Ep 012 News of the Week - Segment

news of the week all right yes

where is it where is it

[Music]

and now it's time for our weekly news

we're breaking down the key story

shaping our world from policy shifts to

the latest in global affairs let's dive

in

all right all right don't forget to

change those slides Todd i did yes we

are on the news slides now yeah uh so

yeah what's in the news Doug

yeah so the thing that really kicked off

this whole week and like I was saying

you know just over a week ago I wasn't

so sure I was going to go protest this

weekend and then the stuff started

happening in LA and I felt like I had no

other choice um so what really happened

outside the Paramount Home Depot the

reality on the ground versus the

rhetoric so this is of course the event

that led Trump to sending in the

National Guard and defying

despite all local authorities saying it

was under control and there was no need

for federal intervention trump decided

to send in the National Guard activate

the Marines put them on ready to go

status and took control away from the

governor because usually when you

activate the National Guard the governor

is in control of the National Guard

unless you're going to invoke the

Insurrection Act which specifically

Trump did not do so from the Los Angeles

Times which by the way is owned by a

Trump billionaire ally if you recall

during the election the LA Times

declined to do any sort of endorsement

because their editorial board was going

to endorse Harris and so they just nixed

it sort of like what Bezos did with the

Washington Post

so So the LA Times again a a Trump

allied fairly conservative newspaper

this is what they say really happened

outside the Paramount Home Depot

it began as another Saturday morning at

the Home Depot in Parammont a

workingclass predominantly Latino suburb

south of downtown LA typically the store

that is nestled along the Los Angeles

Riverbed would be filled with weekend

warriors tackling home improvements

workers collecting supplies and

immigrants in search of work but that

morning Border Patrol agents were

spotted across the street from the Home

Depot gathering around 9:00 a.m word

quickly spread on social media passers

by honked at their horns soon protesters

arrived home Depot eventually closed

the clashes between authorities and

protesters lasted for hours in both

Parammont and nearby Compton though it

was far from widespread

the chaos covered the area directly

around the Alandro Boulevard store but

it was enough to provide for dramatic TV

video and it was a major trigger for the

Trump administration to send 2,000

National Guard troops to LA to deal with

disturbances and assist in immigration

actions so what exactly happened two LA

Times reporters spent much of the day

and night there Saturday here's what

they saw

before the crowds arrived Assembly

member Jose Lewis Salache Jr who's who

represents the Paramount area that

includes the Home Depot was driving on

the freeway on the way to a community

event in neighboring Lakewood when he

spotted a caravan of US Customs and

Border Protection vehicles exiting Alrea

Boulevard

the street runs through the heart of the

working class a largely immigrant Latino

community of Paramont

so Leche Jr turned around thinking that

they may be executing an immigration

raid in his district and he tracked them

down to an office park which was the

Paramont Business Center across the

street from the Home Depot

federal law enforcement has a facility

there in Paramont

agents were still arriving there and the

black gate they would later guard with

volleys of tear gas and flashbang

grenades was open unclear why they were

there he uh he decided to record a post

for Instagram

i saw a border agent get off the freeway

here off of Alundra i was like "No it

can't be happening," he said in his

Instagram post it was around 9:00 a.m

"this is horrible," he said on one of

the posts "i am literally shaking i

don't know what they're doing inside but

why were they in Paramount?"

Word quickly spread on social media

passers by honk their horns soon

protesters arrive "this is the

situation," Solace the assembly member

said turning the camera to show dozens

of uniformed Immigration and Customs

Enforcement agents outside the black

gates as people held up cameras to the

scene and mariachi music blared

"the community is coming out strong to

show that they are not welcome in our

community," said whose parents

immigrated to the US from Gua Guanowato

Mexico

not in my district he says

vamados puffer let's go get out of here

outrage had been growing in Los Angeles

and its Latino im immigrant community

after a week of stepped up enforcement

actions the day before federal officials

raided a retail and distribution

warehouse in the fashion district

downtown a business directly fueled by

immigrants and they arrested a top union

official

leading up to the workplace raid federal

agents arrested immigrants as they came

to scheduled check-ins or made

courthouse appearances up and down the

state tearing apart families one father

was arrested in front of his 8-year-old

son parent groups raised alarms

after a Torrance Elementary student and

his father were set up for deportation

for many talking about deporting violent

criminals didn't ring true

quote Salachi "This whole rhetoric of

coming after hardworking families is

what we are all concerned about when you

come to do raids at businesses that is

where the anger comes from." He said he

and many others came out to observe and

send a message that immigration

oh oh hold up began to turn darker as

agents formed a line and brought out

rifles these rifles were for tear gas

and perhaps rubber bullets um the

protest arrived as word spread on social

media

of a raid at Home Depot or at a meat

packing place there was never a raid at

Home Depot but dozens of border patrol

agents and other federal agencies were

inside a gated industrial office park

where an initial crowd had gathered most

protesters were filming they were social

workers neighbors and advocates

but near the gates anytime federal

agents saw the protesters throw anything

toward them or near the police line they

shot out tear gas or flashbang rounds

there were about 100 people there as the

crowd grew sheriff's deputies were

deployed to block off a perimeter on the

east and west near the 710 freeway

protesters shouted at deputies asking

why they were helping the crowds began

to form as hundreds of rounds were shot

in the late morning near the office park

around noon tensions grew as the agents

attempted to clear the way for border

patrol and other unmarked vehicles to

leave the business park they fired tear

gas and flashbank grenades at

demonstrators standing on a lunch

boulevard when a caravan of federal of

vehicles departed from the gates

protesters followed them throwing rocks

and other objects

shortly after they left one protester

brought out a trash bag and set it

ablaze a couple of others pushed a cart

with concrete blocks from Home Depot and

they lined the road to block vehicles

one man smashed the block and spread the

broken pieces on the road farther west

along Boulevard a crowd was gathering

behind a perimeter set up by the

sheriff's deputies near the 710 freeway

then a US Marshall bus pulled up to

Algera from the freeway the crowd The

crowd surrounded the bus trying to push

it back kicking at it until tear gas was

shot the standoff continued into the

afternoon with protesters recording a

line of sheriff's deputies equipped with

shields and weapons at the intersection

of Alandre and Huntsuker Avenue on the

east perimeter the crowd chanted "I go

home and no justice no peace." Some

people yelled at the deputies

questioning why they were out in force

at some point deputies began shooting

flashbang grenades at the crowd forcing

them to retreat people became angered

cursing at deputies at least one man was

seen yelling at the deputies while

recording them what the hell are you

doing nobody's hurting you nobody's

doing anything but making noise are you

intimidating by effing noise

one woman among the protest group

appeared to be bleeding and another man

was treated for injuries at least one

person walked around with his shirt off

his back bruised from foam projectiles

that had struck him in the distance near

the business park demonstrators were

setting off fireworks and a billow of

black smoke could be seen

despite the use of tear gas and

so-called less lethal projectiles people

returned to the intersection screaming

at deputies mocking them at times around

4 p.m the confrontation near a Home

Depot was declared an unlawful assembly

and officials warned protesters in

Spanish and English to leave the area by

7 p.m about 100 protesters had ga

gathered on the side of the 710 freeway

near Atlantic Avenue and Elijah

Boulevard where some were lobbing rocks

and bottles at the sheriff's deputies

they said at least three fires in the

area including a car that burned in the

middle of the intersection at some point

the deputies retreated back to the

bottom of a bridge that runs over the

710 freeway in the Los Angeles River

throughout the night deputies and

demonstrators engaged with each other

with demonstrators launching fireworks

that exploded near the line of deputies

and police vehicles they used cars to

drive towards the deputies in attempt to

scare them prompting the deputies to

fire rubber bullets tear gas and flash

prank grenades at the vehicles a

sheriff's helicopter circled above

throughout the evening warning people

they would be found and arrested and to

leave the area after an unlawful

assembly was declared but the

demonstrators continued chanting and

waving flags while some in the crowd

continued to throw things at the

deputies

and and again I don't know at this point

what what the deputies are even doing

there for Yeah like they're they didn't

conduct their raid it sounds like

they're there just to just to cause a

problem

but it was nearing 9:30 p.m when the

line of deputies and vehicles began

moving toward the crowd forcing them to

flee back to Atlantic Avenue in Alrea

Boulevard there deputies continued to

fire tear gas and flash prank grenades

sometimes at the direction of a gas

station where protesters were standing

by midnight demonstrators began to leave

ending a night of conflict between local

and federal law enforcement officials

and residents of Paramount

federal authorities said some arrests

had been made by agents at least one

video showed a woman being tackled to

the ground and being carried away other

videos showed two other people also

being carried away by federal agents

multiple arrests have already been made

for obstructing our operations fbi

Deputy Director Dan Bonino said more are

coming we are pouring through the videos

for more perpetrators you bring chaos

and we'll bring handcuffs

but it sounds like the only one that

brought chaos there were the federal

agents they started assembling across

the street from the Home Depot

and there was obviously no communication

with the local representatives with the

local community with other community

leaders nobody knew what ICE was doing

other than obviously they had something

up their sleeve planned

and so it rightfully brought out a

counter uh you know a counterprotest

essentially a counter assembly

and so the the existence now the

existence of this friction is what ICE

is using to start tear gasing and and

doing crowd control work and it's like

there wouldn't be a crowd here if you

guys hadn't assembled here

yeah

and so that's that's where that all

started off at and that's really what

got this week kicked off unfortunately

the news only gets worse from there

because after the week of

LA

demonstrations and

the National Guard being brought in and

the Marines being activated we've we

then ended the week with some actual

political assassinations

well attempted assassinations one

successful yeah um

so I'm sure you probably heard about

this Todd but uh

Vance Belter

who's a uh

I don't know if you've seen the profile

on this guy that uh he but he he shot

and killed he attacked two different

Minnesota lawmakers in Minnesota

and he killed one one representative and

her husband and the other couple is in

serious condition last I heard it was

optimistic that they would make it but

they were in serious condition

oh

so

this guy the the guy it's and so if

you've seen the video of it where the

guy's literally goes up in like a a skin

mask to like give himself an entirely

different look like something out of

like Mission Impossible

and uh

crazy so Belter 57 was arrested Sunday

night in the city of Green Isle

Minnesota where he lived according to

authorities he's accused of killing one

lawmaker and her husband and wounding

another and his wife early Saturday

officials said he left behind an

apparent hit list with dozens of names

in his car 70 Democrat lawmakers and

other private citizens

Yeah after exchanging fire with police

outside the home of one victim and

fleeing the scene so that's the thing

that's crazy to me is he exchanged

gunfire with with police with law

enforcement and still got away

like they they they let him get away it

I mean it seems like it doesn't it like

they they you know they'll attack an

entire community to get like one guy who

stole something from a from a mini mart

but this guy's literally going on an

assassination spree and he exchanges

gunfire and they you know where's the

police helicopters where's the where's

the fivestar GTA response type type

stuff like

and and and then of course so the one of

the people that was killed um

I don't know why I don't have her full

name here

oh Representative Melissa Hortman

so Hortman was the top Democrat in the

Minnesota House and her husband and her

were both killed um

basically uh Belter dressed as a police

officer and he went through the front

door

officers at the home saw Belter dressed

as a police officer shoot an adult man

through the open front door according to

a criminal complaint obtained by the

Minnesota Star Tribute the suspect

exchanged gunfire with police and ran

into the house

ultimately disappearing from the area

um right away right-wing media outlets

were trying to say that this guy is some

sort of crazed lefty because he's on a

committee that was appointed by Tim

Walls

but it was a nonpartisan committee and

this guy is unabashedly a MAGA supporter

his his friend and roommate both you

know confirmed as much

he had a manifesto

he had names of something like 80 people

or something like that including Tim

Walls of people he wanted to assassinate

most of them seemed to have to do with

being pro-choice so if you were a

pro-choice politician if you were a

doctor he had doctors on his list yeah

uh the list included prominent lawmakers

like Representative Elon Omar and

Senator Tina Smith as well as Planned

Parenthood leaders

um he also had flyers for anti-Trump

protest in his car raising fears that he

may have intended to target the rallies

and the guy basically worked he like

owned a private he owns some sort of

private uh

I don't know if it's private military or

if it's

I don't know

I'm trying to find Oh okay so Bolter had

worked as director of security patrols

for Ptorian Guard Security Services

which provides random armed patrols of

customers properties according to the

company's web page also suggests he

could have access to uniforms and

equipment that could aid in

impersonating a police officer and

apparently Ptorian Guard Services are

used by like multinational uh uh

companies like Nestle and stuff like

that so we're talking somebody that like

sets up you know we don't know for sure

what he did for them but these could be

the people that like Nestle uses to go

secure an area that has water that they

want to steal or you know go move do you

know modern day colonialism type stuff

or go go disrupt this country uh cause

political unrest somewhere so that then

we can get the right people elected in

this country

like they're if you look up the Ptorian

Guard's security services you'll see

some pretty up um

the firm was registered to his home

address and listed a woman who was

apparently his wife as the president and

CEO

so the site advertised that the firm had

police type vehicles

yeah they said he had experience in

foreign conflict zones it said that he

was involved with security situations in

Eastern Europe Africa North America and

the Middle East including the West Bank

Southern Lebanon and the Gaza Strip

so he's basically involved in some sort

of right-wing paramilitary

security situation thing so this gets

really potentially deep like if if

anybody wanted to go conspiracy theory

on this stuff there's a lot to trace

there's a lot of threads you can trace

back and see what's really going on here

i mean maybe that'll be something we can

do in the future but

he also supposedly was a launched a

Christian nonprofit called Revo

Formation Ministries so it's got this

right-wing Christian nationalist

paramilitary

thing going on which is really similar

to uh Eric uh what Nancy Dvau's brother

Eric Prince and the Blackwater

stuff it's all very much in that line

and so now now that he's finally been

arrested

uh Minnesota Bureau of Criminal

Apprehension Superintendent Drew Evans

said Belter has been charged in the

shootings and that the case will be

reviewed for possible federal charges he

said he said had Brooklyn part officers

not confronted Belter at the house of

Melissa Hortman's home early Saturday

morning he likely would have continued

throughout the day he was forced to

abandon his plan

evans said authorities were confident

Belter acted alone in the violence he

committed he said Belter was armed when

he was arrested i don't know how you

could be so sure he was acting alone

when he owns and operates a entire

securities service like I mean I guess

it depends on what all was done and

could he have done it by himself or not

yeah and it's just like why why you

wouldn't immediately think that there's

you know he's got three or four buddies

all poised to start doing stuff

elsewhere throughout the country or

something like that like

but it's just it is amazing to me that

he got away at first

but

of course this is what we're living in

now

yep

but uh last story for news of the week

um it is and you'll have to I'll let you

go into this more Todd because this is

this is your day not mine uh that's

right you're you're one of those darn

millennials is is Yeah yeah but it's

National Gen X Day yeah today and I

didn't know this until this morning

i was like what we have a day oh that's

so nice um it says uh when will National

GenX Day be celebrated june 16th of

every calendar year uh this is according

to uh what is this website national

dayarchchives.com

and uh I was uh you know what it was is

I did a search for what is what holidays

are today on Google and I came it it

brought this site up i was like oh

walking is sweet um and that was it was

largely because I wanted to find out if

like was there like no school today cuz

the the teenager is still home and I

guess they're they're going to be taking

off to go to uh uh VidCon which is a big

uh like YouTube uh streamer or Oh why

aren't we at that uh because we're

relatively new and we don't have much of

a following i mean I have a following on

here but I don't think anybody's

actually I don't know i mean you can you

can see be the analytics and how well

these videos are doing so well we got to

what we got to do is we got to go there

and show up like we're a big deal and

just give Yeah oh and we could do that

with more local events take it till you

make it i I I can't afford to fly to to

Southern California and spend several

days there but uh anyways this says uh

what is start one here damn it what is

National Gen X Day national GenX Day is

a time to recognize and celebrate the

often overlooked generation that has

shaped modern culture in ways that cult

uh continue to influence society today

born between 1965 and 1980

Gen X um stands uh as the bridge between

the analog past and the digital future

uh bringing unique blend of resilience

independence and creativity to the world

this day is dedicated to honoring the

nostalgia achievements and cultural

contributions of Gen Xers everywhere

i didn't know that we had a national

holiday it's not even like a recognized

by the government or anything but it's

it's it's like it's like talk like a

pirate day or William talk like William

Shatner day these are these are days

that people celebrate but aren't like on

the on the uh calendar of as of yet yeah

i don't get the day off work don't get

the day off it's not a bank holiday so I

guess it was uh it was created this year

this is the first annual

this This is brand new uh we're

at the ground floor yeah so I'm I'm glad

I caught it when it on on opening day so

and there's a bunch more things said

here but it's all like you know um

let me read this why is why was National

GenX Day created what with the 77

million baby boomers having been in the

spotlight for the last 80 years and

millennials and Gen Z's now getting all

the attention

as the first of the Gen Xers turn 60

it's time for them to get some

recognition despite our profound impact

Gen Xers are often overshadowed by the

larger generations before and after them

national GenX Day is being created to

ensure that their contributions whether

in technology entertainment or social

change

receive the recognition they deserve

it's a a moment of to acknowledge their

role as the adaptable self-reliant

generation that shaped the modern world

while maintaining an independent and

sometimes rebellious spirit

plus this is inspired by this a special

person to me blah blah blah blah blah

blah blah blah blah blah and it's you

know that person who's posted this it's

his third girlfriend or whatever so good

for her um but yeah so I I am going to

put this on my calendar to remember to

remind me every year this day going

forward is being Gen X day we have a

holiday um I'm definitely going to be

letting other Gen Xers that I follow on

social media know hey you guys in case

you didn't know today is that day and uh

yeah

all righty right on well happy Gen X day

Todd thank you Sarah it's It's good to

have another holiday for a white

middle-aged male yes

it's kind of hard being upper middle

class and white uh I don't know if I'm

upper middle class but I'm No we are not

not even close i'm I'm I am poor i am

poor i am so poor yeah i I And I did

want to say uh yesterday I I contacted

Spotify because I noticed that yes our

on on Spotify our podcast is labeled as

self-help or was labeled as self-help

and I got a hold of somebody last night

and I was like you know what i changed

it to news commentary and uh it's not

showing up on the public page for the

the Spotify page for the podcast and

they said "All right well let me verify

a couple things and then we'll go ahead

and do this." And she was like she's

like "Oh yeah i'm I'm listening to it

now it's this is a cool podcast." It's

like "Well because you helped out I'm

going to give you a shout out." So Tanya

thank you for helping out and uh yeah

thanks and uh it now registers as both

news commentary and pop culture so we

should show up when people are looking

in those categories on Spotify we're

we're not just trying to get people that

are looking for self-help oh god what

have we done i was like I was like these

guys need help more than I do what the

you know

that Todd guy he sounds like he's he

needs therapy

we all need therapy

but uh yeah so that is that