The Daily Signal - 'They're Willing to Die': What an American in Hong Kong Sees

Episode Date: November 21, 2019

Since the beginning of November, Cody Howdeshell has been in Hong Kong, delivering first aid to the protesters. He's seen some of the violence first hand: the Hong Kong police, he says of one time, "went in and they beat these kids that were already half dead with their nightsticks and began to absolutely tear them out with no mercy, probably dislocating limbs, and shoved them against the wall and arrested them." He joins the podcast to share why the protesters want freedom and more, what he thinks will happen in the long term, and what he believes Americans should learn from Hong Kong's experience. "Nothing in communism is voluntary, and it has to be enforced with violence at the end of the day against those that would preserve their own freedom and liberty," Howdeshell says. We also cover the following stories: What happened during Ambassador Gordon Sondland's hearing. Jussie Smollet is fighting Chicago in the courts. Once again, Californians are facing power outages. The Daily Signal podcast is available on Ricochet,iTunes, Pippa, Google Play, or Stitcher. All of our podcasts can be found at DailySignal.com/podcasts. If you like what you hear, please leave a review. You can also leave us a message at 202-608-6205 or write us at [e-mail]. Enjoy the show! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is the Daily Signal podcast for Thursday, November 20th. I'm Rachel Del Judas. And I'm Kate Trinko. Today, we have a powerful interview Rachel did with a young American in Hong Kong, who's helping the protesters there with first aid and medical treatment. He describes what's really happening on the ground and what the atmosphere is like. By the way, don't forget. If you're enjoying this podcast, please be sure to leave us a review or a five-star rating on iTunes

and encourage your friends and family to subscribe. Now on to our top news. Wednesday was another day of impeachment hearings on the Hill, with the star witness being Gordon Sondland, the U.S. Ambassador to the European Union. Here's an exchange Sondland had with House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, Democrat of California, via C-SPAN. Let me get to the very top line here, Ambassador Sondland.

Okay. You've testified that the White House meeting that President Zelensky desperately wanted, and that was very important to President Zelensky, was it not? Absolutely. You've testified that that meeting was conditioned, was a quid pro quo, for what the president wanted these two investigations.

Isn't that right? Correct. And that everybody knew it. Correct. Now that White House meeting was going to be an official meeting between the two presidents, correct? Presumably. It would be an Oval Office meeting, hopefully?

A working meeting, yes. Working meetings. So an official act, correct? And in order to perform that official act, Donald Trump wanted these two investigations that would help his reelection campaign, correct? I can't characterize why he wanted them. All I can tell you is this is what we heard from Mr. Giuliani. But he had to get those two investigations if that official act was going to take place, correct? He had to announce the investigations. He didn't actually have to do them, as I understood. Okay. President Zelensky had to announce the two investigations the president wanted. Make a public announcement, correct? Correct.

Here's another part of Sondland's testimony via C-SPAN as well. But I believe I just asked him an open-ended question, Mr. Chairman. What do you want from Ukraine? I keep hearing all these different ideas and theories and this and that. What do you want? And it was a very short, abrupt conversation. He was not in a good mood. and he just said, I want nothing. I want nothing. I want no quid pro quo.

Tell those Zelensky to do the right thing. Something to that effect. And here's Representative Elise Stefonic, Republican of New York, grilling Sondland, via CNN. Mr. Sondland, you testified that you never received any direct confirmation or specific information as to why there was a hold on aid. That's correct. And in fact, you testified, quote, President Trump never told me directly that the aid was conditioned on the investigations, end quote.

That's correct. You said, quote, never heard those words from the president, correct? Correct. Instead, you testified that in your September 9th call with President Trump, the president said, quote, no quid pro quo, I want nothing, I want nothing, I want President Zelensky to do the right thing, do what he ran on, end quote. Is that correct? That's correct.

And the fact is the aid was given to Ukraine. without any announcement of new investigations. That's correct. And President Trump did, in fact, meet with President Zelensky in September at the United Nations, correct? He did. And there was no announcement of investigations before this meeting? Correct. And there was no announcement of investigations after this meeting.

That's right. And you've been very clear when Chairman Schiff has asked you broadly about investigations. You've corrected that to say specifically your understanding of investigations are, investigation into the 2016 elections and investigations into Burisma. Is that correct? That's correct. President Trump says it's time to call it quits for the impeachment hearings, saying on Wednesday that the whole impeachment push should be over. Here's what he told reporters outside the White House. I'm going to go very quickly, just a quick comment on what's going on in terms of testimony with Ambassador Sondland. And I just noticed one thing, and I would say,

That means it's all over. What do you want from Ukraine? He asks me, screaming, what do you want from Ukraine? I keep hearing all these different ideas and theories. This is Ambassador Sondland speaking to me. It just happened, to which I turned off the television. What do you want from Ukraine?

I keep hearing all these different ideas and theories. what do you want? What do you want? It was a very short and abrupt conversation that he had with me. They said he was not in a good mood. I'm always in a good mood. I don't know what that is. He just said, now he's talking about what my response. So he's going, what do you want? What do you want? I hear all these theories. What do you want? Right? And now here's my response that he gave. Just gave. Ready?

You have the cameras rolling? I want nothing. That's what I want from Ukraine. That's what I said. I want nothing. Jesse Smollett's legal case continues. The Empire actor has struck back at the city of Chicago. Smollett was sued earlier this year to recover costs associated with investigating his claim of a hate crime,

which was later deemed a hoax. In addition to defending himself, Smollett is also accusing Chicago of malicious, prosecution. The Pacific Gas and Electric Company cut power to around 450,000 Californians on Wednesday morning. The company's CEO, Andy Vizi, said it is preemptively turning off power to mitigate adverse effects down the road, saying, we're making that commitment very publicly that next year we will not be in the situation. We will be able to protect the public in ways that are not as terribly disruptive as they are today. England's Prince Andrew will not perform any public duties for the foreseeable future due to his connection with the late Jeffrey Epstein. The British Prince made the announcement Wednesday.

He is accused by Virginia Roberts Jafray, who alleges she was one of the underage girls in Epstein's world of having had sexual relations with her when she was underage. Prince Andrew has issued denials of any sexual misconduct with underage women. Another Confederate statue is no longer standing in North Carolina. line, thanks to the Chatham County Board of Commissioners, which voted to take down the statue in August. The statue made out of bronze was located outside the Chatham County Courthouse in Pittsburgh, around 30 miles from Raleigh, depicted a Confederate soldier on a pedestal. According to a statement from the county, the statue and its pedestal will be transported to a safe location where they will be preserved and stored until the Winnie Davis chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy finds a more appropriate location. for them. Next up, we'll feature Rachel's interview with a young American in Hong Kong. Are you looking for quick conservative policy solutions to current issues? Sign up for Heritage's

weekly newsletter, The Agenda. In the agenda, you will learn what issues Heritage Scholars on Capitol Hill are working on, what position conservatives are taking, and links to our in-depth research. The agenda also provides information on important events happening here at Heritage that you can watch online as well as media interviews from our experts. Sign up for the agenda on heritage dot org today. We're joined today on the Daily Signal podcast by Cody Howdy Shell on merchant seaman from North Carolina who is in Hong Kong right now providing emergency first aid to the Hong Kong freedom fighters. Cody, thank you so much for making time to be with us today. Thank you for having me. So right now you're on the ground in Hong Kong helping the freedom

fighters giving them emergency first aid. Can you set the scene for us and tell us what you've been witnessing day to day? When we first arrived, we arrived on November 1st. You could walk around the streets during the day and you would think this was just a normal city. The protest typically happened Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights. And during daylight hours, it was business as usual. It was almost surreal walking out in the morning and seeing everything going on as if nothing could happen the night before. When the night before you had seen tons of rounds of tear gas fired and pepper spray and had violent clashes between police and protesters. And even then, the violence wasn't quite as high as it become now.

We were, I mean, it would have been nice if things had de-escalated, but we're also concerned because we'd come here to help that things might de-escalate in the first week and we would have come for nothing. But in the last nine or ten days, with the universities being placed under siege and fortifying themselves and all the students joining in the fight more so than ever before. We've seen the violence escalate and the clashes occur a lot more regularly to the point where it's been 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Yesterday evening, last night was the first night I've had off in probably about 10 days.

Tonight seems quiet as well. I think everyone is just burned out and the protesters are having a bit of a break. but an average day, evening night during the past 10 days or so, when it was really at its peak, walking down the street, you would typically pass one area where the protesters were building their roadblocks. They tear the bricks up from the cobblestone sidewalks or the paving bricks and throw them in the road and stack them in the road. They've actually been using mortar and building proper walls. they use bamboo scaffolding and anything they get from construction sites

and then you would walk another block or two and you would see the police fans coming in and they would set up their lines and they would have their face off and that would usually involve the police there's certain protocols that the police have to follow

so they raise a blue flag that says this is an illegal assembly and you must disperse and nobody does. So then they raise a flag saying it's black and it says, we're going to fire tear gas. Nobody leaves, so they fire tear gas. And then they can raise an orange flag saying we will disperse or we will fire.

And when they say they will fire, they mean rubber bullets and sponge rounds and beatbag rounds. They don't mean actual live rounds usually. So then on through the night that goes on where the protesters and the police face off. rounds are exchanged. The protesters throw bricks. They throw molotovs. They've been seen building trebushes, catapults, slingshots, and the police return fire with tear gas and rubber bullets.

And they usually back and forth, you know, the protesters grained some ground. The police came some ground. And the usual ending is a high speed charged by the riot police firing tear gas as they go. but these guys are weighed down with a lot of gear and they're all in their 30s or so and you've got a bunch of students and track suits that are in the prime of their lives a lot of them are 16, 17, 18, 19

and they take off at high speed like rabbits and they obey the police and then they regroup about an hour later and it happens again. Eventually everybody goes home and sleeps a little bit. So there are multiple cycles of protests like activity it sounds like per night when there's a protest happening. Yeah, it was definitely sort of to poke and prod the police and antagonize them and then withdraw.

And then to do it again and withdraw. That changed quite a bit with the universities because so far all the battles had been in the open streets. So it was very easy to withdraw. But when the universities became a point of attack and the students decided to defend us, there was no option to just run. So what you saw was a vast amount of the population keeping the police busy in the streets while the university students had the opportunity

to fortify their universities. And when those battles happened, as we saw last Tuesday at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and as is going on right now and coming to a close at Poly University, Polytechnic University, those battles are extremely wrong, drawn out, and extremely violent with a very high number of casualties. So the protests in Hong Kong, they started the original ones more than actually six months ago over an extradition bill, which spiraled and started the protests, and then the protesters ended up getting their main demand met and the extradition bill was tabled.

But since then, the protests have continued and honestly only intensified. And I'm curious what you think. Do you think the protests will end at any point? And since their main demand was met, what do you think now is the primary driver of the protest continuing? I don't think that the extradition burial, once it got going, remained their main demand. It started that way. But I think once the people realized the power they had and the ability they had to organize and come out en masse and actually, you know, well, to use a phrase that I'm not always a fan of, but speak truth to power. Once they realized that, they said, as long as we're doing this, we really ought to be,

depending what we fully deserve and what was, as far as I understand, promised to them when Britain withdrew. And that was that they would also have universal suffrage. So at this time, a large part of the House of Legislature here in Hong Kong is not actually elected by the people, democratically elected. it's appointed by these councils and so one of the main there's five demands these protesters have one is the extradition bill being withdrawn which has now been done

and the second biggest one I think and opinions may vary on this but would be universal suffrage meaning they have a fully democratic governing system where they elect all their members of this legislature

how will How will it end? I don't know. It would be a massive concession on China's part to allow them to have a fully democratic government. I mean, that's completely opposite what China does, right? And there are certain, the other demands that really the government could give into, for instance, investigating a private investigation of the police force and police brutality, which so far has not been done. Also, one of the demands was that the government no longer refer to the protests as riots, but as protests, which has sort of been done.

To be fair, at this point, I don't call it protests myself. This is insurgency. When you're watching young kids in colleges fire flaming bows and arrows at police officers and Molotov cocktails, and, you know, there's rumors of IEDs being made. That's not a protest. It is a revolution for freedom and democracy. How will it end? I mean, they have China is their enemy, really.

So it'd be a very hard battle to win. But a bunch of scrappy colonials beat the biggest army and navy back in the 1770s. So possibly they have a chance. Why did you decide to go to Hong Kong and get involved in the first place? Just watching it on the news and seeing what was going on, being from the states where we have a lot more freedom than Hong Kong, but I think we have a lot fewer people that are willing to put literally their lives on the line for it. There's a lot of chest beating and plenty of people that will say, oh, I'll die for my freedom, you know, come and take it, et cetera, et cetera. But at the end of the day, the reality of what it would be like to actually defend your freedom with your life, I don't think is really appreciated. And so here, like I said at the time, it was a bit more peaceful,

but they were still definitely putting their, not their lives on the line, but they were putting their freedom on the line because they could get arrested. They were putting their money where their mouth was, essentially. And also, you never know what is true and what isn't in the media these days, especially when it's coming from place so far away. And so one of the main reasons was if I'm on the ground, I can see for myself what is happening and not have any doubts about what is true and what is false.

And to, well, I just wanted to be involved in help out in some way. I mean, it's an opportunity of a lifetime to actually be able to get on the ground and help people that are fighting for freedom and liberty. So here we are. Have any of the protesters that you've met or treated stood out to you in particular? Oh, they all stand out, especially. So we have what we call the frontliners, and these are the guys that are actually holding shields on the front line,

protecting the ones behind them from the rubber bullets and the tear gas. And I should point out that tear gas is meant to be fired near a crowd. The gas is meant to go into the crowd. And then it's supposed to depress them through just the negative effects of the gas. But the police have begun using tear gas canisters like bullets. They shoot them at the protesters. They're flying at a very high velocity and they're so hot. They're using Chinese-made tear gas now.

And these canisters are so hot that they actually melt into the asphalt roads when they land. So these frontliners who are 16, 17, 18, 19 years old, you know, you see a few 20, 21. But I'd say the average age is around 18, between 18 to 20. They have an amazing amount of courage and bravery. I've got a few friends here now that participate in the front lines. and the fact that they can go out every day when the news is filled with reports of their comrades being arrested, being mercilessly beaten, being abused in jail, or just disappearing. The fact that they can read that and then still go out and continue to fight is astounding.

So the Guardian recently published an editorial saying, quote, On Monday the People's Daily, the mouthpiece of the Communist Party, warned that there is absolutely no room for compromise. And I'm curious, Cody, what you think? Do you think this is how the protesters feel as well, that they've come this far and there is no room for compromise? I would say, I think before the sieges of the universities, perhaps they would have had a room for a little bit of compromise.

But now, after witnessing the police brutality and the action at the university is realizing just how far the Communist Party is willing to go and just how many lives and humans that is willing to destroy for its goals, they're willing to die for this. Absolutely. And we saw kids coming out of Poly University trying to escape in the last few days. One ran across the roof of a covered footbridge. And when he came to the end, he was surrounded by police waiting on the ground. There was no way out for him. And he basically delivered a short speech saying that he would die for freedom. And then he jumped down. The police grabbed him immediately.

others that are still inside the university and there have been possible opportunities for surrender that would result in arrest but certainly somewhat safer arrest than having the police stormed to take you. They have come out and released a statement saying

they will not surrender no matter the cost. They will remain at the university and they will fight till the end. They would rather die than go to prison under a communist machine. That is pretty just incredible to see this happening in today's day and age. I'm curious, were you there at Hong Kong Polytechnic University and have you seen personally all of the action that's been happening there or have you just heard from others what's been going on at that particular university?

Now, so I've been in three universities. So we started out spending 48 hours in City University where no one knew which university would be attacked first. So we arrived at City University, actually due to a miscommunication. The City University and this Chinese University, both of Hong Kong and both abbreviated CUHK. We went to the wrong CUHK and arrived there while the students were just beginning to fortify the university.

So we watched that happening, waiting for the police to attack for 48 hours. And when the police didn't attack, it looked as if they would, during that, time, that was the siege of Chinese University that's pretty well covered, at least in the news here now, and I'm sure you can easily find information on it. So, after City University, we went to Chinese

University, and we were there for a little under 48 hours, probably there 36 hours. We got there in the morning, we stayed overnight, and we left late the next night early in the morning. We were at Chinese when the last of the protesters, it

were holed up in there, decided to retreat and go to Poly University to just make their final stand there with the other students. We were on the bridge when they detonated the very amateur vehicle born IED. I mean, it was very amateur. And I believe that was on purpose. It's a university. They have chemistry students. I'm sure they could make quite an explosion if they wanted to, but it was pretty tame. So we then left there, and we went to Polyte.

Technic and we're there for 48 hours. We were there during the clashes with the police, the long drawn-out battles with the police, lots of people getting hurt, casualties, tear gas being fired, like I said, as actual, the canister itself being the weapon and the ammunition rather than just the gas. We were there when a student shot a police officer through the leg with an arrow, and then late in the evening, On the second day, we were the last first aid team, and not just our team of Americans, but about us for Americans, an American pastor, and probably 20 local Cantonese first aid. We were the last group to be able to get out and walk by the police without being arrested. They offered basically a short window of amnesty for first day. others stayed behind and tried to get out maybe 30 minutes after us but they were immediately arrested

I think because only 30 minutes after we left a armored personnel carrier rushed the barricade the students had built on the traffic bridge in the university and the students were able to just make enough direct hits with Molotov cocktails that they destroyed absolutely destroyed the APC so that obviously incensed the police and led to a full lockdown essentially no one no one allowed in no one allowed out except for journalists and only journalists were allowed

out they weren't allowed to go back in so I mean at this point I think there's probably only two journalists still in poly university covering the events Cody what would you say is the overall mood of the protesters and given all the interactions you've had with them what do you think the protesters would want to tell Americans about why they're protesting if they had the chance to overall I would say is one of courage and determination there are days when they have their victories and there is a lot of upbeat attitudes and there are days when they suffer defeats and certainly right now with Polly University being lost to the police and the students being brutalized and

arrested we're not seeing a lot of a lot of joy right now but we're still seeing a lot of hope and a lot of determination to keep fighting. What would they say to Americans, I think they would ask you to come over here and to join them and they would certainly ask the government to put its full force in any way, shape, or form behind them. I think if you talk to some of the more philosophical ones, the ones that really do a lot of thinking behind the movement, they would definitely warn Americans of the Constable of allowing communism to get a foothold in your country, the consequences of allowing the Second Amendment to be eroded.

I've talked to many here that we'll tell you flat out. We wish we had a Second Amendment. We wish we had guns. Because it's pretty terrifying when you're facing off only 30 yards from police that have guns and have lethal force authorized. And you have nothing but bricks and Molotov cocktails to throw up them in your fists. and the only reason they haven't decided to shoot you is because no one that's given the word to kill them all. But they would certainly just want Americans to know what is happening because they understand that it's not exactly well covered in the Western media.

They just want the word to be out. What is well do you think the protesters would say about China? Obviously they really don't have, I mean, they are speaking by either very active protesting, but they don't have freedom of speech there. So what do you think, if they had the ability to speak about their true feelings, what kinds of things do you think they would say? Mainly, they know what is happening in mainland China, whereas the people in mainland China don't know what is happening out here because of their lack of Internet access. And they simply don't want to see that repeated here.

They have had a lot of freedoms because they were under British rule. As funny as it sounds to be under colonial rule, they had more freedom then. And once you get a taste of that, it's very hard to even contemplate seeing it lost. They're absolutely in fear that if China did decide to just come in full force and crack down, that they would end up, well, those in the protests would end up in prison, and labor camps and re-education camps immediately. And the rest would just slowly be crushed under the oppressive thumb of communism. And all the, Kong Kong is a beautiful city, absolutely wonderful and vibrant people.

and it would just slowly become another dead gray communist hellhole. And they're absolutely inferior to that. What kinds of people have you seen protesting? I know that you mentioned a lot of it is mainly younger students, but I'm curious as well, have you started to see any other segments of the population starting to participate, such as people in the working class and professionals,

or has it just exclusively been students? There's definitely people in the working class, it's definitely professionals. So Hong Kong is sort of a peninsula that sticks out from mainland China, and then at the south end there's Hong Kong Island. And on Hong Kong Island is the Central Business District. I'll just call it Central. And they've been having a lot of lunchtime walkouts where you see this week's just filled with lawyers

and doctors and stock traders and bankers and professionals of all various classes and positions in suits and dresses and high heels out there carrying. their umbrellas, raising their hands in the air with five fingers representing the five demands, chanting slogans. And at first, obviously, for PR reasons, the police maintain their distance, they would just wave the blue flag saying, hey, this is an illegal assembly, you need to disperse. And they usually drew the line there, but recently they've started firing tear gas as well. And nobody that works in an office all day really wants to be exposed to tear gas.

So the police have managed to completely turn that segment of the population. against them. Now with the universities, you would always see some older people out at the protests. Sometimes you see old men on the front lines shouting at the police.

More often than not, you see them out passing out food, passing out water, passing out tissues for people to wipe the tears out of their eyes when the tear gas is. But now with the universities being attacked the way they are. So,

honestly my entire timeline of my head is a blur because I get very little sleep these days but when we left Polly University which I think was about three nights ago myself and one of the teammates here from Arizona we were trying to get back to where we were staying which was on the island across from Polly. Police were rushing in from all corners of Hong Kong to attack Polly University and everyone knew this was happening. So this was now two in the morning when the streets are generally pretty empty, the traffic closed rather easily. Thousands of citizens with cars had come out and clogged the intersection, stopped, gotten out of their cars and just left them sitting there idling,

absolutely brought the entire city to a standstill so that the police could not access Polly University, and they were all blaring their horns. I mean, you thought you would lose your hearing. And the police were having to actually get out on foot, run through the blockade of cars to try to get anywhere near to Polly. So that, I think, the siege on the university, that's brought the mothers and fathers that might have been hesitating before out. The night before last, they attempted to take Polly University back by a massive offensive within the cities to basically occupy the police force somewhere other than Polly University and eventually break through their lines. and go into Poly University. Proper all-out warfare.

And they formed these massive human chains miles long. You can see videos online. These massive human chains stretching for many city blocks. Just passing fire brigade style, passing water and food up to the front, trying to get it through to Poly University. And we were out on the streets, and there were little old men and little old ladies

and mothers and fathers and young kids, 15, 16, years old, people whose sons and daughters and brothers or sisters are stuck in the university out there helping. So the police are shooting themselves in the foot when it comes to the PR battle because they have turned the entire population against them.

For instance, sometime a few months ago, close to the beginning of the protests, and don't quote me on the exact numbers, but there was a poll. I believe it was approximately 40% of the population, only 40% approved of using violence,

in the protest or using violence against the police? And I'm paraphrasing this. But recently in the past few weeks, they performed the same poll, same audience, and now 60% of the population approves of using violence against the police. Violent means to protest. And that's not just the amount that supports the protest. Far more than that supports the protest. But 60% is actually in favor of using violence because they understand what is at stake.

And they understand that at the end of the day, shouting in the street is not really going to affect any change when the real driving force behind the enemy is coming to China. Wow, it's incredible, you know, to hear you mention that and how basically people's attitudes have shifted in such a short period of time. Do you think this has potential to, I guess, become even more serious? I mean, it's already pretty serious, given what we've seen at Hong Kong Polytechnic University. but do you think it has the potential to become even more serious than what we're seeing right now? I would not be surprised if within the next few weeks of things continue on the current trend, that the police will begin firing live rounds and we'll start seeing a lot of IEDs and warfare very similar to the Middle East. I'm curious to how have you witnessed the protest taking a toll on the city?

Do you think, I know that you mentioned people have been coming together, And there was that one blockade when the police were trying to reach Hong Kong Polytechnic University. But have you witnessed other things happening where, you know, from the time you got there on November 1st to now, the city is a little bit different than it was when you first arrived. I don't think changes in that aspect happened in my short time here. Certainly not that I've noticed because it took me a while to get acclimatized to Hong Kong in general. But I will say that in the 20-something days I've been here now, I have witnessed. just two people that did not support the protests vocally, you know, that came out and yelled, hey, go home guys or something ruder than that.

Whereas I have witnessed thousands upon thousands upon thousands of people that are absolutely for them. We're out there and people come up, they give you water, they give you food, they want to know if you're okay, can they help you? Three times now, myself and my teammates have gone to dinner. and when we go up to pay, we're eating dinner with some other Cantonese medic, so we go to pay and they say, no, someone paid for your meal, or no, it's on the house.

So I think it's certainly, obviously I haven't been here that long, and I wasn't here to say a year ago, but the camaraderie and the sort of the spree decor that has developed is amazing. The teamwork, and the fact that it is all essentially leaderless, it is all completely naturally evolving. is absolutely amazing.

There's an entire system of what they call school buses. It's just volunteer drivers, people that have a car that will bring protesters to and from the protests. We've been given rides a few times with the same people. The other night, a guy pulled up in like a super fancy BMW thing. I don't know cars, but it was definitely an expensive car and just loaded these three dirty Americans that were all sweaty and had a bunch of gear in and was more than happy to give us a ride.

and we said, why are you doing this? He said, I'm a Hong Konger. I have to do my part. And I wish I could do more. But until then, this is what I'll do. Cody, that was actually be my next question. I was so curious how the Hong Kongers have responded to you, this American, who's helping their cause. And it sounds like they're just so thankful, which is, I mean, it's incredible to see the vivid descriptions that you've been sharing.

It's absolutely heartwarming. I, you know, everybody goes around the world traveling these days. Oh, it was life-changing. Well, I can tell you that this has absolutely been life-changing for everyone in our team here. And just we on probably our second or third protest, someone took a picture of us, all four of us together, and it ended up in what's called the Stand News, which is maybe on par with the New York Times here. It's a pretty big publication. And next thing you know, we're walking down the street and random stuff.

strangers just walk up, pull their phones out and like open the article and go, you know, they don't speak any English, but they just point out and point at you and question and glance and you nod and, you know, give you a hug, shake your hand and walk on. So it's, they definitely, they appreciate it and it's warming for them to see that America knows it's happening because they are shocked at times to see that Americans are aware and not only that, but came over specifically for this. You're already famous. We're Hong Kong celebrity. So given everything that you have witnessed, Cody, in Hong Kong,

what would you want to tell many of our own peers, especially here in the States, who are becoming increasingly attracted to communism? Oh, geez. I'd like to shake them by the shoulders and slap them across the face. I'd say come to Hong Kong. Come and see it. You know, come and see a country that is literally only my country.

that is literally only miles away from one of the most communist regimes in modern day history and see the vibrance here and then go across the border, which I haven't done, but I have friends that have, go across the border

and see just the dull, gray, dire situation that communism places upon a nation. And come and see these young kids here that could be just like the young kids back home and all they're concerned about is going to college and getting a nice job and that's it. But instead, they see the threat that is literally on their doorstep

and they're willing to step up and fight for it. Talk to them about the freedoms they have lost, the same freedoms that these young communist-leaning individuals in the states want to give away and do it with an open mind and see if you can still support that ideology afterwards. Well, Cody, I cannot thank you enough for making time out of your really busy schedule to join us on the Daily Signal podcast today. you so much for being with us.

Can I tell one more story? Oh, please go for it. Okay, this is just to illustrate going back to your last question to understand that communism is beautiful and wonderful as you may think it is back in the States. You have to understand that nothing in communism is voluntary and it has to be enforced with violence at the end of the day against those that would preserve their own freedom. liberty. So the night before last, when we were trying to push back and take Poly University again, there were protests all throughout the city. I was in an area just south of

a suburb called Moncock, and the protesters were gathered together. They act a bit like if you think of the old Roman garrisons, the way they took their shields and all massed together and sort of locked their shields together so they formed an impenetrable mass. They do that, the front line has four by eight sheets of plywood and everyone else has umbrellas that they overlap. And because they're standing up against tear gas rounds and rubber bullets, the plywood is fine and the umbrella slow it down a little bit. So the protesters were standing at an intersection, having their standoff with the police, throwing molotovs, brave young men were running out ahead of the front lines, mere yards away from the police to throw molotabs. and they're not trying to directly hit the police, it seems,

because they could do a better job if they were. They're just trying to make a line of fire that the police cannot cross. The police and the protesters went back and forth as each gained and lost ground. And at one point, the protesters just banded together and began to hail an absolute reign of Molotovs down on the police force. And the police began to retreat, and the protesters began to move. forward. At that time, and I believe these are new to the Hong Kong police force, or at least the use of them, is the police through flashbang grenades, which basically just blow up. They're not meant to kill anyone, though they can, but they emit a very loud sound that sounds a lot like a rifle being fired and a sharp flash of light. So everyone on the streets that night was nervous knowing that the police had lethal force authorized. And for the first time, every group of policemen had one or two carrying actual rifles. Other than that, the police usually carry a very simple and very old-fashioned revolver.

But now they had actual semi-automatic rifles. So when the police threw these flashbangs, everyone thought live rounds had been fired. And I was standing there. I later talked to a reporter from Texas who was standing there. We're Americans. He's from Texas. We all know what a gun sounds like. And we both thought it might have been live rounds.

When those went off, the protesters stampeded, they scattered. And there were probably about 200 in this group. This was at an intersection, so they went off at three ways while the police held the opposite road. And the police ran into the crowd with their batons and nightsticks, absolutely beating anyone they caught, whether they resisted or not just beating them to a pulp. Being first aid with the Red Cross on my best, they typically run right by me. And there was a young Hong Kong first aid girl who was standing next to me. And they ran right by both of us.

As soon as they were by, we ducked and went back through an alley hoping to get to where the protesters were on the backside. When we came out of that alley, immediately on our right was a narrow pass between a subway station entrance in the main building, about two and a half yards wide, three yards wide. Hundreds of people had tried to run for their lives through that narrow pass. it had become a bottleneck. One person tripped, the next person fell on him, and there were 25 to 30 young kids, teenagers,

in an absolute pile-up. The boys at the bottom probably had 6 to 900 pounds of force being exerted on them. They were being crushed. I'm sure their internal organs were being destroyed. One's eyes were rolling back in his head. They were gasping for breath. They were riding. They were dying. They were suffocated. When we arrived, it was

just me and this very, very petite Cantonese girl. We went in and began to try to pull them out, and it was nearly impossible. The force holding these kids in was like their lower bodies had been trapped in a vice. Other first-aiders got there, the bigger and stronger ones of them got in, and we continued to try to pull them out. There was a fire probably three yards away, small fire. Firefighters arrived to put that out, saw the situation, and immediately came to join us and rescuing the kids. I've never had something so hard to do as pulling these kids out.

It took every ounce of strength that any of us had. And we got one out, we got two, three, four, five. I think we got about six kids out. They were able to run away. They came out limp. They couldn't even stand up when they came out. You had to pick them up, put them on their feet, shout at them to run,

and they would stumble off as fast as they could. The police came around the corner and saw what was happening. happening, came in screaming, beating their batons on their shields and on the walls and grabbed us and threw us back. They threw a Hong Kong girl that was first aid, despite being obviously first aid, they threw her to the ground on the hired pavement. And then we had to grab her and get back. Then they pushed the firemen out of the way. And they went in and they beat these kids that were already half dead with their nightsticks and began to absolutely.

tear them out with no mercy, probably dislocating limbs, and shove them against the wall and arrest them. Man, so... At this point, they're essentially basically, I mean, not like in some cases preventing

first aid. Not in some cases. They will prevent first aid in any chance possible. I've been blocked from getting into areas where there are casualties by the police. Then they also pushed the press away so the press could not document it, though they were unsuccessful has documented it.

So we don't know yet, but it's very possible somebody died there that night. That's the same night the police also ran their vans at high speed into crowds, and we still don't know if they actually hit or killed anyone yet. Because the police, there's so many rumors that fly around Hong Kong because tensions and emotions are so high, it's often hard to know what to believe. And there's so many rumors of

police violence and just extraordinary things and you think now that can't be true but when you witness that and you witness the van driving at people and you witness young kids, young kids being beat by men in uniform that are supposed to protect them absolutely beat to the point where their bones are broken

and their organs are destroyed you take those rumors at face value and you lose any sympathy or any ability to even feel sympathy for the police force and I realize that's a long story but I just

that's what people need to realize is happening here in Hong Kong that's what these guys are up against no that was great thank you so much for the vivid descriptions and for almost bringing us there even though we aren't there in person your vivid descriptions are really incredible

before we close up in end ways and part ways is there anything else any final thoughts you want to share with listeners people from around the country in the world who are listening. I can say to say a prayer for Hong Kong and look at flights to come over. If you want to come over, I'll help you out.

So, Cody, thank you so much for joining us today on the Daily Signal podcast, taking time out of your busy day and speaking with us. We really do appreciate it. Well, where is Rachel? Thanks very much for having to be on. And that'll do it for today's episode. Thanks for listening to the Daily Signal podcast

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