← Real America’s Voice
Real America’s Voice
Just the News No Noise with John Solomon and Amanda Head, October 2nd, 2025
00:50:00
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- [00:00]
A
This is an I heart podcast.
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B
Greetings, Naturopathy Dr. Dennis Black here, founder of Rough Greens. And if only dogs could talk, I think a lot of them would say, hey, thanks for the love, but this food, it's not working for me. The truth is they'd be right. Because most dog food, wet or dry, is cooked at such high temperatures that every live nutrient in it is destroyed. And what you're left with is is dead food bulked up with fillers and sprayed with artificial flavors. That's not what dogs need. But when you add back in the live vitamins, omega oils and antioxidants are in Rough Greens, your dog would say something different. Like they'd say, wow, this is delicious. Or sluggish dogs might say, hey, let's go for a walk. Older dogs might say, I feel like a puppy again. It's not magic, it's biology. Don't just imagine it. See it in your dog. I'll send you a free Jumpstart trial bag for your dog. You just cover the shipping. Go to ruffgreens.com use discount code talk. That's Ruff Greens discount code talk. If your dog could only talk, they'd say, thank you.
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A
Good evening, America. Welcome to the Thursday edition of Just the News. No noise. I'm your host John Solomon reporting to you. You know this always from the nation's capital where day two of the shutdown of the government has continued with some significant savings for the American public. Billions of dollars of Biden era green energy and transportation grants shut down today by the Trump administration and many employees, thousands of them in fact, are expecting to get furlough notices tomorrow terminating them, not putting them on leave because the shutdown, where they'll get their payback when it reopens, but literally ending their jobs, that's just a little bit of what's going on. We got a little sense of what the Senate's thinking today. Senate Majority Leader John Thune said that if the vote tomorrow fails again, try one more time, they will likely not be staying around during the weekend to try to get more government funding votes. In other words, the government will stay shut down as we carry into a second rig. Mike Johnson has already explained that he will not be reconvening the House until next week either. So this is Democrats last chance to get aboard. That doesn't mean the Trump administration won't still be working. And as we reported to you yesterday, they're trying to make the shutdown work in the favor by cutting of everyone's American spending, by cutting Spending. They announced today all different ways that they'll be doing that. The the president also addressed a very important issue today, and that is what's going on with the military action against the drug cartels that are trying to bring those poisons into our country and kill our young people. We've seen several boats blown out of the water by the US Military. President Trump today saying we're in an armed conflict with the cartels. While that was going on, several members of Congress in the Senate were behind closed doors, interviewing the Pentagon's chief counsel to to understand the rationale behind that. But a lot has been going on there. Meanwhile, as we stand here, the Democrats are trying to explain just what they're doing and whether or why Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has changed his tune from just a few months ago. When it comes to shutdowns, look at the facade here. Chuck Schumer did the right thing in the spring and led the Senate to a clean cr. What we've got here is the House, has they passed a clean cr, Are the Republicans have the votes in the Senate. And he will not allow his members to come across. And what's changed since then is it's his poll numbers. So, you know the president, Vice President Vance, Speaker Johnson, Leader Thune. They're not negotiating with Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries. They're negotiating with Representative Ocasio Cortez. Chuck Schumer was AOC'd. I think that's how we look at it. Amanda, it's a really remarkable moment. You had a great story this morning about Republicans winning the messaging war. Early on in this, you can see that they've got a clear narrative and they can point to the proof. And when Democrats were like, well, we're not paying for Liguellians. Well, yeah, you are different from any shutdown I can remember in recent history.
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C
Yeah. You know, when I was writing that, I was thinking about how it's kind of like a legislative. It's typically a legislative he said, he said, she said type game. But this time around, it's all Republican said. Because Republicans are winning the messaging war on this for sure. But I have three things that I might want to get to. First, a little update on President Trump's D.C. crime crackdown after they've expanded that program to places like Memphis, Tennessee in recent days. And since then, the federal takeover here in D.C. since it began in August, ICE has made 2012,000 arrests. That's coming from a New York Times report. And the Times also recorded that ICE had only made 85 arrests in the nation's capital for the previous months of this year. So that means a lot of criminals have been taken off of this city's streets. And Assistant Homeland security secretary Trisha McLaughlin said in a statement that immigration officials in the nation's capital had arrested gang members, kidnappers, drug traffickers and other violence, violent thugs. And that leads me to some more news dealing with border security. As John just told you, the President has told the Department of War to ramp up, quote, armed conflict against drug cartels. That according to a memo from the Trump administration who also went on to say that the United States has now reached a critical point where we must use force in self defense and defense of others against the ongoing attacks by these designated territories terrorist organization. So it doesn't look like the President's policies on the drug cartels are going to be easing anytime soon. But one more story. Americans trust in the media has hit a 50 year low. I can't say that's exactly shocking, but that headline comes from a new Gallup survey that says only 28% of respondents had some type of trust in the media, with another 36% saying they didn't have much trust and 34% saying they had no trust in at all. So compare that to the 1970s when 70% of the public had a great deal or fair amount of trust in the media. John. It's not too surprising, but it's a pretty stern indictment for our industry. I hate it.
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A
Yeah, it's pretty remarkable. Not a surprise. That's why Rav and Justin news and other places keep going, because people look at that.
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C
I gotta make a correction, please. Did I say 12,000 arrests?
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A
Yeah, I think you meant 1200. Right.
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C
When I read that, I was thinking, holy mackerel, that's more than 10 city blocks. Yeah, 1200 is still wonderful.
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A
Yeah. And I think 80 the whole rest of the year. So you can just see how fast the. And these are all legal aliens. That's why ISIS resting. It's an amazing number. Joining us now to kick off our show today, Montana Congressman Troy Downey has been at the forefront of so many of these big issues that are playing themselves out in Washington. Congressman, great to have you on the show today.
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D
Well, thanks for having me. I just been listening to your comments there and there's just so much to unpack here. But thank you, thank you for having me on here.
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A
There is news. The velocity of news in the Trump administration is remarkable. I want to start with a shutdown because I think when Democrats are done. They're going to have a lot of remorse that they let this shutdown occur. Billions of dollars of grants canceled today. There's a belief that tomorrow furlough notices will go out to thousands of workers. The government's going to get shrunk just because Democrats closed it down.
- [07:43]
D
Yeah, and that's the key point there is the Democrats shut this down. They've taken politics. This is completely a political, not a policy move to shut the government down. They wanted to cram policy into just an agreement to keep the government open for seven weeks so that we could go through regular order and actually do the business of the government. But rather than that, they threw politics in there to completely circumvent this and throw the entire nation into disarray. And now the entire country is paying the consequences of this with folks not getting. Not getting paid on strike. You know, folks worried about getting NFIP flood plans together while they're trying to sell property that they're developing. And this just has so many tendrils of hurting so many Americans. And the funny thing is that the Democrats, they've completely overplayed their hand here. They've tried to add all this policy in there and try to convince the American people that the Republicans are unwilling to discuss policy, which can't be farther than the truth. This is just not the right place to put. Put permanent policy in without having it go through the normal process of debating it in committee and passing it on the floor or passing it in the Senate. It's just completely ridiculous. This is on Schumer's hands. It's clearly he's worried about the far left. He's worried about his. His reelection. And he's making decisions harming the American people because of politics, not because of policy.
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C
Yeah. You know, we've seen so many 80s and 90s remakes of movies lately, I think the Rick Moranis should come out with Honey, I Shrunk the government, because that's exactly what's happening. President Trump and Russ Oat, folks like that are champing at the bit to make this happen. But what do you make of the fact that typically in every shutdown in the past, you've got Republican and Democrat messaging wars, and you've got plenty of folks on the left who are willing to toe the line for Democrats and say, yeah, this is why. Yeah, this is true. But when it comes to this messaging about Democrats, Trump trying to protect health care for illegal immigrants, I'm going to be honest, I don't see a ton of folks on the left side who are coming to their defense, because you guys have done a really great job of putting it out there black and white.
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D
Well, I mean, it's really simple. I mean, this is an extension of policy that they voted for in the past just to get us, you know, some time to finish the work of the government. And they're throwing in these crazy things, I mean, everything but the kitchen sink of using taxpayer dollars, your dollars, to pay for medical issues for illegal immigrants. And they're trying to say that that's not it. Just read the bill. Don't listen to me. Don't listen. Just read what they're trying to put in their cr. They're trying to take your taxpayer dollars and misspend them on things that we shouldn't be spending them on. And that should be part of a discussion and regular order and committee, not as a last ditch effort to hold the American people hostage and keep the government from operating as it should.
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A
Yeah, really important. So I want to talk about if the Trump administration carries out the plan that is laid out for the American public will shrink down, will cancel grants when Congress comes back, do you codify that to make sure it doesn't rear its head in a future lawsuit or in a future administration? Do you get, if Trump makes some hard decisions, does Congress back them up and make them permanent?
- [10:48]
D
Well, here's the thing is, you know, leadership, you know, the rank and file, we're all in conversation with the administration on how this affects us. Everybody knows that we're spending ourselves into a. Everybody knows we need to make cuts. I think that the Democrats in some way have played into the president's hand in giving him tools to accelerate some of this. And I think it's really important that we cut programs that are not in the interest of the nation, programs that we don't support, make sure that we're cutting that fat. And I think that it's up to Congress, it's up to the House and the Senate making sure that we codify these parts that are important and continue moving forward. I think one of the things that you hear a lot is one, making sure that we're very thoughtful about, you know, where we do these cuts. So that really is cutting the fat and not having to, you know, restructure. And I think that the administration is going to be thoughtful about that. I think the votes can be thoughtful about that. And I think that this Congress is going to be, you know, ready, willing and able to codify that.
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C
Sir, you served this nation with honor in the Air Force, I believe. And so you have had many conversations about military readiness. We are seeing the Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, that speech that he gave a few days ago, just breaking it down to no nonsense, just military preparedness, preparing for the next war. And we've now seen the president and his posture on what the cartel, what our conflict with the cartels looks like. Is our military now prepared to take that head on as though it were a war? Because it pretty much is.
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A
Yeah.
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D
And there's a lot to unpack there, too. I mean, first of all, a lot of that speech about having our military ready to fight wars and win wars. I mean, really, a lot of that messaging I thought was right on point. And I'll tell you, a lot of the folks that I've served with were happy to hear that. Let's make sure that we are building the planet's strongest fighting force. And again, not to go to war, but to make sure other people are afraid to go to war with us. In terms of the cartel wars, I mean, this is a big issue. It's a big issue across this country. A lot of people think that this is a southern state, you know, border state issue. But we have the same problem in Montana. We have cartels that are operating in and around Montana that are causing trouble. They're running law enforcement ragged. And this really is a war. And we need to make sure that we're protecting the American people. That's one of the, you know, fundamental charters of having a government is making sure that you're. You're protecting, you know, the citizens national defense. And this is an national defense issue because we are at war with these people. And this is not just, you know, random, you know, interactions. These are. These are dangerous criminals that are creating violence that are threatening people on the streets of the U.S. and the streets of Montana. We need to make sure that we take this seriously. And I'm really glad that this administration is taking it seriously and taking action, because people need to feel safe in their own homes. And now we've got an administration that cares about law and order, cares about national security, cares about safety, and is actually doing something about it.
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A
Yeah, the results are measurable. You can really see it. So I want to turn to another form of warfare, Lawfare. We saw the weaponization of the government for about 10 years. We had a story a couple weeks ago confirming that scores of FBI agents told the FBI back in 21 they believed that the agency had become biased under the James Comey, Chris Wray era of the FBI, James Comey then gets indicted a couple days after that story for lying to Congress. First time one of the top two law enforcement officials in this country had been indicted in a half century. Last time was Watergate. John Mitchell, your thoughts on what message the Comey indictment says and where the weaponization unraveling goes next?
- [14:24]
D
Well, here's the thing is we need confidence in the system, and we need to know those folks in the FBI and these agencies and law enforcement are following the law and not political agendas. And if the grand jury had enough evidence to indict, then absolutely this should be, you know, we should go down this path and see where this leads. And I'm just happy because I think people are. They're distrusting, and we can't bring trust to the people if we don't start bringing this to the forefront. So I'm really happy about that. And I'm just going to tell you I've been very pleased with Director Patel and what's going on with the FBI right now. He's actually, you know, opened a new office here in Billings, Montana, to deal with a lot of the issues that we have here. And he's taken the job seriously in terms of the indictments. Like I said, if a grand jury has the evidence that they think to indict, then we need to go down that path and see where it leads us, because we need to make sure that the American people have faith in the institutions of this nation, especially, you know, institutions such as the. Such as the FBI.
- [15:24]
C
Congressman, before we let you. Let you go. Farms across this country, even there in Montana, have been crushed for years. Whether it is regulatory, whether it's the taxes, they have not been able to function and flourish the way that we would like them to so that they can feed America. And the Trump administration is set to offer them some major relief next week. What do you think is most important for these folks to hear so that they can feel settled and feel like they can actually thrive again?
- [15:48]
D
Yeah, I understand. A lot of our farmers and ranchers are suffering right now. They're concerned, especially in Montana. Our grain producers are very concerned. There's a lot of grain on the ground. We're trying to figure out how to survive. But I'm just going to put this in a really simple format. The agricultural sector is incredibly important to my district, incredible to the economy in my district. It's incredible, incredibly important to the economy of my state, but it's above that. This is a national security issue throughout the history of humanity. If you want to bring a country down, you make it so it can't feed itself. And we need to make sure that our farmers and ranchers are being taken care of. And we need to make sure. I know a lot of the stuff that they were concerned about. We got into the one big beautiful bill, but that's only part of it. We need to make sure that we get a new farm bill in there, that we've got all the things that they need from crop insurance to, you know, everything that's in there, we need to get a long term reinstatement of that. And that's very important to them. But the bottom line is this is not just about a local economy of a rural state. This is about national security. And I'm happy that the president is taking this seriously because we need absolutely to make sure that our farmers and ranchers continue to do what they do best and feed this nation.
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A
Yeah. And feeding the world. They're so good at it. And it's such an amazing industry. The envy of the world. Congressman, such a great honor to have you on the show. We always thank you for your great service and your continued service in Congress. Good to have you on today.
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D
Hey, thank you so much for having me. You, you have a great day.
- [17:19]
A
Thank you, sir. Appreciate you very much. All right, folks, after the break, we'll have another great congressperson here on to talk about the latest shutdown. Iowa Congresswoman Meredith Miller Meek. She always brings a lot of interesting issues to the forefront. We'll have her next one after these messages. It is. Hey, folks, I've got an important message for you about high blood pressure. It's one of the highest risk factors for mortality. Nearly one in two adults have high blood pressure, meaning there's about a 50, 50 chance you could be affected. Getting help and taking control of your blood pressure is crucial for your health and longevity. And one way to do that is by using 120Life. And 120Life is not just to help manage high blood pressure. It also can be beneficial for those with diabetes because managing high blood pressure can help with diabetes, making 120 Life a valuable tool for overall wellness. 120 Life is trusted by healthcare professionals with over a thousand doctors recommending it to help manage your blood pressure naturally for a limited time. Try 120Life and save 20% off. Just use the code JTN at checkout at 120Life.com 120Life offers a risk free trial with a full refund. If you don't see lower numbers in two weeks, go to 1to0life.com and use the code jtn to save 20%.
- [18:42]
C
Welcome back everybody, to just the news. No noise. It is day two of the government shutdown and it doesn't look like Democrats are going to be coming to the table to negotiate anytime soon. So what's next and how can Republicans and the Trump administration, administration used this to their favor? Joining us now to discuss that and more is Iowa Congresswoman Marionette Miller Meeks. Congresswoman, thanks so much for being here.
- [19:01]
E
It's great to be with you both.
- [19:03]
C
I actually want to skip that for a moment and start where we left off with Congressman Troy Downing with this farm cap package. Now, Secretary Bessant doesn't strike me as a farm boy, but it seems like he, along with the rest of the Trump administration, cares very much about helping out farms that have been crushed under, under, under crushing policy. Tell us about what you anticipate is going to come from this because a lot of, a lot of good stuff was in Obi 3.
- [19:28]
E
There is some very good stuff in Ob 3, very good stuff for farmers and for agriculture in general, also agricultural manufacturers. But, you know, the ability to pass on a farm, the 45Z and 45Q tax, energy tax credits were important, important. We worked hard to get those. We've worked since the beginning of the year to get the RVO's up so that that would increase the amount of both ethanol and biodiesel that comes from commodities, grains. So, you know, farmers are happy to have the relief, but they are struggling, quite honestly. The farm economy has been struggling since 22, 23, but it's worsened. So action on the tariffs, action on new markets. Remember through the Biden administration for we had four years of doing nothing on trade whatsoever. So Secretary Rollins, as she's looking and going on trade missions, trying to open up new trade packages that is critically important to our farmers. We're competing with Brazil for ethanol and biodiesel as the Chinese Communist Party has opened up the market in South America. And so it's, it's very important for farmers to, number one, have access to these resources, have access to, to new markets and then hopefully see some relief through the tariffs as trade deals are negotiated.
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A
Yeah. So very important. I don't want to turn to the shutdown. On the way to the studio, man and I passed a great group of National Guard patrolling our streets, making us safe with the Capitol. They're working today, but they're not getting a paycheck because the Democrats shut the government down. What are the Democrats really holding out for. We hear a lot of back and forth over this, but it seems like they're just trying to help big insurers and illegal immigrants. Am I overstating it?
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E
Well, you're not overstating it. And thank you for mentioning about our military. I actually had a veteran contact me and said, why are you saying that the military aren't going to be paid? Well, the reality is the military's essential workers, just like customs and Border Protection, law enforcement, VA hospitals, but they have to work. But they don't get paid up until about October 15th. They've already received their paycheck for the 1st of October. But if the shutdown goes on longer, they will have to continue to be working and not be paid. I've talked extensively on this issue and one of the reasons why I voted voted for continuing resolutions despite criticism and condemnation in the past was because of the effect it has on our military. Military, customs and border Protection, law enforcement are out there working if they're federal, they're not going to be paid if they're paid twice a year. So it is very important that we, you know, in this shutdown and as I said, why I have voted for this continuing resolution which was clean and bipartisan and seven weeks and in the past. Now why are the Democrats doing that? They say it's about health care. Well, let's examine that. If it were only about health care and not getting illegal immigrants to get Medicaid, then they could have isolated this section in their own CR that dealt with the premium tax credits under Obamacare. But they didn't. They specifically wanted to repeal this section that has to do with Medicaid going to illegal immigrants. And people will say, well, they're not allowed to have Medicaid. It's illegal. It's illegal. But states have worked around it. And the prime example of that is Gavin Newsom, when we passed the working Families tax cut bill, came out and said we're going to have to rethink our policy of giving health care to everyone and to illegal immigrants because it's costing us 12 billion a year. And what they were doing was using the expansion of Medicaid, the expansion population where the federal government, your tax dollars, the federal government would cover 90% instead of the typical state federal match for Medicaid. And so they were shifting those monies around. That's what they were doing. And then the next is on the enhanced premium tax credits. You know, they like to pretend like this is something that goes to help low income Americans. And Chris Coons. Senator Coons actually let the cat out of the bag. In an interview on cnn, he said the premium tax credits were put in to make the Affordable Care act affordable. Bingo. It was never a marketplace solution. Obamacare has only led to higher and higher premiums since its inception. And John, I know you and Amanda will recall that President Obama said at the time premiums would come down by 20$500. If you liked your doctor, you could keep your doctor. If you like your health plan, you can keep your health plan. And even the Washington Post, I don't think that's a conservative newspaper the last time I checked, but even the Washington Post gave it four Pinocchio as some of the greatest lies and premiums have skyrocketed. So what did the Democrats do? The original premium tax credits were for people making up to 400% of the federal poverty level to premium purchase insurance on the exchange. The money goes directly to the insurance company. It goes directly to the insurance company. This is a bailout to the insurance companies. And under Covid, in March, when they passed the American Rescue plan, the COVID funding, they extended and took the income cap off of the tax credits and had enhanced premium tax credits to any income level. So a family of four could make up to 600,000 a year and qualify and only pay up to 8.5% of their income in health insurance costs. And the rest of that money is going to the insurance company. And so the enhanced premium tax credits were supposed to be temporary under Obamacare. But what the Biden administration and the Democrats were really doing, where they were hiding, the true nature of how much insurance was costing because the Affordable Care act and all of its regulatory structure made it unaffordable. And so it was supposed to expire. They then extended it in the IRA in 2022 to expire in December of 2025. All of it goes directly to the insurance companies. It is a bailout to big insurance companies. And it was all to hide the fact that they didn't want people to have high insurance, higher insurance premiums in the 22 elections. They were hiding the fact that the Affordable Care act has made insurance unaffordable.
- [25:58]
C
I wonder which party health insurance companies predominantly donate to.
- [26:03]
E
Well, let's look up. Let's look that up.
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A
I think we know the answer.
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C
I think we do, Congresswoman.
- [26:09]
E
So I want private health insurance. Make no mistake about it, right? But extending these enhanced premium tax credits for high income individuals, already 400% of the poverty level is almost 63,000 or more for individuals and about 129,000 for a family. So they're already significant. And they could get insurance on the marketplace which is what we did, not the Obamacare exchange. But the more in the marketplace that's what we did in the working families tax cut was trying to make health insurance affordable. So if they really want to talk about health care and, and trying to make insurance affordable, let's have that discussion. But not a 1.5 trillion spending in a seven week continuing resolution. Let's get the government open, let's get our military paid for. Let's get our veterans the care they need. Let's help our families and our low income individuals and then we can do reform for health care in the appropriations process which is where it belongs.
- [27:10]
C
Absolutely sense, Congresswoman. So this week is a wash. So let's just assume that next week you guys come back together. What, what moves the needle for Democrats? What do they bend on? Because frankly there I don't feel like the leverage is really with Democrats. So Republicans don't have to bend on much of anything because Trump investment and vote are just going to just keep chopping the federal government down.
- [27:29]
E
Well, you're correct. We've already passed a continuing resolution in the House. So we have done our job. We passed a continuing resolution. This is Schumer shutdown and they have no plan to reopen the government. So we're not going to cave on 1.5 trillion spending over a seven week period. We're not going to give up those hard fought changes we made to prohibit illegal immigrants from having Medicaid. We're not going to, we're not going to cave on that. And as I, and I've had people come talk to me in Washington about the premium tax credits and even people in our own party. And I said hold the phone, old military talk here. Hold the phone. There's two things. One is the premium tax credits from the original Affordable Care act or Obamacare. The second is the enhanced premium tax credits. I said I am not voting to extend enhanced premium tax credits that have no income limits. I'm not voting to extend them. So what are the Democrats going to do? How are they going to get themselves out of this mess? And so people say it doesn't matter who's to blame for the shutdown. It doesn't matter if it's Schumer shutdown. Get the government back open, negotiate. We are negotiating but you have to be reasonable in negotiation and they are not reasonable. It is insane for us to go along with what they want. But Nonetheless, we have been very clear. We're happy to have this discussion on health care and premium credits, the original ones. And how do we make health insurance affordable in the appropriations process? Not in a seven week continuing resolution. Well, they may be voted for 13 times. Thirteen times they voted for continuing resolutions under the Biden administration.
- [29:16]
C
That's right. Well, someone who brings sanity to our show, Iowa Congresswoman Marionette Miller Meeks. Thanks much for being here.
- [29:23]
E
It's a pleasure to be with you both. Thank you for having me.
- [29:25]
C
Likewise. Likewise. All right, everybody, next, Christian movies and TV shows have taken a big leap in popularity in recent years. So what's driving that success? We're going to get to that after this break.
- [29:37]
A
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- [30:41]
D
Feel America's voice.
- [30:42]
A
Real minute, your quick look at the powerful stories of faith and freedom inspiring audiences across the nation. Angel Studios presents a Kennedy curse.
- [30:55]
F
That is the theme of Angel Studios newest documentary, RFK Legacy. It comes from acclaimed filmmaker Oliver Stone, director of the hit movie jfk, and his son Sean Stone. In a profile of the Kennedy legacy that you've never seen before, I want.
- [31:11]
A
To ask you about your father's assassination. Anybody who reads that report will understand that Sir Hint could not have killed my father. It's a dirty story.
- [31:21]
F
It explores the Kennedy legacy as told through the eyes of Bobby Kennedy Jr. Who reflects upon his life and memories his time on Cape Cod, his uncle's assassination his own father's assassination and his early interest in nature and the environment.
- [31:36]
A
This time you have a drug addiction.
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D
How does that play out?
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G
I wanted to be working with nature.
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D
He was appalled at what he saw. This is how he became the leading environmental lawyer in the United States. There's no right to pollute.
- [31:52]
A
The polluter pays.
- [31:54]
D
My views are constantly misrepresented.
- [31:58]
F
This compelling documentary profiles our current Secretary of Health and Human Services and dives deep into why Bobby Kennedy is who he is, why he cares so much about health in this country, and how his family legacy continues even after family members pass on far too soon.
- [32:15]
A
I don't know if there's a curse. We do what we're supposed to do. The outcome's in God's hands.
- [32:21]
F
To see RFK Legacy, go to angel.com rav Join the Angel Guild and watch today.
- [32:39]
A
That's pretty exciting. And joining us now from the International Christian Visual Media Storytellers Conference in Orlando, Florida, is real America's Voice correspondent Bo Davidson. Bo, good to have you on, buddy.
- [32:51]
F
Hey, thanks for having me, John and Amanda. I really appreciate it. Orlando's beautiful this time of year.
- [32:55]
A
It is indeed. And a lot of anticipation. Angel Studios ramping up for a new movie premiere tomorrow. 00 AD with Jim Cavazzel. Tell us about it.
- [33:06]
F
That's right. Jim Caviezel is in this picture. You probably recognize him as Jesus and Passion of the Christ. It's directed by Alejandro Monteverde, which I'll give you just a little hint. I am going to be interviewing him tomorrow. He's the famed director of Sound of Freedom. And I know that everybody in this audience knows the title Sound of Freedom. You think back, John and Amanda, to Angel Studios, the little studio that could be this little tiny studio started by a bunch of brothers in Provo, Utah. And what they did with the series the Chosen, and what they did with Sound of Freedom when Disney wouldn't. Disney wouldn't put it out. 20th Century Fox wouldn't put it out because they didn't like the subject matter. Well, now you have a studio that is totally designed to amplify light. And I'll be honest with you, John and Amanda, in being at this conference and seeing these storytellers, these content creators, these documentary makers, they are wanting. It's in their heart, it's in their mission, it's in their ethos to amplify light. We're in a dark culture. We're in a dark world. And what Angel Studios and what this conference does is brings Christian filmmakers together to help them to create the content that will amplify that light.
- [34:09]
A
Pretty amazing.
- [34:10]
C
Bo, are you finding, as you talk to people there on the marketing side of things, what does it look like for them as far as their customer base? Because it seems to me that as the quality has increased that there are a lot more people who are placing eyeballs on these types of things.
- [34:25]
F
There are. Amanda, I know that you and I share a common background in entertainment. This is no longer preaching to the choir. I want to be very clear about this, and I say this as someone who is in two projects actually being pitched for distribution here. Full disclosure, but the type of content people want to see now is not just that cheesy Christian content that used to be made. ICVM has been around for about 50 years. This is the 50, 53rd conference. So when you see the types of things that are being released, and let's use RFK Legacy as an example, Testament, which is about the Book of Acts set in modern times, you look at A week away, you look at sketch, you look at the film that's going to be coming about the president, about George Washington, Young Washington. These are films and pieces of content that are accessible and interesting to a much, much wider diversity of audience than it used to be. So this is no longer just Christians talking to Christians. This is also about expanding that base and finding people who want to see content that is very well made, but also has a message. And let's be honest, John and Amanda, we think about what happened in the wake of Charlie Kirk's untimely death. People are hurting. There's a lot of disaffected young men out there. We need to be producing content that serves them so that they don't go on to dark webs. And I think that's what ICBM and Angel Studios are all about.
- [35:35]
A
Yeah, it's an amazing time. What are some of the you've been wandering around, walking around at this conference. There's always amazing things. What are some of the things that most surprise you as you were taking in all that's going on at the conference?
- [35:48]
F
I'll tell you what surprised me, John, is distributors here from Estonia, from Brazil, from Portugal, from places all across the world that say, if you just have a product, we'll subtitle it, just send it over. There is there is an incredible need, an incredible desire for content. There's actually someone speaking right now who's a producer, a film I was in about four or five years ago that kind of has an Amish plot. And apparently people all across the world are very interested in plots that have Amish stories, for instance. But these biblical tales and in seeing what's happening in the United States especially, let's be honest, guys, the revival that's happening right now in this country in the wake of Charlie Kirk's death, what Erica Kirk said, you've unleashed something. You've started something. There's a palpable feeling in this world right now that is happening right now in this country. And thankfully, there's an ICVM and there's an Angel Studios to help these filmmakers tell those stories that amplify light. We've got to serve that community.
- [36:41]
C
Before we let you go, bo0ad that comes out in December, right? Just give us a little tease about it.
- [36:48]
F
Yeah, it comes out in December. Actually, there's a premiere that's happening tomorrow night. I have not seen it yet. I can't wait to see it. But of course, you all know Jim can and that incredible name, but Angel Studios, I just want to say this before we go. There is a new partnership that we have with Angel Studios where if you go to angel.com rev you can become a guild member. Now may say, why would I do that? Well, because Angel Guild members get to vote on what is actually created by angel. So you have a vested voice in the content that gets made. So Testament, RFK Legacy 0ad Young Washington, these are all projects that have to have an overwhelmingly high threshold voting in order to go past the guild and get made. And I think that's an amazing part of this because Hollywood is pretty much doesn't have this is upended the Hollywood model and Angels got the solution to that. And they're one of many distributors that are here. But I think it's just important for our audience to know that if you go to angel.com rav you can become a guild member, vote on all the great content that there that's there and also get exclusive behind the scenes access to a lot of these projects as well. So please do that.
- [37:44]
A
What an exciting opportunity. I'm signing up to AngelStudios.com Ralph. How cool is that? That's pretty awesome. All right, Po, great to have you on the show today. Thanks, my friend. All right, folks.
- [37:55]
F
Thank you, John. Thank you. Amanda. Good to see you.
- [37:57]
A
Yeah, we're out there. Good stuff. What a great thing. How lucky to have him out there. All right, folks, we're going to take a quick commercial break. When we come back, we're going to remind you about one of America's fastest growing crimes and why it's getting so easy to commit. And it goes right after your most valuable asset, your home. We'll talk about that after the commercial break.
- [38:12]
E
Break.
- [38:23]
A
Welcome back, America. I promised this year that I was going to get everybody educated on the growing crime of home title theft and really stealing your equity because that's really what it is this month. Every week we're going to do a segment and bring you into some new deal details. Massive new case in Detroit, Michigan that just shows how fast growing and terrible this crime is. It's more than home title theft. It is stealing your most valuable asset in your portfolio. Well, joining me now is someone who can help answer a lot of those questions. He's a former FBI special agent as well as a licensed private investigator. He is Tom Simon, time. Great to have you on the show.
- [38:59]
H
Thank you so much for having me, John.
- [39:01]
A
All right. This is a pretty good, pretty remarkable moment. We've been talking about this crime for a couple of years now, but a local nonprofit director gets charged with a pernicious deed fraud scheme targeting low income people in Detroit. This is like the worst case scenario, isn't it?
- [39:16]
H
It is because we have vulnerable victims in this case, people who actually gone to this charity to try to get help with their because they were behind on their property taxes only to have their houses stolen out from under them by this woman who was arrested by the FBI.
- [39:30]
A
Unbelievable. Just as crazy. And it also shows how systematic and easy it is to do. There really are no protections. These county clerks or register of deeds, they've got no say if that document comes in signed. They got to process it. Right.
- [39:44]
H
In their defense, their job is not to investigate the validity of a deed coming into their office that's going to transfer title from one person to another. They're solely by statute allowed to record those deeds in the public record. So unless you're keeping track of your own, the status of your own home title, there's really no one watching the store.
- [40:02]
A
Yeah. That's so great. That's why it's so important. All right. So in the past, a lot of these cases are a one to one relationship. One bad guy pulls off a scheme, rips some people off and then and then eventually gets caught. Here it looks like you had a ring almost working because the indictment talks about other people playing with this nonprofit director to create this. And I think there are about 3, 30 properties that they stole. Do you think this could be a trend line that now you're going to see rings committing this together?
- [40:31]
H
Well, we have We've seen this before. Right. I investigated a case when I was an FBI agent in Honolulu against a couple, John and Julianne Demetrian, who were stealing equity from the homes of people. And they. They're fugitives to this very day, being hunted by the FBI. I retired before I could catch them, so I failed in that regard. But they got a lot of people. Then we take a look at a case from Chicago where it was an actual county clerk accepting $200 bribes to false deeds so they can steal equity. And so this isn't a brand new crime, but it's something that appears to be increasing, probably due to the use of AI and easy photo editing software, like where you could attach fake names and fake signatures to documents to file them with the county clerk.
- [41:13]
A
You obviously remember a case poignantly yourself because you wanted to solve it. You know how victimized the victims were. But a lot of times law enforcement doesn't have this as a top priority, particularly at the local level, because they got so many other things to work about. Tell us a little bit about the limitations of what local police particularly can do.
- [41:30]
H
Well, again, I'm a big fan of local police, so I'm not here to denigrate them, and I know you are as well, John. But the fact of the matter is, most police departments are overworked. And the idea of kind of a sophisticated paper caper that may actually go beyond the jurisdiction of their county often isn't a high priority for local police. So. And the other thing is, a lot of these cases go unreported because people just don't know what to do about it. They spend a fortune on civil attorneys to try to unwind the mess and restore that home back into their own name.
- [41:59]
A
Yeah, and that's a lot. I've talked to people who actually either went to law enforcement, went to a prosecutor, said this is probably better if you just go get a civil attorney. That's a big process once you go the civil route, isn't it? It is.
- [42:09]
H
And it's incredibly expensive. I mean, you know and I know how much lawyers cost. And the idea of hiring an attorney when you've done nothing wrong to unwind the situation and get this home back into your name can end up being very expensive. And it's also terrifying because while that's happening, you continue to get foreclosure notices from the bank that you that lent on this home as collateral.
- [42:30]
A
A lot of us are too busy to go check on our title every few weeks. So tell us how home title Lock makes this a much easier process to protect what is really our most valuable asset for most of us.
- [42:41]
H
Yeah. Like you said, you drive yourself crazy trying to check the status of your home title every single day. So home Title Lock offers a service that they call triple lock protection, where they're going to monitor the status of your title and they're going to notify you if anything should go sideways with that or if there's any change whatsoever, including a lien being placed on your property. And then the third thing is, if the bad guy is able to get away with transferring the title of your property to someone else, they're going to spend a million dollars on attorneys to restore that home back into your name so you can sleep easy.
- [43:11]
A
Yeah. And by the way, that is a remarkable thing because lawyers are pretty expensive. Having that perspective, protection is going to give someone the peace to sleep at night, not worry about it. It's such an easy thing and we have such a great partnership. What I love about Hometown a lot is they have so many great law enforcement experts that work with them like yourself. They really understand how the crime is committed and that's how they're protecting us. So. Well, that's a big part of this company, the law enforcement connection. Right.
- [43:36]
H
They are the perfect goalie in this hockey game against home title defrauders, that's for sure.
- [43:40]
A
Yeah, that's it. That's a great analogy Goalie. Absolutely. Tom Simon, what a great honor to have you on the show. Thanks for your service to your country as an FBI agent. Thanks for making us a lot wiser to fight this crime. It's great to have you on today.
- [43:52]
H
Thank you for having me on, John.
- [43:53]
A
Yeah. What a great conversation. All right, folks, we'll be back in just two minutes. But before we go, we have a special partnership with Hometown Lock. Go over to hometitlelock.com use the special promo code jtn. That stands for just the news to get a free title history report and a free trial of their million dollar triple lock protection. That's hometown promo code jtn. Go do it. Sleep better tonight once you've done it. All right, we'll be back in a second with more news.
- [44:24]
C
Welcome back to our final segment of the night. The Texas redistricting map was a big point of debate in America. And if you remember, some of those Democrat leaders in Texas even ended up fleeing to other states to avoid voting on it. But the Texas redistricting map did finally get passed. Governor Greg Abbott made it official on August 29th while most would think that that's how the story ends. Judges in Texas have decided to hear arguments against that new map. So joining us now to discuss is Texas State Representative Steve Toth. He's also running for U.S. congress. Steve, thanks so much for joining us.
- [44:55]
G
Hey, Amanda. Hey, John. Great to be with you guys.
- [44:57]
C
Yeah, I have no, I mean, it is absolutely no surprise that Democrats are fighting this, but what are their chances in front of this court?
- [45:05]
G
You know, since the Pettiway case, Galveston Pedaway, I don't, I don't think, you know, and there have been multiple. There have been multiple cases. And I think the reason why Pettaway went the way it went in 2024 was because the courts were starting to say, if you've got to take these, you know, incredibly heroic gymnastic measures with this ridiculous gerrymandering to try and get majority, minority districts, it's ridiculous. And Texas just went ahead. When we do these maps, as John Huffman said, I drew the maps blind, erase, and that's what we did. And, you know, the courts, the courts have got to start protecting equal representation across the land. You've got New England, six states, 15 million people, guys, 15 million people. 43% Republican and not one, not one congressional Republican district.
- [45:57]
A
Yeah, it really is an issue. And you pointed out something important here, which is the storyline Democrats and their liberal friends like to say is, oh, this is being done by Texas for gerrymandering and for political gain in the 26 election. But in fact, the Justice Department required the state to do this because there were appellate court rulings that said Texas was out of compliance with the current law. So this isn't actually gerrymandering. This was actually required to be done. Right.
- [46:25]
G
It was required of us to do it in. Yes. In response to Pettaway to get compliant. But look, guys, I mean, at the end of the day, I'm, I still struggle with what we did, that we didn't go far enough. If, if we had used the same metrics that Illinois uses and California uses, we'd only be given the Democrats three seats and several leaving them with eight seats. So, look, I'm happy that we've done what we've done. I think we're really trying to, to strike a balance of true equal representation across the state of Texas, while California and Illinois and New England and the rest of the blue states don't give a damn about it.
- [47:05]
A
Yeah, they don't.
- [47:06]
C
I want to ask you, since its passage, because I think we had a conversation with you about the, the Legality of those Democrats who fled the state using any type of campaign money to flee. Did you find out that any of them ended up using any official money?
- [47:23]
G
We haven't opened up an investigation. And honestly, I'm just really disappointed in the speaker of the Texas House, Dustin Burroughs. He could have convened the general Investigative Committee to do a full investigation, but he refuses to do it. Why? Because I think we know what he's going to find. We know that they took money. We know that Neil's transportation, hotels were all paid for by Beto Rourke and his political action committee. And we need to investigate it and not leave it to anyone else to do this but ourselves.
- [47:54]
A
Yeah. So very important. There's an extraordinary streak going on, and that is that Texas, month over month, year over year, is winning the expansion battle on jobs, on new investment. It is the number one state in America attracting business investment. What is that recipe that the legislators and the governor and the great business climate of Texas has that is getting so much attention in the business world?
- [48:22]
G
You know, in 2009, coming out of the 2008 recession, 40% of the jobs in the United States were created in Texas. 80% of those jobs were small businesses. This is the place for entrepreneurs to come and, and take it, take a chance. And that's what it is. Just small business owners like myself. I have. I have a small service company with 12 employees, and it was 20 years ago that I rolled the dice and worked hard. And I could not have picked a better place to do it than Texas.
- [48:51]
A
Yeah, no doubt about it, sir.
- [48:53]
C
You are running for U.S. congress. And you know, there are a lot of opinions out there about Dan Crenshaw. It seems that when I look at the. At the comments to his post, his base, his own constituents have major issues with his funding of Ukraine, his support of that, calling MAGA supporters terrorists. I imagine that the ground is rife for someone new there in Texas.
- [49:11]
G
Yeah, it sure is. So two years ago, when someone ran against him, they spent no money. Nice guy, but he really couldn't spend. He didn't raise any money, so he didn't spend any money. And he got 43% of the vote, which. Who does that? And that's what the polling showing us right now, that it wants a strong MAGA America first conservative that has some strong name id, that has a consistent voting record. And that's me.
- [49:35]
A
Yeah. What are the issues you're seeing real quickly before we let you go? What are the issues you're seeing that most resonate with voters? What mood are voters in now that we got a shutdown here in Washington, by the way. Yeah.
- [49:46]
G
So the issues are in this order, the border, then second is the border and then third is the border. And while Dan Crenshaw has been looking out for Ukraine's border, he's been awol. In fact, he got together with a group of Democrats in the Senate and tried to give us, like any time you hear about a bipartisan border deal with Democrats, just run, run, run the other way. But he didn't. He tried to work with the Biden administration to pass this legislation while Trump was saying, close the border, you don't need any legislation. I didn't need it in 2000. 60s demonstrated in 2024 that he didn't need it. He closed the border. But Crenshaw wanted to do this bipartisan deal that allowed 5,000 people into the country a day. That's 1.8 to 5 million in a year, which is ridiculous. It's breaking our economy.
- [50:36]
A
Yeah.
- [50:38]
C
Steve, tell everybody where they can find out more about your campaign before we let you go.
- [50:42]
G
Steve Toad for Congress.com or just Steve Tocom.
- [50:46]
C
Perfect. Steve, thanks so much for joining us tonight. We appreciate you being here.
- [50:50]
G
God bless you guys. Keep speaking the truth. We love you.
- [50:53]
C
Same to you. Same to you. All right, everybody, that's all the time we have for tonight. So we're going to be back here tomorrow night at 6pm Eastern. Grit Cinchfield is going to take you through the next hour. But in the meantime, have a wonderful evening. Be safe and good night.
- [51:08]
A
This is an I Heart podcast.