Latest / The Breakfast Club / Fauci Held in Contempt of Congress, SoCal Edison Blamed for the Deadly Eaton Fire, and Whitney Houston's Iconic Wardrobe Heads to Auction

Transcript

Fauci Held in Contempt of Congress, SoCal Edison Blamed for the Deadly Eaton Fire, and Whitney Houston's Iconic Wardrobe Heads to Auction · The Breakfast Club

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  Speaker 1: Senator Ran Paul wants doctor Anthony Fauci prosecuted after a
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Senate committee voted to hold him in contempt of Congress.
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  Speaker 2: The sole reason he is calling me before this committee
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  Speaker 2: is to get me to say something, anything that could
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  Speaker 2: vindicate his repeated public pledges that I end up in
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  Speaker 2: his words quote behind bars.
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  Speaker 1: And a new report blamed Southern California Edison's equipment for
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  Speaker 1: one of the deadliest wildfires in California history.
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  Speaker 3: This is something that we already knew, right, tell us something,
• 0:38
  Speaker 3: tell us something new.
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  Speaker 4: We knew this already.
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  Speaker 3: The community has known it since the first video that
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  Speaker 3: came out from Residence camera, and.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: Whitney Houston fans will soon have a chance to own
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: a piece of her music history. It's Friday, August seventh,
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: from the Black Effects Podcast Network. Imimi Brown. This is
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  Speaker 1: front page and here are the biggest stories. Stay with me.
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  Speaker 1: Today's biggest political story centers on doctor Anthony Fauci. A
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  Speaker 1: Senate committee led by Republican Senator Ran Paul voted Thursday
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  Speaker 1: to hold the former top infectious disease expert in contempt
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  Speaker 1: of Congress. Paul accuses Fauci of refusing to comply with
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  Speaker 1: the congressional subpoena after invoking his Fifth Amendment right during
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  Speaker 1: last week's Senate hearing.
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  Speaker 2: Although it pains me to do so because of the
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  Speaker 2: respect I have for the legislative branch of government and
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  Speaker 2: my decades long record of cooperating with Congress. Under the
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  Speaker 2: advice of my attorneys, I will invoke my right under
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  Speaker 2: the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution.
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  Speaker 1: Paul says he's now referring the case to the Justice
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  Speaker 1: Department and wants prosecutors to consider criminal charges.
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  Speaker 5: A million Americans died, and I think they deserve another truth.
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  Speaker 5: Anthony Fauci has advocated for dangerous gain and function research
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  Speaker 5: for two decades now. The question why is not a
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  Speaker 5: question that he can have liability for he was given
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  Speaker 5: a pardon. Interestingly, the pardon starts in twenty fourteen, That's
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  Speaker 5: when the funding of the lab and WUHAN started. So
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  Speaker 5: I think you should answer questions as far as pleading
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  Speaker 5: the fifth when you have a pardon. All if do
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  Speaker 5: is tell the truth, just not commit a new crime.
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  Speaker 5: But if we were to grant him immunity from telling
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  Speaker 5: the truth, of what value you know, would his testimony be.
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  Speaker 1: Democrats call the move politically motivated, while Fauci's attorney says
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  Speaker 1: his client committed no crime and simply exercise his constitutional
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  Speaker 1: right against self incrimination. The Justice Department will now decide
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  Speaker 1: whether to pursue the case. Joining us now is Brandon Lamar,
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  Speaker 1: president of the Pasadena INAACP, and since the Eating Fire
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  Speaker 1: devastated Altadena, he's been one of the leading voices fighting
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  Speaker 1: for survivors and working to make sure the historic black
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  Speaker 1: community can rebuild without losing the fanmilies who have called
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  Speaker 1: it home for generations. Brandon, thank you so much for
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  Speaker 1: joining me. How are you today.
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  Speaker 4: I'm doing pretty good.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you for having me absolutely. I know you've been
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  Speaker 1: talking with families. Talk to me about what the reaction
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  Speaker 1: has been. Now that investigators have officially confirmed that Southern
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  Speaker 1: California Edison's equipment started the Eating fire.
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  Speaker 3: This is something that we already knew, right, tell us something,
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  Speaker 3: tell us something new.
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  Speaker 4: We knew this already.
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  Speaker 3: The community has known it since the first video that
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  Speaker 3: came out from a residence camera and then other videos
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  Speaker 3: that came out from businesses.
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  Speaker 4: So we knew this already.
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  Speaker 3: Is I think it just brings a different stamp when
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  Speaker 3: it's la County Fire Department that is saying this, and
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  Speaker 3: they're verifying the information, and so hopefully families can start
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  Speaker 3: to really feel a sense of accountability now that it
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  Speaker 3: is final word that this is what has taken place
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  Speaker 3: and what has happened. And so I think this is
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  Speaker 3: a new star for people in a certain way, but
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  Speaker 3: also when it comes to families and what they're feeling
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  Speaker 3: in this moment, I think it's a breath of fresh air.
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  Speaker 3: But also families just really want to get back home.
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  Speaker 3: So how do we get these families back home as
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  Speaker 3: quick as possible now that we have this information?
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  Speaker 1: Right, families have been displaced for what over eighteen months now? Absolutely,
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  Speaker 1: I'm imagining that that has been devastating to so many
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  Speaker 1: folks that you're hearing from. Can you answer just some
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  Speaker 1: you know, first hand accounts of the frustration that I'm
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  Speaker 1: sure so many people are feeling.
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  Speaker 4: Right now, Yeah, so many frustrations.
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  Speaker 3: As you mentioned, it's been eighteen months since the fires,
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  Speaker 3: and people are still displaced. I had just went to
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  Speaker 3: a grand opening of one of the families that go
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  Speaker 3: to my church. They are now living in their new
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  Speaker 3: built home, but literally right next door to them is
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  Speaker 3: a family that are that is living in their car
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  Speaker 3: slash tent on their problem. So this is the reality
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  Speaker 3: that people are still living with and people are still
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  Speaker 3: facing with. The Other reality that people are still faced
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  Speaker 3: with is that some families have actually sold their lots
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  Speaker 3: because they cannot wait until the lawsuit is done. Right,
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  Speaker 3: they cannot wait until a miracle happens for them, right,
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  Speaker 3: they have financial needs now they are still paying rent
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  Speaker 3: and mortgage at the same time and trying to stay afloat,
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  Speaker 3: especially when it comes to our seniors who are no
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  Speaker 3: longer working anymore and who are on fixed incomes. So
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  Speaker 3: this is a situation that is still very grand in
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  Speaker 3: our community. And it's one thing that I always mentioned.
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  Speaker 3: Disasters don't discriminate. Recovery does. And we have seen this
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  Speaker 3: in times of crisis over and over again, especially when
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  Speaker 3: it comes to the African American community. When crisis hits
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  Speaker 3: us or when disaster it's us, we are the last
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  Speaker 3: to recover, if we recover at all.
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  Speaker 1: You know, you said something earlier in your previous statement
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  Speaker 1: about accountability. What does accountability look like? What do you know?
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  Speaker 1: You just mentioned the seniors and and you know, thank
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  Speaker 1: you for sharing that with us, But what do survivors
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  Speaker 1: still need from from Edison? They're elected leaders and other
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  Speaker 1: people involved.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, So I think when it comes to accountability, we
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  Speaker 3: look at it for a couple of things. Number One,
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  Speaker 3: the thing that started the fire was a transmitter that
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  Speaker 3: was not being used anymore by Edison. So this was
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  Speaker 3: a transmitter that what hasn't been used in years and
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  Speaker 3: so it really had no use in the area anymore.
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  Speaker 3: Senator Soasrone Perez tried to do a bill last year
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  Speaker 3: that would force electrical companies to get rid of transmitters
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  Speaker 3: that they were no longer using. Of course, that bill
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  Speaker 3: got vetoed because the power of utility companies in Sacramento
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  Speaker 3: and in Washington, d C. So it did not pass,
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  Speaker 3: which is crazy because that also is the reason why
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  Speaker 3: the Paradise fire happened, and was because of a transmitter
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  Speaker 3: of a utility company in that area that blew up
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  Speaker 3: that was not being used. So a couple of things
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  Speaker 3: that we need is number one, policy change. We need
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  Speaker 3: policy changes that are actually serving our community and saving
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  Speaker 3: our community when it comes to disasters like this to
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  Speaker 3: revent disasters in the first place. The other thing that
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  Speaker 3: we need is accountability from local institutions when it comes
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  Speaker 3: to why were there only one fire truck in the
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  Speaker 3: area fighting the fire in West Altadina in the first place.
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  Speaker 3: Why is it that none of West Altadina actually got
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  Speaker 3: evacuation notices where all nineteen lives have passed away, right,
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  Speaker 3: And so that looks like accountability on that end of it.
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  Speaker 3: And the last part of it is is that our
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  Speaker 3: families need the restitution of being paid so that they
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  Speaker 3: can actually stay home and rebuild their lives. There's so
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  Speaker 3: many families right now that are still just thousands of
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  Speaker 3: families that are still displays, thousands of families that are
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  Speaker 3: still trying to figure out what their next move is
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  Speaker 3: and still trying to figure out how they're going to
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  Speaker 3: rebuild their homes. And so there also needs to be
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  Speaker 3: a plan for even gap funding for these families. So
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  Speaker 3: a lot of family who either did or did not
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  Speaker 3: have insurance, they have gaps within their costs that would
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  Speaker 3: show how much it is going to take for them
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  Speaker 3: to rebuild, and so they need support within that gap
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  Speaker 3: funding to get them over the hump so that they
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  Speaker 3: can actually come back home.
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  Speaker 4: I think those are some of the things that I'm thinking.
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  Speaker 3: About right now that would make it easier for families
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  Speaker 3: to be number one when we talk about accountability, but
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  Speaker 3: also what make easier for them to.
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  Speaker 4: Come back home.
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  Speaker 1: I'll say this my last question for those who don't know,
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  Speaker 1: can you share really quickly what made Alta Dina so
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  Speaker 1: special for black families and what does the rest of
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  Speaker 1: the country need to understand about what was lost beyond
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  Speaker 1: the homes.
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  Speaker 3: Absolutely, I'm so glad that you asked me that question,
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  Speaker 3: and the reason being is that Altina had the highest
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  Speaker 3: concentration of black homeownership in the nation, right, And so
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  Speaker 3: when you talk about that, you talk about legacy, talk
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  Speaker 3: about building wealth. Altina for a very long time, especially
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  Speaker 3: in our areas, was one of the few areas in
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  Speaker 3: the nineteen fifties that black families were actually able to
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  Speaker 3: buy loans, that banks actually were giving people loans in
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  Speaker 3: the Altina community when they did not give them in
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  Speaker 3: other communities such as Pasadena or other areas surrounded by Pasadena,
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  Speaker 3: right because of redlining, and so the concentration of black
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  Speaker 3: homeowners and black businesses and doctors and lawyers and pharmacists
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  Speaker 3: and artists and people like Sidney Partier and so many
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  Speaker 3: other people who lived in out right, this was the
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  Speaker 3: concentrated of black families because they saw people that looked
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  Speaker 3: just like But when you talk about the highest concentration
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  Speaker 3: of black home ownership, I think that's the part that
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  Speaker 3: we really have to lean into, is because it is
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  Speaker 3: the home ownership rate that you can actually pass down
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  Speaker 3: home to the next generation, which builds wealth within our
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  Speaker 3: local community and our local economy.
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  Speaker 4: Right.
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  Speaker 3: The other thing that I want to mention is, I
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  Speaker 3: think it's so important is that we never thought that
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  Speaker 3: this would be something that happens in out seen ever. Right,
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  Speaker 3: we have fires in the mountains, but it never passed
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  Speaker 3: the mountains.
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  Speaker 4: Right. This thing that we're showing.
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  Speaker 3: In our local world of what's happening in the space
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  Speaker 3: of our world happening everywhere. A fire just took place
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  Speaker 3: this past week in Washington that wiped away hundreds of homes,
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  Speaker 3: displays sixty five thousand people from that space, right, And
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  Speaker 3: so this can happen at any single space, and we
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  Speaker 3: have to make sure that we are actually preparing our communities,
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  Speaker 3: especially our communities of color, before disaster strikes. You have
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  Speaker 3: to make sure that you have enough insurance on your home.
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  Speaker 3: You have to make sure that your deed is actually
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  Speaker 3: in the correct living person's names, so that you can
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  Speaker 3: get the resources that you need if something was to happen.
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  Speaker 3: And so we have to make sure that we have
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  Speaker 3: these documents, and these are the things that our families
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  Speaker 3: did not have in place when the Altina fire happened,
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  Speaker 3: the Eating Fire happened, and so we want to make
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  Speaker 3: sure that this news is spreading out across America, especially
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  Speaker 3: to the communities of color who will be affected by disasters, the.
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  Speaker 1: Most exactly affected by the disasters the most. Brendon Lamar,
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  Speaker 1: President of the Pasadena INAACP, thank you so much for
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  Speaker 1: your time and sharing your perspective, and to the families
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  Speaker 1: in Altadena and everyone's still rebuilding after the Eating Fire.
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  Speaker 1: We continue to keep you in our prayers and as
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  Speaker 1: this community moves forward, thank you again. And finally, Whitney
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  Speaker 1: Houston fans will soon have a chance to own a
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  Speaker 1: piece of music history. More than two hundred items from
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  Speaker 1: Whitney's personal collection, including designer outfits, awards, luggage, and rare photographs,
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  Speaker 1: will go up for auction on Monday through Julian's Auctions.
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  Speaker 1: The sale benefits Whitney Houston's Legacy Foundation, which funds scholarships, arts, education,
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  Speaker 1: and programs for young people. The auction comes just days
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: after what would have been Houston's sixty third birthday, with
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: every dollar supporting the foundation created in her honor. That's
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  Speaker 1: Your Front Page, I Mimi Brown. This podcast was brought
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  Speaker 1: to you by the Black Effect Podcast Network