The Majority Report with Sam Seder - 2717 - Minnesota Sues Texas; Environmental Racism In Memphis w/ Keith Ellison, KeShaun Pearson

Episode Date: August 25, 2026

It's News Day Tuesday On today's program: The Supreme Court upholds a Trump executive order that restricts mail-in balloting just in time for the midterms. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison joins to discuss the SCOTUS ruling and the lawsuit he filed against Texas Governor Greg Abbott to compel the extradition of ICE agent Christian Castro. KeShaun Pearson, Executive Director of Memphis Community Against Pollution joins to discuss the data center fight and the recent power outages in Memphis, TN. In the Fun Half: Hakeem Jeffries offers up some "real talk" on his meeting with Jared Kushner. Donald Trump says that everyone should want data centers in their community. Trump's approval rating continues to crater at a record pace. Abdul El-Sayed takes Jesse Watters to school while appearing on his Fox News' show. all that and more. To connect and organize with your local ICE rapid response team visit ICERRT.com The Congress switchboard number is [phone]. You can use this number to connect with either the U.S. Senate or the House of Representatives. Follow us on TikTok here: https://www.tiktok.com/@majorityreportfm Check us out on Twitch here: https://www.twitch.tv/themajorityreport Find our Rumble stream here: https://rumble.com/user/majorityreport Check out our alt YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/majorityreportlive Gift a Majority Report subscription here: https://fans.fm/majority/gift Subscribe to the AM Quickie newsletter here: https://am-quickie.ghost.io/ Join the Majority Report Discord! https://majoritydiscord.com/ Get all your MR merch at our store: https://shop.majorityreportradio.com/ Get the free Majority Report App!: https://majority.fm/app Go to https://JustCoffee.coop and use coupon code majority to get 10% off your purchase Check out today's sponsors: TREES.COM: Get 20% off your first purchase at Trees.com code MAJORITY SUNSET LAKE CBD: Use coupon code "Left Is Best" (all one word) for 20% off of your entire order at SunsetLakeCBD.com. Please fill out this form to request Bryan to come to your town to do stand-up comedy @SamSeder @EmmaVigeland @MattLech On Instagram: @MrBryanVokey Check out Matt's show, Left Reckoning, on YouTube, and subscribe on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/leftreckoning Check out Matt Binder's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/mattbinder Subscribe to Brandon's YouTube channel: https://ww.youtube.com/Th3Discourse Check out Ava Raiza's music here: https:/www.youtube.com/@avaraiza

You are listening to a free version of the Majority Report. Support this show at join the Majority Report.com and get an extra hour of content daily. The Majority Report with Sam Cedar. It is Tuesday, August 25th, 26. My name is Emma Vigeland in for Sam Cedar, and this is the five-time award-winning majority report. We are broadcasting live steps from the industrially ravaged Gowanus Canal in the heartland of America, downtown Brooklyn, USA. On the program today, Keith Ellison, Attorney General of Minnesota will be here with us to talk about suing Texas Governor Greg Abbott to compel the extradition of this ice agent. And later in the show, Kishon Pearson, executive director of Memphis Community Against Pollution,

will be with us to talk about the city's power outage and data center pollution. Also on the program, the Supreme Court hands Trump a win, at least for now, on mail-in voting, two weeks before ballots are set to be sent out. So more on that in a minute. Long-term yields are still not falling, so the Treasury may double its efforts on bond buybacks, tapping into the Fed's rainy day fund. Is that a good sign?

So rainy. Not that good on the economic thing. It's the superalini. You're right. Ike, when you start a war and it causes rainy days. Yep. Maybe we should just new. the hurricane, nuke the rain.

Remember that from Trump first point one point one. Bessent announces more Iranian sanctions. That'll do it. China publicly denounces them, though. China buys nearly 80% of Iran's oil exports. Good luck economically isolating Iran. Yeah, you can't do it. When China says, we don't, we're not going to abide by this, sorry.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Trump ignored Intel from, Tulsi Gabbard and J.D. Vance, among others. Please from them at least. Warning about the unlikelyhood that the Iranian regime would follow, fall, rather. Trump listened to Hegsef and Netanyahu instead, which we could have told you from just context clues. Two people have died from measles in Pennsylvania,

the first in the state in 35 years. both were unvaccinated. Speaking of Pennsylvania, a New York Times poll finds that Republicans in the state now view John Federman more favorably than their Republican senator. I mean, right. Federman, by the way, is sub-40 points with Democrats. Canada retaliates against Trump's tariffs, threatening to go as high as 50 percent on. on hundreds of U.S. products. But don't worry, folks.

We've got the leverage. Trump has the ace of his sleeve. We may rename Lake Ontario to Lake America. God, he's so boring. More symbolic change. Yes. Eat it up. Eat the map up.

The map is now 50%. More expensive, by the way. The Trump administration is trying to revoke visas from 200,000 asylum applicants. Israel kills at least seven in Gaza overnight, hating a mosque and a water desalination plant. And lastly, the U.S. calls for an expanded arms embargo in Sudan, but refuses to engage in the diplomatic process,

which experts say will do nothing if you don't do the diplomacy part. All this and more on today's majority report. to the show, everybody. It is Newsday, Tuesday. Some IMs here at Homonym says Lake America, you're joking, right? I am not joking. I am not. This is the exact kind of idiocy that we've been dealing

with for two years at this point. Yeah, remember the Gulf of America? Oh, Google does. It changed it. Most of the rest of the world has shrugged at that as they should. Sack for Pairs says, have I been pronouncing Emma's last name wrong? This whole time is the e-salant or not viglund or vigeloland it is vigeland even though that's not even

how i should be pronouncing and i think in norwegian it's vigeland but i'm not an asshole so i don't pronounce it that way uh i just you know sometimes shorten it like vigeland but it's vigeland please pronounce my last name lech lech well you still can't get epstein right so epstein epstein epstein winestein winestein that's too complicated yes try to say buddage Buttigieg. First time for everything. You go Budigieg every time.

Oh yeah. When I say it fast to say Budigig. And now my brain is starting to believe that that's how it's pronounced. But we need someone to be the pronunciation pinata in Sam's absence.

So Matt, you got the stick today. Now, I mentioned this, but earlier this year, Trump issued an executive order on mail and voting, and the Supreme Court just handed him a victory on that executive order. Hopefully it's temporary. We'll give you the good news after we give you the bad.

But, of course, the court deployed the shadow docket, as they tend to do. And of course, the decision was six to three. This decision lifted a federal injunction from a judge, that had blocked large portions of the executive order on mail and voting. The good news is that there are two injunctions. So this just struck down one of them. The second injunction still remains,

the one also issued by a federal judge. But on this particular injunction, the Supreme Court ruled that the states that had brought the lawsuit, which includes our next guest, who brought one of the states that brought the lawsuit, Minnesota, Keith Ellison will ask him about this. There were around 23, 24 states plus DC that brought the lawsuit against the Trump administration over this executive order and the federal government's attempt to unconstitutionally

insert itself into the electoral process that under our constitution is supposed to be run by the states. The Supreme Court determined that the state. states had not demonstrated sufficient injury to allow the injunction to stand. What that means is that the Supreme Court is claiming that the states do not have the standing that they would need for the lawsuit to go their way. They're saying that the harm has not yet been done to the states by the executive order so they don't have the standing to sue and claim that it is unlawful. So they've yet to rule on the constitutionality of the executive order itself.

But I just want to take a step back and think about the insanity of the argument in and of itself. States have to wait for the elections to be interfered with to demonstrate harm and standing. KBJ argued as such in her dissent. Here it is from the Supreme Court. Go to page 15 here and scroll just a little bit down so I can see the body. KBJ, our best Supreme Court justice, dissented, and I'll just read a little bit of what she had to say in her introduction in this dissent here. The president has issued an executive order demanding changes to the standard vote-by-mail systems that the states have traditionally administered. The district court held that the president's order is unlawful, the government does not defend the lawfulness of the order before this court,

and no judge or justice has held or holds today that the order comports with the Constitution. still the court sees fit to grant the government equitable relief to proceed with implementing the challenged order on the grounds that because the government had not yet issued a final rule at the time the complaint was filed, the plaintiff states lacked a concrete injury for Article III purposes. This ruling violates well-established precedents concerning this court's equitable discretion and needlessly injects chaos and uncertainty into the upcoming midterm elections. It also lets another shoe drop in the Kafkaesque nightmare that our precedents have been steadily creating for certain plaintiffs who seek to bring election-related challenges. The next page.

The court has held for a while now that even election-related legal claims can come too late. Cites a precedent from 2006. Today's revelation is that such claims can also come too early. Never mind that an election is looming and related to. harms are presently occurring. Never mind, too, that the government, which controls the timing and proposed and final rules, can easily game the system. I thought that that was quite well said. I find the inclusion of Kafkaesque into a legal dissent to be quite amusing, but she speaks in plain language and that's democratizing in and of itself, because people can understand it,

as opposed to hiding behind legalese, as she points out the practical realities of what they've ruled on here. Yeah, can I just enter another nevermind in on top of hers? Is a never mind that this is the same government body that stole the 2000 election under Bush versus Gore by stopping the Florida recount? Yeah. And I mean, it, the Supreme, to your point, the Supreme Court's incursion into our electoral process has not been democratic.

It's guided by nothing to power, too. And Republican politics. This is not about, this is not about the law. law, this is not about, ooh, the mystery of the law if you just studied it deep enough. This is a criminal organization doing a power grab. And there are like a few Democrat places on there that are trying to fight the good fight. But ultimately, it stole the 2000 election and it will if like it needs to steal another one. Here is Chris Murphy last night on CNN responding to this ruling. Well, ultimately Trump doesn't want.

people to vote and he's going to be very selective about who he doesn't want to vote. He doesn't want people who are more likely to vote for Democrats to vote and so you know he's going to instruct either Department of Homeland Security or the Postal Service potentially to remove people from the voter rolls or to profile people for removal from the voter rolls that are more likely to vote for Democrats for instance people who live in cities. I mean, I don't think there's any secret about it. Trump is going to use whatever power he has available to him to make himself rich. He's going to use whatever power he has available to him to try to steal the election.

Now, he's not going to get away with stealing the election because the law is still on our side. And I think the people are just going to come up in bigger numbers. But that's the real fear, is that he's going to be very selective in who he tries to disqualify from voting. Again, I don't think it ever goes into effect, but that's clear. the danger. I would, I just get squeamish about being so declarative. I mean, Joe Biden had a trifecta in the first couple of

his administration and when they asked like, hey, do you want to do any of this voting rights stuff that we've had sitting on the shelf and said we would do if we got the power to do it? And they said, no, we will try to out-organize voter suppression. That's literally a headline from the New York Times. We will try to out-organize voter suppression. How about like we don't need to out-organize voter suppression? How about like we don't need to out-organize the voter suppression, which it may be possible, turnout seems up? How about instead we just lock in the right to vote and then we can organize for other shit?

You mean actually act proactively instead of defensively? Yeah. As a Democrat? Yeah, exactly. How could you ask them to do that? It's against their nature. It gives them anxiety. Don't you respect their mental health?

The Democrats don't want to do anything proactive like that. But I mean, this is the problem. And we can blame Merrick Garland as well. Like, I mean, not prosecuting election deniers at the very top and going after the Trump administration has created this situation where they're going to continue to push and push. And they know that they have this bought corrupt court on their side. And they'll do whatever they can to make sure that this country is even more undemocratic than it already is. It's not enough for this minotarian fascist right to have. the Senate stacked in their favor when these red states that have a population that's less than,

you know, the 40th largest city in the country have two senators and California has two senators and they have the filibuster on top of it. It's not that. It's not enough for them. They want to make sure that they restrict mail in voting and let's not forget gerrymander black people out of having any representation in the South on top of it. As I mentioned, the good news is that there is still this second lower court injunction that has not been ruled on, and legal experts seem to think that this is potentially stronger. This is the one that's been brought by voting rights groups, and it deals specifically with what the executive order does about the U.S. Postal Service

determining whether or not, or who, I should say, gets to receive mail-in ballots. The executive order that is at issue here basically forces the USPS to create these new rules on mail and ballots. And one of them that is the most controversial is that the USPS would only under this directive send out mail and ballots to those who have, whose states have submitted names, a list of voter rolls. and that those voters have been approved by the federal government. I mean, it's astonishing in its aggressiveness and in its power, in the text, in what it, if it were implemented, and what it would engender, how un-democratic it would be. And so my hope is that the Supreme Court doesn't grant that.

We still will see the constitutionality of the executive order has not been ruled on there. But we should also point out that this is another mafia tactic by the Trump administration. They want those goddamn voter rolls. And they've been going to court all over the country to attempt to compel states

to send them to them. And they've lost, they're like 0 for 30 or 0 for 25. I can't remember the exact number, but they are not doing well in court similar numbers to the attempts to overturn the 2020 election. They're just trying to flood the zone with bullshit.

And the Supreme Court, though, is more than willing to, at the very least, entertain that bullshit. And the post office is running out of money, and they're appealing to Congress for appropriation. So that's why they're going along with this. Oh, yeah. There you go. Bleed them dry, austerity. And then they'll be a little bit more compliant. This is the mafia administration, and they're attempting to hold on to power by hook or by crook.

and I'm pretty sure they're more in touch with the crook side. In a moment, we'll be talking to Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison about this and more, but first a word from one of our sponsors. You have heard us talk about them as fast-growing trees, but now magic sound. They're trees.com. Rebranded, but they're the same trusted online nursery with a simpler name, less typing, less clackety-clack on that keyboard.

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and at majority. fm. Quick break and when we come back, we'll be joined by Keith Ellison. We are back and we're so happy to be joined now by Keith Ellison, Attorney General of Minnesota here to talk about how Minnesota is suing Texas Governor Greg Abbott to compel the extradition of this ICE agent Christian Castro. Attorney General Ellison, thank you so much for coming on the show today. Glad to be with you, but I must admit, Emma, I'm a little sad to be discussing this topic. because it's not necessary and we don't have to be here, but we are. Yes.

And I want to get to that topic next, but I want to first ask you about the news from yesterday. We opened our show discussing the Supreme Court's decision on mail and voting. Now, we still have that other lower court injunction that is really at issue here. But just since you're one of the 24 attorneys general that filed this complaint, they're a part of this lawsuit. What's your response to the Supreme Court's decision from yesterday? So the Supreme Court's decision was bad. It was not good. The dissent were right for people who want to get a grip on what's going on. Read the dissent. They're right. Essentially,

what's going on here is that states have the responsibility for time, place, and manner of elections. That has been the history of the United States. It's in the U.S. Constitution. Now, the president, all on his own, has issued an executive order, that he wants to make sure, he wants to set up rules at the department at the postal, the U.S. Postal Services that would allow them to sort of screen acceptable voters all under the guise of stopping non-American,

non-citizens from voting, but really he's trying to usurp unto himself the right to say who gets to vote and who doesn't buy mail. Now, we believe that is an, unconstitutional intrusion into the state's prerogative under the Constitution. Maybe Congress could do it, but the president sure can't do it. And so we sued saying that the president's on our territory. Here's what the Supreme Court does.

They say, uh, it's too early. It's not a final rule yet. You guys are jumping the gun. It's not ripe. Ripe is like a legal term. It doesn't just apply to vegetables. It applies to law rulemaking too. And so basically a lower court enjoined, meaning they stopped the administration from this weird scheme to try to collect voters through the males.

And the Supreme Court lifted it. And so bottom line is that by lifting it, they're creating chaos, they're creating trouble, they're creating difficulties for everybody. And interestingly enough, that the U.S. Postal Services just finished their rule. So now there is a rule, which we will absolutely be challenging and have strong constitutional basis to do so. This Supreme Court and Republican-dominated Supreme Court's over time, I don't trust them, but we litigate as hard as we can. And I think it's important for people who watch our show to criticize the court for this bad ruling because what they've, allowed to happen is give the president who wants to take over elections, federalize elections, a thumbs up in terms of at least continuing to try to do that. I'm confident we will win in the

end, but how much hell and confusion will they cause between now and then? That's the problem. And so you're confident that you can challenge the new USPS rule as a separate challenge to the executive order. Yes. That's interesting. I'm, you know, I'm also struck by Katonji Brown Jackson's dissent, which was excellent per usual. We read a little bit of it to start the show. Thank you. The notion that you have to essentially demonstrate standing here as these, you know, two dozen states have to demonstrate harm. But as we're two weeks away from a lot of ballots being issued and being sent out, the harm would have.

happened once the election would be stolen. And so this is obvious, this is the most obvious case where the Supreme Court should interfere. This is what the court system is supposed to be doing, not after the harm is done once the harm is shown to be very likely. Yeah. So the thing is, under all rules of standing, it says, yeah, you've got to demonstrate concrete harm or imminent threat thereof, which this clearly is. And, you know, that, but, but you know, They're not, this, look, these guys are not playing from the top of the deck. They're not dumb people, you know, they know what they're doing. I mean, let me ask you, Emma, have you ever taken the time out of your life to read Bush v. Gore?

If ever there was a brazen, naked attempt to just take an election away from the voters, that 2000 decision was a clear example. And what do you know, here we are again. But I don't want to alarm people because I think that, There's so much game playing by the Supreme Court that I don't want activists on the ground to get discouraged. You should keep on registering people. You should encourage people to vote. If we overwhelm these ballot boxes and we vote in record numbers, it's much harder to steal an election no matter what the Supreme Court does.

So we need to stay out on the streets, knocking doors, making relationships, talking to people. Somebody said, connection wins elections, and they're right. I would say that, yeah, the AGs and others, democracy defenders, democracy docket, market lives, we are fighting these things in the court, but we need people on the ground driving up that voter turnout because the bigger margin we have, the harder it is for them to try to rip people off. And I would say in places like Minnesota where we have early votes starting on September 18th, you should look not on, you should look at the election, not as election day, but is an election season, where it starts on September 18th in Minnesota and ends on November 3rd at 8 p.m.

And if you're in line, you have the right to stay there and vote. So that's what I'm saying to people, but we're not going to back down. We're not tired. We're not sleepy. We are here to fight in these courts. And we are absolutely up to it. So no doubt about that. Love to hear it.

Let's move to your lawsuit against Greg Abbott and what's happening in Texas. Tell us a little bit about this case. Christian Castro, the ICE agent, whose extradition you're attempting to force in Texas is refusing. Even though, you know, the federal law says that states are supposed to cooperate with extradition requests, I'd imagine that the federal government is maybe putting this to the bottom of their case file. Well, let me say that there was a story that just hit the news that now the feds are contemplating, criminally prosecuting

Christian Castro. I'll believe it when I see it. But here's what's going on. So back on January 14th, in the middle of Operation Metro Surge, when 30 below was common, and that's how it is in Minnesota in the wintertime, y'all. And that's why we love it, right? But Operation Metro Surge was the largest single deployment of immigration agents in the history of the United States

in one place at one time. It was targeted at Minnesota, and that's what happened. It was a look at what American fascism and authoritarianism really would look like as 3,500 paramilitary soldiers calling themselves immigration officials descended upon our state. So at one point, they tried to take a look at this guy at a man named Julio Soso Salisa's licensed. plate. They got it wrong. They started, but they started chasing him because they thought he was somebody they could get. So he runs into his house and goes through the door. Castro shoots through the door, wounds him, and the bullet goes into another part of the house, lodges into a wall.

Multiple children are in the house and other people. So he's shooting into a door, not knowing who's on the other side of that door, which is like reckless in the extreme. So anyway, after that, he then tells the FBI, oh, the reason I shot is because I was in fear for my life. They were beating me and they were hurting me and they were doing all kinds of things. And I had to do this to save and preserve my own life. Then Solis is charged with assaulting the immigration agent. And then the video comes out, which shows that everything that Castro said was not supported by the evidence. Also known, there's a three-letter word to describe it. I'll let your listeners grab one to that.

But my point is that after this incident, the federal government, this federal government, this Trump Justice Department, wow, has to go to court and say we dismiss with prejudice, which your audience may. may know means that they cannot come back. They cannot bring this case back against him. So then on June 2nd, after we get all the evidence we need, we've completed our investigation, the Hennepin County Attorney and the Attorney General's Office

prosecute this guy for four counts of assault and filing a false police report. And we charge him. Well, by that time, he's hightailed it back to Texas. and so we put out a warrant for him, and the Texas Rangers arrest him. And the Texas sheriff jails him and holds him so that we can get him.

And one week goes by, two week goes by, month goes by. We start sending letters to the governor. Oh, and we immediately, we immediately send down our extradition papers. But after they're not responded to, we start asking the governor, what are you going to do here?

We got this thing, man. And then we start counting, we look at this Texas statutes and says, if you're in custody for 90 days on extradition, at the end of the 90 days, if you haven't been picked up, they might release you. Well, we know that Castro has ties in Mexico.

He has a paramour in Mexico, who he's talking about moving to Mexico with. This is all evidence. Wasn't he caught on the phone at the jail saying that he wanted to go flee to Mexico? Yeah. So this is not idle speculation. This is like legit stuff to operate on the basis of. But the problem is that contrary to the Constitution and the extradition law of 1793,

Governor Abbott is saying he doesn't know if he's going to do it. He may do it. First of all, he just tried to ignore us. Then we sued. We had to file a lawsuit because we really didn't have any choice. He forced us to sue him because he was ignoring us. you should know, and I would like to share with your audience, that we have had several extradition trades of inmates since Castro was charged.

So this is all about him trying to send a signal around the paramilitary violence that was imposed during Minnesota, and that's what this is about. And so he gets up there and he says, well, we'll sign extradition when Tim Wall's gives back all the money that was defrauded in Minnesota. I just want to let everybody know this could not be possibly more irrelevant. It signals that this is intense, this is nothing but politics has nothing to do with the rule of law. And these law and order, MAGA Republican governors, you know, they don't really believe in law and order. You know, because if they did, the law and the order is sign the extradition papers.

So today at 1 o'clock, they'll be in court arguing this extradition, arguing that the motion for the temporary restraining order to enjoin the governor from refusing to sign the extradition papers. And I will say that the sheriff in Cameron County, Texas, has been no problem to work with. He's been professional. He's just said, look, I got to follow the law. If we get to 90 days, he might get released, because that's what. with the law says. So that's why we need to enjoin the sheriff from releasing him while this matter is pending. But I just want to let your visitors know. There is no, there is absolutely no discretion here. This is the only issue is do you have the right Christian Castro?

Once you establish identity, that's it. The governor has admitted he's the right Christian Castro. So he has to come back to Minnesota, where he will get the full, uh, of rights that any criminal defendant is afforded. Right to counsel, right to account, to a cross-examined witnesses to be presumed innocent until proven guilty. Every criminal right that any defendant in America has under the Sixth Amendment, he has, but he has to face those charges. And I'm confident that today there will be a reckoning.

Well, I'm hoping for that. Lastly, I did want to ask you about it because I think it connects this topic with our previous topic, which is how there are going to be Republican governors like Abbott, in my estimation, that are more than willing to engage in what should be lawless behavior with these elections because of the politics of it. I think we should anticipate ICE agents going to polling stations, particularly in states like Texas where there's a very competitive Senate race, and you have a Republican governor. And governor race.

Yes, exactly. Speaking of law and order, the senator also that the Senate nominee for the Republicans is a career criminal, but we can put that aside for now. What does Telerico say the most corrupt politician in America except maybe Trump? He's definitely number two, I think. I think we have to put him solidly there. But like, you know, it's just, do you have a sense? Do you have contingency plans for, say, ICE harassment at polling locations in Minnesota?

Is that something that you're all? office is anticipating? Well, let me just tell you this, because the other side already knows it. Democratic AGs and Democratic Secretaries of State have been meeting and conferring for months and months now on these kind of contingencies. We've been doing scenario planning. We anticipate this bad conduct. We've drafted legal memoranda on all the legal issues of rightness and standing.

The stuff you and I were just talking about a moment ago. And we are going to be a position where we can engage. We're not in a position where we're off balance. We're not on our heels. We're not going to be surprised. We're ready. And we're getting ready every day. And we have a team that works on this election protection and prepare this all the time.

And it's not just us, AG's. Let me give a lot of credit to people like, you know, Norm Eisen, Joanna Ludgate, people like Mark Elias, a lot of people, a lot of the folks over there at the ACLU, the private progressive bar and the AGs

are all ten toes down to protect these elections. We will be in court. But let me just say what I said in the beginning, it's easier to prevail when we have kicked the crap out of him in the ballot box. And so I do urge people to vote, to get their friends

to vote, turn that protest energy into electoral power. We really need that to happen. And I'm hoping nobody is sitting out saying, well, I'm not sure what the difference between these candidates are. No, no. I'm telling you, you know, we've seen people who want to

get rid of American democracy as imperfect as it is. It's better than fascism and authoritarianism. take it from a Minnesota who went through Operation Metro Surge. Well, Attorney General Keith Ellison, thank you so, so much, and we'll be waiting with bated breath about this decision and following this case very closely.

Thanks so much for your time today. I really appreciate it. Thank you for all your great work. Bye, by now. Thank you. With that, folks, we're going to take a quick break, and when we come back, we'll be joined by Kishon Pearson, executive director of Memphis Community Against Pollution

to talk about what's happening down in Tennessee. We are back and we are joined now by Kishon Pearson, Executive Director of Memphis Community Against Pollution, here to talk about the Data Center fight and as well the ongoing powder outages in Memphis, Tennessee. Kishon, thanks so much for coming on the show today. Thank you so much, Emma, for having me. There's a lot happening. There's a lot happening. And, you know, the South right now, I think, is really from at least the outside galvanized as you see. the Republicans attempt to disenfranchise black voters across the South and as well as the Data Center fight that you have been so central to in Memphis. But first, let's talk about the

power outage, which is immensely pressing. There's more than 100,000 Memphis households that lost electricity over the weekend after this severe thunderstorm. I know you've been doing some work this morning with members of the community to get them fed. What is the situation on the ground right now in Memphis? On the ground, people are still struggling to have even three days later 30,000 families who do not have access to power or access to water that we know we can trust. One of our water treatment facilities was also affected by this power outage. And it underlined something that will continue to exacerbate climate catastrophes, which is a lack of. investment and across the south across Memphis we see a huge lack of

investment in clean energy as well as our grid infrastructure and the lack of intentionality around this type of development from our elected officials from our power companies including the Tennessee Valley Authority who is also a part of the power distribution in our community that lack of investment during this climate catastrophe will only continue to worse and that burden is worse for black families and black communities specifically. Can you talk? Oh, go ahead. Before, I just wanted to say, what I will say, though, is that it has been incredible to see how

our community has come together. We've had a lot of organizations, including Black Voters Matter, Youngstead and Green, organizers, including 911 community fridges, who I was able to support this morning with stock in a fridge and helping get folks information. And so I've been feeding folks since yesterday and we'll be doing it again today alongside my brother representative Justin J. Pearson, who I found out this morning was your brother. So and congrats to your brother on his primary victory as well, rooting for him. You know, the Tennessee Valley Authority, they've been central to a lot of the fight right now about electricity prices and what you're dealing with data centers in your community.

Can you talk a little bit about the Tennessee Valley Authority and how it approaches, say, communities of color and areas like Memphis? Yeah. Areas like Memphis get the back end of Tennessee Valley Authority's support. The relationship between the Tennessee Valley Authority and Memphis and how they operate and support families in East Tennessee is completely different, as different as night and day. And that is something where we cannot ignore the racial implications of majority of black communities not being invested in. And truthfully, just not being included or talk with about investments.

When the Tennessee Valley Authority just this year looked to bring in more power generation, where did they put the pollution in southwest Memphis and increased that pollution by bringing six additional methane gas turbines? These turbines are literally directly across the street from XAI and their methane gas turbines. And so our community continues to bear the brunt of the environmental racism and environmental injustice as the Tennessee Valley Authority builds out a fossil fuel plan that we know is shackling us to a continuing climate catastrophe and more storms that will continue to hurt us disproportionately than any other place. place around the country. And so black families, black communities are truly at the intersection of so much harm,

and we have to really change the trajectory. And part of that trajectory change starts with investment in clean energy and investment in our grid infrastructure. But XA, I made promises, and MLGW talked about them. Our mayor talked about how Elon would bring in Tesla batteries to help our grid infrastructure and we haven't seen any of that materialized. And so it's just another promise that was told to us, but another promise that was broken. I'm just not astonished, but I guess just horrified by the fact that the Tennessee Valley Authority saw already that just across the street

Colossus, this XAI data center that has continued to expand, is pumping out all of this methane powered gas and they decided that to up our energy capacity, we're just going to on the other side of the street do the same, even as there's been this large-scale community outrage. I think it really speaks to what the politics are like right now in Tennessee. Yeah, it speaks to a real disinvestment and a real discarding of our majority black community. And truthfully, we continue to be targeted. Right. This same location is over the top of the Davis well field, which is the exact same place, the Bihal Connection pipeline, wanted to build a crude oil pipeline from here through North Mississippi all the way down to the Gulf of Mexico. And fortunately, Memphis community, then we were Memphis community against the pipeline. We were successful in stopping that pipeline. But continuously, we are what people describe as the path of least resistance or, a sacrifice zone, as Mustafa Santiago Ali would describe it,

is where people treat us like we don't matter, right? Where we pay the cost with our lives for their profits. And so while XAI and Elon Musk and SpaceX see record profits, our community just continues to get more poison, whether it's through the Tennessee Valley Authority

and their pollution buildout or XAI and their unlawful methane gas turbines operating at 24-7. Take us back to two years ago when Elon Musk's X-A.I. set up their first of these data center structures called Colossus in Memphis. And since then, there have been, what, three separate data centers constructed as well in conjunction with Colossus. Talk about that process, how Colossus showed up, what it was like immediately for the environment in Memphis, and how it's a lot. expanded. Wow. So first, let me finish one point on the Tennessee Valley Authority. When they were

considering how to power, when the Tennessee Valley Authority was considering how to generate more power, they literally listed only two options. Either they were not going to bring any additional power or they were going to bring six methane gas turbines. So we are in a situation where the Tennessee Valley Authority is not even considering clean air, clean energy, or any other solution that we know could bring cleaner air for us. When I harkened back to two years ago, the atmosphere around data centers and development was completely different. Everyone was looking at me like I was crazy.

When I said, essentially, we need to slow down this project. We don't know enough in order to continue to allow Elon Musk to buy up property, which our edgeboard provided 522 acres. of land with one year free rent for X-AI. And where we also saw a methane gas build out like we hadn't seen before. And there was no stipulations around why this was being allowed. And so our community continues to fight back.

And even in that moment, it was standing up and saying, we are being taken advantage of. We are being essentially steamrolled. And we are not being included in any other conversations. X-AI was able to host 15 to 33 methane gas turbines, which we saw were operating. And then when we told the public, 33 methane gas turbines were operating, XAI, the Greater Memphis Chamber, and our own Mayor Paul Young said, oh, that's not really what we're seeing. And so to truly be gaslit in this type of way is something that black families and communities have continued to

feel and that creates a deep-seated erosion of trust. And what we need more than ever now is to build trust. And by doing so, listening to what the community has been saying and has been yelling for too long. Our concerns have been just ignored. XAI hasn't had any meaningful meetings with our community since they've been here. And that is not likely to change. And even, you know, our mayor and other elected officials refuse to really acknowledge how damaging this has been. And so for us, it has been an uphill battle, but we have been successful. We've got the first permit hearing about an air pollution permit ever. And our community was able to elevate their voices and have their needs and concerns heard.

And so we've marched. We will continue to march. but we are marching toward a moratorium. And I'm hoping for that, praying for you guys with the moratorium because these political headwinds that you're facing are so significant. Just the lying about the methane turbines.

Like the fact that they're supposed to adhere to a certain number, and they went well over that. And then you have your elected officials saying, don't believe your lying eyes. We're definitely in compliance with environmental regulations. It just goes to show how they want to build these data centers and the infrastructure to the point where it's going to be way too difficult for communities to have any pushback. They're going to lie their way to that point.

That's true. And if we've seen or learned anything here in Memphis is that the misinformation campaigns will persist. When we found the EPA's plans that showed XAI was building a second and a third facility that would require up to 90 methane gas turbines, the Greater Memphis Chamber immediately put out a statement saying, there is no plan for Colossus 2 or this next facility to be powered by methane gas turbines. Only for today us to be breathing the air of over 60 methane gas turbines operating at Colossus 1. and the Colossus II complex. Even so to the point where the Department of Justice is intervening in a case that is being brought forward by Earth Justice, the Southern Environmental Law Center, and the NAACP to stop the unlawful use of these methane gas turbines, that XAI claims are temporary claims,

are mobile sources. But what we know is that these turbines require a more stringent process, according to NEPA and according to the Clean Air Act. And so Elon Musk is not only being able to subvert the actual law, he's being assisted. And he's been assisted by our federal government. He's also been assisted December 15th by our Shelby County Health Department and pushing back against the community. And what we are witnessing is the wielding of our public institutions that are meant to protect us, the people, being wielded for the whims of truly a manic billionaire. And that type of erosion of democracy is something that we have to be very concerned about because the Doge experiment is part of the reason why we're in this situation without power here in Memphis.

They cut millions of dollars of funding that would have been used for infrastructure and would have been invested in clean energy that would have provided our homes backup. And so thousands of families would have had power today and they don't. You talk about the methane gas, you talk about the noise pollution. Methane is very polluting in its emissions. And can you describe what the pollution smells like, feels like in Memphis right now? Yes. So first, I will say you hear it before you smell it. The sound that permeates from these machines is ridiculous.

And unfortunately, we have community members who live in South Haven, who live in part of Southwest Memphis called White Haven. And they have to hear these machines day in and day out. And so that type of noise pollution is something that is disrupting families that is also having a detrimental effect on the children. Truly our children, we're all part of the same community. Our children are suffering because if they do have a certain mental, disability or complication, these noises continuing for 24 hours at a time is only making that worse. We have one child who's missed 90% of the days of schools this year simply because they are struggling to cope with the noise. The toxins that are being emitted into our atmosphere

at tons per day, like formaldehyde, which is a known carcinogen, right? Formaldehyde is used for embalming fluid, right? No living, breathing person should be exposed to formaldehyde, but we are being exposed to formaldehyde PM2.5 at levels that are extreme. And we know that that creates a weathering effect or an aging of people who have to continue to breathe this stuff in. And so in addition to knowing that, it's a smell that is horrendous. And when it is mixed in with all of the pollutants, because in Southwest Memphis, it's not just X-A-I-I, alone. There is the Tennessee Valley Authority and there is the maximum wastewater treatment facility.

And so you get this disgusting riding egg and sulfur scent that is gaseous. And it permeates through your windows. It's something that wakes you up out of your sleep. And I mean, I personally was born in 3A109. And so if you're born in 3A109, you either have chronic allergies or you got chronic asthma. And for me, I have the allergies. I have chronic allergies. And so I'm unable to stand out there for more than maybe five to ten minutes at a time. And so, you know, even now you can probably kind of hear it in my voice.

The high temperatures coupled with this pollution is causing so many damaging effects to our community and even to my own body. And so this is the type of suffering that we are enduring. And this is the type of suffering that is paying the cost for the trillions and the billions of dollars for Elon Musk to continue to expand. And what we see is that XAI has no intentions of slowing down. They will continue to expand and have just announced a fourth hyperscale data center that will be built right here in our backyards just two weeks ago. And so a moratorium is the only way we're going to slow them down. Meaning they're being rewarded for polluting your community.

Is that correct? They're being rewarded by all of our public institutions, our Shelby County Health Department, the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality, our own EPA refuses to regulate data centers, pollution. And so you're seeing folks be rewarded for breaking the rules. You're seeing XAI and Elon Musk actually benefit from operating in an unlawful way. And we continue to pay the cost. And so where is the support for the families

who are being taken advantage of? I have buried too many of my family members to cancers and to premature deaths. And what we know for a fact is that if XAI is able to continue to operate in this way, even with the pollution that they've already emitted, there are calculations that show from Empower and Harvard-Trant epidemiologists,

that there are premature deaths attached to that. And so the reason that I've gotten into this work truly is because I don't want anyone else to bury a family member a day earlier than they should. Lastly, can you talk about the role of disenfranchising black voters in the South in and the role that that plays in this expressly environmentally racist kind of infrastructure, putting your community on the front lines.

Yeah. This is a part of a long legacy. Dr. Marley the King Jr. came down to Memphis and he marched with sanitation workers and he lost his life for it. That is truly one of the first environmental justice movements. and one of the first environmental justice moments that has shaped this current situation. Memphis, just like it was in that time, is under occupation, and we are continuing to see the proliferation of environmental injustice,

but what injustice also looks like, because it's never in a vacuum. All of these are interrelated injustices. The same reason that families who are struggling with their powers being off are the same, families that are struggling to make rent and the same families that are struggling to keep their lights on because of the energy burden they experience is because it is a totality of injustice that we are up against. And one thing that adds on to that is the continued suppression of black voting power and collective black leadership. And that undermining of leadership has come in a form of gerrymandering that has broken. our district into three. And so our representation is truly up for grabs when it should not be. And what I can say is Memphis is the battleground. The south is where the country will go.

And we need everyone. We need everyone. I don't care where you are, from the northeast to the Midwest, all the way to the West to help us here in the South because these elections are extremely important because the ramifications will ripple throughout the rest of the country, throughout the rest of the world, because it is not ironic that the same community that is dealing with fragile infrastructure is the same community that is under occupation, that is the same community where children have asthma visits to the ER more than anywhere else in the state. It is not, it's the same community

that has to deal with so many interlocking injustices. And voting is just one of the tools that we have at our disposal in order to rewrite the history that Elon Musk and the current White House administration wants us to live in. Kishon, where can people support your work and support the community in this time? Where would you direct people to go? And we'll put a link to that down below

wherever people are listening to or watching this. Yes, you can go to www.w.mep.org, which is our website for Memphis community against pollution. And then votejustinj.com, which is my brother's website. And we have current updates, and we will consistently be updating both websites with resources. Well, really appreciate your time today. Thank you so, so much. and stay safe out there. Kishon Pearson, executive director of Memphis

Community Against Pollution. Thanks so much again for coming on the show. Thank you all. With that, we'll wrap up the free part of this show, head into the fun half, shake off some of the fury

that that interview put in my heart. God. It was kind of relatable, I grew up in a paper mill town. And when he was describing the smell, that was the smell I grew up with, the sulfur. And then I was just kind of looking through and there's a lot of studies about the forever chemicals and the asthma rates in the town I grew up in Maine.

And I was thinking about how many people of my family died of cancer young. I was, uh, yeah. Burning, yep. Burning methane to run a, to power a job killing factory is pretty on the nose for, uh, late stage capitalism. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, at least the people in my town were middle class when that mill was running. Right. Right. Some got out and some were able to maybe buy a home before they died of cancer early or something. I mean, it's just...

And then you'll see these people like, you know, like the Washington Post, they have that make-it-make-sense thing where it's like you shouldn't, you know, criticize people for eating hamburgers or whatever. It's like... Yeah. But those types will be like, oh, really, you're going to think the sound is so bad. Why don't you live next to it? Right. Exactly. You think the pollution's not bad? Oh, technically, I read this report by an engineer that said the pollution actually isn't that big. Go, you live next to it then.

Put it in your neighborhood, asshole. But that's like the real version of when the right goes, you want illegal immigration. Why don't you have an immigrant live with you? It's like, okay, well, there's no, like, actual policy right now of the federal government forcing you to house illegal immigrants in your home. and by the way we do and I shouldn't even say illegal immigrants

I hate that term but immigrants in your home this is actually happening right now would you want this in your backyard because it's cropping up in people's backyards all across the country and yeah the right can only deal in like hypothetical

scaremongering because the scary reality is the one that they're implementing and this sort of like notion like oh actually this is going to be good for these communities. No, it's not. You don't believe that. This is all because investors want to make a bunch of money having invested in these companies.

And it's such a disgusting view of what it is to do good in the world because it's like, you see so many people are like, oh, if I only invested in Google at the right time, I could be a millionaire. Like, millionaire on what? From doing nothing? From owning the right piece of shit at the right time?

This is a parasitical world order we've created with investor-led capitalism. We are going to cover some of Abdul al-Sayed's take-down of Jesse Waters and the fun half, but that was another excellent reframe he made during that debate where

he said billionaires make money off of their money, not off their labor. He said that in that interview. Simple. I mean, honestly, like Thomas Piquetti, his capital in the 21st century, it's basically the rough thing he figured out, which is like, if capital

returns to capital grow faster than the economy grows, and that means it's not going to wages. Well, then you're just growing a parasitical wealthy class and letting everything else that power society actually go underinvested in. That's exactly where we are. Exactly right. Matt, what's happening in the Matt Luckian Media universe?

Yeah, coming up, we'll just play a little clip here instead of me blathering on about it. Oh. Yeah. Here is, we have Beto O'Rourkean. He has a group called Powered by People, which is trying to do outreach to low-prepensity voters, I believe is the term they use. And we asked him about Zoran, about what Democrats need to do when they're actually governing, and also this question right here. Do you think that the Texas Democratic Party is big enough to still include politicians who take money from the pro-Israel lobby?

That's a great question. And you can get answered to that great question. Oh, wow. That's coming up right after the show today. You are a producer. Patreon.com, so I left reckoning. We do the Sunday show for folks. And we'll do one every Sunday.

All right. As a reminder, the show relies on your support. Join the majority report. com. If you can, you get access to the fun hack. You get to I.M. the show. Also, limited edition shirts.

I almost forgot. Shop.m. Majority ReportRadio.com. If we could pull that up really quickly. It's also some more foreshadowing to a Hakeem Jeffrey's segment we may do. Oh, exactly, right. Perhaps we'll plug it a second time in the segment.

It's so cool. Doing his front tracing videos. Gino, our social media conno just ended up doing this, took took initiative. That's your actual handwriting. This is my handwriting, yes, actually.

Did he take it from the video? I don't typically write in all caps, but yeah, he took it from the video. I did an impromptu little mockery of Hakeem Jeffries, and he turned it into a shirt. And what I love about it is that it's on the back, and the logo is on the front in the pocket. Like, I like that style.

And you can get it in the white, which is my personal favorite with that blue font. Everyone should come, every color should come with a matching Yankees hat. Right. Yeah, exactly. You really wanted to do it, Hakeem style. I don't know if even, that might be cooler than Hakeem's outfit. No, he has a way of making it like childlike.

Right. So what we should do to every listener, like if you order a shirt, we should ask your hat size and then give you one two sizes bigger than that. Exactly. So you look like the world's oldest eight-year-old boy. Yeah. For people who haven't seen this video of Hakeem Jeffries. Or any picture of Hakeem ever? This is what our version of Matt's teaser.

We'll kick off the fun half with Hakeem Jeffries' front-facing video, explaining why he met with Jared Kushner to discuss affordability or something. Sure. Sure. Both do you guys really care about that? Yes. And the criminal justice reform, meaning how can we sanction the ICC to make sure our buddy Netanyahu doesn't get... locked up or something like that.

We'll talk about that in the fun half. But yes, on shop.com, shoppedat majority report radio.com, those shirts are available. Get them while they're hot. Also, your show with Francesca. Oh, yes. Live show with Francesca.

Thank you very much. The 4th of October. Get those tickets down below. I'll be in Los Angeles. All right. See you in the fun half. Okay, Emma, please. Well, I just, I feel that my voice is sorely lacking in the majority report.

Wait, look, look, Sam is unpopular. I do deserve a vacation at Disney World. So, ladies and gentlemen, it is my pleasure to welcome Emma to the show. It is Thursday. Yeah, I think you need to take over for Sam. Yes, please, sir, I'm gonna, I'm gonna pause you right there. Wait, what? You can't encourage Emma to live like this.

And I'll tell you why. So it's offered a tour, sushi, and poker with the boys. Tour? Suci and poker with the boys. So it's offered a tour? Yeah. Sushi and... Twerp.

Sushi and poker. Tim's upset. Dwerp. Sushi and poker. I went through the boys. It was offered a... Dwerp. Sushi and...

That's what we call it. Diz. Dwerp. Sushi. And I think that what you did to Tim Poole was mean. Free speech. That's not what we're about here.

Look at how sad he's become now. You shouldn't even talk about it because I think you're responsible. I probably am in a certain way, but let's get to the meltdown here. Dwerp. Oh, sushi. Oh, my God.

Uh, twir? Wow. Sushi. I'm sorry, I'm losing my fucking mind. Someone's offered a twerk. Yeah. Sushi and poker with the boys. Logic.

Twerp. Sushi and boy, boy, a, boy, twir. I think I'm like a little kid. A little kid. A little kid. Add this debate seven thousand times. I understand.

So I'm not trying to be a dip right now, but like, I absolutely think the U.S. should be providing me with a wife and kids. That's not what we're talking about here. It's not a fun job. Twerk. That's a real thing. That's a real thing. That's a real thing.

That's a real thing. That's a real thing. That's a real thing. That's a real thing. That's a real thing. Offered it to work. What is going on. Live YouTube.

Sam has like the way of the world on the shoulders. Haugers. Sam doesn't want to do this show anymore. It was so much easier. One of the majority of report was just you. You were happy. Let's change the subject. Rangers and Nick's are doing great.

Now, shut up. Don't want people saying reckless things on your program. That's one of the first. most difficult parts about this show. This is a pro-killing podcast. I'm thinking maybe it's time we bury the hatchet. Left is best. Violet twir?

Emma is cock. We fund is real good. Are you against us? Incredible theme song. I bumbler. Emma Viglin, absolutely one of my favorite people. Actually, not just in the game, like, period.