Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
It's the week of October fifth, twenty twenty five, and
this is what's on the People's News. There's a peace
deal in Gaza, kind of is peace possible? Veterans in
Louisiana fight for their rights and the rights of all
veterans across the country. The Innocence Project is still fighting
(00:27):
the fight to protect the innocent locked in prison, remembering
a Sada Shakur freedom fighter. All that and more on
the People's News. I'm Steve Gallington. This is the People's News,
and the People's News starts now.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Hi.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
This is Steve Gallington, producer and host for the People's News.
One of the things that I got in preparation for
going to the No King's rally on June fourteenth was
a presentation from the ACLU, which I want to repeat
the information from for you in light of the convicted
felon opening up Alligator Alcatraz and the Republican House and
(01:16):
Senate passing this big, ugly, expensive, devastating bill. Among those
things is one hundred and thirty five billion dollars for
increased secret police activity or ICE funding. And so you
have rights when dealing with the police or ice, no
(01:37):
matter or immigration status number one. If they do not
have a warrant, an arrest warrant or a search warrant,
you do not have to open the door for the
police or ice. You do not have to answer any
questions about status or country of origin. The right to
remain silent is protected under the fifth Amendment of the Constantution.
(02:01):
You have the right to ask to see a lawyer.
You have the right to refuse searches of your person
and your car if the police do not suspect a crime.
This is the fourth Amendment of the Constitution. Never sign
anything without knowing what it says. And you have a
(02:24):
right to record what happens. And if you're hearing this
and you can speak and read Spanish, the People's News
would love for you to read the script in Spanish,
so we can accompany that with this as well. So
be safe out there, look out for each other, and
we will get through this together. Over seventy people have died,
(02:48):
with a tax continuing in Gaza City as a ceasefire
is said to be agreed on the convicted fellaon Donald
Trump exhibiting more and more dementia and mental decline every
single day, thinks that He's on an episode of the Apprentice,
and he has worked out a deal with bb Net
(03:10):
and Yahoo that Gaza will give up the hostages that
they're holding and giving up their weapons, and in return,
Israel will stop attacks and move to a designated line.
After that, Trump himself and former Prime Minister Tony Blair
would govern over Gaza on their own. So in Trump's
(03:31):
Apprentice fever dream, he feels like this is the way
that he's going to be able to develop Gaza as
his own luxury property. The piece deal is problematic on
many levels and may be illegal. We talk to Nick Cooper,
who has headed many protests against what he calls an
assault by Israel on Gaza, which he has called a
(03:53):
form of apartheid. He commented on this latest deal, well, of.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
Sense, any kind of an agreement requires some kind of
framework of law and equality and justice and you know,
people actually having choices or whatever. But I mean, obviously
you can't have an agreement where you know, hey, if
you say no, then you'll get a genocide, and if
you say yes and maybe a genocide. I mean, that's
(04:21):
not really an agreement. That's just you know the kind
of thing that genocidal powers are going to want to do.
Speaker 4 (04:28):
What do you think solution is besides Israel of getting
out of that?
Speaker 3 (04:34):
Oh, well, you know, the solution has always been the
you know, the framework of international law in which those
who have participated in the knife would be brought up
on war crimes charges in a tribunal system, and then
you would have, you know, perhaps the Truth and Reconciliation
Commission that would work on having peaceful, long term outcomes.
Speaker 4 (04:58):
But they say that they have a framework of of
of negotiations and peace.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
Right, Well, I mean they can say whatever, but I mean,
you know, this is just there's an ongoing genocide. There's
not even any indication that the genocide is going to stop,
no matter what things. Netna, who signs in fact in Hebrew,
will kind of make very clearly that you know, there's
genocide and nothing cleansing, and they'll never be a Palestinian state.
So it's not it's not like it matters what he
(05:24):
signs or whatever, and this is just some nonsense that
they say or whatever. And you know, at this point
people don't need to worry about what anybody's saying about anything.
If there was anything resembling justice going on, it would
look very different and it's not. And they can frame
it however they want. I mean, Trump can say one
(05:47):
day that it's going to be you know, whatever Riviera
kind of situation in Gaza with luxury hotels, and you know,
they can say anything they want, but the reality is
that there's an on going genocide and there's no way
to end it. I mean in the sense that if
you're going to have the Israeli government continue and power,
then the genocide is going to continue. The way that
(06:10):
we've dealt with things like this before has been with war, cime, tribunals.
Speaker 4 (06:15):
People who said that the attack in Manchester the synagogue
was tacking two people's shields, Uh, it was fames that
this is going to be is going to be an honest,
ongoing struggle and issuals in your attach Yeah, I mean.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
You know, if you're doing a genocide, of course, like
that's going to have all kinds of collateral damage to
innocent people around the world. That's you know the nature
of this level of violences that's going to referberate on
every level throughout society. So obviously, like people don't have
the ability to hit out that anybody who's actually doing
(06:55):
the violence. All they have the ability to do is
pick on some you know, civilians or whatever. And that's
that's what happens when you don't have any kind of
justice framework, international law. You just have a bunch of
people who are angry at each other. M H.
Speaker 4 (07:11):
And the movement here as far as stopperings, there's a
lot of a lot of organizations in an attacked by
the Trump administration as.
Speaker 5 (07:19):
Being a terrorist organization. They say, you know, and people's
not on.
Speaker 4 (07:24):
Group, it's it's it's a people. It's a different different
groups together. Just is it were you that the attacks
on people's free speech and attacks on people' civil rights
being being a stake.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
Yeah, I mean that's a complete attack kind of going
on right now. And uh, you know, it's it's nothing
that anybody who's alive in the United States has ever
experienced in their life on this level of cutdown on
constitutional freedoms.
Speaker 4 (07:56):
Well, and what do you think it was the end
if anyway, because we've got in from reministrations nobs of
the course, you get the right to go to places
like Portland saying days uh, you know, it's an Antifa
threatened the city and it needs to be taken over
and they're gonna use that same platform as he said
in the in the speech to the military, that we
(08:20):
need to be we need to be used in cities
in America as as takeoff spots or learning spots from
before going overseas.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
Yeah, I mean that's pretty clear, uh, pretty clear example
of what fascism looks like. I mean you say, yes,
the enemy within and the foreign enemies, and we got
to fight all about whatever you said, whether it's an
Israel or the US or whatever the cow fascism sounds.
Speaker 4 (08:47):
Yeah, this is this has taking another level though, because
the the cities are being heard by the shut down
and funding and people's people snapped in it. It's getting
the finishers are being assations. So how do you find
how do you know we talked about Issier, but but
the administration now has gone gonea on Tovidy, not just
(09:10):
talk about any hurt people, hurt people in general.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
Yeah, you have a you know, I think that in
the in the US framework of law, there are things like,
you know, you can't enforce the law selectively, you know,
in indicating you know, kind of revenge spirit. I mean,
you're you're not allowed to do that under our laws.
But you know, obviously those are enforcing those laws are
(09:35):
the ones who are doing those things, so you can't
really expect them to be held accountable, including in the courts.
I mean, you know, of course, there are plenty of
judges who are perfectly aware of the constitutional history in
the United States, and they know that certain things are unconstitutional,
but ultimately, with the Supreme Court where it is and
(09:56):
their their rulings can get overturned.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
That woul 's activist Nick Cooper, commenting on the latest
negotiations in the ongoing war of Israel against Gaza. October
seventh will mark the second year since the attack by
Hamas which started this entire conflict. Robert Robinson is scheduled
to be executed on October sixteenth. Thursday, October second was
(10:22):
the twelfth annual Wrongful Conviction Day, a day to raise
awareness of the causes and remedies of wrongful conviction and
to recognize the tremendous personal, social, and emotional costs of
wrongful conviction for innocent people and their families. Since nineteen
eighty nine, over three thousand, seven hundred people have been
(10:44):
exonerated in the US. Collectively, these men and women spent
thirty four thousand plus years in prison for crimes they
didn't commit. As reported on this show before, there have
been many in Texas that have been exonerated by the
Innocence Project of Texas. Mike ware is the executive director
(11:04):
of the Innocent Project of Texas. He talked about what
they are doing and what people can do to help them.
Speaker 6 (11:11):
Yeah, it's a day. It's a National Wrongful Conviction Day
that you know that that I guess has been set
aside to recognize the phenomena of innocent people being convicted
and imprisoned or maybe in some cases even executed for
crimes they did not commit. And you know, we're I'm
(11:36):
there are different events that are being organized. I'm going
to participate in one at Texas Christian University tomorrow that
is pretty much an all day event with speakers including judges, investigators, lawyers,
academics that are going to be speaking about wrongful convictions
(12:01):
and how they occur and how they can be prevented
and how they can be identified and rectified. So the
you know, the day is set aside really to bring
the public attention to the fact that in the United
States of America, in Texas. Uh, innocent people, completely innocent
(12:23):
people are convicted, and that that is a huge problem
with the justice system and needs to be addressed.
Speaker 4 (12:31):
How hard is it going to be now that you
have an administration that is going it's taking things back
a step, restricting any type of uh, well on this
law and order law order stances, restricting some of the
due process that we can rely on in the past.
How hard is it going to be now to try
(12:53):
to try to deshame people from being innocent people from
being prosecuted.
Speaker 6 (12:59):
Well, well, I mean it's never been easy, you know,
you know the the it's and of course, you know,
we deal with trying to prevent innocent people from being prosecuted,
but we also deal on the other end that once
innocent people are prosecuted and convicted, we you know, initiate
(13:22):
and litigate the often lengthy court proceedings that it takes
to exonerate such a person. I've always said that it's
much much easier to convict a completely innocent person than
it is to exonerate a completely innocent person once they've
been convicted. And I guess you know, some of the
(13:47):
new policies and atmosphere that have been propagated by this
administration are not going to make an already difficult job
any easier.
Speaker 4 (13:57):
And the general public right now, because there's a lot
of the rhetoric that's that's that's going around, how hard
is it going to get support from the public because
of what they're seeing around them and some of the
some of the things they're hearing.
Speaker 6 (14:13):
Well, I'm not exactly sure specifically what you're talking about,
but I think, well, I.
Speaker 4 (14:17):
Think when the public when I was just gonna say,
when the public hears that we have innocent person that's convicted,
but on the other hand, they hear the law and
order stances that well or you know, well, he probably
did it anyway, you know, or he had a he
had a he had a criminal record in his background,
(14:38):
so he probably did it, and the public, the general
public hears that. So it's harder, it's harder for people
to understand how innocent people can be can be prosecuted.
Speaker 6 (14:51):
Well, I mean there's always been that, you know, and
there's always been people who have our entities or you know,
political voices or whatever that have tried to undermine the
validity of our work with lies. Uh. And my position
(15:12):
is Ultimately, the truth is going to win out over
the lies. But but I think, as far as you know,
I think one of the subtexts of your question is,
you know, what do you say to people who say, well,
I'm I'm I'm for strong law enforcement, I'm for law
and order, I'm for tough on crime. Well, it is
not tough on crime to convict and imprison innocent people
(15:37):
and let the guilty people go free. And a prime
example of that is what has just happened in Travis
County where the yogurt shot murders have evidently now been solved.
And and it's it's by it was they were. The
yogurt shot murders were evidently committed by a serial murderer
(16:01):
who was never identified during the investigations until now until recently,
and who went on to commit more murders after he
committed the yogurt shot murders. While these innocent boys, some
of these innocent boys were prosecuted, some went to prison,
one was on debt, at least one was on death
row for a while. You know, how does putting those
(16:24):
innocent prosecuting and imprisoning and putting those innocent boys on
death row while the actual perpetrator, a serial murderer is
out committing more murders. How is that tough on crime?
It's not, it's the opposite.
Speaker 4 (16:40):
Yeah, and it's something that I've been talking to you
over the years. I've seen cases that if anybody would
have would have would have really looked at the case,
can say, hey, there's no way this person did this crime.
I think the most outrageous that I've heard was the
(17:02):
it takes his ranger that used the oh what if?
What what if? Theory that they put in the head
of the of the of of a person that what
if you did this? And then this is that you
have done this and there's no there's no evidence of
them even being in the scene in the tub, but
(17:24):
they still prosecuted that principle. Yeah, yeah, I know the
case you're talking about. I know it well.
Speaker 6 (17:31):
And yeah, it's once again, what purpose does that serve?
Fabricating basically fabricating and framing a person to take the
fall for a murder that was obviously committed by someone else.
How is that? How is that law and order? How
is that pro law enforcement? How is that tough on crime?
(17:54):
When we know whoever, whoever committed the particular murder that
I know you're talking about was never even has never
been identified, and instead, you know, a a an innocent
man was framed and convicted.
Speaker 4 (18:13):
I was just asking, how how is it that we
are are we getting into a situation now that the
civil rights are being thrown out the window, and especially
when do process when especially when you're talking about brown
people and in the immigrants, immigrants that's in this country
that are being that are being picked up on no charges,
(18:33):
but the fact that of of the of them being brown,
or or or from or have a voice from somewhere else.
Speaker 6 (18:40):
Yeah, it sure looks that way. I mean, you know,
I guess up up to this point, you know, we
have been dealing with people who have been convicted of
crimes they did not commit. But now it looks like
we're dealing with people being picked up, arrested, and deported
without even being accused.
Speaker 4 (18:57):
Of course, how do we get to that point? Are
we to the point where now we're with on the
constitution out the window?
Speaker 6 (19:07):
There's a lot of evidence of that that we're singing
all around this yst Well.
Speaker 4 (19:11):
How do we fight this? We've seen this happen before,
but how do we as individuals fight this.
Speaker 6 (19:17):
Well, we've got the midterms coming up. I'd say number one,
get out and vote for the right candidates. Inform yourself
and get out and vote for the right candidates in
the midterms that are coming up. And what what cases
are you working on now that people should know about. Well,
we're working on Sandy melgar case down there in Harris County.
(19:37):
Can you tell us about that case? Yeah, she was
convicted in twenty seventeen a murder that she not only
did not commit, she couldn't possibly have committed. She is
(19:59):
supposedly murdered her longtime husband, who she had a very
loving relationship with. There were no problems in the marriage,
and they were celebrating I don't know, thirty something anniversary
(20:20):
and there was a there was a home break in
and he was murdered and she was tied up and
injured and locked in a closet and things were stolen,
and the Harris County Sheriff's office showed up and showed
up and decided, for whatever crazy reason, right away that
she committed the murder of stage the crime scene without
(20:41):
any evidence of that crazy theory. And so that's that's
the case. We're working on. I think I can tell
you that the BBC has just come out with an
excellent podcast on the case. The most recent episode came
out today, so it's called Hands Tied, and I would
(21:04):
recognize I would recommend that that podcast to learn about
the Sandy Milk arcass from the BBC.
Speaker 7 (21:12):
And from what I.
Speaker 4 (21:13):
Will go and listen to that. But how is it
that with no evidence, she's she's being she's being prosecuted
on anything, you know, because it has to be some
investigator and it found that it was a break in
and somebody, somebody actually broke into the house and it
(21:34):
wasn't her that did the crime.
Speaker 6 (21:37):
Well, you know, this is a long story that I'm
I'm I'm really not prepared to go into right now.
I mean, it's it's, it's it's it's not only subject
of this eight part, eight episode podcast, it's also the
subject of an entire season podcast that truth, the Truth
and Justice podcast did. Bob Ruth did an excellent job.
(22:00):
So I've given you, I've given you the case in
a nutshell. It doesn't see the case juste. But maybe
we can have a conversation another time about that Guineas.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
That was Mike Ware, executive director of the Innocence Project.
Without intervention from the state, Robert Robinson will be executed
on October sixteenth for a crime that never happened.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
Hi.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
This is Steve Gallington, producer and host of the People's News.
If you have a story that needs to be told,
come to us. We accept fully produced audio, written material,
or just give us the idea and we will run
with it. Shiny new one hour episodes of The People's
News drop each Sunday on The People's News podcast hosted
(22:50):
by spreaker dot com and linked to my website Gallington
dot com. Louisiana veterans are fighting for the right to
have competent legal representation. Military Veterans Advocacy, a national nonprofit
that serves the interests of armed service members and veterans.
In June of twenty twenty four, sued Louisiana Governor Jeff
(23:11):
Landry an Attorney General Elizabeth Merle over the unconstitutional nature
of recent legislation that Landry allowed to become law without
his signature. The impact of this law would allow unlicensed
and unaccredited organizations to represent veterans without any oversight. We
talked to Executive Director Commander John Wells, US Navy retired
(23:36):
about MVA and what it does and how these new
laws are affecting veterans.
Speaker 8 (23:43):
Sure, as Senator Stuart Cathy Adam Monroe Louisiana introduced and
was able to get passed a bill in Louisiana legislature
that would have allowed uncertified and we believe unqualified to
represent veterans. You know, the v EIGHT has their certification system.
(24:06):
Even as an attorney have to be certified by the
VDA to practice before the PA. So these guys were
basically able to come in. There was no restraints on
how much they could charge, and you know, this allowed
them to do it. We objected to that of their
number of reasons, primarily because you know this is federal benefits.
(24:30):
Congress is the one who should be dictating this Topsiana legislature,
and there has been some problems throughout the country with
the these other organizations trying to kind of worm their
way into the veterans benefits system. And as a result,
you know, we want Congress to take care of any
(24:52):
kind of regulation. Would you not feel that a patchwork
of fifty different systems would be very good and in fact, uh,
you know, Congress is considering a bill right now.
Speaker 5 (25:07):
But I.
Speaker 8 (25:09):
Uh Jack Bernman, who is a retired Marine lieutenant general
and also represents Michigan First District, the Upper Peninsula of Michigan,
who has a bill in that would do that would
do the regulation. We took it to the court. The government,
(25:30):
the state of general fold of motion dismiss the governor
as basically, I'm sorry the UH. The governor was dismissed
from the case, and we understand that, but the Attorney
General was not. As a result, the judge actually got
a little I think ticked off at the UH, at
(25:55):
the government. He said some of their arguments were nonsensical
and where we had called one border on frivolous, he said,
the court agrees. So those are kind of if you
want to hear when you're an attorney. But you know,
I said about the other side, that's a good thing.
We've contacted the Attorney General's office to see if they
want to settle, and they are not interested in settling
(26:18):
at this time, so I guess we're going to move forward.
We have summary judgments motions filed, and as the court
to grant summary judgment if they do. That'll be fine.
If God will move on to trial.
Speaker 3 (26:31):
How is it?
Speaker 5 (26:32):
Does somebody can replace? You can go in front of
anybody and not have the bad Nobody did a background
check on the.
Speaker 4 (26:40):
On the on the river.
Speaker 8 (26:43):
You know there's particularly and I'm not saying that these
people are necessarily crooks or criminals, but you know they
in many cases are not qualified and they're certainly not
certified by the BA.
Speaker 9 (26:58):
You know.
Speaker 5 (26:59):
And I say that because you know, you know, you
can practice law, but your specialization has to be in
something you know, you know, either a con on the
er or or.
Speaker 8 (27:08):
Well, yeah, you usually put an emphasis. When I first
came out of the Navy and I started practice law,
I did a kind of a general practice for a while,
but then I zer it in on military law and
veterans laws. That's what I knew the best.
Speaker 5 (27:26):
So where does this case still now?
Speaker 8 (27:28):
Uh? We wait for the court to rule on the
summary judgment in motions again if it if we win there,
and I think we have an excellent chance, Uh, then
that's it. The law will be basically declared unconstitutional.
Speaker 5 (27:45):
And it was your you know, you wouldn't know, you
wouldn't know what what judges you might have with this case.
Speaker 8 (27:51):
As Judge Jackson out of Batmanars and what's also history
of I don't know his history at all.
Speaker 5 (28:03):
And this has been going how long has it been
going on?
Speaker 8 (28:07):
We filed last summer I'm sorry, uh, summer of last year.
Speaker 5 (28:13):
And this takes this stuff. Is this something that's has
been acting the veteran organizations across the country or is
this this kind of of something that's just Louisyannagy.
Speaker 8 (28:25):
Actually there's a lot of interest. We've gotten some support
from the National Organization of Veterans AVOCA and the Better
for Wars, among others.
Speaker 5 (28:35):
Can you tell people, at least from people how to
get in touch a your organization, tell you what your
organization does.
Speaker 8 (28:41):
Sure Military Veterans Advocacy is five oh one C three
tax exempt nonprofit. Our website is www. Military Veterans Advocacy
dot org. We litigate, legislate, and educate.
Speaker 3 (28:57):
That means we.
Speaker 8 (28:59):
Go up beat up Congress for veterans benefits, although we're
not going to do too much of that here now
since Congress is still closed down or the government shut down.
We will see the VA or other groups that are
in this case, was the State of Louisiana for to
(29:21):
try to increase better tect veterans. And we also do
particularly legal education for attorneys on veterans law as better
as law is a unique kind of a unique niche,
and we want to make sure that the people that
go in out of practicing veterans law know what they're doing.
Speaker 5 (29:38):
We know about the VA in in divisions in Texas.
How are the veterans being treated in Louisiana, especially as
far as the especially as for as a be a
hospitalizations and stuff like that.
Speaker 8 (29:53):
Well, VA Hospital in New Orleans used to get a
second chance to die for the country, but post Katrina
they've come a long way and generally the medical treatment
you get there is pretty good.
Speaker 5 (30:09):
Yeah, because we hear about this all the time, about
the way the venomans are treated a certain a certain facilities.
Speaker 8 (30:18):
And well, we had a problem at bay By It's
in Florida, spen a few years now and the secretary
of the time we got a hold of him and
he got it straight out prefect.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
That was Commander John Wells, US Navy, retired with m
v A. To find out more, you can email John
at John dot Wells at m v A, d V
o c A. C y dot Org. Asada Shakur meant
a lot to many in the black community. She was
not just hip hop legend Tupac Shakur's grandmother, but was
(30:56):
so much more. She was a freedom fighting member of
the Black Liberation Army and author of Asada and autobiography,
and stands as a powerful and iconic symbol of resistance
and survival. Shakur died at the age of seventy eight
on September twenty fifth, in Havana, Cuba. Shakur always maintained
(31:17):
her innocence. After being wrongfully convicted for the killing of
a New Jersey State trooper in nineteen eighty, she escaped
imprisonment and lived out her remaining years on the Caribbean island.
In twenty thirteen, the FBI added her to the most
wanted list. She was never apprehended. The Minister of Culture
(31:39):
and the Revolutionary artist of the Black Panther Party, Emery Douglas,
talked about meeting Asada Shakur in Oakland at the Black
Panther Office. He also discussed her courageous life and dedication
to the movement of black people in the US. Mister
Douglas was on Block Report Radio and we air that
(31:59):
entire interview here with their permission.
Speaker 10 (32:03):
You are listening to another edition of Black Report Radio
with the People's Minister of Information, j R.
Speaker 8 (32:08):
Val Ray.
Speaker 10 (32:09):
Today, our guest is the Minister Culture of the Black
Panther Party and the revolutionary artist Emriy Douglas. We're gonna
be talking about the passing of Black Panther and Black
Liberation Army member as well as political exile in Cuba,
Asida Shakur. She recently passed last week in Cuba.
Speaker 3 (32:31):
How are you, Emri, I'm doing good, Jr.
Speaker 7 (32:33):
And yourself, I'm good good.
Speaker 10 (32:36):
Sorry to hit you up on this somber day for
such a somber subject, but I wanted to hit you
specifically because you are one of the people that Asada
Shakur was honored to meet when she was a young
Black Panther coming to Oakland, California. Do you remember that
story on you meeting Asada and what happened?
Speaker 7 (32:58):
Yes, I recall how I initially first saw her is that,
you know, looking out the window of the front of
the office one day in the afternoon and I seen
this young lady pap pastaid Ooh she still looks good,
but she didn't come in. And so what happened is
(33:18):
a couple of days later, I was out and about
dealing with political work, and when I came back in
the office, there she was in the office. As she
mentioned in her book, I believe she uh was out
here for a conference. And when she came by, I
guess she was reluctant to come in. The first was
you know. But then I seen her when she came
in and I introduced myself and Barbacilla was there. She
(33:41):
t cut up with Barbacil and myself and others for
a moment, and that was the initial meeting between her
and I. Then and then when I used to go
back to New York from time to time, I would
see her working with the Panthers in New York, all
of the branch and what have you. On the one
occasion I stayed at the apartment. When I was there,
(34:03):
I mean, she was full of curd the whole how
she got from point A to point B. And in
the context of what took place, in the context of that,
I mean, that's courage. You call that just straight up,
deep deep down inside commitment to social concerns, socialuggestice, and
(34:26):
I said, I'll recall remember Asata. I remember I went
to Cuba about twenty sixteen, but because I was invited
by the African Cultural Department there to bure a display
in Havana, you know, I didn't think it was appropriate
for me to request to visit or see her in
that context. So I didn't get opportunity during that time
(34:49):
to visit with her or talk with her. But I
recalled when Panther editor Jernana Abraham was one of the
editors of the newspaper went to Cuba, and I gave
for a whole bunch of calory sales that a friend
of mine had given to me who used to work
at Berkeley Flea Market in oak And, California, and she
used to wear them. Because I used to see pictures
(35:11):
of her early day when she had all those calory shells. Well,
those were the carosells that I had sensed her during
that time while she was there, because Joe Nina had
the opportunity to connect with her and to share those
carry sheeals with her.
Speaker 10 (35:27):
Wow, can you talk a little bit about some of
the political work that she was doing and what was
on your mind when you heard that she was on
the FBI's most wanted list at that time.
Speaker 7 (35:43):
The whole movement, we understood what cointail pro was. We
understood that, and we understood that that's the way that
they would try to exaggerate the situations, as they would
normally do when they arrest somebody, they put all these
trumped up charges on them, and when it had nothing
but maybe even not even the misdemeanor. And so that's
(36:06):
the same thing you to say with Asava. They were vindictive,
how they had been TAKETI the system in in the UH,
the racism and all that that exists then in now
you know. So, but as she spoke, she speaks in
her own words. She articulates very clearly and very convincingly.
(36:26):
You know that her hands were in the air. You know,
she wasn't resisting what have you. She had no gun.
You know she was shot. How could she have killed
the officer and the policeman, the patrolman or whoever he
was when she was already had been shot and her
(36:46):
arm was paralyzed. So that negates they hold. It shows
you clearly how they, in what they made, are are
capable beyond just the UH attempting to put her out
as a wanted person, but you demonize her in the
eyes of the public and particularly of the African American
(37:10):
and people of color community and the progressive in the country.
Speaker 10 (37:13):
You know, well, I know that you have been a
black panther, you know, almost since the beginning, and I
know you saw the cases of people like Huie who
had to flee, Angela Davis who had to flee. You
also saw that the Cuban people gave a side of
(37:34):
chakor exile for over forty years. What can you say
to that show of solidarity and what should we learn
from it as a community.
Speaker 7 (37:44):
Well, there's there's many lessons to learn in relationship to
that solidarity, because without solidarity, we were in a deep hole,
went at bottomless pit. We continuously without solidarity. She be
well what she had been right?
Speaker 10 (38:03):
Yeah, What would you have to say specifically to the
black community about the solidarity that the Cuban people has
offered our movement, not just in the Sadist case, but
in the case of many freedom fighters.
Speaker 7 (38:17):
If they've been informed and enlightened by the case of
Comrade's sister of the struggle, Asata, who has transitioned they
can be to become enlightened about the solidarity of the
struggle and what have you. You know, that's all the
thing I can say, that she would and what she
said and what she shood for, and that they can
(38:40):
now be enlightened by that or become enlightened and informed.
Speaker 10 (38:47):
What was the importance of your art in political prisoner
campaigns like those of the Panther twenty one or Erica
and Bobby or Huey or other political prisoners. What is
the importance of art being a big part of those
campaigns and what role do you feel that art plays
(39:08):
in the propaganda process, particularly with political prisoners.
Speaker 7 (39:13):
Well, tell their story from our perspective. You know, we
know that the mainstream media always was going to have
lives misinformation and not even half truth, and so in
that context, I was to tell our story from our
perspective relationship to political prisoners and to develop solidarity for
(39:35):
them through our paper, informing and enlightening the community around
those issues of political prisoners and that they were freedom fighters, fighters, suggestice,
human rights, quality of life issues.
Speaker 10 (39:48):
Last question, the director of the FBI recently came out
and he was basically going against people and telling people
not to honor the life of a side of Shakur.
What should we gain from that and how should the
people respond to that?
Speaker 7 (40:08):
Well, it's chills the vindictius, and the people should respond
by acknowledging in her memory and setting up monuments in
the context of her spirit of what she was about,
continued to be inspired by is being spared with. So
that's you know, that's here and her there.
Speaker 10 (40:27):
No doubt I'm right with you. Well, thank you, Emory Douglas,
Minister Culture of the Black Panther Party and the Revolutionary Artist.
Thank you for coming on and talking about your comrade
aside of Shakur and giving us your memories and your thoughts.
Speaker 7 (40:41):
Uh yes, thank you, my brother. I appreciate it.
Speaker 10 (40:43):
All right, Talk soon.
Speaker 1 (40:45):
That was Emory Douglas being interviewed on Block Report Radio.
You can hear more from them on Block Report Radio,
World All Put Together dot Com. In Major League Soccer,
the Houston Dynamo fell to San Diego FC by a
four to two score at Shell Energy Stadium on Saturday night.
(41:05):
Defender Philippe Andreid and ford Sergio Santos were the goal
scorers for Houston, with Santos marking his first goal in Orange.
In the National Women's Soccer League, the Houston Dash played
the Orlando Pride to a one to one draw as
they look to make the playoffs. Dash defender Page Nielsen
(41:25):
commented after the match.
Speaker 2 (41:28):
Yeah, it feels like a loss, to be honest. We
know that everygham's important from here on out, and I
think that's that's growth for this team. When you tie,
when you get a point against a very good team.
I think being this disappointed is a lot of growth
for this team. We have so much promise potential. It's
(41:49):
definitely not over yet. We still in control our own
destiny and we played really good soccer. Now it's just
about connecting in the final third and really winning our
duels around the box. Still super proud of this group.
We fought to the end, from the starters, from the
bench players. There's some like I'm I'm so happy to
be honest. Team of the game. Yes, Defensively, I thought
(42:16):
we were. We were pretty solid throughout the ninety minutes.
I think obviously second half the game kind of got
got stretched. That's from both sides though. We were playing
longer and so it was it was hard sometimes to
fully seal the back so they would just play long again. Definitely,
uh sat more into a four four two and couldn't
(42:37):
get a lot of pressure on the ball, which is fine,
We're okay with that if we can still stop crosses
and be defensively sound.
Speaker 6 (42:46):
But we were.
Speaker 2 (42:47):
We were a little more on the front foot in
the first half, and again I still think we were
pretty pretty sound defensively.
Speaker 4 (42:56):
And what will you tell your team for the next
game coming up? Of course I'm getting to war to
playoffs and hoping to life for the SPoD.
Speaker 10 (43:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (43:04):
Like Fabrice said, every game is a final, and it's
a chance to really prove who we are this season,
who we've become, where we started to where we finish,
and we're really starting to grow something here. So we
got to fight every single minute of every single game,
and I know we will. It's just about getting results now.
Speaker 1 (43:27):
Republican Terrant County Judge Tom O'Hare, using the convicted felons
and Governor Abbott's playbook, went after two Democratic Commissioner's Court Democrats,
Elisa Simmons and Roderck Miles. They were absent, which temporarily
denied him the fourth fifth quorum needed to amend the
(43:49):
county budget in a way that he knew they opposed.
He went on to cut their staff and any funds
that were already approved going into the areas of the
county that they support. We talked to Matt Angle with
the Lone Star Project before he went on to talk
about what happened in Terrant County. Richard asked him about
(44:10):
the situation in Dallas where a shooting occurred at the
Dallas Immigration and Customs Enforcement Field Office targeting immigrants. One
immigrant was dead and two others were seriously injured, and
the shooter died of a self inflicted gunshot. Here's Matt Angle, Well, I.
Speaker 9 (44:29):
Think we've got an extraordinary circumstance and that you've got
Republican office holders who are exploiting what was clearly a
horrible event. It was a horrible event when there was
political violence of any type, and it is a tragedy
(44:50):
in Dallas that you had two individuals badly wounded and
two who died, one of them a an immigrant, and
that that's being exploited at every level by the Republicans
to make it a political issue and to create division
(45:11):
in a country that's already divided. Greg Abbott was shameful
as the governor of our state to use that as
a chance to attack Democrats and attack the left, when
there is no reason to think that any rhetoric led
to that other than the divisive rhetoric that we know
(45:32):
starts at the White House. And then I will tell you.
It was also particularly galling to see Dallas Mayor Eric
Johnson way in. Eric Johnson got re elected as Dallas
mayor when he was a Democrat. He only switched parties
(45:55):
after getting re elected because Dallas is an overwhelmingly democratic city.
Harris got over sixty five percent of the vote, Jordan
got over seventy percent. Eric Johnson's never once been willing
to put his name on the ballot as a Republican
because he knows he would overwhelmingly be rejected. It was
an act of cowardice. And again Eric's not looking to
(46:18):
really be anything other than a mascot for Republicans because
he'll never really be accepted as one. And it's shameful
that Dallas has now such a weak mayor and then
again such a governor that's not really willing to provide leadership.
But we've seen that over and over again with Greg Abbott,
(46:39):
in times of crisis, he's at his absolute worst. Whether
it's a school shooting, whether it's a terrible winter storm,
whether it is a hurricane on our coast. Abbot fails
to rise to the occasion every single time.
Speaker 5 (46:57):
What do we know about as far as as how
we're trying to tie us into.
Speaker 9 (47:04):
The Democrats, Well, we don't know very much about the
incident because the shooter committed suicide. We do know that
the uh, there was shellcasings that were found that had
the word anti ice on it.
Speaker 4 (47:21):
UH.
Speaker 9 (47:22):
And so you know, it's reasonable to think that he
was upset or at least focused on the activities of Ice.
But there's no reason to believe that the rhetoric from
Democrats or anybody else uh spurred his actions. And then
the truth of the matter is that democrats rhetoric is
(47:44):
tame compared to Republicans. For goodness sake, uh, Donald Trump
has called Democratic leaders and called the press generally enemies
of the state.
Speaker 3 (47:55):
Uh.
Speaker 9 (47:56):
He's all but uh, UH set our society on fire
with rhetoric in order to build a movement, and so
any effort to somehow claim that what Democrats are saying
is causing acts of violence it's.
Speaker 8 (48:20):
Just not true.
Speaker 9 (48:20):
And what we know, of course, too, is the study
after study over the last twenty years has shown that
anti government actions are much more likely to come from
the far right way from anybody from the list.
Speaker 4 (48:34):
Yeah, and talking about let's talk about you and you
were talking about local politics for state politics, and we
had a we had a representative that has gotten a
little bit of trouble, and we want to talk about that.
Speaker 5 (48:49):
A little bit.
Speaker 9 (48:50):
Well, he's talking about Arrant County. And if you're talking
about the county judge in Tarrant County, I mean we've
got a Maga county judge in Terrance County named Tim
O'Hare who really is trying to create a microcosm of
the of the destructive and divisive atmosphere that's in Washington now.
(49:12):
I mean, Tarrent County is a purple county in which
Democrats sometimes win top of ballot races, Republicans barely win
down ballot races. It's highly competitive, uh going into this
next election. And uh uh, the Tarrent County judge over
the past years has generally been kind of a mainstream person,
(49:35):
whether they were Republican or otherwise. Tim O'Hare is a
very different type. He's very destructive and uh, a divisive person.
Speaker 2 (49:45):
Uh.
Speaker 9 (49:45):
He rammed through a racist redrawing of the County Commissioner's court.
Speaker 7 (49:52):
Uh.
Speaker 9 (49:52):
That's uh that map is in uh in being challenged
with under the Voting Rights Act now and and of
course he regularly attacks the two Democratic members of the
commission who are also represent the two minority districts. And
so his whole method of operation is to create dissension
(50:15):
and division.
Speaker 5 (50:17):
Uh.
Speaker 9 (50:17):
And again because that's the style of politics, that's the
style of a governance that has really resulted from Donald
Trump being in the White House.
Speaker 8 (50:28):
Again.
Speaker 4 (50:30):
Yeah, well, good book, Vonkos guys.
Speaker 9 (50:34):
H Well, Uh, it's important to remember that is particularly
in Tarrant County, that the Democrats are continuing to do
better and uh, and they're doing it without any resources.
I mean, frankly, the Lone Star Project has been the
only organization out that that's not exclusive to Tarrant County
(50:57):
that's really invested in uh Tarrant County politics. And I'm
hopeful that you'll have the State Party and others put
some resources into Tarrant County. I mean, I'm proud that
the Lone Star Project we've been in uh a key
part of winning some key commissions races and some others.
(51:17):
I think that Tim O'Hare can be defeated in the
next election. UH, but it's gonna have to take uh
it being a state priority, not just something that local
Democrats are trying.
Speaker 8 (51:30):
To do in their own.
Speaker 4 (51:33):
And this week in the state politics we have uh
a run another another intended run against Senator the Cruz.
I'm sorry you broke up a little bit there, I'm
talking about calling it out is running for UH.
Speaker 9 (51:53):
Yes, Colin Olridge running again for the for the US Senate,
this time in the seat that John corn holds. I
don't expect that John Cornyn will be the nominee. In fact,
I think Cornyn is pretty pathetically tried to abandon everything
he's ever really done as a moderate Republican in the
past and pretend to be maga that. I don't think
(52:14):
that's going to work. I think that the Republicans will
would rather nominate a corrupt Ken Paxton than a cowardly
John Cornyn, and I think that gives Democrats and a
law opportunity to win a statewide seat. And Colin is
running again. Colin ran a much better race in twenty
(52:36):
twenty four than he's given credit for. He ran three
and a half almost four points ahead of the presidential ticket.
No senate candidate in Texas has done that, going back
to Lloyd Benson, but he didn't win, and there was
some disappointment about that. And now you also have James
Tallerica running and James is a new and a fresh
face and there's some excitement around him. So I think
(52:57):
that'll be a very competitive primary. I think whichever one
of them is the nominee, we have a chance to
beat a corrupt Ken Paxton in the fall.
Speaker 4 (53:07):
Yeah, Cornan is running a lot. I have a lot
of money into a people put out on the air
right now.
Speaker 6 (53:15):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 9 (53:16):
The Republicans in Washington, they know that Ken Paxton is
a really dangerous nominee for them. The problem is that
they've created a monster within their own primary that mainstream Republicans,
even the notion of mainstream Republican is nostalgia. Now they
(53:38):
don't exist. It's all Trump now. There is no Texas
Republican Party anymore. It's all the national Trump Party. I mean,
it seems that counterintuitive to a lot of people in
Texas because it's been so long since Democrats have held
state blide office. But the truth of the matter is
the only real Texas focused party in Texas now is
(54:00):
the Democratic Party. The Republican Party are totally national in
their scope, and they're totally submissive and doting upon Donald Trump.
The Republican congressman from Fort ben County said it most
insultingly to their own party, but also accurately when he says,
(54:24):
if Donald Trump says jump three feet into the air,
we jumped three says a lot bet that, And the
truth of the matter is that he was just being honest.
Matt tells people how to get attention to you and
your newsletter. Well, Lone Star Project is pretty easy to
reach if you'll just go to lone Star Project dot
(54:48):
net and sign up for our newsletters, or feel free
to just email me directly at Matt Angle at lone
Star project dot net.
Speaker 1 (54:55):
That was Matt Angle of the Lone Star Project. You
can read his new letter at the Lone Star Project
dot net.
Speaker 7 (55:04):
Hi.
Speaker 1 (55:05):
This is Steve Gallington, producer and host for the People's News.
One of the things that I got in preparation for
going to the No King's Rally on June fourteenth was
a presentation from the ACLU which I want to repeat
the information from for you in light of the convicted
felon opening up Alligator Alcatraz and the Republican House and
(55:29):
Senate passing this big, ugly, expensive, devastating bill. Among those
things is one hundred and thirty five billion dollars for
increased secret police activity or ICE funding. And so you
have rights when dealing with the police or ice, no
(55:50):
matter or immigration status. Number one, if they do not
have a warrant, an arrest warrant or a search warrant,
you do not have to open open the door for
the police or ice. You do not have to answer
any questions about status or country of origin. The right
to remain silent is protected under the fifth Amendment of
(56:12):
the Constitution. You have the right to ask to see
a lawyer. You have the right to refuse searches of
your person and your car if the police do not
suspect a crime. This is the fourth Amendment of the Constitution.
Never sign anything without knowing what it says. And you
(56:37):
have a right to record what happens. And if you're
hearing this, and you can speak and read Spanish, the
People's News would love for you to read the script
in Spanish so we can accompany that with this as well.
So be safe out there, look out for each other,
and we will get through this together. The People's News
(57:03):
is a production of Steve Gallington and Richard Hannah and
is protected by copyright laws. All the information broadcast on
air and online, as well as published in both print
and or online, including articles, audio clips, illustrations, graphics, photographs,
and videos, are protected by these copyright and other state
and federal intellectual property laws. Therefore, you may not use
(57:25):
our content in any prohibited way, including reproducing, publishing, transmitting, selling, rewriting, broadcasting,
or posting on the Internet without the expressed written permission
of The People's News. Prohibited use also includes publication of
our material in printed or electronic brochures, newsletters, or flyers,
as well as all website or email distribution. To obtain
(57:48):
permission to use copyrighted material, email Steve Gallington at Steve
at gallington dot com. Thank you
It's the week of October fifth, twenty twenty five, and
this is what's on the People's News. There's a peace
deal in Gaza, kind of is peace possible? Veterans in
Louisiana fight for their rights and the rights of all
veterans across the country. The Innocence Project is still fighting
(00:27):
the fight to protect the innocent locked in prison, remembering
a Sada Shakur freedom fighter. All that and more on
the People's News. I'm Steve Gallington. This is the People's News,
and the People's News starts now.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Hi.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
This is Steve Gallington, producer and host for the People's News.
One of the things that I got in preparation for
going to the No King's rally on June fourteenth was
a presentation from the ACLU, which I want to repeat
the information from for you in light of the convicted
felon opening up Alligator Alcatraz and the Republican House and
(01:16):
Senate passing this big, ugly, expensive, devastating bill. Among those
things is one hundred and thirty five billion dollars for
increased secret police activity or ICE funding. And so you
have rights when dealing with the police or ice, no
(01:37):
matter or immigration status number one. If they do not
have a warrant, an arrest warrant or a search warrant,
you do not have to open the door for the
police or ice. You do not have to answer any
questions about status or country of origin. The right to
remain silent is protected under the fifth Amendment of the Constantution.
(02:01):
You have the right to ask to see a lawyer.
You have the right to refuse searches of your person
and your car if the police do not suspect a crime.
This is the fourth Amendment of the Constitution. Never sign
anything without knowing what it says. And you have a
(02:24):
right to record what happens. And if you're hearing this
and you can speak and read Spanish, the People's News
would love for you to read the script in Spanish,
so we can accompany that with this as well. So
be safe out there, look out for each other, and
we will get through this together. Over seventy people have died,
(02:48):
with a tax continuing in Gaza City as a ceasefire
is said to be agreed on the convicted fellaon Donald
Trump exhibiting more and more dementia and mental decline every
single day, thinks that He's on an episode of the Apprentice,
and he has worked out a deal with bb Net
(03:10):
and Yahoo that Gaza will give up the hostages that
they're holding and giving up their weapons, and in return,
Israel will stop attacks and move to a designated line.
After that, Trump himself and former Prime Minister Tony Blair
would govern over Gaza on their own. So in Trump's
(03:31):
Apprentice fever dream, he feels like this is the way
that he's going to be able to develop Gaza as
his own luxury property. The piece deal is problematic on
many levels and may be illegal. We talk to Nick Cooper,
who has headed many protests against what he calls an
assault by Israel on Gaza, which he has called a
(03:53):
form of apartheid. He commented on this latest deal, well, of.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
Sense, any kind of an agreement requires some kind of
framework of law and equality and justice and you know,
people actually having choices or whatever. But I mean, obviously
you can't have an agreement where you know, hey, if
you say no, then you'll get a genocide, and if
you say yes and maybe a genocide. I mean, that's
(04:21):
not really an agreement. That's just you know the kind
of thing that genocidal powers are going to want to do.
Speaker 4 (04:28):
What do you think solution is besides Israel of getting
out of that?
Speaker 3 (04:34):
Oh, well, you know, the solution has always been the
you know, the framework of international law in which those
who have participated in the knife would be brought up
on war crimes charges in a tribunal system, and then
you would have, you know, perhaps the Truth and Reconciliation
Commission that would work on having peaceful, long term outcomes.
Speaker 4 (04:58):
But they say that they have a framework of of
of negotiations and peace.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
Right, Well, I mean they can say whatever, but I mean,
you know, this is just there's an ongoing genocide. There's
not even any indication that the genocide is going to stop,
no matter what things. Netna, who signs in fact in Hebrew,
will kind of make very clearly that you know, there's
genocide and nothing cleansing, and they'll never be a Palestinian state.
So it's not it's not like it matters what he
(05:24):
signs or whatever, and this is just some nonsense that
they say or whatever. And you know, at this point
people don't need to worry about what anybody's saying about anything.
If there was anything resembling justice going on, it would
look very different and it's not. And they can frame
it however they want. I mean, Trump can say one
(05:47):
day that it's going to be you know, whatever Riviera
kind of situation in Gaza with luxury hotels, and you know,
they can say anything they want, but the reality is
that there's an on going genocide and there's no way
to end it. I mean in the sense that if
you're going to have the Israeli government continue and power,
then the genocide is going to continue. The way that
(06:10):
we've dealt with things like this before has been with war, cime, tribunals.
Speaker 4 (06:15):
People who said that the attack in Manchester the synagogue
was tacking two people's shields, Uh, it was fames that
this is going to be is going to be an honest,
ongoing struggle and issuals in your attach Yeah, I mean.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
You know, if you're doing a genocide, of course, like
that's going to have all kinds of collateral damage to
innocent people around the world. That's you know the nature
of this level of violences that's going to referberate on
every level throughout society. So obviously, like people don't have
the ability to hit out that anybody who's actually doing
(06:55):
the violence. All they have the ability to do is
pick on some you know, civilians or whatever. And that's
that's what happens when you don't have any kind of
justice framework, international law. You just have a bunch of
people who are angry at each other. M H.
Speaker 4 (07:11):
And the movement here as far as stopperings, there's a
lot of a lot of organizations in an attacked by
the Trump administration as.
Speaker 5 (07:19):
Being a terrorist organization. They say, you know, and people's
not on.
Speaker 4 (07:24):
Group, it's it's it's a people. It's a different different
groups together. Just is it were you that the attacks
on people's free speech and attacks on people' civil rights
being being a stake.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
Yeah, I mean that's a complete attack kind of going
on right now. And uh, you know, it's it's nothing
that anybody who's alive in the United States has ever
experienced in their life on this level of cutdown on
constitutional freedoms.
Speaker 4 (07:56):
Well, and what do you think it was the end
if anyway, because we've got in from reministrations nobs of
the course, you get the right to go to places
like Portland saying days uh, you know, it's an Antifa
threatened the city and it needs to be taken over
and they're gonna use that same platform as he said
in the in the speech to the military, that we
(08:20):
need to be we need to be used in cities
in America as as takeoff spots or learning spots from
before going overseas.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
Yeah, I mean that's pretty clear, uh, pretty clear example
of what fascism looks like. I mean you say, yes,
the enemy within and the foreign enemies, and we got
to fight all about whatever you said, whether it's an
Israel or the US or whatever the cow fascism sounds.
Speaker 4 (08:47):
Yeah, this is this has taking another level though, because
the the cities are being heard by the shut down
and funding and people's people snapped in it. It's getting
the finishers are being assations. So how do you find
how do you know we talked about Issier, but but
the administration now has gone gonea on Tovidy, not just
(09:10):
talk about any hurt people, hurt people in general.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
Yeah, you have a you know, I think that in
the in the US framework of law, there are things like,
you know, you can't enforce the law selectively, you know,
in indicating you know, kind of revenge spirit. I mean,
you're you're not allowed to do that under our laws.
But you know, obviously those are enforcing those laws are
(09:35):
the ones who are doing those things, so you can't
really expect them to be held accountable, including in the courts.
I mean, you know, of course, there are plenty of
judges who are perfectly aware of the constitutional history in
the United States, and they know that certain things are unconstitutional,
but ultimately, with the Supreme Court where it is and
(09:56):
their their rulings can get overturned.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
That woul 's activist Nick Cooper, commenting on the latest
negotiations in the ongoing war of Israel against Gaza. October
seventh will mark the second year since the attack by
Hamas which started this entire conflict. Robert Robinson is scheduled
to be executed on October sixteenth. Thursday, October second was
(10:22):
the twelfth annual Wrongful Conviction Day, a day to raise
awareness of the causes and remedies of wrongful conviction and
to recognize the tremendous personal, social, and emotional costs of
wrongful conviction for innocent people and their families. Since nineteen
eighty nine, over three thousand, seven hundred people have been
(10:44):
exonerated in the US. Collectively, these men and women spent
thirty four thousand plus years in prison for crimes they
didn't commit. As reported on this show before, there have
been many in Texas that have been exonerated by the
Innocence Project of Texas. Mike ware is the executive director
(11:04):
of the Innocent Project of Texas. He talked about what
they are doing and what people can do to help them.
Speaker 6 (11:11):
Yeah, it's a day. It's a National Wrongful Conviction Day
that you know that that I guess has been set
aside to recognize the phenomena of innocent people being convicted
and imprisoned or maybe in some cases even executed for
crimes they did not commit. And you know, we're I'm
(11:36):
there are different events that are being organized. I'm going
to participate in one at Texas Christian University tomorrow that
is pretty much an all day event with speakers including judges, investigators, lawyers,
academics that are going to be speaking about wrongful convictions
(12:01):
and how they occur and how they can be prevented
and how they can be identified and rectified. So the
you know, the day is set aside really to bring
the public attention to the fact that in the United
States of America, in Texas. Uh, innocent people, completely innocent
(12:23):
people are convicted, and that that is a huge problem
with the justice system and needs to be addressed.
Speaker 4 (12:31):
How hard is it going to be now that you
have an administration that is going it's taking things back
a step, restricting any type of uh, well on this
law and order law order stances, restricting some of the
due process that we can rely on in the past.
How hard is it going to be now to try
(12:53):
to try to deshame people from being innocent people from
being prosecuted.
Speaker 6 (12:59):
Well, well, I mean it's never been easy, you know,
you know the the it's and of course, you know,
we deal with trying to prevent innocent people from being prosecuted,
but we also deal on the other end that once
innocent people are prosecuted and convicted, we you know, initiate
(13:22):
and litigate the often lengthy court proceedings that it takes
to exonerate such a person. I've always said that it's
much much easier to convict a completely innocent person than
it is to exonerate a completely innocent person once they've
been convicted. And I guess you know, some of the
(13:47):
new policies and atmosphere that have been propagated by this
administration are not going to make an already difficult job
any easier.
Speaker 4 (13:57):
And the general public right now, because there's a lot
of the rhetoric that's that's that's going around, how hard
is it going to get support from the public because
of what they're seeing around them and some of the
some of the things they're hearing.
Speaker 6 (14:13):
Well, I'm not exactly sure specifically what you're talking about,
but I think, well, I.
Speaker 4 (14:17):
Think when the public when I was just gonna say,
when the public hears that we have innocent person that's convicted,
but on the other hand, they hear the law and
order stances that well or you know, well, he probably
did it anyway, you know, or he had a he
had a he had a criminal record in his background,
(14:38):
so he probably did it, and the public, the general
public hears that. So it's harder, it's harder for people
to understand how innocent people can be can be prosecuted.
Speaker 6 (14:51):
Well, I mean there's always been that, you know, and
there's always been people who have our entities or you know,
political voices or whatever that have tried to undermine the
validity of our work with lies. Uh. And my position
(15:12):
is Ultimately, the truth is going to win out over
the lies. But but I think, as far as you know,
I think one of the subtexts of your question is,
you know, what do you say to people who say, well,
I'm I'm I'm for strong law enforcement, I'm for law
and order, I'm for tough on crime. Well, it is
not tough on crime to convict and imprison innocent people
(15:37):
and let the guilty people go free. And a prime
example of that is what has just happened in Travis
County where the yogurt shot murders have evidently now been solved.
And and it's it's by it was they were. The
yogurt shot murders were evidently committed by a serial murderer
(16:01):
who was never identified during the investigations until now until recently,
and who went on to commit more murders after he
committed the yogurt shot murders. While these innocent boys, some
of these innocent boys were prosecuted, some went to prison,
one was on debt, at least one was on death
row for a while. You know, how does putting those
(16:24):
innocent prosecuting and imprisoning and putting those innocent boys on
death row while the actual perpetrator, a serial murderer is
out committing more murders. How is that tough on crime?
It's not, it's the opposite.
Speaker 4 (16:40):
Yeah, and it's something that I've been talking to you
over the years. I've seen cases that if anybody would
have would have would have really looked at the case,
can say, hey, there's no way this person did this crime.
I think the most outrageous that I've heard was the
(17:02):
it takes his ranger that used the oh what if?
What what if? Theory that they put in the head
of the of the of of a person that what
if you did this? And then this is that you
have done this and there's no there's no evidence of
them even being in the scene in the tub, but
(17:24):
they still prosecuted that principle. Yeah, yeah, I know the
case you're talking about. I know it well.
Speaker 6 (17:31):
And yeah, it's once again, what purpose does that serve?
Fabricating basically fabricating and framing a person to take the
fall for a murder that was obviously committed by someone else.
How is that? How is that law and order? How
is that pro law enforcement? How is that tough on crime?
(17:54):
When we know whoever, whoever committed the particular murder that
I know you're talking about was never even has never
been identified, and instead, you know, a a an innocent
man was framed and convicted.
Speaker 4 (18:13):
I was just asking, how how is it that we
are are we getting into a situation now that the
civil rights are being thrown out the window, and especially
when do process when especially when you're talking about brown
people and in the immigrants, immigrants that's in this country
that are being that are being picked up on no charges,
(18:33):
but the fact that of of the of them being brown,
or or or from or have a voice from somewhere else.
Speaker 6 (18:40):
Yeah, it sure looks that way. I mean, you know,
I guess up up to this point, you know, we
have been dealing with people who have been convicted of
crimes they did not commit. But now it looks like
we're dealing with people being picked up, arrested, and deported
without even being accused.
Speaker 4 (18:57):
Of course, how do we get to that point? Are
we to the point where now we're with on the
constitution out the window?
Speaker 6 (19:07):
There's a lot of evidence of that that we're singing
all around this yst Well.
Speaker 4 (19:11):
How do we fight this? We've seen this happen before,
but how do we as individuals fight this.
Speaker 6 (19:17):
Well, we've got the midterms coming up. I'd say number one,
get out and vote for the right candidates. Inform yourself
and get out and vote for the right candidates in
the midterms that are coming up. And what what cases
are you working on now that people should know about. Well,
we're working on Sandy melgar case down there in Harris County.
(19:37):
Can you tell us about that case? Yeah, she was
convicted in twenty seventeen a murder that she not only
did not commit, she couldn't possibly have committed. She is
(19:59):
supposedly murdered her longtime husband, who she had a very
loving relationship with. There were no problems in the marriage,
and they were celebrating I don't know, thirty something anniversary
(20:20):
and there was a there was a home break in
and he was murdered and she was tied up and
injured and locked in a closet and things were stolen,
and the Harris County Sheriff's office showed up and showed
up and decided, for whatever crazy reason, right away that
she committed the murder of stage the crime scene without
(20:41):
any evidence of that crazy theory. And so that's that's
the case. We're working on. I think I can tell
you that the BBC has just come out with an
excellent podcast on the case. The most recent episode came
out today, so it's called Hands Tied, and I would
(21:04):
recognize I would recommend that that podcast to learn about
the Sandy Milk arcass from the BBC.
Speaker 7 (21:12):
And from what I.
Speaker 4 (21:13):
Will go and listen to that. But how is it
that with no evidence, she's she's being she's being prosecuted
on anything, you know, because it has to be some
investigator and it found that it was a break in
and somebody, somebody actually broke into the house and it
(21:34):
wasn't her that did the crime.
Speaker 6 (21:37):
Well, you know, this is a long story that I'm
I'm I'm really not prepared to go into right now.
I mean, it's it's, it's it's it's not only subject
of this eight part, eight episode podcast, it's also the
subject of an entire season podcast that truth, the Truth
and Justice podcast did. Bob Ruth did an excellent job.
(22:00):
So I've given you, I've given you the case in
a nutshell. It doesn't see the case juste. But maybe
we can have a conversation another time about that Guineas.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
That was Mike Ware, executive director of the Innocence Project.
Without intervention from the state, Robert Robinson will be executed
on October sixteenth for a crime that never happened.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
Hi.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
This is Steve Gallington, producer and host of the People's News.
If you have a story that needs to be told,
come to us. We accept fully produced audio, written material,
or just give us the idea and we will run
with it. Shiny new one hour episodes of The People's
News drop each Sunday on The People's News podcast hosted
(22:50):
by spreaker dot com and linked to my website Gallington
dot com. Louisiana veterans are fighting for the right to
have competent legal representation. Military Veterans Advocacy, a national nonprofit
that serves the interests of armed service members and veterans.
In June of twenty twenty four, sued Louisiana Governor Jeff
(23:11):
Landry an Attorney General Elizabeth Merle over the unconstitutional nature
of recent legislation that Landry allowed to become law without
his signature. The impact of this law would allow unlicensed
and unaccredited organizations to represent veterans without any oversight. We
talked to Executive Director Commander John Wells, US Navy retired
(23:36):
about MVA and what it does and how these new
laws are affecting veterans.
Speaker 8 (23:43):
Sure, as Senator Stuart Cathy Adam Monroe Louisiana introduced and
was able to get passed a bill in Louisiana legislature
that would have allowed uncertified and we believe unqualified to
represent veterans. You know, the v EIGHT has their certification system.
(24:06):
Even as an attorney have to be certified by the
VDA to practice before the PA. So these guys were
basically able to come in. There was no restraints on
how much they could charge, and you know, this allowed
them to do it. We objected to that of their
number of reasons, primarily because you know this is federal benefits.
(24:30):
Congress is the one who should be dictating this Topsiana legislature,
and there has been some problems throughout the country with
the these other organizations trying to kind of worm their
way into the veterans benefits system. And as a result,
you know, we want Congress to take care of any
(24:52):
kind of regulation. Would you not feel that a patchwork
of fifty different systems would be very good and in fact, uh,
you know, Congress is considering a bill right now.
Speaker 5 (25:07):
But I.
Speaker 8 (25:09):
Uh Jack Bernman, who is a retired Marine lieutenant general
and also represents Michigan First District, the Upper Peninsula of Michigan,
who has a bill in that would do that would
do the regulation. We took it to the court. The government,
(25:30):
the state of general fold of motion dismiss the governor
as basically, I'm sorry the UH. The governor was dismissed
from the case, and we understand that, but the Attorney
General was not. As a result, the judge actually got
a little I think ticked off at the UH, at
(25:55):
the government. He said some of their arguments were nonsensical
and where we had called one border on frivolous, he said,
the court agrees. So those are kind of if you
want to hear when you're an attorney. But you know,
I said about the other side, that's a good thing.
We've contacted the Attorney General's office to see if they
want to settle, and they are not interested in settling
(26:18):
at this time, so I guess we're going to move forward.
We have summary judgments motions filed, and as the court
to grant summary judgment if they do. That'll be fine.
If God will move on to trial.
Speaker 3 (26:31):
How is it?
Speaker 5 (26:32):
Does somebody can replace? You can go in front of
anybody and not have the bad Nobody did a background
check on the.
Speaker 4 (26:40):
On the on the river.
Speaker 8 (26:43):
You know there's particularly and I'm not saying that these
people are necessarily crooks or criminals, but you know they
in many cases are not qualified and they're certainly not
certified by the BA.
Speaker 9 (26:58):
You know.
Speaker 5 (26:59):
And I say that because you know, you know, you
can practice law, but your specialization has to be in
something you know, you know, either a con on the
er or or.
Speaker 8 (27:08):
Well, yeah, you usually put an emphasis. When I first
came out of the Navy and I started practice law,
I did a kind of a general practice for a while,
but then I zer it in on military law and
veterans laws. That's what I knew the best.
Speaker 5 (27:26):
So where does this case still now?
Speaker 8 (27:28):
Uh? We wait for the court to rule on the
summary judgment in motions again if it if we win there,
and I think we have an excellent chance, Uh, then
that's it. The law will be basically declared unconstitutional.
Speaker 5 (27:45):
And it was your you know, you wouldn't know, you
wouldn't know what what judges you might have with this case.
Speaker 8 (27:51):
As Judge Jackson out of Batmanars and what's also history
of I don't know his history at all.
Speaker 5 (28:03):
And this has been going how long has it been
going on?
Speaker 8 (28:07):
We filed last summer I'm sorry, uh, summer of last year.
Speaker 5 (28:13):
And this takes this stuff. Is this something that's has
been acting the veteran organizations across the country or is
this this kind of of something that's just Louisyannagy.
Speaker 8 (28:25):
Actually there's a lot of interest. We've gotten some support
from the National Organization of Veterans AVOCA and the Better
for Wars, among others.
Speaker 5 (28:35):
Can you tell people, at least from people how to
get in touch a your organization, tell you what your
organization does.
Speaker 8 (28:41):
Sure Military Veterans Advocacy is five oh one C three
tax exempt nonprofit. Our website is www. Military Veterans Advocacy
dot org. We litigate, legislate, and educate.
Speaker 3 (28:57):
That means we.
Speaker 8 (28:59):
Go up beat up Congress for veterans benefits, although we're
not going to do too much of that here now
since Congress is still closed down or the government shut down.
We will see the VA or other groups that are
in this case, was the State of Louisiana for to
(29:21):
try to increase better tect veterans. And we also do
particularly legal education for attorneys on veterans law as better
as law is a unique kind of a unique niche,
and we want to make sure that the people that
go in out of practicing veterans law know what they're doing.
Speaker 5 (29:38):
We know about the VA in in divisions in Texas.
How are the veterans being treated in Louisiana, especially as
far as the especially as for as a be a
hospitalizations and stuff like that.
Speaker 8 (29:53):
Well, VA Hospital in New Orleans used to get a
second chance to die for the country, but post Katrina
they've come a long way and generally the medical treatment
you get there is pretty good.
Speaker 5 (30:09):
Yeah, because we hear about this all the time, about
the way the venomans are treated a certain a certain facilities.
Speaker 8 (30:18):
And well, we had a problem at bay By It's
in Florida, spen a few years now and the secretary
of the time we got a hold of him and
he got it straight out prefect.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
That was Commander John Wells, US Navy, retired with m
v A. To find out more, you can email John
at John dot Wells at m v A, d V
o c A. C y dot Org. Asada Shakur meant
a lot to many in the black community. She was
not just hip hop legend Tupac Shakur's grandmother, but was
(30:56):
so much more. She was a freedom fighting member of
the Black Liberation Army and author of Asada and autobiography,
and stands as a powerful and iconic symbol of resistance
and survival. Shakur died at the age of seventy eight
on September twenty fifth, in Havana, Cuba. Shakur always maintained
(31:17):
her innocence. After being wrongfully convicted for the killing of
a New Jersey State trooper in nineteen eighty, she escaped
imprisonment and lived out her remaining years on the Caribbean island.
In twenty thirteen, the FBI added her to the most
wanted list. She was never apprehended. The Minister of Culture
(31:39):
and the Revolutionary artist of the Black Panther Party, Emery Douglas,
talked about meeting Asada Shakur in Oakland at the Black
Panther Office. He also discussed her courageous life and dedication
to the movement of black people in the US. Mister
Douglas was on Block Report Radio and we air that
(31:59):
entire interview here with their permission.
Speaker 10 (32:03):
You are listening to another edition of Black Report Radio
with the People's Minister of Information, j R.
Speaker 8 (32:08):
Val Ray.
Speaker 10 (32:09):
Today, our guest is the Minister Culture of the Black
Panther Party and the revolutionary artist Emriy Douglas. We're gonna
be talking about the passing of Black Panther and Black
Liberation Army member as well as political exile in Cuba,
Asida Shakur. She recently passed last week in Cuba.
Speaker 3 (32:31):
How are you, Emri, I'm doing good, Jr.
Speaker 7 (32:33):
And yourself, I'm good good.
Speaker 10 (32:36):
Sorry to hit you up on this somber day for
such a somber subject, but I wanted to hit you
specifically because you are one of the people that Asada
Shakur was honored to meet when she was a young
Black Panther coming to Oakland, California. Do you remember that
story on you meeting Asada and what happened?
Speaker 7 (32:58):
Yes, I recall how I initially first saw her is that,
you know, looking out the window of the front of
the office one day in the afternoon and I seen
this young lady pap pastaid Ooh she still looks good,
but she didn't come in. And so what happened is
(33:18):
a couple of days later, I was out and about
dealing with political work, and when I came back in
the office, there she was in the office. As she
mentioned in her book, I believe she uh was out
here for a conference. And when she came by, I
guess she was reluctant to come in. The first was
you know. But then I seen her when she came
in and I introduced myself and Barbacilla was there. She
(33:41):
t cut up with Barbacil and myself and others for
a moment, and that was the initial meeting between her
and I. Then and then when I used to go
back to New York from time to time, I would
see her working with the Panthers in New York, all
of the branch and what have you. On the one
occasion I stayed at the apartment. When I was there,
(34:03):
I mean, she was full of curd the whole how
she got from point A to point B. And in
the context of what took place, in the context of that,
I mean, that's courage. You call that just straight up,
deep deep down inside commitment to social concerns, socialuggestice, and
(34:26):
I said, I'll recall remember Asata. I remember I went
to Cuba about twenty sixteen, but because I was invited
by the African Cultural Department there to bure a display
in Havana, you know, I didn't think it was appropriate
for me to request to visit or see her in
that context. So I didn't get opportunity during that time
(34:49):
to visit with her or talk with her. But I
recalled when Panther editor Jernana Abraham was one of the
editors of the newspaper went to Cuba, and I gave
for a whole bunch of calory sales that a friend
of mine had given to me who used to work
at Berkeley Flea Market in oak And, California, and she
used to wear them. Because I used to see pictures
(35:11):
of her early day when she had all those calory shells. Well,
those were the carosells that I had sensed her during
that time while she was there, because Joe Nina had
the opportunity to connect with her and to share those
carry sheeals with her.
Speaker 10 (35:27):
Wow, can you talk a little bit about some of
the political work that she was doing and what was
on your mind when you heard that she was on
the FBI's most wanted list at that time.
Speaker 7 (35:43):
The whole movement, we understood what cointail pro was. We
understood that, and we understood that that's the way that
they would try to exaggerate the situations, as they would
normally do when they arrest somebody, they put all these
trumped up charges on them, and when it had nothing
but maybe even not even the misdemeanor. And so that's
(36:06):
the same thing you to say with Asava. They were vindictive,
how they had been TAKETI the system in in the UH,
the racism and all that that exists then in now
you know. So, but as she spoke, she speaks in
her own words. She articulates very clearly and very convincingly.
(36:26):
You know that her hands were in the air. You know,
she wasn't resisting what have you. She had no gun.
You know she was shot. How could she have killed
the officer and the policeman, the patrolman or whoever he
was when she was already had been shot and her
(36:46):
arm was paralyzed. So that negates they hold. It shows
you clearly how they, in what they made, are are
capable beyond just the UH attempting to put her out
as a wanted person, but you demonize her in the
eyes of the public and particularly of the African American
(37:10):
and people of color community and the progressive in the country.
Speaker 10 (37:13):
You know, well, I know that you have been a
black panther, you know, almost since the beginning, and I
know you saw the cases of people like Huie who
had to flee, Angela Davis who had to flee. You
also saw that the Cuban people gave a side of
(37:34):
chakor exile for over forty years. What can you say
to that show of solidarity and what should we learn
from it as a community.
Speaker 7 (37:44):
Well, there's there's many lessons to learn in relationship to
that solidarity, because without solidarity, we were in a deep hole,
went at bottomless pit. We continuously without solidarity. She be
well what she had been right?
Speaker 10 (38:03):
Yeah, What would you have to say specifically to the
black community about the solidarity that the Cuban people has
offered our movement, not just in the Sadist case, but
in the case of many freedom fighters.
Speaker 7 (38:17):
If they've been informed and enlightened by the case of
Comrade's sister of the struggle, Asata, who has transitioned they
can be to become enlightened about the solidarity of the
struggle and what have you. You know, that's all the
thing I can say, that she would and what she
said and what she shood for, and that they can
(38:40):
now be enlightened by that or become enlightened and informed.
Speaker 10 (38:47):
What was the importance of your art in political prisoner
campaigns like those of the Panther twenty one or Erica
and Bobby or Huey or other political prisoners. What is
the importance of art being a big part of those
campaigns and what role do you feel that art plays
(39:08):
in the propaganda process, particularly with political prisoners.
Speaker 7 (39:13):
Well, tell their story from our perspective. You know, we
know that the mainstream media always was going to have
lives misinformation and not even half truth, and so in
that context, I was to tell our story from our
perspective relationship to political prisoners and to develop solidarity for
(39:35):
them through our paper, informing and enlightening the community around
those issues of political prisoners and that they were freedom fighters, fighters, suggestice,
human rights, quality of life issues.
Speaker 10 (39:48):
Last question, the director of the FBI recently came out
and he was basically going against people and telling people
not to honor the life of a side of Shakur.
What should we gain from that and how should the
people respond to that?
Speaker 7 (40:08):
Well, it's chills the vindictius, and the people should respond
by acknowledging in her memory and setting up monuments in
the context of her spirit of what she was about,
continued to be inspired by is being spared with. So
that's you know, that's here and her there.
Speaker 10 (40:27):
No doubt I'm right with you. Well, thank you, Emory Douglas,
Minister Culture of the Black Panther Party and the Revolutionary Artist.
Thank you for coming on and talking about your comrade
aside of Shakur and giving us your memories and your thoughts.
Speaker 7 (40:41):
Uh yes, thank you, my brother. I appreciate it.
Speaker 10 (40:43):
All right, Talk soon.
Speaker 1 (40:45):
That was Emory Douglas being interviewed on Block Report Radio.
You can hear more from them on Block Report Radio,
World All Put Together dot Com. In Major League Soccer,
the Houston Dynamo fell to San Diego FC by a
four to two score at Shell Energy Stadium on Saturday night.
(41:05):
Defender Philippe Andreid and ford Sergio Santos were the goal
scorers for Houston, with Santos marking his first goal in Orange.
In the National Women's Soccer League, the Houston Dash played
the Orlando Pride to a one to one draw as
they look to make the playoffs. Dash defender Page Nielsen
(41:25):
commented after the match.
Speaker 2 (41:28):
Yeah, it feels like a loss, to be honest. We
know that everygham's important from here on out, and I
think that's that's growth for this team. When you tie,
when you get a point against a very good team.
I think being this disappointed is a lot of growth
for this team. We have so much promise potential. It's
(41:49):
definitely not over yet. We still in control our own
destiny and we played really good soccer. Now it's just
about connecting in the final third and really winning our
duels around the box. Still super proud of this group.
We fought to the end, from the starters, from the
bench players. There's some like I'm I'm so happy to
be honest. Team of the game. Yes, Defensively, I thought
(42:16):
we were. We were pretty solid throughout the ninety minutes.
I think obviously second half the game kind of got
got stretched. That's from both sides though. We were playing
longer and so it was it was hard sometimes to
fully seal the back so they would just play long again. Definitely,
uh sat more into a four four two and couldn't
(42:37):
get a lot of pressure on the ball, which is fine,
We're okay with that if we can still stop crosses
and be defensively sound.
Speaker 6 (42:46):
But we were.
Speaker 2 (42:47):
We were a little more on the front foot in
the first half, and again I still think we were
pretty pretty sound defensively.
Speaker 4 (42:56):
And what will you tell your team for the next
game coming up? Of course I'm getting to war to
playoffs and hoping to life for the SPoD.
Speaker 10 (43:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (43:04):
Like Fabrice said, every game is a final, and it's
a chance to really prove who we are this season,
who we've become, where we started to where we finish,
and we're really starting to grow something here. So we
got to fight every single minute of every single game,
and I know we will. It's just about getting results now.
Speaker 1 (43:27):
Republican Terrant County Judge Tom O'Hare, using the convicted felons
and Governor Abbott's playbook, went after two Democratic Commissioner's Court Democrats,
Elisa Simmons and Roderck Miles. They were absent, which temporarily
denied him the fourth fifth quorum needed to amend the
(43:49):
county budget in a way that he knew they opposed.
He went on to cut their staff and any funds
that were already approved going into the areas of the
county that they support. We talked to Matt Angle with
the Lone Star Project before he went on to talk
about what happened in Terrant County. Richard asked him about
(44:10):
the situation in Dallas where a shooting occurred at the
Dallas Immigration and Customs Enforcement Field Office targeting immigrants. One
immigrant was dead and two others were seriously injured, and
the shooter died of a self inflicted gunshot. Here's Matt Angle, Well, I.
Speaker 9 (44:29):
Think we've got an extraordinary circumstance and that you've got
Republican office holders who are exploiting what was clearly a
horrible event. It was a horrible event when there was
political violence of any type, and it is a tragedy
(44:50):
in Dallas that you had two individuals badly wounded and
two who died, one of them a an immigrant, and
that that's being exploited at every level by the Republicans
to make it a political issue and to create division
(45:11):
in a country that's already divided. Greg Abbott was shameful
as the governor of our state to use that as
a chance to attack Democrats and attack the left, when
there is no reason to think that any rhetoric led
to that other than the divisive rhetoric that we know
(45:32):
starts at the White House. And then I will tell you.
It was also particularly galling to see Dallas Mayor Eric
Johnson way in. Eric Johnson got re elected as Dallas
mayor when he was a Democrat. He only switched parties
(45:55):
after getting re elected because Dallas is an overwhelmingly democratic city.
Harris got over sixty five percent of the vote, Jordan
got over seventy percent. Eric Johnson's never once been willing
to put his name on the ballot as a Republican
because he knows he would overwhelmingly be rejected. It was
an act of cowardice. And again Eric's not looking to
(46:18):
really be anything other than a mascot for Republicans because
he'll never really be accepted as one. And it's shameful
that Dallas has now such a weak mayor and then
again such a governor that's not really willing to provide leadership.
But we've seen that over and over again with Greg Abbott,
(46:39):
in times of crisis, he's at his absolute worst. Whether
it's a school shooting, whether it's a terrible winter storm,
whether it is a hurricane on our coast. Abbot fails
to rise to the occasion every single time.
Speaker 5 (46:57):
What do we know about as far as as how
we're trying to tie us into.
Speaker 9 (47:04):
The Democrats, Well, we don't know very much about the
incident because the shooter committed suicide. We do know that
the uh, there was shellcasings that were found that had
the word anti ice on it.
Speaker 4 (47:21):
UH.
Speaker 9 (47:22):
And so you know, it's reasonable to think that he
was upset or at least focused on the activities of Ice.
But there's no reason to believe that the rhetoric from
Democrats or anybody else uh spurred his actions. And then
the truth of the matter is that democrats rhetoric is
(47:44):
tame compared to Republicans. For goodness sake, uh, Donald Trump
has called Democratic leaders and called the press generally enemies
of the state.
Speaker 3 (47:55):
Uh.
Speaker 9 (47:56):
He's all but uh, UH set our society on fire
with rhetoric in order to build a movement, and so
any effort to somehow claim that what Democrats are saying
is causing acts of violence it's.
Speaker 8 (48:20):
Just not true.
Speaker 9 (48:20):
And what we know, of course, too, is the study
after study over the last twenty years has shown that
anti government actions are much more likely to come from
the far right way from anybody from the list.
Speaker 4 (48:34):
Yeah, and talking about let's talk about you and you
were talking about local politics for state politics, and we
had a we had a representative that has gotten a
little bit of trouble, and we want to talk about that.
Speaker 5 (48:49):
A little bit.
Speaker 9 (48:50):
Well, he's talking about Arrant County. And if you're talking
about the county judge in Tarrant County, I mean we've
got a Maga county judge in Terrance County named Tim
O'Hare who really is trying to create a microcosm of
the of the destructive and divisive atmosphere that's in Washington now.
(49:12):
I mean, Tarrent County is a purple county in which
Democrats sometimes win top of ballot races, Republicans barely win
down ballot races. It's highly competitive, uh going into this
next election. And uh uh, the Tarrent County judge over
the past years has generally been kind of a mainstream person,
(49:35):
whether they were Republican or otherwise. Tim O'Hare is a
very different type. He's very destructive and uh, a divisive person.
Speaker 2 (49:45):
Uh.
Speaker 9 (49:45):
He rammed through a racist redrawing of the County Commissioner's court.
Speaker 7 (49:52):
Uh.
Speaker 9 (49:52):
That's uh that map is in uh in being challenged
with under the Voting Rights Act now and and of
course he regularly attacks the two Democratic members of the
commission who are also represent the two minority districts. And
so his whole method of operation is to create dissension
(50:15):
and division.
Speaker 5 (50:17):
Uh.
Speaker 9 (50:17):
And again because that's the style of politics, that's the
style of a governance that has really resulted from Donald
Trump being in the White House.
Speaker 8 (50:28):
Again.
Speaker 4 (50:30):
Yeah, well, good book, Vonkos guys.
Speaker 9 (50:34):
H Well, Uh, it's important to remember that is particularly
in Tarrant County, that the Democrats are continuing to do
better and uh, and they're doing it without any resources.
I mean, frankly, the Lone Star Project has been the
only organization out that that's not exclusive to Tarrant County
(50:57):
that's really invested in uh Tarrant County politics. And I'm
hopeful that you'll have the State Party and others put
some resources into Tarrant County. I mean, I'm proud that
the Lone Star Project we've been in uh a key
part of winning some key commissions races and some others.
(51:17):
I think that Tim O'Hare can be defeated in the
next election. UH, but it's gonna have to take uh
it being a state priority, not just something that local
Democrats are trying.
Speaker 8 (51:30):
To do in their own.
Speaker 4 (51:33):
And this week in the state politics we have uh
a run another another intended run against Senator the Cruz.
I'm sorry you broke up a little bit there, I'm
talking about calling it out is running for UH.
Speaker 9 (51:53):
Yes, Colin Olridge running again for the for the US Senate,
this time in the seat that John corn holds. I
don't expect that John Cornyn will be the nominee. In fact,
I think Cornyn is pretty pathetically tried to abandon everything
he's ever really done as a moderate Republican in the
past and pretend to be maga that. I don't think
(52:14):
that's going to work. I think that the Republicans will
would rather nominate a corrupt Ken Paxton than a cowardly
John Cornyn, and I think that gives Democrats and a
law opportunity to win a statewide seat. And Colin is
running again. Colin ran a much better race in twenty
(52:36):
twenty four than he's given credit for. He ran three
and a half almost four points ahead of the presidential ticket.
No senate candidate in Texas has done that, going back
to Lloyd Benson, but he didn't win, and there was
some disappointment about that. And now you also have James
Tallerica running and James is a new and a fresh
face and there's some excitement around him. So I think
(52:57):
that'll be a very competitive primary. I think whichever one
of them is the nominee, we have a chance to
beat a corrupt Ken Paxton in the fall.
Speaker 4 (53:07):
Yeah, Cornan is running a lot. I have a lot
of money into a people put out on the air
right now.
Speaker 6 (53:15):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 9 (53:16):
The Republicans in Washington, they know that Ken Paxton is
a really dangerous nominee for them. The problem is that
they've created a monster within their own primary that mainstream Republicans,
even the notion of mainstream Republican is nostalgia. Now they
(53:38):
don't exist. It's all Trump now. There is no Texas
Republican Party anymore. It's all the national Trump Party. I mean,
it seems that counterintuitive to a lot of people in
Texas because it's been so long since Democrats have held
state blide office. But the truth of the matter is
the only real Texas focused party in Texas now is
(54:00):
the Democratic Party. The Republican Party are totally national in
their scope, and they're totally submissive and doting upon Donald Trump.
The Republican congressman from Fort ben County said it most
insultingly to their own party, but also accurately when he says,
(54:24):
if Donald Trump says jump three feet into the air,
we jumped three says a lot bet that, And the
truth of the matter is that he was just being honest.
Matt tells people how to get attention to you and
your newsletter. Well, Lone Star Project is pretty easy to
reach if you'll just go to lone Star Project dot
(54:48):
net and sign up for our newsletters, or feel free
to just email me directly at Matt Angle at lone
Star project dot net.
Speaker 1 (54:55):
That was Matt Angle of the Lone Star Project. You
can read his new letter at the Lone Star Project
dot net.
Speaker 7 (55:04):
Hi.
Speaker 1 (55:05):
This is Steve Gallington, producer and host for the People's News.
One of the things that I got in preparation for
going to the No King's Rally on June fourteenth was
a presentation from the ACLU which I want to repeat
the information from for you in light of the convicted
felon opening up Alligator Alcatraz and the Republican House and
(55:29):
Senate passing this big, ugly, expensive, devastating bill. Among those
things is one hundred and thirty five billion dollars for
increased secret police activity or ICE funding. And so you
have rights when dealing with the police or ice, no
(55:50):
matter or immigration status. Number one, if they do not
have a warrant, an arrest warrant or a search warrant,
you do not have to open open the door for
the police or ice. You do not have to answer
any questions about status or country of origin. The right
to remain silent is protected under the fifth Amendment of
(56:12):
the Constitution. You have the right to ask to see
a lawyer. You have the right to refuse searches of
your person and your car if the police do not
suspect a crime. This is the fourth Amendment of the Constitution.
Never sign anything without knowing what it says. And you
(56:37):
have a right to record what happens. And if you're
hearing this, and you can speak and read Spanish, the
People's News would love for you to read the script
in Spanish so we can accompany that with this as well.
So be safe out there, look out for each other,
and we will get through this together. The People's News
(57:03):
is a production of Steve Gallington and Richard Hannah and
is protected by copyright laws. All the information broadcast on
air and online, as well as published in both print
and or online, including articles, audio clips, illustrations, graphics, photographs,
and videos, are protected by these copyright and other state
and federal intellectual property laws. Therefore, you may not use
(57:25):
our content in any prohibited way, including reproducing, publishing, transmitting, selling, rewriting, broadcasting,
or posting on the Internet without the expressed written permission
of The People's News. Prohibited use also includes publication of
our material in printed or electronic brochures, newsletters, or flyers,
as well as all website or email distribution. To obtain
(57:48):
permission to use copyrighted material, email Steve Gallington at Steve
at gallington dot com. Thank you
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