On today's show, we have an interview with retired US Air Force Master Sergeant Nick Cupper, a hero in the fight against abortion on demand legislation in the House of Representatives. He talks about his views on the issue, why he opposes it, and why he thinks it's a terrible idea. We also hear from Rep. Matt Gaetz, who has been a thorn in the side of the Deep State and the deep state for a long time, and what he's doing to fight back against it. And we have updates from the Supreme Court regarding the controversial vaccine mandate in the military. We also have an update from the Virginia Supreme Court on the challenge to the Defense of Life Amendment, which could allow abortion up to the day of birth in the United States. And of course, we get to hear from our Firebrand of the Week, Rep. Jason Smith, who is fighting for the rights of all unborn children. If you want to stand for the flag, and kneel in prayer, and not burn her to the ground, then you're in the right place! Firebrand is live broadcasting live from our office in the Capitol Complex in Washington, D.C. and we have a great interview with a hero, American hero, a patriot, and a man who has done nothing but speak his mind. . Thank you for tuning in, Firebrand! - Your support is so appreciated. - Firebrand - Don't Tell Mom: e-mail us what you think of this episode and we'll get a shoutout on the next episode of Firebrand. Timestamps: and a shout out to someone else who needs it! Tim's Story: . . . Firebrand's Story? Thanks for listening to the Firebrand Podcast: Tim Gooden's Story is Tweet Me Out! or if you have a story you'd like to be featured on Firebrand: , or have a question or would you like to respond to it? or share it on Insta: or your story is or a screenshot of something like that's good, tweet me or any other good thing I'm listening to it's good enough, and I'll get it on the podcast? , or a review or a story about it's story is good enough and/or a story I'll send it to me tweet me an e-post?
00:04:57.000Matt Gaetz was one of the very few members in the entire Congress who bothered to stand up against permanent Washington on behalf of his constituents.
00:05:05.000Matt Gaetz right now, he's a problem for the Democratic Party.
00:05:07.000He could cause a lot of hiccups in passing the laws.
00:05:10.000So we're going to keep running those stories to keep hurting him.
00:05:14.000If you stand for the flag and kneel in prayer, if you want to build America up and not burn her to the ground, then welcome, my fellow patriots!
00:05:52.000We are live broadcasting out of our office in the Capitol Complex in Washington DC and I have a terrific interview with an American hero, a patriot.
00:06:02.000Air Force Master Sergeant Nick Cupper came and sat down and chatted with us moments ago about the way This vaccine mandate in the military is affecting military families, and we've even got updates regarding important court rulings giving some relief, particularly to those service members in the Air Force who did not have a fair evaluation of their request for religious exemptions to the vaccine.
00:06:28.000But first, just moments ago, House Democrats passed their abortion on demand legislation.
00:06:35.000And this goes far further than Roe versus Wade.
00:06:39.000It even would allow abortion up to the day of birth.
00:06:42.000And gosh, if you gave the Virginia governor his own interpretation of the bill, maybe even abortion after the day of birth, which we actually call murder in this country, or at least we should if we cared about humanity as much as we ought to.
00:06:56.000We had a very spirited debate in the House Judiciary Committee where Democrats were just like trying to rush through anything they could to facilitate snap abortions, elective abortions, abortions that would be a crime against humanity.
00:07:10.000I'd had enough of it and shot back pretty hard.
00:07:27.000And if I want to ask questions of Ms. Ross, she could choose whether or not to yield to give the answers.
00:07:31.000But you covering for her, she doesn't know the words she uses and cannot in the Judiciary Committee sit and answer the questions on something as important as life or death when I control the time is outrageous.
00:07:49.000But it's crazy that in this committee, when I'm trying to get honest answers to questions about the effect of the bill, whether or not it paves the way to abortions, that you all want to sit up there and squawk at me rather than allow me to ask questions.
00:08:02.000When you have the time, you can control the time.
00:08:16.000I want the answer on the record, Ms. Bass.
00:08:18.000I want the answer for the American people because to all of us, my party that was impugned, we actually think that unborn life is a child and that there is a liberty interest there that is worthy of our defense and our protection and the values that undergird the American Constitution.
00:08:35.000I don't think that's too unreasonable.
00:08:36.000And by the way, if you use a phrase in this committee, you shouldn't have to have a senior member answer the questions for you.
00:08:44.000You should be able to answer those questions yourself.
00:08:46.000And if not, I think it speaks to the credibility of the debate that is offered.
00:09:27.000The good news is, with the Supreme Court we currently have, This is now a pro-life country, and we've got all the time in the world for that.
00:09:38.000And what's crazy, just moments ago, alongside their legislation to allow abortions on demand, Democrats actually lowered tariffs on baby formula to get more baby formula into the country.
00:09:53.000I'm actually for our children and our babies being able to be appropriately nourished.
00:09:59.000But only Nancy Pelosi and her radical band of House Democrats would not appreciate the irony of, within moments of one another, passing a bill making it easier to feed babies, and then passing a bill making it easier to kill babies.
00:10:15.000Fortunately, we have a pro-life Supreme Court, a pro-Constitution Supreme Court, thanks to the boldness of President Trump.
00:10:28.000I also want to chat a little bit today about the military vaccine mandate.
00:10:32.000Now, one of the ways we try to keep folks informed about what's going on in the country is actually to bring people forward who are experiencing the consequences of the decisions that we make in Washington, D.C., and particularly some of the very damaging decisions made by the Biden administration.
00:10:49.000So several months ago, we had a number of active duty service members join us for a discussion about vaccine mandates in the military.
00:10:56.000They talked about the coercion, the threats, the regulations that were being violated.
00:11:02.000One of the service members who joined us then was Air Force Master Sergeant Nick Cupper.
00:11:12.000Master Sergeant, one of the things that concerned me in an investigation that my office ran into the United States Navy is that when people submitted requests for religious accommodations, they were often met in response by a form letter, which to me indicated that an individual review of people's claim,
00:11:31.000how this decision was grounded in faith or scripture, wasn't really made Do you have any observations about the process of requesting a religious accommodation and how the Air Force looks at those?
00:11:50.000I've seen hundreds of denied religious accommodation requests to include denied appeal requests.
00:11:57.000I've seen a handful of the approved ones, and all of them start with the premise that the government has such a strong interest in vaccinating us that While they determine all of our religious beliefs are to be sincerely held, they determine that even as strongly as our beliefs are, they're not as strong as the government's desire and need to vaccinate all of us.
00:12:20.000Even in situations such as my own where I currently have No restrictions on me as an unvaccinated member at my location.
00:12:29.000I don't have to do any social distancing.
00:12:33.000My life at my job is the exact same as any vaccinated members, and I'm not unique in that scenario right now.
00:12:40.000But the only approvals they've been doing that I've been able to see and that court documents have shown are for people who are already on terminal leave, already in their final months, where they won't return to a base.
00:12:51.000In fact, the approval specifically says that they are only approving it because they will not return to a base.
00:12:57.000If the member's not returning to their duty station ever, that's not an accommodation.
00:13:04.000That really was one of my favorite episodes we've done.
00:13:07.000You can go back, listen to it, and get perspectives from other service members who are going through these challenges.
00:13:13.000Now, after that appearance on Firebrand, Tucker Carlson, who I'm pretty sure is a Firebrand viewer and listener, he reached out to Nick and had Nick on his show so that more of the American people could see what is happening.
00:13:27.000Take a listen to Nick's performance on Tucker.
00:13:32.000So, my theory is we ignore the big things in favor of obsessing over the little ones, so destroying the US military would qualify as a big thing.
00:14:26.000I think we need more folks who are willing to step forward and help enlighten us and illuminate what's happening afterwards.
00:14:34.000Nick got a reprimand from the Department of Defense saying that he was aiding the enemy just for that interview on Tucker.
00:14:42.000So I wanted to get a more complete picture.
00:14:45.000I wanted to understand from Nick what's happening with others in the fighting force who are being really, I think, discriminated against who are not having their religious exemptions viewed fairly.
00:14:58.000And also really to get back to that core of what motivates people to step forward for military service.
00:15:05.000Something that we absolutely need to keep America prosperous and free.
00:15:09.000Nick stopped by just moments ago and we had a conversation.
00:15:15.000We're back and happy to join with Nick Cupper on your return to Firebrand.
00:15:21.000You were with us before and Nick, you know, we talked about some of the coercion and some of the concerns of a lot of our active duty military as a consequence of this VAX mandate.
00:15:32.000Can you share with folks what your current standing is with the military?
00:15:36.000We've just had this injunction issued that I think really works against the forces pushing for this mandate.
00:15:43.000Just share with folks kind of your circumstance.
00:16:02.000And for a member like me, who's been here for 19 years, it starts a process where I would go to a board where they can determine to retain me or not.
00:16:10.000If they choose not to, I'd be gone in about a week after that.
00:16:13.000So you spoke out about the circumstances that you were observing and experiencing regarding this mandate, and you did so with several other colleagues who were active duty.
00:16:21.000Then you went on Tucker Carlson's program and just shared your reaction to what was publicly available information.
00:16:29.000And now two things have happened, a separation package and a reprimand.
00:16:40.000So I can't get into the specifics of it because they've marked it as such that I won't.
00:16:45.000But the long and short is they effectively say that I have hurt the government and hurt our country by going on Tucker, which is not accurate at all.
00:16:57.000Everything I spoke of was publicly available information.
00:16:59.000I didn't give my own personal opinion.
00:17:02.000I may have hurt some feelings, but everything I said was 100% a public available true number.
00:17:08.000And the separation package that's sort of the other feature of this.
00:17:12.000Now we're aware of really breaking news on the legal front where a court has issued an injunction against some of the activities that the Air Force is engaged in regarding our airmen.
00:17:22.000Where does your separation package stand?
00:17:25.000So, yeah, so because of this injunction in the case Doster v.
00:17:28.000Kendall, which is specific to Air Force, unfortunately, I wish it was for everyone, and it's only specific to members who have sought a religious accommodation.
00:17:34.000We have a 14-day temporary injunction right now.
00:17:38.000The defense, the Air Force will have the chance to argue it.
00:17:41.000The plaintiffs have a chance to come back, and at the end of the 14 days, unless the judge is swayed, which I doubt he will be, we're going to have a permanent injunction until the end of that trial.
00:17:49.000So because of that, my separation package now has to go away.
00:17:53.000Everyone who was being punished in the military, in the Air Force specifically, who had a religious accommodation at some point, now has a little breathing room.
00:18:04.000Actually, I flew in on Thursday, and I took a quick nap at my friend's house.
00:18:09.000During the nap is when the injunction came down.
00:18:11.000I said, I would have come here and napped a long time ago if I would have known this would happen.
00:18:14.000Well, and I hope that this is an opportunity DOD-wide to really analyze the effect of these mandates on our service members, not just in the Air Force, but really throughout our military, and also to maybe reflect.
00:18:27.000You know, so often in government, we don't exercise the humility to say, maybe a decision we made was rash.
00:18:34.000Maybe it wasn't fully informed by the evidence or the science.
00:18:37.000I call on Secretary Austin on the DOD to really think hard about what this injunction means, what the analysis is that undergirds this injunction, and maybe this will be the opportunity for us to get away from pitting our military against the heroes and patriots who are offering to serve in that military.
00:18:58.000And to that end, Nick, I just sort of want to ask you, what drove you to make this decision that I didn't make, that so many Americans don't make, To put on that uniform and to be willing to stand up for your country and defend her.
00:19:11.000So I was young, you know, straight out of high school.
00:19:14.000Actually, I hadn't even graduated yet, of course, when I decided.
00:19:17.000And I wasn't 100% sure I wanted to do, but the military was an attractive option and has been for such a long time for so many members.
00:19:24.000And one, it was a way to take care of myself, but another, it was a way to give back to my country.
00:19:30.000You know, my dad had served in the Army.
00:19:34.000My uncle earned a Bronze Star in Vietnam.
00:19:36.000You know, I kind of wanted to, you know, honor that.
00:19:41.000So family was a big part of it for you.
00:19:43.000Family was definitely a big part of it.
00:19:44.000And, you know, bigger than just why I initially joined, I was a young man, you know, maybe didn't think through everything.
00:19:48.000The reason I've re-enlisted multiple times and I'm almost at 20 years now is because I care about doing the hard things so I can take care of others.
00:19:59.000I am happy to serve so that someone else doesn't have to.
00:20:02.000You know, I'm willing to put my life, my family's stability at risk because I honestly just care and I think more people need to just care.
00:20:10.000And I think that the depth of that care is multi-generational for a lot of our service members.
00:20:17.000We've had experts from DOD come and testify to us that while we face these intense challenges in recruiting, our best recruiters are moms and dads and aunts and uncles and grandmothers and grandfathers who have served, who want to build that family tradition of patriotism and service to country.
00:20:35.000Are you concerned that some of these vaccine mandates might cause some people in the country to reflect differently with their children and grandchildren and nieces and nephews about just how the military experience goes in one's life?
00:20:53.000I think that the vaccine mandates, the way it's being handled, I would say, and a lot of the other newer policies that have come along later in my career now, have definitely changed how people want to...
00:21:07.000What people want to advise their children to do.
00:21:09.000And like I said, when I was on your show last time, you know, at this point for me, I don't want my children serving, not in the current military that's here.
00:21:16.000And people may not like that, but, you know, that's a personal decision for me and my family, and it's factual.
00:21:22.000You know, what I have seen, I don't want for my children.
00:21:25.000You know, I want to defend this country.
00:21:27.000I would love my children to defend this country, but not at the stake of all of their rights being, you know, thrown away on a whim.
00:21:35.000You know, Nick, my office did an analysis, and we're going to put it out with the show, about the readiness costs of these vaccine mandates.
00:21:42.000And we calculated easily that the United States is essentially surrendering about $4 billion worth of training investment With just the separations that we're able to see above the surface.
00:21:55.000And you gave us a lot of information about separations that are occurring that might not be officially designated as a vaccine separation, but maybe it's somebody who just doesn't want to go through the fight.
00:22:05.000Maybe they can go work somewhere else and, you know, they weren't serving in the Air Force or the Army or the Navy.
00:22:12.000You know, to get rich, they were doing it out of love of country, but there might be other economic opportunities that are better.
00:22:18.000And so at a minimum, it's a $4 billion loss in our training investment.
00:22:23.000But what I think you're telling me right now is that there's a readiness impact That we're not going to feel today, that we're going to feel 10, 20 years down the road potentially if the moms and dads who serve, who are part of that robust recruiting for the next generation aren't doing that.
00:22:40.000If patriots and heroes like you aren't pushing it on the next generation, who do we expect to do it, right?
00:22:47.000And if that's happening, it creates a really long gestation period for that impact on readiness.
00:23:06.000And it takes years and years and years to build that person up.
00:23:10.000And on top of the fact that that's just trying to replace one of us, the fact that we're not getting the members in to replace us, and the numbers that they're putting out there.
00:23:18.000I mean, like I mentioned on Tucker, you know, at the DoD's own website right now, they're listing over 290,000 members that are only partially vaccinated.
00:23:25.000That doesn't include all of us who are unvaccinated.
00:23:30.000So you're kind of seeing it on both ends from a potential readiness issue where you have a potential mass exodus of the DOD's own making.
00:23:38.000And then you have very little, you know, anyone coming in, any accessions, right?
00:23:44.000I mean, what did the Army put out the other day of their own numbers?
00:23:47.000They said they were at 40% of their goal with three months left in this fiscal year.
00:23:52.000So how are you going to get 60% in three months when you could only get 40 in nine?
00:23:57.000I used to recruit for years, and this is not the recruiting environment that I worked in.
00:24:00.000I didn't know you did recruiting work as part of your service.
00:24:04.000I have to ask, when you were doing that, what were the things that you would put before potential recruits that you really felt motivated them?
00:24:47.000You know, honestly, and I've said this for years to a lot of my troops and stuff, the way the military and the Air Force specifically, because that's mine, is designed, it's designed really, really well.
00:24:57.000And there's a lot of things in there to take care of people.
00:25:00.000The problem is when, from time to time, you're going to get a bad leader.
00:25:03.000Same list of inside, you might have a bad boss.
00:25:57.000Well, and a lot of the policies that you were just really, I think, celebrating are about making the service member feel as though they're part of something bigger in their service with the military.
00:26:08.000And to provide those family accommodations and to provide that support for the force multiplier that is a military family is, And it seems like, to me, this vaccine mandate cuts against a lot of that unity and culture and cohesion that draw people into the military because they want to be a part of something bigger.
00:26:27.000And just to be fair, I wouldn't argue so much against the mandate itself, but the implementation of it is where my concern is.
00:26:36.000Because there are all these already on the books rules for exemptions and things like that, right?
00:26:42.000And religious exemptions have been a thing forever.
00:26:45.000I mean, we have the right to religious freedom.
00:27:01.000And they're at the point where they're not approving religious accommodations.
00:27:06.000Well, in my own investigation of my own constituents, I would see these detailed expressions of faith, citing chapter and verse to Scripture, aligning that Scripture with personal faith experiences and moments of salvation.
00:27:20.000And then I would see form letters sent back from the military to my constituents.
00:27:30.000Requires an individual assessment of each claim for a religious exemption or a medical exemption.
00:27:36.000And then to be able to hold up the letters back to a lamp and see that the letters line right up, it shows that people weren't being given the opportunity to have their exemption claim assessed so much as they were just being processed through a system.
00:28:04.000And, you know, they have a policy in place across the DOD to only grant religious accommodations to members who are already on their final leave or in a skill bridge program, which is like an internship.
00:28:14.000Either way, I read one just the other day.
00:28:16.000It says it's conditionally approved as long as you never return to a DOD facility.
00:29:22.000And I'm getting to the point where I'm being limited in whether I'm allowed to or not.
00:29:27.000And for my personal religious accommodation request, I
00:30:00.000look at it You know, it's hard, and not just for Christians, for all members of faith, all types of faiths have applied for these.
00:30:07.000And they've all been, I will say at least, they've been equally treated badly because they've all been treated to the point where, well, if you're not this one category who's already on the way out and not going to come back, we're not approving you.
00:30:19.000The military imposes a very unique series of challenges on family life.
00:30:26.000Moving around a lot, TDY, training, sometimes a family member not even knowing where you are.
00:30:36.000And there's a certain strength and resilience that I see in military families that go through these remarkable, I think, just ups and downs in life.
00:30:48.000It's never been anything like this, though.
00:30:50.000I feel that there's something different about the way that the implementation of these mandates have affected military families.
00:30:56.000Can you talk about what life's been like for you as you've gone from your service to now being really an advocate for, I think, a great number of service members who have the concerns that you express?
00:33:00.000Express a desire for everyone to follow the rules.
00:33:03.000I worry that even if you're okay, and even if others that might get separated are okay, that America won't be okay.
00:33:10.000I look at these recruiting numbers, and right now, only 23% of the young folks in middle school and high school that are part of that talent pipeline are even physically eligible.
00:33:22.000We got the Xbox generation, and if our country doesn't have folks like you and the tens of thousands that are facing separation, we're not going to be a stronger country.
00:33:45.000And I worry if we get to a circumstance where we drive out a lot of folks who were inspired by faith and inspired by a desire to be part of a family's contribution to a great nation, then we're going to be left in a very vulnerable situation.
00:34:00.000I mean, in your time in the military, I'm sure you've seen circumstances where missions become very critical to the advance of our country and our freedom.
00:34:11.000We've had this debate in Congress now about The National Defense Authorization Act.
00:34:16.000And there's some that would say, you know, gosh, we shouldn't authorize our military until they fix all these issues and comply with their laws.
00:34:23.000And gosh, you know, I worry that if we didn't have a military, we would not have the American experience.
00:34:30.000You know, that is part of the world experience.
00:35:02.000If something, you know, God forbid, another country somehow became most powerful and took us over at some point, you know, distant future, hopefully never, there's no coming back from it.
00:35:12.000I mean, you have multiple generations of your family that have committed to that as the cause of their life.
00:35:18.000And it's just not something we should ever surrender, and it's not something we should allow ourselves to be vulnerable to.
00:35:25.000We should not be a vulnerable country, and I worry that these large numbers of separations will be noticed by our adversaries.
00:35:35.000If anyone thinks that they're not watching and paying attention, they're fooling themselves.
00:35:39.000Well, I'm certainly grateful that there has been judicial relief.
00:35:43.000I have filed amendments, debated for them, worked on coalitions, and the Democrats would not approve one amendment for even a vote of the full House of Representatives on the vaccine mandate.
00:35:53.000They approved 650 amendments and not one on this issue, which is...
00:35:57.000Which is really, I think, disgraceful.
00:35:59.000But, you know, we did get judicial relief.
00:36:04.000I do hope and pray and I implore the Department of Defense, use this as an opportunity to change your way of thinking, to change the way you treat our service members who just want the opportunity to make a patriotic contribution and who love our military.
00:36:21.000to have the DOD comply with their own regs is not a movement led by people who think America is a bad place or a racist place or an awful place.