Congressman John Rutherford on Ukraine, China, and Law Enforcement 58:31

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Welcome to another episode of Breaking Battlegrounds with your host Chuck Warren. I'm Sam Stone. As always, fantastic lineup of guests for you today. We are leading off with Congressman John Rutherford of Florida, serving his third term in the U.S. House of Representatives. Congressman Rutherford sits on the House Ethics Committee and House Appropriations Committee, two committees that are a little bit busy so far this year, Chuck. Just a smidge busy. Congressman, welcome to the show.

Hey, thank you. Good to be with you. It's actually my fourth term. Is it your fourth term? Fantastic. Fantastic. Congratulations. Let's start with the nonpolitical question. Is Jacksonville a buzz about the Jaguars? They had a good football season this past year. Absolutely. We are very excited. You know, right now we're in some contract negotiations for the stadium. Oh.

And I think their great showing last year is going to be a good positive for them. Look, the Jacksonville Jaguars have been an amazing economic boom for our city.

Yeah, it's actually one of those things where a lot of people dismiss these sports teams and local communities investing in them. But for a city like Jacksonville, just as it was here at our studios in Phoenix, when those professional teams come in, that can be a real instigator for your future, really drive you. Well, yeah. Our population almost tripled last year.

Since the Jaguars came in in 95. That's amazing. And we probably owe an apology to the residents who were there before 95. All right. Congress, let's talk about Ukraine. You have you have some on our conservative side who are adamantly opposed to us being involved in Ukraine. I am not one of those people. I do not think you can let Russia go cross a border like this.

Why is it important for conservatives and your constituents to say we have to support Ukraine in this battle for freedom? Yeah, listen, I would encourage everyone to go back and find the Putin speech from about two years ago, a year and a half ago, when he laid out and basically he rewrote history. And he is bound and determined to reconstitute the old Soviet Union.

And so and I think the first step, you know, people want to think like Ukraine is the first step. No, this is the second step in Putin's plan. The first step was Crimea. And what did the United States do under President Obama? We did absolutely nothing. And so now we have to fight them in Ukraine. And I think what's going on in this battle is

is actually if you think back to Chechnya, they basically turned Chechnya into rubble. There was no desire to take over any kind of industry or occupy something that would be worthwhile to Russia. It was more, no, we're going to pulverize your country and you're going to see

and all the others are going to see, if you resist, this is what we will do to you. And I think that's the story that Putin is trying to push right now in Ukraine, because we failed to stand up to him in Crimea. And now he's taken another step into the Ukraine. And I believe right alongside of that is the encouragement or the discouragement that we're going to give to China

in dealing with Taiwan. I think stopping Russia in Ukraine is really tied also to China's aggressiveness around the globe through the Belt Road Initiative, but more importantly, what we see coming up right now on this issue with Taiwan.

Yeah, absolutely. You can see Putin. Putin plays chess. He's always looking three, eight, 10 moves ahead for what his next action is. And you're right. I think you bring up a great point about what they did in Chechnya, Congressman, because

He is not holding back on taking, you know, destroying the civilian infrastructure of Ukraine. There are assets in Ukraine that they want in terms of the ports, you know, access for their oil pipelines. But they don't require the Ukrainian civilian population there to have those things. And he's making that obvious. Do you feel our NATO allies are stepping up as they should in this conflict?

listen i i really do think they are i i think they should do more i'm more concerned now when i when i hear macron uh talk about whether they should be assisting in this i'm i'm like are you kidding me um

You know, of course, with the French, it's like, here we go again. The Macron thing, Congressman, would we be in a much better position if we were being much more assertive on Ukraine and these other foreign policy issues and really committing to making sure Ukraine is able to retain its territory, doing everything we could visibly, not hesitating, not having these discussions in this country about whether we should support the Ukrainians or not? Would we be in a better position?

Would our allies be in a better position dealing with China if we did that? Yeah. No, listen, I think absolutely. But but at the same time, you know, we have to be sure that we're spending hard earned taxpayer dollars effectively and that we're watching those dollars. You know, we did 15 billion in humanitarian aid in the first supplemental act, which

You know, we need to make sure that these dollars are being spent where they're supposed to be spent. And so I have no problem with folks that say, look, we we need to give Ukraine all of the assistance they need. But there's got to be some accountability into this as well. And I'm I'm absolutely supportive of that. So when you talk to constituents.

Are they supportive of us helping Ukraine defend their country? Or are you getting pushback, people saying, well, this money should just be spent here? What are you getting? Yes, I am starting to get more of that, I think. Initially, I think it was, I think more of my constituents were supportive. And I think that some of that is starting to wane, as often does with war and battles.

But I think what we have to understand is we cannot allow Russia to win because of our fatigue. We cannot allow this apathy to creep in. And we've got to hold Putin accountable here and now.

Or the next time it's going to be, you know, in Moldova or Estonia or whatever. Estonia, you know, he's not going to stop. If you listen, and that's why I started with, if you listen to his diatribe, I think it was about two years ago now. He is dead set.

on reconstituting the old Soviet Union. Yeah, if you were behind the Iron Curtain, he wants to put you back there. Congressman, I thought it was an important point you mentioned about accountability, making sure our dollars are being used the appropriate way. How much of that, I think a lot of people rush to blame Ukraine, but the Pentagon has a terrible, at this point I think we all have to admit, a terrible institutional culture when it comes to tracking its own money. Yeah.

How much focus is there right now on trying to get them back on track in that regard? Well, listen, you bring up a great point. A lot of people don't realize that, you know, millions and millions of these billions of dollars are actually being spent on America, on weapons resupply, those kind of things. We need to make sure that it's being spent properly, properly.

here with our own defense industry and that we're getting the bang for our buck out of it that we should. And so I think we're doing a pretty good job, but I think we could do more. Explain to our listeners and your constituents

What does it mean in regarding our relations with China for us to defeat, make sure Russia's defeated on this? What does it mean? What's the message it sends to China? Look, I want to show you something here if I can. This is a report by the International Republican Institute. It's the Chinese malign influence in the corrosion of democracy. This is a report on 13 countries.

that China has gone into through what they call the Belt Road Initiative. And it talks about what they've done in these 13 countries. It's a report about concepts called elite capture, for example. They're stealing these countries from the inside out. Exactly. Look at Sri Lanka. That's in the report.

Sri Lanka is in the report. They went in with a bunch of infrastructure projects. They got the country so far in debt. Now, they use debt capture on them. They got them so far in debt. They finally said, well, look, I'll tell you what we'll do. We'll trade out our our debt for your deep water port.

And now, because that deep water port was the main economic driver in Sri Lanka, guess what? The government collapsed. And all of this issue that you see over there right now in Sri Lanka is a result of the corrosion of democracy

Brought on by China. And for folks listening on the radio, the congressman held up report. Congressman, is that available online? Is that something we can share with our listeners and the people who are watching this? I'm sure it is. And it's by the International Republican Institute.

We're going to see if we can find that. We'll have your staff get that and we'll post it on social media so people can see that. That would be fantastic. And listen, that's the 2019 report. I'm actually right now just received the 22 report or 23 report. And I'm going through that now. China, look, they've been, China is so aggressive around the world. And you talk about Putin having a plan. His plan is to restore China.

the old Soviet Union. The Chinese plan is to supplant the United States around the globe as the economic driver and military protector of freedom. They want to supplant that. I want to talk a little bit more about that when we come back. We're bringing Congressman Rutherford back from one more segment. Congressman, how do folks follow you and your work out there? They go to rutherford.house.gov.

And we've got the Rutherford Roundup that we put out every Friday. And to sign up for my weekly newsletter, the Rutherford Roundup, they can follow us on social media platforms at RepRutherfordFlorida. Fantastic. At RepRutherfordFlorida, Breaking Battlegrounds, coming back with more from Congressman Rutherford in just a moment.

Welcome back to Breaking Battlegrounds with your host Chuck Warren and Sam Stone. On the line with us right now, continuing on, John Rutherford, congressman from Florida's 5th Congressional District. He has lived in Jacksonville since 1958, attended Florida Junior College and Florida State University where he studied criminology, graduate of the FBI National Academy.

And he began his career in law enforcement in 1974 as a patrolman in the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, worked his way up, eventually served as director and was elected sheriff of Duval County three times. It's an amazing, amazing resume. Amazing background. Congressman, we talked about China's efforts in Africa. Are you concerned about what they're doing in Central America, doing the same process? Absolutely.

Absolutely. Listen, I had a CODEL. We went to Guyana, Suriname, Honduras. What amazed me was the Chinese had already been there. And this was 2017. And the Chinese had already been there. They've been in the Bahamas. Listen, if we don't, in fact, I keep, you know, talking to folks, SOCOM has got to be aware of

And they are. But, you know, we've got to make the public aware of the dangers in our own hemisphere from China. Listen to this. So in early or I'm sorry, late 2018, I'm running for reelection.

And I was at a, I was at a constituent's house with, you know, 40 or so folks. And somebody asked after, after I'd given some comments, somebody asked, uh, well, tell me, Sheriff, what, you know, we know what kept you awake when you were Sheriff. Tell me what keeps you awake now. Of course, this was, you got to remember, this was 2018 before COVID. And I said, China. And, uh,

Everybody there thought I was crazy. You know, they're like, well, wait a minute. They're our best trading partner. They're good people. I tell people now that the good thing about COVID-19 was it took the mask off Xi Jinping. Of course, it put it on us. Correct. But I think people do really see China now for the aggressive attitude

You know, in fact, I don't even talk about China anymore. I talk about the Chinese Communist Party. And I like to remind people that Xi Jinping is not a president. He's a chairman. He's the chairman of the Chinese Communist Party, just like Mao Zedong was. Right, right. So, you know, he likes to be called president because that gives him some legitimacy. But I don't...

I don't follow that. Let's switch topics for a minute. So you were in law enforcement for over four decades. You were sheriff of Duval County for over a decade. You focused a lot on mental health issues. We had another atrocious shooting this weekend in Alabama. What do we do, Congressman? I mean, there comes a point I actually have female friends who lean right.

We're just saying, I really don't like to go out public places anymore where there's a crowd. What what do we do to get some sanity back? And I know you're a man of faith. So therefore, we know there needs to be a conversion of the heart. But what can government do? What can the federal government do to make people feel safe again? Yeah, well, listen, I think first, first and foremost, we have to hold those who break the law accountable. And we're not doing that sufficiently right now.

These George Soros, and it's not just the George Soros backed attorneys, state's attorneys and district attorneys around the country. There's some others that are left leaning as well. And we've got to hold people accountable. Look in Jacksonville, I had a district, we call them state's attorneys there. I had a state attorney there who had gone soft on crime. I went to the business community.

We got him out of office and we got a good, strong prosecutor brought in, Angela Corey. She did an amazing job working with, I call it the pie. The pie, you got to fight crime with the whole pie. That means prevention, intervention, and enforcement. And so on the intervention side, when somebody commits a crime, they got to be held accountable, right?

And, you know, we can do all the enforcement we want, but if we don't hold them accountable once they're arrested, then you've done nothing. In fact, you've encouraged them. As you can attest, the...

The impact on the morale of law enforcement when they do their job, but then the criminal justice system behind them refuses to do it. That's just deleterious to law enforcement personnel across this country. Oh, it is. And that's why I went after this state attorney in Jacksonville, because he was not prosecuting the way he should. And, you know, he was not processing so many felonies. It was ridiculous. Ridiculous.

And the business community saw that and they they told him, you know, if you run again, we're going to run somebody against you. And he retired. I love that. Congressman, I have to ask, and I'll put you on the spot here a little bit. This is something Chuck and I have talked about before, but I think right now the labyrinthine nature of our criminal justice system, how long it takes to process cases before they're adjudicated is.

I think it really takes away from the punishment aspect. The public doesn't see it, doesn't connect the punishment to the crime. You are absolutely right. And let me tell you what what's going on is the inmates, the you know, the criminals know how to work the system better than anybody.

So what if the state attorney allows, you know, look, if you're going to stay unsentenced in jail because you like it in jail, because they're you know, they can't make you work. You're three, three squares and you know how to work. Yeah. Three hots and a cot. Right. You get three hots and a cot. That's all you got to do. That's easy time.

They don't want to go off to state prison. So what they do, they know eventually they're going to plead, but they get a continuance and a continuance. They waive their speedy trial and the state attorney lets them get away with it. Now, after they waive their speedy trial, the state attorney can force it to trial, but rarely do they.

And so I actually didn't know that's what that's why. That's why these state attorneys are so important. And let me tell you, we got Angela Corey in there and my mayor gave us some great prevention programs. You know, we had midnight basketball and all this stuff, all these things for our at risk youth. And we had a great enforcement strategy. Well, by 2011, we had fewer murders in 2011 than we had in 1971. Right.

Our violent crime and murder numbers were the lowest in 41 years. And it's because we had the whole pie working together. That's fantastic. Enforcement and intervention work. Congressman, we have just about one minute left here. Is there anything coming up on your docket in Congress people should be tuning in and paying attention to?

Yes, listen, if you want to follow up on this law enforcement aspect, the Second Chance Task Force, the Reentry Task Force, you know, part of what during this intervention piece, what also has to work is reentry.

You know, look, if all we do is arrest people, put them in jail, abuse them while they're incarcerated and then send them back to the street, they just go back more pissed off than what they got. Exactly. When we talk to law enforcement, we hear this over and over anti recidivism in these programs work and we need to commit to them. Congressman, I want to thank you so much for joining us today. We really, really appreciate having you on the program. Love to have you back on and get in the future and good luck on everything you're doing.

Love to. Thank you all. Thank you, Congressman. Thank you.

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Welcome back to Breaking Battlegrounds with your hosts Sam Stone and Chuck Warren. Folks, are you concerned with the stock market volatility, especially with Joe Biden in office? Market had a rough day yesterday and it's had a couple of rough days this week. What if you could invest in a portfolio with a high fixed rate of return that's not correlated to the stock market and an opportunity to earn up to 10.25%?

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And our next guest up today, we're very excited to have on the line with us, Vinnie Vernuccio, president and co-founder of the Institute for the American Worker, an organization founded to better inform policymakers and stakeholders in Washington about current developments in labor policy. And he had a very interesting piece that was out, Chuck.

And one of the things I really liked about it was it wasn't just about the ideology of a particular nominee, but about their actual competence. Absolutely. So, Jeremy, let's play this clip from Senator Romney real quick about Julie Su, Biden's nominee for Department of Labor secretary. But of greater concern to me is your record in California. And this is something I raised with you before. But the fact that under your lead, unemployment insurance payments in California of some 31 billion dollars

went to people who were basically receiving money on a criminal basis, illegally receiving money from the federal government. $31 billion. That's about as much as we provided in military aid to Ukraine. That's almost twice the total budget of the Department of Labor. Under your leadership in California, $31 billion was fraudulently paid out. Now, there's a principle in all sorts of enterprises known as the Peter Principle,

which is people get promoted to a point where their competence has no longer been established. In this case, your record there is so severely lacking. I don't know how in the world it makes sense for the president to nominate you to take over this department.

To work behind Marty Walsh is one thing and to learn from him. But you haven't had experience negotiating a major deal between unions and management. And your leadership of an enterprise resulted in $31 billion of fraudulent payments. What am I missing?

What is he missing, Vinny, about her? Oh, you know what? He is missing something. The about a billion dollars that went to inmates, including some on death row. But, you know, let's not quibble over details. So let me ask you this. So when these inmates go, so we would like to talk about Julie Su nomination and some other things. But for this four minutes we have left here, first of all, lay out to us why she is a bad choice versus Marty Walsh.

Two, what did these inmates do with the money? I mean, how did they get it? I don't have the answer to that second one. But for the first part, you know, Senator Romney actually had other good parts. He was asking the deputy secretary or asking Secretary Hsu if she ever owned a business or something.

signed the front of a paycheck. He went through this whole litany of things that job creators and businesses and people that she's going to be monitoring and regulating have to do, and the answer was just no, no, no, no, no. So there's a problem with Julie Stoops. First

first and foremost, is competent. It's, you know, everything we've talked about, about her poor handling of the unemployment insurance in California, its lack of experience. I mean, at least Marty Walsh, we knew he was very union partisan, but he actually had to be on...

negotiate and be on one side of the table. Julie Hsu is really just more ideological about policy, and she hasn't had that on-the-ground experience. And I know probably the next thing we could talk about some of her ideological leanings, but those would really be disastrous and would spread a lot of the problems that are happening in California, these failed

experiments in California to the rest of the country. Vinny, we have just about a minute before we go to break, but I've got to actually back you up because I just realized probably a lot of our listeners who haven't yet seen your piece and hopefully will post it on social media and hopefully they'll click on it and read it. But

What position are we talking about? I mean, Julie, we know the name Julie Sue, but what is she nominated for and what are their duties? Absolutely. She is now nominated for secretary of labor cabinet position that will be covered. Yeah, she will be covering most of the workforce in the country. And, you know, I guess we'll allow we could get into more details of what that entails.

OK. Yeah. I mean, you're talking about someone. This isn't a low level nominee, though. This isn't a mid-level assistant director nominee. Right. You're talking about someone who is going to be in the cabinet room who's incredibly important and incredibly incompetent.

She will be basically, yeah, she will be running the Department of Labor. And for all the things that the Department of Labor has their hand in, which is most of the workforce issues in this country, she will be in charge. Folks, we already have Pete Buttigieg. That's enough incompetence for one cabinet already. Breaking Battlegrounds will be coming back with more from Vinnie Vernuccio in just a moment.

Welcome back to Breaking Battlegrounds with your host, Chuck Warren. I'm his co-host, Sam Stone. On the line with us right now, Vinnie Vernuccio, president and co-founder of the Institute for the American Worker, an organization founded to better inform policymakers and stakeholders in Washington, D.C., and boy, do they need to be informed. First of all, Julie Su also shows once again how worthless a Harvard Law degree is, but that's for another conversation another day.

Vinny, so explain to our audience here, then we want to move on to some other states and labor issues. What exactly does the activist Department of Labor secretary mean to the bottom line for small businesses?

Well, it's small businesses. And even before we get there, I want to talk about really small businesses, independent contractors. And, you know, Julie Hsu's hearing was on the Senate side, of course, confirmation hearing for Secretary of Labor. But the day before that hearing, the House Education and Workforce actually had a hearing on independent contractors.

and they had uh... independent contractors coming testify from around the country and uh... i would definitely encourage your viewers to go on either before a w dot or if you go check out we have a recap of that hearing uh...

But those contractors sounded the alarm on the attacks on freelancing and independent work and entrepreneurship that's happened in California. You know, your listeners may be familiar with AB5, Assembly Bill 5 in California that made it next to impossible for people to work for themselves.

Essentially, it had this thing called the ABC test. I'm not going to get too wonky with you guys. Essentially, what that says is it basically made almost everyone an employee. And they made it an employee so unions could come in and organize them. Disappointing.

what those independent contractors wanted for themselves. In fact, this bill was so bad that even the sponsor of the bill, who, by the way, just hasn't decided currently or went off, left the assembly and went on to a union payroll. Well, let's leave that aside.

He actually introduced another bill to start giving exemptions. And then there was a ballot initiative to give even more exemptions because this AB5, ABC test was so terrible. So many people were harmed by it that they really had to gut it, rightfully so.

Now, what Julie Su in the Department of Labor is doing, they say, oh, we can't do the ABC test, but they're essentially doing the same thing. And they have, they had a rule already out. They put it out for notice in Congress. It hasn't gotten to final yet. But Julie Su could, uh,

be the one that implements that rule. They may have that coming out in the not-too-distant future. And one of the big things in her hearing was her handling of that AB5 rollout in California, the warnings from these independent workers on how she is going to destroy their livelihood with her ideas of making everybody an employee and not letting them work for themselves.

Yeah, Vinny, I know a lot of folks who do independent and contract work. Chuck, I know you do. Well, you're going to get more of it to people just so they can make up mortgage interest rates and food costs. And so you're going to see more and more gig workers all the time. Yeah. And when you talk to those folks, they're not looking to join an organization, an institution or a company. The reason they like this type of work is because it's flexible and they're their own boss.

It's absolutely right. There was Kim Cabot, who I believe is a freelance writer. She testified, and she basically said that Julie Sue is freelance busting, and she's trying to go after freelancers and people like her and harm their livelihoods. On i4aw.org, we actually have stories from California of independent workers

that had to give up the livelihood there was one mother that um... what wanted to if we behold race or children if she was up to a two-room freelance teaching doctor eighty-five past she actually moved out of state so she could keep doing that push she couldn't keep working in california and these are the type of policies that julie through

administered when she was head of the Labor Department in California, and what she already has on deck for the U.S. Department of Labor, and she's going to try to impose on the country. Well, and tell you what she's doing as well, talking about these gig workers.

69% of Uber drivers have another full or part-time job. Half of those drivers said they consider the income they earn from Uber supplemental, right? And when you talk to Uber, I always strike up a conversation with Uber driver and what they're doing. I'll bet you a third of them have used that money to build a business, to make a down payment on a home, or helping a kid through college, right? I mean, this is why they're doing it. And so what...

People like her, these morons from Harvard Law, are doing is they're taking away this income so people can go and reach the American dream. Because the American dream is a lot based upon hustle. And you sacrifice and you save. And they're taking that away. And that's what's so malicious about this. It's nefarious. The last Uber I took to the airport here in Phoenix, very early in the morning, the guy who drove me was an engineer at Intel.

And I asked him, why are you driving an Uber? And he said, oh, this is how I make my vacation money every year. We invest all the money that, you know, extra money that I earn. But this is my play money. This is my play money. And that's a choice. And people like Julie Su don't understand it at all. Well, they don't understand it. Vinny, let's talk about Tennessee. What's going on there about card check protection?

Well, Chuck, I know that you've had a long history on this, so I think you'll enjoy. So Tennessee has or is about to fully pass a bill that protects workers at companies that are getting state subsidies. So essentially they're saying that if we're going to give you economic incentive, you company, to come to Tennessee or to expand a plant in Tennessee,

that uh... you have to protect the secret ballot in unionization election essentially you can't say hey if a union goes out and gets fifty one percent of employees at a company that they have to sign a card which by the way if you want to get into we can talk about the uh... deception of the coercion and a lot of the intimidation that goes into getting those cards signed uh... and then recognize the union they're saying that if you're taking money from the state

You have to make sure that just like those workers can vote for governor, state legislature, president with the protection of a secret ballot, that that protection should extend to if a union wants to come in and organize them. And, you know, I'm doing a lot of work on that with the Workers for Opportunity Project of the McEnroe Center and also the Beacon Center of Tennessee is doing some great work on that as well.

So, explain to people here, so they know Vinnie and Lehman language, why this is important. Why is this important to workers and to them? Absolutely. So, it's important because, like I said, with these cards, there can be intimidation or coercion. And, you know, we've seen examples of unions going around and saying, here, sign up for this raffle, sign up for a pizza party.

And, you know, that's, you know, big 20-point funds at the top of a card or a petition. And then, you know, on the bottom, there's like little four or five-point funds. I hereby authorize the union to negotiate for me. And they can use those cards to then go to an employer and say, recognize us. And then it's up to the employer to say, no, I want to guarantee, you know,

election for my workers and I want them to privacy of the secret ballot or yeah I'm just gonna recognize those cards and you know the deception is one thing but you know there's been cases that have actually been upheld by the National Labor Relations Board where a card solicitor they said oh it wasn't actually representative you did but it was an overzealous employee went to someone with a card and said hey

you better sign this or the union's going to come slash your car tires or come get your children. So a lot of times workers will just sign these cards and say, all right, get off my front lawn, get off my porch.

But they have the protection to say, OK, yes, the union organizers in front of me are fine to get rid of them, but they don't have a private vote. And that's what Tennessee lawmakers are looking to protect and doing it with, especially when those companies are getting taxpayer funds to make sure that those taxpayer incentives aren't used to allow this type of intimidation and coercion.

Let's talk politics here for a minute. So of the people considering running for president on the Republican side, DeSantis, Trump, Tim Scott, Nikki Haley, so forth.

Who has a strong pro-business record? Someone that's not going to be a Julie Su on labor issues. Well, let's not talk about pro-business. Let's talk about who has a pro-worker record. Good, good, good. And I'll tell you two really good examples from that list right now. Obviously, President Trump has the track record of a lot of the good things that his administration did

one president from within power you know how people who were thoughtful of those of you president biden has repealed or stronger appeal a lot of those but you know those really do speak for themselves the president from when he was in office did a lot of good for workers uh... let's talk about uh... him dot senator scott uh... senator scott in conjunction with representative allen

i'm just introduced probably most pro worker legislation progress called the uh... employee rights actor that you're right and just like you're talking about to get out of that actually protect to go pal for workers across the country uh... it has it insured that workers can opt in

to pay for union politics not automatically be opted in. It has privacy protection for workers. So remember we were just talking about unions coming to someone's home and saying, "Sign this card." The ERA says that workers can choose how unions contact them, and they aren't automatically given all this information.

We were talking about independent contracting. The ERA protects independent contracting from those AB5-style California things that would destroy freelancing. It also protects small businesses and franchisees that want to run their own business and not essentially be taken over by large corporations because of changes to the definition of employment.

So with Tim Scott, incredibly pro-worker, ERA is a great bill. Let's move over to Florida with Governor DeSantis now. There is a bill that, you know, as we're talking right now, it has one more stop in the Florida House.

that will protect most public employees throughout the state of Florida. Once again, I've done a lot of work on this bill with Workers for Opportunity and back, and the James Madison Institute down there has done some great work as well. But that guarantees most public employees in Florida an election

If unionization in their job drops, that union membership drops below 60%, triggers an election. Right now it's 50% and there's really no enforcement mechanism. This would bring that enforcement mechanism. It guarantees transparency to make sure that public employees know how their unions are spending their money. And it informs these public employees'

about their right value transparency it's about accountability it's about you democracy and also about getting taxpayers out of the business of collecting do you think they could be in the union fundraiser the bills collector for you to do you think that's a lot of the back those three candidates very pro-war

Fantastic stuff there. Vinnie Vernuccio, president and co-founder of the Institute for the American Worker. Vinnie, I think you gave us earlier the website address for you there. Can you give that to folks again?

Sure. It's I, the number 4, AW.org, I4AW.org, for all those federal issues, for the state issues, workersforopportunity.org. That has more information on Tennessee and Florida. Vinny, we have about a minute left here. What is a pro-worker issue that you think legislatures need to be pushing?

There are several. A lot of what we just talked about. Federally, it's protecting independent contracting, protecting the franchise industry, protecting the secret ballot. At a state level, it's protecting the First Amendment rights of public employees, making sure they are informed that because of a Supreme Court case, they don't have to pay union dues, and giving them a...

uh, annual opportunity to say, yeah, I want to pay the union or no, you know what? It's not worth it. So there's many more on the state level at workersforopportunity.org, on the federal level at i4aw.org. Um, and, uh, there's a lot of opportunity out there to be pro-worker. Absolutely. Vinny Vernuccio. Vinny, thank you so much. We really appreciate having you on the show today. Looking forward to having you back in the future. Uh,

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or give them a call at 888-Y-REFIGHT24. Make sure you tell them Chuck and Sam sent you. Folks, Breaking Battlegrounds will be back on the air next week, but be sure to tune in for the podcast-only segment, and you can always find our content at BreakingBattlegrounds.vote. Welcome to the podcast-only segment of Breaking Battlegrounds. Chuck, did we need to hunt far for a story this week? Never do. Wow. Never do, and we were talking before you walked in how Sudan has just

escalated so fast you can't keep track of it every hour now it's not just that it's escalating too but honestly how many people actually know what's happened I mean that's an amazing thing I brought it up to somebody yesterday they're like what are you talking about I brought it up to someone else they asked what I'm talking about

I saw a headline before you walked in, so I was unable to read it, but it said that Sudan's a perfect place for competing countries to start attacking each other for surrogates, right? Because no one really cares about Sudan, right? And they should, but no one does because they're human beings. They should care about it. But

it. But anyway, Sam, great guest this week. We have two clips. Why don't you enter the first one about our Secretary of Transportation here. This is a clip he did. So Pete Buttigieg decided to once again open his mouth. And every time he does that, he seems to become less intelligent. If he had just carried on his campaign, Pete, and never said anything other than one-liners, I think we'd all be better off and more comfortable that the Secretary of Transportation actually knows what he's talking about.

Because he's called transportation racist. And we have the clip. Jeremy, go ahead. We've got a crisis when it comes to roadway fatalities in America. We lose about 40,000 people every year. It's a level that's comparable to gun violence. And we see a lot of racial disparities. Black and brown Americans, tribal citizens and rural residents die.

much more likely to lose their lives, whether it's in a car or as a pedestrian being hit by a car. There are a lot of reasons related to discrimination, related to even the ways that roads are designed and built. Who has access to a safe street design that's got crosswalks and good lighting? He is so full of that access that can drive disparities. And we have a responsibility to act on that.

It's just, I mean, for example, he mentioned there's 40,000 deaths a year in auto fatalities or pedestrians. And I'm glad he at least compared it to gun violence that, you know, guns aren't the number one. Right. Right. But it's like, you know, he mentioned pedestrians. So why?

Basically what he's saying is there's a bunch of white supremacists targeting our fellow black and brown Americans? Well, no. I mean he's not saying that. It's kind of worse what he's saying actually. This is the idea of systemic racism, that all of our systems and institutions are racist and create negative impact on low-income communities. Let's break down – let me real quick just break down two things he said. One, rural residents.

You know, look, the fatality rate there is actually not terribly different than anywhere else. You just have to subtract from the miles. You have to adjust. Right. The mileage makes a difference. Right. To Native American reservations and inner city communities, the incidences of drunk driving are massive.

are massively higher than they are in other areas. So is the issue some sort of systemic racism or is the issue alcoholism? I mean, are there any – so you served with Sal on Phoenix City Council.

In our more low-income areas in Phoenix, was there a lack of crosswalks? No. I mean, that's what he's saying. No, no. I mean, this is bunk. So that's where for more than a decade now that I know of – I mean, because, again, that's where my experience is. But for more than a decade now, all these cities have made a major focus of putting in additional pedestrian safety features in the lowest-income areas –

There's far more of them. And frankly, when you talk to residents in those areas, they're actually kind of annoyed because you've got all these flashing stop crosswalks. They're annoyed because it's the same issue we say, well, you need a valid ID. Right. And all these progressive groups who pretend to represent low income people.

Just say, well, of course I have an ID. I mean, if you ask someone in these neighbors, like, well, of course I have an ID. I mean, I'm a functioning adult. Let me alone. When we get and I looked into it very carefully. When we get pedestrian fatalities here in the city of Phoenix, almost always there is there are two things that are the case. One, very likely the person was intoxicated and not fully aware of their surroundings in one way or another. Intoxicated, drugged, whatever. Two, they were crossing outside of a crosswalk.

And three, let me add this one. Almost all of those are like within a throw of a crosswalk when it happens. Correct. Because there are crosswalks everywhere. Folks, the way I'll probably end up dying is I will get killed by an auto accident because I'm on the phone or texting a lot and I'm not paying attention. Does that mean that America is against Irishmen? I need to know this, right? I mean, this could be an issue. Yeah. Yeah.

Chuck, you potato eaters are just all going to have to go. That's what it comes down to. The second clip we have here is from CBS News. Folks, the Hunter Biden thing just stinks. I mean, you can't go...

And be honest about yourself politically if you don't realize that something happened here. And I see now on social media, Twitter specifically, I mean, progressives like to say, well, nothing happened. It's bank records. So either you believe bank records with wires or you don't. It's pretty simple stuff. We have a clip here from CBS News. And by the way, folks, CBS News does a pretty good job on this type of stuff in foreign policy. If you're going to watch a broadcast network, I highly recommend them for...

international national defense you're a little more center than abc yeah i mean so i try to watch them a lot and by the way cbs morning sunday show is a great show you should watch it um anyway um jeremy go ahead let's play this clip from cbs news gave them new and we're going to turn now to new developments in the congressional probe in 100 biden's business dealings according to house republicans they're saying that former cia deputy director mike morell

gave them new information about the origins of a letter from 50 former intelligence officials concerning Hunter Biden's laptop. That statement, you'll recall, was published in October of 2020, and it suggested possible Russian involvement in hacking the laptop's contents. Our senior investigative correspondent, Catherine Herridge, has more.

I`ve never spoken my... In the final weeks of the 2020 presidential campaign, the New York Post reported on the contents of Hunter Biden`s laptop, alleging he used his father`s position for personal gain, a claim the president`s son has denied. Less than a week later, more than 50 former intelligence officials released a statement that the laptop had all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.

At the final presidential debate, then-candidate Biden cited the letter from intel officials to push back against then-President Trump's attacks. There are 50 former national intelligence folks who said that what this he's accusing me of is a Russian plan.

They have said that this has all the care... Four, five former heads of the CIA, both parties, say what he's saying is a bunch of garbage. According to a letter released Thursday night from the Republican chairman of the House Judiciary and Intelligence Committees,

Former CIA deputy director Michael Morrell told congressional investigators the days after the laptop story, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, then a Biden campaign advisor, reached out to Morrell and set in motion the events that led to the intelligence official's public statement. If they made an effort to manipulate intelligence officials to sign a letter basically misleading the public of

about the Hunter Biden laptop right before the election. That is a major, major political event. This comes after an IRS agent came forward this week alleging the investigation involving Hunter Biden's taxes has been improperly influenced for political reasons. The White House responded. The president respects the rule of law and the independence of the Department of Justice.

We asked Morrell, who is a former CBS News contributor, if the characterization of his congressional interview is accurate. And he declined to comment in a tweet the White House accused House Republicans of weaponizing their power to relitigate the 2020 election rather than focus on the real problems Americans face. Nate. Catherine, thank you. I mean, look, there's so much about this case. It is very clear that Hunter Biden is a front man for the Biden family selling his father's influence.

And then beyond that, the fact that it...

This is not his brother, who was apparently, by all accounts, a very responsible person and, you know, well put together. Hunter is a disaster. He's a mess. Well... And that's dangerous. That adds another level of danger because he's vulnerable. Well, and I agree. And, you know, you not only have this situation, but, you know, this IRS agent is claiming Hunter Biden was given preferential treatment. He wants to come under a whistleblower. And I love how...

Hunter Biden's attorney now saying he's breaking the law by being a whistleblower. And then the federal prosecutors, supposedly last night NBC reported, thank you NBC for reporting this, that federal prosecutors are looking for possible indictments against Hunter Biden now. I just, folks, for those of those who do not want to give Trump the benefit of the doubt, okay, and I get it. I mean, if your hatred's that much, okay, that's for you to handle.

But you need to look at this Hunter Biden thing and realize money went. Joe Biden clearly has lied that he never took money from Hunter Biden. This is a lie. This is provable. By bank records. By bank records. This isn't a hearsay. This isn't some witness. This is actual bank records. This isn't a letter from 50 intelligence officials spawned by the opposition campaign. You know what also cracks me up about Hunter Biden? So we're supposed to believe the words of Michael Cohen.

Trump's handler and fixer. Now, look, you and I are not going to say Donald Trump's a vessel virgin, right? I mean, he is what he is, right? But I love how progressives in the media dismiss Hunter Biden's long-term partner who has just come out and they just ignore him. But Michael Cohen, a convicted felon, is seen like a saint. We were talking the other day and

We have to go. There's a reason Lady Justice is blindfolded. Well, there was a reason. Yeah. But we need to get back to that. You can't try to hold Trump to these standards and not say Hunter Biden is vice versa. It's really clear that at the federal level, there is a two tier system of justice, one for Democrats and their favorite insiders and one for Republicans and everyone else. And the problem is they have the media that goes about this as well. Right.

Yesterday when this came up, I actually sent you a story that someone, a local reporter retweeted, which I had never seen. I had never heard of. And this is from 2019. Hunter Biden had apparently been at some sort of rehab type facility in Prescott or outside Prescott, Arizona, turned in a rental car. That rental car, he left behind, among other things, a crack pipe and a baggie.

And then left behind IDs. He left behind all wallets, all this other stuff. One of the IDs in the wallet, the ID he left behind was his dead brother's. So this guy was clearly using and it was a Delaware attorney general's badge from his brother. So he was literally using his dead brother's A.G. badge for some purpose. Right.

I mean, this guy is a bad guy. He is a bad guy, and they just keep letting him get away with it. And let's talk about that art scam of his. That is just payola. Hey, it's good work if you can get it. Before we... Yeah, I'm a terrible artist. Anyone want to pay me 250 grand apiece? There's one other thing. Just as a story, I came across a young woman who's here visiting a mutual friend from Sweden today, and...

Come to find out her job is to help find Swedish companies to employ immigrants. So I said, how's that going? And she said, oh, it's hard. They do not want to hire these immigrants. And I said...

You know, I've been read. So, you know, I was trying to be very cautious about my tone on this. I said, I've read a lot that there's massive violence in these immigrant communities. She goes, 100%. They're the most dangerous places to be in Sweden, and it's gun violence. And I said, but don't you have very tough gun laws? She goes, yeah, that doesn't matter. And it goes back to my point this. Look, I think our side...

Look, I think our side should do some more things, whether it really makes a difference or not. Like the background checks. Come on, guys. The government knows what you're doing. Pretending that it doesn't matter. I think we have a PR problem. We do. We have a major PR problem. We need to push mental health bills. I do think there need to be some requirements on age and so forth on certain types of weapons. And that's my personal belief. That's not Sam's, but that's my personal belief. You know, I've always said, and I'm...

I'm a little too libertarian to say that this should be the law, but look, I've taken numerous courses on gun safety and proper handling. And I, you know, it, it,

I really highly recommend everyone who's going to own a firearm to do those things. But it should be required. And that's a line I'm not sure I'm ready to cross, Chuck, but I'm not going to argue that you're right when you say you want to see us go there. Yeah, I mean, you know, so it's something to continue. But I thought her comments were interesting. I would not view her as a conservative individual, but these were just the facts. Yeah. You know, they have a high immigration rate, and that's where we're at. Yep, absolutely. Absolutely.

Let's wrap it up. Folks, thank you for tuning in. Be sure to tune in again next week. And if you're not already, subscribe, download our podcast, and share it with your friends. Breaking Battlegrounds will be back next week. The political field is all about reputation, so don't let someone squash yours online. Secure your name and political future with a yourname.vote web address from godaddy.com. Your political career depends on it.