← Real America’s Voice
Real America’s Voice
Just the News No Noise with John Solomon and Amanda Head, March 12th, 2026
00:51:58
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Amanda Head
This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.
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- [00:56]
Amanda Head
Welcome everybody to the Thursday edition of Just the News. No noise. I'm your host, Amanda Head. My co host and Just the News editor in chief John Solomon is out on assignment tonight, so I'm going to be taking you through tonight's show solo. But I want to start with an important observation tonight and that is the rise of radical Islamic attacks. And I think the reason that they are happening is connected to one issue that is driving a lot of the news cycle right now. Now, no doubt we are seeing these attacks because of the strikes against Iran which have decimated the Islamic Republic' but here's another reason, and I think the reason is behind a lot of our country's problems right now, not just this one. A lot of us in politics and in the media refuse to tell the truth. And the truth is even even as the Trump administration makes great strides against it, we are not in a post woke America. Critical race theory unfortunately still dominates a good amount of the country's most prestigious institutions as well as continuing to completely ideologically capture one of our two biggest political part. I'm of course talking about the Democrat Party, so that leads to about half of the country living an entirely different reality than the other. And then when you include all of the special interests and the dark money in our political system to exploit different narratives for of course, nefarious purposes. While you obviously have a recipe for disaster. Now, case in point, the two attacks that we witnessed today. First at Old Dominion University where a gunman opened fire and killed one person, as well as wounding two others, the gunman was also killed. The shooter was identified as Mohammad Jalal, who is who in 2016 was arrested because he attempted to provide material support for isis, a charge that he pled guilty to. Now he was given 11 years in prison and was released in 2024. He was a former member of the Army National Guard. And in today's attack he targeted an ROTC class at Old Dominion University. And we also saw an attack on a Jewish synagogue in in Michigan. At this hour, the attacker still hasn't been identified and the motive is unknown, but I think it's probably safe to assume that this was connected to anti Semitism of some kind. And we are hearing reports that the vehicle used in the attack was registered to a naturalized US citizen originally from Lebanon, who now lives in. Yes, Dearborn, Michigan. So why are these heinous attacks still happening here in America? Well, let me answer that by showing you how the mainstream media covered another attempted Islam terror attack, this time in New York City just a few days ago. I'm sure you all are aware of it by now. We talked about it on this show. Two Muslim teens went into the city and threw two improvised explosives at peaceful anti Muslim protesters. And thank God those explosives did not work. However, in the aftermath, the teens freely admitted to the police that they were inspired by isis. And ironically enough, one of the teens threw the bomb over the head of a leftist bomb protesters saying, we should welcome everyone into New York City. You really can't make this stuff up. But here is how the mainstream media covered it. First, from the New York Times, their headline read, smoking Jars of Metal and Fuses thrown at protest near Mayor's House. Now does that encapsulate anything true about the story or is it supposed to make you think that Mayor Mamdani was a victim of an attack now, while also shielding the Muslim attackers themselves by calling the bombs Smoking jars of metal and fuses? The more you look at the headline, the more bizarre it gets. And Politico ran with this headline. A Bomb thrown outside Gracie Mansion Unearths Grim Reality for NYC Mayor. That certainly gives the impression that Mayor Mamdani was the target and the victim. And in the case of cnn, they just outright said it on air, as Abby Phillips did a few nights ago.
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Colonel Laurie Buckhout
Two Republicans say Muslims don't belong here
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Jennifer Runyon
after an attempted terror attack against New York's Mayor Zoran Mamdani. And the House Speaker Mike Johnson says
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Colonel Laurie Buckhout
nothing really to condemn those comments.
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Amanda Head
Now Phillips did retract those comments, but at that point the damage was already done. So why are we seeing the media twisting themselves in knots over these attacks? It is because, as I said at the start of the show, they do not want to tell the truth or even ask the right questions. Like why are all of these attackers seemingly naturalized U.S. citizens and why were they let into the country in the first place? It's the same issue that we are seeing with the Save America Act. We are not being told the truth about why it isn't getting passed. When the vast majority of Americans support voter id, why would we essentially allow non citizens to vote. It makes absolutely no sense. Unless, of course, you've been captured by WOKE ideology that blames America for every evil in the world, like a lot of our Democrat friends do, or the special interest and the dark money doesn't want it, which you are seeing that as well. And all of this would go away if the people in our most important institutions just told you the truth. Why don't they want voter id? Why don't they want people who hate the country immigrating into it? Why? Why would we want them voting? And we sadly just are not getting the truth from them. All right, with that, let's turn to our first guest. He ran the FBI's Special Events Unit in New York City. He's also a former Navy seal, an air marshal, and he is our good friend, Jonathan Gilliam. Jonathan, great to see you.
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Jonathan Gilliam
Good to be with you, Amanda.
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Amanda Head
Jonathan, from a law enforcement perspective, we see what's happening across this country. Thank God that synagogue had its own private security. But it begs the question, does everywhere need private security now? Because with, with the sentiment that we have seen towards law enforcement, especially under Joe Biden, hating on cops, we saw it under Obama too, but most recently under Biden, it begs the question, are enough law enforcement agents in this country in any capacity to protect us, or do we all need private security?
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Jonathan Gilliam
Well, you're your best first responder. I mean, that's the reality. Your awareness and how you look at yourself from the attacker's point of view is the most important thing that you can do. And unfortunately, that's not what most people do. They do not see themselves in any light except for what's important for the day or what the next thing is that they want that's right in front of them. So my company, you know, we do crisis management. This is what we do. We work with, with different clients. And we, we don't just do security for them. We try to teach them how to look at themselves from the attacker's point of view. And I think in Michigan, we saw what happens when you have security that forward thinks, their vulnerabilities and the avenues of approach and the types of attacks that could happen and when and where it could happen. And they were able to thwart that. They should have had some type of a barrier up there for sure that wouldn't allow the car to come in there. A lot of those barriers are not expensive. You just park a car there in the front and it would probably keep somebody from driving in. But nonetheless, they were able to stop that attack because they Understood the who, why, when, where and how that attack can happen. So the answer your question is no. We cannot all afford a, a bodyguards or security. And not all police can be everywhere at one time. You are your greatest first responders. And if the American citizenry learn that and learn the place that law enforcement has in their life and in the case of an issue, they will be much safer and much less paranoid. But as we see, you know, the Democrats want to tear down ICE and they want to defund police. And so we're kind of a weird place in our country where the people are unaware and law enforcement is decimated. So we're in just in a bad place.
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Amanda Head
Yeah, we really are. It's a perfect storm of bad circumstances led by bad policy. I want to ask you just some practical knowledge and practical advice because for a lot of the American people, you know, we don't want to go out to a concert or, you know, God forbid, our kids school anywhere and be a target. So outside of, you know, what weapons we can carry, because obviously that varies by jurisdiction, but outside of the weapons we can carry and keeping our head on a swivel, how do we not become a target, like to, to a perpetrator, to a potential perpetrator, how do we not look weak and like we are a soft target?
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Jonathan Gilliam
Well, first of all, the society you live in, they exude that. I mean, look at Israel. They exude that they're a powerful target. And the really, the only way that they've been terrorists, have been successful at hitting them has been through lobbing rockets or missiles into their communities. But from just an attacker's point of view, they're very hardened target. And the attackers know that in the United States, not quite that way. So that's the first perception. And they say perception is reality. And attackers see that, they study this. And so really the biggest things we can do in this country is learn the what if game, which is, if I was going to attack me, where I'm going, where I work, where I eat, where I sleep, where my kids go, where I go to church, school, if, if you think, if I was going to attack that, who would attack it, why would they attack it, and when and where are the best times to attack? Once you kind of figure that out, you'll then figure out the type of attack and the avenue of approach that they can use. And then you just simply, if you can do something about eliminating those vulnerabilities or mitigating them, then you do that. But if you can't, for instance, if you're going to go to a concert, well, I would arrive early or, or late. And then I would leave early or leave late. I wouldn't leave. I wouldn't come in when everybody does. And I wouldn't leave when everybody does. And then I would have a plan again. Who, why, when, where and how an attack happened. And then you come up with a, an understanding of if you can escape, escape. If you can hide, hide, but continue to look for cover and concealment to get out of there. But if you have to fight, then you must commit to that fight long before that can happen. So if you think like this, you will walk into every situation prepared. And it's really not rocket science. Look at the people who've attacked over the past three days in this country. Obviously not rocket scientists. So if they can figure it out, you can figure it out. And then you avoid those areas. You mitigate the issues, or you just come up with a plan of action in case something happens.
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Colonel Laurie Buckhout
Yeah.
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Amanda Head
All right, I want to pick your FBI brain. I, I feel like it is foolish to think that there are not sleeper cells in this country after we witness the wide open border under Joe Biden. So let's just start from the reality that there are these sleeper cells in this country. Have they been activated by what we are seeing between the United States and Israel with Iran? And if so, is the FBI. I know the FBI is capable. Do they have the size and the resources to stay on top of all of these suspicions and make sure that these sleeper cells do not successfully carry out attacks?
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Jonathan Gilliam
So I think right now what we're looking at is basically three different possibilities. Sleeper cells which are here, have planned attacks, have the support of, for instance, the Iranian regime, who is now gone. But they could have still, they could still have that support behind them because I do believe the Iranian intelligence agency is still running the majority of these things that are happening and they're all over the world. So sleeper sales potential for that. You have people who are inspired but aren't really a part of a sleeper cell. They're, they're from here or they were naturalized here or they came over illegal, but they're not part of a, of an actual cell. And then you have leftists. And this is an important part of this is that the leftist, this is a red green alliance. And the left, or communism, Marxism, socialism, and the, and the, the Islamic fundamentalist. Those individuals work together. Historically, they do work together. They share tactics, techniques and procedures. They, they share propaganda and subversive information. And so they, that's why you see over the past couple of years, you've seen the left using the same verbiage, supporting the same issues. Even though I ran doesn't support gay marriage, for instance, they would go out there and be a part of Gays for Palestine and push that propaganda. So there's, there's this bleed over of these groups. So that is very important for us to realize that. Is there a potential for sleeper sales? Absolutely. I believe that there probably are here. Whether or not they go forward with some of their plans now that the regime has kind of been decimated. It's all in their motivation and their ability to still function. And so we need to concentrate on that. That's where I think the FBI can really concentrate on stuff. As for these individuals that may be inspired, Islam is the greatest ally in that. And if they see something that is odd in their community, they should turn them in and then probably not likely to happen, but that's how you would solve that problem. And then lastly, the leftist, I think that people in their lives, they should be turning these people in. The two people who got into it and got killed with ice up in Minneapolis, both of their families said that they knew something was wrong. They should have been telling law enforcement.
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Amanda Head
Yeah, incredible. Jonathan, before I let you go, we reported on this at just the news this week. We now know that there were four consecutive investigations at the FBI. There was Crossfire Hurricane, of course, and then Plasmic Echo, Round river and Arctic Frost. These investigations by Biden's FBI. Well, and frankly, Obama's holdovers from Obama's FBI were targeting effectively Trump supporters, the American right, however you want to word it, I have no doubt that some of those people involved in those investigations, they must still be at the FBI. A lot of them are career officials. How do you root them out?
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Jonathan Gilliam
Well, let me tell you something. Many of those people, I would say the vast majority of the executives that took part in all of that and that targeted President Trump and did all these things which I believe are criminal in nature. They were actually in the FBI during the Trump administration, during the first Trump administration. Right. So even, even President Trump and Christopher Wray, who was a mistake, did not get rid of these people. And so many of them are still there. And you know what? They're going to still be there if we don't get rid of them. And so I've said on this program before, there needs to be a justice czar just like you have Tom Holman, who does an amazing job with the border there, needs to Be a justice czar that is working to look for these people to put together a similarities in each agency and then individual people that and practices in each agency. So shared practices and individual practices depending on the agencies. And then they need to start looking for ways to, to identify them, charge them if possible and then fire them if it's not possible. And that is the only way on a, in a grand broad stroke that we're going to be able to get rid of these people and fix these bureaus and these agencies. Otherwise if we lose in 2026, this year, the Congress or, or the Senate, we're, it's big, big trouble. And then if, if we don't win in, in, in three years for the presidency, it's game over. Those people just come out of their roach beds and then take over again.
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Amanda Head
Investigate the investigators and if they unlawfully and politically targeted Americans, they have to go.
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Jonathan Gilliam
I love the idea of a one, one thing. Everything we do in the Bureau is watched. Everything. So it would not be difficult in all these agencies, it would not be difficult to find these people.
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Amanda Head
That's a great point. Absolutely great point. There's no excuse, basically. Jonathan Gilliam, former FBI agent, Navy SEAL and air Marshal, also the author of the book Sheep no More. Thanks so much for being with us tonight, Jonathan. All right, everybody. Coming up next, national security remains a top priority after reports earlier today of an attack at a synagogue in Michigan. And meanwhile, the new Iranian supreme Leader continues to escalate the war. That and much more coming up next.
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- [19:05]
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Amanda Head
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- [19:48]
Colonel Laurie Buckhout
Whenever you need help, it's ready before
- [19:50]
Amanda Head
your stay, through the moments in between and after your trip. Because a great trip starts with peace of mind and maybe a good playlist, but we've got the peace of mind part covered. Welcome back, everybody, to just the news. No noise. The war in Iran continues to escalate as the new Iranian supreme leader calls for unity from surrounding Islamic states and continues to attack those same countries. He also suggests that all US Military bases in the region could be attacked if they are not closed. So what is next? Joining us to discuss this and more is retired army corner colonel, decorated combat commander, and former assistant secretary of War for cyber policy. She's also running for Congress in North Carolina, Colonel Laurie Buckow. Colonel, thanks so much for being with us.
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Colonel Laurie Buckhout
Amanda, great to see you. Thank you so much. Obviously, I'm coming to you from a car on the campaign trail, so we never stop. But thank you for letting me come on tonight.
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Amanda Head
I love it and we will absolutely talk about your campaign. But I want to get to something that you were mentioning before we came into this segment, and that is the belligerence of the Iranian regime. I think that a lot of folks have a tendency to underestimate them, especially when you compare that to the might of the United States, the mighty United States that has practically every resource available to it, including humans. But you look at, I mean, they are not backing down, and it does seem quite recalcitrant.
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Colonel Laurie Buckhout
You know, the big difference between the two is that we kind of operate on a moral framework. We value human life. We value the lives of our sons and daughters. They do not. They're coming at it from sheer fanaticism. It's something that Americans really have a hard time understanding. And I was watching just Your last segment about how members of the left continue to defend the behavior of some of these folks. And it is exactly that. These people are fanatics, and they will send their children to die without a second thought, and they'll keep doing it until they themselves drop dead.
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Amanda Head
Well, and Colonel, that's such a great point. And that has always been the issue when it comes to Islam, because they value martyrdom. Like you said, they don't value life. They value what you do in death for Islam. So how do we fight that? How do we fight people that are so nihilistic that they don't even care if they die?
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Colonel Laurie Buckhout
I think nihilistic is really the perfect term for it. You have grandmothers who praise Allah that their grandchildren might grow up to be martyrs. And we in America can understand that, to continue to educate people that the American way of life and the morals and the values that it's based upon are entirely different from what you see in the Middle East. And we've lived a life way too long of comfort and safety that so many Americans just have no clue, no comprehension of how brutal they can be over there. The education continues to have to be sent out, no matter how many people don't want to hear it. That closed border from the Trump administration is so valuable, but we have to continue to investigate, root out, and export the criminal aliens who are continuing to attack us in this country, like those men who did what they did up in New York.
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Amanda Head
Colonel, you have a tremendous amount of experience when it comes to dealing with these types of people. What is the method, what is the methodology, I suppose, behind calling for unity from surrounding Islamic nations while at the same time attacking them?
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Colonel Laurie Buckhout
You know, again, they don't have the sense of value and loyalty that we do. What I have found from my own experience in the Middle east is that it sort of functions on family, tribe goes a little bit above that, maybe to, you know, particular religious sect of Islam. And that loyalty stays within there. So they're calling on fellow loyalists, they're calling on fellow sectarians to, you know, to accelerate their violence. It's. It's really interesting. It's hard for Americans to understand when we pledge allegiance to a flag, they don't have that understanding. They pledge allegiance to an ideology. But even that pledge itself is sort of interwoven with the ability to stab your fellow Islamic in the back if they need to. It's a really interesting interplay over there. Over there in the Middle east, it's hard for most Americans to understand.
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Amanda Head
I think that's spot on what do you anticipate President Trump and Secretary Hegseth, how do they proceed now that you've got ships that are being threatened going through the Strait of Hormuz that obviously is affecting oil prices? Earlier today, President Trump did decide to open up the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, but that only goes so far. So what, what do we do when the strait is effectively nullified as trans for a fifth of the world's oil?
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Colonel Laurie Buckhout
You gotta hut, you gotta cut the head off the snake. I don't see President Trump backing down. I mean, you know, seriously, this snake has been going at it for what, 100, excuse me, 49 years now, something like that. Ever since, you know, the takeover of Iran, it's only been intensifying. They're the number one exporter of terrorism in the globe. And it's not just America impacted, it's terrorism. Across the globe. They've been exporting extremism and fanaticism and violence. So you got to cut the head off the snake. I would be very surprised if President Trump backed down at all. I don't think that's, that's who he is.
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Amanda Head
Is it your sense from, from currently serving members of the armed forces that they support this conflict? Because there is a small but very, very vocal minority on the right that typically supports the President Trump. But on this particular topic, you've got folks who say, who I suppose are extreme non interventionalists. They are not America first, they are America only. But I don't get that sense from the military. What are you hearing?
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Colonel Laurie Buckhout
You know, nobody wants to fight. And I can tell you as a former combat leader, nobody wants to send young men and women to war. And the older you get and the higher you served, the less you want to do it because you've seen it and you see how awful it is. But at the same time, this is the snake. This is the individual and the regime that has been exporting terror and killing thousands around the world. I don't know what the exact death toll was, but I thought in the original war in Iraq, from 03 to 04, IEDs, improvised explosive devices were just kicking in at that time. And so when I came back, they were starting to hit my unit, my organization. And when we came back, I went to Walter Reed for this and that. And you see young men and women who are just by these IEDs, a bunch of those came out of Iran and of Iranian leadership and of the Iranian terrorism export. So they continue to kill Americans. They've been killing them for decades. And at some point we have to step in. Even the non interventionalists are like, look, you may not want to intervene. They're killing Americans. Okay? That's not something that we as Americans are going to stand for. If they're killing other people in the world, it's a lot of folks are going to say, no, no, let's not go. I don't necessarily feel that way. But they're coming after us. They're killing our sons and daughters. It's time for that to stop.
- [27:38]
Amanda Head
Colonel Laurie Buckhout, I absolutely want to talk to you about your campaign. I know you're running for North Carolina's 1st congressional district, but we've got to head live to that press conference that's happening now in Michigan. Colonel, we will have you back on. I want to hear about your campaign.
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Colonel Laurie Buckhout
Amanda, thank you so much and God bless you.
- [27:56]
Amanda Head
Same to you. Thanks so much for being here. All right, everybody, we're going to dip straight into this presser
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Sheriff (unnamed)
at the hospital being treated. So I also know you're going to have a lot of questions. A lot of those questions can't be answered at this point because it's super preliminary in the investigation. You know, all of us have thoughts of maybe why this happened, but we don't operate in a world where we can presume something. We have to determine it through investigation and specificity. And that is a work that's in progress as we speak. All of us will work seamlessly together to get the answers. And then it will be called what it is. Obviously it's a hateful terror. Terror, terrible thing.
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American Alternative Assets Advertiser
Right?
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Sheriff (unnamed)
But what drove this person into action, that has to be determined by the investigation, we can presume, but we have to find those facts. And that's going to happen over the next days in time. So we won't be able to get into a lot of the evidentiary questions, but we're available to make sure the community understands that we are still on a very heightened platform. And the most important thing that I would tell the community, don't be afraid to call us. If we're not your own local police department, call your local police department. We'd rather respond to 100 nothings than miss 1 real deal. The only way we prevent something like this is to get a call. Something's off with my son, my brother, my boyfriend, whatever the case, I saw something posted. That's the only way we interdict because people are more likely to see or hear something before us. So if you see or hear something, you have to communicate that and then we can intervene and hopefully prevent. But if we can't prevent, then we respond and mitigate. That's what happened today. And I think based on the early information, that happens flawlessly. So with that, I'll kick it over to my friend, Chief Young from West Bloomfield, please.
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Amanda Head
Department.
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Rabbi Yaakov Menken
Thank you, Sheriff. My name is Dale Young. I'm the police Chief of West Bloomfield. I want to share with you how we got to where we are today. So today we received a 911 call which came in around 12:19pm it was about an active shooter situation at Temple Israel where the individual drove into the building. West Bloomfield officers arrived on scene under five minutes. Temple security officers engaged the individual and neutralized the threat. Our officers combined with area agencies cleared the building multiple times and safely and successfully evacuated all children and staff. This is an active crime scene and we are examining every angle related to this situation. I will now turn this over to the FBI for further comments.
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Jennifer Runyon
Hello. My name is Jennifer Runyon. Last name R U N Y A N. I'm a special agent in charge of the FBI Detroit field office. This is a deeply disturbing and tragic incident and our deepest sympathies are with the victims, their family and the entire Jewish community. The FBI is here working with our state, local and federal partners to. To investigate this incident. And I can confirm that we are leading the investigation right now as a targeted act of violence against the Jewish community. As my partners have said, this is an active and ongoing investigation with an active crime scene. And I ask for your patience as we process this evidence and pursue every lead that has come to us and that we have developed thus far. What I can share is this. There was one subject involved in this incident who is now deceased. As my partners have said, we've had no victim fatalities. I would not be able to provide additional information at this time on the subject or his motive, as our goal is to protect the integrity of this investigation and to ensure that we give you accurate and timely information as soon as we can. The FBI was notified of active reports, excuse me, of active shooter at Temple Israel at approximately 12:45. We immediately activated and deployed all of our crisis response resources, which includes our SWAT team, our crisis negotiation team, our evidence response team, our special agent bomb techs, our weapons of mass destruction team, our cellular analysis survey team, and our victim services, as well as more than 100 agents and analysts to ensure that we are actively mitigating and responding to the active threat, but also pursuing diligently and methodically every lead that we have. My ask to the public is a few Things. I know everyone wants information now, but I ask that you be patient as we are still processing this scene and still pursuing everything that we can and that has come to us today. Second, we've activated a digital media tip line for any witnesses who has photos or videos of the incident today. They can upload those@www.FBI.gov WestBloomfieldAttack all one word, but the public can also report through our call line at 1-800- call FBI if you have any information about this incident and or any other suspicious activity that you see around in your community, your life, your places of worship, your schools. As the sheriff said, we all need to remain vigilant, and it takes the whole community to ensure that we remain safe. I also understand that congregants may have left some personal effects at the synagogue. And as soon as we have a reunification site to get those effects to the affected victims, we will be sure and release that as soon as possible. I want to thank our partners and the first responders and the security personnel at Temple Israel who did an excellent job at mitigating this threat. And we're very grateful for their bravery and their service. Next, I'd like to bring up our offer up Stephen Ingberg, CEO of the Jewish Federation of Detroit.
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Jonathan Gilliam
As the CEO of the Jewish Federation
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Rabbi Yaakov Menken
of Detroit, I'd love to say I'm shocked or I'm surprised, but I'm not. This is something that we train for.
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Jonathan Gilliam
Thank you to all of the law
- [34:00]
Rabbi Yaakov Menken
enforcement officers who stand behind us and the many who don't. Thank you to our Jewish Community security team.
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Amanda Head
This is a tough time. It is a tough time, but we
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Rabbi Yaakov Menken
will get through this.
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Amanda Head
We will get through this together. We will get through this stronger, and
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Rabbi Yaakov Menken
we'll continue to be loud and proud of being Jewish.
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Jonathan Gilliam
This will not change us. This will not deter us, and we
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Rabbi Yaakov Menken
will continue with that.
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Amanda Head
I'd like to turn over to Rabbi
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Rabbi Yaakov Menken
Arianna Gordon of Temple Israel.
- [34:29]
Amanda Head
Thank you so much. As you've heard, there's so much that we don't know. We're going to be processing all of this in the days and weeks to come. But what I do want to say is a huge thank you to our law enforcement, to our Temple Israel security team, and to our Early Childhood center teachers who were the true rock stars of the day. They ensured that all of our children remained safe and calm throughout the entire day and got every single child safely reunited with their parents this afternoon. And for that, I can't express my gratitude enough. We are really appreciative to all of you for making sure that everyone made it home tonight. Thank you for being here.
- [35:12]
Sheriff (unnamed)
I think that's it. Obviously can't get into evidentiary questions, as I said, but I think the message is clear. We all stand united, stand together. Whether whether it's federal, state, county, or local, we're committed to keeping this community safe. If you think you can target the Jewish community in this county or anywhere in this state, you're wrong. We're going to not only stand in front of them to protect them, we're coming for you. So with that, thank you.
- [35:54]
Amanda Head
All right, everybody, you were just watching a law enforcement press conference in West Bloomfield, Michigan about that shooting at Temple Israel today in Michigan. A very, very sad situation. But they obviously are continuing methodically with their investigation and we will know much more, I imagine, in the coming days. We're going to take a very quick break and then we will continue on the other side.
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- [37:55]
Rabbi Yaakov Menken
This episode is brought to you by Spreaker, the platform responsible for a rapidly spreading condition known as podcast brain. Symptoms include buying microphones you don't need explaining RSS feeds to confused relatives and saying things like, sorry, I can't talk right now.
- [38:09]
Amanda Head
I'm editing audio.
- [38:11]
Rabbi Yaakov Menken
If this sounds familiar, you're probably already a podcaster. The good news is Spreaker makes the whole process simple. You record your show, upload it once, and Spreaker distributes it everywhere. People listen. Apple podcasts, Spotify in about a dozen apps. Your cousin swears are the next big thing. Even better, Spreaker helps you monetize your show with ads, meaning your podcast might someday pay for, well, more microphones. Start your show today@spreaker.com spreaker because if you're going to talk to yourself for an hour, you might as well publish it.
- [38:50]
Amanda Head
Welcome back, everybody. The strikes on Iran, of course, are continuing. And we've heard reports that Iran is trying to activate terror cells here in the United States. At the same time, we are seeing a rise in anti Semitic attacks in our country, punctuated by the shooting in a Michigan synagogue earlier today. And we don't yet know the full motive of the attacker. He was killed in the attempted attack. But we do know it's becoming more and more close, commonplace to hold negative views towards Jews and America's relationship with Israel. So what on earth is going on here? Joining us to discuss this, the founder and executive director of the U S. Israel Education Association, Heather Johnston. Heather, thanks so much for being with us.
- [39:31]
Heather Johnston
It's good to be with you.
- [39:33]
Amanda Head
I would like to think that the United States is a beacon and a refuge for Jews who are being persecuted across the world. But as we saw today at the synagogue in Michigan, and as we are unfortunately continuing to see at an increasing pace, that may not necessarily be true.
- [39:52]
Heather Johnston
Oh, I think that we are seeing a time in our history that it's hard to recognize our country at the moment. And the way that we see this intolerable rise of antisemitism across our country and around the world. And I think, Amanda, that we can owe it a lot to the social media, to a lot of influencers who are out there today with a real distortion of what the truth is. You know, antisemitism has no real background or history that's attached to it. It's a feeling. It's a sentiment that is not really based on fact or history. People become passionate about something that really is in error when it comes to the Jewish people. They are looking for a people group to blame for the problems that we're having in the world. And oftentimes it lands with the Jews?
- [40:49]
Amanda Head
Absolutely. I mean, and frankly, it's biblical. I mean, the Bible talks about this. This is practically as old as time. But that doesn't mean that it should persist. And I want to ask you about the media's framing of all of this. I talked about this at the top of the show. You had the framing of smoking jars of metal and fuses. You had what Abby Phillips said on cnn. You had the CNN post about it. You had the New York Times headline, the list goes on and on of the media trying to distort what's actually happening, trying to make Zoran Mamdani the victim of what happened, when in fact it was. I don't want to say it was his people, but it was people who aligned with his policies and his ideology who did this. So how damaging is it when the media does this type of verbal and mental gymnastics to arrive at a place that distorts the truth?
- [41:42]
Heather Johnston
Well, it has a very. It has a big consequence to it because you can see today that it can lead to and often does lead to violent acts of passion and murder. And we kind of underestimate the power and the influence of our words. And words really matter. They create the world that we're going to live in. And people really need to take that seriously, especially at the. In the times that we're living in. And we've never been in a more tender box position than we are right now in the war, in this war in the Middle east where we see, as you said earlier, just the head of this snake, this octopus that has all these long arms attached to it, terrorist proxies and very vengeful and angry people out in the world today. And it's a time like no other to really calculate the words that you're speaking and to make sure they're true and that they're real and they're based on history and fact and they are not blaming a particular people group.
- [42:50]
Jonathan Gilliam
Yeah.
- [42:52]
Amanda Head
In your position as US Israel Education association, with the work that you do with them, I want to ask you how we got to this place in our country. Because in the decades following the Holocaust, everybody said we'll never forget, we're not going to let this fall by the wayside. We're going to keep educating. And yet I've seen some terrible statistics with regards to education. You practically have to go to Yad Vashem in Israel or another Holocaust museum. We've got a great one here in Washington, D.C. but to get a full education, a raw education on what happened, what led up to the Holocaust, you're not going to get it in schools. How do we reverse that? Because I think that that is absolutely one of the major contributors to sentiment that we're seeing right now in the United States.
- [43:42]
Heather Johnston
Well, I could not agree. It's education, education, education, Amanda, just as you said. And it's not really more than that. It really does boil down to an understanding of history, how we arrived at the point and time and place that we are, the wars that we've had that have been fought, the annihilation attempts on the Jewish people for thousands of years. And when we fail to understand our history, we fail to understand our own identity, the role that we're supposed to be playing in our times. History repeats itself. And we often see that education is so important for understanding what is real, what is true, what is ultimate, what is basic and what is central. And God has a plan. He cares about people all over the world, all people groups. So how do we in the effort to think that we're going to cooperate with God? How can we turn and hate a brother?
- [44:40]
Amanda Head
Absolutely. I want to get down to the ideology of it and how that intersects with our politics here in the United States because there are so many tenets of Islam that are not compatible with modern day liberalism. You just look at the treatment of women and the restrictions on women, and that right there is enough to send a classical Democrat running. But why is it that Democrats in this country, they are for the most part, although we're going to talk about a statistic in a moment, that's because. But why does it seem like Democrats in this country embrace radical Islam more than the other party?
- [45:19]
Heather Johnston
Well, I think that there's a social side to that that we see over and over again, and we see the trying to take up for perhaps the underdog. But I would put that as a big question mark today as we're watching an Iranian regime that looks and appears like they might be the underdog. But then you look and go, are you kidding me? They have done nothing but stalk the Middle East. They've done nothing but bring terror and Fury and attack 11 countries in the last two weeks. We look at radical Islam today and how in the world could we take up the side or the people who are in that position that are so radicalized and born into terror. How can we side with any of that? That is the choice to side with error and with falsehood rather than with the truth. And I think that we are in a dangerous place. It's leading us into our legislative votes on the DHS for all practical purposes, we're putting our whole security apparatus at risk in the United States of America. While we have got the biggest choke point on oil is blocked right now by the Iranian regime. We've got these leaders that, as the previous guest said, that are absolutely so radicalized they will never stop. And while being genocidal, first and foremost, they are akin to keeping their regime. They've got 850,000 people associated with the IRGC. They're not going to let down for a minute. And so to think about in our country today, the need with this asymmetric war going on, terrorist cells all over the world, the great, great need for Democrats and Republicans to unite together on this subject matter and finally, at long last, agree that radical Islam needs to go into the trash bin of history.
- [47:20]
Amanda Head
Yes, Heather, before I let you go, I did mention another statistic I want to ask you about and ask you if it's accurate because it seems, it seems crazy that 45% of young Republicans see Jews as a threat. Do you think that's accurate?
- [47:34]
Heather Johnston
Well, I think it could be temporarily accurate. And the reason why is just having gone through this war season and the war with Hamas, that steady fast food diet of TikTok that comes in that says Israel means genocide, and you get these token words and these phrases and people that do not know their history and therefore don't understand the importance of what's going on and what the truth really is, they adopt these phrases and these viewpoints in a very shallow sort of way. So I would say that 45% might not be reflective of what the true number would be outside of war.
- [48:17]
Amanda Head
Yeah, I think that's a great point. And again, it all goes back to education, the point that you were just making a moment ago. Heather Johnston, the founder and executive director, director of the US Israel Education association, thanks so much for being with us tonight.
- [48:29]
Heather Johnston
Thank you, Amanda.
- [48:31]
Amanda Head
Absolutely. All right, everybody. And coming up next, why is mainstream media framing President Trump's military operation in Iran as the US Being coerced by Israel? That and much more. Welcome back, everybody. It is our final segment of the night. Now, earlier today, a synagogue in Michigan faced an active shooter threat. The suspect now reportedly dead rammed his car through the doors of Temple Israel Synagogue before security personnel thankfully engaged in open fire. Luckily, no children or temple staff were injured in the shooting. Joining us now to discuss this is the executive vice president of the Coalition for Jewish Values, Rabbi Yaakov Menken. Rabbi, thanks so much for being with us.
- [49:21]
Rabbi Yaakov Menken
Thank you for having me. Even on a Tough day like this.
- [49:25]
Amanda Head
Absolutely. And I want to focus on the security aspect of this. And I asked a few of my guests about this tonight. I find it deplorable that this is happening here because I have a lot of family in Canada and places across the world. And the one thing that they have have said, especially since October 7th, is, well, the United States is not as bad when it comes to this stuff. So that's why we're going there. It kind of seems like that's not the case anymore. Seems like we're just as bad.
- [49:52]
Rabbi Yaakov Menken
You know, it's a. The fact that it's a global problem, that it's a problem at all, is because incitement, and incitement through hateful rhetoric leads to hateful actions. And that's what we saw come. Come to life today. We still don't know the details, but without going too far, you can start to conjecture already, you know, that this person believed that the Jews are occupying this land called Palestine, which of course is a colonialist name for Israel, and that because they're colonialists, it somehow justifies acting against Jews around the world. It's all a pretense. It's a pretense for hate. Hateful people are looking for some exceptions.
- [50:35]
Colonel Laurie Buckhout
Excuse.
- [50:36]
Rabbi Yaakov Menken
The problem is not them. The problem is the man. And who is the man? The man's gotta be the Jews. The Jews are pulling the purse strings. They're pulling the operation. Everybody else is a puppet to the Jews.
- [50:48]
Amanda Head
Yeah, well, and I'm so glad you brought that up, because so many people boogeymanize Jews. And I want to ask you about this poll. 45% of young Republicans see Jews as a threat. One day in Israel, and people will see that that is absolutely not the case. Or even if you just know Jewish Americans, it's obviously not the threat. How have we gotten to the place where that number could be even close to accurate?
- [51:12]
Rabbi Yaakov Menken
Well, in any era in history, there's 100 times more antisemites than Jews. These are people who, at the bottom line, they hate decency, they hate American values. The idea that Republicans as well as Democrats would be moving in this direction, which is obviously what we see around us, is absolutely horrifying. As much as it's bad for the Jewish community, it's worse for America. America's future is at stake here. We're about to celebrate the 250th anniversary of American freedoms. You want to get rid of that freedom, Replace it with hate, Replace it with finding problems with everybody else and driving everybody else down and driving society apart. I mean, by the way, this is what you see in so many countries in the Middle east, the Israel. The reason why they hate Israel is because the only freedom it doesn't have is the freedom to get rid of the Jews. All the other countries around it got rid of their Jews. And places like Iraq and Syria demonstrate how well things go after that happens. So this idea that the Jews are responsible for the problems, just look at what's going on in those countries and you see how lunatic that is.
- [52:27]
Amanda Head
Absolutely. Rabbi, if I remember correctly, you're in Philadelphia, is that right?
- [52:32]
Rabbi Yaakov Menken
No, I'm in Baltimore. But similar story in Baltimore.
- [52:34]
Amanda Head
Okay. So you look at places like Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, deep blue cities. I mean, across the board, synagogues in this country have got to ramp up their security. But do you. Do you think that it's even more intensified when you're in blue cities?
- [52:50]
Rabbi Yaakov Menken
Well, the problem. Look at, look at the fact that this attack happened in Detroit. The previous ones happened in New Jersey. I mean, yes, there was a shooting in Philadelphia as well, but, you know, people could easily go from state to state, and I don't even know where that person was from. There's been a lot of incitement in Philadelphia, Democratic mayor. There's been a lot of incitement now in New York, Democratic mayor, Detroit, I mean, goodness, isn't that the center for. Ilana Martin, it's obvious that these things. I apologize. I think it's Rashida Tlaib, who's a congresswoman there, you know. But this is where we. The one problem leads to another. There's an obvious relationship here between the rhetoric and the rhetoric that is tolerated by officials and actions of hatred.
- [53:44]
Amanda Head
No, it's so unfortunate to see. I never want to see this seeping into the youngest generation because, I mean, we're going to have to counter it with education somehow. That's the point that my last guest was making. Rabbi, thank you so much for being with us tonight. It's always a pleasure to have you here. I hate the reason for you having to be here, but it's always nice to see your face. Rabbi Yaakov Menkel.
- [54:06]
Rabbi Yaakov Menken
Thanks for having me.
- [54:08]
Amanda Head
Absolutely. All right, everybody, that's going to close it off for us this evening. I hope you all have a wonderful evening, and I hope that you all take the words and the wisdom from my guests tonight seriously, especially starting with Jonathan Gilliam. For all of us Americans, doesn't matter if you are Jewish, Christian, or anything in between or outside of that. Everybody's got to be paying attention to what is around you. And the whole see something, say something, there is something to it. So if you are in an environment and you see that somebody is off or something is off or something just feels wrong, you got to let people know because that's the only way that law enforcement can actually get involved. So thanks so much for being with us tonight. I'm going to be back here tomorrow night at 6pM Eastern. Be blessed.