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Hello everyone, my name is Ryan and you are listening to The Vegan Report.

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As you might know, Captain Paul Watson, the founder of Sea Shepherd and the Paul Watson Foundation,

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has been arrested in July of this year by Denmark's authorities. And this podcast is your chance

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to learn more about what's happening since we are talking to someone who is in close contact to Paul,

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Representative David Michel. David Michel is an American politician who is a member of the

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Connecticut House of Representatives from the 146th district in Fairfield County. In addition to

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talking about Paul Watson's wrongful detention, in the second part of our conversation we delved

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into the world of American politics. And you don't want to miss that because David shares with me

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these unbelievable stories that clearly demonstrate how awfully dysfunctional the

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political system is. David, thank you so much for being here. Thank you for having accepted

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my invitation. Welcome to The Vegan Report. Thank you, Ryan, for your invitation. I'm honored and

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looking forward to have a fruitful discussion. Wonderful. So, David, I want to start by talking

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about Captain Watson. And I know that you have been an activist with Sea Shepherd for years now.

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And I want to get your opinion on what's happening. And maybe you could give us

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a little bit of a behind the scene of what's going on with this arrest of Captain Paul Watson. But

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before that, for people who don't know what's happening, let me just read a passage of an

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article from the Japanese Times. So, it reads, this year Japan launched a new factory ship to

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process whales caught and expended its catch list to include fin whales, the world's second largest

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animal deemed vulnerable by the International Union of Conservation of Nature. Watson's new

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organization, the Captain Paul Watson Foundation, says that its vessel was on its way to intercept

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the factory ship, the Kangaimaru. Then Watson was arrested in Greenland's capital, Nook.

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In mid-September, Watson's lawyers contacted the UN Special Rapporteur on Environmental Defenders,

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saying that he risked being subjected to inhuman treatment in Japanese prisons. So, basically,

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Japan wants to have Watson in their prison and judge him on Japanese soil. The lawyers have

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argued that Japan's extradition request is based on false claims and say they have supporting video

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evidence. And then some new developments this Wednesday. So, we're recording this on Friday.

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The Nook Court has refused to view the footage, arguing that the hearings so far, including one

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this week, extending Watson's detention until October 23, are solely about his detention

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and not the question of guilt. So, I'll give you the mic, David.

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Thank you, Rohan. It's an important subject, obviously. So, yeah, I've been a

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campany, a volunteer and campany for, I think, maybe 15 years, maybe more than 15 years. I'm

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not sure. I don't count. I count my vegan years. I'm about 10 years vegan now. Close.

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Yeah. So, first in the media and also in the blogs, you could see that the Kenge Maru is the new

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Death Star, the new factory, whale factory ship that Japan has just built. And the idea,

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of course, with the John Pond DeGioria vessel from the Captain Paul Watson Foundation, the Neptune's

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Pirates, was the idea is to refuel in Nook, Greenland, and then go through the strait in

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the north and then fall back down to the Pacific Ocean and meet the Kenge Maru while it does its

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whale. And of course, try to interfere as it's illegal whaling. It's not for research.

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It's for business. It's for food. And... Because that's...

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Yes, that's what they say. They say they're doing this for research.

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Yeah. And we know that it's not true. And even their activities, which pulls back to the Interpol

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Red Notice in 2010, 2011, 2012, all their activities in the southern ocean in the whale sanctuary

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were deemed illegal by the International Whaling Commission, I believe in 2014,

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and addressed what was happening before. Now, the Interpol notice is for sending Paul...

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I'm missing the word right now. Extraditing.

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Extraditing Paul to Japan is based on truly on him ridiculing Japan and by trying to uphold

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international law where nobody else is upholding international law and fighting against and

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interfering with these illegal activities. Now, there's also the idea that somebody got wounded,

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like a Japanese sailor, or got burnt by a Sting Bomb. A Sting Bomb doesn't burn.

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We have footage of the Sting Bomb landing on a deck with no one on the deck, where no one can be

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seen. And we also have footage of a Japanese sailor with the big equipment shooting something in his

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back and shooting pepper gas at the Sea Shepherd vessels against the wind and literally coming

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back in your face. And I believe that pepper gas will burn your face. If it's liquid in liquid form

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and hitting your skin, you're definitely going to have a problem with that. And so that footage is

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being refused and dismissed by the judge and prosecutor currently. Now, it's not Japan that

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really got him arrested. First, I consider Interpol part of the reason of this. They shouldn't have

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such a false pretense of a red notice. Red notices are for terrorists, people who kill people,

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violent people, dangerous and violent people. And Pol is not that. And so there's a problem with the

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use of the Interpol's red notice. That's a problem. And I think Interpol there is responsible in some

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part for what's happening to Pol, which is, I truly see this as injustice. But let's also bring back

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the issue to the Danish territories. We found out a couple of weeks ago, and this is late in the game,

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that the Faroes police who are Danish. So the Danish territories like Greenland and the Faroes

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are part of the Danish territories. And the Danes or Denmark wants to keep those territories.

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And for example, the Faroes voted, a majority of the Faroes is voted to be independent and Denmark

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ignored it. It's a great geostrategical point area for Denmark, politically speaking. And so that's,

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I think explains why the Danish Faroese police use their own boat and participate in the slaughter

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of dolphins. They call it the slaughter of whale. Grinde drap means grain of the

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slaughter of whales or killing of whales. The idea was the Faroese police called the Greenlandish

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police to tell them, Hey, we know that the John Paul DeGioia with Paul Watson on board is going to

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stop a nuke in Greenland to refuel. And that's also Danish police in Greenland. They're Danish

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as well. Like the whole judicial system and the police and the service, they're basically

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they're Danish living on those islands with the islands uniforms of the police. And so the Faroese

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police, which is Danish called the Greenlandish police, which is Danish to tell them, you should

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use the Interpol red notice to arrest Paul Watson. Now, why would the Faroes do that? Because we are

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there every year in the Faroes, not only Captain Paul Watson Foundation, Sea Shepherd France,

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and I'm sorry about that. And the rest of whoever was in the past involved like Sea Shepherd Global

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in the US, they have very little presence there, actually, practically none, but they pretend that

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they're there and use that for donations. I will not go into that too deeply because that's

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another story. But we're present every year documenting dolphin slaughters. And so we're

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present every year documenting dolphin slaughters. They prefer it to be called the slaughter of whales

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because whale quote unquote is traditional food for them. But to kill dolphins, mass like a slaughter,

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mass slaughter of dolphins, an entire gene pool, like a whole pod with engine boats,

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revving their engines and scratching the dolphins and making a wall of sound just like in Taiji,

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the cove, and to herd them into a beach. That's not what was done traditionally. They were

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traditionally hunting from boats with no engines and with spears. That is far from what they're

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doing now. So there's nothing traditional about what they're doing. There's nothing cultural

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it's just a blood sport. So they hate the fact that we interfered with that. I believe it was

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in 2014, Sea Shepherd France and then Sea Shepherd UK at the time. Sea Shepherd UK became Captain

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Paul Watson Foundation UK, by the way, just making sure people understand that. Sea Shepherd France

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remains Sea Shepherd France. And so they've always been present. And the only way of interfering

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with it is really to have boats that counter the work of the other boats. That's pretty much the

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only way. A year ago, the John Paul DeGioria did breach their borders. And there was a court case.

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I was at that court just as a witness where they basically, it was like a kangaroo court,

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like a farce, just like the other court of call right now in Greenland, where there was nobody

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to defend themselves. And they just held the court and declared they were guilty. And that was it.

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And most people that spoke were the police, which are Danish and the Faroese police. And they were

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the ones putting the case up and everybody knew each other in the court. We did have,

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I think, a decent lawyer from the Faroese. And so, but there were fines given to it,

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attributed to Paul and to the crew of the ship for breaching international waters. Yet nobody

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heard the defense that the reason why they did this is there was an emergency in accordance to

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the maritime law. And there was going to be a slaughter of cetaceans, which is enough reason

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in the eyes of the captain to breach Faroese waters and try to interfere in an emergency situation.

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Could he make it on time or not? That's also debatable. Probably not. But at least he tried.

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And they tried to make a presence there. So to bring also the eyes of the world on this issue.

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So Paul now is in jail for over 70 days. He went to court on Wednesday, which was two days ago.

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Again, the judge for the third time refused to see the evidence that exonerates him and said,

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well, it's not even about that. It's about the accusations that are worth him staying in jail

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and being extradited. Now, what a lot of people are not saying is that in order for him to be

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extradited, first, this would have to go down to Denmark first and go to their, I guess, Supreme

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Court, so-called, and also to the International Court of Justice. Because there is the idea that,

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not the idea, the knowledge that Japan's judicial system is back from the medieval times and is

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violations of human rights. And Paul would definitely be a dead man going into jail in Japan

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because there's a price on his hand with the Yakuza and the Yakuza involved in the welding industry.

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So this is the work pretty much of the Faroese with the help of Interpol, who's letting these

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kind of an elective, I would call it a bullshit red notice. Sorry, this really bullshit red notice.

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So already Interpol is involved in this and I think that they really should act better.

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And then also with the help of Japan. But Japan and the Japanese red notice with Interpol

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is really being acted upon because the Faroese called the Greenlanders. And that's what's going

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on. And so Denmark, now where is Denmark? Denmark is a country that seems to believe in climate

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change. Where is their understanding of real laws? Where is their position about human rights?

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Normally they have good, by the way, Paul is treated differently than the other detainees.

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I think there was a 60 minutes, there was a 60 minutes about jails in Greenland and how it's like

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incredible. It's like a spa almost. But Paul doesn't get the treatment that other detainees get.

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He has no access to internet, to computers. Not even, they don't even want to give him a typewriter

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so he can answer to people writing to him. And if I remember correctly,

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I heard on the Vakita news channel that I believe there were over 2000 letters that he had received.

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And he's replying to another, he replied to my letter. I sent him my letter, my sort of report

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of things going on through Lania, president of Sea Shepherd France, who was going to see him in jail.

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So she printed it and he replied to me. And in his reply, he explained why his handwriting is

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tough to read because his hand got injured by the handcuffs the day on his first court date.

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And they tried to help him out of the van and his hands were stuck and that hurt his left hand and

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he can't write the way that he normally writes. So, and it was difficult to read.

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But I also think it was difficult to read because most people are not used to reading

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but I also think it was difficult to read because most people are not used to read handwriting

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anymore or not used to writing anymore. Even myself, I found when I write, my writing is

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becoming worse and worse. So that's what's going on. I'm calling the judge and the prosecutor in

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some way corrupt with a bias and not doing their due diligence because they're dismissing evidence

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that dismisses the accusations of the Japanese. Although they're just also going, I believe they're

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also using the boarding of the ship. But again, we had one of the members, which was, oh my god,

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Pete Bethune, who actually went on the ship, boarded the Japanese ship, then ended up in

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jail in Japan and they made him sign a document that was a lie. And then as soon as he was out of

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jail, then he went to see lawyers and dismissed that he was forced to basically make that comment

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in the Japanese jail system. And that the allegation was that Paul ordered the boarding of the ship.

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Absolutely not. There was no premeditated action against that ship. There was just

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reaction to actions from the Japanese. Big injustice. I think that it's important to write to

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the Prime Minister, Mette Frederiksen. I think it's important to write to the young new

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head of the Ministry of Justice in Denmark, whose name is Peter Hummelgaard, H-U-M-M-E-L-G-A-A-R-D.

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And I think that these are the two key people to target with letters, emails, hashtags,

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tagging them on posts and saying, what's going on? Why is Denmark doing this? And I've often mentioned

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that this is becoming a huge carbon footprint for Denmark, the arrest of Paul Watson. Why is it a

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footprint? Very simple. If you understand the science of the ocean and the role of the whales

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in the ocean, they're the gardeners, right? The gardeners of the seas. These are Paul's words.

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They'll never take them from him. The whales are the gardeners of the seas. They maintain the sea

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forests. And the phytoplankton that benefits from the whales is basically the main carbon absorption

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and oxygen production part of the ocean, and including the phytoplankton is the food for the

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zooplankton. So it's the food for the baby fish and baby crustaceans. So without the whales,

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you lose biodiversity and you lose carbon absorption and oxygen production. There's the

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cruelty part. And then there's also the impact on the planet, which is people ask, why do you go in

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the pharaohs? That's their thing. Why are you going to go there and tell them what to do? I said,

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no, I'm just hoping that the pharaohs themselves realize what they're doing because it has an

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impact on the whole planet. Citations are precious. They're part of the operators, again, Paul's words,

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the operators of our life support system. Why am I using Paul's words to make you hear what Paul says?

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And that's what he's about. He's not about hurting a Japanese cell. He's not about

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war. He's about peace. He's about ending suffering and protecting sentient life. And he always

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mentions the science because sometimes people don't care about protecting sentient life. And

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then brings back also the science behind it. It's very simple. We're eating and we're killing

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the operators of our life support system. So how much longer can our spaceship function,

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spaceship Earth without its operators or the operators of the life support system?

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So there we go. Of course, I wish all the best to Paul. It's very saddening. It's frustrating.

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It causes anger. There's no questions. I want to say that the Danish are incredibly crazy, insane

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to let this happen. And how can the Danish Ministry of Justice have such an obvious

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dismissal of due diligence by a judge? And how can a prosecutor inflict a very different treatment

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on Paul as a detainee than other detainees? Why does she have a word on what medication you can

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have? I don't know if you read about it, but for a couple of weeks, they no longer want to take his

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medication and they give their version of the medication and he has apparently it's not working

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well for him. So Lamia showed up two days ago, or I'm sorry, three days ago, and to give him the new

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meds and they refused the new meds. They refused anything she brought. So suddenly they're becoming

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even more strict. He can't receive anything. He doesn't have access to a typewriter. He has,

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I think, 20 minutes a week to speak to his kids and wife. I read 10 minutes. I mean, 10 minutes.

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I mean, it's absurd. And regarding his medication, this is non-assistance to Personne au Norge in

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France. That means non-assistance to somebody who is in danger in terms of health-wise and they're

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not assisting him. So what? They're going to let him die in the jail in Greenland? The Danes are

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insane. They should immediately stop this charade, this farce, this kangaroo court, this clown court.

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It should end immediately. That's my personal thoughts. I'm not speaking on behalf of the Paul

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Watson Foundation. I'm not speaking on behalf of Paul. I'm speaking on my own terms and also kind

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of as an elected person, as a state representative, because as an elected official, that's one thing

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you don't want to see is the judicial system being purposely biased, the judicial branch. So I'm

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shocked at the Danes for letting this happen. It's in the Danish territories, but I think they also

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don't want to cause a rebellion in the islands and then they don't want to lose those islands.

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And so that's why they're assisting them in all of this stuff. And I think it's a tragedy and it's

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making them look like a kind of a country that's actually not really down with climate, fighting

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for fighting against climate change and protecting our climate, protecting people. If you don't care

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about the one hero that's capable of leading a fleet to interfere with illegal activities

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in international waters, which no other country does, you're going to allow him to be arrested

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in your territories and accused on BS charges by criminals and he's the one in jail. That's a

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serious problem with their judicial system. So I think a lot of tension should be put on the

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Danish Ministry of Justice. Yes, my perception of Denmark has completely changed from this

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story. It looks like a banana republic now from my point of view. It's crazy. Now you mentioned how

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many people wrote to Captain Watson. I also read that the French president tried to influence this

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outcome and talk on behalf of Paul Watson. So this is Emmanuel Macron. I also read that Brigitte

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Bardot, the famous actress, the famous animal rights activist spoke on behalf of Paul Watson.

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Then you have so many human rights organizations that are denouncing this treatment in addition to

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environmental organizations. With all of that, are you optimistic?

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Do you think that he will be freed or do you think that this is already, we don't know,

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but the outcome has already been decided and he will end up being extradited to Japan?

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I think there are too many steps until an extradition. I think a lot of the public

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is not necessarily aware of, but again, I'm seeing a failed judicial system.

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I think everybody was pretty convinced that there's no way they're going to extradite him

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to Japan where he'll be a dead man, clearly, and because they violate human rights in their

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judicial, in their prison system. But there was always the question of what are the Danes going to

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do since he's an enemy of the pharaohs. Clearly, the pharaohs consider him an enemy and Greenland

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as well because Greenland has the, they have the actual ability to will, they want to will.

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I think it's worrying a lot of activists. I think it's a message. I tried to get US Congress involved.

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Even Senator Blumenthal called me back on my phone a couple of times. I'm only a small state rep,

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but he called me back under his jurisdiction. That's Senator Blumenthal in Connecticut.

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Paul had a proclamation from my governor, and he said, I'm going to extradite him to Japan.

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Paul had a proclamation from my governor. I helped with that. He got a proclamation from

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Governor Ned Lamont that he was a hero for the ocean. And so I haven't heard a thing from my

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governor's office, and I'm going to contact him directly on his cell phone this afternoon.

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I plan to do that, Governor Lamont. And Senator Blumenthal and I exchanged a couple of phone calls.

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He did call me a couple of times. He asked me for an update on Paul. And then he said he wanted to

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speak to Paul's legal team. And so I put Senator Blumenthal in touch with Francois Zimray, who is

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one of the three lawyers behind Paul. And he was the French ambassador to Denmark. He was French

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ambassador to the human rights, and he was a member of the European parliament. And he was the one who

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attacked Japan for violating human rights in their jail system in the European parliament, and who

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won against them. They slapped Japan in the European parliament for that. So he has, I believe,

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the top, most famous lawyers in Denmark. And he has also Julie Stegge, that's I believe known to be

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really strong on human rights and a new young emerging lawyer. So he has a fantastic team.

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Again, it's, you know, then I also try to get in touch. I got in touch with his state reps,

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state senators, because that's what I am in Vermont. And I asked them if they could put me in touch,

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because I tried Senator Bernie Sanders office, and I tried Peter Welch's office, I get no callbacks.

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And I asked them to help. And there was this one senator kept coming back to me said, but do they

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really live here in Vermont? And I was like, his wife is French, and he's American. And they live

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here, then live there, come back here, come back there. What's the point of asking me that? I was

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kind of shocked. She's lucky I don't remember her name right now, but she's a state senator

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in Vermont. And I was disappointed with those exchanges. And I have never been contacted by

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Senator Sanders or Senator Welch that have met poll in the past. So where are the Americans? He's

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American Canadian. I'm not even asking about Trudeau because I'm not even going to go there.

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That's your problem. Sorry. But I'm American, and I'm an American state legislator. And I'm baffled

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at the lack of any of his own, even the state senators and state reps or his US Congress.

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I'm already like, where are we at with Senator Blumenthal, who's always been supportive of animal

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rights legislation. Outside of Cory Booker, Senator Blumenthal is a go to for certain issues when

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it comes to animal rights. So that's why I've always had a liking for Senator Blumenthal, and

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he seems to be where people in suffering are and kind of tackling that. I also work with his son,

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who's a state rep like me. We became state reps at the same time, representing Blumenthal, Matt

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Blumenthal. But it's different than his dad. That's normal to different people. I'm not expecting

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anything to be the same. But his father is incredible with the animal rights and has been a

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champion. So I think that's why he also kind of communicated back and forth. He tried to help with

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an elephant. We have a zoo in Connecticut that is a traveling zoo. And one of the elephants died,

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they never told the public. Then the second elephant died at the Big E, which is the Massachusetts

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or the Northeast Regional Agricultural Fair. And that elephant died after carrying people on its

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back during that day and died on concrete instead of where an elephant should die. It was terrible.

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And then the third elephant has been alone and is in their hands. And even Senator Blumenthal

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couldn't get that elephant out. But he tried. His office was active on this issue. So just saying,

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I think he's good there for the animal rights when there's a big deal, then Senator Blumenthal will

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kind of try his best to step in and intervene. So I'm kind of disappointed at the American

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politicians for not being more outspoken about the whole situation, especially his own politicians.

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I'm really shocked that Senator Sanders, I'm saying it again, Senator Sanders and Senator Welch,

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and his state reps and state senators are not trying to help in this situation.

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No understanding for that. But anyway, maybe they don't, you know, he was a taxpayer there too. So

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I'm just curious. He's probably still paying taxes there. What are they doing for their taxpayer?

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Exactly. I did not think of that. But yeah, he's an American citizen. He should be defended by,

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you know, the US. I don't know if Senator Blumenthal made a statement or not. I don't know.

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I mean, I had the honor of conversing with Francis Zemmire before he was hired as one of the three

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members of his legal defense. But that was quite incredible. And I put him in touch with Senator

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Blumenthal. So they talked. After that, I don't know what happened. I have no idea. But I didn't

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see any statements from any US legislator outside of myself. Maybe there are others like state

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levels so that I might not see them in the social media and stuff. I don't know. I just think it's

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crazy that the US are nowhere there. But France was first. France is always first to respond.

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I might say it's the opposite with Haiti, where France is the last one to respond. And they're

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actually suing Haiti, which is incredible. And where the US are the ones who are most helping

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financially Haiti. But I think that has to do with several things. And that's another conversation.

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Yes. And I'm thinking of the words. I watched a video of Paul Wilson and he said,

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I'm being punished for being kind. That's basically it. And he's missing his grandson's birthday,

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being stuck in that place.

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His sons, yeah.

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Yeah. I feel, yes. And I feel so sorry for him, truly. So sorry for him. Yeah, it's incredible

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that they felt emboldened to go this far and to take that step. And I don't want to not take

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seriously all of this. Because yes, I take it very seriously. But do you think there is a silver

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lining to the situation that all of this crisis has brought more attention to what's happening

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in the Faroe Islands and the incredible, because I learned so much from this situation.

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I thought I knew a lot about welling in the situation there. But just from

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this situation and the media cover and how all of the animal rights movement mobilized around that,

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I learned so much from this issue. And I'm sure that for the general public, it's the same thing.

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So I'm just wondering if there is a silver lining to all of this.

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Yeah, I think you've shown part of the silver lining. And I'm sure Paul is also aware of that.

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That's probably part of the strength is he sees the good and the bad. But

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yeah, the silver lining is that there's a couple of layers. There's the layer where, yes,

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it's educating even a lot more people that were not educated on the whaling and the Danish

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territories and the red notice from Interpol. Or that maybe some people are not even familiar

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with what's going on in Japan and stuff like that. So it's definitely a form of outreach. I mean,

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getting attention from international media is a form of outreach.

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Then there is also the fact that, and another part of the silver lining is the fact that this

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is a wake-up call, not only for activists and advocates, but it's also a wake-up call for

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whistleblowers. You have whistleblowers throughout the world. People who are about to, like I'm a

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state rep, so sometimes people will come to me, they want to blow the whistle on something and

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they need to be protected. And they have to feel confident that they are protected and that nothing,

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they will not be suffering from being a whistleblower because it could affect their

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family, their kids, their wife, their husband, whoever, their brother, their parents. So

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typically I'd say maybe one out of 10 whistleblowers really makes the step in the end.

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That's how tough it is to be a whistleblower. I've got so many people who tried, were, I was like,

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I'll make sure I get you with the right journalist, this, that, and then they disappear

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in the last minute because they're afraid. This is something that could make people more afraid

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of being a whistleblower. Maybe it could even tell an activist that goes to the pharaohs,

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watch out, because if you get arrested over there, it doesn't seem like the Danish territories

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uphold any justice at all. It's like they do anything. It's like, like you called it,

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Banane Republic. It's clown courts, kangaroo courts, however people call it.

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I like to call them clown courts. I don't like when we use animal

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as an adjective. So I think it's a warning signal. We need to be ahead of the curve. We need to show

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that this is not acceptable. How do we do that? And that's difficult while Paul is in jail also.

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That brings it to the story of when I was in the pharaohs a couple of weeks ago.

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I was going in there because I was there the previous year. The previous year we're not active,

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not interfering, nothing, not anything of substance. We're very friendly,

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taking pictures, documenting, and I'm like, you need that, but you need the interference.

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And the interference will bring the eyes of the world. Right now it's dormant. It's like this.

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Nobody's paying too much attention. People know about it. So you, you know,

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that the idea for me was to possibly do civil disobedience.

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But then upon reaching those shores and starting to think, and I'm talking to other people that

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are also involved in this world, and I'm thinking Paul is in jail in the Danish territories. If

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anything I do and is considered to be illegal, this could actually, considering the way they're

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treating him, now it's even more validated. Maybe it's better not to do anything that could be

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considered illegal, like interfering with a grind or trying to help a juvenile not suffocate on the

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beach and push him back out. I mean, I have a video when I'm live viewing a tagging,

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and it was like heart wrenching. I'm not saying it when I'm talking and I'm trying to not film

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the juvenile because I'm like, I'm just looking easy upside down. If she's upside down, somebody's

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got to do something because that means he's about suffocating. But so I didn't really move and go

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in the water and move the juvenile. And there were kids that were sent to go and take care of the

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juvenile. Thank goodness, because I was, this was minutes, minutes of very long,

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when you have somebody in distress, it's very long. And, but he kept turning back. So when I

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was looking at him, he was on the side, but not upside down on the side, normal on the side.

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And I was like, oh man, this sucks. Kids were throwing rocks at him. I said, stop throwing

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rocks at him. He's your age. He's a kid like you. And then they ran away. And then people

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started standing in front of my camera equipment and my camera on my tripod and my cell phones,

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tried to do it live at the same time. And I'll never do that again. Only have one going and

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everything else secured because it was a mess for me. Cause at one point I had my camera fell in

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the center from the tripod. So catastrophe that never happened to me. But I had to move into the

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water with my shoes. Cause I know I was looking at their shoes. Oh, they're so big. They're so

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my shoes. Cause I know I was looking at their shoes. Oh, they're wearing regular shoes. Boom.

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So I go straight in the water with my tripod and my camera, my cell phone to go very close.

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There was no police line. It's almost never seen. And I was literally run over the guys

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that had drilled. So typically the drill in the dorsal fin, like three holes and put like a

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triangular device. And they put things right through like these gigantic screws with nuts

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and keep like a geotag there. But they were doing different machinery and this, they did it on a

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juvenile. So right behind the dorsal fin in this area on the back, right past the dorsal fin,

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they drilled right above his vertebrae. And then they put a machine, look like a spider.

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It's a machine with six wires going away from the little box, a crystal clear box with an antenna.

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And then they were attaching each leg, each of the wires to the sticking out big screws,

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sticking out of its back. I mean, it's so gross. A week after I came back from the pharaohs,

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because I kept wanting to find footage of what a scientific tagging looks like versus their butchery

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barbarian style, no science really at the core of it. The reasoning is not for science. They just

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want to know where they go, what happens. I bet you none of these could ever come back, which is good.

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They got tagged, they got traumatized. They'll never come back to these ferocious islands.

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That's what I hope. I don't know if they do come back every year. I would say that if they

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know they're in the same area, they probably stay away from it. But who knows? And so

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a week later, I'm on a Zoom call, Noah is showing how they're tagging a whale.

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It's literally a drone dropping something with three suction cups that stay stuck. As soon as

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the back is out of the water, and it stays on for like a week, a week and a half. That's scientific.

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They're not interested where this whale is going to go for like weeks and months and where they'll

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be next year. At the same time, they just want to know where they're feeding right now. They know

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it's feeding time. They know it's gestation time. They know it's that. And that's science. There's a

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concept. You don't need to harass these animals for hours in the water, revving your engine and

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cutting their skin by getting your engines right over them, making a wall of sound and hurting them

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on the beach. That's incredible. So you're harassing, stressing to the utmost for like two

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hours, two and a half hours. And then they're beached. So their stress level was already

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danger. We were attacked. Now it's danger. We're going to die. And then they get drilled into a

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couple of them. The juvenile immediately went back to where there was one being drilled in,

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or that was getting one of the attachments. So when they scream, it's their family that comes.

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So the juvenile had lost them, but then went back because there was a lot of noise splashing, I

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guess. Kids were screaming and everything. So I imagine underwater, everything becomes a mess.

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And then the juvenile that was beaching itself found its family right away. After seven or eight

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attempts from the kids to push it back, instead of coming back to the sand, it started going the other

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way to join the group. There was also a part of the pod that was waiting in the middle of the

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harbor. I mean, it's very saddening. They're just waiting for the family to come back.

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And that's just a tagging. That's just a tagging. And I wonder if they didn't play games also with

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us because I called the police because I saw the M-I-K-A vessel, the Mika, on Mika, vessel harassing

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them for like over an hour, an hour and a half from Lervik. And so I called the police and I have

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recorded my phone call. It was first, I wasn't sure if they were going to speak English to me.

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And I had no idea. And I imagine it's a public call because it's somebody calling the police

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about some illegal activity. And it's illegal to harass a dolphin for dolphins for over an hour

380
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in the Faroes. So I called them. I mentioned that I could send you the recordings if you want to

381
00:44:53,880 --> 00:45:01,880
hear it. It's interesting. And well, I can't even play it now. You can hear it. I asked them,

382
00:45:01,880 --> 00:45:07,960
yeah, there's a boat that's been harassing the dolphins. Oh, I don't know what you're talking

383
00:45:07,960 --> 00:45:16,920
about. We know somebody is there taking pictures. I said, you know, I can see signs 130 with my

384
00:45:16,920 --> 00:45:24,040
camera. I see the guy with his binoculars like following the pod and slowly pushing them towards

385
00:45:24,040 --> 00:45:29,800
Fugla Fjord or the next harbor, which is where they wanted to do a slaughter. But the slaughter was

386
00:45:29,800 --> 00:45:35,240
said no, no slaughter. Police said no slaughter. So the police eventually tells me, he is not,

387
00:45:35,240 --> 00:45:40,120
they're not driving the dolphin, the grin. They're not driving the grin to the beach.

388
00:45:40,680 --> 00:45:44,200
First, they're not whales, they're dolphins. But I mean, dolphins are part of the whale family. So

389
00:45:44,200 --> 00:45:50,360
I'm not going to go there. But they are driving, they're not going to drive those animals to the

390
00:45:50,360 --> 00:45:56,760
beach. That's exactly the opposite. They actually did that. So I had the police lying to me and

391
00:45:56,760 --> 00:46:03,560
trying to defend somebody that I've been observing for an hour and a half and going over the dolphin

392
00:46:03,560 --> 00:46:10,040
pod with his boat as well. So this was harassment. This was illegal in the Faroes. Eventually at the

393
00:46:10,040 --> 00:46:15,800
end he understands I have footage of it and he goes, well, if we have time, we might send a boat

394
00:46:15,800 --> 00:46:21,000
to go, the police boat to go and check. And if we find that what you're saying is true, then we will

395
00:46:21,000 --> 00:46:28,360
do what we have to do. Then I change view spot. I go on the other side of the tunnel to go around

396
00:46:29,640 --> 00:46:36,040
the point that they were all passing towards the next harbor. And I'm with somebody, the only guy

397
00:46:36,040 --> 00:46:40,520
who's fighting the grin over there, who lives on the island, who is Faroes and that's Patti.

398
00:46:40,520 --> 00:46:46,280
So I was with Patti and I go out, I put my tripod and I start setting my camera to try and find them

399
00:46:46,280 --> 00:46:51,960
in the water because with your naked eye you can tell the white spot on my camera and the screen,

400
00:46:51,960 --> 00:46:58,920
the boat is like nice and big. You can read the name. So I start setting up and then a van passes

401
00:46:58,920 --> 00:47:03,480
by us. Patti says, oh, I recognize these are the people who do the tagging. They're going to tag

402
00:47:03,480 --> 00:47:09,000
them. So now we knew they were driving them into the harbor. So then boom, we drive to the beach

403
00:47:09,000 --> 00:47:13,640
and we were there before anyone at the same time as the tigers almost because we were right behind

404
00:47:13,640 --> 00:47:23,000
them. There was no police line, which was rare. And there's a video being prepared about,

405
00:47:23,000 --> 00:47:28,280
specifically about tagging in general and that their tagging is at, there's nothing scientific

406
00:47:28,280 --> 00:47:38,840
about it. It's just cruel, needless, suffering with absolutely no real scientific purpose.

407
00:47:38,840 --> 00:47:44,440
And I can't remember right now the name of the entity that does the research, that needs the

408
00:47:44,440 --> 00:47:54,520
research. They have a gigantic research vessel that's usually in Klaxvik. I've seen the ship

409
00:47:54,520 --> 00:48:00,840
in Klaxvik. No, not in Klaxvik. Oh, now I'm starting to get my towns in the Faroes. But anyway,

410
00:48:00,840 --> 00:48:09,800
so I've seen their research vessel and they have a website, Vsona, something like that. I'll

411
00:48:09,800 --> 00:48:16,360
figure it out. I'll send it to you. So that's kind of about the Faroes, totally linked with Paul's.

412
00:48:16,360 --> 00:48:22,840
That's why we had to be particularly careful not to give the opportunity for the Faroes to accuse

413
00:48:22,840 --> 00:48:28,520
us of breaking the law while Paul is in jail and in jail in Greenland because the Faroes

414
00:48:28,520 --> 00:48:35,960
warned Vena and he was coming back. Crazy, absolutely crazy and disgusting, like you said.

415
00:48:36,840 --> 00:48:47,240
And yeah, I invite anyone who's listening to take action. I will leave links in the description

416
00:48:47,240 --> 00:48:56,040
below. Please do something. And thank you, David, for doing something. It feels good to know that

417
00:48:56,040 --> 00:49:05,640
people are active and making a difference and trying their best. It's reassuring.

418
00:49:05,640 --> 00:49:14,840
So one thing is, it's only really if you want to participate, you could participate with either

419
00:49:14,840 --> 00:49:21,800
Captain Paul Watson Foundation or with Sea Shepherd France. It's only a matter pretty much

420
00:49:21,800 --> 00:49:27,080
of a plane ticket. Over there, you might have to split your portion of the food, but you end up in

421
00:49:27,080 --> 00:49:33,400
a compound or in an apartment with others. So the housing is covered. That's really the plane ticket,

422
00:49:33,400 --> 00:49:38,600
the round trip. And sometimes they cover a portion of the flight. So if people are looking to

423
00:49:38,600 --> 00:49:45,880
spend a vacation, they probably will spend less money doing something good, documenting the taggings

424
00:49:45,880 --> 00:49:56,600
or the dolphin sluggers or doing other activities. And we'll spend less money doing that than going

425
00:49:56,600 --> 00:50:03,400
on another vacation and sitting in a cafe and sipping on a couple of margaritas or whatever it is.

426
00:50:04,200 --> 00:50:11,160
And I'm sure the friendships that you built through this are lifelong friendships.

427
00:50:11,160 --> 00:50:17,640
Oh yeah, absolutely. You can spend a week and a half or two weeks. Typically,

428
00:50:18,600 --> 00:50:26,040
two weeks is usually required at least for a grand campaign. The friendships you make are typically

429
00:50:26,040 --> 00:50:34,280
for life. And you're doing something that's... It's basically being on the front line

430
00:50:34,280 --> 00:50:40,680
of the fight for animals and against climate change. Literally. That's where the war is.

431
00:50:40,680 --> 00:50:48,920
It's in all these hotspots. The Kangane Maru, the Faroese, Norwegian whaling. Sorry, I have

432
00:50:48,920 --> 00:50:55,080
disappearing tattoos. It was vegan ink and it was temporary. I had a Phoenix and I had a...

433
00:50:55,080 --> 00:51:05,720
What did I have? A Phoenix and a dragon, of course. Yeah, so that's all of that. But I've

434
00:51:05,720 --> 00:51:11,000
been a troublemaker also in the Connecticut General Assembly.

435
00:51:13,000 --> 00:51:19,720
Yeah, let's talk about this. I find it fascinating and incredible that you were an activist long

436
00:51:19,720 --> 00:51:30,360
before getting into politics. And let's start with that. How did you get elected?

437
00:51:31,320 --> 00:51:37,720
When did you decide to run for office? What motivated you? Yes.

438
00:51:39,720 --> 00:51:48,280
So I went to Taiji in 2013. I was a cool guardian there. And after I came back,

439
00:51:48,280 --> 00:51:52,840
that's when I went vegan. I went vegetarian for two weeks and then decided to be vegan.

440
00:51:52,840 --> 00:51:57,880
I thought it was ridiculous. I was vegetarian. I was going there for animals. So there's no

441
00:51:57,880 --> 00:52:03,160
point in ignoring then a large part of the animal suffering that comes from the dairy industry.

442
00:52:04,600 --> 00:52:10,520
Even though I grew up in France and eating everybody and every parts of everybody. And

443
00:52:10,520 --> 00:52:18,200
so I guess I did a dramatic shift. And that was after Taiji. Taiji was life-changing for me.

444
00:52:21,240 --> 00:52:28,600
I think I realized what's the difference between the dolphin, the fish, the cow, the pig, the dog,

445
00:52:28,600 --> 00:52:37,560
the cat, the chicken, the little bird that's being eaten by the coyotes because the deer

446
00:52:37,560 --> 00:52:43,400
eats all the bush, a certain type of bush that protects the little bird.

447
00:52:45,080 --> 00:52:50,040
Once you understand, I was like, yeah, there's no difference between anyone. They're all sentient

448
00:52:50,040 --> 00:52:59,640
and everybody has a life, a family life, kids and do their part. And I think that we are the most,

449
00:52:59,640 --> 00:53:06,920
probably the most destructive species of all animal species. And so anyway, so my life changed

450
00:53:06,920 --> 00:53:16,040
after Taiji quite a lot and before and right after I went vegan. And then I was kind of becoming this

451
00:53:16,040 --> 00:53:23,880
local activist because I learned how to use my camera to pinpoint on what was bad. So I started

452
00:53:23,880 --> 00:53:30,280
doing that locally. So I used my camera to document pollution getting straight into the water from

453
00:53:30,280 --> 00:53:39,560
our transfer station, Stanford transfer station. I started working with the homeless,

454
00:53:40,920 --> 00:53:47,000
doing cleanups, but with the homeless and et cetera. I mean, I had volunteers. So I started mixing

455
00:53:47,000 --> 00:53:52,280
all kinds of stuff, but mostly I was documenting and then I was sending an email and I saw like,

456
00:53:52,280 --> 00:53:58,120
oh, the environmental protection agency on whichever level doesn't respond. So I figured

457
00:53:58,120 --> 00:54:05,240
then I should put all levels. And I started sending these emails that caused change because

458
00:54:05,960 --> 00:54:11,000
I would have my hundred and something people in line copy that do the beach cleanups.

459
00:54:12,120 --> 00:54:19,640
And then I would send to the mayor her assistance or special assistance or his special assistance

460
00:54:19,640 --> 00:54:29,560
at the time and the entire legislative branch, 40 border reps and the environmental protection

461
00:54:29,560 --> 00:54:38,520
local and at state level and the EPA. And it was such a mess in the two and copy, mostly was in

462
00:54:38,520 --> 00:54:44,920
the two, big group in the two and then in line copy. And then I would tell my volunteers,

463
00:54:44,920 --> 00:54:50,680
feel free to reply all so they understand. Cause I never talked about myself. I never said,

464
00:54:50,680 --> 00:54:57,400
I have a problem with this or I have a problem with that. I always said, we have a problem with

465
00:54:57,400 --> 00:55:01,800
this and we have a problem with that. Then suddenly you see people that are blank copy that are

466
00:55:01,800 --> 00:55:08,120
responding that are also constituents, makes things a little complicated. Now you're like, wow,

467
00:55:08,760 --> 00:55:13,320
nobody's answering. So nobody's doing anything. So somebody is going to have to answer and

468
00:55:13,320 --> 00:55:18,440
eventually somebody answered and I would send my emails on Monday mornings or Friday afternoon.

469
00:55:18,440 --> 00:55:22,200
See right now I should probably, I should be planning a couple of FOIA requests for the city

470
00:55:22,200 --> 00:55:26,920
of Stanford that I should send in a couple of hours. But I already send them two of them

471
00:55:27,560 --> 00:55:34,200
on Monday morning. So I'm starting back. I lost my primary by the way, after six, so three terms

472
00:55:34,200 --> 00:55:42,920
of two years, it's very short terms. And after having, I'm very proud of what I achieved during

473
00:55:42,920 --> 00:55:50,120
my six years. I think I moved the conversation in different subjects and passed, managed to get some

474
00:55:50,120 --> 00:55:54,840
bills passed without necessarily my name on them. Cause sometimes my name was a poison pill,

475
00:55:56,280 --> 00:56:02,440
but always with working with advocates in labor, social justice, housing justice, food access,

476
00:56:02,440 --> 00:56:06,840
and working on bills and strategy before the session starts and always getting our things

477
00:56:06,840 --> 00:56:11,960
and said, he's going to be the, or she is going to be the, the legislative champion.

478
00:56:11,960 --> 00:56:16,360
Then, then we can make sure that it goes from this committee to this committee instead of that

479
00:56:16,360 --> 00:56:23,160
committee first. And then we're good. It should, and sometimes it works. It's much harder to

480
00:56:23,960 --> 00:56:28,920
pass a bill and kill a bill. There's a thousand millions ways of killing a bill. There's only

481
00:56:28,920 --> 00:56:36,840
one way to pass a bill. But then how, who recommended that you try politics? Because for me,

482
00:56:37,640 --> 00:56:43,320
because it made sense to me. I mean, I'm always, I'm a stirrer. I'm, I wrote the boat, no matter

483
00:56:43,320 --> 00:56:47,880
what I do, I ended up rocking the boat. So I might as well focus my energy at rocking the boat where

484
00:56:47,880 --> 00:56:53,720
it's needed, not where it's not needed. So I have to always find an area of contention so I can make

485
00:56:53,720 --> 00:56:59,320
sure that I'm rocking the boat in the right spot. And sometimes I don't rub the boat. I shake it.

486
00:56:59,320 --> 00:57:05,400
I put it upside down and then I throw it back in the water. Because I think sometimes we need to

487
00:57:05,400 --> 00:57:11,560
do even more than rocking the boat. I mean, so people were pushing me to run for, for elections.

488
00:57:11,560 --> 00:57:15,880
And I'd gone at one point, I left the democratic party. I became a green party member because they

489
00:57:15,880 --> 00:57:21,000
liked what I was doing locally. And they asked if I could be a placeholder, a placeholder.

490
00:57:21,000 --> 00:57:26,280
You're not really doing a campaign. You're just putting a name on that line. You have to petition.

491
00:57:26,280 --> 00:57:32,040
So it's easy to petition. It's a small amount of number of signatures. You do that in a week or two.

492
00:57:32,040 --> 00:57:38,040
And then you have the position on the ballot and then you just hope that you get at least 1%.

493
00:57:38,600 --> 00:57:43,800
So you don't have to petition two years later. And so you could be on the ballot again. So they

494
00:57:43,800 --> 00:57:50,040
just asked me to be a placeholder so they can have a ballot placement. I was like, sure. And I didn't

495
00:57:50,040 --> 00:57:54,200
care about politics. But then I got frustrated because I was like, okay, I'm not doing a campaign,

496
00:57:54,200 --> 00:58:00,120
but my name is on this. I'm not doing anything. And a lot of friends were like, go get back to the

497
00:58:00,120 --> 00:58:03,960
democratic party because you're not going to be able to do anything in the green party. I was like,

498
00:58:03,960 --> 00:58:11,640
no, I understand that. And I'm truly a Democrat, a real Democrat. Yeah. A liberal Democrat. That's

499
00:58:11,640 --> 00:58:17,640
the kind of the equivalent to an old French socialist kind of. And socialist is a kind of a

500
00:58:17,640 --> 00:58:22,680
correct kind of a heavy word in the US. It's mixed up with communist. It's mixed up with national

501
00:58:22,680 --> 00:58:28,440
socialist. And people get so confused in the US, you have no idea. So it's a word where you have

502
00:58:28,440 --> 00:58:38,520
to really come with a following after you use it. But it was very funny. And I said, yeah, I'm going

503
00:58:38,520 --> 00:58:43,480
to go back to the democratic party. I started running. And then they dismissed me during the

504
00:58:43,480 --> 00:58:47,480
election process. I was already knocking doors. I was recognized several times as a candidate.

505
00:58:47,480 --> 00:58:52,760
Then they told me, you know, this statute says that you cannot run for this election, but the

506
00:58:52,760 --> 00:58:58,680
next one in three years. What? Yeah. But this other statute says that what you're saying is actually

507
00:58:58,680 --> 00:59:05,240
unclear. And so it doesn't work. And then I had a call from the chair of the party, local party,

508
00:59:05,240 --> 00:59:11,080
Josh Fidelity. And he said, no, you can't run because of this and this and this statute.

509
00:59:11,080 --> 00:59:15,480
You cannot run. I said, okay, well, I have to take the registrar to court because he's the one who

510
00:59:15,480 --> 00:59:20,440
has to take me up the ballot. And then I took my registrar to court and the registrar is the brother

511
00:59:20,440 --> 00:59:27,800
of the governor. That was registrar Ron Malloy, who is the brother of Dan Malloy. So now I'm

512
00:59:27,800 --> 00:59:33,320
becoming really an enemy of the local establishment because I'm not holding back. And Ron Malloy is a

513
00:59:33,320 --> 00:59:37,640
nice guy, but he was doing what the chair of the party was telling him to do. And that's why I took

514
00:59:37,640 --> 00:59:43,400
him to court. And I wanted to fight. I said, you recognize me and stamp me as, and you're saying

515
00:59:43,400 --> 00:59:49,880
that this, but so what if I get my petitioning redone, the ones that I did myself by somebody

516
00:59:49,880 --> 00:59:56,360
else and you give me three days to get it done and I'll get it done by somebody else as reparation.

517
00:59:56,360 --> 01:00:02,920
They recognize me as valid. If you're saying that this is what should have been done, then the judge

518
01:00:02,920 --> 01:00:09,160
give me the opportunity. The judge was appointed by the governor in his position of judge. There's

519
01:00:09,160 --> 01:00:15,880
no way I was going to win this almost like a clown court in the Faroese court or in the

520
01:00:17,160 --> 01:00:23,800
Greenlandish court. Yeah. Sometimes we have those here also locally. And so that's what happened.

521
01:00:23,800 --> 01:00:28,280
So they kicked me out. Then the next year, now I was upset and I'm an activist and you don't do

522
01:00:28,280 --> 01:00:33,000
that to an activist. You don't dismiss an activist. And I was like, I'm going to take this one. And

523
01:00:33,000 --> 01:00:40,200
then by some miracle, no, the miracle was my campaign manager, also vegan, Nina Sherwood,

524
01:00:40,200 --> 01:00:46,120
who has a Bernie Sanders delegate at the time before that. And she became my campaign manager

525
01:00:46,120 --> 01:00:50,680
and she was a force not to beckon with. I was told I should go and talk to her by one of the

526
01:00:50,680 --> 01:00:57,160
insiders of the establishment. He said, oh, you should go and talk to the Nina Sherwood and

527
01:00:57,160 --> 01:01:03,320
the people that are like her because you all like to make a lot of noise. Okay. Then I discovered

528
01:01:03,320 --> 01:01:08,840
Nina Sherwood. Thank you for telling me. And then Nina managed to convince the delegates.

529
01:01:08,840 --> 01:01:13,640
It's all about delegates and endorsement. Unfortunately, the voters are kind of

530
01:01:13,640 --> 01:01:17,480
disenfranchised or they disenfranchise themselves because they don't go to vote on the primary.

531
01:01:17,480 --> 01:01:24,840
And she turned the delegates around saying there is nobody who is going to work harder on the

532
01:01:24,840 --> 01:01:31,560
issues that you care about and your constituents care about than David Michel. He multitasked and

533
01:01:31,560 --> 01:01:37,880
that's what he does. And she sold me to everybody and it's unfortunate because she was right. So

534
01:01:38,840 --> 01:01:43,320
once I got the endorsement and then I was eventually elected, we knew I was going to

535
01:01:43,320 --> 01:01:51,160
get elected because the district is gerrymandered for Democrats to win. So automatically the Democrat

536
01:01:51,160 --> 01:01:57,880
wins the general election. The only real election is the primary. That's where it counts. And

537
01:01:57,880 --> 01:02:05,080
unfortunately, the primaries are not open. So not everybody that's going to have repercussions from

538
01:02:05,080 --> 01:02:10,600
whoever wins can vote on it. It should be open primaries. That would be the Democrat's

539
01:02:10,600 --> 01:02:16,360
process. You said you lost the primary. This primary I just lost. I lost the endorsement.

540
01:02:16,360 --> 01:02:21,640
They eliminated my delegates one by one during the last six years. So it's not like I didn't see it

541
01:02:21,640 --> 01:02:30,920
coming. So you've done a great job and your constituents might want the opportunity to vote

542
01:02:30,920 --> 01:02:36,120
for you again. Why are they pushing you out of the primary? Why are they pushing you out of the

543
01:02:36,120 --> 01:02:45,560
primary? Why are they pushing you out? So the establishment is pushing me out because I'm saying

544
01:02:46,120 --> 01:02:52,760
you talk about affordable housing, yet one third of our new homeless in Fairfield County are elderly

545
01:02:52,760 --> 01:02:58,760
retirees and one third of the children from the lower income. And we're not building anything

546
01:02:58,760 --> 01:03:03,720
affordable to those two parts of society that are becoming homeless. And if today there's nothing

547
01:03:03,720 --> 01:03:08,380
That means that whoever is falling under in the next two years will be homeless

548
01:03:10,440 --> 01:03:15,580
Without room in shelter without section eights vouchers and without etc. So

549
01:03:16,280 --> 01:03:18,120
You talk about affordable housing

550
01:03:18,120 --> 01:03:24,920
All you do is incentivize developers to build what they want but not what we need and that's enough and they keep building in small

551
01:03:24,920 --> 01:03:29,360
Neighborhoods so the developers have more value in what they build instead of just building downtown

552
01:03:29,360 --> 01:03:35,320
We should be building a building downtown for the middle class and for the low income and for the retirees you retrofit

553
01:03:35,760 --> 01:03:37,760
fix

554
01:03:37,760 --> 01:03:44,160
Remediate historical structures keep their historical value keep protecting the environmental

555
01:03:44,800 --> 01:03:48,780
The environment around it. So keep the environmental standards strict

556
01:03:50,600 --> 01:03:52,600
Refurbish

557
01:03:52,600 --> 01:03:55,960
Lower income elderly whatever they pay goes towards ownership

558
01:03:55,960 --> 01:04:02,580
State program we've done it before it works. But for the past three four decades. It's all been for developers

559
01:04:03,080 --> 01:04:05,080
unscrupulous

560
01:04:05,080 --> 01:04:10,080
Credential developers in Stanford and I think the rest of the US pretty much

561
01:04:10,080 --> 01:04:16,960
So if our Democrats are not going to be fighting for housing justice, they're not going to fight for capping the rent

562
01:04:16,960 --> 01:04:18,960
They're not going to fight for

563
01:04:21,960 --> 01:04:24,560
They're not going to fight for democratic things

564
01:04:24,560 --> 01:04:30,160
Then of course somebody who is a populist and an insane populist can have a chance of making it

565
01:04:30,160 --> 01:04:33,760
Because it's either those who don't do anything or the insane guy

566
01:04:34,160 --> 01:04:39,760
That's the problem in politics if the Democrats if my party was doing what they're supposed to do

567
01:04:39,760 --> 01:04:41,760
We would not be in the situation. We're in

568
01:04:43,760 --> 01:04:44,960
And

569
01:04:44,960 --> 01:04:50,960
Yes, I I completely agree with that stands housing crisis people can't find food

570
01:04:50,960 --> 01:04:56,720
Animals being abused department of environmental protection being nowhere when big corporations are polluting

571
01:04:58,160 --> 01:05:02,880
Everything is upside down and it's under leadership under the Democratic Party

572
01:05:04,960 --> 01:05:06,960
What's happening

573
01:05:07,280 --> 01:05:09,520
Why why do you think Trump can make it that far?

574
01:05:10,320 --> 01:05:16,080
Because we're letting him get that far. That's why thank you for making that point because you know

575
01:05:16,080 --> 01:05:22,160
They always say Trump Trump Trump this Republican Party and all but can you it's not about what we're doing

576
01:05:22,160 --> 01:05:28,000
We're doing exactly the Democratic Party with the protectors of reproductive rights

577
01:05:28,000 --> 01:05:33,360
We're the protectors of the vaccine where the protectors of this of that and this and that

578
01:05:34,160 --> 01:05:35,360
yet

579
01:05:35,360 --> 01:05:40,400
Looks like the world is going to shit to me. I'm sorry. I'm saying it pretty bluntly, but that's why I'm sorry

580
01:05:41,360 --> 01:05:44,400
Of course your path is to protect the world

581
01:05:44,400 --> 01:05:49,120
Of course, you're passionate and yeah, I this is something I

582
01:05:50,000 --> 01:05:55,920
I thought about a lot how you know, they're responsible in a two-party system

583
01:05:55,920 --> 01:05:58,720
You're also responsible of the success of the other party

584
01:05:59,680 --> 01:06:01,680
by by failing

585
01:06:01,760 --> 01:06:03,760
But anyway, yes

586
01:06:04,080 --> 01:06:07,440
It brings me to the thing the vegan world and the animal rights activists

587
01:06:08,160 --> 01:06:12,880
We have to get involved in other things than just because it's more difficult for environmental

588
01:06:12,880 --> 01:06:17,360
Act like environmental advocates to get into animal rights advocacy

589
01:06:17,600 --> 01:06:20,080
But we agree with all this and we can be there

590
01:06:20,320 --> 01:06:26,880
We can lead also people to join us in the animal rights movements and that i've been putting these connections between

591
01:06:28,720 --> 01:06:31,920
Between the animal rights world and

592
01:06:32,800 --> 01:06:34,960
environmental orgs on the state level

593
01:06:35,120 --> 01:06:40,240
We're lucky in connecticut because the hs us the connecticut uh, human society of the united states

594
01:06:40,240 --> 01:06:44,400
This chapter here is run by annie hornish. She's the director

595
01:06:44,400 --> 01:06:49,680
She's vegan for the animals and it's not what you'd expect when you hear hs us

596
01:06:50,240 --> 01:06:53,440
Uh, the connecticut sierra club has now wildlife divisions

597
01:06:54,400 --> 01:06:58,800
And the one in connecticut there have always been allies of my caucus

598
01:06:59,440 --> 01:07:04,400
So even the connecticut, uh league of conservation voters same thing the nylc

599
01:07:04,480 --> 01:07:08,640
These are not entities you'd think would get involved in animal rights stuff or animal rights bills

600
01:07:08,640 --> 01:07:16,160
Yet in connecticut they have been supported. We've been starting to work all together now what happens on the other side with the hunters

601
01:07:17,760 --> 01:07:23,440
They're redoubling and tripling their assaults now and trying to put in really bad bills and we are in danger in connecticut

602
01:07:23,760 --> 01:07:28,000
Because we came up so forcefully now. There's an equal and opposite reaction

603
01:07:28,720 --> 01:07:32,320
Which doesn't mean they're going to succeed and they should not succeed if we are a democratic state

604
01:07:33,040 --> 01:07:35,040
Uh, this is not a state of hunters

605
01:07:35,040 --> 01:07:40,480
Uh, but the hunters are going to try and pass really terrible bills this year. They're going to try to pass

606
01:07:41,200 --> 01:07:43,440
Hunting black bears. They keep trying to do that

607
01:07:43,680 --> 01:07:50,080
I have this nice speech describing how stupid a bill is that everybody is passing because the senate

608
01:07:50,480 --> 01:07:52,480
Is holding the house hostage

609
01:07:52,480 --> 01:07:57,200
They're holding seven environmental bills in their hands saying we're going to kill the seven environmental bills

610
01:07:57,680 --> 01:08:00,560
If you don't let that black bear bill come up to the senate

611
01:08:00,560 --> 01:08:06,800
So I went after the language and said of course i'm voting against that but uh

612
01:08:08,000 --> 01:08:12,800
I also knew that my colleagues were going to vote in favor of it just because we had to save those seven other bills

613
01:08:13,040 --> 01:08:15,440
But seeing that's very difficult

614
01:08:16,000 --> 01:08:20,400
Animal rights bills are very difficult. We finally passed the greyhound ban

615
01:08:20,880 --> 01:08:26,800
Whoa, but we were in one of the last two states. So every year i'm like sweating. Are we gonna pass it this year?

616
01:08:27,040 --> 01:08:29,040
What's going on? It seems to be

617
01:08:29,040 --> 01:08:33,360
No, brainer. Everybody's fine with it, but it still doesn't come up in both chambers

618
01:08:34,880 --> 01:08:36,880
Because you know connecticut was the first

619
01:08:37,360 --> 01:08:38,880
uh constitution

620
01:08:38,880 --> 01:08:42,880
And so it's the same way that washington works except we're a little bit more flexible

621
01:08:43,120 --> 01:08:48,320
A bill can be born in the senate and then come to the house, but it has to go through both chambers whichever order

622
01:08:48,880 --> 01:08:50,080
so

623
01:08:50,080 --> 01:08:52,480
Usually we uh the house of the people

624
01:08:52,880 --> 01:08:57,200
Uh, we are the ones whose bills get or get uh become hostage of the senate

625
01:08:57,200 --> 01:09:02,560
And we have to pass their bills if you want some of our bills. It's absurd every year. It's been like this

626
01:09:03,120 --> 01:09:06,000
Uh since i've been there. It doesn't mean we don't pass good bills, but

627
01:09:07,680 --> 01:09:10,080
Yeah, and every year you have a

628
01:09:10,640 --> 01:09:13,760
Army of americans going to canada in order to hunt

629
01:09:14,480 --> 01:09:15,760
bears

630
01:09:15,760 --> 01:09:20,800
Um, really? Yes. There's a big tourism industry of americans

631
01:09:21,360 --> 01:09:25,120
Is it legal in all the provinces? I think yes most provinces

632
01:09:25,120 --> 01:09:29,600
I think yes most provinces and you know, it's it's easy to explain that

633
01:09:30,960 --> 01:09:36,080
They think there's always this convincing in within the the legislative bodies that

634
01:09:36,880 --> 01:09:39,120
Hunters pay for permits and they bring money

635
01:09:39,920 --> 01:09:41,920
and conservation

636
01:09:43,260 --> 01:09:45,760
Conservation forget i'm not even going to go there

637
01:09:46,640 --> 01:09:52,160
But so you and usually you have your own agencies like deep my agency is department of energy

638
01:09:52,160 --> 01:09:57,200
And environmental protection. Oh those two together crazy danneloid merged them together

639
01:09:58,240 --> 01:10:01,200
While they were laying the algonquin

640
01:10:01,760 --> 01:10:03,760
Frag gas pipeline through the state of connecticut

641
01:10:03,760 --> 01:10:08,400
So I got to bid there was an incident with a frag gas pipeline in the state of connecticut

642
01:10:08,400 --> 01:10:14,160
The uh enforcer and the one who has to explain what they allowed were the same agency

643
01:10:14,160 --> 01:10:16,160
So, okay

644
01:10:17,040 --> 01:10:21,120
Wow, but like deep in connecticut there was a

645
01:10:21,120 --> 01:10:26,160
There was a research done 70 of deep has hunted or hunters

646
01:10:27,520 --> 01:10:35,040
That's the mentality in our environmental protection agency. So the wildlife division is run in part by hunters

647
01:10:35,920 --> 01:10:37,920
How does that work?

648
01:10:38,320 --> 01:10:40,320
and every time there's a

649
01:10:41,280 --> 01:10:45,520
So so you have that but yet what they don't seem to understand is

650
01:10:46,240 --> 01:10:48,560
A lot more people want to do eco tourism

651
01:10:48,560 --> 01:10:53,360
Even than the few hunters hunters are a dwindling down number they have

652
01:10:54,000 --> 01:10:57,760
Becoming not important, but they just talk so loudly

653
01:10:58,400 --> 01:11:00,160
uh

654
01:11:00,160 --> 01:11:03,600
In the legislation they come and when they when they come and testify

655
01:11:06,080 --> 01:11:10,960
Yeah, all of them and they all just repeat the same thing for hours and hours and without end

656
01:11:11,920 --> 01:11:14,480
And they can say the same about animal rights advocates

657
01:11:14,480 --> 01:11:20,320
But there's a lot more people wanting to respect nature than people wanting to use and rape nature

658
01:11:20,800 --> 01:11:22,800
And for their fun and entertainment

659
01:11:23,280 --> 01:11:24,560
uh

660
01:11:24,560 --> 01:11:27,600
So and this is where the agencies you know that the agencies are

661
01:11:28,220 --> 01:11:31,920
Derby in their mode of thinking they're really from a time that's passed

662
01:11:32,320 --> 01:11:34,240
They those people

663
01:11:34,240 --> 01:11:37,520
Still let this kind of stuff happen or belong to the past

664
01:11:37,520 --> 01:11:45,120
Now people the majority of people the majority of the public wants to protect bears not have them hunted

665
01:11:45,680 --> 01:11:50,080
So it should make sense that you would make more money at doing eco tourism

666
01:11:50,480 --> 01:11:54,640
And have a safe environment where you can see bears in their natural habitat

667
01:11:55,600 --> 01:12:00,560
You'd make more money at that as a government than selling permits for hunting

668
01:12:00,560 --> 01:12:06,260
And and such an old mentality

669
01:12:07,440 --> 01:12:13,280
And and just a few words to say it's the worst kind of hunting, you know, you just sit there and um

670
01:12:13,440 --> 01:12:19,120
Put you know some food somewhere and you wait for the bear to approach and then you kill it

671
01:12:19,680 --> 01:12:23,440
And you do you do nothing with the bear, you know, you don't eat it

672
01:12:23,520 --> 01:12:27,520
You just take a picture with the the the animal and that's it. That's

673
01:12:27,520 --> 01:12:30,400
Yeah, let me bring some humor in this horrible world

674
01:12:31,280 --> 01:12:33,280
of uh of hunting and politics

675
01:12:33,680 --> 01:12:34,480
um

676
01:12:34,480 --> 01:12:37,520
I knew a certain year that they were going to come hard with hunting bills

677
01:12:37,920 --> 01:12:40,880
So I was purposely putting out bills they would hate

678
01:12:41,520 --> 01:12:44,640
But that I would not really work on so I had one bill that was

679
01:12:45,440 --> 01:12:47,440
Uh, you can't drink and hunt

680
01:12:49,840 --> 01:12:52,160
Does it make sense? Yes, you're using a firearm

681
01:12:52,800 --> 01:12:54,800
or a weapon or a

682
01:12:54,800 --> 01:12:57,840
Whatever bow and arrow you can't drink doing that

683
01:12:58,480 --> 01:13:00,080
That would pass

684
01:13:00,080 --> 01:13:04,240
And so I put a bill you can't drink and hunt so those guys that have to think well shit

685
01:13:04,320 --> 01:13:06,560
I thought I was going to drink my deers

686
01:13:07,200 --> 01:13:10,480
Up in a tree while some innocent animal comes and I can shoot it

687
01:13:11,120 --> 01:13:15,600
Uh, and if I can't drink and do that, I think i'll just go to a local bar

688
01:13:15,680 --> 01:13:21,760
I'd rather you go to the local bar than you go in the woods and and and violate the sanctity of nature

689
01:13:22,240 --> 01:13:23,760
um

690
01:13:23,760 --> 01:13:26,080
That that was one of my bills another bill was

691
01:13:26,720 --> 01:13:28,000
um

692
01:13:28,000 --> 01:13:30,000
no hunting within

693
01:13:30,620 --> 01:13:35,680
400 feet on a blaze trail a blaze trail is not only trails

694
01:13:35,840 --> 01:13:42,800
But whatever anybody has used as a shortcut and you can see people walk there. That's a blaze trail and 400 feet was so much

695
01:13:43,040 --> 01:13:46,160
They basically made almost all of connecticut impossible

696
01:13:47,040 --> 01:13:52,240
So I I just dropped those but I knew I had an important black bear bill to put out

697
01:13:52,240 --> 01:13:55,040
In against their black bear bill that was stupid

698
01:13:55,440 --> 01:14:01,040
So now in the state of connecticut you can shoot a bear if you feel that bear is a is a is threatening you

699
01:14:02,480 --> 01:14:05,280
So now you see the yahoo going in the woods wants to shoot a bear

700
01:14:05,760 --> 01:14:10,320
Finds a way and just shoots him and says no, I felt like he was going to kill me. That's why I shot him

701
01:14:11,120 --> 01:14:12,960
We had a police officer

702
01:14:12,960 --> 01:14:16,640
Off duty in his backyard shoot bobby the bear number 217

703
01:14:17,360 --> 01:14:20,720
uh, hashtag 217 bobby the bear and um

704
01:14:20,720 --> 01:14:21,680
um

705
01:14:21,680 --> 01:14:23,680
He picked up the shells

706
01:14:23,920 --> 01:14:26,000
So they couldn't see where he shot the bear from

707
01:14:26,800 --> 01:14:32,080
and then deep deep before the uh district attorney made a statement that

708
01:14:32,640 --> 01:14:37,200
He was acting in self-defense when in the report he went back inside his house

709
01:14:38,640 --> 01:14:42,260
And then came back out with the gun to shoot the bear. That's not self-defense

710
01:14:44,560 --> 01:14:46,080
That's murder

711
01:14:46,080 --> 01:14:48,640
And that's an off-duty police officer and guess where that was

712
01:14:48,640 --> 01:14:55,200
Because the town of newtown, do you know why the new town is famous in the world the school shooting the most famous shooting?

713
01:14:56,140 --> 01:14:57,820
connecticut

714
01:14:57,820 --> 01:15:05,600
Incredible incredible and that guy got away with it. Normally you're not supposed you're not allowed to use firearms within residential area

715
01:15:06,320 --> 01:15:08,320
And he's a police officer off duty

716
01:15:10,320 --> 01:15:12,320
It's incredible we have really

717
01:15:12,320 --> 01:15:18,560
Uh, okay, so this year they're going to try black bear hunting in connecticut. They're going to try

718
01:15:20,240 --> 01:15:25,920
I think they might succeed unfortunately because the chair of environment is in favor of that which is

719
01:15:26,540 --> 01:15:28,540
um processing

720
01:15:28,620 --> 01:15:30,700
uh facilities for rabbits

721
01:15:32,160 --> 01:15:37,200
They want to open a farmer has been asking for that one farmer one senator

722
01:15:37,200 --> 01:15:43,200
One rep and that's enough almost to pass it now everybody's like oh we want to eat rabbit

723
01:15:43,200 --> 01:15:46,320
But you can eat rabbit you can go to the charcuterie and get your rabbit right now

724
01:15:46,480 --> 01:15:48,480
You can go to the supermarket and buy rabbit

725
01:15:49,040 --> 01:15:56,640
And it's very unpopular people. It's actually people would rather see rabbits like our fluffy regular connecticut rabbits

726
01:15:57,200 --> 01:15:59,360
In their backyard than on their plate

727
01:15:59,920 --> 01:16:03,040
So i've argued with duag the department of agriculture

728
01:16:03,040 --> 01:16:06,880
Commissioner do you have a study that shows that people?

729
01:16:07,920 --> 01:16:09,920
Suddenly now want to eat rabbit

730
01:16:10,800 --> 01:16:19,200
No, what triggers you to be in favor of this processing facility that you will have to inspect when you can't even do a proper job

731
01:16:19,600 --> 01:16:21,120
with the um

732
01:16:21,120 --> 01:16:23,120
with uh the uh

733
01:16:23,200 --> 01:16:25,620
Uh, the shelters the state uh animal shelters

734
01:16:25,620 --> 01:16:32,020
No answer and that's the duag commissioner they're all a joke

735
01:16:33,300 --> 01:16:39,540
They're jokes yet. They get away with it. Even if it's in public hearing and you so sometimes I can kill a bill by doing that

736
01:16:39,620 --> 01:16:44,100
But I don't know most of my colleagues will think oh, you know, like uh, it's in my culture

737
01:16:44,180 --> 01:16:46,420
I like to raise rabbits and barbecue

738
01:16:47,300 --> 01:16:51,460
Why would you like want to get in the way of that? Like i'm not getting in the way of that you can get your rabbit

739
01:16:51,460 --> 01:16:55,000
So just we don't need a processing facility in the state of connecticut

740
01:16:56,020 --> 01:17:01,540
And we have the the actual federal processing facilities. Yeah, but there's a waiting

741
01:17:01,700 --> 01:17:04,180
You have to wait for six months to a year to have your rabbit

742
01:17:05,300 --> 01:17:07,860
Uh skinned and processed and to get it back

743
01:17:11,220 --> 01:17:12,420
Okay

744
01:17:12,420 --> 01:17:16,420
So we're facing that we can talk about the legislation on the kangaroo skins

745
01:17:16,900 --> 01:17:18,020
um

746
01:17:18,020 --> 01:17:19,700
for um

747
01:17:19,700 --> 01:17:21,700
That was a couple years ago

748
01:17:22,180 --> 01:17:24,340
Annie again, she's the one who brings the best bills

749
01:17:25,060 --> 01:17:27,220
Annie hornish from the connecticut hs us

750
01:17:27,940 --> 01:17:29,940
Brings me this language for the kangaroos

751
01:17:30,420 --> 01:17:32,420
um and um

752
01:17:32,900 --> 01:17:37,300
She goes, uh, I don't think you'll go anywhere. I think and i don't think it'll go anywhere either but

753
01:17:37,860 --> 01:17:40,900
Let's put it through the system and I usually typically put between

754
01:17:41,520 --> 01:17:43,520
28 and 40 bills

755
01:17:43,780 --> 01:17:48,580
Every year when it's the first session there's a long session and short session long session

756
01:17:48,580 --> 01:17:54,500
You I can introduce bills short session is the committee's that means it's whatever my chair likes that he will introduce to the community

757
01:17:54,820 --> 01:17:56,820
so

758
01:17:57,220 --> 01:18:00,580
Most mostly short session you can't really pass an animal right bill

759
01:18:00,580 --> 01:18:06,340
It has to be done in the long in the long session with the first year right after you get elected or re-elected

760
01:18:07,140 --> 01:18:11,780
Because it's three years terms. It's horrible. So it's like one year you can be affected on the second year. You're like

761
01:18:13,140 --> 01:18:14,500
Because it's an election year

762
01:18:14,500 --> 01:18:18,900
So we can be controversial because we want to make sure people support us so we can get our power back

763
01:18:19,620 --> 01:18:21,620
That's what it's about

764
01:18:21,780 --> 01:18:22,660
uh

765
01:18:22,660 --> 01:18:23,540
so

766
01:18:23,540 --> 01:18:25,540
I put in this bill

767
01:18:25,780 --> 01:18:31,060
And I kid you not the australian consulate got in touch with me sent me an email

768
01:18:32,340 --> 01:18:35,460
Right michelle. I don't understand. It's this was uh

769
01:18:36,500 --> 01:18:38,500
the acting consul

770
01:18:39,540 --> 01:18:43,380
At the time of new york australian consul of new york at the time acting

771
01:18:43,380 --> 01:18:45,380
So I guess it was in between

772
01:18:46,020 --> 01:18:49,620
You know somebody who was stepping up in the seat. That's not theirs

773
01:18:50,340 --> 01:18:51,700
um

774
01:18:51,700 --> 01:18:53,700
and saying to me

775
01:18:54,180 --> 01:18:56,820
That I don't understand what you have against

776
01:18:57,940 --> 01:19:00,820
This kangaroos are nuisance. We have too many of them

777
01:19:01,380 --> 01:19:06,020
uh, this is a conservation practice and instead of

778
01:19:06,820 --> 01:19:08,820
Wasting I think she might have gone into the waste

779
01:19:09,780 --> 01:19:11,620
blah blah blah

780
01:19:11,620 --> 01:19:14,580
I said well first my question would be what do they do with the joeys?

781
01:19:15,540 --> 01:19:17,800
The joeys are the juvenile kangaroos

782
01:19:19,060 --> 01:19:20,020
and

783
01:19:20,020 --> 01:19:21,060
Oh

784
01:19:21,060 --> 01:19:22,500
Yeah, she

785
01:19:22,500 --> 01:19:25,700
I heard that they just beat their head on the trunk of their cars

786
01:19:26,420 --> 01:19:28,180
To kill them

787
01:19:28,180 --> 01:19:30,180
Or they are end up orphaned

788
01:19:32,100 --> 01:19:35,860
That is really already a bother for me second I said

789
01:19:37,300 --> 01:19:40,100
Uh, you are telling me that there are too many

790
01:19:40,100 --> 01:19:42,100
I believe in the three laws

791
01:19:42,660 --> 01:19:44,660
of uh ecology

792
01:19:45,140 --> 01:19:47,940
And that nature balances itself

793
01:19:48,420 --> 01:19:51,060
You don't need to do anything as a human zero

794
01:19:51,540 --> 01:19:55,140
In order for nature to balance itself with whatever is happening in that area

795
01:19:56,100 --> 01:19:59,940
So who are you to tell me there are too many kangaroos?

796
01:20:01,140 --> 01:20:03,140
And their scientists were saying the opposite

797
01:20:03,140 --> 01:20:09,140
Well, it is debatable because one side says this and one side said that so she's trying to dismiss it by saying oh

798
01:20:09,140 --> 01:20:11,780
Well one side says that but the other side says the opposite

799
01:20:12,980 --> 01:20:15,060
And then eventually I on the phone I

800
01:20:15,780 --> 01:20:20,020
I started I don't know if I put it in writing, but I started asking her what I don't understand is

801
01:20:20,900 --> 01:20:22,260
you know

802
01:20:22,260 --> 01:20:29,620
You're acting like a lobby right now. You're lobbying me, but you're paid by the taxpayers australian taxpayers

803
01:20:30,900 --> 01:20:32,900
to handle

804
01:20:32,900 --> 01:20:36,660
social services for australian above so i'm not

805
01:20:36,660 --> 01:20:40,660
Understanding what the role of the consulate is right here

806
01:20:42,660 --> 01:20:45,060
And eventually she said that her office

807
01:20:45,780 --> 01:20:47,140
Had set up

808
01:20:47,140 --> 01:20:54,340
An appointment with my office and then I looked in my government emails and there was this acknowledgement that will be meeting that time

809
01:20:55,540 --> 01:20:57,780
With a lobby and I usually tell my office

810
01:20:58,260 --> 01:21:01,460
I'm fine with meeting anyone they might be in for a bad time

811
01:21:01,460 --> 01:21:08,500
They just have to know who they're coming to see and if they know that i'm not in favor of what they they shouldn't waste their time or my time

812
01:21:10,100 --> 01:21:15,700
And I had this appointment set up for my office with a lobbyist that represents

813
01:21:16,660 --> 01:21:20,260
The the the the cells of the skins of kangaroos

814
01:21:22,580 --> 01:21:29,060
So eventually at that time I said I canceled that appointment you're acting like a lobbyist it's inappropriate for somebody from the consulate

815
01:21:29,060 --> 01:21:36,420
To even go that far and help like a business entity from australia to set up an appointment with me when i'm entirely against them

816
01:21:36,420 --> 01:21:39,220
They would not have a good time with me and um

817
01:21:39,940 --> 01:21:42,100
And I said plus you're too late

818
01:21:42,660 --> 01:21:47,700
My bill doesn't need to go every anywhere. I know adidas is always making the effort and I know

819
01:21:48,100 --> 01:21:54,100
Now through a statement a national statement that you should have already on your desk that nike is going to stop buying that stuff

820
01:21:55,460 --> 01:21:57,540
And then that was the end of the

821
01:21:57,540 --> 01:22:05,220
And then that was the end of our communications, but I was shocked that the australian consulate was going out of their way to come after me

822
01:22:05,860 --> 01:22:11,300
For putting a bill that was against the use of an australian product that involved cruelty animal cruelty

823
01:22:12,900 --> 01:22:17,300
It was pretty interesting it was fun in a way because I was like, you know, my father's australian

824
01:22:18,340 --> 01:22:19,700
so

825
01:22:19,700 --> 01:22:22,260
I've never been to australia yet, but i'm not sure I want to go at this point

826
01:22:22,260 --> 01:22:30,740
So yeah, that was an interesting moment. I know adidas is working in that my understanding through somebody who works at adidas

827
01:22:31,380 --> 01:22:35,560
Is that they are intending to go vegan by 2035 or 2040?

828
01:22:36,580 --> 01:22:38,420
So it's in the works as well

829
01:22:38,420 --> 01:22:39,540
uh, I just

830
01:22:39,540 --> 01:22:43,380
I'm surprised they haven't made a public statement yet because the entire vegan world is

831
01:22:43,780 --> 01:22:48,340
Sort of waiting for that and asking adidas especially in new york if they can make a statement

832
01:22:48,340 --> 01:22:53,860
Uh, i'm not against asking them to make a statement. They need to make a statement, but I also know that they're already

833
01:22:54,420 --> 01:23:00,100
Working on that and i'm guilty of having a bunch of shoes that are made of recycled net from the oceans

834
01:23:01,220 --> 01:23:03,380
Ghost nets and ghost nets are the most

835
01:23:04,180 --> 01:23:06,340
Uh, it's it's like a killing machine

836
01:23:07,300 --> 01:23:09,300
That is responsible for a lot of life

837
01:23:10,160 --> 01:23:12,100
disappearing

838
01:23:12,100 --> 01:23:14,100
very fast in the ocean so

839
01:23:14,660 --> 01:23:15,700
um

840
01:23:15,700 --> 01:23:20,660
That that was a collaboration with parley. So a lot of my shoes are adidas with parley collaboration

841
01:23:21,700 --> 01:23:24,180
I think they call it prime knit prime knit

842
01:23:26,900 --> 01:23:32,020
But I invite more people to literally directly contact adidas and ask them what are they planning to be vegan?

843
01:23:34,420 --> 01:23:36,900
And they have the stella macroni line that's already all vegan

844
01:23:37,540 --> 01:23:41,460
Uh, they have the the all the parley stuff, which is all vegan

845
01:23:42,100 --> 01:23:43,700
um

846
01:23:43,700 --> 01:23:45,940
So that's already kind of a big part of their products

847
01:23:46,740 --> 01:23:49,860
So i'm i'm trying to encourage them to just continue

848
01:23:50,500 --> 01:23:55,540
Um, and I know somebody works there that told me that they intend to be full vegan by 2035

849
01:23:55,700 --> 01:23:58,260
They even have this recycling shoes program

850
01:23:58,260 --> 01:24:01,380
Like if you know you're not wearing them anymore and they're just you can send them back

851
01:24:01,460 --> 01:24:05,620
They take them apart and then you rebuild new shoes with the parts that they take apart

852
01:24:07,140 --> 01:24:10,040
So right back from the consumer to the manufacturer

853
01:24:10,040 --> 01:24:15,480
And being remanufactured. I think that's incredible. Not many companies companies do that

854
01:24:15,880 --> 01:24:19,880
But i'm a fan particularly of parley and the small idea of parley.tv. I'm

855
01:24:20,680 --> 01:24:26,440
Giving them a little spot. Uh, they're very supportive of uh of paul. They also were in the danish territories

856
01:24:27,240 --> 01:24:29,240
with their cameras

857
01:24:29,560 --> 01:24:31,560
Vakita is a french news

858
01:24:32,520 --> 01:24:34,520
Uh in social media network

859
01:24:34,520 --> 01:24:40,040
Uh, they're doing pretty good. They're covering paul every time he's there at the going to court case

860
01:24:40,680 --> 01:24:41,560
um

861
01:24:41,560 --> 01:24:44,440
Sea shepherd france, obviously captain paul watson foundation

862
01:24:45,160 --> 01:24:46,280
um

863
01:24:46,280 --> 01:24:50,600
All interesting, uh to support and that's that's where you find the latest information

864
01:24:51,160 --> 01:24:53,160
You can go to the cpwf uk

865
01:24:53,640 --> 01:25:00,920
Uh, they post a lot as well. Um, I tend to stick to cpwf and cpwf uk and sea shepherd france

866
01:25:00,920 --> 01:25:06,360
That's my main source of information vakita and lania the president of sea shepherd france

867
01:25:06,840 --> 01:25:09,080
I mean she is paul number two

868
01:25:10,120 --> 01:25:15,240
She's definitely another force not to reckon with and she's genuine

869
01:25:15,800 --> 01:25:19,560
She's extremely loyal and devoted to paul protective of paul, which is

870
01:25:20,120 --> 01:25:22,120
So appreciated, uh

871
01:25:22,120 --> 01:25:28,120
And based on all the values that we know of paul is a kind man and he's arrested for kindness

872
01:25:28,120 --> 01:25:30,840
And while the criminals are the accusers

873
01:25:31,320 --> 01:25:33,960
Denmark think about that matter frederikson

874
01:25:34,520 --> 01:25:35,720
prime minister

875
01:25:35,720 --> 01:25:37,320
matter frederikson

876
01:25:37,320 --> 01:25:40,520
Uh head of ministry of justice of denmark

877
01:25:41,080 --> 01:25:47,000
Uh peter humboldt think about that because right now it looks like your danish ministry of justice

878
01:25:48,440 --> 01:25:52,120
Is corrupt biased and unfair and unjust

879
01:25:52,120 --> 01:25:56,760
And and david now that you're leaving

880
01:25:57,640 --> 01:26:04,600
The political scene and and resting from this world of corruption and you gave us a window into that

881
01:26:05,320 --> 01:26:06,680
kind of

882
01:26:06,680 --> 01:26:08,360
corruption

883
01:26:08,360 --> 01:26:10,360
Who is replacing you?

884
01:26:11,240 --> 01:26:17,880
No one no one is replacing me, but uh, my replacement on my seat is not some somebody who has the interest of animals

885
01:26:18,040 --> 01:26:19,560
By that I mean

886
01:26:19,560 --> 01:26:22,760
Who is going to take up the fight?

887
01:26:23,560 --> 01:26:25,080
of well

888
01:26:25,080 --> 01:26:29,320
I have I have the so annie hornish as a matter of fact that I mentioned several times

889
01:26:29,640 --> 01:26:34,760
Was a legislator for one term and she managed to create the connecticut animal advocacy caucus

890
01:26:35,080 --> 01:26:38,120
It's a caucus of legislators that are for animal rights

891
01:26:38,600 --> 01:26:40,600
And and you were the chairman of that

892
01:26:41,160 --> 01:26:44,920
Yeah, and so I had 20 democrats and 10 republicans

893
01:26:45,720 --> 01:26:46,920
at least

894
01:26:46,920 --> 01:26:48,520
Uh that were

895
01:26:48,520 --> 01:26:50,520
part of that caucus

896
01:26:50,520 --> 01:26:52,520
And so I was co-chair

897
01:26:52,600 --> 01:26:59,980
I assigned another co-chair was republican nicole claret is ditria. It's it you would not think that but when we're confronting

898
01:27:01,400 --> 01:27:04,520
People either in the caucus or in public hearing

899
01:27:05,080 --> 01:27:10,680
Uh, i'm more like the good cop and she's the bad cop so it and it pleases me because i'm usually the bad cop

900
01:27:11,480 --> 01:27:15,500
Uh, and she she's absolutely phenomenal. We call claret is ditria

901
01:27:15,500 --> 01:27:21,580
Uh, and cathy kennedy two republicans two republican women. They got cornered by the by the bully

902
01:27:22,060 --> 01:27:28,140
Uh hunters of our state they were invited to him to a town hall and there was a trap made by uh

903
01:27:30,140 --> 01:27:34,480
Hunters who tried to bully them two amazing women legislators

904
01:27:35,260 --> 01:27:40,380
And I knew that are republican and that are in favor of protecting animals and then on the democratic side

905
01:27:40,380 --> 01:27:45,180
I need to replace myself or I need to find a replacement somebody that would be strong

906
01:27:45,660 --> 01:27:48,480
And I have an idea of who it is. He was a former chair of environment

907
01:27:49,180 --> 01:27:50,540
um

908
01:27:50,540 --> 01:27:56,460
Uh, he doesn't necessarily told what he does what he's being told which is a virtue in that caucus

909
01:27:57,180 --> 01:27:58,220
um

910
01:27:58,220 --> 01:28:00,460
If they don't want to pass a very good bill that

911
01:28:01,260 --> 01:28:06,140
Probably 90 of connecticut would support then it looks bad on them, but not on the caucus

912
01:28:06,140 --> 01:28:12,060
The caucus is going to continue pushing. So we have like a version of the tip spa, which is basically the uh,

913
01:28:12,620 --> 01:28:13,980
um

914
01:28:13,980 --> 01:28:20,700
Traveling shows with exotic animals. We want to ban this out of connecticut. We are trying to cut cut off the um,

915
01:28:21,740 --> 01:28:28,780
The public meal supply chain in connecticut by banning shops pet shops from selling dogs and cats. We only have

916
01:28:29,900 --> 01:28:35,340
15 now I think 17 or 18 because since new york stopped now they're moving into stemford in my own

917
01:28:35,340 --> 01:28:41,740
Town and in connecticut and so I think we're up to 19 now. We had 12 or 13 when we were fighting

918
01:28:42,300 --> 01:28:44,060
Uh those shops

919
01:28:44,060 --> 01:28:49,500
Um, and we've had difficulty passing that in connecticut for over a decade since before I was there

920
01:28:49,740 --> 01:28:53,340
There's been a fight on banning pet shops and selling dogs and cats

921
01:28:54,140 --> 01:28:56,140
And it still hasn't happened

922
01:28:56,140 --> 01:28:58,140
um

923
01:28:58,140 --> 01:29:01,740
Do ag has been fighting that connecticut do ag has been fighting that

924
01:29:02,460 --> 01:29:03,660
um

925
01:29:03,660 --> 01:29:07,420
So who's going to replace me somebody who is compassionate somebody who is kind?

926
01:29:08,140 --> 01:29:14,060
Uh, and somebody who is not afraid of asking the right questions and that will be the person that will be replacing

927
01:29:14,620 --> 01:29:18,380
Uh, i'm i'm thinking of mike domico state representative mike domico

928
01:29:18,860 --> 01:29:21,740
Um, and he's not from the environmental right circles

929
01:29:22,140 --> 01:29:27,740
But he's been one of our strongest allies in the committee of environment and he used to be the chair of environment and was

930
01:29:28,140 --> 01:29:30,060
He was the one who actually

931
01:29:30,060 --> 01:29:32,060
Helped us pass in the house

932
01:29:32,060 --> 01:29:34,300
Uh the shark fins ban on my first year

933
01:29:35,260 --> 01:29:40,380
It was such a crazy event. They even played videos of sharks on the scorch screens

934
01:29:40,700 --> 01:29:44,380
Nobody knew they were like tv screens. He thought it was like the old school little lights

935
01:29:45,020 --> 01:29:49,500
It was like their tv screens and they were they played videos and they played baby shark

936
01:29:50,220 --> 01:29:52,540
While we had a little pause they played the music from jaws

937
01:29:54,060 --> 01:29:55,820
And the whole general assembly

938
01:29:55,820 --> 01:30:00,460
In the house started laughing. It was quite a phenomenal event in my first year

939
01:30:00,460 --> 01:30:03,740
And we had a lot of fun that year and it was the year before the pandemic

940
01:30:04,460 --> 01:30:06,540
uh

941
01:30:06,540 --> 01:30:11,420
And uh, yeah, and then he was no longer the chair of environment two years two years later

942
01:30:11,900 --> 01:30:19,100
Uh, they put somebody who's more moderate on environment and on animal rights who is actually in favor said himself is in favor of

943
01:30:19,960 --> 01:30:22,700
processing facilities for rabbits and who's been

944
01:30:23,260 --> 01:30:28,380
Kind of in the middle on hunting black bears. He's against but he's not against but he's against and

945
01:30:28,380 --> 01:30:35,040
Uh, unfortunately, he's not been somebody who's been sticking to his word. Joe gresko. My chair of environment has not been sticking to his word

946
01:30:35,600 --> 01:30:38,960
Uh, and hopefully in connecticut people will be putting pressure on him

947
01:30:39,600 --> 01:30:41,600
Particularly from his district

948
01:30:42,320 --> 01:30:48,000
To make sure that they put pressure by the way how you find out who is a legislator in your district

949
01:30:48,400 --> 01:30:50,400
You go to cga.ct.gov

950
01:30:51,760 --> 01:30:56,800
That's connecticut general assembly cga.ct for connecticut.gov for government

951
01:30:56,800 --> 01:30:59,680
And then you uh look for your legislator somewhere

952
01:30:59,680 --> 01:31:02,480
You'll put in the search engine and it'll take you to the right link

953
01:31:02,800 --> 01:31:05,760
You put in your address and you'll find out with your state rep and state senator

954
01:31:07,920 --> 01:31:09,920
I'm i'm so happy

955
01:31:10,240 --> 01:31:14,080
To have had this conversation with you because you're a straight talker

956
01:31:14,640 --> 01:31:19,380
Um, you're not um, you haven't been bought by the the the establishment

957
01:31:20,240 --> 01:31:21,680
um, you

958
01:31:21,680 --> 01:31:23,760
Are truthful you're what?

959
01:31:23,760 --> 01:31:26,720
What we want our politicians to be

960
01:31:27,760 --> 01:31:28,880
we

961
01:31:28,880 --> 01:31:30,880
What's what's you know?

962
01:31:30,800 --> 01:31:35,540
What would you say to animal rights activists or vegans?

963
01:31:36,400 --> 01:31:38,640
Who might be tempted to?

964
01:31:39,440 --> 01:31:40,560
um

965
01:31:40,560 --> 01:31:42,560
You know go into politics

966
01:31:42,800 --> 01:31:48,480
Run run run for politics primary primary. They hate primaries. Everybody hates primaries

967
01:31:48,480 --> 01:31:55,760
They hate primaries then primary them. You don't even have to run a full campaign. You can influence their campaign by putting pressure

968
01:31:56,160 --> 01:31:59,120
You say I will run against you if you don't want me to run

969
01:31:59,520 --> 01:32:05,120
I want you to cover animal rights in your legislation if you don't cover animal rights and if you don't go the right way

970
01:32:05,760 --> 01:32:10,480
Then I will primary you even the next term but uh, so you tell me what you want to do

971
01:32:10,800 --> 01:32:14,080
If not, i'm running against you. I'm putting my name on the ballot. No

972
01:32:15,200 --> 01:32:16,400
No way i'm not

973
01:32:16,400 --> 01:32:20,160
And if you start it's not only about voting. It's before you vote

974
01:32:20,800 --> 01:32:24,240
Putting pressure on the elected officials you want my vote

975
01:32:25,040 --> 01:32:26,880
You want my vote?

976
01:32:26,880 --> 01:32:35,600
Then you take care of animals you take care of human animals and we're fine meaning you take care of protecting animals animal rights

977
01:32:36,240 --> 01:32:39,120
You take care of housing justice you take care about

978
01:32:40,160 --> 01:32:41,920
food access

979
01:32:41,920 --> 01:32:43,520
real equity

980
01:32:43,520 --> 01:32:49,920
Mental health support peer peer to peer support covered by insurance aid in dying and all that stuff

981
01:32:50,800 --> 01:32:55,520
I'm yours. Tell me where you're not supportive of that and I we need to talk about it

982
01:32:57,360 --> 01:33:00,880
Put pressure you cannot you cannot go at them with all your entire agenda

983
01:33:01,040 --> 01:33:05,440
But you can certainly go at them with your top of your agenda and say I will run against you

984
01:33:05,760 --> 01:33:10,320
And you find out everything you need to do to run. You don't have to be endorsed. You can be

985
01:33:10,320 --> 01:33:18,320
Just a troublemaker in the wake and they don't like that. Nobody likes being primary that forces you into uh,

986
01:33:18,880 --> 01:33:25,520
Especially in connecticut that forces you into a campaign in the summer. That means goodbye to your summer

987
01:33:25,840 --> 01:33:27,520
Now you have to knock doors

988
01:33:27,520 --> 01:33:29,440
every day

989
01:33:29,440 --> 01:33:31,360
And if you knock doors every day

990
01:33:31,360 --> 01:33:34,720
You basically do it like this you work during the week after work

991
01:33:34,880 --> 01:33:39,440
You do two three four hours whatever you can put and go knock doors and on the weekends

992
01:33:39,440 --> 01:33:41,440
you do

993
01:33:41,760 --> 01:33:46,800
Saturday you can do from 11 to 5 or 11 to 6. There's a time where you're bothering people

994
01:33:46,800 --> 01:33:48,800
So you might want to figure that out

995
01:33:48,800 --> 01:33:53,040
And then on the sundays, it's less because sundays is more critical people are resting

996
01:33:53,520 --> 01:33:57,520
And so you do like maybe 11 again to maybe 4 or 3 pm

997
01:33:57,520 --> 01:34:00,080
It depends or you can go later and you can go earlier

998
01:34:00,400 --> 01:34:04,880
But if you're going to run and you want them to like shake in their boots

999
01:34:04,880 --> 01:34:08,880
Knock doors because a lot of them don't knock doors and you could win just by knocking doors

1000
01:34:10,720 --> 01:34:13,120
Wonderful you've heard that people run

1001
01:34:14,080 --> 01:34:18,160
Run for office if you work from home if you can work from your phone

1002
01:34:18,720 --> 01:34:20,720
That's an advantage obviously

1003
01:34:21,520 --> 01:34:24,320
If you have a if you're paid salary from

1004
01:34:25,200 --> 01:34:26,320
from

1005
01:34:26,320 --> 01:34:29,680
8 to 8 to 6 it's certainly more difficult

1006
01:34:29,680 --> 01:34:35,040
But you're excused from the legislation when you're at work

1007
01:34:34,000 --> 01:34:37,440
The thing is you want to be there when it's time to vote especially

1008
01:34:38,000 --> 01:34:43,280
but part of the part of your work is the first part of your session is build introductions

1009
01:34:43,920 --> 01:34:49,760
And through committees and everybody every legislator is a part of in connecticut three committees

1010
01:34:51,040 --> 01:34:55,440
I was an environment planning and development which is zoning and transportation

1011
01:34:55,440 --> 01:35:00,160
I did I was kicked out of public health not kicked out officially but

1012
01:35:01,600 --> 01:35:06,800
Because I was gonna I was gonna actually change some some big bills that the speaker at the time wanted sorry

1013
01:35:07,600 --> 01:35:08,560
I was not

1014
01:35:08,560 --> 01:35:13,760
Very welcomed in public health although I was doing a heck of a job and I was pushing for really good bills in public health

1015
01:35:15,280 --> 01:35:22,000
So you know you pick your three committees your areas of interest clearly environment animal rights is going to be environment

1016
01:35:22,000 --> 01:35:25,680
You can put public safety or you could put judiciary and things like that

1017
01:35:26,320 --> 01:35:28,320
You have three committees of cognizance

1018
01:35:29,120 --> 01:35:33,200
The bills go through the system and they're discussed by the committee then if

1019
01:35:34,000 --> 01:35:37,680
If if you're strong enough at pushing for your bill, then they get a public hearing

1020
01:35:38,240 --> 01:35:41,360
Or a bill to get a public hearing in its first year is a huge step already

1021
01:35:42,080 --> 01:35:47,120
And then and then it could die or then you could save it and make sure that it goes out of committee more

1022
01:35:47,280 --> 01:35:48,560
That's the first half

1023
01:35:48,560 --> 01:35:53,280
If it comes out of committee now, it's going to be called in the house or the senate chamber wherever it started from

1024
01:35:54,160 --> 01:35:56,960
And then it's going to be called in both chambers and that's the other half

1025
01:35:57,600 --> 01:36:03,520
Of the session. So that half of the session, which is usually we only have six months session in connecticut shame on us

1026
01:36:04,240 --> 01:36:05,680
Not a full year

1027
01:36:05,680 --> 01:36:10,720
So typically on the long session you're really at the capital four or five times a week

1028
01:36:11,520 --> 01:36:13,520
only in the end of session, which is

1029
01:36:13,520 --> 01:36:20,320
End of april the whole month of may and early june and then it's over. That's it and starts in mid january

1030
01:36:21,200 --> 01:36:28,560
And and let me ask you if people have questions or need oh come back me. Yes email cell phone fine

1031
01:36:28,560 --> 01:36:34,800
You're fine to share both my cell phone number is nine one four eight. Four three seven five four five

1032
01:36:35,440 --> 01:36:38,000
You have it in my email and then you can share it with your friends

1033
01:36:38,000 --> 01:36:44,320
914-843-7545 uh, you have it in my email and then my uh,

1034
01:36:44,720 --> 01:36:49,860
My personal email free to use they can use my government email if it's about government stuff in connecticut

1035
01:36:50,400 --> 01:36:51,760
um

1036
01:36:51,760 --> 01:36:56,880
Which is david dot my last name michelle m i c h e l at

1037
01:36:57,980 --> 01:37:04,960
cga.ct.gov cga for the connecticut general assembly and uh, everybody's welcome to send me emails

1038
01:37:04,960 --> 01:37:10,100
I answer i'm responsive. I've always been responsive. Uh, you know somebody who's falling to homelessness

1039
01:37:10,880 --> 01:37:12,880
Please email me immediately

1040
01:37:13,680 --> 01:37:15,680
in connecticut

1041
01:37:16,800 --> 01:37:21,620
Anything housing access whatever issues, uh bullying

1042
01:37:25,040 --> 01:37:29,440
Whatever i'm here to help until the end of december first week of january

1043
01:37:30,240 --> 01:37:32,320
And then I resume my personal life

1044
01:37:32,320 --> 01:37:34,320
And my activism

1045
01:37:35,020 --> 01:37:37,600
Wonderful. Thank you so much david

1046
01:37:38,320 --> 01:37:44,080
Um, thank you for having answered my questions. Thank you for all of your great great work in politics

1047
01:37:44,560 --> 01:37:45,680
and

1048
01:37:45,680 --> 01:37:50,080
Uh, of course, you're always welcome to come back on the show. Thank you everyone for listening

1049
01:37:50,560 --> 01:37:57,600
I kindly invite you to share this podcast with the vegans, you know, let's encourage more people to take action

1050
01:37:57,600 --> 01:38:03,220
Again, thank you so much for caring and I will see you next tuesday for a new episode

1051
01:38:27,600 --> 01:38:29,600
You