In this captivating episode, join us as we delve deep into the heart of law enforcement narratives with Kyle Reyes, the CEO of Law Enforcement Today. Kyle shares his remarkable journey from humble beginnings in Jersey to becoming a guiding light for those who serve in blue.
Our conversation explores the profound impact of media representation on public perceptions of police incidents, and the intricate dance between law enforcement and politics. Kyle's insights, shaped by his transition from television to advocacy, offer a unique perspective on the challenges and triumphs of reporting authentically from the front lines of American security and public safety.
As recent security breaches at U.S. facilities thrust the urgency of the matter into the spotlight, we shift our focus to the harsh realities of the border crisis. We shine a spotlight on the tireless efforts of officers who stand as both guardians and patriots, drawing from the eye-opening revelations of our journey to Mission, Texas. These raw truths underscore our commitment to broadcasting narratives often overlooked by mainstream outlets.
Furthermore, we highlight the crucial support from organizations like TMPA and stress the significance of platforms like ours in ensuring that the voices of American law enforcement are heard loud and clear amidst the noise of today's media landscape.
Don't miss out on this enlightening episode, where we unravel the complexities of law enforcement and shed light on the vital issues they face. Tune in now!
email us at- bluegrit@tmpa.org
In this captivating episode, join us as we delve deep into the heart of law enforcement narratives with Kyle Reyes, the CEO of Law Enforcement Today. Kyle shares his remarkable journey from humble beginnings in Jersey to becoming a guiding light for those who serve in blue.
Our conversation explores the profound impact of media representation on public perceptions of police incidents, and the intricate dance between law enforcement and politics. Kyle's insights, shaped by his transition from television to advocacy, offer a unique perspective on the challenges and triumphs of reporting authentically from the front lines of American security and public safety.
As recent security breaches at U.S. facilities thrust the urgency of the matter into the spotlight, we shift our focus to the harsh realities of the border crisis. We shine a spotlight on the tireless efforts of officers who stand as both guardians and patriots, drawing from the eye-opening revelations of our journey to Mission, Texas. These raw truths underscore our commitment to broadcasting narratives often overlooked by mainstream outlets.
Furthermore, we highlight the crucial support from organizations like TMPA and stress the significance of platforms like ours in ensuring that the voices of American law enforcement are heard loud and clear amidst the noise of today's media landscape.
Don't miss out on this enlightening episode, where we unravel the complexities of law enforcement and shed light on the vital issues they face. Tune in now!
email us at- bluegrit@tmpa.org
This episode is brought to you by Law Enforcement Today, your source for law enforcement news.
Speaker 2:We were contacted by some sources in Texas. The first one was a situation in which three Pakistani nationals were found inside of a secure portion of a chemical processing facility. The individuals were taken in and the feds forced them to be released. About a week after that, a chemical processing facility went up in smoke.
Speaker 1:Welcome back. Viewers, watchers, listeners. I'm your host, Tyler Owen and Clint McNair. What's going on, man?
Speaker 3:Just here, man, hanging out, glad to be here, ready to see how this rodeo goes.
Speaker 1:Welcome back. This is your second episode of Back With Me. You were gone for two, now you're back for two.
Speaker 3:It's three, three back. Since we're counting now, this is three.
Speaker 1:Well, I missed you and it means a lot that you're back with me.
Speaker 3:It's good to be back. It's good to be missed. No one else misses me, so I'm glad to hear some, do you?
Speaker 1:two get a room. I missed you and it's not the same without you. So everything good in your hood.
Speaker 3:All good, all good. How about the Owen crew?
Speaker 1:Good, good man, everything's good. We're rocking and rolling. We got the TNPA's, got the, and Round Rock Police and Round Rock Express currently have the Motorcycle Police rodeo. We had the Taylor Robertson on a couple of episodes ago, so that's going on currently up in Round Rock. But the Owen household is great. We're rocking and rolling. So who we got on today?
Speaker 3:He's a guy. He's kind of quiet, he's very reserved. We tried to prep before we started to see if he'll talk. He may or may not speak, but his name's Kyle Reyes. Never heard of him.
Speaker 1:Kyle Reyes, kyle Reyes, oh sup boys, sup man, welcome home. How's it going Good Thanks for having me out. Yeah, absolutely. You are the, I guess, the CEO of the HMFIC, of law enforcement today, and many, many organizations. Silent partner.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so God is the CEO of the company. I'm just the dude who owns it.
Speaker 1:I understand. Move that mic in to you there, you go Hello.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so quickly. You are owner of law enforcement. Today. Your marketing firm is the Silent Partner Marketing. Silent Partner Marketing. I know you really don't have anything going on. Quickly give a cliff notes. What, what? All you guys do.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I own a number of different companies. The one that owns law enforcement today is called the 1776 project, and so we own law enforcement today Blue Lives Matter police tribune, mike the cops YouTube page now just joined the family a bunch of others, and we exist to do much like you guys do with this show, which is to give a voice to law enforcement and the supporters. Yeah, the Silent Partner Marketing. Fox News called this America's most patriotic marketing agency, and we've got a bunch of other small companies and projects on the side.
Speaker 3:Cool. We kick everything off always with who the hell's Kyle? Start from the beginning. Don't start from conception, start from where we born where you grew up.
Speaker 2:I don't even want to hear that conception story. So, uh, let's see, first and foremost, I'm a husband to a wife who's way out of my league. I'm a dad to four little girls. Um, I'm a what's what I like to consider a biblical conservative and a huge supporter of the law enforcement community. And so I was born and raised in Jersey. We were poor as kind of all right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we were poor as shit growing up, man. We had government peanut butter and government cheese and my parents worked their butts off to to provide for us?
Speaker 1:Did your government cheese melt Cause mine didn't when I was a kid? You cannot, but you can't put. Well, there's not a mock way that you can buy that that shit can melt in.
Speaker 3:No, dude, it didn't melt coming out either.
Speaker 2:It's like those ice cream sandwiches, man, you could leave them out in the sun for four days and it's still not going to melt. I just, I was always curious. Different up there than here, um, and so, uh, growing up we, uh we grew up in Jersey, moved up to Massachusetts when I was a teenager and then I actually worked in television for about 10 years. I was a producer of news and special projects. I loved what I did, but I loved being able to afford to eat more, and the breaking point for me. So I was the youngest producer that NBC had ever had and I was with one of the nine owned and operated stations and they sent me out to I'm not going to say the name of the organization and end up getting sued, but they sent me out to an organization in Florida that um did training for people who work in the media and they taught us how to tell stories and this particular course that I went through back then probably tell stories sexually though, right, no, no, no, that's.
Speaker 3:That's the whole point of what I'm going to share with you here.
Speaker 2:So they, uh, they taught us how to tell stories using video and using words, right, and they showed us this video that crushed, it did absolutely amazing in the media and it was a large, unarmed black man being shot in the back by a cop. And so I'm watching this video like what the hell did I just well, like? This is horrific. I can't even believe what I just saw here. And then they said now we're going to teach you how we made that video. And they show that large, unarmed black man running at the officer I believe it was high on PCP and he was holding a huge butcher knife above his head and the second before he stabs the cop, he drops the knife and turns. But things are already in motion at that point. It was a good shoot. And so I'm watching this like what this isn't what we showed.
Speaker 2:Well, like, what are we doing here? Like we completely took this out of context. And the pastor who was doing the training said he said, pastor, pastor Yep, who worked in the media community activist. He said, son, you want to make it in this industry, you better learn how to tell a story. And I said, well, shit, I don't want to make it in this industry. Then, and that that was the turning point for me, because most of my friends and a lot of my family were in law enforcement. So I vowed that one day we would fix that. Now, when you're in your early twenties, you don't know what the hell that even means, right? But I just knew this was like the world. One day, man, I was going to be Superman and so I took a, buy a package. I started a marketing agency. I spent the first couple of years totally screwing up. I didn't know shit about running a business. I knew how to storytell, what year is that?
Speaker 3:Probably that was about 2009.
Speaker 2:2009. So then had a couple of full time jobs ran a ran a bar. I slung some mean drinks, man, and I was single back then, so it was great. I was actually halfway decent looking in good shape.
Speaker 1:So you know it made me a drink. I just want to throw it out there, we've been around either. Okay, I'm just sorry, squirrel on it.
Speaker 2:Well, I mean, we could go out. I'll whip you up a nice Cosmo.
Speaker 3:I saw you slurping those things down the other night, I'd be more than happy to cherry and every time I continue to make a Shirley Temple with an umbrella.
Speaker 2:Well, I'll get you one of those extra white straws that I know you All right, so.
Speaker 2:So anyway, flash forward. I ended up taking a leap of faith in 2013. I, you know, went all in with my chips. My wife and I got married and I said I'm going to do this thing full time. I started hiring people who were smarter than me, and that's when things blew up. And so, in 2017, our agency went viral. We did 14 appearances in just a few days on Fox and Friends.
Speaker 2:Fox and Friends first, varney and Company, louder with Crowd or Adam Corolla, kennedy, risk and reward you name it because our hiring process was released in the media and it lovingly became referred to as the snowflake test. It was 30 questions, short answer, essay style, to make sure we didn't hire whining, entitled snowflakes, and it was questions like what does America mean to you? How do you feel about the police, when was the last time you cried and why? My favorite was you're sitting in Starbucks having coffee. Someone runs in hands you a gun and says in 30 seconds, someone's going to start shooting. What happens next? Well, it's a trick question. Real Americans don't drink Starbucks. And so we ended up getting 40,000 emails in a week, 10,000 job applications Guys, I had like three job openings. At that point it was amazing. And so two years later, fox and Friends sent a crew back and they did sort of where are they now?
Speaker 2:because people said you know, they're going to go out of business. You can't run a company like this. They're going to be sued out of existence. And we actually exploded as a result. And so it was about a year after that that we were crushing it and we said you know, we are going to launch a campaign to donate $500,000 in services to tell the stories behind the uniforms. So the very first video that we did was called the Holiday Prayer. It was the Manchester Connecticut Police and Fire Departments. It got 3 million views in 24 hours, wow. And so we got the Chiefs on Fox and Friends and Ainsley Earnhardt who my celebrity hall pass she's interviewing them and said who made this video? So they talked about us in our campaign. Now you would think it'd be amazing exposure, right? Well, it was actually just the opposite. Antifa found out about it and vowed to put us out of business for supporting pigs and killers and Nazis. So they flooded us with hundreds of fake one star reviews, and we had a small management team. At that point they said what are we going to do? I said, guys, there's only one thing we can do. They said we're going to kill the campaign. I was like no way, we're going to double the donation and tell them all to kiss our American asses. And so at that point I had something like 80,000 followers on my public figure page. So I said Go troll the trolls, respond to the reviews, punch them right in the proverbial throat and then take screenshots or your responses, put them up on my public figure page. So they did that and, man, we got like 1500 five star reviews. People doubled down on their support for us and our campaign and since then we've we've donated more than a million dollars in services. To tell those stories and flash forward.
Speaker 2:About six months after we launched that campaign, captain Robert Greenberg, the founder of law enforcement today, reached out. He said hey, dude, I think I could help you with the exposure for all this content that you're doing. So what do you got? He said I own this company, law enforcement today. So what's your reach like? How the hell should I know? I said I thought you own it. He goes yeah, but, dude, I'm a cop. I don't know what I'm doing in business. I said All right, can I take a look? He goes Are you going to break anything? I said no, I'm not going to break anything. So I take a look. I'm like Dude, you're reaching 25 million people a month. He goes, is that good? I said, yeah, that's good, he goes. You think we can do something with that?
Speaker 1:I said, dude, we could do a lot of something with that and he was just just just a listener and and and and watch her. That was through the magazine, right, that was so.
Speaker 2:no, no, it was all online, all online, yep, all online. And so he uh, about three weeks after that he said hey, I want to make your national spokesman. I'm like Dude, I'm not a cop. He goes Right. You could do one thing cops can't do. I said, what's that? He goes, you could run your mouth and no agency could fire you. I was like Roger that I'm in, so 2019, I took over as I didn't even know you're on your mouth.
Speaker 3:I've never heard you do that, just a little bit once or twice.
Speaker 2:I have no filter. So, uh, 2019, took over as executive director. 2020, during all the lockdowns of the riots, we were reaching over a hundred million people a month. And then last year, um, he was looking at retirement still active law enforcement and he said, dude, I'm just going to shut it down. So what do you mean? You're going to shut it down? Who's going to give a voice to these guys? It's not really my problem. I want to go, you know, go on cruise ships and get drunk for the rest of my life. And I said, all right, well, let me buy it because we can't lose his voice. So I bought law enforcement today under the 1776 project.
Speaker 2:And then, uh, within a few months we acquired Blue Lives Matter law enforcement, family law enforcement for life, police Tribune, mike the cops, you two page all these other platforms. And so we exist to fight for you guys, we exist to give you guys a voice, and that's. That's a long and short of it, man.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, the first time I met him or met you y'all I dive into how y'all met because that's kind of how I got to introduce to Kyle Uh, it was really with my job and duties with TNPA dive into how you you know you two met and it. It keep it G rated, I think originally.
Speaker 3:Well, I was trying to think some like man, I don't.
Speaker 2:We've done so much in a short amount of time I can't even remember. Mitch.
Speaker 3:McKinley Was it Mitch McKinley or Eric Kaiser? Reached out. One of them, maybe both of them? And somebody reached out and introduced us. I came on the board um. He asked me to come on the on his board um of advisors.
Speaker 1:Right, yep, yep.
Speaker 3:Couple of years ago, or three or four years ago, I guess, I don't know. The more we talked, the more just things we had in common and knew some of the same people realized the same passion about fighting for cops. Um, I guess that's where it started, I guess, yeah.
Speaker 2:So our board of advisors, the heads of the largest police groups in the country, you guys super blessed to have you and Kevin, and really you you just don't even realize it yet. Tyler, we've got the federal law enforcement officer association, national board of patrol council, share of lamb, share of Daniels, the CEO for science, just some incredible men and women. But but here's the thing, I'm not a cop and I have no desire to ever be one. I have the utmost respect for it, but I wanted to make sure that we told the stories of law enforcement and the issues surrounding law enforcement in the most true and authentic way possible. I mean one of the biggest fights that Captain Greenberg and I had when he owned it.
Speaker 2:It was a struggle that we continue with today candidly, which is he always took the position of we should never talk politics when it comes to law enforcement, because cops can't be political, and I said that's exactly why we have to be, because they can't be. Now, it doesn't mean you have to like, yes, I'm a biblical constitutional conservative, but that doesn't mean you have to scream that in everybody's faces. It just it's the values behind an organization, the guide you're reporting on the topics that you cover, because show me one thing in law enforcement that is not political yeah, what the border? The fentanyl crisis, supreme Court issues the Second Amendment, and gun control, like everything was funded.
Speaker 2:Da's exactly the defund the police movement. We're going to not report on that because it's it's political. You have no choice, you guys. When you're in uniform, you can't take a political perspective, nor does any cop that I've ever met want to. They're not going to be like, oh no, they want to. Well, yeah, but when? When responding to something, right, you're not going to get that call and be like, oh yeah, you know, we're in Portland and that dude's a live, I'm not going to take care of him.
Speaker 2:He's a conservative so he can die on the side of the road Like you don't care. You don't see that.
Speaker 3:But the analogy we tell. Every cop out there says I don't want to be in politics is that's fine. You can either have a seat at the table and fight for your own destiny or your ass will be served up on the menu. It's better to be sitting at the table looking over the menu in person than to be an item on the menu to be served up, because either way it doesn't matter. You're either in or you're served up. It doesn't 100%.
Speaker 2:Well, on the other side of this, too, is that we've been blessed to have contacts all across the country local, state, federal guys who are serving in undercover capacities, both here and overseas, in nonofficial capacities, that have been sharing with us Intel about information that they have tried to expose.
Speaker 1:Speak on there. There were three incidents is in Texas. We don't want to talk about the region because for national security reasons, why? But? And source reasons, but talk about those reasons and talk about those incidences with not want to report those.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so we were contacted by some sources in Texas. The first one was a situation in which three Pakistani nationals were found inside of a secure portion of a chemical processing facility. The individuals were taken in and the feds forced them to be released. It was about two days after that that, about 10 miles away another location, there were a couple of Chinese nationals who live in Maryland that were found outside of another facility and they had cameras and high powered lenses and they were not allowed to be arrested, tracked, anything like that, and it was about a week after that that a chemical processing facility went up in smoke. Now it was an accident, it was a total coincidence, nothing related, though you know all the fact checkers are all over these incidents, right, all of the food processing, fillet facilities, chemical processing facilities. They say it's all just a complete coincidence, but at some point you have a solar flare, so yeah, yeah, solar flare Well.
Speaker 2:So that I mean that's another great example. The, you know, the first thing that came out was solar flare Well, which we all know like scientifically is BS. It was not. Are there solar flares that are happening right now, every single day? Are we in solar maximus? Yes, was that the situation here? No, it was not. Any scientist will tell you that that was not the case. But we've had sources at the federal level who have said this was what they believe to be a dry run. What happened with the systems going down? Because you still have CAD systems in California all the way to Connecticut that are still having problem. You're speaking of the cell phone outage, correct?
Speaker 1:You know, last week.
Speaker 2:Yep, that's correct. Yeah, it was a draw run Well. And so you had the cell phone outage, you had the 911 centers, went down across the country, in different parts of the country, and you had pharmacies that couldn't dispense medication. So now think about what happens if that happens at a national level. Right, if that happens for several days.
Speaker 2:We we are on such a hairpin right now, like we are in such a fragile place in society, that could it be a huge solar flare that takes down the grid? Yes, but could it also be a an attack on our electrical system? Yes, there's so many things that could happen and people don't realize, and it's not just the possibility of what could happen with the grid, right, we have, you know, countless incidents are are busted every single day by some of the brave men and women in law enforcement at the local, state and federal level, that if people knew about these things, they would not close their eyes at night. And so we just that is why we exist, and not just to expose what we can and do it in a way that's not going to compromise anybody or security, but to honor those men and women, those sheepdog that are keeping us safe, that that people will never know those stories.
Speaker 1:So we recently, a couple of months ago, we were going with you to Mission Texas. We highlighted Texas DPS, port Patrol, multiple agencies down there and to see the dedication I think you said this best. I forgot the exact phrase that you said, but you essentially said you went down there and saw cops and you left seeing patriots and for a 25 year vet of the Garland Police Department and been so a part of Texas Municipal Police Association, you were in your role here to have you say that on camera when I, when I sat back and watched the film, it impacted me and so I kind of processed this when I was taking the kid you know the kids to school one day and it was at that moment not not saying I didn't appreciate you before, but that's when I really process the impact that you and law enforcement today truly is having on the law enforcement community, that we see the impact that that you have. But to Fort, for Clint to recognize it to that magnitude and for it to impact him, that significance, it really was like wow, we, we really are, you know, making a difference and I really felt so proud, you know, to partake and be a part of that, and so, you know listeners or watchers out there that were, that have seen the footage that we pushed out there.
Speaker 1:You know Kyle's he's not bullshitting about the mainstream media not wanting to push these stories out, and so he's made the promise and commitment to push these stories out. And so TNPA is going to be obviously on board with that because we're highlighting our members. And so we just got back from Eagle Pass another, you know, portion of the border crisis going on. That it's a, it's a national humanitarian crisis and, man, thank you, because I know it's been number one. We always have a good time together and thank you, clint, for inviting me down to be a part of it. But you know, to be a part of that change and to be a part of that, that environment, to push that message, man, it truly is an honor.
Speaker 3:So two things about it. You just said one of them. We were in Nashville this past week with National FOP talking about various events and that joke of Aldi talking about the media and he was given statistics that mainstream media is dying. Mainstream media is headed to the bottom of the ocean because they've lost all credibility with everyone. Yeah, both sides of the aisle, all mainstream media is headed to the bottom of the ocean. It's a shit show.
Speaker 3:And so people are turning to individuals podcasts. They're sourcing their own information because people want facts. They don't care about all the other crap. And so you know, you putting out your information, you going down straight to the border reporting, not on a conservative view of it, not on the liberals view of it, not on the tea party view of it. You're just down there reporting the ugly ass facts of what's going on, raw, standing up against the wall, talking to the men and women that are fighting that battle. There's no spin on that. That's just the ugly truth of what it is. That's the. That's what people turn to is for facts.
Speaker 3:The second thing about it is, with all the rhetoric and all of the misplaced agendas of police incidents through the years, the police gotten a bunker and chose not to message. And we've lost the messaging war. And you know when you're, when you're at the tail end of the war and there's nothing going on and your whole army is decimated. That's not the time to get back in the war we lost. I mean, we lost the messaging war and it's taken a long time.
Speaker 3:But finally, joe Gamaldi's Cal Reyes is these people are giving this podcast. Specific is what our goal was. You got a message back and it goes back to the um. You're either at the table or you're on the menu. If you're just going to sit back and let CNN spewed bullshit for 24 hours a day and you're not going to fight back and put your message back out there, then you've lost the war, no matter how right you may have been. And I appreciate you and Gamalde, this podcast, tnpa supporting this podcast. By God, we're getting our message out. Yeah, you may not like it, but we're going to get a message out. Everybody has a right to hear their message and it's time now for American law enforcement message to be told, and that's that's just how it's going to be moving forward.
Speaker 2:Well, I'll tell you, man, the one of the things that I love about TNPA and and honestly, it wasn't even when I asked you guys to be on the board of advisors. I didn't realize the impact that TNPA had until I started traveling all across the state chatting with some of your members and, more importantly, due to aren't your members who who flat out said, man, tnpa is always there for us. We get into a jam there and I'm like, uh, I'm sorry, I'm a business dude first and foremost, like you're not paying them and they're there for you. And they said, yeah, man, they just love cops. And and so that holy cow, you want to talk about dedication to the field and dedication of the men and women who serve.
Speaker 2:But I got to tell you guys, so I've spent a lot of time in all different states, right, because the border crisis is in every single state.
Speaker 2:Every state is a border state and to see the stark difference between you know, the main one that comes to mind right now is Texas versus Arizona. So we've spent a lot of time on the border in Arizona with the National Border Patrol Council uh, ardil Quinto, the National Spokesman, national Vice President, is on our board of advisors and we've spent a lot of time out there in Nogales, in the Tucson sector, up in the air. Um, there is no border out there. There really is not. I mean, on our last trip together, in five minutes on one stop we saw more border patrol vehicles working alongside DPS and Florida Highway Patrol. Then we saw border patrol vehicles in five days on the border in Arizona. And so your governor here is spectacular, your lieutenant governor, your, your, apparently it's not Comptroller, even though that's how you spell it everywhere else in America, but your controller here is an amazing man and that dude like if I hadn't met him I would never have.
Speaker 2:Like if I didn't know who he was, I would never have known. He's the kind of guy you would sit and have a beer with and he was. He was out on that boat, he was alongside these guys, but Texas DPS and and all of your local and state man these guys are incredible and they are so passionate about it. But we also do have to touch on something else it's not really a comfortable or easy conversation have which is they could do everything in the world to hold that thin blue line right, and they are and they are so dedicated to this. But when they take those illegal immigrants and they hand them off to Border Patrol and this isn't a knock on my boys and Border Patrol, it's a knock on the federal government and this administration but these illegal immigrants are then still being released into the interior.
Speaker 2:We do have an existential threat to America when we have millions of unvetted people who are coming in. It's not the innocent women and children that the media is showing you. It is hundreds of OTMs or people other than Mexican Mexicans who are touching the border. It is people who are on the terror watch list. It is some of the worst gang members and cartel members in the world. Venezuela's crime is at the lowest point in 20 years and it's because their most violent criminals are now coming here to America. And the media went after who we lovingly refer to as daddy T but President Trump, when he said that they aren't sending their best over here, that they are sending criminals and rapists and cartel members and human traffickers.
Speaker 2:But there was another report that just came out that said something like 89,000 children have disappeared in this humanitarian crisis, disappeared. I mean, if that's not a wake up call, I don't care if you're a Democrat or Republican or moderate or whoever the hell you are. That's a problem. That is a problem, man, yeah, and every single American, anyone who believes in protecting kids, needs to be screaming at the top of their lungs about this right now, because it is our job as adults to protect the most innocent among us, and if we can't do that, then then we have lost our soul as a nation.
Speaker 1:Well, and speaking of you, know, you you pushing the message for law enforcement, just to kind of segue into something else. And you, you do this across the whole, I mean across America. It's not just Texas, though you do have a great relationship with us some days. Some days you do a great job doing this across the nation. But you are fixing to be at an event March 22nd. I think several of us from TNPA are going to be there to support you. It's the national hall of fame and you were contacted several weeks ago as a an inductee. Yeah, man.
Speaker 2:It's, it's. It's kind of embarrassing to be honest with you, Like what Megan called me and she said we're inducting into the national law enforcement hall of fame. I was like you got the wrong dude, I'm not a cop and and they asked me they're, they're honoring me as the civilian.
Speaker 1:I think I, I was, I was I was, I was, I was, I was, I was.
Speaker 2:I was, I was, I was. I was super uncomfortable with it at first because it it I felt that it took away from men and women who actually wear that uniform, who actually do this every single day. And then a good friend of mine said shut up. And I said, no, that. But that's not, that's not why we're doing what we do, right, like we're doing this to honor God and to honor those who serve. And he said to me yeah, but your voice in your platform. We have more than 4.5 million followers on social media. He said, exposing that audience to this organization brings huge exposure to the very mission that you are trying to serve. That's right, and so it's an honor man, we.
Speaker 2:I think the differentiator here for us is that we, we won't be bought as a media outlet, right, like all of these big mainstream media outlets, a lot of them are owned by some of the same organizations and they are beholden to their stakeholders.
Speaker 2:They are beholden to their advertisers. We were offered a significant amount of money from a, a big pharma organization, and it wasn't even a question. We just want to take that money because we knew what they were looking to um promote, which is something that was mandated that many Americans take. We're not going to do something that doesn't align with our values or that forces us to compromise the reporting that we're doing, and so we're blessed to have the marketing agency that that funds and fuels all of our work here that tells those stories. I mean we do. We do a lot of video work and a lot of PR for agencies and unions across the country that that get jammed up and don't know how to work with the media, that need that media training. So we rely on that and all of those companies that use our services at the silent part of marketing so we can continue to be unadulterated and and really tell the truth that's happening out there.
Speaker 3:And for um watchers, listeners out there, that national law enforcement what you said it.
Speaker 1:you said watchers for the first time Ever. I normally say viewers.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you say viewers. No, you say viewers, yeah.
Speaker 1:That means a lot. It means it melts my heart.
Speaker 3:Yeah, your mustache is on point. Today, man, you look like Magnum PI. I haven't. I haven't shade, I haven't had time.
Speaker 2:You still have the cherry from the Cosmo hanging from the corner you can get tickets.
Speaker 3:You can join us at the national law enforcement inductee banquet. Yeah, banquet. Yeah yeah, police officer Hall of Fame. Before we came on we were talking about what to wear to that. I've heard it's kind of formal. I've heard it's not, but it's worth the ticket to come. Kyle assured me he's gonna have on just vest and a check in chaps. He will have chaps and a vest on and the location.
Speaker 1:I mean, if you've never been that omnifort worth omnifort worth. Yeah, you get the bar there, the food, the environment of downtown Fort Worth, with the stockyards being just miles down the road. It's a great, great, great venue. So if you don't want to, support the memorial.
Speaker 3:We would love the Hall of Fame, we love for you to support the Hall of Fame, but I would minimum seeing Kyle and chaps and of us. I think would be worth, absolutely. I think it'd be worth that.
Speaker 2:You know I will say this. Guys, we're coming out a couple of days before I. I don't sleep on airplanes. Right, bear with me for a second, I just don't. I'm. I'm always like hyper vision. I didn't know you slept. I'm just gonna leave that one hanging out there. I Fell asleep before a plane even took off coming here the other day, and I woke up after 10 minutes. We were in the air and I was. I felt like I slept for like two days. It was a very bizarre, surreal experience and Frankie, frankie, get the roofy.
Speaker 3:I took that willing like mrT.
Speaker 2:But I woke up and I felt something on my heart, man, and I felt like I was like, almost like you wake up and you know the Sun's gonna come up that day, right? I felt like I was supposed to gather a bunch of dudes together the day before for fellowship and brotherhood and prayer, and so I have no details on this yet. But I started reaching out to some guys who were out there and said, hey, I feel like I'm supposed to get a bunch of guys together to Talk and talk about God and have some prayer and some brotherhood and just be real. And every single guy that I talked to about it Even guys who, like are on the East Coast, I'm like, tell me, I'm crazy, like am I losing it?
Speaker 2:They were like, tell me where I'm booking a flight, and so if any of your listeners want to join us the day before, we're not going to do a zoom on it, we're not going to stream it, and it is a men's Evening only because I think, as men, we do a really lousy job of letting down our guard right and having those difficult Conversations, and I know like there are men right now who are listening to this. We're struggling with something, whether it's its Pts, whether it's their faith, whether it's something in their marriage, whether it's deciding whether or not they want to continue in law enforcement. They're dudes who are struggling right now and I think we need to be more vulnerable as men and be willing to let that guard down and have that very real conversation, because it's only in that brotherhood and that unity that we find that strength.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah so yeah, if you guys want to come, if your dudes who are listening to this right now, hit me up and let's roll be good.
Speaker 1:I like Tom's good times. Oh, you've got the Shameless plug it.
Speaker 2:We we do a series called behind the uniforms up. We still have our. We just fled communism. We moved our family from Connecticut to Florida but we still have our studio up in Connecticut. It's about five minutes from Bradley International Airport and we do a series called behind the uniforms, at our whiskey wall we invite active. You've been there. I haven't been there. You have had the open invite for never been there Years, brother.
Speaker 1:We've never been invited, ever been there. Okay, okay, well, it sounds really cool.
Speaker 2:I'd love to see it too.
Speaker 3:We're gonna fix this. Frankie, you'd invite me, I'd go. Man, I've always heard about it. Frankie hasn't been there either.
Speaker 2:We invite active and retired emergency responders events. That comes to the whiskey wall. They bring a bottle of whiskey we share cocktail on camera. They tell you a story about a good day in the job and allows you down the job and then they sign the bottle and the bottle goes on the wall and so we do our filming up there once a month and about a year ago I got a package in the mail, had no idea who it was from. There was no return address. I opened it up it's a bottle of a pappy van Winkle and there's a handwritten note in there and and the note said, not signed or anything.
Speaker 2:It was from someone who said that they were scrolling through Facebook one day and they were trying to get the courage to kill themselves and that they saw one of our videos and it was an officer talking about how he had his gun in his mouth and he was about to pull the trigger and his kid walked into the room and it saved his life and Because of that he decided to not take his own life and is here today working with officers across the country to pull them back from the brink. And whoever this person was said that that video and the video was years old Said that video got me to put down my gun and not take my own life. And I'm here today because of that story that that officer shared and because you guys put that out there. Man, I was, I was crying.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah okay, man, that right there, that story has repeated itself in so many ways over the years. That's why we do what we do. So any of your, your Watchers, watchers are more than welcome to to come join us. We have a couple of shows that we do there and we we're gonna start, probably the second half of this year, once we bring in the sponsors for it. We've secured a house out there that we're gonna do a monthly wounded officer retreat. So we're gonna have six day wounded officers from across the country come out. We're gonna bring out a police chaplain, a PTS expert, a myofascial release expert. It's gonna be a dudes together in a home with a cinematographer for some brotherhood and Decompression and there's a gym and a hot tub and sauna and hiking trails and everything, and we we just want to give these guys a Way to get out of it. But our only ask of them is that they share their stories. So I'm gonna be out there with these dudes, talking to them, praying with them, cooking for them. So I hope you guys continue to follow law enforcement today.
Speaker 2:Blue lives matter. Hit me up on LinkedIn, kyle Reyes. On LinkedIn, you'll. You'll see me. I'm the guy who's usually taking people off and you know being loud.
Speaker 2:Or if if you need our marketing help from America's most patriotic marketing agency, the silent partner, marketing dot-com.
Speaker 1:If you need their contact information, you guys can always reach out to us also. Blue grit at tmpaorg. Again, that's blue grit at tmpaorg. We will give you Kyle's personal cell phone number to anyone that ever requested. You can contact him At our right away at 2 am the morning. He loves those that's fine.
Speaker 3:By me joking I may write a recommendation for Tyler to attend that event for the wounded. He was jogging one morning and a deer sexually assaulted him. He's not kidding, it almost happened. He's not gotten past that that smile on his face.
Speaker 2:It says he's not struggling with that.
Speaker 3:I was serious. He said the deer chased him. I'm not so sure it wasn't the other way around. I'm not. It was a bad deal.
Speaker 1:Man, that's bad.
Speaker 2:Hey, let me leave it with this on behalf of people who don't wear a uniform every single day. There are men and women in uniform right now we're listening to this who are struggling, going. Do I want to keep doing this? Why the hell would I want to keep doing this? The community hates me, you know. People hate law enforcement. The media hates us and I got to tell you, the silent majority 100% totally screwed up because we've been the silent majority and it's time that we start being the very vocal majority, because the overwhelming number of Americans out there do Overwhelmingly support law enforcement. So, for those of you who are listening right now, we're on the edge, thinking about doing something stupid or thinking about leaving your job. I just want you to know that, on behalf of the 99% of America that still has their shit together, we love you, we value you, we pray for you every single day, and the big man upstairs has you in the bottom of his hand.
Speaker 3:So thank you all the coolest part about our trip down there with you Tyler was talking about the mob's orations that I had, but I've left there probably more proud than I've been in a long time, because if DC can't figure out how to protect America, all these sanctuary cities can't protect figure out how to protect America. Yeah, going down there with you guys and seeing that, by God, texas will step up and freakin protect America. Texas will carry their ass down there. Hold the line, stand the line, get up every morning and hold the line. Texas will protect this country. Yep, I drove home, man, I was. I. My chest was swelled, proud to be a Texan and honorary Texan already probably got my Texas boots that I wear everywhere Yep Well, and in Glen Hager, thank you.
Speaker 1:Shout out to Glen Hager who came down the Texas Comptroller.
Speaker 1:I'll call it that for this awesome yeah he's great, he came down and joined us and for the listeners and viewers and watchers out there listening, he said the last two sessions, the state of Texas has allotted, I think, eight million dollars for to combat, you know, narcotics and to assist the Texas state, you know, funded agencies with the narcos problems. This past year $7 billion has been set aside to secure our state's borders because the federal government refuses to do so. And the bad part about that is the reason why we went down there and we've gone to those to make those border trips. The people who are crossing the crossfire and open intended are not only the citizens on those border towns but they're our members. Yep, 100%. And then you know, like the Senate bill coming out that Greg Abbott just signed and I'm thankful that he did that you know how do we navigate around that. And then how does it impact the Hispanic community?
Speaker 1:The reality is this is that what we saw in Eagle Pass the other day? That town and that region was the hotspot when we were in mission and they were in the process of securing that and fortifying it when we were in mission. Again, it was the hotspot, so there was the spot to go to. We saw one. So obviously law enforcement, presence and building a wall works and you got to do what you got to do in desperate times and so so being a deterrent, they don't come.
Speaker 3:But when you open the floodgates they come. Well, that's so weird.
Speaker 1:I know it's it's weird, it's crazy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I do want to plug. I'm going to be in Marlago for the border 911 event with Tom Holman and a bunch of others.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's a big fundraiser on April 4th at Marlago. Tickets are open. There is a discount for all first responders it's 25% off the tickets. It's not a cheap event to attend but all of those proceeds are going to launch a series of border 911 events all across the country to help bring support. So border 911.com and I will say anyone that's listening right here that that is a TMPA member, good move, but everyone who's listening, who's not oh, my God, man Like the.
Speaker 2:We work with organizations all across the country and I've never seen an organization no disrespect to all my brothers and all the other ones but I've never seen an organization do it as well as you guys do. I've never seen the passion and the heart and the drive to tell the stories, not just of your members, but of all Texans, of everyone that holds up them blue line and everyone's that that's on the other side of it. So, thank you, appreciate, it.
Speaker 3:Thank you. That means a lot. Man, Appreciate that a lot. That means a lot. And if you don't have a date from Marlago, if you haven't seen my calves with heels on, you should see his chaps my, you should see my chaps with heels on and see what my calves look like.
Speaker 1:Well, we're going to wrap it up on that one. On that note, hey, we're like the end of the show. Yeah, that was awkward, sorry, we're like in the show with three rapid fire questions. You are probably the closest to law enforcement Anybody's ever going to be. That didn't ever serve, but let's hit it. You know what I'm talking about. Have you ever watched our podcast? No, I never watched our podcast. No, no man, I was.
Speaker 2:I watch it, but usually he starts talking about chaps and I'm done about like 40 minutes into it.
Speaker 3:What's your favorite drink of choice? To smoke cigarette after the yeah.
Speaker 1:What's your favorite cop movie? You're lying from a cop movie. What's your favorite cop car? So what's your favorite drink of choice?
Speaker 2:Oh well, are we talking alcohol?
Speaker 1:or not Alcohol.
Speaker 2:Yeah alcohol. So I'm a big Jefferson's ocean fan, aged at sea oh yes, it's absolutely spectacular. I thought it was a big marketing stunt at first because they say they put it in these barrels and it touches every continent. But dude, it takes the brining this of the ocean and it's spectacular.
Speaker 3:So it's. It's a Jefferson's, which is a bourbon, but then it comes in this bottle and it's the ocean, one specific. They casket, they put it on ships so as it travels around, the world, these ships.
Speaker 2:He looks so confused.
Speaker 3:He's like you don't put that in a Cosmo, I don't, it's in these casks in these ships as these ships circle around and come back, and so it's in the ocean. Wow, it's in the cask on the ship inside the barrel aging it is. It is pretty.
Speaker 2:Wow, delightful I saw.
Speaker 1:I kind of stay away from hard liquor.
Speaker 3:Lickr? I don't even know her.
Speaker 1:There was an incident. There was an incident at our conference a couple years ago. To an incident yeah, Involving chaps. No, no, I'm only going to tell you on the podcast, because it's going to be a rabbit hole. Anyway, what's your favorite line from cop movie or cop movie?
Speaker 2:Well, my favorite cop movie is also the greatest Christmas movie of all time, which would be diehard.
Speaker 1:Yes, absolutely Cop car, favorite cop car.
Speaker 2:I mean, I kind of want to drive a bear cat around town just for shits and giggles Ain't nothing wrong with it.
Speaker 1:But if you had to pick a patrol car, I don't know man I've been.
Speaker 2:I've been pulled over by a few undercover vehicles that I had no idea you could turn into patrol vehicles, but I actually got pulled over by a Corvette once which we pretty bad ass, yeah. And he was like you know how fast you were going? I was like not as fast as you can go.
Speaker 1:I did not get a ticket that day. That's awesome.
Speaker 3:Well, you got anything else, big dog, nope, dude, appreciate you having on Yep, the partnership, the friendship, everything you're doing for men and women on the streets, and they, they have no idea the voice that they have.
Speaker 2:Thanks brother, I love you guys. I'm super grateful to have you on the team and to call you guys family Absolutely.
Speaker 1:Shout out to your cinematographer team, connor and Frankie. They're always just amazing to work with Great guys. Frankie's from the Brit he is the British guy that we always kind of put fun at, have a great time, but you've got just amazing staff from Chris to Allison. Just all people that we work with at LAT is just just amazing.
Speaker 2:You know, we went to pick up the rental car and the guy was a total stiff, right Like he had no sense of humor. So Frankie and I are at the counter. I said I'm going to add, frankie is my second driver and Frank pulls out his license and he goes here, you go, mate. And I said, yeah, he's actually my secret lover from Australia. And Frankie goes, mate, I'm not from Australia. I mean, that was probably the most awkward moment ever because I thought I was being a dude, didn't crack a smile.
Speaker 1:As you guys can imagine, the times we have with LAT on the road, although they are impactful and we do get some great footage and get our stories out there they are quite entertaining, to say the least. So you guys, take care, stay safe. Again, where our hearts and prayers continue to go out to those affected by the wildfires, up in the Amarillo area, is going to take a long time for that to be rebuilt. At this point in time that this is recorded, there's 1.1 million acres on fire up there. So our thoughts and prayers are with you guys. You guys take care, stay safe. God bless you and, as always, may God bless Texas.
Speaker 1:We're out.