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Aug. 16, 2021 - Epoch Times

21:59

Report: Democrat Mayors Spent Over $43M on Private Security WHILE Defunding Police | Facts Matter

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	Good evening.
	Earlier today, new data revealed that gas prices in this country have hit a seven-year high, meaning that if you'd like to fill up your car, you'll be paying the same price you paid back in 2014.
	Meanwhile, according to this report right here, Democrat mayors in 20 of America's largest cities, they slashed the budgets of their police departments while at the same time spending millions of tax dollars on their own security details.
	And lastly, as the number of illegal migrants crossing into this country has hit a 20-year high, with new reports showing that many of them are bringing the virus into this country, we went down to Texas and we had a chance to interview Ken Paxton, who is the Attorney General, and we asked them what's going on as well as what can be done.
	Let's go through it all together.
	This is your daily Facts Matter update, and I'm your host, Roman, from the Epoch Times.
	And now let's begin today's discussion by talking about defunding the police.
	Specifically, about the apparent hypocrisy surrounding the politicians who are actually calling to defund police departments.
	To start with, Congresswoman Cori Bush, she's a Democrat from Missouri, she's a vocal proponent of the defunding the police movement.
	However, it was just revealed that while she is on the national stage calling for police departments across the country to be defunded, she has herself spent over $70,000 on private security.
	Again, let me just repeat that.
	While Cori Bush has been calling for police departments across this country to be defunded, she herself has spent at least $70,000 on personal security.
	And when she was asked about the seeming contradiction by CBS News, she suggested that people should just suck it up.
	Here's what she said.
	I'm going to make sure that I have security because I know I have had attempts in my life.
	And I have too much work to do.
	There are too many people that need help right now for me to allow that.
	So if I end up spending $200,000, you know what?
	I get to be here to do the work.
	So suck it up.
	And defunding the police has to happen.
	We need to defund the police and put that money into social safety nets because we're trying to save lives.
	She then further blamed racism and white supremacy for her need to have security.
	Here's what she said.
	You want to see me die?
	You know, because that could be the alternative.
	So either I spent $70,000 on private security over the last few months and here I am standing now unable to speak or I could possibly have a death attempt on my life.
	I have private security because my body is worth being on this planet right now.
	I have private security because of the white supremacist racist narrative they drive into this country.
	Now, Cori Bush is not the only politician who is calling to defund the police on the one hand, while at the same time spending tax dollars, many tax dollars on personal security.
	In fact, according to this report here that was just obtained by a government watchdog group, Democrat mayors in 20 of America's largest cities slashed the budgets of police departments while at the same time spending millions of tax dollars on their own security details.
	Now, the group which obtained these records is called Open the Books.
	They're a nonprofit which aims to track every penny of government spending.
	And here's what their president said in a statement when he was talking about this report.
	In 25 major U.S. cities, officials have proposed cutting, or in 20 cases already cut, police budgets.
	However, what Open the Books auditors found was that mayors and city officials still enjoy personal protection of a dedicated police detail costing taxpayers millions of dollars.
	This is police protection for me, the political elites, but not for thee, the citizens.
	Now let's go through a few examples of what this report actually revealed.
	So let's start in San Francisco, where Mayor London Breed, he's a Democrat, he proposed shifting $120 million from the police force from the city's police department over into mental health as well as workforce training programs.
	However, during that same time period, the security detail for both himself as well as for other city officials, it spiraled up from $1.7 million back in 2015 all the way up to $2.6 million in the year 2020.
	That's more than a 50% increase for security for public officials while at the same time he was proposing to cut the police budget Likewise, over in the city of Chicago, Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who is also a Democrat, she publicly claimed that she opposed defunding the police.
	However, according to this data, it shows that officials in her administration, they quietly eliminated 400 police department positions last year, in the year 2020.
	And so, at the same time that 400 police jobs were abolished, the city security detail, it peaked, costing taxpayers a cool $3.4 million in the year 2020, which was an all-time high.
	So again, at the same time that she is publicly saying that she opposes defunding the police, her administration quietly cut 400 police positions, and at the same time, the security detail for city officials, it ballooned all the way up to $3.4 million.
	Meanwhile, over in the city of Baltimore, Mayor Brendan Scott, who is also a Democrat, his administration spent $3.6 million on a security detail for both himself as well as for the state attorney and the police commissioner.
	However, during that same time period, the Baltimore Police Department's, their budget, it was cut by $22 million.
	And this, by the way, comes at a time when Baltimore is seeing rising violent crimes like murder, robbery, and assault.
	And specifically, here's what opened the books.
	Here's what this report said about the city of Baltimore.
	Protection for the mayor included six officers and one sergeant, costing almost $2 million.
	The state's attorney has three officers and one sergeant, costing $1.3 million.
	Police commissioner's security detail included two officers and one sergeant, costing $464,000.
	And again, this comes at the same time that the city of Baltimore cut $22 million out of the police budget.
	Likewise, over in the city of San Diego, Mayor Todd Gloria, who's also a Democrat, his administration's budget includes $2.6 million to protect both him as well as members of the city council.
	However, at the very same time that this budget exists, here's what Open the Book said about the police budget over in San Diego.
	However, the mayor's budget calls for cutting $4.3 million from the police overtime budget and spending more than $1 million to set up the new police oversight body the Commission on Police Practices.
	And by the way, there are a lot more examples in this report of cities ranging all the way from Denver, Colorado to Minneapolis, Oakland, Portland, Milwaukee, Seattle, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Austin, Dallas, Camden, New Jersey.
	There are just literally too many to go through.
	And actually, we hear at the Epoch Times, specifically Joshua Phillip, he has a program called Crossroads.
	He had a chance to sit down with the president of Open the Books, the organization that released this report, and here's how he summarized the findings.
	I think this is one of those stories where, you know, politicians are being hypocrites.
	No new news.
	But the details are pretty interesting, and I think it, you know, it serves a real educational value to go through it.
	Being hypocrites with public safety, though, that's a whole other level of it.
	You're exactly right about that, because the number one public policy issue I'll submit is the resource allocation of taxpayer money to first responders and on public safety issues, so we can get into those details.
	That's the most basic issue.
	That's the most basic function of government, is just having laws and protecting people's life, liberty, and property, basically.
	Right.
	That's the most basic function of government.
	And by doing this, they basically not only did away with that, but even obviously saw that maybe they themselves didn't feel safe because of what they'd done and wanted to keep themselves safe and use the taxpayer dollars that we give them for that purpose to protect themselves rather than the population.
	Right.
	These mayors have to answer one basic question, and they've got a lot of explaining to do on it.
	Since when is the police protection for the people, since when does that matter less than their own protection, right?
	Now, if you would like to dig through this report for yourself, I'll throw a link to it in the description box below this video so you can check it out at your own leisure.
	And all I ask in return is that you take a quick moment to smash that like button.
	Because honestly, it goes without saying that videos that are like this, talking honestly about what is happening in this world right now, Are routinely censored or throttled by big tech giants like YouTube.
	However, when you smash that like button below this video, you are forcing the YouTube algorithm to share this video out to potentially tens of thousands of more people, letting the truth be known far and wide.
	And now let's talk about the pump.
	More specifically about the gas pump.
	And if you've been driving around, then I'm sure you're already noticing it for yourself.
	The gas prices in this country have gotten high.
	In fact, as of yesterday, according to the data that we were able to compare with the U.S. Energy Information Administration, gas prices have just hit a seven-year high.
	That's right.
	As of last week, the average price for a gallon of gasoline across this country was $3 and, you know, I never know how to read this kind of a number, let's say $3.16.
	And the AAA, which is the American Automobile Association, they released a statement recently saying that they expect gas prices to remain this high at least through the beginning of this month, through the beginning of August.
	Here's what part of their statement said.
	Among them might be the closure of the Keystone XL pipeline, which is something that Joe Biden killed on his first day in office.
	It might be due to the oil prices rising because of rising tensions over in the Middle East.
	And or it might be due to lower demand because many big companies are still having their employees work from home.
	And of course, this new surge in COVID cases might...
	Now in regards to that last point, here's what the chief petroleum analyst over at GasBuddy, here's what he wrote in a tweet.
	Given today's disclosure that Amazon is joining others in delaying a return to office, I see additional downsides to gas prices.
	It's clear with Delta surging that gasoline demand will fall off heading into fall.
	Now, the other thing that was mentioned as a possible cause for this spike in gas prices were rising tensions over in the Middle East.
	And that's something worth highlighting.
	For instance, just a few days ago, there was an Israeli-owned oil tanker that was attacked by a drone strike while it was off the coast of Oman.
	That strike, by the way, killed two people.
	And you might be asking yourself, who exactly was responsible for that attack?
	Well, according to the U.S. military, who sent explosive experts to that ship in order to take a look, they concluded that the drone behind the attack was produced over in Iran.
	However, Iran came out and denied these allegations, with one of their senior military officials saying this, If we were to confront the enemies, we would declare it openly.
	So the recent storytelling by the enemies is a psychological operation.
	Contrary to the strategy of the United States, Britain, and Israel, which aim to create insecurity and Iranophobia, Iran's strategy is to strengthen security in the Persian Gulf.
	And please notice that in that statement, he did refer to us as well as those other countries as the enemy.
	They further denied any involvement and said that the evidence of it being a drone that was likely produced in Iran was likely forged.
	Here's what that senior official said on that front.
	Preparing forged evidence is not a difficult task as the Zionists excel at preparing forged documents.
	Now, while that's happening over in the Gulf, there are also rocket battles, once again, happening in Israel.
	That's because three days ago, two rockets were launched from Lebanon and they struck Israeli territory.
	Then, in retaliation, the very next day, Israel's military launched rockets into Lebanon, striking an artillery site.
	And then, as a response to that on the next day, Lebanese terrorists launched a heavy barrage of rockets into Israel.
	And the reason that we know that these are Lebanese terrorists is because Hezbollah, which is an Iran-backed organization who is officially designated as a terrorist group by the U.S., they said in a statement on Friday that they were the ones who were launching these rockets.
	And over half of the rockets, by the way, were intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system, while the other half just fell into open areas and reportedly without injuring anyone.
	However, that of course led to another round of retaliation by Israel, with Israel's military releasing this statement.
	In response to the 10-plus rockets just fired at Israel from Lebanon, we are currently striking the rocket launch sites in Lebanon.
	Now, for your reference, by the way, according to this report here from the State Department, Hezbollah has about 150,000 rockets aimed at Israel along the country's northern border.
	So it's kind of a constant threat.
	And in terms of where Hezbollah's funding actually comes from, here's what that report says.
	Iran continues to provide Hezbollah with most of its funding, training, weapons, and explosives, as well as a political, diplomatic, monetary, and organizational aid.
	Now, if you'd like to read more about these increased gas prices, or about these happenings over in the Middle East, I'll throw all those links into the description box below this video for you to check out.
	And now, I'd like to introduce today's sponsor for our episode, which is the Like button.
	That's right, for the low, low cost of zero dollars and zero cents, you can smash that like button and force the YouTube algorithm to share this video out to potentially thousands of more people, letting the truth be known far and wide.
	And now let's talk about the U.S. southern border.
	According to preliminary numbers from the U.S. government, it shows that migrant encounters for the month of July, for the month of July 2021, are expected to be 210,000, which is, for your reference, by the way, a 20-year record.
	It would also mean that, so far this year, Border Patrol has encountered over a million illegal migrants over at the U.S. southern border.
	And if this trend continues, that number will reach 2 million by the end of the year.
	And furthermore, as America is currently facing calls for enforced vaccination, for new mask mandates, and even for the potential of further lockdowns, there appears to be a glaring hole in regards to these individuals who are coming illegally across the southern border.
	As just an example of what that actually means in practice, the city of McAllen, Texas, which is a city on the border, it actually borders Mexico, it reported that since February, the federal government has released over 7,000 COVID-positive migrants into their city.
	And according to that same report, by the way, that includes 1,500 newly infected migrants in just the last week alone.
	And so, in order to make sense of what is actually going on, while I was down in Texas, I had a chance to sit down and speak with Ken Paxton, who is the Texas Attorney General, and I asked them what's happening over the southern border, as well as what can be done.
	Take a look.
	We talk a bit about the border.
	Can you explain to the audience, if they haven't heard about it, what Title 42 is, what the state of it was prior to the Biden administration, what the state of it is now?
	So the main issue that we focus on there is this whole idea of catch and release.
	And we have it was something that President Trump started to enforce where they didn't just grab people and let them go.
	And so we've actually sued over this.
	We've sued over the covid restrictions that the CDC put in place that are supposed to be followed as well.
	That's another lawsuit that we have.
	And then we've also got this public charge rule that actually Bill Clinton put into place where it basically says if you're an illegal immigrant, you're coming into the country and you're going to be a public cost to us immediately.
	You can't come to the country and get some type of status to stay here in this country.
	So, what's the status of Title 42?
	Has it been rescinded completely, or is it just not being followed to the book?
	Well, so no, they're trying to get rid of it.
	And the problem is, it will have an economic and a social cost to it, which means we will have more COVID spreading around the United States, supposedly an issue they care about.
	But as it relates to immigration, they are pushing it aside as if it doesn't matter.
	Yeah, in fact, I was reading some of the reports.
	Some of the areas where the immigrants, well, the illegal aliens are being housed, the COVID numbers are off the charts, like the high double-digit numbers.
	I have to read another source just because I think it might be a typo how high those numbers are in terms of the COVID cases.
	Yeah, it's not surprising.
	I mean, because these people are coming in from all over the place.
	They're not getting tested when they come in.
	They're not getting vaccinated when they come in.
	And it's ridiculous, given what you have to do as a citizen of this country.
	If you come in from another country, you have to be tested.
	And you have to follow the rules.
	And yet, somehow...
	They're being excluded because they're illegal.
	Makes no sense.
	So besides this lawsuit that you filed against the Biden administration, can you talk about some of the other things that Texas is currently doing, like the wall project, as well as asking for law enforcement resources from other states?
	Yeah, so I think you've nailed it.
	We are asking for states to help us because this is a problem that affects not just Texas.
	It's going to affect the entire country.
	The cartels are becoming immensely powerful under the Biden administration, even more than they were under Obama.
	They are making lots of money because everybody that comes across the border has to pay them.
	So there's a lot of money being made by the cartels just importing people.
	Second, they're making more off their drugs because Border Patrol is so busy focused on taking care of these people that are coming across the border and housing them and feeding them and all of that that we're losing some of the drug trafficking into Texas and into the rest of the country.
	All of that will filter through the country.
	All of that will have an economic and social cost And for some reason, the Biden administration is benefiting the cartels at the expense of the American people and even at the expense of these immigrants who are now subject to cartel control.
	Why do you think the mainstream media is not covering it as much as the story warrants?
	Is it because they're covering potentially for the Biden administration or is it because they have a different view of what's happening at the border?
	Well, what's your take on that?
	I mean, I think they're covering for the Biden administration.
	I think they know that there's a real issue down there.
	They know that the numbers, it's factual.
	The numbers are worse than they were under Obama, that they're getting worse, that there is more drug trafficking, there is more human trafficking, there is more sex trafficking.
	They don't want to talk about that because it doesn't look good for the president.
	He's already, you know, as far as the polls go, people are starting to realize that even without the coverage.
	So the more transparency we have, The more openness about what's actually happening in these centers, which they exclude people from going into, where all these kids are housed, the more people know about that, the less they like it.
	And of course, the media doesn't want to do anything that would hurt the Biden administration.
	How much can these other resources from states do?
	Because I know that in Texas, you could use those resources to maybe arrest people as they're crossing the border, but you can't deport them because that's a federal issue, right?
	Eventually, you're going to run out of jail space.
	So what's the long-term hearings?
	So, you know, it's very complicated for us because we have a U.S. Supreme Court decision that was decided when Kennedy was there and Justice Roberts went with it.
	And the idea was, you know, Arizona created their own laws to protect their own citizens.
	And the U.S. Supreme Court said, no, this is a purview of the federal government.
	You can't do that, Arizona.
	Well, that creates a real problem for us because in Texas, if the federal government is not enforcing the laws they have, And then we are precluded because those laws exist from doing anything, then our citizens get hurt.
	So we have to start doing something to protect our citizens.
	So what do you see the long-term effect of this?
	The long-term effect is we're going to have to find a way to deport people that are coming into our state, either because they're violating state law.
	We say, okay, you're out of here because you're violating our state laws.
	And then make the federal government stop us if somehow they can.
	Wow.
	Can you give us a little bit of an update on the wall project?
	So the wall project is, you know, sad in some ways because what I've seen from the federal government is they stopped a perfectly good project that we know was working, that the Border Patrol was happy with, that our own law enforcement in Texas were happy with, including our sheriffs.
	And they stopped Something that was going along really well.
	So now Texas is in a position where we're trying to fund it, which we don't have all the resources we need to fund beyond a 1,200 mile border.
	So we're doing our best using our state resources and hoping that people will contribute as we build it piece by piece.
	Wow.
	In fact, I heard that you requested all the land that was grabbed by the federal government for the wall but was never used for the wall.
	You're requesting that they return that land.
	Did they ever do that?
	So it's going to be a long process because we would much rather have that land returned if it's not going to be used for a wall and then we're prevented from actually We're going to try to see if we can do that.
	Whether the federal government cooperates, we may have to go around them.
	My guess is right now that would be their position.
	Everything that we can do, according to their administration, to keep open immigration, anybody from coming across the border, they're going to do.
	Why do you think that is?
	Why do you think they're allowing it?
	Because their policies, he's pretty much stated it.
	The border is open.
	We're not even taking criminals that are being released and deporting them.
	There's no limit to who can come in and who can stay.
	What is the motivation for them to do it?
	A lot of people suggest that it could be that they overwhelmingly vote Democrat or the second generation does.
	Do you believe that that's the case?
	I think that's part of it.
	I also think they are keeping as many of these people in Republican states as they can because they want to do harm to our states.
	It costs us money.
	We have a lot more crime.
	We have more drugs.
	We have more cartel activity.
	I think they want that for those states.
	Now, if you'd like to watch those interviews in full, I'll be publishing them over the next few days over on Epic TV.
	And in case you don't know, Epic TV is our brand new no censorship video platform where you can find all of the awesome Epic Times video programs like the Larry Elder Show, American Thought Leaders, Crossroads with Joshua Phillip, China in Focus, Counterpunch with Trevor Loudon, Life and Times, as well as our show Facts Matter.
	And on there, we'll publish exclusive interviews as well as full-length episodes that frankly, due to the censorship here on YouTube, I just don't feel comfortable publishing here on this platform.
	The link to Epic TV will be right there at the top of the description box.
	I hope you click on it.
	I hope you check it out.
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	And I hope that you join us on this journey of exploring this beautiful, beautiful world through honors journalism that's based in truth and tradition.
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	And then until next time, I'm your host, Roman from the Epoch Times.

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