Healthcare CEO murdered, China hacks US phones, Trump DOJ overreach, Syria debrief.
This week hosts Tiffany Cross, Angela Rye, and Andrew Gillum process the recent shooting of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson. The response to his death by the public has been callous, at times even celebratory. Our hosts dig into the reasons why.
We’ve launched Stories from the Ground on nativelandpod.com, a place for you to share news and events with our NLP fam. Check it out!
The Inspector General for the Department of Justice announced that Trump’s DOJ collected the phone records of members of Congress. We’ll get into what the report says and why it matters.
More reasons to be careful around your phone: Federal Authorities have warned U.S. citizens about an ongoing Chinese hacking campaign. The hackers are harvesting metadata from major telecom providers (AT&T, Verizon, etc). What exactly are they collecting and what can we do?
And finally, a debrief on the historic events unfolding in Syria. Syria’s 13-year civil war is over??
And of course we’ll hear from you! If you’d like to submit a question, check out our tutorial video: www.instagram.com/reel/C5j_oBXLIg0/
We are 691 days away from the midterm elections. Welcome home y’all!
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We want to hear from you! Send us a video @nativelandpod and we may feature you on the podcast.
Watch full episodes of Native Land Pod here on YouTube.
Native Land Pod is brought to you by Reasoned Choice Media.
Thank you to the Native Land Pod team:
Angela Rye as host, executive producer and cofounder of Reasoned Choice Media; Tiffany Cross as host and producer, Andrew Gillum as host and producer, and Lauren Hansen as executive producer; Loren Mychael is our research producer, and Nikolas Harter is our editor and producer. Special thanks to Chris Morrow and Lenard McKelvey, co-founders of Reasoned Choice Media.
Theme music created by Daniel Laurent.
Native Land Pod is a production of iHeartRadio in partnership with Reisent Choice Media.
Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome.
Love is a responsibility because you make a commitment. Love is that I'm here for you are as our friend. And we were talking about her earlier, Tony Morrison said, you know, love is a bench, and a bench is something that no matter what, when you're tired, when you're sad, you can sit. It's going to be right there and it's got your back. And that's what love is. Love's got your back.
Oh, the beautiful words of the poet Nikki Giovanni, who passed away sadly this week but lived a wonderful life, and so we wanted to open the show with that. Welcome home, y'all. This is episode fifty seven of Native Land Pod. Those words love is a bench that's got your back. I want you to know Angela, and you to know Andrew, I love you and I got your back. Any thoughts on the luminary Nikki Giovanni.
Just praise as you rest in peace. She died due to complications with lung cancer and right now I think always how I feel about cancer is Bugget, So I hate to see her suffer at all, and I am so grateful for the contributions, the great contributions of the activist input.
Nikki Giovanni, Yeah.
Just echoed that. Just an amazing human, selfless in so many ways, but also really protective of her space, her piece, her privacy. But through her artistic work, her poems and books, I think revealed the whole tremendous amount about herself through her through her art, and so we'll miss her, but for generations, her work will live on. So long as Tiffany Angela, we can stop all this book banning across the country where they're trying to extract her words out of schools and our children's knowledge. So but thankful.
Yeah, my favorite clip of her is her responding to Bill Cosby. So I just got a chance to watch that this week. We don't have time to talk about it today, but I encourage you all to google it because the way that she rode for young revolutionaries was something beautiful to see and something we should all I think reflect on. A mimic. All right, let's get into it. What do we talk about today?
Well, we have a lot.
I think what has been top of mind for so many of us is what in the hell happened right where we record our podcast in New York. Right outside there was a CEO of course the United Healthcare that was shot and killed by someone. There's a suspect in custody right now, and I.
Hope we're going to talk about that.
Why, why people have been callous in their response, why the healthcare system is callous?
And where do we go from here?
Yeah? Yeah, well I'm interested not only in that, but the IG report that recently came came out this week talking about the first Trump administration where they, of course his Department of Justice blue through the guardrails and uh wire well got the phone records, subpoena phone records, text messages of members of Congress of their own administration, and what that may foretell for the second Trump administration.
And just to be clear, Andrew, you're talking about the Department of Justice IG, not Instagram for those of y'all who might confuse.
General.
I'm so sorry you got to tell us.
Now that these phones is speaking of more phone true, there is also a report out that is suggesting that if you are in text communications between your Android friends, the Green Bubbles and your iPhone friends, the Blue Bubbles, Blue Bubbles for Life.
You might have some hacks coming from China.
Mm hmm.
I want to talk very briefly about what's happened in Syria. Right before the show, Andrew and I were saying they never put black people on air to talk about these things. So we'll give a brief primber on that. And why do we care what's happening in Syria. I'll get into that when we get started to the show. So so happy y'all are joining us today this holiday season when I know you could be tuning out the news, but we give it to you straight and no chaser, in a way that is digestible and informative and hopefully a little entertaining with the shenanigans that I get to have every week with my co host.
So welcome home, y'all, Oh, welcome home.
All right, what y'all want to talk about first? I want to get into the healthcare thing, the healthcare shooting first. Is that good with you guys?
Yes?
Yeah, yeah, So we don't have to get into the backstory unless you've been living under a rock at this point. You guys all know that Brian Thompson, the CEO of United Healthcare, was gunned down on fifty fourth Street in New York. This is midtown Manhattan. If you've been to New York or No New York, you know this is a very populated area, frequented by a lot of people. So I thought it was really interesting and the way that the whole thing went down. I don't think this story is over. I don't think we know everything, even though there's a suspect in custody. I think more details about this story will be coming out in the months to come. But I like what Angela, what you pointed out about the the callous response to all this. There have been a lot of people making jokes about the murder. Some people have said, you know, sorry, my thoughts and prayers were denied, just like my son's medication was, which listen, I completely understand uh that way, because for some people, if you ever had a claim denied, it can be an inconvenience. You know, you got to stay on the phone longer for other That's what I was just about to say. For other people is a life and death consequence. And there was a really great piece in the New Yorker this week that kind of broke that down. But if we can't, I was. I was telling these guys some things that I find interesting about the CEO, other than he was fifty years old at the time he was gunned down. He was under investigation he and some other people at United Health or United Health. I keep saying United health Care, but it's United Health. It was under investigation by the DJ for accusations of insider trading. He had sold more than fifteen million dollars worth of company stock in February, shortly before it became public that the DJ was investigating the company for anti trust violations, which caused the stock to drop significantly. He was also living apart from his spouse at the time. This is according to reporting from The Wall Street Journal. He and his spouse were separated. And so you know, I'm only offering information. I'm not suggesting anything. I just think there's more to the story. And a lot has certainly come out about the shooter. So a lot of strong feelings on this on both sides. We've all dealt with the healthcare system and it can be, like I said, quite frustrating and heartbreaking. Angela. I'm curious your thoughts on this because I think you have a unique lens one just as somebody who's navigated the healthcare system, but also someone who's worked on policy health care policy issues on on Capitol Hill, and just as a thinking, feeling human being. How do you feel about it all?
Yeah, I am.
I actually didn't really touch health care policy as much, but I will say the way that you know, Obamacare was supposed to help us in understanding and navigating and making health care access more equitable, we are still struggling with that, well into this, into this, into this, into a decade after, right, and we're still navigating this, And I think that that is really really challenging. I think right now, even as I go through the healthcare system with my mom, I will just say, like I wish that people were as thoughtful about everyone else's loved ones as they would be with their own. I think this is not that different than we were just talking about last week with Joe Biden finding the compassion to pardon his son and Reverend Jackson saying, hey, there are a lot of other mothers and fathers out there who need that same compassion exercise when you're considering their pardons. I think it's no different with doctors and nurses and medical team staff who are working on these cases. Someone could be paralyzed if you make the wrong move. Someone could lose their life if you make the wrong move, if you deny this claim, And I think that we really have to think about this in a much more compassionate way. It's not a partisan issue. Healthcare is a right, and we've treated it like a privilege for a select few. I'm eager to understand what the motivations would be of Luigi. I can't pronounce his last name, should he?
Should it be j? Yeah? I don't know, I pronounce it. But what was the motivation? Yeah? What was the motivation with him? Want?
Desiring? If he did kill? To kill the United Healthcare CEO? And I guess yeah, I have more a lot more questions than I have answers. I have compassion for those who are interfacing with this system, but I can definitely say the answer is.
Not blood for blood.
Uh.
You know, there are a lot of times that are my old Testament Christian, but killing somebody ain't one of them. I just ain't here for it, So I don't I don't really understand the ways in which people are responding tip, I know on the production car we were talking about what the what the casing said, and I can't remember again, deny is.
The yeah, uh it said deny defend the pose And this was the message that was found on the nine millimeter ammunition found at the scene of the shooting that mimics the phrase delayed, deny defend, which is commonly used by lawyers and insurance industry critics to describe tactics used to avoid paying down some of those claims. So but I hear you, though, Angela, because the thing is, somebody could just as passionately feel angry about people who wear fur. You know, someone could be just as moved by woke politics. Somebody could be just as moved by a climate change. And you're driving an SUV. So this idea that you can just go around killing people, I think is definitely something that we should be wary about. Andrew, curious your thoughts here with with with this whole thing.
I think I first separate compassion for him from this larger healthcare crisis, even though his position put him at a you know, at a particular intersection of of of the situation. He was also a father of two children who now don't have a dad, and I don't know the man personally. I was at one point on United Health and so so I had thankfully it was during my healthier years as a younger person. But I hear really tragic and horrific stories again separting apart from this tragic murder, but really horrific stories of people desiring or needing rather being recommended by their physicians certain medications, certain treatments, even certain procedures that are being recommended be done. And the insurance industry, by and largest sort of tastes this very skeptical umbudsmen like view of doctors, basically saying, oh, they're just trying to overcharge, They're just trying to bill us, They're just trying to take without giving any respect for the fact that these folks have sworn an oath and maybe they're keeping with their oath to save lives. And so I really hate, I hate to see ourselves in this place because I'll tell you, even locally, a county commissioner in my city was being assized by a colleague on the county commission because he posted something on his social media that sympathized a little bit with the shooter, and his colleague wrote a letter basically saying, this is you know, inappropriate, you're a leader. This is back and forth, but this is hitting every level of society. It's not segregated to any one individual. And that's because that's how big healthcare is. All of us have interface with it, and so we're going through some emotions here. I do want to talk about the alleged shooter for just a second, which is everyone is like, you know, up in arms, like, oh, he's such a promising young man. Someone is such a bright future and could have been the change maker. And I just wish journalists, and this is where I've largely heard it would just take take an optimistic view of everybody who finds themselves on the end of the accused, take a more holistic look at the nature of their lives, and stop either calling everybody mentally ill or that they were a bad seed from the beginning. Show some compassion that says, you know, everybody deserves to be looked at in more complete ways, and not just for the worst decision they made at the worst point in their lives.
I'm so happy you said that, Andrew, because the way that they extend themselves to certain people's humanity and completely ignore others.
You know.
Something that strikes me about this, and I encourage people if you can. I don't know if it's behind the paywall or not, but the thin piece in the New York are about this talked about things. So this is not a dis to this piece. I actually really enjoyed reading it. But they talked about structural violence and the type of violence that is acceptable in this country versus the type of violence who isn't that isn't. And one of the examples they give is like, okay, well, if you blow up a corporate jets, you know, to protest that, you know, the one percent is responsible for all the damage in the climate way out proportion to everybody else. That's like, oh my gosh. But you can bypass all the people who are directly impacted and even lose their lives from climate change. Same with healthcare. You can look at this act of violence and say, oh my god, this man was gunned down and that is terrible, which it absolutely is, but you can bypass the millions of people over the years and millions, I mean to say, millions who have lost their lives or had their lives devastated because of a policy being denied or declined and so right. And so when I was reading this, of course I got it instantly, you know, I thought, yeah, and I thought about it. Andrew from that perspective of black folks get this all the time. We very well understand structural violence because we have been on the receiving end of it for so so long. And so it's kind of like you, violence is abhorrent in an individual store, but acceptable. It's more palatable in the data.
Right.
So if you tell me ten thousand people in India die today because of a flood, which is horrific, But if you tell me one story of Sarah who lived in India, who wanted to be a ballet dancer her whole life, who loved cabbage patch dolls, and you know, she dies, then it's all of a sudden right, right. So the way that we process structural violence, I think it's more of a philosophical discussion and evergreen discussion. So I hope our listeners will have this.
I also think it's a way of coping tiffity. I think sometimes the massive nature of the you know, of these larger instances or as you mentioned the statistics of it, like what the data shows. You get to a point where it is so inconceivable, it's so big, and in order for your mind to cope, you almost have to blanket it in this section. But the individual story you can make room for you and I and I agree with you. I think it's I think it's horrific. I feel that very much so. The same way around gun violence, I think, are you kidding me yet? Again?
Well, that's another discuss ghost guns, you know, because he was by a ghost gun. And how might the GOP respond to this also precisely, and the uptick in request for security by CEOs and other people in the C suite who traffic in this. It's a lot of issues that will arise. My brother was asking me, He's like, you know, I wonder that this will lead to change in healthcare, and I said, I don't believe change happens that way. I think what it will lead to is more security contracts UH in the private sector to better protect again their CEOs. We got to go to a break. But I you know, obviously, I just want to be clear that our hearts and you know, our hearts go out to his wife who survives them his children. Our hearts equally go out to the millions of people who have their lives devastated by a for profit healthcare system that has not served people very well at all. So on the other side of the break, we'll get into why you should be very careful about who you're texting and on what platform you're using to do that. So don't go anywhere. But we right back.
A Native landod.
It's Genie.
I'm in Orlando, Florida, and I just wanted to ask a question you had mentioned on your podcast that you posted the day before Thanksgiving, that you know y'all are looking for what is our heritage foundation and what can we do to grow an entity you know that can affect change like they did, even though we don't want to be like them. But you had said, oh, we just need to get some white folks involved in I'm like, here's I'm a white folk and I'm not going to have any more money or any more of my time or efforts into areas that I have done in the past because they don't work and they're ineffective, and so I am ready and willing to help if you know, if y'all can educate me on you know what it is that we can do. I love you guys. I just listen all the time, and I learned something every time I listen, and I appreciate everything that y'all do. I know that this must be hard in this environment, and I know that y'all are questioning whether you should do it anymore. But it's just, oh my god, I don't know what I would do without you guys. You know, because you help, so I'm asking you to keep doing it. And it's a huge ask, I know. So thanks so much and for all that y'all do. I appreciate it. Talk to you Sym.
There are some great things out of Florida, by the way, But you know, we always, yeah, at least Tiffany and Leonard always want to remind us of the you know, the Achilles that exist stuff.
I love her question.
I love one of them.
Yeah, I thought that was a good question. Let me make sure I understanding it correctly. You guys correct me if I'm wrong. But she's asking, like, what is the version of the Heritage Foundation on the left.
I think it was in response to episode we played on sort of Project twenty twenty five and we talked about the conservative infrastructure and that we needed one to match it, and we kind of went through the history of it, and I think she got perked by the idea that we could you know, build something or maybe direct people toward you know, one or so particular places.
Yeah, because I mean, I think there is infrastructure that exists and can be built. Maybe this can be a mini pod.
I don't know.
I know we might talk about like what's happening with the DNC chair race, but like I would argue like Center for American FRI Progress, Black Voters Matter, or Brendan Center for Justice, like all these organizations. But I also heard her ask like what can she be doing? And I you know, people ask us that a lot, and my answers are always the same, and I feel like I need to maybe devote some time for deeper thinking because I'm always saying, well, there's GLTV efforts. You can contribute a candidates to align with your values, even if it's at the state legislature level, like whatever, you know, if you give ten knowledge, you can door knock, you can phone bank, you know. And I don't know, I think people want a more immediate, more immediate gratification on their efforts. So, Andrew, you ran for office?
Yeah no, you, Tiffany. I have a knee jerk reaction similar to you, which is do something like there are things that are out here and available. But you know, what I haven't always appreciated is that everybody isn't the doorknock person. Everyone isn't the get out front and lead in that way. But there is something really for you, depending upon what it is, you are most interested in, what you feel most comfortable with. And I'll make this recommendation and it's the un sexiest of all, but I think probably the most impactful of all, and that is to organize right where you are. Who are your group of friends, your circle of influence, the people who know you, love you, trust you. But in truth, when it comes down to this politics thing and this public policy thing and what it is we're going through, we're not always having those conversations with our friends trying to open them up. And if you know, Angela, you and I both think sort of reflected on like what I hated most about the outcome is the disconnect, like how can I don't want to be blindsided by these things? And I think we would be less blindsided if we were able to have more conversations with people who are not necessarily in our tribe, but are part of our fam And I don't mean just by blood, but by also relationship, friends, co workers, who you you know, talk about everything else with, but you won't approach how do we make things better for all of us? And I would just say I love to see more people, just sort of starting with four folks at the house and branching out including more and more people, because right now there's a huge disconnect in this country and we can't win elections that way. We've got to figure out a way to bridge. And if it ain't bringing for people to your house, maybe you all can think on your sides, you know, as you're listening, what I could do to start to breach some of these divides that are keeping us from winning and creating the kind of long lasting change that I think we deserve. And then the only other thing I would say, because I heard her mention, I won't give to some of the other groups because they're ineffective, And that may be true, honestly true in your case, but I would also say it's really important on the left that we also have donors who are not, sometimes donors who are volunteers who are not, sometimes volunteers who are people who are willing to get in there and stick with us, whether we win those elections or lose them, whether we win that fight on that issue or we lose it. Too often, the reason why our parties aren't doing well and our infrastructure sucks in so many places is because we lose something, we get tired, we break it, and we say we need to start another thing. And we don't always need to start another thing. Sometimes we need to stick with the thing that is already there and just help it to fulfill its mission. That would be my only two.
Pieces, Angela, you have thoughts on it.
I'm not just stick stick beside him right now in person, so I probably am the wrong one to ask.
Yeah, And you know what, I appreciate the honesty, and I think a lot of people feel that way. So even that much, I think you saying that much, people will feel seen and heard.
For sure, for sure, for sure. Yeah, And so other folks are seen and heard. I think about lots of the organizing groups who are not the parties, who right now suffer because people won't make contributions because they loop them all in the same boat.
That's fair.
Those organizations are actually doing good work and could do much better work had they had folks who were not sometime but who were all the timey with regard to the support for them and allow them to do that work. Latasha Brown is obviously one of them that come to mind. And there are a number of groups I could list throughout the state that are not party infrastructure, but are on the ground, grass roots and are deserving of our SUPPORTI no, go ahead.
It's so frustrating, Andrew to hear you say sometimey, because when I think of sometimey, I think of people who are able to split their demographic in half or more sixty forty in a direction that votes against you know, most of the country's interests as we see them. I know that interests are of course in the eyes of the holder and are entirely subjective. But when I think about Black people, I don't think that we're some timy at all, especially in our body politic, because our folks have continuously laid it all on the line, and I think this exhaustion is a real thing, Like you know, from the spiritual political, economic, economic, and mental level, Like it has really.
Hit our folks on every side.
So I just I just would say, like, I'm not someone who is prone to give up easily, and I've definitely been in organizing mode, but I'm organizing from a point of rage.
You know.
For for Jamie Harrison recently to have said, like my term ends in February, and when it ends, I'm naming names. It's something that I think is heart wrenching because I remember how he went into the DNC. Jamie went into the DNC to see real change. I mean, just like the people you're talking about, Latasha, Adrian Sharpshire, April Varia, a Sciu, like all of these folks that have dedicated their lives to ensuring that we wouldn't be left behind, that people without a boat, that would not be drowned in the rising tide, you know, Like, I just I think that it is so much bigger than that. There's a place for donors, and there's a place for doorknockers, and there's a place for all of that, all of our work, but there's very rarely a place for our needs. And I think that also has to really shift, Like there needs to be a place just for listening. Right now, we should be in a posture of hearing what people feel like they needed that was completely ignored and has been for decades, you know. So I'm wrestling with that piece.
And I think that's what I mean by the conversation, yeah and yeah, the whole not being blindsided so that you start to hear, listen, and react. And maybe the reaction is just I hear you, I see you, and I hate that that happened. But when I talk about the stime, I think about some of the people who tell me, Man, I vote for you, but I ain't voted since I ain't. You know, we could win with you, this, this, that and the third, and I think, well, that's not how we're going to ultimately win. I kind of you know, we please believe nobody's more hurt than me about the laws. But I still have to get up each time and participate in the process because we're in the pursuit of the more, not like this is it. This is judgment, and once it's over, you are the win. You've lost, and now everybody you know goes home. That's not what it is. It, This this change that we all seek the structures institutions that exist that contribute to our subjugation, to our oppression, weren't built overnight. They've been sustained over centuries, over centuries, that's hundreds of years, and they won't be dismantled overnight, and so it just requires something more of us. I understand the exhaustion. I get it. I myself experienced exhaustion and have in the past as well. But when we think about half the country still didn't vote. Millions of Democrats voted in twenty twenty decided that in twenty twenty four wasn't worth it. That's what I mean. That's the some time we have to get back and figure out how we engage, listen, and then activate.
Yeah, over ninety million people. I think as we talk about, like you know, people falling off and this is a discussion for another time, we were asking people to believe in the system in a way, you know, as people believe in the country. I think people need something to believe in, and right now there's not a lot to believe in. So before we go ask people to do anything, I think we have to have a conversation about what do we believe in right now? And maybe that's the really pot Maybe that's uh yeah, okay, well maybe we'll do that on this one or when y'all are ready. But I think that's a conversation happen.
I'm ready.
I like, well, this is what I do believe in. I do believe that the country of China we have a very adversarial but necessary relationship with and so I and I also deeply believe in the inappropriate text that I have sent over the years that I would not want anyone else reading. So Angelier, tell me what I need to know and what I need to do, because I don't want any of my text message.
Well, well, first and foremost iPhone user, if you want to continue to send whatever inappropriate text you send it to, I'm not there's no judgment here, But whatever text you want to send, I hope that your booth thing or potential booth things are also iPhone users, because otherwise you asked out.
Probably literally unintended. If it is a green bubble, I'm here to burst Joe bubble. Basically, you have what.
You've been told by the FBI is that if you are texting from an iPhone to an android or an Android to an iPhone, your messages are compromised, and they're also warning this is new from last week. They're warning that What's App, Signal and Facebook Messenger also need to have some updates. Senator Ron Wyden is now pushing for telecom companies to have some stricter standards to protect the American people. Hopefully there will be some bipartisan agreement there. But yeah, we are We're in a situation now where we have our chats are on Signal. Some of them disappear, some of them don't, some of them we keep perpetually, and if chats are ever to get out, we.
Losing every job we have a had. So we just just to be super clear.
And there are people at home biting fingernails because you also would be up a creek. So yeah, I think that the most important thing here to know is that yes, there it was called Salt Typhoon in China, and the Chinese government has denied any involvement with Salt Typhoon, but that is what they're saying has compromised these cross platform communications. That it's not into D encrypted unless you are an I message user. And even though Signal is there has some updates that are needed. I'm saying signal because I would. I have never used Facebook Messenger, I ain't never make there and what happens on by meta as well. Mark zucker Berg, I need to understand what you got going on, friend, because you really messed us up in twenty sixteen.
I ain't forgiven you yet.
Does this harken back at all to the snapchat conversation? Wasn't Was it the warning from the federal government at the time when they talked about banning it was that.
TikTok you talk about that they were talking about.
I'm so sorry Andrew's in here. It's you know, spreading misinformation.
No, there was never much about correct one platform from the all.
He's the same. The grandfather looked all of them the same.
I think Snaptat's parents. Is that metal.
Which one I want to talk about one?
That y.
That's to be clear.
TikTok is owned by byte Dance, which is a company based in China, and there was.
Believe to be is believed to wholly owned by the government.
Yes, well it was.
That's what the government is alleging that it is.
But what they I haven't heard that.
What they've alleged that it is a platform that is used to spy on us by China.
Yes, right, it was never owned by the Chinese government, but when it initially came out that was the big concern that they were pulling data from us. Now the person who owns it. I believe the CEO is from South Korea because there was an embarrassing back and forth between him and one of the senators who kept saying asking about China. He was like, Senator, I'm not Chinese. I'm not from China, so I but anyway, Yes, the point is because I don't want to start speaking about something I'm not super clear on. The point is when you're on your phones and sending text this is always a good idea to remember that nothing is really private, you know, and the text don't really disappear like they will always be accessible. But it does make me fearful, quite honestly about what and I'm you know, I was being a bit facetious about the text message I've sent. What is really more concerning is how they're using that information.
You know.
I've talked about some of the concerns on TikTok, which could essentially be transcend to other platforms as well. If an adversarial nation is watching what you're searching, watching what you're sending, learning everything about you, because that's what espionage is now. It's more digital, and you know, you might not care, but if this person that you're watching works for the NSA, or if this person that you're watching works for Goldman Sachs or one of our global financial institutions, and they can knock us off the grid or learn some information that they shouldn't, or they can tell by your hand movements and eye movements and what you're looking at a lot about you and they can flip you, or they can approach you, or they can threaten you. Or you said something inappropriate and they can you know, uh, threaten or blackmail you and they're doing something right, extort you. Thank you. Yeah, So those things are definitely something to be concerned about.
But I would add, oh, go ahead, and I was just gonna say, add to your list. That also the intelligence that's being gained about whole communities. So say black men are communicating in certain ways, and are you see repeated themes coming up? This is how they get to intrude in our elections and weed out, you know, weed into the into the crevices of cipher issues. Yes, and know exactly who to talk to about those things because they have analyzed it enough. They know exactly what we're talking about when we're just talking amongst each other. Yeah, I like just weaponized.
I would be on some of that just which.
Is a quick uh correction before we go to break.
Snapchat is not owned by Meta and thank you by snap ink.
Thank you, thank you. I do not want to be spreading mis information. Thank you for that real time fact check. We gotta do, Yes, we gotta go to break. But Andrew, if you do have insight on how I can get access to some of those black man group chats, hell, I would like you know, no black men, but every black man group chat that I've tried to look at is as shot somewhere in every black man group chat I've seen. Yes, they send as shots to each other all the time, some other yeah girl Instagram thoughts, and they all share the things my.
Friend stupid enough to like the actual posts on i G. And speaking of i G, we're gonna talk about anyway.
I do all have about them looking but I used to ask my friend's husband all the time, like, what are you all talking about in the group chat. Finally like you want to see and I'm just scrolling through ashot after that.
It rageous though.
No, She's like, girl, you don't want to see what they got in that group chat. I promise And she was right and the wife, Yeah.
I just want to say, we're going to break and we just did one kind of ig report, but on the other side of the break, we're going to do an actual inspector general report the conversation, so we'll be right back.
Hey, Native Lyndpud.
It's Robin from Portland.
Hey, I'm wondering what you guys think about the request for a recount Kamala Harris's campaign. Forensic experts all over the country are saying that the election software was compromised since the civil litigation in Georgia found that the Allies illegally accessed election software in twenty twenty in a multi state effort to compromise the election and swing states, and the DOJ and the FBI failed to act. So now, election security experts are raising concern that Elon Musk weaponized information that he collected with his superpack America Pack to tip the scale in swing states when they created bullet votes with just Trump's name at the top of no down ballot votes. So precisely why Trump was swaying at the end of the campaign in his rallies and saying, you'll.
Never have to vote again.
There's been a lot of good information out there from people high up in the political ecosystem requesting a recount.
What do y'all think, Chow?
I think that I don't know what to think. I'm telling you this right now. I go back and forth every other day about if there was some type of interference. I want to believe there must have been, because it is so hard for me to fathom that Kamala Harris lost every battleground state. And then I go back to the experiences that these staffers had that has now been, of course reported in the New York Times. By the way, I did not leak that call. So pissed off that that call was leaked. I'm so pissed off about it.
Can you get background on that that we were talking about this in our group chat, and I if you, I'm telling you, if you step away from our group chat for five minutes, you come back and it's one hundred messages. And I could never scroll up. But I just saw Angela Lee call New York Times what happened.
So I talked about this on the podcast briefly last time, just in general terms, because I wanted to affirm their stories and to let them know that I believed them and their experiences. But we did a call with Kamala Harris staffers from the campaign. People need jobs when they're leaving, and so the call was supposed to be about how like one for me somebody who I see as a big sister, thank you for supporting her. How can I make sure that y'all are all good? And I thought it was gonna be a group of like ten, It ended up being over fifty five plus staffers talking about what they wanted to do next. And that call quickly turned to some really big complaints, some really hurt feelings, some rage about their experiences on the campaign, frustrated that there was a lot kept away from the principal, some really really bad experiences with the campaign manager, the deputy or the campaign chair, the deputy campaign manager really really rough.
And then some folks that.
They put in place to oversee the states, particularly the battleground states, with young, cocky white boys who weren't listening to them, and not all of the states were. There was a state director, for example, or LT who's a friend in North Carolina. Some of this stuff wasn't getting back to her. So there's a lot of really, really bad reports. And I think what is worse than their bad reports and their experiences is the fact that people went out on a limb believing it was a safe space and it was shared. So I was pissed off. I said, this call should never see the light of day. These people did not consent to be recorded. I certainly did not consent to being recorded, and I would have never shared what these folks were sharing without their express consent.
So someone let the call to the New York Times.
Yeah, they recorded the zoom and shared it, and I don't know where else they shared it. But I think that that is one a way to quickly make enemies too, a way to prevent us from figuring out how we strategize together ensuring that something like this never happens again. Which brings me back to the recount. I would like to see a recount. I would like to understand if there were any software failures, any machine failures, anything, because I just cannot make sense of this. Something doesn't sit right with me. I'll say out of our group group chat tip and Andrew, you'll appreciate the person I'm gonna say the biggest conspiracy and there are me and Latasha.
Some feel right.
We don't have no data on it yet, but something don't feel right.
So I you know I have I hope you and Latasha are right because my rage comes from a place that the elections ran smoothly, like we have not heard stories of people having challenges with voting.
There aren't.
Well tell me if I'm wrong. I was gonna say, like there might be anecdotal stories, but by and LARSA data does not say, you know, these seventy five thousand votes didn't count. We did have that last time. We had that or not last time, But in twenty sixteen we had examples of massive votes that were missing or not counted.
We did.
They've heard so many beforehand, they heard so many beforehand, and there were a number of people who didn't get their ballots in certain states.
I think it was Georgia was one where they were.
Seeing they not enough though to this scale, you know, like, yes, all those are.
The real disenfranchisement those choosing big.
That is the point I'm trying to make from the people who from the eligible voters who dish open vote. I hear what you're saying, Angela. I hear what you're saying, Andrew, like it was the suppression that that led to death from the years prior so that that this year right, right, and this year, but there were not massive issues of voter fraud on that scale that would have led to the results that we saw in that in the election. And so my rage comes from the fact that so many people in this country saw who Donald Trump was and decided, yes, I will vote for this man. So I would rather Angela, you be right that there's some big conspiracy that we all missed. I just don't think so. I think to your point, Andrew, it was people who stayed home. Again, we have to talk about what do we believe in and give people a reasonab believer.
Yeah, that's kind of where I hold my I don't know of his anger, but their real disappointment is in those of us who said this election wasn't worth showing up for for all the whatever myriad of reasons. And I want to know them, and I want to know what about them can be addressed and solved. Two other observations. One, the battleground states almost always all go the same way. They almost all collapse in the same direction. It's it's in in large part very much so, a very similar voter across those those states. And I'm thinking Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin. I'm missing one other that I wanted to name check. Uh, it'll come to me in a minute. But but but but essentially those four states almost always collapse the same way. And what I would attribute to that is that late deciding voters and those states that typically run just sort of neck and neck with each other, lake deciding voters also almost always break the same way. You don't usually have late deciders all sort of sty splitting the baby. They typically break the same way. The second observation around the recount, which I'm not obviously opposed to. I like to no longer delay the trauma. But if there is something to be learned, we should learn it. But in this country, the reason why it's very difficult to hack elections is each state. In fact, each county has jurisdiction over what equipment they use. In most states, and the process for which days will be holiday you know, early voting days, if they'll have them. States might have a general sort of landscape of what has to happen, but counties, the county level is where elections are run. So you would you would there's not a database in which all these things are going into one central hub and then you hack that hub. You would have to literally go into individual precincts at individual county levels for the kind of scale of hacking that would be required in order to turn you know, these kinds of national elections. That's the frankly all that is the one that is the one solved. That's the one thing I feel really good about following the two thousand election coming out of Florida was that the national trend wasn't to make everybody on the same system, the same database, pouring into the same location for a national elections to take place, because that, to me, would have been tragic and would have I think destroyed and completely undermined a lot of people's faith in the election. So the decentralized nature of elections in this country, I think is just one measure of security that we can all if there is something we can take you know some some relief in it could be that now just want to transition really quickly, Angela, the picking backup where you left off on these sort of your information not being your information alone. Well, the same DOJ that issue that morning is the same DOJ Department of Justice who during the the Donald Trump first term in office, who would not comply with its own procedures when it saw journalist phones and email records and their quote leak investigations, and who had the augacity to request the record records the department to request the phone records, text messages, and phone logs of forty three congressional staffers and two Democratic House members, those House members being Adam Shift of California Now senators shift.
Swall sound like jam Trump shift?
Yes, shift, that's I mean.
Shift C H H I F F T no T no T shift.
A ship Okay, my bad, y'all Adam Schiff, Senator Adam Schiff uh.
And Senator Yeah Eric.
Kamala Harris yesterday two days ago.
Oh you know what, maybe that's right because the pastor, Thelfonso Delfonso was temporary, so maybe she did.
All I know is he was sworn in with the New Jersey.
Fella two days ago, Adam Siff.
In any regard though that that can this is alarming to me for a couple of reasons. One, Donald Trump and the Department of Justice. At the point that the Department of Justice decided to subpoena the congressional staffers, these were Republican and Democratic staffers, committee staffers, and two members of Congress. That decision was made during Jeff Sessions term as Attorney General, and Sessions had recused himself from this and thatstigation involving Russia and the twenty sixteen Trump campaign carter page and their ties to the state of Russia, the government of Russia with regard to election interference. That was the quote unquote investigation the Department of Justice was seeking. Additional information was the leakage of classified information. And they then went into the again the emails, this personal cell phone records of these congressional staffers and the two Democratic House members. What happened there was Jeff Sessions, the Attorney General at the time, did not provide sign off because he had recused himself from that investigation. The sign off came from line prosecutors. So when you think about a DOJ and you know and trusting, you know, really important information there. These are decisions that are now being made by line prosecutors who are going to be the same you know folks under the Trump administration, with interference from the top, who who may be given guidance y'all into who they can tap, when they can tap what is determined to be the nature of an investigation. And the fact that it was done to a separate but coequal branch of government is extremely alarming because this is the same branch of government that can conduct inquiries over actions of the executive branch. And if they now have to look over their back to see that they can be personally investigated by the DOJ while at the same time investigating the executive branch, we can have a real problem in this upcoming Trump administration. I think all of us know that we don't expect everything to be on the up and up at DJ, but we are skirting real serious lines, not only as it relates to a separate and co equal branch of government, but also the journalists who whose records were taken were taken without their notice, they were not informed at the time, and the private companies, cell phone companies, the providers were forbidden from telling the users their customers that they had given that data over and the same is true for the congressional staffers. Those companies could not share with their customers that their information have been gathered. And y'all all just end here. This is alarming to me because at one point these companies had real stiff spines when it came to keeping your information private, and now as the government continues its intrusion, we all have to be worried about where this may lead. And Angel, I know you have additional context for this, giving your experience on the Hill.
Yeah, it, well, it's not that it's just from reading the report. I'll say that the eight reporters came from the Washington Post, CNN, New York Times. And the one thing that I think is also important here is, yes, it was two Democratic members of Congress, but there were twenty GOP staffers, twenty one Democrats and two nonpartisan staffers. This matters to me for two reasons. One is, in twenty fourteen, the Department of Justice stood up a process, a news media policy that was to prevent something like this from happening. And what they did between twenty seventeen and twenty twenty when this happened, is basically overthrew that entire policy. And so the Inspector General said that they were troubled that these failures occurred just a few years after they announced this news media policy. Additionally, they failed to convene the News Media Review Committee to consider the compulsory process authorization requests, which is of course what you're talking about, where everyone has to turn over these records and not notify the entities or the people whose privacy was violated. They say in this report that it was not politically motivated. It okay, I question that, just given the way that Bill Barr runs and the and the way that.
Donald Trump runs. So this is fascinating.
I'm eager to see what would happen under a tenure with Patel at the Helm and others, who was.
Also one of the people whose information was was compromised, and he brought lawsuit against the Department of Justice and it was thrown out by a federal judge. Well, he does like the suit. But Angel, the reason why the bipartisan that the non partisan district, I know you will. I just want to just very quickly the reason why it doesn't matter to me that this was supposedly non partisan and not politically motivated, is because under the Trump administration, it's going to be motivated by who his enemies are, by who I think it is going to be without regard to the to the political, and very much so about who he and and and his folks who are helmed there fine into the enemy and correct that that was.
The point, right I'm I'm telling people. It wasn't just Democrats. There are Republicans who were impected to They were just on a staff level and to nonpartisan staff, which means they're not political staff.
On the hill. That's the point I'm listening to.
Well, we've already seen his vengeance happen. So cash me tell if you guys listen to the podcast and and you know, you know that he's with Trump's pick uh nominee to lead the FBI, And just this week Chris Ray has uh said he will step down from leading the FBI. So you can see this is gonna be quite the transition to go from someone like Chris Ray to Cash Ptel, who has to first be confirmed of course by the Senate before he can lead the FBI. He has already shown how litigious and vengeful he can be. His attorney has already threatened uh people. We know he sent a letter to our good friend. A guest was on Joy and Reid's show, and he sent a letter threatening religious action to not only the guests, but to joy Read herself. So this is the beginning, folks like, this is what we have been talking about. And he has already said that he will figure out ways to go after the media criminally and civilly. So I don't know what infrastructures are in place. I'd like to spend some time actually looking at that. Outside of the constitution, of course, but what infrastructures are in place to protect the importance of journalism and protecting reporters of privacy, but also outside of just people as individuals. And I think more in a state of panic, we're so willing to give up our rights. This is what happened after nine to eleven with the Patriot Acts. You know, people were saying, Oh, it doesn't matter, let's just give up our rights. And I think as threats increase the United States, because they will, and there are a lot of threats that we don't hear about, but the threats will definitely increase with the United States. I think that we have to be careful on if should another domestic terrorist act happen, we have to be thoughtful and careful. In the same sentiment, our sister, Congresswoman Barbara Lee was being the sole person to vote against just giving un limited access to declare war. She stood alone. Sometimes the shee stands alone when you're on the right side of history, and she continues to be on the right side of history. So I'm concerned about all this happening. I'm glad you brought it up, Angel because.
If I just I want to say on the media piece, the reason why I think we have to be more alarmed there is because they are often referred to as the fourth estate. But largely we don't know about a lot of things that could happen without the media's ability to get in there, get those four years, talk to the people behind the scenes, and get stuff off the record that helps to illuminate the situation. If these folks can be chilled from being able to do their job, this this is a direct fascist attack. You go for the media first, so that you don't get to get facts out into the into into the public. We don't get to know what's going on behind the scenes. We don't get to know the kind of encourageons the government is increasingly taken on each and every one of our individual liberties. So if they can chill the ability for journalists to look into what they're doing, y'all, that's the fast road to a certain place.
Yeah.
Well, you know, one of the things that concerns should concern all of us, and that is terrorism, and and you know what could happen should things land here domestically. So we're going to go to break. On the other side of this, I'm going to talk about what is happening in Syria, and I'll tell you why it should matter, and we should get to our CTAs. So don't go anywhere. We'll get to all of that on the other side of this break. We'll see you on the other side.
A man, Well, come, well, come, well, come, well, come, well come, welcome.
All right, welcome back, you guys. I know you've been hearing a lot about what's happening in Syria, and I want to quickly just give some context for that. So the Syrian government this month fell with astounding speed, so quickly that it caught us Intel completely off guard. I remember when I saw the breaking news that Damascus had fallen, being really surprised by it. So aside who this, the whole fall of the government ended a nearly half century rule from Asade. He took over for his father in two thousand and he's he's a doctor trained in London. And when his after his father, he took over and the civil war against Asad. You guys will remember the Arab Spring. This was during the Obama administration, and that's when the civil war during a side began. This is when countries throughout the Middle East were rising up against these authoritative regimes. So when this is what's happening, Asd responded by torturing children. This could be kids who were spray painting graffiti on a wall, and he gassed his own people. And so you may remember in twenty eleven seeing the imagery of children on oxygen. It was awful to see these kids have nerve damage and react to being gassed. Now, how was he able to do that with the military support and the direct financial backing of the Iranian government and the Russian government. Now this is where things get a little complicated. When the uprising was happening. These rebel groups started forming their own armed militias, and they eventually took Aleppo in Syria. Now, it took four years to get that back, Asad got it back by again gassing his own people. Why do we care Because there are some urgent and pressing questions coming out of the Middle East right now, especially when the United States is going through our own regime change, and when Trump comes back in office, he's looking at a very different Middle East than he did four years ago, so we really do have to be concerned about how he might handle this. First, the question is how might this new regime in Syria deal with Iran? Well, why do we care about that? Well, because of the Iran nuclear Deal. This is a deal that President Obama initiated with the Iranians. President Trump undid the deal, and so now will the new rebels evict Iran out of Syria, same for Russians? Or out of pragmatism, will they seek some sort of compromise or some sort of working relationship with the same people who helped kill them, because remember Iran helped US od gas people, So how might they deal with Iran?
Now?
How might they deal with Russian now Iran has already proactively said they're not trying to kill Trump. You guys may remember a few weeks ago there was some intel out that they were trying to assassinate Donald Trump. They proactively the government came out and said, hey, we're not trying to do that. Jesse. You know, they were trying to kill Trump, allegedly according to the US Intel for ordering the twenty twenty drone strike that killed General Sulamani. And I remember at the time thinking this was a big deal. This is imagine if somebody came over here and killed our secretary of Defense. You don't go okay, even Stevens takes these back seats were all cool. Now they have played a long game and they're still pissed off about that. So what will happen there? Or will aaron race for their effort to make another nuclear bomb? And this is a weapon that some Iranians view as their last line of defense in this new era of vulnerability. Now, there was a member of Congress, congress Woman Tulsi Gabbard from Hawaii, when all this was happening. Tolfi Gabbard was defending Aside and casting doubt on what US Intel had confirmed, and she started going to bat for a side, but also having some private meetings with a side. Asade has since fled Syria and guess where he went. I'll give you two guesses, Joe, only one Russia. He is now in Russia. And so now that she's expressed these doubts from April twenty seventeen, it flew in the face of US Intel. You have an own member of your government basically saying what you're saying is not true. So Syria is very unstable right now. We don't know what's going to happen. The president has the then President Trump, Donald Trump then said there can be no dispute in the conclusion that the US Intel has already drawn. So now you've tapped somebody to be d and I the director of National Intel, who was saying the opposite of what you were saying four years ago. I would imagine at Tolci Gabbert's Senate confirmation hearing this is something that will and should come up. The question I would have is, would Gabbard like to see Syria go back in the hands of Aside? What is her recommendation for all how all of this happens? This is something U. It is the Shia Crest, and it matters because of geographically, if you look at the map, there is a route that goes from Syria or well, Iran goes through Syria then to the Gaza straight to the Gaza Strip, and so they're known as like the third arm of the Shia Crest. And so this is something that we all have to care about. One, because the Iran nuclear deal mettals. Two, should terrorism happen, We've made some enemies and we have to be vigilant about terrorism coming to our to our domestic land. And three, given that Iran has been weakened by its proxies a lot of what has happened in the Middle East, this is a big deal. Now, I am no expert on Middle East politics. I definitely have been reading a lot about Middle East politics my whole career in more recent years the rise of the Global South. When I wanted to talk about this, I was a little concerned because I said, I'm not really sure of the role of Israel here and how they might capitalize on this. And leave it to my brother Andrew to say, well are you going to talk about it? And y'aho, and I was like, I wasn't really clear on that, but you are, so tell me what I'm missing in my assessment.
It is well one, thank you you thoroughly. I think covered really the high points on this. I would just say Israel and just side note this. Benjamin Now, who the Prime Minister of Visual right now, happens to be on trial, a criminal trial in Israel. So it's spending his day hours when he's not being pulled out of the courtroom basically trying to save his hive in avoid jail time. But what we also know is happening and while he is being pulled out of court a couple of times throughout the day these last several days, is because right now Israel is launching Jerne strikes into Israel. They say, to weaken any potential French group in threat that might arise against the state of Israel. Now, the groups, all of the separate groups that came together previously, they hadn't fighting each other and therefore they could not get Bush Heir out aside out of office because they had so much sectarian and territorial strife amongst each other. Syria is a country that frankly has many countries playing directly in its yard. Israel has interest there, Turkey has a significant involvement there, Iran as we've already heard, and then you have other largely Muslim states surrounding this area who also have interests. Can imagine here in the US if we had a bunch of different countries who had actual interests in our country and could basically, as through their proxies, wage their interest on their behalf on our land. That's what they have going on there. But I will say, over the last couple of days, if you've paid attention, there's a lot of excitement there on in Syria, as women are being told that they will not have to return to the old conservative days where their attire and their ability to work and how they show up in society would be harshly judged and quite frankly made illegal again. They plan, their leader plans to have a country that is also respectful of other faiths or other religious traditions. That would be a marked change, a marked difference from what is happening there. But in truth, the current leadership is right now identified by the United States as a terrorist group. We don't know what the future US relations will be and the incoming President has already said. When Aside was ejected, he said that this is something that Russia and Iran can deal with, that the United States is going to take a back seat. Well, that's extremely problematic. We have nine hundred US American troops on the ground in Syria. Is not a place where we can take our eyes off. And then, finally, what I am hopeful won't be a continuous overreach by Israel is this bombing that could then lead to again another generational set of enemies against the state of Israel. I think they really ought to take a long look at. Yes, they're security at this moment, but more importantly, how do we put Israel on a path to nonviolence within the region where they can be respected by the nations that surround them and not become the ire of of of their worst intentions by basically creating a whole nother generation of folks, communities, other countries, neighboring countries who find them to be to be enemies. But we certainly watch this. It does have US implications, major US implications. We do have an interest in the area, and I hope Trump that will we consider what he has said. And then, very lastly, Tolci Gabbert's interconnection here. She basically cheerleaded Bashar Alasade, and now she is going to be the person, if confirmed, who provides the daily briefing book of threats to the United States to the president. The daily she will determine what is in that threat assessment book and what stays out of that threat assessment book. And it worries me to no end who she may be doing the bidding for. I can tell you this right now. I do not believe that her bidding ultimately at this stage is ultimately and singularly for the United States. And if you're the director of Intelligence here and giving permission for what gets for the president, you better have the USA on your mind twenty four to seven, and it better be at the lead of your interest and not that of another nation.
It's frightening, Angine, just really quickly to put it in context on how you know they're looking at the new leadership in Syria as a terrorist regime could be. I haven't dug deep enough to see who this group is, but just for context, they do not consider net Yahoo and the IDF a terrorist regime. And I think we've all seen things that happened coming out of net and Yahoo's government, and including looking at it, the International Court has already determined that what he is doing is morally and legally wrong, and including the killing of children. We always say women and children, as if men's lives don't matter. But I want to point out how many children this man under in his regime has murdered and they are not designated a terrorist organization anyway. Let's get the calls to action on that note. Yes, yes, I don't really what you got Yeah, go ahead.
Sure, Well on Native lampid, you all know that we value you all's voices. We value every video you send with questions and your comments. It's so important us that this always feels like a town hall or sometimes a dinner at the kitchen table, and so we have opened up the table even more with our website native lampod dot com, where you can now submit your commentary there anything that's going on, something you want us to pay attention to, news reports that are happening locally for you. Of course, we have our good friends sometimes who are an elected office, sharing bills they're working on or proposals they're working on. But we are opening that up to the NLP fam as well, and we want to make sure that we hear from you. So welcome home and welcome home now on Native lamppod dot com.
Well we're not on air.
I love it. Welcome home everybody, And I just I think my uh called action is going to be tangential to what you just said, Angela, and that is we had a questioner a week last week who submitted their question using what do you call that? Yeah, the emoji image, which you know is cool, and we got some feedback from you all, some of it to our reactions to it, basically saying, hey, look y'all, everybody isn't comfortable being on video. I hope y'all don't you know, disqualify this as a as a as a as a potential entry. And I think you heard our various perspectives. I want to reiterate that certainly not from my standpoint, is there a prohibition on those. I get that everybody is incomfortable, and in some people's instances it might be that for your job and your well being, you can't be on camera. And so I think we want to be open to the myriad of ways in which you ask questions. But mostly. I think all of our intention is is to try to build a really safe community, and I think part of that for us in looking at you is being able to see you. But but but but whether you choose to go on camera or whether you choose an emoji, we want you to keep that that feedback questions comments, Uh uh what do you call them?
Uh?
Yeah, I don't knowshment strategyishment, yea, all of it you said, cuss out. I tried to use it ord like admonishments coming. Whatever that is, keep it coming in all of its forms.
And we heard, we've read those comments on YouTube.
I know.
I every week I say I'm gonna shout out some of the people on YouTube, and I keep forgetting. So I do want you all to know that we appreciate all your feedback on YouTube, on Instagram, everywhere you leave a comment, We consume it, we read it, we hear you, because this is a platform for you too.
Uh.
I don't really have a political call to action, but it is a very important and necessary one for me. And that is I know it's the holiday season and people are giving gifts. Okay, I just want to say dogs are not Christmas gifts. Okay, it's like giving somebody a two month old or two year old who's never going to grow up. I don't care about you shaking your head, Andrew, it's like giving somebody I know, but I already know how you feel about pets. I do not believe that you should give somebody a two year old and say here's a responsibility for the next fifteen years. You can't be telling these kids like, Okay, is your dog and you're responsible, Like no, this is a living, breathing, sacent being, you know, and you have to care for this animal who loves you so much. If you're gonna get a dog and leave them tied up outside, you don't deserve a dog. If you're gonna get a dog and leave them at home. And if you are getting a dog for someone and you're prepared for that responsibility, please go to shelters. Don't go to these breeders and spend money. Dogs are euthanized every year. But I hate when I see these puppies and and it's like Merry Christmas, and it's like they end up at shelters and people don't know how to take care of them. So if you're gonna bring a dog in your life. It's not a Christmas gift.
If we had common cause. By the way, on this my sister came and visited a couple of weeks ago and bought my children a fish and a fish take and they have been doing the feeding. But this thing requires serious upkeep. I gotta check the water every week. I gotta take the third of the water out put all.
I just want to tell you guys, as we get up on the Christmas holiday, that not only are dogs gifts for some people, but you human beings are gifts to me as well.
So thank you guys for being the gifts you are.
And even though Tip is manage all for sending the puppies back to the shelter, I'm not gonna send Andrew and Tip back to any shelter.
To kick them.
Whether they come with a bow or not, I'm going to keep them. Whether we screaming on here or not, we're keeping each other. We stuck together. Okay, there it is well.
As always, we do want to remind everyone please leave a comment and review and subscribe to Native Lamb Pod. We're available on all platforms and YouTube. Like I said, we read your YouTube comments, so keep those coming new episodes drop every Thursday. Please keep in mind we have mini pods that drop on Monday. Not as many of y'all watch those, so tell your friends. I don't think more people know about them, So tell your sure mini pods. They're short, they're quick, so please tell your friends to be sure to tune into those. I think because we don't clip them for social media and people. We need to do that, but they're like quick, twenty twenty five minute conversations on on on things on the mini pod every Monday. Also, don't forget to follow us on social media. We're on Instagram, all the platforms. But you know where we're not where we need to be, you guys, Blue Sky people can there? I don't know because I haven't. I've been asking people. Have y'all listened to the lay and people will say anything I post on there. People start talking about Native Wan, and I will start tagging.
Maybe on there a head Native LAMPI we are dot bsky dot.
Social Okay, we are on Native Land. I will start following Native Land.
Yo. I need to join this thing.
Yeah, Blue Sky is where we are and we're all to fix that. Yeah, yeah, well we will be we will upkeep but Angelson here, I'm on there and I post a lot on there so you guys can follow us there anyway. Welcome home, y'all. There are six hundred and ninety one days until mid term elections.
Welcome home.
Thank you for joining the Natives. Attention to what the info and all of the latest rock gulum and cross connected to the statements that you leave on our socials. Thank you sincerely for the pass reason for your choice is clear. So grateful it took the to execute roles for serve, defend, and protect the truth even in pall. Welcome home to all of the Natives wait, thank you, Welcome y'all.
Welcome.
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