Some More News - Even More News: Will Democrats Actually Try To Defund DHS?

Episode Date: January 30, 2026

Hi. Writer and actor Mara Wilson joins Katy, Cody, and Jonathan to talk about the supposed "drawdown" of ICE in the Twin Cities, what the Democrats should demand to fund the government, and the FBI's search of a Georgia Election office. Mara also talks about her experiences as a child actor and how the proliferation of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on AI platforms is a major problem that nobody wants to deal with.And as always, we recorded right before that big thing that happened.Check out our new show STREAMIN' MORE NEWS: https://www.youtube.com/live/a3OYcDbd_EcPATREON: https://patreon.com/somemorenewsMERCH: https://shop.somemorenews.comYOUTUBE MEMBERSHIP: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvlj0IzjSnNoduQF0l3VGng/join#IlhanOman #MaraWilson #evenmorenews Pluto TV. Stream Now. Pay Never.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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please contact Connix Ontario at 1866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with Eye Gaming Ontario. Hi, on today's episode, we talk about the potential drawdown of ice in Minneapolis, the man who threw vinegar at Elon Omar, and the FBI search of a Georgia election office. You're tax dollars at work, folks. Okay. Oh, hi, hello. Welcome back to Even More News, the first and only news podcast. My name is Katie Stoll. Ah, that's what I was going to say. But it would have been wrong. I'm coached. Cody Johnston. Hi, Katie. That is the right answer. Hello, Cody.

We are very excited to welcome a return guest today, writer, actor, and 2025 Audie Co-Award winner in the horror category. It's Mara Wilson. Hello. Thank you for having me back. I'm thrilled to have you back. Yeah, my cat's here too. Hi. Wait, remind me of her name. Freya.

Yeah, that's Freya. I named her after a goddess and wondered why she had an attitude. Yeah, smart decision on the bar. Yeah, I mean, you brought that upon yourself for sure. I did. She is gorgeous. Thank you. She is a goddess.

She just hopped off my lap. She's also named after a character in a Kim Stanley Robinson book because I love me some anarchist sci-fi. So, yeah. Well, deep cut, okay. It's a deep cut, but that name is full of meaning and clearly she is taking it on. Embodying it, yes. Speaking of goddesses, Jonathan is also here. Hi.

Oh, I appreciate that, Katie. Oh, you're welcome. You really know how to get me feeling like warm and rosy inside. Oh, that's my goal. I was hoping you would blush a little more, but. We'll enhance it. Nick enhance it. It's impossible for my face to redden anymore while we're recording.

We'll put it in post. Lots to talk about today. First, we do have some holidays. Friday, January 30th, is draw a dinosaur day. Everybody, you've been waiting for. Katie, you drew a dinosaur earlier and you said it was bad. I'm sorry for bringing it up, but we have to show. There it is.

That's pretty good. That's cute. If I had to guess what that was, I would say dinosaur. Would you? Yeah. Instantly. Do you also have a favorite dinosaur? Because I do.

I still have a favorite dinosaur. What's yours? Maya Sora. Maya Sora were the, yeah, they were found defending, like, they would defend their nests really well. So they were known as being like, they're called myosora for like mother dinosaur. They're known for like being good moms. And that is an excellent answer. Yeah. And they're, they're duck-billed. They have a, yeah, they're the duck-billed dinosaur. Yeah. My son is two and he's becoming a big dinosaur kid and he has this sticker book. And these days there's like re-stickable

stickers. Like you could peel them off and put them back on. So your sticker book can last like a year. And And it's so funny how there's like 40 different dinosaurs on here, but kind of the same one stand out. It's like T-Rex and T-Rexatops and Stegosaurus are like the favorites. Something about them. I'm like, no Pachycephalosaurus is going up the... Yeah, it's kind of a monoculture when it comes to dinosaurs, you know? They have the, they're the most, like, unique of all of them, right?

They have the very recognizable features for kids, the shapes and stuff. I don't know. I just feel like those are the ones that get pushed on us all. the time. I get it. I get it. T-Rex. Yeah, T-Rex is kind of an industry plant. It's true. Yeah, big fossils out there shoving them in our faces or in the

ground in the Minnesota. Minnesota. Oh, God. Montana. My brother's a paleobotanist. So, yeah, so I know. Yeah, like Dr. Elie Sadler. Yep. He's very happy when people are like, oh, like Dr. Ellie Sadler and not happy when people say, oh, like Ross on

friends. because everyone finds cross-coring. So, yeah. We got a lot to get to, like I said, Mara, but I wanted to start by mentioning a recent piece that you had in The Guardian talking about CSAM child sexual abuse material and your own experiences and what's like, you know,

disturbingly happening a lot right now with Groch, etc. And I just, yeah, I just wanted to mention that everybody should go read it. But from your perspective, what troubles you the most about what you've been seeing happen over the past few months, the past few years, but especially the past few months. See, the thing is, when I was a kid, you know, this happened to me. I was, you know, back in those days, there was no, hey, don't Google yourself. I mean, back in those days, I don't know if there was even Google. But I used a search engine and I, I, I, I used a search engine. and I looked myself up because I was, you know, maybe 11 or 12. And I thought, oh, this would be cool. And, of course, what I found was, you know, some negative reviews of my movies and such. And then I found Link saying that saying that they had images of me. I knew that those images couldn't exist.

But I knew there was such a thing as, you know, Photoshop as photo manipulation in those days. And I've got to say it was devastating. And I still don't know to this day whether it was. my face on an adult body, which would be incredibly disturbing, or much, much worse, which is my face on child sexual abuse images, which would mean some other poor child out there was getting horrifically abused. And they used my face as part of it. And the thing was, I was, this happened because I was a child actor. And, you know, my parents tried very hard not to, uh, to make sure that I was in a position where I wouldn't be sexualized. I only did children's movies, you know,

We had friends, you know, I knew Kirsten Dunst, and I remember my parents being a little worried about her being in interview with a vampire because suddenly she was being seen as a sexualized person because her character is an adult. And that was a great role for her and we were really happy for her. But I remember my parents being a little worried about what was going to happen to her. And, you know, they saw stuff happening with Natalie Portman and later on with Evan Rachel Wood and all of these. So, and, you know, and I wasn't known for being like a beautiful girl, but it was. it was because I was accessible and that's what predators look for. So this happened to me and it was devastating and it didn't matter that it wasn't really me. It was incredibly violating. It was incredibly upsetting. And looking back on it now, I think that I kind of feel the worst for, you know, my parents,

because I know that if that were to happen to a child that I know, I mean, I, I, that would be devastating for me. So I, I, but the thing is, that. that when I first heard about, you know, AI being used, generative AI being used for photo manipulation and stuff, I immediately went, oh, shit. Oh, shit. This is where it's going. And I knew. And I mean, I am a worst case scenario imaginer. But it started happening and people started seeing it happen publicly. You know, we saw it happen on GROC. And I was like, okay, I need to do something better than I need to speak out against it because I'm not an expert in very many things. And I've had a strange life that doesn't always apply to, you know, other people's experiences. But I just kept thinking,

every child is going to have to live my nightmare or is going to be able to live my nightmare. I was accessible because I was in the public eye. Now, you know, so many people put pictures and videos of their kids up and this could happen to anybody. So I decided I needed to write about this and I talked to some lawyers about it. I talked to some people who, you know, studied AI. And, And, you know, what they told me was it's a tricky thing because there are, there are things that are not quite illegal, like putting a young person in a bikini. And there are still a lot of states where you can Photoshop a child onto an adult's body and it's perfectly legal. So, but the thing is, the ironic thing is that we've been in a moral panic about, you know, sexual abuse of children for years. And yet people don't really want to look at their own behaviors. or look at what major companies are doing. And instead, they just say things like Hollywood is so corrupt. And I'm not going to pretend Hollywood isn't corrupt.

Of course it is. But I think that, A, it's corrupt in the way most big institutions are, any big institutions where there is, you know, a power differential on the regular. And also when making money is important, you know, above all else. I always say Hollywood isn't immoral. It's amoral. And the second part is, like, I always say personally, I always felt safe on film sets. I felt completely safe on film sets. I had people looking out for me.

I had studio teachers. I had a lot of wonderful directors like Chris Columbus and Danny DeBito and Michael Ritchie, who knew and understood kids and were wonderful with kids. And, you know, they supported me and they protected me. And, you know, my parents and studio teachers did too. And so it frustrates me when people just say, oh, Hollywood is so corrupt and Hollywood is bad for kids. And people will say, like, oh, you know. must have been molested there and I say, no, my sexual harassment and exploitation always came at the hands of the public. And I don't think the public is doing enough to examine their own behavior. And so that's why I'm saying basically, this needs to be kind of a call to arms. Because also, like one of the most dangerous things, and it's funny because if you had told me this, you know, 10, 15 years ago when I was still slightly techno-optimistic, if you had told me that something open source could destroy lives, I would have been like, no, open source is awesome.

You know, the internet is free, should be free, it's awesome. But open source AI could be disastrous because people could, you know, take it and basically refine it for their own selves and make it into basically see Sam creating factories. At least that's what I've been told by several people who work in this kind of law and work in, you know, AI who have researched AI safety. So that is something that, you know, and people like Mark Zuckerberg are like, oh, yeah, we should make it open source. And I'm like, dude, you want to be Alexander the Great, but you might end up being the Oppenheimer of CSAM. That's how you're going to be remembered, dude. So, so yeah. So I think this needs to be, and I think this needs to be addressed on all fronts. I think that parents need to be careful about putting their children there. I do think that any kind of family, you know, YouTube or or anything like that should be demonetized. And if their children are performing on platforms, they should be subject to the same rules of SAG or whatever. unions there are in their country because they are child performers regardless of that. And I think that,

you know, there needs to be legislation about this. And unfortunately, like, the legislation that take it down act is something that could be misused because it could be used for taking down, you know. And it is very telling that Ted Cruz, who, you know, embarrassingly has, you know, been caught liking porn on his public accounts was a very big proponent of this bill. But also that bill could be used to also say take it down for language that criticizes the government. It's too broad and it's, you know, so, but you know, SAG needs to be doing stuff about it. And I think Sean Ashton, who is our president, is a director, who has been a child actor himself. So he probably understands.

But also, I think that this needs to be something that people are talking about. Nobody wants to talk about it, but we have to. It's so complicated. No, it's a great rant. It's you got a lot in there, a lot of specifics in there, a lot of things to chew over. I could talk about this specifically for an hour with you. But it is terrifying to see what is happening and to see the response from our government is so lackluster. Other governments, other places are doing what they can or, you know, I can't speak to the efficacy or long term what it looks like in other places.

but I know that people are tackling the issue head on in other places. Whereas here we're like, whatever, Elon Musk wants to introduce Grok AI. We're not going to penalize him in any way. We're not going to look for any sort of accountability. Yeah, there's a reason these companies all sucked up to Trump, you know? Yes, they are. That they're not saying anything about anything that's happening, but especially not this. Yeah, Ted Cruz sent a tweet about it.

But that's all because they don't want to rock the boat too much or poke the bear. And then meanwhile, everybody in charge like Elon Musk. they are either laughing about it or denying it or in his case both. Participating. In participating. Some of these tech companies, you know, Google with it. Like there are good faith efforts you could say that they're doing to avoid it. And with GROC, there is a like gleeful glibness about it of not caring.

And that feels malicious to me from Elon specifically. Yeah, I mean, Google AI and Open AI, you know, I hate that I have to give Open AI credit for anything because I think they are incredibly evil and I will never use them. And I never have. I've never voluntarily used AI in my life just out of principle because I'm stubborn like that. And also because, you know, it's like I've seen it like take art from friends of mine and things like that, which is strange because that's not the way that AI is supposed to work. It's supposed to use like. like the most common images that come up, but I have actually seen like it be ripped off of, you know, friends art. So people have specifically said like, hey, make art based on this. And yeah, and it bothers me because a lot of those friends are like artists that don't have a lot of money and are maybe on disability and it's taking their work. But one thing that OpenAI and Google AI are like, they're saying that they're doing is they're like, oh, well, we were just very careful about not training it on, on, you know, any kind of pornography. And that's.

way because if it is trained on pornography, first of all, you're also taking away sex workers' images, which they are not happy about. A lot of sex workers have spoken out against this and said, this is really awful. They're going to be making, they're going to be using my image to make it look like I'm doing things that I never consented to. And, you know, then also, you know, as a friend of mine who's worked in AI safety and, like, studied it before, said, there's no difference between, like, the silly things that people use AI to do, you know, and say like, oh, you know, show me a Jedi that's also an ancient samurai, or, you know, show me if I were in the Roman Empire. You know, the dorky things that people do like that, you can also say, take this image of, you know, somebody naked and, you know, make this teenager look like it.

Because, you know, functionally, it's the same thing. It's just combining two images. So if it's trained on pornography, then it's going to, it can combine these things. So, and the thing is, apparently there are also like, there's like a database of, like, encrypted CSAM where there's like, you know, where it's all, you don't see the images, but they have like, you know, hashes attached to it. There are ways where you can say, okay, specifically, do not ever use these images. But, but that doesn't seem to have been done. And Grock, yeah. And Grock just doesn't, I mean, they just don't give a shit.

And it doesn't surprise. It shouldn't be a surprise to anyone because, you know. you know, Elon Musk is in a K-hole 23 and a half hours of the day and probably hasn't known what he's saying, you know. I just, I'm just stuck on the moral hypocrisy. Well, of everybody, but especially this party that claims to care so much about children and predators. And let's deport all of the child abusers, the, you know, all this shit. And yet we're gleefully slopping around in this disgusting. deluge of...

Yeah, but a 16-year-old reading a YAA book about, you know, a gay kid falling in love is grooming. Right. Yeah. But that's grooming. Right. Please give me a fucking break. But I just, to speak to your experience, and I do want to acknowledge what you've said and you're saying the piece is like, your parents did everything to protect you.

You had the best possible experience. And it was out of their control because you were in the public domain. And at this point now, everybody's in the public domain. And everybody should be worrying about this. It's unfair that you have to come to, you were forced into a position where you were coming of age to sexual maturity while this is happening. That creates confusion. That creates insecurity. That creates decades of stuff that you have to work out.

And it's hard enough to all of a sudden to be having boobs or your body changing. Yeah. All the ways that our bodies change through puberty to add this is just ripping away people's childhood. Yeah. I mean, like, I wasn't, I was still in training bras. I wasn't, you know, I'd never kissed anyone. I was, I had just turned 12, you know, I hadn't even had like, I hadn't even had like, you know, a summer camp boyfriend or girlfriend yet, you know, the way that like all kids do. Like I, I, I, I, like, barely was having crushes. And this was happening to me. And I was the one who found out about it. And I just thought, I really don't want any kids. I don't want this. And I remember thinking, if this. ever happened to. I'm not a parent, but there are still many kids that I care about. And I always thought if there's any of these things happen to children, you know, they would have to hold me back to keep me from murdering someone. If it happened to any children, I knew. And now it could happen

to anybody and to any children. And I, and we can't pretend it's not devastating because it is. And I can tell you that it is. The one thing about the phrase free TV is that it rhymes twice. Free? TV. Three? Three times? Forget it. Because the other thing about the phrase is that it applies to Pluto TV, a streaming service

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Homes.com collaboration tools make it easier than ever to share all this information with your family. It's a whole coldest sack of home shopping information, all at your fingertips. Homes.com. We've done your homework. So I'm going to throw to Jonathan for some updates in Minnesota. Yeah, I'll try to compact the... the latest from there. So borders are not a real job. Tom Homan was given he's he's in charge up there now. Bovino out, uh, homin in. He gave a press conference this morning seeming to indicate the potential for a drawdown of the 3,000 federal agents there. If he said the local authorities cooperate,

including by giving agents, ICE agents access to the local jails, there hasn't really been an indication of a drawdown there yet the way there have been in other places once it was like publicly indicated that ICE is leaving and at the same time the Senate Democrats just blocked the appropriations bill for now from moving forward so that DHS funding package is stalled ahead of the shutdown deadline on Friday but Trump says they're you know he says everything but he says they're close to a deal well I don't think it's going to be a deal that we all love 20 cameras on them. More cameras. Just give me one more camera on the agents and then we'll do it. Like I did post like I do think they should impeach Nome and they should impeach Miller. I don't want it to come across like and I've posted about that.

And I've seen some people posting like, no, they need to abolish ice. And I'm like, yes, they need to do both. Like I do think that they should be impeached because I want them to feel the shame. I mean, I don't know if they're capable of feeling shame. But, but you know, but that's at least a black mark on their record. I mean, again, I don't. know if any of these people really do have shame, but I do think that unlike Trump, Norman and Miller, you know, are our kind of try-hards and that will still, you know, count against them. And but yeah, it should be, I'm like, can we, can we do both? Can we get, you know, and I feel like that's like the, that would be the easiest thing. One of the easiest things for Democrats to do is to say, like, oh, let's do this. Yeah, the energy is definitely there and it needs. To be both also because if you just impeach Stephen Miller and Christy Noem and get rid of these figures, then you're sending the message that it's about who's in charge and it's about, well, it's because it's Stephen Miller's ice. It's Trump's ice. And if you get rid of the people, then actually it's going to be totally fine. We're going to solve the problem, which is not the case. And that message, I don't, I've seen a few people in Congress talk in that way, which is good. But, um, but. Um, I'm, I've seen a few people in Congress talk in that way, which is good. But, um, I hope they don't use this sort of energy of like impeach Christyneum as the excuse to not do anything else.

Because we got rid of her, but she's not doing anything either. They want a fall guy, okay, somebody public to take the heat off of them. And I have no problem. I mean, right now I don't know that Kristy Noem or Stephen Miller are going anywhere. There certainly are rumors and that could happen. But maybe. And we can be pushing for that. Both things need to happen.

Right now, I guess the plan in the Senate from Schumer is they want to end roving patrols implementing stricter rules regarding warrants for arrests. They want to enforce accountability through a uniform code of conduct, which presumably Don't murder should be in there. Don't murder should. Simply have a code of conduct. And then this one is good, I guess, requiring agents to remove their masks, carry identification and wear body cameras, body camera footage, whatever.

I don't find that to be, I mean, that's just, let's give them more money to put cameras on their bodies that they will just be. Well, again, it's, yeah. Maybe instead of brown shirts, you could wear tan. Tan is more friendly. Lighter on the eyes, exactly. This is, yeah, I mean, that's the thing. And that's why, like, I should be abolished.

And I wish more people were actually saying that. And it's crazy to me that more people aren't actually just saying that I, and yeah, I don't know. Maybe I'm wrong that, like, this. that like there probably are, maybe I have too much faith that, you know, they'll impeach Norman Miller and also do anything else. I think you could be right that they might just cut off, you know, one of the heads of the hydra and be like, great, we're done. So. Got it. They don't come back. It depends. It also depends on how much we continue talking about it. What lies we catch them in,

the pressure being applied. So it's not, I don't mean to sound defeatist, but I do. want to stress that maybe not if Miller was to go, but if Chrissy Krizy Nome was to go, I don't know that materially much changes. Oh, no. No, leaving me, it's like your local Chili's gets a new general manager. It's still going to be mostly the same experience. Miller, I don't think, will be fired because he's been so tight and so loyal to Trump for so long, but he could be sidelined and demoted a little bit.

And I do think if Miller's voice was somehow not in Trump's ear every day, there might be a softening because I think everyone else there in the White House or most of the people in the White House see the political situation of it and they might not be ideologues about this stuff, i.e. as racist and mean-spirited as Stephen Miller is, it might soften it up and say like, hey, we're going to get completely wiped out politically if we keep this up. to the point of, real quick, to the point of Democrats could be talking more about abolishing ICE, 76% of Democrats support abolishing ICE. It is for their party, a 70, more than a 70, 30, issue. 46% of Americans overall. They're Bill Crystal Democrats. Yeah. Right, Bill Crystal. I just don't get that, yeah, I mean, Schumer is always just, I just don't get why he's such a coward. Like, you're, you, you, do you know your constituents at all? Like, I've been his constituent. Like, I've been his, you know, did you see who they elected mayor?

Like, do you see who these, these people? Like, I, I just don't, I don't get why he is such a coward, you know. Can't rock the boat. Can't do anything. Because also, I mean, it's, even this, this, like, our, the leadership is just not going to. I want to be optimistic. But keeping that energy. Because the drawdown, all this drawdown talk, home going out there, oh, we're going to get rid of

Bavino. They didn't really get rid of him. They just moved him out of the way. Like, he's just not going to be giving these, like, horrifying, inspirational speeches on camera anymore. The drawdown is a reaction to the reaction that happened. And all this upswell, all this polling about how everyone was to abolish ice. And there are everything we see, well, if we pretend like there's this drawdown, we're going to

move some stuff around, then the, they, they, they. Democratic leadership will also draw down and pull back and not push for shutting out of the government, all these sort of things that they want. And then a little time will pass and they'll just keep doing it. Like even if Stephen Miller gets sort of pushed into the background for a little while, it's temporary because they see what's going on. They see everybody being like, wait, Trump's out there saying that we can't have guns anymore. Wait, they're like, they're calling them an assassin, but then they're saying actually they're not an assassin and all. Everything we see They know it looks bad.

And so if they put a temporary pause on it, then Democrats will likely do the thing that they normally do, which is step back and let it boil over. They want that. They want, like, obviously it would be great if they left Minneapolis. But Democrats want it the most so that they can exhale and say, okay, let's get back to affordability. Whereas, like, as horrible as things. are going on politically it is an opportunity for them to hammer them on this really unpopular, horrendous stuff that we're seeing new videos of every single day. It's impossible to get away from. And I think kind of deep down a solid two-thirds of them just kind of like ice and don't want to

get rid of it. Yeah, 100%. It's a thing that's good, basically. And... Or a thing that's not great but can be reformed, you know, not something that's rotten to the core as it is. People seem to forget that we didn't have ice for forever. Yeah. That ice is a very new institution. And we handled immigration in other ways prior to this. What year was ICE and stated? It was, oh, two, it was after 9-11. It was after 9-11. Right. Yeah. I remember flying before 9-11. I remember like, you know, I grew up in L.A. like, we heard about border control. You know, we heard about we'd see these things.

We, you know, you see these things and you go down to San Diego. But like, yeah, I remember before, you know, before it all went insane. I can remember flying before the rules. And I can remember, yeah, it's, it's very strange to, to think about how people think of it as this, this, you know, this institution. And I'm like, no, it's not. It's not. Yeah. And then once ICE is gone, maybe Democrats can start talking about how immigration is, in fact, a net positive.

and the entire, this entire, like, issue argument in the public sphere is based on racism. If they even remember how to talk like that. That's the thing I'm like, like, Stephen Miller, I'm like, you grew up in L.A. Like, it is so weird to me when people are racist against Latino people in L.A. Because I'm like, no, they were our friends. They were, are, like, everybody you, I don't know. Part of our community. Exactly.

I don't know any white people who, like, didn't have. of like who like didn't date Latino people who weren't best friends, you know, with like all Latino people who, you know, didn't eat, you know, Mexican and El Salvador and food like all of the time, you know. My family's, my family's, I mean, my family, we're, we're, my family's half immigrants. My step family are all Filipino immigrants. Like, this is, this is just something that I don't understand. I'm like, how, how fucking sheltered do you have to be to be racist against immigrants in L.A.? He broke up with his Latino best friend.

Yeah. And of course there's like, yes, there's like very privileged white people for whom, you know, but just to be like, oh, I hate these people. It's like even the most, the rich white people, it's like you exist. Your life exists because of Latino people like, you know, taking care of you and doing all these jobs that you consider yourself too fucking good to do. That's what immigrants are, I don't know. It's like. There's a fierce reckoning that's waiting to happen for all of us, I think. a reality check. Yes, about privilege. And I know some people don't like saying that because they feel poor. But no, you're privileged. You are privileged. We are privileged compared to other people. And our country doesn't run. It just straight up doesn't run without, it's not an invisible workforce, but people treat it as such gliding through your hotel, not realizing that it doesn't just exist for you. People are showing up and they're working hard and they don't. deserve opportunity. They deserve respect and we need them. You literally don't have food

without migrant labor. You don't. You would not have food without it. And that's why it rings so hollow when they complain like they're not allowed to eat in a restaurant. People come and blow whistles at them. It's like, well, sometimes you go, the ice goes into a restaurant, eats and then goes into the kitchen and takes people, kidnaps people. Thank you for mentioning that. No wonder they don't want the meeting there. All the time. That exact thing happened. Yeah. Yes. That's the thing. It's, yeah, that's, that's who is working at these restaurants. It's, yeah. There are so many ways, look, in a vacuum, I don't, I, I would love open porters. I don't understand why people are so freaked out. That said, okay, you want to talk about immigration. We can improve immigration policies. Let's make it a whole hell of a lot easier. Let's let people extend their visas. Let's let them be here legally to work. A lot of people want to come here for a while. they want to go home. Some people want to live here.

We used to be able to go back and forth. You know, it's not like this is about taking your life away or changing America. We need to make it easier. Or we can have conversations about how to treat employers who are, there's a million, there's a million different ways you can have this conversation other than throwing the Gestapo at them and keeping people in concentration camps, beating them. beating them, raping them, not giving them access to food or water, not giving them recourse in order to reach their family members. This is madness anyway. Well, people also don't realize how incredibly difficult it is to immigrate quote unquote legally. It's incredibly difficult. That was one of the hardest classes I

took in college was sociology of immigration. I was, you know, trying to get my sociology minor. And I took that class. And it was just, I was just like, I don't know how fucking anybody navigate this because I speak English and I'm on this site and I don't understand anything on here. And it's basically like, like the example they gave was like David Beckham. David Beckham could emigrate very easily because he was like a star. You know, you can get that like the genius visa if you're, you know, a student or something like that. Who's, or if you're like a, you know, the Albert Einstein type, you know, a scientist who's going to be doing all these things. And then, you know, maybe if you're like a grad student, it's a bit more complicated. And I was just like,

okay, so you have all of these things and you can maybe file for asylum. And a lot of times you don't get asylum unless you are specifically, because I've worked with groups that have worked like Mary's list that work with asylum seekers and people who are getting resettled in the U.S. And they don't get, you don't get asylum status. You don't get refugee status unless you basically work for like the U.S. State Department or you have to like work with the government to get it. And then when you get that, maybe they will give you an apartment and they will give you nothing else. They won't give you food. They won't give you mattresses.

They won't give you a crib if you have a baby. They give you jack shit. And you basically have to rely on the kindness of strangers, you know. And like you have to, you know, you have to know, you have to know some English. You have to do this. People don't understand how fucking impossible it is to emigrate for most people. And if we could all realize that it's. in everybody's best interests.

You know, all the Americas are the world, but all of our neighbor, this is in our best interests to have a good relationship, not to be, you know, the dictator that's trying to control everybody threatening invasion, XYZ. This is, this is,

we should all be on the same team here, um, is my opinion. Uh, anyway, should we talk about other, elements of this, other stories, Jonathan, Meistro? We mentioned this on the show we did on Tuesday night, because it had

just happened, Ilhan Omar had what was apparently apple cider vinegar sprayed at her, squirted at her, sprayed. Thrown, spread, placed on her by 55-year-old Anthony James Kazmierchak, who

based on what his family says in his social media posts, show that he is a right-wing extremist and Trump supporter by which I mean that everyone who supports Trump thinks is a left-wing plant like right away. He pretended to be a right-wing freak for years and years and years. Yeah, he pretended for years. He told his...

He tended to get divorced a couple times. He pretended to, yeah. He told his... Well, their evidence is that he has photos on his Instagram with his two daughters who have like blue hair and piercings and stuff. And he's like, well, those are leftist anarchist kids. And we all know that conservative fathers never have like liberal. We haven't.

We certainly haven't spent like years seeing post after post of people complaining that their children have cut them out of their lives because they've gone off the deep end and are becoming the kind of person who might, let's say, attack a congresswoman. Like, it's so it's just really funny and pathetic. to see everybody be like, see, his ex-wife is a big Ilhano Omar fan. His ex-wife, you don't say. His ex-wife. Like, every single thing that they say is like, yeah, so he's clearly left wing. No, he got worse and worse and worse. Like, it's like, I know people where it's like, yeah, your dad's, it's a problem, you know,

like they end their very left wing or it's just so obvious what's going on. says that he's always been this way, that he's always been angry, that him and his mother have been right wing, ultra right wing conspiracy theorists types, and there's a reason he hasn't talked to his brother. I know Jonathan,

you included in here this timeline that you were trying to validate, even predates this timeline of his radicalization, is that he has always been this way and always been very angry. And yet, they're going to jump through all the hoops to say that this was staged. Well, check out this.

This is the smoking gun right here is this very real photo of him holding a wad of cash while he's smiling Ilan Omar points at him while they take a photo with him with this lot of cash game set and match. There's a very real sort of sheen on them. That's good. Yeah, why would why would he be what's what the Fiji? How is this even? Okay, she's like pointing at him. saying, I'm giving him money. Like, ha ha. It's like a thousand, but these are all hundreds right here. Normal kind of photo you take for false flags.

You take the photo there also. I also, and I'm not going to, we're not going to get into the attempted assassination of Donald Trump's life. But I do find it funny that they're like, it's clearly staged because he, like attacks her. and she goes after him afterwards. She like goes for him. You love that he put his fist up after like getting shot at. You didn't know what was going to happen. What are you doing?

Very, very absurd. I'm only keeping this up because I'm like, you think this is depressing. Take a look at these comments. That are like, I mean, a few people to their credit are saying, it seems ludicrous that they would take a picture like this. It does seem like that, doesn't it?

Yeah. Are you taking a photo on a criminal conspiracy? see? Yeah. But there are some comments. I won't look into it. I knew it. I knew it. Here's the evidence that you, some guy on Facebook have acquired hours later. I won't think about it for another second. But it does seem

ludicrous indeed. Some of its spots, yeah. I love every time somebody is like, oh, they're a paid actor, they're a, you know, especially when there's like children involved, I'm like, dude, okay, again, I don't know a lot about a lot of things, but I do know one thing about child actors. Do you know how hard it is to find a child

actor who? So hard. I've worked in casting. Yes, who will be very natural, who doesn't have a parent hovering over them all the time, you know, which is good. Their parents should be hovering over them all the time. You know, there's no such thing as a child crisis actor. And, you know, any actor who would be cast in something like this, they never keep their mouth shut. You know, they're hashtag booked and blessed. That's like the whole thing.

Exactly, Mara. There's no such thing as crisis actors. And if you've been to like a high school play, you know that there's a lot of really terrible. actors out there. So the idea of like being paid for these things is is just so incredibly stupid. That just doesn't exist. Also, um, I would love, uh, to get paid in getting arrested. Mm-hmm. For the crime. Like what, like what do they think is going on here? That's a really good point. Yeah. I mean, listen. It's paid really well for that. It's a, by the way, all this talk about how, uh, most child actors are no good and you can know there's a lot of bad.

child actors from going to high school plays. I take all of this as a personal attack. Basically, I want you to know that everything all of you are saying, I'm taking this as a personal friend. Sorry, but she was a child actor. She would know. I mean, there's a lot of great child actors too. There's a lot of great child actors too.

But I mean, like. But they're booked and blessed, as she said. There are a lot of great Harris is out there. Listen, I just like, you know when you're going on a lot of auditions as a kid and the kid from picket fences and the kid who did the voice of Chip and beauty and the beast are getting all your roles. you know you're not in the top three or four. I know that kid.

I know that kid and he was a great actor. I worked with them. They're great. Listen, but I would see them in the room. Hi, Adam. Yeah, was. Was Blank Check the one? Was it?

Yeah, that was Adam Wiley. Yeah. Adam Wiley is a friend of mine. Yeah. Adam Wiley and Picket Fences. He was great. I'd see him all the time and I'd be like, well, that kid's getting it.

I'm not getting this thing. Yeah. I was almost the kid in blank check. I was going to say the blank check is the one. Oh, man. Yeah. It's, did you also grew up in L.A.? Orange County. So that's why I stopped as a 12 year old. I was tired of driving.

Yeah. People are always, people are always like, it is so weird that you did that, did this. And I'm like, I grew up in Burbank. It wasn't that weird. Like the popular kids in school were like in bads. And they like, they looked down on me for like being in children's movies. There was a hierarchy. Oh yeah. You thought you were going to be like hot shit walking into school and they're like you were doing that cutesy stuff. You were doing. I mean, you know. Although it was weird. know about your powers? Were they not terrified of the powers? Well, it's weird. They get at an age where it's like, where it's like, you know, like, Matilda was cool at from, you know, until like middle school and then it wasn't cool anymore. And then I think like about to like 17 people start to get nostalgic again. And that's when like, you know, and like in college, that's when they're like, oh man, I loved Matilda because there's enough distance there. So, you know, that's when I like went back and started watching like Nickelodeon videos and was like, oh yeah, I remember that. guy. So that's what other people did too. I also, we got to get back to the news.

I know. But there was also a I believe a Mrs. Doubtfire resurgence where people like genuinely rediscovered Mrs. Doubtfire and a joy of it in the last 10 years, I think. So, you know, these things go in phases. Oh yeah. Comes in waves. Yeah.

Yeah, they definitely do. You weren't acting for that long in this period, but you really got some bangers in there, man. Thanks. Thanks. I really. My mom was a big, my mom was a big cinephile. So she, at least my first couple movies, she was like,

she was like, we're not going to do this one. This one looks terrible. This one looks terrible. This one looks terrible. And, you know, these few look good. Let's work with them. So, yeah, that was, that was all her. She did good.

I took us down this path. I'm sorry. We should get back on path. The news. I took such offense to being like most child actors suck. I'm like, you're just, it's just that that Preston Waters-sized hole that's the main character's name in blank check okay uh i never weird movie what a weird weird weird you never saw it oh you gotta see it's a pain i've seen bits

and pieces of it and i know there's like i think an adult kisses a child in it and that is very disturbing to me so yeah that was the era for that yeah there as a kid in the 90s you don't understand like so much inappropriate things were put in like PG movies in in that time. We're still working through that. All right. News. Yes.

We can do another story. I want to move on and just say that hopefully we are not at war with Iran by the time. I feel like I say this every week. Hopefully we're not at war with Iran by the time this comes out. Trump is threatening Iran as well. Again, there is a massive armada. He says that has taken up positions in the region. They're doing exercises.

There's demands. that unlike a few weeks ago, the demands have nothing to do with the massive protests there where the Iranian regime has killed. It confirms 3,000 people, but human rights groups believe it could be north of 20,000. The demands now are about nuclear stuff, a permanent end to enrichment of uranium, blah, blah, blah. I'm sure Trump would love it because he gets, he likes these quick strikes. It gets a big win. He gets to kidnap. Kinetic strikes.

Kinetic strikes. No one is defending. No one is defending the regime here. But yeah, what are we doing? What's the end goal? It clearly isn't about human rights abuses. The EU just instituted a bunch of sanctions and declarations against the regime. We'll see what happens.

But I don't know what our role in this will be or what the end game would be. I mean, the thing is that like all as long as like any totalitarian, you know, or authoritarian, sucks up to him or like compliments him, he'll like them. Like, and I wonder if, you know, I mean, Maduro I couldn't, you know, wasn't able to do that for a couple of reasons. But I'm like, it wouldn't surprise me if Iran found a way to, you know, manipulate him. Oh, yeah. It's like that, it's like that email from Donald Trump's good friend Jeffrey Epstein describing in the email like, oh, you just have to compliment him

and give him something he wants and then he'll say or do whatever for you. He's very easy. They should invent a peace award, the Iranian Peace Prize, and give the inaugural one to Donald Trump. They'd be like, listen, we're giving you this prestigious award. You can't blow us up right. Maybe you can.

It really works. You're a pioneer, sir, by accepting this award. Yeah, exactly. I mean, I remember, like, there's a saying that, I think Khrushchev said when one of our presidents, I'm not sure if it was JFK, somebody spoke out against human rights abuses in the USSR. And Khrushchev just replied with like, and yet you lynch black men. You know, like you're talking about human rights, but you know, and that's a fallacy in itself

because, you know, both things are bad. But I do feel like, you know, there's, there's. But of course, that's not going to be the reason, you know, that they do it. But I do feel like I am I am kind of surprised that more places around the world aren't like, look, what's going on in your own country if you're so worried about human rights abuses. Although the thing is that they're not really worried about human rights abuses in Iran. So just to say, let's hope this is not an obsolete conversation by the time this comes out tomorrow. So something that will still be relevant tomorrow is they are continuing. to relitigate the 2020 election. So they said the FBI. I feel like I'm stuck in that pixie song. Where is my mind? Because we're back here again.

Back here again. We're doing this again. How many times have we done this? How much money has been spent relitigating this bullshit? Sorry, Jonathan, continue. No, it's fine. The FBI on Wednesday, they executed a search warrant at the Fulton County election office. a bunch of FBI agents and Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, was there for some reason.

They're getting a bunch of the tabulation tapes, a bunch of ballots, anything they couldn't burn, right, to try to prove that there was some sort of malfeasance in Fulton County in 2020. That was the office where you've probably seen the video of them pulling out the suitcases and then their secret ballots in the suitcases. And then everyone who's an expert in elections said, Those are the bins where they put ballots. And then when you have too many of those, you put some of them under the table. And then when you're done with the bin on top, you pull out the others and you count those. So there's just bins with ballots in them.

But that was apparently a huge, like, oh, it's fraud. Does Tulsi Gabbard just need something to do? Well, she can't be against regime change or foreign wars because of the news. So she's got a kind of, I mean, she went into hiding basically the past several months. Months. I do feel like I was like, oh, that's the name I haven't heard in a while. It's very weird that she is here. There's a photo of her there and she's got the like head of the head of an FBI raid in a movie type outfit because there's like all the FBI guys in the jackets.

And she's got like the hat on and the little like coat like she comes in after the area is secure to like. You got to get ready for the post. Stop. Wait, I want to see this picture. You gotta get the picture. I'll pull it up. Oh, yeah. Like, she's got the thing as if she might have to

like make a quick getaway or hide behind a plane should Castor Troy show up or something like that. Costume department on point here. Yeah. Oh, my gosh. We're a reality show government

that can't stop posting. Like, to be clear, she is the head of a government, she's the director of national intelligence. So you would, you would, you know, see someone like kind of dressed professionally in an office. She has an office job. I want to see the shopping montage for this. You know, she goes in.

She gets strange. You know, she comes out and like her girlfriends, who are her girlfriends? Who is friends with her these days? Like, I don't even know. But, you know, they're just like, hmm, I don't know, you know. There's maybe Peter Thiel's there as like the token gay best friend, you know. And I mean, obviously, J.D. Vance. J.D. Vance is there.

Yeah. Like, yeah, she twirls. round she does that yeah so this is specifically as part of an investigation into federal law against destruction of election related records yeah it's just they are they looking to make sure that the ballots never got destroyed is what you're saying they're they want to get ballots and prove that they were like false or shouldn't have been counted and i didn't mention the latest thing that they're all upset about is when fulton county supposedly admitted to counting 315,000 fraudulent votes,

like a month or two ago in right-wing media was like, they admitted it that they cheated. What really happened is there was a procedural error where some ballots weren't signed by poll workers on the tabulator tapes, whatever those are, which happens sometimes and it doesn't invalidate the votes. Right. So the votes were still legal,

but like someone didn't sign them at some point in the process, which Fulton County said, yeah, that's a procedural thing that happened. But in the right, so maybe they'll find those and be like, see. But it also terrifies me that the FBI, this administration, getting no hands on it to do, God knows what with them to produce proof. When we've already had this, like I said, re-investigated many times for years. For years we've gone through this.

And it's been proven time and time again to have not. And what is even the point? Like, Biden was elected. He wasn't a very good president. Like, we know that nobody's like, you know, he doesn't even matter that, you know, he quote unquote won. Like, what are you going to do? Yeah, what are you going to do with it? And there are so many different ways to appeal to Trump's ego at any given time.

We've seen this. Why the fuck are we wasting so much money on something that is useless? It's not like, you know, there is no like, you know, huge humiliation here. that like Biden was the best president ever and he lost terribly. It was very close. Biden was not really a great president. And I don't know very many people who will claim he was. And who, you know, what the fuck is the point?

If you want to massage his ego, there are ways to do it that don't cost however many millions of dollars. Well, I fear that it's going to be some sort of way to undermine our voting processes in a couple years. Justification. They don't need to prove anything or do anything. They've got, because they've also got, they've got the ballots, they've got copies, and they've also got the tablature. Like, they've got all this stuff. So there's no, now that they have it, it doesn't seem like there's any way to check, check their work. Because I don't trust these people personally, but it's just to sow doubt.

He's got trust issues. Yeah, just with them specifically. And everybody in my life. No, they clearly just want to sow doubt. And if there's doubt, then they can do even more chicanery. They can do what we all know they want to do. And it's hard because elections are run on a local level. There are a lot of things in place to prevent this kind of thing from happening.

But the fact that Tulsi Gabbard was there and they're still going after this and targeting this county and doing this now. And they're going to have a fake RNC this year for the midterm. like the GOP is planning on doing like a convention. Trump's going to, instead of his job, he's just going to campaign and they're going to continue to say it was rigged. They have this new bill that goes even farther than the Save Act. It's called Mega. It's the Make Elections Great Again Act. We're going to get into all this stuff into more detail in the future.

But all these steps are doing and sending ICE to polling places also they're going to do. and then if you say that that's maybe a bad, people go, oh, so you think illegal immigrants are voting and that's not why it's bad? You don't understand why we're saying it's bad. It's clearly intimidation because they're picking up anybody who looks like an illegal immigrant. And so you're threatening everybody.

And it's just very clear what they're trying to do whether or not they're going to get away with it. It's dangerous and it sucks. Yeah, I mean, yeah. I mean, well, that was, I should have put that. together because there's because yeah because they've been fighting it on every other front you know they've been like I mean gerrymandering has been going on for years but also like trying to fight voting voting by mail and all the voter ID laws and all that you know and all of that so yeah so okay yeah now

that makes sense it's depressing but it's ego also his ego obviously like that is that's the other part of it too like that's why he's pushing it so much and they're like yeah we'll do that more power for us absolutely yeah so here's a tweet J.D. Vance is watching Marco Rubio do a little he's in front of Congress. JD Van says watching Tammy Duckworth obsessively interrupt Marco Rubio during this hearing

is like watching Forrest Gump argue with Isaac Newton. So you're comparing Marco Rubio to Isaac Newton? Yeah, I So here's, okay, so first of all, first of all, J.D. Just use the R word.

That's what you want to do. That's what you're doing. That's what you want to do. You've been wanting to do it for so long, ever since you got it in the office, just do it. All the kids are saying it these days. They're all saying it. Cody's just waiting for him to drop it. It's going to happen.

Just do it, JD. It's gotten as far as Harmeet Dylan, I think, has tweeted. You know, we're going to get a hegg set. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Also, obviously, you spelled his name wrong, J.D. So maybe just like, you have Twitter blue. change it.

He got the two A's in Isaac, but not the two R's in Forrest. Yeah. Also, it's Sir Isaac Newton. Yes, I was just going to say, sir Isaac. Respect on his name. Big fan, exactly. Show some respect. Also, Forrest Gump arguing with Isaac Newton, you couldn't think of a smart guy that was

alive during the mid to late 1900s, so it would even make sense. like you couldn't think of somebody that Forrest Gump would argue with. One of the issues people have with Forrest Gump is that he very specifically like he, he kind of influenced everybody and everything and that, you know, a lot of. Right, right. He's embedded in our. So the whole point is that he's this kind of, you know, savant who changed everything in American history. And is a fundamentally decent person. This is the main thing.

Absolutely misinterpreted everything about the. character in the movie. Like we can talk about the politics of Forrest Gump, but the thing in the movie is that he is just like a good natured innocent. Yes. If Forrest Gump, with two R's, he was the hero, was arguing with Sir Isaac Newton somehow, he would do a great job

and he would be praised for it. That's the premise of the film, J.D., you fucking idiot, resign. He would be the one who like bumped into, like, he would go running and he ran, He ran too fast and then he ran into an apple tree. And, you know, the apple fell. Like, that's, that's, he would be the cause of it. He would have discovered.

He would have discovered. Yeah. 100%. You're right. Anyway. Sorry, he's offensive to do Forrest Gump voice. I didn't think it was, but I, I think it's not. I think it's fine.

He doesn't know how to, he, he doesn't, he doesn't, he doesn't understand. Jady Vance just doesn't understand movies. He doesn't, yeah, it's just, he is just, and, and it's funny because both, and Marco Rubio also is just a complete void of charisma until recently when suddenly he seems to be on uppers or something and now he's just like laughing and charming and very, you know, very excited to be talking. He's running. Lots of jobs he's running over there. Well, that's becoming a requirement for this administration. Absolutely. You got to be on something. You got to be a, wear multi hats, multiple hats. So just a great tweet from the Elon Musk School of Watching

Movies. fundamentally misunderstanding everything. Mara, thank you so much for joining us today. Again, it was really good to see you. Please promote stuff. Tell people where to find you. Do your plugables. Yeah.

Well, if you haven't read my Guardian article, please read it. I go into more depth, even more than I did here, about what I think should be done, about CSAM and about AI, the different measures that I think we should be doing to protect against it, what's being done in other countries, what's being done in the U.S. And this is something that everybody needs to take seriously. So please go look it up. It's, I believe, on guardian.us. And yes, that's very important. And also, if you would like me to read you a story, you can go to Libro.fm. I do a lot of audiobook recordings, and I absolutely love it. And yeah, it's, it's, you know, my dream job. And I have it now. So that is so rad. I will get one

for my drive to LA. Thank you. Thank you. Or I drive back if it doesn't get it done in time. I was going to say not enough time. You're leaving pretty soon. All right. Thank you.

Thank you everybody. We will be back next week. I can subscribe all the things. Leave a comment. That helps, right? I guess. How embarrassing for me. But also, I just wanted to say,

we love you very much. Chocolates.