Life on the Red Horse Ranch. Steve Bradford did a rather poor job of explaining to Mr. Carter why he prevented the outfit from putting up a fight when rustlers rode up in the night and drove off part of the Red Horse Herd. And to add to the trouble, rain has prevented their driving the herd on to town. So there's nothing to do but wait and the boys find that a hard job. Let's join them down in the bunkhouse of the Red Horse Ranch. When the Indians came and things looked bad, she hid right alongside a great granddad. She wilded up beans and she hung out the barn so she never had time to drink the tea by guys. Twenty-one next she had to scrub, wash twenty-one shirts in the old wash tub, cook twenty-one meals three times a day. No wonder Grandma's hair turned gray.  How's the weather look? Howdy fellas. Looks a little better. That Carter thinks we can drive the herd over to Denver tomorrow if it rain. Let's up in the morning. Well, I guess this is the last job we'll ever do for Carter. Don't look like there's no chance of his holding on to the Red Horse any longer. Say, Tex, you're just a fellow we wanted. Grab your guitar and yodelist a tune. Yeah, the train whistlein' blues, Tex. Well, here she goes. Gets a blues.  When a warmer gets a blues, a man gets a blues. He grabs the train and rides. Every time I see that long-long surreal road, every time I see it makes me wish I was going home. Coming down that railroad track. Look at y'all coming down that railroad track.  I got the blues so bad till it's whole round. So blue. I got the blues so bad till it's whole round world looks blue. Ain't gotta dime. Did you see anything of Alabama out there? Yeah, him and Tanner put down the past corral lookin' at Alabama's horse. Red ran off again last night, didn't he? Yeah, that's what Alabama was sayin'. He must've showed up again just lately. You know, I sure can't figure that horse out. It's as small as a whip and you got it. Well, you just gotta tie him down to make him stay put. The funniest thing is, Alabama can't seem to figure out where that horse goes to. Well, he could wander off into the hills without being followed. Very easy. I'd worry more about Alabama than I would about Red. Well, that fella's got somethin' on his mind that he ain't tellin' nobody. Unless it's tenderfoot. Oh, that ain't just that. Ever notice him down in the corral Well, that horse stands there just lookin' at him, looks at his feet and then his mane and then back at his feet. Get me the willies to watch him. Well, come in here, tenderfoot.  Say, I don't think you can count on me, fellas. This rain's busted half the strings on my fiddles. Oh, don't mind about that. There's some bailin' wire under my bunk over there. Try usin' that. Well, grab your mouthharps, then, boys, and give us somethin' kinda quick and deftly. Oh, all right. Give me that mouth harp.  When he left me, he was goin' up the house to talk to Mr. Carter. Say, what's got into him about Red, tenderfoot? Alabama been talkin' to you anymore? Well, nothin' special, Idaho.  Come on, boys, start singin' another song, Gore. I fly off of the hamlet. I'm only askin' for a few more days to figure this thing out, and that's all. Alabama, I'm sorry, but I just ain't been able to understand you, Bleed. Well, I admit things do look funny, but if you'll just delay closin' the deal with Steve Bradford for the Red Horse, just a few more days, I've got a feelin' you won't have to sell. Alabama, the interest on my note in Danville is past due now. I'll never get enough from that what's left of the Red Horse herd to pay the interest. What in heaven could you or anyone do? Well, that's something I can't say now, Mr. Carter, but haven't you wondered why Steve Bradford's so anxious to buy this ranch and every other ranch in the valley that he can get hold of? Yes, but he's made me a fair offer. I should have sold to him before it would have saved all this trouble with cattle thieves. Bradford's been fair enough to offer me the same price as he did before. Well, I've got to sell this time, Alabama. Listen, Mr. Carter, I've been workin' for you a long time, haven't I? Yes, now you're under 15 years, Alabama. You've been a good foreman for the Red Horse. Well, have you ever felt or even suspected that I was disloyal to you or to Rose? Well, you know I haven't, Alabama.  I know that. And then I'm askin' you to listen to me, Mr. Carter. Put off sellin' the ranch. Another week, if no more, until I can see if what I think is true.  If what I think is true, you'll not only get enough money to pay off that loan, but a lot more than you ever dreamed of havin' before. What could possibly happen to bring that about? But that's what I can't tell you, till I'm absolutely sure. Listen, Mr. Carter, if you can't do that for me, I'm askin' you to do it for Rose. Don't sell the Red Horse Ranch for another week. Well, this may be my last chance to sell, like. But very well, Alabama, I'll wait. Yes, I'll wait just a little longer. Good for you, Dad. What will Bradford do next in his attempt to get possession of Carter's ranch?


This indictment was voted by a grand jury of citizens in the Southern District of Florida, and I invite everyone to read it in full, to understand the scope, and the gravity of the crimes charged. Well, unless you've been living under a rock for the past week or so, then by now, I am confident that you're well aware of the fact that Donald Trump has been federally indicted on 38 charges last Thursday. Now, for this video, I primarily want to focus on the response from his supporters, because I think that that portion of this story is yielding really important insight that a lot of people aren't picking up on that we all need to be well aware of. But before we get to that, I first want to just talk about the charges a little bit here, because I just I can't overstate the severity of these charges. And when you go through the indictment itself, it is genuinely mind blowing. So as Common Dreams explains, the indictment which journalist Judd Legum described as absolutely devastating outlines that Trump faces 31 counts related to withholding national defense information. Additionally, he and Nada, this is his former aide, face five counts related to concealing possession of classified documents. They also each face account related to making false statements to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The indictment accuses Trump of showing classified materials to people who lacked security clearance to see them at least twice at his golf club in New Jersey. The first time was in July of 2021 during an audio recorded meeting with a writer, a publisher and two members of his staff. The former president showed and described a plan of attack that Trump said was prepared for him by the Department of Defense and the senior military official, according to the document. Trump told the individuals that the plan was highly confidential and secret. Trump also said, as president, I could have declassified it and now I can't, you know, but this is still a secret. Then in August or September of 2021, Trump allegedly showed a representative of his political action committee, a classified map related to a military operation told the unnamed individual that he should not be doing so and said not to get too close. So let's just pause right there because there's a lot to take in. It's not just that he kept lots and lots of documents at Mar-a-Lago and there are photographs included in the indictment of dozens of boxes, all of which containing classified materials, but it's not just that he kept this and he didn't give it back. He showed people and on top of that he's showing them saying I really shouldn't be showing you this but I'm doing it anyway and there's evidence of this.  And to make matters worse, as CNN's Caitlin Collins points out, the indictment shows specifically how he was trying to obstruct in this case by quote suggesting that his attorney hide or destroy documents called for by the grand jury subpoena.  His own former attorney general is saying actually he may be toast. That's Bill Barr's words, not mine, and also saying that the indictment would still be damning even if only half of it were true. Now, listen, I understand that in this country, we essentially have a two tier justice system that almost always pays deference to elites, but Trump was so shameless in his disregard for the law that they're just going to pretend as if he's a normal person. They're trying him as a normal person in this case. Now, that's a joke obviously, but for an elite to actually be held accountable legally, for a former president to be indicted, what he did has to be pretty bad. The evidence has to be substantial. And in this case, yeah, that's that's certainly the case. I can confirm. The question is, are the crimes bad enough to get his supporters to turn on him? I think you know the answer to that question. It's obviously no. But a CNN reporter spoke with Trump supporters outside of Georgia's GOP convention that took place over the weekend. And what they said really is not surprising. But keep in mind that what these Trump supporters are saying is actually less problematic than what some of his other supporters are doing and more specifically planning. But before we get to that, let's watch special counsel Jack Smith announcing 37 criminal counts against Trump, the majority for violations of the espionage act. Doesn't matter to me. Not at all outside the state convention. His supporters are unfazed. I think it's a bunch of bull. Trump ain't done that wrong thing. Trump done is saved this country. They're not going to let it stop.  It's probably altered. But it's just typical, typical liberal propaganda. None of the Republican voters CNN spoke with had read the indictment. No, I wouldn't waste my time on the phone. The indictment, I don't care about the doubt. You could, you could indict a baloney sandwich. These loyalists share a deep sense of distrust against perceived opponents of Trump, including the Department of Justice, the FBI and the press. Supporters routinely brought up President Joe Biden, former vice president Mike Pence, and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton. All had sensitive materials in their possession while out of public office. One big difference. Trump and his aid, Wal-Nada, face nearly a half dozen charges related to obstruction and concealment of documents, including for allegedly suggesting to his lawyers to not cooperate with a grand jury subpoena. In this whole fake indictment, they don't even once mentioned the presidential records act. The indictment outlines two different occasions. Trump allegedly showed classified documents to unauthorized people. And in 2021, Trump admitted on tape to having secret documents that he hadn't declassified according to the indictment. As president, I could have declassified, but now I can't, Trump said, according to the transcript of the audio obtained by CNN. There's an audio recording of him doing so. We know that that can be changed. We know that that can be altered. Within the 49-page indictment, pictures showing boxes of classified documents stacked high in a moral logo bathroom, ballroom, office space and elsewhere. The convention also drew a handful of anti-Trump protesters co-opting one of his most popular catchphrases in this quick moment of tension. Ultimately, these Trump supporters could not point to any piece of evidence that would cause their support to waivers. I think Trump is the best president we've ever had, and I'm all about getting him reelected. That was depressing, but at this point, it's not surprising, because I've said it once, I'll say it again, this is a cult. Now, to be fair, we all have biases. We all feel cognitive dissonance when someone we like does something bad. Having said that, though, I don't think any of you watching are as bad as those supporters, regardless of who we're talking about here. I doubt that most sane people would put blind loyalty above facts and logic in the way that Trump supporters allow blind loyalty to Trump facts and logic, pun intended. For example, just think about a recent example where we all were tested. Noam Chomsky, beloved intellectual on the left, we all learned that he was friendly with Jeffrey Epstein, and the response from him was, none of your business. Now, ask yourself this question, even as disappointed as you were when you read these headlines about Noam Chomsky, did you throw your hands up and scream witch hunt or refuse to admit that this wasn't at least suspicious at a minimum? No, because you're an adult. And as adults, we have the emotional capacity to adapt with new information. And we all had to grapple with the reality that Noam Chomsky perhaps isn't as good of a person as we all thought, even if no crime is being alleged specifically with regard to that issue. But still, this association with a human trafficker, a known human trafficker, it just, you would expect better from Noam Chomsky. Did you just throw a temper tantrum and accuse the journalist who broke that story of being corrupt or biased? No. But Trump supporters, they don't have the capacity to reason in the same way that we all do. But as depressing as their reluctance to accept any facts about Trump may be, those are the least problematic of the bunch. Because there are the normal rank and file members of Trump's cult, which are the ones that we just saw. And then there are the violent members of Trump's cult who take things to the extreme. Let me tell you what I mean by that. As Vice News explains, in what is becoming a now all too familiar trend, former President Donald Trump's far-right supporters have threatened civil war after news broke Thursday that the former president was indicted for allegedly taking classified documents from the White House without permission. Quote, we need to start killing these traitorous fuckstains, wrote one Trump supporter on the Donald, a rabidly pro-Trump message board that played a key role in planning the January 6th attack on the Capitol. Another user added, it's not going to stop until bodies start stacking up. We are not civilly represented anymore and they'll come for us next. Some of us, they already have. Trump supporters are making specific threats too, and one post on the Donald titled, a little bit about Merrick Garland, his wife, his daughters, a user shared a link to an article about the Attorney General's children. Under the post, another user replied, his children are fair game as far as I'm concerned. Quote, it's perhaps time for that civil war that the damn Democrats have been trying to start for years now, a member of the Donald wrote. Another referencing former President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said fact, our forefathers would have hung these two for treason. Now, as a result of all of this, law enforcement officials are on high alerts, fearing another January 6th on the date of his arraignment. And it doesn't help that Trump keeps lying about the situation and stoking the flames by trying to portray himself as the victim of a politically motivated witch hunt when very clearly, if you look at the details here, it's obvious that that is not the case, right? You know, if you read the actual indictment, I think that it would be difficult to not conclude that this man isn't just guilty, but he is as guilty as you can possibly be. But that's why facts and logic, it's so important because these Trump supporters think, well, you know, Donald Trump, if they can come after a former president, then of course they'll come after his supporters. But the difference is that most of the time in this country elites get away with crimes that the peasants would get prosecuted for doing immediately. And Trump in this instance, he wasn't just keeping classified documents, he was showing them off to his friends saying, this is totally classified, don't get too close. Like he knew what he was doing. But because of these very strong narratives that are deceitful on purpose intended to gin up support for Trump, these people think that if it starts with Trump, it's going to end with them. When that's not going to be the case, unless you actually resort to violence or do something as brazen as Trump did.  But if you haven't been doing that, I don't think that you have anything to worry about. With regard to things that the peasants should be worried about, I mean, it's the militarization of police, how we are losing our First Amendment rights in this country in various states, with the criminalization of protests, book banning. These are things that you should worry about with regard to the state cracking down on our civil rights and civil liberties. But for them, they see one elite get penalized, potentially held accountable, and they think, oh my God, I'm next. No, this is why informing ourselves with facts and details are really important. But regardless of what happens to Trump, one thing is very clear. His supporters are never ever going to abandon him. And I think that most of us have come to terms with that reality. But the particularly worrying element about this story is how many Trump supporters immediately started to call for violence and a civil war after this news broke. News that we all expected for months, by the way. But let's zoom out a little bit and look at the broader political landscape with regard to the American right. We have Trump supporters proving that they're willing to resort to violence. They did it on January 6th and they're plotting it again. You have genocidal rhetoric coming from many sitting politicians across the country when it comes to trans issues. And we have out and proud neo-Nazis who have repeatedly shown support for candidates like Ron DeSantis. Here's a picture of them protesting outside of Disney World this weekend. And none of this is happening in a vacuum. Trump may have ushered in this era of political violence, but it's not going to end with Donald Trump's political career assuming that all of this legal turmoil is going to bring him down. So the point is that as a country we need to recognize the danger of an increasingly violent far right in this country and buckle up because this is only the beginning of the rights devolution from proto-fascists to outright violent fascists. And as political news drops, this is something that I want people to pay attention to. The threats of violence that we are seeing increasingly. I mean you don't have to look to the Donald to find evidence that the right is violence. All you have to do is log on to Twitter and you'll see many blue check Nazis calling for the deaths of LGBTQ plus people calling for political violence. It is a common phenomenon now and seeing it this much is a very worrying sign for the future of democracy. So it's something to keep in mind and pay attention to. Vagina.


Team Keith McLean, what's going on? It's Ingraven here with another video and in this video We got another episode of NFL questions from subscribers and this question Different question. I like it came from my guy B. Wiggins, Jr He sent me a DM on Twitter and asks will Chris Moore. What's up, Mocha? He asks will Chris Moore be the first all pro all Be the first all pro all-around wide receiver that is actually what's up, Gavin? That's actually developed from the Ravens Because you know, they've had beast receivers before but not beast beast But nice receivers like an Anquan Bowden like a Derrick Mason Steve Smith when he first came on board Toy Smith did his thing here. He wasn't a beast. He was a deep ball guy But he asked will Chris Moore actually be the first one that the Ravens actually developed Who can be the guy? For what no said he got potential to be. What's up garnet? What's up? Mr. Wolf for no firing rate of Matt Dustin Josh air Canada or Dustin say no, he sucks Well, um if we go based off of the past Then no Because What he's shown in the past hasn't really been much but at the same time Always call him fit Mr. 5050 because you never know what you're gonna get While we haven't seen much out of him in the past He has took a big he did take a big leap from his first year to his second year Because his first year I felt like his hands might have been a little better the first year But at the same time he got less playing time So he didn't really get to get exposed that first year if you know what I'm saying Oh, great great CJ. That's good man. No, I didn't hear about there's being interested in the Steelers um But if he can take another big leap From his second year to his third year and they've been ranting and raving about him and OTAs blah blah blah again Do not believe or buy into the hype Don't do it. Please don't cuz I don't want I don't want y'all to get your hearts broken When these receivers if if you buy into the hype and these receivers don't show you what that hype was all about Please don't buy into it Yes, he has been better than Perryman Wolf He has been but again, that's not really much to compare him to because Perryman hasn't a lot of people have been better than Perryman just about everybody lastly has been better than Perryman unless he hasn't even played it down yet in NFL But now seriously with Chris Moore Me right now, I can't see it and somebody did mention they said it would be about time because it's been over 20 years It's been over 20 years Who said that? Oh, it's Curtis Curtis D He said I hope we do develop somebody because it's been over 20 years now It has been man. It's been We have never developed our own beast wide receiver owned all around why receive our own receiver that can do everything We have never developed that ever Ever gonna say Chris Moore is a Mark Clayton type of guy, which means unpredictable production Yeah, we don't know what we're gonna get we don't know Because if you if you listen to the reports that they talked about this guy in OTA's and stuff Oh, yeah, he's been the best receiving OTA's and it's like man y'all got I mean not that y'all gotta chill with that because if Somebody's the best receiving OTA's are the best receiving OTA's and that's that but Nobody believes you Nobody believes you Ravens. Nobody believes you and I'm sorry for any Raven's reporters anything that may watch these videos. I Don't believe you though. I don't believe you about the Chris I mean not that I don't believe him But I just don't believe the hype because if they said the same stuff last year about Perryman and all that stuff It it just doesn't matter doesn't faze me doesn't get me excited when they be like, oh, yeah This guy is looking great in OTA. No, I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. I Just I want to see it in on the field preseason. They doing it in preseason. All right, cool They doing it when they got the pass on. I cool cool kind of cool But preseason cool and regular season, of course, that'd be great, but I just I Don't buy into all the all the hype all the OTA hype. I just can't I can't and with Chris Moore We just got a way to see we got a way to see and we got a way to see and see if he takes that big leap in His third year because if he can take a big leap in his third year Then he'll have a pretty decent season and I like I said before I still feel like that number two spot is up for grabs I feel like nobody has it locked down yet. I feel like even though they've been talking about the deep ball with John Brown and Joe Fleckle it ain't locked down yet Willie Snead they've been talking about his chemistry with Fleckle. I think he'll be more of a slot guy He could be end up being a number two guy, but he'd be more of a slot guy And Chris Moore He's been having the best OTAs out of everybody all the riders even So that wire nobody is claiming that wire to that number two I receive a spot yet Michael Crabtree is the only one that's for sure, but the shoe in at number one and that's it Why don't pay my return kicks and make sense just having field kicks and punts all summer But if you have problems catching and if you have problems concentrating on your catch Then if you are doing kickoffs and punt returns, especially punt returns, then what's up P&S team then then that's not gonna put your team in a good situation Yeah, I don't I don't honestly still don't think Tim White is gonna make the team I know y'all been running raving and hoping for him and I hope the best for him too But I don't think he's gonna make the team I think he just got too much that he's going up against I really do Who scares you a receiver? Who's who scares you at the receiver position? I wait what what do you mean scare me? When you say scare, what's up Jordan? What do you mean scare me as in oh man, I do he's a scary beast of a receiver Oh man, I'm scared for him to get on the field. I don't want to see any part of him Which kind of scare a good scare like he could scare defenses or a bad scare like he could scare a Raven offensive He plays a receiver for us. We're scared you're talking about But even with Chris more I just I don't know man. I don't know. It's too many unknowns with him That's why I feel like it's too many unknowns because and if if he gets an opportunity Let's see if he gets an opportunity this year and let's see with have a much of an opportunity They give him let's see what he does with it. Let's see what he does with it because I mean, it's just a lot man It's a lot. I don't know. I don't know what's gonna happen with him I just don't know and will he end up being a guy that the Ravens development all around got at the Ravens develop for the first time Right now, honestly, don't see it, but he could prove me wrong. He could prove a lot of people wrong. So we'll see Mawkin said at this moment, we don't have a receiver that the defensive coordinates have to have to game plan to stop I'm not really man doesn't say start one bench one cut one. Oh Bolden Steve Smith, Derek Mason, who you got if I got a start one bench one and cut one. I mean Any answer you give for this question? It's wrong, but at the same time any answer you get for this question is right Because you can't go wrong with either one of the three if I but if I had to choose to start one hmm I'm going Tough Very tough I'm going Steve Smith senior though Bench one I'm going and quomb old and cuz he can come off the bench and still be a beast and cut one Derek Mason Again, there's a PNS team. Maybe one day who knows I wish they'd reach out to me Let me know cuz I know they're talking about they wanted to do some like kind of live stream thing on YouTube Hello, we do that every day all day. What's up, man? What's up, Joe? Shout out to Joe. Hey y'all make sure y'all subscribe to Joe new ball football subscribe to Joe new ball football I just said Joe new ball football subscribe to Joe new ball football, man But hey, that's it's tough man You any any answer you give is gonna be wrong? Why at the same time any answer you give is gonna be right because there's There's no right or wrong answer for that For nobody I said cut Mason bench bold and start Steve. That was my that's that's what I would do Hey, no, thank you. Thank you Joe new ball appreciate you, man. Thank you Yeah, it oh, yeah, and like I said in the podcast man Hey, we're still working so we ain't streams over we ain't over streaming We ain't streaming all day from nine to five yet. So we still got our job So we stay true to that but um Yeah, it's hard for that one man Man, I was I was tuned into the official Ravens channel all day.  Hello like come on now like What's up? I don't know what these people be doing like I know in Like I'm not not being cocky anything but it's gotta be somebody over there Somebody who knows about team keep it clean gotta be somebody somebody somebody but If it's meant to be it'll be and it'll happen when it happens till then we won't worry about it He is what it is. Remember when we talked about we all want to leave receiver away from being a top team That's what I meant by who scares you at receiver. No one no need to game plan for anyone a receiver Okay, that's what markets are just saying too. Yeah, you're right. So there's no really we don't really have any scary receivers We have Michael Crabtree Um, they double him. He's out of there. Um Hey appreciate that Dustin. That would be nice if everybody could do that. Um Uh That's it. John Brown You've been known to be injury prone in his career paired men fast, but hasn't been able to catch Chris Moore Got some speed hands are flip-floppy. What's up, Elias? Lastly don't know enough about jaleel scott don't know enough about Uh, deviel posie. He's an nfl couldn't make it as a Texan receiver. He went to cfl now. He's coming back Um, tim white undrafted free agent A lot of unknowns It's just We ain't got nobody's scary like man, it's Now and when you put it like that it makes me look at the season differently now But I mean, we'll see what happens. Hopefully these guys can catch. Oh, and will he see will he seen in the slot? He could be he could do some stuff Yeah, y'all make sure I leave a like on the video click that thumbs up button.  She never reached back out. She never reached back out I tried to follow on twitter because she got a thing uh private but So I guess I guess that that's not gonna happen So I am still looking for I need a graphic designer man. I need somebody who's nice with it, man A graphic designer if y'all know anybody or if you all want yourself then please hit me up on twitter, man Send me a dm please. I need a graphic designer somebody who is nice with it Uh could be creative be original somebody like nice, man Uh and my twitter is engraving vids because I want to do some stuff I got some plans that I want to make happen Um, so yeah, man, which wire see you do I think a surprise the most what's up tom by the way, um If anybody would be I think chris chris more. I was about to say chris brown chris more or john brown I think out of those two guys either one of those would be the biggest surprise If they just come on and they will stay started killing it Yeah, it would um rodney say one of these receivers got to be more than good, right? Maybe one day, man one can only dream one can only dream So anyway appreciate y'all man. I love y'all thinking on we out


General John Kelly, who later became Chief of Staff. Welcome to what the F is going on in Latin America and the Caribbean, Code Pink's weekly YouTube program of hot news out of Latin America and the Caribbean. We, in partnership with friends of Latin America, Massachusetts Pizza Action and Task Force on the Americas, we broadcast every Wednesday at 7.30 p.m. Eastern, 4.30 p.m. Pacific on Code Pink YouTube Live. The inspiration for tonight's episode came during the sixth summit of Heads of State and Government of the Community of Latin America and the Caribbean States, also known as CELAC, C-E-L-A-C, which was held in Mexico City on September 18th of this year. A result of the summit was, one of the results of the summit was a special declaration on the question of Puerto Rico. And the declaration includes two points, those being point one, reaffirmed the Latin America and Caribbean character of Puerto Rico and recognizing the efforts made and the resolutions adopted by the special committee on decolonization of the United Nations about the situation on Puerto Rico. The most recent on June 18th, 2021, and reiterated that it is a matter of high interest to CELAC, as was emphasized at the highest level of the fifth summit in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, held January 25th, 2017. And the second point being, undertake to continue working in the framework of international law, particularly of the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 1514, declaration on the granting of independence to colonial countries and people of December 14th, 1960, to put an end quickly and unconditionally to colonialism in all its forms and manifestations in Latin America and the Caribbean region. Joining us today to talk about ending US colonialism of Puerto Rico is my friend Monisha Rios. She is a Puerto Rican psychologist and social worker and I'm so pleased to have her with us today. Welcome, Monisha. Thank you for having me.  So I should share with our audience about an hour before we were scheduled to broadcast, Monisha sent me a WhatsApp message saying she lost electricity in Puerto Rico. And so let's just briefly tell the audience what that's about and then let's go more deeply into, because it is an example of this neocolonial form, neo, what do I want to say, neoliberal form, neoliberal form of colonialism, neocolonialism. That's a ton of cluster for me, sorry. Yeah, so Luma Energy is a Canadian and USAN company that was newly formed not that long ago and entered into a very questionable, very expensive contract with the Puerto Rican government through what they like to call a public-private partnership to basically take over our electrical grid in our country, our occupied nation of Puerto Rico. And so like what we have seen in our sister nations throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, when the privateers want to privatize, there's a systematic destabilization of essential services, a sabotage, if you will, to then try and create public support for this ridiculous expensive policy. And unfortunately, what has happened now is that with this takeover of Luma, we are constantly losing power. Hundreds of thousands of Puerto Ricans are without power, sometimes weeks at a time. I'm lucky that it wasn't for a long period of time and we're just having a minor thunder storm right now. But in many places in Puerto Rico, folks have been without often, and there's a lot to share about that when we get into it. Okay, so privatization is not the answer. It's glorified in the United States as the model. And here's one more, just in the past hour, one more prime example of why it doesn't work, which leads me to ask about disaster capitalism. Because what you're seeing in Puerto Rico and what the rest of the world is witnessing is that since the hurricanes, there's been no relief from the United States of which you are a part. And it's kind of your infrastructure, your people have been left with no assistance except that help or that, what do I wanna say, rebuilding coming from the private sector. I think the hurricane is the private sector a favor because even before then we had the crisis, our financial crisis happening, and that's a whole other layer of US interventionism in Puerto Rico is the fiscal control board, what we call la junta. And so the closing of universities, the lack of investment in infrastructure, our electrical grid was nationalized before this. Many of our essential services were more on the nationalized side of the spectrum and naturally when that got wiped out, it was weak already in large part because of a lack of investment on the part of the Puerto Rican government in the needs of the people and making sure that the basic needs could be met in times of disaster. And as you said, now we have this new wave of colonialism happening, these new settlers coming in, in droves to have their way with us because what defenses do we have? It's a particularly- I'm sorry, go ahead. Sorry, sorry. I need to also mention, especially because I'm via Kense, that there are Puerto Ricos, not just the big islands of Puerto Rico that everyone thinks of. There's also Culebra and Vieca, two little islands to the east of the bigger island My family comes from the little one called Vieques, which the US happens to bomb for 60 years and prior to that the US bombed Culebra for that many decades as well until we've resisted. What that means for us now in terms of disaster relief, we have no hospital. We haven't had a hospital since the hurricanes and prior to that the healthcare there was minimal and inadequate anyway. So that's a whole other follow-up to get into at some point. Well, so, gosh, I have like 10 things I want to ask you simultaneously. So Vieques was a naval proving ground, testing ground basically, yeah.  Let's talk a little, can you give our audience just a, I know this is a huge question to ask you to condense, but a really quick background as to Puerto Rico and how Puerto Rico came in to, came to be colonized by the United States or as a commonwealth I think is the nice word that, like Guam, yeah, the commonwealth. Exactly. So the US as we know has always had its eyes on our region, the Latin American Caribbean region. And when all of the disturbance in the Spanish empire was taking place, you had the Bolivarian revolution, you had the Cuban revolution taking place, you had Puerto Ricans wanting independence from Spain as well. We actually had four days of being independent from Spain before the US invaded in 1898, July 25th to be exact. So essentially, because the US wanted the gateway into Latin America through the Caribbean, which is us here in Puerto Rico, and they also wanted the sugar industry, they wanted what Spain had. They created this illusion as always of coming in as saviors, we're going to help liberate you. There was- It's been the same narrative for 200 years.  But so long story short, there was a small group of Puerto Ricans who, like all ruling classes have proven to be their economic interests aligned with the United States. So they made the invitation to come. Please come liberate us and make us a part of you. All of this, of course, occurred without the consent and the will of the people of Puerto Rico. And unlike Cuba, there was never an intention of making Puerto Rico its own country.  And so then leading up to the Commonwealth status, this is like a complete falsehood. It's just a way of when classic colonialism became unfashionable in the world, suddenly here's the United States, supposedly the bastion of human rights and they have a colony, a blatant colony. And so then putting this so-called partial sovereignty in place by saying that we have like a somewhat independent nation that's freely associated with the United States, that moved us off of the UN's list of actually colonized countries into the self-governing list of countries. So that's why most of the world forgets that, oh yeah, that we still have this colony of the United States. Well, you and I have spent a lot of time in Venezuela and other parts of the Americas in almost every country I've been in and this may be your experience as well. The United, Puerto Rico is referred to when we say the United States and Puerto Rico. And I think that that's super important on and from an independence international standpoint but it also can infer, yeah, the United States and then there's Puerto Rico which is not a state which is like in verbosity and language it's no longer a colony quote unquote, it's a common word. So it's, so what are you? What is Puerto Rico? What is Puerto Rico? How do the people of Puerto Rico identify? And maybe this digs into some of your psychology. Maybe this is it. Yeah. So getting into the psychology of colonialism and psychological warfare which is actually my specialty is we can look at this through the lens of US hybrid warfare in the context of Puerto Rico, in the context of classic colonialism. The narratives that have been sort of cultivated within the minds of many Puerto Ricans is that they're happy to be part of the United States. Many are happy to remain in this limbo status that we have. Many like myself would prefer complete total sovereignty and independence and then there are also some who would like to go the way of Palau and enter into a compact of free association which is very similar to what we already have where in the US we control our foreign policy and basically dominate us as a neo colony instead of a purely classical colony. So for me, speaking for myself and other independent thesis, we are an occupied sovereign nation. We are a sovereign nation that has occupied politically, economically and continues to be occupied militarily, although the landscape of that particular type of occupation has shifted over time. Wow, so free association, that's a new term for me in relation to Puerto Rico, free association. That's basically what you are now or what the... Yeah, that's what they call it, a free associated state. Wow, so meaning it's like your choice, it's free, you're free, I see, okay. But that's not exactly true because now you as those of you who are citizens of Puerto Rico are US citizens but not fully. And so what does that mean? So the Jones Act of 1917 imposed citizenship on Puerto Ricans in order for the US to then draft us into World War I. And so there are some benefits that go with this partial citizenship. When we reside here in the homeland, we cannot vote for president, we have limited rights, there are certain benefits of US citizenship and benefits of imperialism that we don't get. But then when we cross the upon to the empire, then you can vote for president, you have a, I have a US passport, I have a social security number. So if you move to Washington, well, I know that wouldn't count in Washington, so you see they don't have full, you move to like, you know, Burlington, Vermont, where I'm from, you could vote for president. If you establish that as your principal residence, but you could not do that with your principal residence being on vacation, vacation case. Correct. Oh, wow, okay. Oh, this is getting worse.   Yeah, no, clearly, clearly, clearly. I didn't know about, you know, the drafting for World War I purposes and that's, yeah. But yeah, wow. It's more convoluted and more oppressive than I, you know, really realized actually. So earlier you brought up, you know, hybrid war in connection with colonialism. So let's talk about the various forms of hybrid war being placed on Puerto Rico. Thank you so much for the opportunity to talk about that because generally when, you know, those of us who are against imperialism, who are against U.S. interventionism, speak about hybrid war. We speak about it in relationship to America, Latina and other countries. So in relationship to Puerto Rico, it helps to understand hybrid warfare as we know it today in modern times as just the evolution of total war, which has always existed. And total war begins with narrative. Hybrid war begins with narrative and then all other aspects such as kinetic warfare, lawfare, the diplomatic warfare, economic warfare, all of that then gets imposed on Puerto Rico through this colonial narrative. So it looks different than what's being done to our relatives in Venezuela, Cuba, Iran, et cetera. With us, our colonial condition leads us to live in sanction-like conditions. So it's an economic sanction of its own type. It's a diplomatic- And what does that look like? So that- Because when we say this, we think of like, for you and me, our work we do with Venezuela, Cuba, Iran and other countries and soon to be Nicaragua, hopefully not, but for our audience, that means, you know, cutting off access to the US overnight banking system, to international financial institutions and freezing assets held overseas and on and on and on. And so is that similar to Puerto Rico as well? No, so certain features of the neocolonial economic warfare is different than the colonial hybrid warfare. So what we have now is that fiscal control board enacted by President Obama. It's the PROMESA Act, which is essentially due to the effects of settler colonialism, due to the collaboration between our ruling political and economic elite and the US ruling political and economic elite. Puerto Ricans in the lower classes have always struggled in many ways that poor citizens of the US struggle in many ways that poor citizens of Latin America and the Caribbean struggle. So what it looks like right now under the control of this fiscal control board, which was appointed by the president of the United States, not voted in by the weekend. The president you couldn't vote for. The president you cannot vote for has appointed now these overseers over your government they can veto any law that's created by the Puerto Rican government. Natalie Giresco whose name might sound familiar from Ukraine who was one of the top dogs in the International Monetary Fund World Bank. She is in charge of our fiscal control board. So all of these austerity measures that we see happening in our neighboring countries are happening to us. The privatization is happening to us. The limited access is happening to us. When I say limited access, I mean, obviously we don't control our foreign policy. We don't control trade with other nations. We can only do what the US tells us we are allowed to do. So we cannot enjoy the solidarity of Cuba. We cannot trade with Venezuela. There's no chance. And then in the case of the Echizen Culebra, the two islands that resisted US militarism and colonial rule the most, the living conditions there are closer to what they are in Cuba and closer to what they are in Venezuela than the rest of Puerto Rico. Because you have the punishment of the US government and this punishment isn't necessarily in the same vein as it is against Nicaragua, Venezuela, Cuba where they've resisted.  This is instead for maintenance. It is to control the colony. It is to suppress any type of resistance. It's to destabilize our independence movement and anything that we might do to live in our full sovereignty to have control over our natural resources. Anything that we try to do to enjoy food sovereignty, to cut off our dependency on imported goods from the US. It gets killed that way. That's what's been done to hate as well. Yeah, importing, yeah. Wow. So creating markets. Creating markets for the private sector. Creating markets for the private sector and then using that to protect the imperial project as well as the imperial project as well. So in many ways we're like Colombia or the Israel of the Caribbean. Yeah, you're that base from which everything. Well, I remember, there's a military airstrip in Puerto Rico that I think was being refurbished as the sanctions regime against Venezuela has been getting more and more stringent, and now Venezuela has surrounded Colombia to the west and for a while had a right wing government in Bolivia to the south. And then this Puerto Rican US airstrip to the north, it was pretty obvious if you looked at the map, what the intention, when I was a young person, we called that containment. And maybe it's still, that term is still used, but yeah. So other forms of hybrid warfare. So going back to the, oh, sorry, sorry. No, no, go ahead. So, I'm talking over years, so I apologize. Oh, Josh, it was a great conversation. The SELAC statement that you read in the beginning. So when we talk about the diplomatic warfare that relates to the colonial condition of Puerto Rico, the way that Puerto Rico is discussed in the international community matters, the way that Puerto Rico is discussed inside the United States also matters. And so you can see, as you were saying before, the difference in those two narratives. So what our sister nations and SELAC have done with their statement is affirm our sovereignty. Which is incredible. Which is 33 nations. Well, I think 31 participated, yeah. Yeah. Affirm our sovereignty. 33 of the 35 that make up the Americas. Yeah, is SELAC, yeah. Minus two this year, Brazil and Columbia. So it was 31 nations that signed that declaration out of 35. Minus the two back of state. Yeah, that's understandable. And but it's still necessary. So when we talk about the diplomatic warfare elements of colonial hybrid warfare and how that narrative works, for example, there's a good reason why you don't know the specifics of the Puerto Rican struggle over time as well as let's say we do our sister nations in Latin America and Cuba. And it's because how is Puerto Rico talked about in the United States? Especially within the anti-war movement the anti-imperialist movement. How is it discussed? We don't talk about it enough which is why you're joining us tonight. Yeah. Yeah. Which is why we're doing this episode is no, we do not talk about it enough. I mean, we really don't. And there's a reason for that. Yeah, because you're, I, it's, and it may be different. You know, I grew up on the West coast to the United States. So perhaps, so, you know, our orientation was a lot more to what was happening with people on the islands of Hawaii. Maybe it's more common for people on the Gulf coast of the United States and the East coast to look, you know, to Puerto Rico. But it's really almost a nebulous thing. It's like, well, yeah, they're part of us. They're not a state. I, you know, at one point when I was younger there was an election to vote for statehood. It didn't pass. I want to say that was in the 70s. 1967. Okay. So I was a lot of ventures. No, I was, I was, I was already born by then too. So I don't remember. Yeah.  And of course he was labeled a terrorist on mainland United States. So, you know, it's a really, I would say in general, you've been silenced. Yeah. Yeah. I would say in general, it's been, you know, a silent, a silencing or kind of swept under the carpet, so to speak. Yeah. I would say that's probably, unfortunately that's probably the, the general perception. And part of it too, so if we, sometime I hope maybe there's a chance for us to really dive into that, because it fascinates me at the same time that it terrifies me. Yeah. Because when you look at like how people who are anti-imperialists in aspiration yet are pro-colonial in action and behavior discuss Puerto Rico, it's a matter of, in part, it's a matter of there's this mirror that one needs to look into as a resident of the Imperial Corps, as someone who was directly involved in settler colonialism. I have to ask myself these questions and confront these things in myself all the time too, because Puerto Rico also has its own colonial history to contend with and make a mentor. Being part of the Spanish Empire at one point. Right. Yeah. But annihilating, almost annihilating the indigenous, my ancestors, the indigenous people here and then participating willingly in slavery. So some of the ways that I found in my own experience of being involved in the US based movements for anti-war, anti-imperialism, et cetera, is that when it comes to the moments that we can really talk about Puerto Rico, like people get nervous, there's this hesitation, part of it is the relationship we all have with settler colonialism, but then part of it too, is the way that you've been taught and groomed to react and to treat the conversation about Puerto Rico, because going back to that vote you mentioned, the first plebiscite for whether or not we become a state, the same or become independent was in 1967, on the tail end of Cuban Revolution, when the US is desperately needing to control narratives about liberation in Latin America and the Caribbean, and when there's this mythology around choice. The mythology that is fed to US citizens is that Puerto Ricans make a choice, that it's a free choice. Right. And in the more recent years, that choice was, the ballot was completely manipulated to intentionally confuse people. Well, I would say that happens on pretty much every ballot when you vote in the United States, but I remember there was an intentional omission or language manipulation, so people would not vote for independence. Yeah. Am I remembering that correctly? Yeah. Yep, you are correct. So... Yeah, and that, yeah. So when it comes to our plebiscites, it's helpful, I think, and maybe you can help me encourage our colleagues in these movements to view how we, how our politics take place here and particularly how the colonial politics take place is to think about the electoral interference that the US is doing in other countries. We're having the same thing. It's just a different question. To US citizens. Yeah. Yeah. It's to stop us from not being property of the United States anymore and it's to create the illusion of choice and it is to manipulate a narrative. So there have always been boycotts from that first vote in 1967 and there have been I think six, if I'm remembering correctly since then, the most recent in the past year in 2020. And each time, each time there's direct interference and indirect interference from the United States who is our master, right? Our slave owner, our dominant abuser. Your colonizer. Holding our colonizer, holding our children over our heads, holding our health over our heads, holding our economics over our heads, holding it all over our heads with this narrative that you will not survive without us. You have to stay married to us. Even though it's abusive. Even though it's abusive. And our ruling class, which benefits from this arrangement is carrying the narrative out and they profit so much. They profit so much. So there are sectors of the independence movement who rightfully boycott because they understand and they see that this is a whole farce. This whole concept of voting yes or no to independence or statehood or this or that, it's just a farce, right? It's a game that they play with us to keep us sort of focused on that instead of fighting for our liberation. And thinking you want to have a choice. The mirage of having a choice, yeah. Because no matter what, no matter what, so it was more like a 50-50 vote in this last one. So even if the votes for independence had surpassed even by 1%, then it doesn't matter. If we voted 100% for independence because the ones who really have the power to make that decision according to that political and electoral method of achieving our liberty is the United States Congress. Right. So the only thing that the plebiscite does for us is supposedly amplifies the voices, the majority of Puerto Ricans to Congress and it's like a recommendation. It's like a registration of public opinion. That's all. That's it. It's just a very corrupt survey. It's a corrupt survey, I like that's good. Yeah, one of the majority of the people want, okay, independence, well, it doesn't matter. Yeah. And you have a representation. This is a really naive question of mine. You cannot vote for president. So the president doesn't represent you, but does make decisions for what happens to you as Puerto Rican citizens. And you do have representation in Congress sort of like DC has representation, but nothing that's actually capable of voting and influencing, yeah. We have a puppet in DC. A puppet, yeah, or a name and a face, yeah, but no actually a power. Yeah, a name and a face that's directly and in line with imperialism and it's just there as another farce. Yeah, a token. So, you know, when you and I first talked about doing this episode, we had like a laundry list of things that we wanted to talk about. So what do we need to talk about next? Hybrid warfare and we should, what's the future for Puerto Rico? What are the people that you live with? What's, assuming the majority want independence, how is that possible? Is that, do you see that as a greater possibility now as the global economy and as politics become more multilateral? Is it a greater possibility? And I really, our audience here is multilateral almost every episode, but it is the way, it is the way the majority of the world outside of the United States. Is the paradigm that the majority of nations function in? Is the United States that's still functioning in a unilateral paradigm? Right, that they create. Yes, so there is more hope now. There's more tangible hope and tangible reasons to be hopeful now than there ever has been before. A lot of it has to do with those austerity measures with the way that especially our youth are living in our current material conditions and our setups, they're angry. And through their credit, I really admire them because their perception is perfect for the most part. So you see, for example, in the last elections that took place, there were more votes than ever before for the Puerto Rican Independence Party. So there are some destabilizing forces. So you know how the U.S. will create political parties to disrupt and destabilize what could be democratic processes in other countries? The same happens here. So, you know, with the whole feminist imperialist Benz that the U.S. has now. Yeah, we take advantage of those, yeah. Yeah. And then fund the parties, yeah. We see that all over the Americas. And fund the parties. Within the United States as well. Yeah, so we have that too. So right now there's a party that is kind of like a destabilizing force to shake things up. Again, it's multi-tendency. There are really good people involved in it who are caught up and then there are people of that who know exactly what they're doing. So many of the people that would have put their trust and faith in the Puerto Rican Independence Party, for example, voting for a peep candidate for governor did not. They voted for the identity politic queen. Yeah. See, isn't that, that's one of the things and yeah, that's really disconcerting and something that we all need to be aware of is just, is the identity politics because just because someone looks a certain way, dresses a certain way, identifies a certain way doesn't mean that they're not neoliberal. I mean, it's like, right, we've basically have, we've changed the face of neoliberalism, but we haven't changed the project. Change or much less destroy it. We've changed the face of it. And that actually to me makes it more scary and more threatening because now it can appear to be more palpable to more people. And I just wish we could just become, for lack of a better term, a melting pot politically. We like to say in the United States that we are a melting pot of people from all over the world. And somehow we've chosen to put ourselves back into these individual silos. And it's obscuring our vision on a lot of things. Yeah. Yeah. I learn a lot from the Red Nation and I really pay attention to what indigenous elders and indigenous youth are teaching us, especially now, they're the people that we really need to be listening to and following the lead of. There's a vanguard of humanity as far as I'm concerned. Yeah. They're gonna save the planet and the humans if we let them. If we let them, once we get out of the way. And when I say indigenous, I also mean indigenous African. And so something that has occurred to me recently and it's really one of the reasons why I focus so much on narratives and on psychological warfare because that is the basis of all the other things. The narratives that we're taught about one another, they come from colonialism, they come from imperialism, they come from the capitalist project and they're there specifically, as you know, to divide us. And something that was said recently is that we would still be coming together, trading together, living together from our different nations, societies and cultures, even if colonialism did not exist because that is the natural way of humanity to migrate, to fall in love, to create new societies together, to share art, to share culture, to build together. And so that's where we can really focus our energies is that, yes, we've all been socialized in the US especially toward colonialism, toward a mentality and a worldview that maybe we don't want, it isn't natural for us but it's what we've been raised in. So there's that whole unlearning work but in terms of how we build relationship with one another as now it's an imperative for us to come together and learn how to work together and be relatives to save the planet from ourselves or from capitalism, from, yeah. Well, it's a divide and conquer thing. I mean, it's very Machiavellian, very simple, I mean, all the way back to the art of war that divide and conquer and keep people separate versus the same as one species, which we are. We just happen to have different physical afters. I remember when I was still living on the California coast in West Marin, I used to do a lot of hiking and I was out one day with some friends of mine and we walked past this meadow filled with deer of all ages and sizes and some were reddish, some were kind of whiteish some were little, some were big, some were old, some were young. And one of the people I was walking with said, I have to take this picture of this meadow and I said, well, what's it gonna be called? Colorblind, because here they were all sharing the same food source, the same space, no problem. Nobody pushing someone out, nobody, yeah. And I just so, when I have these conversations, I just so, just remember that afternoon because it was so, I don't think I realized how poignant it was. I mean, we knew it was a special moment and a special title for that moment, but it just, it keeps recurring. That moment keeps coming back to me so many times. It's been like 10 years since I've had that walk. Yeah, colorblind. So now here are these, these animals as are we sharing, sharing, sharing the space, sharing the food, you know, sharing each other's friendship. And yeah, it was a really special thing. I want to ask you before I let you go, gosh, I feel like we could just talk all evening quite frankly. And so you're going to have to come back. Thank you. But one of the things I'm sure our audience is begging for me to ask you about, because this has come up the past year.  What's the situation with COVID-19 in Puerto Rico? It's, it's, it's hard to tell, to be honest. Sometimes we don't have data. Is that intentional? I think it is. Or just lack of infrastructure. Or. I think it's an intentional lack of infrastructure and lack of support for the people who are ethical. In, in doing their jobs. We, I mean. Because we could not close. Our borders, essentially. And we had to continue receiving tortures. We had to continue receiving tortures. We had to continue receiving tortures. And we had to continue receiving tortures. And we had to continue receiving tortures. We had to continue receiving tortures from our borders essentially. And we had to continue receiving tourism from the United States. And whoever the United States decided to, to allow. We've had many. Escalations as cases. More recently we had a really bad one. Although. Again, the data. But see, isn't this, this is just amazing to me because we don't hear this in the mainland United States. What we do hear is how bad it is in Cuba and how they're not responding. How bad it is in all these other places, particularly countries not aligned with the United States. So I would argue many of them have done a far better job addressing the pandemic. But yeah, I mean, it's really, it's a sin actually that we're, yeah, you know, our own citizens. The vaccination rates have been good. Okay. So you've had access. Yeah. Yeah. That's, that's incredible. Yeah. And so, so thankfully there's that, but then, you know, the same things that were happening in the more right-wing, so some things to definitely understand about Puerto Rico is our current government, like the statehood party is fascist. And there are a couple other parties that are very fascist. And so under their control, I mean, we've had openings before we should have opened. This last outbreak, they should have closed everything down again, but didn't instead there became this, this really kind of hateful dehumanizing campaign against people who haven't been vaccinated. Instead of meeting human need. Once again, it was all about putting people back to work. Put the economy first, the private sector first and then people second, yeah, yeah. Wow. And that's really, oh, well, I'm happy to hear about the vaccination rate, the access to vaccines and the vaccination rate. That's, yeah, that's encouraging, my hopeful. So I don't need to think of Puerto Rico as an island. It would be very good, it would have been very, very easy to literally shut down access, yeah, yeah. And just get everybody healthy and vaccinated and then reopen, which is what Cuba is planning to do. Get everybody healthy, get 90% of the country vaccinated, and then they'll reopen and they themselves will be safe for tourists, and the tourists will be safe too. I mean, it's a win-win for everybody, yeah. And with an island, it's, you know, logistically so much easier to do than any of the states sitting in the middle of the United States or the continental United States. Yeah, so what else should we talk about? What point do you wanna make sure we raise the same before I let you go? So I know that a common conversation you've been having lately on your show has been around cryptocurrency. Yes. And that is- And you and I talked about that actually after one or while I was preparing for one episode. Yeah, yeah. Yes, yes, yep. I think the El Salvador episode, you know, when we were talking about that. Because it is controversial. It is, I'm so thankful too that you've dialogued with me about it because as soon as I saw what the subject matter or as I felt this pain in my chest, like, oh, God, not El Salvador. But so, yeah, so, yes, on the one hand, cryptocurrency is saving the lives of many of our relatives in Sanction Nation, right? We see that as we work around and- We work around this with the banking system and the U.S. petrol dollar and all of those things, yeah. Which is my orientation to cryptocurrency and Bitcoin and, you know, being able to use it on PayPal now. So when, so obviously like all money is just a tool, right? No matter what form it takes, digital or paper, it doesn't have any meaning until you give it meaning and it has no action until you give it action, right? So the meaning and the action of cryptocurrency in Puerto Rico is colonialism. It's not a salvation for us.   He's buying up buildings left and right, his stores buildings, he walks himself around like he's the president of Puerto Rico. And then after him came this influx of crypto colonizers and the way that your guest from El Salvador explained that was very good. That essentially, you know, this is just the new money. This is just the new wave of colonizers coming here, mostly from the United States, mostly coming here because Puerto Rico is a tax haven, because it is an island because there are so many incentives. So there's the act 2022 and then there's another one 61, I believe, I hope someone will correct me on that if I'm wrong, I'm sure they will. But there's all these real estate incentives, there's all these business incentives to encourage more and more settlers to come here. Because always. I mean, in Bitcoin, but what was the, why did this, why was it, why is it being done via Bitcoin and not US dollars? What's the, what's the- I think it's- Thinking behind that. I think it's just because it happened to be the crypto, the Bitcoin bros, as we call them, that came. And they're the ones with the money right now. There's a new- But it's the same system. It's just a different coinage, basically. It's the same system, it's still disaster capitalism. And yeah, I mean, just using a different currency versus the US dollar, yeah. I would also argue it's a generational thing too. Yeah. In part. Gold and silver, then it became paper money. Now it's digital money, but it's the same people, the same type of person doing the same type of thing. And then when, you know, we talk about the electrical grid, how on earth, so let's just hypothetically suppose that cryptocurrency could help Puerto Rican around the colonial sanctions that we're living under, if it could help us reduce our dependency on the United States in some way. There's no way that the majority of Puerto Ricans who live under the poverty line is established by the United States, who many live in the mountains, many live without internet. There's no way- Also, there's no way to use an electronic wallet if you don't have the internet. Which was the argument made against the introduction of cryptocurrency in El Salvador too was the access. And that guest, I should just remind our audience that this was Yacinia Portillo from Sispis in Washington, DC, she was very knowledgeable about it. Yeah. And so it's similar for us here. And it's really done just again as another neoliberal colonial project is not delivered. It's the same model we're not talking about, dismantling neoliberalism. Right. Yeah. It's just a new, it's the same model, new tool. Not even a new tool, it's still money. It's just new coinage, it's new coinage. It's just new coinage, it's new coinage. So the other question is, what is the environmental impact actually? And have we had enough time to assess that? And is there an ethical way of using it? And this is something that I would love to hear from our indigenous relatives on what they think is, what is their perspective on this? Because knowing that the US and those who love to control the monetary system of the world will definitely put out a particular narrative to draw people away from anything that counters that. So that challenges their domination, right? Cryptocurrency now. So it's hard for the average person like myself to know when we look at this article that's maybe from a reputable source, a trusted source about the ecological impact of cryptocurrency, crypto mining. And those of us who have climate change in the forefront of our minds, how do we move forward with this new technology responsibly, ethically, and in a way that's not actually putting us backwards in the fight to save the planet, but will propel us forward? So it's another big question that comes up in Puerto Rico a lot. Yeah. Well, it's a big, we will have to have a conversation just on that as we watch it evolve, unfortunately in Puerto Rico and see what it's doing. So Monisha, I wanna thank you so much for joining us this evening. And I'm so happy the audience should know that the lights stayed on for you. We weren't sure. The privatized electrical grid that was once public infrastructure doesn't function on any surface and doesn't service the majority of citizens either. Which is, yeah. So I'm glad that we were able to talk. I want you to come back. And I'd also think that we should talk about a delegation to Puerto Rico. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. We should do that. Early next year, I think it would be a good exploration and study to really dig deep into what's going on there. I think it'd be enormously educational for a wide variety of people from the mainland United States. But yeah, so thank you again. And I wanna remind our audience that you've been watching what the F is going on in Latin America in the Caribbean, Code Pink's weekly YouTube program. We broadcast every Wednesday night, 7.30 p.m. Eastern, 4.30 p.m. Pacific. And also I should remind all of you that of Code Pink Radio, which broadcasts on Thursday mornings 11 a.m. Eastern, 8 a.m. Pacific out of WBAI, New York City, simulcasting on WPFW out of Washington, D.C. And you can find both episodes of what the F is going on in Latin America and Code Pink Radio on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. So, there's like two, so okay everyone. Thank you for joining us. Thank you everybody.


I'm Darren Marlar and this is your Daily Dose of Weird News. At South Carolina's Brooklyn Casey High School, substitute teacher Judith Richards-Gartie appeared to be violently ill. She was found throwing up in her classroom and hardly able to stand. Then police noticed something unusual in her purse – a big ole box of wine which students reported she had been drinking in class. Judith was removed from the classroom via a wheelchair and charged with disorderly conduct. Students reported she was consuming it in class. It's the first time in written history that it was the teacher, not the students, who was doing the whining. There's a new study that claims we actually remember things better when we drink alcohol. Really? You might want to send somebody over to talk to that teacher, Judith. I don't think she got the memo. The University of Minnesota has dropped the King and Queen names for their homecoming celebration. Now the two chosen will just be known as Royals. How does anyone have the time to actually get an education in college nowadays? You're so busy turning everything upside down to cater to political correctness. It's a constant thing. You don't have any time left for studying. The entire town of Tiller, Oregon is up for sale. This is for just $3.85 million. Oh, yeah, sure. Now they tell me. Yeah, after I already spent the money to put a bird bath in my backyard. Amanda has been arrested for harassing Christians online and has been banned from any church for five years. Robert Skinner, 55, hosts a YouTube channel called Christian Comedy Channel which consists of videos mocking Christians and Christianity. The irony of this is that it's people exactly like Robert Skinner, who Jesus died for. The founder and former member of a satanic church in Texas has converted to Christianity. Jacob McKelvie, formerly known as Jacob No, was instrumental in bringing together a group of Luciferians to form a Luciferian church. On February 5th of this year, McKelvie and his wife renounced their ties with the Luciferian church after becoming born-again Christians. Take that, Robert Skinner. Some conservatives who work in the entertainment industry say that their political leanings have become a career liability. According to the Los Angeles Times, conservatives working in the local entertainment industry are estimated to be in the few thousands. Friends of Abe, the entertainment industry's largest conservative organization, has about 2,500 members, all of whose identities are kept secret. Isn't it great that the liberals who always scream and demand tolerance are the ones intolerant to the point of not hiring conservative actors on their film projects? More men than women take teddy bears to bed as a partner substitute when sleeping alone, according to a survey. While 15% of women resorted to cuddling a teddy, as many as 20% of men admitted to being big softies by opting for teddies. Of the 2,000 people surveyed, 63% said they needed a bedtime cuddle to sleep, with many of them saying they resort to hugging a pillow. Pansies. While we're on the subject of gender, men who open doors for women are as guilty of sexism as those who are rude to them, according to a study. Psychologists found that a friendly or chivalrous attitude can mask chauvinistic and patronizing views because the men see females as weak creatures in need of their protection. They warned that this benevolent sexism was harder to spot than the hostile version born out of an open antipathy. Jin Goh, a psychologist from Northeastern University Boston in the U.S., said while many people are sensitive to sexist verbal offenses, they may not readily associate sexism with warmth and friendliness. Unless sexism is understood as having both hostile and benevolent properties, the insidious nature of benevolent sexism will continue to be one of the driving forces behind gender inequality. So if I open a door for a woman, I'm a male chauvinist pig, but what if I don't open the door, huh? What if I wait for her to open it? Well, then I'm labeled an inconsiderate jerk, huh? So why can't I open the door for somebody? Not because I think they're weaker, but because I'm being polite. I open doors for men and women, so I'm sexist if I open the door for a woman. Am I gay if I open that door for a guy? Or am I saying you're too weak to open the door for yourself? I'm also opening it for me, so am I a narcissist then? You are overthinking this, feminist.  In my case, this is out of respect. I was taught growing up to treat women not like equals or lesser than men, but better than men. You are the fairer of the sexes, deserving of more love and honor. It's not a diss on you if I open the door when you approach. It's me saying my esteem for you is so high that I'm allowing you to go before me.  Because you're not a lady. Sorry, alright, rant over, where were we? In Louisiana, an unidentified man broke into a house, went straight for the refrigerator and started eating. The man ate an apple, some cookies on the couch, poured himself some orange juice and even heated up a cup of clam chowder. He then fell asleep, naked in the bedroom. The homeowner's son found the man and called police. Sometimes it is possible to get too comfortable in your job. Scientists say they're trying to figure out why humpback whales are now being seen in large groups when previously they were thought to be somewhat solitary creatures. But some think it may have to do with better communication among the humpbacks now that more and more of them are on Facebook. If you liked this video, please give it a thumbs up and be sure to subscribe if you want to see more. And click that little bell next to the subscribe button to be notified when I post new videos. This episode is made possible in part by my Patreon supporters. For DailyDoseOfWeirdNews.com, I'm Darren Marlar.


With new computers and new technology coming out every year, sometimes people and businesses don't know what to do with their old equipment, while today at the Crowan County landfill, businesses were able to properly dispose of their old equipment. For just 30 cents a pound, businesses could drop off anything from computers to motor generators at the Crowan County landfill. This is the second electronics collection event for businesses this year, and the landfill gets about 20 tons of electronics at each event. All the electronics will be shipped to Onalaska, Wisconsin, where they will be sorted and then eventually recycled. Especially electronics, you get a lot more rare metals and stuff like that in there. So I think it's better off to recycle them than just bury them in the ground. Crowan County right now, I think we've got 50% recycling and 50% of our land and stuff going to landfill. So people don't give us a hard time on our landfill, but we do still have a high recycling rate for our county. Businesses can also drop off their electronics on the specific specified days. Those are the only days they can, but households can recycle their electronics for just $5 whenever the landfill is open.