Podcasts about myan

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. Important Links: Hmong Innovating Politics: Website | Instagram Asian Refugees United: Website | Instagram Bhutanese American Refugee Rights website Transcript Swati Rayasam: You are tuned in to Apex Express on KPFA. My name is Swati Rayasam.  Since the onset of the Trump administration, immigrant and refugee communities have been under increased attack, being kidnapped in broad daylight, detained in unsanitary and unsafe conditions, and deported to countries many of them barely know. All without due process or communication to their loved ones and communities. On tonight's episode, we're focusing on a particular segment of our immigrant and refugee community, Hmong and Bhutanese refugees. Both of these targeted communities are stateless with no land to call their own, and their deportation carries the very real danger of disappearance and death. Robin Gurung from Asian Refugees United and Kao Ye Thao from Hmong innovating Politics, discuss their community and personal refugee stories, and talk about the intersection of the US' deeply broken immigration and criminal legal systems, otherwise known as crimmigration. We also get to hear from the wives of two detained refugees, one Bhutanese and one Hmong, who are currently fighting to keep their families together and to protect their loved ones from the dangers of deportation as stateless people. I also want to note because this is a rapidly developing situation, that this episode was recorded on August 13th, 2025, and is being released on August 28th, 2025. For the most recent updates, please go to bhutaneserefugeerights.org or check out the Pardon Refugees campaign. Now, here's Miko. Miko: Welcome to Apex Express. Thank you so much for being here today. I'm so glad to bring you all together in this time. I'm wondering if I could ask you each to introduce yourselves and tell us a little bit about the community your organization serves and what you do, and let's start with Kao Ye.  Kao Ye: Hello everyone, and thank you for making space- my name is Kao Ye Tao. I use she her pronouns, and I work as the director of policy and partnerships with an organization called Hmong Innovating Politics. We are an organization that serves Hmong youth and families in Sacramento and Fresno, which holds two of our largest Hmong American communities in California. And our work with Hmong youth and families is really about developing their leadership to organize towards social justice and to get the resources that their communities deserve. Miko: Thank you, Kao Ye and Robin, could you please introduce yourself? Robin: Sure. My name is Robin Gurung. I use he, him, his, I'm from the Nepali speaking Bhutanese community. I live in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. my role at Asian Refugees United is the co-founder and the co-executive director. We have our program in California and Pennsylvania. California programs are, are serving Asian diaspora and then, Pennsylvania programs are focused serving the Nepal speaking Bhutanese community. We work in the intersection of arts and healing, storytelling, civic engagement, leadership development. Thank you. Miko: Thanks Robin and I am your host Miko Lee, lead producer at Apex Express. And all of us are part of a network called AACRE Asian Americans for Civil Rights and Equality, which is a network of progressive Asian American groups. So you all work with refugee populations. I'm wondering if you could tell a little bit more about the backstory of your community, and also if you feel comfortable about how you personally came to be a refugee in the United States. And, Robin, I'd love to start with you on that one. Robin: Sure. My community is Nepali speaking, Bhutanese refugee community. And we are ethnically Nepali, which means culture wise and language wise we speak Nepali and follow the Nepali culture tradition. Our ancestors like maybe in 18 hundreds, 19 hundreds migrated from Nepal to Bhutan and became the citizen of that country. And most people don't know about Bhutan, it's a very tiny country between China and India. And, if people know about Bhutan, then people know it through the cross national happiness concept, Bhutan is considered the happiest country in the world. So our ancestors were in mostly in the southern area of Bhutan for generations, they became the citizen. They had their own home, their own land. And then later, 1980s, early nineties, there was a policy by the government of Bhutan, which is the monarchy government system- king rules the country. They brought a policy called One Nation, One People Policy. Which means all different groups of people would have to follow the same culture, same religion, kind of follow the same dress code and because of that policy all people were forced to stay away from following our own culture or our own religion, which, most of our folks were Hindu. Our people protested against it and because of that, the government expelled over a hundred thousand of our community members. And, they expelled to India and then from like India wouldn't allow us to stay and we had to resettle in Nepal in seven different refugee camps under different international agencies like U-N-H-C-R and other agencies. Miko: And then Robin, can you tell a little bit about your personal story and how you came here? Robin: Yeah. Yeah. So 1992 is when my family had to leave Bhutan. And at that time I was three years old. I remember growing up in a refugee camp in Nepal, from three years until I was 23 years. So 20 years of my life I was in a refugee camp in Nepal. And in 2012, I came to US through the refugee resettlement program introduced to our camps in 2008, and through it US agreed to resettle 60,000 of our committee members. By 2017, I think US has resettled about 70 to 80,000 of our Bhutanese community members.   Miko: Thank you so much for sharing. Kao Ye I wonder if you could talk about your community and the refugee resettlement program that your community was a part of. Kao Ye: The Hmong American community, or just the Hmong community overall, is a group that's indigenous to East and Southeast Asia. And through our ancient history, we've always been a stateless, people fighting for our autonomy to live to practice our customs and our culture. And particularly where we come into this history of refugee is during the Vietnam War where many Hmong people, alongside other ethnic groups in Laos, were caught in the crossfire of the United States conflict in Southeast Asia. And so with the Vietnam War. The Hmong as well as many other ethnic communities that lived, in the hills and the mountains were recruited in covert operations by the CIA to fight back against the Vietnamese, the Northern Vietnamese communist forces, as well as the Putet Lao. And so once the US withdrew from Southeast Asia, it created a vacuum of conflict and violence that our people had to escape from in order to survive. And so after the Vietnam War in 1975, we saw the mass displacement of many Southeast Asian ethnic communities, including Hmong families. And that is where my history starts because my parents were born in Laos and because of this war, they fled to Thailand refugee camps and lived there for a few years until they were able to come to the United States in 1992. And I'm actually I'm a child of refugees and so what I know about this part of my history comes from the stories of my grandparents who raised me as well as what little I could learn in the textbooks of public education. And so it wasn't actually until going to college and. Being able to access more of this literature, this history that I really learned about what the United States had done in Southeast Asia and the ramifications of that for myself and my family and so many others, refugees that. Have to have had to resettle in the United States. And so it's definitely a history that runs very close, because we have relatives that live through that refugee experience. And so it is very well and alive. And so as we now approach this conversation around ICE and deportations, it really is a reminder of the trauma that our people face, but are still facing as a people that have been seen as disposable to the United States government. Miko: Thanks, Kao Ye. Let's talk a little bit more about that. But first I wanna say, did either of you ever hear about refugees in your textbooks? I never did. So I'm wondering if, you said you learned a little bit about that from textbooks. Was that something you learned in public education. Kao Ye: I did not learn about refugees or refugees experience. I learned about the war and as a Hmong kid it brought me so much delight to try to scroll through the history books just to see if Hmong people were mentioned. And even then the refugee experience was not ever something that we talked about. I felt like definitely not in, in high school. I think it was college really, that then started to articulate those terms and that Southeast Asian identity, that is really where I think I also became politicized in that. Miko: Yeah, because I think in textbooks there might be a little section on the Vietnam War, but it does not talk about the, all the Southeast Asian ethnic peoples that actually fought in the war. We have to dig that information out on our own, but I wanna move us to what is happening right now. So the Trump administration has created. Culture of fear among immigrants and refugees, these ICE raids and disappearances. It is so intense and using immigrants as a fear tool to prop up white supremacy is so blatant right now. I'm wondering if you can each talk about, how this administration's policies are impacting your communities. And, Robin, let's start with you. What is happening right now? I know since the end of March, can you share a little bit about what's been happening with Bhutanese Americans? Robin: Sure. Sure. So our people were settled to this country with the hope that this is going to be our home. But starting March of this year, with the new policies of this current administration, we started seeing abrupt, ICE arrest in our communities. People were picked up from home, their workplaces, and from their ICE, check-ins. And, since March, within I would say two to three months, more than 72 of our community members were picked up, mostly from Pennsylvania and then Ohio, and also from other states like New York, Georgia, North Dakota. So until now, we have, the records of at least 50 people who have been deported to Bhutan and at least 72 who are detained. So more than 30 people are [at risk] of getting detained. The nature of the ICE arrests that we have seen is we don't know whether the due processes were followed. They made it so hard for the families to look for attorneys, and also to track their family members. Within days family members would find their loved ones disappeared, and then they wouldn't be able to talk to them they wouldn't be able to track them and provide the support that they needed. So for us as a community organization we did not anticipate this and we were not prepared for this. And, and we didn't have the infrastructure to really address this, right? So it became such challenging work for us. Like within days we had to mobilize our people. We had to mobilize our teams to help family members with legal support, emotional support, mobilize our community members to update what's happening with this situation. The rapid response work, know your rights clinics that we had to set up. So on one hand it's the detention and deportation in the US and on the other hand, when our people were deported to Bhutan, what we're seeing is within 24 hours, they are being expelled from Bhutan to India, and then from India because India wouldn't accept them as well, they had to enter Nepal because for most of these Deportee, they're very young, they were born in refugee camps, and for most of them, the only known land is Nepal. Right. And they had to enter Nepal without documentation. And then some of them were found in refugee camps. And most of them are unknown. Like they're, they have disappeared. Miko: So that is so much over the last few months that ARU has had to step in and take a leading, role in this situation that has impacted the Bhutanese community from focusing on wellness and youth development to suddenly translating materials into Nepali, translating, know Your Rights materials into Nepali, hosting all these different events, the work that you have been doing is really powerful. I wonder if you could share with us the story of Mohan Karki, who is a community member that's currently detained in Michigan. Robin: Sure. So, Mohan Karki is now in detention in Michigan and he's a community member member who lived in Ohio. So he was detained by ICE during his regular ICE check-in , I believe in April, they detained him and then he was taken for deportation. And last minute, the families and the community had to come together and then appeal the deportation. Right now he's in Michgan detention center and his wife, who was pregnant and had due date, when Mohan was being deported on June 10, is now fighting day and night to stop the deportation and also to bring Mohan home. Right now, Asian Refugees United and other community partners, like AWPAL, Asian Law Caucus are working together to support Mohan's family, to bring Mohan home and also running a, GoFund me fundraiser, to help the family pay the legal fees. Miko: Thanks Robin. And we're gonna listen to Tikas story right now. Tika Basnet: Hi, my name is Tika Basnet I'm from Ohio and I'm fighting my husband deportation case.  So on April seven, a lot of people told us not to go to the ICE office, but my husband wanna follow the rules, he wanna go there. We went to the Westerville office inside And we sit down, we talk to each other. Nothing will go wrong. And suddenly ICE told us to come inside and they told us that my husband got travel documents from Bhutan. I told them like it is not safe for my husband to get deport in Bhutan, all the Bhutanese people run away in 1990s due to the ethnic cleansing and if my husband get deported in Bhutan, he will either gonna get killed, tortured, disappeared, imprisoned, I don't know what will happen, but they did not listen to me. So they detained my husband and I came at the parking lot and his mom saw me coming alone. So they start crying and I told them like, Mohan is gone and this is the last time I think I'm gonna see my husband. the time that my husband was taken away from Butler County on June 10 I was 41 weeks pregnant. I was supposed to deliver on, June 10. But no, I told the doctor I change my delivery time. I am not gonna go now like I need to fight for my husband. Like, When Bhutanese people started coming here in 2007. Third party promise us that in here in United States, we will get our identity. That identity will never taken away. They promise us that the way Bhutan take our identity, they will not gonna do that. we thought that this is our home. We thought that having a green card, having a citizenship, it is permanently, but no, we are, we all are wrong. And that identity is taken away within a second. And we became stateless again. So, my husband, Mohan Karki he just arrived in the United States he been here less than two years when the incident happened. He did not understand the law. He did not understand the culture. He did not know anything.  My husband he was only 17 years old, high school student coming from school to home. On the way to reach their apartment, there is one private house. They are just trying to go to the shortcut from the backyard. So some neighbor call 9 1 1. And that only one mistake lead to deportation.  The place that we come from, there is no boundaries. In Nepal, we are allowed to go anybody property We are allowed to walk somebody else house and because of the cultural difference, he's paying price right now.  At that time, nobody can speak English. They cannot understand what police were saying and Nepali interpreter told my husband that if you say I'm guilty, you'll out of prison soon. But if you did not say I'm guilty, you'll end up in prison for 20 to 25 years. High school student he's scared he just say, I'm guilty, and he did not know what is deportation mean. He did not know what he was signing. Nobody informed him what he was signing. That signing was deportation. What happened in 2013 is impacting us in 2025 and still he wish he did not cross somebody else backyard at that time. He wish he knew that he wasn't allowed to cross somebody else's backyard. I don't know what will our future is gonna be, but I hope that he gets second chance. His community love him. He love people. He was working as a truck driver. He paid taxes. He was supporting his parent. He was supporting me. My daughter deserve to have a father. You know, she's just one month. But now the dream that I was hoping one day I'm gonna build with my husband that is taken away and I'm left alone with this child. I already went through a lot without him, i'm the only one that fighting for my husband case. The deportation is not only breaking one family, but it is breaking everybody, the community and the family. And I hope that people can support me so I can fight for my husband case. Like I really need so many attorney. I need criminal attorney to open up his 2013 case. And I have wonderful, wonderful attorney, my husband get stay off removal, but that is not guarantee my husband can get deport anytime. The attorney fee are really expensive and he still needs support. The US made bhutanese people a promise of home. We belong here. Stop the detention and deportation. Stop deporting Bhutanese people. We are stateless. We don't have country, don't have a home. This is our home. US is our home. We belong here. Miko: Of the 72 people, Mohan is the first Bhutanese refugee that we actually have a stay of release on, as Robin was saying earlier, most of the folks were moved from state to state, so you can't really get a lawyer in that time. And as we all know, nonprofit immigration lawyers are under a lot of stress because of the attack of this administration. So it makes it incredibly complicated, let alone the legal fees that it costs to help support people going through this. And right now, Mohan has a stay on his, deportation and the lawyer that they do have is drafting up a letter to be able to release him into the community and also overturn his original case that happened as a minor in Georgia, which was a ridiculous case where he was leaving school, early high school, first year in the country, leaving high school early, and walked with his friends across a backyard. And the neighbor that they walked through their yard called the police, and they arrested him along with his friends for trespassing, they gave him paperwork that he didn't even understand. He signed it along with a interpreter they gave him false information to say he'd be locked up for 25 years, or if he signed this papers, that would be fine. He could go and what the papers said was it changed his charge into a felony and had him sign a letter of deportation. So this is part of the failure of our American legal system that we're not providing adequate information. It is a lack of due process. Thankfully, the work that Asian Law Caucus and United States of Stateless and other community activists are doing to call this out and help work with us is really critical. I wanna turn now to Kao Ye how this administrations is impacting Hmong refugees, and how is it similar or different to the experiences that Robin is describing for the Nepali speaking Bhutanese community? Kao Ye: I echoed many of the sentiments and the challenges that Robin shared around what we as nonprofit, grassroots organizations are having to build and grapple with just the limited infrastructure that we have to deal with the current ICE disappearances and deportation and all the support that's needed for the families. And so thank you Robin, for sharing that. I wanted to start broad a little bit because I think that this Trump administration is happening in the backdrop of the 50th year commemoration of the end of the wars in Southeast Asia and the refugee resettlement. We had over 1.1 million Southeast Asians resettle to the United States, the largest immigration resettlement, in American history. And so this year brings so many complexities, I think as a Southeast Asian community where there is a level of looking back at policies that have impacted us and have failed, but also looking forward what is the community that we are building together to move and progress together. And so there are those complexities, I think as the fact that it's the 50th year and like, this is what we're dealing with. This is the trauma that we are grappling with. And so I wanted to put that out front and center because even I think within our communities , there is no necessarily enlightenment in terms of how we talk about what is happening to our people and how they're getting deported unjustly. So that is why it is so important to have this dialogue within our communities as well as the solidarity that we also share with the Bhutanese community and other immigrant groups too. I think that in many of our Southeast Asian communities, their reasons for deportations is very tied to past convictions, and so this is the intersection between criminal law and immigration law. And it makes it complex because our people are now having to consult not just an immigration lawyer, but like criminal attorney so that they could really assess like what kind of relief they can get in order to mitigate, impending deportations. And then also miko you had shared about the lack of adequate legal service or representation because many of these folks, right, that have had these convictions that have now served their time and are simply members of our community that make our community rich. They are now having to revisit removal orders that they signed, thinking that, oh, nothing necessarily was gonna happen because they don't have a repatriation agreement. So, in our community, there was never a thought that we were going to be deported back to our home country because of that policy. And so that is a big contributing factor as to why the Hmong community, we don't have that infrastructure to really support our members who have gone through the criminal justice system and now have those removal orders. And so HIP, as well as many other grassroots. Sadly we did have to scramble to put this know your rights information together because again, I don't think that there was visibility in the need for us in this conversation around immigration Southeast Asians are a segment of our API community and so it just, I think, multiplied the invisibility that we already faced as a group of Southeast Asians. And so the support was definitely not there. And, to Robin's point, we did our best to try to put this information together to our community, starting with the Know Your Rights. And then we also realized like it was more complex than that, and that the legal supports were so necessary because everyone's case was different. I think what we're still dealing with now is that there's always been a lack of trust between our community members and government entities and nonprofit organizations. And so, if someone is dealing with the situation, they wanna go to, a partner that they trust to help them, even if they're not necessarily equipped to do that work, is that they're going to only the people that they trust because there is such a big mistrust. And so I think that, there is still the level of trust building that is needed to be done within our community so that folks feel comfortable to come to us or come to other people for support. And I think what makes me feel emotional is just when I hear about community members feeling hopeless and just feeling like there's nothing that they can do and that level of disempowerment to me, I think is something that is real. And I can't say that we can't combat it, but I think that it is about being able to find different outlets of support for them. Miko: Thank you for lifting that up. And just , in terms of the numbers, over three months, March, April and May, there were about 72 Bhutanese Americans that have been detained. And this is just kind of starting up with the Hmong community. So we had 15 that were detained from Minnesota and another 10 right now are being held in Michigan. And we also see this happening with Vietnamese, Laotian, Cambodians, and Myan folks. All of these folks as Kao Ye you're pointing out, have had common threads, which is connections with the system, with the criminal legal/ justice system and crimmigration is something that in the AACRE network we've been talking about and working on, which is really about the education to prison, to deportation pipeline. And one of the things that this administration had talked about is, let's get rid of all the murderers and the rapists. You know, this like scare language about people that are convicted criminals, let's get rid of them all. But the fact of the matter. The vast majority of all of these people are people like Mohan Karki, a cultural misunderstanding that happened when he was a child. Like Lou Yang, who is Hmong refugee detained in Michigan right now. Somebody who was involved in something as a kid, but has since then become a leader in the community. So let's take a moment and listen to the spouse of Lou Yang, a Hmong refugee detained in Michigan in July. Anne Vu: My name is Anne Vu and I come before you today with a heart full of hope. Sorrow and a plea for justice. I am a proud American, a mother of six, the daughter of Hmong refugees who would gain their citizenship, and the wife of a man called Lou Yang, who is now detained and faced with potential deportation from the only country that he's ever known. Lou has lived in Michigan since October, 1979. He was born stateless in a refugee camp in Nongkai Thailand and his family fled Laos due to persecution. His father and like many others, served with the United States force during the Vietnam War as part of the Secret War, recruited by CIA in Laos, a conflict that most Americans do not know has happened. The Hmong were recruited by the CIA as part of the Secret War to help America during the Vietnam War. But when the war ended and the US withdrew, we were as the Hmongs declared enemy of the state. What followed was genocide, polarization and persecution by the state, and it was because of our alliance, the promise made by the US government that the Hmong refugees were legally settled here under certain migration of refugee laws and acts. And Lou arrived here as a young, toddler in infancy. In 1997, he was arrested on an alleged accomplice in an attempt home invasion, second degree. He was in the vehicle at the time. He never entered the home. He literally was still a juvenile at that time. He had a court appointed attorney and was advised to take a plea without being told it would affect his immigration status for the rest of his life. This is the reality of our immigration system – long, complex, confusing and devastating, unforgiving. It is not built for people like us, people like Lou, people who have served their time, rebuilt their lives and have nowhere else to go. We've walked this legal path, we've stayed together in the lines, and yet we are here punished today. Lou has no other charges, no current legal issues, no history of violence. He is not a flight risk. He is not a danger to our public safety. He is a father, my husband, a son, a son-in-law, a grandson and a brother to many, and our leader and a provider to our community, and to my family. He renews his work authorization and follows every rule asked of him no matter how uncertain the future felt. Together, we've raised six beautiful children. They're all proud Americans. Lou has contributed to Michigan's economy for decades working in our automotive industry and now he is gone and all that he is built is unraveling and the community is heartbroken. We didn't come from wealth. We didn't have every opportunity handed to us because we didn't come seeking a land of opportunity. We came here because of survival. We had to build from the ground up. But the most important thing was Lou and I, we had each other. We had our families, our friends, and our neighbors. We had a shared commitment to build a better life, grounded in love, respect, and purpose. And somehow that's still not enough. For years, we were told like other Hmong families that Laos in Thailand would never take us back. And that has changed. In June, 2025 the US imposed a partial travel ban on Laos, citing visa overstays, and lack of deportation cooperation. And in response, Laos began issuing these documents under pressure. Today over 4,800, including Hmong, Myan, and the other ethnic minorities are facing removal to Laos and to many other countries, many have never stepped foot in a country that they are now being sent to. Lou is Stateless like many others that is detained with him. None of these countries recognize him. He was born in the Thailand refugee camp, it does not recognize him nor qualify him for any sort of Thai citizenship and I'll tell you guys right now if forced to return, he will face danger because of his family's deep ties to the CIA and United States military. Deporting him turns him, a civil servant and respected community leader, into a political casualty, it would be a grave and irreversible injustice. To deport him now is to punish him to death. Once again, 50 years later, as we celebrate resilience this year across the nation, we are now celebrating a fight within our own grounds, right here in United States, right here in Michigan. We're now fighting the same fight within our own country. Thousands of Southeast Asian Americans, many that entered legally admitted as refugees are being deported for decade old offenses they've longed paid for. America is our country. All we ask is the right to stay in the home that we've helped to build and work hard to protect. We are not seeking special treatment. We are asking for justice, compassion, and a second chance in this country to claim what we believe in. To Governor Whitmer and members of Congress and all elected officials, please help bring Lou and the many others home. Urge ICE and DHS to release him on humanitarian grounds. Help his case. Help us preserve the integrity of our laws and the dignity of our families. And to the public allies and the media. Please call our elected officials. Please call these offices.  Please share Lou's story. We need voices. Voices louder than ours alone. It is hard times you guys. It is real. And I speak to you from the bottom of my heart. Please help me and our families in the many that are suffering. This is our home. These are our children. This is my husband and this is our fight. Let him come home. Let our families be whole again, and let America keep its promise. Thank you guys for hearing me. Miko: Lou Young is a community leader. Michigan, who actually runs a nonprofit in support of Hmong folks in that community, and is targeted and also has a stay of removal. So we're doing a targeted campaign for both of these folks, Lou Yang and Mohan Karki, to be able to get them released to overturn their original convictions and they also have spouses that are telling their stories and telling the impact these detentions have had. Because while this current administration talks about getting rid of criminals, what they are actually doing is breaking apart families and community. Swati Rayasam: You are tuned in to Apex Express on 94.1 KPFA, 89.3 KPFB in Berkeley, 88.1 KFCF in Fresno and online@kpfa.org. Coming up is Deporting the Pilgrim from the Anakbayan Long Beach Mayday Mix tape.   Swati Rayasam: That was please be strong, featuring Hushed, loudmouth and Joe handsome. And before that was deporting the pilgrim from the Unec Bayan Long Beach Mayday Mixtape. Now back to the show. Miko:  I wanna shift us a little bit to talking about Asian american representation in the larger fabric of immigration justice in the United States. Mostly many of our Asian communities have been like isolated, not really involved in the broader immigration movement. And I'm wondering if you could talk a little bit about the difficulty and nuance of bringing your community struggle to the forefront because many of us heard about the Venezuelans and the Mexicans that have been deported and what was going on, but we don't hear as much about these stories of our Asian sisters and brothers. I wonder if one of you could give voice to that. Robin: Before going there can I add something to  Miko: of course.  Robin: crimmigration conversation? So when you all are sharing about that, I was thinking about, the justice system in this country and what we are seeing right now is a broken justice system. Like you said, Miko, where families are separated where families are broken, and what I don't understand is, when, let's say your loved one gets into trouble, makes a mistake, and gets into a trouble, then, as a human being, like, don't you want your loved ones to rebuild their lives? Like Yes, of course there is a system that you have to follow, the laws that you have to follow, but at the end, I think we all want our loved ones to come back, rebuild their lives, right? And what we're seeing in this country is they're constantly breaking the families. And I don't see how we are going to build a better future when we are constantly, hurting the families. And in the cases of detention and deportation, what we're seeing is the double punishment. Like the mistakes that they had made, but then throughout their life, they have to go through that, a continuous cycle of being punished. And not just the individuals, but their family members have also go through the challenges, the suffering, right? And in the case of Bhutanese from double punishment to double expulsion to this, the state of being statelessness. Right? So what kind of future we are imagining when an individual has to go through that continuous cycle of being punished and not having the opportunity to rebuild their lives. So that's a big question mark that I think, we all need to think about. To your later question around my community and the larger Asian American context or the national context. My community is relatively new to this country. We lived, almost two decades in a refugee camp, which was a enclosed camp. And our lives were dependent on foreign aids like UNHCR or ILWF. Pretty much I would say we had our own world over there. And for us to work outside the refugee camp was illegal. There was no laws that gave us the permission to work outside. So we were not pretty much exposed to the outer world. So for us to come to US was a big step. Which means pretty much from basic every day stuffs like, you know, using a bathroom, using a kitchen, taking a bus. All of those were foreign for us. So for our community to really tap into the education system, the political landscape of this country. And also like the experience of being expelled for voicing our, our opinions, for fighting for our rights. Right? So for us, for our community to kind of step in into the politics, it's like re-traumatizing ourselves. I would say there are a lot of barriers, multi-layered barriers for our community members to really tap into the larger political, like socio political landscape, from language barriers to culture barriers to education, to pretty much everything. So right now, the way our committee has been being attacked. It's a surprise to the community. And also it is like kind of traumatizing the community and taking us back to the same place of feeling, insecure, feeling like we don't have a home. And we did hope that this is legally, this is going to be a home. Because after coming to the US most of us became the legal citizens of this country and we started rebuilding our lives. Now it's kind of like going back to the same circle of statelessness. Miko: Thank you for sharing about that. Kao Ye, would you like to add to that? Kao Ye: When I think of the Hmong American community and even the Southeast Asian community and why the narratives of what is happening still feels very invisible. I think of how our community, we were assimilating for survival. And I speak on that as a child of my refugee parents and siblings where growing up we were taught to, listen, not speak out, not cause trouble. Go through the system, listen to authority, listen to law enforcement. And because of that, I feel it's shaped a culture of fear. Fear to dissent and fear to speak out because we care so much about the stability of our families. And we wanted to protect ourselves, because of everything we've gone through with the war. And we are finding that it's been challenging for our community members to come forward with their stories. Honestly, we're still sitting on that and we're still kind of sitting through like, why is there that tension? You know, I feel like folks are going through a lot and even folks have, our impacted loved ones, but they're afraid to tell their story because of fear of of retaliation. And so I think that there is a level of, I think that lack of even psychological safety, but real, physical, real financial safety that people have. And I think that being a factor to the assimilation, but also this facade of like the American dream and like if we don't just disrupt, if we don't speak out, we will be protected. And, white supremacy, right? Like we will be okay. And it's a facade because we know that because our communities are the ones getting kidnapped and getting deported. Right. And so I think there is that fear, but there's also recognition of this now, this facade that the silence doesn't protect us and that there is a real need for us to really, be strong in speaking out, not just for our SEA siblings that are impacted, but for all of our immigrant groups, even the Bhutanese community, right. That's been impacted during this time. And so I, yeah, I think it is that multi-layered experience of being a Southeast Asian refugee community on top of, being part of this AAPI umbrella. AAPI we are not homogenous. We all have very unique histories as to how we have dealt with the systems in this country and how we came into this country. And so I think it's been challenging to make space for those nuances. And at the end of the day, I still see the interconnections that we all have together too. And so, I think it's the willingness to make space for those different stories. And I am finding that more of our ethnic media, our smaller news outlets are more willing to cover those stories as opposed to, these larger mainstream outlets. Like they're not covering those stories, but we are. Miko: Thank you. Oh, both of you have brought up so much today about our failed criminal justice system, about us punishing people as opposed to rehabilitating people and punishing them more than once. We brought up questions around statelessness and the impact that it has, and I just recently learned that the United States does not have any policy on Statelessness. So one of the things that this coalition of folks is trying to do is to get a congressional hearing to help the United States develop policy around statelessness, because it is actually our responsibility and our duty to do that. The other thing I hear you both talking about is this good immigrant, bad immigrant trope, which we've heard of a lot, but I think that's also very much connected to why so many members of our communities don't wanna speak out because this connection with, you know, quote unquote criminal history might be something that's shameful. And I'm wondering if you both see that as a divide mostly between elders in the community and younger folks. Robin, do you wanna talk about that? Robin: Yeah. I mean, initially when we were mobilizing our community members to fight against the the unjust and unfair detention and deportation, this issue around the perception around good immigrants and bad immigrants became one of the main topic of discussion. We had to deal with people, and mostly elders, but I would say some young folks as well, who would pull themselves back on speaking against this issue because for them people who are being deported or detained are criminals and they deserve this kind of mindset. And not being able to see the larger picture of how the administration is targeting the immigrant and the refugee population of this country and really trying to dismantle community power, right? So, yes, it is a challenge that we are, we're going through and I think it's going to be quite a bit of work, to really build solidarity within our own communities. Kao Ye: I feel that the divide in the Hmong community is stemming from class and education. I feel as though when folks are articulating, regurgitating these justifications of the bad immigrant as to why folks should be deported it's folks that maybe kind of made it in their lives and now they're comparing themselves to folks that were not in that situation. And there is this growing within our community as well, where some folks are getting that education, getting, good jobs. But so much of our community, we still suffer from poverty, right? And so, I think that has been really interesting to witness the level of division because of class, because of income and also the education piece. Because oftentimes when folks are feeling this, it comes from a place of ignorance as well. And so that's why I think the education piece is so important. I actually feel though our elders are more understanding because these are their children that are being separated from them. And Robin's point is that when we have loved ones that go through the system, we just want them to rebuild their lives and be self-sufficient. And I feel like those are the values that I grew up in my community where our parents were always about keeping the family together to a fault, you know? And so they don't want separation. They just want us to be well and to do well, and to turn our lives around. And so, I feel strongly that our elders, they do understand that the importance of giving this opportunity for us to, to stay together and turn our lives around. Miko: Thank you so much, both of you for joining me here today to talk about this important conversation. I'm wondering if you could provide our audience with how they could find out more about what is going on and what are next steps for our audience members. Robin, let's start with you. Robin: Yeah. I just wanted to add what, Kao Ye talked about. I do agree the patterns around the divide is based on class. And I do see that in the community, and not just the class, but in our community class and caste, I would say. And in terms of the class, there were some instances where we had to deal with even the highly educated like PhD holders kind of, questioning us like, you know, what we are advocating for, and, I couldn't understand like, I couldn't relate the education, the title, the degree that he holds and the perception around this issue. Right. So, I just wanted to echo that. So, in terms of our work and Asian Refugees United, our website is www.asianrefugees.org And you can find us in our Instagram, Facebook, Asian Refugees United. Miko: And you can also get latest news about what's happening at bhutaneserefugeerights.com. Yeah. And Kao Ye how can folks find out more about your work? Kao Ye: Right now HIP is part of a statewide network in California called the Pardon Refugees Campaign, where we are really pushing Governor Newsom to pardon all refugees, not just Southeast Asians because of everything that we talked about, about how our families, they deserve to stay together. And so, I don't think we have a website up yet, but you can follow this campaign with us. We will be having a rally and press conference, coming up soon, in the next few weeks. And so, I would say that please follow us in that work where we are really moving in coalition with all of our uh, grassroots partners to advocate for our loved ones that are currently being impacted. Miko: Thank you so much, Robin Gurung, Asian Refugees United and Kao Ye Thao from Hmong Innovating Politics. Thank you so much for being with us here today, and I hope you listeners out there take action to keep our families together, to keep our people in the communities as loved ones where they belong. Thank you all. Have a great night. Swati Rayasam: I'm so grateful that Miko was able to talk to Robin and Kao Ye. And for those who missed it, visit bhutanese refugee rights.org for the most recent updates on the Bhutanese refugees. The press conference in rally Kao Ye mentioned took place last week on August 21st, 2025, but check out the Pardon Refugees Campaign for updates from the coalition supporting Hmong, Cambodian Laotian, Myan, and other refugees facing deportation. Thanks so much for tuning in to Apex Express. Please check out our website at kpfa.org/program/apexexpress to find out more about the show tonight and to find out how you can take direct action. 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 produced by  Miko Lee, along with Jalena Keene-Lee, Ayame Keene-Lee, Preeti Mangala Shekar,  Anuj Vaida, Cheryl Truong, Isabel Li, Ravi Grover, and me Swati Rayasam. Thank you so much to the team at KPFA for their support and have a good night.   The post APEX Express – August 28, 2025 – “And we became stateless again” appeared first on KPFA.

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 Producer Swati Rayasam showcases a community panel of how discriminatory exclusion policies during times of heightened fears of national security and safety have threatened our communities in the past, and how the activities of the current administration threaten our core constitutional rights, raising the specter of politicization and polarization of citizenship, immigration visas, naturalization rights, and the right to free speech.   Deport. Exclude. Revoke. Imprison – “Wong Kim Ark is for All of Us” SHOW TRANSCRIPT Swati Rayasam: You are tuned in to APEX Express on KPFA. My name is Swati Rayasam and I'm back as your special producer for this episode. Tonight we have an incredible community panel titled Deport. Exclude. Revoke. Imprison. This panel explores the history of how discriminatory exclusion policies during times of heightened fears of national security and [00:01:00] safety have threatened our communities in the past, and how the activities of the current administration threaten our core constitutional rights, raising the specter of politicization and polarization of citizenship, immigration visas, naturalization rights, and the right to free speech. I'll pass it on to UC Berkeley Ethnic Studies Professor Mike Chang to kick us off. Mike and Harvey: We're starting on Berkeley time, right on time at three 10, and I want to introduce Harvey Dong. Harvey Dong: Okay. The sponsors for today's event include, AADS- Asian American and Diaspora studies program, uc, Berkeley, Asian American Research Center, the Center for Race and Gender Department of Ethnic Studies- all part of uc, Berkeley. Off campus, we have the following community groups. Chinese for Affirmative Action, Asian Law Caucus, [00:02:00] Asian Prisoners Support Committee, and East Wind Books. Okay, so that's, quite a few in terms of coalition people coming together. My name is Harvey Dong and I'm also a lecturer in the AADS program and part of the ethnic studies department. I can say that I exist here as the result of birthright citizenship won by Ancestor Wong Kim Ark in 1898. Otherwise, I would not be here. We want to welcome everyone here today, for this important panel discussion titled: Deport, Exclude, Revoke, Imprison – Immigration and citizenship rights during crisis. Yes, we are in a deep crisis today. The Chinese characters for crisis is way G in Mandarin or way gay in [00:03:00] Cantonese, which means danger and opportunity. We are in a moment of danger and at the same time in a moment of opportunity. Our communities are under attack from undocumented, documented, and those with citizenship. We see urgency in coming together. In 1898, the US Supreme Court case, US versus Wong Kim Ark held that under the 14th Amendment birthright, citizenship applies to all people born in the United States. Regardless of their race or their parents' national origin or immigration status. On May 15th this year, the Supreme Court will hear a President Donald Trump's request to implement an executive order that will end birthright citizenship already before May 15th, [00:04:00] deportations of US citizen children are taking place. Recently, three US citizen children, one 2-year-old with cancer have been deported with their undocumented parents. The numbers of US citizen children are much higher being deported because it's less covered in the press. Unconstitutional. Yes, definitely. And it's taking place now. Also today, more than 2.7 million southeast Asian Americans live in the US but at least 16,000 community members have received final orders of deportation, placing their lives and families in limbo. This presents a mental health challenge and extreme economic hardship for individuals and families who do not know whether their next day in the US will be their last. Wong Kim Ark's [00:05:00] struggle and the lessons of Wong Kim Ark, continue today. His resistance provides us with a grounding for our resistance. So they say deport, exclude, revoke, imprison. We say cease and desist. You can say that every day it just seems like the system's gone amuk. There's constant attacks on people of color, on immigrants and so forth. And our only solution, or the most important solution is to resist, legally resist, but also to protest, to demand cease and desist. Today brings together campus and community people. We want you all to be informed because if you're uninformed , you can't do anything. Okay? You have to know where things are at. It's nothing new. What they're trying to do, in 1882, [00:06:00] during times of economic crisis, they scapegoated Asian Americans. Today there's economic, political crisis. And the scapegoating continues. They're not doing anything new. You know, it's old stuff, but we have to realize that, and we have to look at the past in terms of what was done to fight it and also build new solidarities today. Wong Kim Ark did not take his situation sitting down. He went through, lots of obstacles. He spent three months in Angel Island he was arrested after he won his case because he was constantly being harassed wherever he went. His kids when they came over were also, spotted as being Wong Kim Ark's, children, and they too had to spend months at Angel Island. So Wong Kim Ark did not take his situation sitting down. We need to learn from him today. Our [00:07:00] next, special guest is Mr. Norman Wong, a good friend of mine. He was active here in the third world Liberation Front strike that led to ethnic studies. He did a lots of work for the development of Asian American studies and we've been out in touch for about, what, 40 years? So I'm really happy that he's able to come back to Berkeley and to talk about yourself, if you wish, maybe during the Q and a, but to talk about , the significance of your great-grandfather's case. Okay, so Norman Wong, let's give him a hand. Norman Wong: Hello, my name's Norman Wong. I'm the great grandson, Wong Kim Ark. Wong Kim Ark was [00:08:00] born in the USA, like my great-grandfather. I, too was born American in the same city, San Francisco, more than 75 years after him. We are both Americans, but unlike him, my citizenship has never been challenged. His willingness to stand up and fight made the difference for his struggles, my humble thanks. Wong Kim Ark however, was challenged more than once. In late 1889 as an American, he traveled to China in July, 1890. He returned to his birth city. He had his papers and had no problems with reentry. In 1895, after a similar trip, he was stopped from disembarking and was placed into custody for five months aboard ship in port. [00:09:00] Citizenship denied, the reason the Chinese exclusion Act 1882. He had to win this case in district court, provide $250 bail and then win again in the United States Supreme Court, March 28th, 1898. Only from these efforts, he was able to claim his citizenship granted by birthright from the 14th Amendment and gain his freedom. That would not be the last challenge to his being American. My mother suffered similar treatment. She like my great-grandfather, was born in America. In 1942, she was forced with her family and thousands of other Japanese Americans to relocation camps an experience unspoken by her family. [00:10:00] I first learned about Japanese American internment from history books. Executive order 9066 was the command. No due process, citizenship's rights stripped. She was not American enough. Now we have executive order 14160. It is an attack on birthright citizenship. We cannot let this happen. We must stand together. We are a nation of immigrants. What kind of nation are we to be with stateless children? Born to no country. To this, I say no. We as Americans need to embrace each other and [00:11:00] cherish each new life. Born in the USA. Thank you. Harvey Dong: Thank you, Norman. And Annie Lee, will moderate, the following panel, involving campus and community representatives who will be sharing their knowledge and experience. Annie Lee, Esquire is an attorney. She's also the, managing director of policy for Chinese Affirmative Action, and she's also, heavily involved in the birthright citizenship issue. Annie Lee: Thank you so much Harvey for that very warm welcome and thank you again to Norman for your remarks. I think it's incredible that you're speaking up at this moment, to preserve your ancestors' legacy because it impacts not just you and him, but all of us [00:12:00] here. So thank you. As Harvey said, my name is Annie Lee and I have this honor of working with this amazing panel of esteemed guest we have today. So I will ask each of them to introduce themselves. And I will start, because I would love to hear your name, pronouns. Title and organization as well as your personal or professional relationship with the US Immigration System. So my name's Annie. I use she her pronouns. I'm the managing Director of policy at Chinese for Affirmative Action, which is a non-profit based in San Francisco Chinatown. We provide direct services to the monolingual working class Chinese community, and also advocate for policies to benefit all Asian Americans. My relationship with the immigration system is I am the child of two Chinese immigrants who did not speak English. And so I just remember lots of time spent on the phone when I was a kid with INS, and then it became U-S-C-I-S just trying to ask them what happened to [00:13:00] a family member's application for naturalization, for visas so I was the interpreter for them growing up and even today. I will pass it to Letty. Leti Volpp: Hi everybody. Thank you so much, Annie. Thank you Harvey. Thank you, Norman. That was profoundly moving to hear your remarks and I love the way that you framed our conversation, Harvey. I'm Leti Volpp. I am the Robert d and Leslie k Raven, professor of Law and Access to Justice at the Berkeley Law, school. I'm also the director of the campus wide , center for Race and Gender, which is a legacy of the Third World Liberation Front, and the 1999, student movement, that led to the creation of the center. I work on immigration law and citizenship theory, and I am the daughter, second of four, children of my mother who was an immigrant from China, and my father who was an immigrant [00:14:00] from Germany. So I'll pass it. Thank you. Ke Lam: Thank you. Thank you all for being here. Thank you, Norman. So my name's Key. I go by he, him pronouns or Nghiep “Ke” Lam, is my full name. I work for an organization called Asian Prison Support Committee. It's been around for like over two decades now, and it started behind three guys advocating for ethics study, Asian and Pacific Islander history. And then it was starting in San Quent State Prison. All three of them pushed for ethics study, hard and the result is they all was put into solitary confinement. And many years later, after all three got out, was Eddie Zang, Mike Romero and Mike no. And when they got out, Eddie came back and we pushed for ethics study again, and we actually got it started in 2013. And it's been going on to today. Then the programs is called Roots, restoring our Original True Self. So reconnecting with who we are. And one of Eddie's main, mottos that really stuck with me. He said, we need to all connect to our chi, right? And I'm like, okay, I understand what chi is, and he said no. He [00:15:00] said, you need to connect to your culture, your history, which result to equal your identity, who you are as a person. So, the more we study about our history and our culture, like, birthright citizen, it empower us to know, who we are today. Right? And also part of that is to how do we take down the veil of shame in our community, the veil of trauma that's impacting our community as well. We don't talk about issue that impact us like immigration. So I'm a 1.5 generation. So I was born in Vietnam from Chinese family that migrant from China to Vietnam started business after the fall of Vietnam War. We all got kicked out but more than that, I am directly impacted because I am a stranded deportee, somebody that got their, legal status taken away because of criminal conviction. And as of any moment now, I could actually be taken away. So I live in that, right at that threshold of like uncertainty right now. And the people I work with, which are hundreds of people, are fixing that same uncertainty.[00:16:00] Annie Lee: Thank you, Ke. I'm gonna pass it to our panelists who are joining us virtually, including Bun. Can you start and then we'll pass it to Chris after. Bun: Hey everybody, thank you for having me. My name is Bun. I'm the co-director of Asian Prison Support Committee. I'm also, 1.5 generation former incarcerated and under, direct impact of immigration. Christopher Lapinig: Hi everyone. My name is Christopher Lapinig, my pronouns are he, him and Sha. I am a senior staff attorney on the Democracy and National Initiatives Team at Asian Law Caucus, which you may know is the country's first and oldest legal aid in civil rights organization, dedicated to serving, low income immigrant and underserved AAPI communities. In terms of my connection to the immigration system, I am, I also am a beneficiary of a birthright citizenship, and my parents are both immigrants from the Philippines. I was born in New York City. My [00:17:00] extended family spans both in the US and the Philippines. After graduating law school and clerking, my fellowship project was focused on providing litigation and immigration services to, survivors of labor trafficking in the Filipino community. While working at Asian Americans Advancing Justice Los Angeles, I also was engaged in, class action litigation, challenging the first Trump administration's practices, detaining immigrants in the Vietnamese and Cambodian communities. Annie Lee: Thank you, Chris. Thank you Bun. Let's start off by talking about birthright citizenship since it's a big topic these days. On the very, very first day of Trump's administration, he issued a flurry of executive orders, including one that would alter birthright citizenship. But I wanna take us back to the beginning because why do we have this right? It is a very broad right? If you were born in the United States, you are an American citizen. Where does that come from? So I wanna pose the first question to Letty to talk about the [00:18:00] origins of birthright citizenship., Leti Volpp: Very happy to. So what's being fought about is a particular clause in the Constitution and the 14th Amendment, which says, all persons born are naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. Okay, so that's the text. There's been a very long understanding of what this text means, which says that regardless of the immigration status of one's parents, all children born here are entitled to birthright citizenship with three narrow exceptions, which I will explain. So the Trump administration executive order, wants to exclude from birthright citizenship, the children of undocumented immigrants, and the children of people who are here on lawful temporary visas. So for example, somebody here on an [00:19:00] F1 student visa, somebody on a H one B worker visa, somebody here is a tourist, right? And basically they're saying we've been getting this clause wrong for over a hundred years. And I will explain to you why I think they're making this very dubious argument. Essentially when you think about where the 14th amendment came from, in the United States, in the Antebellum era, about 20% of people were enslaved and there were lots of debates about citizenship. Who should be a citizen? Who could be a citizen? And in 1857, the Supreme Court issued a decision in a case called Dread Scott, where they said that no person who was black, whether free or enslaved, could ever be a citizen. The Civil War gets fought, they end slavery. And then the question arose, well, what does this mean for citizenship? Who's a citizen of the United States? And in 1866, Congress [00:20:00] enacts a law called the Civil Rights Act, which basically gave rights to people that were previously denied and said that everybody born in the United States is a birthright citizen. This gets repeated in the 14th Amendment with the very important interpretation of this clause in Norman's great-grandfather's case, the case of Wong Kim Ark. So this came before the Supreme Court in 1898. If you think about the timing of this, the federal government had basically abandoned the reconstruction project, which was the project of trying to newly enfranchised, African Americans in the United States. The Supreme Court had just issued the decision, Plessy versus Ferguson, which basically legitimated the idea that, we can have separate, but equal, as a doctrine of rights. So it was a nation that was newly hostile to the goals of the Reconstruction Congress, and so they had this case come before them, whereas we heard [00:21:00] from Norman, we have his great-grandfather born in San Francisco, Chinatown, traveling back and forth to China. His parents having actually left the United States. And this was basically presented as a test case to the Supreme Court. Where the government tried to argue, similar to what the Trump administration is arguing today, that birthright citizenship, that clause does not guarantee universal birthright citizenship saying that children of immigrants are not subject to the jurisdiction thereof, not subject to the jurisdiction of the United States because their parents are also not subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. The Supreme Court took over a year to decide the case. They knew that it would be controversial, and the majority of the court said, this provision is clear. It uses universal language. It's intended to apply to children of all immigrants. One of the things that's interesting about [00:22:00] what the, well I'll let Chris actually talk about what the Trump administration, is trying to do, but let me just say that in the Wong Kim Ark decision, the Supreme Court makes very clear there only three narrow exceptions to who is covered by the 14th Amendment. They're children of diplomats. So for example, if the Ambassador of Germany is in the United States, and, she has a daughter, like her daughter should not become a birthright citizen, right? This is why there's diplomatic immunity. Why, for example, in New York City, there are millions of dollars apparently owed to the city, in parking tickets by ambassadors who don't bother to pay them because they're not actually subject to the jurisdiction in the United States. Okay? Second category, children of Native Americans who are seen as having a sovereign relationship of their own, where it's like a nation within a nation, kind of dynamic, a country within a country. And there were detailed conversations in the congressional debate about the [00:23:00] 14th Amendment, about both of these categories of people. The third category, were children born to a hostile invading army. Okay? So one argument you may have heard people talk about is oh, I think of undocumented immigrants as an invading army. Okay? If you look at the Wong Kim Ark decision, it is very clear that what was intended, by this category of people were a context where the hostile invading army is actually in control of that jurisdiction, right? So that the United States government is not actually governing that space so that the people living in it don't have to be obedient, to the United States. They're obedient to this foreign power. Okay? So the thread between all three of these exceptions is about are you having to be obedient to the laws of the United States? So for example, if you're an undocumented immigrant, you are subject to being criminally prosecuted if you commit a crime, right? Or [00:24:00] you are potentially subjected to deportation, right? You have to obey the law of the United States, right? You are still subject to the jurisdiction thereof. Okay? But the Trump administration, as we're about to hear, is making different arguments. Annie Lee: Thank you so much, Leti for that historical context, which I think is so important because, so many different communities of color have contributed to the rights that we have today. And so what Leti is saying here is that birthright citizenship is a direct result of black liberation and fighting for freedom in the Civil War and making sure that they were then recognized as full citizens. And then reinforced, expanded, by Wong Kim Ark. And now we are all beneficiaries and the vast majority of Americans get our citizenship through birth. Okay? That is true for white people, black people. If you're born here, you get your ci. You don't have to do anything. You don't have to go to court. You don't have to say anything. You are a US citizen. And now as Leti referenced, there's this fringe legal theory that, thankfully we've got lawyers like [00:25:00] Chris who are fighting this. So Chris, you're on the ALC team, one of many lawsuits against the Trump administration regarding this unlawful executive order. Can you tell us a little bit about the litigation and the arguments, but I actually really want you to focus on what are the harms of this executive order? Sometimes I think particularly if you are a citizen, and I am one, sometimes we take what we have for granted and you don't even realize what citizenship means or confers. So Chris, can you talk about the harms if this executive order were to go through? Christopher Lapinig: Yeah. As Professor Volpp sort of explained this executive order really is an assault on a fundamental constitutional right that has existed for more than a hundred years at this point, or, well, about 125 years. And if it is allowed to be implemented, the harms would really be devastating and far reach. So first, you know, children born in the us, the [00:26:00] parents without permanent status, as permissible said, would be rendered effectively stateless, in many cases. And these are of course, children, babies who have never known any other home, yet they would be denied the basic rights of citizen. And so the order targets a vast range of families, and not just undocument immigrants, but also those with work visas, student visas, humanitarian productions like TPS, asylum seekers, fleeing persecution, DACA recipients as well. And a lot of these communities have deep ties to Asian American community. To our history, and of course are, essential part, of our social fabric. In practical terms, children born without birthright citizenship would be denied access to healthcare through Medicaid, through denied access to snap nutritional assistance, even basic IDs like social security numbers, passports. And then as they grow older, they'd be barred from voting, serving on juries and even [00:27:00] working. And then later on in life, they might be, if they, are convicted of a crime and make them deportable, they could face deportation to countries that they never stepped, foot off basically. And so this basically is this executive order threatened at risk, creating exactly what the drafters of the 14th Amendment wanted to prevent the creation of a permanent underclass of people in the United States. It'll just get amplified over time. If you can imagine if there's one generation of people born without citizenship, there will be a second generation born and a third and fourth, and it'll just get amplified over time. And so it truly is just, hard to get your mind around exactly what the impact of this EO would be. Annie Lee: Thanks, Chris. And where are we in the litigation right now? Harvey referenced, a hearing at the Supreme Court on May 15th, but, tell us a little bit about the injunction and the arguments on the merits and when that can, when we can expect [00:28:00] that. Christopher Lapinig: Yeah, so there were a number of lawsuits filed immediately after, the administration issued its exec order on January 20th. Asian Law Caucus we filed with the ACLU Immigrant Rights Project. Literally we were the first lawsuit, literally hours after the executive order was issued. By early February, federal judges across the country had issued nationwide preliminary injunctions blocking implementation of the order. Our case is actually not a nationwide injunction. And so there're basically, I believe three cases that are going up to the Supreme Court. And, the Trump administration appealed to various circuit courts to try to undo these injunctions. But all circuit courts upheld the injunctive relief and and so now the Supreme Court is going to be hearing arguments on May 15th. And so it has not actually ruled on whether or not the executive order is constitutional, but it's going to. I mean, it remains to be seen exactly what they're going to decide but may [00:29:00] 15th is the next date is the big date on our calendar. Annie Lee: Yeah. So the Trump administration is arguing that these judges in a particular district, it's not fair if they get to say that the entire country, is barred from receiving this executive order. Is that procedurally correct. Judges, in order to consider whether to grants an injunction, they have a whole battery of factors that they look at, including one, which is like likelihood of winning on the merits. Because if something is unconstitutional, it's not really great to say, yeah, you can let this executive order go through. And then like later when the court cases finally worked their way, like a year later, pull back from that. And so that's, it's very frustrating to see this argument. And it's also unfair and would be very messy if the states that had republican Attorneys General who did not litigate, why would you allow the executive order to go forward in those red states and not in these blue state? It really, I would say federalism run terribly amuck. Swati Rayasam: [00:30:00] You are tuned in to APEX Express on 94.1 KPFA, 89.3 KPFB in Berkeley,. 88.1. KFCF in Fresno and online@kpfa.org. Annie Lee: But anyway, let's see back off from the actual case because I think what we're really talking about and what Chris has alluded to is, these cases about birthright citizenship, all the immigration policy is essentially determining who belongs here. Who belongs here. That's what immigration policy is at its heart. And we see that the right wing is weaponizing that question, who belongs here? And they are going after very vulnerable populations, undocumented people, people who are formerly incarcerated. So Bun if you can talk about how, is the formerly incarcerated community, like targeted immigrants, targeted for deportation? What is going on with this community that I feel like most people might not know about? Thank [00:31:00] you. Bun: Yes. For our folks that are incarcerated and former incarcerated, we are the easiest target for deportation because we are in custody and in California, CDCR colludes with ICE and on the day that we are to be paroled they're at the door, cuffing us up and taking us to detention. I'm glad to hear Harvey say, this is a time of fear for us and also opportunity. Right now, our whole community, the Southeast Asian community, mainly are very effective with immigration. In the past 25 years, mostly it was the Cambodian community that was being targeted and deported. At this moment, they are targeting, all of the Southeast Asian community, which historically was never deported because of the politics and agreements, of the Vietnamese community. And now the Laos community thats more concerning, that are being targeted for deportation. Trump have opened a new opportunity for us as a community to join [00:32:00] together and understand each other's story, and understand each other's fear. Understand where we're going about immigration. From birthright to crimmagration. A lot of times folks that are under crimmigration are often not spoken about because of our cultural shame, within our own family and also some of our community member felt safe because the political agreements. Now that everybody's in danger, we could stand together and understand each other's issue and support each other because now we could see that history has repeated itself. Again, we are the scapegoat. We are here together fighting the same issue in different circumstances, but the same issue. Annie Lee: But let me follow up. What are these, historical agreements that you're talking about that used to feel like used to at least shield the community that now aren't in place anymore? Bun: Yeah. After the Clinton administration, uh, passed the IRA [immigration reform act] a lot of Southeast Asian nations were asked to [00:33:00] take their nationals back. Even though we as 1.5 generation, which are the one that's mostly impacted by this, had never even stepped into the country. Most of us were born in a refugee camp or we're too young to even remember where they came from. Countries like Cambodian folded right away because they needed the financial aid and whatever, was offering them and immediately a three with a MOU that they will take their citizens since the early two thousands. Vietnam had a stronger agreement, which, they would agree to only take folks that immigrated here after 1995 and anybody before 1995, they would not take, and Laos have just said no until just a few months ago. Laos has said no from when the, uh, the act was passed in 1995, the IRRIRA. Mm-hmm. So the big change we have now is Vietnam had signed a new MOU saying that they will take folks after 1995 [00:34:00] in the first administration and more recently, something that we never thought, happened so fast, was Laos agreeing to take their citizen back. And then the bigger issue about our Laos community is, it's not just Laos folks. It's the Hmong folks, the Myan folks, folks, folks that are still in danger of being returned back 'cause in the Vietnam War, they colluded and supported the Americans in the Vietnam War and were exiled out and kicked out, and were hunted down because of that. So, at this moment, our folks are very in fear, especially our loud folks, not knowing what's gonna happen to 'em. Ke Lam: So for folks that don't know what IRR means it means, illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act. It actually happened after the Oklahoma bombing, which was caused by a US citizen, a white US citizen. Yeah. But immigration law came out of it. That's what's crazy about it. Annie Lee: Can you tell us, how is APSC advocating to protect the community right now because you [00:35:00] are vulnerable? Ke Lam: So we had to censor a lot of our strategies. At first we used to use social media as a platform to show our work and then to support our community. But the government use that as a target to capture our people. So we stopped using social media. So we've been doing a lot of on the ground movement, such as trying to get local officials to do resolutions to push Governor Newsom to party more of our community members. The other thing is we hold pardon workshops, so try and get folks to get, either get a pardon or vacate their sentence. So commute their sentence to where it become misdemeanor is not deportable anymore. Support letters for our folks writing support letters to send to the governor and also to city official, to say, Hey, please help pardon our community. I think the other thing we are actually doing is solidarity work with other organizations, African American community as well as Latin communities because we've been siloed for so long and we've been banned against each other, where people kept saying like, they've taken all our job when I grew up. That's what they told us, right? [00:36:00] But we, reality that's not even true. It was just a wedge against our community. And then so it became the good versus bad narrative. So our advocacy is trying to change it it's called re-storying you know, so retelling our story from people that are impacted, not from people, not from the one percenters in our own community. Let's say like we're all good, do you, are there's parts of our community that like that's the bad people, right? But in reality, it affects us all. And so advocacy work is a lot of different, it comes in a lot of different shapes and forms, but definitely it comes from the community. Annie Lee: Thanks, Ke. You teed me up perfectly because there is such a good versus bad immigrant narrative that takes root and is really hard to fight against. And that's why this administration is targeting incarcerated and formerly incarcerated folks and another group that, are being targeted as people who are accused of crimes, including Venezuelan immigrants who are allegedly part of a gang. So, Leti how is the government deporting [00:37:00] people by simply accusing them of being a part of a gang? Like how is that even possible? Leti Volpp: Yeah, so one thing to think about is there is this thing called due process, right? It's guaranteed under the constitution to all persons. It's not just guaranteed to citizens. What does it mean? Procedural due process means there should be notice, there should be a hearing, there should be an impartial judge. You should have the opportunity to present evidence. You should have the opportunity to cross examinee. You should have the opportunity to provide witnesses. Right? And basically Trump and his advisors are in real time actively trying to completely eviscerate due process for everybody, right? So Trump recently said, I'm doing what I was elected to do, remove criminals from our country. But the courts don't seem to want me to do that. We cannot give everyone a trial because to do so would take without exaggeration, 200 years. And then Stephen Miller said the judicial process is for Americans. [00:38:00] Immediate deportation is for illegal aliens. Okay. Quote unquote. Right. So I think one thing to notice is, as we're hearing from all of our speakers are like the boxes, the categories into which people are put. And what's really disturbing is to witness how once somebody's put in the box of being quote unquote criminal gang banger terrorists, like the American public seems to be like, oh, okay you can do what you want to this person. There's a whole history of due process, which exists in the laws which was created. And all of these early cases actually involved Asian immigrants, right? And so first they were saying there's no due process. And then in a case called Yata versus Fisher, they said actually there is due process in deportation cases, there's regular immigration court proceedings, which accord with all of these measures of due process. There's also a procedure called expedited removal, [00:39:00] which Congress invented in the nineties where they wanted to come up with some kind of very quick way to summarily exclude people. It was motivated by a 60 Minutes episode where they showed people coming to Kennedy Airport, who didn't have any ID or visa or they had what seemed to be fake visas and they were let into the United States. And then they disappeared, right? According to the 60 Minutes episode. So basically Congress invented this procedure of, if you appear in the United States and you have no documents, or you have what an immigration inspector thinks are false documents, they can basically tell you, you can leave without this court hearing. And the only fail safe is what's called a credible fear screening. Where if you say, I want asylum, I fear persecution, I'm worried I might be tortured, then they're supposed to have the screening. And if you pass that screening, you get put in regular removal [00:40:00] proceedings. So before the Trump administration took office, these expedited removal proceedings were happening within a hundred miles of the border against people who could not show that they had been in the United States for more than two weeks. In one of his first executive orders. Trump extended this anywhere in the United States against people who cannot show they've been in the United States for more than two years. So people are recommending that people who potentially are in this situation to carry documentation, showing they've been physically in the United States for over two years. Trump is also using this Alien Enemies Act, which was basically a law Congress passed in 1798. It's only been used three times in US history it's a wartime law, right? So it was used in 1812, World War I, and World War II, and there's supposed to be a declared war between the United States and a foreign nation or government, or [00:41:00] there's an incursion threatened by a foreign nation or government, and the president makes public proclamation that all natives of this hostile nation, 14 and up shall be liable to be restrained and removed as alien enemies. Okay? So we're obviously not at war with the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, right? They have not engaged in some kind of invasion or predatory incursion into the United States, but the Trump administration is claiming that they have and saying things like, oh, they're secretly a paramilitary wing of the Venezuelan government, even as the Venezuelan government is like cracking down on them. It's not a quasi sovereign, entity. There's no diplomatic relationships between Tren de Aragua and any other government. So these are legally and factually baseless arguments. Nonetheless, the administration has been basically taking people from Venezuela on the basis of tattoos. A tattoo of a crown of a [00:42:00] rose, right? Even when experts have said there's no relationship between what Tren de Aragua does and tattoos, right? And basically just kidnapping people and shipping them to the torture prison in El Salvador. As I'm sure you know of the case of Kimber Abrego Garcia, I'm sure we'll hear more about this from Christopher. There's a very small fraction of the persons that have been sent to this prison in El Salvador who actually have any criminal history. And I will say, even if they had a criminal history, nobody should be treated in this manner and sent to this prison, right? I mean, it's unbelievable that they've been sent to this prison allegedly indefinitely. They're paying $6 million a year to hold people there. And then the United States government is saying, oh, we don't have any power to facilitate or effectuate their return. And I think there's a struggle as to what to call this. It's not just deportation. This is like kidnapping. It's rendition. And there are people, there's like a particular person like who's completely [00:43:00] disappeared. Nobody knows if they're alive or dead. There are many people in that prison. People don't know if they're alive or dead. And I'm sure you've heard the stories of people who are gay asylum seekers, right? Who are now in this situation. There are also people that have been sent to Guantanamo, people were sent to Panama, right? And so I think there questions for us to think about like, what is this administration doing? How are they trying to do this in a spectacular fashion to instill fear? As we know as well, Trump had said oh, like I think it would be great when he met with Bukele if you build four more or five more facilities. I wanna house homegrown people in El Salvador, right? So this is all the more importance that we stick together, fight together, don't, as key was saying, don't let ourselves be split apart. Like we need a big mass coalition right? Of people working together on this. Annie Lee: So thank you leti and I think you're absolutely right. These Venezuelans were kidnapped [00:44:00] in the middle of the night. I mean, 2:00 AM 3:00 AM pulled out of bed, forced to sign documents they did not understand because these documents were only available in English and they speak Spanish, put on planes sent to El Salvador, a country they've never been to. The government didn't even have to prove anything. They did not have to prove anything, and they just snatch these people and now they're disappeared. We do have, for now the rule of law. And so Chris, there are judges saying that, Kimber Abrego Garcia has to be returned. And despite these court orders, the administration is not complying. So where does that leave us, Chris, in terms of rule of law and law in general? Christopher Lapinig: Yeah. So, I'm gonna make a little personal. So I graduated from Yale Law School in 2013, and you might know some of my classmates. One of my classmates is actually now the Vice President of the United States. Oh man. [00:45:00] Bless you. As well as the second lady, Usha Vance. And a classmate of mine, a good friend Sophia Nelson, who's a trans and queer, was recently on, I believe CNN answering a question about, I believe JD Vice President Vance, was asked about the administration's sort of refusal to comply with usual orders. Yeah. As we're talking about here and JD had said something like, well, courts, judges can't tell the president what he can't do, and sophia, to their credit, said, you know, I took constitutional law with JD, and, we definitely read Marbury Versus Madison together, and that is the semial sort of Supreme Court case that established that the US Supreme Court is the ultimate decider, arbiter, interpreter, of the US Constitution. And so is basically saying, I know JD knows better. He's lying essentially, in all of his [00:46:00] communications about, judicial orders and whether or not a presidential administration has to comply , with these orders. So, to get to your question though, it is of course unprecedented. Really. It is essentially, you know, it's not, if we not already reached. The point of a constitutional crisis. It is a constitutional crisis. I think it's become clear to many of us that, democracy in the US has operated in large part, and has relied on, on, on the good faith in norms, that people are operating good faith and that presidents will comply when, a federal judge issues an injunction or a decision. It kind of leaves us in an interesting, unprecedented situation. And it means that, lawyers, we will continue to litigate and, go to court, but we can't, lawyers will not save the country or, immigrants or communities. We need to think extensively and creatively. [00:47:00] About how to ensure, that the rule of law is preserved because, this administration is not, abiding by the longstanding norms of compliance and so we have to think about, protests, advocacy, legislatively. I don't have the answers necessarily, but we can't rely on the courts to fix these problems really. Annie Lee: Oof. That was very real, Chris. Thank you. But I will say that when there is resistance, and we've seen it from students who are speaking up and advocating for what they believe is right and just including Palestinian Liberation, that there is swift retaliation. And I think that's partly because they are scared of student speech and movement and organizing. But this is a question to all of you. So if not the courts and if the administration is being incredibly retaliatory, and discriminatory in terms of viewpoint discrimination, in people and what people are saying and they're scouring our social [00:48:00] media like, Ke warns, like what can everyday people do to fight back? That's for all of you. So I don't know who, which of you wants to take it first? Ke Lam: Oh man. I say look at history, right? Even while this new president, I wanna say like, this dude is a convicted felon, right? Don't be surprised at why we country is in the way it is, because this dude's a convicted felon, a bad business person, right? And only care about the billionaires, you know? So I'm not surprised how this country's ending up the way it is 'cause it is all about money. One way that we can stand up is definitely band together, marched on the streets. It's been effective. You look at the civil right movement, that's the greatest example. Now you don't have to look too far. We can actually, when we come together, they can't fight us all. Right? It is, and this, it's like you look at even nature in the cell. When things band together, the predators cannot attack everyone. Right? They probably could hit a few of us, but in the [00:49:00] long run, we could change the law. I think another thing is we, we, as the people can march to the courts and push the courts to do the job right, despite what's going on., We had judges that been arrested for doing the right thing, right? And so, no matter what, we have to stand strong just despite the pressure and just push back. Annie Lee: Thanks, Ke. Chris? Christopher Lapinig: What this administration is doing is you know, straight out of the fascist playbook. They're working to, as we all know, shock and awe everyone, and make Americans feel powerless. Make them feel like they have no control, make them feel overwhelmed. And so I think first and foremost, take care of yourself , in terms of your health, in terms of your physical health, your mental health. Do what you can to keep yourself safe and healthy and happy. And do the same for your community, for your loved ones, your friends and family. And then once you've done that do what you can in terms of your time, treasure, [00:50:00] talent to, to fight back. Everyone has different talents, different levels of time that they can afford. But recognize that this is a marathon and not necessarily a sprint because we need everyone, in this resistance that we can get. Annie Lee: Thank you, Chris. Leti Volpp: There was a New Yorker article called, I think it was How to Be a Dissident which said, before recently many Americans, when you ask them about dissidents, they would think of far off countries. But they interviewed a lot of people who'd been dissidents in authoritarian regimes. And there were two, two things in that article that I'm taking with me among others. One of them said that in surveying like how authoritarian regimes are broken apart, like only 3.5% of the population has to oppose what's going on. The other thing was that you should find yourself a political home where you can return to frequently. It's almost like a religious or [00:51:00] spiritual practice where you go and you get refreshed and you're with like-minded people. And so I see this event, for example as doing that, and that we all need to find and nurture and foster spaces like this. Thank you. Annie Lee: Bun, do you have any parting words? Bun: Yeah. Like Ke said, to fight back, getting together, understanding issues and really uplifting, supporting, urging our own communities, to speak Up. You know, there's folks that can't speak out right now because of fear and danger, but there are folks here that can speak out and coming here learning all our situation really give the knowledge and the power to speak out for folks that can't speak down [unclear] right now. So I appreciate y'all Annie Lee: love that bun. I was gonna say the same thing. I feel like there is a special obligation for those of us who are citizens, citizens cannot be deported. Okay? Citizens have special rights based [00:52:00] on that status. And so there's a special responsibility on those of us who can speak, and not be afraid of retaliation from this government. I would also urge you all even though it's bleak at the federal level, we have state governments, we have local governments. You have a university here who is very powerful. And you have seen, we've seen that the uni that the administration backs down, sometimes when Harvard hit back, they back down and that means that there is a way to push the administration, but it does require you all putting pressure on your schools, on your local leaders, on your state leaders to fight back. My boss actually, Vin taught me this. You know, you think that politicians, lead, politicians do not lead politicians follow. Politicians follow and you all lead when you go out further, you give them cover to do the right thing. And so the farther you push and the more you speak out against this administration, the more you give them courage to do the right thing. And so you absolutely have to do that. A pardon [00:53:00] is critical. It is critical for people who are formerly incarcerated to avoid the immigration system and deportation. And so do that. Talk to your family, talk to your friends. My parents, despite being immigrants, they're kinda old school. Okay guys, they're like, you know, birthright citizenship does seem kind of like a loophole. Why should people like get like citizenship? I'm like, mom, we, I am a birthright citizen. Like, um, And I think for Asian Americans in particular, there is such a rich history of Asian American civil rights activism that we don't talk about enough, and maybe you do at Berkeley with ethnic studies and professors like Mike Chang. But, this is totally an interracial solidarity movement. We helped bring about Wong Kim Ark and there are beneficiaries of every shade of person. There's Yik wo, and I think about this all the time, which is another part of the 14th Amendment equal protection. Which black Americans fought for that in San Francisco. [00:54:00] Chinatown made real what? What does equal protection of the laws even mean? And that case was Seminole. You've got Lao versus Nichols. Another case coming out of San Francisco. Chinatown about English learner rights, the greatest beneficiary of Lao v Nichols, our Spanish speakers, they're Spanish speaking children in schools who get access to their education regardless of the language they speak. And so there are so many moments in Asian American history that we should be talking about, that we should educate our parents and our families about, because this is our moment. Now, this is another one of those times I wanna pass it to Mike and Harvey for questions, and I'm so excited to hear about them. Mike and Harvey: Wow, thank you so much. That's a amazing, panel and thank you for facilitating annie's wanna give it of a great value in terms of that spiritual home aspect. Norm how does your great grandfather's , experience in resistance, provide help for us [00:55:00] today? Norman Wong: Well, I think he was willing to do it. It only took one, if no one did it, this, we wouldn't be having the discussion because most of us would've never been here. And we need to come together on our common interests and put aside our differences because we all have differences. And if we tried, to have it our way for everything, we'll have it no way for us. We really need to, to bond and bind together and become strong as a people. And I don't mean as a racial or a national group. Mm-hmm. I mean, we're Americans now. We're Americans here think of us as joining with all Americans to make this country the way it's supposed to be. The way [00:56:00] we grew up, the one that we remember, this is not the America I grew up believing in. I'm glad he stood up. I'm proud that he did that. He did that. Him doing that gave me something that I've never had before. A validation of my own life. And so yes, I'm proud of him. Wong Kim Ark is for all of us. It's not for me to own. Yeah. Wow. Really not. Thank you so much. Wong Kim Ark is for all of us. And, and , talking about the good , that we have here and, the optimism that Harvey spoke about, the opportunity, even in a moment of substantial danger. Thank you so much everybody. Mike and Harvey: This was amazing and really appreciate sharing this space with you and, building community and solidarity. Ke Lam: But is there any, can I leave with a chant before we close off? Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. Thank you so much. So this is a chant that we use on the ground all the time. You guys probably heard it. When I said when we fight, you guys said we [00:57:00] win when we fight. We win when we fight, we win. When we fight, we win up. Swati Rayasam: Thanks so much for tuning into APEX Express. Please check out our website at kpfa.org/program/apexexpress to find out more about the show tonight and to find out how you can take direct action. 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 produced by Miko Lee, along with Jalena Keene-Lee, Ayame Keene-Lee, Preeti Mangala Shekar, Anuj Vaida, Cheryl Truong, Isabel Li, Ravi Grover, and me Swati Rayasam. Thank you so much to the team at KPFA for their support, and have a good [00:58:00] night.   The post APEX Express – 6.26.25-Deport. Exclude. Revoke. Imprison – Wong Kim Ark is for All of Us appeared first on KPFA.

رعنا ابراهیمی، مدیر موسسه MYAN، و آرزو رحیمی، از فعالان این موسسه، در گفتگویی با اشاره به انتخابات فدرال پیش‌رو در استرالیا، بر اهمیت مشارکت جوانان چندفرهنگی در انتخابات پیش رو تأکید می‌کنند.

Stupid News 10-30-2024 6am …For the last time, you cannot go to a Halloween Party dressed as a KKK Member and not expect trouble …It was quite the assault with a golf club …PHD Student discovers a Myan Lost City in Mexico

Blåstället fortsätter att prata med varje lag i serien och stannar kvar i området kring Mälaren. Wiktor Nyström från Gustavsberg och Martin Krigh från Tellus gästar denna gång. Myan och Acke hinner också vara lite nostalgisk i början, det är ju trots allt lite av ett jubileum.Trevlig lyssning!

What if the top college golf programs had their best alumni (and current players) battle it out in a March Madness-style bracket? That's the question we asked, as Myan Patel (PGA TOUR LIVE/SiriusXM PGA TOUR Radio) and Roberto Arguello (PGA TOUR LIVE/The Action Network) join the show to pick hypothetical winners. Can Scottie Scheffler and Jordan Spieth lead Texas to a title? Can Max Homa and Collin Morikawa deliver for Cal? The Bracket: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1E_qWTcXpB1bLNBwTCes-6q4uaIq5YHYTMKmqGW86NK0/edit?usp=sharing The Teams: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1HOeihSNIr6GoFFam7G2r01WdfeEkTKoRmDYIN2ul_7w/edit?usp=sharing Some Notes: Bracket includes 36 teams seeded 1-8 (Four play-in games for the 8 seeds) Jeff made the overall rankings 1-36 and then made bracket using S-Curve Teams are made up of 3 players and are judge based on current level of play (right now) Each matchup needs 2-1 or better split between Jeff, Myan and Roberto In hypothetical head-to-heads, teams are playing 3 match-play singles competitions at Augusta National Golf Club

Seated across from Goreb, our conversation unfolds into a captivating exploration of his past in Santa Cruz. We delve into the intricate layers of his upbringing, tracing the trajectory from painting trains to immersing himself in the dynamic world of street art. Each anecdote reveals a chapter of his artistic journey, painting a vivid picture of the evolution that has shaped Goreb's unique perspective and contribution to the graffiti sub-culture.Myan@Bay_Area_Graffiti @Whatsyournaymhttps://www.flickr.com/photos/bay_area_graffiti/https://myanism.bigcartel.com/https://www.youtube.com/@MyanUGSGorebhttps://www.instagram.com/goreb83/Buzzsprout Affiliate Programhttps://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=1887233Support the show

I sit down with Mr.365 Himself, Oyum. we talk about his origins in the South bay, his thoughts on graffiti and how much he loves scribes. Myan@Bay_Area_Graffiti @Whatsyournaymhttps://www.flickr.com/photos/bay_area_graffiti/https://myanism.bigcartel.com/https://www.youtube.com/@MyanUGSBuzzsprout Affiliate Programhttps://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=1887233Support the showSupport the show

Myan has been very aware of energy since she was a child. During a ten month trip to India in her early 20's, she got sick and needed to find alternative ways to heal herself. Through psychic meditation and healing, she was able to develop her abilities to be sensitive to the world around her in a way that was empowering. This journey lead her to heal her body and become a professional healer, clairvoyant, animal communicator, and psychic teacher. She has been doing this work for twenty years! Born and raised in Chicago, IL, she went to college at the University of Wisconsin where she studied painting. After traveling around the world, she became a teacher, working with adult refugees as an ESL instructor, teaching preschool, and working at a spiritual center teaching psychic development classes. She continued to do her healing work while she studied art direction at the Miami Ad School, and now works full time as a psychic reader, healer, and teacher. ​Through using her psychic abilities with people, she discovered that working with animals was equally as helpful and an important part of the healing ecosystem. She works with people and their pets to help pet owners gain clarity and be in better communication with their animal companions. Animals are a big part of our every day life and need help taking care of their energy too! Myan teaches classes on all things psychic, including how to take care of your energy, how to heal yourself and others, how to see/read energy, how to use your psychic abilities in your every day life as a compass and guide, and how to communicate and heal your pet and other animals. We do not always experience what is fully happening with just our basic five senses.There are aspects of life that exist in between the lines.Since we are not only working from a physical perspective, we need to be responsible for taking care of our energy and our pets energy in combination with tending to the body and mind. www.goddessofwildthings.com

Listen to this LIVE Video podcast pre recorded for audio ,as Terry and I talk about recent Ufo sightingd this week and some ancient crystal skulls. as we present Terry's Eye of the Beholder stone.YouTube Video Podcast - https://www.youtube.com/live/VBf_ShO-vLo?si=tVjsqsqGie_fhkOVvJoin us on PATREON! and be a VIP to special Access podcasts never seen! https://patreon.com/Alien_Srand_Podca...Find us now on Twitter- @asdpdonFind us on Instagram- @alienstrandpodcastAlien Strand Disclosure Project Official web site- http://ASDP-UFO.comReport a UFO or Paranormal to A.S.D.PAlien Strand Podcast Official Website- https://www.alienstrand.comASDP Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/groups/18206...The Middle Cascadia Guides Movie- Amazon Prime ($2.99 Commercial Free) https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detai...The Middle Cascadia Guides Movie- Tubi Tv---(FREE) https://tubitv.com/movies/722730/the-...To be a guest on the show or a Sponsor contact through Email ledzproduction@gmail.com#alienstrandpodcast #ASDP #visitors #viral #video #subscribe #abduction #uapweekly #ufo #asdp #alienstrand podcast #viral #video #science #education

I sit down with Renos to hear about his origins, the early graffiti scene in the peninsula, and his love for skateboarding. Renos passionately describes growing up in a vibrant neighborhood where graffiti flourished, and how it became his artistic outlet. He also shares how skateboarding brought him a sense of freedom and formed lasting connections. His story showcases the transformative power of these unconventional pursuits in shaping lives and fostering a sense of community.Myan@Bay_Area_Graffiti @Whatsyournaymhttps://www.flickr.com/photos/bay_area_graffiti/https://myanism.bigcartel.com/https://www.youtube.com/@MyanUGSRenos@RenosonerNeed A Sign?Left Coast Signshttp://www.LeftCoastSigns.comBuzzsprout Affiliate Programhttps://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=1887233Support the show

When financial advisor, Myan Subrayan, was held up at gunpoint in South Africa, he vowed that he would find a safer future for himself, his wife and their 8 month old baby. Landing in NZ and finding himself out of any funds unexpectedly, he started a long intraspection as to why these unfortunate things were happening to him.His unwavering faith in God and luck meeting with a NZ Maori elder brought new light to his way and paved his life forward as one of motivation, faith and courage to so many others he encountered from then on. A job offer that he could not resist, saw him relocating his family back to South Africa in 2012 for 7 years. In 2019 with increased safety concerns for his family and load shedding now being a constant more than a per-occasion-occurrence, they decided to move back to NZ. Shortly after their third overseas move, Myan and his family decided to follow their next calling and made their fourth overseas move, this time from NZ to Australia. First based in NSW as a church pastor, to now having taken on a teaching role in a Christian school in Perth in 2022, where he feels his family has found their forever spot.Join me in this episode to hear not only Myan's inspirational story about his calling from God and his life living in all three of the Tri Nation countries, but also how Myan became involved in the All Blacks, Springboks and so many other sporting greats' inside circles and took them to even higher heights.

All of the news coming from September. Thank you so much for listening!   Please consider donating a coffee https://ko-fi.com/forteannewspodcast Check out the new album by the Weaverbirds here: https://squidgerecords.bandcamp.com/ For the competition go to www.instagram.com/theorogionalvaultsghost and visit the Ivy Cavern at www.freerangefaeries.co.uk  Enjoy my TikTok ghost stories here: https://www.tiktok.com/@confessions_of_ghost_boy   Find us on Twitter www.twitter.com/forteannewspod   In this show, a world-exclusive listening of the new Weverbirds song and a competition to win a ghost!! Also all the fortean news of UFO's Ghosts, Cryptids and just weirdness.    The show includes A study on Haunted People Syndrome.  The stats on how many USA people live in a haunted house.  The Ghostbuster Ruling.  The ten gates of hell around the world. (Stull in Kansas, Mount Osore in Japan, Cave Diros in Greece, St Patricks Purgatory in Ireland, Hekla Volcanoes in Iceland, Cenotes Caves in Mexico, Fengdu Ghost City in China, Ploitonion Hierapolis in Turkey, Houska Castle in Czech Republic, Lake Avernus in Italy) The poltergeist in the haunted Black Lion Inn.  Kent's Most Frightening Buildings (Dover Castle, St Bartholomew Hospital, Rochester Castle, Chatham Dockyard, Canterbury Cathedral, Sheerness Docks, Chiddingstone Castle, Hever castle) Ghost girl at Eureka Springs Arkansas USA. The ghosts of USS Hornet. The ghosts of the Canon female correctional facility in Colorado prison. Haunted Seven Gables house. Haunted Haceta Head Lighthouse in Oregon. Sinai House in Burton with ghostly apparitions.  Haunted forest with ghost drumming in Pennsylvania. Haunted Blackpool.  The most haunted pubs in Sheffield (The Ball Innis, Ye Old Harrow, The Old Queens Head, Carbrrok hall now a Starbucks, Three Tuns Pub, Boardwalk now Meltdown, Winter Green Pub poltergeists) Haunted Kardashians.  French Haunted Chateaux.  Haunted Cemeteries in the USA.  South Lanarkshire haunted church in Scotland.  Manchester's Marbury lady. The Fleece Pub in Bretforton England.  Humbird hotel in Wisconsin.  Haunted Seattle Kells Irish Bar. Haunted Sunderland (Hylton Castle, WWII ghosts, Pheonix hall masonic temple, Heaton Holme, Victoria Royalty Theatre). Willie Earle's ghost at Picken's county Museum. The spookiest things kids have said.  UAP's and UFO's and the USA Navy. Dr. Sascha Quanz thinks humans will discover aliens. Jack Osbourne. Starlink. UFO's in Ukraine in the Russian war.  Catholic theologian says aliens are demonic entities.  UFO seen by a Brazilian plane. UFO just misses a plane in Belgium.  The Calvine UFO photo.  Vietnam Cave Alien.  UFO on the moon. Triangle UAP in the Mexican clouds.  Venezuelan scientists think space has junk UFO's.  Alien contact and geopolitical fallout.  Europe's highest UFO sightings stats. Astronomer Avi Loeb, Oumuamua and expedition for CNEOS 2014-01-08. Crop circles and loss of earnings.  Santa Monica UFO's. San Diego bay UAP sightings.  the Tamaulipas UFO in Mexico. Missouri licking UFO. Moray Firth UFO photo. Yorkshire reptilian alien sighting.  Tinder date is an alien.  USA Intelligence flying saucer logo.  Open water UFO sighting on a ferry.  Texas green orb UFO's. the Cottingham Hull UFO. Hatzic Mission British Columbia Bigfoot.  South Carolina Bigfoot. Bigfoot footprints in a brook. South Indiana.  Walking cryptid tree.  Nephalim or bigfoot mass grave in Louisiana.  The Sasquatch of Strawberry Reservoir in Utah. Bigfoot poop! Prince Phillip and the queen love Bigfoot.  Ghost speaks on queens funeral with a cryptic message.  Man predicts Queen's death.  Uri Gellar gets in wrong.  A 'cripplefoot' bigfoot. A six toe Bigfoot.  Canadian Andrew Dawson and the Yeti conspiracy.  Mothman in Fort Kent.  Goblins and Boggles in Yorkshire.  Loch Ness Monster. New Cryptid the Morfa Monster.  Morfa Black Panther sighting.  Seattle glimmer man cryptid.  Skinwalker or werewolf USA. Chornobyl Russia frog evolution.  Champ in Lake Champlain. The Utah Lake Monster.  Donkey saves goat.  Cannibalistic zombie ladybirds with STI's.  Crocodiles in Filey.  Dogs smell human stress.  Dog poops in owner's mouth while asleep.  Can cats see ghosts. Tazmania mass whale beaching.  Dementia horse visit.  Racoon Frizbee.  Chimpanzee drum rhythms.  Pterodactyl seen in the Tularosa Basin of New Mexico. Horror good for your mental health.  Woman shares husband with mum and sister.  Man marries 53 wives.  Are we living in a black hole? Indian Sadhu raises his arm forever.  The Hellfire Club, Bleeding wall.  Nigerian dead man rises on his funeral.  Family looks after tax man's corpse thinking he is alive.  Reddit rebirth.  Cursed painting. Man thinks he's Jesus and cuts off own leg.  Hyperpolygots. Time Traveller predictions.  Man pees on ex wife grave every day.  Operation man dies and goes to heaven.  Chinese cryptid.  Gold hoard found.  Egyptian mummified pickled foetus.  Embryo from stem cells.  Twins with two different fathers.  Polish buried vampire.  Reebok and satan shoes.  Biff the cat comes back from the dead.  Early puberty onset due to phones.  Chinese see Buddhist deity in the sky then fight.  Japan's raincoat man.  American Airline's speaker hacked. Anti-depression meds turn man black.  Parents abandon child then sue her for money.  Ark of the covenant and holy grail.  Mexican train project discovers Myan city. Spanish Stone Henge.  Child names after crisps.  Baba Vanga predictions. Ig Nobel prize. New religious cult leads to murders. Rashad Jamal White. Hoax missing snake poster.  Stolen Kindeys.  Women can smell Parkinson disease.  Crab Battery  

What was the human sacrifice Myan culture really like? Death rates through the roof from clot shots. Are triple Vaxxed really developing AIDS? What is the “Khazarian Mafia”? Desantis declares female swimmer winner! Are Christians being targeted? Pfizer has massive recalls. Twitter still suspending accounts over telling truth.The law of gravity can't be changed. This is an intense must listen show! - Episode 1713

We sit down with long time friend Styner and talk about some random adventures, music, how fat Myan was and other random thingsThis is Part 2 since we recorded so muchFollow US!MyanInstagram: @Bay_Area_Graffiti or @Whatsyournaymwww.myanugs.bigcartel.comEnorInstagram: @Enor415www.johnnypaintsmonsters.comStynerInstagram: @UrGodStynerwww.stynerneversleep.comFollow our sponsor!Kappan PrintingInstagram: @KappanPrintingwww.KappanPrinting.comCall or Text (415)857-5905

(1984 - 2021) Sandy, well-known star of the MYAN ON WIRE trilogy, died last night while making an emotional monologue on a tightrope after eating ice cream and punching a dragon. Long respected by Hollywood for her willingness to fling her bod into reckless and unbelievably dangerous stunts, Sandy will be forever remembered as the woman who brought two-story buildings to her hometown of Myan, Ohio. A parade of cats walking down catwalks perched on Main Street is planned this Friday, as well as a twenty-four hour stream of all of her films and stunts. ft. MAX PENDERGAST as SANDY WILL KOLLER as Lily JOHN GOODMAN as Devil & Jacques DAN KUAN PEEPLES as God & David theme song by AARON SHAPIRO an ELEVATOR pod ft. MAX PENDERGAST as Sandy WILL KOLLER as JOHN GOODMAN as DAN KUAN PEEPLES as

It seems like with every new episode I'm ranting more and more about the corruption we find systemically replacing our freedoms in America. The days of innocence are long passed and now things just seem to be different variations of shit-sandwiches. Cops are abusing their power. Wives are pretending their weddings never happened. And Incels are being bested by alcoholic, disabled toddlers. Ok that last one might be a bit of a stretch but you'll have to listen to the episode to learn the truth. Until we meet again... for the first time, Myan

Damn! When will the insanity end? Maybe when our sun explodes and not a nanosecond sooner. In the meantime the disparity between the wealthy and the now unemployed, continues to grow exponentially as the unprecedentedly corrupted CARES Act, successfully expands the social chasm between the rich and poor. You thought it was big before...it just got $4 trillion wider. As the CEO's and politicians increase their portfolios and the average American gets a stipend for a month's rent, reanimated tax-code loop holes are giving millionaires yet another new revenue stream. While Republicans may not be known for their artistic creativity, they are doing unbelievable things with tax law for big businesses. And then I close today's show with the inevitable death of our Universe. So... Yeah, enjoy. Don't pillage my village, Myan

You know, I'm no Justice Warrior. I'm more of a Justice Enthusiast. I'm not on the front lines, I'm at home, Justice-ing between plates of handmade pasta and little crackers topped with salmon spread and pickled jalapeño slices. Hey, when you can't leave the house because of corona, you become the host, waiter, busser AND chef of your own personal café and let me tell you, Chez Myannaise, although very very exclusive, has been booked 24/7 for weeks now. Today's' five course meal marks the ubiquitously adored (and feared) rule of three. As Myan's third solo episode of Unofficial, the aptly named "Myantology Edition", crosses a threshold, meets a milestone and hurdles the watershed, as the front page of Reddit once again provides a bottomless, rabbit-blackhole of fun and information...which I call "Funformation." No, fun and knowledge. It's "Funowledge." No, wait uuuh fun and, fun aaaaand...truth! "FRUTH!" Fruth, it's fruth. So hop on and get your full dose of living, While going absolutely nowhere. Take your 15 minute break and spend it with me. You don't have to bother to even do your hair. The system is designed to eat us alive, And it's been growing unchallenged for quite some time. I really don't know if we're gonna make it at all, Wednesdays now, way more wine. And I'll be coming back to you real real soon, From the front page of Reddit with proof. That we're all kinda fucked but in this together And fair best with a shared helping of Fruth. Good talk, see you out there, Myan

What do you do when the whole world starts to fall apart? Do you curl up, accept defeat and wait for the demons to harvest your organs? Yes, sometimes that's all you can do. But other times, when the gut-merchants are busy with other homes and red tape gives you a few months of breathing room, you shout to the hilltops! Hey, Hilltops, you think you're better than ME?! I read Atlas Shrugged, what did you ever do?! It's time for Unofficial to return to the digital airwaves and although Coop&Myan are still friends, legally Unofficial can no longer boast that catchy mantra. It's just Myan now…Myan, Myan. Myan, Myan. Ok it's not as fun, I don't even think the rhythm is the same but that doesn't matter right now, we're looking down the barrel of a global pandemic and everybody else seems to have their own podcast so why not Zoidberg?? Shameless Futurama joke there, apologies to the uncool folk who don't have 7 handles on Reddit. But now is your chance, if you still don't know what Reddit is then listening to the new Unofficial, (Myantology edition) will soon educate you on your new best friend…The Reddit Front Page aka The Front Page of the Internet. Its the perfect blend of smart-idiots from around the world being filtered through a brilliant-moron, directly into your ear and then on to eating your brain. Just like that scene from The Beastmaster…only totally not gross like that at all. Stoked to be back, I missed you all, but mostly, I missed myself. With the appropriate amount of love… Myan

People keep asking me what the podcast is ABOUT? In truth there are a lot of answers to that. There's rants on tv and film, bitch-sessions about things in our society we do or don't like, sometimes we get a bit political and we are always making fun of something. To say we like to tangent from each topic would be a gross understatement. We also have lots of guests and yes they are mostly artists, musicians, actors, singers, writers, dancers, producers and the occasional small business person and always someone whom you would otherwise never hear, see or get a chance enjoy. In short we strive to be the source for a peak into the Unknown Artist. After that, Coop&Myan are living characters themselves, they are the heart and soul in the fabric that makes up the body of Unofficial. How do we condense that and package it into the quintessential “Log Line?” It's a Show about Anything. Today's Anything happens to start out with maybe the least important thing ever created… the meme-video of Trump as Colin Firth on a mass-murdering-rampage of political/media opponents in a scene reappropriated from the movie Kingsman: The Golden Circle. What could be more pointless. Thankfully Coop&Myan break down just how bizarre our society is as this example of fictionalized, glorified slaughter by an unwavering, narcissistic, wannabe dictator-in-chief, truly illustrates a major series of modern problems we are all forced to relate to, mostly perpetuated by our Hollywood themed, gun-loving, corporate-corrupted, pay-to-play political, drug-fueled American Empire. And of course, we consumers who eat it up with our minimum wage dollars. We have the craziest show on Earth and every one of us has a front row seat right in our pockets. It's sick. And we love/hate it. As long as that's the situation our human condition, collectively finds us in, Unofficial will try to stare deeply into the black mirror and disect what we can as best we can, while still having as much fun as possible. So subscribe to Unofficial and tell your friends because Coop&Myan are carving their inimitable niche and need your support to continue to grow.It's a Show about Anything

I think it's safe to say that when you start a podcast and interview people every week you know that a personal story will reveal inner truths that may not be your average topic of conversation. That's why we do it, frankly and this week our friend Chema did not disappoint. What goes on in the mind of an intelligent, capable man when he marries an even more capable woman? Is standing by your woman enough? Are you the kind of husband who needs to accomplish more? Are you the kind of wife who can be content with a husband who supports you but doesn't have his own clearly defined goals? Of course it differs from person to person, couple to couple but we all have some crossover in our individual personality spectrums so it will definitely be easy to relate to some aspects of Chema's archetypal, hero's journey no matter where you find yourself. Chema addresses having-it-all at the age of 26 but also dealing with the potential for divorce and bankruptcy by 29. Can the Landmark Forum be the key to his new definition of “success?” Is there a chance for a future with Lisa, his wife if all the patterns of unhappiness together seem to be on a never-ending cycle? Throw in a paradigm-shift of how he digests world-politics through narrative-driven mainstream media, transforming from a write-in voter for Bernie Sanders to a die-hard Ben Shapiro fan and you have a 30 year old husband/father/man who is forced to look at the world in a completely new way, rediscover himself and grow into the man he never knew he needed to be. It's crazy. But we're humans, so don't act so surprised. Coop&Myan are transitioning themselves as Unofficial changes locations and aggressively searches for it's core-audience. Is having unique, original content enough? Do the boys need to devote every free moment to promoting on social media and change their format from a Junk-drawer to a surgical scalpel in order to survive the vast competition in the Podcast Universe? Time will tell so keep listening and tell your friends. And a huge thank you to our devoted fans and our growing family of Unofficial guests. It literally couldn't be done without you all.

It's true, sometimes good things do come in small packages so I'm going to be positive about this week's first show being a 10 minute shorty… That being said who wants to talk FOOTBALL??!! No not soccer…FOOTBALL!! American football is so aggressive and militarily oriented it literally stole it's name from the most popular sport on the planet. Brilliant PR move and somewhat impressive in a conquering/colonialism sort of way. Bullet passes, long bombs…you get the idea.(Thanks George) Hey if you think about it, the Patriot's 2007 Spygate scandal was just simple reconnoissance. That's allowed in battle, right? Let's be honest, the term “war-crime” is a bit redundant. In all competition some dishonesty is unavoidable, tack on the perceived importance of glory, legacy and billions in profits and you can kinda understand why cheating is never going away. Remember when the NFL was a non-profit organization? Yeah, that happened. Add Frank Gore passing 15,000 yards rushing, Myan's theory that steroids should be allowed but regulated and Robert Kraft's infamous handy from an asian stroke-jocky, and we can conclude...American football truly has it all. Check out Unofficial's guest episode (#86) later this week and get a very unique peak into one man's journey from married bliss with a highly accomplished, once teenaged restaurant owner to an uncharted realm of self discovery that lands him in a potential separation but a new professional path, trying to help others discover their own strength and individualism.

We did it! We friggin' did it. Coop&Myan have been talking about their eventual move to a larger studio space for months and just like our visionboards depict, it is glorious. And what better place to start your own weekly broadcast but the infamous, Hollywood borough, Studio City. Yeah I'm sure it's technically not a borough but fuck it, ART!! We thought it only made sense in honor of our new beginnings that we share it with our most loyal friend of the show…The strapping, leading man himself, Ben Gavin. And his new best friend the inherently loyal pupper, Patrick Mills, aka Patty “melt” Millstein the third esquire. (Only Myan calls him that) So if you can't make it a week without bashing our clown-president, a day without insight on a subject you thought didn't need more discussion or an hour without drinks, weed or snacks, then you definitely want to check out Unofficial's new format and experience a podcast truly dedicated to the moment. Here's to another year of kickass, inimitable podcastery. Thanks to everybody who has stuck with us this far and to those knew friends who are just around the corner. Coop&Myan

If you're a dancer, the names Ruth St. Denis, Doris Humphrey and Martha Graham all have deep significance in the development of modern dance in the early to mid part of the 20th century. Even professional dancers today know the history these three masters helped cultivate. Imagine beginning your dance training as a child with Ruth St. Denis, navigating cultural racism while performing with Doris Humphrey and ultimately traveling the world dancing for the great Martha Graham. A name even today's non-dancers recognize. Our guest today did exactly that. Cristyne Lawson, now 84 years young visits Unofficial and tells her story of beginning her professional dance career at the age of 6 in Santa Monica California, her time at “the old” Juilliard on 125th street and Riverside, her love for everything “Miles” and her auspicious beginnings at the originally named “Colored” Methodist Episcopal Church, (Now Christian Methodist) the recently dubbed Cultural Monument, Santa Monica's first black Church built before 1900. This has to be one of our favorite episodes, as Myan's surrogate grandmother spills the beans on what it was like to be a professional, black, female dancer in the 1940's, 50's and 60's. A story so rare as few found success under similar circumstances at that time in our nation's segregated history. I love Cristyne and hope she had a great time reliving some of her fondest memories from the most special time in her life. Coop&Myan were honored to have her on the show and will cherish this very special episode and the poignant glimpse into Cristyne's inimitable journey.

If you thought that geranium you made out of a 2 liter bottle of Schweppes in 2nd grade made you an environmentalist then definitely don't follow Greta Thunberg because this young lady is taking ocean voyages to avoid air travel to help diminish her unavoidable carbon footprint. That is sustainability. She also coaxed her mom off of the most efficient form of long distance travel as the woman was kicking ass in her professional opera career. I was already scared of having kids for the sheer level of responsibility and now I've got to worry about them making me a better person? Love really is all about sacrifice. Will Trump be impeached? What does it mean to be “impeached?” If you're impeached are you no longer president? Turns out an impeachment is just a formal accusation of a crime. The House of Representatives impeaches lets say...a president, but then it's up to the Senate to hold the trial. If the Senate doesn't vote two thirds majority to convict on the articles of impeachment set forth by the House of Representatives, then the president would simply be acquitted and remain in office. Just like Bill Clinton was acquitted of his impeachment articles, Perjury and obstruction of justice after lying about his sexual relations with that woman…Monica Lewinsky. So to be clear, yes Bill clinton was impeached by the House of Representatives but he was NOT convicted after his trial in the Senate. So he was never removed from office. He finished his remaining two years of his second term and then stole all the “W's” from every Dell keyboard before leaving the White House. That's why Al Gore was never president. Also the whole Florida/Supreme Court heist thing. Can we impeach Florida for “obstruction of justice?" Unofficial is really going off the rails here on a weekly basis. If you're sick and tired of podcasts with deliberate focus and that are always staying on topic, then you need to check in with Coop&Myan at least twice a week. We've even started making our release schedule random, you don't know what day you're going to get your dose of random, erratic, arguably superfluous insight. But, we *guarantee, If you listen long enough, you might even learn something. *not a guarantee

Yeah I guess you can kinda judge this one by the cover. Would you be right though? Is this the episode where Myan's mom comes on the show and bakes a bunch of cookies? Is she going to tell the story about the time Myan's pants ripped in the middle of the junior high school recital? Maybe the one about the multitude of hyperdimensional realities existing simultaneously throughout an infinite multi-verse though completely invisible to almost every human that has ever existed because we were designed by an elite alien oligarchy who created mankind as a slave-race as a way of cultivating an organic, sustainable, planet-sized energy generator for our galactic overlords to remotely feed from the frequency of our collective, emotional fear-center energy for a trillion years? Oooh let's hope it's the cookies.

When was the last time you had a baklava croissant? Yeah, me neither! Ok, added to planner. Honestly, how much do we love baked goods? Pastries, danish, turnovers, beignets, financiers? Doughnuts? (that's a weird word) Do you love them enough to leave the profession you've had your sights on since you were a kid? A career you were actively successful in? A passion millions of people would die for and even devote their lives to achieving but never attain?? If so you are among a very elite class of artists along with our very charming guest today, Grace Mumm. Originally from Iowa and only in LA for about 6 months at the time, 20-year-old Grace had found industry representation, plenty of auditions and was actually working as a professional actor. Dream come true, right? Well not so fast, Tinsel Town…here comes Gjusta. Enamored with LA's premier bakery, the Venice juggernaut, Gjusta, Grace asked for an application and the rest as they say is history. Almost a year and a half later Grace is a professional baker at one of LA's finest executors of top-tier scones and sour doughs, is on track for a New York stage with Chef Ignacio Mattos, has "the industry” in her rearview mirror...and she couldn't be happier. Her commercial agent, not so much. Coop&Myan do a pretty decent job of keeping Grace off track but in the end we cover her junior year in Germany, the artificial nature of our school system, Chinese doughnuts, the Chicken sandwich wars, the magic of Figs, the demise of Boston Market and even Shark Tank. Yes, Shark Tank. So check out episode 80 of Unofficial for yet another peek inside an LA artist's life you would otherwise never know. Everybody is interesting and they all have a story. Next week Myan's mom drops by for the most embarrassing episode a podcast host can hope to endure. Transparency is a bitch.

When you're a kid sometimes you think the future will be this crazy, robot infested tech-scape with eye-scanners and personally-targeted advertising like in Minority Report. And then you get a little older and the world still seems a little backwater and pedestrian. But another decade goes by and you find yourself lusting after electric cars with motors that make internal combustion look like an Atari 2600 and before you know it, you're interviewing a Cyborg on your podcast. A goddamn Cyborg. Meet Eric Michael Johnson, Unofficial's first cybernetic lifeform guest. The thirteen inches of fused-steel straightening his otherwise Lombard-esque spinal column makes him more machine than man. Alright he's still mostly man. Interesting guy too, really funny and he actually experienced a four inch growth spurt in only 8 hours. And for only $260,000. A bargain by today's cosmetic surgery standards and as a bonus, the 8 hour spinal fusion surgery probably saved his life. A literal silver lining. And of course decent health insurance played a small role. #universalhealthcare. As a kid he also had lordosis and asthma. Add a comically stiff, full back brace his senior year of high school and you have yourself some legit fodder for a decent episode description. Eric lived in 46 states and 13 countries, born on an Airforce base in South Dakota and he makes his own movies. His very first, "White and Nerdy - Michigan Tech Edition” a parody of Weird Al Yankovic's “White and Nerdy” is still on his Youtube channel, "Darth Hammertime" and has almost 50k views. This guy is just a fun dude to be around, what a cool guest. Oh and he loves 30 Rock, he's definitely coming back. Coop&Myan have the coolest job in our Universe, Unofficial is a dream come true and this first year has been like 87% joy. That's a lot. With a new studio on the Horizon and a real push to be the number one source for exposing the bottomless well of unknown talent in Hollywood, Unofficial is poised on the precipice of unbridled, inimitable success. What does that mean? We really don't know. But it's all about the journey, right? Right. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-2VqIhvKQk

How is it that someone like Bernie Sanders can spend his entire career always championing the people while virtually making no political mistakes that can be clearly illuminated for their grave miscalculation yet Joe Biden can be relied upon to continually misstep, fumble and fail yet be named the front runner? But is Joe Biden really the front runner? Are we all so weak of character that simple name recognition is enough or is it possible that he's not really in the lead but the media are simply reading their scripts so that we think he is. Can you see through the smokescreen of modern media propaganda? If you can then you are most likely a proud, card-carrying Bernie bro. Is socialism dangerous to American capitalism and democracy as some would have us believe? Doesn't America have Medicare, a vast military system, public schools, public library's, tax payer and government funded fire and police departments, unemployment payments and "Social" security? Is it not safe to say that in addition to privately held corporations and wealth we are also a nation rife with social programs. Is that bad? Cooper is on a tear this week as he questions the future of socialism in America, calls out "fuck boys" for their bullshit and speculates on the lack of apropos assassination. Why are the good ones taken away while the bad ones are here to stay? He's also predicting a best actor Oscar win for Joaquin phoenix for his up-and-coming portrayal of The Joker, which won the golden lion award last month at the Venice film festival. Also Myan shares his theory on why America is the worlds leader in the now grotesquely common practice of mass shootings. It's not pretty and it's not going away so we might as well address the evidence all around us. Unofficial. Coop&Myan. It's like vitamins for your mind.

Even if Coop&Myan had a tax attorney on the show they'd probably find a way to equate what he/she does to their artistic self. Everything is art and every week Unofficial finds a way to make at least a few minutes of creative artistry using nothing more than two or three brains and the collective content of the human race to this point in history. Gold outta tin cans. Luckily for all of us we have a really special guest this week, she's young, she's tall, she's talented, she's intelligent beyond her years. She's the classic quadruple threat. Ali Starrlight, fresh off the release of her new song and video “Bowie Showed Me” (directed and produced by Anna&Lana from 103104 Productions) and which already has thousands of views on Youtube, drops in to Studio J30 for an hour of upbeat, humble genuflection to the artists who have come before us and who continue to inspire us daily. Ali is only 22 but she speaks as though she were 42. Appreciative of the gifts from the universe and fulfilled in the simplicity of the moment. Not projecting some unattainable, fantasy better-self, always just beyond the cognitive horizon, Ali is an ultra-present, spiritual adult. Ali also started Starr 44 Artist Alliance, an artist community which embraces iconic performers, encourages and supports artists in all mediums and aids in their development through, among other things, quantum physics. Really wish that had come up on the show. Definitely going to ask about that next time. So loved having Ali with us for an hour, it was impossible to ignore her innate ability to light up even our dark, cozy cubicle and we look forward to seeing what artistic norms she will ultimately transcend in the near future. Thanks again, Ms. Starrlight. So another original adventure from the Unofficial Boys, in the can with more on the way and soon, we'll be coming to you from our new studio in ironically...Studio City. 2020 is right around the corner and Coop&Myan have yet to run out of human-condition related topics to explore so keep tuning in as we grow and grow. Maybe one day Coop&Myan will be adults too. Fingers crossed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Dw9ieOckv0

Technical difficulties left us with little time for a full length show today but I think Coop&Myan made the most of their limited session. We like to set the bar low so every show is a smashing success. Complaints about faulty equipment, a protracted discussion on the many different types of modern, alternative milk (and how disgusting they are to we traditional milk fans) and of course how you can be a better person by simply choosing the product 2 inches to the left. Yes the hypocrisy in choosing any cow milk over the other disgusting options is not lost. My apologies. Organic Valley may not be the most ethical milk you can buy but it sure as hell beats the overalls off of Horizon. Organic Valley cows have almost twice the outdoor pasture-time as Horizon cows and while Horizon operates hundreds of farms, 11 of them being corporate, Organic Valley is America's largest farmer-owned organic cooperative. Out of a 0-5 point rating scale the Cornucopia Institute gave an excellent rating of 4/5 for Organic Valley while Horizon received 0/5 and was deemed “ethically deficient.” Read the article in the links for more info. So check out Unofficial this week and start voting with your dollars by buying better milk. Don't just run away claiming everybody's a liar. You can do better, old man. https://www.coloradoboulevard.net/horizon-vs-organic-valley/amp/

Coop&Myan remember when 50 episodes felt like some crazy number and now at 75 it's surprisingly the opposite. After a year into Unofficial and only weeks away from a larger studio, it almost feels like we're just beginning. Maybe it's because we finally got Erin McIntyre on the show and between her crossfit obsession, newly acquired Masters in Nutrition and super-hot, lawyer boyfriend, the reality of Myan's physical and dietary inadequacy is palpable. Like a thick cream-based stew with enough calories for a bear cub's winter hibernation. Could I have found my spirit animal?? Today we also learned that Coop's cousin is the world's best crossfitter so Coop is pretty much a crossfit-pro simply through his genetic association and his annual visit to the crossfit gym. He is constantly flexing his biceps only inches from Myan's face to establish clear, consistent, alpha dominance. He's tall, young and married too…showoff. So with all this aggressive, red-meat energy coming from Erin and Cooper today it's no wonder there are lots of adversarial competitors throughout the show, High Fructose corn syrup vs cane sugar, mass produced corporate cigarettes vs Organic roll-your-own, skiing vs snowboarding, Pilates vs Yoga and of course small, healthy, dietary changes vs Yolo diets. Yes I know it's "Yoyo" diets but Yolo dieting seemed even more nutritionally cavalier. Don't act surprised, you knew Myan couldn't go long without nailing the joke. Ab-soFRUIT-Lyyyyy!!! So, Erin is fresh out of a lifetime of schooling and with her intelligence, beauty and social aptitude it should be no time at all before she begins her first stepping stone toward success in whatever facets of professional nutrition she decides to explore. And if that doesn't work out she can always simply shoot for the stars cause then she'll land among the moon…no wait, how does that go...shoot for the moon and the stars will land and...oh christ just shoot for the tree of goals and the branches will fall among your feet. There, great, nailed it. See you next week.

The boys are back at it again with the 74th installment of Unofficial! Only a handful of episodes left until Coop & Myan head to their new studio in the sunny hills of Studio City. Get comfortable, make a coffee and listen to Myan explain the niceness of the "French family". Love, Coop & Myan

Whenever a guest falls through Unofficial goes to it's happy-place, aka Reddit. It's definitely still clunky on these visits but there is something special about the chemistry, Coop&Myan just sort of let loose on the front page and its a bottomless pit of opportunity for humor, knowledge, WTF and of course, puppies and kittens. Coop&Myan aren't huge WTF fans, not big gross-out pranksters, we'll leave that to the cool kids while we nerd-out on musicians, actors, politics, repeat-marathons of the Office and of course…puppies and kitties!! Yeah that's more like it. This week Reddit instantly sparks a Myan-esque rant about Bernie's surging poll numbers, Biden's gropey-mediocrity and Obama's impossible to ignore, shortcomings. But don't worry, its not long before it's back to the front page where Cooper Buffet teaches some tips on making money through the New York Stock Exchange, ever heard of it? It's in New York, no big deal. Just remember, buy low and sell high. See? Easy. As the title of episode 73 would suggest, Myan does make an argument for the continued use of the word “retarded.” Retard - verb: delay the development or progress of; hinder or impede. If that word doesn't accurately describe the hindered intellectual development of a trump supporter, well… But don't worry, Cooper tries to clean up Myan's mess by defending those who might be offended when hearing that word, regardless of context, so good news, you don't have to hate them both. Hey, it's good cop/bad cop, it's a classic archetype, there's no such thing as good cop/better cop. Damn, maybe that's our problem.

That's it, it's official, Reddit has become Unofficial's #1 friend of the show. No one has been on the show more often than our good friend “The front page of the internet”, and no one has brought more consistently top notch content and unblemished reliablitly. As a fan of Reddit for over a decade, Myan credits the now “5th most visited site in America” for his undiagnosed, adult onset ADD and of course the style in which he cohosts the show. It's a mixed bag. Cooper loves Reddit too and it's honestly such a joy since Myan spent the last ten years surrounded by people who didn't even know what it was. Can you believe that? Where else can you bounce from discussing Reddit's ugly older brother, “4chan", to 1999's hilarious box office flop, Mystery Men? From Japan's promise of flying cars by 2030, to Donald Trump's record involvement in a staggering...3500 lawsuits! Hey, some men just want to watch the world burn. Unfortunately a desire for global destruction does not reflect the most impressive level of intellect. It does however reflect, "craazyyyy." So join Coop&Myan and check out Unofficial's seventy-first episode and learn jaw-dropping facts like, never leave your son with a catholic priest OR a boyscout leader. The odds are just not in your favor. Finally learn the truth of Texas' historical origins…(parts were Mexico) and the proper pronunciation of the word “Verbiage.” Definitely a word you wanna get right. Don't forget, there's a BEE in the middle. Oh and check out Coop's new album, Front of House, on Spotify. Thanks, guys, see you next week. https://open.spotify.com/album/13Rlux7NUD8UZiklvT8vM8?si=VE4B5TNdTmO2f3crhyxOQQ Love Coop&Myan

Have you seen the leaked footage of Trump doing yoga? OK that's not real but that image probably made you laugh because it's so absurd and frankly, revolting. Can you imagine that fat fuck doing anything beneficial for body and mind? Just the thought of that flatulent slob caught in a Happy Baby pose like a flop-sweating, obese tortoise is enough to make you spit-take your Diet Coke all over your big Mac buffet. Luckily for America a Sanders/Warren ticket is the antidote for the festering, open sore of the Trump “presidency.” In episode 70 Myan illustrates the average citizens conflicted position, torn between their desire to be engaged in the political process while also being so fed up with the corruption in every corner of corporate-Washington, that even buying into our democratic system for one moment, can make you feel like a sucker. Luckily for many of us, the apathy we feel for our broken political structure has been temporarily cured thanks to Senator Bernard Sanders. So get out and vote, you lazy bastards. On a happier note, Cooper has a new album called Front of House and as you probably guessed, it's really good. Check it out on Spotify as soon as you get a chance.

Every day in Hollywood we are surrounded by the sights and sounds of people clawing their way to success in their perceived paradigm of happiness. You have to be tough, you'll need a little talent and you'll probably have to eat some kale. But some say success in Tinseltown means selling your soul, handing over your innocence and compromising your principles. For many that may be true but for our guest today, it's all about being a better person. In a town someone once called the City of Satan, Ben Dornbush is finding a taste of what some might call... enlightenment. LA is famous for many things, fast cars, big budget films, beautiful people and the struggle for all who venture here to “make it." Can you “make it" if you don't make it big? Can you be happy if you don't strike it rich? Ben Dornbush joins the boys on Unofficial this week to talk about his emotional, spiritual and physiological journey as a hard working yoga practitioner and teacher, navigating the hurdles of everyday existence and also stumbling over reminders of just how magical the universe that surrounds us, really is. Preserved nutrients, liver and kidney detoxifications, candida cleanses? Entheogens?? Pratyahara??? Ben's search into himself has even taken him from Agnosticism to an opinion on god that is now technically more TBD. The mark of a humble man, a selfless student of the cosmos, always ready for the next opportunity to learn. Accepting the unknown, healing the self by holistic means and embracing the absence of sensory gratification. Ben sees the world as perfect, just the way it is...Gleaned in a town that is mostly famous for the grand theft of real art, drug overdoses and sex-crimes. No small feat, my friend. Every week Coop&Myan introduce a random element into the Unofficial equation for an off-the-cuff discussion that usually tangents in directions impossible to predict. But this week Ben Dornbush does a pretty good job bringing the discussion back to himself and his journey in LA as a progressivly developing human being, utilizing meditation, Yoga and the periodic practice of fasting. Many of us get cranky if we go 14 minutes without a snack so can you imagine 14 days? Ben takes being on a cleanse to levels unfamiliar to the average American and does it in a town famous for wood-fired pizza, epic sushi and comfort-food trucks that literally pull up to you on the side of the street. The challenge on the path toward enlightenment is a real one and Ben dives in and finds a host of personal benefits from chakra-connected emotional clarity, to diarrhea-related detoxification. It may not be pretty but no one ever said being a better person was a lilty jaunt through a dewy meadow. So hat's off to you, Unofficial's spirit-animal, Ben Dornbush.

It's not often Coop&Myan can brag about being super-focused, staying on topic or sticking to any kind of predetermined subject matter. But change is good. Always growing, spitballing and exploring new attempts to refine our voice at Unofficial, today's half hour episode breaks the show into three,10 minute chunks, each one focused on a unique topic. Our first segment is a speculative romp through the mind of Quentin Tarantino, his career plan to make no more than 10 films and a little trek down memory lane for Old Hollywood. Part two is all about the Bern. Bernie Sanders, America's only option for returning honor to the Oval Office. The pure-energy, uber-mensch yin to trump's obese, soul-festering yang. And finally, Coop&Myan delve into sexual abuse...and more specifically James Safechuck and Wade Robson, the two primary victims featured in the Michael Jackson documentary, leaving Neverland. It's always an adventure in the magical world of Hollywood, you can always count on corruption in American politics and the sometimes twisted, sexual nature of the human race will keep us clamoring for justice until our sun supernovas, destroying the earth and vaporizing every trace of humanity along with it. So tune into Unofficial and let Coop&Myan brighten your day...before it's too late.

I guess you can say Coop&Myan are a bit partial to having actors on the show. If you were a theatre-nerd as a kid, we'll probably enjoy having you around. Today's theatre-nerd we loved having is our friend, Laura Baggett (like “bag-it” not actually “Baguette") a once potential Ford Modeling company prospect, until her parents screwed it up, the inaugural winner of the Ali Murphy Memorial Award, stand-in for Jessica Biel AND Elizabeth Banks and creator and star of the potentially viral youtube music video, Milf Rap. There is very little that Laura can't do, she survived the “Bizarre-Monologue” trend of the 1990's, recently killed-it in an American Home Shield commercial where she literally stole the scene from Death himself and still gets residual checks, BOOM…AND finds a way to deal with it all with something called "Garden Therapy"…which is really just Laura screaming while gardening. Sure Cooper finds a way to get excited about Shark Week and Myan rants a bit about the beach which in his defense was initiated by Cooper when he brought up the sharks, so there is definitely a fair share of tangential dialogue, rest assured. I mean, it's Unofficial. It's what we do. Oh and a shout-out to Laura's American Home Shield fans in Ohio, too often YouTube comments get a bad rap when frequently they are written by earth-salt folk who just want to spread a little cheer and appreciation for their favorite, unknown working actors and for that, America, we thank you.

If you ever wanted to know what Unofficial would be like as a one-man show…today's your lucky day. Myan being the forgiving soul that he is, decided that the 405, aka “Sorry-I'm-late-freeway” deserved one last chance. Unsurprisingly his heart was broken yet again as the uninspired, archaic design of the 405 completely sabotaged any chance of starting episode 66 on time. So fearing Myan would never arrive, Coop decided the show must go on. What a professional. Listen to Coop sing acapella excerpts from the lion king while peppering in spot-on impersonations of Mufasa and even some of the rodents in the ensemble. Perhaps even gather the kids around while Cooper creates an inimitable world of Disney magic all inside your mind using nothing more than his voice. If high-speed chases, police helicopters and murder are more your cup of tea, then don't worry, we have plenty of that in episode 66 as well. Check it out and see what all the kids are talking about.

If you're a fan of everything, then Unofficial's patented Reddit episodes are exactly what you've been craving. What started off as a lark has now become a staple format for Coop&Myan. I wish we did Reddit for a full hour. So if you like magic-pranks, accidental-LSD trips, Cardi B knowing more about Bernie Sanders than you do or how caveman disprove the existence of Jesus (and maybe the occasional reference to the movie Clue) then check out episode 65, Reddit: “The front page of the internet.”

Have you seen the last episode of Game of Thrones? Well don't say anything because Myan hasn't seen it yet. Honestly, great television shows are not that common, it really sucks when the epic ones come to an end. The good news is that Hollywood doesn't seem to be cutting back on production anytime soon, you can't walk to the coffee shop in LA without stumbling over a handful of on location sets, and a multitude of companies and services like HBO, Netflix and Hulu seem to be ramping up spending with every new year. After spending most of the episode gushing over Game of Thrones, Coop&Myan dive into some of their future plans for Unofficial's own production ramp-up, so if you want a little insight into what percolates in the brains of two dudes in a room smoking weed, nurturing a tiny little podcast about artists in the heart of Magical Main Street USA... then definitely tune into this week's off-the-cuff tsunami of creativity, as Coop&Myan keep pumping out an endless stream of truly organic whatever. Next week check out Unofficial's Monday episode as Coop&Myan attempt to stay on topic for once. Could the boys in J30 actually be maturing? Let's hope not but check it out anyway because you just never know.

One of the best things about having a podcast is not knowing who your next guest will be. Whether it's an old friend or a complete stranger every week is an adventure. This week's adventure is with adventure-junkie and actor, Felipe de Lara, most famous from Telemundo‘s El Señor de los Cielos (The Lord of the Skies) In which he played “Bonito” for 17 episodes. And most recently, Hulu's original Blumhouse production: Into the Dark, episode 10. Culture Shock. Into the Dark is a horror anthology, twelve feature length episodes, one for every month of the year and each based on the respective month's major holiday. Pretty creative. Culture Shock features a story of a young woman (Martha Higareda) making a second attempt at crossing the Mexican border into America in hopes of finding a better life but as you probably guessed, gets more than she bargained for. Felipe is an incredibly energetic guy with tons of talent oozing from every pore and a passion for life itself that vibrates on a level that affects everyone around him. It is impossible to ignore his energy on the screen and it was an absolute win for Coop&Myan getting him on the show. He's “brainy&footsy” and his overnight success is only five years away. A huge thanks to Felipe, we definitely hope he visits Unofficial again the next time he has a new project in the works, or if he just wants to hang so we can all be “better people” together.

If you didn't know that Cooper got a Saab 900S on his 16th birthday or that Myan will never drive a Hyundai Sonata then this episode is tailor-made for you. Confused about the differences between an Acura RLX and ILX? Us too! At least we can all agree that Saabs were better when they were round and Volvos cooler when they were square. ...And not owned by GM and Ford. Don't worry, if old Japanese, South Korean or Swedish cars don't interest you, I'm pretty sure Myan mentions wine and cheese near the end. Don't miss it! Coop&Myan love bringing you very little on a regular basis so subscribe to Unofficial and finally start a relationship where it's ok to only “take-take-take!” Tune in on Thursday for one of our most dynamic guests ever! Felipe de Lara, most known for playing Benito on El Señor de Los Cielos. A genuinely sweet guy with a passion for performance that could rival anyone in Hollywood. He tells us all about his newest project, Into the Dark, a Hulu original by Blumhouse Productions.

As promised, Ben Gavin is back to talk about his recent month on the set of the film, A Place Called Home, written and directed by Kiel Thorlton. Ben plays a young man named Levi, who after losing his wife during the birth of their second child, finds himself a single father in trouble with a loan shark and in danger of losing his home. There are countless hurdles in the career of an actor and even if you get the job there is still a cornucopia of compromise... but every once in a while you get a job with so much beauty and heart, it feels like a gift. Ben walked into an existing set-universe for his character, Levi, to inhabit. His adventure with the passionate cast and crew and writer/director, Kiel Thorlton, was something he had been working toward for the last decade in Hollywood. Check out episode 61 of Unofficial with Coop&Myan and see behind the curtain of one struggling actor's journey and what an artist grinding it out in tinsel town, really goes through.

Is art good? Does anyone care? If that's not a question every artist asks them self from time to time then they've reached a rare place of creative confidence, one that may elude the vast majority. I could have titled this episode something clever about voicemails or phone calls to previous guests and started off with some joke about “waiting for the beep“ and that would've been fine but I think Sydney's thoughts at the end encapsulated a much more poignant issue to close the show that was bigger than any of those other obvious options. Thanks, Ms. Sainté. Happy episode 60, from Unofficial. Love, Coop&Myan

Do you remember the moves in your best Escape-Kata? Do you still have your Yellow Belt? Is it JuJitsu or Jiu Jitsu?? Mixed Martial Arts aka MMA, is America's newest mega-sport. The UFC is now endorsed by ESPN and riding high alongside the likes of the top 3, Baseball, Basketball and Football. Although technically still less popular than classic sports like Hockey, Golf and Tennis, It's safe to say MMA is cooler than most of these sports combined…after all it is one person pitted against another, engaged in a simulated Death-Match inside a cage. Although it's a sensitive topic to old-school fans of boxing, MMA looks to be leaving the “Sweet Science” behind as the more complex, unpredictable and exciting combat sport. Faster paced, more aggressive and infinitely more dynamic, MMA as the more pure style of fighting and fundamentally connected to our DNA and the human condition, as limited-rules fighting obviously predates every other sport ever invented by mankind. That is a tough formula to contend with and could lend one to believe that MMA could one day be planet Earth's number one sport. If you know anything about modern MMA then you've most likely heard of the Gracie family, who's modified version of (Brazilian) Jiu Jitsu aka BJJ has literally taken the world by storm as the premier Martial Art style of real-world self defense and elite level combat-competition. Coop&Myan are always excited about their guests but this week on Unofficial, our new friend, David, really amps it up as he brings his intimate knowledge of the Gracie family and over a decade of BJJ education. As a purple belt, David could wrap most people up like a pretzel, regardless of his imposing, 6'2”, 190 lb. frame, after all that's what Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is all about, using technique despite size, to manipulate and overpower someone trying to do you harm…or of course for competition to see who might be the “better man.” (or woman) So if you don't know that in Brazil, the letter “R” sounds like an “H”, what it's like to be frightened of someone half your size or if you simply want a quick backstory on the origins of the infamous and extremely complex family of the Gracies, then tune in for a corker this week as Unofficial goes Mixed Martial Arts all over your asses and wraps you up in the deadliest triangle you never saw coming...the one on your brain.

Financial corruption, big green eggs, presidential rape? Is there anything the boys in J30 won't cover? We're deep into summertime and it's only getting hotter...speaking of Ryan Gosling, definitely get on LaLa Land so you can tell Myan what happens. Sam Rockwell, Christian Bale, the cast of The Big Short...are there any roles for women any more?? Coop&Myan are pretty chill this Monday but Thursday we have David, a brown belt in Brazilian jujitsu, studying under the legendary Gracie family for the last decade. Tune in and get a taste of something you can't get anywhere else. It's Unofficial and it's awesome. Correction: Nick Nolte and Gary Busey are not the same person.

Every week Unofficial finds an unknown artist in Los Angeles and brings them right into your ears. Coop&Myan cross paths with someone interesting, ask them if they want to share themselves with the world and we get a glimpse of someone's life we would otherwise never know. This week it's a young man named William Thomas Brunet, a visitor from Lyon, France, here in America making his way as an artist, a songwriter and most often, a professional drummer. Now if you've been paying attention you know that Unofficial has a tenuous relationship with practitioners of the Percussive arts but that is only circumstantial and now that we have a dedicated time-keeper on our sofa (and one serenading us for the first half of this very episode) it's time to stop the jokes and venture down the rabbit hole of what makes this particular percussionist tick…tap and bang. Will has the spirit of Shaman, the physique of a cyclist and the diet of an angel. He owes his predilection for music in part to his father who himself played Country and Bluegrass music…in France. Undoubtedly a unique environment for a boy who later would find a gift for timing in a genre of hardcore music, among others. His self-professed arrogance as an adolescent may have been the root of his distaste for certain instruments and structured education but there is no doubt that it was also a key to his path toward a more aggressive, personal music style. Coop&Myan do a fairly decent job of staying on topic this week but diverge just enough to bring you Myan's brief Wikipedia history of Halloween, Will's take on the cerebral challenges of the German language and Cooper's silent protest to authority that time he was sent to the principal's office for his unwavering commitment to the art of Mime. The delightful surprises never stop with Cooper. Unofficial is just a few months away from a new studio and Coop&Myan are stoked to branch out and spread their wings in a new space, so keep tuning in and telling your friends and we'll keep pumping out episodes of original content. Coop&Myan, Coop, Coop&Myan!!!