Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
It's the week of August twenty fourth, twenty twenty five,
and this is what's on the People's News. The national
war on the homeless continues in Houston as Food Not
Bombs continues to be targeted by police. The criminal, corrupt,
and incompetent Donald Trump is desperate to seem tough, so
(00:25):
he has taken over DC. The UN officially recognizes that
there is famine in Gaza. We continue with part two
of the Republican backed US retaliation on South Africa, remembering
pro wrestler Pulk Hogan. All that and more on the
(00:46):
People's News. I'm Steve Gallington. This is the People's News,
and the People's News starts now. Food not Bombs have
been serving the homeless for years now at the same
location in front of the Downtown Library in Houston. The
harassment by the city has also been going on for years.
(01:09):
A previous mayor issued an ordinance that only people that
are licensed can feed the homeless. That ordinance was taken
to court and fought. Then tickets were being handed out
to those that continued to feed the homeless at the
location on five hundred and fifty Mcinney Street. Each individual
was given a ticket for each time that they were
caught feeding the homeless. Hundreds of tickets were given out
(01:31):
until a federal court injunction stopped any more until the
case played out in court. Since then, the new mayor,
John Whitmire has made his intention known that he does
not want homeless people to be seen downtown or in
any area around the city. Since then, Food Not Bombs
has been faced with harassment and threat of arrest by
local police and the Metro Police Department. The most recent
(01:55):
was just last week when HPD and Metro Police detained
one of the volunteers. We talked to John Locke, who
is a volunteer with Food Not Bombs.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Yeah, so, I mean a couple of things are happening.
What happened the incidents that happened with us specifically was
we had HPD officers that was looking for an individual
that they said that got received food with us that
are food shares, and in that time, when speaking with
(02:31):
one of the volunteers HPD, they got into a bit
of an argument and we had it on video, HPD
saying you know right now is a restable offense meaning
sharing food, and then the volunteer kindly let the officers
know that we have an injunction by the federal courts
(02:51):
and that you know, they actually could not give us tickets,
and that it wasn't a restable offense that officer. Those
officers left right for a second and came back and
then spoke to the volunteer about you know, needing to
have respect on both sides between police officers and volunteers
(03:13):
and whatever. Anyways, they end up leaving, But come fifteen
minutes later, Metro police came, and that I think is
the piece is going to relate a little bit more
to the change and the mayor's stance with homelessness of
wanting to push all the homeless out of downtown and
(03:35):
the east side of Houston. The Metro police came about
six officers deep and cleared anybody that was sitting at
the Metro stop, which is right front of where we
share food, and you know, of course, you know, we
(03:57):
had a couple of volunteers that were recording the officers
as they're doing that. They didn't like that very much
and then began to ask one of our volunteers for
ID and asking and asking him, had him down and
ask him that he was going to ride the bus
(04:18):
stop and then at that time arrested that individual volunteer.
And I think what the mayors having the Metro police
do is basically police all the bus stops and harassed
(04:40):
people that are sitting at the bus stops if they
appear to be homeless. And I said, our volunteer got arrested.
He got detained and used to tape for like thirty minutes,
and Metro police stated that we couldnt protest or share
food at near any of the Metro stops and that
(05:02):
you cannot protest on Metro's property. This is very interesting.
They end up, like I said, releasing the volunteer and
giving him a trespassing the ticket which just for him
standing he was standing by the bus stop as he
was recording the officer. So kim trespassing for being at
(05:26):
the bus stop and not having like a ticket or something,
even though you just pay for your your bus when
you get in. You know, uh, from what I know
and understand, very unfortunate and and I think, uh, this
situation is kind of showing what, you know, what we
(05:47):
have to look forward to in the future. And now,
uh is police harassing almost and arresting them and giving
them tickets.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
This is especially this is especially new because the using
HPD not HBD is Metro Police as as the power
of authority now instead of it said the Houston Police Department.
Because you I hope you guys. Are you guys challenging
this at all, because insasticate anybody that's standing by a
(06:18):
bus stop can get psicated, that can get a ticket exactly.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
I mean, yes, we will be challenging this, and individually,
our volunteer will be that was attained, will be talenting this.
But you know, this I think can serve as a
good eye opener of what these policies and ordinances, how
they look in actuality and in actuality what we have
(06:43):
is just you know, a whole lot of police, uh,
harassing on house individuals and yeah, trying to put them
out and then using Metro. It is interesting. It's almost
like they're trying to avoid the the issues they got
with HVD and and using excuse. Oh, this is a
(07:05):
different police department, you know, because they're obviously not as
informed on on for amendment rights, constitutional rights as you
know as HVD is now informed about due to going
through the courts.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
Have you talked to anybody down at hp H Metro
hit quarters about this.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Uh no, we we I believe people have been trying
getting touched in touch with internal affairs about this.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
That's Metro Police. That's a different, different division. That's a
totally different deal.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Don't they They have their own internal affairs for Metro.
I don't know, Oh well that that that was my information.
I don't I haven't spoke directly with their legal team.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
Yeah, because, uh, this seems like there's something that's going
on like like makes citywide, because I know in third
Ward they they they started trying to arrest people and
try to give tickets to people that were homeless that
for standing in and around bus stations. They made as
illegal on the East Side for you to be practically homeless.
(08:16):
I mean, uh you can get a ticket, uh for
just standing around. So and this is an attack, But
it seemed like that the council members are standing with
the with the mayor on cleaning up the city for
the World Cup.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Right right. I think there's only two city council members
that that voted against that the new ordinance. Uh so yeah,
everybody was on board, and I was very you know,
pretty surprised, uh individuals that that voted in support for
that ordinance.
Speaker 3 (08:51):
Yeah, and this is something that's uh, these new ordinances
or every every neighborhood now is trying to pick up
on this ordinance that that they want their they want
the civility law. I think that's what it's called, trying
to stop people from live from from uh for homelessness
in general. And I was surprised about the third ward
(09:11):
actually having something blaming the homeless for all the crime rate,
which they anybody say anything about bombs being.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
No, we haven't heard. We definitely haven't heard anything from
the mayor, uh you know, directly or indirectly to Food
Not Bombs. And I think they're probably not going to
say anything publicly until our court case which is in October,
the federal court case, they're kind of going to touch
anything we're doing. And to that federal court.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
Cases over with, and and Food Not Bombs are still
is still available to me, you know, people can still
volunteer at Food Not.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
Bombs absolutely Sunday Monday when and say and Friday at
seven fifteen and we start sharing food at seven point
thirty sharp pm.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
And you got a Facebook page also.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
Uh, yeah, we have I believe the Instagram at Facebook
of the same is Not bombspx.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
That was John Locke with Food not Bombs. They serve Mondays, Wednesdays,
Fridays and Sundays at seven pm on five hundred and
fifty McKinney Street. Bring vegan meals or just your positive energy.
More information can be found out on their Facebook page.
The sound was kind of bad at the end of
that clip. Their Facebook page is Food Not Bombs HTx.
(10:41):
To truly understand the corrupt, criminal, and incompetent administration of
convicted fellon Donald Trump, you need to think about this
as a distraction, a distraction from the things that Donald
Trump doesn't want you to understand or doesn't want you
to know, distraction from the Epstein files, a distraction from
(11:03):
his failing health, a distraction from his failing cognitive ability,
and a distraction from his disastrous trade policies throwing the
US economy into a recession and maybe a depression. As
part of this theater, the District of Columbia, better known
as DC, has been taken over and federalized by the
(11:28):
convicted felon Donald Trump. Because Washington, DC is not a
state and is under federal mandate by the US Congress.
The US President has the right to control the city
for thirty days. The convicted felon issued an executive order
claiming there was a crime emergency in DC, despite all
(11:48):
indicators that the District of Columbia is currently enjoying the
lowest crime rate it's had in almost forty years. Federal
agents are being pulled off of other things to protect us,
and they're being pushed out into the street to harass
and detain tourists. Supplementing this force are troops from the
(12:09):
National Guard units from three different states. Defense Secretary Whiskey
Pete Hegseth has authorized the National gu soldiers in DC
to carry weapons. We talked to Christina Roth, senior policy
associate at the Legal Defense Fund of the NAACP.
Speaker 4 (12:26):
Thanks again for having me on with regard to the troops. Initially,
the president deployed I guess eight hundred DC National guardsmen
and has requested troops from additional states, and so some
governors have agreed to do that. So I'm not going
to give you a precise number because I imagine it
(12:46):
will change over time. But I think what's important here
that you hit on around sort of the situation around
this I'm using air quotes. Emergency is something that a
lot of folks has been widely reported disagree with. You know,
(13:07):
in January of twenty twenty five, the US Attorney's Office
for DC announced that crime in DC is at a
thirty year low, and DC's Police Department's own tracking between
twenty twenty four and twenty twenty five crime data shows
that this period. In this period, violent crime decreased by
twenty six percent. And so I think folks are really
struggling with why this increased police presence of a city
(13:31):
that already has quite a lot of law enforcement, both
you know, our DC Local Police, Secret Service, Park Police,
and other federal law enforcements that are already in DC,
has grown so much to address the problem that so
many people don't believe is relevant.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
Yeah, and civil liberties aspect of things also is a concern.
You have national guards when trying to regulate or patrol,
and people in the DC area, we'll be scared of
their civil liberty is being affected by all this because
there's some people that are not law enforcement for the
most part.
Speaker 4 (14:11):
I'm sorry, could you repeat that last part.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
Because these are people national parfsmen are not law enforcement.
Even though they're not supposedly they're not supposed to be
doing any type of law enforcement duties, it's still a
threat to people's civil liberties. Am I correct on that?
Speaker 4 (14:28):
Sure? I think a lot of folks are certainly worried
about the presence of law enforcement. And you know, as
I already said, like, we have to sit with the
dissonance that while it's been widely reported that crime rates
are dropping in DC, the administration has been on presenting
this false and deleitorious narrative about crime that's being used
to justify police presence, or as you alluded to, the
(14:50):
National Guard and the deployment of the National Guard and
the limited takeover of DC Police Department threatens to embolden
law enforcement officers to operate with unchecked violence. That said,
whether there will be any changes to the Metropolitan Police
departments practices or activities remains to be seen. There. Certainly,
(15:10):
the Court has considered some efforts from the administration to
amend their policies, but we're still waiting for a decision
on that. But we'll be monitoring the National Guard, troops,
Federal MPD and officers and how officers conduct themselves within
the bounds of the law without infringing on the rights
of residents and visitors to see DC folks still have
(15:32):
the same people are still protected by local, federal, and
constitutional laws. It's also important to remember here that the
actions the president took, the executive actions the president took
in at large, he can actually change or create law.
So regardless of comments that have been made about a
preference of change of policy, it would take an act
(15:52):
of the DC City Council or Congress to likely change
the law, law and the ways that may have been advocated.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
For another scary thing he's talking about doing is ridden
the city of homeless people. The thought of just homelessness
crime is is is pretty ridiculous to a lot of
a lot of people with and hear that type of talk, yeah, and.
Speaker 4 (16:18):
So on that you know, certainly, we're very concerned about
the attacks on the unhased people in the District of Columbia,
people who ultimately need support and resources not to be
forced into humiliation. And this is just another example of
how the administration has sought to dehumanize people as it
considers it considers to be undesirable and erase them from
(16:41):
public view. In this case, the President is promising to
do so with the full force of law enforcement in
the military. And there certainly have been has been reporting
of some encampments that have been swept, depriving people of
what little things they may have had. And I, you know,
I do want to underscore here, as upsetting as it
is or the unhoused populations, there were a number of
(17:02):
other groups that were certainly threatened by the president's claims
in the press conference where he announced issuance of these
executive orders. You know, d C is an overwhelmingly and
historically black city and that is not actually beset by
crime just right.
Speaker 5 (17:20):
And you know, some of the folks that he.
Speaker 4 (17:24):
Went after also included young people and people who have
had prior contact with the criminal legal system, as well
as folks who are non citizens. And we've certainly seen
an increase in sort of arrests of those individuals as well.
Even though the really premise that was laid out was
(17:45):
about the sort of rise and crime, it seems like
the numbers that are being reported include a lot of
folks who are non citizens.
Speaker 3 (17:53):
Is this this is scary in itself and they can
do that in d C because of Live DC, which
DC has been fighting for it for years and not
getting is this a blue primt with other states? On
another states, other states might happen there too. You might
look at the National Guards, especially place like Mississipping with
(18:14):
the A they have high crime rates there too, and
some a lot of the red states that do have
high crime rate. So this is this something that that
the President's doing and can be looked at as doing
it in other cities.
Speaker 4 (18:29):
Well, I don't think we should deforce divorce the federal
takeover of DC police and the threats made during the
press conference where this these executive actors or orders were issued,
actions were issued, I should say to implement a similar
playbook in cities that were also identified, like Chicago, Baltimore,
and Oakland. From the fact that these are also black
(18:50):
cities with black skys, will black populations and have black leadership.
So that's something that all the off is particularly concerned about.
That said, I think a story that the President has
over DC is really particular because of what you outline
that DC. It's not just because DC is not a state,
but because of the federal law referred to as the
(19:13):
Home Rule Act that permits this particular kind of authority
for the president to have a limited power over MPD
for a set amount of time. So I do think
it's it's helpful for people to sit with that that.
I don't imagine that the president could do the same
kind of exactly the same thing and these other jurisdictions
(19:34):
because the laws are just different. However, certainly there are
governors in some states who might be willing to deploy
the National Guard if that was something the president was
looking for. But I think that remains to be seen
exactly how that might play out. But we are certainly
paying close attention to d C. I myself whom a resident,
(19:55):
and they're watching things unfold to determine what action might
might be coming in other jurisdictions.
Speaker 3 (20:03):
And yeah, he's being a resident. And you know, I've
been in DC plenty of times, and I see the
law enforcement you got, the law enforcement you do have.
You know, you have a federal you you have law
enforcement that you have the FBI there, that's that's that's
not that far from there a fast amount of law
enforcement within that within that city. How is it that
(20:26):
you know, adding that extra law enforcement even even can
see as being weak.
Speaker 4 (20:35):
Yeah, Well, I think like I said earlier that it's
a it's a real concern just around the threat of
the presence of law enforcement that could certainly lead to
sort of unchecked violence. That said, the laws that exist
are still in place. But it's important to recognize too
that you know, d C has is a city that
(20:56):
is nearly forty five percent black, and the majority of
the pomp is non white. Yet last calendar year, black
people made up eighty percent of all youth and adult
arrests in that calendar year, which shows a real disproportionate
policing of that of those community members. And so, you know,
we really need to think about and even the President
(21:18):
said this in his press conference on Monday last Monday,
that he was surprised about how many law enforcement are
in DC, that it seemed like more than enough, and
yet a decision has been made to sort of deploy
all these additional forces. I don't think that we believe
it's not how we believe is effective community safety tactic.
(21:40):
In fact, we find it quite interesting that you know,
they sort of these tactics run somewhat contrary, like they've
been sort of the setup of traffic checkpoints where they're
stopping drivers for low level violations like not wearing seat belts,
which historically these enforcement tactics do little to improve safety,
but in fact they run contrary to evidence based community
(22:03):
led violence intervention programs that reduce violence in a short
and long term. And actually, just within this year, despite
their efficacy, ten to fifteen d C community violence intervention
organizations were negatively deprived, negatively impacted by federal funding cuts
in May of twenty twenty five from the Department of Justice.
And so, you know, when we look at this decrease
(22:25):
in crime, people are quick to think what that means
for law enforcement actions, but really we should be thinking
about our public safety infrastructure in a lot of other ways.
What other noncar sural services are provided to really not
just address crime, but sort of prevent the need for
lawn you know, some of these law enforcement responses in
the first place, and programs like these community violence intervention
(22:48):
ones have a pretty high success rate. And so it seems,
you know, really contrary to send more law enforcement when
there's been success in reducing crime through totally other meats.
Speaker 3 (23:01):
Yeah, well, I think of all this, I go back
that's all my age when I go back to you know,
in the eighties when they had they said the up
the crack epidemics, so to speak, and they put in
law enforcement all around us, all around black areas, saying
this is where, this is where the big crime is
going on, and locked up a whole population of black males.
(23:25):
And that's what when I when I see that type
of rhetoric being being made, the law and order type
of rhetoric, that's what I think that which.
Speaker 6 (23:33):
Is scary in my opinion.
Speaker 4 (23:36):
Yeah, well, you know along those lines, I think you know,
these years forward, we now understand the War on drugs
had a very deliberate racial impact intention, I should say.
And ironically, in President Trump's first term, he actually signed
into law the First Step Act that helped to address
(23:57):
some of the mass incarcerations that occurred as a result
of some of these war on drug policies.
Speaker 5 (24:04):
Right, So he has.
Speaker 4 (24:05):
Previously believed that actually, some folks don't need to spend
as much time incarcerated for offenses that are related to
drug offenses. And so, you know, I think that that's
important to sit with. And certainly under the Biden administration,
we saw a lot of commutations of individuals in relation
(24:25):
to sort of leveling the crack to powder cocaine disparity,
which was really really welcome news, but the tactics being
taken now seem to really be trying to prove something
that doesn't seem to be evident.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
That was Christina Roth, senior policy associate at the Legal
Defense Fund of the NAACP. The United Nations Deputy Chief
Tom Flesher reported that there is indeed a famine in Gaza.
The Israeli government has denied that fact as they continue
to plan to take over all of Gaza. Both the corrupt, cruel,
(25:03):
and incompetent Trump administration and Israel have stated that there
is food and this is just a Moss backed lie,
But all the hard data that we have and people
on the ground have stated differently. In the United States,
protesters continue to be jailed, students continue to be deported
(25:24):
just because of speaking out against the famine and genocide
in Gaza. We talked to organizer and critic of the
Israeli government Nick Cooper about the situation.
Speaker 6 (25:38):
No, I mean, that's basically it. We're at the point
now where you know, I mean, if you had said
any of these things to people at the beginning of
Israel italiating you, well, they're going to go for a
full ethnic cleansing, genocide, reoccupy, they're going to go for
starvation campaign. You know, people were just like, oh, oh,
(26:00):
that's not going to happen. And and then you say, well, look,
you know, all these Israeli leaders said that you know,
these are human animals and they should be treated as such,
and we sh you'd cut off their food and you know,
not a single drop of water should get in there.
And they're like, oh no, you know, that guy's not
really in charge. He's just you know, just one of
the main people in the government. And sure enough, like
(26:20):
all the worst things that they said that they were
wanted to do. And you know, the response to a
large extent has been for you know, those who were
kind of denying that it happened, they have to kind
of switch their position somehow lately in the background and
just be like, oh, well, you know, it's good that
(26:42):
it's happening, it needed to happen, or you know, it's
all their fault of course that there's no aid coming in.
And then we also have these new things that are
just kind of unheard of in the past. You've never
really had this term before. Of a aid massacre. But
that's the new thing with the way that the aid
(27:03):
is being delivered in Gaza is that more people end
up getting shot than end up getting food. This is
part of the ethnic cleansing and genocide. Palestinians who are
maybe religious and don't feel comfortable committing suicide can say, well,
I'm going to go try to get some food, knowing
that there's a good chance that they'll be killed, and
you know, maybe that that will be preferable and continuing
(27:25):
to live under starvation, having conditions.
Speaker 3 (27:30):
This has been put together by the United States and
Israel as far as Ai Aid organization to this. The
organization that they came up with they created to get
food out to the people of Gaza. That things can
not be working.
Speaker 6 (27:51):
Well, it's working as it was intended. You know that
the plan, as far as Israel was concerned, was let's discredit.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
Anybody that's creditable, that's credible.
Speaker 6 (28:01):
If you know World Health Kitchen is sharing food there, well,
let's bomb them. Oh, it was an accident that we
bond your trucks. If the UN is you know doing
the food, oh, you know, the UN they're all controlled
by Hamas like you know, whatever nonsense they have to say.
And then eventually even the people who are pro starvation,
you know, explicitly pro starvation in the Israeli government have
(28:24):
come around and said, oh, well yeah, this Gods for distribution.
Now by the evangelicals, this is actually okay, and they
realized that it is actually part of the ethnic cleansing program.
So this is being used as an excuse to say,
(28:44):
you know, we offered them some food and but just
continue the genocide by other means.
Speaker 3 (28:51):
It seems like the Trump administrations are getting their way
on what they were saying all along the Gaza strip
Palestinians and also let settlers clean out the West Bank
with low controls.
Speaker 6 (29:10):
Yeah, I mean, you have the things that like net
Yahu will say, you have the things that Smotrich will say,
you have the things that Trump will say, and the
things that Biden was willing to say, the things that
Kamala Harris was willing to say, and those are all
just you know, okay, they're different, they're not exactly the
same as each other. But the policy has been to
(29:31):
you know, slowly kind of boil the frog so that
the world just kind of comes to accept each adosity
and you know, there's a certain baseline shift. So like
when you and Israel destroys the first hospital in Gaza,
they have to say, oh, no, we didn't do it,
it was actually hamost did it, and lots of people
(29:53):
went along with that. They believe that nonsense. They're like,
oh yeah, it must have been Harmostid, it must have
been a Hambost missil. It couldn't have been Israel. And
then they up a second hospital, and you know, they
put out a little bit of excuse all there was
a Hamas control center under the hospital. They never even
bothered to show a picture of it. And then by
the time they blow up the third hospital, they're not
(30:13):
even saying why not even trying to make an excuse.
It's just perfect course, and that people have come to
accept that, oh yeah, you know, hospitals get blown up,
universities get blown up, like that's just the new normal.
And you know, I think that it's a human failing
and in a lot of ways that there is this
baseline shift that things that you know, if initially Israel
(30:35):
had said, well, our plan is to blow up all
of the hospitals, of course people would have been outraged.
But if they just kind of do it in this
gradual way people get accustomed to it.
Speaker 3 (30:45):
What happens to the voices people that bash institution there,
because it's been a silence of voices right now. I
think they've had some rallies in the protracts here, but
for the most part, it's been the fear of prostitution
for speaking out.
Speaker 6 (31:07):
Yeah, well, I think that, you know, we have to
kind of pay attention to this new wave of people
who are speaking out that within the mainstream system, and
you have people like Zora Mondamie's candidacy in New York
whorts people are kind of like, you know, it's a
(31:29):
very interesting moment because like Zoron comes in, he's doing
pretty well, and then Cuomo and Adams and the establishment
Democrats are like, well, you know, we know how to
take him out. Let's call anti Semitic, say that he
hates Israel. And Zoron had not really been campaigning on
Israel at all. He said said anything about Israel that
(31:51):
wasn't part of he was just running for me because
he was trying to do, you know, economic things for
people in New York. But he had been part of
BDAS and he's Muslim and so the attack on that
and it's just backfired, you know. And you have now
in New York. You know, he's winning most demographics of
(32:11):
even Jewish voters in New York. You know, people are
not among Democrats right now, among the voters, the support
for Israel is that eight percent. This is an unprecedented
this has never happened. And among even young Republicans, you know,
there's no support for Israel. So it's really just the
(32:31):
politicians kind of dragging people along on this in the US.
Now in Israel, it's a different story, with forty seven
percent of Jewish Israelis wanting to kill every last man,
woman and child in Gaza, and eighty percent of Jewish
Israelis saying they at least want a full ethnic cleansing.
Soe he's very you know, the at least for Jewish Israelis.
(32:55):
Of course, we're not talking about the Pels citizens of
Israel or the people who are completely disenfranchised living in
the West Bank and Gaza and East Jerusalem and wherever.
But you have, you know, a very genocidal mindset said
among all of society, and and some people are protesting,
(33:19):
and there's there was some of the most massive protests
in the history of Israel the other day against the war,
and that is the messaging at least, it's like, let's
get the hostages back. But you know so, but you
do have eighty percent of Israeli said that they were
(33:40):
the full ethnic cleansing. Maybe some of them are imagining
that that is being done in some way that's not
as bootal as what's going through these people's heads or whatever.
But I think at least in the US, that people
are sick of this nonsense. And you know, there there's
(34:01):
both sides. And I mean, I think that people apecifica yourself,
like all kinds of mainstream people, tended to get the
benefit of the doubts Israel for far too long, despite
you know, all of these policies going on for so
long and kind of treating both sidism and you know,
we have to respect Jewish people because of the Holocaust
(34:21):
or whatever, and uh, you know, obviously like for respect
to Jewish people, myself included, but uh, you know, at
this point, you know, if somehow going through the Holocaust
and titles to Jews to be part of a government
that is committing another Holocaust, that that license has been
(34:45):
fully exploited and revoked being the victim of a holocaust.
Speaker 3 (34:53):
What did you say about we had international journalists that
have been killed, and outrage all over the world about this.
It's separating the United States.
Speaker 6 (35:09):
I mean, there's not so many international journalists who've been killed.
Most of the journalists who've been killed, of course, I
mean not just most, but I mean almost one hundred
percent of the journalists who've been killed are Palestinians, and
they're working for international news organizations. But Israel's managed to
do this thing where it doesn't allow foreign journalists in
at all, and this is kind of unprecedented, And of
(35:31):
course they'll say, oh, well, we have to make sure
we keep them safe or whatever, but obviously there have
been journalists in other war zones. And to the extent
that a journalist has been allowed in from a major
media organization, they're embedded with the Israelis and they're just
going on a little propaganda tour. But you know, at
(35:51):
a certain point, like what you're up against is no
longer any kind of you know, analysis or narrative. It's
like you can see the pictures, like you know, all
the buildings are flattened that like you know, the idea that, oh, well,
there's there's another story that you you know, you have
to know about. I mean, you there's the death call
(36:13):
is I mean, the official death toll is like sixty thousand.
Like we're I mean, we're talking about the possibility that
the death toll isn't off by a factor of five.
To me, who was just impossible. I mean, there must
be hundreds of thousands of dead, and that's the estimate,
you know, from the organizations that are trying to estimate
(36:33):
how many are dead, but instead they stay with these
super low numbers that are based on the confirmed you know,
names of the people who are dead. And it's just like, well, yeah,
there's hundreds of thousands of people who might be still
alive magically somewhere under the rubble. But realistically, like I
think that two hundred and fifty thousand killed so far,
(36:56):
with you know, dozens of kids being killed every week
would be you know, a pretty conservative vest. And the
last point I'd like to make is that you know,
you've heard in the beginning of the war that Hamas
must be eliminated and taken out of power, and that's
all fine or whatever, but at this point, the Israeli
government has to be dismantled, just like the not the government. Right.
(37:18):
This is, once you've committed genocide, you can't just kind
of hang out and remain in power and okay, we'll
move on, you know. No, like the the idea that
Israel has the right to exist has been this big
talking point for Zionists for a long time, but no,
Israel does not have the right to exist. States had
no right to exist. In fact, other states are. It's
(37:41):
incumbent on them under the Genocide Convention to dismantle them,
and that's what needs to happen.
Speaker 3 (37:47):
I would say on that that that level that the
Israeli government, there's no pressure on them to do anything,
to be honest, and I'm not trying to be sarcastic.
Speaker 6 (37:57):
But well, you're right. I mean, so then the question
is when does the reckoning come. Does it happen in
five years, does it happen in ten years, does it
happen never? And then we're just like, you know, we're
no longer you know, a world of sovereign states. We're
just like a bunch of warlords or whatever. Like yeah,
I mean, we might not even have any society any
at all. Anymore. But assuming that we're going to continue
(38:20):
to try to have any kind of rule of law
or whatever, then there will be a reckoning. Or assuming
there's even a history department left and people continue to
write history books, like you know, history will judge this
as a genocide, and it obviously is if you take
as a standard the Cerebonitza genocide. You know, the numbers
of people killed in Cerebnitza is minuscule compared to how
(38:42):
many people all.
Speaker 1 (38:46):
That was local activist Nick Cooper speaking on the situation
in Gaza Hi. This is Steve Gallington, producer and host
of the People's News. The People's News is people powered News.
We are to report the unvarnished and unspun truth and
challenge the status quo of corporate propaganda and social media
(39:07):
advertising disguised as real news. Shiny new one hour episodes
of The People's News drop each Sunday on The People's
News Podcast. Thanks for listening. The Commander in Cheat, Donald
Trump has remade the US government as a weapon for
him to attack anyone and everyone he has a grievance
(39:30):
with and to distract from all the other things that
are going badly in his life. He's not going after
Russia or North Korea, but South Africa. South Africa is
the recipient of one of the highest tariff rates that
Donald Trump has placed on a country. Why Because Donald
Trump wants to ford his ideas of white supremacy in
(39:53):
white nationalism and racism and broadcast it around the world.
He has not stopped in his crusalle to punish one
of Africa's biggest economies. We continue with part two of
our talk with doctor Tiucheppo Massango Cherry, a South African
scholar at the University of Houston specializing in African history
(40:14):
with a focus on racial formation, radical politics, and religious expression.
Speaker 5 (40:20):
Trump has actively actively suggested that this Land Appropriation Act,
alongside looking at the crime statistics, has made South Africa
a space of white genocide, so that it's not just
(40:40):
about the land being taken away, but the suggestion is
that white farmers who own the land that is in
potential jeopardy is being taken away, will incur it will
be inflicted with violence. So it's not just the taking
away of land, but suggestion that violence will will occur.
(41:04):
That has not been the case thus far as this
act has operated. What has been The case, however, is
that South Africa has a high crime rate, and so
the crime that that Trump is pointing to, or the
violence that he's pointing to, is really an an It
(41:24):
is really reflective of the crime rates in South Africa,
especially in more desolate and isolated spaces and so uh.
But even even more so that those who actually are
bearing the brunt of violent crimes in South Africa are
black South Africans. So if you can sort of see
(41:46):
the picture that I'm painting, it is connected to this
long colonial history alongside some of the changes that that
Trump is seeking to have take place. And I'll also
add that, you know, some people maybe sort of questioning,
(42:09):
I'll be at fraud the connection with Elon Musk. So
Elon Musk had tracts of land that the intention was
to kind of work through some of his own business projects,
Starlink being one of them. You know, it's just a
lot of different business ventures on South African soil, and
(42:32):
that land has been taken away from him. So the
pivot on the US side has been one to essentially
quietly declare the end of the African Growth and Opportunity
Act in two thousands, even though that's not explicitly named.
Two is also to to ensure that this meta narrative
(42:56):
around white genocide in South Africa it becomes deeply entrenched,
at least on the US side, if not maybe perhaps globally.
And so what he has done is he has set
up a pipeline in which Africanas are.
Speaker 3 (43:10):
To move to the US.
Speaker 5 (43:13):
So what's been interesting in the last couple of days,
I would say, is looking at the internal policies around
refugee admissions. So the refugee admissions cap this particular year
has been at forty thousand. That's a that's a steep
(43:35):
decline from the one hundred thousand that president former president
Biden had put into place around two thousand and four.
So that forty thousand is is quite low. However, what's
interesting is if we look back, if we look back
at Trump's twenty twenty one sort of the end of
(43:58):
his term, he had suggested that the ceiling should be
around fifteen thousand, so it's significantly higher than what where
he had ended in his last term. But according to
the refugee official for the US Department of Health and
Human Services, Angi Salazar, of the forty thousand that are
(44:23):
dedicated for refugee admissions to the US. Thirty thousand of
those spaces are dedicated to Africanas from South Africa. So
this is a very very big statement that President Trump
is making, not only with the tariffs, the breakdown and
negotiations between him and President rama Posa, as well as
(44:47):
now placing a status, a known status of Africanas as
being refugees and in need of a asylum. So that
that and this, I think maybe it's helpful just to
sort of think about refugees in general according to like
(45:10):
the UN and the UN is talking about their numbers
say that they're about thirty thirty seven million refugees according
to the UN. And prior to that, we had dedicated
a significant amount of space for Afghanistan and the Afghanis
in particular who had helped the US. So this is
(45:32):
a major change. Is when I'm trying to sort of
point you all too now the numbers, the actual numbers
for twenty twenty six as far as what's going to
happen with the refugee status. And this is important to
mention because part of the push for bringing Afrikana refugees
here were around thinking about the future of American farming
(45:55):
and the ability to sort of maintain farms as things
have shifted. That those twenty twenty six final numbers won't
be clear to us probably until around October. But more
recently around this issue of asylum, I think what is
(46:15):
notable is that the South African Foreign Minister dismissed the
State Department's Human Rights conditioned report that was recently released,
which suggests that the issue around white Africanas and their safety,
according to the State Department, has quote significantly worsened after
(46:39):
these land reforms. But South Africa says that they are
quote profoundly disappointed with the report and state that it
is deeply flawed and inaccurate. So this is a story
not just around the economy, albeit that's very important, but
it is a wider story around economic economic expectations, shifting
(47:07):
foreign and economic policy, and for other countries, some of
whom I have briefly mentioned in the beginning, those tariffs,
even though they are significantly lower than the thirty percent,
have really had a or are already having a harrowing
impact on them. So I'll just sort of mention Lesta
(47:30):
as I kind of and our discussion on South Africa
and on the tariffs or Southern Africa and the terroriffs.
But Lasta has a fifteen percent terrafts and Lecita in
particular is their textile division is is deeply impacted by
(47:52):
these terrorists. They're the ones who are really producing in
the textile industry. For for companies that we would know
in the US like Costco, Walmart, J C. Penny and so.
To have these tarraffs really stifles the possibility of the
growth in the textile industry and it is a deeply
(48:16):
impoverished people to sort of re establish its economic UH
stability because there are a significant flow of people from
lyso To to South Africa and there you have it.
If you have South you have people from las To
flowing to South Africa in search of jobs. But South
(48:37):
Africa's economic you know, stability is also in flex. This
creates a significant amount of problems the group or the
country that has sort of if there are if there
aren't any wins, I guess as far as tariffs, that
has been Kenya that has gotten about ten persons. I
(49:01):
think that this shift for Kenya which kind of positions
Kenya UH with larger possibilities really than most African countries.
Is also reflective of who's in leadership when you have
when you have a you know UH kind of officials
(49:24):
who are in leadership, who are more in line with
much as the policies that Trump is putting forth, they
are in part rewarded. Albeit African as a whole as suffering, right.
So I just want to sort of point those things out,
and I think, you know, perhaps we should dedicate another
(49:47):
another time for Congo. But I will say this very
briefly about the Congo. The Congo UH is one of
many armed conflicts in the world. Obviously on the African
continent it is a major one. But I always think
that the global context is super important when we are
(50:10):
looking at armed conflicts. Internationally speaking, we're really suggesting, I mean,
we really need to know that there are over ten
thousand armed conflicts taking place, right, but we are focused
on you know a few. Congo's situation is is really deplorable.
(50:30):
Quite frankly, it is. It has it is longstanding, but
it is also deeply worsened because of our needs and
desire around certain minerals beyond diamonds that we often have
talked about in the past to help power, our technology
(50:54):
and so it has made it has created major, major
displacement for people. So there are people who are wondering,
wondering around the country who are on on housed the
the major UH, there's major violence that's taking place. However,
what I think is interesting about how Trump has recently
(51:18):
been talking about the Congo and I think this is
probably UH. This is probably a pattern that we will
see and have seen, is this notion of him resolving
armed conflict and declaring things complete and done, which is
it's almost impossible because we're talking about not only access
(51:43):
to minerals, to land, UH to of course generating their economy,
but also one that is is ethnically UH has an
ethnic component that has woven through it and would require
significant intern national intervention.
Speaker 1 (52:03):
That was doctor Descheppo Massango Cherry. She's a South African
scholar at the University of Houston, specializing in African history
with a focus on racial formation, radical politics, and religious expression.
Professional wrestling icon Hulk Hogan passed away recently. During the
eighties and nineties, Hulk Hogan was synonymous with the World
(52:24):
Wrestling Federation. His legacy was full of controversy. He was
charged with making racist claims against black people, and then
he reappeared after a long absence at the National Republican
Convention to endorse the convicted felon Donald Trump. Lance Bennett
is a fan of professional wrestling and is trying to
(52:45):
bring back national wrestling here in Houston as it was
known as Houston Wrestling for decades and run by Paul
Bosch at the Sam Houston Coliseum. He spoke on Hulk
Hogan and also on Houston Wrestling.
Speaker 7 (53:00):
I just remember the first time I saw Hulk Hogan
was on Rocky three when he was on Thunderlips and
uh and he uh uh. He had wrestled in the
Houston when on Paul Bosher's retirement night, the that was
Paul Bosher's last night to promote Houston wrestling, and that
that was a sort out crowd at the Saison Coliseum
(53:21):
and Hulk Hogan wrestled the One Man Gang that night
and he beat the One Man Gang a very historical
one night.
Speaker 3 (53:28):
H What was this?
Speaker 4 (53:30):
What was this?
Speaker 3 (53:32):
He wrestled in Houston and Houston treated him well with
that assume that's when that's when Houston Wrestling became a part.
Speaker 7 (53:40):
Of w W F of correct on that, Yes, you're
you're correct, Uh huh.
Speaker 3 (53:46):
And what's the Trump contribution? What do we what does
he leave As far as uh the loss of Hulk
Hogan to the world of professional wrestlers, Well.
Speaker 7 (53:56):
That's one I pay. It's one of the biggest loss
ever in the pro wrestling world, and he was one
of the greatest, if not the greatest, and one of
the most popular wrestlers ever.
Speaker 3 (54:06):
Contribution. Why don't you talk about Paul Bosher's in his
contribution because Paul's Bosch was around for the territories and
as long as you explain the territories to people that
don't know, well, Paul.
Speaker 7 (54:18):
Bosher made Houston wrestling and he was one of the
greatest ever in the wrestling business. Said great, Well, he
was a wrestler before my time, but I saw him
as Washington as a promoter here in my childhood growing up.
He was one of the best wrestling promoters ever was.
He was probably the best wrestling promoter there was, and
he was in the wrestling business. I think over at
(54:40):
least fifty years or more he was in the wrestling business.
Speaker 3 (54:43):
His loss as far as wrestling in Houston, I mean,
it's still we still had to have local wrestling, but
it's not on the same level as the Sam Houston
Coliseum and what happened at to Sammy Caliseum maybe on
a weekly basis.
Speaker 6 (54:56):
Well that that's true.
Speaker 7 (54:57):
But me and me and a couple of guys are
trying to bring bring Houston wrestling back. We we own
a company and we're working on starting it up and
we plan to make it as big as what Paul
Bog had in Houston. It might be a year or two,
but we're working on and that's that's what I want
more than anything. That's my goal.
Speaker 3 (55:19):
What is it? What is this that stopping you from
getting to that level?
Speaker 7 (55:23):
Okay, well, it's just taking some time.
Speaker 3 (55:25):
You know.
Speaker 7 (55:26):
We uh got to build up an audience and we're
got to get sponsors together, and it's just we got
a one of our business owners has a plan, you know,
it's like a three year plan. The plan is to
probably have it get a pilot episode, probably in twenty
twenty seven, to film a pilot episode, and then maybe
(55:47):
the first quarter twenty two twenty eight, we'll have it
going on a regular basis, like hopefully at least once
or twice a month and have it televised and hopefully
hopefully get a good deal on a network.
Speaker 3 (55:58):
All right, and can you give me your information on
how to get in touch at you finding out more
information about what you're trying to do.
Speaker 7 (56:06):
Yeah, you can contact me this numby time and you
can you can email me at the Wrestler that the
word wrestler wr E s t l E R two
zero zero one at hotmail dot com.
Speaker 1 (56:18):
That was Lance Bennett, who is trying to bring back
Houston wrestling, talking about Hulk Hogan and his tarnished legacy.
And here's a quick note on the Texas GOP mid
decade redistricting effort, which will give them five additional Republican seats.
(56:40):
In other words, the Conservative candidates picking their voters as
opposed to the voters picking their candidates. They've gotten five
new Republican districts, but in doing so they've put ten
districts into swing status. The blue wave in twenty twenty
six cannot be avoided. Apparently. The People's News is a
(57:03):
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 our content in
(57:26):
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
(57:49):
permission to use copyrighted material, email Steve Gallington at Steve
at gallington dot com. Thank you,
It's the week of August twenty fourth, twenty twenty five,
and this is what's on the People's News. The national
war on the homeless continues in Houston as Food Not
Bombs continues to be targeted by police. The criminal, corrupt,
and incompetent Donald Trump is desperate to seem tough, so
(00:25):
he has taken over DC. The UN officially recognizes that
there is famine in Gaza. We continue with part two
of the Republican backed US retaliation on South Africa, remembering
pro wrestler Pulk Hogan. All that and more on the
(00:46):
People's News. I'm Steve Gallington. This is the People's News,
and the People's News starts now. Food not Bombs have
been serving the homeless for years now at the same
location in front of the Downtown Library in Houston. The
harassment by the city has also been going on for years.
(01:09):
A previous mayor issued an ordinance that only people that
are licensed can feed the homeless. That ordinance was taken
to court and fought. Then tickets were being handed out
to those that continued to feed the homeless at the
location on five hundred and fifty Mcinney Street. Each individual
was given a ticket for each time that they were
caught feeding the homeless. Hundreds of tickets were given out
(01:31):
until a federal court injunction stopped any more until the
case played out in court. Since then, the new mayor,
John Whitmire has made his intention known that he does
not want homeless people to be seen downtown or in
any area around the city. Since then, Food Not Bombs
has been faced with harassment and threat of arrest by
local police and the Metro Police Department. The most recent
(01:55):
was just last week when HPD and Metro Police detained
one of the volunteers. We talked to John Locke, who
is a volunteer with Food Not Bombs.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Yeah, so, I mean a couple of things are happening.
What happened the incidents that happened with us specifically was
we had HPD officers that was looking for an individual
that they said that got received food with us that
are food shares, and in that time, when speaking with
(02:31):
one of the volunteers HPD, they got into a bit
of an argument and we had it on video, HPD
saying you know right now is a restable offense meaning
sharing food, and then the volunteer kindly let the officers
know that we have an injunction by the federal courts
(02:51):
and that you know, they actually could not give us tickets,
and that it wasn't a restable offense that officer. Those
officers left right for a second and came back and
then spoke to the volunteer about you know, needing to
have respect on both sides between police officers and volunteers
(03:13):
and whatever. Anyways, they end up leaving, But come fifteen
minutes later, Metro police came, and that I think is
the piece is going to relate a little bit more
to the change and the mayor's stance with homelessness of
wanting to push all the homeless out of downtown and
(03:35):
the east side of Houston. The Metro police came about
six officers deep and cleared anybody that was sitting at
the Metro stop, which is right front of where we
share food, and you know, of course, you know, we
(03:57):
had a couple of volunteers that were recording the officers
as they're doing that. They didn't like that very much
and then began to ask one of our volunteers for
ID and asking and asking him, had him down and
ask him that he was going to ride the bus
(04:18):
stop and then at that time arrested that individual volunteer.
And I think what the mayors having the Metro police
do is basically police all the bus stops and harassed
(04:40):
people that are sitting at the bus stops if they
appear to be homeless. And I said, our volunteer got arrested.
He got detained and used to tape for like thirty minutes,
and Metro police stated that we couldnt protest or share
food at near any of the Metro stops and that
(05:02):
you cannot protest on Metro's property. This is very interesting.
They end up, like I said, releasing the volunteer and
giving him a trespassing the ticket which just for him
standing he was standing by the bus stop as he
was recording the officer. So kim trespassing for being at
(05:26):
the bus stop and not having like a ticket or something,
even though you just pay for your your bus when
you get in. You know, uh, from what I know
and understand, very unfortunate and and I think, uh, this
situation is kind of showing what, you know, what we
(05:47):
have to look forward to in the future. And now,
uh is police harassing almost and arresting them and giving
them tickets.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
This is especially this is especially new because the using
HPD not HBD is Metro Police as as the power
of authority now instead of it said the Houston Police Department.
Because you I hope you guys. Are you guys challenging
this at all, because insasticate anybody that's standing by a
(06:18):
bus stop can get psicated, that can get a ticket exactly.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
I mean, yes, we will be challenging this, and individually,
our volunteer will be that was attained, will be talenting this.
But you know, this I think can serve as a
good eye opener of what these policies and ordinances, how
they look in actuality and in actuality what we have
(06:43):
is just you know, a whole lot of police, uh,
harassing on house individuals and yeah, trying to put them
out and then using Metro. It is interesting. It's almost
like they're trying to avoid the the issues they got
with HVD and and using excuse. Oh, this is a
(07:05):
different police department, you know, because they're obviously not as
informed on on for amendment rights, constitutional rights as you
know as HVD is now informed about due to going
through the courts.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
Have you talked to anybody down at hp H Metro
hit quarters about this.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Uh no, we we I believe people have been trying
getting touched in touch with internal affairs about this.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
That's Metro Police. That's a different, different division. That's a
totally different deal.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Don't they They have their own internal affairs for Metro.
I don't know, Oh well that that that was my information.
I don't I haven't spoke directly with their legal team.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
Yeah, because, uh, this seems like there's something that's going
on like like makes citywide, because I know in third
Ward they they they started trying to arrest people and
try to give tickets to people that were homeless that
for standing in and around bus stations. They made as
illegal on the East Side for you to be practically homeless.
(08:16):
I mean, uh you can get a ticket, uh for
just standing around. So and this is an attack, But
it seemed like that the council members are standing with
the with the mayor on cleaning up the city for
the World Cup.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Right right. I think there's only two city council members
that that voted against that the new ordinance. Uh so yeah,
everybody was on board, and I was very you know,
pretty surprised, uh individuals that that voted in support for
that ordinance.
Speaker 3 (08:51):
Yeah, and this is something that's uh, these new ordinances
or every every neighborhood now is trying to pick up
on this ordinance that that they want their they want
the civility law. I think that's what it's called, trying
to stop people from live from from uh for homelessness
in general. And I was surprised about the third ward
(09:11):
actually having something blaming the homeless for all the crime rate,
which they anybody say anything about bombs being.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
No, we haven't heard. We definitely haven't heard anything from
the mayor, uh you know, directly or indirectly to Food
Not Bombs. And I think they're probably not going to
say anything publicly until our court case which is in October,
the federal court case, they're kind of going to touch
anything we're doing. And to that federal court.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
Cases over with, and and Food Not Bombs are still
is still available to me, you know, people can still
volunteer at Food Not.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
Bombs absolutely Sunday Monday when and say and Friday at
seven fifteen and we start sharing food at seven point
thirty sharp pm.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
And you got a Facebook page also.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
Uh, yeah, we have I believe the Instagram at Facebook
of the same is Not bombspx.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
That was John Locke with Food not Bombs. They serve Mondays, Wednesdays,
Fridays and Sundays at seven pm on five hundred and
fifty McKinney Street. Bring vegan meals or just your positive energy.
More information can be found out on their Facebook page.
The sound was kind of bad at the end of
that clip. Their Facebook page is Food Not Bombs HTx.
(10:41):
To truly understand the corrupt, criminal, and incompetent administration of
convicted fellon Donald Trump, you need to think about this
as a distraction, a distraction from the things that Donald
Trump doesn't want you to understand or doesn't want you
to know, distraction from the Epstein files, a distraction from
(11:03):
his failing health, a distraction from his failing cognitive ability,
and a distraction from his disastrous trade policies throwing the
US economy into a recession and maybe a depression. As
part of this theater, the District of Columbia, better known
as DC, has been taken over and federalized by the
(11:28):
convicted felon Donald Trump. Because Washington, DC is not a
state and is under federal mandate by the US Congress.
The US President has the right to control the city
for thirty days. The convicted felon issued an executive order
claiming there was a crime emergency in DC, despite all
(11:48):
indicators that the District of Columbia is currently enjoying the
lowest crime rate it's had in almost forty years. Federal
agents are being pulled off of other things to protect us,
and they're being pushed out into the street to harass
and detain tourists. Supplementing this force are troops from the
(12:09):
National Guard units from three different states. Defense Secretary Whiskey
Pete Hegseth has authorized the National gu soldiers in DC
to carry weapons. We talked to Christina Roth, senior policy
associate at the Legal Defense Fund of the NAACP.
Speaker 4 (12:26):
Thanks again for having me on with regard to the troops. Initially,
the president deployed I guess eight hundred DC National guardsmen
and has requested troops from additional states, and so some
governors have agreed to do that. So I'm not going
to give you a precise number because I imagine it
(12:46):
will change over time. But I think what's important here
that you hit on around sort of the situation around
this I'm using air quotes. Emergency is something that a
lot of folks has been widely reported disagree with. You know,
(13:07):
in January of twenty twenty five, the US Attorney's Office
for DC announced that crime in DC is at a
thirty year low, and DC's Police Department's own tracking between
twenty twenty four and twenty twenty five crime data shows
that this period. In this period, violent crime decreased by
twenty six percent. And so I think folks are really
struggling with why this increased police presence of a city
(13:31):
that already has quite a lot of law enforcement, both
you know, our DC Local Police, Secret Service, Park Police,
and other federal law enforcements that are already in DC,
has grown so much to address the problem that so
many people don't believe is relevant.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
Yeah, and civil liberties aspect of things also is a concern.
You have national guards when trying to regulate or patrol,
and people in the DC area, we'll be scared of
their civil liberty is being affected by all this because
there's some people that are not law enforcement for the
most part.
Speaker 4 (14:11):
I'm sorry, could you repeat that last part.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
Because these are people national parfsmen are not law enforcement.
Even though they're not supposedly they're not supposed to be
doing any type of law enforcement duties, it's still a
threat to people's civil liberties. Am I correct on that?
Speaker 4 (14:28):
Sure? I think a lot of folks are certainly worried
about the presence of law enforcement. And you know, as
I already said, like, we have to sit with the
dissonance that while it's been widely reported that crime rates
are dropping in DC, the administration has been on presenting
this false and deleitorious narrative about crime that's being used
to justify police presence, or as you alluded to, the
(14:50):
National Guard and the deployment of the National Guard and
the limited takeover of DC Police Department threatens to embolden
law enforcement officers to operate with unchecked violence. That said,
whether there will be any changes to the Metropolitan Police
departments practices or activities remains to be seen. There. Certainly,
(15:10):
the Court has considered some efforts from the administration to
amend their policies, but we're still waiting for a decision
on that. But we'll be monitoring the National Guard, troops,
Federal MPD and officers and how officers conduct themselves within
the bounds of the law without infringing on the rights
of residents and visitors to see DC folks still have
(15:32):
the same people are still protected by local, federal, and
constitutional laws. It's also important to remember here that the
actions the president took, the executive actions the president took
in at large, he can actually change or create law.
So regardless of comments that have been made about a
preference of change of policy, it would take an act
(15:52):
of the DC City Council or Congress to likely change
the law, law and the ways that may have been advocated.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
For another scary thing he's talking about doing is ridden
the city of homeless people. The thought of just homelessness
crime is is is pretty ridiculous to a lot of
a lot of people with and hear that type of talk, yeah, and.
Speaker 4 (16:18):
So on that you know, certainly, we're very concerned about
the attacks on the unhased people in the District of Columbia,
people who ultimately need support and resources not to be
forced into humiliation. And this is just another example of
how the administration has sought to dehumanize people as it
considers it considers to be undesirable and erase them from
(16:41):
public view. In this case, the President is promising to
do so with the full force of law enforcement in
the military. And there certainly have been has been reporting
of some encampments that have been swept, depriving people of
what little things they may have had. And I, you know,
I do want to underscore here, as upsetting as it
is or the unhoused populations, there were a number of
(17:02):
other groups that were certainly threatened by the president's claims
in the press conference where he announced issuance of these
executive orders. You know, d C is an overwhelmingly and
historically black city and that is not actually beset by
crime just right.
Speaker 5 (17:20):
And you know, some of the folks that he.
Speaker 4 (17:24):
Went after also included young people and people who have
had prior contact with the criminal legal system, as well
as folks who are non citizens. And we've certainly seen
an increase in sort of arrests of those individuals as well.
Even though the really premise that was laid out was
(17:45):
about the sort of rise and crime, it seems like
the numbers that are being reported include a lot of
folks who are non citizens.
Speaker 3 (17:53):
Is this this is scary in itself and they can
do that in d C because of Live DC, which
DC has been fighting for it for years and not
getting is this a blue primt with other states? On
another states, other states might happen there too. You might
look at the National Guards, especially place like Mississipping with
(18:14):
the A they have high crime rates there too, and
some a lot of the red states that do have
high crime rate. So this is this something that that
the President's doing and can be looked at as doing
it in other cities.
Speaker 4 (18:29):
Well, I don't think we should deforce divorce the federal
takeover of DC police and the threats made during the
press conference where this these executive actors or orders were issued,
actions were issued, I should say to implement a similar
playbook in cities that were also identified, like Chicago, Baltimore,
and Oakland. From the fact that these are also black
(18:50):
cities with black skys, will black populations and have black leadership.
So that's something that all the off is particularly concerned about.
That said, I think a story that the President has
over DC is really particular because of what you outline
that DC. It's not just because DC is not a state,
but because of the federal law referred to as the
(19:13):
Home Rule Act that permits this particular kind of authority
for the president to have a limited power over MPD
for a set amount of time. So I do think
it's it's helpful for people to sit with that that.
I don't imagine that the president could do the same
kind of exactly the same thing and these other jurisdictions
(19:34):
because the laws are just different. However, certainly there are
governors in some states who might be willing to deploy
the National Guard if that was something the president was
looking for. But I think that remains to be seen
exactly how that might play out. But we are certainly
paying close attention to d C. I myself whom a resident,
(19:55):
and they're watching things unfold to determine what action might
might be coming in other jurisdictions.
Speaker 3 (20:03):
And yeah, he's being a resident. And you know, I've
been in DC plenty of times, and I see the
law enforcement you got, the law enforcement you do have.
You know, you have a federal you you have law
enforcement that you have the FBI there, that's that's that's
not that far from there a fast amount of law
enforcement within that within that city. How is it that
(20:26):
you know, adding that extra law enforcement even even can
see as being weak.
Speaker 4 (20:35):
Yeah, Well, I think like I said earlier that it's
a it's a real concern just around the threat of
the presence of law enforcement that could certainly lead to
sort of unchecked violence. That said, the laws that exist
are still in place. But it's important to recognize too
that you know, d C has is a city that
(20:56):
is nearly forty five percent black, and the majority of
the pomp is non white. Yet last calendar year, black
people made up eighty percent of all youth and adult
arrests in that calendar year, which shows a real disproportionate
policing of that of those community members. And so, you know,
we really need to think about and even the President
(21:18):
said this in his press conference on Monday last Monday,
that he was surprised about how many law enforcement are
in DC, that it seemed like more than enough, and
yet a decision has been made to sort of deploy
all these additional forces. I don't think that we believe
it's not how we believe is effective community safety tactic.
(21:40):
In fact, we find it quite interesting that you know,
they sort of these tactics run somewhat contrary, like they've
been sort of the setup of traffic checkpoints where they're
stopping drivers for low level violations like not wearing seat belts,
which historically these enforcement tactics do little to improve safety,
but in fact they run contrary to evidence based community
(22:03):
led violence intervention programs that reduce violence in a short
and long term. And actually, just within this year, despite
their efficacy, ten to fifteen d C community violence intervention
organizations were negatively deprived, negatively impacted by federal funding cuts
in May of twenty twenty five from the Department of Justice.
And so, you know, when we look at this decrease
(22:25):
in crime, people are quick to think what that means
for law enforcement actions, but really we should be thinking
about our public safety infrastructure in a lot of other ways.
What other noncar sural services are provided to really not
just address crime, but sort of prevent the need for
lawn you know, some of these law enforcement responses in
the first place, and programs like these community violence intervention
(22:48):
ones have a pretty high success rate. And so it seems,
you know, really contrary to send more law enforcement when
there's been success in reducing crime through totally other meats.
Speaker 3 (23:01):
Yeah, well, I think of all this, I go back
that's all my age when I go back to you know,
in the eighties when they had they said the up
the crack epidemics, so to speak, and they put in
law enforcement all around us, all around black areas, saying
this is where, this is where the big crime is
going on, and locked up a whole population of black males.
(23:25):
And that's what when I when I see that type
of rhetoric being being made, the law and order type
of rhetoric, that's what I think that which.
Speaker 6 (23:33):
Is scary in my opinion.
Speaker 4 (23:36):
Yeah, well, you know along those lines, I think you know,
these years forward, we now understand the War on drugs
had a very deliberate racial impact intention, I should say.
And ironically, in President Trump's first term, he actually signed
into law the First Step Act that helped to address
(23:57):
some of the mass incarcerations that occurred as a result
of some of these war on drug policies.
Speaker 5 (24:04):
Right, So he has.
Speaker 4 (24:05):
Previously believed that actually, some folks don't need to spend
as much time incarcerated for offenses that are related to
drug offenses. And so, you know, I think that that's
important to sit with. And certainly under the Biden administration,
we saw a lot of commutations of individuals in relation
(24:25):
to sort of leveling the crack to powder cocaine disparity,
which was really really welcome news, but the tactics being
taken now seem to really be trying to prove something
that doesn't seem to be evident.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
That was Christina Roth, senior policy associate at the Legal
Defense Fund of the NAACP. The United Nations Deputy Chief
Tom Flesher reported that there is indeed a famine in Gaza.
The Israeli government has denied that fact as they continue
to plan to take over all of Gaza. Both the corrupt, cruel,
(25:03):
and incompetent Trump administration and Israel have stated that there
is food and this is just a Moss backed lie,
But all the hard data that we have and people
on the ground have stated differently. In the United States,
protesters continue to be jailed, students continue to be deported
(25:24):
just because of speaking out against the famine and genocide
in Gaza. We talked to organizer and critic of the
Israeli government Nick Cooper about the situation.
Speaker 6 (25:38):
No, I mean, that's basically it. We're at the point
now where you know, I mean, if you had said
any of these things to people at the beginning of
Israel italiating you, well, they're going to go for a
full ethnic cleansing, genocide, reoccupy, they're going to go for
starvation campaign. You know, people were just like, oh, oh,
(26:00):
that's not going to happen. And and then you say, well, look,
you know, all these Israeli leaders said that you know,
these are human animals and they should be treated as such,
and we sh you'd cut off their food and you know,
not a single drop of water should get in there.
And they're like, oh no, you know, that guy's not
really in charge. He's just you know, just one of
the main people in the government. And sure enough, like
(26:20):
all the worst things that they said that they were
wanted to do. And you know, the response to a
large extent has been for you know, those who were
kind of denying that it happened, they have to kind
of switch their position somehow lately in the background and
just be like, oh, well, you know, it's good that
(26:42):
it's happening, it needed to happen, or you know, it's
all their fault of course that there's no aid coming in.
And then we also have these new things that are
just kind of unheard of in the past. You've never
really had this term before. Of a aid massacre. But
that's the new thing with the way that the aid
(27:03):
is being delivered in Gaza is that more people end
up getting shot than end up getting food. This is
part of the ethnic cleansing and genocide. Palestinians who are
maybe religious and don't feel comfortable committing suicide can say, well,
I'm going to go try to get some food, knowing
that there's a good chance that they'll be killed, and
you know, maybe that that will be preferable and continuing
(27:25):
to live under starvation, having conditions.
Speaker 3 (27:30):
This has been put together by the United States and
Israel as far as Ai Aid organization to this. The
organization that they came up with they created to get
food out to the people of Gaza. That things can
not be working.
Speaker 6 (27:51):
Well, it's working as it was intended. You know that
the plan, as far as Israel was concerned, was let's discredit.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
Anybody that's creditable, that's credible.
Speaker 6 (28:01):
If you know World Health Kitchen is sharing food there, well,
let's bomb them. Oh, it was an accident that we
bond your trucks. If the UN is you know doing
the food, oh, you know, the UN they're all controlled
by Hamas like you know, whatever nonsense they have to say.
And then eventually even the people who are pro starvation,
you know, explicitly pro starvation in the Israeli government have
(28:24):
come around and said, oh, well yeah, this Gods for distribution.
Now by the evangelicals, this is actually okay, and they
realized that it is actually part of the ethnic cleansing program.
So this is being used as an excuse to say,
(28:44):
you know, we offered them some food and but just
continue the genocide by other means.
Speaker 3 (28:51):
It seems like the Trump administrations are getting their way
on what they were saying all along the Gaza strip
Palestinians and also let settlers clean out the West Bank
with low controls.
Speaker 6 (29:10):
Yeah, I mean, you have the things that like net
Yahu will say, you have the things that Smotrich will say,
you have the things that Trump will say, and the
things that Biden was willing to say, the things that
Kamala Harris was willing to say, and those are all
just you know, okay, they're different, they're not exactly the
same as each other. But the policy has been to
(29:31):
you know, slowly kind of boil the frog so that
the world just kind of comes to accept each adosity
and you know, there's a certain baseline shift. So like
when you and Israel destroys the first hospital in Gaza,
they have to say, oh, no, we didn't do it,
it was actually hamost did it, and lots of people
(29:53):
went along with that. They believe that nonsense. They're like,
oh yeah, it must have been Harmostid, it must have
been a Hambost missil. It couldn't have been Israel. And
then they up a second hospital, and you know, they
put out a little bit of excuse all there was
a Hamas control center under the hospital. They never even
bothered to show a picture of it. And then by
the time they blow up the third hospital, they're not
(30:13):
even saying why not even trying to make an excuse.
It's just perfect course, and that people have come to
accept that, oh yeah, you know, hospitals get blown up,
universities get blown up, like that's just the new normal.
And you know, I think that it's a human failing
and in a lot of ways that there is this
baseline shift that things that you know, if initially Israel
(30:35):
had said, well, our plan is to blow up all
of the hospitals, of course people would have been outraged.
But if they just kind of do it in this
gradual way people get accustomed to it.
Speaker 3 (30:45):
What happens to the voices people that bash institution there,
because it's been a silence of voices right now. I
think they've had some rallies in the protracts here, but
for the most part, it's been the fear of prostitution
for speaking out.
Speaker 6 (31:07):
Yeah, well, I think that, you know, we have to
kind of pay attention to this new wave of people
who are speaking out that within the mainstream system, and
you have people like Zora Mondamie's candidacy in New York
whorts people are kind of like, you know, it's a
(31:29):
very interesting moment because like Zoron comes in, he's doing
pretty well, and then Cuomo and Adams and the establishment
Democrats are like, well, you know, we know how to
take him out. Let's call anti Semitic, say that he
hates Israel. And Zoron had not really been campaigning on
Israel at all. He said said anything about Israel that
(31:51):
wasn't part of he was just running for me because
he was trying to do, you know, economic things for
people in New York. But he had been part of
BDAS and he's Muslim and so the attack on that
and it's just backfired, you know. And you have now
in New York. You know, he's winning most demographics of
(32:11):
even Jewish voters in New York. You know, people are
not among Democrats right now, among the voters, the support
for Israel is that eight percent. This is an unprecedented
this has never happened. And among even young Republicans, you know,
there's no support for Israel. So it's really just the
(32:31):
politicians kind of dragging people along on this in the US.
Now in Israel, it's a different story, with forty seven
percent of Jewish Israelis wanting to kill every last man,
woman and child in Gaza, and eighty percent of Jewish
Israelis saying they at least want a full ethnic cleansing.
Soe he's very you know, the at least for Jewish Israelis.
(32:55):
Of course, we're not talking about the Pels citizens of
Israel or the people who are completely disenfranchised living in
the West Bank and Gaza and East Jerusalem and wherever.
But you have, you know, a very genocidal mindset said
among all of society, and and some people are protesting,
(33:19):
and there's there was some of the most massive protests
in the history of Israel the other day against the war,
and that is the messaging at least, it's like, let's
get the hostages back. But you know so, but you
do have eighty percent of Israeli said that they were
(33:40):
the full ethnic cleansing. Maybe some of them are imagining
that that is being done in some way that's not
as bootal as what's going through these people's heads or whatever.
But I think at least in the US, that people
are sick of this nonsense. And you know, there there's
(34:01):
both sides. And I mean, I think that people apecifica yourself,
like all kinds of mainstream people, tended to get the
benefit of the doubts Israel for far too long, despite
you know, all of these policies going on for so
long and kind of treating both sidism and you know,
we have to respect Jewish people because of the Holocaust
(34:21):
or whatever, and uh, you know, obviously like for respect
to Jewish people, myself included, but uh, you know, at
this point, you know, if somehow going through the Holocaust
and titles to Jews to be part of a government
that is committing another Holocaust, that that license has been
(34:45):
fully exploited and revoked being the victim of a holocaust.
Speaker 3 (34:53):
What did you say about we had international journalists that
have been killed, and outrage all over the world about this.
It's separating the United States.
Speaker 6 (35:09):
I mean, there's not so many international journalists who've been killed.
Most of the journalists who've been killed, of course, I
mean not just most, but I mean almost one hundred
percent of the journalists who've been killed are Palestinians, and
they're working for international news organizations. But Israel's managed to
do this thing where it doesn't allow foreign journalists in
at all, and this is kind of unprecedented, And of
(35:31):
course they'll say, oh, well, we have to make sure
we keep them safe or whatever, but obviously there have
been journalists in other war zones. And to the extent
that a journalist has been allowed in from a major
media organization, they're embedded with the Israelis and they're just
going on a little propaganda tour. But you know, at
(35:51):
a certain point, like what you're up against is no
longer any kind of you know, analysis or narrative. It's
like you can see the pictures, like you know, all
the buildings are flattened that like you know, the idea that, oh, well,
there's there's another story that you you know, you have
to know about. I mean, you there's the death call
(36:13):
is I mean, the official death toll is like sixty thousand.
Like we're I mean, we're talking about the possibility that
the death toll isn't off by a factor of five.
To me, who was just impossible. I mean, there must
be hundreds of thousands of dead, and that's the estimate,
you know, from the organizations that are trying to estimate
(36:33):
how many are dead, but instead they stay with these
super low numbers that are based on the confirmed you know,
names of the people who are dead. And it's just like, well, yeah,
there's hundreds of thousands of people who might be still
alive magically somewhere under the rubble. But realistically, like I
think that two hundred and fifty thousand killed so far,
(36:56):
with you know, dozens of kids being killed every week
would be you know, a pretty conservative vest. And the
last point I'd like to make is that you know,
you've heard in the beginning of the war that Hamas
must be eliminated and taken out of power, and that's
all fine or whatever, but at this point, the Israeli
government has to be dismantled, just like the not the government. Right.
(37:18):
This is, once you've committed genocide, you can't just kind
of hang out and remain in power and okay, we'll
move on, you know. No, like the the idea that
Israel has the right to exist has been this big
talking point for Zionists for a long time, but no,
Israel does not have the right to exist. States had
no right to exist. In fact, other states are. It's
(37:41):
incumbent on them under the Genocide Convention to dismantle them,
and that's what needs to happen.
Speaker 3 (37:47):
I would say on that that that level that the
Israeli government, there's no pressure on them to do anything,
to be honest, and I'm not trying to be sarcastic.
Speaker 6 (37:57):
But well, you're right. I mean, so then the question
is when does the reckoning come. Does it happen in
five years, does it happen in ten years, does it
happen never? And then we're just like, you know, we're
no longer you know, a world of sovereign states. We're
just like a bunch of warlords or whatever. Like yeah,
I mean, we might not even have any society any
at all. Anymore. But assuming that we're going to continue
(38:20):
to try to have any kind of rule of law
or whatever, then there will be a reckoning. Or assuming
there's even a history department left and people continue to
write history books, like you know, history will judge this
as a genocide, and it obviously is if you take
as a standard the Cerebonitza genocide. You know, the numbers
of people killed in Cerebnitza is minuscule compared to how
(38:42):
many people all.
Speaker 1 (38:46):
That was local activist Nick Cooper speaking on the situation
in Gaza Hi. This is Steve Gallington, producer and host
of the People's News. The People's News is people powered News.
We are to report the unvarnished and unspun truth and
challenge the status quo of corporate propaganda and social media
(39:07):
advertising disguised as real news. Shiny new one hour episodes
of The People's News drop each Sunday on The People's
News Podcast. Thanks for listening. The Commander in Cheat, Donald
Trump has remade the US government as a weapon for
him to attack anyone and everyone he has a grievance
(39:30):
with and to distract from all the other things that
are going badly in his life. He's not going after
Russia or North Korea, but South Africa. South Africa is
the recipient of one of the highest tariff rates that
Donald Trump has placed on a country. Why Because Donald
Trump wants to ford his ideas of white supremacy in
(39:53):
white nationalism and racism and broadcast it around the world.
He has not stopped in his crusalle to punish one
of Africa's biggest economies. We continue with part two of
our talk with doctor Tiucheppo Massango Cherry, a South African
scholar at the University of Houston specializing in African history
(40:14):
with a focus on racial formation, radical politics, and religious expression.
Speaker 5 (40:20):
Trump has actively actively suggested that this Land Appropriation Act,
alongside looking at the crime statistics, has made South Africa
a space of white genocide, so that it's not just
(40:40):
about the land being taken away, but the suggestion is
that white farmers who own the land that is in
potential jeopardy is being taken away, will incur it will
be inflicted with violence. So it's not just the taking
away of land, but suggestion that violence will will occur.
(41:04):
That has not been the case thus far as this
act has operated. What has been The case, however, is
that South Africa has a high crime rate, and so
the crime that that Trump is pointing to, or the
violence that he's pointing to, is really an an It
(41:24):
is really reflective of the crime rates in South Africa,
especially in more desolate and isolated spaces and so uh.
But even even more so that those who actually are
bearing the brunt of violent crimes in South Africa are
black South Africans. So if you can sort of see
(41:46):
the picture that I'm painting, it is connected to this
long colonial history alongside some of the changes that that
Trump is seeking to have take place. And I'll also
add that, you know, some people maybe sort of questioning,
(42:09):
I'll be at fraud the connection with Elon Musk. So
Elon Musk had tracts of land that the intention was
to kind of work through some of his own business projects,
Starlink being one of them. You know, it's just a
lot of different business ventures on South African soil, and
(42:32):
that land has been taken away from him. So the
pivot on the US side has been one to essentially
quietly declare the end of the African Growth and Opportunity
Act in two thousands, even though that's not explicitly named.
Two is also to to ensure that this meta narrative
(42:56):
around white genocide in South Africa it becomes deeply entrenched,
at least on the US side, if not maybe perhaps globally.
And so what he has done is he has set
up a pipeline in which Africanas are.
Speaker 3 (43:10):
To move to the US.
Speaker 5 (43:13):
So what's been interesting in the last couple of days,
I would say, is looking at the internal policies around
refugee admissions. So the refugee admissions cap this particular year
has been at forty thousand. That's a that's a steep
(43:35):
decline from the one hundred thousand that president former president
Biden had put into place around two thousand and four.
So that forty thousand is is quite low. However, what's
interesting is if we look back, if we look back
at Trump's twenty twenty one sort of the end of
(43:58):
his term, he had suggested that the ceiling should be
around fifteen thousand, so it's significantly higher than what where
he had ended in his last term. But according to
the refugee official for the US Department of Health and
Human Services, Angi Salazar, of the forty thousand that are
(44:23):
dedicated for refugee admissions to the US. Thirty thousand of
those spaces are dedicated to Africanas from South Africa. So
this is a very very big statement that President Trump
is making, not only with the tariffs, the breakdown and
negotiations between him and President rama Posa, as well as
(44:47):
now placing a status, a known status of Africanas as
being refugees and in need of a asylum. So that
that and this, I think maybe it's helpful just to
sort of think about refugees in general according to like
(45:10):
the UN and the UN is talking about their numbers
say that they're about thirty thirty seven million refugees according
to the UN. And prior to that, we had dedicated
a significant amount of space for Afghanistan and the Afghanis
in particular who had helped the US. So this is
(45:32):
a major change. Is when I'm trying to sort of
point you all too now the numbers, the actual numbers
for twenty twenty six as far as what's going to
happen with the refugee status. And this is important to
mention because part of the push for bringing Afrikana refugees
here were around thinking about the future of American farming
(45:55):
and the ability to sort of maintain farms as things
have shifted. That those twenty twenty six final numbers won't
be clear to us probably until around October. But more
recently around this issue of asylum, I think what is
(46:15):
notable is that the South African Foreign Minister dismissed the
State Department's Human Rights conditioned report that was recently released,
which suggests that the issue around white Africanas and their safety,
according to the State Department, has quote significantly worsened after
(46:39):
these land reforms. But South Africa says that they are
quote profoundly disappointed with the report and state that it
is deeply flawed and inaccurate. So this is a story
not just around the economy, albeit that's very important, but
it is a wider story around economic economic expectations, shifting
(47:07):
foreign and economic policy, and for other countries, some of
whom I have briefly mentioned in the beginning, those tariffs,
even though they are significantly lower than the thirty percent,
have really had a or are already having a harrowing
impact on them. So I'll just sort of mention Lesta
(47:30):
as I kind of and our discussion on South Africa
and on the tariffs or Southern Africa and the terroriffs.
But Lasta has a fifteen percent terrafts and Lecita in
particular is their textile division is is deeply impacted by
(47:52):
these terrorists. They're the ones who are really producing in
the textile industry. For for companies that we would know
in the US like Costco, Walmart, J C. Penny and so.
To have these tarraffs really stifles the possibility of the
growth in the textile industry and it is a deeply
(48:16):
impoverished people to sort of re establish its economic UH
stability because there are a significant flow of people from
lyso To to South Africa and there you have it.
If you have South you have people from las To
flowing to South Africa in search of jobs. But South
(48:37):
Africa's economic you know, stability is also in flex. This
creates a significant amount of problems the group or the
country that has sort of if there are if there
aren't any wins, I guess as far as tariffs, that
has been Kenya that has gotten about ten persons. I
(49:01):
think that this shift for Kenya which kind of positions
Kenya UH with larger possibilities really than most African countries.
Is also reflective of who's in leadership when you have
when you have a you know UH kind of officials
(49:24):
who are in leadership, who are more in line with
much as the policies that Trump is putting forth, they
are in part rewarded. Albeit African as a whole as suffering, right.
So I just want to sort of point those things out,
and I think, you know, perhaps we should dedicate another
(49:47):
another time for Congo. But I will say this very
briefly about the Congo. The Congo UH is one of
many armed conflicts in the world. Obviously on the African
continent it is a major one. But I always think
that the global context is super important when we are
(50:10):
looking at armed conflicts. Internationally speaking, we're really suggesting, I mean,
we really need to know that there are over ten
thousand armed conflicts taking place, right, but we are focused
on you know a few. Congo's situation is is really deplorable.
(50:30):
Quite frankly, it is. It has it is longstanding, but
it is also deeply worsened because of our needs and
desire around certain minerals beyond diamonds that we often have
talked about in the past to help power, our technology
(50:54):
and so it has made it has created major, major
displacement for people. So there are people who are wondering,
wondering around the country who are on on housed the
the major UH, there's major violence that's taking place. However,
what I think is interesting about how Trump has recently
(51:18):
been talking about the Congo and I think this is
probably UH. This is probably a pattern that we will
see and have seen, is this notion of him resolving
armed conflict and declaring things complete and done, which is
it's almost impossible because we're talking about not only access
(51:43):
to minerals, to land, UH to of course generating their economy,
but also one that is is ethnically UH has an
ethnic component that has woven through it and would require
significant intern national intervention.
Speaker 1 (52:03):
That was doctor Descheppo Massango Cherry. She's a South African
scholar at the University of Houston, specializing in African history
with a focus on racial formation, radical politics, and religious expression.
Professional wrestling icon Hulk Hogan passed away recently. During the
eighties and nineties, Hulk Hogan was synonymous with the World
(52:24):
Wrestling Federation. His legacy was full of controversy. He was
charged with making racist claims against black people, and then
he reappeared after a long absence at the National Republican
Convention to endorse the convicted felon Donald Trump. Lance Bennett
is a fan of professional wrestling and is trying to
(52:45):
bring back national wrestling here in Houston as it was
known as Houston Wrestling for decades and run by Paul
Bosch at the Sam Houston Coliseum. He spoke on Hulk
Hogan and also on Houston Wrestling.
Speaker 7 (53:00):
I just remember the first time I saw Hulk Hogan
was on Rocky three when he was on Thunderlips and
uh and he uh uh. He had wrestled in the
Houston when on Paul Bosher's retirement night, the that was
Paul Bosher's last night to promote Houston wrestling, and that
that was a sort out crowd at the Saison Coliseum
(53:21):
and Hulk Hogan wrestled the One Man Gang that night
and he beat the One Man Gang a very historical
one night.
Speaker 3 (53:28):
H What was this?
Speaker 4 (53:30):
What was this?
Speaker 3 (53:32):
He wrestled in Houston and Houston treated him well with
that assume that's when that's when Houston Wrestling became a part.
Speaker 7 (53:40):
Of w W F of correct on that, Yes, you're
you're correct, Uh huh.
Speaker 3 (53:46):
And what's the Trump contribution? What do we what does
he leave As far as uh the loss of Hulk
Hogan to the world of professional wrestlers, Well.
Speaker 7 (53:56):
That's one I pay. It's one of the biggest loss
ever in the pro wrestling world, and he was one
of the greatest, if not the greatest, and one of
the most popular wrestlers ever.
Speaker 3 (54:06):
Contribution. Why don't you talk about Paul Bosher's in his
contribution because Paul's Bosch was around for the territories and
as long as you explain the territories to people that
don't know, well, Paul.
Speaker 7 (54:18):
Bosher made Houston wrestling and he was one of the
greatest ever in the wrestling business. Said great, Well, he
was a wrestler before my time, but I saw him
as Washington as a promoter here in my childhood growing up.
He was one of the best wrestling promoters ever was.
He was probably the best wrestling promoter there was, and
he was in the wrestling business. I think over at
(54:40):
least fifty years or more he was in the wrestling business.
Speaker 3 (54:43):
His loss as far as wrestling in Houston, I mean,
it's still we still had to have local wrestling, but
it's not on the same level as the Sam Houston
Coliseum and what happened at to Sammy Caliseum maybe on
a weekly basis.
Speaker 6 (54:56):
Well that that's true.
Speaker 7 (54:57):
But me and me and a couple of guys are
trying to bring bring Houston wrestling back. We we own
a company and we're working on starting it up and
we plan to make it as big as what Paul
Bog had in Houston. It might be a year or two,
but we're working on and that's that's what I want
more than anything. That's my goal.
Speaker 3 (55:19):
What is it? What is this that stopping you from
getting to that level?
Speaker 7 (55:23):
Okay, well, it's just taking some time.
Speaker 3 (55:25):
You know.
Speaker 7 (55:26):
We uh got to build up an audience and we're
got to get sponsors together, and it's just we got
a one of our business owners has a plan, you know,
it's like a three year plan. The plan is to
probably have it get a pilot episode, probably in twenty
twenty seven, to film a pilot episode, and then maybe
(55:47):
the first quarter twenty two twenty eight, we'll have it
going on a regular basis, like hopefully at least once
or twice a month and have it televised and hopefully
hopefully get a good deal on a network.
Speaker 3 (55:58):
All right, and can you give me your information on
how to get in touch at you finding out more
information about what you're trying to do.
Speaker 7 (56:06):
Yeah, you can contact me this numby time and you
can you can email me at the Wrestler that the
word wrestler wr E s t l E R two
zero zero one at hotmail dot com.
Speaker 1 (56:18):
That was Lance Bennett, who is trying to bring back
Houston wrestling, talking about Hulk Hogan and his tarnished legacy.
And here's a quick note on the Texas GOP mid
decade redistricting effort, which will give them five additional Republican seats.
(56:40):
In other words, the Conservative candidates picking their voters as
opposed to the voters picking their candidates. They've gotten five
new Republican districts, but in doing so they've put ten
districts into swing status. The blue wave in twenty twenty
six cannot be avoided. Apparently. The People's News is a
(57:03):
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 our content in
(57:26):
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
(57:49):
permission to use copyrighted material, email Steve Gallington at Steve
at gallington dot com. Thank you,
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