Morning In Memphis

SPEAKER_1 (0:01)

From the Principal Toyota Studios, it's Morning in Memphis with Todd Starnes.

John Covington (0:09)

And good morning. Welcome to Starnes country. Wait a second, I'm not Todd Starnes. I'm John Covington. Today, welcome to Covington County. You know, Helen, I wasn't crazy about that opening. I'm sure we can fix it because this is being taped, right?

What do you mean it's live?

I wasn't told it was going to be live. Anyway, yeah, so I'm filling in today, and me and wrestling out of Parts Unknown, Helen Hazard is on the mic over there, pushing all the buttons. So if there's any mistakes made, I'm going to preemptively blame them on Helen because I'm just the talent. Anyway, it's a true pleasure to be here. You know, yesterday, the kids took over the Gen C. How did that go, Helen? Did you enjoy yourself?

Helen Hazard (0:49)

It went well. Todd was downstairs, you know, strapped up screaming, please give me back the mic. But, you know, we weren't fired, so that's good.

John Covington (0:58)

Well, let me tell you, I listened. I thought you guys did a great job, and you had a great call-in guest, which was me, which I'm a big fan of. And so it went well, but still, you know, Todd reached out and he said, you know what, we need some parental supervision. So he said he looked and I want to call a mature adult, insightful, wise, thoughtful. And he couldn't get in touch with that person, so he called me. And I was more than happy to fill in. Even though, Helen, as I talked about, it's been a long week for me and I took today off, but then I broke the news to my wife. Well, I'll be getting up at 3 o'clock in the morning or whatever it is to come in and prepare for this. But I'm powered by, and I'm not ashamed to say it, pistachio latte.

Not the most manly of drinks, but it is delicious. Helen, what's your drink of choice to get you going in the morning?

Helen Hazard (1:45)

I'm usually a vanilla latte person, but when I go to Starbucks, sometimes I do the modifications, which the workers hate.

John Covington (1:56)

But yes, everybody hates that.

SPEAKER_4 (1:58)

You got to make a decision.

John Covington (1:59)

You got to be bold. Come on now.

Helen Hazard (2:01)

I'm like extra whipped cream. I want Java chips. Oh, and change this to oat milk. I'm the worst one. They don't like to see my car coming in the drive.

John Covington (2:09)

Well, my drink choice sounds more and more manly all the time compared to yours. So thank you for that. We're going to cover a lot today. I recently took a trip to Washington, DC.

And I'm going to get into a Victims of Violent Crime Conference at a day honoring the parents in the Victims of Violent Crime. We'll talk about that. I want to talk about immigration. And also, this is the one year anniversary, as we know, of the task force. I wrote an op-ed about it yesterday. Let me tell you, Helen, I made some liberals upset on a mean comment. But it's typical. It didn't appear to me that anybody actually read my piece, which was all fact-based. But, you know, they went on a motion. But I'm OK. I've got a thick skin. That's good. Yeah. So that's what I do. So anyway, I do want to get into something a little bit serious. As I say, last week, I attended the Attorney General Summit on Victims of Violent Crime. And it was also that was the first day. The next day was National Day of Remembrance for Murder Victims. The reason I was up there, Officer Rusty McKinney back in 2024, lost his life in a line of duty. Memphis police officer, a true hero.

And his mom was going up to DC. She was invited to this summit and to the Day of Remembrance.

And so my organization, the MPA, we, the time she's gone up there, one of us goes with her to take care of all the, she's not going to pay for anything. We're going to handle everything and make sure it's a smooth trip for her. So I was up there with her in support of her, and she's a wonderful, wonderful woman, and has become a very dear friend. But it was a powerful thing to be up there talking about these things. And I got to meet the attorney general, Todd Blanch. Tom Holman, the White House border czar. Cash Mattel, director of the FBI and some of the leaders. And let me tell you, they were impressive. They were impressive. You can go to, and I'll post the link, and Helen, I'll give you the link.