August 12, 2025 • 29 mins
Part 1 of today's podcast focuses on recent actions by ICE agents in the presence of school age children.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Broadcasting from the Civic Cyper Studios. Welcome to the QR code.
Whoever we share perspective, it seek understanding and shape outcomes.
The man you're about to hear from is a man
with a pleasant singing voice. I was just listening to
despite the fact that he's going to tell you that
he doesn't have one. He's a joy to work with
and a brilliant mind. He's the Q in the QR code.
He goes by the name of q Ward.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
The voice you just heard is the R in the
QR code. I call him ramses Jaw, and I always
tell him that he needs to stop lying to these people.
To these people, you got to stop. But like I
don't even I don't even have more. After that, you
(00:41):
have to just stop. The listeners deserve better.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Well, I heard you singing, and you know, I thought
it was pleasant. Anyway, I need you to stick around
because later in the show, we're going to be talking
about how Ice has rated at Home Depot twice in
the same day Crazy We're I was gonna be talking
about Jasmine Crockett flaming Donald Trump on TMZ Live. I
(01:05):
got some audio there, so I know you're going to
want to check that out if you didn't hear it
when it happened. Q War's going to be talking to
us about how Trump has militarized the nation's capital and
the implications of that headed as a country as a result.
We're going to be talking about how Donald Trump pulled
us out of UNESCO. That was a while ago, but
(01:27):
we're just getting to the story. Donald Trump has hired
a project twenty twenty five architect as the Bureau of
Labor Statistics had.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
That's for our Better Do Better.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Segment, obviously, and of course we're going to start to
show off talking about what's going on in the culture.
Ice has detained two people in front of a Phoenix
school as kids walk to school, creating an environment of fear.
And we both have houses in Phoenix and both have
children that go to school in Phoenix, So something worth
(01:59):
looking into. But before we get to the weeds, let's
start off with a feel good feature, as comes from
the La Times. It's going to sound bad, but I
promise it gets better. Two weeks ago, UCLA was optimistic
for months it had successfully avoided the clashes with President
Donald Trump, as the university leaders declined to publicly criticize
him by name over his battle to remake American higher education,
(02:22):
first raging against several Ivory League schools. The morning of
July twenty ninth, UCLA announced it had settled a federal
lawsuit with students who accused it of discrimination, pay more
than two million dollars to Jewish civil rights groups and
millions more than legal fees. University leaders hailed the action
as real progress to combat anti semitism. Privately, they pointed
(02:43):
the Trump administration to the agreement, eager to convince federal
officials they had made good with Jewish communities. The high
lasted a few hours and touched off in extraordinary fourteen
days of rapid fire, accusations, investigative findings, and a massive
federal freeze of UCLA's research funding. It culminated Friday afternoon,
when Governor Gavin Newsom unleashed furious comments in response to
(03:05):
a federal demand that uc pay one billion dollars and
fines over a host of allegations against UCLA, anti semitism
on campus, illegal use of race and admissions, and policies
that allow transgender athletes to compete according to their gender identity. Quote.
He has threatened us through extortion with a billion dollar
(03:26):
fine unless we do his bidding, unquote, Newsom said, adding
that California would sue. Quote we will not be complicit
in this kind of attack on academic freedom, on this
extraordinary public institution. Quote.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
Spokespeople for the.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
Justice Department did not respond Sunday to a question about
Newsom's comments and legal threat. The escalating events led up
to decisive moments this week, starting with an emergency meeting
of the UC Board of Regents on Monday afternoon. On Tuesday,
a federal court hearing would unfold pre existing case that
could result in some, but not all, UC grants being restored.
(04:01):
So again, long story, but there are people fighting back
and hopefully u c LA will continue to be the
amazing institution that.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
It has always been.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
All Right, you ever feel like that dog in that
meme that's sitting in the living room where everything's on
fire and the dog says this is fine?
Speaker 3 (04:25):
Are you asking your brother that ransom?
Speaker 1 (04:27):
Well, you wouldn't feel that way every day.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
If I don't feel like that dog watching every will
I feel like the spectator watching everyone else behave like
that dog.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
There you go, that's probably a better way to say it,
but I know that this one will matter a lot
more and hopefully those people who have not taken heed
of this moment will understand by viewing this through your lens.
So allow me to paint the picture, and then I
want you to go from there, and just for our listeners,
I want you to understand that Q can speak for
(04:59):
me here because we both have children in the elementary
school system, public school system in Arizona in Phoenix at
the moment. So yeah, let me paint the picture. This
is from Azy Central. Ronda Cagel is the person who
wrote this article into it. It is an opinion piece, so
I'm going to read her words. So that's why it's
(05:19):
important to say her name.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
All right, she goes.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
Imagine it with me. You're a student attending elementary school
in South Phoenix. Walking to school on your second day.
You fill the butterflies in your belly from the excitement
of a new school year.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
You're holding your.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
Mom's hand as you walk down the sidewalk, looking down
proudly at the new tennis shoes you are wearing. Suddenly,
a cluster of brown and black work boots surround you
and your mom. You look up quickly seeing masked men
encircling you. Both, the happy butterflies instantly take flight, replaced
with what feels like bricks in your stomach, the heaviness
turning to outright terror as your mom's hand is wrenched
(05:55):
away from yours by the masked men who are forcing
your mom's hand behind her back. We no longer have
to imagine what this feels like for children. It happened
on August fifth, just outside an elementary school in Roosevelt
School District in South Phoenix.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
Quote.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Community members reported observing two individuals being detained by ice
directly in front of one of our school fence lines, unquote,
the district said in a news release. The release goes
on to say one of the agents involved in the
incident was observed escorting a student to the property's entry gate.
Welcome to the twenty twenty five twenty six school year
(06:28):
in Trump's America. This school year is brought to you
by the letter K for kidnapping parents in front of
schools as their children watch. By the letter D for
due process, of which there is none in this current
climate of racial profiling and intimidation, by the letters G
and T. No, not the drink, although it's certainly warranted,
but generational trauma of which our youngest students are now
(06:51):
learning right in front of their own schools, and by
the letter C for complicity on the part of voters
who elected the tyrant in chief and a pplicit Republican
Congress that is doing nothing to protect the people they are.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
Supposed to serve.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
Quote, this is a traumatic event for the community, Mari
soul Garcia, president of the Arizona Education Association, said in
a video about the incident. It goes on to say,
this is a traumatic event for that student. This is
a traumatic event moving forward to how students may feel
safe at school. It's a trauma Arizona knows all too
well from the Senate Bill ten seventy Show Me Your
(07:27):
Papers Days of twenty ten. Teens who lived through those
dark days experience real and lasting fallout academically, socially, and emotionally.
Many of them are now parents of today's young children.
Under current immigration practices, these families seem destined to relive
the fears of those SB ten seventy days, only on
a much larger scale. Okay, that's the end of the article.
(07:48):
Before you go, q I just want to say that
Q and I both were radio personalities in twenty ten,
and we both covered very closely on our programming and
on our social media SB ten seventy and how traumatic
it was, particularly for the people who were visibly Hispanic.
(08:12):
And our families include people, but they don't need to
include people who are Hispanic in order for us to
have empathy and feel like human beings shouldn't treat other
human beings in this way. And for folks that are
not in Arizona, you cannot know how traumatic that was
for the people on the ground here. And I just
(08:33):
want to say that that really matters in the context
of this story in this city, and you know everything else.
I'm sure that you know Q is going to cover,
so you know the floor of yours.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
You know.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
The most difficult thing, some of the most difficult things
that I've had to deal with with regards to this
story and stories like it all across the country, as
people assuming that the only reason and it matters to
me is because my children are Hispanic.
Speaker 3 (09:05):
People assuming that.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Worse than that I was being dramatic or gaslighting me,
like I was being rainwashed by fear mongering left wing
media people that I know that I expected to trust
my judgment, trust my word, and understand that I'm a
bit more informed than most regular people. So it's been
(09:31):
it's been terrifying and frustrating and insulting and like all
these different emotions like mixed into one, because I didn't
have to have black and Hispanic children to know that
this was gross and illegal and mean spirited and evil.
(09:57):
I'm just a human being who understands that there's a
way to do things, and that they provide more grace
for armed white men while they're shooting people than they
do for a Hispanic mother walking her children to school.
(10:18):
And again, this is not me being dramatic or hyperbolic.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
This is literal.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
They arrest white mass shooters with grace, make sure they're okay,
take them to get food, create a pre narrative for them.
They've just been misunderstood and we're just having a bad day,
and they've been dealing with so much. These are people
who not only do we know they're committing a crime,
(10:44):
these are people they're committing the crime while while being arrested.
I'm not talking about pursued and found at they're home
later on the scene of the crime, arrested, pursued and
detained and treated with grace and empathy, and then the
media that covers them tells their story and humanizes them
(11:05):
and wants us to give them some benefit of the doubt,
because again, they might have just been having a bad
day or been bullied as a kid, and you know,
just let's look into the reasons why this young man
chose this path after he's unalived a handful of people before,
(11:26):
the worker who's been here for thirty years and not
broken the law ever, and contributed tens of thousands, if
not hundreds of thousands of dollars to the community that
they live in, not being able to benefit from those
tax dollars because they're not citizens in some cases, who
contribute to their communities in ways that they never get
credit for and have to continue to know when they
(11:54):
leave the house that that might be the last time
they see their families. Not because they've done anything wrong,
and not just because the federal government is putting forth
white supremacists intentionally racist tactics and orders, but because, like
(12:15):
you said, so many people are complicit, so many people
do see them as other and less than and not
worth dignity, not worth respect. So they other them to
the point where they justify that it's okay to treat
people as less than to violate their civil rights, to
(12:39):
strip away their dignity and their self respect, and to
do it in front of their children, you know, because
they're brown and they speak Spanish, so of course they're bad.
This is America. This is America that we live in today,
not in theory, but in practice, in real time. And
this has been the most un uncomfortable, disgusting and sickening.
(13:02):
I told you so in the history of my life.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
You know, for me, because I know the school district.
One of the benefits I guess of being a radio
personality is you get to go to all the schools
and you know, they bring the DJs out from the
radio station, all that sort of stuff. And so I
know this school and try to imagine what sort of
trauma not just the student in the in the middle
(13:34):
of the story, but all the students watching, what sort
of trauma that that imposes on their little lives that
now they have to live in fear having done nothing wrong.
They're just I have a target on my back, and
I can imagine what that feels like, and again, my
heartbreaks for these children who are supposed to be family.
(14:02):
Moving on. Uh, Donald Trump pulled us out of UNESCO.
The United States is no longer a member. Again, I
mentioned that we're we're a little late getting to this story,
but to be fair, we've had a lot of a
lot of stories to cover and I think that, indeed,
(14:23):
that is kind of the point of this administration. Uh.
Their their muzzle velocity strategy of you know, making sure
that we all always have something to talk about. But
this is such a He's pulled us out of a
(14:45):
lot of different things. He's we've regressed as a country.
Once upon a time, we were the the beacon that
the world looked to, and a lot of that came
with the presidency, you know what I mean, Like the
president was our great ambassador, and we exported Americanism, if
(15:06):
you will, to the rest of the world using not
just movies and music and fashion and whatever else, but
using the president. And historically, whether or not we liked
the president, the president was for the most part, at
least based on appearances, a decent person, right, and that
(15:28):
was no longer the case as of twenty sixteen, and
we've continued to dig ourselves deeper into that hole as
a country. Right, once upon a time this place was
the place that everybody wanted to come to America, was it?
And now everybody's afraid of this place. And maybe there's
some people that like that, you know what I mean.
(15:50):
But that doesn't last nearly as long as people might think,
nor does it make people safer in any meaningful way.
But this is what a lot of people have been
tricked and voting for, in my estimation, and the world
for us has gotten a lot smaller as a result
(16:10):
of that. For people that don't see the world, you know,
maybe you know Mount Rushmore and the Golden Gate Arch
and you know the Portland Headlight up in Maine and
Statue of Liberty is great, But there's a whole planet
(16:31):
way bigger than this place. And even though I've seen
all those landmarks, I've been very fortunate, And so it's
cute to being able to see landmarks all over the
planet and us not being a member of UNESCO, I
think again, creates a little bit more distance from us
and the planet we live on and the people we
share this planet with. But folks that are not familiar
(16:52):
with UNESCO stands for the United Nations Educational Scientific and
Cultural Organization. It works to build peacecurity by promoting international
cooperation and education, science, culture, and communication. It achieves this
by setting global standards, producing tools, developing knowledge, and fostering
networks to address challenges and promote equality and peace. UNESCO's
(17:13):
work encompasses a wide range of activities, including protecting world
heritage sites, advancing quality education, safeguarding cultural heritage, and ensuring
access to reliable information. So why did Donald Trump pull
us out?
Speaker 3 (17:27):
All right?
Speaker 1 (17:27):
Let me share this systems from iHeart dot com. Donald
Trump is pulling the United States out of the United
Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization United Nations SORRY Educational
Scientific and Cultural Organization or UNESCO, White House officials confirmed
to The New York Post. Trump ordered a ninety day
review of alleged anti Semitism or anti Israel sentiment within
(17:49):
the organization in February, with the administration officials reportedly taking
issue with UNESCO's diversity, equity and inclusion policies, as well
as alleged biased favoring Palestine and China. According to White
House Deputy spokesperson Anna Kelly Vote, President Trump has decided
to withdraw the United States from UNESCO, which supports woke,
(18:09):
divisive cultural and social causes that are totally out of
step with the common sense policies that Americans voted for
in November, Kelly said. She goes on to say, this
president will always put America first and ensure our country's
membership and all international organizations aligns with our national interest.
UNESCO's publication of an anti racism toolkit in twenty twenty three,
(18:31):
which reportedly called on member states to adopt anti racist
policies and compete in a race to the top to
become the primary social justice advocate, as well as its
Transforming Mentalities Initiative in twenty twenty four, which focused on
reshaping how men think about gender issues, specifically, what was
described as harmful gender norms were among the issues cited
(18:53):
in the probe the transition. The Transforming Mentalities initiative included
a video game report that suggested how games could promote
gender equality moving forward.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
Quote.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
It's not only about controlling the negative impacts, but also
relying on video games to address socio socio cultural stereotypes
and encourage positive, anti discriminatory behaviors unquote, said Gabriella Ramos,
Assistant Director General for the Social and Human Sciences at
the time. UNESCO also reportedly used its executive board to
(19:24):
designate Jewish holy sites as Palestinian World Heritage Sites, having
frequently claimed that Palestine was occupied by Israel and condemned
the Jewish States war with Hamas without criticizing the latter's
reign over Gaza. According to the White House, Beijing was
also reported to be UNESCO's second largest funder, and Chinese
nationals were put into crucial leadership positions. Quote China has
(19:47):
leveraged its influence over UNESCO to advanced global standards that
are favorable to Beijing's interests, the official said via the
New York Post. Trump initially ordered the United States to
pull out of UNESCO during his first term in twenty seventeen,
once again citing an anti Israel bias. At the time.
The US had previously withdrawn from the organization under former
President Ronald Reagan in nineteen eighty three, who claimed it
(20:09):
had quote exhibited hostility toward a free society, especially a
free market and free press, and it has demonstrated unrestrained
budgetary expansion unquote. All right, I know that was a
long time. But that's the story. Q. I want to
make sure that you have plenty of time to respond,
So why not you go first.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
I don't need plenty of time on this one. All right,
science education, anti racist, anti Zionists, anti magnet sounds about
right to me. Everything that he opposes, they seem to
be four again, science education, anti racism, and anti perpetual
(20:51):
occupation and open air prison and genocide.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
Yeah, well it's about right.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
Like I don't even know, I don't know what either
of us can add that that sounds about right. All
the things they stand for seem to be all the
things he's very very outwardly against. Even when you just
what does you nest goo mean again?
Speaker 3 (21:18):
We go back.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
It is the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural.
Speaker 3 (21:25):
Organization Education, science culture.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
Yeah, that sounds like the opposite of somebody that we
know to me. And before my brother cuts back in,
you conflated two things unintentionally earlier that I just want
to point out that I know, you know, I know
you know what you meant to say, the Golden Gate
Bridge and the Gateway Arch.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
You called it the Golden gate Arch. Oh, yeah, the
gate we are sorry about that has been.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
To both, if that's what I'm saying both.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
So he just merging together.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
Yeah, man, I'm going to London this weekend so I'll
be out so anyway, So here's the thing, uh, And
I think it's very telling that Ronald Reagan was the
only other president to have withdrawn from UNESCO.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
And now Trump.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
And there's a lot of commonalities there. Those like deeply
conservative people that want to take America back to a
time when they think it was America's heyday, really really
loved Ronald Reagan. They're going to die loving Ronald Reagan,
and I imagine there's a group of people that feel
the same way about Donald Trump. That's what they want.
(22:48):
They want a white country for white folks that looks
like it did in the forties and in the fifties.
Speaker 3 (22:54):
Right.
Speaker 1 (22:57):
But to be fair, economics don't support that. These people
are hearing ideas that make them feel comfortable but don't
bear out in the real world. For the people that
love Ronald Reagan and the philosophies that he espoused, they
have to admit that his fiscal policy did not work.
(23:19):
Trickled down economics or were fifty years in nothing is
trickled down. In fact, it's all been concentrated at the top,
and now the world is a much harder place to
navigate for Americans trying to step out into their own
And all those old school conservatives are going to die
knowing that they were wrong and not caring. And I'd
(23:42):
imagine McDonald Trump is probably creating another reality for another
group of people. And I think that this maneuver is
indicative of just how small, how much smaller, the world
has become under his leadership. Before we get to better
(24:03):
do Better, did you want to add anything else?
Speaker 2 (24:05):
Well, you said they were going to die knowing they're wrong,
And I just think you're giving him way too much credit.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
The oh yeah, we were wrong.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
We shouldn't have We shouldn't have went MAGA so hard
because here we messed up on that one.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
Like, well, they were wrong about the trickle down stuff.
Speaker 3 (24:18):
But be right, maybe they.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
Won't even know.
Speaker 3 (24:20):
They're not going to admit that either. We've been watching
the same movie. Yeah, yeah, that's fair. All right, Better
do better?
Speaker 1 (24:25):
All right? Donald Trump hires Project twenty twenty five architect
as Bureau of Labor Statistics head. Let's get right into
this one, all right. This from NBC President Donald Trump
announced Monday that he planned to nominate EJ and Tony
as the new commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Trump said in a.
Speaker 3 (24:41):
Truth social post that EJ will ensure.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
That numbers, numbers is capitalized released only the end in
numbers is capitalized. That's to me a typo, But anyway,
he will ensure that the numbers released are honest. That's
all capitalized and accurate. That also was all capital Antoni's
planned nomination comes after Trump fired former commissioner Erica mcintar
(25:05):
for hours after a weaker than expected jobs report on
August first, Trump said without evidence that the job's report
for July was rigged in order to make the Republicans
and me look bad. Rig was all capitalized as well,
and so was the me, all right. Antoni did not
immediately respond to NBC News's request for comment on Monday.
(25:26):
He is the chief economist at the conservative Heritage Foundation
and has written a number of pieces for the think
tank that our highly complementary of the Trump administration. One
of Antoni's recent reports said that the June jobs report
before it was revised, was a home run.
Speaker 3 (25:43):
For the president.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
Multiple former BLS Commissioners said after mcintar For's firing that
the head of Labor Statistics does not have a role
in compiling jobs reports and is only briefed on its
figures shortly before it's release to the public. And that report,
the BLS reported that the US economy added just seventy
three thousand jobs in July. The agency also said it
had revised the May and June numbers and that they
(26:06):
turned out to be lower than previously announced by more
than two hundred thousand jobs. The BLS routinely revises economic data,
such as the jobs reports, gross domestic product figures, and
inflation data. Due to the scale of the US economy
and response rates to BLS surveys, there can often be
lags and data collection, but the lag does not imply
any wrongdoing or manipulation.
Speaker 3 (26:26):
Okay, I'll just say it. This is scary.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
Donald Trump is putting in and we knew this was
going to happen, But he's putting in a guy that
loves him not necessarily truth and accuracy and consistency where he.
Speaker 3 (26:45):
Loves Donald Trump not necessarily.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
Not.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
Then we'll say, well not, Okay, you're right. I do
give a lot of grace. But also I want to
say that this person was one of the architects.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
Of five So you mean that long document that the
President said he knew nothing about and that wasn't going
to be a part of how he, you know, ran
this nation.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
Yes, indeed, so from where I sit, if you're one
of the architects, you're a person that endorses that plan
for the country. And again, a lot of people will
go to great lengths to make sure that they don't
feel or they aren't perceived as being wrong. Okay, So
(27:37):
no matter what this person has shown that I am,
I want a decidedly conservative agenda for this country. I
want to support this president. This is indeed why that
document was drafted was for Donald Trump, and I am
(28:01):
okay with the people underneath the president supporting the president's wishes,
not supporting the intentionality behind the constitution of the United
States of America, nor supporting the people that occupy the
land of the United States of America. And those are
some considerable elements that we have to account for, and
(28:24):
so trusting this individual is really challenging. Not that we
would anyway, but you know, for people that rely on
this data, you know, and this is what the end
looks like. This is what This is what Russia looks like.
You know what I mean like you don't get accurate numbers.
(28:44):
This is what China looks like, you know or sorry?
North Korea is what I meant to say. Where the
government controls the data and nobody knows heads or tails
of what's going on there, and they prop up what
they want to prop up. That's what it looks like.
It looks exactly like this. So those are my two cents, Q,
if you have a couple of cents to add.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
Our country was the country you said Beacon earlier, and
I've always thought it was just good marketing. But our
country was at least the country that kept the rest
of the world from falling under authoritarian, fascist dictatorship rule.
(29:28):
And just like our country and our government no longer
has safeguards now, neither does the rest of the world.
It's a much scarier reality than people realize, because even
as we talk about and think about maybeing moving to
another country, everywhere is less safe now, everywhere is less
(29:48):
stable now. There is no quote unquote guardian anymore.
Broadcasting from the Civic Cyper Studios. Welcome to the QR code.
Whoever we share perspective, it seek understanding and shape outcomes.
The man you're about to hear from is a man
with a pleasant singing voice. I was just listening to
despite the fact that he's going to tell you that
he doesn't have one. He's a joy to work with
and a brilliant mind. He's the Q in the QR code.
He goes by the name of q Ward.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
The voice you just heard is the R in the
QR code. I call him ramses Jaw, and I always
tell him that he needs to stop lying to these people.
To these people, you got to stop. But like I
don't even I don't even have more. After that, you
(00:41):
have to just stop. The listeners deserve better.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Well, I heard you singing, and you know, I thought
it was pleasant. Anyway, I need you to stick around
because later in the show, we're going to be talking
about how Ice has rated at Home Depot twice in
the same day Crazy We're I was gonna be talking
about Jasmine Crockett flaming Donald Trump on TMZ Live. I
(01:05):
got some audio there, so I know you're going to
want to check that out if you didn't hear it
when it happened. Q War's going to be talking to
us about how Trump has militarized the nation's capital and
the implications of that headed as a country as a result.
We're going to be talking about how Donald Trump pulled
us out of UNESCO. That was a while ago, but
(01:27):
we're just getting to the story. Donald Trump has hired
a project twenty twenty five architect as the Bureau of
Labor Statistics had.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
That's for our Better Do Better.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Segment, obviously, and of course we're going to start to
show off talking about what's going on in the culture.
Ice has detained two people in front of a Phoenix
school as kids walk to school, creating an environment of fear.
And we both have houses in Phoenix and both have
children that go to school in Phoenix, So something worth
(01:59):
looking into. But before we get to the weeds, let's
start off with a feel good feature, as comes from
the La Times. It's going to sound bad, but I
promise it gets better. Two weeks ago, UCLA was optimistic
for months it had successfully avoided the clashes with President
Donald Trump, as the university leaders declined to publicly criticize
him by name over his battle to remake American higher education,
(02:22):
first raging against several Ivory League schools. The morning of
July twenty ninth, UCLA announced it had settled a federal
lawsuit with students who accused it of discrimination, pay more
than two million dollars to Jewish civil rights groups and
millions more than legal fees. University leaders hailed the action
as real progress to combat anti semitism. Privately, they pointed
(02:43):
the Trump administration to the agreement, eager to convince federal
officials they had made good with Jewish communities. The high
lasted a few hours and touched off in extraordinary fourteen
days of rapid fire, accusations, investigative findings, and a massive
federal freeze of UCLA's research funding. It culminated Friday afternoon,
when Governor Gavin Newsom unleashed furious comments in response to
(03:05):
a federal demand that uc pay one billion dollars and
fines over a host of allegations against UCLA, anti semitism
on campus, illegal use of race and admissions, and policies
that allow transgender athletes to compete according to their gender identity. Quote.
He has threatened us through extortion with a billion dollar
(03:26):
fine unless we do his bidding, unquote, Newsom said, adding
that California would sue. Quote we will not be complicit
in this kind of attack on academic freedom, on this
extraordinary public institution. Quote.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
Spokespeople for the.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
Justice Department did not respond Sunday to a question about
Newsom's comments and legal threat. The escalating events led up
to decisive moments this week, starting with an emergency meeting
of the UC Board of Regents on Monday afternoon. On Tuesday,
a federal court hearing would unfold pre existing case that
could result in some, but not all, UC grants being restored.
(04:01):
So again, long story, but there are people fighting back
and hopefully u c LA will continue to be the
amazing institution that.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
It has always been.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
All Right, you ever feel like that dog in that
meme that's sitting in the living room where everything's on
fire and the dog says this is fine?
Speaker 3 (04:25):
Are you asking your brother that ransom?
Speaker 1 (04:27):
Well, you wouldn't feel that way every day.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
If I don't feel like that dog watching every will
I feel like the spectator watching everyone else behave like
that dog.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
There you go, that's probably a better way to say it,
but I know that this one will matter a lot
more and hopefully those people who have not taken heed
of this moment will understand by viewing this through your lens.
So allow me to paint the picture, and then I
want you to go from there, and just for our listeners,
I want you to understand that Q can speak for
(04:59):
me here because we both have children in the elementary
school system, public school system in Arizona in Phoenix at
the moment. So yeah, let me paint the picture. This
is from Azy Central. Ronda Cagel is the person who
wrote this article into it. It is an opinion piece, so
I'm going to read her words. So that's why it's
(05:19):
important to say her name.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
All right, she goes.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
Imagine it with me. You're a student attending elementary school
in South Phoenix. Walking to school on your second day.
You fill the butterflies in your belly from the excitement
of a new school year.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
You're holding your.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
Mom's hand as you walk down the sidewalk, looking down
proudly at the new tennis shoes you are wearing. Suddenly,
a cluster of brown and black work boots surround you
and your mom. You look up quickly seeing masked men
encircling you. Both, the happy butterflies instantly take flight, replaced
with what feels like bricks in your stomach, the heaviness
turning to outright terror as your mom's hand is wrenched
(05:55):
away from yours by the masked men who are forcing
your mom's hand behind her back. We no longer have
to imagine what this feels like for children. It happened
on August fifth, just outside an elementary school in Roosevelt
School District in South Phoenix.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
Quote.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Community members reported observing two individuals being detained by ice
directly in front of one of our school fence lines, unquote,
the district said in a news release. The release goes
on to say one of the agents involved in the
incident was observed escorting a student to the property's entry gate.
Welcome to the twenty twenty five twenty six school year
(06:28):
in Trump's America. This school year is brought to you
by the letter K for kidnapping parents in front of
schools as their children watch. By the letter D for
due process, of which there is none in this current
climate of racial profiling and intimidation, by the letters G
and T. No, not the drink, although it's certainly warranted,
but generational trauma of which our youngest students are now
(06:51):
learning right in front of their own schools, and by
the letter C for complicity on the part of voters
who elected the tyrant in chief and a pplicit Republican
Congress that is doing nothing to protect the people they are.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
Supposed to serve.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
Quote, this is a traumatic event for the community, Mari
soul Garcia, president of the Arizona Education Association, said in
a video about the incident. It goes on to say,
this is a traumatic event for that student. This is
a traumatic event moving forward to how students may feel
safe at school. It's a trauma Arizona knows all too
well from the Senate Bill ten seventy Show Me Your
(07:27):
Papers Days of twenty ten. Teens who lived through those
dark days experience real and lasting fallout academically, socially, and emotionally.
Many of them are now parents of today's young children.
Under current immigration practices, these families seem destined to relive
the fears of those SB ten seventy days, only on
a much larger scale. Okay, that's the end of the article.
(07:48):
Before you go, q I just want to say that
Q and I both were radio personalities in twenty ten,
and we both covered very closely on our programming and
on our social media SB ten seventy and how traumatic
it was, particularly for the people who were visibly Hispanic.
(08:12):
And our families include people, but they don't need to
include people who are Hispanic in order for us to
have empathy and feel like human beings shouldn't treat other
human beings in this way. And for folks that are
not in Arizona, you cannot know how traumatic that was
for the people on the ground here. And I just
(08:33):
want to say that that really matters in the context
of this story in this city, and you know everything else.
I'm sure that you know Q is going to cover,
so you know the floor of yours.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
You know.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
The most difficult thing, some of the most difficult things
that I've had to deal with with regards to this
story and stories like it all across the country, as
people assuming that the only reason and it matters to
me is because my children are Hispanic.
Speaker 3 (09:05):
People assuming that.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Worse than that I was being dramatic or gaslighting me,
like I was being rainwashed by fear mongering left wing
media people that I know that I expected to trust
my judgment, trust my word, and understand that I'm a
bit more informed than most regular people. So it's been
(09:31):
it's been terrifying and frustrating and insulting and like all
these different emotions like mixed into one, because I didn't
have to have black and Hispanic children to know that
this was gross and illegal and mean spirited and evil.
(09:57):
I'm just a human being who understands that there's a
way to do things, and that they provide more grace
for armed white men while they're shooting people than they
do for a Hispanic mother walking her children to school.
(10:18):
And again, this is not me being dramatic or hyperbolic.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
This is literal.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
They arrest white mass shooters with grace, make sure they're okay,
take them to get food, create a pre narrative for them.
They've just been misunderstood and we're just having a bad day,
and they've been dealing with so much. These are people
who not only do we know they're committing a crime,
(10:44):
these are people they're committing the crime while while being arrested.
I'm not talking about pursued and found at they're home
later on the scene of the crime, arrested, pursued and
detained and treated with grace and empathy, and then the
media that covers them tells their story and humanizes them
(11:05):
and wants us to give them some benefit of the doubt,
because again, they might have just been having a bad
day or been bullied as a kid, and you know,
just let's look into the reasons why this young man
chose this path after he's unalived a handful of people before,
(11:26):
the worker who's been here for thirty years and not
broken the law ever, and contributed tens of thousands, if
not hundreds of thousands of dollars to the community that
they live in, not being able to benefit from those
tax dollars because they're not citizens in some cases, who
contribute to their communities in ways that they never get
credit for and have to continue to know when they
(11:54):
leave the house that that might be the last time
they see their families. Not because they've done anything wrong,
and not just because the federal government is putting forth
white supremacists intentionally racist tactics and orders, but because, like
(12:15):
you said, so many people are complicit, so many people
do see them as other and less than and not
worth dignity, not worth respect. So they other them to
the point where they justify that it's okay to treat
people as less than to violate their civil rights, to
(12:39):
strip away their dignity and their self respect, and to
do it in front of their children, you know, because
they're brown and they speak Spanish, so of course they're bad.
This is America. This is America that we live in today,
not in theory, but in practice, in real time. And
this has been the most un uncomfortable, disgusting and sickening.
(13:02):
I told you so in the history of my life.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
You know, for me, because I know the school district.
One of the benefits I guess of being a radio
personality is you get to go to all the schools
and you know, they bring the DJs out from the
radio station, all that sort of stuff. And so I
know this school and try to imagine what sort of
trauma not just the student in the in the middle
(13:34):
of the story, but all the students watching, what sort
of trauma that that imposes on their little lives that
now they have to live in fear having done nothing wrong.
They're just I have a target on my back, and
I can imagine what that feels like, and again, my
heartbreaks for these children who are supposed to be family.
(14:02):
Moving on. Uh, Donald Trump pulled us out of UNESCO.
The United States is no longer a member. Again, I
mentioned that we're we're a little late getting to this story,
but to be fair, we've had a lot of a
lot of stories to cover and I think that, indeed,
(14:23):
that is kind of the point of this administration. Uh.
Their their muzzle velocity strategy of you know, making sure
that we all always have something to talk about. But
this is such a He's pulled us out of a
(14:45):
lot of different things. He's we've regressed as a country.
Once upon a time, we were the the beacon that
the world looked to, and a lot of that came
with the presidency, you know what I mean, Like the
president was our great ambassador, and we exported Americanism, if
(15:06):
you will, to the rest of the world using not
just movies and music and fashion and whatever else, but
using the president. And historically, whether or not we liked
the president, the president was for the most part, at
least based on appearances, a decent person, right, and that
(15:28):
was no longer the case as of twenty sixteen, and
we've continued to dig ourselves deeper into that hole as
a country. Right, once upon a time this place was
the place that everybody wanted to come to America, was it?
And now everybody's afraid of this place. And maybe there's
some people that like that, you know what I mean.
(15:50):
But that doesn't last nearly as long as people might think,
nor does it make people safer in any meaningful way.
But this is what a lot of people have been
tricked and voting for, in my estimation, and the world
for us has gotten a lot smaller as a result
(16:10):
of that. For people that don't see the world, you know,
maybe you know Mount Rushmore and the Golden Gate Arch
and you know the Portland Headlight up in Maine and
Statue of Liberty is great, But there's a whole planet
(16:31):
way bigger than this place. And even though I've seen
all those landmarks, I've been very fortunate, And so it's
cute to being able to see landmarks all over the
planet and us not being a member of UNESCO, I
think again, creates a little bit more distance from us
and the planet we live on and the people we
share this planet with. But folks that are not familiar
(16:52):
with UNESCO stands for the United Nations Educational Scientific and
Cultural Organization. It works to build peacecurity by promoting international
cooperation and education, science, culture, and communication. It achieves this
by setting global standards, producing tools, developing knowledge, and fostering
networks to address challenges and promote equality and peace. UNESCO's
(17:13):
work encompasses a wide range of activities, including protecting world
heritage sites, advancing quality education, safeguarding cultural heritage, and ensuring
access to reliable information. So why did Donald Trump pull
us out?
Speaker 3 (17:27):
All right?
Speaker 1 (17:27):
Let me share this systems from iHeart dot com. Donald
Trump is pulling the United States out of the United
Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization United Nations SORRY Educational
Scientific and Cultural Organization or UNESCO, White House officials confirmed
to The New York Post. Trump ordered a ninety day
review of alleged anti Semitism or anti Israel sentiment within
(17:49):
the organization in February, with the administration officials reportedly taking
issue with UNESCO's diversity, equity and inclusion policies, as well
as alleged biased favoring Palestine and China. According to White
House Deputy spokesperson Anna Kelly Vote, President Trump has decided
to withdraw the United States from UNESCO, which supports woke,
(18:09):
divisive cultural and social causes that are totally out of
step with the common sense policies that Americans voted for
in November, Kelly said. She goes on to say, this
president will always put America first and ensure our country's
membership and all international organizations aligns with our national interest.
UNESCO's publication of an anti racism toolkit in twenty twenty three,
(18:31):
which reportedly called on member states to adopt anti racist
policies and compete in a race to the top to
become the primary social justice advocate, as well as its
Transforming Mentalities Initiative in twenty twenty four, which focused on
reshaping how men think about gender issues, specifically, what was
described as harmful gender norms were among the issues cited
(18:53):
in the probe the transition. The Transforming Mentalities initiative included
a video game report that suggested how games could promote
gender equality moving forward.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
Quote.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
It's not only about controlling the negative impacts, but also
relying on video games to address socio socio cultural stereotypes
and encourage positive, anti discriminatory behaviors unquote, said Gabriella Ramos,
Assistant Director General for the Social and Human Sciences at
the time. UNESCO also reportedly used its executive board to
(19:24):
designate Jewish holy sites as Palestinian World Heritage Sites, having
frequently claimed that Palestine was occupied by Israel and condemned
the Jewish States war with Hamas without criticizing the latter's
reign over Gaza. According to the White House, Beijing was
also reported to be UNESCO's second largest funder, and Chinese
nationals were put into crucial leadership positions. Quote China has
(19:47):
leveraged its influence over UNESCO to advanced global standards that
are favorable to Beijing's interests, the official said via the
New York Post. Trump initially ordered the United States to
pull out of UNESCO during his first term in twenty seventeen,
once again citing an anti Israel bias. At the time.
The US had previously withdrawn from the organization under former
President Ronald Reagan in nineteen eighty three, who claimed it
(20:09):
had quote exhibited hostility toward a free society, especially a
free market and free press, and it has demonstrated unrestrained
budgetary expansion unquote. All right, I know that was a
long time. But that's the story. Q. I want to
make sure that you have plenty of time to respond,
So why not you go first.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
I don't need plenty of time on this one. All right,
science education, anti racist, anti Zionists, anti magnet sounds about
right to me. Everything that he opposes, they seem to
be four again, science education, anti racism, and anti perpetual
(20:51):
occupation and open air prison and genocide.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
Yeah, well it's about right.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
Like I don't even know, I don't know what either
of us can add that that sounds about right. All
the things they stand for seem to be all the
things he's very very outwardly against. Even when you just
what does you nest goo mean again?
Speaker 3 (21:18):
We go back.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
It is the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural.
Speaker 3 (21:25):
Organization Education, science culture.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
Yeah, that sounds like the opposite of somebody that we
know to me. And before my brother cuts back in,
you conflated two things unintentionally earlier that I just want
to point out that I know, you know, I know
you know what you meant to say, the Golden Gate
Bridge and the Gateway Arch.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
You called it the Golden gate Arch. Oh, yeah, the
gate we are sorry about that has been.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
To both, if that's what I'm saying both.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
So he just merging together.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
Yeah, man, I'm going to London this weekend so I'll
be out so anyway, So here's the thing, uh, And
I think it's very telling that Ronald Reagan was the
only other president to have withdrawn from UNESCO.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
And now Trump.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
And there's a lot of commonalities there. Those like deeply
conservative people that want to take America back to a
time when they think it was America's heyday, really really
loved Ronald Reagan. They're going to die loving Ronald Reagan,
and I imagine there's a group of people that feel
the same way about Donald Trump. That's what they want.
(22:48):
They want a white country for white folks that looks
like it did in the forties and in the fifties.
Speaker 3 (22:54):
Right.
Speaker 1 (22:57):
But to be fair, economics don't support that. These people
are hearing ideas that make them feel comfortable but don't
bear out in the real world. For the people that
love Ronald Reagan and the philosophies that he espoused, they
have to admit that his fiscal policy did not work.
(23:19):
Trickled down economics or were fifty years in nothing is
trickled down. In fact, it's all been concentrated at the top,
and now the world is a much harder place to
navigate for Americans trying to step out into their own
And all those old school conservatives are going to die
knowing that they were wrong and not caring. And I'd
(23:42):
imagine McDonald Trump is probably creating another reality for another
group of people. And I think that this maneuver is
indicative of just how small, how much smaller, the world
has become under his leadership. Before we get to better
(24:03):
do Better, did you want to add anything else?
Speaker 2 (24:05):
Well, you said they were going to die knowing they're wrong,
And I just think you're giving him way too much credit.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
The oh yeah, we were wrong.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
We shouldn't have We shouldn't have went MAGA so hard
because here we messed up on that one.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
Like, well, they were wrong about the trickle down stuff.
Speaker 3 (24:18):
But be right, maybe they.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
Won't even know.
Speaker 3 (24:20):
They're not going to admit that either. We've been watching
the same movie. Yeah, yeah, that's fair. All right, Better
do better?
Speaker 1 (24:25):
All right? Donald Trump hires Project twenty twenty five architect
as Bureau of Labor Statistics head. Let's get right into
this one, all right. This from NBC President Donald Trump
announced Monday that he planned to nominate EJ and Tony
as the new commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Trump said in a.
Speaker 3 (24:41):
Truth social post that EJ will ensure.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
That numbers, numbers is capitalized released only the end in
numbers is capitalized. That's to me a typo, But anyway,
he will ensure that the numbers released are honest. That's
all capitalized and accurate. That also was all capital Antoni's
planned nomination comes after Trump fired former commissioner Erica mcintar
(25:05):
for hours after a weaker than expected jobs report on
August first, Trump said without evidence that the job's report
for July was rigged in order to make the Republicans
and me look bad. Rig was all capitalized as well,
and so was the me, all right. Antoni did not
immediately respond to NBC News's request for comment on Monday.
(25:26):
He is the chief economist at the conservative Heritage Foundation
and has written a number of pieces for the think
tank that our highly complementary of the Trump administration. One
of Antoni's recent reports said that the June jobs report
before it was revised, was a home run.
Speaker 3 (25:43):
For the president.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
Multiple former BLS Commissioners said after mcintar For's firing that
the head of Labor Statistics does not have a role
in compiling jobs reports and is only briefed on its
figures shortly before it's release to the public. And that report,
the BLS reported that the US economy added just seventy
three thousand jobs in July. The agency also said it
had revised the May and June numbers and that they
(26:06):
turned out to be lower than previously announced by more
than two hundred thousand jobs. The BLS routinely revises economic data,
such as the jobs reports, gross domestic product figures, and
inflation data. Due to the scale of the US economy
and response rates to BLS surveys, there can often be
lags and data collection, but the lag does not imply
any wrongdoing or manipulation.
Speaker 3 (26:26):
Okay, I'll just say it. This is scary.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
Donald Trump is putting in and we knew this was
going to happen, But he's putting in a guy that
loves him not necessarily truth and accuracy and consistency where he.
Speaker 3 (26:45):
Loves Donald Trump not necessarily.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
Not.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
Then we'll say, well not, Okay, you're right. I do
give a lot of grace. But also I want to
say that this person was one of the architects.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
Of five So you mean that long document that the
President said he knew nothing about and that wasn't going
to be a part of how he, you know, ran
this nation.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
Yes, indeed, so from where I sit, if you're one
of the architects, you're a person that endorses that plan
for the country. And again, a lot of people will
go to great lengths to make sure that they don't
feel or they aren't perceived as being wrong. Okay, So
(27:37):
no matter what this person has shown that I am,
I want a decidedly conservative agenda for this country. I
want to support this president. This is indeed why that
document was drafted was for Donald Trump, and I am
(28:01):
okay with the people underneath the president supporting the president's wishes,
not supporting the intentionality behind the constitution of the United
States of America, nor supporting the people that occupy the
land of the United States of America. And those are
some considerable elements that we have to account for, and
(28:24):
so trusting this individual is really challenging. Not that we
would anyway, but you know, for people that rely on
this data, you know, and this is what the end
looks like. This is what This is what Russia looks like.
You know what I mean like you don't get accurate numbers.
(28:44):
This is what China looks like, you know or sorry?
North Korea is what I meant to say. Where the
government controls the data and nobody knows heads or tails
of what's going on there, and they prop up what
they want to prop up. That's what it looks like.
It looks exactly like this. So those are my two cents, Q,
if you have a couple of cents to add.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
Our country was the country you said Beacon earlier, and
I've always thought it was just good marketing. But our
country was at least the country that kept the rest
of the world from falling under authoritarian, fascist dictatorship rule.
(29:28):
And just like our country and our government no longer
has safeguards now, neither does the rest of the world.
It's a much scarier reality than people realize, because even
as we talk about and think about maybeing moving to
another country, everywhere is less safe now, everywhere is less
(29:48):
stable now. There is no quote unquote guardian anymore.
Popular Podcasts
Fudd Around And Find Out
UConn basketball star Azzi Fudd brings her championship swag to iHeart Women’s Sports with Fudd Around and Find Out, a weekly podcast that takes fans along for the ride as Azzi spends her final year of college trying to reclaim the National Championship and prepare to be a first round WNBA draft pick. Ever wonder what it’s like to be a world-class athlete in the public spotlight while still managing schoolwork, friendships and family time? It’s time to Fudd Around and Find Out!
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!