B (9:50)
That's great. Stay at an arm's distance. All right. That's a Utah Autobot auto body shop owner who says you guys broke the window to get in here. Where is your warrant? And the goons say, yes, we did. We don't need one. This is what's happening in America, folks. And we should all be saying hell no. Or it related over the weekend. You might have missed this, the least surprising news of the week. The New York Times reported that Border Patrol leader Greg Bevino mocked the Jewish faith of a U.S. attorney in Minnesota during a call with lawyers. Turns out the U.S. attorney is an orthodox Jewish person. And he of course mocked him because Bavino is a racist, anti Semitic Nazi who was leading the efforts until recently in Minnesota and beyond, has not been fired, has not been held accountable. But that should be the least surprising news of the week. Now some good news that also happened over the weekend, if you haven't heard. A judge on Saturday ordered the release of the five year old boy and his father. That was taken over a week ago. Images of Liam Ramos with the bunny hat and Spider man backpack set the world aflame with outrage. And he has finally been released. He is finally home. But also, why the hell have they been holding him all this time anyway? He never should have been detained. He never should have been sent to Texas in the first place. And I think this will go down as an epically Shameful abuse that disgraces all Americans. Young and brave. Liam will forever be the face of disgrace in these dark times. Now, the arc of the moral universe is long, and maybe one day it'll propel Liam himself all the way to Congress so this never happens again, ever. But related something I want to focus on that I don't think a lot of people are focused on. When Liam was released, everybody rushed to take their picture with him. Reporters, politicians, taking a picture with Liam like he's a giant photo op, including Ilhan Omar and Joaquin Castro, who allegedly was helpful in his release. And regardless, that's great that he's finally home and he never should have been taken. But can we please not turn a five year old into a photo op for politicians or anyone else? I think it would be infinitely better for him if we all never saw his face. This kid's privacy is forever compromised and he will never be truly safe. Neither will the rest of this country as long as ICE continues to rampage and expand. Undisciplined, unprofessional, un American, unacceptable. I will continue to underscore that the culture of ICE is rotten to the core. They're detaining citizens and cops and veterans and kids. And this is where we are, America. And remember, if they can do it to Liam Ramos, if they can do it to Alex Preddy, if they can do it to Renee Goode, they can do it to you. And if you're not angry, you're not paying attention. They are ripping and tearing our country apart every day, more and more by the day. But every day, more and more by the day, people are standing up tremendous protests in Minneapolis and all across America saying fuck no to ice. Fuck ice. Disband ice. Hell no to ice. It also dominated the Grammys last night. More on that coming up. But meanwhile, Trump is still waging the war on the free press. And I just want to underscore how effective he's been in some places. If you haven't been over to Elon's social media cesspool now known as X, you can see that just hate Nastiness and open threats are pretty common. I tweeted one or posted one over the weekend. I'm still over there trying to fight the good fight. But let me just give you an example of something that I get over. In Elon's wonderful place known as XNow used to be called Twitter, a guy named Tim Kramer, Kramer says, wrote, you're an idiot and I can't wait to meet you in the streets. Isn't that what you guys want? What's your address, sweetheart? Let's get this party kicked off. That was directed at me. And it's one of many. Just another threatening and hateful day over there at X Elon's. Lovely place. Really lovely place you got there, Elon. Putin's minions and his bots love it. They create friction and division all day and all night. And our enemies are celebrating because the war on the press continues. And there was a news story related to this from the Daily Mail over the weekend. Check out the headline. Trump's new media darlings who relished their Pentagon takeover now feel gagged by Pete Hegseth. You don't say. Turns out that some of the new arrivals, the propagandists, the propaganda press corps are complaining about a lack of access and almost zero reportable facts. Really welcome to the reality. Even Laura Loomer and the MyPillow Guys TV network are being sidelined. And of course, there are no Friday press briefings. We didn't get one of those on Friday. Even though the threat of the Insurrection act continues, even though the threat of attacks on Iran continue this stonewalling of the press after the arrest of Don Lemon, after the attacks on npr, after the attacks on Jimmy Kimmel have just continued. And I want to put this on your radar. Don't be surprised if ProPublica is next. Stay vigilant, folks. All right, an issue I want to talk about that I think is below the radar, but one that is critically important. We've talked about the Insurrection act on this show at length. We've gone deeper with Ruth Ben Giat, Asha Rangapa and others. And I encourage you to go back and to keep your eye on on this issue, because there's another piece of this that's unfolding constantly more and more. The New York Times had a feature story underscoring that the government is increasingly calling people terrorists. The headline from the New York Times says politicians are calling the protests in Minnesota an insurgency. And that is what they are using to label people who are protesting, who are recording ICE agents, who are speaking out and using their First Amendment rights. You'll remember they called Alex Preddy a domestic terrorist. They called Renee Good a domestic terrorist. Increasingly, Republicans have been using this language that is very, very dangerous. They talk about Representative Eli Crane, Republican of Arizona and a former Navy seal, said, quote, they want to fundamentally remake and tear down the institutions and the culture of this country. And he called the resistance in Minneapolis a, quote, communist insurrection. And he argued that Trump should use military power to reimpose order. They have continued to call protesters the slain domestic terrorists. And Trump even on Friday, was back to calling Alex Preddy a, quote, agitator and said he was probably an insurrectionist, using that language that characterizes his response to protests over and over again because he wants to use the Insurrection act. Remember that the 11th Airborne Corps in Alaska is still on standby. And if there is a bombing, if there's an escalation, if there's a protest that he can deem is out of control, he will pull that lever. He will invoke the Insurrection act against the wishes of the Governor Tim Walsh, against the wishes of the Mayor Tim Fry, and break dangerous new glass. The only thing that may be stopping Trump from doing that is the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Dan Kane. I watch this space, especially this week, and we will continue to cover it, because I will remind you, the most important story in the world is still that Trump can do anything he wants with the most powerful military the world has ever seen, and nothing is stopping him. And we must, especially on this issue, stay vigilant, America. All right, A lot of you have sent your best wishes for me and my voice. As you can see, it's still not 100%. That's in part because I continue to coach youth basketball, because it's been 10 below here for, like, six weeks, and because Trump continues to do outrageous shit that I must respond to. He continues to try to take over the Western Hemisphere and he continues to piss off our allies. So if you missed it, this weekend, there was something very significant related to Greenland and Denmark. Thousands of Danish veterans marched against Trump, quoting, saying that we fought side by side. There was a massive anti American gathering in Denmark. Veterans who went to war alongside US Troops like me took to the streets of Copenhagen. There were amputees, there were decorated veterans. One soldier, Lance Corporal Soren Teigen, was at the front of a group of veterans who had been bused in from all corners of Denmark for the latest demonstration of anti American anger. This is from the New York Times. After Trump's recent comments belittling the support of NATO allies, he said, quote, I don't blame American soldiers in any way. We've fought side by side, and we still do, said Lance Corporal Tegan. But when the president says something like this, of course it hurts. This is what Trump has done, folks. Our trusted allies, veterans, Gold Star families from Denmark and from around the world are now protesting against the President of the United States and his abominable disrespect. And appalling threats. We have to remind them Trump doesn't speak for most Americans, especially when it comes to our allies and the immeasurable contributions and sacrifices they've made. Trump does not speak for most American vets. I've sent a number of personal messages to our allies in Denmark and around the world, and I will continue to echo them. I'll be speaking to a group of Danish leaders here in New York in the days to come, and leaders from around the world, reminding them that our veterans appreciate, honor and salute their contributions and especially their sacrifices. Now, Putin is of course, loving this. Maybe he's going to sit with Trump at the Super Bowl. We will see. But Trump is all gas, no brakes. Nothing is slowing him down. It's something I emphasized last week, especially when I was on television, and I want to continue to emphasize that, that he continues to have forces arrayed across the Middle east and could hit Iran on any moment. Some good news related to the Middle East. Gaza crossing to Egypt has reopened in a step forward for the fragile ceasefire. The New York Times also had this Israel and Egypt has disagreed for months about how to resume operations on the Rafah border, which has largely been closed since May 24. But there is some hope there, there is some progress and there are some signs that things may at least temporarily stabilize a little bit more in the Middle East. But do not forget about the rampage that has continued across Iran and focused on the protesters in specific. And there's one case that I want to focus on that was reported over the weekend. There's news that former professional Iranian soccer player Mojtaba Tarshees was shot during protests in Iran. He is a very well known professional football player and he was sentenced to death in connection with the protests resulting in a brutal execution of an internationally known superstar. FIFA did not comment, but there will be continued reports that will filter out about this man and others who were brutally murdered, slaughtered under the Iranian regime, which continues to lob insults at Trump and Trump continues to threaten them, threatening to pave Iran. But watch this space, folks. I may have to come to you with an urgent episode if Trump decides to pull the trigger and bomb again on Iran. But I will remind you he has no support from Congress. He hasn't even asked them. And most of the American people do not support regime change, wars in Venezuela, in Iran, in Cuba or anywhere else. But they do support the brave people of Ukraine. And Ukraine is enduring its 1,440th day of Russia's full scale invasion. Just a couple of Quick stories. It continues to be brutally cold across Ukraine and especially in kyiv where now 80 buildings remain without heat. As many as 3400 buildings were initially without heat. The innovative and brave Ukrainians continue to try to find ways to get their infrastructure back in. Good going. It looks like at least for a day or two, the Russian attacks on infrastructure have paused. We will watch this space and continue. But there were other attacks in the oblast region that killed at least one and injured two. And an interesting story from the Kyiv Independent that underscores what the Ukrainians are having to do. And a bit of inspiration. I encourage you to go to the Kyiv Independent every day. There's an amazing story about how they're keeping a 51 year old guerrilla warm named Tony. There is a amazing zoo in Kiev and they have more than 2,000 animals of 321 species. Many of them are exotic. They have elephants and hippopotamus and brightly colored birds and primates like the beloved 51 year old gorilla named Tony. And the people of Ukraine are not only keeping their children safe, they are keeping their culture safe and they are keeping these important educational resources and, and they're animals safe. So check out the Kiva Independent for this story and so much others and so many others. All right. In politics, Trump is of course always about Trump. And over the weekend he announced he wants to build a 250 foot tall arch dwarfing the Lincoln Memorial. He wants to name it after himself and he says that other countries have gigantic arches and we should too. So of course he wants to create a gaudi and ugly and probably universally unpopular march. We will continue arch rather we will continue to follow that space. But speaking of marches, a reminder that 15,000 nurses in New York are still on strike. They've been on strike for three weeks protesting in the cold. There's said to be some progress emerging in negotiations. But the bottom line is these brave nurses are still on strike. They wanted a pay increase of 10%. The hospitals are pushing batch and not budging. But I think they need to give these nurses what they want, especially as the flu outbreaks continue and because of RFK Jr. We may have measles outbreaks and much worse. All right. In politics, some other important news over the weekend. There was a stunner in Texas. Democrat Taylor Remitt won a congressional district that Trump in a state where Trump had won by 17 points. And this is what's being called a wake up call for Republicans in Tarrant County, Texas Democrats say they were energized. Looks like Republicans maybe stayed home. He's only going to serve until January. He's an Air Force veteran, I think underscoring the popularity of veterans. He's a big union supporter. But this is a big upset for the Democrats and maybe a sign of how unpopular Republicans are. But Ross Hunt tweeted something and our friend Cody saw when down in Texas highlighted this for me that I want to, I want to also underscore for you. You Republicans did not lose to Texas runoff because of low GOP turnout. They lost it because almost all independents and some of the Republicans voted Democrat. Of those who voted in this runoff, 50% plus were GOP primary voters or GOP holders. Only 35% were Dems. So independents made up a significant percentage that swayed this election. If you can attract independence and move independence, you will win. And there's an increasing number of them, especially in places like Texas, time and time again, Independents are the difference makers. We are 45%. We are the difference. We are the future. Pay attention or lose. All right, related to that, tomorrow I am going to do a special online town hall at 3pm Eastern with our friends from Open primary. They've been doing a great series called the Primary Buzz and I will be online 3pm Feb. 3. Excuse me. With Senate candidate independent veteran Ty Pickens of Mississippi who you've heard on this show, and Todd Achilles of Idaho. He will join me. And groundbreaking, innovative godfather of the movement John Updike from open primaries. It will be linked in my bio. It is completely free if you can break away from work or you're off of work or you can play some hooky. February 3, 3pm A primary buzz conversation and the headline is perfect. It says independents are surging and independent veterans are spoiling for a fight. If you listen to this show, you know that we are the people's champions and we are not just moving the needle, we are the needle. Watch this space and join me tomorrow if you can. And know that I will have more independent candidates on the show in the days to come. And it looks like I know I gave you a pump fake last week. It looks like Jesse Ventura may join us this week. I'm working with Jesse's team. He's very busy and he hasn't talked to many media, but I hope he'll join me. If not tomorrow, maybe Wednesday. If not sometime soon. Watch this space. Okay folks, as you can hear, my voice is not great, but last night, the Grammys, you heard lots of great voices and you heard them speak out loudly, especially on ice. And Trump. I think this might be one of the most important stories for the weekend. The Grammys were dominated by protests, dominated by artists speaking out. I think finally the seal on Trump seems to be broken and artists are speaking out, led by Bad Bunny, the brilliant, fantastic, universally popular artist from Puerto Rico, who will also be the halftime show at the super bowl this weekend. Check out this message from Bad Bunny.
