June 4, 2025 • 60 mins
KCAA: The Uncommon Sense Democrat with Eric Bauman on Wed, 4 Jun, 2025
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
For KCAA ten fifty AM, NBC News Radio and Express
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(01:40):
Whether in the Inland Empire brings highs in the high
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This segment sponsored by our friends at the All News.
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Speaker 8 (05:45):
Miss your favorite show, download the podcast at KCAA radio
dot com KCAAOW.
Speaker 9 (06:00):
It's time for a brand new show on KCAA, The
Uncommon Sense Democrat with your host, Eric Bauman, a show
about politics and contemporary issues. And now here's Eric Bauman.
Speaker 10 (06:15):
Good afternoon. Actually this is Michael Blifz. I'm in for
Eric Bauman today on The Uncommon Sense Democrat on NBC
Radio KCAAAM ten fifty and FM one oh six point
five in Redlands. And before we get into the substance
of the show, and in our guest, I guess those
(06:35):
of you that are wondering about the imminent collision of
our galaxy with the galaxy of Andromeda, you should calm
down because, as it turns out, the prediction that the
Milky Way and Andromeda we're going to collide in five
billion years turns out to be an underestimate. It's probably
going to do about ten billion years. So if you
(06:57):
sold off all your galactic stock, you have time to
buy it back. On a more serious note, we're going
to talk to our guests and throughout the show on
various news stories. But one story that has come up
as the Biden court judge who has decided to stop
(07:20):
the deportation of the family of the Boulder, Colorado terrorist
and whose name the Sabri Solomon, Mohammed Sabdri Solomon. They
wanted to toss. This is Christy Milman, of course, wanted
to toss the family, that is, his wife and five
(07:44):
children out of the country on the basis that he
had their father, the husband and father had committed this
act of terror and in Boulder, Colorado and killing people
at the demonstration, the pro Israel demonstration. So what happened
was at the court of the judge who had been
(08:06):
appointed by Biden. Sorry for the Confusionaire, but who had
been appointed by Biden, stopped that effort to deport and
said not that they shouldn't be deported, but that there
was no due process involved with this. And I raised
this only because on a show like The Uncommon Sense Democrat,
which also encompasses uncommon sense democracy, it's nice to see
(08:29):
and a relief to see that there are judges who
are going to insist on the rules of habeas corpus,
which technically means you have the body or you should
have the body. But really what it's about is due process.
That everybody in this country is entitled to due process,
and without that you have mass deportations with no justification.
(08:55):
So we're encouraged to see this. It may turn out
that the fact family was complicit, but in any case
they need to have due process to determine that an investigation.
They cannot be illegally detained simply by association. Okay, with
that little confusing bit aside, my guest tonight this afternoon
(09:15):
is one of my favorite commentators, Professor Rona Blaker from
Glendale College, who is an insightful analyst of all things
political and social. So welcome, Rona. Oh, thank you for
having me delighted and so Rona, I assume you're relieved
about the galaxy collision being ten billion years away instead
(09:38):
of only five billion.
Speaker 11 (09:39):
It's so happy to hear some good news wherever it
comes from.
Speaker 5 (09:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 10 (09:45):
Oh, it's pretty sad though, when the good news has
to be about things happening billions of years from now.
Speaker 5 (09:50):
Yeah, that is true.
Speaker 10 (09:53):
One of the things that's happening right now, which seems
to be making all the news channels and fake news
channels is the feud between Musk and Trump, and what
appears now to be mostly are one sided view, though
I'm predicting that it will be two sided. So from
what you understand and what you've heard, what issues have
(10:13):
you learned about that are causing a risk between Musk
and Trump.
Speaker 11 (10:19):
Well, they're too similar. They're both grandiose, narcissistic personalities, which
people like that don't like to be with other people
like that. But I think what's really causing the risk
is the problems that Elon Musk seems to be having
(10:39):
with substance abuse. And everybody in the administration is denying,
Oh no, there's not a problem. But all the words
that we hear are exactly the words that we know
substance abusers use. Oh I just used a small amount.
(11:01):
Oh I'm fine. But Elon Lusk, who is by his
own definition neuro divergence and by the words denounces traditional therapy,
appears to be self medicating in ways it seems to
(11:25):
be very unhealthy. They seem to be affecting his ladder,
They seem to be affecting his association with reality, and
I think it's very frightening. And yet at the same time,
he is saying, the Big Beautiful Bill is not so beautiful.
(11:46):
And if due to all of these problems he's having,
for some reason, that Big Beautiful Bill doesn't get enacted,
then well we're living in a crazy world that I
even think we're living in.
Speaker 10 (12:01):
Well, no, we're probably living in just about as crazy
world as you think. So it's interesting though that essentially
Musk was just fired by Trump. We can call it
other things too, but Trump had had enough of Musk
in acting as the director of DOGE, and people thought
(12:21):
Musk was stepping down, but that's not the case. The
case is that he kind of used up his time
as the temporary appointee, and he was and Trump was
finished with him. I don't know if his substance abuse
was a factor. I would it wouldn't surprise me if
it was. I think that, you know, I have this
(12:42):
system that my rabbi actually uses, which is, you know,
wago versus wargo, and I'm sure other people use it
to what appears to be going on versus what's really
going on, and in this case, Musk's explosion about the
I hate to call it the beautiful bill without qualifying
it that it's really as the democratic thing, the big
(13:04):
ugly bill. His explosion about it seems on the one hand,
to be the result of just this weird, growing hysteria
in all of his public actions, in all his public statements.
But there's some practical things at work here too, That
in this bill he stands to lose tremendous amounts of
(13:27):
electric vehicle tax breaks for his company, Tesla. And he
was also expecting that the Federal Aviation Administration was going
to be using the Musk Starlink satellite system for all
the national air traffic control and that's not going to
happen now, And so he is a loser in that
(13:50):
regard as well. And as you've diagnosed him as a
flagrant narcissist, the fact that in those just those two
things alone, he's been defeated, at least in the proposed bill,
along with, by the way, the Trump's withdrawal of his
nomination for heading NASA, Jared Isaacston, who's a close friend
(14:12):
of Musk's. So Trump has foiled Musk in several significant ways.
And Musk is having a tantrum in response, which ironically
sounds a lot like Donald Trump. What Donald Trump does?
Do you think? Why do you think Trump isn't responding
so far to Musk's attacks on the bill.
Speaker 11 (14:34):
That's a very interesting question. He he may not think
that Elon Musk has that much credibility.
Speaker 12 (14:49):
Hm.
Speaker 10 (14:51):
That's true, actually, And certainly that would be a good
for Trump. That would be a good thing to claim.
That would be one of Trump's typical ways of kind
of spitting on those people that once supported him. That
now or not that I'm just wondering also, and you know,
jumped in any time. But I think that Trump still
(15:12):
has plans to use Musk and doesn't want to burn
that particular bridge, even though right right now it looks
like this rift is going to widen. But I noticed
that Musk never named Trump in the diatribe against the bill.
It was always directed about the bill, the Congress, the
(15:34):
Republican Party, but not against Trump. So he gave himself
an out there, and Trump, it seems like he's getting
himself an out by not responding, you know, ad hominem
attack against Musk. So I'm just wondering if you think
that's a possibility if Trump plan has further plans for Musk,
either financial or otherwise.
Speaker 11 (15:55):
Absolutely, Yeah, that's a really good thought. And probably financial.
I mean, Muscle already gave them two hundred and seventy
five million dollars to get elected, right, Maybe he wants
more money for the mid terms coming up. Maybe they're
playing you know, you said what appears to be going
on versus what's really going on. Maybe maybe they're playing
(16:16):
some game that we don't even understand, right.
Speaker 10 (16:22):
Well, what do you think that would be? But well,
that's because we don't understand it.
Speaker 11 (16:27):
That's because we don't know exactly. Because we don't we
don't understand it. Everything is so unusual these days.
Speaker 10 (16:38):
Yeah, So what do you think? What are the possible
consequences of this risk we'll call it for the moment
between not just between Trump and Musk, but evidently between
Musk and the GOP congressional GOP. What are the likely
consequences of this?
Speaker 12 (16:57):
Well?
Speaker 11 (16:58):
I don't know likely, because I've given up on making predictions.
But wouldn't it be astonishing if must went so far
that he became a Democrat again?
Speaker 10 (17:12):
I would be that that would be spectacularly awful. For
the Democratic Party bus.
Speaker 11 (17:18):
It absolutely would be. I mean, I'm as I as
I said, I'm just wondering if the points that he's
bringing up about the money and the debt, if if
this dude might make some people actually listen to him.
Speaker 10 (17:40):
Yeah, that's true.
Speaker 11 (17:41):
I don't think he's wrong that the bill is.
Speaker 5 (17:46):
Ugly.
Speaker 10 (17:47):
Oh and that's the irony. That's the irony. Yeah, you
have the richest man in the world pointing out the
unfairness financial unfairness the bill. I'm not sure which parts
he's specifically pointing to other than the ones that affect
him directly. I don't know that he's he's championing any
middle class causes, but I do know that it's it's
(18:09):
a thick irony to have Elon Musk challenging the GOP
and Trump on a bill that is going to grant
enormous tax bricks to the super wealthy.
Speaker 11 (18:22):
Yes, exactly. And you said, maybe he is going to
lose some money on these other issues, the starlink and
the electric cars, but I'm still I'm sorry he's still
going to be in for for lots of benefits. I
don't know when people are going to pay attention to
the fact that that is too is profiting from all
(18:43):
of these policies.
Speaker 10 (18:46):
Yeah, I know you've said this this this before about
on this program, and I know Eric has as well
that one of the weaknesses in the contemporary Democratic Party
is position national position. Is it an evident inability to
use as leverage facts, and in this case, it would
(19:11):
be fact about what's in this bill and who benefits
and who doesn't. The you know, Trump is calling it
the big Beautiful Bill Number one to make sure that
broadcasters all over have to call it that. So it's
just kind of wearing people down. But the other thing
is that it just obfuscates what's in the bill itself
(19:31):
and how devastating it would be for you, for me,
for people we know, for you know, middle class, the poor, veterans,
you know, the homeless people that are not multi millionaires
and billionaires. And I don't think the Democratic Party, the
Democratic machine is doing enough to just put those facts
(19:53):
out there. Instead, it's just kind of again making various
personal attacks and talking about policies that Democrats will will
work on in opposition to the to the GOP. But
sometimes it just comes down to saying, folks, this is
what is in this bill and letting people, you know,
(20:15):
trusting that at least some people in the center, which
is the only place you can ever hope to change
votes or at least sway them. This is what's in
the bill. This is who benefits, and this is who
it will hurt. Why is the Democratic Party so reluctant
to do that?
Speaker 11 (20:32):
I don't know why they are, Michael, But are you
forgetting that, Chuck Schumer? He wrote a very strongly worded letter.
Speaker 10 (20:39):
Yeah, I mean that's true, So you.
Speaker 11 (20:43):
Know everything should be okay now, I don't. I don't
know why people aren't speaking up louder exactly what you
just said about the fact. I do know that people
don't even know who or what will read anymore. I sat,
at least in my in my student population, which is
(21:07):
mostly young people, which are the voters that Democratic Democratic
Party really needs to be paying attention to moving forward.
It's I'm not sure who that voice is going to be,
and I hope it emerges soon, especially as we head
(21:30):
towards the twenty twenty six midterms. I know later we're
going to talk about potential presidential candidates for twenty twenty eight,
and I almost take to say his name because it's
not my favorite. But Bernie Sanders is out there trying
to do what you're talking about. I just think you're right. Persons.
Speaker 10 (21:54):
Yeah, unfortunately want to listen to Yeah. I think he's
actually unfortunately become a kind of you know, background traveler
in a lot of people's minds that it's you know,
he's But since you've mentioned it, and you're correct that
we're going to talk a little bit about the potential
presidential candidates. And you're absolutely right, by the way, the
(22:16):
midterm elections are in many ways much more critical than
talking about the twenty twenty eight presidential election. And if
we had another hour, we might talk a little bit
about the midterm election prospects. But just throwing it out there.
With regard to voices for the Democratic Party, there are
(22:36):
a bunch of new polls out about who is emerging
as likely favored I should say favorable candidates for president
from the Democratic Party. And I read that on the
I think the Atlas poll there is a Pete Boodhage
Edge is leading the back with about third thirty one
(23:00):
percent of the vote, and AOC is number two.
Speaker 11 (23:04):
Fascinating me.
Speaker 10 (23:06):
Yeah, and Harris is number three, and Cory Booker is
number four in that particular in that particular poll. And
then there's another poll that was published by The Hill,
the politics political website The Hill, which AOC is number
one really among Yeah, that that, in fact, she's seen,
(23:27):
as you know, currently the most dynamic Democrat that's in
the within Congress, and they put Pete Boutagets down at
number eight really in a field of set. Yeah, so.
Speaker 11 (23:43):
Surging a little bit.
Speaker 10 (23:45):
Well, he's surging in some polls and not in others.
But my question to you is who, from what you've seen,
what is it that we should be looking for because
let's say that the presidential campaign for twenty twenty eight
is about to begin. Oh absolutely, so what are you
looking for in the candidate as they emerge?
Speaker 11 (24:06):
I'm looking for someone like AOC who is very dynamic
and seemingly fearless, and yet my fear about her is
that she's very polarizing when thinking about her as a candidate.
But maybe I'm not giving the electorate enough credit. I
(24:29):
really do like Pete Buddha Deet. I think he's very smart.
I like his new beard, I like I like Corey Booker,
I like what Corey Booker did when he stood up
there for twenty four hours and just talked and talked
and talked. And I also think he's very smart, someone
(24:52):
who people talk about people I don't think is as
smart is our.
Speaker 10 (24:57):
Well, not your governor, our.
Speaker 11 (24:59):
Own governor here in California news right.
Speaker 10 (25:04):
And he keeps coming, he keeps pulling around just or
sixth in the most of the list.
Speaker 11 (25:10):
I just think he has too many and homodels who
I like, who I really wish had been chosen. Actually,
most of the people I like, I wish he's been
chosen as vice presidential candidates. I like JB. Pritsuer for Illinois,
and I really like Jeh Sapiro, and I really like
Britain Whitmer. And you'll notice that one of the people
(25:32):
I haven't mentioned is Kamala Harris right, not believe should run.
Speaker 10 (25:39):
That's interesting. She's she's probably now perceived as someone who
can't win. I don't that's right. I think it was
a poorly managed campaign in a lot of ways in
terms of what was necessary at this point in history.
But I don't I agree with you. I don't think
she would be seen as a strong candidate She's still
(26:00):
polls in the top five in most of the polls
that I've seen, but I agree doesn't seem to be
a particularly strong candidate. I'm surprised Gretchen Whitmer hasn't risen
a little bit more in the polls. She's really smart,
both on the law and on politics. She's very very
popular in Michigan, and I'm just surprised. I'd love to
see her move up a bit more so before we
(26:24):
go to break in a couple of minutes, one of
the things I'm hearing, and I know you have as well,
is the various candidates quote unquote electability. And they don't
mean necessarily whether or not they're, you know, strong on politics,
but they're all these nuances that each of them has.
Oh this person is you know, has this religion, this
person is this you sexual orientation, this person is this gender.
(26:47):
How much of a factor is that still? Do you
think with presidential politics, presidential election politics.
Speaker 11 (26:56):
I think it's very different from what it used to be.
I think even when he was running before that, the
fact that Budajeg was gay might have might have been
an issue, and I actually don't think it is anymore.
(27:16):
I hope I'm right about that. I think so many
people in America, no matter what their religion or what
their politics. I don't know if there's a family in
America that doesn't have a gay family member who now
acknowledges that that.
Speaker 10 (27:34):
Orientation.
Speaker 11 (27:36):
And I just don't think it's the issue that it
used to be. I think the fact that he's a
family man and he's not a philanderer like our current
president might be attracted to people. I don't I say that,
I don't. I hope religion is no longer a factor.
(27:59):
I mean, I like Josh Shapiro, but then Josh Shapiro's
health was firebombs and somebody's throwing Molotov cocktails. So we
cannot ignore the serialent strain of anti Semitism that is
happening in our country right now. And I don't know
if that would affect the way.
Speaker 10 (28:20):
That people vote. And I actually think I think you've
hit on one of the most I think you've hit
on one of the most dramatic and in some ways
frightening factors about the future of elections is the fear
factor of candidates who don't fit the mold of the
(28:43):
not of American citizenry, but of the popular mold among
in some ways the least educated voters right like like
or maybe not least educated. But I'm thinking of the
typical MAGA supporter who confront buy let's say, at this
list of potential Democratic candidates, just to even think about,
(29:06):
would have such hostilities toward all of them, some of them,
as you put, a virulent kind of hostility one you know,
one is a Latina, one is a Jew, one is
a you know, the several are women, some of the
Wes Moore, who is considered a potential candidate, he's black, uh,
(29:26):
and Pete is gay. I can easily see fear becoming
a factor in whether or not people are willing to
run period.
Speaker 11 (29:37):
Yes, I definitely can see that.
Speaker 10 (29:42):
And that's a frightening reality.
Speaker 11 (29:45):
You know, terrifying that that's where we are in America.
Speaker 10 (29:51):
Well, when we come, when we come back from the break,
we're going to put ourselves. You and I put ourselves
to the test as teachers and so our listeners to
stay tuned. We're going to put ourselves on the spot.
But in the meantime, this is the uncommon sense democrat.
Stay with us. We're going to take a short break
and we'll be right back after some news and some ads.
Speaker 13 (30:14):
KCIA, Lomelinda the Legacy, KCAA ten fifty Am and Express
one on six point five ful.
Speaker 14 (30:28):
NBC News Radio. I'm Brian Schuk. Elon Musk wants a
new version of President trump so called Big Beautiful Bill.
In a post on X, Musk said a new spending
bill should be drafted that doesn't massively grow the deficit
and increase the debt ceiling by five trillion dollars. House
Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters he phoned Musk after the
(30:50):
billionaire called the spending bill a disgusting abomination of spending
yesterday and Elon didn't answer.
Speaker 6 (30:57):
I don't know what happened in twenty four hours. Everybody
can draw their own conclusions about that, okay, but I
look forward to talking to my friend about it again.
Speaker 14 (31:03):
And a federal judge is blocking the deportation of the
family of the man accused of committing a fire attack
against a pro Israel protest in Colorado. On Wednesday, the
US district judge issued a ruling that bars the Trump
administration from removing the wife and five children of Mohammad
Sabrey Solomon, Brian Shook, NBC News Radio.
Speaker 5 (31:25):
Okay, c a a.
Speaker 2 (31:30):
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Speaker 15 (31:46):
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Speaker 5 (31:52):
Life?
Speaker 15 (31:52):
Insurance, annuities, bank accounts, bestment account I required definitivity sake
It's ten days based on the national average, which means
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Speaker 12 (32:08):
Simple solution the beneficiary liquidity clan use money you already
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Speaker 15 (32:26):
Eight hours out a deficitary nerdy money out a deficite
cars at one eight hundred three zero six fifty eighty six.
Speaker 5 (32:36):
KCAA Welcome back.
Speaker 10 (32:57):
This is Michael Blitz. I'm in for Eric Bowman, the
Uncommon Sense Democrats. You're on NBC Radio ACAA AM ten
fifty f I'm one of six point five in red
ones and I am joined today by Professor Rona Blaker
from Glendale College. And we've been talking about oh Elon
Musk and Donald Trump and Democratic potential Democratic presidential nominees.
(33:21):
But Rona and I are both educators, and we're going
to put ourselves on the spot of questions I'm hosting.
I get to put Rona on the spot more than
she gets putment on the spot. So what we're going
to do is talk a little bit about some teachable
hypothetical moments. And I think about this kind of thing
all the time because as you and I both have
been following and we're experiencing education, whether it's public education
(33:45):
in schools, whether it's private education, whether it's college education,
there are more and more constraints over what people are
allowed to talk about in their classrooms. As teachers, there
are more and more constraints on what one can do
in a classroom, on the materials one can distribute in
a classroom, And there's this push toward, I think, a
(34:05):
kind of false objectivity with regard to controversial issues where
we're supposed to, you know, we're supposed to make nice
about virtually everything, or just not talk about it if
it's too controversial. So I picked out a couple of
things that if you and I were in a position
to have to explain to students in some objective, quasi
(34:29):
neutral way, how would we do that? And so I'm
going to put you on the spot and ask you
if you if your students, let's say, were curious or
puzzled by the idea that Trump and the GOP are
seeking to make cuts to medicaid, ve are in benefit,
social Security and all kinds of social programs, and that
(34:51):
your students say to you, why do Trump and the
GOP want to do that? What would be your teachable moment?
How would you approach that?
Speaker 11 (35:01):
Well, I've actually been doing that in my classes, and
you're right that we have to be careful about what
we say and what kind of material were allowed to distribute.
And my sindness, do ask me questions like that? And
I started right back to them. The class that I
just finished teaching yesterday was a class in literary analysis,
(35:26):
and so you know, ten years ago i'd be teaching
Shakespeare and Jane Austin and Carl Sanders. Now the works
that I teach are are very different. But I will
(35:46):
put students in small groups and I asked them to
come up with their own research questions. So, for instance,
veteran's benefits. I usually have one or two veterans in
my class at least, and so I try to make
sure that each uh, each group has some some you know,
(36:10):
different representations, and I ask them to to take a
position and it's not actually, we don't actually do a
disdake because that would be a different class. But they
do presentations where they go out and do the research.
What kinds of veterans, what kind of benefits our veterans
(36:32):
entitled to? How do they get those benefits? Wh why
does somebody want to cut them?
Speaker 10 (36:42):
And I'm stopping you right there because you now you've
reasked my question. So let's say they're working in the
they're working in their groups. Let's say and we both enjoyed,
and so of one of the groups calls you over
and says Professor Blaker, help us, But why does Trump
(37:03):
and why does the GOP want to cut these things?
Speaker 11 (37:07):
Well, then I would bring it back to the question
that you asked earlier, is too benefits? Mm hmm if
he doesn't give money, so there's a certain amount of money,
and if the government doesn't cut taxes and doesn't have
as much money anymore to to give two veterans who
(37:29):
served our country and risk their lives, well, well, who's
benefiting from that? Who's going to have more money at
the end of the day.
Speaker 15 (37:38):
Mhm.
Speaker 11 (37:39):
And again I try to do it by asking a
question instead of making a statement, because my students are
very aware of what my politics are, and most of
my students are on the other.
Speaker 10 (37:51):
Side interesting and they're and they're they're tolerant of your
point of view.
Speaker 11 (37:57):
They're tolerant. They like me and I'm funny, but you know,
not enough to just me on my own. I'm not
going to change anybody's mind. So I I asked them
that question, who benefits? I try to get them in
(38:18):
a smaller group, not to put somebody on the spot
in the whole class, to speak to somebody who has served.
The veterans who are are at my at my college
are are there because they have educational benefits, which we
can talk about in a minute. But it's but you're
(38:38):
absolutely right that it's very hard to say something. It's
even if I say something that is a objective about money.
Let's look at where the money is going. This is
what I was trying to say earlier too. They don't
always believe.
Speaker 4 (38:58):
Me, right.
Speaker 11 (39:01):
Well, that's that's I don't think that's right.
Speaker 10 (39:05):
Well, and that's that's true. That's the Yeah, that's that's
the risk I think that we run with, you know,
student populations that rely on sources of information that are
not reliable. And it's not just students, by the way,
it's you know, our our peers as well, that they
(39:26):
tend to they zoom in on particular sources. Fox News.
Let's say there are people that watch it religiously. It's
one all day long. They're getting their information from there.
And and Foxes is hardly the only one. It's it's
the easy escape book, but hardly the only one. And
and there is there is that factor. But one of
(39:46):
the things that I think about with regard to you know,
obviously you know, but most the listeners men, I know,
I'm I retired last year after you know, thirty seven
years at the university, and so one of the things
I found over the years, over the years was that
there was a decline of available information for the I
(40:08):
shouldn't say available. There was a decline of information being
processed by my students, and part of it was because
there was simply too much information available, and it's exhausting
for them to pick their way through what is credible,
what is not credible, what is you know, which sources
seem to be sympathetic to which side of the aisle,
(40:31):
And so the net result was kind of tuning out.
And you're right that it can translate into well, that
doesn't sound right. You're saying that there's a cut to
veterans benefit. That doesn't sound like something the government would do,
and that has no base, there's no basis. In fact,
I do want to just turn something a little, maybe
(40:53):
a little that our students might find a little more accessible,
which is the idea of Trump and the GOP wanting
to stop government funding of cancer research as an example,
or food quality testing books. But let's let's talk about
disease research. Cancer research at a moment in history where
we're making unbelievable strides in treating more and more types
(41:15):
of cancer successfully. The Trump government wants to pull the
rug out from underneath that and stop funding that research.
And so if our students were to confront us and say,
especially because this affects everybody's family, everybody has somebody in
their family that's either suffering from cancer, has overcome cancer,
(41:36):
has died of cancer. What do we say to the
students who asked the question that we've just asked, which is, well,
who benefits from cutting the funding of cancer research? How
do we respond to that?
Speaker 11 (41:51):
Well, my response to that is not you. I mean,
you're absolutely right. I speak remotely a lot of the time,
and when I the the advantage to a remote classes,
someone can take a college class from home, and if
people who want to do that or need to do that,
often are people who are caring for family members, either
(42:14):
they have young children or they have parents who are ill.
And so you're absolutely right that the cancer research is
a a question that that does come up, that people
are that the young, that even young people are concerned about.
And then I bring in you know, there's a lot
(42:35):
of information right now about young people getting cool and
cancer at a muchter age than they have in the past,
and there's a lot of research that that's because of
all the processed foods that we have in our culture
and our society. And so I start to talk about
(42:59):
that a little bit more because they think it's you know,
sometimes they think, well, this isn't about me. But then again,
it's the same question. Who's going to benefit and it's
not them. It's all I can say to them is
it's not you, so so who and the and the
answer is always the same. It's it's the people who
(43:20):
already have money.
Speaker 10 (43:23):
Yes, But that's one hundred percent true with regard to
most of these things that I've raised. With regard to
something like cancer research, it's an even more complicated question
about who benefits because the answer really is when you
say not you, the answer is not anybody. Nobody benefits from.
Speaker 11 (43:41):
The Yeah, absolutely yeah.
Speaker 10 (43:44):
So then the question, the question becomes, so why do it?
Why cut funding for cancer research? Why cut funding for
food quality testing or workplace safety inspections? That if no
one benefits from that, which it's obviously not true, but
(44:05):
if no one seems to benefit from that, why do it?
And I think, probably and transparently, that would be leading
students and I'm using students almost metaphorically here to mean
almost anybody that's at least willing to listen. What it
comes down to, is that good ethical scientific oversight is
(44:31):
an expense that gets in the way of earnings. And
people can be shown this, they may say, no, this
can't be true. The government would never want anybody to
suffer blah blah, blah, blah blah. But what comes out
of these discussions is that more and more, and this
is going to touch into tap into our last topic,
(44:52):
but more and more people are seeing for themselves that
the government has become a fairly private business run by
a fairly small group of people, with the illusion that
there are that there's a large group of people, that
there are hundreds of people in Congress that are really
(45:13):
running the show, which we now know is not really true.
And this goes back to that Elon Musk question and
the feud, and the idea that there's really a small
group of multi billionaires whose demands are essentially prompting most
of the act or many of the actions that are
(45:34):
being taken by the modern government, modern federal government. And
I can't say this necessarily to a classroom full of
adult students and not seem like I'm spewing propaganda, but
I could certainly leave them to realize by showing them, all, right, look,
these programs have been undefunded, these programs have been eliminated,
(45:56):
these programs have been insulted. And then the riddle this
research that you know has been proven over and over
again about things like vaccines and things like you know,
cancer research and have been have been disparaged by Kennedy
Rfka Junior. I can show them this. The reason I
(46:17):
wanted to do this little exercise is because then we
hit that moment, that cliff where we can leave them
to the cliff. We don't want them to jump. What
we want them to do is figure out how not
to fall off that cliff, right, And I still wonder,
even though I'm retired from the university, I still wonder how,
because I have kids and grandkids, how do we teach
(46:39):
them not to take that jump, not to take that leap.
Speaker 11 (46:46):
Well, I do try to help them to see how
it's impacting them individually, especially at a school where virtually
every student is there because they're receiving some funding to
go to community college and maybe wouldn't be able to
afford to go if they couldn't go, But there's this
(47:07):
if they didn't get the FED with money, but there's
this feeling, there's this feeling that people who have money
must be really smart, and sometimes they just will say
to me they want to come to college because they
want to be smart, because they want to get rich.
And there's this perception that that money and intelligence are
(47:29):
somehow connected. And so I tried to break that one
this semester by talking about the Secretary of Education. We
in our in my classroom have had many discussions about
AI teach students from letting AI write their papers, trying
to let them know how to use it as a
(47:50):
tool and still do their own writing. And it's a
very complicated issue that you know, popped up in education
over the past couple of years, and so we talk
about it a lot. And then I said, so, so
it would makes sense that the person who's suck, the
(48:10):
Secretary of Education, would know as much about AI as
you all do, right and and now. And so because
I know they have to see it to believe it,
I said, well, let's look at this clip, okay, And
then we all look at look at this news clip
(48:32):
of Lenna McMahon talking about a one right exactly exactly
instead of AI. She doesn't even know what it is.
And so I look at them and I say, you
are more knowledgeable than this secretary of education. I said, sure,
(48:56):
she needs more money than you, but this is not connection.
There's not a connection between money and intelligence. And then
I hold myself back from saying, look at Donald Trump, but.
Speaker 10 (49:13):
Well Trump, he said. Trump has certainly made stupidity seem
cool to a lot of people. I think two revers.
Speaker 11 (49:25):
I can't even think or say their name, those terrible
brothers who are being.
Speaker 1 (49:31):
Oh, oh.
Speaker 10 (49:34):
It's the name. It's a name that rhymes with Donald
Trump Junior's favorite substance.
Speaker 11 (49:40):
Which is.
Speaker 10 (49:43):
Are you're talking about the Koch brothers, I assume.
Speaker 11 (49:44):
Right, No, I'm not actually not talking about the Koch brothers.
I'm talking who are being tried for rape and Romanian.
Oh yes, influencers And honestly it's to take to take
for sorry, that's the post Brothers takes others, Yes, those
anyways going in? Is that trying to bring it to
(50:09):
a level where this is the woman who's going to
decide if you get enough money to go to college
next year? Right, and and and make it personal for
them and then say you know, what do you think
about that? And can you tell me how many other
billionaires are in this cabinet now that we don't think
(50:30):
that wealth equels intelligence, and those are the kind of
those are the kind of questions I try to ask,
because if I said what I wanted to say, I'd
lose my job. And what I was subjective, I often get.
I just don't think that sounds right. If I can
(50:51):
find I can find the person themselves saying what I
you know, whatever, they.
Speaker 10 (51:01):
Then that helps these days not to be an alarmist.
But these days the old, the old version of let's
go to the videotape to prove this. Now we know
that these videotapes can be easily manipulated by AI, by
a one and yeah, and so it's it's now people
can say, well, we don't know if that's really what happened,
(51:24):
even though it's on video. It's on you know, on
zillions of cameras. But people can now say, with you know,
at least a shred of credibility, well we don't really
know if that's an authentic tape we've been talking about.
And by the way, folks, if you're just joining us,
this is the uncommon sense Democrat. I'm Michael Blitz filling
(51:44):
in for Eric Bauman and I'm speaking with Professor Runa Blaker,
and what we're talking about is virtually everything as usual.
But we hear the expression think globally and act locally.
But I want to think globally for a second, and
I want to ask you, what what's this world going
to look like if, if, and when the United States
(52:04):
is no longer regarded as a superpower. And I'm going
to caution myself here too, but clearly our current president
and his and his favorite people do believe that we
are still the superpower. But the world does not regard
us that way as much as it ever as much
(52:26):
as it used to. So what's this world going to
look like in your view when you, when it becomes
kind of common knowledge of the United States is no
longer the superpower it was.
Speaker 11 (52:38):
It's going to look like the world with George Orwell predicted.
Speaker 10 (52:44):
It's going to give me some specific give me some
specific ideas that you have.
Speaker 11 (52:50):
Well, I think that we're not going to have the
freedoms that we are used. Do we know that that
the government and the co operations already collect an enormous
amount of data about us? And I try to I
try to calm myself down by thinking, oh, well, but
you know what, who cares if you know, I'd like
(53:14):
to shop for h home gooods. But but maybe one
day somebody's going to care that I'm doing and they're
going to have all the evidence and information that they need.
And we can't say, oh, that would never happen, because
we know what.
Speaker 6 (53:31):
Happened, right.
Speaker 11 (53:33):
And I was in China once, and I knew that
I was being surveiled and at one point literally followed
everywhere I went, and so I felt, I felt afraid
(53:55):
and was very happy not to be there anymore. And
now now we hear that yesterday the day before in
the news, that that China is considering invading.
Speaker 10 (54:07):
Taiwan, right, And these are not this is the.
Speaker 11 (54:12):
First step I mean is that's going to be Germany.
Speaker 10 (54:15):
Invading Poland This is not called con dagger stuff anymore.
This is all even the preliminary, even the proposals for
these these invasions and wars. These are all out in
the open with the idea that well, who's going to
stop us? Right? You know who's going to And one
of the things that concerns me among the many is,
(54:37):
you know, the United States, for better or for worse
was always you know, the global influence on the model,
you know, a model of governance that was a successful experiment,
that it was you know, truly democratic, that there were
could be potentially, and that that it it represented a
(55:02):
kind of humanist norm for how governments work with forward
you know, for the people, and with a diminished American
image in the world, I feel like the alternative models
of governance are going to be seen as more and
(55:24):
let's say, so there are some you know, legitimate, theoretically
legitimate forms of government governance that don't look like ours necessarily,
but I feel like we were already seeing the creep
of legitimization of things like a Soviet government, things like
you know, totalitarian governments, and it's there's this gradual desensitization
(55:46):
that we're undergoing of as you've put it, you know,
rights being diminished and liberty is being taken away, and
you know, individual self determination being eroded, and it's happening
just as you said, as in a Norwellian model, little
by little by little by little, until at some point
(56:08):
we are always at war with you know, one country
or another where we you know, we're told over and
over that product profits are up when in fact they're down.
That you know, taxes are being reduced when in fact
people are paying more, and doubles, you know, double speakers
rising around us. And I'm wondering whether or not, like
(56:29):
your experience in China and clearly China and India, these
are economies that are are you know, major, these are
the major economic powers that you know stand in many
and opposition to us. I just wonder whether or not
that sense of paranoia that you described, which wasn't illusory.
(56:52):
I mean you were actually being followed and actually being surveiled,
but that that nagging sense of being followed and surveiled
and being a set and evaluated and being judged, is
going to produce the kinds of changes in behavior that
snowball into a weird kind of pre you know, preemptive obedience,
(57:14):
like a prophylactic obedience you know, better better behave so
that we don't attract attention. And you mentioned, you know,
just looked in there the idea. Okay, so is the
fact that I'm Jewish going to become uh, you know,
a piece of leverage used against me? Or worse that
that kind of paranoia keeps people, you know behaving and
(57:40):
but behaving in very particular ways. And that's I don't
think that. I think that's the kind of calamitous image
that unfortunately, I think the Democratic Party needs to illustrate
more and and maybe it's time to be a little
more alarmist, you know, politically as a party, as a
(58:02):
Democratic party, to see this. This is not theoretical anymore.
There are historical examples of this, and that.
Speaker 11 (58:15):
Happened to me in twenty eighteen was just not that
long ago. And it happened because I was traveling to
to death that I had to travel through using to
get there, and I remember thinking, this is exactly just that.
I'm never thinking, well, but you know what, I'm an American.
I have an American passport, so nothing's really going to
(58:38):
happen to me. And I'm not going to let them
keep me from going on my trip. They didn't try
to make compete me from going. They just make sure
that they knew that I k they that I knew
that they knew that I was doing. I don't know
if I was the way if that happened to me today.
Speaker 10 (58:56):
Well, and in fact, you're.
Speaker 11 (58:57):
Anymore, that doesn't exist anymore.
Speaker 10 (59:00):
Right, And you're I hate to say it in the
we're basically out of time, but I want to say
you are. Unfortunately, you and I and we are safer
physically safer by not assuming that we are protected by
our own, by America anymore. That's unfortunately what the way
things seem. We need to wrap up. Rona Blaker, thank
(59:23):
you so much for being my guest today. This is
the uncommon sense Democrat. I'm Michael Blitzen for Eric Bauman
on NBC Radio CACAA ten fifty am and FM one
oh six point five in Redlands. We hope Eric Baman
will be back with us soon and taken away Eric.
Speaker 7 (59:47):
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The Tribeca Film Festival is kicking off in New York
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For KCAA ten fifty AM, NBC News Radio and Express
one of six point five FM. Uc Riverside will plan
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(00:31):
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The medical facility will be built in phases, starting with
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Speaker 8 (05:45):
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Speaker 9 (06:00):
It's time for a brand new show on KCAA, The
Uncommon Sense Democrat with your host, Eric Bauman, a show
about politics and contemporary issues. And now here's Eric Bauman.
Speaker 10 (06:15):
Good afternoon. Actually this is Michael Blifz. I'm in for
Eric Bauman today on The Uncommon Sense Democrat on NBC
Radio KCAAAM ten fifty and FM one oh six point
five in Redlands. And before we get into the substance
of the show, and in our guest, I guess those
(06:35):
of you that are wondering about the imminent collision of
our galaxy with the galaxy of Andromeda, you should calm
down because, as it turns out, the prediction that the
Milky Way and Andromeda we're going to collide in five
billion years turns out to be an underestimate. It's probably
going to do about ten billion years. So if you
(06:57):
sold off all your galactic stock, you have time to
buy it back. On a more serious note, we're going
to talk to our guests and throughout the show on
various news stories. But one story that has come up
as the Biden court judge who has decided to stop
(07:20):
the deportation of the family of the Boulder, Colorado terrorist
and whose name the Sabri Solomon, Mohammed Sabdri Solomon. They
wanted to toss. This is Christy Milman, of course, wanted
to toss the family, that is, his wife and five
(07:44):
children out of the country on the basis that he
had their father, the husband and father had committed this
act of terror and in Boulder, Colorado and killing people
at the demonstration, the pro Israel demonstration. So what happened
was at the court of the judge who had been
(08:06):
appointed by Biden. Sorry for the Confusionaire, but who had
been appointed by Biden, stopped that effort to deport and
said not that they shouldn't be deported, but that there
was no due process involved with this. And I raised
this only because on a show like The Uncommon Sense Democrat,
which also encompasses uncommon sense democracy, it's nice to see
(08:29):
and a relief to see that there are judges who
are going to insist on the rules of habeas corpus,
which technically means you have the body or you should
have the body. But really what it's about is due process.
That everybody in this country is entitled to due process,
and without that you have mass deportations with no justification.
(08:55):
So we're encouraged to see this. It may turn out
that the fact family was complicit, but in any case
they need to have due process to determine that an investigation.
They cannot be illegally detained simply by association. Okay, with
that little confusing bit aside, my guest tonight this afternoon
(09:15):
is one of my favorite commentators, Professor Rona Blaker from
Glendale College, who is an insightful analyst of all things
political and social. So welcome, Rona. Oh, thank you for
having me delighted and so Rona, I assume you're relieved
about the galaxy collision being ten billion years away instead
(09:38):
of only five billion.
Speaker 11 (09:39):
It's so happy to hear some good news wherever it
comes from.
Speaker 5 (09:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 10 (09:45):
Oh, it's pretty sad though, when the good news has
to be about things happening billions of years from now.
Speaker 5 (09:50):
Yeah, that is true.
Speaker 10 (09:53):
One of the things that's happening right now, which seems
to be making all the news channels and fake news
channels is the feud between Musk and Trump, and what
appears now to be mostly are one sided view, though
I'm predicting that it will be two sided. So from
what you understand and what you've heard, what issues have
(10:13):
you learned about that are causing a risk between Musk
and Trump.
Speaker 11 (10:19):
Well, they're too similar. They're both grandiose, narcissistic personalities, which
people like that don't like to be with other people
like that. But I think what's really causing the risk
is the problems that Elon Musk seems to be having
(10:39):
with substance abuse. And everybody in the administration is denying,
Oh no, there's not a problem. But all the words
that we hear are exactly the words that we know
substance abusers use. Oh I just used a small amount.
(11:01):
Oh I'm fine. But Elon Lusk, who is by his
own definition neuro divergence and by the words denounces traditional therapy,
appears to be self medicating in ways it seems to
(11:25):
be very unhealthy. They seem to be affecting his ladder,
They seem to be affecting his association with reality, and
I think it's very frightening. And yet at the same time,
he is saying, the Big Beautiful Bill is not so beautiful.
(11:46):
And if due to all of these problems he's having,
for some reason, that Big Beautiful Bill doesn't get enacted,
then well we're living in a crazy world that I
even think we're living in.
Speaker 10 (12:01):
Well, no, we're probably living in just about as crazy
world as you think. So it's interesting though that essentially
Musk was just fired by Trump. We can call it
other things too, but Trump had had enough of Musk
in acting as the director of DOGE, and people thought
(12:21):
Musk was stepping down, but that's not the case. The
case is that he kind of used up his time
as the temporary appointee, and he was and Trump was
finished with him. I don't know if his substance abuse
was a factor. I would it wouldn't surprise me if
it was. I think that, you know, I have this
(12:42):
system that my rabbi actually uses, which is, you know,
wago versus wargo, and I'm sure other people use it
to what appears to be going on versus what's really
going on, and in this case, Musk's explosion about the
I hate to call it the beautiful bill without qualifying
it that it's really as the democratic thing, the big
(13:04):
ugly bill. His explosion about it seems on the one hand,
to be the result of just this weird, growing hysteria
in all of his public actions, in all his public statements.
But there's some practical things at work here too, That
in this bill he stands to lose tremendous amounts of
(13:27):
electric vehicle tax breaks for his company, Tesla. And he
was also expecting that the Federal Aviation Administration was going
to be using the Musk Starlink satellite system for all
the national air traffic control and that's not going to
happen now, And so he is a loser in that
(13:50):
regard as well. And as you've diagnosed him as a
flagrant narcissist, the fact that in those just those two
things alone, he's been defeated, at least in the proposed bill,
along with, by the way, the Trump's withdrawal of his
nomination for heading NASA, Jared Isaacston, who's a close friend
(14:12):
of Musk's. So Trump has foiled Musk in several significant ways.
And Musk is having a tantrum in response, which ironically
sounds a lot like Donald Trump. What Donald Trump does?
Do you think? Why do you think Trump isn't responding
so far to Musk's attacks on the bill.
Speaker 11 (14:34):
That's a very interesting question. He he may not think
that Elon Musk has that much credibility.
Speaker 12 (14:49):
Hm.
Speaker 10 (14:51):
That's true, actually, And certainly that would be a good
for Trump. That would be a good thing to claim.
That would be one of Trump's typical ways of kind
of spitting on those people that once supported him. That
now or not that I'm just wondering also, and you know,
jumped in any time. But I think that Trump still
(15:12):
has plans to use Musk and doesn't want to burn
that particular bridge, even though right right now it looks
like this rift is going to widen. But I noticed
that Musk never named Trump in the diatribe against the bill.
It was always directed about the bill, the Congress, the
(15:34):
Republican Party, but not against Trump. So he gave himself
an out there, and Trump, it seems like he's getting
himself an out by not responding, you know, ad hominem
attack against Musk. So I'm just wondering if you think
that's a possibility if Trump plan has further plans for Musk,
either financial or otherwise.
Speaker 11 (15:55):
Absolutely, Yeah, that's a really good thought. And probably financial.
I mean, Muscle already gave them two hundred and seventy
five million dollars to get elected, right, Maybe he wants
more money for the mid terms coming up. Maybe they're
playing you know, you said what appears to be going
on versus what's really going on. Maybe maybe they're playing
(16:16):
some game that we don't even understand, right.
Speaker 10 (16:22):
Well, what do you think that would be? But well,
that's because we don't understand it.
Speaker 11 (16:27):
That's because we don't know exactly. Because we don't we
don't understand it. Everything is so unusual these days.
Speaker 10 (16:38):
Yeah, So what do you think? What are the possible
consequences of this risk we'll call it for the moment
between not just between Trump and Musk, but evidently between
Musk and the GOP congressional GOP. What are the likely
consequences of this?
Speaker 12 (16:57):
Well?
Speaker 11 (16:58):
I don't know likely, because I've given up on making predictions.
But wouldn't it be astonishing if must went so far
that he became a Democrat again?
Speaker 10 (17:12):
I would be that that would be spectacularly awful. For
the Democratic Party bus.
Speaker 11 (17:18):
It absolutely would be. I mean, I'm as I as
I said, I'm just wondering if the points that he's
bringing up about the money and the debt, if if
this dude might make some people actually listen to him.
Speaker 10 (17:40):
Yeah, that's true.
Speaker 11 (17:41):
I don't think he's wrong that the bill is.
Speaker 5 (17:46):
Ugly.
Speaker 10 (17:47):
Oh and that's the irony. That's the irony. Yeah, you
have the richest man in the world pointing out the
unfairness financial unfairness the bill. I'm not sure which parts
he's specifically pointing to other than the ones that affect
him directly. I don't know that he's he's championing any
middle class causes, but I do know that it's it's
(18:09):
a thick irony to have Elon Musk challenging the GOP
and Trump on a bill that is going to grant
enormous tax bricks to the super wealthy.
Speaker 11 (18:22):
Yes, exactly. And you said, maybe he is going to
lose some money on these other issues, the starlink and
the electric cars, but I'm still I'm sorry he's still
going to be in for for lots of benefits. I
don't know when people are going to pay attention to
the fact that that is too is profiting from all
(18:43):
of these policies.
Speaker 10 (18:46):
Yeah, I know you've said this this this before about
on this program, and I know Eric has as well
that one of the weaknesses in the contemporary Democratic Party
is position national position. Is it an evident inability to
use as leverage facts, and in this case, it would
(19:11):
be fact about what's in this bill and who benefits
and who doesn't. The you know, Trump is calling it
the big Beautiful Bill Number one to make sure that
broadcasters all over have to call it that. So it's
just kind of wearing people down. But the other thing
is that it just obfuscates what's in the bill itself
(19:31):
and how devastating it would be for you, for me,
for people we know, for you know, middle class, the poor, veterans,
you know, the homeless people that are not multi millionaires
and billionaires. And I don't think the Democratic Party, the
Democratic machine is doing enough to just put those facts
(19:53):
out there. Instead, it's just kind of again making various
personal attacks and talking about policies that Democrats will will
work on in opposition to the to the GOP. But
sometimes it just comes down to saying, folks, this is
what is in this bill and letting people, you know,
(20:15):
trusting that at least some people in the center, which
is the only place you can ever hope to change
votes or at least sway them. This is what's in
the bill. This is who benefits, and this is who
it will hurt. Why is the Democratic Party so reluctant
to do that?
Speaker 11 (20:32):
I don't know why they are, Michael, But are you
forgetting that, Chuck Schumer? He wrote a very strongly worded letter.
Speaker 10 (20:39):
Yeah, I mean that's true, So you.
Speaker 11 (20:43):
Know everything should be okay now, I don't. I don't
know why people aren't speaking up louder exactly what you
just said about the fact. I do know that people
don't even know who or what will read anymore. I sat,
at least in my in my student population, which is
(21:07):
mostly young people, which are the voters that Democratic Democratic
Party really needs to be paying attention to moving forward.
It's I'm not sure who that voice is going to be,
and I hope it emerges soon, especially as we head
(21:30):
towards the twenty twenty six midterms. I know later we're
going to talk about potential presidential candidates for twenty twenty eight,
and I almost take to say his name because it's
not my favorite. But Bernie Sanders is out there trying
to do what you're talking about. I just think you're right. Persons.
Speaker 10 (21:54):
Yeah, unfortunately want to listen to Yeah. I think he's
actually unfortunately become a kind of you know, background traveler
in a lot of people's minds that it's you know,
he's But since you've mentioned it, and you're correct that
we're going to talk a little bit about the potential
presidential candidates. And you're absolutely right, by the way, the
(22:16):
midterm elections are in many ways much more critical than
talking about the twenty twenty eight presidential election. And if
we had another hour, we might talk a little bit
about the midterm election prospects. But just throwing it out there.
With regard to voices for the Democratic Party, there are
(22:36):
a bunch of new polls out about who is emerging
as likely favored I should say favorable candidates for president
from the Democratic Party. And I read that on the
I think the Atlas poll there is a Pete Boodhage
Edge is leading the back with about third thirty one
(23:00):
percent of the vote, and AOC is number two.
Speaker 11 (23:04):
Fascinating me.
Speaker 10 (23:06):
Yeah, and Harris is number three, and Cory Booker is
number four in that particular in that particular poll. And
then there's another poll that was published by The Hill,
the politics political website The Hill, which AOC is number
one really among Yeah, that that, in fact, she's seen,
(23:27):
as you know, currently the most dynamic Democrat that's in
the within Congress, and they put Pete Boutagets down at
number eight really in a field of set. Yeah, so.
Speaker 11 (23:43):
Surging a little bit.
Speaker 10 (23:45):
Well, he's surging in some polls and not in others.
But my question to you is who, from what you've seen,
what is it that we should be looking for because
let's say that the presidential campaign for twenty twenty eight
is about to begin. Oh absolutely, so what are you
looking for in the candidate as they emerge?
Speaker 11 (24:06):
I'm looking for someone like AOC who is very dynamic
and seemingly fearless, and yet my fear about her is
that she's very polarizing when thinking about her as a candidate.
But maybe I'm not giving the electorate enough credit. I
(24:29):
really do like Pete Buddha Deet. I think he's very smart.
I like his new beard, I like I like Corey Booker,
I like what Corey Booker did when he stood up
there for twenty four hours and just talked and talked
and talked. And I also think he's very smart, someone
(24:52):
who people talk about people I don't think is as
smart is our.
Speaker 10 (24:57):
Well, not your governor, our.
Speaker 11 (24:59):
Own governor here in California news right.
Speaker 10 (25:04):
And he keeps coming, he keeps pulling around just or
sixth in the most of the list.
Speaker 11 (25:10):
I just think he has too many and homodels who
I like, who I really wish had been chosen. Actually,
most of the people I like, I wish he's been
chosen as vice presidential candidates. I like JB. Pritsuer for Illinois,
and I really like Jeh Sapiro, and I really like
Britain Whitmer. And you'll notice that one of the people
(25:32):
I haven't mentioned is Kamala Harris right, not believe should run.
Speaker 10 (25:39):
That's interesting. She's she's probably now perceived as someone who
can't win. I don't that's right. I think it was
a poorly managed campaign in a lot of ways in
terms of what was necessary at this point in history.
But I don't I agree with you. I don't think
she would be seen as a strong candidate She's still
(26:00):
polls in the top five in most of the polls
that I've seen, but I agree doesn't seem to be
a particularly strong candidate. I'm surprised Gretchen Whitmer hasn't risen
a little bit more in the polls. She's really smart,
both on the law and on politics. She's very very
popular in Michigan, and I'm just surprised. I'd love to
see her move up a bit more so before we
(26:24):
go to break in a couple of minutes, one of
the things I'm hearing, and I know you have as well,
is the various candidates quote unquote electability. And they don't
mean necessarily whether or not they're, you know, strong on politics,
but they're all these nuances that each of them has.
Oh this person is you know, has this religion, this
person is this you sexual orientation, this person is this gender.
(26:47):
How much of a factor is that still? Do you
think with presidential politics, presidential election politics.
Speaker 11 (26:56):
I think it's very different from what it used to be.
I think even when he was running before that, the
fact that Budajeg was gay might have might have been
an issue, and I actually don't think it is anymore.
(27:16):
I hope I'm right about that. I think so many
people in America, no matter what their religion or what
their politics. I don't know if there's a family in
America that doesn't have a gay family member who now
acknowledges that that.
Speaker 10 (27:34):
Orientation.
Speaker 11 (27:36):
And I just don't think it's the issue that it
used to be. I think the fact that he's a
family man and he's not a philanderer like our current
president might be attracted to people. I don't I say that,
I don't. I hope religion is no longer a factor.
(27:59):
I mean, I like Josh Shapiro, but then Josh Shapiro's
health was firebombs and somebody's throwing Molotov cocktails. So we
cannot ignore the serialent strain of anti Semitism that is
happening in our country right now. And I don't know
if that would affect the way.
Speaker 10 (28:20):
That people vote. And I actually think I think you've
hit on one of the most I think you've hit
on one of the most dramatic and in some ways
frightening factors about the future of elections is the fear
factor of candidates who don't fit the mold of the
(28:43):
not of American citizenry, but of the popular mold among
in some ways the least educated voters right like like
or maybe not least educated. But I'm thinking of the
typical MAGA supporter who confront buy let's say, at this
list of potential Democratic candidates, just to even think about,
(29:06):
would have such hostilities toward all of them, some of them,
as you put, a virulent kind of hostility one you know,
one is a Latina, one is a Jew, one is
a you know, the several are women, some of the
Wes Moore, who is considered a potential candidate, he's black, uh,
(29:26):
and Pete is gay. I can easily see fear becoming
a factor in whether or not people are willing to
run period.
Speaker 11 (29:37):
Yes, I definitely can see that.
Speaker 10 (29:42):
And that's a frightening reality.
Speaker 11 (29:45):
You know, terrifying that that's where we are in America.
Speaker 10 (29:51):
Well, when we come, when we come back from the break,
we're going to put ourselves. You and I put ourselves
to the test as teachers and so our listeners to
stay tuned. We're going to put ourselves on the spot.
But in the meantime, this is the uncommon sense democrat.
Stay with us. We're going to take a short break
and we'll be right back after some news and some ads.
Speaker 13 (30:14):
KCIA, Lomelinda the Legacy, KCAA ten fifty Am and Express
one on six point five ful.
Speaker 14 (30:28):
NBC News Radio. I'm Brian Schuk. Elon Musk wants a
new version of President trump so called Big Beautiful Bill.
In a post on X, Musk said a new spending
bill should be drafted that doesn't massively grow the deficit
and increase the debt ceiling by five trillion dollars. House
Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters he phoned Musk after the
(30:50):
billionaire called the spending bill a disgusting abomination of spending
yesterday and Elon didn't answer.
Speaker 6 (30:57):
I don't know what happened in twenty four hours. Everybody
can draw their own conclusions about that, okay, but I
look forward to talking to my friend about it again.
Speaker 14 (31:03):
And a federal judge is blocking the deportation of the
family of the man accused of committing a fire attack
against a pro Israel protest in Colorado. On Wednesday, the
US district judge issued a ruling that bars the Trump
administration from removing the wife and five children of Mohammad
Sabrey Solomon, Brian Shook, NBC News Radio.
Speaker 5 (31:25):
Okay, c a a.
Speaker 2 (31:30):
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Insurance, annuities, bank accounts, bestment account I required definitivity sake
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Simple solution the beneficiary liquidity clan use money you already
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Speaker 15 (32:26):
Eight hours out a deficitary nerdy money out a deficite
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Speaker 5 (32:36):
KCAA Welcome back.
Speaker 10 (32:57):
This is Michael Blitz. I'm in for Eric Bowman, the
Uncommon Sense Democrats. You're on NBC Radio ACAA AM ten
fifty f I'm one of six point five in red
ones and I am joined today by Professor Rona Blaker
from Glendale College. And we've been talking about oh Elon
Musk and Donald Trump and Democratic potential Democratic presidential nominees.
(33:21):
But Rona and I are both educators, and we're going
to put ourselves on the spot of questions I'm hosting.
I get to put Rona on the spot more than
she gets putment on the spot. So what we're going
to do is talk a little bit about some teachable
hypothetical moments. And I think about this kind of thing
all the time because as you and I both have
been following and we're experiencing education, whether it's public education
(33:45):
in schools, whether it's private education, whether it's college education,
there are more and more constraints over what people are
allowed to talk about in their classrooms. As teachers, there
are more and more constraints on what one can do
in a classroom, on the materials one can distribute in
a classroom, And there's this push toward, I think, a
(34:05):
kind of false objectivity with regard to controversial issues where
we're supposed to, you know, we're supposed to make nice
about virtually everything, or just not talk about it if
it's too controversial. So I picked out a couple of
things that if you and I were in a position
to have to explain to students in some objective, quasi
(34:29):
neutral way, how would we do that? And so I'm
going to put you on the spot and ask you
if you if your students, let's say, were curious or
puzzled by the idea that Trump and the GOP are
seeking to make cuts to medicaid, ve are in benefit,
social Security and all kinds of social programs, and that
(34:51):
your students say to you, why do Trump and the
GOP want to do that? What would be your teachable moment?
How would you approach that?
Speaker 11 (35:01):
Well, I've actually been doing that in my classes, and
you're right that we have to be careful about what
we say and what kind of material were allowed to distribute.
And my sindness, do ask me questions like that? And
I started right back to them. The class that I
just finished teaching yesterday was a class in literary analysis,
(35:26):
and so you know, ten years ago i'd be teaching
Shakespeare and Jane Austin and Carl Sanders. Now the works
that I teach are are very different. But I will
(35:46):
put students in small groups and I asked them to
come up with their own research questions. So, for instance,
veteran's benefits. I usually have one or two veterans in
my class at least, and so I try to make
sure that each uh, each group has some some you know,
(36:10):
different representations, and I ask them to to take a
position and it's not actually, we don't actually do a
disdake because that would be a different class. But they
do presentations where they go out and do the research.
What kinds of veterans, what kind of benefits our veterans
(36:32):
entitled to? How do they get those benefits? Wh why
does somebody want to cut them?
Speaker 10 (36:42):
And I'm stopping you right there because you now you've
reasked my question. So let's say they're working in the
they're working in their groups. Let's say and we both enjoyed,
and so of one of the groups calls you over
and says Professor Blaker, help us, But why does Trump
(37:03):
and why does the GOP want to cut these things?
Speaker 11 (37:07):
Well, then I would bring it back to the question
that you asked earlier, is too benefits? Mm hmm if
he doesn't give money, so there's a certain amount of money,
and if the government doesn't cut taxes and doesn't have
as much money anymore to to give two veterans who
(37:29):
served our country and risk their lives, well, well, who's
benefiting from that? Who's going to have more money at
the end of the day.
Speaker 15 (37:38):
Mhm.
Speaker 11 (37:39):
And again I try to do it by asking a
question instead of making a statement, because my students are
very aware of what my politics are, and most of
my students are on the other.
Speaker 10 (37:51):
Side interesting and they're and they're they're tolerant of your
point of view.
Speaker 11 (37:57):
They're tolerant. They like me and I'm funny, but you know,
not enough to just me on my own. I'm not
going to change anybody's mind. So I I asked them
that question, who benefits? I try to get them in
(38:18):
a smaller group, not to put somebody on the spot
in the whole class, to speak to somebody who has served.
The veterans who are are at my at my college
are are there because they have educational benefits, which we
can talk about in a minute. But it's but you're
(38:38):
absolutely right that it's very hard to say something. It's
even if I say something that is a objective about money.
Let's look at where the money is going. This is
what I was trying to say earlier too. They don't
always believe.
Speaker 4 (38:58):
Me, right.
Speaker 11 (39:01):
Well, that's that's I don't think that's right.
Speaker 10 (39:05):
Well, and that's that's true. That's the Yeah, that's that's
the risk I think that we run with, you know,
student populations that rely on sources of information that are
not reliable. And it's not just students, by the way,
it's you know, our our peers as well, that they
(39:26):
tend to they zoom in on particular sources. Fox News.
Let's say there are people that watch it religiously. It's
one all day long. They're getting their information from there.
And and Foxes is hardly the only one. It's it's
the easy escape book, but hardly the only one. And
and there is there is that factor. But one of
(39:46):
the things that I think about with regard to you know,
obviously you know, but most the listeners men, I know,
I'm I retired last year after you know, thirty seven
years at the university, and so one of the things
I found over the years, over the years was that
there was a decline of available information for the I
(40:08):
shouldn't say available. There was a decline of information being
processed by my students, and part of it was because
there was simply too much information available, and it's exhausting
for them to pick their way through what is credible,
what is not credible, what is you know, which sources
seem to be sympathetic to which side of the aisle,
(40:31):
And so the net result was kind of tuning out.
And you're right that it can translate into well, that
doesn't sound right. You're saying that there's a cut to
veterans benefit. That doesn't sound like something the government would do,
and that has no base, there's no basis. In fact,
I do want to just turn something a little, maybe
(40:53):
a little that our students might find a little more accessible,
which is the idea of Trump and the GOP wanting
to stop government funding of cancer research as an example,
or food quality testing books. But let's let's talk about
disease research. Cancer research at a moment in history where
we're making unbelievable strides in treating more and more types
(41:15):
of cancer successfully. The Trump government wants to pull the
rug out from underneath that and stop funding that research.
And so if our students were to confront us and say,
especially because this affects everybody's family, everybody has somebody in
their family that's either suffering from cancer, has overcome cancer,
(41:36):
has died of cancer. What do we say to the
students who asked the question that we've just asked, which is, well,
who benefits from cutting the funding of cancer research? How
do we respond to that?
Speaker 11 (41:51):
Well, my response to that is not you. I mean,
you're absolutely right. I speak remotely a lot of the time,
and when I the the advantage to a remote classes,
someone can take a college class from home, and if
people who want to do that or need to do that,
often are people who are caring for family members, either
(42:14):
they have young children or they have parents who are ill.
And so you're absolutely right that the cancer research is
a a question that that does come up, that people
are that the young, that even young people are concerned about.
And then I bring in you know, there's a lot
(42:35):
of information right now about young people getting cool and
cancer at a muchter age than they have in the past,
and there's a lot of research that that's because of
all the processed foods that we have in our culture
and our society. And so I start to talk about
(42:59):
that a little bit more because they think it's you know,
sometimes they think, well, this isn't about me. But then again,
it's the same question. Who's going to benefit and it's
not them. It's all I can say to them is
it's not you, so so who and the and the
answer is always the same. It's it's the people who
(43:20):
already have money.
Speaker 10 (43:23):
Yes, But that's one hundred percent true with regard to
most of these things that I've raised. With regard to
something like cancer research, it's an even more complicated question
about who benefits because the answer really is when you
say not you, the answer is not anybody. Nobody benefits from.
Speaker 11 (43:41):
The Yeah, absolutely yeah.
Speaker 10 (43:44):
So then the question, the question becomes, so why do it?
Why cut funding for cancer research? Why cut funding for
food quality testing or workplace safety inspections? That if no
one benefits from that, which it's obviously not true, but
(44:05):
if no one seems to benefit from that, why do it?
And I think, probably and transparently, that would be leading
students and I'm using students almost metaphorically here to mean
almost anybody that's at least willing to listen. What it
comes down to, is that good ethical scientific oversight is
(44:31):
an expense that gets in the way of earnings. And
people can be shown this, they may say, no, this
can't be true. The government would never want anybody to
suffer blah blah, blah, blah blah. But what comes out
of these discussions is that more and more, and this
is going to touch into tap into our last topic,
(44:52):
but more and more people are seeing for themselves that
the government has become a fairly private business run by
a fairly small group of people, with the illusion that
there are that there's a large group of people, that
there are hundreds of people in Congress that are really
(45:13):
running the show, which we now know is not really true.
And this goes back to that Elon Musk question and
the feud, and the idea that there's really a small
group of multi billionaires whose demands are essentially prompting most
of the act or many of the actions that are
(45:34):
being taken by the modern government, modern federal government. And
I can't say this necessarily to a classroom full of
adult students and not seem like I'm spewing propaganda, but
I could certainly leave them to realize by showing them, all, right, look,
these programs have been undefunded, these programs have been eliminated,
(45:56):
these programs have been insulted. And then the riddle this
research that you know has been proven over and over
again about things like vaccines and things like you know,
cancer research and have been have been disparaged by Kennedy
Rfka Junior. I can show them this. The reason I
(46:17):
wanted to do this little exercise is because then we
hit that moment, that cliff where we can leave them
to the cliff. We don't want them to jump. What
we want them to do is figure out how not
to fall off that cliff, right, And I still wonder,
even though I'm retired from the university, I still wonder how,
because I have kids and grandkids, how do we teach
(46:39):
them not to take that jump, not to take that leap.
Speaker 11 (46:46):
Well, I do try to help them to see how
it's impacting them individually, especially at a school where virtually
every student is there because they're receiving some funding to
go to community college and maybe wouldn't be able to
afford to go if they couldn't go, But there's this
(47:07):
if they didn't get the FED with money, but there's
this feeling, there's this feeling that people who have money
must be really smart, and sometimes they just will say
to me they want to come to college because they
want to be smart, because they want to get rich.
And there's this perception that that money and intelligence are
(47:29):
somehow connected. And so I tried to break that one
this semester by talking about the Secretary of Education. We
in our in my classroom have had many discussions about
AI teach students from letting AI write their papers, trying
to let them know how to use it as a
(47:50):
tool and still do their own writing. And it's a
very complicated issue that you know, popped up in education
over the past couple of years, and so we talk
about it a lot. And then I said, so, so
it would makes sense that the person who's suck, the
(48:10):
Secretary of Education, would know as much about AI as
you all do, right and and now. And so because
I know they have to see it to believe it,
I said, well, let's look at this clip, okay, And
then we all look at look at this news clip
(48:32):
of Lenna McMahon talking about a one right exactly exactly
instead of AI. She doesn't even know what it is.
And so I look at them and I say, you
are more knowledgeable than this secretary of education. I said, sure,
(48:56):
she needs more money than you, but this is not connection.
There's not a connection between money and intelligence. And then
I hold myself back from saying, look at Donald Trump, but.
Speaker 10 (49:13):
Well Trump, he said. Trump has certainly made stupidity seem
cool to a lot of people. I think two revers.
Speaker 11 (49:25):
I can't even think or say their name, those terrible
brothers who are being.
Speaker 1 (49:31):
Oh, oh.
Speaker 10 (49:34):
It's the name. It's a name that rhymes with Donald
Trump Junior's favorite substance.
Speaker 11 (49:40):
Which is.
Speaker 10 (49:43):
Are you're talking about the Koch brothers, I assume.
Speaker 11 (49:44):
Right, No, I'm not actually not talking about the Koch brothers.
I'm talking who are being tried for rape and Romanian.
Oh yes, influencers And honestly it's to take to take
for sorry, that's the post Brothers takes others, Yes, those
anyways going in? Is that trying to bring it to
(50:09):
a level where this is the woman who's going to
decide if you get enough money to go to college
next year? Right, and and and make it personal for
them and then say you know, what do you think
about that? And can you tell me how many other
billionaires are in this cabinet now that we don't think
(50:30):
that wealth equels intelligence, and those are the kind of
those are the kind of questions I try to ask,
because if I said what I wanted to say, I'd
lose my job. And what I was subjective, I often get.
I just don't think that sounds right. If I can
(50:51):
find I can find the person themselves saying what I
you know, whatever, they.
Speaker 10 (51:01):
Then that helps these days not to be an alarmist.
But these days the old, the old version of let's
go to the videotape to prove this. Now we know
that these videotapes can be easily manipulated by AI, by
a one and yeah, and so it's it's now people
can say, well, we don't know if that's really what happened,
(51:24):
even though it's on video. It's on you know, on
zillions of cameras. But people can now say, with you know,
at least a shred of credibility, well we don't really
know if that's an authentic tape we've been talking about.
And by the way, folks, if you're just joining us,
this is the uncommon sense Democrat. I'm Michael Blitz filling
(51:44):
in for Eric Bauman and I'm speaking with Professor Runa Blaker,
and what we're talking about is virtually everything as usual.
But we hear the expression think globally and act locally.
But I want to think globally for a second, and
I want to ask you, what what's this world going
to look like if, if, and when the United States
(52:04):
is no longer regarded as a superpower. And I'm going
to caution myself here too, but clearly our current president
and his and his favorite people do believe that we
are still the superpower. But the world does not regard
us that way as much as it ever as much
(52:26):
as it used to. So what's this world going to
look like in your view when you, when it becomes
kind of common knowledge of the United States is no
longer the superpower it was.
Speaker 11 (52:38):
It's going to look like the world with George Orwell predicted.
Speaker 10 (52:44):
It's going to give me some specific give me some
specific ideas that you have.
Speaker 11 (52:50):
Well, I think that we're not going to have the
freedoms that we are used. Do we know that that
the government and the co operations already collect an enormous
amount of data about us? And I try to I
try to calm myself down by thinking, oh, well, but
you know what, who cares if you know, I'd like
(53:14):
to shop for h home gooods. But but maybe one
day somebody's going to care that I'm doing and they're
going to have all the evidence and information that they need.
And we can't say, oh, that would never happen, because
we know what.
Speaker 6 (53:31):
Happened, right.
Speaker 11 (53:33):
And I was in China once, and I knew that
I was being surveiled and at one point literally followed
everywhere I went, and so I felt, I felt afraid
(53:55):
and was very happy not to be there anymore. And
now now we hear that yesterday the day before in
the news, that that China is considering invading.
Speaker 10 (54:07):
Taiwan, right, And these are not this is the.
Speaker 11 (54:12):
First step I mean is that's going to be Germany.
Speaker 10 (54:15):
Invading Poland This is not called con dagger stuff anymore.
This is all even the preliminary, even the proposals for
these these invasions and wars. These are all out in
the open with the idea that well, who's going to
stop us? Right? You know who's going to And one
of the things that concerns me among the many is,
(54:37):
you know, the United States, for better or for worse
was always you know, the global influence on the model,
you know, a model of governance that was a successful experiment,
that it was you know, truly democratic, that there were
could be potentially, and that that it it represented a
(55:02):
kind of humanist norm for how governments work with forward
you know, for the people, and with a diminished American
image in the world, I feel like the alternative models
of governance are going to be seen as more and
(55:24):
let's say, so there are some you know, legitimate, theoretically
legitimate forms of government governance that don't look like ours necessarily,
but I feel like we were already seeing the creep
of legitimization of things like a Soviet government, things like
you know, totalitarian governments, and it's there's this gradual desensitization
(55:46):
that we're undergoing of as you've put it, you know,
rights being diminished and liberty is being taken away, and
you know, individual self determination being eroded, and it's happening
just as you said, as in a Norwellian model, little
by little by little by little, until at some point
(56:08):
we are always at war with you know, one country
or another where we you know, we're told over and
over that product profits are up when in fact they're down.
That you know, taxes are being reduced when in fact
people are paying more, and doubles, you know, double speakers
rising around us. And I'm wondering whether or not, like
(56:29):
your experience in China and clearly China and India, these
are economies that are are you know, major, these are
the major economic powers that you know stand in many
and opposition to us. I just wonder whether or not
that sense of paranoia that you described, which wasn't illusory.
(56:52):
I mean you were actually being followed and actually being surveiled,
but that that nagging sense of being followed and surveiled
and being a set and evaluated and being judged, is
going to produce the kinds of changes in behavior that
snowball into a weird kind of pre you know, preemptive obedience,
(57:14):
like a prophylactic obedience you know, better better behave so
that we don't attract attention. And you mentioned, you know,
just looked in there the idea. Okay, so is the
fact that I'm Jewish going to become uh, you know,
a piece of leverage used against me? Or worse that
that kind of paranoia keeps people, you know behaving and
(57:40):
but behaving in very particular ways. And that's I don't
think that. I think that's the kind of calamitous image
that unfortunately, I think the Democratic Party needs to illustrate
more and and maybe it's time to be a little
more alarmist, you know, politically as a party, as a
(58:02):
Democratic party, to see this. This is not theoretical anymore.
There are historical examples of this, and that.
Speaker 11 (58:15):
Happened to me in twenty eighteen was just not that
long ago. And it happened because I was traveling to
to death that I had to travel through using to
get there, and I remember thinking, this is exactly just that.
I'm never thinking, well, but you know what, I'm an American.
I have an American passport, so nothing's really going to
(58:38):
happen to me. And I'm not going to let them
keep me from going on my trip. They didn't try
to make compete me from going. They just make sure
that they knew that I k they that I knew
that they knew that I was doing. I don't know
if I was the way if that happened to me today.
Speaker 10 (58:56):
Well, and in fact, you're.
Speaker 11 (58:57):
Anymore, that doesn't exist anymore.
Speaker 10 (59:00):
Right, And you're I hate to say it in the
we're basically out of time, but I want to say
you are. Unfortunately, you and I and we are safer
physically safer by not assuming that we are protected by
our own, by America anymore. That's unfortunately what the way
things seem. We need to wrap up. Rona Blaker, thank
(59:23):
you so much for being my guest today. This is
the uncommon sense Democrat. I'm Michael Blitzen for Eric Bauman
on NBC Radio CACAA ten fifty am and FM one
oh six point five in Redlands. We hope Eric Baman
will be back with us soon and taken away Eric.
Speaker 7 (59:47):
NBC News on CACAA LOMLA sponsored by Teamsters Local nineteen
thirty two protecting the Future of Working Families Teamsters nineteen
thirty two, dot.
Speaker 9 (59:57):
Org sing us a song, You have a piano Man.
Speaker 1 (01:00:05):
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