On August 14, 2024, Paula Sarlls, Michael Pierce, Lorne Levy, and Trent Loos joined the show. Announces upcoming veteran celebration featuring Iwo Jima survivors and Medal of Honor recipient Drew Dix, promotes Buy a Brick memorial program Explains functional medicine approaches to mental health, discusses how COVID lockdowns exacerbated existing conditions, advocates for building resilience in youth Reports declining mortgage rates creating refinancing opportunities for homeowners.
Paula Sarlls, president of the USMC Memorial Foundation, announces the upcoming 47th anniversary celebration on August 24th in Golden, Colorado. The event will feature remarkable heroes including Jim Blaine and Al Jennings, both veterans of the Battle of Iwo Jima during World War II. Medal of Honor recipient Drew Dix from the Center for American Values in Pueblo will also attend, having earned the nation’s highest military honor for 56 hours of sustained combat action during the Vietnam War.
Sarlls describes the memorial as more than just a monument, calling it a place of healing where lives are changed. The foundation’s Buy a Brick program allows supporters to memorialize veterans’ service with personalized certificates. Kim shares her own experience purchasing bricks to honor her Air Force veteran father and her father’s cousin Wilbur Newton, killed at Pearl Harbor, whose remains were only recently identified and returned for burial with full military honors.
“And there’ll be a lot of veterans there, and these guys are just awesome.”
Paula Sarlls, President, USMC Memorial Foundation
Dr. Michael Pierce, a chiropractic neurologist who helps analyze brain chemistry and brain waves, explains how COVID-19 lockdowns exacerbated existing mental health conditions. Pierce argues that when people were locked down and received experimental medications, they experienced flashpoints in turbo cancers, chronic illness, mental illness, and gut problems. He advocates for functional medicine approaches that address root causes through lab testing, brain scans, and dietary changes rather than relying solely on pharmaceutical interventions.
Pierce emphasizes the connection between physical and mental health, noting that blood sugar problems, thyroid issues, and hormone imbalances inevitably affect brain function. He recommends finding functional medicine practitioners who perform comprehensive testing for markers of chronic inflammation that insurance often does not cover. For those struggling after COVID, Pierce prescribes an unconventional remedy: travel broadly to see how other countries and cultures responded to the pandemic, discovering communities that were not gripped by fear.
The discussion turns to building resilience in young people who came of age during lockdowns. Pierce stresses that parents must complete the cycle of failure with their children, walking them through mistakes to ultimate success rather than stopping at the failure itself. He warns against creating victims, instead encouraging young people to develop strength and independence by studying history and connecting with communities of people who have overcome supposedly incurable conditions.
“And the dirty little secret behind medicine is that the same methods will treat almost all chronic diseases.”
Dr. Michael Pierce, Chiropractic Neurologist
Lorne Levy of Polygon Financial Group reports encouraging news for homeowners who purchased during the high-rate environment of the past 12 to 18 months. With mortgage rates dropping from the low-to-mid 7% range to the lower-to-mid 6% range, refinancing can save homeowners hundreds of dollars monthly on Colorado’s typically large loan amounts. The morning’s Consumer Price Index report came in on target, suggesting inflation is taming and the Federal Reserve may soon lower rates further.
Levy explains that refinancing costs typically run between $2,300 and $3,000, with the difference depending on whether an appraisal is required. For his listeners, he covers the appraisal cost and charges no company fees. A homeowner saving $300 to $400 monthly would break even in six to eight months, well below the typical 12 to 15 month benchmark for a successful refinance. Importantly, borrowers can customize their loan term to avoid resetting to a full 30 years, preserving the time already invested in their original mortgage.
“When you start shaving a half point, three quarters of a point off a loan that size, you’re shaving hundreds of dollars a month for people.”
Lorne Levy, Polygon Financial Group
Trent Loos, sixth-generation farmer and rancher, exposes runaway school spending as the driver of Nebraska’s property tax crisis. He reports that 72% of property taxes in his county fund the school system, which spends $24,978 per student, far exceeding the state average of $17,000. When Governor Pillen provided $1,500 voucher payments per student, local spending increased by $3,000, more than doubling the state aid infusion.
At a recent school board meeting, Loos witnessed the district authorize four administrative positions, including three principals and a superintendent, for a school with fewer than 300 students. The administrative cost alone runs $550,000, or $1,650 per student. One administrator receiving a raise had been on probationary status requiring performance improvement. Loos connects this local example to the broader 30 by 30 executive order, reminding listeners that Executive Order 14008 spans 57 pages devoted to transitioning away from fossil fuels, not just the land grab provisions.
“Until we get enough people to vocalize the problems that they have, it simply resides in the number of people that are aware and willing to stand up and say something.”
Trent Loos, Sixth-Generation Farmer and Rancher
Susan Harris and Kim have a conversation on the connection between mental health and physical health and why it is so important to stay...
Episode from The Kim Monson Show
Episode from The Kim Monson Show