Trump Attempts to Hide Cozy Past with Pedophiles Epstien and Maxwell; Ukraine Fights On- TPN 8/31/25

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
It's the first week of September twenty twenty five, and
this is what's on the People's News. Congressman Al Green
speaks out on the attempted and illegal firing of Lisa Cook.
An assassination in Ukraine brings further uncertainty. The integrity of
Texas Parks is under threat. Latest news on the Dynamo

(00:28):
and the Dash. All that and more on the People's News.
I'm Steve Gallington. This is the People's News, and the
People's News starts next. We start off the spistion of
the People's News with a reading from Timothy Snyder's on Tyranny,

(00:51):
Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century, which was published in
twenty seventeen and something I used as a guidebook to
get me through the first Donald Trump presidency. We're reading
number fourteen of the twenty Lessons, which is entitled establish
a private life. Nastier rulers will use what they know
about you to push you around, scrub your computer of

(01:14):
malware on a regular basis. Remember that email is skywriting.
Consider using alternative forms of the Internet or simply using
it less. Have personal exchanges in person for the same reason.
Resolve any legal trouble. Tyrants seek the hook on which
to hang you. Try not to have hooks. What the

(01:37):
great political thinker Hannah Arendt meant by totalitarianism was not
an all powerful state, but the erasure of the difference
between private and public life. We are free only in
so far as we exercise control over what people know
about us, and in what circumstances they come to know it.

(01:57):
During the campaign of twenty sixteen, we took a step
toward totalitarianism without even noticing it, by accepting as normal
the violation of electronic privacy, whether it is done by
American or Russian intelligence agencies, or for that matter, by
any institution. The theft, discussion, or publication of personal communications

(02:18):
destroys a basic foundation of our rights. If we have
no control over who reads what and when, we have
no ability to act in the present or plan for
the future. Whoever can pierce your privacy can humiliate you
and disrupt your relationships at will. No one, except perhaps
a tyrant, has a private life that can survive public

(02:40):
exposure by hostile directive. The timed email bombs of the
twenty sixteen presidential campaign were also a powerful form of
disinformation words written in one situation makes sense only in
that context. The very act of removing them from their
historical moment and dropping them in another is an act

(03:01):
of falsification. What is worse, when media followed the email
bombs as if they were news, they betrayed their own mission.
Few journalists made an effort to explain why people said
or wrote the things they did at the time. Meanwhile,
in transmitting privacy violations as news, the media allowed themselves

(03:21):
to be distracted from the actual events of the day.
Rather than reporting the violation of basic rights, our media
generally preferred to mindlessly indulge in the inherently salacious interest
we have in other people's affairs. Our appetite for the
secret thought aarrant is dangerously political. Totalitarianism removes the difference

(03:43):
between private and public, not just to make individuals unfree,
but also to draw the whole society away from normal
politics and toward conspiracy theories. Rather than defending facts or
generating interpretations, we are seduced by the notion of hidden
realities and dark conspiracies that explain everything. As we learn

(04:05):
from these email bombs, this mechanism works even when it
is revealed. It is of no interest. The revelation of
what was once confidential becomes the story itself. It is
striking that the news media are much worse at this than, say,
fashion or sports reporters. Fashion reporters know that models are
taking off their clothes in the changing rooms, and sports

(04:27):
reporters know that their athletes shower in the locker room,
but neither allow private matters to supplant the public story
that they are supposed to be covering. When we take
an active interest in the matters of doubtful relevance at
moments that are chosen by tyrants and spooks, we participate
in the demolition of our own political order. To be sure,

(04:49):
we might feel that we are doing nothing more than
going along with everyone else. This is true, and it
is what aren't described as the devolution of society into
a mob. We can try to solve this problem individually
by securing our own computers. We can also try to
solve it collectively by supporting, for example, organizations that are

(05:11):
concerned with human rights. That was an excerpt of the
book on Tyranny, Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century by
Timothy Snyder, and yet another move to distract away from
his decades long relationship with convicted sex predator and pedophile
Jeffrey Epstein and Glaine Maxwell. The convicted felon, criminal, corrupt,

(05:37):
and incompetent Donald Trump has called on his toady, Bill Poulty,
to go after his perceived enemies. Bill Poulty of Pulty Holmes.
Yes that Bill Poulty was named by Trump as the
director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency and as such

(05:57):
has been filing criminal referrals to the Justice Apartment against
Trump's perceived enemies, Adam shift Letitia James and now finally
one of the FED governor's Lisa Cook, Congressman of the
ninth Congressional District in Houston, Al Green, the top Democrat
on the US House Financial Services Committee's Subcommittee on Oversight

(06:21):
and Investigations, which oversees the Federal Reserve system. The FED
condemned the felon's unjustified and unprecedented firing of doctor Lisa Cook,
the first black woman appointed to the Fed's Board of Governors,
as well as his unbridled efforts to undermine the independence
of the FED. The Federal Reserve is the central bank

(06:43):
of the United States. Its dual mandate is to promote
maximum employment and insure stable prices. In pursuing this dual mandate,
the FED was designed to function independently of political pressure
from either the President or Congress. Doctor Cook was appointed
to the fed's Board of Governor's by President Biden and approved

(07:06):
by the Congress in twenty twenty two. He spoke on
this and his thoughts on not representing the district because
of the new redistricting map in Texas.

Speaker 2 (07:16):
I want to thank the members of the press for
appearing on what I consider short notice, but I do
believe that there's good reason for us to have this
press event. The President has said that he has fired
FED board member Lisa Cook.

Speaker 3 (07:38):
The board member Lisa Cook has indicated that she is
suing the president and in fact has done so. The
FED Chair Powell has indicated that he will abide by
the court's decision. President says he's fired her as Cook

(07:59):
has indicated that she is suing the President with regards
to what she believes to be an unjust firing, and
the chair of the FED has indicated that he will
abide by the court's decision. I think that the chair
Chair Powell did not say enough It is my opinion

(08:23):
that he is surrendering some of the independence of the
FED by giving an incomplete statement. I believe he should
have gone on to indicate that until the court renders
a decision, he will consider her a member of the FED.

(08:45):
The President is playing with economic fire. In doing this,
the President is putting the credibility of our central bank,
which is thought to be an independent agency. The President
is putting the credibility of our independent bank at risk.

(09:05):
Global markets do not want our central bank to become
a presidential tool, something that he can at a whim
decide that interest rates may escalate or they may decline,
and the President does do things on a whim. It
seems in doing this, the President is demonstrating once again

(09:31):
that he has little respect for due process. Ms Cook
has not been charged with a crime. She has not
obviously been convicted. If she hasn't been charged, she hasn't
been convicted of any crime, not charged with any crime.
The President does not have proper respect for a process,

(09:53):
a due process. The President does not have respect for
the independence of the FED. The independence of the FED
is the means by which the FED maintains its credibility.
Global markets depend on this independence, and the President is
eroding the independence of the FED, and unfortunately, mister Powell,

(10:17):
in not standing with his Governor Cook, has to a
limited extent, surrendered some of that independence. The President has
demonstrated to us that he believes he is more than
the President of the United States. He is the jury president,

(10:40):
but he sees himself as a de facto king, a
de facto authoritarian president who can do anything that he wants,
and has said as much. The President cannot be allowed
to destroy the dollar as the world's supreme currency. It

(11:02):
is the currency of choice, the reserve currency of choice,
and it is the currency of choice because people have
faith in the FED, and they have faith in the
FED because they don't believe the FED is tied to
the president. The President is playing with economic fire. If
we lose dollar supremacy, it will have an impact on

(11:25):
our bond market. Our bond market is sought after globally.
The bond market is what is used by municipalities when
they're issuing new debts, by corporations when they issue new debt.
The bond market is something that is not only helping
to stabilize this country, it really is important in geopolitical stabilization.

(11:50):
We have a duty and a responsibility to protect the
independence of the FED. Now let me define the weed
and use a person pronoun. I have served on the
Financial Services Committee since I arrived in Congress. I've had
the pre eminent honor and privilege of being the chairperson

(12:11):
of Oversight and Investigations, the subcommittee of the Financial Services Committee.
I am now the ranking member of the Oversight Subcommittee
of Financial Services. It is Financial Services that has jurisdiction
of oversight for the FED. When I say we, I'm

(12:32):
talking about now members of the Financial Services Committee. We
have a responsibility to take the stand to protect the
independence of the FED. I as a member of that committee,
I'm going to do all that I can, especially as
the ranking member on Oversight. That means that I'm the
top Democrat on the Oversight subcommittee, and I'm gonna do

(12:57):
everything that i can to protect the dependence of the FED,
because in so doing, I'm protecting the independence of our economy,
our sovereignty. This is bigger than the President simplifying a person.
This is an assault on the institution that has made

(13:17):
our economy the envy of the world. Yes, we in
Congress play a role, Yes we do. Yes, the President
plays a role. But friends, that independence of the FED
is what global markets and leaders look to when they
want to invest in the United States of America. So

(13:38):
I'm calling on the President to cease and desist with
this unreasonable behavior. He has gone too far. He's playing
with economic fire and he must he must retract what
he is doing. If he does not, then it's to

(14:00):
the courts. And I say the courts because this could
matriculate to the Supreme Court, and it's up to these
courts to do what they must to protect the independence
of the FED. Because the FED, as it was designed,
was to be an independent agency within the federal government.
It's not a separate government into itself, but it is

(14:21):
an independent agency within the federal government, and that independence
makes all the difference. Now, I want to close with
something before I take your questions. It's important for us
to note that our president is going after agency after agency,

(14:50):
and in so doing, he is taking away the credibility
of these agencies. He has looked at the Labor Marcus
in the sense of the way he behaves when he
sees a report that he doesn't like. If it indicates

(15:14):
that employment is great, it's valid, it's legitimate. If the
number is not something that he finds favor with, he
not only expresses his displeasure, he goes after the entity,
the agency that has acquired the empirical evidence to produce
the numbers that he finds this favor with. The President

(15:38):
believes that only he is right and the world is wrong.
This cannot continue. The president has got to be brought
back into control. If the courts can't do it because
he disrespects them, and the Congress won't do it because

(16:01):
he controls the Republican majority, then we the people have
the final option, and we have to say to the
President and know on certain terms you will not miss
the president destroy the American economy. We the people can
do this with many things. We have our voices, but

(16:24):
we also have the right to protest. I'm a believer
in Protestation. It was Protestation that brought me to Congress.
It was the Edmund Pettis Bridge on Bloody Sunday in
nineteen sixty five, when persons were beaten back to the
church where they started as they approached this bridge, they
were beaten back to the church where they started John

(16:45):
Lewis was there and he told me the story, said
he thought he was gonna die, and they had the
Petties Bridge. After that, the Voting Rights Act was signed.
Many of us who are in Congress now are there
because of the Voting Rights Act. President is assaulting the
Voting Rights Act. The courts are abiding with his assault,

(17:06):
and unfortunately Section two is under great threat. Just today
the governor has signed I believe his new gerrymandering, unlawful
jerry mandering that will challenge in court. But the point
is the President is doing all that he can to

(17:27):
destroy these institutions, and many of us in Congress because
of these institutions. So we have to protect what has
caused us to have the greatest economy in the world,
and we have to protect it with all lawful means necessary.
And Protestation, what happened at the Edmund Pettis Bridge is

(17:49):
a supreme superb example of how Protestation could make a difference,
because it's made a difference in who's in the Congress
of the United States of America. The diversity in the
Congress of the United States of America. Protestation lead legal, lawful, peaceful,
non violent, Protestation is a methodology by which change can

(18:12):
be made. And I believe that the President is going
to see more and more of this as he continues
his unbridled assault on American institutions. I welcome your questions.
Why do you, in your opinion, why do you think

(18:33):
he did what he did? To be tho there? Well,
let's hear from the American Banker. The American Banker published
an independent piece and it is styled Fed's Independent Hangs
on Meaning of four Calls, published on August twenty ninth,
twenty five. Let's read some of what they say here

(18:55):
to answer the question. The question is why do I
believe he has done this, committed this act of firing.
Let's read what the American Banker says. It's indicates here
in part ms Cook has not been charged with the crime,
let alone convicted of what. The claim that she listed

(19:16):
two homes as her primary residents was first made by
someone with another agency, the Federal Housing Finance Agency. And
then he loudly and publicly demanded interest rates cuts, and
he blames the FED for constraining the housing market with

(19:39):
high interest rates. The President wants the FED to do
his bidding. The President wants the Fed to lower interest
rates because he understands that if this happens, there would
be a better demand for homes because people can use
low interest rates to buy their homes. So he wants
lower interest rates. Well, mister Powell and the members of
the Fed have not decided to cut interest rates, and

(20:02):
they haven't because they have concerns with the tariffs that
the President continually manipulates. One day they're high, the next
day they're low. The markets are responding as he raises
tariffs and lowers tariffs. The President is fiddling with the economy, fiddling.

(20:25):
It would be too polite to say that he is managing.
He is just doing things in a willy nilly way
with the economy. They go on to indicate in this article,
Marcus have become more skeptical of America during his second term.

(20:47):
The dollar has fallen nine percent against other rich world currencies.
They go on to indicate, although short term treasury yields
have fallen as the American economy has softened, longer terms
have stayed high, reflecting investor concern about America's death load

(21:07):
and threatens the economic institutions such as the FED. This
is what the American banker has said so, yes, the
rational for his behavior appears to be his desire to
see interest rates lord. But the governors at the Fed
seem to understand that keeping these interest rates where they

(21:29):
are until they get a better sense of what the
tariffs are going to do to the economy makes sense.
And quite frankly, that makes sense to me, makes sense
to a good many other persons who are supposed to
know how to manage our currency. I hope that the
President understands that he's playing with economic fire. This impacts

(21:53):
all of us. Every person in this country should be
concerned about what the President is attempting to do to
governor cook. You should be concerned because it can impact
your interest rates. It can impact your ability to buy
a car, to buy a whole. It can impact your
ability to borrow money to start your business or to

(22:14):
maintain your business. This is the through line to almost
everything that we do in this economy. We have to
be concerned about what the President is doing, and the
Course should be the last stand against this. But if
the court should fail us, then we have to do

(22:35):
what the Republican Congress won't do, and that is to
take our calls to the streets of America in a
peaceful way, in a peaceful, non violent way, to show
the country that Americans are concerned about what's happening.

Speaker 1 (22:53):
That was Congressman Al Green from the ninth Congressional District
in Houston, Texas, holding a press conference of the firing
of Federal Reserve Board member Lisa Cook. Former Ukrainian parliamentary
speaker Andrey Perubi was shot dead in the western city
of Kiev on Saturday, with authorities launching an extensive manhunt
for his killer. The Prosecutor General's office confirmed that an

(23:17):
unidentified gunman fired multiple shots at Perubi, killing the fifty
four year old on the spot before fleeing the scene.
In addition, there was a Russian drone attack in southern
Ukraine and an air attack on Kiev. While the rest
of the world is allied behind the Ukraine, The convicted
felon and commander in cheat Donny Trump, is still waiting

(23:40):
for his boss, Russian President Vladimir Putin to agree with
a meeting with President Vlotomar Zelensky of Ukraine. Instead of
calling out Russia and his boss Vladimir Putin, the convicted
felon Donald Trump has stated that Europe is standing in
the way of peace. We spent some time with the

(24:00):
former president of the Ukrainian American Cultural Club of Houston,
Michael B. Balahutrak. He spoke on the situation on the ground.

Speaker 4 (24:09):
One of the things that I want to first start
with is that Ukrainians, both in Ukraine and in the Aspara,
are grateful to the United States and all the citizens,
particularly citizens in Houston with all their Ukrainian flags hanging
on their houses, for the support that they have shown
and given to Ukraine and Ukrainians for their fight for

(24:34):
democracy and independence in Ukraine against the Russian attacks and
Russian invasion. Now, the Russian invasion has taken land early
on in the war in March and April of twenty
twenty two. Since then, Ukraine has fought back and pushed

(24:57):
back to Russians and reco at about five percent of
the land that they took. Now that is over one thousand,
two hundred and fifty days ago. Don't quote me in
the exact numbers, but as of the past one thousand
and some thirty days, which is roughly for years, the

(25:18):
Russians have not been able to take even one percent
of the land that they want to take. So the
Russians are fighting very very hard for there to be
an exchange of land, a tit for tat type of
exchange of land. Why are they doing it? Because they
cannot take additional land very rapidly and they know that

(25:40):
this war will take a long time. And meanwhile they
have lost over a million million, some one hundred soldiers
either dead or wounded terribly that they can't serve anymore. Therefore,
they have to rely on soldiers from Korea, from other
parts of the world, as well as as arms and

(26:01):
arms deliveries. The question, the question is is basic? Is basic?
How come the West is thinking about exchanging land when
it is an invader that took the land. They didn't

(26:22):
have the right to that land in the first place,
So how can somebody that doesn't have the right to
that land exchange it for something else? Okay, So that's
the first question. The second question that begs that begs
to be given is if Russia gets or reaches their

(26:42):
objective of getting the land that they claim that they want,
which is the Donbas area, which is lu Hansen Donesk.
You have to know that the biggest fortifications against invasion
of further invasion of Russia is in Dunesque along the

(27:04):
eastern side, I'm sorry, the western side of Donesk. If
those two cities fall from a tusk, then I can't
remember the name of the other one right now, fall
then there is no bockade anymore to Russia because everything
from there all the way to the Nipois River basically
into Zappoisia is basically farmland, and they'll just roll over it.

(27:29):
That's why they want those two cities. If they get
those two cities, it's over with. It's over with. So
Ukraine can in no way, from a strategic point of way,
agree to a land swap, an illegal land swap that
the Russians don't have a right to anyway. So that
is the situation that Ukraine clind it south and between

(27:52):
a rock and a hard spot, that they cannot possibly
do this otherwise they're going to be giving up their
independence just bye bye, by swapping land, which is not
not not not not possible. Anyway, you had a question, Well,
the time.

Speaker 5 (28:12):
The time he is spent by the US every time
they go to not agreeing to a seat fight and
gives Russia even more opportunity to try and take more land.
This is this is something that Putin is in putent
hands and that's what he wants. And it seems like
the United States is caving in to UH Russia's Russia's

(28:36):
more effort.

Speaker 4 (28:38):
Well as as as we all know that President Trump
has threatened to put sanctions on Russia. But every time
he puts the sanctions on Russia and meets meets was
representatives of Russia or in this case in in UH
on the fifteenth of August, when he met with Putin
in Alaska. You know all he did. He threatened beforehand,

(29:02):
a day beforehand to put sanctions in place. If putting
them agreed to cease fire. Well, he delayed them by
two weeks. Again, so it seems that mister Trump continues
to pull to never go onto the red blind that
he was in place. He threatened sanctions and delays them threatens.

(29:26):
He's done that about five or six times now where
he's delayed sanctions. Each time he begs the questions, why
does he continue to delay sanctions? Why does he continue
to do this? I don't know the answer, but that
should be something that should be key by the Senate
and the House to investigate why these sanctions keep being

(29:49):
further delayed each time. Why is not the House and
the Senate asking those serious questions.

Speaker 5 (29:59):
I don't think he we're understanding. Also, the the magnitude
of Ukraine and Russia. I think Ukraine just hit close
to Russia's nuclear power plant, and Russia has came close also,
And the world is always has already acknowledged that this
would be a threat to the West, even a threat
to the United States if if one of those is

(30:21):
one of those new reactors gets hit. Is that something
that you're looking at Also, I'm.

Speaker 4 (30:29):
Sure the UK is looking at. I'm absolutely sure that
the White of nuclear uh accidents no Christian about it.
The Nuclear Agency is also looking for that. I don't
believe that that either army of the Ukrainian Army nor

(30:50):
the Russian Army wants to have a nuclear fallout. Remember,
if if, if the if any reactors hit, there's no
guarantee that the winds will not take the nuclear fallout
into Moscow. There's no guarantee that that won't happen. So
in effect, if they have a nuclear they are risking,

(31:10):
in effect getting getting the fall out into Moscow. Of
nuclear foruma, so that, in my mind is a stupid
of course, the governments have to be careful not to
not to hit them, but the fear of that, I
think is overblown on purpose to avoid to avoid discussions
where we need to discuss. Why why does the Assistant

(31:32):
Secretary of Defense have the rights to stop long range
missile firing into Russia? Why does the Assistant Secretary of
State of the Defense have the rights to stop to
stop the use of delivery of the missiles into Ukraine
for defense and attacks into Russia. Why does he have

(31:56):
to do it? Why did not President Trump punt this
person for not following his instructions when he publicly stated
after this last week, as a matter of fact, when
you publicly stand the Ukraine should have the right and
should their long range missiles into Russia to destroy their refineries,

(32:20):
their supply chains, their airports, their military planes so that
it can it can avoid all the bombing that Russia
sends into Ukraine. So the question is why as somebody
in the Defense department overrule what the president says? Is

(32:43):
President Trump in control of the read the Illustreet Journal,
a very conservative newspaper, and they ask those same questions.
They ask those same questions. So, so who's running foreign
policy is here? What's going on in the administry? Those
are the questions that need to be asked. And again

(33:04):
I go back to our Senate, in our house. Why
are they Why are not the committees in charge of defense,
in charge of state? Why are they not asking these questions?
Why are we talking about stupidities of the issues in

(33:26):
our society. It's to take away from the fact that
the government is not working the way it's supposed to
be working. That's why.

Speaker 5 (33:36):
What do you feel. Don't you feel that having long
range missiles would intensified the war?

Speaker 4 (33:43):
No? No, no, quite the contrary, Russia is actually in
a very weak position, both militarily and economically. Take a
look at what's happening. Putin would not have to go
to Korea for troops if he had enough troops at home.
So this is something that he had to do because
he's weak. He doesn't have enough troops at home. Many

(34:05):
of his young people have left the country and are
hiding all over the world, so he is he's in
short supply of troops of what he wants to have,
so he has to go outsources these to other places.
Same goes for his economy. Ukraine his attack many many
refineries learn range far away from the border with its

(34:30):
own drones and its own missiles, and what has happened.
There's long fuel lines in Moscow in villages. You can't
get fuel in Saint Petersburg. There's long supply lines for
gasoline and fuel in those towns. What that creates is
a question by the general Russian populace. Is this putin

(34:55):
strategy good or not? He has to keep control of
the populace. If he loses control of populace, he'll lose power.
The question is how long will the populace be able
to stand for this and how long before they rebel
against him? And this is what he is facing. His
economy is weak because it's only a war economy. A

(35:15):
war economy is not sustainable because all you're doing is
spending money, and oil sales are down, even though he's
increased in China and India, but they're still down from
what they were. So income is down and he's spending
tons of money on the military, So how long is
that sustainable. He is pushing the US to push Ukraine

(35:37):
in an agreement. Good for him, but what the US
and the West has to realize is that they need
to support Ukraine because this is the time when Russia
is weak to really finally end Russian imperialism all over
the world, not only in against Ukraine, but against Europe
and against nations in Africa and South America. Remember, Russia's

(36:02):
all over South America, particularly in Argentina, They're all over Africa,
They're everywhere. They fenders in every place in the world.
So there you go. What's the solution. The solution is
to hit him when he's down and make it easier
or let him roll over. And that's the big question

(36:22):
that the West has to face.

Speaker 5 (36:24):
This one more quick question is is the Ukrainian army.
Ukrainian military is strong enough to defeat Russia. Because before
every Russians Toldia can be replaced, Ukrainian is is even
harder to replace.

Speaker 4 (36:40):
Okay, listen, listen, listen. You are you are in your
house right and and somebody attacks your house. Are you
going to defend that or not? That's the question you
have to ask. And this is the case in Ukraine.
Ukraine people know that if they don't defend their country,
and this is this has been done by many, many

(37:02):
organizations have studied this in Ukraine. Serious organizations have studied
this in Ukraine. That the Ukrainians realized that if they
don't defend their country, they will be subjugated to Russia,
and Russia will destroy it and kill them and send
them off to Siberia or murder them or rape them

(37:25):
or whatever they will do, because that is the That's
what happened during Stalin times, and that's what's happening now
all over again. Now you have three hundred billion dollars
in assets that the West is holding of Russian asses.
This money should go to re arm Ukraine. Ukraine will
handle the war by itself very well. The problem is

(37:45):
it is short on arms. It is short on long
range missiles, It is short short cover. It desperately needs
air cover, It desperately needs long range missiles, and it
desperately needs standard arms lies. The people, the people so
far are able to hold hold on. If Russia has

(38:06):
not been able to gain more than one percent of
the land in the past one thousand and some twenty
six days, how are they going to gain anymore? If
we if Ukraine gets the supplies they need. You understand
this is this is this is an existential threat for Ukraine.
They know that. They recognize that. I have had meetings

(38:29):
recently from the from people from Odessa, I level people
from Odessa back home. They're looking at how to rebuild
the port facility is there, how to expand them to
become the center of a part for because it's a
deep water port for all of Eastern Europe to Romania, Moldavia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Serbia,

(38:50):
Southern Poland, Slovakia. It's amazing. It's a major facility there
that could support that. They want. They looking at the
future of what they can do. There is a lot
of projects. Ukraine is so key. Ukraine supplies wheat. They
have shippen over a thousand million tons of wheat fifty

(39:13):
five countries this year so far to feed the world.
I mean, it's a major supply. If it falls, that's
all goes away. So the West has to realize that
the cost is not only supporting Ukraine. What will happen
around the world will have long range consequences of hunger,
of of of disease, of military actions which will cost

(39:39):
a lot more. If this imperious Russia has not stopped today.
This is this is critical. It's critical, it's very important,
and the West has to must that. Read Read with
banana rites, Read with other former US people that worked

(40:00):
the State Department and CIA. Look at what Trump has
done last week. He has fired a bunch of Russian
experts at the CIA. Why fire a bunch of Russian
experts at the CIA? What's going on? That's the question
that the Senate, then the House has to ask. The
Senate and the House is not doing their job. They're

(40:22):
not doing this job. They must stand up and really
take a strong action of what their constitutional responsibilities are
and carry on their constitutional responsibilities. They're not supposed to
be a rubber staff for a president, no matter who
the president is. Well, that's a democratic republican. We're not

(40:45):
talking to any more democrat and republican here. We're talking
about what's happening in the US today and the existence
of democracy not only in Ukraine, but in the US
and other places in the world.

Speaker 1 (40:58):
That was a former president of the Ukraine American Cultural
Club of Houston, Michael B. Balahutrak, speaking on the situation
in Ukraine. Hi. This is Steve Gallington, producer and host
of the People's News. If you have a story that
needs to be told, come to us. We accept fully
produced audio, written material, or just give us the idea

(41:21):
and we will run with it. Shiny new one hour
episodes of The People's News drop each Sunday on The
People's News podcast, hosted by spreaker dot com and linked
to my website Gallington dot com. The US Forest Service
has formerly begun to rescind the two thousand and one
Roadless Rule, which protects fifty eight point five million acres

(41:45):
of wild areas in national forests, including four thousand acres
in the Sam Houston National Forest north of Houston. Trump's
appointee USDA Secretary Brook Rawlins initially announced plan to roll
back these forest protections on June twenty third at the
Western Governors Association meeting, providing her boss with another distraction

(42:09):
away from his criminality and his long term association and
friendship with convicted sex offender and pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. To
begin the official process, the agency will post a notice
of intent to the Federal Register Friday, at which point
a twenty one day public comment period will commence. Environment

(42:30):
Texas has spoken out against rescinding the Roadless Rule, which
allows roads to be built on pristine public lands. We
spoke to Luke Metzger, Executive Director of Environment Texas.

Speaker 4 (42:44):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (42:44):
Sure, well folks might not know, but we have four
national forests here in Texas. In the Santa Houston National
Forest is the closest to Houston and probably the most popular.
And unlike a national park, the national forests are actually
managed by the Department of Agriculture, and a lot of

(43:06):
logging and mining, well Ashley and other things are actually
allowed international forests. But about twenty four years ago the US,
the federal government and Forest Service, President Clinton decided to
set aside almost sixty million acres of the national forests

(43:28):
to stay. Let's leave these places are so special, they're untouched,
they're wild forests. Let's leave them alone. And there's already
so many places you can log intern let's leave them. Well,
they're they're not. There aren't roads through them now, there
is much logging allowed, so let's protect them. And that's
been the all of the land, you know, for a

(43:50):
couple of dozen years now. And unfortunately the subjecty enrolments,
as in Trump's Agriculture now today that they're going to
undo that rule, and that means that in Texas, we
have about four thousand acres in the San Houstern National
Forests that are currently protected as roadless areas. And that

(44:13):
includes the really popular Big Creek Scenic Area where hikers
can visit it through the Lone Star Hiking Trail. And
you know, if if that, uh, this proposal is successful,
you know that what those wildforests really could be opened
up and loost you know to road building, logging, well

(44:33):
gas trilling and other activities.

Speaker 5 (44:36):
What does this mean? And also you know, like I
know in California, when they started making developments in this
in areas that that were known this forest areas, it's
been it's been known to affect the environment in that community,
especially you see more wildfires and more landslides and stuff

(44:57):
like that. You know in floating, do you see this
something that possibly can happen here as far as them
trying to develop and then trying to then trying to sell.

Speaker 6 (45:08):
Off the floors, Yeah, certainly, no. I think you know,
there is a role for kind of you know what's
called finning practices, you know, in order to uh, you know,
help prevent the spread of wildfires in our forests. But
you know, we've actually seen the opposite happen where you
have you know, lots of logging, which then creates underbrush

(45:29):
that can easily become flammable and start fires. It also
allows you to wind draft to more easily kind of
get in there and fan the planes. And so there
is direct connection between you know, increased logging activity and wildfires.
And so that's yeah, definitely on the important reasons why
we need to protect these here. And Sam Houston actually

(45:50):
just had a wildfire this spring, you know, the result
of a prescribed burn that kind of got out of control.
And so we've seen you know, the dangers of of
of wildfires in our forests and this proposal definitely is
not going to make us safer.

Speaker 5 (46:07):
And this is this is a this is a trend
now as far as selling off, the selling off the environment,
that we're selling out the forest because not only that
they're not only doing that, they're also talking about putting
putting some part to the forest of forbid. So is
this something that's just trying to privatize our parts?

Speaker 6 (46:30):
Yeah, I mean, unfortunately, I think that in the current administration,
you see a lot of our public lands as an
opportunity to you know, extract as many resources as possible
at the at the extent of you know, protecting these
wild areas, wildlife habitat, ensuring that you know, strong recreation

(46:51):
opportunities that are available and including uh, you know, hiking
and fishing and h and also you know, the ignoring
the role that our forests play protecting our drinking water,
which you know, the technas national forests do you know,
really help protect and clean you know, the water that
provides the Houston region. And so you know, I think

(47:13):
it really is short sighted to look at how you
maximize profit in the short term at the extense of
these more important values.

Speaker 5 (47:22):
How to day, what do you think the feature is
for the.

Speaker 7 (47:26):
For the for the forest and Texas is not well
the you know, there was a really big logging boom,
you know, around the end of the nineteenth century in
East Texas, and you know most of those those trees,
some of which were centuries old, were lost around that time.

Speaker 6 (47:46):
And starting in around the nineteen thirties under President Roosevelt's
you know, they started you know creating these national forests
and replanting and so now we've got you know, booth
on the national forest side and on the private lands
in East Texas, a number of trees that are starting
to become more mature at eighty years old, one hundred
years old, and if we just leave them alone, they

(48:07):
could become you know, proper oldbrook forests again, which has
so many benefits, you know, for for wildlife and just
you know, for you know, edit our employment. And but
you know, so we're we're facing this situation now where
you know, there's already lots of logging in East Texas,
especially on private lands. There's already some that happens in

(48:30):
our national forests, and we have very few places left
that really are are remote and untouched in wild and
I think it's not too much to ask that we
preserve just these small areas for one thousand acres in
the state beside the Texas, let's just leave them alone
and keep our forests wild.

Speaker 5 (48:50):
What do you get? What do you kind of do
about this? This the problem we have right now that
you're true talking about as far at the Bank of
the Land.

Speaker 6 (49:00):
Well, we're certainly going to participate in the public comment periods.
You know, the Forest Service will the initiating and working
to organize public opposition to this proposal. And you know
this is I think been you know, many decades long
fight to preserve our core us and you know we've
we've won many times before. So we're gonna We're gonna

(49:23):
put up a fight and do what we can to
preserve these areas.

Speaker 5 (49:27):
And Okay, so how do you get in touch with
your organization and how if they want to if they
want to get into the fight so to speak.

Speaker 6 (49:34):
Yeah, you've got the Environment Texas dot org. Have a
position on our website targeting the governor. You know, we
we particularly want to demonstrate to the federal government that
a lot of states are opposed to this of these
actions and you know, unclear whether we can appen to
speak out on it, but we think that all the
pressure really adds up. And you know, you know what

(49:58):
we're talking that is not just the land here in Texas,
but at Lapels in Alaska and a lot of Montana,
you know, all throughout the country. And I think we
all worked together we have a big shot at saving
these places.

Speaker 1 (50:11):
That was Luke Metzger, executive director of Environment Texas. You
can reach him and Environment Texas at Environment Texas all
put together dot org. In Major League Soccer, the Houston
Dynamo came closer to clinching a playoff spot as they
defeated Saint Louis three to two on the road on Saturday.
Midfielder Dwayne Holmes scored his first Dynamo goal in the

(50:34):
seventy second minute, while midfielder andreje Linger registered his third
assist on the play. Houston returns to Shell Energy Stadium
on Saturday, September sixth to host the LA Galaxy on
Military Appreciation Night. Kickoff is scheduled for seven thirty pm.
In the National Women's Soccer League, the Houston dash gained

(50:55):
a point on the road with a one to one
draw against Racing Louisville. Houston's Jane Campbell's comment after the match,
I thought it was.

Speaker 8 (51:04):
A good game, definitely scrappy and uh, you know, not
our not our prettiest game, you know, either team, But
we knew it was gonna be a battle coming in here.
Louisville's on a tear, and uh, really proud of the
group's response, and I'm really happy for ev to get
her goal, and uh that was huge, a huge moment
for us. And really yeah, I think in the second

(51:25):
half they definitely gained some momentum, and uh, you know,
they scored a really good goal off a set piece,
and Taylor Flint, we know, is a really dangerous target
for them in general, so you know, that was hard
being a little bit under siege. But I think once
we scored the goal, you know, it was back to
Zeros and uh, I think we just knew that momentum

(51:45):
was going to go one way or the other. And
at that point, you know, it was so late in
the game, I think it was good for us to
get a point, you know, not really try and push
for three. We need to get a point on the road.
So they definitely came with tons of momentum and some
waves and we're all just trying to do our job
and make some tackles. And you know, the defense did.
They really locked down a lot of their players, and
I want to tip my hats off to them because

(52:06):
my defenders helped me out and coming to Yeah, I
think it's great. You know, anytime that you know, even
the eleven can be the same is helpful. And I
think this this summer, when we had the summer break,
we were all really able to just like dig into
each other and and really learn each other's tendencies. It's
a new group, new staff, and you know this wasn't

(52:27):
gonna come together overnight, and it still isn't coming together yet.
You know, like we're on a good role right now.
But I think we all know in the locker room
we have so much more to give and to show
and to prove, and especially for a coach, for Bris,
I mean, he's working tirelessly and you know we need
to make sure we perform for him and his staff
as well. So you know, we're not peaking by any means.

(52:49):
But I think in the summer we were really really
able to really just dig in and learn more about
each other, learn more about coach fa Breese and the
style he wants. So anytime we have continuity on the field,
that's it's always going to help. And so yeah, big
shout out to the back fourth for sure, they're really
stepping it up the second half. I just thought, you know,

(53:11):
I saw her at the top of the box and
she took that touch and I was, you know, I
was kicking myself. I was like, no way, she's going
to shoot this thing, and sure enough she did so
a good hit by her, and you know, fortunate I
wear size nine glove to get a tip on it.

Speaker 1 (53:25):
The Dash travel to Snapdragon Stadium next on Sunday, September
seventh to take on the San Diego Wave in the
second of three consecutive road games. The Wound's Rugby Union
World Cup is ongoing and the USA Eagles came back
to a draw with Australia thirty one to thirty one
in York, England, setting up a match next Friday with

(53:47):
Western Samoa, which if they win, can get them to
the next round of the Woman's World Rugby Cup, which
is being held in England. We end this week of
the People's News with the reading from Timothy Snyder's on Tyranny,
Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century, which was published in
twenty seventeen and something I used as a guidebook to

(54:08):
get me through the first Donald Trump presidency. Today we're
reading number fifteen of the twenty lessons. Contribute to good causes.
Be active in organizations political or not that express your
own view of life. Pick a charity or two and
set up auto pay. Then you will have made a
free choice that supports civil society and helps others to

(54:31):
do good. It is gratifying to know that whatever the
course of events, you are helping others to do good.
Many of us can afford to support some part of
the vast network of charities that one of our former
presidents called a thousand points of light. Those points of
light are best seen like stars at dusk against the

(54:52):
darkening sky. When Americans think of freedom, we usually imagine
a contest between the lone individual and a powerful government.
We tend to conclude that the individual should be empowered
and the government kept at bay. This is all well
and good, but one element of freedom is the choice
of associates, and one defense of freedom is the activity

(55:14):
of groups to sustain their members. This is why we
should engage in activities that are of interest to us,
our friends, and our families. These need not be expressly political.
Baclav Hovel, the Czech dissonant thinker, gave the example of
brewing good beer. Insofar as we take pride in these
activities and come to know others who do so as well,

(55:37):
we are creating civil society. Sharing as an undertaking teaches
us that we can trust people beyond a narrow circle
of friends and families, and helps us to recognize authorities
from whom we can learn. The capacity for trust and
learning can make life seem less chaotic and mysterious, and
democratic politics more plausible and attractive. The anti communist distance

(56:03):
of Eastern Europe, facing a situation more extreme than ours,
recognized the seemingly non political activity of civil society as
an expression and a safeguard of freedom. They were right.
In the twentieth century, all the major enemies of freedom
were hostile to non governmental organizations, charities and the like.

(56:25):
Communists required all such groups to be officially registered and
transformed them into institutions of control. Fascists created what they
called corporatist systems, in which every human activity had its
proper place subordinated to a party state. Today's authoritarians in India, Turkey,
and Russia are also highly allergic to the idea of

(56:48):
free associations and non governmental organizations. That was an excerpt
of the book on Tyranny, Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth
Century by Timothy Snowe. The People's News is a production
of Steve Gallington and Richard Hannah, and is protected by
copyright laws. All the information broadcast on air and online,

(57:12):
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
any prohibited way, including reproducing, publishing, transmitting, selling, rewriting, broadcasting,

(57:33):
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
permission to use copyrighted material, email Steve Gallington at Steve

(57:53):
at gallington dot com. Thank you,