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Speaker 1: Also media speaking of things that are on fire America.

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Speaker 1: All right, I did my job, Garrison.

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Speaker 2: What are we doing?

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Speaker 1: Who are we?

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Speaker 3: This is?

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Speaker 4: It could happen here.

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Speaker 5: Executive Disorder, our weekly newscast covering what's happening in the

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Speaker 5: White House, their prombling world, and what this means for you.

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Speaker 5: I'm Garrison Davis today, joined by James Stout and Robert Evans.

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Speaker 2: Yep.

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Speaker 5: This episode recovering the week of May sixth through May thirteenth. Yep, James,

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Speaker 5: some small news items to open us up.

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Speaker 6: My little grab bag of news stories.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 6: The United Kingdom parachute drop supplies and medical personnel into

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Speaker 6: Tristan d'acunha last weekend to respond to the huntavirus outbreak.

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Speaker 6: A man had got off the cruise ship when the

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Speaker 6: outbreak began in April and returned to Tristan Tacuna, where

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Speaker 6: he resides. I think the cruise ship stopped Tristan da

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Speaker 6: Cuna this weekend. British paratroopers from the Path Find a

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Speaker 6: platoon tandem jumped a doctor and a nurse onto the island,

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Speaker 6: along with supplies, including oxygen, which was criticulally low on

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Speaker 6: the island. The patient had reported symptoms two weeks after

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Speaker 6: disembarking the cruise ship, and they'd spent that time on

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Speaker 6: the island, and therefore there's a fairly high chance that

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Speaker 6: that they've interacted with other people. Right, the island has

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Speaker 6: no air strip. They was such a low supply of

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Speaker 6: oxygen that there obviously wasn't time for a boat to

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Speaker 6: get to Tristan Pacuna. So the UK conducted this fairly,

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Speaker 6: I mean extremely You'm sure this is the first time

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Speaker 6: the UK has ever done it. The island has a

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Speaker 6: populaced around two hundred and twenty people and only two

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Speaker 6: medical professionals who are obviously exhausted after delivering care to

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Speaker 6: this person who's on oxygen for several weeks. Yeah, so

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Speaker 6: they jumped a couple more in there. Fairly audacious response

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Speaker 6: to the hunt virus. Secondly, and I think we can

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Speaker 6: also agree of equally important Japanese snack food, Giant Cowbi

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Speaker 6: is switching to black and white packaging for its Oh.

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Speaker 2: No, Garrison is loading a gun right now.

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Speaker 4: This is a significant portion of my daily diet.

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Speaker 6: Yeah, Garrison won't be able to make it through this.

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Speaker 6: One is going on hunger strike.

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Speaker 2: They are wiring a crew detonator together. It looks like.

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Speaker 4: I'm going to join Oran put an end to this madness.

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Speaker 6: That is. This is because ingredients use for the ink

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Speaker 6: on its normal colorful packages are hard to come by

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Speaker 6: thanks to the war with a run and thanks. Yeah.

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Speaker 6: So if you want, if you've got one of those

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Speaker 6: little stickers that says I did that, and you've got

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Speaker 6: a packet of black and white crisps, now you can

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Speaker 6: combine the two.

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Speaker 2: And your black and white laimash hips.

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Speaker 6: Yeah. Yeah. The one thing that gave us joy is gone.

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Speaker 6: The Nigerian military has once again carried out an air

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Speaker 6: strike on a market, killing at least one hundred civilians.

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Speaker 6: Going to anasty International, The air strike on the Tumfo

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Speaker 6: market is the second in a month to hit a market.

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Speaker 6: The Nigerian military claims the area was to hide out

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Speaker 6: for bandits, but it has yet to acknowledge the civilian

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Speaker 6: death toll. Government in this area is more or less

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Speaker 6: like only present through its ability to project force like this,

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Speaker 6: and I've seen interviews with local suggesting the town was

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Speaker 6: under the control of non state groups previously. People remember,

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Speaker 6: the Nigerian government has suggested that anyone doing business with

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Speaker 6: the people at targeting is also a legitimate target, which

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Speaker 6: is how it has justified dropping bombs on crowded markets.

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Speaker 6: Like this, CNN is claiming that the CIA facilitated a

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Speaker 6: car bomb in Sinaloa. The article seems to have sources

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Speaker 6: in or very familiar with the operations of Ground Branch.

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Speaker 6: It also alleges that the US government employees who were

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Speaker 6: killed in the car crash last month were members of

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Speaker 6: Ground Branch. More than the fact of this story, it

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Speaker 6: doesn't shock me that the CIA is killing people in

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Speaker 6: weird ways in different countries. Now, that is one of

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Speaker 6: the things that they do. That's like the CIA's job. Yeah,

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Speaker 6: the fact that CNN has a source that is leaking

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Speaker 6: Ground Branch operations, that is not usual for someone in

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Speaker 6: the CIA to be talking to someone at CNN. Well,

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Speaker 6: these operations are ongoing, right, and like, yeah, operations in

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Speaker 6: Mexico are exceptionally high risk for these kinds of folks.

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Speaker 6: Like in twenty twelve, some Mexican federal cops open fire

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Speaker 6: on US government employees, presumably not acting on behalf of

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Speaker 6: the federal government. Right, Obviously, it puts this mission at risk,

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Speaker 6: which isn't already a high risk thing. But the fact

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Speaker 6: that somebody has felt the need to leak this CNN

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Speaker 6: is pretty remarkable.

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Speaker 5: Speaking of potential CIA leaks, former director of the National

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Speaker 5: Counter Terrorisment Center, Joe Kent claimed on X the Everything

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Speaker 5: app that before the President launched the war in Iran, quote,

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Speaker 5: the US intel community, including CIA, was an agreement that

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Speaker 5: Iran wasn't developing a nucular weapon and that Iran would

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Speaker 5: target US bass in the region and shut down the

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Speaker 5: straight of hornor news if they were.

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Speaker 2: Attacked by Israel and the US en quote.

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Speaker 5: The Supreme Court extended access to remote prescription at melt

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Speaker 5: delivery of the abortion pill with pristone until Thursday, May fourteenth,

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Speaker 5: which is the day this episode releases.

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Speaker 2: The night this episode releases.

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Speaker 5: Around Thursday, they're expected to make a shadow docket ruling

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Speaker 5: on whether Louisiana's ban on mail order abortion pills can

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Speaker 5: go into effect as the case continues through a lower court.

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Speaker 5: A golden statue of President Trump was unveiled at a

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Speaker 5: Trump resort in Miami last week. The statue was blessed

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Speaker 5: by evangelical pastor Mike Burns, who said, quote, let me

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Speaker 5: be clear, this is not a golden calf unquote.

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Speaker 2: God, it's so hard. I like you, you went through everything.

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Speaker 1: You just like the little parade of horrors like you

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Speaker 1: do every week, and then you just drop that that

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Speaker 1: there's there's a priest blessing a golden statue, pastor, pastor, sorry,

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Speaker 1: you're right, pastor. And I know that like they that

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Speaker 1: he had dressed in the moment, like the whole golden

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Speaker 1: cat thing of it all, which just funnier that like

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Speaker 1: he knew I gotta say something like I gotta make

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Speaker 1: a comment.

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Speaker 6: That's what got me that he felt that he needed

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Speaker 6: to address the golden cough in the room.

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Speaker 2: Really genuinely funny.

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Speaker 4: My, this is not a golden calf shirt.

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Speaker 5: Has a lot of people ask few questions already answered

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Speaker 5: by the shirt.

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Speaker 4: Oh fuck, it's great, but yeah, grim stuff.

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Speaker 2: Yep So.

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Speaker 6: A natural survey of one thousand Americans by News God

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Speaker 6: and YouGov suggests that about half of people in the

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Speaker 6: United States surveyed think each of the attempts on Donald

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Speaker 6: Trump's life was staged or they're not sure if it

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Speaker 6: was real. For the White House Correspondent dinner attempt and

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Speaker 6: the Butler Pennsylvania attempts, twenty four percent of those surveyed

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Speaker 6: thought the attempts were staged. Thirty two percent were not

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Speaker 6: sure in the White House Correspondents Dinner attempt, and twenty

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Speaker 6: nine percent for the Butler Pennsylvania event.

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Speaker 1: It's more than half if you add them up, and

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Speaker 1: I'm convinced.

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Speaker 2: Super funny.

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Speaker 6: I'll quote from the report here. Of the twelve percent

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Speaker 6: of Americans who said all three attempts were staged, fifty

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Speaker 6: five percent were Democrats, thirty eight percent were Independents, at

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Speaker 6: seven percent were Republicans.

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Speaker 5: According to the report, really interested in that seven percent, Yeah,

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Speaker 5: what are they getting out of that?

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Speaker 4: I don't.

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Speaker 2: Like, what way do they think?

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Speaker 6: It was just like, hell, yeah, we're owning the Libs,

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Speaker 6: we're staging. We did look at us go.

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Speaker 1: I think it may just be like, well, I voted

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Speaker 1: for Trump because I wanted my taxes to be lower.

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Speaker 2: But I know he thinks that.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, this is obviously worrying, and this, this trend is

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Speaker 5: something we've been talking about for years. At this point

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Speaker 5: is why I've been kind of such a such a

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Speaker 5: hard ass about the about like the liberal conspiracism that

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Speaker 5: is growing.

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Speaker 2: I don't even find it worrying anymore. Garrison. I find

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Speaker 2: it liberating that we're finally.

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Speaker 3: Look at that.

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Speaker 5: We're finally free from the shackles of truth. Yeah, everyone's

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Speaker 5: everyone's down on the muck together. Nobody's nobody's standing pretty anymore.

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Speaker 5: Everybody's just wallowing like a filthy pig and shit.

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Speaker 6: That it's pretty much the status of the Yeah, the

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Speaker 6: US news market right now.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm fine with it.

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Speaker 6: God, it's fucking bleak. It's so bleak. Like I just

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Speaker 6: I don't want to address like the factual elements of

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Speaker 6: each thing because there's no point, right, But like.

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Speaker 1: No, we we should all know that's useless by now, right, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: just have we not gotten to a place free of that? Yeah?

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Speaker 6: Yeah, I know, I uh, I already don't know what

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Speaker 6: to say about that.

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Speaker 5: I mean, there are like real issues here. A conspiratorial

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Speaker 5: base can be more easily recruited into reactionary thought, right,

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Speaker 5: this is the idea of the cultic mill. You and

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Speaker 5: we can see a version of this happening with certain

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Speaker 5: portions of the left.

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Speaker 4: Might engage with people like Tucker Carlson or Margie Taylor

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Speaker 4: Mareen right now.

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Speaker 5: But for me, kind of the biggest issue with this

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Speaker 5: is that it's a refusal to understand or accept the

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Speaker 5: particular moment that you find yourself with them, like a

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Speaker 5: resistance to the self realization that you are living through

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Speaker 5: history and that people are active agents in history. It's

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Speaker 5: an ahistorical rejection of the fact that some people may

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Speaker 5: look at some of the actions that someone like Trump

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Speaker 5: is doing, whether regarding Ice or the war with Ron,

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Speaker 5: and then choose to act in response, or in the

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Speaker 5: case of the Butler shooting, the result of social disintegration

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Speaker 5: or underregulation manifesting as someone's violent, nihilistic expression, similar to

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Speaker 5: the mindset of like a school shooter. My last issue

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Speaker 5: relates kind of to the second issue, Like the ahistorical element,

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Speaker 5: how these false flag shooting conspiracy theories also prescribe Trump

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Speaker 5: too much power by not just turning him into this

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Speaker 5: like invincible god, but then also assuming that, like the

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Speaker 5: US deep State is capable and competent enough to stage

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Speaker 5: major world events like this like brainwash and groom patsies

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Speaker 5: into doing these shootings, and like this also obviously removes

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Speaker 5: the agency and the clearly defined history other people that

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Speaker 5: do these own shootings, right. It rejects this Like like I said,

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Speaker 5: this relates to the second thing. It rejects or refuses

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Speaker 5: to understand the moment that you're living in and that

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Speaker 5: people actually are active agents of history. And like the

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Speaker 5: people that do these shootings have their own family and

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Speaker 5: their own friends, They have their own history that we

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Speaker 5: can show and prove. And assuming that all this is

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Speaker 5: like fake, that like the government has like manufactured this

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Speaker 5: or somehow like turned someone who's an army kind of

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Speaker 5: liberal suddenly into like doing a shooting, or has like

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Speaker 5: fake this backstory. Right, it gives the government so much power, Right,

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Speaker 5: it assumes that the government has power like a magical

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Speaker 5: wizard that totally controls reality.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 5: Anyway, for our first main story today, let's talk about

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Speaker 5: Turning Point USA. But first, on Sunday night in Seattle,

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Speaker 5: a nineteen year old transgender girl was murdered. She was

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Speaker 5: a student at University of Washington and was found with

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Speaker 5: stab wounds in the laundry room of an off campus

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Speaker 5: apartment that she lived in. No suspect has yet been identified.

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Speaker 5: While horrific in and of itself, Turning Point USA was

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Speaker 5: scheduled to hold an anti trans debate event just days

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Speaker 5: later at the very campus this trans student attended. This

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Speaker 5: event was going to be hosted by a far right

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Speaker 5: anti trans lobbyist and influencer named Chloe Cole, a teen

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Speaker 5: transitioner who subsequently de transitioned a few years later following

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Speaker 5: an acid trip and then conversion to Christianity.

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Speaker 2: Many such cases.

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Speaker 6: Yeah, that's fascinating.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, most normal Christian d transitioner.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 5: She made an appearance at Trump's last State of the

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Speaker 5: Union address when the president talked about restricting gender affirming

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Speaker 5: care minors. After the murder in Seattle, Cole and TPUSA

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Speaker 5: continued plugging their anti trans event online, prompting students to

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Speaker 5: plan a protest to quote unquote shut the event down,

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Speaker 5: calling to bring quote flags, drums, or anything to make

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Speaker 5: noise unquote. Then on Tuesday, the National Turning Point USA

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Speaker 5: organization decided to cancel the event, according to University Washington

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Speaker 5: spokesperson Victor Balta. Later that night, Tuesday night, Chloe Cole

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Speaker 5: announced the event was postponed because quote Antifa has assembled

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Speaker 5: a local militia in their own words unquote.

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Speaker 2: Oh that's that's alarming. A militia.

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Speaker 4: Now.

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Speaker 5: I was not able to find an instance of Antifa

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Speaker 5: claiming to have assembled a quote unquote militia.

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Speaker 1: Really, no photos of the militia, the documentation of the militia.

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Speaker 5: Nor was this language, this this this claim of a

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Speaker 5: militia in their own words, nor was this language included

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Speaker 5: in right wing reporting of the planned protest.

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Speaker 4: I cannot find a so horse fist.

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Speaker 5: I really looked like I went through Fox articles, Post

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Speaker 5: Millennial articles. There was nothing about Antifa using the word militia.

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Speaker 5: No one, no, no counter, no protester that I could

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Speaker 5: find was using the word militia now. Chloe Cole also

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Speaker 5: claimed that they were quote explicit threats on my life

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Speaker 5: and that the protest caused a quote level of attention.

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Speaker 5: Our security team and the local PD are frankly unprepared

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Speaker 5: for unquote.

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Speaker 2: She shared an.

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Speaker 5: Article from the Canadian far right outlet The Post Millennial

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Speaker 5: documenting threats against the TPUSA event. Threats like one Twitter

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Speaker 5: user in Canada saying that people should shut down the event,

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Speaker 5: like Milo Unopolis's Berkeley campus event in twenty seventeen, writing quote,

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Speaker 5: make them hurt for scheduling this. One other Twitter post

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Speaker 5: with two likes read quote Luckily the bricks in Red

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Speaker 5: Square are easy to grab this time of year. Okay,

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Speaker 5: that's the evidence that Andy No used to claim that quote,

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Speaker 5: far left extremists are urging their comrades to carry out

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Speaker 5: deadly violence on two posts, just those two posts. That

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Speaker 5: was That was the post that Chloe Cole was sharing

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Speaker 5: via this post Millennial article, that that was the evidence

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Speaker 5: for these deadly threats. Now, I do think it's worth

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Speaker 5: reiterating that to these people. They also believe that just

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Speaker 5: calling someone a fascist constitutes a threat of violence, right.

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Speaker 5: This is something they've been repeating a lot since the

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Speaker 5: death of Charlie Kurk, that just calling someone a fascist

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Speaker 5: constitutes a deadly threat. In Chloe Cole's video announcing that

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Speaker 5: the TPUSA event was, in her words, postponed, she said

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Speaker 5: that after charlie'ssassination, quote speaking on a university campus in

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Speaker 5: twenty twenty six can come with deadly consequences. But towards

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Speaker 5: the end of the video, she stressed that quote this

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Speaker 5: is not a win for antifa because truth will always win.

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Speaker 5: I am not afraid of Antifa, and that a quote

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Speaker 5: ragtag group of wanna be revolutionaries on cross sex hormones

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Speaker 5: won't scare her. The enemy is both strong and weak.

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Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah, good for her.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, Yeah, that's how these people work now.

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Speaker 5: While I was watching Chloe Cole's video, something sprank to mind.

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Speaker 5: Last week, the White House released a new counter terrorism

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Speaker 5: strategy that named three major threat groups the country is

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Speaker 5: currently facing Narco terrorists and transnational gangs, legacy Islamist terrorists,

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Speaker 5: and violent left wing extremists, including anarchists and anti fascists.

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Speaker 5: The document says that counter terrorism activities will quote prioritize

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Speaker 5: the rapid identification and neutralization of violent, secular political groups

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Speaker 5: whose ideology is anti American, radically pro transgender, and anarchist unquote.

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Speaker 5: I did a full episode about this with Robert earlier

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Speaker 5: this week, if you want to check that out.

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Speaker 2: Yep.

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Speaker 5: But the left wing, transgender, anarchist, ANTIFA stuff mix up

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Speaker 5: just a handful of sentences in a sixteen page document

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Speaker 5: which is mostly focused on Islamic terrorism, cartels and complaining

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Speaker 5: about the Biden administration. For a TLDR, there's nothing new

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Speaker 5: in this counter terrorism document pertaining to the left that

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Speaker 5: wasn't already in National Security Presidential Memorandum number seven. It

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Speaker 5: does not grant any new powers nor designate trans people

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Speaker 5: as terrorists. Like NSMP seven. It essentially states that being

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Speaker 5: quote unquote extremely pro transgender can be a motivating factor

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Speaker 5: in carrying out terroristic violence or threats. Since last October,

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Speaker 5: joint terrorism task forces across the country had been directed

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Speaker 5: to investigate Antifa aligned groups and individuals quote engaged in

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Speaker 5: acts of political violence and intimidation. This new document is

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Speaker 5: just describing things that are already happening while building Trump's

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Speaker 5: justification for military strikes on suspected drug boats in the

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Speaker 5: Western Hemisphere, regime change in Venezuela, and the ongoing war

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Speaker 5: in the Middle East. But in the wake of this

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Speaker 5: new strategy being released, I wonder if tpusa's canceling of

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Speaker 5: the event and Chloe Cole's language and the announcement might

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Speaker 5: also be designed to coax Trump's Feds into going after

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Speaker 5: radical transgender ANTIFA terrorists. Whether that may be individuals who

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Speaker 5: possibly sent threats online that I just couldn't see or

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Speaker 5: just made semi questionable posts on Twitter dot com, or

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Speaker 5: who simply spread the protest flyer online, or the protest

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Speaker 5: organizers themselves. Yeah, I think that is something to keep

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Speaker 5: in mind. This new counter terrorist strategy. It mostly serves

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Speaker 5: as a chilling effect for speech and for organizing. Like

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Speaker 5: I said, it doesn't actually grant new powers, but it

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Speaker 5: can scare people into thinking that the Trump administration is

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Speaker 5: designating a whole class of people as terrorists and stuff

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Speaker 5: like this, you know protests, right, that is one thing

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Speaker 5: that they can investigate. Your threats online, that is something

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Speaker 5: that they can investigate, right. That is, that is what

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Speaker 5: they are actually looking into. They're not just investigating random

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Speaker 5: and trans people as terrorists. They will be looking into

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Speaker 5: you know, threats or questionable posts made on social media, right,

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Speaker 5: those are the things they actually can look into. And

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Speaker 5: I think some of Chloe Cole's language about the quote

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Speaker 5: unquote deadly threats she received stuff like that could be

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Speaker 5: used bunch up administration as a pretext to investigate people.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, whether or.

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Speaker 4: Not those threats even were real.

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Speaker 5: Right, I did not see anything that I think constitutes

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Speaker 5: a deadly threat based on the post millennials reporting, but

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Speaker 5: her saying that might be enough for a local FBI

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Speaker 5: field office to want to investigate you know, student activists

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Speaker 5: at this university.

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Speaker 2: Right, right, Yeah, I think that makes sense.

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Speaker 4: So That's what I wanted to talk about here.

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Speaker 1: This is by far the thing I'm seeing people freak

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Speaker 1: out about the most right now is like overall the

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Speaker 1: idea that like they've just declared it, you know, terrorism

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Speaker 1: of violence, terrorism to be trans or to be anarchist,

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Speaker 1: or to be you know, any of the things like

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Speaker 1: anti capitalist mentioned in that in that document, And what

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Speaker 1: I'm actually seeing on the ground so far is very

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Speaker 1: much the same kind of prosecutions that they've been doing

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Speaker 1: and the same kinds of like messaging that they've been making.

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Speaker 1: And I think that, like, you're right on the money,

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Speaker 1: this is something to pay attention to, Like does this

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Speaker 1: get a response? Is there an actual like investigation. Do

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Speaker 1: we wind up see someone get indicted for a Twitter

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Speaker 1: post or you know, if someone made a threat that

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Speaker 1: we're not privy to, do they get indicted for that, like,

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Speaker 1: or do we see something that does look more like

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Speaker 1: a witch hunt where they're going after like a protest organizer.

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Speaker 1: That'll tell us a lot about kind of what's coming

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Speaker 1: in the immediate future. But right now, I don't see

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Speaker 1: anything different than what they've been doing, which is kind

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Speaker 1: of like incompetently and haphazardly flailing at everything, sort of

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Speaker 1: vaguely lefty.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, And you know, I think including this in a

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Speaker 5: document like the Counter Terrism strategy you know, also serves

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Speaker 5: as a chilling effect. Right, this is this is to

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Speaker 5: scare people into not doing anything, right, That is a

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Speaker 5: part of their strategy.

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Speaker 2: Yep.

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Speaker 5: But you know they have investigated people for making death

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Speaker 5: threats four years right, the Biden administration and their FBI is.

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Speaker 1: Able to make death threats. By the way, if their

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Speaker 1: actual death threats, that is illegal.

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Speaker 5: The FBI under Biden investigatives top cop City. The charges

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Speaker 5: against the protesters at Prairie Land started. That the investigation

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Speaker 5: started before ns MP seven was even you know released, Right,

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Speaker 5: this is not new, but it is something to to

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Speaker 5: keep an eye on to see if they're if their

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Speaker 5: scope is actually changing.

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Speaker 2: Right, you know what else is changing in scope? Our sponsors.

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Speaker 6: Are they not really no same ship? Yeah, and we

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Speaker 6: are back and we are back to talking about the

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Speaker 6: war in Ran. So I want to start off with

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Speaker 6: President Trump's extremely vocal criticism of curtish groups. One can

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Speaker 6: assume in Iran that it doesn't necessarily seem that his

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Speaker 6: criticism is limited to curtiss groups in Iran. Let's play

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Speaker 6: the clip.

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Speaker 7: The level of ferocity for protests. You know, the people

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Speaker 7: are watching that they want to go out on the streets.

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Speaker 7: They have no weapons. They have no guns. We thought

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Speaker 7: the Courage were going to give us weapons, but the

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Speaker 7: Courads disappointed us.

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Speaker 3: The Courage take, take, take, and they have a great

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Speaker 3: reputation in Congress. Congress is Oh, they fight so hard.

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Speaker 3: They fight hard when they get paid. So I'm very

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Speaker 3: disappointed in the Curds. But they were given I said.

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Speaker 7: It wasn't going to work. By the way, I just

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Speaker 7: have to say it. I disagree with what they did.

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Speaker 3: They gave it.

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Speaker 7: I said, they'll never get there, and I was right.

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Speaker 7: I like to be right in this case.

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Speaker 3: Too bad.

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Speaker 7: But we said some guns with ammunition, and they were

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Speaker 7: supposed to be delivered, but they kept it. I said,

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Speaker 7: they're going to keep it.

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Speaker 2: But what do I know.

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Speaker 7: I've only been doniced.

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Speaker 3: What do I know?

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Speaker 6: Yeah, fascinating his Diacuda asking him about this.

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Speaker 4: Thank you so much, mister president.

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Speaker 8: Mister President, yesterday, you said you gave the Kurds arms,

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Speaker 8: but they took it for themselves. US military officials says

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Speaker 8: that the Kurds have noticived ony arms and the critics

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Speaker 8: police the parties are denying to sing any army.

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Speaker 4: It's wrong, and the.

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Speaker 6: Officials the officials of wrong.

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Speaker 1: Yes, yeah, well there's the Kurds. Could be so many things,

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Speaker 1: like they just said that officials. I'm assuming the KDP

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Speaker 1: and the p u K is either referring to. But

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Speaker 1: that's just like the two big parties in Iraq, which

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Speaker 1: isn't even all of the Kurdish parties in Iraq, Like, yeah,

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Speaker 1: not to mention all of the different armed groups in

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Speaker 1: the But I have no idea who he sent guns to,

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Speaker 1: and I don't know that he does, yeah, or if

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Speaker 1: he did, he seems pretty confident that he did.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: This is like the opposite of Iran contra, with the

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Speaker 1: president saying like, get these sent them guns.

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Speaker 2: I'm running guns.

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Speaker 1: I was running guns, and everyone else is like, we

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Speaker 1: have no fucking clue what he's talking about.

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Speaker 6: Yeah, so I'm guessing this refers to his previous theory

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Speaker 6: that they had supplied guns to Iranian Courtish groups in January.

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Speaker 6: It's the time when they were large scale protests in

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Speaker 6: Iran that those Iranian Courtish groups were expected to deliver

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Speaker 6: to presumably Persian protesters, presumably in large cities such as Tehran.

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Speaker 6: The Jerusalem Post has reported that Trump himself personally vetoed

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Speaker 6: this exact plan in January after receiving pressure from Turkey

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Speaker 6: to do so. There were some mind backs to January,

442
00:24:58,640 --> 00:25:01,199
Speaker 6: but small arms, we've said before, would not really have

443
00:25:01,200 --> 00:25:05,240
Speaker 6: tipped the balance here. Aram's army police besiege the IGC

444
00:25:05,880 --> 00:25:08,280
Speaker 6: as we've seen since February, can survive assault from the

445
00:25:08,320 --> 00:25:10,720
Speaker 6: US and Israel. It's not going to be toppled by

446
00:25:10,720 --> 00:25:13,120
Speaker 6: a bunch of people with aks. They would have bombed

447
00:25:13,160 --> 00:25:15,720
Speaker 6: the whole cities, so they had to. We covered this

448
00:25:15,920 --> 00:25:18,280
Speaker 6: at a time in our episode about it with Gudayen,

449
00:25:18,640 --> 00:25:20,879
Speaker 6: but most of the Curdish groups I've spoken to don't

450
00:25:21,080 --> 00:25:24,320
Speaker 6: have responses at this time. But the PAK that's the

451
00:25:24,520 --> 00:25:28,800
Speaker 6: Kurdistan Freedom Party sent me this comment regarding the protests

452
00:25:28,840 --> 00:25:29,520
Speaker 6: in January.

453
00:25:29,640 --> 00:25:30,120
Speaker 2: Quote.

454
00:25:30,680 --> 00:25:33,240
Speaker 6: From the end of December twenty twenty five through approximately

455
00:25:33,320 --> 00:25:36,600
Speaker 6: January twentieth, twenty twenty six, the Iranian regime committed an

456
00:25:36,680 --> 00:25:41,960
Speaker 6: unprecedented massacre across the Ilam, Kamanchan and Lauristan. The mobilized

457
00:25:41,960 --> 00:25:44,840
Speaker 6: hashtal Chaby militias into Persian cities and deployed a massive

458
00:25:44,840 --> 00:25:48,480
Speaker 6: military presence into our territories. In order to defend our citizens,

459
00:25:48,520 --> 00:25:51,320
Speaker 6: we targeted the outposts and military bases where these forces

460
00:25:51,320 --> 00:25:54,720
Speaker 6: were stationed. We confirmed that, yes, we carried out these operations.

461
00:25:54,840 --> 00:25:57,840
Speaker 6: So what they're confirming there is that they carried our operations,

462
00:25:58,680 --> 00:26:01,440
Speaker 6: not where the weapons came from. That we saw those

463
00:26:01,880 --> 00:26:07,439
Speaker 6: operations in January. Pull at Yan put at Yan famous,

464
00:26:07,480 --> 00:26:08,879
Speaker 6: but I guess for being a founding member of the

465
00:26:08,920 --> 00:26:13,320
Speaker 6: epigae or of fuendecard n SDF commander. He's also an

466
00:26:13,320 --> 00:26:15,879
Speaker 6: author and the politician did make a statement which I

467
00:26:15,880 --> 00:26:18,080
Speaker 6: thought was interesting. I'm going to read it at least

468
00:26:18,280 --> 00:26:20,880
Speaker 6: a good amount of it because I think it's worth it. Quote,

469
00:26:20,920 --> 00:26:23,120
Speaker 6: the Kurds are not mercenaries, Kurdish blood is not cheap,

470
00:26:23,160 --> 00:26:24,840
Speaker 6: and the lives of Kurdish youth are not for sale.

471
00:26:25,000 --> 00:26:27,919
Speaker 6: The Kurds are fighting for their freedom, dignity, and political rights,

472
00:26:28,160 --> 00:26:30,720
Speaker 6: not to serve the temporary agendas of regional or international

473
00:26:30,760 --> 00:26:33,679
Speaker 6: powers without any clear outcome for the Kurdish people themselves.

474
00:26:34,200 --> 00:26:36,439
Speaker 6: At the same time, the Curds have repeatedly shown their

475
00:26:36,480 --> 00:26:39,720
Speaker 6: willingness to cooperate in fighting terrorism, extremism, and instability in

476
00:26:39,720 --> 00:26:42,320
Speaker 6: the Middle East. Kurdish force has played a central role

477
00:26:42,359 --> 00:26:45,879
Speaker 6: in the defeat of ISIS and contributed greatly to regional security,

478
00:26:46,440 --> 00:26:49,520
Speaker 6: but cooperation must be based on mutual respect, clarity, and

479
00:26:49,520 --> 00:26:52,320
Speaker 6: long term political understanding. I do not know the actuity

480
00:26:52,400 --> 00:26:54,800
Speaker 6: of the recent claims regarding weapons are literally sent to

481
00:26:54,840 --> 00:26:57,840
Speaker 6: protesters inside i Ran. If such operations truly just died,

482
00:26:57,840 --> 00:27:00,359
Speaker 6: then the American side should clearly explain which group, force,

483
00:27:00,440 --> 00:27:03,159
Speaker 6: or individuals received those weapons. A nation of tens of

484
00:27:03,160 --> 00:27:05,440
Speaker 6: minutes of people should not be collectively accused of vague

485
00:27:05,440 --> 00:27:09,320
Speaker 6: and unverified statements. Yeah, it's pretty good.

486
00:27:09,320 --> 00:27:12,320
Speaker 2: It sounds reasonable. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it sounds like a

487
00:27:12,359 --> 00:27:13,320
Speaker 2: really reasonable thing.

488
00:27:13,920 --> 00:27:18,160
Speaker 6: Yeah, it does seem that Trump has some personal animus

489
00:27:18,200 --> 00:27:19,000
Speaker 6: against the Kurds.

490
00:27:19,480 --> 00:27:24,040
Speaker 1: I wonder if what he's referring to is that, like

491
00:27:24,080 --> 00:27:26,440
Speaker 1: a year or so ago, the last time they sent

492
00:27:26,520 --> 00:27:30,520
Speaker 1: over more weapons. If he sent some message more recently

493
00:27:30,560 --> 00:27:32,480
Speaker 1: being like, hey, could you send some of those guns

494
00:27:32,520 --> 00:27:35,520
Speaker 1: that we already gave you over to rebels in Iran?

495
00:27:35,880 --> 00:27:39,880
Speaker 1: And they were like no, no, what do you mean?

496
00:27:40,400 --> 00:27:42,520
Speaker 2: And he's pissed. I wonder if that's what he's pissed about.

497
00:27:43,520 --> 00:27:46,840
Speaker 6: Yeah, it's so hard for me to say. Is he

498
00:27:47,000 --> 00:27:51,440
Speaker 6: talking about the SDF. Is he talking about groups in

499
00:27:51,520 --> 00:27:54,679
Speaker 6: southern Kurdistan that they did. Yeah, he asked him to

500
00:27:54,720 --> 00:27:59,359
Speaker 6: like pass them alone. I have never seen large numbers

501
00:27:59,400 --> 00:28:03,160
Speaker 6: of Americans supplied weapons among the Rogilati groups.

502
00:28:03,000 --> 00:28:05,840
Speaker 1: Now, although they do. Some of their aks come from

503
00:28:05,880 --> 00:28:08,240
Speaker 1: the US. If you look at like what's center, a

504
00:28:08,240 --> 00:28:10,359
Speaker 1: bunch of and like body armor, a lot of like

505
00:28:10,640 --> 00:28:13,480
Speaker 1: what the SDF like the armor they have came from Americans.

506
00:28:13,560 --> 00:28:16,640
Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah, and with their like highest speed SDF guys

507
00:28:16,680 --> 00:28:19,159
Speaker 6: you'll see like m fhors but even like night vision

508
00:28:20,040 --> 00:28:23,240
Speaker 6: like yat the anti terror forces and the SDF you'll see.

509
00:28:23,280 --> 00:28:27,639
Speaker 6: But like on on the Iranian side, I have not

510
00:28:27,800 --> 00:28:31,200
Speaker 6: seen that. And it's He's repeated this several times ever

511
00:28:31,320 --> 00:28:34,280
Speaker 6: quite a long period of time. It seems to be

512
00:28:34,280 --> 00:28:38,240
Speaker 6: something he genuinely believes, but I have seen no evidence

513
00:28:38,320 --> 00:28:42,600
Speaker 6: aside from his claims, to support it. It doesn't matter,

514
00:28:42,680 --> 00:28:45,400
Speaker 6: but it does matter in the sense that Trump clearly

515
00:28:45,480 --> 00:28:50,560
Speaker 6: is personally mad at Kurdish groups and does not seem

516
00:28:50,600 --> 00:28:55,120
Speaker 6: to be interested in supporting their aspirations for autonomy, which

517
00:28:55,160 --> 00:28:58,880
Speaker 6: is disappointing. But I guess I don't know why. Maybe

518
00:28:59,360 --> 00:29:01,800
Speaker 6: because he feels that he alone to take credit for

519
00:29:01,800 --> 00:29:04,440
Speaker 6: the defeat of the Islamic State, like I can't. I

520
00:29:04,440 --> 00:29:06,320
Speaker 6: can't quite work out what to cause this, other than

521
00:29:06,360 --> 00:29:08,800
Speaker 6: maybe he perceives them to have slighted him by not

522
00:29:08,840 --> 00:29:12,760
Speaker 6: giving weapons that we don't know anything about. Yeah, let's

523
00:29:12,800 --> 00:29:15,040
Speaker 6: talk a little bit about the broader situation in Iran.

524
00:29:15,600 --> 00:29:18,000
Speaker 6: I don't want to make this like true social review.

525
00:29:18,880 --> 00:29:22,520
Speaker 6: I know I've read Trump's truth in the past. I

526
00:29:22,520 --> 00:29:24,800
Speaker 6: have reached a point where I can't do that anymore.

527
00:29:25,760 --> 00:29:26,360
Speaker 2: That's fair.

528
00:29:26,680 --> 00:29:31,680
Speaker 6: Yeah, Like I can't. People are dying, right, they bombed

529
00:29:31,680 --> 00:29:34,239
Speaker 6: a girls school, Like this is serious and horrible, and

530
00:29:34,280 --> 00:29:36,920
Speaker 6: it's really hard to bring the gravity that needs to

531
00:29:36,960 --> 00:29:39,320
Speaker 6: be brought to this and also read out the absolutely

532
00:29:39,400 --> 00:29:45,080
Speaker 6: bonker stuff that gets posted. And Trump described a missile

533
00:29:45,080 --> 00:29:48,960
Speaker 6: strike on Iran as a love tap. Yeah, this past week.

534
00:29:49,680 --> 00:29:52,280
Speaker 6: So I'm just not gonna not gonna do that this week.

535
00:29:52,640 --> 00:29:54,560
Speaker 6: I am going to say that both sides have repeatedly

536
00:29:54,600 --> 00:29:58,800
Speaker 6: and openly violated the ceasefire, which Trump describes to reporters

537
00:29:59,000 --> 00:30:04,080
Speaker 6: and dr Oz as being on quote massive life support. Meanwhile,

538
00:30:04,120 --> 00:30:09,600
Speaker 6: Iran's parliamentary speaker Mohammad Ghalibath has said quote around forces

539
00:30:09,600 --> 00:30:11,760
Speaker 6: are ready to deliver a well deserved response to any

540
00:30:11,760 --> 00:30:15,360
Speaker 6: aggression mistaken strategy and mistaken decisions will always lead to

541
00:30:15,360 --> 00:30:18,520
Speaker 6: mistaken results. The whole world has already figured this out.

542
00:30:18,720 --> 00:30:21,240
Speaker 6: We have prepared for all options. They will be surprised.

543
00:30:21,880 --> 00:30:26,000
Speaker 6: This comes as Trump calls Iran's peace demands quote a

544
00:30:26,040 --> 00:30:30,880
Speaker 6: piece of garbage and quote a stupid proposal. Iranian demands

545
00:30:30,920 --> 00:30:34,480
Speaker 6: allegedly included an end to Israeli aggression in Lebanon and

546
00:30:34,560 --> 00:30:37,320
Speaker 6: sovereignty over straight at Hommus. Trump has also alleged that

547
00:30:37,320 --> 00:30:39,960
Speaker 6: they walked back an agreement to surrender and rich Ranian.

548
00:30:40,880 --> 00:30:43,320
Speaker 6: We've also found that Iran has retained a large number

549
00:30:43,320 --> 00:30:46,680
Speaker 6: of their missiles and their launch capacity. This week, It's

550
00:30:46,720 --> 00:30:49,160
Speaker 6: also been reported by Jim Laporter, who is one of

551
00:30:49,160 --> 00:30:51,720
Speaker 6: the few people still doing decer reporting at CBS, that

552
00:30:51,960 --> 00:30:57,040
Speaker 6: Pakistan has provided safe haven for Iranian aircraft, shielding them

553
00:30:57,040 --> 00:31:01,760
Speaker 6: from US strikes. Allegedly, some civilian aircraft also sheltered in Afghanistan,

554
00:31:01,960 --> 00:31:04,360
Speaker 6: but then had to be moved when Pakistan began bombing

555
00:31:04,360 --> 00:31:08,080
Speaker 6: Afghanistan in March. Iran has friends everywhere.

556
00:31:07,760 --> 00:31:08,120
Speaker 2: I guess.

557
00:31:08,840 --> 00:31:13,360
Speaker 6: The United States sent a ballistic missile submarine to Gibraltar

558
00:31:13,480 --> 00:31:17,520
Speaker 6: this week. These O higher class submarines provide the survivable

559
00:31:17,520 --> 00:31:20,360
Speaker 6: element of the nuclear triad, or the most survival element

560
00:31:20,400 --> 00:31:21,400
Speaker 6: of the nuclear triad.

561
00:31:21,640 --> 00:31:24,520
Speaker 1: You can't strike a nuclear submarine before it gets a

562
00:31:24,600 --> 00:31:26,880
Speaker 1: chance to strike. It's it's basically impossible.

563
00:31:27,440 --> 00:31:29,840
Speaker 6: Yeah, that's that's the reason that they exist.

564
00:31:29,920 --> 00:31:32,800
Speaker 2: Yeah, guarantees that you will get to do your thing.

565
00:31:33,120 --> 00:31:36,640
Speaker 6: Yeah, for mutually assured destruction reasons. It's not super normal

566
00:31:36,640 --> 00:31:39,320
Speaker 6: to announce their presence in places I don't think, but

567
00:31:39,640 --> 00:31:41,360
Speaker 6: the Navy did this week.

568
00:31:41,440 --> 00:31:43,560
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean it can't be. It depends on like

569
00:31:43,880 --> 00:31:46,520
Speaker 1: the situation depending is a little weird.

570
00:31:46,600 --> 00:31:51,680
Speaker 6: Yes, yeah, yeah. The Pentagon seems to be planning to

571
00:31:51,840 --> 00:31:57,200
Speaker 6: rename the war in Iran Operation Sledgehammer. This seems to

572
00:31:57,240 --> 00:31:59,560
Speaker 6: be an attempt at end run around the nineteen seventy

573
00:31:59,560 --> 00:32:02,920
Speaker 6: three war Howars revolution. They claimed already where we spoke

574
00:32:02,920 --> 00:32:05,520
Speaker 6: about this last week, the claiming epic fury is over

575
00:32:05,600 --> 00:32:09,240
Speaker 6: now and that this is a new and distinct operation.

576
00:32:09,960 --> 00:32:14,240
Speaker 6: In a congressional hearing, Hexseth denied that they needed an

577
00:32:14,280 --> 00:32:17,400
Speaker 6: authorized use of military force. Let's play the clip.

578
00:32:18,040 --> 00:32:22,680
Speaker 9: It doesn't appear that hostilities have ended, and so the

579
00:32:22,760 --> 00:32:28,480
Speaker 9: question to you is whether or not the administration has

580
00:32:28,840 --> 00:32:34,880
Speaker 9: has considered or had intended to seek an authorization of

581
00:32:34,960 --> 00:32:36,920
Speaker 9: use of military force from the Congress.

582
00:32:38,520 --> 00:32:41,320
Speaker 8: Senator, our view is that should the President make the

583
00:32:41,400 --> 00:32:43,120
Speaker 8: decision to recommence.

584
00:32:42,600 --> 00:32:44,840
Speaker 6: That we would have all the authorities necessary to do so.

585
00:32:45,840 --> 00:32:48,160
Speaker 9: Do you think that it would be helpful to the

586
00:32:48,200 --> 00:32:51,280
Speaker 9: president if it was made clear that, in fact, the

587
00:32:51,400 --> 00:32:59,240
Speaker 9: Congress did allow did provide an AUMF I think the

588
00:32:59,280 --> 00:33:01,640
Speaker 9: president our you is that he has all the authorities

589
00:33:01,640 --> 00:33:03,800
Speaker 9: he needs under Article two to execute.

590
00:33:04,480 --> 00:33:08,800
Speaker 6: Thanks, Chairman, that's more or less heigth'st saying they don't

591
00:33:08,800 --> 00:33:10,520
Speaker 6: need Congress, which is great.

592
00:33:10,680 --> 00:33:11,080
Speaker 2: Yeah.

593
00:33:11,240 --> 00:33:15,840
Speaker 6: Heccess face pointed questioning from the House and Senate Appropriations subcommittees,

594
00:33:16,840 --> 00:33:21,640
Speaker 6: he repeatedly batted away questions about munitions depletion and suggested

595
00:33:21,640 --> 00:33:23,920
Speaker 6: that it wasn't appropriate to answer them in public on

596
00:33:23,960 --> 00:33:27,880
Speaker 6: the record like this, Oh, I'm sure. He also did

597
00:33:27,880 --> 00:33:29,959
Speaker 6: not directly confront the cost of the war, which is

598
00:33:30,000 --> 00:33:33,800
Speaker 6: now approaching thirty billion, instead saying, quote, what is the

599
00:33:33,840 --> 00:33:36,480
Speaker 6: cost of Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon? And the fact

600
00:33:36,480 --> 00:33:38,600
Speaker 6: that this president has been willing to make a historic

601
00:33:38,640 --> 00:33:41,520
Speaker 6: and courageous choice to confront that it comes with cost,

602
00:33:41,800 --> 00:33:44,960
Speaker 6: and we recognize that kind of an exercise in an

603
00:33:44,960 --> 00:33:48,440
Speaker 6: evasion on excess part there, apart from his pretty emphatic

604
00:33:48,520 --> 00:33:51,600
Speaker 6: statement that he didn't think that they needed any permission

605
00:33:51,720 --> 00:33:56,920
Speaker 6: from Congress to continue with this war. So we will

606
00:33:56,960 --> 00:33:58,840
Speaker 6: be back next week to keep you updated on what

607
00:33:58,920 --> 00:34:00,760
Speaker 6: might be operations sledgehammer.

608
00:34:01,720 --> 00:34:05,000
Speaker 2: Great great stuff, very exciting.

609
00:34:06,200 --> 00:34:10,440
Speaker 1: So on May twelfth, twenty twenty six, the former mayor

610
00:34:10,560 --> 00:34:16,399
Speaker 1: of Arcadia, California, Eileen Wang, pled guilty to acting as

611
00:34:16,520 --> 00:34:22,000
Speaker 1: an unregistered agent of a foreign government and is being

612
00:34:22,120 --> 00:34:26,240
Speaker 1: sentenced in the near future for being an unregistered agent

613
00:34:26,320 --> 00:34:29,880
Speaker 1: of a foreign government. People have taken this news normally

614
00:34:30,000 --> 00:34:31,640
Speaker 1: the foreign government is China.

615
00:34:32,000 --> 00:34:32,680
Speaker 2: I did a.

616
00:34:32,680 --> 00:34:35,440
Speaker 1: Quick little bit of googling before coming around here and

617
00:34:35,480 --> 00:34:37,040
Speaker 1: found some fun headlines.

618
00:34:37,440 --> 00:34:38,440
Speaker 2: One of them in.

619
00:34:38,480 --> 00:34:43,080
Speaker 1: The Lion California mayor pleads guilty to serving Communist China.

620
00:34:43,640 --> 00:34:46,560
Speaker 1: And that article was written by John Ransom, who's a

621
00:34:46,600 --> 00:34:49,200
Speaker 1: senior contributor at The Lion and also has written for

622
00:34:49,239 --> 00:34:53,120
Speaker 1: The Epic Times, which itself is like the agent of

623
00:34:53,160 --> 00:34:58,480
Speaker 1: a foreign power effective. Yeah, the WCBM had a headline

624
00:34:58,520 --> 00:35:03,879
Speaker 1: this Democrat mayor just came clean about working for Communist China.

625
00:35:04,440 --> 00:35:06,440
Speaker 2: She could come clean clean.

626
00:35:06,520 --> 00:35:11,000
Speaker 1: She pled guilty and for that, you know, and then

627
00:35:11,040 --> 00:35:14,719
Speaker 1: from the House Committee. On China's website, Mulinar warns of

628
00:35:14,760 --> 00:35:18,920
Speaker 1: CCP influence after California mayor charged in foreign influence plot.

629
00:35:19,440 --> 00:35:21,880
Speaker 1: These charges highlight the very real threat of the Chinese

630
00:35:21,880 --> 00:35:25,399
Speaker 1: Communist Party's attempts to influence are free and open society. Well,

631
00:35:25,400 --> 00:35:27,880
Speaker 1: it denies freedom and liberty for the Chinese people. The

632
00:35:27,920 --> 00:35:30,960
Speaker 1: CCP is actively working to subvert our institutions and divide

633
00:35:31,000 --> 00:35:33,719
Speaker 1: us against one another. In this case, an elected mayor

634
00:35:33,800 --> 00:35:37,000
Speaker 1: acted at the direction of CCP handlers, coordinated with Chinese

635
00:35:37,040 --> 00:35:39,800
Speaker 1: intelligence linked individuals, and used a local news platform to

636
00:35:39,840 --> 00:35:43,719
Speaker 1: spread CCP propaganda. And so let's talk about that.

637
00:35:43,719 --> 00:35:46,400
Speaker 2: How much of this is true, right, yeah, I.

638
00:35:46,440 --> 00:35:49,080
Speaker 1: Mean technically, yeah, Like that's that's kind of what happened,

639
00:35:49,800 --> 00:35:53,399
Speaker 1: except for the part where they were like coordinating to

640
00:35:53,480 --> 00:35:58,080
Speaker 1: drive Americans apart from each other and create unrest and whatnot.

641
00:35:58,120 --> 00:36:01,160
Speaker 1: That's not what the purpose of this thing that Eileen

642
00:36:01,600 --> 00:36:05,719
Speaker 1: got wrapped up in was. She and her former fiance,

643
00:36:06,360 --> 00:36:10,040
Speaker 1: a fellow named Sun who got sentenced before she did

644
00:36:10,640 --> 00:36:15,280
Speaker 1: Mike's son, are accused of basically having run like content

645
00:36:15,360 --> 00:36:20,239
Speaker 1: farms at the behest of Chinese government officials, like they

646
00:36:20,239 --> 00:36:25,120
Speaker 1: were putting out articles on the alleged genocide in Zinjang,

647
00:36:25,160 --> 00:36:27,920
Speaker 1: denying like the Chinese government had done anything wrong there

648
00:36:28,200 --> 00:36:31,759
Speaker 1: there was any genocide at all in the region, and

649
00:36:31,840 --> 00:36:34,120
Speaker 1: so it's kind of like propaganda stuff like that. They

650
00:36:34,120 --> 00:36:37,120
Speaker 1: were serving as like a fire hose of propaganda, per

651
00:36:37,120 --> 00:36:39,960
Speaker 1: the Justice Department. In June of twenty twenty one, a

652
00:36:39,960 --> 00:36:42,840
Speaker 1: PRC official contacted Wang and other individuals via the we

653
00:36:43,000 --> 00:36:46,480
Speaker 1: chat encryptid messaging application with pre written news articles, including

654
00:36:46,480 --> 00:36:49,480
Speaker 1: a PRC official written essay in the Los Angeles Times

655
00:36:49,480 --> 00:36:52,440
Speaker 1: that stated China's stance on the Zinjang issue. There is

656
00:36:52,440 --> 00:36:54,759
Speaker 1: no genocide in Zinjang. There is no such thing as

657
00:36:54,760 --> 00:36:58,400
Speaker 1: forced labor in any production activity, including cotton production. Spreading

658
00:36:58,440 --> 00:37:01,560
Speaker 1: such rumors due to fame China Joy's enjaying safety and stability,

659
00:37:01,600 --> 00:37:05,200
Speaker 1: weaken local economy and suppress China's development. Minutes later, when

660
00:37:05,239 --> 00:37:07,360
Speaker 1: posted the article on her own website and responded to

661
00:37:07,400 --> 00:37:09,719
Speaker 1: the PRC official with a link to the article on

662
00:37:09,760 --> 00:37:11,560
Speaker 1: her website, the others in the group did the same.

663
00:37:11,640 --> 00:37:15,200
Speaker 1: The PRC official responded, so fast, thank you everyone.

664
00:37:15,719 --> 00:37:17,040
Speaker 2: And this is bad.

665
00:37:17,200 --> 00:37:21,480
Speaker 1: Genocide denials bad. The spreading slop content on behalf of

666
00:37:21,520 --> 00:37:25,080
Speaker 1: a foreign government is like bad. It is important to

667
00:37:25,120 --> 00:37:28,920
Speaker 1: note that this is not like spying or sabotage in

668
00:37:28,960 --> 00:37:32,040
Speaker 1: any meaningful way. She's not acting to like try to

669
00:37:32,160 --> 00:37:36,560
Speaker 1: damage the United States. She's acting as like an unregistered

670
00:37:36,640 --> 00:37:40,160
Speaker 1: pr agent for the Chinese government, or at least that's

671
00:37:40,200 --> 00:37:42,799
Speaker 1: what she had done up to this point in her life,

672
00:37:42,800 --> 00:37:45,319
Speaker 1: and like everything that she was doing was legal if

673
00:37:45,360 --> 00:37:48,600
Speaker 1: she had disclosed who she was working for, which I

674
00:37:48,600 --> 00:37:50,680
Speaker 1: think is also an important thing to note because shit

675
00:37:50,760 --> 00:37:54,200
Speaker 1: like this happens all the time, and in the media,

676
00:37:54,239 --> 00:37:56,799
Speaker 1: like we all see, there's tons of content that is

677
00:37:56,840 --> 00:37:59,200
Speaker 1: the result one way or the other of some government's

678
00:37:59,239 --> 00:38:03,200
Speaker 1: influence op and for the majority of the time when

679
00:38:03,239 --> 00:38:06,720
Speaker 1: it happens, nobody gets tripped up, you know, either because

680
00:38:06,760 --> 00:38:09,640
Speaker 1: they have friends in power or because they don't quite

681
00:38:09,719 --> 00:38:12,160
Speaker 1: cross a line. And I Leen and her friends were

682
00:38:12,160 --> 00:38:15,520
Speaker 1: not very savvy about what they were doing, but they

683
00:38:15,520 --> 00:38:18,520
Speaker 1: were also not operating on a very large level, like

684
00:38:18,560 --> 00:38:22,280
Speaker 1: this is not a big operation. One of the notes

685
00:38:22,320 --> 00:38:25,040
Speaker 1: in this charging document is that Eileen sent this Chinese

686
00:38:25,080 --> 00:38:28,040
Speaker 1: government official at screenshot showing that the article had been

687
00:38:28,080 --> 00:38:31,320
Speaker 1: viewed fifteen one and twenty eight times through her site,

688
00:38:32,000 --> 00:38:34,120
Speaker 1: which is like not, we're not talking like big deal

689
00:38:34,320 --> 00:38:39,440
Speaker 1: influence ops here. We're not talking like sweeping powers over

690
00:38:39,719 --> 00:38:43,560
Speaker 1: like public opinion. Now, perhaps that's what they hoped Eileen

691
00:38:43,600 --> 00:38:47,200
Speaker 1: would kind of rise to over time. She didn't seem

692
00:38:47,239 --> 00:38:50,560
Speaker 1: to be like a kind of rising star in local

693
00:38:50,560 --> 00:38:53,640
Speaker 1: government in southern California. She got endorsed by some prominent

694
00:38:53,680 --> 00:38:57,200
Speaker 1: Democratic Party officials, and she was still in touch with

695
00:38:57,280 --> 00:39:00,000
Speaker 1: her Chinese government handlers at this time. This whole period

696
00:39:00,480 --> 00:39:03,480
Speaker 1: in which she's like being charged for working as an

697
00:39:03,480 --> 00:39:05,719
Speaker 1: agent of the Chinese government, it's like twenty twenty through

698
00:39:06,040 --> 00:39:07,480
Speaker 1: at least twenty twenty two.

699
00:39:07,880 --> 00:39:09,479
Speaker 2: So yeah, this is like, you.

700
00:39:09,360 --> 00:39:12,359
Speaker 1: Know, a bad thing, and it's good that this got

701
00:39:12,400 --> 00:39:15,160
Speaker 1: found out and that she's not continuing to be the

702
00:39:15,160 --> 00:39:17,440
Speaker 1: mayor of Arcadia.

703
00:39:17,480 --> 00:39:19,160
Speaker 2: But also, this is.

704
00:39:19,040 --> 00:39:21,279
Speaker 1: Not like the scary thing that the right wing press

705
00:39:21,320 --> 00:39:22,759
Speaker 1: is making it out to you. She was not here

706
00:39:22,800 --> 00:39:25,000
Speaker 1: to like subvert the US so that it could be

707
00:39:25,000 --> 00:39:27,759
Speaker 1: invaded or destroyed. She was there to try to stop

708
00:39:27,800 --> 00:39:30,280
Speaker 1: people on the internet from being mean to the Chinese government.

709
00:39:30,360 --> 00:39:32,520
Speaker 1: Like that was the primary use that they had with her.

710
00:39:32,960 --> 00:39:37,000
Speaker 1: It's just not that like actually scariest story or anything.

711
00:39:37,080 --> 00:39:39,040
Speaker 1: It's just the kind of thing that happens. This lady

712
00:39:39,080 --> 00:39:42,719
Speaker 1: happened to become mayor of a small down basically, which

713
00:39:42,760 --> 00:39:43,200
Speaker 1: is wild.

714
00:39:43,360 --> 00:39:46,560
Speaker 2: It's crazy that that happened. But like this is going

715
00:39:46,600 --> 00:39:47,279
Speaker 2: on all the time.

716
00:39:47,880 --> 00:39:51,840
Speaker 6: Yeah, I think, I yeah, people have lost their minds

717
00:39:51,920 --> 00:39:54,080
Speaker 6: about this one in a way that like.

718
00:39:54,040 --> 00:39:59,280
Speaker 1: It's a perfect California city, like it's a southern California town,

719
00:39:59,400 --> 00:40:01,920
Speaker 1: and she's the government female spy.

720
00:40:02,200 --> 00:40:05,080
Speaker 2: Like a course of course.

721
00:40:04,960 --> 00:40:07,120
Speaker 4: There's a lot of stuff.

722
00:40:07,239 --> 00:40:10,640
Speaker 5: Back when Eric Swalwell was still a relevant human being,

723
00:40:10,920 --> 00:40:13,840
Speaker 5: there was some attacks on him for associating with a

724
00:40:13,920 --> 00:40:17,160
Speaker 5: quote unquote Chinese female spy like man ten years ago,

725
00:40:17,200 --> 00:40:18,800
Speaker 5: and that was like one of the lines of attack

726
00:40:18,840 --> 00:40:22,480
Speaker 5: against him. Sure because like someone someone he had like

727
00:40:22,560 --> 00:40:26,319
Speaker 5: relations with in like twenty fourteen what was alleged or

728
00:40:26,520 --> 00:40:28,320
Speaker 5: found to be a working as a spy for the

729
00:40:28,400 --> 00:40:31,279
Speaker 5: Chinese government. It's interesting that they're doing this type of

730
00:40:31,320 --> 00:40:34,480
Speaker 5: stuff at like the exact same time that Trump just

731
00:40:34,520 --> 00:40:36,680
Speaker 5: got just like it is like arriving in China.

732
00:40:36,760 --> 00:40:39,320
Speaker 2: Yeah right now, Yeah, it's really great timing.

733
00:40:39,760 --> 00:40:41,439
Speaker 4: Yeah, curious timing there.

734
00:40:41,520 --> 00:40:43,759
Speaker 6: But I'm guessing she took them leave. This had been

735
00:40:43,800 --> 00:40:45,760
Speaker 6: a period of some time, right, like her fiance.

736
00:40:46,040 --> 00:40:49,719
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, yeah, because first first her former fiance got busted,

737
00:40:49,800 --> 00:40:51,000
Speaker 1: and then she was like, I.

738
00:40:50,880 --> 00:40:53,880
Speaker 2: Didn't do anything wrong, and then it became clear that

739
00:40:53,920 --> 00:40:55,480
Speaker 2: she very much hadh right.

740
00:40:55,560 --> 00:40:57,680
Speaker 1: So there was this was like a thing that, yeah,

741
00:40:58,200 --> 00:40:59,719
Speaker 1: this has been going on for a little while. It

742
00:40:59,840 --> 00:41:02,319
Speaker 1: just sort of once she pled guilty, then you could

743
00:41:02,360 --> 00:41:06,240
Speaker 1: do the article like California mayor pleads guilty to working.

744
00:41:06,000 --> 00:41:06,960
Speaker 2: For the Chinese government.

745
00:41:07,080 --> 00:41:11,000
Speaker 5: Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah, just funny timing. Yeah,

746
00:41:11,520 --> 00:41:28,560
Speaker 5: speaking of timing, here are some ads. Great, yay, Okay,

747
00:41:28,560 --> 00:41:32,759
Speaker 5: we are back for one of our last main stories.

748
00:41:33,120 --> 00:41:39,160
Speaker 5: Let's talk about Virginia and the redistricting efforts. Last week,

749
00:41:39,239 --> 00:41:42,640
Speaker 5: in a four to three ruling, the Virginia Supreme Court

750
00:41:42,680 --> 00:41:47,360
Speaker 5: blocked the voter approved redistricting map that passed in April

751
00:41:47,719 --> 00:41:51,800
Speaker 5: with almost fifty two percent of the vote. The court

752
00:41:51,880 --> 00:41:56,200
Speaker 5: found the process used to advance the referendum violated the

753
00:41:56,320 --> 00:42:02,440
Speaker 5: state constitution. According to Virginia's constantation, the legislature has to

754
00:42:02,560 --> 00:42:07,799
Speaker 5: vote twice to pass any proposed constitutional amendment before it

755
00:42:07,800 --> 00:42:11,399
Speaker 5: gets put on the ballot for Virginia voters, but these

756
00:42:11,440 --> 00:42:15,560
Speaker 5: two General Assembly votes must be separated by a state

757
00:42:15,719 --> 00:42:20,279
Speaker 5: General election. The first General Assembly vote for this redistricting

758
00:42:20,320 --> 00:42:24,840
Speaker 5: amendment passed in October twenty twenty five, before the November

759
00:42:24,840 --> 00:42:28,280
Speaker 5: general election, and the second vote to approve the referendum

760
00:42:28,480 --> 00:42:32,320
Speaker 5: happened next January, so a few months ago. The Republican

761
00:42:32,400 --> 00:42:37,160
Speaker 5: challengers to the new voting map argued that because early

762
00:42:37,280 --> 00:42:42,400
Speaker 5: voting had already begun, the General Assembly's first vote in

763
00:42:42,440 --> 00:42:48,200
Speaker 5: October did not actually occur before a general election, and

764
00:42:48,600 --> 00:42:51,520
Speaker 5: that was the grounds the State Supreme Court used to

765
00:42:51,560 --> 00:42:56,280
Speaker 5: block the voter approved amendment. The four judge majority ruled

766
00:42:56,440 --> 00:43:01,440
Speaker 5: the intervening election requirement was violated because the general election

767
00:43:01,920 --> 00:43:07,000
Speaker 5: quote began on September nineteenth, twenty twenty five, and just

768
00:43:07,560 --> 00:43:10,080
Speaker 5: ended on election day, November fourth.

769
00:43:10,760 --> 00:43:13,120
Speaker 6: Yeah, I feel like you're kind of outside the spirit

770
00:43:13,160 --> 00:43:14,839
Speaker 6: of what they were going for with that one.

771
00:43:15,080 --> 00:43:17,920
Speaker 4: But no, this on the face sounds quite absurd.

772
00:43:18,080 --> 00:43:20,120
Speaker 6: It's one of those things that's technically correct, but at

773
00:43:20,160 --> 00:43:21,040
Speaker 6: the same time.

774
00:43:21,040 --> 00:43:24,879
Speaker 5: Well, and there's some complicating factors because of Trump's own

775
00:43:24,920 --> 00:43:28,839
Speaker 5: attempts to restrict early voting or deem early voting like

776
00:43:29,120 --> 00:43:34,080
Speaker 5: not constitutionally like appealpriate, or like it defies the federal

777
00:43:34,080 --> 00:43:37,600
Speaker 5: government's definition of the word election. And so now you

778
00:43:37,680 --> 00:43:39,880
Speaker 5: have some groups in Virginia who are trying to pass

779
00:43:39,960 --> 00:43:42,719
Speaker 5: this amendment, Democrat groups who are using kind of.

780
00:43:42,640 --> 00:43:44,280
Speaker 4: Similar rhetoric as Trump.

781
00:43:44,640 --> 00:43:47,480
Speaker 5: We'll get to that in a sec So Justice de

782
00:43:47,719 --> 00:43:52,279
Speaker 5: Arthur Helsey wrote to the majority opinion, saying, quote, this

783
00:43:52,480 --> 00:43:57,720
Speaker 5: violation irreparably undermines the integrity of the resulting referendum vote

784
00:43:57,719 --> 00:44:02,120
Speaker 5: and renders it null and void. Early Virginia voters unknowingly

785
00:44:02,239 --> 00:44:06,600
Speaker 5: forfeited their constitutionally protected opportunity to vote for or against

786
00:44:06,719 --> 00:44:11,560
Speaker 5: delegates who favor or disfavor amending the constitution by not

787
00:44:11,600 --> 00:44:15,640
Speaker 5: anticipating a legislative vote on a constitutional amendment four days

788
00:44:15,680 --> 00:44:19,240
Speaker 5: before the last day of voting, unquote. So the court

789
00:44:19,719 --> 00:44:23,600
Speaker 5: said that the reason why they have this to vote

790
00:44:23,600 --> 00:44:28,040
Speaker 5: requirement across two different general assemblies is to give voters

791
00:44:28,120 --> 00:44:32,799
Speaker 5: enough time to not just support or not support a

792
00:44:32,800 --> 00:44:36,040
Speaker 5: constitutional amendment on the ballot, but then also vote for

793
00:44:36,480 --> 00:44:39,960
Speaker 5: state lawmakers who will either approve or not approve the

794
00:44:40,000 --> 00:44:43,279
Speaker 5: constitutional amendment in the legislature itself. Right, So that's what

795
00:44:43,320 --> 00:44:45,960
Speaker 5: they're saying. It's like this, this process of having these

796
00:44:45,960 --> 00:44:48,680
Speaker 5: two votes is to ensure that voters have a say

797
00:44:49,280 --> 00:44:52,120
Speaker 5: both in who they put into office as well as

798
00:44:52,120 --> 00:44:53,719
Speaker 5: on the ballot, and they're saying that this process was

799
00:44:53,760 --> 00:44:57,800
Speaker 5: violated because early voting had already commenced by the time

800
00:44:58,360 --> 00:45:01,880
Speaker 5: that the legislature acts actually voted on this proposed amendment.

801
00:45:02,719 --> 00:45:06,680
Speaker 5: Chief Justice Cleo. Powell wrote in the dissent that the

802
00:45:06,719 --> 00:45:11,239
Speaker 5: majority quote broadened the meaning of the word election as

803
00:45:11,360 --> 00:45:15,160
Speaker 5: used in the Virginia Constitution, to include the early voting period.

804
00:45:15,760 --> 00:45:18,799
Speaker 5: This is in direct conflict with how both Virginia and

805
00:45:18,920 --> 00:45:22,680
Speaker 5: federal law define an election. By extending elections in the

806
00:45:22,719 --> 00:45:26,120
Speaker 5: Commonwealth of Virginia beyond a single day, the majority's formulation

807
00:45:26,280 --> 00:45:29,920
Speaker 5: would directly conflict with the federal mandate that elections for

808
00:45:29,960 --> 00:45:33,640
Speaker 5: federal officials be held on a single day quote. So

809
00:45:34,000 --> 00:45:38,080
Speaker 5: under the Supreme Court of Virginia's new ruling, the district

810
00:45:38,120 --> 00:45:40,960
Speaker 5: map drawn in twenty twenty one must be used for

811
00:45:41,000 --> 00:45:45,880
Speaker 5: the upcoming election this November. The midterms, the new map

812
00:45:46,320 --> 00:45:51,400
Speaker 5: would have won Democrats four more House seats, but considering

813
00:45:51,520 --> 00:45:54,640
Speaker 5: this ruling by the state Supreme Court, Dems are now

814
00:45:54,760 --> 00:46:00,080
Speaker 5: eight seats down in the national redistricting battle, which the

815
00:46:00,160 --> 00:46:03,560
Speaker 5: latest gutting of the Voting Rights Act will only make worse.

816
00:46:04,080 --> 00:46:05,239
Speaker 6: Yeah.

817
00:46:05,440 --> 00:46:09,360
Speaker 5: Over this past weekend, Virginia Democrats Hakim Jeffries and Governor

818
00:46:09,600 --> 00:46:13,600
Speaker 5: Abigail Spanberger held discussions on what to do about this ruling.

819
00:46:13,840 --> 00:46:17,439
Speaker 5: The New York Times reported that Virginia Democrats expressed determination

820
00:46:18,160 --> 00:46:21,240
Speaker 5: to win two or three of the Republican held seats

821
00:46:21,680 --> 00:46:24,960
Speaker 5: even with the current map, but also discussed a few

822
00:46:25,360 --> 00:46:29,600
Speaker 5: long shot options to change the ruling or push forward

823
00:46:29,640 --> 00:46:32,840
Speaker 5: the map anyway. One of the more extreme measures debated

824
00:46:33,280 --> 00:46:37,440
Speaker 5: was the possibility of replacing the entire Virginia Supreme Court

825
00:46:37,920 --> 00:46:42,279
Speaker 5: by lowering the mandatory retirement age from seventy five to

826
00:46:42,360 --> 00:46:46,799
Speaker 5: fifty four and then having a new court rehear the case.

827
00:46:46,880 --> 00:46:49,799
Speaker 6: Sounds great, let's do it in between now and Novem.

828
00:46:50,280 --> 00:46:54,680
Speaker 5: So it seems the Democrats decided against this path ultimately

829
00:46:55,200 --> 00:46:58,799
Speaker 5: in part because the State Department of Elections deadline for

830
00:46:58,880 --> 00:47:02,480
Speaker 5: congressional maps is May twelfth, which is a day before

831
00:47:02,600 --> 00:47:03,440
Speaker 5: we're recording.

832
00:47:03,880 --> 00:47:06,080
Speaker 4: Yeah, they kind of ran out of time on this.

833
00:47:06,680 --> 00:47:08,440
Speaker 5: It's also unclear if they really would have had the

834
00:47:09,400 --> 00:47:13,120
Speaker 5: bravery to pull such a an extreme maneuver. Right, something

835
00:47:13,120 --> 00:47:15,160
Speaker 5: that may be the correct thing to do, and maybe

836
00:47:15,160 --> 00:47:17,319
Speaker 5: something they should just do anyway if they have the

837
00:47:17,360 --> 00:47:21,560
Speaker 5: power to fully replace their Supreme Court. Why not, Because

838
00:47:21,600 --> 00:47:24,360
Speaker 5: the Democrats are currently in a majority of control of

839
00:47:24,440 --> 00:47:27,200
Speaker 5: the state legislature right now, why not do this anyway

840
00:47:27,200 --> 00:47:30,560
Speaker 5: to a certain extent, Also, Abigail Scanberger can only serve

841
00:47:31,200 --> 00:47:34,640
Speaker 5: one term, so you know you're not going to lose

842
00:47:34,719 --> 00:47:38,040
Speaker 5: much political capital by pulling a kind of insane move

843
00:47:38,120 --> 00:47:41,080
Speaker 5: like this. But it's not going to happen at least

844
00:47:41,320 --> 00:47:46,560
Speaker 5: right now. Yeah, nope, Virginia State Senate majority leader Scott

845
00:47:46,640 --> 00:47:50,239
Speaker 5: Sortiville told The New Republic quote, as a practical matter,

846
00:47:50,520 --> 00:47:53,960
Speaker 5: the move would not be capable of being implemented given

847
00:47:54,040 --> 00:47:59,080
Speaker 5: the time frame now. Despite that May twelfth deadline, On Monday,

848
00:47:59,600 --> 00:48:03,879
Speaker 5: Virginia Attorney General J Jones and Democratic state lawmakers filed

849
00:48:03,880 --> 00:48:07,839
Speaker 5: an emergency appeal asking the US Supreme Court to put

850
00:48:07,880 --> 00:48:11,440
Speaker 5: the state Supreme Court order on hold for the upcoming

851
00:48:11,480 --> 00:48:15,280
Speaker 5: midterm election, arguing that the state court based their ruling

852
00:48:15,600 --> 00:48:20,240
Speaker 5: on misreading the federal definition of election and by adopting

853
00:48:20,239 --> 00:48:23,160
Speaker 5: its own definition, the State Supreme Court infringed on the

854
00:48:23,160 --> 00:48:28,280
Speaker 5: state Legislature's power to regulate federal elections quote by forcing

855
00:48:28,280 --> 00:48:32,440
Speaker 5: the Commonwealth to conduct its congressional elections using districts different

856
00:48:32,480 --> 00:48:35,600
Speaker 5: from those adopted by the General Assembly pursuant to a

857
00:48:35,600 --> 00:48:39,160
Speaker 5: constitutional amendment the people just ratified. The Supreme Court of

858
00:48:39,239 --> 00:48:42,719
Speaker 5: Virginia has deprived voters, candidates, and the Commonwealth of their

859
00:48:42,840 --> 00:48:48,680
Speaker 5: right to the lawfully enacted congressional districts. This case will

860
00:48:48,680 --> 00:48:51,800
Speaker 5: be initially decided by Chief Justice John Roberts, who handles

861
00:48:51,840 --> 00:48:55,560
Speaker 5: the emergency appeals from states covered by the Fourth Circuit

862
00:48:55,560 --> 00:49:00,640
Speaker 5: Court of Appeals, but the US Supreme Court may argue

863
00:49:00,719 --> 00:49:03,640
Speaker 5: that they don't have the authority to intervene because the

864
00:49:03,760 --> 00:49:07,879
Speaker 5: Virginia Supreme Court ruling cites state law, not federal law.

865
00:49:08,080 --> 00:49:12,240
Speaker 5: And The New Republic also reported that state Senate Majority

866
00:49:12,360 --> 00:49:16,480
Speaker 5: Leader Scott Saureville confirmed that even if the Supreme Court

867
00:49:16,560 --> 00:49:19,759
Speaker 5: gives them a good ruling, that ruling could be unlikely

868
00:49:19,840 --> 00:49:23,839
Speaker 5: to impact this upcoming election cycle due to this May

869
00:49:23,880 --> 00:49:24,680
Speaker 5: twelfth deadline.

870
00:49:25,239 --> 00:49:28,200
Speaker 6: I guess it's just what we're saying that, like the

871
00:49:29,040 --> 00:49:32,600
Speaker 6: nature of this midterm will be very important for the

872
00:49:32,640 --> 00:49:35,520
Speaker 6: way you get to vote in America going forward.

873
00:49:35,880 --> 00:49:37,920
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, they're they're pulling out all the stops,

874
00:49:38,120 --> 00:49:42,280
Speaker 1: like they're throwing any kind of plausible deniability in the trash,

875
00:49:42,640 --> 00:49:46,520
Speaker 1: because this is the get it the lose it moment

876
00:49:46,600 --> 00:49:49,080
Speaker 1: for the right, you know, Like that's very much how

877
00:49:49,080 --> 00:49:49,719
Speaker 1: they're looking at this.

878
00:49:49,840 --> 00:49:51,800
Speaker 6: Yeah, this is a locking in forever.

879
00:49:52,480 --> 00:49:53,560
Speaker 2: We'll see. Yeah.

880
00:49:53,920 --> 00:49:58,120
Speaker 5: A few years ago, Ohio pushed through unconstitutional maps, but

881
00:49:58,160 --> 00:50:01,719
Speaker 5: maps that were deemed unconstitutional by by state courts. One

882
00:50:01,800 --> 00:50:05,319
Speaker 5: federal court did authorize them to use these maps in

883
00:50:05,360 --> 00:50:08,120
Speaker 5: like an interim period, and they're still using them. And

884
00:50:08,280 --> 00:50:11,760
Speaker 5: in a piece by the Nation, they mentioned this option

885
00:50:12,320 --> 00:50:14,280
Speaker 5: was said that they would need to have the backing

886
00:50:14,719 --> 00:50:18,400
Speaker 5: of the state Board of Electors, and Virginia might not

887
00:50:18,480 --> 00:50:22,279
Speaker 5: have that. There's lots of people on the Democratic side

888
00:50:22,280 --> 00:50:25,480
Speaker 5: that are much more rule followy than a lot of

889
00:50:25,480 --> 00:50:28,880
Speaker 5: the Republicans as we have seen now. Virginia may be

890
00:50:28,880 --> 00:50:32,280
Speaker 5: able to still pass this redistricting map in the future

891
00:50:32,640 --> 00:50:36,000
Speaker 5: by spreading out the process over a bigger period of

892
00:50:36,000 --> 00:50:38,600
Speaker 5: time to not create this confusion about the early voting period.

893
00:50:38,960 --> 00:50:40,239
Speaker 5: But the map will not be able to go into

894
00:50:40,239 --> 00:50:42,279
Speaker 5: effect before the midterms, but it still may be able

895
00:50:42,320 --> 00:50:44,400
Speaker 5: to go into effect in the future. I do think

896
00:50:44,440 --> 00:50:46,680
Speaker 5: it's also worth noting that the same day that Virginia

897
00:50:46,719 --> 00:50:49,400
Speaker 5: filed this appeal, with the Supreme Court. The US Supreme

898
00:50:49,400 --> 00:50:52,960
Speaker 5: Court also paved the way for Alabama to eliminate one

899
00:50:52,960 --> 00:50:56,120
Speaker 5: of two majority black districts before the midterm elections by

900
00:50:56,200 --> 00:50:59,560
Speaker 5: overturning a lower court order that blocked the use of

901
00:50:59,600 --> 00:51:02,880
Speaker 5: a report public impacked map from twenty twenty three. So

902
00:51:03,080 --> 00:51:06,440
Speaker 5: the Supreme Court is currently weighing in on not exactly

903
00:51:06,480 --> 00:51:10,160
Speaker 5: the same but similar similar things in other states.

904
00:51:10,480 --> 00:51:13,920
Speaker 6: That was because it was basically pointy twy s Louisiana

905
00:51:14,040 --> 00:51:16,080
Speaker 6: ruling and saying like, we've ruled on this.

906
00:51:16,000 --> 00:51:16,719
Speaker 2: Yes, this is right.

907
00:51:17,080 --> 00:51:18,840
Speaker 4: This was following the Louisiana ruling.

908
00:51:18,920 --> 00:51:24,960
Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah, okay, that makes sense. PANO great videos Democratic

909
00:51:25,040 --> 00:51:28,959
Speaker 6: Process Voting Rights Act Ooh.

910
00:51:29,280 --> 00:51:33,439
Speaker 1: So, there's an increasing movement in the United States, both

911
00:51:33,480 --> 00:51:37,840
Speaker 1: at the state and the federal level to repeal gas taxes.

912
00:51:37,880 --> 00:51:41,839
Speaker 1: So in the United States, there's federal gas taxes that

913
00:51:41,840 --> 00:51:45,000
Speaker 1: that everybody pays. The current federal gas tax rate is

914
00:51:45,000 --> 00:51:48,480
Speaker 1: about eighteen point three cents per gallon for gasoline and

915
00:51:48,640 --> 00:51:51,200
Speaker 1: gas a hall, which is the actual official name of

916
00:51:51,600 --> 00:51:54,960
Speaker 1: fuel mixed with unleaded gas that's like unleaded and ethanol together,

917
00:51:55,120 --> 00:51:56,439
Speaker 1: is actually just called gas a hall.

918
00:51:56,520 --> 00:52:00,640
Speaker 6: Okay, I never knew that what yes, love, Yeah.

919
00:52:00,440 --> 00:52:02,400
Speaker 1: They couldn't think of anything better. And then twenty four

920
00:52:02,440 --> 00:52:04,440
Speaker 1: point three cents per gallon for diesel fuel.

921
00:52:04,600 --> 00:52:07,520
Speaker 2: Right. And then some states have their their own like

922
00:52:07,560 --> 00:52:09,480
Speaker 2: Oregon has its own like gas.

923
00:52:09,239 --> 00:52:12,520
Speaker 6: Taxes California centy does at both levels.

924
00:52:12,560 --> 00:52:16,240
Speaker 1: Like the federal gas tax is there in short because

925
00:52:16,239 --> 00:52:18,520
Speaker 1: it helps to pay for the roads, right, like that,

926
00:52:18,840 --> 00:52:21,800
Speaker 1: that's why we need a federal gas tax is because

927
00:52:22,320 --> 00:52:26,640
Speaker 1: it funds what's called the Highway Trust Fund or the HTF,

928
00:52:26,960 --> 00:52:30,200
Speaker 1: which is a big part of what keeps our interstate

929
00:52:30,280 --> 00:52:34,680
Speaker 1: infrastructure functional. And then state level gas taxes are often

930
00:52:34,719 --> 00:52:37,320
Speaker 1: also like supporting like state local roads.

931
00:52:37,440 --> 00:52:39,400
Speaker 2: Right. And so Trump has.

932
00:52:39,320 --> 00:52:43,279
Speaker 1: Talked about temporarily repealing the gas tax for like a

933
00:52:43,320 --> 00:52:46,960
Speaker 1: couple of months. There have been Democratic proposals that are

934
00:52:47,040 --> 00:52:51,600
Speaker 1: very similar. Graham Platner, who's about to be a congressman

935
00:52:51,600 --> 00:52:54,880
Speaker 1: from Maine, it's a Democratic nominee. Yeah, who's currently the

936
00:52:54,920 --> 00:52:57,799
Speaker 1: nominee but is almost certainly going to win.

937
00:52:57,920 --> 00:53:00,120
Speaker 6: Yeah, Well, the presumptive nominee, i think.

938
00:53:00,040 --> 00:53:03,560
Speaker 1: Has expressed support for ending the gas tax outright. And

939
00:53:03,680 --> 00:53:07,719
Speaker 1: his basic plan was something like, you have wealthy corporations

940
00:53:07,719 --> 00:53:09,640
Speaker 1: pay the money that the gas tax is currently going

941
00:53:09,640 --> 00:53:13,440
Speaker 1: to and you put that burden onto corporations instead of people.

942
00:53:13,880 --> 00:53:16,120
Speaker 1: And it's not uncommon, by the way, for the gas

943
00:53:16,160 --> 00:53:20,480
Speaker 1: tax to be temporarily repealed. During the early months of

944
00:53:20,640 --> 00:53:24,600
Speaker 1: the most recent escalation of the Russian invasion into Ukraine

945
00:53:24,680 --> 00:53:27,560
Speaker 1: and the Biden administration back in twenty twenty two, Biden

946
00:53:27,640 --> 00:53:30,799
Speaker 1: temporarily paused the federal gas tax. Right, So this is

947
00:53:30,800 --> 00:53:33,600
Speaker 1: the thing that happens. It's just always a bad idea

948
00:53:34,080 --> 00:53:36,560
Speaker 1: because it's the reason why you see people in the

949
00:53:36,640 --> 00:53:39,640
Speaker 1: left and right make suggestions like this repeal state or

950
00:53:39,680 --> 00:53:42,480
Speaker 1: federal gas taxes is because it's really easy. It's an

951
00:53:42,520 --> 00:53:44,400
Speaker 1: easy way to say, like, I'm looking out for you.

952
00:53:44,480 --> 00:53:46,880
Speaker 1: I'm trying to take care of regular people. Gas is

953
00:53:46,920 --> 00:53:49,440
Speaker 1: too darn expensive already. We've got to do everything we

954
00:53:49,560 --> 00:53:52,279
Speaker 1: can to make your life easier. The problem is the

955
00:53:52,360 --> 00:53:55,360
Speaker 1: Highway Trust Fund, which is absolutely critical for our roads

956
00:53:55,400 --> 00:54:00,360
Speaker 1: being functional, is already always running at a deficit. Twenty

957
00:54:00,520 --> 00:54:03,680
Speaker 1: four it was a deficit of about thirteen billion dollars.

958
00:54:04,120 --> 00:54:08,160
Speaker 1: The main reason for this is that, like transportation, infrastructure

959
00:54:08,480 --> 00:54:11,960
Speaker 1: is aging every single year and falling behind, and at

960
00:54:11,960 --> 00:54:14,479
Speaker 1: the same time that gas tax is not like peg

961
00:54:14,520 --> 00:54:17,040
Speaker 1: to inflation or anything. So it has not been keeping

962
00:54:17,080 --> 00:54:22,000
Speaker 1: pace with the actual needs of the Trust Fund. So anyway,

963
00:54:22,040 --> 00:54:25,239
Speaker 1: we're already in a really bad situation with the HTF.

964
00:54:25,360 --> 00:54:29,280
Speaker 1: Every time we pause these taxes, it gets much worse.

965
00:54:29,840 --> 00:54:33,799
Speaker 1: And I'm worried right now that as reasonable it may

966
00:54:33,840 --> 00:54:35,920
Speaker 1: sound and say something like well, we should just have

967
00:54:36,280 --> 00:54:38,879
Speaker 1: the rich pay for that, you're never going to have

968
00:54:39,040 --> 00:54:42,080
Speaker 1: any kind of like move that does both of those

969
00:54:42,080 --> 00:54:44,840
Speaker 1: things at once. They're going to start by repealing the

970
00:54:44,880 --> 00:54:48,360
Speaker 1: gas tax and then they'll never get around to replacing

971
00:54:48,400 --> 00:54:50,719
Speaker 1: it with anything, and then the roads will just be

972
00:54:50,840 --> 00:54:54,319
Speaker 1: bad forever. I think this is a bad idea, and

973
00:54:54,360 --> 00:54:58,120
Speaker 1: I think you should be a little wary of politicians

974
00:54:58,600 --> 00:55:01,000
Speaker 1: doing this because it's an e way to get a win.

975
00:55:01,120 --> 00:55:04,440
Speaker 1: But that said, damn near everybody is, so how wary

976
00:55:04,480 --> 00:55:07,759
Speaker 1: can you actually be. It's just a really irresponsible, bad

977
00:55:07,800 --> 00:55:09,760
Speaker 1: idea that has a lot of bipartisan support.

978
00:55:10,440 --> 00:55:10,640
Speaker 2: Yeah.

979
00:55:10,880 --> 00:55:13,279
Speaker 5: Really, Ever since the no tax on tips thing, there's

980
00:55:13,320 --> 00:55:15,960
Speaker 5: there's been this wave of of you know, people have

981
00:55:16,000 --> 00:55:18,759
Speaker 5: called this like slopulist policies or like things that are

982
00:55:18,800 --> 00:55:21,600
Speaker 5: that are that are you know, populist in framing, but

983
00:55:22,080 --> 00:55:25,440
Speaker 5: have certain like economic problems or or get dispersed in

984
00:55:25,480 --> 00:55:27,640
Speaker 5: weird ways, you know, as me has talked about some

985
00:55:27,680 --> 00:55:31,040
Speaker 5: specifics around the no tax on tips policy, But there's

986
00:55:31,040 --> 00:55:32,600
Speaker 5: there's there's been like a wave of these you know,

987
00:55:32,760 --> 00:55:36,879
Speaker 5: small targeted tax cuts on on on various little things

988
00:55:36,920 --> 00:55:40,360
Speaker 5: to kind of lift lift the financial burden that Americans

989
00:55:40,360 --> 00:55:44,000
Speaker 5: are facing, you know, the better ones, you know, ones

990
00:55:44,080 --> 00:55:48,239
Speaker 5: like like like Platinum Strategy, which has a part of

991
00:55:48,239 --> 00:55:53,279
Speaker 5: his plan increasing taxes on billionaires and oil corporations. But

992
00:55:53,520 --> 00:55:55,680
Speaker 5: these words of taxes are just like little band aid

993
00:55:55,719 --> 00:55:59,560
Speaker 5: solutions and that are almost like consolation prizes for not

994
00:55:59,640 --> 00:56:02,880
Speaker 5: being able to raise the corporate tax rate or income

995
00:56:02,920 --> 00:56:06,839
Speaker 5: tax brackets. Right, And it's it's like we're adopting these

996
00:56:06,880 --> 00:56:11,800
Speaker 5: consolation taxes for this presumed impossibility of just actually raising

997
00:56:11,960 --> 00:56:14,040
Speaker 5: taxes to the level of you know, if you look

998
00:56:14,080 --> 00:56:16,840
Speaker 5: at the United States in like the nineteen fifties, super

999
00:56:17,120 --> 00:56:19,960
Speaker 5: super high, super high level of the taxes that actually

1000
00:56:20,000 --> 00:56:23,240
Speaker 5: funded social services. And one thing that could be frustrating

1001
00:56:23,239 --> 00:56:26,560
Speaker 5: about these these sorts of more like sloppulist tax angles is,

1002
00:56:26,640 --> 00:56:30,640
Speaker 5: you know, it undermines the vital role of taxes to

1003
00:56:30,960 --> 00:56:32,560
Speaker 5: actually fund social services.

1004
00:56:33,040 --> 00:56:33,279
Speaker 2: Yep.

1005
00:56:33,320 --> 00:56:36,200
Speaker 5: Now, should more of those taxes be funded by corporations

1006
00:56:36,239 --> 00:56:40,160
Speaker 5: and billionaires? Yeah, absolutely, Yeah, but I think that should

1007
00:56:40,160 --> 00:56:43,560
Speaker 5: be the focus rather than these little itty bitty kind

1008
00:56:43,560 --> 00:56:46,640
Speaker 5: of you know, cutting away at the corners of like small,

1009
00:56:46,880 --> 00:56:49,839
Speaker 5: small targeted taxes that are that are again like used

1010
00:56:49,960 --> 00:56:53,720
Speaker 5: used as like you know, consolation prizes, rather than actually

1011
00:56:53,719 --> 00:56:56,680
Speaker 5: addressing the pretty significant you know, tax reforms that need

1012
00:56:56,719 --> 00:56:57,760
Speaker 5: to happen in this country.

1013
00:56:58,360 --> 00:57:01,640
Speaker 1: And it's it's just dangerous because it acts as if

1014
00:57:02,120 --> 00:57:04,960
Speaker 1: what the gas tax is there the fund is optional,

1015
00:57:05,239 --> 00:57:09,319
Speaker 1: is not like necessary, like, well, we don't really need this,

1016
00:57:09,719 --> 00:57:12,439
Speaker 1: so we'll pause this whenever like things get bad because

1017
00:57:12,480 --> 00:57:14,399
Speaker 1: we don't need them, but we you do, like our

1018
00:57:14,440 --> 00:57:18,280
Speaker 1: society is reliant upon the maintenance of that fund, and

1019
00:57:18,480 --> 00:57:19,960
Speaker 1: we shouldn't act like it's.

1020
00:57:20,080 --> 00:57:22,600
Speaker 2: Yeah, this is very frustrating to me.

1021
00:57:22,960 --> 00:57:26,000
Speaker 6: Yeah, you can see why the gas tax in particulars

1022
00:57:26,040 --> 00:57:29,440
Speaker 6: appealing right now. Right now, Yes, people are struggling, like

1023
00:57:29,520 --> 00:57:33,280
Speaker 6: it is literally seven dollars a gallon in pods of California.

1024
00:57:33,400 --> 00:57:35,120
Speaker 2: Oh, it's fucking nuts.

1025
00:57:35,240 --> 00:57:38,480
Speaker 6: Like people who like a lot of people who struggle

1026
00:57:38,480 --> 00:57:40,280
Speaker 6: to make it are really struggling to make it now, Yeah,

1027
00:57:40,280 --> 00:57:43,000
Speaker 6: why our society is set up, means it's very hard

1028
00:57:43,040 --> 00:57:45,520
Speaker 6: for people to exist without a car. So you're like, yes,

1029
00:57:45,960 --> 00:57:48,040
Speaker 6: the populist appeal is obvious, and.

1030
00:57:48,280 --> 00:57:49,880
Speaker 1: As is always the case with this sort of thing,

1031
00:57:50,000 --> 00:57:51,920
Speaker 1: the fact that it has an appeal is based on

1032
00:57:52,040 --> 00:57:56,880
Speaker 1: ignorance because when roads are poorly maintained, it hosts regular

1033
00:57:56,960 --> 00:57:59,320
Speaker 1: people huge amounts of money, and the damage it does

1034
00:57:59,320 --> 00:58:01,960
Speaker 1: to their car far more than the gas tax costs.

1035
00:58:02,320 --> 00:58:04,920
Speaker 1: This has been established. This is not like I think

1036
00:58:04,960 --> 00:58:07,040
Speaker 1: we have to wonder about. There have been studies into this,

1037
00:58:07,240 --> 00:58:09,760
Speaker 1: like you pay more money when the roads are bad

1038
00:58:09,800 --> 00:58:11,320
Speaker 1: because your car gets fucked up.

1039
00:58:12,160 --> 00:58:14,480
Speaker 6: Yeah, And it's reasonable for people to say, well, a

1040
00:58:14,520 --> 00:58:18,560
Speaker 6: country has enough money, can't we unfunck the roads and yes,

1041
00:58:18,680 --> 00:58:20,800
Speaker 6: not charge me a lot of money. Unfortunately, we just

1042
00:58:20,840 --> 00:58:24,240
Speaker 6: spent thirty billion fucking invading Iran, so no we can't.

1043
00:58:24,800 --> 00:58:26,960
Speaker 2: Yeah, you have to not do some of the other

1044
00:58:27,080 --> 00:58:28,120
Speaker 2: things that we're doing.

1045
00:58:28,640 --> 00:58:32,200
Speaker 6: Yeah, that it's not up for grabs in the current

1046
00:58:32,240 --> 00:58:37,360
Speaker 6: political atmosphere, right, and even your dure like mainstream Democrats, Yeah,

1047
00:58:38,160 --> 00:58:39,200
Speaker 6: aren't going to ride for that.

1048
00:58:39,360 --> 00:58:42,160
Speaker 5: No, I mean it requires pressure against mainstream Democrats and

1049
00:58:42,200 --> 00:58:46,160
Speaker 5: obviously the Republican establishment as well, right, Like part of

1050
00:58:46,200 --> 00:58:49,920
Speaker 5: Platner's plan is a fifty percent per barrel windfall tax

1051
00:58:50,000 --> 00:58:52,520
Speaker 5: on big oil profits, which.

1052
00:58:52,400 --> 00:58:53,280
Speaker 4: Would be significant.

1053
00:58:53,280 --> 00:58:55,280
Speaker 5: But there will be a lot of pushback against this,

1054
00:58:55,520 --> 00:58:58,840
Speaker 5: including among the democratic establishment, and that might require getting

1055
00:58:58,880 --> 00:59:01,520
Speaker 5: rid of a whole bunch of these democratic establishment figures

1056
00:59:01,520 --> 00:59:03,200
Speaker 5: who are currently occupying seats of power.

1057
00:59:04,240 --> 00:59:08,120
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, well everyone think about that.

1058
00:59:08,240 --> 00:59:09,520
Speaker 6: On that hopeful note.

1059
00:59:09,480 --> 00:59:18,320
Speaker 5: That note where can people send us a news related tips, James.

1060
00:59:19,520 --> 00:59:22,560
Speaker 6: They can do that by emailing who Zone tips at

1061
00:59:22,600 --> 00:59:25,000
Speaker 6: proton dot me. If you want to keep it a

1062
00:59:25,040 --> 00:59:27,120
Speaker 6: little bit more encrypted, you can do it from a

1063
00:59:27,120 --> 00:59:30,120
Speaker 6: proton email address so it doesn't bother you. Go ahead

1064
00:59:30,120 --> 00:59:32,600
Speaker 6: and send it. If you have a marketing email, you

1065
00:59:32,640 --> 00:59:35,800
Speaker 6: can not send it. Trying not to be so rude

1066
00:59:36,080 --> 00:59:37,160
Speaker 6: to the marketing people.

1067
00:59:38,440 --> 00:59:41,240
Speaker 5: No, I think part of part of those anarchists that

1068
00:59:41,360 --> 00:59:44,760
Speaker 5: left being and streamers threats might be against the marketing corporations.

1069
00:59:44,800 --> 00:59:48,720
Speaker 5: If James keeps a keeps threatening again at the end of.

1070
00:59:48,640 --> 00:59:53,880
Speaker 6: This episode to prison, I'll just blog I'm not advocating violence.

1071
00:59:53,880 --> 00:59:56,080
Speaker 6: I'm just gonna blog your email. Okay, Well, well, I

1072
00:59:56,120 --> 00:59:58,320
Speaker 6: will make sure that we never hear from you again.

1073
00:59:58,360 --> 01:00:00,720
Speaker 6: It won't just be me blocking it all of us

1074
01:00:01,320 --> 01:00:02,400
Speaker 6: Here at cool zone.

1075
01:00:02,200 --> 01:00:07,320
Speaker 2: Media, we reported the news. You reported the news. We

1076
01:00:07,440 --> 01:00:08,240
Speaker 2: reported the news.

1077
01:00:16,640 --> 01:00:19,160
Speaker 10: It could happen here is a production of cool Zone Media.

1078
01:00:19,320 --> 01:00:22,400
Speaker 10: For more podcasts from cool Zone Media, visit our website

1079
01:00:22,480 --> 01:00:26,040
Speaker 10: coolzonmedia dot com, or check us out on the iHeartRadio app,

1080
01:00:26,120 --> 01:00:29,680
Speaker 10: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. You can

1081
01:00:29,720 --> 01:00:32,080
Speaker 10: now find sources where it could happen here listened directly

1082
01:00:32,080 --> 01:00:34,400
Speaker 10: in episode descriptions. Thanks for listening.