Starting a business can be overwhelming. You're juggling multiple roles, designer, marketer, logistics manager, all while bringing your vision to life. Shopify helps millions of business sell online. Build fast with templates and AI descriptions and photos, inventory and shipping. Sign up for your one euro per month trial and start selling today at shopify.nl. That's shopify.nl. It's time to see what you can accomplish with Shopify by your side. To stay up to date on all the news that you need to know, there's no better place than right here on the DSR Network. And there's no better way to enjoy the DSR Network than by becoming a member. Members enjoy an ad-free listening experience, access to our Discord community, exclusive content, early episode access, and more. Use code DSR26 for a 25% off discount on signup at thedsrnetwork.com. That's code DSR26 at thedsrnetwork.com slash buy. Thank you and enjoy the show. Hello, and welcome to the DSR Daily for Thursday, February 12th. I'm your host for today, Riley Fessler, joined by a special guest, our podcast producer, Joe Vitale. How are you, Joe? I'm doing well, Riley. I'm glad to be here. I'm looking forward to watching Team USA play hockey in the Olympics this afternoon. Yep. Our YouTube viewers will see that Joe and I are decked out in our various hockey gear. I have my Columbus Blue Jackets jersey. Joe has. I have a Snoopy USA hockey shirt and my signed Mike Aruzziani miracle on ice jersey up on the camera right now. So that's what we're doing today. Yeah. Not paying attention to the news because. Yeah. Because boy oh boy. Some bad news across the board today and I will just get us started. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi faced a combative five-hour hearing before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday where she was grilled by lawmakers over the Justice Department's handling of the Epstein files. Members of both parties criticized the department for sloppy redactions that exposed the private identities of sex abuse survivors while simultaneously shielding the names of powerful potential co-conspirators. Bondi repeatedly refused to apologize to the survivors present in the room, instead dismissing the inquiries as theatrics and launching personal attacks against her congressional critics throughout the testimony she defended the administration's actions by pivoting to topics such as the stock market and frequently praising president trump's economic record and leadership joe i know you watched some of this i was watching a lot of this before it aired and yeah i mean it was just incredibly frustrating to watch this administration as a joke when it comes to the epstein files and it can come when it comes to many things but i mean Bonnie's defense was just incredible. I don't want to get too cursed here, but how do you watch that and not see a fucking monster? How do you not apologize to the survivors or for shielding them and then ask the fucking prosecutors to apologize for attacking Trump or not supporting Trump? It's what a sick motherfucker. It pissed me off. I'm still pissed off about it. I'll leave it there. Yeah, I mean, the part that was incredible is when, I forget which members of Congress asked, but they asked the survivors there to raise their hands if they were a survivor and then raise their hands if they had not yet heard back from the Justice Department about testifying. And it was all of them. Which means Kash Patel and Pam Bondi are lying when they say they've exhausted every... Oh, they're lying? Yeah. Kash Patel and Pam Bondi. Oh, wow. I didn't know that. Yeah. I mean, it's just like they're lying when they say they've tried to find all the evidence because they haven't even interviewed dozens, if not hundreds, of survivors of the sex abuse. And so you can't say that you've actually done your job. It's gross. It's clear that this is what the administration wants. and we now know that Trump name is in the files a million times Yeah redacted though So I mean he all over the files This isn rocket science It's pretty obvious. And the other thing that Bondi kept falling back to is, well, you guys didn't ask previous administrations this. And that's true because this is not just the Trump administration. This is clearly an issue with multiple administrations. It goes in both parties. but this administration is certainly doing their best to cover it up they have more members of the cabinet and in the administration that are mentioning the files than any other so it's pretty clear what the game is here and it's disgusting and bondi's testimony if you could even call it that was was gross absolutely fucking gross man um going on right now at the time of recording or just afterwards, Borders are Tom Homan announced the conclusion of the immigration enforcement surge in Minnesota. Homan stated that Minnesota has become less of a sanctuary state, citing increased cooperation from local officials. This move is seen as an attempt to de-escalate tensions in Minneapolis, which has become a national flashpoint for anti-ICE protests after thousands of arrests and the killings of Renee Good and Alex Preddy. Local leaders have celebrated the end of the crackdown, but are recognizing the damage done from Operation Metro Search. As Governor Tim Walsh released in a statement this morning, the impact on our economy, our schools and people's lives won't be reversed overnight. so yeah basically holman is trying to play pretty with the uh with the trump administration's will to de-escalate these protests and all this negative coverage especially as we head into the 2026 elections if they do happen but um this is and i guess it's good news but i don't think it's a full reversal of the Trump agenda. Yeah, exactly. I mean, it's good and it shows one of the biggest and most public defeats the administration has suffered, at least from a PR standpoint. I mean, this and the Epstein files happening at the same time have been a ridiculous one-two combo to the jaw of this administration. And, you know, it follows with a story we're going to cover next, just showing that they have no hope for the midterms and that their only plan is to implement massive voter suppression and disenfranchisement because the moving on the republican controlled house of representatives passed the save america act on wednesday a bill that would require voters to provide a documentary proof of citizenship to register for the 2026 midterm elections the legislation also mandates photo identification for future federal elections and introduces criminal penalties for election officials who fail to verify the citizenship status of applicants. Supporters of the measure argue it is necessary to bolster election integrity and ensure only citizens participate in the democratic process, while opponents contend it will disenfranchise millions of eligible voters who lack easy access to required documents like passports or birth certificates. Although the bill now heads to a Republican-led Senate, it faces a significant hurdle as it is unlikely to secure the 60 votes needed to overcome a Democratic filibuster. Yeah, I mean, voter fraud is not a big issue in this country, despite what Republicans crow about constantly. It is just not an issue on a mass scale to swing elections. Obviously, voter fraud should be stopped whenever possible. But the best way to do that is not disenfranchise millions of people to block the few cases where it does happen. You know, this narrative that illegal immigrants are being bused to voting booths to vote for Democrats in droves is just not happening. There's never been any evidence for it. It's just a naked attempt to try and block, quote unquote, blue voters from voting in this election and the next. But this is also going to disenfranchise Republicans as well. So make no mistake, this is not this should not be a partisan issue. This should be something everyone is against because it is disenfranchising millions and it is not just millions of Democrats. So disgusting but not surprising. Well, if Trump's ICE operations were so successful, why are we worried about buzzing in illegal immigrants? Yeah, I mean I thought we had a strong border now. But I mean this is a narrative they always have where it the Democrats are both incredibly weak losers but also still managing to do these mass conspiracy theories And it just doesn match up with the reality but not surprising or new Starting a business can be overwhelming. You're juggling multiple roles, designer, marketer, logistics manager, all while bringing your vision to life. Shopify helps millions of business sell online, Build fast with templates and AI descriptions and photos, inventory and shipping. Sign up for your one euro per month trial and start selling today at Shopify.nl. That's Shopify.nl. It's time to see what you can accomplish with Shopify by your side. Starting a business can be overwhelming. You're juggling multiple roles, designer, marketer, logistics manager, all while bringing your vision to life. Shopify helps millions of business sell online. Build fast with templates and AI descriptions and photos, inventory and shipping. Sign up for your 1 euro per month trial and start selling today at Shopify.nl. That's Shopify.nl. It's time to see what you can accomplish with Shopify by your side. Starting a business can be overwhelming. You're juggling multiple roles, designer, marketer, logistics manager, all while bringing your vision to life. Shopify helps millions of business sell online. Build fast with templates and AI descriptions and photos, inventory and shipping. Sign up for your one euro per month trial and start selling today at Shopify.nl. That's Shopify.nl. It's time to see what you can accomplish with Shopify by your side. Well, to take things away from the tragedy of US domestic politics into the tragedy of US foreign policy, Secretary of State Marco Rubio will be leading the 2026 U.S. delegation to the Munich Security Conference this week. Rubio is tasked with calming nervous allies after months of mercurial U.S. policy, including Trump's recent insults towards NATO allies and threats regarding Greenland and Canada. The event will also take place in the shadow of J.D. Vance's speech last year, which has been widely described as a shock point for Europeans and a major blow to the transatlantic alliance. A group of prominent Democrats are attending to aim to reassure Europeans that the current administration's isolationism is not permanent and to try and rebuild trust. But the core takeaway for Europe as of late dealing with this administration is that they must now operate with the assumption that the U.S. is no longer a reliable partner. So, yeah, Riley, I, as you know, I got my master's degree from Georgetown in transatlantic relations. I'm a very, very pro-transatlantic relations guy. There's a lot on the table here. I'm crossing my fingers that this NATO and the US-EU or US-Europe relationship is not irrevocably damaged after the insane ridiculousness of Donald Trump's foreign policy decisions I hope that we can come back to a state where we recognize the importance of this relationship and can trust each other but I don't know man this is I don't know JD Vance really fucked it up last year and I don't know if I'm gonna trust Rubio to have anything smart to say or to have any fucking faith so we'll we'll see what happens yeah I mean Rubio is a bit smarter than JD Vance but I mean he's clearly just marching to the beat of this administration's drum so I don't think he's really gonna assuage the fears of anyone there and yeah i mean it's just a it's a total own goal i mean with the greenland thing greenland already being part of nato meaning we basically have full security from greenland um it's the same donald trump's so fucking stupid it's the same shit as people getting mad about bad bunny being in the super bowl as if he's not american as if Puerto Rico is not part of the USA. Yeah. I mean, it's just the racism of somebody speaking Spanish can't possibly be American. But, you know, maybe that's another story we could rant about. Prerequisite for becoming president should be knowing what your country is. You would think. Yeah, knowing what are territories of your own country and who your allies are. You know, maybe there should be some prerequisites to become president because apparently being a U citizen is not a good enough prerequisite But oh well I mean if you a US citizen who knows You might be shot and killed by ICE So yeah what prerequisite for that Yeah, true. Well, swinging back to more stupid foreign policy under this administration. The US House of Representatives voted 219 to 211 to overturn President Donald Trump's 35% tariffs on Canadian imports, which were originally implemented under a national emergency declaration regarding fentanyl trafficking, which we know is such a huge problem coming from Canada. The resolution passed after six Republican lawmakers broke ranks to join a united Democratic front, delivering a rare bipartisan rebuke to the president's signature trade agenda. This legislative action fought a failed attempt by House Speaker Mike Johnson to block the vote, which is made possible by an earlier procedural rebellion from within his own party. Although the measure signals growing congressional unease with the administration's economic policies, it remains largely symbolic as it faces a certain presidential veto, even if it is approved by the Senate. Yeah, I mean, nice that people are starting to wake up in the Republican Party and realize this is stupid and is just firebombing our own economy without really any benefit. You know, fentanyl trafficking from Canada is not an issue. It's incredibly minuscule. Doing this over fentanyl trafficking is a joke. It's clearly just Trump being pissy with Canada. and trying to give them a rebuke for not liking him. And it didn't work because it just hurt our own country, which is kind of all that Donald Trump's policies have done. So not at all surprising. To come full circle, Trump has said that China is going to take over ice hockey in Canada. I did not hear that. Yeah, yeah. He got pissed and said that he knows as much as hockey about anybody else and that China wants – China's going to take over Canada and get rid of ice hockey. So, yeah, that's – I mean – There's not much to really say about that. It's just so stupid. And I know all of our listeners are on the same page. Why are we going out to Canada? I mean – That doesn't make any sense. but hey if the chinese want to get into ice hockey that'd be pretty cool i think more countries should get into hockey clearly it's a growing sport everybody has seen heated rivalry more countries are craving hockey now's the time we need we need a puerto rican team that'd be awesome well no it's team usa yeah no i mean in the nhl i'm switching back to i'm switching back to talk of the NHL, not the Olympics. I'm sure our listeners love this, but if you are listening, at 3.10 p.m. Thursday, first U.S. hockey game of the Olympics, tune in. We will be watching. Both of my beloved Columbus Blue Jackets Olympians unfortunately have to face off in the first game because one is for Team Latvia, so good luck, Elvis Merzlinkus and Zach Rolrenski from Columbus. But, yeah, that's all we have in terms of actual news today. I hope you enjoyed this episode. We have more coming later today. We have Words Matter with the incomparable Norm Ornstein today at 2. Just wait. Just wait. I can't imagine the rant Norm's going to go on about Pam Bondi. You guys need to hear that. Ours was but aperitif and a booze-boosh for what Norm is going to have to say this afternoon. So you're not going to want to miss that. We've got some need-to-knows that are in your feeds now. Two came out yesterday for the public. So tune into those. Some very important messages there. As well as our DSR came out yesterday too with Joe Cerencioni and John Wolfstolt about our global arms control and the rise of nuclear talks in the Middle East. It's a great episode. I mean, if you know Joe and John, if you're a DSR listener, you do. It's a great discussion. Well, you've got plenty to listen to, and we'll be back for one more episode tomorrow for our weekly wrap-up. And until we see you again, enjoy the Olympics, enjoy our episodes, and buh-bye. the
