* Guest: John Hill, AP Hill Legacy Hurricane Helene Relief Fund - GiveSendGo.com/gdepe - Campaign funds will be received by AP Hill Legacy Foundation.
* Trump Doubles Down on Supporting Johnson.
* Thomas Massie Blasts Mike Johnson, Says He's 'The Next Paul Ryan'.
[00:00:13] Broadcasting live from atop the Rocky Mountains, the crossroads of the West.
[00:00:18] You are listening to the Liberty Roundtable Radio Talk Show.
[00:00:24] All right.
[00:00:25] Happy to have you along, my fellow Americans.
[00:00:27] Sam Bushman live on your radio.
[00:00:29] Hard-hitting news the network refused to use, no doubt, continues now.
[00:00:33] This is the broadcast.
[00:00:35] We are indeed live for January the 1st in the year of our Lord 2025.
[00:00:40] This is Hour 202 with a goal always to protect life, liberty, and property,
[00:00:44] to promote God, family, and country,
[00:00:46] to do so on your radio and the traditions of our founding fathers.
[00:00:49] Yes, indeed, we use the blueprint for liberty, the supreme law of the land,
[00:00:52] the Constitution with the United States of America as our guide.
[00:00:55] We reject revolution, lessons to Jesus' revolution.
[00:00:58] Then we're in because we follow the Prince of Peace.
[00:01:00] And we also believe the checks and balances brilliantly put in place by the founding fathers,
[00:01:04] one of the peaceful, restorative solutions we still have at our fingertips.
[00:01:07] James Edwards is with me, thepoliticalcesspool.org.
[00:01:11] And, James, you want to do the honors to introduce our guest?
[00:01:14] Well, I'm very excited about this because in talking about, as you mentioned, Sam,
[00:01:18] last hour kind of recovering some of the biggest stories of 2024,
[00:01:24] one thing that we did not mention was the Hurricane Helene catastrophe
[00:01:29] that struck primarily western North Carolina,
[00:01:32] but also that little corner of South Carolina right there in the Greenville area,
[00:01:37] and eastern Tennessee as well.
[00:01:40] Very hard hit in eastern Tennessee, my home state, of course.
[00:01:44] And through that absolute cataclysmic event of biblical proportions,
[00:01:53] I don't think that's much of an exaggeration, not an exaggeration at all, in fact,
[00:01:57] of what happened in places like Asheville, North Carolina,
[00:02:00] the surrounding areas where so many good people live,
[00:02:03] a hero emerged, and it happened to be a friend of mine.
[00:02:06] His name is John Hill, and he is the founder of the A.P. Hill Legacy Society.
[00:02:13] And he, though from Ohio, was moved and motivated to try to do something
[00:02:21] to help the victims of Hurricane Helene
[00:02:24] and really just rented a box truck and loaded it up with supplies
[00:02:31] and headed down there and asked people on the social media account
[00:02:35] if they'd be willing to pitch in a little bit so he could do some good.
[00:02:39] And from there, God bless these efforts in a way.
[00:02:42] Sam, you want to talk about catching lightning in a bottle.
[00:02:45] God bless John Hill's efforts in a way that I don't know if I've ever seen before.
[00:02:52] It was really just...
[00:02:53] And I'm not saying John wants credit necessarily.
[00:02:55] I think he just wants to do a good job.
[00:02:57] But where was the mainstream press?
[00:02:59] They could have basically doubled down and supported John in his efforts
[00:03:02] and ten-tupled at least the incredible work that was done.
[00:03:07] And I'm not downing the work that was done.
[00:03:08] It was incredible.
[00:03:09] We'll get into that.
[00:03:09] But I'm just saying, where's the mainstream press to even be positive
[00:03:12] about private sector service and love and kindness
[00:03:14] and Christian fellowship and looking out for your neighbor
[00:03:18] and all the incredible things that took place?
[00:03:20] All they told you was, oh, man, Donald's mad because Joe won't give the money
[00:03:24] and Kamala spent it all on the illegals.
[00:03:26] And wow, what a distraction from reality.
[00:03:29] John, welcome to the show, sir.
[00:03:31] Hi. Thanks for having me on.
[00:03:34] Give us a 30 second on who you are before we get into this,
[00:03:38] I would just call it an act of selfless service.
[00:03:42] Well, my name's John Hill.
[00:03:44] I'm the closest living collateral descendant of General A.P. Hill.
[00:03:47] I exhumed General Hill's remains back in 2022.
[00:03:51] And I've been traveling the country for years, even before that,
[00:03:55] cleaning Confederate graves and buying and preserving Confederate relics.
[00:04:00] And saving Southern heritage.
[00:04:03] So when I saw that happened in North Carolina, I thought, you know,
[00:04:07] I've been to that area of North Carolina a lot.
[00:04:10] I actually lived there for a couple months, too.
[00:04:13] So, you know, I saw that they weren't getting help,
[00:04:15] and I felt like I needed to load up and go down and help.
[00:04:19] Well, the good Lord said it was time to move, and John took action, to say the least.
[00:04:25] When you went down there, you had no idea how big it would get, right?
[00:04:29] Yeah.
[00:04:30] So what I did was I drained my account, and I got a 15-foot box truck from Penske,
[00:04:37] got the supplies I could afford with everything that I had.
[00:04:40] My girlfriend got some of her clients to donate some supplies,
[00:04:44] and then my job that I had donated, like, two or three pallets and some money.
[00:04:50] So I loaded the truck up, drove down there,
[00:04:53] and the first day I was on the ground for about 12 hours.
[00:04:57] And it was over 300 miles of destruction.
[00:05:00] I've never – the news did not talk anything about what really happened.
[00:05:04] They didn't tell the real death toll.
[00:05:06] They didn't show the real destruction.
[00:05:07] So I had no idea how bad it was.
[00:05:10] So I spent over 12 hours the first day, and, well, every day I was there.
[00:05:14] It was almost 10, 12 hours.
[00:05:16] But I drove the box truck over roads that weren't even there anymore.
[00:05:19] I almost rolled it a couple times.
[00:05:21] So I posted a picture on my Twitter, and I described what I saw.
[00:05:26] You know, I stayed at an older gentleman's house and kept his generator running
[00:05:29] because he was on oxygen until his family got there to help him.
[00:05:33] It was just something like out of a movie.
[00:05:36] So I made that post when I got back in town when I actually had signal
[00:05:41] because I didn't have signal all day.
[00:05:43] So when I made that post, it was probably 9, 30, 10 o'clock at night almost.
[00:05:48] It immediately went viral, and it just started getting thousands of views.
[00:05:53] In a couple days, it was at, I think, two or three days,
[00:05:57] it was at almost 5 million views.
[00:05:58] Now it's a little over 5 million.
[00:06:00] But just that first night, I woke up the next day,
[00:06:04] and it was over $70,000 in donations just in one night from that post.
[00:06:10] And I thought I was going to raise a couple – you know,
[00:06:12] I thought I was going to bring down the truckload of supplies,
[00:06:15] maybe raise a grand or two more than what I had, you know,
[00:06:19] give out some money while I was there, and then figure out a way to head back.
[00:06:24] But I ended up being there for a month.
[00:06:27] And within the first week, I raised just over $200,000.
[00:06:32] In about a week time total, it was just over $200,000.
[00:06:36] So I ended up bringing out a total of four truckloads of supplies, 60 generators.
[00:06:45] I rented heavy equipment for communities to fix driveways and roads.
[00:06:50] And I put families up at hotels and Airbnbs.
[00:06:52] One of them I put up for six weeks.
[00:06:54] And then I gave out a total of $135,000 to people.
[00:07:01] Wow.
[00:07:02] Now, when you say you went there and the destruction was way worse than you thought
[00:07:06] and the suffering was way worse than you could imagine and you were shocked,
[00:07:11] why do you think the mainstream press isn't recording
[00:07:13] and documenting the reality of the situation?
[00:07:15] Why do you think, I mean, they've said, oh, man, this is horrible
[00:07:17] and don't worry, FEMA's on it.
[00:07:19] But that's really all you got, right?
[00:07:22] Well, the funny thing is that it was 540 miles down and about 540 back.
[00:07:28] And when I brought the truck back, I drove just over 3,300 miles
[00:07:34] or something like that.
[00:07:35] So not counting the trip down and back, I drove a little over 2,000 miles
[00:07:39] while I was there.
[00:07:40] Now, I saw FEMA one time in 2,000 miles.
[00:07:45] And they were at a, I forgot, I think it was Barnardsville, I think is where it was.
[00:07:51] And it was just a little drop-off checkpoint.
[00:07:54] Because I didn't drop anything off.
[00:07:57] I brought everything out directly to the people.
[00:07:59] I was bringing generators up driveways, mountain driveways with a dolly or a hand truck.
[00:08:06] I call it a hand truck.
[00:08:08] A lot of them I was by myself.
[00:08:10] If there was an older couple or something that couldn't help me lift the generators,
[00:08:13] I was lifting 6,500-watt generators out of the back of the truck by myself.
[00:08:17] But in over 2,000 miles of driving, I saw FEMA one time.
[00:08:22] And I think, my honest opinion is it's a land grab.
[00:08:25] And they want these people to suffer and not get the help so they can get their land.
[00:08:30] This was the thing, Sam.
[00:08:32] I have had the opportunity to work with John for 2, 3, 4 years now,
[00:08:40] since he first became known to me in my program,
[00:08:44] being the last living or the closest living descendant of Confederate General A.P. Hill,
[00:08:50] who died right before the end of the war between the states,
[00:08:52] was one of Lee's favorite generals.
[00:08:55] And so we would have him on to talk about that very rich heritage and things associated with that.
[00:09:02] So I've gotten to know John very well over the course of the last three years.
[00:09:07] And we have been at events together on more than one occasion
[00:09:12] and have just always really enjoyed his company.
[00:09:15] He's a stand-up guy, honest as the day is long.
[00:09:18] And so when I saw this going on with Hurricane Helene, and I was thinking, well, a lot of people wanted to help,
[00:09:24] because we have a lot of listeners who either live near the area or know people who live in the area,
[00:09:28] or their heart just goes out to people in this area,
[00:09:31] because this isn't one of those locations where the federal government is going to race to help you,
[00:09:36] and the people, you know, these people living in Appalachia.
[00:09:39] And when John Hill was doing this, I was looking for a place where we could direct folks to go to help people,
[00:09:45] because I was getting a lot of emails saying, you know, where would you advise us to send support?
[00:09:50] And so John Hill put this together, and we directed it all to John.
[00:09:55] And John's thing had gone viral before we pitched in, but it did, you know,
[00:09:59] we certainly were able to help a little bit.
[00:10:03] And anyway, I just said, yes, I said, if you want to know with 100% certainty
[00:10:09] that what you give is going to go directly to the victims
[00:10:12] and is going to be used with a great deal of discernment and stewardship,
[00:10:17] then John Hill's your guy.
[00:10:19] And he was going down there, and I asked John on the air.
[00:10:21] We had him on several times back right around in the weeks,
[00:10:24] the week immediately after the Hurricane Helene and for a couple of weeks beyond that for follow-ups.
[00:10:30] And I asked John, and I'll ask him this now.
[00:10:31] I said, John, how would you know who to help?
[00:10:33] How could you, you know, determine who you were going to help and how much help,
[00:10:37] and what was the process of that?
[00:10:39] Because you saw these people, I mean, we're talking a very long time, John,
[00:10:43] after the hurricane, and these people were telling you,
[00:10:46] this is eyewitness accounts, Sam, from our friend John Hill right there on the ground
[00:10:50] in the hurricane-afflicted area saying nobody had come by and helped these people.
[00:10:56] It had been days, sometimes even weeks after the hurricane.
[00:10:58] They have no power.
[00:10:59] They have no generator.
[00:11:01] They have nothing in some cases, and nobody from the government had been by.
[00:11:06] And so, I mean, John, take us there.
[00:11:08] Take us to the ground, that devastation you're seeing,
[00:11:10] how you determined who to help and when to help
[00:11:12] and how to allocate the funds that you had, you know,
[00:11:15] been able to raise through people's love offerings.
[00:11:18] So what I did was mainly I just drove around.
[00:11:21] I drove to all the areas.
[00:11:23] I looked on the GPS for anywhere that had water nearby because, you know,
[00:11:28] a lot of the dams broke and there was over 40 feet of water
[00:11:31] that went through these little towns.
[00:11:33] I mean, a lot of the towns were completely gone.
[00:11:35] Homes were – the middle neighborhoods were completely wiped out.
[00:11:38] So I just drove and looked for – you know, I went to a gas station,
[00:11:43] I would ask locals, hey, do you know anybody that needs help?
[00:11:45] I would just drive up back roads by creeks and the river and stuff like that.
[00:11:49] And I just drove to all the destruction.
[00:11:52] And, you know, a lot of the roads were – one of them was half a road
[00:11:57] because it completely eroded and it was down a cliff.
[00:12:00] And I felt the truck leaning that way because I had more of the generators
[00:12:05] and stuff on that one side.
[00:12:07] And I thought, well, I better be quick going down this part of the road
[00:12:10] because there was only half a road.
[00:12:11] And I could have rolled the truck down the cliff.
[00:12:13] But I didn't care because the people needed help.
[00:12:15] And a lot of those small mountain communities didn't get any help
[00:12:19] because I wrote AP Hill Legacy Foundation on the doors of the truck.
[00:12:24] I used dry erase marker.
[00:12:26] And then I wrote hurricane supplies all over the box of the truck
[00:12:30] so people knew what it was.
[00:12:32] And I was driving around and there were so many people, elderly people.
[00:12:36] I met a woman who her mother works for hospice.
[00:12:40] And I think five or six people needed – five or six different homes
[00:12:44] with hospice patients needed generators and they couldn't get one.
[00:12:48] So I went right out and – I mean, I drove to Virginia to pick up a load of generators.
[00:12:54] I drove to eastern North Carolina to get generators.
[00:12:59] I drove to Tennessee to get generators.
[00:13:02] I drove anywhere I could find them.
[00:13:04] And like that woman where her mom works for hospice,
[00:13:07] I gave her I think five or six generators.
[00:13:10] And then I gave some to her neighbors too while I was there.
[00:13:12] But nobody was showing up to those small towns.
[00:13:15] They were only going to like Asheville.
[00:13:17] And it was ridiculous.
[00:13:20] Right.
[00:13:20] Asheville is the more liberal urban area.
[00:13:23] Really the only liberal urban enclave in this whole affected area.
[00:13:27] And then on the outskirts of all of this,
[00:13:29] you had people that were just frankly forgotten for weeks on end.
[00:13:33] John, if you don't mind me asking, what was their response?
[00:13:35] I mean, we all might have our own personal opinions on FEMA,
[00:13:39] but what were the actual people there saying about that?
[00:13:44] They just wanted help.
[00:13:45] And what was really bad is to have grown men hug me and cry.
[00:13:51] Like I've had, I had to hold a couple of them up because they went completely limp
[00:13:55] because they just gave up.
[00:13:56] Like it was the worst thing I've ever seen.
[00:13:58] They just, they would look at me and say, we just want help.
[00:14:01] And I said, well, that's what I'm here for.
[00:14:03] Because they said they couldn't get ahold of anybody.
[00:14:05] They had no cell service.
[00:14:07] They had no power.
[00:14:09] A lot of the roads were like the one, the one area, like by a bandana up.
[00:14:16] I think it was route 80.
[00:14:18] I think it was.
[00:14:19] They had to chop down 140 trees in two days just to be able to get out of there,
[00:14:24] cut them down and cut them up and all.
[00:14:25] Cause so many trees went down.
[00:14:27] Cause there was also tornadoes.
[00:14:28] A lot of tornadoes branched off from that.
[00:14:30] And the news didn't talk about that either.
[00:14:33] That's why another reason why there was so much destruction because of the water,
[00:14:36] but also because of tornadoes.
[00:14:38] And Sam, if I could interject our friends at Dixie Republic,
[00:14:42] which is not very far at all from, from this area.
[00:14:44] In fact, Greenville got some damage,
[00:14:46] just not to the extent that the places in Western North Carolina did.
[00:14:48] I mean, they were all pitching in on relief efforts as well.
[00:14:51] They were going out and clearing roads with chainsaws.
[00:14:53] All of these guys here at this store that we've been to, Sam, so many times and great people.
[00:15:00] I know that, you know, the people who hate this radio program, hate them too.
[00:15:05] And, and would attack them.
[00:15:06] But this is what these people were doing.
[00:15:07] The people that come under so much fire for being Southerners and conservatives and Christians.
[00:15:12] I mean, this is what they were doing.
[00:15:14] They were doing it.
[00:15:15] They were just going out and helping.
[00:15:16] Just like John Hill, Sam.
[00:15:18] You know, John's not a trained first responder.
[00:15:20] You know, he's not, didn't have any so-called training to go down and, and, and help these people.
[00:15:26] And in fact, the government was telling people not to do that.
[00:15:28] But John said, I'm going to do it.
[00:15:30] I've been led to do this and I'm going to go down and see how much good I can do.
[00:15:33] And, you know, that's, that's the American spirit.
[00:15:36] I mean, that is the Christian spirit.
[00:15:39] It's an amazing story.
[00:15:40] John, did the government interfere with your efforts at all?
[00:15:42] Can you repeat that?
[00:15:43] Did the government interfere with your efforts at all?
[00:15:46] No.
[00:15:47] No, um, I was glad they didn't because I had quite a few guns.
[00:15:52] You didn't really see them.
[00:15:52] I mean, they didn't really have the opportunity because they weren't there.
[00:15:55] Right, John?
[00:15:56] I didn't.
[00:15:57] Well, that's another thing too.
[00:15:58] That was really odd that people don't believe me, but I have one guy that was one of my followers.
[00:16:03] He reached out.
[00:16:04] I think it was the Appalachia podcast that brought him my way.
[00:16:08] Cause he was reaching out saying, who can I go help?
[00:16:10] He's from Indiana.
[00:16:11] He's one of my followers, I guess.
[00:16:13] And they said that, or no, he wasn't, he was one of their followers and they directed
[00:16:17] him towards me.
[00:16:18] They said, well, if you want to go help somebody who's boots on the ground, here's this guy.
[00:16:22] So they sent him my way.
[00:16:23] And then he got in contact with me and he drove, he actually drove down from Indiana for
[00:16:27] a few, about almost a week to help out.
[00:16:29] He rode with me.
[00:16:31] And he even noticed that the GPS was purposely saying that roads that were open and clear
[00:16:38] were closed.
[00:16:40] It showed every single road closed in and out of that area.
[00:16:44] It literally showed, he even called me.
[00:16:47] He's like, there's no way to get down.
[00:16:48] I said, there is, it's open.
[00:16:50] 2570 going through hot springs was open.
[00:16:53] They got it open after a week or so.
[00:16:55] And on the GPS, it showed that none of that stuff was going to be open for weeks because
[00:17:00] they didn't want people to come down and help.
[00:17:02] This was all on purpose.
[00:17:04] FEMA was going to small towns and confiscating, uh, small town drop-offs and confiscating
[00:17:09] supplies saying that they didn't have the proper training to distribute the supplies.
[00:17:14] And they were bringing them to like Asheville and putting them in warehouses just to sit
[00:17:18] there.
[00:17:19] But when that guy drove down from Indiana, he said, yeah, the road was open.
[00:17:23] But the cell service was almost completely shot the whole time I was there, except if I drove
[00:17:29] to like certain areas.
[00:17:30] So they, they definitely were messing with the cell service because a lot of that stuff
[00:17:34] was getting fixed, but it still wasn't acting right.
[00:17:37] And especially the GPS.
[00:17:39] Cause even when I left, they were showing all routes were closed, but they were open.
[00:17:45] It's cause people that would want to drive down to help would check their GPS and see
[00:17:50] everything's closed.
[00:17:51] They're like, well, honey, we can't go.
[00:17:53] That's what they were hoping would happen.
[00:17:55] But the people that hate on us the most, you know, Southerners, conservatives, we were
[00:18:00] the ones going out and doing everything without saying a word.
[00:18:02] The people that hate on us online and social media and all this crap, they're just sitting
[00:18:08] at home.
[00:18:08] They didn't do anything.
[00:18:10] They just want to, Oh, Southerners doing that and conservatives and Christians.
[00:18:13] They just want to hate on us, but they didn't help.
[00:18:15] They didn't donate.
[00:18:16] They didn't drive down to help.
[00:18:17] They didn't do anything.
[00:18:19] The people that actually did ignored the GPS, ignored the media.
[00:18:23] We just drove down and helped.
[00:18:25] If you help John, ladies and gentlemen, John will help more.
[00:18:28] Give, send, go.com slash GD E P E.
[00:18:33] That's GD golf delta E P E.
[00:18:37] Echo, Papa, echo.
[00:18:39] Give, send, go.com slash GD E P E.
[00:18:43] They're doing a great, great service and work.
[00:18:46] And when I don't understand, I get that John's saying it's possibly a land grab.
[00:18:51] Do you think they made this hurricane happen?
[00:18:54] In other words, is this devastation something they can create?
[00:18:57] Or do you think they just took advantage of a situation?
[00:19:01] I think they steered it.
[00:19:03] I think they, because I've, I grew up in Florida and I grew up in central Florida.
[00:19:08] And if a hurricane would hit the coast at a category three or four, by the time it hit central Florida, it was broken up and it was a one category one, possibly a category two.
[00:19:18] But I don't understand how this hurricane went up through Florida, Georgia, South Carolina into North Carolina and still had so much power and had so much rain.
[00:19:28] I think what they did was they steered it and then they added to it whatever they, I don't know, cloud seeding or whatever that is.
[00:19:37] Yeah.
[00:19:37] People say weather as a weapon or weather warfare, right?
[00:19:41] Yeah.
[00:19:41] So it was a real hurricane.
[00:19:43] But I think if they didn't enhance it, none of that would have happened.
[00:19:47] And also the dam was at capacity.
[00:19:50] And that's another thing that broke.
[00:19:52] I mean, you could literally be in a valley and see all the destruction.
[00:19:56] You could look up both sides of the mountain and see the water line was 30 to 40 feet high that went down that road.
[00:20:03] That's not a normal flood.
[00:20:06] And I think one thing people need to remember is that whatever may be the ultimate truth about that, what we know beyond any shadow of a doubt is that this region, an entire region,
[00:20:17] an entire, you know, many communities were absolutely devastated on a biblical level.
[00:20:26] We know that.
[00:20:27] And we know people like John Hill are helping.
[00:20:29] And we know that everything you give him is going directly to the victims.
[00:20:34] Now, one thing that people have forgotten, this thing happened, this Hurricane Alene struck in the early fall.
[00:20:39] This was a few months ago now.
[00:20:42] And, you know, people have short attention spans.
[00:20:45] It's just human nature.
[00:20:46] It is what it is.
[00:20:48] We've gone through Christmas and Thanksgiving and all that.
[00:20:51] And people's attention has shifted.
[00:20:53] But these people still need help.
[00:20:54] So here we are on New Year's Day.
[00:20:56] And the people are still – it's not like just because this hurricane happened three or four months ago now,
[00:21:01] it's not as though these people just all of a sudden after a certain amount of time passed, their lives are made whole again.
[00:21:07] Milton hit October the 9th, James, to make your point.
[00:21:10] So November, December, it's almost three months now.
[00:21:14] Well, yeah, Milton, but this was – so when did Helene hit?
[00:21:17] It was, what, September?
[00:21:19] It was September 20 – September 28th, I think it hit there.
[00:21:24] September 29th, maybe, and I was there October 2nd.
[00:21:26] Between the two, they were fairly close together.
[00:21:28] But either way, you're talking about almost a month or almost three months.
[00:21:31] Yeah.
[00:21:31] And these people – there's still a lot of people there that have not been – I mean, certainly they'll never be made whole,
[00:21:35] but they do need help.
[00:21:36] So just because this happened a few months ago, folks, don't forget them.
[00:21:38] And John is still helping them, and you can still help them, even though we're in 2025 now.
[00:21:44] Gibsongo.com slash G-D-E-P-E, Golf Delta Echo, Papa Echo.
[00:21:51] And, John, what are you going to do with that?
[00:21:54] Well, like I got a bigger donation, that $5,000 donation, and I went out and contacted some people.
[00:22:01] And one of the women that I was in contact with from there still, she knew someone who needed a vehicle.
[00:22:07] And she lost her car and lost her job in the flood, and she had two kids, and she didn't have a vehicle.
[00:22:13] So I sent them $5,000 to get her a vehicle.
[00:22:15] So any donations that come in, I want to get together at least $25,000 to $50,000 again before I head back there.
[00:22:24] Because I want to head back and go to these people's houses.
[00:22:27] Like the gentleman I gave $12,500 to, FEMA was going to give him $750 loan to fix his roof.
[00:22:36] His whole entire roof was damaged.
[00:22:38] His carport collapsed.
[00:22:39] And they were going to give him $750.
[00:22:41] Another woman I gave $75,000 to.
[00:22:45] She completely lost her entire home.
[00:22:49] The flood completely brought it up the road, her whole house, onto a neighbor's property.
[00:22:55] The debris of it.
[00:22:57] But it was still, you could get stuff out of it.
[00:23:00] But she evacuated.
[00:23:02] Well, the neighbors told her, hey, your house washed up onto someone else's property.
[00:23:06] See if anything is savable.
[00:23:08] So by the time she got there, those neighbors that happened to be on their property, they were drug addicts.
[00:23:14] And they stole everything inside the house that was still dry.
[00:23:17] And they burned it.
[00:23:19] So her house, her property is completely washed away.
[00:23:23] What was savable was burned by the neighbors.
[00:23:26] Her car was destroyed.
[00:23:29] And the government was trying to confiscate her land.
[00:23:32] Saying that it was unlivable.
[00:23:33] Even though she had six acres, she could have just moved it back from the water.
[00:23:38] So I gave her $75,000 to put down in another house.
[00:23:41] I got to ask this.
[00:23:43] I got to ask this.
[00:23:44] So, I mean, talk about a good Samaritan.
[00:23:46] I mean, can you imagine, Sam, you've lost everything.
[00:23:48] You're completely devastated.
[00:23:49] Your life's turned upside down.
[00:23:50] And some guy from Ohio comes down and gives you a check.
[00:23:53] What was her reaction?
[00:23:54] The music's playing.
[00:23:54] What was her reaction?
[00:23:55] We're going to get the reaction.
[00:23:56] John, can you stay longer?
[00:23:58] Yeah.
[00:23:58] Yeah.
[00:23:58] All right.
[00:23:59] We're going to get the reaction right after the break, James.
[00:24:01] I concur with you.
[00:24:01] It's incredible.
[00:24:02] And that's my point is what if the mainstream press had actually done something honorable?
[00:24:06] And what if they had done what we're doing for John?
[00:24:09] Highlighting what he's doing?
[00:24:11] Offering to basically use our footprint for assistance?
[00:24:14] What if the mainstream press had done that?
[00:24:16] What if, you know, the several hundred thousand dollars that we're talking about now was
[00:24:22] several billions of dollars?
[00:24:24] Just think what kind of a Christian service and love and kindness and philanthropy and, you
[00:24:29] know, Good Samaritan, we could be with that, folks.
[00:24:34] And the government's interfering and taking land?
[00:24:38] We've got to keep on this story, ladies and gentlemen.
[00:24:40] Hang tight.
[00:24:41] You're listening to Liberty Roundtable Live.
[00:24:50] Pursuing Liberty.
[00:24:51] Using the Constitution as our guide.
[00:24:54] You're listening to Liberty News Radio.
[00:24:57] Liberty News this hour from townhall.com.
[00:25:03] I'm Rich Thomas.
[00:25:04] What I'm asking at this time are prayers for those who have lost their lives in the city
[00:25:11] of New Orleans due to this tragedy.
[00:25:13] The tragedy New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell refers to happened early this morning in the
[00:25:18] French Quarter.
[00:25:19] New Orleans Police Commissioner Ann Kirkpatrick says 10 people were killed, at least 30 injured.
[00:25:25] It did involve a man driving a pickup truck down Bourbon Street at a very fast pace, and
[00:25:33] it was very intentional behavior.
[00:25:36] Driving the truck into a crowd of people, she says the man then opened fire, wounding two
[00:25:42] police officers.
[00:25:43] They're hospitalized in stable condition.
[00:25:45] Law enforcement sources say the man subsequently died in the firefight with police.
[00:25:50] The FBI says at least one suspected improvised explosive device has been recovered at the scene.
[00:25:57] Puerto Rico rang in the new year in the dark.
[00:26:00] A massive power outage affecting more than a million people on the island.
[00:26:03] Utility officials warn it could take days to get everyone back online.
[00:26:07] Although correspondent Ed Donahue says some essential services are back.
[00:26:12] Some clients had their power restored, including hospitals and Puerto Rico's water and sewer company.
[00:26:18] The San Juan airport remains open.
[00:26:19] Now, there is speculation the problem could lie with an underground transmission line.
[00:26:25] President-elect Trump rang in the new year holding a glitzy party at his Mar-a-Lago estate
[00:26:30] in Florida.
[00:26:31] He says 2025 will be a great year.
[00:26:35] Mr. Trump adding that, in his words, we're going to do fantastically well as a country.
[00:26:41] Wall Street, which is closed today, ended 2024 on a down note.
[00:26:46] The benchmarks closed lower.
[00:26:48] The Dow shed 29 points, ending at 42,544.
[00:26:52] The Nasdaq dropped 176.
[00:26:55] More on these stories at townhall.com.
[00:26:57] You know as they say, you know as they say, one person's personal information is another person's treasure.
[00:27:05] Exactly.
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[00:27:29] I'm sorry, ma'am, but you need to vacate this home.
[00:27:30] Why, officer?
[00:27:31] I own this home free and clear.
[00:27:33] I lived here for 40 years.
[00:27:34] Well, unfortunately, this paperwork says otherwise.
[00:27:37] But I have nowhere else to go.
[00:27:38] I'm sorry to hear that, ma'am.
[00:27:39] This story is becoming all too common in the U.S.
[00:27:42] Scammers are preying on people with high equity or who own their homes free and clear of a mortgage.
[00:27:46] Only one company completely protects you.
[00:27:48] That's Equity Protect.
[00:27:49] Get your free risk report by texting the word HOME to 94878.
[00:27:53] Again, text the word HOME to 94878 to get your free risk report from Equity Protect.
[00:27:59] Mr. President.
[00:28:00] Senator from Tech.
[00:28:01] Reserving the right to object.
[00:28:02] I lived for four months in Asheville, worked at the VA hospital, still have fond feelings for Western North Carolina.
[00:28:07] But the thing is, is the reason why we won't do this in responsible ways is because the Senate voted to send all your money to Ukraine.
[00:28:13] I mean, they voted to send $200 billion to Ukraine.
[00:28:16] I've been all over the mountains of Appalachia when I ask people, would you rather that your senators take care of you here in Asheville or here in Pikeville, here in Appalachia?
[00:28:25] Would you rather them send your money to Ukraine?
[00:28:27] I don't get anybody wanting to send a penny to Ukraine.
[00:28:29] Look, you can have all kinds of sympathy in the world for Ukraine, hostility towards Russia being the aggressor nation, but we don't have the money.
[00:28:35] We're $2 trillion in the hole.
[00:28:36] Interest this year is going to be $1 trillion.
[00:28:38] And as far as passing this, I'm willing to let it pass today.
[00:28:41] He's going to object to passing his own bill today simply because it gets paid for.
[00:28:46] I'm willing to let the bill pass, but take some of the fluff and boondoggle subsidies from the Green New Deal and put it into here.
[00:28:54] The money's sitting here.
[00:28:55] We put it into here for disasters.
[00:28:57] We help Asheville today.
[00:28:59] The spirit of the American West is alive and well in Range Magazine, the award-winning quarterly devoted to the issues of the American West.
[00:29:08] Each issue contains informative articles, breathtaking imagery, as well as the culture of cowboy spirit today and gift ideas like this year's Buckaroo calendar.
[00:29:19] Order online from rangemagazine.com.
[00:29:22] Loving Liberty Network salutes the spirit of the American West.
[00:29:29] This is a battle.
[00:29:30] A battle between truth and deceit.
[00:29:33] A battle between forces that would enslave this country in darkness and between a media that wants to present you with the truth.
[00:29:40] We are being censored.
[00:29:42] America's news outlets no longer provide the truth.
[00:29:46] 90% of news outlets in the United States are controlled by six corporations.
[00:29:51] The mission of the Epoch Times is to chase the truth.
[00:29:55] To ground all statements and facts.
[00:29:58] Theepictimes.com
[00:29:59] From atop the Rocky Mountains, the crossroads of the West, you are listening to the Liberty Roundtable radio talk show.
[00:30:24] All right.
[00:30:25] Happy to have you along, my fellow Americans.
[00:30:27] Sam Bushman live on your radio for New Year's Day.
[00:30:30] Happy New Year's to all of you.
[00:30:32] From us, the Liberty Roundtable team, James Edwards with me, thepoliticalsesspool.org.
[00:30:37] We also got John Hill with me, ladies and gentlemen.
[00:30:40] And John Hill, in my mind, is an American hero, ladies and gentlemen.
[00:30:46] AP Hill Legacy Hurricane Relief Fund.
[00:30:50] Give, give, send, go.com slash G-D-E-P-E.
[00:30:55] And you can go ahead and get involved in that.
[00:30:57] He's doing a tremendous work.
[00:30:58] And we were talking about right before the break, the Good Samaritan that John is in this case.
[00:31:04] And I was mentioning right before the pause how significant the efforts could be if really the mainstream press or, you know, would double down and tell the truth about this.
[00:31:15] Why is there such a cover-up?
[00:31:17] It's like, oh, it was horrible, but yet it was a flash in the pan in the news.
[00:31:21] It was horrible, but yet, hey, there's a battle over, you know, what FEMA did or what funds were released or whether the funds were tied up by illegals instead.
[00:31:29] Speaking of illegals, by the way, two things at the bottom of the hour.
[00:31:33] One, Rand Paul was talking about how they could free up money to help these people and nobody would do it in Congress.
[00:31:38] Rand Paul berating them for that at the bottom of the hour.
[00:31:42] That was an incredible clip.
[00:31:43] Anyway, that's a clip that we cut out because it was so valuable from Congress.
[00:31:47] Most people don't hear those.
[00:31:48] We want to make sure you do.
[00:31:49] That's part of this Radio Network's efforts.
[00:31:51] But secondly, I don't know if you heard in the news as well, James.
[00:31:55] Now they're saying the truck that did this damage in New Orleans on Bourbon Street was seen going south of the border just days before.
[00:32:06] Ah, that's interesting.
[00:32:07] Yeah, well, we noticed the tags were from Texas.
[00:32:09] Texas.
[00:32:10] Yeah, the plot thickens and there you go.
[00:32:12] They're going to try to make more and more and more ties to terrorism, how true all this is and stuff we don't even know.
[00:32:16] But anyway, I sidetracked, but that's an update to the story.
[00:32:19] And this is what I mean.
[00:32:19] We're going to continue to get details, details, details, details.
[00:32:22] And what's going to flesh out to be truth and faults and this and that is going to be very hard to ferret out.
[00:32:27] But they're starting the new year with fear on everybody's minds.
[00:32:31] And I would encourage people to double down in faith and reject fear.
[00:32:35] And that's what John's doing.
[00:32:37] Let's get back to this issue, though, James.
[00:32:39] What if literally, you know, instead of several hundred thousand dollars like, you know, John and others have been able to produce and I'm grateful to be part of that and use this network to help with it the best I can as well.
[00:32:49] But I look at this and I go, what if the mainstream press really doubled down?
[00:32:52] What if we really said, look, FEMA, we're going to shut you down.
[00:32:56] Doge is going to shut you down.
[00:32:57] You're clueless.
[00:32:58] You're you're deranged.
[00:32:59] You're crazy.
[00:32:59] Everything you get involved in becomes a disaster.
[00:33:01] We know you basically cherry pick and hate the Donald Trump people and skipped over them.
[00:33:05] We've got all that.
[00:33:06] You're shut down.
[00:33:07] You're gone.
[00:33:08] And we're going to reduce the taxes on the American people.
[00:33:10] And now the American people can go ahead and work with people like John Hill.
[00:33:14] And I've got several other friends, another gentleman named Gary, who's very wealthy, who was on scene there with his plane, making a lot of difference and bringing relief to people as well.
[00:33:23] But a lot of these people got stopped by the government.
[00:33:25] But what if we turned it into a private sector, individual, Good Samaritan led, church led, private sector led?
[00:33:33] And we, the people in the media got involved and we raised money.
[00:33:36] And just think of the marvelous work we could do.
[00:33:39] There wouldn't be any cover up on this thing.
[00:33:40] There wouldn't be any land grabs involved.
[00:33:42] James.
[00:33:43] This was actually, Sam, by the way, that was a fantastic clip you played from Rand Paul.
[00:33:49] We haven't even gotten into the billions of dollars that can be sent to Ukraine, whereas nothing even near that is going to your own citizens.
[00:34:01] That's something that we haven't even covered in this hour with John Hill.
[00:34:05] But, yes, I mean, I said at the time, we did a whole show on this.
[00:34:09] As busy as 2024 was with it being an election year and there was always something in the news like the assassination attempts that had caused us to have to reconfigure our schedule and push things back.
[00:34:21] As busy as it was leading up to the election, we cleared everything one week.
[00:34:25] We did a full three hours on this and had a lot of different guests on.
[00:34:31] Obviously, John Hill chief among them.
[00:34:33] And it was just something that really resonated with the audience.
[00:34:37] And I'm not saying others didn't do good work like John did.
[00:34:40] I'm sure there were other people out there who were doing a lot of the same things.
[00:34:46] I mean, we know our friends at Dixie were doing some of the same things, but there were other people that were doing it on a level that John was, I'm sure.
[00:34:53] I just didn't know them.
[00:34:54] So when a lot of people were saying, hey, what can I do?
[00:34:56] I said, this is a guy I know.
[00:34:58] This is a guy I trust.
[00:34:59] He's going down there.
[00:35:01] He's the real deal.
[00:35:02] And what you give him, 75% of that isn't going to go to administration costs like when you give to a lot of these charities and all of that.
[00:35:09] And so we raised, you know, we used TPC to raise a little money.
[00:35:11] And a lot of audience members gave.
[00:35:14] I also have a column in the American Free Press, as John mentioned a minute ago.
[00:35:18] Just I know one person alone who read that article gave $5,000.
[00:35:22] So while John did most of the, you know, all of this by himself, really, I mean, I was just happy to pitch in.
[00:35:27] James, one of the keys here to mention, too, is, you know, when you have a lot of money and you go do philanthropy work, that's great.
[00:35:32] And I appreciate that and everything.
[00:35:34] But a lot of what John's doing is kind of what this radio network is built on.
[00:35:37] It's the widow's mite, really.
[00:35:39] I mean, John's not, and I'm not here doubting John's, you know, wherewithal financially.
[00:35:44] But I'm just saying, hey, I know John doesn't have a lot of money.
[00:35:48] And so this is a real sacrifice for John to go do.
[00:35:51] John, do you want to speak to that?
[00:35:53] Because I believe that that widow's mite goes further than anybody else's kind of funding can go.
[00:35:58] And when you really have to strap for the money that you get, you're very careful of where it goes and why and how.
[00:36:03] And you assess the situations on the ground differently, right?
[00:36:07] Well, that's why I wanted to do everything myself.
[00:36:11] I can't say how grateful I am for how much I was able to raise and how many people I was able to help.
[00:36:17] But that's the exact thing is I would not donate to any of those charities or anything because you don't know where the money's going.
[00:36:24] That's why I'm so happy that I was able to get that much money and to go do all the work myself.
[00:36:29] Because I physically knew that people were getting help because I was doing it.
[00:36:34] And to answer your question earlier, you know, if the media and other people got involved, you know, how much would I have been able to raise and help?
[00:36:41] You know, the difference would have been substantial.
[00:36:43] I would still be there because I was there from October 2nd to the 27th.
[00:36:47] I blew out my rotator cuff lifting generators.
[00:36:51] So I haven't been back to work yet.
[00:36:53] And then I also got the mud dust there.
[00:36:56] When all the mud from the flood, that rhymed, when it all dried, it created like a dust in the air.
[00:37:04] It was toxic, too.
[00:37:06] They tested the mud and it was toxic.
[00:37:08] So I got pneumonia when I was down there.
[00:37:09] People need to remember that mud is all the washed up destruction of animal bodies, of human bodies, septic tanks, everything coming all mixed together in this big old whatever.
[00:37:20] I mean, it's toxic as all get out.
[00:37:22] And that's why the people need so much help, too.
[00:37:24] I had pneumonia the last couple of weeks I was there.
[00:37:27] My lungs still haven't been the same.
[00:37:29] I get out of breath real easy.
[00:37:31] But my thing is, if I could, if somebody could have gotten me in contact with Tucker Carlson or Joe Rogan or Trump or Elon or somebody that would be able to get me a lot of exposure, I would still be there.
[00:37:48] Or if that could happen, somehow somebody on Twitter or something.
[00:37:52] Well, imagine if Trump or one of these people that you mentioned said, not only am I going to give you the exposure, I'm going to toss in $100,000 and kick this off.
[00:37:58] Or I'm going to put in dollar for dollar or people up to a million dollars.
[00:38:04] I'll match your number.
[00:38:06] And I would be there rebuilding community.
[00:38:09] Because people couldn't find heavy equipment.
[00:38:12] And people were saying, hey, we need heavy equipment.
[00:38:14] That was another one of the most – pardon the interruption, brother, but this was actually one of the most incredible things that I heard you did.
[00:38:20] Of all the things you did, and we're never going to be able to cover it all in a single hour.
[00:38:24] You were down there for a month.
[00:38:25] And you were doing things every day to help people from generators, buying houses, buying cars.
[00:38:31] You actually rented heavy equipment, a backhoe, for a fire department.
[00:38:35] So here's John Hill helping a volunteer fire department that doesn't have the resources it needs to clear roads and help make roads passable so people can get out of their houses and go and get supplies and get help.
[00:38:50] John, you rented a tractor for the fire department so the fire department could do its work.
[00:38:56] I mean, imagine that, Sam, a private citizen giving the money to a fire department so it can help people.
[00:39:02] Well, yeah, I had to.
[00:39:03] So other people, you know, everybody was saying you need track hoe to fix a lot of these driveways and roads.
[00:39:08] You couldn't even be passable.
[00:39:09] They needed heavy equipment.
[00:39:11] And the Bakersville substation, you know, a little volunteer fire department, they didn't have the funds to do it.
[00:39:17] You couldn't find anything anywhere.
[00:39:19] So I was calling South Carolina, Tennessee.
[00:39:21] I was calling everywhere.
[00:39:21] And I ended up calling a place that was in, where was it?
[00:39:27] Spruce Pine.
[00:39:28] I think it was right by the disaster.
[00:39:31] And I talked to them and they said they were way behind on units.
[00:39:35] You know, it would have been weeks.
[00:39:36] And I told them what I was doing and the guy said, I'll get you one.
[00:39:39] And the next day I had a track hoe for him and me and the fire chief son went and picked it up.
[00:39:45] And I rented a form for two weeks.
[00:39:47] But that's what I was trying to tell people is that I can get stuff done because I don't give up.
[00:39:51] I'll keep calling.
[00:39:52] I have OCD.
[00:39:54] So I have to complete whatever I'm doing.
[00:39:56] Well, if somebody tells me I can't do it, I'm doing it.
[00:39:59] The interesting thing about this, James, is this is what I mean by when you get people on the ground and it's the widow's mite.
[00:40:05] And so they see every dollar and they're honest.
[00:40:07] It's a different ballgame.
[00:40:10] OK, and that's why I'm saying that we need to get the government out of the way first.
[00:40:14] I know everybody wants to lean on the government, but go back to Davy Crockett.
[00:40:17] He learned a very valuable lesson from that farmer that day.
[00:40:21] Hey, you know what?
[00:40:22] It isn't yours to give.
[00:40:23] So general government, Trump, Kamala, any of you clowns, it isn't yours to give.
[00:40:29] Now, Rand Paul is making a point that I agree with.
[00:40:31] Go ahead and skip the break.
[00:40:34] Making a point that I agree with, which is, hey, if we're going to give it to the Ukrainians, let's at least give it to our own people.
[00:40:39] OK, I go there if that's the only discussion.
[00:40:41] But I'd rather see John's, the John's of the world get on the ground, find out what's really needed and move heaven and earth to get it done on a prayer and on a widow's mite.
[00:40:52] Because I'm telling you, they use resources wisely, carefully, respectfully, appropriately.
[00:40:57] They're not there for money.
[00:41:00] They're not there for glory.
[00:41:03] They're there because they want to make a difference in the world.
[00:41:08] We're talking about the Hurricane Legacy Relief Fund.
[00:41:13] Give, send, go.com slash GDEP.
[00:41:16] John, what do you think of that, though?
[00:41:17] As you ran across other people, were there other people doing what you were doing, too?
[00:41:22] Yeah.
[00:41:22] It was all locals and people that drove from out of state.
[00:41:27] They were doing what they could.
[00:41:28] I mean, I got lucky with the post going viral like that.
[00:41:32] But I only expected to be able to bring out one truckload of supplies and give out a couple grand if I could have raised it.
[00:41:39] And, you know, I emptied out my account.
[00:41:41] I didn't expect anything to happen like that.
[00:41:44] And if I could, I want to raise at least another $50,000 to head back or more if I can.
[00:41:51] But I'm just, the donations have really slowed down a lot.
[00:41:55] And it's, you know, people have a 15-minute memory.
[00:41:58] And that's why for this new year we're focusing on this, ladies and gentlemen.
[00:42:01] I know at first glance you're going to say, well, this is three months old, Sam.
[00:42:04] Aren't we done with this?
[00:42:05] I want you to give people a sketch then.
[00:42:06] What's the future for these people?
[00:42:08] On one hand, we think it's over because it's out of sight, out of mind.
[00:42:11] That's not even close to true.
[00:42:12] These guys haven't even begun to completely dig out of this thing yet.
[00:42:16] Give us a thumbnail on that, John, would you please?
[00:42:19] Well, a lot of the people didn't have flood insurance in the mountains.
[00:42:21] So their insurance company is not covering nothing.
[00:42:23] And if they did have flood insurance.
[00:42:25] You don't expect to have a hurricane wipe out of town when you're thousands of feet elevated in a mountain.
[00:42:32] So they're not getting help.
[00:42:33] I mean, if they did have flood insurance, they'll blame it on a landslide.
[00:42:38] The insurance company won't say, well, you didn't have that on your insurance.
[00:42:41] So they're fighting them on whatever they did have on their insurance.
[00:42:45] They're not getting help.
[00:42:46] And now we go back to one of the biggest stories of the year.
[00:42:49] This is health insurance.
[00:42:50] But, hey, that guy got shot.
[00:42:51] And I'm not happy about that.
[00:42:53] I'm not endorsing that in any way.
[00:42:55] I think it's a horrible tragedy.
[00:42:56] It should have never happened.
[00:42:57] However, this is the point, though.
[00:42:59] What are they?
[00:42:59] What's the words that were used?
[00:43:01] And I don't want to use them because then they'll say that I'm a terrorist or something like that.
[00:43:04] But it was deny.
[00:43:05] And it was, you know, obfuscate and sue and lawfare and play games and manipulate contracts and this and that.
[00:43:11] And all this stuff.
[00:43:12] And it's really a similar reality, James, across the board insurance wise, whether it's health insurance or in this case, home insurance or whatever.
[00:43:20] It's all the same.
[00:43:21] They basically, you know, they take your money from you for years.
[00:43:24] And then when you really need it, bye bye.
[00:43:26] Let me tell you something.
[00:43:27] On the first of every year, that premium is getting auto drafted out of your account lickety split.
[00:43:33] The payouts, when you make a claim, they don't come nearly that fast.
[00:43:36] And this was another thing.
[00:43:37] So these people are.
[00:43:39] Yeah.
[00:43:39] Now, if you're lucky, these people are still dealing with this.
[00:43:43] I mean, just because it's sort of out of the news now doesn't mean that these people aren't still suffering as much as they were.
[00:43:48] I mean, in some cases worse because it's freezing there now.
[00:43:50] And it's going to be years until they get help.
[00:43:53] Like everything's, you know, rebuilt and everybody gets help.
[00:43:57] And you're like, even one guy bought a sawmill for him.
[00:43:59] I gave him $5,000 for a sawmill so he could start rebuilding his house and also people in his community with all the downed trees.
[00:44:06] He's because the insurance company wasn't coming to help him.
[00:44:09] He's one of the families I put up at a hotel while they were trying to get their house livable.
[00:44:14] See, that was another thing that John did, folks.
[00:44:17] And he put a lot of people up.
[00:44:19] If their homes were unlivable, he put a lot of people up in hotels for as long as they needed,
[00:44:25] paid for their hotel rooms for their family to have a warm place to sleep.
[00:44:29] And by the way, he posted just about every single day photos of what he did that day on his social media.
[00:44:36] So you could see, you know, I trusted him implicitly.
[00:44:38] He didn't have to do that for me or for anybody who knows him.
[00:44:42] But, you know, if you're giving somebody money, you know, it's okay to want to see what's going on.
[00:44:47] And he posted every day, John Hill did, pictures of him.
[00:44:50] And this just proves what the local, private, you know, person doing their very best that's a widow's mite kind of person or, you know,
[00:45:01] whatever you want to call it, a good Samaritan order.
[00:45:02] That's what they do because they're like, hey, I don't have anything to hide.
[00:45:06] Just imagine if the government was that transparent.
[00:45:08] Completely transparent, Sam.
[00:45:10] You know, and FEMA is literally running past people that, hey, if you're a Donald Trump supporter, we're not going to help you.
[00:45:15] We're going to blaze by.
[00:45:16] And they got caught doing it.
[00:45:17] No repercussions whatsoever.
[00:45:19] But, John, I look at this efforts that you've done.
[00:45:21] Where do people follow you if they want to keep an eye on or go see some of those pictures and they keep an eye on what's going on going forward?
[00:45:27] On my Twitter.
[00:45:29] So my Twitter is AP Hill Legacy Foundation.
[00:45:33] And the username, like the, you know, the at username is at Johnny Reb 1989.
[00:45:40] At Johnny Reb 1989.
[00:45:42] Okay.
[00:45:43] Yep.
[00:45:43] On Twitter.
[00:45:44] And it's, uh, go ahead, John.
[00:45:46] Keep going.
[00:45:47] I'll say it's AP Hill Legacy Foundation with the blue check mark.
[00:45:50] And it has 24.8 thousand followers because there's, there was fake, like even when I first started and it went viral, there was even fake Venmo accounts and people accidentally reported mine as fraud.
[00:46:05] And I had to contact them and fix that because people were trying to cash in.
[00:46:10] Accidentally reported yours as fraud or tried to give you grief?
[00:46:12] I don't know.
[00:46:13] Oh, they were accidentally because they would, the fraud people would change one letter or one number.
[00:46:20] And put the same profile picture and everything.
[00:46:22] So I made a post saying, Hey, there's a fraud account out there.
[00:46:26] You know, watch out for that.
[00:46:27] I put a screenshot and people probably made a mistake and accidentally reported mine.
[00:46:32] So then I contacted, cause mine has all the double verification identification stuff on there and all that.
[00:46:37] So I contacted Venmo and the other one got wiped out.
[00:46:41] It got deleted right away.
[00:46:42] Like within the same day.
[00:46:43] Okay.
[00:46:44] Good.
[00:46:44] Good.
[00:46:44] There's fake accounts out there that I think all of them been deleted, but anybody that ever goes viral or ever tries to raise money, the fake accounts pop up within minutes.
[00:46:54] Well, I mean, John was doing such a good job in raising money that other people wanted to, you know, try to appear to be him to suck some of that off.
[00:47:02] But there's one story I wanted you to share, John, very quickly.
[00:47:06] And that was one thing that was reported is that there were community drop zones where people could drop off supplies, whatever they had, whatever they could donate, things that people needed, essential items.
[00:47:19] And there were these areas where you would come if you wanted to help out the folks and you could drop off these items.
[00:47:25] Now I heard, is this a fact that FEMA came and confiscated all those items and took it to one of their facilities and just locked it up?
[00:47:32] I mean, what was the story behind that?
[00:47:34] So I heard, I didn't see it myself because I was driving around so much and I didn't really go to the drop off locations.
[00:47:40] Like I was saying earlier, but I heard from probably 10 to 12 different people, random people in different communities.
[00:47:48] People that didn't even know each other said the same exact thing that they physically saw that drop off locations would get pallets of donations for people in the small areas to come be able to get water, food, supplies, wherever they needed.
[00:48:05] They said those FEMA trucks and trailers would show up and confiscate the supplies and tell them you don't have the proper training to distribute the supplies.
[00:48:15] We're taking them to our whatever they called something facility, which what they did was they just took it to Asheville and put it in the warehouse.
[00:48:22] The bottom line is the government is getting in the way.
[00:48:25] That's why we need Doge to just shut those people down immediately.
[00:48:29] The sooner the better is all I can say.
[00:48:31] And that brings up the kind of final point of the hour and I want to get James's take and hopefully John's take.
[00:48:37] Trump doubles down on supporting Mike Johnson for Speaker of the House.
[00:48:40] They kick off on Friday.
[00:48:42] Thomas Massey blasts Mike Johnson, says he's the next Paul Ryan.
[00:48:48] A Republican gets on Fox and says, I like Mike Johnson.
[00:48:51] He's not religious, but he's Christian.
[00:48:52] And the good part about him is he doesn't cheat on his wife.
[00:48:55] And the host laughs and kind of smirks.
[00:48:58] And, you know, if that's your biggest thing, he doesn't cheat on his wife.
[00:49:00] I mean, that's good.
[00:49:01] But come on now.
[00:49:02] And the disaster that Mike Johnson's been over 2024, speaking of that year in review, if you will, has been a disaster.
[00:49:10] I don't think that they should support Mike Johnson.
[00:49:13] The problem is, if we're not very careful, we won't have a speaker.
[00:49:16] Therefore, we won't be able to certify the elections.
[00:49:19] It just goes downhill fast.
[00:49:21] James.
[00:49:22] Yeah.
[00:49:22] And then Matt Gates fell on his sword.
[00:49:25] He was, you know, sort of this firebrand.
[00:49:27] I think he had, you know, heterosexual relations with, so that, you know, they got him out of there.
[00:49:34] But, yeah, it's going to be interesting to see.
[00:49:36] I mean, listen, I mean, now, you know, this whole honeymoon thing and this shell-shocked reality that we've seen the left in since November 5th, you know, they're going to get reorganized and regrouped to an extent.
[00:49:47] I mean, they have an existential crisis, as we talked about in the first hour.
[00:49:52] But, yeah, it's going to be – yeah, there's going to be – the Republicans are going to have to not blow this.
[00:49:57] Yes, Mike Johnson?
[00:49:58] No.
[00:49:59] Yes, no.
[00:49:59] No.
[00:50:00] How about you, John?
[00:50:02] I don't follow politics, really.
[00:50:04] I don't like any politicians.
[00:50:06] I just think we should have statesmen.
[00:50:07] I don't like Republicans or Democrats.
[00:50:09] Well, this is actually – I'm glad he brought that up, Sam.
[00:50:13] Amen.
[00:50:13] This actually comes back to a bigger point is, you know, with regards to government intrusion in our lives.
[00:50:19] I mean, how did people in communities ever survive a hurricane?
[00:50:25] Hurricanes have been happening for as long as the world has been around.
[00:50:27] How did our people ever survive before FEMA was –
[00:50:30] Because you could survive if there's not government getting in the way causing all the problems like John documented.
[00:50:35] I mean, they would make you think that, you know, they're the only ones trained to distribute goods.
[00:50:39] They would make you think that nobody could ever survive something without the government coming in there and telling them how to help themselves.
[00:50:45] And that's just not true.
[00:50:47] Well, that's the fact, and that is the story of John, really.
[00:50:50] I mean, that's the whole bottom line point.
[00:50:51] I'm against Mike Johnson as speaker.
[00:50:53] I think they ought to put Vivek in there.
[00:50:58] Well, they were talking about Musk before his meltdown.
[00:51:03] What about Johnny Reb?
[00:51:04] Just put Johnny Reb in there.
[00:51:05] He's been proving he's fine with money.
[00:51:08] Yeah.
[00:51:09] I did that.
[00:51:10] Just saying.
[00:51:12] That brings me back to one thing, John, that I asked.
[00:51:15] Why can't it be an average, Joe, though?
[00:51:16] Why do we always have to have famous people and rock stars and rich people?
[00:51:21] I mean, anybody in Donald Trump's administration right now is one of those people.
[00:51:24] Famous, rich, whatever.
[00:51:27] Well, you know, we got a bartender.
[00:51:29] In government, in big business and all that kind of stuff.
[00:51:31] No, the Democrats can get little guys in there.
[00:51:34] You got a bartender.
[00:51:35] Well, if I go into a position like that, things are going to get fixed.
[00:51:39] Or somebody like me goes into a position like that, things are going to get fixed.
[00:51:42] The government's going to lose money, and they don't want that.
[00:51:45] They don't want these people.
[00:51:46] You know what?
[00:51:46] That may be the answer.
[00:51:47] People who get help.
[00:51:48] Sad but true.
[00:51:49] No, the Democrats will put people in power that are nobodies.
[00:51:51] Look at AOC and Barack Obama to make two points.
[00:51:55] The rest of us, though, hey, so we've got to be very careful.
[00:51:57] We've got to look for average Joes.
[00:51:59] I'm saying Vivek is probably the best guy, at least right now, on the national stage that could become Speaker of the House.
[00:52:07] Well, we'll see what happens with that.
[00:52:08] But, John, I wanted to ask you, just seconds remaining, what was the reaction to that woman?
[00:52:13] We asked that before the break, and then we got on another important topic.
[00:52:16] When you gave her $75,000 who lost her house, how does she respond to somebody coming up from out of town, a stranger?
[00:52:22] That's something you just – there should be a movie made about that, about your average.
[00:52:26] Well, I'll make it quick.
[00:52:27] The day before, I gave her $15,000, and then I decided, you know, once I heard her full story, I came back with another check of $60,000.
[00:52:36] And she had to sit down on the bench because I said, I want to give you more money.
[00:52:39] And she started crying.
[00:52:40] She goes, no, you already helped me so much.
[00:52:42] I said, no, I'm going to give you more.
[00:52:43] So I said, I have a check for you for $60,000.
[00:52:46] And she didn't even ask me.
[00:52:47] She looked over at her friend and goes, what did he say?
[00:52:50] Because she was so in shock.
[00:52:52] I said, she says, honey, he's given you $60,000.
[00:52:55] And she couldn't believe it.
[00:52:56] She started crying, and she just kept giving me hugs because she helps special needs children in the community too.
[00:53:03] And she was at the church volunteering and giving people supplies even though she lost everything.
[00:53:08] She was like one of the nicest people I've ever met.
[00:53:11] So that's why I gave her $75,000.
[00:53:13] She was a great woman.
[00:53:15] It's called synergism, ladies and gentlemen, is the term for this.
[00:53:19] Good, honest, hardworking Christian people doubling down, loving the Lord their God and loving their neighbor as themselves.
[00:53:26] That's what this is about.
[00:53:28] GiveSendGo.com slash G-D-E-P-E is where you go.
[00:53:31] You can follow Johnny Reb, what is it, 1989?
[00:53:35] Yep, at Johnny Reb 1989 on Twitter.
[00:53:38] On Twitter, you can check out.
[00:53:39] You can see a lot of those photos of the things that he's been working on and get kind of an understanding of what he spends the money on, what he does with his time.
[00:53:47] And if you feel like it's a worthy cause, quadruple down, would you please?
[00:53:51] Johnny Reb, happy new year, brother.
[00:53:53] Thank you so much for your work.
[00:53:54] Thank you for having me on.
[00:53:56] Thank you.
[00:53:56] There he goes.
[00:53:56] James, final word to you.
[00:53:57] You got 30 seconds, buddy.
[00:53:59] And Sam, we have kicked off the year in, I think, a remarkable way.
[00:54:03] This was a fantastic hour with John Hill.
[00:54:06] Your Confederate general ancestor would be proud of you, brother.
[00:54:09] And Sam, wow, 2025, here we come.
[00:54:12] What else can I say?
[00:54:13] Right here on the live radio network.
[00:54:16] They're going to turn Donald Trump into the war president.
[00:54:20] That's very possible.
[00:54:21] I pray that I'm wrong.
[00:54:23] I pray that I'm wrong.
[00:54:25] Predict that I'm right.
[00:54:25] Write it down.
[00:54:26] I'll be glad to admit it wrong.
[00:54:27] I just wanted to thank you, James, too, for everything you've done for me.
[00:54:30] Well, thanks, Sam.
[00:54:32] Anything I do, I can do because of his agency and grace.
[00:54:36] So, yeah.
[00:54:36] Thank you very much.
[00:54:38] Again, the widow's mite makes a difference, and we're proving it everywhere we go.
[00:54:41] Thanks for being alongside for the ride.
[00:54:43] Happy New Year.
[00:54:43] God save the republic.
[00:54:45] God save the republic.