The Abdul El-Sayed Town Hall Scandal is Crazier Than You Think

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We dive into how flock surveillance cameras are quietly getting installed into your neighborhoods without public approval through loopholes. The Katie Zachariah situation's even worse than reported. What's really going on in France, right? And why this Jalen Hurts situation has the internet freaking out. We're talking about all of that and even more on today's brand new Philip DeFranco Show, your daily dive into the news, starting with this. We've got to talk about this Abdul El-Sayed situation out of Michigan that's just been blowing up. Because at this Michigan Town Hall, you had this guy who identified himself as Tommy, clearly trying to have a gotcha moment. But instead, he not only got publicly humiliated, he also exposed something just very wild about the Republicans' midterm strategy. I have one simple question. Will you disavow the Muslim movement? Sure. Yeah, absolutely. But I want to. Why are you asking the question that you're asking? Why are you asking the question? Well, because they're a terrorist group. Okay. No, no, but what are you implying? Do you assume that I wouldn't? Yes. You're asking the question because implicitly you assume that I'll have dual loyalties, right? You assume that somehow I wouldn't disavow or that I'll have some higher order allegiance than the Constitution. So why are you asking me? Because I have not heard you. No, no, no. Answer the question, Tommy. Everybody knows the answer. Answer to it. Answer the question. All right. So let me just tell you. Let me just tell you. I'm going to swear an oath to the Constitution of the United States. And that Constitution guarantees us all the right to practice whatever faith we want or no faith at all. And at the end of the exchange, you saw Tommy sort of accepting a loss and sheepishly making his way out as the crowd exploded and cheers for El-Sayed. So I think it's you who needs to understand the Constitution now. Yeah. That's the word. Thank you. Thank you. So all of that widely seen is this mic drop moment. And as far as the origin of these Muslim Brotherhood allegations, you had the conservative Washington Free Beacon resurfacing social media posts by El-Sayed's half-sister describing their mother's alleged activism in the group in the 1970s. But El-Sayed, he's denied the ties and there's zero evidence that he was personally involved, especially considering that he was born in the 1980s and he wasn't raised by his birth mother. So understandably to many, he called the allegations of these ties an insane thing to assume. So it just seems like essentially Islamophobic bullshit at this point. And with this, you've got a lot of people saying that El-Sayed responded to it incredibly effectively at this town hall. With that clip just being everywhere online right now, you're seeing people saying things like Tommy may have just made Abdul El-Sayed a senator. But again, very important to remember that the Internet is not just one thing. It's a lot of carved out spaces. And with that, you've got a lot of people doing their very best to spin all this in a negative way. One of those people is El-Sayed's opponent, Mike Rogers, who argued with CNN's Dana Bash about what exactly went down. So he said, yes, sure, challenged the voter and said the voter only asked him because he's a Muslim. No, he didn't disavow it. He goes on this word salad trying to get around the fact that he can't do it. He said, sure, yeah. No, that's not true. Dana, listen, I don't know why the press is so eager to protect this guy. So seemingly he's either got selective hearing or he is just lying. Though not shocking considering that he's been trying to push this whole Muslim Brotherhood narrative for a while now. And he's definitely not alone, right? Ted Cruz also weighed in on the town hall clip. And you had him tweeting, El-Sayed refuses to disavow Muslim Brotherhood terrorists. And you had CBS chief legal correspondent Jane Crawford getting involved in siding with Tommy. We're saying in a now deleted tweet, I had to watch this twice to catch Dr. Abdul El-Sayed's nanosecond, yet absolutely response. And saying a subsequent uninterrupted three-minute diatribe proving your exact point is the kind of spectacular self-own most people only dream about triggering. Congrats. Though Crawford ended up not only deleting that tweet but issuing an apology saying, earlier I tweeted a video from an Abdul El-Sayed town hall. And adding, I deleted that tweet because it was a violation of CBS news standards. I apologize. But then also outside of that, right? The whole El-Sayed versus Tommy thing, even though it was just a four-minute interaction, it has just continued to blow up more and more and generate new headlines. And so with this conversation continuing, you had a lot of people asking, is this Tommy guy really just a random young Michigan voter? Or is there more to the story here? And that's where things get really interesting. Because a report from The Handbasket identified him as Thomas Teeple. And Tom served as operations director for Missouri Republican Senator Josh Hawley until February of this year. And according to the report, Thomas is also the son of Timmy Teeple, who is a Republican strategist. And to give a little background on Timmy, he's worked for congressmen. And then Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal. And he just so happens to also have a close relationship with prominent Christian nationalist Sean Foyt. And in fact, there's a 2024 story by Religion News Service titled, "The Washington Insider's Helped Sean Foyt Spread Christian Nationalism in Congress," that describes Timmy as arguably Foyt's most powerful ally. But going back to his son, Thomas, or Tommy, as he introduced himself at El-Sayed's town hall, it appears that he may have been paid to attend the town hall and ask that question. Because earlier this month, a story in the University of Michigan student newspaper, the Michigan Daily, revealed that a conservative PAC called America Next offered college Republicans $200 to go to an El-Sayed town hall in Flint to boo him and ask these kinds of questions. And America First just so happens to be founded by Jindal, aka Tommy's dad's old boss. And so we already know that America First is paying people to be disruptive at El-Sayed's events. And we know that Thomas has a connection to America First. Also, aside from that, there's a tweet going around that claims that Timmy, the dad, is listed as the principal for something called Breakthrough LLC. And that this month, Jindal's dark money group paid $250,000 to Breakthrough LLC. For influencer marketing opposing Abdul El-Sayed. And to the many, it seems like you've got paid political operatives showing up to town halls to spew racism and Islamophobia. Both of which have relentlessly tainted El-Sayed's entire campaign. And really, no one loves to run with that strategy more than Donald Trump himself. Right now, you've got another clip going viral in the last few days of his just wildly racist rant about El-Sayed's name at a recent rally. His name is actually Abdullah something-la-la-la. It's Abdullah ba-ba-ba-ba-ba. Muhammad El-Sayed. So his middle name is Muhammad. So I was right. Almost. Oh, by the way, how about that guy? He's a jihadist. And while that resulted in a lot of people going, "Oh my God, new idiotic lows being hit every day by this asshole." You then also had El-Sayed responding in a tweet. He says the name just fine when he's begging the Qataris for a personal jet or the Saudis for funding for his son-in-law's private equity firm. Wonder what's changed. Again, it's really not surprising that Trump and his goons are going this way, right? Anything to kind of deflect from people not being able to afford gas or groceries. People being angry about the Iran war, the genocide in Gaza. Really angry about all the things that he's failed at or caused to implode. But then in a different kind of news, it's gone absolutely viral. We got to talk about the unrest in France. Because it is hitting heights we haven't seen in decades. And depending on who you're asking, it's somebody else's fault. And just in case you took a little internet break, you touched grass for the past couple of days. This is what the streets of major cities in France looked like over the weekend. "Let's go! Let's go! Let's go! Let's go!" And as far as how we got to this point, things actually started back in September as student protests. You had kids, you had young people taking a stand and protesting for higher quality education. Because like I was talking about with you a few weeks ago, there's massive class sizes, not enough teachers, crumbling facilities. And it's resulted in protests across the entire country after kicking off just outside of Paris. And as that movement has gained momentum in allies, it also escalated in a lot of places from peaceful protests to riots. And with that, you had 200 students injured along with 85 school staff and reportedly 700 police officers. Now to mention that more than 6,000 protesters have been arrested, most of them minors who have since been released without being charged. And then your things absolutely explode over the weekend when people joined in on the demonstrations with more protests. This time against the cost of living, the deterioration of the social welfare system, as well as the heavy-handed response from law enforcement to the student protests. You had more than half a million protesters across the country marching on just Saturday alone. And some of those also quickly got out of hand, turning into violence and looting. And so you had nearly 2,400 people being arrested, reportedly almost 1,000 officers were injured. And there was just an unthinkable amount of damage that was caused to several key buildings. City halls were attacked. and broken into. And according to the French Federation of Commerce and Distribution, 1,500 shops were damaged or looted nationwide. And all of that's expected to have a price tag of up to hundreds of millions of dollars. And then as you had the chaos dying down on Sunday, we saw French leaders jumping to play the blame game. Right, with far right leaders and some of the more centrist government pointing the finger at the far left party, France Unbowed. Them claiming that they banned the embers of the student protest up to these massive flames of riots. Right, with French Prime Minister, Sebastian Le Cornu accusing France Unbowed's leader, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, of sowing distrust about the police among student protestors all week. And then saying that the earliest true rioters who started attacking police and government buildings before the protests even began, they were members of the ultra left. Though then with that, you had France Unbowed and Mélenchon pushing back and instead laying the blame at the feet of the government in power right now. And that includes the prime minister with Mélenchon saying, Le Cornu is responsible for the chaos due to incompetence or a worst case strategy to create a party of order that would make people forget his failure in public finances. And we actually saw members of the French government owning a piece of responsibility for the riots, which as Americans feels like kind of hard to imagine. Reviewed France's interior minister, Laurent Nunez offering his resignation to President Emmanuel Macron, saying that the police had not been prepared to deal with the scale of the riots that spun out from the planned protests saying, you can't look shopkeepers in the eye when hundreds of businesses have been looted and say we haven't lost control in some of these major cities. Now that said, Macron actually refused Nunez's resignation with him citing quote, the need for continued command of law enforcement in the current context. We did tell Nunez to quote, take all necessary steps to ensure full transparency about the failures in planning and intelligence gathering that led to the violence. Also with this, as far as how we're seeing things play out, you're seeing a lot of people blaming immigrants. With for example, Kevin Roberts of the Heritage Foundation saying, Mr. Macron, the people you are effectlessly asking to stop burning down your country, hardly understand the language you speak, nor do they care. Saying there are lessons you refuse to learn. And so France will continue to burn. You even had Donald Trump himself taking a truth social to say, migrants have taken over France. They must close the borders fast. While you had Trump, you know, blaming Macron for the riots. It seemed like Macron took a shot back at Trump in an address to the nation yesterday. Saying, and we should never mix up those people, those men and women who protest peacefully with looters and rioters. Because there are people out there who rightfully feel that the price of fuel is going too high. A price that has increased because of what is happening in the Persian Gulf, which is a war that France is not involved with. But he didn't outright say that the riots were Trump's fault. But as far as the cost of things internationally, those have been greatly impacted with some countries being affected more than others. But as far as, you know, what things are gonna look like from here, it is a bit of a waiting game. Prime Minister Le Cornu called for limited and localized curfews to prevent as much further looting as possible. Macron, he's even banned public gatherings in certain spaces and a hope to make sure that the rioting stops. But also you've got people wondering, you know, whether flexing that authority muscle is gonna be the best idea at the moment. Or with some worry that there's a chance that it could take a situation that's finally slowed to a simmer and cause it to flare back up again. Or possibly does it calm things down even more? Well, we're gonna have to wait to see how it plays out. In the meantime, of course, I'd love to know your thoughts on this. And then there's even more we gotta dive into in just a minute, but really quick, a small break with our sponsor. Right, so remember my buddy who blew out his Achilles and needed an orthopedic surgeon fast? Well, I've got a quick update. This is exactly why getting in quickly mattered. Right, he was today's sponsor, ZocDoc, to book a fast appointment with a reputable sports medicine orthopedic doctor, and now he's had that surgery. And after, you had the doctor explaining that if he had waited much longer, the injury would have become more complicated and potentially required a more involved procedure. And so for me, that ends up being a pretty good reminder that when something feels urgent, spending days playing phone tag with doctor's offices is not ideal. So yeah, for a number of reasons, I'm very happy ZocDoc exists. Because ZocDoc lets you search, compare high quality in-network doctors, read real patient reviews, check detailed profiles, and see actual appointment availability. 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Download the PrizePix app today and use code SPOTIFYED, that's code SPOTIFYED, to get $150 instantly in lineups if you win your first $5 lineup. PrizePix. Run your game. - Must be present in certain states. - But then, diving right back into the news, we've got to talk about how Katie Zachariah not only broke the record for the shortest serving press secretary in American history, lasting only half a Scaramucci, but we've got to talk about some more details about her rapid fall that have come out while rumors are swirling about who's gonna take her place. And all of this because on Friday, you had Zachariah being removed from her new position after Trump said that she should think about leaving the role. - She's been treated, I would say, pretty nastily. And I said to Katie just two minutes ago, I said, Katie, you know, you don't have to do this if you don't want. I said to her, honestly, if I were you, I'd reconsider. You think about it, but I would reconsider. - For Zachariah's short time as press secretary, it was kind of like a train crash. It just kept getting worse and worse. Also, I'll say there was something for a moment that was like almost inspiring about it. It was kind of this message to the world of like, hey, you could just not be qualified at all for a position and maybe you'll even get it. But as much as Trump says that he's anti-DEI, apparently, not if it's for the dumbest people possible. Right in the case of Zachariah, you know, first there was the absolutely disastrous first press conference where she was just super awkward and uncomfortable. Speaking in this very canned manner, clearly reading from a script, though still somehow confusing the president and her husband, taking questions from three reporters, all of which happened to just be from conservative outlets, rather than ending the presser after only 15 minutes. And then of course, there was the whole lying about being a lawyer thing. Just wild, right? 'Cause Zachariah graduated from Pepperdine University's law school in 2011, and she has repeatedly called herself a lawyer on LinkedIn and Fox News and other conservative outlets have used that title when she appeared as a commentator. But then ahead of her first day, you had reporters unable to find actual evidence that she had passed a bar exam or had been admitted to the bar in any state. And when she was first pressed on where she took the bar, she said. - She said she's an attorney. Where did she pass the bar exam? Which state? - Which state? - Where did she go? - China. - Where did you pass the bar? - Where did you pass the bar exam? - And unsurprisingly, that just made things worse and it raised even more questions. Zachariah later claiming that she just misheard the question over the noise of Marine One and saying that she thought she was asked where she went after law school and noting that she had moved to China with her husband. Though that also appears to be total bullshit because she literally said the words, "When I moved to China twice," in response to multiple reporters asking about the bar exam. But regardless, right? She eventually confirmed that she actually never passed the bar exam. And in fact, she even admitted to right-wing influencer and Pizzagate guy, Jack Posobiec, that she had taken and failed the California bar, claiming that she had pre-registered for the bar and didn't want to withdraw even though she knew she was moving to China with her husband. By saying that she was distracted because she had just gotten married after doing long distance for a while and adding, - And we just said, let's take this time and I'll take the bar and see what happens. The results are somewhat inconsequential because I knew I wouldn't need the bar in China. - But then with this, she also defended calling herself a lawyer. - I consulted for a very long time. Many people in the field, is it okay and acceptable if I label myself lawyer, not attorney, law, not Katie Zachariah Esquire, but lawyer and provide legal analysis, not legal advice. And they said, absolutely across the board. You can call yourself a lawyer. You have a JD and to buffer that, you have international legal experience. - But despite the fact that she literally acknowledged that she couldn't call herself an attorney, which is someone who passed the bar, CNN found at least 15 different social media posts that she shared identifying herself as an attorney just over the past two years. I mean, hell, I know the guy's not known for his accuracy or really even telling the truth most of the time, but even Trump called her an attorney. And she also repeatedly referred to herself as general counsel for multiple organizations, which is another title that experts say requires admittance to the bar. But then it appears that things really took a turn after she did two totally catastrophic interviews on Hannity and Fox and Friends, where the hosts were actually kind of tough on her and they actually pressed her with real questions. - You had your first moment as press secretary. It's been widely panned, I'm sure you're aware. It only lasted 14 minutes. You only took three questions. questions about your legal background, calling yourself a lawyer. You went to Pepperdine Law School, but you did not pass the bar exam, correct? Correct. There's a report out tonight that showed 15 social media posts where you identify yourself as an attorney. I think they were retweets, and I corrected the record and said that there's not endorsing the title. They were retweets of a title that had been given. Why not just say I went to Pepperdine Law School and then took a different career path, and I took the bar once and didn't pass it? Why get into this long, drawn-out definition between the difference between a lawyer and an attorney? It's been a tough week for you. It's not an easy job to be the press secretary, and you never want to be the story. But I have to ask, do you wish you would have disclosed to the president about the bar and not passing the bar? Yeah, well, Lawrence, those questions weren't asked. I'm being hired as White House press secretary and not White House counsel. The conversations and the reason that I was hired was to represent the president in the press. And so with all of that, you had a lot of people saying the final nail in the coffin was Zachariah's inability to hold her own in these two interviews with the Trump-friendly network. But actually now, we're seeing some interesting new details that are coming out about why she did those interviews in the first place. Because you had sources telling Politico that White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles helped set up the Hannity appearance. Some even described the move as a sanctioned hit on Zachariah because Wiles didn't want her in that role, while the others said that Wiles better to Hannity, noting that the two were friendly and speak often. And then you pair that with the reporting from The Independent that Trump offered Zachariah the job without telling Susie Wiles, who has been reported as working behind the scenes for weeks to hire CNN commentator Scott Jennings as press secretary. Which personally, I think, makes sense because it feels like Scott Jennings, like his, the past few years has been like him auditioning for the role of gaslighter-in-chief. But I will say, notably here, you had both the White House and Fox News Media deny you the role of the gaslighter-in-chief, which I think makes sense because it feels like Scott Jennings, like his, the past few years has been like him auditioning for the role of the gaslighter-in-chief, which I think makes sense because I think that's a real message. With them reporting that the messages, quote, indicate that Zachariah was leading the charge to get herself more camera time and do not show that Wiles had a role in the TV hits. And also, notably, this comes amid reports that Trump has soured on Wiles and is thinking about firing her, though he has denied those rumors. But regardless of that front, the big question now is who will be the next press secretary? Well, nothing's been announced yet. We have seen a number of names swirling around. Right, you have Scott Jennings. That name's appeared as an early favorite with the White House reportedly sending Wiles to talk to him. Trump himself has also floated Jennings as a good candidate back in August, while also mentioning Margaret. Harbo Martin, who's a special assistant to the president and White House communications advisor. Also, some other names that we're seeing mentioned a lot right now are White House communications director and evil human thumb, Stephen Chung, Stephen Miller's wife, Katie, former Trump lawyer, Alina Haba, as well as current deputy press secretary, Anna Kelly, who actually has taken a narrow lead over Jennings on both Kalshi and Polymarket. And we will say I'm not sure how much people should read into that because Zachariah, before she was picked up, was at like 1%. Also, I'll say to the sides, you have people like Laura Loomer pitching herself for the job, tweeting, hear me out, press secretary, Laura Loomer. And while it kind of seems. Like maybe she was joking around in other posts, right? Showing off some blonde hair. She was also maybe kind of trying to sell it. Writing in one post, for example, I would come with receipts every day and would aggressively defend our country and make sure the American people always had their issues raised inside the White House. Saying I'd be America's press secretary. Then you also had a lot of people, even on the right, mocking her with, for example, Candace Owens, who was very open about her dislike for Loomer, making a sarcastic endorsement. Writing, I fully endorse this. Every person who understands the Bolshevik takeover of this country should support this. Saying Laura Loomer, representing Donald Trump. And MAGA is the catalyst our country needs. Saying we need her hired and neocons defending her hiring. You also have the likes of Alex Jones chiming in and hitting a similar chord. This is the only way Trump can surpass his other incredibly genius move in appointing the last press secretary, who was such a great decision, would be Laura Loomer. That's the only way I can think of putting somebody in as good as the last lady here. Maybe even better if it's for further sabotaging the administration. And making the administration in trouble like a complete fool. A side of me really feels sorry for Laura Loomer. But she's also dangerous because when you combine her with Trump's, I think, pretty clear frontal lobe dementia that's starting to kick in, it's like a chemistry event where it creates a chain reaction. It's pretty explosive. So part of me says put her in there just for the spectacular, unintentional comedy. But also, I have a moral obligation to try to not have the country collapse. I don't have a nuclear war, so probably not best for me to be the press secretary. But at least as of right now, it does not seem like Loomer is a real contender. But also, who knows? Dumber and crazier things seem to be happening more and more often these days. I mean, genuinely, if we pull back for a second, how many things do you hear a day or a week around now that if you're real about it for just a second, seven years ago, would have stopped you in your tracks? Where you'd be like, no, there's no way. But that said, and hey, maybe famous last words. I don't think that they would give this position to Loomer. But I don't think it's because, like, Loomer is too evil for even Team Trump. I think it is that they want her evil outside of the White House to be most effective. Right? A snake like Scott Jennings would actually be way more effective in this role. And he's the closest to, like, a one-to-one of the things that Team Trump, or at least Trump himself, I think liked of Caroline Leavitt. But hey, for now, we'll have to wait to see who the circus brings to town. But then jumping from that to other news, we've got to talk about the fact that dozens of cities and towns all across the country have been discreetly landing contracts to get flock cameras on their streets without elected officials arresting them. Ever getting to vote on it. Right? That is what you've got this report from NBC News finding this morning, noting that governments have done this in two ways. One, by pricing contracts just under the minimum thresholds that would require a council vote or public notice. And two, through sole source or no-bid contracts that allow governments to bypass formal bidding processes that open the door to public scrutiny. And you had NBC noting that these towns were not generally breaking any rules here. They were working strategically within the rules. But still, this highlights a huge issue. Noting decisions to install cameras that record people's movements can be made without a meaningful public debate. Whether the technology belongs in a community. And you had no-bid contracts being by far the most popular way to skirt oversight. Though the contracts strategically priced to avoid approval votes were especially crazy to read into. Right? Because many made it incredibly close. Right? Like El Segundo in California, which is a city just below LAX, their contract was worth $49,999.98 to miss the $50,000 spending that requires a city council vote by just two cents. And in Denver, you had officials getting a contract worth $498,500 to miss a half a million dollar limit. And in North Riverside, Illinois, they had a contract for $50 less than the $25,000 baseline that would trigger competitive bidding. And overall, NBC found 11 contracts that came within $4,000 of the amount that would require some form of city council action. And this is especially notable because if you need a little refresher, people fucking hate Flock. They are by no means the only company that do it, but they make AI-powered license plate cameras that capture vehicles as they travel on public streets. And once a car is logged by a Flock camera, it goes into a massive system that can be searched by law enforcement all over the country. And many think that these are just tools of the surveillance. That it's a nationwide big brother network tracking your movements and you don't know who's accessing it or when. And there've been countless times now we've seen them being misused and abused by police officers who use these cameras for unprofessional searches like stalking exes. And it's also become a massive political issue with yes, a lot of Democrats, but also some Republicans condemning Flock and attempting to restrict those cameras. And it seems this political backlash has had a major influence on law enforcement. In Knox County, Tennessee, for example, political candidates from all sides are openly anti-Flock in the sheriff's office. They paid the company in increments of $24,999.99. $10 shy of the amount that would trigger a review from the mayor. No, it does not appear that these conveniently priced contracts are just coincidences. Earlier this year, for example, you had a local paper reporting that Anoka County Sheriff's Office in Minnesota signed a contract just one buck below the minimum amount requiring review from the county board. And you had that sheriff saying, "It became clear that national politics was weighing into the discussions regarding drones and license plate readers." And doubting it became clear to me that the only way for this pilot to move forward with a test run was to work for a vendor to operate a contract that I could sign of under $175,000. And adding, "This was deliberately done to make sure there were no legal issues tied to the dollar amount." And the county actually already has dozens of license plate readers. And the bulk of this contract is actually tied to Flock's drones, which can be dispatched alongside or even ahead of actual first responders when 911 is called. And according to the sheriff, if any city wants to opt out of it, they can. All they have to do is ask. But the means through which the contract came to be is frustrating for a lot of residents. With one county commissioner, for example, telling NBC News that she would have voted against the Flock deal if she had the opportunity. And adding, "To do it in this manner erodes public trust and we should be rebuilding it." Saying it's not the why, but it's the how we do things in government that I think really makes the difference. But also here, you did have some legal experts telling NBC that it is fairly common for contracts like these to try to circumvent democratic approval. And tech vendors are especially adept at navigating this. And you had one senior policy counsel at the ACLU even saying, "In a way, you cannot blame Flock and the police for taking advantage of a loophole." Saying it is incumbent on city councils to close those loopholes. And for their part, you had a Flock spokesperson saying that the public agencies are responsible for navigating this. So I will say this isn't the only reason that Flock's in the news today. Because MapQuest has now added a feature that lets users see where Flock cameras are on their realm. And you had MapQuest's general manager telling Business Insider, "We build around what drivers ask for and showing surveillance camera locations is one of our users' top three requests." And this tool, it applies to all kinds of automatic license plate reader cameras, right? It's not just those made by Flock. So the app, it can also identify cameras made by Axon, Motorola, PlateSmart and more. And so with all that, I'll say, one, it's gonna be very interesting to look at public sentiment and what's happening. And a lot of localities after the election. And two, this story really does hit on like how important local politics are. Obviously we're living in a time where it's like every election feels like we're fighting for the future of not only our lives, but our country. There are just so many local elections that people overlook and they have some of the biggest impacts on their lives. And so, hey, I say this as someone, I hate politics. Even having a show that dives into politics constantly, I hate it. But especially locally, not only pay attention, but get involved because like if your city council, for example, for example, is selling you out, people in elected positions, they're giving you the finger, give them the finger right back, vote those fuckers out. And then there's even more we gotta dive into in just a minute, but really quick, some self promo to help support the show. Because in crazy times like these times, there's never been a better time to wear your feelings. And right now over at beautifulbastard.com, there are new ways to wear your feelings. You've got teas and cruise, like I used to be on the honor roll, now I'm on a government watch list. Also do not talk to me about AI. How many grams of protein will it take to restore the light in my eyes? Of course, these are in addition to your other bestsellers, like "Yeah, No, I'm Fine", "God is Testing Me" and "I Refuse to Study", and "A Silly Goose in This Economy". With all of that and even more, available at beautifulbastard.com. So go snag your new favorite tea, your new favorite crew, and wear your feelings. And then, Devin, right back into the news, there's a few things we gotta talk about today, starting with this craziness. Because you just had a service member fall to his death in front of an entire football stadium this weekend. You might've already seen it, it felt like the algorithms were really pushing it. But yeah, it all happened at the Alamo Dome before the University of Texas San Antonio's annual salute to armed forces and veterans game. Air Force Tech Sergeant Ian Patterson was apparently one of four service members set to give a repelling demonstration coming down from the stadium's rafters. And this is actually something a squadron's heavily trained in, repelling from anything from 15-foot structures to helicopters over 100 feet in the air. Even had them do a similar demonstration at last year's game. But this time, the video posted all over the internet. It shows Patterson coming down pretty quickly and then falling onto the field before people run in to help. And from there, he had him reportedly treated for several minutes before then being put on a stretcher and taken to the hospital, though he eventually died from his injuries. So as far as at the game, apparently there was only a short delay before the game went on as planned. So you had a lot of people criticizing officials for not calling it off altogether, given how just absolutely horrible the situation was. But there, you had the American Athletic Conference saying that they decided to keep things going to mitigate speculation about Patterson's medical status while they waited for an official update to his condition after he was taken to the hospital. And then also, even though he wasn't there, you had people coming down on Pete Hegsett, reconnecting this to his warrior ethos that they say has made these types of demonstrations more common lately. Or people saying this is yet another pointless and tragic recruiting spectacle. And others adding, this ridiculous military showboating at football games needs to stop. Saying these men are human beings, not props for someone's political theater. But again, they've done demonstrations like this before at these games, and there also aren't any reports directly connecting Hegsett to anything. And so you had the Pentagon saying that it's disgraceful that anyone would use the tragic death of a service member to try to score political points. But for now, that's all we know. Is the situation still under investigation? And then also, in the news, we got to talk about how federal agents swept across California today to crack down on what they said is voter fraud. Leading to about a dozen arrests, what they said was a busted crime ring, and a very happy FBI director. You had Kash Patel posting, "Protecting American elections from criminal interference "remains a top priority of this FBI," before linking to the New York Post, who got the inside scoop. We since deleted that link. But the raids, they led to about two dozen arrests of alleged non-citizen voters, alongside a man accused of setting up a voting fraud scheme. Then a press conference officials added, "They don't think that these are isolated incidents." - We are investigating thousands of more similar cases throughout the nation. - In this statewide sweep, it comes just days after the federal government sued California for allegedly not properly auditing a list of 20,000 suspected non-citizen voters. And so for Trump supporters, today was more proof that voter fraud is actually widespread, and it is the largest bust by the administration yet. However, taken all together, this past year of efforts actually resulted in just over a hundred arrests of alleged non-citizen voters across the state. So you're talking a few dozen across America out of 224 million voters. That's a rounding error. And that's also, for argument's sake, giving the Trump administration the benefit of the doubt that everyone is actually guilty. Because the reality is that actually getting a conviction is incredibly difficult and rare. But despite that, you've got the Trump admin still really wanting to make this seem like a very, very big deal. That's why they told California to not count mail-in ballots for people the feds think might not be citizens until their status can be confirmed. Governor Gavin Newsom called it an attempt to interfere with California's voting process. And without a doubt, we're set up for this huge legal battle. And then last up today, it looks like Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts is out for the rest of the season after doctors found blood clots in his lungs. Though it's bigger than just a sports story. Because he was initially diagnosed with a superficial blood clot on his left calf on October 10th. And it was actually concerning enough that doctors reportedly told him that he couldn't sleep, which means that he apparently stayed up for 36 hours before then playing against the Jaguars in week five. And so hearing that now, you've got people saying, that the entire Eagles medical staff should be fired for even letting him play that game. But the health risks were huge, and so a lot of people want an investigation. Especially because he went in for an ultrasound last Wednesday, and that's when doctors found out that the blood clot had moved, and he had to sit out Sunday's game. And while there weren't a lot of details then, now we're getting hit with this news about his lungs, which shows why people are so concerned. Right, knowing the condition he was playing in back in week five. And that's as the blood thinners that he has to take until things get back to normal, those are enough to keep him off the field. Though also, because things are so bad for the Eagles right now, you've actually got some people out there making their own conspiracy theories up. - But it looked like they were trying to pin the outcome of this season on a Jalen Hurts, just so that they can have an excuse later on to move on from Jalen Hurts. If I'm Jalen Hurts or anybody in Jalen Hurts' camp, I'm saying, well, if everybody's hurt, I'm hurt too. To me, it looked like Jalen is kind of getting himself out of the fray. - Or with no shortage of people calling that one of the worst takes of all time. But hey, the one silver lining is that Hurts' team says that they expect him to make a full recovery without any long-term effects. It's just that it's gonna take time. Though, you have a lot of people really not knowing who to trust right now. And that, my friends, you beautiful bastards, is the end of your Monday show. Thank you for being a part of another daily dive into the news, supporting the show however you do, hitting that like button, sharing it, subscribing. Maybe you get some over at beautifulbastard.com. But mainly, I just wanna say thank you for being with me, 'cause if I dove into the news without this community, and maybe it's a mutual feeling, I feel like I'd be going crazy. So hey, no matter what you do, let me just say, I love yo faces, and I'll see you right back here tomorrow.