Latest / The People's News / Racist Texas Board of Ed.; US vs Canada a Distration from Epstein; Gloria Steinem Passes - TPN 9/6/26

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Racist Texas Board of Ed.; US vs Canada a Distration from Epstein; Gloria Steinem Passes - TPN 9/6/26 · The People's News

0:03
Speaker 1: It's the week of September 6th, 2026, and this is
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Speaker 1: what's on the People's News. Newly appointed Harris County attorney
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Speaker 1: talks to the People's News. Texas Board of Education votes
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Speaker 1: to replace U.S. history with right-wing Islamophobic fantasy. Felon distracts
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Speaker 1: from the Trump-Epstein files by attacking Canada. Petro plants expand,
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Speaker 1: but it does nothing for the community. we reflect on
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Speaker 1: women's rights activists and her time in Houston. That and
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Speaker 1: more on the People's News. I'm Steve Gallington. This is
0:39
Speaker 1: the People's News, and the People's News starts now. Former
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Speaker 1: City Councilmember Abby Kamen is now Harris County Attorney, as
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Speaker 1: she was appointed by Harris County Commissioner's Court. She becomes
0:56
Speaker 1: the first woman to hold office in county history. and
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Speaker 1: succeeds former county attorney Jonathan Fombon. She faces difficulty off
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Speaker 1: the bat as the convicted felon occupying the White House
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Speaker 1: and his lackey, the Texas governor, are looking to suppress
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Speaker 1: the vote in Harris County. They're targeting mail-in ballots in
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Speaker 1: blue counties only. The county commissioners have given her the
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Speaker 1: authority to fight any actions by the state and federal
1:23
Speaker 1: government to take away the vote in the area. We
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Speaker 1: talked to her about the actions of both and other issues.
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Speaker 2: Thank you so much for having me on and to
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Speaker 2: all the listeners that are supporting such an important station. Look,
1:36
Speaker 2: the job of the county attorney's office is to protect
1:39
Speaker 2: the rights of all of Harris County residents. And when
1:42
Speaker 2: it comes to voting rights, every eligible voter in Harris
1:49
Speaker 2: County should be given the right to vote. That is
1:53
Speaker 2: a sacred right. It is the basic, principled foundation of
1:58
Speaker 2: our democracy. What we are seeing right now is a
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Speaker 2: political power grab by Trump that serves one person. This
2:08
Speaker 2: is a playbook of desperation. And what we're seeing is
2:11
Speaker 2: not just these attempts, but sidestepping the courts and sidestepping
2:14
Speaker 2: the law at every angle to try to get what
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Speaker 2: they want. A lot of people are seeing headlines right
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Speaker 2: now about Trump's attempt to hijack the Postal Service to
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Speaker 2: stop mail ballots from going up. We've recently taken action
2:33
Speaker 2: and sued the administration because they're trying to withhold, hijack
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Speaker 2: critical public safety and counterterrorism dollars if local jurisdictions like
2:45
Speaker 2: Harris County, El Paso, Travis County, and counties across the
2:50
Speaker 2: country are don't comply with their illegal orders. So all
2:55
Speaker 2: of this has been playing out in the courts. And
2:57
Speaker 2: at each step, the courts have said, nope, Trump, what
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Speaker 2: you're doing is illegal. And he's ignoring all of that.
3:03
Speaker 2: So we are standing strong. This is about protecting the
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Speaker 2: rights of county residents. This is about a fair and
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Speaker 2: transparent electoral process. But this is also about respecting the
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Speaker 2: Constitution of the United States and respecting the rule of law.
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Speaker 3: That matters.
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Speaker 4: What are you going to do about it? That's not
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Speaker 4: what you're going to do about.
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Speaker 5: It, you know, because he's holding elected officials, especially the
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Speaker 5: county attorney, in charge with a violation that he says
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Speaker 5: that he can have, well, he wants to have you
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Speaker 5: arrested or whatever he wants to do.
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Speaker 4: Is this legal? Is this just talk or is this
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Speaker 4: something that he actually can do? He also said that.
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Speaker 5: They're talking about bringing ice in for the elections because
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Speaker 5: of so-called voter fraud in the area.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I want to make sure that residents hear
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Speaker 2: directly from me that we are not going to flinch
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Speaker 2: or fold when it comes to protecting the rights of
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Speaker 2: Harris County residents and following the law to a T.
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Speaker 2: We are not going to be intimidated. That may be
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Speaker 2: the hope. This is, again, a playbook of desperation. that
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Speaker 2: we're seeing right now. But we are not going to,
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Speaker 2: I am not going to allow an illegal hijacking of
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Speaker 2: critical public safety dollars or our elections because of intimidation.
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Speaker 2: That is not the way that we do things. We
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Speaker 2: follow the law. We respect the law. We respect our courts.
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Speaker 2: And we will work with every level of government to
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Speaker 2: make sure that we are doing right by Harris County.
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Speaker 4: Also, I just mentioned ICE.
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Speaker 5: Is there any type of thing that you can do
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Speaker 5: as far as controlling or policies to work with the
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Speaker 5: federal government on ICE's involvement in the city, especially with
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Speaker 5: using flock.
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Speaker 4: Cameras, et cetera?
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Speaker 5: Yes.
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Speaker 2: And, you know, you raise a really important point because
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Speaker 2: there's so many families that are hurting right now. Before
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Speaker 2: we jump into that, which is, again, very important, I
5:12
Speaker 2: do want to emphasize with this election, I want to
5:18
Speaker 2: make sure that folks are following accurate sources of information,
5:23
Speaker 2: going to the county clerk's website, going to Harris County's website,
5:27
Speaker 2: following trusted sources of information about voter registration deadlines, when
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Speaker 2: to get your mail ballot applications in, when early vote starts.
5:35
Speaker 2: Because right now, the intent behind all of this is
5:38
Speaker 2: to create chaos and confusion. And our job as Harris County,
5:43
Speaker 2: as Texans, is to make sure that we are able
5:46
Speaker 2: to use our voice at the polls. So please, please
5:48
Speaker 2: stay informed. Follow trusted sources of information. And when it
5:53
Speaker 2: comes to our immigrant community, I want to start off
5:57
Speaker 2: by recognizing how critical and valued our immigrant community is
6:03
Speaker 2: to Harris County. they are part of the vibrant fabric
6:08
Speaker 2: that makes us so special. Yes, in terms of supporting
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Speaker 2: our economy, but more so in terms of just who
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Speaker 2: our neighbors are, who our friends are, who our family
6:18
Speaker 2: members are. This is about all of us, and we
6:20
Speaker 2: are all in this together. So I was honored to
6:24
Speaker 2: have served on Houston City Council for so long and
6:27
Speaker 2: pushed and advocated for responsible ways in which we can
6:33
Speaker 2: ensure that Residents feel comfortable reaching out to law enforcement
6:38
Speaker 2: when they're in need, not being forced into the shadows,
6:40
Speaker 2: which is what we're seeing right now. The fact that
6:44
Speaker 2: we know, I know, friends and family who are U.S.
6:50
Speaker 2: citizens who feel like because of the color of their
6:54
Speaker 2: skin have to drive around with their citizenship papers. That's
6:59
Speaker 2: not only wrong, that's un-American. For those that are undocumented,
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Speaker 2: it goes without saying, regardless of someone's immigration status, if
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Speaker 2: somebody poses a threat, public safety threat, I trust local
7:11
Speaker 2: law enforcement to address that situation, to make sure that
7:17
Speaker 2: the community is safe and that that individual is held accountable.
7:20
Speaker 2: But that's regardless of immigration status. And to scapegoat one
7:23
Speaker 2: community to sow rhetoric that is xenophobic is dangerous. And
7:30
Speaker 2: it's not who we are. So I want to encourage everyone.
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Speaker 2: We can all do our part. Yes, we are doing
7:35
Speaker 2: things from the county attorney's office, some of which I
7:37
Speaker 2: can't speak on. But we all have a role to play.
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Speaker 2: When you see or hear somebody speaking with racist either
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Speaker 2: undertones or direct racist comments, Speak out when it's safe
7:56
Speaker 2: to do so, because for many people, it's not safe
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Speaker 2: for them to.
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Speaker 6: Right.
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Speaker 2: So for those of us that can speak out, we
8:02
Speaker 2: must be doing that. We must be pushing back and
8:04
Speaker 2: we must be respecting and honoring our neighbors. When it
8:08
Speaker 2: comes to the county attorney's office, we are working with
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Speaker 2: our district attorney. And I want to give a huge,
8:14
Speaker 2: huge shout out to District Attorney Sean Teer, who is
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Speaker 2: leading this critical effort and independent investigation on of the
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Speaker 2: ICE shooting that happened in our own backyard just the
8:28
Speaker 2: night before I was in that very neighborhood talking with
8:32
Speaker 2: residents about pollution issues and concerns. And we have to
8:38
Speaker 2: do more. We have to demand answers. And we, from
8:41
Speaker 2: our office, are supporting the DA and his efforts. And
8:44
Speaker 2: I really want to applaud him for taking that stand.
8:47
Speaker 2: When it comes to technology and flock in particular, there's
8:51
Speaker 2: been a lot of headlines around it. We have to
8:54
Speaker 2: be able to, whether it's flock or AI, the way
8:59
Speaker 2: in which technology is used matters. It has to be
9:03
Speaker 2: done so responsibly. There needs to be guardrails. There needs
9:05
Speaker 2: to be transparency. One of the challenges we actually have
9:08
Speaker 2: with flock is there's a lot of focus on government
9:12
Speaker 2: contracts right now, but any civic group, any utility district,
9:20
Speaker 2: Any organization can pretty much fund flock cameras and put
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Speaker 2: them up. One of the challenges with that is the
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Speaker 2: contracts themselves. So I want to encourage anyone or a
9:34
Speaker 2: group that's looking at utilizing something like flock, the way
9:39
Speaker 2: in which these contracts are written matters and you can
9:41
Speaker 2: negotiate the terms. What is the retention policy on information?
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Speaker 2: Who is it being shared with or do you have
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Speaker 2: a prohibition against sharing information? certain types of sensitive information?
9:52
Speaker 2: Who is being trained to access that information? Is there
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Speaker 2: a log about who's accessing that information? So the list
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Speaker 2: goes on and on. And that, again, doesn't just apply
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Speaker 2: to flock. That applies to a host of new technological
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Speaker 2: tools that are growing at an exponential rate. And as government,
10:10
Speaker 2: we have to be able to keep up with that
10:14
Speaker 2: growth and expansion. I mean, the same can be said
10:16
Speaker 2: about data centers right now, right? And left unchecked, the
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Speaker 2: harm that can be done in communities. So there's a
10:24
Speaker 2: lot to unpack there that's really just skimming the surface,
10:26
Speaker 2: but I do want to flag for folks that are
10:29
Speaker 2: concerned about these issues that it's not just the contracts
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Speaker 2: that you read about. There are other groups that can
10:36
Speaker 2: also be putting these types of cameras up.
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Speaker 4: Also, I don't know.
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Speaker 5: If you're going to try to change the policies that
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Speaker 5: the state is putting out, I know a lot of
10:49
Speaker 5: people are kind of confused on the new THC law.
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Speaker 4: That's come out.
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Speaker 5: I've heard, I don't know if it's true or not,
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Speaker 5: that people are being federally charged with marijuana charges now.
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Speaker 7: Yeah.
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Speaker 2: So one thing about the Harris County Attorney's Office is
11:07
Speaker 2: that we handle all the civil charges litigation matters for
11:12
Speaker 2: the county. So if you think about it, you have
11:14
Speaker 2: the district attorney that does criminal law, and then civil
11:17
Speaker 2: law is handled by the county attorney. So we are
11:20
Speaker 2: not yet wading into this. What I do know is
11:23
Speaker 2: there is a lot of confusion right now. And I
11:25
Speaker 2: think that points to the knee-jerk reaction of how this
11:30
Speaker 2: was implemented and how it's unfolding. I do know that
11:32
Speaker 2: certain cases are working their way through the courts. There
11:34
Speaker 2: was a recent case out of Galveston County, thinking a
11:38
Speaker 2: temporary injunction, which means really just trying to stop, put
11:42
Speaker 2: a pause on the rule changes in the law. But
11:46
Speaker 2: the judge denied that injunction. So I think all of
11:50
Speaker 2: this needs to be laid out a lot more clearly.
11:52
Speaker 2: There needs to be guardrails. But people need to understand that.
11:59
Speaker 2: the implications of all of this. And I think there's
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Speaker 2: just not a lot of information. This wasn't necessarily rolled
12:05
Speaker 2: out the right way by the state. And that needs
12:07
Speaker 2: to be called out, too.
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Speaker 8: All right.
12:10
Speaker 4: Hey, I'm going to let you go.
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Speaker 5: And I would like to thank you for taking my
12:14
Speaker 5: phone call and coming on to People's News.
12:17
Speaker 2: It's my pleasure. And if I may, one of the
12:19
Speaker 2: things we're really committed to doing is being in every
12:21
Speaker 2: neighborhood and addressing your issues. whether it is going after
12:26
Speaker 2: slumlord apartment complexes and holding them accountable for unsafe living conditions,
12:31
Speaker 2: going after concrete batch plants. We just had a big
12:33
Speaker 2: win against the EPA when they were not enforcing their
12:36
Speaker 2: own air quality standards and regulations. But we need to
12:40
Speaker 2: hear from people about what's going on around them. And
12:43
Speaker 2: that includes literal home theft. We're dealing with a lot
12:46
Speaker 2: of deed and title fraud right now. And we need
12:49
Speaker 2: folks to come forward when this is happening to you,
12:51
Speaker 2: when you're being scammed or taken advantage of. So really
12:55
Speaker 2: just want to encourage folks to reach out to our office. Again,
12:58
Speaker 2: it's the Harris County Attorney's Office. And you can email us,
13:02
Speaker 2: just go on our website, but let us know what's
13:04
Speaker 2: happening around you or what issues you're seeing so that
13:06
Speaker 2: we can take action to help all of our families.
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Speaker 5: And speaking of pollution, on the east side, I don't
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Speaker 5: know if anything actually happened after one of the biggest
13:16
Speaker 5: floods fires that you can see at the recycling plant
13:19
Speaker 5: on the east side, you can.
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Speaker 4: See that fire all the way all the way to
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Speaker 4: the airport, to the airport.
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Speaker 5: The reaction with the EPA, you have to go through
13:29
Speaker 5: the different channels, but a lot of these companies are
13:33
Speaker 5: in residential areas and, you know, they just kind of
13:38
Speaker 5: anything else, they pay a.
13:38
Speaker 4: Fine and that's it. And this has been a continuing
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Speaker 4: thing for years on the.
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Speaker 5: East side, especially close to the ship channel area.
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Speaker 4: And families now.
13:48
Speaker 5: Are either they can't really feel comfortable coming out and
13:53
Speaker 5: making a complaint.
13:54
Speaker 4: So what do those people do?
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Speaker 2: So you can always make a complaint with our office.
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Speaker 2: We will work with you if you say, hey, we're
14:03
Speaker 2: not comfortable releasing our private information. We will do our
14:06
Speaker 2: best to work with you. Unfortunately, in order to take
14:08
Speaker 2: action from the county attorney's office, we need individual complaints,
14:12
Speaker 2: but we can also take on our own investigations. So
14:15
Speaker 2: we need those tips. To get started, we do need
14:17
Speaker 2: people that are willing to come forward, but we will
14:20
Speaker 2: work with you. There are so many neighborhoods that for
14:25
Speaker 2: far too long have been bearing the burden of environmental
14:33
Speaker 2: pollution and toxicity. And we're talking about our grandparents. We're
14:36
Speaker 2: talking about our children. We're talking about future generations. We've
14:41
Speaker 2: just filed to permanently close a landfill facility in the
14:46
Speaker 2: Carverdale neighborhood, that residents there have been fighting for decades.
14:50
Speaker 2: And I do want to recognize the work of Councilmember
14:52
Speaker 2: Amy Peck, who I've been working with on this, as
14:55
Speaker 2: well as Commissioner Ramsey. We have, like you indicated, fires
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Speaker 2: at recycling plants, and we're not getting a lot of information.
15:03
Speaker 2: And families are asking the right questions, but we are
15:08
Speaker 2: fighting at the state level, too. for those answers, but
15:12
Speaker 2: also to give residents more access to information and just
15:15
Speaker 2: a voice. When it came to, for example, a concrete
15:19
Speaker 2: batch plant literally popping up, sharing a fence line with
15:24
Speaker 2: an early child care center, there was a loophole that
15:29
Speaker 2: allowed them to come online. And that's just wrong. It's just,
15:36
Speaker 2: there's no way around it. There's no excuse for it.
15:39
Speaker 2: But the way in which TCEQ handles those complaints was
15:42
Speaker 2: prohibiting residents from being able to file their own complaints,
15:46
Speaker 2: to use their own voices. So we filed a petition
15:49
Speaker 2: to change the rules at TCEQ. That was denied, but
15:54
Speaker 2: that doesn't mean we're going to back down and we're
15:57
Speaker 2: not going to keep pushing the ball forward. But we
16:01
Speaker 2: need the help of residents. Legislative session is just around
16:04
Speaker 2: the corner. And a lot of the rules that we're
16:08
Speaker 2: talking about, a lot of these issues fall to the state.
16:12
Speaker 2: And we need people advocating alongside us to fight for
16:17
Speaker 2: all of our families.
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Speaker 1: That was Harris County Attorney Abby Kamen talking to the
16:22
Speaker 1: People's News. You can reach out to her office at cao.harriscountytx.gov.
16:32
Speaker 1: The Texas Board of Education voted on Friday. to approve
16:36
Speaker 1: a new high school curriculum that would tie Islam with
16:39
Speaker 1: terrorism and use the Christian Bible to show that it
16:43
Speaker 1: is the basis of American society historically. It would also
16:47
Speaker 1: blame Islam for slavery in the U.S. Educators, religious groups,
16:52
Speaker 1: and community advocates were ignored and not consulted in the
16:56
Speaker 1: curriculum change. We talked to Samia Rizvi with the Council
17:00
Speaker 1: on American Islamic Relations, the largest Muslim civil rights group
17:04
Speaker 1: in the United States.
17:06
Speaker 6: Currently, the State Board of Education, which is an elected
17:09
Speaker 6: body by the people of Texas, is deciding what Texas
17:15
Speaker 6: public school students are expected to learn through the Texas
17:19
Speaker 6: Essential Knowledge and Skills, the TEKS, which essentially are our
17:23
Speaker 6: curriculum standards. They shape, you know, the curriculum, textbooks, classroom instruction,
17:28
Speaker 6: et cetera, for more than 5.5 million students, right? So
17:33
Speaker 6: right now, the board, at least this, THIS WEEK, THEY'RE
17:37
Speaker 6: CURRENTLY CONSIDERING CHANGES TO THE HIGH SCHOOL SOCIAL STUDIES STANDARDS,
17:43
Speaker 6: AND IN THOSE CHANGES, MANY OF THE THINGS THAT ARE
17:45
Speaker 6: BEING PROPOSED.
17:46
Speaker 7: ARE EXACTLY WHAT YOU'RE, YOU KNOW, ASKING ABOUT.
17:51
Speaker 6: THINGS THAT ARE NOT THE COMPLETE TRUTH, THEY'RE INACCURATE AND
17:55
Speaker 6: HAVE BAKED STORIES AND PICTURES OF VARIOUS COMMUNITIES, EVEN THE CHRISTIAN, JEWISH,
18:03
Speaker 6: AND MUSLIM COMMUNITIES. objectivity has gone out the window. It
18:07
Speaker 6: is completely biased and coming from a very skewed, hate-filled
18:12
Speaker 6: narrative where they're trying really, really hard to make Islam
18:19
Speaker 6: the main villain in whatever story they're trying to portray.
18:25
Speaker 6: And they're also trying very hard to emphasize that this
18:31
Speaker 6: country is not a country that respects religious tolerance, rather
18:36
Speaker 6: it's a country that will only accept one faith, and
18:40
Speaker 6: not even just one faith alone, but you have to
18:42
Speaker 6: follow the faith the way they want you to follow it.
18:45
Speaker 6: So if you're Christian, but if you're a Catholic or
18:48
Speaker 6: another sect, then who's to say that you're the kind
18:51
Speaker 6: of Christian they're talking about? And that's really what these
18:55
Speaker 6: standards are doing. They're very much taking what.
18:59
Speaker 6: We know about our history, our country's founding, but also
19:02
Speaker 6: world history, and throwing it out.
19:04
Speaker 7: The window for a.
19:06
Speaker 6: Revisionist, indoctrinated version of history that we were always warned about,
19:12
Speaker 6: whether it be through dystopian novels like 1984 or other
19:17
Speaker 6: stuff about the government controlling what we learn and how
19:19
Speaker 6: we learn it and how we think.
19:21
Speaker 7: That's exactly what's happening right now.
19:23
Speaker 1: Who is.
19:27
Speaker 5: Did they talk to any Muslim scholars or any– that's
19:33
Speaker 5: my first question. The second question is, if they didn't,
19:35
Speaker 5: who are they getting this information from?
19:37
Speaker 7: Yeah, no, absolutely not.
19:43
Speaker 6: They're not talking to anyone that I would say– or
19:46
Speaker 6: they're– let me say this.
19:50
Speaker 4: This.
19:51
Speaker 6: They are definitely not talking to any scholars of Islamic history,
19:57
Speaker 6: of Islam, whether they're non-Muslim or Muslim. You know, we've
20:02
Speaker 6: reached out, right, to professors across Texas that are professors
20:07
Speaker 6: in Islamic history, or even in the country, and none
20:09
Speaker 6: of them first off, have been reached out to, and
20:12
Speaker 6: many of them are non-Muslims.
20:13
Speaker 7: So let me first mention that.
20:15
Speaker 6: But second, who they're getting information from specifically. So the
20:21
Speaker 6: State Board of Education has this group called the Content Advisors,
20:26
Speaker 6: which essentially have been giving them advice and guidance about
20:30
Speaker 6: the language of the standards. And I would say there's
20:33
Speaker 6: two really critical names in those nine appointed groups. um,
20:37
Speaker 6: content advisors, one being David Barden, um, who's the, he's
20:43
Speaker 6: the founder of wall builders, a Christian advocacy group. Um,
20:47
Speaker 6: he publicly rejects the idea of church and state separation.
20:50
Speaker 6: He believes America was founded as a Christian nation and, um,
20:55
Speaker 6: he's been openly, you know, stating his ideological mission. So
20:58
Speaker 6: he's not an objective historian to say the least. Um,
21:02
Speaker 6: and he's one member on the board and one of
21:04
Speaker 6: the driving members of a lot of the ideological and
21:07
Speaker 6: hateful rhetoric that is being injected into our education. And
21:13
Speaker 6: then another individual is Donald Frazier, who's the director of
21:17
Speaker 6: the Texas Center at Schreiner University. And specifically, he's written
21:22
Speaker 6: in his own words that other world cultures influence the
21:26
Speaker 6: formation of the United States, but none by far compared
21:28
Speaker 6: to that of the collective West. And, you know, that's
21:32
Speaker 6: completely inaccurate for how diverse this country is. and how
21:36
Speaker 6: strong our diversity makes us, but also it's worth noting
21:39
Speaker 6: that Donald Frazier was paid a large sum of money
21:42
Speaker 6: by the Texas Public Policy Foundation specifically for work developing
21:46
Speaker 6: these standards when it was made clear at the beginning
21:50
Speaker 6: when these content advisors were appointed that they would not
21:52
Speaker 6: be getting paid to do this work. So, you know,
21:56
Speaker 6: these are just two people out of the nine that
22:00
Speaker 6: are people that are advising people the State Board of
22:03
Speaker 6: Education on the kind of education that 5.5 million students
22:07
Speaker 6: will learn. I'd also like to mention that, you know, these,
22:12
Speaker 6: I mean, out of the nine, there's 15 board members, right?
22:15
Speaker 6: There's only nine content advisors, meaning not every board member
22:18
Speaker 6: was allowed to appoint a member to the, a content advisor. So,
22:27
Speaker 6: you know, these are, this is just a, I guess
22:29
Speaker 6: like the, I would say the iceberg, tip of the
22:31
Speaker 6: iceberg of what has been happening, who they're getting advice from.
22:34
Speaker 7: Also, um, you know.
22:36
Speaker 6: They've heard, you know, almost every hearing, they hear multiple
22:40
Speaker 6: testimonies from people across the state that have concerns about
22:44
Speaker 6: the standards, but they refuse to listen to them from,
22:47
Speaker 6: you know, public educators to people that even, um, so
22:51
Speaker 6: alongside content advisors, something that they also do is they have, um,
22:56
Speaker 6: a volunteer, they have a, kind of like a public
22:59
Speaker 6: facing committee where teachers, individuals can apply and get appointed to, to.
23:04
Speaker 7: Give also advice about the teach.
23:06
Speaker 6: But the thing is like, right, their recommendations, their recommendations,
23:09
Speaker 6: they're not necessarily things that are likely to get adopted
23:12
Speaker 6: or they don't hold as much weight as the content advisors.
23:14
Speaker 7: There are people that were on those working groups.
23:16
Speaker 6: That I think even come in and testified and said,
23:18
Speaker 6: you know, we gave recommendations that what you all are
23:21
Speaker 6: giving are completely untypical to what we gave you and
23:23
Speaker 6: completely like just without any reference, without any, concrete evidence
23:29
Speaker 6: that this is actual education students need to learn, you know,
23:32
Speaker 6: they've basically been doing what they want and how they
23:35
Speaker 6: want as a state board of education. And I want
23:36
Speaker 6: to say not all of them, but the majority of
23:38
Speaker 6: them have been operating in that mindset. Many of them
23:42
Speaker 6: have been very critical.
23:42
Speaker 7: There's many members that have spoken.
23:44
Speaker 6: Up, largely Democratic members. And there even are, you know,
23:47
Speaker 6: a few Republican members here and there that have either
23:49
Speaker 6: pushed back where they can or have, you know, tried
23:52
Speaker 6: to stay.
23:53
Speaker 7: Out of the discussion. But all to say, right, like,
23:56
Speaker 7: that also hasn't.
23:57
Speaker 6: You know, the majority has still ruled in favor of
24:00
Speaker 6: this kind of hateful standards that are going to impact
24:04
Speaker 6: generations to come.
24:05
Speaker 7: So sorry if that.
24:06
Speaker 6: Was like a tangent, but that's to kind of help
24:10
Speaker 6: give context as to the way this has gone and
24:13
Speaker 6: the way it's been happening. Although there's a huge lack
24:15
Speaker 6: of transparency, there's so much yet to be uncovered or
24:19
Speaker 6: even discussed, like the $ 70, 000 payment to Donald Frazier became
24:25
Speaker 6: public through, I believe it was an article written by
24:28
Speaker 6: the Texas Tribune and through journalists. And that's when many
24:32
Speaker 6: people started pushing back and advocating for there to be
24:35
Speaker 6: more transparency. So what we also know is that this
24:38
Speaker 6: is probably like there's so much more behind closed doors
24:41
Speaker 6: that hasn't been revealed because they are not required to.
24:47
Speaker 7: Share those things with the public.
24:49
Speaker 4: Where do we go now? Because I think they're voting today.
24:53
Speaker 4: SO THEY'RE VOTING ON FRIDAY.
24:54
Speaker 7: SO THEY'RE VOTING ON FRIDAY.
24:54
Speaker 2: THE FINAL VOTE IS ON FRIDAY.
24:55
Speaker 7: THE FINAL VOTE IS ON FRIDAY.
24:56
Speaker 3: OKAY.
24:57
Speaker 9: OKAY.
24:57
Speaker 5: AND SO WHAT HAPPENS AND SO WHAT HAPPENS AND.
24:59
Speaker 7: SO WHAT HAPPENS AFTER THE VOTE? AFTER THE VOTE? AFTER
25:03
Speaker 7: THE VOTE?
25:03
Speaker 6: SO AFTER THE VOTE, RIGHT, SO AFTER THE VOTE, RIGHT,
25:07
Speaker 6: SO AFTER THE VOTE, RIGHT, IF IT MOVED FORWARD, IF
25:09
Speaker 6: IT MOVED FORWARD, IF IT MOVED FORWARD, THEN THE IMPLEMENTATION
25:11
Speaker 6: THEN THE IMPLEMENTATION THEN THE IMPLEMENTATION WOULD BEGIN, OR THE,
25:14
Speaker 6: WOULD BEGIN, OR THE, WOULD BEGIN, OR THE, IT WOULD
25:16
Speaker 6: BE REQUIRED IT WOULD BE REQUIRED IT WOULD BE REQU
25:20
Speaker 6: to prepare for that, you know, that year to come.
25:23
Speaker 6: And that's only like short of four years from now.
25:26
Speaker 6: So you can imagine things are going to start changing
25:27
Speaker 6: in schools relatively quickly. You know, what I recommend first
25:31
Speaker 6: off is for parents and students to remain vigilant. You know,
25:35
Speaker 6: if they feel like their rights are being encroached upon,
25:37
Speaker 6: especially when it comes to religious freedom, freedom of speech,
25:40
Speaker 6: you know, report that.
25:41
Speaker 7: The Council on American Islamic Relations is the largest Muslim
25:43
Speaker 7: civil rights organization.
25:44
Speaker 6: So we take complaints when you know, we have a
25:48
Speaker 6: whole official process and you can find our, you can,
25:53
Speaker 6: give me one second, sorry. You can find our official
25:58
Speaker 6: form to submit a complaint at CAIRTX.org. And also other
26:06
Speaker 6: organizations like the ACLU, Texas Civil Rights Project, that you
26:09
Speaker 6: can submit complaints to when you feel like your rights
26:11
Speaker 6: are being encroached upon, but also, right, you know, parents
26:15
Speaker 6: and students are actively stakeholders in their schools. So, you know,
26:19
Speaker 6: start asking school districts, start asking, go to board meetings,
26:22
Speaker 6: start asking questions, start, you know, pushing them to give
26:25
Speaker 6: transparency about the process because, you know, parents should, you know,
26:29
Speaker 6: in a state that claims to care about parental rights, right?
26:32
Speaker 6: It's a whole part of at least one party has
26:34
Speaker 6: made it clear they really care about parental rights. Then
26:37
Speaker 6: if they really do care about parental rights, then they
26:38
Speaker 6: should give parents the right to either question, push back,
26:42
Speaker 6: get more information. And if parents don't like the answers
26:45
Speaker 6: and they have every right to put their children into
26:47
Speaker 6: another kind of school system, whether it be private, homeschooled, whatever.
26:49
Speaker 7: I really do think, right, it'd be a moment.
26:53
Speaker 6: Where we need people to wake up and realize what
26:56
Speaker 6: is happening. I will say, right, that's one avenue. Obviously,
27:00
Speaker 6: we have an election coming up in November. Early voting
27:03
Speaker 6: will begin, right, late October. And like I mentioned, right,
27:06
Speaker 6: the State Board of Education is an elected body. And
27:10
Speaker 6: there are, so not all, so it's, the way it works, right, is,
27:14
Speaker 6: not all of.
27:15
Speaker 7: The seats are up for election every year. It's a
27:17
Speaker 7: certain number.
27:18
Speaker 6: So at least this year, we're in a really interesting
27:22
Speaker 6: spot where all the seats that represent the Houston and
27:24
Speaker 6: greater Houston area are up for election. So that means
27:27
Speaker 6: at least in Houston, there is potential for change, right?
27:31
Speaker 6: If you know that your member voted, advocated for a
27:35
Speaker 6: set of standards that is hateful, that is extremist, that
27:40
Speaker 6: goes against the very principles of the founding of this country,
27:44
Speaker 6: but also the principles of the people of this country,
27:47
Speaker 6: then you have every right to use your civic duty
27:51
Speaker 6: and hold them accountable for that.
27:54
Speaker 7: So that is another method to hold.
27:57
Speaker 6: People accountable for the kind of harm they have caused
28:00
Speaker 6: to not just the Muslim community, but every single person
28:02
Speaker 6: of Texas, because what they are doing is a disservice
28:05
Speaker 6: to Texas. They're going to deprive our kids of a
28:09
Speaker 6: well-rounded education, all because they hate a group that they
28:13
Speaker 6: do not understand and do not care to understand, which is,
28:15
Speaker 6: once again, I think goes against any principle of any religion, especially,
28:19
Speaker 6: you know, the Abrahamic religions like Judaism, Christianity, Islam. One
28:22
Speaker 6: of our biggest things, like love thy neighbor from Christianity
28:24
Speaker 6: is one that is echoed across all religions, regardless of
28:27
Speaker 6: whether they're Abrahamic or not. And to see such hate
28:30
Speaker 6: coming from the people that, you know, in that board
28:32
Speaker 6: that say they are followers of Jesus, that they, believe
28:37
Speaker 6: in God that they.
28:39
Speaker 7: Would do such a heinous thing.
28:41
Speaker 6: So, you know, I would say for people to really
28:43
Speaker 6: think about that as it's the direction we want our
28:44
Speaker 6: country to go in, um, where we claim that we're
28:46
Speaker 6: the number one democracy in the world, that people come
28:49
Speaker 6: to us to escape all kinds of violence, but we
28:52
Speaker 6: are here breeding that very violence that we claim that
28:55
Speaker 6: we are so proud to fight against.
28:57
Speaker 7: So that's another thing you can do.
28:59
Speaker 5: Also, I wanted to add to that, uh, Islamophobia that's
29:02
Speaker 5: going on, especially in Texas right now. Um, They're trying,
29:07
Speaker 5: in the town of Plano, they try to ban mosques.
29:13
Speaker 4: There's too many mosques.
29:13
Speaker 5: You've been hearing this all over, not just in the
29:17
Speaker 5: north Texas, but all over Texas now. The governor has
29:21
Speaker 5: even spread the same type of rhetoric that, you know.
29:26
Speaker 4: The Muslims are taking over.
29:28
Speaker 5: You know, and that rhetoric has grown to every politician
29:33
Speaker 5: that's running.
29:33
Speaker 4: For office in November.
29:35
Speaker 3: Yeah.
29:35
Speaker 4: How do you block that? How do you fight that?
29:41
Speaker 7: That?
29:42
Speaker 6: So, you know, I mean, the first thing I tell people, right,
29:46
Speaker 6: when they hear a politician use charged language against your neighbors, right,
29:52
Speaker 6: especially people that, you know, you live amongst, you know,
29:57
Speaker 6: have been here for quite frankly, Muslims have been here
30:00
Speaker 6: since the founding of this nation. Like there is actually
30:02
Speaker 6: a great documentary that PBS covered on the history of
30:05
Speaker 6: American Muslims. I highly recommend everyone, you know, listening to
30:08
Speaker 6: this or you, whoever you share this with, right.
30:10
Speaker 7: That they go and watch those because it'll tell you exactly.
30:12
Speaker 6: About how long there, you know, people of the Muslim
30:15
Speaker 6: faith have been in this country. So, you know, we
30:18
Speaker 6: are part of the country, we're part of shaping the country.
30:19
Speaker 7: So think about that, right?
30:20
Speaker 6: First off, think about what it is that they're saying
30:23
Speaker 6: and what is actually happening, right?
30:27
Speaker 7: What we are seeing is this is an election season, right?
30:29
Speaker 6: And I think for many people, we need to put
30:31
Speaker 6: on our thinking caps and think about what it is
30:34
Speaker 6: that politicians like to do most, which is often mislead
30:38
Speaker 6: and misguide the public to gain a few votes, to
30:41
Speaker 6: come back into office, to hold power, especially if they've
30:43
Speaker 6: held power for so long. Um, they could care less
30:46
Speaker 6: about the people they serve. They care more about just
30:48
Speaker 6: getting votes, which means anyone is a target.
30:50
Speaker 7: You know, one day it's us. It could be you tomorrow. Um,
30:52
Speaker 7: you may think you're safe today, but no, you're not.
30:55
Speaker 6: And, and we see that not only with Muslims, but
30:56
Speaker 6: like with the expansion of data centers, expansion of state surveillance,
31:00
Speaker 6: like flock cameras, like they don't, they don't care about
31:02
Speaker 6: us and they never will.
31:03
Speaker 7: But we are right.
31:04
Speaker 6: Now the favorite punching bag for them because they know
31:07
Speaker 6: the thing that people don't understand the most people, the
31:09
Speaker 6: thing that people don't understand is the easiest thing that
31:12
Speaker 6: you can make.
31:13
Speaker 7: Them afraid of.
31:14
Speaker 6: And the politicians are smart about that, but we as
31:16
Speaker 6: the people have not been very smart about that. We
31:17
Speaker 6: haven't waken up to the fact that they're using that
31:21
Speaker 6: to distract us from the real issues that are happening
31:23
Speaker 6: in the state. I think you have more to worry
31:27
Speaker 6: about a data center taking up all your water because
31:32
Speaker 6: of your regulations, which, by the way, religious institutions like
31:35
Speaker 6: mosques where they're built have regulations that they have to follow.
31:38
Speaker 6: Data centers have, as far as we're aware, limited to
31:40
Speaker 6: no regulations and being set up and allowed to operate wherever.
31:44
Speaker 7: Whereas mosques have to go through a very strict.
31:46
Speaker 6: Process and have to fulfill many requirements, data centers have
31:50
Speaker 6: not had to do that.
31:51
Speaker 7: Which is why we're seeing them pop up everywhere. So,
31:54
Speaker 7: you know, think about at least that parallel, right?
31:55
Speaker 6: Like the level of scrutiny that we're giving to one
31:58
Speaker 6: entity that already follows the law, whereas another one is
32:02
Speaker 6: basically being given a cheat code by those that claim
32:05
Speaker 6: to exercise and make the law.
32:08
Speaker 7: So even like just questioning about what is actually happening
32:10
Speaker 7: on the.
32:10
Speaker 6: Ground and what it is that we're actually seeing and
32:13
Speaker 6: what is affecting people's day-to-day lives. And, you know, I
32:17
Speaker 6: think access to water, access to, you know, making sure
32:24
Speaker 6: that you're private, you know, you are a private citizen,
32:27
Speaker 6: you have ownership of your life and who you are.
32:31
Speaker 6: If that's also being surveilled and watched by the government consistently, then,
32:34
Speaker 6: you know, it makes me at a mass level, it
32:36
Speaker 6: makes me wonder, is it Muslims that are the ones
32:39
Speaker 6: causing these things or is it something else? So I
32:43
Speaker 6: would also even ask people to be more critical in
32:45
Speaker 6: how they, they, they think about what is being told
32:47
Speaker 6: to them because it's very easy for people like these
32:50
Speaker 6: politicians to want to divide us.
32:52
Speaker 7: And that's what they want to do.
32:52
Speaker 6: So then they can go ahead and, you know, absolve, like,
32:56
Speaker 6: you know, they can go ahead and, you know, dip
32:57
Speaker 6: their hands back in the same blood and the same
33:00
Speaker 6: dirt that they claim that they have no interest in,
33:04
Speaker 6: in being involved in or, or, don't want to, you know,
33:07
Speaker 6: upset people on whether, so like, you know, expanding data centers.
33:10
Speaker 7: All those things.
33:12
Speaker 1: That was Samia Rizvi of the Council on American Islamic Relations.
33:16
Speaker 1: You can call them at 713-838-CAIR. You can also email
33:22
Speaker 1: them at info at CAIRTX.org. The board on Friday voted
33:30
Speaker 1: to pass the new curriculum and it will go into
33:32
Speaker 1: effect in 2030. The curriculum also condemns Aztec culture as
33:37
Speaker 1: inherently violent. Hi, this is Steve Gallington, producer and host
33:43
Speaker 1: of The People's News. If you have a story that
33:46
Speaker 1: needs to be told, come to us. We accept fully
33:49
Speaker 1: produced audio, written material, or just give us the idea
33:52
Speaker 1: and we will run with it. Shiny new one-hour episodes
33:56
Speaker 1: of The People's News drop each Sunday on The People's
33:59
Speaker 1: News podcast. Hosted by Spreaker.com, and linked to my website, gallington.com.
34:07
Speaker 1: Texas expansion of petrochemical plants lacks rewards for coastal cities,
34:11
Speaker 1: as we hear more from Texas News Service and Mark Richardson.
34:16
Speaker 10: Along the Texas Gulf Coast, a 15-year push for more
34:19
Speaker 10: petrochemical activity promised jobs, growth, and prosperity. But a new
34:23
Speaker 10: report released today says cities that hosted that expansion haven't
34:26
Speaker 10: seen those promises materialize. The Institute for Energy Economics and
34:30
Speaker 10: Financial Analysis Study examines the coastal bend, home to Corpus Christi,
34:34
Speaker 10: the Houston Ship Channel, and the Beaumont-Port Arthur region. Drake
34:37
Speaker 10: Cowan is an oil and gas analyst for the institute
34:40
Speaker 10: and author of the report. He says the region didn't
34:42
Speaker 10: get much of a return on its investment.
34:45
Speaker 9: You've got this mass $ 40 billion expansion that occurred over
34:48
Speaker 9: the last 15 years. How did that translate to the
34:50
Speaker 9: population and the communities around it? The basic findings were
34:53
Speaker 9: that it didn't really change the economic indicators very much
34:57
Speaker 9: for those cities.
34:58
Speaker 10: Cowan says the report shows that compared with statewide figures,
35:01
Speaker 10: Gulf Coast communities experienced lower median incomes, slower population growth,
35:06
Speaker 10: and less job growth. Texas petroleum industry groups were contacted
35:10
Speaker 10: for a comment on the report but didn't respond. The
35:12
Speaker 10: findings do not conclude that petrochemical facilities caused those trends,
35:16
Speaker 10: but Cowan says the results challenge industry claims that the
35:20
Speaker 10: new capacity will deliver broad and lasting economic benefits, including
35:23
Speaker 10: new jobs.
35:24
Speaker 9: You really need to account for the cost that you're
35:27
Speaker 9: giving up and make a better decision about is it
35:30
Speaker 9: worth it to continue to expand these facilities when they're
35:34
Speaker 9: not really giving you anything.
35:35
Speaker 10: He adds that communities closest to petrochemical plants have received
35:38
Speaker 10: elevated levels of toxic pollutants with added health costs. The
35:42
Speaker 10: report says the host cities expected prosperity, but instead faced blight,
35:46
Speaker 10: health concerns, and devalued property. For Texas News Service, I'm
35:49
Speaker 10: Mark Richardson. Find our trust indicators at publicnewsservice.org.
35:54
Speaker 1: With the addled 80-year-old in the White House, U.S. trade
35:59
Speaker 1: policy has now become just vanity, vengeance, and distraction from
36:05
Speaker 1: the Trump-Epstein files. and from the disastrous war with Iran.
36:11
Speaker 1: There were trade talks between Canada and the United States,
36:14
Speaker 1: which broke down on August 21st, because of last-minute changes
36:19
Speaker 1: on the American side. Steel, aluminum, lumber, and automobiles are
36:23
Speaker 1: the main targets of the U.S. 50% tariff. Canadians are
36:27
Speaker 1: hitting back with their own tariffs, targeting states like Ohio
36:30
Speaker 1: and Texas. The pettiness continues to trickle down from the
36:34
Speaker 1: top as the convicted felon and his staff have been
36:37
Speaker 1: attacking Canadians in speeches and memes. The last one in
36:41
Speaker 1: particular was attacking their military. We talked to former police
36:44
Speaker 1: chief of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, Evan Bray. He is also
36:48
Speaker 1: known as the voice of Saskatchewan.
36:51
Speaker 8: Sure, yeah, I mean, I think it's safe to say
36:53
Speaker 8: Canadians absolutely want to get this trade deal done with
36:56
Speaker 8: the United States. The United States are, without a question,
37:00
Speaker 8: the most single trading partner that we have, the largest
37:05
Speaker 8: trading partner. Most of our trade from all over Canada
37:09
Speaker 8: is done with the United States, has historically been done
37:11
Speaker 8: with the United States, and we have, for all intents
37:14
Speaker 8: and purposes, always enjoyed a very good back-and-forth trade agreement.
37:19
Speaker 8: I think what has happened is President Trump has some
37:23
Speaker 8: concerns with some of the trade policies that are in
37:26
Speaker 8: place or some of the agreements. Keep in mind that
37:30
Speaker 8: the closest or most recent signed USMCA agreement was signed
37:35
Speaker 8: by President Trump back in his first term, but has
37:38
Speaker 8: some concerns with that, has some concerns with a couple
37:41
Speaker 8: of other things with regard to the security of the
37:44
Speaker 8: Canadian border as he did with the Mexican border. and
37:47
Speaker 8: as a result, announced some tariffs. This was right at
37:49
Speaker 8: the start of his term. And since then, we've kind
37:52
Speaker 8: of been on this bit of a tumultuous ride that
37:54
Speaker 8: I would suggest most Canadians are not enjoying. It feels
37:59
Speaker 8: more like a political battle than anything, but it doesn't
38:02
Speaker 8: feel like it's doing anything good for Canadians or Americans
38:06
Speaker 8: through all of this. And so I think it's safe
38:08
Speaker 8: to say generally speaking, most Canadians are hoping that we
38:12
Speaker 8: can finally get a deal inked at the table sooner
38:14
Speaker 8: rather than later because the costs are impacting citizens in
38:18
Speaker 8: both countries.
38:20
Speaker 5: One thing that the Americans, it seemed like the Americans
38:24
Speaker 5: were not in good faith because they seemed like they
38:26
Speaker 5: came up with, they tried to change the plan at
38:30
Speaker 5: the last minute, which it was not going to happen,
38:34
Speaker 5: you know, because it seemed like they were using politics
38:38
Speaker 5: as far as the trade agreement instead of trying to
38:41
Speaker 5: actually come up with a deal.
38:43
Speaker 8: Yeah you know i think it's safe to say both
38:45
Speaker 8: sides are probably playing politics and that's i think that's
38:47
Speaker 8: part of the problem that we have is you know
38:50
Speaker 8: we don't know that no one has shown canadians what
38:53
Speaker 8: the deal was right here's the deal here's why it
38:56
Speaker 8: broke down there's lots of finger pointing going on but
38:59
Speaker 8: there's nothing definitive that that shows everyday canadians what the
39:03
Speaker 8: problem is and This is where, you know, a problem sparks.
39:06
Speaker 8: On our radio station, we often will, we're a call-in
39:09
Speaker 8: talk radio station, so people will call in. And there's
39:12
Speaker 8: a lot of Canadians that are frustrated with our government,
39:15
Speaker 8: also a lot of Canadians frustrated with the American government.
39:18
Speaker 8: But what is constant is the appreciation and relationships that
39:22
Speaker 8: I feel most of us have on both sides of
39:25
Speaker 8: the border. There is a strong appreciation for the American people,
39:29
Speaker 8: for the country, of America. And we're all kind of
39:32
Speaker 8: sitting here watching the politics play out. And while that's happening,
39:37
Speaker 8: cost of living is going up. We're seeing more tariffs
39:39
Speaker 8: being imposed that are hurting Canadians and Americans both. And so,
39:44
Speaker 8: you know, my hope is that we see the politics
39:46
Speaker 8: start to drift away and dissipate. And we can actually
39:48
Speaker 8: get to a point where we're back to being good friends,
39:52
Speaker 8: good neighbors, good trading partners.
39:54
Speaker 5: And one thing also, I don't think Americans understand Quebec,
39:59
Speaker 5: the Bac-de-Mécois, and French language.
40:01
Speaker 4: And that was part of copywriting and the importance of culture.
40:05
Speaker 4: And that was a sticking point also that came into play.
40:10
Speaker 8: Yeah, and again, we don't know the details of that, but,
40:13
Speaker 8: I mean, Canada has two official languages. Now, you're getting
40:17
Speaker 8: me in Western Canada, and I would say the majority
40:20
Speaker 8: of Western Canada tends to be mostly English-speaking. And so,
40:25
Speaker 8: you know, even within our country, as I would say
40:28
Speaker 8: most countries, there's politics, and Western Canada and Eastern Canada
40:32
Speaker 8: don't always have the best relationship. So there are some
40:36
Speaker 8: people out West where I live that are a bit
40:39
Speaker 8: cranky with Eastern Canada on some of the things that
40:42
Speaker 8: they're pushing and prioritizing in this trade deal that we
40:45
Speaker 8: think is counterproductive to getting it over the finish line. So,
40:49
Speaker 8: you know, I think it's safe to say that none
40:51
Speaker 8: of us want to see an attack on Canada's sovereignty.
40:54
Speaker 8: But at the same time, I think there needs to
40:56
Speaker 8: be some willingness to sit down and discuss and understand
41:01
Speaker 8: like a good interest-based negotiation, understand what both sides are
41:05
Speaker 8: looking for, and then find a way to help each
41:06
Speaker 8: other meet their objectives.
41:09
Speaker 5: I thought I saw– one thing I kind of understand
41:13
Speaker 5: with is giving up sovereignty because in the agreement that
41:16
Speaker 5: I've heard, the United States was asking that they dominate
41:21
Speaker 5: any type of trade negotiation with other countries.
41:26
Speaker 8: Yeah, and I think that was one of the things,
41:28
Speaker 8: at least the messaging that we've heard through our federal
41:31
Speaker 8: government was– Canada still wanted the ability to trade with
41:35
Speaker 8: other countries without having to check in, if you will,
41:37
Speaker 8: with the United States first. And there was some language
41:40
Speaker 8: proposed in the agreement that would reduce that free opportunity.
41:45
Speaker 8: We're going to come to terms on how we trade
41:48
Speaker 8: with each other, but Canada may want to trade with England.
41:51
Speaker 8: The United States may want to trade with India, and
41:55
Speaker 8: both countries should be free to do other trade deals
41:58
Speaker 8: without having to check in with the other one, but
42:00
Speaker 8: it sounds to me like there was some prohibitive language
42:02
Speaker 8: in there that was part of the sticking point.
42:05
Speaker 5: I know you're in the province of Alberta, in, you know,
42:08
Speaker 5: mostly farm country, and how is that going over? Because,
42:13
Speaker 5: you know, farming there, a lot of farmers here depend
42:17
Speaker 5: on farming from Canada.
42:20
Speaker 8: Yeah, in fact, I had a.
42:23
Speaker 8: Yeah, and I had a farmer on my show from
42:25
Speaker 8: Kansas actually this week because we're keenly interested in that.
42:29
Speaker 8: We are very heavily agriculture-based. Oil is a big thing here.
42:33
Speaker 8: We also mine potash, which is used in fertilizers. So
42:37
Speaker 8: our economy is heavily revolving around agriculture, as does parts
42:42
Speaker 8: of the United States. And so there are some real,
42:45
Speaker 8: I think, worries there about, again, We have other trading partners.
42:49
Speaker 8: We ship our grains to other parts of the world,
42:52
Speaker 8: our cattle and our livestock to other parts of the world.
42:55
Speaker 8: But no other partner is bigger than the United States. So,
42:59
Speaker 8: you know, there's no way we can say, well, then
43:01
Speaker 8: forget it. We're not going to work with the United States.
43:03
Speaker 8: We'll go somewhere else. You are too big of a
43:05
Speaker 8: partner for us and too important. I mean, the United
43:07
Speaker 8: States has historically for decades been important. our most important partners.
43:11
Speaker 8: So the goal is for farmers, for mining, for every sector,
43:16
Speaker 8: automotive sector, steel and aluminum, you name it, the goal
43:20
Speaker 8: is let's get to the table, let's get a deal
43:22
Speaker 8: so both countries can benefit.
43:25
Speaker 5: What about the whole aspect of, you know, we talk
43:28
Speaker 5: about trade, but they also brought up the Keystone pipeline
43:32
Speaker 5: coming back.
43:34
Speaker 3: Right.
43:35
Speaker 5: I thought, you know, it was dead in the water
43:37
Speaker 5: for a long time.
43:39
Speaker 8: I think a lot of us thought it was dead
43:40
Speaker 8: in the water. I can tell you our province would
43:42
Speaker 8: welcome that because we are an oil-producing province. And so
43:45
Speaker 8: the more infrastructure we can build that helps us provide
43:50
Speaker 8: our oil to other countries that need it in terms
43:53
Speaker 8: of kind of a partnership, I think that's a good thing.
43:56
Speaker 8: So the news that we've heard lately that there's a
43:58
Speaker 8: renewed interest in getting Keystone back up has been met
44:01
Speaker 8: very favorably in our province.
44:03
Speaker 5: What about the Aboriginal community?
44:07
Speaker 8: Yeah, I think it depends, although I don't think in
44:10
Speaker 8: Canada there would be, judging on the route that they've
44:13
Speaker 8: got planned for it, there wouldn't be too many Indigenous
44:16
Speaker 8: communities that would be impacted. I think it was actually
44:19
Speaker 8: a bigger issue south of the border. So in the
44:21
Speaker 8: United States, it sounded to me like there were some
44:23
Speaker 8: more problems with that. We've got a couple of other
44:26
Speaker 8: potential pipelines being built. Both of them are meeting with
44:29
Speaker 8: some challenges in terms of Indigenous communities not happy with
44:34
Speaker 8: some of the decisions made. But Keystone itself I don't
44:37
Speaker 8: think would be quite the same issue.
44:39
Speaker 4: Those pipes you're talking about are going west, am I correct?
44:44
Speaker 8: That's correct. Yeah, they're looking at building one from a
44:49
Speaker 8: little bit of a northern point in Alberta where they
44:52
Speaker 8: do some of the mining of oil into the lower
44:55
Speaker 8: mainland of BC.
44:57
Speaker 4: And fire.
44:59
Speaker 5: The fires might be a problem with that too.
45:01
Speaker 8: I would say. Yeah, that's true. The wildfires have been
45:04
Speaker 8: a big issue this year. So keeping in mind, once
45:07
Speaker 8: they get this project up and running, it'll probably be
45:09
Speaker 8: a year and a half until they can really kind
45:11
Speaker 8: of get things going. So hopefully they've got the fire
45:14
Speaker 8: situation under control.
45:16
Speaker 5: Is Ontario a big sticking pot in all this also?
45:20
Speaker 4: I hear Doug Ford all the time.
45:23
Speaker 8: Yeah, Doug Ford has been very, very vocal. I mean,
45:27
Speaker 8: part of the problem is, And many people in Canada
45:30
Speaker 8: feel that Premier Doug Ford, who's the Premier of Ontario,
45:33
Speaker 8: has been a bit of an antagonist in all of
45:35
Speaker 8: this because, you know, he's sticking up for his province, which,
45:38
Speaker 8: of course, has a huge auto sector. Automotives are a
45:42
Speaker 8: big part of industry there, as is steel and aluminum.
45:45
Speaker 8: And so as a result, he's been quite vocal representing
45:47
Speaker 8: his people. But other provinces that are pushing for Canada to,
45:52
Speaker 8: you know, not act out of emotion, but act out
45:54
Speaker 8: of You know, let's be strategic. Let's sit down and
45:57
Speaker 8: find a way to work out a deal with our
45:59
Speaker 8: good partner who we've worked with for not decades, but centuries.
46:04
Speaker 8: I think there's been sometimes frustration that Doug Ford has
46:07
Speaker 8: fueled the fire more than he has quelled the flames.
46:11
Speaker 1: That was Evan Bray. He is heard on 980 CMJE
46:15
Speaker 1: in Regina. You can tune into his show or find
46:18
Speaker 1: out more by going to the station's website, www.cjme.com. Legendary
46:26
Speaker 1: women's rights activist Gloria Steinem passed away last week. She
46:30
Speaker 1: was the leading voice of the second wave of women's feminism.
46:34
Speaker 1: Founder of the Women's Caucus in 1971 and founder of Ms. Magazine,
46:40
Speaker 1: she was the voice of the women's movement in activism,
46:43
Speaker 1: in writing, speaking, and organizing. She came to Houston numerous
46:48
Speaker 1: times and was here for the 1977 Women's Conference at
46:52
Speaker 1: the University of Houston. we talked to Dr. Elizabeth Gregory,
46:56
Speaker 1: Department Chair for Women's Studies at the University of Houston,
46:59
Speaker 1: about the conference and Steinem's life.
47:02
Speaker 3: Yes, I think she's been here a few times, but
47:04
Speaker 3: there was the conference, the National Women's Conference in 1977
47:09
Speaker 3: was here in Houston, and that was the only federally
47:12
Speaker 3: funded women's conference ever. And so it was a big
47:17
Speaker 3: deal that it was in Houston and that I work
47:22
Speaker 3: with two colleagues in the history department, Leandra Zarno and
47:27
Speaker 3: Nancy Beck Young, and the two of them have been
47:30
Speaker 3: running a program for the past 10 years called Sharing
47:33
Speaker 3: Stories 1977, which.
47:36
Speaker 7: Is based on.
47:40
Speaker 3: Drawing together. So this conference, which many people haven't heard about,
47:45
Speaker 3: except those who were here in 1977, was a big
47:47
Speaker 3: deal for and involved delegates from all states. And Gloria
47:54
Speaker 3: Steinem was instrumental in.
47:55
Speaker 7: Getting it going.
47:56
Speaker 3: She was a collaborator with Bella Abzug, who was a
48:00
Speaker 3: representative from New York, and Steinem was also based in
48:04
Speaker 3: New York. They were activists around women's rights in the 70s,
48:10
Speaker 3: and so they were very engaged with this conference that
48:16
Speaker 3: brought the women from across the country to develop a
48:21
Speaker 3: series of planks, essentially like a political convention. So it
48:26
Speaker 3: had delegates from every state. More than 150,000 people participated
48:30
Speaker 3: in that selection process across the United States, and it
48:34
Speaker 3: was funded by the federal government. So it was an
48:37
Speaker 3: opportunity to bring people together to speak for themselves instead
48:41
Speaker 3: of letting their so-called representatives speak.
48:45
Speaker 2: For them, but frequently they did not.
48:48
Speaker 3: And back in the 70s, there were very few women
48:50
Speaker 3: in Congress, you know, something along the lines of 3%,
48:54
Speaker 3: you know, 51%.
48:55
Speaker 2: Of the time.
48:57
Speaker 7: Most of the time, there was a lot of.
49:13
Speaker 3: Nationally. And it occurred here, so it's something that we
49:20
Speaker 3: like to remind people of in that sharing stories program
49:23
Speaker 3: that my colleagues run. The big website that people who
49:26
Speaker 3: were at the event can share their stories, and they
49:29
Speaker 3: work with students across the country to sort of document
49:33
Speaker 3: who was here and what it meant to them.
49:37
Speaker 11: Well, the importance of, you know, First Adam was important
49:39
Speaker 11: to the women's movement, and a lot of people today,
49:42
Speaker 11: the younger people today, don't understand how important it was
49:46
Speaker 11: when she was coming up and the movement was coming up,
49:50
Speaker 11: especially with women equality and dealing with.
49:55
Speaker 4: Simple things like... abortion and not.
50:00
Speaker 11: Really simple but even pay equality because.
50:03
Speaker 4: I don't think people.
50:05
Speaker 11: Now understand how difficult it was for women in the
50:10
Speaker 11: 60s and 50s and beyond and what they have now.
50:15
Speaker 3: That is true.
50:15
Speaker 2: So you're right.
50:16
Speaker 3: The role that Gloria Steinem and others at that time
50:23
Speaker 3: played in sort of bringing all these issues that you
50:25
Speaker 3: note to the fore is was big and she was
50:29
Speaker 3: also the founder of Ms. Magazine because she was a
50:31
Speaker 3: journalist so she was working at a lot of different
50:36
Speaker 3: magazines in New York and finally decided that there needed
50:42
Speaker 3: to be a dedicated magazine that focused on women because
50:47
Speaker 3: we get what were the important issues so it was
50:51
Speaker 3: sort of hit or miss whether or not you could
50:53
Speaker 3: get a story told that actually would be important to
50:56
Speaker 3: women So this was part of this whole process that
50:59
Speaker 3: we're still part of, which is giving women civic voice
51:04
Speaker 3: in proportion commensurate to their presence in the populace, as
51:10
Speaker 3: is the case with other excluded groups that have been
51:13
Speaker 3: excluded from civic voice and from policymaking roles. So that's
51:17
Speaker 3: that process of gradual growing the numbers and raising the
51:21
Speaker 3: issues and making it clear to people what those issues are.
51:24
Speaker 3: So Back in those days, you talk about pay equity.
51:27
Speaker 3: You used to, I don't know how old you are,
51:29
Speaker 3: but when I was young, the advertisements want ads for
51:34
Speaker 3: jobs were divided into male and female. So you already
51:38
Speaker 3: knew that jobs were, there were certain ones that were
51:41
Speaker 3: for men and there were certain ones that were for women.
51:43
Speaker 3: And my, what I would tell my students is essentially
51:47
Speaker 3: in many ways, gender is not really about your sexual
51:50
Speaker 3: identity or your gender identity. role choices or things like that.
51:53
Speaker 3: It's really a work assignment system historically. And what we
51:56
Speaker 3: as a group are doing, and I think Gloria Steinem
52:00
Speaker 3: was leading the way in, is changing the rules around
52:04
Speaker 3: who can do what job and who can get what
52:05
Speaker 3: kind of pay and what kind of status accrues to
52:10
Speaker 3: those changed rules. So that's what we've been seeing on
52:13
Speaker 3: the roll over the past 35 to 50 years. And
52:17
Speaker 3: Gloria Steinem was kind of the leader in bringing those
52:21
Speaker 3: things to light and leading that movement forward.
52:24
Speaker 5: Do you think there's a backlash right now as far
52:27
Speaker 5: as women's studies?
52:29
Speaker 11: Because we've seen that the Texas A & M system,
52:33
Speaker 11: they've cut a lot of women's studies and women's history,
52:38
Speaker 11: maybe the electives, also African-American studies and Latino studies also.
52:43
Speaker 11: Do you think it's a misunderstanding that people have on
52:47
Speaker 11: feminism and women's rights?
52:51
Speaker 3: I think, again, in terms of labor, that what you've
52:55
Speaker 3: seen is a movement of people into jobs that formerly
53:00
Speaker 3: they were excluded from, and that increases the competition. And
53:04
Speaker 3: so you are seeing a backlash, I agree, but I
53:06
Speaker 3: would say it's not so much a misunderstanding, though I
53:10
Speaker 3: think there are misunderstandings involved, but I think At root,
53:16
Speaker 3: we liked it the old way where people were excluded
53:18
Speaker 3: and certain people had access to jobs and status almost exclusively.
53:23
Speaker 3: And we're not so sure, some of these rule makers,
53:26
Speaker 3: whether we like having to compete with a bigger pool
53:28
Speaker 3: of people because you really have to compete. And if
53:33
Speaker 3: you have the smaller the pool, the less you're really competing.
53:36
Speaker 3: So I think that that's part of the dynamic, that
53:39
Speaker 3: it really is a labor struggle. But I also think
53:42
Speaker 3: that it misunderstands the way greater participation actually works. Because
53:49
Speaker 3: if you think, oh, you know, there's a limited pool
53:51
Speaker 3: of jobs. And so I want to push people out
53:54
Speaker 3: who might be competing with me. That's one very narrow
53:57
Speaker 3: way to look at it. But if you look at
53:58
Speaker 3: it as instead, you know, equity grows the pie. The
54:03
Speaker 3: more people are earning good wages, the more businesses they
54:07
Speaker 3: can support, the more markets they can develop. then the
54:10
Speaker 3: more jobs they develop as well. So if you think
54:13
Speaker 3: of it in this bigger picture way, it's actually quite
54:21
Speaker 3: a mistake to try to push people out in terms
54:24
Speaker 3: of actually growing the economy and growing the vibrancy by
54:29
Speaker 3: allowing more people to thrive. So I think there are
54:32
Speaker 3: sort of competing narratives where we hear a lot about
54:34
Speaker 3: sort of let's go back to the old way because,
54:37
Speaker 3: you know, everybody was happier then. But, you know, that's
54:40
Speaker 3: I don't know who they're talking about with Zapier, but
54:44
Speaker 3: it wasn't everybody. And the idea of looking forward to
54:49
Speaker 3: transformed political and economic wider status for a wider range
54:54
Speaker 3: of voices actually opens a way for everybody to thrive
54:59
Speaker 3: more than they are formerly. And I think that Gloria
55:02
Speaker 3: Steinem also understood that and was an advocate for these
55:06
Speaker 3: kinds of open-ups of markets and of jobs. so that
55:11
Speaker 3: everybody's voices could be heard and given status, and so
55:14
Speaker 3: that they could participate in growing society and the economy.
55:21
Speaker 5: And I have to ask, how is women's studies at
55:24
Speaker 5: the University of Houston right now? Because I've heard that
55:27
Speaker 5: they're cutting back on some of the classes over there.
55:32
Speaker 3: Yes, we were disappointed that we were cut from the...
55:36
Speaker 3: two of our intro classes were cut from the core
55:38
Speaker 3: curriculum along with 40% of the full core. So whether
55:43
Speaker 3: or not it was aimed specifically at WGSS, I don't know,
55:48
Speaker 3: but I don't, it didn't directly affect us in the
55:51
Speaker 3: short term because it doesn't really apply until next year.
55:55
Speaker 3: So our classes are full and they may be changing
55:59
Speaker 3: other things next year anyway. So I don't know how
56:01
Speaker 3: it will, impact us in the long term, but our
56:04
Speaker 3: classes are still being taught. They are no longer going
56:06
Speaker 3: to be in the core as it's currently planned for
56:10
Speaker 3: the future, but students are already enrolled or can still
56:14
Speaker 3: take our courses for core credit. So it hasn't directly
56:18
Speaker 3: affected us yet. We'll see how it plays out over time.
56:22
Speaker 3: But we're still there and we still teach our courses. And,
56:25
Speaker 3: you know, these courses are foundational courses. So in my view,
56:31
Speaker 3: you know, The core are supposed to be foundational courses,
56:34
Speaker 3: and these are because they give people a sense of
56:38
Speaker 3: what their rights in the workforce are and what the
56:40
Speaker 3: history of those struggles has been. So these are real-world struggles,
56:45
Speaker 3: they're not theoretical.
56:47
Speaker 1: That was Dr. Elizabeth Gregory, Department Chair for Women's Studies
56:50
Speaker 1: at the University of Houston. Steinem died at the age
56:53
Speaker 1: of 92 at her home in New York City. Her
56:56
Speaker 1: foundation continues, and you can find it online at GloriasFoundationPutTogether.org
57:06
Speaker 1: The People's News is a production of Steve Gallington and
57:09
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