Highly Jewish
Highly Jewish is a podcast hosted by Tanya, filmed on the move in the car as Tanya drives around LA with guests for candid, wide-ranging conversations.
Each episode unfolds on the road, creating a spontaneous, unfiltered space where real talk happens in real time. From navigating Jewish identity and life in the LGBTQ+ community to politics, food, culture, and everything in between, Tanya steers conversations that are honest, curious, and unapologetically real.
Highly Jewish brings together a diverse mix of guests shaping today’s conversations. Expect raw stories, sharp perspectives, laughs, disagreements, and moments of connection.
Highly Jewish
We're proud Soviet Jews, here's why...
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In this episode of Highly Jewish we have Stella Inger Escobedo, an American television news anchor and reporter who works at One America News Network. She was formerly at KFMB, the CBS affiliate in San Diego where she was the morning and afternoon anchor.
Hi everyone, I'm Tanya with the Highly Jewish podcast in collaboration with Joyce. I'm here with my very dear friend Stella Ingarescobito. She's an Emmy winning journalist. She has a news show on YouTube right now that you have to check out called Stella. She has been all over every news station for many years. There are so many things that I can't wait for her to unpack and tell you. But one of the main things that I love is that we are both Soviets. She actually is herself a Soviet refugee. I am a descendant of Soviet refugees, so I'm just so impressed with everything that she's done, and I feel so blessed to have her in my life and to have her in this one you know car for the show. And I'm glad you guys can join us today.
SPEAKER_02I'm so excited. Let's do this. Alright. Thank you for having me. Alright, cool. We're also in Delmar, which is beautiful. Oh yes, beautiful San Diego. Wait, so you were you were born here?
SPEAKER_05I was born here. I was the only one in my family that was born here. Um 1986. I was born in Hollywood.
SPEAKER_02Oh, okay. For some reason I thought you were born in the former Soviet Union Soviet Union. Oh no, my mom, my mom obviously, they came here actually with the help of the Jewish Federation.
SPEAKER_05Same. Um yeah, same. We'll get to that. I love it. So thank you, Jay Fed.
SPEAKER_02Appreciate you. Um, yeah. So I came here in 1989 uh with the help of the Jewish Federation. Uh we left the former Soviet Union, Uzbekistan, the skent. We left in 18 in 1989. By the time the whole process, you know, you go to Italy, we live there, we waited to be adopted. Was that then the disorder? I thought all of us had a pick stuff there. Yes, we and you know what's interesting is like whenever I tell people about it, they're like, what is that place? Nobody really knows about it. Yeah. But when you speak to people like us, the Jewish refugees who l I guess they just put us all there.
SPEAKER_05Maybe that's what I mean. They do. That's like where that we land, apparently. That's what my parents told me. They they told me the same story.
SPEAKER_02So what year did they come in? 79? 79. Okay. Okay, so 10 years before. Yeah. So there was a whole wave of 79 and then 89. And how old were you when you tamed? Uh what I was seven when we left.
SPEAKER_05How was it for you? Like, did you feel were you like upset to go or were you feeling like relieved?
SPEAKER_02You know, I just I didn't know enough at the time. If you wanted to go into this park in here. I didn't know. I mean, I was seven years old. I had just started school, uh, first grade, and then we left. So there was like a major gap between like my education too. But when I came to America based on my age, they were like, no, you need to be in fourth grade. So I left Russia in first grade and I started here in fourth. Did they explain?
SPEAKER_05Like, did your parents like explain why you all of a sudden were having to move to slightly different countries?
SPEAKER_02Look, we're we're going to America, and you know, thinking back, like I didn't get much of an explanation, but I have two daughters, and I have a five-year-old and I have a nine-year-old, and they ask a lot of questions. Like, I I I probably would have explained, like, my parents really didn't explain much to me. Like, we were leaving, you know, and maybe because of the entire situation. Like, how do you explain to little girls? But again, yeah, what my girls, they ask so many questions. I swear they're like FBI age. I think that's also the nature of the times, too.
SPEAKER_05You're exposed to like an age where information is just at their disposal. Right. It's like, but you know, we were growing up, and it was just whatever we talked about at school with our friends is really what we need.
SPEAKER_02Exactly. So it's a very different. But it's interesting because I said I left in first grade. I only did like one month in first grade, and then before you know it, I was in America in fourth grade. I I was caught up. How did that feel? I don't well, I re the things I do remember is not knowing how to say, like, I need to go to the bathroom. Correct. Okay. And I I at one point I actually I actually ran out of my class. I remember that being traumatizing. I was sitting there and I like raised my hand and I didn't know what to say, and I ran out of my class and everybody like followed me, like, where is she going?
SPEAKER_05Oh my god, that's so funny that you said that at that same experience. Really? Well, I was born here, but at home you were speaking Russian. Right. So I when I in class, like they my mom actually brought me to the doctor, was like, you know, her teachers are concerned that she's like mute, it's because she's not speaking. Yes, it's because of the way your brain operates. But you know, back then, yeah, like in the I definitely had like a bathroom scenario just like that where I just had to like run.
SPEAKER_02Yes. And then they had me in ESL, English English as a second language. So I was at ESL and they had me in like almost until I don't remember, like I might have been middle school or something. They still had me signed up at ESL, and I was like, why am I still at why am I still here? And it's because, well, our education system, unless you like sign out, that's how it works. Like nobody had tested me to see if I was doing okay. That that's why, like, you have to advocate for your kids, and you see what's happening in our school system right now. I know you don't have kids, but still you're aware of like all this. I mean, I want to, yeah.
SPEAKER_05It's gonna be quite the experience. I mean, that's one of the reasons why I'm running for city council because I see that everything is on a local level now, like they know how to start it young, start it local, and by the time it's already spread nationally, it's it's gonna be that much harder to close anything.
SPEAKER_02I'm so happy that you brought that up because I talk about that all the time on on the news, saying that yes, we have to care about you know the Senate, the governor, the president, but really your local elections is where it's at. It's where it starts. Because look at Mamdami, where did he come from? Exactly. Came from he he was like in a he's a state assembly guy, and then before that, like what what what were his credentials? But it's really important to really focus on the lower level too, because that's where it all starts. You know, I can, right? They do great work. They endorse me for my campaign. There you go, because they're tracking people. Yeah, that is their main goal. They're like, there's thousands of those positions. We have to be watching them very carefully to make sure the next Mamdami, the next Kohan Omar, Rashida, we have another. Nithya Raman. Also, what city council? Yeah.
SPEAKER_05City there you go. Yep, exactly. I mean, that's one thing actually I love ICANN for that, and that's why I'm so like blessed that they endorse me. It's because to have a software that's actually tracking it already, like, so we'll know right off the bat who we need to vote out early enough so they don't be get to a point where they can make real damage. And it's like I at this point, we really need to put our resources into that. Like, I love APAC, and I think we absolutely should continue supporting them, but I also think that we need to start looking beyond just well, and I think ICANN is the only place is the only organization that's really doing that.
SPEAKER_02So, again, what what I was saying was I want people to really pay attention to the local politics because it really matters your school board. And for instance, in your schools, even the teachers who are there, it's the indoctrination happens at our universities, okay? You see these students there who become activists. Yeah. Okay, they're becoming activists, then they come out of these universities and then they become your teachers, your kids' teachers. Now they're in our school, then they're running for school board, and it's a whole vicious cycle. And then they run for city council. Then they run for city council.
SPEAKER_05Exactly. It's so it's it's horrifying. And our children are definitely the ones that are dealing with it the most.
SPEAKER_02That's why I think we're just so we're just talking about the school boards and y'all, you know, it's a vicious cycle how they come out and then they're activists, and now, you know. Are you s did you send your kids to Jewish school?
SPEAKER_05Uh yes. Yeah. That's I mean, for me, like I went to Stephen S. Weiss, and I mean, at a time when, you know, like it, I don't know, it certainly didn't feel like the climate now, but I'm so grateful that I was exposed to you know to Hebrew and to Jewish identity. And our identity and like our you know, the way that we value time with our family. I mean, Stephen S. Weiss was reformed, so it's not like I had to follow certain customs, but I got to be exposed to them and I got to, you know, prioritize the fact that like on Fridays we do value some free time with your family.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's such a beautiful. I I love it. I will say though, just because it's a Jewish school doesn't necessarily mean that it's um the best route, you just have to make sure that the administrators and everyone is on the same beautiful.
SPEAKER_05That's what's so scary. Yeah, exactly. Because like finding a school that has the administrators that are not like capitulating to the other side. Like I've also found too, it's like so funny. I see I see so many organizations that say, like, oh, we can't talk politics, don't touch politics. Or like, yeah, you and I are polarizing things for the things that we talk about. All of a sudden, we're funny. Right, but the the blue side can talk politics.
SPEAKER_02They can do feature computers that are on the blue side. Since October 7th, I went so hard protecting my people. I've never said anything that was controversial, okay? And I was called controversial by my own people, okay? By the way, by the Jewish organization that brought me here, okay? The Jewish Federation here in San Diego, basically, I've never said this. I've never come out and said this because I've never named them by name, but it's important to know. But it's important to know that the Jewish Federation came out and somebody wanted me to speak on a panel, and they said I was controversial because I don't know, because I supported Donald Trump for president when he was running for president, basically saying that the policies that he was putting out there were better. And so they came out and said, She can't speak here because she is, you know, uh, what was the word that they used? Um, basically, like I was more radical, and I'm like, what have I said that was radical? But what a missed opportunity. Like, right, you guys brought me here to the United States. Like, I am the living the American dream. Thank you. And I you know what? I don't blame the organization as a whole because every single chapter has their own different people. Yeah. So I get it. Somebody there probably said something. You could exit right here. I that somebody, you know, somebody said something and then they didn't they didn't want me there. And I'm like, oh, but it's okay if influencers take pictures with Obama, Biden. By the way, I voted for Obama. Like I grew up in LA. I did too.
SPEAKER_03Okay, like, come on.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I was studying abroad and I was in I was living I was in Flor I think Florence or Rome at the time. I think I went away for the weekend to Rome, and I watched, I watched him win on TV. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And I was in tears and I was crying and I was like, I was reporting on it. I was literally at a watch party reporting on it at the time. I think I was at Palm Springs. I was working for a station there. But you know, it's interesting how you and I, do you get you really do get labeled as being like some kind of radical? Oh my god, are you drinking?
SPEAKER_05Are you serious? Yeah, like I'm a I'm a Trumper. I mean, the gay community has f officially excommunicated me. And what's crazy to me is that like, um, I'm pretty sure like I still sleep with my girlfriend every night. Like, I'm pretty sure I am way gay, guys. And look at what I look like. Like, I feel like they think I look like you. Like, I'm like, guys, like, what happened to eyesight?
SPEAKER_02Like, have we gone blind on the other side? Like, hello. The Trump derangement it's beyond. It's literally the Trump derangement is insane. So it's really insane.
SPEAKER_05It's really so nuts. The queers literally are like you don't belong in our spaces. And I'm like, what exactly does it like? If you're supposed to be a space for gay people, then that's the baseline. Like the gay part, not all of the other things that you expect someone to be have to be a part of. Like the intersectionality of all of these causes and of all these feelings that have no sense. Like, I literally saw signs at one point that said like abortion is Palestinian rights. And I'm like, what are you even saying? Like, I it's just it's it's word salad, nothing makes any sense. Nothing. It's queers for Palestinians. It's it's beyond rights. It's really painful and crazy. So, yes, I've been by my own side, I've been told that I'm nuts. I've been in, you know, I've been in like a log cabin meeting. Yeah. You know, and I like it's so nice to be in a room with like so many like gay Republicans, but it's sad because I've had conversations with people that have said, you know, like that they are afraid to come out as Republican because they're so afraid of being physically assaulted by the other side. And you know, my response to that is you know what? Like, there was a time where we were afraid to come out as gay because we were afraid the other side was gonna hurt us. Yes. So the only way through that is by coming out and becoming so visible, and to also like remember that two million more people in this country voted for Trump. We are not in the minority here. Two million? Yeah, we're in the popular vote. I think two million more people voted for Trump.
SPEAKER_03Oh, yeah, no, no, but the total vote was no more.
SPEAKER_05No, I mean, but I'm saying that yes, there were two million more people that voted for Trump. Yes. So we're in the majority. So like we act like we're this like small, like little group that's about to get killed. I'm like, guys, like if anything, like Trump winning showed you that that's definitely not the case.
SPEAKER_02But isn't it so empowering to come out? Okay, absolutely. And when I said I've already joined, okay, so I think I'm addicted to coming out. Like, no, no, no, but I don't know about it. But I don't but I don't know if your viewers know this. Like when you and I first met and I first interviewed you on TV. You did, yeah. You were a little nervous because you had just come out. Yeah, literally, yeah. You literally had just come out, and I remember speaking to you, and I was like, gosh, she sounds so much like me when I was like just coming out because I worked in mainstream media for the longest time, and you literally had to be on an island, like when you talked about these situations, right? You're like, they're like two other people, three other people, because you don't want everybody to hate you, right? And then you finally come out and you just say, I remember the day that I came out. How long did it take you to get from faking the funk to coming out? A couple years because I was working in mainstream media. Oh no, maybe so 2016 to 2020. Yeah. Okay, so yeah, 2021-ish. So it means you finally just you know what put me over the board was uh uh over the edge was COVID. COVID put me over the edge, and I was like, you know what, I'm gonna start speaking my truth. Like, and it's just it it just it just felt good. I said, My parents brought me to this country, we lived under communism, like I have a voice, I'm gonna use it. I mean in Russia, like you know, under communism you couldn't, yeah, well, first so many people couldn't use their voices, but I remember back to what I was saying, like when you know, well, so my coming out was I went to Florida and I went to Trump um Trump International with one of my friends, and I met President Trump. He was there golfing, and I took a picture with him, okay? And I was so excited that I had met him and I thanked him for the Abraham Accords at the time. Yes. Okay. And so I posted that picture. Oh, God. I said despite what he wasn't president, he wasn't even running again. Uh-huh. Was he? Yeah, I don't remember. He hadn't even launched his campaign. It's like, despite what you think about this Wait, no, he must have been what year was this? 2021 Yeah, 2020. Yeah, so yeah, so he had he hadn't launched launched his second campaign yet. Yeah, okay. Yeah. So anyway, the point is, I posted the picture and I was like, despite what you think about the president, President Trump, he wasn't the president at the time, he had been president once, and I said, I met this man, I thanked him for the Abraham Accords, and that was it, you know, and I got so much hate. People unfollowed me. They were like, it was like it I I was like, I couldn't believe it. But then the more I started speaking out about it, the more I had found my voice, the more liberating it was, and I see that a lot of that in you too. Because in the beginning, you were like, okay, I'm a little nervous, I don't know, really sure I really want to talk about it. But but when you actually lean into it and you get more honest, yeah, it's it feels good, doesn't it?
SPEAKER_05Completely. I mean it's it's so liberating because I simply just started to apply the same principle that I had when I came out when I was 14. Where I was like, you know what? Like at the end of the day, I the only truth that I get to live is my own. Right. And I remember, you know, when I was when I was really young, I was always like the tallest like girl in the class, and at that point taller than every boy. Uh-huh. And I was always a tomboy. Right. And I remember like being so alienated, and there was a day where I decided I was in fourth grade. I was like, you know what? I'm going to put on a dress or a skirt or whatever like you know, girly thing that there was, which I never did. And I'm gonna ask the girls to like sort of like teach me how to walk and kind of lean into like trying to be a girl so maybe I can be friends with these people. And the girls laughed at me. And I remembered it, it hurt really bad, but it was also the most liberating moment because then I went home that day and I realized, you know what, no matter how hard I try, they're not gonna like me. And from that moment I started focusing on what I liked about me. And so I'm so grateful and so blessed. Because it could have gone the other way, I could have dug myself further into a hole, or you know, like God forbid, they actually would have liked me and responded well. I could have been, you know, pretending to be someone else for the rest of my life. Yeah. But I learned so quickly that it didn't matter what anybody else was going to say that I was still gonna have to go home with myself. And so when I was able to then take that lesson from fourth grade and apply it to coming out at 14, and then after speaking with you, and I remember I thought that like I sounded terrible. No, and I was like so uncomfortable. And then I remember like look listening to it, and I was like, wow, actually, like I like what I said, right?
SPEAKER_02And I do agree. You're hard on yourself at the moment, completely. And so, yeah, it was and I'm so grateful. And I pushed and I pushed you a little too. You did, and I'm so thankful. Pushing you a bit well, because I know what it feels like. Yeah, I know that feeling of like, and and I remember having when I had my coming up, Trump coming out. This is hilarious.
SPEAKER_05Like, if we have an editor, we're like, Stella came out. Actually, I'm I'm gonna name this episode Stella comes out, and I can't and everyone's gonna run to it. And it's like it's crazy that this is like our coming out stories as Republicans. Like, that's really not that's not.
SPEAKER_02It's crazy, and I remember seeing my friends at the time who were like so brazen and bold and really talking about it. And I remember if you want to make a right here, I remember saying to my my my best friend Siggy, Siggy Flicker, who was on the Real Housewives of New Jersey. Oh yeah, oh I love her so much. Yes, and she like when I started telling her, like, how do you do it? And she's like, What do you mean? She's like, I just don't care. You know, she's like that, you know, she wasn't on the show because they pretty much canceled her because what happened? Because when President Trump was running for for for office the first time around, this was the first time around, they had noticed that she had like some Trump memorabilia at home. Okay, and so then Bravo started like editing things to make her look like she was, you know, whatever they did in the editing, you know, room. And so she learned the hard way. And so when President Trump started talking about fake news and how editing about she's like, I had already experienced that. I mean, yeah, let's get some coffee or water.
SPEAKER_05Um, but yeah. Wow. Well, I mean, so how do you like now do you because I've always said too that like when a bunch of doors close, so much more open. Oh, oh, and I feel like you know, I I just see like how much like I feel like your career is thriving. I mean, you BB was on your show, Trump's been on your show. So I feel like I mean, you're you've made it so far in your career for living authentically, and I feel like that's such a great lesson to people that we don't have to hide how we feel about things and to like remember that like our voice creates nuance and it teaches people to learn some things, and it's so funny. I I like recently I spent time with someone and I posted a picture with them, and someone else was like, but this is how they feel about this subject, and I'm like, Yeah, but I like them for all of the other feelings they have about all of these other subjects. Yes, so you're not supposed to be friends with them, right? Like it's possible to like have now there's certain things that like I won't waver on. Like if you're telling me that it was an apartheid state, we're done. If you're telling me that, you know, that you're anti-Zionist, we're done. Yeah, you know, there's there's some things that I'm just like absolutely not. Yes. But like most things, like I feel like could there could be nuance and there could be some discourse, and that's healthy. That's the point.
SPEAKER_02Not everything is black and white. By the way, do you love McDonald's fries? Because I do. I do, that's what I'm saying.
SPEAKER_03When we're gonna get fry out, then we might as well just get fries.
SPEAKER_02You know, so I will say something. I'm glad that you said, you know, about being authentic, because I've always, you know, COVID woke me up where I would have to like sell things on local news that I didn't agree with, and I'll explain that to you. Oh god, yeah, right too. Okay, so what do you want? Just besides. Just for tries to get it.
SPEAKER_05Uh no, thank you. What do you want to drink? No, it's water. This is on me. No, no, no, please. No, absolutely not. I picked you a stop. No, I'm not doing it.
SPEAKER_04Um, can I get uh a bottle of water? Uh actually, can you make it at two bottles of water? Um and a Diet Coke, or a Coke Zero if you have it.
SPEAKER_05A medium is fine. Thank you so much. And then just the large fries. Wanna just show you a large fries? Okay, and then yeah, we'll share a large fries.
SPEAKER_00A large fries?
SPEAKER_05Yeah. That's it.
SPEAKER_02Perfect.
SPEAKER_05Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_02I love McDonald's. It's the best. Like Jan, honestly, it's the absolute best. So for me, um, I really had it with local mainstream media when I was I was a parent. My daughter was like three years old at the time. Okay. They told me I couldn't come into the office. I couldn't work from the studio, so I had to work from home. Okay. My child couldn't be in school. My babysitter quit on me. Okay. And meanwhile, we weren't talking about the things that other parents were talking about. Like it didn't make sense. Like, and then what if you are a parent who had to go, like, at some point they were like, You have to come back into the office. I said, but I don't have child care.
SPEAKER_05I can't what do you do in that situation?
SPEAKER_02You know what I'm saying? Like, I was in a really bad situation. So this goes to my authenticity, where I had had enough because I'm like, okay, this isn't what I went to USC for. I went to USC broadcast journalism school, and you're supposed to report on the news, not create it. Yep. Okay, like what's happening. And so what had happened was we are we started creating the narrative, and then I started bringing up conversation. I started saying, look, there are parents who are saying X, Y, and Z, I'm in these group chats. There are my next door neighbor is a nurse at a children's hospital, and she's saying that boys are getting myocarditis. Oh, we're not covering that because that creates vaccine hesitancy. That's where my head like that's where it was at, okay? So then now I just want to live my life and and be authentic. And you know what I noticed too? When it started to become authentic, my following just grew because people are like, oh my god, I've been looking for this for. Like my local news is not giving me this voice. So there's a thirst in the United States of America for authenticity because right now it's really hard to get your news. And yeah. And when I did interview BB, you know, I'm sure you got so much flack for that. You have a monster on your TV. You know what I didn't? I pinned it to my social media. As you should. I'm not hiding it. They already hate me for liking Trump. They're gonna hate me for, you know, I love BB.
SPEAKER_05I'm so sorry. I don't know what the problem is here, but he literally just got rid of Khomeini. I don't know. So these people you What are we talking about?
SPEAKER_02I mean, I'm so confused. You know, you just use my fave my favorite line. I started telling people when they start arguing and when I'm like, what are we even talking about here? You're literally obsessed with the$7,000 narrative. You're obsessed with uh APAC, but there are people who literally want to kill us. What are we talking about?
SPEAKER_05Count the money from Qatar and compare it to APAC.
SPEAKER_02China and then what are we doing? What are we doing? Qatar and everything, and you know, you know, there's a point where you know you're debunking it and all that, like since October 7th, like that's all I've been doing is like really debunking, debunking. I'm like, I am so tired of it. Like, what are we talking about here? We have people who want to kill us. We just saw what happened in New York City when people are radicalized, they came to this country, they don't want to assimilate. Okay, you I came here, I assimilated. Okay, my religion does not want to kill anybody, okay? We're not out there killing people. Literally. Okay, nor are we asking you to convert. We barely let you convert. We literally are pushing you away, like you have to crawl. I was in an Uber just recently in New York City, and this guy is from Morocco. He's driving me around, and he's like, Oh my god, oh my god, I love I really would love to go to Morocco one day. He's like, What do you know about Morocco? I said, Well, I know people who lived there, like you're really friendly to the Jewish community. Yeah, we love Jews. We just don't like the Zionists. And so then I was like, Well, what's a what's a Zionist? So we went down this, you know, he's like, Well, Zionists want to take over the world. And I said, Is that the definition of Zionist?
SPEAKER_03I'm sure that's what Islam is doing with it. Uh-huh. He's like, that's the definition of Zionism. He said, Yeah. He's like, he said, no. I'm like, the definition of Zionism is basically Jews, you know, have the right to the whole land. And he said, Which by the way, is this small.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. No, it's like we're conquering New Jersey, guys. And then we went, we went in circles and I said, How many Muslim nations are there? You know, or you know, Muslim majorities, like 50 plus. I'm like, well, how many Jewish countries are there? He stayed quiet, right? And he I go, one, right? I go, what's the problem with that? And then I tr I tried I tried to explain to him the defin what what is Zion? I don't know.
SPEAKER_01What's the definition of Zionism?
SPEAKER_02You have to have these conversations with people.
SPEAKER_03I'm like, I don't know why I have. Was he receptive? He said, we seem like a smart lady. I said, why don't you go home and and and like do your research on this a little bit more?
SPEAKER_01Do I feel like praying in that moment to talk to him? I had somebody else in the car. Which because I would have been. You know, because I usually don't bring up these conversations because yeah, I don't know if they're gonna kill me or what they're gonna do. But I had somebody else in the car.
SPEAKER_05That part is always hard. You know, I um I've always said, you know, like I have to be so mindful. Although I've been told I have to be mindful, and like my girlfriend bought me my my bulletproof vest on our second date because she's so afraid of people attacking and all this stuff, but and there is there's I mean everyone's valid for feeling that way. Did you see what happened in San Jose? Exactly. Okay, so I get it. But but here's the thing I'm a butch lesbian, so until recently, where people now think that I'm a man or want to be a man or whatever, okay, you could look at me and know right away that I'm gay. And if you're a black person, or if you're Hispanic, or if you're anything, or Asian, like you can't hide that, right? So if you're walking out, you're walking out every day in danger to some degree. So for me, I try in every moment to resist the urge to hide my Judaism in a dangerous situation because other people would not have that luxury. And I also feel like I can't take off my gayness, even though my fellow gays now look at me as like, I don't know, a straight woman. I still look like a gay woman, and I am proud of that. And so I have to be the same as a Jew too, which is why I have like this tattoo, which is so great, which is why I still wear this, which is why I have the Israeli flag tattooed. Like, and yes, there are moments when I sit in an Uber and I'm like, oh my god. But I couldn't, you know, I don't walk into an Uber and all of a sudden pretend I'm a straight. It's an it's non-negotiable for you. So it has to be the same for being a Jew. Yeah. Because it is beyond a religion. It is our people, it is our race, it is our ethnicity. Yeah. And the more visible we are about it, I mean it's dangerous, absolutely, but the alternative I think is worse. What? Getting to a point where we have to say, like, well, if that's what they want, but that's what they want.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I don't want to. That's that's literally what they want. And uh if you go straight, if you go straight. Um I will say that um, like back to the San Jose thing that happened, the two guys who were attacked, they were speaking Hebrew. So what was their crime? Crime of being Jewish. But at the same point, this is what globalized the intifada means. It wants us to be quiet and it wants us to hide and No, they and they want to kill us, right? This is what globalized the intifada. What what did they think uh was gonna happen when when they were mar we had the for two years straight, we had protests that said globalize the intifada, and we the minority are trying to tell you, hey, do you know what the intifada is? There were two intifadas already. Do you guys know what that is? Nobody wanted to listen to us.
SPEAKER_05Nope. I have please. I was walking around the day where people said baggage for the intifada. I don't have it, I don't have words for this. Might as well just say like baggage for suicide.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. I just so long. So let me ask you this. What happened, like I feel like your world flipped upside down more than a lot of people too, because you're part of a gay community. No, not anymore. Not anymore, and you're Jewish. Like for me, it was like my world changed because there were certain friends who I've had, you know, for many years, they either just didn't even talk about what would happen on October 7th, which I thought was the weirdest thing, but it wasn't important to them, okay. Or they said a thing here and there, and then continue to be friends with people who are saying the things that I can't stomach, right? That Israel's committing a genocide, so it put me in a weird situation. So what instead of being that person where I'm like, oh my god, I don't want to be friends with you, even though you're the one supporting me, but your friends are not, I just I had to find new friends. Well, for me, I mean it was very simple.
SPEAKER_05Like nobody ever really gave me a choice. I mean, because you have to understand, like, since I have always been an activist for one thing or another, that's that's been the the baseline of me being an activist for standing up for something that you know has meaning. A lot of my friends were like that too, right? And so the moment that I came out and said, like, we need to vote for Trump, I was perceived as someone who betrayed them and someone who abandoned whatever cause I don't even know anymore. Like I was an activist for marriage equality, and we won. Yes, enough! Like we won! Like it and then that's when it changed from just being like a acceptance of equality and finally having equality to now turning into an I like some kind of like ideological push on the entire country. Like it's so crazy why a a a weekend of a pride prey, which I love, which I go to and I look forward to every year, and I can't wait to go in Israel, by the way, which has the best one, but it's okay. That's why we're gonna do that. No, maybe next year now that we're cleaning it up. Yeah, okay. But what am I I ate why do I need every single store to have a rainbow flag? For what? Like that's when it's like getting shoved down everyone's throat and it's no longer about being equal. I care about policy, right? Like it comes to the government, right? I don't even actually care what the politician thinks or feels. He can sit here and tell me that's gonna get something, but if he votes a certain way for me to have a certain right, that's what I care about. Yeah, okay, like for instance, my mother is she would never have an abortion, okay? She would never want me to have an abortion. She's not into abortion at all. She she doesn't she doesn't like it, but she would never vote for someone not to. Because she's like, you know what, it's not my job to dictate how someone needs to live their life. That's how I feel about vaccines as well. If I want a vaccine, fantastic, great. You do, you it is not my place to dictate what you're going to do. Right. So for me, that's a through line along everything. That's why I'm always pro-choice. And I can talk, I'm happy to discuss it with people that disagree. But for me, that's my that's my baseline, right? I believe in not telling people what to do, period. Okay? And so I feel like so. What I love about my mom is that like she can hold her own space for her own opinion. She can believe that she doesn't agree with abortion, but she's not gonna go and impose that on somebody else. So, for example, if I had a politician that I didn't agree with they had to say, but they're still gonna make sure that there is a policy in place that protects me, I care about the policy, not about what's coming out of the person's mouth. And I think that that is what people are like forgetting. They expect government to be like a social justice machine or like a mouthpiece for all of these movements that have to do with feelings, and you know, I don't think that it's about like the basics, which for me, the government should care about safety, should care about making sure that we have an infrastructure that all of us can thrive in, make sure that we have the equality and are protected equally under the law. That's what matters to me personally, right? And so I just feel like the left wants anarchy because they don't care about law, they care about just propagating a certain opinion.
SPEAKER_02Well, so the the Democrats, the moderate Democrats, are not what the left is now. You know what I'm saying? Hmm, the DSA movement is out of control now. The Democrat Socialists of America. Oh, beyond. Oh, beyond. So it's like the left of the left. And so it's really scary because the Democrat Socialists of America said that they now have a hundred thousand members, and they're only growing, and they're pandering to the to to you know, this woke ideology, and it's the it's not even just the woke ideology, because you have the red-green alliance now. You have the red, which is the uh globalist communists, and you have the green, which is the Islamist, which is why they're aligning, which is why, you know, the perfect example this video just came out about the attack at Gracie Mansion, and there's a wokey guy standing there with with with that guy, yeah, with the microphone basically and saying how like we welcome everybody, and then the Islamist is literally throwing the IED over his head. That's literally the red-green alliance. You know what I'm saying? That's where we are, and so the scary part is you have a lot of Democrats, moderate Democrats who are now saying, you know what? Like, this party no longer, like, I don't no longer identify with this party because you have like Governor Newsom who has aspirations to run for president, and he literally just came out and called Island so hard, I don't understand. He called Israel an apartheid state. Well, we know he called Israel an apartheid state. He's pandering to the DSA because I think Hassan gaining foothold. Yeah, this this the streamer Hassan Piker just announced that Newsome is coming on his and Hassan Piker literally was on his streaming and being like, why do we need to like basically saying why we need to have suicide bombers anymore? Well, we can have suicide drones, you could just buy them from China and Russia. He literally said that. He also hit his dog live on his one of his disgusting. And he also campaigned with Mundami. I mean, and Newsom is let's see what happens, okay? I I I can only see like let's see if Newsom will actually go on his streaming service, his podcast, whatever it is, because it's getting really scary because DSA, like you said, is getting a stronghold. We can like DSA is freaking me out here in in LA. Mithia, you know, I I spoke to the CEO of ICANN, and they're not so much worried about her because there's another DSA person running, so there's like there's a clash everywhere. Yeah, cockroaches. Yep. Uh-huh. So yeah. But Newsom guys, watch out for him in California. You know, he hasn't he hasn't come out and said anything. That's the other thing about what happened in New York. Newsom hasn't said anything about the Islamist attack, and that's a mainstream media covering it. They're basically covering it as an attack on Mandami at Gracie Mansion. No, this was not an attack on Gracie Mansion. This was an attack outside of Gracie Mansion on protesters. I'm gonna use their words, peaceful protesters. So they basically were saying, you know, the media's, you know, Mandami comes out and says that, you know, he blames the whole thing on white supremacists. So they they blamed it on the white people. Okay, doesn't matter what you think of Jake, Jake Lang, it was a peaceful protest. In the United States of America, what you can't do is you can't attack people for the sake of trying to kill them, but you can protest. And what that Islamist did was try to kill people. Okay, and the media's covering it up, Mandami's covering it up. Meanwhile, we're having a globalized antifada that's happening.
SPEAKER_05I certainly don't like Nazis.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. I don't I don't like Nazis. I said, despite what you think of Jane Clay Jake Ling, there was a protest happening outside of Gracie Mansion. The attack that happened wasn't an attack on Mundami and his wife, it was against the protesters that they wanted to kill. Yeah, I mean facts absolutely matter, right?
SPEAKER_05And that's what's frustrating is that people just spin the narrative. They try so hard. Well no, they're armoring it up at this point. Well, yeah, I mean, like I saw a clip. I remember when we first struck Iran and the Iranians were in the streets celebrating. There was a reporter that was literally being like encouraged to like say the opposite.
SPEAKER_03Oh, I saw that the CBS reports and he was. He's like, I'm not doing that. Like you know, I I have to tell you something.
SPEAKER_02The beauty of the Iranian community is first of all, there's there are more of them than the Jewish people, okay? The Iranian diaspora is huge. There's like 80, 90 million alone in Iran, and then you have the huge diaspora here in the United States. You cannot cover that up. This is why they they could cover up the Jewish thing, okay? The Jewish thing was easy to cover up because there's not enough of us. There weren't enough of us to go out there and protest every day. The Iranian community is huge, like every single weekend, thousands of people have mobilized every single weekend since since the attacks have have started on the Islamic regime. Um, but so they couldn't cover that up because you see people literally saying, Thank you, Trump, thank you, B. Yeah, thank you, Trump. Like, you can't cover that up.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, there's like there's only so much that you can.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, exactly. What the Jews they did, they try to cover it up, uh, committing a genocide and spin it, and you know, all the all the rest.
SPEAKER_05We also can't forget, like, we're talking about Gracie Manor, and I'm just disgusted at the fact that Mahmoud Khalil, which isn't he not supposed to be here anymore. Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_02I'm confused as to why he's even still in a let me let me blow your mind and make an even better connection there. Okay, so Mahmoud Khalil is that Gracie mansion uh that Mandami posted like a day after the attack. Like, I I did a video, I'm like, we're being punk. Like he didn't have to do that, okay? Meanwhile, he's sitting next to Rama Dawaji, Mandami's wife, who just got exposed for loving Hamas.
SPEAKER_03Which, by the way, we all saw that even when he was running. Like, we knew it wasn't new. This wasn't new, but okay, so the main so it got it got exposed on a bigger level. I'm so glad, but it's like, wait a minute, we're saying so.
SPEAKER_02You have Mahmoud Khalil who loves Hamas, you have Rama Dawaji who loves Hamas, okay? You also have Mandami who loves Hamas, and then uh there's a guy by the name of Ramzi Qasem. Ramzi Kasem was appointed to be New York City's chief legal counsel by Mandami. Ramzi Kasem represented Mahmoud Khalil. Oh, guess who else Ramzi Kasem had represented before in the past? An Al-Qaeda terrorist. Okay? So remember who is always in Mandami's company.
SPEAKER_05I just can't, I mean. But how about the fact how in New York of all places? Like the fact that this is happening in New York City at 9-11. When it struck 9-11, they're still striking. Yeah. It never stopped. Yes. Like the striking never stopped. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And it's just And and how about how about, you know, the media goes after, you know, Sid. You can go straight at a turnaround. Okay, so how about Sid Rosenberg, WABC radio host, who's a good friend of mine? He posts something. I'm a big fan of his. Yeah, he he posted something on X, basically calling him an Islamist, but he's like, I'm so sick of these cockroaches. They turned it against him and saying that he called Muslims cockroaches, which he never did. He was forced to apologize, essentially, okay. But meanwhile, have we heard Mandami apologize for his wife? Oh no, she's a private citizen. Oh, since when? Isn't she the first lady of New York City? Do you see how, like, they're not talking about it?
SPEAKER_05No, because anything that she does, it says, because the people, the media likes what the wife was liking. They agree. All of these news stations that aren't even covering her are those same ones that are.
SPEAKER_02This is why our apartheid state right. This is why, back to your point, being authentic is so important because where are people getting their stuff? If they're follow you, they're getting their stuff from you. Sure. They're following me, they're getting their stuff from me. Like, I know, like, I'll go on there and I'll say, hey, like, this is what the mainstream media is telling you, but I need you to know this. I it's about educating our people because our media has failed. Yep. They have failed, and I spent so many years, more than 15 years in mainstream media. And it's really sad to see what happened. It's really sad that it's no longer about the news anymore, it's about a narrative that they want to create. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05It's really, it's really and it's become so like blatant.
SPEAKER_02Like they're not even hiding. No, they're not hiding. Well, to your point, that CBS reporter where they're telling him, hey, I bet you, because I know how this works, this could there's a control room, there's a producer in the control room, and whoever's in there, another young person who's been activated through our universities, who has an agenda, is like, hey, by the way, they press the you know, the button, they're like, hey, by the way, we want your live hit to be X, Y, and Z. And he's like, No, I'm not.
SPEAKER_05Like, I sorry, because you're gonna lose, you're putting the journalists in a position to completely lose credibility. You know, like that's the problem. The people in the control room are just like using these people as puppets, but like as journalists, like you guys actually care about what you're reported. What is your instead, it's like you're just gonna, you might as well just have an AI robot. Yeah, that's what they're going to do. Yeah, but it's really scary. Yes, you know, and but I am I am constantly just reminding people that we are of the majority, that right now the people that support what's happening, you know, with our taking out the IRGC, um, there's more of us. We're just not as loud. Or like the other side is just so stuck on like being the moral, you know, judge and everything. Like people are like convinced that the left is like the good and the right isn't. And it's it's it's such an insane.
SPEAKER_02It's it's it's it happens from indoctrination. It goes back to the schools, okay? So Yuri Bezmanov, the former KGB defector, who I always refer to, said if you want to take out a country, you take out a country not through bombs, you do it through indoctrination. And that's what's happening right now in our universities. We have two generations that have already been indoctrinated, and that's what happened that's why there's never gonna be peace in Gaza and Israel unless there's no indoctrination for schools. It starts literally with teaching uh these kids in Gaza, like it's not their fault. They grow up, they're being told, you know, my uncle lived in Israel, and he told me, he said, Look, Stella, this is how they look at it. You have a child in Gaza who's standing there, their parents are like, You see that over there? That's all yours. And it's that's occupying. Yeah, that's the enemy. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_05I mean, like, look, I I have to say that for me, everything that I feel compelled to do or say, at least when it comes to being a Jew and being a proud Zionist, that's 1000% thanks to my parents, right? You know, and it's 1,000% to honor the memory of you know my great-grandparents and you know, my great-great uncles that were you know and that were killed in Bobby Art. You know, like yeah, absolutely that matters. So I I certainly have to have empathy for the other side too, that is just likely doing things because their parents, you know, are the ones that told them that. But like right, just so that we need to start changing what the parents need to do.
SPEAKER_02Again, it's you know it's with education. So and and I'm really happy that I can endorsed you and that I can exist. Yeah, and yeah, donate to ICANN, guys. Like, seriously, seriously, I I brought them up. I mean, I the things that I learned from them too. I I think they have what's called the Mandami meter. Is that what's it's called the Mandani index index, and it's like an actual soul. Index. They're calling it the mandami, but uh basically just so people understand what it is, it's like catching more mandamis, like at a lower level. Exactly. But you know, I I just I love what they're doing. I mean, they spoke to their CEO who's telling me about like the indoctrinate like the funding that is coming into K through twelve, yeah, now which is a story that I want to work on too. No, it's like, but they can't track it because there's no laws that have been passed, they passed the house. But they haven't passed the Senate.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So we're sitting on this because the Democrats don't want to vote on it.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, well, the Democrats also have like an issue with like exposing pedophiles and but God knows what else that they don't like. Ghetto, you know, at this point. Yeah, so what's in the works for you now? Like what's what's up next?
SPEAKER_02What are you working on? Well, I have a new show on YouTube, so I hope everyone subscribe. Um, and I'm just gonna continue to do what I do is uh talk to thought leaders, lawmakers across the country, uh, people who are making a difference because that's that's what it's all about. It's about educating people. You know, we're so busy. Whether you're raising your kids and they're going to you know play sports or whatever it is, you're doing you know, you want to be able to have that place where you can go and you can trust. Yeah. So that's the place that I want to be. I want to be that place where people trust, they can get the news from me, and then they can go on with their day. Now they've been educated. I always say, the more you know, the better, you know, the better you do. Yeah, absolutely. That's literally that's what it's all about. It's about, you know, and even when I got into journalism, you know, there were there are people that I followed and watched and really trusted, and I think that's more important now than ever.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, no, absolutely. And I also love the fact that like you've always maintained being honest and truthful. And there have been like things that you and I haven't always agreed on, but we're able to like learn from one another and talk about it. And like I always I love that. Like I remember you were so sweet because you commented something that you disagreed with me on, and you were so sweet to like check with me. And I'm like, no girl, like we're fine. I have to get skin. Yeah, but it's like that's what we've come to, like that just not like you were so sweet in your like on your okay, good. I'm glad you're it's not like you it's not like you had anything to apologize for, but we're so conditioned to think that like just thinking differently is already it has to come with an I'm sorry, right, is what's so crazy.
SPEAKER_02Well, and I just I I remember I commented and I was like, okay, because you you don't know how like things can be interpreted via text or whatever. And so I wanted to make sure, like, hey, love ya, but I don't really see it that way. Right. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, and and it's good, it's good for like conversation, and that's what's happened to the left. Like the tolerant left does not want to have conversations anymore.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, Fetterman is the only one that's willing to he's like talking to himself, him and Bill Maher, honestly. Right, like they're the only ones, and I feel like at this point they're hanging on to being Democrats like for dear life because they're trying so hard to not have to like abandon that. But it's like I think it was like Jillian Michaels who said, like, I'm not the one who changed. The party is like, and I just interviewed her.
SPEAKER_02And so, and so here's here's the thing for me is like, and I learned this in mainstream media diversity of they always talk about diversity, diversity of this diversity. The only thing they don't like is diversity of thought.
SPEAKER_05Literally, it's like you just have to like you can look differently and you can have a different background and you can have a different age, but you have to have the exact same thought. It's like I ain't seen it before, it's a horror.
SPEAKER_02Well, and and and here's what I say, like Barry Weiss, who's now you know the the you know the chief editor for uh CBS, and she's making changes, and I've even made comments on social media and everything. I said the only way that where you're gonna get CBS to change is if really you add diversity of thought, meaning you'll need to add different voices, literally, you'll you'll live physically have to add different people to the mix because then you won't get that diversity of thought if you're trying to change the thought and you have the same talking faces, talking heads, and now you want them to relay a message, it's not gonna be authentic.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, a thousand percent. I I couldn't agree with you more. So that's why I love that we get to do that. Like, I get to have so many different people on my podcast. And the thing is, I will certainly ask for as many people on the other side to want to talk to me, they're just not talking to me. So if you guys want to talk to me, call me. I'm here, I'll pick her. She's your girl. Like, I we'll have a conversation, but so far, only people that agree with me want to have a conversation, and everyone else is like, I don't want to be near you. So I'm like, all right, like until you guys want to talk to me, it is what it is. I hope you get some people on your show, I'm sure you will, that you disagree with. Yes.
SPEAKER_02So I can't wait to watch. Well, good luck to you.
SPEAKER_05Thanks, love. I appreciate it.
SPEAKER_02Okay, so you're running for s for city council. West Hollywood. Okay, West Hollywood. By the way, just a side note, when I was at USC, they made us pick a beat, a city. My beat was West Hollywood. Okay. As a Russian.
SPEAKER_05As on the shakes, because there's such it we're there are 11% of the community. Yeah. So privy, yeah, what should I do? What's up? I love it.
SPEAKER_02Um vote for her, vote for Tanya. And do you have a website? I do.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, it's called We Hope for Change. So W-E-H-O, the number four, uh, and then change.com. And I care about safety, you know, like I care about making sure, you know, they have it's crazy, you can have security. You know, obviously they have cannabis businesses, which I fully support. And they have to have security because I mean people want to rob them all the time. Yep. But the city council doesn't allow the security to be armed.
SPEAKER_02Oh, of course, that's California and West Hollywood. Yeah, I want to have you on my show because did you see how quickly I turned it to the city?
SPEAKER_05I will be I will be on. Yeah, because the journalist said I can't help her. Yes, but yes, absolutely. I'll love to come back. Thank you. Of course, of course. I'll come back with Dylan. Dylan Osier is the CEO of ICANN, and he's, I mean, he I everything that they're doing is so important, and I'm so grateful because it's we it really does start on what level. Absolutely. And so thank you. Thank you for having me. You're the best. Appreciate you.