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May 5, 2024 - Stew Peters Show
56:32
Smoke and Mirrors: A Reflection on America's Campus Chaos and Immigration Turmoil
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When is enough enough?
This last week we have been flooded in the media, in our email, on our social media, around the water cooler, around the neighborhood.
Been flooded with this bullshit going on at college campuses all over the country.
When is enough enough?
Today we're going to have a loose conversation about this because I will fully admit that I don't know a whole ton about it.
But I certainly have an opinion on what the hell is going on and how it relates to what else may be going on in our country at the current moment.
So stick with me.
Don't go away.
We start now.
Hey everybody, welcome here to the next episode of The Richard Leonard Show.
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Do that today.
This week we do not have Jason with us.
He had prior commitments today.
But that's okay.
And so I guess where I want to start is all these things going on at these college campuses all over the country.
These protests.
These peaceful protests.
And I'm the first person to admit that at the core of this whole issue, I'm not really exactly sure what all the fighting is about.
I haven't been following it.
I haven't really been up on it.
And maybe that's my mistake and I should be and I'm not.
I don't, for whatever reason, see how it's more important than whatever is needed here.
Whatever is needed here in the United States of America, for the people here, I don't see how a war between Israel and Palestine and what's going on in Gaza or whatever the hell is happening, how that's more important than what's going on within the borders of this country.
Now, I understand that Israel is an ally of the United States of America.
I get that.
I do understand that our government has come out and said that they will do what they can to support Israel.
And it's probably because they're an ally of the United States of America.
Which probably translates into...
There's a lot of money.
There's a lot of money changing hands.
Israel is probably in a very strategically advantageous position.
Spot within the world.
So it's good to have them as an ally.
I know that there's been a lot of stories and a lot of claims of what both sides of this war have been doing to each other for God knows how long.
Maybe since the beginning of time.
And it's still happening and they're still fighting about it and they're still killing each other and there's still war.
And so sometimes I question, even in a position of not knowing exactly what this is all about and why this is all going on, I question whether or not we can really even make a huge difference.
The other thing that I'm pretty aware of is that in this country we have a large population of immigrants.
We're a large melting pot, right?
So that stands to reason that there will be populations of people within this country that are Are Jewish, of course.
Israeli folks.
There's probably Palestinian folks around that have become American citizens.
And, as I've always said, if you've done it the right way, the legal way, That nobody can tell you anything.
Right?
This is...
You've done it.
You're an American citizen.
Right on.
Cool.
Thanks for being here.
But for me...
The second you...
As that individual...
Publicly go out...
And...
Scream death to America and you burn the flag and assault other people in the name of some other radical group or some other country or whatever it is.
Okay, you're done now.
And I'm sure, and I don't know this also, and maybe I should before I sit down in front of a microphone and talk about it for an hour.
But I'm kind of ignorant to the whole thing.
But what I do know is that there is a lot of people over...
Many, many, many years in many different corners of this planet that fought for that flag, that fought for this country, that fought for this idea of America.
And now we have people all over this country That want to burn it down.
And yet nothing happens about that.
That's where my frustration comes in.
Because you see, what's going on in Gaza, in Israel, in Palestine, in Iran, whatever...
It's not more important than what's going on here, not to me.
So when I see anybody disrespecting our flag, our country, talking about wanting to burn it down, and screaming death to America, it's time for you to go.
If you were an immigrant here, and you've assimilated, turn in your shit and go back to wherever it is you came from.
Because clearly, you're not loyal to this place.
You don't like this place.
place.
You hate this place.
I just don't understand why it's being tolerated.
*sniff* Why is this not part of the discussions?
And furthermore, we see all these college students on these campuses Just destroying the place.
Graffiti everywhere, makeshift defenses put up, tents everywhere.
Who knows where they're crapping and peeing and putting their garbage and what else they're destroying during their occupation.
My question to these people would be how many of you can look at a world map and point to me where Palestine is?
you Where is Gaza?
A good friend of Mike and I were having this conversation just the other day, and these were questions that he was bringing up.
How many of these kids can even tell you where the hell Gaza is at if you were to put a paper map of the world in front of them?
On a college campus earlier this week, there was a statue, a memorial to George Washington.
It was covered in Palestinian flags.
I don't know if the statue got damaged, and at the end of the day it's just a statue, but to me that sends a message.
George Washington is one of our founding fathers.
This was the man that when he was alive and acting general, they wanted to make him king.
King of America.
And now in 2024, he's draped in Palestinian flags.
Thanks.
Thank you.
As if America has the power to tell anybody, release these hostages.
So that we can get these college protests over with.
I don't know if that's the idea of how this is supposed to work.
Why is police action coming two or three days into this chaos?
Why is it allowable for these Jewish students to be accosted and violated and beat up and assaulted when they're just trying to get to class? .
And so, as I said, I'm not super in tune with what exactly this fight is all about.
But what I'm in tune with is the fact that our country is crumbling right before our eyes and nothing seems to be being done about it.
Yeah, there's panels of people all over the The TV stations talking about what's happening.
Giving us breaking news.
All day, all night.
But what really is being done?
UCLA finally sent in the LA Police Department and I think the county sheriff's department three days in.
How unfair is it for these kids that have all worked so hard to graduate?
And now the culmination of their whole academic career for most of them, I'm sure some of them will be going on to master's programs or PhD programs or whatever.
But for most of them, the culmination of their whole academic career, from kindergarten all the way now to graduating college.
And they don't even get to do it.
And for what?
For something that's out of their control.
For something that's not even relevant to them.
Are some students in the school Jewish?
Yep.
Are they the ones that are holding hostages?
Nope.
Are they killing people?
No, they're going to class.
Why do they deserve to be accosted and assaulted?
With no penalty.
And the NYPD was arresting these protesters.
Take them down to the station.
Okay, well, if you promise to show up to court for your arraignment or whatever the hell it is, you can go now.
These people aren't coming to court.
Nothing's going to happen to them.
But what would have happened to the students...
That were being picked on or assaulted if they had decided to defend themselves and started whooping the shit out of some of these people and really hurt someone.
I bet you they'd go to jail if they made it out of the crowd.
I bet you their life would be screwed.
But the people that are causing the problem in the first place, they're good to go.
I don't understand how that makes any sense to anybody.
And then I think it was just on Thursday...
Sometimes you just can't even believe that this shit is real.
Just can't even believe it.
On Thursday, I read...
That President Biden and the White House had announced that they're considering letting in Palestinian refugees to America that are hoping to escape a war-torn Gaza.
What?
Have we forgotten in one or two short weeks what the hell's going on at our southern border?
Bye.
Thank you.
We're already being infiltrated.
And now we're going to start bringing Palestinian refugees into America?
Now, let me tell you something.
Man, if there's anybody that has the chance if there's anybody that has the chance of being some kind of insurgency, or terrorist
group, or something like that...
It's this type of thing.
If I'm not mistaken, Palestinian folks supported 9-11.
They supported...
Wasn't Iran...
Giving munitions to the insurgency that took over Iraq.
I'm pretty positive when I was in Iraq and we found IEDs all the time that we were told, yeah, a lot of these things are coming from Iran.
And so these are the people now that we're going to give permanent safe haven to.
Now, I'm not trying to say that all of them are terrorists, of course.
There's probably some good folks that are Palestinians.
Who knows?
I guess I don't know.
I don't know that I know any personally.
Maybe I do and I just don't know that they have that belief.
Or they come from that culture.
But here again is just another, here's another example of our government just giving up our shit. . here's another example of our government just giving up our Here, let's bring in another huge load of refugees and we'll give them asylum in America for the rest of their lives.
At least the thing I read said permanent asylum.
And then what?
Who's paying the bill?
Joe?
Who's paying for this shit?
In a time where we can barely afford to fill up our gas tanks and feed our families.
The talk is refugees and money to Ukraine.
And we're watching hundreds of thousands of people cross our border.
Every day.
When are we going to get some good damn news?
you From the White House.
Was it good news when the president came out and said that they were going to forgive another, what was it, $1 billion in student loans for people?
Is that good news?
It's good news for the folks that had the debt.
Absolutely.
It's kind of a kick in the nuts to the men and women that chose to serve the country to earn a free education.
And now because a bunch of people, a bunch of whiny bitches went to school and they don't want to work hard enough to repay it and they made enough noise to They were the squeaky enough wheel.
Don't worry about it.
We got it.
We'll take care of it.
Now, I believe that everybody deserves a chance.
Everybody deserves a helping hand.
But I believe that we've gotten beyond that to a certain extent.
I think that in this country we've kind of skated past a helping hand and we've worked our way into enabling.
We've begun to enable this young class of people that like to whine and bitch because things are too hard.
That aren't willing to work hard to get to where they need to be to really be able to appreciate where they're at and how hard they had to work to get there.
And I don't know, maybe I'm off base.
But it sure is frustrating.
It sure is frustrating to see so many Americans struggling.
Struggling to pay taxes, struggling to find a way to and from work, struggling to even buy school supplies for their kids, or just to eat, mind you.
Let alone have a little bit of extra walking around money to take their kids to the movies, if that's even a thing anymore.
I don't even think that movie theaters are really even doing that well.
Maybe they are.
Take them out to do something, anything, out to dinner.
It's hard.
And It's a difficult life right now to be an American-born American.
When all the benefits of being American seem to have dwindled away to almost nothing, the benefits of being a refugee or an illegal alien It's a way better deal.
And I don't even think that as Americans we should be getting free shit.
But I certainly think we should be getting a better deal than the illegals and some Palestinian refugees.
And I certainly don't think that we should be pandering to a bunch of college students That most of them can't even tell you where Palestine is on an effing map.
The fact that any college administrator, any government agency...
Any leadership is interested in having any conversation with these people after they've taken over campuses and destroyed buildings and assaulted other students and did all this shit that they've done is astounding to me.
They're criminals.
They're goddamn criminals.
And yet they're getting a seat at the table to have a discussion on what the next steps are.
And for what?
Thank you.
Why even have the discussion?
You're going to get what you want.
They're going to give them what they want.
Because if they don't, they're just going to set up their tents again.
And destroy the next college campus, and the one after that, and the one after that.
And why college campuses?
What's this idea that colleges are the only businesses or industry in America that does business with Israeli and Jewish businesses?
What the hell is that about?
And there's another thing I'm ignorant on.
Why colleges?
And can any of these kids articulate that?
I don't know that they can.
Because whenever you see clips of these kids taking over campuses, they're screaming about letting some hostages go and stop murdering my family and this and that.
What?
Where is your family being murdered?
Thank you.
Here?
In Minneapolis?
Is your family being murdered in LA? On the UCLA campus?
Or whatever campus they took over in New York, your family being murdered there?
If your family's being murdered, what the hell are you doing throwing rocks at a college campus?
Go to wherever they're at and help them out.
I mean, it just doesn't make any sense to me.
And so maybe you're asking yourself, well, Richard, this is a...
Traditionally, you do a show about veterans' issues.
And you're right.
You're a thousand percent right.
And I don't know that this show, today's show...
Is a thousand percent about veterans issues.
In fact, I don't know if we're going to touch on any veterans issues, but This is an America issue Which makes it important for everybody Because what I believe Is that this is going to become an issue During election time This is going to become an issue During debates.
This is gonna become a talking point at the RNC and the DNC. This is gonna become an issue in all the commercials we're about to see.
All the literature that's gonna be coming in your mailbox.
Those annoying phone calls when you're in the middle of dinner with your family or the stupid text messages that you wake up to from some campaign that asks you to respond.
They always get the middle finger emoji for me.
But I think that this affects everybody.
And I don't think it's over.
It's all smoke and mirrors if you ask me.
I think one thing that we could have learned and taken away from things like the pandemic, lest we forget the pandemic, the extremely scary and dangerous and murderous pandemic.
The one thing we could take away from there is that while they had us worried about masks and social distancing and we had dumbass people getting together at parties and wearing a bubble from their waist up.
I couldn't believe that.
That was...
And people went to Joe Biden's speeches and had to stay in their little circle with their chair and their bottle of water and their mask on.
When they were outside, And the fact that you could go to a restaurant, but if you were up from your table, you had to wear a mask.
As soon as you sat down, you could take it off because COVID's up here, but it doesn't come this low.
It's all ridiculous.
But there's a lot of other things going on while we were all focused on the murderous COVID-19.
The forever dangerous COVID-19 pandemic.
George Floyd.
George Floyd.
Look at that.
George Floyd died on the streets of Minneapolis to an overdose of fentanyl because he didn't want to get caught by the police and then refused to comply and his heart blew up in his chest.
And that sparked riots all over this country.
And they're naming football stadiums in his hometown down somewhere outside of Houston, I guess, or somewhere.
They're naming football stadiums after him and naming streets after him.
Those assholes are putting his sign in their yards still.
And then Black Lives Matter went all over the country and made billions of dollars off people who couldn't afford to give their last dollar for their cause and did nothing with it.
We never talk about that.
They bought some nice-ass homes for themselves, though.
But we were all worried about George Floyd riots.
We were all worried about the murderous pandemic.
And meanwhile, all this other stuff was just getting slipped in behind the scenes.
So, I say all that to say this.
What's happening for real?
Because this, it seems so childish and so ridiculous that it takes up this much of the day to In the lives of so many people.
And you can't really get away from it everywhere you turn.
Unless you just completely go off the grid.
But it's everywhere.
If I open my Facebook to see what my kids were up to today, because they have some posts maybe, well I'm going to get some protest news.
Or somebody's going to have it posted.
It's everywhere.
Customers in our shop walk up, make small talk, so what do you think about all this bullshit going on at the campuses all over the country?
It is everywhere.
And for what?
What are we really accomplishing here?
My question though is, what's behind the smoke and mirrors?
What's the wizard really doing here in Oz?
The man behind the curtain.
What's really happening there?
I also noticed earlier this week that Donald Trump had made mention of using the National Guard, if he is elected, to get all illegal immigrants out of the country.
I One big mass deportation.
And I think that that's a whole nother discussion for another time.
But even things like that, like that's going to be a press buffet.
He's going to get roasted and praised and And who knows if it's really going to work?
Who knows if it's really going to happen?
Who knows what anybody's really going to do?
Because just like always, we get all this lip service about what's going to happen, when and if I'm voted into office, and who deserves to be taken care of, and who deserves to get out of the country, and who deserves to be prosecuted, and this and that and the other thing.
And then these people get voted into office and not much really happens.
And so, as Americans, we settle for, well, hey, if we're paying $2 a gallon for gas, I'm good with that.
If taxes are lowered, I'll be alright with that.
If the cost of milk and eggs and stuff is down, I'm, hey, cool.
And I understand that mentality too.
I understand that view.
But there's got to be more.
Thank you.
There's got to be more.
How long can we, as America-loving Americans, how long can we sit back And just say, well, you know, for paying less at the pump and groceries are cheap, we're alright.
I think we, for the most part, have given up.
We've realized it's a losing battle.
You can try and try and talk and get pissed off about it and vote.
And The answer always is, well, you know, we got to change the way we vote.
We got to change the way we vote to get the people that we believe that can help us change the narrative or change this policy or do this or do that.
And I get it.
I understand where people are coming from because you get passionate about it.
You donate time maybe to the campaign and knock on a couple doors or make some phone calls or whatever it is.
And that person doesn't even come close.
Doesn't even come close to winning.
Their race.
Whether it's president, state representative, city council, whatever.
So then it makes it seem like, man, then what are we doing this for?
We're going to get our asses handed to us every time.
And so I can understand that mentality of how elections seem fake and rigged and they're going to put in whoever they want anyway.
I understand that.
And I don't necessarily disagree with it, to be quite honest with you.
Thank you.
Because I... I don't know, I think only one time in all my years of voting, only one time the guy I voted for has been elected and that was Trump.
But then there's all this talk about how rigged it is, right?
The Side That Loses talks about how rigged it is, and there's all these stories and all this stuff about how it was rigged, and there was cheating, and ballots were shaved, and there's this, that, and the other, the machines, and the software, and the dishonest poll watchers.
And all this other stuff.
And then the winning side goes, well, you know, I mean, I sat there for a long time and they did a wonderful job.
Well, the reality is that it's all bullshit.
It's what it seems like.
And so I get it.
I understand where folks are coming from.
And they're like, well, my vote doesn't even really matter.
Because no matter who I vote for, they're going to have anybody in there they want anyway.
And that's really sad.
It's really sad because this country was founded on the ideas of a system.
A system of we the people.
That we elect our representatives.
To go to one governing body.
To come together as one governing body.
To speak for us.
And yet now, as a society, we've become so God dang polarized that there is no this or that.
Or I mean, it is this or that.
There is no idea like, well, you know...
My person didn't win, but the other guy, you know, there's a couple good things that I think he can do, and so maybe it won't be all that bad.
Nope.
If it ain't this person, then we're screwed.
We are so divided that we can't even find any silver lining in the loss of an election.
We can't even come to terms with it, even though we don't have a choice.
I don't think that that's the America that our founding fathers were thinking of when the idea of America was put out there.
I don't know if that's the idea of America that was fought for in two world wars, in Korea, in Vietnam, in the Persian Gulf, in Iraq, in Afghanistan, whatever war you want to attach it to.
That wasn't the idea of America that people served in the military under.
It's not the idea that they had when they put that flag on their shoulder and charged forward to take that hill.
That wasn't part of the plan.
It wasn't part of what was explained.
And now we've gotten so far away from that idea.
It almost seems like the light at the end of the tunnel is just pinhole size.
And so some people would say, well, you know, at the end of the day, we'll find out in November if that pinhole is going to get bigger or smaller and eventually the light will just go out.
Because if the magic man, Donald Trump, comes back into office, then all will be right with the world.
And I don't necessarily know if that's the right answer either.
If you were to ask me who's the lesser of two evils, I'd say Donald Trump.
But I guess we'll see.
Anyway, we've blown way past...
Way past.
Time for a break, so we're going to take a quick one.
We'll be right back with you.
Stick with us.
Hey folks, welcome back here to the last.
We've got about 10 minutes left.
I really went bonkers on the time here.
But you know what?
When you get into a thought, you've got to finish it.
Or it kind of loses its originality, I guess maybe is the word I'm looking for.
But I guess to kind of round this whole thing out, man, I don't know.
I just have this feeling that this is just the beginning.
You know, we have until November, until the election, and I think that there is going to be some real BS going down.
In this country to try to distract us from the real important things that are happening that need the attention of a good administration, but also keep in mind that we're voting for senators and for congressmen and congresspeople.
It's not just the presidential election.
There's a lot of other things to be voting for this year.
And so this is all under the assumption, of course.
And I know I say this over and over again.
Under the assumption that the election is true and it's free and fair.
And I know many people roll their eyes when they hear that.
And I'm one of them But as a person Who Who Who sacrificed a lot, most of my adult life in the military.
I'd like to think that there's still a chance.
I'd like to think that there's still a chance that the idea of America and this hope of an American dream, that it really means something.
I'd like to think that the sacrifice made by so many men and women means something.
I don't know.
When things like this happen...
And then on the surface, and like I said in the beginning of the show, I'm pretty ignorant to all the details of this feud between Israel and Palestine and what's really going on in Gaza.
But on the surface, we're really losing sight of what's really important for us.
And at some point, guys, we are going to have to, in my opinion, we are going to have to make the decision as a country.
And it won't be you and I that have to make the decision.
It'll be the elected officials that have to make the decision about either we say...
We need to clean up our own backyard until it's clean.
We're done with everything.
We're no longer going to be sending $12 billion every four to six months to the Ukraine.
We're no longer going to be sending them food and weapons and people.
We're done dealing with this Israel and Palestine deal.
And if you're going to cause problems like you've been the last week...
You can pack your shit and you can go there.
Go there and be part of the movement.
What does...
What does this accomplish?
What does taking over college campuses, destroying the facilities...
Occupying the buildings and the spaces.
Making demands that are unreasonable.
And you're making demands of people that have no authority to make them, to the best of my knowledge.
What do you think that this is going to accomplish?
Other than getting you on every news outlet.
Because the people that are watching it are...
Maybe they support you.
Maybe they don't.
Maybe they care.
Maybe they don't give a shit.
But you know who's not watching it?
The people that have the ability to make the decision?
They're not watching it.
Because I think that there's some smoke and mirrors going on here.
And there's other things happening behind the scenes.
And what that is, I don't quite know exactly.
But I have a feeling that it won't be long until we do.
And maybe we'll never know.
And maybe there's nothing going on.
But I know one thing.
That the second that these campuses were taken over, if the city mayors or the governors or the chiefs of police or the elected sheriffs would have said, uh-uh, nope, this ain't happening, and cleared all these people out and started thumping heads.
It would have ended a long time ago.
Yeah, people probably would have got injured.
But you know what?
If you don't comply, and you know that you're there to cause trouble, and you are causing trouble, and you're assaulting other students, and you're destroying property that doesn't belong to you, and you're doing all these things, you should expect to be injured.
Especially if you're not going to comply with the orders that are given to you.
Isn't that how this works?
These are the laws.
You follow these or this happens.
But that's not what we're doing.
Yeah, some people got arrested.
And they put them on a bus.
They took them to the police station.
They fingerprinted them.
Took their pictures, their mug shots.
Gave them a citation of some sort, I'm sure.
And then maybe even a court date.
And said, get out of here.
Don't do it again.
And you know what happened?
I'm willing to bet.
Nine and a half out of ten.
Nine and a half out of ten of these people that they arrested went right back to that college campus.
Went right back to destroying shit.
I'd be interested to know how many of those people got arrested more than once.
I'm sure there's many.
And so maybe I'll do this.
Maybe I'll loop it back to veterans this way, right?
So we can say we still had veteran topic today.
If we put more military people, and I won't say just veterans, but military-minded people into positions of power, elected positions, the people that understand that there's a hierarchy, right?
There are rules and regulations slash laws in order for a reason.
Law and order must be maintained.
When and if you are one of the people that can't abide by such law and or order, then you're dealt with.
You go to jail.
If your crime is bad enough, you go on to prison.
And make no mistake about it, if you are an immigrant in this country, even if you went through the steps to legally get your citizenship and you have the testicular fortitude to scream death to America and burn the flag that represents this land, your citizenship should be revoked.
And you should be brought to the shore, either east or west coast, not given a ticket, not given passage to the shore, and you figure out how to get the hell out of here.
It should be considered treason to come to this country and Go through the steps to become an American citizen and then wish death upon everyone in it.
Go away.
Dead or alive.
This should not stand.
Anyway, folks, we've run out of time for the week.
I want to thank you for being here.
I really appreciate it.
As I said, I'm sure that there's a lot I should be corrected on because I am ignorant to the ideas and the scuttlebutt about what's really going on there.
But there's a lot of things to digest on the surface.
Not digest, dissect.
There's a lot of things to dissect on the surface of this whole issue.
Have yourselves a great Sunday evening.
Take care of yourselves.
We'll see you next week.
Have a great night.
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