WEBVTT

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This episode is sponsored by TeamBuildr, yet

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another company that's doing great things for

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the first responder community. As a strength

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and conditioning coach myself who also trains

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tactical athletes, dissemination of wellness

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information is one of the biggest challenges.

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Now TeamBuildr is the premier strength and conditioning

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software for tactical athletes and there are

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several features that really impress me. Firstly,

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there is a full exercise library. So you, the

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personal trainer, does not have to create that

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within your own department. Secondly, you can

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send out programming, but also individualize,

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which I love. So you blanket program for everyone.

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Now you can tweak based on someone's injury,

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someone's need to maybe drop some body composition,

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rather than having to write a program for every

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single person on their own. TeamBuilder also

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allows you to build custom questionnaires to

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collate health and wellness data. It integrates

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with wearables. And I think one of the most important

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things is obviously it tracks. To me, it's imperative

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that we as a profession start tracking our people

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from day one and then over the full span of their

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career, therefore catching potential wellness

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issues and injuries before they happen. Now,

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if you want to try TeamBuildr, they are offering

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you, the audience of the Behind the Shield podcast,

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a free 14 -day trial to experience all of the

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features. And if you want to take a deeper dive

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into Teambuildr listen to episode 1032 with

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Melissa Mercado or go to teambuilder .com. And

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I'll spell that to you because it's not as you

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think, T -E -A -M -B -U -I -L -D -R .com. Welcome

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to the Behind the Shield podcast. As always,

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my name is James Gearing, and this week it is

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my absolute honor to welcome back for the third

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time Chicago emergency physician and humanitarian,

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Dr. Thayer Ahmad. Now, for those of you who listened

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to this for a while, Thayer first came on on

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episode 892 at the beginning of 2024. He then,

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for the second time, was on at 948, and this

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is the third conversation. I'm going to put my

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hand on my heart and say that he is probably

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the person I trust the most to give a simple

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middle of the road, humanitarian compassion view

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on all things Gaza. In the first conversation,

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he talked about the community that he saw in

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Jerusalem with Jews and Christians and Muslims

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praying side by side. So this is a man who spent

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his life trying to save lives here in the US

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and, of course, doing the same thing in Gaza

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on humanitarian trips. So in this third conversation,

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we discuss a host of topics. The health care

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crisis we're enduring here in the US. The impact

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of lobbyists paying politicians on the health

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and even mortality of the US population. the

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mass starvation that is happening through the

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blocking of humanitarian aid in Gaza, the 15

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paramedics and firefighters that were murdered

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by Israeli forces that was ultimately denied

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and when video surfaced they had to acknowledge,

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how the people of Israel seem to be rising up

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and opposing the war, which is extremely hopeful,

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and so much more. Now, before we get to this

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incredible conversation, like I say every week,

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please just take a moment, go to whichever app

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you listen to this on, subscribe to the show,

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leave feedback, and leave a rating. Every single

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five -star rating truly does elevate this podcast,

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therefore making it easier for others to find.

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And this is a free library of well over 1 ,000

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episodes now. So all I ask in return is that

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you help share these incredible men and women's

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stories so I can get them to every single person

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on planet Earth who needs to hear them. And one

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more note, Thea talks about the search for stem

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cells for a very, very sick seven -year -old

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girl. If you are listening and you fit the criteria,

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please, please, please go to the website and

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see if you are a match. So with that being said,

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I welcome back onto the show. Dr. Thea Ahmad.

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Enjoy. Well, Thea, I want to start by saying...

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Firstly, thank you so much for coming back on.

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This will be our third conversation on the Behind

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the Shield podcast today. Thank you for having

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me. I always love coming on and having lively

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discussions. So where on planet Earth are we

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finding you this time? I'm back in Chicago in

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the southwest suburbs right now. Well, staying

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on domestic soil for a moment, I have just...

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I'm navigating still out of this latest flu.

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And from what I'm seeing, you know, for the other

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people, from what I'm seeing in myself, this

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one is fricking awful. And it seems to have really,

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you know, have quite an impact, but I'm talking

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at my, my kind of world is a lot of healthy people,

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a lot of athletes. So they're bouncing back from

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it, but just to kind of underline, I'm sure partly

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again, it's my own immune system. I'd been traveling

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quite a bit on planes. There was jet lag. So

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I was probably more vulnerable, but. I had an

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infection that I just could not shift. And I

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took antibiotics for the first time and it's

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probably been two plus decades. So talk to me

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about what are you seeing as far as this way?

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Because obviously, you know, a few years ago,

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a variant came through and it was on every news

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channel and there was a little ticker in the

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corner. And then after that, obviously, there

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was no discussion of making Americans healthier

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and addressing the obesity crisis. But I'm wondering

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again now what the impact of this, because of

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all the ones you've had recently, this seems

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to be a pretty brutal strain that we're dealing

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with at the moment. Yeah, I mean, you're seeing

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a ton of people coming through the emergency

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department, people who just feel like they're

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not getting better. So, you know, they're doing

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everything that they're supposed to be doing

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the first few days. They're trying to get better.

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They're trying to stay hydrated. They're trying

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to get good rest. But they're just not feeling

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back to their self 100 percent. People still

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spiking fevers or having chills. People can't

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kick a cough. There's even people who are talking

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about. you know, having GI symptoms, you know,

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multiple episodes of diarrhea or not able to

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keep any food or drink down or not having any

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appetite and losing, you know, losing a lot of

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weight. Also, you know, in my house, my daughter,

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too, she's been at home for the last few days,

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just, you know, high grade fevers, not feeling

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well. And it's tough. I mean, we're definitely

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seeing that. And it causes this huge strain in

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the emergency department, too. I mean, that's

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why. You know, you might show up and you sprained

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your ankle or you've broken your wrist and you're

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trying to just get checked out real quick or

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get a quick x -ray. And that turns into a 12

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hour stay in our waiting room. It's because,

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you know, there's just a massive influx of people

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who are trying to get checked out because they've

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just got this virus from hell that they're not

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able to kick. And, you know, it's it definitely

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yeah, it definitely I think a lot of people were

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worried about because we were most. Kids are

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also going on spring break. People are traveling,

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people are in the airports, people are in these

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planes and stuff. And so I think, you know, it's

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yeah, definitely. I think one of my friends who

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owns like kind of a wellness clinic, he's was,

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you know, just talking about, hey, come through

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if you want to get some, you know, some IV hydration

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or, you know, take some extra vitamins. You know,

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it's just everybody's everybody's feeling it,

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you know, and so. Definitely, it was a brutal

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one for sure. What about on the mortality side

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with our more vulnerable population? Are you

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seeing a lot of deaths from this too? You know,

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you are seeing pneumonia develop. I mean, I was

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working in the ER last night and we definitely

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had somebody who was actively getting chemotherapy.

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They actually, you know, tested positive on our

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virus panel for a virus, but then subsequently,

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you know, I did develop a pneumonia, which...

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You know, again, a lot of people will probably

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be able to handle a good course of some antibiotics

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would be all right. But once you get into these

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vulnerable populations, it's a lot more serious.

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I mean, the mortality does go up. These people

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need to be hospitalized. They need to watch closely

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that they're, you know, at least that they're,

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you know, they don't need any sort of oxygen

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support and doesn't turn into something a lot

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more serious than just, you know, walking pneumonia.

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So you definitely that's that's who you worry

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about. Of course, you know, those are the people

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that you start to think about and you worry about

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and you want to get out there. But, you know,

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I think it's it's interesting, too, because I

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feel like it also hasn't gotten the kind of coverage

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that we've seen in the past with respect to,

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hey, there's this gnarly thing going around.

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And, you know, this is what everybody's dealing

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with. And it's like sweeping schools and all

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this. I don't think we're seeing that as much.

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I think there's a lot going on current events

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wise, and that's probably the case. But again,

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this has real impacts on everyday lives of people.

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Everybody knows somebody who may be immunocompromised.

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Everybody has somebody that they love or that

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they interact with that may have had a kidney

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transplant or may be on dialysis or may be getting

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up there in age or is a cancer survivor. So you

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always want to make sure everybody's aware and

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informed. For God's sake, if you are sick, don't

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go to a party. Don't go to a birthday party and,

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you know, don't offer anybody any, you know,

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any part of your drink or food. Have you seen

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that show on HBO called The Pit? Yeah, I've seen

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clips of it. Yeah, it is. I've got to say it's

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an excellent, excellent show. I've seen numerous

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times, you know, physicians, paramedics, etc.

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They said, I've been watching it waiting, waiting

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for them to screw up. And he said, and I'm still

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waiting. Apart from them having to obviously

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explain through the dialogue that you wouldn't

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normally do the procedures they're doing. Why

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are you doing an IO? Well, I'm trying to get

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IV fluids into the bone. It's really well done.

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But one of the things that's beautiful about

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it is the hallways are packed. Triage is packed.

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And that was what was such a disservice during

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COVID as these journalists were saying, oh, it's

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so bad that the hallways at the hospitals are

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packed. And we're all going, well, wait a second.

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That's like every day in a city hospital. What

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are you talking about? And I'm sure now, as you

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mentioned, I'm assuming your triage and your

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hallways are probably full of medics and people

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waiting to be seen. Oh, absolutely. I mean, there's

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a national crisis, James, that's gotten worse

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and worse. Anybody that's kind of walked through

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or interfaced in an emergency department knows

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how terrible it can be where somebody's kind

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of been in the hallway for 10 hours waiting for

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a bed upstairs in the hospital. But right now,

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it's probably the worst that we've seen in a

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very long time. In fact, the American College

00:11:03.879 --> 00:11:06.720
of Emergency Physicians at the end of this month

00:11:06.720 --> 00:11:09.980
will be going to D .C. to lobby, you know, and

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just try to figure out how we can fix this crisis.

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Because at the end of the day, if there's people

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stuck in your waiting room who are not being

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seen, then you are going to have an increase

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in mortality. People will suffer as a result

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of that. And you'll have complications that shouldn't

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happen. And I'll say, you know, one other thing,

00:11:25.679 --> 00:11:28.980
too, is, you know, with respect to that is we've

00:11:28.980 --> 00:11:31.539
got instead what we have as administrators for

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big hospital systems. Guys who have never been

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in the back of a rig, have never put on some

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scrubs, never put an IV in a patient, never put

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in and never drilled in an IO. We've got guys

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who went and got their MBAs who are coming through

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and see that problem. And instead of trying to

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address it seriously and try to figure out what's

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the best way we can serve our patients. Instead,

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they're looking at how to cut hours of nurses

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and physicians, how to make sure that, you know,

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there is that these like you can you can really

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I call it cooking the books, because what they

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want to do is just say like, oh, look, my doctors

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are seeing this many people per hour. But you're

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not talking about the fact that you're not you're

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not you don't have enough doctors or my nurses

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are out here and we can they can see. You know,

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we can assign them six or seven patients per

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nurse, but you're not talking about how dangerous

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that is for a nurse to have to deal with that

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many patients. So it's a serious problem. And

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I think people who don't have that knowledge

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base, who aren't in the field, you know, we talk

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about this in humanitarian relief. You're not

00:12:32.019 --> 00:12:33.580
in the field, but you're making these crucial

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decisions that affect everybody involved. And

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so it's very frustrating, really frustrating

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time in health. yeah i mean we had that even

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the fire service like the last place i worked

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at no one in the upper echelon the chief level

00:12:46.279 --> 00:12:49.759
had ever done fire and ems combined and the top

00:12:49.759 --> 00:12:52.779
two were fire prevention and dispatch in charge

00:12:52.779 --> 00:12:55.559
of an entire fire department so i've lived it

00:12:55.559 --> 00:12:57.740
i've seen it and it's it's insane it's funny

00:12:57.740 --> 00:13:01.500
back to the pit they have an administrator and

00:13:01.500 --> 00:13:04.080
they actually tell that story too and he's like

00:13:04.080 --> 00:13:05.600
your ratings you got to improve your ratings

00:13:05.600 --> 00:13:08.070
he's like well If you got people beds and we

00:13:08.070 --> 00:13:09.649
wouldn't have people waiting for 10 hours and

00:13:09.649 --> 00:13:11.769
three hours, your ratings would go up. So it's

00:13:11.769 --> 00:13:13.710
kind of interesting because they wove that in

00:13:13.710 --> 00:13:14.990
deliberately, which I thought was phenomenal.

00:13:15.750 --> 00:13:20.549
Yeah. And not to not to kind of get too controversial

00:13:20.549 --> 00:13:24.250
here, but there's something to be said when you

00:13:24.250 --> 00:13:26.629
were basically allowing health care in this country.

00:13:27.149 --> 00:13:30.009
uh to be kind of follow the same rules of any

00:13:30.009 --> 00:13:31.889
other corporation or business where it's like

00:13:31.889 --> 00:13:34.090
hey it's we've got shareholders we want to make

00:13:34.090 --> 00:13:35.789
sure that the bottom line is being met that the

00:13:35.789 --> 00:13:39.470
profit loss sheets look okay you know uh i can

00:13:39.470 --> 00:13:41.649
understand that for maybe like clinics or stuff

00:13:41.649 --> 00:13:44.149
but when you're talking about people who are

00:13:44.149 --> 00:13:46.750
sicker i mean you've got to just we've got to

00:13:46.750 --> 00:13:49.210
bring the human aspect of this back you know

00:13:49.210 --> 00:13:52.070
not saying that other systems are better But,

00:13:52.070 --> 00:13:54.509
you know, the fact that that bias or that influence

00:13:54.509 --> 00:13:56.309
is there where it's really about making some

00:13:56.309 --> 00:13:58.029
money and, you know, like, I mean, sometimes

00:13:58.029 --> 00:14:00.509
they talk about, you know, how patients they'll

00:14:00.509 --> 00:14:03.110
come into the ER and there's a length of stay.

00:14:03.190 --> 00:14:04.610
And we want to make sure that we're turning over

00:14:04.610 --> 00:14:06.970
quickly. Somebody's not staying in a hospital

00:14:06.970 --> 00:14:08.690
bed too long. Somebody's not staying in the ER

00:14:08.690 --> 00:14:10.950
bed too long. Like this is not a restaurant.

00:14:11.110 --> 00:14:12.570
You know, it's not the Olive Garden where you

00:14:12.570 --> 00:14:14.289
want to kind of get people in and out. And that

00:14:14.289 --> 00:14:16.129
way you can seat more customers. I mean, but

00:14:16.129 --> 00:14:18.129
that's, you know, that's that's who's running

00:14:18.129 --> 00:14:20.320
the show right now. I wouldn't have the endless

00:14:20.320 --> 00:14:21.960
breadsticks in the ER anyway, I've got to be

00:14:21.960 --> 00:14:27.940
honest. Yes. Fried turkey sandwich. Well, it's

00:14:27.940 --> 00:14:30.139
interesting. So talking about solutions, firstly,

00:14:30.279 --> 00:14:34.200
what was totally predictable yet still disappointing

00:14:34.200 --> 00:14:40.240
is one of the people that was brought on as the

00:14:40.240 --> 00:14:43.559
election team for this current president was,

00:14:43.820 --> 00:14:45.740
oh, let's bring in this guy talking about the

00:14:45.740 --> 00:14:47.960
nation's health. Let's make America healthy again.

00:14:48.590 --> 00:14:50.789
now it's i don't know i'm pretty sure he's been

00:14:50.789 --> 00:14:53.190
in office for quite a long time now and all i've

00:14:53.190 --> 00:14:55.289
heard is greenland and plastic straws so far

00:14:55.289 --> 00:14:57.970
and of course let's support israel and gaza and

00:14:57.970 --> 00:15:01.090
we'll get to that but you know where first so

00:15:01.090 --> 00:15:02.769
where is that conversation and we talked about

00:15:02.769 --> 00:15:05.590
this before i'm sure last time but in covid what

00:15:05.590 --> 00:15:08.070
a beautiful captive audience what an amazing

00:15:08.070 --> 00:15:10.629
opportunity to turn the obesity crisis around

00:15:10.629 --> 00:15:13.529
and it was completely disregarded and you don't

00:15:13.529 --> 00:15:16.129
have to be a genius to figure out And if the

00:15:16.129 --> 00:15:18.549
people paying for your campaign are the fast

00:15:18.549 --> 00:15:21.289
food companies and the drug companies, how much

00:15:21.289 --> 00:15:23.549
effort are you really going to put into making

00:15:23.549 --> 00:15:27.370
Americans healthy when there's no profit in dead

00:15:27.370 --> 00:15:29.429
Americans, there's no profit in healthy Americans,

00:15:29.649 --> 00:15:32.509
but there's a huge profit in sick Americans.

00:15:32.710 --> 00:15:35.830
And that's what we see. Yeah. I mean, you know,

00:15:35.850 --> 00:15:37.750
this is something that I think people really,

00:15:37.809 --> 00:15:40.649
really should start to. start to focus on because

00:15:40.649 --> 00:15:42.730
it's playing out and has played out not just

00:15:42.730 --> 00:15:44.389
in this administration it's played out in every

00:15:44.389 --> 00:15:46.850
administration like you've kind of said but special

00:15:46.850 --> 00:15:50.929
interests will eventually harm the American public.

00:15:51.169 --> 00:15:54.490
And if, you know, instead of having professionals

00:15:54.490 --> 00:15:56.470
who are sort of leading this, leaders who have

00:15:56.470 --> 00:15:59.110
been in the field, people who are not compromised

00:15:59.110 --> 00:16:02.350
by getting a paycheck or a consulting fee from

00:16:02.350 --> 00:16:04.529
some big corporation, regardless of what space

00:16:04.529 --> 00:16:06.690
that they're in, you know, if instead you have

00:16:06.690 --> 00:16:08.610
people who have dedicated their lives to this

00:16:08.610 --> 00:16:10.649
and care about it and, you know, obviously have

00:16:10.649 --> 00:16:13.269
the track record, you've got all of these other

00:16:13.269 --> 00:16:16.559
individuals. it just doesn't it's just not working

00:16:16.559 --> 00:16:19.480
the system is broken people are not getting healthier

00:16:19.480 --> 00:16:22.960
and we do have this massive crisis i really thought

00:16:22.960 --> 00:16:25.740
covid was going to be a pivotal point but instead

00:16:25.740 --> 00:16:28.779
it just became this really political and polarizing

00:16:28.779 --> 00:16:31.259
debate i thought we would for covid we talk about

00:16:31.259 --> 00:16:34.419
how come you know we would talk about okay what

00:16:34.419 --> 00:16:37.220
does it mean to have health care is there a right

00:16:37.220 --> 00:16:39.879
to health care for people you know maybe that's

00:16:39.879 --> 00:16:41.980
a You know, maybe that's universal health care.

00:16:42.019 --> 00:16:43.559
Maybe that's making sure everybody that, you

00:16:43.559 --> 00:16:45.879
know, is able to have access to health care.

00:16:45.960 --> 00:16:48.659
Maybe it's talking about kids growing up, making

00:16:48.659 --> 00:16:51.860
sure that they have the education about making

00:16:51.860 --> 00:16:53.779
sure that, you know, what's a nutritious meal

00:16:53.779 --> 00:16:56.120
and what's, you know, giving people that sort

00:16:56.120 --> 00:16:59.080
of education. And instead it became a, you know,

00:16:59.080 --> 00:17:01.539
it became, it spiraled into this really heavy

00:17:01.539 --> 00:17:04.079
political debate and, you know, filled with conspiracy

00:17:04.079 --> 00:17:07.160
theories, but also ignoring the actual, some

00:17:07.160 --> 00:17:09.039
of the actual problems. Like who was at risk

00:17:09.039 --> 00:17:10.880
during COVID? Everybody knows obesity was one

00:17:10.880 --> 00:17:13.279
of the risk factors that meant if you got COVID

00:17:13.279 --> 00:17:15.339
and you didn't do so well, you were probably

00:17:15.339 --> 00:17:17.079
one, you know, there was a chance that you were

00:17:17.079 --> 00:17:19.940
obese, but nobody's talking about that. So it's

00:17:19.940 --> 00:17:22.140
really frustrating. And now you've got, I know

00:17:22.140 --> 00:17:26.670
a lot of people really kind of, were singing

00:17:26.670 --> 00:17:29.329
the praises of Robert Kennedy with respect to

00:17:29.329 --> 00:17:31.170
what he was talking about with healthy foods.

00:17:31.250 --> 00:17:33.349
And I think there's so many, I think at the end

00:17:33.349 --> 00:17:35.809
of the day, look at what the guy is saying on

00:17:35.809 --> 00:17:37.430
some things, right? Some things he was saying,

00:17:37.450 --> 00:17:39.670
you're like, okay, hey, this kind of makes sense.

00:17:39.730 --> 00:17:42.369
He's talking about artificial stuff in foods

00:17:42.369 --> 00:17:44.029
and series. You're like, okay, this is all great.

00:17:44.509 --> 00:17:47.170
But at the end of the day too, he's not somebody

00:17:47.170 --> 00:17:50.359
who... you know he he's not somebody who has

00:17:50.359 --> 00:17:52.920
this background that i necessarily trust when

00:17:52.920 --> 00:17:54.920
it comes to feel like have you interacted with

00:17:54.920 --> 00:17:57.779
human beings have you been there on the ground

00:17:57.779 --> 00:18:00.440
trying to treat people have you lost a patient

00:18:00.440 --> 00:18:02.500
or have you lost somebody when you were trying

00:18:02.500 --> 00:18:06.339
to save them he didn't he that's not him and

00:18:06.339 --> 00:18:09.079
you know instead um you know he's got all of

00:18:09.079 --> 00:18:10.680
these things where he wants to talk you know

00:18:10.680 --> 00:18:12.619
he's dealing it's kind of crazy he's dealing

00:18:12.619 --> 00:18:15.480
with the measles outbreak in texas but He's got

00:18:15.480 --> 00:18:18.480
his very controversial positions on childhood

00:18:18.480 --> 00:18:22.500
vaccines. I saw it just right before we sat down.

00:18:22.559 --> 00:18:24.819
I think it was maybe only a few hours ago. Apparently,

00:18:24.819 --> 00:18:27.380
he has publicly said that he's behind the MMR

00:18:27.380 --> 00:18:30.759
vaccine now. Yeah, exactly. He said everybody

00:18:30.759 --> 00:18:32.000
should get it, and that's the way we're going

00:18:32.000 --> 00:18:35.019
to get rid of this, which is, as somebody who

00:18:35.019 --> 00:18:41.069
has seen epidemics break out globally, There's

00:18:41.069 --> 00:18:43.190
some things that just work, regardless of what

00:18:43.190 --> 00:18:45.910
the politics about situations may be. And for

00:18:45.910 --> 00:18:48.750
him, I think he's starting to realize that. But

00:18:48.750 --> 00:18:52.490
again, he's not somebody that I think is suited

00:18:52.490 --> 00:18:54.710
for that position, but that's the position that

00:18:54.710 --> 00:18:56.690
he got. And one of the things that he talked

00:18:56.690 --> 00:19:00.670
about, too, was he used the roles for really

00:19:00.670 --> 00:19:02.910
some bizarre political thing where he said, I

00:19:02.910 --> 00:19:05.529
think, something about anti -Israel stuff. is

00:19:05.529 --> 00:19:07.309
a public health crisis or something like that.

00:19:07.329 --> 00:19:09.470
You're like, you know, as Americans, we've got

00:19:09.470 --> 00:19:11.170
a ton of public health crises right now that

00:19:11.170 --> 00:19:13.650
we need to be focusing on. And it's like, you

00:19:13.650 --> 00:19:15.210
know, it's frustrating. And then now we've got

00:19:15.210 --> 00:19:18.970
Dr. Oz who might be, you know, or he was confirmed

00:19:18.970 --> 00:19:21.990
as the center for Medicaid and Medicare services.

00:19:22.109 --> 00:19:24.349
He's going to be like heading that up. That's

00:19:24.349 --> 00:19:26.769
going to be his job. And, you know, Dr. Oz is,

00:19:26.849 --> 00:19:30.269
you know, was a medical doctor, but I think he

00:19:30.269 --> 00:19:33.609
was a talk show host. I think for the last. 10

00:19:33.609 --> 00:19:36.150
or 15 years. And when you're talking about stuff

00:19:36.150 --> 00:19:38.029
like Medicare and Medicaid and getting people

00:19:38.029 --> 00:19:39.869
covered and services that need to be covered,

00:19:39.930 --> 00:19:41.730
again, he's not somebody that I want in that

00:19:41.730 --> 00:19:45.329
role, but it sucks because it's just a continuation

00:19:45.329 --> 00:19:47.069
of kind of what we're seeing. These are people

00:19:47.069 --> 00:19:50.710
who I would say don't have the interests of the

00:19:50.710 --> 00:19:53.470
American public at heart. And I would say that

00:19:53.470 --> 00:19:57.789
you can notice that for as long as either of

00:19:57.789 --> 00:20:00.130
us have been alive in this, when it comes to

00:20:00.130 --> 00:20:02.180
this country, that's always been the case. It's

00:20:02.180 --> 00:20:04.579
just not people who you want in these roles.

00:20:05.460 --> 00:20:07.519
Well, I think what's sad is if you just look

00:20:07.519 --> 00:20:10.759
at other countries and mine would be a good example,

00:20:10.900 --> 00:20:13.779
but the NHS has been kind of picked apart, you

00:20:13.779 --> 00:20:17.319
know, and half privatized and poorly supported.

00:20:17.880 --> 00:20:20.119
But at its core, I mean, I would say that the

00:20:20.119 --> 00:20:22.819
NHS is the best health care system on the planet

00:20:22.819 --> 00:20:25.000
when it's supported. Because if you think about

00:20:25.000 --> 00:20:28.230
it, if you have a tax based system. And it's

00:20:28.230 --> 00:20:30.369
not a profit based system like we have here where

00:20:30.369 --> 00:20:33.329
you make money from sick people. Then if you

00:20:33.329 --> 00:20:35.849
have a tax based system, your sole goal is to

00:20:35.849 --> 00:20:37.950
make your nation as healthy as possible. So you

00:20:37.950 --> 00:20:40.349
don't use much of that pot of money from that

00:20:40.349 --> 00:20:42.990
everyone's chipped in through taxes. And instead

00:20:42.990 --> 00:20:45.269
now, sadly, we're seeing England's not too far

00:20:45.269 --> 00:20:47.829
behind the UK, the US, excuse me, and the obesity.

00:20:47.970 --> 00:20:49.970
Now, every time I go home, I'm shocked because

00:20:49.970 --> 00:20:52.750
we used to be a really healthy nation. So let's

00:20:52.750 --> 00:20:55.269
move that aside. Great philosophy, poorly executed

00:20:55.269 --> 00:20:58.420
the last 10 years. And let's go to Scandinavia.

00:20:58.720 --> 00:21:01.359
Why are so many of them in great shape? Portugal

00:21:01.359 --> 00:21:04.359
actually is a good example as well. So there

00:21:04.359 --> 00:21:06.619
are so many examples of how to do it right. It's

00:21:06.619 --> 00:21:08.619
not like we're fumbling around. The whole world

00:21:08.619 --> 00:21:11.099
is obese and none of us can figure it out. We

00:21:11.099 --> 00:21:13.240
know how to fix it. We know the best healthcare

00:21:13.240 --> 00:21:16.599
systems. But the problem is, as we pointed to,

00:21:16.759 --> 00:21:20.460
it's never about the people. Because if it was,

00:21:20.559 --> 00:21:22.900
there would be a nuanced conversation. Yes, some

00:21:22.900 --> 00:21:26.220
vaccines are invaluable, but some vaccines are

00:21:26.220 --> 00:21:28.880
predatory. Some companies are trying to ram vaccines

00:21:28.880 --> 00:21:30.519
down your kids' throats that you don't need.

00:21:30.680 --> 00:21:32.519
But there are certain ones that you do need.

00:21:32.599 --> 00:21:35.299
It's a nuanced conversation. But the same with,

00:21:35.339 --> 00:21:38.160
you know, COVID. Where was, all right, we need

00:21:38.160 --> 00:21:40.059
to put real food back in schools. We're going

00:21:40.059 --> 00:21:42.779
to reinstate all PE programs. We're going to

00:21:42.779 --> 00:21:45.859
support local farmers to grow organic food. We're

00:21:45.859 --> 00:21:48.480
going to work on pedestrianizing downtowns. You

00:21:48.480 --> 00:21:50.019
know, I mean, there's so many you could do. I'm

00:21:50.019 --> 00:21:51.319
an idiot. And I just came up with four off the

00:21:51.319 --> 00:21:54.259
top of my head. So, you know. that there's it's

00:21:54.259 --> 00:21:56.900
the fact that it's so actionable and so preventable

00:21:56.900 --> 00:22:00.339
and yet all it is is just aversion to the topic

00:22:00.339 --> 00:22:03.299
shows you the lack of interest and to be very

00:22:03.299 --> 00:22:06.240
fair like this is this goes back 20 30 years

00:22:06.240 --> 00:22:08.200
that we've been getting fatter and sicker so

00:22:08.200 --> 00:22:10.519
that's either side of the aisle over and over

00:22:10.519 --> 00:22:12.720
again so it was never about the american people

00:22:12.720 --> 00:22:15.420
it was always about the money 100 i mean that's

00:22:15.420 --> 00:22:17.579
the you know for us in the in the united states

00:22:17.579 --> 00:22:20.599
the bottom line is special interests cannot have

00:22:20.599 --> 00:22:22.400
the access and influence that they have over

00:22:22.400 --> 00:22:25.079
elected officials. If you're big pharma, there

00:22:25.079 --> 00:22:27.059
is no reason you should have a special relationship

00:22:27.059 --> 00:22:30.380
with a congressman or a senator or be able to

00:22:30.380 --> 00:22:33.960
spend however much money on any sort of campaign

00:22:33.960 --> 00:22:37.480
or race. And it goes the same for so many different

00:22:37.480 --> 00:22:40.039
groups. There's one thing that I think we should

00:22:40.039 --> 00:22:45.079
mention. you know, capitalistic society that

00:22:45.079 --> 00:22:47.920
can work in our favor with respect to these companies

00:22:47.920 --> 00:22:50.599
that are competing when it comes to, you know,

00:22:50.599 --> 00:22:53.779
research and development. Yes, when pharmaceutical

00:22:53.779 --> 00:22:56.099
companies are competing to get a better drug

00:22:56.099 --> 00:22:59.220
for diabetes or hypertension, it's a good thing

00:22:59.220 --> 00:23:00.799
because they're competing with each other and

00:23:00.799 --> 00:23:03.640
they may develop a good drug. But when you're

00:23:03.640 --> 00:23:06.140
in the system now where suddenly you've kind

00:23:06.140 --> 00:23:08.140
of developed that drug, that's when the evil

00:23:08.140 --> 00:23:10.789
starts to creep in. the drug is developed now

00:23:10.789 --> 00:23:13.109
you're trying to push it to everybody now no

00:23:13.109 --> 00:23:14.950
matter what you want to make sure it's being

00:23:14.950 --> 00:23:17.190
prescribed it's no longer now developing the

00:23:17.190 --> 00:23:19.390
best product it's more about getting it out there

00:23:19.390 --> 00:23:21.829
and making sure that in every american household

00:23:21.829 --> 00:23:24.190
it's in the medicine cabinet and you know that's

00:23:24.190 --> 00:23:28.430
that's why i think the nhs and you know prior

00:23:28.430 --> 00:23:31.230
to uh kind of the dismantling that's happening

00:23:31.230 --> 00:23:34.859
now right you remove that incentive To put it

00:23:34.859 --> 00:23:36.519
in, you know, where you're like, hey, this is

00:23:36.519 --> 00:23:38.099
the bottom line is the most important thing.

00:23:38.220 --> 00:23:40.799
Let's kind of get the revenues up. Instead, like

00:23:40.799 --> 00:23:43.900
you said, if this is all based on the country's,

00:23:43.900 --> 00:23:46.660
you know, yours is based on taxes, you are, again,

00:23:46.759 --> 00:23:49.240
it's really about preventative care. It's really

00:23:49.240 --> 00:23:51.119
about that sort of primary care, making sure

00:23:51.119 --> 00:23:53.579
everybody has that primary doctor and they're

00:23:53.579 --> 00:23:55.579
staying on top of it. And if they've got a family

00:23:55.579 --> 00:23:58.140
history of diabetes, they're well aware of how

00:23:58.140 --> 00:24:00.140
to pursue life with, you know, making sure they're

00:24:00.140 --> 00:24:02.359
exercising three times a week, 30 minutes a day

00:24:02.359 --> 00:24:05.640
of cardio. So it's like. People have to see,

00:24:05.680 --> 00:24:08.599
you talk about follow the money. It makes sense.

00:24:08.700 --> 00:24:12.099
We live in a capitalistic society here. Of course,

00:24:12.099 --> 00:24:13.940
these big pharmaceutical companies are going

00:24:13.940 --> 00:24:15.819
to want to make a lot of money. If there's a

00:24:15.819 --> 00:24:17.759
study being published about something and it's

00:24:17.759 --> 00:24:20.960
sponsored by big pharma, I'm ignoring that study.

00:24:21.079 --> 00:24:23.420
I cannot take that study seriously because they

00:24:23.420 --> 00:24:26.400
have every single incentive to try to tell me

00:24:26.400 --> 00:24:29.079
that their drug is good. And that I should be

00:24:29.079 --> 00:24:31.500
prescribing it for patients. So we got to get

00:24:31.500 --> 00:24:33.019
that, you know, we just got to get that out of

00:24:33.019 --> 00:24:35.279
there. Things will be a lot better, but I don't

00:24:35.279 --> 00:24:36.200
know. I don't know if that's going to happen

00:24:36.200 --> 00:24:38.859
anytime soon. Well, I think just one example,

00:24:39.140 --> 00:24:43.779
and there's so many, is OxyContin, which is an

00:24:43.779 --> 00:24:46.440
FDA approved drug where there were complete lies

00:24:46.440 --> 00:24:49.839
behind, you know, the addictive nature of it.

00:24:50.039 --> 00:24:52.259
And that has gone through. And Richard Sackler

00:24:52.259 --> 00:24:54.519
to this day is living in a mansion in Boca Raton,

00:24:54.619 --> 00:24:58.200
Florida. But then the MDMA that was brought to

00:24:58.200 --> 00:25:00.960
the FDA that's having amazing benefits along

00:25:00.960 --> 00:25:03.059
with counseling, it's not a prescribed thing.

00:25:03.099 --> 00:25:04.960
You do it while you go through a counseling session.

00:25:05.259 --> 00:25:07.859
It's helping our first responders and our veterans

00:25:07.859 --> 00:25:11.480
and other people, especially on PTSD, that was

00:25:11.480 --> 00:25:15.000
turned down. So, you know, it's clear, so clear.

00:25:15.200 --> 00:25:17.619
I mean, everyone involved in coxie cotton should

00:25:17.619 --> 00:25:20.339
be behind bars. I would say the drug should be

00:25:20.339 --> 00:25:23.940
discontinued. And, you know, and how many now

00:25:23.940 --> 00:25:26.839
over these several years, how many millions of

00:25:26.839 --> 00:25:29.759
Americans have we lost to OxyContin and then

00:25:29.759 --> 00:25:32.299
the opioid crisis that followed? Absolutely.

00:25:32.319 --> 00:25:34.640
I mean, you know, the thing is, there's no patent

00:25:34.640 --> 00:25:37.160
that you can that any company can get on MDMA

00:25:37.160 --> 00:25:39.880
or, you know, some of these other drugs, like

00:25:39.880 --> 00:25:43.359
even ketamine, you know. And so, you know, what's

00:25:43.359 --> 00:25:46.000
what's really tragic about the opioid crisis

00:25:46.000 --> 00:25:49.910
in general? is you can see again the pervasive

00:25:49.910 --> 00:25:51.950
nature of when you have lobbyists and you have

00:25:51.950 --> 00:25:54.910
people who are able to influence our government.

00:25:54.990 --> 00:25:59.769
At one point, the CMS, which is the Center for

00:25:59.769 --> 00:26:02.430
Medicaid and Medicare Services, at one point,

00:26:02.430 --> 00:26:06.470
the lobby groups were able to say, hey, pain

00:26:06.470 --> 00:26:09.390
needs to be considered the fifth vital sign.

00:26:09.900 --> 00:26:12.640
So when somebody goes to the ER, make sure your

00:26:12.640 --> 00:26:14.579
doctor is asking them, what's your pain scale?

00:26:14.740 --> 00:26:16.680
And if they didn't do anything about the pain

00:26:16.680 --> 00:26:19.380
scale, then you should not be getting reimbursed

00:26:19.380 --> 00:26:21.680
for that visit to the emergency department. Or

00:26:21.680 --> 00:26:23.200
they were pushing it in that fashion where there

00:26:23.200 --> 00:26:24.819
was like, people are going to be dinged about

00:26:24.819 --> 00:26:27.599
that. And then, of course, if somebody's pain

00:26:27.599 --> 00:26:30.079
is a nine and Tylenol didn't work or, you know,

00:26:30.140 --> 00:26:32.079
Ibuprofen didn't work, here's this amazing drug

00:26:32.079 --> 00:26:34.099
that you can use to help with pain. And it's,

00:26:34.099 --> 00:26:38.730
you know. And we saw kind of what happened as

00:26:38.730 --> 00:26:40.450
a result of that. But they really, really pushed

00:26:40.450 --> 00:26:42.289
it. I mean, they were calling it the fifth vital

00:26:42.289 --> 00:26:45.289
sign, the pain score, where it's like this subjective

00:26:45.289 --> 00:26:47.470
score. And it was like this really insidious

00:26:47.470 --> 00:26:50.170
way of getting people to prescribe this more

00:26:50.170 --> 00:26:52.750
and getting people to be exposed to this nasty

00:26:52.750 --> 00:26:57.680
drug. smiley face scale, as I call it. I know

00:26:57.680 --> 00:26:59.140
it's got an official name of the people that

00:26:59.140 --> 00:27:01.220
came up with it, but I didn't realize, I thought,

00:27:01.299 --> 00:27:03.880
I'm not sure if it was actually created for this

00:27:03.880 --> 00:27:06.420
or it was just used. But, but if you look at

00:27:06.420 --> 00:27:08.400
the story of Purdue, that was the tool that they

00:27:08.400 --> 00:27:10.619
brought to everyone. So the fact that we have

00:27:10.619 --> 00:27:13.619
them now, you know, in, in, you know, pre -hospital

00:27:13.619 --> 00:27:16.279
medicine really is because of that. And, you

00:27:16.279 --> 00:27:18.759
know, is it a valuable tool kind of ish, but

00:27:18.759 --> 00:27:20.480
I mean, let's be honest, if we look at a patient,

00:27:20.519 --> 00:27:22.619
we can really tell what the pain scale is. You

00:27:22.619 --> 00:27:25.279
don't need a little cartoon with, you know, smiley

00:27:25.279 --> 00:27:27.960
or frowny faces so but yeah i mean it's so so

00:27:27.960 --> 00:27:30.640
sad when you look at it and then how many people

00:27:30.640 --> 00:27:32.700
that have worked for the government both sides

00:27:32.700 --> 00:27:36.259
um on the fda side end up working for drug companies

00:27:36.259 --> 00:27:39.160
i mean again i mean it screams you know corruption

00:27:40.380 --> 00:27:42.920
Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah, it's totally it's

00:27:42.920 --> 00:27:44.859
a totally unacceptable way. I mean, I know some

00:27:44.859 --> 00:27:47.019
people are starting to talk about this, but it's

00:27:47.019 --> 00:27:49.000
not reached the level where it's becoming more

00:27:49.000 --> 00:27:50.759
mainstream. Like even some elected officials

00:27:50.759 --> 00:27:53.279
or even when it comes to owning stocks, you know,

00:27:53.299 --> 00:27:55.359
it's like as an elected official, like, why do

00:27:55.359 --> 00:27:57.799
you have that thing sort of corrupting the way

00:27:57.799 --> 00:27:59.740
you're trying to advocate for your constituency?

00:28:00.119 --> 00:28:02.519
And but we're not you know, it's not it's not

00:28:02.519 --> 00:28:05.410
a mainstream discussion yet. No. well going to

00:28:05.410 --> 00:28:07.130
the other side so we've got making our nation

00:28:07.130 --> 00:28:09.230
healthier which is obviously a more long -term

00:28:09.230 --> 00:28:12.210
goal one of the things that's that's come across

00:28:12.210 --> 00:28:15.089
my radar recently and gmr the parent company

00:28:15.089 --> 00:28:18.210
of amr um have got this thing called nurse navigation

00:28:18.210 --> 00:28:23.970
the way it works they're looking at um the uh

00:28:23.970 --> 00:28:27.990
911 system as a three -tier approach and i love

00:28:27.990 --> 00:28:30.529
this so you've got als you've got bls and then

00:28:30.529 --> 00:28:33.759
you've got non -emergent and so what would happen

00:28:33.759 --> 00:28:36.400
when you integrate their system in in you know

00:28:36.400 --> 00:28:39.660
a fire or police dispatch is you know they do

00:28:39.660 --> 00:28:43.359
their emd um algorithm okay it's it's a low low

00:28:43.359 --> 00:28:46.619
acuity call they then say to the caller well

00:28:46.619 --> 00:28:49.519
hey we can send an ambulance or we can just give

00:28:49.519 --> 00:28:51.880
you a consultation with a nurse you know would

00:28:51.880 --> 00:28:53.799
you prefer that well yeah i'm just worried about

00:28:53.799 --> 00:28:56.420
my sick 18 month old i'm a first -time parent

00:28:56.420 --> 00:28:57.599
and they throw up once i think they're going

00:28:57.599 --> 00:29:00.829
to die of dehydration and explode So they just,

00:29:00.849 --> 00:29:02.990
you know, really want peace of mind. So then

00:29:02.990 --> 00:29:05.730
they get sent over there. The first goal is just

00:29:05.730 --> 00:29:08.410
to simply self -treat a home. Do you have kids

00:29:08.410 --> 00:29:10.650
Tylenol? Okay, take the, you know, do they feel

00:29:10.650 --> 00:29:12.630
hot? Remove the clothes from them, give them

00:29:12.630 --> 00:29:16.289
Tylenol, you know, do ABC. If these things change,

00:29:16.490 --> 00:29:19.630
call us back. they have the ability to make urgent

00:29:19.630 --> 00:29:21.809
care clinic appointments dentist appointments

00:29:21.809 --> 00:29:25.329
optician reappointments they can refer to an

00:29:25.329 --> 00:29:28.930
actual telehealth consultation with an md that

00:29:28.930 --> 00:29:31.109
way they can even get a prescription refill and

00:29:31.109 --> 00:29:32.950
they can obviously get that uber to their house

00:29:32.950 --> 00:29:36.309
as well so you look at the litany of calls non

00:29:36.309 --> 00:29:38.869
-emergent calls that come to us first and then

00:29:38.869 --> 00:29:42.009
end up in your doors they're able to eliminate

00:29:42.009 --> 00:29:45.329
so many and it's a win -win -win because The

00:29:45.329 --> 00:29:48.349
patient's bill is going to be a fraction of what

00:29:48.349 --> 00:29:51.089
it would be walking through the ER doors. You

00:29:51.089 --> 00:29:53.789
guys have one more bed available for a true emergency.

00:29:54.029 --> 00:29:57.170
And that crew didn't wake up for that call. So

00:29:57.170 --> 00:29:59.890
I think that's a beautiful, you know, taking

00:29:59.890 --> 00:30:02.190
one good thing that came out of COVID, which

00:30:02.190 --> 00:30:05.109
was the amplification of telehealth, weaving

00:30:05.109 --> 00:30:08.210
it into the pre -hospital world and having that

00:30:08.210 --> 00:30:11.230
ripple effect to have a positive effect on all

00:30:11.230 --> 00:30:15.339
three parties of that call. Yeah. I mean, I think

00:30:15.339 --> 00:30:19.259
that's, for me, I think that's a really incredible

00:30:19.259 --> 00:30:21.519
way of trying to approach this. And I think that,

00:30:21.640 --> 00:30:23.940
you know, I think one thing I think about is

00:30:23.940 --> 00:30:26.299
we really have to make sure that all of these

00:30:26.299 --> 00:30:29.759
providers, you know, from A to Z, from the initial

00:30:29.759 --> 00:30:33.500
dispatcher, they need to also make sure that

00:30:33.500 --> 00:30:34.960
they have the peace of mind that nobody's going

00:30:34.960 --> 00:30:37.119
to come after them. If something goes wrong,

00:30:37.200 --> 00:30:38.740
something will go wrong. That's what happens.

00:30:38.880 --> 00:30:41.940
You know, patients don't read the book. And sometimes

00:30:41.940 --> 00:30:44.380
there are surprise, you know, things that take

00:30:44.380 --> 00:30:46.920
place. What seems like a normal fever ends up

00:30:46.920 --> 00:30:49.500
becoming something more serious. So people need

00:30:49.500 --> 00:30:51.160
to have that peace of mind that they're not going

00:30:51.160 --> 00:30:53.019
to lose everything or that they're not going

00:30:53.019 --> 00:30:55.220
to be sued by some law firm if that's the case.

00:30:55.339 --> 00:30:58.299
The second our providers feel protected, they

00:30:58.299 --> 00:31:01.500
will sort of, you know, they will have that autonomy.

00:31:02.089 --> 00:31:04.809
And they will have that, at least that focus

00:31:04.809 --> 00:31:06.529
of being like, okay, this seems like everything

00:31:06.529 --> 00:31:08.690
is fitting this sort of criteria. This, I can

00:31:08.690 --> 00:31:11.430
stratify this into a low risk category here.

00:31:11.549 --> 00:31:13.869
I think that's the, we've got to be able to do

00:31:13.869 --> 00:31:15.609
that. I mean, right now, if you see what's happening

00:31:15.609 --> 00:31:18.630
is sometimes patients are calling an on -call

00:31:18.630 --> 00:31:23.710
nurse or they are, you know, trying to talk to

00:31:23.710 --> 00:31:25.450
somebody on the phone. They'll call the hospital,

00:31:25.750 --> 00:31:27.470
for example. And they say, this is what's going

00:31:27.470 --> 00:31:30.109
on at home. What should I? What should I do?

00:31:30.150 --> 00:31:32.289
My kid basically saying their ear hurts and they

00:31:32.289 --> 00:31:36.029
have a fever. And the response now because of

00:31:36.029 --> 00:31:38.509
the way the system is set up is if you're worried,

00:31:38.670 --> 00:31:42.849
go into a hospital, call 911. You know, that's

00:31:42.849 --> 00:31:44.670
what they're telling people when, you know, we

00:31:44.670 --> 00:31:46.809
can't give advice over the over the phone. We

00:31:46.809 --> 00:31:48.470
need to we need to change that. That needs to

00:31:48.470 --> 00:31:50.450
be especially with the conditions right now.

00:31:50.809 --> 00:31:52.549
We've got to revolutionize the system. I love

00:31:52.549 --> 00:31:54.029
this idea. I mean, I think this is something

00:31:54.029 --> 00:31:57.910
that. needs to be supported, needs to be kind

00:31:57.910 --> 00:31:59.829
of, we got to, at the minimum, this needs to

00:31:59.829 --> 00:32:03.069
be piloted in just major cities as soon as possible.

00:32:03.410 --> 00:32:05.009
You know, again, we've got a national crisis.

00:32:05.150 --> 00:32:07.529
And so, you know, I think this is something that,

00:32:07.569 --> 00:32:09.150
you know, this should be on a federal level.

00:32:09.230 --> 00:32:10.970
People should be getting behind funding this

00:32:10.970 --> 00:32:15.849
in a serious way. Absolutely. Well, you kind

00:32:15.849 --> 00:32:18.029
of touched on the subject. When I first came

00:32:18.029 --> 00:32:19.869
to the States, I told this story a couple of

00:32:19.869 --> 00:32:21.829
times. So apologies, anyone who's heard it already.

00:32:22.650 --> 00:32:24.890
I remember looking, I was in a hotel and it was

00:32:24.890 --> 00:32:27.990
the yellow pages. And back when they were still

00:32:27.990 --> 00:32:31.289
paper, not online. And from the side, you could

00:32:31.289 --> 00:32:34.710
see like a quarter of the book, the pages from

00:32:34.710 --> 00:32:36.769
the side were obviously like a certain color,

00:32:36.829 --> 00:32:39.769
like to show a certain group of people. So again,

00:32:39.849 --> 00:32:41.950
I'm thinking, well, it must be doctors and hospitals.

00:32:42.170 --> 00:32:44.329
You know, that's what most people need. But it

00:32:44.329 --> 00:32:47.589
was lawyers, literally a quarter of the yellow

00:32:47.589 --> 00:32:50.960
pages. Now, fast forward, I've become. you know,

00:32:50.960 --> 00:32:53.420
a firefighter EMT. And now I'm in paramedic school.

00:32:53.619 --> 00:32:57.380
And one day this guy comes in, a human version

00:32:57.380 --> 00:32:59.900
of a peacock starts strutting around the classroom,

00:33:00.160 --> 00:33:02.920
bragging about how many first responders he's

00:33:02.920 --> 00:33:05.720
testified against as an expert witness because

00:33:05.720 --> 00:33:07.859
they didn't do this in their report or that in

00:33:07.859 --> 00:33:10.200
their report. And I remember thinking, well,

00:33:10.259 --> 00:33:12.420
just because I was older by this point, what

00:33:12.420 --> 00:33:13.799
a fucking idiot. I'm just going to disregard

00:33:13.799 --> 00:33:16.200
everything this guy says. And thank God I did,

00:33:16.259 --> 00:33:18.640
because then I was still able to critically think

00:33:18.640 --> 00:33:20.900
as a paramedic, do the job in the parameters

00:33:20.900 --> 00:33:23.559
that I was given, but also think outside the

00:33:23.559 --> 00:33:26.019
box when it came to treating the patient. But

00:33:26.019 --> 00:33:28.559
I watched what we refer to as cookbook medics,

00:33:28.619 --> 00:33:31.839
these guys that were so scared of litigation

00:33:31.839 --> 00:33:36.039
that they actually had a detriment to their skills

00:33:36.039 --> 00:33:39.130
as an EMT or a paramedic. what do you see in

00:33:39.130 --> 00:33:41.910
your community and how can we address that because

00:33:41.910 --> 00:33:44.609
you talked about the fear of litigation i feel

00:33:44.609 --> 00:33:47.869
like to counter that if you do your job properly

00:33:47.869 --> 00:33:50.549
within your scope of practice then you should

00:33:50.549 --> 00:33:52.990
have a very strong argument if anyone brings

00:33:52.990 --> 00:33:55.009
it to the table like no i did exactly what was

00:33:55.009 --> 00:33:59.029
meant to happen yeah i mean it's it's horrible

00:33:59.029 --> 00:34:02.730
when it comes to you know uh i'll talk about

00:34:02.730 --> 00:34:07.000
physicians and being worried about um being sued

00:34:07.000 --> 00:34:09.039
at some point. And people have horror stories.

00:34:09.159 --> 00:34:11.179
I mean, it's less about, did you do something

00:34:11.179 --> 00:34:13.500
wrong and were you incompetent? And more about,

00:34:13.559 --> 00:34:16.420
can a lawyer drag this out where an insurance

00:34:16.420 --> 00:34:18.760
company or a hospital is willing to pay a settlement?

00:34:19.019 --> 00:34:21.420
And hospitals at this point are calculating the

00:34:21.420 --> 00:34:23.300
difference. They're saying, okay, if we hire

00:34:23.300 --> 00:34:25.079
a lawyer, we have to build this many hours to

00:34:25.079 --> 00:34:28.420
defend our doctor in this scenario. Is it worth

00:34:28.420 --> 00:34:30.960
it or can we just pay out whatever it is? All

00:34:30.960 --> 00:34:33.820
the while, It's a really kind of devastating

00:34:33.820 --> 00:34:36.139
moment in someone's career to be served papers

00:34:36.139 --> 00:34:39.400
and be sued. It's very isolating. It is something

00:34:39.400 --> 00:34:42.500
that people feel ashamed. They think that they're

00:34:42.500 --> 00:34:44.760
bad doctors or that they're bad health care providers,

00:34:44.880 --> 00:34:47.679
which we know is most of the time not the case.

00:34:47.980 --> 00:34:50.780
Oftentimes what it is is nothing that somebody

00:34:50.780 --> 00:34:52.940
did wrong or was incompetent about or malicious

00:34:52.940 --> 00:34:55.599
about. It was just that this person, for whatever

00:34:55.599 --> 00:34:57.800
reason, had that sort of luck in their life where...

00:34:57.980 --> 00:35:00.280
something bad happened. Yes, are there moments

00:35:00.280 --> 00:35:02.260
where there's some maliciousness or there is

00:35:02.260 --> 00:35:05.780
something that is something negligent or somebody

00:35:05.780 --> 00:35:07.960
was being discriminatory or somebody's just bad?

00:35:08.099 --> 00:35:11.079
Yes, of course. But, you know, not nearly as

00:35:11.079 --> 00:35:13.239
often as people are being sued. And in some of

00:35:13.239 --> 00:35:15.820
these states where there isn't tort reform, where

00:35:15.820 --> 00:35:18.920
there isn't sort of legislation. that kind of

00:35:18.920 --> 00:35:23.360
prevents these ambulance chasers from going after

00:35:23.360 --> 00:35:26.199
anybody that was involved in a case, you see

00:35:26.199 --> 00:35:27.820
that it's a much better environment for people.

00:35:27.920 --> 00:35:29.780
Everybody's mental health with respect to anybody

00:35:29.780 --> 00:35:34.739
that's a healthcare provider, they don't worry

00:35:34.739 --> 00:35:37.900
about that. And what it does is it affects every

00:35:37.900 --> 00:35:40.119
aspect of care. It's not just this person that

00:35:40.119 --> 00:35:42.840
can be sued and the hospital's paying out money.

00:35:43.039 --> 00:35:47.679
But suddenly when I encounter a patient, I may

00:35:47.679 --> 00:35:49.880
think somebody's chest pain is not related to

00:35:49.880 --> 00:35:53.559
an MI, a heart attack or, you know, but, you

00:35:53.559 --> 00:35:55.880
know, in the 1 % chance they're in that category

00:35:55.880 --> 00:35:58.679
of people who present so atypically and so weirdly,

00:35:58.840 --> 00:36:02.079
I'm suddenly doing a thousand, $10 ,000, $100

00:36:02.079 --> 00:36:05.119
,000 workup. You know, it creates that, it creates

00:36:05.119 --> 00:36:07.619
the, it supports this horrible broken system

00:36:07.619 --> 00:36:10.940
that we're in. And it delays me seeing the next

00:36:10.940 --> 00:36:12.920
patient. It also puts this person through unnecessary

00:36:12.920 --> 00:36:15.519
testing. Their bill is through the roof and it's

00:36:15.519 --> 00:36:18.760
all to prevent this. horrible moment. And I think,

00:36:18.760 --> 00:36:21.320
you know, that's something that we're all, that,

00:36:21.440 --> 00:36:23.599
you know, people have been talking about changing

00:36:23.599 --> 00:36:26.360
it, and it's happened in some states. But it's

00:36:26.360 --> 00:36:28.039
still not the case. I mean, it's not the case

00:36:28.039 --> 00:36:29.440
in Illinois, that's for sure. And especially

00:36:29.440 --> 00:36:31.460
the county that I'm in Cook County, which is

00:36:31.460 --> 00:36:34.539
Chicago, it's really bad, the environment is

00:36:34.539 --> 00:36:37.519
really, really bad. And so, you know, I think,

00:36:37.539 --> 00:36:40.039
again, that's something that contributes to the

00:36:40.039 --> 00:36:42.480
to the broken system. Yeah. And again, that's

00:36:42.480 --> 00:36:44.360
something I'd never hear discussed. And it's

00:36:44.360 --> 00:36:46.920
so apparent. I mean, I've told this before, but

00:36:46.920 --> 00:36:49.679
when I first got hired in Hialeah and outside

00:36:49.679 --> 00:36:52.719
Miami, I'll never forget. There was this traffic

00:36:52.719 --> 00:36:55.340
accident we were called to. And I think the rescue

00:36:55.340 --> 00:36:57.159
was ahead of us and we were on the engine then.

00:36:57.699 --> 00:37:00.400
And this guy had been backing out of a parking

00:37:00.400 --> 00:37:02.659
lot in a tiny little strip mall area. Someone

00:37:02.659 --> 00:37:05.539
had just been rolling into the parking lot and

00:37:05.539 --> 00:37:08.320
they kind of dinked. Like the two cars kissed

00:37:08.320 --> 00:37:11.340
rather than collided. And this, the driver of

00:37:11.340 --> 00:37:13.980
the car backing up was a lawyer. Oh, he's got

00:37:13.980 --> 00:37:16.760
back pain. He's got neck pain. Well, this is

00:37:16.760 --> 00:37:19.420
Miami in the summer and it's a tropical thunderstorm.

00:37:19.780 --> 00:37:22.320
So the medics had him taped to the board outside

00:37:22.320 --> 00:37:24.659
while they were inside the ambulance doing all

00:37:24.659 --> 00:37:26.639
the paperwork while this guy was getting drenched.

00:37:26.820 --> 00:37:29.119
And then obviously, you know, the, the one piece

00:37:29.119 --> 00:37:32.260
of tape was over his eyebrows too. When they

00:37:32.260 --> 00:37:33.980
had to finally remove that, he was going to look

00:37:33.980 --> 00:37:35.699
even more shocked than he was lying in the first

00:37:35.699 --> 00:37:37.960
place. But this was, you know, it's funny, but

00:37:37.960 --> 00:37:39.780
it's just a sad reality. And then a few days

00:37:39.780 --> 00:37:42.599
later, we had another person supposedly slip

00:37:42.599 --> 00:37:44.820
and fall. And then they showed us a video footage

00:37:44.820 --> 00:37:46.980
of them emptying detergent on the floor and then

00:37:46.980 --> 00:37:50.059
lying next to it and going, ah, so, so yeah,

00:37:50.099 --> 00:37:52.039
I mean, this is the serious issue. So you think

00:37:52.039 --> 00:37:54.480
about that, you think about addressing the obesity

00:37:54.480 --> 00:37:57.789
crisis, the mental health crisis. And removing

00:37:57.789 --> 00:38:00.750
lobbyists from politicians, you know, in fast

00:38:00.750 --> 00:38:03.409
food and drug companies. I mean, just do those

00:38:03.409 --> 00:38:05.929
things alone and you would turn so much around.

00:38:06.530 --> 00:38:09.889
Totally. Absolutely. I mean, I think that's one,

00:38:10.250 --> 00:38:12.949
again, like not to kind of belabor the point,

00:38:13.010 --> 00:38:15.550
but, you know, you've now also incentivized an

00:38:15.550 --> 00:38:17.829
entire profession to pursue this exclusively.

00:38:17.829 --> 00:38:20.230
Right. So lawyers who are involved in these kinds

00:38:20.230 --> 00:38:23.070
of cases, personal injury, malpractice, you know,

00:38:23.070 --> 00:38:26.099
they are going to be. opening up or hiring call

00:38:26.099 --> 00:38:28.880
centers. Hey, have you had a hospital stay that

00:38:28.880 --> 00:38:31.659
didn't go well? Or did you get hit by a car?

00:38:31.840 --> 00:38:35.000
Or did you get an outstanding medical bill? It's

00:38:35.000 --> 00:38:37.360
like it makes this whole industry. that's out

00:38:37.360 --> 00:38:39.820
there and suddenly people who um would have never

00:38:39.820 --> 00:38:42.519
even kind of spoken to somebody about something

00:38:42.519 --> 00:38:44.380
because they thought everything was fine suddenly

00:38:44.380 --> 00:38:46.019
they're being convinced that something wrong

00:38:46.019 --> 00:38:48.239
happened and they're entitled to a certain uh

00:38:48.239 --> 00:38:51.659
compensation you know retribution and um it's

00:38:51.659 --> 00:38:54.260
yeah it's so it can get very disgusting really

00:38:54.260 --> 00:38:57.340
quickly I had a local judge on and I was asking

00:38:57.340 --> 00:38:59.119
him about the whole frivolous lawsuit thing.

00:38:59.139 --> 00:39:01.059
And he said the thing that disgusts him the most

00:39:01.059 --> 00:39:03.460
is when you drive down the freeway and there's

00:39:03.460 --> 00:39:06.000
lawyers on billboards showing off how many millions

00:39:06.000 --> 00:39:08.420
of dollars they made for the client, but not

00:39:08.420 --> 00:39:10.219
mentioning that the other 50 percent went in

00:39:10.219 --> 00:39:13.360
their pocket. Yeah. Oh, my God. Yeah. That's

00:39:13.360 --> 00:39:15.599
the other thing. I mean, again, it's like it's

00:39:15.599 --> 00:39:19.090
such a, you know, it creates vultures. Absolutely.

00:39:19.230 --> 00:39:21.389
And again, I think the U .S. and New Zealand

00:39:21.389 --> 00:39:23.429
are the only two countries on the planet that

00:39:23.429 --> 00:39:26.889
can advertise drugs on television. Yeah. Yeah.

00:39:27.030 --> 00:39:28.349
There you go. That should tell you something.

00:39:28.409 --> 00:39:30.829
Right. That's not American exceptionalism. That's

00:39:30.829 --> 00:39:32.849
kind of, you know, people who are taking advantage

00:39:32.849 --> 00:39:35.309
of a situation and have influence where they

00:39:35.309 --> 00:39:37.389
shouldn't. Right. I mean, if nobody else in the

00:39:37.389 --> 00:39:39.889
world is doing it, you know, there's you should

00:39:39.889 --> 00:39:42.010
ask yourself, why is it a good thing? And I think

00:39:42.010 --> 00:39:43.829
you get the answer pretty quickly. Absolutely.

00:39:44.349 --> 00:39:46.469
All right. Well, then let's shift over to Gaza

00:39:46.469 --> 00:39:49.849
now. The last time we spoke, if I'm not mistaken,

00:39:49.909 --> 00:39:53.289
was around summer of last year. So through your

00:39:53.289 --> 00:39:55.789
eyes, before I hit specific topics, can I talk

00:39:55.789 --> 00:39:58.070
to me about the overall movement in whichever

00:39:58.070 --> 00:40:00.750
direction that the, you know, that obviously,

00:40:00.889 --> 00:40:02.809
I mean, we're talking Israelis as well, but the

00:40:02.809 --> 00:40:04.769
Palestinian people obviously seem to be on the

00:40:04.769 --> 00:40:07.809
worst side of this, you know, what you've seen

00:40:07.809 --> 00:40:11.409
over the last few months. I mean, it's been really

00:40:11.409 --> 00:40:15.000
this tumultuous and unmitigated disaster. We

00:40:15.000 --> 00:40:19.500
have watched 18 months kind of go by and all

00:40:19.500 --> 00:40:22.300
of the Gaza Strip had been really destroyed.

00:40:22.579 --> 00:40:25.099
We're talking about nine out of 10 residential

00:40:25.099 --> 00:40:27.780
buildings have been damaged or destroyed. And

00:40:27.780 --> 00:40:31.380
nearly every hospital at some point had had to

00:40:31.380 --> 00:40:33.559
interface with the Israeli military in Gaza.

00:40:34.599 --> 00:40:38.980
And I think in December 2024, we hit this really

00:40:38.980 --> 00:40:42.460
low point, specifically when there was a pediatrician

00:40:42.460 --> 00:40:45.659
who was in a northern... pediatric hospital.

00:40:45.739 --> 00:40:49.139
His name is Dr. Hossam Abu Safiya. And the reason

00:40:49.139 --> 00:40:51.059
I mentioned him is because this is a guy that

00:40:51.059 --> 00:40:53.840
was becoming very visible on international media.

00:40:54.019 --> 00:40:56.539
He had written two op -eds in the New York Times

00:40:56.539 --> 00:40:58.900
over the course of 18 months of the Gaza, of

00:40:58.900 --> 00:41:03.039
what was happening in Gaza. He, in October, his

00:41:03.039 --> 00:41:05.420
hospital, again, it's a pediatric hospital called

00:41:05.420 --> 00:41:08.820
Kamal Adwan. was surrounded by the Israeli military

00:41:08.820 --> 00:41:12.619
and under siege. And, you know, he's somebody

00:41:12.619 --> 00:41:15.019
who is staying and sleeping at the hospital and

00:41:15.019 --> 00:41:17.519
was showing people through his phone, the kids

00:41:17.519 --> 00:41:20.059
in the pediatric intensive care unit saying,

00:41:20.159 --> 00:41:22.639
we cannot evacuate this hospital. There is no

00:41:22.639 --> 00:41:24.860
way that we can put some of these kids in the

00:41:24.860 --> 00:41:26.519
back of an ambulance and send them to another.

00:41:26.599 --> 00:41:28.559
They're too unstable. They're just too unstable.

00:41:28.840 --> 00:41:30.840
And he's calling out for the world to intervene.

00:41:31.199 --> 00:41:34.179
And then in the process, in November 2024, an

00:41:34.179 --> 00:41:37.239
Israeli drone hits the hospital compound and

00:41:37.239 --> 00:41:39.880
kills his son. And so you had to watch him bury

00:41:39.880 --> 00:41:42.340
his son in the hospital compound, pray over his

00:41:42.340 --> 00:41:45.179
son's body. And then in December, the military

00:41:45.179 --> 00:41:48.519
raided the hospital and we watched this pediatrician

00:41:48.519 --> 00:41:52.760
in his white coat leave the hospital and approach

00:41:52.760 --> 00:41:54.840
an Israeli tank. I mean, this was all documented

00:41:54.840 --> 00:41:57.340
by an Israeli drone that was kind of covering

00:41:57.340 --> 00:42:00.380
the entire situation. And since then, he has

00:42:00.380 --> 00:42:04.010
been in an Israeli prison with no charge. And

00:42:04.010 --> 00:42:08.289
has been, you know, first denied any sort of

00:42:08.289 --> 00:42:11.469
representation until two groups, one in Israel

00:42:11.469 --> 00:42:14.130
and one in Palestine, two like human rights groups,

00:42:14.210 --> 00:42:17.170
eventually sued to make to confirm that he was

00:42:17.170 --> 00:42:19.329
even in these prisons, then finally had a chance

00:42:19.329 --> 00:42:21.570
to interact with him. And he's still there. He's

00:42:21.570 --> 00:42:23.489
still kind of languishing in these Israeli dungeons.

00:42:24.150 --> 00:42:28.110
But then came January and right before Trump's

00:42:28.110 --> 00:42:31.510
inauguration. He sent his Middle East envoy,

00:42:31.829 --> 00:42:34.550
more soon to be Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff,

00:42:34.650 --> 00:42:36.909
who's a real estate billionaire from New York.

00:42:37.170 --> 00:42:39.969
He sent him to the Middle East and Steve had

00:42:39.969 --> 00:42:43.250
one job. Steve Witkoff's job was get a ceasefire

00:42:43.250 --> 00:42:46.150
done before my inauguration. And there's this

00:42:46.150 --> 00:42:49.630
famous story that Witkoff, who is an American

00:42:49.630 --> 00:42:53.170
Jew, shows up on Saturday to Tel Aviv first before

00:42:53.170 --> 00:42:56.170
he goes to Qatar for negotiations. And he tells

00:42:56.170 --> 00:42:58.610
the prime minister's office, he tells Netanyahu.

00:42:59.070 --> 00:43:01.769
We need to meet. The president has an urgent

00:43:01.769 --> 00:43:04.269
message for you. And the prime minister's office

00:43:04.269 --> 00:43:05.829
says, well, it's the Sabbath. We can't meet on

00:43:05.829 --> 00:43:08.550
the Sabbath. And Witkoff says, well, I don't

00:43:08.550 --> 00:43:10.829
give a damn. We have to meet. And he meets with

00:43:10.829 --> 00:43:13.489
him and then he goes to Doha. And then we have

00:43:13.489 --> 00:43:15.349
a ceasefire deal two days later, a temporary

00:43:15.349 --> 00:43:19.489
ceasefire deal. So January 19th, we have a ceasefire

00:43:19.489 --> 00:43:22.289
deal. Trump gets an inauguration already kind

00:43:22.289 --> 00:43:25.329
of, you know, doing his pitch to get the Nobel

00:43:25.329 --> 00:43:28.260
Peace Prize, which is. What he was going after,

00:43:28.320 --> 00:43:30.639
he really wanted to get the Nobel Peace Prize

00:43:30.639 --> 00:43:32.800
ending the war in Ukraine and then ending the

00:43:32.800 --> 00:43:36.119
war in Gaza and kind of bringing in that peace.

00:43:36.559 --> 00:43:41.300
But this ceasefire was supposed to be three phases.

00:43:41.679 --> 00:43:46.400
So the first phase is 50 days, 5 -0, where we're

00:43:46.400 --> 00:43:49.559
bringing in 600 trucks a day of food, water,

00:43:49.699 --> 00:43:51.980
and some medical supplies, but mostly really

00:43:51.980 --> 00:43:54.019
flooding the Gaza Strip with food that it had

00:43:54.019 --> 00:43:57.130
been deprived of for... You know, the previous

00:43:57.130 --> 00:43:59.769
18 months, you know, Oxfam said starvation is

00:43:59.769 --> 00:44:02.110
being used as a weapon of war. So, you know,

00:44:02.110 --> 00:44:04.269
you're starting to see the UN and UNRWA really

00:44:04.269 --> 00:44:06.289
mobilizing. They were kind of bringing in 600

00:44:06.289 --> 00:44:09.449
trucks. The other thing was we're going to allow

00:44:09.449 --> 00:44:11.510
the people who are on the medical evacuation

00:44:11.510 --> 00:44:15.130
list, 10 ,000 people. We're going to allow 50

00:44:15.130 --> 00:44:18.210
every single day with three companions out into

00:44:18.210 --> 00:44:21.949
Egypt from Gaza into Egypt. And every single

00:44:21.949 --> 00:44:23.949
day you'll get 50 people who can go out and start

00:44:23.949 --> 00:44:26.320
getting medical treatment. This was a huge difference

00:44:26.320 --> 00:44:29.260
compared to during the war when this was, you

00:44:29.260 --> 00:44:31.699
know, maybe one or two. You know, they would

00:44:31.699 --> 00:44:34.960
only do like evacuations once in a blue moon

00:44:34.960 --> 00:44:37.280
where you'd have 20 cases get evacuated. Then

00:44:37.280 --> 00:44:39.760
six weeks later, you might get 18 cases. Now

00:44:39.760 --> 00:44:42.079
we're saying 50 cases with three family members

00:44:42.079 --> 00:44:45.000
will be evacuated out every day. The other thing

00:44:45.000 --> 00:44:50.799
was there would be every single week. Israeli

00:44:50.799 --> 00:44:53.159
hostages that were going to be released and that

00:44:53.159 --> 00:44:56.980
they would be received by the Red Cross. And

00:44:56.980 --> 00:44:58.619
the Red Cross would take them back into Israel.

00:44:59.000 --> 00:45:01.360
And then finally, the Israeli military, which

00:45:01.360 --> 00:45:03.559
had acquired positions within the Gaza Strip,

00:45:03.639 --> 00:45:06.300
would withdraw their forces to the perimeter

00:45:06.300 --> 00:45:08.219
of the Gaza Strip as opposed to all throughout

00:45:08.219 --> 00:45:10.960
the Gaza Strip. And so that was happening. And

00:45:10.960 --> 00:45:14.800
I tell you, you should have seen all the people

00:45:14.800 --> 00:45:16.719
that I was talking to on the ground during those

00:45:16.719 --> 00:45:21.030
50 days. It was like... wow, it's done. Let's

00:45:21.030 --> 00:45:25.630
get to rebuilding. So many people had had to

00:45:25.630 --> 00:45:28.110
leave the north and go to the south because of

00:45:28.110 --> 00:45:29.869
evacuation orders, and they could not get back

00:45:29.869 --> 00:45:32.989
to the north. 18 months, 16 months, 14 months.

00:45:33.150 --> 00:45:37.050
And on foot, we saw 800 ,000 Palestinians walk

00:45:37.050 --> 00:45:40.570
10, 15 miles back to the north to where their

00:45:40.570 --> 00:45:43.110
homes once were, back to rubble. But the thought

00:45:43.110 --> 00:45:45.599
was, we've got to go back. And we've got to rebuild

00:45:45.599 --> 00:45:50.980
our lives. And there was this hope. There was

00:45:50.980 --> 00:45:53.420
this thought like, hey, we lost so much. And

00:45:53.420 --> 00:45:56.119
there was so many things that have gone wrong.

00:45:56.199 --> 00:45:58.699
But now there's a light at the end of the tunnel

00:45:58.699 --> 00:46:01.480
here. We're ready to kind of move forward. And

00:46:01.480 --> 00:46:05.219
then you saw it break down March 2nd, where...

00:46:05.710 --> 00:46:08.429
The ceasefire phase one expired. We didn't move

00:46:08.429 --> 00:46:10.909
into phase two, which was the permanent ceasefire

00:46:10.909 --> 00:46:13.590
negotiations. It was talking about reconstruction

00:46:13.590 --> 00:46:17.070
with international support, talking about releasing

00:46:17.070 --> 00:46:21.010
the rest of the Israelis, as well as Palestinians

00:46:21.010 --> 00:46:24.849
who were abducted over the course of the 18 months

00:46:24.849 --> 00:46:27.170
and that were just in Israeli prison without

00:46:27.170 --> 00:46:31.010
any charges. Instead, you saw for one week, March

00:46:31.010 --> 00:46:34.230
2nd, where the Israelis cut everything off from

00:46:34.230 --> 00:46:37.320
electricity. food, water. They cut everything

00:46:37.320 --> 00:46:41.519
off. And then one week later, they began what

00:46:41.519 --> 00:46:43.940
we call, you know, what we say, the escalation

00:46:43.940 --> 00:46:45.840
of hostilities, where you just saw airstrikes

00:46:45.840 --> 00:46:48.820
all throughout the Gaza Strip. And we have now

00:46:48.820 --> 00:46:51.460
exceeded, I believe, 1 ,200 people since March

00:46:51.460 --> 00:46:54.019
2nd. 1 ,200 people have been killed. You know,

00:46:54.019 --> 00:46:56.659
we're at the 500 mark in terms of kids that have

00:46:56.659 --> 00:46:59.059
been killed since the ceasefire broke down, over

00:46:59.059 --> 00:47:03.570
50 ,000 total. And there was, there's... A few

00:47:03.570 --> 00:47:05.130
incidents, I know we'll get into this, but I

00:47:05.130 --> 00:47:07.670
just want to highlight them briefly. The first

00:47:07.670 --> 00:47:12.230
is a UN safe house, a guest house in central

00:47:12.230 --> 00:47:15.510
Gaza was struck by the Israeli military, killing

00:47:15.510 --> 00:47:18.929
one international UN worker, injuring six, two

00:47:18.929 --> 00:47:22.829
of whom lost limbs, two of whom lost limbs. And

00:47:22.829 --> 00:47:25.230
the reason that's significant is because this

00:47:25.230 --> 00:47:27.789
UN guest house didn't pop up out of nowhere.

00:47:28.190 --> 00:47:30.710
This guest house, the coordinates are shared

00:47:30.710 --> 00:47:33.539
with the Israelis. Every single movement of one

00:47:33.539 --> 00:47:36.139
of those UN workers is coordinated directly with

00:47:36.139 --> 00:47:38.260
the Israeli military. Hey, we're leaving at 7

00:47:38.260 --> 00:47:40.900
a .m. We're heading to this location. Here are

00:47:40.900 --> 00:47:42.260
the coordinates of where we're leaving from.

00:47:42.400 --> 00:47:44.320
Here's where we're going. Here's the route that

00:47:44.320 --> 00:47:46.500
we're going to take. Here are the people in the

00:47:46.500 --> 00:47:48.719
vehicle. Here's the marked vehicle. Here's the

00:47:48.719 --> 00:47:50.639
color of it. Here are the national documents

00:47:50.639 --> 00:47:52.980
of everybody in that vehicle. Here are the national

00:47:52.980 --> 00:47:54.659
documents of everybody in that house. For that

00:47:54.659 --> 00:47:58.920
guest house to be hit like that is a... flagrant

00:47:58.920 --> 00:48:01.460
violation of international humanitarian law but

00:48:01.460 --> 00:48:05.659
it's super up like this is unacceptable right

00:48:05.659 --> 00:48:07.980
somebody to lose their lives like that there's

00:48:07.980 --> 00:48:10.199
this system of deconfliction that should be upheld

00:48:10.199 --> 00:48:12.699
by all warring parties and that was not the case

00:48:12.699 --> 00:48:16.639
that happened number two nassar hospital which

00:48:16.639 --> 00:48:18.940
is now the largest hospital in gaza shifa was

00:48:18.940 --> 00:48:21.219
the largest hospital but has now been destroyed

00:48:21.219 --> 00:48:25.150
over the last 18 months nassar hospital And it's

00:48:25.150 --> 00:48:27.690
where all these international nonprofits and

00:48:27.690 --> 00:48:30.070
humanitarian organizations, you know, they have

00:48:30.070 --> 00:48:32.909
staff there. It's the biggest hospital, has multiple

00:48:32.909 --> 00:48:36.949
operating rooms. It is really now the medical

00:48:36.949 --> 00:48:40.730
hub of Gaza. There was an assassination attempt

00:48:40.730 --> 00:48:44.489
by the Israelis on a patient there who they say

00:48:44.489 --> 00:48:47.369
belonged to Hamas's political wing and a 17 -year

00:48:47.369 --> 00:48:49.690
-old who was recovering from surgery, who had

00:48:49.690 --> 00:48:52.389
an ostomy bag. And so they did this targeted

00:48:52.389 --> 00:48:55.230
precision strike. Knocking out the surgical ward

00:48:55.230 --> 00:48:57.969
of that hospital and killing those two people,

00:48:58.030 --> 00:49:01.590
injuring a few others. Again, you know, this

00:49:01.590 --> 00:49:04.809
is like not only is this a flagrant violation

00:49:04.809 --> 00:49:06.829
of international humanitarian law, this word

00:49:06.829 --> 00:49:09.010
is going to kind of be repeated multiple times.

00:49:09.429 --> 00:49:11.530
But what are you doing? I mean, how are you hitting

00:49:11.530 --> 00:49:13.769
a surgical unit? Like if you know that somebody

00:49:13.769 --> 00:49:16.210
is there and let's say you think that this person

00:49:16.210 --> 00:49:21.510
is a Hamas member who you are going to do an

00:49:21.510 --> 00:49:24.239
assassination attempt on. Why? And you already

00:49:24.239 --> 00:49:26.300
know their movements. Why are you hitting the

00:49:26.300 --> 00:49:28.179
hospital? Why aren't you waiting for this person

00:49:28.179 --> 00:49:30.019
to be discharged? Why aren't you waiting until

00:49:30.019 --> 00:49:32.059
there are no civilians around? And I don't even

00:49:32.059 --> 00:49:34.599
like, you know, that's me being really generous

00:49:34.599 --> 00:49:37.119
talking about this, because, again, you have

00:49:37.119 --> 00:49:39.179
to at some point you have to ask yourself, like,

00:49:39.239 --> 00:49:41.460
are they hitting these targets and are these

00:49:41.460 --> 00:49:43.940
targets really, you know, what who they say they

00:49:43.940 --> 00:49:47.400
are? But again, what does that do for the international

00:49:47.400 --> 00:49:49.820
organization that have staff there? They didn't

00:49:49.820 --> 00:49:51.679
know about this. There was no evacuation order.

00:49:51.760 --> 00:49:53.300
Nobody knew that the Israelis were going to hit

00:49:53.300 --> 00:49:55.460
the hospital. And they took out this hospital.

00:49:56.239 --> 00:49:58.340
Can I ethically, as a head of an organization

00:49:58.340 --> 00:50:01.019
that's sending staff in there, can I suddenly

00:50:01.019 --> 00:50:04.659
say, hey, we'll protect you. We can protect you.

00:50:04.679 --> 00:50:06.300
We can make sure you're safe and secure. Go do

00:50:06.300 --> 00:50:08.679
your job. You can't do that. And then again,

00:50:08.860 --> 00:50:13.500
another incident that took place is we saw 15

00:50:13.500 --> 00:50:17.059
first responders, seven paramedics in the Palestinian

00:50:17.059 --> 00:50:20.820
Red Crescent. Six first responders from the fire

00:50:20.820 --> 00:50:23.760
service and the civil defense and one UN worker

00:50:23.760 --> 00:50:27.940
respond to a call in the south of Gaza. And the

00:50:27.940 --> 00:50:31.119
Palestinian Red Crescent then tells us that they

00:50:31.119 --> 00:50:33.719
lost communication with them and that they have

00:50:33.719 --> 00:50:35.539
been trying to reach out to the Israelis for

00:50:35.539 --> 00:50:39.099
one week, asking if they could access the area

00:50:39.099 --> 00:50:41.860
that they were last seen at. And the Israelis

00:50:41.860 --> 00:50:44.159
first would not respond to any of the requests.

00:50:44.840 --> 00:50:48.059
And then finally. There was a mass grave that

00:50:48.059 --> 00:50:54.139
was found with 15 of them found dead, found killed

00:50:54.139 --> 00:50:56.099
and buried in the mass grave. Some with shots

00:50:56.099 --> 00:50:58.940
to the chest and the head and their ambulance

00:50:58.940 --> 00:51:02.539
and their fire truck riddled with bullets. And

00:51:02.539 --> 00:51:04.820
if it wasn't for that video that was released

00:51:04.820 --> 00:51:07.159
a few days ago by the New York Times, we would

00:51:07.159 --> 00:51:08.800
have never understood what happened. But what

00:51:08.800 --> 00:51:11.960
we saw was, again, first responders responding

00:51:11.960 --> 00:51:14.869
to people in crisis who were injured. showing

00:51:14.869 --> 00:51:17.050
up to the scene, getting out of their vehicles,

00:51:17.190 --> 00:51:19.969
and then you hear this onslaught of bullets towards

00:51:19.969 --> 00:51:23.510
them. And one person did survive and was arrested

00:51:23.510 --> 00:51:26.050
and recently released. So they were able, you

00:51:26.050 --> 00:51:29.690
know, to get an account of just how, you know,

00:51:29.690 --> 00:51:33.750
things unfolded. But this is, again, a disastrous

00:51:33.750 --> 00:51:37.210
and disgusting display of how this war has been

00:51:37.210 --> 00:51:40.710
prosecuted. I mean, that is a quintessential

00:51:40.710 --> 00:51:42.969
example. This is not the exception. This is the

00:51:42.969 --> 00:51:46.719
rule. If you are a health care worker or if you're

00:51:46.719 --> 00:51:49.900
a humanitarian, you were not just targeted by

00:51:49.900 --> 00:51:52.260
the Israeli military, but your killing was normalized.

00:51:52.920 --> 00:51:56.599
And that is, you know, this is kind of where

00:51:56.599 --> 00:52:00.159
we're at right now. And, you know, we had the

00:52:00.159 --> 00:52:03.260
prime minister of Israel, Netanyahu, visit yesterday

00:52:03.260 --> 00:52:07.159
and was in the White House. And there's two things

00:52:07.159 --> 00:52:09.230
that I think were really. important about that

00:52:09.230 --> 00:52:10.829
meeting. Of course, he was talking about tariffs.

00:52:11.030 --> 00:52:15.130
The Israelis don't want to have tariffs slapped

00:52:15.130 --> 00:52:18.030
on them by the United States. But there's two

00:52:18.030 --> 00:52:22.809
other things. First, that they wanted to talk

00:52:22.809 --> 00:52:25.849
about Iran and a potential deal. And again, this

00:52:25.849 --> 00:52:30.489
gives you an inclination towards the psyche of

00:52:30.489 --> 00:52:35.570
Netanyahu. Netanyahu is a politician from Israel

00:52:35.570 --> 00:52:40.719
who over his entire political life has been desperate

00:52:40.719 --> 00:52:44.559
to send American servicemen to fight his wars.

00:52:44.739 --> 00:52:47.500
I mean, he is desperate to have U .S. troops

00:52:47.500 --> 00:52:52.739
go and fight his wars in Iran, in Iraq, in Syria,

00:52:53.039 --> 00:52:57.519
in Lebanon. He wants to use our military, the

00:52:57.519 --> 00:53:00.519
United States military, for what he views should

00:53:00.519 --> 00:53:03.139
be how the Middle East works. And this guy testified

00:53:03.139 --> 00:53:07.619
in Congress in 2002 after 9 -11. And he said,

00:53:08.199 --> 00:53:11.420
He testified as an expert in the region. He literally

00:53:11.420 --> 00:53:13.519
said, I still remember this testimony. He said,

00:53:13.559 --> 00:53:17.380
if you go into Iraq and you invade Iraq and you

00:53:17.380 --> 00:53:21.079
get rid of Saddam Hussein, he goes, there will

00:53:21.079 --> 00:53:23.519
be a domino effect of democracy in the Middle

00:53:23.519 --> 00:53:27.639
East. As if all you have to do is send our troops,

00:53:27.860 --> 00:53:31.320
our servicemen to go into a country, fight a

00:53:31.320 --> 00:53:35.139
war that was based on false pretenses. But that's

00:53:35.139 --> 00:53:37.800
a whole nother story. But fight a war. And then

00:53:37.800 --> 00:53:39.639
suddenly everybody else is going to be very in

00:53:39.639 --> 00:53:41.780
favor of what it is you're trying to sell to

00:53:41.780 --> 00:53:44.280
them, whether it's democracy or whatever it is.

00:53:44.719 --> 00:53:48.219
Since 2002, he's been guaranteeing that if you

00:53:48.219 --> 00:53:50.139
go and do this, if you take your soldiers and

00:53:50.139 --> 00:53:52.659
you go fight in this foreign country, then everything

00:53:52.659 --> 00:53:55.059
will get better and peace will spread, as if

00:53:55.059 --> 00:53:56.840
that's ever been the case. But that's who we're

00:53:56.840 --> 00:53:59.099
talking about here. This is somebody who loves

00:53:59.099 --> 00:54:01.679
the idea of war, not because it solves anything,

00:54:01.800 --> 00:54:04.699
but he knows that when there is war and chaos,

00:54:04.960 --> 00:54:07.949
people tend to not want to. destabilize the country

00:54:07.949 --> 00:54:09.449
politically. They're not going to want to get

00:54:09.449 --> 00:54:10.750
rid of the leader. They're not going to want

00:54:10.750 --> 00:54:12.389
to get rid of the government. And that's what

00:54:12.389 --> 00:54:14.570
kind of, you know, that's who you're dealing

00:54:14.570 --> 00:54:17.650
with. And I think on top of that, you know, that's

00:54:17.650 --> 00:54:19.769
one thing from the meeting. The second part was

00:54:19.769 --> 00:54:22.929
the way he was talking about Gaza. He was pretending

00:54:22.929 --> 00:54:25.869
like he was removed from the situation, like

00:54:25.869 --> 00:54:29.030
he is not the head of state who inflicted all

00:54:29.030 --> 00:54:32.150
of this damage and insisted on killing so many

00:54:32.150 --> 00:54:34.550
people in Gaza. He said, oh, Gaza, the people

00:54:34.550 --> 00:54:36.929
there are trapped, not because of us. But they're

00:54:36.929 --> 00:54:40.210
trapped somehow. Or it's become this wasteland.

00:54:40.329 --> 00:54:43.070
Who did that? Who made it a wasteland? You did.

00:54:43.309 --> 00:54:46.190
You're the one who kept pushing this. So that

00:54:46.190 --> 00:54:48.550
was, I think, an interesting part of the meeting

00:54:48.550 --> 00:54:50.570
yesterday. Because it also, there's no signs

00:54:50.570 --> 00:54:53.869
of like, can we get to a point where we can stop

00:54:53.869 --> 00:54:57.329
some of the suffering that's going on? And since

00:54:57.329 --> 00:55:00.630
March 2nd, there has not been a single. parcel

00:55:00.630 --> 00:55:02.889
of food that has entered into Gaza Strip. There's

00:55:02.889 --> 00:55:04.789
not been a single bottle of water. There has

00:55:04.789 --> 00:55:07.570
been no electricity for the desalination plants

00:55:07.570 --> 00:55:10.190
so that the water can be consumable. And the

00:55:10.190 --> 00:55:13.210
factories have shut down. So again, starvation

00:55:13.210 --> 00:55:16.449
is being used as a weapon of war. And you're

00:55:16.449 --> 00:55:20.389
seeing the longest period where not a single

00:55:20.389 --> 00:55:24.550
amount of aid has entered. After October 7th,

00:55:24.550 --> 00:55:27.010
it happened for three weeks. October 7th to the

00:55:27.010 --> 00:55:30.050
22nd, nothing got in. Now we're talking about

00:55:30.050 --> 00:55:33.630
well over a month. And this is a place that's

00:55:33.630 --> 00:55:35.369
dealing with a decent amount of food insecurity,

00:55:35.670 --> 00:55:37.889
malnutrition. And, you know, we already saw famine

00:55:37.889 --> 00:55:41.210
break out there once. And for context, it's a

00:55:41.210 --> 00:55:43.789
place that we used to get 500 trucks a day before

00:55:43.789 --> 00:55:46.849
any conflict, before any war was inflicted on

00:55:46.849 --> 00:55:49.050
it. So, you know, it's a desperate situation

00:55:49.050 --> 00:55:54.190
there now. And the morale is so low because,

00:55:54.250 --> 00:55:57.989
James, you gave people some hope. You had a chance.

00:55:58.010 --> 00:56:01.909
People were thinking, okay, we had 50 days of

00:56:01.909 --> 00:56:04.170
being able to walk freely in the streets and

00:56:04.170 --> 00:56:07.750
get out of these tents and try to find people

00:56:07.750 --> 00:56:09.590
who were still trapped beneath the rubble and

00:56:09.590 --> 00:56:11.670
try to figure out what the next steps were. And

00:56:11.670 --> 00:56:14.489
then you just unleashed hell on them in a really

00:56:14.489 --> 00:56:18.269
intense way, just as if all of that was undone.

00:56:18.329 --> 00:56:21.230
And I've not seen people with... Their morale

00:56:21.230 --> 00:56:24.090
this low, the hopelessness so pervasive. And,

00:56:24.150 --> 00:56:25.969
you know, that's something that's really that's

00:56:25.969 --> 00:56:27.909
tough to that's tough to hear day in and day

00:56:27.909 --> 00:56:32.570
out. Going back to the paramedics, talk to me

00:56:32.570 --> 00:56:35.309
about the denial from Israel originally until

00:56:35.309 --> 00:56:38.469
that cell phone footage came out. Yeah. Yeah.

00:56:38.510 --> 00:56:41.590
I mean, this is, you know, again, every these

00:56:41.590 --> 00:56:44.530
the movements of every single paramedic in Gaza

00:56:44.530 --> 00:56:47.429
is coordinated with the Israeli military. And

00:56:47.429 --> 00:56:49.530
this is not the first incident. where they've

00:56:49.530 --> 00:56:51.449
come into the line of fire just for doing their

00:56:51.449 --> 00:56:54.590
job. So the thought, you know, if you look at

00:56:54.590 --> 00:56:57.570
the Palestinian Red Crescent's posts on social

00:56:57.570 --> 00:57:01.010
media, they're updating twice a day saying, you

00:57:01.010 --> 00:57:03.369
know, we have this many people. For them, it

00:57:03.369 --> 00:57:06.429
was seven members of the Palestinian Red Crescent,

00:57:06.510 --> 00:57:08.889
right? And the civil defense is another, you

00:57:08.889 --> 00:57:10.989
know, eight members. But they said, this is what

00:57:10.989 --> 00:57:13.010
time they left. And this is where they were.

00:57:13.150 --> 00:57:14.909
And this is when we were communicating, you know,

00:57:14.909 --> 00:57:19.190
with them. And what you saw was. there was first

00:57:19.190 --> 00:57:21.909
the palestinian red crescent was being ignored

00:57:21.909 --> 00:57:23.989
by the israeli military the first few days they

00:57:23.989 --> 00:57:27.670
were just not getting any responses then it was

00:57:27.670 --> 00:57:29.170
total denial like we don't know what you're talking

00:57:29.170 --> 00:57:31.210
about we didn't see any movement here there was

00:57:31.210 --> 00:57:34.090
no coordination nothing happened and then it

00:57:34.090 --> 00:57:36.769
was you know like okay finally after one week

00:57:36.769 --> 00:57:38.449
and there's this outrage people are starting

00:57:38.449 --> 00:57:40.250
to realize what happened to these what happened

00:57:40.250 --> 00:57:43.090
to these people and there was local people there

00:57:43.090 --> 00:57:45.670
witnesses who saw kind of what took place and

00:57:45.670 --> 00:57:47.809
were like We think these guys were executed.

00:57:48.170 --> 00:57:50.449
What we saw, we think there's a mass grave here.

00:57:50.829 --> 00:57:54.909
And again, the Israelis are essentially saying,

00:57:55.030 --> 00:57:57.909
oh, these guys are liars. You know, they're saying

00:57:57.909 --> 00:58:00.530
this is a total lie. It's an absolute lie. This

00:58:00.530 --> 00:58:03.409
is all propaganda. And then when they finally

00:58:03.409 --> 00:58:06.349
found, you know, they finally had access to this.

00:58:06.449 --> 00:58:09.070
And by the way, there were multiple people who

00:58:09.070 --> 00:58:11.650
were trying to get close to the scene where these

00:58:11.650 --> 00:58:14.449
paramedics were. And they would still be coming

00:58:14.449 --> 00:58:16.530
under fire by the Israeli military. So people

00:58:16.530 --> 00:58:19.010
who could see in the distance, this is where

00:58:19.010 --> 00:58:20.969
they're supposed to be. They're coming under

00:58:20.969 --> 00:58:23.150
fire and they're not able to get access. There's

00:58:23.150 --> 00:58:26.750
actually a really intense scene by a UN worker.

00:58:26.889 --> 00:58:29.369
And the dispatcher is telling him, well, do you

00:58:29.369 --> 00:58:31.650
want to approach it? Because he's saying they're

00:58:31.650 --> 00:58:34.800
about. a hundred, you know, meters away, 150

00:58:34.800 --> 00:58:36.579
meters away. And this, do you want to approach?

00:58:36.739 --> 00:58:38.400
And he's like, negative, we're not doing that.

00:58:38.519 --> 00:58:40.980
I mean, there's, there's, there's actual, like

00:58:40.980 --> 00:58:42.940
we're coming under fire here. So we're not going

00:58:42.940 --> 00:58:44.639
to move towards there. And then you were seeing

00:58:44.639 --> 00:58:48.300
people who were in the area get hit and are dragging

00:58:48.300 --> 00:58:50.179
themselves away who, you know, were shot in the

00:58:50.179 --> 00:58:52.940
leg or shot in the back. So, you know, this was

00:58:52.940 --> 00:58:56.639
a really, you know, devastating sort of situation.

00:58:57.079 --> 00:58:59.239
But I want to say like, you know, finally, when

00:58:59.239 --> 00:59:01.940
they were able to access and they found the bodies.

00:59:02.320 --> 00:59:04.559
they said oh what we did is we killed a bunch

00:59:04.559 --> 00:59:06.960
of terrorists we said eight of those guys that

00:59:06.960 --> 00:59:09.480
you're saying for out of the 15 that were killed

00:59:09.480 --> 00:59:12.440
we know eight of them were terrorists this was

00:59:12.440 --> 00:59:14.440
the first you could look this is the first response

00:59:14.440 --> 00:59:16.780
by the israeli military then the video came out

00:59:16.780 --> 00:59:19.960
and you're seeing guys who are wearing their

00:59:19.960 --> 00:59:22.840
uniforms and you're seeing the cars that they're

00:59:22.840 --> 00:59:25.300
in and we're getting all of their names and we're

00:59:25.300 --> 00:59:27.340
posting their pictures and suddenly it's like

00:59:27.340 --> 00:59:29.260
we're going to review the incident We're going

00:59:29.260 --> 00:59:31.079
to investigate ourselves about what happened.

00:59:31.139 --> 00:59:32.559
Really, you're going to investigate yourselves?

00:59:32.820 --> 00:59:34.599
I wonder how that investigation is going to turn

00:59:34.599 --> 00:59:37.199
out. Because, again, we've gotten to the point

00:59:37.199 --> 00:59:40.260
where this has become a pattern of behavior by

00:59:40.260 --> 00:59:42.940
the Israeli military. This is not an exception

00:59:42.940 --> 00:59:45.219
to the rule. This was not some weird mistake.

00:59:45.380 --> 00:59:49.059
It was not a rogue soldier. It is exactly how

00:59:49.059 --> 00:59:52.219
they prosecuted the war. And I will go back to

00:59:52.219 --> 00:59:54.559
the famous story of the six -year -old girl,

00:59:54.639 --> 00:59:58.599
Hind Rajab. who was fleeing from Gaza City to

00:59:58.599 --> 01:00:02.340
the south of Gaza in a car with her uncle, aunt,

01:00:02.539 --> 01:00:06.300
15 -year -old cousin, Leyan, who come under fire

01:00:06.300 --> 01:00:09.000
from an Israeli tank. And they were told to evacuate

01:00:09.000 --> 01:00:12.099
and go to the south. Their car comes under fire.

01:00:12.179 --> 01:00:14.119
Her parents are in a separate car. They make

01:00:14.119 --> 01:00:18.019
it to the south. Suddenly, you get a call to

01:00:18.019 --> 01:00:20.360
the dispatcher, to 911, to the operator from

01:00:20.360 --> 01:00:22.900
a 15 -year -old girl who's saying, help us. We're

01:00:22.900 --> 01:00:25.530
in a car here. My parents are dead. I'm with

01:00:25.530 --> 01:00:27.909
my cousin. Please help us. And then you hear

01:00:27.909 --> 01:00:31.530
gunfire. And then you hear a six -year -old girl,

01:00:31.590 --> 01:00:35.190
Hind, pick up the phone and talk to the operator.

01:00:35.349 --> 01:00:37.289
And now she's saying, my 15 -year -old cousin

01:00:37.289 --> 01:00:41.710
is dead. The tank is 50 meters away from us.

01:00:42.050 --> 01:00:44.050
There are people there. I'm scared. Somebody

01:00:44.050 --> 01:00:46.090
come and save me. She's talking to the Palestinian

01:00:46.090 --> 01:00:49.530
Red Crescent operator. And they get two guys

01:00:49.530 --> 01:00:53.190
to hop in an ambulance, Ahmed and Yusuf. Two

01:00:53.190 --> 01:00:56.500
guys to hop. in an ambulance two paramedics they

01:00:56.500 --> 01:00:58.739
got cleared by the israeli military they were

01:00:58.739 --> 01:01:00.920
told hey here are the two guys one is named ahmed

01:01:00.920 --> 01:01:04.099
here's his palestinian id number here's his face

01:01:04.099 --> 01:01:07.239
one guy's name yusef here's his id number this

01:01:07.239 --> 01:01:09.719
is their car this is how it's marked this is

01:01:09.719 --> 01:01:11.519
where they're leaving from this is when they'll

01:01:11.519 --> 01:01:13.760
be leaving this is where they are right now they're

01:01:13.760 --> 01:01:16.219
approaching both of those guys get hit with a

01:01:16.219 --> 01:01:18.699
missile the ambulance gets gets destroyed both

01:01:18.699 --> 01:01:22.510
of those heroes get killed and hen's body Slowly,

01:01:22.510 --> 01:01:24.730
she bleeds to death and is found one week later,

01:01:24.809 --> 01:01:26.690
her corpse along with the corpse of the rest

01:01:26.690 --> 01:01:29.389
of her family. And so it's like, you know, this

01:01:29.389 --> 01:01:32.150
is what we're seeing. The Palestinian Red Crescent

01:01:32.150 --> 01:01:34.570
said 26 of their paramedics have been killed

01:01:34.570 --> 01:01:36.869
in this conflict. Why are 26 paramedics being

01:01:36.869 --> 01:01:38.469
killed if they're coordinating with the Israeli

01:01:38.469 --> 01:01:40.929
military? How could that happen? But it's become

01:01:40.929 --> 01:01:43.570
normalized. Over 1 ,000 healthcare workers, doctors,

01:01:43.809 --> 01:01:46.349
nurses, paramedics, first responders have been

01:01:46.349 --> 01:01:48.860
killed. They've been targeted. They're purposely

01:01:48.860 --> 01:01:51.059
being targeted. This is, you know, this has gone

01:01:51.059 --> 01:01:53.579
beyond, oh, this is indiscriminate bombing. This

01:01:53.579 --> 01:01:56.199
is now we're going to bring the health care system

01:01:56.199 --> 01:01:58.840
to its knees because that's how you get people

01:01:58.840 --> 01:02:01.780
to leave is once the ambulance can't get to you

01:02:01.780 --> 01:02:03.400
and bring you to the place where you can get

01:02:03.400 --> 01:02:05.539
the treatment that you need, you're going to

01:02:05.539 --> 01:02:08.159
be more and more inclined to leave the area.

01:02:08.400 --> 01:02:10.559
And that's kind of what the that's what the end

01:02:10.559 --> 01:02:13.619
goal is. So it's been it's really been. Truly

01:02:13.619 --> 01:02:15.559
horrifying, because we can talk about how many

01:02:15.559 --> 01:02:17.380
hospitals have been raided and destroyed. We

01:02:17.380 --> 01:02:18.940
can talk about how many doctors have been killed.

01:02:19.039 --> 01:02:21.320
We can talk about how all of these health care

01:02:21.320 --> 01:02:23.760
workers are also being abducted if they're found

01:02:23.760 --> 01:02:26.159
by the Israeli military and then sent to Israeli

01:02:26.159 --> 01:02:28.360
prisons without charge, being tortured, being

01:02:28.360 --> 01:02:30.960
abused. We can talk about that. But, you know,

01:02:30.960 --> 01:02:32.960
the truth is there's been no accountability whatsoever.

01:02:33.420 --> 01:02:36.199
And, you know, even if the U .N. Secretary General

01:02:36.199 --> 01:02:40.119
Antonio Gutierrez comes out and says our response

01:02:40.119 --> 01:02:43.309
to this guest house bombing. is we're going to

01:02:43.309 --> 01:02:45.610
decrease our footprint in Gaza. We're going to

01:02:45.610 --> 01:02:47.269
decrease the amount of UN workers that are in

01:02:47.269 --> 01:02:49.369
Gaza. There's a reason he's saying that. It's

01:02:49.369 --> 01:02:51.250
because the Israelis are not playing by anybody's

01:02:51.250 --> 01:02:53.690
rules and they are not going to afford anybody

01:02:53.690 --> 01:02:56.210
any sort of protections. And the people who are

01:02:56.210 --> 01:03:00.489
obviously in the crosshairs and who have suffered

01:03:00.489 --> 01:03:03.150
the most are these Palestinian humanitarians

01:03:03.150 --> 01:03:04.789
and healthcare workers and first responders.

01:03:06.389 --> 01:03:08.590
What maddens me, and we've had this discussion

01:03:08.590 --> 01:03:11.889
for 18 months now, Is every time there's any

01:03:11.889 --> 01:03:16.170
sort of discussion giving the Palestinian people

01:03:16.170 --> 01:03:19.530
a voice, it's always, oh, yeah, but Hamas. So

01:03:19.530 --> 01:03:23.010
just to reiterate, remind the people listening

01:03:23.010 --> 01:03:25.829
how many children to date have been killed so

01:03:25.829 --> 01:03:29.409
far in Gaza in this last 18 months. Yeah, we're

01:03:29.409 --> 01:03:32.530
talking about over 20 ,000. I mean, you should

01:03:32.530 --> 01:03:35.469
see the Palestinian health ministry released

01:03:35.469 --> 01:03:38.550
a list. of every single person that's been killed

01:03:38.550 --> 01:03:41.869
and it's in chronological order of age and the

01:03:41.869 --> 01:03:46.469
over the forced 40 pages are people who are under

01:03:46.469 --> 01:03:50.429
the age of one you know these pages and pages

01:03:50.429 --> 01:03:52.670
i looked at a devast you know and this is something

01:03:52.670 --> 01:03:55.710
it gets that one thing that really kind of irks

01:03:55.710 --> 01:03:57.730
me out and tells you like when that many kids

01:03:57.730 --> 01:04:00.110
are dead how does the world sit idly by you know

01:04:00.110 --> 01:04:03.679
it's more than any other conflict combined over

01:04:03.679 --> 01:04:07.260
the last 10 years. Ukraine had a tragic amount

01:04:07.260 --> 01:04:09.880
of kids being killed, and it pales in comparison

01:04:09.880 --> 01:04:14.760
to Gaza. And it gets at, when you dehumanize

01:04:14.760 --> 01:04:17.880
someone, when Palestinians are so pervasively

01:04:17.880 --> 01:04:20.739
dehumanized in mainstream media and in all of

01:04:20.739 --> 01:04:22.260
these, how these governments refer to them, like

01:04:22.260 --> 01:04:24.300
you just said, so easily dismissed by just using

01:04:24.300 --> 01:04:28.039
the word Hamas, you can suddenly rationalize

01:04:28.039 --> 01:04:30.619
how it's okay for this many people to be killed.

01:04:31.880 --> 01:04:34.539
Save the Children came out and said, there are

01:04:34.539 --> 01:04:40.340
800 kids that were born and killed in these 18

01:04:40.340 --> 01:04:42.239
months. They never saw their first birthday.

01:04:42.440 --> 01:04:45.099
They were born and then they were killed. And

01:04:45.099 --> 01:04:49.380
I just can't imagine being a parent, you know,

01:04:49.380 --> 01:04:51.440
and having somebody born in this and not being

01:04:51.440 --> 01:04:53.360
able to protect them, not being able to find

01:04:53.360 --> 01:04:55.320
a safe place for them and for them to lose their

01:04:55.320 --> 01:05:01.449
lives. And that's just scratching the surface

01:05:01.449 --> 01:05:04.110
because it's the largest cohort of kids who've

01:05:04.110 --> 01:05:07.130
lost limbs. Kids walking around without a leg

01:05:07.130 --> 01:05:11.730
or walking around without an arm. UNICEF yesterday

01:05:11.730 --> 01:05:15.250
said, we have a crisis of also kids under six

01:05:15.250 --> 01:05:18.670
months who are not getting fed enough. They need

01:05:18.670 --> 01:05:21.090
formula. They need supplemental formula because,

01:05:21.130 --> 01:05:23.190
of course, their moms are malnourished because

01:05:23.190 --> 01:05:25.050
they haven't had food. So we need to support

01:05:25.050 --> 01:05:28.170
them. There's 10 ,000 of them. And right now

01:05:28.170 --> 01:05:30.489
we only have enough formula for 400 of them.

01:05:31.110 --> 01:05:34.489
I mean, we're parents, man. Like, can you imagine

01:05:34.489 --> 01:05:37.150
not being able to get your kid is hungry? You

01:05:37.150 --> 01:05:38.750
know, not being able to give them something to

01:05:38.750 --> 01:05:40.989
eat. I mean, it's, you know, this is it's just

01:05:40.989 --> 01:05:43.750
such a devastating situation. The Al Jazeera

01:05:43.750 --> 01:05:46.710
did this report and it really got to me. I mean,

01:05:46.730 --> 01:05:48.789
I still it haunts me now. And it was talking

01:05:48.789 --> 01:05:51.110
about the most common names of kids that were

01:05:51.110 --> 01:05:54.079
being killed. You know, like, you know, that

01:05:54.079 --> 01:05:57.639
there were over 200 layans, such a popular name

01:05:57.639 --> 01:06:00.460
in Gaza that were killed, you know. And so for

01:06:00.460 --> 01:06:03.880
these girls and I'm like, you know, this is I

01:06:03.880 --> 01:06:06.500
mean, I think everybody understands this, but

01:06:06.500 --> 01:06:09.219
like losing a kid, nobody recovers from that

01:06:09.219 --> 01:06:11.320
ever. And you've gotten to the point where you're

01:06:11.320 --> 01:06:13.659
literally seeing guys and say, if one of us goes,

01:06:13.780 --> 01:06:15.400
we just hope the whole family goes together.

01:06:15.619 --> 01:06:18.119
We don't want to live without each other. You

01:06:18.119 --> 01:06:19.699
know, we've lost everything. We've lost our homes.

01:06:20.099 --> 01:06:22.869
Our kids can't go to school. We're so dependent

01:06:22.869 --> 01:06:25.289
on some foreign organization to come and give

01:06:25.289 --> 01:06:29.789
us a food parcel. If, God forbid, we get hit

01:06:29.789 --> 01:06:31.750
by a missile strike, we hope, and this is like

01:06:31.750 --> 01:06:33.750
a genuine, like, prayer they're making. It's

01:06:33.750 --> 01:06:36.369
like, we hope we all stay together and we all

01:06:36.369 --> 01:06:40.170
go together. Like, that's how devastating it's

01:06:40.170 --> 01:06:42.550
gotten. And I'll say one last thing about this,

01:06:42.570 --> 01:06:45.949
too. It's, you know, the other part of this is,

01:06:46.030 --> 01:06:51.030
and this is, it can get graphic, but the... The

01:06:51.030 --> 01:06:55.230
thing is, in Palestinian culture, it's really

01:06:55.230 --> 01:06:57.949
important, like when you have people who die,

01:06:58.150 --> 01:07:01.250
it's really important for them to have a dignified

01:07:01.250 --> 01:07:05.710
burial, a dignified funeral, mark the grave so

01:07:05.710 --> 01:07:07.869
you can visit the grave, you can pray for them.

01:07:08.010 --> 01:07:09.989
You want to maintain that connection with that

01:07:09.989 --> 01:07:13.110
loved one. And even that's been deprived in the

01:07:13.110 --> 01:07:16.119
Gaza Strip. I mean, whether it's these mass graves

01:07:16.119 --> 01:07:18.079
that are being uncovered or people who are trapped

01:07:18.079 --> 01:07:20.239
beneath the rubble or people whose body parts

01:07:20.239 --> 01:07:22.519
or people who have been people who have been,

01:07:22.519 --> 01:07:24.699
you know, these two ton bombs that get dropped

01:07:24.699 --> 01:07:26.820
and you've just got flesh and bones everywhere.

01:07:26.920 --> 01:07:28.739
You don't know who's who. You know, you're putting

01:07:28.739 --> 01:07:31.639
in at one point when a shelter got hit, people

01:07:31.639 --> 01:07:34.440
were putting what they could find into plastic

01:07:34.440 --> 01:07:36.760
bags and then trying to go and bury their loved

01:07:36.760 --> 01:07:39.119
one. You know, and so even that the whole process

01:07:39.119 --> 01:07:44.590
has just absolutely been. this horrifying, apocalyptic

01:07:44.590 --> 01:07:49.630
kind of scenario. And to me, we can talk about

01:07:49.630 --> 01:07:51.750
the immediate effects of what happens when a

01:07:51.750 --> 01:07:54.090
bomb hits a school, but the story doesn't stop

01:07:54.090 --> 01:07:57.329
there for the people who are affected. That follows

01:07:57.329 --> 01:08:01.650
them forever, for eternity. So when I was young,

01:08:01.889 --> 01:08:06.389
there was some incredible television for children

01:08:06.389 --> 01:08:09.130
in the UK. There was one called John Craven's

01:08:09.130 --> 01:08:11.309
Newsround. This was back when the BBC was...

01:08:11.389 --> 01:08:14.130
Still very impartial and just delivered the news.

01:08:15.510 --> 01:08:17.909
And John Kramer's news round was like a children's

01:08:17.909 --> 01:08:20.010
version. And they would show things. I mean,

01:08:20.029 --> 01:08:21.789
one of the big things when I was young was the

01:08:21.789 --> 01:08:26.930
famine in Ethiopia. And there was another TV

01:08:26.930 --> 01:08:29.810
show called Blue Peter. And it would encourage

01:08:29.810 --> 01:08:34.409
all of us to make sandwiches and sell them at

01:08:34.409 --> 01:08:36.409
school and have jumble sales, kind of like a

01:08:36.409 --> 01:08:39.289
yard sale. And we collectively as a nation of

01:08:39.289 --> 01:08:42.680
children. would raise money and send it to in

01:08:42.680 --> 01:08:45.699
this case ethiopia and i can see the face of

01:08:45.699 --> 01:08:48.000
the starving african children at that point you

01:08:48.000 --> 01:08:50.579
know with the flies everywhere and the ribs visible

01:08:50.579 --> 01:08:53.600
and then when i saw some of the starvation in

01:08:53.600 --> 01:08:56.359
in gaza it reminded me of that the difference

01:08:56.359 --> 01:08:59.699
is though when i was young kindness and altruism

01:08:59.699 --> 01:09:02.720
and compassion were front and center now here

01:09:02.720 --> 01:09:05.699
we are and the nation that i'm you know a citizen

01:09:05.699 --> 01:09:09.149
of now is arming the very people that we're talking

01:09:09.149 --> 01:09:12.810
about. And its soldiers were held to a very high

01:09:12.810 --> 01:09:15.310
standard of rules of engagement. And I've had

01:09:15.310 --> 01:09:18.630
numerous warfighters on here that are heartbroken

01:09:18.630 --> 01:09:21.510
at that one time, a single civilian got caught

01:09:21.510 --> 01:09:23.789
in a crossfire. And then they're taking them

01:09:23.789 --> 01:09:26.529
to our physicians to try and save their lives.

01:09:26.630 --> 01:09:28.930
And many of them were, you know, and he lost

01:09:28.930 --> 01:09:30.810
limbs and they got prosthetics and some of them

01:09:30.810 --> 01:09:33.409
were brought to the US. And the kindness and

01:09:33.409 --> 01:09:36.859
compassion from most of our warfighters. And

01:09:36.859 --> 01:09:40.539
the isolated incidents of horrendous actions

01:09:40.539 --> 01:09:43.180
like some of the villages in Vietnam were brought

01:09:43.180 --> 01:09:45.720
front and center. Like this is an embarrassment.

01:09:45.779 --> 01:09:49.439
This is an atrocity by the U .S. military. And

01:09:49.439 --> 01:09:52.539
so our own people are held at such a high standard.

01:09:53.460 --> 01:09:56.220
And yet we just turn our heads, not even turn

01:09:56.220 --> 01:09:58.000
our head. We turn our heads, grab a checkbook

01:09:58.000 --> 01:10:00.819
and then write a check so they can get more weapons

01:10:00.819 --> 01:10:03.560
of destruction and massacre more civilians. Because,

01:10:03.600 --> 01:10:07.279
of course, yes, amongst that. There are Hamas

01:10:07.279 --> 01:10:09.880
fighters and there are Israeli soldiers actually

01:10:09.880 --> 01:10:13.159
combating each other. But when you're talking

01:10:13.159 --> 01:10:17.100
about 20 ,000 children, name another conflict

01:10:17.100 --> 01:10:21.180
outside of Auschwitz concentration camps where

01:10:21.180 --> 01:10:24.159
there's ever been that kind of body count in

01:10:24.159 --> 01:10:27.180
such a small amount of time of innocence. And

01:10:27.180 --> 01:10:28.739
that's just the children. We're not talking about

01:10:28.739 --> 01:10:31.340
all the men and women that were completely detached

01:10:31.340 --> 01:10:35.039
from any forms of... you know terrorism or extremism

01:10:35.039 --> 01:10:38.260
within that country against israel so this is

01:10:38.260 --> 01:10:41.140
what nauseates me and i saw it even in the uk

01:10:41.140 --> 01:10:43.819
they weren't jumping on the bank the irish were

01:10:43.819 --> 01:10:46.079
the only ones that actually had the guts to say

01:10:46.079 --> 01:10:49.319
this is wrong but my people didn't at the beginning

01:10:49.319 --> 01:10:51.199
i think they're starting to come around now even

01:10:51.199 --> 01:10:53.439
though every time i see a bbc article it says

01:10:53.439 --> 01:10:56.760
from hamas -led media and then it tells the story

01:10:56.760 --> 01:11:00.510
but this country God forbid you actually speak

01:11:00.510 --> 01:11:03.289
up about, hey, maybe what was happening in Palestine

01:11:03.289 --> 01:11:05.569
is wrong or to the Palestinian peoples is wrong.

01:11:06.149 --> 01:11:09.829
Then, you know, you're a Hamas lover. And, you

01:11:09.829 --> 01:11:11.550
know, and the problem is, and then we have some

01:11:11.550 --> 01:11:13.810
of this ridiculous protesting where these people

01:11:13.810 --> 01:11:16.869
are pissing people off. And it's losing power

01:11:16.869 --> 01:11:18.869
then for the voice of actually just speaking

01:11:18.869 --> 01:11:21.409
for the for the Palestinian people and God and

01:11:21.409 --> 01:11:23.909
the Israelis. I mean, there are Israeli victims

01:11:23.909 --> 01:11:27.060
as well. October 7th is a good example. it's

01:11:27.060 --> 01:11:31.039
not an absolute if you are are advocating for

01:11:31.039 --> 01:11:32.779
one oppressed group doesn't mean that you're

01:11:32.779 --> 01:11:35.560
against the other it just say and i think we

01:11:35.560 --> 01:11:37.579
said this last time it's like you and i get into

01:11:37.579 --> 01:11:39.840
a fist fight well let me start you come over

01:11:39.840 --> 01:11:42.340
and you punch me in the face but i end up being

01:11:42.340 --> 01:11:45.319
you know a skilled martial artist and i end up

01:11:45.319 --> 01:11:47.720
beating you to the ground and then i stop curb

01:11:47.720 --> 01:11:50.600
stomping you at some point you're like whoa now

01:11:50.600 --> 01:11:53.800
you've gone too far exactly that's the point

01:11:53.800 --> 01:11:56.850
it doesn't mean that I shouldn't retaliate from

01:11:56.850 --> 01:11:58.369
getting punched in the face, but there's a point

01:11:58.369 --> 01:12:01.510
where it's not retaliation anymore. Now, now,

01:12:01.689 --> 01:12:03.649
now I've curb stomped you. Now I go to your house

01:12:03.649 --> 01:12:05.369
and I start doing the same thing to your family.

01:12:05.569 --> 01:12:07.630
At what point do you say, whoa, whoa, no, that's

01:12:07.630 --> 01:12:11.489
too much. We hit too much a year ago, you know,

01:12:11.489 --> 01:12:15.329
14 months ago. That's the problem. So this is

01:12:15.329 --> 01:12:19.270
what I have an issue with is the cowardice. Of

01:12:19.270 --> 01:12:22.069
the people in these countries where I'm from

01:12:22.069 --> 01:12:24.069
originally and where I've served for 14 years

01:12:24.069 --> 01:12:26.670
here, wearing an American flag on my fucking

01:12:26.670 --> 01:12:30.229
shoulder, the cowardice that I see for actually

01:12:30.229 --> 01:12:33.430
standing up for the weak and the oppressed, even

01:12:33.430 --> 01:12:35.649
though that's supposed to be what we do in uniform

01:12:35.649 --> 01:12:38.569
in this country. And now 15 of my brothers in

01:12:38.569 --> 01:12:41.449
arms in Palestine have been killed. And don't

01:12:41.449 --> 01:12:43.369
get me wrong. There's my brothers in arms on

01:12:43.369 --> 01:12:45.270
the Israeli side that have died in attacks, too,

01:12:45.369 --> 01:12:49.229
from rockets. This is a human issue. It's not

01:12:49.229 --> 01:12:52.090
a religious issue. It's not a specific nation

01:12:52.090 --> 01:12:55.930
on a map. It's the good and the evil. And right

01:12:55.930 --> 01:13:00.670
now there's a jarring, disgusting irony that

01:13:00.670 --> 01:13:03.789
some of these people are from a lineage of some

01:13:03.789 --> 01:13:06.409
of the most repressed people that we had in the

01:13:06.409 --> 01:13:09.409
40s, that the men and women of this country and

01:13:09.409 --> 01:13:12.350
the country I'm from went and risked their lives

01:13:12.350 --> 01:13:17.329
to liberate from the Nazis. And now some of those

01:13:17.329 --> 01:13:20.750
people. have become the oppressor. Hurt people

01:13:20.750 --> 01:13:24.770
hurt people. So it takes courage to stand up

01:13:24.770 --> 01:13:27.810
and say, hey, these two things can exist simultaneously.

01:13:27.869 --> 01:13:30.930
The victims of October 7th, the real ones, not

01:13:30.930 --> 01:13:32.890
the ones that were described that never happened,

01:13:32.949 --> 01:13:36.189
but the actual real victims, that was an atrocity

01:13:36.189 --> 01:13:38.970
for those people. The people that were losing

01:13:38.970 --> 01:13:42.029
continuously in Gaza from both sides, but let's

01:13:42.029 --> 01:13:45.520
be honest, it's like 95 % the Palestinians. is

01:13:45.520 --> 01:13:48.060
also wrong. And I don't understand why people

01:13:48.060 --> 01:13:50.699
don't have the courage to stand up and say that

01:13:50.699 --> 01:13:53.500
because it's not black and white. It's a nuanced

01:13:53.500 --> 01:13:56.819
gray conversation. Yeah. I mean, I think you,

01:13:56.840 --> 01:13:59.680
you kind of, one thing that you kind of get at

01:13:59.680 --> 01:14:03.989
is At what point, when are we going to be values

01:14:03.989 --> 01:14:06.250
-based? When are our principles going to matter

01:14:06.250 --> 01:14:08.109
here? And that's not been the case. I mean, this

01:14:08.109 --> 01:14:10.069
has been the litmus test. You can't talk to me

01:14:10.069 --> 01:14:16.029
about Ukraine and the Russian aggression and

01:14:16.029 --> 01:14:19.250
then be silent when it comes to Gaza. I mean,

01:14:19.270 --> 01:14:21.909
why, when it comes to Gaza, suddenly they aren't

01:14:21.909 --> 01:14:24.649
afforded the same sort of protections that people

01:14:24.649 --> 01:14:26.689
in Ukraine are? And I think there's a couple

01:14:26.689 --> 01:14:29.470
of things, too, that really are really, really

01:14:29.470 --> 01:14:33.630
concerning. So, you know, one thing is what people

01:14:33.630 --> 01:14:36.869
should be calling for is accountability. At the

01:14:36.869 --> 01:14:38.909
end of the day, everybody should be held accountable.

01:14:39.090 --> 01:14:40.729
If you want to hold the Palestinians accountable,

01:14:41.130 --> 01:14:44.409
absolutely go for it. But you have to be holding

01:14:44.409 --> 01:14:46.550
the Israelis accountable. You cannot sit here

01:14:46.550 --> 01:14:48.390
and say, we're going to label this organization

01:14:48.390 --> 01:14:50.510
a terrorist organization. We're going to sanction

01:14:50.510 --> 01:14:53.590
these people. The way they're terrorizing civilians

01:14:53.590 --> 01:14:56.189
is wrong. And then at the other side, be totally

01:14:56.189 --> 01:14:59.140
OK with. paramedics trying to respond to a case

01:14:59.140 --> 01:15:01.359
and then being executed and buried into a mass

01:15:01.359 --> 01:15:03.460
grave you can't say one side is committing war

01:15:03.460 --> 01:15:06.939
crimes and then ignore the sophisticated advanced

01:15:06.939 --> 01:15:09.300
military that's supported by the you know the

01:15:09.300 --> 01:15:12.220
the western world and say and just be like just

01:15:12.220 --> 01:15:14.260
turn a blind eye there then you're a hypocrite

01:15:14.260 --> 01:15:16.439
then i have to start rethinking everything that

01:15:16.439 --> 01:15:18.220
you're declaring i can't take you at face value

01:15:18.220 --> 01:15:22.680
and one thing that pissed me off was the spokesperson

01:15:22.680 --> 01:15:24.760
for the State Department. I forgot her last name.

01:15:24.779 --> 01:15:26.720
Her name is Tammy. But they're trying to ask

01:15:26.720 --> 01:15:28.159
her a question. You talk about nuance. They're

01:15:28.159 --> 01:15:31.840
trying to ask about this incident with the hospital

01:15:31.840 --> 01:15:34.600
that got hit at Nasser or the UN and then even

01:15:34.600 --> 01:15:37.039
the Palestinian Red Crescent. And she only has

01:15:37.039 --> 01:15:40.220
one line response, one sentence that she keeps

01:15:40.220 --> 01:15:41.880
repeating. She goes, everything that's happening

01:15:41.880 --> 01:15:45.140
in Gaza is Hamas's fault. Everything that's happening

01:15:45.140 --> 01:15:47.460
in Gaza, it's just on repeat. You're like, is

01:15:47.460 --> 01:15:49.920
this person a robot? everything. This is not

01:15:49.920 --> 01:15:53.199
how the world works at all. You want to talk

01:15:53.199 --> 01:15:55.539
about October 7th and the reckoning as a result

01:15:55.539 --> 01:15:58.819
of what happened on October 7th, for sure. But

01:15:58.819 --> 01:16:01.500
you cannot ignore October 8th, 9th, 10th, all

01:16:01.500 --> 01:16:03.600
the way through. If you want to talk about October

01:16:03.600 --> 01:16:06.079
7th, absolutely. You want to talk about accountability,

01:16:06.439 --> 01:16:08.000
international law, international humanitarian

01:16:08.000 --> 01:16:10.659
law, great. But you better have also been talking

01:16:10.659 --> 01:16:13.260
about October 6th and 5th and October 8th and

01:16:13.260 --> 01:16:16.100
9th. There's something about moral consistency

01:16:16.100 --> 01:16:17.800
here. And the reason that it's so important is

01:16:17.800 --> 01:16:19.579
because You know, at the end of the day, if you

01:16:19.579 --> 01:16:21.220
don't have that, then everything that you say

01:16:21.220 --> 01:16:25.979
is, you know, is there's like this there's this

01:16:25.979 --> 01:16:28.779
bias that's attached to it. And this country,

01:16:28.779 --> 01:16:33.880
I don't think, realizes, you know, the I'm sure

01:16:33.880 --> 01:16:35.460
they realize, but they choose to ignore because

01:16:35.460 --> 01:16:38.859
we just had senators try to at least do some

01:16:38.859 --> 01:16:41.500
sort of arms embargo on Israel saying, OK, maybe

01:16:41.500 --> 01:16:43.579
we maybe we should not give them these two ton

01:16:43.579 --> 01:16:46.850
bombs. Maybe we should not restock. all of the

01:16:46.850 --> 01:16:49.130
ammunition that they fired onto the Gaza Strip.

01:16:49.630 --> 01:16:54.569
And instead, you had 15 senators who said, all

01:16:54.569 --> 01:16:57.010
right, maybe it's enough is enough. But you had

01:16:57.010 --> 01:17:01.270
83 that said, let the weapons flow, keep it going,

01:17:01.390 --> 01:17:04.289
let the bodies hit the floor. And to me, it's

01:17:04.289 --> 01:17:06.390
like, does anybody think about the consequences

01:17:06.390 --> 01:17:08.430
of that? Like, do you really think your hands

01:17:08.430 --> 01:17:11.640
are clean? When we talk about him, the six year

01:17:11.640 --> 01:17:13.859
old, or we talk about Yusuf, the curly haired

01:17:13.859 --> 01:17:16.819
boy, or we talk about the soul of my soul, the

01:17:16.819 --> 01:17:19.300
grandfather and the granddaughter who were killed

01:17:19.300 --> 01:17:21.319
one year apart. We had to watch him like kind

01:17:21.319 --> 01:17:23.420
of bury her. And then he was only to be killed

01:17:23.420 --> 01:17:25.319
one year later. You don't think about these people.

01:17:25.640 --> 01:17:29.060
It goes back to obviously Palestinians and are

01:17:29.060 --> 01:17:30.819
dehumanized. And that's what you do when you

01:17:30.819 --> 01:17:32.699
want to create an enemy. You dehumanize them.

01:17:32.739 --> 01:17:35.579
You pretend like all of them are these bloodthirsty.

01:17:36.860 --> 01:17:39.000
extremists, and no one wants to talk about nuance

01:17:39.000 --> 01:17:40.640
at the end of the day. I mean, one thing that

01:17:40.640 --> 01:17:43.640
Witkoff said on a podcast with Tucker Carlson

01:17:43.640 --> 01:17:46.340
that stunned me, because I'm like, okay, this

01:17:46.340 --> 01:17:48.640
guy is not clearly established. He's not a good

01:17:48.640 --> 01:17:51.659
guy by any means, I think. But I don't think

01:17:51.659 --> 01:17:53.819
he knows what he's doing. But he's new to the

01:17:53.819 --> 01:17:56.460
game. And so I was like, wow, you can see some

01:17:56.460 --> 01:17:59.340
truth in what he's saying. But he's saying Hamas

01:17:59.340 --> 01:18:02.300
at the end of the day, too, has pressure on it

01:18:02.300 --> 01:18:04.779
from the Palestinian people to get this over

01:18:04.779 --> 01:18:07.699
with. to find a way to get to a ceasefire deal,

01:18:07.920 --> 01:18:10.939
to deal something with the negotiations. They

01:18:10.939 --> 01:18:13.520
are, at the end of the day, the local authorities,

01:18:13.619 --> 01:18:15.340
the local government. And just like we have a

01:18:15.340 --> 01:18:17.439
government here that we demand things from, that

01:18:17.439 --> 01:18:19.800
we need things from, they have to deliver. And

01:18:19.800 --> 01:18:21.939
so nobody talks about that. Instead, what you

01:18:21.939 --> 01:18:25.979
want to do is you want to imagine them as just

01:18:25.979 --> 01:18:31.119
these aliens from outer space that are hell -bent

01:18:31.119 --> 01:18:33.880
on killing as many people as possible. I'm not

01:18:33.880 --> 01:18:35.840
a defender of Hamas by any means. I don't belong

01:18:35.840 --> 01:18:38.220
to this organization. I have no interaction with

01:18:38.220 --> 01:18:40.119
them. But I know at the end of the day, there

01:18:40.119 --> 01:18:43.199
was a ceasefire deal for 50 days where people

01:18:43.199 --> 01:18:44.939
were able to come and say, why can't we get back

01:18:44.939 --> 01:18:46.760
there? I don't care about any of these political

01:18:46.760 --> 01:18:48.859
parties. I don't care about Netanyahu. I just

01:18:48.859 --> 01:18:52.920
do not care about him. What I care about is the

01:18:52.920 --> 01:18:54.880
suffering that's going on that I witnessed firsthand.

01:18:55.079 --> 01:18:59.130
I can't deal with watching these... guys show

01:18:59.130 --> 01:19:00.949
up and the guy on the video with his camera,

01:19:01.109 --> 01:19:04.750
you see the fire truck in front of him and he's

01:19:04.750 --> 01:19:06.369
getting down. He's saying, oh, we see the people.

01:19:06.409 --> 01:19:08.069
They're over there. They're over there. Getting

01:19:08.069 --> 01:19:09.590
down, thinking that he's going to help somebody

01:19:09.590 --> 01:19:12.270
and try to transport them to the nearest healthcare

01:19:12.270 --> 01:19:14.489
facility. And instead, you know that those are

01:19:14.489 --> 01:19:16.689
his last moments. And as he's bleeding to death,

01:19:16.729 --> 01:19:18.229
he's speaking in Arabic and he's telling his

01:19:18.229 --> 01:19:21.970
mom, forgive me. This is the field that I chose

01:19:21.970 --> 01:19:23.810
and I'm losing my life as a result of that. And

01:19:23.810 --> 01:19:25.489
he's just saying, just please forgive me. Please

01:19:25.489 --> 01:19:27.479
forgive me. Like saying his... You know, those

01:19:27.479 --> 01:19:29.439
are his last breaths. Like, why is that? Why

01:19:29.439 --> 01:19:32.000
has that been normalized? Why is that OK? You

01:19:32.000 --> 01:19:34.319
know, and I mean, the last thing I'll say about

01:19:34.319 --> 01:19:36.420
this, too, that just, you know, I think it's

01:19:36.420 --> 01:19:38.920
important for people to understand is, you know,

01:19:38.920 --> 01:19:40.800
they really want, you know, at the end of the

01:19:40.800 --> 01:19:44.380
day, it's like, think about what you know, what's

01:19:44.380 --> 01:19:47.500
going on here. And if you're very clear where

01:19:47.500 --> 01:19:49.720
it's like if you're saying things like, oh, this

01:19:49.720 --> 01:19:54.170
is warfare and this is what happens in war. Like

01:19:54.170 --> 01:19:58.029
you said, this is cruel and unusual what's happening

01:19:58.029 --> 01:20:00.810
in Gaza. Very densely populated area. In every

01:20:00.810 --> 01:20:03.189
other kind of war that we've seen, there's been

01:20:03.189 --> 01:20:06.039
porous borders. In Afghanistan, a lot of people

01:20:06.039 --> 01:20:09.060
from Afghanistan, Afghanis, who went into Pakistan

01:20:09.060 --> 01:20:11.399
and fleed. In Syria, they went to Europe. They

01:20:11.399 --> 01:20:13.699
went to Turkey. They went to Lebanon. In Sudan,

01:20:13.939 --> 01:20:17.060
they went to Egypt. What you did in Gaza, which

01:20:17.060 --> 01:20:18.779
made it so horrifying, in Ukraine, you were able

01:20:18.779 --> 01:20:20.420
to go to the rest of Europe. You went to Poland,

01:20:20.479 --> 01:20:22.819
and then you were able to resettle in Europe.

01:20:23.060 --> 01:20:26.819
In Gaza, they sealed the borders shut. And it's

01:20:26.819 --> 01:20:29.079
a densely populated area, more densely populated

01:20:29.079 --> 01:20:31.819
than Tokyo, Gaza City is. And then they let the

01:20:31.819 --> 01:20:33.979
fighter jets scramble. And you were dropping

01:20:33.979 --> 01:20:37.140
bombs everywhere. So it's like, you know, for

01:20:37.140 --> 01:20:39.520
people to kind of come out here and just pretend

01:20:39.520 --> 01:20:41.920
like it's norm, this is kind of what war is.

01:20:42.079 --> 01:20:45.199
That's not true. That's not true. In Afghanistan,

01:20:45.359 --> 01:20:48.340
the United States military hit a MSF hospital,

01:20:48.479 --> 01:20:50.720
Doctors Without Borders in Kunduz. They hit the

01:20:50.720 --> 01:20:53.180
hospital. There were casualties there. As a result

01:20:53.180 --> 01:20:57.319
of that, they had to redo their entire deconfliction

01:20:57.319 --> 01:21:01.729
system. where they had to look at, they did this

01:21:01.729 --> 01:21:03.909
whole analysis, what happened, where did things

01:21:03.909 --> 01:21:06.250
go wrong, and they had to figure out where they

01:21:06.250 --> 01:21:09.529
did not repeat that mistake again. It was, I

01:21:09.529 --> 01:21:11.930
would say, a serious endeavor by the United States

01:21:11.930 --> 01:21:14.289
military at that moment. That has never been

01:21:14.289 --> 01:21:15.750
the case right now with the Israeli military

01:21:15.750 --> 01:21:18.390
over the last 18 months. All of these incidents

01:21:18.390 --> 01:21:20.949
have not changed how they prosecuted the war,

01:21:21.069 --> 01:21:23.829
and they've not been held accountable for any

01:21:23.829 --> 01:21:26.560
of them. for 18 months, whether it's a hospital,

01:21:26.720 --> 01:21:30.140
an ambulance, a water engineer from Oxfam trying

01:21:30.140 --> 01:21:33.399
to fix a water infrastructure, or children that

01:21:33.399 --> 01:21:35.979
are running around at a shelter. And when you

01:21:35.979 --> 01:21:37.779
don't have that accountability, it's not just

01:21:37.779 --> 01:21:40.439
going to affect Gazans today. Tomorrow, it'll

01:21:40.439 --> 01:21:42.539
be somewhere else because they'll see what the

01:21:42.539 --> 01:21:44.399
Israelis did and how they got away with it. And

01:21:44.399 --> 01:21:46.500
they will copy that. And they will do the same

01:21:46.500 --> 01:21:48.060
thing. You know, everybody's going to create

01:21:48.060 --> 01:21:50.840
a boogeyman to justify, you know, what they're

01:21:50.840 --> 01:21:52.619
going to do militarily. Everyone will create

01:21:52.619 --> 01:21:55.189
that boogeyman. At some point, We need people

01:21:55.189 --> 01:21:57.590
to have that moral clarity, that leadership to

01:21:57.590 --> 01:21:59.909
step up. And it's not here in this country. It's

01:21:59.909 --> 01:22:02.409
too few and far in between. Instead, it's business

01:22:02.409 --> 01:22:05.170
as usual, status quo and making excuses for a

01:22:05.170 --> 01:22:07.470
foreign country that, yeah, OK, it's your closest

01:22:07.470 --> 01:22:10.390
ally. But God damn, like how much are you willing

01:22:10.390 --> 01:22:12.890
to cover for your for your friend here? You know,

01:22:12.890 --> 01:22:15.510
so it's just not seeing instead you've got, you

01:22:15.510 --> 01:22:18.869
know, dumb people. I hate to kind of but that's

01:22:18.869 --> 01:22:20.710
that's how I feel. Like you got Marco Rubio,

01:22:20.829 --> 01:22:23.279
Mike Walls, all these people who are just. happy

01:22:23.279 --> 01:22:26.479
to make excuses that are just shills for special

01:22:26.479 --> 01:22:28.640
interest groups and you know it's it's funny

01:22:28.640 --> 01:22:31.319
like full circle on the conversation well we

01:22:31.319 --> 01:22:33.560
all know and it's been again more and more of

01:22:33.560 --> 01:22:35.180
a prevalent conversation about the industrial

01:22:35.180 --> 01:22:38.060
military complex let's say that again the industrial

01:22:38.060 --> 01:22:41.859
military complex and if your friends are getting

01:22:41.859 --> 01:22:44.199
rich while we're at war or we're selling weapons

01:22:44.199 --> 01:22:47.600
then you're going to keep conflicts going and

01:22:47.600 --> 01:22:49.000
it's interesting we talk about not being able

01:22:49.000 --> 01:22:52.090
to sleep at night I've had some realizations

01:22:52.090 --> 01:22:57.109
recently. If you are in charge of a weapons manufacturer,

01:22:57.369 --> 01:22:59.750
if you are in charge of a tobacco company, if

01:22:59.750 --> 01:23:03.210
you are in charge of Purdue Pharma, and you know

01:23:03.210 --> 01:23:05.329
that millions of people around the planet are

01:23:05.329 --> 01:23:08.270
dying from your product and you can sleep at

01:23:08.270 --> 01:23:11.989
night, then you're a sociopath. There are some

01:23:11.989 --> 01:23:14.649
serious mental health issues going on. And these

01:23:14.649 --> 01:23:16.510
are the people at the tip of the spear in these

01:23:16.510 --> 01:23:18.989
areas. I think I talked about this before. I'll

01:23:18.989 --> 01:23:21.470
just throw this parallel in again. When I was

01:23:21.470 --> 01:23:23.529
young, I grew up on a farm and it was next to

01:23:23.529 --> 01:23:26.649
an MOD based military defense. And this was during

01:23:26.649 --> 01:23:30.029
the 70s, 80s, where the IRA were blowing up men,

01:23:30.130 --> 01:23:33.569
women and children on the mainland UK. Now, again,

01:23:33.670 --> 01:23:36.430
if you roll the clock back enough, you understand

01:23:36.430 --> 01:23:39.489
where. hatred towards the british came if you

01:23:39.489 --> 01:23:41.130
look at the potato famine and all that stuff

01:23:41.130 --> 01:23:43.510
because there's always an origin of every story

01:23:43.510 --> 01:23:46.050
if you go back far enough you know the somali

01:23:46.050 --> 01:23:48.729
pirates the overfishing of their oceans is what

01:23:48.729 --> 01:23:53.050
caused poverty and now we had them so i've always

01:23:53.050 --> 01:23:55.250
said this all right now for example they blow

01:23:55.250 --> 01:23:57.109
up one of the many shopping centers that they

01:23:57.109 --> 01:24:00.380
did kill men women and children in the uk And

01:24:00.380 --> 01:24:02.500
now the UK goes and says, we're going to destroy

01:24:02.500 --> 01:24:05.380
the entire city of Belfast, men, women, children,

01:24:05.479 --> 01:24:08.399
every hospital, every church, every daycare center,

01:24:08.500 --> 01:24:10.560
every school. We're going to flatten the entire

01:24:10.560 --> 01:24:14.100
thing. How would the world respond to that? It's

01:24:14.100 --> 01:24:17.220
no different. Are there bad people on the Irish

01:24:17.220 --> 01:24:19.720
side? Abso -fucking -lutely. Are there bad people

01:24:19.720 --> 01:24:22.119
on the English side, the British side? Absolutely.

01:24:23.000 --> 01:24:25.659
But of the other 99 point whatever percent just

01:24:25.659 --> 01:24:27.359
innocent men, women and children trying to go

01:24:27.359 --> 01:24:29.659
about their day or people in uniform that are

01:24:29.659 --> 01:24:32.539
there simply to try and deescalate or be a barrier

01:24:32.539 --> 01:24:34.239
between the violence between the Protestants

01:24:34.239 --> 01:24:36.399
and Catholics or the loyalists or the, you know,

01:24:36.399 --> 01:24:40.859
whatever it is. Yes. So, yes, you have this,

01:24:40.859 --> 01:24:42.479
you know, first you need to roll back and say,

01:24:42.520 --> 01:24:44.119
well, how did this start and how can we just

01:24:44.119 --> 01:24:47.100
kind of put a punctuation on this generational

01:24:47.100 --> 01:24:50.359
fight that we've had with each other? But then

01:24:50.359 --> 01:24:55.100
also. This isn't between Hamas and IDF. It's

01:24:55.100 --> 01:24:57.880
the slaughter of all the people. It's not collateral

01:24:57.880 --> 01:25:02.619
damage. It's collateral focus. So if we, the

01:25:02.619 --> 01:25:07.020
UK, destroyed the entire city of Belfast, the

01:25:07.020 --> 01:25:09.859
world would be outraged. And there would be all

01:25:09.859 --> 01:25:11.979
kinds of soldiers from all over the world in

01:25:11.979 --> 01:25:15.060
my hometown occupying until we stopped doing

01:25:15.060 --> 01:25:17.220
what we were doing. And more importantly, in

01:25:17.220 --> 01:25:20.810
the Irish side. So it's no different. And this

01:25:20.810 --> 01:25:23.170
is the thing. But because you've also got, let's

01:25:23.170 --> 01:25:27.229
be completely fucking obvious, this very Islamophobe

01:25:27.229 --> 01:25:30.289
rhetoric that's going on as well. That's another

01:25:30.289 --> 01:25:32.130
layer to this where it's like, you know, we'll

01:25:32.130 --> 01:25:33.430
turn our heads. But God, can you imagine if it

01:25:33.430 --> 01:25:35.670
was white Christians? Oh, my goodness. The whole

01:25:35.670 --> 01:25:38.329
world would mobilize to go rescue them. But we

01:25:38.329 --> 01:25:40.569
have to call a spade a spade. It is what it is

01:25:40.569 --> 01:25:43.229
until we stop turning our head. And the people

01:25:43.229 --> 01:25:46.409
I was just talking about, the Irish. They're

01:25:46.409 --> 01:25:48.329
the ones that have stood up and said, this is

01:25:48.329 --> 01:25:50.569
horrendous. The South Africans have stood up

01:25:50.569 --> 01:25:53.270
and said, this is horrendous. That's two historically

01:25:53.270 --> 01:25:55.670
oppressed nations that said, we see the same

01:25:55.670 --> 01:25:59.689
thing going on there now. So this is why, again,

01:25:59.869 --> 01:26:03.270
we're calling it out because it's not a conflict.

01:26:03.510 --> 01:26:06.989
These, as you said, thousands of infants were

01:26:06.989 --> 01:26:11.449
not running around with AKs, with the Hamas flag

01:26:11.449 --> 01:26:14.750
tied to their waist, chasing down IDF soldiers.

01:26:15.319 --> 01:26:17.819
So when are we going to stop telling ourselves

01:26:17.819 --> 01:26:20.319
a fairy tale? And when are we going to say, no,

01:26:20.399 --> 01:26:23.199
as a nation, we should not be adding ammunition,

01:26:23.239 --> 01:26:26.500
bombs and support to this. We should actually

01:26:26.500 --> 01:26:28.939
be standing outraged with these other nations

01:26:28.939 --> 01:26:32.060
who have literally put a lawsuit out, you know,

01:26:32.060 --> 01:26:35.380
citing genocide and saying enough is enough and

01:26:35.380 --> 01:26:38.439
using our political power for diplomacy, not

01:26:38.439 --> 01:26:43.069
warmongering. You know, and there's another there's

01:26:43.069 --> 01:26:45.130
another part of this that's getting really concerning.

01:26:45.229 --> 01:26:47.630
And it's kind of tied to academic freedoms. You

01:26:47.630 --> 01:26:49.770
see kind of what's happening to some of these

01:26:49.770 --> 01:26:52.250
folks who are on green cards, who are at university.

01:26:52.909 --> 01:26:55.930
There's that girl at Tufts who was on a who was

01:26:55.930 --> 01:26:58.770
here on a student visa who got picked up by ICE

01:26:58.770 --> 01:27:01.409
and deported because she wrote an op ed in the

01:27:01.409 --> 01:27:03.510
Boston Globe. You know, she wrote an op -ed.

01:27:03.550 --> 01:27:06.050
She's not vandalizing schools. She's not terrorizing

01:27:06.050 --> 01:27:08.010
other students. She literally wrote an op -ed.

01:27:08.069 --> 01:27:10.489
And so she gets deported. Mahmoud Khalil is a

01:27:10.489 --> 01:27:12.890
green card holder. He was the mediator between

01:27:12.890 --> 01:27:15.550
students at Columbia and the administration that

01:27:15.550 --> 01:27:17.789
got them to end the encampments at these campuses.

01:27:18.170 --> 01:27:21.569
And he's in the process of being deported. His

01:27:21.569 --> 01:27:23.369
wife is a U .S. citizen, eight months pregnant.

01:27:23.670 --> 01:27:26.590
And it's like this weird layer. So there's one

01:27:26.590 --> 01:27:29.109
thing that I would that to me, it's like really

01:27:29.109 --> 01:27:33.310
like. clear that there's a lot of institutions

01:27:33.310 --> 01:27:35.989
and organizations and businesses that are totally

01:27:35.989 --> 01:27:39.829
compromised. But the American Historical Association

01:27:39.829 --> 01:27:42.850
had a national meeting. So these are all the

01:27:42.850 --> 01:27:44.710
historians in America, all of these academics,

01:27:44.869 --> 01:27:47.810
and they voted overwhelmingly in favor of a resolution

01:27:47.810 --> 01:27:52.550
that said what's happening in Gaza is scholasticide.

01:27:52.840 --> 01:27:55.000
It's a genocide and scholastic side. Even the

01:27:55.000 --> 01:27:57.359
academic world is being targeted by the Israeli

01:27:57.359 --> 01:27:59.619
military. The universities are being blown up.

01:27:59.680 --> 01:28:01.619
The teachers and professors are being killed

01:28:01.619 --> 01:28:04.539
or arrested. What's happened in Gaza is a scholastic

01:28:04.539 --> 01:28:07.779
side. And it was out of, you know, 500 plus votes,

01:28:07.920 --> 01:28:12.619
426 voted in favor of this resolution. And then

01:28:12.619 --> 01:28:16.739
the board, after one week later, decided to kill

01:28:16.739 --> 01:28:18.380
the resolution. They didn't want to adopt it

01:28:18.380 --> 01:28:20.430
for this national meeting. Why? Wasn't that a

01:28:20.430 --> 01:28:24.109
popular mandate? The same thing with all of these

01:28:24.109 --> 01:28:26.270
other professional societies. The people are

01:28:26.270 --> 01:28:29.569
very clear. It's not just people who are seeing

01:28:29.569 --> 01:28:31.430
these images and are moved by it emotionally.

01:28:31.649 --> 01:28:33.789
It's like academics and people who know what

01:28:33.789 --> 01:28:35.890
they're talking about. Amnesty International

01:28:35.890 --> 01:28:38.529
released the report when they said this is a

01:28:38.529 --> 01:28:41.649
genocide. And you know who they had on their

01:28:41.649 --> 01:28:43.350
panel explaining why it was a genocide? They

01:28:43.350 --> 01:28:46.470
had a professor who is a genocide study scholar

01:28:46.470 --> 01:28:50.359
at, I believe, Brown University. whose expertise

01:28:50.359 --> 01:28:52.979
was in the Holocaust. When that guy talks about

01:28:52.979 --> 01:28:54.819
genocide, you need to listen to what he has to

01:28:54.819 --> 01:28:58.560
say. He's not a Palestinian father who's mourning

01:28:58.560 --> 01:29:02.659
his child. He's a genocide study. This is what

01:29:02.659 --> 01:29:05.479
he does scientifically. That's what his field

01:29:05.479 --> 01:29:08.779
is. And these are the voices that are being censored

01:29:08.779 --> 01:29:11.380
in favor of what? Like you said, this military

01:29:11.380 --> 01:29:14.479
industrial complex. Tony Blinken, again, this

01:29:14.479 --> 01:29:16.439
is a Democratic administration. Tony Blinken,

01:29:16.560 --> 01:29:18.579
Lloyd Austin. Lloyd Austin is the defense secretary.

01:29:18.779 --> 01:29:21.159
Tony Blinken is secretary of state. These guys

01:29:21.159 --> 01:29:23.819
have a firm that works closely with weapons manufacturers.

01:29:24.159 --> 01:29:26.340
They're getting them contract deals. They are

01:29:26.340 --> 01:29:27.659
the ones, that's what they're doing now to make

01:29:27.659 --> 01:29:29.939
money. Same thing with Brett McGurk, one of the...

01:29:30.780 --> 01:29:33.439
colossal scumbags of our lifetime. This guy who's

01:29:33.439 --> 01:29:35.300
been in successive Republican and Democratic

01:29:35.300 --> 01:29:38.500
administrations, warmonger. Why? I mean, he's

01:29:38.500 --> 01:29:41.000
independently wealthy. Why is that? He's leading

01:29:41.000 --> 01:29:43.180
a fund right now where he's going to get Saudi

01:29:43.180 --> 01:29:45.960
investment and other investors. This guy always

01:29:45.960 --> 01:29:48.840
perpetuated war. Why? Because it was a money

01:29:48.840 --> 01:29:50.800
-making game for them. It was nothing about who

01:29:50.800 --> 01:29:52.659
the kids on the ground were. It was nothing about

01:29:52.659 --> 01:29:55.859
Iraqis or Palestinian kids. It was never about

01:29:55.859 --> 01:29:58.899
sending American troops into a foreign land,

01:29:59.039 --> 01:30:01.039
into this whole country, and just letting them

01:30:01.039 --> 01:30:03.819
have to figure it out, basically help them make

01:30:03.819 --> 01:30:06.000
money, and these guys come back and they don't

01:30:06.000 --> 01:30:07.600
get a piece of the pie. They're not the ones

01:30:07.600 --> 01:30:08.899
who are being taken care of. They don't have

01:30:08.899 --> 01:30:10.579
pensions that are going to make sure that they

01:30:10.579 --> 01:30:12.640
don't have to work again after serving their

01:30:12.640 --> 01:30:15.920
country. So it's like... Again, it's like these

01:30:15.920 --> 01:30:17.640
guys who are making some of these decisions,

01:30:17.739 --> 01:30:19.939
first of all, are grade A cowards. They will

01:30:19.939 --> 01:30:22.380
never be in the field. They will never go into

01:30:22.380 --> 01:30:24.659
Gaza right now and visit any of the hospitals

01:30:24.659 --> 01:30:27.180
or see any of the kids or the families. Most

01:30:27.180 --> 01:30:31.800
of them would never be in the red zone in Iraq.

01:30:32.079 --> 01:30:34.119
They'll never visit these areas. But they will

01:30:34.119 --> 01:30:36.680
gladly puff their chests out and say, this is

01:30:36.680 --> 01:30:38.220
what we've got to do. We've got to give more

01:30:38.220 --> 01:30:41.010
weapons. I mean, it's just, you've got... literally

01:30:41.010 --> 01:30:43.149
grade A cowards who are making these decisions.

01:30:43.289 --> 01:30:45.069
And whenever that's the case, you can't expect

01:30:45.069 --> 01:30:47.270
them to make the right call or the right decision.

01:30:47.409 --> 01:30:51.470
No, they'll happily send the sons and daughters

01:30:51.470 --> 01:30:53.729
of other people to war. They'll happily supply

01:30:53.729 --> 01:30:56.949
as many different, you know, rifles and ammunitions

01:30:56.949 --> 01:31:00.090
and fighter jets and yeah, keep it coming. But

01:31:00.090 --> 01:31:02.270
they'll never actually, you'll never ever see

01:31:02.270 --> 01:31:04.310
these people as being the moral compass of a

01:31:04.310 --> 01:31:06.739
nation. They'll never be sitting there unless

01:31:06.739 --> 01:31:08.380
it means that they'll make more money and they'll

01:31:08.380 --> 01:31:10.380
profiteer off of this. And then the last thing,

01:31:10.420 --> 01:31:13.000
again, you kind of bring this point up about,

01:31:13.140 --> 01:31:15.939
you know, it depends on who the victim is. And

01:31:15.939 --> 01:31:18.420
I hate to use the word victim as a Palestinian

01:31:18.420 --> 01:31:20.920
American. We're very proud people. We don't want

01:31:20.920 --> 01:31:24.539
people to, you know, have sympathy over us. We

01:31:24.539 --> 01:31:26.720
just we want people to be in solidarity. But,

01:31:26.840 --> 01:31:28.739
you know, when you look, you know, you think

01:31:28.739 --> 01:31:32.340
about who this victim is and you're not the image

01:31:32.340 --> 01:31:34.859
that's being conjured up by the media is not

01:31:34.859 --> 01:31:37.079
one that you can relate to as a fellow human

01:31:37.079 --> 01:31:39.180
being. You know, you're hearing things from the

01:31:39.180 --> 01:31:41.800
Israelis like there could only be peace when

01:31:41.800 --> 01:31:44.300
they love their kids more than they hate us.

01:31:44.420 --> 01:31:47.260
Are you kidding me? Like I've seen the grieving

01:31:47.260 --> 01:31:50.340
parents in Gaza. I've seen even the parents,

01:31:50.520 --> 01:31:52.119
you know, even before there was anything like

01:31:52.119 --> 01:31:55.359
this. I mean, it's an intense love just like

01:31:55.359 --> 01:31:57.640
anybody else. But even that we have to explain,

01:31:57.739 --> 01:31:59.640
we have to say it out loud. I hate that I have

01:31:59.640 --> 01:32:02.079
to say that out loud, you know, like that they're

01:32:02.079 --> 01:32:04.340
that they're fathers and mothers and teachers

01:32:04.340 --> 01:32:07.260
and doctors and nurses and paramedics. Like,

01:32:07.319 --> 01:32:10.000
you know, that's not. But again, it's it's a

01:32:10.000 --> 01:32:12.960
deliberate effort to make them look other, to

01:32:12.960 --> 01:32:15.260
make them look different. You're not the same,

01:32:15.359 --> 01:32:18.899
you know, and that's why, you know, the you know,

01:32:18.920 --> 01:32:22.439
there's a there's a Bethlehem. priest. He's a

01:32:22.439 --> 01:32:24.579
Palestinian guy named Mumbar Isaac. I think he

01:32:24.579 --> 01:32:27.880
does a great job of trying to drive it home to

01:32:27.880 --> 01:32:30.520
the greater American audience. He was on this

01:32:30.520 --> 01:32:31.779
tour where he was going to all these different

01:32:31.779 --> 01:32:33.680
churches. And he was basically saying, look,

01:32:33.880 --> 01:32:38.020
I'm telling you, this image that's being fed

01:32:38.020 --> 01:32:41.319
to you is not the case. It is not these bloodthirsty,

01:32:41.319 --> 01:32:44.479
extreme people who love when other people are

01:32:44.479 --> 01:32:48.279
killed. They're not celebrating for the next

01:32:48.279 --> 01:32:51.050
dead person. It's like people who are trying

01:32:51.050 --> 01:32:55.729
to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ and from

01:32:55.729 --> 01:32:58.350
Bethlehem would love to visit Jerusalem, but

01:32:58.350 --> 01:33:00.710
they can't because there's a wall in place. Or

01:33:00.710 --> 01:33:02.590
in Gaza, they're sheltering in a church and the

01:33:02.590 --> 01:33:04.829
church gets hit. And the Pope is calling every

01:33:04.829 --> 01:33:08.810
day to check in on this group of people in Gaza

01:33:08.810 --> 01:33:12.229
who have been there for a thousand years, this

01:33:12.229 --> 01:33:14.329
ancient Christian group. It's like you don't

01:33:14.329 --> 01:33:15.970
even get to see the diversity of Palestinians.

01:33:16.489 --> 01:33:18.090
You don't get to see that they're Muslim and

01:33:18.090 --> 01:33:20.569
Christian and that some of them go back to the

01:33:20.569 --> 01:33:22.850
Canaanites and some of them came from other areas.

01:33:22.930 --> 01:33:24.590
Like you don't even get to you don't even get

01:33:24.590 --> 01:33:26.449
to hear about the rich history because, no, it's

01:33:26.449 --> 01:33:29.689
a monolith. It's crazy, extreme people that we've

01:33:29.689 --> 01:33:33.729
got to get. We've got to wipe out. One more area

01:33:33.729 --> 01:33:35.989
on, you know, some of the things that we need

01:33:35.989 --> 01:33:38.569
to pull out. And then I want to go to the bow

01:33:38.569 --> 01:33:41.569
marrow that you've been talking about. You mentioned

01:33:41.569 --> 01:33:44.050
that the person that we sent over to do that

01:33:44.050 --> 01:33:47.359
meeting was a realtor. a millionaire realtor

01:33:47.359 --> 01:33:50.659
and the moment the moment yeah so the moment

01:33:50.659 --> 01:33:54.180
that you know our current orange president gets

01:33:54.180 --> 01:33:56.619
elected um it's good that we've got a president

01:33:56.619 --> 01:34:00.340
of color again though um he's immediately talking

01:34:00.340 --> 01:34:03.390
about the real estate in gaza Now, our first

01:34:03.390 --> 01:34:05.550
conversation, if you remember, you were talking

01:34:05.550 --> 01:34:09.489
about the systematic bulldozing of blocks as

01:34:09.489 --> 01:34:12.710
these Israelis were bombing and forcing the Palestinian

01:34:12.710 --> 01:34:15.010
men, women and children further and further one

01:34:15.010 --> 01:34:17.930
direction. Now we've got our president saying

01:34:17.930 --> 01:34:20.949
we are looking at real estate in Gaza and the

01:34:20.949 --> 01:34:24.649
person that we send over is a real estate developer.

01:34:25.250 --> 01:34:30.810
So, again, humans versus greed. Talk to me about.

01:34:31.279 --> 01:34:33.619
what you're seeing through your eyes as far as

01:34:33.619 --> 01:34:38.079
these people ultimately being moved out for beachside

01:34:38.079 --> 01:34:41.439
property yeah you know the the president of the

01:34:41.439 --> 01:34:44.000
united states has very minimal knowledge about

01:34:44.000 --> 01:34:46.640
palestine and israel i mean it's very clear by

01:34:46.640 --> 01:34:48.100
the way that he speaks and the people around

01:34:48.100 --> 01:34:50.359
him are not willing to correct him and whitcoff

01:34:50.359 --> 01:34:53.319
also is not well informed about the region and

01:34:53.319 --> 01:34:57.130
so what you're seeing is Instead of the Secretary

01:34:57.130 --> 01:34:59.470
of State, who's Marco Rubio, who's not any better,

01:34:59.569 --> 01:35:02.949
or the National Security Advisor, Mike Walls,

01:35:02.949 --> 01:35:04.770
again, who's not any better, you do have a real

01:35:04.770 --> 01:35:06.729
estate developer who's going to high -level meetings

01:35:06.729 --> 01:35:09.109
with the mediators for a ceasefire negotiation.

01:35:09.529 --> 01:35:11.130
So that's the Egyptian Intelligence Service.

01:35:11.289 --> 01:35:16.420
That's the Qatari foreign... ministry and you

01:35:16.420 --> 01:35:19.300
are having the israeli masad there and hamas

01:35:19.300 --> 01:35:21.699
so among all of these kind of groups that are

01:35:21.699 --> 01:35:23.380
trying to negotiate a deal you've got this real

01:35:23.380 --> 01:35:25.899
estate billionaire who has no experience in international

01:35:25.899 --> 01:35:29.220
studies in diplomacy who has got no background

01:35:29.220 --> 01:35:32.359
in that and what you have to realize is he is

01:35:32.359 --> 01:35:35.039
trying to secure the interests of an individual

01:35:35.039 --> 01:35:37.979
the financial interests of one person He's not

01:35:37.979 --> 01:35:40.000
trying to secure the interests and security of

01:35:40.000 --> 01:35:43.100
the American people or of the Western world or

01:35:43.100 --> 01:35:45.479
of an ally. He's trying to secure the interests

01:35:45.479 --> 01:35:48.630
of President Trump. And what Trump sees is that

01:35:48.630 --> 01:35:50.529
he sees that there's this massive devastation

01:35:50.529 --> 01:35:52.670
that's taken place in Gaza. And instead of saying

01:35:52.670 --> 01:35:54.930
that this is the worst humanitarian crisis since

01:35:54.930 --> 01:35:58.229
World War II, he's pitching it as an opportunity

01:35:58.229 --> 01:36:00.689
because he knows there will be a reconstructive

01:36:00.689 --> 01:36:03.149
effort. He knows that international resources

01:36:03.149 --> 01:36:05.710
and money need to be driven in. And what he wants

01:36:05.710 --> 01:36:09.430
to make sure is that it funnels back to companies

01:36:09.430 --> 01:36:11.970
and organizations that he's tied to so he can

01:36:11.970 --> 01:36:13.970
make money off of it at the end of the day. And

01:36:13.970 --> 01:36:18.750
that is... Of course, it's a really despicable

01:36:18.750 --> 01:36:21.529
way to understand what's happening in Gaza, but

01:36:21.529 --> 01:36:23.930
that's the only lens that he sees it in. So it's

01:36:23.930 --> 01:36:27.170
not about how many bodies are increasing in terms

01:36:27.170 --> 01:36:30.670
of the casualties coming out of Gaza. It's not

01:36:30.670 --> 01:36:34.710
about this crazy prime minister from Israel who's

01:36:34.710 --> 01:36:38.390
under corruption charges, who is now leading

01:36:38.390 --> 01:36:41.350
an extremist coalition in Israel. It's about,

01:36:41.449 --> 01:36:44.460
at some point... Gaza, there's going to be a

01:36:44.460 --> 01:36:46.020
ceasefire. At some point, he believes there's

01:36:46.020 --> 01:36:47.920
going to be an end to this war, whether that

01:36:47.920 --> 01:36:52.060
means, you know, that the Israelis come to an

01:36:52.060 --> 01:36:54.840
agreement or they've reoccupied all of the Gaza

01:36:54.840 --> 01:36:56.979
Strip. But at some point, this is going to be

01:36:56.979 --> 01:36:59.380
over. How do I make money off of this? And that's

01:36:59.380 --> 01:37:01.760
the rhetoric that you're seeing. So when you're

01:37:01.760 --> 01:37:04.239
hearing them say there's two million people there,

01:37:04.340 --> 01:37:06.619
they're going to leave. And we're going to send

01:37:06.619 --> 01:37:08.420
them to countries that don't want to take them

01:37:08.420 --> 01:37:10.699
in because they know that if Palestinians come

01:37:10.699 --> 01:37:13.119
to Egypt or Jordan, that the Israeli military

01:37:13.119 --> 01:37:15.779
will follow them there. And that's, again, anybody

01:37:15.779 --> 01:37:18.119
who's studied the history of the region knows

01:37:18.119 --> 01:37:22.319
that that is a real possibility. Instead of saying

01:37:22.319 --> 01:37:23.460
that, he's saying, oh, yeah, they'll take them.

01:37:23.479 --> 01:37:25.420
We'll force them to take them. We'll force these

01:37:25.420 --> 01:37:27.239
people to leave. That's not how you're going

01:37:27.239 --> 01:37:29.260
to fix any of this. I mean, it's not going to

01:37:29.260 --> 01:37:31.640
be the case. Forcibly displacing people, ethnically

01:37:31.640 --> 01:37:35.300
cleansing Gaza after a genocide. It's not going

01:37:35.300 --> 01:37:37.600
to suddenly make it a very peaceful area where

01:37:37.600 --> 01:37:40.859
you can build a skyscraper and a casino and then

01:37:40.859 --> 01:37:42.800
drill the natural gas that's in the Mediterranean

01:37:42.800 --> 01:37:45.319
Sea off of the coast of Gaza. It's all being

01:37:45.319 --> 01:37:48.720
spoken about in business terms. And if that's

01:37:48.720 --> 01:37:50.460
the case, if that's the mentality you're bringing

01:37:50.460 --> 01:37:54.119
to the table, everybody there realizes that.

01:37:54.220 --> 01:38:00.199
The Mossad realizes, oh, they care more about...

01:38:01.220 --> 01:38:04.720
how the pie is divvied up than they do about

01:38:04.720 --> 01:38:06.659
the humanitarian crisis or the people that are

01:38:06.659 --> 01:38:08.939
on the ground. So then they bring that back to

01:38:08.939 --> 01:38:11.899
Netanyahu, who then says, okay, once the ceasefire

01:38:11.899 --> 01:38:13.060
deal is over, it's not like they're going to

01:38:13.060 --> 01:38:15.279
sit there and stop us. We'll unleash hell since

01:38:15.279 --> 01:38:19.140
March 2nd. So you're literally seeing consequences

01:38:19.140 --> 01:38:22.680
of our rhetoric play out on the ground in Gaza.

01:38:22.859 --> 01:38:26.220
When Trump is saying that... Oh, you know, they

01:38:26.220 --> 01:38:28.300
were going to they're going to be forcibly displaced.

01:38:28.439 --> 01:38:30.279
Other people will take them. Suddenly you see

01:38:30.279 --> 01:38:33.340
the Israeli military put 65 percent of the Gaza

01:38:33.340 --> 01:38:36.220
Strip under evacuation orders. So it's like,

01:38:36.279 --> 01:38:38.380
where are those Palestinians going to go? They're

01:38:38.380 --> 01:38:40.399
going to swim in the Mediterranean Sea to Cyprus.

01:38:40.539 --> 01:38:42.979
And that's you know, that's you directly see

01:38:42.979 --> 01:38:44.760
it influence the behavior. And that's people

01:38:44.760 --> 01:38:46.579
around them are just not giving it. You know,

01:38:46.579 --> 01:38:49.470
the people around them are not competent. They

01:38:49.470 --> 01:38:52.050
are cowards. They are also, you know, if they're

01:38:52.050 --> 01:38:54.590
not cowards, they're warmongers who want to see

01:38:54.590 --> 01:38:58.029
war spread. And they're like all of these hawks.

01:38:58.029 --> 01:39:00.750
And so you just see it directly affect what happens

01:39:00.750 --> 01:39:02.989
on the ground. And so I think somebody at some

01:39:02.989 --> 01:39:06.270
point has to just, you know, somebody has to

01:39:06.270 --> 01:39:08.630
have some actual knowledge where they're not

01:39:08.630 --> 01:39:10.130
compromised. And we haven't seen that. We didn't

01:39:10.130 --> 01:39:12.409
see that in the Biden administration. And we're

01:39:12.409 --> 01:39:14.729
not seeing it in the Trump administration. Yeah,

01:39:14.770 --> 01:39:16.409
it's completely, I mean, it's both sides. And

01:39:16.409 --> 01:39:18.350
I've talked about this for years. You know, it's

01:39:18.350 --> 01:39:20.229
not, am I poking fun at the current one? Yeah.

01:39:20.270 --> 01:39:22.449
I mean, he's a, you know, a clown literally with

01:39:22.449 --> 01:39:24.949
the makeup. And I say that because everyone who's

01:39:24.949 --> 01:39:27.569
offended at this moment, take a step back. If

01:39:27.569 --> 01:39:29.909
you could choose anyone in the United States

01:39:29.909 --> 01:39:31.590
to be the leader of this country, would that

01:39:31.590 --> 01:39:34.760
guy have even made your top 1000? Of course not.

01:39:34.760 --> 01:39:37.979
Neither would Biden. Obama at least could string

01:39:37.979 --> 01:39:40.399
a sentence together. But did he have the clout

01:39:40.399 --> 01:39:43.199
to actually enact anything? No. So let's go back

01:39:43.199 --> 01:39:44.880
further. Now we're in the Bush administration.

01:39:45.180 --> 01:39:46.699
You know what I mean? And so you've got to go

01:39:46.699 --> 01:39:49.079
back decades to find good, good leaders that

01:39:49.079 --> 01:39:51.239
actually had a backbone, you know, weren't taking

01:39:51.239 --> 01:39:55.939
money from lobbyists. And to clarify, the total

01:39:55.939 --> 01:39:58.340
body count now is over 50 ,000 in Gaza. Is that

01:39:58.340 --> 01:40:00.899
right? In 18 months? So the health ministry is

01:40:00.899 --> 01:40:02.739
reporting, yeah, 50 ,000. But we know that that's

01:40:02.739 --> 01:40:05.800
that numbers. astronomically higher so we lose

01:40:05.800 --> 01:40:08.260
a hundred thousand just to the opioid crisis

01:40:08.260 --> 01:40:11.539
every year hundreds of thousands if not scraping

01:40:11.539 --> 01:40:14.539
a million to the diseases related to obesity

01:40:14.539 --> 01:40:18.020
probably i forget it is it's hundreds of thousands

01:40:18.020 --> 01:40:22.800
to related to tobacco so if you have leadership

01:40:22.800 --> 01:40:26.659
i'm using massive air quotes now that shrug their

01:40:26.659 --> 01:40:29.460
shoulders at millions of americans dying on our

01:40:29.460 --> 01:40:32.479
home soil so their friends can get rich yeah

01:40:32.960 --> 01:40:35.859
Why would you question that this was an ulterior

01:40:35.859 --> 01:40:38.640
motive in Gaza as well? And it's the same. I

01:40:38.640 --> 01:40:40.880
mean, you ask most Iraq veterans that reflect

01:40:40.880 --> 01:40:43.180
now on the lies that were told that got them

01:40:43.180 --> 01:40:45.760
there. That doesn't sit well with a lot of our

01:40:45.760 --> 01:40:48.159
men and women that came back with the trauma

01:40:48.159 --> 01:40:50.899
in their mind, missing limbs and missing friends

01:40:50.899 --> 01:40:53.380
that didn't make it back. For what? I remember

01:40:53.380 --> 01:40:55.420
that when it first happened. You know, 9 -11

01:40:55.420 --> 01:40:57.079
happened. They were going to Iraq. I'm like,

01:40:57.159 --> 01:40:59.640
question, isn't that a different country than

01:40:59.640 --> 01:41:03.699
where this guy is hiding? There's a great two

01:41:03.699 --> 01:41:05.819
documentary series called Turning Point. One

01:41:05.819 --> 01:41:09.060
is on 9 -11 and one is on the Cold War. Slightly

01:41:09.060 --> 01:41:11.840
slanted to the left a little bit. So you've got

01:41:11.840 --> 01:41:14.960
to take that into account. But you see, you reverse

01:41:14.960 --> 01:41:17.199
engineer, reverse engineer. And my, you know,

01:41:17.199 --> 01:41:20.430
the UK. what we have done over the last few hundred

01:41:20.430 --> 01:41:23.250
years and how that's impacted things today which

01:41:23.250 --> 01:41:26.210
in a positive thing is why my country is so beautifully

01:41:26.210 --> 01:41:29.409
diverse but now you're seeing a lot of you know

01:41:29.409 --> 01:41:31.729
islamophobia going on there are the muslims are

01:41:31.729 --> 01:41:35.079
trying to take over you know the uk No. There

01:41:35.079 --> 01:41:37.140
are some extremists that I wonder how the hell

01:41:37.140 --> 01:41:38.939
they weren't thrown out the country years ago.

01:41:39.100 --> 01:41:41.000
Those are the ones you got to stamp out and you

01:41:41.000 --> 01:41:42.380
can tell them to go back, you know, wherever

01:41:42.380 --> 01:41:44.619
they want to be, because those are the ones that

01:41:44.619 --> 01:41:46.840
are dangerous to us. The other ones are the fabric

01:41:46.840 --> 01:41:49.380
of our society. The same as kind of how many

01:41:49.380 --> 01:41:52.000
people, you know, that come from Mexico are the

01:41:52.000 --> 01:41:55.380
absolute backbone of the US. And now you've got

01:41:55.380 --> 01:41:57.779
guys in balaclavas running around and, you know,

01:41:57.779 --> 01:41:59.880
yeah, I hope that they're finding the bad people

01:41:59.880 --> 01:42:02.170
because they need to go back to Mexico. But it

01:42:02.170 --> 01:42:04.850
seems like that's not just the case. And again,

01:42:04.909 --> 01:42:06.850
we've got a very anti -Mexican rhetoric going

01:42:06.850 --> 01:42:11.250
on now. So the superpower of a citizen of a country

01:42:11.250 --> 01:42:15.470
is to question what you are being told. And if

01:42:15.470 --> 01:42:17.689
you analyze it and it makes sense, you're like,

01:42:17.750 --> 01:42:20.750
okay, good. But let's remind us of only two or

01:42:20.750 --> 01:42:25.649
three years ago, you were left to your own devices

01:42:25.649 --> 01:42:28.029
as a frontline worker while everyone else hid

01:42:28.029 --> 01:42:31.470
in their house wearing plastic bubble wrap. not

01:42:31.470 --> 01:42:34.390
hugging their grandmother. And then within a

01:42:34.390 --> 01:42:37.229
heartbeat, now those same first responders and

01:42:37.229 --> 01:42:40.310
frontline workers were murderers if they didn't

01:42:40.310 --> 01:42:42.850
take a vaccine, because a vaccine is 100 % effective.

01:42:43.149 --> 01:42:44.989
And if you take it, you're going to stop this

01:42:44.989 --> 01:42:48.250
disease. Now, fast forward, no conversation of

01:42:48.250 --> 01:42:50.630
the morbid obesity and all the things that we

01:42:50.630 --> 01:42:53.930
talked about earlier. We also realize that, let's

01:42:53.930 --> 01:42:56.390
be honest, that vaccine was a 50 -50 at best.

01:42:57.090 --> 01:42:59.890
No discussion now. And there's still, LA is still...

01:43:00.010 --> 01:43:02.350
pursuing terminating first responders that didn't

01:43:02.350 --> 01:43:05.930
take the vaccine in 2025. So again, I challenge

01:43:05.930 --> 01:43:10.710
people listening, based on all the things that

01:43:10.710 --> 01:43:13.850
we've talked about, how much truth is there to

01:43:13.850 --> 01:43:18.289
what we're being told as far as everyone in Gaza

01:43:18.289 --> 01:43:20.630
that's Palestinian is Hamas, and this is all

01:43:20.630 --> 01:43:23.510
justified retaliation of October 7th. At what

01:43:23.510 --> 01:43:26.350
point are you going to actually step back and

01:43:26.350 --> 01:43:29.279
critically think? The same as with COVID and

01:43:29.279 --> 01:43:32.300
go, you know what? I don't think that's right.

01:43:32.460 --> 01:43:34.760
And I'm going to do my deep dive and have my

01:43:34.760 --> 01:43:37.560
own opinion. And if everyone did that and disconnected

01:43:37.560 --> 01:43:40.819
and actually thought about it and had dove into

01:43:40.819 --> 01:43:43.979
a few nuanced conversations like this, they're

01:43:43.979 --> 01:43:46.819
going to go, you know what? This is wrong. I'm

01:43:46.819 --> 01:43:49.399
kind of late to the party, but I'm going to say

01:43:49.399 --> 01:43:51.720
I did the best of what I have back then. But

01:43:51.720 --> 01:43:54.680
today I'm drawing the line. This is wrong. We

01:43:54.680 --> 01:43:58.600
need to put a stop to this as a nation. Yeah,

01:43:58.600 --> 01:44:00.600
there's, you know, one thing that I kind of,

01:44:00.600 --> 01:44:03.560
you know, share with folks, and you kind of reminded

01:44:03.560 --> 01:44:05.600
me of it, it's like all of these veterans who

01:44:05.600 --> 01:44:08.060
came back after the war on terror, where were

01:44:08.060 --> 01:44:11.500
the people who were so eager to send them? Were

01:44:11.500 --> 01:44:13.659
they there to support them? Because, you know,

01:44:13.680 --> 01:44:17.119
just because you've come back and you're done

01:44:17.119 --> 01:44:19.359
with your service, it's not like what happened

01:44:19.359 --> 01:44:21.550
over there leaves you. It's not like you're suddenly

01:44:21.550 --> 01:44:23.850
back to normal life. Where were all of these

01:44:23.850 --> 01:44:26.670
people who were so eager to send everybody, were

01:44:26.670 --> 01:44:29.590
so eager to declare war on Iraq? Were they around?

01:44:29.810 --> 01:44:32.590
Were they supportive? Were they kind of happy

01:44:32.590 --> 01:44:35.010
with what's happened? And everybody now is like,

01:44:35.109 --> 01:44:38.350
oh, yeah, you know, the war in Iraq was. was

01:44:38.350 --> 01:44:40.550
a mistake or like, yeah, there's false pretenses

01:44:40.550 --> 01:44:42.989
or there wasn't weapons of mass destruction or

01:44:42.989 --> 01:44:45.770
it was kind of a failure or whatever it is. You

01:44:45.770 --> 01:44:47.649
notice that there's a lot of people now who pretended

01:44:47.649 --> 01:44:50.489
like they were all along really were critical

01:44:50.489 --> 01:44:53.289
thinkers, like you said. But the truth is, that

01:44:53.289 --> 01:44:57.670
was a ostracized community of people who are

01:44:57.670 --> 01:44:59.390
saying, wait, why are we going into this country?

01:44:59.489 --> 01:45:01.750
What are we doing? Why are we sending our men

01:45:01.750 --> 01:45:03.829
and women there? What's the deal? Why are we

01:45:03.829 --> 01:45:07.270
being forced into this situation? And so, I think

01:45:07.600 --> 01:45:09.260
That's something that I think about will happen

01:45:09.260 --> 01:45:12.100
with Gaza is I think 20 years from now, everybody

01:45:12.100 --> 01:45:15.279
will have been sort of against it. We'll say,

01:45:15.319 --> 01:45:16.859
oh, I was against it at the time where I was

01:45:16.859 --> 01:45:18.920
uncomfortable with what was happening. But the

01:45:18.920 --> 01:45:22.659
truth is, we've got to change sort of how things

01:45:22.659 --> 01:45:24.239
are discussed. You've got to be able to have

01:45:24.239 --> 01:45:26.060
discussions. Me and you are not going to agree

01:45:26.060 --> 01:45:30.000
on a million things. But we have to be able to

01:45:30.000 --> 01:45:32.500
have a back and forth where I can try to come

01:45:32.500 --> 01:45:34.460
up with my best arguments. You try to come up

01:45:34.460 --> 01:45:37.460
with yours. And we're not just speaking. I'm

01:45:37.460 --> 01:45:39.760
not just waiting for you to stop talking so I

01:45:39.760 --> 01:45:41.260
can speak. I'm actually listening to what you're

01:45:41.260 --> 01:45:43.579
saying and I'm taking it in. And if something

01:45:43.579 --> 01:45:45.720
doesn't sit right or I don't think doesn't understand,

01:45:45.819 --> 01:45:47.800
I ask a question or I critically challenge you

01:45:47.800 --> 01:45:49.659
on something. It's not happening. It's definitely

01:45:49.659 --> 01:45:51.460
not happening with Gaza. It's not happening on

01:45:51.460 --> 01:45:55.520
CNN, on Fox, on MSNBC, on CBS. It's not happening.

01:45:55.600 --> 01:45:58.140
There was a 60 Minutes report on Gaza recently

01:45:58.140 --> 01:46:00.039
where they interviewed a doctor from Chicago.

01:46:00.239 --> 01:46:02.020
He's a surgeon. And they talked about kids that

01:46:02.020 --> 01:46:05.439
were coming here. Never once did they zoom out.

01:46:05.840 --> 01:46:08.800
and talk about well what's happening or why was

01:46:08.800 --> 01:46:11.100
why did this american doctor have to go there

01:46:11.100 --> 01:46:13.960
it was just like oh this is a war somewhere and

01:46:13.960 --> 01:46:15.479
you're like this is that's not the full picture

01:46:15.479 --> 01:46:18.000
you're 60 minutes is supposed to be like a better

01:46:18.000 --> 01:46:20.680
news program they did a shitty job and it's like

01:46:20.680 --> 01:46:22.979
that's that's where we're at now we just can't

01:46:22.979 --> 01:46:26.239
rely on the corporate media to give us the information

01:46:26.239 --> 01:46:28.859
that we need instead everything is black and

01:46:28.859 --> 01:46:31.600
white everything is you know right down the middle

01:46:31.600 --> 01:46:33.439
of the line you're either on this side or you're

01:46:33.439 --> 01:46:35.989
on that side Nobody can have a discussion anymore.

01:46:36.270 --> 01:46:39.609
And if you're trying to log on to social media,

01:46:39.789 --> 01:46:42.270
you know, you're either going to be in one echo

01:46:42.270 --> 01:46:45.409
chamber or the other. You know, and I you know,

01:46:45.430 --> 01:46:48.869
it's it really it's it's so tragic because we

01:46:48.869 --> 01:46:51.529
should you know, I don't want the number to keep

01:46:51.529 --> 01:46:55.069
climbing and it's going to keep climbing. I feel

01:46:55.069 --> 01:46:57.289
like all of those people deserve for us to talk

01:46:57.289 --> 01:46:59.510
about them, the people that are lost, you know,

01:46:59.510 --> 01:47:03.010
people who have been affected by this and who

01:47:03.010 --> 01:47:04.609
are not going to get a chance to go to college

01:47:04.609 --> 01:47:07.149
or high school or kind of do what they want to

01:47:07.149 --> 01:47:09.270
do with the rest of their lives. You know, I

01:47:09.270 --> 01:47:11.229
don't want to forget them. You know, I want to

01:47:11.229 --> 01:47:13.189
honor their memories for their families. And

01:47:13.189 --> 01:47:15.930
it's like that you can't even get to that point

01:47:15.930 --> 01:47:18.189
in the conversation. You can't just even talk

01:47:18.189 --> 01:47:20.829
about the human aspect of all of this. You know,

01:47:20.850 --> 01:47:22.729
you mentioned it, too, with what's happening

01:47:22.729 --> 01:47:24.369
in our country and the people who are actually

01:47:24.369 --> 01:47:27.310
struggling on the ground. It's just that's not

01:47:27.310 --> 01:47:29.090
the conversations that are happening right now.

01:47:29.130 --> 01:47:32.189
Instead, it's you've got a vice president who's

01:47:32.189 --> 01:47:35.750
using X to just be like, oh, yeah, we've you

01:47:35.750 --> 01:47:37.829
know, we're doing an amazing job. The last four

01:47:37.829 --> 01:47:40.050
years were so garbage and we're killing it on

01:47:40.050 --> 01:47:42.189
every level. And then the other guys are sitting

01:47:42.189 --> 01:47:46.250
there doing a 24 hour session in Congress speaking

01:47:46.250 --> 01:47:49.710
about nothing. Like spending 24 hours up there,

01:47:49.789 --> 01:47:52.229
Cory Booker, Senator from New Jersey, Democrat.

01:47:52.430 --> 01:47:54.449
What are you doing the 24 hours for? Are you

01:47:54.449 --> 01:47:58.069
blocking some racist legislation? No, not doing

01:47:58.069 --> 01:47:59.869
any of that. Instead, you went up there for 24

01:47:59.869 --> 01:48:01.770
hours to say you were up there for 24 hours.

01:48:01.850 --> 01:48:03.829
And then I got two text messages on my phone

01:48:03.829 --> 01:48:07.670
asking me to donate to your office. This is what

01:48:07.670 --> 01:48:09.609
we're dealing with. We're dealing with clowns.

01:48:09.630 --> 01:48:11.369
And we're dealing with people who are not serious,

01:48:11.430 --> 01:48:12.829
who don't want to have discussions. They want

01:48:12.829 --> 01:48:15.890
soundbites. and they want you know to to you

01:48:15.890 --> 01:48:18.189
know do the to you know to bang the drums of

01:48:18.189 --> 01:48:20.649
war whether it's you know the political class

01:48:20.649 --> 01:48:24.010
or it's you know overseas and you know you go

01:48:24.010 --> 01:48:26.289
it goes back to what you're saying you know who

01:48:26.289 --> 01:48:28.350
would you pick to lead this country in this time

01:48:28.350 --> 01:48:30.489
right now and it's not not the people that you're

01:48:30.489 --> 01:48:33.069
seeing on tv no and even what's sad with the

01:48:33.069 --> 01:48:35.189
vice president is he had that book that he wrote

01:48:35.189 --> 01:48:37.869
hillbilly ology or elegy whatever it is about

01:48:37.869 --> 01:48:42.000
addiction not a peep in a country that has a

01:48:42.000 --> 01:48:44.180
mental health and addiction crisis and not to

01:48:44.180 --> 01:48:47.300
mention alcohol so again you use that you know

01:48:47.300 --> 01:48:49.979
as your little kind of platform and then oh don't

01:48:49.979 --> 01:48:51.739
need that anymore now i'm vice president you

01:48:51.739 --> 01:48:54.680
know right so it's disgusting all right and it's

01:48:54.680 --> 01:48:56.079
not politics this is the thing people say oh

01:48:56.079 --> 01:48:57.659
we don't want to talk politics no we're talking

01:48:57.659 --> 01:49:00.600
about the well -being and safety of the american

01:49:00.600 --> 01:49:04.100
people talking about school safety is not pro

01:49:04.100 --> 01:49:06.739
or anti -gun it's breaking down all the contributing

01:49:06.739 --> 01:49:09.539
factors that our children are having to rehearse

01:49:09.539 --> 01:49:12.140
their own murder where you and i only used to

01:49:12.140 --> 01:49:14.560
have to rehearse the fire drill that's what we're

01:49:14.560 --> 01:49:17.060
talking about that's not politics obesity addiction

01:49:17.060 --> 01:49:20.340
you know the industrial military complex are

01:49:20.340 --> 01:49:22.659
factors that are detrimental to the american

01:49:22.659 --> 01:49:25.380
people that is not politics i want to hit one

01:49:25.380 --> 01:49:26.779
thing quickly and then we'll talk about bone

01:49:26.779 --> 01:49:29.720
marrow that i forgot to slide in before One voice,

01:49:29.739 --> 01:49:32.100
and I'm super disappointed about this. I've always

01:49:32.100 --> 01:49:35.779
said there's probably 95 % of Russian people

01:49:35.779 --> 01:49:38.659
that do not want to be invading Ukraine. They

01:49:38.659 --> 01:49:40.640
just want to get on with their day, raise their

01:49:40.640 --> 01:49:43.939
kids, tend to their farms, work their jobs, get

01:49:43.939 --> 01:49:46.840
on their fire engine every third day. And instead,

01:49:47.140 --> 01:49:51.119
through a tyrannical leader, they're being forced

01:49:51.119 --> 01:49:53.880
to fight and they're dying for probably a cause

01:49:53.880 --> 01:49:57.000
they don't believe in. I'm sure there's a huge

01:49:57.000 --> 01:49:59.640
amount of Israelis that also just want to go

01:49:59.640 --> 01:50:01.939
about their day and have no skin in the game

01:50:01.939 --> 01:50:04.560
of what's going on in Gaza, not to mention probably

01:50:04.560 --> 01:50:06.140
a lot of them are disgusted what's happening

01:50:06.140 --> 01:50:07.800
with their flag on these people's shoulders.

01:50:08.539 --> 01:50:10.779
When I did a little research, I saw recently

01:50:10.779 --> 01:50:14.659
there was 100 ,000 Israelis protesting the war.

01:50:14.800 --> 01:50:16.800
And one of the interesting things was if it was

01:50:16.800 --> 01:50:19.720
ever about the hostages, you would have negotiated

01:50:19.720 --> 01:50:21.500
a long time ago because the moment there was

01:50:21.500 --> 01:50:24.220
a ceasefire, what came out the blue? hostages

01:50:24.220 --> 01:50:28.199
from both sides so talk to me about the opposition

01:50:28.199 --> 01:50:31.140
from the israeli side because it's like radio

01:50:31.140 --> 01:50:34.039
silence out there from what i can tell totally

01:50:34.039 --> 01:50:36.279
yeah i mean i think that you know you it's important

01:50:36.279 --> 01:50:40.119
to note that before october 7th uh the netanyahu

01:50:40.119 --> 01:50:42.939
was having these there were massive protests

01:50:42.939 --> 01:50:45.859
against him weekly in israel and it was because

01:50:45.859 --> 01:50:50.340
they felt like he was undermining their institutions,

01:50:51.000 --> 01:50:53.800
the Supreme Court, like them as a government

01:50:53.800 --> 01:50:58.020
or as a democracy, they felt like Israelis were

01:50:58.020 --> 01:50:59.739
coming out in the streets in droves. And then

01:50:59.739 --> 01:51:02.699
I think what they've realized too with this is

01:51:02.699 --> 01:51:06.600
if you are somebody who... cares about the Israeli

01:51:06.600 --> 01:51:09.359
hostages, like you said, you would not be behaving

01:51:09.359 --> 01:51:11.319
the way that you're behaving in terms of as a

01:51:11.319 --> 01:51:13.560
military. You would not be, the rhetoric would

01:51:13.560 --> 01:51:15.840
not be the rhetoric that you're sort of using

01:51:15.840 --> 01:51:18.279
in terms of the leadership there. And so Israelis

01:51:18.279 --> 01:51:21.550
are noticing that. They're not serious about

01:51:21.550 --> 01:51:23.369
what they're saying. This is not really about

01:51:23.369 --> 01:51:26.810
reestablishing security in Israel. This is not

01:51:26.810 --> 01:51:31.270
really about getting the people who are in Gaza,

01:51:31.390 --> 01:51:33.270
the Israelis who are in Gaza, the hostages that

01:51:33.270 --> 01:51:35.270
are there. It's not about getting them out. And

01:51:35.270 --> 01:51:39.329
it's not about moving towards some harmonious

01:51:39.329 --> 01:51:41.470
future. And I think they're starting to realize

01:51:41.470 --> 01:51:44.920
that. in bigger numbers but they that's a that's

01:51:44.920 --> 01:51:47.859
a serious significant portion of the population

01:51:47.859 --> 01:51:50.319
that's there and i think it's important to also

01:51:50.319 --> 01:51:53.619
mention that the west bank is getting rocked

01:51:53.619 --> 01:51:56.300
right now by the Israeli military as well. I

01:51:56.300 --> 01:51:59.920
mean, they are, we are talking about different

01:51:59.920 --> 01:52:02.100
refugee camps in the West Bank that are being

01:52:02.100 --> 01:52:06.000
destroyed. You're seeing a lot of an American,

01:52:06.180 --> 01:52:10.720
he was 16 or 17, was killed two days ago by the

01:52:10.720 --> 01:52:13.819
Israeli military in a West Bank town. And you're

01:52:13.819 --> 01:52:15.640
seeing an incredible amount of violence that's

01:52:15.640 --> 01:52:17.619
there. The reason I mentioned that is I feel

01:52:17.619 --> 01:52:23.470
that the Israeli government is now is being held

01:52:23.470 --> 01:52:26.710
hostage by these extremist voices. And what they

01:52:26.710 --> 01:52:28.569
did is they formed a coalition of a bunch of

01:52:28.569 --> 01:52:32.109
extremists. And I think the Israeli public is

01:52:32.109 --> 01:52:35.069
waking up to that. They're seeing that these

01:52:35.069 --> 01:52:37.010
people have their own agendas, whether they are,

01:52:37.109 --> 01:52:39.850
you know, whatever extremism strand that they're

01:52:39.850 --> 01:52:41.630
coming from, they have their own agendas. And

01:52:41.630 --> 01:52:43.989
it's not about getting to some degree of stability,

01:52:44.149 --> 01:52:48.310
which is like you said, what people... in any

01:52:48.310 --> 01:52:51.390
area ultimately want when they are ordinary regular

01:52:51.390 --> 01:52:54.390
people they are the ones who prioritize stability

01:52:54.390 --> 01:52:57.170
security their future they're not the ones who

01:52:57.170 --> 01:52:59.550
are sitting in these meetings just trying to

01:52:59.550 --> 01:53:01.789
figure out how long they can stay in power or

01:53:01.789 --> 01:53:05.229
how they can extract um or how they can inflict

01:53:05.229 --> 01:53:08.010
maximum damage and try to get leverage in certain

01:53:08.010 --> 01:53:10.489
scenarios they don't think rationally everything

01:53:10.489 --> 01:53:13.329
about the way that the israeli government is

01:53:13.329 --> 01:53:16.619
behaving is irrational right now And it's because

01:53:16.619 --> 01:53:20.380
it's dominated by this coalition of extremists.

01:53:20.439 --> 01:53:23.380
And you're seeing that the military is reflecting

01:53:23.380 --> 01:53:29.300
that leadership right now. And I think that the

01:53:29.300 --> 01:53:32.119
pressure to get to a ceasefire deal will not

01:53:32.119 --> 01:53:34.100
come from the United States. It will not come

01:53:34.100 --> 01:53:37.180
from the UK. It will not come from France or

01:53:37.180 --> 01:53:40.039
the surrounding Arab nations. I think it will

01:53:40.039 --> 01:53:42.539
come from within Israel. I think that there's

01:53:42.539 --> 01:53:45.640
going to be a serious amount of reckoning. This

01:53:45.640 --> 01:53:48.840
guy's on corruption trial. Netanyahu is being

01:53:48.840 --> 01:53:51.560
charged with corruption. He's trying to destroy

01:53:51.560 --> 01:53:54.100
the Supreme Court. He's trying to dismiss the

01:53:54.100 --> 01:53:56.859
head of their security service. There is so many

01:53:56.859 --> 01:54:00.590
different kind of, there's so much chaos. that

01:54:00.590 --> 01:54:02.989
I think that the pressure on them to get to a

01:54:02.989 --> 01:54:06.090
ceasefire deal will come from within. At least

01:54:06.090 --> 01:54:10.649
I hope so. Otherwise, what you'll see is this

01:54:10.649 --> 01:54:16.029
conflict will leave its mark on all of these

01:54:16.029 --> 01:54:18.630
societies, so on Palestinian society and on Israeli

01:54:18.630 --> 01:54:21.949
society, and it won't be good. I want to hit

01:54:21.949 --> 01:54:23.890
one more area and then we'll close out. I've

01:54:23.890 --> 01:54:27.050
seen you talking about, is it stem cells? Yeah.

01:54:27.090 --> 01:54:29.470
Yeah. So let's talk about that. Is it still timely?

01:54:29.489 --> 01:54:32.970
I'm going to put this out on. What are we now?

01:54:33.770 --> 01:54:35.789
Tuesday. So Thursday, it will be out. So almost

01:54:35.789 --> 01:54:37.909
straight away. Would that be timely to talk about

01:54:37.909 --> 01:54:40.470
this still? Yeah, I think so. I mean, I think,

01:54:40.470 --> 01:54:42.670
you know, the more people that we can just sort

01:54:42.670 --> 01:54:45.850
of pay attention to to this specific case. And

01:54:45.850 --> 01:54:48.729
we've got a seven year old girl who we were able

01:54:48.729 --> 01:54:51.949
to get out of Gaza. And she was in Egypt for

01:54:51.949 --> 01:54:53.250
a while and we were able to bring her to the

01:54:53.250 --> 01:54:56.010
United States. And she's here trying to get treatment

01:54:56.010 --> 01:54:58.010
for this really rare blood disorder. I mean,

01:54:58.029 --> 01:55:01.430
it's like a blood cancer that basically caused

01:55:01.430 --> 01:55:05.890
bone marrow failure. And so, you know, she initially

01:55:05.890 --> 01:55:08.170
had a match for a bone marrow transplant. That's

01:55:08.170 --> 01:55:11.050
not the case anymore. In the national registry

01:55:11.050 --> 01:55:13.289
that we have, there are over 50 million people

01:55:13.289 --> 01:55:15.069
here in the United States. We could not find

01:55:15.069 --> 01:55:17.369
a match for her. And it's really because Middle

01:55:17.369 --> 01:55:19.409
Easterners were not really well represented in

01:55:19.409 --> 01:55:23.850
this. And we said, let's see if we can get different

01:55:23.850 --> 01:55:26.149
people to come out, anybody, like really anybody

01:55:26.149 --> 01:55:28.250
that's willing to get their cheek swab and see

01:55:28.250 --> 01:55:30.850
if they could potentially be a match. And we

01:55:30.850 --> 01:55:33.630
had this massive turnout of folks over the last

01:55:33.630 --> 01:55:37.550
week. I mean, I think there were over 160 events.

01:55:38.239 --> 01:55:41.619
in 12 states of people showing up, swabbing their

01:55:41.619 --> 01:55:46.159
cheeks. Over 5 ,000 people tried to see if they

01:55:46.159 --> 01:55:47.859
would be a match for this girl. And stem cell

01:55:47.859 --> 01:55:50.739
transplant too, just for folks just to know,

01:55:50.899 --> 01:55:54.699
it's not anything super invasive, really. It's

01:55:54.699 --> 01:55:57.039
like you're donating blood. You get a couple

01:55:57.039 --> 01:55:59.119
of these beforehand, a couple of days beforehand,

01:55:59.300 --> 01:56:00.800
you get a couple of shots to make sure that you

01:56:00.800 --> 01:56:02.600
have a bunch of stem cells that you, so when

01:56:02.600 --> 01:56:04.100
you donate blood, there's a bunch of stem cells

01:56:04.100 --> 01:56:06.510
in there. And that's it. I mean, normal routine.

01:56:06.649 --> 01:56:08.430
You don't got to take off of work, you know,

01:56:08.470 --> 01:56:11.850
nothing kind of crazy. And I think once people

01:56:11.850 --> 01:56:13.770
got a wind of, hey, there's this seven year old.

01:56:13.770 --> 01:56:16.810
And if she doesn't get treatment, the life expectancy

01:56:16.810 --> 01:56:19.630
for this is nine years of age. And right now

01:56:19.630 --> 01:56:21.350
she's in critical condition. And the doctors

01:56:21.350 --> 01:56:23.770
are like, we've got to move forward with this

01:56:23.770 --> 01:56:26.970
with the best possible match, regardless of where

01:56:26.970 --> 01:56:31.079
we're at in a couple of weeks. I think people

01:56:31.079 --> 01:56:33.680
stepped up. You saw that humanity that, you know,

01:56:33.680 --> 01:56:35.319
we were talking about is missing from leadership.

01:56:35.680 --> 01:56:38.239
Everyday people. I mean, I had people messaging

01:56:38.239 --> 01:56:40.560
me who were like, oh, yeah, we saw that it's

01:56:40.560 --> 01:56:44.520
18 to 40 who can donate. I'm 50. But please,

01:56:44.539 --> 01:56:46.899
can I can I do it? Or was somebody saying, I'm

01:56:46.899 --> 01:56:49.300
not I'm not Middle Eastern, but can I still donate?

01:56:49.359 --> 01:56:52.039
Please, like people desperate to just help people

01:56:52.039 --> 01:56:54.180
desperate to do the right thing. And that was

01:56:54.180 --> 01:56:57.140
really overwhelming and emotional because we

01:56:57.140 --> 01:56:58.720
just talked about what's happened over the last

01:56:58.720 --> 01:57:02.680
month. and how disturbing that was. You saw people

01:57:02.680 --> 01:57:05.699
who were so motivated to help. I mean, I had

01:57:05.699 --> 01:57:08.479
a guy at an event we did at the mosque come up

01:57:08.479 --> 01:57:10.500
to me. He grabbed me like by the shoulders and

01:57:10.500 --> 01:57:12.739
he was just like, I feel it. I really feel like

01:57:12.739 --> 01:57:14.600
I could be a match. I really hope I'm a match.

01:57:14.720 --> 01:57:16.359
I really hope I'm, you're like, all right, you

01:57:16.359 --> 01:57:19.300
know, like, wow, this guy, he's super sincere.

01:57:19.579 --> 01:57:22.420
He just wants to, he wants to do something, you

01:57:22.420 --> 01:57:25.020
know? And you, I saw that all across every, I

01:57:25.020 --> 01:57:27.060
mean, it was not, it wasn't just Palestinians

01:57:27.060 --> 01:57:29.079
who cared. I thought it would just be like, I'll

01:57:29.079 --> 01:57:31.199
get the Palestinian diaspora in the United States,

01:57:31.319 --> 01:57:33.260
you know, at least in Chicago, because we have

01:57:33.260 --> 01:57:36.039
a ton of them. It was everybody. It was everybody.

01:57:36.520 --> 01:57:39.100
And I mean, you know, hopefully we were able

01:57:39.100 --> 01:57:40.920
to find the match. But, you know, if people can

01:57:40.920 --> 01:57:43.920
still sort of pay attention, this is going to

01:57:43.920 --> 01:57:46.199
the national registry. So it'll be if there's

01:57:46.199 --> 01:57:48.619
any match down the line, there's a there's a

01:57:48.619 --> 01:57:50.560
chance you could save a life. And it's super

01:57:50.560 --> 01:57:52.579
easy. And I think this case did a great job of

01:57:52.579 --> 01:57:55.279
highlighting how easy the process is. And it's

01:57:55.279 --> 01:57:57.659
again, like. You know, if anybody's if anybody

01:57:57.659 --> 01:58:00.180
wants to just sort of follow along, it's, you

01:58:00.180 --> 01:58:03.819
know, be the match dot org slash swab for Palestine

01:58:03.819 --> 01:58:08.180
and four is the number four. So, you know, I

01:58:08.180 --> 01:58:10.460
hope that I'm going to be able to kind of post

01:58:10.460 --> 01:58:14.739
about, you know, a really a good update. And,

01:58:14.739 --> 01:58:19.399
you know, we we hope things we hope things work

01:58:19.399 --> 01:58:23.140
out for her. Absolutely. Beautiful. Well, again,

01:58:23.279 --> 01:58:25.100
thank you so much. We talked for another two

01:58:25.100 --> 01:58:26.539
hours. I always sit down and go, no, I've just

01:58:26.539 --> 01:58:28.699
got a few things to talk about. I know that,

01:58:28.760 --> 01:58:30.979
you know, because this is, you mentioned, I think

01:58:30.979 --> 01:58:33.039
this is a beautiful way to round it off. The

01:58:33.039 --> 01:58:35.840
shared humanity, going back to that little English

01:58:35.840 --> 01:58:39.760
boy, that is what we are. I truly believe that.

01:58:39.819 --> 01:58:41.699
And if you look statistically, Americans are

01:58:41.699 --> 01:58:44.399
some of the most generous when it comes to donations

01:58:44.399 --> 01:58:47.760
and on the planet. You know, we really are a

01:58:47.760 --> 01:58:50.560
beautiful people, but if you have enough toxic

01:58:50.560 --> 01:58:52.039
environment, I mean, I'll give you a perfect

01:58:52.039 --> 01:58:54.279
example. If you work for a toxic culture and

01:58:54.279 --> 01:58:56.159
a fire service, you're going to see a lot of

01:58:56.159 --> 01:58:59.380
very unhappy people. Those same people adored

01:58:59.380 --> 01:59:01.619
the calling on day one. It was the environment

01:59:01.619 --> 01:59:04.180
that broke them apart. It's the same with this.

01:59:04.239 --> 01:59:07.260
When you have a very altruistic. you know environment

01:59:07.260 --> 01:59:09.600
norway is a good example you're going to see

01:59:09.600 --> 01:59:11.420
healthy people you're going to see happy people

01:59:11.420 --> 01:59:13.739
and you're going to see very proactive altruistic

01:59:13.739 --> 01:59:17.199
programs if you have a self -service self -serving

01:59:17.199 --> 01:59:19.899
profit -based system you're going to see what

01:59:19.899 --> 01:59:22.859
we see here and if you really take a note and

01:59:22.859 --> 01:59:27.079
think about most of us are you know kind compassionate

01:59:27.079 --> 01:59:31.039
caring human beings and we let a different kind

01:59:31.039 --> 01:59:33.319
of person be at the helm of some of these organizations,

01:59:33.739 --> 01:59:37.420
I really genuinely in my heart feel like there's

01:59:37.420 --> 01:59:39.680
about to be a revolution of kindness and compassion.

01:59:39.979 --> 01:59:42.880
I think the good people or the goodness in people

01:59:42.880 --> 01:59:46.659
is starting to rise up and realizing and seeing

01:59:46.659 --> 01:59:49.079
for these people for what they are. Because if

01:59:49.079 --> 01:59:50.859
there's one good thing about social media, and

01:59:50.859 --> 01:59:52.899
we talked about earlier, when you stand in the

01:59:52.899 --> 01:59:54.479
middle and try and bring solutions to problems,

01:59:54.579 --> 01:59:56.399
Instagram shuts your account down. I learned

01:59:56.399 --> 01:59:59.039
that from experience. But anyway. If you try

01:59:59.039 --> 02:00:03.460
and do that, that's a beautiful thing. But if

02:00:03.460 --> 02:00:05.220
it's self -serving, it's a horrific thing. So

02:00:05.220 --> 02:00:08.939
I believe that the true evolution of man is not

02:00:08.939 --> 02:00:12.579
technology. It's not the wheel, then the industrial

02:00:12.579 --> 02:00:16.439
revolution, then the computer, and then AI. It's

02:00:16.439 --> 02:00:18.680
kindness and compassion. Look at Old Testament

02:00:18.680 --> 02:00:21.880
humans. We were kind of brutal back then. So

02:00:21.880 --> 02:00:24.140
these people are trying to send us back into

02:00:24.140 --> 02:00:26.939
the dark ages. If we really want to progress

02:00:26.939 --> 02:00:30.399
as a species, we have to the kindness and compassion

02:00:30.399 --> 02:00:32.859
side. You know, you have to have courage because

02:00:32.859 --> 02:00:36.079
it really takes courage to be kind. Don't don't

02:00:36.079 --> 02:00:39.180
mistake my kindness for weakness. So I want to

02:00:39.180 --> 02:00:41.439
see a revolution of kindness and compassion.

02:00:41.659 --> 02:00:44.220
And that can be putting yourself on the stem

02:00:44.220 --> 02:00:47.720
cell registry. And it can also be simply one

02:00:47.720 --> 02:00:50.359
more voice saying what is happening there is

02:00:50.359 --> 02:00:53.159
wrong. And we collectively need to stand up and

02:00:53.159 --> 02:00:55.970
say that. Totally. I mean, that's one thing that

02:00:55.970 --> 02:00:58.390
I do tell people when they say, what can we do?

02:00:58.649 --> 02:01:03.689
At the end of the day, I think seeing all of

02:01:03.689 --> 02:01:07.430
these failed sort of these sellouts and cowards

02:01:07.430 --> 02:01:09.289
who are in these sort of leadership positions

02:01:09.289 --> 02:01:13.109
that don't disengage. What we need is more people.

02:01:13.170 --> 02:01:15.649
It's going to come from the people. You need

02:01:15.649 --> 02:01:18.229
to take a step forward. You need to replace them

02:01:18.229 --> 02:01:21.029
with people like yourself. I mean, these people

02:01:21.029 --> 02:01:24.369
are not reflective of American society. They

02:01:24.369 --> 02:01:26.770
don't represent the American public by any means.

02:01:26.890 --> 02:01:29.210
They may try to manipulate folks into feeling

02:01:29.210 --> 02:01:31.510
like it's an us versus them. But at the end of

02:01:31.510 --> 02:01:33.670
the day, they are not the people that we need

02:01:33.670 --> 02:01:35.670
in these positions. We need everyday people.

02:01:35.869 --> 02:01:38.760
And that's my... That's really when people say,

02:01:38.819 --> 02:01:41.640
what can we do? Keep pushing forward. Keep getting

02:01:41.640 --> 02:01:44.239
different narratives out there. Keep humanizing

02:01:44.239 --> 02:01:46.779
other people and make sure that these leaders

02:01:46.779 --> 02:01:49.000
who have failed us don't continue to be in these

02:01:49.000 --> 02:01:50.699
leadership positions. They shouldn't be rewarded

02:01:50.699 --> 02:01:55.920
by our apathy. That's a reward for them. We got

02:01:55.920 --> 02:01:57.760
to double down, like you said. It's a revolution

02:01:57.760 --> 02:02:00.319
of kindness. I love that phrasing. Absolutely.

02:02:00.560 --> 02:02:02.859
Well, for people listening, if they want to reach

02:02:02.859 --> 02:02:04.500
out to you, where are the best places online?

02:02:06.300 --> 02:02:08.319
Definitely. Instagram is probably the best place.

02:02:08.380 --> 02:02:11.060
I'm not great at it, but I do try to check messages

02:02:11.060 --> 02:02:13.279
and get back to everybody. So you can definitely

02:02:13.279 --> 02:02:15.600
find me on Instagram. It's my name, Farah Ahmad.

02:02:16.399 --> 02:02:18.979
And, you know, I'm trying to build the blue sky.

02:02:20.409 --> 02:02:22.609
profile here but it's hard to it's hard to maintain

02:02:22.609 --> 02:02:25.289
but definitely try to at least now my account

02:02:25.289 --> 02:02:27.770
hasn't been restricted yet by by meta but i think

02:02:27.770 --> 02:02:30.750
everybody's at risk all right well i want to

02:02:30.750 --> 02:02:33.010
thank you again third conversation another two

02:02:33.010 --> 02:02:35.810
hour you know education and the reason i say

02:02:35.810 --> 02:02:38.250
that is because you know you've got this background

02:02:38.250 --> 02:02:41.270
already working emergency medicine in a you know

02:02:41.579 --> 02:02:44.220
busy, busy city in Chicago. You've been boots

02:02:44.220 --> 02:02:46.640
in the ground, seen this happening, and you've

02:02:46.640 --> 02:02:48.539
become really one of the statesmen when it comes

02:02:48.539 --> 02:02:52.140
to the middle of the road storytelling of what's

02:02:52.140 --> 02:02:55.140
actually going on apolitically. So once again,

02:02:55.319 --> 02:02:57.380
I thank you so, so much for being so generous

02:02:57.380 --> 02:02:59.159
with your time and coming on Behind the Shield

02:02:59.159 --> 02:03:02.119
podcast today. Always a pleasure. Thank you,

02:03:02.140 --> 02:03:02.279
James.