Wait...What?!
A group of American friends discuss anything and everything going on that makes them go Wait..What?!
Wait...What?!
Ep.3 Democracy's Last Stand
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This Episode was recorded on May 14.
The Supreme Court is hearing a case on birthright citizenship that could fundamentally redefine who has constitutional rights in the United States and set a dangerous precedent allowing the executive branch to rewrite the Constitution through executive orders.
• Trump's executive order attempts to end birthright citizenship for children born to undocumented immigrants and those on temporary visas
• The 14th Amendment grants citizenship to anyone born on US soil, originally established to protect formerly enslaved people
• Constitutional amendments require two-thirds congressional approval or a convention called by two-thirds of states, followed by ratification by three-fourths of states
• The administration is systematically attacking legal institutions, including arresting judges and elected officials for doing their jobs
• Reports of the administration exploring ways to suspend habeas corpus and reopen Alcatraz as a detention facility raise serious concerns
• New restrictions on freedom of movement include border checkpoints for people trying to leave the US
• Economic impacts of tariffs and policy changes will be felt by summer, with prices expected to rise significantly
• Citizens should consider personal preparations while recognizing the power of non-violent economic protest
Our democracy is at a critical juncture where the fundamental checks and balances have failed. It's up to the people to decide what comes next.
Supreme Court Birthright Citizenship Case
Speaker 1Welcome to the Wait what? Podcast. My name is Acie. I'm here with my co-host, zora. Alex could not join us today and we're just going to jump right into it today. So, zora, I wanted to talk a little bit. I'm a little, you know, nervous about what's going to happen tomorrow in the Supreme Court with birthright citizenship. That's up. With birthright citizenship, that's up. I know you've talked about it a little bit in our previous podcasts, but this is a very very, very important decision.
Speaker 2I mean, I'm like shaking in my boots. You know the Supreme Court is hearing oral arguments. It is probably the most consequential immigration case of our generation. I mean, there's no other way to say it. And it's not even the most consequential immigration case. It is probably one of the most consequential cases of our generation.
Speaker 2It can fundamentally redefine who gets a right in the United States and who is considered to be States and who is considered to be welcomed. In that sense, they're hearing birthright, which is fundamental to our constitution, and should the Supreme Court make a change or side with this regime, then it would mean that the regime that occupies the executive would have the right, by the stroke of a pen, to change the Constitution.
Speaker 1Oh, wow, so the president would have complete power.
Speaker 2I mean yeah, yeah, so there was an executive order. And just to backtrack for those in the back who are catching up with us, there was an executive order on January 20th. The back who are catching up with us. There was an executive order on January 20th day. He took the oath of office and swore to uphold and defend the constitution. This dude goes, hold my beer. Here's an executive order that attempts to end birthright citizenship, so attempts to modify that same constitution he had just sworn to uphold. Cool, but he wanted to end it for children born to undocumented immigrants or those on temporary visas, like tourists and students, et cetera. So, as it stands now, under our laws, under our constitution and the amendments, if you are born on US soil, you are a US citizen. Period, or you know a.
Speaker 2US base or to US parents, right To American parents. You are considered to be a US citizen. That is your birthright citizenship. That is fundamental and foundational to our Constitution. It came about originally. That amendment came about originally to ensure the protections for formally enslaved individuals and their children, formally Black enslaved people in this country to say, oops, we enslaved you, we stole you from your homeland, y'all don't have a country Our bad, we suck.
Speaker 2Here's a constitutional amendment that says that you were born here, so you're a citizen here, and it has evolved right to say who we're going to give access to, who we're going to give access to our country, and it has been a foundational pillar since then. On day one, trump wanted to reinterpret the 14th Amendment and say that they are not. You know, these children who are born to undocumented immigrants or those on a visa are not subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, and basically asking them to revoke their citizenship. And not only that right, it means so not only would a whole bunch of people's citizenship be revoked, but it would also open this door to administratively rewriting the Constitution that the president could create, or the regime occupying the office of the executive could create administrative or executive orders that change the constitution, change who we are as a nation at our core, and if that's the case, we are in a full-ass dictatorship.
Speaker 1Yeah, for sure. I mean everything, like all the exceptions that would have to happen for that.
Executive Power vs Constitutional Rights
Speaker 2But you're looking at it from the perspective of like how does that work in process? Right, and in process, they don't care. What's being created is that. They don't care what kind of procedural nightmares it creates, Because for the people that they want to be deemed citizens, they will be deemed citizens. They're not going to have an issue with citizenship under this. Those that they that they deem worthy of the right.
Speaker 1Like the white South African refugees that just arrived today.
Speaker 2Mm, hmm, given, given, given refugee status. Yep, like them, like them and their children.
Speaker 1So I want to say you know, in this last campaign there was a lot of talk about how Democrats imported people into the United States to vote for them. Illegal immigrants, undocumented people who can't vote, but you know who can vote Refugees who come over here and then apply for citizenship through a process that is open to them. So I just want you to think about that for a second. Like everything that this administration says that the other side does, they do.
Speaker 2Every step of the way, if a boyfriend accuses you of cheating, it's like let me see your phone. And you like give them your phone. And you're like I'm not cheating. And then you're like let me see your phone. And you like give them your phone. And you're like I'm not cheating. And then you're like let me see your phone. They're like, no, because like they're texting a million girls, like you're projecting bro. You're projecting everything that people are feeling about what's wrong with the country. You're like, oh, it's their fault.
Speaker 1And in reality, you're just doing all of those things yeah, well, I feel like we're in like a collective victim blaming situation here.
Speaker 2It's like oh, yeah, we're in an abusive relationship. Uh, I would say we were in an abusive relationship with our government and it was like oh, you're, you're abusive with your words, not your fists. And now we're in the you're abusive with your words, fists, money and everything, the full spectrum of domestic abuse. That's what we're in with our, with our government at this point as a nationwide collective. Um, and we better get out of this real quick, and the only way that's going to happen now is with some swift action.
Speaker 1Um, I met a Reagan Republican yesterday, which you know. When somebody tells me they're a Reagan Republican, I have to ask is it economic or social? Because if you tell me you're an economic Reagan Republican, I'm like I can't. I mean, I just tune out you don't understand economics.
Speaker 2Right, I like trickling down. Reaganomics were good for you, but if you tell me you're like a you weren't at the bottom of that trickle. That's the only way that you liked Reaganomics.
Speaker 1You were at the top of the trickle Right. You were at the top.
Speaker 2You were like oh look, so little of my money is going out. This is great, the little small drips that I. That's the only way you like it.
Speaker 1That's the only way you thought reaganomics was great for you, but this reagan um republican was was a social reagan, republican, and so they voted. They voted for harris. They were. They were like a california reagan republican, right like california voted for reagan because they were like a California Reagan Republican right, like California, voted for Reagan because they were like he's from here, he's an actor Just like Schwarzenegger.
Speaker 2We voted for him too. That's how we got Schwarzenegger. I mean, I'm surprised Trump didn't win on that. But you know, his acting wasn't very good.
Speaker 1No, he's a reality TV. We don't like those in California.
Speaker 2We don't like those in california. We don't like those we don't like those.
Speaker 1We're like. You have to be really good at lying.
Speaker 2Yeah, us to like and so you can't say things like grab them by the pussy, right and I just start kissing them. California. California is not not about that. Me too, life, okay. We're not about, uh, the abusers in that situation.
Speaker 1So you gotta go no, we like scripted television, we like scripted government employee when it comes to that side right, like we're like you have a script, read it, follow it, follow it, follow direction. But yeah, you know, he was just like I just couldn't do it. Like Trump is so, so bad and this was an immigrant. And they were like I liked Reagan being a little bit stricter but he was like pretty socially liberal, so bad, and this was an immigrant. And they were like I, I liked reagan being a little bit stricter, but he was like pretty socially liberal still, and I was like so you were a democrat. That just like to say, say they were republican and he's like.
Speaker 1You don't want to say it I just didn't like that democrat like he was like I come from a very conservative country and I didn't like that democrats were like everyone. Like his issue was more on, you know, like the, he just didn't understand that the trans rights situation, how far that was swinging to the left. And I was like well, you know, people are people and they all just deserve to have the things they want. Like I just don't care why we're arguing about someone getting their medication. Like I don't you know if you like you know we have states that have different policies on different things for that. And like maybe that should have been something that was left to the states.
Speaker 2And he was like well, I just didn't understand the push for it. Single issue voters frustrate me Me too, because you voted on one issue when there's a whole universe of things that are happening and you voted on one issue and ignored all of the rest. Like, at a certain point, you have to do a balancing act, you have to be like hey, yeah, you know, trans rights. I don't really think that, like people's. Like money should be going towards medication, cool. But like, do you think people should? Like we should have due process? Do you think that the executive should have all of the power and be able to undermine the three branches of government and completely eradicate our, you know, constitutional republic? Like, was that what you thought should happen? Or that we should go to a trade war with all of our allies?
Political Projection and Abusive Government
Speaker 1Well, no, he said you know, he did it, he voted for Harris and he was really, really sad when Harris lost. And I was like, so what do you say? And he was like, well, you know, I have grown up in a Republican family, I'm married into a Republican family. And he was like I am really worried about the birthright citizenship, because when he first came here, his child was born when he wasn't a citizen. I was like, well, I think you are now, so it doesn't matter, but I'm not really actually sure on that.
Speaker 2Like, I don't know, it will depend on what happens in the Supreme Court, right, like he was. Like that's the point it's going to depend. And all these people who voted for these vague policies, who never read Project 2025, who have no concept of like what the broader plan is, are in limbo. We don't know what that's going to mean. The child that was born beforehand could be stripped of their immigration status and, to be perfectly honest, what's crazy about all of this is that this regime has already said that they want to start detaining American citizens anyway. So, even if they are unable to strip away the citizenship rights of Americans because, you know, hopefully this case doesn't go in their favor, right?
Speaker 2And the Supreme Court actually upholds the Constitution and doesn't allow the executive to be able to just take over everything, let's hope that. You know. Our checks save place. Yeah, let's hope. But let's say that they don't, right. Let's say that they don't or that they do. Let's say that they do uphold it or that they do. Let's say that they do uphold it. And the administration is already putting together a backup plan for how they are going to arrest people.
Speaker 1American citizens.
Speaker 2Habeas corpus right. Sorry, but the fact that this motherfucker came out of his mouth and said we are actively exploring ways to suspend habeas corpus should have everybody, everybody in the united states, on pins and needles, like, if the hair is not sticking up on the back of your neck now, it should be by the end of this episode, because they are trying to figure out how to be able to snatch you, disappear you and never have to present you before a judge, give you a charge and be able to hold you indefinitely. Not only that, they're trying to reopen Alcatraz. Did you see that?
Speaker 1I did. That's so fucked up.
Speaker 2That thing's been a museum for like 60 years.
Speaker 1It is completely out of commission. But the fact that it was like no, it's known as a torture site, Like it's known as a place that was that had severe human rights violations.
Speaker 2That that's why they want it. I mean, that's the thing, like we have to stop tiptoeing around the reality is like that's why they want it. I mean that's the thing, like we have to stop tiptoeing around the reality, it's like that's why they want it. They want it because it's a torture, it's a torture facility. They want it because people cannot escape Like what Only two people in history have ever escaped Alcatraz, and they had to swim right Because it's a freaking island. Like they want it for that specific purpose. They want to be able to disappear. People there, american citizens, if they don't get this birthright thing passed, american citizens through the suspension of due process, of habeas corpus, and they want to be able to send them to albatross, since el salvador has basically been like wait, we're gonna need some evidence. Sorry, we didn't realize there wasn't any evidence.
Speaker 1I'm so sorry. Did El Salvador show up for the law? El Salvador?
Speaker 2No, El Salvador showed up for money.
Speaker 1I know, but like they're actually, their sticking point is legality, yeah.
Speaker 2I just, I just want people to understand, like, what a switch that is, like they're under a dictatorship. There have been reports that have been put out there that El Salvador was risking something like $300 million that was going to be pulled from them. Hey, we need some evidence at least on the guys that are being sent. And then Trump went and, I guess, talked to Libya and then that's when they came out and said oh, you know what?
Speaker 1we're just going to open Alcatraz, yeah. So yeah, that's scary. Habeas corpus is even more scary.
Speaker 2But then you have to add this in right, Then democracy's done right.
Speaker 2If that's gone, if they remove that Basically, basically so democracy's already gone and now we're just like in the quick fall of it, where everybody's looking around and going, oh, but this thing still exists. And then the next day, oh shit, that's gone. Oh, but this still exists. So we have a semblance of, oh shit, that's gone. Yeah, because it's actually already gone. The fundamentals are already gone. Yeah, because it's actually already gone. The fundamentals are already gone. I mean, when you start arresting mayors for doing their job and judges and judges and indicting federally indicting judges for doing their job, we don't have a checks and balance. That is the literally a representative of the legislative branch and in the judiciary, all being overrun by the executive. That's what checks and balances.
Speaker 1I have a question about Judge Dugan, though. So the whole case is that she asked for a warrant, a judicial warrant, right, and when they couldn't present it, they're saying that that's not legal, that that whatever warrant ICE had should have been fine. But I thought I really don't know, but I thought it was a judicial, signed warrant from a judge that they needed to remove somebody or like for ICE to take him into custody.
Attacking Legal Institutions and Lawyers
Speaker 2Right. Of Judge Sugan's case is that she ruled against executive order 14093, which was eliminating asylum processing in like 30 border districts, so basically saying that people weren't going to be able to do asylum processing in these different border districts. And she was like, nope, that's not going to work, we're going to, I'm going to rule against that. And they were like, nope, that's obstruction.
Speaker 1We're like but the way they're framing it is that it was because she helped an undocumented immigrant escape her courtroom. Because when ICE showed up to the courtroom, they handed her an ICE warrant and she said she needed a judicial warrant or she was going to continue in her court. They interrupted her court to arrest this man, yeah. And then she was like no, this warrant does not work. And like you've interrupted my courtroom and she had every right to be irritated with that and then said, if you come back with this warrant, fine. But then she told the uh, the guy that he could leave because it was a misdemeanor charge. That's what they arrested her for is that she helped an undocumented immigrant evade arrest.
Speaker 1So, I feel like oh yeah.
Speaker 2So they said that she directed him, as an attorney, to exit through a restricted door, bypassing the agents, and that he was later apprehended outside the courthouse after a pursuit but so I'm seeing this like isn't that what we've been told?
Speaker 1that ice needs to have a signed, a warrant signed by a judge, or you don't have to comply. That's what the public has been told, so that when did that change?
Speaker 1because, like I don't even know that that changed, yeah, that that that changed a few weeks ago, but that was after Dugan's case, right? Or was it before to arrest her. See this timeline, this confusion that keeps happening. And, like I follow this stuff, I've been following Dugan's case pretty closely because, you know, it's kind of important to see if, like, judges are going to get into jail, uh, in our country, um, but like the confusion on the timeline, the the massive amount of shit that they are throwing at the wall is what's like keeping anybody from being able to do anything.
Speaker 1I'm doing this podcast and like I feel like I sound like an idiot right now, because I'm just like wait, when did this happen? Because, like every day, like you said earlier, every day it's a different fucking thing. It's like what. I wake up in the morning and I'm like do I even want to look and see what rights I lost today?
Speaker 2no or like no you know, we don't.
Speaker 1Every day. I wake up and I'm like, ah, california. And then I'm like, oh, california, newsom, with the removing people from medical or asking them to pay co-pays now for undocumented immigrants. That happened today, by the way and it's just it's just like what is happening and I get that they're making concessions on the left to like because they need to make presidential runs. But I'm like, are you guys going to ever get it through your heads that like it's not going to matter unless you fight back at this moment?
Speaker 2right like newsom's, lost me and I love newsom.
Speaker 1You know what I mean. Like I have met him personally, I like the man and I'm like you lost me, dude. You lost me with the first with the trans thing like the concessions on that, and now with medical like, and then, oh, making homelessness a crime in california. That's another thing he's doing. So like are you losing?
Speaker 2the Democrat face. Yeah, it's the criminalization of the poor right and it's like all of these economic circumstances that have been created to impoverish people and decimate the middle class. I mean, we've been talking about it for ages, I mean literally decades. We've been talking about the decimation of the middle class and now we're seeing it in full force. You know, you see the tariffs from China. You see the TikTok ban. You see tens of thousands of federal employees being fired, which is a lot of minority people. You see the elimination of, you know, diversity, equity, inclusion. You see the elimination of civil rights protections. All of these things are intended to economically disadvantage a particular class of people or group of people.
Speaker 2Now you see that they're trying to do the mandate of children who are over the age of seven are no longer dependent for the benefits of SNAP, so penalizing, you know, single parents, et cetera. I mean, like the reality is? I mean that was just today. So when we're talking about and now and then you want to criminalize homelessness, so you take away everybody's economic opportunities. You take away the secondary ways in which people were making money, such as like TikTok or online, you know, buying direct from China.
Speaker 2All of these, all of these secondary economies that people were creating to try to maintain and survive in this economy, in this culture, in this country, eliminate their primary jobs and then eliminate the social safety nets that are there to help protect people so that they can find another solution, and then eliminate green spaces and then put ICE agents in communities, and particularly communities of color, to terrorize people and in the schools to terrorize their children. And then you say that you know back in March that ICE has the authority to go into people's homes without warrants. They're not going into somebody's home in Texas or Mississippi. Often, right, you go into somebody's home in Texas or Mississippi or somewhere where they have a castle doctrine and people are armed to the teeth, they will shoot you, you'll end up in a firefight.
Speaker 2They're going to go to the house of somebody in California, though, who is unlikely to have a gun registered in their home right. They're likely to go into many of the Democratic states where people are not armed, or not often as armed as those.
Speaker 1Oh, I'm a.
Speaker 2Democrat and I'm armed. Listen, you are the exception, my dear.
Speaker 1I hate them with a passion, but I have one.
Speaker 2You're like, don't come for me, but the reality is is that they're setting up these conditions to create um, for, for control, to create control and anything else. Any other example or any other rationale that somebody wants to give you is just false. I mean, I've got to go back to the court case in the Supreme Court right now birthright citizenship. I need the audience, I need you guys to understand, right, you guys at home who are listening to us, maybe in the car, wherever you are. Amending the US Constitution is a two-step process, right, it's outlined in Article 5 of the Constitution. The Constitution says itself how to amend it, and so it goes on to say like it is, it's difficult, it's not easy, it's not supposed to be easy. It needs to be an issue that is of such importance that the majority of people agree with it right Across the board, broad support across federal and state governments, so that only really deeply supported issues get added right. So step one is we propose an amendment, and it can be proposed one of two ways. There can be a congressional proposal, which has been the way that any other proposal has happened so far, which requires two-thirds of vote in both the House of Representatives, so 290 out of 435 members, and the US Senate, so 67 out of 100 members. And then, once it's passed, it moves to the states for ratification. The second way is a constitutional convention that's called by the states. This has not been happened. This has not happened right, like we haven't done this before but two-thirds, so 34 out of 50 states.
Speaker 2Basically, their state legislators must call for a convention. The delegates meet to draft amendments. Congress is required to call the convention, but it doesn't control it. The proposed amendments still then get ratified by the states. The second step is to ratify the amendment, and it needs to be ratified by three-fourths of the states. And I'm only saying all of this stuff, and you guys can go look it up in Article 5, right, and get all the specifics that you want. But I say all this to say that it is intentionally difficult. Can you imagine three-fourths of the states agreeing on anything at this point? And so it's intentionally difficult? So for the ability for the executive to be able to change the Constitution with a stroke of their pen, which is effectively what is at risk if the Supreme Court rules in favor of the Trump regime, then we know that our entire Constitution doesn't matter. It could be shredded in a shredder.
Speaker 1It's gone and like that's how crucial this case is this country is full of lawyers, this country is full of judges. Where are they? You know, like, where are all these gigantic law firms? Like I know, half of them have gone off the deep end and have agreed to do whatever, and then the other half are fighting their own battles in court. So is that part of neutering the judicial? I mean, like there's no fighting back.
Speaker 2But this regime passed executive orders against some of the largest law firms in this country and people can't keep up because everything keeps happening. It's getting thrown at us from a million different directions. But this administration passed executive orders against some of the largest law firms in the nation and essentially bullied them into whatever they wanted. And they said we're going to hit you where it hurts, we're going to hit you in your pocketbooks, we're going to remove your federal clearances.
Speaker 2So they couldn't go to court, but they also couldn't defend, because if you can't look at classified documents, how do you vigorously and zealously defend your clients? You can't work that way, right? So they neutered them through this executive order process and then made these deals, basically saying that they wouldn't fight them, and they went after the law firms who had partners or associates that had participated in cases against this administration. So that's one right, that's one thing. Two, they also fired dozens of judge advocates, so JAG lawyers, the military lawyers who back in 2020, stood in the way of Donald Trump and told the military hey, you guys can't do this, you cannot deploy against the American people, this is not okay. When Donald Trump was trying to invoke the Insurrection Act back in 2020, when all the protests erupted with George Floyd, I mean, he was trying to get the US military deployed against the American people then and it was the judge advocates that said hey, no, this is illegal, you can't do that. So in his next term, when he came back into office in January of this year, he came back into office and said you know, I don't think we need those judge advocates anymore. So the safeguard that would help to tell the military when they've crossed the line and what their their constitutional obligation is? They're gone too. So what do you say? Where is the legal fight? They're gone. They're gone too. So what do you say? Where's the legal fight? They're gone.
Speaker 2And you know Pam Bondi, that bitch.
Speaker 2Her brother is running for president of the DC Bar Association right now and people aren't talking about that either.
Speaker 2It's one of the largest bar associations in the country because anybody barred in DC has to be a member of the bar association and while he doesn't directly sanction attorneys, he's in charge of picking the people who do so.
Speaker 2If he becomes, if he gets elected into that position, they will now have this administrative control and direct line control over every bar number of every lawyer barred in Washington DC and able to practice in those courts, every lawyer barred in Washington DC and able to practice in those courts. That's a huge amount of power, and I will I will say this because I just want to make sure that it's clear. He has never openly said where his political allegiance lie. So my statement about this is based on the fact that he is Pam Bonney's brother and we have to look at it in the totality of circumstances, not in the individual instance of him running for president of the Bar Association because, quite frankly, he might be perfectly qualified for that position, but the air of impropriety and the situation that we find ourselves in means that we can't take that risk of this chess piece being moved into the position for attack and absolutely, absolutely we're not sorry.
Speaker 1You know I'm sorry to pam bondy's brother. I said I'm sorry to pam bondy's brother but in this instance your association with your sister, who has fucked shit up for the united states, is going to affect how people vote for you for, for that position, or at least, I hope so, I hope so, I hope so because he's running against someone who is, like literally, a civil rights attorney. So well, I mean, I think, it could go two different ways.
Speaker 1I don't know. I think it's probably not going to go in his favor, but because, especially after this Qatari jet that Bondi's Justice Department has okayed, I don't know if you are a lawyer. I have to think that you know that this is definitely disturbing, Like the gift. You know, like you have to know and vote with your conscience, hopefully.
Speaker 2Yeah, hopefully, but you know this also goes you're like, where are the lawyers? Right, so like, where are the lawyers? Where are the policymakers? Well, that's a pretty big example of like where are the lawyers, the big law firms being attacked, they're rolling over. There's this sort of, you know, undermined air of pressure, I would say, by you know, pam Buddy's brother coming in and running for the president of the bar, which hasn't happened yet. So there's still hope there for those members of the bar in DC. Please make sure that you vote your conscience and understand that we're not telling you who to vote for on this podcast, and understand that we're not telling you who to vote for on this podcast. Right, we're not telling you who to vote for, but please make sure that you do your due diligence about the candidates that are up and recognize that, even if somebody hasn't openly stated their political allegiances, that we have to look at the whole picture and their associations.
Speaker 1I'm not a lawyer and I'm telling you to go uh and vote against anybody's brother. I will tell you because it matters to me but, like you know, do what your conscience tells you. Hopefully your conscience is right, but I will definitely judge you if he wins. I will definitely judge the law, uh profession and the people in it. Just an fyi yeah, I will.
Arrests of Officials Doing Their Jobs
Speaker 2I will judge myself. Um, the the other thing that I want to point out is, like the attacks on we talked about, judge Dugan recognize. The mayor of Newark was arrested for trying to do a site visit on an ICE facility that was not in compliance with the city, that had several citations, that had been out of compliance for years and apparently wasn't operational and then got kicked back into operation and they came to do a site visit in his jurisdiction and they arrested him. This is political targeting. This is law enforcement as a weapon Right Sealed federal charges and DOJ claims of corruption and all these other things. It's like.
Speaker 1Yeah, arresting elected officials is not something we do in the United States. Arresting elected officials let me rephrase for doing their job is not something that we do in the United States up until now.
Speaker 2For doing what they were elected to do.
Speaker 1Correct and we've seen it on multiple different areas, right Like Judge Dugan, Mayor Baraka. So like it's just, it's going to continue if we don't stop it. Again, I want to reiterate, like I did with our last podcast the people have the power. Currently, if you don't act, you know it's gonna go away.
Speaker 2Currently, yeah, currently the opposite word. That is currently because. Let the supreme court rule on the 14th amendment right on birthright citizenship. Let them find a rationale or reason or justification for ending habeas corpus right. Like. Let any of these things, let one of these images or these arrests of a mother being stripped away and black bagged and her infant being taken from her over Mother's Day weekend. Like. Let those crowds that have already started to gather get bigger and this administration get a real reason to to finally get to implement the Insurrection Act, which is what they're waiting for. Right.
Speaker 1That's why what I said in the last podcast works right. What are they going to arrest you for if you just don't show up to work? Last I checked, like you don't have to go to work, that's. That's nonviolent protest, and as the only way that people are going to get their power back in this country is nonviolent protest, because the minute you rise up and you collectively get on the streets, he is going to invoke the Insurrection Act. So the only way to fight this is through what they understand Do not produce anything. Don't reproduce.
Speaker 2Don't produce no reproduce, don't produce and don't spend, and don't spend, don't spend. There's this whole movement about going off the grid, about homesteading, about turning your garden or your apartment or your you know anything into an edible food garden, and there's so many resources online now that tell people how to do it. And it's like remove your dependency from the truck or the ships or anything else, and like I hate to say it because it feels so trad, wifey, but in all honesty it's like learn how to make some bread. Like learn how to make mozzarella cheese. Like do you know how easy it is to make mozzarella cheese? Really, actually, quite easy, you know.
Speaker 2Learn how to grow some some food in your garden. Like make a bold choice to say I will be the master of my fate and the captain of my own soul. Right, like I'm going to take ownership and agency over my family and stop putting it into the hands of these systems that do not one care for you and two are now no longer in existence, because if you keep relying on them, you're not going to have anything. They are being shredded at a rapid, rapid rate and they are just not going to be there and by the summer, even with this deal with China that just came down. You know this standoff, or you know pause for 90 days.
Speaker 1You mean when Trump backed down from everything?
Speaker 2Right because he lost. We're still going to feel it. Americans are going to feel it because the last ships sailed and docked in the harbor already, which means there's no more backup coming from China at this point right now. So even when the ships start moving again, it takes time for those ships to make it across the ocean. So you're going to see it in your grocery store, you're going to see it in prices for a minute, and what we learned from COVID is when the prices go up, they tend not to come back down, because when people realize you're going to pay for it in a free market economy, as they like to call it.
Speaker 2They're not going to bring it back down, just.
Speaker 1But you know also, there's still 30 percent tariffs on China. So regardless of even if the ships come through, it's still going to be more expensive. Yeah, and that's about it. I mean there are. So the Federal Reserve says that it should hit by like end of June, when, like the supplies that people have been hoarding the last few months, like all the suppliers have been, you know, ordering more, all of that runs out. Then they're saying, like end of June, beginning of July, prices you're going to see a price hike and that's like why they're waiting to determine what we're going to see.
Speaker 1You know, have you noticed like the federal federal reserves wording on things? They're like, yeah, you know, the jobs report came out, okay, but remember the tariffs haven't hit yet. Like they always like throw that in at the end now because they're like trying to say like we can't, we're not going to do anything until we see this, see what actually happens and how it affects people. And they're like continually warning without like upsetting this administration, which is a wild thing coming from economists to be like, hey, we're warning you guys, but without like pissing off this administration because nobody wants to be like, hey, we're warning you guys, but without like pissing off this administration, because nobody wants to be next on the hit list yeah, because it's crazy.
Speaker 1I mean every anybody that says anything about this administration like we literally put the bullies and parents that this is american culture, and I'm appalled, you know what I mean. I'm like, um, this is not us, but like that, that that's what happened. It's like we took the school bullies that are that, beat people up and we're like hey, do you guys want to be like the justice department and like it's going just about as well as you would expect that to go?
Freedom of Movement and Restrictive Laws
Speaker 2no-transcript. Don't fly through Newark. It is too dangerous to fly. Those reports that are coming out are wild, by the way, because in the last week the radars have gone down twice at Newark Airport, perhaps even three times, but I can't substantiate the third one, but at least twice in the last week for 30 and 90 seconds. I mean, if you're talking about a plane that's flying as fast as planes fly, coming into land or take off at an airport and they can't talk to air traffic control while in mid flight, that is a recipe for disaster. And the fact that they themselves, the ones who are supposed to be keeping us safe and managing all of this, are like we can't keep you safe, don't fly here is wild, wild. And the fact we had at san francisco airport two other planes that clipped wings and I I know that this wasn't on our agenda, but I I just have to mention it.
Speaker 2There are also reports coming out that at the canadian borders they are now doing checkpoints, not of people coming in but of people who are trying to leave the us, and it it's giving fan-made's tale right. It just reminds me of that episode, I think in like episode three, where they're trying to cross into Canada and the border agents stop them and start asking all these questions. They're like you can't go, you're an American, she can go, she's got a Canadian passport, but you can't go. And they keep the woman there because pregnancy yeah, she's, because she could, she could bear children. But but I just mean that this idea of here's a secondary and tertiary check of where are you going, why are you leaving?
Speaker 2And then this restriction on the freedom of movement. So we're checking the driving ports of how you get out of the country at the Mexico and the Canadian border. And now planes, even the air traffic controllers are saying planes are getting so dangerous to even fly, like the risk itself is dangerous. The radars keep going down and you know, add that into everything else that's going on. You know, add that into everything else that's going on. And people need to realize, you know they're a month if that away from seeing full-on restriction of their movement, from that tipping point of I think things are bad to why didn't I leave?
Speaker 1Well, here's the thing JD Vance just said in I think it was a New York Times interview or to a New York Times reporter, I'm not sure on that, but the new york times is involved in this in one way or the other. But he said that, uh, basically that he wants to restrict women's movement out of state, like just to like check to see if they're pregnant, and if they come back into the state not pregnant that they can be prosecuted, like to do that.
Speaker 2You got a P and a cup or P and a stick. Before you can go on an airplane, before you can travel, I'm not going to.
Speaker 1I mean I wouldn't do it. I would be like go ahead and arrest me.
Speaker 2I'm not, I'm not going to do it, let's. Let's just talk about that for a second.
Speaker 1So much medical information from that. I don't want to give them anything Right Like. There's the other thing If you take a blood sample or a urine sample for me, you can literally see any disease that I have. Like you could do genetic shit with that, like to see if this person's going to have you know healthy Like no, I'm not.
Speaker 1I'm not doing this, so I'm not going to piss in a cup at an airport, and I would suggest you shouldn't either. If that were to come around and like this, this goes again with like Maha.
Speaker 2This is a law that only impacts women. Right, it is. It is a gender based law that they needed to get rid of civil rights to be able to pass. It's a. It's a puzzle. People are forgetting that this shit is a puzzle. Right, they have to put one piece before they can see the next pieces that come into play. So we don't see it, but they have the blueprint. So if you haven't read Project 2025, you should go read it and don't buy it, because now you're just putting money into their pockets. You can find it online for free.
Speaker 2Lots of people have it. It was free for a long time and now that it's the actual law of the land, they turned it into a book to help fund their campaign. They literally are now selling it. So this is a blue book, right, and I just have to reiterate that. Don't buy Project 2025. It used to be free, right. You used to be able to go to their website and download it for free, and now they turn it into a book and now they're charging people for it. Don't buy it, because now you're just funding the whole project, right? Now? I mean in all the ways that they try to make money the Trump coin the airplane. I mean, come on, fucking golden tennis shoes. Now they sell product 2025. There are plenty of versions of it that are free online, that you can get the PDF. So please don't buy it.
Speaker 2But, that being said, the puzzle pieces are there because they have a step-by-step. They're building to something they can't do the restrictive gender laws, if anti-discrimination laws exist. So they have to get rid of the anti-discrimination laws. But they can't just get rid of anti-discrimination laws. They've got to go down and get rid of civil rights. They've got to get rid of the fundamental basis in which we were granted these laws that set the precedent to be able to build to this.
Speaker 2And so, because they've been stripping that away since January 20th, we are now in a situation where they can start proposing these kinds of laws that are restrictive on just women, because we don't have those anti-discrimination laws anymore. We don't have those civil rights laws anymore, because the executive orders have taken them away. And yes, I know people are going to say, oh zora, like those things are going to be litigated. The judiciary judiciary has to deal with that, sure, but in the meantime, until the judiciary says that those are unconstitutional assuming the judiciary has any power at all after you know this current case. That's the law, the executive order is the law, and so they're going to keep rapid firestorming all of these executive orders and these legal changes that are going to impact our daily lives and restrict our freedom of movement. People have to get prepared, whether that is taking an economic stance and, just you know, a day without work, right, a day without work, a week without work, whatever that may be right, a day without work, a week without work, whatever that may be.
Speaker 1No, I mean it has to be. And I think democrats need to like get a lead on this because, like, I'm not telling anybody to do anything, I'm not trying to get arrested, but, um, basically, yeah, that's, I'm giving them a blueprint like that's what you do, stop. Pritzker was like everybody, get in the streets. That's not gonna work because it's gonna invoke the insurrection. What is going to work is stop producing money, but yeah, that's. I mean, that's the only thing that's going to work.
Speaker 2I don't, I don't see, but in addition, individual families, and if we don't get to that place of getting out of this, I think individual families need to also take precautions to protect themselves. They should have an emergency kit at home.
Speaker 2They should have, you know, food and things on hand, and they should also have a plan for what happens if it really starts to tip the point where they can't stay, because some of us can't stay. And for you know, one of my sister-in-law asked me a question the other day and I've still been thinking about it, right. She was like what made the United States so unlivable when you left? That like you felt like you had to flee? And I was like everybody has their point for them. Right, everybody has their point for them. I'm the kind of person that can see puzzles really well when the pieces are scattered all over the table, right, like I can see where they go really, really well.
Economic Impact and Personal Preparation
Speaker 2I know you and I get, we get. We have a similar brain in that way, but you know we can see the puzzle pieces on the table and know where they go fairly quickly, because that's just how our brains work, in that sort of gamified kind of way. And so it was very easy to read Project 2025 and then see it come to life and know that, with the steps that had been taken during the first administration and with the court rulings during the Biden administration, that it was going to pave the way for this regime to hit the ground running in the way that they did. And I left even before the election because I could see the writing on the wall, I could see the narrative and the rhetoric that was coming out around Biden versus Trump, and then I could see it when it came down to, you know, kamala and Trump, and so it was like I want her to win.
Speaker 2I voted right, like I did all those things, but I also recognize that my country, the people of my country, are going to break my heart. Yeah, they did, because they've and they did. You know what? This one issue of abortion or this one issue of this was enough for me to either abstain or vote the other way, as the candidate who's anti-establishment and instead giving them effectively a dictatorship, was necessary, because it was important to me to be able to try to establish something somewhere else on my own terms, not under the cover of darkness and with you know, a hope and a prayer, but with an actual, you know, concerted decision to protect my family. That decision is different for everyone, and today, if I tried to do what I did a year ago today, it would be so difficult because the offices are inundated with all of the trade policies and the issues that this regime has done with the EU.
Speaker 2Immigration has gotten more difficult. More and more denials are coming out for people who are coming for visas trying to do the same thing that I did a year ago. So I did it before anybody did it not before anybody, but I did it before it had become such a big thing. And now that it's such a big thing, people are waiting in lines that are months and months and months long to even get an appointment, and so, you know, you have to ask yourself if this keeps going the way that it's going, can I stay here?
Speaker 2And what I asked my sister-in-law was. You know that question and also, who's going to stop it? Who's going to stop this trajectory? And if it's not going to be the government because we're already seeing that that's not going to happen the checks and balances have failed and it's not going to be the people, necessarily. Hopefully it would be, but if it's not going to be the people, who's left to stop it besides some foreign nation? Right, they're not going to stop on their own free will. So momentum is moving. Something has to stop that momentum. It's not the checks and balances we have in place. It may be the people. If the people do something, but it's unlikely, as from what we're seeing right now, and so it will stop when a foreign nation stops it. So, if that's the case, knowing where it's going, right, read Project 2025, understand where it's going. Can you stay there?
Speaker 1I mean, I would have moved with you had I not had a relationship Like I'll say it like for what it is had I not been in the relationship that I'm in, I would have left this country when you did. But you know, we all have our, the people we have to take care of. Like you had a different situation because you have a child and you want to protect him, I'm me and I have I'm in a relationship with somebody who wants to stay for now, but in the end, I also know for myself that I can leave at any point. So you know, like I have another way that I'm not going to disclose, but I have another way to to not going to disclose. But I have another way to to leave if things were to get bad. But, like most people don't, most you know, like that that is a safety net that you know I hold onto and, if necessary, we'll use, but others don't. And it's getting worse and worse. And you know, man, this country let me down so hard. I was so for it In 2016, when Trump came into power, the first thing that I said was we are going to lose our freedom of movement.
Speaker 1And nobody believed me Nobody, but it was just from what he was saying and then the way that he was vilifying a certain group in his campaign, I was like he's going to go for freedom of movement and here we are, we're there. I mean, it took him a little longer because Biden came in and thank God for that. You know, like Biden didn't do certain things right, I will say that, but at least we had a democracy, democracy.
Speaker 2I mean kind of you know the thing. The thing with Biden that's the Biden administration that's troubling is that it gave a pause and a lull for the things that the first Trump administration did to season right. It gave four years of seasoning to the judges he put on the bench. It gave four years of seasoning for the rules and precedent that they were able to do, to put into place, which set the foundational stage for what we see today. And because it happened under Biden, people don't necessarily associate it. They weren't paying as much attention to it as these seminal cases are now coming up under Trump and realizing oh shit, the puzzle piece was that he did this in 2016. Biden came in but the judges that were already appointed were already there. They're already hearing cases, they're already making rulings that are setting precedent for what is going to be the next thing that comes, which again, is how we got the reversal on Roe v Wade and all of these other things. It's like, oh, you mean, how got the reversal on Roe v Wade and all?
Speaker 1of these other things. It's like oh, you mean how the Republicans? Yeah, mitch McConnell, it's a little too fucking late, dude, you're the one who took the Supreme Court nomination from Obama.
Speaker 2And then did the exact same thing, the exact opposite, during the Trump administration, being like oh, you're outgoing, let's, let's, let's rush through your candidate. You're not a lame duck president. You have the right to choose. This is your constitutional right.
Speaker 1I mean, it's just the level of hypocrisy. Well, you know, I think the Democrats have to at this point, like, see, you can't let it slide Like this is the problem with a Democratic Party. They're like oh, people will learn, will they? They won't. These people will learn, will they? They won't. These people will learn. Like you know how the fuck could you not get a conviction for the man who led the storming of the capital? What the fuck that's like, literally what the fuck that?
Speaker 2is a but it's not that you can't, it's not that you can't, didn't, that's not. You can't I mean that the justice system has always been unjust and depending on what community you're from, you know that right. You ask any black person or latino, or maybe not all latinos, but you ask any black person in the most black people in the country would tell you.
Speaker 1I mean that the justice system has never been fair. Ask any lawyer, because you know what. The first question ask any criminal lawyer. Yeah, you know. The first question they ask you is is it, what is the wider black? Is she wider black? Because it's a different case depending on what they can get. A criminal defense lawyer will tell you right to your face who is it gonna be?
Speaker 1yeah is it gonna be like you're gonna get this or you're gonna get, you know, 20 years in jail. That's the best I could do for you. They don't hide it.
Speaker 2No, of course not, they've never hidden it. They've never hidden it. I mean, it's like when you talk about the, you know um, the book, the, the new jim crow, right, that is all about the criminal justice system. It's all about the modification of a slavery system or an enslavement system into an incarceration system and how those who economically benefited from one continued to economically benefit under the other. And that's why, when people always want to talk about, oh, but there's more Black people doing X, y and Z, and it's like, no, that was intentional. It was intentional because in the Constitution it says that you cannot be enslaved except if you've been convicted of a felony. So well, how do we go from? How do we re-enslave all these people? Well, we just charge them with felonies. I mean, again, it's the thing of the puzzle. It's like people who sit around and go, oh, no, that doesn't happen. That's not how it works. It's like you're the same people who don't think they're coming for you.
Failed Checks and Balances
Speaker 1They don't listen either, though that's the thing. It's like. You're like hey, I could see this whole puzzle and I'm telling you that this is happening, and they're like you're crazy. And then, when we get to that point, they're like oh, I just didn't see it coming. You mean, like when I told you flat out what was going to happen, and then it happened Right. Like I told people in 2016 that he was going to go for freedom of movement and they laughed in my face Like, literally they were like oh, that's never going to happen.
Speaker 1You're being crazy. I'm like, am I? Have you listened to him? I know it's hard, no, but have you listened to what he's saying? I'm going to start to tune out after a while.
Speaker 2But the other thing is is that we've seen it before. There is an example in history nations that have fallen into autocracy or fascism. Like if you see how it happens in those countries where they transition from a democratically based country to fascism. Like there are certain telltale signs that exist all across the board and so you know, if you are ill-informed, then you're not going to notice it. You're going to be able. You're going to think that people are crazy. You're going to think that, oh gosh, that couldn't happen here, because you've been indoctrinated to believe that it couldn't. That's the first part. The indoctrination against truth is the first part.
Speaker 1If you don't believe what you see, you won't believe what's happening and then tell the public that you don't actually need to go to school. Who needs critical thinking? Because you're like right, because they don't ever want people to be critical thinkers, right, you don't need to go to college. You know what they teach you in college how to think in very different scenarios, and they show you what it means to be in a diverse crowd and have different viewpoints. Well, it depends on which college you go to. Well, mostly right, like they, they teach you different, different things from different people in different areas of the world. They teach you more about the world.
Speaker 1I mean, I know people who, before they went to college, had never seen an indian person before, which I know is hard because we're everywhere. But you know, like that kind of thing where it's like you do meet people and you do talk to them and you, because you have to in class, there's a lot of different viewpoints that you hear about in college and you study different things. You know, like you have your general studies in the beginning. It's just to teach you critical thinking, yeah, and to be able to like, look through something and be like, hey, where does this go? And then research it more because you have biased algorithms showing you what you want to see and giving you false confirmation, bias. So it's like you know. I mean, yeah, there's so many ways of attack that the heritage foundation oh yeah, heritage foundation fuck you but has like fucked our country up. And I'm just kind of wondering where the left american uh, I think it's the american institute for progress, where the fuck are you? What are you working on? Would you like to share?
Speaker 2maybe not yet. Hopefully they're working on things that relate to progress and getting us getting us out of this.
Speaker 2They've had to restart everything to be like ah well, we weren't expecting this, but imagine would be amazing to me, um, but you know, and I I think you know, we kind of will land our plan playing safely with this right for this episode. It's just, america will never be what it was like. We we have to understand and and and realize and I think that's what a lot of people don't realize is that it's never going to go back to what it was. All of that is gone, and we all have to accept that it's gone.
Speaker 2What this regime has showed us, for better or for worse, is that the checks and balances were so fractured that they've broken, that the judiciary really doesn't have any bite, that the power of the people can be corrupted and that with this new technology, we can manipulate the minds of the masses of the people can be corrupted and that with this new technology, we can manipulate the minds of the masses to the point where they don't have any knowledge right, they don't know what's real, what's not real, etc. Our government, fundamentally, will never be the same right, and so we either go into full dictatorship, and that is what we become we are a dictatorship or the people build something new. But there is no other alternative, because what was no longer exists and it's up to us to decide what comes.
Speaker 1Well, I think we can end it on that. Thank you for joining us for the Wait what podcast, and we will see you next week.