This episode chronicles a challenging five-day backpacking trip up Mount Harvard in Colorado, one of the state's highest peaks. The journey involved an arduous off-trail ascent on the backside of the mountain, characterized by steep, unmarked terrain and significant elevation gain over a short distance.
This episode chronicles a challenging five-day backpacking trip up Mount Harvard in Colorado, one of the state's highest peaks. The journey involved an arduous off-trail ascent on the backside of the mountain, characterized by steep, unmarked terrain and significant elevation gain over a short distance. The speaker recounts the physical demands of navigating boulder fields and treacherous slopes, emphasizing the resulting exhaustion and the stark contrast between this wilderness approach and more conventional summit hikes.
Following the adventure narrative, the conversation briefly explores the practicalities of outdoor gear, specifically focusing on the comfort and necessity of good sleeping pads for overnight trips. This segues into a discussion of current events, covering a range of topics that highlight societal issues and legal matters. These include a lighthearted account of a suburban dispute with a homeowner's association, a more serious incident involving a pastor in Louisiana, and allegations of a city council member acting as an agent for the Chinese government.
The episode delves into the legal ramifications of roofing scams, referencing a specific Texas law, House Bill 2102, that prohibits contractors from waiving or absorbing homeowner deductibles. The speakers clarify that this practice is illegal and can result in severe penalties for both the contractors and homeowners involved, particularly for insurance fraud. They stress the importance of homeowners conducting due diligence, obtaining multiple quotes, and avoiding any contractor who offers to circumvent the deductible, as it often indicates other unethical or illegal business practices.
The discussion also touches upon broader societal trends, including the role of religion in public education with the mention of a new Texas law mandating the Bible in public schools, and the personal responsibility of parents in educating their children about morals and beliefs. The speakers share their perspectives on these issues, emphasizing the lasting impact of parental guidance and the importance of critical engagement with educational content, regardless of personal beliefs. The episode concludes with a practical tip for homeowners regarding deductible savings and a call to action…
This is episode number 360 of The Homeowner Show. Whether you're DIY or looking to hire, we're here to help you find the best information and options for you and your home. My name is Kevin Hackett, and here with me is Craig Williams.
Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to The Homeowner Show. We are so glad that you could join us for another live episode here in the studio. Sup, Kev?
Well, you know what? I'm, um, I'm tired.
I'm tired.
I'm tired. Uh, yeah, I'm, I'm exhausted. Yeah, it— I, I just got down off of a, uh, 5-day backpacking trip up the backside of, uh, Mount Harvard up in Colorado. It's the tallest of the Collegiate Peaks in, uh—
The Collegiate Peaks?
The Collegiate Peaks.
What are the Collegiate Peaks?
Uh, there's a bunch of them. There's Harvard, Princeton, Yale. Is it like a group of mountains?
Oh, so they're all named after—
They're all 14,000-foot mountains.
So are they all named after like universities and stuff?
They are.
Oh, interesting.
Every one of them.
Okay.
So you got Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Oxford, Columbia. There's one or two others, I'm pretty sure.
Yeah. Oidy-toidy mountains.
But they're all 14,000-foot mountains. And this one's, Harvard is the tallest at 14,420 feet, but the, which I've, felt like Colorado really wanted that number in there. 420. 420. But, um, newest calculations put it at 14,424.
Oh, it grew.
It has grown. Well, actually really has.
Oh no, I wasn't being facetious.
Yeah, legitimately has grown. Um, but we, we based out of Twin Lakes. basically, and, uh, headed out, um, toward the Missouri Valley and through the Missouri Valley and went up the backside of Harvard. And one of the things that, like, I, a lot of people don't understand, because a lot of people will go summit 14,000-foot mountains in Colorado. Most of them do it in a day.
Okay.
And they just—
Knock it out?
No, they go to the parking lot. Which is just a gravel open area or dirt area, and they hike up the mountain. There's a very clear trail, switchbacks, whatever, to get you up. Typically you start early in the morning, you get up there before the clouds roll in, which is typically around noon, because you don't obviously wanna be on the top of a mountain when clouds roll in.
So you can do it like 4 or 5 hours?
Yeah.
Okay.
Yeah, you can. Typically up and then down is gonna take you 2, if that much. You know, it's really quick on the way down. But when you decide to go into the wilderness to get there, typically you're coming up a different side of the mountain. Not always, but with Harvard, we went the backside of the mountain. And what that means is, there's no trail.
Okay.
There's no trail whatsoever. Um, you, you literally kind of weave your way through the trees until you get out of the tree line. And then pretty much from there, you can see the peak if you, if, unless there's a ridge and then another peak. So a lot of times that happens.
Right.
Um, but dude, we were just going like straight up. We, it was only about 2 miles that day. But it was 3,600 feet in elevation.
Oh my gosh.
Yeah. And, uh, which is, which is fine. We get to the boulder field, we get on up through the boulder field, um, knife our way through to the, uh, to the summit. And we stay up there for a little bit. It's pretty windy up there. And we head back down. Getting down the boulder field is what it is. Then you get to the grassy area where again, there's no trail.
Mm-hmm.
Because there's no trail, there's no switchbacks. And even if there were switchbacks, it really wouldn't have helped. Uh, it's just straight down. And like, dude, we, we came down and there, there were moments once, especially once we got back into the tree line. Um, but even before then it was just grassy area, but it's just like straight down. We get to the tree line and there's no grass. It's just dirt and pine needles. And so just like I was on my backside multiple times, just sliding down the mountain. Um, but that's, you know, when there's no trail, I mean, that's kind of the way it goes. And, uh, dude, I was absolutely exhausted whenever we got down. Uh, it
was about 13 hours round trip for us that day. We got up at 1:40 in the morning.
Oh my gosh.
Left at 2:30.
And, uh, even feed you?
No, we took breakfast bars and stuff with us.
All right.
And so then the next day we hiked all the way out about 8.5 miles from our camp. And going down that day, my legs were just—
Jelly?
Yeah, just, it was terrible.
Well, you also have a pack on, right?
Oh yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Oh yeah. I mean, which it's lighter than it was when I went up there. had eaten food and gotten rid of some stuff in my pack, but I mean, it was still probably, I don't know, 45 pounds, maybe 50, depending on— I mean, I've got a lot of lightweight gear, but I carry some luxuries like a chair.
A chair.
Now, my chair only weighs 1 pound and 2 ounces, and it's very small, low to the ground, Uh, but it's a luxury, you know, I don't have to carry that, but sure is nice.
Well, yeah, chairs are always nice.
Yeah.
You can always find a rock that's the same length as your legs there.
Right.
Yeah.
Um, it's just, you know, it's something other than the hard ground to sit on. So, uh, but anyway, uh, we had a great time, but I spent, let's, what's that, 8 nights on an air mattress. So My, my first night back was 2 nights ago.
Are we talking like a full air mattress? Are we talking about like one of these like little small—
Well, for the, for the first night and the last night, last 2 nights, I guess I was on a full air mattress because we were, we were stopping and staying at a, you know, overnight at a church basically, um, sleeping on the floor. So I took a full air mattress for that. But I mean, on the mountain, yeah, it's just a— It's the roll-up inflatable pad. Yeah. But—
Which are nice.
Oh yeah.
Better than nothing.
I remember whenever I was, uh, uh, growing up in Scouts, man, like I, I, you sell popcorn, like raise money for different things. And I won at one point. And what I got was a Therm-a-Rest mattress. It's the only brand I've ever used after that. It's a Therm-a-Rest mattress. It's 1 inch thick. And it was like the best because it wasn't just a piece of Foam, right? Um, and from there I upgraded to a 3-inch mattress, uh, that I had for quite a few years. Um, but I bought a new one this year because I'm getting old, and Therm-a-Rest has now got one that's 4.6 inches thick.
Okay.
And it's really only the size of like a Nalgene bottle. A what bottle? A Nalgene.
What's a Nalgene?
Just a, like a a plastic bottle.
Oh, like a—
Like a drinking bottle.
Okay, I got you. Um, when you roll it up?
Yeah, when it's rolled up.
And, um, is that because you can like compress it?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it, it— once you take the air out of it, I mean, it rolls up just really, really small. Um, but dude, like, it's a game changer for that, that amount of of cushion, there's not a, there's not a rock out there that's really gonna— like, you're not gonna sleep on, that you're gonna go, this is terrible. So, I mean, no, it was, it was, as far as that goes, it was as good as it could be.
Sure.
But it's not as good as my mattress. Not at all.
You know?
So, uh, anyway, we had a great time, but, um, I'm, I'm still kind of recovering from that. But anyway, what's up with you, man?
Oh, dude, we had an exciting evening here at the Williams Ranch.
Yeah.
My son came in right before you got here and he goes, Dad, there's 2 snakes outside.
Oh, no.
They're freaking me out. And I was like, okay, let's go take a peek.
Yeah.
And sure enough, there was 2 copperheads out there having just a little snake orgy.
Really?
Oh, yeah. And I was like, oh, good eye, son. So the big one was still out there on the rock, And so I just reached out and gently chopped his head off.
Sure.
The other one was already gone by the time I got out there. I ended up finding her and she slithered away real quick underneath the porch. So I'm gonna go hunting for her tomorrow night.
Yeah, no kidding.
I'm not like— look, I tolerate many things. Snakes is not one of them.
Well, especially copperheads. I mean, they're poisonous.
If it's like a rat snake or something like that, we'll get along fine. Just go on. Don't come near me.
Right.
I, you know, and there's even like some hognoses around here that are super fun to play with. Mm-hmm. Um, cuz they play dead.
Yeah.
And like, I, I'll leave 'em be.
Sure.
Like if they're a good snake, but I'm not messing around with no copperhead.
Nope.
Not with my dogs, not with my kids, not with my horses. Like, no, not, not only that, like right now there's like 12 boys sleeping on my property.
Yeah.
And the last thing I need is one of them get bit while their mom has dropped 'em off here to play. camp all weekend.
Yeah. So.
Not doing that. Yeah, that's in between all that right now. So anyway, big fun here at the wheel. Never a dull moment.
Correct.
But I was very proud of the sharpness of my shovel.
Oh, yeah.
I got him in one fell swoop.
Nice.
Nate Bargatze, there you go. I used it properly.
Yeah, one fell swoop.
One fell swoop.
Yeah.
Actually used the phrase properly.
That's so funny.
If you need to inform your wife as to how you use the phrase, I'm here for you. Yeah, you—
one fell swoop, right?
I don't think you know what that—
I don't think you know what that means. That's really good. Uh, that's a great bit. If you haven't seen it, go look it up.
Uh, is it— did he do that bit when we went and saw him?
He did.
Okay, I thought he did. Yeah, but anyway, um, we, we've got, we got some cool stuff coming up. We've got an air purifier and we've got the water purifier. Yeah, that I'm going to I'm in the process of testing out.
Okay.
Apparently we have some mattresses on the way.
Okay.
So I'm gonna have to be—
plural?
Yeah.
Okay.
I'm gonna be taking some naps to make sure that they're, you know, up to snuff.
Yeah.
You know, maybe you can compare them to the—
yeah, I won't test them with you this time. Well, not that we're gonna tell people about it at least. You're the snuggler.
That's right. But we had some interesting stories happen out there. One's not even like a story, it's just a social media account that we came across that I thought was hilarious and I sent it over to you. And it's this dude up in, I don't know if he's, he's in the DFW area.
Okay.
That's all I know.
Yep.
And it's called Bad Lawn Dad. And I liked it because we ran the story, gosh, what, it was like 9 months ago where we talked about the Florida congressman that was actually proposing the bill to outlaw all HOAs.
Right.
In the state of Florida.
Yes.
which people were cheering on, but we both know that that's really impractical.
Very much so.
Probably not ever going to happen.
No.
But he did it. He put it out there. Well, this guy has gotten into a fight with this woman who's the president of his HOA. And rather than— he's decided just to make fun of her.
Right.
In lieu of fighting.
Yes.
And so he's not going to fight. He's just going to continue to take all of her communication and then make it public, but then also make fun of her in the process.
Yes.
And then like when she gets upset and sees that he's doing it online, she sends him messages like, how dare you? That's not what I sound like. That's not what I look like. You took me out of context.
Yeah.
Then he uses that.
Of course.
He's even made some songs about their text messages going back and forth.
Hilarious.
Really, really good. But by far my favorite thing that he has done is, well, there's, well, that's, okay. My favorite thing that he has done, and I think it's called Prop 64.
Okay, I haven't seen it.
He, and I think it's, I apologize, Bad Lawn Dad, if I get this, if I get it wrong. And I think his name's Jeremiah.
Okay.
But in the woman, he refers to her as Karen, which is awesome. If I hope to God that's her actual real name.
Yes, I hope so too.
He concocted— so he started putting fake newspapers on her front doorstep.
Oh.
Like with news stories.
Okay.
Like with legit news stories.
Right.
But then he started injecting them with this propaganda for Prop 64. Which is completely made up.
All right.
And Prop 64, according to the article in the fake newspaper that he put on her front yard, was going to eliminate HOAs in the DFW area.
Oh man. And that's perfect.
According to the account, and I really hope this is true, She read the story and just like a big old bass, hook, line, and sinker.
Of course.
And then went to the city council and was like, what the hell are you guys thinking about with this Prop 64? We can't let this thing pass. And she starts posting on social media.
Oh my goodness.
And he even made yard signs and started giving 'em to his neighbors as like, let's all support Prop 64. You know what I mean? He made them, gave them to 'em, and let them all in on the joke. Like, you know, support Prop 64.
That's so good. That is so good. Oh man. Oh, that is really, really good.
So, but he, so he's so frustrated with her because just she's fining him for like stupid, you know, piddly things.
Sure.
And so now he's running for HOA president and he's got his, you know, his, his platform out there. And he's gonna eliminate all fees. Of course he is. He's just going through all these things. And he's also come up with, rather than fees, the flamingo of shame.
Oh.
So like, if your property's disheveled and like, then the HOA notices, they're gonna go put like a plastic flamingo in the yard.
That's so good.
Like, it's just like, it's fun, creative stuff that this guy's come up with.
Yeah.
And he's obviously down. And I told you, I think he has like a ministry background.
Yeah, you were telling me about this.
He kind of has like a youth minister vibe to him.
Yeah.
Um, like very, very fun, very creative. Um, so it's— it'll be— I'm watching his account. I want to see what happens. Um, they also do like a scripture reading from time to time on their social media, him and his wife in the front lawn. Um, just, just— I mean, if you haven't checked it out, just go check it out. Well, you Yeah. Maybe we can post a link in the show notes or something like that. But Jeremiah, if you're listening, and I apologize if that's not your name, but Bad Lawn Dad, keep doing what you're doing, man. We love it.
Yeah, no doubt.
I sent him a message. I was like, I don't know when the election is, but would love to have you come on and explain your radical new platform.
Yes.
The other one that I thought we ought to spend some time chatting about is Tony Spell. over in Louisiana.
Dude.
And if you guys haven't seen it, there is a street fight that occurred in Louisiana from this pastor was— and I've got the details of the story according to the 2 parties.
Okay. Which I— so again, I was on the mountain for a week.
Sure.
And when you're on the mountain—
It did happen while you were gone. Yeah.
When you're on the mountain, you don't know what's happening. I will tell you one of the cool things that iOS has done with their phones is, this happened roughly 2 years ago, is you can connect to a satellite.
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
And so—
Send text messages and stuff. Yes.
Yeah. And so I was able to get messages out to like my wife to just say, hey, we're safe.
Right.
But you don't know anything else at all.
Right.
Uh, you get down off the mountain, you're a little bit disoriented because you're like, I, I don't know what's happened. So I come down and I see that video and I watched it twice because the first time I was like, oh, this guy's getting the living crap beaten, being beat out of them.
Right.
And then I see one of the comments and I see the word pastor in it and I'm like, Hold up, what?
Right.
And that's whenever I went and watched it a second time and was like, all right, dude's got an MMA background or something. Like, it's pretty interesting. So tell me, what do you know about the background?
So, I mean, what I know is what the different parties have said.
Okay.
I don't know it to be fact.
Okay.
So like, I'm gonna use the word allegedly.
Okay.
Over all of this. So like, you can— there's stuff that you can see in the video that's like that, that you can take to the bank.
Sure.
Um, so apparently this goes back all the way to like 2020. This is, this is a COVID rivalry.
Really?
Yes. Yes. So apparently he be like— Tony Spell became pretty well known because he got wrapped up in a lawsuit with the governor of Louisiana because he refused all lockdown mandates. Oh. and kept meeting.
Okay.
And then the people across the street, it pissed them off, and so they started narcing on him.
Okay.
And so it's just been going on ever since then.
And—
You can agree, disagree with whatever, but that's the gist of it.
Sure.
According to Tony, he was across the street in the church parking lot working on a Sunday school bus, changing a battery. 20-year-old dude who's the son of the family that they've been in this like Hatfield-McCoy feud with.
Sure.
Um, kid standing across the street yelling at him, telling him he's gonna rape his wife and rape his grandchildren and that the next time he goes out of town, he's gonna kill his whole family.
What? So no, thank you. Then we're not playing that game.
So you watch, if you watch the video, The first time I watched it, I was like, oh, he's being aggressive.
Sure.
Um, and I, what I mean by that is the, the pastor. Like, he's, he's being really aggressive because he sort of runs.
Yeah, but that's not the full—
What, what was going on is there was a car coming.
Yes. He was trying to get out of the way of the car.
He's getting out of the way of the car because you see him slow down as soon as the car gets past.
Yes.
And then as he approaches the young man, the dude swings at him like 3 or 4 times before he even engages.
Right.
And at that point, he full-on Nolan Ryans him.
He does.
I mean, like, takes him to the ground. He, like, he punches him like 4 times and then throws him to the ground and then begins to like just absolutely thrash on him. Takes his cell phone, throws it away.
Yep. Grabs the back of his hair.
Yeah.
Pulls him up and he's like from the front, like the back, he's swinging on his front.
It's, it's, I mean, like, look, it's just a full whooping.
Yeah.
It's, it's one of those just like F around and find out.
That's right.
Situations, you know, and like you, I've heard a lot of people say, well, he's a pastor and he shouldn't do that. And I was like, look, at that point in time, that dude is no longer a pastor. Right. That is a husband and a father. That's right. And a granddaddy who is in just full on rabid bear attack mode.
Yeah.
Because that dude threatened his family.
Yeah.
Um, now does that make it like, okay, I don't know.
No, I don't either. Um, I'm like, I'm not familiar with the whole story.
Like, you could— I think you can like just like take the entire he's a pastor thing out of the equation. I don't think it matters.
Right.
And like, look, you're in ministry.
Yep.
I've been in ministry. Someone tells me that they're going to rape my wife.
No, we're not playing that at all.
No. Like, I'm sorry. No. And I don't even think we're allowed to say that word, but I don't care.
Well, like, but the thing is, like, you have to, you have to think about it.
Like, Ryan's online saying, if you're gonna get sued, make it count.
Yeah, exactly.
Wait, I don't, he may get sued and like that, that may actually, that may actually come to bear.
Yeah.
But like he got arrested for second-degree battery and went to jail.
Hmm. Really?
Oh yeah.
I didn't realize that.
Well, and like, I'm watching the, I'm watching the, the playback. Yeah.
Yeah.
And I'm going like, yeah, like once he kind of took over, like he may have overdone it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
There was, whenever he's laying on the guy's back or he's sitting on the guy's back, grabs his hair and it's like punching him from the front side. Like there, it could have been excessive at that point because I like, there was a point when I'm going, what is your end goal here? Is your end goal to make him stop? Mm-hmm. Or is your end goal to knock him out?
Yeah.
Like, now, now, now, if I— again, you start talking about my wife and my kids and those sorts of things, like, like, you, you know, like you said, mess with the bear, get the claw, right? Like, like, I, I understand that, but I will tell you that this idea of, oh, you're held to a higher standard, that's— I'm kind of okay with that. I'm okay with you saying that. Same, the same way that you would say that about a principal or about the CEO of a company or about a city manager or about the superintendent of a school. You would say something similar, like you should have restrained yourself. However, again, there comes a point when it's like, look, I'm gonna protect what's most valuable.
My issue with that whole line of thinking, and I don't necessarily disagree. I mean, like if you're gonna be in the public eye, like just, watch what you're doing. Yeah. That, that to me is, is a, is a different thing. But this, this whole thing about like, well, you need to be held to a higher standard. Like, yes and no.
Right?
Because like, are, are other people less than you? Like, is it okay for people who are less than you to behave that way?
Yeah.
I don't know. I mean, like, I don't think so. Right. I don't think of people being, as being better or less than me.
Correct.
And so if I would do that, which I totally would, you say that about my wife, you say that about my kids, like, heaven help you.
It's on.
Like, yeah. And you better win.
Yeah.
'Cause I ain't stopping.
Right.
You know, it's just, and it's not because I have this thing in my head that I want to hurt somebody.
Right.
But like, you are threatening the thing that is most important to me in this world.
Right. Sorry.
It's game on at that point.
Right. And, and there is something to be said about being provoked. I mean, it, especially whenever you've gone, I'm trying to deescalate this.
Yeah.
I'm getting out of the way of a car. I'm deescalating this. And you start swinging at me. You've already said some horrible things.
Yeah.
And I'm, I'm, maybe I'm coming across the street going, you better quit. Yeah. But then you swing at me.
That, that, and that to me was the whole, like, why didn't they arrest the other guy?
Right.
Because he swung first.
Yeah.
If, if it's battery, then is that not self-defense to begin with? At least that's what I'm looking at it going. Like, if it's excessive, he crossed the street.
Yeah.
And it did it. Like, if you, the first glance, you're like, oh, he's being super aggressive. He's running at him.
Right.
But like, that's not what's going on.
Mm-hmm.
Because he wasn't running initially and then he started running.
Sure.
then you watch in the background, oh, there was a car coming. He's trying to get out of the way. Yeah, he swung first.
Yeah.
And that's the thing is like, you threatened my family. Like, not just like, I'm gonna ruin you, or I'm gonna like go to the newspapers or any of that kind of stuff.
Right.
It's like, no, no, no, no, I'm gonna do all these horrible things to them and then I'm gonna kill them. Okay, and then I come to talk to you and you swing at me 3 times.
Yep.
Okay.
I, I don't know what else you expect.
I don't know either. I mean, so, but like, I don't— from what I've heard, nothing's happened to the other guy, right? And maybe it's just like, well, maybe he— I mean, like, he's already gotten his punishment.
I mean, he did definitely—
he did have to go to the hospital. I should, I should say that he did have to go to the hospital.
Good. I, you know, I mean, I, I mean Look, I will— the number of times that I've said in my life, there is no such thing as a fair fight. Mm-hmm. Or a clean fight.
Yeah.
That's the— I'm like, look, if I'm in a situation where I need to fight, I'm sorry, it will not be fair and it will not be clean. Nope. I will do whatever it takes to take you down. That's right.
Let's go full Three Stooges.
Right.
You in the eye.
I will. I'll poke you in the eye. I'll kick you in other places. I will elbow you in ways that you have never felt before. Like, I'm gonna, I'm gonna make you feel it. And this just— my goal would not be to kill you, but my goal would be to put you down.
Yeah.
To where you could not come after me again. You know what I mean?
Oh yeah.
Like, that's just, that's the way I feel about it. Like, I'm not gonna, I'm not going to engage with you on that level unless I'm will— you're about to be put down.
Like, and this is, this is one of the interesting things about violence is if you, if you talk to people that will train you on self-defense.
Yep.
One, like, if, if you're gonna, if you're gonna go and, and roll with somebody like that, it's not going to end if you win.
No.
Like, that, that person from now on is probably gonna be plotting their revenge.
Oh, absolutely.
You know, um, and it, it'll probably be sneaky and it'll probably be dirty.
Yep.
Like, it's just like, and that's, that's why most people are like, look, de-escalation is the way to go.
It is.
If you can peacefully walk away, you know. And, and, and so here's, here's what I will say about this entire situation. Um, they, they've had now a 6-year relationship with this family. He probably knows that they're just full of crap.
You're probably right.
You know, and, and should have just— probably should have just walked away.
Yeah.
Um, but not what happened, right? And he didn't swing first, right? So like, okay, if you're gonna arrest anybody, arrest both of them.
Yeah.
Even if he's in the hospital, I don't care.
Yeah.
Um, and, and like, the other thing is you hear so many people say like, well, all these young people, they just run their mouths online and they never learn what it what it means, like when you actually say something to somebody's face. This kid gets it now.
Oh yeah.
He's probably gonna think twice the next time he runs his mouth.
Yeah.
Um, because not only he's 20-year-old dude that just got whooped on by somebody in his late 50s, early 60s.
Yep.
I mean, like, come on, dude. Yeah.
Well, I think that I, I do think that there is a weird misnomer out there. Like there is a certain point This is a weird, this is a weird phenomenon. Like there's a certain point at which I won't be stronger than someone who's in their 20s.
Mm-hmm.
It's not yet.
It's not yet. Yeah.
You know what I mean?
Yeah.
Okay.
They might, they might be quicker.
Maybe. Yeah. They may be quicker.
Like they, they might be a little quicker, but, but there's a point where— don't let me, don't let me land the haymaker. That's right.
I mean, that's, that's what I'm saying. Like, not like most, most people that are in their 40s and even in their 50s, they've been wrestling with their teenage son.
You know what I mean?
For a while. For a while. And pretty sure they know where the limits are. And it's just, it's a, it's a weird phenomenon. And there's a point at which you won't be able to do it anymore, but It's not yet.
Not yet. No, no, I'm just saying.
Not only that, I got more toys than you.
Yeah.
Yeah, I can afford more toys and I will use them.
I will use those toys. So anyway, which, I mean, I mean, as, as violent as this was, I'm, I'm kind of shocked that that didn't happen.
Oh, me too.
You know?
Yeah.
I mean, one, Like, you know, he's, he's 20, but like they left him unattended.
They left him unattended. Yeah, he wasn't in his kennel.
Well, like, you know, like, I'm sorry, if my son's 20 and I don't care if he's mouthing off, sure, and someone comes over and starts whooping the bejesus out of him, I'm gonna step in. Sure. Not, not because I don't think he didn't do anything wrong, but that's my son, right?
I'm gonna step in the middle. Yeah. Yeah.
So, and that didn't happen.
No.
So either that dude's dad's a coward, right? Or he wasn't there.
Wasn't there.
Um, I'm guessing he wasn't there.
Probably wasn't there. And this kid on his own makes a poor decision.
Oh yeah.
Real poor.
Yeah. Which they, I mean, like the, the family's denying.
Um, of course they are.
But there are, there's several witnesses.
Yeah.
Well, you, that were in the parking lot.
We got a camera.
Like, I mean, he was saying something. Yeah. And it, it wasn't like, hey, nice new haircut. Right.
Yeah. You know, no, that, that, that I will tell you, that is one of the things that the world that we live in, it's like, man, don't think you're getting away with something.
No.
Someone is filming. Someone is watching.
And again, like who was filming? Because I think it was one of his family members.
Yeah. And it looks like it's coming from a second story somewhere.
They did.
It's from pretty high high up, kept filming. Just, yeah, it was like, oh, this is interesting. I mean, who knows, they might have been going, well, I told him that was gonna happen, you know what I mean? This is, this is what he gets.
I mean, but like, dude, I haven't, I haven't seen a beatdown like that in a while.
Yeah, yeah.
I mean, like, and let me, let me also say this, like Tony, like, yeah, he won the fight, right? Clear, clear winner, right? I also don't think he really knows how to fight.
Probably not.
Not like any— well, I don't think he's had any training.
Probably not.
I don't, I don't think he like—
Well, because I will tell you this, like, I'm going— I'm, I'm not either. I haven't either.
I mean, like, he whooped him, but it was like kind of like a slap fight.
It was like— I, again, I've not I've not had any training either, but I promise you, if I'm laying on top of you or sitting on top of you, like your kidneys are getting mushy. Like there's a lot of things that I'm going for, not just your face, 'cause that hurts.
Yeah.
I'm using elbows. Like there's lots of things. Ryan, our friend Ryan, he put it real poignantly, right? He said, we're '80s kids. We had to say it to your face and be ready to back it up.
That's so true. To his point, I remember being in 8th grade and standing in the bus line and there was this kid, I cannot remember his name. Why can't I remember his name? We were buddies, but I knew he was a taekwondo kid.
Oh, okay.
You know what I mean? And he wasn't like, it was pretty obvious he exercised and worked out. And he played on the football team, but this other kid was just mouthing off to him and wouldn't shut up and then said something about his mama.
Oh, of course.
And I don't think he realized, the kid that was mouthing off was smaller than him, but I don't think he knew that he was this martial artist. And he said something about his mama and that dude just full roundhouse kicked him in the face. I mean, just laid him out. And I was just like, Yep. Yep. That's what happens. That's, that's, and like all of us were just like, oh yeah. You know, what else do you do? You know, none of us were like, oh, poor kid.
Right.
Like, no, you don't say something about the kid's mama.
Right.
You know, and expect nothing.
Right.
Like, what were you, what were you trying to have happen here?
Right.
You know? And so he's right. But like, that doesn't, I mean, like I've, I've seen it happen now.
Yeah.
But like, not with like public school kids. It's been like in very specific situations where like violence is sort of like how you communicate, right? Um, but you know, it's—
we live in a different world.
We live in a different world.
That—
I guarantee you that kid that was across the street has never been punched in the mouth, right?
Oh, of course not.
You know, and he's gonna remember getting punched in the mouth this time.
That's right. So interesting.
But anyway, we'll, we'll follow the story, see what happens. You know, Tony, Tony got out on I guess he got out on bail. He's out and they had a church service and they had one on Sunday. It's a pretty charismatic church.
Sure.
But yeah, it'll be interesting to see what happens. Sure will. So the other one is kind of a local politics one that I thought was just crazy. And this actually happened last month and it's the story of Eileen Wang.
Okay.
who was a city council member. And what was the city? I've got it here on the article.
I mean, I think you said it was somewhere in Florida. I mean, California, right?
Arcadia, California.
Okay.
Which is a suburb of Los Angeles.
Okay.
So here's what it says. It says she resigned from office and subsequently pleaded guilty in federal court to acting as an illegal agent for the Chinese government.
Oh my gosh. What? Oh, man.
So here's, here, here's kind of what happened is back in 2020 and all through 2022, right before she was elected to public office, she ran a website with her then fiancé that was targeting the Chinese American community, and it was called US News Center.
Okay.
And they were receiving pre-written articles from Beijing as to what to say. And so they were basically sending them propaganda.
Right.
For several things, but the main thing was they were trying to get out in front of and deny the genocide for the Christian Uyghurs in the, Is it the Xinjiang Province?
Whatever that is.
So it's a large province in China.
In China.
So, and they're like, people, a lot of people don't know that the Uyghurs in China are Christians and that they've been, there's been an active genocide against them from the Chinese government.
Okay.
And putting them in the forced labor camps.
Yeah.
Like, this isn't like World War II stuff. This is like right now.
Happening.
Been happening. Well, at least right, I actually don't know if it's still happening because The story got a little more public with things like this.
Sure.
But they were sending her articles about what to say, and then she was publishing it. And, and then she quit taking them in 2022 when she became a city council member, but failed to let them know that, like, she'd been working with the Chinese government. And then when she became mayor this year, um, they found it out back in May, and then that's when they arrested her and she resigned. And a lot of it was communist propaganda. They were really trying to promote communism in China.
Okay.
I mean, communism in California.
Right, right, right. Through her.
Through her. And this is the thing I think a lot of people need to realize. We went through the whole thing with Donald Trump where he was impeached.
Oh yeah.
Because they were saying like he was in league with Russia.
Right.
And like all that turned out to be just bunk. You know, like obviously he talks to Russian emissaries and dignitaries and officials and all that kind of stuff. He has to.
Right.
But he didn't, like they didn't get him elected.
Right.
Which was the claim.
Sure.
But like we actually do have American politicians that are being propagandized by the Chinese government to reinforce communism and try and promote communism in the US, but also try and, like, make us not believe that these genocides aren't happening.
Right.
Which is crazy.
They're going to— they're going to pretty substantial lengths in major metropolitan areas.
Like, you know, one of the, one of the things you'll hear people talk about is if you wanna make a difference in your community, start with local politics.
Yeah.
And I, I think, I think most people think that these foreign entities want to propagandize our major political figures.
Mm-hmm.
I don't think that's the case at all.
They, they wanna start slow.
I think they wanna start very, very small.
Yeah.
in the local communities and win them over, which I think is actually brilliant.
Oh, of course it is.
Strategically.
Sure.
I don't think it's great that they're doing it. I think it's just a really smart play.
If you're gonna be this, like do it strategically. And the strategic way isn't to do it, let's go big, you know, balls to the wall type of thing.
Right. And well, like, and let's be honest, like, Influencing the mayor of Conroe is way cheaper than Donald Trump.
Of course.
You know what I mean?
Yeah.
And so like, it makes sense to start with the small community leaders. And so like, yeah, let's go after a mayor in small town, you know, suburban Los Angeles.
Right.
Like this, this shouldn't shock anybody, but also it should shock you.
Right.
That one—
Pay attention.
That this hasn't been a bigger story.
Yeah. Yeah, because, and yeah, for, for sure that it hasn't been a bigger story. Like, why are we just now talking about it?
Right.
Uh, but also, like, like you said, like, how do you, how are you gonna know that? I mean, so, I mean, that's, it's the thing that I think I dislike the most about politics is just, I don't know what I don't know. And you know what else I don't have is the time to go research every single candidate. and their background. And not only that, like, her background probably looked pretty good. Yeah. You'd— how would you know that this website really was a thing? Like, maybe—
I mean, except she was running like some communist rag. Sure, sure.
But like, like, like, again, you've got to find it.
But like, they voted her in.
Of course they did. That's what I'm saying is like, there's something about her as a politician that they were going, whether it was the right party, the, the few number of candidates, what are the reasons with which she got elected? I, I understand that there are lots of variables as to how that could have happened. I mean, probably didn't go unopposed, but possibly she did.
Like, here's actually what I don't understand about the situation. Like, and I'm not saying that they shouldn't have pursued her legally. I just don't understand why that's a problem, because if she agrees with what they're saying, why is it a problem for her to just regurgitate it? You see what I mean?
Oh yeah.
Like, I don't— I don't— I, I actually— I mean, like, and I'd love for somebody to explain it to me. I'm sure there's actually— and like, it's— and probably it's just more we don't want foreign governments influencing the decision-making of our politicians. I understand that, but that's gonna happen regardless. It is because like, you know, it doesn't necessarily, and it could be that because money exchanged hands. Yeah. I mean, like that could be part of it.
Sure.
I don't, I don't know.
Yeah.
It's not in any of the articles that I read where it's like she's receiving, she was receiving, you know, like sort of like dossiers on like what she should be writing.
But did they help fund her campaign? Were there, you know, who knows?
Let's see.
I mean, I, I, I mean, that's a, that, that would definitely be a situation where it's like, okay, there's, there's lines that are crossed that are pretty big legal barriers.
So, I mean, like she's facing like 10 years in prison. She's out on bail right now with a $25,000 bond. Um, she's, she's already pled guilty.
Okay.
Um, so I guess she's doing that to hope to reduce her sentence.
How? Um, I guess.
Let's see. Yeah, all it's saying is that they used an encrypted app to send them pre-written articles for their news rag.
Interesting.
Yeah, I don't know what the deal is there. But anyway, Crazy stuff. Crazy stuff. And then the other one that our home state sort of rattled the sabers a little bit this past month because they passed a new measure that is going to require the Bible to be assigned reading in all Texas public schools.
Yeah.
So now I did a little bit of research because I was like, do they have to or? And so like, yes and no.
Okay.
They do have to, they can opt out. If they opt out, there's certain fundings that they lose access to.
Oh yeah, of course.
And so apparently those fundings are pretty significant. So like probably nobody's gonna opt out of it.
Right.
But, and I even read what like the proposed readings were and like for elementary school students, it's stories. like David and Goliath, Daniel in the lion's den, things like that.
Sure.
And then when they get into middle school and high school, it's reading things like the Sermon on the Mount and 1 Corinthians 13, the whole chapter on love.
Sure.
And so it's interesting. Now, if you're thinking of moving to Texas, do know that these policies are not going to be implemented, it looks like until 2030. 2034.
Oh, wow. That's a long way away.
And so, like, it's not happening immediately, but it is happening. And I don't know if that means that there's still time to, like, undo it. And I'm not suggesting that they should.
Sure.
I'm just, I'm curious if, you know, because people are talking like, oh, we're gonna, you know, we're gonna turn Texas blue. And I'm like, one, good luck.
Yeah.
But, like, we've had Ann Richards. I mean, like there's been a lot of people that have moved here from other states that have certain political bents. So it can drastically change the political framework of communities. So we'll see what happens there. But it's an interesting one, man. I don't really know. I have my own personal thoughts about it.
Of course, me too.
And my initial gut reaction is, do it.
Yeah.
Like, absolutely 100% do it. Well, like, one, like, you know, I'm a Christian. Like, I think those are valuable texts for people to know and have in their hearts and understand.
Yep.
Um, but I also am interested to see the downstream effects.
Okay.
Like, will over time we see less crime? Will over time our divorce rates drop?
Yeah.
What will be the actual downstream effects of us implementing this in our communities? I'm not saying that I know that those things will happen.
Sure.
I'm hoping that they will. I think I have faith that they will as we introduce people to really important texts that helped shape the moral framework and law of our country.
And if we get into stuff like 1 Corinthians 13, where we're talking about love, and we're talking about, hey, here's, here's a healthy way to live.
Yeah.
Then, then, you know, again, um, what, what's interesting is there's a lot of people that oppose Christianity that would say the Bible has some, some good moral value.
Yeah.
Even if they oppose the faith itself. So like, um, I, I agree, there, there— it would be interesting to see what long-term effects that winds up having. For sure.
Yeah. And, and, you know, part of the reason that they're saying it's gonna take so long, and this, this is something I think a lot of people need to understand, is like, you make a decision like this, it's not just like, okay, now we can have the Bible in the school, right? Like, one, like, you could always take your Bible to school.
That's never been a—
At least here in Texas, that's, that's never been an issue. I don't know, I don't know all the rules in regulations in other states, but I would imagine it's pretty similar. Like, if you're a Christian, you could take, you know, your Quran to church. You could take your Book of Mormon to church. You could, you know, take whatever— you could take whatever book you want with you to school.
Sure.
Um, for the most part.
Yeah. Um, probably not the, um, Anarchist Cookbook, or there's, you know, you're probably not able to take like, you know, the, um, Kama Sutra.
Right.
with you.
Sure.
I would guess.
I think that's reasonable.
I do too. Yeah.
So I don't, but like the downstreams of this and what they were saying is we need some years down the road in order to change our standardized testing in the state to reflect the new reading and vocabulary.
Yeah.
Which makes sense.
It does.
So I mean, like, good on them for like having like a long-term plan. Like, hey, this is something we want to do, but like we understand this downstream effects. So we need some time to help everybody get ready.
Sure.
Um, so I also don't know, like, what it means from— for a teacher-by-teacher basis.
Yeah.
You know, um, so just because they're reading the Bible in the classroom doesn't mean that the teacher can't give their own personal take on those texts.
Sure.
They absolutely can.
Yeah.
And, you know, that's their prerogative.
It is.
You know, and they could be like, we have this wonderful fairy tale to tell you today.
Right.
Which, I mean, like, some people legitimately believe that.
Of course.
And so, like, that's, to me, that's the danger of putting the Bible in public schools, is you're exposing your kids to people that probably don't have any experience with the text. don't have any training in the text, right, and are gonna just present it however the hell they want to, right? Um, and I think that's, that's something a lot of people aren't thinking about. They're just like, oh yeah, we got the Bible, because like, what was it, they, they just made it to where you had to put the Ten Commandments up in the school again, right? Um, which again, no problem with that. Sure, it's the moral framework for our society, right? Um, it's good to know where it came from.
Yep.
It doesn't mean that like, hey, like, if you don't abide by this, like, you're going to detention.
Yeah, that's right.
It just means, like, we recognize, like, this, this is our, our moral heritage. This is our religious heritage. Like, here's where we came from.
Yeah.
Like, to me, that's all it— that's all it says.
I, I agree.
You know, it does again, and it doesn't even, like, make anybody adhere to all of them. Like, there's plenty of kids in that school where those things are up on the wall that are not honoring their mother and father on a daily basis.
What?
That doesn't—
are you sure?
Positive. Oh, okay.
No, I, I agree. I think that there's— you mentioned this, and, and, and we talked about this a little bit before. I think that there, there are some historical relevant, uh, relevancy to the Bible itself.
Sure.
And whether you agree with what it says or not, you can't deny that it's the number one most sold book in the world. Of all time. Of all time.
Yep.
That alone makes it historically relevant. Whether you think that it should have been or not, our country was founded on the principles within the book itself. Um, and, uh, there— so there, there's a lot of interesting tie-ins with all of that. And so, um, you know, I, I don't, I don't necessarily have a current opinion one way or the other. Um, I'm for it. You know, like, I, I— we— there's, there's no— anybody who has watched our show or listened to our show for any length of time knows that we're Christians.
Sure.
I mean, every Christmas you're gonna listen to an episode about the birth of Jesus. That's just what we do. And so it's no, it's no shock that you and I would be for this.
Sure.
However, I also try not to be just so single-minded that I can't look at the perspective of someone who doesn't believe what I believe and know that I'm going to send my children to school with, with people who teach their children something counter to what I teach my children. I know that's true. I know that is a real thing. And I still care about those people. I still, you know, want to be friends with those people. And I think that for the most part, they would like to be friends with me as well. So, you know, This doesn't necessarily have to change any of that, but I, it, I will say that it is a shocking revelation, uh, no pun intended, uh, that
they would make this a thing.
Yeah.
It's, it's, it seems like a, just a counter move to what's happened in the past, with the exception of, like you said, the Ten Commandments being put back and those sorts of things. I mean, we had kind of gone down this road of removing religious things from the schools, and now there's a couple of instances of it coming back. And I'm sure that there are people in other religions that are going, hey, why are we not getting this, you know, from our religious perspective?
Yeah, because you need to go start a country based on your religion.
That's kind of my point is like, until that is the case, then I don't see the point that you're trying to make. Are there places in the United States that I think maybe from a relevant standpoint based on where you live and the culture that you're in, would that make sense to study a book that's relevant to the area that you're from? Maybe. Yeah.
No, I think there are I think you and I were talking about this before the show.
Yeah.
That there are communities that are strong Muslim communities.
That's right.
I think they ought to have the leadway and the right to instruct students on their text if they see it to be so fit.
Right.
You know, but like the problem is that the Quran is going to, butt up against and conflict with a lot of our laws and morals and traditions.
Right.
And so what you end up having is a system that is upholding— and again, I think you would have to come at it from a, we're going to use this as a literary device to instruct. I think so too. Not to instruct on religion, not to instruct on morals, but here's just a text.
Yeah.
And I'm fully willing to concede that it's a great work of literature because it's lasted for hundreds, if not, I don't actually know how long it's been around, so I'm not even gonna speculate, but it's been around a long time.
Yeah.
And it's worth examining. I've read it. I have.
Yeah.
It's worth reading.
Yeah.
to understand where people are coming from.
Right.
So like, and if teachers wanna use it and it work, and like, and you have like a large Muslim population in your community, probably worth doing.
Yeah.
Honestly.
Yeah.
Like, the same way that I would feel about public schools in Utah. Like, they probably would be happy to teach that weird book in their schools, but like, let 'em do it.
I don't care.
I mean, like, and I say weird, I'm not using it like pejoratively. It's just a weird book.
It is.
Um, from my perspective.
Sure.
I'm not trying to be insulting.
Sure.
Um, but like, let them do it.
Yep. I don't care. Right.
I mean, one, because it doesn't affect me.
One, also, I, I think, look, we, you're, you're going to get me on a tangent and I'm really not trying to get on a tangent. I'm not going to get there tonight.
Uh-huh.
Um, but the reality of it is, I I do believe that our, our state and our country has an obligation to teach our children education.
Sure.
They absolutely should not be given the responsibility of teaching morals.
Sure.
That is the responsibility of a parent.
Yeah.
The, the religious and moral belief system in your family is your responsibility as a parent. Now, do some parents also take on the responsibility of educating their kids from an, from a book smart place? Sure.
Mm-hmm.
I'm totally fine with that. But, um, too much in, in the past, especially in the past 50 to 70 years, parents have outsourced the moral and religious training of their kids to churches and other entities.
But here, here, this is, this is what I actually think has happened is your parents, my parents, the generation in between those, and then us, we've been taught the fallacy of credentials.
Okay. Yeah.
Meaning like, we're not qualified enough to teach this.
Right.
Right? And so like, in order to be an authority in a space and able to teach somebody, you have to have a degree.
Right.
And it's not even good enough to have a degree. You have to have a master's degree. And it's even better if you have a PhD or a doctorate or whatever.
Right.
Like, and so like, you can't speak into these spaces unless you have that certification, that degree, that experience, whatever it is. And, but that's a fallacy.
It is.
Right? Like, because like your family has been brought up with a certain moral code. Now it just so happens to align with just about everybody that you live around's moral code.
True.
But like you, because you've been taught, like, I don't feel smart enough in order to instruct my child about this. someone's gonna shut up. Yeah. And not tell them anything. Correct. And I, I, man, I see that all the time. Yeah. It's like, I'm not the one that should be telling my kid how to do this.
Yeah.
It's like, no, you absolutely should be the one. That's right. It doesn't mean that they're going to listen to you.
It's so true.
But it means that you should be telling them.
Right.
You should be having the conversations with your children about morals. Sure. And about ethics. Mm-hmm. And about values and like about whatever else that you think is important in this life that needs to be handed off to them.
That's right.
so that they don't go into certain spaces blind.
Right.
And/or susceptible to people whose views are contrary to the ones that you think are the most important.
Right.
Because then you're just gonna end up not liking your kid.
That's so true. And, and so that, I think that's, that's my point is that you as a parent, that is, that is your responsibility.
Yeah.
And so, so if you— the, the real point I'm trying to get to here is if you here are going, I'm offended that the Bible is going to be required reading in school, you should be more offended that you don't have the ability to teach your child the morals that you believe.
Yeah.
That ought to be more offensive.
That an institution's morals and values have been deemed superior to yours.
By you.
Yeah, by you.
You are the one who are declaring that. Because I, look, I—
You're not declaring it, you're surrendering your ability to do it.
That's right. Like, I remember, I remember growing up as a child, leaving and going to college. And I went to a Christian school in Arkansas, and I remember I wanted to transfer to another Christian school in Texas.
Right.
And my dad, whenever I told him that, my dad said no. And I was like, what do you mean no? And I grew up in a pretty conservative Christian church. coach. Pretty conservative Christian home. And he believed that the school I wanted to transfer to was not that. And I remember telling him, maybe I shouldn't have, but this is what I told him. I said, if you think the moral and religious beliefs of a school is going to change what you as a parent taught me, then you have very little faith in what you taught me. And I shut up after that, waiting for the proverbial slap over the phone. And it didn't come.
Yeah.
Because after that, he said, okay, I'll think about it. Because I wanted him to understand, he taught me what it meant to be a person, what it meant to be a moral human being, what it meant to know who Jesus was and to love like him. That's what he taught me. And if you think that an institution is going to change that, then your belief in what you taught me is really low.
Yeah. And I think that's where most parents' fear is coming from today is that they have surrendered their— they feel like they have no right to speak into their children's lives when it comes to that. And because they have surrendered that ground, they now recognize, well, somebody is going to step into that space and fill that void. And like, shame on all of us that have surrendered that ground in any form or fashion. to an institution.
Sure.
Outside of a church.
Yeah. So like, here, here's like from a very—
even, or even surrendered it to a church because a lot of people do that too.
Oh yeah.
You know, and, and shame on you for doing that too. I agree. Like if, even if you agree with your church, it doesn't give you— it shouldn't be the case that you then just expect them to do it for you.
Right. That's never what the church was intended to do.
No.
And so your job as a parent is to teach your kids faith.
Yeah.
And belief systems. So from a very practical standpoint, if you disagree with the story of David and Goliath, if you disagree with the story of, you know, Joseph and the coat of many colors, if you disagree with with the, the chapter on love, which—
Knock yourself out.
Yeah.
Please, like, please expose yourself.
Right. If, if that's what you believe, if you disagree with it, then teach your kids to disagree with it too. And recognize this is a literary thing that is probably gonna be taught, but you don't have to believe it.
No.
It's one thing to learn it. It's another thing to believe it. It's a— it's very— it's no different, I should say, than if you disagree with the Quran. That read— if, if you say reading the Quran is gonna make me Muslim, I think you have a misunderstanding of how that works.
Yeah.
And you can read something and disagree with it, and you can read something and teach someone to disagree with it. So I, I just feel like This is a very, uh, neutral decision based on what you choose to believe about it.
Yeah. When I, and I think, I think part of what we should talk about is like, why are we, why, like, this is the homeowner show. Why are we even talking about this? Because it matters where you live. It absolutely matters where you buy that home.
Yes.
Like, and, and that's part of the evaluation process when you go to purchase a home, when you go to take a job, when you go to take a transfer for that job. It's like, do I want to live in that community? Well, these are things to consider. If your job is like, look, Elon Musk is building a factory in Austin, and now in Texas, it's going to be required that your children, when we move you there, are going to have to read the Bible. Your little Johnny's 2 years old, and when he starts school in 5 years or 4 years or whatever it is, I don't know when they start school.
You're kind of close.
I'm close.
public school, right?
Like, they're going to be required to read the Bible.
Yeah.
Little Johnny's going to be coming home and talking about the animals on the ark, the giant that David slew, the lions that didn't eat Daniel.
Right.
He— I mean, like, he's going to be talking about all those stories.
Sure.
Like, those are going to be things that form him.
Yep.
Which, again, I'm totally fine with. Sure. It's way better than some of the other stories that they're going to be shaped and formed by.
Yeah. Well, there's a couple of things with that. Number one, like, then it doesn't matter where you live because you probably are gonna homeschool your kids.
And that's, that's an option, right? Like, you don't like that? Homeschool your kids.
That's right.
Or private school.
Private school.
And if you're working for SpaceX, that's probably an option.
That's, that's, you're not wrong. And, and, and I'll tell you this, like, look, the reality of it is, If, if this wasn't coming, if the Bible was not being taught in school, if you think that my child isn't going to talk to your child about the Bible, then you have a misunderstanding of what I've told my child to do. Right. Okay.
Sure.
And so if you think that exposure to the Bible isn't happening at school, then you have a misunderstanding of what I'm telling my teenagers to do. Mhmm. And what I'm telling my own children to do.
Yeah.
And what, and what the, the churches in your community are telling the, the people that are strategically planning to do to your children. Correct. And, and it, and, and so I promise you that is the same in Texas or California or Utah or Florida or New York or Beijing.
Yeah. I mean, like, if you're just a hardcore atheist, just know that your local church has a plan for your children.
That's right.
They do.
They do.
Now, it may not be a good one, right? But they have a plan.
They have a plan.
And they're probably going to have a conversation. That's right.
So, look, I'm not—
I'm like, here's the flip side of this conversation is so many Christians get all up in arms about, it used to be prayer in schools. We can't pray in school anymore. The Bible's not in school anymore.
Right.
And my issue with that conversation has always been, do we have that little faith in the supernatural power of the God that we say that we believe in to not be resilient enough in the word that he's put into this earth to continue just because we took it out of public schools.
It's been going on for a long time.
It survived way worse and will continue to survive, which is part of the reason I think most people should at least have a pause and give it some consideration. How resilient is this document? And why is it that way? Is it literally just everybody is delusional that believes in it, or is there something supernatural to it?
Sure.
And I think that's worth consideration. And no matter how hard you press and how hard you fight, it continues to survive in all forms and fashions.
Absolutely.
And so it does bother me. And I understand the push to go like, no, no, no, no, We don't want to see our communities, we don't want to see our families, we don't want to see it go the way of the agnostic, where it's just this thing that exists out there that weird people believe in. I understand that. But at the same time, it's like, big whoop. Make it illegal? Please. Please. It's just going to make it way more popular.
Yes, it is.
put, put it underground. It'll survive even better there. It always has.
Yes, it has in the past.
And so please do so. Yeah, like, do that. But like, you know, and so like, I think that's the flip side of this is like, I don't think Christians need to be so open arms when it's like, oh, it's not available in schools. Okay, fine. How much time do you have at home with your kids that you could be reading it to them and you don't?
You don't.
This entire time that it hasn't been available in schools, how much time have you had at home with your kids where you binge-watched something on Netflix, but you didn't read the scriptures with your kid.
Right.
Like, I'm sorry, that's hypocritical.
It is.
And, and, and you are as much to blame as any institution that you judge.
That's, that's it.
So yeah, we're, we're, we're a product of our choices and our decisions.
And, and look, I'm not going to be, I'm not going to be ashamed or, or, you know, be um, you know, acquiesce to say what you want me to say on this podcast. I'm gonna say what I think, what I believe. It's my podcast. Um, so, uh, number one, there's that. Number two, I— if you want to have a conversation about it, reach out.
Sure.
Craig or I, either one, happy to have this conversation with you because look, you can disagree with our, with our analysis of it. And that's fine. I don't, I'm not saying that you should agree with me. Um, but I believe what I believe and I have for a long time and I will continue to. And so, um, you're probably, you're probably not gonna change my mind and I'm not trying to change your mind. I'm just saying this doesn't negate your belief system, and it shouldn't. Now, if it winds up changing the moral relevancy of our school system and our community and, and the, the culture around us, well, guess what? That's just what it does. Yeah.
Then, then we have evidence to be like, should have been doing this all along.
Yeah.
So, but like, also, if you want to come at us, I am going to try and change your mind.
Of course. Um, look, well, because I— you're not, you're not going to change my mind. Like, I, I've made my stand.
Yeah.
And, and I've got a lot of things that we can talk about, so let's go.
Yeah. So I've got, I've got one last one, and it's, it's just a little one, but like, when, when you were gone, we, we had our roofer friend on.
Oh yeah.
And like, we had a couple pieces of content that have now like Like over, it's like over like 500 comments and like 100,000 views about this one thing.
Okay.
And it's about whether or not you can get out of paying your deductible for the roof.
Yes.
And like all of these truck jocks got on there and were like, oh no, you roofing companies have been doing that for years. It's totally legal. show me the law. And I'm like, okay.
All right, if you need me to.
Like, look, we have a local roofing company, and I don't mean to like give them like free press or anything, but like I love their billboard. It's Eldridge Roofing.
Yeah.
And they have a billboard that quotes the law as to why you can't get out of paying your deductible. It's illegal.
Right.
Like it's— and what Jeremy was talking about on the show was like, look, The only way to show that you, to show that you have, that you've paid your deductible, but you actually haven't paid your deductible, is to produce a fake invoice.
Right.
A fraudulent invoice, I think, is the way they put it. So, but anyway, here it is. And it is, let's see, let's see what the law requires. Let's see. Okay. The law you were thinking of is Texas House Bill 2102, House Bill 2102, which is codified in the Texas Insurance Code under Chapter 707. So for all of you morons out there that were like, show me the law, go look it up.
Right.
House Bill 2102, Texas Insurance Code under Chapter 707, often called the Texas Deductible Law, went into effect to crack down on roofing scams and free roof schemes following major hailstorms. The law makes it explicitly illegal for a contractor or seller to waive, absorb, rebate, credit, or offset a policyholder's insurance deductible. Period. End of story.
It's clear.
It's very, very clear. Like, you are responsible for the deductible. You cannot get a roofing company to pay the deductible for you or to waive the deductible, absorb the deductible. None of that. It's, it's just, Flat out illegal.
Yes, sir.
You gotta, you gotta pay your fair share.
So if you have purchased a roof, real, real, real quick.
Sorry. Sorry. Um, and it is any contract for a property repairs totaling $1,000 or more that is expected to be paid via an insurance claim.
Okay.
So anything over $1,000.
Yeah.
That's expected to be paid by insurance.
Yep.
Everything falls under this law.
Okay.
So there you go.
So if you tell me, well, I've, I've done it before. I've, I've purchased a roof and not had to pay my deductible.
That's called admission of guilt.
You, you have done something illegal. You have done something illegal.
Something very illegal.
And not only that, you have done something illegal and the person who purchased, you purchased the roof from. and installed your roof has done something illegal. So, I mean, look, it's not my job to tell you what to do with how you live your life. It's just my job to explain to you how to better own your home. Which is why we started this podcast, right, a long time ago. And how to better own your home Let me tell you how to do it. It's real simple.
You ready for this?
Put your deductible in savings.
Yeah, just put it there.
Put it in savings so that if you need it, you go, oh cool, okay, here it is. I have that. Pretty simple.
Yep.
So I mean, I, I say it's simple. I understand saving for a deductible doesn't sound like fun. But don't turn around and ask your roofer to do something illegal and then do something illegal yourself. Because it— here, here's, here's what happens. You do things that are illegal, you pay consequences, period. So yeah, have fun with that.
So here's, uh, the, uh, the— on the downslope. So when, when you get caught Mm-hmm. And you will.
Mm-hmm.
There are 2 parties involved in the crime.
Yes.
There's the contractor and there's the homeowner.
Right.
Who do you think gets a more severe penalty?
I would guess the homeowner.
100%.
Because the homeowner is the one who is responsible for paying it. Yes. The contractor has every ability to say, I was coerced into doing this.
So the worst thing that can happen to the contractor is they are charged with a Class B misdemeanor.
And probably have to pay a fine.
Which carries a penalty of up to 180 days in jail.
Okay.
And/or a fine of up to $2,000. Ah, it's poor babies.
So I can go to jail for up to, what is that, 6 months? Yep. And which won't happen, which won't happen.
And if I did, and or pay the fine, or what do you think they're going to do there?
I'll just take that.
Oh, you're going to pay the fine, $2,000 and still make money on it.
Still make money. Yeah. Because of course, because what I'm probably going to do is turn around and make you pay that.
Yep.
I'm going to make you pay your deductible.
That was your deductible. That's exactly right.
Yeah.
So the homeowner can be prosecuted for insurance fraud. Uh, which can range from a misdemeanor to a serious felony.
Ouch. Right?
Depending on the financial size of the claim, which, and I don't know when misdemeanor crosses over into felony financially.
Yeah.
But I would imagine a roof does it.
Yeah. 'Cause you're talking multiple tens of thousands of dollars.
Depending on the size of your home.
Yeah. It could easily—
In squares and all that kind of stuff. Yeah. So it's like, You're running the bigger risk than the roofing company because the roofing company's like, they've got $2,000 baked into this deal to get them out of that. Of course. And they're not going to lose their license. Why? They ain't one.
Right.
You know? Right.
No, no, there's anybody with a hammer in Texas.
And if it's a big enough roofing company, they're just going to roll over on the sales guy.
Of course.
Oh, we didn't know he was doing that.
Right.
But like, Homeowner Joe, he 100% knew what he was doing.
Like, that's right.
Go get him, boys.
He knew what his deductible was.
Yeah.
So the, so here's what I would say. Uh, okay.
And, and here's the other thing, man, is most of the people who were commenting on that clip were roofers.
Oh my gosh. Of course.
Roofers in Texas that were saying, no, it's totally legal to do that. And it's not.
No. So here's what I would tell you as a homeowner. please hear me on this. If you need to replace your roof, you're getting your, you're doing your due diligence like we tell you you should. You get 3 to 5 quotes.
Mm-hmm.
And any of them tell you we can cover your deductible, take them off your list.
Yeah.
If they're, look, if they're doing that to cut a corner for you, What do you think they're doing to cut corners in their own business? You don't know what I— look, you can order roofing materials and put them on your house, but you won't. Why? Because you don't know how to put a roof on your house, which means when you leave your home that morning, And you see roofers on your house and you come home that afternoon after coming off of your job and the roof is on your house, you don't know if they did it right. You don't know if they installed it correctly. You don't know what they, what corner they cut.
Right.
To save your deductible. You don't, you don't have a clue what they did. So if they're willing to take on your deductible and make you not have to pay it, they're, they're do— they're doing other fraudulent stuff, right? They just are. So take them off your list.
Yep. I was, I was trying to look for the transcript. Oh, okay. Wait, wait, may— I may have it. Hang on.
For what?
Um, so in I looked it up to see what it was in season 7 of Everybody Loves Raymond.
Oh, okay.
Is when they drive— Ray's parents drive through his house.
Uh-huh. And through that front window?
Well, just they knock out the whole front of the house.
Uh-huh. I remember.
And they're having to like— they find out that, uh, Frank and Marie don't have car insurance.
Yes.
So they're gonna have to use their homeowner's policy.
Yes.
In order to pay.
I remember this episode.
To fix the house. So here's, here's the transcript. This is Ray. Okay, good. Looks like we're covered. Oh, wonderful. From Deborah. Ray, you'll just have to pay the deductible, $1,000. Frank, stinking crooks. All right, here's what you do. You get your contractor to add an extra grand to the bill. Then when your insurance company cuts you your check, I get it back.
There you go. It's— it was baked into our comedy back in the '90s.
Yep.
You know?
Yep. And that was, but because it was a thing, it was like, it was, it was just manipulate your contractor into adding money that equals your deductible.
Right.
Submit that to the insurance company. The insurance company cuts you a check and you hand Joe Truck.
Yep.
$1,000.
That's right. That's it. So it doesn't work that way and it shouldn't work that way. You agreed to your deductible.
Yeah.
You signed the paper that said, I agree to this deductible. If you don't agree to that deductible, don't sign the paper.
Yeah.
You know how there is, there is a way to have a $0 deductible. You just don't want to pay the premium.
Yeah, 100%.
So, I mean, I'm sure Ryan would be happy to write that policy. Sure he would be. I will tell you what is a much better deal. Uh-huh. Take your deductible, put it in savings.
Put it in savings on an interest earning—
There you go.
Account.
That's right.
Yeah.
And there are plenty of them out there.
So maybe even like a CD.
Yeah, maybe a CD. Yep. Okay, well, now we're getting into financial advice that we shouldn't do.
So I said maybe, maybe.
Here's the thing. If you haven't already liked or described or subscribed to our content, what are you doing? Obviously we know what we're talking about.
So clearly, clearly we're the experts in our field. That's right.
Uh, we appreciate everyone listening. If you haven't done that, please do so. Share our content both on social media with your friends. Leave us a like, leave us a rating and review. Until next time, we'll see you later.
See ya!
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