Transcription
What are you going to talk about?
>> Whenever I have to talk, I just uh I just go into this thing. May I have a phone?
>> Please.
>> I'm going to be your You'll be my talent. No,
>> you don't. Yeah.
>> What? I'm scared of ice.
>> You're scared of ice.
>> Oh my god.
>> If anyone doesn't like to be filmed, just let me know, please. Wait.
>> Oh, just started. Just started.
>> Thank you for letting me know. Sorry.
>> She said a lot of She said a lot of stuff right now.
>> Where am I?
>> So, Little Secret LA Instagram.
>> Okay.
>> Hi, I'm David. I'm I'm from New Zealand. I'm going to be the mildest um speaker tonight cuz in New Zealand we all speak in a very classic, quiet way, which I know is very unamerican. Uh, but I got stranded here 3 years ago during CO. I came over here to work on a documentary and I tried to go back to New Zealand and they closed the border to keep CO out and I got kind of stuck here and I've stayed here ever since. And it's been like a really [ __ ] weird introduction to your country cuz like the last 3 years have been like like deeply weird and then the last couple of months have been like really [ __ ] And so I'm also an outsider and I don't understand this country and I'm very glad to have two very smart, intelligent people that know this country much better than I do. Uh I I thought I'd start with you, Taylor. Um I'll read your work for for years in in the Times and the Washington Post. You're now an author. Um you've got your own newsletter, a podcast. What? Like, can you just explain like just to start things off like where are you at right now with where the [ __ ] America is and where LA is? Because I'm trying to make sense of it all.
>> Uh, oh my gosh, what a what a big question. Um, I don't know. I think we're in a really I think we're in this sort of um pivotal time where things can go kind of a number of ways. Uh, not obviously so far they're not going very well. Uh, but things can change really quickly. Um, I think LA has been so interesting. I'm a New Yorker and I grew up on East Coast. I've lived most of most of my life in New York City. And, um, I think it just Yeah. Uh, I think LA though, you know, especially, uh, with all, you know, what's happening with immigration and everything like is really on the forefront of a lot of stuff. Um, and in terms of activism, um, I'm also involved in like public health advocacy. LA is also very ahead in that. Yes. Um, so yeah, I don't even know if that answered your question, but
>> Hassan, I want to I mean, you speak on politics and what the [ __ ] is going on here on a daily basis to millions of people. Like I'm kind of surprised you're off the stream tonight to be here to talk to like a meager amount of people, but like respect for being here. Uh, what just like as a little as again I'm the outside idiot. I don't understand what the [ __ ] is happening like tonight. Where do you see the city? Because this eye [ __ ] is is it's it's freaking me out.
>> What's up everybody?
>> Having a good night.
>> It's my birthday tonight.
>> Oh man, where do I begin? First and foremost, I didn't realize that this was going to be an outdoor event. So, you guys are getting a real good boot shot and I'm I'm wearing these pants that are that are very airy and it is so cold. It is so cold up here. But, you know, that's that's neither here nor there. So, America. So, I came here 16 years ago uh with big dreams and I thought like, oh my god, America is the land of land of dreams. This is like where, you know, I had the same exact story that many people have. I'm assuming you had something similar when you came here, maybe. And um I think it was my first ambulance ride where I was like, "Oh my god, this [ __ ] sucks." I couldn't believe how expensive it was. And that's when I was like, "Oh, this this is I'm done with this. We got to we need socialism now. Like, this is [ __ ] up." and um it it's kind of been downhill ever since. But I do feel like you uh now that I know your backstory about how you came here and you got kind of trapped here because of co I I feel like you're trying to leave the country by force. like you're trying you're trying to get the Trump administration to kick you out by standing next to someone like myself so that they'll finally you'll have an excuse to go back to New Zealand which I feel like is objectively a better place. I mean 100% I I have this like very privileged place where if I say the wrong thing or or or or say something ridiculous on blue I just go back to New Zealand like I'm fine but I also understand that a lot of people here don't have that and increasingly I feel you know I renew my visa in uh 6 months time and that feels weird because I know that like the administration is going through people's social media but That must be so I I understand that that's the craziest place to be for people that don't have anywhere to go and are looking at this in an entirely different way to me.
>> Yeah, I'll say first of all, they're going to see this. I don't know if you know, I got detained by the border patrol like not that long ago.
>> So, um but all jokes aside, uh yeah, they're they're terrible. Um [ __ ] Ice, obviously. But one thing I will say is I talk to a lot of people um every single year or they'll go to like a chop shop, right? They want to get their car fixed and everything is locked down. And the reason why everything is locked down is because apparently all of the businesses that have, you know, employees that might have their legal status in Limbo or whatever are actively trying to protect their people. They're actively trying to protect their community. So that's one thing that I personally have seen that has made me feel confident about the future of America at least for a little bit because I'm trying to see the silver lining in all of this chaos and madness is that there is definitely a sense of community here and for all the [ __ ] that we get in Los Angeles like we do take care of our friends. We do take care of our neighbors. I mean
>> I was I was out at the uh the Ice Out of LA protest. I got shot at. Uh, I got, you know, starred. This is the the funniest thing is like when people come up to me now, they're like, back in the day, you're like, "Oh my god, you radicalized me." Like, "You changed my perspective. This is so important." Now they come up to me at anime expo and they're like, "Bassan, you radicalize me." And I got shot. You want to see my room? And I'm like, I don't know if I should be celebrating this. Like, I feel kind of feel kind of culpable. This is weird. But um but I have seen a lot of that solidarity here uh in in tough times. So I think if there's something to to feel positive and feel proud about it is that the community does show up and uh that's that's all we have. Obviously we don't have politicians have left. They're clearly not going to save us. the Democratic Party is not going to
>> satisfying to watch cuz I feel like sometimes we forget how insane it is and then it takes this show to come back and like remind us of like how [ __ ] weird it is here. Like it is really weird. Like all the Christian nationalist stuff that's creeping in. It's really weird. And I'm looking at this and you kind of forget how weird it is. And then I was watching that show last night and going, "This is so insane." My point being it feels like there is this weird space where so many people are scared to push back against things whether it's like 16 minutes settling or like people not being scared to like say what they're saying. Both of you are on your own independent platforms where you can say what you say. I'm just curious if you could each speak, maybe you Taylor first speak to how it is to actually like talk to the truth of what's going on here and how scary or not scary that is. I don't know.
>> Yeah, I have not left the country so I've not been detained by Customs and Border Control. I mean, you mentioned South Park and I I think that one thing that I love about America, probably the main and only thing I love about America is the our civil liberties and the the way that people value free speech and um you know, I'm so grateful to have built my own platform and be able to speak more freely outside of the mainstream media, but um we're seeing this like just record kind of assault on free speech, whether it's the media like free speech in terms of news organizations, but also civil liberties and independent free speech online And um you know both the Democrats and the Republicans are aligned on censorship. They're manufacturing a moral panic around the internet and social media and um you know telling people to support things like the kids online safety act. This horrible horrible censorship bill. They're trying to repeal section 230 which is a law that essentially protects speech online. So I think that um you know we need to do everything we can to protect it to to even be able to have episodes like that and for people like Hassan and me to be able to express ourselves freely as journalists still you know in the time
>> yeah um I also wanted to talk about something else that's kind of tangentially related to the South Park thing cuz we were talking about that like I'm glad that you know the failials and the boomer liberals being like you know Donald Trump has a tiny penis is cool but like I think in the real world, the normies have are way more radical than the way that the media is presenting this like liberal style resistance right now. I see Deborah's and Barbara's like moms on Facebook being like, "Hake Jeffers, you need to go out and die. You need to go out and put your body on the line. What the [ __ ] are you doing?" And it's like literally like a 50-year-old lady uh on Facebook with her government name. and and we kind of saw a bit of that with um with the North Carolina uh Thomas it wasn't Thomas Massie Tom Tillis where there were people like I'm a 77year-old veteran and I'm going to this is my name my name is Hank Pickerson I live on 1874 Belleview Drive and I'm going to kill you with my AR-15 like that's what the that's the type of messages they were leaving in this dude's uh of this dude's office and he's resigning like he's literally this is his last term. So, so I think that people are a lot more radical now. This is this is a time it's an unprecedented time to to really get others on board uh to explain to them that it's not your neighbors. It's not like a Guatemalan migrant that is responsible for all the [ __ ] that you're going through on a daily basis. Not a trans person. And I I said this on Theo Bon's podcast as well. It's like a trans person is not your landlord. Unless I mean, we're in LA. Maybe maybe you guys got a trans landlord. I don't know. But but for the most part, it's you know, it's your landlord. It's your bosses that are [ __ ] you over. It's capital owners that are [ __ ] you over. And I think this is a unique opportunity to get even barbers on board with that like white wine moms. And you actually wrote about this and and uh it was a great video where you talked about you know someone has to do it. See when I say that everyone knows exactly what I mean which which is I think that shows that there is a lot of anger a lot of resentment and untapped potential uh untapped revolutionary potential as a matter of fact and it's a great opportunity for for organizing I think in these unprecedentedly horrible times. So that's what I think
>> is is there, you know, I'm as I come to like renew my visa in the next year and I'm figuring out like do I like embed here cuz I I love America. I love this country. Like I grew up idolizing this place. What was it? You're not getting that view. It's annoying cuz it's like I don't want to be booted out but like I like I have friends here. I have like a godson here in LA now. I [ __ ] love this place. I don't I love New Zealand, but I also like my friends are here. Like this is what feels like home. So I guess my question is like this. It feels like there's an attitude of like being defeated and this is insane and winding back what is currently happening is going to be so hard versus like we can take this back and it's not as terrible as we think it is. I'm wondering if you would like each talk to that.
>> Okay. I just think we need to remember and it's sort of related to I talked about it in this video and I've talked about it in a lot of my YouTube videos. Um but how quickly things can change. Look at 2020, the beginning of 2020 before you know frankly before Biden took office. The level of solidarity and social support and services that we were able to achieve overnight. It is possible to achieve dra I mean look at Trump has achieved drastic change in a worse way overnight. like change can happen very quickly and I think that we need to remember that and remember like that it's not like it feels like all this stuff and I know people say like oh you know the damage that he's done it's going to take us decades to undo and to some part maybe in terms of like the scientific discoveries that we're throwing out the window but um but I I just think that uh that with solidarity we can push change a lot more quickly and in large part too because of the internet and because of technology because of our ability to mobilize and connect at scale Um, throughout the election cycle and even far before that, I kept talking about immigration. That's what we're here to talk about. And it's obviously an issue that's very close to me. It's near and dear to me. I'm very fortunate. I was born on US soil. So, I have an American citizenship. So, you can't get [ __ ] rid of me. Yeah.
>> Okay. And I'm a very stubborn person. People are always like, "Dude, get the [ __ ] out of here. You're rich. like just move somewhere else and then do your thing from there. And I'm like, "No, [ __ ] that." Um, but
>> uh the the reason why I'm explaining this is because I've talked about immigration quite a bit.
>> And one of the things that was that there's no counter messaging on the Democratic front on immigration. There's no communication that
>> migrants, non-citizens, undocumented and documented alike, are just like every other worker. They're in a second tier so that our our bosses and capitals can make more money off of them. And sure, it plays a depressive role in wages across the board, but the solution to that is not Hitlerian policy. The solution to that is not the the mass extermination or concentration camps and and shipping off people, ripping them away from their families and their communities overnight uh to the tune of 20 million people that are living here. The solution to that is documenting them. And I think that's a reality. I think that's a reality the Republicans are aware of as well, which is precisely the reason why JD Vance had no issue saying, "Oh, these Haitians are eating cats and dogs." and kept calling the people in Springfield, Ohio illegal aliens. But they're not illegal aliens, actually documented migrants. They But because Republicans understand that that is the only distinction between someone who is documented and undocumented, it's just a piece of paperwork that they can revoke. We need to explain to the Democrats and then to the rest of the country by way of the media that the best possible solution going forward, the most humane solution going forward is amnesty. Is is amnesty for all people that have been living here on US soil and working and and are wonderful contributors to our economy, to our communities, uh these these people who we share lives with. And and it is a popular idea. This is a more popular idea than mass deportations are. And yet I was very frustrated because the Democrats never communicated this at all. They never did cuz they were so fearful. They looked at the polls. They saw the Pew Center study poll that said, you know, 60% of Americans want mass deportation. I was like, that's your fault. You didn't tell them that this is Nazi [ __ ] You didn't tell them what this process was going to look like. If you were to help Americans understand that they were going to [ __ ] hate it, eventually enough people would respond to that, enough people would recognize that this is not something that they want. And we're seeing that right now. Immigration used to be Donald Trump the most favorable policy about how he's going to do it just like Eisenhower. I'm going to do the word I can't say. It's called operation literally a slur for Mexicans. I can't say it. But that's what they did back in the day after the Brerero program where they they deported the American government deported to the tune of I think like 1.2 million people of Mexican descent and including American citizens. And Donald Trump kept saying that over and over again on the campaign trail and no Democrat pointed it out and it was so frustrating. But lo and behold, now that it's happening, now that it's at our doorstep, Americans see mass thugs of the state coming in uh heavily militarized and kidnapping people, ripping them away from their crying family members, their children in courouses. They hunt them down and they don't [ __ ] like it. Understandably, they don't like it. So now Donald Trump's underwater even on immigration. We just have to keep pushing. This is what I keep telling people no matter how we have to keep maintaining revolutionary optim. So this is something that I personally saw with another issue that's near and dear to me obviously which is Palestine. I
>> I've been a very outspoken advocate for Palestinian emancipation for the past 12 years of my professional media career and I never thought that I would see the day where there would be tens of thousands, you know, 30,000 people at a time at a march of protesting on behalf of the Palestinians. Now, there's tremendous atrocities unfolding and we all see it every single day. It's it's harrowing. It's horrifying. It's a genocide. But having said that, the attitude shift has been so dramatic in spite of here in the Western world, in spite of the multibillion dollar incredibly sophisticated, incredibly pervasive influence pedalling operation, in spite of the multi-million dollar lobbying operation, in spite of the fact that it's it's a uniarty position in perpetuity that we have who unconditionally defend Israel that that this is the attitude and it's it's a non-starter to even you know deviate slightly away from that. The people obviously see the reality on the ground and there is tremendous discontent and the only reason why the attitude is shifting aside from the bravery of the Palestinians to to communicate their own demise to be able to show exactly what's going on is the fact that people like yourselves are going out and protesting and they don't stop. They want you to stop. They want you to feel nihilistic. They want you to to just say, "Oh, nothing changes." Which is precisely why you have to keep being stubborn. You have to keep pushing no matter what on both immigration, on Palestine,
>> on Medicare for all, on every issue because that is the only way that we will make positive change in this country. [Music] I feel you speak to something really vital because I think we're living in a time where I know truth has become a bit of a a murky contested reality but at the end of the day you can't deny the images that are coming out from individuals that are filming things that are sharing things including yourselves who are spreading this [ __ ] around. I just wondered if you could like speak to that a little bit. Like I feel like we're living in a contested time. Whether it's like with with deportations and ICE, whether it's what's happening in Palestine, truth is whatever whoever barks the loudest, right, wins that. But then there is that push back for like you [ __ ] see what's happening as food is being attempted to be brought into Palestine. What's happening there? Those images push back against that and do show what reality is. I wonder if you can talk to what it is to push back against this to show what the truth is in a world that is like shouting in the other direction.
>> Well, I just I think a broken record, but this is why they're trying to censor the internet, right? Like this is why Tik Tok banned got banned. We had uh uh representative Warner and Gallagher come out uh earlier this year at the Munich Security Conference and say this is why we ban Tik Tok over Israel over the you know uh anti- you know Israel speech on air. So I think that um you know there is as Hassan was talking about this massive propaganda machine on all these issues on immigration on Palestine on uh public health on naked right like it's it's out there. Um and the mainstream media is very complicit in that. I think everyone has woken up and seen what the New York Times prints verse what's actually happened and you can see it clearer than ever. You're talking about wine moms getting radicalized. that I know that my mother has no social media but an Instagram account and has been completely radicalized by by seeing these images. So,
>> um, but I think that's why it's so important for us to support independent journalism and to, uh, protect free speech online and protect the ability for for us to speak truth to power and leverage the internet, um, to do that because the internet is the most powerful tool that we have ever seen in terms of activism, in terms of organizing. Um, you know, we can we can weaponize it for good the way that the right weaponizes it for really atrocious stuff. So, um, we just we have to do I not to be the tech policy person, but we have to protect free speech online. And that is something that, um, that that no one in the Democratic party is doing. And obviously, Republicans are here. So,
>> it used to be crazy. They just kept talking about, you know, cancel culture and how the left is too woke on college campuses and all this stuff. And they're like, you got to let Nazis speak. you have to let I'll literally kill myself if you don't let Milo Rianopoulos come to the college campus and and and speak and all of a sudden lo and behold you got Colombia capitulating to the Trump administration and
>> yeah and and giving him $200 million in return for $400 million in grants and it's it's identical to a story that I keep repeating. I know many of you probably watch me on stream as well, so you probably heard this a million times over. I'm going to repeat the same story, but like one of the first things in 1933 that the Nazi government did was to go after private institutions of higher learning. And they went to the Frankfurt school and they had a new chancellor that was basically the Nazi Germany version of uh an academic receiverhip where is what Colombia is doing right now with a new provost that's going to be in charge of the Middle Eastern studies program. Um and they had this long uh they had this long meeting where they were like none of the Jews are allowed on campus anymore. And and everyone was like okay I guess that's the case now. And uh one of the liberal academics stood up and said, "Well, this was this has been an enlightening conversation and uh quite illuminating, but what about our grants for the physiology department?" And that's precisely what is what took place in Columbia University this past week where um I saw the the new president go on CNN and talk about how like well this is a battle that we actually won because we're still getting our grants and meanwhile you got Vince McMahon's wife who is now the [ __ ] education secretary for some reason on on well yeah on Fox News talking about how Colombia is just the beginning. All of these things that we talked about in terms of project Esther, in terms of project 2025, the Trump administration is implementing step by step. They've given us their blueprint. They've given us exactly what they're going to do it and how they're going to do it. So, I think it's incredibly important to continue organizing against these initiatives and to make a big fuss wherever you can. And that doesn't just mean going out and protesting and engaging in direct action, but I also mean, you know, pissing off your Democratic representatives and trying to get them to also take action. Now, the reason why I'm saying this is not because contrary to popular opinion on Tik Tok from like leftists on Twitter, I'm not a shepherd for the Democratic Party. I don't give a [ __ ] about the Democratic Party,
>> but they are our representatives and they're supposed to represent us and they do have a platform and the media does listen to them. So, we have to wield them like a weapon to the best of our ability. We have to use them to also continue yelling about these things that we care about because after the, you know, 700 phone messages they have to respond to, they're inevitably you're like, "All right, I guess people do care about this issue. Maybe I have to make a statement about it." Before you know it, uh, the dam will break. Before you know it, I know it seems impossible. I know it seems like it's the change is not coming fast enough. And I totally understand that because we're we have real lives on the line. Um every day that goes by without any sort of serious opposition, you have another family being ripped apart, right? Uh with ICE rates, but if you're not doing it for the immediate family you couldn't save today, you're doing it for the hundreds of others that you could potentially save tomorrow. So that's something you have to think about. Yeah.
>> So, it doesn't matter uh even if you think you might get an unlikely ally or even if you think that these people don't have your best interest in mind, they definitely don't. Okay? Let's be real. You have to become undeniable. You have to become unavoidable. You have to become a force to be reckoned with. You have to make them meet your demands. So, I hope that you guys can keep protesting and and continue to make a big stink to the best of your ability.
>> I I could talk to you both night. We have an entire night to get on with. I'll just be given like a little wine cuz I can't talk to you all night. Thank you both for coming. Just like really quickly, there's like there's a night of comedy and music and DJs and everything. There's like a final party word that you want to say before we disappear off into the rest of the night.
>> Um well I'll just say I appreciate everyone being outside. Um there is a horrible new co variant going around that's called razor blade road. So I just people probably compromise is still very much here. Public health is being absolutely gutted under RFK. We're seeing diseases that I like went away in the 1800s come back. So you know when you're at and also they're seeing free speech are also trying to you know uh make masking at protests illegal. will make that, you know, remove masking basically at at any point. So, I think it's really important to wear a mask as much as you can. You know, I know you're not going to have it on 24/7, but as much as you can have solidarity. Let's fight for public health. Let's fight for immigrants. Let's fight for a free Palestine. And [Applause]
>> I don't got nothing else. That's pretty good. Um, yeah. I hope, like I said, if you're feeling down, if you feel like everything is [ __ ] up, just remember you have a lot of other people out there that agree with you, that feel the exact same way that you do. And not only that, but also there are plenty of potential allies that you can convince. So, that's something that you always have to maintain. You have to keep being stubborn and uh you should never ever succumb to nihilism. If you're if you can't maintain revolutionary optimism, just do it out of spite because all of the most inbred looking loser [ __ ] Nazis out there want you to shut the [ __ ] up. They want you to sit idly by and cower in fear like the the Jubilee. that if you if you want if you want an image if you want an image that just evokes blood curdling anger in you, think about that fat Nazi on that was talking to me Hassan like a fascist. I love Franco. Just just the moment that I remember that a piece of [ __ ] like that exists, I'm like [ __ ] that. I'm I'm revitalized. I'm re-energized. I'm ready to [ __ ] go.
>> Thank you. Thank you, Taylor. And thank you for coming up tonight. Thank you.
>> I can tell you to stay on stage.
>> Okay,
>> you're good.
>> They said I have to stay on stage, but I'll move away so they can get to you.
>> Not yet. Not yet. Not yet. Josh is saying not yet. [Applause]
>> Okay.
>> I swear this is shaky because I don't know if this is supposed to be able to hold my big body.
>> Your big beautiful body.
>> [ __ ] BBW over here. Uh, can you hold this? Can you hold this up? Hi everybody. My name is Josh Androski. How are you doing tonight?
>> Hell yeah. I'm here to talk a little about Shera. Hassan is my model for the evening. Uh, so I want everybody to be [ __ ] getting this QR code right now because as Nithia mentioned, Shera is an incredible organization that does rapid response, that does legal defense. You know, a lot of these families that are ripped apart by ICE, right? Uh, everybody's fine. Someone just dropped something. There's not a fight happening. Don't worry.
>> Somebody fell down.
>> Oh, somebody fell. Oh, okay. They're probably fine. Uh,
>> everybody's fine. They're fine. Hey, they're back up. Everybody,
>> everybody's fine. There wasn't a fight.
>> It was your sex appeal. Wouldn't be the first time somebody fainted when they saw or smelled me. Uh, okay. Shera. Also, when these people when these families are torn apart by just the worst looking men on planet Earth, just they look the thing about ice is that they look like [ __ ]
>> They look so bad. It's like, oh yeah, I'm going to get Oakleys and wear a book sock around my face and I'm going to play tough guy because my dad hit me one time. [Music] Cowards. Uh, just don't hurt immigrants. hurt your dad. That's all you actually want to do. That's all you want to do. Uh but for real, what what they do when they separate these families is they oftentimes they take the bread winner, right? They take the father or the mother who has the job and the family and then the other spouse and the children are