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Let's move on to Bill Burr who was on Club Random with Bill Maher and they obviously why not, got into a conversation about the pro Palestinian demonstrations on campuses around the country. Lest you think we weren't watching Aaron Rodgers on Joe Rogan or on Tucker Carlson's show yesterday, he did weigh in on the Cuba policy of Alan Dulles inaccurately. By the way, this was a historic first, I think the first former Green Bay Packers quarterback to go after Alan Dulles.
Triumph for him.
So the podcast universe is thriving and Bill Burr is is a part of that wonderful ecosystem and Bill Maher this went pretty viral.
I think got kind of owned by Bill Burr. Here, let's take a watch.
You don't realize that college campus is erupted with the kids demonstrating for hamas they are in with the terrorists they were for the Palestinians. Well, it's sort of the same cause.
Why are you.
I'm on the side of the kids. Yeah, that's easy to say. You know, no one wants to see kids dead. Uh, this is a war. Is very brave of you to say this is a this is a ward. No, I'm the one who's actually brave on this.
It's at yourself on the bed. Easy to say I'm for the kids. Who's not for the kids? It comes down to real hard nosed decisions like a country. I'm talking like your general country got attacked. Israel got attacked.
I'm not saying that they didn't have a right to go back. I'm just sitting there going like, how do I look at the.
Well, the only country in the world that they get attacked and then as soon as they counterattack, it's like, well, we got to stop this ship.
Now, don't attack them.
Is a very simple solution to all this problem in the Middle East.
Stop attacking Israel. Hey, you stop attacking Israel, which I do.
I actually think that's fantastic anyway, all right, we don't need to get that.
Let let's go to Russia and the Ukraine. How do you solve that one?
Bill?
Let me hear your hard.
Knows decision about that. Well, let me ask you a question, how is war still legal? All the shit that's been canceled legal? Why is that still fucking legal?
Would you like a real answer to that?
Because for something to be illegal, you have to have the capacity to enforce it, and you can't enforce against war or else you have to go to war with the country that's going to war, and we don't want to go to war with Russia over Ukraine. What would be the sense of making it illegal that's really going to stop putin? No, to stop people from going to war, you have to also put down and talk it out.
Why can't putent do a podcast with the head guy like you just solve the Middle East on a podcast. Why can't they solve what they're doing on a podcast? Makes why this is not yours? Makes makes some hard nice just not your thing?
It's what you need?
It is it isn't.
You're like that guy that has a fantasy football team and thinks he's a fucking GM. No, that's exactly what it is, Like, why am I fucking listening to you?
Like like you've done something? What have you done in Washington? Nothing? That is a great point, Bill Martin, this thing that's your thing, just getting high like mouthing off.
I was just saying, yes, which is really your thing.
But it would be like me saying that I'm some expert on this. It's absolutely ridiculous.
I mean you you regularly have covered that, You've been there, You've interviewed people.
It qualifies.
But I feel like Bill mahert here really has celebrity syndrome where he doesn't realize how poorly he's coming across when he's sort of like in this very patronizing way like verbally patting Bill Burr on the head and saying, this is I got this, don't worry about it.
My thing.
Your opinion counts as less because I'm.
A talk show host.
There was an interesting window into his mind in Bill Maher's mind for a moment there where Bill Burr says, I'm with the kids. Bill Maher had just said the kids are supporting Hamas or whatever, and they're protesting. He was Bill Burr was referring to the college kids. Yeah, because Biller had just said the kids, right, Bill Maher's mind, in his mind, he thinks he's saying that I'm with the kids who are being slaughtered by Israel.
That's what I Yeah, that's how I interpreted to.
Bill Maher's mind went to the kids being slaughtered and then said I'm the courageous one because I'm okay with the kids being slaughtered because I understand in a hard headed world that there is no other choice than slaughtering all these kids. Was fascinating, and it was really high. Well, yeah, clearly, but that's a window into like I mean, he's high most of the time, So that's that. It's like a
philosophical question about which Bill maher mind exists. And I would say, if you're high more than half the time, then it's the it's the high one.
I also found that interesting because he was they were in a conversation directly about the kids on college campuses. They had both used the word kids in relation to the kids on college campuses, and as soon as Bill Burr said that, Bill mahert like the switch flipped and he jumped on Bill Burr from oh you you say you're with the Palestinian children. But Bill Burr then going back and just driving the knife further with that last comment about what have you done in Washington?
Yeah, why am I listening to you? It is a very good question, Like why on earth? I mean, because it's funny, I guess to watch these two people hopefully, but yeah, like him pretending like he has him saying like this is my thing and it's not yours. Get out of here.
I actually think one of the great one of the great benefits of the podcast ecosystem, especially in comedy, has been the ascension of like the everyman take on politics. That's like amplified more than it had been.
In the way Aaron Rodgers and Joe Rogan yesterday.
Great Tucker Carlson, but Aaron Rodgers is like a great everyman example. And he even kind of talked about that one. But it's I mean, like again, part of the problem with media is the excessive gatekeeping. It doesn't mean that you know, comedians spatting off about politics or you know,
celebrities spouting off about politics. It doesn't mean that it's always right, but sometimes those casual conversations are actually pretty interesting because you get Bill Maher then to like almost literally like you could see he wanted to lean over. I think he did even lean over and like touch him, like pat him on the head and be like it's okay, Bill, don't worry.
I got this and so. And nobody's actually in their heart against gatekeeping. They just want to let different people through the gate. Like I want to let Bill burthrough and tell Bill Maher, sorry, your card's been deactivated. You can't come through this gate.
So yeah, I say, I'll let Aaron Rodgers to the gate if he wants to talk about Alan Dlles.
There you go, I'm on through.
Let's do it. We'll have that conversation. But anyway, it's occasionally very fun.
It is all right.
Well, we're moving on now to an incredible interview that you set up. I am excited to talk to Monica Johnston.
Yeah, stick around. Monica is a Canadian nurse who now lives in Oregon. She's in a hospital in Conunis called the European Hospital right now. She was supposed to leave on Monday, but because Israel has basically locked the doors, nobody's getting in and out. She and her mission are still trapped there. She's going to tell us what it's
like in the European Hospital. Stick around for that. We are joined now from the European Hospital in conmunist Gaza by Monica Johnston Johnson from Canada currently lives in Oregon, but is in Conunis at the moment. Monica, thank you so much for joining us. We really appreciate it.
Thank you for having me so.
We reported earlier this week about the situation for you and the others who are on the medical mission to Conunis is Israel. By taking over the Rafa border and closing it completely, no supplies have been able to get in and out, but also no people have been able to get in and out. I understand your mission was supposed to leave this week has not been able to.
Yesterday when we spoke, you said the un was going to do a trial run where they were going to send staff members on that run and if they were able to survive the trip from the hospital to Rafa not be killed by the IDF, that then the next day medical staff would be able to start leaving. What is the circumstances with that plan.
Yeah, that's exactly right, how you said that.
So the UN did make their trial run on Monday, and we were supposed to start trial runs with our teams yesterday. We got notified that the UN's convoy was successful, but then ours would not be able to take place yesterday. So as of now we still have not heard when we will start those trial runs.
And you would also told me that they were going to do about two at a time, which is nowhere near the entire team, but that you guys were insisting that you know, to be allowed in. So can you describe why that is? And how do these how do these missions work like? And why is it so important that new humanitarian aid workers be able to come in to replace you?
Absolutely, I really don't understand the reasoning. I know there's multiple mission teams here, so splitting it up to allow for a few members from each team I think I'm not sure if it's the IDF for who's limiting the amount of people in each convoy.
But and then the prioritization.
So when we did get word that our convoy was going to be leaving on when Sorry, it's.
Hard to keep track of the days here. This is why we need.
Relief on Tuesday that none of our team members were selected for that convoy based on some kind of priorities that the WHO.
Has which we're not privy to. So the reason we do need that relief is because you know, we're exhausted, but we can't just leave and abandon the people here.
Many units are working with only nursing students. Many units are run by interns and residents, so we need the support of humanitarian workers to help keep things afloat well.
And speaking of the you know, actually kind of shifting from the flow of people to the flow of supplies. As Ryan mentioned earlier, can you tell us a little bit about difficulties in getting what you need for medical treatment to you guys, so that you can do your jobs and help people be safe and recover from instances in which you know they were not kept safe.
Absolutely, So think of a hospital in America, they get daily shipments of supplies.
Here, we brought in.
Our team brought in three hundred suitcases for a two week period. We went through almost all of those supplies in one week, so you know, we're already coming to depleted situation. We I guess incorrectly expected certain things like hand soap, and sanitizer, paper towels to be here, so we didn't prioritize those items in our three hundred bags and we get here to find no units have so
no units have hand sanitizer. So some basic things that help save wise help vent infections, and that's what we're seeing, just a rampant infection rate and people are dying from this. So we're running out of antibiotics, We're running out of wound care supplies, pain medicine, medication that supports vital organs, We're running out of all of those things. So it's so desperately needed to reopen the borders.
And so I noticed in a video that you had sent to us earlier that you had something, I don't know the exact term for it, as kind of a stent in your arm. I if it's too personal to ask, but can you talk a little bit about what the situation is like for you and the other medical professionals that you're with, Like, what's what's going on there that dehydration or what what are you facing.
Any of us have just been hit with gastroentritis, so whether it was something we ate or you know, we had some water that wasn't purified.
For the most part, we're drinking bottled water.
But now we're a little nervous about that supply, so we've been starting to ration that a little bit more so rationing that leads to the hydration. It's warm here. I'm not used to this climate. I'm doing twenty dressing changes in four hours.
You know, it's hard, strenuous work.
So me and my roommate personally, we had gastrotritis, so you know, we're dehydrated from that.
We both had ibs for two days.
I received three and a half liters of fluid and continued to.
Work as much as I could through that because you know, you're.
Here and the idea of being in bed sick it was devastating. I'm here to help and I'm sick and I can't help, and it just wasn't acceptable.
And what kind of wounds and illnesses are you guys saying, like, what's a rough breakdown? Just from your perspective having treated so many people now.
So lots of tragic amputations, so explosions and they lose limbs at the site and then extensive blast injuries with shrapnel that ends up causing a wound to need to be amputated later on. So we have those extensive blast injuries and then burns on top of that, lots of head injuries with that.
So if you.
Imagine a blast and getting thrown out one of my patients, she's an eleven year.
Old, Oh, this is going to be tough.
She lost bad and she was found two houses over from their home, and her and her brother were brought to our hospital and her brother died in the emergency room. So she suffered a cut to her head down to her skull, fractured pelvis, a fractured leg, and extensive blast injuries to the back side of her legs where it's going to take months to heal if she doesn't get infected here and multiple graphs if she doesn't get infected.
So you know, this is this is what we're seeing the magnitude.
I work at a Level one trauma burned center, and I have not seen this magnitude at this frequency. At one point, we were getting you know, five, six of these at a time, and you know, a level one Trump will.
Struggle with that, let alone a place that has no.
Resources and correct me if I'm wrong. To recover from injuries like that you generally need more calories, more nutrition than average. Can you talk a little bit about what people are, what people have access to, and what the effect of that is on their recovery?
Very simply what they have access to is nothing, you know, or near nothing. We're talking about maybe one can of ensure for an entire day for one of these wound page.
That no one can survive.
On that, let alone someone who has an extensive injury. Our patients back in America, you know, they fight with us and say I can eat, I can eat, you know, and two days later we're putting a feeding tube in them because you can.
You just physically can't consume that amount of calories.
So it's leading to infections, graph losses if we ever get to that point, further amputations, just so many complications because of that.
And somebody from your mission sent us video and control room if you can put up this vo they send us this video of the scene from a from a safe house that some of the medical staff were using. That's the trip from the safe house to the hospital. They were then told don't go back to the safe house anymore. It's not safe, it's too close. We think the idef might strike it even if they're deconflicting and
give them the coordinates. So I'm curious, did you spend any time in a safe house and are you hearing shelling? What's the situation like as we speak with regards to violence.
So our team in particular has only been at the hospital staying at the hospital. A couple team members have ventured out to visit surrounding areas and they just speak of the devastation kind of like what you have shown from inside the hospital, which is considered a green zone. We are hearing shelling all the time on stant whirl of the drones.
This morning at six point thirty am was the largest last that I have ever heard, and it felt like it was in the next building over.
It woke me out of a dead.
Sleep and my heart nearly jumped out of my chest and I just sat there and I kept waiting.
I kept waiting for another one, and there were, but fortunately not for us this time.
I assume that some of the medical staff who were Palestinian there were in some of the other hospitals that have been, you know, raided by the IDEF. What have have they given you any advice on how to handle doing this work in this in this war zone, and what have they told you about their experience in other hospitals.
So some of the other hospitals, you know, it's just infrastructure. I think at this point, seven eight months out, the infrastructure has just gone. So some of the other hospitals were run a little bit more smoothly.
This one there's been just so much chaos.
But I think it's you know, you think of all the people who have displaced here and have been continually displaced.
So I heard.
I'm not sure if this is accurate, but at one point there was thirteen thousand people occupying our hospital corridors on this campus here, and you know, when we came, you had just a small path to walk through the entire hospital, and there were walls and walls of curtains
and tarts housing off families, little living quarters. So yeah, other hospitals, I don't think quite they had their own problems from what I hear, and obviously when they were invaded, absolutely had issues, but I don't think they had this mass displacement. To hear, that just is leading to even more chaos.
As you're thinking about the possibility of leaving, Like how do you balance the different factors. On the one hand, you've got the Palestinians who were in the hospital saying, you know, if Westerners leave, were all going to be killed. On the other hand, you need people to replace you otherwise the thing completely collapses. But then on the third and you guys are rationing water and running out of supplies.
I assume some are in facing significant health risks. How are people kind of thinking through the series of terrible options in front of you?
Now, this team has been so so amazing.
I cannot speak to the magnitude of how wonderful this team is.
Everybody cares so much about the Palestinian people here. We're very adamant about the fact that we can't just leave without replacement.
But that does mean replacement of not only personnel, but supplies. We you know, we've kind of learned from the Palestinians here like to give.
Like you see them and they have nothing, and they're constantly inviting you for tea and what little food they have they're giving and giving. So as a volunteer here, it's hard not to want to do the same thing for these people, and the thought of leaving them and abandoning them is just it's not on our minds.
You had mentioned by the way that a child had opened what he thought was a can of tuna and had one of them had an arm blown off. Is that a cluster bomb that looks like a can of tuna? What? What are people finding like in the street there?
I am I'm not quite certain about that, but I was called to the OAR to help and I was told his story. You know, people are hungry, they find stuff they want to eat, so.
You know.
There's potential that these things are getting placed in people's houses when the IOF is you know, reading homes and stuff and then affecting people like children are finding them and when you're hungry.
You can't blame them, right.
Wow, that's dark.
Can't blame them?
That is that is dark? And any any final thoughts like what what what is what is the understaffing doing? What's it like working in a hospital that is this understaffed? And any final thoughts people should know about what the situation is right now.
So, yeah, the understaff we've we've gone into the ICU two mornings now and found patients in a state of rigor mortis. So that's meaning that they have been dead for some time. All their IV lines were still running, they were still hooked up to all the machines and it showed a flatline on the monitor.
But there's just no staff to respond. You walk into the.
ICU and there's alarms twenty four to seven on every single patient. So, you know, I asked a nurse about this because I wanted to understand, like, are you exhausted?
What is it?
And I eventually got out from or that. When the patient comes in, they know who's going to live and who's not. And you know, you only have so many resources, which includes you know, personal strength and resources, and to put that emotion and strength into somebody that you know is not going to make it is too much for them after such a long period.
Of doing this, So you know, people are dying.
People are dying, and things aren't getting caught. Just a lot of extra unneeded death.
I think, Yeah, what portion do you think of people who are dying? There would not die if they were in your trauma, if in your facility back in Oregon.
I mean, I don't I don't know about specific numbers, but I mean, eighty ninety percent of these injuries are survivable.
Right, just with basic with the with basic supplies and attention and calories exactly.
But and that's the hardest thing to sit back and not have any control over.
I know it needs to be done, but I have nothing to do it with.
What's the prospect for you before we let you go? What's when? When? When do you expect that you, you and your team will be able to get out and get swapped in with a new mission.
You know, we have our next team sitting in Egypt waiting. I personally have just kind of settled in.
I don't know.
You know, we're promised daily that tomorrow we'll get a convoy out.
I can't think about that, you know.
I'm just taking care of the people here and taking care of my team.
And myself right now.
Well, if and when you do get on that convoy, we we all desperately hope that the IDF does not fire on it. I hope that the attention that is finally being paid to this at least helps a little bit.
Yeah.
Well, Nurse Johnson, thank you so much for everything you're doing. Deeply appreciate it, Appreciate your time. All right. That was Nurse Monica Johnston, who's volunteering at the European hospital and
stranded there by Israel siege. Meanwhile, here in the United States, if you can put up this next element, the Wall Street Journal broke the news that President Joe Biden is moving forward with another billion dollars in new weapons for the very military that is besieging American medical staff in Gaza at the moment, to be spent mostly on tank shells, mortars, and other offensive weapons, not just for Gaza presumably, but also for the saber rattling that Israel is doing worth
with Lebanon. So this comes after, you know, Biden and the White House made big news by saying that they were stopping a shipment of three thousand, five hundred bombs in retaliation basically for Netanyahu rebuffing every American public attempt, I say public attempt rather than private attempt to stop them from launching this rafa invasion that is killing all of the people that that nurse Johnson just described to us. Afterwards, Young Kirby said, look, Israel's getting all the weapons that
it needs. I don't understand what everybody's so upset about, because we stopped these this one shipment of three thousand, five hundred bombs. There are other reports that Israel was saying, look, we already have all the weapons we need to invade Rafa. Now doesn't mean it's not a symbolic shift perhaps, but that doesn't help the people who are going to be on the receiving end of these tank shells. I don't think.
And so Acxios has this morning as well that Yahoo has been ranting that Israel quote isn't a vassal state of the United States, which.
I meant this point.
It's so he says.
According to one of his aids, he said, we are not a vassal state of the United States. According to three people of his remarks, including with knowledge of his remarks, including one of his aids, this was in on a
rant in a meeting with his security cabinet. So obviously the relationship has actually put it here is quote strained at the moment, and Biden is trying to deal with that in different ways that I have that are amounting to this is nothing new but a completely inconsistent hodgepodge policy towards this war that makes absolutely no sense.
And this is what I don't get. Okay, you're not a vassal state. Fine, then arm yourself.
Well, they arm yourself in don't repeatedly say over and over again that we could not fight this war without the Americans. And so if you can't fight a war that is existential, And I agree, I think this is I think Israel faces existential threats from people around it, And we may disagree in that, but I think that's true. But you know Netanyahu, his security cabinet that said the stakes of this war are existential, and we can't do it without the Americans.
Well, I mean, I think also destiny. Actually a good point that he made in that debate that we had was it's no longer existential that they are an industrial economy, like they're powerful enough on their own.
That American supports not existential.
That in general, like Lebanon's not going to overrun them. Hamas with whatever ten thousand fighters it's got left, is not going to overrun them. Jordan's certainly isn't in any mood to go to war with Egypt is not invading Saudi Arabia, and the UAE just want to do business like their place is secure. In that sense, It's not like nineteen seventy three where you have Arab states who are actually like will willing to like launch a military invasion that that's over, Like that's done even without I
think American military support anymore. And a mass just doesn't have the potential. And the Palestinian authority is a subcon contractor of the Israeli government, So I've been many subcontracts, subcontractors who have kind of taken over government. So that's that's unlikely. Yeah, but yeah, tactical vehicles, mortar shells, tank shells, all of the weapons that they're using to just annihilate RAFA, and that we're going to send a billion a billion dollars more, nice round number.
Well, it's the same thing with the Biden Do you care about what are defined internationally as war crimes or not? I mean they care about it when it's putin, they don't care about it. It's just obviously everyone knows at
this point that it's bullshit. But it's a Biden administration that continues to enforce these like bullshit ideas about how the war is being prosecuted and what international law is supposed to look like when it's convenient and again not new in American politics, not new in world politics, but to maintain that posture and to have it, you know, informing armshipments and very specific policy details in such an uneven and inconsistent way just politically even for Biden a
disaster let alone, you know what it's actually doing in the war.
Yeah, and the American Medical Mission is an interesting proxy on this. Hn Kaudrey and I over at the Intercept broke this news on Monday that was that this was happening, and it's it's an interesting proxy. Not in the sense that American lives are inherently worth more than Palestinian lives. They aren't. And I spoke previously with Nurse Johnson and she was saying the same thing that she can tell just that politically that everybody just acknowledges that American lives
are more valuable than Palestinian lives, including the Palestinians. That the Palestinians will say, we really hope that if you leave, that other Westerners come in and replace you, because otherwise we're all going to be slaughtered like we need like those are that's those are actual human shields, like Americans shielding other civilians because the thinking is that the IDF is not willing to kill in mass American citizens but that thinking is even being challenged, like the UN convoy
was fired on Monday, killing a foreign driver of that vehicle. Now they're having intense difficulties. So we broke this on Monday, Washington Post, and we see others have since followed up in the reporting. Yeah, so it's it's a global story at this point. People know that there are these American citizens and Canadian citizens trapped in this hospital. If netnya who cared, he could do he could easily resolve this situation.
They control this area. Okay, seven minute drive from that hospital to Rafa, they control the border crossing Monica could be out within the next hour. If Netnah who cared and net Yah who knows that they're trapped there, they don't have the supplies they need, that the American citizens and Canadian citizens are themselves facing serious health complications, and instead she's woken up by the biggest shelling that she's ever heard since being there at six thirty this morning.
He knows they're there, and they're shelling right nearby. Anyway, they're being told to stay away from windows, and it really does upend this assumption that your American passport or your Canadian passport gives you any protection even as we're sending them another billion dollars in weapons, and.
You know, just as we're because you have been an interesting, more interesting reporting to talk about. But as we're wrapping this up, there are how many American hostages about five American hostages that are still remaining and barely even talk about that. But you know, speaking of on that point, a producer, Max sent a tweet from Dennis Ross yesterday where he says, one thing is clear, the fact that the idea of has to go back into Jibalia and other places in zuman units.
Actually, speaking of what we were just talking about with Nurse.
Johnston is a reminder that no plan existed for what would replace Hamas. Yes, Hamas is weakened, but without an alternative to it, it will fill the vacuum. And Israel needs an answer. So from the interest of the United States, the American hostages that are still being held, American aid workers that you reported on shouldn't.
Held hostage being how should more American hostages in that hospital than being held by Hamas.
Now And just from the pure perspective of again the interests of actual Americans over there, But how has Biden handled this situation. How does the Biden administration advanced American interests in this situation?
Pretty damning.
Yeah, as Biden said, if you harm an American, we'll respond. Yeah, terms and conditions apply, Yeah, exactly.
Yeah.
All right, Ray, you have some more reporting on a PAK in the United States in the campaign atmosphere as recreding into November.
What have you got?
Yeah, well, I'm all worked up about this. Let's talk about APAX influence in the third Congressional District out in Oregon. About two weeks ago, two candidates in an Oregon congressional race held a rare joint press conference where they leveled a charge against a third candidate. Take a listen to the local news coverage.
Moving on, we wanted to bring you an update now to a story we told you about last night, the heated three way race for the third congressional district in Oregon that's Earl Blumenauer's seat in Congress. Last week, two of the candidates, Shushila Jayapaul and Eddie Morales, held her a press conference accusing the candidate, Maxine Dexter, of taking dark money washed through a super pac called three fourteen Action.
They claimed without any evidence that three fourteen Action could be a front for far right donors looking to take them out of the race.
The candidate getting all that dark Bunny support is Maxine Dexter, a state representative and local doctor. At a debate, she was pressed by her opponent Eddie Morales to name the source of the funding. Take a listen.
I want to spend the last second of mine asking Maxine, MAXI, will you look at the camera until Auction three, one, five, three or four Action to disclose their donors before May twentieth?
Do you yes? I observedly answer the question.
It is absolutely They are legally obligated to.
Disclose there before the day before the election.
Eddie, you understand as well as I do.
This is the public forum. You can tell them and this is.
It is a public forum. And I believe in discussion and deliberation.
Enom funding.
You absolutely not.
I've not taken Okay, I have to there, but I need to let Nextine have a final word here.
I will just say that this entire thing is frankly absurd. I have put my values on record. I have four years of voting records on progressive values. I have stood firm with people who have supported me, and against people who have supported me. I took an oath of office, and I've taken an oath as a physician to keep people at the center and do no harm. My integrity is frankly being questioned here, which is absolutely offensive.
All right, Well, we don't want to offend anybody, and of course anybody accused of anything without evidence ought to have a chance to defend themselves. So let's take a closer look. And to be fair to accusers, it did look off random. State representatives don't generally find themselves on the winning end of millions of dollars of super pac spending for no reason. And Soshilajyapaul the candidate in the middle.
There is the older sister of Promilagia Paul, one of apacs most concerted adversaries on Capitol Hill and the powerful chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. APAC had been unsuccessfully recruiting a challenger to Primilagiapoul in her Seattle district. Now, looking for clues as to who might be funding the dark money operation, you could turn to the news outlet Jewish Insider, which does a great job covering congressional primaries
through an Israel Palestine prism. In early December, Jewish Insider flagged Sushila Jyapaul's candidacy as alarming to Israel advocates, elevating the potential candidacy of Dexter as a strong opponent. So after a few days of reporting, I confirmed it was indeed APAC, and I found two sources who had knowledge of how specifically APAK had begun playing in the race without disclosing its role. It was routing money indeed through the Pro Science quote unquote Pro Science superPAC called three
fourteen Action Fund. So I published that story on May tenth at the Intercept. Now here's our friends at the local TV station again. Three Fourteen's response.
Jaiapaul and Morales are demanding that Dexter tell three fourteen Action to reveal the donors. Now they say they think they could be related to pro Israel group APAK, and some recent reporting from the news outlet The Intercept supports that claim. We reached out to three fourteen Action Group yesterday and they did respond to us. We asked if
MAGA Republicans are among their donors. They didn't outright say no, but they did say that they've spent tens of millions of dollars backing other Democrats to defeat mega Republicans in other states. They also said there's no evidence to support a claim that APAK is among their donors, and that they disclose their donors every reporting cycle and follow the letter of the law. So again not outright denying that APAC is involved, just there's no evidence there yet.
So the Portland Mercury did some strong follow up reporting on the race midweek, but Maxine Dexter continued to profess ignorance even in the face of that reporting. But then undeniable pieces of evidence began to emerge. While the Superpacks aren't required to disclose their donors until the day before the election, the candidate herself has to disclose regularly down the campaign stretch, so she had to produce what's called a forty eight hour report after a May seventh fundraiser.
Now at that fundraiser, of the nearly eighty donors who gave that day, nearly ninety percent are also donors to a pack. In other words, it was an Apack fundraiser, which you can find out just by searching the names of those donors on the site there. The next day, Dexter disclosed having raised nearly six hundred thousand dollars in the month of April, after raising just about three hundred
thousand dollars during her entire campaign before that. Doubling or tripling your fundraising in the last few weeks of the race is not typical. That is not normal. And inside that six hundred thousand dollars were scores of additional Apack donors. Of the ones we checked, we gave up after while because it was it was pointless. It was very obvious
what was going on. But Okay, maybe it's a huge coincidence that Apack donors are giving to her campaign, but it's not a packed donors who are behind the super Pac spending. How do we know Apak actually organized all this? Well. I called one of the donors on the list and got through to her. This is Jney Dallisman. At first she said she didn't remember giving to Dexter at all. When I told her the three thy three hundred dollars donation of hers was in the FEC records, it clicked
for her. She said, quote, I give all of my contributions through a pack whenever I am asked to give to their endorsed candidates. I give so Dexter is an endorsed candidate, even though that's not public. If that wasn't enough to put the pieces together, a staffer at three fourteen Action Fund, angry that a pack ostensibly dedicated to electing candidates with a science background was having its mission distorted to support pro Israel candidates, reached out to me
to share inside information. They told me directly about the nature of the APACK driven operation. It was a pack. Three fourteen took to Twitter to respond to my article, but did so four minutes before I even published it, and they accidentally denied the wrong thing they wrote here. Ryan Graham from The Intercept is once again making up
stories out of thin air. His latest accusation that three fourteen Action is a front group, or that three fourteen will be spending against Representative Corey Bush as a complete fabrication. But I had not, in fact reported that three fourteen Action was expanding its campaign to target Bush directly. I reported that three fourteen, with the heat on them, was planning to set up a shell pack they could funnel APAC money through, and so Emily, I think what's going
on here. So if you're trying, here's the question people would ask, like, if you try to put together this plan that you're that voters are not going to find out that it's a PAC money until May twentieth, and the election is May twenty first, and Oregon is mail balloting, so everybody basically will voted by that's late enough. Why would you schedule a May seventh fundraiser when you know you're going to have to disclose those donors forty eight
hours later? And from what I've heard from people involved in this is that they thought they would get away with it, that nobody would notice that it's Oregon, it's a small race, it's a small race. Who cares not even an incumbent. It's an incumbent sister, but it's not an incumbent.
Presumably has nothing to do with foreign policy.
Yeah, it's like the race is about homelessness, basically, Like that's the big issue that they're that they're running their ads on. The APAC funded ads are hitting Giapaul because she was on the County Commission, and the County Commission did a legitimately terrible job when it comes to a homelessness. So actually that's like, that's a clean hit. It's just let's not pretend that APAC cares like that's not their mission. Their mission is not to eradicate homelessness in Portland.
Why does APAC care about this?
Seriously, from everything I've been able to gather, a Giapaul is no a It supports an immediate ceasefire and is generally, you know, sympathetic with the pill Palst and cause and critical of apacad. She doesn't want a PAC money, et cetera. But it's it's it's to get at Pramila Giapaul, I see because Pramila that makes more sense. So the Squad are their most outspoken kind of opponents that are elevated
in the press. But Giapaul has more power in the caucus itself, ninety to one hundred members of Progressive Caucus. She shares that caucus. She has a direct line to the White House's She can make things happen in ways that members of the Squad can't. They and according to my reporting, they very much tried to recruit an opponent to her. They ran polling in Seattle trying to find ways that that she would be soft. They would have been willing to spend I'm sure million, many millions of dollars.
They're spending twenty plus million to take out Jamal Bowman. They could spend millions to take out Giapoul, but they couldn't find a challenger. They have, she got one challenger at the very last minute. But the person seems like a bit of a crank, like running in like four different races. Is the very outspoken pro is real person in that But it's I don't think that's an APAC recruit.
And so if you can't go after Giapaul directly in Seattle, hey, here's her sister who I should have played audio of her. You saw she looks just like her. She also sounds just like her. You're like, there's no way that's a different person.
It's got to be the same person. Once agains are wrong.
Right, sources are wrong. So but I think the reason that they held the APEC fundraiser on the seventh is that they knew they'd have to disclose, but they didn't think anybody care by that point, right, and then okay, maybe somebody flags it in the by May ninth. At that point it takes a week to report it out. Now, it's towards now it's basically election day, and because you need the reporting early enough that the candidates can then get it out to voters not all watching counterpoints and
reading the intercept, but they should be. But believe or not, they're not, so you have to so there has to be the local news has to pick it up, which is which is now starting to happen. Uh. The sheer amount of money being spent probably is enough to overwhelm and elect Dexter.
It's a crazy amount.
I mean, it might blow back now that it's now that it's out and the local press is finally starting to cover it in a in a better way. You saw that one because they that that news outlet had done some dismissive reporting in the past, saying like, oh this is there's nothing to this, but now they're But now when they got three fourteen's response, they're like, hmm.
Maybe Ryan Groom sources.
Are right, Maybe are right, this is this is actually not a denial, because that's the funny thing. Just disclose your donor Yeah, of course. And I think three fourteen went so aggressive in its public response because they didn't know that I had an internal source of theirs, and so just a note for the organizations, like wait until the article comes out, or call me like I emailed them, like gave my number, call me then you can find out what I've got and then you can shape your
response instead. I've never seen a more desperate and guilty looking response.
I like how they responded to the wrong thing too. Yeah, it's just great all around.
Right.
And the other reason they wouldn't endorse directly through three fourteen action with Bush is that Bush's opponent is Guy Wesley Bell, who's a prosecutor. He's not a scientist, like they're supposed to only endorse scientists and doctors, So they'd have to set up a different pack. There's one in Portland called Americans for Responsive Government No No Voters for
Responsive Government. That they registered it on April first, because if you registered it on March thirty first, then they would have to disclose by the end of the month. April first means they don't have to disclose until May twentieth. Now, let's give APEC credit where it's due. They beat the Capitol police officer, Harry Dunn. They did in Maryland's third district last night for some reason, and people still to this day do not know why they decided to spend
millions of dollars backing local state legislator Sarah Elfreth. Harry Dunn had never really said anything critical of Israel. Why they decided to make a January sixth Capitol police officer, the guy that they spent millions of target is actually unknown at this point. They also try to beat this Democrat, Dave min in a primary in California, who also had
not said anything. Both of them non white, and there's some suspicion that like, if you are non white, APAC believes APAK is suspicious of your politics when it comes to Palestinians until otherwise, until proven otherwise. They've done a trip there and you know, done your I would be nice if they would tell us. They don't they they don't tell us. But the most fun news out of Maryland, as we talked about at the top of the show, is that David Trone, Yeah it was a good one,
lost to Angela also Brooks. David Trone is the owner of Total Wine, which great store. Terrible person. He's famously spent like something like fourteen million dollars trying to win Jamie Raskin's seat.
I thought it was more than that.
It might have been he, but this is a primary, a House primary. Not only did he lose to Raskin, he lost to Chris Matthews's wife, who got finished second, who was a famous local news anchor in her own right in DC. He finished third, not only spending the most money to lose a House primary in history, didn't even finish the second. So then he switched and he moved out to western Maryland and John Delaney left office, so he was able to buy his way into that seat.
Tried to spend sixty plus million dollars to win the Senate seat. Everybody thought it was his to win, but Angela also Brooks beat him. She won with basically basically Baltimore City PG and Charles County in Maryland, but she also take a little Kent County prerogative. She's currently tied, so I'm from king went to Kent County High School. Kent County is a small county over on the very rural, small county over on the eastern Shore. I haven't checked
the very latest. When I checked this morning, she was tied seven two to seven twenty two in the in Kent County with Trone, So I don't even have to ask my mom. I'm sure she was also Brooks.
Yeah, so they're now fifty four to forty one point nine, So fifty four to forty two roughly overall, and then in Kent.
It's forty eight forty eight right now.
Do they have the vote totals? It was flairity.
We've see about fifteen hundred total votes right now. Okay, yeah, so it's dead. He high ballgame in Kent County.
As a wise woman once said.
There's no Total Wine in Kent County.
Money can't buy you class.
Money can't buy you class. It's true, It's it's awesome. It's great to see Trone beaten.
It's always good to see money.
Yes, not win the day the stole, like the Stoller's anti monopoly crowd went after Trone and a super pack basically launched a campaign hitting him on anti trust stuff.
Because anti trust super.
Pack, Yeah, because Total Wine is engaged in all sorts of anti trust violations allegedly and is in the process of getting prosecuted basically, and so and Trone politically is like an anti anti trust. He's a pro trust. He's for trusts because he is a he is a trust owner, he owns a trust and so allegedly, basically, what the Total Wine does is it suppressed, is it it punishes supple and it gets better, It gets better deals on
booze than the mom and pops do. And it was allegedly enforcing that in a pretty kind of ruthless way. And what's amazing is during this campaign, David Trone's company sued the Biden administration in relation to this fight that they're having. So a Democratic senator running for a Democratic Senate seat sued the Democratic president over anti trust policy while he was running for Senate. Democratic voters said no, so good for them.
I was going to say that this segment was peak Portland, but it has now become peak Ryan Grimm because what started as a deep investigation into the various meddling of a pac turned into a rant about the pro trust organization structurally of Total Wine.
I'm not sure how we got there, but you.
Didn't see it coming. That was a Shamalan style.
But here it's all about big money.
All about big money. Yeah, that's the overhanging.
And so the election is May twenty first in Portland we'll see, like if they lose this despite spending millions of dollars against Jaya Paul, that would be a huge blow to them because that would leave them with just Harry Dunn so far as the person they beat. They and the January sixth protesters are the only ones that have beaten Harry done and nobody else.
Well, best of luck to Apak going forward. And that does it for us on today's Wednesday edition of Counterpoints. But of course we now do a wonderful Friday show and that will be this week conversation with betto Work. I imagine they'll be some debate back and forth. We haven't taped it yet, but a conversation with Betoo Work on the border, and that's really exciting.
I really appreciate you.
Setting that up right, Yeah, love Betto. I uh first interviewed Beto when he was a El Paso City councilman because he was pushing a pot legalization initiative referendum in like not a reference, just a little resolution in like two thousand and nine. I interviewed him for that and I interviewed the sitting congressman at the time, and the congressman said, if this passes the El Paso City Council, like federal funding is going to be at risk. Beto took that as a threat that how dare you threaten
federal funds over my pot resolution? And Beto ran against him for Congress after reading that and beat him in the primary. He was a border patrol guard, so he beat a border patrol guard to get the Congress.
You guys are just jen X.
Yeah, brothers, we are yea brothers and the brothers in the plant.
Yeah exactly.
You got a clubhouse because this is a treehouse. You just like smoke weed and skateboard and listen to Nirvana.
Yeah, we're not going to sell out man, but really looking forward. Yeah all right, So come back Thursday night Friday for Counterpoints Friday with Beto o'rourk. Otherwise Crystal Sograby here tomorrow.
And stay tuned of course to your inbox for just updates on the greater Breaking Points universe going forward.
And we'll see you next week. Ryan will see you early next week.
That's right, I'll be there Tuesday. Also, you get a lot of me next week. All right, see you guys later.