Sekulow

Host: It always seems to go back to California. The LA mayor caught using a fake poll. Keeping you informed and engaged. Now, more than ever. This is Sekulow. We want to hear from you. Share and post your comments or call 1-800-684-3110. And now your host, Logan Sekulow.
Host: Welcome to Sekulow. We made it to a Wednesday. Can you believe it here? August 19th. Will Hagens in studio. Jordan Sekulow in studio. We got a packed show for you. We're going to be covering a lot of different topics. And look, yesterday took a swerve here at the end as we start talking about tire pressure issues, tire concerns, pothole problems. And that story continues to roll on. But really the story, as much as we don't want to spend all day every day talking about what happens in the state of California, they just give us so much fodder every time we can talk about California. And this one, you have the mayor, Karen Bass, once again, this time kind of caught. So do we want to lead with a pothole problem? Or do we want to lead with a political problem?
Guest (Male): Well, I think it shows how much the the government of California and in Los Angeles are in shambles at this point of unable to do the basic functions of government.
Host: I'll be visiting soon. That makes me feel real good.
Guest (Male): And then when you have someone like the the sitting mayor who is running again against Nithya Raman. This obviously this primary was was huge news because the Spencer Pratt's candidacy and then the all of a sudden Nithya Raman is able to take that second place, even after she was crying on election night. We see that as they're looking towards November with the runoff as it's called because of the Jungle Primary system. That Karen Bass was touting this poll that showed that she was surging against Nithya Raman. She even put it out there that said, you know, she had 50% to 39% doing the work, showing up and gaining momentum. Let's do this LA. Guess what? That poll was completely fake. The company that put it out, media and strategies, admitted it was completely fake. They have since shut down, but they were doing what they called a social experiment.
Host: Yeah, so let's just say this, they were intentionally creating a fake poll to see if the political figures would actually do their own research to find out. So I mean, they're a little bit of trickery there because there's a lot of poll companies going on. But again, kind of exposing what actually happens in these political structures.
Guest (Male): Yeah, I mean, you've got your internal polling, you share that usually, but the other side thinks that that's not what you're supposed to be. Yeah, they they they think oh, that's got to be for their own political reasons. They call the right places. They got the right answers. They ask the questions the way they wanted to be asked. So then you look at your opponent's poll and usually your opponent's poll is and especially if it's someone who's down to you and they're somehow trying to come up four points every time they do a new poll, even though the situation on the ground hasn't necessarily changed. So do you believe either of those polls? Really, not until election day can you decide if was either of the polls truly accurate. We had that in Tennessee and in the governor's race with Marsha Blackburn. And at the end of the day,
Host: Yeah, there were a couple of polls that were saying numbers.
Guest (Male): Oh yeah, there were surge numbers coming for the for the opponents to Marsha. And at the end of the day, I think that race was called about 10 minutes after the polls closed. We saw that again last night in some races as well where they were there were some shocks, but there were also some that were just you know, supposed to be a lot closer than they were and and what I think it tells you is, we live in an age where polling is just very difficult. And the truth is, that polling company making up a fake poll honestly, in a state as big as California, may be as accurate as what a real poll could turn out to be. Depending on who actually answers that day or that.
Host: Yeah, we'll see what the numbers. We'll see what the numbers may show.
Guest (Male): Well, and once again, I think this all goes to show that, you know, campaigns aren't vetting these polls. The media wasn't vetting these polls. They ran with it. But when we get back, we're going to show video of because that it was a very telling post by Mayor Bass saying, we're doing the work. We're going to show some other posts that she has made of doing the work. And it ties into that tire story from yesterday. And when you see this, it shows a complete and utter failure of the most basic role of a mayor as a leader.
Host: As you said, when we get back, we're going to do that. And phone lines are open. We also saw some elections, as Jordan said, out of the state of Florida that may make you think, hey, even the Democrats in Florida are at least a little bit more rational than what's going on around the world. Florida really does seem to be where California seems to be the land of crazy town. It feels like occasionally. Florida, even on the left, seems to be doing a little bit better job. We'll talk about that coming up. But look, last days of our impact match. Be a part of it at ACLJ.org.
Speaker: Do you even realize the impact you make? Choosing freedom or oppression. Justice or corruption. Faith or godlessness. Life or death. One factor can make the difference. And what is it? You. As an ACLJ supporter, you have great power. You make a tremendous impact. And this month, you can double that impact. Right now, your most sacred rights as an American, your freedom of speech, your freedom to pray and worship, even our free and fair election process are being threatened. Right now as part of our ACLJ impact match, you can double your support. Go to ACLJ.org/impact and have your tax deductible gift doubled. Dollar for dollar, doubling your impact to defend faith, freedom, and innocent life. Your impact is powerful, but the time is short. Go to ACLJ.org/impact and have your gift doubled today.
Speaker: We've witnessed monumental legal victories from defending the 14th Amendment and protecting our sacred American right to vote, the overturning of Roe v. Wade, and standing up for the religious liberty of our kids and seniors. But even with the many historic wins we've achieved, the battle is far from over. The attacks on our constitutionally protected rights persist. Countless unborn babies remain in jeopardy, and across the globe, innocent Christians are being targeted and killed across this country and around the world. This fight isn't just the ACLJ's, it's all of ours. It belongs to every American who wants to preserve the values and beliefs on which this nation was founded. None of the victories we've won would have been possible without the unwavering support of ACLJ members and ACLJ champions. It's been an honor to fight for you all these years. Join us in fighting for freedom. Have your donation doubled at ACLJ.org/freedom.
Host: Welcome back to Sekulow. Phone lines are open for you also at 1-800-684-3110. Talking about polling across the country, but really talking about what's happening in LA. At the same time, you may remember Rick Grenell was on the show yesterday and got people real fired up about an issue related to potholes and of course related to the new suggestion that the government control the tires of your car. And it seems like potholes seems to be an issue that LA has decided to really highlight.
Guest (Male): This is one of my favorite pieces of of government media that I've maybe ever seen. Because as we talked about this yesterday and people said, no, forget the tires. Pay attention to fixing the roads, which you know what? Most basic role of government is pave the roads. Make sure there aren't the potholes. Now, the mayor of New York made some very polished videos where like there was a missing drinking fountains and someone called it out and he went and they installed new drinking fountains, et cetera. Like he's trying to show, look, I can do things as a mayor, which is kind of your job to get those basic services of the city fulfilled. Karen Bass, who's the incumbent mayor, former congresswoman, has a big election in November. Tried to copy that playbook of Mayor Mandani, tried to go with let's do a flashy social media thing, responding to someone asking us to do our basic job.
Host: And we're going to play this for you. This is something that was put out by her office. Yeah, and they're bragging. This is a this is something that they set up as an excited announcement of how they can handle your problems. They could have done a lot of different versions of this. They could have really spent time. This is what they decided was the final release. Go ahead.
Guest (Female): Hey, Mayor Bass, I found this pothole here on Melrose and Gardner Street. Hoping you could just send some folks down here to just remedy that for us.
Guest (Female): Hi, Simone. I saw your post. So I want you to know that city crews were out here today at noon. But unfortunately, there was a car that was here, so we couldn't repair the pothole. So you know what we did? We put up these no parking signs, so that hopefully, there won't be anybody parked here tomorrow morning, and the city crews will be back. In the future, if you have any problems like this, you can call 311. If it's graffiti, if it's a pothole, or if it's just random trash. So, thank you, Simone. Thank you for being a great LA citizen. We're going to get this done.
Host: We're going to get it done. We'll win. Now, tomorrow, maybe.
Guest (Male): My favorite part is one. They didn't say, hey, let's come back tomorrow and film this. It was, hey, we saw your message. We couldn't do what you asked. We tried. We put up a no parking sign to freak somebody out that they're going to get a ticket because there's was parking when they park here, now it's not.
Host: We're going to produce a video. And what this shows you is they were like, we got the mayor, and the mayor is probably like, I'm not coming back tomorrow. In LA that could take 45 minutes for that one pot hole. I don't know where that was exactly.
Guest (Male): Yeah, on Melrose. He's my favorite part at the end too. There wasn't uh audio, there was just music, but she pats herself on the back for a job well done by saying, while I was in the area, I supported local businesses. And it shows her getting a milkshake.
Host: But why? Why not wait a day? Like I understand the idea of saying, hey, we have this this system. staff out to make sure it's accessible that day.
Guest (Male): Yeah, okay. I put the sign up then.
Host: Three one one or just don't put out the video. You know what? Just realize don't put that video out. It's not going to work. Like the our idea didn't work. Let's move on. This is some political ego that comes in. You're going, well, we we could show we did something here. But what you're showing is, yeah, you said you frightened the driver who had been parking there parking there, probably fine. And also, you could have waited one day or a few hours and gotten this handled. And actually had a pretty cool video saying, look, you reported it, you posted on social media. Our team is taking action. Not our team took action, but unfortunately, we failed.
Guest (Male): Now, I want to contrast this with something else she put out on social media just yesterday. Because we see that she's trying to show and it's hilarious because those of us that know, um the the failed policies of places like California where the government isn't meeting the basic job description for the people that vote them in the office, and how high the tax dollars are in California and in Los Angeles. Here is a post she put out yesterday. So she can't fix the pothole, but here's what your taxpayer dollars are also doing in Los Angeles, played byte one.
Guest (Female): Your donation to our campaign is more critical right now than ever before. Let me explain. Thanks to LA's Super Match program, every qualified donation from Los Angeles residents is matched six to one by the city. But after the primary, we had to start over from scratch. So we need you to rush your matching donation right now to help fuel this campaign. Chip in $5 right now, and the city turns it into $35. Chip in $20 right now, and the city turns it into $175. Make your matching donation today. Thank you so much.
Host: Now, look, I've had to read that copy before very similar, and I'll probably have to do one a little bit later today. But you know what? It's a little different here.
Guest (Male): Right. The difference is it's not the taxpayers of Los Angeles funding her campaign. So if you as a resident.
Host: They're giving it back.
Guest (Male): Right. I mean, one, it's we we used to have publicly funded presidential campaigns in this country. We went away from that. Uh some people would be like, well, there were less ads on the air. Maybe that was a better time. It it a six times match from the city to the campaigns of it's going to be Nithya Raman and Karen Bass. They're funding the two people, one of which can't fix the pothole, and the other of which was a failed candidate on city council or a failed member of the city council. No wonder they can't fix potholes. They're so busy funding their own politicians campaigns.
Guest (Male): Yeah, I mean, that that's a wild one to put out when in fact, what you're saying is we aren't using the money that you pay us in taxes. So give me a little bit more and I will get more of that money. In fact, six times more of that money is just what's sitting around in the coffers of LA County right now when in fact or the city of Los Angeles. When in fact, I mean, you've got a serious issues there. Not just potholes, by the way, but uh those skid rows, all the issues that LA is facing. All the kind of missteps that Karen Bass made as mayor, Logan. And when you look at that, you say, you know what, bad bad for the pothole, bad again on these this match. I know that they do have it there. I'm sure the other candidates take advantage of it. But it's just like saying, give us more of your money so we can take more of your tax money and use it for ourselves.
Host: For our own advertising, our own political gain, PR. I mean that's the main thing. And look, we've always said this, and it's true. The reason we spend a good amount of time talking about California and New York is we do number one, believe they should be thriving areas. These are cities that are really have been, at least have been, as we've seen a lot of Exodus to Tennessee and to Florida, have been the ones that have driven a lot of our economy, driven a lot of our tourism, have been the the shining cities that everyone knows around the world. They know Los Angeles, they New York, they know New York City. But we have to be able to call them out when these things happen because what we want is not to abandon. I see some people saying that. You know, there there's just the worst. No, we actually want these cities to thrive. We want to see New York City thriving. We want to see Los Angeles and Hollywood thriving. We want to see areas of this country that historically have been so important to us not only economically, but culturally to have these moments where they can bounce back. But you have to call them out for them to be able to bounce back. And we know California, as we've said many times, probably the biggest state in terms of ACLJ support comes out of the state of California. So it's not like we're sitting there talking about a place that has no relevancy to the work that we do here. We know how important it is to those especially in Southern California. And those in Northern California, by the way, who have been ardent supporters of ours since the very, very beginning. The I'd say really the creation of this happened very much out of the passion coming out of evangelical Christians in the 80s and 90s in Southern California. So we do feel passionate about it. Like I said, I'm there in a couple weeks. This is a place that is very important to us. But we're seeing it being destroyed and you're seeing again, the wrong steps over and over and over again and it feels like the people voting are still making these bad decisions.
Guest (Male): Well, it also goes to show where if you are a a Democrat, let's say, why I think you are seeing so many of these DSA candidates that have terrible ideas economically and and about government. But if you are someone that is uh on the more liberal side of the political spectrum, it makes sense when you have a career politician like Karen Bass who was in California State Assembly, Speaker of the California House.
Host: Give me money.
Guest (Male): And then becoming member of the House of Representatives, then coming into being the mayor of LA, go and put out these two types of videos. One showing I can't do my job effectively, and also asking for money that's going to be six times matched by the taxpayer, the same taxpayers that are just hoping that pothole gets filled in. It makes sense if you're a political scientist, why people that are disaffected in the Democrat Party would be looking for something new. Because this isn't cutting it, clearly. What do they know how to do? Ask for more money, raise taxes to get more money, and not fix the basic needs of the city that they run.
Host: Yeah, look, we only got 45 seconds left in this segment. I want to take a minute. If you want to actually have your your dollars matched in an important way. You can do it today.
Guest (Male): And not by taxpayers.
Host: Not by taxpayers, by other ACLJ supporters and champions who are ready to unlock their pledge. Great time to do it. People that want to do it. It feels ridiculous doing this right now. But you know what? We have a lot of battles ahead. Your support today goes a long way at ACLJ.org. I do want you to call in. Whether you're in California or anywhere around the country. This is important. The next segment actually is going to be very interesting. If you've been caring about the work of the ACLJ, you're working in a church, you're working in a non profit, stay tuned for this. We have some interesting things we want to cover. We'll let Jordan kind of walk you through some new changes. And again, if we're talking about California, we got to talk about also the thriving state of Florida, and we got to get to there in a little bit too. So we'll be right back.
Speaker: We've witnessed monumental legal victories from defending the 14th Amendment and protecting our sacred American right to vote, the overturning of Roe v. Wade, and standing up for the religious liberty of our kids and seniors. But even with the many historic wins we've achieved, the battle is far from over. The attacks on our constitutionally protected rights persist. Countless unborn babies remain in jeopardy, and across the globe, innocent Christians are being targeted and killed across this country and around the world. This fight isn't just the ACLJ's, it's all of ours. It belongs to every American who wants to preserve the values and beliefs on which this nation was founded. None of the victories we've won would have been possible without the unwavering support of ACLJ members and ACLJ champions. It's been an honor to fight for you all these years. Join us in fighting for freedom. Have your donation doubled at ACLJ.org/freedom.
Speaker: Do you even realize the impact you make? Choosing freedom or oppression. Justice or corruption. Faith or godlessness. Life or death. One factor can make the difference. And what is it? You. As an ACLJ supporter, you have great power. You make a tremendous impact. And this month, you can double that impact. Right now, your most sacred rights as an American, your freedom of speech, your freedom to pray and worship, even our free and fair election process are being threatened. Right now as part of our ACLJ impact match, you can double your support. Go to ACLJ.org/impact and have your tax deductible gift doubled. Dollar for dollar, doubling your impact to defend faith, freedom, and innocent life. Your impact is powerful, but the time is short. Go to ACLJ.org/impact and have your gift doubled today.
Host: Welcome back to Sekulow. I do want to take some calls. So 1-800-684-3110. 1-800-684-3110. I can take some calls in this segment. I can take them throughout the rest of the show because it's just me, Will, and Jordan today. And of course, we'd love to hear from you. But we do want to pivot a little bit to the work of the ACLJ and ACLJ Action, something that Jordan, you've been passionate about, you've been working on. But I know this can get a little in the weeds, but I think it's important for you guys to hear this.
Guest (Male): I want to talk about it kind of at 10,000 feet. We've got all the information up at ACLJaction.org. So for many of you, I know because of traveling around and speaking at churches and religious events and ministry events that you work for ministries. Sometimes, you know, you're listening on in the background, you've got your Christian talk radio or streaming online or you're watching right now. And you may work for a church or a religious organization that has been around a ministry that's been around for, you know, it could be for 100 plus years. That's not uncommon when you drive through the United States of America around some of the churches and non profit ministries as well. And when all the investment and retirement laws were coming together around the 1930s, churches were excluded from some of the future plans like 401ks. And what they were they they got stuck in what are called these 403bs. Now, listen, if you're happy with your investment plan, we're not telling you here how to invest the money. What we're trying to say is that people who work at charities, faith-based charities, should have the same investment opportunities as those who work in the private sector. I'll give you this example. In the private sector, you've got your 401ks, but you can also invest in CITs. You might say, well, I don't even know what a CIT is because I don't I work in a ministry. I've never had that offered to me. And that's true because under the current law, it can't be offered to you. And a CIT is when you collectively invest funds. It's done through banks. And so the costs are lower than mutual funds because you're pulling together this larger amount of money so you can make bigger institutional purchases. So while you put your account and you add someone else's account, it may be churches from all around your your region, the bank, by the way, heavily regulated, this one the CITs regulated by the banking industry, the 401ks and those are regulated by the SEC. And we believe that the SEC can do this on its own through rule making. They don't have to pass new legislation. Though we do also believe there is new legislation. I don't understand why it would be partisan at all because all it would do is give faith-based employees from the pastor on down to those who work at the ministry who have been stuck in the 403b plans, the opportunity to talk to their investment advisors for the church, for their retirement fund. I mean, these churches have hundreds of employees, so they've got big funds to have the option of adding in one of these collective investment trusts. And what you do there is that you are pulling investment money together. All the other for-profit companies can do this in the United States of America. So every business, this is the kind of odd thing, Logan. We know that the people in ministries and churches are getting paid usually less than people on Wall Street. But Wall Street financial services employees are are investing at at a cheaper and better rate than church employees can even have access to because of the law.
Host: I mean, I'm seeing comments coming in. People literally one person just put that's what I'm doing right now. I'm listening from my office in our church. So this is we know especially in in if you're listening on radio, but even if you're watching on YouTube that this does impact you. And I know again, it can get a little heavy, but we put up all the information. You made sure that people can actually find it to break it all down.
Guest (Male): Well, and Jordan, I want to go back to something you said. Remember, these laws and and structure of a lot of these accounts were created almost 100 years ago. And so when you think about that, it's things that aren't thought about by a lot of people often. And for good reason, you know, if you're sitting around all day and that's what your focus is about like the different structures of retirement plans and how the uh the either the SEC or the IRS or anyone treats that, then you're probably a CPA. But but other than that, that isn't something people want to think about all the time. That though is one of the the the benefits of supporting the ACLJ or ACLJ Action, is that we have experts. We have the contacts to to make things go through this. Things that really will drastically impact a lot of people's lives in this country. That most people would never think of. We can make a positive impact. We can have parity on this. We can make sure that if just because you work in a church or a non-profit, you're not actually um penalized by the the structure of our financial system.
Guest (Male): It cost you more money to save right now today if you were in the 403b plan without the option to join a CIT plan than anyone in the private sector. If you are stuck in a 403b plan, and you know that if I'm talking to you right now. So what we have is US Senator, a good friend of ours, Katie Britt in Alabama has put forward the Invest Act. That's the legislative tool that would that would make this the law of the land. There is a secondary way to do this because we know right now Congress mid-term elections, how will they turn out? We don't exactly know yet. There's another way to do it though. The SEC will still be part of the Trump administration. The SEC can do this by their rule-making power. They were supposed to do it when they rewrote the rules, but ministries for whatever reason and faith-based organizations did not make the cut.
Host: What would be stopping that?
Guest (Male): It is again, it was just something that I think investment companies weren't coming to the churches and the churches weren't asking. They were used to operating this way. And so they were used to we've got our financial manager. We do it this way. You come here. This is how we do our retirement funds. And they weren't thinking. Also, sometimes people get afraid of, do I want to change into one of these community investment trusts and it's not regulated by the SEC, it's a.
Host: Service.
Guest (Male): This is not, by the way, you don't take all of your money and say, I'm taking everything out of my 403b. I'm putting it all into the CIT at the the that the bank is offering. That is not the case. What it allows you to do is diversify your retirement funds. If you work for one of these faith-based institution that at this time is not allowed to take advantage of what every other private employee and private employer is in the United States of America. And if you go to ACLJaction.org, you can find out more information. This can be done through SEC rule making. It can be done through Katie Britt, Senator Britt's legislation as well, the Invest Act. We're going to continue to be behind it when Congress returns. Could be something we could get through even in that that session before the November elections or even when they return after the November elections because it shouldn't really be a partisan issue at all. Doesn't matter what the political makeup of the religious or ministry is. We don't care about that either. It's just about having a level playing field for Americans who are working in our country, especially Americans who are working providing services in in the faith communities. And they're always doing it at less of the same at less of the income levels we know, uh if you're working in the non-profit sector, than if you work in the for-profit sector. They should not be punished for saving money and they shouldn't have to be they shouldn't have to pay more for saving money than investors on Wall Street.
Guest (Male): And once again, I think that's why it's so important. These these issues are the type of things that Jordan is working on, his team are working on all the time that you may not hear about. But it is important to show people that, you know, at the ACLJ and ACLJ Action, we truly believe that standing up for things like your First Amendment rights, your freedom of religion, your freedom of speech shouldn't come with also a price tag. You shouldn't be punished for uh choosing to go into ministry and things like that. And here is another example of finding ways that our system maybe imposes not necessarily on purpose, but imposes restrictions or punishment on people of faith because their choice was to go into ministry. And so I think it's important sometimes to showcase these things to our audience that you may not even think about existing.
Guest (Male): And I I think it's cool, Logan, that they're coming to us. Organizations like this, companies are coming to us for our expertise in dealing with Congress, in dealing with the federal agencies like the SEC, which again, you might not think ACLJ, SEC, but remember, ACLJ took down IRS. So, we we do have a lot of work that we've done with agencies and we understand their rule-making power. We also, of course, understand Capitol Hill and when something should be bipartisan like the Invest Act. So that any, again, faith-based ministry has the same retirement plan options available to them as any for-profit company. That's all we're asking for.
Host: Yep. Second half hour coming up. Join us online ACLJ.org. Or again, however you get your podcast. We are live and archived. Be right back.
Speaker: As an ACLJ supporter, you have great power. You make a tremendous impact. And this month, you can double that impact. Go to ACLJ.org/impact and have your tax deductible gift doubled. Dollar for dollar, doubling your impact to defend faith, freedom, and innocent life. Your impact is powerful, but the time is short. Go to ACLJ.org/impact and have your gift doubled today.