Robert Evans (67:53)
All right, one, for the train fans in the audience, a section of railway that connects Warsaw to Lublin in southeastern Poland, which then connects onto Ukraine, was destroyed by an explosion earlier this week. Overhead cables further down the track were also damaged. This comes as drone incursions into European airspace continue. Donald Tusk, the Polish Prime Minister, called the act sabotage. And it seems extremely likely that he is correct about that. Right. I guess we haven't explicitly covered this on Ed very much, but there have been dozens of documented Russian operations in Europe since the expanded invasion of Ukraine that began in 2021. What's concerning to me about this is that Europe is responding to some of these by accusing Russia of trying to destabil polities by sending migrants there. It's likely true that Russia is messing with Migration flows. I mean, it is demonstrably true in some cases, right? Responding to this by hardening borders, deploying troops to borders, is not the solution to that problem. Europe's iron border kills more people than any other border. And hardening that border is only going to kill more people. Like, if you want to be the shining city on a hill. Right. If you want to be, I think that title is maybe up for grabs. If you want to be the place that stands out as like a safe place for democracy, you don't do that by killing migrants. And so Europe's response to this is extremely disappointing. Right. And I wanted to highlight that because I don't see that in the coverage. Yes, Russia escalating its meddling in Europe is extremely concerning. But like, if we accept that Russia is a, is a totalitarian state or going in that direction, then we should also therefore accept that people are going to want to leave that and many other states where they cannot have autonomy, where they cannot live healthy and full lives, and we should welcome them. Talking of people leaving places where they cannot have autonomy and have full and happy lives, let's talk about immigration in the United States. Very quickly, Border Patrol and Gregory Bevino have moved their internal enforcement Eye of Sauron to Charlotte, North Carolina. This seems in large part due to some racists on X.com demanding that they do so. I shouldn't say in large part. I guess in some part there has been video already showing Bovino participating in detentions at a Home Depot car park. I've said two words there, which of course one of my colleagues, a smirk, a giggle at me, stand by both of them. So yeah, it is in part right, due to x.com the everything website being a haven for racism. But I think it's also worth noting, In 2018, Democrat sheriffs in five North Carolina counties ran on the platform of not cooperating with ice. All of these, I believe, were black sheriffs. And ICE pushed back hard right? Including with a billboard campaign. Last year, the North Carolina Republican state legislature overrode a Veto to pass HB10, which required agencies to cooperate with ICE and honour their detainers. A detainer is basically when ICE is like, hey, you've arrested this person. We want you to hold them for a bit longer so we can come pick them up for ICE reasons. Since then, Meckleburg County Sheriff McFadden has claimed that ICE has failed to collect people on detainers 163 times. So this would be. They would normally have a 48 hour detainer right. They'd hold them 48 extra hours. I should come get. When they are held on the detainer, it is still the state that is responsible for them. It is the state that is paying for the cost of incarcerating that person. It is the state that is still incarcerating that person. Right. This has led, I guess to Republicans claiming that McFadden is ignoring his obligation under HB10. McFadden says he isn't. He is holding them for the duration of detainer but then releasing them when no one comes to get them.
