3609 - Provocateur's Attacking Anti-Ice Protestors in Portland w/ Carissa Phelps, Jerrod Zisser

Summary

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Podcast Summary: The Majority Report with Sam Seder

Episode 3609 – Provocateur’s Attacking Anti-ICE Protestors in Portland w/ Carissa Phelps, Jerrod Zisser
Date: October 23, 2025
Host: Sam Seder
Guests: Carissa Phelps (Survivors First), Jared Zisser (Ring of Fire Radio)
Theme:
A comprehensive look at government shutdown consequences, the politics of sex trafficking relief, anti-ICE protests in Portland, and the growing use of provocateurs and force against dissent in the Trump era.

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Main Theme & Purpose

This episode blends sharp political commentary with in-depth on-the-ground reporting. Sam Seder, joined by Carissa Phelps and Jared Zisser, delves into the escalating tactics used by authorities and right-wing agitators against anti-ICE protestors in Portland. The conversation also explores the fallout of the government shutdown, relief funds for trafficking survivors, and heated debates about prostitution laws in Nevada. The episode underscores rising authoritarian tendencies, weaponization of law enforcement, and the critical role of reporting and advocacy.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Harsh Effects of Government Shutdown (00:00–09:00)

• Shutdown Duration: At Day 23, the U.S. is gripped by a protracted government shutdown. Key issues: missed federal paychecks, healthcare crisis with rising insurance rates, cuts to food assistance in 25 states, and four U.S. citizens arrested by ICE on Canal Street (NYC).
• Sam on the Shutdown: "We are on the verge of a health care crisis in this country." (05:40)
• Political Theater: Trump’s "ballroom" renovations at the White House serve as a metaphor for mismanagement.

2. Backpage, Sex Trafficking, and Survivor Compensation (11:10–19:41)

Guest: Carissa Phelps, Co-Founder, Survivors First

• Past Efforts & FOSTA-SESTA: Carissa discusses legal challenges to hold websites and businesses profiting from sex trafficking accountable. While controversial, their "tools to do that...did not" work due to legal barriers like CDA 230 (12:05–13:30).
• Backpage Prosecution & Relief Fund:
  • Backpage shuttered after criminal/lawsuit proceedings; proceeds seized included Bitcoin and assets.
  • DOJ set up a $215 million victim remission fund; short window for survivors to claim (July 31–Feb 2).
  • Outreach: "We only have three months and we’re trying to reach a global...international victims." (15:51)
  • Obstacles: Many survivors are unaware they were trafficked, feel responsible, or fear legal consequences.
• Legal Help: Survivors don’t need an attorney but Carissa urges legal guidance due to sensitive information and risks.
• Where to Find Help: survivorsfirst.community, backpageremission.com (19:10).
  • Warning: backpage.com redirects to an explicit site; use official links.

3. Debate: Rollback of Legal Prostitution in Nevada (19:41–32:49)

• Carissa’s Advocacy: Calls for ending legal brothels, citing persistent harm and exploitation regardless of legal status.
  • "It creates a sort of uncapped cost to society through the harms it does to individual lives and families." (21:29)
  • Challenges the idea that improved worker protections or regulations reduce harm: "The experiments have been done and people come out harmed in multiple ways." (22:49)
• Sam’s Counterpoint: Argues for personal autonomy, questions whether criminalizing prostitution increases harm, and presses for balancing worker protection with decriminalization (23:33–27:39).
• Personal Testimony: Carissa recounts being trafficked at 12, witnessing exploitation and systemic denial of harm.
  • "Every single city, they have streets like this. Truck stops with bitcoin machines...because prostitution is legal in these small little counties in Nevada..." (30:10)
• Upcoming Efforts: Carissa's coalition against legal prostitution will launch once the Backpage victim deadline passes (32:25).

4. Anti-ICE Protests in Portland: Provocateurs, Escalation, and Media Manipulation (40:00–59:23)

Guest: Jared Zisser, Reporter and Incoming Host of Ring of Fire Radio

• Jared’s Background: Former Marine; recently reported from Portland during anti-ICE protests.
• On the Ground:
  • Protest confined to a single block, often localized and “invisible” outside protest grounds (43:42–43:49).
  • Colorful activism: “You will have protesters that are using their First [Amendment Rights]...inflatable animals...just dancing around...” (44:11)
  • Heavy right-wing presence: “Four to five right wing, very popular, famous right wing agitators that were showing up and just instigating and trying to start fights.” (43:24)
  • After dark, violence spikes: “A Molotov cocktail thrown at us...someone attempted to basically light the tent area where the protesters were sleeping on fire.” (45:10)
  • “Protesters didn’t light their own tent on fire...No. These were people that did not agree with the fact that people are out exercising their First Amendment right...” (46:04)
• ICE & DHS Behavior:
  • Authorities often collaborate with right-wing media and agitators; let them film crackdown, share laughs, and promote propaganda (47:11–47:55).
  • “The amount of laughs, high fives and everything that I saw on those rooftops with these ICE agents and the smiles, the smirky attitudes that they were giving...They were having a great time.” (47:55)
  • Tear gas, rubber bullets, and aggressive clearing actions filmed for federal PR and recruitment (55:19–60:06).
  • “They’re out there making a movie every day.” (59:57)
• Media Coverage: Only Fox present on ground; livestreaming only when agitators provoke incidents.
• Psychological Toll: Jared notes trauma and disappointment post-reporting. His Marine experience highlighted the terror of militarized policing on civilians (52:19–56:56).
• Constitutional Implications: Comparison to Gestapo/authoritarian tactics: “Really showed me how close we really are to the 1930s...” (47:57)
• Quote: “What I saw was, I mean, one event...I witnessed it in real time...they created this 4 to 5 city block, just covered in smoke and explosion...” (55:19)

5. Authoritarian Slide & What’s Next (58:01–63:35)

• Growing ICE Powers: Sam and Jared warn of ICE’s likely expansion beyond immigrants to broader political intimidation: “Everybody going to be going to have a lot of guns. There’s going to be a lot of these thugs. And Donald Trump does not want to lose elections.” (58:01)
• Fake Riots & Informants: Sam and Emma discuss the use of provocateurs, manufactured violence, and direct references to past FBI informant scandals:
  • “When you start to hear stories of creating fake riots…to the extent there were Molotov cocktails, they were aimed at the protesters.” (63:35)
  • “Paid FBI informants trying to stoke violence…you think that under Cash Patel’s FBI, that…those efforts are not being multiplied.” – Emma (64:12)
• Community Preparedness: Sam urges listeners to prepare and be proactive in defending community and democratic norms amid likely further escalation (65:00–66:55).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Carissa Phelps:
  • “No, people who were harmed on Backpage qualify for this fund. And they were listed sometimes without them knowing. And those are the most difficult cases.” (16:12)
  • “This is sort of the start of saying, you know, there is harm that is done when this is happening. I even believe...watching Pretty Woman and things like that kind of gives the feeling like everything’s okay. That movie, super creepy, and it’s not right.” (30:10)
• Jared Zisser:
  • “Coming as someone who served two tours in Iraq, when I was in the Marine Corps, this was probably the closest I’ve ever been to seeing something...war ravaged...because it seemed DHS and ICE wanted it to look that way.” (42:15)
  • “The only people that were there were Fox, and Fox didn’t really go live until one of the right-wing social media influencers was able to incite something...” (46:43)
  • “I took an oath when I joined the Marine Corps that I feel is more important now than it ever was before.” (56:56)
• Sam Seder:
  • “For you to actually be out there seeing it, I think it’s pretty impressive and good work. Where can people find that footage?” (59:23)
  • “We are on the verge of a health care crisis in this country.” (05:40)

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Key Timestamps

| Time | Segment/Discussion | |---------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 00:00 | Intro, government shutdown headlines, D.C./White House developments | | 11:10 | Carissa Phelps joins: Survivors First, Backpage, victim relief funds | | 19:41 | Debate on legal prostitution in Nevada, survivor experiences | | 40:00 | Jared Zisser joins: Anti-ICE Portland protests, right-wing provocateurs | | 43:00 | Scope of Portland protests, escalation after dark | | 47:00 | ICE colluding with right-wing media, agent attitudes | | 55:19 | Mass forced clearings, filming “PR” stunts for Federal use | | 58:01 | Growing ICE power, authoritarian threats, echoing 1930s tactics | | 65:00 | Sam and panel discuss preparation for accelerating repression |

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Resources & Further Info

• Survivor Resources:
  • survivorsfirst.community
  • backpageremission.com
• Jared Zisser’s Footage:
  • Instagram: @jaredzisser
  • “Take with Jared Zisser” video pinned to profile
• Ring of Fire Radio:
  • Ring of Fire Official Site

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Tone & Delivery

The episode features the irreverent, analytical, and at times darkly humorous tone that defines The Majority Report. It balances distress over current events with a sense of urgency and commitment to resilience—“What am I prepared to do to protect my community?” (65:00)

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Summary for Non-Listeners

This episode delivers a sobering, firsthand account of rising state repression, manipulation of protests, and the risks facing vulnerable Americans in the current climate. Listeners get a rare window into not just policy, but the lived experience and resistance of communities and advocates on the front lines. Powerful personal testimonies, legal updates, and unflinching discussion make this an essential listen for anyone concerned about rights, democracy, and the struggle for justice in 2025.

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Transcript

[Sam Seder]

Today's episode is sponsored in part by Magic Spoon. You know what Magic Spoon is? I've been eating Magic Spoon for years. Magic Spoon makes high protein, zero sugar cereals and treats. And those cereals are reinvented from your childhood, your childhood favorites, I guess you would call them. Every serving of Magic Spoon has high protein cereal, has 13 grams of protein, 0 grams of sugar, 4 grams of net carbs. They come in nostalgic flavors like fruity cocoa and frosted. Magic Spoon's got high protein treats that are absolutely delicious, honestly. They're crispy, crunchy, airy, easy way to get 12 grams of protein on the go. They come in mouthwatering flavors like marshmallow chocolate, peanut butter, dark chocolate. Both are great on the go pre or post workout or as a midnight snack. Great in frankly, your kid's lunchbox or shove one in their backpack. So after school, instead of like calling you and saying, dad, can you apple pay me five bucks so I can buy some garbage? I can say, no, actually I'm not going to because you have a Magic Spoon bar in your bag. And then he's like, okay, he likes those. And the cereals are great as well. I mean, not all of you will go through that same process with your son. I'll just say that. Get $5 off your next order at magicspoon.com majorityreport or look for Magic Spoon on Amazon or in your nearest grocery store. That's magicspoon.com majorityreport $5 off. Try the peanut butter. I love that one. And now it is time for the show the Majority Report with Sam Cedar. It is Thursday, October 23rd, 2025. My name is Sam Seder. This is the five time award winning major. We are broadcasting live steps from the industrial Lee ravaged Gowanus Canal in the heartland of America, downtown Brooklyn, USA and deep, deep in the bowels of an unnamed Las Vegas casino where I am covering the Masked Torts conference. Also on the program today, in a too obvious metaphor, Trump decides to destroy the entire east wing of the White House while already announcing cost overruns to his big Beautiful ballroom. Day 23 of government shutdown. Oh incidentally, they're still working on the White House. They're still probably getting paid. It's day 23 of the government shutdown. We are on the verge of a health care crisis in this country. As folks on the exchanges are going to get priced out of those exchanges, they're going to get priced out of health care insurance. All of our rates are going to go up. Republican Senate to vote on paying select federal workers. Probably the ones you're not too excited about what they're up to. Dems want all federal workers paid. As tomorrow starts to mark the first fully missed federal worker paycheck day, senator Jeff merkley holds the Senate floor for 23 hours to point to Trump's authoritarianism. US kills five more boaters. We don't know who they are. This time it's in the Pacific Ocean. 25 states to cut food assistance in about a week as the government shutdown continues. Four u. S. Citizens arrested by ice yesterday in New York city's on canal street. Meanwhile, feds plan to invade San Francisco. Pentagon now touting a new generation of press who are the only ones who are allowed to cover the Pentagon because they signed a document that said that the Pentagon can okay all of their news reports includes exclusively far right outlets like Mike lindell tv, Tim pool and gateway pundit Dora mamdani maintains his front runner status in the mayoral debate despite the fact that if he's still mayor, I guess. Eric Adams endorses Cuomo, Trump's crypto champion. The binance founder gets pardoned by Trump. That's convenient. Speaking of which, Melania meme coin loses 95% of its value and a Kirk critique doxing site that was set up in the wake of the assassination of Charlie Kirk took $30,000 in crypto from people who visited it and has now just disappeared.

[Carissa Phelps]

No.

[Sam Seder]

All this and more on today's majority report. Welcome, ladies and gentlemen. As you can see, Emma, I think you can see this. I am, I am not sitting in the same office as you. I am, in fact, in sunny Las Vegas.

[Emma]

Oh, okay.

[Sam Seder]

You can see the flowers over my back.

[Emma]

Sunflowers. Yeah. I mean, we're talking about Trump's gilded age ballroom. It seems like it'll look something like where you are right now.

[Sam Seder]

Exactly, exactly. And I want to say up front, there's been a lot of discussion about my voice on this trip. And longtime listeners of the program know this happens every time I go to Vegas. First of all, mysterious, it's the Vegas flu. I am feeling fine. I'm a little bit tired. First off, people should understand. I have to get up at 5:30 in the morning in Las Vegas to do this show because normally, you know, we get into the office, I get in, you know, nine, a little bit before nine, and it's three hours behind. It turns out I had no idea about this whole Pacific time difference. And you had no idea. I had forgotten about it. And of course I Go out at night. I mean, I don't go crazy. I like to play a little blackjack. And part of that is about the free drinks that are at the table. Let's not kid ourselves because it's certainly not about me winning big time. And so. And it's incredibly dry here. And if you put those three things together, this is what happens to my voice. And when I get back to New York, it'll revert. It's okay. I don't want people to panic anymore. That's all.

[Emma]

Thanks for clearing that up.

[Sam Seder]

Yeah, well, it's been a big issue. I know. And people are talking about it. I've run into a couple of fans out here. My favorite was so far was a guy who saw me in the lobby of the hotel and he said, I was just telling my wife that you were here. I can't believe it. I love you guys. I'm a cannabis grower in California and I love Matt.

[Matt]

Shout out.

[Sam Seder]

There you go.

[Emma]

Camaraderie from around, from across.

[Sam Seder]

The proximity, the close proximity between mentioning he was a cannabis grower and Matt. I found that was the. That was the best part.

[Emma]

Tickled you.

[Sam Seder]

All right, let's just. In a moment, I'm going to be talking to the co founder of Survivors First, Carissa Phelps. But first, let's take a look at Mike Johnson. Essentially telling the congresswoman elect that he will not swear in, that she should get busy to work as a congresswoman.

[Matt]

That's the only thing she's prevented from doing. There's a lot of important casework to be done by her constituents who need help and need guidance right now. And she could be on the phone all day long as the rest of us are trying to help her constituents navigate through it. It's a bit of a red herring for her to say there's nothing for her to do. Maybe the House Democrat leaders need to give her a little guidance on that as a new member and help her understand how of the many ways that she should be serving her folks right.

[Emma]

Now, House Speaker Mike Johnson.

[Carissa Phelps]

Thank you.

[Sam Seder]

The idea that there's no pushback on that she's not allowed to have any staff. She's not allowed to pay anybody to do that casework. She presumably doesn't have an office. I mean, is she supposed to do this from her cell phone?

[Emma]

Basically?

[Sam Seder]

Like what? Like what is. I don't understand like what he's claiming that she can do. I should also say the attorney general is suing.

[Emma]

In Arizona.

[Sam Seder]

Yeah, In Arizona is suing Mike Johnson to cede her because they have no representation and he's refusing to do this. And everybody knows why. There's only one reason Congress is not in session. There's only one reason why he will not do this because he doesn't want to bring Congress back into session. He doesn't want to have to sign to swear her in because he is afraid of her forcing a vote on the Epstein files. All right.

[Emma]

Yeah.

[Jared Zisser]

All right.

[Sam Seder]

We got a guest here. You want to come have a seat. I'm going to switch cameras and let's see. Hopefully this works. All right, if you could just. Yeah. Step in just a little bit. Hi. Chris Phelps. We've interviewed before. Yes.

[Emma]

Yeah. Okay.

[Sam Seder]

It was a couple years ago and you're the co. Founder of Survivors first and you're working on a couple of things.

[Carissa Phelps]

Yes.

[Sam Seder]

And if I remember correctly, it was a little bit. There was some controversy among some of our listeners. When you came on, you were at that time, I think, working on. Was it on the backstage stuff or was on amass torts against some hotels or motels? I guess all of the above.

[Carissa Phelps]

All of the above. So back page. And also any website that was benefiting or profiting from sex trafficking and then any businesses that were benefiting or profiting from sex trafficking. But I think the controversy was definitely around Fosta sesta, which your listeners have nothing to worry about because we were basically like destroyed in court and CDA 230 held up, which I think caused a lot of problems for victims and survivors. And now for people who want the truth online and not trash, it's causing more problems. But we tried with Fosta sesta.

[Sam Seder]

Yeah, just remind people what that was. I mean, it was definitely a controversy, controversial piece of legislation amongst people who I think, at least in some respects, had similar goals.

[Carissa Phelps]

Yeah, I mean, we want. What we wanted to do was people who were benefiting from putting websites up that were selling children and victims of sex trafficking with visible signs of abuse, drug addiction, forced into prostitution. We wanted them to be shut down. They just shouldn't have been online. And just like we're trying to get fentanyl taken off, you know, drug dealing of other dangerous things like people were being harmed, and we wanted to shut it down. Fosta sesta was supposed to give us the tools to do that civilly, and unfortunately it did not. We are finding other ways to hold companies accountable and. And we're still in the fight.

[Sam Seder]

Okay, so let's talk about. Let's start with back. Back page. Remind people what Back page they're out of business now or are they?

[Carissa Phelps]

Well, yeah, they went out of business. They, they went into, you know, criminal proceedings against them for benefiting from prostitution and proceeds from prostitution and money laundering and all, all so crimes that were involved in basically taking proceeds from traffickers who were listing victims online. And so the civil cases were start. They began the investigations with the civil cases, and then there were criminal proceedings against them. Assets were seized. Both, you know, there was cash seized, there was real estate seized, there was bitcoin seized because bitcoin was used in transactions when Visa and MasterCard and Amex never really was used on the site. But when those things were shut down, also gift cards were used on the site. So when those assets were seized, there was the criminal proceedings that had to go forward. And then in December, there was a settlement with the DOJ to have some of those proceeds go into a victim remission fund. And so that's. It's a little over $200 million, $215 million that came to settlement there. And then there was another pot of funds and Bitcoin that were seized from City X Guide, which was another site that took the place of Backpage when it was shut down. And so those funds as well are being made available to victims through a remission process.

[Sam Seder]

And so how does that, how does that victim relief fund function?

[Carissa Phelps]

So the DOJ contracted with epic. I think we've got some EPIC people here. They're a large company that helped to basically oversee things like Boy Scouts when. When those lawsuits happened. And they are overseeing the fund and setting it up and helping administer it. They're the administrators. And the doj, through their money laundering team, they've done remission funds in the past for victims of fraud and, and large funds, billions of dollars. They haven't worked with survivors of trafficking yet. So there's a lot to learn. And the window is short. It's July 31 to February 2, and it came out July 31, the application did.

[Sam Seder]

And so we're currently in the.

[Carissa Phelps]

Okay, we only. And this is why I'm here, Sam, is we only have three months and we're trying to reach a global. I mean, this is global, this is international victims. People who were trafficked here. We know people were trafficked into massage parlors from overseas. And maybe they were sent back, maybe they're not. You know, this is the only chance to maybe reach them. And that's what we're trying to do.

[Sam Seder]

And how, I mean, I imagine most people will know if they qualify or they may qualify. There May be some. That. That. That don't. And it was part of the problem, if I recall, with being trafficked in many instances. They didn't know that what was happening to them was illegal. They just thought, like, bad luck or something like that.

[Carissa Phelps]

Sure, yeah. No, there's a lot of sort of. And I know my friend Alicia was on here talking, but there's a lot of sort of victims blame themselves, right? They. They think that it was their fault. They think it was. It was their choice. Even at some points of time, they don't understand the co. It's this invisible force. If drugs were used that could be used against them, they could have been arrested possibly for that drug use. And so there's the whole immigration issues. They could have been deported, and they don't think they qualify for that reason. No, people who were harmed on Backpage qualify for this fund. And they were listed sometimes without them knowing. And those are the most difficult cases. Some people are in jail or prison right now, or they, you know, we can't reach them. They're harder to reach. They're incapacitated. They also qualify if. If their family members of deceased victims can file as claimants. And so reaching them is probably the most difficult thing.

[Sam Seder]

How many people do you think that there are? I mean, obviously you don't know the exact number, but approximately how many people do you think there are that would qualify for these funds that are out there?

[Carissa Phelps]

I mean, we're reaching. We're probably reaching over a million people, but it's not going to be that many people that apply. There's just not going to be that many people that apply. Probably in the tens of thousands, or maybe, maybe upwards of 100,000 might hear about it. Right. And then who's going to actually apply and be able to get access to resources? There's a pro bono group of people doing legal work that I've been consulting with and working with. There are civil attorneys who are running ads and getting cases. So everybody's trying to now get the word out and try to get representation for the victims, which I think is really important. They don't have to have an attorney to do this application or the petition form, but I think you need one.

[Sam Seder]

And why? Just because it's complicated and you need to establish certain.

[Carissa Phelps]

I mean, you're giving all your information to the government, right? Who wants to do that without an attorney? I mean, especially if you're ever accused of a crime, right? Especially if you've ever. If you ever think that maybe there's something in your past that, that you don't want exposed. If you, if you have a trafficker that's locked up that might find out something about your current situation or where you're at, those type of things that a lawyer can consider with you. Also diagnosis, you know, you're sending that all. If you're sending that all in, what do you want really the government to have about you? I think that's important to speak to a lawyer about and be informed at every stage.

[Sam Seder]

Right. Okay, let's, let's, I guess, lastly, where could people find out, like, get involved in that process?

[Carissa Phelps]

Sure. Well, our website for survivors is survivorsfirst.community. and then we have backpageremission.com as the DOJ's official website. Backpage remission.com I wouldn't go to backpage.com that that now goes. The DOJ didn't hold it. Now it goes to some MILF site. It's awful. But, but backpage remission.com and backpage remission network.org National center for Missing Exploited Children is running a pro bono group of attorneys through there. And so they're helping assign cases to attorneys.

[Sam Seder]

All right, well, we'll get those links from you later and we'll put post them in the podcast and YouTube descriptions. All right, let's talk about another topic that I heard that you are beginning to advocate for that I think might be a little more controversial, and that is to roll back the legal status of prostitution in Nevada. Yeah, tell us about that.

[Carissa Phelps]

So the heartbreaking thing, doing this work, Sam, I mean, you do it day in and day out, and you hear from people who think that prostitution is okay, that it's something that they get into thinking that they can get out. They could just, you know, sort of get what they need out of it and get out. Unfortunately, we don't see that often. Sometimes we, we see people who benefit or they get something else out of it. They may even get a thrill out of it. Right. But they, they're far, far, far too often. Like, more and more and more, we see that people get trapped in it. They, somebody comes to exploit them through it, that someone else takes the proceeds from them, and that could be a problem trafficker. And in the case of brothels, it could be a brothel. So I have friends who have done the deeper research on these brothels and have brought it to my attention and to others that this is not something that people go into it and they stay willingly all the time. They, they have restrictions and rules and, and even parameters around food and how they, how they can go in and out of properties where prostitution is legal in these brothels. And, and because it's legal in some of these brothels, people get the impression that it's an okay thing to do to purchase a human being. I think going into a campaign where we tell people, you know, no, prostitution absolutely is a harm. It creates a harm and it creates a sort of uncapped cost to society through the harms that it does to individual lives and families. We want people to understand, you know, this is not something that is, is something we want our family members to go into as a career choice or something that we think is an okay option. So taking it off the table, making it illegal is both. You know, it's for all the survivors that I've served who've been taken into those places and it's for my niece and my great niece who's being raised, you know, raised here that this is their, this is their state, this is where they're from. Just making sure that they know that it's.

[Sam Seder]

So why not. I mean, if, I mean a part of it, I guess is the. You perceive it as immoral. I mean, that's what it sounds like when you talk about. Because it's not just a question of individuals going and buying someone's.

[Carissa Phelps]

I don't think the act of sex and sexual things are immoral and I don't even think so. I think what it is is the wreckage we leave behind is immoral.

[Sam Seder]

Well, is that a function? Could there not be a better worker protections in these instances? Could there not be better regulations that could protect people within that context?

[Carissa Phelps]

I mean, the experiments have been done and people come out harmed in multiple ways. There was a recent case against a high net worth individual who was entering into these very strict contracts with people he was purchasing for, for sex. And he basically did a lot of damage and now has to answer to it criminally, but had had to answer to it civilly many times in the lives that were impacted. We just, we can't sort of recover from that. So that's why we make things illegal is we don't, we don't let people drive 100 miles per hour down, you know, our walk places where people are walking or pedestrians are walking because we know we can't control the dangers of that. Right?

[Sam Seder]

Yeah. I'm not sure that's the perfect analogy because you're still gonna have prostitution. It's just there's going to be, it seems to me that you will have more opportunity For a trap for trafficking, you'll have more opportunity for exploitation of. Of those sex workers because now, just by being in that act, they are now themselves criminally culpable and have less of an opportunity to never want to.

[Carissa Phelps]

Criminalize the person being sold. That makes no sense and it doesn't do any help. So the person actually who maybe even offers themselves for services, they're never to be criminalized. That doesn't help the situation at all, ever.

[Sam Seder]

So what is it that you're talking about rolling back then?

[Carissa Phelps]

So it would be the people who profit off of the brothels, the people who profit off of organizing prostitution around a system. So those. We see it often online, all over online. I know I recently met with somebody who has experienced these agency effects on OnlyFans. So like the people they gather and they try to profit off of it. It's almost human nature, right? When something seems and appears to be especially legal, businesses are set up around it. Then there's a need for more people. There's a need for. There's a demand, there's a need for more people to be sold. So what these agencies get into is recruiting and saying that they're not going to have to do much on these videos. And then it sort of escalates from there. So we know that these businesses will be set up and it'll create these siphons to bring people in and there'll be a need for basically more supply.

[Sam Seder]

So I guess I'm like trying to get what the contours of what becomes illegal. I mean, I have no problem with some type of regulation that says there cannot be more than. You cannot have an entity that hires more than or employs more than four people or contractors who are engaging in prostitution as a way of making it impossible for that, you know, for the. For the idea of like, we're gonna continue to recruit people, but four will.

[Carissa Phelps]

Turn into hundreds because you could roll people through. That's what they do at the brothels, right? Like they'll roll people through. And so it's not a number, won't.

[Sam Seder]

Really do it if you do not have. So what is the legal avenue for someone who does want to practice prostitution in that instance? Like where is the legal protections for them to keep them from being exploited, which I think is part of your agenda here, but also to keep them protected from the possibility that some user of their services is abusive.

[Carissa Phelps]

So it's a very dangerous line of work. I mean it's very dangerous if you were to call it work at all. It's very dangerous. Like the amount of rape, abuse, harm, the escalation that goes on in terms of what buyers want. And then you have people who want, you know, companionship. They want somebody to be there with them. And there's this sort of fairy tale of like, Pretty Woman or whatever. Whatever that thing was. Right. And so there's, there's. There are people who have explained to me that they themselves, you know, get some sort of joy out of it, that they want to do it. And I understand that. And I'll meet them exactly where they're at, and I will say to them, you know, that seems like it's something that's benefiting you in ways that aren't just about money. Right. Seems like maybe you're. You're doing this for a relationship, you're doing this for money.

[Sam Seder]

From my perspective, it's like people should have autonomy to do what they want in this context. And if it is not hurting other people, then they should have the autonomy to do what they want. It's not. I wouldn't, you know, recommend it for people, but there's a whole. There's a lot of professions, frankly, I wouldn't recommend.

[Carissa Phelps]

Right. No. I'd love to include, you know, sort of more research by Dr. Melissa Farley, Dr. Lexis Kennedy, who have just gone very deep into this. I'm just a lawyer. I just talked to the experts who are the doctors and the researchers. And so they're the ones that have come to us and said, you know, this is, this is far too dangerous. This doesn't result in anything beneficial for that individual or for society over time. So the fact is that there's, there's far too many people being harmed. So, yes, somebody might get a great, a great thrill or maybe even win some money in a drag race down the street. Right. But they're going to hurt people or they are going to get hurt. So that's why we have laws in place and laws that allow and permit prostitution give the sense and give the ability for people to sort of excuse their behavior and think that it's okay.

[Sam Seder]

Yeah, I can't. I feel like it's. We're going back and forth, talking past each other here like I am against workers being exploited. I think there is a whole raft of professions that do great harm to society and exploit their workers and people walk away with profits and any way we could stop that dynamic. But the fact is, is that prostitution is going to continue and putting people under the specter of being, you know, illegal. And if there's a way to not criminalize. Never criminalize them, the prostitutes, but also, you know, criminalize the, you know, exploitive structures. I'm so.

[Carissa Phelps]

I don't know if, you know, I don't know if we talked about it last time when I was here, but, you know, I was 12 when I was on the streets, and so I saw a lot and at a very young age, and I was taken by somebody who was standing on the street as an adult who was pregnant. She was very pregnant. She was about six months pregnant. And her eye was sort of hanging out of her head because she had been hit in the face with a gas can by her boyfriend. And she looked at me and she said, can I help you? And I thought, well, yeah, sure. Can I help you? Like what? What can I do for you? You're in this dire situation. And so in taking her in, I was then kidnapped by this trafficker and then taught how to be sold onto the streets there. And that whole marketplace, that whole, like, idea of a parkway, a motel drive where kids are being sold, it's all over this country. It's rampant. It's happening every night, every day. And the culprit is the fact that we look the other way when people are bought and sold and we think there's no harm being done. So this is sort of the start of saying, you know, there is harm that is done when this is happening. I even believe, like, watching Pretty Woman and things like that kind of gives the feeling like everything's okay. That movie super creepy, and it's not right. So the message to. To young girls who are out there who are on sites like Sugar Daddy or these places where they think they're going to get through college by doing this, is that, no, this is not okay. And the message that we're sending is that there's harms done that we can't undo that don't get undone. And they're in our society. They happen. Every street, every city has a street like this. Every city. That's what I got to find out. When I got out of it. I thought I was unique. I thought this just happened to me. But every single city, they have streets like this. Truck stops with bitcoin machines, because that's what was used to buy ads. That's when I drove from Florida to Nevada. That's what I see. That's what's happening in the United States because prostitution is legal in these small little counties in Nevada where we're saying, oh, this is a victimless thing, and it's Not.

[Sam Seder]

Do you think that there is worse exploitation going on in Nevada as opposed to other states?

[Carissa Phelps]

I do think this is a destination place. I think far too many victims as minors brought here the first ever minor court for victims of trafficking for they were, they were charged themselves. These little girls were charged when I first started doing this work, these young little girls, 12, 13, 14 years old, locked up with prostitution charges literally handcuffs put on them. This is what we started with. So, and in, in Las Vegas and.

[Sam Seder]

In Nevada, where can people get more information about your efforts to do this?

[Carissa Phelps]

So it's gonna, it's gonna be going public. I'm telling everybody, you know, that's, that's what's next on the agenda for me as soon as we get through the back page deadline. So it will start being going public. There will be coalitions. There's already been lawsuits through Nicozi national center on Online Sexual Exploitation. And there's, there's different organizations that are coming together to form this coalition. So you'll be hearing from us widely.

[Sam Seder]

All right, great. Well, Carissa Phelps, co founder of Survivors first, thanks so much for telling us about it.

[Matt]

Thank you.

[Sam Seder]

Keep our eyes open.

[Carissa Phelps]

Thank you.

[Sam Seder]

Thanks. All right, folks, a couple of ad reads and then we're going to be sitting down with Jared Zeisser. Zisser. And Jared is taking over the mantle. Oh, wait, let me switch my camera here. Oh, wait, where did Emma go? Are you there? I can't hear you guys. Yeah, I can hear you now.

[Emma]

Yep.

[Sam Seder]

Okay, let's.

[Emma]

We're just reframing.

[Sam Seder]

Oh, there we go. Okay, in a moment we're going to be talking to Jared Zeitzer. Who Zizar. Sorry, did it wrong again. Who is taking over for Farron Cousins on Ring of Fire Radio. And Jared's been reporting from Portland when the non riots happened, short of the some right wing instigators tried to do it. And he was also in D.C. during the federalization. So we're going to talk to him about those things in just a moment. First, a word from our sponsors. Right now. Headlines full of data breaches and regulatory rollbacks. I feel like every single day I am getting a text from someone who is pretending to be some account or bank account. They've obviously got my phone number because they know my name. Never click on those incidentally. But there's a great way to avoid the most sophisticated of like phishing scams and whatnot. And that is to make sure that none of your information is available to be sold online by data brokers. They can maybe get one or two things through a data breach. But what they often do is then take that information, go to a data broker, buy the rest of the information so they get your address, they get your, your, your, your parents names, they get you on and on. And the best way to deal with that and the best way, it's a service I've been using frankly for over 10 years now. Just as much for those phishing scams as frankly, more for just like my own personal security is Delete Me. Deleteme does all the hard work wiping you and your family's personal information from data broker websites. Delete Me knows your privacy is worth protecting. Sign up and provide Delete Me with exactly what information you want deleted. Their experts take it from there. And the thing that's great about Delete Me is these sites will repopulate, but they Delete Me will send you a regular personalized, I think about monthly privacy reports showing what they found, where they found it and what they removed. Delete Me, like I say, is not a one time service. It's always working for you, constantly monitoring and removing the personal information you don't want on the Internet. Thanks to Delete Me for sponsoring the Majority report. Thank you frankly, for your product. It's been helping me for, like I say, about 10 years. Take control of your data. Keep your private life private. By signing up for Delete Me now at a special discount for our listeners. Get 20% off your delete me plan when you go to www.joindeleteme.com majority. Use the promo code Majority at checkout. The only way to get 20% off, go to www.joindeleteme.com majority. Enter code majority at checkout. That's www.joindeleteme dot com majority. Code is majority. We'll put the link in the podcast in the YouTube description. Emma, you want to talk about Oneskin?

[Emma]

Yes, I would love to. We have a new sponsor of the show Oneskin and I'd like to thank Oneskin for sponsoring today's episode. Oneskin sent us this moisturizer. It's OS01 face and it's longevity serum and a moisturizer in one. And they also have their OS01 eye, the more concentrated formula to treat the delicate skin around the eyes, which is dermatologists have talked to me about this. Really important to moisturize around your eyes to prevent things like crow's feet. And I've been using this now for like a week and a half trying to keep it and rotate it into my skincare. Routine and it's quickly kind of just overtaking it because it's a really light cream, it smells really good and you don't need that much, even though the bottle is pretty big to cover your whole face. And especially when the seasons are changing, it means harsher air, drier skin. And then for me, who still enjoys laying in the sun more than I should, it helps kind of allow you to limit the after effects of all that summer sun and try to reverse some of the damage on your skin. I was really excited that we have a sponsor for skincare and it's exceeded my expectations. As I'm getting into my 30s, you start to see a little bit of sagging, that kind of thing. And I'm getting serious about my skincare routine. And one skin is just contributing to helping more brightness, creating more brightness in my skin. Every formula is dermatologist tested, safe for sensitive skin and NEA approved, delivering powerful results with skin health in mind. You just cleanse, you pat your skin dry and apply twice daily. The packaging is really sleek. It's easy and they have a reusable shell that I just have right in my bathroom mirror cabinet. And it's an easy couple of pumps and it goes on smoothly and easily this season. Don't just moisturize. Support your skin at the cellular level with Oneskin. For a limited time, you can try OneSkin with 15% off using code MAJORITYNESKINCO. That's 15% off OneSkin CO with Code Majority. After you purchase, they will ask you where you heard about them. Please help us out and tell them the Majority report sent you. Try One Skin today again. That's 15% off OneSkin with the code majority at www.oneskin.co. and we will put a link to that down below in the video and episode descriptions and at Majority fm. Sam, take it from here.

[Sam Seder]

Julie has raved about that. Oneskin.

[Emma]

Yeah, I'm like really early on into the routine with it, but I'm really liking the results so far.

[Sam Seder]

All right, I'm glad to hear that. All right, we're going to take. Well, we're not going to take a break. I'm just going to. Emma's going to take a break. And joining me here again from the Mass Torch Conference, 2025, Jared Zisser. Jared, come on in. Jared, I'm going to switch cameras here. You have a seat. Jared is taking over Ring of Fire. Come on in a little bit closer. We've got to get you on. On camera there. Jared has taken over Ring of Fire radio From Farron Cousins, of course, big part. One of the big reasons why I've been coming to this conference for now, 10, 12 years, I think it is, is because I used to do Ring of Fire with Mike Papantonio and the guy who used to be Robert Kennedy Jr. And over the years I've interviewed Fred Gray, who was Rosa Parks attorney. I have interviewed public interest law firms. There's interesting cases and really interesting lawyers here, some, you know, who are real anti corporate zealots and go after these corporations have seen a lot of really bad stuff. And from year to year, the cases change, but the intensity often remains the same. And so it's great to have you out here. When do you officially start on Ring of Fire?

[Jared Zisser]

So I officially start on November 1st, so everything's getting set up at the moment and very, very excited and.

[Sam Seder]

All right, so give me a little sense of your background. Well, before we get there, actually. So you were out in Portland?

[Jared Zisser]

Yes, I just was.

[Sam Seder]

Yeah, tell us about that. When exactly were you out there?

[Jared Zisser]

So I was in Portland, I think about a few weeks. A few weeks ago now. And my followers actually on Instagram are the ones that asked me to go out there because, you know, news was telling them five different stories of what was actually happening and they wanted to know if there were actually, you know, war ravaged streets in Portland. So I definitely accepted the challenge and I flew out to Portland and wow. I mean, coming. Being as someone who served two tours in Iraq when I was in the Marine Corps, this was probably the closest I've ever been to seeing something. I will say war ravaged, but I will clarify. Basically, it was only that way because it seemed DHS and ICE wanted it to look that way. And that sounds very conspiracy theories, but I get that. But everything that was being done was being done on purpose. And actually the one thing that was probably the craziest was the fact that there were around four to five right wing, very popular, famous right wing agitators that were showing up and just instigating and trying to start fights.

[Sam Seder]

Okay, so you get out there and give me a sense first of like, how big of an area within Portland is any of this activity taking place? Like I'm saying, like, you know, could I be in Portland and not know that any of this was happening?

[Jared Zisser]

You could be three, you could be four or five blocks away and have no idea this was going on unless you walk towards the facility.

[Sam Seder]

And so it's just around the facility.

[Jared Zisser]

It's block at most.

[Sam Seder]

Okay, all right.

[Jared Zisser]

It's a block at most, Portland's not.

[Sam Seder]

A massive city, but it's a pretty big.

[Jared Zisser]

It's a big city.

[Sam Seder]

And so we're talking about one block of activity. Okay, so you walk up to that block, what do you see? Like a guy in a banana suit?

[Jared Zisser]

Yeah, well, actually a guy in a chicken suit. He's pretty famous. He's there all the time.

[Sam Seder]

Yeah, I'm familiar with the chicken.

[Jared Zisser]

Very nice, man. You'll see many different inflatable animals that are just dancing around, having a good time. You will have protesters that are using their first scream.

[Sam Seder]

Are they inflated with some type of explosive gas?

[Jared Zisser]

No.

[Sam Seder]

Okay.

[Jared Zisser]

I just, just the air around.

[Sam Seder]

I'm trying due diligence.

[Jared Zisser]

It's actually funny because it's not funny, but it's terrible. Actually, most of them are probably filled with pepper air because of the amount of pepper bullets that are being shot. Uhm, that's being shoved right into those suits. And those people are inhaling basically constantly. Thatwhichwhich, from what I understand based on limited research, can cause cancer and other diseases in the future. Uhm, but no, nothing explosive.

[Sam Seder]

Okay, so you go up there. How many people were you there at night, though?

[Jared Zisser]

I was there until four in the morning sometimes.

[Sam Seder]

Okay.

[Jared Zisser]

I stuck around.

[Sam Seder]

I heard it got really hairy at night.

[Jared Zisser]

Yeah. We've even had a Molotov cocktail thrown at us that night. Yeah. And someone attempted to basically light the tent area where the protesters were staying on fire while they were sleeping.

[Sam Seder]

Wait a second, so someone throws a Molotov cocktail at you and someone tries to. Why would some. Why would protesters light their own tent on fire?

[Jared Zisser]

They wouldn't. They wouldn't. They wouldn't at all. No. This is literally their home. Some of them have been there for over 120 days. You know, they'll maybe go home every once in a while or to somebody else's house to shower. Some of these people even sold their homes. So they can actually be out there protesting to get rid of ICE and to stop the kidnappings that are happening all through their city.

[Sam Seder]

So if the protesters didn't light their own tent on fire, did they throw the Molotov cocktail at themselves?

[Jared Zisser]

No.

[Sam Seder]

So the Molotov cocktail was not thrown by protesters at ice? No, somebody threw it at the. And who. And did you have a sense of who?

[Jared Zisser]

No, unfortunately not. So that actually happened a half hour after I left that night. Things got increasingly worse, which is why I started staying later in the evenings, including almost getting run over. And I have videotape of people in Cars that were literally doing circles and coming around and trying to hit you with their cars. And no, these were not protesters. These were people that did not agree with the fact that people are out, you know, exercising their first Amendment right to let the government know that they're not okay with what's happening. And I don't know if they're being paid or what it is, but it.

[Sam Seder]

Certainly seemed probably reported in even the local press.

[Jared Zisser]

I think one channel hit. It was sent to me by one, by one channel. Somebody sent me a video of somebody. One channel I think did hit on it, but it didn't, didn't do very well. So no, the only people that were there were Fox and Fox didn't really go live on the air until one of the right winged social media influencers was able to incite something and then they would run over to the, you know, camera in the host, Sorter guy.

[Sam Seder]

What is that?

[Jared Zisser]

So Nick Sorter was arrested days before I got there. And Nick Sorter was not there when I was there. There were other prevalent individuals that were there that were also being allowed into the ICE facility and on the rooftops with the ICE agents while they were shooting at everybody, including myself. And they were videotaping it while obviously having laughs and smiles with the, the ICE agents. This is one thing that killed me when I was there. They were having a ball. I was really hoping that these ICE agents were like following orders, even though not that makes it better, but not necessarily liking what, enjoying what they're doing. The amount of laughs, high fives and everything that I saw on those rooftops with these ICE agents and the smiles, the smirky attitudes that they were giving.

[Emma]

People.

[Jared Zisser]

Really showed me how close we really are to the 1930s. You talk to people and they, you know, that had family in the Holocaust and everything else. And they mention how these German soldiers were acting. And I was just really hoping that they were doing this against their will because they want, they need to provide for their family. They were filming it, they were putting it on social media. They were having a great time. It was really heartbreaking actually to see. It was really heartbreaking because they're not throwing rocks at ICE agents. They're not doing anything they're not supposed to be doing. They're literally mean. They're screaming.

[Sam Seder]

That's, that's protesters, right?

[Jared Zisser]

100%. And.

[Sam Seder]

That'S so. And you've got ICE guys. So the idea is these are not guys who are on, you know, not happy about this. These ICE operatives are just thugs who have finally had the shackles taken off.

[Jared Zisser]

100.

[Sam Seder]

And they have the opportunity now to fire whatever it is, papa balls or tear gas at people. And they're loving it.

[Jared Zisser]

They loved it.

[Sam Seder]

Okay, let's turn from there and go to dc. You were there for the days that DC was federalized. This is when the cops, the city cops were essentially augmented with some weird collection of federal corrections officers, ice, FBI, probably dea, atf. And they were all, all of a sudden beat cops.

[Jared Zisser]

Yeah.

[Sam Seder]

Walking around. Yeah. What, what was that like?

[Jared Zisser]

Oh man, that was really my first experience with seeing civil liberties being stripped from people in plain sight and something I didn't think I would see personally. But even a woman being told she was going to be taking to jail with her like three year old daughter on the street because she refused to identify herself to a metropolitan police officer. And once that police officer saw me filming, they actually turned around and walked away. Like situations like that or I mean a gentleman who was pulled over in the middle of the night. I was, luckily I was just on the right street on the right time. It was probably like around 1:30 or 2 in the morning and he had a expired license. And I heard, and this is just what I heard and people around me heard it as well. He was a DACA recipient. So he, he was here legally. He was totally supposed to be here. He was still had 15 agents that were manhandling him and cuffing him and throwing him into the back of a unmarked vehicle and taken away. And these things were insane. And then just the overall fear that was being, it really put into perspective when I was carrying an M16 in Iraq, you know, and these, these towns in these cities with just civilians that had nothing to do with anything that was happening. Like I was in a pizza place at like 1:30 in the morning because I didn't eat all day because I was literally just running through D.C. and getting as much on camera as possible. And an FT, an ATF agent, FBI agent, a DEA agent, and I think it was two DEA agents walked in with M4 style assault rifles just at the 45 degrees. And there was a woman, this, this woman that was sitting there trying to enjoy her food who literally just started having like panic attacks. Like she was triggered by it in such a way where she was crying and everything. And I, I walked up to these police officers, federal agents, and I was like, you need to lower your weapons. Like this is not. You're ordering a pizza, what are you doing? Like just drop, drop your weapons, point them at the floor. There's no reason for you to be at a 45 degree angle waiting for somebody to come out of the back room and start shooting at you. And this woman was just like literally like convulsing. She was like so scared of this. So they were, they instilled so much fear in the D.C. area. And I'll tell you right now, I was out. So as soon as they announced it, I, we booked a flight and I left. So I was there from the very beginning. And I'll tell you right now, I stayed in a very sketchy place because I wanted to make sure my money could go farther while I was there.

[Guest or Additional Commentator]

Right.

[Jared Zisser]

And I still, I didn't have any problem. I was outside of a nightclub that had four vehicles out there from 6pm until 3 in the morning, just trying to scare the locals that were just trying to go to the club and have a good time, you know. And I talked to even security professionals that were there. I even talked to a few FBI agents. You know, I had asked probably like 50 before one would talk to me. And even they were like, well, you know, this is very highly unnecessary, but we have to, we're doing what we're told to do and we're trying to be as, you know, gentle as we can be. Which he said that. But what I saw otherwise was not, that was not the, the fact. It was, it was, it was, it was horrible.

[Sam Seder]

I imagine amongst those people there are some that realize like this is, I've just got to do this because it's my job. And others who are like, this is a great time for me to go and crack heads. Yeah. In a way that I never had the opportunity to do. So. You know, it's funny you say that about the, the 45 degree angle because Brian back in the office also vet and he's always talking about like, these guys don't seem to even have a clue as how to hold their weapons.

[Jared Zisser]

No, it's really.

[Sam Seder]

Have you noticed that, I mean, as a, as a former, as a former Marine, like that. Have you noticed that?

[Jared Zisser]

I did, I mean, look 45 degree angle. Holding a assault rifle at a 45 degree angle. I mean, you're my rule of engagement. My rules of engagement in Iraq were if they break 45, that is intent to cause harm or kill. So if they break 45, do what you have to do. So the fact that somebody's walking around town at a 45 degree angle is not okay. They can leave it slung facing down. That's totally different. But no, I don't think These people truly understand. First of all, I think they're completely removed from the situation that's around them. They're being told something and they're being fed this narrative. You know, we've seen several videos online where ICE officers are arguing with, you know, their sergeant or whoever about, you know, protesting is a constitutionally protected activity. And then they'll shut them down and say, no, this is not right. Do your jobs, do what you're supposed to do, or basically get out. You know what I mean? It's really tough place to be. And I'll be honest with you, it was a lot for me to take in those two trips especially were. I mean, after Portland, I don't think I posted for two days. I did not post for two days. I called my therapist up and everything. And I was. I just need to kind of run through everything that happened because what I saw was, I mean, one event, Sam, that sounds a little more conspiracy theorist, but it's like I witnessed it in real time, was there was an order for the National Guard, I believe it was the Texas National Guard to come into Portland that got shut down by a judge. And then two hours later, two DGI drones flew out of the ICE facility. One went down one street, one went down another street.

[Sam Seder]

Dgi?

[Jared Zisser]

Oh, like the brand of, like the drones. Everybody buys. Sorry. And then two ICE officers with, you know, like 4K cameras on gimbals come out and plain clothes, and everybody's just wondering what's going on here, you know. And this video is on my Instagram. It's insane, but about 70 to 80 ICE officers came out, fully battle ready, gas masks, everything, and basically pushed everybody back two to three blocks in two different directions and fired four to 500 rounds of pepper bullets and rubber bullets and flashbangs and smoke and tear gas and all of that over. They spread it out to about four blocks and then just decided, okay, let's bring everybody back in, and slowly retreated back inside after they got all their footage. And then that footage went live on the DHS Twitter. Twitter? Yeah, on X. And then President Trump then said, okay, cool, we'll send the California National Guard in instead. And then that got blocked as well. It seemed as if he got told no. And then he created this 4 to 5 city block, just covered in smoke and explosion.

[Sam Seder]

I think Merkley has talked about this, like, fake riot, essentially, they were trying to create.

[Jared Zisser]

And I was on the ground. I have that entire thing on film. It was so intense.

[Sam Seder]

And what, like, what was so difficult for you to get over. Would you have, like, some. Were you. A little bit. I mean, I imagine there was some idealism in your joining the military in the first place.

[Jared Zisser]

There was. I took an oath. I 100% took an oath when I joined the Marine Corps that I feel is more important now than it ever was before. And this is my way of contributing to keeping democracy alive and keeping this experiment in this country going. And my way, I don't want to be the person that's asked 20 years from now that when these people were just trying to make a better life for themselves and they were being kidnapped in the middle of the night and thrown into trucks and sent to places they've never been, did you do anything? I don't want to be the person that says no. I want to at least be able to tell my kids, hey, look, I stepped up. I went and did what I thought was best for me. And that was starting, you know, my Instagram, my TikTok and my YouTube. I joined Ring of Fire to make sure I can speak to a broader audience and did what I could to help people in this country, whether they were here legally, illegally, as long as they were trying to do something better for themselves and for. I mean, God, how much money did immigrants put into our federal system? Yeah, of course. I mean, it's ridiculous. And we're, It's. Yeah. So.

[Sam Seder]

Well, I think the. What we're going to see out of ICE is it's going to expand and it's, it's not just going to be geared towards immigrants. It's not going to be geared towards legal residents. It's going to be geared towards everybody. Everybody going to be going to have a lot of guns. There's going to be a lot of these thugs. And Donald Trump does not want to lose elections. Nope. So maybe those kids will not even be allowed to ask you that question.

[Jared Zisser]

That's true. No, I hope that's not. I hope not.

[Sam Seder]

I half joke, but I do think that on some level, like when you start to see what they're able to, you know, right now, nine months out from Donald Trump taking power, the absolute and real dollars growth in ice, the growth in their capacity to feel they have power and have no accountability, where we will be and the rate of acceleration of these things, where we'll be nine months from now, it's a pretty scary thought, but very much so. Congratulations, Jared. I really think that you're going to do great on Ring of Fire.

[Jared Zisser]

Thank you.

[Sam Seder]

Thank you.

[Jared Zisser]

Very excited.

[Sam Seder]

That type of perspective, having gone out onto the Streets. And seeing this stuff think lends a. I mean, you know, we hear about this, but for you to actually be out there seeing it, I think it's pretty impressive and good work. Where can people find that footage? On your Instagram?

[Jared Zisser]

Yeah, so my Instagram is Jared Zisser. It's a J E R R O D Z I S S E R. It's a take with Jared Zisser that is actually pinned to the very top of my. That one incident I spoke of where they were trying to show a war zone is pinned right on top.

[Sam Seder]

It is impressive how they go out there with their dongles. I mean, you do production, but they. They're out there making a movie every day. They always got.

[Jared Zisser]

They're making a movie. You're absolutely right. And then any ads you're seeing or commercials that they're promoting to join ice. That is from the Portland facility. I mean, I'm sure there's a little bit LA in there, a little bit of Chicago, but most of that is the Portland facility.

[Sam Seder]

All right, Jared, I really appreciate.

[Jared Zisser]

Thank you. Thank you very much.

[Sam Seder]

All right, folks. Well, there we go. That is it for the first portion of the show. Where's Emma? Hold on, I'm gonna.

[Emma]

Setting up the shot.

[Sam Seder]

I'm gonna then. Yeah, I'm gonna set up my shot then too. Like, here we go. A little wider. Is that good? Matt?

[Emma]

Maybe just keep it in one place so they can grab it.

[Sam Seder]

Okay, well, you guys, stop moving. You guys stop moving. You guys stop moving. It felt like we were dancing. Okay, there we go. Yeah, that was fun.

[Guest or Additional Commentator]

Dancing with Sam in a ballroom.

[Sam Seder]

Well, this is what we're gonna tear the White House down for. You're gonna get to see me dancing all over the place. Isn't that gonna be fun for everybody? Let's do a little bit of this. Okay. That Portland footage I want to take a look at, I didn't realize that that had been there and that that's what Merkley's been talking about and I suspect was also part of his 22 hour holding of the floor in the Senate.

[Emma]

It.

[Sam Seder]

It's also like, you know, I mean, I've had this conversation with a couple of people here. The conversations I've been having here have been much more politically oriented than in past years because I think there is a broader understanding of like, you know, because generally I'm here, I've been talking about legal cases and. But everything that's on people's mind right now is what's going to happen to our legal system. A lot of these lawyers perceive themselves as the protectors. You know, there's a lot of lawyers here who are, you know, I came up with, you know, 1888, you know, lawyer. But there's also a lot of lawyers here who perceive what they do, and many of them come out of, like, civil rights litigation who perceive what they do. Is protection of democracy, an integral part of democracy, our legal system. Both some of these folks are, you know, criminal defense attorneys as well. And I was supposed to get Ben Crump, a great civil rights lawyer, to come and talk about some of the ICE stuff, but he had to leave the conference early. But broadly speaking, a lot of these people are talking and a lot of them are saying stuff like they're projecting out and how bad this can become. And, you know, when you start to hear stories of them creating fake riots, when you start hearing stories of, like, people to the extent there were Molotov cocktails, they were aimed at the protesters.

[Guest or Additional Commentator]

ICE would never do something like that.

[Sam Seder]

ICE wouldn't. Or maybe they subcontracted out to somebody, you know, who's got an Instagram account or something like that.

[Guest or Additional Commentator]

I mean, these are upstanding individuals.

[Emma]

The first Trump term there was reporting on this during Black Lives Matter. Trevor Aronson did a long report on it in both podcasts and I believe also written form about how there were paid FBI informants trying to stoke violence in 2020 at Black Lives Matter protests. And you think that under Cash Patel's FBI, that. That those efforts are not being multiplied.

[Guest or Additional Commentator]

Rhett Fon Fallis, the person who was charged with possession of a firearm up at Dakota Access Pipeline, was given that gun by an FBI informant.

[Emma]

Yep.

[Sam Seder]

I think. And I think what we're on the cusp of seeing is far less sort of like, you know, I don't think the people who are going to be doing this stuff are going to be registered as FBI informants. Like, I. You know what I mean? Like, I think it's going to be a much broader sort of set of people who are going to be doing stuff like this. And so I do think, and, you know, we can talk more about this in the fun half, and we'll move in there and play some clips. We got some great clips of people basically telling ICE to go F themselves, which I think is really important for people to do to the extent that you can, obviously. But I do think that people need to start to project out and, you know, start asking questions of, like, you know, what. What am I prepared to do to protect my community? To protect myself, protect my family, obviously. And what steps can I take now that we'll do that? You know, there's, I think like we're in an era. One thing like with COVID have it going through a once in a lifetime, hopefully pandemic is that like, you know, you, you can be being over prepared is not a bad idea. And I'm not saying like, you know, materially necessarily, but just sort of like thinking about things through. Are there certain things that you could do now that maybe in six to eight months or 10 months or a year from now might be harder to do stuff like that? I mean, I'm not being cagey. I don't necessarily even know what those things are, but I think for each individual. So playing through is an important thing. All right, we're gonna go to the fun half. Just a reminder, it's your support that makes this show possible. You can become a [e-mail] and when you do, you not only support the free show, but get the free show free of commercials and get to ims during the fun half. Maybe we'll take some calls today.

[Matt]

And.

[Sam Seder]

You know, you allow this show to survive and thrive and soon we could make maybe the whole office look like this gold Lemay everywhere.

[Guest or Additional Commentator]

Honestly, we keep making those jokes, but it doesn't really compare to what Trump has been doing to the White House. Like, there's not enough gold. It doesn't sparkle nearly enough.

[Sam Seder]

Nope, nope. But I did. It does occur to me that, like, maybe we put gold lace in between those squares on the majority report. Cover the right.

[Jared Zisser]

Right.

[Sam Seder]

Just like use the black as a way of seeing like, like gold, like reefs and stuff like that.

[Guest or Additional Commentator]

But join themjorityreport.com if you want to contribute.

[Sam Seder]

Yes. Visit the Liberace estate. That's a good idea. I've been to the Liberace Museum years and years ago. I don't know if it's still around, but it was impressive. The Liberace Museum I've done in all the years. Well, let's go to the fun half, Matt. What's just coffee, co op, fair trade coffee, hot chocolate. Use the coupon code, majority get 10% off. Matt, laugh. Reckoning.

[Guest or Additional Commentator]

I had a great talk on Left Reckoning with one of my favorite writers, podcasters, Dan o', Sullivan, who was also on this show, talking about his new podcast, which is called the Outfit on the Mafia, which I'm just realizing on the occasion of a bunch of NBA folks getting arrested, four out of five families are Implicated for gambling. Implicated with the mafia. It's a great time to be listening to a podcast about the mafia. So we talked about Al Capone. We talked about a place called Hot Springs, Arkansas, which was apparently the Las Vegas before Las Vegas. So, Sam, maybe you want to do it? Some reporting from down there too.

[Sam Seder]

I may have to go on some special assignment work.

[Guest or Additional Commentator]

Yeah.

[Sam Seder]

How far is that Hot Springs? It's in the Ozarks.

[Guest or Additional Commentator]

It's far.

[Sam Seder]

Oh. I guess I may need a couple of weeks.

[Emma]

Yeah.

[Guest or Additional Commentator]

So check that out. It was a really fun conversation. I also force it into my two face favorite topics. Thomas Pinchon and the JFK assassination.

[Sam Seder]

Patreon.com classic episode. All right, quick break. Fun half. Three months from now, six months from now, nine months from now. And I don't think it's going to be the same as it looks like in six months from now. And I don't know if it's necessarily going to be better six months from now than it is three months from now, but I think around 18 months out, we're gonna look back and go like, wow.

[Emma]

What?

[Sam Seder]

What is that going on? It's nuts. Wait a second. Hold on for. Hold on for a second. Emma. Welcome to the program. What is up, everyone? Fun hat.

[Emma]

Crap. No.

[Matt]

Me.

[Emma]

Keen.

[Carissa Phelps]

You did it.

[Sam Seder]

Fun crack.

[Emma]

Let's go, Brandon.

[Carissa Phelps]

Let's go, Brandon.

[Sam Seder]

Fun crap. Bradley, you want to say hello? Sorry to disappoint everyone. I'm just a random guy. It's all the boys today. Fundamentally false.

[Emma]

No. I'm sorry.

[Matt]

Women.

[Sam Seder]

Stop talking for a second and let me finish.

[Emma]

Where is this coming from? Dude? But.

[Carissa Phelps]

Dude.

[Sam Seder]

You want to smoke this? 7A.

[Carissa Phelps]

Yes. Hi. It's me.

[Sam Seder]

Is me.

[Emma]

Yes.

[Sam Seder]

Is this me? Is it me? It is you. Is this me? Hello, that's me. I think it is you. Who is you? No sound. Every single freaking day. What's on your mind?

[Emma]

Sports.

[Jared Zisser]

We can discuss.

[Sam Seder]

Discuss free markets.

[Jared Zisser]

And we can discuss capitalism.

[Sam Seder]

I'm gonna go smart. Libertarians. They're so stupid. Though common sense says. Of course.

[Emma]

Gobbledygook.

[Sam Seder]

We nailed him.

[Emma]

So what's 79 plus 21 challenge?

[Jared Zisser]

Man, I'm positively quivering.

[Sam Seder]

I believe 96. I want to say. 8572-103550-11138. 911 for instance.

[Emma]

$3,400. $1900. 55 4.

[Sam Seder]

$3 trillion. Sold. It's a zero sum game.

[Emma]

Actually. You're making me think less.

[Sam Seder]

But. But let me say this poop. You can call it satire.

[Carissa Phelps]

Sam goes satire on top of it all. My favorite part about you is just like, every day, all day, like, everything you do.

[Sam Seder]

Without a doubt. Hey, buddy. We see you. All right, folks, folks, folks.

[Emma]

It's just the week being weeded out, obviously.

[Carissa Phelps]

Yeah.

[Sam Seder]

Sun's out, guns out. I. I don't know.

[Jared Zisser]

But you should know.

[Sam Seder]

People just don't.

[Guest or Additional Commentator]

Like to entertain ideas anymore.

[Sam Seder]

I have a question. Who cares? Our chat is enabled, folks. I love it.

[Emma]

I do love that.

[Sam Seder]

Gotta jump. Gotta be quick. I gotta jump. I'm losing it, bro. Two o', clock, we're already late, and the guy's being a dick. So screw him. Sent to a gulag.

[Emma]

Outrageous.

[Sam Seder]

Like, what is wrong with you?

[Emma]

Love you.

[Sam Seder]

Bye. Love you.

[Matt]

Bye.

[Sam Seder]

Bye.