Moral Courage in Facing Open Borders, Vaccine Mandates, and Educational Decline

On this Tuesday, October 17, 2023 broadcast, Kim Monson examines the theme of moral courage through three powerful conversations: a school board candidate fighting for academic excellence, a former Army captain warning about open border dangers, and a pharmaceutical industry veteran who lost his career for refusing the COVID vaccine.

Open Borders as a National Security Threat

Start listening at 33:30 – Hour 1

Yvonne Paez, a former U.S. Army captain and police officer who grew up in Mexico, delivers a sobering assessment of border security from someone who has lived on both sides. Paez warns that Americans naively believe other nations share our values of honesty, liberty, and justice. The reality, she cautions, involves importing not just people but entire cultures, including organized crime, cartels, and corruption.

Drawing on her military experience preparing for the unthinkable, Paez sees the open border as the largest national security threat facing America. She notes that only 16% of migrants are taking advantage of work permit programs, raising serious questions about their true intentions. The former captain co-founded Perspectives 101 in northern Colorado to inform citizens about these issues through nonpartisan educational programming.

“We cannot import people faster than we can vet them and share the essential elements of the American vision and culture, such as liberty, justice, freedom, and the equal opportunity that we think is so important. People from other nations are not like us.”

Yvonne Paez, Former U.S. Army Captain and Police Officer

Standing Against Vaccine Mandates in the Pharmaceutical Industry

Start listening at 71:40 – Hour 2

Richard Wons spent 26 years in the biotech and pharmaceutical industry, including nine years as a top-performing sales representative at Thermo Fisher Scientific. His career ended in June 2022 when he refused the COVID vaccine mandate, citing both his faith and his professional knowledge that proper long-term safety testing cannot be compressed into less than a year.

Wons filed a religious accommodation request based on 1 Corinthians 3:16, that his body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. He offered to use non-invasive spit tests that Thermo Fisher itself manufactured, but the company rejected this reasonable alternative. Even after acquiring natural immunity through a COVID infection with confirmed antibodies, the company insisted on the shot.

The former research scientist reveals that Thermo Fisher increased revenue by $19.4 billion during COVID while manufacturing vaccines for Moderna and Pfizer. He has filed a federal lawsuit under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and faces legal costs potentially exceeding $100,000 while being effectively blackballed from his industry.

“I mean, I always thought that what I was doing was helping people. And what I saw with COVID was something that was rushed to market.”

Richard Wons, Former Pharmaceutical Industry Professional

Academic Excellence and Parental Rights in Littleton Schools

Start listening at 19:06 – Hour 1

Brian Mccauley, a physician running for Littleton School Board, exposes alarming academic performance data: only 51% of students perform math at grade level and just 59% meet English standards. Mccauley points to Newton Middle School as a success model, where adding 20 minutes daily to math and English instruction boosted proficiency by 31% and 15% respectively.

The emergency medicine physician argues that controversial topics require parental opt-in rather than opt-out policies. Parents cannot track every curriculum decision when they are busy working, he notes. Transparency builds trust, and without trust, schools cannot function as effective educational institutions. Mccauley emphasizes that parents remain the primary educators when it comes to values, beliefs, and identities.

“You can’t have trust without transparency. And parents ultimately need to be the deciders of what their kids are being exposed to.”

Brian Mccauley, Emergency Medicine Physician and Littleton School Board Candidate