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  A weekly magazine-style radio show featuring the voices and stories of Asians and Pacific Islanders from all corners of our community. The show is produced by a collective of media makers, deejays, and activists. Tonight on APEX Express Host Miko Lee speaks with spouses of detained refugees. We hear about the similarities and challenges of Hmong and Nepali speaking Bhutanese refugees. We also speak with Asian Law Caucus' Aisa Villarosa about the ongoing campaigns for freedom that ALC has been leading along with a host of other community based organizations. Join us: November 3, 4pm Pacific time, 7pm Eastern Time, Join us for “We Belong Here, Bhutanese & Hmong Americans in the Struggle Against Statelessness” a live virtual event featuring my three guests tonight, along with performances and conversations. bit.ly/WBH-2025   TAKE ACTION Rising Voices campaign for Lue Yang Mohan Karki's GoFundMe   And please help support these organizations working to support detained and deported folx: Asian Law Caucus Asian Refugees United Ba Lo Project in Vietnam Collective Freedom in Vietnam & Laos Asian Prisoner Support Committee & New Light Wellness in Cambodia November 1–2, people nationwide are joining the Disappeared In America Weekend of Action to stand up for immigrant families and defend due process. Actions include protests at Home Depots, candlelight Freedom Vigils, and Day of the Dead events honoring lives lost to detention.     We Belong! Transcript Miko Lee: Welcome to Apex Express.This is your host, Miko Lee. Today we're talking about detentions and potential deportations and the atrocities that the Trump administration is creating in our communities.We originally recorded this episode a month ago, and today is October 29th. 2025 and I have with me Aisa Villarosa a lawyer with Asian Law Caucus, giving us an update in the cases that we're talking about. Welcome Aisa Apex Express. Aisa Villarosa: Thanks so much, Miko. Miko Lee: Tonight we're gonna be talking with two spouses of detained folks. One is a Nepali speaking Bhutanese community member, and the other is Hmong community member. In the time since we recorded this, there has been a big update with Lue Young's case, and I wonder if you could provide us with that update. Aisa Villarosa: Miko since we last spoke, due to some really hard fought campaigning, both behind the scenes and drawing upon allies across Michigan and really across the country. Lue Yang, received a successful pardon from Governor Gretchen Whitmer. We actually received word shortly before Lue Yang was set to be placed on a very large deportation flight. Once we got word of the pardon, it was off to the races for the legal team to quickly draft some emergency motions for Lue Yang and to realize the power of the pardon before the deportation. Miko Lee: Can we back up for a moment and give for an audience a sense of what that means? Lue Young was incarcerated at a detention facility, which Trump has called the FedEx of detention facilities in, Louisana, and explain to us what happened to him and the other members that were suddenly pulled together onto an airplane. Aisa Villarosa: When these removal flights happen, there's so much confusion, there's so much fear that families undergo, and often it's due to the perseverance of the families that we honestly even know where folks are. Shortly before what we call final staging happens, someone is moved from, in Lue's case, a facility in Michigan to a facility like Alexandria in Louisiana where the planes do take off  from. Families typically look up their loved one on something called the “ice detainee locator.” What's challenging is when final staging starts. Often that person completely disappears from the detainee locator or information gets a bit scrambled. Because ICE has a bit of a sealed box as far as even telling families where, their loved one is. Families are either left to guess or rely on each other. So for Lue Yang and the pardon what is critical for folks to know is that as powerful, as rare as a pardon is, I can't stress how extraordinary this is in these very difficult times. A pardon does not instantly, allow someone to say, walk out of an ice facility. There's, numerous legal filings that need to happen. That is why , the team was so up against the clock. Miko Lee: So let's break this down a little bit around a pardon. What does a pardon mean in our current system? Because as a lay person, you think, oh, they're pardoned. That means they're free and they can go home and be with their family. Tell us a little bit about what a pardon means in our legal system right now. Aisa Villarosa: A pardon is different from a criminal expungement, which folks might be familiar with. In Lue's case, for example, when Lue was younger, he successfully expunged this record, in criminal court. The challenge is that immigration court, is basically the entity that issues something called a “final order of removal.” This document, is basically what powers deportation for folks. An expungement does not get at the final removal order. However, a pardon has that more direct link. The pardon has the weight of what we call “vacating a conviction.” To explain more legalese and hopefully folks can stay with me. A final order of removal is an immigration court order document where , it gives ice the power to do all these deportations We're seeing for the refugee community that Lue Yang belongs to. Often these are quite old orders, and so sometimes a loved one might be detained and they might not even realize that they have a criminal conviction or a final order of removal. Miko Lee: Thank you so much for breaking that down. So we described how he was pulled off the plane that was going for his deportation. Tell us where Lue is at right now. What is happening with his case? Aisa Villarosa: The call to action very much remains what it has been, which is we're calling to bring Lue home. At the moment, Lue is in a facility in Louisiana. Our hope is that Lue can return to Michigan. There is also a call to release Lue on a supervised release. The other component of the legal journey for Lue is something called a motion to reopen. Basically this is how the full weight of the pardon is realized. The motion to reopen calls on the Board of Immigration Appeals to reopen Lue's case, because years ago he got that final removal order, so when someone gets that order, typically their immigration case is closed. This petition says, Hey, he got a pardon. Please reopen Lue's case because the underlying conviction that led to the final removal order. Has been pardoned, right? We are hoping that this motion to reopen will be heard in front of the Board of Immigration Appeals, that we can get a great result and that as the campaign calls for that, Lue can come home. Miko Lee: I know lawyers like you are doing incredible work around the scenes. You did not sleep for two days, filing paperwork to be able to make sure that Lue was pulled off that plane. But what can regular people, what can our audience do to get involved right now? Aisa Villarosa: There's myriad actions along this really terrible deportation pipeline. We're seeing that folks who might not have, any deep knowledge of the immigration system can still be so impactful. We have partners in LA in the faith community and they've started working with community organizations to do things like accompaniment, which is, joining community members like Lue, who often have these ice check-ins. As folks have seen on the news, these check-ins can be really risky because that is where ice arrests can happen. If someone misses their ice check-in, typically that means that a warrant is issued, that immigration forces can come after you. In these cases, community members, particularly folks who are US citizens, accompaniment can be a great way to dig in to show up for our immigrant and refugee siblings. Miko Lee: Thank you so much for breaking down how folks can get involved. It's so important right now in a time where we feel so utterly helpless to be able to make change. Now we're gonna go back to listen to our interview that is with the two spouses, Tika, Basnet, and Ann Vue, and also our current guest, Aisa Villarosa Tika and Ann they're part of a horrible club, which is both of their spouses are currently in detention from our immigration system. I just wanna start on a real personal note in a way that I often do with my guests. Anne, I just would love to hear from you, who are your people and what legacy do you carry with you? Ann Vue: Thank you again, Miko and Isa, for having me on. We are Hmong. We helped Americans during the Vietnam War. In Laos, a lot of our pilots needed a communication. Because we're indigenous and we are in the mountains they were able to speak with us and use us. Our Hmong, helped a lot of the pilots rescued a lot, like thousands and thousands of Americans, so that they can make it back home. That is our contribution to the American people. When we were brought to America, was to resettle because of humanitarian purpose. Our legacy of helping Americans with the war. that is who we are and what we bring to America. That's who I am. I'm actually the first generation Hmong American. I was born right here in the capital of Lansing, Michigan. Miko Lee: Thanks so much ann. Tika, can you share who are your people and what legacy you carry with you? Tika Basnet: Hi, my name is Tika Basnet. I am Bhutanese Nepali community. My parents and all the Bhutanese, they ran away from Bhutan in 1990 due to the ethnic cleansing. They came to Nepal, seeking for asylum, and that is where we born. I was born in Nepal, in refugee camp. Even though I was born in Nepal, Nepal never gave us identity. They never give us citizenship. We were known as Bhutanese Nepali, but as known as Stateless. My husband also born in Nepal in a refugee camp. Miko Lee: Thank you. Aisa, I'm gonna ask the same question for you Aisa, that works at Asian Law Caucus. Who are your people and what legacy do you carry with you? Aisa Villarosa: So much love to you, Miko and to you Ann and Tika for being here today. I just am, I'm so honored. My name is Aisa and I carry the love and, Maki Baka spirit of Filipino Americans both in my family across the diaspora. A little bit about the Filipino American story. We came to the United States as part of the colonial machine. The first Filipinos were brought as part of the Spanish Gallian trade. We made California home, parts of Lueisiana home, and it's quite a contrast to a lot of the sort of model minority seduction that many of my people, and myself as a younger person tended to fall into that if we kept our heads down, if we were quiet, we would be left alone. I'm struck because at this moment of just unprecedented government attacks, so many of our communities have this story where someone somewhere said to us, yeah, just keep your head down and it'll be fine. We're seeing the exact opposite, that this is the time to really use our voices, both individually and as one. I'm also an artist and try to infuse that into my work in fighting government systems. Miko Lee: Thank you Aisa. I will say I'm Miko. I am fifth generation Chinese American. I grew up knowing that my family was full of fighters that built the railroads, worked in the gold mines in laundromats and restaurants, and my parents walked with Dr. King and Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta, and I was raised in a family of social justice activists. I feel like our legacy is to continue that work and to fight for the rights of our peoples. I'm so honored to have both of all three of you powerful women join me today. As I was saying in the beginning, Tika and Anne are sadly a part of this club nobody wants to be a part of with the sudden, unexpected, harmful detentions of both of your husbands. I wonder if you can each just share the story about what happened and how you first found out about your husband being detained. Let's start with you Tika. Tika Basnet: My husband got his removal in 2014 when he was just 17 years old, high school student going from school to home. He's a teenager and with his friend, they were playing around and they wanna go home really fast. They just cross from private property. That is where someone saw and call 9 1 1. We came from the culture that we love to go people home , walking around, playing around. My husband came here in 2011. The incident happened on 2013. He just, came here without knowing culture, without knowing languages, So he has no idea. So when somebody called 9 1 1, he could not explain what happened. First of all, English is his second language, he was barely here without knowing rules and regulation, without knowing culture. The police took him to jail, gave a lot of charges. My husband doesn't know what are those charges? At that time, nobody explained, this is the three charges you got, and this could lead to deportation. He feel guilty without knowing those charges. He trusts [00:14:00] Nepali translate guy, and he told my husband, if you don't say I'm guilty, you will end up in prison for 20 to 25 years, but if you say I'm guilty, you'll go home. My husband said, guilty. At that time, neither criminal lawyer told my husband, if you say I'm guilty, you'll end up getting deport. Deport to the country that you are you never born. Deport To the country, you doesn't even speak their language. The lawyer did not explain my husband you will not gonna get your green card. You cannot apply your citizenship in your life. If those things the lawyer told my husband at that time, he will never gonna say, I am guilty to the crime that he did not even commit. When they tried to deport my husband back then, Bhutan say, he's not my citizenship, he's not from my country, We don't know this guy. He's not belongs to here. When US Embassy reach out to, Nepal, do you know this guy? They told, ICE no, we don't know this guy, like he's not belongs here. The ICE officer, told my husband, we can let you go, you need to come here, like order of supervision every three months, every six months, whenever we call you. It been 11 years. My husband is following rules and regulation. He never did any violation after that. He got married, he has a life, he pay taxes. He was taking care of his family and in 11 years he was doing everything. In 2025 for the first time they target Bhutanese Nepali community. I knew that this is the last time I'm gonna see my husband. I broke down. When they detained my husband in April 8, I was eight months pregnant. We dream a lot of things we are gonna take care of our daughter. We are gonna buy home, we are gonna work, we are gonna give her the life that we, I'm sorry. Miko Lee: Totally. Okay. Tika Basnet: I never thought like Bhutanese community can, like deport. Like my parent already go through this trauma, when Bhutan throw them away due to ethnic cleansing and same thing happening to us. It is unbelievable. I cannot believe that, we're going through this again and I don't know when this gonna be stopped. I don't know whether like my husband gonna come home. It is been five month and I really want my husband back. My daughter is, three month old. She need her dad in life 'cause I cannot provide everything by myself. My husband is the main provider for her aging parent. 'cause even now they cannot pay bills. I'm fighting for my husband case and I want my husband back. He deserve second chance because if you see his record is clean, like for one incident that happened like 12 years ago, that cannot define my husband. I cannot believe that my husband is able to get deport to the country that doesn't even accept. I don't know whether he gonna get killed. Whether he gonna disappear, I don't know what will happen to him. I don't know if it is last time I'm gonna see him. Miko Lee: Tika, thank you so much for sharing your story. Just to recap really briefly, your husband, Mohan Karki when he was a teenager, newly arrived in the country, was leaving high school, walked with his friends through a backyard and was racially profiled. The neighbor called police because he was trespassing on property. He was born at a refugee camp. Is that right? Tika Basnet: Yes. Miko Lee: There was not property that was like person's property on that refugee camp. So that whole concept of walking across somebody's land was something he was not aware of. He had an interpreter that did not give correct information. And so he signed something, including a deportation order, that he wasn't even aware of until recently when he was put into detention. Is that right? Tika Basnet: Yes. Yes. Miko Lee: Right now he's in detention. You live in Ohio, but he's in detention in Michigan, right? Tika Basnet: Yes. Miko Lee: Okay, Tika, let's talk about Mohans case and what's happening. He's held in detention right now in a detention facility in Michigan. What is going on with his case? Tika Basnet: His criminal attorney file, a Motion to Redeem asking BIA to send that, case back to Georgia. His case, that happened in 2013. Our attorney just submit documentation where he's asking to release my husband because it'd been five month. He's not risk to the community. He's not risk to the flight 'cause he doesn't have no one in Bhutan. He doesn't have no one in Nepal. All family is in here. His community love him ,he has family that loves him. We also get lot of documentations as a proof telling ICE that my husband is not risk to the community or to the flight. Miko Lee: Thank you. He has a a four month old baby that he has yet to meet. So that is a powerful reason to stay. As Tikas pointing out, the lawyer just submitted documentation along with 50 letters of support from the community from employers, from family members, all saying why he should stay in this country. Thank you so much for sharing. Anne, i'm wondering if you could share about what happened to your husband. He was also born in a refugee camp, right? Ann Vue: Lue was born in Nangkai, Thailand refugee camp in 1978. In1979 his parents and him and his older brother Granted urgent humanitarian reasons for or for public benefit. They made it to America right before Halloween. The early nineties, me even being the first generation American here, racism played a lot. We all went through that piece and our parents not speaking English at the same time, they were going to school themselves so that they can learn our English language, . They weren't able to teach us growing up. We had to fend for ourselves. I would say my husband he went out with some friends. He did not commit the crime. But of course now that is brought back to him, he understood about his particular case is second attempt, home invasion. Nobody was harmed. He was in the vehicle, in the backseat when he was caught. He didn't wanna partake, but he didn't wanna stop them either 'cause to him it was like, if I don't partake, then I have nothing to do with it. . Because if I do, then they might not be my friends anymore. It's just a part of growing up as a youth. Because he was there, and then would receive a court appointed attorney, and then provide it very similar to Tika's too. Had an interpreter, that was explaining to them, was provided bad legal advice. He had no knowledge about how this would impact his immigration status. It was advised by their attorney, take the plea it's easier, and you probably serve less than a year. You'll be out, you'll only be in the county jail anyways 'cause you didn't really commit the crime and technically it should have been a misdemeanor. But because you're an accomplice, that kind of falls under this category. So he took the plea, he served 10 months in a county jail. He actually was released for good behavior. He even finished his probation soon because he paid all of his stuff off. He even finished a youth advocate program for anybody that committed crimes between the age of 18 to 21. I just saw this form the other day and I was reading it and it talks about, the one thing about our parents, experiencing the war and coming to America, they don't talk about it. A lot of us are from communist countries. We are very afraid to voice our voices, because someone can take action. Our parents never talked about it. I read what he wrote to his, youth coordinator, he felt so bad about what he did. He created disappointment for his parents and he understands, there are sacrifices that got us here to America. He literally wrote all of this down, i'm going to be a better person. I'm going to make my parents proud now that I understand their sacrifices. They asked him, ” what was your upbringing like?” He wrote, “poor” and the coordinator wrote on the bottom of his comments said, “Lue is remorseful for what has happened and he wants to be a better person. I have no other questions. The training is complete.” He doesn't need any further, support and believes that he will move forward to be a better person. That's literally what they wrote on the document. Then fast forwarding to 1999 that's when, immigration showed up at his house. Him and I would meet in 2000, and then we'd be married in 2001. We'd celebrate. Almost 24 and a half years of marriage. We did appeal his case in the humanitarian piece of what this meant for Lue during the time where we all fled the country. Once the monks were declared enemy of the state by the LDR in Laos, we fled. It's well documented that there was a little bit over 400,000 of us there right after the genocide and the killings of the Hmong there was probably less than 45,000 of us left. Once we understood a lot of that, we wanted to do better. We wanted to really service our community. We appealed the case. The case was then denied in his appeal letters, general Vink Powell, which led the Hmongs during the war, even had a letter where he, also pled why Hmongs need to stay here in America. And why we need to bring the rest of our people to this country. The reality is our whole family, Lue's whole family was wiped out. We don't have anybody, Lue doesn't have anyone. That goes to Tika's thing too. There's nobody there. Going back to the case once it was denied in 2002. He then was forced to reach out to the embassy and was denied, entry into Thailand 'cause that's where he was born. We're stateless too, just like Tikas husband. We were denied by Thailand. We were denied by Laos stating that we are not a citizen of theirs. They do not allow or welcome any sort of entry. In 2006, they actually took his green card and then we again were denied. In 2008 we were denied a third time and that's when his immigration officer was like, just move on and start your life. Laos and Thailand, will never sign a repatriation act with America because of you guys, because of the Hmong people, what you guys have done to their country, making it the most bombed country during the war without even being a part of the war. They will never allow you guys back. So we were like, okay. So we moved forward. Then in 2014, this immigration officer, which we was doing yearly checkups at this time, was like, Hey go get your citizenship, get your green card. They're like you're doing so good. You probably could have a chance to get it. We moved forward to apply for citizenship and for the green card. We were denied in 2015 and we know how expensive this is. You pay $10,000 outright, you don't get that money back. You just have to go at it again. We decided that, we're gonna get his case expunged, and we got his case expunged in 2018. No questions asked. It was very straightforward. Once it was expunged, we continued with our [00:26:00] lives. Very involved in the community. We had six kids . This year we even called his immigration officer and he was like, “Hey, don't worry about it, Lue, we're moving you over to Grand Rapids and you should be fine. Just make sure that you stay outta trouble, continue to follow your stock.” I think what triggered it was when we applied for his work permit in April. He always meets his immigration officer at the end of the year, and we renewed his work permit is what triggered it. The money was cashed out, everything the checks went through while we were receiving that, he was gonna be here, everything was gonna be fine. Then July 15th he was detained at work, six 30 in the morning, the detained officer they told him they know who he is to the community, so they have to do it this way because they don't want any problems. They don't want media, they don't want reporters. He did ask them because he rode his motorcycle for some weird reason. He has not taken his bike out, his motorcycle out in the last three years. But for some reason that night he was like, I just wanna take my bike. So he took his bike that night and when ICE told him, do you have somebody come get your bike? You need to call somebody to come get your bike. He was like, nobody in my family rides motorcycles. I don't have anyone to come get my bike. I think there was some empathy and compassion for him. My husband was like, can I just take my bike back? I've got six kids. I've got my grandma at home and my parents are also at my house right now. I just wanna see them and wanna take my bike back. They asked him, “if we let you go, please don't run.” They followed my husband home and my husband literally called me at 6 37 in the morning and he was like, Hey, ICE is, here they got me. I'm like, “what? What's going on?” It was just so surreal. I was so shocked. It's a 30 minute drive. When he got there, they were already officers, packed tight in our driveway. We live in the country. There were like five or six cop cars there too. We had to walk about half a mile down to go see him. They wouldn't allow him to enter where our home was. The officer told, my husband, told him that they're so sorry. They have to do it this way. They know who he is. They don't want any problems, they don't want any reports in media out here. I will say my experience was a little bit different from others. They did take their mask off when they took him in, they were respectful. They even, talk to my two older boys like, Hey, you guys have money. I could put the money in your dad's account. We're, take him into Grand Rapids, we're gonna process him, and then we're gonna take him to the detention center, which is gonna be in Michigan. They were very open about these steps . My grandma has chronic pulmonary disease stage four. We couldn't haul her fast enough because we only saw him for like maybe a quick minute, and that was it. They did ask us to turn around because they had to take him back and they didn't want our little ones to see them cuffing him. Miko Lee: They actually said, Anne, we don't want any media to be watching this? Ann Vue: I don't want any problems. Miko Lee: Your husband is also quite well known in the Hmong community, right? So probably, they were worried about folks coming out and protesting. Is that, do you think that was the case? Ann Vue: That's what I'm assuming. I don't remember their exact words saying media, but do remember that they didn't want people around, they didn't want to create issues for the community. Because if he would've gotten the letter just like everybody did, which everybody then would receive the letter on Friday, and because my husband is a community leader, he is the Hmong Family Association's president, we restart receiving many, many calls where everybody just wanted to talk to Lue 'cause they needed to know what's going on, how to handle, what to do. At that moment I realized, oh my gosh, they detained my husband first. Then everybody else got a letter. Miko Lee: And the ICE officer that he had been checking in with routinely has he been in touch with him since he was detained? Ann Vue: He hasn't. Miko Lee: So they had different people come in even, 'cause he was the person that said everything's okay, keep going with your life. Ann Vue: Oh yeah. Miko Lee: And so no contact with him whatsoever since the detention? Ann Vue: No. Miko Lee: Okay. Thank you so much. I just wanna point out, for all of our listeners, how many similarities there are in these two cases. In both of these amazing women are here supporting their spouses. Both spouses born in refugee camps. Dealing with intergenerational trauma from families that had to escape ethnic cleansing or involved in a war, came into the United States under, legal properties through refugee resettlement acts, made mistakes as young people, partially due to culture and wanting to fit in. They served their time, they paid their dues. They were racially profiled. They suffered from incredible immigration policy failure with bad advice, with a system that's broken. Now both of them are detained. Not yet deported, but detained. Many of the community members have already been deported and they're facing statelessness. We're seeing this not just with Bhutanese and Hmong folks, but with Mien and Lao and Haitian and El Salvadorian. We could fill in the blank of how many other peoples in other communities are facing this. We also know that these private detention centers where people are being held, are making millions and millions of dollars, and it's connected into our corrupt political system that's in place right now. Aisa, I'm wondering if you could, talk about the case, but also about some of the deals that we think have had to be made with Laos and Bhutan in order for these deportations to even take place. So Aisa from Asian Law Caucus, I'm gonna pass it to you to go over some of the legal ramifications. Aisa Villarosa: Of course, Miko, and thank you for it for the context. There are so many parallels that we as advocates must uplift because this is not the time to be divided. This is the time to build solidarity that we've long known needs to happen. What Miko is referring to is largely something that we've observed around the travel  bans. Earlier this year, right around the time that the Trump administration took hold, there was a draft travel ban list that leaked across a number of media outlets, the Times, et cetera, and the same countries we're talking about today, Bhutan, Laos. These were historically not countries that were subject to sanctions, like the travel ban, and yet here they were. A lot of us were scratching our heads and asking, why is this happening? Our theory, and this is a theory that is now also manifesting in a number of FOIA requests or Freedom of Information Act requests that are submitted from Asian Law Caucus to departments like the State Department ice, the Department of Homeland Security. Asking the same question that Tika and Anne are asking, which is, how are these deportations even happening? They were not happening until this year. What very likely happened was a bit of a quid pro quo. So in removing Bhutan, removing Laos from this list where they could be sanctioned as a country, there was likely some backdoor deal that took place between the US State Department and Bhutanese officials and the US officials, where essentially there was some form of an agreement that there would be an acceptance or a supposed acceptance of a certain number of folks from these communities. That is why around March, for the Bhutanese refugee community, for example, we started seeing pickups very similar to Mohan's case, where, many people who had perhaps made some mistakes in their youth or had really old criminal convictions were swept off the streets and thrust into these really rapid deportation proceedings. I don't even know if proceedings is the right word, because there essentially was no proceeding. The Immigration Court is very much a cloaked process. The immigration judge is kind of judge and jury wrapped up together, which is very different than many of us might turn on the TV and see something like Law and order. An immigration court works a very different way where this piece of paper, this final removal order, basically gives ICE a lot of bandwidth to make these deportations happen. However, that doesn't mean we should just accept that this is happening. We know that just basic procedures of fairness are not being met. We know, too that in the case of, for example, the Bhutanese community ICE officers have come to the wrong house. And put a lot of people in fear. So racial profiling was happening even before this recent Supreme Court decision, which essentially now condones racial profiling, as criteria that the ICE can use. I also just wanted to talk about this trend too, we're seeing with so many cases. It happened to Lue, it happened to Mohan, where in someone's underlying criminal court case, maybe they were given a court appointed attorney. In many cases, they were not told of the immigration impacts of, say, taking a plea. There is a Supreme Court case called Padilla versus Kentucky and basically the law shifted such that in many cases there now is a duty for a court appointed public defender to actually talk to folks like Mohan and Lue about the immigration consequences of their plea. So when Tika mentioned that there's something called a post-conviction relief effort for Mohan. That's happening in Georgia. This is very much what that legal defense looks like, where, an expert attorney will look at that very old court record, see if those rights were violated, and also talk to Mohan and make sure did that violation happen and is that grounds for reopening an immigration case. For Lue, there is a really mighty pardoning campaign that's brewing in the state of Michigan. So in Michigan, governor Gretchen Whitmer does have the authority to in some cases expedite a pardon in process. Unfortunately in the immigration arena the expungement does not have that same weight as say a vacating, or a motion to vacate that criminal record. So it's super frustrating because, so much of this turns ethically, morally on- do we, as people believe in second chances, and I know most people do, and yet here we are really. Based on a technicality. I also just want to name too that Lue as a person is both a natural organizer and he is a spiritual guide of his community. So something that many folks don't know is because of so much of the trauma that Anne talked about, both from, supporting the Americans during the Secret War, many Hmong folks who came to the States, they actually in some cases died in their sleep because of this, almost unexplained weight of the trauma. It almost underscores the importance of Lue, not just to his family, but this family is a collective family. He's both a mentor for so many, he's a spiritual guide for so many. Him being away from his family, away from community, it's like a double, triple wound. for Mohan, I'd love to uplift this memory I have of a moment in June when Tika gave us a call, and at that point, Mohan had called Tika and said, they're taking me, I'm being deported. At that point, they were removing Mohan from the ICE facility in Butler, Ohio and transporting him to the Detroit airport or that deportation to Bhutan. Tika was forced to essentially delay her childbirth. It was very much in the range of when she was due to give birth to their daughter. But because the clock was ticking, Tika drove to Butler, literally begged for Mohans life as our organizing and advocacy and legal team was trying to get together this emergency stay of deportation. That fortunately came through at the 11th hour. But the fact that Mohan remains in this facility in St. Clair, Michigan, that he's never held his daughter is unacceptable, is ridicuLues. I think so much of these two cases almost, this invisible brotherhood of pain that I know Ann has talked to me about that. Because Lue right now has been in a couple facilities. He is organizing, he's doing his thing and actually supporting folks while also just trying to keep himself well, which is no easy feat to do in so many of these facilities. Especially because, in Alexandria, for example, which is a facility in Louisiana. We know that folks are sleeping on cement floors. We know that folks are not being fed, that there's a lot of human rights violations going on. Here is Lue still continuing to use his voice and try to advocate for the folks around him. Miko Lee: Aisa thank you so much for putting that into context, and we'll put links in the show notes for how folks can get involved in both of these cases. One is, Rising Voices call to action for Lue. We encourage folks to do that. In terms of Mohan, there's a GoFundMe to help support Tika and the immense lawyer fees, and also a letter writing campaign to the ICE director Kevin Roff, to try and release Mohan and Lue. These are really important things that are happening in our community, and thank you for being out there. Thank you for talking and sharing your stories. We really appreciate you. And also, just briefly, I'd love us for us to talk for a minute about how many folks in our Asian American communities, we don't wanna talk about mistakes that we have made in the past because we might consider that shameful. And therefore, in both of these communities, when we started organizing, it was really hard at first to find people to come forth and share their stories. So I wonder if both of you can give voice to a little about that, the power you found in yourself to be able to come forward and speak about this, even though some other folks in the community might not feel comfortable or strong enough to be able to talk. Tika, can you speak to that? Tika Basnet: What makes me really strong, and I wanna see that my husband case is because he was 17, people can make mistake and from those mistake, if people are learning. Americans should consider, 'cause my husband did make mistake and I wish that time he knew the rules and regulation. I wish somebody taught him that he's not supposed to go somebody else property, around in backyard. I wish he was been in the United States like more than , one and a half year. I wish, if he was like more than two years, three years. I think that time he, from high school, he could learn. He's not supposed to go there. He was just been in the United States like one and a half year just going to high school. Nobody taught him. His parent doesn't even speak English. Until now, they doesn't even speak, like nobody in our community knew rules and regulation. He doesn't have guide, mentor to taught him like, and even though he did make mistake and he's really sorry, and from those mistake learning a lot, and he never get into trouble, after 11 years, he was clean, he work, he pay taxes. That is the reason that I really wanna come forward. People can make mistake, but learning from those mistake that changed people life. The reason that I'm coming forward is because organization like Asian Law Caucus, ARU, and, Miko, a lot of people helped me. They taught me like people can make mistake and, we shouldn't be same. I really wanna give example to my daughter, that, you are fighting for justice and you shouldn't fear. What is right is right. What is wrong is wrong. But if somebody's make mistake and they are not, doing that mistake again, I think the people can get a second chance. My husband deserves second chance. He's 30 years old. He has a family, he has a wife, children and he deserved to be here. We came here legally, my husband came here. Legally, we, promise that we'll get home and this is our home. We wanna stay here and I really want my husband be home soon so he can play with her daughter to play with his daughter. Miko Lee: Thank you so much, Tika. Ann I wonder if you could talk to the strength that it takes for you to come forward and speak about your husband and your family. Ann Vue: I'm a community leader with my husband. There was a moment when he was first detained where I was in complete silence. I was so shocked. It took my attorney, Nancy, just talking to me about it. Of course, back to what Aisa said earlier in our communities, we're afraid. I was so scared. I didn't know what to do. It took me visiting my husband in Baldwin and letting him know that, hey, a bunch of community members are now reaching out. And that's that. At that moment, he was like, you have to say something. You have to say something you have to make noise because you have a, 50% chance, right? We have a 50 50 chance. 50%. They're gonna send me 50%. You're gonna feel bad if you don't say anything, right? 50 here, 50 there. It doesn't matter. But a hundred percent regret if you don't say something. I thought about it and he was like, well, go out there, be my voice. He's like, you've always been my voice. You got this right. I didn't say no to Nancy. 'cause she really wanted to talk to our rep Mai you know about this. Mai and I are pretty close too. , I just knew if I said anything, Mai's gonna be like mm-hmm. All the way. I just let Nancy help me, and my most vulnerable time. I'm glad that she did. I'm glad that we did get this out. It is the most important thing for us. what keeps me going is all of those that have been impacted by this, from people like Tika. I have many, I call 'em sisters. We're all in a lot of these group chats together. They've been also keeping me going. Our amazing team of attorneys and everybody just strategizing through this unprecedented time. It's really everyone's voices. I get to talk to Lue daily. It's definitely not cheap, but he gets to share each story of each person. I believe that everybody has a story and they might not be as lucky as maybe Tika or my husband, but at least now I have their story. I will be their voice. I will tell each person's story, each name, each alien number that I track down, my husband's even literally learned how to count in Spanish, just so he can give them like my phone number in Spanish in case they need to call an emergency. Oh, I'm be getting a lot of calls. that is what keeps me going because I think that Tika and I and many others are, hoping that there is going to be a better day, a brighter day. I hope that everyone can see that, our children are American, right? Our children, they deserve to have their fathers and their mothers. They deserve to grow with these parents. And with that being said, the most important thing to me is they're not just bystanders. They're literally the future of America. I don't want them growing up with trauma, with trying to ask me questions “well mom, if we're refugees and we helped, Americans as allies, and we come to this country, why is this payback like this?” There's a moral obligation that has to be there and they're gonna grow up and they're gonna be trauma by this. I've got children right now that's been talking about joining the National Guard. It speaks volume about what happens to my husband. He's championed the Hmong, Michigan Special Gorilla unit, the Hmong veterans here in the last two years, really  with helping them through resolutions, tributes, making sure that they have things, that they are out there, that people now know them, they are finally recognized. This puts my husband at great danger by sending him back, because now he's championed the veterans here. He celebrates our veterans here. So it's a moral obligation. I hope that, and this is to every child, I hope that every child, they deserve their father's presence. There are many people who don't even have their father's presence and they wish their fathers were around. Our fathers wanna be around. I hope that our daughter, I only have one daughter too, that someday they can, their fathers can be a part of their, the American culture. I hope that we get that opportunity and I hope that somebody stop being scared, but turn around and help us. Help us. We came here legally, minor stuff, long decade old. This detainment has been worse than when he did time back in 1997. I just hope that somebody hears our podcast, Miko. Thank you. Aisa and Tika. And they turn and they have some compassion and help us because this is the tone that we're setting for the future of our American children. Miko Lee: Thank you so much for sharing. Tika, you wanna add? Tika Basnet: Yes, I really wanna talk about what kind of husband Mohan is. Even though like he detained for five month I put lot of money in his account and there was one guy, his family cannot support him. For me, it is really hard. I'm not working. But even my husband called me you don't need to put like money in my account, but can you please can you please put money in his account? He did not eat food. His family did not have money. I can survive without eating food. I think his story is really touching me. My husband was crying listening to that guy story in detention center and then I did put like $50 in his account. My husband is giving person. He love to give even though, he struggle a lot, even though, he doesn't know what will happen when he get deport. But, him saying other guy story. Does make him cry. I think this is the reason that I really wanna come forward. My husband is giving person, he's lovely person, he's caring person. That is the reason I wanna come forward. I want people to hear our voice, rather than silent. Right now people know our story. But if I was silent then I don't know whether my husband was already disappear. I don't know whether he gonna die torture or maybe he will expel within 24 hours. I have no idea. My husband is number one support system for me, because of him I'm here sharing his story. For years I had wonderful time with him. We build our dream and until 2025, our dream is destroy. I'm trying to build again. I'm hoping, my husband is coming home soon and I'm hoping that this will be the last time that he will get detained. I hope that this will be the end. I don't want him to get detained or deported again. I'm really tired. I don't know what to do. I'm hopeless. I hope listening to my story and Ann's story that separating family is not good. It is affecting not only one person but his whole community, whole family. We deserve to get our husband back. It is not only about the wife that is fighting for husband, it is the children. They're so small, they born here and we cannot raise alone, we cannot work. We have things to pay. Paying bills and taking care of child alone is really difficult. It's been five month. I went through postpartum depression, I went through trauma and I don't wanna deal anymore. Like I don't have courage to do this anymore. We need our husband back. Miko Lee: Thank you. I think both of your husbands are also main caregivers for parents that are ailing in both cases. It's a really important that we are intergenerational communities and as you both said, it's not just about the children, but it's also about parents and brothers and sisters and community members as well. Thank you so much for lifting up your stories. I just wanna go back for one more thing. We talked briefly about the crazy expensive lawyer fees that have come up for families that they've been dealing with this, and then also Tika was just bringing up about detention and commissary fees. Can you talk a little bit about the prison industrial complex and the fees that are associated? As Anne was saying, just calling Lue every day the costs that are associated with those things. Many people that don't have a family member that's incarcerated don't know about that. Can you share a little bit about what that system is? Aisa Villarosa: Yeah, absolutely Miko. Just to underscore, a big theme from this conversation, is that the US made commitments and they have broken them, both with, as Anne talked about, the refugee experience is one that is made possible through US commitment of acknowledging what, people have survived, what they have given to the country. Folks are being removed to countries where not only do they have zero ties to, don't speak the language, but, especially in the case of the Bhutanese refugee community, as Tika mentioned, it is truly a double expulsion. So the fact that we have well-documented testimonials of folks deported from Bhutan after they're removed there into these life-threatening conditions . A community member passed away in large part because of the failure of the US to both care for them while in detention. So going back to that prison complex, but also just putting them in such a harrowing situation. In another instance, a community member was found after wandering for over a hundred miles on foot. So this is not, deportation and the story ends. This is deportation and, there is a family that is grieving and thinking through next steps, there is, this call to not have borders, break us the way that this country is trying to do. And to say a little bit about the fees, USCIS, there, there has not been a point yet in history where so many changes and charges hurting families have been ushered in, But for this year. To give a couple examples of that – asylum cases for one, these often take many years through this administration. Now, families have to pay a cost yearly for each year that your asylum application, languishes because we're also seeing that those same folks who are supposed to process these applications are either being laid off or they're being militarized. So something like USCIS where this was where one would go to apply for a passport. Now the same department is literally being handed guns and they're now taking folks during naturalization interviews. Other avenues to challenge your removal. Like I mentioned a motion to reopen. All these things used to be fairly affordable. Now they can cost many thousands of dollars on top of the attorney fees. So something that's been quite challenging for groups like Asian Law Caucus where we do have attorneys representing folks in removal proceedings, there's often this misperception that oh it's costing so much money. Attorneys are pocketing cash. Unfortunately there are some situations where attorneys have been known to take advantage of families in this desperate moment. But for many, many attorneys who are in this mix, they're experts at this work. They're trying to do the right thing. They're both overwhelmed and they're seeing these new charges, which make the battle really even more difficult. So to turn it back to the listeners, I would say that as powerless as this moment can make us feel everyone is bearing witness. Hopefully the listeners today can take in Anne's story, can take in Tika's story and whatever power one has in their corner of the world, this is the moment to use that. Whether it's your voice, whether it's learning more about a community, maybe you're learning about for the first time. This is really the moment to take action. Miko Lee: Thank you Aisa. I wanna thank you all for being here with me today, for sharing your personal stories, your personal pain, and for recognizing that this is happening. We deeply believe that we need to keep our families together. That is really important. It is written into the very basis of this American country about redemption and forgiveness. And this is what we're talking about for misunderstandings that happened when these folks were young men, that they have paid for their time, and yet they're being punished again, these promises that were broken by this American government, and we need to find ways to address that. I really wanna deeply thank each of you for continuing to be there for sharing your voice, for protecting one another, for being there and standing up for your family and for our community. Thank you for joining me today. Check out our Apex Express Show notes to find out about how you can get involved. Learn about the Rising Voices campaign for Lue Yang and Mohan Khaki's GoFundMe. On November 3rd, 4:00 PM Pacific Time, 7:00 PM Eastern Time. Join us for We Belong here, Bhutanese and Hmong Americans in the Struggle Against Statelessness, a live virtual event featuring my three guests tonight, along with performances and conversations. Please check out our website, kpfa.org/program, apex Express to find out more about our show. APEX Express is a collective of activists that includes Ayame Keane-Lee, Anuj Vaidya, Cheryl Truong, Isabel Li, Jalena Keane-Lee, Miko Lee, Preeti Mangala Shekar and Swati Rayasam. Have a great night.     The post APEX Express – 10.30.25-We Belong! appeared first on KPFA.

Listeners, in the latest developments, Tucker Carlson has continued to stir headlines on multiple fronts, weaving together controversy, public statements, and fresh media ventures. Just this week, Carlson appeared on the “Culture Apothecary” podcast, where he leveled direct criticism at his former employer, Fox News, calling the network “anti-Christian.” During the conversation, he shared that his wife celebrated his firing from Fox, labeling the network's atmosphere as fundamentally opposed to Christian values. Carlson also argued that openly discussing the plight of Christians in the West Bank would be grounds for dismissal at Fox, reinforcing his broader claim about the network's culture.Meanwhile, on the live stage, Carlson is set to headline an event for Turning Point USA at Indiana University on October 21, with all available tickets already claimed—marking the strong demand for his ongoing public appearances. This event, part of a broader campus tour, positions him as a major figure on the conservative speaking circuit, where he continues to shape discourse among younger conservatives.On the digital front, Carlson's media operation remains a notable fixture within the emerging alternative conservative media landscape. His partnership with Neil Patel on the Tucker Carlson Network continues to attract attention and investment. One major backer is 1789 Capital, a venture capital firm with distinctly “anti-woke” and “America First” priorities, which counts Donald Trump Jr. among its newest partners. 1789 Capital reported over $860 million in assets this September and has publicly declared its commitment to building a parallel conservative economy, investing in technology, defense, and online platforms—including Carlson's network.Recently, investigative journalists from the Wall Street Journal have filed broad Freedom of Information Act requests concerning 1789 Capital, signaling that Carlson's business universe is attracting scrutiny at the highest levels, tied closely to questions about political influence and potential conflicts of interest during the Trump administration.As for his role in ongoing policy debates, Carlson has escalated a public feud with conservative media rival Mark Levin over US policy on Iran. Carlson criticized Levin's advocacy for a hardline, interventionist approach, accusing him of promoting another regime-change war and arguing forcefully—on his X profile recently seen by millions—that there is “zero credible intelligence” supporting claims that Iran is close to building a nuclear weapon. This posture has made Carlson a leader among right-wing voices opposing US military involvement abroad, in sharp contrast to longstanding neoconservative positions.Social media continues to be Carlson's primary vehicle for amplifying his views, whether he's critiquing US support for Ukraine or voicing skepticism about America's interventions in the Middle East. Recently, alongside Alex Jones, he decried Donald Trump's renewed support for Ukraine and Tomahawk missile shipments, while again casting Ukrainian President Zelensky as an “unelected dictator.” This evolving stance underscores Carlson's shift into an anti-war, populist lane distinct from pro-establishment conservative voices.Finally, reactions to Carlson's comments and activities remain highly polarized. Critics point to his close associations with figures like Alex Jones and his frequent alignment with Russian interests, while supporters see him as a vital check on establishment narratives, both in the media and in Washington. Ongoing debates continue about the extent of his influence on Republican policy, especially as new conservative influencers, many of whom oppose further US wars, rise to prominence.Thanks for listening to the Tucker Carlson News Tracker podcast. Please remember to subscribe. This has been a Quiet Please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.For more http://www.quietplease.aiGet the best deals https://amzn.to/3ODvOtaThis content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI

A weekly magazine-style radio show featuring the voices and stories of Asians and Pacific Islanders from all corners of our community. The show is produced by a collective of media makers, deejays, and activists. TAKE ACTION Rising Voices campaign for Lue Yang Mohan Karki's GoFundMe   And please help support these organizations working to support detained and deported folx: Asian Law Caucus Asian Refugees United Ba Lo Project in Vietnam Collective Freedom in Vietnam & Laos Asian Prisoner Support Committee & New Light Wellness in Cambodia November 1–2, people nationwide are joining the Disappeared In America Weekend of Action to stand up for immigrant families and defend due process. Actions include protests at Home Depots, candlelight Freedom Vigils, and Day of the Dead events honoring lives lost to detention.   The following day, November 3, 4pm Pacific time, 7pm Eastern Time, Join us for “We Belong Here, Bhutanese & Hmong Americans in the Struggle Against Statelessness” a live virtual event featuring my three guests tonight, along with performances and conversations. bit.ly/WBH-2025   We Belong Here! Show Transcript Miko Lee: Welcome to Apex Express. This is your host, Miko Lee. Today we're talking about detentions and potential deportations and the atrocities that the Trump administration is creating in our communities. And today I am so honored to have three guests with me, Tika Basnet, and Ann Vu, and Aisa Villarosa. Tika and Ann they're part of a horrible club, which is both of their spouses are currently in detention from our immigration system. But I just wanna start on a real personal note in a way that I often do with my guests. Anne, I'm gonna start with you. I just would love to hear from you, who are your people and what legacy do you carry with you? Ann Vue: Thank you again, Miko and Isa, you guys for having me on. So we are Hmong. And we helped Americans during the Vietnam War. And so, during the Vietnam War in Laos, a lot of our pilots needed a communication. And because we're indigenous and we are in the mountains, they were able to speak with us and use us. And so a lot of our Hmong, what they did or what they contributed helped a lot of the pilots rescued a lot, like thousands and thousands of Americans, really, so that that way they can make it back home, right? And so that is our contribution to the American people. And so when we were brought to America, was to resettle because of humanitarian purpose. Really because of our legacy of helping Americans with the war, right? So that is who we are and what we bring to America. And that's who I am. I'm, and I'm actually the first generation Hmong American too. So I was born right here in the capital of Lansing, Michigan. Miko Lee: Thanks so much ann. And Tika, can you share who are your people and what legacy you carry with you? Tika Basnet: Yes. Hi, my name is Tika Basnet. So I am Bhutanese Nepali community. My parents and all the Bhutanese, they ran away from Bhutan in 1990 due to the ethnic cleansing. And they came to Nepal, seeking for asylum, and that is where we born. I was born in Nepal, in refugee camp. Even though I was born in Nepal, Nepal never gave us identity. They never give us citizenship, so we were known as Bhutanese Nepali, but as known as Stateless. And yeah, my husband also born in Nepal in a refugee camp. Miko Lee: Thank you, Tika. And Aisa, I'm gonna ask the same question for you Aisa, my friend that works at Asian Law Caucus. Who are your people and what legacy do you carry with you? Aisa Villarosa: So much love to you, Miko and to you Ann and Tika for being here today. I just am, I'm so honored.My name is Aisa and I carry the love and, Maki Baka spirit of Filipino Americans both in my family across the diaspora. A little bit about the Filipino American story. We came to the United States as part of the colonial machine. The first Filipinos were brought as part of the Spanish Gallian trade. We made California home, parts of Louisiana home, and it's quite a contrast to a lot of the sort of model minority seduction that many of my people, and myself as a younger person tended to fall into that if we kept our heads down, if we were quiet, we would be left alone. I'm struck because at this moment of just unprecedented government attacks, so many of our communities have this story where someone somewhere said to us, yeah, just keep your head down and it'll be fine. And we're seeing the exact opposite, that this is the time to really use our voices, both individually and as one. And I'm also an artist and try to infuse that into my work in fighting government systems. Miko Lee: Thank you Aisa. And in the interest of fairness, I will say I'm Miko. I am fifth generation Chinese American. I grew up knowing that my family was full of fighters that built the railroads, worked in the gold mines in laundromats and restaurants, and my parents walked with Dr. King and Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta, and I was raised in a family of social justice activists. So I feel like our legacy is to continue that work and to fight for the rights of our peoples. That being said, I'm so honored to have both of all three of you powerful women join me today. And as I was saying in the beginning, Tika and Anne are sadly a part of this club. Nobody wants to be a part of this club with the sudden, unexpected, harmful detentions of both of your husbands. I wonder if you can each just share the story about what happened and how you first found out about your husband being detained. And let's start with you Tika. Tika Basnet: So, my husband got his removal in 2014 when he was like minor. Just 17 years old, high school student going from school to home and, he's a teenager and with his friend, like they were playing around and they wanna go home really fast. So they just cross from private property. And I think that is where someone saw and call 911. So we came from the culture that we love to go people home , walking around, playing around. So my husband came here in 2011. The incident happened on 2013. So he was just, came here without knowing culture, without knowing languages, So he has no idea. So when somebody called 911, he could not explain what happened. First of all, English is his second language, he was barely here without knowing rules and regulation, without knowing culture. The police get them and then they took him to jail I think police gave a lot of charges. And even until now, my husband doesn't know what are those charges? At that time, nobody explained, this is the three charges you got, and this could lead to deportation. And he feel guilty without knowing those charges. And just because he trusts Nepali translate guy, and he told my husband, like, if you don't say I'm guilty, you will end up in prison for 20 to 25 years, but if you say I'm guilty, you'll go home. And my husband said, guilty. And at that time, neither criminal lawyer told my husband, like, if you say I'm guilty, you'll end up getting deport. Deport to the contrary that you are you never born. Deport To the contrary, you doesn't even speak their language. And even the lawyer did not explain my husband like, you will not gonna get your green card. You cannot apply your citizenship in your life. If all of, if those things like the lawyer told my husband at that time, he will never gonna say, I am guilty to the crime that he did not even commit. And so when they tried to deport my husband back then, Bhutan say, he's not my citizenship, he's not from my country, We don't know this guy. He's not belongs to here. And when US Embassy reach out to, Nepal, do you know this guy? They told, ICE no, we don't know this guy, like he's not belongs here. And then the ICE officer, they told my husband, like, we can let you go, you need to come here, like order of supervision every years, every three months, every six months, whenever we call you. And it been 11 years. My husband is following rules and regulation. After that incident, never police arrest him. He did not even get criminal record. He did not even get misdemeanor record. So basically he never did any violation after that. So he was following, he got married, he has a life, he pay taxes. He was taking care of his family and in 11 years he was doing everything. And in 2025 for the first time they target Bhutanese Nepali community. And at that time I knew that this is the last time I'm gonna see my husband. And that is a time I think I broke down. Like, when they detained my husband in April 8, I was eight months pregnant. And um, like we dream a lot of things like, you know, we are gonna take care of our daughter. We are gonna buy home, we are gonna work, we are gonna give her the life that we, I'm sorry. Miko Lee: Totally. Okay. Tika Basnet: So, yeah. Um, like I never thought like Bhutanese community can, like deport. Like my parent already , go through this trauma, you know, when Bhutan throw them away due to ethnic cleansing and same thing happening to us. It is unbelievable. I cannot believe that, we're going through this again and I don't know when this gonna be stopped. I don't know whether like my husband gonna come home. I dunno. Like I'm fighting and it is been five month and I really want my husband back. Like my daughter today is, she's three month old. She need her dad in life. 'cause I cannot provide everything by myself. My husband is the main provider for her aging parent. 'cause even now they cannot pay bills. Like they have really hard time paying bills. And this is the reason, like I'm fighting for my husband case and I want my husband back. And I think he deserve second chance because if you see his record is clean, like for one incident that happened like 12 years ago, that cannot define my husband. Like who he is right now, you know? So yeah, this is what happened. Like I cannot believe that my husband is able to get deport to the country that doesn't even accept. And I don't know whether he gonna get killed. I dunno what, whether he gonna disappear, I don't know what will happen to him. I don't know if it is last time I'm gonna see him. Miko Lee: Tika, thank you so much for sharing your story. And just to recap really briefly, your husband, Mohan Karki when he was a teenager, newly arrived in the country, was leaving high school, walked with his friends through a backyard and was suddenly racially profiled. And the neighbor called police because he was trespassing on property.He was born at a refugee camp. Is that right? Tika Basnet: Yes. Miko Lee: And so there was not property that was like person's property on that refugee camp. So that whole concept of walking across somebody's land was something he was not aware of. He had an interpreter that did not give correct or full information. And so he signed something, including a deportation order, that he wasn't actually, wasn't even aware of until recently when he was put into detention. Is that right? Tika Basnet: Yes. Yes. Miko Lee: And right now he's in detention. You're, you live in Ohio, but he's in detention in Michigan, right? Tika Basnet: Yes. Miko Lee: Okay, Tika, let's talk about Mohans case and what's happening. He's held in detention right now in a detention facility in Michigan. And what is going on with his case? Tika Basnet: Yeah, I don't wanna say a lot of things about his case, but our attorney, his criminal attorney does file, a Motion to Redeem asking BIA to send that, case back to Georgia and we recently hired, criminal attorney to fight for his case, that happened in 2013. And our attorney just submit documentation where he's asking to release my husband because it'd been five month. And he's not risk to the community. He's not risk to the flight. 'cause he doesn't have no one in Bhutan. He doesn't have no one in Nepal. He's all family is in here. So his community love him ,he has family that loves him. And, we also get lot of documentations as a proof telling ICE officer that my husband is not risk to the community or, to the flight. Miko Lee: Thank you. And he has a new baby, a four month old baby that he has yet to meet. So that is a powerful reason to stay. And as Tikas pointing out, the lawyer just submitted documentation along with 50 letters of support from the community , from employers, from family members, all saying why he should stay in this country. Thank you so much for sharing. And Anne, i'm wondering if you could share about what happened to your husband. He was also born in a refugee camp, right? Ann Vue: So, Lou was born in Nangkai, Thailand refugee camp. In 1978 and in 1979 his parents and him and his older brother received parole for legal entry. I think the exact word was, they were paroled pursuant under section 212D5 of the I and N Act, which means that they are granted urgent humanitarian reasons for or for public benefit. Right. Because my father-in-law had helped and during the war. And so he received his visa in September. I just lookeded back at all of his history there and then they made it to America right before Halloween 'cause my father-in-law was like, I always remembered it because in the country of Asia, they're scared of halloween, scary Halloween stuff. And so when they came, they were like, oh my gosh. There were, Jesus says, I remember there were just a lot of zombies, right? And we were so scared because we were like, and so I always remember that about, you know, I'll fast forward it to 1997, right when he just turned, I believe 18 and very similar to Tika, you know, her husband too. And a lot of times, in the early nineties, me even being the first generation American here, racism played a lot. And we all went through that piece and our parents not speaking English at the same time, they were going to school themselves so that they can learn our English language, right. And they weren't able to teach us growing up. So we had to kind of fend for ourselves. And I would say my husband he went out with some friends. He did not commit the crime. But of course now that is brought back to him, he understood about his particular case is second attempt, home invasion. Nobody was harmed. He was in the vehicle, in the backseat when he was caught. And he didn't wanna partake, but he didn't wanna stop them either, you know? 'cause to him it was like, if I don't partake, then I have nothing to do with it. Right. Because if I do, then they might not be my friends anymore. I mean, it's just a part of growing up as a youth. But because he was there, and then would receive a court appointed attorney, and then provide it very similar to Tika's too. Had an interpreter, that was explaining to them, was provided bad legal advice. He had nothing, no knowledge about how this would impact his immigration status. He would take a plea, and it was advised by their attorney, take the plea it's easier, you know, and you probably serve less than a year. You'll be out, you'll only be in the county jail anyways 'cause you didn't really commit the crime and technically it should have been a misdemeanor. But because you're an accomplice , that kind of falls under this category. So he took the plea, he served 10 months in a county jail. He actually was released for good behavior. He even finished his probation soon because he paid all of his stuff off. And he even finished a youth advocate program, a youth training program for anybody that committed crimes between the age of 18 to 21. I actually just saw this form the other day and I was reading it and it talks about, you know, the one thing about our parents, experiencing the war and coming to America, they don't talk about it. And a lot of us are from communist countries . We're, we are very afraid to voice our voices, because someone can take action. And our parents never talked about it. And I read what he wrote to his, youth coordinator, and he wrote, he felt so bad about what he did. He created disappointment for his parents and he understands now after his parents told him, there are sacrifices that got us here to America. And he literally wrote all of this down, he's going to be a better person, is what he wrote. I'm going to be a better person. I'm going to make my parents proud now that I understand their sacrifices. And, they asked him, well what was your upbringing like? And in one sentence, he wrote, poor, right? So he wrote, poor and the coordinator wrote on the bottom of his comments said, Lou is remorseful for what has happened or for what ha what has happened, and very remorseful and he wants to be a better person. I have no other questions. The training is complete. He doesn't need any further, support and believes that he will move forward to be a better person. That's what literally what they wrote on the document. Then fast forwarding to 1999 , after everything was done and he served, that's when, immigration showed up at his house. And from there moved forward to explain to him what had happened. And once that happened, of course him and I would meet in 2000, and then we'd be married in 2001. Right? So we'd celebrate. Almost 24 and a half years of marriage. Right? So we did appeal his case in the humanitarian piece of what this meant for Lou during the time where we all fled the country. Once we were, once the monks were declared enemy of the state by the LDR in Laos, we fled. And once we fled, it's well documented that there was a little bit over 400,000 of us there right after all the genocide and the killings of the Hmong there was probably less than 45,000 of us left, right? And so once we understood a lot of that, we wanted to do better. We wanted to really service our community, right? So. Fast forwarding it. We appealed the case. The case was then denied I believe in 2002. And even in his letters, in his appeal letters, general Vink Powell, which led the, Hmongs during, in the war, even had a letter in there where he, to also pled why Hmongs need to stay here in America, right. And why we need to bring the rest of our people to this country. The reality is our whole family, Lou's whole family was wiped out. We don't have anybody, Lou doesn't have anyone, right? And so you know, that goes to Tikas thing too. There's nobody there. And, going back to the case once it was denied in 2002, of course he then. Was forced to reach out to the embassy and reached out to the embassy and was denied, entry into Thailand 'cause that's where he was born. We're stateless too, just like Tikas husband. We were denied by Thailand. We were also denied by Laos stating that we are not a citizen of theirs. They do not allow or welcome any sort of entry. And then in 2006, that's when they actually took his green card was in 2006 and then we prompt again we were denied. And then in 2008 we were denied a third time and that's when his immigration officer was like, just move on and start your life. Laos and Thailand, will never sign a repatriation act with America because of you guys, because of the Hmong people, what you guys have done to their country, making it the most bombed country during the war without even being a part of the war. So therefore, they will never allow you guys or accept you guys back. And so we were like, okay. So we moved forward and then in 2014, this immigration officer, which we was doing yearly checkups at this time, was like, Hey go get your citizenship, get your green card. They're like you're doing so good. You know, you probably could have a chance to get it. That's when we moved forward to apply for citizenship and for all we did for the green card and then for citizenship. And of course we were denied in 2015 and we know how expensive this is. You pay $10,000 outright, you don't get that money back. You just have to go at it again, right? And so, uh, we decided that, you know what, we're gonna get his case expunged, and so. We got his case expunged in 2018, no questions asked. It was very straightforward. Once it was expunged, we continued, with our lives. Very involved in the community. And we had all of our children by that time already, so we had six kids already. So fast forwarding to that, and then leading up to his detainment, which this year we even called his immigration officer and he was like, Hey, don't worry about it, Lou, we're moving you over to Grand Rapids and you should be fine. Just make sure that you stay outta trouble, continue to follow your stock and I think what triggered it was when we applied for his work permit in April. Because he was supposed to, he always meets his immigration officer at the end of the year, and we renewed his work permit is what triggered it. And so of course, the money was cashed out, everything the checks went through while we were receiving that, he was gonna be here, everything was gonna be fine. And then leading up to July 15th where he was detained at work, early morning of six 30 in the morning, the detained officer they they told him that they know who he is to the community, so they have to do it this way because they don't want any problems. They don't want media, they don't want reporters. He did play with them. He did ask them because he rode his motorcycle for some weird reason. He has not taken his bike out, his motorcycle out in the last three years. But for some reason that night he was like, I just wanna take my bike. So he took his bike that night and when ICE told him, do you have somebody come get your bike? You need to call somebody to come get your bike. And he was like, nobody in my family rides motorcycles. Like we don't, I don't have anyone to come get my bike. And I think there was some empathy and compassion for him. He was like, okay, let me check on something. Because my husband was like, can I just take my bike back? I've got six kids. I've got my grandma at home and my parents are also at my house right now. I just wanna see them and I just wanna take my bike back. So they asked him, if we let you go, we asked will you like please don't run. Right? And so they followed my husband home and my husband literally called me at 6 37 in the morning and he was like, Hey, ICE is, here they got me. So I'm like, what? What's going on? So it was just so surreal. I was so shocked. And so it's about a 30 minute drive from his workplace back to our house. And um, when he got there, um, they, there were already officers, like there were, it was packed tight in our driveway. So our driveway's pretty far up because we live in the country. And so, there were like five or six cop cars there too. So we had to walk about half a mile down to go see him. They wouldn't allow him to enter where our home was. And the officer told, my husband, told him that they're so sorry. They have to do it this way. They know who he is. They don't want any problems, they don't want any reports in media out here. And I will say my experience was a little bit different from others. They did take their mask off when they took him in, they were respectful so that part is that much. They even, you know, talk to my two older boys like, “Hey, you guys have money. I could put the money in your dad's account.” We're, take him into Grand Rapids, we're gonna process him, and then we're gonna take him to the detention center, which is gonna be involved in Michigan. So they were very open about these steps, what they were doing with him, at least that much. But I will say that it was my grandma, of course she has chronic pulmonary disease stage four. So at that point we, we couldn't haul her fast enough because we only saw him for like maybe a quick minute, and that was it. And so they did ask us to turn around because they had to take him back and they didn't want my, our little ones to see them cuffing him. Miko Lee: They actually said, Anne, we don't want any media to be watching this? Ann Vue: I don't want any problems. Miko Lee: Mm. And and your husband is also quite well known in the Hmong community, right? Ann Vue: He is Miko Lee: and so probably, they were worried about folks coming out and protesting. Is that, do you think that was the case? Ann Vue: That's what I'm assuming, because I don't remember their exact words saying media, but I do remember they were saying that they didn't want people around, they didn't want to create issues for the community.I am assuming that correct, because if he would've gotten the letter just like everybody did, which everybody then would receive the letter on Friday, and because my husband is a community leader, he is the Hmong Family Association's president, we restart receiving. Many, many calls where everybody just wanted to talk to Lou 'cause they needed to know what's going on, how to handle, what to do. And so at that moment I realized, oh my gosh, they detained my husband first this way. And then everybody else got a letter. Miko Lee: And the ICE officer that he had been checking in with routinely has, have you all been in touch with that same ICE officer? Ann Vue: He has been, I think in the last seven or eight years.Yeah. It's been the same guy. Miko Lee: But has he been in touch with him since he was detained? Ann Vue: He hasn't. Miko Lee: Has not, no. So they had different people come in even, 'cause he was the person that said everything's okay, keep going with your life. Ann Vue: Oh yeah. Miko Lee: And so no contact with him whatsoever since the detention? Ann Vue: No. Miko Lee: Can you give a little bit of an update of Lou's case and what's going on with him right now? Ann Vue: I don't know as much. Maybe I may have to have Aisa respond to the legality piece around it. 'cause I know we're, they've been doing, working around the clock and working hard on strategy. Miko Lee: Okay. Thank you so much, Aisa. Before we move into that, I just wanna point out, for all of our listeners, how many similarities there are in these two cases. And in both of these, you know, these amazing women are here supporting their spouses, both, spouses born in refugee camps. Dealing with intergenerational trauma from families that had to escape ethnic cleansing or involved in a war, came into the United States under, legal properties through refugee resettlement acts, made mistakes as young people, partially due to culture and wanting to fit in. They served their time, they paid their dues. They were racially profiled to be able to actually be in those positions that they were in. They suffered from incredible immigration policy failure with bad advice, with a system that's broken. And now both of them are detained. Not yet deported, but detained. Many of the community members have already been deported and they're facing statelessness. And we're seeing this not just with Bhutanese and Hmong folks, but with Mien and Lao and Haitian and El Salvadorian. And we could fill in the blank of how many other peoples in other communities are facing this. So, we also know that these private detention centers where people are being held, are making millions and millions of dollars, and it's connected into our corrupt political system that's in place right now. We also know and Aisa, I'm wondering if you could, talk about the case, but also about some of the deals that we think have had to be made with Laos and Bhutan in order for these deportations to even take place. So Aisa from Asian Law Caucus, I'm gonna pass it to you to go over some of the legal ramifications. Aisa Villarosa: Of course, Miko, and thank you for it for the context. And there are so many parallels that we as advocates must uplift because this is not the time to be divided. This is really the time to build solidarity that we've long known needs to happen. And, and this is really the moment. What Miko is referring to is, uh, largely, um, something that we've observed around the travel bans. So. Earlier this year, right around the time that the Trump administration took hold, there was a draft travel ban list that leaked across a number of media outlets, the Times, et cetera, and the same countries we're talking about today, Bhutan, Laos. These were historically not countries that were subject to sanctions, like the travel ban, and yet here they were. And so a lot of us were scratching our heads and asking, you know, what, why is this happening? Our theory, and this is a theory that is now also manifesting in a number of FOIA requests or Freedom of Information Act requests that are submitted from Asian Law Caucus to departments like the State Department ice, the Department of Homeland Security. Asking the same question that Tika and Anne are asking, which is, how are these deportations even happening? Because they were not happening until this year. And what very likely happened was a bit of a quid pro quo. So in removing Bhutan, removing Laos from this list where they could be sanctioned as a country, there was likely some backdoor deal that took place between the US State Department and Bhutanese officials and the US officials, where essentially there was some form of an agreement that there would be an acceptance or a supposed acceptance of a certain number of folks from these communities. That is why around March, around April for the Bhutanese refugee community, for example, we started seeing pickups very similar to Mohans case, where, many people who had perhaps made some mistakes in their youth or had really old criminal convictions were swept off the streets and thrust into these really rapid deportation proceedings. I don't even know if proceedings is the right word, because there essentially was no proceeding. You know, the Immigration Court is very much a cloaked process. The immigration judge is kind of judge and jury wrapped up together, which is very different than many of us might turn on the TV and see something like Law and order. An immigration court works a very different way where this piece of paper, this final removal order, basically gives ICE a lot of bandwidth to make these deportations happen. However, that doesn't mean we should just accept that this is happening. We know that just basic procedures of fairness are not being met. We know, too that in the case of, for example, the Bhutanese community ICE officers have come to the wrong house. And put a lot of people in fear. So racial profiling was happening even before this recent Supreme Court decision, which essentially now condones racial profiling, right? As criteria that the ICE can use. I also just wanted to talk about this trend too, that we're seeing with so many cases. It happened to Lou, it happened to Mohan, where in someone's underlying criminal court case, maybe they were given a court appointed attorney. In many cases, they were not told of the immigration impacts of, say, taking a plea. There is a Supreme Court case called Padilla versus Kentucky and basically the law shifted such that in many cases there now is a duty for a court appointed public defender to actually talk to folks like Mohan and Lou about the immigration consequences of their plea. So when Tika mentioned that there's something called a post-conviction relief effort for Mohan. That's happening in Georgia. This is very much what that legal defense looks like, where, an expert attorney will look at that very old court record, see if those rights were violated, and also talk to Mohan and make sure did that violation happen and is that grounds for reopening an immigration case. For Lou, there is a really mighty pardoning campaign that's brewing in the state of Michigan. So in Michigan, governor Gretchen Whitmer does have the authority to in some cases expedite a pardon in process. We're hoping that this public swelling of support from Mohan will result in a pardon, because importantly, even if Mohans conviction was expunged, which can be very helpful in, for example, state court, arenas, things like, applying for certain jobs. Unfortunately, in the immigration arena the expungement does not have that same weight as say a vacating, or a motion to vacate that criminal record. So it's super frustrating because, so much of this turns ethically, morally on- do we, as people believe in second chances, and I know most people do, and [00:35:00] yet here we are really. Based on a technicality. I also just want to name too that Lou as a person is both a natural organizer and he is a spiritual guide of his community. So something that many folks don't know is because of so much of the trauma that Anne talked about, both from, supporting the Americans during the Secret War, many Hmong folks who came to the States, they actually in some cases died in their sleep because of this, almost unexplained weight of the trauma, right? And so it almost underscores. The importance of Lou, not just to his family, but this family is a collective family, right? He's both a mentor for so many, he's a spiritual guide for so many. And so you know, him being away from his family, away from community, it's like a double, triple wound. And then for Mohan, I'd love to uplift this memory I have of , a moment in June when Tika gave us a call, and at that point, Mohan had called Tika and said, they're taking me, I'm being deported. And at that point, they were removing Mohan from the ICE facility in Butler, Ohio and transporting him to. At first we had no idea. Then we learned it was, toward the Detroit airport or that deportation to Bhutan and Tika was forced to essentially delay her childbirth. It was very much in the range of when she was due to give birth to their daughter. But because the clock was ticking, Tika drove to Butler, literally begged for Mohan's life as our organizing and advocacy and legal team was trying to get together this emergency stay of deportation. That fortunately came through at the 11th hour. But the fact that Mohan remains in this facility in St. Clair, Michigan, that he's never held his daughter is unacceptable, is ridiculous. And I think so much of these two cases almost, this invisible brotherhood of pain that I know Ann has talked to me about that. Because Lou right now has been in a couple facilities. He is organizing, he's doing his thing and actually supporting folks while also just trying to keep himself well, which is no easy feat to do in so many of these facilities. Especially because, in Alexandria, for example, which is a facility in Louisiana. We know that folks are sleeping on cement floors. We know that folks are not being fed, that there's a lot of human rights violations going on. And here is Lou still continuing to use his voice and try to advocate for the folks around him. Miko Lee: Aisa thank you so much for putting that into context, and we'll put links in the show notes for how folks can get involved in both of these cases. One is, Rising Voices has a call to action to reach out to Governor Whitmer for that. Pardon in Campaign for Lou. So we encourage folks to do that. And in terms of Mohan, there's a GoFundMe to help support Tika and the immense lawyer fees, which we discussed that are needed. And also a letter writing campaign to the ICE director Kevin Roff, to try and release Mohan and also Lou. These are really important things that are happening in our community, and thank you for being out there. Thank you for talking and sharing your stories. We really appreciate you. And also, just briefly, I'd love us for us to talk for a minute about how many folks in our Asian American communities, we don't wanna talk about mistakes that we have made in the past because we might consider that shameful. And therefore, in both of these communities, when we started organizing, it was really hard at first to find people to come forth and share their stories. So I wonder if both of you can give voice to a little about that, the power you found in yourself to be able to come forward and speak about this, even though some other folks in the community might not feel comfortable or strong enough to be able to talk. Tika, can you speak to that? Tika Basnet: Yeah. So what makes me really strong, and I wanna see that my husband case is because he was 17, people can make mistake and from those mistake, if people are learning. Then I think Americans should consider, 'cause my husband did make mistake and I wish that time he knew the rules and regulation. I wish like somebody taught him that he's not supposed to go somebody else property, like around in backyard. And I wish he was been in the United States like more than one and a half year. I wish, if he was like more than two years, three years. And I think that time he, from high school, he could learn. You know, he's not supposed to go there. He was just been in the United States like one and a half year just going to high school. Nobody taught him. His parent doesn't even speak English. Until now, he doesn't even, they doesn't even speak, like nobody in our community knew rules and regulation. So no, basically that he doesn't have guide, like mentor to taught him like, and even though he did make mistake and he's really sorry, and from those mistake learning a lot, and he never get into trouble, like after 11 years, he was clean, he work, he pay taxes. And I think, that is the reason that I really wanna come forward. You know, people can make mistake, but learning from those mistake that changed people life. And, and I think, the reason that I'm coming forward is because organization like Asian Law Caucus, ARU, and, Miko, a lot of people helped me. You know, they taught me like people can make mistake and, I think we shouldn't be same. And I really wanna give example to my daughter, you know, that, you are fighting for justice and you shouldn't fear. I think, what is right is right. What is wrong is wrong. But if somebody's make mistake and they are not, doing that mistake again, I think the people can get a second chance. And I think my husband deserves second chance and he's 30 years old. He has a family, he has a wife, children and he deserved to be here. We came here legally, my husband came here. Legally, we, promise that we'll get home and this is our home. We wanna stay here and I really want my husband be home soon so he can play with her daughter to play with his daughter. Miko Lee: Thank you so much, Tika. Ann I wonder if you could talk to the strength that it takes for you to come forward and speak about your husband and your family. Ann Vue: I'm a community leader with my husband too, right? I would say that there was a moment when he was first detained where I was in complete silence. I was so shocked. It took my attorney, Nancy, just talking to me about it. Of course, back to what Aisa said earlier in our communities, we're afraid. I was so scared. I didn't know what to do. It took me visiting my husband in Baldwin and letting him know that, hey, a bunch of community members are now reaching out and I think it's hit our community. And that's that. At that moment, he was like, you have to say something. You have to say something you have to make noise because you have a, 50% chance, right? We have a 50 50 chance. 50%. They're gonna send me 50%. You're gonna feel bad if you don't say anything, right? 50 here, 50 there. It doesn't matter. But a hundred percent regret if you don't say something. I thought about it and he was like, well, go out there, be my voice. He's like, you've always been my voice. You got this right. And so when, I didn't say no to Nancy. 'cause she really wanted to talk to our rep Mai you know about this. And , Mai and I are pretty close too. And, I just knew if I said anything, Maya's gonna be like mm-hmm. All the way. Right? So I just let Nancy help me, and my most vulnerable time. And I'm glad that she did. And I'm glad that we did get this out. It is the most important thing for us, and I've been, I will say what keeps me going is all of those that have been impacted by this, from people like Tika. I have many, I call 'em sisters. We're all in a lot of these group chats together. They've been also keeping me going. Our amazing team of attorneys and everybody just strategizing through this unprecedented time. It's really everyone's voices. I get to talk to Lou daily. It's definitely not cheap, but he gets to share each story of each person. I believe that everybody has a story and they might not be as lucky as maybe Tika or my husband, but at least now I have their story. I will be their voice. I will tell each person's story, each name, each alien number that I track down, my husband's even literally learned how to count in Spanish, just so he can give them like my phone number in Spanish in case they need to call an emergency. Oh, I'm be getting a lot of calls. Right. I would say that that is what keeps me going because I think that Tika and I and many others are, hoping that there is going to be a better day, a brighter day. I hope that everyone can see that, our children are American, right? Our children, they deserve to have their fathers and their mothers. They deserve to grow with these parents. And with that being said, the most important thing to me is they're not just bystanders. They're literally the future of America. I don't want them growing up with trauma, with trying to ask me questions like, well mom, if we're refugees and we helped, Americans as allies, and we come to this country, why is this payback like this? There's a moral obligation that has to be there and they're gonna grow up and they're gonna be trauma by this. I've got children right now that's been talking about joining the National Guard. It speaks volume about what happens to my husband. He's championed the Hmong, Michigan Special Gorilla unit, the Hmong veterans here in the last two years, really with helping them through resolutions, tributes, making sure that they have things, that they are out there, that people now know them, they are finally recognized. This puts my husband at great danger by sending him back, because now he's championed the veterans here. He celebrates our veterans here. So it's a moral obligation. And I hope Tika, I hope that, and this is to every child, I hope that every child, they deserve their father's presence. There are many people who don't even have their father's presence and they wish their fathers were around. And our fathers wanna be around. And I hope that our daughter, I only have one daughter too, that someday they can, their fathers can be a part of their, the American culture. So I, I hope that. We get that opportunity and I hope that somebody stop being scared, but turn around and help us. Help us. We came here legally, minor stuff, long decade old. Even lose share with me. This detainment has been worse than when he was, when he did time back in 1997. And I just hope that somebody hears our podcast, Miko. Thank you. And, Aisa and Tika. And they turn and they have some compassion and help us because this is the tone that we're setting for the future of our American children. Miko Lee: Thank you so much for sharing. Tika, you wanna add? Tika Basnet: Yes, I really wanna talk about what kind of husband Mohan is. Even though like he detained for five month and I cannot. I put lot of money in his account and there was one guy, I think his family cannot support him. And for me, like it is really hard. I'm not working. But even my husband called me like, you don't need to put like money in my account, but can you please can you please put money in his account? He did not eat food. His family did not have money. I can survive without eating food. But, I think his story is really touching me. And that time, like my husband was crying listening to that guy story in detention center and then I did put like $50 in his account. And my husband is giving person like, he love to give even though, he struggle a lot, even though, he doesn't know what will happen when he get deport. But, him saying other guy story. Does make him cry. I think this is the reason that I really wanna come forward. My husband is giving person, he's lovely person, he's caring person. And that is the reason I wanna come forward. I want people to hear our voice, rather than silent. Because right now people know our story. But if I was silent back , then I don't know whether my husband was already disappear. I don't know whether he gonna die torture or maybe he will expel within 24 hours. I have no idea. So I think, my husband is number one support system for me, and I think because of him that I'm here sharing his story and yeah, like for years I had wonderful time with him. We build our dream and until 2025, our dream is destroy. I'm trying to build again. I'm hoping, like my husband is coming home soon and I'm hoping that this will be the last time that he will get detained. I hope that this will be the end. I don't want him to get detained or deported again. I'm really tired. I don't know what to do. I'm hopeless. I hope listening to my story and Anna's story that separating family is not good. Like it is affecting not only one person but his whole community, whole family. We deserve to get our husband back. Because it is not only about the wife that is fighting for husband, it is the children. , They're so small, they born here and we cannot raise alone, we cannot work. We have things to pay. And paying those bills and taking care of child alone is really difficult. It is giving depression like it's been five month, like I went through postpartum depression, I went through trauma and I don't wanna deal anymore. Like I don't have courage to do this anymore. We need our husband back. Miko Lee: Thank you. And I think both of your husbands are also main caregivers for parents that are ailing in both cases. It's a really important thing that we are intergenerational communities and as you both said, it's not just about the children, but it's also about parents and brothers and sisters and community members as well. Thank you so much for lifting up your stories. I just wanna go back for one more thing. We talked briefly about the crazy expensive lawyer fees that have come up for families that they've been dealing with this, and then also Tika was just bringing up about detention and commissary fees. Can you talk a little bit about the prison industrial complex and the fees that are associated? As Anne was saying, just calling Lou every day the costs that are associated with those things. Many people that don't have a family member that's incarcerated don't know about that. Can you share a little bit about what that system is? Aisa Villarosa: Yeah, absolutely Miko. And, just to underscore, a big theme from this conversation, it is that the US made commitments and they have broken them, both with, as Anne talked about, the refugee experience is one that is made possible through US commitment of acknowledging what, people have survived, what they have given to the country. And to look at this moment where folks are being removed to countries where not only do they have zero ties to, don't speak the language, but, especially in the case of the Bhutanese refugee community, as Tika mentioned, it is [00:52:00] truly a double expulsion. So the fact that we have well-documented testimonials of folks really deported from Bhutan after they're removed there into these life-threatening conditions that in some cases have actually resulted in a community member passing away. A community member passed away in large part because of the failure of the US to both care for them while in detention. So going back to that prison complex, but also just putting them in such a harrowing situation. In another instance, a community member was found after wandering for over a hundred miles on foot. So this is not, deportation and the story ends. This is deportation. And, there is a family that is grieving and thinking through next steps, there is, this call to not have borders, break us the way that this country is trying to do. And to say a little bit about the fees, USCIS, there, there has not been a point yet in history where so many changes and charges hurting families have been ushered in, But for this year, and so to give a couple examples of that – asylum cases for one, these often take many, many years through this administration. Now, families have to pay a cost yearly for each year that your asylum application, languishes because we're also seeing that those same folks who are supposed to process these applications are either being laid off or they're being militarized. So something like USCIS where this was where one would go to apply for a passport. Now the same department is literally being handed guns and they're now taking folks during naturalization interviews. Other avenues to challenge your removal. Like I mentioned a motion to reopen. All these things used to be fairly affordable. Now they can cost many thousands of dollars on top of the attorney fees. So something that's been quite challenging for groups like Asian Law Caucus where we do have attorneys representing folks in removal proceedings, there's often this misperception that oh it's costing so much money. Attorneys are pocketing cash. And unfortunately there are some situations where some attorneys have been known to take advantage of families in this desperate moment. But for many, many attorneys who are in this mix, they're experts at this work. They're trying to do the right thing. They're both overwhelmed and they're seeing these new charges, which make the battle really even more difficult. So to turn it back to the listeners, I would say that as powerless as this moment can make us feel everyone is bearing witness. Hopefully the listeners today can take in Anne's story, can take in Tikas story and whatever power one has in their corner of the world, this is the moment to use that. Whether it's your voice, whether it's learning more about a community, maybe you're learning about for the first time. This is really the moment to take action. Miko Lee: Thank you Aisa. I really wanna thank you all for being here with me today, for sharing your personal stories, your personal pain, and for recognizing that this is happening. We deeply believe that we need to keep our families together. That is really important. It is written into the very basis of this American country about redemption and forgiveness. And this is what we're talking about for incidents that happened, misunderstandings that happened when these folks were young men, that they have paid for their, they have paid for their time, and yet they're being punished again, these promises that were broken by this American government, and we need to find [00:56:00] ways to address that. I really wanna deeply thank each of you for continuing to be there for sharing your voice, for protecting one another, for being there and standing up for your family and for our community. Thank you for joining me today. Check out our Apex Express Show notes to find out about how you can get involved. Learn about the Rising Voices campaign for Lou Young and Mohan Khaki's GoFundMe and please help to support these organizations working every day to support detained and deported people. Asian Law Caucus, Asian Refugees, United Balo Project in Vietnam. Collective Freedom in Vietnam and Laos Asian Prisoner Support Committee and new light Wellness in Cambodia. November 1st and second people nationwide are joining the Disappeared in America Weekend of Action to Stand Up for Immigrant Families and Defend Due Process. Actions include protests at Home [00:57:00] Depots, candlelight, freedom Vigils, and Day of the Dead events, honoring lives lost to detention. The following day on November 3rd, 4:00 PM Pacific Time, 7:00 PM Eastern Time. Join us for We Belong here, Bhutanese and Hmong Americans in the Struggle Against Statelessness, a live virtual event featuring my three guests tonight, along with performances and conversations. Find out more in our show notes. Please check out our website, kpfa.org/program, apex Express to find out more about our show. We thank all of you listeners out there. Keep resisting, keep organizing, keep creating, and sharing your visions with the world. Your voices are important. APEX Express is a collective of activists that includes Ayame Keane-Lee, Anuj Vaidya, Cheryl Truong, Isabel Li, Jalena Keane-Lee, Miko Lee, Preeti Mangala Shekar and Swati Rayasam. Have a great night. The post APEX Express – 10.16.25 – We Belong Here appeared first on KPFA.

Though ICE, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services denied their Freedom of Information Act requests, these journalists aren't giving up without a fight—not until they get their hands on a document that outlines how much information Medicaid is sharing with ICE. Guest: Joseph Cox, cofounder of 404 Media.  Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen. Podcast production by Evan Campbell, and Patrick Fort. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Though ICE, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services denied their Freedom of Information Act requests, these journalists aren't giving up without a fight—not until they get their hands on a document that outlines how much information Medicaid is sharing with ICE. Guest: Joseph Cox, cofounder of 404 Media.  Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen. Podcast production by Evan Campbell, and Patrick Fort. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Though ICE, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services denied their Freedom of Information Act requests, these journalists aren't giving up without a fight—not until they get their hands on a document that outlines how much information Medicaid is sharing with ICE. Guest: Joseph Cox, cofounder of 404 Media.  Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen. Podcast production by Evan Campbell, and Patrick Fort. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Though ICE, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services denied their Freedom of Information Act requests, these journalists aren't giving up without a fight—not until they get their hands on a document that outlines how much information Medicaid is sharing with ICE. Guest: Joseph Cox, cofounder of 404 Media.  Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen. Podcast production by Evan Campbell, and Patrick Fort. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Though ICE, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services denied their Freedom of Information Act requests, these journalists aren't giving up without a fight—not until they get their hands on a document that outlines how much information Medicaid is sharing with ICE. Guest: Joseph Cox, cofounder of 404 Media.  Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen. Podcast production by Evan Campbell, and Patrick Fort. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Global News reporter Colin D'Mello on Ontario cabinet minister vehicles caught speeding according to data obtained using the Freedom of Information Act. The information shows one vehicle was recorded going 162 km/h.

There is a strong argument that royals like Prince Andrew live under a separate set of rules compared to ordinary citizens. In the UK, the Freedom of Information Act provides special protections: correspondence involving the monarch, the heir, and the second in line is completely exempt from disclosure, and communications involving other royals are covered by a qualified exemption. This means that information which would normally be made public for politicians or officials can remain permanently hidden when it involves the royal family. Similarly, judges have ruled that the security costs for royals cannot be made public, ensuring that vast sums of taxpayer money spent on their protection are kept secret in a way no ordinary public figure could expect.contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-epstein-chronicles--5003294/support.

Join us on this thrilling episode of the *Untold Radio Show* as hosts Doug Hajicek and Jeff Perrella dive deep into the mysterious world of Bigfoot with special guest **Eric Palacios**, a renowned Bigfoot researcher and FOIA expert!

Today on Joe's Thoughts: No Mail-In Ballots/No Machines, we dive deep into the urgent threats facing American elections. We analyze the problems of mail in ballots and corrupt voting machines. We do not have control over our election process. The real power is who Counts the vote     Our first segment uncovers shocking revelations from one of the largest Freedom of Information Act hauls in U.S. history: nearly one million documents obtained from Detroit's 2020 election, including absentee ballots, signed envelopes, and precinct total tapes. We examine allegations of voter registration fraud, duplicate voting, and questionable ballot handling, exploring how unchecked mail-in voting and poorly monitored systems continue to jeopardize the integrity of our elections. Next, we turn our focus to the unjust treatment of Tina Peters. Jared Cowart, a member of our team and a dear friend of Tina joins us to share his insights on Tina Peters' ongoing struggles, including the day-to-day challenges she faces and the compelling testimony coming out of Venezuela. Jared also will share his experience on his recent trip to visit Tina behind bars. We'll also break down shocking events unfolding in Michigan, including the deadly church shooting, and the broader dysfunction in American institutions. We also analyze the meteoric rise of Brilyn Hollyhand, the young conservative who appeared on Fox News within hours of Charlie Kirk's assassination, exploring his ties to TPUSA, his sudden media prominence, and the unanswered questions surrounding his national campus tour.  

Nova Scotia Moms is a grassroots group of mothers and loved ones who have either lost children to suicide or they are supporting loved ones living with serious mental illness and addiction. Nancy Saunders and Heather Spidell are the groups cofounders. Cyndi Corbett is a member. The group hopes that with the passing of Bill 127, important changes to the language in the Personal Health Information Act would become law.

On this episode of the Chuck ToddCast, Chuck looks at new polling showing just how unsettled Americans feel heading into yet another potential government shutdown. With 93% of the country agreeing that political violence is a problem and a majority believing we're in a full-blown political crisis, partisanship has hardened to the point where disagreement itself is seen as betrayal. Chuck traces how government shutdowns—once unheard of before 1980—became a recurring political weapon, thanks to Justice Department rulings, congressional maneuvering, and laws that reduced the political pain by exempting things like military pay and Social Security. The result: contractors left stranded, bipartisanship all but eliminated, and a system designed to fail.Then, veteran journalist for The Economist, James Bennet joins Chuck to break down Donald Trump's scathing U.N. speech and what it reveals about his worldview: not isolationist, but relentlessly self-centered, with his personal interest framed as national interest. Bennet warns that Trump's grip on power is existential for him and his administration, and if institutions like the Supreme Court allow unchecked presidential firings, the rule of law itself could unravel. From the Cold War's stabilizing influence to the fractures of today's four-party system crammed into two, Bennet and Chuck explore whether America can navigate its political turmoil without mass violence, and how drone warfare, refugee flows, and the collapse of the international rules-based order are reshaping global politics.The conversation also turns inward, examining how journalism has struggled to adapt in the Trump era. Bennet reflects on writing for international audiences, the dangers of catering to niche media bubbles, and why legacy outlets must rediscover local reporting. He argues that deplatforming Trump was a massive mistake that accelerated the collapse of resistance, while public pressure against platforming controversial voices continues to erode open debate. From Biden's misunderstood mandate to the Senate's paralysis and the rise of cult-of-personality politics, this episode considers what reforms will be necessary both in government and in journalism.Finally, Chuck takes a trip in the ToddCast Time Machine to 1974, when congress gave the Freedom of Information Act teeth, plus answers listeners' questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment.Got injured in an accident? You could be one click away from a claim worth millions. Just visit https://www.forthepeople.com/TODDCAST to start your claim now with Morgan & Morgan without leaving your couch. Remember, it's free unless you win!Timeline:(Timestamps may vary based on advertisements)00:00 Introduction 06:00 New polling out leading into potential government shutdown07:00 93% of the country believe political violence is a problem08:00 Majority of the country believes we're in a “political crisis”09:00 Democrats less likely to talk politics across the aisle10:30 Partisans believe you're on “the other side'' if you don't agree with them12:45 People need to feel secure in having political debate14:00 Independent voters are disenfranchised relative to D & R voters16:15 Before 1980 America never had a government shutdown17:30 Two Justice Department opinions created the legal basis for shutdowns20:00 Government shutdown threats are now an annual occurrence21:15 Two laws passed to make political cost of a shutdown less painful22:45 Exemptions for military pay and social security make shutdowns easier23:45 Proposals for automatic government funding haven't passed26:15 Government contractors can't work under shutdowns or CR's27:30 Politicians deliberately created the conditions that lead to shutdowns28:45 Congressional leadership wanted to create artificial leverage30:00 The incentive structures for bipartisan compromise are gone32:30 Congress had the power to deal with shutdowns and didn't35:00 James Bennet joins the Chuck ToddCast 36:30 Trump scolds other nations in scathing U.N. speech 37:30 Trump behaved like Hugo Chavez in U.N. speech 38:45 Trump is not an isolationist, but it's all centered around him 39:30 Trump sees his interest as the national interest 41:15 How alarmed should we be? 42:15 Things have gotten pretty dark in the past two weeks 43:00 Staying in power is existential for Trump & his administration 44:30 If you lose the rule of law, you lose the country 45:15 If SCOTUS allows fed firing, there's no going back 46:00 John Roberts desperate to avoid constitutional showdown 47:30 Government will require major reform after Trump 50:00 The cold war was a stabilizing force in American politics 52:00 America is a four party system crammed into two parties 54:00 Public sentiment has been pessimistic the entire 21st century 55:45 Can we get through this without mass violence? 57:30 It's hard to imagine a productive modern constitutional convention 59:00 The last "protectionist race" led to a world war 1:00:15 We're no longer living in the international rules based order 1:01:30 Drones are massively changing the dynamics of warfare 1:03:00 Refugee flows are causing political instability worldwide 1:03:30 Trump has no interest in leading internationally 1:05:00 Trump is constantly campaigning and only for his base 1:07:00 Did we export our politics to Israel, or the other way around? 1:08:45 Only Obama had a majority of the vote in the 21st century 1:09:45 Governors are the only politicians that campaign beyond their base 1:12:00 Biden misunderstood his 2020 mandate and overreached 1:13:30 Who is the Economist reader? 1:15:30 Writing about American politics for an international audience 1:17:30 If you had more resources, what would you focus on covering? 1:18:30 Legacy media needs to give more attention beyond D.C. and NYC 1:20:00 Need to find a new model in order to bring back local journalism 1:22:45 There's too many journalists in D.C. and not enough in America 1:24:30 Journalism now caters to niche audiences 1:26:15 Deplatforming Trump was a massive mistake 1:27:00 Once ABC caved in lawsuit, resistance to Trump collapsed 1:29:00 Public pressures journalists to not platform people they disagree with 1:30:00 Michael Bennet was consensus candidate to replace Schumer 1:31:45 Nothing gets done in the senate, many senators leaving 1:35:15 In the TV era, successful presidents have had cults of personality 1:36:15 Newsom having success emulating Trump's style1:39:00 The ToddCast Time Machine 1:39:30 October 5th, 1974 Congress put teeth in the Freedom of Information Act 1:41:00 Cheney and Rumsfeld argued transparency would hurt national security 1:41:30 Lawmakers overruled the presidential veto 1:43:30 Florida has some of the strongest government transparency laws 1:44:15 Multiple states created their own transparency laws after FOIA 1:45:30 Pentagon demanded restrictions on journalists, no outlets agree 1:47:30 We can't have a democracy without transparency 1:50:15 When your party is out of power you're more likely to believe nonsense 1:51:30 Ask Chuck 1:51:45 Parallels between LDS church in UT & OK nearly becoming a black state? 1:54:30 Chances the Republican gerrymanders backfire? 1:59:15 How can Americans abroad stay civically engaged and bring about change? 2:04:15 Where do you get your optimism from in this political climate? Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On this episode of the Chuck ToddCast, Chuck looks at new polling showing just how unsettled Americans feel heading into yet another potential government shutdown. With 93% of the country agreeing that political violence is a problem and a majority believing we're in a full-blown political crisis, partisanship has hardened to the point where disagreement itself is seen as betrayal. Chuck traces how government shutdowns—once unheard of before 1980—became a recurring political weapon, thanks to Justice Department rulings, congressional maneuvering, and laws that reduced the political pain by exempting things like military pay and Social Security. The result: contractors left stranded, bipartisanship all but eliminated, and a system designed to fail.Finally, Chuck takes a trip in the ToddCast Time Machine to 1974, when congress gave the Freedom of Information Act teeth, plus answers listeners' questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment.Got injured in an accident? You could be one click away from a claim worth millions. Just visit https://www.forthepeople.com/TODDCAST to start your claim now with Morgan & Morgan without leaving your couch. Remember, it's free unless you win!Timeline:(Timestamps may vary based on advertisements)00:00 Introduction01:00 New polling out leading into potential government shutdown 02:00 93% of the country believe political violence is a problem 03:00 Majority of the country believes we're in a "political crisis" 04:00 Democrats less likely to talk politics across the aisle 05:30 Partisans believe you're on "the other side'' if you don't agree with them 07:45 People need to feel secure in having political debate 09:00 Independent voters are disenfranchised relative to D & R voters 11:15 Before 1980 America never had a government shutdown 12:30 Two Justice Department opinions created the legal basis for shutdowns 15:00 Government shutdown threats are now an annual occurrence 16:15 Two laws passed to make political cost of a shutdown less painful 17:45 Exemptions for military pay and social security make shutdowns easier 18:45 Proposals for automatic government funding haven't passed 21:15 Government contractors can't work under shutdowns or CR's 22:30 Politicians deliberately created the conditions that lead to shutdowns 23:45 Congressional leadership wanted to create artificial leverage 25:00 The incentive structures for bipartisan compromise are gone 27:30 Congress had the power to deal with shutdowns and didn't30:30 The ToddCast Time Machine 31:00 October 5th, 1974 Congress put teeth in the Freedom of Information Act 32:30 Cheney and Rumsfeld argued transparency would hurt national security 33:00 Lawmakers overruled the presidential veto 35:00 Florida has some of the strongest government transparency laws 35:45 Multiple states created their own transparency laws after FOIA 37:00 Pentagon demanded restrictions on journalists, no outlets agree 39:00 We can't have a democracy without transparency 41:45 When your party is out of power you're more likely to believe nonsense 43:00 Ask Chuck 43:15 Parallels between LDS church in UT & OK nearly becoming a black state? 46:00 Chances the Republican gerrymanders backfire? 50:45 How can Americans abroad stay civically engaged and bring about change? 55:45 Where do you get your optimism from in this political climate? Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In the early years of Blair's premiership, his supporters liked to refer to Britain as ‘Cool Britannia', in a play on the title of the song ‘Rule Britannia'. Last week, we talked about some of the cooler things the Blair government did at this time, including the breakthrough in the Northern Irish peace process, specifically the Good Friday Agreement.This week, we look at some of the distinctly uncool aspects of its rule and, funnily enough, we'll focus for much of the episode on Northern Ireland again. This time, though, we'll talk about what happened to the person who, perhaps more than any other, made sure the Agreement was reached, Mo Mowlam. And her treatment might well be regarded as far from cool.One of the uncool parts of it was that she was replaced by Peter Mandelson. He's been in the news again in our time, forced to resign for the third time from a political appointment, this time as ambassador to the US. But the first time he was forced to resign, over a financial scandal which was uncool enough, it was just ten months before he came back into government, taking over from Mowlam, which made it uncooler still.Just as uncool was the Ecclestone scandal, where Blair tried to help out the boss of Formula 1 racing, who'd made a large contribution to the Labour Party. What made that particularly uncool was that Blair denied that he'd made the decision to help Ecclestone very quickly, before handing back his donation, and the truth only came out thanks to a Freedom of Information request. And though he introduced the Freedom of Information Act, he later kicked himself for doing it, which was even more uncool.Plenty that wasn't cool, then, in Cool Britannia. For the passage on Northern Ireland, and specifically on Mo Mowlam, from the video of Blair's speech to the 1998 Labour Conference, take a look at:https://www.c-span.org/program/international-telecasts/labour-party-conference/118168Illustration: A photo taken shortly before the bomb blast in Omagh. It's uncertain who the photographer was. The remains of the camera were found in the rubble after the bomb exploded. Image currently displayed by the Irish historian Wesley Johnston on his website: http://www.wesleyjohnston.com/users/ireland/past/omagh/before.htmlMusic: Bach Partita #2c by J Bu licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives (aka Music Sharing) 3.0 International License

Jeffrey Epstein was reportedly terrified of his former cellmate, Nicholas Tartaglione, a former police officer facing charges for multiple murders. Epstein's fear stemmed from an alleged violent encounter between the two while they were housed together at the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) in New York. Shortly before Epstein's first apparent suicide attempt in July 2019, he was found injured in his cell, and he reportedly accused Tartaglione of assaulting him. However, Tartaglione denied any involvement, claiming that he had actually tried to help Epstein and refuted allegations that he had harmed him. Given Tartaglione's background—charged with killing four men in a drug-related crime—Epstein's fear of him fueled speculation that his life was in danger behind bars, adding to the broader concerns and theories surrounding his eventual death.​Documents obtained by the Associated Press under the Freedom of Information Act reveal detailed insights into Jeffrey Epstein's final days at the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) before his death in August 2019. These records indicate that Epstein was increasingly distressed, experiencing difficulty sleeping, and expressing fears about his safety within the facility. Despite a prior suicide attempt, he was removed from suicide watch and placed in a regular cell, a decision now scrutinized for its appropriateness. The documents also highlight significant lapses in protocol, including guards failing to perform routine checks and falsifying records to cover their negligence. Additionally, there were reports of malfunctioning surveillance cameras outside Epstein's cell, further complicating the circumstances surrounding his death. These revelations have intensified public skepticism and fueled ongoing debates about the adequacy of the measures taken to prevent Epstein's suicide.to contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-moscow-murders-and-more--5852883/support.

Jeffrey Epstein was reportedly terrified of his former cellmate, Nicholas Tartaglione, a former police officer facing charges for multiple murders. Epstein's fear stemmed from an alleged violent encounter between the two while they were housed together at the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) in New York. Shortly before Epstein's first apparent suicide attempt in July 2019, he was found injured in his cell, and he reportedly accused Tartaglione of assaulting him. However, Tartaglione denied any involvement, claiming that he had actually tried to help Epstein and refuted allegations that he had harmed him. Given Tartaglione's background—charged with killing four men in a drug-related crime—Epstein's fear of him fueled speculation that his life was in danger behind bars, adding to the broader concerns and theories surrounding his eventual death.​Documents obtained by the Associated Press under the Freedom of Information Act reveal detailed insights into Jeffrey Epstein's final days at the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) before his death in August 2019. These records indicate that Epstein was increasingly distressed, experiencing difficulty sleeping, and expressing fears about his safety within the facility. Despite a prior suicide attempt, he was removed from suicide watch and placed in a regular cell, a decision now scrutinized for its appropriateness. The documents also highlight significant lapses in protocol, including guards failing to perform routine checks and falsifying records to cover their negligence. Additionally, there were reports of malfunctioning surveillance cameras outside Epstein's cell, further complicating the circumstances surrounding his death. These revelations have intensified public skepticism and fueled ongoing debates about the adequacy of the measures taken to prevent Epstein's suicide.to contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-moscow-murders-and-more--5852883/support.

Jeffrey Epstein was reportedly terrified of his former cellmate, Nicholas Tartaglione, a former police officer facing charges for multiple murders. Epstein's fear stemmed from an alleged violent encounter between the two while they were housed together at the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) in New York. Shortly before Epstein's first apparent suicide attempt in July 2019, he was found injured in his cell, and he reportedly accused Tartaglione of assaulting him. However, Tartaglione denied any involvement, claiming that he had actually tried to help Epstein and refuted allegations that he had harmed him. Given Tartaglione's background—charged with killing four men in a drug-related crime—Epstein's fear of him fueled speculation that his life was in danger behind bars, adding to the broader concerns and theories surrounding his eventual death.​Documents obtained by the Associated Press under the Freedom of Information Act reveal detailed insights into Jeffrey Epstein's final days at the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) before his death in August 2019. These records indicate that Epstein was increasingly distressed, experiencing difficulty sleeping, and expressing fears about his safety within the facility. Despite a prior suicide attempt, he was removed from suicide watch and placed in a regular cell, a decision now scrutinized for its appropriateness. The documents also highlight significant lapses in protocol, including guards failing to perform routine checks and falsifying records to cover their negligence. Additionally, there were reports of malfunctioning surveillance cameras outside Epstein's cell, further complicating the circumstances surrounding his death. These revelations have intensified public skepticism and fueled ongoing debates about the adequacy of the measures taken to prevent Epstein's suicide.to contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-epstein-chronicles--5003294/support.

Mick Dumke, Investigative Editor at Block Club Chicago, joins Lisa Dent to talk about how many people ICE arrested in the days following President Trump’s inauguration. Using the Freedom of Information Act, Dumke and other reporters at Block Club Chicago sued ICE and the department of Homeland Security to obtain information about the arrests in […]

In this episode, we continue our conversation with Martin Perron, a lawyer and developer at the Government of Canada, about how Rules as Code can transform the way we understand and use law.Martin explains how encoding legislation can help identify gaps, run simulations, and even power trustworthy government chatbots. He reflects on the promise of democratizing access to legal knowledge, shares concrete examples of how businesses and citizens could benefit, and offers practical ways for listeners to get involved in this emerging field.What difference does it make to encode laws instead of just writing them? How can this improve access to justice? And how can people from different backgrounds—law, tech, or beyond—contribute to the movement? Join us as we unpack these questions and more.

The Freedom of Information Act at 25 by Institute for Government

In this episode, we pull back the curtain on one of the FBI's dirtiest traditions: illegally seizing evidence that embarrasses Democrats and burying it to protect the party's narrative. From the Orlando nightclub jihadist who pledged allegiance to ISIS on a 911 call, to transgender shooter Audrey Hale whose manifesto read like a DNC press release, the FBI has repeatedly broken Freedom of Information Act law—stealing tapes, suppressing documents, and even spreading lies to cover their tracks. Why? Because the truth is politically inconvenient. The Orlando jihadist wasn't a spurned lover—he was a terrorist. Audrey Hale didn't just lash out randomly—she targeted Christians and listed Donald Trump on her kill sheet. Those facts mattered. Those facts would have shifted public opinion. And so, the FBI buried them. Again and again. But here's the breaking point: they can't control the narrative anymore. The brutal murder of Ukrainian immigrant Irina Zorutska in Charlotte has proven that. For the first time, social media amplified the truth so loudly that legacy media couldn't bury it. The establishment tried—the big networks blacked it out—but the video went viral anyway. Elon Musk, Charlie Kirk, Trump-aligned influencers, and millions of ordinary Americans forced it into the spotlight. And now? The media class is panicking. CNN's Brian Stelter raged on air that conservatives were able to set the agenda, bypassing the gatekeepers. He admitted that Trump himself learned about the case through social media—not through the networks. That's the real story: the left has lost its monopoly on information.

In this episode, we pull back the curtain on one of the FBI's dirtiest traditions: illegally seizing evidence that embarrasses Democrats and burying it to protect the party's narrative. From the Orlando nightclub jihadist who pledged allegiance to ISIS on a 911 call, to transgender shooter Audrey Hale whose manifesto read like a DNC press release, the FBI has repeatedly broken Freedom of Information Act law—stealing tapes, suppressing documents, and even spreading lies to cover their tracks. Why? Because the truth is politically inconvenient. The Orlando jihadist wasn't a spurned lover—he was a terrorist. Audrey Hale didn't just lash out randomly—she targeted Christians and listed Donald Trump on her kill sheet. Those facts mattered. Those facts would have shifted public opinion. And so, the FBI buried them. Again and again. But here's the breaking point: they can't control the narrative anymore. The brutal murder of Ukrainian immigrant Irina Zorutska in Charlotte has proven that. For the first time, social media amplified the truth so loudly that legacy media couldn't bury it. The establishment tried—the big networks blacked it out—but the video went viral anyway. Elon Musk, Charlie Kirk, Trump-aligned influencers, and millions of ordinary Americans forced it into the spotlight. And now? The media class is panicking. CNN's Brian Stelter raged on air that conservatives were able to set the agenda, bypassing the gatekeepers. He admitted that Trump himself learned about the case through social media—not through the networks. That's the real story: the left has lost its monopoly on information.

The Energy Department is being sued over its plan to purge old Freedom of Information Act requests. The nonprofit group American Oversight filed the suit in U.S. District Court last week. It challenges DOE's effort to require individuals to re-confirm their interest in FOIA requests. In an August notice in the Federal Register, DOE announced that those with a FOIA request submitted prior to October 1, 2024, must email the agency within 30 days to keep the request open. American Oversight argues the move violates the law and would open the door for other agencies to sidestep their obligations under FOIA. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

01:03:08 – CDC Shooting Over Vaccine InjuryDetails emerge on a gunman attacking CDC headquarters after blaming a COVID vaccine for his illness, killing a police officer. 01:06:33 – Kennedy Halts Some mRNA ContractsRFK Jr. announces BARDA is canceling $500 million in respiratory virus mRNA projects, citing mutation risks—but funding shifts to other vaccines. 01:17:16 – Safe Vaccine MythHost argues “safe vaccines” don't exist, citing the Supreme Court's “unavoidably unsafe” ruling and flaws in vaccine efficacy testing. 01:21:20 – MAGA Media's Blind SpotDiscussion on Trump's refusal to disavow Warp Speed and MAGA supporters' willingness to overlook vaccine harm for political loyalty. 01:33:35 – UK's Political Violence WarningOne in five Britons say political violence may be necessary to stop national decline, reflecting deep disaffection with government. 01:36:06 – Britain's Speech CrackdownUK's Online Safety Act and “non-crime hate incidents” lead to 30 arrests per day for speech, signaling authoritarian censorship. 01:43:12 – Wisconsin Bill for Vaccine Opt-Out NoticesA state lawmaker pushes to require schools to inform parents of their vaccine exemption rights, calling current procedures vague and restrictive. [01:48:32] – ADL CEO Greenblatt on Intermarriage & Jewish IdentityJonathan Greenblatt laments rising intermarriage rates among Jews, calling for a “revolution” in Jewish life to preserve identity. Criticism follows, pointing out the ADL's double standard—supporting intermarriage for others but not for Jews—and highlighting the group's racial hypocrisy. [02:06:26] – Netanyahu's Gaza War for Political SurvivalNetanyahu pushes for the capture of Gaza City and permanent control, aligning with hardline ministers. Analysts argue the war serves as both a settler expansion plan and a means to hold his fragile coalition together, even as international backlash grows and humanitarian conditions worsen. [02:32:26] – Zelensky Rejects Land Concessions in Peace TalksDespite an upcoming Trump-Putin summit in Alaska, Zelensky refuses any territorial concessions, including Crimea. Critics accuse him of prolonging the war for personal enrichment while public opinion in Ukraine shifts heavily toward negotiating peace rather than pursuing total victory. 03:08:45 – Trump Orders DC Crime SurgeFollowing a violent carjacking incident, Trump calls for increased federal law enforcement in DC. While praising heroism, the host warns this could morph into martial law and further centralization of power. 03:14:09 – Maxwell ‘Has Dirt on Trump' ClaimA former cellmate alleges Ghislaine Maxwell bragged about having damaging information on Trump. The discussion raises questions about possible leverage and political deals. 03:16:34 – FOIA Stonewalling on OKC BombingDecades-old Freedom of Information Act requests for surveillance tapes remain blocked. The host accuses the DOJ and FBI of deliberate cover-ups to protect operatives. 03:26:10 – Epstein's Butler Breaks SilenceEpstein's longtime Paris butler insists his boss didn't kill himself, noting future plans and upbeat demeanor before arrest. His extensive work at Epstein's other properties fuels skepticism. 03:46:03 – Trump's Cartel Policy Bypasses CongressTrump secretly authorizes military operations against Latin American cartels labeled as terrorist groups. The segment warns this could be a pretext for unauthorized wars. 03:54:18 – Abbott's Arrest Threat for Fleeing DemsTexas Governor Greg Abbott vows to keep calling special sessions indefinitely, ensuring Democrats who fled the state face arrest if they return, framing it as upholding constitutional duty. Follow the show on Kick and watch live every weekday 9:00am EST – 12:00pm EST https://kick.com/davidknightshow Money should have intrinsic value AND transactional privacy: Go to https://davidknight.gold/ for great deals on physical gold/silverFor 10% off Gerald Celente's prescient Trends Journal, go to https://trendsjournal.com/ and enter the code KNIGHTFind out more about the show and where you can watch it at TheDavidKnightShow.com If you would like to support the show and our family please consider subscribing monthly here: SubscribeStar https://www.subscribestar.com/the-david-knight-showOr you can send a donation throughMail: David Knight POB 994 Kodak, TN 37764Zelle: @DavidKnightShow@protonmail.comCash App at: $davidknightshowBTC to: bc1qkuec29hkuye4xse9unh7nptvu3y9qmv24vanh7Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-david-knight-show--2653468/support.

01:03:08 – CDC Shooting Over Vaccine InjuryDetails emerge on a gunman attacking CDC headquarters after blaming a COVID vaccine for his illness, killing a police officer. 01:06:33 – Kennedy Halts Some mRNA ContractsRFK Jr. announces BARDA is canceling $500 million in respiratory virus mRNA projects, citing mutation risks—but funding shifts to other vaccines. 01:17:16 – Safe Vaccine MythHost argues “safe vaccines” don't exist, citing the Supreme Court's “unavoidably unsafe” ruling and flaws in vaccine efficacy testing. 01:21:20 – MAGA Media's Blind SpotDiscussion on Trump's refusal to disavow Warp Speed and MAGA supporters' willingness to overlook vaccine harm for political loyalty. 01:33:35 – UK's Political Violence WarningOne in five Britons say political violence may be necessary to stop national decline, reflecting deep disaffection with government. 01:36:06 – Britain's Speech CrackdownUK's Online Safety Act and “non-crime hate incidents” lead to 30 arrests per day for speech, signaling authoritarian censorship. 01:43:12 – Wisconsin Bill for Vaccine Opt-Out NoticesA state lawmaker pushes to require schools to inform parents of their vaccine exemption rights, calling current procedures vague and restrictive. [01:48:32] – ADL CEO Greenblatt on Intermarriage & Jewish IdentityJonathan Greenblatt laments rising intermarriage rates among Jews, calling for a “revolution” in Jewish life to preserve identity. Criticism follows, pointing out the ADL's double standard—supporting intermarriage for others but not for Jews—and highlighting the group's racial hypocrisy. [02:06:26] – Netanyahu's Gaza War for Political SurvivalNetanyahu pushes for the capture of Gaza City and permanent control, aligning with hardline ministers. Analysts argue the war serves as both a settler expansion plan and a means to hold his fragile coalition together, even as international backlash grows and humanitarian conditions worsen. [02:32:26] – Zelensky Rejects Land Concessions in Peace TalksDespite an upcoming Trump-Putin summit in Alaska, Zelensky refuses any territorial concessions, including Crimea. Critics accuse him of prolonging the war for personal enrichment while public opinion in Ukraine shifts heavily toward negotiating peace rather than pursuing total victory. 03:08:45 – Trump Orders DC Crime SurgeFollowing a violent carjacking incident, Trump calls for increased federal law enforcement in DC. While praising heroism, the host warns this could morph into martial law and further centralization of power. 03:14:09 – Maxwell ‘Has Dirt on Trump' ClaimA former cellmate alleges Ghislaine Maxwell bragged about having damaging information on Trump. The discussion raises questions about possible leverage and political deals. 03:16:34 – FOIA Stonewalling on OKC BombingDecades-old Freedom of Information Act requests for surveillance tapes remain blocked. The host accuses the DOJ and FBI of deliberate cover-ups to protect operatives. 03:26:10 – Epstein's Butler Breaks SilenceEpstein's longtime Paris butler insists his boss didn't kill himself, noting future plans and upbeat demeanor before arrest. His extensive work at Epstein's other properties fuels skepticism. 03:46:03 – Trump's Cartel Policy Bypasses CongressTrump secretly authorizes military operations against Latin American cartels labeled as terrorist groups. The segment warns this could be a pretext for unauthorized wars. 03:54:18 – Abbott's Arrest Threat for Fleeing DemsTexas Governor Greg Abbott vows to keep calling special sessions indefinitely, ensuring Democrats who fled the state face arrest if they return, framing it as upholding constitutional duty. Follow the show on Kick and watch live every weekday 9:00am EST – 12:00pm EST https://kick.com/davidknightshow Money should have intrinsic value AND transactional privacy: Go to https://davidknight.gold/ for great deals on physical gold/silverFor 10% off Gerald Celente's prescient Trends Journal, go to https://trendsjournal.com/ and enter the code KNIGHTFind out more about the show and where you can watch it at TheDavidKnightShow.com If you would like to support the show and our family please consider subscribing monthly here: SubscribeStar https://www.subscribestar.com/the-david-knight-showOr you can send a donation throughMail: David Knight POB 994 Kodak, TN 37764Zelle: @DavidKnightShow@protonmail.comCash App at: $davidknightshowBTC to: bc1qkuec29hkuye4xse9unh7nptvu3y9qmv24vanh7Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-david-knight-show--5282736/support.

The lawsuit filed against the Loudoun County Sheriff's Department in Virginia last year by UFO whistleblower and former U.S. Air Force officer David Grusch was dismissed this week by a circuit court judge. Grusch filed the suit because he believed the department's decision to hand over documents related to a 2018 incident in which Grusch was involuntarily detained in a psychiatric facility for a mental health emergency to a reporter was illegal. Officials from the Department of Defense and Intelligence Community - after Grusch had gone public with claims that the Pentagon was covering up UFO crash retrieval and reverse engineering programs from the public - told reporter Ken Klippenstein about the 2018 incident. Klippenstein then filed Freedom of Information Act papers to obtain the documents, and used them to write a hit piece about Grusch. Also, the story of Argentinian Air Force Captain Hugo F. Niotti's incredible 1960 UFO encounter is recalled. Niotti was driving from Yacanto to Cordoba in October 1960 when he saw a cone-shaped UFO hovering above a field in broad daylight, so he stopped his car and snapped a photo of it.Links/Sources:SignalsIntelligence on X: "David Grusch's $2.3m lawsuit against against Loudoun County Sheriff Michael Chapman and a member of his staff has been permanently dismissed. Grusch filed the suit after the Sheriff released to journalist Ken Klippenstein a police incident report containing details of an https://t.co/HVx29hqoOZ" / XUFO whistleblower sues Sheriff's Office over records release | 1local | loudountimes.comTHE YACANTO, Cordoba, Argentina PHOTOGRAPH, 07-03-1960, UFO Casebook FilesSupport Extraterrestrial Reality/Quirk Zone on Patreon:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/c/Extraterrestrial_Reality⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Check out my YouTube channel:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Quirk Zone - YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Extraterrestrial Reality Book Recommendations:Link to ROSWELL: THE ULTIMATE COLD CASE: CLOSED: https://amzn.to/3O2loSILink to COMMUNION by Whitley Strieber: https://amzn.to/3xuPGqiLink to THE THREAT by David M. Jacobs: https://amzn.to/3Lk52njLink to TOP SECRET/MAJIC by Stanton Friedman: https://amzn.to/3xvidfvLink to NEED TO KNOW by Timothy Good:  https://amzn.to/3BNftfTLink to UFOS AND THE NATIONAL SECURITY STATE, VOLUME 1:  https://amzn.to/3xxJvlvLink to UFOS AND THE NATIONAL SECURITY STATE, VOLUME 2: https://amzn.to/3UhdQ1lLink to THE ALLAGASH ABDUCTIONS: https://amzn.to/3qNkLSgUFO CRASH RETRIEVALS by Leonard Stringfield: https://amzn.to/3RGEZKsFLYING SAUCERS FROM OUTER SPACE by Major Donald Keyhoe: https://amzn.to/3S7WkxvCAPTURED: THE BETTY AND BARNEY HILL UFO EXPERIENCE by Stanton Friedman and Kathleen Marden: https://amzn.to/3tKNVXn

The lawsuit filed against the Loudoun County Sheriff's Department in Virginia last year by UFO whistleblower and former U.S. Air Force officer David Grusch was dismissed this week by a circuit court judge. Grusch filed the suit because he believed the department's decision to hand over documents related to a 2018 incident in which Grusch was involuntarily detained in a psychiatric facility for a mental health emergency to a reporter was illegal. Officials from the Department of Defense and Intelligence Community - after Grusch had gone public with claims that the Pentagon was covering up UFO crash retrieval and reverse engineering programs from the public - told reporter Ken Klippenstein about the 2018 incident. Klippenstein then filed Freedom of Information Act papers to obtain the documents, and used them to write a hit piece about Grusch. Also, the story of Argentinian Air Force Captain Hugo F. Niotti's incredible 1960 UFO encounter is recalled. Niotti was driving from Yacanto to Cordoba in October 1960 when he saw a cone-shaped UFO hovering above a field in broad daylight, so he stopped his car and snapped a photo of it.Links/Sources:SignalsIntelligence on X: "David Grusch's $2.3m lawsuit against against Loudoun County Sheriff Michael Chapman and a member of his staff has been permanently dismissed. Grusch filed the suit after the Sheriff released to journalist Ken Klippenstein a police incident report containing details of an https://t.co/HVx29hqoOZ" / XUFO whistleblower sues Sheriff's Office over records release | 1local | loudountimes.comTHE YACANTO, Cordoba, Argentina PHOTOGRAPH, 07-03-1960, UFO Casebook FilesSupport Extraterrestrial Reality/Quirk Zone on Patreon:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/c/Extraterrestrial_Reality⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Check out my YouTube channel:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Quirk Zone - YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Extraterrestrial Reality Book Recommendations:Link to ROSWELL: THE ULTIMATE COLD CASE: CLOSED: https://amzn.to/3O2loSILink to COMMUNION by Whitley Strieber: https://amzn.to/3xuPGqiLink to THE THREAT by David M. Jacobs: https://amzn.to/3Lk52njLink to TOP SECRET/MAJIC by Stanton Friedman: https://amzn.to/3xvidfvLink to NEED TO KNOW by Timothy Good:  https://amzn.to/3BNftfTLink to UFOS AND THE NATIONAL SECURITY STATE, VOLUME 1:  https://amzn.to/3xxJvlvLink to UFOS AND THE NATIONAL SECURITY STATE, VOLUME 2: https://amzn.to/3UhdQ1lLink to THE ALLAGASH ABDUCTIONS: https://amzn.to/3qNkLSgUFO CRASH RETRIEVALS by Leonard Stringfield: https://amzn.to/3RGEZKsFLYING SAUCERS FROM OUTER SPACE by Major Donald Keyhoe: https://amzn.to/3S7WkxvCAPTURED: THE BETTY AND BARNEY HILL UFO EXPERIENCE by Stanton Friedman and Kathleen Marden: https://amzn.to/3tKNVXn

Australian reporter Ross Coulthart stated during a recent podcast that he has learned from an unnamed insider that the so-called “Tic Tac” UFO witnessed by the U.S.S. Nimitz Navy pilots in 2004 was built by aerospace/defense contractor Lockheed-Martin. Also, astronomers have identified a new interstellar object entering our solar system that is much larger than anything else recorded previously. A Freedom of Information Act request has netted the actual 4-second video of an object captured by a U.S. military platform over the skies of Mosul, Iraq, in 2016. Finally, a discussion on why extraterrestrials are reported to sometimes train abductees to operate their anomalous transportation machines.Links/Sources:Need to Know #65 - Whose Tech Is It? (July 2025)Stellar on X: "On our latest NEED TO KNOW, my co-host Ross Coulthart states straight-out that the Tic Tac UAP is Lockheed-Martin technology. As is obvious from this clip, I didn't see this one coming at all. You can watch the entire show here for complete context: https://t.co/HHOi9oBQMU If https://t.co/DYUtMyxS6i" / XAstronomers have discovered another puzzling interstellar object—this third one is big, bright and fastNASA confirms that mysterious object shooting through the solar system is an 'interstellar visitor' — and it has a new name | Live ScienceFOIA Crack Opens: ‘Mosul Orb' UFO Video Finally Goes Public — Liberation Times | Reimagining Old NewsThe Return Of The Mosul Orb UAP - And What It Means For Transparency : WEAPONIZED : Episode #81Mick West on X: "My thoughts on the Mosul Orb, which I think is probably a balloon, based on 3D analysis. https://t.co/7ddLxsUtgQ" / XParalyzed by a Beam, Taught by Aliens - The Coates, Minnesota abduction. July 1996. : HumanoidencountersSupport Extraterrestrial Reality/Quirk Zone on Patreon:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/c/Extraterrestrial_Reality⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Check out my YouTube channel:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Quirk Zone - YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Extraterrestrial Reality Book Recommendations:Link to ROSWELL: THE ULTIMATE COLD CASE: CLOSED: https://amzn.to/3O2loSILink to COMMUNION by Whitley Strieber: https://amzn.to/3xuPGqiLink to THE THREAT by David M. Jacobs: https://amzn.to/3Lk52njLink to TOP SECRET/MAJIC by Stanton Friedman: https://amzn.to/3xvidfvLink to NEED TO KNOW by Timothy Good:  https://amzn.to/3BNftfTLink to UFOS AND THE NATIONAL SECURITY STATE, VOLUME 1:  https://amzn.to/3xxJvlvLink to UFOS AND THE NATIONAL SECURITY STATE, VOLUME 2: https://amzn.to/3UhdQ1lLink to THE ALLAGASH ABDUCTIONS: https://amzn.to/3qNkLSgUFO CRASH RETRIEVALS by Leonard Stringfield: https://amzn.to/3RGEZKsFLYING SAUCERS FROM OUTER SPACE by Major Donald Keyhoe: https://amzn.to/3S7WkxvCAPTURED: THE BETTY AND BARNEY HILL UFO EXPERIENCE by Stanton Friedman and Kathleen Marden: https://amzn.to/3tKNVXn

Australian reporter Ross Coulthart stated during a recent podcast that he has learned from an unnamed insider that the so-called “Tic Tac” UFO witnessed by the U.S.S. Nimitz Navy pilots in 2004 was built by aerospace/defense contractor Lockheed-Martin. Also, astronomers have identified a new interstellar object entering our solar system that is much larger than anything else recorded previously. A Freedom of Information Act request has netted the actual 4-second video of an object captured by a U.S. military platform over the skies of Mosul, Iraq, in 2016. Finally, a discussion on why extraterrestrials are reported to sometimes train abductees to operate their anomalous transportation machines.Links/Sources:Need to Know #65 - Whose Tech Is It? (July 2025)Stellar on X: "On our latest NEED TO KNOW, my co-host Ross Coulthart states straight-out that the Tic Tac UAP is Lockheed-Martin technology. As is obvious from this clip, I didn't see this one coming at all. You can watch the entire show here for complete context: https://t.co/HHOi9oBQMU If https://t.co/DYUtMyxS6i" / XAstronomers have discovered another puzzling interstellar object—this third one is big, bright and fastNASA confirms that mysterious object shooting through the solar system is an 'interstellar visitor' — and it has a new name | Live ScienceFOIA Crack Opens: ‘Mosul Orb' UFO Video Finally Goes Public — Liberation Times | Reimagining Old NewsThe Return Of The Mosul Orb UAP - And What It Means For Transparency : WEAPONIZED : Episode #81Mick West on X: "My thoughts on the Mosul Orb, which I think is probably a balloon, based on 3D analysis. https://t.co/7ddLxsUtgQ" / XParalyzed by a Beam, Taught by Aliens - The Coates, Minnesota abduction. July 1996. : HumanoidencountersSupport Extraterrestrial Reality/Quirk Zone on Patreon:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/c/Extraterrestrial_Reality⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Check out my YouTube channel:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Quirk Zone - YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Extraterrestrial Reality Book Recommendations:Link to ROSWELL: THE ULTIMATE COLD CASE: CLOSED: https://amzn.to/3O2loSILink to COMMUNION by Whitley Strieber: https://amzn.to/3xuPGqiLink to THE THREAT by David M. Jacobs: https://amzn.to/3Lk52njLink to TOP SECRET/MAJIC by Stanton Friedman: https://amzn.to/3xvidfvLink to NEED TO KNOW by Timothy Good:  https://amzn.to/3BNftfTLink to UFOS AND THE NATIONAL SECURITY STATE, VOLUME 1:  https://amzn.to/3xxJvlvLink to UFOS AND THE NATIONAL SECURITY STATE, VOLUME 2: https://amzn.to/3UhdQ1lLink to THE ALLAGASH ABDUCTIONS: https://amzn.to/3qNkLSgUFO CRASH RETRIEVALS by Leonard Stringfield: https://amzn.to/3RGEZKsFLYING SAUCERS FROM OUTER SPACE by Major Donald Keyhoe: https://amzn.to/3S7WkxvCAPTURED: THE BETTY AND BARNEY HILL UFO EXPERIENCE by Stanton Friedman and Kathleen Marden: https://amzn.to/3tKNVXn

Mike Stephen goes inside a new occult gallery in Logan Square called Covet Oddities, learns about the limitations of the Freedom of Information Act in Illinois with Better Government Association financial policy analyst Sophia Van Pelt, and highlights the great work of La Casa Norte's Hope for Homes Day initiative with executive director Jose Munoz.

Brett recently made an appearance on William Ramsey Investigates with top Hollywood-DC researcher and writer Matthew Alford to discuss the murder of deep state-connected Hollywood screenwriter Gary DeVore. Brett interviewed Alford about his 2016 book on the DeVore case—The Writer with No Hands—for the latest issue of Cultural Engineering Studies. The discussion on the show touches on Hollywood's vast relationship to the federal government and the clandestine world more broadly, as well as the history and challenges of using FOIA (the Freedom of Information Act) to obtain documents from the government regarding its collaborations with the entertainment industry.Note: The livestream of this conversation experienced some audio issues, such issues have been edited out as much as possible https://drmattalford.substack.com/https://www.youtube.com/@DrMatthewAlfordhttps://www.amazon.com/Writer-No-Hands-Pocket-sized/dp/1530649870/https://www.williamramseyinvestigates.com/https://decoding-culture.com/cultural-engineering-studies-issue-2/https://decoding-culture.com/cultural-engineering-studies-issue-2/#interview-with-matthew-alfordhttps://twitter.com/CinemaPsyophttps://www.patreon.com/PsyopCinemahttp://psyop-cinema.com/https://linktr.ee/psyopcinemathomas-psyopcinema@protonmail.combrett-psyopcinema@protonmail.com   

The Supreme Court handed a win to President Donald Trump's Department of Government Efficiency on Friday, granting the efficiency unit access to records at the Social Security Administration. The unsigned opinion provides the Elon Musk-associated DOGE with even more access to sensitive government information to fulfill its mission of making government more efficient. Just last month, the team also gained access to payment systems at the Department of Treasury. The ruling also comes at an awkward time for the DOGE, as Musk — its creator — and Trump are in the midst of an apparent falling out on social media. Per the decision, a majority of the justices voted to grant the administration's request to stay a lower court decision and concluded that “SSA may proceed to afford members of the SSA DOGE Team access to the agency records in question in order for those members to do their work.” Justices voted on political lines, with liberals Elena Kagan, Ketanji Brown Jackson and Sonia Sotomayor saying they would have denied the government's application for a stay. Simultaneously on Friday, the Supreme Court handed a second win to the DOGE, shielding it from producing documents as part of a discovery process in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. More federal workers would have access to artificial intelligence training under a bill reintroduced in the House on Thursday by Rep. Nancy Mace. The AI Training Extension Act of 2025 aims to expand the Artificial Intelligence Training for the Acquisition Workforce Act, which was signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2022, by offering available AI training to more pools of federal employees beyond the acquisition workforce, including “supervisors, managers, and frontline staff in data and technology roles,” according to a release from the South Carolina Republican's office. Chair of the House Oversight Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation, Mace previously introduced the bill in 2023 during the 118th Congress with Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., who passed away last month. Rep. Shontel Brown, D-Ohio, is a co-sponsor of the reintroduced bill. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

Story of the Week (DR):The Baby Billionaire Bromance is Over: Savannah Guthrie Says Elon Musk and Donald Trump Are 'Giving 7th Grade Girl' as President Says Tesla CEO 'Has Lost His Mind'"It's so confusing isn't it? So much going wrong, so much to say, and all of it happening so quickly. The pace of oppression outstrips our ability to understand it. And that is the real trick of the Imperial thought machine.”BlackRock removed from Texas boycott list after quitting climate groupsIn a notable reversal, Texas removed BlackRock from its investment blacklistThis decision followed BlackRock's withdrawal from several climate-focused initiatives, including the Net Zero Asset Managers alliance and Climate Action 100+Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar cited these actions, along with BlackRock's support for the new Texas Stock Exchange, as reasons for the delisting.“More than $4 billion in Texas funds are invested with BlackRock,” the rep said.The Larry Fink-led company had $11.55 trillion in assets under management at the end of the fourth quarter in 2024.0.0346% Is that possible?Larry Fink; $31M; $11M bonus: “These amounts represent the discretionary annual cash Bonuses … The amount of incentive compensation awarded … was based on subjective criteria”“Lead in a changing world: Completed the creation of a more modern and unified Corporate Affairs function and leveraged the function to refresh the firm's corporate narrative and strengthen its brand.”“Corporate sustainability: Achieved BlackRock's 100% renewable electricity match goal and enhanced the Company's approach to procuring market solutions.”32% said NO on Pay (BlackRock owns 6% of BlackRock)99% said NO to Bowyer Research's theatrical request for a report on “risks related to a perceived shift away from a traditional understanding of fiduciary responsibility to stakeholder capitalism, implied by its assent to the Business Roundtable's Statement on the Purpose of a Corporation, as well as a high-profile embrace of ESG and DEI.”BlackRock CEO Larry Fink has some words of wisdom for leaders navigating the age of populism and social media: Watch what you say: "You have to be a lot more guarded. I can't say everything I really want to say to all of you right now. The reality is you have to be a lot more systematic in what you say and how you say it internally or externally. I mean, we live in a terrarium today. We live in a glass bottle."Big brands are pulling back on Pride merchandise and events this year MMCorporate America Pulls Back from PRIDE in 2025, No Rainbow Logos from Big Brands as June StartsUnitedHealth Group AGM:94% average director support93% Stephen HemsleyHemsley is stepping forward to acknowledge the fallout and chart a new course, promising a comprehensive review of some of the company's most controversial practices.The Wall Street Journal noted in its report on the company's annual shareholder meeting on Monday that Hemsley apologized for UnitedHealth's recent performance and cited a need to rethink many internal processes.99% for directors like Paul Garcia (2021/ former CEO of Global Payments) and Kristen Gil (2022/former VP, Business Finance Officer at Alphabet)92% for Michele Hooper (2007/Lead Independent Director/CEO of The Directors' Council, a private company she co-founded in 2003 that works with corporate boards to increase their independence, effectiveness and diversity)-12% gender influence gap/only 3 women/zero committee chairs)Lowest vote is John Noseworthy, M.D. (86%) former CEO of the Mayo Clinic40% NO on PaySHP excessive golden parachutes 13% YESThe board authorized the payment of a cash dividend of $2.21 per share, up from the prior dividend of $2.10, to be paid June 24 to common stock shareholders of record as of the close of business June 16Hemsley: as of the proxy date: $2.8M (as of 5/16: $3.8M)The previous dividend was $2.10 per share, paid on March 18, 2025The company also suspended its 2025 outlook.Goodliest of the Week (MM/DR):DR: The Trump EPA tried to bury some good newsA climate report acquired by a Freedom of Information Act request shows that U.S. climate pollution declined in 2023.The EPA report documents that in 2023, U.S. climate pollution fell by 2.3%. That's about 147 million metric tons, or MMT, of reduced carbon dioxide-equivalent greenhouse gases.2023 was the first full year after President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act, the Democrats' signature climate law that committed hundreds of billions of dollars to reducing climate pollution.DR: How a Peruvian farmer's legal defeat raised new risks for companies DRPeruvian farmer Saúl Luciano Lliuya filed a lawsuit against German energy company RWE, asserting that the company's greenhouse gas emissions contributed to the melting of glaciers near his hometown of Huaraz, Peru.This glacial melt increases the risk of flooding from Lake Palcacocha, threatening his community. Lliuya sought approximately $17,500 from RWE, representing 0.47% of the estimated $4 million needed for flood defenses, corresponding to RWE's estimated share of global emissions since the industrial era began. On May 28, 2025, the Higher Regional Court in Hamm, Germany, dismissed Lliuya's lawsuit. The court acknowledged the legal principle that major greenhouse gas emitters can be held liable for climate-related damages. However, it concluded that the specific threat to Lliuya's property was not sufficiently imminent to warrant compensation. While Lliuya did not secure the compensation sought, the court's recognition of potential corporate liability for climate damages sets a precedent. This acknowledgment may influence future climate litigation, encouraging individuals and communities to hold major emitters accountable for their contributions to climate change.MM: HahahahahahahahahaMusk says SpaceX will decommission Dragon spacecraft after Trump threatElon Musk Melts Down, Claims Trump Is In The "Epstein Files" and That's the Reason They Haven't Been ReleasedElon Musk Declares That He's "Immediately" Cutting Off NASA's Access to SpaceMusk Privately Complaining That His Immense Donations to Trump Didn't Even Buy Him Control of NASAElon Musk claims ‘without me, Trump would have lost the election'Assholiest of the Week (MM): Proxy advisorsZevra TherapeuticsISS added, “...the board's concerns about having a former CEO on the board and potential disruption are valid.”Out of 92,594 active directors in MSCI data from February, 3,123 are tagged as “former executives” at the company they're on the board of522 US companies are on the list - FIVE HUNDRED AND TWENTY TWOThat includes at least one company - National Healthcare Corp - with FOUR former executives on the boardIt also includes 104 large cap companies - like Hewlett Packard, with 3 former execs!Glass Lewis highlighted, “Mr. Regan has limited, dated, and unrelated public board service,”Egan-Jones also questioned the relevant expertise of Mangless' nominees, stating, “…we do not believe Mr. Regan's background in proxy solicitation offers meaningful value in the context of Zevra's boardroom.”Unrelated public board experience?? So you definitely suggested voting against Dana White at Meta? Or Peltz at Disney and his deep media experience? We look at director knowledge pulled from every bio, school, and degree we can get our hands on and standardized the knowledge types in our dataSo we know the average type of knowledge of directors in a given sector - and who DOESN'T have itOur data suggests that only 22% of directors have direct/core knowledge relevant to their industry - less than 1 in 4Shall we vote against the other 78% of directors??Glass Lewis also said that “publication of certain social media activity by Mr. Regan appears to suggest something of a blithe approach to compliance...”Elon?RobotsAmazon ‘testing humanoid robots to deliver packages'FBI says Palm Springs bombing suspects used AI chat program to help plan attackOpenAI to appeal copyright ruling in NY Times case as Altman calls for 'AI privilege'“Talking to AI should be like talking to a doctor or lawyer”Walmart plans to expand drone deliveries to three more statesWaymo's Self-Driving Taxis Have a Hilarious Problem That's Driving People BananasThey honk when backing up“Reverse discrimination” DRDismissed by DEI: Trump's Purge Made Black Women With Stable Federal Jobs an “Easy Target”Quay Crowner was among the top education officials who enrolled in the “diversity change agent program.”Crowner was abruptly placed on leave under Trump's executive order to dismantle DEI programs across the federal government.Her current job as the director of outreach, impact and engagement at the Education Department was not connected to diversity initiatives.More troubling, she said, was that she was the only person on her team who had been let go, and her bosses refused to answer her questions about her dismissal.When she and colleagues from different departments began comparing notes, they found they had one thing in common. They had all attended the training encouraged under DeVos. They also noticed something else: Most of them were Black women.“We have observed approximately 90% of the workers targeted for terminations due to a perceived association with diversity, equity and inclusion efforts are women or nonbinary,”Trump Appoints 22-Year-Old Ex-Gardener and Grocery Store Assistant to Lead U.S. Terror PreventionThe data:We don't have proxy season results in the system yet, but we do have data between August 2024 and May 2025 with results lagThe early results for US companies:54 have become “more manly” - added men, removed women95 have become “more womanly” - added women, removed menGOOD RIGHT? Or…1,163 companies had man “power ups” - men got more influence1,075 companies had female “power ups” - so men are getting fewer board seats, but more power at more companies?SECRET: expand the board and add men! 422 boards expanded between Aug and May, and 362 seats went to men and 181 to women - literally 2:1 ratio!574 US companies now have 2 or fewer women on the boards - up 8 companies between Aug and May, and results aren't even in the antiwoke Trump eraRetail investorsVOTEAccused UnitedHealthcare CEO killer Luigi Mangione said executive ‘had it coming,' prosecutors revealUnitedHealth investors approve new CEO's $60M pay package despite turmoil following top executive's assassinationUS-Boeing deal over 737 Max crashes ‘morally repugnant', says lawyer for victims' familiesLowest vote result from April for board: 92% in favor of Robert Bradway, everyone else 94% or better - including 98% in favor of OrtbergHeadliniest of the WeekDR: In light of headlines like this: Meta's Platforms Have Become a Cesspool of Hatred Against Queer People I wanted to point out this op-ed from the NYT: Anthropic C.E.O.: Don't Let A.I. Companies off the Hook Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei opposes a proposed 10-year federal ban on state AI regulation, calling it "too blunt" for the rapidly evolving technology.He argues that AI could fundamentally change the world within just a couple of years, making a decade-long freeze risky and impractical.Amodei warns the ban would leave states unable to act and the nation without a coherent federal policy, exposing the public to AI risks.He cites real-world examples of risky AI behavior, such as Anthropic's own model threatening to leak user emails, to highlight the need for oversight.Instead of a moratorium, Amodei urges Congress and the White House to establish a national transparency standard requiring AI companies to publicly disclose testing protocols, risk mitigation strategies, and safety measures before releasing new modelsMM: The maker of Taser is the highest paid CEO, taking home $165 million—his new pay package and soaring stock made him a billionaire last yearWho Won the Week?DR: The meritocracy: Meet Thomas Fugate: 22-year-old ex-gardener and grocery store assistant to lead $18 million terror prevention teamMM: After reading no fewer than 12 hours and 500 stories of the Musk/Trump feud, I've concluded this week there are no winners. We're all losers.PredictionsDR: Musk Challenges Trump to Cage Match on Mars: ‘Winner Gets X, Loser Gets Truth Social" but actually… their hatred for all things DEI/gay is too much to keep them apart, especially in the month of Pride and JuneteenthMM: The 19 analysts covering Palantir stock are given umbrellas by their respective firms after Trump may team with a tech company to create a database of Americans, just two months after CEO Alex Karp said that Wall Street analysts who "tried to screw" the company should be sprayed with "light fentanyl-laced urine" from drones.CALLBACK ALERT: Glass Lewis also said that “publication of certain social media activity by Mr. Regan appears to suggest something of a blithe approach to compliance...”

Recently I was asked to review a forthcoming book for American Scientist magazine. The book was entitled, Sweet and Deadly: How Coca-Cola Spreads Disinformation and Makes us Sick. I did the review, and now that the book has been published, I'm delighted that its author, Murray Carpenter, has agreed to join us. Mr. Carpenter is a journalist and author whose work has appeared in publications such as the New York Times, and the Washington Post, and has been featured in places like NPR's All Things Considered and Morning Edition. Interview Summary So, let's start with your career overall. Your journalism has covered a wide range of topics. But a major focus has been on what people consume. First, with your book Caffeinated and now with Sweet and Deadly. What brought you to this interest? My interest in caffeine is longstanding. Like many of us, I consume caffeine daily in the form of coffee. And I just felt like with caffeine, many of us don't really discuss the fact that it is a drug, and it is at least a mildly addictive drug. And so, I became fascinated with that enough to write a book. And that really led me directly in an organic fashion to this project. Because when I would discuss caffeine with people, mostly they just kind of wanted the cliff notes. Is my habit healthy? You know, how much caffeine should I take? And, and in short, I would tell them, you know, if you don't suffer from anxiety or insomnia and you're consuming your caffeine in a healthy beverage, well, that's fine. But, what I realized, of course, is that by volume, the caffeinated beverage people consume most of is sodas. And so that led me to thinking more about sodas because I got a lot of questions about the caffeine in sodas. And that led me to realize just the degree to which they are unhealthful. We've all known sodas not to be a health food, but I think that the degree to which they are not healthy surprised me. And that's what led me to this book. Yes, there's some very interesting themes aren't there with addiction and manipulation of ingredients in order to get people hooked on things. So let's talk about Coca-Cola a bit. Your book focuses on Coca-Cola. It's right there in the title. And certainly, they're giants in the beverage field. But are there other reasons that led you to focus on them? Other than that, the fact that they're the biggest? They're the biggest and really almost synonymous with sodas worldwide. I mean, many people don't say ‘I want a pop, I want a soda.' They say, ‘I want a Coke.' I quote a source as saying that. You know, what that means is you want a sugar sweetened beverage. And it's not just that they're the most successful at this game, and the biggest. But as I started doing this research, I realized that they have also been the most aggressive and the most successful at this sort of disinformation that's the focus of the book. At generating these health campaigns, these science disinformation campaigns, we should say. This is not to say Pepsi and Dr. Pepper have not been at this game as well, and often through the American Beverage Association. But it is to say that I think Coca-Cola has been the most sophisticated. The most invested in these campaigns. And I would argue the most successful. And so, I really think it's a league apart and that's why I wanted to focus on Coca-Cola. That makes good sense. So, in reading your book, I was struck by the sheer number of ways Coca-Cola protected their business interest at the expense of public health and also the degree to which it was coordinated and calculated. Let's take several examples of such activities and discuss exactly what the company has done. And I'd love your opinion on this. One thing you noted that Coke acted partly through other organizations, one of which you just mentioned, the American Beverage Association. There were others where there was sort of a false sense of scientific credibility. Can you explain more about what Coke did in this area? Yes, and one of the organizations that I think is perhaps the exemplar of this behavior is the International Life Sciences Institute. It's a very successful, very well-funded group that purports to you know, improve the health of people, worldwide. It was founded by a Coca-Cola staffer and has, you know, essentially carried water for Coke for years through a variety of direct and indirect ways. But so front groups, the successful use of front groups: and this is to say groups that don't immediately appear to be associated, say with Coca-Cola. If you hear the International Life Sciences Institute, no one immediately thinks Coca-Cola, except for people who study this a lot. The International Food Information Council, another very closely related front group. This is one of the ways that Coke has done its work is through the use of front groups. And some of them are sort of these more temporary front groups that they'll establish for specific campaigns. For example, to fight soda taxes in specific areas. And they often have very anodyne names, and names again that don't directly link them to Coca-Cola or a beverage, the beverage industry. And the reason that this is so important and the reason this is so effective is journalists know if they were saying, Coca-Cola says soda isn't bad for you, of course that raises red flags. If they say, the International Life Sciences Institute says it's not bad for you, if they say the International Food Information Council says it's not bad for you. The use of front groups has been one of the very effective and persistent, strategies. It almost sounds like the word deception could be written the charter of these organizations, couldn't it? Because it was really meant to disguise Coca-Cola's role in these things from the very get go. That's right. Yes. And the deception runs very deep. One of the things that I happened onto in the course of reporting this book, Sweet and Deadly, is Coca-Cola two different times, organized three-day seminars on obesity in Colorado. These two attendees appeared to be sponsored by a press organization and the University of Colorado. They were funded and structured entirely at the behest of Coca-Cola. And it wasn't until after people had attended these seminars and reported stories based on the findings that they'd learned there. Much, much later did people find out that yes, actually these were Coca-Cola initiatives. So yes, deception, runs deep and it's a huge part of their public relations strategy. It's like reputation laundering, almost. Well, it is, and, you know, I make frequent analogies to the tobacco industry in the book. And I think one of the things that's important to remember when we're looking at tobacco and when we're looking at Coca-Cola, at the soda industry writ large, is that these are industries that are producing products that science now shows unequivocally are unhelpful. Even at moderate levels of consumption. So, in order for the industry to continue selling this product, to continue leading, they really have to fight back. It's imperative. It's a risk to their business model if they don't do something to fight the emerging health science. And so, yes, it's very important to them. You know, it's easy, I guess, to ascribe this kind of behavior to ill meaning people within these organizations. But it's almost written into the DNA of these organizations. I mean, you said they have to do this. So, it's pretty much be expected, isn't. It is. I think young people when they hear something like this, they often shrug and say capitalism. And, yes, there's something to that. But capitalism thrives also in a regulated environment. I think that's maybe a little bit too simplistic. But the aspect of it that does apply here is that Coca-Cola is in the business of selling sugar water. That's what they're there to do. Granted, they've diversified into other products, but they are in the business of selling sugar water. Anything that threatens that business model is a threat to their bottom line. And so, they are going to fight it tooth and nail. So how did Coca-Cola influence big health organizations like the World Health Organization and any equivalent bodies in the US? Well, so a few different ways. One of the ways that Coca-Cola has really extended its influence is again, through the use of the front groups to carry messages such as, you know, a calorie is a calorie. Calories and calories out. That's, that's one of the strategies. Another is by having allies in high places politically. And sometimes these are political appointees that happen to be associated with Coca-Cola. Other times these are politicians who are getting funding from Coca-Cola. But, yes, they have worked hard. I mean, the WHO is an interesting one because the WHO really has been out a little bit ahead of the more national bodies in terms of wanting soda taxes, et cetera. But there's a subtler way too, I think, that it influences any of these political entities and these science groups, is that Coca-Cola it's such an all-American beverage. I don't think we can overstate this. It's almost more American than apple pie. And I think we still have not sort of made that shift to then seeing it as something that's unhealthful. And I do think that that has, sort of, put the brakes slightly on regulatory actions here in the US. Let's talk about the Global Energy Balance Network, because this was an especially pernicious part of the overall Coca-Cola strategy. Would you tell us about that and how particular scientists, people of note in our field, by the way, were being paid large sums of money and then delivering things that supported industries positions. Yes. This was a Coca-Cola initiative. And we have to be clear on this. This was designed and created at the behest of Coca-Cola staffers. This was an initiative that was really an effort to shift the balance to the calories outside of the equation. So energy balance is one of these, sort of, themes that Coca-Cola and other people have, sort of, made great hay with. And this idea would be just calories and calories out. That's all that matters. If you're just balanced there, everything else is to be okay. We can talk about that later. I think most of your listeners probably understand that, you know, a calorie of Coca-Cola is not nutritionally equivalent to a calorie of kale. But that's what the Global Energy Balance Network was really trying to focus on. And yes, luminaries in the field of obesity science, you know, Stephen Blair at the University of South Carolina, Jim Hill, then at the University of Colorado's Anschutz Center, the Global Energy Balance Network funded their labs with more than a million dollars to specifically focus on this issue of energy balance. Now, what was deceptive here, and I think it's really worth noting, is that Coca-Cola developed this project. But once it developed the project and gave the funding, it did not want to be associated with it. It wasn't the Global Energy Balance Network 'brought to you by Coca-Cola.' It appeared to be a freestanding nonprofit. And it looked like it was going to be a very effective strategy for Coca-Cola, but it didn't turn out that way. So, we'll talk about that in a minute. How much impact did this have? Did it matter that Coke gave money to these several scientists you mentioned? Well, I think yes. I think in the broader scheme of things that every increment of scientific funding towards this side matters. You know, people talk about the science of industrial distraction or industrial selection. And, you know, partly this is this idea that even if you're funding legitimate science, right, but it's focused on this ‘calories outside of the equation,' it's sucking up some of the oxygen in the room. Some of the public conversation is going to be shifted from the harmful effects of a product, say Coca-Cola, to the benefits of exercise. And so, yes, I think all of this kind of funding can make a difference. And it influences public opinion. So how close were the relationships between the Coca-Cola executives and the scientist? I mean, did they just write them a check and say, go do your science and we will let you come up with whatever you will, or were they colluding more than that? And they were colluding much more than that. And I've got a shout out here to the Industry Documents Library at the University of California at San Francisco, which is meticulously archived. A lot of the emails that show all of the interrelationships here. Yes, they were not just chatting cordially - scientists to Coca-Cola Corporation. They were mutually developing strategies. They were often ready at a moment's notice to appear at a press conference on Coca-Cola's behalf. So, yes, it was a very direct, very close relationship that certainly now that we see the conversations, it's unseemly at best. How did this all come to light? Because you said these documents are in this archive at UCSF. How did they come to light in the first place and how did shining light on this, you know, sort of pseudo-organization take place? Well, here we have to credit, New York Times reporter, now at the Washington Post, Anahad O'Connor, who did yeoman's work to investigate the Global Energy Balance Network. And it was his original FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) requests that got a lot of these emails that are now in the industry document library. He requested these documents and then he built his story in large part off of these documents. And it was a front-page New York Times expose and, Coke had a lot of egg on its face. It's then CEO, even apologized, you know, in an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal. And you know, the sort of a secondary aspect of this is after this funding was exposed, Coca-Cola was pressured to reveal other health funding that it had been spending money on. And that was, I think over a few years like $133 million. They spread their money around to a lot of different organizations and in some cases the organizations, it was just good will. In other cases, you had organizations that changed their position on key policy initiatives after receiving the funding. But it was a lot of money. So, the Global Energy Balance Network, it is sort of opened a chink in their armor and gave people a view inside the machine. And there's something else that I'd love to mention that I think is really important about the Global Energy Balance Network and about that initiative. As Coca-Cola seems, and this became clear in the reporting of the book over and over again, they seem always to be three moves ahead on the chess board. They're not just putting out a brush fires. They're looking way down the road. How do we head off the challenge that we're facing in public opinion? How do we head off the challenge we're facing in terms of soda science? And in many cases, they've been very, very effective at this. Were Coca-Cola's efforts mainly to influence policies and things in the US or did they have their eyes outside the US as well? I focused the book, the reporting of the book, really on Coca-Cola in the US. And also, and I just want to mention this tangentially, it's also focused not on non-nutritive sweetened beverages, but the sugary beverages. It's pretty tightly focused. But yes, Coca-Cola, through other organizations, particularly the International Life Sciences Institute, has very much tried to influence policy say in China, for example, which is a huge market. So yes, they've exported this very successful PR strategy globally. So, the corporate activities, like the ones you describe in your book, can be pretty clearly damaging to the public's health. What in the heck can be done? I mean, who will the change agents be? And do you think there's any hope of curtailing this kind of dreadful activity? Well, this is something I thought about a lot. One of the themes of the book is that the balance of public opinion has never tipped against Coca-Cola. And we talked about this earlier, that it's still seen as this all American product. And we see with other industries and other products. So, you know, Philip Morris, smoking, Marlboro. Eventually the balance of public opinion tips against them and people accept that they're unhealthful and that they've been misleading the public. The same thing happened for Exxon and climate change, Purdue pharma and Oxycontin. It's a pattern we see over and over again. With Coca-Cola, it hasn't tipped yet. And I think once it does, it will be easier for public health advocates to make their case. In terms of who the change agents might be, here we have a really interesting conversation, right? Because the foremost change agent right now looks like it's RFK Jr. (Robert F. Kennedy), which is pretty remarkable and generates an awful lot of shall we say, cognitive dissonance, right? Because both the spending of SNAP Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program funds for sodas, he's opposed to that. He has just as recently as the week before last called sugar poison. He said sugar is poison. These are the kinds of very direct, very forceful, high level, initiatives that we really haven't seen at a federal level yet. So, it's possible that he will be nudging the balance. And it puts, of course, everybody who's involved, every public health advocate, I think, who is involved with this issue in a slightly uncomfortable or very uncomfortable position. Yes. You know, as I think about the kind of settings where I've worked and this conflict-of-interest problem with scientists taking money and doing things in favor of industry. And I wonder who the change agents are going to be. It's a pretty interesting picture comes with that. Because if you ask scientists whether money taints research, they'll say yes. But if you ask, would it taint your research, they'll say no. Because of course I am so unbiased and I'm so pure that it really wouldn't affect what I do. So, that's how scientists justify it. Some scientists don't take money from industry and there are no problems with conflicts of interest. But the ones who do can pretty easily justify it along with saying things like, well, I can help change the industry from within if I'm in the door, and things like that. The universities can't really police it because universities are getting corporate funding. Maybe not from that particular company, but overall. Their solution to this is the same as the scientific journals, that you just have to disclose. The kind of problem with disclosure as I see it, is that it - sort of editorializing here and you're the guest, so I apologize for intruding on that - but the problem with disclosure is that why do you need to disclose something in the first place because there's something potentially wrong? Well, the solution then isn't disclose it, it's not to do it. And disclosing is like if I come up and kick you in the leg, it's okay if I disclose it? I mean, it's just, there's something sort of perverse about that whole system. Journals there, you know, they want disclosure. The big scientific association, many of them are getting money from industry as well. So, industry has so permeated the system that it's hard to think about who can have any impact. And I think the press, I think it's journalists like you who can make a difference. You know, it wasn't the scientific organizations or anything else that got in the way of the Global Energy Balance Network. It was Anahad O'Connor writing in the New York Times, and all the people who were involved in exposing that. And you with your book. So that's sort of long-winded way of saying thank you. What you've done is really important and there are precious few change agents out there. And so, we have to rely on talented and passionate people like you to get that work done. So, thank you so much for sharing it with us. Let me just end with one final question. Do you see any reason to be optimistic about where this is all going? I do. And I've got to say maybe you're giving scientists a little bit of short shrift here. Because, as the science develops, as it becomes more compelling and a theme of the book is that soda science really, over the past 15, 20 years has become more compelling. More unequivocal. We know the harms and, you know, you can quantify them and identify them more specifically than say, 15 years ago. So, I think that's one thing that can change. And I think slowly you're seeing, greater public awareness. I think the real challenge, in terms of getting the message out about the health risks, is that you really see like a bifurcated consumption of Coca-Cola. There are many people who are not consuming any Coca-Cola. And then you have a lot of people who are consuming, you know, say 20 ounces regularly. So, there is a big question of how you reach this other group of people who are still high consumers of Coca-Cola. And we know and you know this well from your work, that soda labeling is one thing that works and that soda taxes are another. I think those are things to look out for coming down the pike. I mean, obviously other countries are ahead of us in terms of both of these initiatives. One of the things occurred to me as you were speaking earlier, you mentioned that your book was focused on the sugared beverages. Do you think there's a similar story to be told about deception and deceit with respect to the artificial sweeteners? I suspect so, you know. I haven't done the work, but I don't know why there wouldn't be. And I think artificial sweeteners are in the position that sugary beverages were 10 to 15 years ago. There's a lag time in terms of the research. There is increasing research showing the health risks of these beverages. I think people who are public health advocates have been loath to highlight these because they're also a very effective bridge from sugar sweetened beverages to no sugar sweetened beverages. And I think, a lot of people see them as a good strategy. I do think there probably is a story to tell about the risks of non-nutritive sweeteners. So, yes. I can remind our listeners that we've done a series of podcasts, a cluster of them really, on the impact of the artificial sweeteners. And it's pretty scary when you talk to people who really understand how they're metabolized and what effects they have on the brain, the microbiome, and the rest of the body. Bio Murray Carpenter is a journalist and author whose stories have appeared in the New York Times, Wired, National Geographic, NPR, and PRI's The World. He has also written for the Boston Globe, the Christian Science Monitor, and other media outlets. He holds a degree in psychology from the University of Colorado and a Master of Science in environmental studies from the University of Montana, and has worked as a medical lab assistant in Ohio, a cowboy in Colombia, a farmhand in Virginia, and an oil-exploring “juggie” in Wyoming. He lives in Belfast, Maine. He is the author of Caffeinated: How Our Daily Habit Helps, Hurts, and Hooks Us and Sweet and Deadly: How Coca-Cola Spread

In a live conversation on May 30, Lawfare Editor in Chief Benjamin Wittes sat down with Lawfare Senior Editors Anna Bower, Scott Anderson, and Roger Parloff to discuss legal challenges against President Trump's executive actions, including two court rulings finding President Trump's IEEPA tariffs to be unlawful, the government's appeal of those rulings, the Supreme Court allowing Trump to end humanitarian status for 500,000 migrants, updates in CREW's Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against DOGE, and so much more.You can find information on legal challenges to Trump administration actions here. And check out Lawfare's new homepage on the litigation here and new Bluesky account here.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/lawfare. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In General Walker and the Murder of President Kennedy: The Extensive New Evidence of a Radical-Right Conspiracy, author Jeffrey H. Caufield explores the forces which led Oswald to be in Dallas that day. Dr. Caufield applies acquired academic methodology in rigorously researching the story through public records, private correspondence, and a number of sources not available to the general public until the Freedom of Information Act released them.Meticulously researched over 25 years using documents from the National Archives, the FBI, and other archival sources--along with extensive personal interviews--this book presents a massive amount of new evidence. Never has there been such compelling proof of the involvement of the radical right and General Walker in the murder of the president.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-opperman-report--1198501/support.

In General Walker and the Murder of President Kennedy: The Extensive New Evidence of a Radical-Right Conspiracy, author Jeffrey H. Caufield explores the forces which led Oswald to be in Dallas that day. Dr. Caufield applies acquired academic methodology in rigorously researching the story through public records, private correspondence, and a number of sources not available to the general public until the Freedom of Information Act released them.Meticulously researched over 25 years using documents from the National Archives, the FBI, and other archival sources--along with extensive personal interviews--this book presents a massive amount of new evidence. Never has there been such compelling proof of the involvement of the radical right and General Walker in the murder of the president.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-opperman-report--1198501/support.

KMOX Legal Analyst, Brad Young, explains the 'emergency stay' by the Supreme Court The Freedom of Information Act is meant to 'ensure government transparency', says Young. Young says, the White House takes the position that DOGE is an advisor to the President, and does not need to conform to these requests from lower courts for information.

The Supreme Court temporarily stayed two lower court orders Friday that mandated the production of documents and other information from the Department of Government Efficiency. In a brief order from Chief Justice John Roberts, the high court stayed the discovery process in the public records lawsuit against DOGE pending another order by the court. The now-stayed orders from Judge Christopher Cooper of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia had granted an expedited discovery schedule that required DOGE to turn over information about its inner workings and have its administrator, Amy Gleason, give a deposition. The decision, for now, allows the Trump administration to withhold information about the Elon Musk-associated efficiency arm while the justices review the government's appeal. On Wednesday, Solicitor General D. John Sauer asked the high court for emergency relief in the case, arguing that Cooper's decision turned the Freedom of Information Act “on its head.” At the heart of the case, which was brought by the government watchdog nonprofit Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, is the question of whether DOGE constitutes an “agency” for the purposes of FOIA. While the administration says that DOGE is exempt from public records laws as a presidential advisory body, the nonprofit argues that the efficiency team has wielded “substantial independent authority” and as such is subject to FOIA and the Federal Records Act, which requires preservation of records. Staff at the Department of Homeland Security are no longer allowed to use commercial generative artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT and Claude, according to a memo sent to employees this month. The move is a reversal of a previous policy — which had conditionally allowed the use of commercial systems — and a pivot toward technology developed in-house. Earlier this month, DHS's chief information officer, Antoine McCord, sent a memo directing component tech offices to begin “restricting” the use of generative AI systems and pointing employees to internal tools. Older guidance, which the CIO described as “outdated” and “too narrowly” focused on commercial generative AI, was also removed from an online list of IT management directives. The decision comes as federal agencies weigh various pathways toward integrating generative AI into their workflows, a priority of both the Biden and Trump administrations. While some government agencies initially blocked generative AI systems, CIOs have slowly started to develop usage policies. Some agencies, like DHS and the General Services Administration, have now built their own platforms based on commercial technologies, while others have opted to use products like ChatGPT Gov through government cloud systems. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

To mark his first hundred days in office, President Trump signed three executive orders related to immigration. On this week's On the Media, the powerful database that can help I.C.E. track down and deport people. Plus, the dramatic fight for power over Rupert Murdoch's media empire.[01:00] Host Brooke Gladstone talks with Jason Koebler, co-founder of 404 Media, about how a surveillance company is supplying ICE with a powerful database to identify and deport people with minor infractions or certain characteristics.[20:57] Host Micah Loewinger speaks with Jason Leopold, a senior investigative reporter at Bloomberg and writer of the newsletter “FOIA Files,” about the Trump administration's attacks on Freedom of Information Act offices at the CDC and FDA, and what they mean for the future of government transparency.[31:50] Brooke talks with McKay Coppins, a staff writer at The Atlantic, about the remarkable, extensive interviews he conducted with members of the Murdoch family — particularly James Murdoch and his wife Kathryn. (Rupert and his eldest son, Lachlan, declined to participate.) Plus, how the HBO show “Succession” influenced the family's fight over the future of their own media empire.Further reading:Inside a Powerful Database ICE Uses to Identify and Deport People, by Jason KoeblerTrump Filed a FOIA Request. We FOIAed His FOIA, by Jason LeopoldGrowing Up Murdoch: James Murdoch on mind games, sibling rivalry, and the war for the family media empire, by McKay Coppins On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.

John is joined by Michael Gottlieb, partner in the Washington D.C. office of Wilkie Farr & Gallagher, and Nicholas Reddick, partner in the San Francisco office of Wilkie Farr & Gallagher.  They discuss the landmark $1.1 billion judgment Michael and Nicholas obtained against the Islamic Republic of Iran, on behalf of U.S. service members and civilians harmed by Iran-backed terrorist groups and the legal framework for suing state sponsors of terrorism and private organizations that support them.  Claims against sovereign states are based upon the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA).  FSIA claims require plaintiffs to prove that the foreign sovereign materially supported acts of terrorism, often through militia groups operating in conflict zones.  The process is complex and time-consuming.  Although Iran never appears to defend these cases, plaintiffs must still prove liability and damages with admissible evidence, often obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests, military reports, and expert testimony.  Because such judgments are rarely enforceable against Iran's frozen or inaccessible assets, successful plaintiffs must seek compensation through the U.S. Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Fund, which draws from congressional appropriations and settlements from unrelated sanctions violations.  Payments from the fund are made annually and prorated based on judgment size, but disbursements have been inconsistent.  Recent developments, including circuit court rulings and a pending Supreme Court case, may reshape key legal standards for FSIA claims, such as the requirement of an actual death for certain terrorism-related claims.  Several new legislative efforts seek to expand the cases that may be brought under the FSIA and increase the funds allocated for compensating victims.  Claims against private entities such as banks, contractors or companies that evaded sanctions rely upon the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA).  Many such cases are currently being litigated.  ATA claims require proof of the defendant's material support and knowledge of terrorist outcomes.  The defendants in ATA cases are likely to appear to defend against the claims, but only after the plaintiffs navigate complex issues of jurisdiction and service of process.Podcast Link: Law-disrupted.fmHost: John B. Quinn Producer: Alexis HydeMusic and Editing by: Alexander Rossi

Does the U.S. government know the identity of Satoshi Nakamoto?Crypto lawyer James Murphy filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to uncover documents related to a claimed meeting with Bitcoin's pseudonymous creator. Does the U.S. government know Satoshi Nakamoto's identity? CoinDesk's Christine Lee follows the trail.This content should not be construed or relied upon as investment advice. It is for entertainment and general information purposes.-This episode was hosted by Christine Lee.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Bill Belichick and his girlfriend, Jordon Hudson, are receiving attention, and a reporter obtained Belichick's emails via the Freedom of Information Act. Gio joked about Hudson's potential post-breakup career in bikini betting picks. They discussed the controversy surrounding a Braves reporter asking a girl for her number on air. Jerry's update covered the Mets' loss due to a Lindor error, the Yankees' win, and Trae Young's ejection. Evan Roberts is confident the Knicks will win their series. The Nets GM discussed their free agency targets. Shedeur Sanders' Steelers interview attire caused debate, which Kay Adams addressed. The Moment of the Day involved using the Chef IQ to check Boomer's fever. The show concluded with a discussion about Matt Martin's likely final Islanders game and how fans treated him, compared to Rangers fans and Chris Kreider, followed by talk about a 400+ lb NFL draft prospect.

Hour 1 Boomer is ill and his voice is weak after attending what might have been Matt Martin's final Islanders game last night, where they discussed his career. Before Jerry's update, a caller offered a snake-related throat remedy for Boomer. Jerry has the audio of the Mets' loss to the Twins due to a Francisco Lindor error and strikeout. The Knicks/Pistons playoff schedule is out, starting Saturday, Monday, and Thursday. Travis Hunter implied he'll only play football if he can play both offense and defense. Gio then shared the story of Rosie the turkey from Roosevelt Island seeking a mate in the city, leading to a discussion about catching turkeys and calls from those who have encountered them. Hour 2 Juan Soto noted he's being pitched differently without Aaron Judge batting behind him, which Gio sees as an explanation, not an excuse. Boomer viewed it as a compliment to Judge, not a slight to Pete Alonso, while Gio thinks sensitive fans are overreacting. Soto's presence benefits Alonso. Before Jerry's update, Gio reminisced about old wedding invites, followed by audio clips of Jerry discussing divorce. They joked about using a Chef IQ to check Boomer's fever. The Yankees won, and Matt Martin played his emotional final home game for the Islanders, with goodbye audio clips from various sports figures played. Finally, someone on X shared a Vegas flu story similar to Boomer's, and Boomer had a lunch meeting where Gustav Klimt was discussed. Hour 3 Wally Szczerbiak believes the Knicks should dominate their series, implying locker room issues if they don't. Gio thinks Karl-Anthony Towns has a big chance to prove his championship mettle and shed the "soft" label with multiple high-scoring, high-rebounding games. Before Jerry's update, they used the Chef IQ and found Boomer has a 102 fever, leading to a clip from 'Back To School' referencing Gustav Klimt, who Gio supposedly resembles. Jerry recapped the Mets' loss, Yankees' win, and NBA news. The hour ended with Gio discussing a Karen Read documentary on MAX. Hour 4 Bill Belichick and his girlfriend, Jordon Hudson, are receiving attention, and a reporter obtained Belichick's emails via the Freedom of Information Act. Gio joked about Hudson's potential post-breakup career in bikini betting picks. They discussed the controversy surrounding a Braves reporter asking a girl for her number on air. Jerry's update covered the Mets' loss due to a Lindor error, the Yankees' win, and Trae Young's ejection. Evan Roberts is confident the Knicks will win their series. The Nets GM discussed their free agency targets. Shedeur Sanders' Steelers interview attire caused debate, which Kay Adams addressed. The Moment of the Day involved using the Chef IQ to check Boomer's fever. The show concluded with a discussion about Matt Martin's likely final Islanders game and how fans treated him, compared to Rangers fans and Chris Kreider, followed by talk about a 400+ lb NFL draft prospect.

Ralph speaks to Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank about the Trump Administration's path of destruction in our federal government. Then, Ralph welcomes legendary public interest lawyer Alan Morrison to discuss the President's authority to impose tariffs and other constitutional questions.Dana Milbank is a nationally syndicated op-ed columnist for the Washington Post. He also provides political commentary for various TV outlets, and he is the author of five books on politics, including the New York Times bestseller The Destructionists and the national bestseller Homo Politicus. His latest book is Fools on the Hill: The Hooligans, Saboteurs, Conspiracy Theories and Dunces who Burned Down the House.I shouldn't be amazed, but Mike Johnson never ceases to amaze me with the rapidity with which he'll just drop to his knees whenever Trump says something.Dana MilbankWe're going to know this shortly, but it does appear that Trump's honeymoon may be over in the House as the conservatives finally seem to be finding their backbones. But I've thought that might happen before and then only to find out that they, in fact, they could not locate their backbones. So I don't want to be premature.Dana MilbankTrump seems to be gambling (and the administration seems to be gambling) that ultimately the Supreme Court is going to a wholesale reinterpretation of the Constitution to grant these never-before-seen executive powers, and it's possible that he's right about that. We're not going to know that. There have been a couple of preliminary rulings that seem friendly to Trump, but none of those is final, so we can't really be sure of it.Dana MilbankMy guess is that Chief Justice Roberts is seeing his legacy heading toward the ditch after his decision of Trump v. United States, where he said that Presidents cannot be criminally prosecuted….My guess is he's going to unpleasantly surprise Trump in the coming months.Ralph NaderAlan Morrison is the Lerner Family Associate Dean for Public Interest & Public Service at George Washington Law School. He currently teaches civil procedure and constitutional law, and previously taught at Harvard, NYU, Stanford, Hawaii, and American University law schools. He has argued 20 cases in the Supreme Court and co-founded the Public Citizen Litigation Group in 1972, which he directed for more than 25 years.It's inevitable that even for a non-economist like myself to understand that [the costs of tariffs] are going to be passed on. Other than Donald Trump, I don't think there's anybody who believes that these taxes are not going to be passed on and that they're going to be borne by the country from which the company did the exporting.Alan MorrisonIt's an uphill battle on both the statutory interpretation and the undue delegation grounds, but our position is rather simple: If the Congress doesn't write a statute so that there's something that the government can't order or do, then it's gone too far. In effect, it has surrendered to the President its power to set policy and do the legislative function. Interestingly, Trump has trumpeted the breadth of what he's doing here. He calls it a revolution. Well, if we have revolutions in this country, my copy of the Constitution says that the Congress has to enact revolution and the President can't do it on its own. So we think we've got a pretty strong case if we can get it to court.Alan MorrisonOne of the things that I've been struck by is that laws alone cannot make this country governable. That we can't write laws to cover every situation and every quirk that any person has, especially the President. We depend on the norms of government—that people will do things not exactly the way everybody did them before, but along the same general lines, and that when we make change, we make them in moderation, because that's what the people expect. Trump has shed all norms.Alan MorrisonNews 4/9/251. Our top story this week is the killing of Omar Mohammed Rabea, an American citizen in Gaza. Known as Amer, the BBC reports the 14-year-old was shot by the Israeli military along with two other 14-year-old boys “on the outskirts of Turmus Ayya” on Sunday evening. Predictably, the IDF called these children “terrorists.” According to NJ.com – Rabea formerly resided in Saddle Brook, New Jersey – Rabea's uncle sits on the board of a local Palestinian American Community Center which told the press “The ambulance was not allowed to pass the checkpoint for 30 minutes, a denial in medical treatment that ultimately resulted in Amer's death…[his] death was entirely preventable and horrifically unjust. He was a child, a 14-year-old boy, with an entire life ahead of him.” The Rachel Corrie Foundation, founded in honor of the American peace activist killed by an Israeli bulldozer while protesting the demolition of a Palestinian home, issued a statement reading “Rabea's death…was perpetuated by Israeli settlers who act with impunity…We believe that if our own government demanded accountability…Rabea would still be alive.” The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has sent a letter to Attorney General Bondi demanding an investigation, but chances of the Trump administration pursuing justice in this case are slim.2. Meanwhile, President Trump seems to be driving the U.S. economy into a deep recession. Following his much-publicized tariff announcement last week – which included 10% tariffs on uninhabited Heard and McDonald Islands – the S&P dipped by 10.5%, among the largest drops in history, per the New York Times. Far from making Trump back off however, he appears dead set on pushing this as far as it will go. After the People's Republic of China responded to the threat of a 54% tariff with a reciprocal 34% tariff, Trump announced the U.S. will retaliate by upping the tariff to a whopping 104% on Chinese imports, according to the BBC. Reuters reports that JP Morgan forecasts a 60% chance of a recession as a result of these tariffs.3. In more foreign affairs news, on Friday April 4th, South Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol was officially removed from office by that country's Constitutional Court, “ending months of uncertainty and legal wrangling after he briefly declared martial law in December,” per CNN. The South Korean parliament had already voted to impeach Yoon in December of 2024. The court's decision was unanimous and characterized the leader's actions as a “grave betrayal of the people's trust.” Upon this ruling being handed down, Yoon was forced to immediately vacate the presidential residence. A new election is scheduled for June 3rd. Incredible what a political and judicial class unafraid to stand up to lawlessness can accomplish.4. Speaking of ineffectual opposition parties, one need look no further than Texas' 18th congressional district. This safe Democratic district – including most of central Houston – was held by Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee from 1995 until her death in 2024. According to the Texas Tribune, Lee planned to run yet again in 2024, triumphing over her 43-year-old former aide Amanda Edwards in the primary. However, Lee passed in July of 2024. Edwards again sought the nomination, but the Harris County Democratic Party instead opted for 69-year-old former Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, per the Texas Tribune. Turner made it to March of 2025 before he too passed away. This seat now sits vacant – depriving the residents of central Houston of congressional representation and the Democrats of a vote in the House. Governor Gregg Abbot has announced that he will not allow a special election before November 2025, the Texas Tribune reports. This is a stunning Democratic own-goal and indicative of the literal death grip the gerontocratic old guard continue to have on the party.5. One ray of hope is that Democratic voters appear to be waking up the ineffectual nature of the party leadership. A new Data for Progress poll of the 2028 New York Senate primary posed a hypothetical matchup between incumbent Senator Chuck Schumer and Democratic Socialist firebrand Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez – and found AOC with a staggering lead of 19 points. This poll showed AOC winning voters under 45 by 50 points, over 45s by eight points, non-college educated by 16 points, college educated by 23 points, Black and white voters by 16 points, and Latinos by 28. Schumer led among self-described “Moderates” by 15 and no other group. It remains to be seen whether the congresswoman from Queens will challenge the Senate Minority Leader, but this poll clearly shows her popularity in the state of New York, and Schumer's abysmal reputation catching up with him.6. Another bright spot from New York, is Zohran Mamdani's mayoral candidacy and specifically his unprecedented field operation. According to the campaign, between April 1st and April 6th, volunteers knocked on 41,591 doors. No mayoral campaign in the history of the city has generated a grassroots movement of this intensity, with politicians traditionally relying on political machines or enormous war chests to carry them to victory. Mamdani has already reached the public financing campaign donation cap, so he can focus all of his time and energy on grassroots outreach. He remains the underdog against former Governor Andrew Cuomo, but his campaign appears stronger every day.7. Turning to the turmoil in the federal regulatory apparatus, POLITICO reports Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has eliminated the Freedom of Information Act offices at the Centers for Disease Control, and other HHS agencies. An anonymous source told the publication that HHS will consolidate its FOIA requests into one HHS-wide office, but “Next steps are still in flux.” In the meantime, there will be no one to fulfill FOIA requests at these agencies. This piece quotes Scott Amey, general counsel at the Project on Government Oversight, who said this “sends a wrong message to the public on the administration's commitment to transparency.” Amey added, “I often say that FOIA officers are like librarians in knowing the interactions of the agency…If you don't have FOIA officers with that specific knowledge, it will slow down the process tremendously.”8. At the Federal Trade Commission, Axios reports the Trump administration has “paused” the FTC's lawsuit against major pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, related to “the drug middlemen…inflating the price of insulin and driving up costs to diabetes patients.” The case, filed against CVS Caremark, OptumRx and Express Scripts was halted by the FTC in light of “the fact that there are currently no sitting Commissioners able to participate in this matter.” That is because Trump unlawfully fired the two remaining Democratic commissioners Alvaro Bedoya and Rebecca Slaughter. In a statement, former FTC Chair Lina Khan called this move “A gift to the PBMs.”9. One federal regulatory agency that seems to be at least trying to do their job is the Federal Aviation Administration. According to the American Prospect, the FAA has “[has] proposed [a] rule that would mandate Boeing update a critical communications malfunction in their 787 Dreamliner plane that could lead to disastrous accidents.” As this piece explains, “very high frequency (VHF) radio channels are transferring between the active and standby settings without flight crew input.” The FAA's recommendation in is that Boeing address the issue with an update to the radio software. Yet disturbingly, in one of the comments on this proposed rule Qatar Airways claims that, “[they have] already modified all affected…airplanes with … [the recommended software updates] …However … flight crew are still reporting similar issues.” This comment ends with Qatar Airways stating that they believe, “the unsafe condition still exists.” Boeing planes have been plagued by critical safety malfunctions in recent years, most notably the 2018 and 2019 crashes that killed nearly 350 people.10. Finally, on a somewhat lighter note, you may have heard about Bryan Johnson, the tech entrepreneur dubbed “The Man Who Wants to Live Forever.” Johnson has attracted substantial media attention for his unorthodox anti-aging methods, including regular transfusions of plasma from his own son. But this story is not about Johnson's bizarre immortality obsession, but rather his unsavory corporate practices. A new piece in New York Magazine focuses on the lawsuits filed against Johnson by his all-too-mortal workers, represented by eminent labor lawyer Matt Bruenig. This piece relays how Johnson “required his staffers to sign 20-page NDAs,” and an “opt-in” document which informed his employees they had to be comfortable “being around Johnson while he has very little clothing on” and “discussions for media production including erotica (for example, fan fiction including but not limited to story lines/ideas informed by the Twilight series and-or 50 Shades of Grey.)” Bruenig says, “That stuff is weird,” but his main interest is in the nondisparagement agreements, including the one Johnson's former employee and former fiancée Taylor Southern entered into which has further complicated an already thorny legal dispute between Johnson and herself. Now Bruenig is fighting for Southern and against these blanket nondisparagement agreements in a case that could help define the limits of employer's power to control their workers' speech. Hopefully, Bruenig will prevail in showing that Johnson, whatever his pretensions, truly is a mere mortal.This has been Francesco DeSantis, with In Case You Haven't Heard. Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe

For many decades, agencies within the United States government have collected information on a range of different unexplained phenomena. From military encounters involving UFOs, to possible evidence of ancient mysteries collected during reconnaissance missions by spy planes, several examples of the U.S. government's "anomaly files" have been made public through inquiries under the Freedom of Information Act.  This week on The Micah Hanks Program, we look at the Defense Department's current investigations into unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP), along with questions that remain about one of its most famous cases. Finally, we also explore claims revealed in CIA files involving remote viewing, the discovery of the mythical "Ark of the Covenant," and an anomaly spotted on a mountainside in Turkey during Cold War-era CIA spy plane reconnaissance flights.    Have you had a UFO/UAP sighting? Please consider reporting your sighting to the UAP Sightings Reporting System, a public resource for information about sightings of aerial phenomena. The story doesn't end here... become an X Subscriber and get access to even more weekly content and monthly specials. Want to advertise/sponsor The Micah Hanks Program? We have partnered with the AdvertiseCast to handle our advertising/sponsorship requests. If you would like to advertise with The Micah Hanks Program, all you have to do is click the link below to get started: AdvertiseCast: Advertise with The Micah Hanks Program Show Notes Below are links to stories and other content featured in this episode: NEWS: Private Data and Passwords of Senior U.S. Security Officials Found Online A stroke survivor speaks again with the help of an experimental brain-computer implant  Fish use tools too, new research reveals AARO: U.S. Government's Top UFO Scientist Has an Open Mind About Alien Contact  THE NIMITZ INCIDENT:  ARK OF THE COVENANT? CIA found the Ark of the Covenant by using psychics, declassified files claim  THE ARARAT ANOMALY: CIA evidence of Noah's Ark on Mt. Ararat? CIA Files Related to the "Ararat Anomaly" at The Black Vault  CIA's covert hunt for Noah's Ark sparks new questions amid claims Biblical boat has been found BECOME AN X SUBSCRIBER AND GET EVEN MORE GREAT PODCASTS AND MONTHLY SPECIALS FROM MICAH HANKS. Sign up today and get access to the entire back catalog of The Micah Hanks Program, as well as “classic” episodes, weekly “additional editions” of the subscriber-only X Podcast, the monthly Enigmas specials, and much more. Like us on Facebook Follow @MicahHanks on X. Keep up with Micah and his work at micahhanks.com.

We just survived 4 years with the Dimwit in Diapers! Don't let the stock market scare you. PLUS, Robert Steinbuch, Professor of Law at University of Arkansas - Little Rock, talks to Shaun about populism, the Freedom of Information Act and ending the Department of Education. And Sarah Westall, investigative journalist and host of The Sarah Westall Show, talks to Shaun about the wide corruption in Ukraine, USAID's coup operation, Burisma blackmailing and more!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dr. Gary Null gives a commentary on his article "It's Time for a Vaccination Reckoning"   Ask any federal health official—whether from the FDA, CDC, NIH, or National Cancer Institute—if vaccines contribute to neurological damage or autism, and their response will be unequivocal: No, there is no evidence of any association. In fact, they might find the very question offensive. After all, these agencies have access to unlimited resources, the brightest scientific minds, and cutting-edge research facilities at institutions like Harvard, Johns Hopkins, and Stanford. If there were any credible link between vaccines and neurological harm, surely, they would have found it by now. And yet, despite decades of investigation and countless opportunities, their stance remains unchanged: vaccines are safe and effective. Any claim to the contrary is dismissed as conspiracy theory and an assault on the very foundations of modern medicine. This has been the dominant narrative for the past forty years. Federal health officials and policymakers have long prioritized private pharmaceutical industry interests and upheld the belief that vaccination is the single most important tool for eradicating infectious diseases. Dissent is neither tolerated nor entertained. The agencies responsible for vaccine safety, such as HHS, FDA, NIAID and the CDC, are ruled by a rigid scientific orthodoxy that allows no room for alternative perspectives. But now, for the first time in modern history, an outsider has entered the room. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the new head of the Department of Health and Human Services, is neither a scientist nor a physician. Unlike his predecessors, he has no allegiance to the status quo. His appointment signals a possible turning point to usher a new opportunity for a truly independent investigation into whether vaccines, either individually or collectively, contribute to neurological damage. If pursued earnestly, this could be one of the most consequential moments in American medical history. The stakes could not be higher. Over the past few decades, childhood chronic illnesses have skyrocketed to unprecedented levels. The rise in autism spectrum disorders (ASD), ADHD, autoimmune conditions, and other neurological and developmental disorders has been explained away as the result of better diagnostic tools or genetic predispositions. But are these explanations sufficient? What if something more fundamental has changed in children's health over the past 30 years? Federal health agencies continue to dismiss environmental factors, including vaccines, as a potential cause. But if we truly care about children's well-being, it is time to ask the hard questions. And we must ask without fear, without bias, and without ideological blinders. The dramatic increase in neurological disorders, including autism spectrum disorders that is now diagnosed in 1 in every 36 children, has often been attributed to improved definitions for ASD and diagnostic tools. However, a closer look at government statistics reveals alarming trends in children's health that go far beyond better diagnostics. Since the early 1990s, there has been a staggering increase in several chronic conditions: ADHD rates have risen by 890 percent, autism diagnoses by 2,094 percent, bipolar disease in youth by 10,833 percent, and celiac disease by 1,011 percent. These numbers beg the question—what has fundamentally changed in our children's health over the past three decades? The media plays a crucial role in reinforcing the official vaccine narrative while systematically silencing dissenting voices. This lack of transparency allows federal health agencies like the CDC, NIAID, and HHS to evade accountability. Instead of safeguarding public health, these institutions have become politically and ideologically entangled with private pharmaceutical interests. Their close ties to the industry have led to the approval of insufficiently tested vaccines, the medicalization of normal childhood behaviors, and the delivery of subpar healthcare—all at a staggering cost of $5 trillion annually. Medical authorities insist that vaccines, even when administered in multiple doses on a single day, are safe and do not cause chronic health problems. They claim that vaccine ingredients are either harmless or present in amounts too small to pose any risk. Any attempt to challenge these assertions is met with ridicule. Despite a sharp rise in childhood neurological disorders, there has been no significant push for reform or independent long-term safety studies on the effects of vaccines. For decades, concerns about vaccine safety have not only come from parents and advocacy groups but also from government investigations. A three-year congressional investigation led by Rep. Dan Burton strongly criticized the CDC, FDA, and HHS for their failure to conduct proper vaccine safety studies. The committee found that federal agencies systematically downplayed risks, ignored growing evidence of vaccine-related neurological disorders, and relied on poorly designed epidemiological studies rather than clinical research. The report also exposed the failure of vaccine manufacturers to conduct adequate safety testing, highlighting decades of negligence. Despite these damning conclusions, little has changed, and concerns about vaccine safety remain unaddressed. While thimerosal has been largely removed from childhood vaccines, it remains in some flu shots and multi-dose vials, and broader concerns about vaccine ingredients and neurological damage continue to grow. One of the most alarming revelations came from the secretive 2000 Simpsonwood meeting, where top CDC officials and vaccine industry representatives discussed an internal study linking thimerosal exposure to increased risks of tics, ADHD, speech delays, and developmental disorders. Instead of alerting the public, the attendees decided to suppress the findings and rework the data to obscure any association. This manipulation, later exposed by Robert Kennedy Jr. through a Freedom of Information Act request, exemplifies the CDC's ongoing pattern of data suppression and scientific misconduct when vaccine safety is called into question. The congressional committee later confirmed that many participants in the vaccine debate “allowed their standards to be dictated by their desire to disprove an unpleasant theory.” Rather than conducting thorough biological studies to assess vaccine safety, federal agencies have deflected scrutiny by blaming autism and other neurological conditions on genetic factors, despite a lack of conclusive evidence supporting this theory. Today's CDC childhood immunization schedule recommends over 27 vaccines by the age of two, with some visits involving up to six shots at once. Parents are expected to trust that these vaccines are rigorously tested and proven safe. However, a review of hundreds of toxicology and immunology studies fails to reveal a gold standard of long-term, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials proving vaccine safety. There is also no comprehensive epidemiological study comparing the long-term health outcomes of fully vaccinated versus unvaccinated children. Without this research, public health officials rely on inconclusive data, which is shaped more by policy than by science. Humans possess unique biochemical makeups that make them more or less susceptible to toxins. While one child may experience minor effects from environmental toxins, another may develop autoimmune disorders, learning disabilities, or neurological impairments. Vaccine safety cannot be proven simply by stating that not every vaccinated child has autism. Given the dramatic rise in autoimmune diseases, food allergies, encephalitis, and conditions like Crohn's disease, it is imperative to investigate environmental toxins' role in childhood health. Independent research suggests that ingredients in vaccines, even in small amounts, may contribute to these illnesses, particularly as the number of required vaccines continues to grow. Ironically, the U.S. government's own Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) has awarded settlements to families whose children developed autism-like symptoms following vaccination. High-profile cases such as Hannah Poling, who developed ASD after receiving nine vaccines in one day, Ryan Mojabi, whose vaccines caused severe brain inflammation, and Bailey Banks, who suffered vaccine-induced brain inflammation leading to developmental delays, demonstrate that vaccine injury can, in some cases, result in autism spectrum disorders. A broader analysis of VICP cases revealed that 83 children with autism were compensated for vaccine-related brain injuries, primarily involving encephalopathy or seizure disorders with developmental regression. These cases contradict federal health agencies' claims that no connection between vaccines and autism has ever been recognized. The National Library of Medicine lists over 3,000 studies on aluminum's toxicity to human biochemistry. Its dangers have been known for over a century. Early FDA director Dr. Harvey Wiley resigned in protest over aluminum's commercial use in food canning as early as 1912. Today, aluminum compounds, such as aluminum hydroxide and aluminum phosphate, are found in many vaccines, including hepatitis A and B, DTP, Hib, Pneumococcus, and the HPV vaccine (Gardasil). In the 1980s, a fully vaccinated child would have received 1,250 mcg of aluminum by adulthood. Today, that number has risen to over 4,900 mcg, a nearly fourfold increase. Aluminum exposure is further compounded by its presence in municipal drinking water due to aluminum sulfate used in purification. A 1997 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that premature infants receiving aluminum-containing intravenous feeding solutions developed learning problems at a significantly higher rate than those who received aluminum-free solutions. Dr. James Lyons-Weiler at the Institute for Pure and Applied Knowledge has criticized vaccine aluminum levels, pointing out that dosage guidelines are based on immune response rather than body weight safety. Alarmingly, aluminum exposure standards for children are based on dietary intake studies in rodents rather than human infants. He notes that on Day 1 of life, newborns receive 17 times more aluminum than would be permitted if doses were adjusted per body weight. Despite these findings, federal agencies continue to dismiss concerns over aluminum toxicity in vaccines. The refusal to conduct comprehensive long-term safety studies, coupled with regulatory agencies' deep entanglement with the pharmaceutical industry, has led to a public health crisis. The growing prevalence of neurological and autoimmune disorders in children demands urgent, unbiased investigation into environmental and vaccine-related factors. Until federal health agencies commit to transparency and rigorous scientific inquiry, parents will be left to navigate vaccine safety decisions without the full picture of potential risks. Christopher Exley at Keele University analyzed brain tissue from children and teenagers diagnosed with ASD and found consistently high aluminum levels, among the highest recorded in human brain tissue. The aluminum was concentrated in inflammatory non-neuronal cells across various brain regions, supporting its role in ASD neuropathology. In a systematic review of 59 studies, Exley found significant associations between aluminum, cadmium, mercury, and ASD, further underscoring aluminum's neurotoxic impact. His research strongly advocates for reducing vaccine-derived aluminum exposure in pregnant women and children to help mitigate the rise in autism. Despite the CDC's consistent denials, researchers at Imperial College London found a significant correlation between rising ASD rates and increased vaccination. Their 2017 study in Metabolic Brain Disease showed that a 1% increase in vaccination rates correlated with 680 additional ASD cases, raising urgent concerns over vaccine components as environmental triggers. CDC whistleblower Dr. William Thompson provided thousands of pages of internal research revealing a cover-up of vaccine-autism links. His documents proved the CDC had prior knowledge that African American boys under 36 months had a significantly higher autism risk following the MMR vaccine and that neurological tics—indicators of brain disturbances—were linked to thimerosal-containing vaccines like the flu shot. Yet, instead of acknowledging this risk, federal agencies buried, in fact shredded, the findings, ensuring that vaccine safety concerns were dismissed as conspiracy theories rather than investigated as public health imperatives. The official denial of a vaccine-autism connection has become entrenched dogma, unsupported by a single gold-standard study definitively disproving such a link. Meanwhile, the health of American children continues to decline, ranking among the worst in the developed world. Neurodevelopmental disorders like autism and ADHD are at crisis levels, yet federal agencies remain unwilling to conduct the comprehensive safety studies that could expose the full impact of mass vaccination on childhood health. Now, with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at the helm of the Department of Health and Human Services, a long-overdue reckoning may finally be at hand. Unlike his predecessors, Kennedy is an advocate for transparency and accountability. If pursued earnestly, Kennedy's leadership could potentially reshape public health policies and exposing the truth about vaccines' role in the rise of neurological disorders, including autism. The question now is: Will the truth finally be allowed to come to light?