02 U.S. Politics

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The talks have been led by US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Lutnick and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, with the Chinese contingent helmed by Vice Premier He Lifeng.

The talks ran for almost seven hours on Monday and resumed just before 10am local time on Tuesday, with both sides expected to issue updates later in the day.

The inclusion of Lutnick, whose agency oversees export controls for the US, is one indication of how central rare earths have become. He did not attend the Geneva talks, when the countries struck a 90-day deal to roll back some of the triple-digit tariffs they had placed on each other.

China holds a near-monopoly on rare earth magnets, a crucial component in electric vehicle motors, and its decision in April to suspend exports of a wide range of critical minerals and magnets upended global supply chains and sparked alarm in boardrooms and factory floors around the world.

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This is the third Chinese national accused of smuggling biological materials into Michigan. Despite last week’s arrest of Chinese agroterrorists, China continues to wage bio-war on the United States.

Authorities say Chengxuan Han is a doctoral student at the College of Life Science and Technology in the Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, China.

Agroterrorist Han is from Huazhong University of Science and Technology, which works closely with China’s military and defense industry.

On June 8, Chengxuan Han was stopped by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at Detroit Metropolitan Airport after arriving on a J1 visa. Officers inspected Han, who, during that time, reportedly lied to officials about the packages and the biological materials she is accused of previously sending to the U.S. Officers say Han related content from an electronic device three days before arriving in the U.S.

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“Hamas should think twice”: Late Sunday, a group of Hamas affiliates issued a call to action on Telegram, a social networking site they often use to coordinate their activities: “Resistance security is authorized to firmly confront anyone who cooperates with the enemy or its agents, and agents and mercenaries will be legitimate targets.”

They were talking about the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), the joint U.S.-Israeli aid effort formed with the help of private contractors to replace the Hamas-tied UNRWA. The terror groups lamented the “American aid distribution centers” for operating with the goal of ending “UNRWA’s mission.” They also warned Gazans that “any cooperation with bodies other than UNRWA is considered a contribution to the enemy’s plans.”

A senior U.S. official confirmed to our Adam Kredo that the Trump administration is monitoring the situation. “These reports of Hamas threatening the GHF and its workers, many of whom are Americans, are deeply concerning,” the official said. “Hamas should think twice. We are watching closely.”

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Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has gone on record and on video to urge Mexicans living illegally in the United States to take to the streets in violent riots.

Not only is Sheinbaum urging Mexicans in the U.S. to resist being deported, she is also mad that Trump wants to place a tax on remittances.

WATCH:

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An Australian television journalist reporting live from downtown Los Angeles amid the large-scale protests over President Trump’s immigration crackdown was hit in the leg by a rubber bullet, her network said.

Lauren Tomasi, a 9News correspondent, was reporting live on Sunday when an officer behind her suddenly raised their firearm and fired a nonlethal round at close range, video shows. Tomasi, who doesn’t appear to be wearing personal protective equipment, cries out in pain and clutches her lower leg as the cameraman quickly pans away and they move away from the police line.

“You just (expletive) shot the reporter,” a voice off-camera can be heard shouting.

Tomasi can be heard reassuring her crew she was OK: “Yeah, I’m good, I’m good.”

 

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Musk did not reveal which files he was talking about and offered no evidence for his claim.

He initially doubled down on the claim, writing in a follow-up message: “Mark this post for the future. The truth will come out”.

However, he appeared to have deleted both tweets by Saturday morning.

Supporters on the conspiratorial end of Trump’s “Make America Great Again” base allege that Epstein’s associates had their roles in his crimes covered up by government officials and others.

They point the finger at Democrats and Hollywood celebrities, although not at Trump himself. No official source has ever confirmed that the president appears in any of the as yet unreleased material.

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NEW JERSEY: Donald Trump said on Saturday (Jun 7) his relationship with his billionaire donor Elon Musk is over and warned there would be “serious consequences” if Musk funds US Democrats running against Republicans who vote for the president’s sweeping tax and spending Bill.

In a telephone interview with NBC News, Trump declined to say what those consequences would be, and went on to add that he had not had discussions about whether to investigate Musk.

Asked if he thought his relationship with the Tesla and SpaceX CEO was over, Trump said, “I would assume so, yeah.”

“No,” Trump told NBC when asked if he had any desire to repair his relationship with Musk.

“I have no intention of speaking to him,” Trump said.

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The fragile peace, following the social media conflict between US President Donald Trump and billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk held steady, as their aides engaged in talks on Friday, according to two White House officials cited by Politico.However, one of the officials addressed Trump’s Truth Social hiatus with Musk saying, “He’s stopped posting, but that doesn’t mean he’s happy,””The future of their relationship is totally uncertain,” added the official, speaking under anonymity. Both individuals have temporarily ceased their public disagreements, which included Musk’s impeachment suggestions and Trump’s threats regarding federal contracts for Musk’s enterprises. Neither party was keen on this cessation, according to the officials familiar with both men’s sentiments.Trump was particularly irritated by Musk’s suggestion of presidential connections to Jeffrey Epstein, stating Trump was “in the Epstein files.” While Trump’s name appears in publicly available Epstein-related court documents alongside other prominent figures, no wrongdoing has been linked to Trump. However, Musk’s claim about Trump’s electoral victory depending on his support, including substantial political contributions, particularly angered the president, the officials claimed.

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As discussed, the U.S-Iran nukes negotiations are futile. Iran will never give up enrichment through diplomatic means. How long will President Trump allow Iran to continue to lie, deceive, and stall before he walks away? Let Israel destroy Iran’s nuke sites.

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Climate celebrity Greta Thunberg was deported from Israel this week after she and fellow activists attempted to breach Israeli sovereignty under the guise of humanitarian aid.

The 22-year-old Swede was aboard the “Freedom Flotilla” ship Madleen, which was intercepted by the Israeli Navy in international waters and escorted to Ashdod before it could reach Gaza.

Thunberg, along with three others, signed deportation documents and boarded a plane to France—despite her well-publicized opposition to air travel.

Eight other activists who refused to sign remain in Israeli custody, pending judicial proceedings.

“I do more good outside of Israel than if I am forced to stay here for a few weeks,” Thunberg reportedly said.

Before deportation, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz ordered the IDF to screen unedited bodycam footage of Hamas’ October 7 massacre, in which terrorists murdered civilians, including women and children.

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will hold a security meeting on Wednesday following his phone call with US President Donald Trump.

Israeli media says the call between Trump and Netanyahu lasted around 40 minutes, with the pair discussing a wide range of topics, from the war on Gaza to developments in the Iran nuclear deal.

Asked about his call with Netanyahu, Trump didn’t offer much detail, but insisted that the call with the Israeli premier went well.

“Very well. Yeah, we discussed a lot of things, and it went very well. Very smooth. We’ll see what happens. You know, we’re trying to do something with a country we just spoke about, Iran,” said Trump.

Trump however revealed that negotiations appear to be stagnant due to the Iranians being “good negotiators”. He also again warned that a violent US approach to Tehran is not off the table.

“Sometimes they can be too tough. That’s the problem. So, we are trying to make a deal so that there’s no destruction and death. And we’ve told them that, and I’ve told them that, and I hope that’s the way it works out. But it might not work out that way.”

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CNN’s Brian Stelter said during an appearance on the network that people have to be careful when they are going on social media and looking at videos of the violence of the LA riots, warning that the videos could have been posted “two days ago,” and will give a “false impression” of how much unrest is happening in the California city.

Stelter appeared on CNN, and said, “We all live on our phones these days, we’re all scrolling through social media. you’ve got to be careful at a delicate moment like this to look at the timestamps, look at the dates, look at when things are actually posted, and if they’re really from the situation they’re purporting to be.”

“A lot of these algorithms are servicing hours old, or even days old content. So you might be looking at a video of something wondering what’s happening in LA. It’s actually two days ago. And that’s only matters because it can get people a false impression of what’s actually happening at a moment of unrest,” Stelter added.

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As Los Angeles devolves into violent chaos led by the anti-ICE activists that have flooded the streets to fight against immigration enforcement, it is being discovered that tax dollars are funding the groups organizing these riots.

One of the groups behind the riots is a non-profit called Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA), an LA-based group that advocates for illegal aliens. This group has long been an avowed enemy of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and in 2018 led a campaign to abolish ICE.

As rioters coursed through downtown L.A. this weekend, CHIRLA Executive Director Angelica Salas held a press conference celebrating the work of the Los Angeles Rapid Response Network’s hotline for helping alert left-wing, open-border activists to where ICE actions were taking place across the L.A. area.

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Rachel Maddow started off the early days of the Trump administration talking about the authoritarian threat that Trump presented, but something interesting has happened along the way.

 

People who follow the news know what Trump is and what he wants to do to the country.

The way that the American people have responded to this threat has been something that was hoped for, but not necessarily expected, and it has been this powerful rejection of Trump’s autocratic fantasies that has sent him into a panic.

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You’d think setting cars on fire would be the bare minimum threshold for calling a “mostly peaceful protest” a riot, but not when it comes to the mainstream media. According to ABC News, it’s apparently just “a bunch of people having fun watching cars burn.” You know, everyone’s favorite pastime.

If you needed any more justification as to why the media has become largely irrelevant, here it is!

This is also why there is only one particular demographic that still watches cable news—most people won’t just believe something while watching the exact opposite unfold before their eyes and accept the reporter’s explanation as gospel.

You have to be deep in liberal fantasy land to watch rioters setting cars on fire and still believe they’re just trying to help an illegal alien earn a living for his family back in Mexico. And the fact that this kind of chaos is the most effective way to “send a message” to the Trump administration might say more than they intended.

How have they not learned their lesson? This is exactly the kind of nonsense that cost the left the election. You can’t claim two plus two equals five and expect the public to accept it as truth—voters are a lot smarter than the media gives them credit for.

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Senator John Fetterman (D-PA) is condemning his own party for failing to sufficiently condemn four days of violent rioting aimed at impeding federal immigration enforcement operations in Los Angeles.

Just as violence erupted in Los Angeles for the fourth day in a row, Senator John Fetterman (D-PA) took to X in order to condemn the violence. “I unapologetically stand for free speech, peaceful demonstrations, and immigration—but this is not that,” the senator wrote.

“This is anarchy and true chaos,” Fetterman continued. “My party loses the moral high ground when we refuse to condemn setting cars on fire, destroying buildings, and assaulting law enforcement.”

The post was accompanied by a photo of several vehicles burning while a masked rioter stands atop a burned out car while waving a Mexican flag during Sunday night’s rioting.

Fetterman’s comments differ starkly from most elected Democrats, the majority of whom have been attempting to blame the Trump Administration for the unrest that has now spread to additional cities in California and Texas.

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A Minnesota state representative confessed her own apparently unlawful immigration to the United States to persuade her fellow lawmakers to support allowing illegal immigrants to continue receiving public health care benefits.

On the state House floor on Monday, Rep. Kaohly Vang Her, a Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party member, admitted that she is illegally in the country, claiming that her father misrepresented familiar relations on federal documents.

Her’s confession quickly went viral among conservative political commentators and media outlets, prompting her to recant the admission during a Monday interview with the Minnesota Reformer.

‘My family was just smarter in how we illegally came here.’

Her’s comments come amid violent riots in Los Angeles and escalating tensions in New York City over President Donald Trump’s efforts to solve the country’s illegal immigration crisis.

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Numerous Democratic politicians have in recent days returned to their summer 2020 strategy of characterizing violent leftist riots as peaceful protest and President Donald Trump’s desire to restore order as both escalatory and authoritarian.

Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman, among the standouts in his party who previously refused to join progressives in attacking Israel in the wake of the 2023 Hamas terrorist attacks, proved willing once again to call out his colleagues for their radical approach.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents executed a number of lawful operations last week in California. Democrats were quick to demonize the federal agents and frame their operations as illegitimate.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, for instance, accused ICE agents of sowing “terror” and stressed that the city would “not stand for this.”

California U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla followed suit, stating that the “ICE raids across Los Angeles today are a continuation of a disturbing pattern of extreme and cruel immigration enforcement operations across the country” and demanding “accountability for today’s actions.”

‘This is a wake up call for many Democrats.’

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Speaker Emerita Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is ‘furious’ over President Donald Trump deploying National Guard troops to Los Angeles in response to out of control illegal immigration riots.

Pelosi is still sore over the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot when she was Speaker and failed to protect the Capitol with sufficient police and D.C. National Guard troops, even though President Trump had offered 10,000 troops.

Speaking to Matt Berg with lefty news site Crooked Media, the 85-year-old Catholic grandmother of nine Pelosi, let the F-bomb fly (excerpt):

Nancy Pelosi is furious about Donald Trump’s decision to deploy the National Guard to the Los Angeles protests and not during the Capitol riots, the California lawmaker exclusively told What A Day.

Demonstrations roiled part of downtown Los Angeles and a working-class suburb over the weekend, sparked by a trio of ICE raids on workplaces. Now, President Donald Trump is saying that Los Angeles would’ve been “completely obliterated” had he not sent in the National Guard. (That’s a lie: Los Angeles is massive, and the protests didn’t affect most residents.)

What’s also bothering Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), however, is the fact that Trump didn’t send the National Guard to the Capitol during the January 6 riots: “It’s overwhelming because [the insurrectionists] want to put a bullet in my F-word head and they were going to hang the vice president of the United States — and this guy is not sending in the National Guard, and then lying about it to the public,” she told What A Day. “I’m very concerned about the hypocrisy.”

…Trump’s actions have “inflamed the conditions on the ground,” Pelosi added. “I don’t think there’s any mystery to the fact that the president is not acting in the constitutional way, in so many other respects, not just this.”

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Just because Elon Musk has been kicked out of Trump’s party does not mean that he will be welcomed back into the Democratic camp.

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Rep. Jimmy Patronis (R-Fla.) said President Trump and Elon Musk’s feud wouldn’t last for long, noting that the Republican Party and the president’s allies are all a part of “one big family.”

Musk in recent days has criticized the president’s budget bill over its effects on the national debt, which the tech billionaire says “undermines” the work he completed at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The fight reached a fever pitch this week, with the two exchanging harsh words on social media.

But as the spat continues, Patronis said he believes the two will soon reconcile.

“I don’t know how many times I’ve seen Donald Trump throw [Sen.] Lindsey Graham [(R-S.C.)] out by the side of the street and say the guy’s crazy. But then you know what? The next week they’re playing golf together. This is no different,” Patronis said during a Friday appearance on NewsNation’s “The Hill,” referencing the president’s sometimes fraught relationship with the South Carolina lawmaker.

“Trump knows that sometimes you’re going to have falling out with those that you trust, you like, that you’re friends with. It happens with us in D.C. all the time. So again. Mark my words. About a month from now, these guys will be hanging around again,” he added.

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Amid the messy ongoing divorce between the president and the world’s richest man, this much is already clear: Donald Trump has sole custody of the House GOP.

Republican lawmakers are making clear that, if forced to choose, it’s Trump — not Elon Musk — they’re sticking by as leaders race to contain the fallout for their “one big, beautiful bill.”

Even Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, who helms a House panel inspired by Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency initiative, blasted Musk’s public attacks on Trump as “unwarranted” and criticized his “lashing out on the internet.”

“America voted for Donald Trump on Nov. 4, 2024 — every single vote mattered just as much as the other,” Greene said in a brief interview. “And whether it was $1 that was donated or hundreds of millions of dollars, the way I see it, everybody’s the same.”

Like many Americans, GOP members watched Thursday’s online exchange with a sense of car-crash-like fascination. Many shared that they hoped Musk and Trump could somehow patch things up. But many — including some of the former DOGE chief’s biggest backers on Capitol Hill — were wholly unsurprised to see the billionaire suddenly cut down to size after months of chatter about who was really calling the shots at the White House.

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President Donald Trump appears opposed to reconciling with Elon Musk, based on new comments the president made to NBC News on Saturday.Mehmet Eser/ZUMA

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Trump has made it official: He and Elon Musk are (probably) never getting back together.

In an interview with NBC News on Saturday, the president was uncharacteristically restrained when asked if he had any desire to repair the relationship with the ex-DOGE head following Musk’s meltdown on X this week. Asked if he wanted to repair his relationship with Musk, Trump answered simply: “no.”

The blowout was caused by a series of posts on X. Musk railed against Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” and his tariffs, which Musk claimed will cause a recession in the second half of this year. Musk also alleged Trump is in the Epstein files (that post has since been deleted). When NBC asked if Trump thought his relationship with Musk was over, Trump reportedly replied: “I would assume so, yeah.”

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The internal strife tearing apart the Democrats burst into public view this week after audio leaked from a closed-door DNC meeting revealed Chair Ken Martin emotionally confronting Vice Chair David Hogg for sabotaging party unity and undermining leadership.

An emotional Martin broke down during the confrontation, accusing Hogg of having “destroyed” his career by ruining his chance to lead the DNC.

According to POLITICO, the May 15 Zoom call between DNC officers captured Martin on the verge of resignation as he vented his growing frustration with Hogg’s behavior.

He was particularly upset by the 24-year-old activist’s plan to bankroll far-left challengers against incumbent Democrats using his political organization, Leaders We Deserve.

“For the first time … I said to myself, I don’t know if I wanna do this anymore,” Martin confessed, his voice breaking.

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A Los Angeles newscaster has lost patience with his city’s response to the riots, exploding on Mayor Karen Bass and Gov. Gavin Newsom for allowing vandals to tear apart businesses and private property while officers stand by.

Elex Michaelson, a nighttime anchor for Fox L.A., couldn’t contain his anger after watching looters set fire to cars and hurl cinderblocks at officers during riots that have entered their fifth day. Michaelson has previously been close to Newsom, offering him exclusive interviews and favorable coverage about his ability to beat back a recall effort.

“This is outrageous. Thugs are currently setting fires & collecting rocks in Downtown L.A. as law enforcement stands by nearby,” the reporter wrote on X. “For the moment, they are letting this all happen.”

“How is it that I’m ticketed if I miss paying my parking meter by 2 minutes but this is allowed?” he added.

Viewers chimed in to share additional footage of the violence, including rioters unleashing massive fireworks on federal officers from a makeshift barricade.

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As anti-ICE riots began over the weekend in Los Angeles, involving people throwing objects at law enforcement officials, spray-painting and vandalizing vehicles, and looting businesses, protests have spread to Austin and Dallas, Texas, and San Francisco.

A protest against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents with “dozens of people” started on “Dallas’ Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge” on Monday night, according to Fox4 News.

KXAN News reported that as of 10:08 p.m. (CDT), protesters in Austin had torn “down construction barriers, scooters and other equipment” and were “throwing it in the middle” of the street as they walked.

Prior to this, law enforcement officials in Austin had warned protesters to “get off the street” around 9:31 p.m., according to the outlet.


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Let’s skip past the part where Democrat leaders in the most perfunctory way “disavow” the violent and lawless rioting in Los Angeles, and their news media counterparts diligently repeat those disavowals for them. What we’re seeing in L.A. is what Democrats instigate and excuse when their policies are obstructed. They’re happy with it. This is how they govern, and to pretend otherwise is an insult to even below-average intelligence (looking at you, Jasmine Crockett).

Democrat Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said as much on Monday on CNN, after two days of foreign nationals hurling boulders at cop cars, setting private property on fire, and tossing explosives at federal government facilities. “I just have to say that if you dial back time and go [back] to Friday,” she said, “if immigration raids had not happened here, we would not have the disorder that went on last night.”

The “immigration raids” Bass referred to were multiple Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention operations throughout the city for the purpose of apprehending migrants residing in the U.S. illegally. That’s an ancient process in L.A. now formerly known as “upholding the law.” In effect, Bass was arguing that so long as illegal aliens were permitted to break the law, there would be no problems.

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Riot season has started with a bang in California. Actually, many bangs, hurled rocks, torched cars, and a lot a flag waving—but not the Toby Keith variety.

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FBI Director Kash Patel said the Bureau is investigating the source of funding that is fueling the riots in Los Angeles, California.

Sections of Los Angeles have seen rioters engaging in property damage, looting stores, clashing with law enforcement authorities, and vandalizing police vehicles. The riots are a response to a series of raids Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) carried out in the area last week. However, many view the unrest as a statement against the Trump administration’s mass deportations of illegal immigrants.

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Democrat California Rep. Maxine Waters told the public on Tuesday that there is “no violence” happening at the wide-scale riots in Los Angeles, California, as rioters light the streets on fire.

Rioters have looted local businesses, burned cars and threw Molotov cocktails and fireworks on the streets of Los Angeles in response to Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) arrest of illegal immigrants with heinous criminal backgrounds. Waters argued during a House Democrat presser that all the violence that Americans are watching with their own eyes is not actually real, and that these riots are peaceful.

“Even those who were out of step with what we were advocating, [which is] peaceful protest, did not create any violence,” Waters said. “Nobody was shot, nobody was killed. Get it through your head. And so, when martial law is called, what are you gonna say? I missed the point. Don’t miss the point, you all. Don’t think that because somehow because they called out the National Guard, there was violence. There was no violence. I was on the street, I know. And I went from downtown detention back outside into the community, talking to people what happened in Paramount, what happened in Compton, what happened in Englewood.”