. This is something Bush never did after 9 11. Issue a call to a generation of young men and women who want to step up and serve and follow it up with a national plan that includes things like a national pay increase across the board, health and life insurance benefits, child care. We need to create a generation of people who are ready to respond to a generation of crises because wildfires, natural disasters are going to be our new normal. And instead of fighting Greenland or Canada or Mexico or, or Panama, we should be fighting fires. We don't need a war with Greenland. We need a war on forest fires and wildfires and all the other crises that are going to hit us. And if we're going to go to war, we need an army. So now is the time for Biden or Trump or shit. It's New Year's resolutions, maybe both of them together, to issue a true national call to service for a new generation of helpers who can run in with when others are running out. America needs a new generation of helpers to step up and answer the call. A new greatest generation. We've got to start that by building it now. All right, what else is going on? Congress is officially sworn in. Get ready for a totally new shit show there. Trump will take power in less than two weeks. Inauguration will happen on ironically or tragically, MLK Day. Also, the national championship football game will be that night. So there'll be no shortage of security concerns and no shortage of emotional tumult. And I will get to a new segment later in the show, a segment where I'm actually making sports predictions. Not enough sports in the world. So I'm going to give you a little bit more. We're going to intersect politics and news and sports. I'm going to give you my predictions on the college football playoffs and a big week of NFL playoffs that's kicking off tomorrow, which is is also my birthday. Happy birthday also to Dave Matthews, my friend Aaron Manken, Patrick Campbell, and anyone else whose birthday is on January 9th. And I'm recording today on January 8th, which is David Bowie day. We're going to need a lot more Dave Matthews and David Bowie in the days to come to help us navigate through it all. But other top topics, what else we got? Zuckerberg is going full elon. He has decided to remove all content moderation, which means he's taking all guardrails off and the entire world will look like the comments section on your Facebook page. The Internet is gonna look more and more like X. And that starts now with Zuckerberg being the latest tech billionaire to bend the knee and try to make some money and coalesce around Trump and removing content moderation from all things meta. So belated Merry Christmas to all of you who think that free speech is somehow intertwined with this bullshit. But it's not. This is just letting the guardrails off and making everything a free for all. So stay vigilant people, as I always recommend. But especially now, what else is coming up? Next Tuesday, Pete Hegseth's secretary of defense confirmation hearings are scheduled to begin. I will be responding all over the place in the news and I will try to maybe give you some quick hits as well. I'm going to give you key analysis on this confirmation hearing and the others to come, especially the the ones focused on national security like Cash Patel for FBI, which is fucking ridiculous. Tulsi Gabbard for Director of National Intelligence, which is fucking ridiculous. And Doug Collins for Secretary of Veterans affairs, which is equally ridiculous but absolutely not covered by anyone in the press. But we will cover it here with our uniquely independent, no bullshit perspective. Moving right along. I hope you had a great holiday season. If you missed our replay episodes over the holidays, coming off of Jason Alexander's outstanding Festivus episode, our fifth annual Festivus episode. Go back and check that out. If you haven't heard it, then we followed up with a really great conversation. One of my favorites with the great Scott Galloway. Prop G himself breaks down his predictions from last year for the year before and hopefully he'll be back soon to join us again. But we got a big 2025 full of interesting and exciting guests, a lot of returning champions, a lot of new contenders, and much more. As always, let me know what you think. Go to IndependentAmericans US hit me up on all the social medias. Yes, I am still on Twitter and X. I kind of feel like it's a place to fight behind enemy lines. It's going on Fox News, but on the Internet. I'm also on Blue sky, which, which you haven't heard I am a fan of. I think it's the closest thing to compete with Twitter yet. So if you're not on Blue sky, find me over there and help build an alternative to the shit show dumpster fire that is Twitter or now X. You know, every show I say look for the helpers. Mr. Rogers said when things get really bad, look for the helpers, people who are running in when others run out. And I'm going to ask you to look again to a friend of this show, an organization and a group of leaders that you've heard about before. Team Rubicon, the disaster relief organization, is actually headquartered in Southern California, not far from where the Pacific Palisades fires are happening. And our frequent returning champion guest Jake Wood, the founder of Team Rubicon, has been in touch with me and he says the Team Rubicon crew is getting ready to go in as soon as possible. I'm sure volunteers are already in there or getting close. So check out Team Rubicon as a way to support, donate and volunteer. Not just for this one, but for the hurricanes that happened last year and the hurricanes and wildfires and whatever disasters that are sure to come. Things are tough out there, but there are tough people stepping up and I want you to support them. Look for the helpers. They're out there and be a helper because we need them now more than ever. All right. I'm not sponsored by FanDuel or anyone else, but I think that there is much more to talk about in the world of sports than ever before and frankly, it's fun and I love it. And if you haven't been watching the college football and NFL stuff happening over the holidays, you have been missing out all the way back to an eight overtime game between Georgia and Georgia Tech on Thanksgiving night. I think it was army lost a tough one to Navy that you probably heard about. But every night over the holiday there was a really great college football game and it's going to culminate in the semifinals happening today. This drops on Thursday. My birthday. My birthday gift to you is my predictions for this round. All right, first game Thursday night, January 9th. We've got Penn State at Notre Dame. I think this is going to be a total slugfest. Both of them are fantastic, but I'm going with Notre Dame. Notre Dame to win it. I was a big fan of ASU and Boise State and Oregon, but they're all out and we're down to four and unsurprisingly, it's four Goliaths and the first one is Notre Dame versus Penn State and I'm picking the Fighting Irish. They're also got the greatest uniforms I think in the world outside of Oregon. You can ask my son about that. And in the Friday game, two other Titans, Texas vs. Ohio State and I am picking Texas. I'm picking Texas. It's more of an emotional pick than a brain pick. Ohio State has started to look like a juggernaut coming off the loss against Michigan a couple weeks back, but I want Texas to pull this off, man. I think they're dynamic, their receivers are fast and Arch Manning is on the bench and I'm hoping somehow he gets in the game and next year the Giants can draft him and he can follow in the footsteps of his Uncle Eli. So that's my college predictions. What do you think? Sound off go to IndependentAmericans US. Hit me on all the socials and let me know. Moving on, let's hit the NFL picks real quick. We got the Chiefs and the Lions as the number one scenes that are by in this round. They do not play so Jason Kelce can record more Podcasts in Detroit can enjoy another week of euphoria, but I am picking the Lions to go all the way, but I am not picking the Chiefs. I think this is the year they get knocked out and I think Buffalo is going to do it. The Bills are for real. Josh Allen is off the charts and I feel like this is finally Buffalo's time to knock out the Goliath, get back in the super bowl and have an epic clash against the Lions. But before that, Texans play the Chargers. I'm picking the Chargers to win that one. The I think that their quarterback is great and they are at home in the next game. Ravens versus Steelers. I think the Ravens have been close to dominant. Not dominant enough, but I don't think that the Steelers are going to be able to pull it together. And then we got the Bills and the Broncos. I think the Bills are going to blow them out. Bo Nix has been having a great year for the Broncos, but it's not going to be enough as the Bills are going to triumph there. Then in the other games in the nfc, we got the Rams and the Vikings. I'm picking the Vikings and my son's second, my favorite team. Justin Jefferson is out of control. Sam Darnold is reborn. And I'm picking the Vikings to win in a close one over the Rams. Buccaneers versus Commanders. Man, the Commanders have been really fun to watch. Jaden Daniels is unbelievable, but I think that the Bucks and Baker Mayfield have some magic. Baker's got the experience, the Bucks got a solid D and I think the Bucs are going to pull that one out. And finally the last game passes packers vs Eagles. Hate to do it, but I gotta pick the Eagles. Saquon, I love you. I miss you. I wish you were still in New York and every day I watch. It breaks my heart, but I think he's going to rip off 175 yards or so and the Eagles are going to cruise against the Packers. Those are my picks for the NFL and college. Let me know what you think. I'm going to do more picks on this and other sports in the days to come. Sound off, let me know what you think about this segment and who you are picking to win it all. Because we can't just do politics, folks, we got to take a break and sports is a hell of a good one. Finally, in addition to all the politics, news and national security, I'm going to do some recommendations. New segment, Rykoff's recommendations. We all got to keep ourselves sane, folks. And in the midst of all this madness, the Entertainment content is still something America is better at than anyone in the world. So let me give you a couple. Yellowstone. If you didn't see the finale, outstanding. I think it completed perfectly. One of the best shows ever. The acting, the music, the cinematography, it's all off the charts. All the hype is justified. Check out Yellowstone, also almost as good as Yellowstone, maybe better. Billy Bob Thornton in Landman, you gotta check it out. Billy Bob Thornton plays a landman down in Texas. It's kind of like for the oil industry what Yellowstone was for cowboys. And Montana, it's a beautiful love letter to Texas. It's got a little dash of Friday Night Lights. And Ally Larder steals every scene she's in. The show is fantastic. One of the best shows I've ever seen. I am not exaggerating. Check out Landman. Also, music has been helping us all through these tough times. And I want to recommend Shaboozy. Not just because it's fun to say, not just because Shaboozi played with Beyonce in the Thanksgiving halftime show. But this guy's amazing. He's from Virginia, but comes from a Nigerian American family. And he is, I think, the future of country and some rock and some hip hop. It's excellent. Check out Shaboozi and his new album and everything this dude is putting out. And finally, we don't have any real sponsors outside of you, but I have a really hard time getting my kids to eat any protein. They eat meat occasionally, but in the breakfast time, they want to eat crap and they want to eat cereal. And Kodiak Cakes makes microwavable pancakes and waffles that have like 10 to 15 grams of protein. It's one of my dad hacks. I've been taking care of the kids a lot in the last couple of weeks. So check out Kodiak Cakes if you need a way to get your kids more protein and yourself highly recommended. Those are Rykoff's recommendations. If you've got some recommendations, please send them my way. I need all the help I can get and I want to celebrate all the goodness out there, especially. Especially stuff that's made in America, stuff that is independent. Whether it's films, music or food, let me know. We will celebrate all things independent on this show. Always. All right, folks, this is the new format. I hope you dig it. I hope you're listening, I hope you're watching. We are going to do a lot more on YouTube, so if you don't follow us on YouTube, please go check out Independent Americans there and spread the word. We are going to continue to approach this country and all things America and globally with the spirit of independence that this country was founded on. You know the deal. The future is full of independence because independents like us, we are the future and we're not alone in our independence. So if you're among that 51% of Americans and growing that are independent, this is your show, this is your movement. And all are welcome. Our independent movement is the hope for the future. Country over party people, people over politics, light over heat, busting up the status quo and fueling a new independent movement that spans all across our society. And that movement is growing. I hope you like this episode. If you do, please share it far and wide, subscribe, like and share and invite others to declare their independence. And stay vigilant, my friend, because eternal vigilance is the price of freedom and hope. Still the oxygen of democracy. And it'll keep you vigilant. And no, you're not alone in your vigilance. We're all vigilant and we're all in this together. Special thanks to our Patreon members. If you're not one of them, Please go to IndependentAmericans us now and help fuel this movement. You'll get this episode first. You'll get it without commercials and you'll get exclusive previews. And as always, I want to ask everybody to check out some independent Americans gear. You can get it here, here on our Facebook page. You can also get it linked in the show notes if you're listening. And you can use it to help keep yourself and other independents warm throughout this interesting and wild winter. Special thanks to my friend Chris Rosenthal, the creative, director and producer of this show, and to all of our fans. Thank you for helping build this movement. We'll see you next time. I'm your host, Paul Rykoff. Thank you for listening. And just like last year, down with Hamas, Slava, Ukraine and Stay vigilant America. And Happy New Year. Strap in. It's going to be a wild one. Powered by righteous media.