October 3, 2025 • 46 mins
A courtroom trembles, a forest goes quiet, and a Capitol locks its doors and somehow they all tell the same story about trust. We start with the indictment of former FBI Director James Comey and examine what happens when the Justice Department looks like an instrument of revenge rather than a referee. We weigh the evidence, the reported push from political appointees, and the practical stakes for congressional testimony, prosecutorial norms, and the fragile belief that law can still be blind.
From there, we step into the Gombe forest to honor Jane Goodall her patient, ground-shifting discoveries and her stubborn, disciplined optimism that turned science into stewardship. Toolmaking chimps, mourning and conflict, kinship over dominion her life reminds us that hope works only when tied to action. Roots & Shoots, local projects, and the invitation to plant a tree or fund a habitat are not small gestures; they’re how trust is rebuilt in the real world.
Finally, we confront the ritual of government shutdowns: the history, the needless cost, and the predictable ending in compromise. We call out the politics that rewards defiance over governing and explain how normalized dysfunction corrodes civic faith. Along the way, we challenge the media’s left–right reflex around mass violence and the algorithmic churn that turns tragedy into team sport, arguing for slower, clearer reporting and prevention-focused solutions.
If you’re tired of cynicism but hungry for clarity, this conversation offers a map: protect prosecutorial independence, practice transparent compromise, support conservation, and choose small, concrete acts over doomscrolling. Subscribe, share this episode with a friend who needs a dose of stubborn hope, and leave a review with one action you’ll take this week to strengthen trust where you live.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_01 (00:00):
Welcome to the Darrell McLean Show, Independent
Media That Won't ReinforceTribalism.
We have one planet, nobody isleaving.
Let us reason together.
Welcome back.
So this today's show is stitchedtogether from a few threads that
may feel disconnected at firstglance.
The indictment of James Comey,the passing of Jane Goodall, and
the latest government shutdown.
(00:20):
Now one is about justice andfragility, one is about creation
and our place in it, and one isabout governance and what
happens when politics become acircus.
Together, they ask the samequestion though.
How do we hold on to theintegrity that we must have in a
time when institutions shake,when trust thins, and when
(00:43):
cynicism becomes cheap?
So let's start with thecourtroom first, with the
indictment of James Comey.
So James Comey is the former FBIdirector, and he was indicted on
two counts of lying to Congressand obstructing a congressional
proceedings.
The charges tie back to his 2020testimony about the Russian
(01:07):
probe and the ClintonFoundation.
Now, of course the indictmentdoesn't mean conviction, it
means grand jury.
It means that they believed thatthere was enough evidence to try
the case.
But let's be clear, this isn'thappening in a vacuum.
Politics sit heavy on thescales.
So we have to take it back to2016, and that was 11 days
(01:31):
before the 2016 election.
James Comey reopened the Clintonemail case, and for the record,
the Democrats still say thatJames Comey doing that is what
gave Donald Trump the electionand cost Hillary the presidency.
Fast four, Trump fires Comey in2017.
(01:51):
For conservatives, Comey becomesthe poster child of the
so-called deep state.
Now, for Trump, Comey is the manwho started the Russia
investigation that dogged hisfirst presidency.
So here we are now.
Nearly a decade later, withTrump back in the White House
(02:14):
and Pam Bondy running theJustice Department, Korea
prosecutors reportedly wanted nopart of this case, calling the
evidence weak, Bondy pressedahead.
And this is where history helpsus see things more clearly.
High officials facing chargesactually isn't new.
Think back to Watergate, JohnMitchell, Nixon's attorney
(02:37):
general convicted and in prison,or Iran Contra Oliver North on
trial, convictions lateroverturned.
Now the difference is thosecases grew out of evidence piled
high, investigations byindependent prosecutors,
bipartisan outrage.
Comey's case, it looks more likea president wish list delivered
(03:01):
through a compliant attorneygeneral.
So what happens if he'sconvicted?
Testifying before Congressbecomes a mindfill.
Partisanships determines whogets prosecuted if he's
acquitted, which the person thatis overseeing his case is a
Biden appointed judge, so if heis acquitted, then Trump's
(03:24):
Justice Department losescredibility and half of the
country shrugs and says, See theswamp protects its own.
Either way, the system takesanother hit.
Now the real danger is this.
When the courtroom becomes anarena for settling political
bandettas, justice bends.
(03:47):
And if justice keeps bending toofar, it eventually is going to
break.
And here is the irony.
Both the left and the right havelived this fear.
Conservatives raged when LewisLerner at the IRS targeted Tea
Party groups and walk free.
(04:08):
Liberals still fume over theJanuary 6th insurrection and the
figures escaping accountability.
Both sides point at the otherand say, You have weaponized
justice.
Few of them, though, admit thatthey're both holding the same
gun every time they get inpower.
(04:30):
So whether you see Comey as asaint, or whether you see Comey
as a villain, or just anotherbureaucrat who played the game
too close to the line, his caseis about something larger.
It's about whether we stillbelieve law can be blind, or
whether we've accepted that itwill always wear the colors of
(04:53):
whoever happens to be in power.
And this is where the real trialis.
Not in Virginia, not in Americain particular, but for the very
soul of this republic.
Now to the straight news on thetopic coming out of the
(05:14):
Washington Post.
SPEAKER_11 (05:15):
FBI director James B.
Comey was indicted Thursday onallegations that he lied to
Congress.
A sign of President DonaldTrump's growing influence over
the Justice Department amid hisextraordinary demands it
prosecute a man he has longconsidered a political foe.
The indictment issued by afederal grand jury in Alexandria
charges Comey with one count ofmaking false statements and one
count of obstruction ofCongress, charges punishable by
(05:38):
up to five years in prison.
It was delivered over theobjections of career prosecutors
who insisted there wasinsufficient evidence to charge
Comey with a crime.
Grand jurors rejected a thirdcount sought by government
prosecutors involving anotheralleged false statement,
according to court records.
Comey declared his innocenceand, in a video statement posted
to social media, vowed to takehis case to trial.
(06:00):
My family and I have known foryears that there are costs to
standing up to Donald Trump, butwe couldn't imagine ourselves
living any other way, he said.
We will not live on our knees,and you shouldn't either.
Comey added, somebody I lovedearly recently said that fear
is the tool of a tyrant.
A reference to a letter hisdaughter wrote to colleagues
after Trump administrationofficials fired her from her
(06:22):
role as a federal prosecutor inManhattan this year.
Comey's son-in-law, a supervisorin the same U.S.
attorney's office that chargedhim Thursday, resigned his
position moments after theindictment was filed.
He quit, he said in aresignation letter reviewed by
the Washington Post, to upholdhis oath to the Constitution and
the country.
The case against Comey marks themost significant step to date in
(06:43):
Trump's campaign to deploy theJustice Department to avenge
personal grievances andprosecute those he perceives as
his enemies.
The president's demands duringthe weekend that Attorney
General Pam Bondi swiftly chargeComey and others flew in the
face of long-standing normsmeant to shield the Justice
Department from direct politicalinterference from the White
House.
(07:03):
Last week, the White Houseforced out the previous top
prosecutor on the case after hedeclined to seek an indictment
and replaced him with one ofTrump's former personal
attorneys.
That successor, LindsayHalligan, now interim U.S.
attorney for the EasternDistrict of Virginia, personally
presented the case against Comeyto the grand jury on Thursday,
said two people familiar withthe matter who spoke on the
(07:25):
condition of anonymity becausethey were not authorized to
speak publicly.
Before she was sworn in Monday,Halligan had no prosecutorial
experience.
The indictment also means Comeyis the first former senior
government official to faceprosecution in connection with
an investigation that hasremained a fixation for Trump
since his first term.
The FBI's probe of Russianinterference in his 2016
(07:48):
election victory.
After the charges were filedThursday night, Trump took to
social media to deride Comey asthe former corrupt head of the
FBI in a social media post.
Justice in America, Trump wrote,adding later, He has been so bad
for our country for so long, andis now at the beginning of being
held responsible for his crimesagainst our nation.
(08:09):
Bondae, in a statement Thursday,said, No one is above the law.
Today's indictment reflects thisDepartment of Justice's
commitment to holding those whoabuse positions of power
accountable for misleading theAmerican people, she said.
We will follow the facts in thiscase.
Comey will be represented byPatrick J.
Fitzgerald, a close friend ofthe former director and a former
U.S.
attorney in Chicago whoprosecuted such figures as
(08:32):
former Illinois Governor RodBlagoyovich.
Of the former FBI director,Fitzgerald said in a statement
he looked forward to vindicatinghim in the courtroom.
Comey was appointed to theposition in 2013 by President
Barack Obama and abruptly firedby Trump four years later, amid
acrimony largely stemming fromthe FBI's handling of the Russia
probe.
(08:52):
The case against him centers ontestimony he gave before the
Senate Judiciary Committee inSeptember 2020, during a hearing
on the FBI's handling of thatinvestigation.
Under questioning from SenatorTed Cruz, Republican Texas,
Comey testified he had neverauthorized leaks to the media
about the Russia investigationor a separate probe into then
Democratic presidentialcandidate Hillary Clinton's
(09:13):
charitable foundation.
Prosecutors contend that answerwas untrue, forming the basis
for the indictment's firstcharge.
The second count, obstruction ofa congressional proceeding,
involves the same September 2020testimony, but does not specify
the false and misleadingstatements Comey is alleged to
have made.
A separate filing published onthe court's public docket
Thursday night detailed thethird count sought by
(09:36):
prosecutors, which the grandjury rejected, and which also
dealt with Comey's testimony.
To prove their case, prosecutorswill have to convince a jury
that Comey not only made falsestatements to Congress, but that
he knowingly did so, and thatany untruths were material to
focus of the Senate proceedings.
Comey's legal team could alsoask the federal judge handling
(09:56):
the case to dismiss theindictment before trial.
Some evidence is likely to workin Comey's favor.
For instance, Cruz said at the2020 hearing that the FBI's then
deputy director, Andrew McCabe,testified that Comey authorized
the disclosure of the ClintonFoundation investigation to a
news publication.
But the Justice Department'sInspector General concluded in a
2018 report that it was McCabewho authorized the leak and who
(10:20):
lacked candor when discussingthe matter with Comey and
investigators looking into thedisclosure.
Comey's attorneys are alsolikely to point to the fact that
before Thursday's indictment,the case had been rejected by
Eric S.
Siebert, the Trump-appointedinterim U.S.
attorney who had been overseeingthe investigation.
He concluded there wasinsufficient evidence to move
forward with the prosecution,the post has reported.
(10:42):
Siebert resigned last week underintense pressure from the Trump
administration, in part becauseof that decision.
Trump appointed Halligan as hisreplacement because the
president said she would getthings moving.
Since Halligan was sworn inMonday, several attorneys in the
Eastern District of Virginiashared a memo with her, laying
out concerns with the strengthof the evidence.
Two people familiar with thatmeeting said, they spoke on the
(11:04):
condition of anonymity to speakfreely about those internal
deliberations.
Nevertheless, Halligan opted tomove forward.
She and first assistant U.S.
attorney Mary M.
Maggie Cleary were in theAlexandria courtroom when the
indictment was delivered to U.S.
Magistrate Judge Lindsay R.
Vala on Thursday evening.
Comey's son-in-law Troy A.
Edwards Jr., who had prosecutedand supervised national security
(11:27):
cases, was seated in the frontrow.
The grand jury fourperson toldVala that the panel had rejected
one of three counts in theoriginally submitted indictment.
Prosecutors then presented arevised indictment, the
fourperson said, containing onlythe two counts that the grand
jury had agreed on, and withwhich Comey was eventually
charged.
The judge received bothindictments Thursday evening,
(11:47):
and noted she was puzzled by theoutcome.
This has never happened before.
I've been handed two documentswith a discrepancy, Vala said.
I'm a little confused why I washanded two things that were
inconsistent.
Halligan said at the lectern shehadn't seen the first indictment
that was rejected, but Vallanoted Halligan appeared to have
signed that original document.
(12:08):
Comey is expected to bearraigned on those charges at an
October 9th court hearing beforeU.S.
District Judge Michael S.
Nakmanoff, who was assigned tooversee the case.
Nachmanoff is an appointee offormer President Joe Biden.
In his video message Thursdaynight, Comey said he was not
afraid of the legal battles tocome.
My heart is broken for theDepartment of Justice, but I
have great confidence in thefederal judicial system, he
(12:31):
said.
And I'm innocent, so let's havea trial.
SPEAKER_05 (12:35):
Only death could silence Jane Goodall and her
passionate defense of theenvironment.
SPEAKER_10 (12:40):
We got the window of time to start healing some of
this harm we've done to theenvironment.
SPEAKER_05 (12:45):
At 91, passing away from natural causes while on a
speaking tour in Californiaafter a lifetime of advocacy,
starting with her belovedchimpanzees.
In 1960, with little scientifictraining, she went to Tanzania
and changed the way we look atthese great apes by doing
everything the scientificcommunity then thought was
(13:07):
wrong.
SPEAKER_10 (13:07):
They were totally horrified.
I'd named the chimps instead ofnumbering them.
I talked about them havingpersonalities.
I talked about them having mindsand being able to have rational
thoughts and emotions,happiness, sadness, feel that
all of these things weresupposed to be attributes only
of humans.
SPEAKER_05 (13:25):
Immersing herself in the jungle, she discovered the
chimps could make tools, atemeat, and fought wars,
captivating the world.
SPEAKER_10 (13:34):
I got on a geographic cover, and then there
were all these people saying,Well, she's only successful
because she's got nice legs.
My attitude was, well, the firstone gets me to get money to
study the chimps, which is mypassion.
Thank you, Lenny.
SPEAKER_05 (13:50):
A prolific author.
She spoke for the creatures sheunderstood.
That's good morning.
Good all married twice and hadone son, but her lasting legacy
is the relationship forged inthe wild.
(14:27):
Chimpanzees and ourselves.
Ann Thompson, NBC News.
SPEAKER_01 (14:32):
So from a courtroom in Virginia, let's walk into a
forest and tanzania.
Jane Goodwall, as you have justheard, has passed away at the
age of 91 with one of herclearest, most gentle voices in
the last century, now goingquiet while actually on a
(14:55):
speaking tour.
So picture Jane in 1960.
No PhD and no formal training,just a notebook, binoculars, and
patience.
Lewis Leakey sends her into theGombi Forest.
(15:17):
Everyone doubts her.
And she sits for hours, weeks,months, until one chimpanzee,
David Greybeard, allows herclose enough to see what no one
had documented before.
A chip stripping leaves from atwig, two fish termites from a
(15:41):
mound, to use as a tool.
That moment cracked openscience.
We were no longer the onlytoolmakers.
Soon she observed them hunting,she observed them waging war,
and mourning the dead.
(16:11):
They carried cruelty andtenderness, love and violence,
just like us.
But Jane didn't keep it toherself.
She didn't vanish into academicjournals.
Jane didn't keep it to herself.
(16:34):
She didn't turn inward.
She turned outward, becoming anevangelist for the conservation
movement.
She told the world, we are notlords over creation.
We are akin to creation.
She spoke with presidents,school children, CEOs, and
(16:57):
farmers, and she never lost herfaith in young people.
Her roots and shoots programempowered kids in over one
hundred countries to take careof the earth.
She knew despair intimately.
She saw force vanish.
(17:19):
She saw animals hunted, she sawrivers poisoned, but she refused
to surrender to cynicism.
Her optimism was stubborn, andher optimism was disciplined,
not just a move or a vibe.
And now it is ours to carry.
(17:43):
Because conservation isn't aboutsaying the environment is
important to be saved.
It's about saving ourselves.
It's about knowing that when wecut down force, we lose the
lungs of the planet.
That when we drive species intoextinction, we lose partners in
(18:05):
the great web of our lives.
When we pollute our rivers, weend up poisoning ourselves as
well as our own children.
So here's a little call to arms.
If you've been meaning to giveto a conservation society
program, do it.
(18:26):
If you thought about planting atree, do it.
Get your hands dirty.
If you wondered whether yourkids can make a difference, tell
them about Jane, and then letthem loose with a stubborn hope
that she carried.
Jane Goodall lived like someonewho understood time differently.
(18:47):
She taught us that healing anddestruction both happen slowly,
one choice at a time.
Rest well, Jane Goodwall.
You showed us the humanity ofanimals and reminded us of the
animal in our own humanity.
The force is calling.
(19:09):
I say it's time for us toanswer.
Change happens by listening andthen starting a dialogue with
people who are doing somethingyou don't believe is right.
That quote comes from the lateJane Goodall, who died at the
age of 91.
(19:30):
And now we come from the quietof the forest back into the
noise of the beautiful,beautiful place we call
Washington, DC.
Because the government is onceagain shut down.
Federal workers once againsidelined, services frozen, and
(19:54):
millions caught in the crossfireof a political staring contest.
Shutdowns actually feel like apart of the landscape now, but
the first modern one only camein the 1980s, when the Attorney
General ruled that agenciescouldn't appropriate without
appropriation.
I'm saying the I'm sorry, hecouldn't operate without certain
(20:16):
appropriations.
Since then, more than 20 havehappened.
Uh Bill Clinton and NewtGingrich in the 90s twice, uh
Obama in 2013 when Republicanstried to defund Obamacare, Trump
in 2018 through 2019, thelongest in history, which was 35
(20:37):
days right through Christmas.
Every time it's the same story.
Politicians swear they'restanding on principle, and every
time it ends the exact same way.
Compromise.
The only real question is howmuch damage happens before the
compromise gets there.
Consider the stories in uh 2019.
(21:00):
The Coast Guard families liningup at food banks, TSA agents
calling out sick en masse,scientists barred from their
labs, research ruined, parksrangers furloughed, national
treasures left unprotected,veterans waiting for benefits,
farmers waiting for loans.
(21:22):
And here's the kicker.
Shutdowns don't save money.
They actually cost billions ofdollars.
Lost productivity, delayedcontract, back paychecks that
still have to be cut.
It's vandalism dressed up asfiscal discipline.
But the deeper danger isactually civic.
(21:44):
When dysfunction becomesroutine, trust decays in the
systems.
Citizens start to shrug and saymaybe the government actually
doesn't work and maybe thegovernment doesn't matter at
all.
And that, my friends, is howdemocracies die.
Slowly.
Not with coups, but withcynicism.
(22:07):
And here's the lesson from 40years.
Shutdowns always end incompromise.
Always.
The only variable is how long welet families suffer before our
leaders admit that opening upthe government again is
inevitable.
So why not start where historyalways ends?
(22:28):
Why not cut the deal first andskip the damage?
Because politics today rewardsdefiance, not governance.
Because some leaders wouldrather starve the system to
prove it weakens than steward ittoward health.
But we can demand more.
(22:50):
We can't insist that compromiseis a betrayal.
It's the basic work of ourrepublic.
Because when the governmentshuts down, it's not a faceless
bureaucracy that suffers.
It's a soldier, the scientist,the inspector, the parent.
It's us.
And I reflect that we, as acountry, deserve better.
(23:16):
Three stories tonight.
A courtroom where justice bendsunder political weight, a force
where a woman showed us kinshipacross species, and a capital
where lawmakers treatdysfunction as ritual.
At first glance, they areseparate.
(23:36):
But they share root.
Trust.
Trust in law, trust in creationorder, trust in government,
trust in the fragile, once lost,is hard to rebuild.
Jane Goodwell showed us thatintegrity and patience can
(23:57):
rebuild trust with nature.
Our leaders, when they remember,can rebuild trust in
governments.
And justice, if kept blind, ifkept fair, can rebuild trust in
institutions.
The real question is will we?
Because the work of holdingthings together doesn't happen
(24:17):
in courtrooms or shutdownshowdowns alone.
It happens in how we live,whether we plant the tree,
whether we stand for fairness,whether we demand compromise
instead of chaos.
So as I log off to this show,don't carry only anger at what's
(24:38):
broken.
Carry also a stubborn hope likeJane Goodall embodied.
The stubborn memory that justicecan still matter, that democracy
still functions in thisrepublic.
We can't afford to shrug rightnow, and we can't afford to stop
caring.
(24:58):
So thank you for tuning in untilnext time.
Stay grounded, stay hopeful, andtake care of each other.
We have one planet, nobody isleaving.
Let us reason together.
SPEAKER_02 (25:12):
Boy, we should have laminated that thing.
There were six mass shootings at24 hours.
Two in North Carolina, two inLouisiana, one in Texas.
Uh uh, the terrible scenes outof Michigan.
(25:34):
Uh but fear not, because thepresident is obligated.
SPEAKER_06 (25:38):
This morning, President Trump declares he's
deploying troops to Portland,Oregon.
Oh!
SPEAKER_02 (25:46):
You just missed it! You're gonna want a little to
you're gonna you've got theright country.
You're gonna want to ship theship one.
(26:14):
Uncontrollable.
Till you see the lights of theold.
(26:35):
Not sure what that makes.
Here's the craziest part.
The people of Oregon, Portlandin particular, were also caught
off guard by this.
And the governor of Oregon triedto explain to the president that
they were not in a state of war.
And the president's responsewas, well, well, it was telling.
SPEAKER_17 (26:55):
President Trump, in an interview with NBC on Sunday
morning, said a phone call withGovernor Kotek showed him a
different perspective, saying, Ispoke to the governor, she was
very nice, but I said, Well,wait a minute.
SPEAKER_03 (27:06):
Am I watching things on television that are different
from what's happening?
SPEAKER_02 (27:26):
I don't think any of us know what you're watching on.
But if it's Game of Thrones, I'dsay yes.
Conditions in Portland may vary.
And B, this explains so muchabout the governing philosophy
(27:47):
of the Trump administration.
There is reality, and thenthere's this.
SPEAKER_03 (27:52):
My people tell me different.
They're literally attacking, andthere are fires all over the
place.
SPEAKER_02 (27:57):
And dragons.
Alone in his screened bunker,sees reports of conflict in
Portland on TV.
His lackings reinforce the chainof us, and rather than take a
(28:19):
breath, rather than take a beat,rather than not acting
rationally, rather than usingthe resources available to him
as the president of the UnitedStates to find out what the
realities on the ground are.
He just goes, go away, let mego.
Because he sees it.
(28:42):
And acts impulsively.
He sends out the National Guardthe same way you or I might make
a late night female purchase.
(29:07):
But at three in the morning,it's magic.
Meanwhile, the non-Portland areaof the country is going through
some shit.
As we mentioned, there's a massshooting now like every couple
of hours.
Previously, the routine would bewe express our shock, we express
(29:28):
our sadness, we offer ourthoughts and prayers, we spend a
day, maybe two, arguing aboutthe appropriateness of bringing
up guns at all, and then we uhdo nothing until the next time.
But as our politics becomes morepolarized, even that learned
cycle of helplessness has beenreplaced by a new post shooting
(29:49):
pastime.
That new pastime is was this oneof yours?
The shooter was a radicalleftist, the guy is a right wing
Trump supporting evangelicalChristian.
SPEAKER_12 (30:00):
He is a Biden supporter.
Case closed.
We know the suspected shooter isMega.
SPEAKER_05 (30:05):
The shooter?
SPEAKER_02 (30:06):
A leftist whack job?
It's America's new gender revealtradition.
Boom! It's blue! Ha ha! I'm sohappy to blame the left for the
violence.
The game is so ubiquitous.
Now we often play it before weeven know who the perpetrator
is.
SPEAKER_00 (30:24):
The kill's identity may be unknown, but his point of
view seems pretty clear.
That's why I'm calling itpolitical and from the left.
SPEAKER_02 (30:32):
That's Cudlow's lock of the week! Lock it up next
murder rate in Chicago nextweekend.
Well, it's getting cold there,so I'm taking the under.
By the way, playing with thisone of yours is also certainly a
speculative endeavor.
So we are treated in theaftermath of these horrific
crimes to the news media'sactive politicized scavenger
(30:54):
hunt.
Which piece of inconclusivearcana proves which half of the
country is to blame.
SPEAKER_03 (31:01):
The shooter reportedly voted in the 2020
Democrat primary.
SPEAKER_13 (31:04):
The Butler, Pennsylvania shooter was a
registered Republican.
The suspect wasn't registeredeither party.
SPEAKER_03 (31:11):
He grew up in an area of Utah that is mostly
Republican.
The shooter was a registeredRepublican, while election
records show that in 2021 hegave$15 to a Democratic aligned
organization.
SPEAKER_02 (31:32):
Republican, but donated to a Democrat.
Maybe he just wanted the PBS KenBurns tote bag.
I don't know who to hate.
Sometimes the clues aren't evenexpressly political, but live
politically adjacent in theculture.
SPEAKER_04 (31:48):
Social media photos show Mr.
Robinson shooting and posingwith guns.
SPEAKER_16 (31:51):
There's his pickup truck, the huge American flags.
This person was a gay man who isin a relationship with another
man who believes he was a woman,and they were both into a
phenomenon that can only bedescribed as furriness.
SPEAKER_02 (32:32):
I mean, if you weren't even gonna do something
like that, how would you evenget the stains out of the
costumes, I mean?
Especially if they had set forthree days.
What would you use?
Club soda, lemon?
I'm just asking.
Or do you just throw the costumeout after each experience?
Now call me old-fashioned.
But I miss the good old days ofmass shootings.
When networks took a principledstance to not shower attention
(32:55):
on acts designed to getattention.
SPEAKER_18 (32:58):
We will not say the gunman's name or show his
photograph.
SPEAKER_07 (33:01):
Fox News will not show you his picture or give him
any attention by repeating hisname.
We don't like naming the gunmanbecause so often they do things
just to get attention.
SPEAKER_02 (33:20):
That's right, boys and girls, you know.
When I was a boy, there was abrief period in American media
where not only wouldn't they saythe suspected killer's name,
they wouldn't constantly showthe suspected killer's OnlyFans
hotshots.
They wouldn't do it.
They wouldn't, oh dear Lord! Oh!Oh my god! He could have so he
(33:47):
could have done so much goodwith those.
And yet he chose the dark side.
So why has the news media becomeobsessed with right-left framing
of violence?
Well, part of the reason is theyare following the lead of social
(34:08):
media.
Social media is doing it crazierand faster than anybody else.
So the media is trying to keepup.
The fire in the church inMichigan was still burning when
online influencers wereinferring that the number of
Muslims in Michigan are whatobviously made this attack
happen.
Until police released thesuspect's photo, which looked
(34:30):
like it came from a Duck Dynastyfanfic account.
And then the left got tocelebrate.
And then they found a TrumpVance sign on his house, case
closed, except that sign wasplaced near a stop sign.
So some on the right said, no,no, no, he's saying stop Trump
Vance.
Like it's some leftist Rebusthat he was creating.
(34:54):
But here's the thing.
Who the f cares?
These mass shootings don't fit.
Who honestly cares?
These mass shootings do not fitneatly into our left-right
paradigm.
Mass shootings are probablycaused by a complex fusion of
(35:16):
mental health and access toweapons and attention-seeking
delusional nihilism married toan algorithmic underworld that
set these horrific acts inmotion.
But unfortunately, right-leftparadigm is the only way our
narcissistic media ecosystemsees anything anymore.
That's the system they built.
So it must fit into theright-left paradigm because that
(35:38):
binary is the foundation of allof their programming.
So that helps them pretend thatthe solution to this violence is
a simple change in ourright-left rhetoric.
The violent rhetoric that iscoming from the extreme right
wing.
SPEAKER_04 (35:53):
They are not just tolerating political violence,
they are cultivating it.
SPEAKER_09 (36:05):
Stop with the rhetoric.
SPEAKER_02 (36:09):
I don't think the rhetoric is getting people
killed.
Honestly, I don't think any ofthese psychotic motherfuckers
that are doing this are watchingMSNBC.
I mean, I'm only judging fromthe ratings.
I'm almost positive they're notwatching it.
To suggest that we don't need totackle any complex, deep-rooted
(36:33):
issues haunting Americansociety, we just need to stop
saying a few choice bad words,and all our mentally broken
young men will be fine is notrealistic.
SPEAKER_04 (36:42):
And I'm pretty sure that these people don't believe
that either.
When you equate federal agentswith literal Nazis, you're no
longer offering an opinion.
You are giving permission toescalate.
So dangerous.
So this is what Hitler did withthe SS.
(37:04):
This is what Nazi JosephGoebbels said about the Hitler
youth.
Nazi tactics are progressivetactics first.
Permission to escalate, granted.
SPEAKER_12 (37:16):
Look, in America we disagree, that's fine, that's
the democratic process.
But your political opponents arenot Nazis.
SPEAKER_04 (37:25):
Except when the Democrats.
They are authoritarians.
They are jack-booted thugs.
SPEAKER_02 (37:34):
No, no, he's not calling them Nazis.
I'm sure that's just a fashioncritique.
Jack-booted thugs, I mean thoseboots, and white pants in
October.
Are you mad?
Only Hitler would pull somethinglike that.
Look, getting our arms aroundwhy this is happening is
(37:56):
maddening and scary.
But the media's ability tomemory hole mass shootings that
they can't neatly fit intoright-left is almost as
maddening as not really knowingwhy these killings are really
happening.
Even when the suspected killersleave supposedly explicit cues
on their bullets.
SPEAKER_04 (38:15):
One inscription read, uh, hey fascist, catch,
uh, giving some indication aboutthe mindset of uh uh of Tyler
Robinson.
SPEAKER_02 (38:25):
Oh, right, no, it's uh very clearly anti-fascist,
very clear.
Unless was there anythingwritten on the other bullets?
SPEAKER_04 (38:32):
If you read this, you are gay, L-M-A-O.
Okay, that seems kind ofhomophobic to me.
If you read this, you're gay.
I don't know what that means.
SPEAKER_02 (38:46):
Well, read it again.
It means it's gotta meansomething.
SPEAKER_18 (38:59):
New York City college meme and digital culture
researcher we spoke to saidcould refer to a video game
called Helldivers 2.
The same for other inscriptionsfound on an up arrow, right
arrow, and three down arrows,which is how you drop a bomb in
that game.
SPEAKER_02 (39:15):
What the f are we even the world that these kids
now live in is so cynical andimpermeable.
This online nether world.
If only there were a man.
One man, a man who looks square,but is hep to what these kids
(39:37):
are laying down, man.
SPEAKER_09 (39:40):
There's a lot of talk about the chat platform
Discord, and Kurt the Cyber Guyjoins us now to tell us what
Discord is.
SPEAKER_02 (40:00):
Fresh off of doing the weather in Sarasota.
Thanks for the no down, Kurt theCyber Guy, you old cyber dog.
Say hello to your partner incrime, meme Maven Gary.
Meanwhile, why are we all justtaking the bait from these
psychos?
SPEAKER_13 (40:19):
Authorities have not released the motive, but of
course, here's the ammunition.
The words anti-ICE, that phrasehyphenated, written on one of
the bullet casings.
SPEAKER_08 (40:31):
We we just had the facts laid out for us.
This was an individual motivatedby anti-ice.
He wrote it on a bullet.
We saw the bullet yesterday.
Anti-ice.
SPEAKER_02 (40:40):
Case closed! He wrote anti-ice.
Doesn't anybody think it's fingweird that these people just
started writing on bullets allof a sudden?
Like that's the most effectiveway to get out their deeply held
political beliefs?
Anti-ICE, enough said.
Or is there the slightestpossibility that these people
(41:02):
are fing with us?
SPEAKER_07 (41:04):
According to his friends, the alleged gunman was
not overly political and wasmainly interested in video games
and internet culture.
SPEAKER_00 (41:11):
Clearly it's anti-ICE, right?
And his friends say, I wouldn'tinterpret it that way.
He was never a sincere guy.
Everything he said was lacedwith irony and sarcasm.
SPEAKER_02 (41:20):
What kind of finging psychotic internet culture?
What's happening?
Can't we just go back to thecinnamon challenge?
Is that so hard?
What is wrong with you?
Look, we would definitely have ahealthier political discourse if
we weren't constantly callingeach other fascists and
communists and Nazis.
But we are the only place in theworld where this shit happens
(41:45):
all the time.
But we're not the only place inthe world that name calls.
So what is this?
Perhaps we need to look back atour founders, who through their
infinite wisdom designed andoperated a more mature system,
which had some balances and arespect for all, that prevented
(42:06):
this kind of corrosiveinfighting and radicalization.
SPEAKER_03 (42:11):
John Quincy Adams take an aim at Jackson,
asserting that Jackson didn'tknow how to spell, was too
uneducated to become president,while newspapers portrayed his
wife Rachel as a short fatdumpling.
SPEAKER_02 (42:29):
A delicious dumpling, indeed.
Welcome to the Darrell McLean Show, Independent
Media That Won't ReinforceTribalism.
We have one planet, nobody isleaving.
Let us reason together.
Welcome back.
So this today's show is stitchedtogether from a few threads that
may feel disconnected at firstglance.
The indictment of James Comey,the passing of Jane Goodall, and
the latest government shutdown.
(00:20):
Now one is about justice andfragility, one is about creation
and our place in it, and one isabout governance and what
happens when politics become acircus.
Together, they ask the samequestion though.
How do we hold on to theintegrity that we must have in a
time when institutions shake,when trust thins, and when
(00:43):
cynicism becomes cheap?
So let's start with thecourtroom first, with the
indictment of James Comey.
So James Comey is the former FBIdirector, and he was indicted on
two counts of lying to Congressand obstructing a congressional
proceedings.
The charges tie back to his 2020testimony about the Russian
(01:07):
probe and the ClintonFoundation.
Now, of course the indictmentdoesn't mean conviction, it
means grand jury.
It means that they believed thatthere was enough evidence to try
the case.
But let's be clear, this isn'thappening in a vacuum.
Politics sit heavy on thescales.
So we have to take it back to2016, and that was 11 days
(01:31):
before the 2016 election.
James Comey reopened the Clintonemail case, and for the record,
the Democrats still say thatJames Comey doing that is what
gave Donald Trump the electionand cost Hillary the presidency.
Fast four, Trump fires Comey in2017.
(01:51):
For conservatives, Comey becomesthe poster child of the
so-called deep state.
Now, for Trump, Comey is the manwho started the Russia
investigation that dogged hisfirst presidency.
So here we are now.
Nearly a decade later, withTrump back in the White House
(02:14):
and Pam Bondy running theJustice Department, Korea
prosecutors reportedly wanted nopart of this case, calling the
evidence weak, Bondy pressedahead.
And this is where history helpsus see things more clearly.
High officials facing chargesactually isn't new.
Think back to Watergate, JohnMitchell, Nixon's attorney
(02:37):
general convicted and in prison,or Iran Contra Oliver North on
trial, convictions lateroverturned.
Now the difference is thosecases grew out of evidence piled
high, investigations byindependent prosecutors,
bipartisan outrage.
Comey's case, it looks more likea president wish list delivered
(03:01):
through a compliant attorneygeneral.
So what happens if he'sconvicted?
Testifying before Congressbecomes a mindfill.
Partisanships determines whogets prosecuted if he's
acquitted, which the person thatis overseeing his case is a
Biden appointed judge, so if heis acquitted, then Trump's
(03:24):
Justice Department losescredibility and half of the
country shrugs and says, See theswamp protects its own.
Either way, the system takesanother hit.
Now the real danger is this.
When the courtroom becomes anarena for settling political
bandettas, justice bends.
(03:47):
And if justice keeps bending toofar, it eventually is going to
break.
And here is the irony.
Both the left and the right havelived this fear.
Conservatives raged when LewisLerner at the IRS targeted Tea
Party groups and walk free.
(04:08):
Liberals still fume over theJanuary 6th insurrection and the
figures escaping accountability.
Both sides point at the otherand say, You have weaponized
justice.
Few of them, though, admit thatthey're both holding the same
gun every time they get inpower.
(04:30):
So whether you see Comey as asaint, or whether you see Comey
as a villain, or just anotherbureaucrat who played the game
too close to the line, his caseis about something larger.
It's about whether we stillbelieve law can be blind, or
whether we've accepted that itwill always wear the colors of
(04:53):
whoever happens to be in power.
And this is where the real trialis.
Not in Virginia, not in Americain particular, but for the very
soul of this republic.
Now to the straight news on thetopic coming out of the
(05:14):
Washington Post.
SPEAKER_11 (05:15):
FBI director James B.
Comey was indicted Thursday onallegations that he lied to
Congress.
A sign of President DonaldTrump's growing influence over
the Justice Department amid hisextraordinary demands it
prosecute a man he has longconsidered a political foe.
The indictment issued by afederal grand jury in Alexandria
charges Comey with one count ofmaking false statements and one
count of obstruction ofCongress, charges punishable by
(05:38):
up to five years in prison.
It was delivered over theobjections of career prosecutors
who insisted there wasinsufficient evidence to charge
Comey with a crime.
Grand jurors rejected a thirdcount sought by government
prosecutors involving anotheralleged false statement,
according to court records.
Comey declared his innocenceand, in a video statement posted
to social media, vowed to takehis case to trial.
(06:00):
My family and I have known foryears that there are costs to
standing up to Donald Trump, butwe couldn't imagine ourselves
living any other way, he said.
We will not live on our knees,and you shouldn't either.
Comey added, somebody I lovedearly recently said that fear
is the tool of a tyrant.
A reference to a letter hisdaughter wrote to colleagues
after Trump administrationofficials fired her from her
(06:22):
role as a federal prosecutor inManhattan this year.
Comey's son-in-law, a supervisorin the same U.S.
attorney's office that chargedhim Thursday, resigned his
position moments after theindictment was filed.
He quit, he said in aresignation letter reviewed by
the Washington Post, to upholdhis oath to the Constitution and
the country.
The case against Comey marks themost significant step to date in
(06:43):
Trump's campaign to deploy theJustice Department to avenge
personal grievances andprosecute those he perceives as
his enemies.
The president's demands duringthe weekend that Attorney
General Pam Bondi swiftly chargeComey and others flew in the
face of long-standing normsmeant to shield the Justice
Department from direct politicalinterference from the White
House.
(07:03):
Last week, the White Houseforced out the previous top
prosecutor on the case after hedeclined to seek an indictment
and replaced him with one ofTrump's former personal
attorneys.
That successor, LindsayHalligan, now interim U.S.
attorney for the EasternDistrict of Virginia, personally
presented the case against Comeyto the grand jury on Thursday,
said two people familiar withthe matter who spoke on the
(07:25):
condition of anonymity becausethey were not authorized to
speak publicly.
Before she was sworn in Monday,Halligan had no prosecutorial
experience.
The indictment also means Comeyis the first former senior
government official to faceprosecution in connection with
an investigation that hasremained a fixation for Trump
since his first term.
The FBI's probe of Russianinterference in his 2016
(07:48):
election victory.
After the charges were filedThursday night, Trump took to
social media to deride Comey asthe former corrupt head of the
FBI in a social media post.
Justice in America, Trump wrote,adding later, He has been so bad
for our country for so long, andis now at the beginning of being
held responsible for his crimesagainst our nation.
(08:09):
Bondae, in a statement Thursday,said, No one is above the law.
Today's indictment reflects thisDepartment of Justice's
commitment to holding those whoabuse positions of power
accountable for misleading theAmerican people, she said.
We will follow the facts in thiscase.
Comey will be represented byPatrick J.
Fitzgerald, a close friend ofthe former director and a former
U.S.
attorney in Chicago whoprosecuted such figures as
(08:32):
former Illinois Governor RodBlagoyovich.
Of the former FBI director,Fitzgerald said in a statement
he looked forward to vindicatinghim in the courtroom.
Comey was appointed to theposition in 2013 by President
Barack Obama and abruptly firedby Trump four years later, amid
acrimony largely stemming fromthe FBI's handling of the Russia
probe.
(08:52):
The case against him centers ontestimony he gave before the
Senate Judiciary Committee inSeptember 2020, during a hearing
on the FBI's handling of thatinvestigation.
Under questioning from SenatorTed Cruz, Republican Texas,
Comey testified he had neverauthorized leaks to the media
about the Russia investigationor a separate probe into then
Democratic presidentialcandidate Hillary Clinton's
(09:13):
charitable foundation.
Prosecutors contend that answerwas untrue, forming the basis
for the indictment's firstcharge.
The second count, obstruction ofa congressional proceeding,
involves the same September 2020testimony, but does not specify
the false and misleadingstatements Comey is alleged to
have made.
A separate filing published onthe court's public docket
Thursday night detailed thethird count sought by
(09:36):
prosecutors, which the grandjury rejected, and which also
dealt with Comey's testimony.
To prove their case, prosecutorswill have to convince a jury
that Comey not only made falsestatements to Congress, but that
he knowingly did so, and thatany untruths were material to
focus of the Senate proceedings.
Comey's legal team could alsoask the federal judge handling
(09:56):
the case to dismiss theindictment before trial.
Some evidence is likely to workin Comey's favor.
For instance, Cruz said at the2020 hearing that the FBI's then
deputy director, Andrew McCabe,testified that Comey authorized
the disclosure of the ClintonFoundation investigation to a
news publication.
But the Justice Department'sInspector General concluded in a
2018 report that it was McCabewho authorized the leak and who
(10:20):
lacked candor when discussingthe matter with Comey and
investigators looking into thedisclosure.
Comey's attorneys are alsolikely to point to the fact that
before Thursday's indictment,the case had been rejected by
Eric S.
Siebert, the Trump-appointedinterim U.S.
attorney who had been overseeingthe investigation.
He concluded there wasinsufficient evidence to move
forward with the prosecution,the post has reported.
(10:42):
Siebert resigned last week underintense pressure from the Trump
administration, in part becauseof that decision.
Trump appointed Halligan as hisreplacement because the
president said she would getthings moving.
Since Halligan was sworn inMonday, several attorneys in the
Eastern District of Virginiashared a memo with her, laying
out concerns with the strengthof the evidence.
Two people familiar with thatmeeting said, they spoke on the
(11:04):
condition of anonymity to speakfreely about those internal
deliberations.
Nevertheless, Halligan opted tomove forward.
She and first assistant U.S.
attorney Mary M.
Maggie Cleary were in theAlexandria courtroom when the
indictment was delivered to U.S.
Magistrate Judge Lindsay R.
Vala on Thursday evening.
Comey's son-in-law Troy A.
Edwards Jr., who had prosecutedand supervised national security
(11:27):
cases, was seated in the frontrow.
The grand jury fourperson toldVala that the panel had rejected
one of three counts in theoriginally submitted indictment.
Prosecutors then presented arevised indictment, the
fourperson said, containing onlythe two counts that the grand
jury had agreed on, and withwhich Comey was eventually
charged.
The judge received bothindictments Thursday evening,
(11:47):
and noted she was puzzled by theoutcome.
This has never happened before.
I've been handed two documentswith a discrepancy, Vala said.
I'm a little confused why I washanded two things that were
inconsistent.
Halligan said at the lectern shehadn't seen the first indictment
that was rejected, but Vallanoted Halligan appeared to have
signed that original document.
(12:08):
Comey is expected to bearraigned on those charges at an
October 9th court hearing beforeU.S.
District Judge Michael S.
Nakmanoff, who was assigned tooversee the case.
Nachmanoff is an appointee offormer President Joe Biden.
In his video message Thursdaynight, Comey said he was not
afraid of the legal battles tocome.
My heart is broken for theDepartment of Justice, but I
have great confidence in thefederal judicial system, he
(12:31):
said.
And I'm innocent, so let's havea trial.
SPEAKER_05 (12:35):
Only death could silence Jane Goodall and her
passionate defense of theenvironment.
SPEAKER_10 (12:40):
We got the window of time to start healing some of
this harm we've done to theenvironment.
SPEAKER_05 (12:45):
At 91, passing away from natural causes while on a
speaking tour in Californiaafter a lifetime of advocacy,
starting with her belovedchimpanzees.
In 1960, with little scientifictraining, she went to Tanzania
and changed the way we look atthese great apes by doing
everything the scientificcommunity then thought was
(13:07):
wrong.
SPEAKER_10 (13:07):
They were totally horrified.
I'd named the chimps instead ofnumbering them.
I talked about them havingpersonalities.
I talked about them having mindsand being able to have rational
thoughts and emotions,happiness, sadness, feel that
all of these things weresupposed to be attributes only
of humans.
SPEAKER_05 (13:25):
Immersing herself in the jungle, she discovered the
chimps could make tools, atemeat, and fought wars,
captivating the world.
SPEAKER_10 (13:34):
I got on a geographic cover, and then there
were all these people saying,Well, she's only successful
because she's got nice legs.
My attitude was, well, the firstone gets me to get money to
study the chimps, which is mypassion.
Thank you, Lenny.
SPEAKER_05 (13:50):
A prolific author.
She spoke for the creatures sheunderstood.
That's good morning.
Good all married twice and hadone son, but her lasting legacy
is the relationship forged inthe wild.
(14:27):
Chimpanzees and ourselves.
Ann Thompson, NBC News.
SPEAKER_01 (14:32):
So from a courtroom in Virginia, let's walk into a
forest and tanzania.
Jane Goodwall, as you have justheard, has passed away at the
age of 91 with one of herclearest, most gentle voices in
the last century, now goingquiet while actually on a
(14:55):
speaking tour.
So picture Jane in 1960.
No PhD and no formal training,just a notebook, binoculars, and
patience.
Lewis Leakey sends her into theGombi Forest.
(15:17):
Everyone doubts her.
And she sits for hours, weeks,months, until one chimpanzee,
David Greybeard, allows herclose enough to see what no one
had documented before.
A chip stripping leaves from atwig, two fish termites from a
(15:41):
mound, to use as a tool.
That moment cracked openscience.
We were no longer the onlytoolmakers.
Soon she observed them hunting,she observed them waging war,
and mourning the dead.
(16:11):
They carried cruelty andtenderness, love and violence,
just like us.
But Jane didn't keep it toherself.
She didn't vanish into academicjournals.
Jane didn't keep it to herself.
(16:34):
She didn't turn inward.
She turned outward, becoming anevangelist for the conservation
movement.
She told the world, we are notlords over creation.
We are akin to creation.
She spoke with presidents,school children, CEOs, and
(16:57):
farmers, and she never lost herfaith in young people.
Her roots and shoots programempowered kids in over one
hundred countries to take careof the earth.
She knew despair intimately.
She saw force vanish.
(17:19):
She saw animals hunted, she sawrivers poisoned, but she refused
to surrender to cynicism.
Her optimism was stubborn, andher optimism was disciplined,
not just a move or a vibe.
And now it is ours to carry.
(17:43):
Because conservation isn't aboutsaying the environment is
important to be saved.
It's about saving ourselves.
It's about knowing that when wecut down force, we lose the
lungs of the planet.
That when we drive species intoextinction, we lose partners in
(18:05):
the great web of our lives.
When we pollute our rivers, weend up poisoning ourselves as
well as our own children.
So here's a little call to arms.
If you've been meaning to giveto a conservation society
program, do it.
(18:26):
If you thought about planting atree, do it.
Get your hands dirty.
If you wondered whether yourkids can make a difference, tell
them about Jane, and then letthem loose with a stubborn hope
that she carried.
Jane Goodall lived like someonewho understood time differently.
(18:47):
She taught us that healing anddestruction both happen slowly,
one choice at a time.
Rest well, Jane Goodwall.
You showed us the humanity ofanimals and reminded us of the
animal in our own humanity.
The force is calling.
(19:09):
I say it's time for us toanswer.
Change happens by listening andthen starting a dialogue with
people who are doing somethingyou don't believe is right.
That quote comes from the lateJane Goodall, who died at the
age of 91.
(19:30):
And now we come from the quietof the forest back into the
noise of the beautiful,beautiful place we call
Washington, DC.
Because the government is onceagain shut down.
Federal workers once againsidelined, services frozen, and
(19:54):
millions caught in the crossfireof a political staring contest.
Shutdowns actually feel like apart of the landscape now, but
the first modern one only camein the 1980s, when the Attorney
General ruled that agenciescouldn't appropriate without
appropriation.
I'm saying the I'm sorry, hecouldn't operate without certain
(20:16):
appropriations.
Since then, more than 20 havehappened.
Uh Bill Clinton and NewtGingrich in the 90s twice, uh
Obama in 2013 when Republicanstried to defund Obamacare, Trump
in 2018 through 2019, thelongest in history, which was 35
(20:37):
days right through Christmas.
Every time it's the same story.
Politicians swear they'restanding on principle, and every
time it ends the exact same way.
Compromise.
The only real question is howmuch damage happens before the
compromise gets there.
Consider the stories in uh 2019.
(21:00):
The Coast Guard families liningup at food banks, TSA agents
calling out sick en masse,scientists barred from their
labs, research ruined, parksrangers furloughed, national
treasures left unprotected,veterans waiting for benefits,
farmers waiting for loans.
(21:22):
And here's the kicker.
Shutdowns don't save money.
They actually cost billions ofdollars.
Lost productivity, delayedcontract, back paychecks that
still have to be cut.
It's vandalism dressed up asfiscal discipline.
But the deeper danger isactually civic.
(21:44):
When dysfunction becomesroutine, trust decays in the
systems.
Citizens start to shrug and saymaybe the government actually
doesn't work and maybe thegovernment doesn't matter at
all.
And that, my friends, is howdemocracies die.
Slowly.
Not with coups, but withcynicism.
(22:07):
And here's the lesson from 40years.
Shutdowns always end incompromise.
Always.
The only variable is how long welet families suffer before our
leaders admit that opening upthe government again is
inevitable.
So why not start where historyalways ends?
(22:28):
Why not cut the deal first andskip the damage?
Because politics today rewardsdefiance, not governance.
Because some leaders wouldrather starve the system to
prove it weakens than steward ittoward health.
But we can demand more.
(22:50):
We can't insist that compromiseis a betrayal.
It's the basic work of ourrepublic.
Because when the governmentshuts down, it's not a faceless
bureaucracy that suffers.
It's a soldier, the scientist,the inspector, the parent.
It's us.
And I reflect that we, as acountry, deserve better.
(23:16):
Three stories tonight.
A courtroom where justice bendsunder political weight, a force
where a woman showed us kinshipacross species, and a capital
where lawmakers treatdysfunction as ritual.
At first glance, they areseparate.
(23:36):
But they share root.
Trust.
Trust in law, trust in creationorder, trust in government,
trust in the fragile, once lost,is hard to rebuild.
Jane Goodwell showed us thatintegrity and patience can
(23:57):
rebuild trust with nature.
Our leaders, when they remember,can rebuild trust in
governments.
And justice, if kept blind, ifkept fair, can rebuild trust in
institutions.
The real question is will we?
Because the work of holdingthings together doesn't happen
(24:17):
in courtrooms or shutdownshowdowns alone.
It happens in how we live,whether we plant the tree,
whether we stand for fairness,whether we demand compromise
instead of chaos.
So as I log off to this show,don't carry only anger at what's
(24:38):
broken.
Carry also a stubborn hope likeJane Goodall embodied.
The stubborn memory that justicecan still matter, that democracy
still functions in thisrepublic.
We can't afford to shrug rightnow, and we can't afford to stop
caring.
(24:58):
So thank you for tuning in untilnext time.
Stay grounded, stay hopeful, andtake care of each other.
We have one planet, nobody isleaving.
Let us reason together.
SPEAKER_02 (25:12):
Boy, we should have laminated that thing.
There were six mass shootings at24 hours.
Two in North Carolina, two inLouisiana, one in Texas.
Uh uh, the terrible scenes outof Michigan.
(25:34):
Uh but fear not, because thepresident is obligated.
SPEAKER_06 (25:38):
This morning, President Trump declares he's
deploying troops to Portland,Oregon.
Oh!
SPEAKER_02 (25:46):
You just missed it! You're gonna want a little to
you're gonna you've got theright country.
You're gonna want to ship theship one.
(26:14):
Uncontrollable.
Till you see the lights of theold.
(26:35):
Not sure what that makes.
Here's the craziest part.
The people of Oregon, Portlandin particular, were also caught
off guard by this.
And the governor of Oregon triedto explain to the president that
they were not in a state of war.
And the president's responsewas, well, well, it was telling.
SPEAKER_17 (26:55):
President Trump, in an interview with NBC on Sunday
morning, said a phone call withGovernor Kotek showed him a
different perspective, saying, Ispoke to the governor, she was
very nice, but I said, Well,wait a minute.
SPEAKER_03 (27:06):
Am I watching things on television that are different
from what's happening?
SPEAKER_02 (27:26):
I don't think any of us know what you're watching on.
But if it's Game of Thrones, I'dsay yes.
Conditions in Portland may vary.
And B, this explains so muchabout the governing philosophy
(27:47):
of the Trump administration.
There is reality, and thenthere's this.
SPEAKER_03 (27:52):
My people tell me different.
They're literally attacking, andthere are fires all over the
place.
SPEAKER_02 (27:57):
And dragons.
Alone in his screened bunker,sees reports of conflict in
Portland on TV.
His lackings reinforce the chainof us, and rather than take a
(28:19):
breath, rather than take a beat,rather than not acting
rationally, rather than usingthe resources available to him
as the president of the UnitedStates to find out what the
realities on the ground are.
He just goes, go away, let mego.
Because he sees it.
(28:42):
And acts impulsively.
He sends out the National Guardthe same way you or I might make
a late night female purchase.
(29:07):
But at three in the morning,it's magic.
Meanwhile, the non-Portland areaof the country is going through
some shit.
As we mentioned, there's a massshooting now like every couple
of hours.
Previously, the routine would bewe express our shock, we express
(29:28):
our sadness, we offer ourthoughts and prayers, we spend a
day, maybe two, arguing aboutthe appropriateness of bringing
up guns at all, and then we uhdo nothing until the next time.
But as our politics becomes morepolarized, even that learned
cycle of helplessness has beenreplaced by a new post shooting
(29:49):
pastime.
That new pastime is was this oneof yours?
The shooter was a radicalleftist, the guy is a right wing
Trump supporting evangelicalChristian.
SPEAKER_12 (30:00):
He is a Biden supporter.
Case closed.
We know the suspected shooter isMega.
SPEAKER_05 (30:05):
The shooter?
SPEAKER_02 (30:06):
A leftist whack job?
It's America's new gender revealtradition.
Boom! It's blue! Ha ha! I'm sohappy to blame the left for the
violence.
The game is so ubiquitous.
Now we often play it before weeven know who the perpetrator
is.
SPEAKER_00 (30:24):
The kill's identity may be unknown, but his point of
view seems pretty clear.
That's why I'm calling itpolitical and from the left.
SPEAKER_02 (30:32):
That's Cudlow's lock of the week! Lock it up next
murder rate in Chicago nextweekend.
Well, it's getting cold there,so I'm taking the under.
By the way, playing with thisone of yours is also certainly a
speculative endeavor.
So we are treated in theaftermath of these horrific
crimes to the news media'sactive politicized scavenger
(30:54):
hunt.
Which piece of inconclusivearcana proves which half of the
country is to blame.
SPEAKER_03 (31:01):
The shooter reportedly voted in the 2020
Democrat primary.
SPEAKER_13 (31:04):
The Butler, Pennsylvania shooter was a
registered Republican.
The suspect wasn't registeredeither party.
SPEAKER_03 (31:11):
He grew up in an area of Utah that is mostly
Republican.
The shooter was a registeredRepublican, while election
records show that in 2021 hegave$15 to a Democratic aligned
organization.
SPEAKER_02 (31:32):
Republican, but donated to a Democrat.
Maybe he just wanted the PBS KenBurns tote bag.
I don't know who to hate.
Sometimes the clues aren't evenexpressly political, but live
politically adjacent in theculture.
SPEAKER_04 (31:48):
Social media photos show Mr.
Robinson shooting and posingwith guns.
SPEAKER_16 (31:51):
There's his pickup truck, the huge American flags.
This person was a gay man who isin a relationship with another
man who believes he was a woman,and they were both into a
phenomenon that can only bedescribed as furriness.
SPEAKER_02 (32:32):
I mean, if you weren't even gonna do something
like that, how would you evenget the stains out of the
costumes, I mean?
Especially if they had set forthree days.
What would you use?
Club soda, lemon?
I'm just asking.
Or do you just throw the costumeout after each experience?
Now call me old-fashioned.
But I miss the good old days ofmass shootings.
When networks took a principledstance to not shower attention
(32:55):
on acts designed to getattention.
SPEAKER_18 (32:58):
We will not say the gunman's name or show his
photograph.
SPEAKER_07 (33:01):
Fox News will not show you his picture or give him
any attention by repeating hisname.
We don't like naming the gunmanbecause so often they do things
just to get attention.
SPEAKER_02 (33:20):
That's right, boys and girls, you know.
When I was a boy, there was abrief period in American media
where not only wouldn't they saythe suspected killer's name,
they wouldn't constantly showthe suspected killer's OnlyFans
hotshots.
They wouldn't do it.
They wouldn't, oh dear Lord! Oh!Oh my god! He could have so he
(33:47):
could have done so much goodwith those.
And yet he chose the dark side.
So why has the news media becomeobsessed with right-left framing
of violence?
Well, part of the reason is theyare following the lead of social
(34:08):
media.
Social media is doing it crazierand faster than anybody else.
So the media is trying to keepup.
The fire in the church inMichigan was still burning when
online influencers wereinferring that the number of
Muslims in Michigan are whatobviously made this attack
happen.
Until police released thesuspect's photo, which looked
(34:30):
like it came from a Duck Dynastyfanfic account.
And then the left got tocelebrate.
And then they found a TrumpVance sign on his house, case
closed, except that sign wasplaced near a stop sign.
So some on the right said, no,no, no, he's saying stop Trump
Vance.
Like it's some leftist Rebusthat he was creating.
(34:54):
But here's the thing.
Who the f cares?
These mass shootings don't fit.
Who honestly cares?
These mass shootings do not fitneatly into our left-right
paradigm.
Mass shootings are probablycaused by a complex fusion of
(35:16):
mental health and access toweapons and attention-seeking
delusional nihilism married toan algorithmic underworld that
set these horrific acts inmotion.
But unfortunately, right-leftparadigm is the only way our
narcissistic media ecosystemsees anything anymore.
That's the system they built.
So it must fit into theright-left paradigm because that
(35:38):
binary is the foundation of allof their programming.
So that helps them pretend thatthe solution to this violence is
a simple change in ourright-left rhetoric.
The violent rhetoric that iscoming from the extreme right
wing.
SPEAKER_04 (35:53):
They are not just tolerating political violence,
they are cultivating it.
SPEAKER_09 (36:05):
Stop with the rhetoric.
SPEAKER_02 (36:09):
I don't think the rhetoric is getting people
killed.
Honestly, I don't think any ofthese psychotic motherfuckers
that are doing this are watchingMSNBC.
I mean, I'm only judging fromthe ratings.
I'm almost positive they're notwatching it.
To suggest that we don't need totackle any complex, deep-rooted
(36:33):
issues haunting Americansociety, we just need to stop
saying a few choice bad words,and all our mentally broken
young men will be fine is notrealistic.
SPEAKER_04 (36:42):
And I'm pretty sure that these people don't believe
that either.
When you equate federal agentswith literal Nazis, you're no
longer offering an opinion.
You are giving permission toescalate.
So dangerous.
So this is what Hitler did withthe SS.
(37:04):
This is what Nazi JosephGoebbels said about the Hitler
youth.
Nazi tactics are progressivetactics first.
Permission to escalate, granted.
SPEAKER_12 (37:16):
Look, in America we disagree, that's fine, that's
the democratic process.
But your political opponents arenot Nazis.
SPEAKER_04 (37:25):
Except when the Democrats.
They are authoritarians.
They are jack-booted thugs.
SPEAKER_02 (37:34):
No, no, he's not calling them Nazis.
I'm sure that's just a fashioncritique.
Jack-booted thugs, I mean thoseboots, and white pants in
October.
Are you mad?
Only Hitler would pull somethinglike that.
Look, getting our arms aroundwhy this is happening is
(37:56):
maddening and scary.
But the media's ability tomemory hole mass shootings that
they can't neatly fit intoright-left is almost as
maddening as not really knowingwhy these killings are really
happening.
Even when the suspected killersleave supposedly explicit cues
on their bullets.
SPEAKER_04 (38:15):
One inscription read, uh, hey fascist, catch,
uh, giving some indication aboutthe mindset of uh uh of Tyler
Robinson.
SPEAKER_02 (38:25):
Oh, right, no, it's uh very clearly anti-fascist,
very clear.
Unless was there anythingwritten on the other bullets?
SPEAKER_04 (38:32):
If you read this, you are gay, L-M-A-O.
Okay, that seems kind ofhomophobic to me.
If you read this, you're gay.
I don't know what that means.
SPEAKER_02 (38:46):
Well, read it again.
It means it's gotta meansomething.
SPEAKER_18 (38:59):
New York City college meme and digital culture
researcher we spoke to saidcould refer to a video game
called Helldivers 2.
The same for other inscriptionsfound on an up arrow, right
arrow, and three down arrows,which is how you drop a bomb in
that game.
SPEAKER_02 (39:15):
What the f are we even the world that these kids
now live in is so cynical andimpermeable.
This online nether world.
If only there were a man.
One man, a man who looks square,but is hep to what these kids
(39:37):
are laying down, man.
SPEAKER_09 (39:40):
There's a lot of talk about the chat platform
Discord, and Kurt the Cyber Guyjoins us now to tell us what
Discord is.
SPEAKER_02 (40:00):
Fresh off of doing the weather in Sarasota.
Thanks for the no down, Kurt theCyber Guy, you old cyber dog.
Say hello to your partner incrime, meme Maven Gary.
Meanwhile, why are we all justtaking the bait from these
psychos?
SPEAKER_13 (40:19):
Authorities have not released the motive, but of
course, here's the ammunition.
The words anti-ICE, that phrasehyphenated, written on one of
the bullet casings.
SPEAKER_08 (40:31):
We we just had the facts laid out for us.
This was an individual motivatedby anti-ice.
He wrote it on a bullet.
We saw the bullet yesterday.
Anti-ice.
SPEAKER_02 (40:40):
Case closed! He wrote anti-ice.
Doesn't anybody think it's fingweird that these people just
started writing on bullets allof a sudden?
Like that's the most effectiveway to get out their deeply held
political beliefs?
Anti-ICE, enough said.
Or is there the slightestpossibility that these people
(41:02):
are fing with us?
SPEAKER_07 (41:04):
According to his friends, the alleged gunman was
not overly political and wasmainly interested in video games
and internet culture.
SPEAKER_00 (41:11):
Clearly it's anti-ICE, right?
And his friends say, I wouldn'tinterpret it that way.
He was never a sincere guy.
Everything he said was lacedwith irony and sarcasm.
SPEAKER_02 (41:20):
What kind of finging psychotic internet culture?
What's happening?
Can't we just go back to thecinnamon challenge?
Is that so hard?
What is wrong with you?
Look, we would definitely have ahealthier political discourse if
we weren't constantly callingeach other fascists and
communists and Nazis.
But we are the only place in theworld where this shit happens
(41:45):
all the time.
But we're not the only place inthe world that name calls.
So what is this?
Perhaps we need to look back atour founders, who through their
infinite wisdom designed andoperated a more mature system,
which had some balances and arespect for all, that prevented
(42:06):
this kind of corrosiveinfighting and radicalization.
SPEAKER_03 (42:11):
John Quincy Adams take an aim at Jackson,
asserting that Jackson didn'tknow how to spell, was too
uneducated to become president,while newspapers portrayed his
wife Rachel as a short fatdumpling.
SPEAKER_02 (42:29):
A delicious dumpling, indeed.
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