EXCLUSIVE: Springfield, Ohio, Residents Fear RETALIATION over Migrant Crisis | 9/13/2024

expion of Haitian migrants in the span of only 3 years it's affected almost every single person in and around the area and so there's so many people who want to talk and and and raise their concerns because uh they feel like their concerns with the not only the city commission but also Clark County where Springfield is located and they feel like their concerns aren't being heard um so this past week I met with some uh locals uh and business owners and the locals uh they feel like they have a little bit more leeway to speak out about the problems because the business owners told me that they're actually concerned about uh criticizing the way the city has been handling this crisis uh because they feel like if they speak out about it then the city is going to retaliate them in so many ways that a city can go after a private business um and that that was really concerning to hear because um Jill you know what I told you this week and it remains true that the bigger story seems to be the fact that uh the city and the county is doing everything in its power to sash any negative story any negative uh news about the Haitians being in the city uh because they want to be able to be seen as a desired destination for for Haitians and in fact I've heard stories about Haitians who have been living in Florida being told by their friends and family who had been had gone to Springfield to go up there uh because there's a lot more opportunities to take advantage of and and as I've been documenting it's come at the cost of uh the US citizens and taxpayers in that town Julio give us a little bit more information about the kind of retaliation the businesses are are worried about and I mean what are the kinds of issues that you know they're concerned with first off uh in specific detail and then you know what how are they worried about being retaliated against what would happen to them so the their concerns have been kind of what the general population has been concerned about but um at places of business uh people Haitians have been tending to gather different uh different strip malls different areas of businesses they've also uh some Haitians have been able to open up uh a certain number of businesses right next door to the already established uh businesses that Americans had have had for a while and so there's been loitering issues um I was told that uh a Haitian drove a car straight through an empty uh an empty building uh that was right next to an occupied running business um and that business uh subsequently closed down uh not too long after the Haitians had moved in and was kind of causing all these problems uh in terms of the retaliation that they they they alluded to you know just using any you know the city using any of its oversight power uh and using it for and using it in a in a bad faith way whether it comes to inspections whether it comes to making sure that they're up to date on the codes which is kind of ironic because the the the housing occupancy codes as as I've said before are those aren't being enforced um because I think the city has uh basically kind of made a devil's bargain where you know if well we don't have these Haitians 10 15 to a room in a three-story house then we're going to have a housing crisis but the problem is there already is a housing crisis but it's not the Haitians who are facing it it's it's it's the American citizens and there was actually a homeless Advocate at Tuesday's meeting who said as such he said I I don't know a single Haitian that's homeless but I can give you a whole bunch of list of Americans who have been pushed out of their homes and so the city just seems to be uh they they they seem to have made initial decisions that they thought would keep the Haitians uh keep the Haitians content but because that doesn't solve the long-term problems and as more Haitians keep coming into the city those issues have just compounded over time and it seems like that they have now kind of made they kind of dug their own grave uh because now not only do they run risk of making the ha upset but they've already made the taxpayers uh and the people that I mean their their budget is 82% is from income tax so they they're they've angered a large portion of that base and that's why every single time someone moves away from the city that is very significant on their on their ability to be able to run Services because they need those funds so Julio let's dive into the City of Springfield right you're saying that they they're trying to make sure that the news stories don't get out and that everything looks fine because they want more of the Haitian migrants to come there but how is the city responding to all of this attention that is now on them they're they're not they they they I mean I so the first day that I got the first full day that I was there for which was Tuesday um as as journalists do I I reached out to the city for to see if they had a statement uh about about not Towing unlicensed drivers cars namely Haitians uh I was directed to the the the C manager uh office where the Strategic engagement director um they said go to her uh I called I got through to somebody and they they said they weren't willing to give out a statement um I have been unable to get through to anybody since Tuesday um that they they let it go to voicemail um and I've called different times throughout the business day mind you they let it go to voicemail and lo and behold the voicemail box is full um it seems like they've been very selective of of what they're willing to respond to obviously they have been at the Forefront of saying well the the pets uh you know we've see no credible reports about pets um but they haven't really seemed to be addressing the the Ducks and the geese um I heard I was told by locals that they had two swans at Snyder Park which is the park in question um and those swans are gone and uh so the city really hasn't really addressed that um the police department when I asked them about the whole driver's license and uh car towing issue they said oh we're not giving out any statements but that's not but that's not true because they also gave out a statement about well we hadn't heard any reports about the whole pet issue so it it seems that they are willing to say things that they can kind of put a tamper down on like the worst aspects of it but there's so many other issues besides just the the the the local Wildlife um that they're really not willing to to at least to reporters um or friendly reporters I guess you know they're they're not willing to give out any information just just at all Julio when we had you on the program earlier this week you told us that some of the locals were afraid to speak out because they didn't want to be called racists right and have you seen that as you've gone throughout the week that that's one of the undertones of the story that as as it continues to progress absolutely and and and the reason why is because of it's It's not necessarily the the local Dynamics although obviously that plays a big part because it is a smaller town and it's people people know people um but because of the national attention that's been brought to the city uh people understand that if they end up in a viral video that goes into the stratosphere and gets them to the left side of the media they they they feel like they can be targeted by uh activists by the national media by national politicians and say and point to them and say see that's an example of the extreme magga movement and then you know this is just all bigoted nonsense and therefore you should ignore it um but I mean I uh before I left I was given quite literally a treasure chove of documents that I'm still going through but from what I from what I have is pretty damning on not only the health of the community but also the the the the money that's being spent by by the city um and I'm hoping to uh you know kind of you know dot my teas and cross my eyes uh about the finer points of details because I think it it shows that again there there's kind of just the typical local government incompetence and Corruption that has been made worse and is now going to potentially be in the National Spotlight because of the influx of Haitians we love the sound of a treasure Trove of documents that you took with you from Springfield Ohio and look forward to working on that next week thanks so much for joining us Julio thank you uh Democrats claim that everything is fine in Springfield and Chris Bedford will expose who their source is coming [Music] up we know that this economy is not what everybody is hoping for and health care costs they're completely out of control and government well that's never going to be the answer so where can you turn well take a look at Lassie Health that's laa Sy y lassy Health there not health insurance but it is the access to the healthc care that you want without all the red tape the restrictions the inflated costs because coverage for them starts at just $30 a month and with that you can have the transparent pricing the comprehensive tailored coverage for your needs and the access to the healthcare services you want without breaking the bank and there's no annual or lifetime cap on the services and there's no open enrollment that you have to wait for you can start a plan at any time so what are you going to get with this well you can have over 400 prescription medications for free free unlimited virtual Mental Health Care Counseling and free 247 virtual Urgent Care lab tests image tests procedures so much discounts off of all of those because Lassie health is a GameChanger so check out the affordable plans that put you in control of your Healthcare at healthy link.com Blaze and for a limited time you get your first month free up to $100 off eligible plans so get healthy be healthy and stay healthy without breaking the bank at healthy link.com Blaze even though some locals have reported otherwise Springfield officials are saying that they haven't received any official reports of migrants eating cats and dogs but in his recent peace for Blaze media Chris Bedford shed some doubt on those claims and Chris joins us now so so I mean come on why aren't you buying what the officials are telling us in Springfield Ohio did you did you watch the video that the city manager put out the city manager is this position it's not an elected position but it is appointed by the elected Council and the elected Council he serves at their discretion but they can't tell him what to do but he kind of knows what to do and he knows who Butters his bread so if you see this video where he's explaining how Springfield is changed with the influx of 20,000 uh refugees who are on the government Dole from AV voodo Island he talks about the incredible diversity and the wonderful character of Springfield Ohio which I'm sure is true and he talks also about the the economy there and the diverse industrialization and the wonderful commercial opportunities and he tries to make some side references to a little bit of misinformation about our town that there are roving bands of migrants who are threatening residents who are eating animals uh which when they're not supposed to and he doesn't want to talk about it and it makes sense because this is his job now a reporter's job is to listen to this person and say okay that's interesting but it sounds like the senator from Ohio JD Vance say his office says it's been getting calls from residents about Missing Pets we've had people coming into town halls talking about uh birds being murdered in local parks uh or are taken away to be eaten so maybe there's something more than the city manager and it just reminds me this guy's been used for fact check after fact check the former president was fact checked on it CNN when JD Vance went on for the post- debate interview basically repeated the city manager denies this as if it was a beat of the Rosary and it was a special prayer that they had to try and keep uh the reality of this situation away and it's extremely embarrassing any reporter who's ever done any of this both of you all of us we know that when we call a politician and they say there's nothing to see here well maybe pull back the curtain a little bit and take a look I mean yeah you you you said this in your piece that you know you we've all dealt with this also personally outside of our jobs where you know you go in DC and the city councilman tells you there's no crime here nothing to see here unbelievable stuff and and and I don't know anyone who has has ever dealt with the city who would just take what the city manager said like his job is to cover this stuff up you're so right about this uh but let's move on we got a few things to go over here at the rally in Tucson Arizona president Trump uh revealed another uh policy proposal a new one uh eliminating taxes on overtime pay uh what do we think about that is that an issue that Trump should be focusing on is this a good idea I think it is I mean the people who are taxed the most on overtime pay are those people who are working the hardest who who take those extra hours who work those holidays who are away from their family who are out late at night the Republican party is extremely uneasy with the stuff and I guess you know you got to take a look there's a lot of Rich guys out there right now saying well I think I'll take the first half of my paycheck in overtime pay and the second half in tips you have to be careful about this sort of thing but this is the kind of inventive thinking the actually populist thinking a lot of the goop and DC is very content to take the working classes vote and then to go back to DC and continue as absolutely as normal uh sign another tax break for offshoring sign another protection for corporations why they should be treated differently from family businesses uh go after this go after that and very few people are actually doing the leg work to say what are the policies that we can pursue that make the working class rise to the middle class what are the policies that we can do to make the working the middle class stay in the middle class I mean honestly the income tax is awful this it's the any kind of attacks on your labor when you don't tax money the same way doesn't seem to make sense to me at least I don't want to get too philosophical here but at least once you've worked 40 hours of your week can you work the rest of that time for your family the time that you're taking away from your family as opposed for the government well maybe that'd be nice but I know they need to raise all this money so they can uh pay the Haitians to be in Springfield that they do you know it's true uh let's jump over to Georgia now Chris uh because in Fulton County the judge dismissed two criminal counts against Donald Trump uh for the election interference now the judge dropped the charges because he ruled that the state prosecutors didn't have the proper authority to bring them forward so we hear all of these cases going back and forth and now these charges are dropped is any of this going to have any impact in November no uh the only impact it's had has had the reverse impact of what Democrats hoped for I mean I think the American people are When Donald Trump remember when he first became president and the FBI announced investigations everybody took it seriously Republican voters held their breath and said I hope there's not something bad here a Jeff session stepped aside and said you're right you guys must have the right idea about this I'll recuse myself and they were naive and by the end of his term when Maraga was getting raided after he' left office you had Senators who generally are pretty careful like Marco Rubio recording videos in their back porch saying this is an overstep the federal government has gone out of line law enforcement and the courts are trying to penalize the president this is insane and by the time these trials ran around Democrats were really hoping that they would be able to take down their biggest competition for the White House legally to show the American people that this guy was actually really bad and that their their lives had not been much better four years before and almost immediately it backfired but all of these cases were politicized so they were rushed and the actual the facts weren't there The Authority wasn't there so they've gotten some political talking points to preach to their choir and other liberals nod up and down and say he's a bad man but thank goodness the American justice system in some ways can be Vindicated by aspects of this where the checks and balances that don't often exist in DC have actually been putting an end to fenny wills's ridiculous cases the New York cases Jack Smith's cases they're just not panning out the way Democrats helped Bedford I didn't know you were a cat guy this explains the beginning of our segment we can see your cat back there on the floor uh hopefully it's the gray one it's like a dog cat he goes for walks for us he he lives outside I need a name what's the cat's name Buster there we go Buster the cat that's how we're gonna end the Friday with Chris Bedford with Buster the cat thanks so much Chris I'll see you Monday red States might have prevented the 2020 election from happening again we'll explain just ahead you don't have to wait until November to vote you can vote with your dollar every single day goodranchers.com you can make a powerful choice to vote for American meat to support American Agriculture and to make your voice heard for transparency in our food good ranchers sources all of their meat exclusively from American Farms which which not only supports local Ranchers but also ensures that you receive highquality American raised meat with no antibiotics no added hormones or seed oils ever and by shopping at goodranchers.com you're making a statement about the kind of 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off your first box plus free shipping and bring 100% American meat to your family meals good until 2028 that's good r ranchers.com code Jill goodranchers.com American Meat delivered November 5th is quickly approaching and many right leing voters are having flashbacks of shady white Vans and pipes bursting in the middle of the night or hearing all about Maricopa County a recent article on theblaze.com details some of the election Integrity victories that have occurred in swing States since the 2020 election and that will hopefully prevent any of these Shenanigans from going on once again now we have the author of that piece she's the senior editor for Blaze news Courtney wild So Courtney let's start with Wisconsin right back in 2020 the county clerks were legally permitted to make minor changes to the information on the envelope something like filling in missing or incomplete addresses for the absentee ballots to prevent them from being rejected so in 2024 this time around what can they do for the ballots or what can the county clerks are what were what are they not allowed to do this time around yeah it's been a a really important change so as you said in 2020 they were able to make these Minor Adjustments to the information on the ballot but now County clerks will not be able to interfere with the information that voters write on the outside of absentee ballots on the envelopes if time permits a county clerk may send the uh ballot back to the voter if there are maybe some missing information but the county clerk cannot put that down him or herself um another change that has come about was described to me as uh rev voting and what was happening is that people were casting a ballot via um absentee ballot and then all of a sudden they had change of heart a day or two or three days later and they were able to go into their County Clerk's Office ask the clerk to destroy their ballot so that they could cast a new one well now that's no longer going to be the case um voters who have a change of heart uh it was explained to me perhaps by some influence from some activists or some ballot Harvesters they won't be able to change their vote um once it's cast it's cast so that's an exciting update Courtney uh we thank you for writing this article I think it's going to be um something a lot of people read over the course of the next couple months when they look to see what has changed and what hasn't it's a question on everyone's mind so we talked about this all the time uh on this on this program and at the website and again if you haven't seen it it's Blaze News investigates the dem's election Shenanigans facing death by a Thousand Cuts another one of those cuts is in New Hampshire can you tell us um what has what has changed in in New Hampshire since 2020 yeah New Hampshire's a really interesting case because it's actually one of a couple dozen states that um offers what's called same day registration that voters can walk in and register on the same day as election day um and in the past voters were able to walk in and just sign under a penalty of perjury that they were who they said they were and they lived where they said they lived they did not have to provide any verifying documentation now that has changed now they if they want to register on the same day they actually have to furnish the officials with their documentation they may go and cast what's called an affidavit ballot if they don't happen to have their ID with them at the time and then they will have up to seven days to send uh copies of those documents to the Secretary of State's office and in fact we'll even receive a self- addressed stamped envelope already prepaid uh to help facilitate that process so there's really no excuse if they don't get that within seven days their ballot will not be counted now I remember Courtney uh Nevada back in 2020 there was so much talk around that state so what have they done there since 2020 that one's really um an exciting point because Nevada actually sends a live ballot to every single one of their active registered voters um and what had happened in Clark County that's the county uh where Las Vegas is located they um had recently gone through and cleaned up their voter roles and actually removed almost a 100,000 names from their voter roles and if they hadn't done that then we would have potentially had up to a 100,000 uh live ballots sent to no known recipient and just been floating around and that's really important in Clark County because it uh not only is it the most populous state in Nevada but it's also the most democratic and by a wide margin so this is a really important update Courtney can you tell us uh how many of these rules are are going to be in place in time for 2024 and what do you think the overall impact will be of these changes that one is difficult uh to pin down Matthew um and and that's because it's a very fluid situation in fact when I wrote the article and by the by the time I had passed it over to our editors the Commonwealth Court in Pennsylvania had already intervened and blocked enforcement on one of the rules that I had written about uh so this remains a very fluid situation I do anticipate that that uh particular measure which deals with um having correct dates on absentee ballots in Pennsylvania I do anticipate that that that the state supreme court will will take a look at that and make a final determination before before election day but it is um it's difficult to say which will be enforced and which won't but at least we're fighting and that that means the Democrats are having to fight too yeah Courtney I truly believe this is one of the most important stories of 2024 thanks so much for joining us thanks so much for having me is there any value in art that's generated by AI James pus will answer this philosophical question when we [Music] return is Art made by machines really art given the recent rise of AI images it's a fair question to ask and it is one that is asked by our own Blaze TV host James polus and he joins us now uh because you know James is the biggest lover of AI that we have uh on the entire network no no he certainly is not but how let's get into this can electronically generated art still be called Art there we go there's a lot of debate right now over whether uh a AI a AGI is even the right word for these things I like to call them automated simulators and if you look at it that way they're simulating art uh and that's okay you know we simulate lots of different things and as long as we don't get confused between what the original or what the real thing is and what the simulation is I think it'll make our lives a lot easier yeah so how do we not get confused because it certainly seems like a lot of people maybe are and as you say in this article um we've gotten to the place where as you cite the old You2 song people think the fake thing is even better than the real thing and uh we're losing the real thing we're losing reality in the midst of this I think a lot of us feel that yeah I think that's right I mean look a lot of people are looking for Escape right now they don't understand what's happening to them they don't want to accept what they know is happening to them and where do you go for Relief I mean I think the reality is that you know even for Americans who do have a pretty clear idea of what's going on and understand that uh we got some tough choices ahead about what to do they still tend to process uh the world around them through screens big screens small screens in the middle screens TV phone movies um a lot there's still a lot of action there that's where a lot of the content is and that's kind of where Americans are accustomed to working out kind of the the experience of everyday life and in a kind of sort of mirror that they can check in on themselves with and so I think you know I think movies I think television these things are going to continue to exist and I think in some ways it's even more important that these are places where people can go to see real human beings uh and where they can see uh the The Human Experience elevated into uh what what art is supposed to do which is really prepare our souls uh to accept our mortality and to live well in preparation for our death um that's that's a tall order but that's kind of what what Art's all about you can go back to you know one of the greatest filmmakers of all time Andre T tarkovski who laid that all out and uh you know whenever the spirit is moving between souls and that kind of artistic communication is going on between artists and audience uh that is a loop that does not need to have machines in it uh although you know you go back to some other filmmakers like brason one of the great old French uh filmmakers he said you know the camera sees things that human beings can't necessarily see even the director doesn't know it's there it's after the fact so can incorporate some kinds of Machinery into this process but you can't replace the human beings only with machines then you just have this kind of robot snake eating its tail and uh look we can get rid of all human beings right now if we wanted to we can wipe ourselves out uh end a story uh you know if you if you read the Bible that's not what actually is is going to happen uh so you can look at that as a as a silver lining and all this uh but we do have the power to Snuff ourselves out uh we can commit suicide right now uh I don't recommend it uh no matter how bad things get and I think we should apply that same princip to all the things we do in culture we don't need to take ourselves out of the equation so why do it so it sounds like we're you're saying is we're particularly susceptible to misusing AI when it comes to Art because our understanding of art is pretty Hollow right I mean you're saying art is ultimately about preparing the soul for death and becoming more virtuous here I mean that's pretty lofty stuff when I look around the cultural landscape right it certainly as deep and old and seems uh true in some way right but you're it sounds like you're saying we don't understand what art is and therefore we we misuse or look for too much in AI is that accurate yeah if we don't understand uh even what we are as human beings how are we supposed to understand uh the nature of what it is that we do uh we we have to take responsibility for uh for who we are um and what it is that we're doing here in the first place if you just keep turning to technology look we tried to Outsource all this stuff all these important decisions uh to the intellectuals to the AC mics to the bureaucrats oh we're too stupid oh we're just Hobbits we just want a grill please figure it all out for us Finance everything just let the elites figure it out they're smarter than us they're the experts they'll get it done and guess what in a lot of ways we're worse off than ever so if you take that principle and apply it to the to the machines whether it's AI or algorithms or or code we've already tried the experiment of Outsourcing all of our responsibilities for sorting our own stuff out to the quote unquote super intelligent it didn't work with human beings and it's going to create even more of the worst problems uh applying that same principle to uh to so-called super smart machines James uh one of the continuing stories of this week is Springfield Ohio and that's because mainly I think the cat memes have really kept this thing going so on return which you can find at theblaze.com they had uh an article that had the eight funniest memes of the haian migrants eating pets so I I have to ask you are these are are the cat memes considered art well look they were created by human beings uh most of them as far as I know I don't think uh any of the ones that made the cut were made entirely uh by uh by machines um and so you got to think you know if there's an artist then there must be art in some way shape or form uh you can blow this out to weird proportions we've you know far too many years were spent sort of debating whether not graffiti street art does it really count as art you go on art museums you look at all this weird stuff uh things that passes art now just you can you can pour a pile of uh of charcoal briquettes on the floor of a an empty white room and and put a little flaming bag of dog poop on top and some people call that art these debates have always been around and I think you know taking our eye off of the question of these moronic debates and actually finding out how we can share our Humanity in our own lives with those who are around us in Flesh and Blood through whether it's through language communication visual communication I mean look this is what church attendances has been all about for a long time is here's a place where you can go and you can spiritually commune with your fellow man in an area that has um that has art in it that is transcendent and that reconnects us to uh our spiritual nature and our spiritual life uh you can have all kinds of art that that fails that test uh that really you know makes us demoralized confused about who we are really you know evil art it's still art so so just to to put a fine point on it I mean when it comes to AI generation of of of images uh memes you know things like this week uh which many people are engaging in you know in increasing numbers I think every week that goes by people push the little button on X it's called grock there the AI they start messing with this um immediately they start trying to create you know better and better images uh or the images that they want um do you do you have any thoughts about that though just for because people are asking this question in one way you could say it's just a tool it's like using a paintbrush right we've always used tools to create uh to create art and some tools are more direct and some are more obtuse I mean uh how do you how do you how do you look at that do you see it as just another tool well it it is at least that uh but it's also a lot more the the big difference to me is you know look you you see people out there uh they're using the technology and as a result uh many are worried that uh you know just going off of the old touring test which is sort of this ridiculous idea that if a computer can confuse a person into not knowing whether they're talking to a human or computer then that's proof that the computer is like really intelligent which you know why is deception the the standard for intelligence that's creepy right off the bat uh but people are worried that oh the machines are going to uh imitate the humans and then humans are going to become confused well okay you want to worry about that go right ahead what I'm worried about beyond that though uh and what I think you know a Discerning person should focus their attention more on is people starting to want to imitate their machines I saw a trailer for The the latest uh greatest I don't know we'll see uh remake of Salem's Lot a new Salem's Lot film they did one I think just last year and they're doing it again I mean this is really scraping the bottom of the barrel the IP bucket out in Hollywood uh but some of the Stills you know I sort of paused the trailer I was looking at this thing and it really looked like it was computer generated art that kind of hyperrealistic thing where everything's glossy and it's got Reflections in like four or five different primary colors and kind of oversaturated and really slick and shiny you know uh AI art looks a lot like that there's something that still just doesn't really feel real about it and to see human beings trying to capture that vibe in a film that is full of human actors human cast human production human cinematography that really gave me pause uh you you worry about machines imitating human beings that that makes sense it's kind of common sensical but you know I think what we really need to look out for is how do we help people understand that they should not themselves be imitating the machines well James I can draw some mean stick figures if you need some help because I see some empty shelves behind you maybe we need to print out some of the Matthew Peterson cat memes with Donald Trump and get those for you uh in in your new new place down there thanks so much for joining us space yeah there's plenty of space Thanks James I disavow disavow creating any memes but uh but I but I did um and I mean I think James just called it art maybe I you're an artist now I'm forget foret get editor and chief title you're just going to be artist Peterson come on down to the blaze um we had Sabo on yesterday and now we have Matthew Peterson here I don't know which which is the better artist I don't know anymore yeah I think I think the deeper point there needs to be said over and over again is what he's saying about you know the true purpose of art preparing you for death and making you think the uncomfortable thoughts I know that sounds terrible uh but that is making you think seriously about your life and real evaluating it in in some way that just inspires awe and and real uh trembling I mean that's something that almost seems laughable in today's environment but it's real it's very real and it's something that we need to recapture I love the way that James thinks it's always it's always a unique perspective uh when we come back though if you want to just go ahead and dive into your weekend and watch some great movies well we have plenty of westerns for you to choose from stay tuned [Music] it's Friday and we're in a movie mood now westerns are Classics and they have stood the test of time but why Blaze riter Kevin Ryan joins us now to discuss so Kevin let's start big picture overall what makes it a western so a western strictly speaking involves the the this time period perod in during the American frontier before the Open Range became closed the last bit of free America so to speak and it's an artistic reenvisioning of a time when uh in my opinion things were a little bit easier so one of my motivations with Wednesday Western is to look at this art form and say how can we learn from this art form before abandoning it because there all these there's always a story about the Western's dead and all that my my perspective is it's not dead and we can keep learning from it yeah let's talk a little bit um about that because it is true every five years or so you'll see an article that says you know what um Hollywood is getting rid of the western the Western has died and then it's usually in the context of announcing a new movie that's a western I mean Kevin Coster just put a bunch of money into Verizon uh and that movie didn't do so well but it came out a lot of people are watching after the fact so I mean where do you think this actually is in terms of a trend and then you also have Yellowstone out there right which I guess you could say is Western is um where do you think we're at right now on the ups and downs of the western so Horizon did something very interesting with the genre uh it had the potential to infuse more money into the genre with its success but like most genres but especially the Western genre we have this interesting Dynamic where the less money it has the more prone it is to Excellence and Niche and winning Awards I mean Horizon debuted At Con and got it Standing Ovation and then went to theaters and bombed so it's either way it's a win-win and it's and it's has of the western which was you know at one point in the 50s there were um there was a western every two weeks released so we're not at that level we won't get back to that level but we're still getting these like beautiful performances with aist a-listers often times and and I mean look at Tarantino like his favorite films are westerns and it shows even in his non-western work so the future of the western is is pretty BL bright by Dent to the fact that even when it fails it succeeds all right Kevin you mention the Wednesday Western you review westerns for us uh on a line so out of all of them that you've been reviewing as of late what's your favorite one what one really stands out to you so um that's a tricky one because my my one of my favorites is obviously 1939 Stage Coach John Ford um um once again a western that didn't succeed at the time but has since become one of the known as one of the greatest films of all time by John Ford a director who I got four Oscars as best director none of which were for westerns um anything with the Duke uh you know and and that's what I hear from every from the audience that that's they just want as much John Wayne as possible um this week was ballot of cable hog that was a fun one to do um I'm diving into Cosner and uh I mean it it's a cool series can you go into just uh in the in the time we have laugh cuz we're running out out of time now but look the ballot of cable Hogue is I mean I'm I'm reading this like I I've never heard of this like what is this and it's Sam Peck andpa right after he does a movie that a lot of people do know about uh called The Wild Bunch tell us about this this movie it's a fascinating um for those who don't know the Wild Bunch it's violent it's serious it's irreverent it's destructive so as the followup from the International success that pecking paaw bloody Sam pecking paaw as he was known because he was so his films were so violent and his personality on set was so volatile um he followed up with this beautiful sweet funny little movie called The Ballot of cable Hogue about this unsuccessful I don't want to call him a job figure but this man sort of struggling through the desert for water who discovers water and it it becomes this biblical Tale full of irreverence and bodess where everything is topsy turvy very much an example of good post-modern film leading up to a movie like Pulp Fiction down the line but definitely one that everybody should check out really beautiful lovely movie that upins our expectations great storytelling highly recommend Kevin uh I love that you're so enthusiastic about westerns and I want to say I want to go on record I think that you probably have the best facial hair of anybody that has come on Blaze news tonight so far so thanks so much for joining us definitely agreeing with that yes very good and Peterson I loved what he said just the time of free America right like isn't this what we're all trying to get back to right we have the chaos everything's going on right now things are moving so fast in our lives yeah we really just want to go back and have that open and just live in free America yeah the deeper meaning of the western is a theme that's deep written in the American psyche and it's in all kinds of movies and art and that is that there is an open place and unregulated space uh which is where savagery and civilization meet and within each of our hearts there's a frontier there's a place where savagery and civilization meets and working that out uh and and and building outside of civilization is what creates new civilization and an American way of life hopefully worth living in the 21st century we need to find the frontier now you know I'm I'm going to believe you more now when you when you talk about this stuff because now you're not just the editor and chief you're also an artist now the the cat memes uh they are the theme of the week and it's it's a real story that's going on but it's also a way that the right has been able to own a narrative right they they sometimes they're terrible at marketing let's be honest yeah whether it's uh my own Trump's art will which I will take credit for uh bringing the cats to the ark or not uh this is something that look a lot of people this week uh engaged in naturally on the right and really took the bowl by the horns I mean they led the narrative and they led the media right into Springfield and that's remarkable and we've been talking about it all week because it's an important story that tells you everything you need to know about what's going on in this country uh but we're also talking about all week because of the memes and because of the use of imagery very quickly on the part of many people on the right and we were talking about election integrity today with Courtney W and that is the thing that honestly is going to be the most important of of anything that we could do uh and we had Jack poic to start the week right and he was talking about eight weeks until the election leave it all on the line what are you going to do get out there and get active because this this time everything is on the line yeah for all the talk about you know what are we going to do what you look you know what you need to do you need to hold people accountable you need to go to the people who are working on Election Integrity in your area and you need to get people to vote so Jack's message is very good I mean you have eight weeks what are you personally going to do this time you can't let other people do it for you and I think the big issue is election Integrity as Courtney told us is very good report you should you should check it out at the bl.com we don't know to what extent things have been cleaned up but there certainly is evidence that things have gotten better Republicans have gotten active people like clet Mitchell and CPI has quoted in that article are you know she's been on our show she's told us we've changed hundreds of laws for the good right but we don't know if it's enough and no one can say if it's enough and so the important thing is going to be getting out there and getting your people out there and voting and today is September 13th it's exactly two months since Donald Trump was shot in Pennsylvania and I think it's important to note that we still aren't any closer to the answers that the American people want and the committee that is led by Mike Johnson is pushing it off until after after the election they said they're they're going to be out there meeting so if you want anything done you're going to have to go out there and figure out a way to do it yourself yeah and to hell with that committee we're going to have more news about that next week we have people out there like Steve Baker looking at this right now absolutely so if you like Blaze news tonight make sure to subscribe on your favorite podcast platform don't forget to rate and review the show it helps everybody else to find it everybody have a great weekend we'll see you back here on Monday