TrueValueMetrics ... Impact Accounting for the 21st Century

Date: 2026-03-06 Page is: DBtxt003.php txt00029475

COMMENTARY THE COFFEE KLATCH ... JANUARY 10TH, 2026 with Robert Reich, Heather Lofthouse and W. Kamau Bell Murder in Minneapolis PLAY YOUTUBE VIDEO Original article: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UClT7ODMHU
Murder in Minneapolis \| The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich Robert Reich 1.42M subscribers Premiered January 10th 2025 The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich Trump’s brazen attack on Venezuela. ICE’s deadly reign of terror in Minneapolis. MAGA’s despicable lies. Join us to make sense of it all on this week’s Coffee Klatch, with special guest W. Kamau Bell. And be sure to read W. Kamau Bell's latest Substack: https://wkamaubell.substack.com/p/can... Peter Burgess COMMENTARY Peter Burgess Transcript 0:00 And it is the Saturday coffee clutch with Heather Loft House and our friend Camill Bell. Thank you for being here, CamL. Thanks for having me. Heather, what are we going to talk about today? There's so much to get into. So, let's put a framework around what is it? What is it? What do we make of it and what does it mean? Okay, because we're not just going to We've seen the news. We've been watching the news. We've been on our phones. So, Minneapolis, this horrific murder of Renee Good. Let's talk about the shootings in Portland. and let's talk about Trump versus the world is what it's feeling like on every single level. Um we can also get into other things like the jobs reports. So I'm hoping you have a couple hours. We have several hours here. I hope you have some hours. U you want to start with Minneapolis. Um it's very difficult to separate all of these things because they are all interrelated and it's very sobering. Um Renee Good, what a name for her. I mean, you pointed this out in your substack. Yeah. Yeah. My substack that I did. I already had written my substack for the 1:02 week, but then this happened and I felt like I got one more in me. So, I wrote this thing and just the idea that her name is Renee Good. And as I wrote my piece, sometimes the universe is trying to insist that you learn the lesson and blonde and white and you know Christian and by all all reports from her friends and family like a gen a legitimately good person who had just moved to Minneapolis and wanted to be a part of the community and wanted to do some good in her community. It was dropping off her kid. So if you are the Trump White House, what do you do when you have an agent who has killed, murdered this kind of person? I mean, do you say, do you extend sympathies? Do you say, 'Oh, we're terribly sorry. It was a terrible mistake. We're going to find out how it happened and we're going to stop it and we're going to try to never make it happen again.' Is that what you do? No. No. No. You try to discredit her. You try to make her part of what? The left. the 2:03 radical left uh referred to her as a domestic terrorist and called this a bigger plot of domestic terrorism that this she's somehow connected to a web of domestic terrorism. Can you imagine when when the White House learned that she was white and suburban and Christian and has three kids and it was she was not black. You know what was there? Damn. Well, that's the thing I that I when I subsec pointed out like you have to be clear that they are saying and it should not matter but we know the history of this country. It doesn't matter that the United States is saying it's okay to murder a white lady. Now, you mean now? Yeah. Yeah. Which is historically one of the classes that the United States has said has tried not to murder. Yeah. Tried not and protected and also convicted people of murder when they didn't even murder that white lady. That's if she's a lefty, if she's part of the whatever this right, you know, leftwing conspiracy is that they're conjuring up, uh, then a murder is okay. So, then we have the shootings in Portland also. So, is it coordinated? I mean, do people is there a memo out there that says, 'Look, anytime 3:03 something happens, we're going to cover it in this way.' Or does it just Trump goes out with a tweet, whatever, social, and then everyone just salutes? I mean, it is so fast how they all just fall in line with this. I think it's the thing where they don't pay you to say the things you say because you say the things you say, they pay you, right? So, like, I think they don't have to get on one accord because if they weren't on one accord, they wouldn't be there, right? You know? So I think there's a there's a very this is all under the umbrella of white male supremacy. Those talking points have been pre-written for years. So I don't think there's any sense of like having to coordinate and also a memo to remind everyone. No. And also if we there's anything we know about this administration not well organized. Oh I know. Not well coordinated. Not well trained. No experience. But they do know talking points. Yeah. They know spin. Yeah. They know how to create their own parallel universe. Mhm. Uh J Vance has done a lot of that. He's really having his moment. I think he's really happy to have the He's happy to have the cameras his way because it's been a while. So, 4:04 and Steven Miller. Yeah. I mean, the two of them are actually propelling this and Christine Gnome uh is behind this as well. But what about all of these people who are ICE agents and Border Patrol agents and uh and Homeland Security investigative agents? I mean, they're all out there now. I mean, you've got and they've and they're all armed and they're in many of them in cars or trucks or SUVs that are unmarked. Now, this is, you know, I've been around for many, many years. This is never happened to my knowledge before in America. in America, in the United States, that you have all of these, an entire armed guard system out there under the authority of the president of the United States in the states, in our cities with guns where where military law enforcement is being used to police American citizens under the pretense that something so 5:06 dangerous is happening that this has to happen even though they are creating the danger. And that's what I wrote about my subsect, the idea that and I and I don't know if you well, yeah, you've talked about this. I feel like this is a thing that most men have had happen where you're where you're walking down the street and another man will just bump into you to start a fight with you or to see if you're tough and we all have to in that moment decide do I want to fight even though I don't want to fight or do I want to walk away and feel smaller and that's what that situation was with Renee Good. They are out there looking for fights. Ice is out there looking for fights. There was no reason and the New York Times did a great sort of slowdown explainer video of how she was not aiming the car at him. She was not trying to do it. She was trying to get away because this guy was looking for a fight. And it's like, I'm teaching you a lesson. Yeah. And I think so. I think they're being sent out to given the the the over the the the order of you can go out there and create your own justice. However, 6:00 this is a really central point. You can create your own justice. That is you being these agents and the Department of Homeland Security and Donald Trump. You know, there's no accountability whatsoever. Nobody is overseeing them there. It's not as if this is under a court supervision. It's not as if Republicans in Congress are supervising. Nobody is supervising. There's no warrants or paperwork. We're looking for They don't have a thing that says we're looking for Renee Nicole. Good. Oh, you're her right here. Here's the paperwork. They didn't know her from anybody. They think she was in the way. At the very least, I mean, I think a lot of people I speak with say we off we have to get rid of ICE. First thing, if we get control of Congress, we get rid of ice. I think the first thing is actually do take the guns away. I mean, there is no reason for all of these agents of the federal government to be armed. But so, we've seen the statistics over time. So for a while there were polls that said, you know, 20% of the people 7:00 pled want to abolish ICE and all those people lived in the Bay Area. Exactly. And then now it's up to 42%. So a few people outside of the Bay Area. Yeah. No, it's it's out of the Bay Area, right? So but that's one thing. Okay, fine. So that's abolish ICE. But I mean people, aren't people outraged? No one in leadership is outraged. I've seen no one step up really except Ken Jennings who was, you know. Yeah. Ken Jeopardy. I love that guy. So, so the host of Jeopardy comes out and says, you know, whoever's against this regime and going to, you know, go against them, I'll vote for you next time. But really truly where the outrage I feel like people are in the streets. They've got their whistles or all these things happening. We're outraged. Leadership is not outraged. Well, what is leadership in this country right now talking about the Democratic leadership? Professor who are the leaders? Uh certainly I mean the facto leader of the Democratic party is Zoran Mdani. Exactly. He's so busy. Yeah. Yeah. Like as far as like that's like that's the direction the party should be. The leader of hopefully the future of the Democratic party. Yeah. That that's the and and and I'm not in any way trying to take out AOC is 8:04 a part of that. Uh uh you know Summer Lee is a part of that. Uh Latifah Simon. You know there's just sort of like that's where the party should be headed. But how about the people who have official leadership? I mean Chuck Schumer they're they're going over memes. They're like what meme is going to be the perfect meme to say? I feel like that's fed to them by their staffers. Yeah. Yeah. Like what's a good meme to send to show that I'm that I'm cool and tough. I don't think there's any but but they are also thinking about the Democratic leadership. You know, we the next uh the midterms, how do we get the money from the CEOs and from the billionaires? And let's not say anything that is going to offend the CEOs and the billionaires because they obviously then will not support us. But you can't tell me that the majority of Americans are into this. Yeah, I know it's all being spun everywhere we look and I know that it's the R I just and in fact I know I think I mentioned this on a couple clutches ago, but someone whose parents were like I'm not subscribing to Fox News anymore and part 9:01 of the reason I'm mad. It's two reasons. One is I can't truck with this ICE stuff. It's so disgusting. And two, my grandson was fired and he worked for the federal government. So we are done. But so most America there's no way people are rah rah rah. This is this makes so much sense. I feel safe. This is great. Heather, isn't this why exactly why the administration, the regime is trying to create this left-wing conspirac? Yeah. I mean, in other words, you can you can then people if they are black, if they're Latino, but how do you then people if they're white suburban women? Well, I mean, I think it's I think it's easy because there's these there's this other thing we've done that Trump has done a good job of. It's Minneapolis, so all all of those people are the Yes. So the Somalians are garbage garbage. He says and if you want to live there [ __ ] city if you live in that [ __ ] hole city then you're a part of it you know and then Portland how how do you get no one wants to live in Portland. I mean, I think this is all the thing Trump has done a great job of demonizing cities which are often the economic 10:04 centers of this country like you know so he's so Portland it's either cities that have black mayors large black population sanctuary cities cities that are known for lefty politics like Portland Oregon I think so that if you're if you're a person who lives there then you're just a part of it so Renee good is Somali for as far as the the right-wing in this country is just concerned but how big is that right-wing group I I mean, as you know, the old saying goes, first it was the D and then it was the D and then you're suddenly it's me. How much how far do things have to move before the average American who is confused and doesn't really like doesn't pay attention to the news that much anyway? There's I mean there's I bet if I there's people in my life who I'm related to through my wife's side of the family who I would be able I would imagine I would ask about that and they would be like did something happen there that they're not actually paying as much attention. We have to remember most people are not this these like these these I'm pointing at the pages. 11:05 Yeah. Most people don't have a page of news that they do a week. You know what I mean? So I think most people it's about getting you have to sort of be patient to get it to them eventually when they get it. which is why it's important to be in as many different spaces as possible because you don't know where somebody's going to get the right information. Well, people are beginning to focus. There is a lag time, but they focus on well, there was actually a cold-blooded murder. Yeah. You know, of a white woman. But first, we had to convince some people that it was a cold-blooded murder because there was all the misinformation about she tried to weaponize her car. And I'm still dealing with people in my comments that are like she should you have to obey the officers. Because there's also people who think the moment you don't obey an officer, you're worthy of being killed, which is not fundamentally how I think law enforcement is supposed to work. No. And it's not. Yeah. But she was not. I mean, there's obviously going to be any kind of uh discussion about what the facts were. Uh but the facts are emerging. I mean, you've got the mayor uh you've got the 12:01 governor of Minneapolis. You've got and and Minnesota. You've got people who are in official high positions who say, 'We've seen the videos. We know what's happened.' Uh they are they being Trump and Christine Gnome and JD Vance are lying through their teeth. So you are an average American. What do you do about this? If you're an average American, what do you do about Venezuela? What are you What are you thinking about Venezuela? Do do you pay attention to the fact that no war has been declared? Do you do you care that we are suddenly trying to take over oil fields? Well, so I think on the one hand, I don't think average Americans are thinking, God, this first amendment really it's really been trotten on this year a lot of times. But I do think people there's no way people are happy with this. But I don't understand when leadership I feel naive because when Marjorie Taylor Green spoke out I was like this is getting interesting like maybe this is a tipping point. And then when you went to 13:01 Venezuela Venezuela and did all that, I thought, 'Oh, well, now there's articles of impeachment. Here they come.' I keep thinking they're justifications. This has got to be really bad, doesn't it? For either leadership to make a choice or for so many Americans, and they're little things we can all be doing. And I like that in your Substack who's with me, you said, you know, support your local radio. I mean, that's how people are going to know. Support NPR. There are lots of support food banks, support, you know, all these things you can be doing. But how do we how do we get people to grab on to it? I mean, this is these are violations. Haven't we reach reached a tipping point? I mean, I think the one way I think that it people understand Venezuela is for a lot of people and I would say I was like this until I actually learned a lot about Venezuela when I did an episode of United Shades about Venezuela. It's like too far away. It's too not. You don't know any Venezuelans probably. You don't know. The way to go is like the money we just put into Venezuela is money that could be paying your healthare, right? But there's also remember he was elected, Trump was elected basically on 14:04 two promises. One, I'm going to bring down prices, which he hasn't. We'll get to that. Number two, I'm going to avoid foreign conflicts and nation building. Now, on both of those, it's all the conflict. It's all the price. It's the opposite. It's the opposite. The reality is the opposite. Now, how I mean, you don't have to be a deep news consumer to know that we are in and he is in deep [ __ ] Well, I think those people then often fall into the camp of like all of these people are corrupt. Yeah. Like once you decide you don't like Trump and then you look to the Democrats and Chuck Schumer, that's a very good Thank you. It's my Chuck Schumer impression. It's an instant truck shiver impression and you go, 'Wait, is that the guy who's going to save?' You know what I mean? I think then it becomes easy to fall into none of these people I can trust with. I can trust none of these people I can follow. None of these people I can so I'm not you all I got to 15:02 do is worry about my family. So I think that's the you have to get people out of that. Like once you go I don't like Trump. I think you have to figure out how to get people out of I don't like any of this. Yeah. I don't like politics. I don't like politics. I'm I'm retreating. And as the phrase goes, if you don't do people say I don't do politics, then politics is going to do you. Yeah. Exactly. But so then but then I think the affordability thing is what get finally might get people out, right? Don't we always say this? It's economy. Absolutely. Blah blah blah. And we that gets bad and we did have an economic report yesterday that showing that almost no job growth at all. Yeah. I didn't mean to laugh. Just the idea of like just the idea that you that the guy who like you said was coming in for the economy has created almost no job growth. I mean this is extraordinary. I mean that's Yeah. I don't think I've ever heard of like you know but what does he do? Does it come out in the normal jobs report way Mr. Former Secretary of Labor? No no this is actually very important. He got a hold of the jobs report before the public did which is not unusual. 16:01 presidents are sp you don't do very often do get these things but then he released it on truth social at 8:00 the night before the night before I mean you just don't know how much of the entire financial system of the world is looking at that jobs report waiting for the jobs report making bets on the jobs report and he releases it at 8:00 p.m. the night before it's supposed to be released at 9:30. So then so that so the whole system has been set up. It's very tightly regulated. Very very tight. Apparently not that tight. Well, exactly. You just you know No, this is a this is I'm saying I know it looks like a scanned piece of paper. So but that means so then what? So then markets are going to t people are wor people are jockeying and going to well people I think you know insider trading it's insider trading. It is essentially it's insider trading when it's outside. Well, it's insider trading if the only person who knows is the president of the United States who is a savvote dictator. 17:01 Uh, and he's also trying to spread his power. He did it this way towards towards the way dictator and he's trying to make everybody think that he's invincible and he has unlimited omnipotence. Uh, yes. Uh, information information in his heads that nobody else has. And then he's saying, 'I have it. I know it. and I'll leak it to you. And he's treating it like it's his information, right? Not the country's information. And he's treating Venezuelan oil as if it's his oil. I mean, where is the where it's a slush fund? Where is that money going? He will not say. He says it's it's not going to the Treasury. Yeah. This great PBS report came out and said literally it's going into offshore accounts and he's going he's like, 'Listen, I'm going to make sure this I'm going to watch this. We are going to get this money and make it right.' How many bankruptcies has he? Yeah, we're going to put this in a casino. One of my casinos. No, this is this is really of deep concern. Congress is supposed to be in control of the money, 18:02 the purse strings. That is what the Constitution says. But Donald, what about war and and war declaring war? Well, the war also costs money. So, that's why. So you have a slush fund for, you know, that this Venezuelan oil is going into into controlled by Donald Trump. And Trump is calling the shots as to how this money is going to be distributed. He's even talking about giving money to Venezuelans. You know, what is he $10 to $100,000 a piece buying them off? Oh, no. That's a green. Oh, green limit. I'm sorry. I'm getting countries. Yes. Corruption in one country leads to corruption. Get your lottery. Get your Trump lottery. Yeah, I'm I'm of course. Yeah, it's hard to keep up with when you have this when you have this many griffs going. It's hard to keep track of the griffs. Well, look, I mean, if he if he gave Americans, each American 10 to 100,000, it would be one thing, but what is we from his slush fund? Is that where it's coming from? How about just some healthcare? Yeah. I mean, I think yeah, he's he's he's treating this the same way he's 19:04 treated all of his enterprises as if they are his personal pocketbook. But it's it's important that's America's budget and natural resources. But isn't it important to remember that? Yeah. I mean that this is a government that's supposed to be self-government. That is he is there for us. We are his boss. We are JD Vance's boss. We are Christine Gnome's boss. We are Donald Trump's boss. Uh we we are we are Steven Miller's disappointed boss. And we're going to call him to the office and be like, I didn't think we've done enough. No, HR didn't answer. I was calling them earlier and and so everything is upside down. I mean we we have a president who thinks he is omnipotent and has dictatorial control and we don't have any leaders standing up to him and we don't know most people in this country either don't know what's happening are confused or are so outraged but don't know don't know what to do don't know what to do. So yeah, I think that the thing I'm just I just which I think is important you're saying I think we have to 20:05 normalize saying we are officially under tyrannical rule like we're not we're not heading towards it's not starting to look a lot like it's this is what it is and I think whether you want to call it dictator fascist autocrat authoritarian total whatever we got all the fun words and all of them have different PhD programs that's why I'm just going with tyrant it's just the easiest one to not you don't have to argue it that this is what is that any president who's doing the things you're saying that's a tyrant. That's not a president. He doesn't think he's our he doesn't think we're his boss. He thinks he's, you know, to go old school, he thinks he's our king. This reminds me of I remember seeing all these documentaries, you know, about dictators in other countries like Victor Orban and thinking, 'Oh, this is so far away from us, but it's right here.' And you made that series, United Shades of America. I forget you referenced that earlier. I feel like I need to rewatch that. I mean, well, CNN has pulled most of the se Warner HBO Max, I just discovered, has pulled most of the seasons down off of HBO Max. said it right. Yeah. So, well, this is an important point, too. 21:03 HBO Max has pulled most of the seasons down. And what do we know about the entire news industry? I mean, what do we know about about all of the people who own monopolized and compromised? Yeah. Own the news. Uh CBS News, is it doing a good job under Barry Weiss? Barry Weiss. And uh I mean, it's Barry Weiss, isn't it? What's What's I I mean, come on. Disrespectfully, I'm going to call her Barry. Okay. But no, but but seriously, who's that new guy who's uh Tony Duke? I mean, I this is my personal like this is the the the host for the new anchor and he got it's one of those promotions where it's basically like the guy who worked in the not the mail room, but he was not on track to be the anchor of CBS News. That is one of those things that like if you talk about like Dan Rather or Walter Kronhite, a very a position you earn over time through being a journalist out in the field and doing good work. He was the one of the morning 22:03 show hosts who is now the host of CBS News cuz in a very because he looks the part and also he is willing he's willing to tow the company line and he made that clear initially. He first came to prominence when he interviewed Tanahasi Coats about his book on Palestine and he made it clear that he was there to represent the interests of Israel and Israel alone. Well, as a journalist as a journal as a as a as a morning talk show host as a guy who's like who's also going to do a cooking segment. Exactly. So, he gets promoted uh to be but like promote like like passed by a lot of different places. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And and and the entire CBS news has become corrupt. Yes. that started with CBS very clearly when when Barry White Bari sorry I don't mean to offend your friend when Bari Weiss uh pulled a program that was supposed to be about uh was it about the a cop the cott prison he she pulled a whole story of CBS news for 60 minutes 60 minutes and and now Tony who's 23:00 started at the beginning of the new year every night he is revealing himself to be not qualified for the job it is like the movie broadcast news comes to mind about a guy who is like he is there because he fits the suit well and he'll tow the company But he is his head is as empty as it could be. But it's on one it's one thing to have an empty head, but it's another to tow the line and do exactly what Paramount, the company that owns CBS, wants to do, and that is to suck up to Trump. I think that's the empty head and sucking up to Trump. It's like I think they go hand in hand. I think it's the kind of thing Yeah. It's like it's like the scene from The Godfather. He he goes to Bari Weiss and goes, 'My head is so empty. All I want to do is have money and success. Like I will You can put whatever you want in my head and I will say put whatever you want in the prompter. I will say it because I all I want is money and success and I won't criticize. I have no interest. My head is I don't even know what to criticize. Do you think he has imposter syndrome? I'm really curious about this. Has any white man ever had imposter syndrome? Very good question. Very good question. 24:03 Gen X maybe. Yeah. Gen X only. I mean you'd have to we'd have to go through some through some names. I'd have to I'd have to No, but I wonder he has no imposter syndrome cuz if he did he would he would he would already be have left. I I guess I wish him the I wish him paralyzing. But this is not but let's not limit it to CBS news. I mean we see you know ABC all of the networks all of the major uh tech companies and their platforms uh they are many of them are towing the line because they are worried that you've got this what dictatory fascist tyrant in the White House. You can't predict what he's going to do but you can predict that he's going to be vindictive and if he's going to be vindictive he could be vindictive against me if I say something that is critical and he doesn't like it and that hurts my bottom line. Right. And is that why more Senate Republicans didn't step up in terms of Venezuela, too? Right. I mean, I feel like they're voting so that there there's a vote next week, but only five 25:01 of them. Listen, that's a big deal, Heather. I mean, the fact that you've got five Senate Republicans uh taking him on in terms of war powers in Venezuela. Thank goodness we have five. Uh and in the House, you know, the majority for the Republicans is now down to about two or three. In fact, it could be even fewer. And so, they need every single vote. Michael Johnson is It's amazing he's holding on. I know. And so, we're, you know, the irony is that Trump keeps on moving to the fascist right as his majorities dwindle in the House and the Senate and as his polls go down. I mean, it took like a cornered animal, which is why I think we have to be super careful, prepared, ready to fight when he declares in a few months. I don't know about this midterm, guys. I don't know. I I'd like to do a midterm, but it just feels like there's too much trouble in the streets. Well, is that is it that is that's 26:01 what's happen? Is that now we get, you know, a militarized country because obviously let let's hope and pray that doesn't happen. But what the big picture when you look at what is happening in our cities, when you look at the intimidation that people feel because why should I stand up and object because I might be shot next and these are unmarked cars and these are people who are agents of Donald Trump with guns. And you look at other countries and they say, uh, whether it's Greenland or Venezuela or in Europe, uh, I don't know what he's going to do. He's a mad man. But then what I keep thinking too is I drove to here today. I'm listening to NPR and it was, you know, I expected it to be about Venezuela and Greenland and murders and all of it. And then it was like, oh, Gavin Newsome and a bunch of other states are trying to get healthcare uh child care dollars um back from I mean there's this there's so many levels of trying to keep the country going and I feel like this man is just 27:03 so full of chaos. But it's even but it's but it's trained and directed chaos. That is childcare dollars are not going to Minnesota or California or Colorado or New York. Uh why? And Illinois. Why? Because they're all Democratic states. I mean, he is simultaneously with everything else we've talked about declaring war on blue states. And the way he declares war on blue states, you're not getting anything. You're not going to get any benefits. people are going to suffer and these are states that are ironically often times the engine of the country specifically California. Right. Yeah. Absolutely. Uh and in fact uh just last week in the courts for the first time in my knowledge and my experience you have the administration arguing the administration's lawyers the justice department lawyer is arguing it's okay to send benefits only to red states and not to blue states. 28:01 I mean, this is No. I mean, it's one thing for a president to try to do that. It's another for the courts and and and law and the constitution to say it's okay to do that for a president. What happened to federalism? I thought we trusted the What happened to a federal government? I mean, really what we're talking about here when we're talking about federal agents on the street killing people and we're talking about federal money not going to blue states and we're talking about a Venezuela and you know lawless completely lawless without any war powers resolution. Uh you know a dictator in Washington is deciding where he's going to go and where the money that is plundered is going to go into what accounts that he controls. Look at the big picture. This is what fa uh fascism. Okay. May I quote you? Yes. Yes. Um I'm sorry. He copied it from your from your but but but really I I hope I'm not 29:04 being unduly alarmist. Yeah. But I but I I I think there is a very very troubling pattern here and it may have a lot to do with cancing the midterms or it has to do with the fact that this is the last year. Uh everybody knows all of the people who are the supporters and and and grifters under Trump, they know this is the last year they can they can actually cash in. Uh or if you're Steve Miller, this is the last year you know you can really do the damage you want to do because it may be that Congress flips. No, we need I mean articles of impeachment. I how have what is it? But what does impeachment do? I know. What does it do? Remember we did it last time twice. No, but you got I'm not saying we shouldn't do it, but I just want to like when I was a kid, I thought impeachment was why Nixon left and then later I grew up like that's not accurate. He actually just felt shame. Yeah, exactly. He actually felt he thought he would be impeached. I mean those were the days when Congress was a little bit more bipartisan. That's what I mean. But he also felt like he he would he felt so shamed about 30:04 impeachment that he left even though impeachment and I thought oh that must be impeachment mean kicked out but it then I found out through Clinton and through but I still I think it would be helpful to see some rule of law actually working. Yeah some just a little just a little bit. Well remember it's not just Republicans in Congress or Democratic leadership who is not exerting leadership. It's also a Supreme Court that is enabling, you know, that gave him cart blanch. Yeah. Yeah. And he has he has created the situation so it works for him perfectly so that he can and if we had a real opposition party, they would at least make it more inconvenient for him to be a tyrant. Yeah. But we don't we don't have that currently. Well, maybe we will. I mean, I I have belief in the people I mentioned like like Summerly and uh I I believe there are people here, but we just need to they need to be put in positions of of power and authority that they currently 31:04 are not in. There are some good young progressives rising up in the States. So many good ones. Yeah. The Justin's. Yeah. Um okay, so the other thing I was This is me writing to work. I'll just tell you all my stories that I heard on NPR. Um the other one was about Kaiser and um therapists there and they're working with the union on AI and how is AI incorporated into their work. Can it replace them? Therapists. Yes. Like therap like like as in a talking mental health. Yeah. Yeah. Well AI is a talking therapist. Oh it's so because it's like Heather what a wonderful question you asked. I mean it's it's skewed towards making you feel good but so but really truly so they were like we wanted it to have it that it will not replace our jobs and Kaiser's like we don't want to use those terms and so AI is serious and we have been watching all over the internet as AI versions of you are popping up but you and I were talking earlier about AI videos in your feed. Yeah, there's a there's like people AI 32:03 merchants who they understand that like not only do you make AI slop for everybody and everybody wants a different type of AI slop. So there's so I've seen these videos videos of people confronting ICE confronting ICE that if there's that if if it's real you'd be like good for that guy for yelling at Ice in the face hoping and getting away with it. But it's not real. But there's so many of them and they're also so short that you don't have you don't even have enough time to take in all the information, right? That you just sort of hit share and next thing you know you go, 'Wait, why does that restaurant not have a real name? Why are the letters backwards and mushed up? Why is that lady's face out of focus even though she's in the six finger?' Yeah. But wait, who would have an incentive to create that kind of deep fake video? I mean, which side? I mean I think there's I think first of all it's monet it's probably monetized content because it's the internet and then also I think there are as we know there are people who's who they just want to watch the world burn. It's chaos agents and I and I think that they have learned the thing that bothers 33:05 me about this this is content that if it was real I would be likely to share it now because I'm Mr. to like be careful of AI. I'm I'm catching it, but I know my mom wouldn't catch it. And so, it's a way to sort of like spread more misinformation. And it's also dangerous cuz these videos come mixed in with like actual videos of people being confronted by ICE. But it also puts people in danger situations because you shouldn't confront ICE that way because as we see, they will murder you. Yeah. And I think the paying attention to the midterms and what's happening around AI, it's going to be really scary. That's my number one thing I do with my kids now is show them videos that are AI that you can't tell are AI. Oh, good for you. That's my like we'll figure out that ought to be part of every school curriculum. Yeah, cuz it's just cuz I think it's just Especially because now my oldest kid is on Instagram. Uh, no, I'm not going to say what her profile name is because we're very But but and so I send her through Instagram things to go this can you catch the AI or this is a thing that's AI and she and it's like Highlights magazine where you would circle 34:02 Exactly. Because I just think it's important that we have to be 2026 is one thing it's about is like don't believe your eyes until you double and triple check. Yes. Well, it's also we we're talking about lack of job growth. I think AI is partly responsible because a lot of these firms are not hiring. They are putting AI in these jobs instead. Yeah. My doctor was like just text us instead. And I'm texting. I'm like this is an AI pleth. I'm not texting anybody. But also, I see that you've Are you selling off franchises? Because I've seen you on the internet. I don't know what to do about it. It's me. I hope you get a piece of it. No, I And it's weird looking at me in AI. I don't. So, we need to warn people. So, first of all, there are AI versions of you in that are chats that are coming in on Substack. Robert Rich is now wanting to talk to you on Substack because I got one of those the other day and I was like, Robert Rich 2 3 4 5 6 7 8. That's not his handle. He Oh. Oh, he opened a 35:02 new profile. Yeah. Really? Truly. And then all these fascinating ones on YouTube that you had to pull down. Can we just watch one just to get a flavor and to warn people not to trust this version of Professor Robert Rich? A diplomatic headline slipped by unnoticed. Canada is opening a consulate in Greenland. Sounds routine. It isn't. Greenland isn't about ice. It's about power, shipping lanes, rare minerals, military access. This is how influence shifts quietly, strategically before anyone's paying attention. This is how influence shifts quietly, strategically before anybody's paying attention. That was not bad. Well, I feel like it's like that scene in the movie where I'm like, 'Wait, which one is you? Which one is you?' A little more nasal. Yeah. Yeah. You got a little head cold that day. Yeah, I did. Little more on the card. And you were really nervous cuz you were really Yeah. Yeah. You were fast for you. Yeah. Well, it just I mean it is frightening, but there's like a lots of those videos. Just to be clear, you're saying this and some of them are successful in getting 36:04 views that maybe even rival some of your videos. Not to indict the person over there who makes your videos. I am right now. This is artificial intelligence. It's a hologram. It's a hologram. I wanted to break it to you. Yeah. Yeah. But it's so it's so scary. And to your point, it's like it's not Oh, it's using Bob to be pro MAGA. Yeah. It's like I think Oh, you would say, oh, you've said a version of Well, you didn't say it that way. So, they're pulling from real things that also look at the Listen to the content. The content is about Canada and Greenland and the United States and it is designed to create conspiracy, right? But but done in a way, this is the thing I think is scary. done in a way that if you're not a super savvy viewer, you might be like, 'Oh, this is a little bit different for like it's that it does it's not like you're suddenly selling like you know crypto, you know, it's it's done in a way that like sound that if you're not savvy well until now they just pick that up. That'll be next week's coffee pot.' But it's done in a way that's why I think is about the ice videos and the 37:05 videos of you. It's the AI creators are becoming savvy about what how they put out because it used to be stuff they're like, 'Well, I don't care about any of this. Why would I watch it?' But this is stuff that I would actually pay attention to for a second, you know. Um, Steven Miller. Oh, really? Yeah. Steven Miller, which who he's the prince of darkness. He's the he's the deputy assistant for bigotry. Oh, I mean that's you know there was a special uh he what did he say? He said we live in a world in the real world that is governed by strength that is governed by force that is governed by power. These are the iron laws of the world since the beginning of time. Sounds like a guy who spends a lot of money on security. Well, this is Yes. In fact, Trump wants to and has already made it very clear he wants to increase the Department of Defense next year their budget by 50%. I mean, as if we needed a much much larger Department of Defense under Hegath and Trump. 38:03 May I do a quote, too, and then come out, you can have a quote. Um, Trump's morality, this is what he said about himself this week. Um, are there any constraints, Mr. President? They asked him. Yeah, there's one thing, my own morality, my own mind. It's the only thing that can stop me. And that wasn't a deep fake. No, that was that was actually But put those together real. You have, you know, his lieutenant for bigotry who is saying that essentially it's just might makes right. And then he is saying the only thing to stop me and he was responding to a question about stopping him internationally. If it's not international law, it's not the United Nations Charter, what's going to stop you? Well, it's my morality. The limits of my morality. Well, what is the limit? What is the limit of Trump's morality? Well, he left out a part. It's my own lack of morality. He blew up a lack of because that's what as we all there's nothing in there's not a there's not a square inch of that man's entire life where you would say that is a example of 39:03 morality, moral guy. There is no morality there. There is absolutely an empty vessel. So on that upbeat note, I think we have to bring this to a close. Uh Camal Bell, thank you for joining us. Yeah, thank you for having me. And I do want to say and I did this in my subject too. When you talk about these things, it also sounds scary and like how to what can I do? What can I wrap my my arms around? How can I deal with any of this? And that's why I put in my subject, it's just important to look into your community and look at things you can do locally. Whether that's volunteering, just Google volunteerism around me, volunteer opportunities around me. Whether that's supporting your local public radio station or your local PBS, whether that's volunteering at a food bank. Somebody said if you have money, like donating to child care service centers where they take care of kids is a good place to do. There's any number of things you can do right now to at least make the load a little bit lighter on somebody else. So, don't get caught don't get scared of this stuff. Well, yeah. And you can boycott companies that are enabling this. Yes, 40:02 you can also demonstrate and there is going to be we don't know the exact date but there will be a third no kings day uh and I think that in a way and we've talked about this before and let me just wind up with you and again thank you thank you Heather this is these are scary times scarier in some ways than last year because Trump is unconstrained unrestrained trained there are no guard rails at all and he feels that he is completely omnipotent that there is nothing that can stop him. Now this makes a lot of us feel powerless because we don't see that there are obvious things to do. But as Camo said and as Heather has often said, there are many things that we can do. 41:02 There are many things we should do. In fact, activism is an antidote to feeling fearful and powerless and helpless. It is important not to retreat into your own private world at this time. I know the temptation is huge. It is vitally important that we get active in our communities, active as individuals, active in terms of reaching out to other people, active in terms of putting up a major resistance to what can only be called a dictatorship. And I'm sorry to say it, but that's what we are now not approaching. That is what we are now in. See you next week. You too.

SITE COUNT