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Awesome player and so far been an awesome coach. I finished the weekend 5 for 5. Ron fell to 3 and 2. He was a very funny and fiery guest on Friday. No guest today. That means just me at quarterback. So I'm going to try to take you through it because this feels like the playoffs of politics and life as we go into a wild and weird January. Now is most definitely a time to stay vigilant. Now this show continues to surge and I want to thank all of you for supporting us, especially the old timers. The folks are plank owners have been down from the beginning and welcome to to all the newcomers. As I mentioned, on Friday we hit number 36 on the Apple Podcast news charts and I hope we can keep that up. I think it shows that people want the kind of information, integrity, inspiration and impact that we've been bringing for years on this show and especially now. And I'm not pulling punches and I want to keep you on not just what's happening now, but what's happening next. And there is one central top topic as we go into this Monday. Just. Renee Goode was murdered. ICE Officer Jonathan Ross called Renee Goode a fucking bitch and murdered her. We need to put him on Trial. We need to put Kirsty Noem on trial. We need to put ICE on trial because Renee Goode was clearly murdered. And the whole world can see it very clearly now. We can all see it. We all saw the video circulating of the incident. And in the video, Goode can be heard saying, that's fine, dude. I'm not mad at you. She said that it's fine, dude. I'm not mad at you. Another ICE agent approaches the car and says, get out of the car. Get out of the fucking car. She puts the car in reverse, turns the steering wheel, someone yelling out, drive. She pulls forward, and the officer filming can be heard yelling, oh. As several shots are fired. And he says, fucking bitch. As the car drives off and crashes down the block. I've been on checkpoints. I've had a rifle in my hand. I've managed checkpoints with other young men on checkpoints with rifles in their hand when cars are coming toward us, when cars are going past us, I've run them. I've been the officer in charge. And it is very, very hard. You make very, very tough decisions. And we made mistakes when I was in Iraq, but we never made one like that. And if we did, we'd probably be on trial, we'd probably be in jail. But one thing is for sure, even on the battlefields of Iraq, we would never leave a person to bleed out and die. We wouldn't even leave an enemy to leave to bleed out and die because it's against the laws of war. It's against the good Golden Rule. It's against human nature, but it is against the laws of war. But this isn't war. But it seems like they want it to be. She had no weapon. And I don't want to hear about the car being a weapon, because that officer was out of control. He was unprofessional, and he should stand trial. And we, as Americans should. Should stand for nothing less. Now we're learning that this ICE agent who fatally shot the woman in Minneapolis was dragged by a car in an earlier incident. The agent, Jonathan Ross, was apparently injured by a fleeing driver during an arrest, according to court records. Now, that's important, because anyone who has experienced a trauma like that needs care. It needs mental health support, and like any other law enforcement professional, should be evaluated and cleared before he's sent back in the field. Was he? We deserve to know. Rachel Good's family deserves to know. America deserves to know. Because it's clear that the systems at ice, the construction of ice, the leadership at ICE the discipline at ICE is failing. And maybe, probably Jonathan Ross shouldn't have been on the job, and he shouldn't have been on that job. And it wasn't just him that failed. It was a system that allowed him to be there that failed. So put him on trial. Put ICE on trial. Put Kristi Noem on trial. This is a land where law is supposed to be the rule. This is supposed to be America, the place where the rule of law matters. And we have to stop it from happening again. We have to stop it from happening more. We have to stop ICE because it was only a matter of time. ICE is too combative, too aggressive, too unaccountable, too undisciplined, too everywhere. I've run checkpoints, I've had a weapon in my hand. This did not have to happen. And it's a terrible tipping point that Trump has sent us careening toward months ago, and now our country has hit it, and he, as the commander in chief, most of all, is responsible. That was murder. It's what wrong looks like. And the response from Trump and Noel and Vance is also what wrong looks like. Noem said that Good refused to obey orders and get out of her car. She said, quote, weaponized her vehicle and attempted to run over an officer. And then they pushed a claim that Good was participating in domestic terrorism. They called her a domestic terrorist. That is what wrong looks like. This is what right looks like. The statement from Renee Good's wife, Becca Good. She spoke. She handed a statement to npr, Minnesota Public Radio, and I'll read it to you. She said, Renee leaves behind three extraordinary children. The youngest is just six years old and already lost his father. I am now left to raise our son and to continue teaching him as Renee believed, that there are people building a better world for him, that the people who did this had fear and anger in their hearts and we need to show them a better way. That's Becca Goode, the wife of Renee Goode. And a good statement. That is what right sounds like. ICE is what wrong looks like. And it's bad and it's gonna get worse. And I wanna focus on one element in particular. Veterans are being targeted for recruiting by ice. Many veterans are a part of ice, and I will argue that veterans can hold the line. We veterans can push for higher standards. Ice employs over 7,500 veterans, and roughly one third of its total force is made up of veterans and members in the Reserve and National Guard. Shout out to Kristen Rouse and the True Boots substack, which highlighted this. And there's a federal hiring preference for veterans and a $50,000 signing bonus. They newly restricted. They newly lifted the restrictions on age. And they have a highly patriotic branding. ICE is targeted to appeal to a broad swath of military reservists and veterans. If you're a veteran like me, you're getting targeted in your social media with ICE recruiting ads featuring Kristi Noem with the baseball cap and all that shit. If you're not a veteran, you might not see it. Important to note that ICE has expanded their force by 120% in less than a year, with hastily trained recruits flying out in the field as young as 18 years old. And the training has been adjusted for new recruits, dropped from 13 weeks to six weeks. And a lot of the recruits, some of the recruits at least, are struggling to pass a written test that addresses the legality of raids and arrests. They are lowering the standards. They are accelerating the deployment. This is what wrong looks like. You cannot cut corners when it comes to employing people who have guns standing across from civilians. And they're planning a $100 million wartime recruitment push targeting gun shows and military fans for hires. It's a dumb, reckless, dangerous, undisciplined machine. That's what ICE is. And now it's being supersized. And so are the protests. At least 30 people were detained, incited and released during the protests in Minneapolis. And more protests are continuing across Minneapolis and across the country. And Trump is going to send in more agents and he's going to drive up the heat because it's always been about more power and he will use more power to get more power. That's the plan. He's going to try to send in more National Guard. He'll threaten and maybe send in federal troops. And maybe not just in Minneapolis, where Governor Walsh opposes him and ICE and the sending of the Guard, but in other blue states where protests are going to escalate over the next week and in days to come, and in red states where protests could also happen and the Republican governors would welcome him. I'm talking about states like Texas with radical Governor Greg Abbott, or in Arkansas, where radical Sarah Huckabee Sanders is still governor but been kind of quiet lately. But they are unlikely to stay quiet because they're part of the plan. And there is a plan, one I've been highlighting for months on this show and in media interviews and to anyone who will listen. What Trump's doing is dangerous, outrageous, extreme, violent, but it's not crazy. It's calculated. It's part of the plan. It is a plan. And this whole engagement in Minneapolis is the latest phase of that plan. They can kill you and justify it by labeling you as a domestic terrorist. Think about that. This is not America. And we should all be saying, hell fucking no. Masked guys who are unidentified ripping people out of their cars, labeling people domestic terrorists. Hell fucking no. They can do it to Renee Good. They can do it to anyone. They can do it to you. They can do it to your wife or husband. They can do it to your mom. They can do it to your neighbor. They can do it to your child. They called for the killing of Senator Mark Kelly, Senator Slotkin and others sick their minions after them. They just didn't hang them or kill them. But they tried to hang and kill Mike Pence and Nancy Pelosi and they sick crazies after Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitman and after Paul Pelosi. And they tried to make January 6th insurrectionist Ashley Babbitt a hero. And they're trying to make Renee Good a terrorist. They murdered Renee Nicole Good. And they can murder you and justify it by labeling you a domestic terrorist. This is not America. We can't let him do it. The most important story in the world is that Donald Trump can do anything he wants with the most powerful military the world has ever seen. And ICE is an extension of that military. And he's on plan. I told you eight countries. Somalia, Iraq, Yemen, Iran, maybe Iran again, the Caribbean, Syria, Nigeria, Venezuela, maybe Venezuela again. And there was the revelation about the Navy SEAL operation in North Korea in 2019 and the unprecedented domestic deployments that I've talked about, Arizona, New Mexico and others. And Minneapolis is now in the crosshairs and mom Donnie is now mayor of New York City. And Kristi Noem came here to New York City last week and Pete Hegseth was doing push ups with ROTC candidates at UCLA in Los Angeles over the weekend. And Trump has said Cuba, Colombia, Greenland are next. And he said he might strike Iran again this week. You should believe him because he's on plan and this murder and the national and international response aren't stopping him. He told the New York Times that last week. He is so confident and so cocky that he's doing interviews with the New York Times and other media. He's trashed and called liberal for years because he's bragging. He wants to dunk on the liberals. He wants to do a victory lap after Maduro, he wants to telegraph his next punches and he wants credit. And ICE is an extension of his power and an extension of the military it isn't an extension of his military thinking, but it just isn't accountable to the same rules or to our families like our military is. ICE is an extension of his power and his plan, which continues to unfold and has been incredibly effective and increasingly effective in dismantling the Fourth Estate. While this is all happening, he's continuing to rip the media down piece by piece and replacing it with his propaganda machine. PBS is out. Laura Looma is in. CBS gets ripped down and brought back in zombie form, just like how Twitter became X not overnight, but piece by piece, changing the rules and the messages, but keeping much of the audience turning up the water, gradually boiling the frog slowly so he doesn't jump out. That's the media audience. That's all of us who are still watching CBS or using X or seeing the things that come out of it. But make no mistake, the plan is working. This week, they killed the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and they're killing and have already killed lots of local journalism. The latest casualty is the Pittsburgh Gazette that died this week. That's another win on the scoreboard for Trump and the march toward fascism. And Kamala Harris and the Dems were brave and right to use the word fascism in the campaign. But after getting their asses kicked, they seem scared to say it now. Scared and calculating and late, as Democrats often are. So a reminder, the Democrats won't save us, the Democrats won't save you, and they won't stop Trump. They can't even slow him down. So the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the Pittsburgh Gazette are the latest heads on a spike for Trump, the latest casualties in the fight for the soul of America, another loss for truth and democracy. And I'm going to be keeping score, and so should you. Because the most important story in the world is Trump can do whatever he wants with the most powerful military the world has ever seen. And that's why he nominated Hegseth first. That's why he installed that radical as the Secretary of Culture. War. And after he got him established, it's why they took out the Pentagon press corps first and replaced it with the Pentagon propaganda corps just in time for more war and more forever war, as we predicted, as I warn, and is now in place. Ap, New York Times, npr, even CNN and FOX no longer have access to the Pentagon. But Laura Loomer and the MyPillow Guys TV network do. See, that's how fascism works. Yeah, it might be bad for some people, but it's really good for you. Yeah, some liberties will be lost, but you Laura Loomer, you my pillow guy. You'll be famous. You get to be inside the Pentagon and see and do all kinds of cool shit and you'll get very rich. Very, very rich. And that has already happened. It's done. And every week we see the impacts. Another example of his plan taking shape continued on Friday when we saw that yet again, there was no Friday Pentagon press corps briefing. Dan Lamoth, our friend at the Washington Post, has been on the show continues to highlight this every Friday. So concludes another week with no routine press briefing at the Pentagon. The last on camera briefing was held with the new this is Dan's word new right wing press corps more than a month ago on December 2. The press space has been mostly vacant since the traditional press corps departed in October. They're not even doing press conferences with their propaganda press corps. So just another Friday from the least transparent Pentagon and Secretary of Defense in modern history. They're too busy attacking Senator Mark Kelly and women in combat roles to do things like provide a briefing to the public and military families on the status of the seven troops wounded in the Venezuela operation. This is not normal and should never be acceptable. And let's talk about CBS and what a huge win it is for Trump. I'm not a fan of cbs. CBS is dying before our eyes, just like Twitter did before. And the both sidesism is nonsense. Tony Copley, their new anchor, who's getting a lot of heat. And here's what I'll say. Listening to him is like listening to a propaganda AI. Now let's talk about the opposite. Good news. But unfortunately, another win for Trump. He's got one of the major networks. Think about it. He's got abc, NBC, cbs. He's got one out of the three. And he's already got fox, and he's built Newsmax OWN and a vast network of Tucker Carlson and Megan Kelly and a powerful and growing ecosystem of talk radio and podcasts, Podcasts, which are like the new talk radio for the right, especially for Trump and the right wing. And he's taking pieces off his enemies daily and he's taking heads weekly. And he got another big one this week, a really important one. Due to federal budget cuts, PBS NewsHour and PBS News had to make the difficult decision to rework their staffing and programming. And this Sunday, PBS NewsHour signed off the air. PBS NewsHour, a tremendous loss for our country and our democracy. I think there's no finer News program than NewsHour. It's like the healthy vegetables of news media. It's not the most exciting stuff in the world, but it's the most important and it's the most well done. And it's another nutritious item in our national diet that has now been bluntly eliminated by the Trump administration. Democracy dies one cut at a time. And this is another slice off the health of our nation. And all this time, China, China, China is patiently waiting and planning and building and waiting and waiting, watching America and Russia drain and overextend our resources and destroy our own global, global standing. Brand and trust. China won 2025. They were the big winner in 2025, and China is already winning 2026. The Institute for the Study of War. I recommend you follow them everywhere. On social media, they noted that the PRC is using the capture of Maduro to portray the US Negatively and present itself as a responsible actor in the leader of the global south. China is celebrating. Our enemies are celebrating. Democracy dies one slice at a time. And all these pieces are slices off the health of our nation. And no one is stopping it or at least slowing it down. Democracy dies one cut at a time. And these are all big slices off the health of our nation. And to stop it or at least slow it down, we gotta be strategic and pick our spots. And stopping ice is a spot to pick. Democracy dies in darkness. And now that this machine is out in the open and on tape, we gotta take it on hard. He called Renee Goode a fucking bitch and murdered her. Put him on trial. Put ice on trial. Put Kristi Noem on trial. Call them out, slow them down. Tell the truth. Show the truth. Show the videos. Show them to others who need to understand, continue to shoot more videos. If you're out there, every time they are operating, shoot video, document it for the country to see and for the world to see, because the world is watching and they're concerned that Trump is going to shut out the lights and the Internet in America like they threatened to do in Iran, like they did in Caracas. But in Iran, guess who's swooping in to help? Elon Musk is offering Starlink to keep the Internet up, to keep the oxygen of info flowing. But on his platform and under his control, which he can shut off like he did on Ukraine. But just like the brave people of Iran, we have to keep showing the truth to the world. It would be a mistake to think that if it gets too big and too out of control, that Trump will not shut out the lights and Internet here, just like he did in Caracas, Venezuela, earlier this month when he snatched Maduro Just like Putin tries to do on Ukraine every day. And right now, Trump will try to stop the spread of truth, because that is his ultimate enemy. And he'll try to use the military. And if he can, he'll use ice. So take their budget, peacefully, protest them, shame them, make it embarrassing for people and their families to be associated with ice. Yes, there's a massive pool of recruits who want power, the mission and the 50k signing bonus or just need a job, but we can shrink that pool. You can give them a job somewhere else and make them afraid of being exposed and afraid to act, kind of like unfortunately. And in contrast, how many cops felt after George Floyd. That's where the left messed up de Blasio and now Mamdani make real cops feel like leaders don't have their back. So cops ease off and bad guys do get bolder and problems get worse. That element is real, especially in places like here in New York City. That's why the left, especially the far left, in my view, is part of the problems, too. The defund. The police folks have made an impact for the worse. But cops are really important here because cops know that ICE is giving them a bad name. And the cops and the military, most of them are our allies. Most of them are not bad. Most of them are patriotic and want to do good and serve. And we need to tell them that, build allies within and welcome them into our movement to. To push back on Trump when and how they can, because we need them to hold the line, especially on ice and especially if the illegal orders come. When that true crossroads comes, when Trump tries to invoke martial law and send more troops into more American cities to crack skulls like ICE did and is doing in Minneapolis, that that moment is when we will need them to stand up and resist unlawful orders. That's the big moment. We need them to be the circuit breaker on Trump's plan to fully take out our democracy. And that will be the moment they've been building toward since January 6th. That will be the moment the American insurgency that Trump has created will hit its crescendo. And if he stays on plan, that moment is coming. And don't forget, he could always try to invoke martial law and the Insurrection Act. He has the plans. It was delivered to him many months ago by Hegseth and Gabbard. He has the plans. He thinks he has the authority. He doesn't want free and fair elections next year, that's for damn sure. Because he knows if they happen, he could lose. And he knows if he loses, the opposition will impeach him and hold him accountable and put him in jail where he belongs, where he should have been last time. So this battlefield for the soul and the future of our American democracy continues to change and evolve. And ICE needs to be our focus now. He called Renee Goode a fucking bitch and murdered her. Put Jonathan Ross on trial. He must be held accountable. Put Kristi Noem on trial. She must be held accountable. Put ICE on trial. They must be held accountable. Either you're with America or you're against us. And until it changes, sure feels like ICE is against us. Don't lose your focus. If he hits Venezuela again or he lob strikes in Iran or he strikes Cuba or he puts troops in Greenland, stay focused because this has to be a priority. Stay focused and stay frosty. And always, and especially now, stay vigilant. All right, I'm going to keep bringing it. America is incredibly divided, but on this show and all across America, independents and conscientious Americans are working to change that. And I am trying to add light and inspiration and unity and impact to contrast all the heat and all the nasty toxicity. So if you're among the 50% of Americans who are independent, unaffiliated, especially, this is your show. But all are welcome here because what we're talking about here is the hope for the future. People who care about country over party, people over politics, light over heat, challenging the status quo and challenging this president and challenging this government as good Americans should. And our movement is growing and providing the hope that is the oxygen of democracy. And that's the spirit of Renee Goode, the hope that can be the oxygen of democracy. That's what her legacy should be. I hope you enjoyed this episode and all the episodes we've been putting out recently. If you didn't check our episode on Friday with Ron Perlman, please go back and check it out and share them all far and wide as this show and this movement and speaking truth to power continues to spread. Invite others to declare their independence and stay vigilant, my friends, because eternal vigilance is the price of freedom. And no, you're not alone in your vigilance. Especially now, we are all vigilant. And especially now, we are all in this together. I'm your host, Paul Rykoff. Thank you for tuning in to independent Americans. Don't let the bastards get you down this week. Look for the helpers, look out for each other and stay vigilant. America, especially this week. Powered by Righteous Media.
