Speaker 1: Good evening everyone, and welcome to another edition of The
Speaker 1: Cajun Night Live. I am your host, the Cajun Night
Speaker 1: Jacob Mook. Thank you everybody for joining me this evening.
Speaker 1: Before we get started, I do want to go ahead
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Speaker 1: We're trying to grow this to be a community unto
Speaker 1: itself where we discuss geopolitics, history, religion, philosophy, and just
Speaker 1: kind of whatever else comes up in the evening's conversation.
Speaker 1: And again, as always, thank you everybody for joining me.
Speaker 1: We're gonna start off talking about some of the wild
Speaker 1: things going on in the American news cycle as of
Speaker 1: this moment, not just mainstream media, although yes it's gonna
Speaker 1: be based in the mainstream media. But let's go ahead
Speaker 1: and start off with this crazy claim that I just
Speaker 1: recently heard. Now, it's no secret that Donald Trump has
Speaker 1: deployed National Guard troops to Washington, d C.
Speaker 2: All right, which all this was in response to one.
Speaker 1: Of the doze kids getting mugged, which happens right when
Speaker 1: I was living in DC. I almost got mugged twice
Speaker 1: that I know of, for sure, and one of my
Speaker 1: guys in my platoon came back with his face all
Speaker 1: cut up. And he did, in fact get mugged when
Speaker 1: he walked out of bar drunk one night. A group
Speaker 1: of dudes thought he was someone else. I don't know,
Speaker 1: but I mean to be fair, this guy was a
Speaker 1: bit of a loudmouth, so it's very possible.
Speaker 2: He did instigate.
Speaker 1: He was a bit of a drunken Irish guy, you know,
Speaker 1: and it's very possible that he instigated it and got it,
Speaker 1: got his issue on that he was fine. It wasn't.
Speaker 1: It didn't require stitches, thank guy. But yeah, DC has
Speaker 1: never been a relatively safe place.
Speaker 2: The closer you.
Speaker 1: Get to the National mall right, the closer you get
Speaker 1: to the big monuments and the touristy stuff, yeah it's
Speaker 1: safe there. But the further away you get from that,
Speaker 1: more and more sketchy it gets. That's nothing new. So
Speaker 1: when Trump was talking about federalizing the security of Washington, DC.
Speaker 2: That didn't instantaneously, you know, get my hackles up.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be honest, you know, and I'm not somebody
Speaker 1: who is like super thrilled about living in a police state,
Speaker 1: like a full on Gestappo style nation. That doesn't make
Speaker 1: me happy by any means. But that's not what he
Speaker 1: was insinuating. He was talking about doing that just in
Speaker 1: d C. All right, cool, got you. Crime in DC
Speaker 1: seems to have taken a massive downtick. And again, I
Speaker 1: understand depends on the sources that you read in which
Speaker 1: side of the aisle you find yourself on it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, ya yah, fine, fine, fine.
Speaker 1: Cut Two, he talks about going to Chicago with the
Speaker 1: same type of energy to bring down crime.
Speaker 2: Chicago is not a safe place.
Speaker 1: No one is under any kind of delusion that thinks
Speaker 1: that Shyraq is a safe place to like go out
Speaker 1: for a picnic. Okay, Like everybody agrees that Chicago aka
Speaker 1: Shyraq is a rough town. The National Guard was supposed
Speaker 1: to be deployed there, and the mayor of Chicago and
Speaker 1: other Illinois political figures spoke out and basically said that
Speaker 1: we don't want that here, and you know, to be
Speaker 1: honest with you, if Barack Obama had done this, seeing
Speaker 1: as how he was from Illinois and he was from Chicago,
Speaker 1: allegedly all these things and he decided that he wanted
Speaker 1: to clean up the streets of Chicago, I have a
Speaker 1: weird feeling that it would have gone over and like, great,
Speaker 1: they would have welcomed it. They would have thrown a
Speaker 1: parade that somebody finally cleaning up these streets, and like,
Speaker 1: I could see that happening.
Speaker 2: But because it's Trump that's doing it, he's.
Speaker 1: A laterally hitler, right cool. That being said, Chicago National
Speaker 1: Guard deployment that didn't go through, now he is talking
Speaker 1: about sending them to New Orleans, Louisiana, just a skip
Speaker 1: and a hop away from my neck of the Bayou. So,
Speaker 1: you know what, let's talk about this one first. I
Speaker 1: got a quick little news clip here that we're gonna
Speaker 1: listen to. Then we're gonna talk a little deeper about
Speaker 1: the intent on this one. Let's check it out.
Speaker 3: Doesn't Trump consider sending the National Guard to New Orleans?
Speaker 4: Sabrina Wilson joins us with what we know so far.
Speaker 5: Sabrina and Liz.
Speaker 6: The President made the comments this morning in the Oval Office,
Speaker 6: saying Governor Jeff Landry, a fellow Republican, wants it. His
Speaker 6: statement comes as violent crime in New Orleans is down.
Speaker 6: Trump recently sent the National Guard into Washington, d C.
Speaker 6: And said this week he was sending them to Chicago,
Speaker 6: but Chicago's Democratic governor has pushed back hard, saying they
Speaker 6: don't want the Guard there. So this morning, during questioning
Speaker 6: by journalists in the Oval Office, Trump said he's now
Speaker 6: considering sending the Guard to New Orleans and says Governor
Speaker 6: Landry wants it.
Speaker 7: Take a listen, we're making a determination.
Speaker 8: Now do we go to Chicago or do we go
Speaker 8: to a place like New Orleans, where we have a
Speaker 8: great governor, Jeff Landry, who wants us to come in
Speaker 8: and straighten out a very nice section of this country
Speaker 8: that's become quite you know, quite tough, quite bad. So
Speaker 8: we're going to be going to maybe Louisiana, and you
Speaker 8: have New Orleans which has a crime problem. Will straighten
Speaker 8: that out about two weeks. It'll take us two weeks
Speaker 8: easier than DC.
Speaker 6: Now. As for the National Guard, Lieutenant Colonel Knowle Collins said,
Speaker 6: when we're ordered, we'll support for anything else. I would
Speaker 6: refer you to the governor's office. We just got a
Speaker 6: reaction from the governor, Governor Landry saying will take President
Speaker 6: Trump's help from New Orleans to Shreveport. City Councilwoman at
Speaker 6: Large Helena Moreno had this response to Trump's comments. She said,
Speaker 6: we have an unprecedented reduction in crime and violence in
Speaker 6: New Orleans. This is an attack on certain cities. There
Speaker 6: are many cities with mayors aligned with this president whose
Speaker 6: crime issues are severe, but they're not That clearly shows
Speaker 6: that this is about scare tactics and politicizing public safety. Now,
Speaker 6: recently a federal judge rule that's a Trump administration illegally
Speaker 6: used military troops in southern California during immigration protests. I
Speaker 6: reached out to the mayor, the police chief, and others
Speaker 6: for comments. So far, haven't heard.
Speaker 1: All right, Can we just acknowledge the fact that she
Speaker 1: sounded drunk, Like, realistically, I understand that, like getting tongue
Speaker 1: ti while reading a script sometimes does suck. I can
Speaker 1: fully understand that. But at the same time, like something's
Speaker 1: got to give here, you know. But all right, there
Speaker 1: was a couple of claims that were made in that spiel,
Speaker 1: and I think it's worth going a little deeper on
Speaker 1: For one, Governor Jeff Landry said that we would take
Speaker 1: the help from New Orleans to Shreveport. And for anybody
Speaker 1: who may not be familiar with the geography of Louisiana,
Speaker 1: he's basically saying the higher state Shreveport is one of
Speaker 1: the larger cities in the uppermost northern aka South Arkansas
Speaker 1: portion of Louisiana, and New Orleans is one of our
Speaker 1: bigger cities more towards the southern tip of the boot.
Speaker 1: That being said, the governor is all on board with
Speaker 1: getting some help to lower crime in the entire state,
Speaker 1: but sure New Orleans is an excellent place to start. Meanwhile,
Speaker 1: representatives said that crime is at an all time low,
Speaker 1: it's at a dip. Let's talk a little bit more
Speaker 1: about that after we read this article. This is from
Speaker 1: USA Today. President Trump says he may send National Guard
Speaker 1: to New Orleans next instead of Chicago. We just heard
Speaker 1: him with the quote, so I'm not gonna play the
Speaker 1: video here, but let's see. President Trump suggests he may
Speaker 1: send National Guard troops next to New Orleans, as he
Speaker 1: has repeatedly threatened to Chicago, and as he looks to
Speaker 1: expand his crime crack down to states where federal intervention
Speaker 1: is welcome. One day after he declared we're going in
Speaker 1: about plans for Chicago, Trump on September third said his
Speaker 1: administration still hadn't decided whether it would deploy troops in
Speaker 1: the nation's third largest city. Trump instead pointed to New Orleans,
Speaker 1: a city and a Republican led state in contrast to
Speaker 1: Democratic led Illinois. And that's kind of my point that
Speaker 1: I made, right if there was a Democrat in office
Speaker 1: right now and they were trying to push this initiative
Speaker 1: into a Democrat state, I have a weird suspicion that
Speaker 1: it would have gone over way better.
Speaker 2: It would have been a smooth thing.
Speaker 1: They would have been fine with it, because you know,
Speaker 1: they see themselves as politically aligned. Therefore the initiative is
Speaker 1: a politically aligned thing. I don't know, But I also
Speaker 1: have a really hard time seeing Democrats deploy troops to
Speaker 1: clean up their streets. They seem to thrive in such environments.
Speaker 1: That being said, I have a feeling that this will
Speaker 1: go over a whole lot better in New Orleans. And honestly,
Speaker 1: I could even see him trying to go into certain
Speaker 1: Texas towns for the same purpose. That being said, we
Speaker 1: know that pretty much any federal help going into Texas
Speaker 1: is probably going more towards the border than it is
Speaker 1: going into like the inner cities. But I digress. Going
Speaker 1: back to a quote here, we're making a determination now,
Speaker 1: Trump said in the Oval office, do we go to
Speaker 1: Chicago or go to a place like New Orleans, Like
Speaker 1: you said Governor Jeff Landry, who wants us to straighten
Speaker 1: out a very nice section of the country. It's become,
Speaker 1: you know, quite tough, quite bad. So we're going to
Speaker 1: be maybe in Louisiana, he said. Trump emphasized that he
Speaker 1: wants Democratic Illinois Governor JB. Pritzker to request help from
Speaker 1: the Trump administration to combat Chicago's crime. We could straighten
Speaker 1: out Chicago. All they have to do is ask, Trump said. Pritzker, however,
Speaker 1: has resisted Trump's threats to send the National Guard to Chicago,
Speaker 1: accusing the President of not being serious about fighting crime,
Speaker 1: but rather testing his power quote unquote, I want to
Speaker 1: go into Chicago, have all the all excuse me, and
Speaker 1: I have this incompetent governor who doesn't want us, Trump said.
Speaker 1: Trump is more than three weeks into his crime crack
Speaker 1: down in Washington, d C, which is involved deploying more
Speaker 1: than two thousand and two one hundred National Guard troops
Speaker 1: to patrol the streets. But unlike other American cities, DC
Speaker 1: status is a federal enclave gives Trump's special authority to
Speaker 1: deploy National Guard troops to the nation's capital. In contrast,
Speaker 1: the governor's traditionally overseeing mobilization in their states, and that
Speaker 1: also checks out right. So technically speaking, the mayor of
Speaker 1: d C also acts as far as a political clout
Speaker 1: goes kind of acts as the governor of d C
Speaker 1: as well. Because DC is not a state, they are
Speaker 1: seen as a district. It's their own municipality. Therefore, the
Speaker 1: mayor of d C gets the authority to mobilize National
Speaker 1: Guard troops. But I'm not one hundred percent sure if
Speaker 1: DC has a National Guard unit organic to the district.
Speaker 1: I think they might have to rely on the Maryland
Speaker 1: and Virginia National Guards as far as that's concerned. But
Speaker 1: either way it goes. Because it's kind of an outlier,
Speaker 1: Trump does have special privileges to do more things in
Speaker 1: the city to which he currently lives. When it comes
Speaker 1: to states, however, the National Guard answers to the governor. Right,
Speaker 1: the governor of that state is the one that allows
Speaker 1: and certifies and documents and all this stuff, and basically
Speaker 1: is the one that mobilizes National Guard troops whenever they
Speaker 1: determine that something is needing the help or the support
Speaker 1: or the defense or the offense or whatever.
Speaker 2: The case is.
Speaker 1: That being said, Trump just did send National Guard troops
Speaker 1: to southern California for.
Speaker 2: The riots that was going on.
Speaker 1: Gavin Newsom did not send the National Guard troops into
Speaker 1: Southern California. That was Trump, And somebody said that that
Speaker 1: was a political flex of his as well, even though
Speaker 1: it was needed at that moment. But you know, moving
Speaker 1: on here, Louisiana governor welcomes National Guard to New Orleans.
Speaker 1: Trump signed an executive order on August eleventh directing Defense
Speaker 1: Secretary Pete Hegsath to coordinate with state governors to determine
Speaker 1: whether National Guard troops are needed in their communities. While
Speaker 1: bost Chicago, and New Orleans have democratic mayors, as does
Speaker 1: every major city in the country pretty much as a
Speaker 1: standard rule, Brandon Johnson and LaToya Cantrell, which LaToya Cantrell, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm not going to go into a rant on that
Speaker 1: human being. She is one of the most human beings
Speaker 1: there's ever been. That's all I'll say on that, respectfully,
Speaker 1: Louisiana presents an opportunity for coordination with the state's governor,
Speaker 1: Republican Jeff Landry, while Chicago does not. We will take
Speaker 1: President Donald Trump's help for New Orleans to Shreveport.
Speaker 2: Landry satt on the Post on x.
Speaker 1: Both Chicago and New Orleans have well documented struggles with crime.
Speaker 1: New Orleans has the third highest homicide rate in twenty
Speaker 1: twenty five, while Chicago ranks tenth according to a list
Speaker 1: compiled from the nonprofit Freedom for All Americans based on
Speaker 1: local data. DC ranked nineteenth on the same list. We
Speaker 1: are still in the middle of twenty twenty five. We
Speaker 1: just got to September of this year, and New Orleans
Speaker 1: is currently ranked third as far as the highest homicides
Speaker 1: in the country goes. Yet, if you listen to most
Speaker 1: of the mainstream media, they'll tell you that, well, New
Speaker 1: Orleans is on a crime down tick right now. They're
Speaker 1: doing better than they have in years as far as
Speaker 1: crime is concerned. Why do we need National Guard troops there?
Speaker 1: That is incorrect, by the numbers, and it's not just homicides.
Speaker 1: You want to look at carjackings. You want to talk
Speaker 1: about burglaries. You want to talk about massive drug busts.
Speaker 1: You want to talk about cartel movement, you want to
Speaker 1: talk about gang movement. Murder is a pretty.
Speaker 2: Good telltale sign of everything else.
Speaker 1: I think it's very rare to find a town that
Speaker 1: has a high murder rate that also doesn't have a
Speaker 1: high crime rate in other regards as well. The reason why,
Speaker 1: and I've talked about this on the Cult a few times,
Speaker 1: the reason why New Orleans has such a high murder
Speaker 1: rate is because of something called the thirty Day Murder trial.
Speaker 1: And for those that may not be acquainted, here's how
Speaker 1: this goes down. This is gonna for the record, this
Speaker 1: is going to sound like I'm making this up.
Speaker 2: I can assure you that I am not.
Speaker 1: Here's how this goes Let's say that a murder gets
Speaker 1: committed in New Orleans. Okay, Cool, cops get called the
Speaker 1: guilty party, if you will, suspect because innocential, proven guilty,
Speaker 1: even if there's cameras showing it all gets arrested. Cool,
Speaker 1: all right, And well, I guess if there's cameras involved
Speaker 1: in the state would pick up the case in this one.
Speaker 1: But in the case of just bear with me here,
Speaker 1: So a murder gets committed, cops get called homeboy gets arrested,
Speaker 1: all right, cool, In thirty days, he will appear before
Speaker 1: a judge, and if there is no witnesses to testify
Speaker 1: against him, he walks. That's how the criminal justice system
Speaker 1: works in New Orleans. Now, like I said, if there's
Speaker 1: a camera involved, like you're at a gas station or
Speaker 1: something and a security camera sees the whole interaction, the
Speaker 1: state will probably pick up the case, and that's just
Speaker 1: how it goes.
Speaker 2: But if it's a domestic dispute, which most of.
Speaker 1: The murders in New Orleans are classified as, or maybe
Speaker 1: gang violence or something like this, there's very, very rarely
Speaker 1: any kind of video evidence and there is not going
Speaker 1: to be a witness to testify against you, because if
Speaker 1: they take the stand against you, they probably won't make
Speaker 1: it home that day, and they understand that. So most
Speaker 1: of the murder cases that go down in New Orleans,
Speaker 1: the guilty party walks. And there was a very big
Speaker 1: problem with this after Katrino, when a lot of the
Speaker 1: quote unquote refugees from New Orleans. Not all.
Speaker 2: There were a lot of people that were genuine refugees.
Speaker 1: There was a lot of gang members that took that
Speaker 1: same type of energy and went to Dallas, Austin, Houston,
Speaker 1: and they thought that that's how the law works everywhere,
Speaker 1: and they found out very quickly that no, you're not
Speaker 1: going to get away with murder in the state of Texas.
Speaker 1: That only goes down in New Orleans. It's not even
Speaker 1: a state thing. That's a city thing. But anyway, so
Speaker 1: whenever we talk about high homicide rates in New Orleans,
Speaker 1: this is not a new thing. This has been the
Speaker 1: way for decades. And not to mention, New Orleans cannot
Speaker 1: keep police officers. They are begging on their knees and
Speaker 1: offering pretty substantial signing bonuses for anybody to become a
Speaker 1: New Orleans police officer. The problem is that of the
Speaker 1: ones that are currently serving, most of them are on
Speaker 1: the take in some way, shape or form. Or you
Speaker 1: get some young guy, some young blood that's trying to
Speaker 1: get up in the police officer the department and do
Speaker 1: good for the community. He might make it two years,
Speaker 1: maybe three, and then he decides the pay is not
Speaker 1: worth the amount of issues that I have to deal
Speaker 1: with in this community on a daily basis. New Orleans
Speaker 1: is begging people. For every one cop that they get
Speaker 1: added to the department, they lose three. And that has
Speaker 1: been the case for the better part of a decade.
Speaker 1: That has not gotten better at all. But they're doing
Speaker 1: what they can. So when President Trump is offering to
Speaker 1: send National Guard troops into New Orleans to clean it up,
Speaker 1: you would think LaToya Cantrell would be super on board
Speaker 1: with this, especially how New Orleans is currently. We still
Speaker 1: have four months to go and we're already ranked third
Speaker 1: in the nation for homicides. But okay, sure, now like
Speaker 1: continuing the article here, it says waiting until we are asked,
Speaker 1: Trump says in a shift of rhetoric. Trump has also
Speaker 1: discussed targeting Baltimore, Los Angeles, Oakland, California, and New York
Speaker 1: City in future crackdowns. Yet the president and his September
Speaker 1: third remarks secondly, he may not deploy the National Guard
Speaker 1: to these cities unless he is asked. Yeah, I see
Speaker 1: that going south. Realistically, Let's see Baltimore. I don't see
Speaker 1: that going well. But you might be able to finagle
Speaker 1: your way in there, La, and Oakland. So you're going
Speaker 1: to supersed Gavin Newsom and send federal troops to his
Speaker 1: to the cities in his state. I don't see that
Speaker 1: going well. Although that being said, he did just do
Speaker 1: that for the riots that took place, but that's a
Speaker 1: little different.
Speaker 2: That's more of a quick response for us.
Speaker 1: This is talking about rooting out organized crime and gangs
Speaker 1: and all of these things in these cities. I don't
Speaker 1: have a I don't think Gavin Newsom's going to ask
Speaker 1: him to come to California. New York City. The mayor
Speaker 1: of New York correct me I from wrong. Who just
Speaker 1: got elected was that Muslim socialist. I got a really
Speaker 1: hard time believing that he is going to ask Trump
Speaker 1: to please send National Guard troops into New York City. Now, granted,
Speaker 1: National Guard troops were already in New York City and
Speaker 1: they were monitoring the subway system right because it was
Speaker 1: that bad, and they got ship on the entire time.
Speaker 1: I think there's still a few out there, but by
Speaker 1: and large, it's it's only for the subway system to
Speaker 1: try to protect people, to go deep into the entire city. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I got a hard time believing that they're gonna ask
Speaker 1: Trump for help I could. I hope I'm wrong. I
Speaker 1: really hope I'm wrong on this one. But we shall see.
Speaker 1: Moving on here, it says the politicians are not in
Speaker 1: tune with the people. Boy, if that ain't one of
Speaker 1: the most statements that has ever been made. The people
Speaker 1: in Chicago, the people in Baltimore, the people in all
Speaker 1: the places we talk about, they want to see us there,
Speaker 1: Trump said, but added, I think we are pretty much
Speaker 1: waiting until we are asked.
Speaker 2: His comments marked the shifting.
Speaker 1: Rhetoric from one day earlier on September second, when Trump
Speaker 1: claimed that he planned to send troops into Chicago, whether
Speaker 1: they asked for help or not. If the governor of
Speaker 1: Illinois would call me up, I would love to do it,
Speaker 1: Trump said twenty four hours earlier.
Speaker 2: Now we're going to do it anyway.
Speaker 1: We have the right to do it because I have
Speaker 1: an obligation to protect this country. But again, now he's
Speaker 1: starting to sidestep that and say, ah, maybe New Orleans,
Speaker 1: maybe that's a better bet. A federal judge in California
Speaker 1: ruled on September second that Trump's deployment of National Guard
Speaker 1: troops this year in Los Angeles in response to protests
Speaker 1: was illegal because it violated a federal law prohibiting the
Speaker 1: use of military to enforce domestic laws. I find that weird.
Speaker 1: I don't know what this judge said this or what about,
Speaker 1: but when you take an oath to join the military,
Speaker 1: you swear to uphold and offend the Constitution against all enemies,
Speaker 1: foreign and domestic. It's literally in the oath that you
Speaker 1: take to join the military. So that being said, I
Speaker 1: don't know what law prohibits the use of military to
Speaker 1: enforce domestic laws.
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 1: I'm not an expert in the legal system, but I
Speaker 1: feel like that's a bit of a bit of a
Speaker 1: misnomer there. However, the narrow ruling does not require Trump
Speaker 1: to withdraw the remaining three hundred National Guard troops from
Speaker 1: Los Angeles, nor does it apply to other states. Okay,
Speaker 1: maybe that's maybe that's just a California rule or something,
Speaker 1: but I sure the hell have never heard of it.
Speaker 1: And if it was such a serious rule, why aren't
Speaker 1: they bitching a moaning about the three hundred other National
Speaker 1: Guard troops that are still in LA. But all right, Memphis,
Speaker 1: Saint Louis, Kansas City, and Cleveland are other cities that,
Speaker 1: like New Orleans, rank them on the top ten in
Speaker 1: homicide rates and are in states with Republican governors. Trump, however,
Speaker 1: has not cited them as potential targets. Tennessee Governor Bill Lee,
Speaker 1: a Republican ally of Trump, toll reporters last week that
Speaker 1: he hadn't planned to ask for federal troops for Memphis quotes.
Speaker 2: He said, we have no plans to put National Guard
Speaker 2: there now.
Speaker 1: So let's talk about some of those claims that were
Speaker 1: made about how New Orleans is on the down tick
Speaker 1: as far as crime is concerned. On screen right now
Speaker 1: is a graph. Okay, murders in New Orleans from nineteen
Speaker 1: sixty four to twenty twenty three. This little AI overview,
Speaker 1: let's read that real quick, New Orleans crime rates have
Speaker 1: been marked by fluctuations over the past decade, with a
Speaker 1: record low in twenty nineteen, which is solid, it's excellent,
Speaker 1: by a significant spike in violent crime, particularly homicides, peaking
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty two at a post Katrina high.
Speaker 2: Okay, this is the point.
Speaker 1: Yeah, things were on the downtick until COVID, until Biden
Speaker 1: took office. All of this ties together and again, yes,
Speaker 1: We could blame the mayor and we could blame other people,
Speaker 1: but the facts are the facts here. Yeah, it was
Speaker 1: at an all time low in twenty nineteen, but if
Speaker 1: you look at twenty twenty three, they got up there, okay,
Speaker 1: to where it was like around Katrina levels.
Speaker 2: Twenty twenty five isn't even on.
Speaker 1: This map right now or on this graph rather, and
Speaker 1: we are currently ranked third highest in the nation. New
Speaker 1: Orleans is not doing well and we are not on
Speaker 1: some sort of a downtick as far as violent crimes
Speaker 1: or crimes in general are concerned.
Speaker 2: That is ridiculous. So that being said, says.
Speaker 1: However, there have been a notable decline since twenty twenty three,
Speaker 1: were reductions in various violent crime categories, including murder, non
Speaker 1: fatal shootings, carjackings, and armed robberies, putting the city on
Speaker 1: pace for a substantial drop in violent crimes for twenty
Speaker 1: twenty four and twenty twenty five.
Speaker 2: See this is my problem with AI.
Speaker 1: Right, AI just said that we would be on track
Speaker 1: for a all time dip.
Speaker 2: Meanwhile, we rose to third highest.
Speaker 1: AI is trash, y'all, and I wanted to read that
Speaker 1: to prove this point. Literally, they are number three.
Speaker 2: In the nation.
Speaker 1: But the AI will tell you that they're on a
Speaker 1: substantial dip, a substantial reduction in violent crimes. Y'all. See
Speaker 1: the issue I have with it AI is absolute garbage.
Speaker 1: That being said, it is worth mentioning that I am
Speaker 1: not personally opposed to the National Guard coming in and
Speaker 1: doing some real work in New Orleans. It needs it.
Speaker 1: And while they're at it, they want to stop off
Speaker 1: in Baton Rouge, that'd be awesome. If they want to
Speaker 1: keep going north and hit Shreveport, I mean, it's a
Speaker 1: shit hole anyway, but please go on up there to
Speaker 1: South Arkansas and handle that too.
Speaker 2: I'm here for it. That is literally no skin off
Speaker 2: my nose.
Speaker 1: And I go to New Orleans probably once or twice
Speaker 1: a month for different various reasons.
Speaker 2: This would be a very welcome change of pace.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be honest with you, but I know there's
Speaker 1: gonna be people there saying that I'm just a boot
Speaker 1: liquor for saying this.
Speaker 2: It's like, you know, I don't know.
Speaker 1: How many people that you to any of the listeners
Speaker 1: out there, that would say such a thing. I don't
Speaker 1: know how many people you've seen stabbed to death with
Speaker 1: your own eyes. I don't know how many times you've
Speaker 1: been in a city and been on the same block
Speaker 1: as a shooting that just pops off for no reason.
Speaker 1: I don't know how many times you've been out with
Speaker 1: your children and had to take off running with them
Speaker 1: because a shooting happened on the same block you're on.
Speaker 1: But I can tell you that I've had to do
Speaker 1: that more than a few times. And all the other
Speaker 1: things that I've seen, I know I haven't been involved
Speaker 1: with it. I'm not out there living that gang life
Speaker 1: by any means, and I'm not even going to the
Speaker 1: dangerous areas. Okay, you'll never see me in the third ward,
Speaker 1: the seventh ward, the ninth ward, You'll never see me there.
Speaker 1: I'm usually around the Central Business District or around the
Speaker 1: French Quarter on the rare occasion, these are considered relatively
Speaker 1: safe areas, and you will still see this from time
Speaker 1: to time. Yeah, New Orleans needs a bit of some
Speaker 1: help as far as that's concerned. The police officers are
Speaker 1: overtasked and overworked and overstretched.
Speaker 2: So just my two.
Speaker 1: Cents speaking on behalf of myself, not as a citizen
Speaker 1: of the great City of New Orleans, but as a
Speaker 1: representative of it, at least through the charitable nonprofit that
Speaker 1: I have that is based out of New Orleans and
Speaker 1: that I am currently the leader of. I gotta tell you,
Speaker 1: I welcome federal help to clean up New Orleans. That
Speaker 1: would be that would be leaps and bounds better than
Speaker 1: what the what Latoya's had done for us in the
Speaker 1: past since her term has began.
Speaker 2: Let's just leave it at that.
Speaker 1: Anyway, all right, moving on, as I'm saying these things
Speaker 1: that is very sounding Trump positive, Let's talk about something
Speaker 1: that is not so positive about Trump. We now have
Speaker 1: a group of Epstein's survivors that have come together and said,
Speaker 1: you know what, screw it. If y'all don't release the list,
Speaker 1: we will make our own lists. They currently have upwards
Speaker 1: of one thousand survivors of Epstein Island and the mar
Speaker 1: A Lago and his place in New York and all
Speaker 1: these things who have documented, verified proof of their whereabouts
Speaker 1: on how Epstein preyed upon them, and they also know
Speaker 1: other co conspirators and other people that Epstein brought them
Speaker 1: to and all these things. They have decided to join
Speaker 1: forces publicly and demand that if y'all don't release the list.
Speaker 2: We will.
Speaker 1: They had a massive press conference outside of the White
Speaker 1: House today about it. Let's listen in to this ABC
Speaker 1: News report talking about it. Then we're going to go
Speaker 1: a little deeper.
Speaker 9: The heated debate over the release of the Jeffrey Epstein
Speaker 9: files lands on the steps of the US Capitol.
Speaker 10: That's where survivors of Epstein's sexual abuse and members of
Speaker 10: Congress spoke out. And now as soon as report of
Speaker 10: Sophie Flay is here now with emotional messages and what
Speaker 10: President Trump is now saying about this case, Sophie.
Speaker 11: Yeah, David Jamona, that's right. It was a real display
Speaker 11: of unity in Washington, d C. Today, victims standing side
Speaker 11: by side with members of Congress, all with the same message,
Speaker 11: release the Epstein files in full.
Speaker 12: I was only fourteen years old when I was introduced
Speaker 12: to Jeffrey Epstein by a thirteen year old friend of mine.
Speaker 1: I was only fourteen years old when my friend brought
Speaker 1: me over to Jeffrey Epstein's house in Palm Beach.
Speaker 9: I was sixteen years old when I was blown to
Speaker 9: New Mexico to spend a weekend with Epstein and Maxwell.
Speaker 11: Women who say they faced years of abuse by Jeffrey
Speaker 11: Epstein coming together in Washington, d C. Today. They're calling
Speaker 11: on lawmakers to support a discharge petition that would lead
Speaker 11: to a bill, and, if passed, would require the Department
Speaker 11: of Justice to release Epstein records. Politicians on both sides
Speaker 11: of the aisle speaking out.
Speaker 13: We are coming for and we are going to fight
Speaker 13: like hell for these women, because we have to fight
Speaker 13: like hell for those that are enduring sexual abuse.
Speaker 7: A nation that allows rich and powerful men to traffic
Speaker 7: and abuse young girls without consequence is a nation that
Speaker 7: has lost its moral and spiritual core.
Speaker 11: With enough support, it would require the DOJ to release
Speaker 11: all unclassified materials, including names of co conspirators, flight locks,
Speaker 11: details on immunity deals and cover ups, internal DOJ communications,
Speaker 11: and records surrounding Epstein's death. President Trump asked by members
Speaker 11: of the press if the withholding of documents is to
Speaker 11: protect friends or donors, Trump responding, it's.
Speaker 8: Really a Democrat hoax because they're trying to get people
Speaker 8: to talk about something that's totally irrelevant.
Speaker 11: On Tuesday, the House Oversight Committee publicly released more than
Speaker 11: thirty three thousand pages of documents related to the disgraced financier,
Speaker 11: much of which was already public.
Speaker 14: Whether you're a Republican or you're a Democrat, this one
Speaker 14: is an easy call.
Speaker 11: According to California Congressman Brad Sherman, if a majority of
Speaker 11: members of the House of Representatives sign this petition, the
Speaker 11: House must begin debating this bill within several days.
Speaker 1: The heated All right, So, as we were just sorrying
Speaker 1: about Trump doing some very positive things, now it's time
Speaker 1: for us to take a step back and talk about
Speaker 1: something that he is fumbling the ball on significantly, so
Speaker 1: hard in fact, that, like I said, somewhere around it
Speaker 1: depends on the report you read. Some are saying a
Speaker 1: few hundred, some are saying close to one thousand. Epstein's
Speaker 1: survivors are now coming out very publicly. They're joining forces,
Speaker 1: They're compiling their own list, and they will release it
Speaker 1: regardless of whatever the DOJ does. This is going to
Speaker 1: play out very, very poorly for him and his administration
Speaker 1: that they do not get on this. Now, let's read
Speaker 1: in as a matter of fact, not only is this
Speaker 1: an American issue, the BBC has written an article about it,
Speaker 1: and I feel like it's worth reading. Epstein accusers say
Speaker 1: they are compiling lists of his associates victims of Jeffrey
Speaker 1: Epstein have shared emotional accounts of sexual abuse as they
Speaker 1: spoke on the steps of the US Capitol, and I
Speaker 1: said White House earlier in my apologies, that capital, it's
Speaker 1: like a few blocks away. Calm down and call for
Speaker 1: lawmakers to release more files about the convicted sex offender.
Speaker 1: One of the women, Lisa Phillips, said the group had
Speaker 1: begun compiling a confidential list of Epstein associates who they
Speaker 1: say were involved in abuse. Quote here we will confidentially
Speaker 1: or yeah, confidently confidentially, So I said that right the
Speaker 1: first time, we will confidentially compile the names we all
Speaker 1: know we're regularly in the Epstein world. She said. It
Speaker 1: will be done by survivors and four survivors. The event
Speaker 1: was organized by US lawmakers who are calling for more
Speaker 1: files from the Epstein investigation to be released publicly. During
Speaker 1: the two hour news conference on Wednesday today, as of time, recording,
Speaker 1: nine female Epstein accusers detail their experiences and abuse at
Speaker 1: the hands of the disgraced finance here. Miss Phillips urged
Speaker 1: the Department of Justice to release all the documents and
Speaker 1: information it has from the investigation, adding that many victims
Speaker 1: were afraid of repercussions if they went public with the
Speaker 1: names themselves. They got nine people to speak on it,
Speaker 1: but there's a lot more that are a part of
Speaker 1: this collective that are going to be compiling this list,
Speaker 1: and that's where I'm saying it. I found a few
Speaker 1: articles that were saying some wild numbers, and it's like,
Speaker 1: you know, we already know that he was guilty of
Speaker 1: doing this too up the claim is a thousand women,
Speaker 1: but then the DOJ says there was no co conspirators,
Speaker 1: no flight logs, none of these things.
Speaker 2: Whatever.
Speaker 1: I have a feeling that these thousand victims will tell
Speaker 1: a different story. And I also have a hard time
Speaker 1: believing that you're going to suicide quote unquote every single
Speaker 1: one of the victims that are willing to whether they
Speaker 1: come out and state their own name and their experiences
Speaker 1: or they added to the list anonymously. I have a
Speaker 1: hard time believing you're gonna be able to silence this
Speaker 1: large of a group. And I don't think they really
Speaker 1: expected it to go to this level, but I am
Speaker 1: very happy that it is. Let's continue. A lawyer for
Speaker 1: the accusers added that they were scared of being sued
Speaker 1: or attacked because nobody protected them the first time. Nobody
Speaker 1: protected them the first time. Yeah, yeah, I'd completely agree,
Speaker 1: and I completely understand their hesitation to be completely honest
Speaker 1: with you. Marina Lecerta, speaking publicly for the first time,
Speaker 1: said she worked for Epstein from the age of fourteen
Speaker 1: until she was seventeen, when the disgrace financce here determined
Speaker 1: she was too old. I was one of a dozen girls.
Speaker 1: I was one of dozens of girls that I personally
Speaker 1: know who were forced into Jeffrey's mansion in New York
Speaker 1: City when we were just kids, she said. A friend
Speaker 1: of mine in the neighborhood told me I can make
Speaker 1: three hundred dollars to give another guy a massage. Licerta said,
Speaker 1: while becoming visibly emotional. It went from a dream to
Speaker 1: the worst nightmare. Wow. Liz Stein, who sued Epstein and
Speaker 1: Maxwell and who now works as a survivor, mentor and
Speaker 1: policy advisor, told the BBC that she spoke with the
Speaker 1: Capital Rally or at the Capitol Rally to humanize survivors
Speaker 1: because she was tired of them being ignored. Direct quote here,
Speaker 1: it's really important for us to all remember that this
Speaker 1: is a crime it's a crime of sex trafficking. This
Speaker 1: isn't a political issue, but it's being politicized because of
Speaker 1: the people involved. I could not agree more regardless of
Speaker 1: whatever side of the isle you find yourself on, regardless
Speaker 1: of whatever socioeconomic class you find yourself in, regardless of
Speaker 1: whatever deity you happen to worship. This is the worst
Speaker 1: of humanity. And I think we could all agree on that,
Speaker 1: regardless of who you voted for in the last election.
Speaker 1: But to her point, it is being politicized because of
Speaker 1: the people on the list. Right. Anne Farmer, who's forty six,
Speaker 1: set at the rally that she was taken to New
Speaker 1: Mexico aged sixteen to spend a week with Epstein. Her
Speaker 1: sister was also flown there, reported the abuse, she said,
Speaker 1: but nothing was done. So now we're talking about more
Speaker 1: than Epstein Island. We're talking more than more about his
Speaker 1: Palm Springs or his New York City, New Mexico. It's
Speaker 1: all over the place, y'all. This is why it's the
Speaker 1: trafficking charge, is not just the rape of a minor
Speaker 1: and all these things. But let's continue. We still do
Speaker 1: not know why that report wasn't properly investigated or why
Speaker 1: Epstein and his associates were allowed to harm hundreds, if
Speaker 1: not thousands, of girls and young women, she said. Shaunta
Speaker 1: Davies addressed a question about the relationship between Trump and Epstein, saying,
Speaker 1: the sex offenders quote biggest brag forever was that he
Speaker 1: was a very good friend with Donald Trump. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I let that one. Marinade y'all. He had a framed
Speaker 1: picture of him on his desk with the two of them.
Speaker 1: She said, Wow, Trump was friendly with Epstein. But of course,
Speaker 1: and we've talked about this before, he said they fell
Speaker 1: out in the early two thousands because the financier poached
Speaker 1: employees from the spot at Trump's Florida golf club. Okay,
Speaker 1: so you knew in the early two thousands that he
Speaker 1: was doing these things, and that's the issue I have.
Speaker 1: There's no way that you can claim ignorance as far
Speaker 1: as this is concerned. He tried hiring some of your
Speaker 1: younger employees to come and work for him, and you
Speaker 1: knew exactly what he meant by work for him. So
Speaker 1: you had a falling out with him because he was
Speaker 1: poaching your employees. Again, let that Marinade y'all quote, is
Speaker 1: it from Trump? This is a Democrat hoax that never ends.
Speaker 1: Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday, when
Speaker 1: asked about the nearby news conference, He said, nobody's ever
Speaker 1: satisfied with the files that have been released, adding that
Speaker 1: the call for more releases is a distraction from his
Speaker 1: record in office. Really, I think it's enough, Trump said, Bro,
Speaker 1: it's not.
Speaker 2: It's not.
Speaker 1: You've done You've done jack and shit for these survivors,
Speaker 1: and you have publicly mocked them, and you're acting like
Speaker 1: this is an irrelevant issue. This is one of the
Speaker 1: most relevant issues, I would argue of our century, let
Speaker 1: alone of this decade, let alone of your political term.
Speaker 1: This is so much bigger than your four year term
Speaker 1: in office. This went on for decades. It's oh, it's
Speaker 1: mind blowing. And he still is not going the right
Speaker 1: way about it. He is he is continuously denied, deny, deny,
Speaker 1: make counter accusation, shift the blame, implement this.
Speaker 2: Let's talk about this other thing.
Speaker 1: And again, as I was just saying that, I hope
Speaker 1: that he does send federal troops to New Orleans, and
Speaker 1: I am in favor of that big dog at least
Speaker 1: address the thing that is happening on your doorstep. It's uh,
Speaker 1: it's it's it's very disappointing. During an NBC panel discussion
Speaker 1: with a group of survivors on Tuesday, none of the
Speaker 1: women said they ever saw Trump do anything inappropriate relating
Speaker 1: to Epstein. Neither did they say they witnessed any misconduct
Speaker 1: from ex President Bill Clinton, who travel with Epstein is
Speaker 1: under congressional scrutiny, I'll bet. On Tuesday evening, thirty three
Speaker 1: pages or thirty three thousand pages in several videos were
Speaker 1: made public to the House Oversight Committee, which has subpoenaed
Speaker 1: the Justice Department in Epstein, a state. Most of the files, however,
Speaker 1: were already in the public domain. Right, we already knew
Speaker 1: about these things, the top Democrat of the committee, Robert Garcia, said,
Speaker 1: don't let this fool you. After careful review, oversight Democrats
Speaker 1: have found that ninety seven percent of the documents received
Speaker 1: from the DOJ were already public. There is no mention
Speaker 1: of any client list or anything that improves transparency or
Speaker 1: justice for victims.
Speaker 2: End quote.
Speaker 1: The release on Tuesday followed last month's publication of the
Speaker 1: Department of Justice's interview with jas Lane Maxwell, a convicted
Speaker 1: sex trafficker and accomplice of ebscene. In the transcript, which
Speaker 1: run on to three hundred pages, some heavily redacted, shocker
Speaker 1: Maxwell said that while she believed Trump and Epstein were
Speaker 1: friendly in social settings, she did not think they were
Speaker 1: close friends.
Speaker 2: All right.
Speaker 1: Two members of the House, Republican Thomas Massey and Kentucky
Speaker 1: or excuse me of Kentucky and Democrat Rocanna of Roe
Speaker 1: excuse me and Democrat Roe Kanna of California, are trying
Speaker 1: to force a vote on compelling the Justice Department to
Speaker 1: release all documents in this case. They were gathering signatures
Speaker 1: on Wednesday and will need the support of two hundred
Speaker 1: and eighteen lawmakers to prevail. That means six Republicans must
Speaker 1: support the plan. I don't again that statement. They are
Speaker 1: politicizing this two hundred and eighteen, which means they need
Speaker 1: six Republicans. Oh so it's only Democrats that are going
Speaker 1: to sign this. It's only Democrats that want the Epstein
Speaker 1: things to be dropped to the public. No Republicans are
Speaker 1: going to actually have some moral fiber about themselves that
Speaker 1: I hate this. I hate that even as they're talking
Speaker 1: about how this is not a political issue, in the
Speaker 1: same article they're politicizing it. But all right, it's shameful.
Speaker 1: This has been called a hoax. This is not a hoax.
Speaker 1: Massy said. There are real victims to this criminal enterprise,
Speaker 1: and the perpetrators are not being protected, or excuse me,
Speaker 1: the perpetrators are being protected because they are rich and powerful.
Speaker 1: The White House and Republican congressional leaders oppose the release
Speaker 1: of all the files, saying it could expose identities of
Speaker 1: innocent people.
Speaker 2: I got an issue with that.
Speaker 1: How would there be identities of innocent people on a
Speaker 1: list of scumbags. I'm having a hard time wrapping my
Speaker 1: head around this one. And again the list that is
Speaker 1: being compiled by these survivors. Now, I could understand how
Speaker 1: they don't want the quote unquote client list, because even
Speaker 1: while saying that Epstein was a money launder at the
Speaker 1: highest levels, right for the billionaires and arguably for the
Speaker 1: quote unquote trillionaires, if you wanted money to go off radar,
Speaker 1: and you didn't need to get tax on or whatever
Speaker 1: you called Jeff, that was how this worked, and you
Speaker 1: would look past some of his disgusting mannerisms and things
Speaker 1: as long as he could make your money disappear. The
Speaker 1: women that are the survivors that are coming forward are
Speaker 1: not trying to compile a list of the people that
Speaker 1: Jeffrey Epstein laundered money for. They're compying a list of
Speaker 1: the other guilty parties that were predators. So again, I'm
Speaker 1: having a hard time wrapping my head around them saying, well,
Speaker 1: you'll get innocent people in trouble with this. These women
Speaker 1: are not talking about the financial shit. They're talking about
Speaker 1: these sex crimes. So yeah, anyway, I really hope that
Speaker 1: this gets more traction behind it. I really hope that
Speaker 1: these women keep fighting and keep going until they get
Speaker 1: the justice that they are deserved. And I personally am
Speaker 1: in favor of the chips falling where they may as
Speaker 1: far as this goes. If that does mean that half
Speaker 1: of DC is empty seats now because there are so
Speaker 1: many guilty parties, so be it. If that means that
Speaker 1: even in the executive branch of power, we start losing
Speaker 1: some people in the jobs that they're currently in, so
Speaker 1: be it, I am personally good with that. You know. Anyway,
Speaker 1: all right, moving forward, now, let's talk about, well, another
Speaker 1: thing that might be more on the positive side of
Speaker 1: what the you know, Trump might be involved with the US.
Speaker 1: The Justice Department has seized over seven hundred thousand pounds
Speaker 1: of neth chemical precursors destined for Mexico Sineloa drug cartel,
Speaker 1: and they came from none other than China. Yes, indeed,
Speaker 1: let's listen in here.
Speaker 3: We think that this is a very important issue. And
Speaker 3: I flew down from Washington because I think that this
Speaker 3: is so significant, and I very much appreciate your being
Speaker 3: here along with the people who are standing behind me.
Speaker 3: Every day, tons of chemicals that are used to create
Speaker 3: synthetic drugs like meth and fetamine and fentanyl are shipped
Speaker 3: from China to Mexico in China's undeclared war against America
Speaker 3: and her citizens. And every day, in funeral homes across
Speaker 3: this country we see the tragic consequences of what had
Speaker 3: happened in this undeclared war, the families who were forced
Speaker 3: to say goodbye to their loved ones because of this scourge.
Speaker 3: And so today we announced a very significant seizure of
Speaker 3: two shipments of chemicals shipped on two different vessels on
Speaker 3: the high seas and route to the Sineloa cartel in
Speaker 3: Mexico from China.
Speaker 15: To Mexico.
Speaker 3: The port of lading was Shanghai, China. The port of
Speaker 3: discharge Mexico. What am I talking about. I'm talking about
Speaker 3: three hundred and sixty three thousand pounds of benzel alcohol
Speaker 3: along with three hundred and thirty four thousand pounds of
Speaker 3: methyl formamide. They would have been used to make four
Speaker 3: hundred and twenty thousand pounds of methamphetamine, which would have
Speaker 3: a street value here in Houston of five hundred and
Speaker 3: sixty nine million dollars, with a higher street value as
Speaker 3: you go up the northern Northeastern seaboard to New York City. Now,
Speaker 3: the labs that were under construction that were being used
Speaker 3: to integrate these chemicals to make the methamphetamine were under
Speaker 3: the geographical control of the Sinaloa cartels. And these cartels
Speaker 3: are capable and are known to make more than one
Speaker 3: ton of methamphetamins a week. Now, because President Trump and
Speaker 3: Secretary of State Marco Rubio have declared the Sinaloa Cartel
Speaker 3: a foreign terrorist organization, it gives all of us in
Speaker 3: law enforcement the ability to move quicker and to seize quicker.
Speaker 3: And this cartel, as.
Speaker 1: I'm sure all of you know, is one of the.
Speaker 3: Largest producers and traffickers at ventanyl and they use murder, kidnapping, torture,
Speaker 3: and violence as a way of doing business. And let
Speaker 3: it be known that anyone who is working with them,
Speaker 3: whether they claim innocence or not, if they know that
Speaker 3: they are they are providing material support to terrorism. Now,
Speaker 3: this government forfeiture today of property allows us to seize
Speaker 3: all of the property, whether it is on domestic or
Speaker 3: foreign territory, even seizing property outside of the United States.
Speaker 3: And that is the significance of the FTO. Now, when
Speaker 3: you have a chance, I wanted to take a look
Speaker 3: at the barrels behind me. There are thirteen hundred barrels
Speaker 3: filled with precursors to methamphetamine. It will take twenty four
Speaker 3: eighteen wheelers to take these precursors to a storage facility
Speaker 3: in a safe location.
Speaker 4: I'm going to say that again, it.
Speaker 3: Will take twenty four eighteen wheelers to take these barreg
Speaker 3: the barrels to a storage facility in a secure location.
Speaker 3: So today's interdiction highlights in incredible work that has been
Speaker 3: done by the Homeland Security Investigation as well as Customs
Speaker 3: and Border Patrol and my office in Washington, DC, that
Speaker 3: was on this case, because this is what we do
Speaker 3: wherever it occurs.
Speaker 1: Shout out to Janine Pietro or Piro, I should say,
Speaker 1: I may not like everything she's ever said ever, but
Speaker 1: that's a solid win.
Speaker 2: As a solid win, the street value of.
Speaker 1: That alone is mind boggling. Right. But again, and I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm not saying that China is waging a silent war
Speaker 1: against America and that's why they're selling the cartel things
Speaker 1: that could be used for drugs that can make its
Speaker 1: way to America. At that point, it's it doesn't matter
Speaker 1: where it's being you know, where it's destined to go.
Speaker 2: It's a business move, you know. I could understand.
Speaker 1: I understand also how somebody in the political sphere would
Speaker 1: take that as a type of active war. Okay with you,
Speaker 1: but I also the war on drugs, and like, yes,
Speaker 1: the cartels are considered a terrorist group now, so China
Speaker 1: would be aiding in a terrorist group or giving them
Speaker 1: resources for their meals.
Speaker 2: Okay, I understand the conversation.
Speaker 1: I do, but I don't believe that Jijaping sent drugs
Speaker 1: to Mexico or drug making materials. But I'm just gonna
Speaker 1: kind of put it all into the same misnumber here,
Speaker 1: so bear with me. I don't believe that he did
Speaker 1: that in an attempt to wage a silent war against
Speaker 1: America specifically. I think it was just a business move
Speaker 1: because China is all about that dalla dalla bill. That
Speaker 1: being said, I feel like if ever there was a
Speaker 1: time to hear from our Malaysian or Hong Kong correspondent,
Speaker 1: it would be now, don know Trump, don't trust China,
Speaker 1: China is ass ho. I mean, the jokes right themselves
Speaker 1: on that one. I didn't even do this, that was
Speaker 1: just there, But you know, I still think it played
Speaker 1: in very well at this time. Donal Trump, don't trust China,
Speaker 1: China is ass ho.
Speaker 2: All right, moving on to the next story.
Speaker 1: While we were talking about some things that are still
Speaker 1: on the American side of the conversation, this evening, Florida
Speaker 1: had a thing happen in Tampa where two church leaders
Speaker 1: were Oh, actually, no, I'm jumping ahead of myself. We
Speaker 1: are going to be talking about some Florida, Tampa people
Speaker 1: of the cloth quote unquote who are being arrested for
Speaker 1: some nefarious things. We'll talk about that in a moment,
Speaker 1: but first let's talk about some of the vaccine mandates
Speaker 1: that are coming out. Florida has now passed that says
Speaker 1: that we will no longer they will no longer require
Speaker 1: vaccines for children, period. And in response to that, certain states,
Speaker 1: specifically Washington, Oregon, and California, have decided that they are
Speaker 1: going to go the opposite direction and form their own
Speaker 1: trifecta of far left conspiracy where they are pretty much
Speaker 1: going to do whatever the CDC says that they should do,
Speaker 1: and they're going to not just double down, but they're
Speaker 1: tripling down to force everyone in these states to get
Speaker 1: backs whether they want to or not. Let's first off
Speaker 1: start with the Florida conversation and let's learn more together,
Speaker 1: shall we?
Speaker 15: All right, Caroline, thanks a lot. An attack on vaccine
Speaker 15: mandates in the state of Florida.
Speaker 5: Today and taking the mandates away is the newest goal
Speaker 5: for Governor Ron DeSantis and Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladipoe.
Speaker 11: Christ he's here with us now with the strong words
Speaker 11: they had today, Christy.
Speaker 16: Yeah, this was really a bombshell. During oppresser today, they
Speaker 16: announced the state is seeking to eliminate, completely, eliminate all
Speaker 16: vaccine mandates and right now the state requires several vaccines,
Speaker 16: a number of them for children to attend school, including
Speaker 16: shots protecting against measles, tetanus, chicken pox, hepatitis B. The
Speaker 16: Surgeon General comparing this to slavery.
Speaker 17: Every last one of them is wrong and drips with
Speaker 17: disdain and slavery. Everyone on television, all of these medical
Speaker 17: leaders were doctor Fauci. Other people were convincing everyone that
Speaker 17: the world had to shut down. Everything happen the clothes, right,
Speaker 17: you get that amount of energy behind things, and unfortunately
Speaker 17: you're able to change the world. And they did, and
Speaker 17: they did shut down the world, They shut down this country,
Speaker 17: and they created tremendous harm.
Speaker 1: All right.
Speaker 16: So the push comes from what they believe were mistakes
Speaker 16: made during the twenty twenty pandemic. The push to shut
Speaker 16: down businesses, as you just heard public events at the
Speaker 16: time of the pandemic, they said, was tyrannical. According to
Speaker 16: the governor, the plan is meant to show Florida is
Speaker 16: aligning itself with the Make America Healthy Again movement, champion
Speaker 16: of course by Robert F. Kennedy Junior. In fact, we're
Speaker 16: already getting lots of reaction coming in when Teachers' union
Speaker 16: right here in South Florida. The United Teachers of Day
Speaker 16: in response to this plan. They're saying in a statement
Speaker 16: that United Teachers of Day is deeply concerned about today's announcement.
Speaker 16: Weakening these requirements would put children, families, and our educators
Speaker 16: at a greater risk of preventable illness and their outbreaks.
Speaker 16: And an important note, the Surgeon General can in mandates
Speaker 16: from the Florida Department of Health, but he cannot change
Speaker 16: all of the state laws. That does have to be
Speaker 16: done by the legislature. So much more to come on this.
Speaker 16: A lot of people are talking about this one Illi.
Speaker 1: Indeed they are, Indeed they are. And so in response
Speaker 1: to this, the West Coast has decide to take the
Speaker 1: oppositional stance, and they're going the opposite direction. Let's learn
Speaker 1: about that one together, now, shall we not?
Speaker 2: For you?
Speaker 18: Thanks for being here for Coin six News at noon,
Speaker 18: I'm Todd Hunger.
Speaker 1: First.
Speaker 18: Today, the governors of several West Coast states say they
Speaker 18: are teaming up to issue their own vaccine recommendations. The
Speaker 18: move is in response to that ongoing chaos at the CDC.
Speaker 18: Oregon Governor Tina Kotec, along with California Governor Gavin Newsom,
Speaker 18: and Washington Governor Bob Ferguson say they're creating a quote
Speaker 18: West Coast Alliance. They say the goal is to ensure
Speaker 18: residents remain protected by science, not politics. The three states also,
Speaker 18: of course, work together during the pandemic. The governor cite
Speaker 18: a slew of recent CDC firings and resignations as their
Speaker 18: main reason, Governor cotecs saying quote through this partnership, the
Speaker 18: three states will start coordinating health guidelines by aligning recommendations
Speaker 18: informed by respected national organizations. This will allow residents to
Speaker 18: receive consistent, science based recommendations they can rely on, regardless
Speaker 18: of shifting federal actions. We're working to learn more about
Speaker 18: what this means, for example, about COVID nineteen vaccines and
Speaker 18: how the federal government is now limiting its recommendations to
Speaker 18: seniors or people with weaker immune systems. Coin six reach
Speaker 18: out to the Oregon Health Authority with a list of questions,
Speaker 18: including what this could mean for those vaccines. No response yet,
Speaker 18: but we'll have much more coming up today at four.
Speaker 1: Okay, am I the only one that feels like something
Speaker 1: bad's about to happen anytime. Washington, Oregon and California team
Speaker 1: up for anything. Ever, this West Coast Alliance, as they
Speaker 1: are calling it, that doesn't sound like it's ever going
Speaker 1: to go positively. If you are living in the states
Speaker 1: of Washington, Oregon, or California and you do not want
Speaker 1: to live under some sort of a communist rule, I
Speaker 1: highly suggest you move at this time somewhere in the
Speaker 1: Nation of America that is more inclined for your personal
Speaker 1: freedoms and actually has your best interest at heart. I'm
Speaker 1: not pointing to any state in particular. I'm just saying
Speaker 1: that most of the Midwest, most of the Bible Belt,
Speaker 1: you know, stay away from big cities. Obviously, like who
Speaker 1: wants to live in a big city. But I'm just
Speaker 1: saying overall, if you're living in one of those three states,
Speaker 1: things very well could take a very bad turn for
Speaker 1: you very soon. So with all that being said, the
Speaker 1: CDC and the firings and the hirings and all these
Speaker 1: other things that they're talking about, and how they are
Speaker 1: going to push against that, now let's talk about this.
Speaker 1: Apparently the US this is gonna go a little deeper
Speaker 1: in what we just talked about here is set it
Speaker 1: toward two very different vaccine realities. California, organ in Washington
Speaker 1: said they are forming a public health alliance to provide
Speaker 1: credible information quote unquote about vaccine safety.
Speaker 2: As Florida is looking to eliminate mandates.
Speaker 1: Turmoil at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and
Speaker 1: states beginning to take more control of their own vaccine
Speaker 1: decisions threaten to fracture the once national consensus around immunization,
Speaker 1: setting the stage for a reorganization of the way vaccination
Speaker 1: recommendations work across the United States. The move together points
Speaker 1: towards an increasingly stark divide emerging in the United States
Speaker 1: around vaccinations, with some Republican led states starting to roll
Speaker 1: back or eliminate mandates, while Democrat led states split from
Speaker 1: the CDC to come up with their own vaccination guidance.
Speaker 2: Like we just said.
Speaker 1: On Wednesday, which is today, as a time of recording, California, Oregon,
Speaker 1: and Washington announced Washington excuse me announced they are forming
Speaker 1: a public health alliance to provide quote unquote credible information.
Speaker 1: Last week, New Mexico's health department announced it was ordering
Speaker 1: pharmacies to quote remove potential barriers and ensure access to
Speaker 1: COVID nineteen vaccines end quote cal Colorado did.
Speaker 2: The same Wednesday.
Speaker 1: Also Wednesday, Florida Surgeon General doctor Joseph Ledoppo, moved to
Speaker 1: eliminate vaccination mandates across the state, including in public schools.
Speaker 1: Other states have also weighed rolling back vaccination mandates, most
Speaker 1: notably Texas, where dozens of anti mandate bills have been
Speaker 1: introduced in the legislature. The split comes as once fringe
Speaker 1: and long debunked claims long debunked yeah claims about the
Speaker 1: health risks of vaccinations have found mainstream appeal and have
Speaker 1: been embraced by the Trump administration, repeatedly hearing the vaccines
Speaker 1: cause autism or that mRNA vaccine will alter your DNA
Speaker 1: can a road Public trust doctor Peter chen Hong god
Speaker 1: the jokes right themselves after Peter chen Hong and infectious
Speaker 1: disease expert at the University of California, San Francisco, referring
Speaker 1: to two of the most common pieces of vaccine information.
Speaker 1: For decades, the federal government, in close collaboration with infectious
Speaker 1: disease experts, has crafted guidelines for who should receive vaccinations
Speaker 1: and win states and medical organizations use the guidelines to
Speaker 1: administer shots to millions of people and insurance companies relied
Speaker 1: on them to determine payment. Insurance companies relied on them
Speaker 1: to determine payment. I just felt like that would need
Speaker 1: to be read again for everybody in the back. The
Speaker 1: recommendations are based on clinical studies and aim to minimize
Speaker 1: both individual and societal risk, but as vaccine hesitancy has
Speaker 1: skyrocketed in the wake of the COVID nineteen pandemic and
Speaker 1: online information campaigns, vaccination mandates have become a political flashpoint.
Speaker 1: This trust in vaccines has created a rift that threatens
Speaker 1: to split the country into two distinct zones. He delineated
Speaker 1: by not by borders or geography, but by state government
Speaker 1: stances on medical establishment's right to dictate who must get
Speaker 1: a JAB and who gets a pass. In an op
Speaker 1: ed Tuesday The Wall Street Journal, Health and Human Services
Speaker 1: Secretary Robert F. Kennedy described quote cloth masks on toddlers arbitrary,
Speaker 1: six foot distancing boosters for healthy children, prolonged school closing,
Speaker 1: economic economy crushing lockdowns, and the suppression of low cost
Speaker 1: therapeutics in favor of experimental and ineffective drugs as irrational
Speaker 1: policies that have devastating tolls on Americans. I really can't
Speaker 1: find any lies detected in the statement that RFK Junior
Speaker 1: just said. But yes, there's going to be people that
Speaker 1: are saying that he's crazy. But all right. Lockdowns and
Speaker 1: school closures certainly had economic and mental health drawbacks, and
Speaker 1: data suggests that vaccinated and unvaccinated people may transmit the
Speaker 1: virus at a similar rate because they have parable viral
Speaker 1: loads or amount of virus virus in their respiratory tracks,
Speaker 1: according to a twenty twenty two paper in the Lancet
Speaker 1: Infectious Diseases. So they already acknowledge that lockdowns and school
Speaker 1: closures were a very bad idea, and that the data
Speaker 1: suggests that whether you get vaccinated or not, it really
Speaker 1: won't make that much of a difference. Okay. Cool. However,
Speaker 1: the vaccines were effective at reducing hospitalizations and the number
Speaker 1: of severe COVID cases, two factors that overwhelmed healthcare systems
Speaker 1: early in the pandemic and precipitated lockdowns in the United
Speaker 1: States and around the world. Now, actually, I'm gonna push
Speaker 1: back on that one. INBC, the number of deaths that
Speaker 1: were caused because of COVID were because y'all were putting
Speaker 1: them on respirators in the beginning, because realistically, if you
Speaker 1: look at all of the symptoms of COVID nineteen and
Speaker 1: you look at the symptoms of a really bad flu case,
Speaker 1: they are extremely comparable. This would be like this, a
Speaker 1: might going to the hospital for a severe case of
Speaker 1: the flu and getting put on a respirator. It's not
Speaker 1: that that was crazy. There was crazy things that happened.
Speaker 1: The hot and the number of hospitalizations, yeah, because most
Speaker 1: people didn't want to go to the hospital because they
Speaker 1: knew that other sick people were at the hospital and
Speaker 1: it would make it exponentially worse. Vaccines didn't fix that.
Speaker 1: People's common sense actually fix that. But okay, I know,
Speaker 1: I'm just a crazy conspiracy theorist. Once COVID vaccines became
Speaker 1: available at the end of twenty twenty, following intense investment
Speaker 1: by the first Trump administration, states started to ease lockdowns
Speaker 1: and social distancing rules. What didn't let up and still hasn't,
Speaker 1: was the fear around purported dangers of the new COVID shots,
Speaker 1: which were developed using a new type of vaccine technology
Speaker 1: known as mRNA that was at once revolutionary but difficult
Speaker 1: to understand and that's the other thing too. They're saying
Speaker 1: that in this article, they're saying that the long debunked
Speaker 1: claims that mRNA does not actually affect your DNA, even
Speaker 1: though genealogists will tell you the opposite of that. If
Speaker 1: you inject the mRNA from one of these vaccines, it
Speaker 1: absolutely will change your genetic structure. That's not a debated
Speaker 1: or debunked thing. That's an understood scientific fact from the
Speaker 1: experts in that field. But okay, the novelty compounded the
Speaker 1: uncertainties around the long term health repercussions of a previously
Speaker 1: unknown virus. Oh my god, okay, previously unknown virus. Bro
Speaker 1: Life saw bottles that say that's effective against ninety nine
Speaker 1: point nine percent of bacteria had COVID on the label.
Speaker 1: If you read the back of what it's effective against.
Speaker 1: They've had COVID on the label since two thousand and five.
Speaker 1: What are you talking about? A previously unknown virus? But
Speaker 1: all right, all right, any a calm down. And the
Speaker 1: pervasive feeling of loss the pandemic created, including loss of
Speaker 1: personal freedoms, that created the perfect conditions for divisiveness over vaccinations,
Speaker 1: Chin Hong said, And the COVID shots became easy scapegoat.
Speaker 1: I saidwear I at Chinghong. Dude, I can't, I can't.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be good. The vaccine is something you could
Speaker 1: focus on instead of a general feeling of loss. He said, no,
Speaker 1: it's it's not the feeling of loss. We were focusing
Speaker 1: on the fact that this vaccine, this quote unquote miracle
Speaker 1: was developed in six months with no long term clinical
Speaker 1: trials for a virus that you have known about for
Speaker 1: the better part of two decades. Right, the Wuhan lab
Speaker 1: didn't like just start working on it that year by
Speaker 1: any means. So you knew what the virus was, you
Speaker 1: knew that what it could do, and you also knew
Speaker 1: how relatively dangerous it was and the relative survivability of it.
Speaker 1: But yes, let's all go and line up to get
Speaker 1: injected with a substance that has not been tested. We
Speaker 1: have no idea what the long term effects are. And
Speaker 1: I could be honest with you, I personally know multiple
Speaker 1: people and I don't mean like three, I mean multiple
Speaker 1: people that have had long term effects from the vaccine.
Speaker 1: And I know people that have died because of the vaccine.
Speaker 1: It wasn't COVID that killed them, but I digress. Kennedy,
Speaker 1: along with the highest profile figures of the once small
Speaker 1: anti vaccine movement, was confirmed as HHS Secretary, as he
Speaker 1: struck a more moderate tone on vaccines, which he has
Speaker 1: since abandoned. In June, Kennedy gutted a seventeen person independent
Speaker 1: Vaccine Advisory Committee in the CDC. He replaced the members
Speaker 1: with a group that included vaccine skeptics and people critical
Speaker 1: of the COVID vaccines. In early August, he also cut
Speaker 1: five hundred million in mRNA vaccine contracts. Good, that's almost
Speaker 1: like what we wanted him to do, but all right.
Speaker 1: After the FDA approved a new version of the COVID
Speaker 1: vaccine in May, Kennedy announced that the CDC would recommend
Speaker 1: that doctors administer the shots only to adults age sixty
Speaker 1: five and above, as well as people with certain pre
Speaker 1: existing conditions. Previously, COVID vaccinations were recommended more widely. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you remember, they were trying to pass that it be
Speaker 1: administered to children like it was. They were trying to
Speaker 1: make it to where it was a part of your
Speaker 1: regular When I say regular, I use the quotes on this.
Speaker 1: Please don't frime me. All the seventy two vaccines that
Speaker 1: a child gets from the time they're born to the
Speaker 1: time they graduated high school. They were trying to mandate
Speaker 1: that the COVID vaccine be added to that list for
Speaker 1: like pre pubescent children who are still in the forming
Speaker 1: stages of life. But sure, Okay, yeah, more widely, that's
Speaker 1: a that's a claim. Following that change, the American Academy
Speaker 1: of Pediatrics took the unusual step of issuing its own
Speaker 1: vaccination recommendations the first time in thirty years. Its guidelines
Speaker 1: were significantly different from the federal government. Quote here, it
Speaker 1: is going to be somewhat confusing, but our opinion is
Speaker 1: we need to make the right choices for children and
Speaker 1: protect them. Doctor James Campbell, vice chair of the Academy's
Speaker 1: Infectious Disease Committee, told NBC News, So listen, pro vax,
Speaker 1: anti vax, have your own opinion on it, Okay. All
Speaker 1: I'm going to say is that if you're willing to
Speaker 1: die on a hill, at least let it be a
Speaker 1: hill that you truly believe in. Okay. But with that
Speaker 1: being said, and all these things going around with RFK junior,
Speaker 1: these vaccines, these states kind of forming their own alliances
Speaker 1: and things. Now the HHS employees are demanding the resignation
Speaker 1: of RFK Junior. This dropped this afternoon. Let's listen in
Speaker 1: right now.
Speaker 5: Over a thousand current and former Health and Human Services
Speaker 5: employees are calling for Robert F. Kennedy's resignation. The group
Speaker 5: sent a letter to Congress saying the leadership of the
Speaker 5: Secretary of Health and Human Services has quote put the
Speaker 5: health of all Americans at risk. They also claim his
Speaker 5: vaccine policies are dangerous. Democrats say he needs to go.
Speaker 5: Republicans are standing by him.
Speaker 15: We know what scientists are saying.
Speaker 8: We know what the health the health experts are saying,
Speaker 8: and it's not what is coming out of Secretary Kennedy's
Speaker 8: This is about how we protect the children of the
Speaker 8: United States of America, and.
Speaker 15: There's allegations that that that health.
Speaker 19: Is being endangered.
Speaker 5: Kennedy is said to testify before Congress tomorrow.
Speaker 1: Okay, so as up time of recording, we have no
Speaker 1: idea what RFK is going to be testifying in court
Speaker 1: and saying in all these things. However, I can't really
Speaker 1: disagree with a lot of the claims that he has made. Yes,
Speaker 1: I understand that he has gone and said some very
Speaker 1: bold things about vaccines in general. Okay, and listen, agree
Speaker 1: with them, disagree with them. I'm not gonna tell you
Speaker 1: how to parent your child. Don't tell me not to
Speaker 1: parent mind.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 1: If you are the type that wants to ensure your
Speaker 1: child doesn't get measles or mumps or whatever else, okay, cool.
Speaker 1: And I'm not saying I give a thumbs up or
Speaker 1: thumbs down to this. That is a you decision. You
Speaker 1: raise your children the way you want to raise them.
Speaker 1: I for one, believe in personal freedoms, and I believe
Speaker 1: that if a if a couple wants to keep their
Speaker 1: child unvaccinated for whatever that reason may be, that is
Speaker 1: their choice. I may have some opinions on that, but
Speaker 1: at the end of the day, that's just what it is.
Speaker 1: This being said, the COVID vaccine is a different conversation
Speaker 1: than the rest of the vaccines that are on the
Speaker 1: docket right now. And I'm not even saying that I
Speaker 1: fully agree with the rest of the vaccines that are
Speaker 1: on the docket. I for one, am of the belief
Speaker 1: that some of the vaccines are being done. I'm not
Speaker 1: gonna say in the right way, Yes, there are things
Speaker 1: that have been added to them since their original formation,
Speaker 1: and I get that right, and we do need to
Speaker 1: remove some of the more harmful components of the vaccinations
Speaker 1: that we do administer to children. I think that everybody
Speaker 1: could agree with that. Okay, I've seen something saying that,
Speaker 1: like the type of mercury that's in some of these vaccines,
Speaker 1: it's different from regular mercury and all these things. Listen,
Speaker 1: the fact is that when your body comes in contact
Speaker 1: with mercury, it only sees it as mercury. Yes, I understand,
Speaker 1: chemically it's different. I totally get that. That's like saying
Speaker 1: your body responds differently from adderall than it does to
Speaker 1: crystal meth. Listen, your body's gonna respond to an anphetamine
Speaker 1: the way it responds to an anphetamine.
Speaker 2: I'm sorry.
Speaker 1: Yes, it might be chemically different, absolutely, and it might
Speaker 1: be a lower dose and all the I fully hear that,
Speaker 1: and I you know, gotcha, but it's gonna be responding
Speaker 1: in the exact same fashion. So that's just one point
Speaker 1: I am of the belief personally, and this is just
Speaker 1: Jacob speaking on behalf of Jacob. Here. We could give
Speaker 1: the vaccines that we know are effective polio measles momps.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I guess if.
Speaker 1: You're going to an area of the like if you're
Speaker 1: going in the world to a place that has a
Speaker 1: lot of dangerous things there, and like you want to
Speaker 1: get something for malaria, you want to get something for smallpox, Okay,
Speaker 1: but like that shouldn't be something that we give to
Speaker 1: the children in America. A lot of these sicknesses and
Speaker 1: illnesses have since been pretty much kicked out of our country. Yeah,
Speaker 1: there's a few cases of like the plague in very
Speaker 1: small sections and all these things, and I get that,
Speaker 1: but I'm also not looking to go get my bubonic
Speaker 1: plague vaccine right now. You see what I'm saying. There's
Speaker 1: a limit, and there is a a justifiable level of
Speaker 1: vaccines that I think that most freethinking and logical adults
Speaker 1: could say, Yes, these vaccines we can approve. We might
Speaker 1: need to make some alterations and changes. But to say
Speaker 1: that you're giving over fifty vaccines, I would I'm much
Speaker 1: lower be preferred. But just bear with me here. If
Speaker 1: you're giving that many vaccines to a child from the
Speaker 1: time they're born to the time they graduate high school, brother,
Speaker 1: what are we talking about? Here. That's preposterous. That's just
Speaker 1: my own two cents. I know there's gonna be a
Speaker 1: lot of people that say that I don't know what
Speaker 1: I'm talking about, and that is fine. I would love
Speaker 1: to hear about it in the comments. I want to
Speaker 1: get some interaction on these shows. If you're listening on
Speaker 1: Spotify or Apple Podcasts right now, or on iHeart or
Speaker 1: whatever the case is, if you have the ability to
Speaker 1: leave a comment under these episodes, please do.
Speaker 2: I would love to hear from the thousands of people
Speaker 2: that listen to the show.
Speaker 1: I would love to.
Speaker 2: Hear more from you. I would love to get more
Speaker 2: interaction here.
Speaker 1: Anyway, Let's continue, all right, moving off with the vaccine conversation. Now,
Speaker 1: let's talk about these Florida leaders arrested in a multimillion
Speaker 1: dollar conspiracy after FBI raids. Oh, buckle up for this one, everybody.
Speaker 2: This is this is a wild one.
Speaker 12: Two church leaders with ties to Tampa are facing federal
Speaker 12: charges tonight. They're at the center of what investigators are
Speaker 12: calling a multi million dollar conspiracy involving money laundering, forced labor,
Speaker 12: and abuse. This follows multiple FBI raids this morning, including
Speaker 12: at a home in the affluent Avalone neighborhood in Hillsborough County.
Speaker 12: This was part of a nationwide takedown. Fox thirteen is
Speaker 12: covering this investigation from multiple angles. Our Kylie Jones is
Speaker 12: at the Federal Courthouse in Tampa, diving deeper into the
Speaker 12: church and it's leaders. But we begin with Aaron Mesmer
Speaker 12: Live and Avala with more on the raid and reaction
Speaker 12: from neighbors.
Speaker 20: Paron Yeah, Heley and these neighbors were absolutely stunned by
Speaker 20: what went on this morning.
Speaker 2: Neighbors in this community, they.
Speaker 20: Woke up to helicopters and FBI agents raiding a home
Speaker 20: in Novla, And once they found out why those federal
Speaker 20: agents were there, it was even more surprising.
Speaker 17: Some of you say, I don't have one hundred thousand,
Speaker 17: but you have twenty thousand, you have fifty thousand.
Speaker 1: Here, you have ten thousand.
Speaker 20: That's video of David Taylor asking viewers to send money
Speaker 20: to his church. Federal authorities now say Taylor used donations
Speaker 20: to fund an extravagant lifestyle that included this massive mansion
Speaker 20: in Tampa's affluent Novela community. FBI agents raided the home
Speaker 20: Wednesday morning.
Speaker 4: It's very surprising to hear that type of thing was
Speaker 4: going on again right in your backyard.
Speaker 20: It's unclear what authorities took from the home. This view
Speaker 20: from Skyfox shows several cars lined up with gift bos
Speaker 20: on top. Neighbors say the ten bedroom, ten and a
Speaker 20: half bathroom, twenty eight thousand square foot mansion is one
Speaker 20: of the largest in Novela.
Speaker 4: Because there was a how could a pass or Ford
Speaker 4: to live in a house like that?
Speaker 20: According to the twenty three page federal indictment, this house
Speaker 20: is one of several properties throughout the country purchased by
Speaker 20: Taylor's Kingdom of God Global Church. He's the pastor and
Speaker 20: referred to himself as an apostle, according to court documents.
Speaker 20: The indictment alleges Taylor recruited people to work at call centers,
Speaker 20: referring to them as armor bearers. Investigators say they were
Speaker 20: his quote personal servants who fulfilled Tailor's demands around the clock.
Speaker 2: And were never paid.
Speaker 20: Taylor and executive director Michelle Brannon are accused of controlling
Speaker 20: nearly every aspect of the workers' lives, cutting them off
Speaker 20: from family, and forcing them to take contraceptives. Human trafficking
Speaker 20: advocates say it's a devastating situation, and.
Speaker 9: You really had every aspect of human trafficking. You had
Speaker 9: individuals who were brought to a facility that they couldn't leave.
Speaker 9: They weren't being paid, they had production goals that they
Speaker 9: had to meet.
Speaker 20: And authorities say if the workers failed to reach Taylor's
Speaker 20: monetary goals, they faced punishment including public humiliation, food and
Speaker 20: shelter restrictions, sleep deprivations, and physical and psychological abuse. The
Speaker 20: Crisis Center of Tampa Bay CEO says these victims will
Speaker 20: likely face a long recovery. She says, there's another lesson
Speaker 20: every community can learn from this.
Speaker 9: This can happen in one of our most affluent zip
Speaker 9: codes in Hillsborough County. It can happen in your backyard.
Speaker 4: It could happen in my backyard.
Speaker 20: As for the folks who lived with alleged human trafficking, fraud,
Speaker 20: and money laundering happening in their backyards.
Speaker 21: I hope it's not true, but if it is, you know,
Speaker 21: he deserves everything he's going to get.
Speaker 20: And there was also what appeared to be a federal
Speaker 20: command center set up just north of here at Saint
Speaker 20: Joseph's Hospital in Lut's. Experts say if there were any
Speaker 20: human trafficking victims at this property, they likely would have
Speaker 20: been taken to a nearby hospital for care.
Speaker 12: Healley so they can get all the help they need.
Speaker 12: It sounds like they have been through quite a lot.
Speaker 4: Aaron, thank you.
Speaker 1: Okay, So let's just break that down a little deeper,
Speaker 1: shall we. First of all, your boy asking people for
Speaker 1: tens and twenty and thirty thousand dollars to reach a
Speaker 1: goal that he's using to furnish his lavish lifestyle one
Speaker 1: of the biggest homes in this affluent neighborhood. See, this
Speaker 1: is the issue I have, right, I don't have an
Speaker 1: issue with big churches, not inherently, not necessarily or big.
Speaker 1: Let's just call it religious groups, not just a church
Speaker 1: of the Christian variety or of the Jewish or the
Speaker 1: Muslim or the Buddhist or whatever. If you have a
Speaker 1: leader of a congregation that is living well and I
Speaker 1: don't mean as the wealthiest of the one percent with
Speaker 1: a fleet of private jets and stuff, let's keep it
Speaker 1: within the realm of reality. We're not talking Kenneth Cope
Speaker 1: and her jolosting. These clowns are ridiculous. But if you
Speaker 1: have a past that's living well and his congregation is
Speaker 1: thousands of people strong. I don't inherently have a problem
Speaker 1: with that right off the rip. I'm a little trepidacious
Speaker 1: of it, but I don't hate it. Right, But if
Speaker 1: I also see the pastor calling himself an apostle, which
Speaker 1: is blasphemous and wild, but I digress. Who's driving in
Speaker 1: the fanciest cars living in a house like that? Yeah,
Speaker 1: now I have a problem because I promise you there's
Speaker 1: members of your congregation that are riding the struggle bus
Speaker 1: right now, and you, as their spiritual father, their shepherd,
Speaker 1: if you will, should be doing what you can to
Speaker 1: better your community, your congregation, and possibly paying it forward
Speaker 1: and using those righteous dollar bills to do the Lord's
Speaker 1: work for some of the more downtrodden members of your congregation. Right,
Speaker 1: that's my issue I have. But I also want to
Speaker 1: point out the fact that he on his website that
Speaker 1: clean cut picture of him cut to his mugshot where
Speaker 1: his hair looks like he's going out of his mind.
Speaker 1: I thought that was a great transitional clip. But yeah,
Speaker 1: before you read the article, Royce, go ahead and weigh
Speaker 1: in on this one. Dog.
Speaker 14: So I don't know if you remember about a month ago,
Speaker 14: I said, Hey, look at this guy named DAVIDY.
Speaker 18: Taylor.
Speaker 14: This is this gentleman, this is the person that my
Speaker 14: mother was involved with.
Speaker 1: No, yeah, involved with in what way? Royce. I didn't
Speaker 1: realize we would have a first person correspondent on this one.
Speaker 1: Tell me more.
Speaker 14: So, my mother left my my grandmother was not as
Speaker 14: to doing so well. My mother was living with her
Speaker 14: and my mother literally but he was living in Michigan
Speaker 14: number of years ago, and my mother literally left my
Speaker 14: grandmother in the hospital to go to like live at
Speaker 14: this like church facility and like she was talking about
Speaker 14: like prayer groups until like two, three, four in the
Speaker 14: morning and.
Speaker 2: Like they're one of the followers.
Speaker 14: Had some sort of dream that said that if anybody
Speaker 14: didn't believe that David Taylor was not an apostle, and
Speaker 14: literally he and my mother even called him to oh, well,
Speaker 14: you know apostle, that God was going to strike down
Speaker 14: and punish those who were involved if they didn't believe him,
Speaker 14: and that included the people like an extended family. So
Speaker 14: my mother actually cut off ties from my grandmother and
Speaker 14: myself and my entire family because of this quote unquote dream.
Speaker 14: So she did this for a number of years and
Speaker 14: then later on she actually you know, got married to
Speaker 14: a another preacher, pastor a couple of years ago. But
Speaker 14: like before that point, she was literally religiously going to
Speaker 14: this person and she sent like my mother or my
Speaker 14: grandmother and myself brochures and then literally on the grochure
Speaker 14: as it said, you know, send your inheritance, send your gold,
Speaker 14: send your silver, send send your car, send your money,
Speaker 14: send you know, and then you know, like well, so
Speaker 14: Jesus says, if you if you give, then you know,
Speaker 14: then you will be given back, you know, thirty fold
Speaker 14: or three or whatever.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, I hey, the prosperity gospel groups, Oh
Speaker 1: my God. And I've gone on rants about these clowns
Speaker 1: before this. That is Kenneth Copeland, that is Joel Osin,
Speaker 1: that is the what is it the International World Church
Speaker 1: that I have just two cities away from here. This guy,
Speaker 1: this clown forces members of his congregation who are driving
Speaker 1: you know, more beat up cars to park at the
Speaker 1: back of the parking lot, but those that are driving
Speaker 1: nicer cars are allowed to park up front by the street.
Speaker 1: And he has been preaching about prosperity and ye shall
Speaker 1: receive if only you give for the past thirty years. Bro,
Speaker 1: it is it is.
Speaker 2: Oh, it infuriates me so much.
Speaker 1: Oh my god. Yeah so yeah.
Speaker 14: So if not for my mother's new husband, she would
Speaker 14: have been involved to this day. And yeah, it was bad.
Speaker 14: That's why I was telling you to do some research
Speaker 14: on this guy. He sees fucking nuts and like bad
Speaker 14: news bears all around.
Speaker 1: Well, thank god, justice is being served on this asshole.
Speaker 1: And I really hope that he gets the entire book
Speaker 1: thrown at him and gets under the jail. You see this,
Speaker 1: Listen for any of the listeners out there that might
Speaker 1: be of the Christian variety. Okay, this is what Jesus
Speaker 1: had an issue with when he went to the temple
Speaker 1: and said that you've turned my father's house into a
Speaker 1: den of thieves. It's this, this, this is the problem. Yes,
Speaker 1: he was talking about these specific pharisees at that time
Speaker 1: that were charging excess money to change money for the sacrifice.
Speaker 1: And yeah, there's levels of context and historical precedents involved
Speaker 1: with that specific situation, and I understand this.
Speaker 2: My point is, this is the scourge that.
Speaker 1: Is plaguing the majority of the Protestant faith as of
Speaker 1: this moment. Yes, you do have those that take advantage
Speaker 1: of people in physics and in sexual ways, and they
Speaker 1: are also discussing and need to be fried alive. And
Speaker 1: I'm not taking away that whatsoever. But these people that
Speaker 1: are preaching about prosperity, like you said, listen, having prayer
Speaker 1: groups to last until two in the morning, four in
Speaker 1: the morning, and stuff. If you're having a meeting and
Speaker 1: like the conversation is flowing that well, and like the
Speaker 1: spirit of God is moving in that meeting or whatever,
Speaker 1: and things go longer and like really longer than expected
Speaker 1: on the rarest of occasions, I don't necessarily have a
Speaker 1: problem with it.
Speaker 2: Okay, fine, if that's the.
Speaker 1: Norm, If once a week or even multiple times a
Speaker 1: week your prayer meetings are going that long, yeah, that's
Speaker 1: a massive red flag, massive red flag. And I'm sure
Speaker 1: because there's so many parts of the Bible where Jesus
Speaker 1: made a reference of like, you know, if you really
Speaker 1: want to follow me, sell all of your possessions and
Speaker 1: pick up and follow me. He's not telling every single
Speaker 1: person on earth to become a beggar and then you'll
Speaker 1: fully understand.
Speaker 2: The love of Christ.
Speaker 1: Okay, that was specifically to that gentleman who was speaking
Speaker 1: to him at that moment, because that guy was way
Speaker 1: too tied to his earthly possessions. There's context on that, okay.
Speaker 19: But so many of these quote unquote men and women
Speaker 19: of God take things, misquote it, give it to their congregation,
Speaker 19: and the people in their congregation never actually open the
Speaker 19: Bible themselves and study it for themselves.
Speaker 1: They just go along and listen to whatever mister Paserman says.
Speaker 2: I have such an issue with that at just all
Speaker 2: the way down to my core.
Speaker 1: Okay, this guy having a ten bedroom, ten and a
Speaker 1: half bathroom mansion, multiple cars out front with ribbons on them,
Speaker 1: and I guarantee he wasn't about to give those two
Speaker 1: poor members of his church. All those cars looked like
Speaker 1: they were a high end, expensive luxury vehicles. Yeah, and now, okay,
Speaker 1: the forced labor. That's interesting. Calling them his armor bearers. Again,
Speaker 1: you're gonna take a quote from the Bible to talk
Speaker 1: about putting on your spiritual armor daily, and those that
Speaker 1: pretty much commit their entire lives to serving you, pastor man,
Speaker 1: you're going to give them that kind of title and
Speaker 1: all that. That's that is also pretty crazy. I don't
Speaker 1: know to what level the human trafficking goes with this,
Speaker 1: and I'm sure this article is going to get more
Speaker 1: in depth with it. But that being said, somebody who
Speaker 1: is a volunteer at a church, cool. I don't have
Speaker 1: a problem with that. And even somebody volunteering, you know,
Speaker 1: to help out your pastor at their house.
Speaker 2: Right, let's say your pastor's law needs to be.
Speaker 1: Cut and you live somewhat in the same neighborhood as him.
Speaker 2: Or let's say you own a law and service.
Speaker 1: Right, And this is another thing too, whenever it talks
Speaker 1: about the tithe, and I've made this reference before, a
Speaker 1: tithe is not supposed to be your earnings or money.
Speaker 1: It's supposed to be your harvest, your livestock, your talents,
Speaker 1: if that's what you have to offer. This being said,
Speaker 1: and also I should mention tithe is a Jewish law.
Speaker 1: It's not supposed to be a Christian law. And I
Speaker 1: get a lot of flak for saying that, But do
Speaker 1: your own research, and y'all tell me what you come
Speaker 1: up with. The only two times where tithe and money
Speaker 1: are brought up in the correct context is if God
Speaker 1: has blessed you so abundantly. You can't carry that much
Speaker 1: grain to the temple storehouse. Temple storehouse, not temple also
Speaker 1: important part, but we're going to sidestep that. One. You
Speaker 1: sell the grain locally, carry the money near the temple storehouse,
Speaker 1: buy the appropriate amount of grain once you get there,
Speaker 1: and then bring it to the temple storehouse. It was
Speaker 1: for transportation, right. The other time money and tithe was
Speaker 1: ever brought up was when Jesus turned over the tables.
Speaker 1: So anyway, all right, let's break this down here. I
Speaker 1: am of the belief personally that your tithe does not
Speaker 1: need to be financial. If that is the way that
Speaker 1: the Lord has called for you to give, I am
Speaker 1: not going to stand in the way of that. If
Speaker 1: God is truly putting it on your heart to give
Speaker 1: two thousand dollars to your house of worship, a more
Speaker 1: power to you and God bless you.
Speaker 2: Okay, cool, But.
Speaker 1: Let's say you're a mechanic and your pastor's car needs
Speaker 1: some work done. Perhaps you could do the work and
Speaker 1: the parts and everything out of your back pocket and
Speaker 1: out of your time, and you could say that that
Speaker 1: would be potentially your tithe to the church the spirit
Speaker 1: of God.
Speaker 2: I believe is moving in that.
Speaker 1: I believe that you're using your talents to better the
Speaker 1: mission and better the pastor who is working in the
Speaker 1: Lord's way.
Speaker 2: I problem with that.
Speaker 1: Let's say you want to learn a lawn care service
Speaker 1: and you tell the pastor, hey, listen, once a week,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna come cut your grass, do the weeding and
Speaker 1: all that, and I'm just gonna do that for free.
Speaker 1: Like this, we don't need to make this public. This
Speaker 1: doesn't need to be anybody's business. But that's how I'm
Speaker 1: going to help you in this way. That's excellent. That
Speaker 1: is absolutely excellent. It doesn't have to be financial. So
Speaker 1: to hear that this guy and these are one talking
Speaker 1: about like volunteers. If you're doing something outside of the
Speaker 1: realm of the church right now, I understand that too.
Speaker 1: If you own a law and service, perhaps you should
Speaker 1: maintain the grounds of the church for free. And that
Speaker 1: could be some sort of like a tie thing that
Speaker 1: you work out or something like. Okay, fine, listen, I'm
Speaker 1: not here to judge. I have no room to judge
Speaker 1: anyone except for this guy. Screw this guy. But what
Speaker 1: I am saying is that you don't have to give
Speaker 1: it financial there's multiple ways to serve, there's multiple ways
Speaker 1: to give. So volunteers at the church cool, volunteering to
Speaker 1: help your pastor out in the personal way. We're getting
Speaker 1: closer to the abuse of the title. But like, there
Speaker 1: is a way to do that righteously. There is a
Speaker 1: way having an army of congregates volunteering to serve your
Speaker 1: every need, night and day at your whim. We have
Speaker 1: now crossed that line. We have absolutely crossed that line. Royce.
Speaker 1: I am so sorry that your mother was ever associated
Speaker 1: with this guy.
Speaker 2: How long was she a member of this church?
Speaker 14: Years? Probably good ten years. Maybe she would all for
Speaker 14: good for yeah, for a good minute, and like she
Speaker 14: would always talk to him about like like oh well,
Speaker 14: you know, apostles just do it. And she would it's
Speaker 14: funny enough. She would say, oh yeah, and don't worry,
Speaker 14: God is working with him, like not vice versa, not
Speaker 14: like he's working with God or for whatever. She very
Speaker 14: much so was, oh, well, don't worry, you know, uh,
Speaker 14: he God is working with with him. And you know,
Speaker 14: he just he he was a pastor, but no, you know,
Speaker 14: he just he's apostle and like he went through all
Speaker 14: these videos where.
Speaker 1: Its like look Jesus is right here.
Speaker 15: He's right here in the stage.
Speaker 14: Just take a look, you know, if you can see him,
Speaker 14: he's manifesting right now. Just yeah, it was crazy.
Speaker 8: Up.
Speaker 1: So for any of our our good religious brothers and
Speaker 1: sisters out there, and anybody who's not even religious, I'm
Speaker 1: just gonna give a little inside baseball on this one.
Speaker 1: If you have a person of the cloth quote unquote
Speaker 1: that is calling themselves a prophet, an apostle, or ever
Speaker 1: bringing up manifestation, this is I can't even explain how
Speaker 1: much of a red flag that is, because it would
Speaker 1: take me an entire other episode to break that down.
Speaker 1: That there's no there are no more apostles. That's that's
Speaker 1: completely in fat it's incorrect, flat out wrong. And there
Speaker 1: was also a statement saying there will be no more profits. Now,
Speaker 1: I am not saying that nobody can receive a message
Speaker 1: from God.
Speaker 2: Okay, that's that's that's up to the person.
Speaker 1: That's cool if they want to say that the dream
Speaker 1: that they had was a message from God.
Speaker 2: I'm not going to tell you yay or nay on that.
Speaker 1: But to go out publicly and call yourself a prophet, yes,
Speaker 1: that is that is a very very large red flag.
Speaker 2: And at that point it's time for you to cut
Speaker 2: ties with.
Speaker 1: That individual and manifesting in the sense of, like, you know,
Speaker 1: setting down a dream and then making a plan with goals,
Speaker 1: attainable goals, and as a way to achieve that dream.
Speaker 1: That's not manifestation. That's putting in the work. Right for
Speaker 1: a pastor to be talking about people's minds manifesting things
Speaker 1: before their very eyes without acknowledging the power of prayer
Speaker 1: or the power of God, but it's in the people
Speaker 1: to manifest it for themselves. That is a massive red flag.
Speaker 1: I don't know.
Speaker 2: People can believe in that if they want.
Speaker 1: I am not. I'm not taking this opportunity to besmirch
Speaker 1: people's beliefs on manifest stations and the like.
Speaker 2: That's fine. I don't care you do you? I do mean.
Speaker 1: I'm saying, if somebody is trying to be a biblical person,
Speaker 1: that should never be in the conversation. Ever, so massive
Speaker 1: red flags start to finish on this. I'm curious about
Speaker 1: this too. Well. Also, if you have a family member
Speaker 1: or a friend that is going to a church that
Speaker 1: is telling them to cut ties with family members, and
Speaker 1: I do not mean a toxic family member.
Speaker 2: Okay, that's that's different.
Speaker 1: If you have this one family member who is abusive
Speaker 1: and strung out and is always asking for money and
Speaker 1: is a detriment to you and your spirituality and a
Speaker 1: detriment to you and your family, cutting them off, that's
Speaker 1: a different conversation. If you have a religious person who
Speaker 1: is telling their followers to cut off anybody that doesn't
Speaker 1: believe what they say, that is a cult. That is
Speaker 1: not religion. This is there is a fine line between
Speaker 1: the two, and that point is where it is crossed.
Speaker 1: If anything, the House of God should always have room
Speaker 1: for your family. You should be trying to proselytize to
Speaker 1: your family members that are not believers, not shunning and
Speaker 1: besmirching those that don't believe. And again I mean believe
Speaker 1: in the book, not believe in the dude on stage.
Speaker 1: These are two completely separate conversations. Go ahead.
Speaker 14: Royce just wanted to say so. In addition to that,
Speaker 14: this isn't the first time that he's been like in
Speaker 14: the news, and even with amongst other Christians, there were
Speaker 14: like other news or articles that basically said, hey, this
Speaker 14: guy is bad news. And I tried to share some
Speaker 14: of these with my mother and literally she told me, oh, well,
Speaker 14: you know, that's that's just the devil there. You know,
Speaker 14: there's two DAVIDY Taylors. There's one that we know and
Speaker 14: they're there is another one that's going around basically like
Speaker 14: impersonating him. So and literally she believed it. She had
Speaker 14: gotten so much into his mind where like even though
Speaker 14: I tried to bring up you know, articles or hey,
Speaker 14: this dude is bad and there other Christians are saying,
Speaker 14: you know this this person is not who he's pretending
Speaker 14: to be. And she's like, oh, well, well, you know,
Speaker 14: I appreciate it, I've heard about it, but that's just
Speaker 14: not really that's that's just not the real DAVIDY Taylor.
Speaker 1: You know. To your point about it having going back
Speaker 1: in time a bit right here, it says the church
Speaker 1: received about fifty million dollars in donations through its call
Speaker 1: centers dating back to twenty fourteen. According to the DOJ,
Speaker 1: Taylor and Brannan are accused of using much of that
Speaker 1: money to buy luxury properties, luxury vehicles, and sporting equipment
Speaker 1: such as boats, jet skis, and ATVs. Yeah, you know what,
Speaker 1: let's just read this, because you're right, this isn't something
Speaker 1: that they just woke up one morning into siety. You
Speaker 1: know what, I got an idea, this is something that
Speaker 1: has been going on for years and years and years,
Speaker 1: and they finally blew the lid off of it.
Speaker 2: But yeah, let's read in on this one.
Speaker 1: Here. This is from Fox thirteen Tampa Bay. Indictments against
Speaker 1: church leaders arrested in forced labor network called remarkable by
Speaker 1: experts a matter. There's another video clip here. I'm wondering
Speaker 1: it says self proclaimed religious leaders had history of legal troubles.
Speaker 1: I would love to see what kind of new insights
Speaker 1: we have before we read the article. Let's learn.
Speaker 12: We continue to follow the investigation into David Taylor and
Speaker 12: Michelle Brannan, two self proclaimed religious leaders arrested last week.
Speaker 12: They're accused of operating a forced labor network under the
Speaker 12: guise of their church and operating call centers, one of
Speaker 12: which was inside at home in an affluent Tampa neighborhood.
Speaker 12: Since last week's rate, it has been revealed the history
Speaker 12: of legal issues involving Kingdom of God Global Church.
Speaker 16: Foxer teen's Kylie Jones looked into a previous lawsuit against
Speaker 16: the ministry and spoke to an expert about why an
Speaker 16: indictment like this is not common.
Speaker 13: An indictment likely years in the making, has uncovered more
Speaker 13: than a decade of allegations against the two head haunt
Speaker 13: shows of a so called global church.
Speaker 22: Indictments of cases this complicated can take two, three, four years.
Speaker 13: The federal indictment reveals the Kingdom of God Global Church,
Speaker 13: formerly known as Joshua Media Ministries, Inc. Was a cover
Speaker 13: up to a forced labor and money laundering network.
Speaker 3: David E.
Speaker 13: Taylor and Michelle Brannan were at the top of it.
Speaker 22: There are very few forced labor cases indicted by the
Speaker 22: Department of Justice, very few cases that go criminal.
Speaker 13: Advocates with the Human Trafficking Legal Center call the indictment remarkable.
Speaker 13: The alleged fraudulent religious organization operated call centers and ministry
Speaker 13: sites around the country, including a call center inside a
Speaker 13: mansion in the Avla neighborhood in Hillsborough County. Court documents
Speaker 13: detail allegations of physical and psychological threats. The DOJ says Taylor,
Speaker 13: a self proclaimed apostle, and Brandon, the organization's executive director,
Speaker 13: recruited phone solicitors and servants known as armor bearers to
Speaker 13: work for free.
Speaker 22: It looks to me very similar to the kind of
Speaker 22: call centers that we see using force labor in Meanmar
Speaker 22: and Cambodia and other countries in Southeast Asia.
Speaker 13: According to the indictment, victims were threatened with starvation, sleep deprivation,
Speaker 13: physical assault, and other psychological abuse. Martina Vandenberg, the president
Speaker 13: of the Human Trafficking Legal Center, says, there have been
Speaker 13: other recent indictments in the US alleging forced labor under
Speaker 13: cult like circumstances.
Speaker 22: That is something that we have seen across the globe,
Speaker 22: but this is really the first case that I have
Speaker 22: seen of allegations of forced labor fraud in a call
Speaker 22: center here in the United States.
Speaker 13: According to the DOJ, the organization collected about fifty twenty
Speaker 13: million dollars in donations dating back to twenty fourteen, but
Speaker 13: the Fed say Taylor was using the donations to fund
Speaker 13: a luxurious lifestyle. In twenty twenty two, the company Movie
Speaker 13: prop Rentals sued the church for allegedly failing to pay
Speaker 13: for a two point two million dollars stage set. According
Speaker 13: to court documents, the church stopped making payments. Court filings
Speaker 13: included screenshots of messages from Taylor, threatening to quote immediately
Speaker 13: start a lawsuit. He also said, quote God is going
Speaker 13: to get you, but you don't fear God like you should.
Speaker 13: This recent indictment reveals messages that Taylor and Brannan would
Speaker 13: send to victims in their call centers, similarly filled with
Speaker 13: threats and religious shame. Eight victims are listed in this
Speaker 13: federal indictment, but advocates say there could be many more.
Speaker 13: Kylie Jones Box thirteen.
Speaker 1: News ab susolutely wow, all right, let's jump in here.
Speaker 14: Uh.
Speaker 1: Experts call the self federal indictment against the two self
Speaker 1: proclaimed religious leaders for operating an alleged forced labor network remarkable.
Speaker 1: David Taylor and Michelle Brannon, who accused ring leaders of
Speaker 1: the Kingdom of God Global Church, were arrested last week
Speaker 1: charge of force labor, conspiracycy to commit force labor, and
Speaker 1: money laundering. The backstory here. Along with Taylor, Brannan led
Speaker 1: the Kingdom of God Church, formerly known as Joshua Media
Speaker 1: Ministries International. A ten count indictment alleged that Taylor and
Speaker 1: Brannon ran call centers in Florida, Texas, Missouri, and Michigan
Speaker 1: to solicit donations to the church. The pair convinced their
Speaker 1: victims to work at the call centers and to work
Speaker 1: for Taylor as personal servants referred to his.
Speaker 2: Armor bearers, for long hours without pay.
Speaker 1: According to the indictments, one of those call centers operating
Speaker 1: out of a mansion we talked about the neighborhood Hilborough County,
Speaker 1: the home of the several properties around the county or
Speaker 1: country rather that was rated by the FBI last week.
Speaker 1: Federal and investigators said Taylor and Brannon controlled every aspect
Speaker 1: of the daily living of their victims, who slept at
Speaker 1: the call center or in a ministry quote unquote house
Speaker 1: and were not allowed to leave without permission. The federal
Speaker 1: indictment alleges that victims were deprived of food, sleep, and freedom.
Speaker 1: Some victims were even physically or ps psychologically punished if
Speaker 1: they didn't meet Taylor's monetary demands. The church operated multiple
Speaker 1: call centers nationwide where unpaid workers were soliciting donations. The
Speaker 1: indictment also said the suspects for us the victims to
Speaker 1: transport women to Taylor and ensure that those women took
Speaker 1: Plan B emergency contraceptives. Again a massive red flag if
Speaker 1: the leader of your congregation is a bit of a
Speaker 1: whore that that should be a very large red flag,
Speaker 1: just throwing it out. The church received about fifty million
Speaker 1: dollars in donations through its call centers dating back to
Speaker 1: twenty fourteen, according to the DOJ. Taylor and Brannon accused
Speaker 1: of using much of that money to buy luxury properties, vehicles,
Speaker 1: and supporting such as boats, jet skis, and ATVs. The
Speaker 1: FBI also alleges the victims are forced to apply for
Speaker 1: federal assistants and food stamps by claiming they were homeless,
Speaker 1: then turn that money over to the suspects. Dog they
Speaker 1: going that level with it. Getting millions of dollars from
Speaker 1: marathons and call centers wasn't enough. You had to get
Speaker 1: the federal aids from your servants. Let's just call them
Speaker 1: slaves and turn that.
Speaker 2: Over to you too.
Speaker 1: So you was rolling in that food stamp money as
Speaker 1: well as those rights as dollar bills. You not do
Speaker 1: you triple dipping at that point? Good God, Almighty, okay.
Speaker 1: FBI officials said law enforcement arrested Brandon early Wednesday at
Speaker 1: the d'avilla house, which is owned by the church. According
Speaker 1: to property records. Court documents said Brandon lived in the
Speaker 1: Avila mansion, which was also being used as a church
Speaker 1: call center. Authorities alleged that followers lived and worked at
Speaker 1: the property under slave like conditions and were punished if
Speaker 1: they failed to meet demands. What they're saying. In twenty
Speaker 1: twenty three, which the year for which we have the
Speaker 1: most data, the most recent data, there was only twelve
Speaker 1: indictments for forced labor in the entire country. Okay, it's
Speaker 1: Martha Vanderberg, the president of the Human Trafficking Legal Center,
Speaker 1: And in twenty twenty two there were only seven indictments
Speaker 1: for forced labor in the whole United States. Meanwhile, this
Speaker 1: is gonna blow all of that to hell. Human trafficking
Speaker 1: advocates set and indictment like this is remarkable. Going back
Speaker 1: to Vanderberg, there are very few forced labor cases indicted
Speaker 1: by the Department of Justice.
Speaker 2: Very few cases go criminal.
Speaker 1: It looks to me very similar to the kind of
Speaker 1: call centers that we see in mem Mark, Cambodia, and
Speaker 1: in Southeast Asia.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we heard her say that as a direct quote.
Speaker 1: She also went on to call it cult like which
Speaker 1: I absolutely see this as a cult.
Speaker 2: This is not a congregation, this is not a church.
Speaker 1: This is a cult with a cult leader who I
Speaker 1: still can't believe they had these type of people that
Speaker 1: like would follow them so blindly. But it is thing.
Speaker 1: It is a thing. They say the right thing to
Speaker 1: the right people and they get in their heads. It
Speaker 1: is disturbing. Let's see, that is something that we have
Speaker 1: seen across the globe. But it is really the first
Speaker 1: case that I have seen of allegations of forced labor
Speaker 1: fraud in a call center here in the United States.
Speaker 1: To dig deeper, in twenty twenty two, yeah, they talked
Speaker 1: about the movie prop rental company that the two point
Speaker 1: two million dollar stage said that they just stopped paying.
Speaker 1: I'm talking about God is gonna get you, all right,
Speaker 1: So what's next? On Monday, Brennan was still being hailed
Speaker 1: in Florida and Taylor.
Speaker 2: It was being hailed in North Carolina.
Speaker 1: The federal charges were filed out of Michigan, where the
Speaker 1: quote unquote church's headquarters is and their case is expected
Speaker 1: to be heard. I'm glad to put the quotes on
Speaker 1: the church at the end there, because this is not
Speaker 1: a church. This is not a church, this is not
Speaker 1: God's house. There's no way that this is God's house. Wow. Oh, man,
Speaker 1: that blows my mind. But you know, there's a church
Speaker 1: around my house as a matter of fact, that it's
Speaker 1: not cult like in this way, but they are tiptoeing
Speaker 1: around the line as much as they can. And I'm
Speaker 1: not gonna shout them out because I have personal friends
Speaker 1: whose family members are within the leadership of this church,
Speaker 1: but they have left because of these conditions. I'm just
Speaker 1: gonna say that this church calls themselves a something something international.
Speaker 1: That's usually another big telltale sign, by the way, and
Speaker 1: they use a ministry that they have which is a
Speaker 1: halfway house, okay for people that are trying to break
Speaker 1: the chains of addiction. Right, these people have a hard
Speaker 1: time finding work, and that's understandable. That's a real issue
Speaker 1: that a lot of people that spend time in jail
Speaker 1: have when they get out. Not a lot of people
Speaker 1: are like super excited to hire a felon, so they
Speaker 1: have a hard time finding work. This particular ministry helps
Speaker 1: them find a job, which is all finding good.
Speaker 2: That's that's excellent. The problem is.
Speaker 1: That there's a around my area. There's a lot of
Speaker 1: oil refineries and chemical plants, and there's heavy industry. Not
Speaker 1: now I mean surrounding me, honestly, and a lot of
Speaker 1: these big, big projects that go on at these facilities. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you get the main contracts that are they're you know,
Speaker 1: fought over and won by the big names. As far
Speaker 1: as the construction contracts are concerned, that's fine, but there's
Speaker 1: a lot of third party contracts that are given out
Speaker 1: to these smaller companies.
Speaker 2: One of these, I'll just give an example.
Speaker 1: They take sheet metal and they punch out circle plates
Speaker 1: that they use as blinds for pipes or you know,
Speaker 1: bases for legs, for structures, whatever the case is. It's
Speaker 1: it is basically a mindless job. You could do it
Speaker 1: with a grinder, you could do it with you know,
Speaker 1: some sort of a cutting implement, or you could do
Speaker 1: it with a hydraulic press, whatever the case is. It's
Speaker 1: just very repetitive work and it doesn't take a high
Speaker 1: level of skill to do. So this ministry has hooked
Speaker 1: up these people living in this halfway house with a
Speaker 1: job with this I'm just gonna leave it as an
Speaker 1: unnamed contractor, right which fine. At least it's a foot
Speaker 1: in the door and they get paid for their time
Speaker 1: and they're holding a job and they're punching a clock
Speaker 1: and they're making their way. That's fine, that's excellent. But
Speaker 1: this company is extremely predatory to these particular members that
Speaker 1: come from this halfway house. They have employees that work
Speaker 1: for them that are not of the of that group,
Speaker 1: but of the ones that are of that group, they
Speaker 1: pay them. I've heard stories of like five dollars less
Speaker 1: an hour, ten dollars less per hour than they would
Speaker 1: pay a regular employee. And they know that they got
Speaker 1: them in a vice because it's not like they can
Speaker 1: go and find more money doing a better job. And
Speaker 1: this contracting company is a lot more lenient when they're
Speaker 1: late to work or when things come up and they
Speaker 1: just kind of whatever, but at least they keep them
Speaker 1: on the payroll this church. Come to find out, the
Speaker 1: owner of that contractor is a very devout member of
Speaker 1: this church, this dot dot dot International Church, and gives
Speaker 1: very large donations in his tithe checks, if you will,
Speaker 1: and these particular ones go straight to the tippy top
Speaker 1: for the head pastor. So he ensures that the halfway
Speaker 1: House stays full of these people that are just trying
Speaker 1: to make their way, keeps them working for cut rate
Speaker 1: and all that excess profit that the company makes ends
Speaker 1: up going back to the owner of the company and
Speaker 1: through a you know, chain of righteous dollar bills to
Speaker 1: the head pastor of the congregation. Now it's not forced
Speaker 1: labor because they can't quit. Nothing is keeping them at
Speaker 1: this halfway house. You see what I'm saying. It's it's
Speaker 1: not as bad as this situation is. And it's not
Speaker 1: a cult. He's not telling you to the pastor himself
Speaker 1: is not telling you to like section off your family
Speaker 1: or anything like that. But I don't like the way
Speaker 1: that he runs his church, also in the fact that
Speaker 1: he is the only one that receives revelations from God,
Speaker 1: not by his own emission.
Speaker 2: But what I mean is.
Speaker 1: He has like I don't know, I think right now
Speaker 1: they might have like six campuses, eight campuses of this church,
Speaker 1: and he keeps a very very short leash on the
Speaker 1: head pastors of each of these locations. Basically, he writes
Speaker 1: the sermon, you'll preach it, so there's no way for
Speaker 1: you to actually write your own sermon. Hey, you know,
Speaker 1: God's really putting something on my heart that I need
Speaker 1: to tell to my congregation.
Speaker 2: There's going to be a solid message. I've worked it out.
Speaker 1: Bah bah bap.
Speaker 2: That's really cool, man, that's awesome.
Speaker 1: Hey, here is your sermon for this Sunday, and you're
Speaker 1: gonna do as you're told because I am the only
Speaker 1: one that knows the direction that this Congregation International is
Speaker 1: going to be going in. It is.
Speaker 2: It's crazy, It is absolutely insane.
Speaker 1: And I am not going to get into how he
Speaker 1: was trying to groom one of his children to take
Speaker 1: his role when the time came he was going to retire.
Speaker 1: I am not gonna say how he went out of
Speaker 1: his way to try to ruin this young person's marriage
Speaker 1: so that he could end up marrying somebody that was
Speaker 1: more in line with his vision.
Speaker 2: Of what his church would look like after he retired.
Speaker 1: It's disgusting, absolutely disgusting. But yeah, so there's examples of
Speaker 1: things like this going on all over the place. I
Speaker 1: have never heard of one this large with call centers
Speaker 1: and all of this going on in America to this extent.
Speaker 2: That is mind blowing. Royce.
Speaker 1: The chances that this guy would get caught me talking
Speaker 1: about it on this episode and it's the one that
Speaker 1: your mom was an affiliate with is mind blowing.
Speaker 2: But like, what does she say about it now?
Speaker 14: I haven't really asked her about him lately. Honestly, ever
Speaker 14: since my mother kind of cut me and my family off,
Speaker 14: she's been extremely extrae estranged. So so the problem is
Speaker 14: she did a lot of damage to the family besides this,
Speaker 14: And like I guess, my mother used to write a
Speaker 14: lot of notes and stuff, and like she didn't say
Speaker 14: some very good things about my family, and she she
Speaker 14: did a lot to her. So it's like my and
Speaker 14: then so it's really funny. So after the whole oh, well,
Speaker 14: you know, God is putting a lion in the sand
Speaker 14: and we're on one side and the other other. She
Speaker 14: then like started writing text messages to everybody. She's like,
Speaker 14: so God is got rid of the mark in the sand,
Speaker 14: and this is the best season of restoration and this
Speaker 14: and that. And my mother has never even apologized for
Speaker 14: her actions. And she even wrote a letter saying, if
Speaker 14: you're asking if you're to leave for an apology, I
Speaker 14: won't apologize because she still feels that she was right
Speaker 14: before for leaving how she did, and just she's not
Speaker 14: wanting to take accountability. So since she's not willing to
Speaker 14: do that, plus all those very hurtful things and just
Speaker 14: literally she left my grandmother in the hospital at Ryan
Speaker 14: and knee surgery to do her own thing. So like,
Speaker 14: I haven't asked about this. I mean, she's living the
Speaker 14: life she wants to, being a preacher's wife, and she
Speaker 14: goes and she's she's important, she's an important member, and
Speaker 14: she goes all over the world with her her husband,
Speaker 14: and like they even want to meet the family. I
Speaker 14: think a year ago. I think last last year for
Speaker 14: my grandma's birthday, and my Grandma's like, just don't come.
Speaker 2: I mean, does he seem like he's a decent guy
Speaker 2: at least?
Speaker 14: I mean he seems nice. I mean I've read some
Speaker 14: He like sent a one of his messages that I
Speaker 14: think was fluff and nonsensical and didn't really make sense.
Speaker 14: But like, I mean, there are people that listen to
Speaker 14: all sorts of things.
Speaker 1: When you say, do you mean, and I'm only asking
Speaker 1: this because I know that you are a resident Jewish correspondent,
Speaker 1: by fluff and nonsensical, do you mean that it was
Speaker 1: very Jesus centric and that's what you mean, chicken type ship.
Speaker 15: Yes.
Speaker 14: So it's to keep in mind that even though I
Speaker 14: am the Jewish representative currently, I was raised in Christianity,
Speaker 14: So like, you know, I do understand the difference between
Speaker 14: like chicken soup for the soul and like fire and
Speaker 14: brimstone and like legitimate a legitimate speech. So it just
Speaker 14: it just didn't make sense like some of the things
Speaker 14: you were going to, the connections he was trying to
Speaker 14: make just not a very good orator and writer, but
Speaker 14: you know, to each of their own.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I feel that. Well. I wish you all
Speaker 1: the luck with repairing whatever relationship you can with your mother.
Speaker 1: I know people personally that are strange from their parents
Speaker 1: for a litany of reasons, and you know, we can't
Speaker 1: always choose our family, but it's still it still sucks.
Speaker 1: You know, that's a pain that cuts way way deeper
Speaker 1: than we originally realize, and as we get older and
Speaker 1: as we have kids of our own and things like that,
Speaker 1: it really starts to even like open those wounds even deeper.
Speaker 1: So I really hope that you and your mom are
Speaker 1: able to repair this in some way. But I also
Speaker 1: completely understand and respect your reasons for one to keep distance.
Speaker 14: For sure I will. And then it's funny sort of
Speaker 14: the email that she wrote to separate yourself from us,
Speaker 14: Like I was like, so I had been emailing my mother,
Speaker 14: so I know the way my other rights, I know
Speaker 14: her punctuation and grammar and spelling, et cetera. That was
Speaker 14: not written by my mother, Like it was probably one
Speaker 14: of those copy pastes. But like it was so absurd.
Speaker 14: I called my family, like is this real? I try
Speaker 14: to call my mom and I don't think she even answered.
Speaker 14: But it was like I knew the reason that it
Speaker 14: was because of this cult, and I was like, this
Speaker 14: is ridiculous. But like they got so in her head.
Speaker 14: And when they were talking about the sleep deprivation, like
Speaker 14: literally she would say that, you know, staying up so
Speaker 14: many nights in a row in prayer and then there
Speaker 14: would only they would there would be a lot of
Speaker 14: fasting and there would be only like very very little foods.
Speaker 14: Like she told me about this stuff, and like I
Speaker 14: can't even tell you how many how many times I
Speaker 14: tried to get her out of it, but she was
Speaker 14: literally just hook fine and sinker.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 1: It was bad. Wow. And I mean even with the
Speaker 1: fasting thing, I don't have an issue with a congregation
Speaker 1: doing a congregation wide fast and like having a season
Speaker 1: of prayer and like all these things to pray for
Speaker 1: a thing to take place, Like I.
Speaker 2: Get it, you know, I'm not.
Speaker 1: I have my own opinions about these types of things,
Speaker 1: but like, okay, if you're gonna do that for a time,
Speaker 1: like okay, cool forcing it on your people, and like
Speaker 1: actually denying them food and then threatening them with physical
Speaker 1: violence and psychological torture if they don't do what the
Speaker 1: pastor says. Again, there's a fine line here, a really
Speaker 1: distinct line where you are in the box of acceptable
Speaker 1: behavior and then out of the box of acceptable behavior.
Speaker 1: It sounds to me like this guy was almost completely
Speaker 1: outside of the box of acceptable behavior.
Speaker 2: Start to finish, it's.
Speaker 1: So all right, all right, all right. Before we get
Speaker 1: to our final thing of this evening, I did bring
Speaker 1: up something about how France is on the verge of
Speaker 1: collapse again, but I mean, in every few years, France
Speaker 1: on the verge of absolute collapse and bankruptcy and all
Speaker 1: the stuff. It's nothing new, So I mean, there's never
Speaker 1: really no point in us talking about it. Now. I
Speaker 1: do want to get to the chat before we get
Speaker 1: to our last one, which is going to be more
Speaker 1: of a archaeological and scientific conversation rather than you know,
Speaker 1: geopolitical and news type of base. But let's get to
Speaker 1: it here. Everybody's saying, good evening, what's going on. AI
Speaker 1: is just an improved form of media and narrative control,
Speaker 1: but with the extra layer of quote unquote, it's trustworthy
Speaker 1: on top.
Speaker 2: Yeah, raven I one hundred percent agree with that.
Speaker 1: AI literally boldface just told us that New Orleans is
Speaker 1: extremely safer now and twenty twenty four and twenty twenty
Speaker 1: five is expected to be whatever third highest homicide rates
Speaker 1: in the country right now. So AI is yet again
Speaker 1: as it typically is, wrong. But Okay, a shooting happened
Speaker 1: about three hundred feet from my kids and a quote
Speaker 1: unquote really safe place. Yeah, same, same, And I brought
Speaker 1: up this story a million times. We were at a
Speaker 1: Maudi Gras parade at day parade. It was a tractor parade.
Speaker 1: Families were all out there in the It was in
Speaker 1: the French Quarter. You know, it is seen relatively to
Speaker 1: be a safe place. It wasn't like on Bourbon Street,
Speaker 1: but it was like in the quarter right and on
Speaker 1: our block. Just I'm not gonna say a few is
Speaker 1: in six feet, but like within fifty feet of us,
Speaker 1: gunshots and people screaming and cops taking this dude down
Speaker 1: in the whole nine at a family day parade, Like, yeah,
Speaker 1: that's that's New Orleans and that was years ago. That's
Speaker 1: not It's way worse now. But this is my point
Speaker 1: the yeah anyway, anyway, So I for one, have no
Speaker 1: issue with federal troops coming in to help clean up
Speaker 1: the New Orleans streets.
Speaker 2: I'm good with it.
Speaker 1: And while, like I said, after they get don New Orleans,
Speaker 1: if they want to take a couple hour trip north
Speaker 1: and hit Baton Rouge, I'm all in favor of it.
Speaker 1: And while they're at if they want to take a
Speaker 1: few more hour of a trip north and clean up Shreveport. Hey,
Speaker 1: you will know, can not hear any complaints from the
Speaker 1: vast majority of this state throwing that out. Let's see here,
Speaker 1: I feel like there's going to be a bombing, like
Speaker 1: a quote unquote random act of terrorism if they get
Speaker 1: a lot of them together. I think by that you
Speaker 1: meant the victims of the Epstein thing. Yeah, I could
Speaker 1: see that. I could see it. But with that being said,
Speaker 1: today was the perfect opportunity, right they were all in
Speaker 1: the Capitol steps. That would have been the perfect shot However,
Speaker 1: they're still National Guard troops all over DC, so maybe
Speaker 1: that wouldn't have been the opportune moment. That being said,
Speaker 1: I really do hope that these victims get together, put
Speaker 1: together their own list, and release it to the public
Speaker 1: and say, you know what, screw DC, screw the DOJ,
Speaker 1: screw the current administration. This is truth that needs to
Speaker 1: get out there. And I really feel like they're going
Speaker 1: to get that done. Let's see, Spirit Animals said. I
Speaker 1: could see the victims getting disappeared a few of them.
Speaker 1: I could see, bro, if you got a thousand victims,
Speaker 1: and hell, even half of them, even if a tenth
Speaker 1: of them, one hundred victims are all willing to come
Speaker 1: together and compile a list. I got a hard time
Speaker 1: seeing them all getting clintoned. You know, that's it's a possibility,
Speaker 1: but God, the logistics on that would be difficult. I
Speaker 1: could see, like, like Raven said, maybe a terrorist attack
Speaker 1: and they just.
Speaker 2: All happened to be in the building that got hit
Speaker 2: or something.
Speaker 1: But even still, you're talking about a lot of eggs
Speaker 1: having to be put in the same basket for that
Speaker 1: to go off without a hitch. I'm not saying it's
Speaker 1: impossible I'm saying it would takes some real doing. Let's see.
Speaker 1: Moving on sparit Animal says the meth business is booming,
Speaker 1: and not just the random meth lab explosion either. So
Speaker 1: when do we get to push California into the sea. Okay,
Speaker 1: two different conversations. Yeah, the meth industry is booming, and
Speaker 1: I'm not saying that it's all because of China. This
Speaker 1: one shipment is absolutely connected to China. You could look
Speaker 1: at the shipping manifestos and see this. Once again, our
Speaker 1: Hong Kong correspondence spoke in earlier, and I gotta say
Speaker 1: I'm not a big fan of it. But again, I
Speaker 1: don't think that this is Jijaping trying to third party
Speaker 1: a silent war against America by force feeding as drugs.
Speaker 1: Fentanyl mostly comes from China, and I do need that
Speaker 1: to stop. But I've heard the conspiracy to say that
Speaker 1: that is all a part of the plan to take
Speaker 1: down America is to get everybody hooked on fentanyl.
Speaker 2: But I mean that's the minority.
Speaker 1: The majority, the vast majority of people in America are
Speaker 1: not experimenting with fentanyl or crystal meth. You know that
Speaker 1: you're talking about taking out the people that were willing
Speaker 1: to experiment with these things in the first place, and
Speaker 1: that's you know, that's a different conversation. I do think
Speaker 1: that it's a business move. I think the China above
Speaker 1: all else is all about the almighty dollar bill, so
Speaker 1: I don't see that as necessarily a war tactic. Either
Speaker 1: way it goes.
Speaker 2: I am very happy that this shipment got stopped.
Speaker 1: I am very happy that they are making it very public,
Speaker 1: and I understand that it's going to be politicized because everything,
Speaker 1: as far as the war on drug goes, has to
Speaker 1: be politicized. You can look at the entire war on
Speaker 1: drugs and see that. That being said, I hope that
Speaker 1: this does bring more awareness to the situation. I hope
Speaker 1: that more people stay off of hard drugs and drugs
Speaker 1: in general, and I really hope that this has a
Speaker 1: good outcome overall. When do we get to push California
Speaker 1: into the sea?
Speaker 2: Look?
Speaker 1: Man, the vast majority of people living in California and
Speaker 1: Oregon and Washington are not about this dumb shit, Like,
Speaker 1: let's be real here. However, the powers that be that
Speaker 1: preside over these states are about that dumb shit, which
Speaker 1: is why I'm trying to put this message out there
Speaker 1: to all of the good people living in Washington, Oregon,
Speaker 1: and California. There's been so many like writing on the
Speaker 1: wall moments of how these states are going to go.
Speaker 1: This is just another one of them. It's time to move.
Speaker 1: It's time to get on out of these states and
Speaker 1: go on to greener pastures in states that actually care
Speaker 1: about you and your children and your family's well being.
Speaker 2: Now is that time.
Speaker 1: It's about to get really, really difficult and really stupid.
Speaker 1: But I digress. Moving on, Royce says, I found some
Speaker 1: excerpts that talk about the severity of each plague from
Speaker 1: the mid Drashic perspective. You know what we do need
Speaker 1: to talk about that. I don't know if tonight's the
Speaker 1: episode to do that, but here soon I would love
Speaker 1: to go deeper on that. Let's see, Tony says, as
Speaker 1: Potus just announced moments ago today, the US military conducted
Speaker 1: a lethal strike in the Southern Caribbean against a drug
Speaker 1: vessel which had departed from Venezuela and was being operated
Speaker 1: by a designated narco terrorist organization. Yeah, everybody had so
Speaker 1: much noise to talk about Trump sending military vessels to
Speaker 1: the coast of Venezuela or around the coast of Venezuela,
Speaker 1: And wouldn't you know it, Maduro is in fact the
Speaker 1: leader of a massive narco state because there are big
Speaker 1: socialist communist people over there and that doesn't work, and
Speaker 1: his people have been starving since like eight I remember
Speaker 1: when I was in the Marine Corps, we were learning
Speaker 1: about that. In two thousand and four, two thousand and five,
Speaker 1: Venezuela had like the fourth best economy on earth. It
Speaker 1: took five years and that went to hell in a
Speaker 1: hand basket. You had people that were waiting weeks to
Speaker 1: receive a basket of food on their doorstep because the
Speaker 1: government provided all that, and the food itself is usually mouldy,
Speaker 1: rotten all. It was horrible because communism doesn't work. Socialism
Speaker 1: doesn't work. So as a way to kind of, you know,
Speaker 1: make the budget level off, he turned to narco state
Speaker 1: activities and he runs a very large paramilitary organization, which
Speaker 1: is why when he made the call allegedly four million
Speaker 1: Venezuelans armed up waiting for an American invasion. How did
Speaker 1: he call upon four million Venezuelans to arm up unless
Speaker 1: they were all a part of this paramilitary group that
Speaker 1: he claims doesn't exist, even though he wears the metals
Speaker 1: of that paramilitary group when he's in uniform. But anyway,
Speaker 1: so now we have this situation where the US military
Speaker 1: actually intercepted a vessel coming from Venezuela full of drugs.
Speaker 2: Tony, this was excellent.
Speaker 15: Yeah, they blew it up and I saw a lot
Speaker 15: of reactions on Twitter, some very positive, some very negative.
Speaker 15: I'm kind of negative on it. I think the US
Speaker 15: CIA does a lot of drug trafficking and their only
Speaker 15: crime was drug trafficking. Without being a friend of the CIA,
Speaker 15: I think that we should legal relegalize drugs, but it's
Speaker 15: never going to happen because the CIA can't make money
Speaker 15: if they're legal.
Speaker 1: I agree with the most of what you just said,
Speaker 1: for sure. The CIA absolutely has done drug running for
Speaker 1: the majority of their existence. Right However, I would like
Speaker 1: to believe that Cash Pattel has put a stop to
Speaker 1: most of it. I could be so wrong, and he's
Speaker 1: absolutely on the take. I don't exactly trust him.
Speaker 15: I could also I could also be in favor of
Speaker 15: banning them all if we could actually ban them, but
Speaker 15: we can't do that. We're not Homogenie. We're too corrupt,
Speaker 15: and it would just never work. It would be kind
Speaker 15: of like the war on drugs of the last century.
Speaker 15: It's just not gonna work. Prohibition didn't work. It can
Speaker 15: work in some societies, it can't work for us.
Speaker 1: Yeah, my issue with the drugs aren't actually the drugs themselves.
Speaker 1: My issue with the drugs are the cartels, because you
Speaker 1: can't separate one from the other. And aside from Trump
Speaker 1: listing cartels as terrorist groups, which I think is there's
Speaker 1: a very strong case to be made for that. The
Speaker 1: cartels don't just run drugs. They do all kinds of
Speaker 1: horrible things in this country with impunity. That's what I
Speaker 1: want to have a stop put to. And it's not
Speaker 1: just the illegals. It's not just the coyotes. It's it's
Speaker 1: all of that, including the human trafficking, including the sex trafficking,
Speaker 1: including the drug trade, including the weapons trafficking, including all
Speaker 1: the other stuff. The Trende or Wawa cartel that is
Speaker 1: running off muck in like fourteen states right now. They
Speaker 1: are out of their way violent, They're not criminal businessmen,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. I sure, okay, the same
Speaker 1: with the mafia, the mafia, ram Booze. I don't have
Speaker 1: a problem with Booze. I do have a problem with
Speaker 1: violence on American soil. I have a problem with foreign
Speaker 1: violence making its way to American soil, and the cartel
Speaker 1: seem to be the main highway for all of it.
Speaker 1: And unfortunately, you have to speak to the cartel in
Speaker 1: the language that they understand. The way they understand is
Speaker 1: either getting involved in stopping their flow of money or
Speaker 1: getting involved in inflicting more violence on them than they
Speaker 1: are used to. And unless we are going to start
Speaker 1: invading foreign nations, to start an actual war with cartels,
Speaker 1: hitting them in their wallets is the next best thing.
Speaker 1: So that's why I'm in favor of the stop of
Speaker 1: the drugs into the Sinaloa and the stop of the
Speaker 1: drugs from Venezuela. I am in favor of personal freedom.
Speaker 1: I think that like, if you want, as a free
Speaker 1: and independent human being, if you want to go do cocaine, brother,
Speaker 1: after it, it is all you. I got no problems
Speaker 1: with it, no judgment, all good. But how did that
Speaker 1: cocaine get here? Was there slave labor that was used
Speaker 1: to make it? Or transport it? Was the only thing
Speaker 1: on that transport drugs or was there also like eight
Speaker 1: year old sex slaves that were making its way into
Speaker 1: the country with it.
Speaker 2: You see what I'm saying, it's not.
Speaker 15: Yeah. In other news, China and Venezuela I read signed
Speaker 15: some kind of bilateral trade agreement, and back in May,
Speaker 15: I think they signed a trade agreement with Russia, and
Speaker 15: Venezuela is considering buying Chinese fighter jets. I don't know
Speaker 15: how expensive those are or if they did they work
Speaker 15: that well.
Speaker 2: Yeah, China just had a big parade.
Speaker 1: As a matter of fact, I was gonna show a
Speaker 1: clip from it, but it was showing some new drones.
Speaker 1: They got some new ICBMs, they got some new just
Speaker 1: all their new hardware. And then it all so said.
Speaker 1: Seeing as how none of these things have been tested,
Speaker 1: how effective they are is still open for debate, and
Speaker 1: I'm just like, yeah, yeah, I don't know that would
Speaker 1: make sense though, right it would make sense. Venezuela and
Speaker 1: Russia have been tight for a while. Venezuela and China
Speaker 1: are tight right now. I'm not sure Venezuela is a
Speaker 1: part of bricks yet. I feel like if they're not,
Speaker 1: they will be soon. I feel like we just talked
Speaker 1: about that a couple of weeks ago. As a matter of fact,
Speaker 1: I could be wrong, but Venezuela's main export is above
Speaker 1: board anyway, is oil, and that's why their economy was
Speaker 1: doing so well in the early two thousands. So it
Speaker 1: would make sense to me that they would sign a
Speaker 1: trade deal with China because China needs more oil. Russia
Speaker 1: has been their biggest supplier for a long time. But
Speaker 1: that also kind of leads me to question why they're
Speaker 1: making such a treaty style trade deal with Venezuela. Is
Speaker 1: it because the Russian oil is being used for other
Speaker 1: purposes they're forced to outsource to feed their demand, or
Speaker 1: is this just kind of strength ties with a nation
Speaker 1: that is closer to your on this side of the world.
Speaker 1: I don't know. There's multiple angles to look at that through,
Speaker 1: but it very much makes sense to me that because
Speaker 1: Venezuela is an enemy of America as of this moment, anyway,
Speaker 1: Maduro has sought to that.
Speaker 15: Yes, I think it's primarily the second thing you said,
Speaker 15: not so much that China really needs more oil, because
Speaker 15: they get plenty from Russia, and Venezuelan oil is full
Speaker 15: of sulfur. It is horrible to work with and you
Speaker 15: live in a place that's kind of close to the Venezuela,
Speaker 15: so you and around a bunch of oil refinery, so
Speaker 15: you might know as much about that as I do.
Speaker 15: I used to work at an oil refinery, but it
Speaker 15: was in California.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Venezuela's got the stinky oil, and in Asia they have, Yeah,
Speaker 1: they have the sulfur and a lot of their oil,
Speaker 1: which there is a process to remove it, but it
Speaker 1: is extremely expensive. And that's the thing. Like, if China's
Speaker 1: gonna buy Venezuelan oil, I don't know if they even
Speaker 1: care that it stinks or not. But it is a
Speaker 1: pain the ass to work with the process to desulfurize
Speaker 1: it is a pain in the ass. Uh.
Speaker 2: Asia has a lot of sweet oil, right you.
Speaker 1: You if you're doing like the Chinese oil rigs off
Speaker 1: the coast, they don't even have to go way, way,
Speaker 1: way deep to get it. They could damn near just
Speaker 1: punch a hole in the seafloor and they got oil
Speaker 1: spurting up.
Speaker 2: And it's easier to work with.
Speaker 1: But it's also a quality issue at that point, if
Speaker 1: I'm not mistaken. It's been a while since I looked
Speaker 1: into it, but uh, but yeah, Venezuela does have oil,
Speaker 1: and even if you're not gonna use it for a
Speaker 1: fuel source, using it for its plastics, and using it
Speaker 1: for its other components that you could extract off of it,
Speaker 1: it's doable.
Speaker 2: Pain in the ass, but doable. But yeah, I.
Speaker 1: Don't know what to expect from all of it. It
Speaker 1: is Uh, it's very difficult to say at this time,
Speaker 1: but I don't think Maduro is doing the best job.
Speaker 1: And I have a feeling if history is in fact
Speaker 1: the thing that repeats itself as often as it does,
Speaker 1: it stands to reason to me that Marduro might be
Speaker 1: on the verge of a coup in the next decade.
Speaker 8: Yeah.
Speaker 15: I was just looking up his main competitors, some woman
Speaker 15: and her name escapes me at the moment. Yeah, from
Speaker 15: son or something that probably is wrong.
Speaker 1: I could see it. That being said, when and if
Speaker 1: that coup happens, will the American three letter agencies be involved? Yeah, yes, probably.
Speaker 2: It's not even a probably.
Speaker 1: It's a garant fucking tea at this point, but yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's a rhetorical question.
Speaker 2: Man.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Maduro is he is swinging for the fences, that
Speaker 1: is for sure.
Speaker 2: We will see how it plays out. We'll see how
Speaker 2: it all shakes out.
Speaker 1: But yeah, the drug the drug boat getting blown up,
Speaker 1: that's awesome. I'm in favor of that. Again, not I'm
Speaker 1: not trying to infringe on someone's personal freedoms. If it
Speaker 1: was just drugs, then it would be just drugs and
Speaker 1: I wouldn't have that much of a problem with it.
Speaker 2: That's a personal issue.
Speaker 15: Yeah, I still believe like Portugal and Switzerland have a
Speaker 15: good approach. They treat it just as a medical problem.
Speaker 15: It's legal, it's cheap, you get a prescription though. It's
Speaker 15: handled that way, and it's possible for drug addicts to
Speaker 15: have a stable supply of their drug whatever they're hooked on,
Speaker 15: and they get a reliable quantity of it. And I
Speaker 15: think nutrition is also part of really the root of
Speaker 15: the problem of so many health problems in this country,
Speaker 15: and that leads to people getting prescription painkillers, and then
Speaker 15: that leads to people getting heroin because it's a third
Speaker 15: the price of the prescription one on the black market,
Speaker 15: which they're unable to continue to get a prescription for.
Speaker 15: It's just one thing leading to another, and people who
Speaker 15: aren't bad people and don't think of themselves as drug
Speaker 15: users just end up slipping into it by accident.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, it's just.
Speaker 15: We should do what Portugal in Switzerland do, but we
Speaker 15: can't because again, the CIA can't make money at it.
Speaker 1: I think that's a two prong issue though, A, you're
Speaker 1: correct the CIA can't make money off of legal drugs,
Speaker 1: and B I think there's also a cultural thing that
Speaker 1: needs to be at least aired on that one. Right,
Speaker 1: Portugal and Switzerland and other European nations, they don't have
Speaker 1: a culture of excess. Right. Of course, you have your
Speaker 1: like super wealthy elites out there that do have an
Speaker 1: excessive lifestyle like that exists, but your average Portuguese person
Speaker 1: does not live a culture or at least have the
Speaker 1: mindset of like we need more of everything, we need
Speaker 1: to overdo stuff, we need to do things to the max,
Speaker 1: and all of these things. That's not a cultural thing
Speaker 1: for them or Switzerland for that matter. That is absolutely
Speaker 1: a cultural thing in America. And I'm not saying that's
Speaker 1: a good thing by any means, but it's like, there's
Speaker 1: a reason why in a lot of European countries you
Speaker 1: can go have a glass of wine or beer at
Speaker 1: lunch at your place of business because it's a cultural
Speaker 1: thing there to where like people don't overdo shit on
Speaker 1: Mass anyway. You'll have your oneses and Tuesdays, but not
Speaker 1: on Mass. In America, if you allowed your employees to
Speaker 1: drink at lunch, they would be so slash they would
Speaker 1: not get back to work afterwards. That's you see what
Speaker 1: I'm saying. There's like there's other issues at foot on that. Huh.
Speaker 15: Yeah, I get that with alcohol. I don't really get
Speaker 15: that sense with fentanyl or heroin so much. I think
Speaker 15: that most of the deaths from that are either accidental
Speaker 15: from people overdosing because they don't know what the dose
Speaker 15: they're getting is, or deliberately suicidal because right actually want
Speaker 15: to kill themselves.
Speaker 1: Well, fentanyl is a different thing, right, So many drugs
Speaker 1: are being cut with fentanyl. Now, Like I have a
Speaker 1: buddy I served with as a matter of fact, he
Speaker 1: died from an accidental fentanyl overdose.
Speaker 2: Now, yes, the.
Speaker 1: Conversation can come up, well, why was he using any
Speaker 1: drugs at all?
Speaker 2: He shouldn't have.
Speaker 1: Okay, fine, fuck off with all that, right, But the
Speaker 1: substance that he was participating in that evening, they didn't
Speaker 1: know that it was cut fentanyl, and when they found
Speaker 1: out it was after he croaked over. I have another
Speaker 1: buddy of mine who got blown up in Afghanistan.
Speaker 2: Okay, he was.
Speaker 1: Prescribed opiates by the VA until twenty sixteen, when the
Speaker 1: VA said that they were cutting off all opiates and
Speaker 1: he was left with severe back pain and no way
Speaker 1: to manage it. They didn't even like prescribe another type
Speaker 1: of painkiller. They basically said, oh, well, too bad, so
Speaker 1: said he and a lot of other veterans went to
Speaker 1: the streets to score H at that point. So, like
Speaker 1: the fentanyl heroin thing, I'm with you. There's people that
Speaker 1: get hooked on medications prescribed to them and then go
Speaker 1: to H because it's a third the price and it's
Speaker 1: more readily available. And I'm not judging them. We should
Speaker 1: have certain infrastructure in place for people like that. I'm
Speaker 1: with you on this right. Fentanyl, the way that it's
Speaker 1: making its way across I only know of a handful
Speaker 1: of people that are taking fentanyl knowing that it's fentanyl
Speaker 1: from the get go. Most people get strung out on
Speaker 1: that because they didn't realize that that was what their
Speaker 1: drug of choice is being cut with that, I have
Speaker 1: an issue with.
Speaker 2: There's levels there.
Speaker 15: Yep. Well Portugal, Switzerland, that's that's what I vote for.
Speaker 15: Orban it completely like Singapore, and that can work for them,
Speaker 15: but for other reasons that just won't work here.
Speaker 1: It's Singapore is a way smaller nation and they they
Speaker 1: I mean, spitting gum on the sidewalk is illegal under
Speaker 1: penalty of jail time in Singapore's yeah, yeah, yeah it is.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I'm with you there. There's got to be
Speaker 1: a better solution than what we currently have. But it's
Speaker 1: also about a solution that the people would actually abide
Speaker 1: by or agree to.
Speaker 2: And that's it's it's a messy situation.
Speaker 1: I get it. Though. Back to the chat here, Well,
Speaker 1: didn't Jesus divide families too? I'm Christian, but I could
Speaker 1: easily argue that he was a cult leader.
Speaker 18: He didn't.
Speaker 1: He wasn't telling people to like cut ties with their
Speaker 1: family for not believing in Jesus. He was telling you
Speaker 1: to trim the tree, so to speak, to prune the tree.
Speaker 1: And that's all I was talking about. If you have
Speaker 1: a toxic family member who is a real detriment to
Speaker 1: your life aside from your religious beliefs, like they are
Speaker 1: just doing bad things to you. You don't have to
Speaker 1: stay associated with them just because of familial ties. That
Speaker 1: being said, there is a lot of people that do
Speaker 1: believe that Jesus was a cult leader. There's an argument
Speaker 1: for that. I respectfully disagree, but I see why people
Speaker 1: would think so.
Speaker 5: He was.
Speaker 1: He only told a few of his followers to like,
Speaker 1: drop what they were doing and follow him. He was
Speaker 1: not telling people to sell all their earthly possessions. He
Speaker 1: said that to one dude. He abided by all Jewish
Speaker 1: laws and tradition. I know, Royce, you're going to disagree
Speaker 1: with some of those points, but that's a conversation for
Speaker 1: another day. Yeah, I don't see Jesus as a cult leader,
Speaker 1: but I see what you mean.
Speaker 15: Yeah, I don't want to, but the verses are still there,
Speaker 15: and I think cult leaders today will use.
Speaker 2: Those verses out of context.
Speaker 15: Yeah, drop everything you're doing. The two or three who said, well,
Speaker 15: I want to follow you, but I have a funeral
Speaker 15: to go to first for my family, and he said,
Speaker 15: let the dead bury their own. You need to follow
Speaker 15: me right now and just screw them, or the rich guy,
Speaker 15: or I have come to set a family at war
Speaker 15: with itself or something like that, two against three and
Speaker 15: three against two. Whoever loves their mother or father more
Speaker 15: than me is not worthy to follow me. Whoever loves
Speaker 15: their son or daughter more than me is not worthy
Speaker 15: to follow me. There were a good you know, maybe
Speaker 15: five more verses like that, so as somebody today could
Speaker 15: easily use that and say, see, see, Jesus said that,
Speaker 15: that's why you need to follow me this way too.
Speaker 1: I hear you. But again, those are taken out of
Speaker 1: context if you look at it.
Speaker 15: I don't think.
Speaker 1: So you got to look at the time, place, and
Speaker 1: audience when some of these are being said. Is he
Speaker 1: speaking to the entirety of Christendom? Or is he speaking
Speaker 1: to this entire Judaism I should say, because Christianity wasn't
Speaker 1: the thing of the time. Was he talking to the
Speaker 1: entirety of the congregation or was he speaking to that
Speaker 1: specific person because the situation that this person was asking
Speaker 1: about was something deeper that you wouldn't get if you
Speaker 1: just looked at that one sentence. That's all.
Speaker 15: He was speaking to the individual, but within earshot of
Speaker 15: the rest of his disciples. And I don't know, well,
Speaker 15: I guess Jesus was omniscient, but for the sake of
Speaker 15: argument for the people leaving their funeral. I mean, nobody
Speaker 15: else knew. Maybe they were terrible people that Jesus was
Speaker 15: telling them to leave from that family. But it doesn't
Speaker 15: it doesn't say that maybe they were just a normal
Speaker 15: family and then their sons just vanished and they go.
Speaker 15: Where where'd these guys go? You know, they didn't their
Speaker 15: family didn't do anything wrong.
Speaker 1: No, But and I don't know, maybe off the top,
Speaker 1: I don't know the context to that specific story. I
Speaker 1: don't know if this person that was being buried was
Speaker 1: like lived a morally unjust life and he was saying,
Speaker 1: like why are you worried about that? You could come
Speaker 1: do this, and like that's a whole other thing that
Speaker 1: the dead bury of the dead country. I don't know
Speaker 1: off top, but I will say that context matters, not
Speaker 1: just the context of the story, but the context of
Speaker 1: the time and the place in the audience.
Speaker 15: That's all, Yeah, we don't get much context in that verse.
Speaker 15: It's only like, yeah, I don't know five or ten
Speaker 15: of them, and you just meet these people and you
Speaker 15: don't have any background.
Speaker 1: Well, what I'm saying is the city that he was
Speaker 1: speaking in, right, was this when he was in.
Speaker 15: Don't know what city it was, that's my point. I'm sure.
Speaker 1: I mean, yeah, we don't know. If you read the
Speaker 1: entire chapter or you read the entire story, you'll know
Speaker 1: what city he was in. You could look at what
Speaker 1: the political turmoil was in that area at that time.
Speaker 1: You could look at what these people like main source
Speaker 1: of income was. What were these people's cultural practices at
Speaker 1: this time, Like not just all of Judaism, but I
Speaker 1: mean like specifically city to city, there's cultural differences, right,
Speaker 1: There's there's a lot of things to be said for this.
Speaker 2: The burial practices themselves are a thing.
Speaker 1: It's there's there's a lot of in but between the
Speaker 1: lines things that you have to study outside sources to
Speaker 1: get the main section of what was being said and why.
Speaker 1: That is why I do enjoy listening to BIB.
Speaker 23: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we could do this another time.
Speaker 1: I'm down, Hell, we could do a whole episode talking
Speaker 1: about religious things, Roy Scott, things he wants to bring up,
Speaker 1: you got things. I am down for the open air
Speaker 1: discussion of all of these things. I love this. All right,
Speaker 1: let's see here Tony sent a link. What is this
Speaker 1: on X?
Speaker 15: What I phrased it? Too. Blowing up drug deelers is good.
Speaker 15: And then the next guy says, here's a picture of
Speaker 15: you in a poppy field protecting the CIA run Afghan
Speaker 15: heroin trade.
Speaker 2: Yeap, that is absolutely a thing.
Speaker 1: As a matter of fact, a lot of my buddies
Speaker 1: that deployed were set about to guard massive marijuana fields,
Speaker 1: massive poppy fields because at that time they were trying
Speaker 1: to work on relations with the Taliban and the Taliban
Speaker 1: at that time his main source of income was poppy
Speaker 1: growth for heroin. Who was buying it, who was transporting it?
Speaker 1: We don't know. These are just poppy farmers. They're just
Speaker 1: decent guys. But you could literally see when the attacks
Speaker 1: would happen on our service members based off of if
Speaker 1: it was a planting season and harvest season. Pretty much
Speaker 1: everything would stop because all of the at that time
Speaker 1: quote unquote terrorists would throw down their weapons, pick up
Speaker 1: their hose, and go to the fields and work. And
Speaker 1: then once the work was done, it'd be a couple
Speaker 1: of weeks or a couple of months, they would put
Speaker 1: their gardening tools down and pick up their weapons and
Speaker 1: continue the attacks. It was it was like you could
Speaker 1: almost time it like clockwork, but Yeah, to your point,
Speaker 1: the service members absolutely guarded these fields for the local
Speaker 1: agriculture of Afghanistan, which their number one export for a
Speaker 1: good portion of the last two decades was poppy that
Speaker 1: would later be used to create heroin. Anyway, all right,
Speaker 1: the last thing I really want to end on on
Speaker 1: this episode is this news from Texas where an archaeological
Speaker 1: dig site is dating back more than thirteen thousand years
Speaker 1: and could rewrite the history books that we know about
Speaker 1: the North American continent.
Speaker 2: Let's learn together.
Speaker 4: Most significant archaeological discoveries in the Western Hemisphere. It's called
Speaker 4: the Gault Site, and it's rewriting textbooks about when humans
Speaker 4: first came to the Americas, and it is right here
Speaker 4: in central Texas. Last month, we introduced the Dallas filmmaker
Speaker 4: who'd worked for years to share the story of how
Speaker 4: this site was saved, and well, we were curious, so
Speaker 4: photojournalist Alexas Ramirez and I took a little road trip,
Speaker 4: and this morning we're inviting you along on an unremarkable
Speaker 4: stretch of roadway surrounded by quarries just north of Austin.
Speaker 5: There's only a handful of sites like this one.
Speaker 4: You'll find gold An archaeological site so significantly that it's
Speaker 4: rewriting textbooks and challenging what experts thought they knew about
Speaker 4: the people of the Americas.
Speaker 17: It's a place that.
Speaker 24: Has been known and used by indigenous people for tens
Speaker 24: of thousands of years.
Speaker 4: Professor Mike Adlery, he's an archaeologist and cheers SMU's anthropology department.
Speaker 4: He too, is eager to see what is uncovered about
Speaker 4: the earliest humans in the Americas, called the Clovis culture.
Speaker 4: Experts put them in what is now Texas about thirteen
Speaker 4: thousand years ago. The findings at Gold pre date even that.
Speaker 24: What did they eat, what were they doing? People were here,
Speaker 24: and people were here very early, much earlier than we
Speaker 24: used to think.
Speaker 1: That's exciting should we can expose them mandible.
Speaker 24: There's there's more mystery under that dirt.
Speaker 4: And it's a mystery that most likely would have remained
Speaker 4: buried were it not for the perseverance of ut Austin
Speaker 4: archaeologist doctor Mike Collins.
Speaker 24: He had faith and then to put his own resources
Speaker 24: into it. Again, not many colleagues would do that. So
Speaker 24: it took a unique person to help to save a
Speaker 24: unique site. And I'd never been on a dick with
Speaker 24: that many artifacts in one unit.
Speaker 11: Welcome to Golf.
Speaker 4: The story of Gold and how Collins fought to save it.
Speaker 23: This local site has influenced our understanding of the big
Speaker 23: human history.
Speaker 4: Are shared in a new independent film called The Stones
Speaker 4: Are Speaking. Dallas's Olive Tally wrote, directed, and produced.
Speaker 25: The golf site now is what it always has been.
Speaker 25: It's a bucolic little pasture along butterm don't create in
Speaker 25: central Texas. If you walked out there today, and I
Speaker 25: hope your viewers will someday, you will wonder, really, how
Speaker 25: could this place be so extraordinary when it looks so ordinary?
Speaker 25: And that was the question one of the questions it
Speaker 25: drove me.
Speaker 1: The Stones Are Speaking.
Speaker 4: The film has generated new interest in the site and
Speaker 4: in exploring how the earliest Texans, yes, even before there
Speaker 4: was a Texas, lived and survived, that there.
Speaker 24: Were these persistent places that people knew depended upon. They
Speaker 24: knew when they could go there, what would be available,
Speaker 24: when the deer would show up, and so you have
Speaker 24: this predictability that humans crave. We don't like unpredictability.
Speaker 4: And is that also part of what fascinates scientists about
Speaker 4: finding places like gold Because you want to know how
Speaker 4: people survive.
Speaker 24: Yes, yeah, and you know in some cases they didn't,
Speaker 24: and then you want to find out what happened, what.
Speaker 1: Life might have been like fifteen thousand years ago.
Speaker 4: After Collins purchased the site, he donated it so that
Speaker 4: it could be preserved for future scientists.
Speaker 21: The tour starts here, but at the bottom of the
Speaker 21: hill we have restrooms and water.
Speaker 4: The site is also open for monthly tours.
Speaker 26: Pretty much all of the archaeology happens down in the
Speaker 26: valley itself.
Speaker 21: We've had a couple of months ago we had two
Speaker 21: ladies that were visiting a friend in San Marcus and
Speaker 21: they heard about it and they were from Pacifica, California. Yeah.
Speaker 21: So people are coming from all over now, like we
Speaker 21: had no idea yea, and it is one of the
Speaker 21: most important sites in the America's.
Speaker 4: Al Kaufman says he has always been interested in archaeology
Speaker 4: and came out with a group from Austin.
Speaker 23: Well, I learned some things. I mean, it's fun to be,
Speaker 23: you know, on the ground and see stuff.
Speaker 4: Why does this matter? Why shouldn't we want to know
Speaker 4: more about the early people here?
Speaker 23: Because history tells us who we are, and without understanding that,
Speaker 23: ride's a better understanding of who we are.
Speaker 4: The Golt Site is significant in part just because of
Speaker 4: the sheer magnitude of what was found here. Just three
Speaker 4: percent of the site has been excavated, but scientists uncovered
Speaker 4: more than two and a half million Clovis artifacts. It
Speaker 4: since been covered to protect it. But the good news
Speaker 4: for those who want to preserve this space is that
Speaker 4: it's all still here.
Speaker 26: This was a place where there were trade routes through
Speaker 26: Texas for thousands of years.
Speaker 4: Elizabeth Collins is a geophysicist.
Speaker 26: Yeah, I started coming out here when.
Speaker 4: I was nine with an interest in archaeology. How could
Speaker 4: she not. She's also Mike Collins's granddaughter.
Speaker 26: And he's never talking down to you. He's just sharing
Speaker 26: what he knows, and he's excited about it, and that
Speaker 26: always helps bring out the excitement in other people to
Speaker 26: learn and to see all of these amazing things.
Speaker 4: How does it make you feel to be a part
Speaker 4: of bringing groups through here to experience this.
Speaker 26: I am so proud, you know. This is the biggest
Speaker 26: part of his legacy, and I am honored to be
Speaker 26: able to be a part of it. Because I've seen
Speaker 26: a lot of it, and I want other people to
Speaker 26: see it.
Speaker 8: To her, I just couldn't leave its future to chance.
Speaker 4: In our film, Tally shares that part of what drove
Speaker 4: her to document the Gault story is that Collins can
Speaker 4: no longer share it for himself. He was diagnosed with
Speaker 4: Alzheimer's in twenty twenty two.
Speaker 15: Because Robbie, if we don't have.
Speaker 25: People like this in our society, if we don't have
Speaker 25: people who are driven to make a difference, what.
Speaker 4: Do we have.
Speaker 24: It's something proud of for so many reasons. First that
Speaker 24: it's unique that it's in Texas, that it's so old,
Speaker 24: but also it's a story of potential harm, potential laws.
Speaker 24: In the end, triumph, Mike Collins got it done, you know, and.
Speaker 15: Save this place.
Speaker 4: And that's a big deal.
Speaker 24: That's a really big deal move.
Speaker 4: The documentary is winning awards at film festivals all across
Speaker 4: the country. Check it out for yourself.
Speaker 1: You know, I did want to end this episode on
Speaker 1: a positive note, and I thought that was as good
Speaker 1: as any right. This archaeological dig site, only three percent
Speaker 1: of it's been excavated, and they have found over two
Speaker 1: million artifacts from the Clovis people. This goes back thirteen
Speaker 1: thousand years. I know a lot of people, especially as
Speaker 1: we've been talking about some religious conversations this evening, a
Speaker 1: lot of people believe that the Earth is only like
Speaker 1: six thousand years old, or maybe somewhere around ten thousand
Speaker 1: years old. I'm not going to sit here and say
Speaker 1: that it is in fact four point six billion. I
Speaker 1: don't know. What I am saying is that human existence
Speaker 1: on this planet has been a thing for a lot
Speaker 1: longer than the believed by some six to seven thousand years,
Speaker 1: give or take by land like leaves and bounds. And
Speaker 1: you know, there's more archaeological dig sites around the world
Speaker 1: that are starting to show that. And I mean a
Speaker 1: lot of them are around Europe and around the Middle
Speaker 1: East and things like that, and around you know, the
Speaker 1: Horn of Africa and stuff. But I for one, am
Speaker 1: happy to hear that there's dig sites in Miami and
Speaker 1: in Texas and all over America, North America specifically, but
Speaker 1: America as a country that are showing that in and
Speaker 1: of themselves. That makes me happy. And you know what,
Speaker 1: I think that's a pretty decent spot to end this episode.
Speaker 1: As I said in the beginning, for any of the listeners,
Speaker 1: the thousands of people that are listening to this every week.
Speaker 1: If you would like to join in this conversation, please
Speaker 1: come to the link below and check out the Cajun
Speaker 1: Night on Patreon. So again, only one tier for entry.
Speaker 1: We're trying to just grow this to become its own, independent,
Speaker 1: growing community, to be affiliated with the Cult of Conspiracy
Speaker 1: as well, but also, as you can tell, we don't
Speaker 1: go deep into the conspiracyory of conversation. We talk about
Speaker 1: the religion, the history, the news, geopolitics, all the stuff,
Speaker 1: all the things that we find interesting. Once again link
Speaker 1: in the description below. Again, everybody, thank y'all for joining
Speaker 1: me this evening. I am the Cajun Knights, and as always,
Speaker 1: God bless