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 sign up at the DSR Network.com. That's code DSR26 at the DSR Network.com. Slash by. Thank you and enjoy the show. Hey everybody, it's Tuesday. I think is it Tuesday, Riley? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Tuesday. We concur. It's Tuesday. And this is DSR Daily. And I'm David Rothkoff. And that was Riley Fessler. And somewhere out there is a minister. Are you out there, ministering? Somewhere. Somewhere. So here we are to walk you through a few of the big stories of the day and throw in our two cents. So shoot somebody. Democratic leaders Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries have rejected a White House counter proposal on Homeland Security funding, labeling it incomplete for failing to address demands for stricter ice oversight. The negotiations are fueled by the recent fail shootings of two protesters by federal agents in Minneapolis, prompting Democrats to seek new use of force standards, judicial warrant requirements, and an editorial profiling. With a partial government shutdown looming the Saturday, Republicans remain resistant to these demands, citing concerns over agent safety while proposing their own measures, such as proof of citizenship requirements for voting. If no, a group is reached, funding for critical agencies like FEMA and the TSA could collapse, potentially mirroring the travel disruption seen during previous lengthy government closures. Yeah. I mean, first of all, you know, agent safety, I mean, is it that ice agents are actually being shot or injured? I don't recall that. I think it was actually us that has to be protected from them because there are a bunch of under-trained thugs with anger issues and weapons. But leave that aside. Do I think this will come out? Well, no, I don't. Will there be a shutdown? I don't know. We'll talk about that in some of our other pods this week. But I do think that at the end of the day, the solution will be inadequate. I'm still skeptical. I know Dems are being tough now. That's happened before in the past. I also want to keep my eye on that thing that was buried in Ryle's little statement there, which he referred to as requiring proof of citizenship for voting, which is the SAVE Act, which is going to make it harder for millions and millions of people to vote. And it's designed to do that because, you know, the theory on the GOP side is that it'll keep away sort of core democratic voters who don't have the resources, the means to go get a passport, go get a new birth certificate, that kind of thing. And it's incredibly pernicious, one of the most grotesque examples of voter suppression we've seen. So you've got to keep an eye on that one too, because the Republicans are scared out of their mind at what the outcome of this election will be. Because right now, if the election were held today, they'd lose the House, they'd probably lose the Senate. And the new Congress would start attempting to reverse many of the things that were done here. Would Trump veto, probably, would some of the vetoes be overridden? That remains to be seen. But it'll certainly be a different world. And they are petrified. It's February. We're nine months away. And this is going to heat up, you know, I mean, this is going to surpass the ice story, although we must always remember that the ice story, as partially a story of giving the president a predicate for sending troops into the street to suppress voting that way. And Stephen, Steve Bannon, he of the Epstein files, has already stated that that was a strategic goal. Okay, that was too long a response to a first story. So I'll try to be concise here a minute. The US said its struck a vessel allegedly involved in drug trafficking in the Eastern Pacific, killing two people and leaving one survivor, marking the second such strike in four days. The Trump administration argues the renewed boat strikes resumed in late January after a brief pause are necessary to curb illicit drug flows with dozens of strikes in September, killing at least 120 people. Critics, including Colombian president, Gustavo Petro, have condemned the operations as potential war crimes, citing civilian injuries and deaths. Yeah, I mean, you know, there is this sort of fundamental principle that we as a country were founded on, which is that everybody deserves due process and that the United States, you know, believes in that idea and that we don't just put people to death summarily because we don't like the way they look or we don't like the shape of their boat or we don't like where their boat is gone. Even if they are trafficking in drugs, the penalty for trafficking in drugs is not the death penalty. So this is wrong on every level. It's wrong. It's foreign policy. It's wrong legally. It's wrong morally. And that's why they're doubling down on it because they somehow think that it makes them look tough to their base or perhaps it provides a story to distract from Epstein or cratering economy or the fact that they have no other agenda. Whatever it is, it's wrong on every level and it doesn't achieve anything positive on any low. Top immigration officials are set to testify before Congress this week regarding the Trump administration's controversial enforcement operations in Minnesota, which have faced intense scrutiny. While the administration recently withdrew 700 officers from the region, local leaders and lawmakers remain critical of the aggressive tactics that have reportedly swept up legal refugees and residents without criminal records. Republican committee leaders hope the testimony will provide a much needed transparency to turn the temperature down on frequent violent clashes between the federal officers and protesters. Well, to have that affected all, it'll just turn the temperature up between the critics of the president and the members of his administration because undoubtedly they will say, well, why don't you take off your masks and they'll say, well, we'll be doxed and then they'll say, well, why don't you not shoot civilians and they'll say, well, the civilians pose a threat if they get in our way and we'll go through this discussion around and around and then possibly, Pam Bond is going to be going up to the hill soon. We know what they do. We know what Bessent did, but you know what other members of the administration do when they go up and that is if they don't have an answer that they think is a, you know, adequate pushback to the questions are getting, they'll just attack these people who are asking the questions. They'll just do op-o research on Democrats and try to change the subject or not answer the question. So these things end up being a bit of a circus, not super constructive. Does that mean the conversation should not be held? No, it should be held. I'm just trying to set your expectation in the right place. Classified whistleblower complaint alleges the director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard withheld top secret intelligence for political reasons, but two inspectors general found the key allegation not credible and said the complaint did not meet the legal standard for an urgent concern. Gabbard's general counsel warned the whistleblower's attorney against directly briefing Congress due to the risk of illegally disclosing classified information, even as lawmakers received redacted copies of the complaint months after it was filed. Democrats criticized the long delay and seek further scrutiny while Republicans back Gabbard who denies wrongdoing and says she acted appropriately once told the complaint had been shared. Had to be shared. Yeah, I mean, this administration has no credibility in these matters. The main thing that this administration does is obstruct justice and cover up the crimes and the missteps of its own members and the friends of the administration, drunk dealers and white collar felons and January 6th insurrectionists and the like. And that is why no matter what Gabbard says, nobody is going to believe her. The assertion that seems to be circulating out there about what this complaint is, is that somebody close to the administration was providing information to or in contact with the foreign government in a way that was inappropriate. And that does sound like the kind of thing that is appropriate for whistleblower's complaint. I haven't seen the evidence. I don't know who the two inspectors general were who looked at it. By the way, I was really happy that you did say inspectors general instead of inspectors general's like attorneys general. It's a little nuance, but here inside the beltway, it's the kind of thing that makes everybody smile quietly to themselves. Anyway, meanwhile, Tulsi Gabbard is involved in an effort involving the president to try to suggest that the 2020 elections were stolen. That's bad, but I do want to remind everybody that's not the purpose of the effort. Yes, Trump can't get over the 2020 election. He can't believe that Joe Biden beat him, but that's not the issue here. If they can prove or if they can allege in some kind of credible way or if they can find a shred of evidence or even if they can't find a shred of evidence and their assertions are credible, they will make assertions that foreign governments are trying to manipulate the election and that therefore the federal government should take over and control these things and once again put their thumb on the scale to help offset public revulsion at the policies of this administration and guide the November election away from the result that would be the result of a free and fair election. This is Tulsi Gabbard's main job right now. It's also I think Pambandi's main job right now. Right now everybody is circling the wagons for an assault on voting rights in the United States like we have never seen and I say that knowing full well that for years we denied voting rights to people of color for years longer for other for well over century we denied voting rights to women. So it's not like we have perfect record in that but it does seem like this administration wants to make us travel backwards in time. US law makers Brokana and Thomas Massey have accused the Department of Justice of improperly redacting millions of pages of Jeffrey Epstein's files claiming the FBI scrubbed documents earlier this year in violation of the Epstein of Files Transparency Act. I'll deputy attorney general Todd Blanche asserts a commitment to transparency and has begun restoring some non-victim names. Lawmakers remain critical of the omission of high profile individuals they believe are incriminated within the files. The release is also drawn fierce backlash from survivors and after some documents inadvertently exposed victims personal information in photos and air the OJ attributed to technical and human mistakes. Yeah remember the survivors folks remember the people who were attacked. They by the way they took unredacted copies of the Epstein files that have been released and they made them available to members of Congress yesterday in a closed room holding on a computer that and the congressman could not bring their staff or the congresspeople could not bring their staff. But coming out of those discussions we've heard even more heinous assertions that some of the girls that were attacked some of the girls that were exploited and abused some of the girls who were raped were 14 13 12 10 9 years old. So let's try to focus back here okay focus back not on the the legal pulling back and forth or the games that are being played but of the fact that for most of the past 15 years 19 years now this effort has been organized by our government or tolerated within our government. Democrat and Republican administrations alike at protecting the powerful people involved and not getting justice for these women and it's time they got justice it's time the truth came out it's time those who are involved were held accountable if there are expired statutes of limitation they should also be held accountable the court public opinion it's time and it doesn't seem to be going away even as yesterday Jolaine Maxwell went to the congress went through an exercise by which she pleaded the fifth and divulged no information and then said but I would be happy to provide information if I am given clemency and in that case I could provide the kind of information that would show that for example the president is not culpable. Now this is a notorious sex trafficker who lied repeatedly to the FBI who is now saying I will say whatever Donald Trump wants if he gives me a part. Rokana or other other members of congress talking about this yesterday also noted that she shows no remorse she doesn't think she did anything wrong she deserves to be in jail for the rest of her life. Well here we are Tuesday it's warming up a little bit here I'm told they're in the DC area so but when perhaps we'll be out of the deep freeze for a while and that will be just in time for all of you to go out and do your Valentine's Day shopping Riley have you done your Valentine's Day shopping. I have and does your girlfriend listen to this podcast sometimes so I'm not willing to disclose you're not willing to disclose the puppy the puppy you got or the big giant Saint Bernard puppy that you thought was the perfect Valentine's Day gift. You know now you've ruined it. I thought we agreed not to talk about that on air but yeah yeah I'm sorry that wouldn't that be a hilarious Valentine's Day like not just a puppy but a Saint Bernard puppy. I think there's a certain person out there who would really love that but in general I would say probably better to play it safe. Yeah probably it's a bad idea. Menna take this and write this down no Saint Bernard puppies already already written down. File the way in our meeting notes. Yeah and do you do because you introduced me to this term do you are you celebrating Valentine's Day Mita? I am celebrating Valentine's Day. I sent all of my all of my Valentine's Day cards out to all of my girlfriends so I'm a big fan of celebrating Valentine's Day and Valentine's Day and any day that gives me an opportunity to tell the people in my life that I care about them and that they're amazing so any any day that gives me that opportunity I'm doing it. I love liberals don't you love liberals they're just so full of love they're like bad bunny but is Valentine's Day Friday the 13th? I'm just like that bunny and I appreciate you saying that because yeah not a lot of people have been saying that since this we should I always I think I think you're just like bad bunny and to be honest with you we should all be more like bad bunny I mean I think that would be an aspiration would make it better but just one last question on this because I'm ignorant and old. Valentine's Day is that the day before? Yeah it's the 13th. Friday the 13th? Yes not every year though. Yeah well this year it's Friday the 13th. I know that. Every day this year is Friday the 13th. Oh Friday now there's a sequel to a series of movies that could have a big orange murderer in it. We should we should that that did you see the AI version of Melania that was circulating out there? No. It's kind of a Melania as a horror movie with like it's it's very like weird but in some ways kind of great Google it. All right sorry folks we don't usually you know recommend AI Slop here but occasionally if it's funny and we'll go look for more today and we will also be team up and doing other podcasts. We've got our political team coming in to talk about where we are at this moment. What to worry about? The sayback then everything else Simon Rosenberg and Jeremy Gowon we've got our deep state radio coming. We've got words matter coming. We did a great silaconsciousness yesterday which I encourage everybody to listen to. There's more on AI energy and climate. There's the daily blast every day. There's so much. I mean let's be honest you don't need the rest of the media if you have the DSR network. You just don't. You just don't you don't have to go and be scrolling all day. You could just listen to our stuff while you're in the gym getting healthier and have all this other free time to like write poetry or stuff. Take care of your Saint Bernard. Well that's it for us today. Thank you Raleigh. Thank you, Minna. Bye bye.
