Latest / The People's News / Flock, ICE and HPD Under Scrutiny; Congressman Al Green Fights On; Dolly Parton Remembered - TPN 8/30/26

Transcript

Flock, ICE and HPD Under Scrutiny; Congressman Al Green Fights On; Dolly Parton Remembered - TPN 8/30/26 · The People's News

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: It's the week of August 30th, 2026, and this is
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: what's on the People's News. The fight against flock and
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: ice at City Hall heats up. The HPD chief is
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: a no-show. Congressman Al Green fights for the people right
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: up until the end. Texas Commission to reduce child care.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: University new program to tackle homelessness. North Korea still a
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: threat despite U.S. administration downplay. Singer and humanitarian Dolly Parton
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: passes away. All that and more on the People's News.
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: I'm Steve Gallington. This is the People's News, and the
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: People's News starts now. Houston Police Chief Noah Diaz was
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: supposed to face Houston City Council members and the public
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: on Tuesday. He was asked to speak and answer questions
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: during the Public Safety Committee briefing, but was told not
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: to show. He was to speak specifically on his procedures
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: and guidelines for calling ICE when HPD is making a
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: stop and to answer the allegations that an individual called
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: in to HPD to report a crime and instead ICE
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: showed up. HPD reported 103 immigration-related contacts from April through June,
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: with 19 people turned over to ICE. With that, a
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: lawsuit was filed by a Honduran man against the city
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: of Houston as he was detained by HPD for more
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  Speaker 1: than two hours. Under the city's legal department request, his
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  Speaker 1: chief and his assistants were told not to show up
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: at the city council meetings. Houston Mayor John Whitmire tried
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: to answer questions on why the chief was not present,
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: as he also had to answer to Ronaldo Salgado, son
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: of Lorenzo Salgado-Arejo, who was shot and killed by ICE
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: in a botched traffic stop.
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: Now that the.
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  Speaker 3: Chief of police will come to council and explain what
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  Speaker 3: is going.
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  Speaker 2: On with HPV and ICE.
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  Speaker 4: Thank you, and I read your letter, and I was
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  Speaker 4: observing the entire session, and I'm disappointed.
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  Speaker 5: That the chief and the administration was not here.
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  Speaker 6: The decision was made by the city attorney's office, Arturo,
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  Speaker 6: who could not be here because of a.
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  Speaker 5: Death in his family.
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  Speaker 4: I can assure you that the chief, certainly I, wanted
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  Speaker 4: to hear to answer your question. Certainly you as an
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  Speaker 4: attorney know that you do not compromise the case of
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  Speaker 4: testifying to the merits or lack of merit.
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  Speaker 5: We have a responsibility to look out for the city standing.
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  Speaker 4: There was a judge watching. I understand that the chief
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  Speaker 4: visited with each and every council member in detail. I'm
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  Speaker 4: confident that he answered your questions.
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  Speaker 5: We have a responsibility to the people.
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  Speaker 4: And no one wanted to be here more than the chief.
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  Speaker 5: But we have to be prepared in court.
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  Speaker 4: You understand the process of deposing someone in a juror
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  Speaker 4: who represents the city and this county.
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  Speaker 5: And we're the defendant. Advise the chief and his staff,
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  Speaker 5: not the county.
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  Speaker 4: He anxiously awaits the disposing of this case.
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  Speaker 5: So he can be here and answer any and all questions.
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  Speaker 5: And I look forward to that day.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you, Mayor. I respectfully disagree. We are both attorneys, and.
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  Speaker 7: I understand that several of the alleged attorney-client privilege calls
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  Speaker 7: made this morning were wrong, particularly.
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  Speaker 2: Around a simple question of where the chief was.
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  Speaker 3: So I will stand by my request, and I hope
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  Speaker 3: the administration will continue to reconsider. I think it is
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  Speaker 3: improper to refuse to have the chief come. I understand
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  Speaker 3: that we cannot answer questions about the specific case. We
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  Speaker 3: certainly understand that. But there are other questions that we
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  Speaker 3: can answer. And again, out of respect for Mr. Salgado
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  Speaker 3: and out of respect for the community that has.
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  Speaker 8: Demanded answers, I would ask that you reconsider and tell
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  Speaker 8: the chief of police you must come to council and
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  Speaker 8: at least answer questions about the other matters on the
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  Speaker 8: report outside.
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  Speaker 2: Of the one that was said earlier.
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  Speaker 9: Thank you.
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  Speaker 4: No one wants to tell the fact more than GPS.
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  Speaker 4: We've got to have a serious conversation.
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  Speaker 5: We will have that opportunity. We only have one city attorney.
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  Speaker 4: He has to prepare in anticipation of even more lawsuits,
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  Speaker 4: maybe a class action lawsuit.
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  Speaker 5: So this is a lot more complex, as you're well aware.
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  Speaker 4: I know you disagree with that city attorney pretty much
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  Speaker 4: since you got here.
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  Speaker 5: Attorneys can disagree. Nothing personal. The chief is listening to
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  Speaker 5: his attorney.
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  Speaker 4: The attorney will be back from his family business, and
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  Speaker 4: you can certainly discussed this with you, but the chief
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  Speaker 4: has a story and.
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  Speaker 5: Facts to reveal. You know, we had a.
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  Speaker 4: Policy of a maximum 30 minutes that was quite frankly working.
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  Speaker 5: We didn't advise it to a reasonable amount of time.
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  Speaker 5: The clock starts running when the red lights go on.
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  Speaker 4: I think you will find out that the circumstances require
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  Speaker 4: intervention of protecting the family or a car accident, multiple parts,
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  Speaker 4: before ICE, following Senate.
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  Speaker 5: Bill 4, and our policies, or even contact.
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  Speaker 4: So the reflection of time is not an indication of
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  Speaker 4: any interaction or collaboration or contact with ICE.
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  Speaker 5: The contact with ICE is very minimal.
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  Speaker 4: The disaster, the tragedy at the Home Depot didn't involve
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  Speaker 4: HPD other than officers responding to a call.
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  Speaker 5: No contact with ICE whatsoever. So it doesn't help us, the.
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  Speaker 4: Unity that we display, to use misinformation or inflame the situation.
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  Speaker 4: We want everyone held accountable. We only enforce faith and
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  Speaker 4: see what it is. And that will be our policy
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  Speaker 4: going forward. I look forward for you to visit with
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  Speaker 4: the city attorney. I look forward to the police chief,
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  Speaker 4: his administration answering all questions. He's only visiting with each
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  Speaker 4: and every one of us. It's just at the advice
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  Speaker 4: of counsel. We cannot be deposed or asked about policy
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  Speaker 4: or consideration in preparation for the trial. and there will
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  Speaker 4: be other trials as well. So we have to look
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  Speaker 4: out for the city.
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  Speaker 5: We are defendants. I would love to sit here myself,
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  Speaker 5: name people, places, and where the.
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  Speaker 4: Contact was made. You go to, hypothetically, hypothetically, to a
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  Speaker 4: family violence situation, and you get there, and there are
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  Speaker 4: multiple children.
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  Speaker 5: It takes time to notify.
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  Speaker 4: Other family members to provide the safety of those family members.
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  Speaker 4: No clock is running as a real reflection of the
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  Speaker 4: context of following Senate Bill 4 in the city ordinance.
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  Speaker 5: There's a lot of information. Let's be respectful.
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  Speaker 2: We're starting to have to deal with this.
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  Speaker 5: For those that would suggest ICE out of Houston.
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  Speaker 5: No one has a plan to pull that off. I
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  Speaker 5: don't believe even a council member.
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  Speaker 4: How you would instruct a federal officer or organization to
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  Speaker 4: lead our community.
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  Speaker 5: I wish we had never heard of the word.
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  Speaker 4: I've said that two years, but I also said we're
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  Speaker 4: going to get through it together. And my compassion goes
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  Speaker 4: out to all of.
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  Speaker 10: You, Mr.
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  Speaker 11: President.
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  Speaker 4: We emphasize repeatedly is served by the city of Houston,
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  Speaker 4: regardless of your immigration status.
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  Speaker 5: We do not ask questions.
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  Speaker 4: I know for a fact HPD will pull someone over
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  Speaker 4: to give a.
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  Speaker 5: Citation and they're released. No discussion, no discussion about this tax.
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  Speaker 5: I watched the morning here.
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  Speaker 4: I thought, Vice Mayor Kroepke and Peck did a very
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  Speaker 4: good job in a tough situation.
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  Speaker 5: But that's the reality.
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  Speaker 4: It will not change Because we have been sued, and
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  Speaker 4: the ramifications are much more than just the current case.
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  Speaker 5: We know for a fact.
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  Speaker 4: And I have strongly, probably you know for a fact,
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  Speaker 4: there's going to.
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  Speaker 5: Be other lawsuits.
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  Speaker 12: So anything we do today will be an element of
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  Speaker 12: the next lawsuit, including a class action lawsuit, which would
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  Speaker 12: expose the city to.
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  Speaker 5: Many, many lawsuits.
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  Speaker 4: And we just, we agree to disagree.
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  Speaker 8: You have a very excellent following.
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  Speaker 5: You feel strongly about your practice. I'm listening.
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  Speaker 11: We can all have it.
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  Speaker 5: One city attorney at a time.
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  Speaker 3: We obviously respectfully disagree about a number of things you
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  Speaker 3: just said. There's no point to go back into that disagreement.
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  Speaker 2: I will say there is no question.
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  Speaker 3: That a woman called H-2-D to report her husband trying
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  Speaker 3: to kill her.
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  Speaker 2: And he called ice.
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  Speaker 10: On that woman.
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  Speaker 2: I want to give the floor.
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  Speaker 13: Back to Mr.
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  Speaker 11: Santiago.
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  Speaker 2: Is there anything further to add? Again, I appreciate you
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  Speaker 2: being here. Thank you.
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  Speaker 5: Thank you, Mary.
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  Speaker 14: I just wanted to acknowledge you and the amount of
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  Speaker 14: courage and fortitude it must take to stand up there
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  Speaker 14: and speak.
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  Speaker 5: On this issue. I want you to know that we
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  Speaker 5: do hear you and we understand that you have a purpose.
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  Speaker 15: Things happen for a reason, but I think the words
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  Speaker 15: that you have spoken, the things that you stood.
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  Speaker 5: Up for, what you are pushing for matters. It's important
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  Speaker 5: that we hear you and that we act upon that.
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  Speaker 5: And I don't want you to walk away thinking that
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  Speaker 5: this is the end and that we're not going to
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  Speaker 5: try our.
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  Speaker 14: Best to ensure that your father's legacy is something that
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  Speaker 14: is forgotten. And for your entire family to know that
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  Speaker 14: this body cares. We care about you. We care about
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  Speaker 14: what happens to not only you and your.
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  Speaker 5: Family, but this entire city.
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  Speaker 14: I'll commit to finding a way to communicate with you,
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  Speaker 14: doing what I can to.
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  Speaker 5: Put the things that you want to see put forth
• 11:56
  Speaker 5: into true action. Nothing is ever going to be a guarantee,
• 12:01
  Speaker 5: and politics is going to be involved in everything. But
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  Speaker 5: I want you to know that, man to man.
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  Speaker 15: I really, truly appreciate your continued courage and strength to
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  Speaker 15: come before this body and advocate on behalf of not
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  Speaker 15: only your family.
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  Speaker 5: But all of you. God bless you. Renato, let me
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  Speaker 5: emphasize our relationship, compassion.
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  Speaker 6: You have my cell number. You know you can call
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  Speaker 6: me any time of the day and night. I will
• 12:35
  Speaker 6: share whatever information I have. I will take your message,
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  Speaker 6: your inquiry, anyone that.
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  Speaker 5: You ask me to take to you.
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  Speaker 4: As you well know, I've said publicly, this is horrible
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  Speaker 4: for the city and our nation to have to deal with.
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  Speaker 5: And certainly your family.
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  Speaker 16: Is bearing such a cost that we will never be
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  Speaker 16: able to replace. But the city stands with you as
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  Speaker 16: I cross this city, regardless of what community I'm in.
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  Speaker 5: Your family are in their prayers.
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  Speaker 16: And I know You have to get frustrated because you're
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  Speaker 16: having to deal with a system.
• 13:23
  Speaker 5: That we don't control. Coming out of Washington, we had
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  Speaker 5: a congressional hearing.
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  Speaker 6: Now it's up to Washington to change the laws, the funding.
• 13:32
  Speaker 5: I do understand that the independent investigation is.
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  Speaker 4: Coming soon to a close.
• 13:43
  Speaker 6: I hope we get you something. accountability for the bad actors, murderers.
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  Speaker 6: But I wish there was something I could push a
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  Speaker 6: button to do.
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  Speaker 4: But HVD is not collaborating or interacting.
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  Speaker 5: I'm just telling you that.
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  Speaker 15: And thank you.
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  Speaker 5: Thank you for being here.
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  Speaker 4: Thank you.
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  Speaker 5: I just wanted to say.
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  Speaker 17: My mom, who is obviously still grieving throughout all of
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  Speaker 17: this process. She has shown me courage that I honestly
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  Speaker 17: don't know if she gets the strength from. But she
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  Speaker 17: is always also.
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  Speaker 11: Thinking about others.
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  Speaker 5: And whereas, you know, apart from.
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  Speaker 18: The investigation, there's really nothing else I can do for
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  Speaker 18: my dad. But she also wants, she's also a very
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  Speaker 18: big proponent on the mission to make sure that nothing
• 14:40
  Speaker 18: like this ever happens again.
• 14:42
  Speaker 5: So I know not much can be done for my dad.
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  Speaker 17: Anymore, but I just really want to remind you guys
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  Speaker 17: that there's hundreds of thousands of people living here in.
• 14:53
  Speaker 5: The city of Houston that are just like my.
• 14:55
  Speaker 17: Dad and they need to be protected because nothing can
• 15:00
  Speaker 17: be done for my dad.
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  Speaker 11: He's gone.
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  Speaker 4: Not a lot can be done for the rest of
• 15:05
  Speaker 4: the immigrant community here in Houston.
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: Retired physicist and scientist Jake Kusher made comments to Houston
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: City Council on flock camera usage by HPD.
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  Speaker 19: Well, I did not comment on flock cameras.
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  Speaker 20: My comment is on an investigation that occurred in the
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  Speaker 20: state of Utah regarding interrogation of flock data. And that
• 15:38
  Speaker 20: was done by an independent organization that found a small
• 15:42
  Speaker 20: county in Utah, Weaver County, had.
• 15:45
  Speaker 19: 4.5 million searches of their system. Presumably those are nationwide searches,
• 15:52
  Speaker 19: and they're not interested in Weaver County. They're going all
• 15:55
  Speaker 19: over the country. Of those 4.5 million searches, 1.9 million
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  Speaker 19: came from HPD, from the city of Houston, from Houston
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  Speaker 19: Police Department. So what's happening is there's been mass-scale interrogation
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  Speaker 19: of the National Flock Data System by HPD on behalf
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  Speaker 19: of someone we don't know. There's a really interesting piece
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  Speaker 19: of this, and this is on Reddit, I found this.
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  Speaker 19: Some of the data indicates that the searches were carried
• 16:23
  Speaker 19: out on behalf of immigration investigations. Most of the searches
• 16:28
  Speaker 19: are without attribution at all, so we don't know the cause.
• 16:30
  Speaker 19: And they would either leave it blank, or they would
• 16:33
  Speaker 19: say something silly, like I-N-V.
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  Speaker 21: But again, 40% of the nationwide flock searches from 2022
• 16:44
  Speaker 21: to 2026 were carried out by HPD.
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  Speaker 22: And that implies an automated process that was established by
• 16:53
  Speaker 22: someone at HPD, likely at the behest of.
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  Speaker 5: A higher authority.
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  Speaker 19: And we can all guess who that is. It's probably
• 17:01
  Speaker 19: somebody at DHS.
• 17:03
  Speaker 21: So again, there's some sort of very high-level collaboration.
• 17:05
  Speaker 19: And what's notable is this is from 2022 to 2026.
• 17:08
  Speaker 19: So it spans two different mayors and two different district
• 17:12
  Speaker 19: attorneys and implies a high-level conspiracy to interrogate Flock. There's
• 17:18
  Speaker 19: no way a single person can do 1.9 million searches
• 17:22
  Speaker 19: by hand over 40 years.
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  Speaker 21: That's carried out by an automated process.
• 17:26
  Speaker 19: So likely what's happening.
• 17:27
  Speaker 9: Is there's a plate reader somewhere that's being.
• 17:31
  Speaker 19: That is sending up data, and that plate reader is
• 17:35
  Speaker 19: then transmitting that data to, for instance, DHS. And they're
• 17:40
  Speaker 19: sending those interrogations to HPD, who are then sending out
• 17:44
  Speaker 19: interrogations to PLOC.
• 17:45
  Speaker 5: That's my guess.
• 17:46
  Speaker 9: I do not know.
• 17:47
  Speaker 10: The privacy issue also comes to mind.
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  Speaker 19: Oh, there are privacy issues throughout the country. One very
• 17:55
  Speaker 19: interesting privacy is that many of these municipalities specifically prohibit.
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  Speaker 19: Automated plate reader data to be used to interrogate their
• 18:06
  Speaker 19: camera systems. So HPD may have violated Utah law and
• 18:10
  Speaker 19: many other municipalities.
• 18:12
  Speaker 5: In their actions.
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: That was retired physicist and scientist Jake Kusher commenting to
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: Houston City Council on flock camera usage. Outgoing Congressman Al Green,
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: representing the 9th Congressional District in Houston, Texas, which has
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: since been redistricted and gerrymandered away, filed an article of
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: impeachment of U.S. President Donald Trump over his immigration crackdown.
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: In the resolution filed with the House of Representatives, Greene
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: said Trump had abused his presidential powers by operating U.S.
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection as
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: his vicious, quota-driven, unaccountable paramilitary police force, which Greene said
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: were grounds for impeachment. Green held his fifth annual Slavery
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: Remembrance Day breakfast, where he again stated that slavery in
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: this country should never be forgotten. He again said that
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: this president should be impeached, but first he whispered about
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: former Congressman Mickey Leland.
• 19:15
  Speaker 11: Well, Mickey and I were personal friends. We traveled abroad.
• 19:18
  Speaker 11: We went to Africa. We went to South Africa. We
• 19:22
  Speaker 11: went to Botswana.
• 19:24
  Speaker 13: We went to Angola. We also went to Europe, Paris, England, Cuba.
• 19:29
  Speaker 13: We were good friends. And I recall when he was
• 19:33
  Speaker 13: about to take this fatal trip and he called me.
• 19:38
  Speaker 13: I was in Florida and asked me if I'd like
• 19:40
  Speaker 13: to go along. And I told him that I couldn't
• 19:42
  Speaker 13: make it because of some business. And as a result,
• 19:45
  Speaker 13: he did leave. And the rest, as you know, is history.
• 19:49
  Speaker 13: But he still missed, and I have seen in the
• 19:55
  Speaker 13: country where he had his untimely demise a monument that
• 19:59
  Speaker 13: they have for him in Ethiopia.
• 20:03
  Speaker 11: He made a difference.
• 20:04
  Speaker 13: And he still continues to make a difference after all
• 20:08
  Speaker 13: these years because people invoke his spirit and his love
• 20:12
  Speaker 13: for people. And people want to emulate him because they
• 20:16
  Speaker 13: know that he had a good heart, a strong, strong mind,
• 20:20
  Speaker 13: and willingness to be of service.
• 20:22
  Speaker 10: I hope this is not the last go-around for you,
• 20:25
  Speaker 10: your Slavery Memories Day.
• 20:28
  Speaker 11: No, it's not.
• 20:28
  Speaker 13: It's just the last that I'll be doing it as
• 20:30
  Speaker 13: a congressman from the 9th Congressional District. We plan to
• 20:33
  Speaker 13: continue Slavery Remembrance. We're encouraging others to adopt the holiday
• 20:38
  Speaker 13: or event day. I hate to call it a holiday
• 20:40
  Speaker 13: because people tend to think of holidays as.
• 20:42
  Speaker 11: It's hard.
• 20:43
  Speaker 9: Yes, yes.
• 20:44
  Speaker 11: It's not that. This is a memorial. We're going to memorialize.
• 20:48
  Speaker 13: The persons who commemorate the lives that were lost to slavery.
• 20:53
  Speaker 11: Millions and over 240 years. It was centuries.
• 20:56
  Speaker 13: So we want to make sure that we give them
• 20:59
  Speaker 13: the proper credit that they deserve and the respect that
• 21:03
  Speaker 13: they deserve for what.
• 21:04
  Speaker 11: They did to make America the country it is. And
• 21:06
  Speaker 11: we haven't been doing that.
• 21:08
  Speaker 13: They have just forgotten the foundation of.
• 21:11
  Speaker 11: Mothers and fathers of the country. But we've got to
• 21:13
  Speaker 11: change that.
• 21:14
  Speaker 13: So I'm encouraging everybody to recognize August as Slavery Remembrance
• 21:16
  Speaker 13: Month and August the 20th as Slavery Remembrance Day. And
• 21:20
  Speaker 13: we have information on it if anybody wants some additional information.
• 21:23
  Speaker 13: Just call our office at 713-383-9234, and we'll share pamphlets
• 21:28
  Speaker 13: with you, and we'll share other information that will give
• 21:31
  Speaker 13: you the opportunity to have a Slavery Remembrance Day event
• 21:34
  Speaker 13: in the month of August.
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: You brought Craig Washington.
• 21:38
  Speaker 10: He was a legend in Houston, Texas.
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: And Mason.
• 21:44
  Speaker 13: Yeah, Craig was a member of Congress, and he left
• 21:46
  Speaker 13: an indelible impression on Congress.
• 21:48
  Speaker 11: People are still talking about his oratory.
• 21:52
  Speaker 13: And he would take to the floor and how he
• 21:54
  Speaker 13: was bold enough to challenge anybody who had a difference
• 21:58
  Speaker 13: of opinion to come down and he would be willing
• 22:00
  Speaker 13: to talk to them on camera, debate on camera. And
• 22:04
  Speaker 13: he just made a difference and he still makes a
• 22:06
  Speaker 13: difference as well. But we had him here today because
• 22:09
  Speaker 13: we want to honor those who have gone on to glory.
• 22:12
  Speaker 13: Nat Turner was the person being honored today. Harriet Tubman
• 22:16
  Speaker 13: was being honored today. But we also want to honor
• 22:18
  Speaker 13: people who are here with us. We have living legends.
• 22:23
  Speaker 13: All of our legends are not behind us.
• 22:27
  Speaker 11: There are some who are still with us.
• 22:29
  Speaker 13: And we want to let young people get a chance
• 22:30
  Speaker 13: to know them and see them so that they can
• 22:33
  Speaker 13: realize that they too can do great things.
• 22:35
  Speaker 11: Greg went to.
• 22:38
  Speaker 13: Black institutions, elementary school, high school, graduated from Thurgood Marshall.
• 22:43
  Speaker 11: School of Law.
• 22:45
  Speaker 13: He was a person who was of the community, and
• 22:49
  Speaker 13: that's not a pejorative in any way. I want people
• 22:52
  Speaker 13: to know that we produced great people from our community, and.
• 22:55
  Speaker 11: He is one of the great people.
• 22:57
  Speaker 10: It's ended with a lot of stuff going on right
• 23:00
  Speaker 10: now in this country.
• 23:02
  Speaker 11: Every day is.
• 23:06
  Speaker 10: Every day is something different and something that the president
• 23:09
  Speaker 10: is making a killing financially.
• 23:12
  Speaker 13: Well, he's making a killing financially, but there's some other things.
• 23:14
  Speaker 13: For example, Harriet Tubman was to be on the $ 20 bill.
• 23:18
  Speaker 13: He's eliminating that. He somehow believes that Dory Miller should
• 23:24
  Speaker 13: not have his name on an aircraft carrier.
• 23:26
  Speaker 11: They were getting ready to do it. He decided to
• 23:28
  Speaker 11: put his name on the aircraft carrier.
• 23:31
  Speaker 5: Who didn't serve.
• 23:32
  Speaker 13: Yeah, didn't serve, but he believes that he should replace
• 23:34
  Speaker 13: Dorie Miller. And the list goes on and on. You
• 23:37
  Speaker 13: can look at what's happened to the Voting Rights Act,
• 23:39
  Speaker 13: how it's been eviscerated, how health care is being denied
• 23:44
  Speaker 13: those who really need it and who can't afford it.
• 23:47
  Speaker 11: So many ugly things are happening.
• 23:49
  Speaker 13: This is why our theme this year was Harder Yet
• 23:51
  Speaker 13: May Be the Fight, because we, some of us, have
• 23:54
  Speaker 13: come to believe that maybe this isn't the fight that
• 23:57
  Speaker 13: our foreparents engaged in and that we moved on.
• 24:00
  Speaker 11: But it's not true. This is still a fight, and
• 24:03
  Speaker 11: we're still in it.
• 24:05
  Speaker 13: And the people who probably said, well, if I had
• 24:08
  Speaker 13: been there, I would have marched across the Edmund Parrish Bridge. Well,
• 24:11
  Speaker 13: You got your chance right now because the Voting Rights
• 24:14
  Speaker 13: Act is under attack. And if you want to do something,
• 24:18
  Speaker 13: then you can protest. This is harder yet may be
• 24:21
  Speaker 13: the fight. And we have to realize it.
• 24:23
  Speaker 11: And C.A.
• 24:24
  Speaker 13: Tenley is the person who gave us those words.
• 24:27
  Speaker 11: They're in a very short poem that he had in song.
• 24:31
  Speaker 11: And the words are.
• 24:32
  Speaker 13: Harder yet may be the fight. Right may often yield
• 24:36
  Speaker 13: to might. Wickedness of while may seem to gain. And
• 24:40
  Speaker 13: Satan's cause may seem to reign.
• 24:43
  Speaker 11: But there's a.
• 24:43
  Speaker 13: God that rules above with a hand of power and
• 24:46
  Speaker 13: a heart of love.
• 24:47
  Speaker 11: And when I'm right, that God will help me fight.
• 24:50
  Speaker 11: Harder yet may be the fight.
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: This year's breakfast honored former U.S. Congressman from Houston, Craig
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: Anthony Washington, who represented the 18th Congressional District in Houston
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: from 1989 to 1993. He also served in the Texas
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: House and Senate. He was known as a great orator
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: and as a politician and as a lawyer. He talked
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: about his predecessor, Mickey Leland, talking him into running for office.
• 25:19
  Speaker 24: Man, I was in a bar having a drink one
• 25:21
  Speaker 24: night over there. You know where Rawson's is over there
• 25:24
  Speaker 24: on sophomore? There used to be a nightclub and they
• 25:28
  Speaker 24: would have... You know, John Bean, they couldn't go to
• 25:32
  Speaker 24: the white club. So Bobby Bland and places like that
• 25:36
  Speaker 24: were closed. We were in there. It wasn't no big
• 25:39
  Speaker 24: night when there was no entertainment. Entertainment was on the weekend.
• 25:42
  Speaker 24: We were sitting there having a drink, and Mickey burst
• 25:45
  Speaker 24: through the door and said, they just created single-member districts
• 25:48
  Speaker 24: for Houston. I said, what is that? So he said,
• 25:50
  Speaker 24: you're going to run for the legislature. Well, Mickey and
• 25:52
  Speaker 24: I had had an argument because he was president of
• 25:57
  Speaker 24: the student body, I was president of the law school,
• 26:00
  Speaker 24: and I didn't consider us to be under that jurisdiction
• 26:02
  Speaker 24: because we were graduate school. So he and I got
• 26:05
  Speaker 24: this close shouting in each other's face. Then we became friends.
• 26:08
  Speaker 24: And so when it was time to run for the legislature,
• 26:11
  Speaker 24: he wanted me to run. So he prepared all my
• 26:13
  Speaker 24: material and all that stuff for me to run for
• 26:15
  Speaker 24: the legislature.
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: Congressman Green says he will continue Slavery Remembrance Day next year,
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: but not as a congressman. Hi, this is Steve Gallington,
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: producer and host of The People's News. The People's News
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: is people-powered news. We are free to report the unvarnished
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: and unspun truth and challenge the status quo of corporate
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: propaganda and social media advertising disguised as real news. Shiny
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: new one-hour episodes of The People's News drop each Sunday
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: on The People's News podcast. Thanks for listening. The University
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: of Houston has launched the Institute for Housing, Homelessness, and Health,
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: an ambitious new university-wide initiative under UH Health that brings
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: together expertise in healthcare, social work, public policy, law, data science,
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: and other disciplines to help communities better understand and ultimately
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: end homelessness. Dr. Benjamin King is an associate professor in
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: the Department of Health Systems and Population of Health Science,
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: as well as behavioral and social science in the Tillman J.
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: Fertitta Family College of Medicine.
• 27:28
  Speaker 10: It's a new program in understanding homelessness and trying to
• 27:36
  Speaker 10: help the homeless population here because it seems to be
• 27:39
  Speaker 10: shifting on a yearly basis.
• 27:43
  Speaker 25: Well, and it's interesting. Shifting is not necessarily a bad
• 27:47
  Speaker 25: thing as long as we're learning and we're adapting and
• 27:49
  Speaker 25: we're moving forward. So the Institute for Housing, Homelessness, and
• 27:54
  Speaker 25: Health is– a kind of unique opportunity to get the
• 28:04
  Speaker 25: university involved in a way that's unique to the university
• 28:08
  Speaker 25: in trying to lean in and help with the problem,
• 28:12
  Speaker 25: the issue of homelessness, which of course is a massively
• 28:16
  Speaker 25: complex and interdisciplinary sort of failing across a lot of
• 28:21
  Speaker 25: different mechanisms. So there's not a simple solution. of course,
• 28:27
  Speaker 25: to what creates homelessness. And as a result, there's not
• 28:30
  Speaker 25: a simple, easy answer to how to solve it. But
• 28:34
  Speaker 25: what we need, what we know we need, and I've
• 28:36
  Speaker 25: been working with the community for several years now through
• 28:41
  Speaker 25: different evaluation efforts, as well as even just strategic planning,
• 28:46
  Speaker 25: among other things. We've been looking at how the community
• 28:51
  Speaker 25: can pivot under the new policy environment but also how
• 28:56
  Speaker 25: to be smarter about making investments and new strategies throughout
• 29:02
  Speaker 25: so that we can find a better way to deliver
• 29:08
  Speaker 25: services in a way that's more effective, more efficient for
• 29:11
  Speaker 25: everybody involved.
• 29:13
  Speaker 10: And I was going to bring up, well, we'll get
• 29:16
  Speaker 10: into it, but the way that you've seen panels homeless
• 29:20
  Speaker 10: this year, it changes. It's not very... I guess it's
• 29:26
  Speaker 10: because they've moved the homeless out of downtown because of
• 29:31
  Speaker 10: gentrification and because of the Better Houston Partnership wanting to
• 29:36
  Speaker 10: try to move the problems elsewhere. So now we see homelessness,
• 29:43
  Speaker 10: more homeless people that's visible in the surrounding neighborhoods, which
• 29:48
  Speaker 10: they are like, well, we don't want that in our neighborhood.
• 29:51
  Speaker 10: And now you've got this situation where it's, okay, we
• 29:54
  Speaker 10: have a homeless problem, but nobody wants to deal with it.
• 29:57
  Speaker 25: Yeah, there are. I will say there are a lot
• 29:59
  Speaker 25: of community programs already in place doing great work. And
• 30:04
  Speaker 25: part of what we hope to do is partner with
• 30:07
  Speaker 25: them to try to make that work more effective. So
• 30:11
  Speaker 25: the Institute's purpose is to help Houston take the next
• 30:15
  Speaker 25: step in addressing homelessness. We had a lot of success
• 30:19
  Speaker 25: for about a decade and a half. starting around 2012,
• 30:24
  Speaker 25: a lot of people will point to that in the
• 30:25
  Speaker 25: community as the first time that we came together and
• 30:28
  Speaker 25: started getting really organized around the system and solving that.
• 30:33
  Speaker 25: And there was a lot of progress early on, particularly
• 30:36
  Speaker 25: because of investments in housing. And what we've seen is
• 30:39
  Speaker 25: that that's flatlined a little, not because the programs aren't
• 30:42
  Speaker 25: still doing that work. That's how we maintain one of
• 30:46
  Speaker 25: the lowest levels of per capita homelessness of any major
• 30:49
  Speaker 25: city in the country. However, we need to get to
• 30:54
  Speaker 25: that next step, get to that next leap, really, requires
• 30:57
  Speaker 25: a level of systems intelligence that just is very hard
• 31:00
  Speaker 25: to achieve across all of these different independently operating agencies.
• 31:05
  Speaker 25: So the intent is to get us there by bringing
• 31:09
  Speaker 25: the university strength to the table. As I was saying,
• 31:11
  Speaker 25: we're not a direct service provider, and we're not trying
• 31:13
  Speaker 25: to replace the organizations already doing this work. IH3 is
• 31:18
  Speaker 25: designed to support them, essentially, by helping connect data, evaluate
• 31:22
  Speaker 25: what works and identify where the systems and the system
• 31:26
  Speaker 25: overall and individual programs can both function better by testing
• 31:30
  Speaker 25: promising ideas. And then the other element of this is
• 31:33
  Speaker 25: the university is the largest resource of workforce in the community,
• 31:38
  Speaker 25: not just in social services, but across almost every sector.
• 31:42
  Speaker 25: So training the next generation of professionals, both for the
• 31:45
  Speaker 25: nonprofit sector and the larger community who are going to
• 31:48
  Speaker 25: either work in housing, healthcare, social services, policy, industry, so
• 31:53
  Speaker 25: they have a better understanding of what causes homelessness and
• 31:56
  Speaker 25: what the solutions are. And so at its core, the
• 31:59
  Speaker 25: goal is to help the community learn faster and coordinate
• 32:02
  Speaker 25: better and make strong, focused, data-driven decisions with the help
• 32:08
  Speaker 25: of analytics and systems intelligence tools that we can bring
• 32:12
  Speaker 25: to the table.
• 32:13
  Speaker 10: Because we know we had problems with, we have vets
• 32:16
  Speaker 10: that are homeless and we have organizations.
• 32:18
  Speaker 25: That deal with that.
• 32:20
  Speaker 10: But now we have the working homeless, people that do
• 32:24
  Speaker 10: work but don't have the funds to try to keep housing.
• 32:29
  Speaker 25: You know, I will simply say that's a great question,
• 32:34
  Speaker 25: and it's an area we need to learn and understand better.
• 32:36
  Speaker 25: Folks that are in that group that you just outlined,
• 32:40
  Speaker 25: sometimes we think of that as just below the ALICE population,
• 32:45
  Speaker 25: that asset-limited, income-constrained, but still employed population. population. And that
• 32:50
  Speaker 25: group is growing. And being crushed under that, of course,
• 32:54
  Speaker 25: is that working poor population, working homelessness, where a job
• 33:00
  Speaker 25: or a one part-time job or even multiple side gigs
• 33:04
  Speaker 25: is not enough to make a living wage. It's not
• 33:06
  Speaker 25: enough to survive on. And so it's not enough, therefore,
• 33:10
  Speaker 25: to pay for both your food, your utilities and your rent.
• 33:14
  Speaker 25: And we've never seen more people that are in constrained
• 33:19
  Speaker 25: or pressured rent situations than we have this past year.
• 33:23
  Speaker 25: Kinder Institute actually does some fantastic work and recently has
• 33:27
  Speaker 25: released reports that are really startling. The largest population we've
• 33:31
  Speaker 25: ever seen at risk of homelessness and the largest proportion
• 33:35
  Speaker 25: of renters that are over leveraged on their rent, meaning
• 33:40
  Speaker 25: they're paying more than 33% and the group paying more
• 33:42
  Speaker 25: than 50% of their income on their rent, which is unsustainable.
• 33:48
  Speaker 25: So how do we account for that? Part of what
• 33:51
  Speaker 25: we want to do is try to identify what those
• 33:56
  Speaker 25: conditions are and look at the population that's in that space.
• 34:00
  Speaker 25: The level of poverty here, just above the experience of
• 34:04
  Speaker 25: homelessness as well, is part of who we need to consider.
• 34:07
  Speaker 25: That's why the name includes housing. The ability to develop
• 34:12
  Speaker 25: and produce or provide affordable housing that will allow people
• 34:17
  Speaker 25: to avoid entering into houselessness as an outcome is just
• 34:23
  Speaker 25: one of the things that we hope to look into,
• 34:26
  Speaker 25: understanding the drivers of who ends up in homelessness and
• 34:31
  Speaker 25: what solutions might actually prevent that from happening. I think
• 34:34
  Speaker 25: that's going to be fundamental over the coming years as
• 34:37
  Speaker 25: the economy gets constrained or continues to get constrained. Inflation
• 34:41
  Speaker 25: is continuing to be a problem, which means affordability is
• 34:45
  Speaker 25: out of reach for more and more people. We also,
• 34:48
  Speaker 25: within the systems that respond to homelessness, we're seeing similar markers.
• 34:52
  Speaker 25: Every year now for seven years, we see more people
• 34:56
  Speaker 25: that are new entrants into homelessness. First time homelessness experience
• 35:00
  Speaker 25: is going up year after year, meaning more and more
• 35:03
  Speaker 25: people are being newly introduced into the problem. It's not
• 35:06
  Speaker 25: as much cycling anymore. the same population as it is
• 35:09
  Speaker 25: really having to address new folks who are experiencing this
• 35:13
  Speaker 25: problem more over each year, even though the total numbers
• 35:16
  Speaker 25: remain flat because the system is trying to address them
• 35:20
  Speaker 25: as they come in.
• 35:20
  Speaker 9: Right.
• 35:22
  Speaker 11: Right.
• 35:22
  Speaker 25: Really big question. There's a lot of stuff that we
• 35:25
  Speaker 25: can do, but, but a big picture idea that I
• 35:27
  Speaker 25: have is to work on strategies for rapid solutions. People
• 35:31
  Speaker 25: are who are already, and the community has come up
• 35:34
  Speaker 25: with this. This is not my idea. I should clarify. Uh,
• 35:38
  Speaker 25: we have looked at and are trying to pilot rapid
• 35:42
  Speaker 25: responses for people who are otherwise employable, relatively close to
• 35:50
  Speaker 25: being able to get themselves back on their feet, but
• 35:53
  Speaker 25: just need a little bit of help to get either
• 35:56
  Speaker 25: out of homelessness or avoid that houselessness exit, whether it's
• 35:59
  Speaker 25: eviction or just leaving their apartment because they can't afford
• 36:03
  Speaker 25: the rent anymore. You know, How we can stabilize folks
• 36:08
  Speaker 25: in that situation needs to be part of the solution,
• 36:11
  Speaker 25: particularly as we look at a policy environment where housing
• 36:13
  Speaker 25: vouchers and longer-term solutions for people who have spent a
• 36:17
  Speaker 25: long time in homelessness are just not going to be
• 36:19
  Speaker 25: an option for a while.
• 36:20
  Speaker 10: How do people get in touch with you, your organization,
• 36:23
  Speaker 10: the school, and if anybody wants to help out or
• 36:26
  Speaker 10: try to get into the program?
• 36:29
  Speaker 25: Yeah, we're looking for partners. The first year of this
• 36:32
  Speaker 25: build-out is really about building partnerships Community trust. So getting,
• 36:36
  Speaker 25: you know, we work with a lot of community organizations already,
• 36:40
  Speaker 25: but even since the launch, we've been able to meet
• 36:44
  Speaker 25: new ones. And that's been really rewarding to see everyone
• 36:48
  Speaker 25: who's leaning in on this issue throughout the community. So
• 36:50
  Speaker 25: I'm happy to get that question. The easiest way is
• 36:54
  Speaker 25: that we do, we created a website and we created
• 36:56
  Speaker 25: an email. So you can reach out to ih3 at uh.edu
• 37:02
  Speaker 25: is the handle. And again, Would be great to hear
• 37:05
  Speaker 25: from folks. There will be opportunities in the future. We
• 37:10
  Speaker 25: are very, very new and still building out. In fact,
• 37:13
  Speaker 25: I'm still filling a couple of positions and we'll be
• 37:18
  Speaker 25: up and running in no time with opportunities for community
• 37:21
  Speaker 25: organizations to get involved. We'll be holding some community stakeholder
• 37:26
  Speaker 25: meetings and things like that. And I'm also still combing
• 37:29
  Speaker 25: through the university, which is a big, big place. to
• 37:32
  Speaker 25: find all of my faculty partners that want to get
• 37:34
  Speaker 25: involved as well. So that if somebody from the university
• 37:37
  Speaker 25: is listening, uh, know that I'm still in that process.
• 37:40
  Speaker 25: And please also reach out, uh, because we'd love to
• 37:43
  Speaker 25: talk with you as well. Um, it's going to be,
• 37:46
  Speaker 25: you know, this kind of work is an all hands
• 37:48
  Speaker 25: on deck kind of attitude. And we're hoping to be
• 37:51
  Speaker 25: as inclusive as we possibly can in coordinating, uh, what
• 37:54
  Speaker 25: the next steps look like, uh, as we build the
• 37:57
  Speaker 25: systems and the tools that are going to help us
• 38:00
  Speaker 25: move forward. So, Yeah, please do reach out. ih3. uh. edu. There
• 38:06
  Speaker 25: we go.
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: That was Dr. Benjamin King, who is now the founding
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: director of the Institute of Homelessness and Health at the
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: University of Houston. Annual war games that are practiced between
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: the United States, South Korea, and Japan are to show
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: and practice military preparedness in case of a North Korean invasion. But,
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: wanting to suck up to his favorite dictator, Kim Jong-un.
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: The convicted felon in the White House, Donnie Trump, wants
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: to scale back military cooperation with South Korea. We talked
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: to University of Houston professor Chris Bronk from the Hobby
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: School of Public Affairs.
• 38:44
  Speaker 26: The South Koreans face this military power to their north
• 38:49
  Speaker 26: that has been reclusive to the world and is generally disruptive.
• 38:55
  Speaker 26: Do the North Koreans, is there a survival mindset? I mean,
• 38:57
  Speaker 26: it's They have a concept called Juche, which is self-reliance.
• 39:01
  Speaker 26: That is like kind of their core belief. So is
• 39:07
  Speaker 26: it a survival state? It seems to be surviving pretty
• 39:10
  Speaker 26: well these days. I mean, it's definitely a gangster state.
• 39:14
  Speaker 26: It violates the law and uses the methods of organized
• 39:17
  Speaker 26: crime to bring in revenue. And, you know, it's an
• 39:23
  Speaker 26: ally of Russia and Russia. and has some sort of
• 39:27
  Speaker 26: interesting role with China that's not entirely clear. So would
• 39:31
  Speaker 26: I say they're in a survival mode? I'd say they're
• 39:33
  Speaker 26: somewhere beyond that at this point.
• 39:37
  Speaker 10: What do you think the issue is with the United States?
• 39:42
  Speaker 10: When I say Iran has nuclear weapons, but nobody really...
• 39:47
  Speaker 10: From a Western standpoint, other countries talk about it, but
• 39:50
  Speaker 10: in the U.S., it's not really as talked about as
• 39:52
  Speaker 10: it was.
• 39:54
  Speaker 25: What do you feel?
• 39:56
  Speaker 10: It seemed at one time the South Koreans and North
• 39:58
  Speaker 10: Koreans were pretty much, I wouldn't say getting along, but
• 40:02
  Speaker 10: they're pretty peaceful.
• 40:06
  Speaker 26: There was a time about 25 years ago that the
• 40:09
  Speaker 26: North started opening itself up to investment from the South.
• 40:17
  Speaker 26: industrial concerns along the DMZ. There was a corridor that
• 40:22
  Speaker 26: was manufactured basically from Seoul through the DMZ past Panmunjom.
• 40:30
  Speaker 9: And the problem was that.
• 40:33
  Speaker 26: The belief in South Korea was that.
• 40:40
  Speaker 9: These actions to.
• 40:43
  Speaker 26: Show rapprochement between North and South weren't reciprocated upon.
• 40:49
  Speaker 9: So, I mean, first you.
• 40:51
  Speaker 26: Have Kim Jong-il dies, you know, quite a few years
• 40:57
  Speaker 26: ago now.
• 40:58
  Speaker 9: So there's a change in leadership.
• 41:00
  Speaker 26: But really, even before that, basically, a reunified Korea under
• 41:08
  Speaker 26: the banner of the South just was never in the cards.
• 41:12
  Speaker 26: Yet that was what many South Koreans, I felt, And
• 41:16
  Speaker 26: I lived in Korea quite a few years ago now.
• 41:20
  Speaker 26: But essentially the folks who ran the reunification ministry saw
• 41:29
  Speaker 26: reunification as a real option, but that ran afoul of
• 41:36
  Speaker 26: now the third generation of Kims running the country in
• 41:40
  Speaker 26: the North, and it didn't really work for them.
• 41:45
  Speaker 10: Also, I remember when I was there, Hyundai had a
• 41:49
  Speaker 10: plant that had North Korean workers. They had a railroad.
• 41:56
  Speaker 10: The K-Line was supposed to go all the way to Panjang.
• 42:04
  Speaker 10: They canceled that. But it seemed like they liked the
• 42:10
  Speaker 10: funds that were coming from the south when they opened
• 42:12
  Speaker 10: up the plants, the auto plants.
• 42:16
  Speaker 9: I mean, I don't know if there's anything operating like
• 42:18
  Speaker 9: that today. I don't think there is.
• 42:20
  Speaker 11: No, that closed down.
• 42:21
  Speaker 9: It's all gone. But basically, what works for the leadership.
• 42:27
  Speaker 26: In the North is not in balance with what the
• 42:31
  Speaker 26: South wanted. And so now we're stuck with kind of
• 42:35
  Speaker 26: a permanent state of bellicosity between North and South that's
• 42:40
  Speaker 26: gotten much worse.
• 42:43
  Speaker 9: And then North Korea really.
• 42:46
  Speaker 26: Has decided to side with, with, uh, country. And it's
• 42:51
  Speaker 26: a complex relationship. I mean, does South Korea still buy
• 42:53
  Speaker 26: oil and gas from Russia?
• 42:54
  Speaker 11: I believe they do.
• 42:56
  Speaker 9: Japan does too.
• 42:58
  Speaker 26: Um, you know, state of Hawaii is number one source
• 43:01
  Speaker 26: of oil and gas until the Russian invasion of Ukraine
• 43:04
  Speaker 26: was Russia.
• 43:05
  Speaker 9: I mean, Russia has a major presence in Asia.
• 43:08
  Speaker 26: Um, so really the, you know, the question is, you know,
• 43:13
  Speaker 26: why now, you know, why is the Trump administration, uh,
• 43:16
  Speaker 26: trying to curry favor with North Korea and cancel exercises
• 43:20
  Speaker 26: with the South, um, which makes the South Koreans very nervous. And,
• 43:24
  Speaker 26: you know, really the, the issue that I think we're
• 43:28
  Speaker 26: not talking about enough that we should talk about, uh,
• 43:31
  Speaker 26: especially as U S support for South Korean security feels shakier.
• 43:37
  Speaker 26: And the Trump administration has flat out said, we're not
• 43:39
  Speaker 26: going to do these exercises.
• 43:41
  Speaker 9: They antagonize the North. Um, But South.
• 43:44
  Speaker 26: Korea at this point is looking at the United States
• 43:47
  Speaker 26: and saying, well, we've understood that we've had a nuclear
• 43:50
  Speaker 26: agreement with you where you provide us our deterrence.
• 43:54
  Speaker 9: And now we're not sure the Americans will do that.
• 43:57
  Speaker 26: So the South Koreans, I think, are in a really
• 44:00
  Speaker 26: tough spot when Washington wants to suddenly favor... In one minute,
• 44:06
  Speaker 26: Washington is working with the South Koreans on building warships
• 44:09
  Speaker 26: for the United States Navy. And the next minute, they're saying...
• 44:12
  Speaker 26: We don't want to exercise military-to-military anymore because we don't
• 44:15
  Speaker 26: want to antagonize the North.
• 44:17
  Speaker 9: Which is it? And this just speaks.
• 44:20
  Speaker 26: To the extraordinary level of foreign policy ineptitude that exists
• 44:25
  Speaker 26: in the White House now.
• 44:28
  Speaker 10: Yeah, because I try to understand– because Korea's enemy for
• 44:35
  Speaker 10: a long time was Japan because of the atrocities that
• 44:39
  Speaker 10: the Japanese did with Korea. And even still now, there's
• 44:44
  Speaker 10: still skepticism with working with Japan from the South and
• 44:46
  Speaker 10: the North. But what's in it for the Americans? I just,
• 44:51
  Speaker 10: I don't, you know, because the North has been, you know, they,
• 44:55
  Speaker 10: you know, pretty much a dictatorship. They have killed a
• 44:57
  Speaker 10: lot of people. They've killed anybody that's thought about speaking
• 45:02
  Speaker 10: anything Western. Why is this soap opera kindness, so to speak,
• 45:09
  Speaker 10: with North Korea?
• 45:11
  Speaker 26: I mean, I think the simple answer is that it's
• 45:14
  Speaker 26: perceived as a way in which Washington can mediate a
• 45:21
  Speaker 26: crisis or a conflict. You know, I really can't imagine why,
• 45:28
  Speaker 26: you know, Dennis Rodman would.
• 45:30
  Speaker 9: Want to curry favor with the North Koreans.
• 45:32
  Speaker 26: Nor can I really imagine why Donald Trump does. It
• 45:36
  Speaker 26: doesn't make a lot of sense, you know, I think U.S.
• 45:40
  Speaker 26: presidents have shown again and again that the North Korean
• 45:42
  Speaker 26: regime that we have been dealing with since before 1950
• 45:45
  Speaker 26: pretty much stays the same. And, you know, American presidents
• 45:52
  Speaker 26: come and go, but North Korea's Kim family does things
• 45:56
  Speaker 26: their way and, you know, has no interest in losing
• 46:02
  Speaker 26: their position of power anymore.
• 46:05
  Speaker 9: In some form of.
• 46:08
  Speaker 26: Reunification with the South, which is what the South desperately wants.
• 46:12
  Speaker 10: Why does the South desperately want to be unified? Because,
• 46:16
  Speaker 10: you know, the dialects are different, the culture is different.
• 46:19
  Speaker 10: When North Koreans escape to South Korea, some of them
• 46:24
  Speaker 10: go back because they feel ostracized by people.
• 46:29
  Speaker 9: In South Korea. I mean, it's got to be one
• 46:33
  Speaker 9: hell of a culture shock for starters.
• 46:36
  Speaker 26: To leave North Korea. And look, we've seen people who
• 46:40
  Speaker 26: defect out of closed societies, whether it's Iran or Russia
• 46:44
  Speaker 26: or North Korea, they want to go back. I mean,
• 46:47
  Speaker 26: you know, I, you know, I have colleagues and friends
• 46:52
  Speaker 26: who live in other countries and, and, and I'll say,
• 46:56
  Speaker 26: what made you decide to stay? And it's usually something
• 46:59
  Speaker 26: really compelling. So, you know, I'm not going to be
• 47:03
  Speaker 26: an apologist for, for the North Koreans. And I'm certainly
• 47:06
  Speaker 26: not going to say that they have a better system, um,
• 47:09
  Speaker 26: of government than South Korea does. I mean, South Korea,
• 47:12
  Speaker 26: you know, when I lived there was, you know, run
• 47:14
  Speaker 26: by a former dissident who, um, you know, was on
• 47:19
  Speaker 26: his way to being murdered by the Korean version of
• 47:22
  Speaker 26: the CIA. And ultimately it was us diplomats who made
• 47:28
  Speaker 26: that on happen.
• 47:29
  Speaker 9: And maybe, you know, Kim, uh, Um.
• 47:31
  Speaker 26: Kim Dae-jung became president of South Korea and he was
• 47:34
  Speaker 26: not indicted afterwards, which is also something.
• 47:37
  Speaker 9: So, you know, yes, there are North Koreans who want out.
• 47:41
  Speaker 23: Yes.
• 47:41
  Speaker 26: There's starvation in North Korea on a fairly regular basis. Um,
• 47:47
  Speaker 26: and what has been manufactured in North Korea is a
• 47:51
  Speaker 26: society that few people in the West can understand. Um,
• 47:56
  Speaker 26: because it is formed, you know, around a cult of personality.
• 48:01
  Speaker 26: which if a citizen is unwilling to accept, essentially they're.
• 48:07
  Speaker 9: Off to the North Korean version of the gulag, or worse.
• 48:11
  Speaker 10: Yeah, and the South Koreans, you said they desperately want peace.
• 48:19
  Speaker 10: I would imagine it's a lot of money that goes
• 48:22
  Speaker 10: into the military, and I know that.
• 48:27
  Speaker 11: You have to.
• 48:28
  Speaker 10: Have military service as a South Korean. one important force
• 48:32
  Speaker 10: of being from there. So what do you think is
• 48:37
  Speaker 10: going to happen now? Because if they cut the exercises,
• 48:43
  Speaker 10: that would leave South Korea to go other places for support?
• 48:50
  Speaker 26: Yeah, I think that in many ways it drives South
• 48:54
  Speaker 26: Korea to create its own independent nuclear deterrence. The United
• 48:58
  Speaker 26: States isn't interested in South Korean security. South Korea has
• 49:02
  Speaker 26: to become a lot more interested in its own security.
• 49:04
  Speaker 26: I mean, South Korea is one of the world's greatest
• 49:07
  Speaker 26: exporters of military hardware now. I think it's like number
• 49:10
  Speaker 26: two or three in the world. It builds good kit.
• 49:17
  Speaker 26: South Koreans perform national service like this. perform national service,
• 49:21
  Speaker 26: or Finns perform national service. I mean, there are lots
• 49:25
  Speaker 26: of countries in the world that require conscription, and I'm
• 49:28
  Speaker 26: not against it. There are, I think, some very good
• 49:31
  Speaker 26: reasons to have conscription as far as national identity and
• 49:35
  Speaker 26: And really.
• 49:37
  Speaker 9: As a hedge.
• 49:39
  Speaker 26: Against military adventurism as well, lots of North Koreans are
• 49:43
  Speaker 26: also conscripted into the military under terms that are not
• 49:47
  Speaker 26: nearly as favorable as the South Koreans. And so do
• 49:50
  Speaker 26: I see the South Koreans as a bad guy in
• 49:51
  Speaker 26: any of this?
• 49:52
  Speaker 9: Absolutely not.
• 49:54
  Speaker 1: That was Professor Chris Bronk from the University of Houston.
• 49:57
  Speaker 1: And Operation Freedom Edge is set to start on September 7th.
• 50:01
  Speaker 1: Dolly Parton. songwriter, singer, actor, and philanthropist, has died at 80.
• 50:07
  Speaker 1: Dolly grew up poor and never forgot where she came from.
• 50:10
  Speaker 1: With 55 Grammy nominations and 10 wins, Dolly Parton is
• 50:15
  Speaker 1: the third most nominated woman in Grammy history. She was
• 50:18
  Speaker 1: also known for her heart and philanthropy. She gave millions
• 50:22
  Speaker 1: to various organizations. She was loved in the LGBTQ community
• 50:27
  Speaker 1: and was a fierce advocate for them. She never talked politics,
• 50:31
  Speaker 1: but was influential to everyone. Jesse Dayton stands as one
• 50:35
  Speaker 1: of the most dynamic figures in modern American music, seamlessly
• 50:39
  Speaker 1: blending Texas blues, outlaw country, and punk rock into a
• 50:42
  Speaker 1: sound uniquely his own. We talked to him about the
• 50:46
  Speaker 1: legacy of Dolly Parton.
• 50:49
  Speaker 23: Yeah, I mean, the thing with Dolly Parton is, I mean, she,
• 50:54
  Speaker 23: I don't, I never, you know, there's a few of
• 50:56
  Speaker 23: these stars that, that when they pass away, like I
• 50:59
  Speaker 23: felt this way when David Bowie passed away, I felt
• 51:02
  Speaker 23: this way when, you know, just these real icons that you,
• 51:08
  Speaker 23: you look at it like Dolly Parton. We used to
• 51:10
  Speaker 23: watch the Porter Wagner show. Um, yeah, when I was
• 51:16
  Speaker 23: a little kid and, uh, of course later they played reruns,
• 51:19
  Speaker 23: but these weren't reruns, uh, which I'm dating.
• 51:21
  Speaker 11: I'm showing my age now.
• 51:23
  Speaker 23: Um, but, But, you know, we would wait for Dolly
• 51:26
  Speaker 23: Parton to come on the Porter Wagner show. So, and
• 51:29
  Speaker 23: I was a little kid, you know, and it was,
• 51:32
  Speaker 23: you know, it was kind of a country show, family show,
• 51:35
  Speaker 23: like Hee Haw type thing, but more live performances. And,
• 51:39
  Speaker 23: you know, this beautiful hillbilly princess.
• 51:43
  Speaker 9: Would come out and say, this is a new song
• 51:45
  Speaker 9: I wrote.
• 51:47
  Speaker 23: And so I don't really ever remember a time not
• 51:50
  Speaker 23: having Dolly. But of course, you know, you know, the
• 51:54
  Speaker 23: whole thing in this crazy country we're in right now
• 51:57
  Speaker 23: gets politicized. And, and, um, you know, I, I, I
• 52:02
  Speaker 23: posted some stuff about who she was besides the person
• 52:07
  Speaker 23: who wrote the biggest selling ballot of all time and
• 52:10
  Speaker 23: became a huge movie star and icon, you know?
• 52:14
  Speaker 7: Yeah.
• 52:14
  Speaker 10: I remember her as an, I just remember her just, um, not,
• 52:18
  Speaker 10: not sure my age, but you know, first time I
• 52:20
  Speaker 10: saw her, um, was when she did a duet with
• 52:27
  Speaker 10: Kenny Rogers.
• 52:29
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, man.
• 52:30
  Speaker 23: Islands in the Stream.
• 52:32
  Speaker 10: Yeah.
• 52:33
  Speaker 23: And then we've got Tonight, I think was another one.
• 52:36
  Speaker 23: I mean, these are huge crossover pop songs playing all
• 52:39
  Speaker 23: over the world. Whether you like her pop stuff or not,
• 52:45
  Speaker 23: it doesn't matter because billions of people you know she
• 52:50
  Speaker 23: was a one word name and you know some of
• 52:54
  Speaker 23: the other stuff that I think really matters about her
• 52:57
  Speaker 23: besides you know I mean she did write the biggest
• 53:00
  Speaker 23: selling ballot of all time and but she you know
• 53:03
  Speaker 23: she supported Black Lives Matter she was openly supportive of
• 53:08
  Speaker 23: same sex marriage she was deeply loved you know by
• 53:12
  Speaker 23: the LGBTQ community like her and Cher and that kind
• 53:16
  Speaker 23: of thing. She criticized anti-trans legislation and this whole thing
• 53:23
  Speaker 23: about her not being political. I'll tell you something, and
• 53:30
  Speaker 23: this is something I think part of the story is
• 53:34
  Speaker 23: being misconstrued. She was on a Fox interview, Fox TV interview,
• 53:41
  Speaker 23: to do a puff piece about her new record. And
• 53:46
  Speaker 23: there was a guy on there who was an interviewer
• 53:49
  Speaker 23: who was out for blood, trying to make a name
• 53:52
  Speaker 23: for himself. He starts asking her really pointed political questions
• 53:58
  Speaker 23: about trans people and the gay community that loves her
• 54:05
  Speaker 23: so much. And you can tell, by the way, people
• 54:10
  Speaker 23: have had this on repeat on the right. They've had this,
• 54:13
  Speaker 23: if you look, it's all over the internet. But if
• 54:15
  Speaker 23: you look in her face, you can tell she's angry
• 54:18
  Speaker 23: because she's been sideswiped. And she can't win either way.
• 54:22
  Speaker 23: If she says, I don't talk politics, then they get ratings.
• 54:26
  Speaker 23: If she went into it, then they get ratings. But,
• 54:30
  Speaker 23: you know, she won the Courage and Civility Award and
• 54:36
  Speaker 23: won $ 100 million and gave it all back. I mean,
• 54:45
  Speaker 23: she's crazy. She created a whole literacy program for millions
• 54:50
  Speaker 23: of children, underprivileged children, and they would get a book
• 54:54
  Speaker 23: in the mail every month. And every governor of every
• 55:02
  Speaker 23: red state in America tried to deny her funding for that. So,
• 55:09
  Speaker 23: you know, there was a lot going on with Dolly
• 55:11
  Speaker 23: Parton behind the thing. You know, she was just this
• 55:14
  Speaker 23: good old country girl that I want to make everybody,
• 55:17
  Speaker 23: she was not Switzerland and neutral like people think she was.
• 55:22
  Speaker 10: It was funny because she came from Tennessee, and you
• 55:25
  Speaker 10: know how competitive that, you know, the area that she
• 55:29
  Speaker 10: was in, as far as music goes and how strong her.
• 55:31
  Speaker 9: Musical ties were.
• 55:33
  Speaker 10: And, you know, she was able to say no to Elvis.
• 55:38
  Speaker 23: I mean, she said no to Elvis because she didn't
• 55:40
  Speaker 23: want to give up her publishing.
• 55:41
  Speaker 25: Yeah.
• 55:44
  Speaker 23: And, you know, just think how hard it was for
• 55:46
  Speaker 23: a woman, a beautiful woman who's obviously, you know, objectified, which,
• 55:55
  Speaker 23: you know, a friend of mine played bass with her
• 55:58
  Speaker 23: for years and said that she was literally like just
• 56:03
  Speaker 23: the coolest person ever. Like she'd come in and just
• 56:07
  Speaker 23: talk about, you know, her and her husband going to
• 56:11
  Speaker 23: In-N-Out Burger and how her husband loved ACDC. And she,
• 56:16
  Speaker 23: you know, like just regular stuff. But, yeah, what a
• 56:22
  Speaker 23: massive loss, man.
• 56:24
  Speaker 10: And I didn't know her husband was in it. You
• 56:27
  Speaker 10: never heard about her husband. You know, her husband stood
• 56:29
  Speaker 10: by her side the whole time for years, you know.
• 56:32
  Speaker 10: The whole time.
• 56:33
  Speaker 23: She was married forever, you know. But, you know, she
• 56:38
  Speaker 23: had really powerful friends like David Geffen and all these
• 56:42
  Speaker 23: music moguls and film and TV moguls who just adored her. And,
• 56:50
  Speaker 23: you know, it's just a big loss, man. It's sad
• 56:54
  Speaker 23: because we're all getting to that age, you know.
• 56:58
  Speaker 1: That was legendary Jesse Dayton speaking on the death of
• 57:01
  Speaker 1: the legendary Dolly Parton. The People's News is a production
• 57:06
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• 57:09
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  Speaker 1: gallington dot com. Thank you.