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Matt
Hi, I'm Matt.
Leah
And I'm Leah and we're from the.
Lisa Green Lewis
Grown Up Stuff Podcast.
Matt
And just in time for tax season. On this week's episode, we're chatting with CPA Lisa Green Lewis about how small businesses can tackle their taxes using TurboTax Business.
Unknown
A Forbes study mentioned that a whopping 93% of small businesses overpay their taxes and 17% of Gen Zers believed that you could write off any expense as a business expense. So can't blame them. It's really important to do your taxes.
Matt
Listen to Grown up stuff on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your favorite podcasts.
Unknown
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Leah
Guys, Sagar and Krystal here.
Sagar
Independent media just played a truly massive role in this election and we are so excited about what that means for the future of this show.
Leah
This is the only place where you can find honest perspectives from the left and the right that simply does not exist anywhere else.
Sagar
So if that is something that's important to you, Please go to BreakingPoints.com, become a member today and you'll get access to our full shows unedited ad free and all put together for you every morning in your inbox.
Leah
We need your help to build the future of independent news media and we hope to see you@breakingpoints.com all right, let's get over to Syria. There's been some extraordinary developments in Syria, sadly very predictable. So we have had the explosion of a lot of ethnic violence inside of Syria, largely perpetrated and supported, thwarted unfortunately by the new so called moderate but in reality like radical Islamic government that has Taken power there. We have some video that we can show you. Just as Crystal said, this is not for the faint of heart. But I mean, you've got people here who are dodging gunfire. And there's been a lot of just like public executions and things that have been going publicly that are being posted on telegram and on social media. I mean, the rounding up of people, I mean, these are scenes really reminiscent out of ISIS and their takeover of Syria. And so much of the leftover equipment, all of this right now really is just like you've got over 1,000 people that were killed since Thursday, Crystal. And a lot of it is people who are again are like now in charge of the government. And the reports out of this and all this are very confused because the west doesn't really know how to deal with it because the person who is largely responsible for much of this is the so called moderate rebel who was supported by the United States of who we removed their terrorist designation. Let's put this up there on the screen. Formerly known as hts, you know, Abu Mohammad Jal Jelani has instructed his militants to stop recording their acts of violence in an effort to control the narrative and minimize the damage to his public image. As reports of massacres and ethnic cleansing in Syria's coastal regions continue to surface, the leadership fears that documented evidence could further expose their brutality and weaken their support base. And like I said, a lot of this violence has been perpetrated, unfortunately against many of the Syrian minorities there. Alawite, Christians, Druze and others who live in the area and were some of the strongest supporters of the Assad regime. The reason why I think that this whole story is very important is it does just show us about how good guy, bad guy ideology in our support or weapons that we pour into the Middle east very often make the situation much worse. You know, to look back at the Syrian civil war, it was a genuine, you know, political uprising and from 2014 onwards. But at that point onwards, it became this, you know, basically geopolitical playground for the United States, for Israel, for Iran, for Qatar, for Saudi Arabia. They floored more weapons into the country than had ever been seen there before. And you know, literally millions of people were either displaced and or killed. One of the worst refugee crises in modern history. And the truth is like everyone was celebrating the downfall of the Assad regime. Regime. It's like, well, now this is what has come next. More massacre, more death. And there's no picking good guys, bad guys or any of that. If we'd stayed out of this thing in the first place, we probably all would have been better off. But the, you know, the God, you know, to even think back to that time, 2014, 2015, as I'm sure you remember too, the level of just like hystericism here in Washington over the Syrian civil war in pushing for more action, more bloodshed, more war, you know, intervention on behalf of the United States, trying to push Obama to bomb Syria to enforce a red line. Remember Hillary Clinton ran on a damn no fly zone over Syria, which would have required shooting down Russian jets over the country and potentially drawing the United States into a conflict. I just think this is the 10 year, you know, kind of culmination of all of the failures of modern bipartisan foreign policy. And the end result here is literal radical Islamist government in power who are now slaughtering ethnic minorities. It's just unbelievable. It's horrible to watch for the people of Syria the destruction of a great people and of a great country. But I think even worse than that is the complicit nature of the United States, of the EU and the whitewashing of this guy's image who's now being invited to Brussels and he's wearing a suit and he's got the support here of all these other governments and the country itself has basically been obliterated. Israel's like annexed half of it now for some reason that we're not really allowed to talk about over here. Meanwhile these ethnic Christians and others are getting slaughtered and there's no coherent narrative here in Washington because everybody is so complicit in backing the so called moderate rebels of the time. Yeah, I just think it's horrible and.
Sagar
It'S very sad when HGS was able to finally and very shockingly kind of from our perspective, cause sort of came out of nowhere is able to finally completely push the Assad government out of power. They engaged in this very purposeful propaganda campaign to try to convince the west that like no, no, no, all that radical Islamic like that's in the past. We're gonna be moderate, we're going to celebrate our ethnic diversity. And there were quite a lot of Western media outlets that bought that cuz they wanted.
Leah
And yeah, it's a nice narrative.
Sagar
And you know, at the time we said like we are very doubtful but we'll see. And so you're right that this was, you know, it's sad and utterly predictable and you know, this is, it really has served Israel's interests. Even though that might seem surprising given that this is like a radical Islamist group and you might Say, okay, that's gotta be bad for it. And they must not like that. But, you know, they've benefited by being able to push into Syria. You know, they are annexing significant parts of Syria up to, effectively, Damascus, helping to realize their fanatical vision of Greater Israel, which any psycho Israeli settler can tell you about. So they're doing that because they can, and no one will stop them. And HTS has publicly said, basically, we're not gonna do anything to push back against Israel. They also have publicly expressed a desire to distance Syria from Iran, another thing that makes Israel very happy here. And, you know, they have really seized on this opportunity to claim more territory, more power, and to, you know, further hobble their enemies in the region. So that's been part of the fallout and part of why there was a desire among the Western press to kind of, like, whitewash who these guys were and what was very likely to happen in the wake of them ultimately taking power.
Leah
Yeah, and like we said, I mean, we've got probably. I mean, nobody knows the true number. What we do know is that a lot of these things seem to be very conveniently supported by the government that's in power. And I think it just drives me crazy because it just shows you how trying to, again, like, paint people as bad guys in the Middle east and then picking the alternative, it never really seems to end up all that great for us. And, you know, none of this is moral per se, but this is the reality of whenever you want to try and intervene in other countries. Like, the truth is Iraq was probably better off under Saddam Hussein. Terrible to say. He killed a lot of his own people, and it was horrible. But look at the subsequent fallout and what's happened to the. What we have wasted in trying to make it into some great democratic project. Same now in Syria. Same in. I mean, what happened with Libya. Right. It's a disaster. It's basically falling apart. It's become an active war zone and a hub for piracy, for terrorism, and for migrants. So, like, if you look at all of these projects that have all been supported in this case by NATO, the United States, and the Western powers, as well as many of the Islamic nations, then you look at our intervention in Iraq and you see what happened there. Afghanistan, it's like, where has this all. But we just are addicted to it. It's like, we are completely addicted. I will say part of this is also actually a big proxy fight right now here in Washington over the influence of the neocons and specifically how this relates to Israel and Iran. So let's go ahead and put this up there on the screen. This is from Tucker Carlson. He was tweeting a video here of many of the Alawite Christians and others being killed in Syria. And he's saying, as predictable as it is, it's still infuriating to see. For decades, Bashar Al Assad protected the minority religious communities in Syria, including the large Christian population. No one in the US was allowed to notice this and anyone who did was denounced by neocons as a dangerous extremist. Barry Weiss declared Tulsi Gabbard monstrous and an Assad toady for noticing, but it was true. Assad protected the Christians. The weaker Assad was, the more Christians died during the war. The years that neocons in the west backed the war against Assad, the percentage of Christians has gone from 10% to 2. Now that Assad has been driven from power, many of the remaining are being slaughtered and their holy place is desecrated. Barry Weiss and John Bolton haven't said a word about it, but no one who's paying attention can be surprised. Neocon projects in the Middle east invariably destroy these ancient cricket communities from Iraq to Gaza and in many places in between. Can this be an accident, you wonder? And the reason why I thought it was important was the Gaza little shout out there at the end. Because you'll recall Crystal, in the early days of that war when you had that ancient Christian church that was bombed in the middle of Gaza, that's when even some of the religious supporters in America had to wake up and be like, hold on a second, like, what are we doing here? And look, I object a little bit to the framing as like, the Christians are the only people that matter in all this. But this is a message that at the very least I think could get through to a lot of the people who are in the Republican base who still have this fanatical view of like good and evil and are very susceptible to being pushed in a neoconservative direction. Like there's no evidence here, you know, that is really like Gaza is like all that great apparently for the so called Christian community in Gaza, right? They'll tell you that. Ask the Christians in Gaza. Same with the people in Syria, west.
Sagar
Bank for that matter, which, you know, ask them de facto because they're.
Leah
That's such a good point. Nobody ever talks about it. But you know, some of those people who are the most fanatical pro Palestinian support for the west bank are, a lot of them are Palestinian Christians.
Sagar
That's right.
Leah
Yeah, their land is actually the one stolen, I think, originally, you know, and they've found themselves at war with a lot of these Jewish settlers. I don't care if they're Christian, Jewish, Muslim, whatever. The point I think that we have here is it's obvious that the morality, you know, and this morality soapbox that these people try and preach from itself can often lead to much more immoral results. And they also just so happen to be in favor of an agenda that's pretty favorable to increased war and also for the state of Israel in the Middle East. It's just, that's part of noticing, I think, today here for overall Washington policy. And it's about what we're about to get to with the Iran deal, because that is where things are gonna be very interesting tomorrow. Hopefully we'll cover the Hamas negotiation spat that's currently happening. But, you know, the amount of pressure right now from the pro Israel groups is unbelievable on the Trump administration. And, you know, there's no indication that they'll be silenced or that they're gonna take even, you know, their Colombia deportations. Enough of his victory. That's not, that's just the tip of the iceberg for what these people want. They want much, much more than that.
Sagar
Oh, absolutely. They want all of the West Bank. I mean, they're mobilizing to, you know, allow Israel, and they're likely to get that. I mean, they, they want the Trump, Trump Gaza ethnic cleansing plan that he has floated. So, yeah, they, you know, they won't be satisfied with just some, some show trials and some deportations or Colombia having their funding stripped. They have much larger goals in mind.
Ashley Iaconetti
This is Ashley Iconetti from the Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous podcast. You could have lost 10 pounds already if you already started one month ago. So are you ready to start today? Find out if weight loss meds are right for you in just 3 minutes at try fh.com try fh.com try fH.com results vary based on start weight and adherence to diet, exercise and program goals. Database on independent studies sponsored by Future Health. Future Health is not a healthcare services provider. Meds are prescribed at provider's discretion.
Matt
Hi, I'm Matt.
Leah
And I'm Leah and we're from the.
Lisa Green Lewis
Grown Up Stuff podcast.
Matt
And just in time for tax season, on this week's episode, we're chatting with CPA Lisa Green Lewis about how small businesses can tackle their taxes using TurboTax Business.
Unknown
A Forbes study mentioned that a whopping 93% of small businesses overpay their taxes and 17% of Gen Zers believed that you could write off any expense as a business expense so can't blame them. It's really important to do your taxes right.
Matt
Listen to grown up stuff on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your favorite podcasts.
Unknown
The battlefield is set, the stakes are high. The only thing standing between you and victory. Nothing. Ascend to the pinnacle of gaming greatness with Lenovo Legion laptops, towers and the new award winning Legion Go, the world's first officially licensed handheld. Powered by SteamOS, Legion relentlessly pushes gaming technology forward with towers built for raw untamed power. Laptops with best in class AI tuning that sharpen your reflexes and the Legion Go, a handheld for serious gaming on the go. Stay ahead with lightning fast responsiveness on a stunning 16 inch PureSight display. Keep your cool with cold front thermal technology engineered for marathon sessions and with all day battery life. The game never stops until you say so. So check out lenovo.com legion Lenovo, Lenovo empowering creators everywhere.
Leah
Well, let's get to that Iran deal. The question because this is, you know, gonna be one of the central parts for the Trump administration. Now let's go ahead and play this from Donald Trump talking about how he wants to have a deal with Iran rather than go to war with them. Let's take a listen.
Unknown
There are two ways Iran can be handled militarily or you make a deal. I would prefer to make a deal because I'm not looking to hurt Iran.
Sagar
They're great people.
Unknown
I know so many Iranians from this country.
Leah
Well, not the leadership.
Unknown
No, not the leadership.
Lisa Green Lewis
The people.
Sagar
Very evil people.
Unknown
No, but the people of Iran are great people.
But they had a tough regime and they'd meet and they'd be shot in the streets. I mean, it was a tough, it was a tough deal.
Leah
So as you can see, he's like, we would rather have a deal. But the problem that they're finding is that Iran actually just rejected the deal. Let's go ahead and put this up there on the screen. The supreme leader of Iran rejected any nuclear talks with the quote, so called bully states of the United States. And they're pursuing, you know, they're continuing their nuclear program. We don't know how much of this is bluster yet per se, but part of the problem is we talked about this with Trita Parsi. The reneging on the original Iran deal, it's like, okay, well to what end? For what purpose? The purpose was to increase the sanctions regime and to hopefully see the country fall. The regime that didn't happen in terms of their nuclear program, their so called breakout time or whatever apparently remains relatively static to their ability to create it. Their ability to conduct war abroad and, or in the near abroad as they call it in that area. Well, seem to be doing pretty well in Iraq. Seemed to be doing okay enough in Syria. Hezbollah, of course in Lebanon. Have they taken some hits? Yeah, absolutely. Especially with Israelis being able to assassinate people literally in the middle of their. And of course they had that whole back and forth with Israel, but then Israel retaliated against some of their nuclear missile defense systems near their bases. But you know, they haven't fallen, which was the ultimate deal of what they wanted. So now we're in this situation basically of everyone's neocon making where we've tried the maximum sanctions. I mean what sanctions could possibly be even left to levy onto the country? And Trump, Trump is in some ways in a problem of his own making because now what do you do if they do get a nuclear weapon or pursue that nuclear program? You've said explicitly that we'll go to war for that. That would be a nightmare for most Americans. Also though, you're saying that you want a deal. And so two sides of your mouth and especially full of an administration which historically has been incredibly hawkish on the Iran question. It's one of those where you could easily find ourselves in a major crisis over this issue if we don't revert to what I hope is Trump's best instincts, like with the North Korea deal, there's no reason that we can't go and sit down with these people. And at the very least, that's what Trump has shown his ability to overcome these previous idiotic statements like we will never negotiate with Hamas, we'll never negotiate with the North Koreans. It's like, well, they're in power and they're the ones with the guns, so what are you supposed to do? So anyway, I hope that we pursue this. Maybe we can get over it. And it is still important that he's saying he wants it it. I'm still worried, especially with Mike Waltz and some of these other folks in that administration, because if there are other people doing the deal, there's never gonna be any deal.
Sagar
Well, and you can understand the Iranians perspective as well of like, dude, you're the one who walked away from this. How can we make a deal with your country? We did that before and got stabbed in the back by you. So like, you know, when they're responding with like, no, we're not gonna do another deal with you. That's part of the background that you have to understand that and the fact that the Trump administration has put on even more sanctions than existed under the Biden administration. They're targeting oil exports in particular to China. And also apparently there was previously a waiver that allowed Iraq to buy Iranian oil, and they've gotten rid of that waiver. And obviously, Iran is heavily dependent on their, you know, their oil exports. That's a key part of their economic picture. Apparently, there were also sanctions that were put on Iran's metal industries. So they are going all in. And what he calls the maximum pressure campaign, which means. Means amping up the sanctions even further and really trying to destroy the economy. So when the Iranians are talking about you're treating us like a bully, would. That's what they're ultimately referring to. So, yes, obviously, it would be much better to. One of the best things that the Obama administration did, certainly in terms of international policy, was the Iran nuclear deal. One of the worst things that Trump did was getting out of the Iranian nuclear deal. One of the failures. There were other worse ones, but one of the failures, the Biden administration, was not jumping back into the Iranian nuclear deal, especially in the early days. This is something we did multiple segments with Trita Parsi about like, they had four years to try to restart these negotiations to try to get back into a deal, which for a time, Iran continued to adhere to even after Trump had pulled the US out of the deal and they didn't do it. And now the Iranians are feeling disinclined to want to go back to this rodeo. So, you know, I hope the. I hope Trump's instincts to negotiate and desire to avoid war in this region to the extent that he has one. I hope that's what prevails. But I think there's still a lot of big question marks here.
Leah
There are.
Sagar
And the Israelis, obviously, like, they know what they want.
Leah
Nightmare. Yeah. It's the worst possible situation for them.
Sagar
Yeah. They want us to be shoulder to shoulder with them in a war against Iran. That is the longtime dream. And they have a lot of purchase in terms of power in the Trump administration. You know, you have Miriam Adelson, who has already gotten quite a lot in terms of her $100 million investment in the Trump campaign. And Bibi is a savvy operator as well in terms of getting what he wants out of whoever the political leader is in charge in the U.S. so I would say at this point, there's certainly nothing off the table.
Lisa Green Lewis
This is Jenny Garth from I do part two. You could have lost 10 pounds already if you started one month ago. So are you ready to start today? Find out if weight loss meds are right for you in just 3 minutes at try fh.com try fh.com results vary based on start weight and adherence to diet, exercise and program goals. Data based on independent studies sponsored by Future Health. Future Health is not a health care services provider. Meds are prescribed at provider's discretion.
Matt
Hi, I'm Matt.
Leah
And I'm Leah and we're from the Grown Up Stuff Podcast and just in.
Matt
Time for tax season. On this week's episode we're chatting with CPA Lisa Green Lewis about how small businesses can tackle their taxes using TurboTax Business.
Unknown
A Forbes study mentioned that a whopping 93% of small businesses overpay their taxes and 17% of Gen Zers believed that you could write off any expense as a business expense. So can't blame them. It's really important to do your taxes right.
Matt
Listen to Grown up stuff on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your favorite podcasts. Grown Up Stuff.
Unknown
The battlefield is set. The stakes are high. The only thing standing between you and victory. Nothing. Ascend to the pinnacle of gaming greatness with Lenovo Legion Laptops, towers and the new award winning Legion goes the world's first officially licensed handheld. Powered by SteamOS, Legion relentlessly pushes gaming technology forward with towers built for raw untamed power, laptops with best in class AI tuning that sharpen your reflexes and the Legion Go, a handheld for serious gaming on the go. Stay ahead with lightning fast responsiveness on a stunning 16 inch PureSight display. Keep your cool with cold front thermal technology engineered for marathon sessions and with all day battery life, the game never stops until you say so. So check out lenovo.com legion Lenovo Lenovo empowering creators everywhere.
Leah
Let's get on to the next one, the situation with Columbia University.
Sagar
Yeah, so there's a bunch of stuff going on here, but let's start with this. We can put this reporting up from our friends over at Dropsite on the screen. So on Saturday night DHS agents entered a student residential building at Columbia University and they detained Mahmoud Khalil. He was one of the lead negotiators on behalf of pro Palestine protesters at 2024's Gaza solidarity encampment. I'm reading this from Drop Site's article here and in what they describe as a sweeping attack on the First Amendment. The Trump administration said this week it would begin revoking visas of, quote, Hamas sympathizers, specifically citing Columbia University students. So now they have arrested Khalil, reportedly had no warrant. Khalil has not been charged with any crimes. He is not here actually on a student visa. He's here on a green card. So he is a legal permanent resident. And at least as of this morning, he has been effectively disappeared. His lawyers and his wife, who is eight months pregnant, have no idea where he is. They originally thought that he was at an ICE facility in New Jersey. His wife went there to try to find him. The officers there said, no, no, he's not there. So they have no idea. And so it really is. We can put E2 up on the screen which explains that situation about really having no clue where he is. This is from Thacker. He says Mahmoud's attorney says they do not know where he. They were first told he was sent to an ICE facility in Elizabeth, New Jersey. When his eight month pregnant wife tried to visit him, she was told he's not there. They've received reports he may be sent as far away as Louisiana. So Mahmoud Khalil, again, who is a green card holder, set to be deported over pro Palestine activism, meaning that if he had criticized. If he had been involved in protests criticizing the US Government, he'd be fine. But because he was involved in protests targeting Israel, a foreign nation, now he's been disappeared and set for deportation.
Leah
Yeah, and I actually looked to see if he'd even been charged with a crime. He was not even charged with a crime. That would be. See, that's another thing. It'd be one thing. It's like you were arrested. You know, you're here on a visa, you're a guest in this country. It's like, okay, but literally just being a student protester is like, I'm not seeing this. Because there are plenty of Israeli students who are out on the streets in UCLA and all that, protesting on behalf of Israel. Okay, we're gonna start revoking their or, you know, their student visas or any of that anytime soon. They got great universities in Tel Aviv. I've seen them. You know, I'm not. Why are you even over here if you need to come protest? Right? So that's the problem that I really have with this thing. And I was looking into it. You know, he is a lawful permanent resident, as you said. He's a green card holder. He actually is entitled to a hearing with an immigration judge. So the judge would have to buy that not only cause the thing is for DHS to initiate deportation against a green card hold. And this is very different than a stud visa or other temporary visas. Temporary visas can be basically revoked without cause. Green card legal permanent resident holder effectively has like they have very similar rights to a US citizen. And for their deportation they have to prove that they violated criminal procedure. Now their claim here is that this was a violation of President Trump's executive orders on antisemitism. So that's where this whole thing falls apart. And like I said it would be one thing. It's like, okay, you commit a crime, sure, get out of here. You know, have done this, that fine. You know, I have no issue with that. If we want to apply a blanket standard against all foreign students aren't allowed to. I even would be okay with that because it would include some of these other. But this is just capricious and it's on behalf clearly of a foreign state who just wants these people to be deported for having the audacity to protest against them. That's where I really have an issue broadly because it just is so blatant. And I'll just continue on this. This is the end result of the Bill Ackman faction joining the Republican Party. Let's not forget. Why did Bill Ackman become political? The day after October 7, he publicly started doxxing students who were protesting Israeli military campaign in Gaza. Did some of them say a lot of stupid shit? Absolutely. But he was compiling Google Doc dossiers of these folks saying we shouldn't even hire them. We gotta deport all of these folks. And that is again where we have an American billionaire here basically agitating to deport people who are protesting a foreign nation. And that is where it's just so unbelievable, you know, to watch this all happen and the power of the United States government when, yeah, if you were protesting, I don't know, the US policy in Syria, nobody even cares.
Sagar
Right.
Leah
You know, you see it all the time.
Sagar
Protest.
Leah
Trump, I was telling this. Protest Biden, I was telling this to Ryan. You know, we live here in D.C. you know, you go down to embassy Row, there's protests about everything. You know, there's Myanmar protests outside the Burmese embassy. There's protests outside Darfur. Always. There's always a protest outside of. I don't know, I've seen protesters at the Cambodian embassy. Nobody cares. Nobody's out here. Let's deport these folks or whatever. Go outside the White House. Anytime you're here in Washington, there's some stupid protest Sorry, but there's some protest outside of the White House. It's not usually Palestine or whatever related. It's like, I don't know, Turkey, something like that. Nobody even blinks an eye. It's just the average everyday part of life, but somehow for this one, the full force of the US government comes down on their side. I can't deal with it. I really can't. It's just unbelievable.
Sagar
Well, and the way that this all got spun up is we can put E2B up on the screen. This is our old friend Shai Devadai, who is this absolutely psycho professor at Columbia, who actually I think he was, what, he was forced to be removed from campus because he was being so aggressive and abusive towards students.
Leah
He was doxing his own students.
Sagar
Yeah. Anyway, I don't want to misspeak because I'm sure Mr. Devadae will come after me. But you guys can Google the extent of what he was involved with there. Columbia University and the abuse he was hurling at his own students there at the school. But. So he had tweeted this. He says, dear Secretary Rubio, thank you for your strong statements. Now we want to see strong action. Illegally taking over a college in which you're not even enrolled in distributing terrorist propaganda should be a deportable offense, No? I would love to see what this quote unquote terrorist propaganda is, by the way, cuz they always say this, and I have yet to see, you know, what this alleged terrorist propaganda was, because that's what Mahmoud Khalil from Columbia SJP did yesterday at Barnard College. So this guy makes Mahmoud Khalil, who again has been charged with no crimes, but was a lead negotiator in terms of like the Palestinian rights movement encampment on campus, et cetera, so targets him. Next thing you know, DHS is coming in without a warrant onto campus and arresting Khalil. Apparently when they first were interacting with him and his wife, they were under the impression that he was there on a student visa, which again, I would find unconscionable to criminalize First Amendment speech and whatever. But it is a very different deal when you're there on a student visa and they find out he's a green card holder, but they've been given instructions to target this guy, so they just continue forward. And when Dropsite and other news outlets asked DHS for comments on the fact that this was a green card holder, a legal permanent resident, not a student visa holder, they said, you need to talk to the White House. Meaning this came from the top. This came directly from the White House. And so now Rubio has put on a tweet. Let's put this up on the screen. Saying, doubling down on this. What is also, to Sager's point about the process that you have to follow here? Like, this is all brazenly illegal when it comes to green card holders because they do have a right to due process. You cannot just arrest and disappear someone with no warrant and deport them without going through a process and coming in front of an immigration judge and proving that you have cause to revoke their green card and ultimately deport them. But Rubio doubles down here saying, we will be revoking green card and student visa holders of quote, unquote, Hamas supporters. What's more, actually put E5 up on the screen. They're using AI to sift through all of these students social media accounts to find ones who are, quote, unquote, pro Hamas. And again, when you see that some of the things that have been offered as proof that Khalil himself was, quote, unquote, pro Hamas, Hamas was him participating in rally chants or leading rally chants like, from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free. That's what we're talking about here. Okay, we're not talking about. He's joining up and he's like an actual material supporter of Hamas or any other terrorist organization in any way. We're talking about rally chants and handing out flyers on campus. That's what they deem, quote, unquote, pro Hamas. And so this is incredibly dystopian. Like, I don't care what you think about this particular issue. If you support basic speech rights, you can see the way that this is a authoritarian overreach, a mass government censorship effort to try to quash speech that they and their donors specifically do not like. And the fact that this was so lawless as well, like, if they don't have to follow the laws in this case, they don't have to follow the laws in any case. Case, it doesn't have to just apply to people who are green card holders. It could apply to literally anyone if you're just going to throw the laws out. So if you're someone who's positioned yourself or claimed to support the First Amendment, this and the revocation of Columbia's $400 million in federal funding, this is all a blatant attack on basic First Amendment right to speech. So it is outrageous, and I hope people understand what the stakes are here, because it also is really a test case. We can put E4 up on the screen, this is the Trump administration again, without any process here, says it was cutting off about $400 million in federal contracts and grants to Columbia University. This, by the way, after Columbia did really everything you could want them to do. They suspended a bunch of students. They suspended faculty that were, quote, unquote, anti Semitic or shared, had some text message exchange that they found to be problematic. They've instituted some sort of like root on the anti Semitism task force that's going after students for things like the crime of writing a pro Palestine op ed. They invited the cops onto campus to get to arrest people who were involved in the takeover of Hind Hall. Like, they have done everything that a Biden and now Trump administration would want them to do, but it's never enough. They're gonna be made an example of. And there are many other schools that are also on the target list for the Trump administration. You've got Harvard University, George Washington University, Johns Hopkins, New York University, Northwestern University, ucla, UC Berkeley, University of Minnesota, and University of usc, University of Southern California are the ones that are particularly being targeted by the Trump administration here. So, you know, spare me your lectures about one A support if you don't have anything to say about this one.
Leah
Fire did speak up on behalf, so I'm very glad.
Sagar
Fire's great.
Leah
Fire's awesome. We love them. By the way, the ADL did come out with a new statement on the situation. Let me go ahead and read this. Cause it's just good. It's delicious, right? We firmly believe there should be swift and severe consequences for those who provide material support to FAIR and tourist organizations, incite violence in support of terrorist activities or conceal their identities. We appreciate the Trump administration's broad, bold set of efforts to counter campus anti Semitism. And this action further illustrates that resolve by holding alleged perpetrators responsible. Obviously, any deportation action or revocation of a green card or visa must be undertaken in alignment with required due process protections. We also hope this action serves as a deterrent to others who might consider breaking the law on college campuses or anywhere. And so, yeah, I mean, you know, this is the irony.
Sagar
Let the law charge him.
Leah
That's what I was saying. This is the irony of it. You remember that whole UCLA thing when you had those guys who, you know, they got into a clash or whatever you want to call it, in the middle of ucla. How many of those people were Israeli citizens? You know, how many of those people or dual Israeli citizens? It's like, well, we don't want to talk about that one. It's like that's my point with all of this is that the capricious standard is just applied on behalf of this foreign. It makes me want to throw up as an American citizen. You know, we could protest India, Pakistan, whatever, nobody cares.
Sagar
We could protest our own government.
Leah
And you should, you should protest your government. But it's just like with this one, it's just so naked the way that it all worked. And it's all again because of this genuine obsession. And I know a lot of these people who are obsessed, they really believe that all of these folks are like paid assets to protest on behalf of Palestine. And it's just such cosmic because, you know, even look, you know, people here know I couldn't stand, I even told advise people not to do this because of, you know, potential blowback in your personal life. But not only is it a right, they believe that they're only doing it because of being paid like further action and they just can't grapple with. It's just as organic as any right wing protest that we've seen. You can offer support, can't, you know, any of that other stuff, but if people don't actually feel, feel outraged about it, then they're not gonna show up. So, you know, there's always this astroturf argument and they really believe like America is just all like okay with what's all happening in Israel. And I mean, to the extent that they are, if they don't even know anything about it, they don't think about it that much with the people who are, it's like, okay, fine, let them do whatever they want to do. And you know, Trump even said prior to that, do we have that thing about him expelling people? Do we have that? It is, I don't think it's okay. We didn't pull it over. Ryan and I did a segment about it. I mean, he's basically saying a US citizen would be expelled from their college. You know, and I remember I was engaged in all these fights back in the 2014, 2015 time period over these kangaroo courts over like MeToo allegations that would expel students. And it was similar mass hysteria over this, basically denying not only due process rights, but literally expanded expelling students for some he said, she said incident. Well, here you would have the government in a similar position just coming in and saying, even if you haven't committed a crime, that expressing an opinion or doing wrong think will get you expelled from college. That's the part where I just can't take it and I'm somebody who hates higher education. I'm happy to see Columbia.
Sagar
Who's bothered with a kangaroo court.
Leah
That's what I mean. My net benefit would be he cut, slash them all. I think it'd be great. But to do it on behalf of Israel, that's too much. That's too much. You gotta at least try and do it from the perspective of what's good for us. That's the part that I can't say.
Sagar
It truly is outrageous. I mean, right now, right now, Israel is cutting off, they already cut off aid to Gaza and they're cutting off electricity to Gaza. This makes it very like this severely limits the amount of just clean drinking water because the desalinization plants like the water purification, obviously you need electricity. You're not allowed to protest that. You're not allowed to have a problem with that. You can have your status as a legal lawful permanent resident here revoked without any due process. You could be kicked out of school without any due process. Total carte blanche for the government to sift through your social media posts and see if you're engaged in any sort of wrong thing. I mean, this is, is, I mean this is truly some of the most authoritarian anti first Amendment overreach that I have seen. And we've laid the groundwork for many administrations, starting with the Patriot act, probably starting before that. But really ramp it up with the Patriot Act. Every administration has increasingly sought to censor those who they found their voices or their opinions to be inconvenient. This is another level. It truly is another level. And what they have done here, it clearly violates this. Mahmoud Khalil's rights to due process. The fact that they have no idea where he is is terrifying and outrageous. And the message that they are trying to send here also is terrifying and outrageous because many people will think twice about speaking out for their own job and school prospects, et cetera. And certainly if they are, you know, certainly if they're green card or student visa holders, et cetera. And that's, that's exactly the point. The ADL said, like, I hope this serves as a deterrent. And that's exactly what the goal here ultimately is.
Ashley Iaconetti
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Matt
Hi, I'm Matt.
Leah
And I'm Leah and we're from the.
Lisa Green Lewis
Grown Up Stuff podcast and just in.
Matt
Time for tax season. On this week's episode we're chatting with CPA Lisa Green Lewis about how small businesses can tackle their taxes using TurboTax Business.
Unknown
A Forbes study mentioned that a whopping 93% of small businesses overpay their taxes and 17% of Gen Zers believed that you could write off any expense as a business expense.
Leah
So can't blame them.
Unknown
It's really important to do your taxes right.
Matt
Listen to Grown up stuff on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your favorite podcasts.
Unknown
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Leah
Crystal, what are you taking a look at?
Sagar
One of the weirder mysteries of the Kamala Harris campaign was what the hell happened to Tim Walsh? So he came out of the gays hot, was turning his cable news campaign, his stellar Minnesota record into a vice presidential slot. He honestly seemed like the perfect choice. He's an affable Midwesterner history of electoral outperformance. He translated a down to earth vibe into an incredible record in a purple state. In fact, with his selection for the ticket, it seemed like Kamala was eschewing her previous cautious positioning to go bold with a character who resonated on tv. It did not shy away from using power walls, had a natural talent for pitching progressive policies in a way that felt moderate and characterized Trump and Vance in a way that went instantly viral. These guys, they're just weird.
Unknown
You know there's something wrong with people when they talk about freedom. Freedom to be in your bedroom, freedom to be in your exam room. Freedom to tell your kids what they can read that stuff is Weir. They come across weird. They seem obsessed with this. They continue to try and tell you and look, the thing that I find the most weird about it is they never do the things they say. I heard one time very early on you do not need your elected officials to give you a sermon, but they should try and live one. And these guys are weird on how they frame it. They are obsessed. And I said it the other day, the he man woman haters club. I don't know where this is coming from. And I have to tell you today here in Minnesota, joyous day. I just appointed our newest Associate justice of the Supreme Court, Sarah Hennessy. Minnesota was the first state and we have a majority women on the Supreme Court and we have a woman of color as the Chief Justice. That scares the hell out of these guys. That just terrifies them. And then they start being weird. They think they have listen to their stories, they think they're connecting with people and they tell things and everybody feels uncomfortable around them. So I'm sticking with that because I don't know what else describes it, but I know that it's more cynical and it's deeper and it's hurtful and hateful. But I think one of the things you point out to this, they're not offering us anything. They're not going to come with a plan. And this is my thing every day I ask health care plan. So yeah, they're weird and I am not changing that.
Sagar
But of course he did not ultimately stick with that. After what was a phenomenal launch, he quickly became a massive draw on the campaign trail. And the Harris campaign looked like they were set to use Walz's Minnesota record as a way to fill in the gaps on Kamala's own ideological vagueness. They released even a solid proposal to go after price gougers, which caused a glorious right wing meltdown about supposed price controls. Walz suggested himself a focus on bread and butter issues, things like paid leave, which had been really popular in Minnesota. He leaned into JD Vance Mockery, even made some couch jokes down on the campaign trail. But then sometime around the dnc, things really seemed to flip. Price gouging was out. Opportunity economy was in. Weird was out. Fascist was in. And Sean Fain, head of the UAW was out. Liz Cheney, neocon was in. Now Politico has revealed what many of us have long suspected. Tim Walls was sabotaged by an insecure Kamala Harris who didn't want him to outshine her and by dim witted, arrogant consultants. Who thought they knew better about what would resonate than the organic response which had originally greeted Tim Walls and his framing of the race. So according to Politico, quote, after he was selected in early August, Harris was not yet doing interviews and aides did not want Walz to get out ahead of her. Several former campaign aides said Harris and Walz would not appear together for their joint interview with CNN until three weeks later. Even in two October October, the Washington Post described him as a, quote, surprisingly bubble wrapped campaigner. And as for his signature framing of Republicans as weird, quote, there were also efforts to curb some of his signature lines, including casting Trump and Republicans as weird which slipped out of Walls speeches, quote. He was encouraged to stop focusing on the weird criticism, said another former Harris aide. I think it is fair to ask whether even if weird wasn't quite right, Harris his instinct about how to approach Trump to make him seem small and a huckster wasn't closer to correct than the more self serious tone that may have made us sound too in defense of the status quo. Now in an interview with Politico himself, Walls slams the play it safe tactics which led them to position the campaign as if they were sitting on a big lead rather than desperately trying to pull off an upset. Quote, we shouldn't have been playing this thing so safe. I think we probably should have just rolled the dice and done the town halls where voters may say you're full of shit, I don't believe in you, walz continued. I think there could have been more of that. We as a party are more cautious and engaging the media, both mainstream and non traditional, Walz said. And during the 2024 campaign he said in football parlance we were in a prevent defense to not lose when we never had anything to lose because I don't think we were ever ahead. Now one thing you can say about Trump is he is happy to tell campaign consultants and other advisors to piss off. If he tests a line out on the campaign trail and it gets a big response, he goes with it. He's got a gut instinct about these things, yes, but he also buys much more into the wisdom of the crowd than what some focus group poll tested suit tells him he should be saying. Walz actually had a similar approach. He didn't just invent weird for the Kamala campaign, he had done a bunch of town halls. He talked to voters all around Minnesota and that was the Trump characterization that he found really worked. So he brought it to the national stage and it immediately hit Bernie actually has a similar approach he's not out there checking his lines over with a pollster. He's getting rock star receptions, leaning into the same message that has resonated with Americans he's spoken with for over 50 years now. It helps that they both seem like they actually believe in something too. There's new data that should further strengthen Democrats resolve to get rid of all of these arrogant, grifting, idiotic consultants who think that they know better. A recent Yale study found they literally don't. Random people do just as well predicting what political messages will resonate as do paid political professionals. These people, they are literally worthless. You would be just as well off to throw darts at a dartboard and pick your policies as to listen to these people. Now there are signs that Walz remains one of the Democratic Party leaders with the best instincts in the country. In a recent interview with Molly on fast, he told her that Democrats need to stop messing around with small ball and actually give voters real change they can sink their teeth into. Take a listen.
Unknown
Look, I hear the thing out there is, is that when we get back, which we will, we'll fight. I'll tell you what people are going to expect is they're not going to expect us to tinkle around the edge with the aca. They're going to expect universal health care. And if there's a lesson here, I always said this. We had a one vote majority in Minnesota. Minnesota when we moved clean energy, we moved reproductive rights, we moved a whole slew of progressive, very popular, including things around guns and gun safety, very popular things. We moved it with a one vote majority. And people ask, well, what do you call a one vote majority? A majority. Simple as that.
Sagar
Now if you need a demonstration of how popular that message is, how much energy there is behind it, just behold the response to an 83 year old Bernie Sanders who's been hosting overflow crowds on top of overflow crowds in Midwestern swing districts. It's actually insane. Biden's average crowd is pointed out here when he was president and running for reelection was 1300. Here is Bernie in Warren, Michigan on a random March day attracting more than 10,000 people. Now, as far as his 2028 plans goes, Walls is playing coy, keeping his options open. I think opening up about the Harris campaign's failures. Alberta, albeit in a diplomatic way, is definitely step one. Getting back out there on the road for town halls in districts where Republicans are too scared to show up is step two. And then we'll see. My man definitely doesn't need to work on his debate skills. But if he ditches the consultants, leans into his instincts to be visible and to be bold with his economic agenda, he might still yet be the future of the Democratic Party. And I mean this is the big thing for him is people are gonna be terrible.
Leah
And if you wanna hear my reaction to Crystal's monologue, become a Premium subscriber today at BreakingPoints.com thank you guys for watching. We appreciate you. We'll have a great show for everybody tomorrow and we'll see you later.
Unknown
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Episode Release Date: March 10, 2025
Title: Syrian Gov Massacres, GOP Civil War On Iran Deal, Columbia Protester Disappeared By ICE, Tim Walz Spills Tea On Kamala
Host: Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti
Platform: iHeartPodcasts
Timestamp: [02:05] - [06:43]
Krystal and Saagar delve into the escalating ethnic violence in Syria, highlighting the tragic rise of a radical Islamic government that has taken control. They discuss graphic footage of public executions and gunfire, drawing parallels to the atrocities committed by ISIS during their initial takeover. The hosts emphasize the significant loss of life, with over 1,000 reported deaths since Thursday, primarily targeting Syrian minorities such as Alawites, Christians, and Druze.
Notable Quote:
Krystal: "If we'd stayed out of this thing in the first place, we probably all would have been better off."
Saagar adds that the West's interventionist policies have only worsened the situation, turning Syria into a geopolitical playground for nations like the U.S., Israel, Iran, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia. This has led to an unprecedented influx of weapons, massive displacement, and one of the worst refugee crises in modern history.
Notable Quote:
Saagar: "HTS has publicly said, 'We're not gonna do anything to push back against Israel.'"
Timestamp: [06:43] - [21:51]
The conversation shifts to the internal conflicts within the GOP regarding the Iran nuclear deal. Krystal critiques the Biden administration's inability to re-engage with Iran, despite Iran's continued advancement of its nuclear program. She stresses that the original intent of the Iran deal was not achieved, as Iran's breakout time for nuclear weapons remains unchanged.
Notable Quote:
Krystal: "One of the worst possible outcomes... is that we could find ourselves in a major crisis over this issue."
Saagar echoes these concerns, pointing out the Trump administration's contradictory stance—expressing a desire for negotiation while maintaining an aggressive sanctions regime. He highlights Israel's vested interests in the region, benefiting from Iran's destabilization efforts and pushing forward its own expansionist goals.
Notable Quote:
Saagar: "They are doing that because they can, and no one will stop them."
The hosts discuss the broader implications of U.S. foreign policy failures, comparing the situations in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya. They argue that continuous intervention has led to chaos rather than stability, questioning the efficacy of neoconservative strategies.
Notable Quote:
Krystal: "If we'd stayed out of this thing in the first place, we probably all would have been better off."
Timestamp: [24:12] - [41:36]
Krystal and Saagar address the alarming case of Mahmoud Khalil, a green card holder and lead negotiator for pro-Palestine protesters at Columbia University, who was detained by DHS agents without a warrant. Despite his legal permanent resident status, Khalil has been effectively "disappeared," with no charges filed and his whereabouts unknown, causing distress to his pregnant wife and family.
Notable Quote:
Krystal: "This is the end result of the Bill Ackman faction joining the Republican Party."
The hosts criticize the Trump administration's broad executive orders targeting "Hamas sympathizers," emphasizing the lack of due process for green card holders compared to temporary visa holders. They highlight the hypocrisy in targeting individuals for peaceful protest, noting that similar actions against Israeli students or other international activists have not been forthcoming.
Notable Quote:
Saagar: "This is incredibly dystopian... authoritarian overreach."
Krystal points out that this crackdown is part of a larger pattern of government censorship and suppression of dissenting voices, particularly those critical of U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. She underscores the role of influential figures like Bill Ackman in pushing these aggressive deportation agendas.
Notable Quote:
Krystal: "If you support basic speech rights, you can see the way that this is an authoritarian overreach."
The discussion extends to the broader implications for academic institutions, with multiple universities under threat of losing federal funding due to perceived anti-Semitic or pro-Palestinian activities. Krystal and Saagar express deep concern over the erosion of First Amendment rights and the potential chilling effect on free speech within academic settings.
Notable Quote:
Krystal: "This is outrageous, and I hope people understand what the stakes are here."
Timestamp: [43:46] - [52:03]
In the final segment, Krystal and Saagar pivot to domestic politics, focusing on Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and his tumultuous relationship with Kamala Harris. They recount Walz's promising campaign as Kamala's running mate, characterized by his relatable Midwestern persona and progressive yet moderate policy proposals. However, internal conflicts and strategic missteps led to his eventual sidelining.
Notable Quote:
Krystal: "They might have thought a more self-serious tone would have aligned them better, but it backfired."
The hosts analyze the campaign's failure, attributing it to Harris's insecurity and the influence of ineffectual consultants who failed to harness Walz's genuine connection with voters. They highlight how attempts to suppress his authentic messaging in favor of a more controlled narrative resulted in a loss of momentum and public support.
Notable Quote:
Saagar: "You would be just as well off to throw darts at a dartboard and pick your policies as to listen to these people."
Krystal shares insights from Walz's recent interviews, where he criticizes the Democratic Party's cautious approach and advocates for bold, substantive policy changes. The conversation underscores the need for the party to prioritize authentic engagement over superficial campaign strategies to regain voter trust and achieve meaningful progress.
Notable Quote:
Saagar: "If he ditches the consultants, leans into his instincts to be visible and to be bold with his economic agenda, he might still yet be the future of the Democratic Party."
Krystal and Saagar conclude the episode by reiterating the critical nature of the issues discussed, emphasizing the need for accountability in both foreign and domestic policies. They call for listeners to stay informed and engaged, highlighting the importance of independent media in challenging established power structures and promoting transparent discourse.
Notable Quote:
Krystal: "We need your help to build the future of independent news media."
This summary encapsulates the critical discussions from the March 10, 2025, episode of "Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar," providing a comprehensive overview for those who haven't listened to the full episode.