3611 - Victims of the Shut Down; Mamdani's final Push; Accountability for ICE

Summary

The Majority Report with Sam Seder

Episode 3611: Victims of the Shut Down; Mamdani's Final Push; Accountability for ICE

October 27, 2025

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Episode Overview

This episode of The Majority Report with Sam Seder dives deep into the ongoing, historic federal government shutdown, now entering its fifth week, and explores its devastating impact on American workers and families. Highlights include the Trump administration's handling of SNAP and social program funding, the fallout from Trump's foreign economic maneuvers (notably in Argentina), the challenges facing health insurance enrollment, and a lively recap of the massive “New York is Not for Sale” rally featuring emerging progressive leaders like Zoran Mamdani, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Bernie Sanders. The episode concludes with a discussion on innovative attempts at state-level accountability for ICE as agents' actions increasingly attract public outrage.

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Key Topics & Discussion Points

1. The Fifth Week of Government Shutdown & Its Consequences

[03:00 – 35:00]

• Shutdown Impacts:

  • Federal workers miss first paychecks, leading to food assistance lines in Maryland (30:00).
  • Broader consequences:
    • SNAP benefits threatened for 42 million Americans.
    • Head Start funding cut for nearly 1 million children; WIC facing massive shortfalls (30:07).
    • Air travel facing severe delays as air traffic control staff dwindle.

• Why Any Deal Seems Pointless:

  • Trump continues to cut or reallocate federal funds without congressional approval.
  • Sam: “What’s the point of making a deal if Trump can just, willy-nilly, decide not to follow it?” (03:45)
  • Senate Democrats could nuke the filibuster to pass a budget but refuse, trying to assign blame.

• Misuse and Withholding of Contingency Funds:

  • The Trump administration claims it cannot access multi-year SNAP reserves, contradicting their own OMB General Counsel advice.
  • Sam: “Congress has already set aside funds… Now the Trump administration has decided to withhold them.” (26:33)

• Trump’s Questionable Priorities:

  • Simultaneously pushing a $40B bailout for Argentina to benefit his billionaire backers, notably hedge fund managers with Argentine debt.
  • Emma: “Instead of helping 42 million people who rely on SNAP benefits don’t go hungry, this administration is prioritizing bailing out a foreign government … that has ties to Trump’s billionaire friends.” (29:37)

• Health Care Crisis Looming:

  • ACA (Affordable Care Act) subsidies set to expire, causing up to 30% premium increases. The amount needed to extend the subsidies ($24B) is “very equivalent to the money that Trump just sent, willy-nilly, to Argentina.”
  • “It’s a question of priorities. And we know this administration is prioritizing the billionaire class, looting the federal government…” (32:18)

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2. Soybean Farmers and Trump’s China Trade Flop

[08:40 – 15:00]

• Disastrous Soybean Tariffs: U.S. soybean exports to China have dropped from $3B to mere millions due to failed Trump tariffs, devastating farmers who were core supporters.

• Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant’s Out-of-Touch Comments (mocked by Sam and Emma):

  • Bessant, a $500m hedge funder and farmland landlord, claims, “I have felt [soybean farmers’] pain too…” (13:03)

• Hosts’ Sarcastic Take:

  • Sam: “He is a farmer. He’s a landlord of farmers.”
  • Emma: “So he feels their pain.” (13:57)
  • Sam: “By providing a podcast… that qualifies me to go operate on somebody at a hospital.” (14:13)

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3. New York is Not for Sale Rally: Progressive Momentum

[35:29 – 52:00]

• Massive Progressive Gathering:

  • 14,000 attendees at Forest Hills Stadium for a rally led by Zoran Mamdani, Bernie Sanders, AOC, and Kathy Hochul.
  • Emma: “The energy was amazing… Forest Hill Stadium might be the best stadium.” (06:56)

• Mamdani’s Emotional Speech:

  • Pays tribute to Bernie Sanders:
    • “I stand before you tonight only because the senator dared to stand alone for so long. I speak the language of democratic socialism only because he spoke it first.” (38:00)
  • Speaks movingly against Islamophobia, drawing from his family’s experience post-9/11.

• AOC’s Rallying Cry:

  • [40:26 – 42:03]
  • AOC: “Our future is not determined by a despot in a house built by enslaved people. Our future will be determined… in a city built by unionists and immigrants…” (40:36)

• Contrast with Establishment Democrats:

  • Sam muses on what a Jeffries-Schumer-Cuomo rally turnout would look like (“only the sky boxes would be filled”) compared to the progressive throngs for Mamdani.
  • Emma: “Liberals within the Democratic Party will try to create all of these distinctions for their own professional ambitions. The solidarity of democratic socialism is immensely important in combating Trump and fascism.” (39:10)

• Kathy Hochul’s Odd Reception:

  • Crowd chants "Tax the Rich" during Hochul’s speech (47:52).
  • She later claims she thought the crowd was chanting "Let's Go Bills" (laughter), drawing mockery:
    • Sam: “Just having her there… signals, ‘He’s within the mainstream of the Democratic Party.’ But… the real value is having her look at 15,000 people. Possibly the biggest crowd she’s ever been in front of.” (51:34)

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4. Holding ICE Accountable: State and Local Strategies

[58:12 – 69:00]

• New Developments:

  • Both California and Illinois are organizing to prosecute ICE agents for illegal actions, like tampering with license plates to avoid identification (58:27).
  • Illinois’ Attorney General asks the public to photograph and report ICE vehicles with missing or obscured plates.

• Legal Hurdles:

  • States face major obstacles in prosecuting federal agents. Federal officials are generally immune if acting under the “necessary and proper” execution of duties, but not outside them.

• Community Response to ICE in Chicago:

  • Clips of neighbors confronting ICE as they deploy tear gas in residential neighborhoods:
    • Resident: “Guys in their PJs… scaring our children to death… Never thought this would happen in my neighborhood.” (65:04)
    • Chicagoan: “You’re nowhere near Canada. How much are they paying you? Get the out of here! Take your mask off, coward.” (65:27)

• Chicago as a Model of Resistance:

  • Sam: “The amount of respect I have now for the people of Chicago… they have been a model for the rest of the country.” (67:48)
  • ICE action in Chicago legally justified by 100-mile federal “border zone” due to Great Lakes geography.

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5. Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Federal Dysfunction:

  • Sam: “Any deal the Democrats make is useless because Trump has already established that he will do whatever he wants and none of the Republicans in Congress are going to do anything about it.” (23:00)

• On Progressive Energy:

  • Emma: “People know that if he [Mamdani] wants to do his free bus program… he needs Kathy Hochul’s buy-in. He’s putting pressure on her through people power.” (51:05)

• On ICE Overreach:

  • Sam (on tear gas in Chicago): “I mean, it looks like one of these ‘day after’ movies or like there’s some…apocalyptic plague that has spread around. These guys are so…it’s ridiculous.” (66:12)

• On Hochul’s Tone-Deafness:

  • Sam: “She has the energy of a steakhouse server who has to tell you we don’t have that rub today.” (54:04)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

| Topic | Timestamp | |-----------------------------------------------|------------------| | Shutdown Overview and SNAP Crisis | 03:00 – 35:00 | | Soybean Tariffs & Farmer Bailouts | 08:40 – 15:00 | | “New York is Not for Sale” Rally | 35:29 – 52:00 | | AOC’s Rally Speech | 40:26 – 42:03 | | Kathy Hochul & “Tax the Rich” Chant | 47:33 – 52:00 | | ICE State Accountability and Public Response | 58:12 – 69:00 | | Chicago Community Confronts ICE | 65:04 – 68:17 |

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Tone & Style

• Irreverent, sarcastic, and deeply engaged.
• Sam and Emma deploy both biting humor (especially toward out-of-touch officials) and earnest advocacy—for labor, economic justice, and solidarity.
• The show seamlessly blends “insider” strategic analysis with intimate human stories, especially visible in the rally and shutdown segments.

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Conclusion

This episode offers one of the most comprehensive—and emotionally charged—overviews in the current Majority Report run. Not only does it detail the material consequences of a historic government shutdown, but it also highlights the burgeoning progressive movement’s grassroots momentum and the increasing demand for direct accountability from both federal and state power centers. For progressive listeners, both the threat and the hope in American politics have rarely been clearer or more energized.

Transcript

[Sam Cedar]

Hey, folks. I think people know I've had a tumultuous relationship with my cat, but things have changed for the better. Why? I don't know if it's exactly this, but it seems like, I mean, I don't want to disparage my cat and say that he only likes me because of what I feed him, but I think he only likes me because of what I feed him. This podcast is sponsored by Smalls. For a limited time, you can get 60% off your first order plus free shipping when you head to smalls.com Majority Smalls Cat food is protein packed recipes made with preservative free ingredients that you'd find in your fridge and it's delivered right to your door. That's why cats.com named Smalls their best overall cat food. Starting with Smalls is easy. You just share some info about your cat's diet, health and food preferences. And then Smalls put together a personalized sampler for your cat. No more picking between random brands at the store. No more trying to figure out what, what flavors he likes or she likes. Smalls has the right food to satisfy any cat's cravings. For me, the big like my cat loves the chicken broth, or I guess it's the bird broth. I think it's a mixture of chicken and turkey. He goes crazy for it. He loves the Smalls food, but it's the broth that will send him running. And he seems to actually genuinely like me now.

[Emma]

And that's good because it keeps them hydrated. Male cats need that particular. Right, the broth.

[Sam Cedar]

Yes, that's actually true too. That's the thing cats say because they think it tastes good.

[Emma]

I'm learning as I go.

[Sam Cedar]

Yeah, there you go. Well, I mean, the important thing is just that he seems to be more. But that's true. I've heard that about wet food. Anyways, he loves it. Smalls also has a bunch of amazing treats and snacks that you can add to your order. It's like a little holiday gift. I throw it to him when he, you know, if he doesn't, you know, meow, like basically roar at four in the morning when I wake up, I give him some. After switching to smalls, 88% of cat owners reported overall health improvements. That, of course, is a big deal. And the team at Smalls is so confident your cat's gonna love your product that you could try it risk free. That means they're going to refund you if your cat won't eat their food. But believe me, that won't happen. What are you waiting for? Give your cat the food they deserve. For a limited time because you're a Majority Report Listener, you get 60% off your first order plus free shipping when you head to smalls.com Majority that's 60% off your first order plus Free Shipping when you head to smalls.COM Majority. Check it out folks. We will put the link and information in the podcast and YouTube description. And now time for the show the Majority Report with Sam Cedar. It is Monday, October 27, 2025. My name is Sam Cedar. This is the five time award winning Majority Report. We are broadcasting live steps from the industrially ravaged Gowanus Canal in the heartland of America, downtown Brooklyn, usa. On the program today, we're now entering just about the fifth week of the government shutdown. Federal workers have now missed their first paycheck. Trump shuts down a fund to maintain snap benefits for 42 million Americans. Open enrollment health insurance starts in four days. As premiums soar, Head Start will lose funding for nearly 1 million kids. WIC also in danger. Flights increasingly delayed. Now we have the American Federation of Government Workers or federal workers union calling for a clean continuing resolution. Can the Democrats hold out and what's the point of them making a deal if Trump can just willy nilly decide not to follow it? Meanwhile, Trump billionaire backer Timothy Mellon gives $130 million to pay troops, effectively privatizing part of our military.

[Emma]

That is a concerning development.

[Sam Cedar]

That's a dry run. Indiana governor calls special session to gerrymander seeking two new Republican congressional seats. Trump again claims a deal with the Chinese to fix all the deals and the trade that he broke. The US Docks warships in a ramp up to possible attack on Venezuela. Javier Milei party wins midterm elections in Argentina in the wake of a $40 billion promised US bailout if his party won.

[Emma]

Yeah.

[Sam Cedar]

Pritzker in Illinois establishing an accountability commission on ICE theoretically for future prosecution. Prosecution, he said.

[Emma]

We'll prosecute you. Let's go.

[Sam Cedar]

That's also they're talking about that in California as well. Study finds that the MRNA COVID vaccine ended up prolonging the life of cancer patients. More study to be done on that. Trump restarts some of the student loan forgiveness programs that he shut down earlier. All this and more on today's Majority Report. Welcome ladies and gentlemen. Thanks for joining us at the beginning.

[Emma]

The week it is Sunday, Monday.

[Sam Cedar]

And look at Emma. Emma is glowing from her her time last night at the Mom Donnie AOC Bernie Hochul rally.

[Emma]

So Hochul did you get to meet Kathy Hochel? I did not, but she was at the top of my list. Had to dip a little early. I'm moving tomorrow, so I missed some of the speeches. But I got to talk to Zoran Namdani again. Still as charming in person as you would anticipate. And it was really nice to be able to see a bunch of different people. The energy was amazing. Also, Forest Hill Stadium might be the best stadium.

[Sam Cedar]

14,000 people.

[Emma]

I don't remember the number, but 13.

[Sam Cedar]

Or 14,000 is my understanding. But we'll play some clips about that later.

[Emma]

Brian had the time of his life as well.

[Sam Cedar]

Yeah, I had some apple cider and Tater Tots. It was all right. Yeah. All right. That's a weird combo. Is that what. Not at the same time.

[Emma]

I got him Tater Tots.

[Sam Cedar]

It's just the free stuff that was coming out.

[Emma]

Another nice person brought us cider. It was a lot of sense of community there in the livestream green room area. So very fun.

[Sam Cedar]

All right, well, we will play some clips of that later in the program. First, this is so parsed out. There is apparently a deal to have a framework for a deal between Trump and Xi, as opposed to having 100% tariffs on everything. Remember, 100 deals in 100 days. Yes. Well, and this is coming amid, like, you know, the reports. Let's put up the graph of. Did you do we put that graph of the soybeans in there just to give you a sense of, like, what's happening with the farmers in this country.

[Emma]

So this is from the csis. It's a Center for Strategic and International Studies. It's a think tank. But basically they looked at soybean exports to China and this is the line that you're going to see at the top. Here is the average from 2020 to 2024. And you'll see that basically the purchases from China and they purchase over 50% of US soybeans happen usually in the summer ahead of.

[Sam Cedar]

Happened in September.

[Emma]

Well, the purchases happen prior to the harvest season, basically. So that's why they've been sounding the alarm for a while. This is when the exports actually, actually are supposed to pick up in October. And it's flatlining that bottom. That bottom line is 2025 compared to where you see that major spike in a traditional year. And that's because of the tariffs in.

[Sam Cedar]

A typical month of September, particularly October, and in November, and then it starts to decline in December. This is when the harvest happens. Between 2020 and 2024, the average is approximately $3 billion. Somewhere between 2.5 and $3 billion worth of soybean exports. Exports to China. And in 2025, we don't have the hard numbers, but projection based upon it is somewhere around 100. Yeah, 100 million, maybe, which I can't do the number 30. Is it 30 or is it 300 times less? 300 times less. Right.

[Emma]

It's very difficult because.

[Sam Cedar]

Wait, more, more. What is it like a thousand million is a billion? Is that what it is?

[Emma]

I can't do math on the fly. It's a bad situation for soybean farmers. China basically said, we're not buying anymore. Why would they? And they've gone to alternate markets down in, you know, in, in, in South America.

[Sam Cedar]

And of course, we also are now subsidizing Argentinian beef because we wanted Milei to be there to make sure that Scott Bessant's hedge funds buddies got their payouts from their investments from Argentina. But don't worry if you're a farmer and you're worried about getting crushed because of how badly Donald Trump has effed up this whole trade deal, don't worry. Scott Bessant understands your pain. I did mean the second term. I know they have met before. The President has also said he does want our farmers to be taken care of. You did mention that China has been boycotting American soybeans. And American farmers have really suffered. Do you see a real light at the end of the tunnel there? They may allow soybeans again. Well, Martha, in case you don't know it, I'm actually a soybean farmer. So I have, I have felt this pain too. And there are a couple of things happening here. One, the Chinese have substantially dropped their purchases to almost zero. So they unfortunately have been using American farmers who are amongst President Trump's biggest supporters. I think he had more than 90% support. And then this was one of the biggest crops. You always heard the one year love was the perfect storm. But I think we have addressed the farmers concerns and I'm not going to get ahead of the President, but I believe when the announcement of the deal with China is made public that our soybean farmers will feel very good about what's going on both for this season and the coming seasons for several.

[Emma]

No, that's funny, but it's done now. It's over at this point.

[Sam Cedar]

But that's what he meant. He says, he says, like this season and the next season, the next season, this one might just be. It's gonna be, it's gonna Be some type of bailout, obviously. It's gotta be some type of bailout for the farmers. Like, I'm gonna fix what I broke, and I had no idea. You know, you gotta hand it to Scott Besson, because here he is, he's the Treasury Secretary, but he's also going to get back onto the farm.

[Emma]

I know he's got to do both.

[Sam Cedar]

He's got two jobs.

[Emma]

Don't be fooled by the suit. He's got a corn cob pipe just right in his pocket.

[Sam Cedar]

Let's go to here. Look at this headline. This is Rolling Stone. Scott Bessant claims he feels soybean farmers pain. He's worth 500 million. And let's go down to read about his. He's. He's one of these, like, assault to the earth guys. Is. He's got the dirt under his fingernails. Let's see. He is. Oh, here it is. He's a hedge fund manager who boasts a net worth more than 500 million and who rents $25 million in farmland out to our soybean farmers. That's how. He is a farmer. He's a landlord of farmers.

[Emma]

Oh, yeah.

[Sam Cedar]

Yep.

[Emma]

So he feels their pain.

[Sam Cedar]

So my landlord's a podcaster. Yeah. What's that? My landlord's a podcaster. Yes, Our landlord here is a podcaster. I'll also say, in some respects, by providing a podcast. I know that we have doctors who listen to this.

[Emma]

Yes.

[Sam Cedar]

Well, that qualifies me to go operate on somebody at a. At a hospital. It's true.

[Emma]

That's very exciting.

[Sam Cedar]

If you. And. And that's all you need to do is rent it. If, let's say, you have an extra room in your. Your house and you want to, I don't know, become an electrician, you rent it out, like Airbnb it or something like that to an electrician, and then you become an electrician, like an osmosis type of thing. That's the way it works. That's the way it works.

[Emma]

He really seems like he understands their pain.

[Sam Cedar]

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. He would get along well with farmers. All right, we got more to cover in a moment. We're going to go over what we're going to see during this shutdown and where we're at. I don't know. I'm not exactly sure what Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries have been up to. I know they've been very, very busy. Hakeem Jeffries actually endorse Mamdani sort of.

[Emma]

Less than 24 hours before conceded the endorsement early voting open. And he said, I endorse the Democrat in the race.

[Sam Cedar]

They have disagreements on foreign policy as a mayor. All right, before we get, before we get into that. Moron. So out of it. But before we get into that, one of our sponsors today is Nutrafol. If you're dealing with hair issues like thinning or shedding, but feel totally stuck in what to try next, I get it. There's so many products out there, it's hard to know which ones are gonna actually do anything. But years ago, that's why I tried Nutrafol. It's not just hype. It's physician formulated, clinically tested and even recommended by dermatologists. And it's drug free. It's a supplement. I myself have had no side effects, but I have seen a visible difference in how much I'm shedding in terms of like, you know, my right hair on my head. I can tell after I come out of the shower. I will a couple of times a week use a white towel just just to get a sense because you know, I'm getting up there and I don't want to panic. Nutrafol is the number one dermatologist recommended hair growth supplement brand. It's trusted by one and a half, over one and a half million people. And you can feel great about what you put in your body. Since neutrophil hair growth supplements are backed by peer reviewed studies and NSF Content Certified, which is the gold standard and third party certification for supplements. And here's the thing about neutral fall. They don't just study the efficacy of the ingredients and then assume that if you put them all together in some way, they're going to work. Nutrafol clinically tests their final formulations to assure their efficacy using a variety of hair measurement methods. They will check hair counts, they'll do pull tests, they'll assess growth and quality and shedding and texture. All of it. Adding neutral into your daily routine is simple. See thicker, stronger, faster growing hair with less shedding in just three to six months with neutral fall for a limited time only, Neutral is offering you 10 bucks off your first month subscription and free shipping. When you go to nutrafol.com enter the promo code TMR10. TMR the number 10. Find out why Nutrafol is the best selling hair growth supplement [e-mail] spelled n u t r a f o l.com promo code TMR10. That's neutrophil.com promo code TMR10. Check out the podcast in YouTube descriptions for link and that code and oh, this is another great service. Just about, I think everybody, not Brian, but everybody else has tried in this office. When you're looking for a doctor, whether it's in your hometown or when you're traveling or whatever, it is literally like some type of like logistics quiz. You gotta like, you need a specific specialist who takes your specific insurance, but they need to be within certain amount of miles of you because you don't want to. And you also don't want to wait a month to get an appointment. You want a doctor that you trust, etc. Etc. You got to go through all of this stuff. Well, ZocDoc makes it easy to figure out those logistical blanks that you might have to help you find the right doctor for your specific needs. ZocDoc is a free app and website where you can search and compare high quality in network doctors and click to instantly book an appointment. So you can book in network appointments with doctors across every specialty. Mental health, dental health, primary care to urgent care, and more. You can filter for doctors who take your insurance, who are located nearby and are a good fit for any type of medical need that you have. Once you find the right doctor, you can see their actual appointment openings and, and you can choose a time slot that works for you. You don't have to like, okay, I found somebody. They're only, you know, 1.5 miles away. I mean, in New York City that's, you know, still even a little bit of a hike. But they take my insurance and I'm okay. And I call and can you do the 18th? No, you can't. The 26. All right, wait a second. See if I can get work off that day. No, it's all so easy because you can see what their appointments are and just plug it in. Appointments made through Zocdoc also happen fast, typically just 24 to 72 hours of booking. You can even score same day appointments. I've had some dental stuff I've had when I've been out of town and you're like, where do you start? Zocdoc was the way that I found a dentist who took care of like an emergency crown type of situation for me was good. And you use it for your doctor.

[Emma]

That's how I found my dentist just here in Brooklyn. And I, I don't typically like going to the dentist, but this dentist makes it not horrible.

[Sam Cedar]

So really, what do they do?

[Emma]

Well, just, I like the guy.

[Sam Cedar]

All right. I'm just curious if there's like some special thing. I mean, the dentist is miserable as far as his fingers taste good. Oh, stop. I don't know if you can find that information on zocdoc, but I want to thank them for sponsoring this episode.

[Emma]

Oh, I wrote an extensive review about it. Just kidding.

[Sam Cedar]

Stop putting, stop putting off those doctor appointments. Go to zoc doc doc doc zoc doc.com Majority to find and instantly book a top rated doctor today. That's z o c-.com Majority zocdoc.com Majority Again, we'll put the link and the code in our podcast and YouTube descriptions. Let's go to, let's go through this shutdown where we're at. We're on day 27 entering tomorrow would be the end of the fourth week and by midweek will be in the fifth week of the shutdown. Just to give you a sense of and it was just announced that the head of the afge, which is, I think the biggest federal employee federal worker union, is calling for a clean CR because we now have hundreds of thousands of federal workers who are left without a paycheck. Now, again, here's the problem. The Democrats could make any type of deal or make no deal and just punt through a continued resolution. But the problem is, is the Trump administration keeps making cuts and funding things without congressional approval. And because the Republicans don't care and because Mike Johnson doesn't want to get back into session because he's afraid of a, of a discharge petition to force the US Government to release the Epstein files because the congressional Republicans do not care about their institutional powers. Remember, it is the Congress that has the ability to appropriate funds. And Donald Trump has essentially instituted a line item veto and then sort of the opposite. I can't remember what the term is for it, but where he's just deciding we're going to throw funds at this even though it has not been appropriated by, by Congress. And so any deal the Democrats make is useless because Trump has already established that he can do, he will do whatever he wants and none of the Republicans in Congress are going to do anything about it. So really what should happen? Remember, the Senate has on multiple occasions already this year nuked the filibuster. They've done it at least three occasions for three different things. They could do it here and allow the budget to go forward. They don't want to do that because they want to try and blame the Democrats, but they could do that. And frankly, I think it would be good get rid of the filibuster. Let's have an actual democracy here. Here's images of federal workers lining up in Maryland for food assistance because they're now doing without, without any paychecks starting today. This is furloughed federal workers lined up in Landover, Maryland. There's no sound to this, but I mean, and it's sped up obviously because the line goes like around the blocks. Just to give you a sense of what is impacted here, this is one of the things that in addition to hundreds of thousands of furloughed workers, there are 42 million or so people who are getting food assistance through the SNAP program On according to the SNAP website. I guess it was put this up. This was back. This was what was on the, the USDA's website. I don't know, it was like two or three days ago. This is number 11. Excuse me, 10 right. Go above it. Here we have a punchbowl announcing that, that, that White House officials have determined they do not have the authority to use contingency reserves. That's billions of dollars that Congress provided for the use when SNAP funding is inadequate to fund SNAP benefits. Okay, this is a lie. And how do we know it was a lie? Because A the White House has funded all sorts of things that they don't have the authority to do. But B in fact there were contingency funds that were allow, allowable. And we can see this. This is. The USDA deleted this from their plan that was on their website. And I'll read what the first couple of lines say. Omb, this is the Office of, of Management of Budget General Counsel that being the in house lawyer provided a letter to the USDA on May 23rd, 2025 stating that there is a bona fide need to obligate benefits for October, the first month of the fiscal year during or prior or the month of September, thereby guaranteeing that benefit funds are available for program operations even in the event of a government shutdown at the beginning of the fiscal year. In addition, congressional intent is evident that snap's operations should continue since the program has been provided with multi year contingency funds that can be used for state administrative expenses to ensure that the state can also continue operations during a federal government shutdown. These multi year contingency funds are also available to fund participant benefits in the event that a lapse occurs in the middle of the fiscal year. So the bottom line is Congress has already set aside funds. Even Trump's OMB's in House Counsel said that it's perfectly illegal to use these funds. And now the Trump administration has decided to withhold them. Again, a perfect example of the Trump White House using essentially rescission. And you simply can't get into a deal with somebody. You know, you could say extend the provisions for, for Medicaid or the ACA subsidies, but the day after you sign that, that, that deal, it's not worth the paper it's written on.

[Emma]

I mean, and Democrats should run with this. I think the Argentina bailout and contrasting, oh, we're gonna give $20 billion in credit line to Argentina and prioritize that to make sure that Milei wins because apparently I think it was popular info that did a write up about Besant, whatever Bessant, you've thrown me off about it. It's Besant. I believe it's Bessant. It's Besant. It does make him sound like, like completely out of touch even though he's just a soybean farmer.

[Sam Cedar]

A French peasant farmer.

[Emma]

Yeah. So I mean that's $20 billion in taxpayer money. I think the other 20 billion is just like from investors but that it's a hedge fund guy named Rob Citron basically who made heavy, heavy bets on the Argentine economy that needs to be bailed out here.

[Sam Cedar]

And he's fighting for his life.

[Emma]

He's not the only one. So instead of helping people and, or tapping into the $6 billion reserve fund so that folks, over 40 million people who rely on SNAP benefits don't go hungry, this administration is prioritizing bailing out a foreign government that has ties to Trump's billionaire friends. It is wrapped in a bow in terms of campaign ads, I would imagine.

[Sam Cedar]

Just to let you know what else we're looking at with the shutdown of the government. Saturday, some early childhood education programs that are a function of Head Start coming out of Health and Human Services will start to shut down. About 130 programs are set to miss federal funding. That's across 41 states, including and I should say Puerto Rico serving 59,000 children. Head Start programming serving about 6,500 children stopped getting funded after October 1st. WIC for mothers and infant babies serves 7 million. Low income mothers and babies will also faces a complete funding shortfall unless Trump administration taps another $300 million in cash for WIC. We've got lax shut down for a brief period of time apparently the other day because of a lack of air traffic controllers. If you've flown a plane, it's almost like now par for the course. You spend 30 minutes on the tarmac on both ends of that flight. It's only going to get worse. And that's where we're at at this point. Trump administration will not agree to even negotiate because apparently, like he's told Mike Johnson, no negotiations. And again, at the end of the day, what is the value of a deal when they enter into it? Basically saying we don't have to abide by any deal.

[Emma]

Yeah. And then, I mean, we haven't even touched on the expiration of these ACA premiums today. There's some estimates that show that an extension of the ACA subsidies for a year, which would prevent an increase in premiums of up to 30%. And in some states it's even higher than that. It's around $24 billion, which is very equivalent to the money that Trump just sent willy nilly to Argentina. It's a question of priorities. And we know that this administration is prioritizing the billionaire class, looting the federal government across this four year span, regardless of the outcomes, even to like the elections. Right. They're calling all these special sessions across the country in red states to add more Republican seats. We have Prop 50 in California, which is really, really important that people in California go out and vote for that. But they're trying to inculcate themselves or basically make themselves immune from Democratic outcomes.

[Sam Cedar]

Yeah, this is part of the becoming the, you know, maintaining minoritarian rule. We mentioned at the top of the show. Indiana is having a special session to gerrymander that'll probably be two new seats for Republicans. But yes, we are now entering open enrollment that starts in about four days starting November 1st. And people are already starting to get notice of a huge bump in their premiums coupled with a huge decline in their subsidies. And then understand too that that will mean X number of people will not get health insurance. They will maybe pay a small fee in an extra tax because they're not insured. But what will also happen is you're, you're shrinking the risk pool. And when you shrink the risk pool, that means there are less premiums to cover the generally the same amount of sick people. Because if people are already sick or feel sick or think they might get sick, generally they will not drop their health insurance because they know they're going to have to deal with it. And so the relationship between sick people who will need payouts and non sick people who probably won't, but that's what insurance is for. That proportion becomes smaller and premiums go up for everybody. Which is the whole idea about universal health insurance is that it makes it cheaper because you have distributed the risk among a greater number of people. So expect your health insurance to cost more if you don't already know that it will. That's where we're at at this point. Let's talk about something more positive now.

[Emma]

Sure.

[Sam Cedar]

You were at a rally last night.

[Emma]

I was last night. It was. Gosh. What was the name of the rally? New York is Not for Sale. Right, Right.

[Sam Cedar]

Which Jeff Stein pointed out. Bernie ran one of his early races in Vermont. The tagline was Burlington is not for Sale.

[Emma]

Well, that's maybe a good way to transition to talking about it because Zoran Mamdani in his speech gave so much credit to Bernie Sanders about holding the mantle for democratic socialism and charging ahead himself and paving the way for folks like him. I found that to be very moving. I mean, Zoran's been on a real tear with speeches late last week. Yeah, we didn't end up playing it, but we can.

[Sam Cedar]

We'll play some of that. We have to.

[Emma]

Where he talks about Islamophobia and how, you know, what it was like growing up in New York in the shadow of 911 and how his aunt was afraid to ride the subway and wearing her hijab. And he got emotional and spoke about how now he sees himself in the light. And I think that that's so important in, like the 21st century. Islamophobia is so normalized, so bipartisan, so quotidian and across every part of our country, it doesn't matter if you're in a city or if you're in a rural red area, people are hateful towards Muslim people. And Zoran's victory is not just. Or, well, hopeful victory is not. Is a repudiation of many things, including neoliberalism and status quo Democrats. But also, in my view, Islamophobia and it being weaponized within the context of like the talk about Israel's genocide but.

[Sam Cedar]

Or the Iraq war. Like it's been used for political purposes by the most powerful evil people in the world. It's also been a huge. I mean, Spencer Ackerman really laid this out in his book. I can't remember what the title of that book was, but all of the. The Security Theater and real sort of like surveillance increases and he says really brought about this era of Trump. But here is Zoran Mamdani. Which clip is this?

[Emma]

This is the part I referenced where he gives credit to Bernie. And this was a great line.

[Sam Cedar]

And this is sort of like a mashup between the anti oligarchic oligarchy tour that Sanders and AOC had been on across the country and Mamdani's mayoral campaign. And let's please make some noise for Senator Bernie Sanders. I stand before you tonight only because the senator dared to stand alone for so long. I speak the language of democratic socialism only because he spoke it first. And when I ran for state assembly almost six years ago to the day, it was at Bernie's rally in Queensbridge park, where I led our first canvas.

[Emma]

And just like, contrast this with the way that liberals within the Democratic Party will kind of eat each other up or try to create all of these distinctions for their own professional ambitions. The solidarity of democratic socialism is immensely important in combating Trump and fascism. I mean, liberalism fails in so many ways, including in, like, enabling the private sector, which doesn't combat socialism, but it also creates networks of solidarity and, like, a shared purpose, which is essential for any political movement to have success.

[Sam Cedar]

Let's. Let's play the clip. Let's play number nine, and then we'll go to this run on. On Hochul, because there's a sort of a third element to it that provides a perfect triptych. So let's play number nine. Nine, which is AOC. At the same rally, incidentally, 13,000 people up in Forest Hills, and apparently there was huge lines of people who did not get in.

[Emma]

Yep.

[Sam Cedar]

With players.

[Emma]

No matter what he's doing, that house.

[Sam Cedar]

Doesn'T belong to him. New York.

[Emma]

It belongs to us. It belongs to the people of this country. And I want us all to remember and to know that the future, our future, is not determined by a despot in a house built by enslaved people. Our future will be determined not in a house built by slaves, but in a city built by freemen, in a city built by unionists and immigrants and suffragists. The bricks laid by working people, past, present, and future. The seamstresses and the unionists who paid for our rights in blood. This city was built by the Irish escaping famine, Italians fleeing fascism, Jews escaping Holocaust, Black Americans fleeing slavery and Jim Crow, Latinos seeking a better life. Native people standing for themselves.

[Sam Cedar]

Asian Americans coming together in Queens, in.

[Emma]

Brooklyn, in the Bronx, in Manhattan, in Staten island, in this country, in a vision to build the freest, toughest, and. And greatest city on earth. And we will not stop now.

[Sam Cedar]

New York.

[Emma]

It is no surprise. It's crazy.

[Sam Cedar]

Nyc, baby. Nyc.

[Emma]

It is.

[Sam Cedar]

Wow. People seem excited. Yeah, people seem excited at that rally. Let's cut over to the Hakeem Jeffries rally that he's got. Do you think that Hakeem Jeffries could actually. Honestly, I mean, if he and Chuck Schumer. Let's say, let's just make this a big bill. Chuck Schumer, Hakeem Jeffries, Christian Gillibrand, all together, one night, packed night. And Cuomo. Let's do an Cuomo. How many people do you think you would get into that room if, like, if they did it in a place with skyboxes, only the sky boxes would be filled.

[Emma]

That's.

[Sam Cedar]

The entire rest of the stadium would be empty. But the skyboxes may all be up there. No one would be paying attention to the words. Be like, you know, making deals and making. Nobody in the stands.

[Emma]

Yep. Or there would be counter protesters maybe. Maybe counter protesters would, like, outnumber the actual people.

[Sam Cedar]

There'd be 200 people in the stands. And one by one throughout the night, they get up to protest. By the time you're done, they're all been kicked out.

[Emma]

What I liked about what AOC said there, she's not running from the multiculturalism of America and connecting that to the working class and who built things. I mean, it's the. It's beautiful and it is what is best about New York and what is best about America. And it's a good way to make that case when the administration sees multiculturalism as a threat.

[Sam Cedar]

Here is Kathy Hochul. Yeah, we're gonna. It's really three, isn't it?

[Emma]

Yeah. Well, maybe we should start with my question.

[Sam Cedar]

Let's start with Emma's question about Kathy Hochul. And, you know, this came up when we spoke to Antonio Delgado about his running in this governor race. And for Mamdani, the toughest, the biggest issue is going to be his ability to get funding for things like free daycare. And really, I don't know how much of his stated agenda. Not so much the rent freeze. Although now I've heard reported that Eric Adams is stacking that board before he leaves, which is going to make it difficult. Although Hochul could get rid of Eric Adams today, incidentally.

[Emma]

Good point.

[Sam Cedar]

She could boot him out for being indicted. And because I don't think that indictment has been fully rescinded, it's just sort of like conditionally punted. But Zoran Mamdani is going to need the backing of Hochul if he's going to fulfill a lot of his campaign promises. Yeah. And so it's really important that she was showing up there last night, and it was a sort of a late announcement that she would.

[Emma]

I didn't know when I asked this question, I was trying to get something in a little bit more Substantive. We had limited time with Zoron, but happy that they were able to even give us any time. I don't know why I buttoned one part of my coat. Like, I just feel like my fit did not end up looking its best.

[Sam Cedar]

It was cold. Also, contrast to Zoron. He's looking.

[Emma]

I know, I know, I know. I got my. And I have a heavy. Like, my glasses are in one pocket, is dragging it down on the other side.

[Sam Cedar]

All right, let's get past the fashion myself.

[Emma]

All right, here's the question. Lastly, we know that there's a gubernatorial election next year. Do you think that that timing is good for you and the fact that you're going to need Albany to get on board with your budget a little bit, that maybe that creates some sort of pressure in that situation?

[Sam Cedar]

I think the thing I'm thinking of much more than an election is the budget season, and I'm looking forward to delivering on our affordability agenda.

[Emma]

All right, well, thanks so much. Appreciate your time today.

[Sam Cedar]

Thank you so much. There you go. So he sort of. I mean, he just said, that's an important issue, essentially, to you, and then we walk off. I like also how smiley he is. Makes you as smiley. Like, you could barely get the. You both had that same quality of like, almost like laughing during the question.

[Emma]

Yeah, yeah, it's. It's very difficult. He's extremely charming and also, I agree with him. So. So I'm not, like, trying to be, you know, miss reporter there, but it was very, very cool to get to talk to him. And then, like, 15 minutes after this, we look on our phones and it's like, oh, Hochul showing up. So that's why he didn't want to answer that question.

[Sam Cedar]

She might have been within earshot of that question.

[Emma]

Exactly. And then she ended up giving a speech. But as she comes out, it's not like she received the warmest welcome. And throughout her speech, there was a chant from the crowd. Maybe you can figure out what it is.

[Sam Cedar]

Huge. This is at the back of the stadium. Right.

[Emma]

And it had not been filled yet. I mean, they came on later than. This was hours before. It was packed at. Towards the end. But.

[Sam Cedar]

I pause it now. I don't know if you can hear what they're saying. They're saying to tax the rich.

[Emma]

Yep. In the middle of her speech, they're.

[Sam Cedar]

Cheering, tax the rich. To Governor Hochul.

[Emma]

And.

[Sam Cedar]

And behind her, there's giant banner that reads, universal childcare. Frees the rent and making buses fast and free. Good. I can hear You.

[Emma]

I can hear you, what you say, but here's my friends.

[Sam Cedar]

You want to see Zorian or not? Listen, I got one plea for you. I love, I love to see this energy and this passion. And for those of you who've not been involved in the voting or even campaigns before, I am so excited about what is going on here, but I need you to do something.

[Emma]

All right, One more thing, my friend. This is about this November's election, but take that energy, that passion and take.

[Sam Cedar]

It into 26 so that we can take back the House of Representatives, take.

[Emma]

The Senate, and take back our country.

[Sam Cedar]

With your help, we will elector. We take back America. Thank you, Queens. Thank you, New York. I love you guys.

[Emma]

So there we go. We get them together.

[Sam Cedar]

The.

[Emma]

I mean, it's. I would imagine that Zoron is.

[Sam Cedar]

I mean, this is first of all such a great move by Zora because like, she was like, oh, maybe I can get off the stage, come over like I'm a champion, link us together.

[Emma]

Because apparently Elise Stefanik, who's gonna run against her, has been like Hochul, Hochul at Zorong, you know, communist, Communists basically tweeting. They, they Republicans think it's a liability and Hochul probably does too, because she's of an old school mindset. It's not, it's not. But you know where Delgado is helpful too.

[Sam Cedar]

I think she, I think she got the idea from that rally. Like, oh, boy, I would. I don't have legions of people like this. I could not fill a, you know, stewards essentially with people who are this excited about me. I think it's quite possible there is not a single individual in the entire state who is as excited as, as those 14,000 were about Mamdani. You can't find one person who has that same level of excitement about Kathy.

[Emma]

Right.

[Sam Cedar]

And what she said was very interesting there. She didn't say much, but it was like all the energy you have here. I love to see you. Please go show up for me. All the people there, they've been voting for people like you for a long time, Kathy. They just aren't inspired by it.

[Emma]

Well, that's why chant tax the rich at her because the level of education also that he has brought to the voting population is so important. People know that if he wants to do his free bus program and he wants to raise the corporate tax rate in New York City, that he needs Kathy Hochul's buy in. He needs the governor and he's putting pressure on her through people power to try to acquiesce there. Even in a situation where she wouldn't want to be taxed on the rich like that.

[Sam Cedar]

I mean, just having her there, both that, like, signals, like, okay, he's within the mainstream of the Democratic Party. But I'm quite convinced that ultimately the real value of having her there is having her look at 15,000 people. I mean, it's possibly one of the biggest crowds she's ever been in her entire career as a politician. I would not be surprised if that wasn't the biggest crowd she's ever spoken to. She threw out a first pitch or something. Exactly. And, but, but in terms of addressing them, I don't. I honestly don't know where it would be. Maybe the Democratic State Convention, but I doubt that you would have people. And certainly.

[Emma]

Oh, the dnc. She didn't speak at the dnc.

[Sam Cedar]

She did.

[Emma]

Remember? It was horrible.

[Sam Cedar]

But, but, but, but I think, like, in the dnc, when you speak, I mean, I've been in these conventions.

[Emma]

Yeah.

[Sam Cedar]

10% of the people who are actually paying attention to what you're saying, and the rest are just having conversations with themselves, you know, and if they, if they were eating. If they were eating a chicken dinner, it would be, you know, clank, clank, clank, clank all through it. I don't think she has ever been in a situation where there are 14,000 people looking exactly at her with that level of energy. And I. That, to me, it seems like is going to stay imprinted in her mind when she thinks of. Of Mamdani, and when she thinks of saying no to Mamdani, that image is going to come up again. And here she is.

[Emma]

But this is, but she ruins it here. This came out this morning. Like, girlfriend specifically said, I hear you. And apparently she needs a hearing aid.

[Sam Cedar]

She needs a hearing aid. Well, this is a, like some type of a Q and A, I guess. In Albany, I thought they were saying, let's go bills. I. I wasn't. I wasn't sure.

[Emma]

When you're up there, I heard some noise. I heard a lot of cheers.

[Sam Cedar]

But later on, it became clear to me that there is a. I know there's passion for that.

[Emma]

And I went in there as the.

[Sam Cedar]

Leader of the Democratic Party, whose job.

[Emma]

It is to unify and unify behind the Democratic nominee. I love the energy out there. I told them that. And I want to do is bottle all that up, you know, use it in few days, but take that to.

[Sam Cedar]

Long island in the Hudson Valley and make.

[Emma]

Oh, shut up about Long island, dude.

[Sam Cedar]

When I taught Preschool I had when a kid with. She's talking to like how I had to talk to a kid who bit somebody where I'm like, I love this energy, but if we could just redirect. Redirect it to something that's going to be more beneficial. Yeah.

[Emma]

You thought the crowd in Queens was chanting let's go Bills. I know the jets and Giants are pathetic, but that's not. That's a bridge too far.

[Sam Cedar]

She has the energy of like a steakhouse server that has to tell you like it. Smith and Wollensky. There's these New York steakhouses and it's like, oh, sorry, we don't have that rubbed today. That is amazing. It had even occurred to me, like, wait a second. There's at least two teams ahead of the Bills that you would get in Queen.

[Emma]

She's a Buffalo. It's just her thing because they technically play in New Jersey and she's from Buffalo, so she's. Whatever. But. But it's still a dumb thing to say, especially because you said at the rally, I hear New Jersey, both the jets and the Giants play. Okay, no, I technically.

[Sam Cedar]

So like the Bills play.

[Emma]

But she was. Yes, yes.

[Sam Cedar]

Like it's. It's just as likely that people are going, let's go, Pat. Let's go, Pat.

[Emma]

Yes. Yep. Yeah. So I mean, why say I hear you and then say, I thought that they were chanting let's go Bills. It's just incoherent, but hacks the rich.

[Sam Cedar]

I knew there's let's go Bills.

[Emma]

What'd you say?

[Sam Cedar]

Like you're saying, like, I know there's an appetite for that. Stop telling me. I'm trying to get you to. Out to the midterms.

[Emma]

No appetite for that. Like, you mean taxing the rich. Yeah.

[Sam Cedar]

Can't even say it.

[Emma]

I know that's a problem.

[Sam Cedar]

Why couldn't you have gotten away with like. I thought they were saying let's go Jets.

[Emma]

Yeah.

[Sam Cedar]

Why couldn't you have said that?

[Emma]

Because she's a Bills fan. It's just her stupid kind of. It's hokey.

[Sam Cedar]

She's not that nimble.

[Emma]

Yeah.

[Sam Cedar]

Half witted, folksy nonsense.

[Emma]

Yep.

[Sam Cedar]

That's crazy. Max. The Baileys. Let's go Matlife. Turf. Oh, God.

[Emma]

Notoriously injury causing turf.

[Sam Cedar]

People are coming up with like Jackson for Terra says, oh, wait, I'm sorry. Verbonia says, I thought they were chanting snacks and chips. Snacks and chips.

[Emma]

Okay, you're saying Jackson fart era. That's not that funny. But appreciate. You know.

[Sam Cedar]

Why'd you spot that.

[Emma]

Because Sam just said Jackson for Terra. And I had to. I had to acknowledge it.

[Sam Cedar]

Let's play. Let's just wrap this Zoron stuff out, but let's play. He did this on Friday afternoon. I was back, coming back on a plane, and he posted this to his social media. He gave a speech. It was interesting. You know, I mean, this is something that you, You. You see these type of things that were like a couple of days out from an election. They will happen. No, not this one. Where's the other speech?

[Emma]

The one outside?

[Sam Cedar]

Yeah, that was. No, that was from just a couple of days ago.

[Emma]

Yeah.

[Sam Cedar]

Oh, we don't have that one. No, this isn't.

[Emma]

He did a version of the speech outside where he kind of broke down. Yeah, yeah.

[Sam Cedar]

It was actually a really moving speech. Well, maybe we'll put. We can play it in the.

[Emma]

The sun has.

[Sam Cedar]

In the fun half. It's basically a riff on this speech, but live. Okay, yeah, we'll do that in the fun half and then we'll save number six then, too. All right, let's go. Wow, it's one o'. Clock. Let's.

[Emma]

Do you want to talk about ICE really quickly before we go?

[Sam Cedar]

Do we have that clip of. Shoot, where's the ice? Down at the back of the end. Darn it.

[Emma]

20, 23, 24, 25.

[Sam Cedar]

Let's just do 23 and then we'll talk more. But we have both now in California and in Illinois. Well, in California, they're talking about arresting any ICE thugs that break California law. I know that the attorney general in Chicago, in Illinois. I don't know if you played this at the end of last week. Did we put the. Do we have that clip? I don't think we do. Maybe we don't. The attorney general from Illinois was talking about tampering with license plates because a lot of these ICE goons, what they do is they take the license plates off their cars and their vehicles so they're unidentified. And that is against state law in Illinois. And the Illinois attorney general has said, we are going to prosecute that. And he's asked people to. To record and take photos of any cars that they see where the license plates are in any way obscured or not nonexistent, and hand that in. It is very difficult for local officials to arrest federal agents. This is from a University of Wisconsin law school explainer. Can states prosecute federal officials? This is from July of 2025. There's a couple of key paragraphs, but I'll read a couple of them for You. Accordingly, federal courts have long said that federal officials are insulated from state prosecutions. If one, the federal official was doing something authorized by federal law, and two, the officials actions were, quote, necessary and proper in fulfilling their duties, for example. And that's obviously going to be one of the key aspects about this. Again, it's important that it's. And as opposed to. Or so both of these requirements are necessary, but necessary and proper in fulfilling their. Their federal duties. This is where ICE has gone over things like, do you need to hide your license plate?

[Emma]

Right.

[Sam Cedar]

No. Do you need to tackle people who are playing, you know, the theme song from Star Wars? I think that's. You got a good argument. No, but the case that was cited here in terms of the foundational case on the Supremacy Clause, which of course is that federal law trump state law, no pun intended, in neglect. A U.S. marshal assigned to protect a U.S. supreme Court justice shot and killed an attacker in California. The state charged the marshal with murder, but the US Supreme Court concluded that the marshal could not be prosecuted because he was carrying out his official duties and was justified in killing the attacker as part of those duties. There's another paragraph there. The U.S. law allows federal officials to move criminal prosecutions that are brought against them from state to federal court. If the case relates to the official's employment and the officer has a colorable federal offense. That means that if it's not, it's not enough for the defendant to be a federal officer to shift the case to federal court. The defendant must also offer some plausible defense based on federal law. So the issue is, can you move your state case to federal court, which is going to be more amenable to you, particularly, you know, because you're a federal official. The federal officials asserted federal defense will be Supremacy Clause immunity discussed in the other section. Whether or not the immunity defense ultimately succeeds, the defendant's invocation of that immunity will usually be sufficient to get the case into federal court, but not always. It needs again to be colorable, which is plausible or reasonable, that they were doing their federal duties. So there's just not as much ability for the state or the city to prosecute these people as we would like. But which is why it's so important for people to be videotaping. Because again, if they do something with their license plates, at least in Illinois, that's illegal. If they do stuff that's outside of their duties, which is supposedly just dealing with immigrants.

[Emma]

Yeah.

[Sam Cedar]

And so.

[Emma]

And also to your point, on taking footage, Letitia James is rolling out and this happened last week. A portal where you can upload that footage to her office. So if you are in New York and you have footage like that, you could help basically the state try to prosecute some of these folks.

[Sam Cedar]

Let's do. Let's play one clip now and then we'll play some more in a bit. But this. Yeah, 26. Fun half. Let's do. Oh, here, let's do 25. I mean, this is just crazy. In a Chicago neighborhood. Apparently this happened like three times over the past couple of days in different Chicago neighborhoods. They just come in, they. They get the whistles, they get people protesting them. And then they decide, tear gas, tear gas, the neighborhood. And you can see like it happens so quickly. You can see people walking by who are like people walking their dogs.

[Emma]

Right.

[Sam Cedar]

People walking their kids. Like, it's just. That's how quickly these goons go to the tear gas. Tear gas. In old Irving park right now. Our own neighborhood, scaring our children. Unbelievable. Never thought this would happen in my neighborhood. Guys in his PJs scaring our children.

[Emma]

To death thinking that this is a cool thing to do.

[Sam Cedar]

Again, just covering all their trucks. Go to the next one. And God bless this. This guy just gets up in his PJs. You're nowhere near Canada. How much are they paying you? How much are you paying you?

[Emma]

Cowards.

[Sam Cedar]

Piece of Canada that way. Barefoot. Violating federal court orders right now. You're not wanted in our city. You're not wanted in our neighborhood. Out of here. Get out of here. Get the out of here. Get the out of here. Take your mask up. Power. You're a coward. You're not for you're a coward. Hey, go get a real job, man. Go get a real job. Hell yeah. Submission. How you could think this way, man? You're scaring the children. Look at. It's just. This is so. Got this like peaceful neighborhood, people just walking around. It's. I mean, it's. It looks like one of these sort of like, you know, day after movies or something. Or like, you know, where there's some type of like violence. Yeah. Apocalyptic plague that is spread around because these guys are so. It's ridiculous. And I will have to say this. Growing up in bar, you know, outside of Boston and spending at least half my life in New York, I've been a little dismissive of Chicago. I'm not gonna lie. I still remember the Bury the Bears T shirts I bought in 1986. Didn't go out well because I was like, I'm gonna save them. Until after the game, they' be worth even more.

[Emma]

See, that's the power of the jinx.

[Sam Cedar]

And well, it was also just, I think like I was a little too aspirational with the Patriots in that instance. But the amount of respect I have now for the people of Chicago, the way they have come out just time and time again and have been refused to be intimidated by these thugs, I really, really, I mean, they have been a model for, for the rest of the country.

[Emma]

I visited it for the first time this summer for the DSA convention. It is gorgeous. So I'm sold on Chicago for sure. But when they said in that you're nowhere near Canada, that's pretty important because technically this kind of enforcement is supposed to only be 100 air miles from the border of this country. And that does impact in terms of people who are in the 100 mile border zone that is around 2/3 of the population. But I don't necessarily know how well.

[Sam Cedar]

That includes Chicago because it's around the waterways, because of the Great Lakes.

[Emma]

Oh, there you go. Okay, so when he said you're nowhere near Chicago, that was, that was, I mean, nowhere near Canada. That's true. But it's still. They can get around it, I guess.

[Sam Cedar]

You can get 100 miles, ice can go 100 miles from the border. I mean, so that's pretty far. And I mean that covers a huge swath of the country at that point. But again, like if you look at this map here, this is, it always goes around the Great Lakes. It doesn't go above them. So it.

[Emma]

There you go.

[Sam Cedar]

Includes the entirety of Michigan, for instance.

[Emma]

Okay, so that is, I mean, that is part of why Chicago is being targeted as well.

[Sam Cedar]

All right, we're going to take a break, head into the fun half. Just a reminder, it's your support that makes the show possible. You can become a [e-mail] when you do, you not only get the free show free of commercials, but you also get the free fun half. And most importantly, you help this show survive and thrive. It is our members who at the end of the day keep this show going, keep us from staying up awake at night if you know, who knows who's going to be in charge of what and what happens with YouTube and etc. Etc. So check and buys YouTube. Exactly. I mean, honestly, like any day that could happen and we're trying to, you know, build sort of an alternative video platform at the very least for members and your support makes all of that possible. Also if you want to show Some pride in the show.

[Emma]

The limited edition and Majority Report shirts, they're out.

[Sam Cedar]

Majority Report shirts are back out.

[Emma]

Shirts and hat and that. I have to say, I love that hat. I just can't wear it. It's too narcissistic.

[Sam Cedar]

That's what I like about the hat. Well, first off, I love the color. Yeah, it's my favorite color for a hat. And I can wear that because I don't feel awkward.

[Emma]

There you go.

[Sam Cedar]

Going around with a hat that says my name on it.

[Emma]

Right.

[Sam Cedar]

It's the comedian in you probably enjoys having your name crossed out. Yes, exactly.

[Emma]

So you got the blue powder blue, which is a big hit. And then we got a charcoal version for a T shirt. And then of course, the charcoal hat. And I like charcoal hats because they go with anything. They can go with black, you go with blue. It. The gray is. Gray is perfect for that. So check it out, folks. Shop down.

[Sam Cedar]

Majorityreportradio.com Wolfie says ICE has rated a fair in Idaho and illegally broke the 100. So there you go.

[Emma]

Wow.

[Sam Cedar]

Also, don't forget, just coffee.co op, fair trade coffee, hot chocolate. Use your coupon code. Majority get 10 off. You can buy the Majority Report blend. I wonder if they still have the WTF blend. I don't really care. Matt left Reckoning. Why do you get the WTF blend?

[Emma]

I'm just.

[Sam Cedar]

I'm just interested if they just, like, forgot them. You want to see if they've. I don't think they've still there. Can't wait for people not to know what that even means. I saw a great headline. It said, marc Maron pioneers not having a podcast. Speaking of podcasts, Left Reckoning, David Griscom and I got into a new New York Times editorial talking about how centrism actually works. It has a funny way of defining centrism, which includes it's a mod. Mod. They said moderates. Yeah, moderates. The moderates. But that also apparently has AOC as more moderate than Richie Torres by certain metrics that they type. The metrics that they use for that are. Was donations, right. Or what was it? Oh, yeah, there was a few different types of things. But yeah, that was. So first of all, I read that piece and I know about the 18th district. That is the one up in Dutchess county and Pat Ryan up there. I listened to a lot of media from up there, and they claimed that he ran the things that they claimed he ran on. He absolutely did not run on. He ran on protecting Social Security. That was the biggest set of Ads and a woman's right to choose. And now his immigration stuff I'm not a big fan of. But he has the economic populism that when AOC came on, she specifically excited working with Ryan, disagreeing with him on some stuff, but working with him on the economic populism. The two step they're all trying to do, it seems to me, is don't be so rigid about social issues without even mentioning the fact that like, wait a second. The idea is that you have economic populace who are going after the power centers and you may have to cut them some slack on some of the social issues that are more local, specific to where they're coming from. Not just blanket. Allow them to move off of a woman's right to choose or something like that and then sort of.

[Emma]

And not change their. About the genocide or taxing the rich. That's it. So, yeah.

[Sam Cedar]

Clear.

[Emma]

Yeah.

[Sam Cedar]

That it is a cover for. For moneyed interest politics. And they can't seem to figure out how to legitimately sell that anymore. It's all the people that like New York Times represents all the now saying it's economic populism. You just need to do that. They were all the people that were saying, well, I'm actually a socially liberal, fiscally conservative for the last 15 years, and which is actually why everyone hates liberals. People are saying we'll go to the fun half, but people are saying that the app is falling apart today in terms of sound. We've heard you. It's not just you. I think it's a bunch of people. And people are saying they can't get a consistent stream. So it is not you, it is us. We're on that. We'll text the proper authorities. Gonna take quick break, head into the fun half. See you there. Left is best. Jamie and I may have a disagreement.

[Emma]

Yeah, you can't just say whatever you want about people just because you're r.

[Sam Cedar]

I have an absolute right to mock them on YouTube. He's up there buggy whipping like he's the boss. I am not your employer. You know, I'm tired of the negativity. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you. You're nervous. You're a little bit upset. You're riled up. Yeah, maybe you should rethink your defense of that, you fucking idiots. We're just going to get rid of you. All right, but. Dude, dude, dude, dude, dude, dude. You want to smoke this joint? Yes. Do you feel like you are a dinos.

[Emma]

Good shit?

[Sam Cedar]

Exactly. I'm happy now it's a win, win. It's a win, win, win.

[Emma]

Oh, hell, yeah.

[Sam Cedar]

Now listen to me. 2, 3, 4, 5 times 8. 47, 9, 0650, 1, 45, 7 2. 38, 56, 27, 1 half. 5, 8. 3.9 billion.

[Emma]

Wow.

[Sam Cedar]

He's the ultimate math nerd. Don't you see? Why don't you get a real job instead of spewing vitriol and hatred? You left wing, Limbaugh. Everybody's taking their dumb juice today. Come on, Sammy. Dance, dance, dance. Grandpa, I had my first post coital scene with a woman. I'm hoping to add more moves to my repertoire. All I have is the dip and the swirl. Fine. We can double dip. Yes. This is a perfect moment. No, Wait. What? You make under a million dollars a year.

[Emma]

You're scum.

[Sam Cedar]

You're not paying. Excuse me? Fuck you, you fucking liberal elite. I think you belong in jail. Thank you for saying that, Sam. You're a horrible, despicable person. All right, gonna take a quick break. I want to take a moment to talk to some of the libertarians out there. Take whatever vehicle you want to drive to the library. What you're talking about is jibber jabber.

[Emma]

Classic. I'm feeling more chill already.

[Sam Cedar]

Good. Donald Trump can kiss all of our asses. Hey, Sam. Hey, Andy. You guys ready to do some evil? Hitler was such an idiot. That guy might be a Nazi. Agreed. No. Death to America. You. Yes.

[Emma]

Wow.

[Sam Cedar]

Wow. That's weird. No way. Unbelievable. This guy's got a really good hook. Wow. No worries. I want to just flesh this out a little bit. I mean, look, it's a free speech issue. If you don't like me. Hey, hey, hey, hey. Shut up. Thank you for calling into the majority report. Sam will be with you shortly.