The Highwire with Del Bigtree - Episode 434: TRIUMPH OVER TRAGEDY

Episode Date: July 25, 2025

Jefferey Jaxen returns with breaking coverage of a major shift at the FDA: for the first time, the agency is holding a public panel to investigate the dangers of SSRI drugs during pregnancy. Could this lead to a long-overdue black box warning?Meanwhile, FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary makes a stunning admission—he personally knows people who have been injured or killed by the COVID-19 vaccine. As the U.S. barrels toward net zero policies and rapid AI expansion, America’s energy grid faces unprecedented strain.Plus, don’t miss our powerful and emotional interview with the Hammond family, who share their heartbreaking story of losing their daughter Malaya in the devastating Texas flood. Her final act of heroism saved her family. Their journey through grief, faith, and resilience will move and inspire you.Guests: Matthew & Liz HammondBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-highwire-with-del-bigtree--3620606/support.

Have you noticed that this show doesn't have any commercials? I'm not selling you diapers or vitamins or smoothies or gasoline. That's because I don't want any corporate sponsors telling me what I can investigate or what I can say. Instead, you are our sponsors. This is a production by our nonprofit, the Informed Consent Action Network. So if you want more investigations, if you want landmark legal wins, If you want hard-hitting news, if you want the truth, go to I Can Decide.org and donate now. All right, everyone, we ready? Action.

Good morning, good afternoon, good evening. Wherever you are in the world, it's time to step out onto the high wire. I'm Jeffrey Jackson, your host, once again, and a lot of people are asking me, where's Dell? Well, Del was last seen hiking into the Grand Canyon with his family. And then we get this video. Take a look. Hey, everybody, Del Bixie here from the High Wire. Well, we're out here camping in the Grand Canyon,

getting a little bit of time with Mother Nature, which I think is important for all of us. We're in the Havasu by reservation in the Grand Canyon. Behind me is Mooney Falls, 300 feet of water plunging into one of the most beautiful pools you've ever seen, just up the way a little bit by the campground as Havasu Falls, 140 foot waterfall, The views here are some of the most beautiful on earth, but you have to hike 10 miles to get down to them in order to stay in this campground.

I'm really proud of my wife, my son, ever, my daughter, Thay, who's 11 years old, made that 10 mile hike to experience this incredible majestic beauty. There's nothing more serene, more powerful than the beauty of God you see on this earth. And I'll tell you one thing I've realized in being here and praying and meditating is these rocks right here, don't care who's president of the United States. They don't care about all the things that we are worrying about. Sometimes it's good to get out in nature and remember this will always be here. This is what we truly are. Anyway, it's been a wonderful vacation.

I'm looking forward to getting back behind the desk with the high wire. So I'll see you on Thursday. All right, it's great to see Del there with his family, taking some much-needed R&R, and what a great place to do it in the Grand Canyon. amongst that beauty. We have a great show for you today. We have the Hammond family. They're part of the medical freedom movement here in Texas, good friends of the show,

and it's a story that we're about to share later on about perseverance and moving forward in the face of unimaginable tragedy after the Texas floods. So I want you to stick around for that because you don't want to miss that. But now it's time for that part of the show, the Jackson Report. So here at the Highwire, we break the news, but we also make the news with the informed consent action network that's their legal arm. And one of the people that Del Bigtree interviewed actually was Dr. Urato, Harvard-trained doctor physician on the show just in April, just a handful of months ago, talking about the dangers

of SSRI medication in women during pregnancy. Well, turns out just after a few months, that show, that information may be able to be able to made its way all the way up to the highest health regulatory agency in the land, the FDA, to a panel. The government has never done this before. They had an open panel to the public to talk about the dangers of SSRI medication in women who are pregnant. Take a look.

Some estimates have that nearly one in four middle-aged women are on an antidepressant. And up to 5 percent of women in pregnancy are on in antidepressant. Never before in human history have we chemically altered developing babies like this, especially the developing fetal brain, and this is happening without any real public warning. That must end.

There is now more than enough evidence to support strong warnings from the FDA about how these drugs disrupt fetal development and impact the moms. In 2009, in a legal case, a jury returned a verdict that Paxil, had caused birth defects. This cost GSK over a billion dollars.

Now, any drug that causes birth defects will cause autistic spectrum disorder also, ASD. So this led me and colleagues to begin to put together an article on links between SSRIs and ASD, and there was loads of evidence 10 years ago or more for this. Plus, in addition, we found that mothers who are taking SSRIs, during pregnancy, have a tenfold greater risk of having a baby with fetal alcohol syndrome. And the Canadian guidelines for SSRIs now say SSRIs cause alcohol use disorder.

So the labels of SSRIs, however, don't say this. And so when we talk about depression as if it's this illness, this discreet condition that we can identify, we are misleading people. There is no objective test when you go into your medical centers. It's usually eight to ten minutes. If anything, you're going to fill out a checklist. And you're describing emotional experiences. So what has happened when we've medicalized all aspects of the human experience?

Let's look at the fundamental data. Do you think we've reduced the burden of what we call mental illness? Are we better off as a society? you can't fundamentally provide informed consent, which is a legal and ethical imperative, unless you're willing to ask some of the difficult questions that I hope we ask today, if there essentially is no chemical imbalance, right, where a lot of the data is going to really suggest that we're fundamentally experimenting on developing brains, but we've changed our collective consciousness. We've brought things into the lexicon that previously weren't there.

And if you want to increase the amount of people who identify with depression or anxiety, if you want to increase suffering, you fundamentally get people to battle their own internal experiences. You learn not to trust your emotions. You judge them as a symptom. You develop fear around them, which is exactly what we have been doing in the United States. States for the past 35 years. Now that's what a regulatory agency should be doing, among other things, is have open panel

discussions. How many of you have heard that information for the first time there? Probably a lot. Some of the stuff I didn't even know just watching that. And you could see there, Dr. David Healy, he's also somebody I sat down with for Jeffrey Jackson investigates a mental health episode. He's basically a whistleblower from inside pharma that worked on the serotonin system for these medications, and then he worked in legal action, looking at it.

the documents that the public doesn't get to see, but he gets to see as an expert witness. So what he says holds massive gravity. I encourage everyone to go look at that episode. But when we talk about the serotonin system, this is a system that the industry, big pharma, focused in on with these drugs. And as Dr. Healy said, and as you saw from those clips there, Dr. Yarado, we're experimenting with something. We're medicalizing basically human emotions. And we're experimenting with a system we don't really fully understand. And in 2022, something changed, something big change, there's a systemic review of all the literature. These researchers said, let's look at the serotonin system.

Do we know anything about it? Is anything getting better? And they found this. Our comprehensive review of the major strands of research on serotonin shows there is no convincing evidence that depression is associated with are caused by lower serotonin concentration or activity. And that's where we're at. And this is what the FDA is trying to do. The FDA is trying to basically put a black box warning on these medications, not only

for proper informed consent for pregnant women, but also so doctors are informed. Some doctors don't even know the information that was being presented in that FDA panel. So by informing the doctors, they can inform their patients. This is radical transparency. This is how we get to this. Everyone gets informed consent with full information. Now, I want to go on to another conversation here. We watch people that typically talk about industry talking points. There's certain individuals that when they pop up, we at the high wire like to listen to what they say because it usually signals something coming down the pike. One of those people is former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, who raced away from that agency before his tenure was over to join the board of Pfizer.

And then we have Dr. Paul Offutt. Anybody watching this show should also know Dr. Paul Offett. These two individuals tend to have a lot of talking points that are very similar to industry. Well, they both came out within about a week or so of each time. other and they said this. There is a movement among our secretary Kennedy and others in the anti-vax movement to take alum out of vaccines. So alum is it's an aluminum salt. It's used in about seven different pediatric vaccines, including one by Pfizer as an adjuvant. So it helped stimulate an immune response. So they want to force manufacturers, I believe, to reformulate those vaccines. That would be a major issue because this is a very safe ingredient's been used for 70 years.

no alternative. And if they force manufacturers to have to reformulate all those pediatric vaccines, I think you'd see a lot of vaccines potentially come off the market because there is no good alternative. Meaning that they would no longer be effective. They wouldn't stimulate the immune. There is no good, the other adjuvants that you could potentially use probably aren't as safe. But if you had to reformulate those vaccines, it would create a real dislocation in the market. I think what's going to happen over the next few months is sometime RFK Jr. is going to hold a paper and say, look, the CDC was hiding this from you. Aluminum adjuvants in vaccines, so-called aluminum assaults, have in fact caused autism or eczema or asthma.

He's then going to try and add that to the list of compensatable injuries. He'll then add that to the list of compensable injuries. Or he'll take certain vaccines out of the vaccine injury compensation, Bergen, and leave them open to the slings and arrows of outrageous civil litigation, which almost ended vaccines in the 19. which is why we have the vaccine injury compensation program and I think that's what he wants. I think he wants to eliminate vaccines in this country. Oh my gosh, eliminate vaccines in this country.

He wants to end manufacturing. He wants to just shut down the entire industry. Okay, let's take a breath here because that was fear-based and let's talk about what Dr. Gottlieb said. He said it's a very safe adjuvant. There's no alternatives. We can't possibly reformulate that we can never reformulate. That would never happen because there's just no alternative. Well, since you mentioned safety, Dr. Godlieb, let's talk about safety.

The entire safety of injecting aluminum adjuvants into babies and children is based on, according to the FDA, one paper. One paper by Dr. Robert Mickhiss. Dr. Robert Mickhiss looked at this, exposures through diet and vaccination, which is really interesting. And you know what? Instead of going into this and boring a lot of people with all of the science, we've done this before, I'm going to read from J.B. Hanley's book, How to End the Autism Epidemic, because he talks about Dr. Robert Mekis, and he says this. The only biological science Dr. Mickis considered in making his safety assessment was a single study that infused, rather than injected aluminum citrate, rather than aluminum hydroxide, into adults rather than babies.

It's hard to put this seemingly minor detail in proper context. In no other drug on the planet except for vaccines, would safety standards ever be determined without using the actual product, aluminum hydroxide, administered the proper way, intermuscular injection, into the proper patient population. Infants. That's the science, the safety science. So there are individuals, researchers with decades of experience. Many of them we have interviewed on this show when it comes to aluminum, injecting aluminum, and aluminum into babies. And they put a paper forward in 2018. And their paper looked a little different than Robert Micketts. So their paper said this, a critical analysis.

To date, aluminum adjuvants per se have perhaps surprisingly not been the subject of any official experimental investigation. And this being in spite of the well-established neurotoxicity of aluminum. Well, how can that be? Surely there's some paper somewhere that agencies within the United States government have that can show us that injecting aluminum into baby. is safe? Well, that's exactly what the attorneys at the informed consent action network set out to do in 2019, and it took three as a three-year journey. Looking at HHS, CDC, National Institutes of Health, we asked them all, could you find a single study to show us this is safe? This is what they had to say.

Finally, 2023, CDC and NH and HHS, I might add, unable to provide a single study to support the safety of injecting aluminum adjuvants despite its widespread use in childhood vaccines. So we go back to Dr. Gottlieb and Dr. Offit. Why all of a sudden? Because I don't remember Kennedy over the last two to three months on the campaign trail or out picketing saying we need to get aluminum out of vaccines. He may have mentioned it once or twice. Why did they pick up that conversation, that one talking point? Well, maybe because they knew this study was coming out and they wanted to get ahead of it to preposition and marketing.

aluminum-absorbit vaccines and chronic disease in childhood. This is a study out of Denmark. Now, we're going to break this down a little bit because a lot of the headlines are saying, science is settled, sorry anti-vaxers, aluminum is safe, keep injecting it into your babies. Well, let's look at some of the methodology that these researchers use out of Denmark.

So one of the things they did was, did they look at all children? No, they excluded a couple children. So they excluded children who died before the first two years of life. So if there was an issue with aluminum adjuvents that may be caused unfortunately a death from children, you're out of the study, so they're gone. But then they started to whittle away at the people that may be vulnerable with chronic health conditions. So if a child has pre-existing conditions like congenital rebella syndrome,

respiratory conditions, primary immune deficiency, heart or liver failure before two years of life, if you're out too. Doesn't matter, you're still gonna be getting those injections in the United States, but in this study, we don't want ya. But let's go further. Let's look at what they compared. So did they use a proper placebo control group?

Did they use the kids that were never vaccinated, were never touched by a vaccine? Well, this is what they said. The hazard ratios represent how much the hazard change when a child received one additional milligram of aluminum in their vaccines by age two years, compared with a child who received one milligram less. So once again, a little bit more aluminum, a little bit less aluminum.

Who has more reactions? Where's the placebo group? Where is the unvaccinated children? Not too much in this study, but we're going to go on. What else did they say? Who else did they exclude? That really would really be in the populations. Well, they said this.

To be included in our study, children needed to be alive at age two years. Well, I guess that helps. And not have received an implausible number. of vaccines? Well, implausible is not a scientific term, so of course they have a little supplemental table that you can go and look up, and we did that here at the Highwire. What do these researchers from Denmark consider an implausible number of vaccines? Well, you can see right here, implausible number of vaccines, you just go right across there. And those are the children who received over three D-TAP vaccines, over three pneumococcal conjugate vaccines, over three

HBV vaccines. Well, that's interesting because, because it just so turns out that Denmark gives a little bit less vaccines to their children, but here in the United States, when you go to our recommended vaccine schedule by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and you look across there, remember, the study started at two years and older. The secondary analysis was 14 months, but let's say two years and older. By 12 months, children are getting four doses. Remember, implausible is over three. So children in the U.S. are getting, by their definition, an implausible amount of D-TAP vaccine, an implausible amount of homophilus influenza vaccine, and an implausible amount of pneumoccal vaccine. And that is who

would be excluded from the study. But meanwhile, the news and the media will tell you all aluminum adjuvanted vaccines on any schedule in the world is safe and effective, despite these exclusions. This entire study does not even conform or report any type of new information. for children in the United States. This is what we're looking at here. So that's the Denmark study. We can actually go into this for a lot longer, but this study has flawed methodology.

And there, again, are scientists who have had their entire careers looking at aluminum, injected aluminum, and a neurotoxicity of it. And I have a sneaking suspicion that they're going to have a rebuttal to this very soon. Now let's go on to some of the good things. You know, we sit here, we come to the high wire every day, into the newsroom, into our war room,

And we think we are the fourth estate, along with a lot of other great journalists in this country. Are we going to be holding our regulatory agencies to account, or are we going to be applauding these incremental small amounts as they move forward? Well, the SSRI panel was a great move in the right direction, and that's Marty Macri. Marty Macri also sat down with Epoch Times, and he had an interview where he said this about the COVID vaccine. Take a look. these clunky adverse event reporting databases are not good. They can occasionally give us a signal in the data that is a screening tool, basically a flag that, hey, maybe there's something here.

And that's what needs to trigger a more definitive analysis in big data. So we're committed to that. We're committed to that. And I don't want people to think that we're blowing off the safety signal that many people have described. I personally know of people who have been. injured by the vaccine. I personally know of friends who have lost a loved one from the MRA COVID vaccine. So I think it is reasonable at this time to say we want good solid definitive

data. Ladies and gentlemen, this is the most stunning statement by any health regulatory lead perhaps in the last century. All we've heard was vaccines are safe and effective. The COVID vaccine is safe and effective. It's no longer under emergency use authorization. It's been given to billions of people worldwide. If we know there was an issue, just two weeks ago, the ASIP committee said, we have a world leading VERS system. Marty McHreys says it's clunky. It needs to be changed. But the most important thing he said was he knows personally, personally people that have been injured and killed. Loved ones have been killed by this vaccine. Never have you heard anybody say of this, not Julie Gerberding, nobody, not Scott Gottlieb. This is a gigantic admission. And think about that.

One person, this is anecdotal evidence, but if one person is saying that, I know people that have been harmed by the vaccine, I know people that have lost their lives, I know people that know people that have lost their lives. Just anecdotally, it may be plausible that VERS missed a lot of issues with this COVID vaccine, and Marty McRey just admitted that. This is huge. Now, what are you going to do about it, Marty? Well, what do you do about it? HHS, CDC? We all have a part in this. And one of the things we can do, we talk about this almost every week on this show is amend the Prep Act. Remember, the Prep Act, this is the Emergency Act that we were under and we're still under until 2029, because it was extended. This gives a liability shield to vaccine manufacturers of the COVID

vaccine. And not only can you not sue them, but people that are injured or killed by these, their families in that case, would have to go through the countermeasures injury compensation program, the CICP. This is known as a black hole. You have one year to file. If you file within one year and a day, find out myrocarditis hurts your son. Too late. Well, while we're waiting for FDA and CDC and HHS to move on this, Thomas Massey has put forward a bill to amend the PEP Act. And what's he doing with this bill? Well, the headline here at Reason says it all. Thomas Massey's new bill would let people sue pharma for COVID vaccine injuries. So he's asking to repeal the liability immunity for pandemic products. That is in this prep act. A lot of questions on this bill. This is the start of a

big conversation. And we applaud him for putting this forward and getting some press, getting some eyes on this, getting this idea floating into Congress for this bill. Now, will this bill pass? Will Trump push this bill through? We don't know any of this. But this is a conversation we need to have. Kennedy could sun down this PrEP Act. Basically, if he gets congressional approval, that's going to be very hard, we believe, but there's a lot of avenues for this and compensation for people who have been hurt by the COVID vaccine. And why is this important? Well, it's not because the COVID vaccine is gone now and we just need to take care of the people

that were injured during the pandemic, which is a big deal, and we should. But the vaccine is still being given. In fact, it's being given to vulnerable children. And just last week, the JAMA article with the new updated numbers of chronic health disease in children in America showed nearly 50% of children have one chronic health disease, one chronic health illness. And what does that make them a candidate for? The new Moderna vaccine. Just a couple weeks ago, we had this headline here. Moderna vaccine has been approved by the FDA for kids at risk.

These are kids with a chronic health disease. They're now in the crosshairs of this. And what's interesting about this story is that was about on July 10th. Well, about six days later, Secretary of HHS Kennedy was allegedly on vacation. He comes back, and then the headline is this coming out of New York Times. Kennedy fires two top aides in Health Department shakeup. Now, I'm not implying both that are related, but what I am saying is within one week of each other, it's a very interesting timing from A plus B.

So what does that equal? I don't know, but I'm pointing that out right now because within the health agency, within HHS, CDC, FDA, and even EPA, there is a push-pull battle right now for the agendas that have been put forth not only by President Trump, but the mandates that Trump has given to Kennedy

to put forward to end childhood illness in this country. So this battle is happening, just because Kennedy's in, just because Trump's in, Doesn't mean we sit back, we don't do anything anymore. The high wire doesn't have anything to report on anymore. We're just going to go back home and maybe shut it down for a little while. No, this is the most important time we can possibly have in this country.

It's a battle for the health and wellness and the soul of this entire country. What else has Secretary Kennedy done? Well, one of the things we've been railing against and trying to raise awareness for is these WHO international health regulations. This is a legally binding treaty that would basically put the entire world or any country that signs onto it under the emergency preparations that we saw the WHO direct the really disastrous pandemic emergency response. So if you like that and you like any other emergency moving forward to be run just as disastrously as WHO ran it and have them calling the shots, not

individual sovereignty of our nation and our states, that's international health regulations. And Kennedy just said, we're done. We're not signing on to this. You fumble. you drop the ball. U.S. rejects amendments to W.HO. International Health Regulations. So we're out of there. Remember just last week, Kennedy stepped away from Gavi. That's Billing, Melinda Gates funded vaccine repository. So we're pulling out of a lot of things. W.H. We pulled out of that as well as soon as President Trump took office. But I want to go now to the EPA. The conversation around the EPA and pesticides, hundreds and thousands of pesticides have been registered and the safety has not been updated. In fact, glyphosate safety is still hanging around

1993, safe and effective, no problem, doesn't cause cancer. That's what the EPA says for glyphosate. Well, there's an appropriations bill in Washington, D.C. right now. There's a fight going on. You have mothers and fathers down there watching, keeping an eye on our legislators in Washington, D.C. for this appropriations bill. And this is to give funding for 2026. Funding to do what? For the Department of the Interior, Department of Environment, and for their, how they move forward with your agencies. What are priorities? Well, one of the things that is not a priority is Section 453. I'm going to read directly from that. That has to do with pesticides. None of the funds, it says, made available by this or any other act may be used to issue or adopt any guidance or any policy, take any regulatory

action or approve any labeling change to such labeling that is inconsistent with or in any respect different from the conclusion of and it goes on to these classifications by the EPA. Well, those classifications have said pesticides are safe and effective for well over two decades. So what they're saying there is you have no funds to do a reanalysis of the science. You have no funds to change labeling. And if you can't change labeling and warn people about the risk, even though the science, the updated science shows there is a risk, you're actually keeping people from having informed consent, keeping people from understanding what is in their environment and also taking

legal action, because if you can't have the warning labels, you can't really have an effective lawsuit against these companies. So this is a big end around by the pesticide injury. It's actually, pesticide industry, it's actually called the bear rider, is what people are kind of jokingly referring it to. But what they also didn't do when they voted on this. Now, it's moving through right now in Washington. It has not been pushed through, but they did not take a quorum.

So quorum vote is basically when you say, I, Jeffrey Jackson, vote, yay, or nay. They actually did it in a not transparent manner. It was hidden. So no one knows who was voting for what. So when people say vote them out, vote who out? It was a secret vote. So radical transparency, not in Washington, D.C., not for Section 453. This is what people should be focused on right now.

There's also state level battles to complete efforts to sue these pesticide companies. give them liability, just like the vaccine manufacturers have. There's a fight at the state level. There's a fight at the local level and also at the federal level in Washington, D.C. So people, everybody should keep an eye on this. This is one of the biggest battles going on right now. And this obviously goes directly against a MAHA agenda, against what Secretary Kennedy has been saying for his entire public career about pesticides.

Now, I want to move on to another story, a separate story, but somewhat related. Last week we talked to Alex Newman, journalists, about AI, artificial intelligence, the buildout. Well, what does that AI need? It needs energy. And we've reported before, just a couple months ago, Spain's entire energy grid blacked out. It was gone. It went down historic for any modern country. The entire country went down. Why was that? Well, it was a grid failure, as it says there in the headline. Why the grid fail? Spain has one of the most aggressive net zero energy buildouts that tried to go online. And when you go into the literature, as we're reported on, the wind, the solar, they're not reliable for continuous energy. They don't have what's

called inertia. So when the system ebbs and flows at night during the day, when it's blowing wind, when it's not blowing wind for the windmills, those systems cannot reflectively handle that. And that's what happened in Spain. The grid went down. We're seeing warnings in the UK, in Germany. The European Union has been building this out way ahead of the United States. So the European Union in the Netherlands, they're running headlines like this. This is in the Financial Times. It says Netherlands rations electricity to ease power grid stresses. And it says in this article, listen to this, more than 11,900 businesses are waiting for electricity network connections, according to Niebuhr-Nederland. You think they're from the Netherlands? The Association of Dutch Grid

Operators, on top of that, are public buildings such as hospitals and fire stations as well thousands of new houses. They can't even keep their basics going. It says Dutch officials and companies said lengthy waits for connections were holding up economic growth and could force businesses to rethink their investment plans. Despite efforts to invest in new cables and substations, new connections in some areas of the country will only become available in the mid-2030s, according to network operators. Sorry hospitals, sorry fire departments. You're going to have to wait until 2030 to get out of the Stone Age because our net zero buildout was so aggressive that we just don't have the hookups ready for you. That's the European Union for you. And here in America,

it looks like it may be coming here as well. Take a look at this headline. It says, blackout crisis looms as Americans face full month of outages, plunging hospitals in a deadly shutdowns. It says even if no additional plants shut down, some areas of the country could still see a 34-fold spike in outages due to rising demand. This isn't just a state. This is the country. Much of that demand is being fueled by the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence. Data centers already consume about 4% of the nation's electricity, and that could more than double by 2030. So let's talk about artificial intelligence, because on this show, so many times, we've talked about the hypocrisy of how the government has treated the public

when it comes to energy consumption. We are supposed to limit our consumption. We're supposed to do less with more. We're supposed to turn our light bulbs off if we're not using them, which makes sense. We're supposed to turn the tap of the water off. If it's dripping, maybe fix your leaky faucet. Not AI.

AI gets a little different pass. Let's go to this Forbes article to talk about what AI is actually using. AI's energy demand versus grid realities. says some estimate that a single chat GPT query consumes the same amount of electricity as powering an LED light bulb for 20 minutes. And Goldman Sachs has estimated that it requires nearly 10 times the energy of a traditional Google search. So I guess you could say if you want to save the planet, if you're thinking the traditional climate change conversation, stop using chat GPT because it's not good for the planet because it uses the energy of a 20 minute light bulb.

Is that how the logic's supposed to go? Okay, so it goes on to say this. McKinsey estimates that data center load may constitute 30 to 40% of all new electricity demand in the U.S. through the decade. Again, we're just giving this energy over. We've been taught to conserve. We've been taught to reduce. We've been taught to basically limit civilization and growth. Limits to growth.

Remember that book? Not for AI. They get a whole separate rule book because I guess we have to keep up a China. We have to get ready for the neuralink brain chips. I don't know why, but for some reason, they don't get to save the environment, like we've been told that we have to save. So I want to go into, that is the big picture of this buildout.

The energy grid is in a perilous situation, not only here in the United States, but in other countries, but when it comes to our individuals, like we're looking at this and you're looking at families, myself go home and say, what can I do about energy grid collapse? The business end of this net zero buildout are lithium batteries. And I would venture to say that most people listening to this right now have some type of lithium battery in their household.

Well, how do lithium batteries behave? They're in Tesla cars, they're in electric vehicles, hybrids, they're in your phones, they're in the e-bikes, they're in lawn equipment. Well, when you start shipping those, that becomes a problem, and that just became a problem with one of the major shipping lines. lines, as you see right here. This shipping line was shipping 3,000 cars. 800 of them were electric vehicles. 22 crew members rescued from lifeboat in North Pacific after ship carrying 3,000 cars catches fire. Well, that's interesting because just a couple weeks of it on fire, cargo ship carrying 3,000 new vehicles sinks off Alaska weeks after catching fire. That's pretty crazy

stuff. Well, it was alleged that the electric vehicles, which were in containers, they couldn't be monitored, we're caught fire and off it goes. As we know, once those start, it's very, very difficult to put them out. In fact, a lot of documentation says just let them burn until they're done. And what's happening here is Mattson, the largest, one of the largest shipping lines in the United States. They've been looking at this. After three years and three consecutive ship fires, this was the third. They said, we're done. This is Mattson's shipping line, suspends shipping EVs, that's electric vehicles, citing hazards of lithium ion batteries. It says in a letter sent to customers, the company writes, due to increasing concern for the safety of transporting vehicles, powered by large lithium ion batteries.

Mattson is suspending acceptance of used or new electric vehicles EVs and plug-in hybrid vehicles for transport aboard its vessels. Effective immediately, we have ceased accepting new bookings for these shipments to from all trades. That is massive news. It was barely reported in the media. Absolutely massive news. But again, we bring this down to our household level. What's going on here? Should we be concerned?

I mean, I'm not shipping electric vehicles across the country and across the world in large shipping containers. So plug my phone in for, you know, an extra day and forgetting to unplug it or keeping an e-bike outside where the sun's baking on it. No big deal, right? Well, I think this is part public service announcement. you should probably know about this. Fires involving all kinds of lithium-ion batteries are on the rise. Most Americans are ignoring the risks from lithium-ion batteries. A firsthand look at the jaw-dropping risks associated with a popular product.

The scary moments aboard a jet blue plane, a fire erupting after a passenger's backpack suddenly exploded. This bike took out an entire New York City block. It did. Yeah, it doesn't take much. When we had the catastrophic flooding, EVs that were flooded also caught on fire and then burned houses down. That's a huge problem. This year, New York, more than a dozen people have been killed in lithium-ion battery fires. Nationally, 40 deaths were reported from lithium-ion battery fires in e-scooters and e-bikes between 2017 and 20203. In San Francisco, battery fires more than doubled in the last four years.

And in New York, it's increased seven times. The FAA reports stunning data. So far this year, 60 on-board battery incidents through early October. More than one every week. These batteries are now in many different products. Everything from your toothbrush to your laptop to your ear pods to scooters to electric vehicles. Flashlights, even your smoke detector. If they're abused, they can fail.

If they get punctured, they can fail. Overcharging, overheating. Even a manufacturing defect could cause it to fail. It's like before you buy something, you're going to have to think, I could possibly lose everything, including a child, but is it worth having this scooter for? I don't think so. So what can you do?

Well, simple things right now. Look around your house. Don't keep your phones charging for longer. Don't keep your computers charging for longer than they should be. Don't keep them outside or e-bikes, things like that, where they can get hot from the sun, can easily overheat. Check the batteries. Are they damaged or the casings damaged?

Does someone drop them recently? You've got to check those. Are they getting wet? And there's also explosion-proof safe boxes to throw these things in or keep them in. Because you think about it, if they're sitting in your garage, if there's lawn equipment that's electric or, you know, e-bike in the house, you got to keep these things away from the critical infrastructure and the most critical infrastructure of all, your family and yourself. So that is our public service announcement here at the high wire. Please be careful. This is a real danger. And, you know, the government, by the time, you're not seeing this.

You're just seeing this on news here and there when it happens. It's a one-off thing. I'm not sure a lot of people are paying attention to that. So I want to move now to what we do here at the Highwire. We have one of the world's leading legal arms at informed consent action network. We have Aaron Siri and the team there, and we have the Summer of Justice. This is our legal match right now. We have an angel donor, $600,000 legal match.

This is going to be anything, your donation, your gift, to continue our mission, ICANN is doubled. So you want to increase the power of your contribution. I've been waiting for the time to donate. Well, you can double that right now. Every dollar counts. We have some big things planned. You've already seen the work we've done in the past. We're here to hold Kennedy, whoever takes this place in the future, Macquarie, anybody at these agencies. We're here to hold their feet to the fire. Make sure they fulfill the mandate to the American people. That's what we're here for. We're here for justice. We're here to end the chronic health disease epidemic in the United States through legal means, by any means necessary

through legal means. And this is what we're here for. So if you want to be part of that mission, and I think so many people that have already donated and kept us on air here at the Highwire, if you want to be part of that legal mission, donate now. You can go to that address on your screen, $600,000. I can match alert legal fund. Every dollar is doubled.

And as a special gift to our donors, many of you have our already accepted this and seen it. We've had a lot of great reviews. We have High Wire Plus. This is the part of High Wire that is a special part to our team and to me as well. On this is Jeffrey Jackson Investigates. We have Del Bigtree and off the record where we sit down with the guests after the interviews and have really a personal conversation about them, their lives, what makes them tick, how they got there. But Jeffrey Jackson Investigates is also the documentary series that I've been working on for over two years. We have several episodes in the can. We have polio. The entire history of polio with some of the top experts in the world. We have Forrest

Ready. We have Susan Humphreys. We look down the mental health crisis. And just recently, we released part two of the rush to green energy. Parts one and two are now available, the entire documentary. You can see this now. And if you want to take a look at this, this discusses The entire climate change conversation, the science settled and unsettled, and also what's happening in Nevada as we search for lithium in that desert on sacred land.

Take a look. Climate change. Climate change. Climate change. Climate change. Climate change. And a media war over that crisis. What we're talking about here is really

the climate conversation that's dominated science and the conversation in society for decades. The climate has varied over billions of years. sometimes huge. Dangerous human cause, climate change. That's what the UN is focusing on. Dangerous is the human value judgment. The push towards a green battery-powered future

comes with a major trade-off. It's the left's electric vehicle hype real. Where does the electric car fall into this? There is no greater source of carbon in our society than from combustion engine sources. Looking at headlines, I'm seeing the word, the white gold rush. This is lithium.

What we've always could have heard is that we need the minerals and we need them now. Thacker Pass is home to possibly the largest lithium reserve in the world. The company behind it is moving full steam ahead. This thing is moving forward. Where is the independent research? It's going to contaminate our water. The mining companies don't reveal everything.

That happened to Thacker Pass. When Lithium America came here to the council meeting, they insulted the whole community of the Fort McDermic tribe. We were paying the price for the We're losing our ancestral rights. We're having human rights violations. One day our Mother Earth is going to say enough is enough. All right, I want to bring you now to a special part of the show. For a conversation, I think you really need to see.

This is a story about the Hammond family. And you may have seen them on international news. All around the world, this story is captivated people from all walks of life. And they wanted to tell their story, and they wanted to tell their story. and they wanted to do it here. And they sat down with Mickey and Nadia Willis to tell this story. And you know Mickey and Nadia.

Mickey is the producer and director of the Plandemic series of Follow the Silence. And both of these families are huge parts of the medical freedom community here in Texas. And this is a very, very special story of perseverance and heartbreak. So Mickey and Nadia sat down with Matthew and Liz, the Hammonds, earlier this week, and here's their story.

One by one, we're learning more about the lives of the victims lost in the floods. One of those victims, a 17-year-old girl from Marble Falls. Hard hit Texas grieving as families put loved ones to rest. After that devastating flash flooding killed at least 129 people and counting, including 17-year-old Malaya Hammond. It was early on Saturday morning when one family was driving through the downport and didn't see that this bridge behind me had been completely washed out by the floodwaters. And it left one young woman torn away from her family. I know that road like the back of my hand.

And if you told me that would be full of water and that would be washed out. I wouldn't have believed you. Malaya was the one who managed to force open the car door, allowing her parents and younger siblings to escape. Matthew and Elizabeth Hammond say the last time they saw their 17-year-old daughter, Malayah. Malaya alive, she was floating on her back down a raging creek. Just being devastated that I'm never actually going to be able to see her again. Malaya's siblings got themselves to shore along with their parents, but Malaya was lost. It's devastating not to be there at her wedding, to hold her children to be grandparents.

A massive three-day search followed, involving volunteers, and even a chartered boat. chartered boat. Her body was finally recovered on Monday. Everyone says she made things better. Just being with her, it just made everything better. Well, all right, everyone. I recommend that you buckle up and grab a tissue. We have a very deep and profound story of humanity that we're about to share with you. And I'd like to welcome my wife, my partner in life, Nadia here, who has been such an integral part of the story you're about to learn about. And without further ado, introduce you to our dear friends of almost 10 years now, the Hammond family, Matthew Hammond and Liz Hammond. And I want to just start by asking you, this is the first time that some of you have seen, that you guys have seen some of this footage.

You've avoided the social media and all the news reports, and so what are you experiencing right now that you had a chance to see that montage? It's heart-wrenching. It's unbelievable, really. There's a surreal quality. You know, when you see you see it. see it happen halfway around the world and you see families taken out by a bomb or war. And you feel it, you feel it tug at you. And you try to imagine what would that be like? And then it happens to you in a natural disaster.

And it rips everything that you know to shreds. And you wonder how you're going to make it through without your child that you've been raising. in our case for 17 years and nine months, looking forward to her 18th birthday, looking forward to her graduating, and it's been taken away from you. Now, you just never imagine that. Yeah, for me, it just made my heart sink.

I mean, I've been, it's been a roller coaster, and I've been trying to be in a place of knowing that Malaya is still shining her light so bright, But she's touching the lives of so many, and she's doing incredible work on the other side right now. So to see that just brought up a lot of heartbreak. Yeah, tell me a little bit more about what Malay was like. Yeah, well, she was so selfless, so full of love. She was always the mediator.

If anyone had a conflict, she was always the one that would help. step in and help people just resolve the conflict and get along. She was an artist, she was a musician, she was a dancer, she just shined her light. She woke up every morning in prayer and gratitude. You could feel it and her essence just all throughout the day. She had this what I'd call palpable presence when you were around her. You really just felt better about yourself. She was like this mirror.

And she would just show you like the better aspects of you. Yeah. And she was effortless. Like she just who she was. She was always just so wise and so mature. Yeah. She was so much. It's like she was mature from the time she was two.

We raised her in Waldorf education and you do plays and you sing every day. And so singing and art and acting is just a normal thing. it's not a special performance. So she was very comfortable on stage. But it was always about in service to the story or the song. Like she could be this vessel for it. First of all, we've been friends for coming up on 10 years. Both lived in L.A. together and now in Texas together.

And it was on 4th of July that our boys were with you. And so we saw you guys at 9 o'clock. They would have stayed the night, but you guys made it clear that you had to get up very early in the morning to go to a camp in Missouri. So we picked up our boys at 9 p.m. on 4th of July and said good night to both of you. And the next late morning we woke up to a frantic text

saying that the Hammonds had, the car had gone into the river and that Malay was missing. And we went into immediate action. We felt deeply concerned, got in the car, piled the kids in and came out straight to you guys and pretty much together for three days. We aided in the search and rescue efforts. And so from that moment, I would love for you to share

when you left that morning, there's a lot of circumstances around leaving a little bit later than you expected to lead, leave taking a route that you normally wouldn't take. And if you could just kind of start us off with what that morning looked like, where you were headed and why, and then what took place. Well, first of all,

And they say when we said goodnight to you all and sent your sons back with you, we thought you'd be seeing our whole family again. When we came back from camp, there's just that expectation that you'd see Malaya and and Khalil and Soraya again. So the next morning we woke up very early, 3.30. And the idea is we were trying to get our older kids, Malaya and Cleo, to be counselors at the camp. It's a Christian camp.

Malaya was going to be a paid counselor. Khalil was going to train as a counselor. And we had a time to meet to get there. It takes 10 hours. We've driven this route for eight summers. Like we know it so well. And so, you know, Liz, you mapped the weather to see where the weather system was. Yeah, our friend was actually staying with us because Opal, who's Soraya's best friend, was also going to camp with us.

So Susan, her mom woke up that morning too. And so she was showing me, we were both looking at the weather pattern, and we saw that there was. that there was a big storm cell up in the Burnett area. Which is north of Marble Falls. Which is north of Marble Falls. And so we thought, okay, well, if we go around the storm cell and go 1431 through Cedar Park, we'll miss that and we'll get around it in time to then be fine on our straight north towards Dallas. And so, you know, looked at it, thought about it, and we figured, well, we'll just take 1430 run and get around it.

not knowing that that storm cell that was up in burn it was what was then causing the downpour of rain and a wall of water to come down the creek and hit the area where we were going to be driving at that time. And again, the level of rain was just, I'd call it medium. It wasn't hard. If it had been torrential, we would have pulled over to the side. We may even turn home, but it was medium rain. We've driven through that several times. And so we were heading on 1431, a road that we know,

very, very well. Try to go up to Bertram, which would take us on a shortcut, and they turned us around because the low water crossing had been washed out. And so now we had two choices. We can head towards Cedar Park or go back towards Marble Falls and up to burn it. But that system was so strong that we had to get away for it.

So Liz says, let's just turn left. She's navigating. I just thought we'll just go around it and go 1431 instead of going through the storm. A bridge that we have driven more times I can count going to Cedar Park and back. It's Cal Creek Bridge. It's a concrete bridge.

It's a concrete bridge. It's 20 to 30 feet above what's normally a dry creek. I've never seen water in it. It's always been dry. It's never been enough water to force a river through there. So we had every reason to believe it was there. There was no emergency vehicles turning us around. Our unfortunate timing is that we were the first one to get there.

And as I was driving down the hill going under speed because of the weather, the water was even with the bridge and the road. So it looked like it was part of the bridge. I had no delineation between, oh, there's empty space there. And it was dark. It was dark. Yeah, this is 5 a.m. at this point. And as I got closer and the headbeams illuminated on, I saw water.

And as I tried to stop, it skid, went over a broken piece of concrete, and it launched us up and into the water. as we're in the air going on the water. I'm like, get your windows down, get your windows down. Because I know if you don't, especially in a minivan, you don't get a window open. It's a coffin. You will go down in that river and you will not get out. And I just knew that. So I got my window down.

Malay was on the right side door. Our left side door didn't work. So the right sliding door, miraculously, she got it open. My son, Khalil, was up front with me. Liz was in the far back, the third with Soraya, who hadn't been feeling well. and had a blanket. She'd been asleep, so I was asleep with a blanket around her.

And Malaya miraculously got the door open. Thank God. So she was out first. I was out as the kids. You were singing when this whole were. Yes. So to back up. That's the other thing.

To back up, we wanted to pray the whole way and just know that God was protecting us to get us to our camp safely. And one of the things that we usually do when we pray is we sing. And so we were choosing different hymns to sing. And then Malaya said, you know, I want to practice some of my camp songs. And so she had her camp book of songs that she was going to be singing with the kids with her.

And she opened up to this song called Rise and Shine and Give God the Glory. And it's all about Noah's art. And so we were singing this together. We're singing as a family. She started it. She started it. We were singing it together, and halfway through, that's when we were launched and then in the river. And now you're in the water.

And it's get everyone out. And so I was out second. Liz, who was in the last row, was launched towards the console. And you followed me out my window. Well, when I heard Matthew, because he's very quick in emergencies, thank goodness, because if he wouldn't have been, I don't know if we would have gotten out. that he immediately said, get the doors down, get out now. And so when I saw that his window was going down, I just launched myself up and out the front window with him.

I saw him going out, and so I just followed. I mean, that's quite a launch, too, from the back to the minivan. Yeah. Yeah. And for you. I just went, yeah. Yeah. Into the water.

And what people need to understand, too, because we were there to witness the power of these waters. and I've never seen anything like it. This streams, not only were, was it 25 feet in depth, but they were pushing, as everyone has seen in the media, pushing cars, pushing massive trees, and the trees were what were taking out the bridges. I mean, it's a powerful rapids that you guys escaped into.

And I've done a lot of whitewater rafting, you know, class four, some class five. That was nothing compared to this. This had to be 40 miles an hour and more. And one of the first miracles was that the angle of the van, the way it landed, it could have easily turned and gone upside down. And that would have been hard to get out of. So the fact that it landed that way and gave us a chance to get up. It was also a miracle that we kind of had a little ramp.

Because I feel like even though it was seconds, I feel like that ramp that launched us up, like we knew we were going into water and it gave him the, seconds to even act quicker to get those windows down before because if we would have just driven straight into water Yeah, we might not have been able to get the windows down and the door open and it was Malaya that opened And Malaya opened the side door To get her siblings and Opal Soraya's friend out and so My understanding because I guess still such a first and then I know

Khalil and Saraya went out and I'm not sure what order it was for them. But Opal was last. And by the time, she got out, she had to swim out. So the car was already under the side door. And she had to swim out. And she had a phone. She was the only one who was holding a phone. I was holding my phone, but when I started getting tossed, I just let go of it. I was trying to save myself, and so I let go of the phone. But she had the conscience to hold, she said that she thought, you know, I cannot let go of this. because I have to hold on to this. I cannot let go of it.

So she was just swimming with the phone in her hand. Even though it went underwater, it was still functional too. It's also another amazing detail. iPhone, so it's waterproof for a certain distance. Yeah. And here's the thing is I was the second out, and my head never went underwater. I just felt I was in protector mode. I had to scan and see who was where.

Malaya was the first one I saw because she was about five yards ahead of me going fast. And this girl, because of her lifeguard training and she's a swim instructor, she knew to flip on her back. I mean, in the presence of this torrential river, she flips on her back. And she starts singing that song, So rise and shine and give God the glory. That was the last thing. That was the last thing I heard her sing. And in my moment, as a dad, I'm like, she's good.

She's on her back. She's singing. She's calm. She'll get out first. She'll be the first one out of the river. So now I can check that box. They turn back and Liz is the next one I see. And she's struggling. I'm yelling, get to a tree. The water's that tree. Grab a tree. Grab a, like grab something solid that you can hold on to. I went under. So all I remember is I got out. I started swimming. I was up for a little bit. I heard some screaming. And then I got sucked under the water. And I had that moment. where I thought that I wasn't going to make it. And I saw a light right above me too. And so it was... It was still dark, so there was no source of illumination here. No. It was something I saw, and then I just had an angel message come in that said, Liz, relax.

I've been a surfer in California, and one of the things they teach you is when you're being washed over by a wave to just relax, and then the wave will, you know, wash over, and then it'll be calm again, and you can come back up. So that's the thought that came in was just relax. I'm just going to move through this wave, and then I'll be able to come back up.

But during that time, I had water. I was drinking a bunch of water. I had water shoot up my nose and felt like it was going into my brain. It could have been it for her. I mean, there was every reason why you could have. It felt like it was either this way or this way, and I felt when I heard the relax,

that gave me the peace to know that I was going to be okay. And then after it got a little, I mean, it wasn't calm, but from what the turmoil that I was in, it got a little more calm. So I was able to come up to the surface. And then I flipped on my back and I just quickly did the backstroke over to the bank. And I mean, I grew up as a lifeguard also. And we're water people, like a super water family. So it was one of the things where we, like, it's incredible that all of us survived. this but we're we're so good in the water and another reason why we just thought that

Malaya would be okay as there was no doubt in my mind that Malaya would be would make it there's no reason for me to believe that she that she wouldn't and so once I saw Liz on her back I was we were able to reach each other I could bring her to the tree I was on and Khalil was the next behind but he was on a tree with really flimsy branches and they kept breaking and it was it was hard it was and he said that he saw his life flash before him. He went under before him. He went under as well. And his pillow from the car floated by him. Inexplicable. That shouldn't be floating. And it shouldn't be full of water.

It's a foam pillow, so maybe the foam helps it. But still, for his pillow to float up from the van and... Be there right for him to grab. So he grabbed onto it and it pulled him up from being, you know, forced under water. And then there was a tree that he was able to grab onto. So, miraculously the three of us were right together. We found each other, yeah. And then Soraya had her own journey where she floated down even more and her suitcase was with her. And so she was able to get on top of her suitcase a little bit, float on her suitcase.

But then it took her over to the bank and she ended up going under the suitcase. She was getting pinned under the suitcase, under a root, she said. And then she had her life flash. before her eyes and thought, I think this might be it. And then she's so strong-willed. And she said that she thought, no, absolutely not. I am not done here.

This is not happening. And so she said she just pulled herself up from out of that route and got to the top. She's 13. She's 13. She'll be 14 next month. Yeah. She's strong girl. She is.

So strong. Really strong. She is very, always has been. And then she had, and then she finally got out. Did she see Malaya? I thought that she saw her. She was with Malaya and they were singing together. And then she lost sight of her.

And when she got over to see her. Yeah, and for me, I saw Malaya, but I didn't see Saraya. Somehow she was out of my view and I didn't know where Opal was. And that was a horrible feeling. Not just my child, but when you have the child of another family, like you are so responsible for their safety.

Like I've taken so many field trips with families when I was a teacher out in Sacramento. I do all these adventures. or things in Yosemite. And the parents would sign the way. I was like, listen, guys, I've done this for years. I've always returned the children back. I've never lost one.

I was always my, I've never lost one yet. And so, but when I didn't see Opel and I didn't see Soraya, I'm like, okay, are they underneath me? And I kid you not, I felt the van was underneath me. I felt a body, like, and I felt down, I felt the metal. I just happened to reach down, and it was the back, the back hatch. And I got the handle.

What if they're in there still? I didn't see them emerge. And to see if I can open it, and I couldn't. I kept trying. And then I started pulling me down. I had to let go. And that was like one of the worst feelings to think maybe they're still in there. Yeah.

But they were able to get out, which was such a lesson. Yeah. We just didn't know where they were. Yeah, the three of us got out. And then Matthew immediately said, I have to go find the girls. So I was with Khalil, and we started. going up river and we heard somebody talking and it was Opal. She was on a branch, she was on her phone.

She had immediately said, hey Siri, call 911, and was on with dispatch. And Khalil, she was still a little bit in the river because it was a river on both sides of that branch and so she couldn't get over to the land. And so Khalil went over there, grabbed her and brought her over to the land. And then she stayed on with dispatch.

dispatch while Matthew went to find Malaya and Soraya. And one detail here that Opal's mom shared with me Ann Opal is that her poor mom is tracking her, watching her whereabouts on her cell phone. Why is she in the river? She's asking her question, why is it show that my daughter's in a river? So her mom's freaking out, thinking this can't be right,

what is going on here, and it turned out to be exactly what was happening. Yeah. Imagine that. Yeah. And the dispatcher had been doing this for 25 years. And she said, in all my years, the presence of mind of this 14-year-old girl and how steady she was.

She was unwavering that she was so impressed that she wanted to take Opal and her mother Susan to lunch when they went to the airport. You know, they stayed with us as we were looking for Malaya and stayed the whole time. And then it was time for them to go back to Sacramento. But the dispatcher took them out to lunch and just had to know who. Who was this girl? Give her a hug. Yeah. Yeah, that was so cool.

Because that was a big part. Each of the kids played a role in helping to save each other. You know, Malaya got everyone out. Opal had the phone. Khalil saved Opal. And Soraya thought that she was the only one left in the family because she was so far down river. And she said, I thought I was the lone survivor.

And she goes, but I knew I had to keep going. So she was working through the sadness of what if I lost to everyone? Yeah, she was alone and she said that it was like quicksand. So as she was trying to get to land, she would just sink. Oh, it was bad. So when Cleo and I searched, you would walk and there was so much tree matter, water, silt, mud, you think it was solid and it would go up your chest or your neck. And you'd have to pull yourself out and crawl.

And crawl, Commando style. That was the way. But at this point, you're looking for your family. And we have shorts and t-shirts and flip-flops, right? That's our travel gear. what's the way we roll. Those things are gone except for our shorts. There's bare feet and you're walking on thorns

and brambles and you don't feel. Red ants. You don't feel anything. Yeah, ants trying to survive the flood by getting up and they're just biting you and you don't feel anything. Yeah, I didn't feel anything. It was such fight or flight.

Soraya said that as she was crawling up and working her way to dry land, there was a snake. She is terrified of snakes. And she said, oh, a snake, what are you doing here? Oh, hi, it's somebody else. There's a living creature. I'm not alone.

So the fear that she said, this petro-natural fear of snakes, all of a sudden, bam, gone, like, thank God there's a snake. There's another living being. Another living being, no fear. It just shows you kind of how we, something happens in human beings when we're in these situations, right? So now she works her way. There's a barbed wire fence. She climbs over, she says she trips, falls on her face, gets herself up. She's bloody and scratched up, walks into a pasture.

She said she walked through seven fields. That was her vision of what she was doing. It was so long, she said, to walk and walk and keep walking to try to find someone. And she was like, I don't know if I'm going in the right direction. Am I gonna go to the right place for where we launched off in the van?

And she finally goes, God, you don't always answer my prayers. And I don't always feel close to you, but I really need you to answer my prayers right now. Like, this is the time to do it. And I'm like, yelling out to God. And I heard this voice. I'm like, that sounds like Soraya. I actually, that's when we found each other.

A minute later, we found each other. Wow. Right after she yelled that up. I never heard that piece. That's... No. No. And meanwhile, you know, for us as a prayer for us,

you know, people say, oh, I'll pray for you. Like, prayer is kind of the way we think through things and feel through things. And we just feel like conscious communication with the creator of the universe, right? Everyone has a different word. We say God because we think that's an honor. but it's a way of being. And so in this moment of total emergency, I'm yelling out,

all right, Lord God, you've got to be my eyes. You're my ears. I'm going to hear, you're going to direct me. I know you're directing me. I'm just trying to listen the whole time, but I'm yelling out, Malaya, Soraya. And I've got a big voice, and I thought, I think if you were on the top of the hills,

you would have heard my voice. We were screaming so loud. And now Kahl was with me because he had found Opel and... So I stayed back with him. Opal and Khalil wanted to make sure that Matthew was okay and help him. And we found her and I was able to lift her above the. Soraya.

Soraya, yeah. Lift Saraya above the barbed wire. And it was the sweetest hug. And we're like, God is so good. And Sarai, God is so good. And we're just so happy to see each other. And then the next moment, which is, where's Malaya? And she goes, I thought she was with you.

Well, we thought she was with you. Okay, so we brought Soraya back to Liz and Opal, and we reunited like, let's go find Malaya. And nothing, we're yelling and yelling for her. And at that time, that's when we saw a big spotlight. It was like a really big light coming from the bridge. From the east side across what we were supposed to drive across. And it was a sheriff. So we like, well, we better work our way there than they can help.

help us search for Malaya. So we worked our way back to the road. And then they had people who had all the gear and lights and everything and they all went out to find Malaya, but we couldn't, we had bare feet and- Actually, Khalil and I snuck away a few times because when you're, this is our family, this is our daughter, nothing's gonna keep me

from looking for, I can't just sit in a car with a blanket around me, we have to find her. So Khalil came with me bare feet, we walked downriver and calling her name and just every prayer we knew. Liz was in the, a really kind sheriff just put us in his vehicle of sopping wet with blankets with the girls.

So the girls were with me. And I just went into prayer mode. I just kept, I was visualizing because we were singing the song about the arc. And so it just came so strongly to me to visualize that God was protecting Malaya and she was in the arc and she was being held and she was being brought to safety.

and I was talking to her and just saying Malaya just hang in there we're coming for you we're going to find you just find your way to a safe place and just start praying and just know that we're going to find you and I just was holding on to that prayer and then as I was praying that I had a vision come in and the vision was it was actually so beautiful and so heartbreaking at the same time. Malaya is a dancer and she does lyrical dance and the vision that I saw was her she had her arm up and she was saying rise and shine and give God the glory and then she just did this beautiful twirl under the water and I saw her hair twirl I saw her whole body twirl and I saw her surrender to God and go to him.

And during that time, I heard her voice also. I heard her yelling at me and she was saying, Mom, I'm okay. Mom, I'm okay. And then after that, I saw the vision of a heart, and it was a pulsating heart that was coming at me. And I just wanted to cancel clear all. I didn't want to believe any of that.

So I just went back into my prayer of, thank you God for having her in the ark, and I know she's taken care of, and she's being provided for, and you've got her. But I knew having that vision come in, I mean, my mama instinct, it's like, I just knew right away that she wasn't here, Earthside anymore. And that was really hard. And I couldn't tell anybody either. I'm so glad you didn't tell me. I couldn't.

that with anyone and I didn't want to believe that to be true either so but I want to say something I haven't really said yeah but this is really bad I was already in love with you all these years we've been married for almost 19 years but I've fallen more in love with you because of how you responded to this like I feel like we balanced each other out like I was out there actively looking for her praying the prayers that I know and you were in just being quiet and connecting with her and I felt that that balanced like you have to do both you can't just have one or the other.

And I just loved how you tapped into Malaya. You've always had this connection with her. You carried her for nine months. You had this beautiful connection when we were living in Thailand and doing this beautiful meditation retreat and you connect with her before she even arrived. We were in Malaysia.

That's how she was conceived in Malaysia. That's why she's named Malaya. And she came out with this preternatural peace because of all the work that we had done together through prayer and meditation. meditation and I just love that so and I feel like that that sustained you as a mother. Yes, it did and it brought peace over me too as well, even though I didn't want to believe it. When I sat with it for a while I just felt a peace wash over me knowing that she is okay.

Like she just told me she was okay. She's going to be doing amazing things from now it's just a place we cannot see. I know she lives on, you know, I see, you know, and like listening to the news and hearing, you know, that she's dead or she has died. I don't feel that at all. I know she's not dead. I know that her spirit lives on and that she is continuing to shower signs over not only us, but all of so many people we know all over the country are sharing all of the signs and how she's touching. the lives of so many people and doing work that she couldn't even have done here on this planet. Yeah. I mean, just being part of this journey with you all, there was signs along the way after in the next phase of searching for her.

And yeah, and that's been an absolute blessing for us to be there for you and the family. and to just witness the signs. I mean, one of the signs we have to share. So Opal's backpack was returned to us on Saturday night. And it was found, so unbeknownst to us, this is the community we live in, right? This extended community of beautiful human beings from all walks of life.

But what we have in common is this devotion to truth, like freedom, liberty, But most importantly, love. Love. And so all these different religions, philosophical, but we're connected by love. And this family went out, this father and his two sons, the Interline family and the Odom family. And they were on different sides of the river, spending hours and hours looking for Malaya, calling out her name. We didn't even know they were doing this until at night when we joined them.

But the Enterlines found a backpack. Asher, their son, found Opel's backpack. Send a picture, does this belong to you? And Opel's like, that's my backpack. And it was intact. Yeah, and that's the only thing we received back until later on that week. And so Opal went through her whole backpack that night,

just taking out everything. Everything was sopping wet. There was dirt in there. You know, branched like little pieces of bark through all the things that she had in there. She took out everything and wanted to dry everything on the table and took everything over to the dishwasher and started drying things in the dishwasher too.

and one of the things that she pulled out, she had three different books in there. And two of the books that she was just reading for Summer Reeds were sopping wet. And the third book was the Bible. She pulled out the Bible that she was going to be taking to the Christian camp.

And it had, it's really thin papers, like a faux leather outside. And the gold leaf. So any water would just destroy it. It was completely dry. I can attest. to that. I felt... I felt the brew it. Yes.

And I felt the book, which also, the title of the book was the girl that fell under beneath the sea. Yeah, the book that was sopping wet, the girl that fell underneath the sea. Beneath the sea. And the story

is, you want to tell it? I mean, I don't fully know the story. We want to get the book and read it. Yeah. The girl who, from what I remember, She goes into the spirit realm under the sea and has to, you know, work through some things with the gods of the sea. And then she, you know, as she comes through all of that, she decides that she wants to return to the human realm and live with her family again. And so when we read that, we thought, that's an amazing sign. Yeah, it's going to return to us.

She's still there. And even though I had these other signs, I was thinking, well, maybe she just brushed the other side and is back. And so we were just having all of these thoughts around it. But the Bible was a whole another level. This is like New Testament like stuff, right? Yeah. Like she takes it out. And it's not like Opel's like, you know, you wouldn't say that faith is her strong point.

She's super intellectual, super strong. The faith is coming along. she goes guys look at this there's not a drop of water and she went through every page not she's like how is this possible like a waterproof like a waterproof plastic cover bin around it but it not it wasn't it was surrounded by everything else that was soaking so that happens and you're like okay something's going on yeah yeah i mean i felt too the the thing that came to me when i saw that was the word of god can never be destroyed yeah that was the thought that i had and that we can never be destroyed That's right.

Malaya can never be destroyed. That's right. Malaya lives on. You know, I am, because of the work I do, I have to be very skeptical about everything I hear. And so I'm usually the last one to sign on to anything regarding signs. I always have some logical explanation of like we always find what we're looking for. But I have to say in the course of the three days of being with all of you as we were searching

for Malaya, so many things happened that I cannot explain, that I have surrendered to accepting and embracing that this was a profound sign from beyond that has changed all of our lives. And I will say the thing that really changed my life, a lot of people know my personal story. I was working for Hollywood for a number of years. I directed my first movie, ended up in New York in 2001 to negotiate a distribution deal for my first movie. And it just so happened to have been the week that the World Trade Center was a time. And so I go right down to the scene and do search and rescue and body recovery for three days and had a very profound

Awakening, which is why I do the work I do now because it was a snap to grid moment for me. It was the moment when everything that I had been taught that was important suddenly wasn't important anymore. You know the working for the house and the power and the fame and all that stuff that Hollywood kind of programs into you I didn't know that I had lost myself that I'd lost my meaning and my purpose and And it was standing on the rubble of the World Trade Center and watching 2,000 men and women after we had all been told what the quality of the air was. We were literally told that if we didn't leave, that what we were breathing would kill us, make us very sick and kill us. And no one left at the very slight chance of saving one human life. And I, in one moment of really grasping, going from the anger that we all felt for the experience that we were experiencing,

to suddenly just feeling this profound sense of gratitude. for being alive and this profound sense of realizing I stood there and I just kept saying to myself this is who we are like never forget this moment because all we see is the conditioned part of us that kind of worships the identity and and and the clothes and the hair and but we when we strip it all down and something happens that's so much bigger than our own identities the human spirit is so kind and so generous And the second time I've experienced this was with you guys, of being in this experience and recognizing that everyone we spoke to as I'm going back and forth to both sides of the bridge

and trying to get help and we need drones. And so I'm, and I would just whisper it out loud and we'd be stopped at a broken bridge and I would just say out loud, yeah, I'm trying to get to the side. I'm trying to get to some friends that might have a drone. We have a drone. What? Yeah. Oh yeah, we're pig hunters.

We have thermal drones, whatever you want. Right. And these guys wouldn't take a dime. Everywhere we went, it was like, we're trying to get to that property. I know the owners of that property. Want me to call them? Everything was like this open doors and just open grace to carry this search on. And all the way to day three when we chartered that boat.

That's a lifetime experience right there, man. To understand that our Travis Lake was not even a lake. It was a reservoir of wood. It was a minefield. I mean, there were abandoned jet skis. And it was a mess. And this guy drove his boat. What was this name?

Captain Andrew. Captain Andrew. From Point Venture. God bless you, Captain Andrew. Yeah. Drove his boat through, I mean, just pounding the front of his boat, the hull of his boat, didn't care one bit. We got to one place because it got so thick at one point.

We stopped. I looked over the hill and I said, boy, it's clear if we could get through that right there. And I looked back at him. And I said, feel free to say no. But if we can get to that mess, we can get to the mouth of the river over here. And he said, let's do it. Yeah, it did. I said, it's going to do damage to your boat.

Who cares? Let's go. Get everyone in. And this fellow had been a perfect stranger just a few hours before. Perfect stranger, yeah. And so just this continued on, and I want to hear from you guys what this experience of seeing, you know, not only was the headquarters set up at Faith Academy, which I thought was pretty ironic under the circumstances.

but all the people that came together in the selflessness and to see, I'm wondering how close your experience was to what I experienced in the Reble of the World Trade Center understanding, really, this is the heart of who we truly are. Yeah, this is the heart of truth. I mean, we've always believed that, but when you see it proven out time and time and time again, when you get to miracle number 100,

it ceases to be a miracle. You realize there's a deeper order at work here. It's almost like that is more real than this. And that's profound. That is more real. Everything becomes really crystal clear. Like as you said all the, like our daughter, our youngest daughter, Soraya, who loves her fashion and her dance and her things, said, I would be homeless right now. I'd give up everything just to get my sister back.

Like for her in that moment, she realizes none of these things really matter. It's nice to have a house. It's nice to have a car. I would give up all those things just to get my sister back. It was a really profound statement. Like, I'll walk barefoot on the streets just to get my sister back. That's when it cuts to the quick, like, oh, maybe we should focus more on this. Right?

This is what connects us, right? Yeah, and just seeing everyone coming together for us like they did. I just can't. I have no words. It was so... Every single person. It impacted me so much. And the people who just showed up at our house, they just didn't even call.

You guys just came over. And then other friends, they just showed up for us. They just gave us hugs. They gave us food. Everybody was asking, what can they do? What can they do? And just all the prayers and having everybody go out at night. I mean, that Saturday night, we had like 30 people out.

So 1.130 in the morning. And then you guys getting back up at 5 and going again. And I mean, we're just so grateful. And it's, I don't even have words for how that impacted me. Yeah, I understand. And the love that we just felt like it was like we were so showered with love at that time. Yeah. It's like Malaya wasn't just our daughter.

She was, she was everyone's daughter. She was everyone's sister. She was everyone's friend. It says a lot about her, but it equally says a lot about everyone around her. All of our friends, all of us. Every emergency worker, sheriff's, fires department, National Guard, every man and woman was just incredible, compassionate. I mean, you saw it, Mickey, you were at the command and control center.

They could not have been more compassionate. Let's go find your girl. Let's find your girl. Let's do this. And I'm, you know, I'm so sorry, but let's go find her. Yeah. There was nothing clinical. There was nothing procedural.

They have their procedures, but the love and compassion was over and above what their procedure was. Indeed. I mean, we experienced this. Everybody. They took you up in the helicopter. Yeah. A helicopter pilot, 72 years old, Gary said to my son and I, you want to go up, I can show you the river just so we could get eyes and we can maybe see something that they're not seeing because we had been there. And he took us up and did a couple passes, came down, that's when the idea of the pontoon boat, all right, we've seen it from the air, let's go by water.

But every step along the way, and then on the way back, when we couldn't go any further, we found out later we were seven minutes downstream from where we found our daughter. But we were so close. But just the following through and following the steps and not losing faith and just doing the requisite. steps and doing it with determination and and then coming back and seeing the rainbow which you all witnessed oh we witnessed that the most incredible rainbow when the sun had gone down the sun had gone down i will say that the conditions didn't make sense for what we saw and that's one of those moments where i go well normally i would be like ah who knows but i'm witness to and not only did this double rainbow come out and the moon the moon in between the two rainbows right but it was

also arching over the channel, the exit that we had to take to get out of this area, it was like we had to go under this rainbow bridge. And if we could, let's circle back to put a conclusion on this story because it's not over yet. And what I'd like to start with is we received from some dear friends. They reached out and they said, listen, we work with a remote viewing expert. And she mostly finds pets, lost pets. But she's tacked. into the situation and she has some coordinates to offer you guys now I went into kind of like whatever okay let's we're gonna go out and but Nadia woman's intuition she went she felt it and she was like yes that's where I'm going thank you Nadia and and so while while I was busy

creating a crowdfunding campaign to help you guys through this experience everyone went back out on day three and a lot most of the group went in one direction and Nadia with three others four others yeah four or five others so we're gonna stay here because this is where the coordinates say we should be yeah I know it's really interesting too because they had already searched that area there was professional team searching that area I think yeah more than once so they had passed a few by helicopter by foot they've they when we saw the grid it did cover that whole area yeah yes and which was also interesting

because during that time at headquarters, we had our other dear friend, Paul, who was there, kind of like he had his eyes and ears on, you know, where they were gritting. He was a whitewater rafting guide in California. Right. He knew rescue and searched and rescue. He knew what to look for.

Yeah, and so... He kept saying, there's going to be somewhere in this little hairpin over in this area. Yeah, it was in that same area where the coordinates were. So every, we had different signs leading us into that same area. And it was interesting because, yeah, I was very determined. I was like, I got these, God gave me these coordinates.

We're going there, you know. And I have to say, so from our side, being surrounded by friends and community that were so sure and so resolute, it gives you this sense of reinforcement. It's so important. It's really easy to waver when, hey, it's been two days. We haven't found her. It could be really debilitating. But when we were at your house and, like, the coordinates were given, Then Paul gave his, we had another person, a Christian intuitive who said she saw Malaya

being in the same area. It actually, we corroborate four different people that aren't connected with each other, same spot. And then when that happens, Mickey, it's like, okay, you, one or two, that's enough for me, but four? Yeah, yeah. Undeniable. Yes.

And I knew, in my heart, I knew we were going to find her that day and I was praying that we were. She did too. Yeah, I woke up that morning and I said, they're finding her today. I said, and it doesn't have to take long. You did say that. It doesn't have to take long. Yeah, I knew it was going to be fast.

How long did it take? 15 minutes from the time that we started searching that area. Do you remember the meeting when everyone's in a circle? Because my son, Khalil, was with y'all. And he got there first. I was trying to line up an emergency helicopter so that if Malaya was found, they could just come pick her up right away. But do you remember what was said in the group?

Because you guys spent a lot of time coordinating and saying a few prayers, I think. Paul, Paul was really sort of had, I was letting him take the lead on that, because he had, he really had a very, you know, a very focused idea on where he wanted to go search. And there was some other people who, like, lived on the land or whose land it was. And they had an intuition, and it was not where the coordinates were either. And so I was like, okay, you guys go do that. I'm going to the core. I'm going to the coordinates. But then you called, and I was talking to you when you were on the way, and you said,

please share this message with everybody. Everybody, just please tell everybody that they can listen. They have ears to listen and eyes to see, and God is working through them. Just please tell them to listen and be guided to where Malay is. And I believe that with all, because I'm driving, and it's a long drive. You guys know, like the normal drive would be 25 minutes to get there for marble. but it's an hour and 10 to go all the right because the bridge is out. And so I'm saying these words as if my life depends on them because they do.

And I just felt it like she's going to be found. Yes. Yes, she was and turned out she was 300 feet from the coordinates where they were directly us. Yeah. And in a probably the most magical location as somebody who lives here, and I've been on that river and in those streams many times, and I've never seen this particular location. Right. And as we all said, it felt like we were in Malaysia.

It felt like we were in a different part of the world. Vines and waterfalls and three beautiful crosses on the edge of the cliff right over the spot where we found her. And the most I think miraculous part of this is for people to understand that every item that we came across during our search, even bicycles, were twisted into nuts. That's how powerful this weather was. You can imagine bicycle being twisted. Our van in your van. Completely ruined and turned upside down. And Malaya was in pristine shapes, in pristine shape sitting in a natural, almost a natural temple.

It was like a cove, a beautiful cove of trees. And there was like a beautiful pathway that led to her. And this, she was being held by nature. She was laying almost laying on a log. and it was like she had returned to nature and she looked so peaceful, so peaceful. When I arrived, I parked at this Christian camp called Hensel Christian camp, which again, think about the symmetry.

We were on our way to a Christian camp in southwest Missouri so our daughter could be a counselor, and our daughter's body was lovingly delivered to aid. the only Christian camp on the entire creek in the whole area there. It was on that, that she was just lovingly delivered. And when I arrived, I saw my son sobbing and being consoled. I didn't want to believe it. I know.

I just said no. And they came up to me and said, Matthew, I'm so. No, no, no. I didn't want to be consoled. I didn't want anyone. It's not over. I refuse that. All this happened to get us here.

There's no way she's gonna wake up like you really believe that she's gonna wake up and so I went to her and my son followed behind me And Nadia I found her the way that you you all had and To be able to to sit with her like the day she was born We we we delivered her together and we held her for her first few moments and to be with her for her final resting place and to put my my hand here and to gently kiss her neck and to let her know how much I love her. It was one of the most powerful things I've ever done in my life. And then to pray that God, if it's your will, that she can still be with us, wake her up.

Wake her up. Jesus did this in the New Testament. Jesus raised Lazarus. Jesus raised the daughter, J. Eris. And if it's your will, she can wake up. But if it's your will that she needs to be where she is, then I will accept that. And that was the hardest prayer I've ever said. I will just accept it. And I let her go. And it was such a miracle that we even,

you even got that moment because they could have found her. And she would have been in a bag. And she would have been in a bag because unfortunately that's what happens when the authorities came. And you weren't able to be with her body like that. Because we called, yeah, I think Nadia,

I think did you call Liz and said, and you brought Soraya with you and you got there an hour later. But just for you, at least one of you, to be able to have that moment, to have that closure, was such a blessing. And Kille being such a protective son,

just said, Mom, I just don't think you would want to see her like that. He was so protective of her. I know. He told me not. He was so sweet. Oh, God. But you're right, Nadia, we're in an age where everything's an official function, and your body is a ward of the state. Like, you're born, you get a stamp and your own.

And then you die, you have a, they own you. And in between, maybe you have a little bit of freedom. But she was our girl. We brought her into the world, you know. Yeah. Now, if we want to broaden this story a little bit to acknowledge the fact that you're not the only parents

or family members or loved ones dealing with what has recently happened here in Texas. There's a lot of people that have lost their loved ones. We've met several of them at this point. And what I have to say to both of you is I've been. I've been through several things for some reason. I end up in situations like this.

And I have never witnessed a family, people, that have transmuted such a tragedy on the spot in real time to hold their faith. I don't know how many times I heard you say, even in the moment God is good. To go make peace, you know, the moments after finding Malaya, to go into the river, to wash your, with the river to make peace with the water,

to thank God. And then there was that incredible moment where you yelled up and echoed through the canyons, Malaya, and then we hadn't seen the sun in six days. And the clouds literally opened that moment. Those are another one of those moments that I thought, okay, I can't deny this.

And that's what's normal. It's like, okay, that's what happened. That's what's happening. We're on some other vibration right now where this is, it's a whole. Otherworldly, it's like we weren't even here. Truly, truly. But I feel, to your point, it's God's grace.

Like, God's grace is for everyone. It's not just for a select few. There's no chosen ones. God's grace is for everyone. If you decide to listen to that still small voice, if you're tapped into. And it's what not just got us through, but like you said, it transmuted something. It was awful, tragic. You wouldn't wish it on your worst enemy, but it transmuted into something that was beautiful and transcendent.

and and Malaya would have wanted that. And Malaya would have wanted that. Yeah. Malaya wants us to share this kind of feeling, this kind of way of being with others, especially other families who've gone through the same thing that we have. Yes. Like we want to support them.

Show what's possible. Right. Yeah. Before we go too deep into that, I know we have a lot to share with that. let's not forget about the letters that arrived. Another sign? Another sign. Another sign.

Yeah, the night after we found her. The night after we found her, you went out to the mailbox. Grabbed a letter, and it was from Malaya. And it was something that she had written to her brother and sister when they were off at a session of camp for Waterski, and she stayed home. And by the way, she could have been with him, but she decided she wanted to be home with us,

and I am so grateful for that time. That was two weeks that we had alone with her for the first time. She was able to just do art. She spent so much of that time, painting, doing watercolor painting. Being a barista at the local coffee shop, which she'd love to do, and just be with us.

So in the midst, she wrote, like, oh, I miss you guys, what are you doing, and sent this letter off. And when we picked them up at the airport, they never received the letter at camp. And so, oh, maybe. And I thought, well, what a bummer. She spent all that time, you know, writing you a letter and sending it.

And then they didn't receive it. So I thought, well, maybe we'll just get it when we go back to camp. They'll have it for us. But it's in the postbox that says return to send her twice. And it had two different stamps on it. So we don't know where it went or why it got returned. But it came. The right thing is Cleal.

It was like, you know, oh, Malaya always draws and writes letters. in his normal life. But here's a letter from his beloved sister after we've just said goodbye to her. And he opens it up with reverence and looks at it and starts reading it to me and he just starts sobbing. It's like the greatest gift to hold this letter. And then we call Liz Ann and Soraya and we're just,

can you believe this? I mean, divine timing. That's all you can say. It's just such divine timing that it arrived. arrived. Thank you, Malaya. Thank you. And there's, again, so many stories. May I share a story of a girl who was in our son's class at Faith Academy. Six days before this even happened, she was in church in Marble Falls and had a vision. And she's an artist, so she had to sketch it. And it's these hands above raging waters holding a girl with long brown hair.

And may I read the letter? Yes. Because it's just extraordinary. So at Faith Academy, a few days after Malaya was found for the community, they decided to do a support, kind of a worship, support for all the students who knew Malaya and were grieving over her. Like, let's give them some support and sustenance. And so they offered for Liz and me, if you guys want to get up and sing a few songs, that's what you guys do. And you can talk a little bit, you're welcome to. but if you don't feel it, you don't have to.

And after an hour of worship music, Liz goes, let's get up there. I was so proud of you. Like, let's go say something and let them know. Let's go sing. Let's go sing. So we sang a few songs, and I just felt led to say,

thank the community, and just say, something beautiful is happening here. And I feel Malaya with us. And I, what I was told afterwards, because I didn't know what I was saying, Mickey, and Nadia. I was like, I was just kind of Holy Spirit stuff. I just felt like saying what I felt needed to be said. But to let them know that something powerful was happening and that God was

sustaining us, even through this. So afterwards, this girl named McLean, 16 years old, gives us this piece of artwork. And then this is what she wrote. It is one of the most beautiful letters. I can't believe she was 16 when she wrote this. On June 29th, the Sunday before all the flooding happened. I was at church. I was just sitting down when worship ended and an image came into my mind. It was a picture of a giant pair of hands. I knew they were God's hands, pulling a girl with long brown hair out of swirling busy waters and holding her gently and protectively in his hands. I had never been gifted with a vision such as this. I knew I wouldn't be able to interpret it on my own, but my best guesses were that

the girl was me, or maybe that the waters were metaphorical for an overwhelming time of trouble. The following Saturday I heard the news about Malaya. I felt so helpless and heartbroken for you all, but knew all I could do was pray. Later that evening, after we had prayed over my dad and my brother Asher as they went off to help in the search that we all did late at night, I thought again about the drawing. When I showed it to my mom, the first thing she thought of of was Isaiah 43, which we read through together. It said, do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name, you are mine. When you go through deep waters, I will be with you, from eternity to eternity. I am God. No one can snatch anyone out of my hand. I believe this was

God's message to Malaya. And for y'all, Malaya was already in his hands, and he was speaking peace and his presence over her ahead of time. I believe he wanted you to know that he saw Malaya. He was present with Malaya. He had never left Malaya. In her most terrifying moment, she was not alone, but being held and secured by her father, and nothing was going to take her from him. And she presented this to us, and we were just in awe. And when I learned of this and read this, and I had had that vision of Malaya in the ark, and being held and secured by the ark, and when I saw this, it dawned on me, I was like, that's what the ark was that I saw.

The ark was God's hands and lifting her up. Into her journey beyond this realm. And she was protected, and she was. and she was guarded and she was guided. This whole entire time, it's not the way that I had hoped, but this whole time, you know, she is his. And with him. So when these things happen, six days before, during the time we were looking for her,

after we found her, miracle after miracle after miracle, all these people coming together, something happens. It takes the pain and the sorrow and it transforms it. It doesn't totally go away. We still feel a hole in our heart. I mean, she's not with us on this level. We can't hug her and we can't be with her. We won't see her mature.

We can't hear her voice. We won't be grandparents to her children, and it rips us apart. That part will always hurt. But that's not the end of the story. That's the important thing. It's not. There's something more going on here. and the way that people have come together in honor of her.

You know, Malaya never understood how people don't get along. Like she was like wired for harmony. Like she thought that harmony was the natural order of existence, not disharmony, not conflict, which is why probably she, when did she start singing harmonies with me on the songs that I write, like from really early age? Second grade maybe. Yeah, so eight years old, singing these pitch-perfect harmonies.

like, where did you get that from? She knew how to add a part that would make the song better. Did that for almost 10 years with me and all the songs that I would work on. She was a great songwriter, too. So the story is that something else is going on here and that we're actually meant to work together. We're actually meant to harmonize with each other

for great things. I said stop fighting. Like she never understood why certain religions would fight, like certain Christian sects would, it never made sense to her. Yeah, she just wanted everybody to have, for it to be everyone's own path to God. Like there's so many different paths to God

on this planet and who's to say which one is right or wrong? Why can't we all be children of God and all have our own path to God? If I ever reach a, moment where I'm tempted to doubt faith, I'll never do it again. Because I understand why it is under such attack. Faith, and to me, faith really means trust. Really means trust, right? And with everything that we've been through as the human family, particularly in the past five years, we've lost trust in just about everything. And our leadership and medicine, in our family doctor,

whatever it might be. And it's actually a beautiful opportunity to come back in because we can't have no trust. So then the question becomes, well, if I can't trust all of them, where do I place my trust? And through this experience with all of you,

you've helped to really crystallize speaking personally for myself of where that trust belongs. And that trust belongs in this great force that brought us into this life. And when you have that, for all of those who don't don't have that. It's, I think that the real modeling that you're doing for so many others

is being truly authentic to what you're feeling, being there with it, but at the very same time, alchemizing that into the goal that Malaya would have wanted you to share with the world, and you're already doing that. You're doing that right now. Again, thank you for witnessing that because it's the work of our lifetime. It's like... And she's so happy hearing you say that. I can just feel her. shining down on us like now like yes yes it's that it's that she would come up from school like she like I really don't get why these two argue why they don't get along it just did not make sense to her

like she came wired for this kind of harmony and came wired for love and for faith she was so faithful she was so trusting she I always say she was besties with God she just was like she was so in alignment and wanted us all to be there. So I feel like that's one of her biggest messages is just love one another, like truly, truly love one another and don't let division come in between friendships and families. No politics, no religion should ever separate us. We can have our differing opinion on things, but what's most fundamental is what made us and what brought us here, as you said. And faith is so important, right? Faith is a form of freedom, right? Because when you trust in the source of life that brought you here, no tyranny, no tyranny can extinguish that. No form of control or manipulation can ever control. So really our solution is more faith, not faith in the institutions, right? Faith in each other, faith in the source of all being. That's what's going to say. save us. Because, you know, in your line of work, the two of you, it's easy to go down the rabbit

hole when you see how deep this thing goes, when you see how much manipulation has happened of our reality. And if you get caught up in that, and that's the end of the story, it's really depressing. It can be. It can be. So faith is the antidote to that. Not faith in a better system. Faith in the source, the source of all being. Faith in love. Love, and love. with a capital L. That's that that's our religion. Love with a capital L. And that was Malaya. And so doing this work is honoring our daughter. I feel close to her. And I don't want to stop. We're not going to stop because I don't want to lose my daughter. I'm not going to lose her again. And one of the ways that you expressed the gift that is your family is through music.

Yes. And which was a big part of Malaya's gift. Yes. And so if, you don't mind, you brought your guitar. I always bring my guitar. It'd be lovely to kind of wrap this up with a beautiful song. Yeah, I would love to. Thank you, brother. I feel Malia all around here. She is.

Whenever you're ready, let's hear about it. What is this? Yeah, so this is a song I wrote to a poem called Christ My Refuge. And it's all about, I mean, when you hear the lyrics, it just comes in so crystal clear because it says, or awaiting harp strings of the, the mind, there sweeps the strain, low sad and sweet whose measures bind the power of pain,

and wake a white-winged angel throng of thoughts that loomed by faith and breathe in raptured song with love perfumed. And then it talks about these angry seas and about how there's a deep calm in there. And for Malay to love the song so much, it really sustained us. So this was, I put out an album a couple of years called Love Only Grows. And the idea of the album, the album, like if it's flourishing and thriving then it's love if it's not it's not love so this is a christ my refuge and this is for malaya grace or waiting harp strings of the mind there sweeps a strain low sad and sweet whose measures behind the pight-winged angel throng captured song with love perfume with love her

and sweet mercy show thus truth and grounds me on the guest with two harmony is our natural state yes yes it is I want to give you both the opportunity to close this out with some final words yeah so we thought a lot about this in in the last few days is we're working through our grief. You look at the places around the world, not just Texas with the floods and all the families have been impacted by the loved ones they've lost, but you look at Gaza and Israel, Russia, Ukraine, Iran,

places in South America and Central America where families have lost sometimes whole families, and how do you deal with that? Because you can't wish it away, and you can't, And you can't shortcut the grieving process. But grieving's just the first part. And grieving's where we open. If your heart's been broken open,

there's room actually for more love. It's the greatest paradox of human existence. If your heart is so severely broken open, it's actually there's room for more light. And this is what we've been experiencing. We want to share this with others. Like, there's a way through this. We'll be shoulder to shoulder.

We'll walk with you. We'll cry with you. We'll sing. And we've been singing our way through grief. We often wake up crying and the day crying, but in between our moments of sublimity and actual bliss and strange peace. And we want people to know that there's a way through this

and to cling on to your faith more deeply, cling on to the people around you. Let the community end when people say, how can I help you? Have them come into your house, have them sit with you. Don't go into a room and close yourself off. Be with other human beings. There's a way through this.

It's been so healing to be with other human beings. Yes. And to feel the love. And this is our natural state. Our natural state is to be with each other and to love each other. And that's Malaya's message. And that's what we've committed ourselves for the rest of our days. Yeah.

Yeah. For me, I feel like the grieving process has definitely been a roller coaster. I feel peace. And then I feel extreme heartbreak. And in the heartbreak, when I'm breaking down and crying my hardest, and like Matthew said, there's that opening. There's an opening there and your deepest, darkest moments to really feel. feel God's presence and feel the light and feel the love that's greater than what is even happening here on the surface and here on the planet and listening really listening in those moments to the still small voices that come in because I feel like that's where the magic happens and that's where we feel closest to the divine love and that will help carry us through this deep, dark time. And not just carry us through, but make us better. Make us more connected.

And make us more connected. And this is the new world. If there's a new world order, it's this. Because it comes from within us. and it's not, right? It's not forced upon us. It's like a wellspring, and it's an eternal wellspring. It's forever springing up, but it's based on love.

Yeah, and listening, yeah. Love and listening, yes, my love. Being quiet, I would say, and listening to God is one of the best things that is a gift that's been given to me through all of this. Sounds too simple to be as profound as it is, but I get it. It's a lot of work. It is work. It's the work of our lifetime. Busy, noisy world.

Yes. Yeah, we have to find time for stillness and silence, absolutely. My final question is to either one of you or both of you, and that is, you know, Malaya is with us right now. Yeah. What do you have to say directly to her? Oh, man. Now you're going to. I just want to, I mean, I tell her this every day.

I just tell her how much I love her. And I just ask her to keep guiding us. Like, keep showing up, keep guiding us, keep being there. Like, keep showing yourself. I don't ever want to be separated from her. So I just keep telling her, keep showing yourself, Malaya. I know you're there, and I love you so much. And I'm just so grateful for the time that I did get to have with you here on this planet.

And we're never separated. We're never, ever separated. and I can't wait to be with her in that spirit. I mean, we have work to do here, but I look forward to seeing her when it's our time to be with her in that spirit again. We look forward to the reunion. Malaya, you have taught me a form of love

that I didn't even know existed. I thought falling in love with your mom was the ultimate. I thought that delivering you and holding you was the ultimate form of love, raising you, but it's even more than that. It's connecting with you on a level I didn't even know existed. She has taught us so much. And there's so much more to go.

She's always been our teacher, and now she's just continuing to teach us. Well, what I want to say to both of you is you've had a profound impact on our lives. It is such an honor to call you friends and now to call you family. Yes. And to, you know, I've heard people say before, if you really want to know who someone is, look at their children. And I am so grateful for that our sons are best friends. Yes. And that our kids have had the opportunity to see what pure-hearted children look like.

In this world where the internet has done so much damage to our young ones, you have somehow managed to raise three pure-spirited, beautiful, loving kids. And that is why we jump at every opportunity to have your kids over our house or to have our kids at your house. is because we want them to experience and to never forget that that is their true foundation, that is their nature, that's who they are. And so you've given us that incredible gift that is a gift that will live on in our children and in the children that they raise.

And being with you during this entire experience, being with you here today, the courage that it takes to relive this, to express this to just two weeks after your daughter was found, to be here. And in the end, love wins. Love wins. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you.

Thank you. Love you so much. Well, there you go. A story of family, community, and love transcending all, even in the face of unimaginable odds and tragedy. If you want to give to the Hammond family in this time for them, they have a give, send, go. It's up right here. You can check it out.

and you can give to them very easily. And even in the pain, we find beauty. And I hope everyone watching that story took something away from that that was beautiful. And I want to leave you now with a song from Matthew, Liz, and Malaya. This is Jeffrey Jackson. I'll see you next week on the High Wire.