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Speaker 1: We are talking about how Americans treat their law enforcement officers,

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Speaker 1: snowball bombing in New York City, and your mayor thinks

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Speaker 1: it's funny. No, But first of the TIF from US

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Speaker 1: sponsor Israel is a hot topic.

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Speaker 2: Right now, and that's putting it politely.

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Speaker 1: So with so many opinions and emotions surrounding it, it

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Speaker 1: can feel hard to know where to start. The Bible

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Speaker 1: tells us I will bless those who bless you. That

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Speaker 1: isn't just a comforting promise, It's a clear calling from God,

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Speaker 1: and today, with antisemitism rising around the world, this calling

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Speaker 1: is more urgent than ever. At a time when Jewish

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Speaker 1: communities are experiencing more hostility, more threats, and more violence

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Speaker 1: than ever, Christians have a powerful opportunity to respond with

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Speaker 1: God's love to say you are not alone. When Christians

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Speaker 1: choose to bless Israel, we're not entering a political issue.

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Speaker 1: We are honoring the root of our faith and standing

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Speaker 1: against hatred. Supporting Israel is more than a belief, it's

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Speaker 1: a biblical mandate. And by partnering with the International Fellowship

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Speaker 1: of Christians and Jews, you can push back against darkness

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Speaker 1: and be a light to God's people. Learn how you

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Speaker 1: can bless Israel and be blessed in return. Visit IFCJ

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Speaker 1: dot org today. Again, that's IFCJ dot org be the blessing,

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Speaker 1: Live the word, answer the call.

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Speaker 3: Now.

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Speaker 1: I'm sure plenty of you have seen the images of

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Speaker 1: people throwing snowballs. And by the way, again, I'm from Australia,

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Speaker 1: so snow's not really my.

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Speaker 2: Area of expertise.

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Speaker 1: They can be hard, they can hurt, they can be icy.

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Speaker 2: The Mayor of New.

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Speaker 1: York has said that, ah, this is just kids throwing snowballs.

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Speaker 2: It's a snowfight. Oh so cute, so fun.

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Speaker 3: From the videos that I've seen, it looks like a

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Speaker 3: snowball fight. I think that there are two officers who

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Speaker 3: were facing lacerations on their face.

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Speaker 1: Prosecution of those who repulsed moment.

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Speaker 3: Look, I've seen the videos of this snowball fight. I

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Speaker 3: think that it was a snowball No.

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Speaker 1: These officers were not partaking in a snowball fight, and

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Speaker 1: these were not kids either. It was disgusting and what

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Speaker 1: it says to me is that the standards of how

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Speaker 1: you treat law enforcement in America have fallen.

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Speaker 2: To such new lows. It is vile.

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Speaker 1: And I tell you why, because the rhetoric that surrounds

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Speaker 1: law enforcement, whether it be police, FBI, ice, is disgusting.

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Speaker 1: It's being weaponized, it's being politicized. It used to be

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Speaker 1: off limits. The people who were willing to risk their

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Speaker 1: lives to protect their fellow countrymen, they used to be

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Speaker 1: off limits. You can criticize policy, you can criticize the

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Speaker 1: decisions of politicians, absolutely, but the people themselves used to

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Speaker 1: be off limits because both sides understood that what they

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Speaker 1: did mattered, and how they were treated matted, and how

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Speaker 1: they were spoken about publicly, the discourse mattered.

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Speaker 2: Not anymore.

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Speaker 1: The Democrats have gone so low here, making them into

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Speaker 1: a target.

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Speaker 2: So it's not just about snowbafer. It's about how they

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Speaker 2: are treated.

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Speaker 1: It's about how ice officers are treated, It's about how

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Speaker 1: police are treated. Now, I've spoken to a man called

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Speaker 1: Merlin Lofton who is the head of the Fallen Offices Foundation,

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Speaker 1: and he does not hold back here. He says they

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Speaker 1: are going to walk and can you blame them?

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Speaker 4: Watch?

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Speaker 1: Sergeant Merlin Lofton, twenty five year veteran.

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Speaker 2: First of all, thank you so much for your service.

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Speaker 4: Thank you for having me.

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Speaker 1: Let's start with morale, my friend, you would have these

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Speaker 1: conversations day in day out. Where does it sit when

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Speaker 1: it comes to law enforcement offices in America right now?

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Speaker 4: Well, airon law enforcement officers.

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Speaker 5: We put on our badge, gun, and uniform every day

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Speaker 5: to do a job for the United States of America

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Speaker 5: and in the citizens abroad, and we try to go

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Speaker 5: with the most the highest morale possible. But in the

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Speaker 5: current political environment, we get a lot of blowback that's

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Speaker 5: really unwarranted from us doing our job that's specified in

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Speaker 5: our standard operating.

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Speaker 4: Procedures, and we try to uphold the.

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Speaker 5: Law in the United States, and a lot of that

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Speaker 5: blowback actually comes from political representatives that are supposed to

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Speaker 5: be on our side. So that makes a very dangerous

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Speaker 5: environment for law enforcement officers to do our job.

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Speaker 1: How does it feel as someone in law enforcement who

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Speaker 1: wakes up every morning knowing that the choices they've made

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Speaker 1: could have them killed day and day out, they are

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Speaker 1: willing to give their life in service of their fellow citizens.

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Speaker 1: That would be hard enough with the support of your

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Speaker 1: political leaders. How much harder does it make it when

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Speaker 1: they're taking potshots publicly or questioning your integrity when what

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Speaker 1: you are doing is the job that you are paid

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Speaker 1: to do, and that you do because you care deeply.

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Speaker 5: That's absolutely correct, Aaron, you said it perfectly. Law enforcement

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Speaker 5: officers go to work every day willing to lay down

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Speaker 5: their life for the protection of others, and these are

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Speaker 5: people they don't even know. Already, this year, we've had

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Speaker 5: fourteen law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty

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Speaker 5: in the United States.

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Speaker 4: Five of those were by gunfire.

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Speaker 5: And when I tell you political rhetoric from our leaders

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Speaker 5: have an effect on the community, those.

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Speaker 4: Are not just you know, soft words.

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Speaker 5: They lay very hard at the feet and the heart

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Speaker 5: of law enforcement officers because we are the ones that

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Speaker 5: have to deal with the blowback that a lot of

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Speaker 5: the politicians are creating against law enforcement. I mean, we're

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Speaker 5: getting that called names like you know, Jesbo and Nazis

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Speaker 5: and things like that. Even our ice agents are getting

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Speaker 5: called that for trying to do their job.

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Speaker 1: I know that you probably don't want to get overly political,

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Speaker 1: and I understand that, but some of the things coming

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Speaker 1: out of the mouths of Democrats I considered to be criminal,

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Speaker 1: and it used to be that that would be off limits.

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Speaker 1: You can question policies, you can take have a crack

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Speaker 1: at the opposition, But to ever put into doubt in

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Speaker 1: the minds of your people the integrity of those who

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Speaker 1: are charged with keeping them safe, that is a whole

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Speaker 1: other ballgame. I haven't seen to this extent before. Have

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Speaker 1: you seen it to this level before? Where you are,

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Speaker 1: it feels like it's open slaughter on you and your people.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, absolutely, absolutely, Aaron, I've never seen it to this

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Speaker 5: level before.

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Speaker 4: As a matter of fact, Aaron, that's part.

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Speaker 5: Of the reason the ICE agents made the decision to

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Speaker 5: wear a mask, because it can affect not just them,

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Speaker 5: it can affect their families, their kids that are in school,

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Speaker 5: them trying to go to church, and people showing up

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Speaker 5: at the church and actually protesting in a place that's

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Speaker 5: supposed to be for worshiping the Lord or for you know, religion.

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Speaker 5: I mean, this is what law enforcements facing nowadays, and

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Speaker 5: it's absolutely crazy. We've never seen an environment like this,

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Speaker 5: and Aaron, I tell you, is getting more and more

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Speaker 5: dangerous for law enforcement officers to do their jobs.

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Speaker 1: I'm so glad you brought up the family aspect because again,

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Speaker 1: and it's similar to what I said to preface the

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Speaker 1: last question, It's hard enough being married to someone who

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Speaker 1: leaves the house and you know deep within they could

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Speaker 1: lose their life that day. But it's a sacrifice you

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Speaker 1: are willing to make, and you make that sacrifice as

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Speaker 1: a family as well. To then be targeted by people

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Speaker 1: because he or she is doing a job like Ice

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Speaker 1: is insane. What happens, What happens next? How many more

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Speaker 1: of your officers need to die or be heard or

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Speaker 1: have their families harassed For people up there to wake

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Speaker 1: up and realize that at the cold face the impact

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Speaker 1: that they're having and their words are having and their

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Speaker 1: behavior is having.

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Speaker 5: Absolutely words have a great impact on law enforcement officers.

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Speaker 5: I mean, but you know, law enforcement officers, nobody wants

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Speaker 5: to die. I mean, we go to work and we

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Speaker 5: train to live to protect. Nobody wants to die. But

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Speaker 5: if we have to, I mean, if we have to

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Speaker 5: lay our life down, then we understand, you know what

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Speaker 5: the job is that we actually you know, go in

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Speaker 5: the job to do every day.

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Speaker 4: We understand that. However, the rhetoric makes it incredibly more difficult.

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Speaker 5: It makes it, you know, incredibly more should I say,

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Speaker 5: it makes the people want to hurt us instead of

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Speaker 5: help us, and we need the public's help in order

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Speaker 5: to do effective policing. You know, contrary to the popular belief,

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Speaker 5: ninety percent of the public actually support law enforcement.

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Speaker 4: That's wally support us.

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Speaker 5: However, when politicians start using certain words.

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Speaker 4: And calling us Nazis and things like.

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Speaker 5: That, that starts to go down just a little bit,

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Speaker 5: and we can't afford that margin of disapproval. We can't

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Speaker 5: afford it because that's where law enforcement officers start getting killed.

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Speaker 5: That's where law enforcement officers, you know, your families start,

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Speaker 5: you know, being families of the falling. And we don't

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Speaker 5: want we don't want any more of that anymore.

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Speaker 1: Absolutely, I mean, I mean, what you would love ideally

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Speaker 1: is for your organization not to exist.

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Speaker 5: You know, I would love it forever if there was

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Speaker 5: no need for the National Falling Office's foundation. But unfortunately,

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Speaker 5: as I said before, we've already had fourteen die, fourteen

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Speaker 5: families to feel the heartbreak of losing their hero already

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Speaker 5: in twenty twenty six.

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Speaker 1: When you go out and about I mean, and I

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Speaker 1: don't think it's just because of my own experience or

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Speaker 1: having a father who was in the army, or my

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Speaker 1: daughter's father who is a policeman, currently, I look at

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Speaker 1: place and I smile and I thank them, and I

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Speaker 1: just have this immense respect.

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Speaker 2: And it's also not fear, because fear is the wrong word,

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Speaker 2: you know.

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Speaker 1: I think it's not fear, but it's such a heightened

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Speaker 1: respect that I would never be rude. I would never

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Speaker 1: do anything I thought would make their jobs harder. You know,

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Speaker 1: I feel a little bit anxious when I see them,

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Speaker 1: because you know, that's the level of respect and the

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Speaker 1: way in which I view what they do and how

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Speaker 1: important they are, whereas I feel like with a lot

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Speaker 1: of young people that's completely lost. I look at some

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Speaker 1: of the interactions and some of these protesters, they're not protesters,

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Speaker 1: they're criminal agitators in a lot of different circumstances who

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Speaker 1: are The way they speak to them is horrific, the

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Speaker 1: way they get in their face, and then you wonder

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Speaker 1: why things occur that have horrific outcomes. These guys are heightened,

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Speaker 1: they're on edge that they're under attack, not just from

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Speaker 1: the criminals that they're chasing, but from these other people

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Speaker 1: who are trying to stop them from chasing the actual criminals.

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Speaker 1: I mean, it's going to end in disaster, and it

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Speaker 1: already has.

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Speaker 4: That's absolutely correct, Aaron.

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Speaker 5: I mean, back in the nineties I could tell it

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Speaker 5: was starting to change because politicians were starting to go on.

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Speaker 4: The attack against law enforcement.

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Speaker 5: And then came the defund the police movement, and then

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Speaker 5: came the shootings right after it, and the police officers dying,

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Speaker 5: and the people that used to support us, all of

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Speaker 5: a sudden, they don't support us anymore.

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Speaker 4: You know.

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Speaker 5: Those are the things that we every day have to address,

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Speaker 5: we have to go against, and we shouldn't have to.

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Speaker 4: We are for the people.

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Speaker 5: We are here to chase the bad guy and put

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Speaker 5: the bad guys in jail.

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Speaker 4: We're not the.

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Speaker 2: People like you are your community.

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Speaker 4: We have people. Absolutely, we are a part of the community.

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Speaker 4: We are your name. You know, we are the ones

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Speaker 4: you see in the grocery store.

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Speaker 5: But unfortunately, nowadays, when you go to the grocery store,

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Speaker 5: if somebody see that badge or gun, you're more likely

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Speaker 5: to get in a fight, somebody more likely start talking

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Speaker 5: very negatively about you.

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Speaker 4: And that's not what.

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Speaker 5: It's supposed to be. That's not what we're hit. That's

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Speaker 5: not what the badge is there for. The badge is

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Speaker 5: there to protect and serve with honesty and integrity, and

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Speaker 5: that's what law enforcement, that's what we still stand for

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Speaker 5: if we're allowed to do our jobs. But that's something

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Speaker 5: that's getting, as you said before, more difficult to do,

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Speaker 5: more difficult to stay alive in a community that we're

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Speaker 5: trying to protect.

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Speaker 1: Merlin, When do you see people just say, why the

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Speaker 1: hell would I sign up for this? Or if I've

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Speaker 1: been there for twenty years, I can give another five

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Speaker 1: years like you have, Or this is way too hard.

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Speaker 1: I don't get paid enough. You know, it used to

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Speaker 1: be an honorable job. Now I feel like I'm demonized.

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Speaker 1: I'm going somewhere else. When do we start to lose

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Speaker 1: all the people that we need to keep Americans safe

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Speaker 1: because I can't imagine why anyone would stay and do it.

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Speaker 2: Your heroes, but you're being treated like dirt.

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Speaker 5: Absolutely, absolutely, Aaron, And all of those things you said

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Speaker 5: I've heard before.

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Speaker 4: I've heard from younger officers. I'm hearing it from older officers.

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Speaker 5: I'm hearing officers want to retire because they feel like

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Speaker 5: they're getting disrespected. They're putting their lives on the line,

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Speaker 5: and they no longer they get they hit that wall

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Speaker 5: or burnout. You know, the job as difficult as it is,

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Speaker 5: but now they're getting hated.

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Speaker 4: For putting on the uniform.

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Speaker 5: Every day, they're getting you know, people are coming up

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Speaker 5: to their houses, bamming on their doors, attacking them at home,

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Speaker 5: following them home, things like that, and they're worried about

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Speaker 5: their families.

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Speaker 4: Where do we get here? How do we get here?

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Speaker 4: I tell you how we get here? Now.

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Speaker 5: I don't like to be political, especially when I'm talking,

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Speaker 5: you know, out of representation for the National Falling Office Foundation.

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Speaker 5: But a lot of leaders brought us to this you know, crossroads,

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Speaker 5: you know, and they really put police, you know.

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Speaker 4: In a very very tough situation.

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Speaker 5: They've politicized law enforcement work, you know, and it should

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Speaker 5: never get like.

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Speaker 2: That should be out of bounds.

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Speaker 4: It should be out of bounds. But now they put

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Speaker 4: it very much in bounds.

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Speaker 5: And that's that's really affecting the profession. That's and it's

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Speaker 5: getting harder and harder to recruit people to come do

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Speaker 5: honorable work that's you know, that's supposed to be to

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Speaker 5: support the community, to you know, to really really you know,

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Speaker 5: lay honor to our country.

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Speaker 4: It's getting harder to recruit people to do that.

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Speaker 1: What would you say, not only to everyday Americans, but

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Speaker 1: to those impositions of power in leadership who are constantly

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Speaker 1: politicizing this issue and contributing to the demonization of law enforcement.

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Speaker 2: What would you say to them now, Well.

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Speaker 5: One thing I'm now is law enforcement is your free

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Speaker 5: We're willing to lay our lives down for people we

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Speaker 5: don't even know.

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Speaker 4: You know, these are moms, these are these are brothers,

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Speaker 4: These are sisters.

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Speaker 5: That put on their uniform every day to do a

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Speaker 5: job to protect the United States of America and abroad.

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Speaker 5: It's not just in America, it's feeling this. They're feeling

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Speaker 5: it worldwide. All over North America. Law enforcement officers are

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Speaker 5: getting attacked and it needs to stop. What I say

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Speaker 5: to the politician to tone it down, stop attacking police officers.

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Speaker 5: The very same person that you call when people want yes,

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Speaker 5: when people want to come knocking at your dover, when

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Speaker 5: armed gun may want to break in your house and

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Speaker 5: shoot you just because they don't like the way you

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Speaker 5: voted in Congress or in your state, in your state

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Speaker 5: political offices. We are the people that you call. We

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Speaker 5: want to be the hero that you hired us to be.

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Speaker 5: Let us do that without demonizing the badge and demonizing

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Speaker 5: the individual, because behind that badge, as we said before,

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Speaker 5: it's a mother, it's a father, it's a brother, it's

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Speaker 5: a sister, it's a child behind every badge, and I

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Speaker 5: think that needs to be remembered the next time someone

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Speaker 5: wants to say something negative about police officers worldwide, they're

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Speaker 5: the ones that's gonna come run to your aid when

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Speaker 5: everybody else run away.

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Speaker 1: So beautifully put and something that just sprung to mind

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Speaker 1: that we haven't touched on yet is, in the moment

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Speaker 1: something's happening, police have to act, and they rely on training,

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Speaker 1: and they rely on instinct, and they're so good at

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Speaker 1: their jobs. But I can't imagine anyone now being in

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Speaker 1: a position where they don't have a moment of doubt

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Speaker 1: where they're pausing and thinking, am I going to be

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Speaker 1: in trouble for?

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Speaker 2: Am I gonna get it wrong?

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Speaker 1: Am I going to be ostracized in front of the world.

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Speaker 1: Is a politician going to question whether or not I

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Speaker 1: made the right choice? And look, everyone has to be accountable.

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Speaker 2: I get that, but we also.

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Speaker 1: Can't afford to have our police question whether or not

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Speaker 1: we're gonna have their back when they have to act

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Speaker 1: in circumstances, none of us could even imagine that side

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Speaker 1: is significant too, isn't it given the rhetoric and what's

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Speaker 1: being said is when they need to make a tough

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Speaker 1: decision to keep people safe, what if they pause and

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Speaker 1: they hesitate because they think, I don't want to be

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Speaker 1: thrown to the wolves.

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Speaker 2: That's another big deal.

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Speaker 4: I'm sorry I spoke over you there.

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Speaker 5: But what is very valid and that doubt, that moment

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Speaker 5: of hesitation that exists, and that has gotten law enforcement

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Speaker 5: officers killed because you don't have but a fraction of

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Speaker 5: a second to react in a deadly forced situation, and

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Speaker 5: that very doubt could be the difference between life or death.

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Speaker 5: And it has been, it has been in the past,

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Speaker 5: it has been, it will be in the future. Because

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Speaker 5: of the political environment that law enforcement officers are forced

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Speaker 5: to do their job within. That's why that doubt exists,

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Speaker 5: and that doubt, unfortunately, is causing law enforcement officers to

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Speaker 5: get hurt and causing some to lose their lives.

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Speaker 4: You're exactly right.

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Speaker 1: Is President Trump a friend of law enforcement? Have you

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Speaker 1: been a president who's had your back in a bigger

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Speaker 1: way than President Trump?

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Speaker 4: President Trump is a friend of law enforcement.

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Speaker 5: I mean, he supports law enforcement, he supports military.

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Speaker 4: He is the law man of law.

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Speaker 5: He's the only one that would come out and support

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Speaker 5: us through thick and thin, while everybody else is, you know,

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Speaker 5: talking there, talk against us, want to score political points.

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Speaker 4: He's with us through thick and thin.

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Speaker 5: And that's why we support him as he support us,

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Speaker 5: even though he also feels the things that we feel,

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Speaker 5: which is the blowback from the community.

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Speaker 4: As we saw at one thirty am.

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Speaker 5: Washington time, someone again tried to come on his property

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Speaker 5: to do harm to our president.

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Speaker 1: And this is the thing, isn't it. It's so heightened

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Speaker 1: at the moment. And final question, Merlin, you look at

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Speaker 1: this renewed culture of assassination. Everyone is so on edge.

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Speaker 1: You've got the rhetoric which is not helping. You've got

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Speaker 1: the politicization, the demonization of law enforcement. You've then got

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Speaker 1: this situation in Iran at the moment where this huge

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Speaker 1: build up of US military assets in that region, the

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Speaker 1: biggest since the side of the Iraq War. It is

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Speaker 1: heightened at the moment. Everyone is on edge, which is

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Speaker 1: a recipe for disaster if people don't feel supported.

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Speaker 4: That's absolutely correct. And with you touching on Iran.

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Speaker 5: That's a very valid point because we have a lot

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Speaker 5: of Iranians living right here in the United.

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Speaker 4: States and some of them are illegal.

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Speaker 5: Now do you really want, you know, illegals running around

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Speaker 5: in the United States from other countries and we are

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Speaker 5: about to go to war with their home country.

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Speaker 4: Think about it.

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Speaker 1: There are proxies, There are Islamic regime of around proxies

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Speaker 1: already on the ground in America.

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Speaker 2: There is a bounty on President Trump's head.

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Speaker 1: They benefit from chaos in America absolutely.

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Speaker 5: Absolutely, So please support law enforcement. That's for everybody that's

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Speaker 5: listening to your podcast. Please support law enforcement because we

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Speaker 5: are the only ones you can call when the heat

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Speaker 5: is really on.

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Speaker 1: You are a hero, Merlin, and you speak so beautifully

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Speaker 1: and passionately and authentically, and you're such I now know

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Speaker 1: why my very good friend Trey handed the baton to you.

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Speaker 2: Thank you so much for your time, Thank you for

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Speaker 2: your passion.

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Speaker 1: Thank you for fighting for I think the bravest, most

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Speaker 1: courageous members of our community.

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Speaker 2: They deserve our support.

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Speaker 1: We'll continue to fight for them here and I'd love

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Speaker 1: to have you back on at some stage as well.

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Speaker 2: Thank you so much.

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Speaker 4: Thank you.

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Speaker 2: I just read a shocking statistic.

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Speaker 1: Newsweek reported that fifty one percent of retirement age adults

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Speaker 1: now expect to work indefinitely. That means more Americans are

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Speaker 1: working well past the traditional retirement age. And here's why

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Speaker 1: the average four oh one K balance for older Americans

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Speaker 1: is barely six figures. More and more people simply can't

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Speaker 1: afford to retire. It seems like the American dream is

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Speaker 1: quickly becoming a disaster for retirees who are unprepared and underfunded.

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Speaker 2: But this doesn't have to be your reality.

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Speaker 1: It can be easy to get your retirement back on

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00:19:47,000 --> 00:19:50,800
Speaker 1: track with the power yes, you guessed it of precious metals.

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00:19:51,200 --> 00:19:54,880
Speaker 1: Gold and silver can provide stability and protection while still

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Speaker 1: offering the potential for long term growth. If your retirement

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00:19:58,280 --> 00:20:00,760
Speaker 1: is looking a little shaky, it may maybe time to

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00:20:00,880 --> 00:20:04,440
Speaker 1: make a change. Visit Noblegoldinvestments dot com and get your

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00:20:04,480 --> 00:20:09,480
Speaker 1: free gold IRA guide Noblegoldinvestments dot Com. Discover a new

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00:20:09,480 --> 00:20:12,800
Speaker 1: way to build the retirement you're dreaming of. Just a

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00:20:13,040 --> 00:20:16,960
Speaker 1: side note and another doctor, Doctor Annie has said on

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Speaker 1: X you are above this, and that was my joke

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00:20:19,800 --> 00:20:23,280
Speaker 1: regarding Megan Michael's massive revelation that we should put champagne

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Speaker 1: in the fridge, and I said, no, I kind of

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00:20:24,640 --> 00:20:29,199
Speaker 1: like mine, like toilet water lukewarm, obviously being sarcastic. My friends,

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Speaker 1: we can be multi dimensional here. I can talk about

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Speaker 1: war in the Middle East. I can stand up for

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Speaker 1: Western civilization, and I can take the mickey and believe

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Speaker 1: you me, I take the mickey out of myself more

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Speaker 1: than anyone else. And if we can't laugh, what's the point.

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Speaker 1: So now I'm not above that. I didn't commit a

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Speaker 1: cardinal sin. I took the mickey out of someone in

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Speaker 1: public life who had put online a very obvious tip.

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Speaker 1: So no, I completely own that, and I will continue

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Speaker 1: to have a laugh because we need to.

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Speaker 2: Otherwise what is the point? I love you all.

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Speaker 1: Make sure you check out the State of the Union

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Speaker 1: clip if you haven't watched that already. We'll have weekend

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Speaker 1: episode will be on the Salem News Channel over the

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Speaker 1: weekend as well Saturday and Sunday one pm, and then

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Speaker 1: back next week. But you can you can be with

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00:21:10,080 --> 00:21:17,359
Speaker 1: us all the time Socials YouTube podcast. Make sure you follow, rate, share,

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00:21:18,119 --> 00:21:19,600
Speaker 1: click all the other things.

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Speaker 2: Love you all, We'll see you see