A jury found Noel D. Stepney guilty of Rape in the Second Degree on June 11. According to the KCPAO, he has a combined 33 convictions and charges stemming from cases involving domestic violence, theft, narcotics sale and possession, and attempted escape.

Listen to The Jason Rantz Show on Seattle Red or livestream on the Seattle Red YouTube Channel weekdays from 3pm – 7pm or on demand wherever you podcast!

Listen to The Jason Rantz Show on Seattle Red or livestream on the Seattle Red YouTube Channel weekdays from 3pm – 7pm or on demand wherever you podcast!

Yoo’s piece profiles Kimlis Tek, who is currently in ICE custody after serving 15 years in prison. KING 5 frames him as a victim — a tragic figure caught in the so-called “DOC-to-ICE pipeline,” facing what they call “double punishment.” But here’s what KING 5 doesn’t want you to know: Kimlis didn’t spend 15 years behind bars for jaywalking or merely for “assault,” as Yoo breezily claims. That sanitized phrasing is designed to shield readers from the depravity of his actual crimes.

Is this the same Tek who was for slashing his wife’s arm with a military-style seven and a half inch knife — a six inch long wound so deep it severed muscle, left a permanent scar, and required 28 staples and over a month of rehab? But that’s not all. He was also convicted of witness tampering, and violations of a domestic violence no-contact order.

According to court records, he repeatedly pressured the victim to lie, asked her to skip trial, and called her at least 40 times in violation of court orders. The idea that this was simply “assault” is journalistically negligent — or purposefully deceptive.

KING 5 has become Resistance TV for illegal immigrants

Yoo’s framing isn’t accidental. It’s part of a pattern.

Her previous stories spotlight so-called “farmworker activists” self-deporting, ICE making arrests in parking lots that supposedly “traumatize” communities, and King County passing “immigrant protections” so that even dangerous offenders don’t face deportation. The unifying thread? Illegal immigrants are always victims. Law enforcement is always the villain. And the crimes? Barely mentioned or downplayed to the point of parody.

In fact, KING 5’s “Facing Race” series has become the digital megaphone for open-border radicals. They used to gin up outrage over race; now it’s outrage over ICE daring to do its job by detaining convicted felons. Their messaging is clear: if you’re in the country illegally and you commit violent crimes, you still shouldn’t be deported—because somehow that’s injustice.

This is absurd.

The absurdity of the ‘double punishment’ complaint

Of course someone like Tek Kimlis faces “double punishment.” That’s how the law works. If you’re a green card holder or here illegally and you commit violent felonies, you don’t get to stay. That’s not some racist policy—it’s a basic standard of public safety. Why should a foreign national who slashed his wife with a combat knife and then tried to harass her into silence get a second chance here?

Yoo doesn’t answer that. She doesn’t tell viewers the details of Kimlis’ conviction. She doesn’t show the scar. She doesn’t quote the victim,. She certainly doesn’t explain why a man who made dozens of harassing calls in violation of a court order should be viewed as sympathetic. Instead, viewers are treated to an interview with Kimlis’ weepy relatives, framed to tug at your heartstrings while leaving you in the dark.

This isn’t journalism. It’s propaganda. And KING 5 has made it their mission to push this narrative, facts be damned.

Listen to The Jason Rantz Show on weekday afternoons from 3 p.m. – 7 p.m. on KTTH 770 AM (HD Radio 97.3 FM HD-Channel 3). Subscribe to the podcast here. Follow Jason Rantz on ,��,��, and .

Listen to The Jason Rantz Show weekdays from 3 p.m. – 7 p.m. on AM 770 KTTH or on-demand wherever you listen to podcast

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) USA is hosting the annual “Gaza 5K,” which sounds like a fun charity jog, until you realize it’s basically a PR rebrand for Hamas enablers. Think of it like Burning Man for people who think October 7th was “resistance art.”

UNRWA is the same agency that had dozens of employees . The same agency that had a literally . The IDF stored in an UNRWA school, but hey, maybe that’s just a misunderstood after-school program?

Here in Seattle — the capital of smug moral preening — folks might actually be excited to participate in the event. Because nothing screams “human rights” like raising money for an organization with staff who moonlight as terrorists.

Run for Hamas to support mental health?

The website for this run says the proceeds go to “children’s mental health in Gaza.”

“This is your chance to provide critical psychosocial support to the millions impacted by the ongoing Israeli military assault on Gaza. This event includes an optional 5K walk/run, fundraising prizes, community, and as much Palestinian culture as we can squeeze into your morning. The Gaza 5K is your chance to meet and connect with folks who share your solidarity and commitment to the mental well-being of refugees,” the event page said.

Considering UNRWA employs people who just might think killing Jewish babies is a justified coping mechanism for imaginary oppression, this is alarming. If that’s therapy, I’d hate to see their idea of a group hug.

Propaganda masked as compassion

Of course, the Gaza 5K isn’t about health. It’s about virtue-signaling your hatred for Israel while pretending to care about refugees. It’s activism cosplay for people who think reading a Vox headline counts as foreign policy experience.

There’s a place to feel compassion for Palestinians who are stuck in Gaza thanks to the actions of terrorist organization Hamas. Though activists pretend there isn’t overwhelming support amongst those living in Gaza for the murder of Jews, not every Gazan supports the ruling governing party. They’re deserving of sympathy and support, just not through UNRWA.

The agency from the United States and over a dozen other countries in 2024 under the Biden administration. Trump continued the funding pause when he took office. UNRWA can’t be trusted and shouldn’t be seen as much more than another anti-Israel arm of the United Nations.

Going to the run? Defend yourself

If you’re a local elected official thinking about showing up — don’t. Unless you’re ready to explain why you’re fundraising for a group with members who literally participated in a massacre. If you’re a tech bro who wants to “run for peace,” start by running to Google and research who you’re actually funding.

UNRWA shouldn’t be getting a dime or any support. Not from your tax dollars, and sure as hell not from a crowd of self-righteous joggers in Redmond pretending they’re saving the world one mile at a time.

This isn’t charity — it’s terrorist laundering with a pedometer and a keffiyeh.

Listen to The Jason Rantz Show on weekday afternoons from 3 p.m. – 7 p.m. on KTTH 770 AM (HD Radio 97.3 FM HD-Channel 3). Subscribe to the podcast here. Follow Jason Rantz on ,��,��, and .

How could we be in the dark? Evil Republicans who defunded NPR and, as Democrats predicted, swaths of the American public didn’t hear a single natural disaster warning!

Oh, wait. Pretty much everyone was aware of the tsunami threat. There were even some folks in North Dakota who thought they were at risk. Weird.

Despite Democrats’ dire warnings that slashing federal funding for NPR would mean the end of life-saving emergency alerts, somehow — miraculously — we still got a tsunami advisory last night. Incredible. I thought the second we stopped subsidizing tote bags and whispery monotone voices reading haikus from vegan transgender refugees, Americans would be left to die in ignorance, swallowed whole by a rogue wave while screaming, “Wait! I haven’t finished ‘Morning Edition’!”

Turns out, nope. Much like Democrats’ claims of empty shelves and a destroyed economy due to the Trump tariffs, the claims were politically inspired drivel that they think they’ll get away with.

The system worked, despite NPR’s defunding

Phones buzzed. TV crawlers rolled. Radios blared. The National Weather Service and other agencies issued alerts. Local emergency agencies sprang into action. The system worked.

And NPR? Not exactly leading the charge.

This is awkward, because just a few days ago, progressives warned us that defunding NPR was akin to lighting the Emergency Broadcast System on fire. They painted apocalyptic scenarios where an earthquake hits and we’re too uninformed to know what to do — because we didn’t fund Morning Edition’s latest interview with a yurt-dwelling, one-legged yoga instructor who identifies as “earth-fluid.”

Democrats whined that pulling the plug on federal support for NPR, filtered through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, would leave rural Americans especially vulnerable. Because apparently, in this condescending worldview, the heartland is full of barefoot rubes whose only connection to emergency alerts is Steve Inskeep.

Locally, Seattle-NPR affiliate KUOW couldn’t even be bothered to write its own story. They used one by the Associated Press that wasn’t updated since 6:28 p.m. on Tuesday. They were, and will never be, a go-to station when it comes to natural disasters or any kind of climate event. It’s certainly not where you go for breaking news. That’s not what they do. It’s not what most local NPR stations do. Yet Democrats claimed otherwise, hoping to continue funneling our tax dollars to stations that aired their press releases uncritically and lobbed them softball questions in interviews.

Democrats were lying to you

Federal funding to NPR is irrelevant to your safety. Tsunami warnings don’t depend on “All Things Considered.” They come from NOAA, the National Weather Service, local emergency management agencies, and yes, even those alerts that show up on your iPhone whether you want them or not. They’re aired on radio and television stations, published on websites, and distributed on X and Facebook.

And that’s exactly what happened last night.

While some folks were fast asleep and others were doom-scrolling X, alerts rolled out up and down the West Coast after seismic activity near Russia. Texts, radio alerts, push notifications—it was all there. In fact, the warning was so widely disseminated that some people in landlocked Grand Forks, North Dakota were .

And NPR? They were there too, sure. I think? Maybe. The world knew, so it doesn’t matter. The sky didn’t fall. The sea didn’t swallow us whole. And we didn’t need taxpayer-funded progressive programming to survive.

What a revelation.

Turns out, when you cut through the hysteria and smug elitism, you find what conservatives have been saying all along: critical emergency alerts are a function of public safety infrastructure—not a side hustle of the NPR tote bag brigade.

Maybe now we can finally stop pretending the fate of the republic hinges on another episode of “Fresh Air with Terry Gross.”

Listen to The Jason Rantz Show on weekday afternoons from 3 p.m. – 7 p.m. on KTTH 770 AM (HD Radio 97.3 FM HD-Channel 3). Subscribe to the podcast here. Follow Jason Rantz on ,��,��, and .

Listen to The Jason Rantz Show weekdays from 3 p.m. – 7 p.m. on AM 770 KTTH or on-demand wherever you listen to podcast

A jury found Noel D. Stepney guilty of Rape in the Second Degree on June 11. According to the KCPAO, he has a combined 33 convictions and charges stemming from cases involving domestic violence, theft, narcotics sale and possession, and attempted escape.

Despite the conviction, Stepney posted bond on his $75,000 bail on July 26. This wasn’t supposed to happen.

“He should have been remanded on a no-bail hold being convicted of a serious violent offender and facing a minimum 159 months indeterminate sentence,” Casey McNerthney explained to “The Jason Rantz Show.”

Rapist wasn’t eligible for bail

According to , Courts are prohibited from releasing anyone convicted of Second Degree Rape between their conviction and sentencing. The responsibility is on the Court, which usually makes the order. The prosecutor on the case, however, did not present an order to King County Superior Court Judge Nelson Lee.

“It’s the responsibility of all parties to make sure that the law is followed in the courtroom. In this case, after King County prosecutors secured a conviction, he was not remanded into custody. Defense Counsel didn’t raise the requirement, nor did the case prosecutor present an order to the court. As such, the defendant’s pretrial bail, previously set by the court, remained in place,” McNerthney explained.

In a statement to “The Jason Rantz Show,” a spokesperson for the King County Superior Court mirrored the details from KCPAO.

“Apparently, the Defendant was in custody during the trial and at the conclusion of the trial. No order was presented by State to the Court remanding the Defendant and thus the original conditions of release were in place on $75,000 bond. The Defendant did not post the bond for over 1 year and remained in custody, until he posted. Subsequently, the Court was presented an order for a bench warrant with no bail permitted and was signed by the Court,” the spokesperson explained.

Bench warrant has been signed

After the KCPAO was alerted that Stepney posted bail, they made a motion for a bench warrant on July 28, which was signed by a judge.

“Police are tracking him down now,” McNerthney said.

Police said Stepney followed his victim into her apartment, put his hand over her mouth, pressed her head and body into a wall, pulled down her pants, and raped her. They said he told the victim if she reported the rape, he’d harm her further and kill her dog. Detectives were able to connect DNA left at the scene of the rape to reference samples taken from Stepney at the King County Jail. At the time the samples were taken, in 2023, police say he was being investigated for two other alleged sexual assaults.

Once caught, Stepney is facing a minimum of 159 month sentence.

Listen to The Jason Rantz Show on weekday afternoons from 3 p.m. – 7 p.m. on KTTH 770 AM (HD Radio 97.3 FM HD-Channel 3). Subscribe to the podcast here. Follow Jason Rantz on ,��,��, and .

Early last week, Quality of Life Coalition leader Saul Spady was at Cal Anderson Park meeting a friend when he noticed upwards of 30 tents all around the property. They made up roughly five “multi-tent encampments,” in addition to errant singular tents. He said that

“Probably the most shocking moment … a mother and a daughter came running up to me … and she’s like, ‘Oh my God, that man is urinating over there. He whipped out his ‘woohoo’ in front of my daughter.’ That’s horrible,” Spady explained on “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH. “And then, well, I was walking around, of course, you get the whiffs of fentanyl, and it just reminds you that we really lost the plot in a lot of ways.”

City of Seattle says encampment at Cal Anderson Park is ‘resolved,’ but it’s not

A spokesperson for the City of Seattle explained to “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH that the situation had been “resolved” by the Unified Care Team (UCT), a multi-agency staffed unit that supposedly connects the homeless with resources.

“Cal Anderson Park is included in the Unified Care Team’s weekly inspection schedule,” the spokesperson explained. “When UCT became aware of tents at the location on July 24, they immediately began offering shelter and supportive services to individuals residing there, and they resolved the site on July 25. UCT will continue to closely monitor the location and take additional action as needed.”

But the site was not “resolved” by any definition of the word. In fact, Spady says it appears the encampment has actually grown.

In a follow-up statement, the spokesperson claimed it “facilitated the removal of all unauthorized structures on July 25, leaving the park open and accessible to all. Given that the park quickly repopulates, UCT plans to visit the location at least twice each week to inspect, conduct outreach, and remove structures and associated debris as needed.”

Something has to be done

Of all the neighborhoods you’d expect to be complacent about growing, dangerous homeless encampments, it’s Capitol Hill. Residents are overwhelmingly far-left, many socialists, who often defend their neighborhood as some mecca of progressive values. But their complacency shouldn’t mean that the city does little to help people living in filth get the help they need.

Spady’s Quality of Life Coalition is pushing a homeless encampment ban in unincorporated King County. He’s currently collecting signatures for a ballot initiative. But his goal includes bringing this common sense and wildly popular idea to the city of Seattle. City council candidate Rachael Savage also announced this week that she filed an initiative mirroring the Quality of Life Coalition.

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump signed an executive order aimed at pushing cities, counties, and states to sweep encampments and push the homeless into shelters and treatment. Though homelessness has worsened under Democratic leadership, especially in Seattle and King County, thanks to their laissez-faire approach of “harm reduction” and “housing first,” Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell and Governor Bob Ferguson have criticized President Donald Trump’s move. But if they considered it “resolved” when an encampment is growing, perhaps they should take the help when offered.

Listen to The Jason Rantz Show on weekday afternoons from 3 p.m. – 7 p.m. on KTTH 770 AM (HD Radio 97.3 FM HD-Channel 3). Subscribe to the podcast here. Follow Jason Rantz on ,��,��, and .

Savage, vying for the District 8 seat, filed a Seattle-specific version of the Compassionate Public Safety Act — a proposed ordinance in King County to ban unauthorized public camping and mandate directions to available shelter — on Tuesday. It’s modeled after an ordinance by the Quality of Life Coalition of King County, which is currently collecting signatures.

“This is exciting for the city of Seattle, and I think the citizens of Seattle are ready to take action,” Savage said exclusively to “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH. “They’re tired of waiting for City Hall. They haven’t done enough, and this initiative makes public camping illegal, but what we want to do for people is move them to detox treatment and shelter, and this is going to help the fentanyl addicts and the severely mentally ill get the help they need and give us what we need as Seattle citizens, clean streets so we can get back to business and building our beautiful city and have safety and prosperity for all.”

Majority of King County voters support public camping ban, polls finds

Polling commissioned by the Quality of Life Coalition found 77% of King County voters support a public camping ban with shelter access. The proposed Seattle camping ban comes after similar ordinances passed in Burien and San Diego.

In May, King County Superior Court green lit Burien’s camping ban, finding it does not violate Washington’s constitution, as opponents contended.

The City of Burien prohibits sleeping outside within city limits. Initially, this ruling applied only between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. and was punishable only if there was available room at shelters. But after a 5-2 vote in late January, Burien’s city council ruled that sleeping outside is prohibited at all times.

The decision shortly followed the Supreme Court’s ruling in Grants Pass v. Johnson, a case that ultimately led to the decision on whether cities can prohibit sleeping in public spaces. The Supreme Court ruled that cities can, stating that it does not violate the Eighth Amendment’s protection against cruel and unusual punishment.

At least seven other jurisdictions in Washington created or expanded camping bans in the last year, according to , including Auburn, Bremerton, Chelan County, Lakewood, Washougal, Wenatchee, and Spokane Valley. Approximately 140 cities have enacted similar regulations nationwide.

Listen to The Jason Rantz Show on weekday afternoons from 3 p.m. – 7 p.m. on KTTH 770 AM (HD Radio 97.3 FM HD-Channel 3). Subscribe to the podcast here. Follow Jason Rantz on ,��,��, and .

and splashed headlines about vaccination rates “dropping again,” and kindergarten vaccines “falling,” as if Washington suddenly turned into an anti-vax bunker. In The Seattle Times, Secretary of Health Robert F. Kennedy, Jr is implicitly blamed for the dip, noting it “coincides with growing anti-vaccine sentiment throughout the country.” Fox 13 tells viewers that kindergarten vaccination “fell more than 4% compared to the 2020–2021 school year,” implying it’s to blame for a small number of local measles cases. 

But what neither highlight: they’re comparing today’s numbers to a COVID-era peak — an artificial high point created by extraordinary mandates and compliance pushes, plus fear — not to the normal, pre-pandemic baseline. By that measure, statewide vaccination is still higher than normal, which makes the “down” framing misleading at best and manipulative at worst.

Vaccination rates are hardly ‘down’ the way Seattle media claims

Vaccination rates are not “down” in the traditional sense. We’re headed back to normal. This is exactly where vaccination rates were before COVID hysteria artificially inflated the numbers. Pretending otherwise is a classic case of cherry-picking data to fit a preferred narrative.

The Washington Department of Health’s own shows the K-12 “complete” vaccination rate for 2024-25 is about 89%. That’s slightly lower than the pandemic highs, but perfectly in line with the historical averages before COVID. Yet, The Seattle Times and Fox 13 would rather have you believe this is some shocking decline. They’re comparing today’s numbers to those pandemic-driven anomalies and framing it as proof of a public health crisis. That’s not honest reporting. That’s manipulation to serve a narrative.

Seattle media, intentionally or not, want to tie this entirely predictable return to normal levels to their favorite political bogeymen: MAGA conservatives and religious Washingtonians. If you read between the lines of these stories, you’ll notice the loaded language and the not-so-subtle finger-pointing. They highlight “personal” and “religious” exemptions as if those exercising their rights are dangerous villains threatening public health. It’s the same divisive tactic we saw throughout the pandemic: demonize certain groups to advance an agenda.

It’s also about trust

It’s possible that the vaccination rates would have stayed artificially high and become the new normal. But Seattle media and the left-wing lawmakers they carry water for ruined the trust many had in public health officials.

Seattle media contributed to the trust deficit during COVID. It’s likely the main reasons parents aren’t blindly complying with every vaccine recommendation like they did from 2020-2022. The constant lies about school closures, mask mandates, and vaccine efficacy eroded public trust in public health officials and the media that parroted their talking points. Parents remember being told the COVID vaccine would stop transmission — a claim they knew wasn’t true. They remember government bureaucrats pretending children were at high risk for COVID complications when the data showed the complete opposite.

Is it any wonder that some parents are taking a step back and re-evaluating their choices? That doesn’t make them “anti-vaxxers,” despite what some want you to believe. It makes them rational human beings who no longer take the media or public health establishment at their word.

Just read the data

The Seattle Times and Fox 13 are banking on the fact that most readers won’t actually dig into the Department of Health’s data. They’re betting you’ll see their scary headline and blame the people they want you to blame.

But the truth is boring and inconvenient: vaccination rates are stable and almost identical to what they were in 2016, 2017, and 2018. The only real change is that we’re no longer living under the shadow of COVID-era coercion. If the media truly cared about public health, they would focus on restoring trust, not misinterpreting the data to target the Trump administration. But that would require introspection.

Washington’s vaccination rates aren’t collapsing. What we are witnessing is the media exploiting data for cheap political points. And every time they do it, they make it harder for the public to trust them.

Listen to The Jason Rantz Show on weekday afternoons from 3 p.m. – 7 p.m. on KTTH 770 AM (HD Radio 97.3 FM HD-Channel 3). Subscribe to the podcast here. Follow Jason Rantz on ,��,��, and .

Listen to The Jason Rantz Show weekdays from 3 p.m. – 7 p.m. on AM 770 KTTH or on-demand wherever you listen to podcast

Listen to The Jason Rantz Show weekdays from 3 p.m. – 7 p.m. on AM 770 KTTH or on-demand wherever you listen to podcast

Listen to The Jason Rantz Show weekdays from 3 p.m. – 7 p.m. on AM 770 KTTH or on-demand wherever you listen to podcast

Washington Democrats’ list of grievances includes residents losing funding to Medicaid, Planned Parenthood, rural hospitals, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). But Braun notes their complaints are meant to distract voters from Democrats’ own actions in Olympia, where they have total control.

“I think it’s just using the items in the Big Beautiful Bill passed to distract voters from things that they did just in the last session, [like] $13 billion in new taxes, mostly aimed at working Washingtonians,” Braun told “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH.

“Instead of owning the damage and trying to address the damage they did to the hospital system in our state, they’re claiming things that I think are patently untrue about the legislation.”

Washington Democrats targeted healthcare statewide, not Trump

Braun notes that the only people losing their Medicaid coverage are people who shouldn’t have been on it to begin with.

“It’s very reasonable stuff. It’s stuff like work requirements, specifically on able-bodied folks… and the requirement is only 20 hours per week. And it could be work, it could be education, it could be volunteering, so it’s not a high bar,” said Braun.

As for rural hospitals, Braun says Republicans built in a safety net for them too.

“They were smart to recognize there may be some concerns long term with especially rural health care. That’s why they put a fund in $50 billion over the next five years to help backstop specific challenges for rural hospitals,” added Braun.

He notes that it was Democrats who pushed for and .

Listen to the full conversation with Senator Braun below.

Listen to The Jason Rantz Show on weekday afternoons from 3-7 p.m. on KTTH 770 AM (HD Radio 97.3 FM HD-Channel 3). Subscribe to the podcast here. Follow Jason on ,  a�Ի� .

Paul Perez, president of the National Border Patrol Council — the union representing more than 16,000 frontline agents — joined the Border Patrol in 1997 after serving in the U.S. military. He’s currently an active-duty agent assigned to the Kingsville Station in South Texas’ Rio Grande Valley Sector.

“In the big, beautiful bill, we’re going to get everything we need for the northern border as well. We’ve dedicated the time, resources, and manpower to the northern border, and we’ll secure it just like the southern border,” Perez said on “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH. “We’ve got the technology, cameras, drones, agents up there, everything that we need. We just don’t have enough of it, and under the big, beautiful bill, we’re going to get that.”

The U.S.-Canada border spans 5,525 miles, from Washington to the tip of Maine and along Alaska’s eastern front. In the 2023 fiscal year, northern border patrol agents seized approximately 55,000 pounds of drugs, the confirmed.

Paul Perez’s battle at the border

Under the Biden administration, there were more than 8 million migrant encounters nationwide, with 6.7 million of those encounters occurring at the southern border, according to the .

“[The Biden administration] encouraged the invasion, they facilitated it, and now they’re looking and realizing that it didn’t take any new laws,” Perez said. “It took a new president that actually wanted to enforce the laws that are actually on the books.”

Rantz addressed an article by , which claimed that federal workers’ morale has been low; however, Perez noted that for border patrol agents, this is not the case.

“Our agents are out there patrolling the border, they’re able to do the job that they signed up to do. I have not heard of any negative complaints about what is going on right now,” Perez said. “The complaining was during the Biden administration, when we were pulled off the line and forced to process, babysit, and transport millions of people coming across unvetted and then released into the country. That’s when morale was the lowest.”

The noted that the Border Patrol is specifically responsible for patrolling roughly 6,000 miles of Mexican and Canadian international land borders, and more than 2,000 miles of coastal waters surrounding the Florida Peninsula and the island of Puerto Rico.

“Once we get operational control of the border, we’re going to maintain it. You can’t secure a border and then leave it alone,” Perez said. “That’s the job that we signed up to do. We’re not going away because the numbers are going to drop; that’s what our job is, it’s to provide operational control and border security.”

Border Patrol operations include preventing illegal entry of individuals and smuggled drugs, through traffic checkpoints, transportation inspections, marine patrol, and horse and bike patrol, according to the CBP.

“Our agents do a lot of training, and collateral duties that they engage in, so there’s enough work outside of just being on the line,” Perez said. “We make sure that we cycle people through so that nobody gets fatigued or bored while on the job. I don’t believe that this is a boring job at all.”

The CBP received between January and April 2025, representing a 44% increase compared to the same four-month period in 2024.

“The border patrol the way it is now, we have a record number of people applying to this job, our recruiters are really great at what they do,” Perez said. “They don’t have to sell the job, it sells itself. Protecting our country, being outdoors, riding horses, ATVs, everything.”

Perez’s storied history with the U.S. Border Patrol

Perez touched on his more than two decades of service with Border Patrol.

“Having done this job for 28 years under five different presidents, I’ve seen the highs and the lows,” Perez added. “Trump’s first term, morale went through the roof. We were actually able to do the job that we weren’t able to do when Obama was president. When Trump left office and Biden came in with a lot of open border activists, they shut down all of our operations, and flooded the U.S. with millions of illegal immigrants.”

The NIF claimed that Border Patrol agents seized nearly 550,000 pounds of illicit drug substances nationwide in FY 2023, including approximately 150,000 pounds of marijuana and 140,000 pounds of methamphetamine.

“Trump is going to do such a great job that it’s going to put the next Republican candidate in a good spot to maintain the border security that we need and continue the operations that we have,” Perez said. “If our next president is a Democrat, hopefully they’ll maintain the status quo, and have to do absolutely nothing, which is all Biden had to do the first time.”

Listen to the full conversation below.

Listen to The Jason Rantz Show on weekday afternoons from 3 p.m. – 7 p.m. on KTTH 770 AM (HD Radio 97.3 FM HD-Channel 3). Subscribe to the podcast here. Follow Jason Rantz on ,��,��, and .

“If you see such a need to investigate this, why didn’t you raise it during the Biden administration? We couldn’t find that you made any public comments about Epstein in previous administrations,” Brown said to Jayapal on CNN Wednesday morning.

“Well, I would have been happy to raise it then as well,” she replied, before explaining that she was “focused on so many different pieces.”

What in the world does that mean? She’s asked why she didn’t raise her concerns before claiming she would have been happy to raise those concerns. And yet she didn’t.

Kudos to Pamela Brown for confronting Squad member Pramila Jayapal for her sudden feigned interest in the Epstein files. And a bonus that they used a clip of me calling her out.

Related:

— Jason Rantz on KTTH Radio (@jasonrantz)

Jason Rantz called out Pramila Jayapal on CNN, too

Brown didn’t stop pressing, airing a clip from the day earlier where I joined CNN to call out Jayapal and other Democrats for acting in bad faith on this issue.

“They’re [pursuing the Epstein files] because they think that it’s going to create more distrust within the [MAGA] movement. Ultimately, I think that actually hurts [Democrats] because I don’t know how many MAGA base members are going to say, ‘Yes, I support what Pramila Jayapal and Eric Swalwell are saying! I’m on their side!’ So, actually, I think they’re hurting their own cause,” I said on CNN.

Jayapal didn’t have much of a relevant response, instead saying, “Well, good, then he shouldn’t worry about it.” She claimed that her base is clamoring for the Epstein files (they are not, which is precisely why Jayapal has been completely silent on the issue until recently), then weirdly claimed that Republicans attend her townhalls in Seattle (they most certainly do not).

Democrats are suddenly pretending to care about the Epstein Files, thinking they’ll help create tension between the base and Trump. They’re actually ensuring there *isn’t* tension.

— Jason Rantz on KTTH Radio (@jasonrantz)

“So Jason and others should feel perfectly fine then with my calling for this because they shouldn’t have to worry about it if they think nobody’s listening,” Jayapal added, apparently confused by the statement she was responding to.

I don’t care that Jayapal is demanding the Epstein files. That she is exploiting the suffering of innocent young girls to try to score political points when she didn’t care one iota of Epstein’s victims before is something she’ll have to live with, not me.

Listen to The Jason Rantz Show on weekday afternoons from 3 p.m. – 7 p.m. on KTTH 770 AM (HD Radio 97.3 FM HD-Channel 3). Subscribe to the podcast here. Follow Jason Rantz on ,��,��, and .

����Xվ Newsradio uncovered court records Wednesday that showed Pierce County Sheriff Keith Swank, who hired Dickerson to be a part of the command staff as head of criminal investigations, was also arrested for DUI 18 years ago while he was employed as a sergeant with the Seattle Police Department (SPD).

Swank believes the arrest, which happened on February 23, 2007, was mishandled. The incident began when he drove down to Raymond to help out his friend.

“I’m a hunter, in case you didn’t know, and a friend of mine got an elk, and I went down there to give my hand with it,” he said. “Afterwards, we did some celebrating.”

Swank said he had too much to drink, so he decided not to drive his vehicle. Due to it being a cold, rainy February day, he got into his car, where he sat and waited.

“I wasn’t even sleeping. I was just sitting in there, and figured I had to stay there for a while,” he explained. “My car wasn’t running, I didn’t have keys in the ignition, I put them in the back seat, on the floorboard, all the things that we always taught people to do if they had too much to drink, to make sure that if they could sit in the car outside of the elements.”

Washington State Patrol trooper arrests Keith Swank in 2007

A Washington State Patrol (WSP) trooper saw Swank sitting in his car and approached him.

“Probably thought I was going to drive off somewhere,” he said. “I didn’t, and they came over to the car and talked with me. I opened the car door up, and he smelled intoxicants on me, of course, because I had been drinking, and he arrested me for DUI.”

Swank mentioned that even though he explained to the trooper he wasn’t driving and there were no taxis available in rural Raymond, the arrest continued.

“I believe that it was handled improperly,” Swank said. “However, I had to deal with it too, because here I am, a sergeant with the Seattle Police Department. It’s embarrassing for the agency, of course, and people are going to say their own stories about what happened and my behavior and all of that. So I went through the process, agreed, and took the breathalyzer and all that stuff.”

Swank ended up getting an attorney, but said the legal fees were too high.

He noted that during his 15 years as a patrol officer, he would approach people all the time who were intoxicated and sleeping in their cars. However, he would take their keys and have them sober up at the precinct before sending them on their way.

“We didn’t want them driving,” he said. “We wanted them to be safe, but we also didn’t want to just charge them with some crime.”

Pierce County Sheriff says Dickerson will be held accountable

While Swank made the choice not to drive under the influence, Dickerson allegedly did, crashing into an SUV with six people inside, including a pregnant mother. The woman’s 57-year-old mother suffered several broken bones. The other occupants appeared to be uninjured, according to a news release from WSP.

“This is tragic. I feel terrible about the victim’s family, the mother, the children, her husband, the grandmother,” Swank stated. “I heard there are injuries. I don’t know how bad they are. I hope everybody’s fine. It breaks my heart. I don’t want that going on. But at the same time, too, we’re going to hold our own people accountable.”

He added that deputies “don’t get special treatment” and that the sheriff’s office isn’t asking for that.

“It’s a serious deal, and we’re looking at it seriously, and I’m just very sad the whole way around,” he said.

When asked about the report that Dickerson left the scene of the crash, Swank said it is his understanding that Dickerson did not want to leave, but medics and a sergeant at the scene recommended he go to the hospital due to the severity of the collision. Swank said Dickerson still wouldn’t leave, but that his wife arrived and convinced him to go to the hospital.

“There were no other means of transportation, but that’s my understanding,” he shared. “She took him to the hospital, to an urgent care facility.”

Swank added that Dickerson earned the position of major in the sheriff’s office.

“He’s a leader. He’s a great guy. He has detective experience,” Swank said. “He’s a very compassionate, very nice guy. I think the world of him. I think of him as family. But at the same time, if my son were involved in something like this, I would say the same thing: He has to deal with the situation.”

Listen to the full conversation below.

Listen to The Jason Rantz Show on weekday afternoons from 3 p.m. – 7 p.m. on KTTH 770 AM (HD Radio 97.3 FM HD-Channel 3). Subscribe to the podcast here. Follow Jason Rantz on ,��,��, and .

Listen to The Jason Rantz Show weekdays from 3 p.m. – 7 p.m. on AM 770 KTTH or on-demand wherever you listen to podcast

“It’s going to be warming up a lot from yesterday,””It’s not going to be the end of the world, but mid-80s are possible. It cooled down quite a bit yesterday, but it’s starting to go up quickly.”

Much of the lowlands south of Seattle will get into the mid-80s, according to Cliff Mass, professor of Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Washington (UW), while it will remain a little cooler up north. A 90-degree day is on schedule in the Seattle urban area Wednesday, with temperatures even a little warmer to the south.

“Wednesday will be the warmest day of the week, clearly,” Mass told “The Jason Rantz Show.” “After that, as we get into Thursday, marine air is going to start pushing in, and temperatures will go down at least five degrees on Thursday and then get back into the 70s by the weekend.”

“So this is a little overstated,” Rantz asked Mass.

“Well, if you’re suggesting this is some historic heat wave, that is not the case,” Mass answered. “It’ll be a little bit of a warm-up. It will be above normal. Remember, normal is about 80 degrees right now. This is the warmest, driest time of the year historically in Seattle, and we’re going to get some of that.”

Mass wouldn’t go so far as to call this burst of hot weather an official “heat wave,” claiming that a heat wave needs to be more than a single day of above-normal temperatures.

Summer nighttime temperatures have increased, Axios finds

reported that between 1970 and 2024, the average increased in 96% of 241 locations analyzed. In their findings, the average summer low in Seattle increased by 2.9 degrees, in Yakima by 4.3 degrees, and in Spokane by 5.1 degrees.

“Why do they talk about nighttime temperatures?” Mass countered. “If they talked about the daytime high temperatures, which people really care about, that’s not up so much. It’s the nighttime temperatures that are up, and that’s an issue because some of that is not real. Many urban areas are much warmer at night because of the urban heat island effect, and so that brings the nighttime temperatures up preferentially over the daytime ones.”

Onshore wind is expected to bring cooler air in later in the week, although temperatures are still estimated to be above average, hanging around the mid and upper-80s.

“The good news is, at least, it seems the air quality is pretty strong right now, right?” Rantz asked.

“The air quality actually is quite good. In fact, the fires have been less than normal,” Mass claimed. “So strangely enough, despite all these warnings about how warm it’s been and how dry it’s been and all that kind of stuff, actually, the fire situation has been extremely benign this year. We’ve seen very, very, very little or no smoke coming into the western side of the state.”

Listen to the full conversation here.

Listen to The Jason Rantz Show on weekday afternoons from 3 p.m. – 7 p.m. on KTTH 770 AM (HD Radio 97.3 FM HD-Channel 3). Subscribe to the podcast here. Follow Jason Rantz on ,��,��, and .