Cody Johnson’s road to country music acclaim began far from the polished lights of Nashville, rooted instead in the small town of Sebastopol, Texas. Raised in East Texas, Johnson learned the value of hard work early in life, first as a professional bull rider and later as a prison guard at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice in Huntsville. But even then, music wasn’t far from his mind. He formed the Cody Johnson Band with his father Carl and a small group of musicians while still in his teens, performing at local venues and rodeos. Those early gigs helped Johnson The post Complete List Of Cody Johnson Songs From A to Z appeared first on ClassicRockHistory.com.

Fifteen years ago, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) slipped an amendment into law that handed a $90 billion windfall to mega-retailers like Walmart and Target — while forcing everyday Americans to foot the bill.Now he’s trying to do it again. This time, he’s recruited Republican help.President Trump has made his priorities clear. He wants America to dominate in financial tech — not hand the future to China.As a former chairman of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets and Government Sponsored Enterprises — and as a proud Trump ally — I’m alarmed that Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) has teamed up with Durbin to hijack one of the most important bills of the year: the Genius Act.This legislation, backed by President Trump, would establish the first federal framework for stablecoins — digital dollars backed by U.S. currency and issued by trusted financial institutions. It’s the cornerstone of America’s entry into 21st-century digital payments and a key to ensuring that we — not China — lead the future of global finance.President Trump and Vice President JD Vance have made the bill a top priority. “We’re optimistic that the Senate is able to move quickly on passing a clean Genius Act and for the House to follow up and do the same,” Vance told attendees at the Bitcoin 2025 Conference in Nashville.But that momentum will vanish if Marshall and Durbin succeed in attaching their so-called Credit Card Competition Act. This isn’t reform — it’s the Durbin Amendment 2.0, and we’ve already seen how that story ends.In 2010, despite widespread opposition, Durbin passed his original amendment, shifting the cost of payment processing from big-box retailers onto credit card companies. He promised that consumers would benefit when retailers passed along those savings.They didn’t.A Federal Reserve-backed study later found that only 1% of merchants passed savings on to customers. Meanwhile, 22% raised prices. Card companies — forced to absorb the new costs — cut back on free checking accounts and slashed debit card rewards programs. The number of cardholders earning rewards dropped 30%.Main Street lost. Big box stores cashed in. Even the left-leaning Progressive Policy Institute now admits the amendment failed and has urged Congress to “rethink” the policy.The Credit Card Competition Act would repeat the mistake, but with credit cards. It would force every credit card to operate on at least two payment networks, letting mega-retailers route transactions through the cheapest — and often least secure — option. They’d pocket the savings. Consumers wouldn’t see a dime.RELATED: Trump’s Bitcoin masterstroke puts America ahead in digital assets Photo by IAN MAULE/AFP via Getty ImagesUnder the current system, consumers choose the networks by picking the cards they want to carry. Merchants choose which cards to accept. That’s the free market. The CCCA would dismantle that system and take away the rewards — cash back, airline miles, travel perks — that millions of Americans rely on.Amazon, Walmart, and Target would benefit. Rural consumers, community banks, and small businesses would lose.If this poison-pill amendment gets attached to the Genius Act, the bill’s broad bipartisan support will vanish. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) has already warned he’ll withdraw support if Durbin 2.0 gets jammed into the final package.Congress must not let backroom deals or crony carve-outs derail this legislation. The Genius Act should be an easy win for consumers, tech innovation, and U.S. leadership in digital finance.President Trump has made his priorities clear. He wants America to dominate in financial technology — not hand the future to China. His administration supports clear, commonsense rules that unlock innovation, protect consumers, and safeguard the dollar’s global status.The Genius Act achieves all of that — if lawmakers pass it clean.Republicans can’t claim to support Trump’s economic agenda while carrying water for woke corporations and their favorite Democrat senator. They need to decide: Stand with Main Street or sell out to K Street. Back American innovation or stick with the same tired crony playbook.The country doesn’t need another Durbin amendment. It needs leadership.

Ghost stories are all fun and games until they’re not.Years ago, when Calvin “Speedy” Wilburn, Rick Burgess’ longtime co-host and producer, traveled around the country visiting haunted sites for a popular October series on the now-retired “Rick and Bubba Show,” he had no idea he’d encounter actual demons.Dubbed “13 Days of Horror,” the well-intentioned Halloween series was supposed to be a lighthearted way to enjoy October festivities. Rick describes it as a “Scooby-Doo ... Ghostbusters kind of thing.”But it wasn’t long before the crew discovered that there’s no such thing as lighthearted horror.On this episode of “Strange Encounters,” Speedy shares the harrowing story of a demonic encounter that shook him so deeply, the team shut down the series forever. “13 Days of Horror” focused primarily on visiting purportedly haunted historical landmarks. Speedy and the camera crew often teamed up with paranormal groups armed with infrared cameras and EMF meters to venture into the country’s dark corners.However, one “very cold Alabama night,” the team broke with tradition when, instead of visiting another landmark, they met up with a lady and her young daughter at their house, which they claimed was haunted.The crew immediately knew they were dealing with something different when the child showed them bloody scratches on her body where a demon had allegedly attacked her in her sleep. The mother told bone-chilling stories of her daughter waking up with braids in her hair that weren’t there before she went to sleep and candles being blown out en masse around the house.Speedy recounts how upon entering the home, he could feel that “the vibe was different.” There was a “heaviness” and a “darkness” that “weighted on [his] shoulders.”The paranormal hunters they were with then began “asking questions for the spirit to appear.” They even had the young girl, who was “horrified,” ask her spiritual tormentor questions about why it was attacking her.That’s when Speedy and the team shut it down and left the house, knowing that what they were involved with was no laughing matter.On the car ride back, one of the staff members who had been taking pictures in the home pulled out his camera to look over the images.The photos he had taken were completely black except for numerous “orbs” hovering everywhere.That’s when the crew knew for certain that what they had experienced was “not a spooky, funny, let's go have a good time, Mystery Machine, Scooby-Doo, bring back a funny bit for the show” situation.“This was a demonic heaviness, a serious situation we were in, and looking back on it and knowing what we were doing and what we were asking, you just feel so foolish,” Speedy tells Rick.While that experience shut down the series permanently, there had already been other experiences that had made the crew wary about their “13 Days of Horror” segment. There was another time when the crew was left quaking in their boots after visiting the children’s wing of an abandoned mental institution.Speedy also shares wild stories from his dad’s days of going door-to-door sharing the gospel that will make your blood run cold. From a woman who “roared like a lion” at the sound of Jesus’ name to a sick patient who spoke in a voice that was not her own, these moments confronted Speedy with a spiritual reality far beyond the playful scares the crew had set out to chase.To hear the details of each harrowing demonic encounter and Rick’s biblical response, watch the episode above.Want more from Rick Burgess?To enjoy more bold talk and big laughs, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

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