The Benny Show - American Trapped In China Under BRUTAL LOCKDOWN Speaks Exclusively to The Benny Show- This is HORRIFYING

Episode Date: April 15, 2022

Tyrannical COVID Lockdowns are Back in China. I spoke Exclusively with an American Mother LOCKED DOWN in Shanghai. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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The Benny Show. George Orwell said that if you wish to imagine the future, all you have to think about is a human face being stopped by a boot again and again and again forever and ever and ever. What George Orwell was predicting, and indeed he was a prophet in his day, is modern day China, where there are no human rights, there are no civil rights, and the people who live inside of China are at the diktats of the state. The state is a prison camp controlled by the Communist Party of China. And if they wish to reach an agenda by violating what we may perceive in America as our liberties, natural rights given to us by God, well, then they will clearly just violate them.

Never has this been more fully exposed than what is going on in Shanghai right now, as Shanghai had a COVID outbreak and people's ability to live, eat, breathe, and even exist have gone to the wayside. They've separated families from children, separated people from their pets. It's hard to even look at these images. It's tough to see them online. We can't stomach half of what we see. And people have been starving. They've thrown away food because the food was COVID-19 positive. It doesn't even make any sense. But none of it makes any sense when people are simply lusting for power. Power for power's sake, torture for torture's sake. And that seems to be the angle of the Communist Party of China and has been for a

very, very long time. But in the images and in the videos that you've seen out of Shanghai, it might seem very distant. People are speaking a different language. People are using different customs or living in strange locations or doing things that you may not be able to relate to. Are these images or are these videos even real? Sometimes it's hard to authenticate them. So we thought it would be very important today to reach out to a dear friend of the program and somebody who we are very, very proud to be bringing on the show, Cassie Gentry. Cassie is a mother. Cassie's from Georgia. And Cassie is living in Shanghai right now due to her husband's business. Cassie has children with her, and she

is currently experiencing this lockdown firsthand. Cassie, thank you for coming on the program. Thanks for having me. Really appreciate it. Well, I go, I want to know. So we've seen so much in the West about what's going on in Shanghai. But again, it is hard to view that through the hazy lens of someone's cell phone with a different language. Can you explain to us the day-to-day reality of Shanghai right now? Well, we do live outside of downtown. So we live in an actual home. So we're not an apartment. We have several friends who are down there. And the reality is they're not getting food. The reality is water is not being delivered. And we say that because we were

told we are never allowed to drink the water. The water is full of metal. Just be careful. Always drink a bottle of water. So we always have these waters delivered. The water is not being delivered any longer. Mainly because trucks are not allowed to travel, food is not allowed to be brought in. And I want to say this also, the difference between what the poor people are going through versus what the hyper wealthy are going through is starkly different. We're able, and I consider myself a wealthy person in comparison but of course we are not but we live amongst the wealthy and we are able to do these crazy bulk orders i mean it's like groupon on crack where you place these orders real quick we want milk hurry hurry hurry place

it before the order sold out and then we have to order like 50 jugs of milk, even though I really only need one just to get me through the next couple days with my kids. But in reality, it's over excess here and nothing for the others. I mean, it's mind-boggling. But also, Eli, this lockdown was told to be 48 hours on March 18th. And it's April 13th. And we've been locked in our house since then.

Thank God we have a house. My heart aches for the people in these apartments that have not been able to leave their apartment in over a month. I mean, it's insane. And these lockdowns haven't just started then. They have been going on sporadically. People are locked inside malls. And the way the government spends it is it's a community-building opportunity. You know, the nation pride is amazing.

I'm in awe of it. When in reality, it's so much more harmful than it is good. In my opinion, of course, I have my American brain and my freedoms, thank God. And I have all these different things that most Americans don't even understand that they have because they don't know any better. Well, I do. We have all that crap taken away from us, you know, and now we're stuck here with no rights, with no unhealthiness. Asking to get permission to leave the compound is taking an act of God. We don't even know if we can get on our plane, our flight next week, because we have to get special permission, and then if we leave, we're never allowed back in, in our compound.

So if our flight gets canceled or if something else happens, we're out of luck. And so we are just praying that everything lines up. But at the same time, the people of China, mostly of Shanghai that I know of, are really struggling. And we've had the fear of our kids being taken away from us we've had um these you know testing positive from omicron with all the statistics that are out there now is not a big deal but the way the government responds to it is and so it's been very very fearful we've all been just every time we go have to go get tested we have these mandatory testings

throughout our compound because we're not allowed to leave the compound um cdc comes in in their marshmallow suits and tests every single person here and we just pray if it comes back positive even if it's a false positive our life will change forever i mean it's very very scary these are the times that try men's souls biblical times every headline you read everywhere you look uncertainty and scary world events that are destabilizing frankly i mean have you checked in on your food prices or gas prices lately how about inflation even president biden says that in regards to food shortages it's going to be real and you're starting to see that happen now friends inflation continues to skyrocket and it will hit your bank account. It already has.

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Birch Gold can help protect you. Text Benny to 989898 to begin protecting yourself with gold. This sounds like hell on earth. Now, I just want to establish you right now at the time of this interview are locked in your house by the authorities in China. Yes, correct. How does this work? right now at the time of this interview are locked in your house by the authorities in China? Yes, correct. How does this work? Do they lock your door? Do they put chains on your community door? How is this enforced?

Well, every compound, there's not a house just on the side of a road. All houses are in a compound, either at the apartment or a villa, which ours is a villa. And the first line of government is that gate. Every gate, every community has a gate. Every community has a wall. So the first line of government is that wall, is that gate. And so for them, for the government to say lock them they lock them and so there's no one entering or exiting and so that happened on march 18th for this community but to be real eli we took our kids out of school march 8th because omicron was coming and the risk

of our kids being exposed was becoming high again i'm not worried about them getting covid i'm worried about the government taking them away from me. So we took them out of school March 8th. By March 11th, the SEC, the Shanghai Education Commission, canceled school for all of Shanghai. So we knew we made the right choice. But sadly, that day, the CDC came into our school and mandatorily tested every single child in that school. These are like pre-K, three-year-old to high school. It's on one large campus. And these kids were being tested without parents present. And it's just accepted and it's okay. I'm like, no, it's not okay. This is not okay. So we took our kids out of school early. And then

the city started, it's really big lockdown on March 12th. And that's when people were scrambling to start getting food. So actually food started shortages started far before this really large lockdown happened. It's like phases of lockdowns are happening. Does that make sense? So, so are you allowed out? Are you allowed outside in your own compound or are you not allowed outside at all? So we, as of, um, two days ago, we did get notification from the government that we could walk around our compound, but the compound hadn't agreed to that. And so Craig, my husband, and I were walking our dog. And we got so many mean looks from all these guards that were driving by.

I'm like, we got notifications from the government. We don't even read Chinese. We had to translate it. So yeah, we can walk around. And we ran into a couple of our neighbors who were doing the same. They were so mad because they didn't tell us we could. We hadn't gotten the official message that they agreed to this. And so, yes, and you're going to get in.

No one's going to do anything, but you're going to get me mugged for having freedom to walk around the compound. Yeah, that's crazy. But for the last eight days, we haven't been able to. Okay, so for over a week, you have been locked into your house, unable to go outside, unable to go get food, unable to get the clean water to drink with your children and a dog and your husband.

Right. Right. Yeah. It's not unboggling. How, how are you, how are you smiling on a camera right now? How have you not gone completely one flew over the cuckoo's nest?

How have you not gone full Jack Nicholson? Actually, I shared a meme that said that we really think that he did really well in the shining compared to what we're going through. So I feel like in the morning I wake up and there's a tinge of hope of, okay, you know, maybe more good news. Because also, Eli, there's, we had a friend whose child did test positive. And, you know, we're all just really sick to our stomachs. We're all, and he's, they're American. The consulate got involved, which was such a blessing that they heard him and was able to actually advocate in some way well the cdc kept calling to try to take this child away um new laws and new rules have been passed where a parent can go with you but these quarantine facilities these makeshift quarantine facilities are not even suitable for

the chinese that's what they said they are so bad so we can't put a foreigner in there it's not suitable for you for sure like if it's it shouldn't this shouldn't even be happening why can't these people just stay at home and live in their beds and heal there these are all asymptomatic cases meaning that they don't have a cold they don't have a fever they only tested positive on these little on these little tests so anyway um every morning i'd wake up and just really hope that, you know, something good would happen. I feel like my day hasn't started yet because it's five o'clock in the morning. So that's why I'm able to smile because I have such a hope that good things are going to happen. Now, if you're talking to me at 5 p.m., I may have a cocktail in my hand and I may be crying.

So right now there's still hope for the day, but my friend's child did test negative and is doing so much better. So the CDC backed off and now they're trying to get out of China. So we've seen the video of the drones, barking orders, the mechanical dogs, dystopian 1984 stuff, really creepy. We've seen the people having mental breakdowns and the videos from inside of the quarantine centers of Chinese citizens also having breakdowns, living in squalor and living like chattel. Cows wouldn't be treated as such. You're confirming this along with the

food shortages and the dystopian deployment of the military. This is all real. Yes, this is all real. The barking dogs are in Pudong. Shanghai's divided by a river. The Yangtze's, or not the Yangtze's. Oh, I can't remember the name of the river right now. I'm sorry. Anyway, one side is Pudong, one side is Pushi. Pudong is the brand new side.

And that is where those dogs are. And they're screaming, they're screaming and yelling, everyone stay in your home. Everyone stay in your home. We even had a friend who works for SAS in Pudong. There's two SASs, two Shanghai American schools. One's Pudong, one's Pushi, who was sitting on his balcony in his apartment. And a drone came and yelled at him and said, get back in your home and all in Chinese, of course. But yes, this is happening. This is happening and it's not stopping. And that's, you know, we were told that we would be able to be, there's, we'd be released from

captivity. Um, but they're not letting anybody out. And then if you are let out, everything's closed. Where are you going to go? You know, how are you going to, you can't go into the store and get food. You mean you open up and it's a ghost town. No cars are allowed on the roads. If you are driving, you have to have a special permit, um, that you have to buy daily and it has to be for essential reasons, meaning you're going to the hospital which is another point i'd love to touch on to eli um or it's there's something important that the government thinks is important and so for us to even find a driver or a ride to the airport it's almost

impossible we haven't no one can confirm that they can take us. So I can't even set that up to make sure that we have a ride. Yeah. And so we have to get permission to leave and then we have to find a ride out of here. You're in a prison. You're in a prison. So what people call you as a prisoner, you're a prisoner. Yes.

You're an American prisoner. You've committed no crime, but you will have no freedom of movement. You are locked into where you are and it's a crime. You will be stopped by armed men if you try and flee. This is a prison. Yes, this is correct. What's the first thing you do in the morning? I know it's a personal question, but I think it's relevant.

The first thing I do is roll over and look at my phone. You probably are like millions and millions of Americans. You check in on your favorite websites, apps, your favorite creators. And what if you woke up every morning and they weren't there? They were deleted and erased on the internet. This is the reality for millions across this country every single morning because, well, big tech hates us. That's just the reality. They hate your host right here. I mean, listen, guys, they don't want our worldview to be platformed. And so they come after us. And that's why it's important to build a new internet, a second internet. And there's only one company out there that's doing it. Right. Forge right. Forge is the internet company devoted to American values and

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So what should we talk about? No sugar added? Neutral. Refreshingly simple. And multiple times, actually. You drive to the airport, and I've read that you get stopped four times in that transit. The cops pull you over, and of course you're not driving. You have a driver, and they ask for your credentials. They ask for the driver's credentials, and some of them are turned away,

and then you can't even get to the airport to leave. You came, and there's no freedom to even get to the airport to leave right now. I mean, it's really scary. It's daunting. I mean, it's really scary. It's daunting. I mean, it sounds worse than scary. It sounds like an utter and abject violation of your rights as an American. Has this been the norm in China? Have you had a sense that this was coming?

Not this bad. I mean, I feel like my husband and I would have left and gotten our children out of here much quicker had we known it would turn out this way. Of course, we knew and know of China's not ever – it's kind of in the background. It's not ever on us. So for it to be on us right now is – it makes my heart hurt for the Chinese people. And, again, I'm putting my American thoughts on this, and I'm putting my American experiences on this. They don't know any better, and so you can't ask them to be an orange when they're an apple.

You can't ask them to change. But knowing that people are dying and knowing that people are starving, I mean, to the extent, Eli, that our school, we had spring break last week. Our school canceled school on Monday and Tuesday because our teachers don't have food and water. And they took this big push of really helping get little small care packages delivered to American teachers who don't have food and water. I mean, it's, and this is just people that we know. I mean, there are 25 plus million people in the city, and I'm only speaking of maybe less than 1%, you know, of these rich people and people that

can reach out to get resources. And so it's, it's really scary. It's scary that we're no end in sight. And that's, that's zero COVID is real. They are adamant and they are proud as a whole, the government is, and the people are tired. We have neighbors that are communicating with friends that are downtown, and they said they've never heard of people rioting against the government, but they're done. It's getting to that point of they're watching people die. Oh, yeah, the medical situation, you know, of course, just like in America, we were in America during COVID when it hit. And the understanding that all suggested surgeries need to be put on hold and only emergencies and then COVID.

Well, here, all hospitals close that are international. So they're not receiving emergencies. They're not receiving any kind, they're not giving any type of medical care. So we have a dear friend who had some major medical issues at the very beginning of March and needs surgery. Well, the lockdown started, so no hospitals were available to give him the surgery. Long story short, consulate got involved, thank God, and they were able to get his surgery deemed emergency because it is. It is.

It's just he's able to walk around and function normally. It's just, anyway, they were able to get him admitted to this hospital downtown, which is not an international hospital, but they have a VIP section for people with money. So they're waiting in the emergency room area at you. Six hours they sat in that parking lot. Just think if they had blood gushing out of them or going through a heart attack or having an asthma, whatever.

A lady died recently from having an asthma attack outside of a hospital. No help. No help. They don't care. They make you wait. And my friend told me that she saw the most horrific things in that six hours while they were sitting there. No one's helping. And that is really scary because what happens if one of my children has something that is needed, I'm going to sit there helpless. So it's time to go. It's time to get away from this, especially when it's not only about us Americans. It's about what's happening to these Chinese people. I mean, that's their norm.

And it's how they accept it because they don't know any better. But there is so much more to life than this. This is not life-giving anymore. So we're done. We will be praying for you, and we've been saying prayers on our show. And clearly nobody should live this way. I just can't believe your courage to do this as a mother, as a wife, as a, you know, it might seem curt to some people or slightly irrelevant, but not to a dog lover like me. And some of my favorite people on this earth are dogs and

I love them very much. And I've loved my dogs. You're an animal. Some of the, some of the most painful, truly the most painful things to watch is the treatment of animals during all of this. It's barbaric. I assume this is real as well. You have a little dog. Yes. I mean, do you live in fear that someone could come and take your dog? Well, no, because she's fully registered.

Okay, you have to register your animal here. She's got all the right paperwork. I'm not worried about them unless we were taken away. I would worry about how that would be managed. We do have an amazing community of friends here who we could possibly care her to, but I worry about their lack of compassion in general. And so if Butter were to ever, her name is Butter Grace, if Butter would ever get away from me, how she would be treated. Because that is what you are seeing is these people that are taken, their dog is left in their apartment.

And then these CDC people take it upon themselves to end the life of these dogs. And it's happened far too many times. And this is real. And I hope I'm not stepping on toes, but this is my personal opinion. You know, China is a third world country who blossomed overnight. And that doesn't mean that the mentality of the third world people changed. And so to have a pet is still a new idea because you needed, and you don't need extra mouths to feed. You needed every resource you had to be for your family. So that

idea is still brand new. While us Americans, we've always had animals, you know, for the last 200 years, we always had pets. We, you know, always had resources. you know always had resources we've always had extra and so that idea in itself is still new and so people don't have that humanity within themselves to care for others and like you know i'm a christian and i believe that god truly gave us this ordainment to take care of others and take care of the world he created. Well, you know, if that's Christianity, Buddhism, there's a lot of different religions that focus on humanity and good. Well, the religion of China is government. And whatever they say goes.

And they're not taught to love one another. They're not taught morale. They're not taught to build each other up. They're taught to be number one and that's mal that's straight out of mal's mouth actually in all his little red books it's straight out of him he says think of today yourself don't think of yesterday don't think of tomorrow think of today so that's what's just been brainwashed through them so yes it is happening and also getting your dog out of china it takes an act of god um you know cdc sadly hasn't made it easy in america um china's deemed as a high-risk country so we have

to go through this huge permit process that takes over six weeks thank god i had some government officials helping get my push to change it to get to leave early. And then we have to have an exit exam for our dog that the dog actually has to go to. Well, we're locked inside our apartments and homes. How are we supposed to get our animals to this exit exam?

So this is something else I'm anxious about. I have a driver through this pet organization coming to pick her up. And then I haven't gotten confirmation that I can get her back. So we can't leave without this exit exam. I mean, it's a nightmare. It's a nightmare. There's one thing after another. Like, just let us leave.

Just put us on a plane and let us leave, please. People in America don't understand exactly how good that we have it, exactly how providential and divine our founding documents were that illuminated natural rights for all of us. Can you perhaps speak to some Americans who think that they're oppressed here or that America's founding was systemically evil? Oh... or that America's founding was systemically evil? That's a hard one. After moving here, I realized how entitled Americans are.

And, I mean, it's a beautiful place to be to not understand. And it's a beautiful place to be to have had rights your entire life. So for Americans to be hyper about political issues and how they need certain systems changed and whatnot is really infuriating to me. It's great that Americans can have a voice. It's great that Americans want the betterment. And I'm not saying that some systems don't need to be changed, but I am saying the way people handle it in America is just really wrong. People need to start listening to each other and communicating

rather than screaming and yelling and placing blame. Going through this experience, I mean, of course, just living here in general, but now going through this, I mean, can't we all just get along? We speak the same language. We don't have to yell at each other. We have running water everywhere. I mean, we have the beautiful freedom to drive a car across state lines without being stopped or questioned or killed without a special permit. And there are so many different freedoms within China that, I mean,

within America that China can't even fathom because they would have mass chaos. But in America, it's not mass chaos. People are generally good people with great morals and integrity. And so just let that be at the forefront of all of our conversations. Let that be at the forefront of your passion. Don't be mean. Don't be angry angry you are so blessed to be an American it is such a great blessing to be an American we are so missing gratitude in this nation especially for the people who built this place and who gave it to us without asking for anything other than that we care for it it really is remarkable to be in a place that is absent of that and how empty you feel and how utterly helpless you feel and I'm so sorry that this is absent of that and how empty you feel and how utterly helpless you feel.

And I'm so sorry that this is happening to you and your family. The capacity to be helpless in the face of a Orwellian, oligarchical, huge hovering state that is not functioning on your behalf. Because no state is designed, right, to be end to end and to take care of all of its citizens small communities right it's designed to do this churches and and and and townships and neighborhoods are designed to take care of each other not massive oligarchical states and so it it it truly i think i mean i think in conclusion here i I think you are truly experiencing communism, right? Like experiencing the failures of the system that we know has failed. What would you like to say in closing to American communists for people who want communism and end-to-end government control in America?

I'd understand it. So for you to want something that you have never truly experienced because America is not communist. America does not have a communist bone in its body and its people. So for you to want something like that is asinine.

You as an American need to move forward in the freedom side because that's something that most other countries don't ever have experience and so for you to want something that is going to take away a freedom is so wrong and celebrate America's freedom celebrate what we have worked so hard as a country to create and move forward in that direction. Don't take steps backwards. It's never going to benefit anybody. It will make a government strong, but it will not make a people strong. It'll weaken the people. It'll not only, you know, mentally, but monetarily, they won't care for America any longer. They will care for how to save themselves as a whole America.

And of course, this is my side of it. It does have great nation pride. I know there's been so much political war. And but of course, I used to surround myself with people that do love America and that do support America, no matter what president is in the office, no matter if you agree with it or don't agree with it, America as a whole is strong. The fact that we can shut down our government and still function well speaks volumes. If the government were to shut down in China, nothing would happen.

These people would flounder. They would have nothing available to them. So Americans that want communism go live in a communist country for many years with a local document. Do not, you don't use your American passport. Use your local in Russia, in China, wherever. Get nitty gritty in it and then you'll understand it is not okay. Wow. We took our show to Cuba and spent just a few days there and had our Airbnb

raided by the authorities and our equipment confiscated because of what we were filming. I mean, that's all you needed, right? That's all you needed. We had to flee to the embassy, right? It sounds like you've been working with the consulate in order to get just basic human dignity and rights and things that we take for granted here. And so those stories can't be told, told enough. Cassie Gentry, I want to ask everyone listening here, please believers pray for Cassie and her family.

She has beautiful children, a dog, a husband, a family that she loves. She's a mother who needs our help. Everyone pray for her and her safe return to the land of the free, please God speed. And if there's anything else, Cassie that we can do on our show, please let us know. Yes.

Thank you, Eli. Thank you so much for having me. Yeah. Good. Good luck. I mean, I don't know what else to say.

I don't know what else. How do you fight? How do you fight communism, man? This is the worst form of government and worst form of human system i mean it's against natural law it's against god's order it's not it's not good yeah it's it's draining i mean every day like i have a to-do list of who i have to call to advocate for us.

It's exhausting. Can't wait to be out of here. Imagine waking up like that. And you will appreciate being on American soil more than you ever have in your life, I bet, when you return home. Yes. Yes. Oh, my goodness. I cannot wait.

Godspeed. Come back to us. We will be waiting with bated breath. Return, Cassie, to a beautiful family home. Please, Lord. Thank you so much for illuminating this horrifying story. wisdom and knowledge I've learned from the failures when I got sent down my rookie year, all the injuries I had to overcome. Your mind is the most important tool you have in life. Be relentless. Keep charging. It matters how you talk to yourself, how you look at the world. That matters. We talk about that. I don't know. I'm fired up. Baseball's back and it's going to be incredible. I love it. The Mayor's Office with Sean Casey from Believe. Follow and listen on your favorite platform.