Latest / The People's News / Trump Shutdown = Epstein Coverup; Union Wins in Historic Strike in Houston; Election News - TPN 10/12/25

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Trump Shutdown = Epstein Coverup; Union Wins in Historic Strike in Houston; Election News - TPN 10/12/25 · The People's News

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Speaker 1: It's the week of October twelfth, twenty twenty five, and
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Speaker 1: this is what's on the People's News. In a People's
0:09
Speaker 1: News exclusive, an HISD teacher speaks out on being fired
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Speaker 1: by the district. Forty day hotel strike ends with a
0:18
Speaker 1: new contract. The Trump shutdown hurts Veterans protests at the
0:24
Speaker 1: Veterans Hospital. The Trump shutdown means delays for air travel,
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Speaker 1: ceasefire in Gaza, Will it hold? Houston elections are coming?
0:37
Speaker 1: Are you ready? All that? And more on The People's News.
0:42
Speaker 1: I'm Steve Gallington. This is the People's News, and the
0:45
Speaker 1: People's News starts now.
0:55
Speaker 2: Hi.
0:55
Speaker 1: This is Steve Gallington, producer and host for the People's News.
1:00
Speaker 1: In preparation for the upcoming No King's Rally at Discovery
1:03
Speaker 1: Green October eighteenth, which The People's News will be covering extensively,
1:09
Speaker 1: I wanted to rebroadcast this list of guidelines to help
1:13
Speaker 1: keep you safe during the protests. You have rights when
1:19
Speaker 1: dealing with the police or ice no matter or immigration status.
1:24
Speaker 1: Number one, if they do not have a warrant, an
1:27
Speaker 1: arrest warrant or a search warrant, you do not have
1:30
Speaker 1: to open the door for the police or ice. You
1:35
Speaker 1: do not have to answer any questions about status or
1:38
Speaker 1: country of origin. The right to remain silent is protected
1:42
Speaker 1: under the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution. You have the
1:46
Speaker 1: right to ask to see a lawyer. You have the
1:50
Speaker 1: right to refuse searches of your person and your car
1:55
Speaker 1: if the police do not suspect a crime. This is
1:58
Speaker 1: the fourth Amendment of the com Institution. Never sign anything
2:04
Speaker 1: without knowing what it says, and you have a right
2:09
Speaker 1: to record what happens. The adduled convicted felon and want
2:14
Speaker 1: to be dictator. Donald Trump wants you to get violent
2:19
Speaker 1: during this protest to use as an excuse to declare
2:22
Speaker 1: martial law and use the Insurrection Act. Don't let him win.
2:28
Speaker 1: Keep everything peaceful, and we'll see you on the ground
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Speaker 1: at Discovery Green on Saturday. Houston Education Association Union president
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Speaker 1: Michelle Williams, a twenty six year teaching veteran, was fired
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Speaker 1: by the Houston ISD board last week. The Benbrook third
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Speaker 1: grade elementary teacher was fired for leaving the school without
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Speaker 1: letting the school know she was gone. She was on
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Speaker 1: house suspension from a previous allegation that she was not
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Speaker 1: teaching to the plans set up by the state run
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Speaker 1: school district superintendent Mike Miles. In this exclusive, she talks
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Speaker 1: about what is happening within the school district and why
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Speaker 1: she says she was fired.
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Speaker 3: Everything is not flying in hi se.
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Speaker 4: First of all, as far as the numbers, testing data
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Speaker 4: can be manipulated, and we've seen that time and time
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Speaker 4: again as educators.
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Speaker 3: That's something. Well, look at it this way.
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Speaker 4: If the state took over the largest school district in
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Speaker 4: the state of Texas, would you.
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Speaker 3: Let it be a complete and total failure?
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Speaker 4: Absolutely not, So you have the fox Garden the hen House.
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Speaker 4: That's basically and it's politics. What they're doing is basically saying, oh,
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Speaker 4: we're doing great, now we want to take over. It's
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Speaker 4: a way for them to say and get support for
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Speaker 4: the state takeovers of local school districts.
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Speaker 3: That's what this is about. It has nothing to do
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Speaker 3: with children. How to attacking Uny.
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Speaker 4: They're attacking me because I'm very vocal. I'm vocal about
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Speaker 4: breaking the special education laws. That's what they're forcing teachers
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Speaker 4: to do, and they tried to force me to do it,
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Speaker 4: but I refuse to be a part of that. They
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Speaker 4: don't want to teach us, to teach the children I
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Speaker 4: was told that there was not any time to teach
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Speaker 4: the children how to read, although I was supposed to
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Speaker 4: be teaching the science of reading. I was putting that
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Speaker 4: spot specifically, I was taking out a math, putting that
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Speaker 4: spot specifically to teach the children how to read, which
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Speaker 4: is mandated by House Built three that was passed in
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Speaker 4: twenty nineteen.
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Speaker 5: You teach pensial kids their kids also, which is a
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Speaker 5: totally different.
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Speaker 6: Way of teacher.
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Speaker 4: Right, we're supposed to implement by law. We're supposed to
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Speaker 4: implement their IEPs. And we signed for those ips. And
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Speaker 4: when we signed for those ips, it's like a contract
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Speaker 4: saying that I'm going to implement these accommodations in the
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Speaker 4: generated classroom, which is what I taught as written.
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Speaker 3: And there's no you can't get around that.
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Speaker 4: You have to do it. It's the law.
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Speaker 3: And what is what is how they skip around all this?
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Speaker 7: This is crazy to me that they can skip they're
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Speaker 7: trying to skip around.
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Speaker 4: Law because there has not been a teacher who has
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Speaker 4: had a large enough platform like myself to get the
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Speaker 4: word out about what's taking place in HISD.
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Speaker 3: But I'm here now, so and everybody's gonna know.
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Speaker 5: And what's going on also is teachers are leaving at
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Speaker 5: a high rate.
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Speaker 7: Unskilled teachers are going to put in the place that's gonna.
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Speaker 3: Go along with the programs. How's that work?
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Speaker 4: So they're leaving now because Miles has intentionally made ade
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Speaker 4: a play, so to speak, for the non Nes schools.
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Speaker 4: So now he has his tentacles of nes inn non
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Speaker 4: Nes schools and he's the experienced teachers that were there
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Speaker 4: are now starting to leave. So now you see them
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Speaker 4: leaving in addition to the other teachers that he's hired,
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Speaker 4: because the Chronicle, I think said that most of the
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Speaker 4: teachers that he hired had already left.
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Speaker 5: So where does he put the kids?
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Speaker 3: Ed puts them in a bad position.
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Speaker 4: And what I tell people is I took this previous
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Speaker 4: summer and my grandson doesn't go to HISD.
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Speaker 3: I don't trust the system. I don't trust the curriculum.
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Speaker 4: So I teach him myself during the summer the curriculum
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Speaker 4: before he goes to school.
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Speaker 3: I did that. He's in third grade now.
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Speaker 4: So if I'm doing that, I need for our communities
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Speaker 4: who care about any school age children to wake up
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Speaker 4: and understand that our kids are in danger of not
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Speaker 4: being educated and I can just explain it like this.
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Speaker 4: They want employees that know the bare minimum, that can
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Speaker 4: read an instruction instructional manual to operate anything, because they
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Speaker 4: want employees. Rick Campbell, who's the chair of the Port
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Speaker 4: of Houston and he's the president of the boarder Managers,
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Speaker 4: he said at city Hall, we need employees, So he
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Speaker 4: doesn't care that the children.
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Speaker 3: Reach their full potential.
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Speaker 4: He only cares that they're educated just enough to get
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Speaker 4: into these dead d low wage jobs without any room
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Speaker 4: for investment.
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Speaker 3: I can't believe he said that he did.
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Speaker 7: But what's your future.
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Speaker 3: My future it is.
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Speaker 4: I'm going to fight HISD to clear my name and
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Speaker 4: fight for children. I'm running for state representative and this
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Speaker 4: is the reason why I decided to and I'll go
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Speaker 4: from their public education. I can't see me return into
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Speaker 4: the classroom, not under these circumstances. But I definitely am
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Speaker 4: going to be always a public education advocate for our
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Speaker 4: children because they're my babies and I want them to
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Speaker 4: reach their full potential.
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Speaker 3: And I'm going to always continue to fight for that.
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Speaker 7: Even going to get a charter school or a private school.
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Speaker 3: Absolutely not. I'm done.
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Speaker 1: That was Houston Education Association Union president Michelle Williams, who
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Speaker 1: was fired by the Houston ISD School Board last week.
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Speaker 1: Victory for workers at the Hilton Hotel downtown as the
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Speaker 1: forty day labor strike for workers at the Hilton Hotel
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Speaker 1: in downtown Houston come to an agreement. Forty day long strike,
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Speaker 1: which was the first hotel strike led by union members
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Speaker 1: in Texas, has brought forth significant gains, raising the standard
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Speaker 1: for hotel workers in the city. We talked to Francesca Cabalo,
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Speaker 1: Texas Chapter president of Unite here Local twenty three.
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Speaker 8: Okay, it was Yeah, so yesterday, after forty days, workers
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Speaker 8: ratified their contract. So you know, today is officially the
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Speaker 8: last day. But you know, after forty days of striking,
9:33
Speaker 8: the workers did ratify their contract yesterday. So workers are
9:36
Speaker 8: very proud. You know, they made history, you know, being
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Speaker 8: the first hotel in Texas to ever go on strike.
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Speaker 8: So workers are feeling very proud of the work that
9:46
Speaker 8: they did.
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Speaker 7: Yeah, what happens now is when can they go back
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Speaker 7: to work? Are they starting immediately or yeah?
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Speaker 8: Yeah, workers, most the majority of workers are going back
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Speaker 8: on Monday. Actually, so today is like our official last
10:02
Speaker 8: day of the strike. But yeah, they'll be they'll be
10:05
Speaker 8: back to work starting Monday.
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Speaker 7: And how do you feel because now you have the
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Speaker 7: Georgia Brown workers going on on strikes.
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Speaker 8: Yeah, I mean the workers at the GRB, you know,
10:17
Speaker 8: took a strike authorization vote just a few days ago.
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Speaker 8: Of them voted to authorize a strike. It's necessary. I mean,
10:26
Speaker 8: we know that the workers, you know, were definitely inspired
10:29
Speaker 8: by the Hilton workers. You know, they being that they
10:33
Speaker 8: work essentially for the same employer, Houston. First, you know,
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Speaker 8: they thought that it was their best that was their
10:39
Speaker 8: best course of action, you know, to pressure the company
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Speaker 8: to come to the table with a real offer with
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Speaker 8: you know, living wages and you know, a fair workload,
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Speaker 8: fair scheduling, all the same it's it's all the same fights.
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Speaker 8: So yeah, workers are ready to do what it takes
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Speaker 8: there as well.
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Speaker 7: What's included is including in this school contract flow the
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Speaker 7: workers at the Hilton. Yeah.
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Speaker 8: So the Hilton, you know, obviously the big highlight is
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Speaker 8: the wages. You know, so workers like housekeeping, stewarts, laundry attendance.
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Speaker 8: They're going from sixteen fifty to twenty dollars in this
11:20
Speaker 8: first year of the contract, and they will end up
11:23
Speaker 8: at twenty two dollars by the end of the contract.
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Speaker 8: So it's just a it's a big jump from where
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Speaker 8: they they were at. And that's why, you know, workers
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Speaker 8: did do take this ultimate you know, sacrifice of striking
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Speaker 8: and walking off the job, and you know it was
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Speaker 8: it was all worth it in the end.
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Speaker 7: And they do you have to like any type of
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Speaker 7: concessions as far as work rules or anything.
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Speaker 8: So I mean, for example, housekeeping, right they they you know,
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Speaker 8: it is one of the toughest jobs in the hotel.
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Speaker 8: It's a very heavy, heavy workload. So housekeeping did win,
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Speaker 8: you know, a decreased workloads as far as how many
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Speaker 8: rooms that they clean. So that's a big victory. Even
12:11
Speaker 8: though you know it's the highlights of the contract or
12:15
Speaker 8: what's been in the media has been about the wages,
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Speaker 8: you know, stuff like things like that, like a morefare
12:19
Speaker 8: workload was very important to the workers and it was
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Speaker 8: you know, something that the workers were willing to to,
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Speaker 8: you know, fight to the end about. And you know
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Speaker 8: that's one example of of of a victory and that
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Speaker 8: in that area.
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Speaker 7: And then and everything is I can make you feel
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Speaker 7: as a union, as an union leader, as an organizer.
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Speaker 8: Can you say that again?
12:45
Speaker 6: I'm sorry, how didn't.
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Speaker 7: Make you feel as a union leader, as an organizer.
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Speaker 8: Well, I feel extremely proud. I mean, I'm from Houston,
12:53
Speaker 8: this is my hometown. So to be a part of
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Speaker 8: something like this, it's it makes me so proud, you know,
12:59
Speaker 8: to be able to play, you know, in in changing
13:03
Speaker 8: changing these types of jobs. I mean, I I you know,
13:07
Speaker 8: worked service industry jobs too, and I was, you know,
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Speaker 8: younger and going putting myself through college and stuff so
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Speaker 8: and making you know, living check to check, making nine
13:16
Speaker 8: eight dollars an hour. So to be part of something
13:19
Speaker 8: like this, a movement like this to change these jobs
13:22
Speaker 8: and the way that they're seeing too. These are essential jobs.
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Speaker 8: These are the jobs. These are the workers that you know,
13:29
Speaker 8: keep our city afloat in crisis. So for them to
13:33
Speaker 8: you know, stand together and and fight and win the
13:38
Speaker 8: respect they deserve, I mean, it's it's I'm I'm so
13:43
Speaker 8: incredibly proud of them, and you know, for me to
13:47
Speaker 8: play a small role in that is I'm very grateful
13:50
Speaker 8: for the experience.
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Speaker 7: And I know you got Yeah, another thing that was
13:54
Speaker 7: important is like you got a lot of people coming
13:56
Speaker 7: from the immigrant community that you know, in a lot
13:59
Speaker 7: of waves were scared to go on strife be tell
14:02
Speaker 7: me the climate right now, you know, and you had to.
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Speaker 7: You had to, you had to support them as far
14:09
Speaker 7: as like, hey, yeah, we got your back on this.
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Speaker 7: How important was that you know for those those I
14:14
Speaker 7: was this they were going on strife?
14:15
Speaker 6: Would you?
14:17
Speaker 8: I mean yeah, the majority, I would say, if not,
14:21
Speaker 8: the majority close to it. I mean the workforce are
14:24
Speaker 8: our immigrants from pretty much all over the world, Latin America, Africa, Asia.
14:29
Speaker 8: So it was very important to us for for workers
14:34
Speaker 8: to know that our union does stand with immigrants. And
14:38
Speaker 8: you know, yeah, like you said, the climate right now
14:40
Speaker 8: is very hostile, is very like dangerous towards towards immigrants.
14:46
Speaker 8: But I think the workers knew that, you know, this
14:50
Speaker 8: fight was something that was interconnected, right, It wasn't just
14:55
Speaker 8: about you know, a certain group of workers or this hotel, Like,
15:00
Speaker 8: we're fighting for something bigger. We're looking to change the
15:03
Speaker 8: standards and how these jobs are viewed in our city.
15:08
Speaker 8: So I think the workers, you know, despite all the
15:11
Speaker 8: differences and the barriers that the company and tries to
15:16
Speaker 8: put up, they saw pass that right and organize through it.
15:22
Speaker 7: Well, thank you so much for taking my phone call,
15:25
Speaker 7: and thank you so much for all the bools, you've done. Yeah.
15:29
Speaker 8: We appreciate you taking the time to cover us and
15:32
Speaker 8: spread our message. So thank you so much.
15:34
Speaker 1: That was Francesca Cabello, Texas Chapter president of Unite Here
15:38
Speaker 1: Local twenty three. The workers at the Georgia Brown Convention
15:42
Speaker 1: Center voted to go on strike as they have been
15:45
Speaker 1: working without contract. Also as stated, the same issues are
15:49
Speaker 1: on the table. We will continue to follow their strike efforts.
15:54
Speaker 1: The US is in the midst of a second Trump
15:57
Speaker 1: government shutdown. This time the main purpose of the shutdown
16:02
Speaker 1: is to keep the Epstein files from coming out. Thousands
16:06
Speaker 1: of people are being affected by the shutdown are not
16:09
Speaker 1: being paid while having to work as essential federal employees.
16:15
Speaker 1: Thousands of workers in Houston are working without contract and
16:19
Speaker 1: under fear of firing, say members of the American Federation
16:22
Speaker 1: of Government Employees, who represent over eight hundred thousand federal workers.
16:27
Speaker 1: Congressman Al Green of the ninth Congressional District marched with
16:31
Speaker 1: workers to one of the largest VA hospitals in Texas
16:35
Speaker 1: as a protest to the adult convicted felon and those
16:38
Speaker 1: in charge. He commented on the shutdown and put the
16:41
Speaker 1: blame squarely on the Epstein friend and convicted felon Donald Trump.
16:48
Speaker 9: Well, we're here. This is a part of the shutdown
16:50
Speaker 9: because employees and not being paid. But it's important for
16:54
Speaker 9: everybody to know that President Trump and Republicans created the
16:59
Speaker 9: shutdown by deciding that they wouldn't play by the rules
17:02
Speaker 9: of the House and the Senate.
17:04
Speaker 1: The Senate has a rule.
17:06
Speaker 9: That will allow things that are important to be passed
17:09
Speaker 9: with fifty one votes. Most things are passed with sixty
17:12
Speaker 9: first and then you get fifty one. The sixty is
17:14
Speaker 9: called cloture, and then you go to fifty one to pass.
17:17
Speaker 9: But they can suspend going to the sixty and just
17:20
Speaker 9: pass things with fifty one. So they could have on
17:23
Speaker 9: day one of the shutdown prevented this. This is their
17:27
Speaker 9: shutdown because they have the majority. They have the House,
17:31
Speaker 9: the Senate, and the presidency. If they wanted it shut down,
17:34
Speaker 9: they could. The President is doing this because he has
17:37
Speaker 9: a scheme. Doctor King had a dream of all persons
17:40
Speaker 9: being treated created and treated treated justly. The President has
17:44
Speaker 9: a scheme to deprive people of their jobs, their livelihood,
17:48
Speaker 9: and to do this he is allowing the shut down
17:51
Speaker 9: to take place so that he can say, look, there
17:53
Speaker 9: are people who are declared not essential. And these persons
17:56
Speaker 9: who were declared not essential, he had nothing to do
17:59
Speaker 9: with it, That's what he'll say. So he's gonna fire them,
18:02
Speaker 9: fire many of them, thousands of them that are declared
18:05
Speaker 9: non essential by people other than himself. Then after he
18:09
Speaker 9: has done this, he will open up the government.
18:12
Speaker 5: It's okay. So the people here out here right now,
18:16
Speaker 5: they're not getting paid.
18:18
Speaker 8: Well.
18:18
Speaker 9: The people who are out here now are part of
18:21
Speaker 9: various organizations. AFGE is a federal government union. We have
18:26
Speaker 9: Common Defense, which is another union, and we have the CWA,
18:32
Speaker 9: which is a union as well, and there are others.
18:35
Speaker 9: But they're here to represent the people in there in
18:38
Speaker 9: the Michael ed Baky Hospital who are not being paid,
18:41
Speaker 9: who are required to work. We're also here to represent
18:44
Speaker 9: my staff who's required to work but not get paid,
18:48
Speaker 9: which is why I have informed the payroll department not
18:51
Speaker 9: to send me one penny of money until they send money.
18:54
Speaker 1: To my staff.
18:55
Speaker 9: As long as my staff is not getting any money,
18:57
Speaker 9: I won't get any either. I will not be paid
18:59
Speaker 9: on they are paid. So the president has put people
19:04
Speaker 9: in a position now where they have to make hard
19:07
Speaker 9: choices about some of the necessities of life. Food, clothing, shelter,
19:11
Speaker 9: whether you're going to pay your houseload or buy food
19:14
Speaker 9: and put that on the table. The President understands that
19:18
Speaker 9: he can now downsize the government finish what those started
19:23
Speaker 9: by simply saying that when people declared non essential, those
19:26
Speaker 9: are the people that I am firing. And he is
19:29
Speaker 9: saying that he's going to go after non essential Democrats
19:33
Speaker 9: or people somehow who favor Democrats, which in my opinion,
19:37
Speaker 9: is a heartless way to decide you're going to downsize
19:41
Speaker 9: the government based upon political affiliation. I also think that
19:44
Speaker 9: there are some other constitutional questions that I'll be dealing
19:47
Speaker 9: with later associated with this. But the President understands that
19:51
Speaker 9: he can do this now under the cover of non
19:54
Speaker 9: essential workers being fired. Well, at some point he will decide, Okay,
20:00
Speaker 9: I'm going to open the government up, and Republicans will
20:03
Speaker 9: open the government up, so the crisis that they have created.
20:07
Speaker 9: At some point they'll say, we're not going to end
20:09
Speaker 9: the crisis, but they want to somehow blame the other party,
20:12
Speaker 9: the Democrats, for the crisis. When they have the majority
20:15
Speaker 9: in the House, the majority in the Senate, they've got
20:17
Speaker 9: the presidency, and the Supreme Court is yielding to their
20:22
Speaker 9: every whim. It seems so as a result, they create
20:25
Speaker 9: a crisis, They then fire people. Then they say the
20:29
Speaker 9: crisis is over now and we can allow people to
20:32
Speaker 9: come back to work those who have not been fired.
20:35
Speaker 3: It's crazy, Yeah, that's his scheme.
20:38
Speaker 1: That was the ninth Congressional District Representative Al Green. The
20:43
Speaker 1: second Trump shutdown continues to affect all segments of society.
20:48
Speaker 1: Included in that is air travel, as long delays at
20:52
Speaker 1: airports because of not enough air traffic controllers. Added to
20:57
Speaker 1: this pain, US airplane manufacturer Boeing is having labor issues
21:02
Speaker 1: with their workers. The shutdown also affects inspectors before being
21:07
Speaker 1: used in commercial aviation. We talked to Ryan Ewing, founder
21:12
Speaker 1: of airline geeks dot com and Airline Trade Publication.
21:16
Speaker 10: Well, you know, I think you're seeing kind of the
21:21
Speaker 10: early indications of how this will play out, and it's
21:25
Speaker 10: certainly how I've actually played out in twenty nineteen during
21:27
Speaker 10: the third day over thirty days shutdown, you know, you're
21:30
Speaker 10: seeing some persh yeary sort of staffing issues within the
21:35
Speaker 10: national ware space system. You've seen bigger ones, you know
21:39
Speaker 10: in places like Burbank where they've on antet zero but
21:43
Speaker 10: you know, it's an already very you know, it's so
21:46
Speaker 10: secret that they're already having some staffing issues at the
21:49
Speaker 10: FAA on the controller side, and this sort of just
21:53
Speaker 10: exasperates as far.
21:54
Speaker 7: As I'm concerned, what's going on with the fa right now?
21:58
Speaker 7: We knew we had a shortage of air Prafitt controllers,
22:03
Speaker 7: and it seems like the new the new director, the
22:07
Speaker 7: first edition job was he decided to get rid of
22:09
Speaker 7: the diversity program to get more minorities involved, and then
22:14
Speaker 7: he still had a staffing issue. Well, how do you
22:18
Speaker 7: play out his his tenure so far as the FAA director.
22:23
Speaker 11: Yeah, you know, Sean Duffy, uh, you know, obviously had
22:27
Speaker 11: the dot secretary, kind of took the job first, right,
22:32
Speaker 11: and he came in, uh you know, within a couple
22:35
Speaker 11: of weeks there he was dealing with, you know, the
22:37
Speaker 11: first deadly US.
22:38
Speaker 10: Airline accident and you know, over well over a decade, so,
22:43
Speaker 10: you know, definitely not an easy feat to come in. But
22:45
Speaker 10: in obviously the do OT overseas one more than just
22:48
Speaker 10: the you know, they have a's kind of largest part
22:50
Speaker 10: of the dut uh, but I only have Brian Bedford
22:53
Speaker 10: who is uh was appointed the Administrator the f A.
22:56
Speaker 10: He was confirmed by Congress a couple of months ago.
22:58
Speaker 10: Uh And and I also that you know, he's been
23:01
Speaker 10: a more more quiet as I think he gets more
23:04
Speaker 10: ingrained into the rule. But also he comes through a
23:08
Speaker 10: lot of industry experience. Bedford was the SEEO of Public Airways.
23:13
Speaker 10: He's piled himself, you know, so he's been around the industry.
23:17
Speaker 10: And I've always said, you know, Public Airways is a
23:19
Speaker 10: regional carrier. They primarily operate in the Northeast for Delta
23:23
Speaker 10: America and United So he's no stranger terror traffic control issues.
23:28
Speaker 10: And you know, I think this is a time when
23:33
Speaker 10: they are probably thinking, man, we wish we hired a
23:36
Speaker 10: few more We pushed, we pushed the accelerator down more
23:38
Speaker 10: on getting a few more people through the door. But
23:41
Speaker 10: you know, obviously what it could have shown a situation.
23:46
Speaker 7: And is it is it getting better as far as
23:48
Speaker 7: as far as as far as the air traffic controllers
23:51
Speaker 7: as well.
23:52
Speaker 10: They did, they did meet their hiring goal. I think
23:54
Speaker 10: it was like twenty two hundred twenty twenty five, which
23:58
Speaker 10: is you know, which is a start. Uh So they
24:02
Speaker 10: met that, but again, you know, there's there's still a
24:06
Speaker 10: lot of uh attrition on the top in because the
24:10
Speaker 10: fellers can retire you know, around fifty seven depending on
24:13
Speaker 10: a few different factors. But that's that's normally the age.
24:17
Speaker 10: And so yeah, I mean I think they're they're working
24:20
Speaker 10: to backfill as much as they can, but you know,
24:24
Speaker 10: it's it's a long process to get a controller trained up.
24:28
Speaker 7: It wasn't it wasn't really any better with this statement
24:30
Speaker 7: that because the air traffic control is not getting paid,
24:32
Speaker 7: but they have to go to work, and some of
24:35
Speaker 7: them were sick and they're they were threatening that there
24:37
Speaker 7: was it was a sick out some that you know,
24:39
Speaker 7: so they were threatening to fire some some air traff controls.
24:43
Speaker 10: What I heard, Yeah, you know I saw that, and
24:48
Speaker 10: you know, I I I think there's a careful balance
24:52
Speaker 10: right that that the dot as they have to walk
24:55
Speaker 10: because in the same time, you know, yes, you can't
24:58
Speaker 10: have people you know who may or may not be sick,
25:02
Speaker 10: right pulling this stuff during this time, because then everybody
25:04
Speaker 10: else who is you know, the ninety percent. I think
25:07
Speaker 10: when Duffy says has actually coming into work and getting unpaid,
25:10
Speaker 10: you know, I don't really see that as being you
25:13
Speaker 10: know fair, you know, to everybody else. But uh, you know,
25:19
Speaker 10: I think in the other time, another vein there.
25:21
Speaker 8: Is that.
25:23
Speaker 10: You know, we have to be you got to thank
25:26
Speaker 10: your controllers, uh, because this is it's not an easy job, period,
25:30
Speaker 10: but especially not an easy job you're not get paid
25:32
Speaker 10: for it.
25:34
Speaker 7: And this is that as all this, we would go
25:38
Speaker 7: back a month or so with the Bowling strike.
25:40
Speaker 10: You know, that's a it's actually another interesting government shutdown
25:44
Speaker 10: angle to Uh. It's funny you say that because remember
25:50
Speaker 10: that the FA has people inspectors embedded within Boeing facilities,
25:57
Speaker 10: and they do that at Boeing Airbus it here in
26:00
Speaker 10: the United States, and they do it at airlines too.
26:03
Speaker 10: So I always say, you know, phones had you know,
26:07
Speaker 10: some some tougher times recently. That's no secret. But you
26:11
Speaker 10: throw in this, you know, the unpaid inspectors that are
26:15
Speaker 10: there now too, because they are not getting paid either.
26:17
Speaker 7: Uh.
26:18
Speaker 10: You know, this is just not a good situation for anybody,
26:21
Speaker 10: even the private sector.
26:22
Speaker 7: So so in the inspector so these respectors, that's gonna
26:28
Speaker 7: hurt the plant a plan as far as them getting
26:33
Speaker 7: out planes getting planes, does it just does it hurt,
26:37
Speaker 7: doesn't hurt the distribution of them getting the planes out
26:40
Speaker 7: on time.
26:41
Speaker 10: It could I wouldn't rule that out, you know, especially
26:44
Speaker 10: if there's inspectors that you may not want to really
26:46
Speaker 10: come to work on paid or something like that. Yeah,
26:49
Speaker 10: that could certainly slow going down. Even though they do
26:51
Speaker 10: have some self certifying ability, there are still limits on it.
26:55
Speaker 10: So yeah, I think that doesn't certainly doesn't help to
26:59
Speaker 10: see situation.
27:00
Speaker 7: That they're already in. I know, the airlines was increasing
27:04
Speaker 7: their increasing their flight schedule. Will it decrease will will
27:09
Speaker 7: this this shut down decrease some of the some of
27:11
Speaker 7: the added flights that some of the some of the
27:14
Speaker 7: terriers were planning.
27:16
Speaker 6: M h.
27:17
Speaker 10: I think it's a little too early to tell the
27:18
Speaker 10: impacts of that. You know, American seid of Reunited is
27:25
Speaker 10: sort of uniquely exposed to impacts as the government, uh
27:31
Speaker 10: because they have such large hubs in the DC area,
27:33
Speaker 10: and obviously when you have federal workers that are furlough,
27:35
Speaker 10: they're not traveling either. So you know, I think that's
27:40
Speaker 10: certainly one factor that they could be looking at, But
27:45
Speaker 10: I don't know if it's going to be you know,
27:49
Speaker 10: something that is material unless this really continues on.
27:53
Speaker 1: That was Ryan Ewing, founder of Airline Geeks, dot com
27:57
Speaker 1: and airline trade publication.
28:00
Speaker 2: Hi.
28:01
Speaker 1: This is Steve Gallington, producer and host of the People's News.
28:05
Speaker 1: The People's News is people powered news. We are free
28:08
Speaker 1: to report the unvarnished and unspun truth and challenge the
28:12
Speaker 1: status quo of corporate propaganda and social media advertising disguised
28:17
Speaker 1: as reel news. Shiny new one hour episodes of The
28:21
Speaker 1: People's News drop each Sunday on The People's News Podcast.
28:27
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening. This week, a peace deal was agreed
28:31
Speaker 1: to by Hamas and the Israeli government. This will stop
28:35
Speaker 1: the bombs and invasion of Gaza by Israel and the
28:39
Speaker 1: hostages that are being held by Hamas will be set
28:41
Speaker 1: free and thousands of prisoners held by Israel will also
28:45
Speaker 1: be free. This is part of a twenty point piece
28:48
Speaker 1: plan that has been mapped out. There are lots of
28:51
Speaker 1: things that can happen that will end this plan and
28:55
Speaker 1: a lot of questions remain on the table. For now,
28:58
Speaker 1: the people of Gaza are moving back to their homes
29:02
Speaker 1: as more than half the territory is destroyed. Un food
29:06
Speaker 1: and supplies will also be let in. We talked to
29:10
Speaker 1: William White, a political consultant.
29:13
Speaker 2: You know what I'm pretty shocked at some of the
29:16
Speaker 2: expectations on from Moss, but especially in shocked that for
29:24
Speaker 2: two years now the world has fell completely silent in
29:28
Speaker 2: the face of this genocide which was killing young children
29:33
Speaker 2: very early into its.
29:35
Speaker 6: Day, and has not stopped.
29:39
Speaker 2: Either through bombs or bullets like they did with Hindradjab
29:44
Speaker 2: and not through starvation and now through starvation and disease.
29:51
Speaker 2: And so while I am optimistic at the possibility of peace,
29:57
Speaker 2: I don't think there can ever be peace by Benjamin Netta,
30:01
Speaker 2: who he will use this opportunity to continue to ethnically
30:05
Speaker 2: cleanse Daza and all that stands there and remove its
30:09
Speaker 2: people and continue to kill them if they refuse.
30:14
Speaker 7: People as people are not noting that because they talked
30:18
Speaker 7: about peace and a peace steal, the bombing still continues.
30:21
Speaker 7: I think forty seven people do today.
30:25
Speaker 2: Yeah, and there have been hundreds of people die each
30:28
Speaker 2: day and every day since October seventh, twenty twenty three.
30:33
Speaker 2: That remains clear that Israel is not going to stop
30:35
Speaker 2: at any costs to kill the Palestinian people.
30:40
Speaker 7: What do you feel that the that's in it for
30:42
Speaker 7: the Trump administration.
30:46
Speaker 2: Well, you know, Donald Trump is obsessed with making himself
30:52
Speaker 2: the Nobel Pott Prize President perhaps unable to soothe his
30:58
Speaker 2: ego that President Barack Obama has Nobel Peace Prize and
31:01
Speaker 2: he does not. But I think that's what isn't it
31:07
Speaker 2: for the president is he's just looking for an easy
31:09
Speaker 2: way to claim a Nobel Peace Prize.
31:13
Speaker 7: I looked at the other countries that are being part
31:16
Speaker 7: of the peace deal, Tata, Saudi Arabia, the United Immlands,
31:22
Speaker 7: all these countries that that have a monarchy for the
31:26
Speaker 7: most part, are fight are fighting within the people that's
31:29
Speaker 7: living in the country themselves who are pro Palestinian, and
31:33
Speaker 7: they're still looking up. They are they in it just
31:37
Speaker 7: to save themselves. As far as as far as the
31:40
Speaker 7: way they make in the Middle.
31:41
Speaker 2: East, I think they are facing a dilemma and that
31:48
Speaker 2: they know they will not They're they're they're a fellow country,
31:54
Speaker 2: will not welcome the opportunity for palace in In to
31:57
Speaker 2: be displaced.
31:59
Speaker 1: And so.
32:02
Speaker 2: Between a rock and a hard place, the rock being
32:05
Speaker 2: the displacement of Palestinians and a hard place being the
32:08
Speaker 2: ongoing genocide which they're facing pressure over both, they would
32:12
Speaker 2: they would be hard pressed to to not push for
32:14
Speaker 2: a peace steal right now. It's in their best interests
32:18
Speaker 2: not only from their fellow countrymen and the political situations
32:24
Speaker 2: that are in those countries now, but also for the
32:28
Speaker 2: people of Gaza. And so it's a it's a course
32:33
Speaker 2: of action which we've rarely seen, but a course of action.
32:37
Speaker 7: Nonetheless, what does Sama say as far as as far
32:42
Speaker 7: as where do they go next?
32:47
Speaker 2: Well, I think that remains to be seen. Like I say,
32:49
Speaker 2: some of these things that Israel and the United States
32:53
Speaker 2: have agreed on are would outright take them out of power,
32:58
Speaker 2: which Hamas seems resentful and not responding to that that portion. However,
33:06
Speaker 2: I think Amas would. I think Amas would be looking
33:11
Speaker 2: for peace currently just as much as some of their
33:15
Speaker 2: neighbors are.
33:17
Speaker 1: And so.
33:19
Speaker 2: You know, they they have paid the biggest price throughout
33:22
Speaker 2: this genocide and losing hundreds of thousands of people and
33:27
Speaker 2: tens of thousands by their own estimate, but hundreds of
33:29
Speaker 2: thousands by the estimates of some outside groups, and so
33:34
Speaker 2: you know they're desperate for peace. They want to get
33:37
Speaker 2: the hostages back, it seems like, and there I think
33:40
Speaker 2: that was the first agreement that was made, is they're
33:42
Speaker 2: going to quickly deliver the hostages to people so there's
33:49
Speaker 2: I think everyone wants its genocide to be over, is
33:53
Speaker 2: what I'm understanding. But what it looks like the day
33:56
Speaker 2: after the bombs stop, the AID is let in remains
34:00
Speaker 2: to be unseen, and of course it looks like it's
34:03
Speaker 2: going to be heavily weighted towards furthering the ethnic cleansing
34:07
Speaker 2: of Gaza.
34:09
Speaker 7: Also, there's no sense of pressure on the Israeli government
34:13
Speaker 7: and in those sense that they might not sign a
34:16
Speaker 7: deal because hard liners within Israeli government are not seeking
34:20
Speaker 7: any type of negotiations and one continue the fighting. Have
34:25
Speaker 7: you seen that? Also?
34:27
Speaker 2: Yeah? Absolutely, I mean the hardliners in the Israeli government
34:31
Speaker 2: have no doubt had the biggest impact in further in
34:34
Speaker 2: the genocide by protesting AID going into Gaza, and furthermore
34:40
Speaker 2: by continuing their annexation of the West Bank, which has
34:42
Speaker 2: nothing to do with Hamas as their old argument goes.
34:46
Speaker 2: And so their intentions are very clear, and that is
34:50
Speaker 2: they want to see Israel control all of Palestine and
34:55
Speaker 2: even further into Jordan and Syria, which of course Jordan
34:59
Speaker 2: and Syria and Lebanon have all seen as a direct
35:02
Speaker 2: threat to their sovereignty. So with that happening, in the background.
35:09
Speaker 2: It remains to be seen whether the Israeli people will
35:12
Speaker 2: de escalate.
35:14
Speaker 7: And you said, yeah, something that has not been talked
35:17
Speaker 7: about is the continuing battle within West Bank, because there's
35:23
Speaker 7: not just the idef. These Reeli defense forces have been
35:27
Speaker 7: letting right wing Zueli settlers attack Palestinians and nothing in
35:35
Speaker 7: killing Palestinians with with no type of pause in their fighting,
35:42
Speaker 7: you know, mostly mostly peaceful Palestinians.
35:47
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, and we have to remember that the West
35:50
Speaker 2: Bank is still a factor in Israeli expansion just as
35:53
Speaker 2: much as Gaza or the Sinai or Golan heights. These
36:02
Speaker 2: far right extremists in the Israeli government want nothing short
36:07
Speaker 2: of a total Israeli state throughout the area of Sham
36:14
Speaker 2: And you know, I'm I'm hoping for peace, but it
36:18
Speaker 2: doesn't look like they want to head in that direction.
36:22
Speaker 7: Ken is Reel Israel the estate without Palestinians.
36:30
Speaker 2: I'm sorry, Can you repeat that, Richard.
36:32
Speaker 7: Can Israel has a state live without Palestinians being there?
36:40
Speaker 2: I think that.
36:42
Speaker 7: I don't think it's function. I'm just asking the question
36:45
Speaker 7: can they from now?
36:47
Speaker 2: I think that that's a much larger question, is to
36:49
Speaker 2: you know how they would treat Palestinians, and right now
36:53
Speaker 2: the record shows that they don't treat Palestinians within their
36:56
Speaker 2: borders very well. And so it's proving to be an issue.
37:00
Speaker 7: M that.
37:03
Speaker 2: You know, yeah, they can function with Palestinians and their country,
37:08
Speaker 2: but we know that they are treated as second class citizens. Mhm.
37:13
Speaker 7: Well, they let peace treaty, gonna allow food into the
37:18
Speaker 7: country without the without the organization that they have right
37:23
Speaker 7: now that that's supposedly uh working to get food into
37:27
Speaker 7: the into the into gaza that has not been working.
37:30
Speaker 7: Are they are they gonna Are they gonna allow food
37:33
Speaker 7: and medical aid to come come in? What's his peace
37:37
Speaker 7: treaty assigned? Or even let the UN And.
37:43
Speaker 2: Again that remains to be seen.
37:45
Speaker 10: Uh.
37:46
Speaker 2: They may say they they will, but so far Israel
37:49
Speaker 2: has found nothing but excuses to further the genocide, and
37:51
Speaker 2: so I don't expect anything short of that. It may
37:54
Speaker 2: be that they get all of the remaining hostages back
37:56
Speaker 2: this second, but they'll find some reason to continue harming
38:02
Speaker 2: the people of cause it without justification, as they have
38:04
Speaker 2: done for two years now.
38:08
Speaker 7: Is there is there? Does this seem to be as abstine?
38:11
Speaker 7: But has he seen any strife between the US and
38:15
Speaker 7: the Trump administration, and now who and and is and
38:20
Speaker 7: is really give it?
38:22
Speaker 2: Well, Trump is of course denied that there has been
38:24
Speaker 2: any strife, but we know there has been. We know
38:28
Speaker 2: that he's mentioned the aids net who's really screwed him
38:32
Speaker 2: over to use his own words. We know that according
38:37
Speaker 2: to Actios just this weekend, he told Benjamin Netton now
38:40
Speaker 2: who to take the win?
38:42
Speaker 1: And so.
38:45
Speaker 2: We know there is strife. But of course both Donald
38:47
Speaker 2: Trump and Benjamin Netton, not who deny there is.
38:50
Speaker 1: That was political consultant William White, commenting on the delicate
38:54
Speaker 1: peace in the Middle East. The elections are right around
38:58
Speaker 1: the corner. Many candidates are out around the city trying
39:02
Speaker 1: to get their name out to the community. A nonpartisan
39:05
Speaker 1: election form was held on Saturday to give the candidates
39:08
Speaker 1: the opportunity to meet the people and give their ideas
39:12
Speaker 1: on how they will serve once elected. The candidates at
39:16
Speaker 1: the event were for US Congressional District eighteen, Amanda Edwards,
39:21
Speaker 1: Jolanda Jones, Christian Menefee, Carmen Maria Montel, and George Foreman
39:27
Speaker 1: Junior for the Houston City Council at Large position number
39:31
Speaker 1: four Alejandria Salinas, Jordan Thomas, Ethan Hale, Crystal Mataza, and
39:39
Speaker 1: Dwight Boykins. The event was held at the Judson Robinson
39:44
Speaker 1: Senior Community Center. This was sponsored and put on by
39:48
Speaker 1: numerous organizations. One was the Hip Hop Caucus. We spoke
39:53
Speaker 1: with Gerald Clay who represents the Hip Hop Caucus. Jerre Clay.
40:00
Speaker 12: And name an organization Okay Jarell Clay Hip Hop Caucus,
40:05
Speaker 12: National nonprofit based in DC, LA, Houston, New Orleans, and Atlanta.
40:09
Speaker 7: Tell us what's going on today today?
40:12
Speaker 12: We're holding, in partnership with the Healthy part Communities Coalition,
40:17
Speaker 12: a candidate forum where community, particularly blackground and Indigenous people
40:22
Speaker 12: and families get to interact with with candidates who are
40:26
Speaker 12: vowing to fight for our communities. And we want to
40:28
Speaker 12: make sure that not only are they talking to talk now,
40:31
Speaker 12: but we urge them and demand that they walk the walk.
40:35
Speaker 12: Should they be elected, should the people who put them
40:37
Speaker 12: in office hold them accountable for what they say?
40:40
Speaker 7: Today?
40:41
Speaker 5: Election is coming up for the primaries.
40:43
Speaker 3: A lot of people don't know about it.
40:45
Speaker 5: How are you going to try to get the name
40:46
Speaker 5: to worry out to get people to know about this
40:48
Speaker 5: upcoming election?
40:50
Speaker 12: This upcoming election is about what is in the system
40:54
Speaker 12: for us. We know that there's a lot going on
40:57
Speaker 12: at the state and local level right now, and we
41:01
Speaker 12: know that every year is an election year. It's not
41:03
Speaker 12: about if we're going to vote, it's about who we're
41:07
Speaker 12: going to vote for and how we show out. Most
41:10
Speaker 12: of the tactics for us is just information and education.
41:15
Speaker 12: If folks don't know that, if folks don't know what's
41:18
Speaker 12: going on, then they can't they can't advocate for themselves.
41:22
Speaker 1: And so we have to give the folks to information.
41:23
Speaker 12: And there is a reason why they don't have easy
41:25
Speaker 12: access to it, and so part of it is breaking
41:27
Speaker 12: down the barrier so that they do get that access
41:29
Speaker 12: to information. But the second part is then urging them
41:33
Speaker 12: and mobilizing them to do something once they have it.
41:35
Speaker 5: For the African American communient community, we saw in the
41:38
Speaker 5: last election that didn't come out in full force, reaping
41:43
Speaker 5: the reaping the fruits.
41:44
Speaker 7: Of that action.
41:47
Speaker 12: Yeah, well, right now, we have to focus on making
41:51
Speaker 12: sure that the folks who didn't come out have the
41:53
Speaker 12: motivation to come out if we don't give them the motivation.
41:57
Speaker 12: And for some folks, especially if we're so close to
42:00
Speaker 12: advocacy so close to policy. For those folks, it's a
42:03
Speaker 12: no brainer. They come out because they know what's at stake.
42:06
Speaker 12: Other folks may even realize what's at steak, but they
42:08
Speaker 12: don't know how much power they have to do something
42:13
Speaker 12: about it. And so when you give someone the tools,
42:16
Speaker 12: but you also give them the vision for what's possible
42:18
Speaker 12: when we do show up, when we do speak up,
42:20
Speaker 12: and when we do use our power to vote, you'll
42:23
Speaker 12: see that number in turnout rise, not only for the
42:26
Speaker 12: general election, but elections in between.
42:29
Speaker 3: How can people find out about it?
42:30
Speaker 7: Hip Hop Caucus.
42:32
Speaker 12: Hip Hop Coccus again is a national nonprofit. You can
42:34
Speaker 12: look us up at hip hococcus dot org or hip
42:36
Speaker 12: Hopcoccus on all social media platforms.
42:40
Speaker 1: Another was Anthony Desuza with Airlines of Houston.
42:43
Speaker 13: My name is Anthony Desuza and I'm the air Monitoring
42:48
Speaker 13: program manager at Airlines Houston. So i have managed our
42:52
Speaker 13: air quality monitoring system across the city and I'm here
42:56
Speaker 13: helping out with this event. The Candidate Forum to the
43:00
Speaker 13: community in contact with their elected officials and ask the
43:04
Speaker 13: questions ahead of the election.
43:06
Speaker 5: Well, we talk about environmental racism and how you know
43:10
Speaker 5: petal chemical plants in the neighborhood and how cancer rating
43:15
Speaker 5: the people in this neighborhood, How's how's getting a good
43:18
Speaker 5: candidate to represent effective.
43:20
Speaker 13: Oh, it's very important because right now, at least in
43:22
Speaker 13: Congressional District eighteen, there's no there's no representation in Congress
43:27
Speaker 13: for over a year now, and so they have no
43:29
Speaker 13: one to fight for them to you know, protect them
43:32
Speaker 13: from bad industries polluting the air. And so that's why
43:37
Speaker 13: we really need elected official that it will stand for
43:40
Speaker 13: the people, will listen to their concerns, will bring their
43:43
Speaker 13: concerns to either city council or Congress depending on the race.
43:47
Speaker 13: And you know, people who put people's health and people's
43:51
Speaker 13: well being as their priority, not corporate profits, not you know,
43:56
Speaker 13: making money, but people's lives, because that's the most important thing.
44:00
Speaker 5: One thing that's really important is on the state level,
44:04
Speaker 5: we know that the restrictions on the on the chemical
44:08
Speaker 5: plants around this area have affected the community on two ways.
44:13
Speaker 3: One the cancer rate. Also the fires.
44:16
Speaker 5: And and an emergency, uh emergency events that have happened
44:22
Speaker 5: and with those plants, sam dangered community. Yeah, so how
44:26
Speaker 5: important is how important is that to the airlines to
44:30
Speaker 5: try to find the right candidate for how to fight.
44:32
Speaker 13: Them for sure, because we've already seen how good policies
44:36
Speaker 13: can bring about change either in improvements and air quality,
44:40
Speaker 13: improvements and water quality, and so you know, we have
44:43
Speaker 13: that track record of of of good builds, good laws
44:47
Speaker 13: protecting people. It's just that we don't have the right
44:52
Speaker 13: right now. We have candidates that are more willing to
44:55
Speaker 13: put corporate interests ahead of community in christ you know,
44:59
Speaker 13: and are not bringing bills and laws into effect that
45:03
Speaker 13: prioritize the community. And that's why we need an elected
45:07
Speaker 13: official that I was saying that will make their number
45:09
Speaker 13: one priority people's health. Because once you do that, you know,
45:12
Speaker 13: every single bill, law, policy you passed has people's health
45:16
Speaker 13: as their priority, and that that will lead to you know,
45:19
Speaker 13: improvements in air quality, water quality, pollution released into the environment,
45:24
Speaker 13: and all of that brings up about positive changes to
45:28
Speaker 13: people's health.
45:30
Speaker 1: One of the candidates running for Congress is George Foreman Junior.
45:35
Speaker 1: We talked to him on how he is getting beyond
45:37
Speaker 1: his famous dad's name and what it's like running for office.
45:42
Speaker 1: Because it's a special election.
45:44
Speaker 14: You can already see our national and local leadership China
45:47
Speaker 14: Pack as much in on us as possible. I think
45:50
Speaker 14: there could not be a better time for people to
45:51
Speaker 14: use their civic duty and civic right get out and vote.
45:55
Speaker 14: You say I don't know what to vote for, Well
45:56
Speaker 14: click George Foreman and then fill in the rest.
45:58
Speaker 5: What's your qualifications?
46:00
Speaker 7: You know, what what makes you go to this? You
46:02
Speaker 7: know people know your father, but people don't know you.
46:04
Speaker 3: How do you separate? How do you separate from the two?
46:08
Speaker 14: Well, one thing about my father, he wanted to make
46:10
Speaker 14: sure he kept us out of the boxing ring and said,
46:12
Speaker 14: you want to box, you got to go to school first.
46:14
Speaker 14: So that led me to get even my master's degree
46:17
Speaker 14: in public administration and understanding how government works, especially how
46:22
Speaker 14: the money works in government. And I want to make
46:24
Speaker 14: sure that I bring the money back to the eighteenth.
46:26
Speaker 14: He said, we stimulate the economy, you know, we get jobs,
46:29
Speaker 14: we get trade skills. We Lord knows we drive.
46:32
Speaker 2: Well.
46:32
Speaker 14: Now it's time to get our money back, you know,
46:34
Speaker 14: invest back into its give us the free ways and
46:36
Speaker 14: the schools that we need. That's what I'm running for.
46:39
Speaker 14: I'm going to bring it back to the eighteenth.
46:41
Speaker 5: How are you going to get the people who know
46:42
Speaker 5: about you that don't know about you.
46:45
Speaker 1: As an individual. You know it's hard.
46:46
Speaker 14: I'm not part of the party, and one thing I
46:49
Speaker 14: want people to know and understand is there's a candidate
46:51
Speaker 14: out there that's bigger than the party.
46:54
Speaker 1: We the people.
46:55
Speaker 14: And I think if we the people use our mind
46:58
Speaker 14: to learn what's something ballot, learn who's on the ballot,
47:00
Speaker 14: and you'll see this people there that represent us, not
47:04
Speaker 14: the system, but the people. And I'm one of those people.
47:08
Speaker 1: Richard also interviewed Warren Powell, who is a Conservative Republican
47:13
Speaker 1: candidate running for Harris County judge. Mister Powell is not
47:18
Speaker 1: an attorney, but has worked his entire life in construction,
47:22
Speaker 1: and among some of his ideas, he wants to establish
47:26
Speaker 1: a Department of County Efficiency, patterned after Elon Musk's infamous
47:32
Speaker 1: Department of Government Efficiency, which resulted in the illegal firings
47:36
Speaker 1: of thousands of federal workers. Here's Richard's interview with Warren Powell.
47:42
Speaker 6: Okay, I am Warren Powell, and I'm running for county judge.
47:49
Speaker 7: All right, what made you want to run for county judge?
47:53
Speaker 6: Well, I never heard anyone on either side of the
47:58
Speaker 6: fence tell the people. Number one, what was really wrong,
48:03
Speaker 6: and number two what they were going to do to
48:05
Speaker 6: fix it. And I figured, well, if they're not going
48:09
Speaker 6: to do it, well then I'll do it. So that's
48:13
Speaker 6: why I'm running because I'm the only one. Number one,
48:16
Speaker 6: I'm the only one with a construction background where I
48:19
Speaker 6: can where I can look at a project and look
48:21
Speaker 6: at blueprints and tell you whether or not we've got
48:23
Speaker 6: a good deal working or a bad because I've been
48:26
Speaker 6: doing construction all my life. But you know, we have
48:30
Speaker 6: a we have a real problem in Harris County. We've
48:34
Speaker 6: got a system that literally does not work. It used
48:38
Speaker 6: to work a long time ago, but it quit working
48:42
Speaker 6: and it's gotten to the point where you can't even
48:45
Speaker 6: repair it. You've got to go in and dismantle the
48:48
Speaker 6: departments that aren't needed, reform the departments we do need,
48:54
Speaker 6: and get our government back to an assistant operating machine
49:00
Speaker 6: reasonable cost to the taxpayers of Harris County. I want
49:04
Speaker 6: to do that.
49:05
Speaker 7: Oh I'm sorry, how would you do that? As far
49:07
Speaker 7: as a kind judge.
49:09
Speaker 6: Well as county judge. You go in and you set
49:12
Speaker 6: the agenda, and I'd have to have two more votes
49:16
Speaker 6: on everything I want to do. But I've got Tom
49:19
Speaker 6: Ramsey for sure with vote for me and with me,
49:22
Speaker 6: and then we just have to get one more commissioner
49:25
Speaker 6: to join us, and we can start, one piece by
49:29
Speaker 6: piece restoring a good government in Harris County. We've got
49:35
Speaker 6: to quit giving department heads, for instance, the ability to
49:41
Speaker 6: step salaries and determine raises. We've got one individual. You
49:47
Speaker 6: won't believe this, four hundred and fifty eight thousand dollars
49:51
Speaker 6: a year. This after one hundred and eighty four thousand
49:56
Speaker 6: dollars rais one year. We've got nine people making more
50:01
Speaker 6: than the president of the United States. We have forty
50:04
Speaker 6: five people making more than two hundred and fifty thousand
50:07
Speaker 6: dollars a year, or more than a cabinet position in
50:10
Speaker 6: Trump's cabinet. The whole thing is this, Harris County government
50:16
Speaker 6: is your business and my business. So it's our business,
50:20
Speaker 6: and the people running our business aren't terrible. If you
50:25
Speaker 6: were in your business like they run our business, we'd
50:28
Speaker 6: all be out in the streets with signs, starving to death.
50:32
Speaker 6: It's it's pitiful.
50:35
Speaker 7: A quick question on this one, how would you how
50:38
Speaker 7: would you answer the question of the astrodome and what
50:41
Speaker 7: to do with the astrodom that boy.
50:44
Speaker 6: Actually, there's so many different I've heard proposals to make
50:50
Speaker 6: it a parking garage to satisfy the rodeo so that
50:57
Speaker 6: we don't have to do these A competing bus was
51:00
Speaker 6: back and forth from various parking lots all over the world. Uh,
51:04
Speaker 6: it's uh, the astrodome is is a is a real
51:07
Speaker 6: problem and it need you know, we voted a long
51:11
Speaker 6: time ago really just to tear it down, and for
51:14
Speaker 6: some reason it's still standing there. So I love the Astrodome.
51:18
Speaker 6: I'm I'm a native Uestonian and I literally saw it
51:22
Speaker 6: when it was being built. Okay, so I hate to
51:28
Speaker 6: I hate to lose it, but it's the same token.
51:30
Speaker 6: You know, it's sitting on some pretty valuable land and
51:34
Speaker 6: there's a lot of other uses that land could could
51:39
Speaker 6: you know, satisfy it. So you know, it's just a
51:42
Speaker 6: real problem. There was one individual I heard that wanted
51:45
Speaker 6: to rent it and turned it into office space and
51:49
Speaker 6: parking and this, that and the other. And for some reason,
51:54
Speaker 6: it's my understanding that that our ignorant government turned it down.
52:04
Speaker 6: I don't know why they would do that, and I
52:06
Speaker 6: don't have confirmation on that either, But if the astronom
52:10
Speaker 6: is very complicated. My first thought is if we can't
52:15
Speaker 6: make it, do you serve some specific purpose? Once and
52:20
Speaker 6: for all? We have to, as economically as possible, figure
52:25
Speaker 6: out a way to dismantle and remove it.
52:30
Speaker 7: All. Right, How can people find out about your campaign?
52:34
Speaker 6: My website is Howell Pharriscounty dot com and it tells
52:40
Speaker 6: you about my bio and where I came from. I've
52:44
Speaker 6: been in construction over fifty years. I've been in insurance
52:47
Speaker 6: and risk management for more than thirty so my background
52:51
Speaker 6: in business should be very valuable in repairing what has
52:58
Speaker 6: to be done. And that we've got a major campaign working.
53:04
Speaker 6: I've got a large team working for me, and even
53:09
Speaker 6: folks having to go out and speak for me because
53:12
Speaker 6: I can't be at two or three places at the
53:14
Speaker 6: same time. But you know, we're at a point where,
53:19
Speaker 6: you know, we have a chance to fix this once
53:22
Speaker 6: and for all, and I'm hoping that people will quit
53:27
Speaker 6: voting for who's popular and start voting for someone who
53:31
Speaker 6: can actually get the job done. That's my hole.
53:35
Speaker 7: This is only one more quick question. What are you
53:37
Speaker 7: going to do about the Harris County jails?
53:40
Speaker 6: Well, as soon as we can get an efficient government
53:43
Speaker 6: in place and get rid of all the programs that
53:45
Speaker 6: we don't belong in. That's six to seven hundred million
53:48
Speaker 6: back to the general fund. We'll staff and redo the
53:52
Speaker 6: jails to where they're operating as a professional organization. If
53:56
Speaker 6: we need more jail space, We've got abandoned commercial buildings
54:01
Speaker 6: all over Euston, like a kmart over on Homestead Road
54:05
Speaker 6: that can be turned into a low security extra jail space.
54:10
Speaker 6: So we're we'll pull out all stops to get our
54:14
Speaker 6: jail capacity where it needs to be and and get
54:17
Speaker 6: it operating as it's supposed to be.
54:20
Speaker 7: The uh uh.
54:21
Speaker 6: You know, I wish people would quit committing crimes, but
54:27
Speaker 6: doesn't seem to be the way it's going to go.
54:32
Speaker 6: They don't want to. They don't want to. Sorry, they
54:34
Speaker 6: don't want to stop that yet. Huh. I would love to.
54:37
Speaker 6: I would love to get on a microphone and say,
54:39
Speaker 6: don't you know and that works? You know so far
54:43
Speaker 6: that is not what the uh And with flood control,
54:49
Speaker 6: we should talk about that because you know, we really
54:53
Speaker 6: this is a flat seventeen seventy seven square miles and
54:58
Speaker 6: so we've got to increase our retention ponds or we've
55:02
Speaker 6: got to increase our reservoir space. We've got to and
55:08
Speaker 6: while doing so, I can create soccer fields, baseball diamonds,
55:12
Speaker 6: golf courses at the same time. So we knock out
55:16
Speaker 6: two birds of one stone. We've lost six golf courses
55:19
Speaker 6: in the last ten years. But our population is you know,
55:23
Speaker 6: keeps growing and a lot of that population they play soccer,
55:27
Speaker 6: they play golf, they want to play baseball, and you
55:32
Speaker 6: know we Americans need that. What programs do you want
55:37
Speaker 6: to see cut? Well, we got to cut the affordable
55:40
Speaker 6: housing program and let the let the FEDS and the
55:43
Speaker 6: state handle that. We've got to get rid of the
55:46
Speaker 6: program where we called Financial Family Financial Stability for in
55:51
Speaker 6: just twenty twenty four that ran eighty eight man. That's
55:55
Speaker 6: That's not the job of Harris County. Our job is
55:57
Speaker 6: public safety Transportation, which is the Harris County Tow Road Authority.
56:05
Speaker 6: That's another thing that's the ahead of that is getting
56:08
Speaker 6: four hundred and eighty six thousand a year. They're buying
56:11
Speaker 6: state of the art wreckers. We don't need. You should
56:14
Speaker 6: be able to just call a rerecord service if you
56:16
Speaker 6: need something, TOAD, and they're buying these expensive wreckers and
56:19
Speaker 6: putting a driver in them twenty four to seven, not
56:22
Speaker 6: to mention the insurance and maintenance costs that's associated with
56:26
Speaker 6: owning it. I mean, if they're just making such poor decisions,
56:30
Speaker 6: will and get this. The state was trying to pass
56:33
Speaker 6: a law where they could get the surplus, you know,
56:36
Speaker 6: get their little grubby little hands on the surplus. And
56:39
Speaker 6: I said, I talked to a congressman that was actually
56:43
Speaker 6: sponsoring that bill, and I said, save your energy, because
56:45
Speaker 6: that surplus is going back to the people, and that's
56:49
Speaker 6: at least thirty three and a third percent. So we
56:52
Speaker 6: get it working like it's supposed to, we'll cut the
56:54
Speaker 6: toe road fees fifty percent and that'll help a lot
56:58
Speaker 6: of folks who right now can't afford The U to.
57:03
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57:06
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