Tonight, we discuss the recent Senate confirmations, including Pam Bondi and Tulsi Gabbard, and the changes happening in the political landscape. Joining me in the studio are my little guy, Charlie and my little girl, Beanie, adding a personal touch to our conversation.
We delve into the activities of USAID, exploring how taxpayer dollars are being utilized and the controversies surrounding this agency. I share insights from Elon Musk's recent Twitter space and discuss the implications of USAID's spending on international projects. We also touch on the reactions from political figures like Marco Rubio and Ilhan Omar regarding USAID's operations.
In addition to political updates, we discuss the importance of supporting the podcast through donations and how listeners can contribute to our value-for-value model. We also highlight the benefits of using modern podcast apps and the role of cryptocurrencies in supporting content creators.
We shift our focus to Texas, discussing Governor Abbott's proposal for property tax relief and the exciting developments in the Texas independence movement. The Texas Stock Exchange is set to launch in 2025, marking a significant step towards financial sovereignty for the state. We explore the global independence wave and how Texas fits into this larger movement.
Finally, we address the question of how an independent Texas would defend itself, emphasizing the state's readiness and strategic advantages. Join us as we navigate these complex topics and share our vision for a free and independent Texas.
For more information on the Texas Nationalist Movement: https://texitnow.org
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(00:01:06) Introduction and Senate Confirmations
(00:04:25) Understanding USAID and Its Controversies
(00:18:04) Breaking News and Political Updates
(00:41:00) Doge and FBI Developments
(01:03:43) Texas Independence and Local News
- Wayne Rankin
Armory One - Armory One provides Texas License to Carry certification and leverages over 30 years military and law enforcement experience in instructing students in the safe use of firearms. Armory One also offers numerous courses on self-defense with a handgun, active shooter preparedness, home defense, and much more. https://armoryone.com
https://www.joerooz.com/support
[00:00:03]
Unknown:
This podcast is hosted on Podhome.fm, an intelligent podcasting platform that you can use to host unlimited shows and episodes and have unlimited downloads. Pothome comes with many intelligent features like Pothome AI, which automatically creates transcripts, chapters, suggests titles, show notes, detects people, and creates clips. You can use Pothome AI unlimited for all your episodes and all your shows. Go check it out and start your free seven day trial at pothome.fm.
[00:00:41] Unknown:
Welcome to the podcast where every episode promises an unfiltered dive into the eclectic, the profound, and sometimes the absurd. No topic is off limits. Nothing is sacred, and political correctness takes a back seat.
[00:01:07] Unknown:
Hey, folks. This is Joe Rusciello, and we are live at the Asylum Studios and bringing you the best quality talk radio we can muster without all the bluster. Welcome to the podcast. Folks, it is great to be with you here tonight on this Monday evening. Now, I know we had a show earlier today, but, so many things have been taking place throughout the course of the day, and I just needed to get on and, just, drop a track here and let you know what's been taking shape. I don't know if you've been following today, but we have some senate confirmations that took place.
Pam Bondi was, confirmed. Tulsi Gabbard was confirmed. Well, at least a committee, and now they're going before the full senate for the confirmation vote. So that's great news. RFK Junior will be joining them. He passed through the finance committee. So a lot of, a lot of change going on there, and we're very happy about that. I hope you are too. I hope you are too. Joining me here in the studio tonight, we have, we have Noisy Charlie, and we have my little girl, Beanie, and she's sitting here right next to me. Actually, now she's now standing at my leg because she wants all of my attention when I'm here. And, but we have a show to do.
And that, that's Charlie there in the background letting me know that he's looking for attention also. But that's alright. We're here to, just talk about a couple of things. I only have a few a few little headlines that I wanna get to. But, very busy news day. It's a it's it's just been a whirlwind of activity from this White House, and it's been it's refreshing to actually see a president working for the American people. And I I don't think that you'll find any disagreement anywhere. I know you you kinda go through a lot of the social media posts you see, especially on x.
You see all these liberals melting down about, Elon Musk and and Doge and and, and and all the work that he's doing and, asking that question. I don't know about you, but I didn't vote for this. Well, you know what? I did. I did. And I'm happy with what I'm seeing. I'm I'm excited about it. Every day is something new. Today with with, USAID, and, and and and folks, I say that like that for a reason. Okay? Because it's because if you notice, a lot of the liberals when they talk about USAID, they're talking they they say USAID. Right? It's not aid. They want you to think that it is because they're playing on your emotions, they're playing on your feelings, they're playing on your your heartstrings, to to make you think that this is some kind of huge humanitarian, effort and project that's going on behalf of you and I, the taxpayer.
But that's not what it is. Alright? USAID is completely different. That's The US, agency for international development. It's completely it's nothing to do with aid. What this basically is is this is a subversive agency. This is part of the, of of, of the, intelligence complex, you know, because the CIA, the FBI, and the, national they're not supposed to be in the business of doing, the things that they do. So, so they funnel funds and and, and, capital through this organization, USAID, so that their their activities can be minimalized and and not as obvious on the surface.
So we're gonna go through a few things here with USAID in just a little bit. We're gonna talk about some of the things that that your tax dollars, that my tax dollars have gone to, and I'll bet you didn't know. And this is I'm only gonna give you a couple of them, and I'm not giving you all of it. I mean, Elon Musk has has been just been tearing through this thing. And, like like another radio host, has said repeatedly, and and I'm I'm taking it from him because, it it's it's extremely true, and and you probably know who he is if you if you listen at all. His name is Dan Bongino, and, and he basically says, you know, you you measure the effectiveness of what you're doing by the reaction from the left.
And as you could see, all of the people that are coming forward, all of the all of the left, and all all of the the, the rhinos that are protesting the things that DOGE is doing, especially with USAID, should give you an idea basically of exactly who they are and why because they have a vested interest in this thing working, because this organization has been funneling millions and billions of dollars through it, and it's been getting spread out all around. So we're gonna talk about that. We're gonna talk about a few other things, in the news here as we get through, today. Now, before we go any further though, I'm gonna ask you to do just a couple of quick things here for me. First of all, if you would, head over to our website, joerusiello.com.
And, when you get there, head over to our contact section, open up the web form, send us over a message, let us know whatever you're thinking about, whatever questions you have, any comments, concerns, cares you have. And then, you know, if you don't wanna use the web form, totally great with me. I don't really care. You could always email me directly at [email protected]. Also, if you would look for the support button on our homepage, and remember that this is a value for value podcast. And, all that means is that if you are receiving any value from what we're doing here, all I'm asking is that you return that value in the form of a donation. You gotta remember that the ads that you hear us run were not being paid for. We're doing those as courtesy and also little spillers, you know, just to give me a break.
We don't have any paid sponsors. We are totally dependent upon you, our listeners, to help keep this thing going. So what you can do to help us out here is you can make a one time donation in any amount that you feel appropriate based upon the value that you're receiving from us. You can donate your time. You can donate your talent. You can donate cryptos. We have a we have a link on our on our, support page for, donating the Satoshis, which is a micropayment of Bitcoin. If you feel comfortable doing that, go right ahead and do it. We would appreciate that. But if you set up a monthly recurring donation of $17.76, we're gonna give you the associate producer's credit. And that means that you get a shout out every show, and on every show, your name will be listed in the show notes as an associate producer.
Alright? But that's not all. If you set up a monthly recurring donation of $18.36, you'll receive a producer's credit. Alright? So you get yourself a promotion. And that means, of course, again, shout out every show, your name in the show notes every show, but you'll be listed as a producer of the show. And then, of course, we have for those of you who are daring and and, and, and courageous, you if you could do a monthly recurring donation of $25 or more, you get all of the perks of the other two. You get the shout out, on the show. You get the listing on the show notes, going forward, but you get the coveted executive producer credit.
Alright. Now we do that because through your donation, you are actually helping us produce the show. You are helping us get equipment. You are helping us, get onto some platforms. We just recently joined up with PodMatch. There is a subscription fee for that. So we are, so so your your donations help go to pay for things like that. So it's very, very important, and that's why we give you guys the associate producer, producer, and executive producer credit. Because your donations are helping us produce the show. Alright. So find a plan that fits you. If you can do a a recurring contribution, that's fantastic. If you can't, hey, a one time in any amount is helpful.
Any amount is helpful. We we received a donation, just a couple days ago, for $5. Hey. You know what? I appreciate that. Thank you so very much for that person sending over that $5 donation. Now because, privacy, we're not gonna mention that that person's name, but we will shout you out if you want us to. If not, we'll keep it at the, at the $17.76 and up. Yeah. We'll do the shout outs. Alright? Now folks, Armory one. Armory one is a is a business owned by a great friend of mine named Carl Killebrew. Carl is the owner proprietor of Armory One, which is, an organ a group that, provides Texas license to carry, certification and leverages over thirty years of military and law enforcement experience in the training of students, in training and instruction of students in the safe use of firearms. Now, Armory one also offers numerous courses on self defense with a handgun, active shooter preparedness, home defense, and much, much more. And right now, you get 50% off all of your armory one gift certificates, redeemable for private range time, training, or merchandise. Now Carl's been posting some pictures of some work he's been doing with individual students on his Facebook page. You could if you if you could find him, check him out.
It's a lot of fun. I've I've worked with Carl, doing classes. I've taken his class. I'd say I I got my my license to carry through his class. So it's, it's a lot of fun. You're gonna walk away from there really learning a lot. Carl is a wealth of information, and you you'll benefit from it greatly. So, just head over to armory1.com. That's armory1.com, and get more information about upcoming classes. And, also, be sure to mention that you heard it here on the podcast, and Omry one will donate any a portion of of any purchase that you make to the show, and that's a help to us. We really do appreciate that.
Alright, folks. Also, don't forget that the podcast is a registered affiliate with the alexjonesstore.com. Now if you haven't checked that out yet, you really should. Just head over to the alexjonesstore.com/joe and shop a catalog of high quality vitamins, supplements, and apparel. I I personally have been using the Ultimate Irish Sea Moss, which is fantastic. You guys really need to try that out and check that out. Irish Sea Moss is rich in iodine. It's something that your body needs. It it's loaded with other essential minerals that support thyroid function, boost your metabolism, aid detoxification. I mean, folks, this thing is is, is is just like a super a super food. It's it's a total super food.
The the, Irish sea moss contains bioactive compounds that enhance immune response, reduce inflammation, improve gut health. It also can't also has a burdock root, which is known for its antioxidant properties, liver support, and then also has bladder ac, which, helps balance your hormones, improves, you know, your skin health. Folks, this formula works. It works to cleanse, restore, and fortify your body. I've been taking it now for several months, and, you know, it it does take a little bit of time for you to start to really see the benefits of it, but I'm starting I'm seeing those benefits from it, folks. I mean, it's really good stuff. And another supplement that I've been taking has been the ultimate turmeric gummies.
These things are fantastic. They they look weird, but they taste great. They are loaded with potent turmeric extract with ginger and black pepper, and they just absolutely deliver unmatched, support for joint health, inflammation reduction, and just your overall well-being. They are non GMO. They are all gluten free. These gummies are delicious. I'm telling you. I'd say sometimes I just wanna pop them just to just, you know, because I like a piece of candy or something. They are really good. And they're crafted right here in The United States. Another one on them that I started taking recently is Optimal Human. Optimal Human.
I call it liquid grass. That's what it looks like. It's a it's a it's a liquid. It's a it's a green liquid, and it but you know something? You look at it, it may not look very appetizing, but folks, it is powerful. And it doesn't taste bad at all. It really doesn't. You mix it with about 10 ounces of water, and, you sip on that thing throughout the day. You you talk about an energy boost, all natural. It is absolutely delicious. You need to check it out. It's really, really great stuff. And if if if it wasn't good, if I didn't like it, and I didn't see a benefit from it, folks, I wouldn't tell you about it. So please try it out. Use my link. Go to the alexjonesstore.com/joe, or you can you can click on our the link on our website on a support page. You can scan the QR code and, you know, get yourself some of these supplements. Try them out. They are they are super good.
And, you know, you do that, you'll get yourself on your on the road to, to, to peak mobility, health, strength, energy. And then also the benefit to us is is that when you use that link, the alexjonesstore.com/joe, 10 percent of your purchase goes to this show, goes to the podcast. So try them out. Get involved. Help us keep the show going, growing, and improving. And I also wanna remind you too that we started uploading our show audio only, of course, right now, to our new Rumble channel. Just head over to rumble.com/ruse. Click on that follow button, like the videos that are up there right now, share them, help spread the word about what we're doing here. Folks, Rumble is the free speech platform to be on. You need to be on it. And I'll I'll be in full disclosure. I I am a premium member of Rumble, and I'm also a stockholder in Rumble. So, I wouldn't be involved in it if I didn't believe in the mission, and I wasn't thrilled and satisfied with the product that they're putting out. So if you want, if you wanna open up an account, just head over to rumble.com, open an account. It's absolutely free.
You can watch all the videos that you want, with with some ad breaks that that that are inserted just like, you know, YouTube. But if you want an ad free experience, you can sign up for Rumble premium. And, in some cases, you can get it for a little as little as $10 a month. Folks, Rumble is the free speech platform that you need to be on. So head over to Rumble, sign up today, follow the show, download the app, it's free, and you could follow along with all of your favorite content providers. Alright. Now, again, for us here with the podcast, we're hoping to start doing live video shows very, very soon. So if you, go over to the website, if you go over to rumble.com right now, and you you sign up, and you click that, you click that follow button, and you click that little notification bell, you'll get notified when our show start going live. So you can watch. You can you can jump on in. Alright? Now, folks, we're gonna take a little bit of a break here. And when we get back from this break, we're gonna get right into those headlines.
Folks, this is the podcast with Joe Rochelle. Don't forget to like, subscribe, and share the show, and we'll be back right after this. Stay with us.
[00:16:29] Unknown:
Do you blame all your problems on Trump? Do you have blue hair and a bunch of metal in your face? Do you not know what a woman is and confused about your gender? Good news. You have TDS, and it's a very treatable condition. Please take the time to find a mental health professional near you and prepare yourself for all the lives you've been told. When you finally recover, the rest of reality would love to welcome you back. Warning. Severe TDS can cause rampant Karen and Kevin outbursts. Being cuffed by your partner and brain damage from too much hair dye may also cause severe butthurt and nonsensical outbursts that make everyone around you know you're stupid.
[00:17:09] Unknown:
This podcast is hosted on PodHome.fm, an intelligent podcasting platform that you can use to host unlimited shows and episodes and have unlimited downloads. PodHome comes with many intelligent features like PodHome AI, which automatically creates transcripts, chapters, suggests titles, show notes, detects people, and creates clips. You can use PodHome AI unlimited for all your episodes and all your shows. Go check it out and start your free seven day trial at pothome.fm.
[00:18:04] Unknown:
Hey, folks. Welcome back to the podcast. Yeah. I don't know why I came here tonight. I had to kick the kids out of the room. They're making too much noise in the background there. So I'm pretty sure you heard it. But that's alright. They're kids. What are you gonna do? Right? Alright. Well, I also want to apologize, for the sniffles here. Still dealing with this, this cold that seemed to have, come creeping in from out of nowhere. And I've been struggling with it now for the last, oh, man, I don't know, two weeks or so. I get these, these crazy, crazy, crazy, coughing fits that I'm going through. It's it's just it's amazing.
I'm surprised I still have a lung left. So but, but, hey, folks. You you didn't listen into this, today just to to hear me talk about my health. But, let's see. What do we got going on here? Well, before we get to everything else, so we we had a couple of, you know, a couple of things pop up here, that were that's breaking, and so we're gonna take a look at that. We have, Pam Bondi, confirmed as attorney general, and that's that's great news. We are very, very excited about that. She was confirmed with a fifty four forty six vote, and, so, she is now the, the attorney general of The United States.
So, so far Donald Trump's had, you know, his big four, with, Marco Rubio as secretary defense I'm sorry, secretary of state, Pete Hegseth as sec defense, treasury sec secretary Scott Bennett. And we, we we're very excited to to have, Pam Bondi now as our new attorney general. And, what else we got going on here? So that's exciting. That's very exciting. And how about this over here at the at, according to the to the epic times? So we have, Tulsa Gabbard has been moved from committee to, for a full vote, And, we're we're excited about that, and RFK Junior as well is being moved over into a for a full vote. So, so moving along. We are moving along. Now, I don't know if you remember a couple of weeks ago.
Well, I shouldn't say a couple weeks ago. It's only been two weeks that, that president Trump's been office. But, they were talking about, but they sent out this email, asking federal workers, I think it was, like, 2,000,000 or something like to 2,500,000 federal workers. They offered them basically a buyout, and they were estimating between 510% of, the federal workforce would would take advantage of it. Well, as of today as of today, more than 20,000 federal workers have taken the buyout offer, in in before the February 6 deadline. Now, of course, nobody knows how many, employees are actually gonna ultimately take the offer, but that's good news. That is great news.
The, I keep on forgetting I gotta sign in with with this so I can see everything. And, of course, it's not auto loading my password. So, again, let me see if I can do this really quick. Sorry, folks. It's the problem of being a one man show. So let's see. Yeah. Alright. Well, we're gonna have to scratch that one because I can't get it to the article right now. But the the important part of it is is that 20,000, have already signed on for the buyout, which means that the federal workforce is now getting smaller. And we're excited about that. Very, very excited about that. But now earlier, I was I was talking about, USAID.
Right? And a couple days ago, Elon Musk had a, a Twitter space. And, one of the interesting things that came out of the Twitter space was that Joni Ernst, Senator Joni Ernst said that that she was getting she was she was frustrated with USAID because, basically, USAID wouldn't tell congress how it spent millions of dollars. According to the Federalist here, the US Agency for inter International Development made headlines in recent days for deliberately resisting president Donald Trump's attempts to purge the federal government of bureaucratic rot. Republican senator Joni Ernst disclosed in an x spaces forum with Doge head, Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy on Sunday that USAID issued all kinds of threats threats threats to the Republican and her office for her attempt to exercise my oversight capacity in Congress.
Ernst first pressed USAID on how it uses tax dollars to pay, the facilities and administrative costs outlined in the, negotiated indirect cost rate agreements in November 2022. The con constitution gives Congress the power to pursue the excuse me. Gives the Congress the power of the purse, which means that it is supreme authority over all federal taxpayer spending. USAID, despite being funded by Congress, refused to comply with Ernst's demands. When USAID finally responded in February 2023, the agency claimed it did not have a system to track or report on this data, and it is not possible to compare indirect costs between for profit and nonprofit organizations at the rate level.
Alright. So you got the idea. So a lot of stalling, a lot of, misdirection, a lot of shenanigans, with this this organization. Now came across this this article also in in the Federalist that, that I wanted to share with you. And, it lists basically 11 things that your tax dollars paid for thanks to USAID. Now I went through some of these things, and, some of it's really gonna infuriate you. Some of it you're gonna sit there, you're gonna scratch your head, you're gonna wonder how is this being allowed? How is this getting through? But, just a little background on USAID.
It's an agency that was established by, president Kennedy back in 1961. And, basically, it was, or originally, it was created to offer, foreign financial assistance and promoting sustainable, development. The thing is though is this organization now, it it's, has become, you know, basically has fallen into the worst impulses of the administrative state. The worst. Bureaucrats exploit it. They they they're taking the tack these tax dollars to drive international censorship, regime change, you know, things things along those lines. And even Donald Trump said, just on Sunday that it's been run by a bunch of radical lunatics, and we're getting them out. Now, representative Ilhan Omar from Minnesota, complained at a press conference of, congressional Democrats that USAID can no longer be leveraged to engage in overseas nation building. She said, quote, I am exceptionally upset about USAID.
She said, characterizing the agencies, the agency as America's, vehicle of soft power. Let's hear what she had to say. I am exceptionally upset about USAID. I lived in a refugee camp for four years as a child. I just want you to notice I'm gonna stop her for a second. I just want you to notice that that that, she's another one of the, these Democrats that refer to it as USAID. Again, like I said earlier, it's not aid. It's not it's not USAID. This is the agency for international development, and they do that to play on your heartstrings, to make you feel sympathetic, for for all of this, for all the change that's coming, for all the cutting that's coming.
That's the whole point behind it is is to play with your emotions, not the facts, your emotions.
[00:26:54] Unknown:
Ill surviving civil war. It is the essential programs that USAID provided that kept my family and I fit and safe. It is the resources that so many people around the world rely on, and it is our soft power. Oftentimes, people interact with our country through the military. That does not create love for us, and it certainly does not keep us safe. When the world when the world interacts with Americans through programs that provide essential need, they get to see the heart and compassion of the American people. That's right. Yes.
[00:27:44] Unknown:
Yes. Come on now.
[00:27:46] Unknown:
When someone is struggling because their bridge broke down, when USAID comes in and helps fix that bridge, that creates goodwill.
[00:28:02] Unknown:
We can't even fix our bridges here in this country. Yet, supposedly, the money that we're giving to USAID is going to build bridges and fix bridges in other countries. That that should that should upset you too. But that's not what it's going for. That's not what it's going for. As a matter of fact, Marco Rubio, said in an interview, with, Fox News that, the agency became full of of just insubordination, rank insubordination. He said, quote, they just think that they're a global entity and that their master is the globe and not The United States, and that's not sustainable. Listen to,
[00:28:39] Unknown:
secretary of state Rubio. Now the head of USAID. The head of Doge, Elon Musk, called USAID
[00:28:46] Unknown:
a criminal organization and added that it is time for it to die. Do you agree with that? They have basically evolved into an agency that believes that they're not even a US government agency. That they are out they are global charity, that they take the taxpayer money and they spend it as a global charity, irrespective of whether it is in the national interest or not in the national interest. One of the most common complaints you will get if you go to embassies around the world from state department officials and ambassadors and the like is USAID is not only not cooperative, they undermine the work that we're doing in that country. They are supporting programs that upset the host government for whom we're trying to work with on a broader scale and so forth. So they're completely unresponsive. They just don't consider that they work for The US. They just think they're a global entity and that their master is the globe and not The United States. And that's not what the statute says, and that's not sustainable. Can it be reformed or does it need to die? Well, that was always the goal was to reform it. But now we have rank insubordination.
Now we have basically an active effort to where their basic attitude is, we don't work for anyone. We work for ourselves. No agency of government can tell us what to do. So the president made me the acting administrator. I've delegated that power to someone who's there full time, and we're gonna go through the same process at USAID as we're going through now at the state department. I think there are some this is not about getting rid of foreign aid. There are things that we do through US USAID that we should continue to do. That makes sense. And we'll have to decide, is that better through the state department or is that better through something, you know, a reformed USAID? That's the process we're working through. There are things that are happening at USAID that we should not be involved in funding that and or that we have a lot of questions about, but they're completely uncooperative. So we had no choice but to take dramatic steps to bring this thing under control. Do you think that we'll
[00:30:29] Unknown:
So, and I gotta give, secretary of state Rubio, a lot of kudos because, you know, he has come a long way. He he truly has. He he really has. And, it's great to watch him right now in this role. I think this role is perfect for him. I think he's doing a fantastic job. But, but Rubio told reporters on on on his, first trip to Latin America, that that he's now the acting director of USAID, after employees and congressional Democrats were locked out for the headquarters this week. He said, quote, there are a lot of functions of USAID that are that are going to continue, that are gonna be part of it of American policy, but it has to be aligned with American foreign policy, Rubio said in El Salvador.
Alright. Now, I wanna go through just a couple of these, these things here that that, your tax dollars, my tax dollars have gone to pay for. Last week, the Daily Mail actually reported, on a on on a bunch of programs that's that were supported by USAID, which are now gonna lose funding after after, president Trump's executive orders basically sealed, the spigot of The US taxpayer dollar flowing into DEI projects abroad. Some of the things that you and I were paying for that, I'm not sure that you probably know, maybe you don't know. $70,000 for a DEI musical in Ireland, Forty Seven Thousand Dollars for a transgender opera in Colombia, Thirty Two Thousand Dollars for a transgender comic book in Peru, and, 1,500,000.0 for an LGBT jobs program in Serbia.
In in September, USAID delivered $2,000,000 to Guatemalan activists to, quote, help organizations led by transsexuals perform sex changes in the country. And the program is scheduled to begin in April and run to until 02/1927. Also, according to the Daily Mail, last week, USAID, awarded $2,500,000 for electric vehicles for for Vietnam under president Biden. Alright? So electric vehicles in Vietnam. Then you have let's see. You have $6,000,000 grant to promote infrastructure in Northern Egypt. You have a, a hundred and $10,000 USAID grant issued to a group allegedly linked to terrorism.
Alright. And that was to, a Michigan based charity that lawmakers have worn shares ties to terrorists including Pakistan's, can't pronounce that, Fala Fala, a INSEAD Foundation. And then in 02/2023, in February, USAID dished out another $78,000 to the same charity for a program running until until September, according to the federal spending records. Alright? Then you have, meals for terrorists. Mohammed al Hafyan ran, the Syrian division of the nongovernmental organization and skimmed as much as $10,000,000 worth of meals paid for by the US Agency for International Development. The meals are supposed to go to Syrian refugees.
Never got there. But mister Hafian Hafian, allowed members of the Al Nasr front, the, Al Qaeda linked terrorist organization to come and collect the food. Then you had, you had $4,670,000 grant in late two thousand twenty one to, the, EcoHealth Alliance. Alright? Now this is this is interesting because, let's see. The EcoHealth Alliance, the US Agency for International Development gave EcoHealth Alliance a $4,670,000 grant in late two thousand twenty one despite serious unanswered questions about EcoHealth's funding of bat virus research at the Chinese lab.
EcoHealth has been granted millions of dollars by the National Institutes of Health, but ran to compliance problems prior to unrelated the unrelated, award from USAID. So basically, they they they were giving, they were giving money to this organization, almost $5,000,000, that was researching, this this this these bat coronaviruses at the research lab, the Chinese lab suspected to be the origin of COVID nineteen. Your tax dollars, my tax dollars went to pay for this, and they're fighting to protect this. Then you have personalized contraception. Alright?
Personalized contraception. Where's the dollar amount on this one? Researchers at the at the University of Texas at Austin were awarded a grant from USAID, to engineer personalized contraception in 02/2022. Scientists were given taxpayer money to create custom additive manufactured birth control devices, using an in house developed three d printing technology. A team at Farm e three d are honing a means of producing personalized alternatives to commercial intrauterine devices. Your tax dollars. According to Breitbart, two thousand eighteen, USAID spent $330,000,000.
3 hundred 30 million dollars to support alternative development projects that were intended to deter the the production of opium, between, 02/2005, '2 thousand '8. The inspector general for Afghanistan re reconstruction, however, John Sopko, said the development programs were inadvertently supported or supporting poppy production. Alright. So $330,000,000 given to Afghanistan to produce opium. And then you have Mike Benz, former state department official, who, by the way, gave two great interviews today that I saw. Fantastic. He's a former state department official. He's now the executive director of the Foundation for Freedom online.
He posted a screenshot on his x account of a 2,014 story from the Washington Post, on how USAID literally set up fake AIDS prevention workshops to topple foreign governments. According to the post, undercover central and South Americans hired by the US government opened an HIV prevention group to recruit potential rebels for an insurrection in Cuba. And this is from this is from his, his, his ex post. You should go over there. Mike Benz Cyber. USAID literally set up fake aids prevention workshops to topple foreign governments. Beginning as early as October 2009, a project overseen by the US Agency for Internal International Development sent Venezuelan, Costa Rican, and Peruvian young people to Cuba in hopes of ginning up rebellion. The travelers worked undercover, often posing as tourists, and traveled around the island scouting for people that could turn into political activists. In one case, the workers formed an HIV prevention workshop that memos called the perfect excuse for the program's political goals, a gambit that could undermine America's efforts to improve health globally.
Interesting. Your tax dollars, my tax dollars. In another post to x last weekend, Ben's asked why USAID is funding censorship projects in London. Censorship prop in London. You're gonna love this one. The Center for Information Resilience characterizes itself as an independent organization dedicated to exposing human rights violations and threats to democracy, but also employed former censorship czar in the Biden administration, Nina Jankowicz, between 02/2022 and 02/2524 to alter I'm so sorry, to malign foreign disinformation. According to the group's website, the Center for Information Resilience has received funding from USAID and the US State Department.
So, Mike Benz asked the question, why is USAID funding Nina Jankewitz Internet censorship project in London. So your tax dollars were being spent in London, in England, Great Britain, for censorship. Then you have, the the according to the funding page for the British Broadcasting Corporation, the BBC international charity, BBC Media Action American taxpayers made up roughly a fifth of the organization's top 10 donor receipts in 02/2023 and 02/2024 through USAID. BBC Media Action says it works to provide impartial, impactful, trustworthy media to people in need so that they can make informed choices to transform their lives. BBC calls BBC Media Action the network's international charity arm funded by, quote, voluntary contributions, including more than 3,000,000 from USAID.
So why are we funding BBC, which is literally a state funded media? So those are just a few. Just a few of the of the things that your money, your my money has been going to through this organization, USAID. And you have Democrats protesting outside USAID, basically, you know, an insurrection because then they storm the building, but nothing's gonna come of that. But this is your tax dollars, my tax dollars at work. Billions and billions of dollars over time, of course, getting funneled out through this organization. And and and don't you think for just a moment that the reason why you see these Jamie Raskin and and Elon Omar and Chuck Schumer and and, you know, and and all of these Democrats defending this, trying to stop this, doesn't it make you think that maybe some of that money is getting funneled to them?
Like Dan Bongino says, you measure the effectiveness of what you are doing by the reaction from the left. If they're freaking out, there's something there. If they're not freaking out, they don't have any interest in it. There's nothing there that's gonna directly affect them. Alright. Now, moving on with Doge News. So, Doge officials spotted, guess where, at FBI headquarters at at FBI headquarters after 5,000 employees named in the January 6 witch hunt. On Tuesday, on Tuesday, CNN reported the FBI turned over more than 5,000 employees' information to the justice department adding from anonymous people familiar with the situation that, officials, dispatched that more than I'm sorry. But more that more than 5,000 employees, details were submitted including employee ID numbers, job titles, and their role in the January 6 investigation, sources said, but not their names.
There are more than 13,000 agents and 3,800, total FBI employees. Doge officials tasked with tackling the government, tackling government fraud, waste, and abuse were presumably collecting the employees' information after Trump signaled the purge of numerous bureau employees last week requesting the resignation or termination of top senior officials in several cities, including Miami, Philadelphia, Washington, New Orleans, and Las Vegas, in addition to firing the heads of 20 FBI field offices. News that, news that, news that Doge has had shut had shown up at FBI headquarters was celebrated on x after the agency was credited with shuttering The US agency for international development.
Alright. So, here's, Benny Johnson tweeted, you know, breaking DOS officials in the spot at FBI headquarters. That was today at 02:00. And then, Ian Yeager posted, just in, Doge employees arrived at, FBI headquarters via CNN. Doge officials spotted FBI headquarters, and it it goes on and on and on. The shakeup sent shock waves throughout the intelligence community with acting FBI director Brian Driscoll, who was recently appointed by Trump to head the agency while Cash Patel undergoes a nomination process in the crosshairs after he initially refused to turn over documents to Doge.
He said, we understand that this request encompasses thousands of employees across the country who have supported these investigative efforts, Driscoll said in an email to the DOJ, adding, I am one of those employees. Then you have a former, FBI director Andrew McCabe also told CNN this week that the agency was in utter disarray and employees were in terror due to the Trump purge. Let's take a listen. It's totally unprecedented.
[00:44:48] Unknown:
FBI rank and file agents and analysts who make up the vast majority of the field offices, who do the work in of investigating these cases, of executing search warrants, of executing arrest warrants, doing, surveillance, electronic surveillance, whatever might be, those people are never touched by the political winds that blow through every four years, nor should they be. They as you said, they don't pick their work. They're assigned to the work that they do. The work they do is lawful. It's it's, within FBI policies, and not doing the work is not really an option for them. Right? They come to the FBI. The most of them come intending to stay for the entirety of their careers, twenty years or more, twenty years on the agent side, a little bit more for the support side.
And so to be targeted in this way for termination potentially or retribution simply for doing their jobs on a major national security case is is incomprehensible to them or anybody that knows the organization. I've talked to more FBI people in the last four days than I did in the prior four years. As John has described it accurately, it is a place in utter disarray right now. People are worried about, how am I going to pay the bills? How am I gonna support my family if I lose? You know, if you're anywhere in the middle of that career, not close to retirement, if you get fired, you're done. That's the end of your reputation, your ability to get a new job.
You lose your pay. You lose your chance at a pension. You lose your health insurance. This is a moment of terror for these people. It is absolutely disgraceful that they are being put through this in the middle of some political gamesmanship or active retribution. They don't deserve to be treated this way. It's unlawful,
[00:46:34] Unknown:
and it's disgusting. In terms of it Alright. Well, you know what? All this tells me is when you see the reaction of of of these of these people, these, these deep state operatives, these these these people that weaponized the justice department against political opponent opponents, when you see them acting this way and and so angry, so upset, fuming over president Trump, all that tells me is that he's over the target. He's over the target. And continuing on with with Doge updates here, we have, from Woke Spy. We have, this piece that says, in less than two weeks, Doge saves over $1,000,000,000 by canceling over 100 DEI contracts.
Less than two weeks into Trump's second presidency, Elon Musk led Department of Government Efficiency, DOGE, has slashed over $1,000,000,000 canceling over 100 diversity, equity, inclusion contracts, and, Musk had promised to cut at least 2,000,000,000,000 of the 6,700,000,000,000.0 federal budget. Now here's just a a a short example of, some of the things that have been cut out. Department of Agriculture, contract cancellations, a hundred and had 11. CFPP, two. Department of Commerce, six, Department of Defense, one, Department of Energy, one. For a total of you go down the list, treasury, state, labor, homeland security, health and human services, energy, education, defense, park service, treasury, pension, railroad retirement, small business association, Social Security, all the way down, you have a hundred and four contracts canceled.
Hundred four contracts canceled, saving over, let's see, 1,259,365,178. So over three quarters of the recent savings were realized by canceling DEI contracts in three depart in just three departments. Personnel management was the most impacted with, that they slashed, 494,009 I'm sorry. 494,956,223. Doge also saved, 228,000,000 from the United States Agency for International Development, the USAID, and, a hundred 10,000,000 from the Department of Agriculture. The lease savings came from the from the GSA, Federal Acquisition Service, which had a spending ceiling of, $15,001.68, and, only the administrative cost there was saved. Treasury had 21 DEI contracts canceled amounting to to to a little over 25,000,000, followed by Department of Health, 15 contracts over 28,000,000.
Agriculture, had 11 contracts, canceled. So, they they've been just working their way through these lists, working their way through these lists. And, you know, besides the other potential savings that could be realized by the funding planned parenthood, which received nearly $7,700,000,000 through government health service reimbursements and grants. Alright? We also had 784,000,000 in taxpayer dollars for a new US embassy in South Sudan. Why? And then, Elon Musk actually posted, posted a, a video of, Milton Friedman.
[00:50:25] Unknown:
Alright. Let's just check that out. 14 is a lot for television, so I wanna just go right down the list quickly. It's from November. Thumbs up or thumbs down. Keep them or abolish them. Department of Agriculture. By abolish. Gone. Department of Commerce. Abolish. Gone. Department of Defense. Keep. Keep it. Department of Education. Abolish. Gone. Energy. Abolish. How Except that energy ties in with the military. Well then we shove it under defense. A little bit that handles the nuclear Right. That ought to go under Plutonium and so forth goes under defense but we abolish the rest of it. Health and Human Services?
[00:51:01] Unknown:
There is some there are there is room for some public health activities to prevent, contagion. Such a thing as for example. So you'd keep the National Institutes of Health say and No. No. No. No. No. The National Institute of Health. Those are mostly research agencies. No no. That's a question of whether the government should be involved in financing research. And the answer is no. Well that's a complicated that's a very complicated issue and it's not an easy answer with respect to that. We'll eliminate half of the Department of Health and Human Services. Okay. One half. There we go. Housing and Urban Development? Bound. Oh. Didn't even pause over that one. Department of the Interior. Oh. Well, but the Housing and Urban Development has done an enormous amount of harm.
My God. If you think of the way in which they've destroyed parts of cities under the rubric of eliminating slums, Jack Kent you know, you remember Martin Anderson wrote a book on the federal bulldozer describing the effect of the urban development. There have been many more dwelling units torn down in the in the name of public housing that have been built.
[00:52:10] Unknown:
Jack Kemp has proposed selling to the current inhabitants of public housing their unit, their townhouse, their apartment.
[00:52:19] Unknown:
We're not gonna play the whole thing. It's it's almost a five minute clip, but that was about two minutes of it. Elon Musk posted this back in February. This is obviously, an older video, but, you get the idea. Cut. Cut. Cut. Cut. Remember, folks, the the the constitution only gives the federal government 13 enumerated powers. That's it. Just 13. All these departments, all these agencies that were created that came along just wrecked the American government. Wrecked it. But now we have an opportunity to get rid of it. We have an opportunity to clean slate. We have an opportunity to, to to unburden ourselves from what has been.
Alright. Let's, what do you say we check-in with, with our borders are, Tom Homan? So I I don't know if you've been following this one, but, Tom Homan. I'm sorry. Not Tom Homan, but, the, the governor of new of New Jersey, Phil Murphy, on TV made a a very, stupid stupid comment, in in on an interview that that he was doing on, on TV. And, basically, he he he basically admitted that that himself and New Jersey's first lady were were harboring an illegal alien. And it really it was just a stupid, stupid attempt at defiance. You know?
Basically, basically, he said that, you know, he he suggested that, this undocumented individual was beyond the reach of US immigration and customs enforcement, and, he made this confession. He was talking to a left wing organization called the blue called Blue Wave New Jersey. And, basically, he said that, he said, Tammy and I were talking about and I don't wanna get into too much detail, but there is someone in our broader universe whose immigration status is not yet at the point that they're trying to get it to. And he's and then he he said, and, and we said, meaning him and his wife, you know what? Let's have her live in our house at above our garage, and good luck to the feds coming in to try to get her.
Now, Holman Tom Holman, the border czar, has warned Americans, including politicians like Chicago's Mayor and, and others against harboring illegal aliens, which is a federal crime under title eight of The US code thirteen twenty four, three. So, he also told the not very smart, quote, unquote, Boston Mayor, Michelle Wu, to, quote, get the hell out of the way after she vowed not to cooperate with Trump's deportations. But Murphy, basically, you know, he's basically up the stakes here by by, you know, of course, being the most most, ranking politician to confess to harboring illegals, despite the warnings.
And, Tom Hulman went on to say that I think the governor's pretty foolish. He goes, I got note of it. Won't let it go. We'll look into it, and he continued. Let's let's hear what he had to say for himself.
[00:55:29] Unknown:
Let me read a headline to you. Chicago Leaders encourage residents to exercise their rights in resisting Trump's deportation policies. The governor of New Jersey, Phil Murphy, basically admitted that he knew somebody that didn't have full documentation, that he was hiding over his garage.
[00:55:47] Unknown:
But there's someone in our broader universe whose immigration status is not yet at the point that they are trying to get it to. And we said, you know what? Let's have her live at our house above our garage, and and good luck to the feds coming in to to try to get her. Your comment on all of that?
[00:56:10] Unknown:
I think the government's pretty, foolish saying what he said because I got a note of it. Won't let it go. We'll look into it. And if he's knowingly knowingly harboring, concealing an illegal alien, that's a violation of title eight United States code thirteen twenty four. I will seek prosecution or the secretary will seek prosecution. So maybe he's bluffing. If he's not, we'll deal with that. And as far as soon as sanctuary cities, well, get in line because the Trump administration is going to do that already. Sanctuary cities are sanctuary for criminals.
There's one example. Right? If the the the young sanctuary cities in New York City, If they would have gave us over the the the killer of Lake and Riley when he got arrested in New York City for endangering a child, he would have been in jail. They would never killed Lake and Riley. Sanctuary cities are responsible for deaths of thousands thousands of of of young children throughout my career. And we're going soon. We're going home. And look, if he's got to go to Supreme Court, that's what president Trump wanted to do. He will end sanctuary cities.
[00:57:09] Unknown:
You know, there was a 2011, government accountability office study found 3,000,000 criminal
[00:57:16] Unknown:
Alright. So basically, so so Homan, basically disclosed that the Trump administration is planning on suing sanctuary cities for harboring illegal aliens, who are to who are responsible for killing thousands of children. He also noted that, illegal immigrant killer of Lake And Riley was comfortably living in New York City sanctuary beyond the reach of the feds despite facing child endangerment charges. Jose Antonio Ibarra also had, active arrest warrant, an active arrest warrant after skipping out of court hearings, that had to do with, theft at, or alleged theft in of a Walmart in Athens, Georgia.
You know, governor mercy governor Murphy should learn from Denver Mayor Mike Johnson who quickly, retracted a statement that he was willing to go to jail for fighting Trump's deportations. Homa said me and me and, the Denver Mayor agree on one thing. He's willing to go to jail, I'm willing to put him there.
[00:58:11] Unknown:
Tom, you you heard the you heard this mayor out there in in, Colorado. I wanna get your reaction to it, and I want you to be clear about who has jurisdiction, the federal government or state and local governments. And if you're a sanctuary state or city, are you breaking the law?
[00:58:30] Unknown:
Yeah. Absolutely breaking law. All you have to do look at Arizona versus US. You'll see this breaking law. But look, me and the Denver Mayor, we agree on one thing. He's willing to go to jail. I'm willing to put him in jail because there there's a statue. It's it's title eight nine United States code thirteen twenty four, triple I. And what it says is, it's a felony if you knowingly harbor and conceal illegal alien from, immigration authorities. There's also a failing to impede a federal law enforcement officer. So if we don't have help, that's fine. He can get the hell out of the way. But we're gonna go do the job. President Trump has a mandate for American people. We gotta secure this country. We we gotta save American lives. And I I find it shocking that any mayor of a city would say, president, trust me clear. We wanna concentrate on public safety threats and national security threats. I find it hard to believe that any mayor or governor would say they don't want public safety threats removed from their neighborhoods. I mean, I mean, I don't know what the hell is going on in Denver, but we're gonna go and we're gonna fix it. If you don't wanna fix if you don't wanna protect his communities, president Trump and ICE will.
[00:59:28] Unknown:
So bay so if governor if governor Murphy's bluffing, you know, you know, maybe maybe he'll get some street cred. I don't know, you know, being the tough guy who challenged Coleman without risking freedom, which is probably what he's doing. But, to be honest with you, you know, the idea of of of of seeing a a Democratic governor, in jail over illegal immigration would be pretty neat, to be honest with you. And I think most Americans would love to see that too. Now, Tom Homan also appeared on an ABC news, interview, and he warned that anybody in the country illegally was not exempt from deport from deportation.
[01:00:22] Unknown:
One of the very first appointments Donald Trump made after winning the election in November was tapping one man to be what he calls his borders arm. Tom Homan is a former border patrol agent and acting director of ICE with decades of experience in Republican and Democratic administrations. I sat down with him this week and began our conversation by asking him about the role of the US military.
[01:00:47] Unknown:
We have military on the border, not only helping us with departure flights on military planes, but they're helping to build infrastructure. They're putting them in Constantino where they're down there to create a a secure border and and and lock that border down. And and DOD's helped administrations before, but not at this level. So it's a force multiplier, and it's and it's it's it's sending a strong signal to the world our borders closed. So is this what we will see every single
[01:01:12] Unknown:
day ending in what the president has promised is millions and millions being deported?
[01:01:17] Unknown:
Yes. But you're gonna see the numbers steadily increase, the number of arrests nationwide as we open up the aperture. Right now, it's concentrating public safety threats, national security threats. That's a smaller population. So we're gonna do this on priority base as president Trump promised, but as that aperture opens, there'll be more arrests nationwide. When when you when you talk about the aperture opening, I the estimates of perhaps those who have been convicted or arrested in the past 700,000
[01:01:43] Unknown:
to over a million. So after you do that, then you go after everybody who is there illegally.
[01:01:52] Unknown:
If you're in a country illegally, you're on the table because it's not okay to, you know, violate laws of this country. You gotta remember, every time you enter this country illegally, you violated a crime under title eight, United States code thirteen twenty five. It's a crime. So if you're in a country legally, you got a problem. And that's why I'm hoping those who are in the country illegally who have not been ordered removed by the federal judge should leave. Well, you are emphasizing that you go after national security threats.
[01:02:18] Unknown:
You have said no one's off the table. If you're in the country illegally, you better be looking over your shoulder. You should be afraid and start packing now. Is that what you're doing to get hotel workers out or people in working on farms, that they'll be so scared
[01:02:35] Unknown:
they just leave? Look, yeah, I I think if you're in the country illegally, it's not okay. It's not okay to violate laws of this country. We have millions of people standing in line, taking the test, doing their background investigation, paying the fees that wanna come in the right way. Let let's talk about the arrest so far. Numbers released of
[01:02:55] Unknown:
So, I'm I'm gonna stop it there, because it's it's a ten minute clip, and I'm not gonna play the whole ten minutes. It's way too much. But, but you get the idea of of what we're talking about here. Now, just the look in her face as Martha here as as she's asking these questions, the look of disbelief in in what she's hearing, it's priceless. It's priceless. And, of course, as you see, they all they all go right to the, well, who's gonna clean and who's gonna pick the fruit and the vegetables and all that stuff. Well, there are legal people that are here that to do those things.
Alright? And, and and I I I I am totally, completely looking forward to seeing more deportations. And, and I just think that I think they're doing a fabulous job, and we wanna see more of it. Alright, folks. Well, let's do this. Let's take a let's take a quick break here. And when we come back, we're gonna get into some, some local stuff, and there's some Texas news and updates. We're gonna get into, and some Texit, some Texas nationalist movement stuff, and we'll answer our, Texit fact of the, of the day. Alright, folks. This is the podcast. Don't forget to like, subscribe, and share it with your friends, your family, and your followers. We'll see you right after this break. Stay with us.
[01:04:13] Unknown:
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[01:04:49] Unknown:
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[01:05:40] Unknown:
Hey, folks. Welcome back to the podcast. This is Joe Rusciello, and the song is appropriate for our, men and women of ICE, customs and border patrol, law enforcement, our military, heroes, every one of them. Alright. Just the the just the speed of everything going on right now and with, with president Trump's, second term here is just unbelievable. I mean, this guy is in his seventies, and he sleeps, like, four hours and constantly on the move. But it is incredibly satisfying to see a president actually working on behalf of the American people unapologetically. I mean, just just I I know I said we're gonna talk some some, some Texas news and get to our text Texit, segments. But just to back up for one second on on on this. I mean, just think about this.
Within hours of imposing tariffs on Canada and Mexico and China, Canada and Mexico capitulated and are working out deals. China might might take a little bit longer, but, eventually, they're gonna come around too. Working on behalf of the American people, working on behalf of The United States, and not serving self interest. Folks, there there are great things coming in this administration, and they're gonna be long term. And I am so excited to be seeing this and and and knowing that the man that I voted to put in office is doing what I've asked him to do with my vote.
I love it. It's great. But I will say this, all good, but still leaving. Texas is going to happen. Texas standing among the nations on its own is going to happen. I'm hoping that it's gonna happen in my lifetime. I'm hoping that it's gonna happen within the next maybe before this administration comes to an end. But it's gonna happen. And it's exciting. It's exciting to be a part of it, and we're gonna get into the Texas stuff in just a few minutes. But, but I wanted to go over some some local stuff here in Texas. This I and there there's a ton. You know? You you go to, texasscorecard.com.
You could find out a lot of information about what's going on here in Texas. But, one thing that really stands out to me is, you know, Texas, of course, is is doing phenomenal. Just last Sunday, this past Sunday, governor Abbott, at his state of the state address, announced that he wants to he wants, 10,000,000,000 in property tax relief this coming session. And, basically, you know, the the which is which is, $44,000,000,000 more than what the the house the Texas house and senate were originally promoting. They they wanted to do 6,000,000,000 in relief. So, but but during the state of the state, on Sunday, Abbott called for at least 10,000,000,000 of the state's $23,760,000,000 surplus to go toward tax rate compression for school district maintenance operation taxes, declaring an emergency item.
Tax compression is if if you don't know, is basically, the the intentional act of lowering the tax rate by buying it down. And, basically, it's it's, it's it's it's implemented in Texas by utilizing state revenue generated from sales tax funds. Abbott also called for, the exemption for taxes imposed on business personal prop business personal property, which includes items, accessories, office supplies, vehicles, inventory used to generate income. As it is, a business owner can exempt per business personal property taxes on property with a taxable value of less than, $2,500.
Before 02/2022, the exemption was 500, but, governor Abbott wants to raise it to a hundred thousand. He he also stressed in his state of the state, the need to end local government's use of loopholes to raise property taxes, calling for raising the threshold for voter approved tax increases from a, simple majority to a foods to a two thirds super majority. And while Abbott's calling for the, 10,000,000,000 in tax relief, the the preliminary house and senate budget proposal only allocate around 6,000,000,000 of the state surplus for relief, albeit in different ways. The senate proposal focuses on, the homestead exemption, which is the amount of money a homeowner can deduct from the value of his or her house before it is taxed.
The current baseline exemption is a hundred thousand dollars for and this and the senate proposal would raise it to a hundred and $40,000. Alright. I'm not gonna go through the entire article here with you because, I'm I'm I'm gonna say this. I appreciate the effort of of, tax relief on property taxes, but it's not enough. Property taxes need to be abolished. Property taxes need to go. You have a a family that that had spent thirty years paying off a mortgage, and yet the house can still be taken from them if they fail to pay property taxes. Quest, do they still own the property?
Is it really their property, or are they just basically renting it from the state government? Property taxes need to go. Plain and simple. Property taxes need to be abolished. I appreciate the tax relief. I am a homeowner. I I do I would I do appreciate the property tax relief. Absolutely. Completely appreciate that. Would love to see a check sent back to me for the property taxes that I paid. I'd I'd love that. But this is a start, and let's let's take it further, and let's end property taxes altogether. Let's get rid of it.
Just get rid of it. It's an added burden. You have a again, you have a let's say it and and, an elderly couple that has spent their whole life paying for their home. They finally own it. They're collecting, social security. They're collecting a small pension, whatever it might be. And I know I'm playing on the emotional. I I know that, and I and I'm not generally one that does that. I don't believe that always works, but the truth of the this is a true matter of fact. You're still on the hook for the property taxes, and property taxes have gone up and up and up and up. And what about that fixed income person who can't afford their property taxes anymore?
And they end up losing their property that they've spent a lifetime paying for. Property taxes are immoral. Property taxes need to be abolished, and that's my 2¢ on it. Alright. Let me know what you think, though. Drop me an email, comment. I would appreciate that. You can drop me an email at [email protected]. Info at joe russello dot com. Alright. So, how about some Texit news? Something that we're looking at here, the Texas Stock Exchange. Did you know about that? The Texas Stock Exchange sets 02/2025 launch date. This comes to us from the Texas Nationalist Movement.
The Texas Stock Exchange, TXS TXSE, has announced its official launch timeline with initial trading operations beginning in late two thousand and twenty five and full exchange services starting in early two thousand twenty six. It'll be based in Downtown Dallas, and the Texas Stock Exchange represents a significant development in Texas' financial infrastructure. Now what's the significance of it? It ex it carries a much deeper implication beyond its role as a financial marketplace. When examining the relationship between Texas and the federal system, one consistent challenge has been the concentration of financial power in federally controlled institutions. The New York Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq operating under federal oversight represent this centralization of economic authority in New York and Washington.
The TXSE offers the first real alternative to this federal dominance of financial markets by providing Texas businesses a path to raise capital through Texas based systems. It reduces dependence on the federal financial infrastructure. This independence aligns with the fundamental principle that Texans should control Texas institutions. Let me say that again. Texans should control Texas institutions. Financial sovereignty has historically been a key indicator of a people's ability to self govern. The creation of the Texas Stock Exchange demonstrates that Texas possesses both the technical expertise and the institutional capacity to manage sophisticated financial operations.
This practical evidence counters common objections about Texas's readiness for greater autonomy. You know, the development of the Texas Exchange is, just another demonstration about how Texas can build infrastructure without federal involvement. It's just like, an example is a Texas power grid. The Texas power grid is not connected to the rest of the of this of the country. It offers better solutions for Texas. It works better for Texas, and it alt and it it it ultimately is better for Texas. That's why you have people like AOC screeching about the federal government forcing Texas to become part of the national grid.
No. No. Now the Texas Nationalist Movement is gonna continue to monitor this exchange and its development and what the implications for the Texas economy, is and and the sovereignty of the Texas economy. So, folks, this is huge. This is big. This is very big. Well, I I felt like Donald Trump did. This is very big. This is very big. I don't do I don't do a very good Donald Trump impression, so I don't I'm I'm I'm not I'm gonna stay away from it, as much as I can. But I'm working on it. I'm I'm working on it. So keep keep your eye on this, folks, especially if you're here in Texas. Keep an eye on this, Texas stock exchange.
Two thousand twenty five launch. It's it's this is this is big. This is huge. Something that that it it it to me, it just it just it's just laying more groundwork for Texas independence. You know, we had governor Abbott, you know, reaching out to, overseas, having, I forget what they call them, but, like like, basically, like, memorandums of understanding or something to that effect. I'll correct myself, and I'll let you guys know what it's actually called later on. But, but I I think you understand what I'm saying. These these, you know, basically, agreements that, you know, not not so much for show, but but just a just a demonstration.
And it's it that that's that's huge. It's important that that Texas is doing that. The fact that Texas took over the border control situation, under the previous administration and is now receiving help from the federal government and and and keeping it closed. The fact that Texas asserted its authority over its own borders is huge. The fact that you have people running basically to sign up with the net with the Texas National Guard, young folks doing that. I I I know someone whose daughter, recently, enlisted with the Texas National Guard. The Texas National Guard now being able to, arrest and detain illegals.
Texas is taking steps, and more steps, and more steps to separate itself from the federal system. And that's exciting, and I'm I'm I'm glad to be a part of it. Let's see. Also here from the T and M global independence wave and why Texas matters more than ever. Alright? So heard a lot in the news lately about Greenland, and and, Donald Trump, you know, sending over his his secretary of state to, to Greenland to talk to the folks over there about this. And, you know, it's interesting. It it it is. It's it's very interesting, idea.
I can understand it to a to a to a degree. But is is it a reality? Maybe. I don't know. I don't know. But, Greenland's push for independence from Denmark offers particularly relevant insights for us, though, here in Texas. Currently, Greenland's parm parliament is establishing a commission to define parameters for an independence referendum. And, I do believe that, that might be taking place already. If it not has not, I'll report back to you on that one. This article is dated February 2, so, I will I will get back to you on that for sure. But I do believe that they voted on it already. So, Greenland's Parliament is establishing a commission to define parameters for an independence referendum, which must occur before April 2025.
And recent polling shows that 64% of Greenlanders consider independence fairly important, though concerns about economic viability have kept support for immediate independence around 38. Now like Texas, Greenland possesses possess significant natural resources that that can sustain us an independent nation. They have a a very strategic location. They have mineral wealth, that, of course, you know, gets a lot of attention not only from from, from The United States, but from China as well. And basically, you know, this this this kind of mirrors text position as an as an energy powerhouse with, with with with strategic importance for North America.
But Greenland's movement also highlights a crucial difference that strengthens Texas position. Greenland has to develop, its resources before achieving true independence. See, Texas already has fully developed diverse economy, ranking, tenth globally in, you know, the the just think about that. This state of Texas is tenth in the world in economic power. What about Scotland? Scotland, continues to push for independence after Brexit. Provides another another example for us. You know, despite winning 48% of their 2014 referendum, the Scottish independence movement has gained strength rather than fading away.
Brexit fundamentally altered Scotland's relationship with The UK, leading to increased support for independence, particularly among EU supporters from 44 to two in 02/2016 to 57 by late twenty twenty. In 02/2022, the the UK Supreme Court ruled that Scotland couldn't hold a referendum without London's consent. And, of course, that that that basically is you know, that's the same thing that you get here in, you know, when it comes to Texas independence. But the ruling really, it really strengthens the case for independence by exposing the the fundamental contradiction and claiming to be a democracy while denying populations the right to vote on self government.
Now, you know, one of the one of the arguments that you get from people when you talk about Texas is, you know, they say, well, you can't do it. It's impossible. You can't, you know, you you know, how are you gonna defend yourself? How are you gonna do this? You can't do this. You can't do that. But yet, you look around the world, you you look at all these countries that are smaller than the state of Texas, population wise, land mass size, militarily, you look at and yet that's okay. Those countries can exist. They can take care of themselves. But if if Texas says that we wanna leave, all of a sudden, it's impossible. You can't. You'll never make it. You'll you won't survive, so on and so forth. Right? But what about California? California has a Calxit movement.
It has a lot of parallels to Texas. And they're actually, they have a a new initiative, for signature gathering requiring only fifth 546,651 signatures by July 2024. I would hate to see California secede before Texas. We've been at it longer, I think. But you see the thing is though California's vision of independence kinda differs, from Texas. They, what they're looking for is they're looking to centralize power while Texas looks to decentralize it. Collects it, basically highlights facts about state independence. California's economy ranks fifth globally ahead of India and The United Kingdom. I bet you didn't know that.
And, again, just like the argument against Texas against Texas leaving, it really it it it absolutely really it actual absolutely tears apart the argument that American states are too integrated to function independently. Wipes it out. California. What did I say? Fifth? Texas, tenth? And you're telling me that that that these that that the two states, which rank higher than larger, more well established, nations, countries in the world can't manage on their own, That's not the vision that our founding generation had. Our founding generation envisioned independent countries, independent states. That's what a state is. A state is a country or a nation.
That's why we call the state of Israel, the state of Great Britain, you know, the state of Texas. It it's a it's a country in and of itself, And these independent countries formed a union much like the European Union or vice versa. Actually, European Union kinda copied what the American Union is. And the this union of states is only supposed to come together for mutual defense and and common trade. That's really it. But over time, over the two hundred and forty plus years of the existence of the American Union, more and more power was ceded to the central government, the general government, the federal government.
In your public school systems, you're not taught anymore what federalism really is. The focus is on a centralized power, a central government. And that's what we need to get back to, decentralized government. We need to get back to the understanding that that these 50 states that that make up the American Union are independent countries that are fully capable of of leaving the union anytime they want. Just like Greenland can vote themselves to join the American Union or Canada can vote itself to join the American Union, voluntarily.
So if you can voluntarily join the union, you voluntarily can leave. And we addressed that last, yesterday's show, when we talked about, you know, is is leaving the union constitutional. So if you missed that one, go back and check it out. Alright. But I'm on a I'm on a soapbox right now, so let me let me get back to this here. We'll wrap up this article here. Then you have Alberta and Quebec. You know, north of our border, Canada provides a real time example of how federal systems failed diverse regions. Alberta's passage of the sovereignty within United Canada Act allows the province to resist federal laws deemed harmful harmful to Alberta's interests, particularly in areas like natural resources, gun control, health care, and education. Meanwhile, Quebec's sovereignty movement has gained renewed momentum with the block, yeah, that potentially forming the official opposition in February federal election. Quebec's movement demonstrates how distinct cultural identity and economic interests can persist despite centuries of political union. And of course, there's more. You know, you know, other than these higher profile examples, independence movements are gaining traction all around the world. California's push for independence, I'm sorry, Catalonia's push for independence from Spain, draws millions of supporters, Flanders, growing separation from Belgium, how the heart of the European Union isn't even a move isn't even immune to independence sentiment.
These movements share common drivers, economic disparities, between, the regions, cultural disparities, responses to centralized authority, natural resources, demographic shifts. The success of independence movements typically depend on several key factors working in concert, economic viability, constitutional frameworks, geo geopolitical circumstances, and when you measure against these criteria, Texas' position is stronger than any current independence movement. Texas maintains the ninth largest economy I'm sorry. The tenth largest economy globally, leads in energy production, has diverse industrial base, independent power grid, multiple international ports, the state's existing constitution and governmental institutions provide a a a framework already in place for self government.
And it's independent legal system and state military forces have have offered that crucial infrastructure for independence. And the things that have taken place over the last administration have only strengthened Texas' position. The federal government's debt has has $36,000,000,000,000. That's there's no stability in that. Immigration policy failed immigration policies, the challenges we're facing here at the border. Albeit right now under the current administration, it has eased up quite a bit, but that's still when the administration leaves, what's gonna happen next? Texas is inevitable.
It's going to happen, and Texas will once again stand among the nations. Alright. I'm gonna skip this one article here that I had, and, I wanna get into and maybe we'll cover this another time, maybe tomorrow. But, I wanted to get into our Texit fact of the of the, of the day, and that is, how will an independent Texas defend itself? Now now, folks, all of these, Texit facts that I'm giving you, you can find them on, the, texitnow.org. You could find it on, the tandm.org as well, or tandm.me. Sorry. You could find all this information all there for you. You could read it at your leisure. But I wanna bring these points out because when we talk to folks about Texas, this is these are the questions that come up regularly. Alright. So how will an independent Texas defend itself? Texas has always shown a belief in strong national defense with a focus on threats to the safety and security of Texans at home. An independent Texas has little in the way of conventional national security concerns. The threat of a combined land, air, and sea invasion is really nonexistent.
But, again, threats do exist. There's a threat of cartels and violence spilling over the border with Mexico, as well as a threat of international terrorists using the same border to execute attacks on civilian targets within Texas. Then the of course, there are always threats that could that could upset international stability. And, you know, while these things are often met with the combined military might of the Western world, an independent Texas would be ready and willing to do his part. Now the bulk of Texas national defense will be concentrated in three key areas. Alright? Strengthening the border against national security risks, defense against attack from international state actors, and supporting military actions of allies that are congruent with our strategic objectives.
Use if you if you if we use the NATO target, average of 2% of GDP for military and defense spending, we would provide approximately $32,700,000,000 annually, making Texas the eleventh in the world in defense spending. You know, funding at at that level would cover the cost of recruiting, training, equipping, maintaining, and active duty enlistment in excess of a 25,000 troops, which would be in line with the number of Texans currently serving in the United States military in all branches. That's, like, 40%. It's 40% of the of the current, 40% of the current US military are Texans.
It would also provide a level of funding to, to overtime increasing our inventory of of military vehicles, including naval vessels, fighters, support aircraft, armored vehicles. And, you know, building on on on the current military infrastructure in the Texas military department, which, you probably didn't know that existed. The Texas military department, Texas will will grow the components of the TMD into a world class military force capable of addressing any threat to the safety and security of Texas posed by any who would do us any harm.
Now folks, another question that comes up, in in relation to this is, well, what about military installations and bases? Folks, the federal government doesn't own the property, doesn't own the military installations. They lease those from the state of Texas. Those belong to us. So when the US military would be leaving again, these are post post texted questions, I understand. But when the military leaves, when the US military finally leaves Texas, those installations are still there. They're ours. And they'll be used by the Texas military department. So everything is there. Everything is ready.
This is gonna happen, and I hope you're on board with it. You know, what you can do to help, there are o there are almost 700,000 Texas Texans who support the Texas nationalist movement, and support Texas as an independent nation. You can join that yourself. Just head over to texitnow.org, and you could sign up as a as a supporter. You could sign up as a member. You can make a donation. You can head over on our website, joeruciello.com/tandm, and you could scan the QR codes that are on there and register your support, become a member, or donate. We would greatly appreciate that.
Alright. Let's see. What else we got here for you today? And I I do hope that you found that information helpful. I I I really do. And, we're gonna try to wrap this up soon. I didn't realize it's been this long. We're way over our time, way over our time. But, we don't have any birthdays that we're gonna shout out today. Just wanna say thank you though to our executive producer, Wayne Rankin. Thank you so much, sir, for your your, your your, working with us as an executive producer and your recurring monthly donation. We do appreciate that. Also, I wanna say thank you and give a shout out to, Dave Brunette for his $25 dot, donation, just the other day. Thank you so much for that, David. We really do appreciate that. Also, we wanna say thank you to all the folks streaming SATS to us on the modern podcast two point o apps. Well, what the hell is a modern podcast two point o app? I'm glad you asked. There are so many of them out there that you can check yourself you could check out for yourself. Just head over to modernpodcastapps.com or podcastindex.org, and you will see a list a list of modern podcast apps like fountain.fm, truefans.fm, podcastguru, pod verse, pro cast.
There are so many out there, folks. You could easily, Caster is one. Curio Caster actually is a Texas based one. You should check them out. They have a great little platform, really nice to use. So there are ways to get them. Just head to modernpodcastapps.com and podcastindex.org. The great thing about these these, modern podcast apps is that if you, you know, if you are into, cryptos, cryptocurrencies, during the during the course of listening to the show, you could you could send us boosts, you can send us boostograms, you could you could, send us support through, cryptocurrency, through Satoshis, which is, a micro a micro payment of Bitcoin. You could do all of that through those modern podcast apps. So check them out. My favorite right now is I I've been using Podcast Guru pretty steadily for the last few months. Great app. The user interface is beautiful. I love it. I also love Fountain.
Fountain's great because, as you the more you use it, as you use it, you could actually earn Satoshis that you could later use to boost and, and share with your favorite podcast like this one. So check them out. Check them out. Modernpodcastapps.com, podcast index Org. We would really, really appreciate that. Also, folks, if you are interested in helping us out with some bumpers or, maybe you, maybe you're interested in in doing a lot doing a read for us, maybe you can read a script for us. If you have that type of, skill or talent that you wanna help us out, just, shoot me an email at [email protected]. That's [email protected].
And if it's something that we could use, we will definitely produce it and get it mixed into our breaks. Alright. And also, again, folks, like I said earlier, if you wanna get involved with shaping the future of a free and independent Texas, head over to our website, joerusiello.com/tandm. Scan the QR codes, register your support, become a member, or make a donation. You could also visit, t, textitnow.org, and you can do the same right there. Also, while you're on our website, open up the web form, look for, and send us over any questions or comments you might have, any suggestions, that that you might have about future guests, and we'll look into all of those things, and we'll get back to you, with those questions with the answers to the questions that you might send us over. We'll do that as a segment on the show at some point. Alright. Also, help us out by clicking that support button and make a donation.
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Alright, folks. I think that should just about do it for us for tonight. So don't forget, to like, subscribe, and share it with your friends, your family, and your followers. Alright? And thank you again for taking the time to be with us. Folks, let's make Texas independent again. Go podcasting. Keep a steady stride. We'll see you next time, folks. Happy trails. Thanks for listening. Well, that's about it, really. The film ends mainly visually.
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[00:00:41] Unknown:
Welcome to the podcast where every episode promises an unfiltered dive into the eclectic, the profound, and sometimes the absurd. No topic is off limits. Nothing is sacred, and political correctness takes a back seat.
[00:01:07] Unknown:
Hey, folks. This is Joe Rusciello, and we are live at the Asylum Studios and bringing you the best quality talk radio we can muster without all the bluster. Welcome to the podcast. Folks, it is great to be with you here tonight on this Monday evening. Now, I know we had a show earlier today, but, so many things have been taking place throughout the course of the day, and I just needed to get on and, just, drop a track here and let you know what's been taking shape. I don't know if you've been following today, but we have some senate confirmations that took place.
Pam Bondi was, confirmed. Tulsi Gabbard was confirmed. Well, at least a committee, and now they're going before the full senate for the confirmation vote. So that's great news. RFK Junior will be joining them. He passed through the finance committee. So a lot of, a lot of change going on there, and we're very happy about that. I hope you are too. I hope you are too. Joining me here in the studio tonight, we have, we have Noisy Charlie, and we have my little girl, Beanie, and she's sitting here right next to me. Actually, now she's now standing at my leg because she wants all of my attention when I'm here. And, but we have a show to do.
And that, that's Charlie there in the background letting me know that he's looking for attention also. But that's alright. We're here to, just talk about a couple of things. I only have a few a few little headlines that I wanna get to. But, very busy news day. It's a it's it's just been a whirlwind of activity from this White House, and it's been it's refreshing to actually see a president working for the American people. And I I don't think that you'll find any disagreement anywhere. I know you you kinda go through a lot of the social media posts you see, especially on x.
You see all these liberals melting down about, Elon Musk and and Doge and and, and and all the work that he's doing and, asking that question. I don't know about you, but I didn't vote for this. Well, you know what? I did. I did. And I'm happy with what I'm seeing. I'm I'm excited about it. Every day is something new. Today with with, USAID, and, and and and folks, I say that like that for a reason. Okay? Because it's because if you notice, a lot of the liberals when they talk about USAID, they're talking they they say USAID. Right? It's not aid. They want you to think that it is because they're playing on your emotions, they're playing on your feelings, they're playing on your your heartstrings, to to make you think that this is some kind of huge humanitarian, effort and project that's going on behalf of you and I, the taxpayer.
But that's not what it is. Alright? USAID is completely different. That's The US, agency for international development. It's completely it's nothing to do with aid. What this basically is is this is a subversive agency. This is part of the, of of, of the, intelligence complex, you know, because the CIA, the FBI, and the, national they're not supposed to be in the business of doing, the things that they do. So, so they funnel funds and and, and, capital through this organization, USAID, so that their their activities can be minimalized and and not as obvious on the surface.
So we're gonna go through a few things here with USAID in just a little bit. We're gonna talk about some of the things that that your tax dollars, that my tax dollars have gone to, and I'll bet you didn't know. And this is I'm only gonna give you a couple of them, and I'm not giving you all of it. I mean, Elon Musk has has been just been tearing through this thing. And, like like another radio host, has said repeatedly, and and I'm I'm taking it from him because, it it's it's extremely true, and and you probably know who he is if you if you listen at all. His name is Dan Bongino, and, and he basically says, you know, you you measure the effectiveness of what you're doing by the reaction from the left.
And as you could see, all of the people that are coming forward, all of the all of the left, and all all of the the, the rhinos that are protesting the things that DOGE is doing, especially with USAID, should give you an idea basically of exactly who they are and why because they have a vested interest in this thing working, because this organization has been funneling millions and billions of dollars through it, and it's been getting spread out all around. So we're gonna talk about that. We're gonna talk about a few other things, in the news here as we get through, today. Now, before we go any further though, I'm gonna ask you to do just a couple of quick things here for me. First of all, if you would, head over to our website, joerusiello.com.
And, when you get there, head over to our contact section, open up the web form, send us over a message, let us know whatever you're thinking about, whatever questions you have, any comments, concerns, cares you have. And then, you know, if you don't wanna use the web form, totally great with me. I don't really care. You could always email me directly at [email protected]. Also, if you would look for the support button on our homepage, and remember that this is a value for value podcast. And, all that means is that if you are receiving any value from what we're doing here, all I'm asking is that you return that value in the form of a donation. You gotta remember that the ads that you hear us run were not being paid for. We're doing those as courtesy and also little spillers, you know, just to give me a break.
We don't have any paid sponsors. We are totally dependent upon you, our listeners, to help keep this thing going. So what you can do to help us out here is you can make a one time donation in any amount that you feel appropriate based upon the value that you're receiving from us. You can donate your time. You can donate your talent. You can donate cryptos. We have a we have a link on our on our, support page for, donating the Satoshis, which is a micropayment of Bitcoin. If you feel comfortable doing that, go right ahead and do it. We would appreciate that. But if you set up a monthly recurring donation of $17.76, we're gonna give you the associate producer's credit. And that means that you get a shout out every show, and on every show, your name will be listed in the show notes as an associate producer.
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Any amount is helpful. We we received a donation, just a couple days ago, for $5. Hey. You know what? I appreciate that. Thank you so very much for that person sending over that $5 donation. Now because, privacy, we're not gonna mention that that person's name, but we will shout you out if you want us to. If not, we'll keep it at the, at the $17.76 and up. Yeah. We'll do the shout outs. Alright? Now folks, Armory one. Armory one is a is a business owned by a great friend of mine named Carl Killebrew. Carl is the owner proprietor of Armory One, which is, an organ a group that, provides Texas license to carry, certification and leverages over thirty years of military and law enforcement experience in the training of students, in training and instruction of students in the safe use of firearms. Now, Armory one also offers numerous courses on self defense with a handgun, active shooter preparedness, home defense, and much, much more. And right now, you get 50% off all of your armory one gift certificates, redeemable for private range time, training, or merchandise. Now Carl's been posting some pictures of some work he's been doing with individual students on his Facebook page. You could if you if you could find him, check him out.
It's a lot of fun. I've I've worked with Carl, doing classes. I've taken his class. I'd say I I got my my license to carry through his class. So it's, it's a lot of fun. You're gonna walk away from there really learning a lot. Carl is a wealth of information, and you you'll benefit from it greatly. So, just head over to armory1.com. That's armory1.com, and get more information about upcoming classes. And, also, be sure to mention that you heard it here on the podcast, and Omry one will donate any a portion of of any purchase that you make to the show, and that's a help to us. We really do appreciate that.
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These things are fantastic. They they look weird, but they taste great. They are loaded with potent turmeric extract with ginger and black pepper, and they just absolutely deliver unmatched, support for joint health, inflammation reduction, and just your overall well-being. They are non GMO. They are all gluten free. These gummies are delicious. I'm telling you. I'd say sometimes I just wanna pop them just to just, you know, because I like a piece of candy or something. They are really good. And they're crafted right here in The United States. Another one on them that I started taking recently is Optimal Human. Optimal Human.
I call it liquid grass. That's what it looks like. It's a it's a it's a liquid. It's a it's a green liquid, and it but you know something? You look at it, it may not look very appetizing, but folks, it is powerful. And it doesn't taste bad at all. It really doesn't. You mix it with about 10 ounces of water, and, you sip on that thing throughout the day. You you talk about an energy boost, all natural. It is absolutely delicious. You need to check it out. It's really, really great stuff. And if if if it wasn't good, if I didn't like it, and I didn't see a benefit from it, folks, I wouldn't tell you about it. So please try it out. Use my link. Go to the alexjonesstore.com/joe, or you can you can click on our the link on our website on a support page. You can scan the QR code and, you know, get yourself some of these supplements. Try them out. They are they are super good.
And, you know, you do that, you'll get yourself on your on the road to, to, to peak mobility, health, strength, energy. And then also the benefit to us is is that when you use that link, the alexjonesstore.com/joe, 10 percent of your purchase goes to this show, goes to the podcast. So try them out. Get involved. Help us keep the show going, growing, and improving. And I also wanna remind you too that we started uploading our show audio only, of course, right now, to our new Rumble channel. Just head over to rumble.com/ruse. Click on that follow button, like the videos that are up there right now, share them, help spread the word about what we're doing here. Folks, Rumble is the free speech platform to be on. You need to be on it. And I'll I'll be in full disclosure. I I am a premium member of Rumble, and I'm also a stockholder in Rumble. So, I wouldn't be involved in it if I didn't believe in the mission, and I wasn't thrilled and satisfied with the product that they're putting out. So if you want, if you wanna open up an account, just head over to rumble.com, open an account. It's absolutely free.
You can watch all the videos that you want, with with some ad breaks that that that are inserted just like, you know, YouTube. But if you want an ad free experience, you can sign up for Rumble premium. And, in some cases, you can get it for a little as little as $10 a month. Folks, Rumble is the free speech platform that you need to be on. So head over to Rumble, sign up today, follow the show, download the app, it's free, and you could follow along with all of your favorite content providers. Alright. Now, again, for us here with the podcast, we're hoping to start doing live video shows very, very soon. So if you, go over to the website, if you go over to rumble.com right now, and you you sign up, and you click that, you click that follow button, and you click that little notification bell, you'll get notified when our show start going live. So you can watch. You can you can jump on in. Alright? Now, folks, we're gonna take a little bit of a break here. And when we get back from this break, we're gonna get right into those headlines.
Folks, this is the podcast with Joe Rochelle. Don't forget to like, subscribe, and share the show, and we'll be back right after this. Stay with us.
[00:16:29] Unknown:
Do you blame all your problems on Trump? Do you have blue hair and a bunch of metal in your face? Do you not know what a woman is and confused about your gender? Good news. You have TDS, and it's a very treatable condition. Please take the time to find a mental health professional near you and prepare yourself for all the lives you've been told. When you finally recover, the rest of reality would love to welcome you back. Warning. Severe TDS can cause rampant Karen and Kevin outbursts. Being cuffed by your partner and brain damage from too much hair dye may also cause severe butthurt and nonsensical outbursts that make everyone around you know you're stupid.
[00:17:09] Unknown:
This podcast is hosted on PodHome.fm, an intelligent podcasting platform that you can use to host unlimited shows and episodes and have unlimited downloads. PodHome comes with many intelligent features like PodHome AI, which automatically creates transcripts, chapters, suggests titles, show notes, detects people, and creates clips. You can use PodHome AI unlimited for all your episodes and all your shows. Go check it out and start your free seven day trial at pothome.fm.
[00:18:04] Unknown:
Hey, folks. Welcome back to the podcast. Yeah. I don't know why I came here tonight. I had to kick the kids out of the room. They're making too much noise in the background there. So I'm pretty sure you heard it. But that's alright. They're kids. What are you gonna do? Right? Alright. Well, I also want to apologize, for the sniffles here. Still dealing with this, this cold that seemed to have, come creeping in from out of nowhere. And I've been struggling with it now for the last, oh, man, I don't know, two weeks or so. I get these, these crazy, crazy, crazy, coughing fits that I'm going through. It's it's just it's amazing.
I'm surprised I still have a lung left. So but, but, hey, folks. You you didn't listen into this, today just to to hear me talk about my health. But, let's see. What do we got going on here? Well, before we get to everything else, so we we had a couple of, you know, a couple of things pop up here, that were that's breaking, and so we're gonna take a look at that. We have, Pam Bondi, confirmed as attorney general, and that's that's great news. We are very, very excited about that. She was confirmed with a fifty four forty six vote, and, so, she is now the, the attorney general of The United States.
So, so far Donald Trump's had, you know, his big four, with, Marco Rubio as secretary defense I'm sorry, secretary of state, Pete Hegseth as sec defense, treasury sec secretary Scott Bennett. And we, we we're very excited to to have, Pam Bondi now as our new attorney general. And, what else we got going on here? So that's exciting. That's very exciting. And how about this over here at the at, according to the to the epic times? So we have, Tulsa Gabbard has been moved from committee to, for a full vote, And, we're we're excited about that, and RFK Junior as well is being moved over into a for a full vote. So, so moving along. We are moving along. Now, I don't know if you remember a couple of weeks ago.
Well, I shouldn't say a couple weeks ago. It's only been two weeks that, that president Trump's been office. But, they were talking about, but they sent out this email, asking federal workers, I think it was, like, 2,000,000 or something like to 2,500,000 federal workers. They offered them basically a buyout, and they were estimating between 510% of, the federal workforce would would take advantage of it. Well, as of today as of today, more than 20,000 federal workers have taken the buyout offer, in in before the February 6 deadline. Now, of course, nobody knows how many, employees are actually gonna ultimately take the offer, but that's good news. That is great news.
The, I keep on forgetting I gotta sign in with with this so I can see everything. And, of course, it's not auto loading my password. So, again, let me see if I can do this really quick. Sorry, folks. It's the problem of being a one man show. So let's see. Yeah. Alright. Well, we're gonna have to scratch that one because I can't get it to the article right now. But the the important part of it is is that 20,000, have already signed on for the buyout, which means that the federal workforce is now getting smaller. And we're excited about that. Very, very excited about that. But now earlier, I was I was talking about, USAID.
Right? And a couple days ago, Elon Musk had a, a Twitter space. And, one of the interesting things that came out of the Twitter space was that Joni Ernst, Senator Joni Ernst said that that she was getting she was she was frustrated with USAID because, basically, USAID wouldn't tell congress how it spent millions of dollars. According to the Federalist here, the US Agency for inter International Development made headlines in recent days for deliberately resisting president Donald Trump's attempts to purge the federal government of bureaucratic rot. Republican senator Joni Ernst disclosed in an x spaces forum with Doge head, Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy on Sunday that USAID issued all kinds of threats threats threats to the Republican and her office for her attempt to exercise my oversight capacity in Congress.
Ernst first pressed USAID on how it uses tax dollars to pay, the facilities and administrative costs outlined in the, negotiated indirect cost rate agreements in November 2022. The con constitution gives Congress the power to pursue the excuse me. Gives the Congress the power of the purse, which means that it is supreme authority over all federal taxpayer spending. USAID, despite being funded by Congress, refused to comply with Ernst's demands. When USAID finally responded in February 2023, the agency claimed it did not have a system to track or report on this data, and it is not possible to compare indirect costs between for profit and nonprofit organizations at the rate level.
Alright. So you got the idea. So a lot of stalling, a lot of, misdirection, a lot of shenanigans, with this this organization. Now came across this this article also in in the Federalist that, that I wanted to share with you. And, it lists basically 11 things that your tax dollars paid for thanks to USAID. Now I went through some of these things, and, some of it's really gonna infuriate you. Some of it you're gonna sit there, you're gonna scratch your head, you're gonna wonder how is this being allowed? How is this getting through? But, just a little background on USAID.
It's an agency that was established by, president Kennedy back in 1961. And, basically, it was, or originally, it was created to offer, foreign financial assistance and promoting sustainable, development. The thing is though is this organization now, it it's, has become, you know, basically has fallen into the worst impulses of the administrative state. The worst. Bureaucrats exploit it. They they they're taking the tack these tax dollars to drive international censorship, regime change, you know, things things along those lines. And even Donald Trump said, just on Sunday that it's been run by a bunch of radical lunatics, and we're getting them out. Now, representative Ilhan Omar from Minnesota, complained at a press conference of, congressional Democrats that USAID can no longer be leveraged to engage in overseas nation building. She said, quote, I am exceptionally upset about USAID.
She said, characterizing the agencies, the agency as America's, vehicle of soft power. Let's hear what she had to say. I am exceptionally upset about USAID. I lived in a refugee camp for four years as a child. I just want you to notice I'm gonna stop her for a second. I just want you to notice that that that, she's another one of the, these Democrats that refer to it as USAID. Again, like I said earlier, it's not aid. It's not it's not USAID. This is the agency for international development, and they do that to play on your heartstrings, to make you feel sympathetic, for for all of this, for all the change that's coming, for all the cutting that's coming.
That's the whole point behind it is is to play with your emotions, not the facts, your emotions.
[00:26:54] Unknown:
Ill surviving civil war. It is the essential programs that USAID provided that kept my family and I fit and safe. It is the resources that so many people around the world rely on, and it is our soft power. Oftentimes, people interact with our country through the military. That does not create love for us, and it certainly does not keep us safe. When the world when the world interacts with Americans through programs that provide essential need, they get to see the heart and compassion of the American people. That's right. Yes.
[00:27:44] Unknown:
Yes. Come on now.
[00:27:46] Unknown:
When someone is struggling because their bridge broke down, when USAID comes in and helps fix that bridge, that creates goodwill.
[00:28:02] Unknown:
We can't even fix our bridges here in this country. Yet, supposedly, the money that we're giving to USAID is going to build bridges and fix bridges in other countries. That that should that should upset you too. But that's not what it's going for. That's not what it's going for. As a matter of fact, Marco Rubio, said in an interview, with, Fox News that, the agency became full of of just insubordination, rank insubordination. He said, quote, they just think that they're a global entity and that their master is the globe and not The United States, and that's not sustainable. Listen to,
[00:28:39] Unknown:
secretary of state Rubio. Now the head of USAID. The head of Doge, Elon Musk, called USAID
[00:28:46] Unknown:
a criminal organization and added that it is time for it to die. Do you agree with that? They have basically evolved into an agency that believes that they're not even a US government agency. That they are out they are global charity, that they take the taxpayer money and they spend it as a global charity, irrespective of whether it is in the national interest or not in the national interest. One of the most common complaints you will get if you go to embassies around the world from state department officials and ambassadors and the like is USAID is not only not cooperative, they undermine the work that we're doing in that country. They are supporting programs that upset the host government for whom we're trying to work with on a broader scale and so forth. So they're completely unresponsive. They just don't consider that they work for The US. They just think they're a global entity and that their master is the globe and not The United States. And that's not what the statute says, and that's not sustainable. Can it be reformed or does it need to die? Well, that was always the goal was to reform it. But now we have rank insubordination.
Now we have basically an active effort to where their basic attitude is, we don't work for anyone. We work for ourselves. No agency of government can tell us what to do. So the president made me the acting administrator. I've delegated that power to someone who's there full time, and we're gonna go through the same process at USAID as we're going through now at the state department. I think there are some this is not about getting rid of foreign aid. There are things that we do through US USAID that we should continue to do. That makes sense. And we'll have to decide, is that better through the state department or is that better through something, you know, a reformed USAID? That's the process we're working through. There are things that are happening at USAID that we should not be involved in funding that and or that we have a lot of questions about, but they're completely uncooperative. So we had no choice but to take dramatic steps to bring this thing under control. Do you think that we'll
[00:30:29] Unknown:
So, and I gotta give, secretary of state Rubio, a lot of kudos because, you know, he has come a long way. He he truly has. He he really has. And, it's great to watch him right now in this role. I think this role is perfect for him. I think he's doing a fantastic job. But, but Rubio told reporters on on on his, first trip to Latin America, that that he's now the acting director of USAID, after employees and congressional Democrats were locked out for the headquarters this week. He said, quote, there are a lot of functions of USAID that are that are going to continue, that are gonna be part of it of American policy, but it has to be aligned with American foreign policy, Rubio said in El Salvador.
Alright. Now, I wanna go through just a couple of these, these things here that that, your tax dollars, my tax dollars have gone to pay for. Last week, the Daily Mail actually reported, on a on on a bunch of programs that's that were supported by USAID, which are now gonna lose funding after after, president Trump's executive orders basically sealed, the spigot of The US taxpayer dollar flowing into DEI projects abroad. Some of the things that you and I were paying for that, I'm not sure that you probably know, maybe you don't know. $70,000 for a DEI musical in Ireland, Forty Seven Thousand Dollars for a transgender opera in Colombia, Thirty Two Thousand Dollars for a transgender comic book in Peru, and, 1,500,000.0 for an LGBT jobs program in Serbia.
In in September, USAID delivered $2,000,000 to Guatemalan activists to, quote, help organizations led by transsexuals perform sex changes in the country. And the program is scheduled to begin in April and run to until 02/1927. Also, according to the Daily Mail, last week, USAID, awarded $2,500,000 for electric vehicles for for Vietnam under president Biden. Alright? So electric vehicles in Vietnam. Then you have let's see. You have $6,000,000 grant to promote infrastructure in Northern Egypt. You have a, a hundred and $10,000 USAID grant issued to a group allegedly linked to terrorism.
Alright. And that was to, a Michigan based charity that lawmakers have worn shares ties to terrorists including Pakistan's, can't pronounce that, Fala Fala, a INSEAD Foundation. And then in 02/2023, in February, USAID dished out another $78,000 to the same charity for a program running until until September, according to the federal spending records. Alright? Then you have, meals for terrorists. Mohammed al Hafyan ran, the Syrian division of the nongovernmental organization and skimmed as much as $10,000,000 worth of meals paid for by the US Agency for International Development. The meals are supposed to go to Syrian refugees.
Never got there. But mister Hafian Hafian, allowed members of the Al Nasr front, the, Al Qaeda linked terrorist organization to come and collect the food. Then you had, you had $4,670,000 grant in late two thousand twenty one to, the, EcoHealth Alliance. Alright? Now this is this is interesting because, let's see. The EcoHealth Alliance, the US Agency for International Development gave EcoHealth Alliance a $4,670,000 grant in late two thousand twenty one despite serious unanswered questions about EcoHealth's funding of bat virus research at the Chinese lab.
EcoHealth has been granted millions of dollars by the National Institutes of Health, but ran to compliance problems prior to unrelated the unrelated, award from USAID. So basically, they they they were giving, they were giving money to this organization, almost $5,000,000, that was researching, this this this these bat coronaviruses at the research lab, the Chinese lab suspected to be the origin of COVID nineteen. Your tax dollars, my tax dollars went to pay for this, and they're fighting to protect this. Then you have personalized contraception. Alright?
Personalized contraception. Where's the dollar amount on this one? Researchers at the at the University of Texas at Austin were awarded a grant from USAID, to engineer personalized contraception in 02/2022. Scientists were given taxpayer money to create custom additive manufactured birth control devices, using an in house developed three d printing technology. A team at Farm e three d are honing a means of producing personalized alternatives to commercial intrauterine devices. Your tax dollars. According to Breitbart, two thousand eighteen, USAID spent $330,000,000.
3 hundred 30 million dollars to support alternative development projects that were intended to deter the the production of opium, between, 02/2005, '2 thousand '8. The inspector general for Afghanistan re reconstruction, however, John Sopko, said the development programs were inadvertently supported or supporting poppy production. Alright. So $330,000,000 given to Afghanistan to produce opium. And then you have Mike Benz, former state department official, who, by the way, gave two great interviews today that I saw. Fantastic. He's a former state department official. He's now the executive director of the Foundation for Freedom online.
He posted a screenshot on his x account of a 2,014 story from the Washington Post, on how USAID literally set up fake AIDS prevention workshops to topple foreign governments. According to the post, undercover central and South Americans hired by the US government opened an HIV prevention group to recruit potential rebels for an insurrection in Cuba. And this is from this is from his, his, his ex post. You should go over there. Mike Benz Cyber. USAID literally set up fake aids prevention workshops to topple foreign governments. Beginning as early as October 2009, a project overseen by the US Agency for Internal International Development sent Venezuelan, Costa Rican, and Peruvian young people to Cuba in hopes of ginning up rebellion. The travelers worked undercover, often posing as tourists, and traveled around the island scouting for people that could turn into political activists. In one case, the workers formed an HIV prevention workshop that memos called the perfect excuse for the program's political goals, a gambit that could undermine America's efforts to improve health globally.
Interesting. Your tax dollars, my tax dollars. In another post to x last weekend, Ben's asked why USAID is funding censorship projects in London. Censorship prop in London. You're gonna love this one. The Center for Information Resilience characterizes itself as an independent organization dedicated to exposing human rights violations and threats to democracy, but also employed former censorship czar in the Biden administration, Nina Jankowicz, between 02/2022 and 02/2524 to alter I'm so sorry, to malign foreign disinformation. According to the group's website, the Center for Information Resilience has received funding from USAID and the US State Department.
So, Mike Benz asked the question, why is USAID funding Nina Jankewitz Internet censorship project in London. So your tax dollars were being spent in London, in England, Great Britain, for censorship. Then you have, the the according to the funding page for the British Broadcasting Corporation, the BBC international charity, BBC Media Action American taxpayers made up roughly a fifth of the organization's top 10 donor receipts in 02/2023 and 02/2024 through USAID. BBC Media Action says it works to provide impartial, impactful, trustworthy media to people in need so that they can make informed choices to transform their lives. BBC calls BBC Media Action the network's international charity arm funded by, quote, voluntary contributions, including more than 3,000,000 from USAID.
So why are we funding BBC, which is literally a state funded media? So those are just a few. Just a few of the of the things that your money, your my money has been going to through this organization, USAID. And you have Democrats protesting outside USAID, basically, you know, an insurrection because then they storm the building, but nothing's gonna come of that. But this is your tax dollars, my tax dollars at work. Billions and billions of dollars over time, of course, getting funneled out through this organization. And and and don't you think for just a moment that the reason why you see these Jamie Raskin and and Elon Omar and Chuck Schumer and and, you know, and and all of these Democrats defending this, trying to stop this, doesn't it make you think that maybe some of that money is getting funneled to them?
Like Dan Bongino says, you measure the effectiveness of what you are doing by the reaction from the left. If they're freaking out, there's something there. If they're not freaking out, they don't have any interest in it. There's nothing there that's gonna directly affect them. Alright. Now, moving on with Doge News. So, Doge officials spotted, guess where, at FBI headquarters at at FBI headquarters after 5,000 employees named in the January 6 witch hunt. On Tuesday, on Tuesday, CNN reported the FBI turned over more than 5,000 employees' information to the justice department adding from anonymous people familiar with the situation that, officials, dispatched that more than I'm sorry. But more that more than 5,000 employees, details were submitted including employee ID numbers, job titles, and their role in the January 6 investigation, sources said, but not their names.
There are more than 13,000 agents and 3,800, total FBI employees. Doge officials tasked with tackling the government, tackling government fraud, waste, and abuse were presumably collecting the employees' information after Trump signaled the purge of numerous bureau employees last week requesting the resignation or termination of top senior officials in several cities, including Miami, Philadelphia, Washington, New Orleans, and Las Vegas, in addition to firing the heads of 20 FBI field offices. News that, news that, news that Doge has had shut had shown up at FBI headquarters was celebrated on x after the agency was credited with shuttering The US agency for international development.
Alright. So, here's, Benny Johnson tweeted, you know, breaking DOS officials in the spot at FBI headquarters. That was today at 02:00. And then, Ian Yeager posted, just in, Doge employees arrived at, FBI headquarters via CNN. Doge officials spotted FBI headquarters, and it it goes on and on and on. The shakeup sent shock waves throughout the intelligence community with acting FBI director Brian Driscoll, who was recently appointed by Trump to head the agency while Cash Patel undergoes a nomination process in the crosshairs after he initially refused to turn over documents to Doge.
He said, we understand that this request encompasses thousands of employees across the country who have supported these investigative efforts, Driscoll said in an email to the DOJ, adding, I am one of those employees. Then you have a former, FBI director Andrew McCabe also told CNN this week that the agency was in utter disarray and employees were in terror due to the Trump purge. Let's take a listen. It's totally unprecedented.
[00:44:48] Unknown:
FBI rank and file agents and analysts who make up the vast majority of the field offices, who do the work in of investigating these cases, of executing search warrants, of executing arrest warrants, doing, surveillance, electronic surveillance, whatever might be, those people are never touched by the political winds that blow through every four years, nor should they be. They as you said, they don't pick their work. They're assigned to the work that they do. The work they do is lawful. It's it's, within FBI policies, and not doing the work is not really an option for them. Right? They come to the FBI. The most of them come intending to stay for the entirety of their careers, twenty years or more, twenty years on the agent side, a little bit more for the support side.
And so to be targeted in this way for termination potentially or retribution simply for doing their jobs on a major national security case is is incomprehensible to them or anybody that knows the organization. I've talked to more FBI people in the last four days than I did in the prior four years. As John has described it accurately, it is a place in utter disarray right now. People are worried about, how am I going to pay the bills? How am I gonna support my family if I lose? You know, if you're anywhere in the middle of that career, not close to retirement, if you get fired, you're done. That's the end of your reputation, your ability to get a new job.
You lose your pay. You lose your chance at a pension. You lose your health insurance. This is a moment of terror for these people. It is absolutely disgraceful that they are being put through this in the middle of some political gamesmanship or active retribution. They don't deserve to be treated this way. It's unlawful,
[00:46:34] Unknown:
and it's disgusting. In terms of it Alright. Well, you know what? All this tells me is when you see the reaction of of of these of these people, these, these deep state operatives, these these these people that weaponized the justice department against political opponent opponents, when you see them acting this way and and so angry, so upset, fuming over president Trump, all that tells me is that he's over the target. He's over the target. And continuing on with with Doge updates here, we have, from Woke Spy. We have, this piece that says, in less than two weeks, Doge saves over $1,000,000,000 by canceling over 100 DEI contracts.
Less than two weeks into Trump's second presidency, Elon Musk led Department of Government Efficiency, DOGE, has slashed over $1,000,000,000 canceling over 100 diversity, equity, inclusion contracts, and, Musk had promised to cut at least 2,000,000,000,000 of the 6,700,000,000,000.0 federal budget. Now here's just a a a short example of, some of the things that have been cut out. Department of Agriculture, contract cancellations, a hundred and had 11. CFPP, two. Department of Commerce, six, Department of Defense, one, Department of Energy, one. For a total of you go down the list, treasury, state, labor, homeland security, health and human services, energy, education, defense, park service, treasury, pension, railroad retirement, small business association, Social Security, all the way down, you have a hundred and four contracts canceled.
Hundred four contracts canceled, saving over, let's see, 1,259,365,178. So over three quarters of the recent savings were realized by canceling DEI contracts in three depart in just three departments. Personnel management was the most impacted with, that they slashed, 494,009 I'm sorry. 494,956,223. Doge also saved, 228,000,000 from the United States Agency for International Development, the USAID, and, a hundred 10,000,000 from the Department of Agriculture. The lease savings came from the from the GSA, Federal Acquisition Service, which had a spending ceiling of, $15,001.68, and, only the administrative cost there was saved. Treasury had 21 DEI contracts canceled amounting to to to a little over 25,000,000, followed by Department of Health, 15 contracts over 28,000,000.
Agriculture, had 11 contracts, canceled. So, they they've been just working their way through these lists, working their way through these lists. And, you know, besides the other potential savings that could be realized by the funding planned parenthood, which received nearly $7,700,000,000 through government health service reimbursements and grants. Alright? We also had 784,000,000 in taxpayer dollars for a new US embassy in South Sudan. Why? And then, Elon Musk actually posted, posted a, a video of, Milton Friedman.
[00:50:25] Unknown:
Alright. Let's just check that out. 14 is a lot for television, so I wanna just go right down the list quickly. It's from November. Thumbs up or thumbs down. Keep them or abolish them. Department of Agriculture. By abolish. Gone. Department of Commerce. Abolish. Gone. Department of Defense. Keep. Keep it. Department of Education. Abolish. Gone. Energy. Abolish. How Except that energy ties in with the military. Well then we shove it under defense. A little bit that handles the nuclear Right. That ought to go under Plutonium and so forth goes under defense but we abolish the rest of it. Health and Human Services?
[00:51:01] Unknown:
There is some there are there is room for some public health activities to prevent, contagion. Such a thing as for example. So you'd keep the National Institutes of Health say and No. No. No. No. No. The National Institute of Health. Those are mostly research agencies. No no. That's a question of whether the government should be involved in financing research. And the answer is no. Well that's a complicated that's a very complicated issue and it's not an easy answer with respect to that. We'll eliminate half of the Department of Health and Human Services. Okay. One half. There we go. Housing and Urban Development? Bound. Oh. Didn't even pause over that one. Department of the Interior. Oh. Well, but the Housing and Urban Development has done an enormous amount of harm.
My God. If you think of the way in which they've destroyed parts of cities under the rubric of eliminating slums, Jack Kent you know, you remember Martin Anderson wrote a book on the federal bulldozer describing the effect of the urban development. There have been many more dwelling units torn down in the in the name of public housing that have been built.
[00:52:10] Unknown:
Jack Kemp has proposed selling to the current inhabitants of public housing their unit, their townhouse, their apartment.
[00:52:19] Unknown:
We're not gonna play the whole thing. It's it's almost a five minute clip, but that was about two minutes of it. Elon Musk posted this back in February. This is obviously, an older video, but, you get the idea. Cut. Cut. Cut. Cut. Remember, folks, the the the constitution only gives the federal government 13 enumerated powers. That's it. Just 13. All these departments, all these agencies that were created that came along just wrecked the American government. Wrecked it. But now we have an opportunity to get rid of it. We have an opportunity to clean slate. We have an opportunity to, to to unburden ourselves from what has been.
Alright. Let's, what do you say we check-in with, with our borders are, Tom Homan? So I I don't know if you've been following this one, but, Tom Homan. I'm sorry. Not Tom Homan, but, the, the governor of new of New Jersey, Phil Murphy, on TV made a a very, stupid stupid comment, in in on an interview that that he was doing on, on TV. And, basically, he he he basically admitted that that himself and New Jersey's first lady were were harboring an illegal alien. And it really it was just a stupid, stupid attempt at defiance. You know?
Basically, basically, he said that, you know, he he suggested that, this undocumented individual was beyond the reach of US immigration and customs enforcement, and, he made this confession. He was talking to a left wing organization called the blue called Blue Wave New Jersey. And, basically, he said that, he said, Tammy and I were talking about and I don't wanna get into too much detail, but there is someone in our broader universe whose immigration status is not yet at the point that they're trying to get it to. And he's and then he he said, and, and we said, meaning him and his wife, you know what? Let's have her live in our house at above our garage, and good luck to the feds coming in to try to get her.
Now, Holman Tom Holman, the border czar, has warned Americans, including politicians like Chicago's Mayor and, and others against harboring illegal aliens, which is a federal crime under title eight of The US code thirteen twenty four, three. So, he also told the not very smart, quote, unquote, Boston Mayor, Michelle Wu, to, quote, get the hell out of the way after she vowed not to cooperate with Trump's deportations. But Murphy, basically, you know, he's basically up the stakes here by by, you know, of course, being the most most, ranking politician to confess to harboring illegals, despite the warnings.
And, Tom Hulman went on to say that I think the governor's pretty foolish. He goes, I got note of it. Won't let it go. We'll look into it, and he continued. Let's let's hear what he had to say for himself.
[00:55:29] Unknown:
Let me read a headline to you. Chicago Leaders encourage residents to exercise their rights in resisting Trump's deportation policies. The governor of New Jersey, Phil Murphy, basically admitted that he knew somebody that didn't have full documentation, that he was hiding over his garage.
[00:55:47] Unknown:
But there's someone in our broader universe whose immigration status is not yet at the point that they are trying to get it to. And we said, you know what? Let's have her live at our house above our garage, and and good luck to the feds coming in to to try to get her. Your comment on all of that?
[00:56:10] Unknown:
I think the government's pretty, foolish saying what he said because I got a note of it. Won't let it go. We'll look into it. And if he's knowingly knowingly harboring, concealing an illegal alien, that's a violation of title eight United States code thirteen twenty four. I will seek prosecution or the secretary will seek prosecution. So maybe he's bluffing. If he's not, we'll deal with that. And as far as soon as sanctuary cities, well, get in line because the Trump administration is going to do that already. Sanctuary cities are sanctuary for criminals.
There's one example. Right? If the the the young sanctuary cities in New York City, If they would have gave us over the the the killer of Lake and Riley when he got arrested in New York City for endangering a child, he would have been in jail. They would never killed Lake and Riley. Sanctuary cities are responsible for deaths of thousands thousands of of of young children throughout my career. And we're going soon. We're going home. And look, if he's got to go to Supreme Court, that's what president Trump wanted to do. He will end sanctuary cities.
[00:57:09] Unknown:
You know, there was a 2011, government accountability office study found 3,000,000 criminal
[00:57:16] Unknown:
Alright. So basically, so so Homan, basically disclosed that the Trump administration is planning on suing sanctuary cities for harboring illegal aliens, who are to who are responsible for killing thousands of children. He also noted that, illegal immigrant killer of Lake And Riley was comfortably living in New York City sanctuary beyond the reach of the feds despite facing child endangerment charges. Jose Antonio Ibarra also had, active arrest warrant, an active arrest warrant after skipping out of court hearings, that had to do with, theft at, or alleged theft in of a Walmart in Athens, Georgia.
You know, governor mercy governor Murphy should learn from Denver Mayor Mike Johnson who quickly, retracted a statement that he was willing to go to jail for fighting Trump's deportations. Homa said me and me and, the Denver Mayor agree on one thing. He's willing to go to jail, I'm willing to put him there.
[00:58:11] Unknown:
Tom, you you heard the you heard this mayor out there in in, Colorado. I wanna get your reaction to it, and I want you to be clear about who has jurisdiction, the federal government or state and local governments. And if you're a sanctuary state or city, are you breaking the law?
[00:58:30] Unknown:
Yeah. Absolutely breaking law. All you have to do look at Arizona versus US. You'll see this breaking law. But look, me and the Denver Mayor, we agree on one thing. He's willing to go to jail. I'm willing to put him in jail because there there's a statue. It's it's title eight nine United States code thirteen twenty four, triple I. And what it says is, it's a felony if you knowingly harbor and conceal illegal alien from, immigration authorities. There's also a failing to impede a federal law enforcement officer. So if we don't have help, that's fine. He can get the hell out of the way. But we're gonna go do the job. President Trump has a mandate for American people. We gotta secure this country. We we gotta save American lives. And I I find it shocking that any mayor of a city would say, president, trust me clear. We wanna concentrate on public safety threats and national security threats. I find it hard to believe that any mayor or governor would say they don't want public safety threats removed from their neighborhoods. I mean, I mean, I don't know what the hell is going on in Denver, but we're gonna go and we're gonna fix it. If you don't wanna fix if you don't wanna protect his communities, president Trump and ICE will.
[00:59:28] Unknown:
So bay so if governor if governor Murphy's bluffing, you know, you know, maybe maybe he'll get some street cred. I don't know, you know, being the tough guy who challenged Coleman without risking freedom, which is probably what he's doing. But, to be honest with you, you know, the idea of of of of seeing a a Democratic governor, in jail over illegal immigration would be pretty neat, to be honest with you. And I think most Americans would love to see that too. Now, Tom Homan also appeared on an ABC news, interview, and he warned that anybody in the country illegally was not exempt from deport from deportation.
[01:00:22] Unknown:
One of the very first appointments Donald Trump made after winning the election in November was tapping one man to be what he calls his borders arm. Tom Homan is a former border patrol agent and acting director of ICE with decades of experience in Republican and Democratic administrations. I sat down with him this week and began our conversation by asking him about the role of the US military.
[01:00:47] Unknown:
We have military on the border, not only helping us with departure flights on military planes, but they're helping to build infrastructure. They're putting them in Constantino where they're down there to create a a secure border and and and lock that border down. And and DOD's helped administrations before, but not at this level. So it's a force multiplier, and it's and it's it's it's sending a strong signal to the world our borders closed. So is this what we will see every single
[01:01:12] Unknown:
day ending in what the president has promised is millions and millions being deported?
[01:01:17] Unknown:
Yes. But you're gonna see the numbers steadily increase, the number of arrests nationwide as we open up the aperture. Right now, it's concentrating public safety threats, national security threats. That's a smaller population. So we're gonna do this on priority base as president Trump promised, but as that aperture opens, there'll be more arrests nationwide. When when you when you talk about the aperture opening, I the estimates of perhaps those who have been convicted or arrested in the past 700,000
[01:01:43] Unknown:
to over a million. So after you do that, then you go after everybody who is there illegally.
[01:01:52] Unknown:
If you're in a country illegally, you're on the table because it's not okay to, you know, violate laws of this country. You gotta remember, every time you enter this country illegally, you violated a crime under title eight, United States code thirteen twenty five. It's a crime. So if you're in a country legally, you got a problem. And that's why I'm hoping those who are in the country illegally who have not been ordered removed by the federal judge should leave. Well, you are emphasizing that you go after national security threats.
[01:02:18] Unknown:
You have said no one's off the table. If you're in the country illegally, you better be looking over your shoulder. You should be afraid and start packing now. Is that what you're doing to get hotel workers out or people in working on farms, that they'll be so scared
[01:02:35] Unknown:
they just leave? Look, yeah, I I think if you're in the country illegally, it's not okay. It's not okay to violate laws of this country. We have millions of people standing in line, taking the test, doing their background investigation, paying the fees that wanna come in the right way. Let let's talk about the arrest so far. Numbers released of
[01:02:55] Unknown:
So, I'm I'm gonna stop it there, because it's it's a ten minute clip, and I'm not gonna play the whole ten minutes. It's way too much. But, but you get the idea of of what we're talking about here. Now, just the look in her face as Martha here as as she's asking these questions, the look of disbelief in in what she's hearing, it's priceless. It's priceless. And, of course, as you see, they all they all go right to the, well, who's gonna clean and who's gonna pick the fruit and the vegetables and all that stuff. Well, there are legal people that are here that to do those things.
Alright? And, and and I I I I am totally, completely looking forward to seeing more deportations. And, and I just think that I think they're doing a fabulous job, and we wanna see more of it. Alright, folks. Well, let's do this. Let's take a let's take a quick break here. And when we come back, we're gonna get into some, some local stuff, and there's some Texas news and updates. We're gonna get into, and some Texit, some Texas nationalist movement stuff, and we'll answer our, Texit fact of the, of the day. Alright, folks. This is the podcast. Don't forget to like, subscribe, and share it with your friends, your family, and your followers. We'll see you right after this break. Stay with us.
[01:04:13] Unknown:
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[01:05:40] Unknown:
Hey, folks. Welcome back to the podcast. This is Joe Rusciello, and the song is appropriate for our, men and women of ICE, customs and border patrol, law enforcement, our military, heroes, every one of them. Alright. Just the the just the speed of everything going on right now and with, with president Trump's, second term here is just unbelievable. I mean, this guy is in his seventies, and he sleeps, like, four hours and constantly on the move. But it is incredibly satisfying to see a president actually working on behalf of the American people unapologetically. I mean, just just I I know I said we're gonna talk some some, some Texas news and get to our text Texit, segments. But just to back up for one second on on on this. I mean, just think about this.
Within hours of imposing tariffs on Canada and Mexico and China, Canada and Mexico capitulated and are working out deals. China might might take a little bit longer, but, eventually, they're gonna come around too. Working on behalf of the American people, working on behalf of The United States, and not serving self interest. Folks, there there are great things coming in this administration, and they're gonna be long term. And I am so excited to be seeing this and and and knowing that the man that I voted to put in office is doing what I've asked him to do with my vote.
I love it. It's great. But I will say this, all good, but still leaving. Texas is going to happen. Texas standing among the nations on its own is going to happen. I'm hoping that it's gonna happen in my lifetime. I'm hoping that it's gonna happen within the next maybe before this administration comes to an end. But it's gonna happen. And it's exciting. It's exciting to be a part of it, and we're gonna get into the Texas stuff in just a few minutes. But, but I wanted to go over some some local stuff here in Texas. This I and there there's a ton. You know? You you go to, texasscorecard.com.
You could find out a lot of information about what's going on here in Texas. But, one thing that really stands out to me is, you know, Texas, of course, is is doing phenomenal. Just last Sunday, this past Sunday, governor Abbott, at his state of the state address, announced that he wants to he wants, 10,000,000,000 in property tax relief this coming session. And, basically, you know, the the which is which is, $44,000,000,000 more than what the the house the Texas house and senate were originally promoting. They they wanted to do 6,000,000,000 in relief. So, but but during the state of the state, on Sunday, Abbott called for at least 10,000,000,000 of the state's $23,760,000,000 surplus to go toward tax rate compression for school district maintenance operation taxes, declaring an emergency item.
Tax compression is if if you don't know, is basically, the the intentional act of lowering the tax rate by buying it down. And, basically, it's it's, it's it's it's implemented in Texas by utilizing state revenue generated from sales tax funds. Abbott also called for, the exemption for taxes imposed on business personal prop business personal property, which includes items, accessories, office supplies, vehicles, inventory used to generate income. As it is, a business owner can exempt per business personal property taxes on property with a taxable value of less than, $2,500.
Before 02/2022, the exemption was 500, but, governor Abbott wants to raise it to a hundred thousand. He he also stressed in his state of the state, the need to end local government's use of loopholes to raise property taxes, calling for raising the threshold for voter approved tax increases from a, simple majority to a foods to a two thirds super majority. And while Abbott's calling for the, 10,000,000,000 in tax relief, the the preliminary house and senate budget proposal only allocate around 6,000,000,000 of the state surplus for relief, albeit in different ways. The senate proposal focuses on, the homestead exemption, which is the amount of money a homeowner can deduct from the value of his or her house before it is taxed.
The current baseline exemption is a hundred thousand dollars for and this and the senate proposal would raise it to a hundred and $40,000. Alright. I'm not gonna go through the entire article here with you because, I'm I'm I'm gonna say this. I appreciate the effort of of, tax relief on property taxes, but it's not enough. Property taxes need to be abolished. Property taxes need to go. You have a a family that that had spent thirty years paying off a mortgage, and yet the house can still be taken from them if they fail to pay property taxes. Quest, do they still own the property?
Is it really their property, or are they just basically renting it from the state government? Property taxes need to go. Plain and simple. Property taxes need to be abolished. I appreciate the tax relief. I am a homeowner. I I do I would I do appreciate the property tax relief. Absolutely. Completely appreciate that. Would love to see a check sent back to me for the property taxes that I paid. I'd I'd love that. But this is a start, and let's let's take it further, and let's end property taxes altogether. Let's get rid of it.
Just get rid of it. It's an added burden. You have a again, you have a let's say it and and, an elderly couple that has spent their whole life paying for their home. They finally own it. They're collecting, social security. They're collecting a small pension, whatever it might be. And I know I'm playing on the emotional. I I know that, and I and I'm not generally one that does that. I don't believe that always works, but the truth of the this is a true matter of fact. You're still on the hook for the property taxes, and property taxes have gone up and up and up and up. And what about that fixed income person who can't afford their property taxes anymore?
And they end up losing their property that they've spent a lifetime paying for. Property taxes are immoral. Property taxes need to be abolished, and that's my 2¢ on it. Alright. Let me know what you think, though. Drop me an email, comment. I would appreciate that. You can drop me an email at [email protected]. Info at joe russello dot com. Alright. So, how about some Texit news? Something that we're looking at here, the Texas Stock Exchange. Did you know about that? The Texas Stock Exchange sets 02/2025 launch date. This comes to us from the Texas Nationalist Movement.
The Texas Stock Exchange, TXS TXSE, has announced its official launch timeline with initial trading operations beginning in late two thousand and twenty five and full exchange services starting in early two thousand twenty six. It'll be based in Downtown Dallas, and the Texas Stock Exchange represents a significant development in Texas' financial infrastructure. Now what's the significance of it? It ex it carries a much deeper implication beyond its role as a financial marketplace. When examining the relationship between Texas and the federal system, one consistent challenge has been the concentration of financial power in federally controlled institutions. The New York Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq operating under federal oversight represent this centralization of economic authority in New York and Washington.
The TXSE offers the first real alternative to this federal dominance of financial markets by providing Texas businesses a path to raise capital through Texas based systems. It reduces dependence on the federal financial infrastructure. This independence aligns with the fundamental principle that Texans should control Texas institutions. Let me say that again. Texans should control Texas institutions. Financial sovereignty has historically been a key indicator of a people's ability to self govern. The creation of the Texas Stock Exchange demonstrates that Texas possesses both the technical expertise and the institutional capacity to manage sophisticated financial operations.
This practical evidence counters common objections about Texas's readiness for greater autonomy. You know, the development of the Texas Exchange is, just another demonstration about how Texas can build infrastructure without federal involvement. It's just like, an example is a Texas power grid. The Texas power grid is not connected to the rest of the of this of the country. It offers better solutions for Texas. It works better for Texas, and it alt and it it it ultimately is better for Texas. That's why you have people like AOC screeching about the federal government forcing Texas to become part of the national grid.
No. No. Now the Texas Nationalist Movement is gonna continue to monitor this exchange and its development and what the implications for the Texas economy, is and and the sovereignty of the Texas economy. So, folks, this is huge. This is big. This is very big. Well, I I felt like Donald Trump did. This is very big. This is very big. I don't do I don't do a very good Donald Trump impression, so I don't I'm I'm I'm not I'm gonna stay away from it, as much as I can. But I'm working on it. I'm I'm working on it. So keep keep your eye on this, folks, especially if you're here in Texas. Keep an eye on this, Texas stock exchange.
Two thousand twenty five launch. It's it's this is this is big. This is huge. Something that that it it it to me, it just it just it's just laying more groundwork for Texas independence. You know, we had governor Abbott, you know, reaching out to, overseas, having, I forget what they call them, but, like like, basically, like, memorandums of understanding or something to that effect. I'll correct myself, and I'll let you guys know what it's actually called later on. But, but I I think you understand what I'm saying. These these, you know, basically, agreements that, you know, not not so much for show, but but just a just a demonstration.
And it's it that that's that's huge. It's important that that Texas is doing that. The fact that Texas took over the border control situation, under the previous administration and is now receiving help from the federal government and and and keeping it closed. The fact that Texas asserted its authority over its own borders is huge. The fact that you have people running basically to sign up with the net with the Texas National Guard, young folks doing that. I I I know someone whose daughter, recently, enlisted with the Texas National Guard. The Texas National Guard now being able to, arrest and detain illegals.
Texas is taking steps, and more steps, and more steps to separate itself from the federal system. And that's exciting, and I'm I'm I'm glad to be a part of it. Let's see. Also here from the T and M global independence wave and why Texas matters more than ever. Alright? So heard a lot in the news lately about Greenland, and and, Donald Trump, you know, sending over his his secretary of state to, to Greenland to talk to the folks over there about this. And, you know, it's interesting. It it it is. It's it's very interesting, idea.
I can understand it to a to a to a degree. But is is it a reality? Maybe. I don't know. I don't know. But, Greenland's push for independence from Denmark offers particularly relevant insights for us, though, here in Texas. Currently, Greenland's parm parliament is establishing a commission to define parameters for an independence referendum. And, I do believe that, that might be taking place already. If it not has not, I'll report back to you on that one. This article is dated February 2, so, I will I will get back to you on that for sure. But I do believe that they voted on it already. So, Greenland's Parliament is establishing a commission to define parameters for an independence referendum, which must occur before April 2025.
And recent polling shows that 64% of Greenlanders consider independence fairly important, though concerns about economic viability have kept support for immediate independence around 38. Now like Texas, Greenland possesses possess significant natural resources that that can sustain us an independent nation. They have a a very strategic location. They have mineral wealth, that, of course, you know, gets a lot of attention not only from from, from The United States, but from China as well. And basically, you know, this this this kind of mirrors text position as an as an energy powerhouse with, with with with strategic importance for North America.
But Greenland's movement also highlights a crucial difference that strengthens Texas position. Greenland has to develop, its resources before achieving true independence. See, Texas already has fully developed diverse economy, ranking, tenth globally in, you know, the the just think about that. This state of Texas is tenth in the world in economic power. What about Scotland? Scotland, continues to push for independence after Brexit. Provides another another example for us. You know, despite winning 48% of their 2014 referendum, the Scottish independence movement has gained strength rather than fading away.
Brexit fundamentally altered Scotland's relationship with The UK, leading to increased support for independence, particularly among EU supporters from 44 to two in 02/2016 to 57 by late twenty twenty. In 02/2022, the the UK Supreme Court ruled that Scotland couldn't hold a referendum without London's consent. And, of course, that that that basically is you know, that's the same thing that you get here in, you know, when it comes to Texas independence. But the ruling really, it really strengthens the case for independence by exposing the the fundamental contradiction and claiming to be a democracy while denying populations the right to vote on self government.
Now, you know, one of the one of the arguments that you get from people when you talk about Texas is, you know, they say, well, you can't do it. It's impossible. You can't, you know, you you know, how are you gonna defend yourself? How are you gonna do this? You can't do this. You can't do that. But yet, you look around the world, you you look at all these countries that are smaller than the state of Texas, population wise, land mass size, militarily, you look at and yet that's okay. Those countries can exist. They can take care of themselves. But if if Texas says that we wanna leave, all of a sudden, it's impossible. You can't. You'll never make it. You'll you won't survive, so on and so forth. Right? But what about California? California has a Calxit movement.
It has a lot of parallels to Texas. And they're actually, they have a a new initiative, for signature gathering requiring only fifth 546,651 signatures by July 2024. I would hate to see California secede before Texas. We've been at it longer, I think. But you see the thing is though California's vision of independence kinda differs, from Texas. They, what they're looking for is they're looking to centralize power while Texas looks to decentralize it. Collects it, basically highlights facts about state independence. California's economy ranks fifth globally ahead of India and The United Kingdom. I bet you didn't know that.
And, again, just like the argument against Texas against Texas leaving, it really it it it absolutely really it actual absolutely tears apart the argument that American states are too integrated to function independently. Wipes it out. California. What did I say? Fifth? Texas, tenth? And you're telling me that that that these that that the two states, which rank higher than larger, more well established, nations, countries in the world can't manage on their own, That's not the vision that our founding generation had. Our founding generation envisioned independent countries, independent states. That's what a state is. A state is a country or a nation.
That's why we call the state of Israel, the state of Great Britain, you know, the state of Texas. It it's a it's a country in and of itself, And these independent countries formed a union much like the European Union or vice versa. Actually, European Union kinda copied what the American Union is. And the this union of states is only supposed to come together for mutual defense and and common trade. That's really it. But over time, over the two hundred and forty plus years of the existence of the American Union, more and more power was ceded to the central government, the general government, the federal government.
In your public school systems, you're not taught anymore what federalism really is. The focus is on a centralized power, a central government. And that's what we need to get back to, decentralized government. We need to get back to the understanding that that these 50 states that that make up the American Union are independent countries that are fully capable of of leaving the union anytime they want. Just like Greenland can vote themselves to join the American Union or Canada can vote itself to join the American Union, voluntarily.
So if you can voluntarily join the union, you voluntarily can leave. And we addressed that last, yesterday's show, when we talked about, you know, is is leaving the union constitutional. So if you missed that one, go back and check it out. Alright. But I'm on a I'm on a soapbox right now, so let me let me get back to this here. We'll wrap up this article here. Then you have Alberta and Quebec. You know, north of our border, Canada provides a real time example of how federal systems failed diverse regions. Alberta's passage of the sovereignty within United Canada Act allows the province to resist federal laws deemed harmful harmful to Alberta's interests, particularly in areas like natural resources, gun control, health care, and education. Meanwhile, Quebec's sovereignty movement has gained renewed momentum with the block, yeah, that potentially forming the official opposition in February federal election. Quebec's movement demonstrates how distinct cultural identity and economic interests can persist despite centuries of political union. And of course, there's more. You know, you know, other than these higher profile examples, independence movements are gaining traction all around the world. California's push for independence, I'm sorry, Catalonia's push for independence from Spain, draws millions of supporters, Flanders, growing separation from Belgium, how the heart of the European Union isn't even a move isn't even immune to independence sentiment.
These movements share common drivers, economic disparities, between, the regions, cultural disparities, responses to centralized authority, natural resources, demographic shifts. The success of independence movements typically depend on several key factors working in concert, economic viability, constitutional frameworks, geo geopolitical circumstances, and when you measure against these criteria, Texas' position is stronger than any current independence movement. Texas maintains the ninth largest economy I'm sorry. The tenth largest economy globally, leads in energy production, has diverse industrial base, independent power grid, multiple international ports, the state's existing constitution and governmental institutions provide a a a framework already in place for self government.
And it's independent legal system and state military forces have have offered that crucial infrastructure for independence. And the things that have taken place over the last administration have only strengthened Texas' position. The federal government's debt has has $36,000,000,000,000. That's there's no stability in that. Immigration policy failed immigration policies, the challenges we're facing here at the border. Albeit right now under the current administration, it has eased up quite a bit, but that's still when the administration leaves, what's gonna happen next? Texas is inevitable.
It's going to happen, and Texas will once again stand among the nations. Alright. I'm gonna skip this one article here that I had, and, I wanna get into and maybe we'll cover this another time, maybe tomorrow. But, I wanted to get into our Texit fact of the of the, of the day, and that is, how will an independent Texas defend itself? Now now, folks, all of these, Texit facts that I'm giving you, you can find them on, the, texitnow.org. You could find it on, the tandm.org as well, or tandm.me. Sorry. You could find all this information all there for you. You could read it at your leisure. But I wanna bring these points out because when we talk to folks about Texas, this is these are the questions that come up regularly. Alright. So how will an independent Texas defend itself? Texas has always shown a belief in strong national defense with a focus on threats to the safety and security of Texans at home. An independent Texas has little in the way of conventional national security concerns. The threat of a combined land, air, and sea invasion is really nonexistent.
But, again, threats do exist. There's a threat of cartels and violence spilling over the border with Mexico, as well as a threat of international terrorists using the same border to execute attacks on civilian targets within Texas. Then the of course, there are always threats that could that could upset international stability. And, you know, while these things are often met with the combined military might of the Western world, an independent Texas would be ready and willing to do his part. Now the bulk of Texas national defense will be concentrated in three key areas. Alright? Strengthening the border against national security risks, defense against attack from international state actors, and supporting military actions of allies that are congruent with our strategic objectives.
Use if you if you if we use the NATO target, average of 2% of GDP for military and defense spending, we would provide approximately $32,700,000,000 annually, making Texas the eleventh in the world in defense spending. You know, funding at at that level would cover the cost of recruiting, training, equipping, maintaining, and active duty enlistment in excess of a 25,000 troops, which would be in line with the number of Texans currently serving in the United States military in all branches. That's, like, 40%. It's 40% of the of the current, 40% of the current US military are Texans.
It would also provide a level of funding to, to overtime increasing our inventory of of military vehicles, including naval vessels, fighters, support aircraft, armored vehicles. And, you know, building on on on the current military infrastructure in the Texas military department, which, you probably didn't know that existed. The Texas military department, Texas will will grow the components of the TMD into a world class military force capable of addressing any threat to the safety and security of Texas posed by any who would do us any harm.
Now folks, another question that comes up, in in relation to this is, well, what about military installations and bases? Folks, the federal government doesn't own the property, doesn't own the military installations. They lease those from the state of Texas. Those belong to us. So when the US military would be leaving again, these are post post texted questions, I understand. But when the military leaves, when the US military finally leaves Texas, those installations are still there. They're ours. And they'll be used by the Texas military department. So everything is there. Everything is ready.
This is gonna happen, and I hope you're on board with it. You know, what you can do to help, there are o there are almost 700,000 Texas Texans who support the Texas nationalist movement, and support Texas as an independent nation. You can join that yourself. Just head over to texitnow.org, and you could sign up as a as a supporter. You could sign up as a member. You can make a donation. You can head over on our website, joeruciello.com/tandm, and you could scan the QR codes that are on there and register your support, become a member, or donate. We would greatly appreciate that.
Alright. Let's see. What else we got here for you today? And I I do hope that you found that information helpful. I I I really do. And, we're gonna try to wrap this up soon. I didn't realize it's been this long. We're way over our time, way over our time. But, we don't have any birthdays that we're gonna shout out today. Just wanna say thank you though to our executive producer, Wayne Rankin. Thank you so much, sir, for your your, your your, working with us as an executive producer and your recurring monthly donation. We do appreciate that. Also, I wanna say thank you and give a shout out to, Dave Brunette for his $25 dot, donation, just the other day. Thank you so much for that, David. We really do appreciate that. Also, we wanna say thank you to all the folks streaming SATS to us on the modern podcast two point o apps. Well, what the hell is a modern podcast two point o app? I'm glad you asked. There are so many of them out there that you can check yourself you could check out for yourself. Just head over to modernpodcastapps.com or podcastindex.org, and you will see a list a list of modern podcast apps like fountain.fm, truefans.fm, podcastguru, pod verse, pro cast.
There are so many out there, folks. You could easily, Caster is one. Curio Caster actually is a Texas based one. You should check them out. They have a great little platform, really nice to use. So there are ways to get them. Just head to modernpodcastapps.com and podcastindex.org. The great thing about these these, modern podcast apps is that if you, you know, if you are into, cryptos, cryptocurrencies, during the during the course of listening to the show, you could you could send us boosts, you can send us boostograms, you could you could, send us support through, cryptocurrency, through Satoshis, which is, a micro a micro payment of Bitcoin. You could do all of that through those modern podcast apps. So check them out. My favorite right now is I I've been using Podcast Guru pretty steadily for the last few months. Great app. The user interface is beautiful. I love it. I also love Fountain.
Fountain's great because, as you the more you use it, as you use it, you could actually earn Satoshis that you could later use to boost and, and share with your favorite podcast like this one. So check them out. Check them out. Modernpodcastapps.com, podcast index Org. We would really, really appreciate that. Also, folks, if you are interested in helping us out with some bumpers or, maybe you, maybe you're interested in in doing a lot doing a read for us, maybe you can read a script for us. If you have that type of, skill or talent that you wanna help us out, just, shoot me an email at [email protected]. That's [email protected].
And if it's something that we could use, we will definitely produce it and get it mixed into our breaks. Alright. And also, again, folks, like I said earlier, if you wanna get involved with shaping the future of a free and independent Texas, head over to our website, joerusiello.com/tandm. Scan the QR codes, register your support, become a member, or make a donation. You could also visit, t, textitnow.org, and you can do the same right there. Also, while you're on our website, open up the web form, look for, and send us over any questions or comments you might have, any suggestions, that that you might have about future guests, and we'll look into all of those things, and we'll get back to you, with those questions with the answers to the questions that you might send us over. We'll do that as a segment on the show at some point. Alright. Also, help us out by clicking that support button and make a donation.
You can make a donation in any amount, or you can check out one of our recurring monthly donation clubs. Also, alex the the alex jones store dot com slash joe, or scan the QR code on our website. Click the link on the website support page and, get yourself on the road to better health. And always remember that anytime you use that link, the alexjonesstore.com/joe, you're helping us, fund the operation here because 10% of your purchase goes to our show here. Alright. Don't forget, check out our socials. We are on Rumble at rumble.com/rooz, r 0 0 z.
Also on x at joe rooz, Instagram, not joe rooz. That's because they suspended my account when I opened it before I even finished the registration process. But now we have not jo rues. Also on TikTok at jo dot roos. Truth social at jo rues. Minds at jo rues. And then on Facebook, we have a new Facebook page. You could just search for the podcast with Joe Rusello. And I know I probably should have done it as Joe Ruse, because that's how I do everything else, but I didn't. Alright. So Facebook, the podcast with Joe Rusello.
Alright, folks. I think that should just about do it for us for tonight. So don't forget, to like, subscribe, and share it with your friends, your family, and your followers. Alright? And thank you again for taking the time to be with us. Folks, let's make Texas independent again. Go podcasting. Keep a steady stride. We'll see you next time, folks. Happy trails. Thanks for listening. Well, that's about it, really. The film ends mainly visually.
