Ep. 466 - FBI Prevents Terror Attack in California, Struggles to Investigate Shooting at Brown

Summary

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The Tony Kinnett Cast

Episode 466: FBI Prevents Terror Attack in California, Struggles to Investigate Shooting at Brown
Date: December 16, 2025
Host: Tony Kinnett (The Daily Signal)
Producer: Nick

Overview

This intense and rapid-fire episode digs deep into two major security stories: the FBI's praised pre-emption of a terror plot in California, and widespread frustration with law enforcement’s handling of the mass shooting at Brown University. Tony Kinnett exposes bureaucratic confusion, public distrust, and media missteps in the Brown incident, then pivots to highlight growing concerns about radical Islamic terror attacks globally (with the Bondi Beach, Australia attack as example). The show also covers reactions by public officials, the rise in conspiracy theories, the role of the FBI, and some high-level government scandals, all discussed with a biting, sometimes sardonic “middle of the country” sensibility.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Brown University Shooting: Chaos and Confusion

• Immediate Fallout and Press Conferences

  • Police and local officials gave confusing, often contradictory information.
  • Tony details the initial statements:
    • [03:11] Mayor Smiley delivered the basic facts, confirming deaths and injuries, but subsequent pressers descended into confusion.
  • Police and FBI struggled with terminology—couldn’t clarify if suspects were “in custody” or merely detained ([06:24]).
  • Multiple corrections mid-press-conference undermined public confidence:
    • “Someone being detained, right. That’s just a wild thing to see at a press conference. And it gets worse...” (Tony, [06:30]).

• Lack of Transparency and Use of Technology

  • [08:54] “There are over 800 cameras on that campus... your tax dollars have helped fund some really nice surveillance equipment... and yet, 6+ hours later, the university president knows nothing.”
  • [12:16] Producer Nick points out reporters’ frustration that facial recognition technology and surveillance footage weren’t being used to ID the shooter.

• Media Release Blunders

  • Law enforcement released impossibly blurry, poorly recorded footage:
    • [15:51] “The FBI has done not a lot in this particular investigation... They’ve now released two pieces of footage... It looks like Bigfoot footage.”
    • [16:57] Producer Nick jokes: "Reminiscent of whenever they release UFO footage."

• Alleged Terror Motive

  • [09:42] “Media outlets quoted students... the shooter yelled, quote, ‘Allahu Akbar’ before opening fire. So, incredible. The most incompetent press conference series... it gets worse.”

• Missteps & Public Distrust

  • Repeated delays, conflicting statements, and a lack of basic investigative urgency (“48 hours and you all need to remember, we’re tired,” as per Mayor Smiley, [12:05]), fostered profound skepticism.

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2. FBI in Focus: Failures and One Big Win

• On Brown Shooting: Inadequacy and Spectacle

  • Kinnett is scathing about the FBI’s apparent fumbling:
    • [14:16] FBI staged social media posts, set up command posts, but their actions resulted in little usable information.
    • [14:54] "Media is just following the FBI around as they kick local bushes and scrape away some snow with their feet."

• Public Trust Erosion

  • [17:01] "Doesn't that just restore your trust in the institution?" (sarcastically referencing the FBI’s blurry, useless public appeals).

• California Terror Plot: Genuine Success

  • [32:54] Shift from criticism to praise as Tony highlights the FBI stopping an attack planned by the “Turtle Island Liberation Front”—a group plotting IED attacks in southern California and Orange County.
    • Handwritten “Operation Midnight Sun” plan recovered; four arrested.
    • [34:52] Audio and analysis of the group’s ideological claims combine radical leftist and indigenous rhetoric with militant language.

• Role of Investigative Journalists

  • [39:06] Tony credits much of the investigative progress and even some FBI arrests to journalist Andy Ngo’s reporting, not solely FBI initiatives.

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3. Global Islamic Terror: Australia, Europe, and Patterns

• Bondi Beach Attack (Australia)

  • [21:08] Tony summarizes the attack: 16 dead (including a Holocaust survivor), 40 wounded at Hanukkah-by-the-Sea event.
  • Police inaction condemned: “the police did nothing... cowering behind a car for 20 minutes.”
  • Heroic intervention by Ahmed Al Ahmed, who wrestled the rifle from the attacker.
  • Critique of Australian PM Anthony Albanese for focusing on “right-wing extremism” in public remarks, not radical Islam ([24:15]).

• European Context

  • [31:48] Reports of “Islamic protesters” storming Hanukkah events in Amsterdam; police overwhelmed.

• Link to Immigration Policy

  • Tony ties these attacks to larger issues of uncontrolled migration, failure to integrate, and government unwillingness to confront the radicalization problem.

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4. Political & Media Reactions: Scapegoating and Sensationalism

• Democrats and Gun Control

  • Senator Chris Murphy blames Trump directly for the Brown University shooting during a CNN appearance, despite Rhode Island's strict gun laws ([19:42]).

    "Over the last year, President Trump has been engaged in a dizzying campaign to increase violence in this country." (Sen. Chris Murphy, [20:42])

  • Tony dismisses this as “an insane thing to say” ([20:49]) and points out the focus on emotional appeals over facts.

• Senator Tommy Tuberville’s Islam Critique

  • [28:55] Tuberville posts that "Islam is not a religion... they're here to conquer," drawing strong condemnation from Chuck Schumer for “Islamophobia”.
  • Tony notes political double standards: “It is rather interesting that Chuck Schumer would be the one to get out there and say, hey, you can't point out the clear and persistent pattern...”

• Media and Public Distrust, Rise of Conspiracies

  • [38:18] "The conspiracy theory growing rampant even amid the investigations is a symptom of the distrust in the institutions due to how they carry out these investigations."

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5. Deeper Government Accountability Issues

• D.C. Police Data Manipulation
  • [40:03] Congressional report alleges DC Police Chief Pamela Smith manipulated crime stats—mirroring Tony’s previous experience with education data manipulation.
• Senator Mark Kelly Investigation
  • [42:49] Pentagon confirms escalation to official investigation re: alleged misconduct. Tony frames this as another example of the public’s eroding faith in institutions.
• Vigilantism Fears
  • [43:31] Tony warns that ongoing legal technicalities and lack of perceived justice may push Americans toward “acts of vigilantism”, citing recent violent incidents and general mistrust.

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6. Leadership, Transparency, and Institutional Reform

• FBI Leadership Conversation

  • Speculation over whether FBI Director Kash Patel or DOJ head Pam Bondi is on thin ice ([65:25]).
  • Discussion about the limited effect leadership changes can have and the importance of public-facing competence ([67:47] Producer Nick).

• Ongoing Commitment to Transparency

  • Tony reinforces the Midwestern ethos of honesty and accountability (even mentioning corrections and show production philosophy, [72:01]).

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Notable Quotes (with Timestamps)

• On Law Enforcement Transparency:

  • “There are over 800 cameras on that campus... and six hours later the university president knows nothing.” ([08:54], Tony Kinnett)

• On FBI’s Public Image:

  • “They’ve now released two pieces of footage... It looks like Bigfoot footage.” ([15:51], Tony Kinnett)
  • “Reminiscent of whenever they release UFO footage.” ([16:57], Producer Nick)

• On Political Blame-Throwing:

  • “That’s insane. That is an insane thing to say. Oh, well, I mean, really, it’s President Trump and his dizzying campaign of violence.” ([20:42], Tony Kinnett)

• On Press Accountability:

  • “You need people in the United States right now. When you put up a poster that looks like this seeking info... you need the average American to look around... You think anybody takes the FBI seriously right now with this?” ([42:22], Tony Kinnett)

• On Vigilantism:

  • “Vigilantism only stops when authority scares the ever loving tariff out of those who would perpetuate acts of violence...” ([45:16], Tony Kinnett)

• On Trump’s Condolences for Brown University Shooting:

  • “Trump made the case correctly so that no matter how elite your university is... a horrible event like this can always happen... people were roasting, 'how unfeeling!' I don’t think so.” ([52:54], Tony Kinnett)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

| Segment | Time (MM:SS) | | --- | --- | | Brown University Shooting: Initial Details | 03:11–08:54 | | Press Conference Chaos & University Accountability | 08:54–13:10 | | FBI’s Involvement & Surveillance Footage Issues | 13:10–17:01 | | Political Reactions (Senator Murphy) & Gun Control | 19:42–21:08 | | Bondi Beach Terror Attack & International Context | 21:08–24:41 | | Islam, Terror, and Politicians’ Rhetoric | 28:55–32:54 | | FBI Terror Plot Interdiction (California) | 32:54–39:06 | | Distrust, Conspiracies, and Oversight Scandal | 38:18–42:49 | | Vigilantism & Institutional Crisis | 43:31–45:16 | | Executive Order on Fentanyl | 60:36–61:10 | | Mailbag & FBI/DOJ Leadership Discussion | 65:25–69:50 | | Transparency & Show Philosophy | 71:23–72:01 |

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Final Thoughts

Tony Kinnett delivers a relentless, critical, and deeply skeptical look at major security and political breakdowns, counterbalancing praise for isolated successes (FBI’s California plot interception) with severe condemnation of institutional confusion and narrative-driven responses (Brown shooting, global terror). He urges listeners to demand not only an end to incompetence but positive, visible action from government. The episode closes with a pledge to transparency and good faith engagement—underscoring the show's “Hoosier” values of honesty and directness amid a climate of mistrust and political spin.

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Transcript

[Tony Kennett]

The holidays mean more travel, more shopping, more time online and more personal info in more places that could expose you more to identity theft. But LifeLock monitors millions of data points per second. If your identity is stolen, our US Based restoration specialists will fix it, guaranteed your money back. Don't face drained accounts, fraudulent loans or financial losses alone. Get more holiday fun and less holiday worry with LifeLock. Save up to 40% your first year. Visit LifeLock.com podcast terms apply. Tony Kennett, Tony Kennett. Tony Kennett, Tony Kennett, Tony Kennett, Tony Kennett, Tony Kennett, host of the Tony Kennett cast. Let's get down to business. You're listening to the Tony Kennett cast on 93 WIBC on CYTV here on the Daily Signal. Good evening and welcome to the Tony Kennett cast here on the Daily Signal, nationally syndicated, first on 93 WIBC. It was a truly terrible weekend all around and we're going to get into a lot of details today. Just stick with us here. First of all, the Brown University shooting is correctly drawing a lot of criticism from people in the United States for how it has been handled at the local level and at the federal level. Today, to be very clear, there are going to be several breaking and developing stories in which we discuss the FBI handling investigations exceptionally well, in which it appears they may be perhaps taking some of the investigations done by independent journalists and passing them off as their own and cases in which the FBI appears to be Bigfoot footage levels of incompetent. And this is very important because as the Trump administration proceeds with operating the federal government, Americans are exhausted from the decades of silly social justice governance that ran the bureaucracy. What Americans do not want is a bunch of activism masquerading as good governance. Americans want the government to do what it says it's going to do. And then after that, Americans want a lot of additional things on top of that that that may, you know, like having an FBI that puts a nice post up on the 4th of July 1st comes good governance. And from the Brown University shooting in which two women were killed and right now seven more injured, what we have so far is that Ella Cook, who was a vice president at the Brown University Republicans Club organization, was killed along with Uzbeki immigrant Muhammad Aziz Umur Zukov. He was a, from what his friends and family are saying, he was here, he was pursuing an engineering degree and he was a whiz at both mathematics and in engineering design. From the posts that we were able to kind of glean this information from Mayor Smiley of Providence, Rhode island stepped forward on Saturday and this entire train wreck beyond the already horrible tragedy that had occurred began. Here was his initial statement.

[Mayor Smiley]

Sadly, today is a day that the city of Providence and the state of Rhode island prayed would never come. We've heard about horrific acts of gun violence and active shooter situations in other places, but not here. But this afternoon at 4:00 in the afternoon, we received a call. 4:05 was when the initial call came in to Brown University of a report of an active shooter. I can confirm that there are two individuals who have died this afternoon and there are another eight in critical status, though stable at Rhode Island Hospital.

[Tony Kennett]

So his additional information, while a little incorrect on the back end, was still correct. That is what you come out and say. He says this is something that we hope would never happen. Here's what you need to know. For the next two minutes he gave all of the details that would be expected in an immediate press conference after a tragic event like this one. And then things went completely off the rails.

[Governor of Rhode Island]

And.

[Tony Kennett]

And it has been a disaster at every single level since then. You can sense the scorn in my voice. It comes from those who have family members that are victims right now, either who have been killed or who are in the hospital suffering from very serious critical injuries, or those who are nearby and are suffering very severe traumatic post stress syndromes. And this entire mess that, by the way, there has been extensive security measures, have been extensive security measures that were both locally and federally funded at Brown University. Over 800 cameras on that campus. And not cheapo models either. Your tax dollars have helped fund some really nice surveillance and security equipment. And so after a couple of moments, the press conference came to a close. They reconvened about two hours later in which Colonel Oscar L. Perez Jr. Got a whisper in the ear. They had a suspect who was in custody. And then they said, well, wait a minute, that's the wrong word to use. Again, my condolences and thoughts and prayers with the families that were impacted by these actions. So yeah, as the mayor stated, we have detained someone of interest. But I respect, and to protect the integrity of the investigation, I would only be limited in my, in my details. So he says we've detained someone of interest. And then as he, he continues on, he says now they're in custody. And after he says they're in custody, as opposed to saying they're detained again, an individual behind him steps forward and whispers in his ear. And he has to correct the verbiage that he uses. Now that's not something you want from A chief of police, that's not something you want from a senior investigator or a senior detective. So now the public had no idea. Did they just have someone called in for questioning? They call all kinds of people in for questioning after mass tragedy events, after car accidents, after environmental rescue situations, after burglaries and break ins, ours after the case, they bring people in for questions. In custody and detainment are very different terms. He has no idea. It's a disaster kind of situation.

[Radio Crew Member]

Now someone's in custody.

[Tony Kennett]

Kind of how you all are working together to garner that information.

[Mayor Smiley]

Custody is the wrong word.

[Tony Kennett]

Someone being detained, Right. That's just a wild thing to see at a press conference. And it gets, it gets worse because last night when producer Nick and I sat down to do the Top news in 10, as we do every Sunday night into Monday night and then the weeknights, except for Friday night, we announced the individual that they had in what we were told was custody or that was being detained. We issued some information about this individual, an army infantryman talked about some of the things that he supported from the left or the right. It was murky. And then at about 2 in the morning, I get a message from producer Nick that says, have you seen this report? And it was a clip of a press conference that went up at around midnight, midnight 30, that they were releasing the person of interest that they had in custody because they had completely the wrong guy.

[Mayor Smiley]

Shortly we will be releasing the person of interest who had been detained earlier today. And the Attorney General can speak a little bit about the rationale for that.

[Tony Kennett]

By the way, I'll save you the time. He didn't actually say anything useful in this particular instance. And again, there are cameras all over that university. There were reports, and I mean all kinds of reports that had been coming out. A colleague friend of mine over at the center square had compiled various media reports from different news wires that we were reading in Here in Studio 2 this morning, Eastern time to try to figure out what was going on. And no one had any idea. And by the way, the president of Brown University, Christina Paxton, who was dragged before Congress for being an incompetent de high hiring fool, was finally roasted by a journalist on the scene who said, wait a minute. At the time, at this press conference, it had been six, seven hours. You can't tell us anything that's going on, a motive, whether or not something was being shouted, whether or not there are shots being fired in the library. This shooting occurred in an engineering building. She had nothing. I'm catching up right Now, President, with all due respect, six hours after this shooting and you said you don't know what was going on in that classroom. How does that happen? Were they taking an exam? Were they meeting for a club? I don't that kind of a thing is on the administration school calendar. You have to schedule when you rent out rooms as a student at various universities, especially at an Ivy League like Brown. No, I don't know. Six hours later and you're the president.

[Gun Control Advocate]

And you don't know?

[Tony Kennett]

I do not know. Well, that's kind of concerning. It is concerning. No one had any idea what was going on at all. Now, I do want to reference the center square. Quote, several media outlets quoted students and other witnesses about what there were concerns that someone had shouted something. And given that, also there was news breaking about the Bondi beach terror attack by Islamists in Australia. And this is the kind, this is the time of year in which there are a lot of mass shootings perpetuated by Islamic terrorists. They said, well, what did he shout? He was reported. He shouted something. By the way, those kinds of cameras in the hallways and buildings do in fact pick up those noises according to the center square, because you didn't hear it from the press conference. In fact, they only just confirmed it. Producer Nick tells me.

[Producer Nick]

Right.

[Tony Kennett]

Right before we went on air tonight from the center square, several media outlets quoted students and other witnesses saying the shooter yelled, quote, alhu Akbar before opening fire in the building. So incredible. Incredible. The most incompetent press conference series from this local police department in Providence, Rhode island, and Brown University. It gets worse. Today we're going to cover that radio crew. We have to send you over to the commercial. We're going to continue on the live stream. It's the Tony Kenneth cast. Now, over in today's side of things, there was a lot of questions because the nation is getting really sick of this. So the governor of Rhode island showed up. The attorney general is there not to make things any better at all. And so when they're pressed, how do you not know some of these things? You're investigators. You're supposed to be accomplished detectives and administrators and know things about the shooting and what went on. And your school, for crying out loud, you have nothing. What's wrong with you? Mayor Smiley and the governor of Rhode island just loses. Everyone just starts losing their minds. President Donald Trump has said that Brown University is to blame for this shooting and saying it's the school's problem. Is that a fair criticism or do you disagree with what the president. I Don't think it's fair. Christian, can you expand on that?

[Governor of Rhode Island]

Why not? Because Brown University is no collaborator.

[Tony Kennett]

And we.

[Governor of Rhode Island]

You guys, you're lying to the press over here. They have facial recognition. We know that because they follow the student. They follow everybody in the neighborhood. Facial recognition. They need to release that data. So everybody know who the guys in video. We got the video Saturday. Why you release the video today? Governor.

[Tony Kennett]

Listen, Colonel John, please, just for.

[Mayor Smiley]

A second, a couple things.

[Tony Kennett]

So smiley, the mayor cuts in, cuts off the governor of Rhode island, cuts off the police chief who starts speaking in a very rapid fire Colombian accent. And finally, I kid you not, says it's been 48 hours and you all need to remember, we're tired.

[Mayor Smiley]

Brown University and Brown Public Safety, Brown Police Department has been a close collaborator throughout this process. I do not accept that criticism.

[Gun Control Advocate]

Come on.

[Tony Kennett]

We know.

[Mayor Smiley]

Secondly, everyone you see behind us, we've all been working for now 49 hours. We're tired.

[Tony Kennett]

Aw, they're tired. Aw, man. Incredible. Incredible. Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island. They still find ways to paint themselves as the victims in an active investigation.

[Producer Nick]

Producer Nick that reporter that issued the line of questioning that prompted the excuse there brings up a great point that's been reiterated across the spectrum here by reporters and people online. There is reportedly over 800 cameras and the reporter there was mentioning outfitted with facial recognition features that have not been utilized to try and find this person alongside very poor.

[Tony Kennett]

As we said before at Brown University, there is facial recognition technology. At this point, they have no idea. Again, the clips that have been released, we'll share this in a second. Like blurry, like Bigfoot footage had been released.

[Producer Nick]

It's footage of a TV screen, CCTV like screen that is reflecting the footage.

[Tony Kennett]

Let's play that for folks over on the live stream side of things.

[Producer Nick]

You can hear the breath of the person recording the video off the tv.

[Tony Kennett]

So there are several different pieces of footage in which the police released all of these phones recording computer screens. No one could figure out how to share footage. Then amid all of this, the FBI shows up. The FBI shows up. Kash Patel makes a big Facebook post. And it's a Facebook post in which there are a bunch of FBI guys in jackets that are facing away. And then there's like a mobile operations van. It's like an update on the FBI response at Brown University. They established a command post. We activated FBI's Cellular Analysis Survey team. As a result, we have detained a person of interest in a hotel room in Coventry, Rhode island, based on a lead. This was on December 14th at 11am oh, wait a minute. That's the guy that they ended up releasing. We've deployed local and national resources to process and reconstruct the shooting scene, providing HQ and lab elements on the scene.

[Producer Nick]

So.

[Tony Kennett]

So he's like talking about all of this stuff that they're going to do and thanks to the FBI and all of this wonderful stuff and it's just not happening. It's just not happening. What we are seeing instead, what is actually occurring on the ground appears to be a whole lot of nothing. And when I say a whole lot of nothing, I'm really not joking with you guys. Here are FBI officials.

[Governor of Rhode Island]

This new video in from just moments ago.

[Tony Kennett]

Providence, Rhode Island. Look at this. This clip over from Fox News. You can see FBI officials that are just raking the snow covered lawn outside of the engineering building where the shooting.

[Governor of Rhode Island]

Took place at the Brown University building where Saturday's deadly shooting.

[Tony Kennett]

And this isn't the only time that this occurred. And look over here, media is just following the FBI around as they kick local bushes and scrape away some snow with their feet. By the way, just say if there were cartridges or something on the ground that you're supposedly looking for. By walking through that scene you are smushing the cartridges into the ground. What is this? What is this? And then the glad handing that's come back. We got to bring the radio crew back from commercial. I want you guys to see the final footage they've released in the poster for this. This is it is a wild time to watch this stuff live. It's the Tony Kenned cast. It's the Tony Kennett cast on 93 WYBC.

[Governor of Rhode Island]

Feels like I'm losing.

[Tony Kennett]

Welcome back to the Tony Kennett cast. The FBI has done not a lot in this particular investigation that has provided Americans with a sense of comfort, with a sense of trust in solving the. Unfortunately, again, given all of the security cameras, given all of the footage, all the facial recognition technology, all the security measures in place, one would think that they already knew who this particular shooter was, where he came from. Nope. The FBI has now released two pieces of footage in conjunction with the Providence Police department. So the first, another screenshot recording of a blurry individual in the background kind of sort of walking on the along the tree line. Now if you say, man, I've never seen footage like this before. Yes you have. This is what the Bigfoot footage looks like when someone's trying to prove that Bigfoot exists. It's blurry footage from the distance of a parking lot guy Walking on the other side of the treat, completely blurred.

[Producer Nick]

Reminiscent of whenever they release UFO footage.

[Tony Kennett]

Yeah, the font 2005 potato.

[Producer Nick]

Yeah.

[Tony Kennett]

Incredible stuff. This is the first video that we're showing you. So now there is additional footage that's been released. Again, this is also a courtesy of Providence, Rhode island and Fox News. Is the individual walking? They have a person walking and he has a toboggan on and a mask and a dark coat. On the sidewalk of Benavam, you say now, why is the FBI releasing this? I'm not joking. Because. Here you go. Here you go. Ladies and gentlemen, the FBI is seeking information on the Brown University shooting. There are three photos. Two of them come from the same video string of footage. No facial features that are visible through this. The photo on the left is just a version of the photo on the right. If he was mimicking the Abbey Road album from the Beatles. There you go. The Federal Bureau of Investigation, ladies and gentlemen. Doesn't that just restore your trust in the institution? I don't want to link this together because I'm not saying at all that these are connected, but it should be pointed out that according to multiple sources, and this isn't a CNN multiple sources situation, Dan Bongino, the assistant director of the FBI, is currently deciding if he wants to stay at the FBI at this point in the next few weeks. Sources tell Fox News's David Spunt and Jake B. Gibson that Don Dambon Jr. Doesn't even know if he's, he's going to stick around at this point. And given the way that the FBI is handling some of these investigations, I can't, I can't say that I would blame him. Americans have no trust in their institutions. None. And we get out here and it's, it's social media photos and it's, we're on the scene and, and then it's grainy footage in the background. That's not comforting to Americans. You say, well, you just need to sit back and trust the process. I trust the process when there are adults in the room. Now, on the bright side, and I say the bright side for this administration's handling of this, the opposition has come out to say the stupidest things on planet earth. Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut came on CNN, State of the Union on Sunday to announce that the shooting was clearly Donald Trump's fault. Rhode island has some pretty strict gun laws. They have universal background checks, red flag laws, waiting periods to purchase a gun. So this is about, and we've talked about this much more than gun violence. It is Gun violence. But the laws could be stronger. But they're stronger than other places in Rhode Island.

[Gun Control Advocate]

Well, but the laws do make a difference. I mean, if you look at states like Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, California that have stronger laws, we have gun violence rates, murder rates, mass shooting rates that are two to three to four times lower than states that have loose gun laws.

[Tony Kennett]

Notice he didn't mention Illinois in that one. And again, also, when you look at the localities themselves, the blue areas of those states, the city areas, the gun violence rate is far higher and also far deadlier.

[Gun Control Advocate]

And many of the weapons that are used in our states for gun crimes come to our states or from those states that have an ability for criminals and people with serious mental illness to buy weapons. So what we know is that stronger laws do work. And since we passed that bill in 2022, the first bill in 30 years that strengthens the nation's gun laws, gun violence rates and mass shooting rates have come down in this country. But this is not shocking because over the last year, President Trump has been engaged in a dizzying campaign to increase violence in this country.

[Tony Kennett]

That's insane. That is an insane thing to say. Oh, well, I mean, really, it's President Trump and his dizzying campaign of violence.

[Producer Nick]

I think the point there, it's the emotional appeal, follow up and blame game there, is to cover up and protect the fact that they don't want you questioning the data and statistics that they spew and say is completely true at all. Because if you do that, then you're evil.

[Tony Kennett]

Well, let's talk about that particular kind of evil again over the weekend as well. So again, we have an a situation in which Alhu Akbar was shouted by the shooter that has now been confirmed. Before massacring two students, one of whom, a Ella Cook, a the vice president of the Republican Club at Brown University over in Australia, in Sydney, on Bondi beach at a Hanukkah by the sea event, 16 are now dead, including a Holocaust survivor who gave his life defending his wife by lying on top of her. 40 injured, in addition to the 16 dead by father and son, Sajid Ahram and Navid Ahram. The father, Sajid, is now dead. In this particular mass shooting in which the father worked a shotgun, the son worked a bolt action rifle. The Australian police. There was a police station near Bondi beach, like a block and a half, two blocks away. They did nothing. I'm not joking. The police did nothing. Here you can see a photo of the police waving some people away from the scene before cowering behind a car and a concrete barrier for 20 minutes. For almost a half an hour, the police department did nothing as an Islamist terror attack took place. It was finally a Muslim father and a fruit shop owner, a local Ahmed Al Ahmed, who ran up to the son who was firing at people and killing people, wrestled the bolt action rifle away from him and then points the rifle at the shooter as he, the shooter scurries away.

[Governor of Rhode Island]

Oh.

[Tony Kennett]

Points it at the man and then the. The man ends up scurrying away. The father in this time does shoot the Ahmed Al Ahmed, one of the heroes of the day for saving people by, by stripping the rifle of the shooter did shoot him twice in the arm. Now, it is still debated that Ahmed Al Ahmed is Muslim. Most of the information that I'm seeing right now says that some alleges that he's a Syrian Christian. Some have done some interviews with him in the hospital. I'm not going to do any more speculating than that at the moment. But I will say this. The response from the Australian government was for quite a while, absolutely awful. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, a left wing prime minister, got out and suggested that, yeah, maybe it was kind of an attack on Jews that he got around to eventually. But also before anyone starts blaming Muslims, remember, the far right is very, very dangerous here in Australia. We're going to talk about that. Go into it here on the live stream. Don't go anywhere. Radio crew will see you in a second. It's the Tony Kenned cast. All right, here is that footage of Anthony Albanese, the Prime Minister of Australia, responding to this.

[Governor of Rhode Island]

We take Asia's advice very seriously. We work closely with them. We receive regular updates as well. The Director General of Asia has warned about a range of threats, be it anti Semitism, the rise of right wing extremist groups as well. And we continue to work closely with our security agencies.

[Tony Kennett]

So the Prime Minister, he did this, by the way, in another video that we don't have time to air in which he gets up and says, well, yeah, sure, maybe some anti Semitic attacks and the rise of right wing extremism. No mention of again, the radical Islam that perpetrates this, that perpetuates this consistently. Need I remind you, in 2023, right after the October 7th attack on Israel by Hamas, that Islamists gathered outside the Sydney Opera House to chant, and I quote, gas the Jews. Here you go. I guarantee you if there was a major huge march of right wing extremists, again painting the most extreme version of the Labor Party in Australia or the left wing in the United States tries to paint. If there was a large group that showed up and started chanting targeted violence towards a racial, ethnic or religious group in this country, openly chanting kill them all, I guarantee you that military forces would have been deployed. Now I want to move a little bit further to talking about some of the updates from today. A Hamas supporter did crash the vigil today for the victims of the Bondi shooting. Here's what that looked like. So right now, what we have around the world consistently are a series of Islamic terror attacks against Jews and Christians. And the reason this time of the year is when we tend to see a lot of these, a lot of acid attacks and vehicle plowing through crowds of people. Attacks in Europe and then of course in New Orleans last year and then of course in the United States, shooting attacks, arson attacks by Muslim terrorists in the United States is because it is the time of year around from Yom Kippur through the new year of Yom Kippur kicks off the time of Jewish holidays and festivals around this time of year. Of course there's the Christian holiday of Christmas and then a stronger Christian representation in New Year's being a week after Christmas. And all of this mess that the Islamist sees as an opportunity with a lot of people around to execute Christians and Jews and the excuses that are consistently made for them right now and people saying, oh, there's a false flag attack by Israel is disgusting. It is disgusting. I'm not going to go into the detail we might on another episode, but the AI photographs that have been shared trying to pretend that people are crisis actors. Sure, the AI photos have people with all different numbers of fingers and shirts with gibberish lettering on them and still it is being put pushed because God forbid you suggest that Islamic migration that turns into these pockets of radical terror in the United States, in Western Europe and Australia around the world is a severe threat to every single person who is not a fundamentalist Islamic individual because they'll swing on through and kill moderate Muslims as well. We've seen in Nigeria specifically alongside the Christians who are currently experiencing the brutal Islamist killing, mass killing, the genocide of Christians. Sorry, the wording there in that order is a little bit particular. When we come back from commercial, we're going to talk about the response here in the United States because people like Senator Tommy Tuberville made what a lot of people have said is again, because the President of the United States, Donald Trump, has called for a cessation of migration from these third world countries where a lot of these Radical elements, for example, like the Afghani migrant who came to the United States and shot and killed two National Guardsmen outside the White House. This is a pretty big issue. The left's response is atrocious. Don't go anywhere. We got to bring the radio crew back. It's the Tony Kennett cast here on the Daily Signal. It's the Tony Kenneth cast on 93 WIBC. Welcome back to the Tony Kenneth cast here on the Daily Signal. Unfortunately, while many people around the world have clearly and correctly pointed out that the radical factions of Islam are a serious, consistent and dangerous threat, there are those who are taking the opportunity to pull out the classic Norm MacDonald joke. Classic Norm MacDonald joke in which he said the worst thing about the, you know, if an Islamic terrorist somehow detonated a nuclear device in New York City would be all of the Islamophobia that would come out of it. Case in point, as ridiculous as this sounds, it is unfortunately true. Senator Tommy Tuberville Pointed out on December 14th around 11am Quote, Islam is not a religion. It is a culture. Islamists are not here to assimilate. They're here to conquer. Stop worrying about offending the pearl clutchers. We've got to send them home now or we'll become the United Caliphate of America. Chuck Schumer's response to this is incredible. Quote, an outrageous, disgusting display of Islamophobia from Senator Tuberville. The answer to despicable antisemitism is not despicable Islamophobia. This type of rhetoric is beneath a United States senator, or any good citizen for that matter. It is rather interesting that Chuck Schumer would be the one to get out there and say, hey, you can't point out the clear and persistent pattern that again, many members of the Islamic community openly record themselves on video saying that they want to gas the Jews and kill Christians. Well, Chuck Schumer, when the stories were developing initially on the Bondi shooting, on the Brown University shooting in Rhode island, he got out and had to give a little bit of a press conference.

[Governor of Rhode Island]

And of course, I'm going to say.

[Tony Kennett]

A few words about the terrible shooting in Sydney, Australia. Okay, so.

[Governor of Rhode Island]

And first, of course, as I always.

[Tony Kennett]

Say, no matter what, go Bills, they beat the Patriots today. It's a big deal.

[Producer Nick]

No matter what.

[Tony Kennett]

Two horrible shootings, a series of particularly deep scandals, many of his colleagues saying that if things aren't done in the next couple of weeks, millions of Americans will die. There are serious concerns on both sides of the aisle. Chuck Schumer steps up to the plate and says, but first, go Bills. Ah, yes.

[Producer Nick]

Hmm.

[Tony Kennett]

Thanks, Chuck. Really, really important. Yeah. I don't think that you get to be one of the individuals that comes out and condemns the statements of another. And we'll get to that in a second. It will absolutely matter. Unfortunately, there are additional anti Semitic and anti Christian attacks that are currently being carried out. For example, in the Netherlands, in Amsterdam, there are groups of Islamic protesters which are trying to storm Hanukkah. Events like this one Hanukkah concert. The police are struggling to keep them back because once they're here, once the Islamic migrants have moved in, all of a sudden they don't seem to listen to the police anymore. Such cultural enrichment. Don't you feel it, producer? Don't you feel culturally enriched? That's the backbone of Minneapolis right there. Don't you know me?

[Producer Nick]

It's their religious right. We need to protect their practices because if we do not, we are Islamophobic.

[Tony Kennett]

Fantastic. So around the world, we continue to see, again, the most ridiculous of behavior that is defended ardently over here in the United States by the soft liberal folks. On other news, the FBI was able, and this is a huge amount of praise, to thwart a terror attack that was expected to be carried out at Turtle Island. That would be in Lucerne Valley in California. Audrey Eileen Carroll, Zachary Aaron Paige, Dante Gaffield and Tina Lay were arrested around December 12th in Lucerne Valley, California, where investigators believe they were preparing to test explosive devices ahead of these planned attacks. According to Attorney General Pam Bondi, those arrested planned to attack targets in Orange county and Los Angeles, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and vehicles. Audrey Eileen Carroll gave an eight page handwritten document titled Operation Midnight sun that detailed the bombing plot to a law enforcement source. So a huge amount of praise to the Federal Bureau of Investigation for catching this one in advance. Now there, there is a little bit of information that we have on some of these people. Allison in Indianapolis. I don't think we've had time to vet this one. So if you might keep your hand on the sensor dump button just in case, here there is an individual named Mary who is a member of the Los Angeles domestic terror organization, the Turtle Island Liberation Front. And making it clear what these proposed IED and terror attacks were supposed to be. And of course, for those who are listening and you can't watch this, she is wearing the Kafiyeh Palestinian scarf, the Hamas scarf, over her face as well. Here you go.

[Radio Crew Member]

Look at the map rather from the top down, but the bottom up, you flip that map of The Americas, it looks like, like a turtle. And so that's what the natives called it was Turtle Island. So that's the decolonized name of the Americas. And Turtle Island Liberation Front is looking for reparations and land back for these indigenous groups in which the land was observed. Many people think it's so far removed. But I have many comrades who are Native American and have stories of just their great grandmother, just their great grandmother being put in residential schools. It's still impacting the most recent generations. It's not as removed as people think it is.

[Tony Kennett]

So the argument they are making, again in the Palestinian Hamas style garb, calling people comrades. So it's very Marxist. It's the decolonizer effort because there were natives that had their land ripped away or whatever kind of argument that she's making, which by the way, is not at all correct. What she's citing, that great grandmother, whatever story she's citing is completely made up. There's no record whatsoever of that taking place. No record at all. And by the way, as someone who actually has Native American ancestry, sorry, Elizabeth Warren. The real kind, I take great pride in my ancestors stopping in Kentucky and being allowed to settle there peacefully because they had civilized, because they swore an oath of loyalty to the United States. It is why so many people in the Midwestern United States have Native American ancestry. Those who resisted were conquered. You say, well, that's really terrible. Well, that's war chief. And you don't get to perpetuate your own little revolutionary war here in the United States, whether it be on behalf of Islamist activity, whether it be on behalf of Marx, Marxian revolutionism, or whether it be on just anarchist racial hatred, you don't get to do that here. And it is a responsibility of the FBI and the Department of Justice to make examples. Because if what we're seeing right now in the Boston University situation or not Boston, excuse me, at Brown University situation, is going to be the standard. Allow me to tell you how every single terror event is going to take place from now until the end of time. We're already seeing it. Someone commits a mass tragedy because the FBI doesn't make an example, because the Department of Justice doesn't make an example of the individual. Once they are finally caught, the conspiracy theories start. Well, did you actually see him? Maybe it was an Egyptian plane coming down the Runway and it's a false flag. And so instead of the individual committing the crime, getting justice and hanged in the public square for committing a mass crime, instead it maybe taints the jury pool and causes a mistrial and they get away scot free or I'm sorry, have you not been following what's going on with the Luigi Mangione case in New York City in which already we're starting to see this weird frame in the legal system where Luigi Mangione might get off and Tommy Robinson, who killed Charlie Kirk, Mike it up. But Candace Owen said as long as you allow people to convince you that we're all under the flag conspiracy, Egypt and Israel, France and all this other nonsense, we will see these events continue because the terrorists will get off scot free and an example again, them hanged in the public square not being made.

[Producer Nick]

Producer Nick yeah, I would argue that the conspiracy theory growing rampant even amid the investigations is a symptom of the distrust in the institutions due to how they carry out these investigations. The looking at the Brown University, lack of cohesion in the investigation.

[Tony Kennett]

Excuse me, I'm sorry, I misspoke. Tyler Robinson, not Tommy Robinson. Sorry, trip of the tongue there.

[Producer Nick]

Yeah. Short order. The success in this investigation in regards to the Turtle island terrorist group is the only thing that can remedy this, really. The success and regaining the trust of the public is the next steps that.

[Tony Kennett]

Really need to be taken, I think so. Radio crew, we're going to send you to commercial one more time. Live stream crew, we're going to continue with some more of this. It's the Tony Knittcast here on the Daily Signal. Thanks to the comments for catching that there. I, you know, you get into the heat of it. Got the T name wrong there. So glad that was corrected. So right now, what we have, by the way, an interesting comment also as well, someone made a joke that maybe, you know, the FBI wasn't really involved as much as they say they are in this particular Turtle island case. That's why the individuals were arrested. I'm not going to make any comments about that, but I will say that Producer Nick and I have noticed that Andy Ngo over at Human Events, formerly with the Post Millennial, that he has done a huge amount of investigation on this and it appears that a lot of the arrests that were made were due, in fact to Andy knows excellent investigating. That is. That's all I'll say there. So again, a major tip of the hat as usual, to Andy no. Who is just one of the best darn investigators in the business. So moving right along, I do want to mention before we get to my kind of overall thought on the FBI and why this entire situation matters, I want to talk about another breaking update out of the House Oversight Committee. According to the House Oversight Committee report on the Washington, D.C. metropolitan Police Department corruption scandal, the report alleges that the D.C. police chief, Pamela Smith, manipulated crime data to artificially lower crime stats. So if you might remember during the Biden administration that we were told Washington, D.C. is actually totally safe and fine and. Yeah, sure, you're seeing on TV these carjackings, including of House of Representatives congressmen and women that. Well, I mean, actually crime is going down. According to this report, Police Chief Pamela Smith pressured commanders to report lower crime. Reminds me of my time in administration when we required Indianapolis public school principals not to suspend students so the suspension numbers would be lower. Pressured commanders to pursue lesser charges that aren't publicly recorded, including serious crimes. That is a major felony. That is a serious scandal. Police departments, government offices, you're not allowed to not report things. If you are, in fact, just in an organization in which you have a license to work with children and you don't report something you suspect is going on, your license can be stripped permanently in the state. So that's a major, major issue. Uh, Smith reportedly required certain crimes to be reviewed by her office and punished commanders for reporting accurate data. What's gonna be done? What's gonna be done? You're gonna make an example, or is this gonna be another Letitia James situation in which. Well, the Senate hasn't really gotten a prosecutor through, so we're going to, like, have some Virginia.

[Producer Nick]

Yeah.

[Tony Kennett]

Maybe they'll indict her. And then we'll futz around and we'll release a breaking headline. Oh, she's been indicted. And then someone finds a technicality. Oh, guess you got to let her go. And then nothing happens. You need people in the United States right now. When you put up a poster that looks like this seeking info. Brown University shooting. You need the average American to look around. You need them to scan through their phone and to be vigilant. You think anybody takes the FBI seriously right now with this? Think anybody's actually going out and looking? No, of course not. And. And. And again, why should they? What have you been shown on the accountability measure? We're going to talk about this a little bit more with some more breaking news. Don't go anywhere. We have to talk about some. Mark Kelly. It's the Tony Kenneth cast. The Tony Kenneth cast on 93 WIBC. New information. The according to the Office of the Secretary of War. And this is actually. My, oh, my. I'm sorry. This is directly from the Pentagon to us over at the Daily Signal. New statement regarding Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona, according to a War Department official to the Daily Signal, quote, the Office of the Secretary of War, in conjunction with the Department of War's Office of the General Counsel, is escalating the preliminary review of Captain Mark Kelly, United States Navy, retired to an official command investigation. Retired Captain Kelly is currently under investigation for serious allegations of misconduct. Further official comments will be limited to preserve the integrity of the proceedings. In this series of information, there does appear also to be some leaks. The Pentagon is also planning to shift around some of the brass at the highest levels of the military. The Washington Post does have a history of some interesting choices of reporting things that come from leaks at the Department of War. So we'll take that with a grain of salt regarding the Senator Mark Kelly situation. We have a case where if this is brought before a military court martial and this is treated as a what he said, not what he said kind of a case where they look at the actual language that was spoken from his mouth hole as just words, he'll get off. There'll be a rebuke from the judge for bringing this before him and that'll be it. That'll be the end. But if they actually treat this case as what you and I know, he was clearly trying to do, what you and I know is clearly going on every time we have a case like this. When Lamonica McIver body slammed federal agents, when the new Representative Grajalva from Arizona rushed law enforcement, impeded them, and then lied about being pepper spray. When various individuals commit crimes and then say, well, I was just fulfilling my role, of course then the law, I was just saying things. And that's you're allowed to get away with that. The trust in the American government and its institutions will continue to erode until you get vigilantism. That is the entire reason we're talking about this tonight. You are in a society that is getting closer and closer and closer to acts of vigilantalism. It is a serious, serious problem. Vigilantism. Not like the American Revolution, which by the way, I encourage you to go read a biography, not watch whatever goofy nonsense has just been debuted as the American Revolution documentary. But read some of the accounts from the American Revolution. There were some really dirty acts of vigilantism and more so in the French Revolution. Right now, those who are angriest in this country are those who have seen a legalistic letter of the law down to the finest dot and tittle. And it is not bringing justice, it's bringing technicalities. Americans don't Want to see people get off on a technicality. Americans don't want to see justice diverted because someone didn't indent the page correctly or. Well, she was only appointed for 20, 120 days. But we didn't know that Senator Chuck Schumer was going to stop every single nomination process and drag every nominee through a confirmation full hearing. Well, I guess it's over. As long as that continues to happen, Americans will believe there is no recourse of action. There was a case in California in which an individual who an illegal immigrant had abused and was let off the hook on a man attacked the lawyer of the illegal immigrant. It's just in the last week and the quote from a popular commentator was soon it'll be the judge. And that is, that is correct. That's a horrifying reality because I remind you all that it is not only you who thinks in those violent terms. There are already those in this country who are acting in their own brand of vigilantism. Vigilantism only stops when authority scares the ever loving tariff out of those who would perpetuate acts of violence, taking justice into their own hands. And every man did what was right in his own eyes. Kind of a society that cannot persist. It can't. Unfortunately, what society is currently focusing on right now is a number of responses to tragedies. And it bothers me to my core. It bothers me because right now what the entire political ecosphere is arguing is not immigration standards. What are they arguing instead? Well, Rob Reiner was murdered over the weekend and Donald Trump had, you know, a really awful response and he did have an awful response to that murder. And then you have guys like Aaron Rupar over on the left taking Trump clips out of context to say he's pure evil. Like this is what we're debating in the middle of this. In the middle of this. I want the FBI to held accountable, by the way. I want the FBI to have the power to do things. I want them to catch the bad guys. I want our intelligence services to be intelligent. So do a lot of Americans. The President of the United States has delivered on a lot of these. And by the way, my seeing what Secretary Pete Hegseth in the Department of War, Secretary of State Marco Rubio have done so far in the Department of War, the Department of State for Rubio, seeing what those individuals have done so far, they've delivered on promises. And now we have an opportunity from Congress to, may I, may I say quite clearly here to end any kind of transgender experimentation on children. In the United States, there are opportunities to codify, to ratify what Americans voted for in, in the last election. But instead, if we're playing this goofy, nonsense social media game, producer Nick has handed me just another update here from Brown University. The Providence Police Department has now asked, this is as of 6:34pm this evening, has now asked that anyone from Brown who was in Barris and Holly, that would be the engineering building where the shooting happened on Friday or Saturday, arrange for an interview. Even an incidental detail may be helpful in investigating to contact Providence police. They haven't done this already. The FBI should have done this as soon as they walked in. You say, tony, how do you know that? I've seen the movie Fugitive. Even when Tommy Lee Jones was investigating the train derailment, he gave a list of 80 things he needed and they had it done immediately. And that was Hollywood's idea. The FBI, the nsa, the CIA, the freaking DOJ in its entirety, the irs, for crying out loud, does a better job at coming into an area in the classical understanding of American institutions and says, okay, everyone who was remotely involved with this, sit them down, we're going to interview them right now. Dark room, Pixar lamp on the table, light in their face, ask them questions. Why are we just now getting to this, guys? It's Monday. And as producer Daniel points out, people are in the middle of going home for Christmas. Good sweet lord.

[Producer Nick]

It's.

[Tony Kennett]

It's insulting to Americans. Radio crew, we ought to send you off to commercial. We're going to continue for some bonus tonus on the live stream. It's the Tony Kinid cast. Now. Let's at least for now. God forbid there be any more other interview updates for just a moment. Thanks for sharing that. I'm not, I'm not snapping at you. I'm just frustrated at the kind of updates. I am no law enforcement professional. There are a lot of really great law enforcement officials in the FBI. My extreme praise to those in the Milwaukee field office and the Indianapolis field offices I've worked with before. But whatever is going on right now is a, is a true disaster. So the President of the United States made some responses to some of these shootings and tragedies over the weekend. Now, first and foremost, there were guys like Aaron Rupar over on the left who were trying to make the case that Donald Trump pulled an Ilhan Omar. The some people did something kind of a thing and tried to make it say, well, Trump just said, well, sometimes this happens. And it was a completely out of context clip here's here's what was alleged.

[Governor of Rhode Island]

And Brown University, great school, great, great. Really one of the greatest schools anywhere in the world. Things can happen. So to the nine injured, get well fast. And to the families of those two that are no longer with us, I pay my deepest regards and respects from the United States of America. Thank you very much. It's a very.

[Tony Kennett]

Now that was the actual statement that was given, like the actual statement that was brought forward. What Rupar suggested Trump had said sounded like this.

[Governor of Rhode Island]

And Brown University, great school. Great, great. Really one of the greatest schools anywhere in the world. Things can happen. So to the nine injured, get well fast.

[Tony Kennett]

And so he's like, oh, things can happen. Trump made the case correctly so that no matter how elite your university is, no matter how safe in your small community suburb of Providence, Rhode island, you think that you are, a horrible event like this can always happen. And he did express his condolences to those. But people were roasting, oh, how unfeeling, uncaring, how evil. From the President of the United States. I don't think so. Now again, I do think the President responded quite well to the shootings, of course, in Australia and of course at Brown University. Rob, Rob Rayner, a phenomenal director and a really great actor, by the way. I grew up watching him as Meathead in All in the Family. Of course, he's directed some phenomenal movies all the way from his work in A Few Good Men. He was a very talented sitcom actor as well. Late into his life he was a very aggressive lip, Very, very on the left. Hated Donald Trump more than anything and a lot of clips on social media. He has also called me a certifiable a hole before as well. However, over the weekend his daughter discovered Rob and his wife. Rob in his 70s, his wife in his 60s, in their home, dead from multiple stab wounds and a, a horrible, horrible case of what appears to be allegedly patricide and matricide, in which case the Reiner's son who had struggled with addiction, homelessness, a number of things. The police have now arrested the son. It appears he may have stabbed his, his parents to death. Horrible situation. Terrible. God be with his, his family. God be with all of those who are involved in that situation. I don't care our, our political views and perspectives. If you did not commit the crime, I don't think that you deserve anything like that. Not a difficult thing to say. For some reason, the President of the United States felt that it was necessary instead to get out in front of the country and post a very Sad thing happened last night in Hollywood. Rob Rayner, a tortured and struggling, but once very talented movie director and comedy star, has passed away together with his life Michelle, reportedly due to the anger he caused others through his massive, unyielding and incurable affliction with a mind crippling disease known as Trump Derangement Syndrome, sometimes referred to as tds. He was known to have driven people crazy by his raging obsession of President Donald J. Trump. With his obvious paranoia reaching new heights as the Trump administration surpassed all goals and expectations of greatness. And with the golden age of America upon us, perhaps like never before, may Rob and Michelle rest in peace. I want to make this clear. There was no reason to post that. There was no reason to post that. From what we have in the information, by the way, it appears that this had nothing to do with Donald Trump whatsoever. But even so. No, not a good look, not necessary. We're busy with things right now. And again, I am thrilled with a lot of things the President of the United States is doing. I hate it when individuals take him out of context for a cheap shot. This is not one of those cases. It's not. Making someone's death about you is not a good piece of behavior. And by the way, and this is again what frustrated a lot of individuals, there were those on the other social media accounts for the White House that then took this and then posted it on the social media to further amplify it, which is just unnecessary. Now, two things could be true at once. Did I like Rob Rainer Reiner as a person? No. No. He was mean to me. Absolutely. But is this the time right now? No. Now, do I also think this is the end of the world and Trump needs to step down? No. I think that people who were very quick to get out in front of the world and cheer Charlie Kirk's assassin assassination now want to turn around and say that Trump is really bad and terrible for this. No, I'm sorry. You've already flown that particular couple. You've crossed that particular Rubicon. Now, is that a standard for American culture and society? I don't think so. But unfortunately, the President did double down on this later. I was actually, I was really hoping that Trump would say maybe my tweet came out a little bit rough, but I wish the best for his family and he didn't do that. Instead, he, well, doubled down. A number of Republicans have denounced your statement on Truth Social after the murder of Rob Reiner. Do you stand by that post?

[Governor of Rhode Island]

Well, I wasn't a fan of his at all he was a deranged person as far as Trump is concerned. He said he liked, he knew it was false. In fact, it's the exact opposite that I was a friend of Russia, controlled by Russia. You know, it was the Russia hoax. He was one of the people behind it.

[Tony Kennett]

I think he fair things to be mad about, by the way. Absolutely fair things to be mad about. But the President Trump that we had after Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away was excellent. This unnecessary.

[Governor of Rhode Island]

He hurt himself in career wise. He became like a deranged person. Trump derangement syndrome. So I was not a fan of Rob Reiner at all in any way, shape or form. I thought he was very bad for our country. Yeah.

[Tony Kennett]

And that was the end of the question. So moving on from those, producer Nick makes it, you know, a good, a good counterpoint here. He said, you know, Trump and Charlie were close. You know, that can, that can change a man in that particular instance. I would agree with that to a, to kind of, to a level. But when pressed right after, you know, again, right after Charlie Kirk's assassination, it was the case that Rob did say nice things about Charlie Post said assassination, which again, and not worth getting into kind of that the merc and the mire of it, I don't think it's as big a deal as everyone is making, certainly not as much as guys like Jake Tapper are making. Tapper has devoted now all of his time to covering any rumor about Donald Trump whatsoever. Any rumor at all, whether it's about his health or whether it's condemning something. And he was pushed on this, like you said, nothing at all about Joe Biden and the numerous foibles and bad decisions and horrible things that he said, which were quite a few. Why is that? Now here's Tapper's response to this. We cover it all the time on my show, all the time. And I think that is, that is to a large degree because we saw what happened with Biden and while we covered it, we didn't cover it. Maybe we didn't ask as many questions as we should have at the time. And I think it is a legitimate question for any president of any age, but particular anybody who is like in the range of being an octogenarian.

[Producer Nick]

Right.

[Tony Kennett]

We cover it all the time. So because he didn't cover Biden, now he's going to do what everyone was accusing him of. Okay, okay. There was also some stuff that the President of the United States did today that was very, very good. Hugely good. Sorry, I, I, I would love to to kind of park here and talk about Tapper, that. That kind of stupidity kind of speaks for itself. The President of the United States did sign an executive order today about the classification of fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction. Here was the president on that today.

[Governor of Rhode Island]

Today I'm taking one more step to protect Americans from the scourge of deadly fentanyl flooding into our country with this historic executive order I will sign today. We're formally classifying fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction, which is what it is. No bomb does what this is doing. 200 to 300,000 people die every year that we know of. So we're formally classifying fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction.

[Tony Kennett]

Now, given how the Geneva Convention, associate of nations, define a weapon of mass destruction, it is the potency of fentanyl that could, in fact, be weaponized in an official military capacity. Yeah, that is a. That is a suitable frame. I believe there are some concerns from the more libertarian crews that this is his moment where he's going to announce that the United States therefore has to invade Venezuela. I don't see that, as, you know, perhaps being the case in this particular instance. Uh, but those things aside, there is more news to dive into that we haven't yet had a chance to touch so far. Uh, the Judge Boas berg of the D.C. district Court, he issued contempt hearings that were supposed to drag Kristi Noem, the head of Homeland Security, before his court to announce all of these documents and answers to his questions that the Supreme Court of the United States had already completely tossed out and said, yeah, the President of the United States has the authority to deport individuals who are foreign nationals under the Alien Enemies Act. That's his right as President of the United States. He's the chief executive. He's the commander in chief. That's his job. James Boasberg said, well, I'm going to issue some contempt hearings anyway. And so now Judges Rao and Walker have completely iced Judge Boasberg's contempt hearings until at least the new year. So this is the interesting little extra bit here. His co Judges also want to know whether or not Boasberg has the power to investigate contempt at all or whether he has to refer it to the Department of Justice. James Boasberg does not have the authority to go something's fishy and prosecute something himself. That would be the executive's job. He doesn't have the ability to strip authority from the executive either. That's the legislative branch's job, believe it or not. You too can learn basic civics of the United States. I mean, when I talk, you're listening to this show. It's very likely that you do in fact understand basic civics as well, far more than many of the D.C. court infrastructure usually does. Now, with that particular news out of the way, I do like a little bit of time to answer some questions here at the end of the show. A little bit of mail time that's come in. So one individual has well criticized our reporting on Jake Tapper and said Jake Tapper wrote a book about Biden. You hack. Aren't you being a little mean to Jake Tapper? He wrote a whole book about him with Alex Thompson over at Axios. Yeah, I've read that book cover to cover. And it is very clear that Jake Tapper chose to hide some of that information from the American public in order to change the outcome of the 2024 presidential elections. And when questioned on this, he has no answer at all whatsoever. And by the way, since then, he has not held any congressman or congresswoman's feet to the fire on participating in a cover up of the president's mental condition. Another Edith Wilson situation, as it were. So, no, I don't have to give him credit. He wrote one book and then immediately went back to doing the same kind of partisan nonsense, which, by the way, I don't have an issue with partisan nonsense. I'm very partisan. Absolutely. I'm a conservative. But I'm very honest with you, the audience about when I am covering something in the news or whether I am covering something as a part of my analysis or commentary. Tapper passes off whatever comes out of his mouth as straight news. That's simply not the truth. And so, yeah, he does absolutely deserve scorn for turning around and saying, well, I wasn't hard on Biden, so I'm going to be really tough on Trump. All right. Interesting choice, I suppose. Another excellent question. This is from Marcus Holiday says, Tony, do you believe that the heads of the FBI and the DOJ will be fired? Well, I think that that is still a little up in the air. If there is anyone that I believe is currently on some thin ice, this is all personal speculation. There was an outlet that I appeared on as the national correspondent for the Daily Signal that then took my last time that I weighed in on this as gospel truth and ran it as news. This is not one of those times. This would be the speculation and analysis side. Kash Patel's on the thinnest ice because though he has delivered on some things, he has not delivered on others. Pam Bondi, I think, is probably on safer ground than Cash Patel. I would say that it's probably the most likely, though, that if there is someone after the midterms that says goodbye, it's probably Cash. That's just, that's just an assessment from this point right here where we are. But there seems to be a lot more inter organizational loyalty in this particular administration than there's was in the first. So every time there has been some kind of a rumor or question as to whether or not someone is going to be fired or is going to leave, the response from the administration has been, no, that's nonsense and we haven't seen anything of that nature. Now, Mike Walls was withdrawn from his position as National Security Advisor. That position, I believe, is still held by Secretary of State Marco Rubio as acting National Security Advisor. Now Mike Walz is the Ambassador to the United nations for the United States. So, you know, some of those particular instances are at least I would say, rather important. My goodness, I'm sorry, I had to take a quick drink. It's been quite a long evening. Now, some of the comments saying I think that Bondi should be gone before Kash Patel. Now, I didn't, you know, I don't actually, I didn't say who I wanted to be removed or not. I actually think it's probably more prescient Producer Nick Fifford to weigh in on this if you'd like. I don't know if I have an opinion at this point as to whether or not I want someone to be removed. I have my gripes. You guys just heard them. You know, I don't think some of these investigations are being carried out correctly. Obviously, I was the very first critic to come out and say that Binder disaster with the Epstein files was, well, a train wreck on stilts. But I don't know if I'm in the mood to say you're fired at this moment. That causes a lot of chaos right now. What do you say?

[Producer Nick]

Producer NICK I would say the public and people's opinions need to be careful in how they push things like calling for the removal of the heads of organizations such as this. As important as it is for leadership to be competent, the competence of the organization, such as the FBI aren't wholly dependent on the leadership. There's many people who were there before Kash Patel and will be there most likely longer than Kash Patel, much longer than after he's gone.

[Tony Kennett]

And to be clear, there's an excellent comment who says from Anti Socialist. Nice. Who says, who longs for the FBI that attacked concerned mothers? Correct. This is an FBI that is far better in how it interacts with the American people at large. But there's. There are two things here. If you are doing something wrong and I'm trusting you with something, if you stop doing the wrong thing, that's fine, that's good. But I also elected you to do something positive. It's not enough to just not do something bad. You need to actively do something that is beneficial. Some of these things, by the way, with FBI investigations they've done, and may I say they have done that we haven't heard everything right off the top of the bat. And by the way, I don't think that you need that. I don't want information to be released to people that would cause others to get away or reveal things that will help criminals in the future. But you have to weigh that with the lack of trust Americans have in their institutions.

[Producer Nick]

Yeah. The holistic point that I was trying to get across was as important as they are in a leadership position, the transitory nature of the position places an emphasis on their importance as being a representative figurehead of that organization and how they represent the organization to the public and develop trust with the public.

[Tony Kennett]

And it's. Honestly, I'd say the cards are a little bit stacked against Kash Patel. And there's. Okay, so I was willing to say something during the New York election that a lot of people didn't like. One of the reasons that Curtis Sliwa never gained any momentum is because it took him until a week before the election to take off the freaking Red Beret. If you lived in one part of New York and you were over a certain age, you knew what the Red Beret meant about the Guardian Angels and the amazing work that he did. But he wouldn't take off the Red Beret and it was off putting. To a lot of people you say, but that's really shallow. Yeah, that's just the way that the American public works. I mean, sorry, but in, in the same way Kash Patel gets out in front of the public and in a lot of photos, he looks a little dorky. Were I in his shoes, I would look a little dorky. For the record, I don't think that I'm like some suave, debonair individual on screen, but that, that, that is a car series of cards stacked against him. So whenever you see a photo and he looks, and by the way he's observing, I will remind you he is an award winning FBI agent and has done a ton to bring down a lot, especially sex trafficking. He has done a ton to bring down those who participate in drug and sex trafficking and he's very devoted to that. But it is, it is an easy card against him that people, the average person, the average American who sees a photo and he's, you know, his eyes are all wide and he's looking at a situation or he posts a picture of FBI jackets from the back and people think, man, this guy's, you know, kind of a, maybe a prima donna influencer goober. And I think that's unfair. But there is a level of honesty in saying, well, that's how it comes across.

[Producer Nick]

Yeah, I would say a lot of the stuff, the positives that he has accomplished are not very media rich stories and so they're not shared very much. I'm thinking to back to his intra organizational shifts in employment. A lot of people have been fired due to their connections to inappropriate conduct, the shift in requirements for employment and overall, the internal structure reforms that he has really pushed.

[Tony Kennett]

And by the way, this again to reiterate in this particular portion of the show, there's just me being transparent with y' all as much as I can. And there was a comment a little bit earlier that said they appreciated the, the honesty. We do try for that to be very transparent in a story that no one asked for. About a year, maybe a year and a half ago, I was talking to producer Daniel on the phone before he was producer Daniel at all. And one of the things that we discussed was what made the Tony Kennett cast stand out, you know, against a lot of the other shows that are out there. And I didn't have an answer for him because I am a Midwestern guy with a beard. So essentially I'm the Baptist. I look like the Baptist version of Matt Walsh or the glasses version of JD Vance or every other late millennial, white bearded, you know, commentator in his late 20s, early 30s. So what we decided to do instead was that we were going to try to be as transparent as possible with the audience and just drive that through. And so, yeah, I mean, if you hear me say a name wrong, I'll try to correct it. If there's a story that we get wrong, we will correct it. Funnily enough, that has made it so there are far fewer corrections for us to make than a lot of others because we try to be very careful with it and we try to be very real about what you're showing. Like there's a comment that came in that was, I don't know, pretty humorous comment. I want to see again. Who is it from? Oh, from Trey, he said. Is that a TARDIS behind you? No, above the US Ministry of Truth Seal. That's just an English phone booth lamp thing. I can't even remember where I got it. But I'll say this, I can't stand Doctor who. I had a girlfriend in high school who, like, forced me to watch Doctor who, and I despise. I despise them. I can't just. I don't know, you're forced to do something and so you're like, ah, now I don't like it. Yeah, no, no tardis. No TARDIS for me. On. On that end. Next to it is the very first microphone that we used on this particular show, though. So, with that said, it is great to have been with you this evening. This is, of course, the Tony Kennett cast on the Daily Signal, nationally syndicated and first on 93 WIBC. Y' all take care.